Light and truth [microform] : or, Bible thoughts and themes. The Gospels

I

Cbe University of CbicaQO

lrares

Baptist Union Tbool. Seo3, O

i

I

1

I

LIGHT AND TRUTH.

Cujljt anfo Erutl):

OR,

Bible Thoughts and Themes.

HORATIUS BONAR/D.D.

FIFTH EDITION.

NEW YORK:

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,

535 BROADWAY.

1871.

A

^._.. ; r "! t .' i > <

//'.. - . (

EDINBURGH :
BY JOHN GEEIG AND SON,

CONTENTS.

I. Very Man. . . . .

II. Jesus the Seed of the Woman. .

III. Jesus the Troubler of Jerusalem. .

IV. The Desert Voice. . . .
V. Jesus in Season and out of Season. .

VI. His Sun. ....

VII. Human Leprosy and its Divine Cure.

VIII. Man* s Dislike and Dread of Christ.

IX. The Rest and the Rest- Giver. .

X. The Three Exchanges. . .

XI. Nineveh and Her Testimony. .

XII. The Two Sowers. . . .

XIII. Herod 's Ball- Room. -, . .

XIV. Man's Ways and God'' s Ways. .
XV. The Helpless One and the Helper. .

XVI. The Gracious Welcome. . .

XVII. The Peerage of the Kingdom. .

XVIII. TJie Seeker and Saviour of the Lost.
XIX. The Stone of Salvation or Destruction.
XX. The Things Toiiching the King. .

PAGE

Matt. i. I. I

Matt. i. 16. 6

Matt. ii. 3. 10

Matt. iii. 10. 20

Matt. iv. 23. 24

Matt. v. 45. 28

Matt. viii. 1-3 . 32

Matt. viii. 34. 37

Matt. xi. 28. 42

Matt. xi. 29. 46

Matt. xii. 41. 51

Matt. xiii. 25. 54

Matt. xiv. 6. 58

Matt. xiv. 15, 1 6. 63

Matt. xiv. 24-31. 67

Matt. xvii. 17. 78

Matt, xviii. 1-4. 81

Matt, xviii. n. 85

Matt. xxi. 44. 90

Matt. xxii. 42. 96

vi CONTENTS.

PAGE

XXI. The Chill of Love. . . Matt. xxiv. 12. 100

XXII. True Vigils. . . Matt. xxiv. 42, 44. 103

XXIII. Religion without the Holy Ghost. Matt. xxv. 3. 107

XXIV. The Great Separation. . Matt. xxv. 31, 33. in
XXV. The Denying Disciple. > * . Matt. xxvi. 70. 115

XXVI. The Tme Confessor and the False. Matt, xxvii. 4. 119
XXVII. Relationship to Christ. ~ . Mark iii. 35. 124
XXVIII. The Great Calm. . . Mark iv. 39. 129
XXIX. Only Believe. - . . Mark v. 36. 134
XXX. Jesiis Wondering at Marts Un-
belief. . . . Mark vi. 6. 138
XXXI. Chrisfs Teaching the World's

Great Need. . . Mark vi. 33, 34. 141

XXXH. Jesus and His Fulness. ^ . Mark vi. 53-56. 146

XXXIII. Chrisf s Recognition of Faith. Mark x. 52. 151

XXXIV. The Fruitless Life. . . Mark xi. 13. 155
XXXV. Faith in God. . . Mark xi. 22. 161

XXXVI. Watch and Pray. ,- . - . Mark xiii. 33. 173
XXXVII. The Master Cometh. . Mark xiii. 34-37. 178
XXXVIII. The Coming of the Son of Man. Mark xiv. 62. 182
XXXIX. The Gracious One and His gra-
cious Word. . . Luke iv. 16-31. 185
XL. Health in Jesus. . . Luke vi. 19. 189
XL1. Much Forgiveness, much Love. Luke vii. 36-50. 193
XLII. How mzich More! . . Luke xi. 13. 203
XLIII. Jesus Watching for Sinners. Luke xv. 2. 207
XLIV. God's Joy over the Returning Luke xv. 10. 212

Sinner.

XLV. The Father's Love. . . Luke xv. 20. 217

XL VI. God's Free Love. . . Luke xv. 22. 221

CONTENTS. vii

PAGE

XL VII. Noafts Days. . . Luke xvii. 26, 27. 225

XL VIII. ThePrincJs Coronation and Return.* Luke xix. 11-27. 2 3

XLIX. Christ mtist have Praise. . Luke xix. 40. 234

L. Signs of the Times. . . Luke xxi. 28. 238

LI. Deliverance in the Day of the Lord. Luke xxi. 36. 243

LII. The New Wine of the Kingdom. Luke xxii. 18. 248

LIII. The Heavenly Feast. . . Luke xxii. 19,20. 254

LIV. The Three Crosses. . . Luke xxiii. 32-43. 259

LV. The Disciples^ Invitation to the

Master. . . . Luke xxiv. 29. 264
LVI. Reception of Christ our Introduc-
tion into Sonship. . John i. I2 ? 13. 268
LVII. The WorWs Need of something

more than a Teacher. , John iii. 2. 272

LVIII. Life in Looking to Jesus. . John iii. 14, 15. 276

LIX. The Filling up of Joy. . John iii. 29. 280

LX. The Fiilness of the Sent One. . John iii. 34, 35. 285

LXI. The Living Water God's Free Gift. John iv. 10. 289

LXII. Bible Testimony to Jems, and

Man's Refusal of it. . John v. 39, 40. 294

LXIII. Night with Jeszis. . . John vi. 17. 299

LXIV. The Bread of Immortality. . Johnvi. 50. 304

LXV. Christ 's Flesh the World's Life. John vi. 51. 309

LXVI. Come and Drink. . . John vii. 37. 317

LXVII. Jesus our Light. . . John viii. I, 12. 321

LXVIII. Truth and Liberty. . . John viii. 31, 32. 325

\

LXIX. The Father honouring the Son. John viii. 54. 329

LXX. The Honour given to Faith. . John xi. 40. 336

* The above title is substituted for that in page 230.

V1U

CONTENTS.

LXXI.

LXXTI.

LXXIII.

LXXIY.

LXXV.

LXXVI.

LXXVII.

LXXVIII.

LXXIX.

LXXX.

LXXXI.
LXXXII.

Lxxxin.

LXXXIV.
LXXXV.

LXXXVI.

Inquiring after Jesus.
The Great Attraction.
Light and its Little While.
Light for the World's Darkness.
The Judging Word.
The Revelation of the Father.
The Abiding Comforter.
The Mighty Comforter.
The Divine Legacy of Peace. .
Christ in Heaven, and the Church

on Earth.

Tribulation, Peace, and Victory.
The Declaration of the Father's

Name.

Ritualism and the Cross.
The Greater Sin.
Chrisfs Work in Heaven, and

Ours on Earth.
The Tender Love of the Risen

Christ. ,

PAGE

John xii. 12. 348

John xii. 32. 352

John xii. 35, 36. 355

John xii. 46. 360

John xii. 48. 363

John xiv. 8-10. 367

John xiv. 1 6, 17. 372

John xiv. 26. 378

John xiv. 27. 382

John xvi. 25, 28. . 390

John xvi. 33. 395

John xvii. 26. 400

John xviii. 28. 404

John xix. 1 1. 409

John xx. 17. 415

John xxi. 5. 419

Bible Thoughts and Themes.

-0-

I. ' . -

VERY MAN.

" The book of the generation ofjestis Christ, the son of David \ the
ion of Abraham" MATT. I. I.

THIS first verse of Matthew's Gospel contrasts strik-
ingly with the first verse of John's ; this human
pedigree of the Son of God reads strangely when placed
side by side with, " In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Yet
it all the more exhibits the true Person of Him who was
the "Word made flesh," " God manifest in flesh," true
and very man, yet also true and very God.

As we take Matthew's history literally, so do we take
that of John. If we allegorize the first chapter of the one
evangelist, we must allegorize the first of the other. If
John does not mean that Christ was very God, Matthew
does not mean that He was very man. The divine side
of Christianity is as strongly shewn in the one evangelist
as the human side in the other. He whom we call Lord
and Master, Saviour and Redeemer, is one in whose Per-

A

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

son the extremes of all being unite. All Godhead and all
creaturehood are in Him ; the fulness of the finite, and
the fulness of the infinite ; all the excellence of the created
and the uncreated.

I. He is a man. He is not in .this chapter expressly
called "Son of Adam" ; but in Luke's genealogy we find
this designation ; and apart from that, the whole of this
chapter is a historical exhibition of his true and very
manhood. He is of the same stock as we are, the same
ancient root, the first man Adam, whom God created.
He is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh ; " God
sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. viii. 3).
In everything that is truly human He is one of us. He
"knew no sin" ; He was " that holy thing" yet was He
all the more hitman because of the absence of sin for sin
is not an original part of our nature. As man, then, He
sympathises ; He pities ; He loves. As man, He " loved
his neighbour as himself," and so "fulfilled the royal law
of love." As man, He was born, He lived, He " grew in
stature, and in wisdom, and in favour with God and man"
(Luke ii. 52). His was thoroughly a human body and
a human soul ; his was thoroughly a human life and a
human death. His was human hunger and thirst, human
sleep and waking, human weariness and rest. His words
were human words, issuing from human lips, and the
utterance of a human heart. His looks were human looks,
his tones were human tones, his tears were human tears.
He was man all over, yet sinless ; man all over, living in
man's world, yet not partaker of that world's evil; man
all over in every step He took, and every word He spoke ;

MATTHEW I. i.

man all over in his daily intercourse with his fellow-men,
and in his fellowship with his Father in heaven.

II. He is a Jew. God's purposes concerning earth have
always unfolded themselves by election and selection,
of men, of places, of nations. Church-history is the record
and manifestation of the electing and selecting will of a
Sovereign God. There are elect nations and countries
as well as elect souls. Israel was God's elect nation of
old, Canaan his elect land, Jerusalem his elect city, and
Zion his elect hill. This national election began with
individual election, Abraham. From the day of his being
chosen, God's purpose centred in a nation, the nation
that was to spring from him. The Jew was chosen to be
the first of nations, to rise above the civilised Greek and
the mighty Roman. The Jew was to be the centre of
God's workings and teachings. The Jew was to be the race
with which Godhead was to be connected. Messiah was
to be son of Abraham, son of the great believer. And
it was so ; the seed of Abraham was that portion of the
seed of the woman from which Messiah came. Jesus was
a Jew a son of Abraham ; a scion of that race to whom
God had committed his oracles and his covenant ; in
connection with whom the true history of our race is con-
nected : " The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the
Son of Abraham."

I.IL He is a King. He is of David's royal stock, the
God-selected family, for whom Israel's crown was destined
for ever. God first narrows the -circle of humanity to
Abraham's race ; then He limits that circle to the tribe of
Judah ; then he selects from that tribe David's family.

4 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Kingship in Israel was to be connected with David and his
line. Messiah came not only as the son of Judah, but as
the son of David, heir to Israel's crown, heir apparent
to the throne of the world. Jesus of Bethlehem, Jesus of
Nazareth is our King ; son of David as well as son of
Abraham. The crown of the world, nay, of the universe,
is on the head of a Jew, a son of David, a son of Abraham.

In all this, however, we find that others are interested
besides Israel. Angels are interested, for it is through
Gabriel that the announcement is made (Luke i. 26), and
"angels desire to look into these things"; the Gentiles are
interested, for Rahab and Ruth are among the Messiah's
ancestors ; the chief of sinners are interested, for in his
line we find some of the worst ; everything in this verse
and chapter assures us that heaven and earth are, in all
their regions, interested in this wondrous birth. The
tidings are for all ; they are to be preached " to every
creature that is under heaven."

But, further, we learn here something concerning God's
purpose, his purpose of grace and blessing, to which it
will be well to give heed j for that purpose bears upon us
and on our earth on every side. It is a purpose of love.
God has loved the world, and sent his Son !

(i.) God's purpose is to Ness by a man. It is a human
channel that is to be made use of for blessing earth.
Salvation, comes by a man. The Saviour is a man. Every-
thing connected with blessing to the race or to earth,
comes through a man ; the son of David, son of Abra-
ham, son of Adam, child of Mary !

(2.) God's purpose is to teach by a man. Earth is to have

MATTHEW I. I.

a human, not an angelic prophet. From hitman lips are
all our lessons to come. He who was to teach humanity,
was to be a man ; He who was to say, " Learn of me," was
to be one of ourselves. It was in a man that all the trea-
sures of wisdom and knowledge were to be hidden for us.

(3.) God? s purpose is to judge by a man. The Father
does not judge, but has committed all judgment to the
Son. Judgment is given to Him because He is the Son
of man (John v. 27). It is as Son of man that He sits
upon the throne of his glory (Matt. xxv. 31).

(4.) God's purpose is to rule by a ma?i. The King both
of earth and heaven is to be son of David and son of
Abraham. " The man Christ Jesus " is heir of the throne
of David as well as possessor of the throne of heaven.
The crown of all the earth is to be placed on the head of

a man. Human "hands are to wield the sceptre of the

*

universe.

(5.) God's purpose is to link heaven and earth together
by a man. It is in the man Christ Jesus that the recon-
ciliation takes place between them. It is by this man that
the nearness is to be maintained for ever. He is the
bridge, the ladder, the chain, the golden clasp that is to
knit together the heavenly and earthly regions and races.
Round this Jmman centre the universe is to revolve.

Glad tidings ! The woman's seed has at length come
ta our rescue from the hands of our great enemy ! Glad
tidings ! Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.
Glad tidings ! Jesus, the son. of -Mary, of David, of Abra-
ham, of Adam, is our Saviour , our prophet ; our priest ;
our king. > Oh, has not God loved man 1

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

TL
JESUS THE SEED OF THE WOMAN.

" Mary, of whom was born Jesus, ivho is catted Christ. " MATT.. I. 1 6.

r I ^HIS is the great event or fact in. earth's history - y out
-1- of which are unfolded the eternal issues of this
globe and its inhabitants. This is the little fountain out
of which the greatest of rivers flows.

Reading this verse in connection with the whole chap-
ter, we mark such truths as the following :

1. Jesus is the Christ. In Jesus of Nazareth, the Son
of the carpenter, himself a carpenter (Mark vi. 3), we see
the Christ of God. His name is Jesus, Jehovah the
Saviour (or Joshua), because He saves his people from
their sins ; and also Christ or. Messiah, because He is the
anointed One, filled with the Spirit, without measure.
The expression, " called Christ," like the words, " thou
sayest," means that He is what He is called, -" the Christ
of God," the Messiah promised to the Fathers.

2. He has a human ancestry. Here ^vve have " the
book of the generation of Jesus Christ." His whole
ancestry is as thoroughly human as ours can be. Every
link of the chain is human ; not angelic, not miraculous.
It is a long chain, sometimes almost broken or worn
through ; but thus all the more thoroughly human. He
is the seed of the woman ; the man Christ Jesus. He is

MATTHEW I. 1 6.

very man, out of the loins of Abraham, and of the sub-
stance of the Virgin ; son of Mary and son of Adam.

3. He has a Jewish ancestry. He is of the seed of
Abraham. Salvation was to be of the Jews, and He is a
Jew ; it was in the seed of Abraham that all nations were
to be blessed, and He is a son of Abraham. He took
not the nature of angels, but He took the seed of Abra-
ham. Such was God's purpose, and such was the fulfil-
ment of it in Jesus the Christ. The Saviour of the world
was to be a Jew, The King of kings now sitting on the
throne of heaven is a Jew.

4. He has a Gentile ancestry. That is to say, there are
Gentiles among his forefathers, such as Rahab the
Canaanite, and Ruth the Moabite, and Bathsheba the
Hittite. Though, strictly speaking, his ancestry was
Jewish, yet Gentiles mingled with it, to shew that all
nations were interested in Him, and in his work. Far off
and near are connected with this Jesus, who is called
Christ. Salvation begins at Jerusalem, but does not end
there. " God so loved THE WORLD that He gave his Son."
In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scy-
thian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

5. He has a royal ancestry. He is son of David and
Solomon, the last of a long line of kings. He is the root
and offspring of David ; the rod from the stem of Jesse,
the branch from his roots. All that is regal in a human
pedigree is here. In one sense this is but a small thing ;
yet it was befitting Him who is King of kings to be thus
honoured, and to have his divine prerogatives symbolised
by his human.

8 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES,

6. He has a lo?u!y ancestry. Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob are not great or mighty men the)* are but shep-
herds, dwelling in tents. So was David a shepherd boy,
taken from among the flocks. So was Joseph, and so was
Mary, poor in this world; a carpenter and his wife.
There is a singular mixture of the high and low, of the
rich and poor. For He is the Saviour of rich and poor.
His gospel is equally for both.

7. He has a holy ancestry. The line through- which He
comes is the Church, the election of God, the believing
men of Israel. In his pedigree, we have Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Boaz, Jesse, David, Solomon, Asa, Hezekiah,
Josiah. Thus God has honoured Him ; thus He has
honoured these holy men ; thus He has put honour upon
holiness. He is the Holy One ; and He comes of holy men
and women.

8. He has an imperfect ancestry. In two ways is this
the case, (i.) Even these holy men from whom he sprang
were very imperfect, as we see in the sins of David and
Solomon ; (2.) Among his ancestors are many open sinners
and idolaters, kings of Judah such as Rehoboam, Ahaz,
and Jehoiakin, &c., of whom it is said that they did evil
in the sight of the Lord. Yes ; his genealogy is a very
mixed one ; but all the more on that account indicative ot
that which He had come to do, and of those whom He
had come to save, the ungodly, the chief of sinners, the
lost, the unrighteous.

9. He has a mortal ancestry. These all died. Their
connection with him did not make them immortal.
Whether shepherds, or patriarchs, or kings, or carpenters,

MATTHEW L 16. 9

they were mortal. For out of the mortal was to come the
immortal ; life out of death ; the everlasting One out of
those whose life is a vapour j the resurrection and the life
out of those who were dust and who returned to dust.
Thus He is linked with our sin, though He is sinless ; with
our curse, though He is the blessed One.

i o. He has an immortal ancestry. This is only alluded to
here (in his names Jesus and Christ) , not expressly stated.
But as Matthew brings out the human and the mortal, so
does John the immortal and the divine. He is the only
begotten of the Father, the eternally begotten. Thus

y

the " pedigree of the Lord of the hill," as Bunyan calls it,
is eternal. It was " the Word" who was made flesh.

Thus is Jesus in all respects fitted for his mighty work
of redeeming. He is very man and very God. He is
the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of
David, the son of Mary, yet God over all, blessed for ever.
Thus He can bear our sins ; He can sympathise with our
sorrows ; He can fight our battles ; He can love as a
man, a fellow-man, bone of our bone 3 and flesh of our
flesh.

io BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

III.

JESUS THE TROUBLER OF JERUSALEM.

" When Herod the king had heard these things, he was trottbled^ and
all Jerusalem with him" MATT. II. 3.

O quietly had the Son. of God stolen into our world,
that his arrival was unknown in Jerusalem till these
wise men came from the East Either the Shepherds had
not told their tale of the heavenly vision, or they had been
unheeded, perhaps ridiculed as fanatics. As the morning
star rises without noise ; as the .seed shoots up and the
flower opens in silence ; so was it with the Christ, the rose
of Sharon, the bright and morning star. No thunder
woke up the hills of Palestine; no trumpet-peal went
through its cities ; no herald went before him, nor royal
salute greeted him.

His mother, and the few of her circle who believed in
" the child that was born," made no proclamation of the
heavenly wonder ; they received all in silent happy faith,
and pondered the things in their heart, leaving it to God
to bring them forth in his own time and way. They did
not get excited ; it was too great a thing to excite, and
they were too calm and child-like in their faith to be
fluttered, or agitated, or elated. They allowed these
great things that had happened in their family circle to
take their course, assured of their truth and magnitude,
and therefore confident that they would ere long grow till

MATTHEW 21. 3. 11

they could not be hidden, but must perforce make them-
selves known. Such is the confidence which faith has in
the great things of God ! A man who has got hold ot
something which is great and true, need not be afraid but
that it will spread. Let him hold it fast.

These wise men come with a tale, and a vision, and a
miracle. They are not of Israel, though more ready of
faith than Israel. They are not from Nazareth, or Beth-
lehem, or any part of Palestine. Their testimony is
independent of Israel's ; it is a Gentile testimony ; from
the land of Israel's enemies. They are recognised as
"wise men," magi, Chaldeans, perhaps \ or men "from
the land of Balaam or Job. Men of the East, the seat of
all human science; the wise and far-seeing East; the
thoughtful and star-gazing East. They come, not with an
uncertainty, or an opinion, or a fable, or a vision of the
night, but with actual and personal eyesight, " We have
seen " ! Yes, it is with " we have seen " that they come,
a word like that of John's, "We beheld his glory,"
"That which our eyes have seen.'' They come to Jeru-
salem ! They come seeking Jerusalem's King ; as if
Jerusalem were to them the centre of hope ; as if there
were nothing in their own land like what they expected
to find in Jerusalem ; no king worthy of the name, or to
whom they could pay homage, but the King of Jerusalem !
This is Gentile faith, fixing its eye upon the star of Jacob.

>

But Jerusalem has not heard of Him, and is amazed ;
nay, her king does not know where He is to be born till
he has consulted the scribes. The visit and errand of
these Eastern Gentiles take Israel by surprise. Nor are

12 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES. _

they roused to take any interest in the matter, save, as we
shall see,' that of being troubled. He was in the world,
yet the world knew Him not ; would not recognise Him
when pointed out ! He came unto his own, and his own
received him not !

This is strange. Had the like happened elsewhere,
in Babylon, or Rome, or Egypt, it would not have
surprised us. Or had these been "troubled," it would
have been natural enough. But it is Jerusalem ! She is
troubled ! Nay, it is " all Jerusalem." Troubled at the
news of her King's arrival ! Not excited, or agitated, but
"troubled." Had it been said, "rejoiced," we could
have understood it, but " troubled," how strange ! .

Let us inquire into Jerusalem's trouble and its causes.
The simple visible cause was the statement of the wise
men that one had been. born King of the Jews. And how
this could trouble Jerusalem is not easy to see. For,

i . It contained nothing alarming. It was but of a
babe that the wise men spoke; only the birth of a babe,
no more. They did not come to tell that some Eastern
King had espoused the cause of this babe, and was on his
way, with an army, to secure a throne for him. Their
question simply pertained to a babe whom they desired to
worship. It was a religious act entirely that they had
come to perform. The name they gave the babe, " King
of the Jews," might trouble Herod ; but surely there was
nothing to alarm Jerusalem. Herod was a tyrant, a
foreign tyrant, moreover, only indirectly a Jew; he might
be troubled ; but it ought not to have awakened fear in
any Jew, especially in any citizen of the royal city.

MATTHEW II. 3. 13

2. // was good news. A king born to Jerusalem ; this
was a good report, even had it afterwards turned out
untrue. The people might have said, It is too good
news to be true; but the very mention of it ought to have
called forth gladness, not trouble.

3. It was just what they were expecting. Messiah,
King of Israel, Redeemer of the nation, son of David,
heir of David's throne, He was the great national hope ;
a hope that had been cherished age after age, and had
not died out ; nay, was now more cherished than ever
because of present oppression, and because the time
foretold was fast running out. Now wise men ame
from the far East telling them they had seen the star of
their new-born King ; now the Gentile came to say that
he had heard of the glorious birth. Should they be
troubled'? Should they not rejoice"? Should they not
say like Jacob, " I have waited for thy salvation," or like
Simeon, "Now let thy servant depart in. peace, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation." But the announcement
that their hope is realised, their great national expectation
fulfilled, occasions only trouble !

How is this ] Why are they troubled ? Some might
be troubled because the tidings had come upon them in
this strange and unlocked for way; others might be so
because they did not know what such tidings foreboded.
But the chief trouble, and that of the greatest number,
* would arise from the consciousness of their not Icing pre-
pared. The tidings would go through Jerusalem, poor
and rich, Priest, Levite, citizen, Scribe and Pharisee,
the Messiah has come ; and then this would awaken

14 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

within the immediate question, AM I READY for his
coming 1 ? For every Jew had, more or less, an idea of
Messiah, according to the prophets j so that carnal as
many of their notions were, they yet knew He was
coming on an errand against evil, on a righteous mis-
sion, and they could not help asking, in such a case,
Am I ready for Him 1 They knew He was to be great,
glorious, just; co.uld they then meet Him face to face?

Ah, yes, they are troubled, because they are not ready !
The news went to their consciences. They might desire
his advent on some accounts, but the thoughts of it
troubled them because of others. He was to be the
messenger of a holy God. He was to be himself a holy
one. He was coming to do holy things and speak holy
words. This could not but alarm them. Hateful as was
the Roman yoke and Herod's tyranny, these were better
to them than the sceptre of a holy king.

The news of his coming searched them. It awoke
within them thoughts and fears that had lain dormant.
They expected Messiah, they wished him to come ; but
there were so many things connected with his character
and reign that made his presence undesirable, that they
could not hear of his arrival and not be troubled.

A man's conscience is sometimes more enlightened and
better instructed than his mind ; and when an appeal is
made to it by some solemnising piece of news, it immedi-
ately responds. Some sudden stroke of God's hand
upon a man, or his family, or his nation, hits his con-
science with special force ; and conscience asserts her
supremacy. As when the Sareptan widow's son was

MATTHEW II. 3. 15

taken from her, immediately her conscience responded with,
" O man of God art thou come to call my sin to remem-
brance, and to slay my son T A holy man of God enters
a worldly man's house, or the house of an inconsistent
Christian, and immediately the man is uneasy. His
conscience is disturbed. He is troubled as was Jeru-
salem when the tidings came, He is come !

Yes; Christ came not to send peace, but a sword; and
it was the flash of this sword that troubled Jerusalem.
There is something in Christ that troubles, alarms. We
know that it shall be so when He comes the second time.
They shall look on him and mourn ; all kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of Him. But his first advent has
something about it to trouble, too. It is not all peace.
Even apart from the glory, and terror, and judgment of
his secoiid, there is something in the announcement of his
first that startles the man and rouses the conscience.
The very grace that is in it is of an awfully solemnising
kind ; and no man can hear of that grace without feeling
that there is something in it from which he must of
necessity shrink, unless he is prepared to surrender him-
self unreservedly and believingly to Him whose grace it is.

He comes as an infant, yet He comes as a King. He
comes, offering rest, and forgiveness, and life ; yet He, at
the same time, makes a claim upon us which none will
accept save he whose heart has been touched by the
-Holy Ghost. He speaks to us in grace, he looks at us
in grace ; yet in doing so He presents us with a cross
which we must bear, with a yoke which we must take on.
He announces himself as Jesus the Saviour, yet, in doing

16 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

so, He lets us know that He is as a Saviour from sin, a
deliverer from this present evil world. Therefore it is
that He is not always welcomed \ nay, so often rejected.
Therefore it is that his presence in love and lowliness
troubles the sons of men. They are disarmed, perhaps
attracted, by that love and lowliness ; but the demands
which these make upon their whole being and life, their
allegiance, their obedience, their affection, are such as
they will not submit to. So they are troubled, and bid
Him depart out of their coasts.

The wise men were not "troubled." They were eager
and earnest in pursuit of Israel's King. They saw his
star in the East, and they made haste to seek Him out.
They saw nothing to alarm them, for they were prepared
at once to own Him for what He was revealed to be
nay, to worship Him. And being thus minded, what had
they to fear ? " Fear not ye ; I know that ye seek Jesus."
Being prepared to take Him, at any cost, they had
nothing to shrink from. For it is only they who are not
disposed to admit his entire claims that can be troubled
at the announcement of his advent, either his first or
his second. Take Him for what He is; take Him for
what He contains and offers; take Him for what the
Father testifies of Him, take Him entire, and you have
nothing to fear.

It seems strange to say, and yet it is true, that Christ
comes to trouble us, "Be troubled ye careless ones."
Woe to those who have never been troubled by Him
into whose hearts or consciences He has never looked with
his solemn eye, as in that day when He troubled Jeru-

MATTHEW II. 3. 17

salera. Elijah of old was counted the troubler of Israel,
so is Christ the troubler of the world.

He will not let men alone. He is ever and anon
announcing himself, coming into the midst of them, now
here and now there, and troubling them. He came to
Corinth, and it was troubled. He came to Thessalonica,
to Philippi, to Derbe, to Lystra, and they were "troubled."
He did not come with fire, or sword, or sweeping judg-
ment, yet they were " troubled." Wherever He comes,
He troubles. He came to Germany in the i6-th century,
to Switzerland, to Scotland, to England, and they were
troubled. He comes to a town, a city, a village, or a
family, and they are "troubled." He comes to a soul
lying asleep or dead, and it is "troubled."

What is at the bottom of all the persecutions of various
ages "? It is Christ troubling the world. If He would let
it alone, it would let Him alone. What means the outcry,
and alarm, and misrepresentation, and anger, in days of
revival"? It is Christ troubling the world. What means
the resistance to a fully preached gospel? It is Christ
troubling the world. A fettered gospel, a circuitous
gospel, a conditional gospel, a gospel that does not truly
represent Christ, troubles no man ; for in such cases it
is another Christ that is announced, and not the Christ,
the King of the Jews, that troubled Jerusalem. But a
large, free, happy, unconditional gospel, that fully repre-
^sents Jesus and his grace, Jesus and his completeness,
does trouble men. It troubles all to whom it comes, in

4

some measure. Some it troubles and then converts ) some
it only troubles, But its announcement does, more or

B

1 8 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

less, for all who hear it, what it did for Jerusalem in the
days of Herod, it troubles.

The world's only hope is to be " troubled " by Christ.
If He let it alone, all is over. Christ's errand just now is
to trouble men, to awaken them, to call them to
repentance. And the more fully He is preached, the
more are men troubled. Has a preached Christ ever
troubled you ? Has the thought of his coming near you
troubled you more ? And have you found that the only
quieter of such alarms is receiving Him as King and
Saviour "?

But Christ troubles the churches. As He did to
Jerusalem, so does He often to his churches. He
troubled Ephesus with, " Thou hast left thy first love."
He troubled Sardis with, " Thou hast a name that thou
livest, and art dead." He troubled Laodicea with, "Thou
art neither cold nor hot." So does He oftentimes trouble
his backsliding churches. He speaks, He comes, He
acts j and they are alarmed. They feel they are not
ready to meet Him. They are troubled.

Yet all this troubling is in love. He sounds his trum-
pet to awake the sleepers. He comes to us in grace as he
came to Jerusalem. Why should we be troubled ? We
need not, if we be willing to receive Him and to worship
Him. He does not wish to terrify or to repel. His
desire is to attract : to get entrance for Himself into our
hearts. Of course, if the world be there, and you are
unwilling to part with it, his coming will trouble you, his
knock will alarm you. If your idols refuse to be dis-
placed, if another king reigns within and is resolved to

MATTHEW IL 3. 19

keep his throne, the coming of Messiah must be the
cause of unmingled trouble. It cannot be otherwise,
for He demands your whole man complete and without
reserve. But if, through grace, you are weary of your
present occupants, and would fain be dispossessed of the
world and Satan, then here is the Christ, the Son of God,
He wants to come into your city, your house, your
heart. Give Him free welcome and glad entrance. Let
Him come in and sup with you. Let his grace constrain
you to willing obedience. He is thy Lord, worship thou
Him.

The Christ has come ! The angels announced Him,
the shepherds sought Him, the wise men worshipped
Him. Unto us a child is born ! O glad tidings of great
joy 1 Tidings not meant to terrify or overwhelm, but to
gladden and to comfort.

And we can add to this, the Christ has died ! Nay,
He has risen ! Ah ! this is not sorrow, this is joy. It is
the silver trumpet sounding out love, the love of God ;
not the iron trumpet, breathing vengeance in its blast. O
men of earth, sons of Adam, hear the proclamation.
Seek his face and live. Deal with Him in simple trust ;
He waits to deal with you in free and boundless love.

20 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

IV.
THE DESERT VOICE.

*' And now also the axe is laid unto the root of 'the trees : therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire" MATT. III. 10.

THIS is the voice of one crying in the wilderness ; the
voice of a second Elijah; the man of the desert;
the burning and shining light ; the forerunner of Messiah ;
the prophet of warning. He spoke to Israel ; he speaks
to us.

It is the voice of warning ; a trumpet voice ; prelude to
the last trumpet ; herald of coming wrath and woe. It
spoke first to Israel ; it speaks to the church ; it speaks
to Christendom; it speaks to the world; it speaks to each
of us.

I. The axe. This is judgment ; destruction. The axe
is not for planting, or pruning, or dressing, or propping, or
protecting, but for cutting down. It is spoken of as used
for trees (Dent. xx. 19) ; for the carved work of the temple
(Ps. Ixiv. 6) ; for towers (Ezek. xxvi. 9) ; for a whole forest
(Jer. Ixvi. 22, 23) ; for a battle-axe (Jer. li. 20). In all
cases for overthrow, utter overthrow. The axe against
Israel was the Roman host, and many such axes has God
wielded, age after age. Every judgment is an axe ; pes-
tilence is God's axe ; famine God's axe ; adversity God's
axe. At Christ's second coming will be the uplifting of

MATTHEW III. 10. 21

the axe against antichrist, against Christendom, against
every false church. There is a great difference between
the axe and the pruning knife. Yet some of God's
judgments are both in one. An axe to the ungodly ; a
pruning knife to the saint. It is God's axe, not man's ;
its edge is sharp ; it is heavy ; it will do its work well.

II. The forest. He is speaking, not of a tree, \mktrees ;
a forest. He is likening Israel to a forest. It may be an
olive-wood or a palm-wood, the oaks of Bashan or the cedars
of Lebanon. Israel is the forest, God's forest, planted
by God, on God's own hills and valleys. So also is the

church ; and each member is a tree in that forest. On
* *

that forest God has his eye ; from its trees God comes
seeking fruit. From the forest of Lebanon trees were
once cut doAvn for the temple ; but this is for destruction,
not for building nor ornament.

III. The warning. The axe lies at the root of these
trees. He who placed it there placed it for a warning.
He saw his trees not prospering, not growing, not bearing
fruit, and He resolved to proceed against them. He can-
not tolerate fruitlessness, for which there is no excuse.
But He \ patient; so He contents himself simply with laying
down the axe, leaving it to speak its own lesson, to tell its
own tale, a tale of coming judgment, which yet may be
averted by fruitfulness. It is laid down and left to lie ;
not cast down, as if hastily or at random. It is laid down
at the root, for it is not against leaves or branches, but
against the root that the vengeance is to be directed.

IV. The execution. The axe lies idle for a time, its
sharp edge glittering in the sun. But it is to be lifted up.

22 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

The forest is to be cut down, not stripped as by the hurri-
cane, nor blasted as by lightning, but cut down at the
very root j laid upon the ground ; no longer its waving
branches and leaves making a goodly show, but " cut
down," separated from that soil out of which it was ex-
tracting no fruitfulness. " Cut it down " is the command !
Why does itfretend to be a fruitful tree with its leaves and
branches ? Cut it down ; why does it thus impose upon
the eye ? why cumbereth it the ground 1

V. The doom. Cast into the fire. Not left to wither,
but cast out to be consumed. It cumbered the ground
when living ; it must not. do so when dead. Let it be
burned ! Nothing for it but the fire. Its end is to be
burned. And the fire is everlasting ; it shall not be
quenched; and yet the tree shall never be consumed.
Awful doom. Never quenched, never consumed I Its
smoke rising up for ever and ever. No possibility of re-
storation ! No hope of this tree (as in that of which Job
speaks, xiv. 7) ; no water to make it bud again. Nothing
but the ever-consuming fire.

VI. The cause. Unfruitfulness in good. Not extreme
wickedness, but simple unfruitfulness in good ! How
searching this announcement. O ye that count on
heaven because you have done no harm, look here. If
you have done no good, borne no good fruit, that is
enough ! And the sentence is as sweeping as it is search-
ing, for it is " every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit."
No exception, no sparing, " They shall not escape."

This, then, is the process that is now going on ; this is
the nature of the present dispensation. If it were to be

MATTHEW III. 10. 23

depicted by emblem, it would be an axe lying at the root
of a tree !

Christ, at his first corning, laid the axe there ; at his
second coming He will lift it up and smite ! The axe was
laid down when Israel least thought of such a thing ; when
they were boasting of privilege, and calling themselves
children of Abraham ; so it shall be lifted up to smite,
when men are saying "peace and safety;" boasting of
progress and reform, and deliverance from the bigotry of
narrow-minded men.

Now is the age of trial, of probation. Israel's forest
was found barren, and was cut down. Now Christendom

^

is on its trial. Shall it be cut down 1 It has been long
spared. Is it fruitful ? Thou^ O man, art on thy trial 1
What is to be the issue when the Lord comes ?

24 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

V.
JESUS IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON.

11 And J-esus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner oj
sickness, and all manner of disease, among the people" MATT. IV. 23.

IT is Christ himself that comes before us here ; Christ
in his life and doings here below; Christ as the God-
man, the sent of God, the revealer of the Father ; Christ
as the sinner's friend and helper. By looking at Him as
He was on earth, we learn what He is now in heaven ;
our faith gets a soil in which to root itself; a foundation
on which to rest. We see Him on earth full of grace and
truth ; in heaven the same ; just such an one as a sinner
can approach, and trust, and love ; just such an one as
possesses all that a sinner needs. Mark these three things
here ( i.) Jesus the teacher ; (2.) Jesus the preacher ; (3.)
Jesus the healer.

I. Jesus the Teacher. He is the great giver of instruc-
tion to the sons of men ; for He is the word and the
wisdom ; He is the lesson as well as the teacher. " Who
teacheth like Him " who says, " Learn of me." They who
come to Him He calls " disciples," men who enter his
school, and come to Him for instruction. As such He
receives them and deals with them ; for He has u com-
passion on the ignorant." Not in one thing, but in all
things does He teach. He teaches the inner man, for
He has access to the spirits of men. He speaks to ear,

MATTHEW IV. 23. 25

and heart, and conscience. There is no teaching like
his for completeness, for efficacy, and for the moulding of
the whole man. He speaks, and we hear. We speak,
and He hears. He comes to us ; we go to Him. And
in this blessed interchange between the scholar and the
Master, the great work of enlightenment, renovation,
expansion, consolation takes place. Of all teachers, He
is the wisest and most learned, as well as the most
patient, loving, and painstaking. He openeth our ears to
hear and our eyes to see. As He did in Galilee in the
days of his flesh, so does He now over all the earth,
though at the Father's right hand.

II. The Preacher. That is, He is the herald, the
proclaimer of news from God. He is specially noted here
as the herald of one thing, that is, "the gospel of the
kingdom," the good news about the kingdom. What
had He to proclaim in this respect 1

(i.) That there was a kingdom. Not merely a state of
blessedness or safety ; not merely pardon and salvation ;
but a kingdom; with all its royalty, and glory, and
grandeur. " There is a kingdom " is his message.

(2.) That the gate oj this kingdom is open. Once
closed, now thrown wide open; once fenced with the
flaming sword, now unguarded and unfenced.

(3.) That this gate has been thrown open by God. It
has not been man that has accomplished it : God has
done it, with his own hand and power, and all in love.

(4.) That God has thrown it open in righteoicsness. It has
not been forced open, nor merely opened because of impor-
tunity or pity, but righteously. Righteousness closed it,

26 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

righteousness has opened it. Righteous entrance for
unrighteous men ! This was his message ; this is ours.

(5.) That the entrance is free. No payment of any
kind. The poorest, neediest, unfittest, most unqualified
may enter at once. It is for such ! Not for the good,
but for the bad !

(6.) That it is nigh. The kingdom of God has come
nigh unto you, was his message. Its gate is at our gate.
There is but a step from the one to the other.

These were glad tidings ! And they came from Him
who knew them well ; who knew the kingdom ; who had
a right to speak of it; for He was its King. He has
come to earth seeking to fill that kingdom of his; to
obtain kings for it ; fellow-kings along with himself.
This is our proclamation still. A kingdom ! A kingdom !
Heavenly, holy, glorious, blessed ! An open gate ! Mes-
sengers sent out to entreat and compel men to come in !
Oh enter in ! Oh become kings ; heirs of a throne !

III. Jesus the healer. He has come to an hospital, a
city of the plague, a world where all are sick and dying ;
both in soul and body. Heavenly skill is his ; nay, divine.
Medicine is his ; love to the sick is in his heart, and the
balm of Gilead in his hand. He healed " all manner of
sickness, and all manner of disease among the people."
He did so in fulfilment of his divine errand. He did so
to manifest his divine fulness and skill. He did so to
shew his power and willingness to heal worse diseases.
He did so to attract and invite the spiritually sick, the
blind, the deaf, the lame, the leprous, the palsied, all
that are sick, whatever the nature of their disease. He is

MATTHEW IV. 23. 27

the great healer still ! And we come to Him for health.
He is the tree of life, both in leaf and fruit. He beckons
us to his shade and healing. Wilt thou be made whole ? is
his question to each. He wants to be made use of by us.
He entreats as a favour that we employ Him as our
physician, and that we apply for his medicines. We need
not specify them, indeed, we cannot, He knows what
they are, as He knows what our sickness is. There is
not one sick soul here that He is unwilling to heal.
apply j apply at once !

28 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

VI.

HIS SUN.
lt He maketh his sun to rise." MATT. V. 45.

ERE is the true link between God and "nature"
(as men call it), and between us and nature.
Here is the divine claim to proprietorship, to lordship over
"nature." All things are God's. No created thing is the
proprietor of itself or of any other created thing. There
is but one proprietor, one universal proprietor, one to
whom all things belong in a way in which they cannot
belong to any other, one whose proprietorship cannot be
dissolved or sold ; for it is an everlasting proprietorship
resulting from the great truth that God is God, and that
no creature is or can be God. He who says, " All souls
are mine " (Ezek. xviii. 4), says also, All things are mine.
Creaturehood is divine property. Hence the shepherd
comes seeking his own lost property (Luke xv. 4) ; the
woman searches for her lost pi'operty (Luke xv. 8).
Heaven and earth are God's property ; the Sun is " his
sun" ; far more his than ours. For,

(i.) He made it. May He not then claim it as his
own 1 Is not creatorship the basis of the truest proprie-
torship 1 Yes, He made the sun. Is it not then his ?
Is not every ray of it, morn, and noon, and eve, all his]

(2.) He kindled it. It would appear that it was not
lighted up, or at least for our earth, till the fourth day.

MATTHEW V. 45. 29

Then He who made it, kindled it, and bade it shine for us.
Is it not his sun ? He commanded it to shine, and it
shone.

(3.) He keeps it burning. It is not allowed to burn low
or to go out. He supplies it with all that is needful, and
says to it, Burn on, burn on. He leads it up each morn-
ing, and over the arch of noon, and down into the west.
All this rising and setting, this daily shining and shading,
this coming and departing, are his. It is his sun empha-
tically. Were it not for Him it would go out- in obscure
darkness.

(4.) He makes it do his work. It has done his work in
ages past ; it has shone in past generations, and is shining
still. The same sun that shone on Adam, and Noah, and
Abraham, and Paul, nay, and on Jesus the Christ of
God, shines on us, doing its work for us. Yes ; the
same sun in Europe as in Asia, in Palestine as in Scot-
land !

Let us see how it does God's work ; how it has been
doing this, and is doing so still. In this work we notice,
mercy, miracle, type, judgment.

I. Mercy. Yes ; God set his sun in the heaven for
mercy He makes it to arise on the evil and the good, to
speak of "his free love, and lead men to repentance.

(i.) It enlightens. What a world without the light of
the sun. Herein is love.

(2.) // heals. There is health in the sunbeam as well
as in the fresh air. The sun's rays are healing. Light is
medicine.

(3-) R gladdens. Sunshine is joy. It gladdens all

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

earth, poor and rich. It diffuses joy over hill and dale ;
in the hall and the chamber, in the hut and the palace.

(4.) It fructifies* It makes all living things to grow and
bring forth fruit. No sunshine, no life; no growth, no
fruit. For man and beast, for herb and tree, for flower
and leaf, sunshine brings growth and fruitiulness. Such
is God's love in sunshine. Ah, yes, it is his sun ! It
does his work.

II. Miracle. It has been associated with miracle in past
ages. We call to mind Joshua, Egypt, Hezekiah, the Cruci-
fixion-darkness. God has used it for miracle ; for the display
of his power. He kindles or quenches, He sends it on its
course, or arrests it, or makes it turn backward, all accord-
ing to his pleasure. That sun is to us the memorial of
the mighty power of G-od, his miracle-working hand. By
it, and in it, He doeth wonders (Ps. xix. 4, 6). Praise
Him then ye sun and moon, praise Him all ye stars of
light (Ps. cxlviii. 3).

III. Type. G-od has made use of his sun and its light
for types in many ways. It is the type of the inner light \
of Him who is the light of the world, of the Sun of right-
eousness. It does God's work in serving as a type for
such things as these. Let it thus do his work to us, and
for us each day that it shines. Type of the true light, the
the light of heaven, the light of the soul, the light of
Christ, how glorious art thou, O Sun !

IV. Judgment. It spoke of judgment to Egypt when
for three days it was blotted out. It spake of judgment
to Judea and to earth, when for three hours it was shrouded,
when Jesus was dying. But it specially is connected with

MATTHEW V. 45. 31

judgment in the book of Revelation. It became black
as sackcloth of hair (vi. 1 2) ; the third part was smitten
(viii. 12); the fourth angel's vial was poured out on the
sun, and it had power to scorch men with fire (xvi. 8) ;
an angel stood in the sun to summon all beasts and fowls
to the great banquet of slaughtered kings and captains.
These are some of the ways in which God has connected
his sun with judgment.

Yes, it is his sun. Jesus has taught us the expression ;
let us not lose it. That little word means much.

It is his sun ; then is it also ours; ours because his ;
made by him for us.

His sun ; then it speaks to us of Him. It is a bright
and golden link between Him and us.

His sun then let us enjoy it as such ; for it shines not
by chance or by mere laws of nature. He who made it
bids us enjoy it.

His sun j then let us learn his love j his love even in
its radiance, much more in that light of which it is the
type.

His sun ; then let us love as He loves, and shine as He
shines. Let us love the unthankful and the evil, doing
good to all ; and liking to bless and gladden all.

His sun ; then it is Himself whom we behold ; it is
He who shines. We say, "it rains," as if chance or
nothing were the author of the rain. So we speak too of
sunlight ; forgetting that it is God himself that is shining
in every ray.

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

VII.
HUMAN LEPROSY AND ITS DIVINE CURE.

" WJien he was come down from the mountain, great multittides fol-
lowed him. And, behold, there came a leper, and worshipped him,
saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou -canst make me clean. And Jesus put
forth his hand, and toziched him, saying, I will, I e thou clean. And
immediately his leprosy was cleansed." MATT. VIII. 1-3.

Lord ends speaking and begins working; He
comes down from the pulpit and enters the hos-
pital. Such is his whole life : words and deeds inter-
mingled ; words of health and deeds of health. His lips
breathe fragrance, and in his hand is the balm of Gilead.

Crowds follow him ; but it is with one only that we have
here to do. Let us mark,, (i.) the leper ; (2.) his healer.

I. The leper. He is one of the vast multitude ; but
there is a difference between him and them. They flock
to and follow Jesus ; but not as men full of wants ; only
to see and hear some new or curious things. But there is
one exception, the leper ; one whose whole head was
sick and heart faint \ one who not merely needs Christ,
but knows that he needs Him.

(i.) He comes. All are needy in some way or other;
he only so feels his need as to step out from the crowd
and draw more closely to the Lord. It is his need, his dis-
ease that prompts and brings him. So is it still, Crowds
following Jesus, only a few dealing personally with him.
Yet what else will do ?

MATTHEW VIII. 1-3. 33

(2.) He worships. He kneels before the Lord. What
he has heard has given him high thoughts of Christ.
Surely He is the Son of God, the Christ of God. It is
with high thoughts of Him that we must come; poor
thoughts of ourselves.

(3.) He pleads* He has something to say, and he says
it briefly and well. It is with no laboured or set speech
that he comes. He tells his need, and utters his thoughts
of Christ: "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
He knows that He can; and he casts himself upon his
sovereign will for the exercise of this power in his case.
The "if" is not so much an expression of doubt as to his
willingness as an appeal to his will. It is not unbelief but
faith that speaks the " if." He wants to be made clean,
and He casts himself on Christ for this. He is the
hyssop, the water, the blood, the ashes, the priest, the
physician, all in one. Thus we still come, doubting neither
the willingness nor the power, yet casting ourselves on the
will of the Lord ; not presuming to dictate, yet appealing
to his sovereign grace. As the needy, the sick, the unclean,
we come , for the whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick.

II. The Healer. He is Jesus of Nazareth ; the phy-
sician of Gilead, with the balm in his hand ; He who tells
us, " The whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick"; who asks, "Wilt thou be made whole 1 ?" He carries
with him all the health and the skill of heaven. He was
known as such when here; He is known as such still.
The healer of the world !

(i.) He put forth his hand. He does not shrink from

34 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

nearness to the leper he is not afraid of infection. He
invites approach ; and in token of his sympathy and kind-
ness, He puts forth his hand. That hand now wields the
golden sceptre , it is the nail-pierced hand ; and it is still
put forth. It contains as much of health, and power, and
blessing, as when he was here.

(2.) He touched kirn. Not nearness merely, but touch;
the one might indicate the willingness, the other brings the
cure itself. It is contact with the Healer that we need ;
nothing short of this ! We touch him, He touches us !
This is all. A touch draws out the heavenly electricity,
and pervades us with its divine energy.

(3.) He spoke. Voice and hand go together. " I will, be
thou clean." He lets him know that the will in him is no
obstacle. The leper suspected that the sovereignty might
be a barrier. Jesus removes the fear. No. My will is
not the hindrance. Ye will not \ not I will not. This
was never found an obstacle when Jesus was here j nor is
it so now. To each coming one his language is still, " I
will, be thou clean." Our will is the hindrance, not his.

(a) It is the voice of love. He pities the leper, and
hastens to let him know this. He has compassion on him,
and does not keep him in suspense. He has no pleasure
in delays.

(b) It is the voice of authority. It reminds us of
Genesis i. 2, 3. He speaks as one who knew that he
could cure. Not hesitatingly. Nor are the words a
prayer, but a command. He speaks, and it is done.

(c) It is the voice of power. He has the power to
carry his authority into effect. He speaks, and it is done.

MAJTHEW Vill. 1-3. 35

He said once, "Let there be light, and there was light.."
He speaks now, " Be whole," and the leprosy is cleansed,
Thus love, authority, and power are all conjoined. It is
the voice of Omnipotence.

He is the same Christ still; with the same love, and
authority, and power. He is still the Healer , and the
worst of diseases fly from his touch and voice. Let us go
to Him with all that afflicts us. He can and He will heal
us of all.

It is hard to persuade men that this is really the case ;
that the Son of God has to do with lepers still ; that he is
the physician for the worst of diseases ; and that as He
asks no reward for the cure, so He asks no preparation nor
qualification in the diseased one. With our whole leprosy
we come ; He takes our case in hand ; He touches and
heals. There is no case of evil too hard for Him ; no
human leprosy too incurable for His skill; no human leper
so repulsive as to make Him shrink back. Jordan
did not flee from the touch of the Syrian leper, but
bade him welcome when he came to its waters ; so Jesus
turns not away from the most loathsome specimen of
diseased humanity that ever presented itself to His gaze
or touch.

He wants to heal ! Wilt thou not, O man, give Him
the opportunity which He seeks of healing thee ? The
whole head may be sick, and the whole heart faint.
But what of that? Is He not able to heal to the
uttermost 1 ? Be persuaded to present thyself to Him,
just as thou art. Give this divine Healer thy simple
confidence. Take Him for what He is, and He will.

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

take thee for what thou art. Thus shalt thou meet
in love ; thou to be healed, and He to heal ; thou
to have the joy of being healed, and He to have
the joy of healing thee, and to anounce to heaven,
in the presence of the angels of God, that another
leper has been healed !

MATTHEW VIII. 24. 37

VIII.
MAN'S DISLIKE AND DREAD OF CHRIST.

'* Andy leJiold^ the whole city came out to meet Jesiis; and when they
saw him, they beso^lght him that he wozild depart out of their coasts"
MATT, VIII. 34.

I SCARCELY know a verse of Scripture where there
is such a melancholy contrast between the beginning
and the close. The first part is so hopeful, the second so
disastrous. The first seems to lift us to heaven, the
second to cast us down to hell. The whole city flocks to
Jesus ; but its multitudes have scarcely reached him when
they ask Him to quit their coasts ; not their city merely,
but their region ; as if the farther off the better. They do
not turn their back on Him, but worse : they ask Him to
turn his back on them. Yet the scene was not an un-
common one in our Lord's history. It was much the
same as in the synagogue of Nazareth ; and in Caper-
naum after the miracle of the loaves (John vi. 24 ...
66); and afterwards at Jerusalem when one day they
shouted "hosannah," the next, "crucify." Alas, that it
should be still the same in our own day !

Let us mark,

. I. The coming. "The whole city came out to meet
Jesus." Not some, not the city, but the whole city!
It was a universal movement j and a most interesting one.
A whole city flocking out to meet Jesus ! Surely this

38 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

would make angels glad. It was one of the most mar-
vellous and blessed sights that had been seen. Ah, how
seldom had such a thing been seen, or is seen now !
They had heard that He had done a miracle, that He
had cast out devils, and they flocked to Him. The
report of those who kept the swine had moved the city !
A swineherd's tale had made all the city turn out to meet
Him ! O wondrous spectacle !

II. The seeing. It would appear that Jesus was on his
way to their city ; so they soon met Him, saw Him,
heard Him. They did not remain afar off, but came
nigh. So that their feelings towards Him, and treatment
of Him, were not founded on mere report. They heard
what others had to say ; but they also saw for themselves.
And it is this seeing that so aggravates their guilt What
they did and said, they said and did in the full knowledge
of what He was.

III. The refusing. They besought Him to depart out
of their coasts. An awful request, in many ways. They
had sick among them, did they not want them to be
healed? They had others, perhaps, possessed with
devils, did they not want them to be delivered 1 ? The
sick beseeching the physician not to visit them ! The
famished city entreating the benevolent store-keeper not
to bring them bread ! The thirsty traveller filling up the
one well in the desert ! The shipwrecked sailors request-
ing the life-boat to keep away from them ! Was there
ever a request so sad, so fatal? Why was this? There
was something in Jesus that drew them ; but there was
more that they disliked. What they heard about the

MATTHEW VIII. 24. 39

devils and the swine made them afraid. If He came. He
would drive out their herds of swine; He would not spare
their sins. They would like Him as the physician of
the body, but not of the soul. His company seemed
dangerous and terrible. The destruction of that herd of
swine was his doing, no doubt ; and He who could send
the devils into the swine could send them into themselves.
It was terrible to be near one who had such power over
spirits. So they besought Him to depart. And it would
appear that He departed. He took ship immediately,
and sailed to the other side j and as they saw Him de-
parting, and the white sail vanishing out of sight, they
would be relieved as by the retreat of some fearful enemy.
The departure of the Son of God was matter of mutual
congratulation to these Gadarenes ! The scene is a fearful
one ; the lessons most impressive. Their " depart from
us " is a foreboding of his " depart from me " (Matt. xxv.
41).

(i.) How near salvation they were. It was on its wa>>
to them. It would soon have entered their gates. They
were going to meet it, and it was coming to meet them.
Hew blessed ! Was salvation ever nearer ! It seemed
now as if nothing could hinder their being blest. Yet it
passed away j and they were the cause. They would
not have it. Thus near is salvation to us every hour ;
yet we put it away. " I would," and " ye would not " are
still the words of awful truth. Nay, they themselves at
first seemed bent on having it; a whole city bent on being
saved, rushing in one multitude to the Saviour ! But it
turned out to be not the kind of salvation which they

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Trained ; and He not the kind of Saviour they cared for.
So the} 7 would have none of Him ! Thus we neglect the
great salvation though so near, and despise the Saviour
though coming to meet us ; nay, standing at our side !

(2.) How they wronged the Saviour. " They were
taken with great fear" (Luke viii. 37). What had He
done to alarm them or to create distrust ? He had healed
their sick, cast out devils, restored the lunatic to his
right mind ; ought these to have raised hard thoughts of
Him 1 Especially, should not the sight of Him have
proved attractive '? Yet it was when they saw Him that
they besought Him to depart. Or was the destruction of
their swine enough to outweigh these miracles of mercy 1
Yes; He smote their covetousness, and reproved them
for their unlawful gains. And this they could not bear.
But how grievously did they wrong Him in this, putting
false constructions on His works of mercy and of right-
eousness. They wronged his love, his interest in their
welfare, his desire to break the power of hell among them.
Do we not thus wrong Him constantly 1 ? Is not all
unbelief a wronging of Christ, a repetition of the sin of
the Gadarenes, and with less excuse than theirs ?

(3.) How they wronged themselves. When beseeching
Him to depart out of their coasts, they were sending away
their one friend and physician, quenching their one light.
The word "besought" implies that he was bent on
remaining ; and they desisted not in their entreaties till
they had constrained Him to depart. awful impor-
tunity of sin and unbelief! And is not this still the
attitude of unbelief % Does it not say, Depart from me ?

MATTHEW VI1L 24. 41

Is not its meaning just, O Jesus I beseech thee do not
convert me ; do not save me, do not cast out Satan, let
me alone, what have I to do with thee or thou with me 1
And Jesus yields at length. He sails away; and with
Him all heaven \ with Him salvation, and life, and joy.

42 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

IX.

THE REST AND THE REST-GIVER. -

<

** Come tinto me^ all ye tliat labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest" MATT. XI. 28.

! C~jrHE Speaker here is the Son of God. It is not
-* man speaking to man and sympathising with
man, but it is God himself coming up to us and uttering
his divine compassion. He sees our case. He knows
exactly what we need. He is able to bless us to the full.
It is not helpless love giving vent to kind but unavailing

sympathy ; it is the love, the pity, the tenderness of
Omnipotence. It is heaven that is pouring out its compas-
sionate yearnings over eattJi, and stretching down to it
the helping hand of power. It is the great Creator draw-
ing near to his alienated but sorrowful creature, and pre-
senting him with rest. After the great work of Creation
God "rested"; he invites his weary creatures to share
his rest. Rest in me and rest with me is his gracious
message. It takes omnipotence to give rest to the weary
sinner.

II. The persons spoken to are the inhabitants of Galilee.
That region was reputed the worst in the land ; yet it was
to them that the Son of God spoke. The crowd that he
was speaking to was composed of the inhabitants of
Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, the worst in
Galilee. They were compared with Tyre and Sidon,

MATTHEW XL 28. . 43

Sodom and Gomorrha, and declared worse than these by
our Lord himself. They had more advantages than others.
They were the cities wherein most of his mighty works
were done. They were the least deserving of favour of all
the inhabitants of the land j the most deserving of wrath.
III. The character tender which they are spoken to is
that of toiling^ burdened ones. " All ye that labour and are
heavy laden." They were sinners ; but that was not all ;
they were sinners "toiling" and "borne down with heavy
burdens." The word "labour" is frequently used to
denote the toiling process itself (Luke v 5), or the result
of it in weariness, as when it is said, " Jesus being wearied
with his journey," sat down, thus wearied, to rest by the
well (John iv. 6). The " burdens" are such as those with
which the Pharisees loaded their followers (Lake xi. 46).
It is no particular kind of labour or burden that is meant
here ; but any labour, any burden whatsoever. It may be
worldly toil, and vexation, and disappointment j it may be
the wretchedness, and weariness, and soreness of spirit
which sin brings after it ; it may be the feeling of those

who are asking, Who will shew us any good? what matters
it ? It is human wretchedness and. weariness from what-
ever cause, human thirst, human hunger, the emptiness
of an aching heart that would fain be happy , but knows
not how or where to find happiness. They who are
spoken to are spending their money for that which is not
bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not. The
words then are very wide, wide as the wide earth. They
are broad and full. They are unconditional and universal.
They mean every one. They take in every weary son of

44 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Adam. The question is not, " Is your labour of the right
kind?" or, "is your weariness a true and spiritual weari-
ness?" but, " are you a weary sinner?" And who is not ?
Though indeed some are more weary than others.

But now let us mark the substance of the Lord's invita-
tion, as thus given out to the worst and most weary of
the sons of men. That which is promised here is rest.
This rest is for the weary. This rest is a gift. This gift
\sfrom Christ. This gift is obtained "by going to this Christ,

(i.) Here is rest. It is what God calls rest; and there-
fore must be truly such. It is what man needs; and
without which he must drag on a weary sorrowful life.
You need rest, O man ! Here it is for you. Never did
you need it more than in this restless, noisy, bustling,
pleasure-loving age. Do not reject it. Rest for the
weary ! This is our message.

(2.) This rest is a gift. It cannot be bought with
money, nor found by search, nor obtained by travel. It is
a gift. Free rest ! This is our gospel. Rest to all who
need it. Rest to any one who will take it. O free gift
of rest, how art thou despised by the sons of men ! They
are weary, and would buy rest at any price ; but they will
not take it free !

(3.) This rest is Chris fs gift. "I will give you rest."
I will refresh you. I will be as the dew unto Israel, re-
freshing and reviving, after the heat of the day. From
the hand of Christ alone it comes. He brought it with
him from heaven, and he gives it to us. It is blood-
bought rest It is love-given rest. Jesus stands with this
precious blessing in his hand ; or rather He goes up to

MATTHEW XL 28. . 45

every weary child of Adam and offers "him rest, his own
rest, the rest of the Father and the Son.

(4.) This rest is for the weary* Simply for those who
need it ! For all Christ's gifts are suitable. I am the
resting-place, He says ; weary sinner, sit down here ; sit
down, just because you are weary. As the thirsty man
drinks because he is thirsty, and the hungry eats because he
is hungry, so the weary rest, because they are weary! How
near is rest to us ! How simple is God's way of giving it !

(5.) This rest is got by coming to Christ, It is only from
Him that we can get it ; and there must be a direct deal-
ing with Him concerning it The knowledge of Him is
rest! His words are rest! His cross is rest! All we
know concerning him is rest ! We try other resting-places ;
let us try this. We go to others ; let us go to Him: Let
us transact with Him. It is the weary that He welcomes !
It is with the weary that He delights to share his blessed
rest ! Go to Him for rest, O weary one ! He will not
deny it.

He invites. Come unto me ! Is not that enough 1 Do
you need further warrant ?

He beckons. It is as if he were stretching out his hands,
beckoning you to draw near !

He beseeches. His are earnest words, and He himself
is in earnest, thoroughly in earnest. He entreats you to take
his rest ; as if rest were no rest to Him till you shared it.

He commands. The words before us are imperative.
He commands you to come. You cannot lose this rest,
but by deliberately disobeying his command ! Could rest
be brought nearer than this ]

46 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

X.

THE THREE EXCHANGES.

'* Take my yoke upon you., and learn of me ; for I am meek, and
lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your souls" MATTHEW
XI. 29.

THE previous verse contains the Lord's promise of
rest; free, large, immediate, universal. The
present verse is added to shew -the way in which He
carries out that promise.

"Three things are implied as producing the unrest of
man : the kind of yoke, the kind of burden, and the kind
of teaching. He has had a yoke of a most galling kind,
a burden intolerably heavy, and teaching which has made
these unspeakably worse. From these three sources of
weariness the Lord proposes to deliver. Not simply by
loosing the yoke, and removing the burden, and condemn-
ing the false teaching, but by substituting others in their
place ; a yoke of his own, a burden of his own, teaching
01 his own.

The figure of the " yoke " is taken from the agricultural
apparatus fastened round the neck and shoulders of the
animals used in ploughing, which, in the east, is very
cumbersome and painful, subjecting them to great re-
straint, bending them down, and preventing their eating,
as well as their free motion, in any direction. Eastern
harness is both clumsy and cruel. In Lev. xxvi. 13 it is

MATTHEW XI. 29. 47

used for the bondage of Egypt, " I have broken the band
of your yoke, and made you to go upright." In Deut.
xxviii. 48 we have reference to the Roman yoke, "He
shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck." Other allusions
of this kind are frequent, and we may notice that God, in
speaking of his love to Israel, says, " I was to them as
they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat
before them." In the passage before us we may take the
" yoke " as referring to the yoke of sin, and the yoke of
the Pharisees, which was more grievous to the spirit and
conscience than the yoke of Egypt, or Assyria, or Rome,
was to the body or the outward estate.

The word " burden " refers sometimes to the load upon
a "beast of burden," and sometimes to the freight of a
ship, or the weight upon the shoulders of a carrier. See
Isa. xlvi. i where the innumerable idols of Babylon are
predicted as being carried off by the conqueror : " Their
idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle; your
carriages were heavy laden, they are a burden to the
weary beast." It was with heavier burdens that the
Pharisees loaded the shoulders of their followers (Matt,
xxiii. 4, Luke ii. 46),

The expression, "Learn of me," may mean either "take
me for your teacher," or "take me for your copy or model."
In both these senses the teaching of the Pharisees . was
fitted only to produce unrest.

Such then are the three sources of a sinner's unrest.
Our Lord offers to abolish them. Yet not simply to
abolish them, but to give something in exchange, far more
blessed. He has a substitute or exchange for each of

48 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

these respectively, a substitute which will not merely
remove the unrest arising from these three causes, but
will give in exchange three corresponding things fitted to
impart rest at each of the points whence formerly 'the
unrest had proceeded.

I. The exchange of yokes. " Take my yoke upon you."
As if He said I too have a yoke, but very different from
that which has hitherto galled your shoulders ; here it is
at your side ; take it ; put it on ; it is easy and pleasant :
thus you shall find rest for your souls. Yokes are for the
purpose of constraining the unwilling and resisting animal
to submit to its owner's will, and do its master's work.
Christ's yoke is certainly for the purpose of fitting us for do-
ing his will and work } but then it does this by making us
thoroughly willing, by making the service pleasant, by
removing everything that galls or wounds. It is an "easy
yoke," so easy that it makes the work easy and delightful;
we would not part with this yoke ; it is pleasant to bear, and
the work is pleasant to do. We may understand it thus.
The yoke is that which He says to us or bids us do ; it is
also the way in which He says this, so tender and gracious ,
it is the spirit He infuses, the spirit of love and liberty. It
is the yoke of forgiveness and peace. Did not he lay this
yoke upon the sinning woman when He said, "Neither do
I condemn thee ; go, and sin no more." Did He not lay
it on Zaccheus when He said, " Come down, for to-day I
must abide at thy house." Did He not lay it on his
disciples when first He said, Follow me, and when after-
wards He said, " As the Father hast loved me, so have I
loved you ; continue ye in my love." It is not the yoke

MATTHEW XL 29. 49

of bondage, or gloom, or penance, or uncertainty, or
terror, but the yoke of the " new commandment," which
springs from his love to us, and leads us to love and serve
in return. Thus we get a new Master, we enter on a new
service, with new and blessed laws, of which the beginning
and the end is love. Hear Him saying, " Take my yoke
upon you j for my yoke is easy."

II. The exchange o) burdens. " My burden is light."
Your present burden is hard and heavy, it weighs you
down, it makes you faint under it ; you are like Israel
under the burdens of Egypt. Let me take that off, and
give you one of my own in exchange. You will find the
difference. Mine is light ; it not only does not press you
down, but it raises you up, it makes you lighter and
more buoyant than before. This " burden " is his whole
service or the things which he calls us to do or suffer for
Him. For in taking his yoke we do not become idlers.
We work. But all our work for Him is gladness ; every
new piece of work raises instead of depressing us. Such
is the power of his love shed abroad in our hearts, the
love that casts out fear, the love that passeth knowledge.

III. The exchange of teaching. " Learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly in heart " not in word or outward de-
meanour like the Pharisee, but in heart. Take me for
your teacher take me for your model ; learn of one who
will not be angry at your ignorance and stupidity ; imi-
tate one who will shew you what it is to be lowly. Learn
of me, He says to you. All other teaching is unrest ; this
is rest and peace. It is the teaching of love ; it speaks of
love ; it offers love j it exhibits love ; the love of Father,

D

50 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Son, and Holy Ghost. The reception of this teacher
and his teaching is liberty, is rest, is deliverance, is glad-
ness. It is this which heals the soul, which binds up all
its wounds, which dispels all its clouds.

O man, let Jesus teach you. Give up your intellect,
your heart, your whole soul to his teaching. He knows
what to teach and how to teach. His teaching is rest ! Of
no other teaching can this be said ; all besides this is
unrest and weariness. Of this only it is not true, that
increasing knowledge increaseth sorrow.

MATTHEW XII. 41. . 51

XL

NINEVEH AND HER TESTIMONY.

" The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation^
and shall condemn it : because they repented at the preaching of Jonas;
and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." MATT. XII. 41.

IT is sometimes good to compare the present with the
past; to mark the likeness or contrast; the progress or
the regress. We may thus get a warning, or an encourage-
ment, or a stimulus. Let the past speak to the present.
The day is coming when the present shall speak to the
future. Each day, each year, each age, has a voice to its
successor, nay, to all its successors.

Our Lord here interprets the past. He bids it speak to
the present. He bids the present listen. He re-animates
past scenes ; he gives life to the dead. Out of theii graves
He calls up a voice. Let us hear their message to Israel,
and their message to us.

I. Nineveh and its sin. It is of a heathen city that He
speaks. He does not overlook heathenism or heathen-
dom. It is a city wholly given to idolatry ; immersed in
pleasure ; elated by its greatness ; ambitious of universal
dominion ; a city of palaces and temples ; a city of
chariots and horses ; a city of princes and warriors ; a city
of pomp and splendour ; a city that knows not Jehovah,
that scorns his people, and abhors his city and his land.
The cup of its guilt was deep and full (Nahum iii. 1-19.)
Its character resembles that of our cities. Its sins are

52 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

ours. Pride, fulness of bread, love of pleasure, intoxica-
tion, covetousness, vanity, lust, gaiety, these mark us as
they did the men of Nineveh. Our sins are multiplying.
Our cup is fast filling.

II. Nineveh and its repentance. It was a heathen city,
yet it repented j a proud and lofty city, yet it repented,
king and people. It had no knowledge nor wisdom, yet
it repented. Jonah was its first prophet, yet it repented.
One sermon did the work. One trumpet-blast shook the
city. It was not a word of terror, yet they repented like
the jailor at the earthquake. It was (i) immediate repent-
ance. (2) It was true. (3) It was deep. (4.) It was
universal. (5) It was acceptable. Was the like ever
heard ! Noah preached one hundred and twenty years in
vain, yet Nineveh repented in a day. Two angels went to
Sodom in vain, yet Nineveh repented under one sermon of
one prophet ; and that a very feeble and inconsistent one.
How marvellous that such a city should have repented
under such a prophet ! How marvellous that God should
have so honoured such a prophet. How sovereign He is
in his dealings ; how unlike us in his counsels ; how un-
searchable in his ways. God speaks to us, to our cities,
to our villages, and says, Repent!, Yet we repent not!
With bibles and ministers bringing before us the heavenly
messages all our lives, we repent not ! O hearts of stone !
Harder than the rock !

III. Nineveh and its testimony. That city has two
testimonies.

(i.) A fast testimony. It speaks to us, and says, Re-
pent. Its sackcloth says, Repent ! Its fasting says, Re-

MATTHEW XII. 41. 53

pent ! Its cry for mercy says, Repent ! Are we better ?
Do we need no repentance 1 Has Nineveh's repentance
no voice for us ?

(2.) A future testimony. Its inhabitants shall rise
against us in the day of judgment. Its testimony is not
over. It spoke to Israel ; it speaks to us ; and it shall
yet speak to both again in the awful day of recompense.
Nineveh will condemn Israel and us ; if we repent not
verily we shall be inexcusable. In the presence of the
men of Nineveh we shall not be able to utter a word of
excuse or extenuation. For we have a greater than Jonas
for our prophet, the Son of God himself. We have
Moses, and a greater than Moses j we have Elijah, and a
greater than Elijah. Yes ; Jesus speaks to us ; He spoke
on earth; he speaks from heaven ! He says, Repent ! He
makes our land re-echo with Repent ! He makes our
churches resound with the same voice, Repent. He
speaks down through all the ages j he speaks now, and
says to us, Repent !

The day approaches, when the men of Nineveh shall
rise uj> against the men of Israel, and when the men of
Israel shall rise up against the men of Scotland. That
rising up shall be for condemnation! The greater the
light rejected, the greater the condemnation incurred.
Men of the nineteenth century, look back three thousand
years, and see Nineveh on her knees in sackcloth before
God, broken down under one sermon of one prophet! Is }
not that a sight to break you down and make you cry for j
mercy, while the Lord tarries, and ere the last trumpet
sounds. Oh seek the Lord while He may be found !

54 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XII.
THE TWO SOWERS.

" But "while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the
wheat, and went his way. " MATT. XIII. 25.

THERE are two sowers in this parable, yet but one
field ; two kinds of seed, yet but one field. The
one field is this world, called in verse 41, "his kingdom ;"
the sowers are the Son of man and the devil ; the two seeds
are the wheat and the tares. The field belongs to the Son
of man the enemy had no part in its proprietorship ; he
does his mischief by stealth and cunning ; he climbs over
the wall in the night while men sleep. He is the enemy
of the Son of man ; and his desire is twofold, (i) to choke
the good seed, and (2) to fill the field with tares. He is
the same enemy that stole into Paradise, and wrought ruin
there. The parable exhibits him as full of (i) enmity, (2)
cunning, (3) determination, (4) patience, (5) confidence.
All these we find brought out in this simple and appar-
ently very useless expression, " he went his way," or "left
the place" axqX&sv. Why did he thus go his way?

I. He did not wish to be seen. He came by night, and
he went by night. He came while men slept, and he went
ere they awoke. He did not wish it to be known that he
was there. He did not care for the fame of doing the
thing ; all he cared for was, that it should be done. How
different from us ! We care more about the honour of

MATTHEW XIIL 2$. 55

doing a thing than the work itself. How single-eyed is
Satan in his evil ! He does his work unknown. He steals
quietly to his work and from his work, without sound ol
trumpet. Besides, he does not want to excite men's
fears, or to alarm the servants of the Master by his visible
presence, That would defeat his object. Ah, it is with
an invisible devil that we have to do; mighty, but unseen;
the ruler of the darkness of this world, himself loving
the darkness, dwelling and working in it. . Surely we
need to watch, whether in keeping our own vineyard or
that of others.

II. He had done his work. It might be on a greater
or a larger scale, that mattered not. He had done his
work. It did not require repetition or re-sowing. The
sower had done all that, as a sower, he could do. Sow-
ing is not a process repeated daily ; it is done once ; he
did not come night after night to sow and re-sow. He
needed but one sowing-time ; and so he went his way.

III. He had confidence in the seed. He knew of what
kind it was , its vitality ; its indestructibility. It could
lie long in the ground before it sprung. It would not fail.
It was the true seed of hell. It was sure to spring, sooner
or later. So he went his way. Ah, what confidence does
this exhibit in the vigour and vitality of error. Have we
like confidence in the life and power of truth ? Do we
speak it as those who trust it 1

IV. He had confidence, in the soiL The soil had not
been meant for error, but the curse was on it, and its
fruitfulness had become fruitfulness in evil. In a cursed
soil, his seed was sure to be nourished and grow. The

56 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

seed was evil, and the soil was evil. No one knew these
things better than this enemy, this sower of the tares. It
was then, with confidence in the soil, that, having done
his work, he went his way. The soil would not fail him ;
it would do its work.

V. He had confidence in the atmosphere. He is the
prince of the power of the air ; the ruler of the darkness
of this world. It is on the air as much as on the soil that
the harvest depends. He knows the peculiar elements
with which this atmosphere is filled ; how it is charged
with all that fosters evil ; how it will nourish the tares, so
that they shall grow without fail, even though the wheat
should die. And, accordingly, having done his work, he
goes his way ; he trusts to the evil air and the evil seed
suiting each other.

VI. He had other work to do. He is not omnipresent nor
omniscient. He goes up and down in the earth, walking
to and fro in it, doing his work here and there. He does
not abide in one place ; he goes about to do work else-
where ; he visits place after place in succession ; he never
folds his hands nor shuts his eyes ; he knows no night, and
he needs no slumber. Incessant work, all round and
round the globe ; in every kingdom, in every church, in
every soul. He has always something on hand ; some
new error ; some new departure from the faith ; some
new snare ; some new vanity ; some new delusion to
deceive, if it were possible, the very elect ! Sometimes
the prince of darkness, sometimes the angel of light ;
always the god of this world, the prince of the power of
the air.

MATTHEW XIII. 25. . 57

His first seed sown was in the ear and heart of our first
parents, and what fruit of evil has it borne, what tares has
it produced ! Since that, he has been sowing constantly
the tare-producing seed. So will he continue to do till
the Lord comes to bind him.

Oh, what an enemy have we to fight with ! What
strength, what subtlety, what wiles, what perseverance !
How he works ! How he sows ! Error upon error ; a
little seed at first, yet producing a vast harvest of error
and sin ; a race of evil-doers, evil-thinkers, evil-speakers,
perverters of the truth, enemies of God ; fields of tares ;
so like the wheat, that man cannot discern the difference.

Resist the devil, work against him, for we are not
ignorant of his devices.

58 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XIII.
HEROD'S BALL-ROOM.

"But when Herod's birth-day was kept, the daughter of Herodias
danced before them, and pleased Herod. " MATT. XIV. 6.

THIS birth-day ball of Herod was held, in all likeli-
hood, at Machaerus, a fortress beyond Jordan, not
far from the Dead Sea. It was a high and royal festival.
Pomp, splendour, luxury, and lust were all gathered there.
In the midst of the song, and the glitter, and the mirth,
there was one troubled conscience, that of Herod, one
trembling man, Herod. His soul was ill at ease, though
surrounded with all that the world could give to banish
care. He, 'Herodias, and John the Baptist, may be said
to be the chief personages brought before us in this scene.
But let us take up the narrative in another form ; (i.) be-
fore the ball ; (2.) during the ball; (3.) after the ball.

I. Before the ball. The news of Christ's miracles had
overspread the land, and reached Herod. He was startled
and troubled. Who is this Jesus ! Can he be John 1
Can John be risen ? But why these fears on the part of
Herod I The answer carries us back to the time before
the ball. John had reproved Herod for his wickedness*
more than a year and a half before ; for Herod had taken
his brother's wife, and John had proclaimed the unlaw-
fulness of the deed. This had roused the king's anger.
He would fain have slain him, and was only kept from

MATTHEW XIV. 6. 59

doing so by fear of the multitude, who reverenced John.
But he imprisoned him, and kept him in the castle of
Machaerus for eighteen months. The guilt of an unlaw-
ful marriage was on his conscience, as well as the guilt of
imprisoning a holy man. His course of sin had been
begun and persevered in. He was braving out his crimes ;
and like worldly men in such circumstances, he rushes
into gaiety to drown his troubles and terrors. The plea-
sures of the feast and the ball-room, the song and the
dance, these are welcomed to induce forgetfulness, and
" minister to a mind diseased." In how many cases do
men fly to the ball, the theatre, the card-table, the tavern,
the riotous party, not simply -for pleasure's sake, and to
" taste life's glad moments," but to drown care, to smother
conscience, to efface convictions, to laugh away the impres-
sions of the last sermon, to soothe an uneasy mind, to relieve
the burden or pluck out the sting of conscious guilt ! O
slaughter-houses of souls ! O shambles, reeking with blood !
O " lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, ban-
quetings, and abominable idolatries" j how long shall men
" run on in this excess of riot " ? O lust of the flesh, lust
of the eye, and pride of life, when will ye cease to intoxi-
cate, 'and lead men captive at your will? O God-for-
getting gaiety ! O dazzling woiidliness ! O glittering halls
of midnight, where

..." Youth, and pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet,"

when, when will ye cease to be resorted to by the sons of
men to " heal the hurt " of the human soul, to still its

60 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

throb and heartache, and to medicate the immedicable
wound ? *

II. During the ball. It is a gay scene. The lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life are there.
All that can minister to these are there. Herod is there,
feeding on lust, drinking in pleasure, stupifying conscience.
The fair daughter is there, in all the splendour of gay wan-
tonness. And the vile mother is there, lascivious and re-
vengeful. And the courtiers are there, in pomp and glitter.
Music and mirth are there. The dance and the song are
there. N o note of gloom, no indication of trouble. What
a scene of mirth and revelry ! But some are absent, con-
spicuously absent, we may say. John is not there. A prison
holds him. His disciples are not there. They can but weep
and lament. And Jesus is not there, nor his disciples. They
were at the marriage festival in Cana ; but this ball-room is
not for them. It is not the place for a follower, either of
Jesus or of John. The beauty of " this world" is one thing,
and the beauty of " the world to come" is quite another.
These scenes of royal vanity are instructive ; for they pre-

* " Yse tibi flumen moris human! ! Quis resistit tibi ? Quam diu
non siccaberis ? Qiiousque volves Evas filios in mare magnum et for-
midolosum, quod vix transeunt qui signum conscenderint." Augiis-
tine, Conf. B. I. c. xvi.

" Woe to thee, O river of human custom ! Who resists thee ?
When shalt thou be dried up? How long wilt thou loss the sons
of Eve upon a vast and terrible ocean, which even they who have
gone up into the cross (as their vessel) can hardly navigate?"
Would that these solemn words were sounded over our land, and
through our churches, in these days of approved, and licensed, and
(shall I say) consecrated worldliness ?

MATTHEW XIV. 6. 6l

sent the world in its most fascinating aspects. All that
regal state, and princely beauty, and wealth, and gold, and
silver, and gems, and tapestry, and blazing lamps can do,
to make this world fair, is in such scenes and haunts. These
balls are the most seductive specimens of pure worldliness
that can be found. Surely the god of this world knows
how to enchant both ear and eye. In an assembly like this,
the natural man is at home. Here the unregenerate heart
gets scope to the full. It is a place where God is not ;
where the cross is not ; where such things as 'sin and holi-
ness must not be named. It is a hall where the knee is not
bent, except in the voluptuous waltz; where the music
whose burden is the praise of Jesus is unheard ; where the
book of God, and the name of God would be out of
place; where you may speak of Jupiter, or Venus, or
Apollo, but not of Jesus ; where you may sing of human
love, but not of the love that passeth knowledge ; where
you may celebrate creature-beauty, but not the beauty of
Him who is fairer than the children of men. It was
during that ball that the murder of John was plotted and
consummated (" Lust hard by hate." Milton) ; that a
drunken, lustful king, urged on by two women, perpetrated
that foul deed. Such are the haunts of pleasure ! Such are
the masquerades of time. Lust is let loose ; revenge rises
up ; murder rages ; conscience is smothered ; the floor of
the ball-room is spotted with blood; the dancers may
slip their feet in it, but the dance goes on. Such was the
coarse worldliness of old days ; but is the refined worldli-
ness of modern times less fatal to the soul ? The ball is
finished, and John lies dead in prison. What a picture of

62 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

gaiety ! What a specimen of ball-room revelry ! And this
is pleasure ! This is the world's joy ! " Ye adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God ? "

III. After the ball. Of the chief actors in this ball-
room murder, nothing more is said. They pass to the
judgment-seat, there to receive sentence for lust, rage,
revenge, and murder. They have sent John before them
to- the presence of his Judge to receive his reward. They
have got their revenge, and they leave his body to be dealt
with in any way. His lips are silenced ; that is all they
care for. But his disciples find their way into the prison ;
they gather round their Master's body ; they bury it in
silence. They can do no more. That ball has robbed
them of their master. It has been a costly festival to
them ! Then they go and tell Jesus, knowing his sym-
pathies, and feeling that they have no one else to whom
they can unbosom themselves so confidingly. Jesus hears
of the murder, and is silent ! Not a word escapes him.
He had come to suffer both in himself and in his members;
so he is dumb. This is the day of silent endurance and
patient suffering. The day of recompense is coming.

O gaieties of earth ! Feasts, and revellings, and ban-
quetings, how often have ye slain both body and soul !
Men call you innocent amusements, harmless pleasures ;
but can ye be harmless, can ye be innocent, when ye steal
away the soul from God, when ye nurse the worst lusts of
humanity, when ye smother conscience, when ye shut
out Jesus, when the floors on which your votaries dance
off their immortal longings, are red with the blood of souls !

MATTHEW XIV. 15, 16. 63

XIV.
MANS' WAYS AND GOD'S WAYS.

" And when it was evening, his discifles came to him, saying, This
is a desert place, and the time is now past ; send the multitude away,
that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But
Jesus said tinto them, They need not depart ; give ye them to eat.""
MATT. XIV. 15, 16.

THE scene of this great gathering was the desert of
Bethsaida, the open and uninhabited region on the
north-east of the Sea of Galilee, and evidently close upon
the sea, so that Jesus, when He fed the multitude, did not
need to create water for them, and also when He was
done feeding them, he could at once despatch his disciples
by a boat.

The time is toward evening. All the day Jesus had
been teaching and healing. The afternoon drew on ; the
sun was getting low ; the people were weary and hungry ;
some of them far from home. There was still time
enough to provide a repast for them before sending them
for it would be about three o'clock, but still the day was
far spent.

The persons in this transaction may be arranged into
three classes, the multitude, the disciples, the Lord him-
self. As for the multitude, they are merely presented to
us (i) as the-objects of his compassion; (2) as the objects
of his bounty. They come to hear and to be fed ; to give

64 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Jesus an opportunity of shewing his love and fulness ;
they come not to minister, but to be ministered to, by the
Lord. As for the disciples, they were of little service here.
The Lord would have used them, but they would not be
used. They shew coldness, not compassion ; littleness
and narrowness, not generosity. It is the Lord himself
who is shewn here, in solitary and unapproachable love
and pity.

But it is with the mode or manner of blessing that we
have specially to do here. It is this that brings out the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and draws us to him as
the great provider for our wants, the great feeder of soul
and body ; and as is the Son, so is the Father j and he
that has thus seen and known the Son, hath seen and
known the Father.

This mode of blessing will be best seen by contrasting
the disciples with the Master, their proposal for supply
with his.

Before he does anything himself, he goes to them, for
we read in John (vi. 5.) that the first thing was his
question to Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread that
these may eat"? Thus He gives them the opportunity of
providing, before He undertakes it himself. This only
draws out their emptiness and inability to do anything in
the matter ; for the whole twelve now come to Him upon
the subject, and it is their proposal that meets us first in
this scene, " Send them away, that they may go and buy."
It did not occur to them to appeal to the Master and his
bounty. They were slow of heart to believe. Had it
been a blind man brought for cure, they would have done

MATTHEW XIV. 15, 16. 65

this. But the feeding of five thousand was such an
enormous miracle, that they never thought of this ; and,
besides, they had not yet exhausted human help, they
were not yet at an extremity, for there were villages a few
miles off. They do not apply to Him till they can do no
better ; He is the last, not the first, to whom they go.

Their remedy is quite characteristic, quite like man :
"send them away that they may buy." But this brings out
the Lord and his mode of meeting human wants all the
more wonderfully. " They need not depart; give ye them
to eat." Such is the contrast between the disciples and
the Lord, between man and God, between the heart, the
thoughts, the ways of man, and those of God. " My
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways,
saith the Lord." Man's way of relieving man is, " Send
them away that they may buy." God's way is, "They
need not depart ; give ye them to eat." And this, too, is
our way of relieving ourselves ; we would go and buy, in-
stead of at once, and on the spot, taking the blessing at
the hands of Jesus.

Let us mark then the way in which Christ relieves, in
which God deals with us, as the God of grace. The
supply He gives is

(i) Immediate. It is given upon the spot ; it comes to
us just as we are, hungry and weary. It does not keep
us waiting ; it does not send us away to be fed. It is put
into our hands, our lips, at once.

(2.) Free. We need no money ; all is without price.
God is the great giver ; we are but receivers. We are
only blessed when we learn this. God has respect simply

66 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

to our wants, not -to our qualifications or our means of
purchase. He does often indeed make use of others to
impart his bounty, " give ye them "; but whether directly
or through a medium, all is free. The water that flows to
us through the river's channels, is quite as free as that
which descends in showers.

(3.) Suitable. He gives the very thing we need. His
eye sees our' want, and He supplies it exactly. We are
sure that what we get from Him will be suitable.

(4.) Abundant. He giveth liberally. His stores are
plentiful. It does not matter what the greatness of our
need may be, or the number of the needy, He has enough,
and He pours out liberally. He fills us ; there is enough,
and to spare.

(5.) From his own hand. Sometimes more directly
than others, but still the supply comes from himself.
Take it as either from the Father or the Son, it matters
not. It is the Divine hand stretched out to give. We get
all from himself, from his fulness, from his love. It is
with Him we are to deal, and in dealing let us trust^ let
our transactions be ever those of simple child-like confi-
dence.

MATTHEW XIV. 24-31. 67

XV,
THE HELPLESS ONE AND THE HELPER.

" But the ship was now in the midst of the sen, tossed with warns :
for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw
him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit ; and
they cried out for fear. But sti aightiuay Jesus spake unto- them, saying,
Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And Peter ans^vered him and
said, Lord, if it be fhoti, bid me come imto thee on the water. And he
said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind bois- .
terotts, he was afraid; and, beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord,
save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught
him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thozi
doubt?" MATT. XIV. 24-31.

F V AITH'S home is in the future ; so is her heritage.
At present she has nothing but God himself to live
upon, to feed upon ; all else is within the veil. It will
come in due season ; but meanwhile the only real thing is
God. Him she knows, she trusts, she walks with, she
converses with. But from the visible she is disengaged,
and dwells in the invisible, present and future. " Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen." Thus we live by faith.

Yet though thus living by faith, in another atmosphere,
and above the level of things seen, we cannot help being
affected by matter, and time, and motion, and change, and
pain, and death, and fear, and hunger, and thirst, and the

68 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

various conditions of the body. Sometimes there is
brightness, sometimes there is dimness; sometimes we are
lifted up and expanded, sometimes we are depressed and
straitened. We are too like a revolving beacon-light,
with its alternate flash and gloom. Sometimes a word of
Scripture warms and brightens wonderfully ; sometimes it
seems cold and dark. Sometimes we are brave and fervent,
ready to confront any danger or trial, because of the peace
within ; sometimes we turn pale, and shrink from sorrow
or peril; so variable is our pulse; so uncertain our spirits;
so feeble our spiritual health; so sickly our spiritual frame.

It was night upon a stormy sea. The boat was but a
fisherman's, unfit to weather wind and wave. The night-
blast was right against them. They toiled, but made
little progress.

The night wears on. Watch after watch passes by.
It is now the fourth ; the last, just before the dawn ; still
dark. In the darkness, a form is dimly seen, the outline
of a human figure in the gloom. What is it ? Who is it
Is it from beneath or from above? Is it material or
spiritual? The disciples are in terror; Peter, no doubt,
among the rest.

But it is not with the disciples that the narrative has
chiefly to do ; it is with Peter, or rather with Peter and
the Lord. These two stand out before us here, inviting
our attention. Or we might say, we have first the dis-
ciples and the storm ; then the disciples are lost sight of,
and we see only Peter and the Lord ; then Peter dis-
appears, and we behold no one " save Jesus only."

I. Christ's words of cheer. He saw their terror, and He

MATTHEW XIV. 24-31. 69

knew its cause. The storm and the darkness had alarmed
them ; but more than these, the figure in the distance.
It might be a spirit from beneath let loose upon them ; it
might be the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of
the world's darkness, coming to increase their danger,
to accomplish their destruction. Christ corrects their
thoughts, and in so doing removes their fears. His words
of cheer are brief, but full of power. In our translation
they are te?i ; in the original only five. " Be of good
cheer : it is I ; be not afraid." The first of these clauses
is but one word, and it is the key-note of the passage.
" Be of good cheer," or simply, " Courage " ! " Be not cast
down or troubled." Right through the darkness, and over
the storm, came this cheering word. But it was not the mere
word that thus sounded, it was the well-known voice, the
tones of which they would at once recognise. And then
it was followed up with the " It is I "; which is again
followed up with "be not afraid," "dismiss all your
fears." The special cheer of these words was, however,
the "It is I," and without this all the rest would have
been vain. It is the announcement of his presence that
was the specially cheering thing; it would have been
enough even had he not (in his love and anxiety to re-
lieve their fears) added, " Be of good cheer : be not afraid."
What was the storm to Him 1 What was it to them, if He
were with them? What were night, and storm, and darkness,
with all their perils, if HE were there 1 They needed no
more to comfort them than " It is I." It told them of
power and love more than sufficient to meet all danger,
and to deliver from all evil.

yo BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

II. Peters response. "If it be thou, bid me come to
thee on the water." The other disciples' were silent.
Their fears were quieted, and that sufficed. But Peter
must have more. He must have the Master with him ;
nay, he must run to meet Him, even on the water.
There does not seem to be any use in Peter's going to
meet his Master. The request was prompted simply by
affection, and' a desire to be where He was. It looks
very like one of Peter's hasty utterances, "It is good to
be here ;" " Shall we smite with the sword ?" But still it
is faith that is working. The desire to go was, no doubt,
affection, but the feeling which overlooked all the diffi-
culties of the way, the impossibility of walking on the
water, was faith. So boundless was his confidence in
his Master's power and love. A word, he knew, would
be enough ! Oh for Peter's faith in Jesus ; even in little
things; things which seem to have no large object in
view, but merely the exhibition of affection towards him !
Here is faith that could remove mountains ! Faith that
can do miracles, that makes light of impossibilities !
Peter saw Jesus only ; darkness and storm were nothing !
There might be the desire to get out of this sinking vessel,
which had for hours been buffeting with the wind ; and the
feeling that with Jesus he was safer on the bare water than
in the ship without Him. In Peter's estimation, security
was only at the side of Jesus ! Anywhere, anywhere with
Him in the fiery furnace, or in the raging sea. Is this
our estimate of Jesus, and of all things, or places, or perils
in connection with Him 1 Safety with Him ; but nowhere
else, even in the stateliest vessel or the strongest fort.

MA TTHE W XIV. 24-31.

The form of Peter's request is remarkable, " bid," or
"command" me to come to thee on the water; not
"permit." In a case like this, mere permission would
not do. Had it been the highway or the mountain side,
permission would have been enough. But it was the sea.
To venture there, he must have a command; and in
obeying that command, he could count upon omnipotence
being placed at his disposal. Jesus commands ; shall not
all the elements and powers of nature unite in ministering
to the fulfilment of the command ?

There is here, also, the contrast between the Peter of
yesterday and the Peter of to-day; ntfulness both in faith
and feeling. One day it is " Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord;" another it is "Lord, bid me come
to thee." One day he forsakes his Master ; another he
casts himself into the sea to get at Him, as he stood on
the shore. Yet fitful as these were, impulsive as Peter
was, all his fitfulness and impulsiveness centred in Jesus.
The many currents of his wayward being, sometimes
rushing right forward, sometimes going backward, some-
times eddying round, yet all took their motion from
Jesus, and their direction from something connected with
Him. It might be difficult, at times, to analyse or
understand Peter's feelings ; but various as they were
in their upper or their underflow, this was still upper-
most, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest
that I love thee."

III. Christ's response, to Peter. "Come"! One word;
no more. It was all that Peter wanted ; and he got it.
The request was a bold and a great one; but it was

72 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

granted at once. It was a request made without any pre-
vious promise or warrant; yet there was no reluctance nor
delay. Peter knew to whom he was speaking. He had
seen Him do miracles for others, strangers, why not for
himself, a disciple ?* Thus he casts himself upon the
Master, and the Master at once responded. He honoured
his disciple's confidence. How comfortably must that
word "come"- have sounded in the midst of the darkness!
It was so gracious j and it was so exact an answer ; an
answer to an apparently useless request. The requests for
healing and the like were all for some needful purpose ;
and we the less wonder at the Master's grace in granting
them. But this seems so useless, the mere utterance of
warm impulse, that we are struck with the marvellous
grace of the Master, who, instead of keeping silence,
or rebuking his hasty disciple, grants his request for a
miracle, a stupendous miracle, and bids him " come."
This is singular condescension, and fitted in many ways
tp rebuke as well as remove our unworthy suspicions of
the Lord. He who so graciously responded to his dis-
ciple's request for a needless miracle, will not deny us when
petitioning for what is needful. With what power should
the promise come to us, "Ask, and ye shall receive" j and
what an illustration is this of the text, " This is the confi-
dence that we have in him, that if we ask anything accord-
ing to his will he heareth us."

IV. Peters venture. He came down out of the ship,
and walked on the water. I call it venture; and yet it

* The Lord did hardly any miracles either for himself or his disciples.

MATTHEW XIV. 24-31. 73

was not venture, for that implies hazard, whereas here
there was no risk. It was rather leaving a leaking, sink-
ing boat to go on board a noble ship. Still to human
eyes, though not to angels', it was a venture. Frail as the
vessel was, it was to human eyes safer than the sea. Out
of this vessel he lets himself down into that raging sea, and
began his walk. He was now wholly in the arms of Jesus;
nothing between him and the waves but these everlasting
arms. What his feelings were in letting go his hold of the
ship .we do not know; perhaps very peculiar ; but with that
word " come " sounding over the waves, why should he
fear ? His was the venture of faith ; a faith which shewed
itself, not in its power to grasp but to let go the vessel's
side, the human stay. Yes, we often speak of faith as
taking hold; but here it is seen in letting go.

And is not this oftentimes the very point of the diffi-
culty we experience in believing? We cling to the visible,
the palpable prop, the human rope which we hold in our
hand, unwilling to let go. We speak of our inability to
believe ; but what is this save our tenacity in holding on to
the very things which God asks us to quit ? We say that
we " cannot lay hold" ; should we not rather say that we
"cannot let go"? We complain that we have no power
to cling and grasp ; whereas it should be that we have no
will to let go. How much power is needed to let go a rope
or to drop into the sea 1 Never let us forget the thought
of Peter quitting the vessel and dropping into the sea ; but
let us treasure it as one of the best exhibitions of true faith.
How many, though they hear the Master's voice saying,
" Come," linger in the vessel, cling to it, look over its

74 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

sides, as if resolved to drop dawn, and then shrink back
into it, afraid to venture from the visible into the invisible,
from that which sense and touch can feel, to that which
we know nothing of, save by the bare word of God.

V. Peter s failure. He had bravely dropped into the
sea, and was walking along ; but he soon began to be
alarmed. The wind did not lull ; it blew as violently as
ever. His fears awoke, and his faith shook. He. began
to sink ; and in his terror cried out, " Lord, save me."
The visible and sensible had reassumed their power ; and
under their evil influence, faith gave way ; the things
unseen vanished ; the power and presence of Christ
seemed now as nothing when compared with the power
and presence of the storm. Peter was, in fact, trying to
resume his hold of the things he had let go ; he was
clutching or groping after the visible. Thus unbelief was
regaining its power. His eye at first saw nothing but Jesus,
now it sees the raging billows. His ear at first heard
nothing but the iMaster's " Come" - 3 now it hears the roar
of the blast. It was thus that the evil heart of unbelief
was re-displaying itself ; the storm was coming between
him and Christ ; terror came in, and he began to sink.
Jesus was for the moment lost sight of, and Peter was in
despair. The Master had granted his request ; had bid
him come ; and now he knew not what to do ; perhaps he
repented his petition, and wished he had never left the
vessel. But thus Jesus shews His disciple his weakness,
and takes this opportunity for magnifying his own power.
What is Peter now, and where, if Jesus do not help 1 ?
He is like a withered olive-leaf tossed upon the foam.

MATTHEW XIV. 24-31. 75

Without Jesus he sinks, he perishes. But though faith
has given way, Jesus still remains ; and even in spite of
unbelief he succours and saves.

VI. Christ V deliverance and rebuke. It is not, like
man, first rebuke and then deliverance ; but first deliver-
ance and then rebuke. How like Him who came, in love,
to bless the unloveable, to save the lost, to bring nigh
those that were afar off ! How like the good Shepherd,
bent only on laying hold of his strayed one ! How like
Him who spoke the parable of the prodigal son, and who
in it has shewn us how God receives back the very worst
of his lost ones, without upbraiding, or coldness, or delay !

(i.) Jesus stretched forth his hand immediately. Instan-
taneous deliverance ! He would not have the fears of his
disciple last a moment. He succours at once. In that
outstretched hand the marks of the nails were not yet to
be seen. These were still to come. But the love was
there ; the power was there ; the security was there. In
our day we have the same outstretched hand ; only the
prints of the nails, the marks of love are now there. The
outstretched and the pierced hand are one ! To his sink-
ing Peters he stretches the pierced hand. To each sink-
ing, perishing son of Adam, he does the same. Take hold,
O man, take hold !

(2.} Jesus caught him. Nothing is said of Peter's laying
hold of Jesus ; it is Jesus laying hold of Peter that we
have here. Jesus caught him ; whether by the hand or
not, we are not told j nor ,does it matter. " Jesus caught
him," that is enough. How like this to the apostle's
words, " apprehended of Christ " ! What now are winds

76 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

and waves 1 What matters it whether the boat is at hand
or not ? Rage on ye winds ! Rise up ye waters ! Darken
the heavens ye clouds ! Jesus has caught him, Jesus
holds him, is not that sufficient ? O man, sinking in the
world's stormy sea, let Jesus lay hold of you, as he is most
willing to do, and all is well ! For what ' is all salvation
but Jesus seizing hold of the sinner ! " He sent from
above, he took- me, he drew me out of many waters."

(3-)f esus s Pk t him. Hitherto he had heard but his
own voice, " Lord save me" j now he hears the Master's
voice responding. His own cry could not allay his fears ;
but the words of Jesus do this at once. His first word is
rebuke (for it is but one word in the Greek), " O thou of
little faith"; or as it should simply be, "O little-faith!"
This is all. He does not dwell on this, nor continue his
upbraiding. What gentleness and tenderness are here !
O little-faith! Might he not say to us, "O no-faith" 1 ?
And then he adds, " Wherefore didst thou doubt ?" or,
" For what purpose dost thou doubt?" "What is the use
of thy doubting 1 " Perhaps the words involve such ques-
tions as these: (i.) Whence comes this doubting 1 ? (2.)
What means this doubting? (3.) Of what service will this
doubting be 1

Thus speaks Jesus still, " It is I, be not afraid." By
his tones and words, no less than by his gestures (his
stretching out of the hand), he cheers us, he beckons us,
he comforts us. Wherefore then do we doubt ? What
reason have we for so doing 1 Why not fling all distrust
away?

Such is the attitude of Jesus to his church in her darkest

MATTHEW XIV. 24-31. 77

and stormiest nights. He comes to her on the water.
He places himself near. He waits to succour. O church
of God, accept the proffered hand, and listen to the
gracious voice.

Such is his attitude towards our world. " All the day
long (and all the night long too) have I stretched out my
hands." Yes ; he stretches out his hands. O sinking
world dost thou not heed his hands and his voice? Dost
thou not welcome his interposition 1 Or wilt thou reject
Him utterly I

78 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XVI.

THE GRACIOUS WELCOME.
"Bring him hither to me" MATT. XVII. 17.

"HOSE words are these ? They are Christ's
own. They are authoritative words. He
commands. He has just come down from the transfigura-
tion hill, and what a contrast between that mountain
glory and this vale of tears and disease ; but he returns
to his old work of healing and blessing, just as before.
The glory has not changed Him. And so with Him now
in the midst of that glory. It has not altered his love.
He is the same Saviour still ; as ready to receive sinners
as in the days of his flesh.

2. To whom are they spoken. To his unbelieving
disciples. Their faith was small indeed, and they are
rebuked for it ; they are called a " faithless and perverse
generation." Yet He does not, on their account, repel
the poor possessed lunatic, nay, He makes them the
instrument of bringing the sick man nigh. How easily
can the love and power of Jesus break through all barriers,
and find their way to the sinner through a wall of un-
belief !

3. Concerning whom are they spoken ? A poor lunatic,
possessed with a devil. It is one of the worst cases that
has come before Him, " This kind -goeth not out but by
prayer and fasting." But best or worst, what matters it

MATTHEW XVII. 17. 79

to Him who created the heavens and the earth ; who is
Lord of principalities and powers; master of Satan and
his angels ; who has the keys of hell and death. Others
had failed ; He could not fail. In this confidence He
speaks. The worst case is nothing to Him.

4. What do they teach us? Much indeed, (i.) Some-
thing as to Christ; (2.) Something as to ourselves.

(i.) Something as to Christ. He is the great healer;
the sinner's one physician. His words are health. His
touch is health. His look is health. Nay, his very
garments are health ; for as many as touch either Him or
them are made perfectly whole. Leprosy, lunacy, fever,
blindness, death, possession by Satan, are nothing to
Him. In Him all fulness dwells ; and that fulness is dis-
pensed by love. There was much here to quench that
love, much to repel Him, but He will not be repelled, and
his love cannot be quenched, even by the waters of un-
belief. He is " mighty to save " " able to save to the
uttermost." Omnipotence is in his touch, his look, his
word. Let us do justice to his fulness and his grace, lest
He have to say of us, O faithless and perverse genera-
tion.

(2.) Something as to ourselves... He comes looking for
faith, but finds only unbelief ; looking for child-like sim-
plicity, and He finds only perversity. Yet He invites us
still. He invites us to come ourselves, and He invites us
to bring others. What He desires is personal contact
with Himself. In one sense distance is nothing to Him,
but in another it is. He wants to have us near Him. For
He speaks and acts as very man. And, besides, what-

8o BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

ever might .be His power to heal or to pardon at a distance,
He knows that nearness to Him is our blessedness. Con-
tact with Him is health, and life, and warmth. Creeds,
doctrines, truths, words, are all good in their way, but
they are not the living Jesus, nor can they be substitutes
for Him and for His love. But into this close contact
He invites us to bring others, " Bring him hither to me."
He does not say, " Come," neither does He say, " I will
go to him ; " He says, " Bring him." And was any
"brought one" ever sent away*? Each coming one gets
the blessing, and each brought one too. In the present
case this is the more remarkable, because there .was little
faith (if any) in any of the parties concerned. Yet Jesus
must warn and bless, not for our sake, but for His own.
In spite of sin and unbelief and perversity He must bless !
Such is the Christ with whom we have to do, full of
grace and truth. Let us draw near; let us keep near;
let us allow Him to pour out His love on us ; let us bring
others to Him to be partakers of the same overflowing
love.

MATTHEW XVIIL 1-4. Si

XVII.
THE PEERAGE OF THE KINGDOM.

"At the same time came the disciples tmto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven ? And Jestis catted a little child ^lnto
him, and set him in the midst of them. And said, Verily I say unto
yoti, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall h^lmble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom oj
heaven." MATT. XVIIL 1-4.

IT was for a kingdom that Israel was looking; a heavenly
kingdom. In spite of many low views, they believed
in "the kingdom of heaven"; "the kingdom of God";
and in " the kingdom of Messiah," as the same with these.
Being persuaded of their Master's Messiahship, his disciples
wanted to know from him something about his kingdom.
They took for granted that it was theirs ; that they were
sure of entrance ; and they wished him to tell them who
was to have the highest place in it. They were too sure of
getting in. Alas, how many now are not sure at all.

Let us mark (i) the question, (2) the answer. In that
question we find something right and something wrong.
Let us look at it ; and then see how exactly the answer
meets it.

I. The question. Who is the greatest in the kingdom 1
Besides the belief in a coming kingdom, there was an
appreciation of its glories and honours. It was not
wrong to wish for the kingdom; nor to desire a high

82 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES,

place in it. We ought to " press forward ;" for if it is
worth our while to get in at all, it is as much so to get a
high place; for all that God gives is to be earnestly
sought after by us ; we cannot be too greedy of these.
." Covet earnestly the best gifts." This was right ; but the
wrong thing was the spirit and the way in which the
question was put.

(i.) It shewed ignorance. They had forgotten the
words spoken to Nicodemus, "except a man be born
again," &c. They were going too fast, and overlooking
the question of entrance. They were deficient in their
knowledge of the kingdom, and of the way of entrance,
and of the principles on which honours were bestowed.

(2.) It shewed pride. It was a self-sufficient question;
indicating high thoughts of themselves and of their own
title to its privileges. " We are the people."

(3.) It shewed selfishness. Here was earthly ambition
working its way into heavenly things ; a spirit of selfish
rivalry, each one wanting to get above his fellow, to
push up to the highest seat and room.

II. The answer. It goes to the very root of the matter;
it deals first of all with the question which they were
overlooking, viz., of entrance. Thus it rebukes, it warns,
it instructs ; answering not merely the one question put,
but many others along with it. When man puts a question
to God, he does not see the whole bearings of it. When
God answers, he takes up all these, and does not answer a
fool according to his folly, but lovingly condescends to
take up the whole case from the beginning. The Lord
here answers partly in a similitude and partly in words.

MATTHEW XVIIL 1-4. 83

He takes an infant, and holding it up, he asks, how is this
babe to get in % They believed that babes belonged to
the kingdom -, He had told them that " of such was the
kingdom of heaven." Well, how did they get in 1 . Had
they said or done any good ? None. They get in as mere
nothings ; as those who have no good word or deed to
recommend them. Our Lord's two cases of entrance are,
the thief on the cross, a man who had done nothing
but evil all his days, and an infant who has done no
good. These shew us the way of entrance. Hence the
passage means not, except ye become humble, teachable,
meek, gentle, &c., as infants (they are not so) ; but ex-
cept ye turn round, completely change your mind (be
converted), and humble yourselves (come down from your
high thoughts), ye shall not get in at all. Not only, ye
shall not have a high place, an "abundant entrance,"
but no entrance at all.

The way, then, of becoming great is to become little,
of being the greatest, is to become the least. This was
the Master's way ; he took the lowest place, and he was
exalted to the highest. He made himself of no reputa-
tion, therefore he gets the name above every name.
Before honour is humility, stooping to the consciousness
of having deserved nothing. The Master went faf beyond
us here, for we truly deserved nothing, and therefore
ought to take the lowest place \ he deserved everything,
yet lived and acted, as if he had deserved only sorrow,
and pain, and shame, and the death of the cross.

Let us then learn,

(i.) The way of entrance. Go in as an infant, carried

84 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

in by another, without claim, merit, goodness; owing
all to the free love of God ; of Him who spared not his
own Son. Faith acknowledges this nothingness, and
goes in ; unbelief refuses to do so, and is kept out. What
keeps us in darkness or doubt, but the desire to have
some goodness either in life or feeling to secure our
entrance and recommend us to the King ?

(2.) The principle of recompense. Not merit ; not
personal worth and greatness. The acknowledgment of
unworthiness even to get in at all. Yet we must work for
God, suffer for God, deny ourselves for God, and all
these (even the cup of cold water) will be remembered
and recompensed. Yet in that recompense (even of these
whose crown shall be the brightest) there will be the dis-
tinct consciousness of undeservedness all the while.
" Lord, when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee."

How simple ! how blessed ! Ah surely God's thoughts
and ways are not our thoughts and ways.

MATTHEW XVIIL 11. 85

XVIII.
THE SEEKER AND SAVIOUR OF THE LOST.

" For the 'Son of man is come to save that which was lost" MATT.

XVIIL ii.

" For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

LUKE XIX. 10.

MANY of our Lord's words were spoken -twice over,
if not oftener. He did not think it beneath Him
to repeat Himself ; and the Holy Spirit did not think it
unnecessary or unbefitting to record the repetition.

Here it is in connection with little children that the
words occur, "The Son of man is come to save that which
was lost." Elsewhere it is in connection with Zaccheus,
the publican. In the former case his errand is said simply
to be " to save," as if " seeking " were not needed in the
case of infants who have not yet plunged into the laby-
rinths and thickets of earthly wickedness. In the latter
his errand is, "to seek and to save," as if search were
needed in order to find the lost object.

A very particular and personal message this to our
children ! The mission of the Son of God has a special
bearing on them. The good Shepherd came very specially
for them. He singles them out as most prominent objects
of his love. So far from their being overlooked or getting
salvation in some side way, his errand was particularly to
them. And does He not plainly tell us here that they
need salvation ? They can only get into heaven by being

'86 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

saved. They were as truly lost as others j and they need
salvation as truly ; and they get it as fully.

But let us put the two passages together and take them
as embracing our race. "The Father sent the Son to be
the Saviour of the world." " Preach the gospel to every
creature."

I. The Son oj man. This means, of course, one who
was truly and thoroughly man, very man. Adam was
man ; but he was not a " son of man," or " the son of
man." This name brings out very expressively his
true humanity. It is like, and yet unlike, to the ancient
words of the first promise, " the seed of the woman," and
the expression of Paul, " made of a woman." It is more
than these, for " son of man " means " son of humanity ;"
son both of the man and the woman. He is indeed " the
Lord from heaven" (i Cor. xv. 47); yet is He "the
second man" the " last Adam" There must have been
something in Ezeldel which made him in this respect
resemble Messiah, for upwards of ninety times he is
addressed as " son of man," and it is in his prophecies
that the expression occurs so often. Daniel uses it in
reference to Messiah, and David uses it as expressive of
complete and true humanity. He whose name is Jesus,
Emmanuel, Christ, the Lord, is truly Son of man.

II. The Son of man came. He came ! From the begin-
ning He had been known as the coming one ; now He is
the one who has come. The Son of God has become the
Son of man. He has descended to earth. He came to
Bethlehem first, and afterwards He might be said to have
come to all Judea. For ages the coming was prospective;

MATTHEW XVI1L u. . 87

yet even as such it was replete with gladness j now it is
accomplished ; He has arrived j how much more of glad-
ness is contained in this fact ! " We know that the Son
of God is COME." " Blessed is He that COMETH in the
name of the Lord."

III. He came to seek. " I will search my sheep, and
seek them out/' says He by Ezekiel (xxxiv. n). He was
the Shepherd who had lost his sheep, and He missed it,
valued it, left the rest, went after it, sought for it, all the

s

world over. His was a seeking life, a seeking ministry.
His were seeking words and seeking works. He is the
great seeker, the heavenly seeker. His days were spent
in search* He sought when He was here ; He is seeking
still. His is the same seeking attitude and earnestness
now in heaven as formerly on earth. He seeks in love.
Not as the officer seeks out the hiding criminal ; but as
the mother seeks her lost child. It is the search of love,
divine yet human love; love that will not wait till the
desired object of search shews symptoms of concern or
willingness to return, but love that pursues the flying, the
unwilling, the resisting. Many are the places in which
He finds and has found his stray ones : one He found
upon a cross, one by a well, one in a boat, one in a syca-
more tree. It matters not.

IV. He came to save. His name is Saviour-, his errand
is salvation. Nothing less than this. It is salvation that
man needs j it is salvation that Christ brings. He is
"mighty to save. 19 He is "able to save to the uttermost."
He says, look unto me and be ye saved. He came not
simply to make men moral, and raise them from savage

88 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

coarseness ; to give wisdom or teach science ; to "elevate
the masses ; " to make men regular church-goers or
obedient citizens. He came to save; and his gospel is
the power of God unto savation. The Father sent the
Son to be the Saviour of the world. He " comes in the
name of the Lord to save" Salvation is a wide and big
word, as used by God. In man's lips it may and often
does mean very little. It means sometimes sacramental
grace, or ritualistic drapery, or supercilious churchman-
ship. But, according to the divine use and interpretation
of the word, it means much, very much. It means some-
thing whose greatness can only be measured by the great-
ness of the Person who came ; by the greatness of the
work which He accomplished ; by the greatness of his
toil and suffering ; by the greatness of the price He paid.
It is something which . apostolic succession and baptismal
regeneration cannot give, something far beyond the power
of church, or priest, or sacraments, to confer.

V. He came to save the ost. The lost 1 And who are
they ? Not simply those whom man describes as lost to
shame, lost to decency, lost to all human motives of
right, but such as are lost to God ; lost to their great
Maker and Owner; lost in the sense in which the sheep
is lost to the shepherd ; the piece of silver to the woman ;
the son to the father. They are they whom God has lost.
The great Father has lost a son ; man has lost God, and
God has lost man. They are lost in respect of separation
from God distance from God. They are lost in regard
to present favour and future hope. They have lost every-
thing; they are lost to everything. Shepherd, and woman,

MATTHEW XVIIL n. 89

and father, have sustained an awful loss ; but what is this
to the loss of those who have lost God, and are lost to
God. To be lost is to be dead in sin ; to be condemned
and under wrath ; to be banished and shut out ; to have
unpardoned sin overhanging them, and a deadly disease
preying on their whole man. To have the heart empty of
God, at war with the Spirit, and in alliance with the evil
one ; to be reduced to such a state of unholiness that all
spiritual life, or relish, or love, is gone ; this is to be
lost; lost even now : apart from the woes of that hell that
is at hand.

O man, thou art lost ; and that word means something
unutterably awful ; something which only the Spirit of
God can reveal to you. But the Son of man has come to
seek and save you. He is bent on this. It is his errand,
his mission. No matter how lost you are. He is not
willing that you should perish. He has no pleasure in
vour death. He seeks your life. He desires to save.

90 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XIX.
THE STONE OF SALVATION OR DESTRUCTION.

whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on
whomsoever it shall fall) it will grind him to powder" MATT. XXI. 44.

WHAT is there about the "stone" or the "rock,"
that makes God so often point to it, when speak-
ing of Himself and of his Son 1 ? Many are the truths
which cluster round it, -or are wrapt up in it. It is one of
these mines out of which one digs some of the most
precious thoughts of God, thoughts in which we sinners
of earth have the chief share.

He gives us his own name as the " Rock of Israel "
(2 Sam. xxiii. 3), and his Son's name, as the " Stone of
Israel" (Gen. xlix. 24). He speaks of Himself as the
" Rock of Ages" (Isa. xxvi. 4), and of his Son as the
"tried stone," the "precious corner-stone" (Isa. xxviii. 16).
He calls Himself "the rock that begat us" (Deut. xxxii. 18),
and his Son, "the living stone" (i Peter ii. 4).

He taught Israel to say, "Their rock is not as our
Rock" (Deut xxxii. 31); "neither is there any rock like
our God " (i Sam. ii. 2). He taught his believing ones to
take up this as their song : " Unto thee will I cry Lord,
my Rock" (Ps. xxviii. i) ; " Lead me to the Rock that is
higher than I" (Ps. Ixi. 2); "Be thou my strong Rock n
(Ps. xxxi. 2). " God is the Rock of my heart " (Ps. Ixxiii.
26, margin) ; "Make a joyful noise to the Rock of our
salvation" (Ps. xcv. i).

MATTHEW XXL 44. 91

It is plain, then, that God has much to say of this stone
or rock, and it is His desire that we should learn the
meaning of what He has said, and enter into his thoughts
respecting it. He points us to this stone, and bids us look
at it that we may see in it what He sees, and so may, at
once, get the manifold benefits which it contains. For
such is the nature of that stone, and such its virtues and
benefits, that to enter into the mind of God concerning it,
is to make these virtues and benefits our own.

One special aspect under which God asks us to look at
this stone, is as a foundation-stone; and we need hardly
say that it is to his only-begotten Son that he is pointing,
when He says, "Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-
stone (Isa. xxviii. 16, i Peter ii. 6).

"On this rock," said the Lord, " will I build my church,"
pointing to Himself ; just as He said at another time,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days will I raise it up."
Often is the "rock" or "stone" thus referred to in con-
nection with Himself. The passage before us brings out
four things in connection with this stone, four aspects or
bearings of it. These are as follow :

I. It is the stone of rejection. Probably there was some
stone which Solomon's builders or architects set aside at first
as unfit, which was afterwards found to be altogether suitable.
This is used as a symbol for Messiah's rejection by Israel.
He was meant to be the foundation-stone, the corner-
stone j but Israel would have none of Him as such. He
was not the stone of their choice or approval. He was
"disallowed of men" (i Peter ii. 4). He is the rejected
stone j the rejected Saviour ; the rejected king. He is

92 ' BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

rejected specially by the builders, not only by the common
workmen. Everything connected with Him has been re-
jected; He came unto His own and his own received Him
not ; He was despised and rejected of men ; He was one
in whom men saw no beauty. It is at this point that God
is standing and presenting Christ to the sons of men.
What think ye of Christ ] Do you receive Him or reject
Him ? Decide. This stone is the test or touchstone in
the real character and standing of men. Man's estimate
of this stone is the ground of God's estimate of Israel or
of humanity. On this everything is made to turn. What
is this stone to you, O man 1 What is its value in your
eyes 1 This is about the last test that man thinks of in
determining character ; but with God it is the first ; or
rather, it is both the first and the last. He who accepts"
God's estimate of this stone is saved ; he who rejects it, and
prefers his own, takes the estimate of the builders, is
lost. On our estimate of this stone our eternity turns.
II. The stone of honour. God has made it the head of

the corner. God reverses man's estimate of this wonderful
stone. He declares it worthy of the highest and most
honourable place. This place he has assigned to it. The
sign or emblem of man's rejection was the cross, the sign
of God's acceptance and honour was the throne of the
majesty in the heavens. In the one, we see man's con-
tempt, in the other, God's admiration and approval. It
was as a temple-stone that it was rejected it was as a
temple-stone that it was honoured. It was the last thing
that man would have thought of in building his temple ;
it is the first thing that God thinks of ; he makes it both

MATTHEW XXL 44. 93

foundation-stone and corner-stone. It was the stone that
man could do without in his temple j it was that without
which God could not build his temple; nay, without which
there could not be any temple at all. " God hath highly
exalted him and given him a name that is above every
name." This exaltation to the highest point of the uni-
verse, of that which man had tried to cast down to the
lowest, is the thing which shews this pre-eminence to be
truly divine; altogether superhuman ; something which
God only could accomplish. " This is the Lord's doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes." Surely this is the man
whom the Lord delighteth to honour.

III. The stone of stumbling. It is called by two peculiar
and somewhat similar names ; " a stone of stumbling," or
a stone against which people strike and injure themselves
(^o^o^arog) ; a rock of offence, or a rock over which
people trip (ffxavdaXov). This stone has both of these
characteristics. These two things are comprised in our
Lord's expression, " shall be broken." These are the two
ways in which men are affected by it just now ; for these
two things refer plainly to the present dispensation, the
state of things since Messiah came, which is to continue
till He comes again. These are the two ways in which
unbelief shews itself; it strikes against, or it stumbles
over the stone ; it resists and assails it to its own injury ;
or it makes such mistakes concerning it, that it upsets the
man. For all unbelief either denies the cross or makes it
void. It is thus that the human race (not Israel only) is
brought into contact with this stone; this Messiah; Jesus
of Nazareth. How many in the present day are dashing

94. BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

themselves against it, and so perishing by bold rejection 1 ?
How many are refusing to believe simply what God has
told us about it, either adding something of their own to
it, or taking something from it ? and so, with the name of
Jesus on their lips, missing the pardon, and the life, and
the glory which He came to bring. They are not satis-
fied with Jesus as He is ; with the cross as it is ; or at
least they imagine that Jesus cannot accept them as they
are, and that the cross cannot avail them as they are.
So they would wait, and work, and pray, and feel, and
repent, and add one thing to another, to make the Saviour
sufficient, and the blood effectual, for them. They shrink
from taking Jesus as Ife is ; they shrink from accepting
His fulness as they are. Jesus, "the Son of God," the
"Saviour of the world," the "receiver of sinners," the
"seeker of the lost," is not to them what the Father
represents Him. There is still, if not a gulf, at least a
line between them and Him; there is still something
needed to be done and felt by them to effect the junction
between them, and to draw out His riches. In other
words, "they stumble at this stumbling stone." They
will not, just as they are, take Him for jusf what He is.
It is this "stumbling" that is keeping multitudes from
peace. God's testimony concerning Jesus does not
satisfy them. They, in fact, want another Saviour; for
they insist that they must be different from what they are
before they can expect Him to save them. Alas ! " Who
hath believed our report 1 ?"

IV. The stone of destruction. This is when He comes
the second time. Just now the first part of his statement

MATTHEW XXL 44. 95

is fulfilling, "Whoso falleth on this stone shall be broken/'
ere long the second part shall be fulfilled, " On whom-
soever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." This is
the falling of the mighty stone upon a Christ-rejecting
world ! This is the final ruin of unbelievers. This is the
"everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and the glory of his power." He comes not only to break
his rejectors in pieces, like a potter's vessel but to grind
these pieces into powder. That day of destruction
cometh ! Christendom is preparing for it. The vine of
the earth is fast ripening for the treading of the terrible
vintage ; in the day of the vengeance of the Lord.

96 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XX.

THE THINGS TOUCHING THE KING.

" Wliat think ye of Christ?" MATT. XXII. 42.

* 1 ""HE Lord's question here was specially meant for
JL Jews. They were expecting Messiah, the Christ ;
studying Scripture to know what had been written of
Him ; and so our Lord asks, What is your opinion of the
Christ ? Is it according to the Scriptures ? Are you of
one mind with Moses, with David, with the prophets,
with God himself, concerning Him ?

This was Christ's question to the Jews ; it is his ques-
tion to us in these last days.

What are your views on the points connected with
Jesus of Nazareth ? Are they true or false ? scriptural or
unscriptural ?

1. As to his person. Is He God to you 1 ? Is he man

to you? Son of God and Son of man? Immanuel?
the Word made flesh ? God manifest in flesh ?

2. As to his work. Is it to you the work of a sin-
bearer? Is it finished? And are you enjoying it as
finished or only half finished ? His blood, his righteous-
ness, his cross, what are they to you ?

3. As to his kingdom. Is it a righteous yet also a
glorious kingdom to you ? Do you understand the mode
and the terms of entrance? the new birth, and simple
faith in the King ?

MATTHEW XXII. 42. 97

On these three great points are your views right or
wrong 1 Are you of one mind with God as to each of
them 7 To be of one mind with God is faith j not to be
of one mind is unbelief. Naturally we are wrong on
these points. The Scripture, through the teaching of the
Holy Ghost, sets us right.

1. Is thy understanding right as to these things ? Dost
thou know them ?

2. Is thy heart right as to them ? Dost thou feel them ?
Hast thou not only got hold of them, but have they got
hold of thee ?

3. Is thy life right as to them? Art thou a better,
truer, holier, and more earnest man because of them's
Is thy whole life, thy whole being, outer and inner,
moulded by them 1 ? Or are there still other influences
working more powerfully than these 7 If thy understand-
ing and heart have received these, then thy life will shew
this. There will be' fruit unto holiness. The truth, the
joy, the light will shine through thee, and shine out from
thee, on all around.

What then think ye of Christ 1 Is He such as you can
love and trust 1

1. As a Saviour. Is He the Saviour that suits thee 7
And dost thou appreciate" his great salvation 7 Are you
glad to have Him for your Saviour 1 ? Or have you
any fault to find with Him as such? Would some
change in his person or work have made Him more
suitable 7

2. As a friend. Is He the friend you need 7 Is his
the friendship, the kind of friendship, that suits your

G

98 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

\

circumstances, your feelings, your temperament 1 ? Is his
the kind of sympathy, and counsel, and wisdom, which
you feel you need from a friend ?

3. As an advocate. You need intercession ; one to
plead for you. Does his advocacy suit you ? Can you
trust Him with your case*? Can you put everything in
his hands, that He may manage all your concerns for
you 1 ? Do you see how successful He has been with
every case He has undertaken ; not losing one ; and can
you trust Him with yours ; his skill, wisdom, love,
argument, eloquence ? Is Jesus Christ the righteous, just
the kind of advocate you need 1 ? and are you just the
client for such an advocate ?

4. As a King. Is He just such a King as you should
like, as suits you, as suits this earth, as suits the
universe ? And what say you to Him as a Judge ? You
that shall never come into condemnation, do you enjoy the
thought of Him as the Judge ? You that are still under
condemnation, what think ye of Him as a Judge? -What
do you say to his being your Judge 1 What think ye of
standing before Him and giving in your account to
Him?

What think ye of Christ ? Do you say, " I think Him
the chief among ten thousand "? It is well. Do you say,
I know not what to think 1 Ah, take heed, there is some-
thing wrong within you, if not all wrong together. Do
you give no answer? It matters not. We shall soon
find it out. By the company you keep ; the books you
read; the way in which you lay. out your talents and-
time and money; the way you transact business; your

MATTHEW XXII. 42. 99

dealings in the market; your conduct at home; your
letters and correspondence ; your conversation with neigh-
bours; by these we shall find out what you think of
Him.

zoo BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXI.
THE CHILL OF LOVE.

"Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold!*

MATT. XXIV. 12.

THIS is to be specially true of the last days, so that,
as our Lord elsewhere said, " When the Son of man
cometh, shall he imA faith on the earth 1 ?" here he may be
supposed to be asking a similar question, When the Son of
man cometh, shall he find love on the earth 1

But while this is to "bo. fulfilled m the last days, it is not
confined to these. Such is the tendency of every age,
every church, every saint. In this present evil world the
tendencies are all evil; downward, not upward.

Increasing evil and decreasing good ; this is the general
statement. But our Lord's words are more special. It is
of decreasing love that he speaks : "Thou hast left thy
first love" Let us notice some of the things which
decrease when sin increases.

i. As iniquity increases, faith decreases. Unbelief over-
flows like a deluge. One sin lets loose another. Faith
withers down ; dies out, like a flower in a desert.

. 2. As iniquity increases, truth decreases. For error is
sin, and sin is error ', so that truth and sin cannot co- exist.
Sin expels truth, both from the heart and from the world;
from the individual saint, and from the church at large.
Darkness dispossesses light.

MATTHEW XXIV. 12. 101

3. As iniquity increases, righteousness and holiness
decrease. A man cannot be both holy and unholy ; the
encroachments of sin can leave no room for holiness at
all. Inch by inch, iniquity creeps in and creeps along.

4. As iniquity increases, religion decreases. Sin drives
religion out of the heart, out of the church, out of the
world. With abounding iniquity prayer dies out, and
praise, and zeal. The service of God becomes irksome ;
the form without the power is the first stage of the declen-
sion j and the second is the abandonment of both power
and form.

5. As iniquity increases, delight in the things of God
decreases. Sin soon shuts the Bible, and takes away all
relish or appetite for it, except as a book of poetry or
antiquity. Pleasure in sin cannot co-exist with pleasure
in the Word of God, or the day of God, or any of the
things of God.

But the special thing of which our Lord predicts the
decrease is love, love to God, love to Himself, love to
one another. The atmosphere of sin is poisonous to
everything sacred ; but the thing which it first especially
acts upon is love. It chokes this immediately. Hence
the first thing noticed by our Lord in regard to Ephesus,
was her leaving her first love. Love is the tenderest of
all the plants of heaven, and the most easily affected by
the deleterious or cold atmosphere of earth. The first
step backward and downward is failure in love. A chill
comes over us. Something intervenes between us and
Christ, between us and our fellow-saints. We begin to
grow cold, and then we freeze. This is specially to be

102 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

the case in the last days, but the tendency is the -same
throughout the whole dispensation, increasing sin, de-
creasing love. The Greek word for iniquity is "lawless-
ness" (?j avo/^/a); regardlessness of that law of which love
is the fulfilling ; assimilation to the great Antichrist, who
is specially the lawless one (o avopog) and as the charac-
teristic of this lawless one is hatred of Christ and of his
church, so is every step in " iniquity" an advance to this
great image of sin, this model of hell, Satan's truest
representative.

The evil predicted by our Lord is threefold. It is love
(i) frozen out of the world by abounding iniquity ; (2)
frozen out of the chttrch; (3) frozen out of the saint. A
world without love, a church without love, a saint without
love ! It is not of a few, but of the multitude (the w
sroXXo/), " the most" that this is affirmed. Coldheartedness
will be all but universal ; and even those who do love will
love but little. Theirs will be but cold love, half a heart
given to Christ ; less than half a heart given to the saints.

Let us watch against sin, all sin; tremble at its
increase. Cherish the flame of love ; for " if any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ he shall be anathema
maranatha,"

MA TTHE W XXIV. 42, 44. 103

XXII.

TRUE VIGILS.

" Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth
come. Therefore be ye also ready: for in stich an hozir as ye think not
the Son of man cometh." MATT. XXIV. 42, 44.

WE take this warning as meant for us, as truly as for
the early church ; we might say more truly, or
at least, more forcibly; for eighteen centuries have brought
us so much nearer the consummation. It is the Master's
own warning. It is very explicit ; very practical ; very
searching. Let us take it in the following order :

I. Our Lord will come, (i.) His name is Lord; Mas-
ter; Ruler; the very word applied to Jehovah. (2.) His
name is, our, or your, Lord, "Your Lord." He is thus
connected with us and we with Him, as friend, master,
teacher, king. Our Lord will come ! This is one of the
great certainties of the unknown future. He may tarry ;
but He will come at last. Many obstacles may seem to
rise up, but He will come. Men may not desire Him ;
but He will come. The Church may be cold ; but He
will come. Earth may think she has no need of Him ;
but He will come ! The scoffer may say, Where is the
promise of his coming? but He will come. Satan may
do his utmost to oppose ; but He will come. This is the
. great future certainty which Christ and his apostles have
proclaimed to us. Our Lord will come !

104 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

II. We know not at what hour. The Father knows,
but we know not; no man nor angel; nor the church,
nor any saint ; nay, it is said, " not the Son." This is
one of the great secrets of God. That it should be made
so to man is easily accounted for ; why it is so to angels,
and 'why it was so to the Son, is not for us to say. It
must be an important one, when thus restricted to the
Father himself. . It must have some peculiar purpose to
serve. What that is we know not now, but we shall
know hereafter. The hour is, no doubt, fixed in God's
purpose, but the knowledge of that time is kept from us.
They do wrong, then, who try to fix the hour, thus seeking
to extract a secret from God. They do wrong who neglect
the whole subject because this secret is connected with it.
They do wrong who scoff at the whole subject because of
the rash attempts or wretched failures of some pretended in-
terpreters of prophecy. Thus, "we know," and " we know
not;" we know that He will come ; we know not when.

III. Watch. Like the watchman on his tower; like
the soldier with the enemy in view ; like the pilot with
rocks and straits on every side ; like the householder with
the dread of the midnight robber, "watch"! (i.) Do
not fall asleep; (2.) do not grow slothful; (3.) be ever
on the outlook. The reason given, then, is that the Lord
is coming, and we do not know the hour. He illustrates
the warning thus, If a householder knew that the thief
was coming at a particular hour, he would have watched ;
much more if He did not know the hour, but simply that
He was coming sometime. So * with us ; the simple
knowledge that the Lord is to come, is to make us watch-

MA TTHE W XXIV. 42, 44. 105

ful, even if we knew when; how much more when we
do not know when. Let us beware of being thrown off
our guard by self, or the flesh, or Satan, or the world.
Let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be
sober !

IV Be ready. We may watch and yet not be ready.
Our Lord insists on both. Ye are my disciples, be ready !
Ye are saints, be ready ! What is the readiness ? There
is (i.) readiness of standing, "complete in Him," "by
grace ye stand;" (2.) readiness of raiment, we are to
have on the fine linen, clean and white, Christ's right-
eousness; (3.) readiness of heart and soul. We must
lov^e Him and love his appearing. Our longings must be
towards Him; we must have the Spirit dwelling in us and
sealing us. (4.) Readiness of spiritual state, oil not
only in our lamps, but in our vessels, even the Holy
Ghost himself. Be ready ! The Master still cries.

The message here is thus a warning,

(i.) To the slothful saint. Sleep not. Awake ! Be-
ware of falling under any influences that would make you
indifferent to the Lord's appearing. Beware of worldy
arguments ; beware of pretended spiritual arguments ;
beware of confounding death and Christ's coming; be-
ware of the errors and seductions of the age.

(2.) To the undecided. You are anxious, but you are
not decided. You would fain be a Christian, but not
just yet. You wish to be a follower of Jesus, but you
wish to compromise, or delay. Be not deceived ; God
is not mocked. Be decided at once ; lest the Lord
come and end your wavering.

Io6 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(3.) To the careless. The world at large is thoroughly
careless, sleeping sound, dreaming its dreams of vanity;
enjoying sin, vanity, luxury, pleasure, gaiety. Christ
speaks : Awake ; sleep no more ! Awake, lest the Master
be upon you. Awake, lest the flash of his avenging
sword be the first thing that awakens you !

MATTHEW XXV. 3. 107

XXIII.

RELIGION WITHOUT THE HOLY GHOST.
" They took no oil -with them.'" MATT. XXV. 3.

THIS parable has many sides and aspects. It is pro-
phetical -, it is also practical. It suits all ages, but
especially the last days. It suits the world, but specially
the church of God ; " if the righteous scarcely be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear." It is
searching and sifting ; it is also quickening and comfort-
ing. It suits us well in these days of profession and
fashionable religion and religiousness.

It divides the church into two classes, the wise and
the foolish : wise in God's sight, not man's ; foolish in
God's sight, not man's. Thus it is not a parable for the
heathen, as if they only were foolish ; nor for the profli-
gate, as if they only were foolish ; nor for the infidels, as
if they only were foolish. But for the church. It comes
in to the inner circle of Christian profession, and sifts it,
divides it. Let it sift us and test us. Better to be weighed
and found wanting now than hereafter. Better to be unde-
ceived now than when it is too late. Let us notice,

I. The points of likeness between the two classes, (i.;
They get the same name, virgins; (2.) they wear the same
dress ; (3.) they are on the same errand ; (4.) they have
both lamps ; (5.) they have both vessels ; (6.) they both
slumber and sleep. They have thus many features in

io8 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

common. Man could not discern the difference, at least
for the time. The peril of mere externalism is that which
our Lord points out here. No doubt there must be exter-
nalism. Religion must have an outside as well as an
inside. The lamp must not only have oil, but it must
burn : the external must indicate the internal. And we
may say that our Lord intimated the necessity of a
thorough consistency and completeness in the outward
religious life of a man, so that as a fair external is no
excuse for internal unsoundness or incompleteness, so a
sound internal is no excuse for an inconsistent life. Our
Lord, then, here depicts, (i.) a complete externalism;
(2.) a "beautiful externalism; (3.) a deceptive externalism;
(4.) a/r0/<?;z^/ externalism; (5.) w&unavailing externalism.
Up to a certain point in a man's life, or character, or reli-
gion, externalism may avail; but beyond that it gives
way ; it breaks down ; it exhibits its' unprofitableness.
This externalism may not always be hypocrisy, but it is
imitation. It is not the flower in its natural colour and
growth, but painted, artificial. Let us watch against an
artificial life, and an artificial religion. What does it profit
now 1 what will it profit in the day of wrath 1 The name,
the dress, the lamp, the outward show, will all go for
nothing in that day of universal discovery and detection.

II. The points of unlikeness. Though in most respects
they were all alike, yet there was a difference. It was
'within; it was imperceptible from without ; it could only
be discovered when the bridegroom came. Up till then
all were completely similar. Only then the want came
out in the foolish. Then was it seen who were wise, and

MATTHEW XXV. 3. 109

who were foolish. That day is the day of certain and
unerring detection. It is the day of weighing in the
balances ! It is the separation of the false from the true.

The difference was confined to a single point, the
lack of oil. Some have supposed that the foolish took
oil in their lamps, but not in their vessels. It appears,
however, that they did neither. The lamps were not
required to be lighted till the bridegroom came ; and so
the oil was not poured in, nor the wick inserted till then.
For it was at midnight that the cry was made, and then
all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, that is,
supplied them with the wick and oil, and lighted them.
Then it was that the foolish discovered (i) their need of
oil (2) their lack of it. Then they went to the wise to beg
for a supply ; then they (being wisely refused) went to buy,
and returned too late. There was " oil in the dwelling of
the wise " (Prov. xxi. 20), but the foolish were without it.

The oil is the Holy Spirit. To oil He is likened
throughout all Scripture, though in some places to fire,
and to water, and to wind or air. There is the oil of
consecration (Ex. xxx. 25); of daily food (i Kings xvii.
12) ; of fragrance (Esther ii. 12) ; of joy (Ps. xlvii., Isa.
Ixi. 3) j of healing (Luke x. 34) ; of light (Zech. iv. 12).
The Holy Spirit is all these. But it is as the light-giving
oil that He is specially spoken of here j and the lack of
Him as such makes the difference between the foolish and
the wise. " Having not the Spirit " (Jude 19).

Thus a man may be very like a Christian, and yet not
be one. He. may come very near the kingdom, and yet
not enter in. He may have all the outward features of a

no BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Christian, and yet be lacking in the main one. He may
have the complete dress of the saint, and yet not be one.
He may have a good life, a sound creed, a strict profes-
sion ; he may be one who says and does many things ex-
cellent ; he may be a subscriber to all the religious
societies in the land, a member of all their committees, or
a speaker at all their meetings, and supporter of all their
plans ; he may profess to be looking for Christ's coming,
and going forth to meet the bridegroom, yet not neces-
sarily a Christian ! He may lack the oil, the Holy Spirit.

A religion 1 without the Holy Ghost profiteth nothing.
There is the religion of the intellect, of the sense, of the
fancy, of the flesh, of the creed, of the liturgy, of the
catechism, of nature, of poetry, of sentiment, of mysticism,
of humanity. But what are these without the Spirit'?
Christianity without Christ, what would that be? Worship
without God, what would that be 1 So religion without
the Holy Spirit, what would that be ?

Yet is there not much of this among us 1 Is there not
much of dry formalism, lifeless doctrine, sapless routine 1
I do not call it hypocrisy ; I simply call it unreal religion*

And what can unreal religion do for a man 1 Will it not
prove irksome and vain ? Will it make him happy and
free, or liberal, or zealous, or holy ? No. It can do none of
these things. It is bondage, and darkness, and weariness.

Yet here is the Holy Spirit in the hands of Christ for
you. Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Not
to men, or churches, or creeds, or ministers, but to Christ.
Go to Him. He is exalted to give it; and He will.
Apply to Him ere it be too late.

MATTHEW XXV. 31, 33, in

XXIV,
THE GREAT SEPARATION.

'* IVhen the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit iipon the throne of his glory : and
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left"
MATT. XXV. 31, 33.

LET us enter at once into the practical teaching of
this parable, leaving its prophetical aspects un-
touched, as well as its connection with the two previous
parables.

The name Christ takes here is the Son of man. This
is always his name in connection with judgment. It is
Daniel's name for Him in this connection ; and it is as
Son of man that He is judge of all. We are to be judged
by a man like ourselves. It is before a human judge that
we shall stand and plead. God takes no advantage of
us.

I. The coming, (i.) The Son of man shall come! Yes,
He that shall come will come and will not tarry ! These
heavens shall rend and He shall appear. (2.) He shall
come in his glory. Not in weakness, and poverty, and
shame ; not as a babe, or a carpenter, or a bearer of the
sin and - curse. (3.) He shall come with all his holy
angels. What a retinue ! (a) Angels; (b) holy angels;
(c) with Him ! As his retinue, his attendants, his execu-
tioners ; as in Daniel. Often have angels visited earth,
but never on so awful an occasion. .;

112 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

II. The sitting. It is not a momentary appearance.
He comes as the lightning flash, but does not, like it, de-
part. He takes his seat on a throne, the throne of
glory, not grace now. It is a great work He comes to do ;
a work not done in a moment. He took his seat when
He went up to the Father, and has been thus sitting for
ages, for the work was great and long. So when He comes
again He " sits," for the work is great and long. It will
be thorough, searching, sifting.

III. The gathering. Who shall gather is not here said.
In other places angels are mentioned. But the gathering
shall be : (i.) It is a gathering of men, not devils. (2.)
It is a gathering of nations ; all nations ; a universal
gathering. It is a gathering " before Him " ; before his
throne ; before his face. No hiding, no escaping, no
resisting, no refusing ! However reluctant, they shall be
gathered. He shall see it fully done. Mountains, rocks,
seas, cells, cannot hide men on that awful day.

IV. The separati?ig. They come as one great multi-
tude, but soon they are divided, (i.) They are divided
into two classes, only two; one good and one evil; sheep
and goats. (2.) They are divided by Himself. How He
does it we know not. But He shall do it completely,
effectually, without mistake, one mistake. The separa-
tion shall be perfect and final. (3.) The sheep are set on
the right hand, the place of honour, power, acquittal,
favour , the goats on the left, for shame and condemna-
tion.

V. The convicting. He gives the reasons for what He
does, reasons to both classes ; thesve are all summed up

MATTHEW XXV. 31, 33. 113

in one great reason, viz. : What they did or did not do
for Him. The righteous are told that what they did for
his brethren they did for Him ; the wicked, that what
they did not do for his brethren they did not for Him.
Thus the one class is made to feel how truly all their
works are accepted, and the other left without excuse, not
being able to say, Thou wert not here for us to do any-
thing for thee. " Ah, but my brethren were here. Ye
did it not to them." This stops their mouth.

VI. The sentencing. This is from the Judge's own lips.
Angels may gather them, He must sentence them, for He
is Lord and Judge of all. First, He turns to the right,
and speaks to the sheep, (i.) Come, have done with all
your wanderings and tribulations ; come, end your pilgrim-
age. (2.) Ye blessed Oh, precious name the blessed,
the " well spoken of" ; among men perhaps only cursed !
(3.) Blessed of my Father; not of man ; nor of me only,
but of my Father ; beloved of God and blessed of God ;
this is the beginning, the foretaste of endless blessedness.
(4.) Inherit the kingdom j exile, oppression, weariness,
end in a kingdom ; -they are kings and priests ; an ever-
lasting kingdom, long since prepared ! This is the
recompense of toil, and work, and weariness for me, of
every service, however little, done to one of mine.
Secondly, He turns to the left, and speaks to the goats.

(1) Depart, come not near me, nor my kingdom. I once
said, Come to me, and ye would not ; I now say, Depart.

(2) Ye cursed; not blessed, but cursed ; not merely under
the curse, but with the curse poured down. (3) Into
everlasting fire, -fire, everlasting, prepared for the devil

H

114 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

and his angels. Why ? Simply ye did me no service !
Not ye were drunkards, thieves, liars, Sabbath-breakers ;
but ye did nothing to me !

VII. The exectiting. These go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. " So he
drove out the man," is the first execution of judgment.
" They enter in through the gates in to the city" is the
fulfilment of the gracious verdict. God carries out both
his love and his vengeance. He falters not. " Judgment
lingereth not, damnation slumbereth not." The day of
the canying out of all God's purposes and sentences will
certainly arrive. What shall be the end of them that
obey not the gospel ! Oh terrible doom ! woe, woe, woe,
everlasting ! What shall be the joy of the saved ! Joy
unspeakable, the crown of righteousness. These are the
two great masses. They are mixed now ; they shall be
separated soon. The day of sifting is at hand.

MATTHEW XXVI. 70. 115

XXV.

THE DENYING DISCIPLE.

" He denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest"

MATT. XXVI. 70.

IT takes almightiness to lift up a soul from death ; and
it needs no less to hold up the soul that has been
raised. Hence the need of a divine quickener; hence
the preciousness of the blessed Spirit. He only can keep
us from falling. Were He to let go, in a moment we fall.
In Peter's case we see all this. It was an Almighty voice
that called to him, "Follow me /' and it was an Almighty
hand that drew him out of his boat, and from his nets.
It was an Almighty arm that sustained him. And now
for a moment that arm lets him go, to prove him and shew
him his weakness. In a moment he falls. His fall is one
of the saddest and most awful that the Bible records.
He denied his Lord. He denied him when he ought
most to have confessed Him. He denied Him with
oaths and curses.

Let us throw the statement of the evangelist into the
following questions: (i.) Who? (2.) Whom 1 ? (3.)
What? (4.) When? (5.) Where? (6.) How?

I. Who 9 Judas? No. Nicodemus? No. Thomas,
the doubter? No. Philip, the questioner? No. Peter?
Yes ; Peter. Simon, son of Jonas. Peter, the rock !
Peter, the confessor of the Christ of God. Peter, the

ii6 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

fervent proclaim er of his fidelity and love. Peter, who
took the sword against Malchus. Peter, who had been
with the Master on the transfiguration-hill, and in the
garden of his agony. Yes ; Peter denies. Poor human
heart ! Lord, what is man ? What is even a converted
man 1 ? What is a disciple? Let him that thinketh he
standeth, take heed lest he fall.

II. Whom' 1 } It is his own Master whom he is thus
treating; Jesus, whom he had followed; whom he had
confessed ; and whom he seemed so truly to love. Jesus
of Nazareth ! Jesus the Christ, the Son of God ; the
Son of the blessed ! It is not a fellow disciple whom he
thus treats; it is his blessed Master! O incredible
mystery of human evil ! O desperate wickedness of the
heart of man !

III. What? He denies Him. It is not forsaking
Him merely. They had all done that. But it is denying
Him. In this he stands alone. No one but Peter had
said, I know not the man ; he who had so lately said,
We know that thou art the Christ ! What ingratitude,
what falsehood, what inconsistency, what cowardice, are
here! But should we have done anything else had we
been there ?

IV. When? Immediately after the supper and the
garden scene; after those wondrous words recorded by
John as spoken in the upper room ; after listening to the
awful cries of Gethsemane ! So soon after these ! Does
it not seem impossible ! Yet with all these in remem-
brance, he denies his Lord.

V. Where 1 In the High Priest's hall; within sight

MATTHEW XXVI. 70. 117

and hearing of his Lord he does it. In circumstances
in which we should have expected him nobly to con-
fess Him. In the hour of danger. Surrounded with
enemies. Forsaken by friends. Yes, in the very pre-
sence of his Master he denies Him. Untouched with
pity for his desolation, and sorrow, and torture, he denies
Him.

VI. Hbw? He did it three times. He did it after
being warned by the Lord. He did it through fear of a
woman. He did it in the most decided way. He did it
with oaths and curses. Oh, what a denial ! " Woman,
I know Him not !" Then, " Man, I know Him not."
Then, " Man, I know not what thou sayest." And then
the oaths and curses burst forth. O dreadful and incredible
wickedness ! The old fisherman of Galilee had, it would
seem, been a swearer before his conversion. This swear-
ing fisherman had been called by the Lord and become
his follower. Three years' intercourse with Christ had
done much for him. But the old man was not dead.
The temptation was presented, and the old habit returned,
the old blasphemies broke out. The old oaths came
forth again; aye, and they came forth to clench his
denial of his Master. " May I be cursed for ever if I
know the man," he says. Simon, son of Jonas, is it thou ?
Is that thy voice '? Ah, if your Master heard, what would
He say 1 He heard ! Yes, He heard the threefold denial,
and the curses with which it was enforced. Yet no anger
came from either lip or eye ! The curse only drew out
the love. Yes, at the sound of the last denial, invoking
damnation on himself if he knew the man, the Lord

/i8 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

turned and looked. He looked in love, and the love
conquered. Peter went out and wept. It was his last
denial and his last oath. Satan had sifted him ; but the
Lord steps in.

MATTHEW XXVII. 4. 119

XXVI.

THE TRUE CONFESSOR AND THE FALSE.
"I have sinned." MATT XXVII. 4.

THIS is confession ; so far as words go ; we shall see
what it amounts to. , God lays great stress upon
confession in his dealings with sinning man. It is as a
confessor of sin that he draws near to God j and it is as
such that God receives him. This is the only position,
the only character in which God can deal with him.
Covering sin will do nothing for us. It doubles the
transgression.

Confession is the closest and most personal of all kinds
of dealing with God. As praise is the telling out what
we see in God, so confession is the telling out what we
see in ourselves. It specially comprises matters which
can be spoken in no ear but God's. There is, no doubt,
public confession; but the largest part of confession is
private. Man cannot be trusted with it , man must not
even hear it. Hence, the wickedness of any man setting
up for a confessor. Hence the sin of a dishonest confes-
sion ; and the necessity of dealing honestly with God and
our own consciences in a matter so entirely private and
confidential. The attempt to deceive God, or to hide
anything from Him, is as dangerous as it is wicked and
inexcusable.

There are two kinds of confession, a false and a true.

120 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

We have instances of both of these in Scripture. They
both make use of the same words, "I have sinned";
yet they do not mean the same thing, nor indicate the
same state of feeling. Let us note some of the instances
of the false.

There is (i) Pharaoh. Twice over he says, "I have
sinned against the Lord (Exod. ix. 27 ; x. 16), (2) Israel.
After deliberate disobedience, and as a declaration of
farther disobedience, " We have sinned" (Num. xiv. 40).
(3) Balaam (Num. xxii. 34.) He said to the angel of
the Lord, " I have sinned." (4) Achan. (Josh. vii. 20),
" Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel."
(5) Saul, (i Sam. xv. 24), "Saul said unto Samuel, I
have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment

t

of the Lord." (6) Judas. (Matt, xxvii. 4), " I have sinned
in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." These are
examples of false confession. And its falsehood consisted
in this,

(i). It was constrained. It was extorted by terror and
danger. It was not spontaneous or natural. These men
would rather not have made it ; but they could not help
themselves. It was merely the natural heart crying out
in trouble.

(2). It was selfish. It was not the dishonour done to
God, nor the injury to others, that they thought of; but
the consequences to themselves. It was not sin, as sin,
that was confessed and hated.

(3). It was superficial. It was not the conscience, the
inner man, that was stirred ; but the mere external part
of man's being. The real nature of sin was unfelt. Self

MATTHEW XXVII. 4. 121

was not abased nor loathed. There was no broken nor
contrite heart.

(4). // was impulsive. Some judgment smote, or was
to be averted ; some affliction overwhelmed them ; some
sermon roused them. And under the impulse of such
feelings they cried out, " I have sinned."

(5). It was temporary. It did not last. It was like
the early cloud, it passed away. The words of confession
had hardly passed their lips when the feeling was gone.

Let us beware of false confessions. Let us .not cheat
our souls, nor lull our consciences asleep, by uttering words
of confession which are not the expressions of contrition
and broken-heartedness. Let us deal honestly, search-
ingly, solemnly, with God and our own consciences.
Godly sorrow is one thing, and the sorrow of the world is
quite another. " Be not deceived ; God is not mocked."
He wants real words.

But we have some examples of no-confession. We have
Adam trying to hide his sin j Cain refusing to confess ;
and Lamech glorying in his shame. They are specimens
of the immoveable and impenetrable ; shewing the lengths
to which a human heart can go.

But we have many notable instances of true confession 5
proclaiming to us the truth of the promise, "Whoso con-
fesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy" (Prov.
xxviii. 13) "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins" (i John i. 9). David said, "I
have sinned," and his confession brought forgiveness.
Daniel said, " we have sinned," and he found forgiveness.
Yes, true confession brings certain pardon. We have but

122 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

one Confessor and one Confessional ; and both are
heavenly, not earthly ; we need no more.

In true confession we take our proper place. We take
the only place in which God can deal with us ; the only
place in which it would not dishonour him to pardon us,
the sinner's place. And he who is willing to take this
place is sure of the acceptance which the forgiving God
presents. The Spirit's work in convincing of sin is to
bring us to our true place before God. He who takes this
but in part gets no pardon. He who tries to occupy a
higher or better place must be rejected. He who tries to
deal with God as not wholly a sinner, as something better
than a mere sinner, shuts himself out from favour. He
who goes to God simply as a sinner, shall find favour at
the hands of him who receiveth sinners, who came not to
call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Everything
depends on this. If he goes to God with some goodness
to recommend him j some good feeling ; some softness of
heart j some excellence in his own faith or repentance to
recommend him, he cannot be received. But he who
goes simply as a sinner, will taste that the Lord is gracious.

In true confession we come to see sin somewhat as
God sees it ; and ourselves somewhat as God sees us.
I say somewhat; because we cannot here fully enter into
his mind regarding sin and the sinner ; we see but in part,
and feel but in part. It is but a faint glimpse we get of
sin and of ourselves. But it is with this that we go to
God, having learned something, though but in the remotest
degree of what sin is and deserves, and of what He thinks
of it. We take his report of what sin is, and of what we

MATTHEW XXVII. 4. 123

are, whether wejfo/it or not. We believe what He has
said about these things ; and accepting His testimony to
the evil of sin, even in spite of our own want of feeling,
we confess it before Him, and receive at his hands that
forgiveness which, while it pacifies the conscience, makes
sin more odious, and our own hearts more sensitive and
tender.

We take the prodigal's words, " Father, I have sinned
against heaven and in thy sight." We turn our eye and
our feet homewards. We remember the past; we look
round us on the desolation of the "far country"; we listen
to the good news of our Father's open door and loving
heart ; we arise and go. And at every step, as we draw
near, our view of sin intensifies, our self-abhorrence in-
creases, our sense of ingratitude deepens; and yet the
certain knowledge of our Father's profound compassion
and unchanged affection sustains us, cheers us; so that
we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith ;
knowing that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins.

124 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXVII.
RELATIONSHIP TO CHRIST.

" For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, ana
my sister, and mother '." MARK III. 35.

"J3 ELATIONSHIP to Christ is the special theme of
JLV our Lord's statement here. It was started by the
appearance of his earthly relations on the outside of the
crowd that was listening to Him. His mother and his
brothers (brothers in the common sense) stood without, and
sent to call him. The crowd conveyed the message, and
that message drew out the scene and the words that fol-
lowed. There was presumption in the conduct of his mother
and brothers ; yet He does not directly rebuke this inter-
ference, though indirectly he does, asking, " Who are my
mother and brothers'?" As the answer to this question, he
looks at the crowd close around him, not at the relatives
standing without and calling; as if seeking for truer kindred
among the former; as if earthly kinsmanship were quite an
inferior thing. The relationships of blood were, after all,
external and perishable ; it is not in his own family, but
among the stranger multitude, that the deeper and more
enduring kinsmanship is to be sought, a kinsmanship of
which all may be partakers, for the earthly connection
could of course belong only to a few, the heavenly was
capable of illimitable extension. Relationship to Jesus is
presented freely to the sons of men.

MARK III. 35. 125

Thus our Lord disposes of the question of mere blood-
relationship, of which man has made so much. It is
human, not divine ; earthly, not heavenly. He also him-
self thus shakes off the claims which mere earthly ties
would have made upon him. He does not deny the
lower bond, but he shews that it is merged in the far
higher one, as taper-light is lost in sunlight. Thus far he
severs the one bond, that he may knit the other more
closely and firmly shewing himself in a far higher and
diviner association than men conceived, and thereby cor- '
recting the carnal mistakes into which unbelief and self-
righteousness and superstition are so prone to fall.

Christ still speaks, and speaks to us, concerning this
matter. He still stands with outstretched hand, as he has
been doing throughout the ages, saying, " Who is my
mother and my brothers ? " He still invites the crowds
of earth, in the centre of whom he is standing, to partake
of the blessing, and to become his kindred, his own nearest
relatives, mother, brother, sister, all in one. Mark these
three things regarding this relationship (i), its importance;
(2), its formation ; (3), its manifestation.

I. Its importance. Rank and relationship are among
men reckoned things of moment. They involve so much,
not only of privilege, but of affection and sympathy. How
important are these human affinities and alliances ! To
be related to kings, to have royal blood in our veins, this
is one of man's highest boasts. How much more to be
related to the King of kings 1 Earthly relationships do
little for us, but this will do everything ; and what it does
is for evermore. It is an everlasting relationship.

126 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(i.) // delivers us from what is earthly and vain. It is
only by the formation of a higher kinsmanship that we
can be severed from the drag of the carnal and the com-
mon. Thus we are set free from the bondage, and the
routine, and the vanity of earth. It breaks the chains of
hell.

(2.) It connects with salvation and eternal life. It is
the grafting into the living stem of the vine. It not only
severs us from destruction, but it links us to life and joy.
He whose kinsmen we become, quickens and saves us.
Because He lives we shall live also.

(3.) It connects us with honour and glory. All that our
kinsman has, becomes ours ; his rank, his property, his
rights, his honours, his prospects. Our interests are hence-
forth bound up with his for evermore. He is a son, so
do we become. He is an heir, so we become. He is a
king, so we become. " We are made partakers with
Christ," nay, " partakers of the divine nature."

II. . Its formation. This is given us in these memorable
words, both positively and negatively, " As many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God " (John i. 12). This is the
first point at which we commence doing the will of God.
Thus we have the formation of the new tie declared to us.
We become sons of God, and we do so by our acceptance
of the Son ot God ; or we may say by our acceptance of
Jesus of Nazareth, as being what God declares him to be,
the word made flesh, the Son of God. " He that believeth

.MARK III. 35. 127

that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." The internal
process itself is the work of the Holy Ghost, the result of
a sovereign purpose, a new creation. But the visible or con-
scious part of it is our receiving Christ. Not prayer, nor
reformation, nor repentance, but simply our reception of
Christ; this is all. This introduces us at once into the new
relationship ; the new rank, the new position, the new
glory. Reception of Jesus as the Son of God is the one link
that binds us to God, and brings us into the new family,
and makes us .partakers of the household of faith in all
their privileges and honours. Acceptance of Jesus ! Dost
thou know that, O man ? Acceptance of Jesus according
to the Father's testimony, that is all ! Hast thou received
Him as God manifest in flesh, the Lamb of God 1 If not,
thou art not his kinsman. Thou art still of the kindred of
earth'; nay, of hell. '-.

III. Its manifestation. A life of sendee, of doing the
Father's will. - Our first act of faith was our first doing of
that will, Our whole subsequent life is a doing of it ; and
in doing it we make manifest whose we are, to whose kin-
dred we belong, of whose family or household we are
members.

Every real doing of this divine will is a proof and exhi-
bition of our relationship ; every non-doing of this will, or
opposition to it, is a manifestation of our earthly kindred.
Here, then, we have the test of our Christianity, a life of
divine will-doing. We say that we are Christians, Christ's
kinsmen ; well, let us try ourselves. Are we doing the
will of our Father in heaven, his Father and our Father,
and so openly identifying ourselves with him ?

128 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(i.) Are our hearts doing the Father's will? Is that
will our will 1

(2.) Are our intellects doing the Father's will 1 In the
present day man's intellect is utterly in revolt a.gainst
God. Has ours been brought into glad subjection ?

(3.) Are our purposes doing the Father's will '? Each
day is full of purposes and schemes. What are these ?
Earthly or heavenly ? Holy or unholy ?

(4.) Is our life doing the Father's will ? Life, be it
short or long, is made up of many parts. What is the
nature of these myriad things that make up what we call
our daily life 1

(5.) Is ow; family life doing the Father's will ? And are
we by the way in which we regulate it, shewing that we
are kinsmen of the Lord Jesus Christ 1

(6.) Is our business life doing the Father's will ? Have
we taken God into partnership with us, and are all our
transactions regulated by a sense of His presence, and a
desire for His approval '?

Thus let us test our relationship to Christ. Not he that
says, Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of our Father
in heaven ; he is the kinsman of the Son of God j he it is
to whom Jesus points and says, " the same is my brother,
and sister, and mother/'

MARK IV. 39. " 129

XXVIII.

THE GREAT CALM.
* l The wind ceased and there was a great calm. " MARK. IV. 39.

IT is written, " He maketh the storm a calm " (Psalm
cvii. 29). Of this our text gives a notable instance;
even more notable than in the case of Jonah. In the
Psalm it is Jehovah that does it; here it is Christ;
identifying the calm-maker, the storm-stiller; and shewing
that Jehovah and Jesus are one.

"He maketh the storm a calm;" he, not man; nor
chance ; nor the laws of nature. He raised the wind ;
he stilled it ; just as truly as did Jesus on the sea of
Galilee, when He arose and " rebuked the wind and the
sea, and there was a great calm." " The one is as directly
his doing as the other.

The " calm," then, is the voice of God. It is not the
fire, or the earthquake, or the whirlwind; but still it is
the divine voice; the still small voice which, like the
goodness of God, ought to melt our hard hearts, and lead
us to repentance ; to revive, and comfort, and cheer. It
is the voice,

( T -) Of power. The calm is as truly the manifestation
of power as the storm. What power to still such storms ;
to bind such winds ; to smooth such waves ! Think of
God's power in the calm.

130 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(2.) Of love. He does not delight in the storm or its
havoc, in the wind and its terror; his delight is in the
cairn ; for God is love. It was the voice of love that on
the lake of Tiberias produced the calm ; and, in the calm,
love is speaking still.

(3.) Of peace. The calm reminds us of pardon, and
reconciliation, and friendship. " Peace be still " are the
words of grace to us. " Be of good cheer : it is I ; be not
afraid." The calm is truly the peace-speaking voice of
God, Qi God, willing to be at peace with us, and asking
us to be at peace with Him.

(4.) Of warning. No earthly calm lasts. It is often
the prelude of a greater storm. The four angels held in
the four winds ; but it was only until the servants of God
were sealed. Their very holding in was the warning.
They were pent up for a brief season, that they might
break loose the more terribly.

There are many storms and calms here ; of all kinds,
inner and outer; of the inner man, of the church, of
the nation, of the world. All of them speak to us. Let
us advert to two of these, the present calm for the soul,
and the future calm for earth.

I. The inner calm. There has been a storm. In every
soul there has been this. Even in man's careless state there
is enough of tempest to- disturb his quiet. But when
aroused by the Spirit, then the greatness of the storm
begins. It rages through the man's whole being. But
there is a ruler and a stiller of this storm ; one who gives
rest ; who calms every tumult within. Jesus is He whose
word produces the great calm in the tempest-driven soul

MARK IV. 39. 131

of the awakened sinner. It is a calm in three aspects,
or three parts of man's being.

(i.) In his conscience. For it is chiefly in the conscience
that the storm rages. The sense of guilt, remorse, terror,
wrath, the prospect of judgment and eternal woe, all
these work together to raise a storm such as man cannot
quell. Only the Son of God can lay these winds and waves.
He speaks peace to the conscience through his cross
and blood; his gospel of righteous peace, meeting all
these different points of conflict and commotion, calms
the conscience. It produces- what the apostle calls no
more conscience of sin.

(2.) A calm in his heart. That heart was the seat of
conflicting feelings; loves, fears, hopes, joys, sympathies,
antipathies. It was made to be filled ; it wanted to be
filled ; and it had none to fill it. There was a storm in
his heart. But now God has come in ; Christ has come
in ; he has something now to love worthy of love ; some-
thing to fill his heart ; it is no longer tossed to and fro
with the uncertainties and changes of creature-love.
Divine love fills it; and that is calm for the heart;
present calm; calm that grows more stable every day;
the earnest of the everlasting calm.

(3.) A calm in his intellect. His mind was distracted.
He was perplexed, puzzled, torn in pieces by doubt.
What is truth ? he asked himself. But no answer was to
be had. The ever-rising, ever-shifting opinions of the
world kept him in perpetual motion. His mind was not
at rest. There was storm in his intellect; and all his
powers seemed loosened, broken, unable to fix themselves.

132 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

But the Son of God has come ! With Him the true
knowledge has come ; the knowledge of the Father and
the Son ; the knowledge of God's righteous love ; the
knowledge that satisfies, that diffuses light through the
intellect. There is a great calm. Jesus is teaching him ;
and in that teaching there is unutterable calm, a true
intellectual calm. His mental distraction and weariness
are at an end. Each word from the lips of the great
prophet seems so true, so real, so certain, that his whole
intellectual being finds repose ; it is the repose of activity,
yet the activity of repose. There is a great calm.

II. The ftiture calm for earth. In every aspect ours is
a stormy world. In every sense, materially, morally,
spiritually, intellectually, externally, internally, there is
the earthquake, the volcano, the whirlwind, the breeze,
the tempest, the tide, All is restless. For sin is here.
Alienation from God is here. The curse lies still on
creation, the kingdoms of earth are still hostile to God.
Satan is still ruler of the darkness of this world. But its
day of calm is coming. Jesus will yet speak to it and
say, Peace be still ; and there shall be a great calm, the
calm of the new heavens and earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. He comes,

(i.) As a prophet ; to impart wisdom and knowledge
to its inhabitants. That calm shall be the calm of true
wisdom, the calm of the heavenly light, the calm
realised in the fulfilment of the word, " They shall be all
taught of God."

(2.) As a priest; to impart universal pardon and
cleansing to earth and its dwellers, through his one sacri-

MARK IV. 39. 133

fice. It shall be priestly calm; calm diffused over this
tempestuous earth by the word of the great High Priest.

(3.) As a king; to impart royal calm j the calm of
heaven; the calm which He only can give who is the
King of kings. It is as a king that He comes ; it is as a
king that He shall say, Peace be still ; and then shall be
the great calm such as earth has never known.

134 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXIX.

ONLY BELIEVE.

"As soon as 'Jesus heard the word that "was spoken, he saith unto
the rider of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe" MARK V. 36.

r OST of Christ's mighty works had to do with disease
and health, with death and life. Not all of them ;
for we have the water turned into wine, and the multitude
fed. But most of them were as we have said. Here it is
death with which He is brought into contact; and He
deals with it as the Prince of life.

At three different stages does he meet with and over-
come death, and him that has the power of death, (i.)
The newly dead, as here in the case of Jairus' daughter.
(2.) The dead of a day, as in the son of the widow of
Nain. (3.) The dead of four days. Each time He
encounters more of death, and has to go down deeper
into the horrible pit. But in all the three (and no doubt
there were many such) He is the conqueror, the resur-
rection and the life. But let us look at the whole miracle ;
it is one of sickness and death ; and in connection with
these there is the persuasion that Christ was the only
deliverer.

We see (i.) faith; (2.) faith giving way; (3.) faith
strengthened and encouraged; (4.) faith victorious ; (5.)
unbelief rebuked.

I. Faith. The faith of Jairus; of both father and

MARK K 36. 135

mother; for both seem to have turned their eye to
Jesus. He is probably a Pharisee; like Nicodemus, a
master in Israel; the ruler of the synagogue, a well-
known man in Capernaum. But he has heard of Jesus,
of his wonders, how he can overcome disease ; and as
his little daughter lies dying, he leaves her bedside to go
in quest of Jesus. It is faith that sends him on this
errand ; faith in Jesus as the healer; for at first his faith
only reached thus far. But Jesus leads him on ; and the
faith that began with trusting Him as the physician, ends
with realising in Him the raiser of the dead. For faith
often begins with little, and ends in. much ; it begins with
a trickling streamlet, and ends with a full broad river ; it
begins with a few streaks of light, and ends with the
glorious dawn, or more glorious noon.

II. Faith giving way. I do not say that the father's
faith gave way, though from the words of Jesus it seems
to have wavered. But the mother's faith had done so ;
for she had sent the messenger with the desponding
message, " Thy daughter is dead, why troublest thou the
Master any further?" Her faith had found its limit (as in
the case of Martha and Mary, Lord, if thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died) ; it took hold of Jesus as
the healer of the sick, but it went no farther. She knew
something of Jesus ; and that something had led her to
think of Him ; but it was little that she knew ; and her
faith soon came to an end. Had she known Him better,
she would have either sent no message, but calmly waited
his arrival ; or it would have run very differently, " Thy
daughter is dead, urge the Master to come." Ah, does

136 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

__. - - -._....._..._...- i -- i

not our faith often thus fail, just at this point 1 We can
go to Him for a little thing ; we cannot go to Him for a
great thing. We count it presumption to expect much.
Instead of feeling that the worse the case, the greater the
glory to his power and love, we stop short, and cease to
expect anything from Him at all. I need not trouble the
Master, we say, my case is so desperate ; instead of
saying, because my case is so desperate, I will trouble
Him, I will give Him this opportunity of magnifying his
skill and grace. Thus faith shews its feebleness. It
gives way when any strain is put upon it. We can trust
Jesus for a little, but not for much, not for all ! O we of
little faith !

III. Faith strengthened. Christ speaks. " Fear not ;
believe only and she shall be made whole." He saw his
faith staggering. The intelligence was a blow to it. He
believed that Christ could heal her; but can He bring
her back from the dead? There is a wide difference
between these two things ; the one is human, the other
superhuman. Christ's words are for the strengthening of
his faith in that which is superhuman. They are an
intimation of the far greater fulness in Himself. They
bid the man believe in that fulness, and dismiss all the
fears which the sad intelligence had awakened. They
assure him that it was quite as easy for the Master to raise
the dead as to heal the sick. Fear not; believe only;
and she shall be made whole. It is thus that He leads
faith on and up, step by step ; making use of failure and
evil tidings for this end. As the road grows darker the
torch blazes brighter.

MARK V. 36. 137

IV. Faith victorious. The dead child is raised. Thy
faith hath saved thy child. Jesus and the believing
father enter the house together, go to the chamber of
death. The father has taken Christ at his word j he has
believed ; he has recognised in Christ not merely the
healer of the sick, but the resurrection and the life ; and
in response to his faith his child is given back to him ;
the chamber of death becomes the chamber of life.
Faith has won the victory. That victory is resurrection !
He that believeth on me, though he were dead yet shall
he live.

V. Unbelief rebuked. The father and mother believe,
and they are admitted to see the great sight, the earnest
of that which shall be seen over all the earth when the
trumpet shall sound. But it is an unbelieving household ;
and the mourners make known their unbelief in mockery
of Christ's resurrection-words. They are put out. They
are not allowed to see the sight, the gate of death
unlocked by Him who has its keys ; and the prisoner
brought forth. They only see the issue afterwards ; but
from the glorious spectacle itself they are excluded.
From how many blessed sights does unbelief shut us out.
Into what chambers of life and blessedness does faith
bring us ! Only believe !

138 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXX.

JESUS WONDERING AT MAN'S UNBELIEF.

"And he marvelled because of their tmbelief" MARK VI. 6.

"HO marvelled '? It was the Son of God.
Man's marvelling may not be much worth ;
but Christ's has a deep meaning. His estimate was
correct. He did not marvel amiss. It is not said that
He grieved or was angry ; but He marvelled ! It was a
sore disappointment. He came seeking fruit and found
none.

II. At whom did He marvel ? At the men of Galilee.
He had been brought up among them, and they knew
Him well. He had done most of his miracles there;
spoken most of his gracious words there. But He came
to his own, and his own received Him not. No wonder
that He marvelled.

III. At what did He marvel '? Not at their sins, their
blasphemies, their profligacies ; but at their unbelief. He
did not marvel at the disease, but He marvelled at their
rejection of the physician and his medicine; not at their
being lost, but at their refusal to be saved.

But why at their unbelief ? The unbelief of any poor
sinner was a thing to be marvelled at, how much more
their unbelief? Their unbelief of what? His power and
love ! Why? Because,

(T) // was so unreasonable. He had done every thing

MARK VI. 6. 139

to remove or prevent it. He had given them the fullest
evidence of his divine errand, and of the truth of his
words. Their unbelief, then, was truly without a cause,
without excuse or palliation, altogether foolish. " If I say
the truth, why do ye not believe me " ?

(2) It was so unkind. He had gone out and in among
them for so many years. He had spent and been spent
for them. He had loved them, yearned over them,
invited them ; but they would not believe. He had
raised their dead, healed their sick, given sight to their
blind, fed their multitudes \ yet they would not believe !
How unkind !

(3) It was so sinful. To refuse the Son of God ! To
treat his .miracles as if they were tricks, and his words as
if they were lies, and Himself as if He were an impostor !
Unbelief does all this. Must it not be the sin of sins ?

(4) // was so unprofitable. They made nothing by it.
It did them no good. It was a useless provocation of
God, to say the least of it. It was like children preferring
toys to gold. Oh the folly of unbelief ! Oh its unprofit-
ableness !

(5) It was so dangerous. It put away present peace and
love. It made them miserable here. But it also treasured
up wrath for them. It set God against them for rejecting
his Son. It was the throwing away of everlasting life.
It was the deliberate choice of hell for their portion. JSi o
wonder that he marvelled.

(6) // was so wilful. This sums up the whole. Their
unbelief, was a deliberate rejection of Christ and his
Messiahship. They did it freely, of their own will and

140 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

choice, no one compelling. No wonder that Jesus mar-
velled at their unbelief !

1. Sinner, Jesus marvels at your unbelief. He wonders
that you should prefer the world to Him ; death to life ;
hell to heaven !

2. Anxious sold, Jesus marvels at your unbelief. It is
your unbelief that is keeping you from peace ; and what
reason can you give for it? for refusing to believe the
record ? Jesus marvels at your darkness, your doubts,
your distrust

3. Backslider, Jesus marvels at your unbelief. Unbelief
is the root of backsliding. It is the evil heart of unbelief
rising up again. He says, Return ye backsliding children,
for I am married unto you.

4. Believer, Jesus marvels at your unbelief. For is
there not more unbelief than faith in you? With such a
Saviour should you ever doubt at all 1 O slow of heart to
believe all that the Lord hath spoken. We believe but a
little; we are contented with that little. What different
men should we be if we believed all! All the things
concerning Him, his first coming and his second !

MARK VI. 33, 34. 141

XXXI.

CHRIST'S TEACHING THE WORLD'S GREAT

NEED.

" And the people saw them departing and many knew him, and ran
a-foot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto
him. And Jestis, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved
with compassion toward them, becattse they were as sheep not having a
shepherd: and he began to teach them many things" MARK VI.
33> 34-

FE get here, first, a description of the people, and
then of the Lord himself, in His dealings with
them. Each word is descriptive and full.

I. The People.

(i.) The people saw Him. He was withdrawing to a
desert place, beyond the sea of Galilee, for rest to himself
and his disciples ; but he could not be hid. He might
have hid himself wholly j but he did not ; he allowed him-
self to be seen.

(2.) They knew Him. They recognised Him. This is
Jesus of Nazareth ! Blessed recognition to them ! Have
our eyes seen him, and our hearts recognised him ? Re-
cognition of Jesus by the sinner ! How much there is in
that ! It may be but a glimpse, but it leads to more.

(^^They ran d-foof thither. They saw Him embark-
ing near the head of the lake. They had no boat or boats
to follow with ; but they ran round the head of the lake

142 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

to get to the other side. It was quite a crowd, more than
five thousand men, out of all the cities, flocking to Jesus.
Blessed running; blessed eagerness, when Jesus is the goal.!

(4.) They outran and reached Him. They were first at
the spot. As they were going round the lake, they could
easily see the spot whither he and his disciples were going.
Thither they ran with all might, and reached the place
before him. Blessed outrunning ! Thus they reach Jesus,
and crowd around him. Nor does he withdraw himself.
He allows himself to be outrun and reached ; for surely
he could easily have outstripped them, as his was the
shortest course, but he allows himself to be overtaken.
He lingers for them. How willing to be reached ! How
accessible ! How gracious !

II. The Lord. It is His grace that we find specially
here.

(i.) He came. The " coming out " may be the coming
out of the desert place to which he had gone for rest, or com-
ing out of the boat in which the sea had been crossed. It
matters little which, though probably it is the latter, as it
would seem as if they had intercepted him on his way to
the desert place. He came out I He did not hide himself;
he allowed the crowd to meet him. He turns not away
from any one, nor makes it a difficult thing to reach him.

(2.) He saw. His eyes lighted on the crowds that
were gathering round him. It was no unwelcome sight,
this "gathering of the people," earnest of the great
gathering of the people unto Shiloh. He saw everything
with human eyes, exactly as they were ; and they made
on him impressions such as they make on us, for he was

MARK VI. 33, 34. 143

man all over, with human eyes and ears, and a human,
heart beating within.

(3.) He pitied. He was moved with compassion toward
them. The sight of the thousands was to him touching
and affecting. He could not but feel, for he saw through
and through them, understanding their temporal and their
eternal wants ; all their hunger and thirst, of body and
soul. He saw them as they were at the moment. He
saw their eternal prospects. And he pitied them ! With
all their sins about them, he pitied them. The special
thing at present which excited his pity, was their shep-
herdless condition. They were wandering sheep, with
none to gather,- none to feed them, none to guard them.
It is a .sinner's friendlessness, helplessness, forlornness,
that awakens the pity of the Son of God. And that pity
is sincere. ' He feels for the wandering sinner. He
stretches out his hands to him ; he says, " I would have
gathered you." Oh the true, the profound pity of the Son
of God ! He, the great Shepherd, is touched with the
scattered, weary, forlorn condition of his wandering crea-
tures. He is "very pitiful." His " compassions fail not."

(4.) He taught. " He began to teach them many
things." It was to this that his pity prompted him. He
saw what they needed so specially. They were perishing
for lack of knowledge. He knew what would bless them,
what would cure and comfort them, teaching, divine
teaching. This is the soul's true cure. That which Jesus
speaks is the cure of the soul. His words, his truths, are
all we need. For in them is contained that which alone
can heal all our diseases, and fill all our emjSiness, the

144 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

great love of God. Hence he said, " Learn of me ; " for
He has compassion on the ignorant, and on them that
are out of the way.

Yes, it is teaching that we need ; the teaching of Jesus.
He has " many things" to teach them ; and all of them,
contain the heavenly medicine. His words are health,
and rest, and food, and joy, and liberty. That teaching
is all we need. Having it, we can dispense with self-
teaching, or man-teaching, or church-teaching, or priest-
teaching, or book-teaching. Who teacheth like him 1
Let us resort to him for the heavenly instruction which
alone can profit. It is with him that we have to do for
instruction, " wholesome words," true teaching. He is
now in heaven, yet he teaches the multitudes still. He is
as accessible as ever, as compassionate and condescend-
ing. His gracious words are still flowing down to us, for
the health and joy of the inner man.

In these days, we need to keep this in mind especially.
Amid the Babel of human words, and the contradictions
of human teaching, let us resort to Him for the one teach-
ing which profiteth. There is at present a tendency to
turn away from him, and listen to others. Other teaching
seems more intellectual, more learned, more eloquent,
more " abreast of the age." But what profits it 1 There
is but one teaching and one teacher that can make wise
for eternity.

The strong delusion is abroad. There is no remedy for
it but the teaching of Jesus. The enticing words of man's
wisdom are misleading millions. Let us be on our guard,
lest we too be led away by the error of the wicked. Satan

MARK VI. 33, 34. 145

is working with his snares and sophistries, to deceive, if
possible, the very elect. Let us close our ears against
him, and listen to Jesus only. All other teaching is poor
and vain. This only fills, and gladdens, and leads us to
God.

The world has but one teacher after all. Jesus the Son
of God. So also has the church. Only one teacher.
He has wisdom ; others have only folly. This one teacher
offers himself to us. Allow him to teach you, and he will !
Beware of the world's folly coming under specious names,
the verifying faculty, the higher criticism, spiritual intui-
tion, advanced liberalism, enlarged views, emancipation
from bigotry. Try the spirits, whether they are of God ;
for many false prophets are gone out into the world.

K

146 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXXII.
JESUS AND HIS FULNESS.

" And when they had passed over, they came into theland of Gennesaret,
and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship,
straightway they knew him, and ran through that whole region round
about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they
Jteard he was. And withersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or
country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they
might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as
touched him were made whole" MARK VI. 53-56.

E may take up the topics of this passage in the
following order : (i.) the landing; (2.) the recog-
nising; (3.) the gathering; (4.) the touching; (5.) the
healing.

I. The' landing. They had been on the east of the
Jordan, near Bethsaida ; they had taken ship and crossed
the lake ; and now they draw to the shore of Gennesaret,
which was a well-watered plain on the north-west side of
the lake, where Magdala and other towns lay. It was no
common landing this. History records many a landing,
of conquerors, liberators, benefactors, heralds of peace or
war. But here is a landing which surpasses all. Wher-
ever the Son of God landed there was blessing, peace,
liberty, health. He carried all these with Him; and
wherever He landed He dispensed them. We may say
that his first great landing was at Bethlehem, where He
arrived from heaven. After that He had many a lesser

MARK VI. 53-56. 147

landing at other places ; and wherever his heavenly vessel
touched, there He distributed its heavenly freight. He is
still landing in our different cities and villages, and still
dispensing liberally his rich stores .of health. Wherever
the good news are proclaimed there He is landing ; He
is seen drawing to the shore ; nay, He is heard proclaiming

his grace, and shews Himself as the distributor of pardon,
and life, and blessing. For all fulness is in Him ; the
fulness of divine love, and health, and joy.

II. The recognising. " Straightway they knew Him"; He
could not be hid ; they recognised Him at once ; Jesus
of Nazareth, the healer of the sick. It is specially as such
they recognise Him here and now. It is not as the
teacher but as the healer, that He approaches the shore
of Gennesaret. No doubt He teaches also ; but specially
He heals. The first thing He does is to heal. Their
first felt want is the need of healing, and He does not
despise this, but owns it, responds to it. It was then as
the healer that they recognised Him, when He came on
shore. They knew Him. This is the man we need !
Thus they met Him, not as others, praying Him to
depart out of their coasts, but as those who were eager to
bid Him welcome. "If thou knewest/' He once said to
another ; and so He speaks to us. If thou knewest Him
and his gifts, O sinner, wouldst not thou hasten to Him
and partake of his fulness 1 He comes to thee ; wilt thou
not go to Him ?

III. The gathering. The news spread. The healer is
come ! They run through the whole region round
about j they tell the tidings, they bring the sick. Wher-

148 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES

ever He goes in this region, country, cities, villages,
it is the same. He goes to them \ they come to Him.
The whole region is stirred. What a gathering ; what a
time of healing ; what a casting out of evil spirits ; what
a removal of disease from the land. The centre of the
gathering is the Son of God. Here, as elsewhere, Christ

is all. He is the great attraction for the sick and needy.
They hear of Him, and they flock to Him, as was written
of old, " To Him shall the gathering of the people be."
It was the want that was in themselves, and the fulness
that was in Him, that was the reason for all this gathering.
He had what they lacked ; and they came to Him for it.
So round Him the publicans and sinners gathered, feeling
that He had just what they needed. Thus sinners gather
unto Jesus still. They hear of his grace and truth, of his
love and his fulness ; .they learn how He has been in the
habit of receiving sinners ; how many millions have, in
ages past, gone to Him and been blessed. They hear the
report of what He is, of what He has spoken, of what He
has done. They go to Him j they crowd around Him ;
they say, This is the Being who suits us, whom we need,
who has all for us, who is willing to give us all. They
make the discovery that distance from Him is the cause
of all their want, and disease, and wretchedness. So they
draw near. They form the one great universal circle of
which Jesus is the centre !

IV. The touching. "They besought Him that they
might touch if it were but the border of his garment." It
was nearness to Him, in any way, in any shape,
that they sought. Contact with Him, nay, with his

MARK VI. 53-56. 149

garment, nay, even with the border of his garment, this
was what they desired. He could have healed them at a
distance, without a touch, by a word ; but He did not,
that He might teach them that it is nearness to Him that
is the thing so infinitely desirable; that there might be no
mistake as to where the healing came from. There are
many ways of contact ; He looks on us, we look on Him;
He speaks to us, we speak to Him ; He touches us, we
touch Him. It matters not which of these it may be.
Only there must be contact or connection of some kind
or other ; communication opened between us and Him.
Then all his fulness flows out, and our want disappears.
It is not some meritorious act of touching ; some laborious
effort skilfully put forth. It is contact in any way. They
who touched Him and his garment were not particular as
to the manner. To touch Him was enough ! He does
not stand on ceremony with the sinner, saying, Touch me
in this way or that way, else you cannot be healed. All
He wants is that you draw near and apply to Him. You
will soon experience his welcome, for He is love ; grace

and truth are in Him.

V. The healing. " As many as touched Him (or if)
were made whole." The cure was immediate, it was free,
it was complete. No uncertainty, no failure. All who
applied were received ; all who touched were healed.
The medicine was all-efficacious ; the physician was all-
skilful and all-powerful. Disappointment there was none,
and could be none. The kind, or the virulence, or the
obstinacy of the disease mattered not ; the healing power
was irresistible. How much more healthy must Judea

150 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

have been during these years ! What an amount of sick-
ness taken away ! We have the same healer still to deal
with ; all his old skill, and love, and power. Time has
not weakened Him, nor hardened his heart against our
diseases and our sorrows. Our sins have not produced
unwillingness on his part, nor placed us beyond his power
as incurables. He is still the same. He receiveth
sinners. He bids us come. " Him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out."

He does not now say to any one, " Touch me not, for
I have not yet ascended." He says rather, " Touch me,
for I have ascended," as if the very fact of his ascension
made Him more accessible, more easy to touch. Touch
me, look to me, hear me, follow me, these are some of
his gracious words. Shall we remain afar off? Shall we
continue unhealed, unsaved 1 He is in earnest ; shall we
not be so ? He is disappointed if we do not come. He
wants an opportunity of blessing us. We need Him, and
He needeth us. Let us go to Him at once as the sick,
the sinful, the weary, the sad !

MARK X. $2. 151

XXXIII.
-CHRIST'S RECOGNITION OF FAITH.

" And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way ; thy faith hath made thee
whole. And immediately he received his sight , and followed Jesus in
the way." MARK X. 52.

THE Lord is going about on his errands of grace, as
one whose heart was full of love, and his hands ot
blessing. He came, not to condemn, or to curse, or to
smite ; but to pardon, to bless, to heal, to save. He has
to do with body and soul; with the soul specially, but
with the body also, both for its own sake, and also to
furnish out a type of that which is spiritual, both in the
sickness and in the cure. He comes as the physician to
the sick ; not with the balm" of Gilead, or the skill of its
physicians, but with the balm of heaven, and the skill of
heaven.

Let us look at this sick one here, and his cure. We
may learn much. The disease symbolizes something
more terrible than itself; a deeper darkness; a sadder
blindness; a more incurable deprivation. To be blind
to man and this world is sad ; but to be blind to God and
to the world to come, infinitely sadder. Man has no idea
of the terribleness of such a blindness ; a disease that
shuts him out from all that is glorious, and beautiful, and
divine. O blindness of the soul how terrible art thou !
Rendering us incapable of seeing and knowing God !

152 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

With thee what would heaven be to us ! Heaven without
seeing God ! Let us mark,

I. The application. Conscious of blindness, he longs
for eyesight. Incapable of curing himself, despairing of
cure from his fellow-men, he betakes himself elsewhere.
Necessity brings him.

(i.) He applies in the right quarter. Quitting man, he
comes to God. He has heard the fame of Jesus ; the cures
that He has done; and he concludes, this is the healer
for me. He is one who can do what only God can do.
He recognises the necessity for a divine healer. Such is
the healer we need; one who is divine; who can do
mighty miracles.

(2.) He applies in the right spirit. He has no promise
to trust in, but what he has heard calls up faith. He
comes in faith. He comes earnestly. He comes defy-
ing opposition and hindrance. He casts away his garment
in haste. Earnestness, coupled with confidence in Jesus,
these are the feelings with which he comes. He knows
exactly what he wants. He is in good earnest about the
matter ; and he has confidence in Jesus. He will take
no denial. He presents what Bunyan calls his " note of
necessity."

(3.) He applies at the right time. When Jesus was
passing by. I would not say that any time can be a
wrong time ; but there is truth in what Rutherford says,
that a man is converted just " in the nick of time." There
is a tide of which it behoves us to take advantage. " Seek
while He may be found; call while He is near."

II. The reception. It was just such as we should expect

MARK X. 52. 153

from the Son of God; just such as a sinner may still
count upon. It was

(i.) Most gracious. Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be brought; when he comes He receives him
lovingly, jmd grants his request at once. He does not
keep him waiting. It is truly the grace of Him who said,
"Come unto me." He came without a promise; but

that matters not.

(2.) Most satisfactory. He got the very thing he
wanted. He got it immediately. He got it without
price or grudge. It was a full response to his appeal.
He got good measure, pressed down, and poured into his
bosom.

It was thus that the divine physician did his work on
earth. It is thus he does it still. For he has carried
up into heaven all his love, and skill, and accessibility.
He waits for the blind soul; He stands still; nay, He
commands him to be brought. We can use the words
which the bystanders did to the blind man of Jericho,
" Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee." Poor, blind
sinner, rise, come ! Make haste, throw away every
impediment, carry your blindness to this heavenly healer.
Trust Him for the cure. You will meet with as gracious
and satisfactory a reception as did the blind man here.

III. The effect of the cure. He followed Jesus in the
way up to Jerusalem. He did not return to his own
house or friends, but at once attached himself to Jesus.
The love of Christ constrained him. He could not
remain behind; he must follow. Thus gifts from the
hand of Jesus attach us to his person. They form a link

154 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

between us and him. They are as a magnet to draw us.
He followed Jesus; and so does each one whose eyes
He opens. He follows Him in the way. Jesus was on
his way to Jerusalem, and Bartimeus follows him thither.
And thus we follow Him too, to the heavenly Jerusalem,
his home and ours.

He did not say to the blind man, Follow me ; J&t he did
it; love compelled him: he did not need a command.
Unbidden the healed one follows ; so follow we. He
leads the way; we follow. Anywhere; it matters not
where; enough if Jesus leads the way, though it be
to the wilderness or to the cross. How much more
blessed when it is to Jerusalem that He is going.
Thither we follow Him ; and there we shall abide with
Him. He was on his way to the cross when the blind
followed Him.. It is not the cross now, but the throne and
the glory. How eagerly and delightedly should we
follow Him. He speaks to us and says "Follow me."

MARK XL 13. 155

XXXIV.

THE FRUITLESS LIFE.

"Nothing fait leaves" MARK XL 13.

IT was the eye of the Son of God that searched this
tree, and made this discovery. It must have been
true that there was " nothing *but leaves." Man's eye
might be deceived j his could not. That which He found
barren must have been really so. No fruit could be con-
cealed from Him. And He who searched the fig tree is
the searcher of souls, and the searcher of churches. " I
know thy works."

He found leaves, but nothing more. Leaves are proper
to the tree, but not the main thing. They are something,
but not all ; nay, they are the least part of that for which
the tree is made. They are ornaments ; they are shade ;
they cover the bare branches ; they protect the fruit from
the sun. But they are not sidstitutes for fruit. Leaves
and something more would have been the thing. Not
fruit without leaves, nor leaves without fruit. Leaves and
fruit would have been the true condition. Leaves are
necessary, but not for satisfying hunger.

It was the hunger of the Son of God that led to the
discovery. He was "an hungered," for He was truly
man. He thought that on this tree He would find some-
thing to satisfy his hunger. It promised well at a dis-
tance ; and he judged of it at first simply as a man does

156 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

who sees a thing afar off. But the verdict against the tree
iSj " nothing but leaves."

( i. ) It is a remarkable description. It is the least offen-
sive way of describing barrenness. Everything is here
but fruit. No exaggeration. This is Christ's simple de-
scription of a fruitless Christian. Nothing but leaves.
Nothing to satisfy the hunger of the Son of God. Much
that looks well ; but that is all. Nothing but words !
Nothing but forms ! Nothing \mkprofession /

(2.) // is an expression of disappointment. It was a fig tree,
not a fir tree ; it was not planted in the wilderness, but in
a fruitful soil. There ought to have been fruit, for the
harvest had not yet been gathered. Leaves are promises.
As they wave in the wind, or glisten in the sunshine, they
say there is fruit here. All Christian profession is a pro-
mise, to man and to God. Christ comes to satisfy his
hunger, and his verdict against the promising but fruitless
professor is, " Nothing but leaves." This is the language
of disappointment ; as in the case of God's vine in Isaiah
(v. 4), or of the fig tree planted in the vineyard (Luke
xiii. 6).

(3.) // is a declaration of uselessness. The purpose of
the tree has not been served. It was made forfmif, and
there is nothing but leaves ! It was planted in a .fruitful
soil, in one of the pleasant Bethany hollows ; but it bears
no fruit. Nothing but leaves ! Then (i.) Nothing to do
credit to any one ; to the gardener, or the garden, or the
soil, or the owner, or the root itself. (2.) Nothing to be of
any use to any one; all a cheat, a sham, a mockery; some-
thing for the eye, but no more ; a fair outside, but useless ;

MARK XL 13. 157

not perhaps a white sepulchre, but a useless growth; a well
without water; a pretence, an unreality, a falsehood.
(3.) Nothing to satisfy the hunger of the Son of God ; He
craves yh///, not leaves.

(4.) ftjs a sentence of doom. Or at least it is preliminary
to it. Nothing but leaves ! Then wither away ! Leaves
and branches perish ! This is the condemnation of the
fruitless professor.

This fruitless fig tree is a symbol. Though a real tree
on the Bethany road, yet a symbol : of Jewish unfruitful-
ness; of Christian unfruitfulness ; unfruitfulness in the
individual and in the church ; words without deeds, or
deeds that contain neither life nor love, and make the
doer as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

It is simple unfruitfulness that is represented here, as
in the fig tree of the vineyard. It is not corrupt or poi-
sonous fruit; it is not immorality or even total death;
nor the twice-dead tree ; nor the cloud charged with fire ;
nor the star shedding baleful fire ; nor the whited sepul-
chre ; but simply the absence of fruit. It is form with some
show of life ; a tree with foliage, with sufficient sap to
produce leaves and verdure ; a profession sufficiently fair
to excite expectation; a fair-promising Christianity, an
excellent external religion. The class described here is
not that of the profligate, the scoffer, the drunkard, the
theatre-goer, the ball-attender, the card-player, the turf-
haunter, the Sabbath-breaker; but the brisk religious
talker, the bustling planner, the church-frequenter, the
man of the committee and the platform. The professor
depicted here may be found at our communion table,

158 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

among our elders, or Sabbath-school teachers, or visitors,
or, perhaps, our ministers. He goes far ; he promises
much ; he raises high expectations. Yet, after all, there is
nothing but leaves ! Nothing but leaves ; then,

I. Our creed is vain. It may be excellent and sound ;
without a crack or flaw ; orthodox, ancient, evangelical ;
with Christ as its alpha and omega. It may be noble and
venerable ; the creed of apostles ; the creed of primitive
days ; the creed of the reformation ; the creed of all pro-
testant churches; the creed of our fathers, in which we
have been instructed from childhood; yet if it produce no
fruit, it is vain. We may be most intelligent in our appre-
hension of it, zealous in our appreciation, and defence,
and propagation of it, yet if we are without that which
God calls fruit, which is the offspring of life, and love, and
faith, we are but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
A man may say, " Lord, Lord," and yet be shut out from
the kingdom.

II. Our religion is vain. By "religion" I mean the
whole of a man's transactions with God ; his whole worship
and service; all the ways in which his creed acts itself out.
If there be nothing of what God calls fruit, his whole reli-
gious life is vain ; all his religious acts, whether of devo-
tion, or service, or benevolence, are vain. In him the
whole routine of religion may be perfect and unexception-
able, and there may be no positive inconsistency to con-
tradict this, no irreverence, no neglect, no contempt,
yet his religion may be unfruitful. It may look well, and
promise well, yet after all there may be "nothing but
leaves.' 5

MARK XL 13. 159

III. Our Bible is vain. We may read it intelligently,
reverently, and regularly, we may teach it to others, in
the family, the Sabbath school, the Bible class, yet it
may profit nothing. It may be relished by us sentimentally
or poetically, yet find no entrance into our conscience, no
dwelling in our inner man. With our Bible in our hands
and on our lips there may be no life. The Bible with all
its glorious gospel may be in vain. That gospel itself may
be in vain.

IV. Our churchmanship is vain. Zeal for a true church
will not serve nor profit ; it may sometimes cover lack of
zeal for Christ. Love to a church and love to Christ are
very different things. Churchmanship is not religion ; it
is not fruit, it is often mere " leaves."

V. Our faith and hope are vain. What is faith if it
does not shew itself in fruit ? What is hope if it have no
loving, living, practical manifestations ? Let us see what
is the nature of our faith and hope, lest after all we have
" nothing but leaves."

VI. Our whole life is vain. Not one part of it, but every
part of it. All is unreal and hollow, beginning, middle,
and end ; the civil and social as well as the religious. It
is one great unreality throughout ; to bring forth nothing.
All wasted ! A mere show, or shadow, or piece of acting.
How sad that our whole life should be vain ! Nothing
but leaves !

Woe to the fruitless ! They have had all advantages,
yet they bear nothing but leaves ! Woe to the fruitless 1
The whole end of being is frustrated ! Woe to the fruit-
less ! Their whole course is a pretence, a falsehood !

i6o BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

If it be so for time, then what for eternity 1 There is
no possibility of improving the tree hereafter. No trans-
plantation, nor grafting, nor pruning, nor digging hereafter.
It is felled and given to the fire ! Or put it in this way,
eternal barrenness ! How awful, how wretched ! Eternal
unreality !

Even now the axe is laid at the root, in token of coming
judgment ; it will soon be lifted up ; it will soon smite.
So that, while pointing to the cross, we point also to the
axe; while telling of the husbandman, planting, pruning,
manuring, we must tell also of the same husbandman,
examining, condemning, cutting down. Yes, the cross is
yonder, but the axe is here.

Ah yes ! these are awful words, Let no fruit grow on
thee henceforward for ever ! The curse of eternal barren
ness ! To be stripped of our green foliage as Adam of his
fig leaves ; to wither away ! O fruitless sinner, bethink
you of your doom. Bear fruit or perish 1 Fulfil your
promise or wither away.

MARK XL 22. 161

XXXV.
FAITH IN GOD.

" And Jesus answering, saith unto them, Have faith in God"-~-

MARK XL 22.

TWO things suggest themselves here, in connection
with these words of the Lord : first, the command j
and secondly, the reasons for compliance with it.

The command brings before us the obligation under
which we lie to give to the God who made us, our entire
and unreserved confidence in everything, great or small,
in regard to our own salvation, and in regard to every
matter that comes before us, every duty that devolves on
us, every plan that we form, every perplexity that over-
takes us, every trial which comes down on us. Have
faith in God. This is the Lord's counsel ; nay, his com-
mand. " Have faith in God." Not in self, not in man,
not in churches, not in princes, not in intellect, not in
gold, not in the creature at all. Have faith in God.
Everything else is a broken reed, on which if a man lean
it shall not only give .way beneath him, but pierce him
through with many sorrows. God's demand on us here,
then, is for our complete and full trust, just as in the law his
demand is for our absolute and undivided love. This is
Christ's demand upon us in behalf of the Father. He
had come to reveal the Father. He had day by day been
revealing Him and shewing how truly he was entitled to

162 BIBLE THO UGHTS AND THEMES.

this confidence. He had himself set the example of
trusting Him, and that in the most adverse and untoward
circumstances in which a son of Adam was ever placed.
And speaking to us as one who had faith in God, who had
altogether trusted Him from the time that he was " made
to hope upon his mother's breasts," he makes this solemn
but most blessed demand in the Father's name and in
the Father's behalf, " Have faith in God."

It is not, however, as if He were binding on us a
burden ; or issuing a new law, upon obedience to which
life depended. In these words He is proceeding upon
the great truth that the life has come, that God has
given to us eternal life, and that this life is in his
Son. He is claiming our confidence, not for a God who
is yet waiting to see if we will fulfil certain conditions,
and comply with certain terms, and obey his whole code
of laws (modified or unmodified) ; but for a God who
without waiting for anything in us, has of his own infinite
grace, without one stipulation or condition, sent his only
begotten Son into the world, with the gift of everlasting
life in his hand for the lost sons of Adam. It is in behalf
01 this God that He is speaking ; and it is by the declara-
tion and exhibition of what this God has already done of
his own free love, unsought by us, that -he seeks to draw
back our alienated affections from other objects, and to
win our lost confidence from the worthless creature, to
the infinitely worthy Creator, the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. "Have faith in God." Such is
God's claim upon you now in his own behalf; such is the
Son's claim upon you in the behalf of the Father. The

MARK XL 22. 163

claim is made in the voice of authority, yet also of love.
It is truly both. It is loving authority ; and it is authori-
tative love. He asks it without reservation; and in a
way which plainly indicates that the claim is one which
admits of no rivalship. It is one which completely
silences and sweeps away all competing claims, however
venerable, however attractive these may seem to be.
No divided heart ! No divided obedience ! No divided
love ! No divided confidence ! There cannot b * two
Masters, two Saviours, two Christs, two Gods. If the
creature be God, let us give it our trust ; but if it bs uiot,
then woe to the man who leans on it. If the church be
God, then let us give it pur trust, that it may save
and bless us ; but if it be^not God, then woe, woe to
the man whose trust is here. If the world be God,
then let us trust it as such, and trust it for our all ;
but if it be not, then woe, woe to the poor soul that
gives to it that confidence which belongs to the living
God alone.

In these days, when men are everywhere making or
finding for themselves objects of trust, some in one thing
and some in another, let us hold fast the words of Christ,
"Have faith in God." In these days, when men are
forsaking the fountain of living water, and hewing out
cisterns, broken cisterns which can hold no water, let us
take our stand beside the one living, infinite, everlasting
well. There is nothing else that can quench our thirst
for a single hour, or keep us from thirsting again.

" Have faith in God." This is meant to apply to every-
thing ; for, as there is nothing too small or common for

1 64 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

God to guide, or keep, or bless us in, so there is nothing
too small for us to trust Him in. In things religious,
things common, things domestic, things public, things
national, things pertaining to the world, let us have faith
in God. The less of faith that there seems to be in the
world, the more let there be in us. Nations do not trust
Him ; let us trust Him (as it were) for them, and go
carrying their case to Him on our faith, since they refuse
to carry it on their own ! Statesmen and politicians do
not trust Him ; let us trust Him for them, and take their
cares, their burdens, their perplexities to Him, since they"
will not do it themselves. It was the friends of the sick
man that had faith, and that brought him to the Lord.
Their faith prevailed, and he was healed. The world has
no faith in God ; few, very few, either rich or poor, have
faith in God for anything ; let us make this a reason for
having stronger faith, that we may carry the world's wants,
and the world's sins, and the world's sore maladies to
God. He will not overlook any case that is brought to
Him by the hand of faith, whose faith soever it may be.

The world's great sin is not trusting God. Cursed is
the man that trusteth in man. The world's great need is
faith in God. Let us take up the world's case while we
take up our own.

But let us ask the reasons for our compliance with this.
Why are we thus urged to have faith in God % What
should lead us to this ?

(i) There is Christ's command itself. This of itself
would suffice. As the Father's commandment is that we
should believe on the Son, so the Son's commandment is

MARK XL 22. 165

that we should believe on the Father. Christ here lays
his solemn command on each .one of you and says,
" Have faith in God." He makes this explicit demand
upon you on behalf of the Father. He knew what it is to
have faith in God. It was one great part of his low estate
on earth that He should live by faith upon the Father.
This He had done in circumstances much more untoward,
much more fitted to produce unbelief, much less calcu-
lated to cherish faith, than those in which you can possibly
be placed. Having done this Himself, He turns round
on you and lays His injunction on you, that you should do
the same. More especially now, when He is gone up on
high, should this command weigh with us. For who is
there on earth to comply with it now, if His followers do
not. He trusted in God when He was here, and He
expects that now, when He is away, we should do what He
did, and shew to an unbelieving, untrusting world, what it
is to have faith in God. Christ's command then, enforced
by His example, urges on us this duty. So that in declin-
ing it, or at least not complying with it, we are refusing
to obey one of the most explicit injunctions ever laid on
man. Often we hear it said that it would be presumption
to trust God thus implicitly, and that we have no warrant
to do so. No warrant ! You have much more than a
warrant } you have a command which cannot be mistaken.
Presumption ! How can it be presumption to obey a
command 1 Is it presumption in you to keep the Sabbath,
or to refrain from taking God's name in vain 1 It is
presumption not to trust, not to have faith in God, it
is the worst of all presumptions, the presumption of

166 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

refusing to obey a divine command, a presumption
which nothing in or about you can possibly justify or
extenuate.

(2.) Gotfs own character demands this faith. It is not
enough to say that God's character warrants and encour-
ages us in this faith; we must say that it demands it. For
less than this is a refusal to recognise God's character as
He has made it known to us ; it is in having faith in Him
that we make the true and proper recognition of God as
the God of all grace. To withhold this faith or confidence,
is to say that God is not such a being as the Bible re-
presents Him to be \ not such a being as warrants our
trust, or affords us reason for having faith in Him. Now,
we know that God has revealed to us his name and
character. That revelation exhibits Him as altogether
trustworthy ; altogether such an one as invites the sinner's
confidence. Nowhere in scripture is there any light cast
upon God's character which has not this tendency. No-
where has He done or spoken anything which would
repel our advances to Him, or would inspire suspicion
or distrust. All his words bear one uniform testi-
mony to his character as the gracious Jehovah, for-
giving iniquity, transgression, and sin, thrusting none
away, but sincerely inviting all ; reproving men for stand-
ing aloof, but upbraiding none for drawing near ; dis-
couraging none, but most kindly encouraging all ; sending
out messages of welcome the most generous, and loving,
and honest, that ever proceeded from the most loving and
large-hearted of the children of men. Christ Jesus was
Himself the exhibition and embodiment of this gracious

MARK XL 22. 167

character. He could say, " He that hath seen me, hath
seen the Father." He that saw the grace of the Son, saw
the grace of the Father. He that heard the Son say,
Come, heard the Father say; Come. He that saw the
Son dealing with sinners, saw the Father dealing with the
sinners. And thus revealing the Father and the Father's
grace; pointing to Himself as the expression of the Father's
mind and heart ; making known in every way both
by word and deed the Father's mind of love, He could
say, with urgency and with authority, "Have faith in
God."

(3.) Gods gifts claim and warrant faith. That we are
still on earth, not in hell, is of itself such a pledge of grace
as to bid us, even the ungodliest, have faith in God. The
suspension of the law's righteous sentence against us, even
for an hour, is a manifestation of mercy on the part of
God, which, even in the absence of all positive gifts, is
enough to shew us how thoroughly we may trust this
God. When, however, He adds to this the gifts which
are thrown all around us, like the manna round the tents
of Israel, He gives us something more direct and positive
to rest upon. That this earth should be so green and
these heavens so blue ; that these flowers should be so
fair and these streams so clear j that this body should be
kept in health in spite of disease and death around ; that
there should be so much of comfort here, and so many
intervals of ease and joy, even in such a world of sorrow ;
and that all this should be vouchsafed to the unthankful
and the unworthy, to those whose rightful portion was the
ever-burning lake, surely all this is an amount of free

168 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

gift which invites our fullest confidence. These gifts can
have no meaning at all, if they do not mean that God's
desire is that we should thoroughly trust Him. He who
gives so much to sinners unasked and undeserved, is surely
one who wishes us to trust Him, and who is well entitled
to our confidence. But above all these other gifts, there
is one which says to us, in a way that cannot be mistaken,
have faith in God. It is the gift of his beloved Son.
That gift has but one meaning. It is not capable of being
interpreted save in one way, and that way is one which
leaves us in no doubt either as to God's desire for our
confidence, or as to our duty in this matter. If after
hearing of this gift we still continue doubtful or distrust-
ful, it is plain that we either altogether question the fact
of God's having given his Son, or we wilfully put a false
construction upon that deed, making ourselves believe
that God did not really mean the Ipve which that gift so
gloriously reveals.

(4.) The way in which we specially honour Him is by
having faith in Him. As the special revelation which He
is making of Himself is that of grace, so it is by our
recognition of this that we honour Him ; and it is by our
non-recognition of this that we dishonour Him. Faith
in Him is just the recognition of 'his character as the Lord
God merciful and gracious, and want of faith is our
refusal to recognise Him in this character. It is then by
faith that we honour Him, and it is by unbelief that we
dishonour Him. He has sent forth his gospel for the
very purpose of calling forth your faith, and so obtaining
from you this honour. Shall we then withhold it under

MARK XL 22. 169

ariy pretext whatsoever ? Surely nothing can justify our
refusal of this honour 1 It is vain to speak of its being
presumption in such as you to trust God assuredly. You
might as well say it is presumption in you to love Him,
or to honour Him, or to keep his commandments. The
greatest and most daring of all presumptions in the world
is that of refusing Him the special honour which He so
specially claims, the honour of being trusted by the
sinner. And when you think that in this world there are
almost none to give Him this honour, when you think
that the millions of earth are with one accord denying it
to Him, will you not feel yourself under irresistible
obligations to testify against such unbelief and such
dishonour, by giving Him your unreserved faith, and so
bringing to Him the honour which He so specially and so
earnestly desires at your hands ?

(5.) Unbelief profits nothing. There are some sins that
profit the sinner for a season, so that by reason of this
profit or pleasure he persists in indulging them. Covetous-
ness profits the lover of gold for a season, by giving him
earth's riches. Gaiety profits the lover of pleasure for a
season, by making him happy while the vanity lasts. But
what does unbelief do for us ? It does not comfort us or
make us happy. It does not secure for us any blessing,
either earthly or heavenly. It does not bring forgiveness
or give us peace with God. It does nothing for us,
absolutely nothing. It has it not in its power to do any-
thing but make us miserable. The more you indulge in
it, or allow it to have the mastery over you, the more evil
it does you, the more wretched it makes you. It has

1 70 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

V

nothing in itself to recommend it ; and it has nothing in
what it does to overcome its nature and intrinsic hateful-
ness, or to make it seem desirable, or excellent, or profit-
able in your eyes. It is evil, only evil ; it is unprofitable,
wholly unprofitable ; its fruit^ are only darkness and
sorrow. It weakens, but does not strengthen the soul.
It wounds, but does not bind up. It poisons, but does
not heal. It saddens, but does not comfort. It darkens,
but brings no light. And as is its sorrow, so is its sin.
It is the sin of sins ; and all the while we are indulging
in it we are not only making ourselves uncomfortable,
but we are committing sin of the darkest colour and
malignity, sin which is the very root and source of all

other sins.

(6.) Faith has done wonders in time past, and it can do
wonders still. The whole Bible is a record of the marvels
which have been accomplished by faith ; and the eleventh
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews is a summary of
these marvels. God has taken great pains to shew us
what faith can do ; and our Lord when on earth taught the
same blessed truth without ceasing. We seem to hear his
voice saying to us, not once, but constantly, Have faith in
God ; for what is there that faith cannot achieve. It is
faith that brings us into connection with Omnipotence, and
it is faith which makes use of that omnipotence continu-
ally. By faith we engage Omnipotence on our behalf.
By faith we make use of the Omnipotent arm, so that by
it we are enabled to do mighty signs and wonders ; there
being nothing too much for us to expect, even as there is
nothing too great for God to do. It may be as difficult

MARK XL 22. 171

as tearing up the mountain by its roots, and casting it into
the sea, yet even a thing so difficult, a marvel so great as
this, shall be done. Is anything too hard for God 1 Is
there anything which He is unwilling to perform for those
who trust in his arm, and cast themselves upon his
grace 1

Is it the revival of God's work in yourself or in your
land that you desire 1 ? Have faith in God. Tell Him
your desires, and tell Him in confidence.

Is it the conversion of friends that you are bent on 1
Have faith in God. Put your case in his hands wholly,
but do so believingly, not as one thinking it impossible,
or supposing that He can be unwilling, but as one per-
fectly assured of his love and power.

Is it the removal of temporal difficulties and perplexi-
ties that you are concerned about 1 Have faith in God.
Trust Him with them all. You cannot remove the briars
and thorns with your own hands, but He can; and if faith
asks Him, He will.

Is it the state of the nation or the world that troubles
you 1 Have faith in God. It is his world, not yours, and
he must be far more concerned that things go right than
you can be. Only He expects that his believing ones
should bring all these things before Him. He is waiting
for your faith, to do great things for your land, and great
things for your world. Have faith in God. He will yet
do great things for earth. He will smite Antichrist ; He
will bind Satan ; He will restore Israel ; He will sweep
off the evil, and bring in the good; He will make all
things new, and set up the glorious kingdom of His Son.

172 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Look beyond the cloud, and the storm, and the night.
Trust Him with this earth's future, and trust Him with its
present. Live as men who believe that the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth ; that He is the King of kings and
Lord of lords. HAVE FAITH IN GOD.

MARK XIII. 33. 173

XXXVI.
WATCH AND PRAY.

*'' Take ye heed, watch and pray : for ye know not when the time z>."

MARK XIII. 33.

r | ""HERE . is a threefold exhortation here in reference
JL to the coming of the Son of Man ; (i.) take heed ;
(2.) watch j (3.) pray.

I. Take heed. Or " look ;" look about you ; have
your eyes on the alert; mark every object, persons and
things ; let nothing escape your notice. A Christian is
not to close his eyes and see nothing here. He is left
here that he may both see and hear. And out of every
sight and sound he is to extract something that will profit,
quicken, stimulate, sanctify. What he sees each hour as
he goes out and in; what he hears in conversation, or
reads in books and newspapers all are to furnish materials
for his growth. But perhaps the special reference in the
expression "take heed," is to the previous discourse
concerning the signs of his coming. Keep your eyes
open to these. Understand what is passing day by day ;
interpret events ; connect them with the coming of the
Son of Man. You see false Christs ; you hear. a Babel of
opinions ; you mark the new forms of immorality and
infidelity ; you are startled with the bold assaults made,
on Scripture, and on the Christ of God, on his blood, and
cross, and righteousness; connect all these with the

174 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

coming of the Lord; interpret them as signs of the last
days ; do not treat them as common things ; do not close
your eyes upon them ; do not be indifferent to them ; do
not admire them as tokens of intellectual development
and human progress. Understand them all according to
God's purpose and mind. Examine them in the light of
apostolic teachings and warnings. Be not deceived con-
cerning them. Beware of the strong delusion. "In under-
standing be men."

II. Watch. Keep awake. Be not like the virgins
who all slumbered and slept. Let us not sleep as do
others, but let us watch and be sober. How often was
that word " watch " upon the Lord's lips ! His apostles
took it up in their epistles ; and in the Apocalypse the
Lord resumes it, " Blessed is he that watcheth? There
is a tendency to slumber. As the disciples, both on the
transfiguration hill and in Gethsemane, fell asleep, so do
we in the most solemn circumstances and times. The
spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak. The atmos-
phere of earth seems loaded with slumberous vapours.
This present evil world exercises a soporific influence ;
Satan, its god, the prince of the power of the air, does all
he can to lull us asleep. It is a struggle to keep awake.
Hence the necessity for the solemn and startling words
"awake," "arise," "watch." Be ever on your guard, as
sentinels at their post; as watchmen on the towers of
some beleaguered fort ; as seamen navigating some diffi-
cult stream with windings, and sand banks, and rapids ;
or as servants sitting up at night to wait for their master's
return. " What I say unto you, I say unto all, WATCH."

MARK XIII. 33. 175

" Be vigilant, for your adversary the devil walketh about
as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." In
the midst of a heedless world and an unwatchful church,
how needful the perpetual warning, "Watch." And all
the more as we see the day approaching. The more
that we see a world " sleeping ;" or wasting its hours in
vanity, and pleasure, and lust, and gaiety, the more let us
feel the necessity for resisting the wide-spread influence
and keeping awake. " Let us not sleep as do others."

III. Pray. " Watch and pray that ye" enter not into
temptation." He spoke a parable that men ought always
to pray and not to faint. " The end of all things is at
hand, be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."
Prayer is the attitude of a helpless, needy man ; whose
only refuge is in God. No help within; no help from
man; only help in Jehovah's omnipotence ; that is the
meaning of prayer. Prayer is always needed; most in
days of evil and trouble. Do we feel our need of prayer?
Do we know what it is to pray? Do we delight in
prayer? Do we pray in faith? John Welch's knees
were hard with his constant prayer, are ours in danger
of becoming so ? " Pray much," said Alexander Peden ;
" it's praying folk that will get through the storm."

(i.) Pray for oiir own needy selves. Nothing but
prayer will keep us stedfast, or enable us to grow, or
make us more than conquerors.

(2.) Pray for the needy church of God. God has a
church, and will have a church everywhere on earth ;
but in some ages that church is low and barren; more
earthly than heavenly; her light dim; her step feeble;

1 76 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

her strength small. It is so now. Pray, then, for a
needy church, that in all these respects God would visit
her; raising her up; reviving her; re-kindling her light ;
re-invigorating her strength , re-adorning her with all

\

gifts, and graces ; re-clothing her in apostolic raiment, and
sending her forth to do his work with the old power and
success of primitive days.

(3.) Pray for a needy world. It is blind, and knows.it
not ; poor, and thinks itself rich ; foolish, and thinks
itself wise. It is doubly needy. It is not aware of the
extent of its ruin, and alienation, and depravity; not
alive to its danger and hopeless prospects ; not antici-
pating its doom. There is a hardening, and searing, and
blinding process going on in connection with "modem
progress." The men of earth now are like the Ante-
diluvians in the days of Noah, like Sodom, on its last
day before the judgment came; like Pompeii, ere the
volcano poured its torrents of fire upon it ; like Babylon,
in the night when Cyrus seized it ; like Babylon the great,
in the day of its pride. Oh, pray for a needy world !
Not merely for its civilisation, or its reformation, or its intel-
lectual and moral elevation ; but for something deeper
and more decided than these ; something without which
morality, and literature, and intellect will profit nothing ;
something without which its science, its eloquence, its
wisdom, its music, its proficiency in the fine arts, will not

avail.

Our Lord's reason for all this is solemn, "Ye know
not when the time is." The " time " is that referred to
in the previous verse ; the unknown and untold hour of

MARK XHL 33. 177

his arrival. It is this great event that forms the urgent
reason for taking heed, for watching, for prayer. He is
coming ! We know not when. He is coming ! It may
be soon. This is no time for carelessness, or sleep, or
prayerlessness. Church of the living God ! up from thy
bed of sloth j to thy knees ; watch and pray. Man of
God, enter into thy closet, plead with all thy might.

O heedless sinner! wilt thou not awake? Arise, call
upon thy God. Betake thyself to the great refuge.

M

178

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXXVII.
THE MASTER COMETH,

" For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left
his hotise, and gave attthority to his servants, and to every man his
work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for
ye know not when the master of the hottse cometh, at even, or at mid-
night, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest, coming suddenly,
he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all,
Watch." MARK XIII. 34-37.

WORK and watch ! Watch and work ! This is the
substance of this parable. The message comes
straight from Christ's lips ; it comes to us; it seems
specially meant for us in these last days. Let us arrange
it thus :

I. TJie hotise. We may, in one sense, call this the earth,
in another, the visible church on earth. The scene of the
parable is evidently laid here, and concerns men dwelling
here. It was here that He himself came to abide : " The
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." His taber-
nacle was then with men.

II. The householder. It is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. This world is his by creation and by inherit-
ance. He is proprietor of the estate ; possessor of the
house. He was in the world, and the world was made by
Him. He came unto his own. " Christ as a Son over
his own house," says Paul.

III. The journey. He has gone to another land, like

MARK XIII. 34-37. 179

the nobleman who went to the far country to receive the
kingdom. Here the object of the journey is not stated,
for the parable is complete without it. He wishes to
shew the state of the house in his absence ; and his regu-
lations for the household when left to themselves. For
the condition, order, behaviour, &c., of servants in the
presence of the master, is one thing, and these in his
absence, quite another. There is room for eye-set vice in
the one case, but not in the other. The time of absence
is one of testing. Faith, love, obedience, fidelity are
tested. The present dispensation is the testing-time for
men, specially for the church.

IV. The servants. All who are occupied with the man-
agement of Christ's affairs are his servants. They are
expected to do the Master's will, and to work the Master's
work. In one sense all men are his servants. He created
them to work his work j and hence He speaks to them as
such. He speaks to all kings and rulers throughout the
earth as those from whom service is expected. But
specially are the members of his church engaged for ser-
vice. Frequently does He give them this honourable
name. He has called them to a kingdom, yet also to ser-
vice. Kings, priests, friends, brethren, and servants, are
the names he gives them. Serve the Lord, is his message
to each member of his church. For each Christian is a
servant of this household ; and each one who calls him-
self 'a Christian says, " Christ is my Master, and his work
will I do, for I am his servant."

V. The charge. Our translation, " authority," conveys
less than the Greek implies. The master summons the

i8o BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

servants, tells them of his intended absence, and gives
them charge of the house, devolves its responsibilities
upon them, so that they shall feel the master's absence
even more influential than his presence. They were to
act for him, to represent him, to conduct the affairs of the
house in his name. How great the responsibility of the
master's absence ! Even more solemn, more urgent than
his presence. The servant is put upon his honour, his
right feeling, his conscientiousness. Instead of being
rendered more careless by the absence, he ought to be
doubly diligent and conscientious.

VI. The individual work. To each one his separate
work. As each member of the body has its own office, so
has each servant of the household his separate work.
The eye cannot act for the ear, nor the foot for the hand ;
so can no servant do the work of another. There is work
enough for all, and each has his own. It is for our own
that we are responsible, and for no more. This should
check ambition, and envy, and disappointment. Each
servant has his Own work, which no one can do for him.
Let him do it well.

VII. The command to the porter. As he leaves the
house he gives special command to the gatekeeper, to
watch. The servants are inside, the porter at the door.
His. special duty is to watch.

1. Watch against thieves and robbers. This is one of
the main purposes for which he is there. He frightens
away the enemy, and he warns the inmates against his
approach.

2. Watch for the master. Be ready to receive him j to

MARK X2IL 34-37. 181

open the gate to him ; to give notice to the inmates j at
whatever hour he may come. It is taken for granted that
it will be some night hour ; like the bridegroom at mid-
night.

Ministers of Christ are specially the porters. To them
the command is, Watch. To all it is given; but specially
to them. They watch for others as well as for themselves.
In the master's absence, enemies, thieves, robbers will
come, watch. " Be sober, be vigilant, for your adver-
sary the devil walketh about." Watch, the master may
come at any time ! Be ready, on your own accounts ; be
ready, for the sake of others. Sleepy servants are evil ;
but sleepy watchmen are worse. Behold he cometh ! Be-
hold I come as a thief!

182 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XXXVIII.
THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN.

" And Jesus said, I am : and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on
the right hand of power ^ and coming in the clouds of heaven" MABK
XIV. 62.

THIS is at once a confession, a prophecy, and a
warning. It is Christ's confession, Christ's pro-
phecy, Christ's warning.

I. Chris fs confession. Art thou the Christ? asks the
High Priest. " I am," He answers. It is a confession of
his Messiahship and Sonship; a "good confession" (i Tim.
vi. 13) ; it is a bold confession ; it is a public confession;
it is a confession before Israel, before Israel's High Priest.
It is the summing up of all his mighty deeds and words,
and the true interpretation put upon them. " I am He."
Ere Israel rejects Him, they are first to hear his open and
direct avowal of Messiahship. He has not yet borne
witness before the Gentiles. That is to come. It is now
before " his own " ; and they are the foremost to condemn
Him. They are waiting for Him ; yet when He comes
they will have none of Him. Is this confession responded
to by you ? Do you say, Amen, thou art the Christ, the
Son of the Blessed 1 If so, blessed art thou, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it; and he that believeth that
Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. But if not, how
great thy guilt, how terrible thy doom !

MARK XIV. 62. 183

II. Christ's prophecy. It is a prediction of his second
coming. It must have seemed strange to the High Priest
to hear Him in the hour of weakness and condemnation
proclaim his coming and his kingdom. Yet what more
suitable ] He had just before announced that event to
his disciples j now He does so in the midst of his enemies.
Behold, I come ! I come to judge, I come to reign.
Let us mark the predicted circumstances of this advent.
They are all of them in keeping with his name, Son of
God, and with his character and office, Messiah.

(i.) // will be a royal coming. He comes as Kling;
King of kings, and Lord of lords. Throne, and crown,
and sceptre shall then be his.

(2.) It will be ajiidge's coming. He comes to judge,
to sit upon the solemn seat of judgment, acquitting and
condemning ; executing judgment on his enemies.

(3.) It will be a conqueror's coming. He comes from
heaven with his mighty angels. He comes for victory
and triumph. He comes from Edom, with dyed garments
from Bozrah.

(4.) It will be an avenger's coming. That shall be the
day of vengeance ; when He rises in his wrath to break
his enemies in pieces like a potter's vessel.

(5.) // will be a public coming. Every eye shall see
Him. As the lightning shall it be. All kindreds of the
earth shall mourn. In the clouds of heaven.

(6.) // shall be a glorious coming. In great power and
glory shall it be. The angels with Him. His saints
with Him. Invested in glory. Glorious in his person,
his raiment, "his retinue.

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(7.) It shall be an unexpected coming. When men are
not looking for Him, not wishing Him. Sudden as the
thief. Without preparation, it shall burst upon the world.
"Behold, I come quickly. "

Yes, the Son of God shall come ! Not to be judged,
but to judge ! Not to hang upon a cross, but to sit upon
a throne ! Not to be smitten, but to smite ! Are we
looking for that day ?

III. The warning. Christ evidently speaks these pro-
phetic words as a warning to the High Priest and his
fellows j as a warning to his enemies, whether Jew or
Gentile. How terrible shall that day be to the unpre-
pared ! Like the flood of waters, like the fire and
brimstone from heaven. It shall be the day of darkness,
and death, and doom !

Be warned ! The time is short, and the coming of the
Lord draweth nigh. Be warned, for the signs of that
coming are multiplying. Oh, make sure ; make sure of
everything connected with eternity and the kingdom.
Have you secured salvation ? Have you taken refuge in
Christ? Or are you hesitating and halting? Do you
not know what your hope is, or whether you have any
hope at all? If the Lord come before you are ready,
where will you be ?

LUKE IV. 16-31. 185

XXXIX.

THE GRACIOUS ONE AND HIS GRACIOUS WORD.

LUKE IV. 16-31.

LOOKING at this scene generally, we notice three
outstanding points : (i.) The grace of Christ \
(2.) The sovereignty of Godj (3.) The pride of man.
But in connection with these there are several others
which fall to be noticed.

The place is Nazareth. The scene is a Jewish syna-
gogue. The actors are (T) the Son of God and (2) the con-
gregation of Jewish worshippers. Christ is not a stranger
here, they know Him well, for He has been brought up-
among those hills of Galilee. Here He began his ministry ;
and it might have been expected that his first sermon in
a place where He was so well known would have been
welcomed.

. The scene consists of two parts, the sermon, and the
remarks of the hearers, and then the strange events that
followed up the sermon. The sermon is just like the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The grace
of Father, Son, and Spirit is here. It is the gospel of the
grace of God that comes from the speaker's lips. The
hearers wonder at the gracious words. The first impres-
sion is good. But the wonder dies away ; the admiration
passes into cavil : " Is not this Joseph's son ?" Can we
listen to the carpenter, the son of the carpenter? This

186 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

is the sermon-scene. It brings out the narrowness of the
'human heart, and shews the folly of those who say
that were the genuine truth but presented to man, he
would receive it. Here was the best discourse ever
preached, no error either in word or doctrine, full of
grace, the very gospel, and that from perfect lips,
yet man only wonders, and cavils, and rejects. What
proof of our need of the Holy Spirit in order that we may
believe. That Spirit could have taken out the stony
heart from these Nazarenes, and made them receive instead
of rejecting Christ's sermon; yet he did not put forth his
power, even though the Son of God was the preacher.
And why \ Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight.

But let us look at the after-sermon-scene, which brings
out these points more fully.

I. Man's thoughts as to Christ's work. Man does not
indeed at first speak. It is Christ that reads their thoughts
and interprets their question, " Is not this Joseph's son 1 "
The unbelief that lay at the root of it He brings out.
They were seeking a sign. They wanted miracles. Do
your Capernaum wonders here ! Heal your own fellow-
townsmen ! Thus their unbelief scoffed. But more.
They wanted to direct or manage Christ's work ; to tell
Him where and how to work ! They would have Him
take their advice. If He works at Capernaum, and not at
Nazareth, He is acting unfairly ; shewing partiality ; He
is respecting persons and places ! Vain, proud, selfish
man 1 He would be God ' He would control and
manage Christ !

LUKE IV. 16-31. 187

II. Chris fs answer, (i.) Ye would not receive me
though I did work miracles here. My whole life among
you has been one long miracle of holiness and love, yet
ye despise it, and ask for more ! Ye would not honour a
prophet who was one of yourselves. Ye want some unknown
worker of miracles from afar ! Such is man's heart as in-
terpreted by the Son of God. (2.) God is sovereign. He
selects persons and places according to his own good
pleasure. He selected Sarepta, and He chose Naaman,
passing the cities of Israel and the thousands of other
lepers. For He does what He pleases. He cures some,
and passes by others ; He does miracles at one city, and
not another; He heals one leper, but not another. Is
He, therefore, a respecter of persons'? This is the lan-
guage of infidelity and blasphemy ; of men who say God
has no right to rule according to his will. He does not
indeed respect a rich man because he is rich, nor a king
because he is a king ; but He does choose one and pass
by another. He chose Israel, not Egypt ; Jerusalem, not
Babylon ; is He therefore an unjust respecter of persons 1
He chose David as his king; He chose a Sidonian widow;
He chose the Syrian captain; is He a respecter of
persons'? Is He not entitled to do as He sees best 1 ?
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?

III. Maiis anger. They were filled with wrath, and
rose up to slay Him ! Their anger was kindled by this
solemn assertion of God's sovereignty. They thought
they had a right to blessing. The Lord denied this ; and
shewed them that sovereign pleasure of the infinite
Jehovah on which all creation hangs. He gives or takes;

i88 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

kills or makes alive wounds or heals ; as it pleases
Him. It is He who makes one man, or one nation, or
one city to differ from another. Britain has the Bible,
China has not. So God has willed. Spain is in the dark-
ness of Popery, Scotland in the light of Protestantism.
Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. He
doeth according to his will. Behold He breaketh down,
and it cannot be built again. He openeth, and no man
shutteth ; shutteth, and no man openeth. The deniers oi
God's sovereignty cannot account for any of the differences
that exist on earth. They must maintain either universal
perdition or universal salvation.

Few things make man so angry as the assertion of
God's sovereignty. It was so in the case of Christ.
Why? Because it prostrates him, and makes him feel
wholly in G-od's hands.

LUKE VL 19. 189

XL.

6

HEALTH IN JESUS.

"And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went
virtue oiit of him, and healed them all" LUKE VI. 19.

JESUS is here" the centre of a great crowd from all
parts of Palestine. They have heard of him, and
they flock to him. His words and deedj attract them.
He has what they want ; so they gather round him. The
scene teaches us such lessons as the following :

I. There is health in Jesus. He came from heaven
with all the health of heaven in him ; health, like sunshine,
flowing out irrepressibly ; health of every kind; health
without measure j health inexhaustible. The balm of the
mountains of Gilead might wither down and die out ;
this heavenly balm could not j it was like the leaves of
the tree of life, never falling, ever growing and ever green.
The physicians of Gilead died, till none was left; this
physician dies not. -He is the everlasting Christ, the Son
of God. All health, and skill, and kindness are to be
found in him j for not only is He perfect man, but very
God ; nay, and the. fulness of the healing Spirit without
measure dwells in him.

II. There is sickness in zis. We are sick, nigh unto
death ; sick in body, sick in soul ; the whole head sick,
the whole heart faint ; our wound incurable by man ; our
hurt grievous. It is sickness pervading our whole system ;

190 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

sickness accompanied with pain and weakness; with
sorrow, and sadness, and heaviness of spirit. It prostrates
the body and clouds the mind. We may cover it over,
but it is still there. We may soothe with anodynes and
administer sleeping draughts, but the disease is unremoved.
We may deaden or drown the pain in worldliness, or
business, or vanity, or lust, but the mortal malady is still
working in every part. O deadly disease of sin ! what a
world hast thou made here, what an hospital, a lazar-
house, a city of the plague ! O pains of earth, not tem-
porary or occasional, but constant and abiding ; fore-
runners of the eternal pain, the eternal sickness, the
eternal agony and woe.

III. Contact with Jesus heals. The medicine must be
taken ; the physician's hand must touch us ; we must in
some way or other come within the circle where the divine
virtue is flowing out. It is indeed the Holy Spirit that
applies the remedy ; but he does so by bringing us within
this healing circle, by making us touch Him who is the
divine treasure-house of health. There was no healing
for Israel without looking at the brazen serpent j so there
is no healing for us without the look, the touch that brings
us into contact with Jesus. It is not a clasping or em-
bracing, but a touching ; a touching even the hem of his
garment ; a touching his shadow ', as in the case of Peter.
Such is the resistless efficacy, the irrepressible virtue that
is lodged in Him. And as we are healed by touching,
so our health is continued by our continuing to touch.
It is to be a constant touching ; a life-time's contact ;
nay, an eternal contact. Thus is our new health begun

LUKE VI. 19.

191

and prolonged. Does this seem a hard thing ? A hard
thing to be always in communication with Jesus ; to be
always under the shadow of the tree of life ; to be always
on the brink of the crystal river of the New Jerusalem.
If some think it hard, they shew that all is yet wrong
with them ; and that it is sheer necessity and force that
is bringing them to entertain the thought of contact with
Jesus at all. Should we call it a hard thing to be daily
obliged to breathe the fresh air and bask in the glorious
sunshine *? Is it a hard thing to be obliged to eat that we
may be fed, or to sleep that we may be refreshed ? Is it
a hard thing for the friend to be in company with the
friend, or the parent with the child 1 Is there not among
multitudes who call Jesus, Saviour, a feeling that they
would rather only use Him in times of great necessity,
but at other times have the fellowship of every one in
preference to Him 1 ? But the disease that brings us to
Him keeps us at his side. There is no health away from
Him ; neither is there joy. We come for the cure of our
pain, but we find this only a small part of what we obtain
from him. We find all in Him ; and so we hold Him
fast, and will not let Him go. It is our very life, our very
joy to remain in contact with Him.

IV. This health and this contact are free to us. There
is no fence around Him to keep us off; no guard to for-
bid or warn us away. Any one, every one may come at
once to be healed. It is the sick, not the whole, that he
invites. It is the leper, the palsied, the fevered, the blind,
the lame, the deaf, the devil-possessed, that he bids wel-
come to. On every side we may approach Him. At

192 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

any time, and in any way, we may come. Whatever be
the length or the deadliness of our disease, we may come.
The physician is divinely skillful ; the medicine is free ;
the cure is certain.

Health for sick humanity! Medicine for a diseased
world ! A Physician for a dying race ! Such are the
messages which we bring. All of them overflowing with
God's great love to sinners; to sinners simply as such.
The depths of divine compassion are infinite. So are its
heights. God's pitying love takes in the worst sinner that
ever breathed the air of earth. Wide as earth ; wide as
the bounds of sin ; wide as the evil of human hearts ;
wide as heaven j wide as His own infinite heart ; such is
the pitying love of God.

LUKE VII. 36-50. 193

XLI.

MUCH FORGIVENESS, MUCH LOVE
LUKE VII. 36-50.

r I A HIS is a feast of worldly hospitality on the part of
JL Simon; probably little more. It does not look
like the table of a believing, loving man; but of a hospi-
table Jew, who, puzzled, perhaps curious, about the
character and claims of Jesus, is anxious for an opportunity
of closer and freer intercourse. The expression in the
thirty-ninth verse, "if he were a prophet," seems to
indicate some such state of mind, an oscillation between
faith and unbelief.

Simon, though inviting Christ, has not been over-kind
to his guest. " Thou gavest me no water for my feet."
He has shrunk, too, from all expression of intimacy, all
acknowledgment either of friendship or of discipleship.
" Thou gavest me no kiss." He withholds the token of
festal gladness. "Mine head with oil thou didst not
anoint." Simon is evidently not at home with the Lord ;
nor does he wish to be thought at home with Him.
Whatever might be his anxious questionings of soul, he is
still " one of the Pharisees." He is no disciple.

' The Lord knew his heart and understood his invitation;
yet he went to his house and sat down at his table. For
whether it were Pharisee or publican, Simon or Matthew,
that invited him, it nattered not. He went wherever he

N

94 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

was desired, like the physician in a city of pestilence,
putting himself at the disposal of sinners, and turning his
footsteps in the direction of their varied needs. Nor did
He take offence at the incivility of Simon in not washing
his feet, or anointing his head. He mentions these after-
wards, to humble his pride; but He is not affronted
thereby ; for he ever acts and speaks as one who " came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister" ; not to be
served by any, but to be the servant of all.

The four following things are brought out in this narra-
tive : (i.) The sinner's approach to Christ. (2.) Christ's
reception of the sinner. (3.) The Pharisee's interference.
(4.) Christ's rebuke and judgment.

I. The sinner's approach to Christ. It is not enough
that she knows that a prophet has arisen, and that the Son
of God has come. The report of others will not do. She
must see and hear for herself. It will not do for her to
stand afar off; she must draw near.

(i.) She comes earnestly. She must get at Him. She
must encounter difficulties; she must brave scorn and
sneers, and the risk of being thrust out ; for she is " a
sinner" ; and the house of a Pharisee is the last place she
would think of going to. But she is in earnest. She will
not be hindered. Access to this wondrous man, whom
she has heard of as the forgiver of sins, and the friend of
sinners, she must have ; and what are the taunts or jests
of Scribe and Pharisee to her *? True earnestness breaks
through every barrier.

(2.) She comes directly. She makes use of no mediator
or messenger. She brings her own case in her own hand,

LUKE VII. 36-50. 195

and approaches him directly. She comes just as what she
is, and as nothing else. She does not come as what she
may be, or hopes to be, or is making herself to be. She
does not come with excuses or palliations, but with confes-
sions only; and He is her one confessor, and this is her one
confessional. She deals directly with Himself; for the
sinner and the Saviour must meet each other face to face ;
both just what they are : the one the sinner, the other the
Saviour.

(3.) She comes trustfully. She may not yet know Him
fully ; but she knows something of Him, and of his grace ;
and that something is enough to call up her trust. She
" trusts, and is not afraid." Man may look coldly on her ;
Jesus will not. Man may thrust her out ; Jesus will not.
She has few else, perhaps none, to trust ; but she has Him,
and it is enough. What she knows of Him, and of his
love, removes all misgivings. She believes; but it is not
in her faith, but in Jesus that she trusts. She weeps ; but
it is not in her tears that she confides. She repents ; but it
is not on her repentance that she builds. She loves, but
it is not on her love that she leans. She trusts in the
Son of God. She trusts Him for what He is. She has
already learned something of the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who, though He was rich, for her sake became
poor.

(4.) She comes thankfully. She comes to shew her
love, her grateful love. She brings her precious oint-
ment; she brings her tears; she brings her kisses; she
brings her reverence; she brings her thanks, thanks not
the less true and warm because uttered not in words, but

196 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

in deeds. Her sin, and his love to the sinning one ; her
unworthiness and his overflowing grace; her outcast
condition as far as man is concerned; her admission
without upbraiding into the presence of the Son of God,
these are the things that /call up gratitude. " Thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift," are the words
which we seem almost to hear from her lips as she kneels
behind his couch, kissing and anointing his feet.

Thus it is that the sinner draws near with the " true
heart" to the Son of God. Her knowledge of Him is
very imperfect as yet; she has not yet realised all the
glory of his person, nor known his coming death and
resurrection; but she knows enough to give her confi-
dence, for she sees his grace towards the sinner, and
understands that he came to seek and to save that which
was lost.

II. CJirisfs reception of the sinner. In the scene before
us, it is his reception of one who is in unqualified phrase,
even according to man's judgment, A SINNER, that is
shewn us. She is not one of the best of sinners, but one
of the worst; without goodness, or merit, or recommenda-
tion. She has nothing to prepare or qualify her ; nothing
to make her less unworthy to stand before the Holy One.
Just as she is she comes ! And how is she received 1

(i.) Immediately. She is not kept waiting for a mo-
ment. The Son of God does not hold her in suspense ;
does not bid her go and come again ; does not send a
message telling her to wait a little outside and make
herself more meet for a reception. He receives her
immediately ; yet in a way which does not make light of

LUKE VII. 36-50. - 197

her past sin, or lead her to forget who and what she is.
Ah, yes ! It was immediate reception which the Lord
gave her; and it is immediate reception which he still
gives to each coming one amongst ourselves. He does
not stand on ceremony with us, nor repel us, nor, either
by word or deed, give' one sign of reluctance to receive us.
As the Father the prodigal, so He receives his returning
wanderers with wide arms, seeing us afar off, and running,
and having compassion, and falling on our neck and

kissing us.

(2.) Frankly. "When they had nothing to pay, he
frankly (or freely) forgave them both." The forgiveness
was the free gift of love; a love which the many waters
had not quenched nor the floods drowned ; a love which
' had survived years of sin, and ungodliness, and lust, and
vanity ; a love which, now meeting its object face to face,
can no longer restrain itself; but like Joseph on the neck
of Benjamin, gets vent to its long pent-up yearnings, in for-
givenesses and blessings, as frank, and free, and generous
as they are unearned and undeserved. Man's love of
man is according to. merit, or expectation of response;
God's love of man has no reference to deserving or to
return. Man's love of man is contracted, exclusive, and
grudging ; God's love to man is as boundless as it is free.
He forgives without condition ; He loves without reserve ;
He blesses without measure or end.

(3.) Withotct upbraiding. There may be immediate
and frank reception ; yet afterwards there may be reproof
and upbraiding. Not so with the Lord. Man's forgive-
nesses may be compatible with upbraiding; but the

198 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

forgivenesses of God are too large, too generous, too free,
to admit of this. As He " giveth," so he " forgiveth,"
"liberally, and upbraideth not." He does not bring up
the woman's past life to remembrance. He reminds
Simon of his unkindnesses ; but He has no such remind-
ings for the woman ; He has not a word of upbraiding for
her. He shews us in her case what He means when He
says, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

III. The Pharisee's interference. Simon does not feel
comfortable in the midst of this scene. He does not
like the sinner's free approach, or the Lord's free recep-
tion. He finds fault with both. The root of his inter-
ference is his idea of how a prophet or religious man
ought to act, and of how a sinner ought to act. In other
words, it was on religiotis principles that he would thus
object to what was going on, and would step in between
the Lord and the sinner. The basis of his religion was
man's goodness, not man's sinfulness ; and his idea of
reconciliation between God and the sinner was that of a
compromise on both sides ; the two parties meeting each
other half way; man improving himself in moral and
religious feeing, and so doing his part; God abating
somewhat of his awful righteousness, and modifying the
stern integrity of law, so as to give man a chance of
reaching Him by a little exertion and strictness of life.
The basis of what God calls reconciliation is altogether
different. It assumes that God must come the whole
way to meet man, and that that meeting must be as truly
one of highest righteousness as of deepest love on the

LUKE VII. 36-50. 199

part of God. God takes man as he is, simply a sinner,
" without strength," and without goodness. He does not
ask man to meet him halfway between earth and heaven;
He comes down all the way to earth in the person of his
incarnate Son. He does not resort to half measures, nor
is He content with half payment. He comes down to
man in absolute and unconditional love; without terms
or bargains; himself paying the whole price, and thus
leaving nothing for the sinner but to accept the frank
forgiveness which his boundless love has brought.

Of these things the Pharisee understood nothing.
Wrapt round with his own religiousness, and merit, and
goodness, his prayers, and fastings, and tithe-givings, he
could not enter into the mind of God, nor comprehend
the nature of his love to sinners, his way of forgiving and
receiving the guiltiest. Hence it is that, in his thoughts
at least, if not in words, he steps in between the sinner
and the Saviour. He would blame both.

(i.) He blames the sinner. He thinks she ought to have
been more respectful, more distant. He does not like the
idea of a well-known sinner coming into his house without
invitation, and kissing the feet of Jesus without asking per-
mission. He sees in this step, an undue and unwarrant-
able boldness ; the taking of a liberty with this reputed
prophet, such as she should have been the very last to take.
He does not understand how a sense of need draws the
sinner irrepressibly into immediate contact with the Lord.
They who have not known their sin, nor felt their need,
may hesitate, or stand at a respectful distance ; but he
who has realised his own sin and need cannot thus keep

200 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND TPIEMES.

aloof. He must go at once to the Son of God. Let self-
righteousness forbid him, and formalism frown upon him,
he cannot stay away from Christ any more than can the
prodigal from the arms of his father. Men may say this
is too free, too direct, too simple, too easy ; and blame
him who thus acts ; but if ever they come to know their
own need, they will feel that nothing else would do but
this.

(2.) He blames the Lord. He demurs to this manner
of treating the sinner. Can he who does this be the Son
of God 1 Can he be even a prophet 1 He either knows
or does not know that the woman is a sinner. If he does
not know, he is no prophet ; and if he knows, he is acting
most inconsistently with his character and office. He
ought to have kept her at a distance ; to have refused to
allow such liberties, and to have reproved her for being so
bold. As the Scribes and Pharisees at another time did,
so Simon does here. He murmurs. What ! Be so kind
to a common sinner ! What ! Allow a profligate to kiss
'his feet ! This is trifling with sin, and countenancing the
sinner. Thus man blames God for his love, at least for
its freeness. Were it love bought or deserved, he would
say nothing ; but it is love to the undeserving, love to the
guiltiest ; this he cannot away with. This frank, and free,
and immediate forgiveness is something which his religion
abhors. But let man's religion turn away from God's free
love to the sinner ; still this is God's way. His thoughts
are not our thoughts ; his ways are not our ways. High
as heaven is above the earth, so high are his thoughts of
grace and blessing above all our thoughts and ways.

LUKE VII. 36-50. 201

IV. Christ's rebuke to the Pharisee. He defends Him-
self; He defends the woman; He reproves Simon.
Assuming Simon's ground, that he was much less a sinner
than the woman, He still reasons with him as with one
who professed to have received forgiveness to some extent.
Both needed forgiveness ; and the question was thus one
of more or fewer sins ; not one of sin and no sin. Look
then at the fruits. On the one hand you have the fruits of
.one who knew that she had sinned much, and had been
forgiven much. These were overflowing love, gratitude,
and reverence. On the other, you have the fruits of one
who thought himself a man of far fewer sins, and therefore
needing fewer pardons. They are so scanty that they can-
not be named. No washing of the feet, no anointing of the
head, no kiss of affection, no manifestation of love at all ;
bare worldly civility and hospitality, no more. It was as
if Christ had said, Look at the fruits of the woman's par-
don, and look at yours ! How different 1 What warmth
in her, what coldness in you ] What love in her, what in-
difference in you ! To you I am nothing ; to her I am
all. You have given me your table and your house ; she
has given me her heart and soul.

Simon's religion was founded upon the idea of needing
little forgiveness ; of so making up for past sin by a strict
life of ritualism, that when the day of settlement came
between him and God, the balance against him might be
very slight. He judges himself by this ; and he judges
the woman by this. He has few arrears to pay off; she
has a fearful amount. Should both be treated in the same
way ? Should Christ shew as much favour to the one as

202 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

to the other? Christ shews him the fruits of this false idea,
this self-exalting religion and bids him judge of himself
and of his religion by these. Man may think well of him,
and of his prayers, and alms, and sacrifices, by means of
which he hoped to pay off his debt ; but what could God
think \ How could God look upon a religion that led to
no love, no gratitude, no fond allegiance of the soul 1 God
can do without our sacrifices and services, but he cannot
do without our love.

The religion that is founded upon the idea of few sins
and a small forgiveness, a trifling debt, and man's power
to pay it off by a good life, must lead to little love ; fo
by it we are made more debtors to self than to God; nay,
we are hardly debtors to God at all. The religion founded
upon the truth of man's utter evil, and his need for infinite
pardons, must lead to much love j for it makes us wholly
debtors to God, and to his frank, forgiving love. When
pardon is to be bought or deserved, there can be little
love, if any ; when it is wholly undeserved and unbought,
coming straight to the sinner from the free love of God,
there must be much love ; love in return for love j the
pardoned sinner's full-hearted love, responding to the
mighty, the stupendous love of God ! Oh, if we would
learn to love God, let us do full justice to the love of God
to us.

LUKE XL 13. 203

XLIL
&OW MUCH MORE !

" If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts imto your chil-
dren ; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him ? LUKE XI. 13.

THE Bible is not only a revelation from God, but it is
the revelation of God j of his mind, his heart, his
whole character. It is given us for the purpose of leading
us to place our trust in Him, drawing us to Him, removing
our suspicions, rooting out the evil heart of unbelief.
" They that know thy name will put their trust in thee";
" how excellent is thy loving-kindness, therefore the sons
of men shall put their trust in the shadow of thy wings."

Here the earthly parent and the heavenly parent are
brought before us, for the purpose of shewing us the con-
fidence which we ought to place in the latter. The argu-
ment rests on the natural confidence which the child has
in its father's bountifulness ; and runs thus, " If in spite
of all the drawbacks arising from a naturally evil being, a
narrow heart, and limited love, an earthly father is trusted ;
how much more should our heavenly Father be trusted, in
whom there are no such drawbacks'?"

The argument of the whole passage turns on this. Ask,
seek, knock ! You shall not, cannot fail ! If a son ask
bread, will his father mock him by giving him a stone 1
That cannot be. If a fish, will he be so cruel as to give

04 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

a serpent 1 Far more impossible ! If an egg, will he pre-
sent him with a scorpion 1 Much more impossible and
incredible. No parent, however unnatural, would do any
of these. If impossible with men, how much more so
with God 1 ?

There is here both a comparison and a contrast ; a like-
ness and an unlikeness between the earthly and the hea-
venly ; and it is on this that the argument of our text turns.

The comparison is just this : If an earthly father will
give his son. what he asks, how much more our heavenly
Father ? For our heavenly Father is truly what his name
indicates, " Our Father in heaven." That name is no
figure when applied to him. The figure is all the other
way. It is far more real when used in reference to Him
than to any other. In all the others it is %, figure, in Him it
is real and literal. He has all a Father's heart and feelings;
he made that heart, and knows what it is, and what is in
it. That human heart is formed after the model of the
divine. Our parental feelings tell us what his are ; our
yearnings shew us what his are. And then he knows, if
one may say so, what are a father's responsibilities, to
provide for his own. He made us, and will He not sup-
port us 1 will He not bless us ] As a father is the source
of blessing to his children, so is God.

But we have specially to mark the contrast or difference
between the earthly and the heavenly parent. For the
point of our text turns more especially on this. It is from
this that we get the force of the " how much more."

I. Earthly parents are feeble, He is almighty. He has
all a father's ability, and far more. He is always full,

LUKE XL 13. 205

full to the uttermost ; He can always afford to give, and is
always able to do for us, His is the fulness of omni-
potence. How irresistible the argument of our text !

II. They are ignorant, He is wise. They do not know
what) or when, or how to give. His mode of giving is
wise ; his skill is infinite. He commits no mistakes in
giving. His is a wise giving ; He knows our wants ; He
does not give at random.

III. They are easily provoked, He is longsuffering. A
father needs patience in dealing with his children; and love
lends him patience. But his patience is not inexhaustible.
It .wears out. He -is at times provoked. Not so with
God. His patience is infinite. He can put up with
affronts, and bear coldness ; always ready to give when
asked, whatever the past provocation be.

IV. They are changeable, He changes not. Even the
love of earthly fathers does not exempt them from frailty
and caprice. They are fickle; giving and refusing accord-
ing to their mood or temper. He changes not. His
feelings, his mode of acting and giving remain the same ;
without variableness or shadow of turning.

V. They are often perplexed, He is never at a loss. Their
resources are limited, and they sometimes know not what
to do. He is not harassed or distracted by the number
of petitions and petitioners ; never bewildered, never at a
loss, because of the variety of the wants of his vast family.
He can give to each case as much attention as if He had
no other to care for. His hand, his heart, his mind are
large enough for all.

VI. They are but imperfectly happy, He is the blessed One.

206 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Our giving depends much on the state of our minds at the
moment. When depressed, we have no pleasure in giving;
we either refuse, or we give merely to get quit of the
applicant. Darkness of mind shrivels us up, makes us
selfish, neglectful of others. When full of joy, giving
seems our element, our joy overflows in this way; we
cannot help giving ; we delight in applications ; we seek
opportunities of giving. So with the blessed God. Being
altogether happy, his delight is to give; his perfect
blessedness flows out in giving. We can never come
wrongly to such an infinitely happy being. He teaches us
by his own example, that it is " more blessed to give than
to receive."

VII. They >cct7inot be always giving^ He can. His heart
and his treasure are inexhaustible. Their past gifts are

no pledges for future ones ; his are ; all his gifts ; specially
his beloved Son. We count upon the future because of
the past. What will He not give !

We have but to open the mouth ; to stretch out the
hand. There is no unwillingness on his part. All is love.
Asking is not unnecessary ; it is the expression of depend-
ence, the attitude of creaturehood. But he loves to give,
freely, to all. Let ' us come boldly to the throne of
grace.

LUKE XV. 2. 207

XLIII.

JESUS WATCHING FOR SINNERS.
" This man recdveth sinners" LtTKE XV. 2,

SUCH was the conclusion of the Pharisees respecting
Jesus, from what they saw of his daily life. Between
Him and them there was mutual repulsion, as if not suited
for each other; between Him and the publicans there
was mutual attraction, as if exactly suited for each other.
It is sinners that this man receiveth. He does not care
for the righteous. He passes them by.

Were these Pharisees right or wrong in their conclu-
sion 1 They were right; and the parables which follow
are meant as both an admission and a vindication of our
Lord's proceedings. He accepts their interpretation of his
life, as the true one, the only true one ; and He proceeds
to furnish the key, the divine key to what appeared to so
many unaccountable, He gives the solution to the
difficulty raised by the Pharisees in his days, and con-
tinually resuscitated and re-stated in other ages by the
descendants of those Pharisees, self-righteous men.

Thus those men, who hated Christ, preached his
gospel. We must call this " the gospel according to the
Pharisees." They meant it not; yet they spoke the true
gospel when they said, " This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them."

The word "receiveth" is in the original singularly

208 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

expressive. It means waiteth, watcherh, looks out for,
lies in wait. It occurs fourteen times in the New Testa-
ment; and in all other places it is translated in some such
way : as Mark xv. 43, "who waited for the kingdom of
God"; Luke ii. 25, "waiting for the consolation of
Israel"; ii. 38, " looked for redemption in Jerusalem";
xii. 36, "men that wait for their Lord," Acts xxiii. 21,
xxiv. 15, Titus ii. 13, Jude 21. Jesus is looking out for
sinners ! Paul waited to receive all who came to him
(Acts xxviii.) ; but Jesus goes out in search for them.
He lies in wait for sinners ; for Marys, and Matthews, and
Zaccheuses. Let us see (i) what this lying in wait
implies ; (2) how He lies in wait.

I. What it implies. Many things ; all of them favour-
able to the sinners, for He does not lie in wait as the lion
for his prey, but as the Shepherd for his stray sheep. It
implies then

(i.) Love. Indeed otherwise it has no meaning. The
three parables which follow indicate this. It is love,
tender, compassionate, forgiving love, that is the main-
spring of this waiting for sinners.

(2.) Patience. As the huntsman or the fisher waits
patiently hour after hour to seize his object, so does this
waiting, watching Saviour. Unwearied patience with the
uugodly, the wandering, the hard-hearted, the profligate,
marked his life on earth ; and He is still the same patient
one in heaven. " He hath long patience."

(3.) Earnestness. He is intent on his object;
thoroughly in earnest. His patience is not indifference ;
his love is not mere good-natured benevolence. It is all

LUKE XV. 2. 209

earnestness with. Him. It was so on earth ; it is so in
heaven.

(4.) Desire to bless. His direct and honest object is
blessing. He longs to bless. He has no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. He longs for their life. " Oh that
thou," are still his words to the sinner. " How often
would I have gathered you," He says with profound
sincerity to every lost one.

II. How He does it. His life on earth is a specimen
of how He does it. His days and nights were spent in
seeking the lost. By the sea of Galilee, in the coasts of
Tyre and Sidon, on the highways of Judea, in the syna-
gogue, in the temple, in the village, in the city, by Jacob's
well, He was seeking the lost. How does He do this
now ? How or where is He lying in wait for sinners 1

(i.) In the word. Of that word He is "the spirit,"
the Alpha and Omega, and out of that word He speaks to
us. From Genesis to Revelation we hear his voice. It is
the voice of love. " Come unto me " is the burden of the
Old Testament as well as of the New. It is not merely
that each chapter speaks of Jesus ; but in each chapter
Jesus speaks to us. In each verse He is lying in wait
for us.

(2.) In sermons. For sermons are not disquisitions,
nor declamations, nor orations, but messages from Christ.
In them we hear God and Christ beseeching men to be
reconciled j ministers, in speaking Christ's gospel, " pray
men in Christ's stead." Thus each Sabbath He is look-
ing out for sinners; stretching out his hands from the
pulpit to them.

o

210 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(3.) In providences. What a meaning there is in that
word providence when used not a substitute for God, but
as a word to denote his doings ! In each providence,
great or small, private or public, personal, or family, or
social, or national, or universal; in mercies or in judg-
ments j in wars, famines, pestilences, shipwrecks, railway
disasters ; in the seasons, in the sunshine, in the storm j
in all, Christ is lying in wait for sinners j out of them
comes his loving voice.

Thus Christ lies in wait for sinners : not merely waits
in his house to receive them, but watches for them, looks
out for them, goes out in quest of them. The expression
is beautifully applicable to the three cases in the parables
which follow. The Shepherd is looking out and going
out for his sheep ; the woman with her lighted candle is
going through every room, turning over all the lumber,
and looking into every nook, for her piece of silver j and
the father is watching at the door for his wandering son.
Ah, " this man lieth in wait for sinners."

Yes j in his work of saving, Christ is aggressive and com-
pulsory. He goes out in order to find them. He is ever
on the outlook. He does not merely sit above on his
throne, willing to receive the applications of those who
come. He comes down amongst us. He goes to and
fro in the earth ; He walks up and down in it. His daily,
hourly work is going in quest of sinners.

His doings on eariJi imply this ; his words as well. It
is the same in heaven. His doings from Pentecost
onwards to this hour imply this. Every soul saved shews
this. His words spoken after He left earth intimate

LUKE XV. 2. 2ii

this. " Behold, I stand at the door and knock," implies
this.

Thus we are compassed about with love. For the lost,
there is the compassionate love ; for the saved, there is the
complacent love. We cannot escape from it whatever we
be. It follows us, pursues us, cries after us, surrounds us !
Why the love of an almighty heart should ever be ineffec-
tual, is a mystery beyond our power to solve. But for all
this the. love is the same j sincere and true.

212 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XLIV.
GOD'S JOY OVER THE RETURNING SINNER.

" Likewise, 1 say ^^,nto you. There is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repenteth" LUKE XV. 10.

T ET us not overlook the words with which this state-
J ^ merit is introduced, " I say unto thee. 5 ' He speaks
as the faithful witness ; testifying of what he knows ; what
lie has seen and heard in that heaven whence He came.
It is of a sinner that he speaks, a sinner such as those
who were now gathered round the Lord, a publican, a
profligate, a harlot ; not some worthier sinner, but one of
the worst. He wishes the Pharisees to understand the
feelings of God above to these sinners below; to see that
God's thoughts were not their thoughts. Whatever earth
might do, heaven took an interest in them. The "re-
ligious " ones of earth might turn away ; the holy ones of
heaven did not.

It is of a sinner's repentance that He speaks ; of that
mighty change whereby old things pass away, and all
things are made new. It was to produce this change,
this change of the whole inner man, this total renovation
of being, that the Son of God came. He came to " call
sinners to repentance."

It is of one sinner that He speaks ; not of multitudes ;
so that no one may think that it is the number that is the
occasion of his statement. It is one sinner ; one of these

LUKE XV. 10. 213

poor publicans that He thus so graciously holds up to
view; it 'is one poor fragment of lost humanity, despised
by all else, that He here declares to be the object of his
own and of the divine compassion. So was it always in
his life here ; one woman of Sychar; one woman of Tyre ;
one Zaccheus ; thus He declares his interest in individual
souls. He cares for each.

But it is specially of the joy which the Lord speaks of
that I ask you to think. It is not simply pity or love,
but joy.

(i.) It is joy in heaven. There is always joy there, but
sometimes it swells up and overflows. On the occasion
of the event referred to, there is peculiar joy, an out-
burst of unrepressible gladness in that glad and glorious
heaven which the presence of God fills.

(2.) It is the joy of God. It is He himself who is thus
represented as rejoicing. The joy is in heaven ; and it is
the joy of God himself; the joy of the Shepherd on
finding the lost sheep; the joy of the woman on finding
her lost silver; the joy of the father on finding his lost
son.

(3.) // is joy in the presence of the angels of God. As
the shepherd and the woman call together their friends
and neighbours, so God calls his heavenly hosts. In
their presence He utters his joy ; and He calls on them
to rejoice with Him. He is full of this joy of love, this
joy at recovering the lost, that He must have them to
share it with Him. There is something in this represen-
tation of the divine joy that brings it very close to us, as
it makes it so like our own in its way of manifestation.

214 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

How like ourselves is this way of dealing with his joy and
getting vent to it, and making others partakers of it. " Is
it not a strange truth this, that the infinite Jehovah should
need, and should ask for, the creature's sympathy in his
joys? How like that infinite heart must be to ours!
How near to us does this bring the Eternal One !

From all this we learn much ; chiefly such truths as the
following :

(i.) The knowledge in heaven of what is going 011 here
on earth. How far this extends we cannot say. It refers
here only to what concerns the great redemption-scheme ;
and even as to that, the knowledge is only that which is
directly communicated by God, when He has something
special to announce. But heaven knows this at least :
that there is such a place as earth ; that it is full of God's
lost property ; that God loves it ; that it is not hell ; that
salvation is there, and that God is eveiy day getting hold
of some lost one there. Intelligence is constantly going
up to the heaven of heavens ; and God is making known
so much of it as suits his purposes of sovereign wisdom
and grace. Probably, they do not know all; but cer-
tainly they know what is fitted to augment their gladness,
and call forth their songs.

(3.) The delight which God has in saving. This is
manifest from the pains He takes about this ; the per-
severance and longsuffering ; the patient endurance of
rejection and hatred ; and all this in the desire to rescue
the captive, and to win him back, heart and soul, to himself.
He seeks and saves " with his whole heart and soul "
(Jer. xxxii. 41). He loves to bless; and when He has

LUKE XV. 10. 215

blessed. He rejoices over the sinner to whom the blessing
has come. As the father receives the prodigal, so does
the great Father receive his wanderers ; calling all heaven
to join in his song over them, " This my son was dead
and is alive again, he was lost and is found."

(3.) The appeal which He is thus making to the sinner.
No appeal could be more forcible than that which is thus
made by the great love of God, the overflowing joy He
has in saving. Wilt thou continue in sin, and rob both
God and the angels, yea, and thyself too, of such a
joy? All heaven would rejoice over thy salvation, and
wilt thou not be saved ? Wilt thou persist in wandering,
in worldliness, in ungodliness ? Art thou determined to
be lost when God is so bent on saving thee ?

(4.) The encouragement thus held out to the returning
sinner. Look at all the three parables ! Is there one
word of discouragement? Does not each of them say,
Come ? Is God not bidding thee welcome, stretching out
his arms? What joy it would give God to pardon and
to bless thee ! What a song would be sung in heaven
over thy repentance and return ! Shrink not back ; turn
not away ; be not afraid , the gate is open, and thy God
stands beckoning thee in.

What a comment is this verse on Christ's tears over
Jerusalem ! His sorrow was sincere and true ; so is his
joy in the day of the sinner's return. His tears were
real and genuine ; so are his songs. All is real, both the
sorrow and the joy.

What a force does this passage throw into such words
as these ; Ye will not come to me ; him that cometh to

216 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

me I will in nowise cast out ; if any man thirst, let him
come unto me and drink ; we pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God.

- What a great thing must salvation be ! And what an
important and precious object must a sinner be ! So
much love, so much sorrow, so much seeking, so much
joy in connection with him !

LUKE XV. 20. 217

XLV.
THE FATHER'S LOVE.

'* And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a
great way off", his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and
fell on his neck, and kissed him ;." LUKE XV. 20.

IT was hunger, not love, that drew the prodigal back to
his father. There was no high nor disinterested
motive in his return. -He stayed away as long as he could ;
he only came back when he could not help himself. It
was not the thought of his father, but of the plenty of his
house, as contrasted with his own want, that led him out
of the far country to seek his father's face. So with the
sinner. It is want, misery, danger, not love nor any
noble motive that lead him to seek the face of God. How
foolish the thought of those who would shrink back from
God because they have not come to Him with a pure and
disinterested motive !. But it is with the Father that we
have now specially to do. (i.) Paternal watchfulness and
far-sightedness; (2.) paternal haste; (3.) paternal com-
passion; (4.) paternal tenderness; (5.) paternal recon-
ciliation.

I. Paternal watchfulness and far-sightedness. " When
yet a great way off, his father saw him." He had doubt-
less been watching ; " this man looketh out for sinners."
How quick-sighted is the paternal eye, made keen and
clear by the yearnings of the paternal heart. The figure

2 i8 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

seen thus far off was no doubt very unlike his boy j it was
one of rags, and filth, and disfigurement. Yet it is recog-
nised. There is my son at last ! Poor wanderer, God's
eye is on you in yon far land of famine. He has not
forgotten ; He has his reasons for not coming out and
taking you back by force, like the shepherd the sheep ; for
He wants your heart, and that cannot be won by force or
gold, yet He is on the outlook for you, however far "off
you be.

II. Paternal haste. " He ran." The son was coming
to him, yet he ran to meet him, eager to shorten the dis-
tance. He did not keep state or ceremony. He did not
think of what might comport with dignity or with offended
authority j he did not wait nor move slowly towards him ;
he ran, as if every inch of distance or moment of separa-
tion were intolerable. What eagerness to meet did that
haste imply ! What heedless ness of all ceremony ! No
fear of seeming too eager } no thought of thus encouraging
sin, or making the prodigal think lightly of his wickedness.
Haste was the best for the prodigal, as well as most con-
genial to his own feelings. What a rebuke does that word
'' ran " furnish to those who think that a sinner can come
to Christ too soon j can be reconciled too quickly. God
runs, sinner, to you, will you not run to God ? He makes
haste, oh make you haste.

III. Paternal compassion. " He had compassion." It
would seem as if the pity were stirred by what he saw.
The nearer he came the more he had compassion. The
rags and filth, instead of repelling him, only awoke still
more his pity. Instead of turning away from the loath-

LUKE XV. 20. 219

someness, his paternal heart was moved by the sight of it.
As we read that Jesus, when He saw the multitudes, was
moved with compassion, so was it with the father here.
Poor wanderer, you need not then try to cover your rags,
or to hide your filth, or to try to make yourself more like
what you were in order to attract your father. It is just
that which yoti are which excites his compassion. Your
wretchedness, ignorance, defilement, squalor, will be no
obstacle. They awake his pity. Go to him then just as
you are, and see if his compassions are not infinite.
Whoever and whatever you may be, He pities you. The
tears of Jesus over Jerusalem are the expressions of that
pity, sincere, and true, and deep.

IV. Paternal tenderness. " He fell on his neck." So
was it when Jacob and Esau met ; Joseph and Benjamin.
Falling on another's neck is the expression of tender love,
love that, for the moment, cannot express itself in words,
but buries its face (and with it, past grief and present joy)
out of sight on the neck of the beloved one. Ah this is
tender love ! He fell on his neck ! It is the tender love
of God. Yet all these manifestations of human love, these
tokens of family endearment, are poor to express his un-
utterably earnest yet tender grace. In listening to God's
gospel we too often feel as if it were the mere intimation
of his consent to our salvation, implying but a cold willing-
ness to save us from hell. How much we mistake. His
is true parental fondness, pity, tenderness, yearning ; his
is the eagerness to bless us, which words cannot express.
Yes, God is in earnest in his tender love.

V. Paternal reconciliation. " He kissed him." This is

220 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

is the completion of the whole the consummated and
manifested reconciliation. There is the kiss of affection,
Jacob kissing Joseph's sons ; the kiss of sorrow, when
the disciples fell on Paul's neck and kissed him ; the kiss
of reconciliation, when Jacob and Esau kissed, and when
righteousness and peace are said to kiss each other. How
much is implied in that paternal kiss, love, joy, pardon,
pity, reconciliation. Thus God comes up to the sinner
with the fulness of reconciliation in his heart. He does
not stay to be entreated, or pleaded with, or persuaded.
He hastens up to us, and embraces us in the fulness of
his heart. Ah, this kiss is the seal of pardon to the pro-
digal j and it is this kiss that He is longing to imprint now
on your polluted lips ! He comes up to you with the
reconciliation of the cross ; for He is reconciling the
world to Himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses.

LUKE XV. 22. 221

XLVI.
GOD'S FREE LOVE.

"But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the lest role, and
fut it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet"
LUKE XY. 22.

r [ A HERE is among many a secret dread of the gospel
JL in its freeness. They may not deny that freeness,
but they shrink from it as dangerous, if not pernicious.
There is among others not so much a dread as a distrust
of that freeness. They hesitate, for they are not sure but
that freeness may be abused ; and they take precautions,
as they think, by a long and deep preliminary law-work
to place the sinner in circumstances in which he will not
abuse the gospel ; as if they knew better than God what
these circumstances are, and as if any circumstances, any
convictions, any law-work could prevent the sinner from
abusing the gospel ; or as if the gospel itself did not con-
tain within itself, in its own good news, the best safeguards
against abuse. They do not deny it; but they do not give
it fair play; so modifying, circumscribing, clogging it,
guarding it, that it ceases to be good news to the. sinner
as he is, convinced or unconvinced, penitent or impenitent,
sensible or insensible.

These words of the parable rebuke all such unworthy
ideas of the gospel ; as if it could be made more free ; as
if it could not guard itself; as if its sanctifying power did

222 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

not lie In that very element sifree love which it contains,
and which some dread as the destruction of all holiness.

The distrust of a free gospel is the reflection of the old
spirit of the Pharisees ; the modern arguments against its
freeness, are a mere reproduction of the old self-righteous
murmurings of the Scribes. And the answer to all this is
contained in the parable of the lost son. No doubt some
of those who heard Christ's words cried out, How dan-
gerous such statements, how prejudicial to the interests of
morality, how fitted to encourage laxity, how certain to
end in backsliding ! Nevertheless these are the words of
the holy One, of Him who is true as well as holy, and who
spoke these words for us as well as for the publicans and
the Pharisees of old.

It was misery, poverty, hunger, straits, that brought the
son to the father. No high, pure, holy motive. He
comes as he was, with nothing about him but evil. He
speaks few words ; and these are simply the declaration of
what he was. Yet he is received at once. He had no
promise, no message, no encouragement. He had never
heard of such a case as his before. But he ventures ; he
makes an experiment.

Not so with us. We make no experiment. We under-
take no venture. We do not come unbidden. We are
invited and besought. We have a thousand promises of
reception and proclamations of free love. We have heard
of, and seen multitudes go in before us. What a gospel
is that which we have to go upon ! So free ; so full of love;
so rich in promises !

I. There is here the difference between man's thoughts and

LUKE XV. 22. V 22'

God's thoughts. Man despises, God pities ; man hates,
God loves ; man repels, God attracts ; man rejects, God
receives. God's thoughts are love, and longsuffering, and
paternal patience, and pity. The Pharisee speaks out
man's mind, Jesus speaks out the mind of God. And
what a difference ! As heaven is above earth, so are God's
thoughts above man's.

II. The difference between marts ways and God's ways,
betwee?i man's treatment of the sinner and God's. This
difference has many aspects, and comes out at many
points. But let us take that of our text : " Bring forth
the best robe and put it on him." Here is God's way,
God's treatment of the sinner. It is the treatment of love.
It assumes that the sinner is all in rags and filth, half
naked; and that God must deal at once with this wretched
condition. It does not assume any previous preparation,
or preliminary treatment. God must take him as he is ;
deal with him as he is ; not that the sinner must deal with
himself, or fit himself, or wait, or work, or amend; but
that God must take up his case just as it stands.

(i.) The robe. He came for food, not thinking of his
rags ; hunger made him forget all else. But the father
sees his nakedness, and at once removes it. Clothe him,
he says. There is a robe for him. Ask not whether he is
worthy of it ; he is in rags ; let him be clothed at once.

(2.) The best robe. There were different robes in the
house : for the servants, for strangers, for the eldest son.
Would these not do for him ? If he must be clothed, any
robe will do for such a wretch. So man would have said.
Not so God. There is hardly a robe in the house good

224 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

enough for him. He must have the best The best robe
for the vilest son. What love is here. What delight in
loving and in blessing ! We poor prodigals must be
gloriously clad ! Not sackcloth, nor cast-off raiment, nor a
servant's dress ; not Adam's nor an angel's righteousness j
but something better than all, the robe of Jesus !

(3.) Bring it forth. He must have it at once. He is
not to go in search of it. It must be brought out to him.
On the spot ; just where he is and as he is, bring it out,
bring it to him. Out of the wardrobe bring it ; select the
best, the very best, before he moves another step, that he
may enter the house even better clothed than when he
left.

(4.) Put it on him. It is not, " Give it to him, and let
him put it on himself" j but, " Put it on." He has but to
stand still and allow himself to be thus clothed and blessed.
He does nothing. He does not need to do anything.
Love does it all. The Father does it all.

Ah, herein is love ! Free love ! Forgiving love !
Love to the uttermost. Love without measure. Yes,
such is the love of God to the sinner. He is rich in
mercy, and abundant in lovingkindness. There is nothing
like it in earth or heaven.

LUKE XVII. 26, 27. 225

XLVII.
NOAH'S DAYS.

" And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of
the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they
were given in marriage, ^lntil the day that Noe entered into the ark ,
and the flood came, and destroyed them all.'''' LUKE XVII. 26, 27.

OUR Lord's comparison between the days preceding
his own coming and the days of Noah throws us
back on the sixth chapter of Genesis, from which -we
learn

(i.) The state of the world in NoaHs days. There was
ungodliness, corruption, violence, lust, flesh-pleasing,
vanity, pleasure, engrossment with business, so that there
was no room for God either in man's thoughts or man's
world. Verses 5 and n.

(2.) Gods inquiry. It is said that He saw and that
He looked; as in the case of Sodom (Ch. xviii. 21), He
"makes inquisition." He does not judge hastily or at
random, but calmly and deliberately. Hence his condem-
nation is such a solemn thing, and his vengeance so awful.

(3.) God's feelings as to all this. It "repented the
Lord, and it grieved Him at his heart." Though He is
speaking after the manner of man, yet these words are
the utterance of profoundest feeling. He is not indifferent
as to our treatment of Him ; He speaks like a broken-
hearted father, disappointed in his fondest hopes.

226 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(4.) Gods thoughts in consequence of this. He must
withdraw his Spirit. That Spirit must strive no more.
God cannot allow Him to be thus grieved and quenched.
He must retire.

(5.) God's sentence. (Verses 7 and 13), "I will
destroy " ; " the end of all flesh is come before me." He
must now declare his judgment and indicate the course
He means to pursue. In this sentence man is to read his
guilt, and God's abhorrence of his crimes.

(6.) God's long sitffering. (Verse 3, and i Pet. iii. 20.)
He pronounces the sentence on the spot, but He delays
its execution, for He has long patience, not willing that
any should perish. He gives man one hundred and
twenty ' years to turn and live. How long He bears !
How much He loves and pities ! How desirous to bless
and love ; how reluctant to curse and to destroy !

(7.) God's sovereign grace. The world would not be
saved, but God would have some one whom He might
deliver. His free love fixes on one man. Him it selects ;
him it lays hold of; him it carries through; and for his
sake the whole family. Such is grace. " By the grace
of God we are what we are." It is grace that makes the
exceptions in a world of evil, and shews itself in some
saved ones, however few.

Such is a sketch of Noah's days. Let us compare these
with the days of the Son of man. Mark the resemblance
which our Lord suggests.

I. In the characteristics of evil. All that marked Noah's
days is to mark the last days ; only evil is to be yet more
developed and pronounced in all its forms. God allows

LUKE XVIL 26, 27. 227

sin to ripen and unfold itself, that its true character may
be seen, and that the human heart may be fully revealed
in all its aspects of opposition to God. He has sought
to check it j He has given his fiery law ; He has raised up
prophets ; He has inflicted judgments ; He has sent his
Son. But all in vain. Man will not turn to God. He
will not be restrained ; and God gives him over to a
reprobate mind. That which is born of the flesh is
. flesh ; and the flesh is ever shewing itself. The seed of the
serpent is the same to the last. Satan is the same through-
out. Iniquity is to swell, and deepen, and overflow, and
toss its waves of darkness, till earth becomes a suburb of
hell. 2 Tim. iii. i; 2 Peter iii. i ; Jude 18. No law, no
restraint, no Bible, no Christ, no God, no religion, no
Sabbath, no heaven, no hell, no eternity ! Death is a sleep !
All evil, from Cain's downward, concentrated and expanded
in the days of the Son of man ! It is to this that we are
hastening on ! Nothing but self; self-will, self-pleasing,
self-indulgence, flesh-pleasing, lust, pleasure-seeking. Let
us eat and drink. Our lips are our own ; who is Lord over
us ? Universal apostacy ; rejection of God and of his
Christ, prophet, priest, and king. All this on an earth
marked with frequent judgment. In Noah's days there had
been no previous judgment ; not so in the last. Every
thing in the world's long history tells what sin is, what
it has done, how God hates it, how He will avenge it, and
how He will utterly sweep away the transgressor. The
whole history of man, as well as the whole Bible, gives
the lie to the fable that sin is just men's misfortune, and
that God will not be very hard on the transgressor; as

228 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

for eternal punishments, they are a libel on God's
character ! Such is modern progress, modem develop-
ment !

II. In the long-suffering of God. (2 Pet. iii.) Truly it
is long-suffering. Noah's days were nothing to the last
days, as a revelation of long-suffering. Ages of long-
suffering ! So many mercies, so many warnings ! This
long-suffering cannot be measured. It passeth know-
ledge. It is infinite and divine. What a gospel do we
preach to the world when we tell of ages of long-suffering !
In Noah's days it was one hundred and twenty years *, in
ours it has been already thousands. Reckoning from the
cross, we can point to eighteen centuries of long-suffering.
What a message to rebellious man ! The message of divine
compassion and the good news of infinite grace and love.

III. In the warnings given. Noah's message was, " I
will destroy " j and " the end of all flesh is come before
me" ; He made the world ring with these warnings. So
our warnings are yet more terrible and quite as definite,
" The end of all things is at hand." " Behold the Lord
cometh." " The Judge standeth before the door."
Vengeance, sword, fire, the blackness of darkness for
ever. Read Matt. xxiv. 21, 31 ; 2 Thess. i. 6-9 ; 2 Pet.
iii. 7-10; Rev. vi. 12, 17 ; viii. 13 ; xiv. 8-n ; xvi. 15-
21. Terrible warnings ! And they shall all come to
pass. Careless man of earth, can you hear them un-
moved? Is it nothing to you that such infinite wrath
is preparing for the world ? Oh .flee from the wrath to
come !

IV. In the handful of witnesses. Only Noah and his

LUKE XVTI. 26, 27. 229

family. He is the one preacher of righteousness. He
condemns the world-! So shall it be in the last days.
When the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the
earth ? Satan shall deceive, if it were possible, the very
elect. God shall send strong delusion. Only a few shall
be found faithful. Iniquity shall abound, and the love of
many wax cold. A few out of millions ! A few even
among professing Christians and in Christian churches !
" Few that be saved " ; fewer at the close ! Let us hold
fast our testimony in an age of unbelief.

V. In the deliverance of these witnesses. The deluge
comes, but Noah is safe. The flood touches him not.
God has provided an ark. So with the saints in the last
days. They shall be delivered from the fiery deluge.
Some tribulation they may have to pass through, but the
last and terrible one they shall escape from. " Watch and
pray always that ye may be counted worthy to escape
these things, and to stand before the Son of man."

VI. In the suddenness of the judgment. They knew
not until the flood came ! So shall the coming be. He
comes as a thief ; as a snare ; as the lightning. One
taken and the other left. The world might have known,
but they would not. They said, " peace and safety " to
the last. Then in a moment the trumpet sounds ; the
fire comes ; the Lord appears j oh be ready. In the last
days perilous times shall come. They shall end in the
coming of the Son of man. Enter the ark and be safe
for ever.

230 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XLVIII.

THE LOWEST AND HIGHEST.
LUKE XIX. 1 1-27.

THIS parable is spoken to correct a mistake among
his followers. They thought that the kingdom of
God was immediately to appear, or be " manifested." It
does not seem that their views of the nature of the king-
dom were incorrect. These were not so carnal as we
sometimes suppose. They believed in the promised
kingdom; and in Jesus as the promised King; and in
Jerusalem as the centre or metropolis. Our Lord does
not interpose to correct these beliefs ; but assumes them
as true. But they were wrong as to the time. They
thought it immediate. He corrects this in the following
parable. He shews them that He must first suffer many
things, and be rejected of this generation. Let us bring
out the meaning of the parable under the following heads
or points, the three persons or classes of persons, the three
events, the three transactions.

I. The three classes of persons.

i. The nobleman. It is literally the " high-born man."
This is Christ's name ; the name of Him who is the Son
of God, the only begotten of the Father. He is higher
than the kings of the earth. His is a heavenly parentage;
and His relationships are all divine. In all senses He is.
a nobleman ; the heir of a kingdom.

LUKE XIX. 11-27. 231

2. Tlie servants. Not His disciples only of that day ;
not the Jews only ; but all who enter His service by
believing in His name and following him. As He was
the Father's servant, so are we his. Each one who calls
himself a Christian undertakes this service. These ser-
vants are not all alike faithful, or alike zealous j nor are
they all alike gifted. But they all profess to be doing
his work.

3. The citizens. Not the men of Jerusalem only or
Judea, but the men of this earth. They are subjects
of his kingdom, in so far as they are dwellers on his earth.
They hear of him and of his claims to rule ; but they hate
and reject him. These are the open rejectors of the
Lord. Yet they are called citizens, " His citizens."

II. The three events.

1. The departure. This nobleman comes to the region
where his kingdom is to be ; but there is a hindrance as
to his immediate occupancy of the throne. He must
leave and go to some far country to receive the kingdom
and to return. So Christ came to earth, the seat of his
promised empire ; but not as monarch, or at least not to
exercise his sovereignty. He must depart. He must go
to the Father to receive the kingdom. He has gone ; and
He is in that country now.

2. The absence. He is now absent. He is preparing
for the day of sovereignty. He is receiving the kingdom;
and proving the servants and the citizens in his absence.

. He proves the servants, making this day of his absence
the special day of service ; and giving to each one work

232 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

* <

to do, as well as gifts to do it with. It is in his absence
that we are specially called to shew our service, to be
faithful and zealous.

3. The return. He is not always to remain in this far
country. He is to return when the fulness of the times
has come. He comes back with honour and glory to a
kingdom. His shame and sorrow are done. He has
come to be glorified, to reign. This same nobleman,
this same Jesus will come, He will not tarry. Such is
the Father's purpose ; such is His own promise, " Surely
I come quickly."

III. The thiee transactions.

1. The commission. He calls his servants, and assigns
them their work, apportioning their gifts and spheres.
He deals with them personally and directly. He does
not send them to his work at their own charges or in
their own strength. It is not a commission to some
servants, but to all, to each, not to ministers only, but
to each one who names his name. He gives you a com-
mission when he gives you pardon ; He not only says,
" I forgive you all your iniquities, go and sin no more" ;
but, " I forgive you, go and work for me." If we have
had any personal dealing with Christ about salvation, we
have received this commissioiio

2. The judgment. He comes to judge as well as to
reign ; and his first act is to examine his servants. Have
you done my work ? Have you made use of my gifts ?
I left you to yourselves for awhile, but I am now come to
ask an account of your doings. What have you to shew

LUKE XIX. 11-27. 233

in the shape of work done for me 1 Each is examined
according to what he has received, and questioned as to
what he has done. None exactly alike. Some more,
some less faithful ; some wholly unfaithful and unprofit-

/

able.

3. TJie recompense. All are not only judged, but
recompensed ; each receiving according to his deeds.

(i.) The faithful. They receive His "well done," and
a glory proportioned to their work.

(2.) The unfaithful. They are stripped of everything,
and cast into outer darkness (Matt. xxv.).

(3.) The citizens. These were never servants; always
rejectors, enemies, rebels. These are the multitude, who
hear of Christ, but yield no obedience, choose another
master and another service, the hosts of Anti-Christ,
the men of the world, the mixed multitude in our churches.
They are summoned only to be " slain," destroyed by the
breath of His mouth and the brightness of His coming.

234 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

XLIX.
CHRIST MUST HAVE PRAISE.

'* If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry

out" LUKE XIX. 40.

THE meaning of this passage is briefly this " Christ
must have praise somewhere ; if not at one place
and by one class, then assuredly somewhere else and by
another class : rather than that He should not have this, a
miracle would be wrought, and the stones made to cry
out."

Christ must have praise. Why ?

I. Because it is His due. It is due to His person.
He is Son of God, and Son of man , the possessor of all
created and all uncreated excellence ; the centre of every
divine and every human perfection. Praise is his due,
his right, his lawful and necessary claim. It is due to
him as the Word made flesh, as Messiah, as the King that
cometh in the name of the Lord. It is due to his work
and office. He comes as the revealer of the Father and
the Father's will ; the executor of the Father's purpose ;
the object of the Father's love ; the doer of the mighty
work in which the Father was to be glorified and peace
made, and love carried out to the sinner in a righteous
way.

II. Because it is the Father- s purpose. That purpose is
that Christ should be praised, that He should receive

LUKE XIX. 40. 235

honour, and glory, and blessing. The Father presents
Him to us as the great object of universal praise. He
says, " Let all the angels of God worship Him ;" let all
men worship Him ; let creation worship Him ; let this
earth worship Him, even its stones. For such a purpose
(viz., concentrating all praise on Jesus), He must have in-
finitely wise reasons, even though we did not see them.
But what has been made known concerning the person
and work of Messiah, shews how infinitely reasonable and
glorious that purpose is.

There are some who dislike this praise and this purpose.
Such were the Pharisees. Not the " publicans and sin-
ners." Self-righteousness, a self-justifying, self-exulting,
religion is the most opposed to the praise of Christ. The
professors of it hate such praise. They cannot bear to
hear it from others, far less to give it themselves j the
voice of praise calls forth their enmity. There are others
who are simply silent. They are engrossed with other
things, or indifferent. They do not trouble themselves
about the matter. They close their lips and their ears.
Does either of these classes describe any here 1 Are there
some disregarding the Father's purpose, and giving no
praise to Him whom He delighteth to honour ? What !
Neither praise nor love ! Neither homage nor obedience !
Now what will this refusal, this silence, this anger do 1
i. It will not profit themselves. It will not make them
happier. It will not secure any favour or honour for
them. It will not forward their prospects for eternity.
It will not avail them in the day of wrath, or serve them
at the judgment-seat.

236 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES..

2. // will not lessen Chris? s honour. He will still
deserve the honour, though they refuse to give it. He
will still be the infinitely loveable, infinitely glorious one,
possessed of the name that is above every name.

3. It will not silence others. Heaven will still praise
Him, the redeemed' will still praise Him. His enemies
may be dumb, but that will not silence angels. It will
not close one lip, nor cause one tongue to falter.

4. // will not hinder the fulfilment of the Father's pur-
pose. That purpose shall stand, whoever may resist. If
these be silent, the stones shall immediately cry out. If
one will not praise Him, another shall. He must have
praise ; and that praise shall never sink lower than a
certain amount. If it should do so, from the silence of
those who were expected to praise Him, others even
the unlikeliest even the dead creation, the stones, will
cry out, cry out in praise, and cry out against the
wretched men who have refused the honour. God's pur-
pose concerning Christ, and the praise due to Him, shall
be carried out to the uttermost, both in time and eternity,
both in earth and heaven. That purpose is even now
unfolding itself. Christ is glorified even here. There
are some that praise Him, in every kingdom and out of
every kindred, and every new soul gathered in adds to the
song of praise. All earth shall yet praise Him. Crea-
tion's universal song of praise shall begin when He returns
in His glory to make all things new. All heaven praises,
and shall praise Him, Every angel glorifies Him. The
hosts of heaven ascribe blessing to the Lamb. Nay, all
the universe shall yet praise Him. Every thing that hath

LUKE XIX. 40. 237

breath and being shall praise Him. Sun, moon, and
stars shall praise Him, throughout the widest space !

Are you praising Him, brethren ? By lip and life, by
word and deed 1 Helping others to praise Him ; gather-
ing in the unpraising ones of earth that they may praise
Him ?

Will you praise Him, O men ? You who have praised
self, the creature, the world " nature," as you call it,
will you now begin to praise Him who is infinitely worthy
of all your praise and love ] .

238 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

L.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

" And 'when these things begin to come to pass., then look up, and lift up
your heads ; for your redemption draweth nigh." LUKE XXI. 28.

r I ""HE things here referred to are the signs of his
JL coming \ the sure tokens given by himself that
He is at the doors. When these are just beginning to un-
fold themselves, then be of good cheer ; your deliverance
is at hand (redemption, see Rom. viii. 23). He uses two
remarkable words to indicate the effects which ought to

48*.

be produced by these premonitory signs; (i.) lift your-
selves up (dva/rj-^a/, stoop no more, lift up your bodies)
(2.) lift up your heads ; do not merely stand with erect
body, but turn your head and eyes upward. The church's
posture has hitherto been that of one bowed down (Ps.
14, xxxviii. 6, xliv. 25) under the heavy burdens of an evil
day and an evil world. Both body and head are bent
towards the earth in grief. But so soon as she hears the
signal of her Lord's approach, she rises up from her stoop-
ing posture, she looks upwards to descry the coming
deliverance and glory.

It is of great moment, then, that we read the signs
aright ; not only as given here by our Lord, but afterwards
by his apostles. It is of little consequence in what order
we take them. They are numerous, and scattered over the

LUKE XXL 28. 239

New Testament. I take them alphabetically for the sake
of memory.

I. Antichristianity. I mean not Popery merely, but all
the forms, in which opposition to Christ shews itself;
whether false doctrine or active hostility to Christ. A false
Christianity; error regarding the person and work of
Christ ; subversion of the cross, and blood, and righteous-
ness of Christ ; all the ways in which Christ is opposed,
directly or indirectly; in which men are uttering the
cry, f% We will not have this man to reign over us";
let us break their bands and cast away their cords
(Luke xix. 14; Ps. ii. 3; Acts iv. 27). There are many
antichrists.

II. Disbelief of the advent. The advent of Christ itself
shall be one of the things which scepticism shall assail.
There are two classes which shall be found rejecting it,
the professing Christian who says, " My Lord delayeth his
coming," the scoffing world that says, " Where is the pro-
mise of his coming *?"

III. Error. The fruit of the tree of knowledge is still
being eaten by man, and still infusing its poison. Love
of knowledge is the professed starting-point. But in the
pursuit of this, God is not acknowledged as the teacher,
nor the Bible as the infallible text-book. Speculation
abounds ; inspired trammels are flung off; pride of intel-
lect operates; man worships his own mind; every day
brings forth some novel opinion ; revelation is thrust
down from its high position ; every form of error gets
vent; till God gives men over to a reprobate mind,
and sends them strong delusion that they should believe

240 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

a lie. "They will not endure sound doctrine," but are
" carried about with every wind of doctrine."

IV. Energy of evil. Evil men and seducers are to wax
worse and worse. Sin will unfold itself to the uttermost.
The human heart will speak out. It will not be dormant
or inactive evil; it will be energetic to the utmost in
seeking to counteract the good, nay, to destroy it
utterly. In some ages evil seems to sleep. In the last
days it will awake to full life and activity. It will seize
every instrument, the press, the pulpit, the platform. It
will enlist every science and art, music, sculpture, paint-
ing, poetry, philosophy, making them all subservient to its
development. Satan, both as the prince of darkness, and
as an angel of light, will come down, having great wrath,
to put forth his wiles, his powers, to the utmost. The
multiplication of crimes, contempt of laws, blasphemies,
these are specimens of the energy of evil.

V. Formalism. The apostle, after enumerating the
'sins of the last days, adds this : " Having a form of

godliness, but denying the power thereof." There is to
be the appearance of religion to suit the " religious" part
of man's nature ; but this is to be coupled with all sin,
and error, and ungodliness, nay, infidelity. Whited
sepulchres j wells without water ; trees without fruit ; lamps
without oil ; a religion without the Holy Ghost !

VI. Latitudinarianism. Indifference to revealed truth,
nay, to all truth ; making light of error ; holding that all
religions are so far right and acceptable, and that there are
a thousand ways to heaven, if there be a heaven or a
hell at all. Laxity of opinion, and laxity of morals, will

LUKE XXL 28. 241

prevail. Immorality is to overflow in every form, and will
not be condemned. A loose faith, and a loose practice,
an easy law, an easy gospel; all the evils described in the
third chapter of second Timothy, unfolding themselves,
and not disapproved of.

VII. Missions. Towards the close of the last days, we
are to expect special efforts in behalf of Jew and Gentile.
The gospel is to be preached to all nations. The Jew is
to be sought out. The Bible is to go over the earth.
The messengers of Christ are to make their errand known.
At no time since the apostles has this been the case so
much as now.

VIII. Political changes. European changes ; the recon-
struction of the ten kingdoms ; the breaking up of old
land marks ; the confusion of all political principle ; the
placing of government in the hands of the lowest ; the
speaking evil of dignities.

IX. Pride and self-will. The pride of power ; the pride
of knowledge and intellect; self-reliance; belief in self-re-
generation, without the power of God, or the Holy Ghost.
Unwillingness to brook restraints : " Our lips are our own ;
who is Lord over us ?" This wilfulness or lawlessness is
to come to a head in Antichrist ; but it is to be manifested
everywhere, in the church and in the world. Self-will !
That is to be the characteristic of the last days.

X. Restlessness. Many shall run to and fro. The
whole world shall be in motion ; fermentation everywhere ;
rushing hither and thither ; unable to be still. As the man
possessed by a devil could not rest, so our world in the
last days, possessed by the devil, shall exhibit the very

242 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

restlessness of hell, of him who is ever going to and fro
in the earth, walking up and down in it.

XL Satanic influences. We see this not only in the
errors and blasphemies that are abroad, infidelity and
atheism. But we see it in the pretended communications
with the invisible world, the spirit-rapping, and spirit-con-
sulting, which is spreading everywhere ; so that millions
are under these subtle and potent influences.

XII. Wars. The world's great crisis is the Armageddon
battle. Up till that time there are to be wars and rumours
of wars.

XIII. Worldliness. This present evil world is to be the
object of man's idolatry. In this way materialism will
shew itself. Religious materialism, ecclesiastical material-
ism, political materialism. This material world in all its
aspects will be worshipped. Luxury, lust of the flesh, lust
of the eye, &c., all mingle together to make up the intense
worldliness of the last days.

LUXE XXL 36. 243

LI.

DELIVERANCE IN THE DAY OF THE LORD.

" Watch ye therefore, and fray always, that ye may be accounted
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand-
before the Son of Man" LUKE XXI. 36.

^ I X HIS' chapter, though relating at its commencement
-JL to the days of our Lord, runs on far into the
future, and carries us down to his second coming. The
" last days " are the times more especially referred to ; the
days which end with his arrival as Judge and King.

I. These days are days of calamity. Both for Israel and

i

for the church ; nay, for the world also, these were to be
days of sorrow. These sorrows were to be various, as if
all past calamities were summed up and gathered together
in these. Then are the vials of divine wrath to be poured
out. Nothing in the past can equal them. Judgments,
terrors, persecutions; earthquakes, overturnings, darken-
ings of sun and moon and stars ; these and such like are
to mark that awful day. The destruction of Jerusalem
was only a shadow of this. The Indian horrors are but
preludes of what is coming. The day of the Lord will
be a day of darkness and gloominess.

II. These calamities are to be very widespread. They
are to be terrible as the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah,
but far more universal. They are not mere judgments on
a city or a land, but on a world ! The heavens and the

244 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

earth ; the sea and the land ; Israel and the Gentiles ;
Jerusalem and Babylon ; Judea and Idumea ; all are to
share the judgments, for all have sinned. God's sword
shall smite and not spare ; for it is the day of His ven-
geance; vengeance against sin, against idolatry, against
Anti-Christian rebellion, against Jewish unbelief, against
Apostate Christianity; vengeance for dishonour done to
Himself, to His Son, to His Spirit; to His Bible, to His
gospel, to His law. Like the deluge, the vengeance will
overflow the earth.

III. There will be some that will escape. Such has
always been the way in the execution of judgment. The
great mass of the ungodly have perished, for God's pur-
pose was to shew His hatred of sin ; but a few have been
preserved to declare His grace and sovereign pleasure in
saving whom He will. The flood swept the world away ;
but Noah and his family were saved. The fire of heaven
consumed the cities of the plain, yet Lot and his two
daughters were preserved. Tens of thousands perished
in the overthrow of Jerusalem, but the Christians in it
escaped. So is it to be in the last and most terrible of
God's visitations. A remnant shall be saved. Balaam
asks, Who shall live when God doeth this ? And certainly
it will be a time of trouble such as never was upon the
earth, such as seems to make escape impossible. But
some Noahs, some Lots, shall be delivered. God will
shew how He can preserve as well as destroy ; how He
can rain down judgment on Egypt, and yet keep Israel
in safety.

IV. This deliverance shall be by the direct hand and

LUKE XXL 36. 245

power of God. This passage does not say so. But others
intimate that God will interfere to deliver. Indeed, in
such a burst of universal vengeance, it seems difficult to
conceive of any escaping save by miracle; either by being
caught away from the judgment just before it begins, as in
the case of Enoch, or being carried through the midst in
safety, as in the case of Noah, or the three children in the
furnace. God speaks of " chambers," into which He calls
His people to enter until the indignation be over-past ;
and He speaks of the righteous being taken away from the
evil to come ; and the pist Psalm will be specially fulfilled
to these preserved ones in that day of trial and destruction.
V. They who are saved are they who watch and pray.
There are many allusions in the prophets to a chosen few
of faithful worshippers who are to be delivered. We
commonly give these passages a mere general application,
as referring to any time of calamity ; and no doubt they
are so written as to bear this meaning, and to afford
comfort to God's believing ones in any day of sorrow.
But like many other words of the prophets, they have a
fuller meaning, and point to a prophetic application in
the last days. Such is Psalm xci. Such is Isaiah xxiv.
13, 14; xxxiii. 14-16; Mai. iii. 16, 17. And in these
passages the characters of the delivered are fully described.
But our Lord in His exhortation here sets them before us
in two words, Watch and pray ; two words which He else-
where used, and which the Apostle Peter, doubtless
remembering the Master's words, makes use of, "The
end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and
watch unto prayer."

246 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(i.) Watch. Beware of sleep. It is a drowsy world ;
or rather it is a world fast asleep in sin. It is the world's
night, and this induces drowsiness. It is to be specially
the temptation of the church in the last days, " while the
bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." Many
things in the present day tend to lull us asleep ; worldly pros-
perity, the progress of the arts, outward comforts, luxury,
freedom from danger, want of persecution. We are in
danger of being overcome by these opiates, these soporifics
of the evil one. Therefore let us watch. Let us be ever on
our guard against the drowsiness that is constantly over-
taking us. Let us beware of being led into this by
pleasure, or covetousness, or vanity, or love of ease. Let
us watch. It is not for nothing that God has spoken to us
during these late years in such appalling judgments abroad,
such afflictive disasters at home. He says, Awake, to
those that are asleep. He says, Watch, to those who are
drowsy. Let us not sleep as do others.

(2.) Pray. While watching, let us pray. Let us watch
upon our knees. A watching time should be a praying
time. It is to more than merely keeping ourselves awake
that the Lord calls us. Pray j pray always j or literally,
in all times and seasons ; not yesterday only, but to-day ;
not in darkness only, but in the light ; not in adversity
only, but in prosperity j not in the day of bereavement, and
terror, and weariness, but in the time of security, and
comfort, and peace. Pray always. Pray without ceasing.

It is the watchers and the prayers that shall be saved
out of, or carried through, the coming storm. Only they.
If you fear the day of trouble that is at hand, watch and

LUKE XXL 36. 247

pray. That only will avail. How God is to deliver in
that day, I cannot say ; but He will, though it should be
by a fiery chariot, or by an ark, or by his angel sent down
from heaven. He will deliver.

VI. These delivered ones shall stand before the Son of
man. This standing has a twofold reference : (j.) A
standing in judgment (Ps. i. 5), i.e. being acquitted in the
day of the Lord j (2.) a standing in the presence of the
Lord, as in Rev. vii. 9, xiv. i, 5, xv. 2, xxii. 4. There is
not merely deliverance in that day for these, but glory and
triumph in the presence of the King. They shall see his
face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. They
shall stand before him as part of his glorious retinue, his
honoured ones, his chosen ones, his blessed ones. Hav-
ing suffered with Him, they shall reign with Him ; having
been partakers of his shame, they shall be sharers of his
glory.

Watch and pray always ; and so much the more as ye
see the day approaching. For the time is short, and the
coming of the Lord draweth nigh. This year may unfold
much ; be ready for what is coming. Whether it usher in
the advent of the Lord or not, be ready. Watch and
pray. Your own spiritual prosperity demands this. Your
exemption from impending judgment demands this. Your
usefulness in the world, during the world's brief remaining
day, demands this. The glory of your Lord demands
this ; and the Lord himself expects it at your hand.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always !

248 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES,

LII.

THE NEW WINE OF THE KINGDOM.

" For I say tmto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, ^lntil
the kingdom of God shall come." LUKE XXII. 18.

WO feasts had just been celebrated by our Lord and
his disciples immediately before these words were
spoken. The first was the Passover, and the second was
the Supper. Both of these were festivals of rejoicing, the
one for Israel after the flesh, the other for the Israel of
God, the saved and called ones of every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people. It might seem then to
the disciples as if this were now at last the beginning of
their joy, a joy no more to be overclouded or withdrawn.
It might seem as if this were the final cementing of
their happy union, a union no more to be broken up.
Notwithstanding all that the Lord had said about his
approaching sufferings, they were so " slow of heart to
believe," that they might be even at this moment imagin-
ing that the time of their tribulation was now about to
close and the hour of their triumph to begin. In a pros-
pect such as this they would be disposed greatly to rejoice,
not for their own sakes only, but for the sake of a Master
whom they loved so well, and over whose unceasing
sorrow their loving hearts had often mourned.

Perhaps it might be then, to counteract some such rising
feeling of exultation, that our Lord addressed to them the

LUKE XXII. 18. 249

words of our text : " But I say unto you, I will not drink
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I
drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." They
were right in their anticipations of the coming kingdom,
with all its fulness of joy, but they had altogether mis-
calculated the time of its approach. They still overlooked
the suffering that lay between. They refused to admit the
idea of Messiah's shame and death as being the only way
to his final glory and honour in the everlasting kingdom.
In the verse before us He makes reference to the interval
that still lay between Him and the kingdom. He tells
them that though there should certainly come a day of
festal joy, in which He and they should rejoice together,
yet that day was not immediately at hand. It would
assuredly come, but not now. They must prepare for
separation, not for union; for sorrow, not for joy; for
fasting, not for feasting; for the Bridegroom's absence,
not His presence. This was His farewell-feast with His dis-
ciples until the day of the eternal meeting in the heavenly
Jerusalem. And the words are evidently similar, in refer-
ence and import, to those of the apostle : " As often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's
death till He come."

It was as if he had said to his disciples, " You may
think this the beginning of my joy and your joy, the
dawning of a bright day of happy fellowship and union
with each other. It is not so. It is the commencement
of my deepest agony ; it is the last time that we shall thus
feast together, till the kingdom shall come. Between that
period and this, there is a long and dreary interval to

250 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

elapse. But after these dark days are over, then shall I
sit down with you once more in happy communion, and
drink of the fruit of the vine new with you at a better
table ; not in this poor upper chamber of the earthly
Jerusalem, but in one of the many mansions of my Father's
house, prepared for us in the New Jerusalem, which cometh
down out of heaven from God."

There is a calm melancholy in these words which at
once touches and subdues us. Simple as they are, a deep
solemnity pervades them. Both He and they were sad ;
yet it was expedient that He should go away. He would
gladly have remained and feasted with them, but he had
other work to do, both in earth and heaven. He must
go. "J say"; "verily I say" ; thus he assures them of
the unwelcome truth of his departure. He thus speaks,

I. Of a time when He did drink of the fruit (or "pro-
duce" ) of the vine. This He had been doing since they
had come together, at each feast, each passover, at their
accustomed meals, at Simon's house, at Cana in Galilee ;
partaking with them of their common food, and inter-
changing fellowship. He had expressed his desire to do
so once more : " With desire have I desired to eat this
passover with you before I suffer. He is now doing so,
presenting to us the bread of blessing and the cup of
blessing. Thus Jesus delighted in human fellowship. He
came not only to give joy to us, but to receive joy from
us. He sought intercourse in every way. His delights
were with the sons of men. See the whole of the Song of
Solomon. Let us give Him the fellowship He seeks ; He
longs for admittance to our house and board, let us not

LUKE XXII. 18. 251

shut Him out. His promise is, " I will come in and sup
with him, and he with me."

II. Of a time when He would not drink of the fruit of
the vine. "After this I shall not taste it again." He puts
away from Him that cup, which was expressive of fellow-
ship and joy. The period here alluded to consists of two
parts : (i.) the period of his agony onward to his resur-
rection; (2.) the period from his resurrection to his second
coming.

(i.) His agony and death. He had hardly uttered these
words when his enemies seized Him, led by a disciple.
There was his betrayal, desertion, denial, scourging,
crucifying, the myrrh and gall, and crown of thorns.
Truly this was another cup ; not the fruit of the vine which
maketh glad, but bitterness, and trembling, and death.
As if he were now saying, " I have another cup to drink,
a cup of gall and wrath, to drink alone ; this cup I must
drink that you may not drink it. I must forego your fel-
lowship and love, for the presence of enemies ; now is the
hour and power of darkness." What deep sadness is here !
It is the language of the man of sorrows ; of one who de-
lighted in the love of his disciples, and would rather that
this cup had passed from Him, but who was yet willing -to
drink it to the dregs. What deep love is here ! It is love
which many waters could not quench.

(2.) From his resurrection to his coming and kingdom.
The present interval is one of absence. Not that this is a
period of suffering; that is all over. But it is not the period
of his full joy. That fulness is still future ; his great joy is
still postponed. It is not perfected yet ; so long as He is

252 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

absent from His church and His kingdom ; so long as His
chosen ones are not gathered ; so long as the bride is not
ready, and the marriage not consummated, and the bodies
of his beloved are still lying in the grave. Thus he reserves
or postpones his full joy till the great day of resurrection
and reunion.

III. Of a time when He shall drink again of the fruit of
the vine with them. That is the day of his coming and
kingdom ; the day of his crowning is the day of the glad-
ness of his heart (Song iii. n). It is the day of feasting
(Isa. xxv. 6). It is the day of his royal glory. It is the
marriage day; the day of full fellowship with his own.
He shall then drink the wine of the kingdom, and drink
it new with them ; not as in Cana, the guest, but himself
the bridegroom ; the governor of the feast as well as the
provider of the wine.

Let us mark here,

(i.) His deep sorrow. He is like one surrounded with
friends, yet having within him a grief too deep for
utterance.

(2.) The calm resignation. As if He said, " I leave this
happy company to suffer." He shrinks not, murmurs not,
though foreseeing the cup he is about to drink. He goes
calmly, like a lamb to the slaughter. " The cup which
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?"

(3.) The gentle love. It is love that utters these words ;
love willing to be torn away from the beloved object, if by
this he can be of service to it. He pleased not himself.
It was our happiness he sought.

(4.) The joy in our fellowship. Interchange -of afTec-

LUKE XXII. 18. 253

tion is what he seeks. His desire is for nearness and com-
munion.

(5.) The anticipation of the glory. There is glory to be
revealed ; glory for Him as for us ; when he returns to his
kingdom. For this he longs. "I come quickly," he
says. Let us answer, Even so come, Lord Jesus ! Come
to raise thy saints ! Come to the marriage supper ! Come
to the crown and throne. Come to the joy and glory.

254 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LIIL

THE HEAVENLY FEAST.

"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto
them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you : this do in
remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after stepper, saying, This
cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" LUKE
XXII. 19, 20.

was Passover-night; the anniversary of "the
-L night much to be remembered," when the Lord
God of Israel led Israel out of Egypt. Jesus kept all the
passovers; and specially He desired to keep this, the
last of the long series of memorable nights in which Israel
commemorated the grand deliverance. Jesus, Messiah,
was the deliverer; and He is now for the last time
commemorating his own mighty deed of deliverance.
Here is the last of the old, the first of the new.

But He has scarce finished the passover ere He con-
stitutes another ordinance. As in "dissolving views"
one scene melts away before another; the new quietly
supplants the old; the passover table and bread and
wine silently vanish in the better table and bread and
wine. For " Christ our passover " is now to be " sacri-
ficed ;" " Christ our passover "is now to be feasted on.

The roasted lamb disappears, and in its place come the
bread and wine; the symbols of the new and better
covenant. It is with these that we have to do in the

LUKE XXII. 19, 20. 255

ordinance of the supper. And, as of the passover, so of
the supper, Jesus is all.

I. The taking of the bread. It is bread that he takes ;
one of the passover cakes ; made of the produce of this
soil, earth's wheat, sown, watered, springing up and
ripening here. For he took not the nature of angels, but
He took the seed of Abraham. Himself the incarnate
One, the Word made flesh He presents to us. He is very
man, of the substance of the virgin, of the flesh of man,
true seed of the woman, true Son of Adam ; not angelic,
but human, thoroughly human in His nature ; man all
over in everything but sin; for that passover cake was
without leaven.

II. The thanksgiving. The other evangelists call it
"blessing." The meaning is the same. He "gave
thanks " and He " blessed ;" not the bread, but God \
for "it" is not in the original. He praised God in
connection with this bread. Jesus gave thanks for the
bread, and specialty for that of which it was the symbol.
He gave thanks to the Father for his now almost com-
pleted work, and for all that that work was to accomplish.

III. The breaking of the bread. He broke the thin
passover cake in pieces, that thereby He might complete
the symbol. For the breaking was a most important
part of the feast. The bread was to be first broken
before it was eaten. Not a bone of Him was to be
broken, and yet his body was to be broken. The "bruising
of the heel " and the " breaking of the body " were the
two expressions used to denote his suffering work as the
substitute or sacrifice for sin. It is not incarnation merely

256 BIBLETHOUGHTS AND THEMES.

>""

that we have in the supper, but death, sacrificial death ;

the body broken by the burden of our guilt laid upon
Him. Christ crucified is the alpha and omega of the
Lord's supper. It is his cross that is set before us there ;
his cross as the place where our guilt and our curse were
borne.

IV. The giving. In many ways Christ gave himself to
us ; but here it is specially as the sin-bearer that He does
so. It is his broken body that He presents to us. This
is his gift to us. That broken body, with the sin-bearing
work which it accomplished, He gives to us. It is the
gift of his love ; the love that passeth knowledge.

V. The word of explanation and command. The expla-
nation is, " This is my body, given for you." The com-
mand is, "This do in remembrance of me." Thus, we

learn these two things (i.) that it is the body of Christ,
Christ on the cross, that we have so specially to do with

here; "my flesh is meat indeed;" (2.) that the Lord's
supper is a memorial of Christ himself; not a sacrifice,
but the memorial of a sacrifice. That bread is to be
received by us in remembrance of Christ. It fixes our
eye 'on Jesus only.

Such is the first part of the supper; that concerning
the bread or body of the Lord. The second is like unto
it; concerning the wine or blood of the Lord. The
process is repeated. As was done with the bread, so is it
done with the wine.

(i.) He took the cup. It was the cup of blessing. He
took to himself not only the flesh but the" blood of
man.

LUKE XXII. 19, 20. 257

(2.) He gave thanks (Matt. xxvi. 27). For the wine
as well as for the bread He gives thanks ; double thanks-
givings in this ordinance.

(3.) He gave the cup. The cup He meant for them as
specially as the bread. Yes ; He gave it ; who then can
take it away 1 Can man, or priest, or church take the
cup from us ? Does not He who takes the cup from us
prove himself to be an Antichrist ?

(4.) He lade them drink. "Drink ye all or it" (Matt,
xxvi. 27). And "they all drank of it" (Mark xiv. 23).
It is by his command that we drink. He says to us,
"Drink" ; not, Gaze on it; but, Drink of it.

(5.) He interprets the ctcp. "This cup is the new
testament in my blood." In Mark. (xiv. 24) it is, " This
is my blood of the new testament." In ist Corinthians
(x. 1 6) it is called "the cup of blessing," and the "com-
munion of the blood of Christ." Thus the cup connects
us, (i.) with the new covenant; (2.) with the blood;
(3.) with blessing; (4.) with communion. In that cup
we see the covenant, the blood, the blessing, the com-
munion. Let us fully understand it, and realise its
contents.

Of. these symbols, of this whole ordinance, we may
say truly,

(i.) The love of Christ is here. It is the feast of love.
The symbols tell of love. The whole scene is love. His
banner over us is love.

(2.) The joy of Christ is here. It is not the man of
sorrows that we hear in this feast. Joy and peace are
here. " My peace ;" " my joy."

258 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(3.) 17ie glory of Christ is here. For though the
symbols take us back to the cross, they bid us look
forward to the coming and the glory. We shew his death
till He come.

LUKE XXIIL 32-43. 259

LIV.

*

THE THREE CROSSES.

" And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to be put
to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary,
there they crucified him, and the malefactors ; one on the right hand,
and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them ; for
they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast
lots. And the people stood beholding : and the rzders also with them
derided him, saying, He saved others ; let him save himself, if he be
Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming
to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of
the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also 'was written over
him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE
KING OF THE JEWS. And one of the malefactors which were
hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
But the other, answering, rebuked him., saying, Dost not thou feat
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And we indeed
justly ; for we receive the dtie reward of our deeds : but this man hath
done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jeszis said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, To-day shall: thou be with me in paradise." LUKE
XXIII. 32-43.

. r I ^HE place of this transaction is Jerusalem ; the holy
JL city ; outside its walls. The scene is that of three
crosses, three criminals, soldiers, priests, a Jewish crowd,
a great execution, a few weeping women, and one or two
afflicted men in the distance. It has much to say to us ;
most of it not upon the surface, but hidden and silent ;
something of God, of the Saviour, of the sinner ; some-

260 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

thing of sin, of salvation, of damnation ; something of
heaven, of earth, of hell ; sin pardoned, sin unpardoned ;
a soul won, a soul lost : Christ received, Christ re-
jected.

Let us select a few lessons.

I. Moris hatred of God. Human enmity, malice,
envy, come out in every part "of the transaction. Pilate's
hall ; the scourging, mocking, spitting, smiting ; the cry,
Crucify ; the nailing, the wagging the head ; the thief's
railing. The veiy idea of placing Him between two male-
factors a reproof of desperate malice ; the refinement of
hatred. Here are man's heart, hands, tongue, all coming
out against God and his Son. If there were a spark of
love in man, it would have come out. But only hatred !
" Haters of God " is written on each forehead yonder ;
"enmity to God" breaks forth in word and deed. It was
not love, it was not mere indifference that came out at
Calvary, but hatred; the hatred of the human race to the
God who was yearning over it in love.

II. God's love to man. Herein is love ! Love to the
uttermost ; unquenched and unquenchable by all that
man can do. Man pours floods upon this love to quench
it, but it grows more intense. What patience with man's
utmost malice \ what forbearance with his sin ! " Father
forgive them for they know not what they do." Was
ever love like this 1 ? So large, so free, so overflowing.
Sin abounding ; grace much more abounding. The tide
of divine love meeting that of human hatred, and over-
coming it.

III. God's ptirpose to finish the work. He will not

LUKE XXIII. 32-43. 261

suffer Himself to be provoked to leave the propitiation
half finished, the sacrifice half offered. Man does his
utmost to provoke God to let him alone, to withdraw
the salvation and the Saviour. But God's purpose shall
stand. Every part of it shall be carried out. The wrath
of man shall praise Him. All the indignities heaped upon
the holy Son of God shall not cause Him to draw back in
his work of righteous grace. It shall be finished ! The
altar shall be built, built by man's enmity j the sacrifice
shall be slain, slain by man's enmity. The work shall
be done !

IV. The divine interpretation of the work. The saved
thief is a specimen of what it is appointed to do. Sin
abounding, grace superabounding. What is yon cross
erected for ? To save souls ! See, it saves one of the
worst ; one who had done nought but evil all his days.
What does that blood flow for? To wash away sin.
See, it washes one of the blackest. What does yon
sufferer die for? To pardon the guiltiest. Not merely
to save from hell, but to open Paradise to the chief
of sinners, to open it at once; not after years of
torment, but " to-day." To-day " with me." Yes,
Jesus goes back to heaven with a saved robber at his
side ! What an efficacy in yon cross ! What grace,
what glory, what cleansing, what healing, what blessing,
yonder ! Even " in weakness " the Son of God can
deliver, can pluck brands from the burning, can defy
and defeat the evil one. ' Such is the meaning of the

*

cross 1 Such is the interpretation which God puts
upon it by saving that wretched thief, whose hanging

262 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

yonder proves that he is under condemnation, the first
saved by the cross after it had been setup; and Christ
Himself goes up to join in the joy over one sinner that
repenteth.

V. How near to hell a man may be, and yet be saved.
That thief, was he not on the very brink of the burning
lake ; one foot in hell ; almost set on fire of hell ? Yet he
is plucked out. He has done nothing but evil all his
days, down to the very last hour of his life, yet he is
saved. He is just about to step into perdition, when the
hand of the Son of God seizes him, and lifts him to Para-
dise ! Ah what grace is here ! What boundless love !
What power to save ! Who after this need despair ? Truly
Jesus is mighty to save !

VI. How near a man may be to Christ, and yet not be
saved. The other thief is as near the Saviour as his fellow,
yet he perishes. From the very side of Christ he goes
down to hell. From the very side of his saved fellow, he
passes into damnation. We see the one going up to
heaven from his cross, and the other going down to hell
from it. In Judas we see one who had been with Christ
in His life, go down to hell ; in the lost thief, one who
was beside Him in His death. This is marvellous ; and
it is fearful ! Oh what a lesson, what a sermon is here !
Was there ever such a warning given to us ! Can any of
you be nearer to Christ than that thief was 1 Looking at
Him, hearing Him, speaking to Him ! He was lost after
all ! Oh make sure. Not outward nearness; not religion ;
not contact with the Word of God ; not eating and drink-
ing the symbols of His body and blood ; not all these can

LUKE XXIII. 32-43. 263

save ! You may be very near Christ, and yet not be in
Him. Your next neighbour may be saved, and you lost ;
one taken, the other left. Take heed make sure. Sal-
vation is too precious to be trifled with !

264 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LV.

THE DISCIPLES' INVITATION TO THE MASTER.

" Abide with us." LUKE XXIV. 29.

i

HERE it is not the Master to the disciple, but the
disciple to the Master, that is saying, Come. It is
not the Lord that is standing at the door and saying,
" Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him,
and sup with him, and he with me " ; it is the disciple
that is saying, " Come in thou blessed of the Lord." As
of old, He said to Jacob at Peniel, " Let me go for the
day breaketh," so here it is said, "He made as though
He would have gone further " j but as Jacob said, " I will
not let thee go except thou bless me," so do the two
disciples here, " they constrained Him, saying, Abide with
us " ; and as He blest Jacob ere He parted from him, so
here He does go in and sit down with them, and when
He quits them He leaves a blessing behind Him, for the
house seems filled with the odour of the ointment, doubt-
less to retain its fragrance for many a day.

The request seems to have been made for two reasons,
on their own account and on his. They had enjoyed
his converse and fellowship by the way so much that they
are unwilling to part; and, besides, the evening is coming
on, and He must not expose Himself to the dews, and
cold, and darkness of the night.

LUKE XXIV. 29. 265

The latter of these reasons we cannot use now in the
sense in which they were used by the disciples. The
risen Christ is now far beyond the days and nights of
time ; beyond the mists and clouds of earth ; far beyond
the chills and the gloom of this world. He needs no
earthly roof to shelter Him, and no earthly table to sit at.
He is now in his Father's house, and on his Father's
throne, compassed about with light, and majesty, and
glory, and honour.

But in his members He is now passing through the
same hardships, and sufferings, and privations as when
He was here. " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me " is
still his expostulation ; and still He so identifies Himself
with his saints that we may use the words which originally
meant Him personally in reference to ourselves as one
with Him. Without, however, confining it to this sense,
let us meditate as follows upon these words, "Abide
with us."

1. Abide with us, for past days have been so pleasant.
Since first we apprehended Thee, or rather since Thou didst
apprehend us, since thou didst overtake us on the way,
we have found such blessedness, that we cannot bear the
thought of parting. Thy fellowship has been so sweet
that we must have more of it. The little that we tasted
in the past, makes us long for more. Abide with us.

2. Abide with us > for the world would be a blank without
thee. Life would not be life if thou wert gone. We
should be like the disciples on the stormy sea, " It was
night, and Jesus had not come to them." Night and
tempest, without moon and stars, would be nothing to this

266 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

world without thee. A house left desolate without an
inmate, without a sound, or a voice, or footstep, would
be nothing to the dreariness of our earth and of our
homes without thee. All would be blank and chilling.
It is Thou who fillest hearts, and lightest up homes, and
gladdenest even wildernesses with thy presence.

A wilderness is populous enough
So had I "but thy heavenly company ;
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world \
And where thou art not, desolation.

Oh abide with us.

3. Abide with us, for we know not what ourfiiture is to
be. We know the past, we know the present, but the
future is hid. For that future and all its uncertainties, we
need a guide and a protector j one who will light up our
path, who will fight for us, who will deliver us and keep
us to the last, in all changes, trials, sorrows, joys. Abide
with us. Leave us not, neither forsake us, O God of our
salvation, O rest of the weary, O light of the dark, O
Saviour of the lost, O joy of the sorrowful, O helper of
the helpless, unchanging companion, friend and kinsman,
with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning,
the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ! Lead us
out, leads us in, lead us along the way, lead us by the
still waters, lead us into thy banquetting house, and let
thy banner over us be love !

4. Abide with us, for earths night is at hand. Time's
shadows are lengthening ; its sun is going down behind

LUKE XXIV. 29. 267

the hills of earth. The end of all things is at hand ; the
day of the Lord hasteth greatly ; the time of vengeance
and judgment cometh ; Satan is about to do his worst ;
Antichrist will rage; evil men and seducers will wax
worse and worse ; perilous times will come ; wars and
rumours of wars will disquiet us ; earthquakes shall be in
diverse places, the sea and its waves roaring, men's hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after the things that
are coming on the earth. Oh abide with us ! Abide with
us in all thy love and grace ; in all thy strength and help ;
in all thy joy and peace. Abide with us for evermore.

268 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LVL

RECEPTION OF CHRIST OUR INTRODUCTION

INTO SONSHIP.

" But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: -which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will oftheflesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God" JOHN I. 12, 13.

4

OF the Christ, the Christ coming into the world, yet
rejected by the world; coming to Israel, yet
rejected by Israel, the evangelist had been speaking.
Then he reminds us that the rejection was not universal.
He was acknowledged by some, however few ; and these
some were made partakers of no common honour; yet
were they by nature no better than their fellows ; owing
all that they received to the sovereign God alone.

There is here (i.) the honour; (2.) the giver of it;
(3.) the way of attainment; (4.) the personal change
through which it is reached.

I. The honour. To become " sons of God " (rmva, not
li/o/) ; not merely by adoption, but by generation. It is
the word used in Romans viii. 16, "beareth witness that
we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs ;"
and in ist John iii. i, "Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called sons of God!" On our side there is sonship, on
God's ^.^ fatherhood. Sonship is (i.) higher; (2.) nearer;

JOHN I. 12, 13. 269

(3.) more blessed ; (4.) more glorious, than creaturehood.
There is sonship in the angels, sonship in unfallen man ;
but this is beyond these ; resting on a different founda-
tion, introducing us into more intimate intercourse;
making us partakers of the divine nature; partakers of
Christ; one in nature, privilege, honour, dignity with
Him who is " the Son of God." This is the honour to
which God is calling us, us who were children of wrath,
children of the evil one ! He invites us to this. He
beseeches us to receive the honour, the dignity, the
blessedness ; to accept his divine fatherhood, to enter on
the divine sonship ! Such is the love !

II. The giver of it. It is Christ himself. Elsewhere it
is the Father; here it is the Son. The Son makes us
sons ! " He gave ! " the sonship is Christ's free gift.
For all gifts are in his hands. " I give unto them eternal
life ;" He gives the living water ; He gives the bread of
life, which is his flesh. So here he gives the right or
power of sonship. It is not, however, simply the sonship
itself that is spoken of here; but the right to it, the
power. This right, or power, or title, He has purchased
for us ; for those who had no right, nor power, nor
title. He has so earned it, and so secured it, that it
becomes a lawful and righteous title ; and being so, it is
secure and eternal. This He holds out, presents to us,
as his own and the Father's free gift. Become sons of
God is the message of the gospel! Not, as some say,
ye are sons now, act on this, and be happy. But be-
come sons ! Take the right, the title, so dearly bought,
so freely given. It is not merely, Come unto me, and I

270 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

will give you rest ; but, Come unto me, and I will make
you sons.

III. The way of attainment. There is no bargain, no
price; no terms, no conditions j yet there is an appointed
way ; and he who will have the sonship, must have it in
this one way. This way is "receiving Him;" and this
receiving him is explained as " believing in his name."

(i.) Receiving Him. Doing the reverse of what Israel
had done j accepting Him as "the Word;" the "light;"
the "life;" the "Son;" the "Christ;" the Messiah sent
of God ; accepting and owning Him for all that God had
announced Him to be; confessing with Peter, "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God ;" with Thomas,
" My Lord and my God."

(2.) Believing on His name. (i.). Believing, that is,
receiving God's testimony to Him, and his own testimony
to Himself. (2.) Believing on his name. We need not
confine this to his actual name Jesus, but to all that has
been revealed concerning Him; his person, and character,
and work. We get to know Him through his name,
through that revelation of Him which we find in the
gospels. There we find Himself 'and his name.

Thus accepting all that has been testified concerning
Him ; and joining with that the promise given of sonship
to every one who thus accepts, we become sons of God.
Faith in Him and in His name identifies us with Him
who is the Son of God ; and as He is, so are we in the
world.

IV. The personal change through which this is reached.
We are " born," and so by birth become sons. We are

JOHN I. 12, 13. 271

born into the heavenly family; begotten again unto a
lively hope. This is more than adoption, it is birth. As
to this birth, the evangelist first tells us what it is not, be-
fore he tells us what it is.

(i.) We are not born of blood* Not of natural descent ;
not of circumcision. Human blood has nothing to do
with our divine birth. We are not sons by nature.

(2.) Not of the will of the flesh. Not by natural gene-
ration. The flesh, or old nature, has nothing to do
with the new birth. That which is born of the flesh is
flesh. The flesh neither wills to make us, nor can make
us sons.

(3.) Not of the will of man. Not by adoption. No
man, and no will of man, whether self or another, can
produce this new birth. Man can only adopt children
like himself ; children of wrath.

Then he adds, " but of God" ; out of Him ; by means
of Him ; through His will ; His power. He alone can
make us sons : can choose the honour for us, and us for
the honour. It is He who begets sons ; it is He who calls
them to this honourable name : " Of his own will He
begat us with the word of truth (James i. 18). Yet this
fact should hinder none. His will and His grace do not
contradict each other. Go to Him for sonship. Receive
His Son, and He will make you sons. " He that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God."

272 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(C

LVIL

THE WORLD'S NEED OF SOMETHING MORE

THAN A TEACHER

We know that thou art a teacher come from God. " JOHN III. 2.

>E take Nicodemus as one of the best specimens
of "religious humanity"; educated, moral, of
high position and culture j a strict observer of religious
rites, and seasons, and ordinances ; a " ruler of the Jews,"
a " master of Israel/' and a believer in Israel's promised
Messiah.

He ought to have known fully Messiah's errand, and
to have recognised Him at once when He came. But
even Nicodemus, this well-instructed religious ruler .and
master, one of the heads of the straitest sect, fails to
understand Him. He approaches Him only as a teacher.
He accepts Him as such, but as nothing more. Like the
rest of his nation and race, he was in quest of "know-
ledge " ; and for such he went to Jesus. Like our first
parents, he saw that " the tree was good for food, and
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise " ; this was all. He had no deeper sense of
need. " We know that thou art a teacher come from
God," was the intimation of his state of mind ; it shewed
how little his conscience was at work ; how superficial, as
well as self-righteous, were his views as to his own
spiritual condition. He knew not that he was poor, and
wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked.

JOHN III. 2. 273

Thus we have in him a specimen of man, educated,
moral, religious man, unconscious of his own true need,
and blind to God's provision for that need.

I. Man's unconsciousness of his true need. Nicodemus,
with all his religious advantages, has not fathomed the
depth of his own spiritual wants. He knows that he
needs something; but he does not know how much ; noi
does he know what is the real nature of his great need.
He wants a teacher, that is all ! He thinks that will
suffice. But farther than this he goes not ; deeper" than
this he descends not. He thinks there is but one empty
chamber in his house j unconscious that all are empty, or
if filled at all, filled with that which must be cast out and
cast away. He thinks there is but a slight bruise in one
of his limbs, when there is poison in every vein j when the
whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. He needs
pardon ; yet he is unconscious of condemnation. He
needs reconciliation ; yet he is unconscious of distance,
and wrath, and doom. He needs life; yet he is uncon-
scious of the death in which he lies. He does not know
what sin ^s ; what enmity to God is j what distance from
God is , what it is to be lost what it is to be without
the favour and love of God ; what the world is in which
he dwells, and of which he forms a part ; what Satan is,
his great adversary. He has no idea of the extent of his
ruin, and the greatness of his danger. He does not see
that, apart from hell and wrath, the simple absence of
God from the heart would be unutterable wretchedness.
He does not see that simply to be left unchanged and
unconverted would be of itself hell. But of all the evil

274 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEME?

of sin, the evil of his own heart, he is utterly unconscious.
He is not in the least alive to his want, either as to its
nature or its extent. Yes, humanity is unconscious of its
ruin ! The human heart knows not the vacuity that has
been made in it by the absence of God ; it knows not the
malignity of one single sin, one single act of disobedi-
ence, one moment's insubordination of the will, one
moment's ceasing to love God with all the heart and soul.
Unconsciousness of his own need ; insensibility to his
own sin ; palsy of the conscience, this is man's great
evil. To remove this unconsciousness , and to impart true
conscior Jiess in regard to these things, is the first great
work of the Holy Spirit in the souL That this uncon-
sciousness is voluntary and deliberate we cannot doubt.
This is the aggravation of the evil this is the consumma-
tion of the guilt. Man shrinks from knowing the worst
of himself; nay, he refuses to know it. He wilfully
shuts his eyes to the nature and to the extent of his
spiritual evil. He tries to make himself believe that his
case is not so very serious after all. He takes pride in
owning himself a little in the wrong, needing some help,
some light, some teaching ; but beyond that he refuses to
go. Thus far Nicodemus went when he came to Jesus ;
but at that time he was not prepared to go farther. But
the Lord led him on. He did not break the bruised reed,
nor quench the smoking flax.

II. Man's blindness to God's provision for his need.
He to whom Nicodemus came was God's provision for
man's need. It was the provision of love and bounty ;
" He spared not his Son," But man does not appreciate

JOHN III. 2. 275

this provision, because he does not apprehend his own
need. He wants a teacher, that is all. Not a deliverer;
not a priest; not a healer; not a cleanser; not a renewer;
only a teacher ! Not a divine teacher ; only a teacher
come from God. God's provision for our need assumes
that that need is unspeakably great ; so great as only to
be supplied by one who is divine; a divine teacher (or
prophet), a divine priest, a divine king. Man shuts his
eyes to this. He refuses to interpret the provision which
God has made for him, and in that infinite provision, to
read the nature and extent of his own need. He shrinks
from the acceptance of a Saviour, not willing to see that
he really needs one, or at least one that is divine. He
thinks he can do with less than salvation ; he cannot
think himself wholly lost. Yet what is the meaning of
God sending His own Son, if less than salvation was
intended ; if less than incarnation will do, less than blood,
less than death, less than resurrection 1 Oh let us under-
stand the greatness of God's provision for us, and in that
greatness, read at once our death and our life, our con-
demnation and our deliverance. Jesus met Nicodemus
at once with the necessity of being born again. Mere
teaching will not do ; there must be the new birth ; not a
few new and good ideas, but regeneration ! Nothing
less. How this astounded the religious Jew Thou
must be born again.

Yet one thing in Nicodemus is praiseworthy. He came
directly to Jesus, and dealt with Him face to face. So
say we to every one. Go thou and do likewise.

276 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LVIII.
LIFE IN LOOKING TO JESUS,

lt And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so musf
the Son of man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life." JOHN III. 14, 15.

LET us here first read the history, and then mark the
symbol.

The narrative begins with Israel's sin. It is the old sin
of murmuring ; distrust ; dislike of God's provision ; dis-
content with his dealings; preference of Egypt to the
prospect of Canaan ; disbelief of God's love, and denial of
his faithfulness. And all this at the close of their forty
years' desert sojourn ! Forty years of the manna, of the
water, of the pillar-cloud, and of all the love which these
imply, had left them still the same !

The narrative proceeds with Israel's punishment. It
was death ; death from the hand of the Lord j a death of
agony ; a death by poison and fire ; death by the instru-
mentality of serpents, which would not fail to remind them
of the serpent of Paradise, by which our first parents were
poisoned. The punishment was so ordered as to be the
means of symbolising the remedy. Out of their destroyers
the symbol of health is constructed. The image of de-
struction becomes the emblem of health and deliverance.

The remedy was simple, complete, divine. The image
of their destroyers in brass, lifted up on a banner-pole, so

JOHN III. 14, 15. 277

as to be visible to all. Thus sin, punishment, and remedy
were all brought into view at once. They were reminded of
their sin; they read their punishment; they received the cure.

The application of the cure was as simple as the cure
itself. They had no hand in it ; nothing to pay for it ;
nothing to do ; no distance to walk ; no effort to put
forth. The cure was wholly of God ; its power was re-
sistless ; no strength of disease could withstand it ; how-
ever near death they might be, it mattered not. They
looked and were cured.

Let us now mark the symbol. " All these happened
unto them for ensamples." It is this ensample, or type,
or emblem that our Lord here indicates j it is this that we
are to read.

The sin in both cases is much the same; rebellion
against God; unbelief; distrust; making God a liar;
refusal to believe His word, or to receive His love. Of
this sin the punishment is death ; death by the hand of
him that has the power of death, the old serpent, the
devil ; certain, agonising, burning death ; the fire that is
never quenched ; the everlasting burnings ; our veins filled
with deadly poison, and every part racked with pain.
The sin is not the less hateful for being unfelt ; the pun-
ishment not the less deadly, because we may be insensible
to its deadliness.

Let us now mark the manner of the cure.

I. Christ made sin for. us. The deliverer takes the like-
ness of the destroyer. The Son of God not merely
becomes the Son of man, but He assumes the likeness of
sinful flesh. Not sinful flesh, nor a sinful nature ; but

278 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

still flesh, very flesh; very manhood, manhood under
the curse, in its weakness, frailty, and mortality. Moses
was not commanded to take an actual serpent, a dead
serpent, and hang it on the pole ; that would have implied
that Christ was actually sinful; but he is to do the nearest
thing to this, to. make the image of a serpent, formed out
of brass, such brass as the brazen altar and brazen laver
were made of. Thus, as Christ was represented by the
emblem of a goat on the day of atonement, a goat, the
figure of the wicked on the left of the Judge, so is He
here represented by a brazen serpent ; " made a curse,"
"made sin for us." Thus on the cross, we see at once
our condemnation and our pardon, our sickness and our
cure, our destroyer and our deliverer. We see Christ
carrying up to the cross our sin, our punishment, our
enemy, and nailing them all to that cross along with Him-
self. God inflicts death on Him as if He were the sinner,
as if He were man's enemy, as if He were the cursed one.

II. Christ lifted up. The lifting up of the serpent on a
pole was necessary for Israel's cure ; so the lifting up of
Christ on the cross was for ours. He was lifted up,

(i.) As a sacrifice. He was laid on the altar. The cross
was the altar on which the Lamb of God was placed.

(2.) As a criminal. It was a cursed place : " Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree." There He hung as a
malefactor, the Just for the unjust !

(3.) As an object visible to all. The serpent was lifted
up that Israel might see it ; so Christ was lifted up that
all men might see Him ; that He might be the most
visible object in creation.

JOHN III. 14,15- 279

III. Christ giving life. He hangs in the place of
death, yet thence He gives life. He delivers from death
by dying. Life streams out, like rivers of water, from that
centre, the cross. The cross is the tree of life. There He
hangs, the life-giving One ; the healing One ; the attrac-
tive One ; the loving One. " Look unto Me," is the voice
coming from Him there. We are healed, not by working,
or praying, or striving, but looking. Israel's physicians
could do nothing ; the look at the serpent did it all. So
it is in looking that the cure comes to us. There is
health, there is life at the cross. We get them simply in
looking; all may look. "Whosoever," is the wide mes-
sage, " whosoever believeth," hath eternal life.

280 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES,

LIX.

THE FILLING UP OF JOY.

" This my joy therefore is fulfilled" JOHN III. 29.

THESE are among " the last words " of John ; just as
he is about to step into Herod's prison. His was
a brief life and ministry, yet was he the greatest among
the prophets. His last words carry us back to Jacob's
(Gen. xlix.), "I have waited for thy salvation"; to Moses'
(Deut. xviii. 15), "A prophet shall the Lord raise "; to
David's (Psalm Ixxii. 20), " The prayers of David the son
of Jesse are ended"; to Simeon's (Luke ii 29), "Now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." They are the
words of the martyr about to enter the prison, and to lay
his neck under the sword of the executioner. They are
the last words of the shortest, but perhaps most important
ministry on record.

They are an answer to the jealous appeal of his own
disciples. Hitherto he had been the man of the time ; all
crowded to him. Now the crowds were leaving him for
Jesus. This tried the faith of his disciples, and roused
their jealousy. " All men come to him " (ver. 26), were
the words of disappointment and envy. But John has
no such feeling ; nor had ever said aught to produce or
foster it (ver. 28).

In his answer he first tells who he is not. "I am not
the Christ." Why wonder at the crowds now going past

JOHN III. 29. 281

me ? "I am not the bridegroom," the bride belongs not
to me ; why wonder at the crowds flocking to the Bride-
groom] Is not this just what you should expect and
rejoice in ? Next he tells us who he is. He is the
foresent one. This is all he can say for himself. His
honour is not his own, but comes from Him whom he
heralds. He is ilie friend o$ the Bridegroom ; the grooms-
man ; like the virgins in attendance on the bride. As the
foresent one he has been looking out for the Christ ;
should he not then rejoice that He has come 1 As the
friend of the Bridegroom, he is watching for the Bride-
groom's arrival; should he not rejoice when he hears
His voice ? For thus his errand terminates ; his great
mission is consummated; his joy fulfilled; his life no
longer needed.

But the figure here used carries us back very strikingly
to the Song of Solomon ; chap. ii. 8, " The voice of my
beloved"; ii. 10, " My beloved spake, and said"; ii. 14,
" Let me hear thy voice "; v. i, " Eat, O friends "; viii.
I 3? " Cause me to hear it." So with the words, bride-
groom and friend. They are from the Song ; and John
the Baptist, no doubt, had its figures before his eye.

John's feelings are therefore just what we should have
expected of a true man, a true friend, a true forerunner in
such circumstances. Negatively, they are

(i.) Not disappointment. His mission has not failed:
he is not a disappointed man. There is no bitterness in
his words.

(2.) Not distrust. As if he knew not whereunto all
this would grow ; as if he dreaded the result.

282 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(3.) Not envy or jealousy. Whatever jealousy might
be in his disciples, there was none in him. He envied not.

(4.) Not pride. It is not wounded pride that speaks
in him. He is the forerunner of the meek and lowly
One ; and pride has been cast out. Self-love and self-
esteem have ceased. Self has passed away in the presence
of the Son of God. He is content to be nothing.

But, positively, they are the feelings of one

(i.) Who admires and loves the Bridegroom. His
admiration and love are true. Hence that Bridegroom is
ever uppermost in his thoughts. There is no attractive-
ness save in him.

(2.) Who has been eagerly looking for Him. In John
we have the true personification of one "waiting for
Christ," " looking for and hasting unto the coming of the
day of God." And when He for whom he is looking
comes, his joy is full.

(3.) Who has actually found him. " I found him whom
my soul loveth." " We. have found the Messias." John
has found hifti, and rejoices.

(4.) Whose delight is in his voice. He long listened ;
it came at length; "the voice of my beloved"! He
stands and listens to the conversation of the marriage
party, specially of the bridegroom. It is His voice that
he delights in. It is converse with Him that is his joy ;
"he standeth and listeneth."

(5.) Whose joy is in Him alone. All his springs are in
Him. Apart from Him joy exists not to him ; nay, is
an impossibility. It is joy unspeakable and full of
glory.

JOHN III. 29. 283

(6.) Who is content to be nothing. " He must increase ;
I must decrease." This is no hardship. He is glad to
vanish and give way to the greater and more glorious
one.

Thus, in this answer we have the full acknowledgment
of what John is, and of what he knows Jesus to be.
What are we ?

We are friends of the bridegroom, if believers in the
name of Jesus. Friends ! Like John. Like the virgins
who went forth to meet Him. By nature we are friends
of the world. We break with it, and become friends of
the Bridegroom. We hear a good report of this Bride-
groom, his love, his loveableness, his beauty, his glory,
and so we betake ourselves to Him. We accept the
Father's testimony to Him ; the Holy Spirit's testimony
to his person and his work. We join ourselves to the
number of his friends. He at once admits us as such.

If " friends " (as Jesus himself calls us) then the follow-
ing things will mark us as they did John : -

I. Admiration for Christ as the Bridegroom. For
himself as "altogether lovely" ; the perfection of beauty.
We admire His person, His life, His work ; all these
separately, and all of them together. We count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.
We love and admire; we admire and love. The more
we know, the more we love; the oftener we gaze, the
more we admire. What think ye of Christ? Do you
admire Him 1 Do you love Him 1 We love Him because
He first loved us ; yes, loves us to the end, with the love
that passeth knowledge.

284 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

II. Delight in his voice. John stood and listened as
one entranced. He heard (as well as saw) no man save
Jesus only. The TONES of his voice are sweet ; but the
words are unutterably precious ; each word a gem, a
treasure, a joy. This is my beloved Son, hear Himl
Yes, hear Him in these days of uproar and confusion;
hear his voice amid the chaos of human views. Say to
Him, " Let me hear thy voice." His " speech is comely" ;
" honey a.nd milk are under his tongue" ' his lips " drop
sweet smelling myrrh"; his "lips drop as the honey-
comb" ; " into his lips grace is poured."

III. Joy in his glory. He has now " increased" ; He
is crowned with glory and honour. This is our joy; yea,
in this our joy is fulfilled. He is now blessed and
glorified. And He will yet be more so when He comes
again. We joy in what He is ; we joy in what He shall
be. He comes to be glorified in his saints and admireed
in all them that believe. Behold the Bridegroom cometh,
let us go forth to meet him I

JOHN III. 34, 35-

LX.

THE FULNESS OF THE SENT ONE.

tl For he whom God hath sent speaketh the, words of God: for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure itnto him. The Father loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into his hand." JOHN III. 34, 35.

JOHN came as a witness to Jesus, " to bear witness
of the Light" (i. 7, 8). Marvellous office and honour!
A spark to bear witness of the Sun ! He does his work
well, bearing true, full, blessed testimony to the Son of
God!

He bore this testimony, that all men through him
might believe (i. 7). Yet who believed his report 1 " No
man receiveth his testimony." They honoured him,
nocked to him, spoke well of him, but received not Him
of whom he testified.

Let us listen to his testimony concerning Messiah, the
Word made flesh, that we may receive it, and receive Him
of whom he testifies.

I. He is the sent of God. " The Father sent the Son
to be the Saviour of the world." He comes to us on a
mission from the Father He comes not of himself, nor
speaks of himself. It is with the Father's voice that He
speaks ; the Father's errand that He discharges. What a
link that word " sent" forms between us and God, be-
tween earth and heaven, between the sinner and the love
of God. God sends Him, and He comes j He comes to

286 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEM3S.

earth ; He comes to us ; messenger, ambassador, servant.
Angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister."
But in a higher and more peculiar sense is the Son who is
" sent," sent by the Father. O loving Sender, and O blessed
Sent One ! Let us gladly receive the message, the mes-
senger, and Him who sends.

II. He is the speaker of the words of God. He has
come to " speak " ; not to keep silence ; to speak words
which a man can understand ; words with a human voice,
and in human language. Yet the words are the words ol
God ; and the speaker is from heaven ; He is divine ; and
His revelation is divine ; and His words are divine,
divine though human. Let us listen to this speaker of the
words of God. He speaks thus : "Repent"; "Ye must
be born again"; " God so loved the world"; "I am the
light of the world" ; " Come unto me." Thus He spoke
on earth ; and thus also He speaks from heaven : " Be-
hold I stand," &c. For in heaven He is still the speaker
of the words of God. " Hear, and your soul shall live."
The words of God are perfect ; they are grace and truth ;
filled with love and wisdom. Let us listen to this glori-
ous speaker, and we shall find health and peace.

III. He is the possessor of the Holy Spirit. The fulness
of the Spirit is with Him, and in Him ; the Spirit " with-
out measure ".has been given to Him. The Word made
flesh is the Messiah, the anointed One. Through the
eternal Spirit, He spoke, and acted, and lived, and died.
The Spirit without measure is given Him. This fulness
He possesses for us ; for His church ; He is \h& possessor
and the dispenser of the Holy Ghost. Let us welcome

JOHN III. 34, 35- 28 7

Him, and deal with Him as such. It is for us that the
Father has filled Him. There is enough in His fulness
for us. We need not be empty so long as He is full, nor
poor so long as He is rich.

IV. He is the object of the Fathers love. " The Father
loveth the Son." This love of the Father to the Son is the
greatest of all. There is none like it. It is perfect, in
finite, eternal, divine, passing all knowledge. Never
before had there been such an object for the Father to
love ; so glorious, so loveable j so full of all created and
uncreated excellencies. This love of the Father to the
Son, is the foundation of His treatment of us. He deals
with us according to this love. It is the greatness of this
love that makes Him so desirous of blessing us ; because
in blessing us, He is honouring the beloved Son. Thus
He gratifies his love to the Son by blessing us. What
security for blessing does this give us ! It is not simply
His love to us that makes Him so long to bless us, but his
love to his own Son. We might suspect His love to our-
selves, and say, How can we count upon blessing *? but we
cannot suspect His love to his Son, so that we may boldly
say, We are sure of blessing, because we are sure that the
Father loveth the Son. Let these words sink into our
hearts, " The Father loveth the Son."

V. He is the heir of all things. The Father hath given
all things into his hand. He is head over all things ; He
is Lord of all ; He is King of kings ; He is judge of all.
He hath put all things under His feet, and left nothing
that is not put under Him. He is the head of principalities
and powers. This universal authority and dominion is

288 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

the consequence of the Father's love. It is thus that
God honours Him, and shews that He is the man whom
He delights to honour. All things are given into His
hand, because He is the beloved of the Father. Nothing
in heaven, or earth, or hell, is beyond His sway. He is
the blessed and only Potentate.

Learn then,

(i.) A sinnefs refuge. Christ Jesus ; the sent of God ;
the speaker of the words of God's love j the possessor of
all power. Go straight to him, O man ! There is safety
in Him, but in no other. He is willing to bless ; able to
save to the uttermost. He can deliver you from every
sin and enemy. You have all in Him. Go to Him now ;
as you are ; with all your worthlessness and evil.

(2.) A saints security. The church of God, and each
saint of God, is daily exposed to peril. All things are
against us. But in Him whom the Father loved we have
a strong tower, a refuge in the time of trouble. Who shall
prevail against those whom Christ has undertaken to
protect 'I

JOHN IV. 10. 289

LXI.
THE LIVING WATER GOD'S FREE GIFT.

" Jesus answered and said imto her, Ifthou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have
asked of him, and he would have given thee living water" JOHN
IV. 10.

THE three Persons of the Godhead are here. The
expression " the gift of God " shews the Father
the living water is the Holy Ghost (John vii. 36), and the
Son of God is the speaker.

The love of God shines brightly in this verse, the love
of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, love to the chief of
sinners, love that seeks and saves the lost. Every word
here is love; love that many waters cannot quench;
love that passeth knowledge. Sin abounds, but grace
superabounds.

The interest which God takes in individual souls is seen
vividly here. The three thousand at Pentecost tell us
something quite different from this. This is Godhead
stooping down to visit and care for one solitary soul ; it
is the good Shepherd casting his eye on a stray sheep by
the wayside, and stooping to pick it up and carry it off on
his shoulders.

The way in which God meets with the sinner is shewn us
here. God deals with him alone, and face to face ; God
speaks to the sinner and the sinner speaks to God. There

290 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

must always be this close personal dealing, this individual
transaction of the soul's business for eternity, this settle-
ment of the question between man and God ; not in a
crowd, but alone ; not through the medium or interven-
tion of another, friend, or priest, or church, but directly
and alone.

The time and place and circumstances of such a meet-
ing are brought before us. Any day, any hour, will do.
Not the set hour of morning or evening sacrifice, but any
time will do. And any place will do. Not the temple
merely, or the closet, but a well-side, as here, or a sycamore
tree (as Zaccheus), a tax-gatherer's office (as Matthew).
Yes ; any time 5 any place, will do for Jesus. His grace
is not circumscribed by temple walls, nor tied to cere-
monies, nor limited to hours. Samaria, Jericho, Tyre,
Jerusalem are the same to Him. The temple, the high-
way, the hill-side, the sea-beach, the synagogue, the
house, the boat, the grave-yard, are all alike to Him and
to his grace.

The meeting looks a chance-sue, but it is not so. In
God's eternal purpose that place had been fixed upon,
that well. And Jesus comes to it as the fulfiller of the
Father's will, the accomplisher of his purposes, in the
minutest jot and tittle. He was seeking one of those
whom the Father had given Him, when He travelled that
forenoon, and sat down at length, wearied, by the well.
It was not the woman seeking Christ, but Christ seeking
the woman. She came for one thing, He gives another.
She came in quest of the earthly ; He gives the heavenly.
She knew not Him nor cared for Him ; He knew and

JOHN IV. 10. 291

cared for her. In spite of sin, and unbelief, and hard
heartedness, He draws near to her, lays hold of her, wins
her to Himself, and then, after all his weariness, " rests
in his love."

Yes j Christ was weary, and it is thus that He rests.
Do 10 e find our rest where He found his? He was
hungry and thirsty, and here He found both meat and
drink. Do we satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst
where He did ? The doing of the Father's will, the
gathering in of the lost one, was to Him rest, and meat,
and drink. Is it thus that we find refreshment 1 Is it
thus that we eat and drink 1

When Jacob dug this well, how little he thought of
what was to be transacted here in after ages ; wfo'was to
sit here ; what eternal words were to be spoken here ;
and that here a soul was to be saved, and from this spot
joy was to be caused in heaven. In building a sanctuary
we naturally think of who may be born here ; but who,
in digging a well, would ever think of such a thing, or
dream of inscribing on it, " this man and that man was
born here."

But we have here (i) the gift of God ; (2) the bringer
of it ; (3) man's ignorance of these ; (4) God's way of
bestowing it.

I. The gift of God. God has more gifts than one.
Christ is his gift ; the Holy Spirit is his gift ; eternal life
is his gift. Sometimes two of these gifts are conjoined ;
This is the true God and eternal life " ; " in Him was
life " ; "I am the life." So that we may take the words
here as having this reference, "If thou knewest God's

292 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

gift of eternal life in me, me who now ask for water,
thou wouldst have asked of me, and I would have given
thee that Holy Spirit, who is the living water, and through
whom the eternal life is poured into the dead soul." Yes ;
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord ! " This is the record, that God hath given to us
eternal life; and this life is in his Son " !

II. The Bringer of it. It is " He who saith to thee
give me to drink." This weary, hungry, thirsty Jew is the
Bringer of the glorious gift. In Him is life ! All fulness
of life dwells in Him. He, this Jesus, this man like
ourselves, He has come down from the Father filled with
this eternal life for us. Could it be brought nearer?
placed more within our reach than thus it is in Him?

III. Man's ignorance of it. The woman did not know
the gift nor its Bringer. She had no sense of its value, or
of her need of Him. The life that now is she knew, but
not the life that is to come. The water of Jacob's well
she prized, but not the water from the eternal well. Such
is man every where ! He knows .not God j nor the love
of God ; nor the gift of God ; nor the Son of God.

IV. God's way of bestowing his gifts. " Thou wouldest
have asked ; and He would have given." This is all !
How simple, how easy, how near, how free ! Living
water ! This is what the Son of God has to bestow.
Living water! That is the Holy Spirit (John vii. 39).
For blessing we must have to do with Jesus. It is in
communicating with Him that we receive what we need.
There must be direct application on our part ; direct
bestowal on his. But how close at hand is this divine

JOHN IV. 10. 293

life ! How welcome are we to have it from the hands of
the Son of God. This living water He would pour into
us at once, and without upbraiding. Ask, and ye shall
receive. " I will give to him that is athirst."

There is something in the expression "if thou knewesr,"
that makes the gracious announcement here yet more
gracious. It is the same as in Luke xix., " if thou hadst
known," or "would that thou hadst known." It is the
Saviour yearning over the needy and the thirsty. .Oh that
you would come to me for living water !

This is one out of the many memorable texts often
quoted and preached upon ; such as, " God so loved the
world " ; " Come unto me " ; " It is a faithful, saying " ,
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Any of these
might well be enough to win the human heart; how much
more all of them together.

294 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXII.

BIBLE TESTIMONY TO JESUS, AND MAN'S

REFUSAL OF IT.

"Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that
ye might have life." JOHN V. 39, 40.

IN opposition to the denial and disbelief of the Jews,
the Son of God produces his " witnesses." He has
many, but He calls only four, John the Baptist, his own
miracles, the Father, the Scriptures. These all testify of
Him before men, that they may believe and be saved. It
is the last of these that we have to consider, as here put
by our Lord, to meet the unbelief of Israel and to
establish his own claims.

I. The Scriptures. God has "spoken" ("thus saith
the Lord"); and God has "written" ("it is written").
That which He has spoken and written make up what we
call " the Bible," or " the Book," which Paul calls " Scrip-
ture" (2 Tim. iii. 16), which our Lord here calls "the
Scriptures," or the " Writings." He has spoken by human
lips and written by human pens, yet all that is thus given
to us is divine, superhuman, supernatural. The thoughts
are the thoughts of God, and the words are the words of
God. That our Lord should refer to them to prove his
Sonship and his Messiahship, shews the stress which He
laid upon them, the divine accuracy which He ascribed to

JOHN V. 39, 40. 295

them. It is with confidence in their accuracy that He
appeals to them. If the words are inaccurate or unin-
telligible ; if they are but the results of man's efforts to
clothe divine thoughts in human language, then the de-
monstration goes for nothing, the proof fails j Jesus may
not, after all, be what the words imply that He is,- the
Son of the Highest. If the words be not of God, there is
no security for the thoughts ; if the words are not correct,
the thoughts extracted from these words are not to be
relied upon as God's ; and if the words be incorrect, and
the thoughts doubtful, we have no " Scripture," no " Bible."
The one fragment of the supposed superhuman has been
stripped of its divine glory.

II. The search. The word " search " is the same as is
used concerning God as the searcher of hearts, and
implies the thoroughness of the search. In our translation
this is a command, "Search the Scriptures," bring-
ing out an admirable meaning. But it may be, "Ye
search" ; and this accords better with the argument of the
speaker, and with the state of those to whom he was
speaking. The Jews were great searchers of the Scrip-
tures. They had profound reverence for the word of God.
They never made any question as to its accuracy or
verbal inspiration. They were almost superstitious in the
way they affixed meanings, not to words only, but to
letters. Our Lord appeals to them as searchers of the
word, careful and reverential searchers of the word.
They had, in truth, no other book to search. Their
literature was almost wholly divine. We are overwhelmed
with books ; and hence in the matter of " searching " we

296 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

come far behind old Israel. It would be well for us to
study, to search, to reverence the book of God, the one
fragment of the supernatural which exists on earth, the
record of divine utterances, the exponent of the mind of
God.

III. The reason of the search. "Ye are persuaded that
in them ye have eternal life." It was not in mere curiosity
that Israel searched the word, though they did so in
much ignorance and unbelief. They had some idea of
the hidden treasure that was there. They knew, or
professed to know, that not only was knowledge there,
but life was there ; that God had given them his book,
that by it they might obtain life. Yes ; in that book is
life; eternal life. It is the revelation of life; of the
living one; of Him who said not only, I am the way
and the truth, but the LIFE. ' We search in this book for
life! Other things, no doubt, are there; this but es-
pecially. For other things we dig into this wondrous
mine of heavenly gold ; but above all for this, the life
that is deposited there. Its truths are living truths ; its
words are living words, "The words that I speak unto
you they are spirit and they are life."

IV. The divine testimony. "They are the scriptures
which testify of me." No other writing contains a testi-
mony to Messiah." There are books many, and speakers
many ; and in their utterances we hear of gods many and
lords many ; but only one book contains a testimony to
the Christ of God. We have philosophers, poets, logi-
cians, orators, but no witnesses for the Son of God.
Augustine admired Cicero, but after his conversion he

JOHN V. 39, 40. 297

lost his relish, for the name of Christ was not there. Only
of one book can it be said " it testifies of me." Yes ; the
testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy and of all
Scripture. The theme of the book is Messiah ; the seed
of the woman; the seed of Abraham; the star out of Jacob;
the prophet like unto Moses ; the righteous One ; the
tender plant; the righteous King. It is one unbroken
testimony to the Christ and his sacrificial work that we
get in this volume. The testifier is the Holy Ghost
(John xv. 26). It is His voice we hear throughout Scrip-
ture speaking of Jesus. It is His testimony that is pre-
sented to us as the resting place for our faith ; for when
God bids us believe, He gives the fullest and surest
evidence for us to rest our faith upon. Wherever, then,
we turn in Scripture, we find Jesus. There He is all in
all; the alpha and the omega of every 'book. It is the
light of Jesus that is diffused through every page. It is
the glory of Jesus that we find in all its revelations. He
is everywhere in that volume ; and He is so in connection
with eternal life ; in connection with the undoing of the
sentence of death passed against our race. The first
Adam comes before us at the beginning ; but he is the
introducer of death; with his name and doings only death
is linked. But he soon passes away, and in his place
there comes the " second man," the " last Adam," the
giver of life, nay, THE LIFE. And over all Scripture the
quickening, life-giving fragrance of His name is diffused.
Christ and life; life in Christ; Christ our life; these
form the very essence, the sum and burden, of the Scrip-
tures. " They are they that testify of me."

298 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

V. Human perversity. " Ye will not come to me that
ye might have life." Here is rejection of the Christ;
refusal of the life ; deliberate standing aloof from the
fountain of life ; professing to seek the life, yet disjoin-
ing that life from the living one ; turning away from that
living one, when in the form of true humanity he stood
before them presenting to them this life of God ; pressing
to their parched lips the full cup of living water from
God's eternal fountain.

(i.) There is life for the dead. The Bible assumes that
the world is dead ; that it needs life ; that nothing less than
life will meet its case. It speaks of life ; proclaims life ;
reveals its fulness. O dead in sin, there is life for you !

(2.) This life is in Christ. Only in Him. None any-
where else. In Him is life, and the life is the light of
men. All else is death. " The last Adam was made a
quickening spirit" (i Cor. xv. 45).

(3.) Life is to be had by coming to Christ Come and
live, He says, just as He said, Come and rest. Inter-
course with Him is the only source of life. Nothing
more is needed ; nothing less will do. Are not men
trying to do with something less than this ? Something
less than conversion, less than the Spirit's work, less than
the blood and righteousness and salvation of the Son of God !

(4.) Want of life is the result of our own deliberate
refusal to deal with Christ. We need not try to throw
the blame on God's sovereignty or the need of divine
power. These do not alter our responsibility, nor make
it less true that we have deliberately rejected the Christ
of God and refused his gift of life. .

JOHN VI. 17. 299

LXIII.
NIGHT WITH JESUS.

" And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Caper-
na^^m: and -it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them."
JOHN VI. 17.

MANY a dark night has rested over this sea of
Tiberias unrecorded. Many a storm has swept
it j many an earthquake has convulsed it ; many a wave
has risen and fallen o'er its blue expanse ; many a scene
and hour of danger its steep hills have witnessed ; all
unrecorded ; passing away in silence. ' But here is one
night, of which record has been kept ; one blast written
down in history ; one storm made memorable for ever.
At what exact part of that lake the occurrence took place
we know not j it must have been somewhere towards the
north, where Capernaum lay. Let us read this brief
record, and learn its everlasting lesson.

1. It was night. The sun had long set over the western
steeps of Tiberias. Darkness was over all. The distant
twinkling of the city-lights in Capernaum or Chorazin was
all that broke the gloom. Yes, it was night, and the dis-
ciples were alone. The Master was away. Jesus had not
come to them. Thjs made it double night.

2. It was night at sea. Not indeed a sea broad and wide,
like that which swept round Jonah, and wrecked Paul ;

300 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

but deep and wide enough for danger. They had left
the green slopes, where they had been all day with their
Master (v. 10). To shorten their journey, by cutting off
the north-eastern bend of the lake, they had taken ship ;
but night had overtaken them ere they had gone far;
midnight had fallen, and they must row through the thick
gloom over the eight or ten miles that lay between them
and the northern shore. Besides, they were alone. Jesus
had not come ! They had looked for his joining them
ere they embarked ; and they were looking for Him still,
expecting Him by some other boat ; but He had not
arrived. To be without Him on land, and by day, was
sad j but to be without Him at sea, and by night, was
sadder still.

3. // was a night of toil. They had rowed some thirty
furlongs, about four miles, but they had as many more
before them ; and it was severe toil after the incessant
bustle of such a day as they had spent in feeding the multi-
tudes. They were alone. The Master's presence would
have cheered them ; and, no doubt, as He had often done,
He would have taken the oar along with them, weary as He
might be. But He was not with them. They were toil-
ing at the oar in this dark night, and Jesus had not come
to them. This made their labour doubly hard, their
weariness doubly sore.

4. // was a night of danger. " The sea arose by reason
of a great wind that blew." The storm had broken loose,
and was rushing down from the mountains upon them ;
the waves were heaving round them and dashing over
them. Peril encompassed them. Perhaps they were

JOHN VI. 17. 301

saying one to another, had the Master been here this storm
would not have arisen, as if they would reproach Him for
delay, forgetful that distance was nothing to Him. They
were alone in this tempest. Jesus had not come to them.
This made the storm seem more terrible. Had He been
with them, even though He were asleep on the pillow, it
would have calmed and cheered them. But He had not
come !

How much of trouble, and despondency may have
filled the hearts of the disciples on that night, we know
not. The words certainly imply something of these,
"it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them."
His delay was a trial of faith. It looked neglectful and
unkind. They might be ready to say, " Master, carest
thou not that we perish." But He loves to try, not to
break, their faith. He will not try it beyond what they
can bear. He tries it only to strengthen it.

Let us look at these words in their more general
aspect, as relating to the history of each saint and of the
church at large, (i.) Night (2.) Night without Jesus.
(3.) Night with Jesus. (4.) Day with Jesus.

i. Night. All have their nights. The sinner's history
is all one long starless night. But the saint has his night
to-> ; his night of sorrow, of bereavement, of pain. The
Church, too, has her night. She is "not of the night"; but
she has " nights." Darkness, tempest, danger, are around
about. Persecution, poverty, desertion; "famine, and
nakedness, and peril, and sword." She has had many
such nights, arid will have them until her King arrives.
There shall be no night then. But there is night now.

302 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

2. Night without Jesus. The sinner's night is altogether
without Jesus ; nay, this is the very gloom of its darkness.
But the .saint has nights in which Jesus seems distant.

'i

"By night upon my bed I -sought Him whom my soul
loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him not." With-
out Him altogether he cannot be ; for the promise is,
"Lo, I am with you always." But there are times of
sorrow, weakness, suffering, when He is not realised.
And though the issue of these is to bring Him nearer,
yet for a time He seems absent. The bond is not
broken, but the joy is not tasted. The Church, too, has
her nights of weariness and persecution in which He
seems to stand aloof. It is dark, and He comes not.

3. Night with Jesus. His presence is everything. It
cannot indeed make it not night ; but it makes the night
to seem as day. With Him the darkness is as the light.
For having Him we have, (i.) Companionship; (2.)
Protection; (3.) Safety; (4.) Comfort; (5.) Strength;
(6.) Assurance of coming day. With these may we not
rejoice in the night 1 It is the night that draws out these
blessings; that makes Jesus more suitable, more neces-
sary. Blessed night that introduces us more fully into
the fellowship of Jesus.

4. Day with Jesus. Hitherto it has been night; yet
during it the Church has had the Master's presence ;
" Lo, I am with you always." It has been good for her,
indeed, to have Him with her during the world's darkness.
But He does not leave her when the day breaks. He
does not say, Let me go, for the day breaketh. More than
ever shall He be with her during the long day of glory

JOHN VI. 17. 303

which is at hand. " So shall we ever be with the Lord " !
He with us, and we with Him. And if his presence made
night not only endurable but even pleasant, what will not
that presence make the coming day 1

304 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXIV.
THE BREAD OF IMMORTALITY.

" This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may
eat thereof , and not die.''' 1 JOHN VI. 50.

r I "'HERE are four points here which form the sum of
JL our Lord's statement: (i.) the bread; (2.) the
coming down; (3.) the eating; (4.) the not dying. But
before taking up these, mark in the wondrous gift here
referred to, (i.) the great love of God j yes, "Herein is
love" j (2.) the wisdom of God, providing the right food
for hungry souls ; (3.) the power of God, imparting to that
food its nourishing properties ; or rather, giving effect to
these properties in causing them to nourish us ; making
that bread omnipotent, so that no amount of human
hunger can withstand it. We cannot think of the gift
without calling these things to mind ; the gift carrying us
back and up to the love, the wisdom, the power of the
giver; nay, embodying these in all their fulness. The
giver of the bread is the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

I. The bread. Bread is that which feeds the body;
nourishes it, strengthens it, makes it grow. Without it,
weakness comes, disease, and death. It is of bread for
the soul that the Lord here speaks ; of something that will
sustain the life of the soul ; nay, make it grow. He
announces Himself as that thing. Not some truth of

JOHN VI. 50. 303

doctrine, but HIMSELF ; the Word made flesh ; very man
and very God ; His whole and complete person ; not the
manhood without the Godhead, nor the Godhead without
the manhood ; but His person, God man. He is the
bread; not merely bread, but the bread; the one true
bread ; without whom the soul cannot grow, nor its life be
sustained ; for only by generous diet can such sickly souls
be nourished. As such (no less than as the sin-bearer), he
is despised and rejected of men (our soul loatheth this
light food) : yet none the less is He necessary to the soul
as its food, its bread. Out of Him ; apart from His per-
son, there is no nourishment, no sustenance. He feeds ;
He alone ; He feeds us on Himself. All else is husks, or
mere air and vapour. He alone is bread ; He, the Christ
of God ; He, the eternal Word and Son ; He, God mani-
fest in flesh ; He, in His glorious person, is our food ; His
flesh is meat indeed. That which His person reveals to
us of Godhead, of God, and the love of God ; of God,
and the wisdom, power, righteousness, majesty, and grace
of God, is bread, the bread of the soul ; the true bread
and sustenance of creaturehood ; the hidden manna ;
better than angels' food; "the corn of heaven" (Ps.
Ixxviii. 24) ; the divine provision for the love and nourish-
ment of humanity. Our Lord applies various names to
it: (i.) "bread from heaven"; (2.) "true bread"; (3.)
"the bread of God"; (4.) "bread of life"; (5.) "living
bread." All these are names indicative of its excellence,
its power, its suitableness. It is the very bread we
need ; no other would do ; only Immanuel's person ; the
Son of God Himself. This is the true tinleavened bread ;

306 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

holy and incorruptible. The curse is not in it, but only
the blessing. The Word made flesh is the soul's eternal
food.

II. The coming down. In one aspect this bread came
"up" as well as "came down"; the human part coming
up, the divine part coming down. But as it is the divine
part that gives all its vitality and power of nourishment
to it, so it is said, as a whole, to come down from heaven.
The word is such as to refer to past, present, and future,
(i.) It came down; (2.) it is coming down; (3.) it will
continue to come down. In the first promise, it came
down; in all subsequent ones, it did the same. It specially
came down when the Word was made flesh. That was
the great descent of the divine bread ; the like of which
had not been in our world, nor can be in any other form.
It was the bringing down of the granary and storehouse of
heaven to earth. That storehouse is inexhaustible ; ever
accessible j its contents may be said to be either always
open to us here on earth, or to be always coming down.
In either aspect we see a perpetual supply; a never-failing
fulness ; ever-present bread ; like the manna, ready for us
each morning ; in double amount each Sabbath ; in seven-
fold amount each communion. Let us open our mouth
wide. Alas for our want of appetite ! There is bread
enough and to spare, but we have no relish for it ; we do
not hunger for it. Hence our leanness ; the poverty of
our blood ; the paleness of countenance ; the feebleness
of our limbs. We do not feed on it sufficiently. What
different Christians should we be did we fully partake of
it as God presents it. Eat, O friends ! Eat, and live ;

JOHN VI. 50. 307

eat, and be strong ; eat, and be in health ; eat, and go
forth to do' the work of God. Not on earth will you find
the eternal bread ; the bread which feeds the immortal
spirit. Only in Him who came down from heaven, the
Christ of God.

III. The eating. Faith eats, and fills the soul j unbe-
lief refuses to eat, and so starves us. We eat by, and in
believing. We take into our souls the words of the Holy
Ghost concerning this bread ; concerning Him who is the
bread ; and in doing so, we feed on it; we feed on Him.
We receive His body, we take His flesh into our mouth,
not in some carnal or mystical way, but in taking in the
testimony, in studying and receiving the truth, the divine
words are food : " Thy words were found, and I did eat
them"; but the special word which we eat, and by which
we are nourished, is the word concerning Him who came
down from heaven, the Christ of God, the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. God bids us eat.
He does not say, " Lest they put forth the hand, and take
of the tree, and eat, and live for ever" ; He commands us
to do this; "put forth the hand, take, eat, and live for

ever."

IV. The not dying. All food is for the production and
sustaining of life. The tree of life indicated this. We
are to eat that we may live. Immortality is maintained
by the provision which God has made for its upholding.
This immortality corresponds to the food which produces
and nourishes it. Ours is a divine immortality : " I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly. Christ's flesh is life to us. It quickens

308 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

us. We eat it, and live for ever. It is the bread without
leaven; without anything in it that can weaken or cor-
rupt ; but everything fitted to produce immortality, and
incorruptibility. The expression, "and not die" refers
specially to the death of those who did eat the desert-
manna. That manna could not keep them from dying ;
but this hidden manna can. We may, however, connect
the words here with those in Genesis, " In the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" To eat of that tree
of Paradise was fatal. Death must follow. To eat of

this better tree, this heavenly bread, is not fatal ; is not
mortal ; nay, it is life-giving. To eat it is not to die, but
to live. Nay, there is no life, save in eating it. In the
day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt not die, but live. Eat
and live, is our message to a dead world.

The expression, " that a man," should rather be, that
" any one," may eat thereof. It is not a mere statement,
but an invitation, to all that this hungry, famished world
contains. Israel only had the manna j to the world is
offered this better bread. " Any one," is God's message !
"Whosoever"; "every one" ! God places this bread in
the world, and bids all eat of it. Empty, starving world,
come and partake ! " Bread enough and to spare" (Luke
xv. 17), is God's message. There is enough for all and
each. It is free to every one. " My flesh I give for the
life of the world." There is no restriction, no exclusion,
Any one! Ah surely, O man, that takes thee in; as thou
art, a poor prodigal, starving on husks. Oh, eat and
live.

JOHN VI. 51. 309

LXV.

CHRIST'S FLESH THE WORLD'S LIFE.

" My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" JOHN

VI. 51.

OF the Word, the eternal Word of God, it is said,
" In Him was life " (John i. 4). It was as the
Word, or Son, that He was the life. In Him, as the
second Person of the Godhead, is the infinite fountainhead
of life.

But between Him and us there is a great gulf. This
divine well of life is inaccessible to us so long as " the
Word " remains simply " the Word." For the communi-
cation of the life, He must be something more than the
Word. The fountain is infinite ; but it is unapproachable
by us. We cannot climb to the heaven of heavens. A
well must be dug on earth into which the heavenly
waters may flow, so as to be within our reach. Earth
cannot ascend to heaven ; heaven must descend to earth,
bringing with it all its riches of life.

"The Word was made FLESH;" and thus life was
brought down to us. A man, with flesh and blood such
as we have, was made the depository or storehouse of the
life. As "the Word" he was the life; but only as "the
Word made flesh " is He our life. As the Son of God he
is "light;" but only as the God-man is he the "light of
the world," the "light of men." It is as the Word made

3io BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

flesh that He speaks when He says, " The bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I will give as the life of the
world;" and again, when He says, "My flesh is meat
indeed ; . . . . except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood
of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you."

But meat of itself does not produce or commence life ; it
only sustains and nourishes it. Dead men cannot eat;

the dead body digests no food, however excellent. But
He who is the Word made flesh actively quickens, as well
as passively feeds. "The Son quickeneth whom He
will." As the Creator of the universe, He speaks and it
is done ; He creates all things new. From himself goes
forth directly the quickening power by which souls are
raised from the dead. And having been made alive from
the dead, they begin to feed on Him, and find in this
meat their daily Jife, and strength, and growth.

Thus He is "the life of the world." It is as "the
world's life " that we have fellowship with Him. It is as
"the world's life" that faith recognises Him and rejoices
in Him. " Christ our life " ! This is our watchword and
experience. To say that Christ is our life is not only to
say there is life in Christ for me, but that life is flowing
down for me and into me. It is just such life as we need
in all respects, recovering and refreshing the soul; not
only rescuing it from the death of condemnation, but
acting with resurrection-power in restoring it to right
spiritual feeling and action. It is life which, when it
comes in, fills up the void within as well as comes down
like rain upon the mown grass, and like showers that
water the earth. It is life most full and ample ; it is life

JOHN VI. 51.

abiding and unbroken ; it is life undeserved and unpur-
chased ; it is life which no power of death nor influence
of disease can affect or impair.

I. It is connection with Christ that brims the life into

<j */

us. Cut the wires of the electric telegraph, and all com-
munication ceases between city and city. Restore them,
and the intercourse is resumed ; the current flows again.

So, it is connection with Christ our life that vitalizes,
quickens us spiritually. He is in heaven, and we are
upon the earth ; but the greatness of distance matters not,
provided there be connection, the connection, as it were,
of a single wire. That single wire is faith. This is the
one connecting medium. Not love, nor holiness, nor
goodness, nor earnestness, but faith, simple faith. Our
belief of the divine testimony concerning the Christ of
God is the one thing that links us to Him. Other things
follow upon this ; but they are not the connecting wire.
Faith, as the only grace which admits of being thoroughly
insulated and separated from earthly things, is the true
and only conducting wire. Unbelief is the great non-
conducting medium which arrests, in a moment, all com-
munication between heaven and earth. Faith only restores
this, establishing the surest and most blessed of all
connections between Christ and the soul, between heaven
and earth.

II. // is connection with Christ that continues the life.
The life is not like a treasure of gold brought to us, and
deposited with us, to serve us for a lifetime. It is not
like a lake or cistern of water formed within us, rendering
us independent of all without us. It is something laid up

312 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

for us in heaven, and transmitted down to earth, hour by
hour, as light is deposited in the sun, and at each succes-
sive moment emitted from him to us. The connection
between us and Christ must be kept up unbroken, else
the life in us will fail. It is not said, he that "hath
believed," but he "that believeth" hath everlasting life.
There is a well near Jerusalem, called by the Arabs Bar
Eyub, and by the Jews the well of Nehemiah, which is
chiefly fed by the rain. When the showers fall abundantly,
and the Kedron flows like a river, this well is filled and
the city rejoices. But this is only once or twice in the
year. But there is a deep well underneath the temple,
which is fed by water from the great pools of Solomon,
near Bethlehem. This is always full, being fed from a
perennial spring whose waters fail not. Only when the
aqueduct is broken which leads the water along, mile
after mile, into Jerusalem, can this temple-cistern fail.
Such is to be the manner of our life. It is not like the
inconstant well fed by an intermitting stream 3 but like
the great temple cistern, ever full, because fed from a
never failing spring. Faith is the aqueduct that brings
the water from the pools of our true Solomon into us his
spiritual temples. Every moment this divine aqueduct
should be discharging the waters of life into pur souls
from the unfailing fountain above. By day and night, in
calm or storm, through gardens or barren hillsides, that
stream flows on, and shall flow on for ever ! Time has
broken Solomon's aqueduct and interrupted the communi-
cation between the fountain and the temple-cistern, but
no time can break the connection between us and the

JOHN VI. 51.

heavenly fountain; for who shall separate us from the
love of Christ % "Because I live, ye shall live also."
Thus the soul is kept always full and fresh.

III. Connection with Christ introduces us into the ever-
lasting life hereafter. For the present is but the earnest
of the coming life. It is into a glorious flower that the
present bud expands j and its future expansion it owes to
that same connection which quickened it and nourished
it here. For faith is the substance of things hoped for ;
and it is into these "things hoped for" that faith introduces
us at last. The fulness of the life is yet to come. "When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also
appear with Him in glory." And it is for eternal life
and glory that our present course of faith on earth is
the preparation. " It doth not yet appear what we shall
be " ; but we know that the future life of vision, into which
the present life of faith is leading us, will be as unutterably
blessed and glorious as it is abiding and everlasting.

Such is the beginning, the middle, and the end, or at
least the consummation, of this life. And this threefold
blessing is linked with the one thing faith. Our belief
of the divine testimony concerning Christ, our life, is the
one connecting link or line between the past, the present,
and the future of our better life. He that believeth hath
Christ for his life, now, and for evermore. He that hath
the Son hath the life ; and he that hath the life, the
adoption ; and he that hath the. adoption, hath the king-
dom and the glory.

This connection with the living One, with Christ our
life, works in many ways. Having been thus brought to

3H BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

the life, or rather the life having been brought into us,
every thing about us partakes of this life. As every part
of the flower or tree gets the sap, so every part of our
being gets this life out of the divine fulness of life deposited
in the living One. Our religion becomes a living religion ;
our prayers living prayers ; our praises living praises ; our
service living service ; our words living words ; our labour
living labour : our whole being is now pervaded with life,
spiritual life, divine life. How different every thing is
now to us ! For it is life that looses our bondage and
brings in the liberty. It is life that casts out the dark-
ness and fills us with light. It is life that gives us eyes to
see, and ears to hear, and feet to run in the heavenly
way. The coming in of Christ, our life, is the new creation
of the man ! And what is there that that new creation
will not work within us !

This life is that of the Word made flesh. . It is a new
and- divine life ; for we are " made partakers of the divine
nature " ; we are " made partakers of Christ." And it is
as if the same blood that flowed through his veins flowed
through ours. It is not a restoration to us of the first
Adam's life ; it is the impartation of a far higher life from
the second Adam ; for the first Adam was made a living
soul, but the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Nor is it simply the flesh or body of Christ that is our
life, but that flesh or body broken. It is not merely an
incarnate Christ, but an incarnate Christ crucified ! That
flesh of the Son of man, in order to be the food of our
souls, must be bruised ! And that in which we find our
food and life is the broken body and shed blood of the

JOHN VI. 51. 315

Lord. On this flesh and blood we feed when we receive
the Father's witness concerning it, and dwell upon the
truths which that testimony contains. Thus Christ's flesh
is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed.

Consider this life under the following aspects and
bearing :

1. // is life from the dead. Like Lazarus, we are dead

/ / /

and buried. The living voice of the Word made flesh
speaks to us and says, Come forth. We hear it and obey.
We arise from the dead at the call of Him who is the
resurrection and the life. This is conversion. This is
the new birth ; a resurrection from the dead.

2 . It is life in the midst of death. From the day of
conversion the life is like a spark in the midst of a stormy
sea, or like our body exposed to the polar frost. Every-
thing is against its continuance ; and, were it not divine,
it could not remain. But it is divine ; and maintains its
vigour in the midst of a world of death.

3. It is life in death. On a death-bed the life shines
out in its brightness ; and when death seizes us, this life
remains untouched. Over it the last enemy has no
power. Nor can the grave extinguish it. It is life which
survives mortality and corruption; life which defies the
tomb ; life which he, who has the power of death, cannot
reach.

4. // is resurrection life. For a while it becomes
invisible, while soul and body are parted. But it soon
re-kindles, or rather re-appears, like a returning star, as
soon as soul and body are re-united. It never indeed
leaves the soul, even when the body crumbles down. But

316 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

it remains unseen by us till the resurrection-day. Then
it rises like a sun, a sun to shine for ever ! When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also
appear with Him in glory.

Take these lessons :

(i.) Despise not this life. Some have too long alighted
it. Trifle no more with a thing so glorious.

(2.) Receive it now. For this we make known the divine
testimony ; for it is with our reception of it that the life is
connected.

(3.) Cherish it evermore. Let it reign within you,
triumphing over death j and making you feel, and act,
and speak as living men !

(4.) Anticipate the resurrection day. Then we shall
know that life in a way such as we have never known it
here. It will be infinitely fuller, more blessed, and more
glorious !

JOHN VII. 37. 317

LXVI.
COME AND DRINK.

" In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." JOHN
VII. 37.

HERE we note, (i.) the time ; (2.) the place ; (3.)
the giver; (4.) the gift; (5.) the persons; (6.)
the love.

I. The time. The last and great day of the feast of
tabernacles ; when Israel's joy was fullest ; at least in ap-
pearance and expression; just when men would have
thought there was least need of any other joy; and no
propriety in diverting their minds from the scene before
them ; when many days of religious service would have
seemed quite enough to fill them. Just then the voice is
heard and the message strikes on their ear, " If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink."

II. The place. Jerusalem, the temple. What need
of anything else than what that temple afforded. Was
not David's experience still true, " How amiable are thy
tabernacles "; " I was glad when they said to me." Be-
sides, the temple was now filled with crowds; and a scene
was enacting in its courts of striking aspect. The Levite
was now bringing in the water from Siloam in the golden
pitcher, or pouring it on the sacrifice; and Israel was

3i8 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

about to burst forth in one loud shout of joy. Imposing
scene and place !

III. The giver. It is the Son of God who stands up in
the midst of these ten thousands ; with something in his
hand for them; something which he counts worthy of
their acceptance. The giver is divine and heavenly ; not
merely a prophet or teacher sent from God, but the Son
of God himself; who knew what they needed, and what
He had to give ; who saw into their hearts ; had sounded
their depths of emptiness ; had measured the intensity of
their thirst. He is himself God's gift; yet He is also
giver; the dispenser of a fulness which is absolutely
infinite. To himself he turns their eye, here as always
elsewhere. " Come unto me." They were dealing with
other things or persons ; he bids them deal with himself.
Feasts, altars, sacrifices, doctrines, ceremonies, were all
in vain ; they must deal with himself.

IV. The gift. Living water ; something wherewith to
quench their thirst ; the Holy Spirit. Here is a gift in
Christ's hands for them; a divine gift from a divine
giver ; a gift sufficient to fill the soul of the emptiest, to
quench the thirst of the thirstiest ; a gift not only great
enough to fill them, but to overflow upon others ; a gift
personal, infinite, free. There are two gifts of God which
stand aloft and alone in their priceless greatness, the
gift of his Son, the gift of his Spirit; both of these
presented to man, pressed upon him : " If thou knewest
the gift of God, thou wouldst have asked and he would
have given thee living water."

V. The Persons. Who are they who need this living

JOHN VII. 37. 319

water ? Not heathens ; not profane and irreligious j but
Jews; religious Jews ; engaged in the 'worship of God, at
one of their most joyful feasts. This is remarkable. In
the fourth chapter it is to the Samaritan that he presents
the cup of living water. In the book of the Revelation,
it is offered indiscriminately to all, Jew and Gentile. So
also in the fifty-fifth of Isaiah. But here it is to the Jew,
the religious Jew. He is the thirsty one, he needs living
water. His rites, and feasts, and sacrifices cannot fill
him, nor quench his thirst. He has still a deep void
within, an intense thirst, which calls for something more
spiritual and divine. It is not then to the idolatrous
pagan that the Lord speaks \ not merely to the lover of
pleasure or lust ; the heedless sinner. It is to the men
who frequent the sanctuary, who pray and praise out-
wardly j who go to the Lord's table. It is to them He
speaks. Perhaps the thirstiest of our race are to be found
among our so-calld releigious men, and I do not mean
the hypocrite or pharisee, but those who, with devout
conscientiousness, attend to what are called religious
duties in all their parts. They go through the whole
round and routine of service, but they are not happy.
They are still thirsty and weary. This external religious-
ness helps to pacify conscience, but it does not make
them happy. Sabbath comes after Sabbath, and finds
them in their place in the sanctuary, but they are not
happy. It is a form or a performance ; an empty vessel.
They are just where they were. There are multitudes of
such in our day ; in our churches ; at our communion
tables. To them Jesus speaks, " If any man thirst, let

320 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

him come to me and drink." Duties, ceremonies, and per-
formances cannot make you happy. They are a weariness.
They leave you often more thirsty than before. But deal
with Jesus, as God's gift, as the dispenser of God's gift,
you will find in Him the fountain of living water.

VI. The love. It is all love, from first to last. In love
Jesus stands up and speaks. In love He presents the full
vessel of living water, and presses it to their parched lips.
Here is the love that passeth knowledge ; love yearning
over unhappy man, and pitying his unhappiness. Come
ye to the waters ! Come, and quench your thirst. Come,
and be full ! Come, and be happy for evermore !

JOHN VIII. i, 12. 321

LXVII.
JESUS OCR LIGHT.

' ' And every man went unto his own house. " JOHN VII. 53- Jesus
went unto the mount of Olives. . . . Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, lam the light of the world : he that followetk me shall not walk
in darkness, but shall have the light of life." JOHST VIII. i } 12.

IF we group together the scenes of this and the succeed-
ing chapter, we might head them thus, a day with
Jesus j in which we have not merely his answers to the
disputing Jews, but his proclamation of love ; a night
with Jesus on the Mount of Olives ; dawn with Jesus in
the temple, listening to his early teaching ; sunrise with
Jesus, as, pointing to the east, He says, I. am the light of
the world.

Let us follow, however, another division, which will,
perhaps, bring out the truths of the passage more fully, in
connection both with man and the Lord; (i.) man at
home, Jesus not at home ; (2.) man the listener, Jesus
the teacher : (3.) man the sinner, Jesus the forgiver ; (4.)
man the child of darkness, Jesus the light of life.

I. Man at home, Jesus not at home. " Every man went
to his own house ; Jesus went unto the mount of Olives."
The crowd which had surrounded Him all the. day gradu-
ally drops off, ^one by one, as the evening draws on, and
Jesus is left alone. Each one has a home to go to, a roof
to shelter him, and retires to rest with his family ; Jesus
has nowhere to lay his head ; they go one way, He goes

322 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

another ; they keep within the city walls, He goes without
the gate to Olivet, there to spend the night in prayer.
He is not at home ; even in the temple, which is his
Father's house, He must not stay ; its gates are closing,
and He is shut out ; the temple shuts Him out, the city
shuts Him out. He can only go to the places where man
is not ; to the solitudes where, outside of Jerusalem, out-
side even of Bethany, He can meet with God. This
homelessness of the Son of God was for us. He became
homeless that we might have a home, a home in his
Father's house. He went without the gate that we might
enter in. He became an exile, taking our place and life
of banishment, that we might have an entrance ministered
to us into the celestial city, the Paradise of God. Hast
thou, O man, availed thyself of this great work, and
returned to thy Father's house ? Or art thou still an exile
from God, though at home on earth 1

II. Man the listener, Jesus the teacher. That to which
God calleth us is " listening." " Hear, and your soul shall
live ;" "faith cometh'by hearing." Christ came to us as
the Word, to speak to us ; his very coming was God
saying to us, " Now listen to me." Seldom do we find
man in this attitude, and hence so little faith; and,
when Christ comes the second -time, He will find little
faith, because few listening. But here we have a group
of listeners, and that in the early dawn, gathered round
the eternal Word. And He teaches ! How willing to
teach ! How glad to get a listener, an open ear ! How
eager is He to pour in all his wisdom; to teach the
ignorant; to unteach them the evil and error; to teach them

JOHN VIII. i, 12. 323

the good and the true ! Are our ears ever open 1 Are
we eager listeners 1 As ready to hear as He is to speak ?
Oh how much we lose of happy wisdom, simply from not
listening ! Jesus Himself knew what it was to hear the
Father, "He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth
mine ear to hear as one who is taught." And having
thus learned, He comes to teach. Learn of me, He says.
The Lord make us willing learners ! The Lord give us
open ears !

III. Man the sinner ; Christ the forgiver. In the midst
of the teaching and the listening a scene occurs ; an
interruption, yet not truly so j an interruption which only
illustrates the character of the teacher. Vile sin has just
been discovered, and the culprit is brought in. It is
flagrant transgression. How will He deal with it ? Will
He palliate it, or will He say, Go and stone her. If He
does the former, what becomes of his holiness and pro-
fessed veneration for the law ? If the latter, what becomes
of his kindness to publicans and sinners. He does neither.
And yet He pardons the guilty ! How marvellous the
grace ! How wonderfully He deals with sin and the
sinner ! He condemns, nay,' He makes his hearers con-
demn it, and not only the woman's, but their own ; yet
He forgives ! He shews them sin in a worse, a wider, a
more universal aspect than they dreamed of ; yet He also
shews that nothing can obstruct his forgiving love. ' His
is pardon to the uttermost. He came to save sinners J
Who is there that He is not willing and able to save 1

IV. Man the child of darkness, Christ the light of the
world. These are awful words, "children of night,"

324 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

children of darkness, worse even than the world's phrase,
children of the mist. The world is dark, darkness
itself. Each soul is dark. Man's efforts to enlighten
himself has only left him darker. But the light has come;
the true light now shineth. The Christ has come, and He
is the light of the world, the light of the soul, the light of
life. In the present case He is pointing to the rising sun
and saying, " I (not yon sun) am the light of the world."
Till I appear all is night. Then, all is day. Christ as the
revealer of the Father, of his grace and righteousness,
Christ as the possessor and dispenser of the Holy Ghost,
-is the light of the world.

1. Light cheers and gladdens. Thus Jesus gives joy
and peace.

2. Light purifies. Jesus renews, sanctifies, assimilates.

3. Light quickens. Jesus removes death; imparts
life.

4. Light heals. Jesus he^ls wounds, diseases ; He
cures.

5. Light liberates. Jesus sets us free. No "bondage
where Jesus is.

Oh the difference between night and noon, darkness
and sunshine ! Have you made the exchange ? Will you
make it now 1 He that believeth in me shall not abide
in darkness.

JOHN VIII. 31,32. 325

LXVIIL
TRUTH AND LIBERTY.

" Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Jizm, If ye con-
timte in my word, then at eye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall know
the truth, and the tmth shall make you free." JOHN" VIII. 31, 32.

\

" 1 ^AITH cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
JL of God" ; accordingly we read in verse thirtieth,
" As he spake these words many believed on him." So
He taught, and so they believed ; as the apostle puts it
" So we preached, and so ye believed." It is always in
connection with the word of truth that the Holy Spirit
works in us. Christ's voice and the -Spirit's hand go
together. We find this in- our text ; but we find more
than this.

I. The reception of Christ's word begins discipleship.
There may be many an anxious thought before this ;
many a tear ; many a bitter groan. There may be alarm,
and disquietude, and inquiry. But these are not dis-
cipleship. They are but as so many gropings after teach-
ing ; so many inquiries after a school and a teacher which
will meet the soul's capacities and longings. All the
world is, in its poor, dark way, stretching out its hands
after something which can only be realised in Christ.
But this is not discipleship. All men are saying, Who
will shew us any good ; but this is not discipleship. That
begins with receiving His word ; not with doing some

326 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

great thing ; but with receiving His word ; receiving it as
the scholar receives the master's teaching. He is the
Word ; and He speaks the word. What is this word
which. He speaks 1 It is a word (i.) concerning the
Father; (2.) concerning Himself. He comes as the
revealer of the Father, and as the declarer of Himself and
His work. From the moment that we receive what He tells
us concerning the Father and Himself, we become His dis-
ciples, His scholars. Thus we are taught, not of man,
but of God. This is the true, the authentic beginning of
discipleship.

II. Continuance in that word is the test of true disciple-
ship. Our Lord evidently lays great stress on this point,
continuance in His word. It is not continuance in general
adherence to His cause, but continuance in His word,
in that word, by the reception of which we became dis-
ciples. As it is by holding the begimiing of our confidence
that we are made partakers of Christ, so it is by continuing
in the word, that we make good the genuineness of our
discipleship. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly," says Paul ; and it is this word that contains
everything we need.

i. It is an expansive word ; ever widening its dimen-
sions ; growing upon us ; never old, ever new ; in which
we make continual discoveries ; the same tree, but ever
putting forth new branches and leaves ; the same river,
but ever swelling and widening; losing none of its old
water, yet ever receiving accessions.

(2.) It is a quickening word ; maintaining old life, yet
producing new; " Thy word hath quickened me."

JOHN VIII. 31, 32. 327

(3.) It is a strengthening word; nerving us and invigorat-
ing us ; lifting us up when bowed down; imparting health,
and courage, and resolution, and persistency.

(4.) It is a sanctifying word. It purifies; it detects the
evil, and purges it away ; it pours in holiness into the soul.
It works a blessed work within. Let us continue in it ; not
weary of it ; not losing relish for it ; but abiding in it.

III. Knowledge of the truth is the result of discifileship.
We have seen the properties and virtues of the word in
itself ; mark the impartation of these to the disciple. All
that enter this school, and that put themselves under the
teaching of this instructor, are taught of God; as it is
written, " They shall be all taught of God." He shall
know the truth ; not a truth, nor part of it, but the truth,
the whole of it, the truth, and not error, Him who is
the truth. He shall be wise; wise in Christ; in Him who
is our wisdom. He shall know it ; not guess at it, nor
speculate on it; nor get a glimpse of it; but know it;
realise it ; make choice of it ; appreciate it. The truth is
Christ himself; the teacher of the truth is Christ ; He is
both teacher and lesson. The knowledge of Christ is the
knowledge of the truth ; ever growing, both in extent and
in depth. Christ's promise to the disciple is, " Thou shalt
know the truth." Blessed promise in a day of doubt and
error.

IV. This truth is liberty. All truth is, so far, liberty,
and all error bondage ; some truth is greater liberty, and
some error greater bondage. Blessed are these words of
the Master : " The truth shall make you free." Bondage,
with many, is simply associated with tyranny, bad govern-

328 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

ment, civil or ecclesiastical despotism. Christ's words go
far deeper. They go to the root of the evil. The real chains,
the real prison, the real bondage, are within, not without; so
the true liberty is within, not without. It springs from what
a man knows of God and of his Christ. Seldom do men
realise this. Error, bondage ! How can that be, they
say, if the error be the man's own voluntary doing ; if it
be the result of his own intellectual effort; if it be not con- v
nected with prison- walls or the oppression of power 1 But
the master is very explicit. THE TRUTH shall make you free !
There is no other freedom, worthy of the name, of which
this is not the root. " He is the freeman whom the truth
makes free ; and all are slaves besides."

Be free, says the Son of God to the sons of men ! How]
By becoming my disciples ; knowing the truth which I -
shall teach ; and following me. If the Son make you free,
ye shall be free indeed I

JOHN- VIIL 54. 329

LXIX.

THE FATHER HONOURING THE SON.
tt /f is my Father that honoureth me." JOHN VIII. 54-

r | ^O honour is to do or to speak that of a person which
JL shall not only shew him our own esteem for him,
but shall let others see that, and make them esteem him
likewise. Thus God honoured Abel by openly accepting
his sacrifice, and shewing him to be the man of his love
and favour Thus He honoured Enoch by translating
him ; Noah, by singling him out to be the saved one of
his generation ; Abraham, by appearing to him as the
God of glory, and calling him out of Ur of the Chaldees ;
Joseph, by bringing him out of the pit of Dothan and the
prison of Pharaoh to the second rank in Egypt ; Moses,
by drawing him out of the Nile, and making him king in
Jeshurun ; David, by calling him from the sheepfolds of
Bethlehem to the throne of Israel Solomon, by giving
him wisdom, and power, and riches, and a peaceful king-
dom, and making him so pre-eminently the type of
Messiah and his glorious kingdom.

Such is honour, and such is the way in which we see it
conferred. By what God said and did to these indi-
viduals, He not only manifested his sovereign choice, but
his love for them, his appreciation of their character, his
sense of their fitness for the honour conferred.

All this is specially seen in the Father's dealings with

330 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

his Son. We see his love and admiration for him, as well
as his desire to make him the loved and admired of
othersc We see his delight in him, and his purpose to
make him the delight of all in earth and heaven. We
see his sense of his infinite excellency, and beauty, and
perfection ; his fitness for, and worthiness of the honour
bestowed already on him since the day that he ascended
on high, and to be yet more abundantly conferred on him
at his second coming, when he comes to be glorified in
his saints, and admired of all them that believe.
Let us consider,

I. The bestower of the honour. It is the Father. The
value of the honour depends greatly on him who bestows
it. Honour bestowed for a price, or by self, or by un-
worthy hands, or by one incapable of judging, is worthless.
Flatterers have honoured kings, as Tertullus did Felix,
but that was no honour at all. Napoleon put the crown
upon his own head, but that was no honour. The Father,
however, knows what He is bestowing, and on whom He
is conferring the gift. He is fit judge both of the person
and the honour. We may then be well assured that the
honour received by Christ is well bestowed. The Father
loveth the Son ; and this assures us that He is worthy of
the love; He honoureth the Son, -and this assures us that
He is worthy of the honour.

II. The receiver of the honour. It is the Son, the
Christ. He it is whom the king delighteth to honour.
He is one whom the Father knows well ; and has been
acquainted with from all eternity. He is God, very God.
He is man, very man. He is God-man, the person in

JOHN VIII. 54. 331

whom the two natures meet, and therefore altogether
peculiar, a new thing on earth, and a new thing in heaven ;
one in whom all created and all uncreated perfection
meets ; one in whom all that is glorious in the universe
centres ; one in whom all that is excellent, both in heaven
and earth, is displayed. He is the most marvellous
revelation and incarnation of divine wisdom that can be
found throughout the universe. He is the infinitely
perfect handiwork of the infinitely perfect Jehovah ; the
only thing brought forth in time and into whose com-
position creaturehood enters, in which there can be found
no flaw, and of which we can say there is not the possi-
bility of fall or failure in all the eternal future.

III. The nature of the honour bestowed. As in the
constitution of his person we have something peculiar, so
in the honour bestowed we have something corresponding
to this. It is divine honour ; but it is more. It is not
only all the honour which the Father receives and which
the Spirit receives, but it is something in addition, some-
thing which they cannot receive, something arising out of
the superadded humanity; and humanity in connection
with divinity. What this is we may not understand, but
we know that it must be so. Again, it is human honour,
honour in connection with his perfect manhood ; for He
is the only true specimen of perfect manhood, and as
such is entitled to all the honour which God intended for
our race. Nay more, He is entitled to honour such as
Adam could not receive, the honour arising to his man-
hood from its connection with the Godhead; honour,
therefore, of a far higher kind than could possibly be

332 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

given to any creature not connected with Godhead, yet,
still human honour. Thus the Godhead gets an honour
such as it could not have got save in virtue of its connec-
tion with creaturehood ; and the creaturehood gets an
honour such as it could not have got save by reason of its
connection with Godhead. There is in this way a peculiar
honour created, and a peculiar vessel prepared for re-
ceiving it ; honour such as could not have been received
by any other being in the universe, save the Christ of
God, the Incarnate Son. From this, too, there springs,
peculiar honour to the Father from this God-man, honour
at once divine and human; honour such as no one in
heaven or earth can give but he. No one can honour the
Father as the Christ of God can.

IV. The times and ways in which this honour is bestowed.
At his birth, baptism, .transfiguration, resurrection, ascen-
sion, still more at his second coming. Every day the
Father honoured Him when here. Dishonoured by man,
He was honoured by God. At present, in heaven, He
receives glory arid honour. Hereafter, in his kingdom,
the full honour is to be bestowed. When He comes
again, He comes to be glorified. Thus the Father declares
his worthiness, and shews his admiration and love of the
Son ; his purpose to fill heaven and earth with it, to spread
it over all time and all eternity.

V. The results of this. The bearings of this honour on
the whole universe are immeasurable and inconceivable.
This honour is at once the pledge and the measure of the
blessing which the universe receives, and shall receive for
ever. These results are such as the following,

JOHN VIIL 54. 333

1. To the Father. It is through the honour conferred
on the Son that the Father is more fully unveiled and
manifested, as well as more abundantly glorified. The
honour bestowed on the Son comes back to the Father ;
for all that the Son receives, and all that He does, is to
the glory of God the Father.

2. To the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's office is to glorify
Christ; it is through Him that the honour comes to the
Son. By means of this shall the Spirit be made fully
known and glorified; His Godhead declared and illus-
trated ; His wisdom and power displayed.

3. To the whole Godhead. The three-one Jehovah is
glorified through means of the honour bestowed upon the
second Person, the Incarnate Word. Each Person is
more fully manifested and more abundantly glorified ;
and the One Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit receives
new and everlasting honour.

4. To the Church. Christ's honour is her's; for all
that He has is her's. She is made partaker of Christ,
joint-heir with Him. The Bridegroom's glory is not for
himself alone. His bride shares it with him. She shares
His riches, His inheritance, His kingdom, and His crown.
This she does by faith even now ; she will do so in reality
when He returns as King of kings, to place her beside
himself upon His throne.

5. To heaven. The greatness of the King's honour
adds to the glory of his palace, his metropolis, lighting
up the great bridal-hall with new splendour, and irradiat-
ing with new brightness, . the heavenly Jerusalem, whose
brightness is already beyond that of the sun. Infinite is

334 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

the addition of glory to the heaven of heavens, from the
glory of Him who is its King.

6. To angels. He is their head, as well as the church's,
though not so closely knit to them as to us. Princi-
palities and powers are his hosts, his servants, his royal
retinue, and in his honour they are honoured. Each
angel shines more brightly from the glory put upon the
Incarnate Son.

7. To earth. At present we do not see any change
The curse is still here. Creation still groans. Shame is
over all. But the curse is to pass away. Creation is to
be delivered. Earth is to be clothed upon with a new
and immortal robe ; made more fair than Paradise. All
this through the honour put upon the Son. For earth is
specially His country, His home, the birthplace of the
Man Christ Jesus. His body is composed of the dust ;
and here he found not only his cradle, but his grave.
Above all other places, it has a claim to share his glory.

8. To the universe. The whole wide stretch of infinite
space shall be irradiated with this glory. Every planet,
every star, every fragment of creation, far and near, shall
receive fresh lustre from this new-lighted sun.

Let us honour Him now. He will be honoured here-
after. We are sure of that. Such is the Father's purpose.
But let us honour Him now, when He is getting no
honour from men. Let us honour Him here where he
gets only dishonour. In the great day for which we are
waiting, the day of His second coming, he will be abundantly
glorified. But let us who know him not wait for this, but
glorify him in this day and age of evil and unbelief.

JOHN VIII. 54. 335

Sinner, honour Christ ! Honour him by coming to
him and getting salvation at his hands. The honour
which the Father puts on Him as Saviour, is the security
for a present pardon to you. Your pardon is Christ's
honour. God glorifies Him in receiving and blessing
you. Kiss the Son \

336 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXX.
THE HONOUR GIVEN TO FAITH.

" Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" JOHN XI. 40.

which alone is worth the seeing ; that which
JL fills and gladdens the soul, when seen and known;
that, without which we must remain unsatisfied and un-
blest for ever ; that, in comparison with which all other
sights are as nothing, is " the glory of God."

That which righteous men of old desired to see, but
saw only in glimpses and at intervals ; that, for the seeing
of which Moses prayed, saying, " Shew me, I beseech
thee, thy glory" ; that to which the eye of every creature
should turn, in longing earnestness, is "the glory of
God."

That which every thing in heaven and earth is intended
to reveal, for the "heavens declare the glory of God,"
and the earth everywhere shews it forth; that, for the
beholding of which our eyes were made, and for the
appreciation of which our minds were formed ; that, for
the unfolding of which sin came in, and is yet to be ex-
pelled by holiness, and death came in that it may yet be
succeeded by more blessed life ; that, for the revelation
of which the Son of God took flesh, and died, and was
buried, and rose again, was " the glory of God."
- It is not God Himself that Christ here speaks of our

JOHN XL 40. 337

seeing, though in another place He says, " Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God." It is his "glory,"
or the revelation of that which is in Him, some visible
display of the invisible excellencies that are in Him.
In one sense we " shall see God" j in another, we cannot
see Him ; for no man hath seen nor can see Him ; only
the Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, can
see and declare Him. But without noticing this point

\

farther, we observe that it is His " glory " that is spoken
of here as that which we are to see.

The glory of God is that which shews Him to be the
glorious being that He is ; and it is through the know-
ledge of His glory that we reach the knowledge of Him-
self. This glory is spread out before us in all His works ;
it is written out at length for us to read in the Scriptures
of His truth ; and it is centred and embodied in his
incarnate Son, who is the brightness of His glory, and the
express image of His person.

But the one special point of which our Lord here speaks,
is His glory as the bringer of life out of death. It was
this that the Son of God came so fully to reveal, and did
reveal, both in His own person, as the dying and rising
One, and in the works of his hands. Elsewhere He
speaks of this glory being manifested in his opening the
eyes of the blind, and so bringing light out of darkness ;
here He speaks of shewing it in the raising of Lazarus
from the dead, and so bringing life out of death and the
grave.

That this was a signal display of divine glory is evident
from the greatness of the thing itself, and from the stress

338 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

which, the Bible lays on resurrection and the power
needful to accomplish it. To remove the penalty of
death ; to undo the work which death had done ; to
conquer him that had the power of death ; to swallow up
death in victory ; these are things in the accomplishment
of which man could have no share. They are altogether
the doing of God; and their accomplishment is the
special manifestation of his glory.

Resurrection, then, is that which Christ has taught us
to regard as one of the most signal revelations of the
glory of God. How it is so, I do not now ask ; I take
the statement of Scripture as to the fact itself. And if in
the resurrection of one that glory was to be so conspicu-
ously seen, how much more so in the resurrection of the
millions of the saints in the day of the Lord. The glory
that God is to get from the resurrection of his saints, is,
next to that from the resurrection of his Son, the greatest
that He shall receive. Whatever we may have seen or
known of this glory before that, will be as nothing when
compared with the abundance and the brightness of the
glory to be manifested then. One Lazarus raised from
the dead was to shew His glory, what will not myriads do ?

That which had blotted the work of God, which had
marred that which God pronounced good, which had
seemed to bring discredit upon God, and to call in
question his power, his wisdom, his foresight, his good-
ness, was death. It seemed to have come in in. spite of
God, and to possess the power of undoing all that God
had done j it seemed to intimate the existence of a being
stronger than God, and capable of throwing down all that

JOHN XI. 40. 339

God might build up ; it seemed to track the footsteps of
the Creator, so that wherever He went to create, it fol-
lowed to destroy. From this what glory could accrue to
God ? Did not death seem to mock Omnipotence, and
bring his excellency to shame ? It did ; and hence the
stress that is laid upon the undoing of death and the
emptying of the grave. ' Hence the glory that is said to be
brought to God by resurrection ; and hence the name which
Christ takes to himself, " the Resurrection and the Life,"
and the work which he is specially said to have accom-
plished, viz., to have brought "life and immortality to
light." It is in life, not in death, that the glory of God
is seen ; and it is to Him specially as the bringer of life
out of death that we are to look, in. order to behold his
glory.

Let us look more minutely at the words of the Lord
before us.

I. Gotfs purpose to reveal his glory. To shew Himself
is his design in creation ; still more so in his work of
resurrection and redemption. Man may hide himself,
because he possesses nothing of his own at all j but God
cannot do so ; forth at which is in Him must of necessity
come forth, seeing all his fulness is his own, borrowed
from none, either in heaven or earth. For his own sake,
and for the creature's sake, He must shew himself. No*-
to do so would be to wrong both Himself and the creature.
Were the sun to withdraw its shining, how grievous the
loss to us ; yet not halt so terrible as were God to refuse
to reveal himself. It is God's purpose to shew himself,
to manifest his glory, that thus he may rejoice in the

340 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

honour flowing to him from all that He does, and that the
creature may be gladdened, and comforted, and blessed in
beholding the glory thus presented by God for him to
gaze upon.

II. Christ's desire is that we should see the glory of
God. He is the revealer of the Father, and as such He
came to earth. Sin had hidden the Father from our
world, as the dark, thick cloud blots out the face of the
sun. Christ came to unveil the Father's face, to make
known the Father's character, to manifest the Father's
glory, to roll off the clouds that covered the face of the
Sun. This was his errand ; and his desire is to speed in
his errand, and to shew us the glory that He came to
reveal. Love to the Father makes Him desirous of this,
for He desires the Father's glory ; love to us makes Him
desirous of this, for He seeks our blessedness, and He
knows that the creature's blessedness is in beholding the
glory of God. O man ! What are you without this glory ?
A world without a flower, or tree, or blade of grass ; a sky
without a sun or star. Will you not behold it ? The
Son of God longs to shew it to you. For this end He
came into the world, and died and rose again. Will you
not turn your eyes to this blessed object, that in beholding
it, your soul may be filled with heavenly light and glad-
ness ? To say that Christ desires your salvation, and
your holiness, and your comfort, is indeed to say much ;
but to say that He desires your beholding of the glory of
God, is to say more than all this ; for it is to tell you that
He longs to shew you that which, as soon as beheld,
would bring life, and gladness, and consolation, and holi-

JOHN XL 40. 341

ness to your soul. When He says, " Come unto me, and
I will give you rest," He means to say, " Come unto me,
and I will shew you that which will at once give you
rest." When He says, " If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink," He means to say, " Let him come
unto me, and I will shew him that, the sight of which will
be more refreshing to him than all the waters of earth."

III. // is unbelief that hinders our seeing this glory.
The thing of which the Lord most complained, not only
among the people, but among his disciples, was unbelief.
They were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
had spoken ; they put away from them the good news of
God's free love in visiting them from on high ; and they
shut both eyes and ears against the wonders done and
spoken by the Son of God in the very midst of them.
Had their unbelief shewn itself in putting away from them
the evil day, and rejecting the message of judgment, it
would not have been so marvellous or unaccountable.
But it shewed itself in refusing the tidings of good ; in
rejecting the grace vouchsafed so abundantly; and in
discrediting the signs and wonders displayed so blessedly
by Christ before them, signs and wonders in which God
was revealing himself to them, and unfolding the marvels
of his glory.

It was this unbelief that obstructed their vision of the
glory ; and it is this same unbelief that does the same
evil work still to us. Let us see how it does so.

(i.) It hinders Christ from working those works which
shew the glory. This seems a strange saying, and one
which we could not have ventured to utter had it not been

342 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

written down for us by inspired men. That a child's
hand held up against the sun should hinder it from
shining ; that a withered leaf thrown into a stream should
stay its flowing or dry up its source ; that the breath of
man, breathed up against the sky, should quench the
light of its myriad stars ; these things would not really be
so marvellous as that man's unbelief should prevent God's
power from being sent forth, and the Son of God from
doing those things which would reveal the glory of the
Father. Yet we find the strange truth thus recorded.
The evangelist Matthew thus writes, " He did not many
mighty works there, because of their unbelief" (xiii. 58) ;
and Mark uses still stronger language, " He could there
do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a
few sick folk and healed them ; and he marvelled because
of their unbelief" (vi. 5, 6). The sad and all but
incredible truth is thus explicitly declared, that the sin-
ner's unbelief does really hinder Christ from working.
His hand is not stayed from working by our unworthiness^
or by the multitude of ' our sins, but simply by our
unbelief. It was this that arrested Christ's miracles in
Galilee; it was this that (if we may so speak) almost
hindered the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It was
to this that Christ referred when He said to the father of
the demoniac, " If thou canst believe, all things are pos-
sible to him that believeth j " and it was on the acknow-
ledgment of this that the man so eagerly replied, " Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief" (Mark ix. 23, 24).
Yes, it is unbelief that lays its arrest on Christ's hand, and
says, Work not j it is unbelief that thrusts away alike the

JOHN XL 40. 343

power and the grace of God ; it is unbelief that says,
" Depart out of our coasts."

(2.) It hinders us from perceiving the glory that is in the
works, even when they are wrought. Christ's hand was
not always stayed by man's rejection of his love and power.
It did work the works of God before human eyes ; works
in which the glory of God did shine most brightly. Men
saw the works, but they saw not the glory. They saw
the healing of the leper, but they saw not the glory of
God revealed in that. They saw the opening of the eyes
of the blind, the unstopping of the ears of the deaf, the
giving feet to the lame, the casting out of devils; but they
saw not the glory of God in these, even as they saw not
either God Himself, or his glory in Him who did these
works. In the case of the feeding of the multitude, they
saw the miracle, they partook of the food, yet they did
not see God in this at all ; nay, they followed Jesus for a
while because of the wondrous supply thus administered
by Him, but they perceived nothing glorious or divine in
it. " Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but
because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled " (John
vi. 26).

The glory wrapt up in these miracles could only come
forth to faith. To unbelief they appeared common things,
or, at the most, only striking facts in which there was
little meaning. It was faith that pierced beyond the shell;
it was faith that drew aside the veil ; it was faith that
saw God in all of these, and drank of the living waters of his
grace, of- which each of these miracles was the blessed
well.

344 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(3.) It hinders us enjoying the glory even after we have
in some measure seen it, Christ's disciples saw the glory
shewn forth in his miracles j yet, after all, they realised
it but little. It seemed to come to them in glimpses and
at intervals, not continuously. Like men with a telescope
at their side, and sometimes looking through it, and some-
times closing it up ; so these disciples entered but little
into the glory which they yet acknowledged, and at times
enjoyed. Faith was . not always in exercise. There was
more of unbelief than of faith in their history. They had
faith enough to shew them something ; but their unbelief
hid more than their faith revealed. And it is even more
so with us than it was with them. For the full glory has
been manifested now in the dying and rising of Him who
is the brightness of Jehovah's glory. Our eye rests on it,
and at times we can say truly, "We beheld his glory";
yet how faintly does it shine to us ! How much oftener
is it hidden than revealed ! How seldom do we receive
from it the joy, and the comfort, and the quickening
which it should unceasingly impart ! We get but a few
rays when we might get the whole sun. We get but these
rays at intervals when we might have unbroken sunshine
every hour. Ought not Christ's words to rebuke us and
to recall us to faith ? " Said I not unto thee, that if thou
wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God."

IV. Christ's reproof of tmbelief, and call to faith. Both
of these things are implied in the words, "Said I not unto
thee, that, if thou wouldest belieye, thou shouldest see the
glory of God 1 " He is evidently not giving this reproof
for the first time. He is but repeating what He said to

JOHN XL 40. 345

them oftentimes before ; and He is reminding them of his
former lessons and exhortations, which they were on the
point of forgetting : " Said I not unto thee." The words are
simple, and the rebuke is gently spoken ; but not the less
on that account is the question fitted to reach the con-
science and humble the unbelieving spirit. " Said I not
unto thee," i. e. " Have I not, not only on this occasion,
but often at other times, told you what faith would do for
you, and what unbelief is shutting you out from ; and shall
I say it all in vain 1 "

Yes, it is to faith that the Son of God is here calling
us; it is against unbelief that He is warning us. Un-
belief never did aught for a soul, and never will ; faith
has done wonders in time past, and will do so in all
present time, as well as in all time to come. " Have
- faith in God " ! " Only believe." Be not faithless, but
believing. Trust God for everything, and say, even in
the most unlikely circumstances, Is there anything too
hard for the Lord ?

The circumstances in which the two sisters of Bethany
were placed were trying. What could they hope for?
Had the -Lord arrived in time, they might have hoped
that He would have healed their brother. But He had,
apparently, arrived too late. Lazarus was dead; and
were they to hope for resurrection] Our Lord did not
exactly say this ; but He evidently meant to tell them
that, if they would but trust Him, they would find that
He would do something for them far beyond what they
could ask or think, that there was nothing which He
' would not do for them, no length to which He would

346 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

not go in the putting forth of his power to shew them the
glory of God. Their position was, after all, not more trying
than Abraham's, when called on to offer up his son ; and
if he believed and staggered not, if he hoped against hope
and was strong in faith, giving glory to God, why should
not they ? As children of believing Abraham, to whom
the " God of glory " appeared, might not the Lord well
address them, " Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God."

In these words of Christ there is a tone of sorrowful
complaint, nay, we may say of vexation and disappoint-
ment, because of the slow faith of his disciples. It is like
that indicated in his words to the disciples, " Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip ? " He expected something else ; and He had
reason to do so. He looked for confidence, and He had
given them full ground for such confidence. Might He
not well be disappointed at the poor result 1 What, after
all He had said and done, still as hesitating, as suspicious,
as distrustful as ever ! Could He have expected this at
their hands 1

Let Christ's words shame us out of our unbelief. The
rebuke is mild, but all the more fitted to find its way into
our hearts. Be ashamed of your hard thoughts of this
gracious One, after all that He has done. Be ashamed
of your misgivings, your doubtings, your dark distrust.
Trust Him wholly and fully. Trust Him according to
this infinite trustworthiness. .Trust Him in everything.
Trust Him now. Trust Him in your days of darkness,
as well as in your days of light. Trust him in your

JOHN XL 40. 347

sorrows, as well as your joys. Say not, My case is hope-
less j my wound is uncurable ; I may bear it ; but as to
deliverance, or blessing, or glory as the result, that is
impossible. Your case is not more hopless than that of
her whom the Lord thus rebuked for her unbelief; "Said I
not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest
see the glory of God."

Good out of all evil, life out of all death, glory out of
all shame, joy out of all sorrow ; this is God's law and
purpose for every one who believes in his name. Time
may be needed for the unfolding of the issues ; patience
may be long and sorely tried ; the results may be long of
emerging from beneath the dark surface under which they
were pressed down ; but of the end there can be no
doubt. Let faith hold fast ; let patience have her perfect
work ; and, according to our faith and patience, nay, far
beyond them, shall be the recompense. Hannah found
it so ; and was made to rejoice in a long-sought son.
Naomi found it so; and her old age was brightened beyond
all her hopes or fears. Job found it so ; %for, having held
fast his confidence, he lived to see his latter end better
than his beginning. Yet we forget this gracious law of
the kingdom, and ofttimes lose heart, when the trial is
long and the shadows hang thickly over us. We take
hold, and again we lose hold. We are cheered, and again
we despond. How continually we need to be reminded
of the sure reward of faith, and to have the Lord's words
spoken to us, " Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest
believe thou shouldest see the glory of God."

348 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXL

INQUIRING AFTER JESUS.
;c We would see Jesus" JOHN XII. 12.

IT was from Gentile lips that these words came. A
Jew would perhaps have said, in such circumstances,
We would see this Christ ; the Greek, who knows nothing
about the Messiah, but hears of a wonder-working Galilean,
says, " We would see Jesus/' i.e. " we wish to see Him."
Was this a genuine Gentile longing, expressive of the
world's desire, for "the Desire of all nations," the utter-
ance of a poor human heart that had heard of something
likely to fill up its void, the outgoing of feelings, such as
drew the publicans and sinners to hear Him, the vague
cry of humanity, "Who will shew us any good 1 ?" brought
at last to a point ?

, We know not. We cannot answer these questions, for
there is nothing in the narrative to illustrate the words ;
to tell who these Greeks were j in what spirit they put the
request; or what was the answer. The narrative is abrupt
and isolated. The words stand alone. " Philip cometh
and telleth Andrew : and again Andrew and Philip tell
Jesus." That is all we know. That Jesus received them,
or shewed Himself to them, or spoke directly to them, is
not said. Probably the discourse that follows was spoken

JOHN XII. 12. 349

in their hearing, though mainly intended for the disciples.
They were brought in to the circle of disciples, as listeners
to the gracious words which He proceeded to speak con-
cerning Himself, his life, his death, his resurrection.

There are three kinds of inquirers after Jesus mentioned
in the gospels, (i.) Herod, who desired more than once
to see Him (Luke ix. 9, xxiii. 8). His was curiosity
that came to nothing. How many Herods are there !
(2.) Zaccheus. He sought to see Jesus who He was. His
curiosity came to something. It ended in a visit of Jesus
Himself. There are Zaccheuses, too, whose first inquiries
are vague, but who are led on by the Spirit to Jesus.
(3.) The Greeks. These seem to have been farther on
than Zaccheus in their inquiries. Theirs was more than
curiosity ; it was the earnest longing of men who had got
a glimpse of Him. We have Greeks, too, in our day ;
men whose souls God has touched, and across whose eyes
He has flashed some rays of the glory of his Incarnate
Son. Are there any Greeks among us ? Rest not ; keep
not aloof; come near; learn of Him; look to Him and
be saved. For thus it is that the far-off Gentile is brought
nigh ; and the Greek becomes a Son of Abraham. Is
there a Herod here ? Beware and tremble. You may be
lost. Your curiosity may end in nothing. Be a Zaccheus
or a Greek. Jesus was not unwilling to be seen. He was
the most accessible of men. Talk of kind, winning, acces-
sible, large-hearted men ! Was there ever one like Him ?
He did not hide Himself; He did not turn from his
fellow-men, as if shrinking from their intercourse or dislik-
ing to be troubled. He made everybody feel at home

350 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

with Him. He laid Himself out for meeting them, and
being visited Dy them. He received sinners, and made
them feel that He had come to save them.

Modestly and diffidently these Greeks first approach
the disciples, and through them are introduced to the
Master. They needed not to have recourse to this
circuitous manner of approach. " Had they known Him
thoroughly, they would sooner have gone to Himself.
He would say, " Suffer them to come," even when the
disciples rebuked and forbade. And so is it still with us.
We trust the disciple more than the Master. We go with
confidence to a minister, but we go distrustingly to the
Lord; -What unbelief, what perversity, what ignorance !
How little have we learned his love !

" We would see Jesus " is the daily utterance of our
heart. If we have seen little, we want to see much ; if
we have seen much, we want to see more. Shew us Jesus
is our cry.

Why do we so desire to see Him? What does this
vision do for us ?

1. It gives rest. To see Him as the resting-place is to
rest. There are some objects so calm and restful, that the
very sight of them is rest. This is one of them ^ the chief
of them.

2. It pacifies. He is our peace ; and to see Him is to
have peace. The sight of Him as the propitiation for sin
pacifies the conscience.

3. // quickens. He is our life ; and the sight of Him
as such puts life into us. It is a quickening vision.

4. It heals. As the Sun of righteousness, He rises on

JOHN XII. 12. 351

us with healing. There is health in looking to this sun
of health.

5. // enlightens. He is the light of the world ; and to
see Him as such is to have day within us. It is an
enlightening vision.

6. It sets free. He and his truth make us free. Con-
nection with Him is liberty. The vision liberates. It
thaws the soul, and melts all our ice.

7. // strengthens. All power is in Him ; and the sight
of Him draws it out to us. We become strong in looking.

8. It Jills. In Him is all fulness ; and in looking we
are filled. Every void in our souls disappears.

9. It gladdens. We are made partakers of his joy.
We are satisfied. It is a gladdening and satisfying
vision.

352 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXIL
THE GREAT ATTRACTION.

" And 7, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men ^mto

me." JOHN XII. 32.

* I ""HIS is Christ's own testimony to the power of his
JL death and resurrection. Both of these are in-
cluded. The Christ of God is lifted up to the cross, and
there is power in that ; the Christ of God is lifted out of
the grave (1% ?% 9%), and there is power in that.

Mark the kind of power. It is not destructive, or
repulsive, or punitive ; it is attractive. It draws. It is
not compulsive or harsh, but simply attractive. The sun
draws up the vapours from the sea, and then hangs a
brilliant rainbow on them ; so Christ draws up the sons of
men from the depths of our low world, and glorifies them.
His attraction is like .that of the sun. His attraction is
magnetic, too ; it is the attraction of the magnet to the
pole. As the far-distant north pole, by an unseen influ-
ence, lays hold on the motionless iron and turns it to
itself, so does the far-off Golgotha, our truer, better pole,
draw the. sons of men, and cluster them round itself.
Have you felt the magnetic virtue of -the cross and grave
of Christ 1 Have they acted upon you 1

It is not simply the Christ that is the magnet ; it is the
crucified Christ. It is crucifixion that has imparted to
Him his attractive power; just as it is death that has

JOHN XII. 32. 353

given Him his life-giving power. It is not Christ with-
out the cross; nor is it the cross without Christ; it is
both of them together.

But mark the greatness of the power. It is sufficient
to draw all men. It has not drawn all men. There are
millions in hell who shall never be drawn. There are
millions upon earth who are not yet drawn. Yet there
is virtue in the crucified one to draw every one. It is
almighty influence ; irresistible power ; power which no
human heart could have resisted, had it so pleased the
Father to put it forth. A power that could draw the
myriads of stars and planets, and cluster them round
itself, must be great ; but a power that can draw millions
of human hearts must be greater far.

But wherein consists its magnetic power? Apart from
its being the centre from which omnipotence goes forth ;
the place in which, and the way by which, righteous
power is savingly put forth for the arrestment of the
sinner, it contains everything that the sinner needs. It
is suitable,

I. Because of the love which it embodies. Herein is
love ! The love that passeth knowledge ! The love of
God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ crucified, dead,
buried, risen, is the great revelation of the grace of God.
What sa magnetic as love 1

II. Because of the righteousness which it exhibits. This
" great sight " is one of infinite righteousness. It is the
cross of righteousness j the resurrection of righteousness.
It is for the unrighteous, and yet it is righteous. It is
righteousness combining with love and taking the sinner's

354 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

side against law and judgment and the eternal penalty.
How attractive is righteousness like this !

III. Because of the truth which it proclaims. All God's
revealed truth is connected with the cross. Divine wis-
dom is concentrated there. In Jesus, the crucified, there
is the wisdom of God, and He is made unto us wisdom.
In the cross we have the refutation of man's errors and
Satan's lies ; the great embodiment of heavenly and ever-
lasting truth. Here all truth and all wisdom are centred!
How can it but be magnetic ! .

IV. Because of the reconciliation which it publishes.
It proposes peace to the sinner ; for it has made peace.
Jesus has made peace by the blood of his cross. Peace
to him that is afar off and to him that is nigh ! Here is
the meeting-place between man and God. Here we
stand and say, " Be reconciled."

V. Because of the healing which it brings. There is
healing in its shadow. He who touches is healed,
healed in every part. The healing begins now in the
soul j it is completed hereafter in the resurrection of the
body. Jesus, the dead and risen One is our healer !
In this healing we include not simple relief from pain, or
weariness, or spiritual infirmity, but deliverance from sin.
The cross purifies. The fulness of the crucified One is
the fountain of our holiness.

Thus the cross, the gospel, the crucified One, all
these make up the "power of God"; the power which
attracts, quickens, saves, purifies ! It draws, draws irre-
sistibly j for in it is the strength of omnipotence.

JOHN XII. 35, 36. 355

LXXIII.
LIGHT AND ITS LITTLE WHILE.

" Then Jesiis said ^mto them. Yet a little while is the light with
you : "walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come ^lpon you : for he
that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have
light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These
things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. "
JOHN XII. 35, 36.

r I S HE speaker here was one who knew what light was,
-I what it could do, where it was to be found, and
how terrible it must be to be without it. He had come
from the land of light, where there was no darkness, and
where all were walking in the light. In that home of light
there were angels of light and spirits of light. All sons
of light ! He speaks, therefore, with authority, and we
know that his words are true.

I. The light. Light is that which shews or reveals all
objects, as darkness is that which hides. Our earthly
sun daily reveals to us man and the things of man ; the
heavenly sun reveals to us God and the things of God.
Christ is Himself that light. He is both the light and the
sun. As the life, He is the light. The life is the light of
man. He is the light of the world ; the true light ; beside
which all other lights are false and unreal. That which
shines from his face, from his works, from his words, from
his cross, is light. " We look to Him and are lightened."
He reveals the Father; the Father's love, the Father's

356 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

righteousness, the Father's character ; all the riches of his
grace ; and we, opening our eyes to take in this light, are
thereby enlightened. That which shines into us is " the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of
Jesus Christ." Light for a dark world ! Light for a dark
soul ! This is our message.

II. The light with us. The first gleam of it came in
the first promise. After. that the rays multiplied. But
still " the light " had not come. But when " the Word
was made flesli and dwelt among us," then it came. It
remained here in human form for thirty-three years. It
is still, though impersonally, " with us " ; and it will yet
be more gloriously with us when He comes again. After
Jesus had spoken of the light being with them, he. with-
drew Himself, to shew that his presence was the light,
and to shew the difference between light and darkness,
his presence and his absence. Yes ; the light is with us
still. In a sense it is withdrawn, yet still with us ; still in
our world ; still shining in its . brightness out of the
testimony concerning " the light " left us in the gospels.
There the true light still shineth. We may withdraw from
it, but it never withdraws from us. We may shut our
eyes and our windows, but the light still shineth. God is
light, God is love, is still the burden of that testimony.
The light is not far off nor clouded, but nigh and clear ;
not starlight nor moonlight, but . sunlight, pure, bright,
and gladdening. The light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehendeth it not. O dark world, when wilt
thou let in the light ! O dark soul, O child of darkness,
when wilt thou be enlightened !

JOHN XII. 35, 36. 357

III. The little while of light. The special little while
referred to here was that of our Lord's presence on earth,
a blessed little while indeed ! He so near, so gracious,
so willing to bless ! But there are other little whiles.
Jerusalem had her little while. Israel had her little while.
The churches have all had or are having their little while.
The nations have had or are having their little while.
Each congregation has its little while. Each soul has its
little while. A little while of the gospel, a little while of
invitations from God, a little while of Sabbaths, and
sermons, and sacraments, and providences, and all is done.
The light departs. O man what has the light done for
thee 1 How hast thou been dealing with it 1 Hast thou
let it in or shut it out 1 Thy little while of light may soon
be at an end. The night cometh ! The eternal darkness
is at hand ! Jesus is coming ; but not with light ; only
with darkness to the despisers of the light.

IV. The using of the light. Walking is here a general
expression for the whole of a man's life, in all its actings,
and changes, and movements. Our Lord's meaning is,
" Use this light for whatever you do, so long as you have
it : do everything in your daily life, in this light." Use
this light then, is the Lord's message to us. The process
of using it is then described.

( i .) Believe in the light. Receive the Father's testimony
to this light, to its genuineness, its excellency, its divinity,
its suitableness, its varied qualities and fitnesses to meet
the wants of a child of darkness. Believe in this light,
and believe in no other. The light of reason, intellect,
literature, science, will do nothing for your soul. At best

358 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

it is but starlight, " distinct but distant ; clear, but oh how
cold " j still oftener is it the meteor, or the lightning, or the
volcano, or the taper, or the spark of your own kindling.
Believe in this heavenly and divine light. It will suffice.
There is no darkness too dense for it either within you or
without. There is light for the darkness. God proclaims
his testimony concerning this true light. Receive that
testimony, and, on receiving it, receive the light. It wants
admission into you ! Oh admit it !

(2.) Become children of the light. He into whom the
light enters becomes a child of light. The light rests on
him ; surrounds him - } abides with him ; dwells in him ;
pervades him. It guides him ; heals him ; comforts and
cheers him; purifies him; assimilates him to himself. He
becomes in all senses a child of light and of the day. He
becomes, also, a light to others, a light to the world.
And walking in the light, he is not only filled with holy
gladness, but he shines ; his light shines ; the dark world
is the better for his being in it. He shines in his daily
walk and public life. He is in his own way a measure
what "the light" was when here, a "light of the
world."

V. The refusal to use the light. This may be called
neglect, or delay, or hatred, or rejection, still it is refusal
to make use of the light. It is preference of the darkness
to the light ; it is preference of the works of darkness to
the works of light. It is something positive and wilful,
whatever men may say. No man remains in darkness for
lack of light, but because of his own shutting out the light.
This refusal to make use of the light leads to stumbling,

XII. 35, 36. 359

to straying, to complete mistaking of the way, and losing
the destination. It leads to this now ; it ends in this
more terribly. For the withdrawal of the light is at hand.
The darkness comes, the deep, the eternal darkness, in
which men, who have rejected the light, shall stumble
and wander for ever. O these eternal stumblings ! These
everlasting wanderings ! O these dark mountains, on which
the sinner's feet shall stumble ! O that gross darkness,
that palpable darkness, that blackness of darkness, which
is to be the sinner's portion and dwelling-place for ever !
Night without morning ! Everlasting midnight !

The true light now shineth ! This is our message. All
the love of God is in it. All the joy of heaven is in it
All the glory of the kingdom is in it. It shineth now ;
it may soon pass away ! Oh use it sinner, use it Allow
it to enter; and, in entering, to transform that dark
dungeon of your soul into a very heaven of light

360 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXIV,

LIGHT FOR THE WORLD'S DARKNESS.

*' / am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me
should not abide in darkness" JOHN XII. 46.

IT is Christ who is the speaker. He speaks of two
things : of Himself, and of our world. Let us hear
what He has to tell us concerning both.

I. Our world is dark. God did not make it so at first.
He said. Let there be light. But man has darkened it \
Satan has darkened it ; sin has darkened it. Every soul
in it is darkness. Night is in all, and over all.

(i.) // is the darkness of sleep. The sleeper sees not
the light. He may dream that he sees it, but that is all.
His eyes are closed.

(2.) It is the darkness of death. Life has left the limbs
and organs; and with life all light has fled. Darkness
reigns.

(3.) It is the darkness of the tomb. This is the very
death of death. Buried beneath the earth, the darkness
is doubled.

(4.) // is the darkness of Satan. He is the ruler of the
darkness of this world; and of this darkness we are
partakers.

(5.) // is the darkness of hell. Our world is an earnest
of the blackness of darkness for ever. Little as men

JOHN XII. 46. 361

believe it, it is the shadow of hell that covers our earth,
and it is a part of hell itself that fills the sinner's soul.

Such is our world's darkness. Such is the condition of
each sinner's soul. How sad, how terrible !

II. There is light for it Deep as the darkness is, it is
not hopeless. There is enough of light in God and in
heaven yet. Light has not been quenched throughout
the universe though driven from our world. Darkness is
wide, but it is not universal. The report has come to us
of light. And this is good news. There is light.

III. This light has come. It is not afar off; but nigh.
Not in heaven merely ; it has come down to earth. Oh,
what an arrival ! The richest freight that ever reached our
shores ! The gospel announces not light merely, but its
arrival. It has come ! He himself has said, "I am come."

IV. Christ is the light. He is the brightness of Jeho-
vah's glory; the true light; the sun of righteousness;
the day-star ; the bright and morning-star. All the light
of Godhead is centred in him. All the light of heaven ;
all the light of the universe is gathered into him. He
has come to be the light of the world He is the alpha
and omega of the Bible, which is the one book of light.
He is the light of the world in three ways :

(i.) Because of what he shews us of the Father. He is
the revealer of the Father, and of the Father's love and
holiness ; as such, He is the dispeller of the clouds that
have long rested over earth, hiding the face of God. The
glory of Godhead is embodied in Him, and shines forth
from Him to us ; and He that hath seen Him hath seen
the Father.

362 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(2.) Because of what He does to us. He pardons,
heals, comforts, blesses, saves. As the Saviour, He is
our light. As the Christ of God, He is our light. As
Prophet, Priest, and King He is our light.

(3.) Because of what He is yet to do for our world.
When He comes again He shall be fully known as the
world's light. Then shall be earth's true morning and
noon : till then it is but twilight. His throne shall be
the throne of light ; his reign shall be the reign of light.
All earth shall rejoice in his light.

V. The way in which the light enters. It is in believing.
Not in working or waiting, but in believing. Faith ends
the darkness, and lets in the glorious light. Believe in
Jesus and all is light. The day breaks and the shadows
flee away.

VI. The freeness and universality of the light. That
word " whosoever " is enough to make every sinner feel
that the light is for him ; that he has liberty to use the
light ; that he has a right to the light ; and his right is
that he needs it. The darkness needs the light ; so the
sinner needs Christ. Nay, and Christ needs the sinner !
For the light needs the darkness, else would its glory be
wasted.

Oh, what a glorious gospel do these words of Jesus
preach to us. " I am come a light into the world."

JOHN XII. 48. 303

LXXV.

THE JUDGING WORD.

" The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last

day." JOHN XII. 48.

i. CT*HERE is a last day. This world shall not always
-^ roll on. There shall be a stoppage, a break.
God shall interpose at length. He shall speak and not
be silent. He shall make bare his arm. It is God's day
that is coming. " He hath appointed a day." Not " the
last" in one sense; for there shall be no last day either
to righteous or wicked. But in reference to the existing
state, and order, and run of things and events, there is a
last day, a winding up, a reckoning. The world's great
river shall at last reach the sea. "To-morrow" shall
then cease, and that word of mystery, and procrastination,
and suspense be known no more.

2. That day shall be one of judgment. The long un-
settled cases of earth shall be settled then. Time's
riddles shall all be solved. Time's mysteries shall all be
cleared up. Time's wrongs shall all be righted. The
oppressed shall be vindicated ; the triumphing of the
wicked shall cease ; the evil-doer shall be put to shame.
No more error, or unbelief, or falsehood, or wrong judg-
ment upon men and things. No calling good evil, and
evil good ; no putting light for darkness, or darkness for
light. No shams, no shadows, no mockeries, no dis-

364 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

honesties, no hypocrisies. All shall be transparency,
light, truth, righteousness. The judgment shall be just ;
undoing the evil establishing and perfecting the good ;
no partiality ; no respect of persons ; no fear of man ; no
bribery nor corrupt influence ; no hesitations nor imper-
fect decisions. The Judge is righteous, and his sentences
will be righteous like Himself.

3. Chris? s word shall judge us. Not that this word is
to supersede the Judge r , but it will form the test, the ground
of judgment. We can imagine, in connection with that
word, such questions as these arising.

(i.) Did that word reach you ? Were you within the
circle to which that word came ? Did it fall on your
ears?

(2.) Did you listen to it? Did you open both ear and
heart to it ? Or, did you spend your lives in listening to
something else, other words, other persons ?

(3.) Did you treat it as a true word 1 It is true,
infinitely true, altogether true ; did you treat it as such
Or, was the treatment you gave it that of one who saw no
truth in it 1 Did you profess to receive it as true^ and
yet treat it as untrue ?

(4.) Did you treat it as accurate ? It is thoroughly
so. There is no flaw, no mistake, no imperfection in it.
Did you treat it as such, or did you try to find fault with
it to prove it to be incorrect and imperfect, perhaps con-
tradictory ? Did you cavil at it as not quite satisfactory
or sufficient, in order to get quit of the tremendous
pressure of responsibility on the conscience arising out of
a perfect word.

JOHN XII. 48. 365

(5.) Did you treat it as divine? It is divine; for He
who spoke it is the Son of God. His word is not merely
perfect and superhuman, but divine ; divine in its origin,

in its substance, in its form, directly (not indirectly like
the works of creation) divine. Did you treat it as such ?
Did you reverence it, submit to it, implicitly receive it ?
If not, then you are verily guilty, -just as if you refused to
worship God. He that does not treat Christ's words as
divine, is in the same sense guilty of blasphemy, as he
who denies His person to be divine. Men are to honour
Him and His words, even as they honour the Father and
His words.

(6.) Did you accept it as suitable to yourself 1 ? It does
concern you, very closely and powerfully. It bears on
you just now in time ; still more so hereafter in eternity.
He meant it for you. He spoke it for you. He directed
it so as to suit you, and to reach you. It meets your
case. It contains what you need, peace with God and
'life eternal. Did you accept it as such ? Did you receive
it not only as a faithful saying, but as worthy of all accep-
tation 1 ? Or did you pass it by as unneeded and unsuit-
able 1 Did you treat it with indifference as if you were
not concerned in it ? Did you reject it 1 Did you say, I
needed it not, and so I flung it from me 1

By this word, then, let us judge ourselves just now, that
so we may not be condemned by it in the great day. It
is a living word ; quick and powerful, like Him who spoke
it. Let us apply it. What has it done for us 1 Has it
brought us nigh to God 1 Has it set us in the position of
pardoned men ] Has it poured in peace and light 1 Has

366 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

it done, and is it doing for us, such things as these 1 It
was meant to do so. Is it doing so "?

If not hitherto, shall it not do so now 1 Remember, it
is a judging, testing, discerning word with which you have
to do. It is sharper than a two-edged sword. It will not
allow itself to be trifled with. It carries its own judgment,
its own vengeance within it. It demands immediate re-
ception ; and it promises, upon that reception, immediate
forgiveness, and an everlasting salvation. He that re-
ceives the word of the Amen, the true and faithful witness,
shall be saved. There is no " if," no "perhaps," no doubt-
ing about it. It is a present certainty ; and a certainty as
absolute as it is present. In that word is life, peace,
pardon, reconciliation ; and the moment that faith touches
that word, all these flow out into the soul. Yes ; he that
believeth shall be saved j but he that believeth not shall
be damned.

JOHN XIV. 8-10. 367

LXXVI.
THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER.

" Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. yesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time -with you, and yet
hast thotc not known me, Philip ? he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father ; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words
that I speak imto yoii, 2 speak not of myself: but the Father, that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." JOHN XIV. 8-10.

FREQUENTLY did Jesus speak to His disciples of
the Father. Sometimes " my Father," sometimes
"your Father," sometimes "the Father." They knew
whom He meant, Jehovah, Israel's God. But when He
spoke of their knowing the Father, and of having seen
Him; of His going to the Father, and preparing a place for
them in the Father's house, and taking them to be there
with them, they seemed bewildered, some asking one ques-
tion, and some another, in their ignorance and perplexity.
His words had roused their interest, but not satisfied it.
He had pointed them to an object and a Being of whom
they felt they knew but little. What is this place, and
where is this way, and who is this Being of whom He
speaks ? Eye and ear are turned in the direction to which
He is pointing.

I. The request. " Show us the Father, and it sufficeth."
Philip spoke for his brethren as well as for himself. He
speaks for us also.

368 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(i.) It is a proper request. It is not curiosity nor fool-
ishness that dictate it. It is one naturally and obviously
suggested by the words of Christ ; one which he meant to
be suggested, and which He meant to comply with. Just
the request for a creature, for a sinner.

(2.) It is an intelligent request. Philip knew what he
was asking, though there was much ignorance about His
question. It is not vague, like those who cry blindly,
Who will shew us any good? It bears on a definite
object. It fixes on a certain desirable point, which
it would fain have cleared up. It knows what it
wants.

(3.) // is an earnest request. He who utters it is riot
using mere words of course. He is thoroughly in earnest.
Christ's words have roused him into earnestness. He
feels as if he ought to know and must know the Father.
Other requests may take a denial, this will not. It is a
life and death request ; " For this is life eternal, that they
may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent"

(4.) It is a noble request. There is something elevated
about it \ nothing low or paltry. It was worthy of Him
to whom it was addressed, and about whom it was made.

(5.) It is a satisfying request. "Show us the Father,
and it sufnceth." The blessing craved would fill the soul.
The knowledge of the Father would be all that was
needed. Other sights might fill it in part, this would fill
it all, so that it would say, " It is enough."

Have their longings found their way into you ? Has
this request been the expression of them ? Do you know

JOHN XIV. 8-10. 3 6 9

the Father % And what has the knowledge of the Father
done for you ? Has it filled you ? Has it weaned you
from all other knowledge, and made you say, This is
enough ? Are you recognised among men as those who
"know the Father?"

II. The rebuke. It is the utterance of surprise and
disappointment. The request was not a wrong one ; but
it need not have been put, had they not been so slow of
heart to see and to believe. The reproof is gentle, yet
very decided. In it Christ lays his finger on the seat of
the evil, and shews how the question betokened an ignor-
ance that ought not to have existed. It is an appeal to
themselves, to their past history and converse with Him ;
to their opportunities of knowing His words, His doings,
HIMSELF. Have these years of intercourse been of no

.avail? Have my words and miracles done nothing?
Have you not fathomed me, seen through me, inter-
preted me? Has all been in vain? "Have I been
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me?" After all that has been said and done, is it not
strange that you should still put the question? At first
it was natural ; now, after so long a time, it is strange,
all but incredible. How is it that ye have not known
me ? Have I kept back anything ? Have I used obscure
words ? Has my life been ambiguous ? Hast thou not
known me ? How sayest thou now. Shew us the Father ?

III. The answer. I have shewn you the Father. How
and where? In myself. When? All the time I have
been with you. I and the Father are one. You could
not see me truly without seeing the Father.

370 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Christ, then, is the Revealer of the Father; the exponent
of the Father's mind; the interpreter of the Father's
character and purpose. The Word was made flesh in
order to shew us God, that we might see Him with
our eyes, hear Him with our ears, touch Him with our
hands, converse with him face to face as a man with his
friend. " That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled
of the word of life ; for the Life was manifested "
(i John i. i, 2). When asked, How shall I realise
God 1 we answer, Realise Christ. How shall we go to
God 1 Go to Christ. Look into His face ; kneel before
Him, as the leper did ; deal with Him, as did the blind
and deaf when He was here. He is in the Father, and
the Father in Him. His works and words are the works
and words of the Father. His love, and grace, and pity
are those of the Father. Know Christ, then, and you
know the Father.

Let us take from all this the following lessons :

1. We are slow to learn. "Ever learning, and never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth." When
we might have been teachers, we need to be taught the
principles of the oracles of God. Slow to hear, slow to
learn, slow to believe \ this is our character.

2. Jesus is swift to teach. Strange contrast. We so
slow to learn, He so swift and ready to teach. If we are
not wise, it is not our teacher's fault. " Learn of me,"
is his message to us daily.

3. He teaches us about the Father. The Father shews

JOHN XIV. 8-10. 371

us the Son, and the Son shews us the Father. The
invisible is seen in the visible. If we want to know the
unseen God, let us go to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, to
Calvary. If we are perplexed about Him who is a Spirit,
let us go to Him who has a bodv like ourselves. He will
reveal the Father.

!72 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXVIL
THE ABIDING COMFORTER.

" And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Com-
forter, that he may abide with you for ever ; even the Spirit of tmt'h ;
whom the world cannot receive, becatcse it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. "
JOHN XIV. 1 6, 17.

expects us to love Him. He claims our
> ; love, and He deserves it all. He has done enough
to win it. May He not then most reasonably ask the
question, " Lovest thou me ?"

Christ expects us to " keep his commandments," that is
to listen to his teachings, and to observe all his " instruc-
tions," for this is the meaning of commandments. This
is the necessary result and manifestation of our love.
Love and obey ; love and listen ; love and follow ; love
and keep my words. "

To those who thus love and listen He promises much.
What is there that He will withhold from them ? But
here, it is of one thing only that He speaks, the Holy
Spirit. This Spirit He is to obtain from the Father for
those who thus hear his voice and in this Spirit is con-
tained everything they need for life, and peace, and con-
solation. O gift of the Holy Ghost, what is there that
thou dost not contain for us ! Let us mark the things con-
nected with this gift, of which the Lord here speaks to us.

JOHN XIV. 16, 17. 373

I. A Comforter. The word is a wide one. It means
one who comforts, or who pleads, or who exhorts ; one
who " calls us to his side," as a father does his child when
he has some special thing to say. The Holy Ghost is all
this to us. How little we use Him, or trust Him, or lean
on Him, or love Him, or deal with Him. And how
much we suffer loss by this neglect ! How much do we
grieve and vex Him ! We might be so much more full
of peace, and light, and love, and holiness, and strength,
and comfort, did we but employ this " Comforter " more
constantly, more trustfully. Our desponding complaints
are all of them indications of our slighting Him ! We
will not allow Him to do his work nor to bestow his
love.

II. Another Comforter. This word " another " is full
of meaning, and helps to link the Holy Spirit and Jesus
together. His office is not to hide but to shew Jesus ;
not to make us forget, but remember Him.

(i.) Another instead of myself. I am going, but He is
coming. He will fill up my place ; my place of fellow-
ship, counsel, comfort, and love. He will be to you, for
consolation, what I have been to you.

(2.) Another like myself. He will be another, and yet
not another; one in mind and sympathy with myself
towards you. In having Him you have me.

(3.) Another in addition to myself. I am still with you,
though I go away. And in addition to my presence, you
shall have the presence of another like myself, divine.
Two Comforters instead of one ; the outward and visible
presence gone, but the inward and invisible presence

374 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

doubled ; and thus double blessing, double consolation,
double strength. Surely the " love of Christ " and " the
love of the Spirit " will prove sufficient for our joy, as the
power of Christ and the power of the Spirit are enough
for our help.

III. A Comforter the gift of the Father. At first He
was the " promise of the Father," and then He is " the
gift of the Father." It is He of whom Jesus speaks (John
iv. 10), " If thou knewest the gift of God." He is as truly
the gift of the Father, and the sent of the Father, as is
Christ himself. Thus we are doubly linked to the Father.
Both of these are "unspeakable gifts"; both are presented
to us freely, that we may use them and be blest. " If ye,
who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask Him." It is the Father's good
pleasure that we should receive the Holy Ghost ; that we
should be baptised with the Spirit from on high. Then
shall we live in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, and
pray in the Spirit, and be filled with the Spirit. We shall
be vessels which the Father fills, and keeps for ever full.

IV. A Comforter the fruit of Chrises intercession. " I
will/rajy the Father, and He will give? The word pray
seems here to refer to Christ's priestly dealings, his con-
sultation or communication with the Father, like the High
Priest with Urim and Thummim, " I will pray, and He
will give " ! He speaks as our High Priest dealing with
God for us. He specially deals with God regarding the
gift of the Comforter. He did so when He ascended on
high and was glorified. He does so continually still.

JOHN XIV. 16, 17. 375

There is always the praying, and always the giving. He
has received the Holy Spirit as the Father's gift; and
with Him and in Him all other gifts ; gifts the expression
of the Father's love and of his own. Thus we deal with
Him ; and He deals with the Father for us. Him the
Father heareth always, nay, to Him the Father says, " Ask
of me and I will give thee " (Ps. ii. 8).

V. A Comforter who shall abide with us for ever. The
words are more exactly " unto the age," that is until the
coming age or time of Christ's return, implying the
Spirit's special presence during Christ's absence. Not as
if He were to leave us on Christ's return. But his special
work as Comforter is during his absence. He comes to
fill up a blank made by the Lord's departure ; to cheer
the afflicted widow ; to care for the little flock to con-
sole and defend the orphaned family. These offices are
peculiar to the interval between his first and second
comings. But He himself is the Church's everlasting
guest. As the Comforter He will not always be needed ;
but as the Holy Spirit He will be needed for ever. The
temple cannot be without that which is its glory and we
are the temple of the Holy Ghost. At present we receive
Him specially as the Comforter ; hereafter we shall know
Him in other characters and offices. As He is the
"eternal Spirit," so He is the Church's eternal guest;
each saint's eternal indweller. " The communion of the
Holy Ghost " (2 Cor. xiii. 14) is that which no time, no
change can affect; which neither life nor death, things
present, or things to come, can dissolve.

VI. A Comforter who is the Spirit of tmth. In Him

376 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

is all truth ; He is the Spirit of Him who is truth ; He
is the Spirit who communicates the truth to the soul. In
a world of falsehood and an age of error, how needful is
such a Spirit. Truth is that which is congenial to Him ;
error that which He hates. It is in opposition to this
Spirit of truth that the lie of the last days comes specially
forth, " the strong delusion " leading men to " believe the
lie." It is this Spirit of truth that we are to seek fellow-
ship with ; and to do so specially by cultivating the
knowledge of the word of his truth.

VII A Comforter rejected by the world. The world,
or " seed of the serpent," or race of the ungodly, see no
need for such a Spirit at all. It can do without Him.
It is bondage to recognise Him. By means of science,
reason, intuition, the verifying faculty, it can do without
the Spirit : it can find its way to truth without surrendering
its liberty ! The world " cannot receive" Him; that is,
repels and rejects Him ; for it perceives not Him nor his
doings nor his sayings ; it is thoroughly ignorant of Him.
It prefers to remain without the knowledge of Him at all.
The world is not only the rejector of Christ, but of the
Holy Ghost. Is not this the special sin of our intellectual
age?

VIII. A Comforter accepted by all Christ's disciples.
" Ye know Him " ! He is no stranger to you. He is
your companion, teacher, advocate, friend, comforter.
You cannot do without Him. He " dwelleth with you " ;
He is ever at your side ; He is and shall be in you ;
filling you as his house, his temple, his holy vessels.
Filled with the Spirit, is not that the description of a

JOHN XIP. 16, 17- 377

Christian man ? " Having not the Spirit," is that not the
description of a man of the world *? O disciple of the
Lord, prize this gift of the ascended Christ, even the
Comforter. Cherish Him, and delight in his fellowship,
Live in the Spirit j walk in the Spirit ; pray in the Spirit
Thus shalt thou be a holy and blessed man.

378 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXVIII.
THE MIGHTY COMFORTER.

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." JOHN
XIV. 26.

/"CHRIST'S presence with hh disciples was a blessed
V^ thing, and his absence would be a blank. Yet
there was to be a substitute or successor ; one who would
comfort them in the Master's absence, and carry on his
instructions ; bringing the old to remembrance, yet adding
new of his own.

It is of this Spirit that our text speaks ; not as if He
were an unknown being hitherto ; but still revealing Him
more fully and gloriously than heretofore; the church's
birthright ; seal ; earnest ; everything needed during her
Lord's absence. To bring out this let us take up the
designations here given to Him j not in the exact order in
which they occur ; but with a slight change in order to
bring out the connection of the one with the other. He
is, then,

I. The Holy Spirit. As Christ is called "the Word,"
so He is called "the Spirit," intimating his nature as well
as his office. The third person of the Godhead is specially
" the Spirit," and " a Spirit ;" the truest manifestation of
the spiritual character and being of that God who is a

JOHN XIV. 26. 379

Spirit. He is "the Holy Spirit" through whom the
holiness of Godhead specially reveals itself, and is com-
municated to the creature. He is specially the doer of
holy deeds, the speaker of holy words, the maker of holy
men. As the Holy Spirit, he dwelt in the Holy One j
and dwells in the church, and n all " saints."

II. The sent of the Father. Christ gets this name also,
"he whom the Father hath sent." Both are "sent of
God." But the Holy Spirit comes because of Christ ("in
my name"). Christ came simply as the gift of the Father's
love. Christ is the first gift, the Holy Spirit is the second.
He comes to us, then, from the Father; the Father's
messenger, to do the Father's will in us ; the glorifier of
the Son ; He comes in love, in holy love, as the fruit of
Christ's intercession, as the seal set to Christ's name, and
the token of the honour with which God honours that
name.

III. The Comforter. This is his special name in con-
nection with the church, the Paraclete, or Comforter.
"Another Comforter." This is his special office and
errand. It is his mission, and He discharges it, not
simply because of the covenant or commandment, but in
love. He is the Spirit of love. He comes, then, to
comfort. To comfort because of what, under what?
(i.) Chrisfs absence. Not to make us content with it,
but to cheer us under the blank. (2.) The sorrows of life.
These are many, "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous," but under them there is an all-wise, almighty,
all-loving Comforter. What sorrow can withstand his
consolations'? (3.) The delay of the kingdom. Even had

380 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

there been no tribulation, the delay of the inheritance
would have called for patience, and this He supplies.
He sustains us under the sickness of deferred hope.
Thus He is " the Comforter." He has been so ; is so j
and will be so until the Lord come. Have we used Him
as such 1 Have we partaken of his fulness ? Have we
tasted the abundance of the everlasting consolation which
He administers? Or do we try to be our own comforters'?
Do we seek human comforters'? Do we try to forget our
sorrows ? Or do we take all to Him, acknowledging his
name and mission, and rejoicing at all occasions and
opportunities of employing Him as the Comforter ? How
much we lose by not going to Him as such, using him as
such ?

IV. The Teacher. This is another of the names which
He has in common with Christ. Christ taught; Christ
teaches still. But now He does this not through the
living voice or visible example, but by the agency of the
Spirit. He teaches as no man can, as no book can, as
no school nor college can. He teaches all things; there
is not anything which we need that He will not or cannot
teach. He teaches truly, effectually, lovingly. He suits
himself to the mental and spiritual state of every scholar.
Like Christ, He has " compassion on the ignorant." Let
this teacher teach you !

V. The Remembrancer. Besides teaching " all things,"
He is specially to recall the Lord's own words. How
often .the disciples must have wished for more retentive
memories to keep hold of the precious words daily
spoken ! Here is something even better than that ; a

JOHN XIV. 26. 381

divine memory put at their disposal; memory perfect,
complete, unerring. Is not this blessed ? How seldom
we think of the Spirit's work upon the memory. We
speak of his enlightening the understanding, renewing the
will, changing the heart ; how seldom do we dwell upon
his work on the memory. Yet here it is. For surely this
is not meant to be confined to the disciples. Go, then,
to the Holy Spirit for a memory ; and He will make it as
retentive as you need; not, perhaps, as you would like;
that may not be good for you.

Oh, let us cultivate acquaintance with the three persons
in the Godhead. Let us deal with the Spirit about
Christ ; and with Christ about the Spirit.

382 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXIX.
THE DIVINE LEGACY OF PEACE.

' ' Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world
givetk, give I^lntoyou" JOHN XIV. 27.

SURELY " never man spake like this man" ! Well
might men wonder at "the gracious words which
proceeded out of his lips." Grace was poured into his
lips, and out of his lips grace flowed forth to the sons of
men. He had the tongue of the learned, that he might
speak words in season to the weary- (Isaiah 1. 4), and
blessed were the words he spake to such.

Never did any one enter so deeply and tenderly into
our feelings; anticipating, with his words of sympathy
and consolation, every sorrow and want ! What love
is here ! What thoughtfulness and sympathy ! What
majesty too ! For who but one who knew that He had
come from God and was going to God, that He Himself
was the infinite source of peace, could say, "Peace I leave
with you," &c. The words here uttered are certainly the
assurance to us of the love and power of the Promiser.
What He has promised, He is able also to perform.

The words are still fresh and new. They can never
grow old; for He who spoke them is the same "yesterday,
to-day, and for ever." They were spoken for us in these
last days as truly as for the ages past. Christ meant us

JOHN XIV. 27. 383

when he uttered them. Mark here, (i.) the legacy; (2.)
the gift ; (3.) the contrast ; (4.) the consolation.

I. The legacy. "Peace I leave with you." This is the
parting gift of one who was about to depart. He Himself
was bidding farewell, but he was not to take his peace
away along with him. He brought it when he came
(" peace on earth") ; and He leaves it behind him as a
heavenly relic. His presence had been the source of
peace to them, and His absence was not to dry it up.
That source would remain the same. Present or absent,
far off or near, on earth or in heaven, He was still to be
the fountain of their peace. The world would be a blank
without Him no doubt ; but he was leaving behind Him
a peace which would cheer and gladden. It was not all
that they had when He was with them, nor was it all they
were to have when He returned ; but still it was much ;
enough to comfort, to bless, to shed light upon the dark-
ness of their way. In the world there was to be tribula-
tion, in Him peace. The peace of God was to rule in their
hearts. They were to abide in peace, and peace in them !

II. The gift. "My peace I give unto you." This is
evidently something in addition to the former clause.
The peace is not merely something left, but positively
given : " I give." It is not lent or sold, but given ; it is
Christ's own gift ; free and unconditional j His peace is
like Himself, a gift to us ; unsolicited, unpurchased, un-
merited. But the striking expression here is "my peace";
Christ's own peace ; peace altogether peculiar; transcend-
ing in nature and in fulness all other peace. What then
was Christ's peace ?

384 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(i.) It was the peace of a conscience on which there never
rested the shadow of a sense of guilt. It was pre-eminently
"a good conscience"; a conscience void of offence.
Whence comes our dispeace 1 ? From a sense of guilt
upon the conscience. It is an evil conscience that dis-
quiets us. The least speck or shadow of guilt breaks our
peace. Now in Jesus there was the perfection of a good
conscience. Not a shadow ever rested there. It is a
blessed thought that there was once here a man like
ourselves, whose conscience was never touched with the
slightest stain of guilt; who never had to regret one
thought, or recall one word, or wish one action undone.
What must have been the peace possessed by Him;
profound, unutterable; even in the midst of a stormy
world. It is into this profound peace of conscience that
He would lead us. Of that very peace He would make
us partakers. The result of our "receiving" Him, or
"believing on his name," is to bring us into that same
state of conscience and that same kind of peace which He
who knew no sin possessed. Our vessels are indeed small,
and can contain little ; His was large, and could contain
much. But the kind or quality of that peace which fills
them is the same. He has made peace by the blood of
His cross ; yea, He is our peace ; and as soon as we come
to know. this and take Him as our peace, we are made
partakers not merely of peace, but of that which he here
calls " my peace."

.2.. It was the peace of one entirely obedient to the Father's
will. It was to do that will that He came ; and His life
was the doing of it. "I delight to do thy will, O my

JOHN XIV. 27. 385

God." "Not my will but thine be done." As in all
obedience there is peace, so in obedience to such a will,
from such a being as the Son, there must have been
a peace passing all understanding; a peace altogether
infinite ; a peace proportioned to the entireness and per-
fection of the obedience. Such an obedience had never
been rendered before ; and such a peace had never been
possessed, either on earth or heaven, by man or angel.
It is into this peace that He leads us, peace perfect and
profound j peace not springing from nor proportioned to
our obedience, but to his; the peace of which his obedi-
ence to the Father is at once the foundation and the
measure.

3. It was the peace of one whose peculiar constitution of
person made him partaker of peculiar peace. He was " the
Word made flesh "; Son of God and Son of Man ; and as
such He was a vessel of infinite dimensions ; capable of
containing a peace such as no one else could do. Into
this vessel of infinite capacity all fulness of peace was
poured by the Father ; and out of this vessel, this peace
is poured into us ; not to the same extent, but still in
proportion to our capacity. It is of the divine peace of
the God-man that we are made partakers. What peace
is there like this? As the grapes of Eshcol were of
peculiar delicacy, and the cedars of Lebanon of peculiar
beauty, and the gardens of Solomon of peculiar fertility
and fragrance, so was this peace which filled the Chri&t
of God peculiarly excellent j and of this peculiar peace
He gives his saints the promise, " My peace I give unto
you."

386 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

4. // was the peace of one whose peculiar relationship
to the Father made him possessor of peculiar peace. There
is something in filial peace, the peace of a son, as result-
ing from the connection between his father and himself,
and his own peculiar standing in the house, which cannot
well be described. How much more is this true of the peace
of Him who is the only begotten Son of God *? His must
have been peace as special as it was infinite, the peace
poured into the bosom of the beloved Son by the Father
himself. This is not the peace of a servant, or a friend,
but the peace of a Son, and such a son ! This divine
and filial peace, the peace of the only begotten of the
Father, He makes over to us as his free gift, " My peace
I give unto you." And this becomes all the truer and
more blessed when they to whom He gives the peace are
themselves sons of God ! The Father pours a special
peace from his paternal bosom into the bosom of his
beloved Son ; and that Son pours this special peace into
the bosom of those who are partakers of his sonship,
truly sons of God !

5. // was a peace that could never be destroyed. The
peace is like Himself, and like Him from whom He
receives it, eternal and unchangeable, peace partaking
of his character as the eternal One, the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever. It is peace begun now, given even
here, it is peace to be perpetuated in the eternal king-
dom; peace without end, or interruption, or change
for ever.

Such is Christ's gift to his own ! It is precious, perfect,
divine. It is like himself. It is a peace which passeth

JOHN XIV. 27. 387

all understanding. What a treasure for earth! And
what an earnest of the fuller treasure in store for us when
He comes again. For great as is the peace which He
gives just now, it is nothing to the peace in reserve for us
hereafter. He gives it to his own ; and He bids all men
draw near to become his own ! Come unto me and I
will give you rest, is his first message ; and his second is
like unto it, " My peace I give unto you."

III. The contrast "Not as the world giveth, give I
unto you." In all aspects there is a contrast between
Christ and the world ; with nothing of likeness or sym-
pathy. But it is not of himself that He here speaks, but
of his gifts and manner of giving. Christ's peace and the
world's are opposites ; so are his giving and the world's.

As to the peace - 3

(i.) Christ's peace is perfect, the world's is partial and
imperfect ; no depth, no greatness about it. It is and
has been a poor meagre thing at its best.

(2.) Christ's peace reaches the conscience, the world's
does not. It soothes the conscience asleep, but that is
all. It intoxicates, but gives no rest to the inner man.
It is not the offspring of a purged or pacified conscience.

(3.) Christ's peace is satisfying, the world's unsatisfying.
The peace which comes in any way, from any region
of this evil world, cannot fill. It meets none of our
spirit's cravings and longings. It does not feed our
hunger or quench our thirst. It leaves us as empty as
before. It speaks peace when there is none.

(4.) Christ's peace is steady, the world's wavering.
The world itself is unstable, and so are all its gifts ;

388 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

especially that of peace. This is easily ruffled, easily
broken, ever changing.

(5.) Christ's peace is holy, the world's unholy. Christ's
peace is everlasting, the world's soon ended. At the
longest, the world's peace is but for a lifetime; but seldom
does it last half as long; more generally, a day or an
hour. Eternal peace is Christ's gift !

As to the giving ;

(i.) Christ's giving is free; none of the world's gifts
are such. He gives like himself, and as He gave himself.
The world bargains and sells.

(2.) Christ's giving is genuine; the world's is a pre-
tence. The world wishes us peace; this is its daily
salutation ; but all is hollow. Christ means what He
says when He wishes us peace !

(3.) Christ's giving is ungrudging. The world has no
pleasure in giving; is not generous and loving. Christ
gives as a King, in full-hearted love ; He upbraids not.

(4.) Christ's giving is immediate ; that of the world is
tardy. The world keeps us waiting. Christ does not.
His word is now !

(5.) Christ's giving is irrevocable, the world often takes
back what it gave. His peace is sure, He does not
recall it ; nor shall, for ever.

How vivid the contrast ! Can any one hesitate ir
choosing? To reject the world's false peace and to take
Christ's true peace, is of all things the most reasonable
that can be proposed to man ! Consider the contrast
well, and act accordingly.

IV. The consolation. " Let not your heart be troubled

JOHN XIV. 27. 389

neither let it be afraid." There will be many things to
trouble and terrify in such a world ; a world where all is
hatred, enmity, persecution. But against all this provision
has been made , and that provision is the peace of Christ.
No doubt, He gives other things also for days of trial,
strength, faith, hope, but it is his peace that is the
special antidote, the pre-eminent sustainer and comforter
in evil times.

It is peace ; and it is such a peace ! It keeps the soul
unmoved when the tempest is raging round. It makes
us feel as if hidden in the hollow of Christ's hand;
defended by his shield; embraced by his arm. It is light
in darkness ; it is a strong tower in the midst of assailing
hosts. Let the world reproach or persecute; we have
a peace within which more than meets all its reproaches
and persecutions. Let Antichrist and Satan rage ; the
divine peace within keeps us immoveable. Let bodily
pain assail us ; we are sustained by the peace of Christ.
Let sorrow, bereavement, losses, compass us about; we
are kept calm and cheerful by the peace of Christ. Our
hearts are not troubled with anxiety or trial; nor are they
afraid in the midst of persecution and reviling.

Christ's peace within us, and Christ himself as our
companion by our side, we go forth on our pilgrimage as
men who are in possession of a heavenly charm which
preserves them in patience and tranquillity; which makes
them invincible ; nay, victorious ; more than conquerors
through Him that loved them.

390 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXX.

CHRIST IN HEAVEN, THE CHURCH ON EARTH.

" These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs : but the time
cometh, when I shall no more speak unto yozi in proverbs, biit I shall
show you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name:
and 1 say not unto you, that I will pray the father for yoti: For the
Father himself loveth you, becaiise ye have loved me, and have believed
that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am
come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."
JOHN XVI. 25-28.

r I ^HESE words seem specially to apply to the state of
JL things, both in heaven and on earth, during the
present dispensation. Christ in and from heaven speak-
ing to us plainly of the Father, as well as acting as the
High Priest with Urim and Thummim, inquiring and
interceding for His own. The Church on earth listening
to these revelations- of the Father, and asking in his name.
In the Old Testament, Messiah (for He is the speaker)
spoke in types ; when He was here on earth he spoke in
parables, or hidden words, figures; but since Pentecost
He has spoken " plainly," without a veil or figure. It is
this plain revelation of the Father that we have in the
Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles. During this
dispensation, too, we have the asking in Christ's name
we have Christ's intercession for us ; we have the Father's
special love; and we have the special reasons for thai
special love. Such is a sketch of the passage.

JOHN XVI. 25-28. 391

Taking these words then as referring to the present
dispensation, we see in them (i) Christ in heaven; (2) the
Church on earth.

I. Christ in heaven. He was on earth; but he has
left, and is gone to the Father. It was expedient for us
that he should go away, that he might send the Comforter,
as if both He and the Spirit could not be spared from
heaven at once. But it is not of this mission of the
Comforter that he here speaks. He has gone to heaven.

(i.) As the revealer of the Father. He came to do
this ; He did this while here ; but chiefly in parables,
figures, dark sayings. These were a sort of veil over
what he said regarding the Father, even in his last dis-
courses. But when He went up to heaven all that dim-
ness was gone. From the day of Pentecost there was
the plain and full revelation of the Father. The Spirit
whom He sent down on his apostles, enabling them to
preach and to write, spoke plainly. The Epistles contain
this plain revelation of the Father. There may be in
them something hard to be understood, but still they are
the plainest and fullest revelations of God that man has
had. It is this unfolding of God and his ways and
thoughts that the world so specially needed and needeth
still. Acquaintanceship with God is the removal of the
world's darkness, and the healing of all its wounds. We
look upwards to the heaven of heavens where Jesus is ;
we listen to His voice, and in what He speaks we have
the plain discovery of the Father.

(2.) As the medium of communication between us and
the Father. He is in heaven as Advocate, Intercessor,

392 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

High Priest. As such He carries on the intercourse
between us and God. Through Him we have access
by one Spirit unto the Father. " I say not that I will
pray (or make inquiries for you like the high priest with
Urim and Thummim) the Father ; for the Father himself
loveth you" ; that is, " I need not say that I will thus
act as your High Priest, and yet this is not because the
Father requires to be persuaded to love you; for He
loves you already." Christ, then, is the communicator
between us and God. Whatever we need, let us take it
to Him ; if any man lack wisdom, let us thus ask. Jesus
is our High Priest. Let us deal with him.

II. The Church on earth. Jesus leaves his saints here,
yet He keeps up constant intercourse with them. Heaven
and earth are brought together ; as if all were nearness
and not distance. In this passage we have the Church
on earth.

(i.) Receiving Christ's revelations of the Father. He
speaks, and she listens. His lessons are all of the Father j
and thus she learns from His lips more and more each
day of the Father's character, and ways, and mind, and
works. As a willing listener to what Jesus speaks of the
Father, she goes upon her way here, and does the Father's
work. She learns each day more fully the meaning of
the marvellous words, " God is love ; and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." It is this
revelation of the Father that we preach as glad tidings of
great joy. This fills our hearts and imparts the unearthly
peace, the unworldly joy, which, as believing men, we
possess.

JOHN" XVI. 25-28. 393

(2.) Praying in Christ's name. In a sense that name
had been known from the beginning. The seed of the
woman, with the bruised heel, was known as he through
whom all communications were made between the sinner
and God. On the credit of His name prayer got its
answer all along. Not one petition was accepted, except
in virtue of that name. But still the name was but dimly
known ; and besides it was not known as the name of
Jesus of Nazareth. Henceforth round that name all
prayer was to cluster. In that name it was to be pre-
sented. That name was to bear it aloft. That name was
to secure its success. That name was, by its own omni-
potence, to make every one connected with it omnipotent
too. Christ gives us this name to make use of in all our
dealings with God. We need nothing else. This will
secure the abundant answer. Never let us go to God
without that name j and going with it, let us be confident ;
trusting, not distrusting; believing, not doubting. Let
the virtue, the power, the efficacy of that name be ever
realized. Let us not dishonour it by distrust. He who
goes to God without it, dishonours it. He who professes
to go with it, yet doubts whether it will avail to secure an
answer for his prayers, no less dishonours it. Let the
thought of that name remove all doubt on our part.
That name removes all ground for refusal on the part of
God. It enables him to give full vent to its infinite
liberality and love.

(3.) Enjoying the Father's love. " The Father himself
loveth you." This is no doubtful thing ; but as sure as it
is blessed. It is this love that is the sunshine of life.

394 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

The Father's love ! Yes; it is written, "That the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them." He
loves them as lovers of his Son. He loves them as
believers in the mission of that Son to earth. What love
is there like this 1 ? And what can brighten or sweeten
life like this <\

(4.) Loving the Son. "Ye have loved me." The
Church is the lover of Christ. In an unloving world she
loves Him whom the Father loveth. This marks her out
from all around. To her He is the chief among ten
thousand, and altogether lovely. " My beloved " is the
name she gives Him. What He desires is love, our love.
What He wants is possession of our hearts. The ques-
tion that He asks is " lovest thou me."

(5.) Believing that He came out from God. This is the
first thing, though here it comes last. The Father pre-
sents him to us as His beloved Son j sent from God, to
do the work of God. The first way in which we honour
Him is by receiving Him as the Son, the Sent of the
Father. Our recognition of Him as such brings us into
the circle of discipleship. Believing the Father's testi-
mony to the Son, we ourselves become sons, and as such
receive the fulness of the Father's love.

What think ye then of Christ 1 Dost thou believe that
He is the Son of God ; that He came out from God, and
has gone back to God ; not only as the Father's servant
to do the Father's will, but in love to us, and as the
messenger of the Father's love.

JOHN XVL 33. 395

LXXXI.

TRIBULATION, PEACE, AND VICTORY.

" These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation : lut be of good cheer ; I
have overcome the world" JOHN XVI. 33.

HERE are four special points, the peace, the tribu-
lation, the victory, the cheer. It is Christ himself
who is the speaker of these words. He speaks them to
us. Let us listen.

i. The peace. Peace is the great Bible subject ; the
burden of God's message to men. Peace on earth ; peace
with God ; the peace of conscious reconciliation. But it
is not so much " peace with God " that is here referred
to, as " the peace of God " ; not the peace obtained by
receiving the embassy of peace, the reconciliation, but the
peace of the reconciled soul. Into this region of peace
reconciliation is the entrance. Here no wrath can reach
us, no storm can ruffle us, no terror can appal us ; we are
" kept in perfect peace " ; " the peace of God rules in our
hearts," and is perpetual sunshine, like an island of bright
verdure in the midst of a stormy sea. It is peace in
Christ ; not out of Him, nor apart from Him, but IN Him.
It flows out of Him to us j or rather we are in Him, and
so get that peace. We get it by means of his words j
" These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye
might have peace." His words are the words of peace.

396 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

The soul that listens to these words drinks in the peace,
or, we may say, breathes the air of peace. Look at his
words, "Let not your heart be troubled"; "In my Father's
house are many mansions j " " The Father coming in and
abiding ; " the love of the Father ; the little while ; the
coming joy. Yes, every word is loaded with peace ; his
own peace ; the Father's peace the Spirit's peace ; the
peace of heaven ; peace even here on an earth, where all
is trouble and disquiet.

II. The tribulation. Though not of the world, we are
in it still. We are partakers of its sorrows, though not of
its sins. And besides, the men of the world hate us and
trouble us, as they hated and troubled our Master. So
that we have tribulation both in and from -the world. The
prince and god of this world is against us, and assails us
on every side, as the old serpent, the tempter, the roaring
lion, the ruler of the darkness of this world. Our separa-
tion from it, and non-conformity to it, make it the more
hostile. It will not let us alone. It is a waste howling
wilderness ; a land of storms, and barrenness, and enemies,
and thorns, and briars. The law of the Church's present,
state is " tribulation " ; " Through much tribulation we
must enter the kingdom ; " " These are they which came
out of great tribulation." There is the weakness of this
" vile body " : weariness, vexation, disappointment, be-
reavement, breaking of ties, farewells and partings, bodily
diseases, pain, affliction, poverty, loss, disaster, straitened
circumstances, persecutions, coldness, hatred, the sneer
and taunt, of these things the world is full. Its atmos-
phere is impregnated with the evil, and sadness, and

JOHN XVI. 33. 397

gloom. Thus has it been from the beginning ; we see it
in Abel, Noah, Joseph, Moses, David, Jeremiah, and all
the saints. It is the Church's portion here. It was the
portion of her head. He was a man of sorrows. And
all this not because of inconsistency, but consistency ;
the more we are unlike the world, the more it hates us ;
the more we are like the Lord, the more will the world
persecute us. The seed of the woman and the seed of
the serpent cannot agree or love. Hence we must come
out from it j stand aloof, whatever may be the conse-
quences. And this non-conformity, this quarrel between
us and the world, only makes us long more for the day
of the great advent Tribulation makes us long for the
coming ; death makes us long for resurrection ; weariness
makes us long for rest ; partings make us long for meet-
ings. Thus we look for, and hasten unto, the coming of
the day of God, the ending of the sorrow, the beginning
of the joy.

III. The victory. " I have overcome the world." It
is a powerful world, but not all-powerful. It has been
fought with and overcome. One greater than it, or than
its prince, has come and vanquished it. The world did
its utmost in this battle, but the Son of God prevailed.
The seed of the woman bruised the serpent's head. Noah
condemned the world, but Christ overcame it. It has
now no longer any power left to it but what He permits.
He overcame it both by weakness and by strength ; He
slew death by dying ; He conquered Satan, the god of
this world, by allowing Satan to conquer Him. He did
it alone. None could help Him in such a battle. Yet

398 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

the victory was complete, final, and irreversible. He is
the conqueror; and, as the conquerer, led captivity
captive. When He comes again, the victory will be
manifested ; now we only know it by faith. God has
proclaimed the victory of his Son both in heaven and
earth, but the world believes it not. Yet the victory was
great and glorious. It was a victory which decided
the long battle between heaven and hell ; between God
and Satan ; between the Church and the spiritual weak-
ness in high places.

IV. The cheer. Be of good cheer or courage. Be not
afraid of the world, or its prince, or its tribulations.

(i.) It is a conquered world. Not in its full strength
or flushed with victory, but routed, discomfited. Even
at its strongest it had but creature strength, and "Who art
thou that [thou shpuldest be afraid of a man that shall
die?" It is now creature-weakness ; a broken world. Be
of good cheer !

(2.) It is conquered for you. The victor fought your
fight and won your victory. The world is his foe and
yours ; as both He fought and won ; He was a leader
and commander to the people, the Captain of your salva-
tion. It was you He had in view when He was fighting.
He will make you more than conqueror. Be of good
cheer.

(3.) // is conquered by Christ. Conquered by your
Saviour, your friend. The conqueror is almighty, and
his victory has been acknowledged by the Father. It
was Jesus who fought and won. Be of good cheer.

Not merely do not yield to despondency, like Elijah

JOHN XVI. 33. 399

and Jonah, but rejoice and be exceeding glad. Be cheer-
ful in days of darkness. You have still a battle which
you must fight cheerfully and hopefully. It is "that
which is behind of Christ's battle," the last relics of the
fight. Fight, and yield not. Love not the world, but
contend against it. Be faithful to death j the promise is
to him that overcometh.

400 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXXII.

THE DECLARATION OF THE FATHER'S NAME.

"

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it ;
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in
. JOHN XVII. 26.

HERE is (i.), the name; (2.) the Declarer of it;
(3.) the end or object of this declaration.
I. The name. It is the Father's name; the name of
Godhead. The name of a thing expresses its qualities
and characteristics. The name of a person of old did the
same. So the name of God is that which reveals
the mind, and heart, and character of God. ' The
name of God is manifold, bringing out various aspects
of Godhead. This name may be read on the works
of God ; this world He created ; sun, moon, and
stars. But the word contains the name more fully :
"Thou hast magnified thy word, above all thy name."
But there are portions of the word in which the name is
summed up, as in Exod. xxxiv. 6 : " The Lord, the Lord
God, merciful and gracious." And this especially was
that which the Son of God came to declare. That name
of grace shone out legibly and brightly in Him. He came
in the Father's name, to reveal that name ; to embody it
in His person, so that every one who saw or heard Him,
might see and hear the name. " God is love" ; " God
rich in mercy"; "God loved the world," these are
fragments, or letters, or syllables of the great name.

JOHN XVII. 26. 401

II. The Declarer of it. Man had often tried to utter
the name of God, but had failed. He could not compre-
hend it, and he could not utter it, nor make it known. There
was but stammering and distortion. Only He could utter
it who came from the Father, and who knew Him, as only
the Son could do. He came to earth as the revealer of
the Father, and the Father's name. He knew that name
well ; and when He said, " Abba, Father," and " right-
eous Father," and " holy Father," and " our Father," He
spoke as one who knew it ; as one who was seeking to
make others know it, and so to be partakers of His con-
fidence and joy. But how, and when, and where did He
declare it ? In every way, at every time, and in every
place during his sojourn here. As every star, and leaf,
and flower, and mountain, and stream are, in their pro-
vince, declarers of the name of God, so (only much
more) were each look, and word, and deed, and step
of the Lord Jesus declarers of the Father's name. He
declared it,

(i.) By His birth. Bethlehem was the first place made
to echo with the Father's name. The lowly birth, the
stable, the manger, all said, " God is love."

(2.) By his private life. His thirty years at Nazareth
were all, though in ways unknown to us, declarers of the
Father's names. These unrecorded years were not wholly
silent nor inarticulate. They said, " God is love."

(3.) His words. They are few in comparison with what
might have been received. Yet they are enough to
declare the name most fully. Each word He spoke is a
revelation of the Father. It tells us something of the

402 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

mind and heart of God, which otherwise we could not
have known. It says to us, " God is love."

(4.) His deeds. His life was one of miracles ; and all
of these illustrative of the Father's character ; all of them
utterances of the Father's name. Each of them spoke
out articulately, and said, " God is love."

(5.) His death and resurrection. His cross and grave,
each of them in its own way, declared the Father's name."
He who came to die, and to rise, did so because " God
so loved the world." How clearly, how loudly, how fully,
did the death and resurrection of the Son of God proclaim,
" God is love."

In all these ways He was the declarer of the Father's
name ; the revealer of His character : the embodiment, as
well as the proclamation of His grace. And He not only
says, " I have declared" but "I will declare"; as if all
the future as well as all the past were to be one glorious
declaration of the divine name. That declaration is not
done. It is now going on in heaven. It will go on on earth
again when He returns to make all things new. Then
God's name shall not only be revealed, but "hallowed" ;
and on the forehead of the redeemed is to be written in
the ages to come. " their Father's name." Throughout
the ages of the eternal kingdom, that name shall continue
to be declared, on earth and in heaven. That name is
what the creature needs to know; specially what man
needs to know. In it are wrapt up the blessedness, the
glory of the universe.

III. The end and object of this declaration. " That the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I

JOHN XVII. 26. 403

in them." The declaration of the Father's name is for
our sakeSj that we through the knowledge of that name
might have the fulness of the Father's love poured into us,
and that Christ Himself might make his abode with -us.
It is not directly of the love of the Father to us that Christ
here speaks, but the love of the Father to Himself, " the
love wherewith thou hast loved me." Elsewhere He
speaks of this love as one with, or commensurate with, His
own to us : "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved
you." But here it is of the Father's love to the Son as
poured into us through the knowledge of the divine name
as given us by Christ, that He is speaking to us, so that
the result of Christ's revelation of the Father's name, or
rather of our believing that revelation, would be twofold.

(i.) The Father's love to the Son would come in to us.
What a love ! In His case it was all merited ; in ours,
unmerited; but still, not the less is it true and boundless.
It comes in and dwells in us. It is shed abroad in our
hearts through the Holy Ghost ; and thus we are filled
with all the fulness of God.

(2.) Christ'Himself would come in to us. He would abide
with us and fill us. Through the knowledge which He
gives us of the Father's name, He himself comes in to us !
How simple, how immediate, and how free. Believing
Christ's revelation of the Father's name, we get all Christ
Himself,

404 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXXIII.
RITUALISM AND THE CROSS.

" Then led they Jestis from Caiaphas unto the hall of jiidgment ;
and it was early ; and they themselves went not into the judgment-hall,
lest they should be dejiled; but that they might eat the fiassover" JOHN
XVIII. 28.

'HpHESE " rulers of the Jews " and trie multitude that
JL followed them, were thorough "Ritualists." It
was their Ritualism that urged them on to crucify the Son
of God. For Christ and Ritualism are opposed to each
other as light is to darkness. The true cross in which
Paul gloried, and the cross in which modern ceremonialists
glory, have no resemblance to each other. The cross and
the crucifix cannot agree. Either ritualism will banish
Christ, or Christ will banish ritualism. They cannot
possibly co-exist.

It is the ritualism of these Jews, Pharisees, and
Scribes, and Priests, that comes out here. - It was this
that kept them out of Pilate's hall, for the touch of a
Gentile, or anything belonging to a Gentile, would pollute
them. They could not, in that case, eat the Passover.
And the Passover was simply to them a rite by which
they thought to recommend themselves to God and
pacify their own consciences. It was their God, their
Messiah, their Saviour, their religion.

Ritualism, or sacerdotalism, or externalism, or tradi-

JOHN XVIII. 28. 405

tionalism, are all different forms of self-righteousness;
man's self-invented ways of pleasing or appeasing God,
or paying for admittance into the kingdom. And these
forms of self-righteousness are also forms of religious
materialism, devout externalism. They are a human
apparatus or machinery for performing a certain thing
called worship, or procuring a thing called pardon ; they ^
are the means by which the performer of them hopes to
win God's favour, perhaps, also, man's praise, most
certainly, his own esteem.

If there could be a righteousness or merit from any
kind of human peiformances, it would have been under
the Cld Testament, for then all the ceremonies were
divine. Man did not originate or invent them. They
were all ordained by God. Awful as was the mistake of
the Jew in making a saviour or a righteousness of these,
it was not half so awful or so unnatural as making a
saviour or a righteousness out of the performance of
certain rites called Christian, invented wholly by man,
without God's command, nay, in defiance of it. And
every act, or performance, or ceremony, that honours self,
exalts self, gives prominence to self, is an accursed thing ;
an abomination in the sight of God, however religious, or
sacred, or solemn, or devout, it may seem to man.

It is to self-righteousness in some form or other that
man is always tending ; under Christianity no less than
under Judaism. On the one hand, we see men trying to
believe that human nature is not so very bad after all ;
and on the other, men professing to believe that it is bad,
trying to make up for this badness, or to cover it over, by

406 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

works, and devotions, and ceremonies. All this is pure
self-righteousness.

The touch-stone of this ritualism, or religionism, or
self-righteousness, is the true cross of Christ. Let us
look- at it in this light; especially as exhibited in the
narrative under notice; for here it is that, for the first
time, self-iighteousness comes in direct contact with the
cross.

I. T7ie religion of self-righteousness. In the case of
these Jews it was keeping the passover; observing a
feast. That was religion ! It was all the religion they
had : it was their all for acceptance with God ; their all
for eternity. Their answer to the Judge at the judgment-
seat would be, "I kept your passovers." As if there
were any religion in eating and drinking ! The religion
of self-righteousness in our day is like this; works,
feelings, fancies, music, rites, festivals, fasts, gestures,
postures, garments; that is religion! It is something
which gratifies self; which pleases the natural man;
which makes a man think well of himself ; which gives a
man something to do or to feel in order to earn pardon
and merit heaven.

II. The scruples of self -righteousness. These Jews
would not enter a Gentile hall. The touch of its floor or
walls would be pollution. Religion and irreligion were
to them something outward; something with which the
body, not the soul, had to do. After touching these, or
breathing such air, they would themselves be defiled.
Their scruples all turned on their own self-esteem. Pride,
religious pride, was at the root. They were thoroughly

JOHN XVIII. 28. 407

blind to all that constituted real pollution, and saw only
the false. They were scrupulous about entering a Gentile
hall, when yet they were seeking to slay a righteous man,
nay, to crucify the Lord of glory. What was the value of
such scruples] What was their meaning? These men
could swallow the camel while they were straining out a
gnat. They could murder the innocent; yet they were
too holy to set their foot on a Gentile floor. Such is the
way in which self-righteousness acts itself out ! Such is
the pride of ecclesiastical caste !

III. The deeds of self -righteousness. These were many.
Some looked very religious, fasting, praying, almsgiving,
Others not so. In the present case, the great deed of
self-righteousness is the crucifying of the Lord of glory.
That cross was the monument of self-righteousness. It
was this that cried, Away with him ; crucify him ; not this
man but Barabbas. So with modern self-righteousness in
every form ; especially in the form of ritualism and for-
malism. It is ever against Christ that self-righteousness
shews its hatred, and aims its strokes. Ritualism is man's
expression of dislike to Christ. It is the modern way of
crucifying Christ afresh, and putting Him to an open
shame.

IV. The connection between this deed and the religion.
Christ and self-righteousness cannot be on terms of friend-
ship, for Christ, in his grace and finished work and free
salvation, is wholly antagonistic to all forms of self-
righteousness. The Jews felt that He was crossing their
path, that He was hewing down their temple, that He
was utterly making void all their religion; and hence

408 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

they hated Him; hence they crucified Him. It was
self-righteous religion that crucified the Son of God.

All rites and ceremonies, whether old or new, are man's
ways of getting rid of Christ. They get rid of real
religion by means of that which looks like religion, but
which is not religion at all. What .can all these things
do ? Can they save ? Can postures save ? Can dresses
save? Can candles, lighted or unlighted, save*? Can
music save? Can architecture save? Can cathedrals
save ? Nay, can they even point the way to Jesus ? Do
they not lead away from Him ? Do they not make void
the cross, and trample on the blood 2

JOHN XIX. ii. 409

LXXXIV.
THE GREATER SIN.

" Thou couldest have no power at all against me, e**ept it were
given theefrom above: therefore he that delivered me unto tkee hath
theg r eater sin. " JOHN XIX. 1 1 .

'"T^HESE words are directed against the Jews, though
JL spoken to Pilate. They are a declaration of the
great guilt of the Jewish nation and its rulers, in asking
Pilate to exercise his God-given authority against the Son
of God. Pilate has not yet committed the sin of con-
demning Christ; he was urged to it; he hesitated; he
shrunk from it ; and our Lord here utters the words of
warning, to deter him from the consummation of his great
crime. " Not the Roman emperor, but my Father ; not
the people, but my Father, gave you this power, and set
jyou in that place where you have now to judge me, His
*Sbn ; and these, His enemies and mine, are now asking
you to exercise this power given you from above against
me, the Son of God, who came from above." As when
speaking to Simon (Luke vii. 44) he turned to the woman,
so here, when speaking to Pilate, he turned to the Jews.

The sin here spoken of is not so much Pilate's as
Israel's. He did what he did "ignorantly and in un-
belief " ; they knew, he knew not ; he thought he was only
exercising his lawful power in the usual way, as a Roman
governor. Israel knew the Scriptures concerning Messiah;

410 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Pilate did not ; and the " greater sin " was committed by
men who, with the Scriptures in their hand, called on him
who had not these Scriptures to condemn their own
Messiah.

This power of Pilate was acknowledged by the Jews,
by Judas, by Annas, by Caiaphas. They appealed to
him as one who had the power to "crucify" and to
" release." Hence their sin, their special sin ; their
" greater sin," greater than in any ordinary case, greater
than that of Pilate. It was " greater sin," because they
knew what they did ; and because they were making use
of the God-given power of another, as well as taking
advantage of his ignorance, to perpetrate a crime, whichj
in its lowest aspect, was the condemnation of the innocent,
in its highest, the condemnation of their own Messiah,
the Son of the living God.

Pilate's power was "from above," (i) as governor.
There is no power but of God, the powers that be are
ordained of God ; the source of earthly power is heavenly ;
not in man or from man, but from the King of kings, the
Prince of the kings of the earth. The recognition of this
lies at the root of all true politics. Earthly crowns and
thrones and sceptres are thus linked with that one
heavenly crown and throne and sceptre. Kings and
magistrates are, by reason of their office, responsible to
God. Not personally , as other men merely ; but officially,
as rulers, they are directly responsible. It is just because
of their office that they are so peculiarly accountable, and
so solemnly bound to do everything to the glory of God.
It is 'just because of their office, and not merely as other

JOHN XIX. ii. 4"

men< that they are bound to consecrate everything which
their office gives them power over to the service of Him
from whom they have received their power. (2.) As a
Gentile governor. The Jews had, for their sins, been
given over to Gentile dominion, till the times of the
Gentiles should be fulfilled. So that in a double sense
Pilate's power was not his own, nor from Rome, nor from
the people. In a double sense it came from God, and
was therefore to be specially used for God. He might
not know all this ; but Israel knew it ; for their prophets,
Daniel especially, had taught them this ; and therefore
they had the "greater sin." That God's purpose em-
braced something more than this, and had reference to
the crucifixion of Messiah, is true ; but that the appeal here
made by our Lord to Pilate, though having special refer-
ence to Himself, is founded on a broader and more
general truth seems evident.

(i.) Even a lad marts poiver is from God. Our Lord
affirms this of Pilate ; and of Pilate when using that power
for the perpetration of the greatest crime ever committed
in our world. Let no one therefore point to the crimes
of kings, or the sins of magistrates, and say, Can the power
of these men be given them from above 1 Look at Pilate.
Listen to our Lord's words ; or hear Paul when, in the
days of Nero, he said (referring to the words of our
Lord), "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers"
(e%ovafai$ vqsgsysouaais, authorities holding from above) ;
and when he proclaims civil government to be "the
ordinance of God " ; nay, when he calls the monarch or
magistrate " the minister of God."

412 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

(2.) His using his God-given power for a bad purpose is
allowed of God. He is free to act ; but he is responsible
to God for his actings. God overrules his wickedness,
and employs him as His instrument for carrying out his
purposes. He ought to use his power for a good purpose;
not for condemning the Son of God, but for honouring
Him ; and when he abuses his authority, he is doubly
guilty ; though that guilt is made use of by God for the
development of His own purposes, as in the death of His
own Son at the hands of Pilate. That the power which
Pilate used was conferred by God only, made his act, as
well as that of the Jews, the more criminal. What a
reckoning is at hand with the kings of earth, for the
abuse of their power ! (See Psalm Ixxxii.)

(3.) God makes him His instrument. He is free. He
might use his power for a good purpose ; yet even when
he uses it for a bad one, he is overruled of God. It is
God's " determinate counsel " that comes out here (Acts
ii. 23). Like Pharaoh working out Israel's deliverance,
so is Pilate here working out the Church's deliverance,
according to the purpose of God.

The following truths come out here,

(i.) The thing which Pilate was preparing to do would
have 1)een sin in any circumstances ; even if his power was
not given from above. It was the condemnation of an
innocent man. It was might trampling on right.

(2.) // was greater sin, because the power was from
above. It was abusing, for unrighteousness, the power
received from the God of righteousness.

(3.) It was still greater sin to use this God-given power

JOHN XIX. ii. 413

to crucify the Son of God. The moment man gets into power,
he uses it against God and against his Christ.

(4.) // was yet- greater sin in Israel to deliver up their
own Messiah to be crucified by him who had this power.
It was as much as calling on God to crucify his own Son.
It was daring sin, committed with their eyes open.
Pilate's sin was great j Israel's was greater far. Pilate,
beware of thy sin, for it is great ; Israel, beware of thy
sin, for it is far greater. Thus He warns both at once ;
and bids them beware of the sin of crucifying the Lord
of glory.

BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

LXXXV.

CHRIST'S WORK IN HEAVEN, AND OURS ON

EARTH.

" Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to
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."
JOHN XX. 17.

^ I A HIS passage is very generally taken to mean, " Do
J- not so cling to me, you will have other oppor-
tunities of meeting me, for I shall not be going to my
Father for some time yet." But (i) it is doubtful whether
"touch" can mean this; (2) this meaning does not accord
with the reason, which is " I have not yet gone," not " I
am not yet going" j (3) the treatment of Thomas, who was
allowed to touch, is at variance with this.

Looking into the words, we shall discover a truer
sense. The command is, " touch me not " ; the reason
is, " I am not yet ascended," &c. Very little had passed
between the Lord and Mary. He had said, "Mary";
she had replied, " Rabboni," accompanying the word with
some significant look and gesture, which the Lord quite
understood. To this look and gesture, or rather to the
thought which they indicated, our Lord replies. For it
was his custom to direct his answers to the thoughts more

/. *- J

than" to the words of his disciples ; Luke ix. 47, " Jesus
perceiving the thought of their heart."

JOHN XX. 17. 415

Christ's words, then, are directed to Mary's thought.
She had sprang forward to embrace Him, under the
impression that all He had spoken of before his death
was now done ; that He had been to the Father, and
that He was now come again to receive his own to Him-
self. " Now all is fulfilled," she thought " He has returned
from the Father ; He is going to take us to his kingdom ;
we shall be for ever with Him." No, not yet, is Christ's
answer ; you speak and act as if all were done. Not so.
I have more work to do, and you have more work to do ;
we must separate again; I to do my work, you to do
yours.

There is a remarkable difference between Mary's case
and that of Thomas. She believed too much ; he too
little. She was all faith, faith too hasty in its conclu-
sions ; he was all unbelief, unbelief refusing to believe
even that this was his Master. Her too eager faith is
corrected by the Touch me not, but Go, &c. ; his unbelief
is removed by the " Reach hither thy hand," &c. Each
is treated with marvellous wisdom, and gentleness, and
love. How unlike man's way of dealing ! He would
have said to faith, Touch me j to unbelief, Touch me not.
But the skill of the divine physician is as conspicuous in
his treatment of the two cases as is his love.

The mistake which is here corrected by the Lord, is a
very natural one, and of a very blessed kind. It is simply
that of too great eagerness ; ante-dating the joy of the
kingdom, of the marriage-feast ; saying too soon, " the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone," &c. It is a
mistake not so common with us as with the early

416 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Christians, who, like Mary, seemed to be every moment
counting on entering into the joy of the Lord.

The substance, then, of the Lord's exhortation is, " be
calm and patient j he that believeth doth not make haste ;
/ have work to do, which must be done before we sit
down together in my Father's house ; and you the same.
Let us consider these two things then, Christ's work,
our work.

I. Christ's work. He has gone to the Father ; He is
now at his right hand ; and when, that work is done we
shall be admitted to touch Him ; admitted to his joy ; to
drink the new wine with Him in his kingdom. What,
then, is the work He has gone to do 1 He has gone

(i.) To get the Spirit for us. Not till He was glorified
was the Spirit given in its fulness. Now He has received
for us the promise of the Father, gifts for men. He is
now the possessor and dispenser of the Holy Ghost.

(2.) To intercede for us. His work of intercession is
now going on in heaven j He ever liveth to intercede for
us j He is our advocate with the Father ; our forerunner,
appearing in the presence of God for us.

(3.) To prepare a place for us. In his Father's house
are many mansions ; more than enough for the great
multitude that no man can number. In these He has
gone to prepare a place for us. What that preparation is
we know not j how long it may take we know not. But
it is going on just now and when it is done He will
come again and receive us to Himself, that where He is
there we may be also.

(4.) To give repentance and forgiveness. For this

JOffN XX. I7\ 417

specially He is exalted. This work He has been carry-
ing on since Pentecost, when the first instalment was
exhibited. He is doing it daily still.

Thus, then, He cautions us, be calm, be patient,
haste not, fret not; I have gone to do my work. It
must be done, and then no more delay.

II. Our work. Touch me not, said the Lord, but go,
go and tell. Mary hasted, and did what her Lord
commanded. She had something else to do than touch-
ing or enjoying. She had work. So have we. We
have

(i.) Work for ourselves. It is work expressed in such
exhortations as these : follow me, take up your cross,
deny self, work while it is day, let your light shine, grow
in grace, pray without ceasing.

(2.) Work for the church. We are members of one
body, helping each other, bearing each other's burdens,
comforting each other, strengthening each other's hands,
binding up each other's wounds, supplying each other's
wants.

(3.) Work for the world. We are called out of the
world, not to take no interest in it, but to pity and pray
for it. Let our eye be on dying men ; seeking to save
them, pulling them out of the fire, reproving, warning,
inviting, beseeching. We have much of this work to do,
and little time to do it in.

Christ's work in heaven and ours on earth will soon be
done. Then it will no longer be, Touch me not ; but, Come
ye blessed. We shall sit down under his shadow j He
shall say, Come with me from Lebanon ; open to me my

418 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

sister, my love; and it shall be said, Who is this that
corneth up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved ;
and we shall say, Let Him kiss me with the kisses of his
mouth. Then shall we touch Him without rebuke, sitting
down with Him at the marriage supper, and shall ever be
for ever with the Lord.

JOHN XXL 5. 419

LXXXVI.
THE TENDER LOVE OF THE RISEN CHRIST.

" Children, have ye any meat?" JOHN XXI. 5*

IT was a risen Christ that put this question ; thus He
is shewn to be the same Saviour still; cross and
grave have not quenched His love ; nor has resurrection
made Him forget them, or raised Him above sympathy
with them.

The question pertained to the wants of the body. His
resurrection-body was still in sympathy with their body.
He felt their pain, and want, and cold, and hunger, just
as He did before. The higher He rose, the deeper and
more perfect were His sympathies. He could hunger no
more, neither thirst any more, nor be weary more ; yet all
this but made Him the more keenly alive to such suffer-
ings and privations in His brethren.

The question which He put is one which He did not
need to put; He could have answered it Himself; He
knew they had no meat, that all the night they had
toiled, but caught nothing. Yet He wishes to speak to
them as a man, as a friend interested in their welfare.
That question is His method of approaching them ; His
morning salutation ; the first link between them ; the
going out of His heart to call out theirs. He awakens
their confidence, as a stranger, an unknown friend ; and
then, ere they are aware, the stranger-dress is dropt, and

420 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

Jesus, their Master, is revealed. Blessed surprise ! Such
as that with Mary at the tomb j such as that with the dis-
ciples on the Emmaus road ; as if He delighted in these
surprises of love. Man all over in everything but sin,
both before and after his resurrection.

The question here indicates such things as these,
watchfulness, pity, bounty \ and though these were exhi-
bited in connection with bodily need, not the less are they
found in Him, in connection with the soul and its deeper,
more eternal wants, and in connection with the church,
His body, and her infinite wants. Let us note then,

I. The watchfulness of the risen Christ. He looks down
on His flock, and marks each sheep and lamb with more
than a shepherd's eye. The glory, the blessedness, the
abundance with which He is surrounded, do not make
Him unwatchful. Amid His own plenty, He remembers
the poverty, and hunger, and cold, and nakedness of His
scattered flock below. He watches each one. The want
of one meal for the body was observed by Him, that
morning 'in Galilee , we may be sure that He marks the
want of sustenance, whether for soul or body, in the least
of his members. Poor saint, you never lacked a meal, a
crust, but Jesus noticed it, and asked the question, on pur-
pose to supply your want, " My child, have you any
meat ?" You never lacked even one spiritual meal, at any
time, but He put the same question. He watches the
hunger and thirst of His church on earth, and is unceas-
ingly putting the question to it, to each congregation,-
to each saint : Children, have ye any meat ? Nothing
escapes his vigilant eye. " I know thy poverty," He says ;

JOHN XXL -5. 421

I know thy hunger, thy thirst, thy weariness, thy weakness,
thy sighs and tears.

II. The pity of the risen Christ. "I have compassion
on the multitudes," He once said, "because they have con-
tinued with me three days, and have nothing to eat."
Such was His pity before His resurrection. Our text
shews us His pity after it. And we are sure that the throne
has not lessened that pity. He pities His church's hunger
and leanness j each saint's hunger and leanness. It is in
profoundest pity that he asks the question of each of us,
Children, have ye any meat ? Surrounded by the abund-
ance in His Father's house above, he pities us in this wil-
derness, this land of famine, where want compasses us
about. Oh let us learn the compassion of the risen and
ascended Christ. Let us trust it in every hour of want.
Never did earthly father pity a starving child as He
pities us.

III. The bounty of the risen Christ. His is no empty
pity. He does not say merely, Be ye warmed and filled.
He at once opens his treasure-house, and supplies us, as
Joseph his brethren. His stores are boundless. He has
bread enough and to spare. He has no pleasure in
our hunger. He delights to pour out His plenty; nay,
and to provide channels for its flowing down to us,
as in the case of His disciples, when He filled their
nets, and kindled the fire, and prepared the meal
with His own hands. He opens his hands, and supplies
every want. He replenishes the church's basket and
store. He fills the cruse and meal barrel of his widowed
church here in the day of famine. And this is His voice

4 22 BIBLE THOUGHTS AND THEMES.

to her now, His voice in every age, His voice in these
last days : " Children, have ye any meat 1 " Perhaps we
have to answer, No. There is cleanness of teeth; a
famine, not of bread, nor water, but of hearing the words
of the Lord (Amos viii. n). No ; we are famishing ; our
spiritual meals are scanty ; our leanness, our leanness !
Then He comes and spreads a table in the wilderness.
He feeds us with the finest of the wheat. He gives us
His own flesh to eat ; and His flesh is meat indeed.
Such is His tender love, His infinite bounty.

After He has fed them, and thus renewed the tokens of
His love and care ; after that, in silent awe, they had
feasted together by that wondrous lake, He breaks silence
by putting the question, " Loves thou me ?" He puts it
to the most jealous of His disciples, much more to all of
us. And this is the sound of His voice, which we now
hear, putting to us the question, " Lovest thou me?"
What is our answer? We said at once, No, when He
asked about our food ; shall we not as explicitly say, Yes,
when He asks, " Lovest thou me ? "

JAN I*?

MAR 2

Jt/ /" J

*S- i * .f \,

~- ~~*i -~-r^---- >r.-.v&'- V