Christ our life: in its origin, law, and end

\ v

*>— WHO I

"ZLFHK

CHRIST OUR LIFE:

IN

ITS ORIGIN, LAW, AND END.

BY

JOSEPH ANGUS, D.U

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ^SliT'C-^OCtrXT.

: J V

"Christ . . . our life." " To me to live is Christ." — Col. iii. 4 : Phil. i. 21.

PHILADELPHIA :
AMEKICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,

1420 CHESTNUT STREET.

scHbt

THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY

741119

ASTOR, LENOX AND

TILDEN FOUNDAT IONS

R 1916 L

Entered according to Act of Congress., in the year 1853, by the

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,

In the Clerk's O/nce of the District Court of the United States, in
: « ■ ,^nd for .the Eastern District of Pennsyly&nia.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In republishing the following work the American Baptist Publi-
cation Society has been influenced by several independent consider-
ations. Its peculiar design, so far from giving it a limited local
bearing, has given it a peculiarly broad and catholic character,
adapted to intelligent minds in every region of the earth, in every
condition of culture or of creed. It also imparts a comprehensive-
ness to its plans, and a freshness of view in its execution. Its
general merit is sufficiently attested by the unanimous decision of
the Committee — all of them members of the Church of England —
after an examination of sixty-four manuscripts. Its Author, Dr.
Angus, late Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, is now
President of Stepney College, London.

In the Editorial revision of the work for the American public,
very few changes have been required or admitted. The style is
distinguished by its clearness and classic beauty. Wherever any
difference of judgment of sufficient moment occurred, the Editor
has preferred to express it in the Notes. The Editor's Notes are
distinguished from those of the Author by the initials — J. N. B.

For general reading, for the aid of the young theological student,
for Bible Classes, and for Sabbath School Teachers in particular,
this volume will be found a peculiar treasure. Christ, in His vari-
ous interesting relations, is the centre, the soul, and the glory of
the book. It is a book for the whole world — and especially so in
these times of expanding knowledge, of commercial and missionary
movement, and of almost universal transition to a new and better
order of things.

(3)

TO THE UNKNOWN FRIEND

(WITH WHOSE GENEROUS LIBERALITY THIS ESSAY ORIGINATE!))

AND

TO ALL OF EVERY NAME

WHO HAVE RECEIVED FROM CHRIST A MISSION 'FOR THE OBEDIENCE Of

FAITH AMONG ALL NATIONS'

THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

PREFACE.

The following pages originated in the public appli-
cation of a gentleman in the civil service of the East
India Company for an " Essay ox the Life of
Christ, adapted to missionary purposes, and suitable
for translation into the vernacular languages of
India."

The subjects recommended for special discussion
and illustration were: — The Original Deity of the
Son of God : The circumstances of His life and death,
so as to show the wonders of His love in the work of
redemption, and the sinfulness of sin : The glorious
exaltation of Christ, and His second coming : the
whole being intended to exhibit most forcibly to the
minds of intelligent heathen the wonderful character
of the Son of God.

A nobler theme never occupied the pen or heart
of man !

When the writer's attention was called to this
announcement, the condition of the heathen and of
India had long occupied his thoughts ; and he was
at the time engaged in reading the life of our Lord
with a class of students entrusted to his care. His
own mind had been profoundly impressed with the
richness and depth of the Gospel narrative, and he
was induced to set forth his conceptions of it in the

1* (5)

6 PREFACE.

following form. The Essay was sent in to the adju-
dicators— the Kev. Professor Scholefield, of the Uni-
versity of Cambridge; the Eev. John Tucker, Secre-
tary of the Church Missionary Society ; and the Kev.
Thomas Sale, now Vicar of Sheffield — and of the
sixty-four submitted to them, it was declared by their
unanimous decision to be the best adapted for the
purpose contemplated by the advertiser.

In the narrative of the Gospels, the writer has
adopted the arrangement of Dr. Eobinson of New
York, deeming it on the whole the most satisfactory
that has been published. In the sections on " Christ
incarnate a Saviour through suffering," and on
" Christ crucified afresh," he has availed himself of
sermons by Dr. Wayland, of Brown University,
Ehode Island; and the late Kev. Professor Butler,
of Dublin. In both sections he has given little more
than their thoughts in his own words, and in such
order as seemed best suited to the special design of
the volume.

If these pages succeed in calling attention to the
devout study of our Lord's life, the writer can from
experience promise to such readers an ample recom-
pense; and he will himself feel that, so far as' this
country is concerned, his end is gained.

CONTENTS.

PAGfl

Chapter I. Introductory . . . . ,9

Sect. 1. Different families but one blood . . .

2. Progress in error .....

3. Resuits moral and practical . . . .

4. Palestine tbe scene of the labors of the Messiah

5. The Gospels the record of His life . .

Chapter II. The Birth and Childhood of Christ

Sect. 1. Events connected with the birth and childhood of our
Lord ......

2. Christ perfect man and perfect God . .

3. The fullness of time ....

4. State of the Jews when the Messiah appeared .

2. The Temptation, and John's second testimony concern-

ing Christ

3. The beginning of signs

4. Christ's first public act

5. Christ's first discourse

6. Christ's first journey

7. The first rejection of Christ by his countrymen .

8. Christ incarnate' the revelation of God and the model of

holiness ......

9. Christ incarnate a Saviour through suffering

00

11

16
27
37
43

53

55

61

70
79

Chapter III. Events connected with Christ's entrance on-

His personal Ministry . . . . 87

Sect. 1. The mission of John, and his testimony concerning
Christ

89

95
102
111

112
120
127

131
133

8 CONTENTS.

PAGE

Chapter IV. The Teacher and Prophet: the Law: His own

work ....... 149

Sect. 1. Lessons taught in tho earlier miracles of our Lord . 153

2. The Sermon on tho Mount. Christ the fulfillment of

the Law . . . . . . .166

3. Christ's teaching in relation to His own work and the

necessity of faith ..... 184

4. Christ's further disclosures in Galilee and Judaea . 204

5. Teaching by parables ..... 222

Chapter V. Christ the Priest and Sacrifice . . . 235

Sect. 1. Christ goes up to Jerusalem to be crucified . . 239

2. The Church and the institution of the Lord's Supper . 245

3. The denial of Peter, and the crucifixion of our Lord . 253

4. Christ crucified afresh, or the feelings that actuated

His murderers common to every age . . . 261

5. Christ our Propitiation and Priest; the influence of the

cross on God and man ..... 269

Chapter VI. Christ as King ..... 293
Sect. 1. The Resurrection cf our Lord, and lessons connected

with it . . . . . . . 295

2. Christ the King of Hades — the Forerunner — the First-

Fruits of them that Slept .... 305

3. The Invisible King ..... 311

4. His second coming . t 323

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

§ 1. Different Families, but one Blood.
§ 2. Progress in Error.
§ 3. Results Moral and Practical.
§ 4. Palestine, the Scene of the Labors of the
Messiah.

§ 5. The Gospels, the Record of his Life.

(»)

CHAPTEK I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Sect. I. — Different Families, but one Blood.

1. A thousand years before the Yedas were , written,
(B. C. 1400,) and at least 1800 before the laws Gatherings at
of Menu, which form the basis of Hindoo juris- sllinaar-
prudence, were composed, (B. C. 600,) the descendants of
the second father of the human family (who had been
miraculously "saved from a fearful flood, began to multiply
on the earth. As they multiplied, they removed from the
mountain districts of Armenia to the well-watered plains
of Shinaar, between the rivers Hiddekel (Tigris) and Eu-
phrates, "the swift-flowing" and "the fruitful." Here, in
very early times, men were formed into families, and esta-
blished in towns and villages. Here also they followed
agriculture, built cities, and practised many of the arts of
civilized life.

2. As they grew in numbers they grew in wickedness ;
till at length, partly as a punishment of their

sins, and partly as a consequence of failing
pasture and deficient produce, they became scattered ; each
band retaining the civilization and the fragments of reli-
gious truth which the better men among them had pre-
served. From a book of demonstrable antiquity, contain-
ing records that can be traced to within a comparatively
short period of the time when these events took place, we

(H)

12 INTRODUCTORY.

gather that, even then and for ages later, there was a gene-
ral belief in the unity of God, in the creation and preserva-
tion of all things by Divine power, in a general and par-
ticular Providence, in a Divine law fixing distinctions
between right and wrong, in the fall and corruption of
man, in the doctrine of atonement through vicarious suf-
fering, in direct Divine spiritual influence, in human respon-
sibility, and in the necessity for practical holiness. True
religion, in fact, has ever been faith and obedience ; an
humble, submissive repose of the heart on Divine truth,
and appropriate holiness. Whether it be regarded as a
system of truth — objective religion, or as a system of holy
affection — subjective religion, it has never changed.

3. Nor is it difficult to account for either the complete-
its origin ex- ness or *ne diffusion of this knowledge. The
plained. flood of waters occurred in the life-time of the

third generation from Adam, our first parent. He had
been created by God in his own image ; but yielding to
temptation he fell, and involved us all in his ruin. For
many years Lamech was his contemporary ; Lamech again
was the father of Noah, and the contemporary for many
years of Shem, as Shem was of Abraham, the father of the
people " of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came."

Methuselah, again, was for more than two hundred
years a contemporary of Adam, and for six hundred years
of Noah ; and through him, or other similar channels,
might the knowledge of the true God have been trans-
mitted and preserved.* During the whole of this interval,
too, many eminently holy men appeared — Abel, Seth,
Enoch, and Noah, all of them preachers of righteousness,
and valiant for the truth upon the earth.

* This is the Hebrew chronology. The chronology of the LXX. makes
the insertion of another generation necessary both before and after the
Deluge. But this difference is of little moment. The transmission of Di-
vine knowledge is nearly equally etasy in either case.

§ 1. DIFFERENT FAMILIES, BUT ONE BLOOD 13

4. In spite of these influences, however, human nature
goon showed its true character, and its lamen- Speedy deteri.
table tendency to deterioration. Before the oration-
flood, God had seen that the wickedness of men was great,
that every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was
only evil continually, and the flood left them unchanged.

As early as the days of Shem, the son of Noah, idolatry
was openly practised in Chaldea, the country of Abraham ;
and not more than a hundred years after the death of
Noah, the whole district of Sodom and Gomorrah was de-
stroyed in consequence of the guilt of its inhabitants.
Fire from heaven, combined with the bitumen and sulphur
of that region, consumed them. The plain is now filled
with the Dead Sea, whose waters exhibit in their saltness,
and slimy bituminous qualities, evidences of the fearful
catastrophe with which it was visited.

5. As the first settlers in Shinaar were dispersed, they
went in different directions, and according to the Migration of
families to which they belonged. The sons of early settlers-
Japhet, the eldest-born, travelled northward, Madai and
his descendants settling on the borders of the Caspian, and
Gomer and his descendants on the borders of the Black
Sea. Here their numbers increased ; till, at length, many
of the descendants of Madai moved down ioto Hindustan,
while many of the descendants of Gomer moved westward,
(with other branches of the same great family) into Europe.
The primaeval inhabitants, therefore, of India, those who
first spoke the Sanscrit tongue, and nearly all who after-
wards migrated among them from the north, were, eth-
nographically, Caucasians,* and belonged to the same
division of the human family which have since made the
inhabitants of the western world, and of Britain especially,
the moving spirits of the earth. India and Europe are

* So called from the range of mountains near which they had originally
settled.

2

14 INTRODUCTORY.

allied, therefore, not only through a common interest, but
through the close connection of the races that first peopled
them.

From Shem, whose descendants remained at Shinaar,
and ultimately occupied Arabia and Syria, were descended
the Chaldeans, the Persians,* the Assyrians, the Jews and
the Mohammedan nations, who have since modified the
character of the population of the east, either by migra-
tion or conquest. Through this branch of the

Connection of •

Europe and in- great family of man, India has closer ethno-

dia.

graphical connection with the natives of Pales-
tine than Europeans ; and it is clear that, if Europe has
received the Messiah of the Jews, it is not because He is
of her race, but because she is convinced of the divinity of
His claims.

The descendants of Ham settled in Egypt and in other
parts of Africa, and have had frequent intercourse, by sea,
with India. From that country, indeed, it is generally
thought, they imported their arts and learning.

6. If we seek for further evidence of this connection

between Europe and " utmost Ind," it is

Evidence ofthis

connection in found in the affinities which subsist between

Mythology and .

the languages and the mythologies of the two
regions. The polluted streams of Greek, Slavonic, and
Hindoo mythology have, evidently, a common source;
their myths a common basis, and their rites and ceremonies
a common authority. Many of the gods which crowd the
Pantheon of the East were known, under appropriate
names, to Homer and Hesiod, and to our Saxon fore-
fathers. The Indra and Yama of the East are the Pluvius
and Pluto of Rome. The god of the waters (Peruna), and
the goddess of love, (Rembha), are the Neptune and

* The Shemitish Persians, however, were early overcome by tribes
descended from Japhet. Modern Persians, therefore, belong chiefly to
the Caucasian race, some to the family of Ham.

§ 1. DIFFERENT FAMILIES, BUT ONE BLOOD. 15

Venus of the West. The very names of the days of the
week are called, in India, by names taken from the same
deities as preside in "Western calculations over those por-
tions of time. This general conclusion is not affected by
the fact, that the religion of each of these nations was
influenced by peculiarities of position and of climate. The
German and the Briton kindled their devotion beside their
blood-stained altars, in the depth of the forest ; the Koman
blended his religion with luxury or war ; the Greek with
poetry, philosophy, or art. But these differences refer
rather to the forms of devotion most popular among these
various tribes, than to the objects of their worship. The
people had really the same gods, though the services
offered to them changed with the national character and
circumstances of the worshippers. To complete this
evidence, it must be added, that nearly all the branches of
the Shemitish nations were monotheistic, and, instead of
supplying Europe and Asia with idols, borrowed them
when guilty of idolatry, from the descendants of Japhet or
of Ham.

Y. Further, it is notorious that the Sanscrit language,
with its numerous derivatives, is closely con-
nected, both in matter and in form, with the
Greek, Latin, German, and Sclavonic tongues. There are
in Sanscrit no less than nine hundred words having the
same root as corresponding words in the languages of the
West, while affinities of form supply evidence of a common
origin no less striking and decisive ; indeed it is indispu-
table, that the ancestors of those who now speak the
Sanscrit and the Gothic, (including, under the former,
most of the derivative dialects of the East, and, under the
latter, the Sclavonic, the German, high and low, and the
classic languages of ancient Europe,) had once a common
tongue, and interchanged their thoughts by similar ele-

16 INTRODUCTORY.

ments of speech. So true is the Scripture declaration, that
men were divided "according to their families," though
made of one blood, and possessing, first in Adam, and then
in Noah, a common progenitor. This truth, — the identity
of India and Europe, — is completed when we add to it the
fact, that both have fallen through a common calamity, and
are, in Christ, invited to an interest in what is emphati-
cally a "common salvation."

Sect. 2. — Progress in Error.

8. It may seem a long and a useless task to enumerate

and classify the religious errors that prevailed

Error is appa- ^

rentiy infinite, in the Western world when the Saviour ap-

but • •

peared. Truth is unchanging, but error is,

from its nature, mutable and endless.

9. But though the forms of error are, in themselves,

infinite, error is practically limited. To be

really limited. ' L °

study of it believed at all, it must be blended with truth,

Useful,

or it must be adapted to the human heart
"Under either necessity the number of its forms is lessened,
and they all become objects of interest, for the study of
them throws light either upon truth, or upon human
nature, or upon both.

10. In another respect, too, the history of error is

important. If we ascertain its character and

in various ways. . . . , „ .

working in one religious system, we shall have
a key to systems less accurately known. Popular errors
repeat themselves; and, if we analyze them once, we are
prepared to trace and investigate them elsewhere. Phari-
saism, for example, is found the world over. Sadduceeism
is rationalistic infidelity, whether in India or in Europe.
The cosmogonies of the Ionic school of philosophy, in
Greece, have been revived in China ; and we find, in our
own Western continent, both the polytheism and the

§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 17

pantheistic tendencies of the systems of Brahma and
Buddh.

11. " There is one God; he is a Spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in

Monotheism

truth," are lessons of Holy Scripture, once and ppitttaoi

worship once

known to all mankind. Tradition still preserved universal.

... . Shown in philo-

among the primitive tribes of America, speaks sopincai tradi-
of the Great Spirit." Greece had its " Father
of Gods," who was himself before them all, Kpoi>o?. Even
Parseeism had "illimitable time," whose essence enshrouds
both Ormuzd and Ahriman ; as Hindooism has its " abso-
lute intelligence," its "essential light," "rest," and "con-
templation ;" forms of expression which connect the pan-
theism of India with the antagonistic Buddhism of Ceylon
and China.

12. And while philosophy has disclosed the existence
among the intelligent of a belief of this truth, in the popular
its existence is attested by the language of feelms-
common life. "In the deepest emotions of their minds,
the heathen," says Tertullian, "never direct their exclama-
tions to their false gods, but employ the words — ' God help
me,' — 'as God liveth;' and then moreover, they look not
to the capitol but to the heavens." Aulus Gellius informs
us, (Noctes Atticae, ii. 28.) in the same strain, that the
ancient Romans were not accustomed during earthquakes
to pray to some gods individually, but only to God in
general, as to the Great Unknown. Even in India, the
Hindoo speaks of God as possessed of a unity of which
he certainly finds no counterpart in his present system.
He regards Him as Creator, Preserver, and Ruler. He
calls Him as a witness of his integrity ; and, when not
thinking of the creed which he is bound to defend, employs
forms of speech and inadvertent references, which show
that the teaching of his conscience is better than the
teaching of his faith.

2*

18 INTRODUCTORY.

13. This view takes for granted, of course, that falsr;

religions are more modern than the true ; and

True religion ° . . .

older than this representation all history sustains. '.Most
nations," says J. von Miiller, "though entirely
uncultivated in other things, had perfectly correct views
of God, of the world, of immortality ; while the arts, which
pertain to the conveniences of life, are much younger. It
seems, in fact, as if the breath of the Divinity within us,
our spirit, had acquired through the immediate teaching of
a higher Being, and for a long time had retained, certain
indispensable ideas and habits, while what pertains to the
employment of material capacities was left for the exercise
of our own mental powers." Herder and F. Schlegel, and
a host of others, concur in this view; while in ancient
times, Plato and Aristotle agree in affirming that the early
state of man was neither savage nor corrupt, but a simple
and holy state, approaching nearer to the Divine — a state
from which the savage and the corrupt man are equally
removed.

14. How this belief in the being of one Supreme Deity
Origin of false ended m the belief of many gods, is explained
syatems. in t]ie Epistle to the Romans. " Tie wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungod'iness and
unholiness of men, who through unholiness suppress the
1 ruth. For so much as can be known of God is manifested
to them ; for what in him is peculiarly invisible — his eternal
power and divinity — appears visible in his works since the
creation of the world as soon as we contemplate them ; so
that the heathen are without excuse; they knew God
indeed, but they honored him not as God, nor were they
thankful to him as such ; but they became trifling and vain
in their speculations, and their apprehension was daiktned
— pretending to be wise they became fools, ani put ffi the
place* of the glory of the incorruptible God, an ifiihge of

§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 19

the form of corruptible man, and of birds, of four-footed
beasts, and of creeping things. Therefore God also gave
them up through the lusts of their sense to impurity, so
that they have dishonored their own bodies; they have
changed the truth of God into a lie, and have reverenced
and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who
is blessed for ever, amen. Wherefore God gave them up
to debasing passions. And as they did not regard it as
worth their pains to keep God in their knowledge, God
gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do things abominable,
being full of all unholiness, whoredom, malice, avarice, base-
ness, full of envy, of murder, of strife, deceit, and malig-
nity, calumniators, slanderers, despisers of God, haughty,
proud, boastful, mischief-makers, disobedient to parents,
covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful ; who, though they well know the law of God,
that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only
do the same, but also bestow praise on those who do them."
Moral corruption, therefore, first led to idolatry.

15. As long as man remained in a living moral relation
to God, the diversity which seems to pervade

. -, . Polytheism.

all nature created little attention and no mis-
giving. Accustomed to exercise faith, men saw through
the diversity into the unity that lay beneath it ; or they
had at least no guilty fear. But when this condition was
lost, and the holiness of the Divine character grew distaste-
ful, the visible alone came gradually to be regarded ; the
heavens, the earth, the winds, the sea. Men found it diffi-
cult perhaps to look away from what lay before their eyes ;
and disliking conclusions which brought them into imme-
diate relation to a God almighty, omnipresent, and per-
fectly holy, they ended in finding a god in each individual
appearance, or in every hope or fear which distracted their
hearts. Thus Polytheism arose.

20 INTRODUCTORY.

16. More sagacious minds started back from the results

of this system ; and thinking that they per-
ceived unity amidst all the diversity of nature,
but still renouncing the knowledge of one holy, self-existent
G od above the world, they regarded as God that collective
vitality which appeared in the whole. Hence arose Pan-
theism— a system which reunited the animating principles
of the previous theory, and taught, on the one hand, that
all its separate deities were parts of the soul of the world,
or emanations of the great Fountain of mind ; and held on
the other, that* mind and matter were distinctions purely
metaphysical and imaginary ; that every thing was God,
and God every thing, the whole universe being one and
indivisible. Possibly some sages ascended higher still, and
recognised in this poetical pantheism the foundation of a
moral monotheism, which, however, was too sublime and
simple for even their own faith.

17. Whether this order of error be the universal one,
Progress and may ^e disputed. Among some nations, the
mutU8of ^eS pantheistic tendency seems to have developed
systems. itself first, and transmigration was one of its
results — a doctrine that resolves all souls into one — the
soul of the world, which first divides its essence, and then
reabsorbs the parts. Among other nations, polytheism first
appeared under the form of the worship of the visible
heavens, and of the Spirit who was supposed to animate
them ; then of the heavenly bodies ; then of the represen-
tatives of the various energies of nature, as distinct deities ;
then, perhaps, of deceased heroes. From this polytheism
again sprung pantheism. The idea of separate deities was
too gross to please the philosopher. As the common peo-
ple had marked the various phenomena of the universe, and
ascribed each to a separate god, he took those gods, and
traced them all in the same way to a common infinite in-
telligence. " God," says Zeno, " is the Author and Father

§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 21

of all ; and he is called by various names, according to the
power manifested. He is Dis, because all things are
through him ; Zeus* because all live by him ; Athene,
because his directing power is diffused in air.f These
etymologies may be questioned, but the remark illustrates
a principle of admitted truth.

In most countries, probably, the two systems prevailed
contemporaneously, as in Greece. The Yedas, too, favor
the application of this conclusion to India ; for they seem
to suggest doubts whether man and all things were not
parts of the Divinity, though they abound in polytheistic
instructions. Buddhism, professedly pantheistic, and at
first anti-polytheistic, is notoriously polytheistic ; for while
it admits one Buddha, it reverences and worships even
animals, as possibly containing proper forms of that Intel-
ligence which is all-pervading and supreme.

18. The tendencies of these systems may be easily
illustrated from the history of Grecian sects. Illustrated in
In the time of our Lord the whole western Greece-
world was divided into three great classes : the followers of
Epicurus, of Zeno, and of Plato. The first admitted the
existence of a Divine Being as a philosophical

. Epicureanism.

truth, on condition only that He should have
no connection with the world ; and held, at the same time,
that there were inferior deities, as represented in the
mythologies of the day ; the belief in those gods being, in
the opinion, of the founder of this sect, a proof of their
existence ; for all belief he maintained to be an effluence
of real objects. J

* The Greek derivation is here adopted; hut hoth Zeis and Acs are
forms of an old Sanscrit word, applied also to the supreme God.

■j- In Diog- Laertius, vii. 147.

X Nothing can represent more accurately than the language ascribed
by Cicero to Velleius, the views of the Epicureans: — Imposuistis in cer-
vicibus nostris sempiternum dominum, quern dies et noctes timeremua.

22 INTRODUCTORY.

The followers of Zeno, or the Stoics, were strictly pan-
theists ; holding that the world itself is divine,
and that the Deity dwells in it. Nor do the
Academics, the followers of Plato, greatly differ from the
Stoics in these respects : for all held that God is deified
living nature ; that this deity is the source of the human soul,
and the principle into which it will ultimately

The Platonists.

return and be absorbed. Man, therefore, in
both systems, was taken as the sample of the Godhead,
whom he was to judge of and measure by himself. In both
systems common men, with minds dissipated amid the
multitude of visible things, have intercourse only with
those mediatorial deities who approach nearest to them-
selves : while the spiritual man, living in contemplation,
soars upwards, in thought at least, to the supreme original
Essence.*

19. Concerning these sects, it is obvious to remark,
that the first is atheistic in its spirit. Epicu-

AU Pantheis- . r 2

tic, Atheistic, rcauism believed in the existence of a supreme

or

God, but it robbed him of all his attributes.
He neither sees, nor does he desire or act. He is without-
superintendence or control ; without power or life. The
inferior deities are, like himself, eternal and imperishable,
living in a state of complete repose. The very God of

Quis enim non tinieat omnia providentem, et cogitantem, et animadcer-
tentem, et omnia ad ae pertinere putuntem, curiosum et plenum negoti
Deum ? Be Nat. Deor. i. 20.

* Plato's u>v is distinguished from the Qcoi ye.vi)ro\ of his system.
Attempts, such as Plato's, to bring back the faith of man from the visible
deities to the Great Invisible, have been made in all ages ; though, per-
haps, never (apart from Revelation) with greater originality and purity
than are manifested in Plato's writings. There is at present a society in
India, formed for the same purpose, a kind of Hindoo Unitarians. The
futility of all such attempts — apart from Revelation — is proved from the
history of all ancient philosophy.

§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 23

Epicurus, therefore, is a mere negation : and his nature is
denied in the very terms that admit his being.

This atheistic spirit was confirmed by other parts of his
system. He taught that the world is not the work of an
intelligent Cause, but a fatherless child, a causeless effect,
disowned by all superior natures, the result of a fortuitous
concourse of atoms. The soul, he maintained, is cor-
poreal, and perishes with the dissolution of the atoms of
which it is composed. Pleasure is our sovereign good;
and man's chief end is exemption from suffering, and tha
gratification of natural desires. In this system, therefore,
we are our own law, without higher governor or judge.
Death is nothing, and there is nothing beyond it.

Stoicism, in some of its sects, held that matter and spirit
are identical ; mind being the bright fountain of all things,
but becoming gross and dim as it flowed at a distance from
its source. What is called creation is but the expansion
of the Deity. The contraction again of the same object
to its original dimensions, will be the annihilation of the
world. Hence all that is, is God ; and there is no exist-
ence but God. As the tree of the forest is but the growth
of the original germ, and the leaves, fruit, and stem are,
though diverse in form, but one tree ; so is the universe an
expansion of God. As the diamond and the coal are both
carbon ; as air and water are but the same elements in
different proportions ; so all nature is but the varied God.
It is he who

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms, in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent.

Such is speculative Stoicism.

Platonism again applied this doctrine of emanation to
spirit, rather than to matter ; but, with this exception, used
language not different from that of the Stoic. And con-

24 INTRODUCTORY.

cerning both systems, it may be affirmed that they tend,
both logically and in popular feeling, either to practical
atheism, or to polytheism. Stoicism taught that every
thing which is, is God, and will be absorbed into the Divine
essence ; Platonism confines this dogma to the souls of men.
In both a real Deity is denied. The true God is as we
know, indivisible. Both systems divided him into infini-
tesimal portions. He is incapable of change, of impurity,
of suffering. Both systems make him subject to them all.
A God whose attributes are identical with men, or with
nature, is clearly robbed of all that is characteristic and
divine. The one system taught that God is matter and
Creator; the other, that he is spirit and Creator. Both
make him to be the material out of which either all things,
or all rational agents, at least are made. He is at once
potter and clay, master and servant, father and child,
governor and subject, judge and criminal.

In such systems, where all souls are not only God's but
God, he himself, and all the relations that refer to him, are
virtually disowned, and all moral government is overthrown.
The very distinction between good and evil is rendered
impossible; holiness and sin are attributes of the same
Spirit, and the only real Spirit is the Godhead. Evil is
but a development of his character. When men speak, it
is the Divine Spirit speaking through them ; when they
act, it is the Divine Spirit acting in them ; and in a fear-
fully unholy sense, it is " one God who worketh all in all."

20. Nor is it difficult to see how these systems tended to
roivtheistic encourage Polytheism. The idea of a universal
and God, identical in the one system with the uni-

verse, and in the other with the spirits of men, was too
vague for the popular mind; but it led naturally to the
deification of the several parts of the material universe.
Everything is part of the Deity ; everything, therefore, may
be adored. But as some selection must be made, those

§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 25

objects which transcend the rest, either in the force with
which they strike the fancy, or in their utility, come to be
considered specially divine. Does the sun warm and
fructify the earth ? It is divine. Does the moon light up
tne darkness of the night ? It is divine. Does the mighty
river flow throughout the land ; now marking its course
with lines of verdure and tracts of fruitfulness, and now
sweeping away the towns and villages that had flourished
on its bounty ? It is divine. By a very easy generalisa-
tion, the principles of preservation and of destruction
themselves are deified ; and thus systems the most abstract
and apparently spiritual, foster a Polytheism the most
cumbrous and degrading.

21. Hero-worship and mystical asceticism spring from
the same source; or if already existing, are

• rm n t favorable to

nourished by it. The benefactors ot the human Hero-worship
race, men eminent for their wisdom or power,
appear as literally partakers of a Divine nature. Their
voice is the voice of God. "When they die, whatever was
mortal of them passes away ; what remains is Divine, in
origin, in power, and why not also in destiny and honors.

If man, again, would elevate and perfect his own nature,
let him destroy his conscious individuality, let him leave
the world, gratify no sense, and receive from the external
universe no impressions. Let him turn his thoughts
within ; the kingdom of God is there. By contemplation
the inquirer may become the sage, and the neophyte be
prepared for intercourse with the Great Spirit from whom
he sprang, and of whom he is part.

22. Such was Grecian philosophy, and such to the very
letter are the systems which now prevail in the

distant East. Christianity appeared when theEasTchrL"
these philosophical systems were in their glory toathemaaiiPte(
in the western world, and they fell before it.
What was true in them it had already embodied. What

3

26 INTRODUCTORY.

was false it swept way. It can encounter no new forms
of error, and our conviction of its final triumph is confirmed,
not only by a persuasion of the power of its Author, but
by the history of the past.

Of course the systems of the Eastern and Western worlds,
while in spirit they are identical, have their characteristic
differences. In every clime man is always man. He is
exposed nevertheless, in different regions, to different in-
fluences. According to these influences, every thing which
belongs to him, worship, custom, literature, each receives
its peculiar impress. In Greece religion was devotion to
external nature, and at last to art ; in Rome it was de-
votion to country, and then to power. The Greek wor-
shiped taste, the Roman energy. The Oriental, on the
other hand, of fervid imagination and of contemplative
tendencies, learns little of nature or of the world,, retires
into the recesses of his own consciousness, and weaves into
his mythology traditions and fancies innumerable ! Ilence
have sprung systems, of which it is difficult to say whether
We wonder most at their luxuriancy or powerlessness.
Everything seems there, but truth and life. Throughout
all these characteristic differences, however, there is essen-
tial sameness ; and the tendencies which we trace in the
mythologies of the West, are found at work in the godless
temples of China, and in the pantheons of Hindustan.

Yery touching it is to notice in these systems, moreover,
a singular blending of the sublime and the degrading ; of
the spiritual and the earthly. Men seem to have found it
impossible to realize clearly the idea of God, or their re-
lation to him. The Epicurean and the Buddhist think
they do him most honor in deeming him a mere abstraction.
The Stoic connects him with every change and form of
life to be traced in the universe. Some call him the Good
Spirit ; others rather fear than trust him ; while in the
creed of most he is clothed with attributes which are, in

§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 27

fact, the reflection of their own. It was reserved for the
Christian system to meet the wants which these various
theories represent — a God vast, invisible, spiritual, eternal,
and yet revealing himself in our own nature, and in such
a form as Commends his character at once to our reverence
and love.

Sect. 3. — Moral and Practical Result.

23. The statements and reasonings of the previous sec-
tion might be regarded as rather curious than

Men's Tiews of

important, but for two facts. The first, that Gocianevi-
men's conceptions of God, are a decisive evi- means of their
dence of their own character ; and the second,
that the characters of men are further influenced by those
conceptions. Both facts are affirmed in the quotations
given from St. Paul. Where once the knowledge of
the true God is forgotten, men feign the existence
of deities like themselves ; and where such deities are
worshiped, their influence degrades and pollutes the
worshipers. Let us know what men worship, and we can
tell what they are. Let ns know what they worship, and
we can tell what they will become. The idolatries of
nations are at once an evidence and an aggravation of
their depravity.

24. What that depravity is, and what it involves, is a
solemn question, which we now proceed to exa- now deprav:
mine in the light of Scripture. "In the light may be proved-
of Scripture," because though the question is answered
in other quarters, it is only in Scripture that it is fully
answered ; for it is one effect of our depravity, that
it has enfeebled our very power of perception. Right
and wrong are less distinctly seen, and much less distinctly
felt, than they wo,uld have been if we had never sinned.
Let the reader look again at Paul's description of human
nature, and examine it. He will find that every statemen

28 INTRODUCTORY.

it contains, even the darkest, is supported (as may be teen
in such writings as those of Wetstein or of Lcland,)* by
quotations without number from ancient poets, satirists,
and philosophers. It is supported by every system of
human law, and by the whole history of our race. It is
not, however, to these authorities we now mean to appeal.
Having the Bible in our hands, we desire to decide this
question by its teaching ; and it will be found that its
requirements, contrasted with the admitted condition of
human nature, give at once the true rule of holiness and
the true measure of our guilt.

25. Virtue or holiness, most comprehensively defined,
Man's twofold *s ^ne acting of moral agents in accordance
consequent du! w^n ^ne rations they sustain. The relations
ties- sustained by man are relations towards God

and towards men,f and virtue in him is right feeling
and consistent practice towards both. This division is
sanctioned by the ablest writers on moral science, and
is repeatedly recognised in Scripture, of which we need no
better example than the first chapter of the Romans ; where
the depth of our degradation is shown from the fact that
the obligations consequent on this twofold relation are left
Love to God. unfulfilled. What is due to each we may learn
Love to Man. from the Bible. " Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself."
Our moral nature corroborates the justness of this rule.
Men admit that if they do not love God with all their
hearts, and their neighbors as themselves, then is their
moral character imperfect, and they become exposed to
the desert of wrong doing. If, on the contrary, neither

* See Wetstein on Rom. iii., and Leland on the Advantage and Necessity
of the Christian Revelation. See also Dr. Tholuck on the Moral Influence
of Heatlienism.

f See Wayland's Moral Science and Sermons, for an admirable sum
mary of the duties involved in these relations.

§ 3. JHORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 29

part of this precept is violated, then may they claim the
just rewards of obedieuce.

Let us take these rules in the order in which we have
indicated them, and ask how far men love

, Men have not

their neighbors as themselves. We desire fulfilled their
happiness and we seek it. The desire and the
search are both commendable. We claim the right of
using all proper means for attaining our end ; and if any
power interfere between us and the end, we are aggrieved
and complain. What we thus claim for our-

• • T T T ^0Ve t0 maD-

selves, is due to our neighbor ; and he has the
right to expect, at our hands, the same feeling, and, as far
as possible, the same effort for his welfare that we cherish
and put forth for our own. Such is the law of Scripture,
and the universal consciousness of men must admit that
iiis law is just.

26. How far men have declined from this law Scripture
.as not told us ; for in this respect men have How broken,
linned in very dissimilar degrees. It intimates, marTIaand £
jowever, most plainly, that the most eminent relatl0n t0 God-
in virtue are still imperfect ; that with all, the tendency is
not to virtue but to vice. Selfishness and not benevolence
— undue preference, in fact, for themselves is the law, and
the contrary the exception.

Nor does the testimony of Scripture on this point differ
from the lessons of individual experience. Our fellow-
men are everywhere around us. We see particularly their
dispositions, and we can ascertain our own. Upon what
principle are the" most approved maxims of business framed,
and what truth do they embody ! What, moreover, is
civil government, but a system of limitations and punish-
ments, invented for defending the community against the
selfishness of its members ? In ourselves, too, what is the
natural bias — strong self-love or disinterested feeling ?
Are acts of justice, when they involve some sacrifice of

3*

30 INTRODUCTORY.

our own advantage, done without effort ? Is pure, impar-
tial justice between man and man the rule of human life ?
But we need not multiply questions. It is notorious that
man's love to his neighbor yields continually to the de-
mands of self-interest or of passion ; and the result is,
that in spite of law and conscience, the earth has been
filled with violence. Everywhere mankind plead guilty to
the charge of disobeying the great social command, though
that command is sanctioned by reason and Scripture.

We are not ascribing to this corruption the same form
or degree, though asserting that all men are guilty. The
holiest come short of the requirement, and this is all we
affirm. All short-coming, moreover, flows from the same
fountain. Selfishness and passion, murder and jealousy,
theft and envy, tyranny and petty vanity, are but modifi-
cations of what all feel to be corrupt. The forms vary,
but the principle is the same, and that principle is uni-
versal.

Looking, therefore, simply at the extent of the Divine
command, and contrasting with it the endlessly diversified
forms of human character, we affirm that men do not any-
where love their neighbors as themselves. Everywhere,
and by every one, the law is broken ; and so far the whole
world is declared guilty before God.

Infinitely more important than our relation to one an-
other, is our relation to God. He is our
Creator and Preserver. The law, " Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," is in the high-
est degree just. No one can question it, or offer any other
importance of ^aw as a substitute for it, without involving
tine duty. himself in absurdity. Once maintain that a
being of infinite benevolence is not deserving of gratitude,
or that a being of just and boundless authority can claim
no submission, eternal holiness no reverence, immutable
faithfulness no trust — and the very foundation of excellence

/

§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 31

is overturned, and virtue becomes impossible. The love
of God is the element of all goodness. Other relations are
mutable and transient, as are the obligations that spring
from them. This relation is immutable and eternal ; so
are its obligations. The relation itself comprehends every
other. Gravitation in the material world is, in truth, but
a faint emblem of the importance of this principle in the
moral. Let either be withdrawn, and all things — both
heaven and earth — must speedily fall back into disorder
and ruin.

Now, the distinct assertion of Scripture is, that men
are in a godless condition ; that is, that their
estimate of duty is not fixed by a regard for
God's authority — that their obedience, even to natural
laws, is not prompted by reverence for him — that he is not
loved, as from his character, he deserves to be. It asserts
further, that he is, in himself and in his perfections, viewed
with hatred and dismay. Over and above the charge of
immorality, therefore, Scripture brings against all men the
charge either of ungodliness, or of positive aversion to
God, or, most generally, of both. And the whole of these
charges may be sustained.

In men of acknowledged excellence, fair in character,
and upright in conduct, this ungodliness pre- Men live with
vails. They have no sense of God. They act out God-
as they would act were they certain that there was neither
Divine law, governor, nor judge. The law of God is
never the reason why they do, or forbear, a single act of
their lives. Their virtue is purely earthly and secular —
gathers its motives from a sense of social obligation, or
from a concern for personal character ; so that while in
itself lamentably defective, even for present duty, it can
clearly have no place in the world where God is all and
in all.

And though this may seem to be an extreme case, yet

32 INTRODUCTORY.

let any man look at his own heart, and ask himself these
questions in relation to the acts of a single day — ' Was it
God's will that guided my steps ? Do its transactions
belong to a self-regulating being, or to a being ever look-
ing upwards to his Creator, and subordinating himself in
all things to the rightful authority of the God that made
him ? If not in every act, yet certainly in a large propor-
tion of the acts of every day, did I not prefer to be " with-
out God," to walk after my own heart, and in the sight of
my own eyes — and, because God is not in all my thoughts,
am I not justly condemned V

Nor must this godlessness be supposed a sinless condi-
tion. It is really a violation of all moral pro-

Sinfulness of a . .... , ■, -,

godless coudi- priety. It is base injustice, the deepest in-
gratitude, unreasonable pride, and the coru-
pletest selfishness. It is the condition of one who seizes
upon the gifts of another, and is unmindful of the giver ;
of one who is willing to forego a regard for his Maker, if
only his Maker will leave him alone, and keep from him
that terrible death which he fears, and the still more terri-
ole judgment that is to follow it. The total carelessness
of a child for the parent that gave him birth — that has fed
and clothed him all his days — is an imperfect type of this
atheism of the heart. Men say unto God, "depart from
us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." "A
son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then
I be a father, where is my honor ; and if I be a master,
where is my fear, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Mai. i. C.)
And when once God is thus banished from the hearts
of men as their supreme law, his place is occu-
does not rule, pied by infinitely less worthy guests. It is
authority evidently God's will that men should seek

happiness from all around them. They ha\e
appetites and passions, faculties and affections ; and all
are, within their proper limits, appropriate impulses to

§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 33

action, and means of enjoyment. Let these powers be
exercised in due subordination to the will of the Creator,
and the happiness of man is perfect. Passion is under the
control of reason, and reason and passion obedient to God.
But when the higher power is withdrawn, and God is
banished from the heart, man becomes "sensual, earthly,
devilish." He fulfills "the desires of the flesh and of the
mind ;" he seeks the present, regardless of the future ; the
temporal, to the neglect of the eternal. What is good in
the lowest sense, and what is pleasant to the taste or eyes,
not what is holy, or just, or true, becomes his first question.
Appetite and unhallowed inclination take God's place.
The highest motive ceases ; lower motives succeed to it ;
sometimes sensual, sometimes social, but always earthly
and selfish ; till at length the description of the Holy
Ghost is a literal reality : " God looked down from heaven
to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek
God; . . . there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Ps. liii. 2.

The next step in this downward progress is either posi-
tive enmity against God, or a positive denial God an obj-ect
of his character; hatred, that is, or practical £i chSact'er°r
atheism. Whatever change takes place in man, denied-
the law of God remains unchanged. Man has fixed his
affection upon the creature instead of the Creator. The law
of selfishness has taken the place of the law of love ; and
in consequence, what is really lovely in God is not loved,
but either abhorred or disowned. Poetical conceptions
of the Creator may still be admired. The natural attri-
butes of the true God may be studied with all the enthu-
siasm which is excited by what is in the highest degree
sublime ; but God's moral character is neither studied nor
admired. It is either hated or disowned. Admit His
omniscience, and it is hated, because it brings under its
piercing inspection the secret recesses of our nature.

34 INTRODUCTORY.

Admit His holiness, and it is hated, because it is opposed
to our sins. Admit His justice, and it is hated, because
it will recompense to every man according to his works.
Admit even his goodness, and it is hated, for it is goodness
exercised under moral conditions, giving happiness only to
the holy or the penitent. So long indeed as these attributes
are restrained or controlled by the exercise of divine for-
bearance, or so long as the feelings which exist in the
heart are not made matter of reflection, this enmity of
human nature may be concealed ; but once let God's true
character appear and be pressed upon our thoughts, and
the opposition of our character to his will shows itself in
all its intensity. Our hearts are not hostile merely, they
are hostility itself. Rom. viii. T. Disown these attributes,
and God himself is disowned.

And this is the condition of our nature : selfish, seeking
our personal happiness at any cost ; godless, obeying even
God's law from no regard to Divine authority, cherishing
towards Him no feelings such as become our relation to
Him, and either hating His perfections, or seeking peace
in denying them.

Conceive this state as eternal. Suppose men to enter
Conceive this the unseen world with this moral character
state as eternal, unchangeably stamped upon them for ever;
intelligent creatures knowing no law but passionate selfish-
ness ; each seeking his own gratification at the expense of
the happiness of the rest; refusing to submit themselves to
the law of God ; preferring the government of their cor-
rupt nature, and given over to the government they have
preferred ; at perpetual war with infinite holiness and good-
ness— sustained, as those attributes are, by almighty
power ; the knowledge of those attributes creating despair,
that despair rendered the more agonizing by reproaches of
conscience : and the awful result is selfishness, passion,
enmity to holiness, growing daily and for ever more

§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 35

intense. Such is the destiny for which, if Divine grace
prevent not, men are preparing.

It is to counteract these tendencies, and to avert this
destiny, that the gospel has been revealed.

2*7. If we turn to Scripture and ask the consequence of
this condition, we find it summed in one word — mis state is de-
it is " death;" while, on the contrary, the sal- ISffi^aa
vation of the gospel is described as " eternal dtath*
life," through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yery impressive are these descriptions. Let us mark
what they involve. (1) Men are sinners ; they It ia so in four
have broken the divine command, and have senses:
therefore incurred the penalty of transgression ; they are
dead in law. " The soul that sinneth it shall die," (Eze.
xviii. 4.) is God's own sentence. The malefactor, who ha"s
been tried and found guilty of some capital offence, is,
the moment his sentence is pronounced, in this condition.
He is held to be dead in law. Thenceforth he can claim
no rights ; he can exercise no civil function ; his property
and life even belong to the State. There may be delay in
the execution of the sentence and successive reprieves ; yet
is he, in the certainty of his destiny, and in the denial of
all present immunities, a dead man. So with sinners :
" As many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse ; for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law
to do them." (Gal. iii. 10). "He that believeth not is
condemned already ; because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God." (John iii. 18.) (2)
Men in this condition are dead to holy affections. The
emotions of spiritual life are not known. As the blind man
is dead to the beauty of color, and the deaf man to the
harmonies of music, so is the sinner to all noble and divine
feeling. Sin is not hated, nor is God loved. (3) Men are
dead to righteousness. The law is holy, but they are

36 INTRODUCTORY.

"carnal," sold under sin." They are "not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can they be." The language
of the inspired Apostle is emphatically true of them : that

Inch they allow not, they do, and what they would, they
do not. (Horn. vii. 15.) Conscience may approve of Divine
law ; but there is another law in their members warring
against the law of their minds, and bringing them into cap-
tivity to the law of sin. Even in the regenerate there are
traces of this struggle ; but in them the new nature is ever
victorious. In the unregenerate it is not the new nature
which struggles, but conscience only. They are guilty and
helplessly guilty ; as powerless for movements of holiness, as
dead men are powerless for the movements of common life —
a powerlessness of will confirmed by habitual transgression.
And (4) to complete the idea involved in these terms, Men
are dead to happiness. Sin always brings misery ; sin is
misery; and sin unchecked brings misery as lasting and
illimitable as are the obligations it has disowned.

Such is man's natural state. He is dead in law — dead

in the benumbing influence of depraved affection — dead in

enfeebled powers — dead to the blessedness and purity in

which he was created. Of this moral corrup-

Death of the . l

body an em- tion the death of the body is the emblem and
result ; deeply significant, but representing only
a small portion of the effects of human guilt, or of the
punishment justly due to transgressors of a holy, per-
fect law.

28. Now, it is with reference to this four-fold aspect of
sin, that the salvation of Christ presents itself

The Gospel l

contempiatea most clearly to the Christian. As sin brings

a four-fold * . , . . °

change called death, so salvation brings life : life in the can-

life.

celment of the sentence of the broken law;
for Christ has redeemed us from the curse ; being made a
curse for us : life in quickening our dead feelings by the
regenerating influence of his Spirit through the truth : life

§ 4. THE SCENE OF THE LABORS OF OUR LORD. 37

in endowing us with the powers of spiritual obedience.
By the same Spirit we are dead unto the law, that we may
live unto God ; we live, and yet not we, but Christ in us,
being made free from sin we have our fruit unto holiness,
and the end, everlasting life ; and lastly, life in imparting
eternal and unchanging joy. (Eph. ii. 1-5 ; Gal. ii. 19 ;
Rom. vi. 22.)

As the four-fold view of death is really one, so is this
four-fold view of life. "The wages" i. e. the Thefour-foid
desert and the actual consequence "of sin is EhTeafiy
death," in all senses : and, in all senses, the 0U6— so of life*
gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Every effect of sin is repelled by his suffering and righteous-
ness. For condemnation he gives pardon ; for apathy or
hatred, awakened or re-created love ; for the guilty corrup-
tion of our faculties, the power of practical holiness ; for
mourning and heaviness, the garments of praise, and, at
last, eternal blessedness. In every case, indeed, the body
dies. But with the sinner death is an evidence of its cor-
ruption, and a type of his real spiritual condition. With
the Christian, the body dies only in order that it may be
renewed, not a "natural body, but a spiritual;" not "in
weakness, but in power."

Sect. 4. — Palestine the Scene of the Labors of our

Lord.

29. Midway between England and India, the lands of
Eastern luxuriance and of Western civilization, Its geogra.
lies one of the most remarkable countries of JJS^pJSJl^!
the globe, Palestine,* — the land of the shep- tles-
herds — so called from the pursuit of tribes who early
peopled it. It is about two hundred miles long, and at

* Pali-stan is the Sanscrit for land of the Shepherds.

4

38 INTRODUCTORY.

widest seventy miles broad, a small region , which at timee
reckoned more than five millions of inhabitants,* and now
containing less than one-tenth of that number. Once it
was the most beautiful country on the earth, and is now a
desolation, hardly able to maintain the scattered population
who occupy it. Its ancient inhabitants are a byeword on
the earth.

The geographical appearances of the region are also
Shut in on all remarkable. It seems shut in on all sides. Its
sides. western boundary is the Great Sea, the sea on

whose shores lie the mouldering remains of the ancient
kingdoms of Egypt, of Greece, of Carthage, and of Home.
And yet that sea was never covered with the commerce of
the Jews. On the southwest, "as thou comest to Gaza,'*
it is desert. On the south, a range of high hills and the
barren sands of the Arabah forbid all access to the wilder-
ness of Sinai, and the waters of the Red Sea. On the
east, we have the sandy plains of Arabia, stretching away
to the great river, " the river Euphrates :" and, on the
north, the bands, f of what was once the settlement of
Asher, are still "iron and brass," a mountain chain ter-
minating on the snow-capped summits of Lebanon. Horses
and ships, (both those of the sea and those of the desertj)
were alike forbidden to the inhabitants of this region, and
it was clearly intended that they should live alone among
the nations.

• Western authorities have doubted whether a country so small could
have maintained five millions of people, or five hundred to each square
mile. Holland is nearly as populous ; the West riding of Yorkshire is
quite so; but India supplies the completest reply. In its most fertile
parts six hundred souls are found to a square mile; and, even in the
north-west provinces, the population to the square mile is between three
and four hundred.

f The more accurate rendering of Deut. xxxiii. 25.

X The camel is called in Eastern speech, " the ship of the desert."

§ 4. THE SCENE OF THE LABORS OF OUR LORT1. 39

And yet this region seems adapted to play no unimpor-
tant part in the history of our race. It is nearly Fitted by posi
in the centre of the ancient world, equally dis- JJenro^ther
tant from the heart of Asia, of Africa, and of nations-
Europe, and on the high road between them all. One of
its plains has been a battle-field of successive armies, for
more than 3000 years.* Assyrians and Persians, Persians
and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles, Crusaders and Saracens,
Egyptians and Turks, Arabs and Franks, have all fought
here ; and here, in very recent times, a victory was gained
Dy Bonaparte, which might have changed the destinies of
the East. From this region have flowed the truths and
precepts which have civilized and blessed the earth. All
western nations look to it as the origin of their greatness,
and Mohammed himself has extolled the religion for which
it is illustrious : the religion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob :
the religion which was taught by the lips, and embodied in
the life of the Son of God. All indeed that is commendable
in the teaching of that false prophet is taken from those
disclosures which the earlier religion of the people of this
district had revealed.

Nor is it uninteresting to glance over the surface of this
region, and mark its peculiarities. Here, by the Represents ail
sea-board, lie the beautiful plains of Philistia climes-
and Sharon ; and between the two ranges of hills, (the
Eastern and Western Ghauts, as we may call them,) which
run nearly parallel from north to south throughout the
whole land, lies the valley of the Jordan, reaching from the
sides of Lebanon to the Dead Sea. Beyond Lebanon
again, the valley stretches away still northward (under the
name of Ccelo-Syria), to the very centre of Asia the Less.
This mountain range of Lebanon, it may be noticed, rises
to the height of 10,000 feet, and is covered, during most

* The plain of Esdraelon or Megiddo, near Acre.

40 INTRODUCTORY.

part of the year, with snow. On its sides and at its base
are found most of the productions both of the tropical and
of the temperate zones. Near the summit are the cedar
and fir. Higher still are the lichens and moss of the polar
regions. Around the centre belt grow the oak and other
hard woods of Europe, with corn and olives. Lower still
is the vine; and over Damascus and Palmyra may be still
seen groves of the palm and the fig. Similar districts of
hill and valley cover the whole country. Here in the north
is the pasture-ground of Carmel, where the prophet Amos
fed his flocks. Here near Jericho, the city of palm-trees,
is perpetual summer. Everywhere there is enough to
justify the hope that one day in seven, and even one year in
seven, might be kept free from toil, and yet the people live
in the midst of abundance. A careful observer, moreover,
looking only at the surface of the country itself, would pro-
nounce it the fitting residence of a hardy and prosperous
race. It combines the bracing cold of Darjeeling with the
fruitfulness of the alluvial districts of Bengal or Gujerat.
Here may have lived a race who combined the qualities of
the patriotic Swiss with those of the accomplished Greek,
or the fortitude of the Affghan, with the softness and repose
of the Bengali, the virtues of both without the vices of
either. *

Of the unevenness of these regions, and the consequent
variety of temperature and production, we may judge from
the fact that this river, the Jordan, springs from hills
whose base is more than 2000 feet above its final resting
place in the Dead Sea, and the surface of that sea is nearly
3000 feet lower than Jerusalem, though only twenty miles
distant ; while Jerusalem itself is so surrounded by hills,
as to be an emblem of the good ; for " as the mountains
are round about" it, " so the Lord is about them that fear
him."

§ 4. THE SCENE OF THE LABORS OF OUR LORD. 41

30. Clearly if it had been one purpose of the Christian
faith to foster a spirit of superstitious reverence

_ . . n .. . .. n Lessons in re-

for places, no country in the world would have lation to God's
furnished richer materials than "the land of purpose' an
the Bible." That faith is indeed almost as much superior
to heathen systems in touching incident, historical associ-
ations, and hoar antiquity, as it is in spiritual truth. It is
in this region, this central spot of the earth, this temperate
and tropical clime, this country of industry, of diligence,
and of tempting repose, that we find the scenes of the life
we are about to describe. The country is itself a micro-
cosm, a picture of the world, and admirably fitted to be
the theatre of facts destined to influence the condition of the
whole human race. With this view it was at first chosen,
for " when the Most High divided to the nations their
inheritance, ... he set the bounds of the people according
to the number of the children of Israel." Deut. xxxii. 8.
The selected family was placed there, that God might be
the more readily exalted among the heathen, and at last
known throughout the earth.

31. It is instructive, too, to notice that it is to this

region that the personal ministry of our Lord in re]at;on to

was confined, though his Gospel was finally to Christ's work-

be diffused throughout the earth. In his relation to our

race of every kindred and of all lands, he is the second

Adam ; yet he was born in that little land of promise,

under the Mosaic law, within the range of a temporary

and local covenant ; and to that land he restricted his

ministry. He might have acted upon another principle.

The same wisdom that in his boyhood confounded the

doctors of his own nation might have been displayed, if

he had chosen it, at an earlier age, and the holy child

Jesus might have preached the gospel in that country

where his kindred sought refuge. Endowing himself with

the miraculous gifts which he reserved to celebrate the

4*

42 INTRODUCTORY.

completion of his work and his ascension io his Father, he
might have visited land after land, proclaiming to all man-
kind in their own tongue the truths which he came to
reveal. He might have been the first to carry the gospel
to Rome, and have followed the profligate Tiberius to his
retreat at Caprese, and have reasoned there on righteous-
ness, and temperance, and judgment, till he, like an infe-
rior ruler of a later time, had trembled on his throne.
" He might have anticipated the labors of his servant
Paul, by bearing the news of the unknown God, and of
the resurrection, to the philosophers at Athens. To the
Roman people he might have declared himself the great
deliverer, of whom their Yirgil had recently sung ; and the
sages of Greece might have been compelled to own in him
that heavenly teacher for whom their Socrates had longed ;
and the nations of the East, then intently looking for the
advent of a king whose dominion was to be a universal
one, might have learned from our Lord's own lips the
spiritual nature of that kingdom which they justly but
blindly expected."* Instead of taking this course, how-
ever, he remained in Judea ; nor, except during one visit
to the coast of Tyre and Sidon, did his personal instruc-
tions reach beyond the bounds of the promised land. It
is evident that the primary object of his coming was not to
teach the nations ; not so much, in fact, to reveal a gospel,
as to act one ; to lay the foundation of those trnths which
his Apostles were afterwards to proclaim abroad. He was
himself the truth, and in what he did and suffered the
greater part, incomparably, of the work of human salvation
was to be achieved. For a life of holy, quiet obedience,
(and such was His as our example) it was essential that the
Son of Man should neither strive nor cry, nor let his voice
be heard in the streets. For a life of intense and mysterious

* See Christ a Home Missionary, by Dr. Williams.

§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 43

suffering (such was His life as a substitutionary sacrifice) it
was no less essential that he should move on a narrow
stage : and, above all, was it essential that His life and
death should be first accomplished, before the message of
mercy, a message justified only by his suffering, should be
communicated to the nations. The very restrictedness of
his sphere, therefore, and the quiet, unostentatious charac-
ter of his personal labors, are really among the evidences
of the divinity of his mission. They are explained by the
prominence which he himself attached to his death. It
was the end of his life to die : and he left it to his Apostles
after his death to carry the doctrines, of which that death
was the embodiment and the foundation, throughout Judea,
and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts i. 8.

Sect. 5. — The Gospels the Record of the Life of our

Lord.

32. The record of the life of Christ is found in the
Gospels, a word meaning, in this connection, Meaning ofthe
the record of good news, and corresponding term"
exactly to the Greek term by which this portion of sacred
Scripture is distinguished. At first the name was given
to the message, which began to be given when the angels
announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem that the Messiah
was born. Afterwards it was given to the books in which
the message is now contained.

The writers were called, by a name borrowed from the
Greek, Evangelists.

33. These Gospels were written at different times, under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by the men The Gospels
whose names they bear. It was the object of "Jf^ES" me-
the writers, not to give a complete history of moirs-

the Saviour's life, or of his miracles and discourses, but
to record such facts and discourses as might explain the

44 INTRODUCTORY.

nature, and prove to different readers the Divine origin
of the Christian faith. " Many other signs" (miracles, that
is, which give evidence of a Divine mission) "did Jesus in
the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book. But these are written that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing
ye might have life through his name." John xx. 30, 31.
The four books make, not a biography, but a memoir, and
are yet adapted, by their unity and diversity, to give such
a complete view of the life of our Lord as shall interest
and instruct all classes of character in every age.

34. The first Gospel by Matthew, or as Matthew viewed

The Gospel by an(^ was directed to record it (xata Mai^atoi/),*

Matthew. was intended for pious Hebrews and for the

Jews generally. The author therefore gives no explana-
tion of Jewish customs, or of Jewish topography. He
traces the genealogy of our Lord through his reputed
father to Abraham, and shows how the New Testament is
the fulfillment of the Old. He exhibits Christ chiefly in
his earthly relations and character, as the Lawgiver and
Teacher of the Church ; and his Gospel was sometimes
called on this account, the earthly or material one.

35. The Second Gospel was written at Rome, for the
The Gospel by instruction of Roman converts. Jewish cus-
Mark. toms and places have consequently explana-
tions appended ; narrative is preferred to discourse ; and the
writer dwells upon the actions rather than upon the teach-
ing of our Lord. His Gospel is thoroughly practical ; and
though he has added but twenty-four verses which are not
found in the Gospels of Matthew or Luke, the whole is
recast so as to be adapted to the energetic and practical
habits of the Roman people.

* Perhaps, however, this phrase is merely Hellenistic for rov MirSoiou.

§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 4$

36. The third Gospel was written by Luke foi the
use of the Greeks. Here, again, Christ ap- The Gos a by
pears under another aspect ; not as the minis- Luke-

ster of the circumcision, which is his character in Matthew ;
nor yet as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, his character in
Mark ; but as the Saviour of the world. His genealogy
is traced through his mother to Adam, the head of the
whole human family. While Matthew speaks of the twelve
Apostles who were sent to Israel, Luke speaks also of the
seventy disciples, who were sent as to the nations of the
earth. Several parables are found in this Gospel alone ;
and among them " the Good Samaritan" and " the Prodigal
Son ;" the one humbling to Jewish pride, and the other
cheering to the Gentile penitent. Jewish customs and
chronological statements are made intelligible to a foreign-
er j while the fullness of the record of the discourses of
our Lord meets the curiosity of the Grecian character.

37. In the fourth Gospel we have something that meets
the higher speculative tendencies of men. This Tbe Gospel b
Gospel corrects much that was false in the John'
Jewish and Grecian systems of religious philosophy, and
completes what was deficient in previous revelations. None
has spoken so fully as its author of the Divine character of
our Lord, or of the inward spiritual life which springs
from union with him. As Matthew's Gospel was called
the material one, John's was called the spiritual or divine.
Hence it is that his Gospel begins with a statement of the
divine nature of the Word, by whom all things were made ;
while among the last things it records is the confession of
Thomas, which repeats in the twentieth chapter the truth
which John had stated in the beginning of the first. In
the other Evangelists the Saviour is represented as moving
in the mournful majesty of his humiliation. Here, though
there is much of humiliation, there is more of power.
They love to dwell on his relations to the earth : this

46 INTRODUCTORY.

Apostle to proclaim his relations to Heaven. In reading
Matthew and Luke and Mark, we might forget that in the
humble teacher of Galilee we are listening to- Him who
was the Divine Word ; while in John the Manhood seem3
almost lost in the fullness of the God.

38. Thus is it that the Gospel stands " four square,"

with a side fronting each side of the spiritual

All compared.

world and of human character. Matthew
addresses the Jew, Luke the inquisitive Greek and men in
every age. Mark shows the power and vital force of
truth, and John its attractive and subduing love. Matthew
exhibits chiefly the Jewish, and the human, John the
spiritual and divine in our Redeemer; Mark, his official
character; Luke, his personal history. In all combined
we have not incongruity, but variety and fullness ; and
everywhere Jesus is represented as the Messiah, the
Teacher, the Pattern, and the God.

It is quite consistent with these distinctions that the
different Evangelists have each employed a peculiar die
tion.

39. Matthew quotes largely from the Old Testament;

prefacing his quotations bv the formula, " Then

Peculiarities of x ° * .

diction and was fulfilled," (or, I his was done that there
might be fulfilled) "that which was spoken by
the prophet."* Jerusalem is called the Holy City. " The
Kingdom of heaven " is his common title for what is else-
where called "the kingdom of God;" and "our heavenly
Father" is a phrase applied in Matthew to God much more
frequently than in the other Gospels.

Luke entirely avoids all Aramaean and Hebrew words,

(such as "Rabbi," "Amen," &c.) ; speaks of the "Lake"

of Tiberias, not of the Sea; and connects in a remarkable

ay mental acts with the heart, (Luke i. 66, iii. 15,) con-

* Fully written in chap. i. 22, ii. 15, afterwards more briefly.

§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 47

veying in this phraseology a great moral truth. " Saviour"
and " salvation" are found only in Luke, except that they
occur once in John. " Grace" (unmerited favor) is pecu-
liar to Luke and John. " To bring glad tidings" is fre-
quently found in Luke, and but once in Matthew. The
Law in Luke is not once named, as that word must have
been, in the peculiar scriptural sense of it (Mosaic Law,)
unintelligible to his readers.

John has a large number of phrases which he uses in a
deep Christian sense. " The world," " the flesh," " death,"
"life," " the word," "the light," "the truth," "born of
God," " to know," " to believe," " the Comforter," " to live
in love," "to walk in light," &c, are employed with peculiar
meaning, often both in a literal and in a figurative sense.
These expressions, as used by the latest of the Evangelists,
illustrate beautifully the gradual unfolding of Divine truth ;
while they send us for the solution of much that appears
mysterious in the teaching of our Lord to the disclosures
of his Apostles. (John xvi. 12-15.)

40. In the following pages we intend to combine these
views : now giving the facts in chronological A11 combine(i
order, and now grouping them together for jL^SLJ110*"
the illustration and enforcement of religious StoSmeifS
truth. The law of gradual development which, a11 truth and
rightly explained, pervades all the works of God, spiritual
not less than physical, points also to the necessity of
examining that life in its connection both with the past
and the future. The Gospels include a Jewish element,
are built upon Jewish history, authenticate themselves by
Jewish prophecy, and proclaim their great object to ba
the fulfillment of Jewish types. We must therefore under-
stand the ancient system of the Jewish people. They
appeal also both to Jews, and to Greeks, and, through these
nations, to all whom they represent. We must, therefore,
understand the pride, the self-reliance, the spiritual igno-

\

48 INTRODUCTORY.

ranee, and the formality of the first class, and the prevalent
philosophy of the second. Above all, these Gospels, con-
tain, not so ranch the doctrine of Christ, as the facts on
which that doctrine is based. And therefore we must
compare the life with the religious system, the facts with
the explanations of them which inspired men have supplied.
Our theme, then, though it be the life of our Lord, is
really the life of our Lord as the centre of the whole of the
dispensations of God, the point to which all previous revela-
tions converge, and whence light streams down to our own
times. The Gospel may be called a biography ; but it is a
biography that illustrates and harmonises all history,
forms the basis of all evangelic truth, and sums up all pre-
vious disclosures of the Divine will. It is a life, illimitable
in duration, connection, and dependencies. The plans
which it embodies were formed before the foundation of
the earth ; and the victories it achieved are, in their influ-
ence, everlasting. He is the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending.* He is the subject of the first
and of the latest promise. f He begins and closes both dis-
pensations ;| and His work and honor will form the theme
of an eternal song.§

41. But the life and character of Christ not only form
of ail excel- the substance of both dispensations, they are the
lence. model of all excellence. It is a proof and a

consequence of his Divine nature that his example is uni-
versally applicable. As we have a many-sided Gospel for
instruction, so we have a many-sided character as our pattern.
Human examples are only partial exhibitions of virtue.
They are moulded by circumstances, and fitted only for
departments of duty. Hence it is impossible for one man
to follow implicitly the footsteps of another, without some

* Rev. i. 8. f Gen. iii. 15 ; Rev. xxii. 20.

J Gen. i-iii; Mai. iii. iv. ; Matt. i. ; Rev. xxii.
I Rev. i. 5, C ; 2 Pet. iii. 18.

§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 49

deviations from that line of conduct which the providence
of God has assigned him. What was graceful in the
human model, becomes forced and childish in the copy.
But in imitating Christ no man is led out of his sphere.
He is all mankind's epitome. Every movement after him
is performed with ease, and His likeness sits becomingly
on all who bear it. The rich and the poor, the contem-
plative and the active, the gifted and the ungifted, men of
every class and of all dispositions, find in Him the teaching
they need ; and all are led, by looking to Him, into that
path which is most suitable for them. He is the contrast
of all that men should shun, and the perfection of all they
should copy. Let the restless or active, who are tempted
to embody all religion in practical devotedness, contemplate
His nights of prayer. Let the indolent trace the progress
of His labors of love. The high and lofty learn humility
when they behold Him washing the feet of His disciples.
The fastidious, when they see Him mingling freely with
publicans and sinners, are taught to deny themselves for
the sake of truth and usefulness. The poor learn content-
ment from Him who had not where to lay His head ; the
rich, benevolence in contemplating Him who was the
unspeakable gift : and all see in Him the highest example
brought low, and yet losing nothing of its perfectness.
This many-sidedness is an evidence of His Divine nature,
and it invests with a proportionate value the examination
and study of His life. Not even the examples of inspired
Apostles can supply, in this respect, the place of Christ.
If we copy Paul, we shall be in danger of caricaturing his
virtues, and shall certainly neglect the grace in which his
character was deficient. If John be made our model, we
shall excel in love, but not, probably, in strength. Both
were defective copies of Christ ; and if we imitate them,
our rule will be imperfect, and we shall lose the very prin-
ciple to which they owed their excellences, their deter-

5

50 INTRODUCTORY.

mination, namely to copy, not one another, but Christ
Jesus their Lord.

42. The importance which is thus seen to belong to the
Christ's life pe- Gospels from their connection with the whole
Cortmffrom °f ^he dispensations of God is increased by
the times. tne pecuiiar aspect of our times. In the days
of Luther the Epistles formed the battle-ground of the
faith ; and the doctrinal significance of the Gospels was
the chief subject of inquiry and discussion. Men admitted
the facts, but overlooked or denied the inferences which
inspired Apostles drew from them. Now, on the contrary,
it is not so much the inferences which are denied, as the
facts themselves. Foiled in their attempts to subvert the
truths of one part of Scripture, the enemies of Christianity
have gathered up their broken weapons, and assail an-
other. No Christian, no man of intelligence, can fear the
result. But we must follow the foe to the field he has
chosen. It is not the doctrines of the Gospel which are
now directly assailed, but the facts on which these doc-
trines rest. Neither are outposts of our faith. Both are
vital ; but the facts are in one respect the more important.
An objective religion is essential to a subjective one ; facts
to feelings ; and historical to doctrinal truth. The one is
the basis of the other ; and if the foundation be destroyed,
what shall the righteous do ?

Nor is it only as Christians we use this language.
Lord Bacon, as a philosopher, calls Theology the haven
of all sciences. More pointedly Madame de Stael affirms,
that the history of the world resolves itself entirely into
two periods — that which preceded Christ's appearance,
and that which followed it. John Von Miiller, the dis-
tinguished German historian, holds the same language.
Animadverting on Herder's Philosophy of History, he
says justly: "I find every thing here but Christ; and
what is the history of the world without Christ ?" In

§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 51

fact, all God's works, both in nature and in providence,
looked forward to the life of our Lord, or have been influ-
enced by it, and rightly to understand their lessons, we
need rightly to understand and appreciate Him. Christ,
in his character and cross, supplies the only element ade-
quate to the solution of the great problems presented in
the history of our race,

CHAPTER II.

| 1. Events connected with the birth and childhooi
of our Lord.

§ 2. Christ perfect Man and perfect God.

§ 3. The Fullness of Time.

§ 4. State of the Jews when the Messiah appeared

(58)

A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.

EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
0.: OUR LORD. THIRTEEN YEARS AND A HALF.

Scripture.

Plac:.

Narrative.

Miracle.

Discourse.

Parable.

Matt.

Luke.

1

i. 1-4

Preface to St. Luke's Gospel.

1

i. 5-25

Jerusalem.

1 An angel appears to Zechariah.

i. 2C-38

Nazareth.

| An angel appears to Mary.

i. 39-56

Jutta?

Mary visits Elizabeth.

i. 57-80

Jutta ?

Birth of John the Baptist.

i. 18-25

Nazareth.

An angel appears to Joseph.

ii. 1-7

Bethlehem.

The birth of Jesus.

ii. 8-20

Near Beth.

An angel appears to Shepherds.

ii. 21-38

Beth. Jerus.

Jesus circumcised and presented in the Tempie.

ii 1-12

Jems. Beth.

The Magi.

ii. 13-23

ii. 39, 40

Beth. Nazar.

The flight into Egypt. The return.

ii. 41-52

Jerusalem.

Jesus goes to the Passover. ,

i. 1-17

Genealogy to Abraham thro' David and Joseph, i

iii. 23-38

Genealogy to Adam through David and Mary.

(54)

CHAPTER II.

Sect. 1. — Events connected with the Birth aud
Childhood of our Lord.

1. Our history begins with the Gospel of Luke. True
to his principle of tracing the history of events completeness
from their source,* he only of the Evangelists Pfe,fand nat°u-
gives account of the birth of John, the fore- ralness-
runner of our Lord, and of the occurrences which, even
before his birth, united him and our Lord together in mys-
terious union.

In the very opening sentence we have characteristic
remarks. Luke addresses his friend, tells him of his
acquaintance with the things of which he is about to
write, as no other evangelist does ; thus bringing some-
thing of the style of a human composition to his holy task.
He appears with the faculties and affections of a man,
exercised with the things that engaged his thoughts, and
addressing another in the same earthly strain. But, though
his words assume this tone, the Holy Spirit is as simply
and as fully in every thought, as if the writer m ^

J J . . Though natu-

had been entirely dependent upon his teaching, rai, net the less
Our Lord in his own person delivered com-
mands to his Apostles, and yet he is said to have given
them through the Spirit, f The Berseans were more noble
than the men of Thessalonica, and, giving heed to the mes-
sage spoken by the Apostles, examined the Scriptures to

* aviodcv napaKo'XovOeTv, — Lute i. 3. f Acts i. 2.

(55)

56 CHAPTER II.

ascertain its truth ; and therefore, it is said, they believed ;
though elsewhere, both the attention which men exercise,
and the faith in which it ends, are ascribed to God. Divine
teaching has but seldom superseded human effort; and
where God's grace most abounds, it abounds "in all wis-
dom and prudence."

2. The simplicity and naturalness of the following verses
Birth or John are remarkably impressive. They give notice
and of Christ. 0f $ie km(j 0f revelation which is at hand.
" There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a
certain priest." No pompous introduction, no startling
announcement is here. All is calm, natural, and severely
chaste, though the theme might have justified the most
elaborate preparation.

The- birth and parentage of John are first recorded.
The scene is laid in the midst of human sympathies such
as Luke loves to describe. In due time John is born,
through the special gift of God endowing his parents with
a natural faculty : then Jesus is born, the Son of God ;
not through any endowment of nature, but by the influence
of the Creator Spirit, a miracle from the first ; the one the
child of a barren woman, the other of a virgin ; both fore-
told at least four hundred years before they appeared, the
one as the morning star, the other as the day ; the one as
the prophet of the Highest, the other the Highest himself.

3. Considering man's guilt and God's majesty, the ad-
joy at Christ's ventr °f a God to our world might have been ex-
advent. pected to be a season of awe. And a season

of awe it is, but of awe full of gladness ; such emotion
being represented in Scripture as attending the Blessed God
whenever he comes forth out of his place — awe only to his
enemies, but to them that wait for him awe and gladness
combined. The foundations of the first creation were laid
with shouts of joy, and the sons of God sang together. The
foundations of the new heaven and the new earth are here

§ 1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD. 57

laid, and all is gladness again. " Glory and honor are in his
presence, strength and gladness in his place." 1 Chr. xvi. 27.
The angels celebrate his praise : devout shepherds, hardly
catching the meaning of the strain, repeat the song. The
lips of Mary, and Zechctriah, and Elizabeth, are unsealed ;
the expectation of Simeon is answered ; the widowhood of
Anna is blest ; and the very babes leap for joy. Yc:mg
men and maidens, old men and children, all bless the Lord
together, and all exalt his name. This joy may soon be
hushed in tears, and these children may be for the falling
of many in Israel ; but, so far as God is concerned, his
work is perfect. Its final issue, moreover, will certainly
be glorious ; and, therefore, though the angels come to
announce the advent of an infinitely holy Being to a world
that was ruined and fallen, they come " singing ' Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards
men ;' " and the shepherds return the song, glorifying and
praising Him for all they had heard and seen.*

4. Even thus early, however, the difference between the
master and the servant appears. John was Difference be-
welcomed as he that was to "prepare the way runnVandtE
of the Lord." Christ, who was as to his per- Messiah-
sonality Jesus, and as to his dignity and office the Christ,
the Anointed One, is the Lord himself. John was great
in his spiritual endowments, and in his relation to the Sa-
viour. Christ was great as the Son of God, and as heir
of a kingdom without end — not earthly and temporal,
therefore, but spiritual and eternal, (i. 15, IT, 33.) John
gives but the knowledge of salvation ; salvation itself is
the gift of Christ, (i. 32, 71, 77.) In their origin espe-
cially were they distinguished. John was the child of
natural faculty ; Jesus is born through the creative power

* See Lectures on the Gospel of St. Lulce, Loudon, 1S48; a beautiful
exposition of tbis Gospel.

08 CHAPTER II.

of the Most High * Such was their relation to one
another. They were united in the mystery of their birth,
but, so far as we know, had little or no intercourse again ;
nor perhaps did they meet till both appeared amid other
scenes, and in fulfillment of the solemn office to which God
had called them.

5. Already, too, is the nature of the salvation which
Salvation ai- Christ is to secure disclosed. It is to interest
ready defined. }leayen anc] earth. God and angelic beings
are concerned in its results. It fulfills a previous dispen-
sation ; for it is the substance of that mercy which was re-
vealed in type unto the fathers (ver. 55, 72.) Its fruits
are the deliverance of the church of God from all that hate
her, that she may serve him in holiness and righteousness
all her days ; redemption from sin,f and the extension of
these blessings to all nations. This last fact is remarkable
and peculiar. The Magnificat of Mary is the expression
of thankfulness for personal favor. The Song of Zechariah
celebrates personal mercy, and regards Christ only as the
national deliverer. But the Nunc dimittis of Simeon re-
cognizes in him a light to lighten the Gcntilcs,\ as well as
the glory of his people Israel. This Gospel then is clearly
a system of universal truth, at once redeeming and sancti-
fying all who receive it. Most appropriately, therefore,
though the Jews first heard the tidings of the Advent, the
first act of worship was paid by Gentiles ; whose gifts
proved a providential supply to the holy family when
escaping from the jealous hatred of Herod, the head of
the Jewish nation. (Matt. ii. 11-13.)

* Note, wcua aytov, equals here Swa/jag 'YipicTov; an interpretation re-
quired by other passages of Scripture, which represent Christ as the Son
of the Father, not of the Spirit; and favored both by the absence of the
article and by the parallelism of the verse.

| See Luke ii. 38 ; Matt. i. 21.

J £§vr)f \ao; ■ the first the name of those who were not the chesen people
of God.

§ 1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD. 59

6. There is something instructive too in the character of
those who were selected as witnesses and agents Wisdom M

in these scenes. Things heavenly and things ^ntays inSOg£
earthly are blended; priests and women, the J^i"! em-
poor carpenter the reputed father of our Lord, Ployed-
and the poor shepherds, all bear their part ; and the tender
mercy of God, which only could have accounted for such
a revelation even if kings and princes had received it, is
rendered doubly illustrious through the temporal condition
of those to whom it was first given. And yet "the secret
of the Lord is with them that fear him." The character
of the, great Teacher, no less than his condescension, are
seen in the agents he employed. Eve fell through unbe-
lief, and under its influence hoped to become like God.
Mary believed, and under the influence of faith doubted not
that God would become like men. Zechariah was a man
of prayer, (i. 13.) Elizabeth recognized in the babe Christ
her Lord, and with her husband had been previously walk-
ing in the ordinances and commandments of God blameless.
(44.) Joseph was a just man ; and Simeon just and de-
vout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. It is difficult to
tell which fact is the more significant — that those whom
God thus favored were not among the noble and mighty,
or that the qualities which he honored were holiness and
faith.

7. The growth of Christ in stature and in wisdom is
noticed here, and here only. Luke ii. 39-52. Christ as a
These glances at his childhood are all touch- child-

ing, and in keeping with the character of this Gospel ; for
thus the man is kept before us. His wisdom first appeared
in the robe of humility. He heard and asked questions ;
surprising his hearers not by profound discourses unsuited
to his years, but by his ' answers.' Already he was about
his Father's business, though still subject to Mary and
Joseph. He is the anointed child now, as by and bye he

60 CHAPTER II.

will be the anointed man ; in each season equally pleasing
to God, consecrating to Him and to His laws every period
of human life, in favor with God as well as with man.
This description, though sufficient to set forth Christ, as a
highly instructive pattern to the young in humility, in filial
obedience, and in piety, suggests, by its very brevity, that
the inspired author of the Gospel wrote under sacred con-
trol. Such a history as Xenophon has given of the youth
of Cyrus ; or as the early apocryphal biographies have
given of our Lord, is much more in accordance with the
natural tendency of the human mind ; and but for inspira-
tion, such a history the Evangelist would have written.
8. This history of the birth of Christ ends with his
lineage. Nor are the tables given by the two

His OotiPfilo^Y

and what it hi- Evangelists, Matthew and Luke, insignificant;

volved. ,1! • i •

the latter table tracing up his parentage
through Mary to David and Adam, and the former through
his reputed father Joseph to David and Abraham.

The appearance of the Messiah among the human race
presupposes conditions both negative and positive : nega-
tive, that man needed redemption ; and positive, that the
Messiah must be obviously connected with the race, and
not a portion separated from it. A double connection, with
the ancient favored people of God and with the whole
human family, was essential ; and this connection is estab-
lished here by such evidence as no other family records can
produce. The genealogy, comprising three times fourteen
generations on the father's side, and seventy-five genera-
tions on the mother's, extends over a period of two thousand
and four thousand years respectively. The construction
of such tables in an uninterrupted line, and relating to
families that dwelt for a long time in retirement, would be
inexplicable, had not their members an ultimate object of
faith before them, which rendered the preservation of the
lineage of deepest interest. It was foretold that the

§ 1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD. 61

Messiah was to be born from the race of Abraham and of
David. The ardent desire to behold him, and to become
identified with his mercy and glory, kept up attention to
these records through a period embracing thousands of
years. Each successive head of the lineage thus became
easily distinguishable, and his presence and name kept alive
the hope of a final fulfillment of the ancient predictions,
till that hope was realised in the person of our Lord. If
Messiah be the life of the world, we trace the first veins of
that life in Adam. If he be the blossoming of human
nature, we can trace its development from the very root.
This connection with the race, and with the chosen family
of the race, is thus not only the fulfillment of a prophecy :
it has a deep spiritual meaning. He is a brother of us all :
partner of our weakness and nature, bone of our bone, and
flesh of our flesh — the true Kinsman-Redeemer of men.

Sect. 2. — Christ perfect Man and perfect God.

9. Very noticeable is the language of Scripture on the
twofold condition of the Messiah. He was Christ's two-
man, and he was God : man, with all his pecu- foIdnature
liarities and weakness, (though without sin ;) and God,
with all his dignity and perfections.

10. He was man. So he is called. Scripture speaks
of him as "a man of sorrows;" as "a man 7,ro„ • MM

' Juan in name

approved of God;" as "the one Mediator and
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." With
touching condescension he calls himself by a name which
his Apostles never employ, "the Son of Man." The
whole story of his life represents him with the form and
features of our nature. In our likeness he was found,
and in our image he was fashioned.

The properties of man are ascribed to him. He was
hungry and thirsty, was weary, and rested and

in properties.

slept ; he was subject to trials and pain ; he

6

62 CHAPTER II.

was grieved, and wounded, and pierced ; he ^\*ed and was
buried.

He sustained human relations. He was the Son of
Mary, the friend of Lazarus, and " the brother"

in relations. .

(certainly the relative) ot James.
He had the mind of man. By study of the Scriptures,
and under the special teaching of the Holy

in faculty. . .

Spirit, he "increased in wisdom." He gained
his knowledge of the works of God, and of the mysteries
of that spiritual kingdom to which they all belonged, as a
man. His was a human judgment, and a human memory,
and a human imagination. He was indeed without sin ; but
in every thing besides he became flesh, and was made
"like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people."

11. But he was God also. He existed and acted before
he came in the flesh.* " All things were made
by him."f He had glory with the Father
" before the world was. "J He " came down from heaven. "§
He was rich before he was poor. || To take the form of a
servant, he "emptied or divested himself of his glory. "^f
The whole tenor of these passages implies previous dignity,
and they would be unmeaning if he were man only.

Divine attributes are everywhere ascribed to him in
Scripture. He is the " Everlasting Father," "the begin-
ning and the ending, who was, and who is, and who is to
come, the Almighty." He "upholds all things by the
word of his power." He is "able to subdue all things
unto himself." He knows all things. He searches the
heart, he tries the thoughts of men. He is the only wise

* John viii. 58. f John i. 3. J John xvii. 5.

I John vi. 38. || 2 Cor. viii. 9. f Phil. ii. 6. 7.

§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAN AND PERFECT GOD. 63

God our Saviour," to whom be glory for ever.* He has
life in himself, and is ever present with his church.
* Where two or three are gathered together in his name,
there is he in the midst of them, "f

He is called by the name of God in the INTew Testament,
and by the incommunicable name of Jehovah in the Old.
" The Word (the utterance, that is, of infinite wisdom) was
God." Of the Jews Christ came, and he "is over all, God
blessed for ever." We wait for his coming, the " appearing
of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ."
On the very charge of making himself equal with God he
was condemned. He, therefore, "is the true God and
eternal life. "J

12. It is under this double character that we mark the
following peculiarities in his life. The inspired statements ex-
writers attribute to him all human properties fwifoid S- Ms
and relations, such even as seem at first sight ture-
inconsistent with his Godhead. He was tempted, he
prayed, he was heard in that he feared ; with strong crying
and tears he presented his petitions ; he was troubled in
spirit ; he had angels to comfort him ; he had limited
knowledge, for he knew not the time of the day of judg-
ment. With startling simplicity are all these facts re-
corded : and it can hardly excite surprise that reverence
for his dignity, though in this case falsely applied, has
attempted in every age to modify the form, or to soft>
the meaning of the terms in which these truths have been
conveyed.

Let no Christian, however, scruple to employ these
expressions, or to give them their appropriate meaning.

* Isa. ix. 6; Rev. i. 8; Phil. iii. 21; Heb. i. 3; John xxi. 17;
Jude 25; Rev. ii. 23.

f Matt xviii. 20 ; xxiii. 28 ; John v. 26.

} John i. 1; Rom. ix. 5; Tit. ii. 13; 1 John v. 20. For the Old
Testament see Gen. xvi. 7, 13; Hos. xii. 4, 5; Is. xl. 3; (John i. 23;)
*Tal. iii. 1; (John iii. 28;) Isa. vi. 1—10; (John xii. 41.)

f)4 CHAPTER II.

What may seem to be gained by restricting them, will be
lost in the diminished fitness of Christ for his office as our
Sacrifice and Advocate ; in the unintelligibleness of the
evangelical history; the introduction of a partial system
of interpretation, and the exaltation of human reason above
the plain and obvious import of Scripture. Such passages
contain a truth as precious as it is obvious, as consolatory
as it is ennobling. lie stooped to our nature, that he
might make us partakers of his own.

It is a natural result of the dignity of his character, and
Acts as God in Meed an evidence of it, that he wrought
ins own name. mimc]es jn nis own name, claimed God-like

authority in all his teaching, and received with acceptance
the Divine honors that were paid him. "With authority
and power he commanded the unclean spirits, and they
came out. He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
"Peace, be still; and the wind ceased, and there was a
great calm :" an act of power which the Jews regarded
as appropriate only to Jehovah, and which drew from the
disciples the confession, " Of a truth thou art the Son of
God." The prayer of the leper was, " Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean," and the reply of our Lord,
" I will ; be thou clean." " The Son," said he, on another
occasion, " quickeneth whom he will." So fully did he
identify himself with Him whose counsel shall stand,
and who will do all his pleasure. In marked contrast is
the language of the Apostles, who speak uniformly in terms
of delegated authority. "I command thee," said Paul,
" in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to come out of
her."*

When he ascended, he gave gifts to men. He granted
signs and wonders to be done by the hands of Paul and
Barnabas. His name, through faith in his name, made

* Mark iv. 39; Matt. viii. 2, 3; John v. 21 ; Acts xvi. 18.

§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAX AND PERFECT GOD. 65

the lame man strong. " JEneas," said Peter on another
occasion, " Jesus Christ maketh thee whole."*

ISTor less striking is his reception of Divine honor. He
wrought miracles that he himself might be Kec-eives divins
glorified by them,f while the Apostles dis- hoaors-
claimed both the power and the praise ; and when the peo-
ple were about to offer sacrifices to them for miracles they
had wrought, "they rent their clothes, and ran in among
the crowd, crying out and saying, Sirs, why do ye these
things ? We also are men of like passions with you."

Concerning Christ, moreover, it is said that angels wor-
shipped him. X The Apostles testified that they beheld his
glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. § Thomas addressed him as "my Lord
and my God;" and Jesus spoke of this language as the
utterance of faith simply, and pronounced all others blessed
who, without the same evidence, should express like con-
viction. He commanded his disciples to baptize (not,
surely, in the name of God, and of man, and of an attri-
bute, but) in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost. He forgave sins, and received homage
for the bestowment of such grace. As he was taken up to
heaven, the Apostles worshipped him ; and they besought
him when in glory, as he knew the hearts of men, to show
whom he had chosen in the room of Judas. Stephen in-
voked his name as he fell asleep, and said, " Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit." Paul sought his help for the removal
of a thorn in the flesh, and Christ heard and relieved him,
not by fulfilling the letter of his prayer, but by higher
communications of strength. Repeatedly the inspired
writers of the Epistles beseech him to comfort and estab-
lish the churches, to direct the path of his servants, to
give grace and love to those who believed ; and> as fre-

* Acts ix. 33. f John xi. J Heb. i. 6.

$ John i. 14.

66 ' HAPTER II.

quently do they ascribe dominion, and honor, and glory,
and power " to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb for ever and ever." Such, too, is the song of
the heavenly hosts.* Christ is evidently the theme of
adoration in heaven and on earth.

Let these facts, with the whole tenor of Scripture, be
studied. Let it be remembered that they are recorded in
a volume which condemns all idolatry, and most-of which
was addressed to a people who expected a Messiah, that
was to be honored equally with the Father ; and the con-
clusion is irresistible that Christ was not man only, but
man and God gloriously and mysteriously combined. Deny
either truth, and the language of Scripture becomes con-
tradictory or unintelligible.

13. It is a natural consequence of this double character,

that some things are ascribed in Scripture to

consistencies Christ generally, which are true only of Christ

as human; and that others are ascribed to

Christ which are true only of Christ as Divine ; while, for

most of his work he needed both natures.

Nor let the first of these facts excite surprise. There is
much analogous to it in the language of common life. Man
is constituted of body and mind. In every human being
these two opposite principles are so united as to form but
one person. The peculiar properties of each remain un-
changed, and the acts of each are ascribed to both. We
say with equal propriety that man walks, or thinks, or
moves, or loves ; though one set of these acts belongs pro-
perly to the body, and the other to the soul. Even when
the terms we employ are direct contraries, we never hesi-
tate to use them in describing the complex man. It is
equally true that he is mortal and immortal — that he is

* Jobn xx. 28; Matt, xxviii. 19; Luke vii. 47, 48; xxiv. 52; Acts i.
24; vii. 59; 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9; Heb. xiii. 21; 2 Pet. iii. 18; Rev. i. 5, 6;
v. 13.

§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAN AND PERFECT GOD. 67

corporeal and spiritual. The sentence of God to our first
parents creates no misgiving — "Dust thou art, and unto
dust thou shalt return :" we still apply it to man, though
it is fulfilled only in the history of the body ; a far different
destiny awaits the soul. And as in man we have two dis-
tinct elements, matter and spirit, so in Christ we have the
human nature — body and soul — in union with the Divine :
the human in all its weakness, though without sin ; and the
Divine in all its dignity and perfection.

This analogous case may help us to understand many
passages in the life of our Lord ; while it serves to recon-
cile apparent contradictions which some in forgetfulness of
it have seemed to discover in the sacred page.

14. Most, however, of the statements of Scripture con-
cerning Christ are true of him in both charac-

t in i pi- -i • Both parts of

ters. In the work, for example, of his media- his nature

needed for most

tion, it is impossible to separate the idea of his of his work of
Divine perfection from that of his humanity.
As Mediator he was God, but God " manifest in the flesh."
We see his humiliation, for he was the partner of our
weakness. But to form a just conception of his office, we
need to remember the infinite condescension that assumed
it. As our Friend and Priest, he is a brother man. But
a true conception of either character involves the recogni-
tion of the homage that is due to him as God over all, an
Almighty Friend, a spotless Priest. We confide at once
in his sympathy and power, in his meekness and majesty,
in his Divinity and humanity. His very nature, in fact,
fills the wide interval between the Creator and the creature,
and unites both. His person is thus a symbol of his works,
and sets forth at once the means and the end of our salva-
tion. Thus it is, that in contemplating every part of his
office, faith, and gratitude, and holy reverence, are com-
bined. The fear of his eternal power and Godhead is

68 CHAPTER II

strangely blended with the emotions which are excited by
at tributes of his character allying him to ourselves.

15. This double truth is beautifully illustrated in the

titles given Him in Scripture, " Son of man,''
andn" son oT and " Son of God." The first indicates his

condescension, his sympathy, and his relation
to ourselves ; its full force depending, however, on the
second, "the Son of God." If we use one phrase only,
each is robbed of its emphasis, and of most of its interest.
Using both, so as to combine and contrast them, we make
them doubly significant. The meaning of the first we have
seen ; what then is involved in the second ? Clearly, com-
paring the passages indicated below, it may be affirmed
that he is so called on account of the divine agency put
forth in his conception ;* the peculiar love and favor which
the Father bears him ;f his most perfectly filial temper ;J
his possession of the Divine nature ;§ his conformity to the
Divine will;|| his title to inherit the kingdom of the Fa-
ther ;■[[ and, in one word, on account of his character,
nature, and office, as the appointed King, and Prophet,
and Priest of the Church.** He is therefore Son of God
and Son of Man. God-man in one person for ever : the
precious bond of union between the criminal and the judge,
between heaven and earth, between our fallen state and our
restoration to more than primeval purity and bliss.

16. Nothing is easier than on such a question to rnul-
Theories of the tiply words without knowledge, and to specu-
Eaturesta*0 ^ate on the Pomt of how three are one, and one
Christ. js three. Many eminent names have lent their
sanction to such speculations. Augustine illustrated the
whole doctrine by supposing that the Divine nature is like

* Lu'se i. 35. f Matt iii. 17. J John v. 30 ; Matt. xxvi. 39.

I John xix. 7 ; x. 30. |] John v. 19 ; viii. 28.

f John v. 22, 23 ; iii. 35

**Actsxiii. 32, 33; John i. 14; John x. 33-36; Ileb. v. 5.

§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAN AND PERFECT GOD. 6tf

the three faculties of the mind — the memory, the under-
standing, and the will. Melancthon held that God from
his infinite understanding produces thought, and that to
this thought (which bore his image) he imparted person-
ality, and that this personality is his Son. "God," says
another eminent writer, "God reflecting on and conceiving
himself, is God the Father. God conceived as his own
most glorious image, is God in the person of his Son. G-<d
enjoying himself as his own chiefest good, in relation to
the Father and the Son, is God the Holy Ghost."*
Others, including many of the earlier writers of the Church,
held that the Son is God of God, and that he has the same
Divine nature as the Father, but that he received it by com-
munication from him. Others still (including the whole
sect of the Sabellians) taught that God is one Being only,
and that there is no distinction of persons in the Godhead
at all. On this theory, it is the same God exhibiting him-
self under different aspects. As God the Creator, he is
the Father ; as God the Redeemer, he is the Son ; as God
the agent of illumination and holiness, he is the Holy
Ghost.

17. Now, without attempting to point out how far these
theories are true or false, it may be said that

• t Contrasted

they all contain something which is theory with scripture
only. In many respects they are remarkably
analogous to speculations which have been entertained both
in ancient Greece and in modern India. But in the very
spirit and form they assume, they stand out in strong con-
trast to the simple teaching of the Bible. The world was
ruined by sin ; a broken law needed to be upheld ; life and
immortality, the very hope of which had become nearly
extinct, had to be brought to light ; provision was to be
made for man's pardon and holiness ; for pardon on princi-
ples of justice, and for holiness with due regard to his im-

* Dr. Chauncy.

70 CHAPTER II.

perfection. To meet these conflicting claims, God the
Father, whose law had been broken, too just to pass by-
transgression, yet unwilling to inflict the penalty upon the
sinner, sent his beloved Son. That Son, the object of
universal adoration, took upon him the form of a servant ;
became obedient to that law which we had dishonored ;
exhausted the penalty which we had incurred; and, after a
life of holy beneficence and suffering, died for our sins, rose
again, and now reigns on high, gives eternal life to all who
believe and honor him, and is the Judge of all. This Sa-
viour possesses the attributes of the Godhead, and is to be
honored even as the Father. He possesses also our nature.
By it he became capable of death. From it, quickened by
the Divinity, proceed mysterious influences to his Church.
With it he pleads before the Father. To it all his people
are to be conformed, and in it he will rule for ever ; dis-
pensing the terrors of his judgment, and the treasures of
his love.

The bearing of these facts on the subject of our enquiry
will presently appear. They are stated thus broadly at the
outset, that they may guide and tinge the thoughts of both
writer and readers. It is the history of the God-man we
are about to investigate and describe.

Sect. 3. The Fullness of Time.

18. It may be gathered from what has already been ad-
vanced, that the design of the coming of
chTist'scom- Christ was most noble. Man had fallen.
Placed under a righteous law, in a state of
probation at once merciful and just, he had chosen sin and
broken the law. He was therefore under its curse. Sin
had brought fear, and fear had excited hostility, and hos-
tility had fostered ignorance, and all combined had deep-
ened his misery and aggravated his guilt, till God was
entirely forgotten, and human life had become a scene of

§ 3. THE FULLNESS JF TIME. 71

mourning and woe." This ruin Christ came to restore,
revealing God not as Judge only, but as Saviour ; offering
a full, free, and universal pardon, and imparting to is
many as believe and obey his gospel, purity, holiness, and
eternal life.

19. This was his design. Bit a question arises. How
comes it that this way of salvation was not Delay of his
earlier revealed ; that thousands of years were comins-
suffered to pass away before he brought relief ? Indirect
indications were, indeed, given in Eden, that, though all
was lost, all was not lost irrecoverably. But these intima-
tions were mysterious, and were in effect confined to one
nation.

20. To this question various replies may be given.
Mercy, it may be said, is an act of sovereignty possiWe rea.
and of favor. Those, therefore, who have no sons-
claim for pardon, cannot justly ask why pardon was not
earlier announced, or more profusely bestowed. Or it may
be said that the delay was an act of One who is infinitely
wise, and infinitely good ; and that the question betrays a
groundless suspicion of His goodness, or an equally ground-
less presumption of man's ability to comprehend His
reasons. Or, it may be said, that God purposed to exhibit
to the universe the evils of sin, and to impress upon
the minds of all intelligent creatures the great lessons
taught in human apostacy, and the fearful consequences of
even one act of wilful rebellion. Scripture, however, has
given us a more definite answer than any of The true rea.
these. It intimates clearly that before God son-

could reveal himself or his truth in all its fullness, prepara-
tion must be made for the revelation ; and that it was "in
the fullness of time he sent forth his Son to redeem them
that were under the Law, and that we might receive the
adoption of sons."

21. This answer is susceptible of several illustraticns.

72 CHAPTER II.

(1.) It is one of the fundamental truths of the Gospel,
that by the deeds of the law no man can be

Illustrations of J .

-the fullness of justified ; and that if man be saved at all, it

time." J J

Hopelessness of must be by the intervention of another. All
sJhemfproved his acts are sinful, even the holiest. They are
by the delay. defective either in themselves, or in the motives
that prompt them ; and even if it could be shown that any
single act was perfect, its perfection could not cancel the
guilt of other acts confessedly sinful. Added to this judi-
cial difficulty is one no less serious. Man is degraded and
fallen : never yet, apart from the Gospel, has human nature
been renewed.

These truths, however, are among the last that men be-
lieve or admit : and needed to be proved by experiment,
in order that a practical demonstration might be given of
the necessity of redemption. This demonstration is one
object of all history. From the beginning man had some
divine light. The Gentile world had in addition the teach-
ing of natural religion, while the Jews had superadded the
teaching of a written revelation. For four thousand years
men were left to these influences, that it might be known
whether or no they would feel after God, if haply they
might find him. The Gentiles, we know from history as
well as from Scripture, did not like to retain God in their
knowledge. The Jews, who had received a pure system,
corrupted and abused it. And so far was man from show-
ing any tendency to " regain self-raised his native seat,"
that every where his depravity became more intense ; until,
at the time of the advent of the Messiah, the world, and
the civilized world especially, had reached a pre-eminence
in wickedness which had never been surpassed.

This experiment, moreover, was made under every
variety of circumstances. First, different forms of govern-
ment were tried : Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy.
Authority was given successively into the hands of the one,

§ 3. THE FULLNESS OF TIME. 73

of the many, and of the few ; but all failed. To originate
a form of government which, under favorable conditions,
might raise a poor and industrious people to power and
wealth, seemed easy enough ; but the very attainment of
these objects rendered their downfall inevitable. Wealth
and power brought luxury and licentiousness, and these,
ultimately, retribution and defeat. . Every system of law,
and every constitution of government, had, in fact, either
in itself or in human nature, the seeds of decay. If vicious,
it worked its own failure ; if perfect, it led the sooner to
greatness, which (as human nature is) is itself ruin. Un-
less, therefore, help arise from some other source, the con-
dition of our race is desperate, and our moral redemption
impossible.

Nor, during these political changes, were influences
wanting of a more subtle order. The human mind had
made great acquirements in philosophy and knowledge.
From Pythagoras to Socrates (B. C. 600-400) questions
of physical and moral truth had been incessantly discussed ;
and the wisdom of that age reached its perfection in the
intellectual reign of the Sophists — a race who boasted of
their ability to prove the same act either right or wrong,
and the same proposition either false or true ; thus sub-
verting the very principles of virtue. Then Socrates
appeared — one of the noblest lights of his age. He com-
batted the errors of his countrymen ; proved, from the
things that are made, the existence and attributes of God,
and from his character the relations which he sustains to
man. The life of the philosopher was the price he paid
for his fidelity ; and though his sentiments survived in
Plato, they were employed by him as themes of philoso-
phical speculation, and not of practical concern. Sublime
and beautiful these speculations are, but, like the stars,
they are too high above us to be of real use ; and the ten-
dency of his teaching was seen in the writings of his suc-

t

74 CHAPTER II.

cesser Aristotle, who possessed one of the clearest and
strongest intellects, and yet contributed not a single offer-
ing to the cause of religion or morality. He found men
under the bondage of sin. The passions that bound them
he analyzed with matchless skill, but not one effort did he
put forth for their relief.

A third fact remains. The aesthetic and the moral are
closely allied. Does not, therefore, the cultivation of the
taste lead to reformation ? And to this question history
has given a reply no less distinct. The age of Plato was
the golden age of Grecian art. Sculpture, and poetry, and
eloquence, had all framed their faultless models — and all
ministered to vice. If the eye rested on any part of the
streets of Athens, (the altar of Greece, as Pausanias after-
wards called it,) it discovered every where the most finished
specimens of sculpture ; but each filled the imagination
with all that was morally revolting. Taste presided over
every department of life ; but it was taste revelling in licen-
tiousness. So that it became a common remark, that the
days in which men worshipped their clay idols were less
godless and immoral than those in which they bowed down
to marble and gold.

Whether, therefore, if man had been left in his first
apostacy, he would ever have recovered himself from that
condition, is a question settled by the experience of four
thousand years ; and settled in terms so decisive, as to
prove our need of the Gospel, and to supply important
evidence of its truth.

22. (2.) While man's moral helplessness was receiving
these painful illustrations, there misrht have

The Gospel a x to

spiritual sys- been traced preparations for the comma; of

tem, and . x x °

adapted to an Christ of a more positive kind.

If, for example, we examine the Christian
dispensation, and compare the form in which it is revealed
with the form in which truth is revealed under the Law, it

§ 3. THE FULLNESS OF TIME. 75

will be seen that the conceptions of the former belong
essentially to an advanced stage of civilization. Adapted
in its facts to every age, and in its precepts and teaching
too, it nevertheless addresses itself, in a very large extent,
to the spiritual nature of man. It has to do with thought,
feeling, sentiment, and motive — in a word, with truth sub-
jectively considered ; while earlier revelations have to do
chiefly with objective truth, and with objective truth in
simple and material forms. The history both of nations
and languages proves that, in the earlier periods of our
race, the conceptions of man are mainly from without. So
that the ideas of the Gospel as embodied, for example, in
the Epistles, could hardly have been comprehended till man
had passed the first stage of his progress, and had become
intellectually somewhat refined. In our own day, an Afri-
can can understand its facts. Its elevating tendency
is moreover so strong, as rapidly to prepare him for
admiring its simplicity and nobleness. But even under
such teaching, generations may pass before the Gospel, as
a spiritual revelation, is adequately appreciated ; nor can
even the best instructed among ourselves affirm that he
has fathomed its depths. To have tempered these quali-
ties of the Gospel with an admixture of earthliness would
have marred its beauty ; and to have revealed a Gospel
equally spiritual in an earlier age, would have rendered
necessary a much larger amount of evidence to authenticate
it, while a continued miracle must have been required to
preserve parts of it to the world.

23. (3.) The Gospel, moreover, is revealed in human

language, and attested by miracle. But the Ian-
Needs a lan-
guage of a barbarous age would have been une- guageeminent-

. ]y spiritaal.

qual to the task 01 embodying and transmitting its evidence

.. ., -1,1 i r»i it • ■, requires some

its truths, and the state or knowledge in such knowledge of

an age would have rendered miracles impossible.

Unless the laws of nature are to some extent known, men

76 CHAPTER II.

cannot determine when in particular cases tlicy are leparted
from or not. Savages are governed by imagination rather
than by reason, and court deception by their credulity.
The testimony of savage nations, therefore, in relation to
the marvelous, is always received with suspicion. A reve-
lation like the Gospel, with disclosures so stupendous, and
sustained by facts so unusual, could hardly have been trans-
mitted to Europe from New Zealand, for example, in a
form to gain or deserve credence. There are in that coun-
try no words capable of conveying truth, and having at the
same time a critical apparatus sufficient to guide future
ages in discovering their meaning ; nor is there there the
intellect requisite to appreciate and prove the facts by
which truth is sustained.

It illustrates these remarks, and proves the superintend-
ence of the Providence of God, to notice that, although
when Christ appeared the Greeks had sunk morally into
the lowest state of degradation, they had been cultivating
for ages, and with the greatest success, a language which
has long been the admiration of the human race. It com-
bines the opposite qualities of strength and flexibility ; is
equally adapted for the expression of logical distinctions,
and of tenderest sentiment ; and we doubt whether it
appears to most advantage in the "terrible vehemence" of
Demosthenes, the lyric softness of Anacreon, the high ima-
ginative philosophy of Plato, or the exactness of Aristotle.
It certainly adorns and illustrates them all. As a conse-
quence of this perfection, partly as its cause, the language
has attracted to itself whatever is most delightful in litera-
ture and profound in philosophy. A large apparatus is
ever therefore ready to aid all who wish to explore its
treasures. The study of it has ever revived with the revi-
val of letters. It may be added that those- remains which
have come down to us are especially rich in the expressions
of spiritual truth, and in terms which are adapted to illus-

§ 3. THE FULLNESS OF TIME. 77

trate the Bible, so that, though the doctrines of the Gospel
are new and Divine, hardly a term required to be modified
in order to adapt this language to the purpose of express-
ing them ; and for such slight modifications the Jews and
Hellenists were already prepared by the influence of the
Septuagint, and the connection of Alexandria with Judaea
and Europe.

24. (4.) The language which thus became adapted from
its richness to express religious truth, was no As a unjVersai
less adapted to transmit it in consequence of its efto™^"^"
universality. When the Greek tongue attained feviratteVo us
in the writings of Plato and Aristotle its high- claims-

est perfection, the hero appeared who was to give it its
widest influence. Alexander, after subduing Greece and
the eastern districts of Europe, extended his conquests
eastward, and in a few years all Asia to the borders of
India became tributary. Throughout all these regions the
authority of the Greeks was established, and their literature
introduced. Greek soon became the language of rank, of
intelligence, and even of commerce. The conquest of
Greece by Rome only extended its influence. The lan-
guage and philosophy of Athens became in Italy the theme
of almost idolatrous admiration. The victories and uni-
versal empire of the imperial city carried the Greek tongue
to all the countries washed by the Mediterranean ; and in
the time of Christ whatever was written in Greek became
accessible to all who, by their religion, (as the Jews) or
their intelligence, (as the Greeks) or their power (as the
Romans,) gave character to their age, or conferred distinc-
tion on their nation.

25. These successive changes, involving a slow and
gradual development of the Divine purpose,

Beem essential to the establishment of a religion
which was intended from the first to become universal, and

7*

78 CHAPTER II.

♦vhosc evidence and doctrines were to be examined and
believed by the whole human race. It ill becomes ns at
least to question either the wisdom or the goodness of this
delay ; for it has secured to us ample historical confirma-
tion of the most humbling of the truths of revelation, the
completeness, namely, of our ruin; while it supplies a
fullness of evidence, a beauty and explicitness of language,
which on any other supposed arrangement would have been
impossible for us to attain. If previous dispensations have
suffered, it is for "our consolation and salvation." The
very disadvantages of past ages, and the mystery of the
Gospel in withholding its light, add to our privilege and
responsibility.

If these reasonings seem strained, let it only be supposed
that the great fact of the Gospel, the coming of Christ as
our pattern and sacrifice, had been revealed with all the
spiritual lessons it involves in the days of the Exode, and
in even the Hebrew tongue. The solemn evidence of the
complete ruin of the human race must then have been with-
held. That the world by wisdom knew not God would
have been a truth of revelation only, not of experience.
Sophistry and licentiousness, which had corrupted natural
religion, would have spent their force upon the revealed
The language of Scripture, which, even with all the avail-
able helps supplied by Grecian and Hellenistic literature,
has been perverted so as to subserve nearly every form of
error, would have been incapable of definite exegesis ; and,
in a word, the religion intended to become universal must
have been confessed to be unfit for its work, unless strength-
ened and sustained by a multiplication of miracles, as incon-
sistent with the economy of the Divine procedure as it
would have been injurious to human faith.*

* The latter views of this section are largely discussed and illustrated
by Dr. YVayland, and in a recent work by Rev. W. J. Conybeare and
Rev. J. S. Howson on the Life and Fnistles of St Paul.

5} 4. state of the jews at tee messiah's coming. 79

Sect. 4. — The State of the Jews at the coming of the

Messiah.

26. "While these preparatory changes were taking place
in other parts of the world the Jews themselves
were undergoing an important change. Their changes in
intercourse with the Gentiles, and the severe
punishment which they had suffered in Babylon and in
Judaea, checked their tendency to idolatry and confirmed
them in their faith. Since the captivity the Scriptures were
more frequently consulted, and synagogues were established
in most of the larger cities of Palestine.

2T. This intercourse with strangers became also more
extensive. In Egypt colonists early settled,

• . .t . Diffusion of

and Alexander gave them privileges in his new Judaism and
city of Alexandria. A little later, they built a
temple for themselves in that country, and thus weakened
the ties that bound them to the Holy City. As the con-
nection of the Jews with Egypt had at first been a scourge,
so now it became a snare. From choice or necessity,
settlers also established themselves in Asia Minor, Greece,
and Italy ; and, in the time of our Lord, there was scarcely
a country in the whole Roman empire in which Jewish
colonies might not be found. In almost every city Moses
had those who preached him ; (Acts xv. 21 ;) a fact that
influenced on the one hand the national character, and on
the other prepared the way more completely for the coming
of the Messiah and the diffusion of his truth.

28. Other influences were at work of a directly religious
kind. Most of the rites of the ancient law

Prevail in0* for-

derived their importance from their symbolical maitem of the
character. They were doctrines and precepts
in acts, as we have in the New Testament doctrines and
precepts in words. Some of those rites were no doubt
intended to preserve the Jews as a distinct nation ; but .

80 CHAPTER II.

most teach lessons of morality and piety, or point attention
to the work and office of the Messiah. Towards the close
of that dispensation, however, all that was spiritual and
significant in the law was forgotten ; the ritual and formal
alone was remembered, and dead corrupted truth became
even more potent for evil than heathen error.

29. As, therefore, we see among Pagans the effects of
True religion ignorance of true religion, so among the Jews
corrupted. we notice the direction the human mind takes
when true religion decays. There were every where mere
formalism and hypocrisy ; but these qualities were modi-
fied by the different tendencies of men.

30. (1.) There was the traditional tendency. Under

its influence human elements were miugled with

In Pharisaism. .

the Divine, and forms that compressed and
destroyed the substance of piety were substituted for such
as grew out of it. In the place of the real essence there
came a dead ceremonial, much of which was of earthly
origin ; while what was heavenly became, in consequence
of the place assigned to it in the prevalent system, corrupt
and abominable. This was Pharisaism, or legal Judaism.
The disciples of this sect reflected most truly the national
character, and were favorites with the people. Their tra-
ditions are noticed in various parts of the Gospels.* Some
of these traditions were harmless ; others of them made
void the law. It is, however, the spirit of this sect, and
their estimate of religion, that our Lord condemns. Rigid-
ly severe in avoiding transgressions of the ritual precepts,
they were ready at any time for violations of the moral
law, and able by casuistry to excuse them. They com-
mended frequent fastings and "long prayers in the syna-
gogues," but allowed hypocrisy and covetousness. Their
motive was the praise of men ; their righteousness, the
observance of outward duty ; their very humility, spiritual

* Matt. XV. 2; Mark vii. 9.

§ 4. STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE MESSIAH'S COMING. 81

pride. They were, it need hardly be added, the bitterest
enemies of our Lord ; and it is more than once said in the
Gospels, that there was less hope of their amendment, than
of the amendment of the most impious and immoral. Such
was their general character. In some few, religion was the
expression of honest but misguided zeal.*

31. (2.) JBut extremes beget or strengthen one another.
The foreign additions made to Scripture by in sadducee-
one sect were disowned by others ; and with lsm-
the rejection of the additions came the rejection of much
that was genuine and true. Hence arose Sadduceeism,
ratw?ialisfic Judaism, or infidelity. This sect denied the
authority of all tradition, and objected to all development
even of such truths as were plainly implied in the Penta-
teuch itself; so that they often misunderstood the very
books which they professed to receive. They denied also
the doctrine of the resurrection and the immortality of the
soul ; deeming these doctrines not proved by the letter of
the Mosaic record, and inconsistent with the disinterested
obedience which man is required to give to God. Their
denial of the existence of spirits and of angels is hardly
explicable on any principle, except that when once the
mind of man has yielded to skeptical feeling, its unbelief
becomes even more credulous than a heathen's faith. The
precepts of the law, in their least spiritual signification,
were all they regarded. "Without denying a Providence,
they made God, as far as possible, an idle spectator of the
affairs of the universe ; and were led to embrace a' system
of Deism, which all but completely set aside the authority
of revelation. Their doctrines were favorably received by
the young men of Judea ; and produced, as Josephus had
remarked, dispositions in the highest degree cold and
repulsive.

The Sadducees were mostly persons of wealth, who lived

* Rom. x. 2, 3.

82 CHAPTER II.

lives of easy enjoyment, without opening their minds to
any higher aspirations. From their position they occupied
some of the most important posts in the country. Caia-
phas, who condemned our Lord, was a Sadducee ;* and
Josephus states, that the Herod who felt John's preaching
so keenly belonged to this sect.f He thus furnishes an
illustration of the power of conscience over infidelity — a
system which his heart, rather than his reason, had be-
lieved.

32. (3.) Neither of these views, however, met the wants
Among the °f men °f warmer devotional feeling. The
Esseues. Pharisees believed too much, and the Saducees
too little. Both failed, in the opinion of this third sect, to
understand the import of the Divine word, which is not on
the surface, but beneath, and must be reached by allegori-
cal interpretations. Hence arose the Essenes, the repre-
sentatives of the mystics and ascetics of the middle ages.
They differed from the Pharisees in not relying on tradi-
tion, and in not strictly regarding the law ; and from the
Sadducees, in their self-denying habits and belief of a future
state. They despised all outward forms of worship, ne-
glected the plain literal meaning of Scripture, and sought
only for what was mystical and concealed. They professed
to have sought after a life abstracted from all earthly
things, and devoted to the contemplation of God. (Col.
ii. 16--19.) In their creed they were unqualified fatalists.
Some parts of the Epistles of John are supposed to refer
to their doctrines ; but, as they had seceded from the body
of the Jewish people before the coming of our Lord, they
are not noticed by name in the narratives of his ministry.

33. (4.) Closely allied to the Pharisees in their religious

views, were the Galileans. They were distin-

Tbe Galileans. , . ...

guished from that sect chiefly by their political
tenets ; holding that all foreign domination, whether secu-

* Acts iv. 6; v. 17. f M:irk vi- 20-

§ 4. STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE MESSIAH'S COMING. 83

lar or religious, was unscriptural, and that God was the
only King of the Jews. As our Lord came from Galilee,
the Pharisees attempted to identify him with this sect.

34. (5.) The Herodians were chiefly Sadducees in their
religious tenets, but were a political rather than

& ' r The Ilerodians

a religions sect. It was their principle to pro-
mote intimacy with the Roman power by flattery and un-
limited submission ; and, above all, by introducing into
Judea the usages and customs of the Roman people. This
union with idolatry, on the. ground of worldly policy, was
probably the leaven against which our Lord cautioned his
disciples, as it involves hypocrisy. (Mark viii. 15.)

35. (6.) The Scribes were not a religious sect, but a
learned profession. It was their business to ♦

The Scribes.

write copies of the Law, and to expound its
meaning ; and hence they are called "lawyers," and " doc-
tors of the law." As religionists, they generally favored
the Pharisees. All sects, however, had friends among
them.

36. (T.) The Samaritans claimed an interest in the
Mosaic covenant, but are distinguished by Thegamari-
Christ himself from "the lost sheep of the tans-
house of Israel," and from their Gentile neighbors. Those
of the time of Christ sprang from colonists, with whom
the king of Assyria peopled Samaria, after the ten tribes
were carried away. A captive priest was sent to teach
them ; and though they at first regarded God as a kind of
tutelary deity, and much of their system was corrupt, yet
they afterwards attempted to become united with the Jews,
so as to form one church. This attempt did not succeed ;
but a considerable body of Jews, under one of their priests,
settled in Samaria, and erected upon Mount Gerizim an
independent temple (which remained till the days of John
Hyrcanus, b. c. 109), and established what they deemed a

84 CHAPTER II.

more orderly observance of the Mosaic law. They founded
all their religious practices and faith upon the Pentateuch,
and rejected the other inspired writings. This division
had been overruled for good. The mutual enmity of the
two parties had tended to make both the more zealous for
the purity of their respective copies of the Law. The
separation of the Samaritans kept them free from the
pride and narrowness so prevalent among their neighbors.
Of spurious descent themselves, and despised by the people
around them, they had a juster appreciation of the com-
prehensive purpose of the Gospel, and regarded all nations
as entitled to its blessings. They accordingly received one
of the earliest intimations from our Lord that he was the
Messiah, (John iv.) and were otherwise frequently noticed
by him in the course of his ministry.

37. (8.) Proselytes were, in the time of our Lord, a
very numerous body. Some were proselytes

X*rosi.ilvt6S.

of the gate only (as they were called) ; and had
simply pledged themselves to renounce all idolatry, and to
worship the true God. This class had all heard of the
coming of Messiah, and had generally little sympathy with
Jewish prejudice. Others were proselytes of righteousness.
These took upon themselves all the obligations of the
Mosaic Law, and joined in offering sacrifice in the outer
court of the temple to the God of Israel. The Pharisees
took great pains to make these proselytes, and were aided
by the fading authority of the old religions, and the rever-
ence in which the God of the Jews was held even by the
heathen. As these teachers had no true idea of their reli-
gion, they could impart none. Their converts, therefore,
only changed their superstition, hushed the accusations of
conscience, and became two-fold more the children of hell
than before. (Matt, xxiii. 15.) They were ever among
the bitterest enemies of the Christian faith.

§ 4. STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE MESSIAH'S COMING. 85

38. Such were the Jews in the time of Christ ; the peo-
ple were divided between these sects, and mis- The tendencies
led by them all. And, strange as it may KJ^SuX
appear, such is human nature still. In all lands Tersal-
there are some who, with the Sadducees, deify reason, and
others who compile and adore traditions. These sects still
live. Sadduceeism is cold, sneering selfishness ; Pharisee-
ism, spiritual pride, or dead Scripture learning ; the doc-
trine of the Essenes, sentimental mysticism and monkery ;
the leaven of the Galileans, unhallowed fanaticism ; of the
Herodians, unblushing worldliness : the very qualities which
are found in our own day iu all regions of the globe. It
is an evidence of the divine origin of our faith, that, while
it counteracts temporary forms of evil, it counteracts them
on principles that are permanent, and that it so reveals
their true character, as to help us in tracing them under
their different disguises throughout all lands.

39. It was the result of these errors, that when Christ
appeared, all parties misapprehended his mis- influence of
sion. Without any just appreciation of spiri- cSo^men^
tual truth, accustomed to interpret the precepts TiewsoiClmst-
of Scripture rather according to the letter than according
to the spirit, feeling deeply the degradation of their coun-
try as a mere tributary to Rome, and unmindful of the
deeper degradation from which it sprung, they all thought
of Christ as a temporal deliverer ; expected what they most
prized, and overlooked the predictions of their sacred
Scriptures, which spoke of him in a way altogether incon-
sistent with the establishment of a temporal kingdom.
That they should expect the Gentiles to be excluded from
the benefits of the Messiah's reign, was equally natural.
Jerusalem was still to be in their esteem the seat of empire ;
and if others were in any way to share in the blessing, it
could only be, they thought, by submitting to their autho-
rity, and never as equals and friends. The same low,

8

86 CHAPTER II.

earthly system of interpretation was applied to all parts of

the new economy, including the atonement and the doctrine

of eternal life ; so that it became difficult for our Lord to

clear away the incrustation with which the law had been

covered, and to show them in their own Scripture the

germs of the truth which he was commissioned to reveal.

In every age Divine truth has been spiritually discerned ;

and the worst interpreter of it is a wordly and unbelieving

mind.

40. Those among the Jews, on the contrary, who felt

their sinfulness, and were waiting for the con-
Exceptions.

solation of Israel, knew not indeed all that was

to be revealed, but they were prepared to appreciate all ;
and when the prophecies were interpreted according to
their spiritual meaning, and the law according to its high-
est import, and the kingdom of God and eternal life accord-
ing to the estimates which those men had formed of the
value of personal holiness, they felt, that though in this
teaching was much that was new, it was all consistent with
whatever was noble and spiritual in the previous economy.
To multitudes thts Gospel was foolishness, a rock of stum-
bling and a stone of offence ; to a few it was light, and joy,
and peace ; to those who were (au>£o/j.£vot) being saved, it
was life unto life ; to them that were being lost, (drtoxxv
pevoii) it was death unto death. 2 Cor. ii. 16.

CHAPTEE III.

SCENES CONNECTED WITH CHRIST'S EN-
TRANCE UPON HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY.

§ 1. The mission of John and his testimony concerning
Christ.

§ 2. The temptation, and John's second testimony

§ 3. The beginning of miracles.

§ 4. Christ's first public act

§ 5. Christ's first discourse.

§ 6. Christ's first journey.

§ T. Christ rejected by his countrymen.

§ 8. Christ incarnate — a revelation of God, and a modej
of holiness.

§ 9. Christ incarnate: — a Saviour through suffering.

f8T)

88

ITARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.

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CHAPTER III.

Sect. 1. — The mission of John and his testimony con-
cerning Christ.

1. Eighteen years elapse between the events recorded
of the childhood of Christ, and the commence- Christ's a»-e
ment of his ministry. His office was to be a Jjjj ^°"Ma
solemn and responsible one. It was connected, offiee-
moreover, with ancient institutions, and required in the
person who filled it ample evidence of sobriety and pru-
dence. It was therefore when Christ " began to be about
thirty years of age," that He entered upon his work. The
interval He seems to have spent at Nazareth (Mark i. 9 ;
Luke iv. 16.) At that age priests, under the 'law, were
deemed qualified for the full duties of the priest- Reasons for its
hood. By that age the human nature of Christ maturity-
may be supposed to have been perfectly developed, so as
to be thoroughly prepared for the rich communications of
the Spirit, which he was about to receive. Against one
of his years, moreover, the charge of youthful enthusiasm,
or of unripe purpose, must have fallen utterly powerless.

2. Even for one so completely matured, a threefold pre-
paration was required ; the first, external, such

as was supplied by the preaching of John the paction re-
Baptist ; the second, Divine, imparted in the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, for even the pure offspring
of God needed for His work a special anointing ; and the

(89)

90 CHAPTER III.

third, inward and experimental, such as was supplied by
the temptation in the wilderness.

3. John's was purely a preparatory ministry. He came,
as had been foretold, in the spirit and power

Nature of

John's minis- of Elias ; one of the earliest prophets under
the ancient monarchy, and the boldest of the
reformers of the ancient church. In his whole ministry,
he represents the majesty of the law. He appears rough
and severe. Separated from the world, and revealing to it
the sternness of the judge, he recalls the attention of his
countrymen to the Divine institutions ; shows how, among
all classes, those institutions had been broken, and exhorts
to repentance. It illustrates how far the Jews as a nation
had fallen, that repentance had its Divinely appointed
symbol in baptism — an ordinance appropriate to the recep-
tion of converts, or at least to a consecration of something
previously defiled. It was not so much, therefore, a resto-
ration as a re-formation of character which he sought to
produce ; a re-formation, however, chiefly legal, for the
Spirit was not given, and the reign of heaven was as yet
only at ha-nd.*

* In this account of John's ministry it appears to us that the esteemed
author is somewhat defective and one-sided. John can -with no propriety
be classed with the teachers or prophets of the legal dispensation, since
he received a special mission, with a special institution to introduce the
new. The Evangelists do not hesitate to declare his ministry " the begin-
ning of the Gospel." Mark i. 1. Christ expressly affirms that "the law
and the prophets were until John; since then the kingdom of God is
preached." The arguments that would invalidate John's ministry as a
part of the Gospel dispensation, especially those presented by our author,
would also invalidate the whole ministry of onr Lord himself, and that
it all the Apostles and the Seventy during his lifetime. For this reason
they must be inconclusive. Our Lord and his Apostles received baptism
from his hands; they preached the same things; they "made and bap-
tized disciples" in the same manner, and at the same time; nor did John
deem it necessary to cease from his work even after the manifestation of
Christ in his baptism, but continued it « t ill as the servant of his acknow-

§ 1. THE MISSION OF JOHN. 91

John's then was a baptism of repentance ; and repent-
ance was a preparation for the forgiveness A ra]1 10 rc_
of sins, (hs S+aw, Luke iii. 3.) The exhi- fSlSto^S
bition of the law could do little more than don-
to give to man a knowledge of his sins, and a long-
ing for the grace that was to remove them. The re-
pentance, therefore, which he preached, though really a
change in the deepest recesses of the mind (/Atrdroia,) was
chiefly negative, and needed something positive to complete
it ; even the influence of the Spirit which men were to
receive through faith in Christ. It was thus his office to
enforce and explain the law, and thereby to awaken the
necessity which the Redeemer came to appease.

All ranks seem to have felt his appeals. The general
determination was obvious. Each sect blamed the preten-
sions and corruptions of the rest. Men's minds were every
where restless and excited concerning the fulfillment of the
ancient predictions and the coming of a Messiah. No
wonder, therefore, that all Judea and Jerusalem flocked to
his baptism.*

lodged Lord, as "the friend of the Bridegroom," rejoicing to do Hirn
honor, even to the sacrifice of his liberty and life.. This "more than a
prophet,-" this "messenger;" this 'angel' of the new dispensation, (Luke
vii. 27, 27,) is very improperly represented as ' chiefly the expounder and
reformer of the old.' It is in fact overlooking his most peculiar and pre-
eminent glory.

The comparison of our Lord in Matt. xi. 11, appears to he misunder-
stood by many, and by our author among the rest. " The least in the
kingdom of God is," indeed " greater" than John the Baptist; in this
sense — that his privileges as a child and heir of God are infinitely more
precious than the highest official honor conferred on man. "Verily I
say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not arisen
a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in tha
kingdom of heaven is greater than he." J. N. B.

* Luke says that the crowds (i\\oi) went to it. Matthew mentions par
ticularly Pharisees and Sadducees, thus indicating the prevalence of
those sects. Luke iii. 7; Matt. iii. 7.

92 CHAPTER III.

4. Like all the prophets, he made the theme of his

preaching, not himself, but One that was to

Announces the l ° ,

kingdom of come. He, however, enforced his appeals by
the assurance that the kingdom of heaven, or, as
St. Luke calls it, " the kingdom of God," was nigh. Some-
times, but rarely, that kingdom was afterwards called, " the
kingdom of the Son of man" (Matt. xiii. 41) ; sometimes,
with reference to the typical character of the old economy,
"the kingdom of David." (Mark xi. 10.) And
all those phrases are significant, though it was
many years before their meaning was fully explained.
Christ gradually unfolded the laws of His king-
opmont of this dom. First, He described the character of His
subjects. Then distinctly announced that His
kingdom came not with outward show, or worldly pomp,
but was within ; that it began as the smallest seed, and
grew up with the growth of his word ; then further, that it
did not seek the aid of temporal power. (Matt. v. vi. xiii. ;
Luke xvii. 10 ; John xviii. 36.) His meaning was still
further unfolded in the history of the early church ; and
the Apostles completed the disclosure by reminding their
converts that that kingdom was not meat and drink, (no
mere ritual observance, no mere earthly blessing,) but, in
relation to individuals, " righteousness, and peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost ;" and in relation to the church, the
prevalence of those principles among men. (Rom xiv. IT.)
In reference to this kingdom, John was the forerunner, the
voice (tywrj) crying in the wilderness, (Matt. iii. 3) : the
ford, (o xoyoj, John i. 1,) the distinct utterance of inCnite
wisdom and love, being as yet to come.

5. This revelation of the kingly character of Christ, even
^ . . rr- at tne outset, is highly instructive. lie ap-

Christ a King. ' ° •* *

peared to bring back the world to its itllegiante

Nature of m« — to knit together again the broken relation
kingdom. in which the crcature lia(j stood t0 lhe creator

§ 1. johx's testimony concerning Christ. 93

and to himself. His constituted representative in the
theocracy, David, probably suggested the name — "the
kingdom or reign of God," (Ps. lxxii., xcvii,) though this
title is not found in any ancient writings till after the canon
of the Old Testament had closed. The idea, however,
pervades Scripture, and is frequently introduced in the
prophets.* Daniel even describes in express terms the
expected sanctification of all things, and the coming of a
Messiah, whom all nations were to obey.f This kingdom
of God, or of the Messiah, or of righteousness, is opposed
to the reign of sin,J and of its representative, the ruler or
priuce of this world. Under the one, iniquity has long
triumphed in the hearts of men and on earth : under the
other, the dominion of iniquity is to be overthrown, and
the dominion of holiness to be re-established ; first in the
secret recesses of each Christian's life, then in things exter-
nal to it, afterwards, and by degrees, among the family of
man. All things are to be ultimately subject to Christ and
holiness, both things external and internal ; but mainly
and first the internal ; and thence is his influence to extend
throughout the world. §

This explanation of the nature of Christ's kingdom is of
the deepest interest, and is essential to a complete under-
standing of the discourses of our Lord. The Jews thought
of it as external only, and as thoroughly Jewish and secu-
lar. Others, on the contrary, (and among them the Gnos-
tics,) denied its future external manifestation, and spoke
of it only as invisible and spiritual. The true theory is
that which represents it as not of the world, but still in
the world ; beginning in individual hearts, extending out-

* Isa. ii. 1— 14 j xi. 1, &c. j Ps. Ixxxy. 11, 12 j Jer. xxiii. 5, 9j
xxxiv. 23, &c.

f Dan. ii. 44: vii. 14, 27; ix. 25.

\ fiaaiktia rfjs ajxnpria^ — apxt?s rov k6(t^ov t6vto\*

| See Appendix.

94 CHAPTER III.

ward to the sanctification of the life, and ultimately reach-
ing and influencing the whole race. Of this kingdom
Christ is the head ; its seat is the heart and the church. In
the narrowest sense it comes whenever a human soul is
made submissive and obedient to Christ. It came in power
at Pentecost, when thousands were converted to the faith ;
and in its largest sense it is still to come. It had its type
in the Jewish theocracy, and it will have its complete real-
ization in heaven.

6. As became the head of this spiritual kingdom, He
obedience of entered upon His ministry by an act of obedi-
pointedStu- ence- IQ his childhood he received the sign
tions. 0f tke covenant, and submitted to the ceremo-

nial purification required by the law. In later years He
took part in the sacrificial offerings of the temple worship.
So now He is anxious to obey the Divine will, not only as
revealed by the founder of the ancient institutions, but as
revealed by the herald of the New Dispensation. He ful-
filled all righteousness. "He came to John to be baptized
of him." Matt. iii. 13, 11.

John felt that this application was, in one respect, unbe-
john's first tes- coming ; and yet, as he was only the repre-
tunony. sentative of a Divine institute, he at once

yielded to Christ's decision ; thus avoiding the mock humi-
lity (but real pride) which a pertinacious refusal of it
would have involved, and honoring by his submission the
authority of Divine law.

1. The moment of obedience was selected by God as the
The time of obe- moment of the manifestation of Christ as the
ofTco^tioT Messianic King, of course, as the accepted
by the Father. prophet> The baptism of water became the
symbol and accompaniment of the promised influence of the
Spirit. Christ now attained, as man, the height of that
knowledge which had gradually developed itself in Him ;
and now was imparted that fullness of power which was

§ 2. THE TEMPTATION. 95

essential to the performance of His ministry. Here, there-
fore, the character of (the zplo?6$,) the Anointed One, first
appears ; and here He is solemnly consecrated to his office
in His own presence, and in that of his forerunner and
prophet John ; for as he came up out of the water, the
Spirit of God in bodily shape (visible both to Christ and
to His messenger) descended as a dove and abode upon
Him ; and a voice was heard from heaven, saying, " This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

8. At His birth his person was owned (Luke i. 35) ; in
His baptism His ministry is owned, and the sUCCessiTe
Father is pleased in Him ; by and bye He will, g^ift^
for the third time, be owned again, when His JatToCand^re-
regal glory shines for a moment around him ; surrection-
and then there will be the addition, " hear ye Him." (Luke
ix. 36). Later still these attestations will all be confirmed ;
not by words only, but by solemn acts, and the resurrec-
tion will at length declare him to be the Son of God with
power. (Rom. i. 4). Each is fitting in its season. At His
birth, His baptism, His transfiguration, and His resurrec-
tion, His sonship is attested. His person, His ministry,
and His dominion, all are owned. At each stage the full
pleasure of God rests upon Him ; and at last the full sub-
jection of the earth is demanded for Him. God is "well
pleased in Him," and the church and the world are to
"hear Him."

Sect. 2. — The Temptation, and John's Second Testimony
concerning christ.

9. This recognition of the public ministry of Christ is
followed by a far different scene. His transfigu-

. . .„ After the recog.

ration immediately preceded His death: and mtionofour

• • -r-r- l • ti Lord comes the

the recognition of Him here is speedily fol- temptation:

. ., t b°rti prepara-

lowed by the temptation in the wilderness, torytohis
After great honor, let Christians count upon

96 CHAPTER II.

something that is humbling. The favored Christian needs
to double his guard.

10. Christ was led up by the Spirit to be tempted of the
devil in the wilderness. He was in himself

How Christ

could be sinless, but human ; both free from actual

tempted. .

;ransgression, and positively holy; yet the
moral elen.ents of our nature were in Him. He had the
power of choosing between good and evil, with a human
conscience and human appetites. He was accessible to
unholy influences ; and not raised (in one sense at least,
that is, subjectively, or in his own feeling) above the
possibility of sinning. In the end, His desire of good
was perfect and triumphant; yet it must be supposed
that, as He was made perfect through sufferings, (Heb.
ii. 10,) so was there a lower stage of progress, in which
His will was rather the free power of choice than actual
decision.*

In mother sense, indeed, it was impossible that Christ
could sin. His sinlessness forms part of the plan of human
salvation ; a plan that had been in preparation for thou-
sands of years, and which was destined to influence our
race for an eternity to come. Millions probably of the
ancient church were waiting till his triumph was achieved ;
failure would have involved their ruin and the frustration
of the purpose of God. It is true also that a divine prin-
ciple lived and operated in Christ in union with His human
nature, and that the Spirit, given without measure unto
Him, secured him against the commission of iniquity.
But then, in considering these facts in connection with His
temptation, it must be remembered, on the other hand,

* Our author appears here inconsistent with facts and with himself.
" Actual decision" for rectitude, is essential to the lowest stage of moral
progress, without which no being can be, as Christ was, "positively
holy." It is, however, capable of infinite increase in intensity and power,
and can be perfected only by trial and discipline. J. N. B.

§ 2. THE TEMPTATION. 97

that a 'perfect obedience was required at His hands. He
was to be without sin ; the pure and spotless Lamb of God,
who needed not to bring an offering for Himself. As the
founder of a kingdom of perfect righteousness and love,
He was to be to all a lawgiver, a pattern, and

„'...,,'., Aspect of His

a judge ; the very image of the invisible God. temptation

. . towards man.

A single stain would have marred his work,
and have exposed him to the Divine law. It is certain,
moreover, that whatever was the Divine purpose, and
whatever the efficacy of the spiritual influence that resided
in Him, these did not alleviate His temptations, or make
it less true that He was tempted on all points as we are,
though without sin ; and that thus He has become quali-
fied to aid, and to feel for his tempted disciples. (Heb. iv.
15 ; ii. 18.) It was as man that he entered upon this
struggle — yet as man with a holy nature ; for the tempta-
tions all sprang from without, deriving neither origin nor
strength from anything within. (John xiv. 30.)

And while this is the aspect of the temptation of Christ
towards human sufferings, it has an aspect no

° ' L Aspect of it in

less significant in relation to the reign which relation to ins

_^ kingdom.

He came co establish. The very idea of a
Messiah, a Prince, implies a kingdom of righteousness, and
the overthrow of an opposing kingdom. Twice in the
life of our Lord did he struggle with the combined force
of evil, and twice He conquered it ; now at the outset of
His ministry, and afterwards at its close. Here the entice-
ment is to the commendable desires and feelings of His
nature, as afterwards it was to his fear of suffering and
death. Both forms, doubtless, presented themselves again
at different periods of His ministry ; but here, at least, they
came in a state of concentration, when he was exhausted
by hunger ; terrible in themselves, but giving in their re-
sults an assurance that the triumph of the great Conqueror
would be ultimately complete. As man, therefore, he was

9

98 CHAFTER III.

tempted, but no less as Leader and King. The same act
that insures to us His sympathy, insures to us the certainty
of our own success. He suffers with us, and we triumph
in Him.*

11. The first temptation is a skillful appeal to unbelief,
The first tempt- to *ne gratification of sensual instinct, and to
ation. ||ie exercjse by our Lord of supernatural power
for the purpose of appeasing His necessities. The Tempter
suggests a doubt of His sonship, pleads in proof His
poverty and suffering, and bids Him put forth His power
for His own preservation. Christ refused. Compliance
would have questioned the truth of the voice from heaven,
and implied distrust of God's power and goodness. It
would, moreover, have exercised on Himself those wondrous
powers which throughout His whole ministry he employed
only for the benefit of others.

12. But extremes are closely allied. This faith in the
The. =econ<i Divine power, may, perhaps be fostered into
temptation. presumption ; and this confidence of His son-
ship may be excited to display itself in the public and dazz-
ling exhibition of attributes connected with this relation.
(Matt. iv. 5, 6.) " Cast thyself down," said the Tempter
again, and the people will acknowledge that thou art under
Divine protection, Scripture will be fulfilled, and the Mes-
senger of the Covenant will be seen to have " come suddenly
to his temple." (Mai. ill. 1.) A scripture promise is
even quoted in favor of this appeal ; true in general, and
true of Christ. By humble obedience, however, and by
complete freedom from the least portion of self-will, He

* This union of the possibility of sinning, and of the necessity of vic-
tory, is involved in the very nature of the God-man. It is very observa-
ble that in the last temptation, the Redeemer Himself declares His
abandonment by the Father. (Matt, xxvii. 46.) That isolation in which
the humanity of Christ stands alone, gives a true picture of the terrible
etruggle of that hour. Nothing is related of a similar abandonment in
this place.

§ 2. THE TEMPTATION 99

resists these appeals, and conquers. Such an act must have
implied the need of some further confirmation of the Divine
promise — have required special interposition for delivery
from difficulties to which our Lord was not called ; and
have been, in short, a perversion of Scripture, and a tempt-
ing of God.

13. Thus far was our Lord tempted by things apparently
innocent. At last He is tempted by things Thethird
desirabb. The devil even appears as the friend temPtatlon-
of His mission. "It is a kiugdom thou hast come to
establish. Be my vicegerent ; or, if thou wilt, reign in my
stead. The world and all its kingdoms will I give to
thee, for it has been delivered unto me ;* and the only
return I require, is an act of homage to my authority, and
of allegiance to my law." To a human ear there seems
much force in this appeal, and a human mind might have
deemed it an easy way of attaining a commendable end.
Every thing, moreover, is acknowledged to be delivered into
Satan's hand. Rightful independent authority he disowns.
But Christ at once detects his sophistry. One truth of
Scripture answers it all. " There is but one true and ever-
lasting God; and Him only shalt thou serve." The
assumption of Divine prerogative is sure evidence of dia-
bolical interference. (2 Thess. ii. 4.) This temptation there-
fore revealed the true character of the Tempter ; and Christ
at once rebuked and defeated him. The temptation then
closed, and the devil left him for a season. (Luke iv. 13.)

14. Every thing here is significant. The first man stood
in Eden, where the garden and its fruits, with

. His tempta-

the willing service ot ten thousand tributary tions a type of

creatures, bound him to his allegiance. But

Jesus was in the wilderness, an hungered, and with the

* Neander, in his Lifo of Jesus, thinks this offer of Satan implies
tliQ use of secular power to establish Christianity — an idea of vast signifi-
cance. How many this temptation deceives ! J. N. B.

v*y Mt^"

100 CHAPTER II.

savage beasts. (Mark i. 12, 13.) All things probably
pleaded with the Tempter against God. In the garden
paradise was lost, and in the wilderness it was regained.
The temptations in which this first victory was achieved
represent our own. They were of every kind (rfavraTtcipuc
n6v). They appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eye, and the pride of life. They sought for distrust, and
presumption, and pride. As the fall gives in brief the
history of all sin, so the history of all our victories over
sin may be seen in this triumph of our Lord. At its
close angels visit Him, to celebrate the result and admin-
ister relief.

With the same Spirit there are diversities of gift. Full
of the Holy Ghost, (Luke iv. 1,) He withstood and con-
quered the devil. Full of the same spirit, (ver. 14,) He
meets sinners to heal and to save them.

15. But before Christ commenced his public ministry,
second testi- He received fresh testimony from His forerun-

monyofJohn. ner> rphe firgt meeting with Jolm had im.

pressed itself indelibly on the mind of the forerunner. He
had then spoken of His dignity, (John i. 20,) and now he
reveals him under a new character. " The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sins of the world :" the
Lamb who is to remove human transgression, both in its
guilt and in its power. All that this designation contains
we cannot now consider ; but to the Jews, and to men who
were probably at this time on their way to the feast of the
Passover, it is highly instructive. The paschal lamb was
originally appointed as the means of deliverance from
otherwise inevitable destruction. It arrested the progress
of the destroying angel. (Ex. xii. 1-14.) All upon whose
houses the blood was sprinkled were preserved alive ; while
all who were without this symbol perished. Christ, as the
Lamb of God, is our deliverer from a bondage more fearful

§ 2. THE TEMPTATION. L01

than that of Egypt ; and from a ruin more awful than tem-
poral destruction. His death stands always as a complete
vindication of the law, and an authentic instrument of sanc-
tification and of acceptance for all to whom His blood
is applied. The full significance of this truth will be
noticed hereafter. In the mean time it is important to
notice that His sacrificial office was revealed as early as
His kingly ; and that from the first He was set forth, not
only as suffering, and in suffering leaving us an example
that we should follow His steps, but as Himself bearing
our sins in His own body on the tree. Most appropriately,
therefore, did this testimony close with the recommenda-
tion, " Behold the Lamb of God ;" and most appropriately
did two of John's disciples, on hearing this recommenda-
tion, go and follow Jesus. Half a century afterwards this
fact was recorded by St. John, who was one

The result : Je-

of the two. The circumstances were all present sus numbers

disci dIcs

to him. The minutest details and the very
hour he remembered (John i. 39). But with characteristic
modesty he has said nothing of those early discourses of
Christ, which bound him, the beloved disciple, to his Lord
as long as he lived. Here, as elsewhere, every thing per-
sonal (unless Christ's character is to be illustrated) is with-
held ; and all that is told us is, that henceforth Christ begai?
to number disciples. For some years they were few and
despised, nor did they at first relinquish their earthly voca-
tion. Their summons to personal companionship with our
Lord was given at a somewhat later period of His history.
(Matt. iv. 18.)

16. The faith awakened in the minds of the first disci-
ples immediately became manifest. Like fire,

Diffusive spirit

it extended itself, and kindled every thing sus- oftmediscipie-

ship.

ceptible of its influence. Andrew mentioned
the fact of his having found the Messiah to Peter; and

9*

102 CHAPTER III.

Philip, whom Christ had also called, proclaimed it to
Nathanael or Bartholomew. He questioned the truth of
Philip's declaration, and alluded to the contempt generally
entertained for Galilee, of which province Nazareth was an
unimportant town, in no good repute, moreover, for moral-
ity. Philip repeats his message, wisely avoiding a useless
discussion ; and a personal interview with Christ removes
the scruples of this candid inquirer. ''Rabbi," says he,
"thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel."
Christ had hitherto but told Nathanael what took place
when he thought himself unseen by human eye ; and the
obedience pre- disclosure produced conviction (John i. 48-50).
pares for fur- q\iy{^ now tells him that he shall learn more

ther cnsclo-

sures. sublime disclosures ; and that both things

earthly, and things heavenly, should be seen as subservient
to Him. "In me," says He, "heaven is opened; union
between the higher world of spirits and the lower sphere
of things is restored ; and, for a time at least, the angelic
hosts are in effect transferred to the earth to do my will,
and to promote the interest of my kingdom. The head of
the kingdom being among men, angels shall be seen ascend-
ing and descending* under the authority, and in relation
to the concerns of the Son of man."

Sect. 3. — The Beginning of Signs.
It. From Jordan, where the scene of our narrative has
The miracle at lam thus far, Christ moves to Cana, the town
Cana. 0f Nathanael, accompanied by His disciples and

relatives. Here He performed His first public miracle.
Already had He manifested His omniscience, and already
had the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost attested to
John and Himself the divinity of His mission ; but this is

* ava(iaivovTZs comes first, it will bo noticed.

§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 103

the first public appeal, and here he first shows forth His
glory, proving that the fullness of the Deity dwelt in Him.-)*

18. Here, moreover, the mother of our Lord is first
introduced in connection with His public minis- The reiaiionof
try; and the terms in which He addresses her Mary t0 Chnst-
arrest our thoughts. Let us, once for all, ascertain and
decide her place in the Gospel.

It is observable, first, that of the Virgin Mary very little
is recorded ; and then, that that little is very different from
what might have been expected. None of the inspired
writers, except the Evangelists, mention her name, and of
these, but two record the conception of Christ. One of
these, John, her adopted son, though, in all likelihood, he
outlived her many years, does not record her death ; nor
does he give any particulars of her life ; and yet he wrote
to supply the omissions of the other Evangelists. It is only
incidentally mentioned that Jesus committed her to his
care. Why this infrequent mention of her, whom all
generations were to call blessed ? Why, but to guard
against that superstitious veneration, to which, as experi-
ence has shown, there is naturally so strong a tendency in
the minds of Christians ? Mariolatry is, alas, the religion
of Italy and of Rome. For one prayer to Christ, Roman
breviaries offer ten to the Virgin. How different the reli-
gion of Apostles and of the Bible ! And when her name
is introduced, it is in such connections as form a strong
confirmation of this view. When, after our Lord had
entered upon His public ministry, His mother and kindred
were announced as desirous of speaking with Him, He
turned to His disciples, and said, " Behold my mother and
my brethren." (Matt. xii. 40.) When, again, the woman
exclaimed, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the
paps which thou hast sucked," "Yea, rather blessed,"

-j- <pavipo)ms 66^ ; Manifesting the Divine power — the Shekinah which
dwelt in him.

104 CHAPTER III.

replied He, " are they that hear the word of God and keep
it." (Luke xi. 27.) Her maternal relation, as such, there-
fore, implied a blessedness inferior to that of the humblest
of His hearers. In the narrative of this chapter, His
mother is invited as well as His disciples ; and seems to
have been apprized of His design to perform some miracle,
or perhaps merely remembered the memorable scenes of
His youth ; at all events, she applied to Him when the
wine was deficient, and, though his answer (ywr;) is free
from the roughness which the English version implies, He
plainly forbids her interference, and intimates that His
filial reverence, which as man He expressed on the cross,
did not extend to any question connected with His minis-
try. The idea of the Virgin's intercession with her Son,
or with God, therefore, He himself condemns. " There is
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ
Jesus." (1 Tim. ii. 5 ) Between Him and man none is
needed, and none is given. Of all who come unto Hint,
not one shall be cast out. (John vi. 37.)

19. Let us now peruse the narrative of this miracle, and
mark its significance. The disciples of our

The miracle ° l

and its twofold Lord had all been disciples Of Johu. Rigid-
meaning.

ness and penitential austerity were the charac-
teristics of His life. He came neither eating nor drinking.
Christ came as the model of our race, and begins his work
by an expression of genial and kindly feeling ; honoring
with His presence an institution of primeval authority,
symbolical, moreover, of His own union with His church.

Nor was the act without even a deeper meaning. He
came to fulfill the ancient institution. He was grace and
truth, as opposed not only to the errors of the heathen, but
as opposed to the shadows of the Jewish law. And this
object of His coming, this characteristic of the whole
Gospel, His first miracle was intended to express. All
nis miracles were indeed symbols. They were acted pa-

§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 105

rabies — conveying relief to the suffering — giving evidence
of His mission, and at the same time exhibiting spiritual
truth ; so that we claim nothing for this miracle which
may not be found equally in them all. The miracle con-
sisted in substituting wine for the water which had been
put into vessels used in Jewish purification. Water,
under the Law, was symbolical ; denoting the means of
inward purity, that is, of justification and holiness : ita
antitype or substance, the sacrifice of Christ and the influ-
ence of the Spirit. Other vessels might have been chosen,
and the presence of the water was not essential to the per-
formance of the miracle ; but the miracle would in that
case have been robbed of its significance. The vessels are
filled and the water changed, to suggest that for the carnal
washings of the law, we are to have His blood ; and that
He came not to destroy that ancient economy, but to fulfill
and complete it. The Jews, indeed, in their interpretation
of that dispensation, rejected the idea of typical incom-
pleteness, and then, as now, maintained that when Mes-
siah should come, he would not alter or abolish their law.
The good wine they believed to have been given at the
commencement of the feast, and not to have been left to
the close. The principle of the Divine procedure is the
contrary ; and the reservation of the more glorious dispen-
sation of God's will till the time of Christ's coming, was
among the truths incidentally taught in the miracle.

20. Nor ought we to omit noticing that Christ's first
manifestation of Himself to His disciples, like Christ's first
His last, (before He suffered,) sanctified the Sg££"5T
fruit of the vine, and made it the emblem of llar-
His atoning sacrifice, the shedding of that blood without
which there is no remission.

And now may we fitly introduce a few remarks on the
miracles of our Lord, and on their place in the Gospels.

106 CHAPTER III.

21. The success of Christianity is connected in Scrip-
ture, and by all early Christian writers, with
the possession on the part of our Lord of mi-
raculous power. Men believed His message because Divine
works or miracles, facts, that is, which could not have
taken place from natural causes, or without superhuman
aid,, attested its truth. To these works our Lord appealed
as works which none other man did, and as a decisive evi-
dence of the divinity of His mission. (Matt. xi. 2-6 ; John
v. 36 ; x. 37, 38.) He healed the sick, He raised the
dead ; not once only, but in many hundreds of cases ; for
it is said repeatedly that they brought sick people unto
Him, and He healed them all. (Matt, iv. 24; xii. 15;
xiv. 14 ; xv. 30 ; Mark i. 34 ; iii. 10 ; Luke vi. 17 ; ix. 11.)
He gave the same power to His disciples ; first to the
twelve, and then to the seventy. After His departure His
apostles received the power of bestowing this miraculous
gift on all upon whom they laid their hands ; so that many
hundreds were thus endowed. Hence the gift of healing is
spoken of in Scripture as a thing familiarly known, and is
reckoned among the signs of a Divinely appointed teacher.
Indeed, in the absence of a New Testament, or of written
records of the Divine will, miraculous power seems to have
been a necessary evidence of a communication from God.

The sufficiency of the evidence which our Lord exhibited
in this form, was admitted by all and maintained by Him-
self. (John iii. 2 ; vii. 31 ; ix. 30-33 ; xi. 47, 48 ; xv. 24 ;
Acts ii. 22.)

22. These actions of our Lord are called in Scripture by
Miracle* cahed different names ; and each name is instructive.
names?1 ^each ^-s *ney were manifestations of power, they are
significant. called mighty works ; (Swa/mj ;) as adapted to
prove the truth of His mission, and to strengthen the faith
of His disciples, they are called signs ; (or^usia ;) as cre-
ating surprise, they are called wonders ; (rspata ;) while in

§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 107

John they are called by a title of yet greater significance,
simply " His works ;w (John vii. 3 ; ix. 4 ; xv. 24 ;) the
appropriate and natural acts, that is, of one who was him-
self the mighty God, and a wonder (rlpa?) to the people.

That they were justly called mighty works, is plain ; for
since the beginning of the world, as the man in

]\Ji°*litv "works.

the Gospel reasoned, hath it not been heard
that a man opened the eyes of the blind ; or, could a man
do these works unless God were with him ? (John iii. 2 ;
x. 21.) They were embodiments of divine power.

That they were wonders, too, is clear, for the people
were astonished at them. And indeed our Sa-
viour had occasion, more than once, to rebuke
the sensuous curiosity with which the crowds followed and
watched him, not that they might receive instruction, but
that they might see the miracles which He did. (John iv. 48.)

In what sense and to what degree they were signs — evi-
dences, that is, of His divine mission — is a more
difficult question ; and yet it may be readily
solved.

The religion of the Bible, it must be remembered, is the
only one founded on properly miraculous evidence. In
Mahometanism there is not a single miracle belonging to
the history of the false prophet alleged as evidence of his
mission. The systems of heathenism submit no such cre-
dentials ; and even in the case of John the Baptist, he
wrought no miracles, because he made no addition to the
previous economy. He sought to restore all things ; to
revive, as far as he might, the spirit of the Law, by
preaching repentance to those who had broken it ; and so
to prepare for the coming of Christ. Christ came preach-
ing faith in His own mission ; and miracles were the appro-
priate evidence of His authority. It is not, therefore, as if we
had to judge between various religious systems, all profess-
ing to be founded on miraculous evidence ; for in this respect

108 CHAPTER III.

the Bible stands alone. The only question is, whether the
evidence is credible and decisive. Peruse any of the narra-
tives of these miraculous works, and let the reader ask him
self the following questions : Were they done in public ?
Were they acts of which men's senses could judge ? If
they were, it is impossible that men could be deceived at
the time. Then let him ask himself besides : Were public
monuments kept up, and outward actions performed in
memory of these events publicly performed ; and have such
monuments, set up at the time they were wrought, been
continued without intermission ? And, if so, it is equally
impossible that deception should have been practised in
any subsequent age.* We can but indicate the rules
which are admitted to be infallible as tests of the reality of
apparently miraculous appearances.

The only alternative open to the malicious suggestion
of an opponent are — either Christ wilfully deceived the
people, or was Himself deceived. He deceived the people !
But how ? He introduced his religion among enemies, who
rejected and contemned Him, and who throughout narrowly
watched (rcapstr^ow) His proceedings, and sought occasion
against Him. And why ? He foresaw and foretold His
own death. He promised His disciples persecution and
suffering, He enforced and practised uuiversal holiness.
He ivas himself deceived ! Whence, then, the sobriety and
beauty of his precepts, the disheartening faithfulness of his
warnings, the contrast between his teaching and the expec-
tations of his countrymen ? No one mark of either enthu-
siasm or imposture is to be found in Him.

23. If, after all, we set aside the evidence supplied by
Tf these mira- these miracles, we must then suppose a miracle
JJSSft greater than all. If Christ was not from
cie is admitted. q0(^ we kave ^en a j^jgh peasant changing

* See Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists.

§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 109

the religion of the world ; weaving, with the story of his
life, the fulfillment of ancient predictions, and a morality
of the purest order, as unlike the traditional teaching of
his countrymen, as it was superior to the precepts of Gen-
tile philosophy; anticipating and enduring, with most un-
earthly composure, intense suffering, and inducing his fol-
lowers to submit to similar sufferings, and many of them to
a cruel death, in support, not so much of opinions, as uf
alleged facts, beginning with the miracle of his birth, and
ending with the miracle of his resurrection. We have, then,
these followers, "unlearned men," going forth and dis-
coursing upon the sublimest themes ; persuading the occu-
piers of Grecian and Roman cities to cast away their idols,
to renounce the religion of their fathers, to reject the
instruction of their philosophy, and to receive instead, as a
teacher sent from God, a Jew of humble station, who had
nothing earthly to offer but persecution and poverty, and
who had himself been put to a shameful death. To
receive this explanation of the admitted facts, is to receive
a greater miracle than any which the Bible contains.

24. The appropriate effect of these miracles on those
who witnessed them, is told us in John vi. 14. The effect of

" Then those men, on seeing the miracle that these miracles-
Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should
come into the world." And the appropriate effect of the
record that contains them, is told us in John xx. 30, 31 :
"And many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book. But these
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life
through his name."

25. Very obvious are the distinctions between the mira-
cles of the New Testament and those of the ri ^reriCe be.
Old. The miracles of Moses are generally of g£ " °ld_ana
an external kind only ; wrought on nature and mcnt mhacIes-

10

110 CHAPTER III.

the elements ; adapted rather to lay hold on what may be
called the lower powers of the soul, and of the imagination
especially. In the miracles of the New Testament, we
The latter exhi- na(^ a higher spiritual character. They were
cyUandofsJS£ never performed for effect, never for the per-
tuai power. SOnal advantage of those who wrought them.
They are all (with perhaps one exception) exhibitions
of mercy, showing that physical nature is under God's
control, as prophecy shows also that history is. They are
all, moreover, didactic, teaching, in a most significant form,
the great spiritual truths of the Gospel ; and they often
seem to enter in a remarkable way upon the peculiar pro-
vince of God. Of this last kind is the cure of leprosy ; a
disease which was regarded as a sign of the displeasure of
God ; inflicted, and only to be removed by Him (2 Kings
v. 1). So, too, when our Lord cast out devils, He showed
His power, not so much over material nature, as over the
author of evil himself.

26. Between the miracles of our Lord and those of His

disciples, may also be noted a marked distinc-
miraciea of tion. Theirs were wrought in His name : His
those of ins were wrought in His own. He had the power

in Himself. In them, on the contrary, it seems
to have been developed according to their faith. (Matt. x.
1-8; xvi. 19.) This power, it may be added, seems to
have lasted for some time after the apostles had been with-
drawn, until the foundation of the church was completely
laid ; and then (with the last generation on which their
hands were laid) it gradually disappeared from the world.

§ 4. Christ's first public act. Ill

Sect. 4. — Christ's First Public Act.

27. By way of Capernaum our Lord now pays his first
public visit to Jerusalem at the feast of the Christ drives
Passover, and as his first public act, he pro- ^j1^
ceeds to the temple. Here he found the traders ple-
changing the Roman denarius and Grecian drachma for
the Jewish shekel, and all these for coins of a lower deno-
mination. The first only were received by the Roman
collectors, and the last only at the temple treasury. Here
also were sold the victims used in the Jewish worship.
All this business was transacted within the precincts of
the temple (*6 Up6v), and involved an unseemly union of
things secular and sacred. The whole was conducted,
moreover, in a spirit of grasping, godless gain, little less
guilty than theft. Our Lord, therefore, took occasion to
rebuke both evils, and at the same time to indicate one
purpose of His coming. He appeared to purify the house
of God, and to free it from earthly defilement. This object
He symbolized both now at the commencement of His
ministry, and afterwards at its close, by the act

. And again at

of purifying the court of the outer sanctuary, the close of ma

ministry

The boldness of His conduct is sufficiently
clear, and seems to have excited the surprise of the Sanhe-
drim ; for on both occasions they asked Him for His autho-
rity, and hinted that what was done, was defensible only
on the supposition of His having a Divine commission.
(John ii. 18 ; Mark xi. 28. The answer he gave them
clearly implied that he was himself, in a very emphatic
sense, the temple of God, with no common des-

Both acts ex-

tmy ;* and the announcement was afterwards pressive ot au-
employed, although in a perverted form, against
Himself. (Matt. xxvi. 61.)

* va';, it will be noticed, is the word he uses, and not <e/»n

112 CHAPTER III.

28. Once more, between these two scenes, He intimated
Another signi- his connection with the temple in another form.
SionCtt0nthe When the Jewish officer demanded the pay.
temple. ment of the temple tax, (half a shekel from each
Jew,) He suggested that as the Son of God He was
properly free (Matt. xvii. 27) ; though not unwilling on
other grouuds to admit their claim.

29. Most of the other acts of our Lord display the

mildness of love — this displays its severity

An instance of

our Lord's se- As the first was shown to the modest and

verity.

the humble, so was the second to the froward
and shameless ; sometimes by deeds, as here, but more
generally only by strong and withering rebuke. See Matt.
xxiv. ; Luke xix. 27.

Sect 5. — Christ's First Discourse.

30. This act of our Lord could not fail to turn men's
thoughts to Himself. He had come up from Galilee to
Jerusalem as a Jew of humble rank, and with four or five
followers, belonging, apparently, to the same class. His
expulsion of the traders from the temple, and His miracles,
excited much interest ; and many began to regard him as
a divine prophet ; some, perhaps, as the prophet, though,
they had, no doubt, the most inaccurate notions of the
design of the Messiah's mission, and of the nature of the
kingdom which he was to establish.

25. Among this number was Nicodemus, a member of
the sect of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the

Character and

purpose of Nic- Jews ; a councillor, that is, or member of the

odemus.

Sanhedrim, the highest Jewish judicial court,
and an expositor of the Jewish law. He probably, like the
rest of his countrymen, looked for a temporal deliverer ; but
seems to have been a man of a candid and thoughtful mind.
That he expected to find in Christ the promised Messiah,
is not at all probable. He must have known that the Mes-

§ 5. Christ's first discourse. 113

siah was to come, not from Nazareth, but from Bethlehem ;
nor can he be supposed to have sought for him in an obscure
Galilean stranger, when he must have known that the Mes-
siah, " the Prince," was to descend from the ancient royal
house of David. He came, therefore, to have some private
conversation with this stranger, respecting that kingdom
of God which Jesus and John had both declared to be at
hand ; and as his interview might have been attended with
inconvenience, if not with danger, should his colleagues
Happen to hear of it, he made it as private as possible, and
therefore, came to Jesus by night. He introduced himself
by acknowledging his conviction that Christ was a teacher
come from God ; and was about to announce the object of
his visit, when Christ interrupted, and answered, (as he
often did,) the thoughts of the inquirer. (See John vi. 26,
35, 64, 65 ; John viii. 7.)

31. Instead of showing Himself nattered by the recog-
nition of His divine mission by a man of such Christ explains
rank and influence, He in effect states that n?skinSn?f
His visitor was entirely mistaken on the subject ^L^mln7 m
about which he came to converse ; and that, enter lt-
without a complete change, both of feeling and of thought,
he could never see (that is, he could neither understand nor
enter) the kingdom of which he doubtless deemed himself a
member. " Except a man, Jew as well as Gentile, undergo
a thorough and radical change — such a change as lays the
foundation of a new life — he cannot see the kingdom of
God." That such words might have been addressed to a
Gentile heathen, Nicodemus would perhaps have allowed ;
but that they should be addressed to one who, as a Jew,
was already a child of the kingdom, was to him quite
incomprehensible — so much so, that the literal, rather than
the figurative meaning of our Lord's words, seemed the
more natural to him, though that meaning seemed scarcely
possible. " How can a man be born," said he, " when he

10*

114 CHAPTER III.

is old ? Can he enter a second time into . his mother's
womb, and be born ?"* Our Lord repeats His statement,
and adds an explanation or two that might serve to make
it more intelligible. " Yerily, verily," says He, "except
a man be born, not naturally and of blood, as you have
supposed, but of water and of the Spirit — of a pure and
spiritual influence — he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
All the outgoings of flesh are flesh, human and sinful ;
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. All that is holy,
and fitted therefore for my kingdom, is, in its origin and
nature, not fleshly and natural, but spiritual and divine.
Nor is it an objection to this doctrine that men have no
notion how this inward change is produced, or how it
differs from the natural workings of the human mind.
Under the old economy the Spirit breathed in inspiring
the prophets as he pleased ; why or how none can tell :
men only heard ' his voice,' and received his communica-
tions. In nature, too, ' the wind bloweth where it listeth ;
its power is acknowledged, though none can tell ' whence
it cometh and whither it goeth.' So in my kingdom the
reason and the manner of Divine operations are not known,
but their results only. (John iii. 5-8.) ' Thus it is with
every one that is born of the Spirit.' "f

This explanation completes the perplexity of the inquirer.
How an internal spiritual change can be necessary for one
who is already a Jew, is inconceivable. Therefore, says
he, " How can these things be ?" " The kingdom of
heaven is ours. We are already its subjects, and only wait
its appearance." Our Lord again replies that the truth
ought to have been familiar to him as a reader of the

* That this is the stress of the passage, is highly probable; 17*0$
ytwrjinvai urwScv seems the emphasis.

f The fact that irvtvjia is used in both verses of the original, makes the
English translation rather forced. Both meaning?, therefore, are em-
bodied above.

§ 5. Christ's first discourse. 115

ancient Scriptures — referring, probably, to passages in*
which. God sets forth the necessity of an internal, spiritual
change, and his intention to effect such a change in the
days of the Messiah ; (Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, 2? ; Jer. xxxi.
31, 33 ;) or perhaps intimating that the law itself ought to
have awakened within him a conviction of his own need.
"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things ?" Again our Lord rebukes his ignorance, and
asks how he can be prepared for further disclosures, if
facts so immediately within his own cognizance be misun-
derstood or unknown. " If I have told you earthly things
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of
heavenly things?" (v. 10-12.) "The doctrine I have
taught you is within the domain of your own conscious-
ness. It is part of ancient prophecy. It is the great
lesson of the law. Spiritual subjects alone are fit for a
spiritual kingdom ; and if this truth, which can be verified
on earth, be not understood, my revelation of heavenly
things will be incredible and useless."

32. The nature of this kingdom, however, he proceeds
to explain in terms that convey the most im- FUrther ex-
portant truths, and in a permanent form, Plamed-
though the whole is especially adapted to the views of a
Pharisaic Jew, laboring under the mistaken notions common
to his nation and sect. The question which Nicodemus
had come to ask, had reference to the kingdom of the Mes-
siah ; and if his feelings had been uttered in words, he
would probably have said, " The coming kingdom is at
hand. Tell me when it will appear. Messiah is to be
lifted up, and exalted to a glorious throne. The Jews are to
be delivered from their degradation. Christ, the Son of the
Father, is their ruler. The Gentiles are to be punished and
destroyed, such only excepted as submit themselves willingly
to the authority of the chosen race. All Jews will, of course,
have their part in this kingdom ; but tell me what is the

116 CH AFTER III.

time of its appearance, and what are the rules and require-
ments of its service ?" The reply of our Lord is deeply
significant. " Messiah," says He, *' the Son of Man, who
is at once in heaven and on earth, shall indeed be exalted,
(i^iiaita'.,Y^n\t it will be as the serpent was

His kingdom . _

ppirUuai, uni- lifted up in the wilderness. Hie design 01

versal, and , ^

founded on this arrangement is not Israels temporal de-
liverance, but marts spiritual and everlasting
salvation ; and the means of this salvation is not submis-
sion to Judaism, or any outward connection with the
ancient economy, but a believing confidence in this mes-
sage, and in the person and office of him who reveals it.
'For God so loved,' not Israel only, but 'the world, that
he devoted to death (gave) his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.'" "And so decisive is this law, that all
who do not believe, whether they be Jews or Gentiles,
shall be excluded from the blessings of the kingdom of
Christ, and be punished for the rejection of his message."
Nor is that all. For, while the rejection of the message
may condemn many, the willful neglect of it, the avoidance
of the element of light, and the love of darkness will con-
demn more. ' And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light,
because their deeds are evil.' (v. 14-21.) Here the discourse
with Nicodemus ends.* The rest of the chapter is occu-
pied with a further explanation of our Lord's office, and an
additional testimony from His forerunner, John the Bap-
tist. What effect was produced by the whole on the mind
of Nicodemus is not told us; but that it did not fiil to
produce some impression, is quite clear from the latter
chapters of this history, (vii. 50 ; xix. 39.)

* Olshausen, Neander, and others, think that it ends witi, «he 16th
rerse.

§ 5. Christ's first discourse. Ill

33. The great facts of this narrative are exceedingly sig-
nificant. At the very outset of His ministry, Tha t
our Saviour foretells »His death, reveals His E^i^v^in
own character as "the only begotteD Son of this discourse-
God," and as "the Son of Man ;" unfolds the design of
His mission, not to condemn even the guiltiest, but "that
the world through Him may be saved ;" sets forth the
means of the accomplishment of this design — His exaltation
on the cross, His sacrificial death, and the way in which
an interest in the blessings He secured may be obtained —
a living faith ; traces the origin of this economy to the
mercy and love of God, and warns men of the punishment
to be inflicted on all who neglect His message. The con-
dition of the world as perishing, the need of an inward,
holy change on man's part, the adjustment of the claims of
justice, with the exercise of mercy on God's ; the mighty
Agent by whose influence this inward change is wrought,
and the cost of this adjustment, with the end of the whole
dispensation, that all things may be given into the hands
of the Son, are fully disclosed, (iii. 35.) The first scenes,
therefore, of the public ministry of our Lord, shadow forth
the truths which were embodied, with terrible reality, in the
last.

34. Whether the last verses of this chapter were spoken
by John the Baptist, or by John the Evangelist,

. , . Importance of

is not clear ; but in either case the lesson is in- the last verses

it i °f John iii.

structive. If the former spoke them, then they
form an attestation from the lips of the preacher of repent-
ance, to the impotency of repentance without faith to
secure salvation : and if the latter, they are as strong an
attestation from the preacher of love to the reality of the
Divine judgments, (v. 35, 36.) In the one case, it is the
preacher of repentance, who bids men to believe ; in the
other, it is the preacher of love expatiating on the fearful-
ness of the wrath of God ; and we may be sure it is in

118 CHAPTER Ii;

substance the attestation of both; "He that belie veth on
the Son hath life, and he that believeth not on the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."

35. The thing that startles most in this record, is per-

haps the announcement that the kingdom of

The kingdom .

of God is not God is not seen without the teaching and re-

n'ootrnized . . ~ . .

without the generating influence ot the spirit. We know as
a fact that much may be done in the exposition
of Scripture, the volume of the mysteries of the kingdom,
without any supernatural aid. A man may declaim with
overwhelming energy upon the majestic truths of Provi-
dence and Grace, may rouse feelings both of tenderness
and terror, and neither he nor his audience have known
in any sense that shall influence their eventual salvation,
one emotion of spiritual life. By thousands the Bible is
studied as an exercise of the intellect. Reason is strength-
ened under it. Imagination is delighted with it. The
gentler affections are even softened and ennobled by it.
And yet there may be total inward death. The organ
even that perceives its real import may be wanting in vital
action ; for it is spiritually discerned.

36. To complete this view, however, it must be added,

that the change which the Spirit produces in
veais no new human hearts, is a change, not of new facul-
ties for old, but of new objects of affection
only. It is no part of his work to bestow faculties — some-
thing which is neither hope, nor fear, nor love ; he simply
directs those affections to more exalted ends. His whole
design is manifestly not to annihilate human feelings ; bv:t
to direct and govern them upon better principles, and un-
der holy guidance. The change is in the object revealed,
and in the corresponding attraction of the heart towards
it. The man, who becomes in Christ Jesus a new creature,
is not gifted with other eyes ; he only sees what other eyes
cannot or will not see, and loves what either hearts will

§ 5. Christ's first discourse. 119

not love. In mind and heart he is the same man ; only
with all his heart and with all his mind he serves Christ.
Every thought remains, and his faculty of thought ; but
are all brought into captivity to the obedience of faith. In
motive, in character, in aim, in the objects of his love, but
in these, and such as these only, "old things are past
away, and behold all things are become new."- (2 Cor.
v. 17.)

37. It is only therefore where this change is undergone,
that the kingdom of God is begun, and it is

„ , pl.. t , -, . All true pro-

from the seat ot this inward change that this gressofthe
kingdom spreads — first through the whole man, individual cou-
and then through our race. Christ's kingdom
is not founded on our outward condition, or on the circum-
stances of our life ; its place is in the soul. Sincere repen-
tance and deep personal faith are its prerequisites ; and
they supply the exact measure of all amelioration, private
and social ; truths self-evident, and yet constantly over-
looked. Each vice and grievance, the whole mass of evil
which afflicts society, is apt to be charged upon faulty in-
stitutional arrangements, upon laws, or want of laws ; and
can be removed (it is thought) only by external appliances.
The world (it is held) must be mended before its inhabit-
ants can be better. Men, therefore, attempt to get the
reign of righteousness established first ; and then, it is sup-
posed, individual moral renovation will begin. " Set up
the kingdom, and citizens will enter and be enrolled." But
the Scripture scheme reverses this order. It teaches that
new systems of society cannot perfect individuals, but that
individuals must first find in themselves the germs of nobler
systems ; and that those germs have their origin, not in
considerations of selfishness, nor in the gratification of any
thing purely human, but in the awakening of a life that is
divine. " Except a man be born aneiv, he cannot see the
kingdom of God."

120 chapter iii.

Sect. 6. — Christ's First Journey.

38. The attention which Christ's ministry had now ex-
cited induced Him to leave Judcea, where his disciples had
already baptized several converts (John iii. 22; iv. 1),
rhrist visits anc* ^e resolved to revisit Galilee. On his
s.imana. way jje went through Samaria ; thus intimating

at the outset that, though his labors were to begin at Je-
rusalem, they were not to end there. After traveling
between twenty and thirty miles, He reached at mid-day
the ancient city of Sychar, and being wearied with His
The well of j°urney> sat and rested himself near the well,
Sychar. which, seventeen hundred years before, Jacob

had purchased of the people of the country. In the mean
time His disciples went into the city "to buy bread."
While they were gone, a poor woman of loose character
visited the place to draw water. As was His custom,
Christ availed himself of the opportunity, and conversed
with her, telling her of the "living water"

Living water. °

which He was able to supply. She thought
only of a running spring ; and as Christ found it impossible
to get her to understand His meaning, He pointedly re-
minds her of her guilt, and discovers to her His knowledge
of her true condition. She in return acknowledged Him
to be a prophet, and immediately consults Him on the
great controversy between the Samaritans and the Jews ;
chiefly, however, to avoid continued attention to herself.
That this was her motive is plain from the fact that the
question she asks is one of purely historical interest ; the
temple at Mount Gerizim having been destroyed more than
spiritual wor- a hundred years before. In His reply Christ
shlp> condemns the origin of the Samaritan schism,

rebukes the unmeaning formalism of the worship of her
nation, and assures her that the time was now come when

§ 6. Christ's first jourxey. 121

true worshipers were to worship the Father neither in that
mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem only, but everywhere in
spirit and in reality not externally (tfapxt), but with the
heart (Ttucu/tatft); not in shadows, but in substance and in
truth (a^£fia*). He then revealed himself to her as the
Christ ; and His declaration, connected with the recollec-
tion of His previous disclosures concerning her own history,
led her to believe. To impart her convictions, and partly
to confirm them, she hastens to her fellow-citizens, and
with the natural exaggeration of a new convert, said,
" Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did ;
is not this the Christ ?" (John iv. 1-29.)

Ever true to the great end of His calling, and finding
His bodily frame strengthened by His work, our Lord,
immediately after the woman had withdrawn, seeks to
deepen spiritual life in the minds of His disciples. He had
spoken to the woman of living water, and now He speaks
of living bread ; and answers their request that He would
eat, and their wondering unbelief of His meaning, (v. 34,)
by reminding them that, to do the will of God Activity itsell
from the heart, is itself the source of spiritual sustainins-
and even of physical strength.

Before the lesson is quite learned, their attention is
called to a new scene. From the city crowds follow the
woman towards the well where the stranger is seated, and
the ripening harvest suggests an appropriate image both of
their numbers, and of the results of our Saviour's message,
(v. 35.) For the first time Christ is invited to remain
with them, and in the end very many believed
some for the saying of the woman, but many
more because of His own word ; " for," said they, " we have
heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the

* Here, as frequently, d^rj^eta must be taken to mean the opposite of
OKia, not of xpcv^os ; substance rather than truth.

11

Many believe.

122 CITAPTER III.

Christ, the Saviour of the world." (v. 42.) This is the
first awakening on a large scale, and has few

First extensive n -i -i • t • •

success of the parallels during our Lord's personal ministry.
Ordinarily the seed of the kingdom found a
resting-place in only individual hearts — here it is deposited
in the hearts of the people generally, producing results
which became in this very district still more extensive in
the first age of the church. (Acts viii. 5-8.)

39. It is to us peculiarly instructive that the first exten-
Achieved with- s*ve success of the Gospel message was mani-
out miracles. festccl among those who witnessed no miracle.
The message itself seems to have been to this people an
evidence of its truth. They heard the words of our Lord,
and in simple faith they believed.

In the whole narrative, too, there is much that is in-
structive, especially in relation to the provisions of the
Gospel, and the nature of true worship. The living water
that Christ gives, His Spirit, His doctrine

Christ Himself . . ... ... .. n .

the living wa- itself, is said to quench the thirst and satisfy

tor.

the desires of all who drink. The longings
of the mind are drawn away by it from all transitory things,
and are fixed upon the continued enjoyment of the bless-
ings which are here rendered accessible to man ; and in
that continued enjoyment all human desire is fulfilled.
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him,
shall never thirst."

Let us illustrate this truth. If men need pardon, and
Meets the do- listen to the divine message, " It is a faithful
sire for pardon, saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," "being
justified by faith," they " have peace with God." If they
need holiness, and remember believingly the

Holiness. .

truth that Christ came to redeem men from
all iniquity, (Tit. ii. 14,) and to present them perfect be-
fore the presence of His Father, that the certainty of this

§ 6. chbist's first journey. 123

result is secured by the power of the truth, by the influence
of the Spirit, by the reward due to Christ's suffering, by
the oath and character of God, they become holy. If amid
ten thousand foes they need conscious safety,
let them remember that He that is with them
is mightier than all that are against them ; that God will
not suffer (1 Cor. x. 13) them to be tempted above what
they are able to bear ; and they will feel secure. If they
need happiness, in spite of saddening change
and multiplied affliction, Christ reminds them
that they are to "take no thought." "All things" are
theirs ; the world itself being but the scaffolding of the
church ; God has not spared His own Son, and will as-
suredly, having given Him, give with Him all things ; that
they have moreover in heaven a more enduring substance.
If they need preparation for death, they may remember
that those who believe in Christ never die ;

i • Eternal life.

that to them death is but a change in the cir-
cumstances of their life ; and that though that change is it-
self terrible, with its groans, and agonies, and dying strife, it
is but a shadow with which they contend — a foe, yet an un-
substantial one ; while even in that conflict God is with
them, His rod and His staff, the symbol of His power, and
His sustaining word, comforts them. This, then, is our
Lord's teaching. Let men but receive the doctrine and
Spirit of Christ, and the largest desires of their heart — for
pardon, for safety, for holiness, for present and future hap-
piness— are all fulfilled. Drinking of the water He gives,
they " shall never thirst." And now the figure is changed.
The water which thus meets the desires of all Christians, is
also a diffusive and fructifying stream, blessing others as
well as themselves ; nor does it rest till, bearing along all
who are partakers of it, it has reached the eternal fountain
whence it sprung (ver. 10-14).

124 CHAPTER III.

40. Xot less striking are the sublime disclosures which
Christ here makes on the nature of spiritual

The nature of . .

ppirituai wor- service, and on the folly of making our worship
depend on our presence amid scenes of imagi-
nary sacredncss. "The hour is coming, when neither in
this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall men worship the
Father." (v. 21.) He, in this one sentence, overturns a
whole host of Jewish predilections, and lays the basis of
the spiritual consecration of the Gospel.

Under the earlier dispensation God had specially visited
various scenes ; but without making them by
Christ's teach- His visit the more suitable for purposes of wor-
jecSt t" the'an- ship. Moses reared no altar at the burning
3my' bush, though God's presence for the time made
it holy. Joshua put no permanent structure for worship
on the place which had been pressed by the feet of the
Captain of the Lord's host, though this, too, for the time
of the vision, was also holy. Even several visits to a spot
did not consecrate it as a place where worship would be
peculiarly acceptable. Moses therefore pitched no taberna-
cle amid the crags of Sinai, honored as its rocky heights
had been by the cloud, and flame, and voice, and law.
Nor did even the selection of a place by God Himself for
purposes of worship make it holy, independently of the
character of the worshipers, and of His own immediate
presence. He chose the threshing-floor of Oman for the site
of His temple, and as the place where He would put His
name ; yet when thus designated, and crowned by an edifice
which was planned by Himself and built by His chosen
servant, it was not truly consecrated till God Himself came
there, and the Shekinah settled in glory upon the mercy-seat
between the wings of the cherubim. It was God's stay in
the place, therefore, that gave it sacredness ; and when man
wrought provocation and idolatries there, this sacredness
passed away.

§ 6. c.tirist's first journey. 125

So it was in earlier times with Bethel, where Jacob
and his children long after him worshipped. In the
time of the prophets, it was called no more Bethel (God's
house), but Bethaven, because idolatry had made it the
'•'house of vanity." So in later times with Jerusalem, the
wickedness of Manasseh profaned the temple, and the sym-
bols of the Divine presence were withdrawn. (Ezek. x. 4, 18.)

This great truth, — that holiness is not the place where
God has been, that it is not even in the place which God
has selected, but in the Divine presence itself, — had been,
towards the end of the Jewish dispensation, gradually per-
verted and forgotten. Men attached to the place the
reverence due only to God. They forgot that the char-
acter of the worshipers, even under that dispensation,
might affect and destroy the sacredness of the Sanctuary
itself ; and they did not understand that Christ was come
to call attention to the nature of true worship,

, . , , * • , . . No sanctity of

and to give prominence to a truth which was place under
wrapped up in the old economy, and readily
discoverable, but which the worldly minds of the Jews had
overlooked or disregarded. The sanctity of places was
about to pass away. Instead of one spot, all regions were
about to become available for worship. When Christ had
risen, therefore, the temple, though still retaining to the eyes
of the Jews its old glory, had lost it to the spiritual and in-
structed disciples. Its sacrifices were now unmeaning after
the great oblation of Golgotha. Its veil was rent at the cruci-
fixion, and its holy place made common. In prospect of this
event Christ disowned it : "Your house is left unto you deso-
late." It was still rich in marble, and purple, and gold ; but
its Great Inhabitant was gone, and it was a temple no more.
Another dispensation had been introduced, and a far
different worship. Let us mark these worship- niustrated in
ers, and the scene of their meeting. In an men^of Se
obscure lane in Jerusalem the disciples are earlychurch

11*

126 CHAPTER III.

assembled. It is the humble resort of humble people, but
it is the resort of spiritual worshipers. The rushing mighty
wind of the Holy Spirit has shaken and filled this dwelling ;
not to remain here, but to rest upon the company that
occupies it. Henceforth God is with them ; he has no
longer one site for his temple ; that temple pitches itself
wherever his people wander and sojourn. Its sanctity is
to be ever after in the character of its occupants.

And it is instructive to notice how, in all the earlier
arrangements of the Apostolic churches, God's providence
seems to have developed and confirmed this principle.
Every thing seems done to guard the disciples against
practices that might have favored this obsolete idea of a
local sanctity. " If any soil could have retained such a
quality under the new dispensation, it would have been
that of Calvary ; but the upper chamber, where the Pente-
costal baptism of the Holy Ghost was received, was not,
as far as we have any reason to suppose, built upon the
spot where Christ's cross was planted. Nor did Joseph
of Arimathea give up for holy purposes the sepulchre
where Christ had been buried, and which had been the
scene of his resurrection. The next in sacredness certainly
was the Mount -of Olives. Near its ridge, toward the
Jordan, he had raised Lazarus from the dead ; from its
side towards Jerusalem he had shed tears over the doomed
city of his murderers — doomed, because she knew not the
day of her visitation ; near its foot he had suffered the
anguish of Gethsemane ; from its summit he ascended to
the skies."* Yet it was not here that the first houses of
prayer were erected, and the lesson is thus rendered com-
God is where- plete. The sanctity of our dispensation belongs
and true^oJ1- to the worshipers and to the service ; not to
shippers are. ^he pjace# jf Christ's truth and ordinances

* Dr. Williams.

§ 7. THE FIRST REJECTION OF CHRIST. 127

are administered, and there are spiritual worshipers, there
is He ; the waiting heart every where meets a waiting
God:

"Where'er we seek him he is found,
And every place is hallowed ground."

How touching that these truths were first delivered to one
who had no earthly temple, and to whom they must have
come, not only as a rebuke, but as the richest conso-
lation !

Sect. 7. — The First Rejection of Christ by his
Countrymen.

41. To complete the view we have given of Christ's
entrance upon his ministry, we need last of all Chrjst Tisitg
to contemplate the result of His labors in Nazareth-
Nazareth, "where he had been brought up." His work
began, as we have seen, at Cana, where he wrought his
first miracle. His miraculous powers were next put forth
in Jerusalem, (John iv. 45,) though nothing is told of the
works He performed there. At Jerusalem, too, He ex-
plained to Nicodemus the doctrine of regeneration, and
announced His own sacrifice. Afterwards His mission was
attested for the third time (John iii. 30) by John the
Baptist ; and subsequently to this last attestation, Jesus
proceeds through Samaria ; till at length He reaches the
place where He had resided for several years. When at
Cana, on His way, He wrought His second miracle in
Galilee ; healing a nobleman's son, who was lying sick at
the neighboring town of Capernaum. (John iv. 46-54.)

42. At Nazareth He was known as a poor and appa-
rently unlettered man. He was regarded as the son of a
carpenter ; He had himself exercised the same craft in the
place.* His immediate connections were also still there —

* Hence Mark says they called him the carpenter, (o tLktmv.) Matthew

128 CHAPTER III.

His mother and His relatives — the reputed father having
probably died some time before. Here Christ entered the
Heads and an- synagogue, and, being invited, stood up aud
om"e?n the rea(^ providentially, or perhaps in the ordinary
synagogue. course of reading, part of the 61st chapter of
Isaiah. In that passage the prophet speaks of one who
was yet to be revealed, and to whom the title of "the
servant of the Lord" was to be peculiarly applicable.
This servant is anointed, or consecrated by the Spirit for a
great work, not so much of majesty as of condescension j
of miraculous love rather than of miraculous power. " The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He hath anointed (^pio-f)
me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to
heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the cap-
tives, and recovering of sight to the blind ; to set at liberty
them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord" — the year, that is, of acceptance and of
release. The whole passage our Lord explains as fulfilled
in himself, whom, therefore, He represents as the Messiah
the Anointed One, the Christ.

43. This disclosure was simple, and appropriate to the

occasion. In Nazareth Christ was known as
nessofhismes- poor ; He therefore reveals Himself as the

friend of the poor. The Nazarenes were of
old despised, and to the despised and broken-hearted, He
tells them, He came. As soon as He had delivered the
message, He saw at once that His hearers could not pene-
trate the concealing cloud of earthly circumstances which
veiled his glory. They knew His connections, and deemed
Him one of themselves. At first, indeed, they were pleased
with His communication, and were constrained to acknow-
ledge that a Divine grace pervaded it; but ultimately
their earthly conceptions prevailed. (Luke iv. 24.) Christ

says they called him (o to") tcktovo*; nld ) the son of a carpenter: and, no
doubt, both descriptions are employed

§ 7. THE FIRST REJECTION OF CHRIST. 129

had foreseen this issue, and now showed them at once their
failing. " Ye will say to me," said He, "phy- RemonstrateB
&ician, heal thyself." "Thou hast spoken of ^thefrCS
our poverty, remove thine own ; of our being hef'
fretted and exhausted in heart, art thou less so than we ?
Heal thyself, and we may believe." How unworthy these
thoughts ! It was not of the earthly poor He had spoken ;
though, as ever, His language was sufficiently mysterious
to mislead the negligent. Nor does true benevolence heal
itself in the first instance, though selfishness may prefer
that order. Both parts of their reply, therefore, are
degrading. " Show us at least (as our Lord continues to
express their feelings) such miracles as thou hast exhibited
elsewhere ; and let us share the benefit that Capernaum has
received."* But Christ saw their unbelief. (Matt. xiii. 58 ;
Mark vi. 6.) " Prophets have least honor," says he again,
"among their relatives, and in their father's house." The
divine or heavenly element in holy characters becomes con-
cealed, or is overlooked through familiarity ; and one who
has seemed near in the flesh, cannot easily be regarded as
superior in the spirit. " And besides," He adds, " God has
always been a sovereign in the gifts of his grace, and in
the exercise of that sovereignty has been free to pity and
heal the distant, withholding the blessing from those that
are near." The fact was undoubted. It ought to have
humbled, and might have cheered them. But their pride
had been wounded, and they proceeded to drive

Is rejected.

out their prophet, and so to fulfill His own
intimation. They were even bent upon taking His life ;
but "He, passing through the midst of them, Hardly escapeB
went His way," miraculously withdrawing that wlthHlsllfe-
teaching which would have proved its miraculous power in
saving them, if only they had believed. (Luke iv. 30. v

* These miracles are said to be done si's KaTxpvaovp.

130 CHAPTER in.

Matthew and Mark intimate, in conclusion, that Jesus
performed few miracles in Nazareth ; Mark adding, that
He healed a few sick people only, by laying His hands upon
them ; and that he could not do any mighty work there,
because of their unbelief.

44. Faith is here very strikingly taught as a condition
Faith on man's indispensable to the prudent exercise of mira-
part essential. cu]ous power. As God can save no impenitent
sinner, as such, who refuses to humble himself for his
sin, so Christ cannot heal where faith is wanting. The
aim of miracles, therefore, was not first of all to create
faith in those who were the subjects of them ; but at
most, to purify and confirm it. They presuppose faith,
which is clearly a quality more of the affections than of
the intellect ; and involves, at least, a willing, receptive,
and obedient heart.

45. Nor does this issue of our Lord's labors differ ma-
The conduct of terially from other events in His personal min-
repeaNtedacriesr istl7- As tne fellow-townsmen of Christ did
where. n0{. beiievej so neither at first did his own re-
latives (John vii. 5) ; nor as a nation did the Jews, for
" He came unto His own and His own received Him not ;"
and therefore ultimately the kingdom of God passed over
to the Gentiles. Clearly, those who are most familiar with
Christ may know him least ; and their rejection of Him
supplies the saddest evidence of the worldliness of human
conceptions, and of the pride of the human heart. From the
very first the rule seems to have obtained — " some believed
and some believed not." (Acts xxviii. 24.) To a faithful
minister it is a sad consolation that the failure of his
ministry in conversion may spring, not from the deficien-
cies of his own service, but from the guilty unbelief of
those who hear him.

§ 8. CHRIST INCARNATE. 131

Sect. 8. — Christ Incarnate. The Revelation o* God
and the Model of Holiness.

" He that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father." " Walk even as
he walked."

46. From the history of our Lord, thus far, it is clear
that there is a mysterious dignity connected Import 0f the
with His person. St. John describes him as InGarnation-
the Word made flesh ; and the other Evangelists use ex-
pressions no less startling and peculiar ; implying as they
do a nature at once human and divine. This doctrine of
the incarnation of Christ, " God manifest in the flesh," has
excited mnch discussion ; and has sometimes been regarded
as a grave objection to the Christian scheme. A little in-
quiry, however, will be found not only to justify the doctrine
itself, but to show that if revelation is to be adapted to
man's expectations and wants, a God incarnate is one of
the truths which revelation is most likely to contain.

47. An infinite being cannot in his nature be known by
men. God is infinite and absolute. But the

. . An Infinite

idea of an infinite and an absolute being it is being cannot

in his nature

impossible to describe or conceive. There is be known by

• 1 i • i men.

nothing m heaven nor on earth which we can
use to define him ; and all analogies rather confound than
clear our conceptions. In His own nature He is without
form ; yet he is neither a point in space nor space without
limit. He dwells everywhere and always, and is yet with-
out parts and above time. The only definition we can give
is His own ; He is the I am — the self-existent Jehovah.

If we proceed to speak not of his nature but of His
perfections, our conceptions become, if possible, Kor Jn Ma pep.
even less adequate, He thinks ; but free from fections-
what is essential to our thought, succession, and time. He
reasons without inference ; decides without deliberation ;

132 chapter in.

feels without emotion ; acts and rests without movement
or change.

48. Wherever therefore God is revealed by creation, it
must be under conditions in themselves neither

Whore reveal-
ed, it must be infinite nor spiritual. There is no such thing

through some m p

medium: such in nature as an infinite medium of revelation.

revelation ue-

cessaniy im- The One must appear in the many ; the spirit
in forms ; the infinite in the finite ; the absolute
in the conditional. He must show himself by acts, or
signs, or words, each of which will represent much, but
each of which will certainly misrepresent more. When He
appears in creation, it is as power limited,

Creation. rr l

goodness mixed, eternity evanescent and chang-
ing ; when He employs human speech, He is constrained
Human ian- to use terms that are already devoted to visible
guage. or jnfer[or things. Every such revelation is

more or less imperfect and contradictory ; though there was
once a being made in God's image, and who, as a creature
adapted to the highest ends of intelligence and moral
action, was a noble illustration of His wisdom and an evi-
dence of His love ; yet that being is now de-
formed. Sin, prejudice, passion, stains of
every color so mar our race, that the glory of the Divine
Creator is visible So longer ; and even if man had remained
unfallen, he must have been at best a finite and imperfect
type : truer and more complete because of his noble spi-
ritual character, than anything inanimate ; but still involv-
ing, as a revelation of God, many obvious contradictions.
If, therefore, it be any objection to the doctrine of the
Incarnation, that it involves the mystery of an embodiment
af the infinite in the finite, and that even with this revela-
tion God is not so efficiently revealed as to be cleared of
all incomprehensibleness ; the answer is at hand. Every
revelation, which God has ever given, is liable to the same
objection ; nor to finite minds can any revelation be given

§ 8. Christ's incarnate. 133

that shall be free from it. Every disclosure of such a
Being must be necessarily imperfect. Creation, which
outwardly represents his character, does its office inade-
quately. Words which utter human thought and feeling
are equally inadequate ; and even divine insti-

. .. . Divine institu-

tutions contain in their phraseology or mci- tions : an un-
dents something repugnant to the very idea of
the God they represent.

48. If it be true, moreover, that it is for Man this Divine
revelation is intended, and that man was ori- Chr:st incar.
ginally adapted to express the character of* complete ^e'vL
God, it follows that the Incarnation may be- laticn
come the richest and most appropriate manifestation of all.
As creation sets forth " His eternal power and Godhead,"
so may the incarnation set forth with those attributes His
moral perfections ; and the one will be found to contain no
contradiction or mystery which is not already contained in
the other. Both are miraculous. Both are in certain
aspects incomprehensible to finite minds ; and the latter is
on these accounts the more credible that the necessity for
it was deeper, the circumstances of it are mightier, and
the attributes it reveals livelier and holy. These attributes,
moreover, are such as could be revealed only in human
form ; the attributes of condescension, of patience, of for-
giveness, in one word — of love.

49. The necessity of such a revelation is fully attested
by various heathen systems. The idea of an

J . Necessity of

embodiment of the divine in the human is com. ™ch a reveia-

... tion attested by

mon to them all. Hmdooism has its uncreated heathen sys-
light, and its successive incarnations ; Brahm
is now creator, and now preserver, and now destroyer;
and in each relation he sustains a personal character.
Buddhism, though professedly monotheistic and anti-mate-
rial, believes in many incarnations ; and regards every ex-
hibition of intellect and power as a portton of the God-

12

134 CHAPTER III.

head. It protested against the Brahminical doctrine that
God had become man ; and ended in maintaining the
Buddhistic one that man was God. Mahomedanism, indeed,
may be deemed an exception ; and yet the God of the false
prophet is entirely a personal agent, with only human feel-
ings and schemes. He is always set forth in the person of
the successors of Mahomet as he was pre-eminently in Ma-
Andbythe hornet himself. To decide the question, it may
Jewish. . jje addgd that the ancient Jewish economy,
which was certainly monotheistic, abounds with represen-
tations which are unmeaning, unless on the supposition that
God himself appeared in the likeness of man ; guiding, in-
structing, and helping his people — representations that
have all the effect of independent testimony ; for though
the Jews believed that those representations pointed to a
Divine Messiah, the books that contain them were written
before Christ appeared, and under circumstances that make
collusion between their writers and our Lord absolutely
incredible. An incarnate God, therefore, is the doctrine of
all systems ; and the peculiarity of Scripture is, that only
there He is worthily and truly revealed.*

50. Nor is it only that the doctrine of the incarnation
of Christ has its representative in other sys-

The purposes ^

of such incar- terns. In one system or another the very pur-

uation recoy- .

nized in one or poses of His incarnation, and the necessity for

other of the . .

heathen By* it in order to accomplish them, are more or less
distinctly recognised. The northern Odin,
who answers to the Roman Mercury, was the messenger of
the gods. The chief object of worship among the ancient
Germans was one who connected heaven with earth, and
both with the shades below. Sometimes he is man only,
and has his personal history ; sometimes he is God : but,

* This was a frequent argument of the early apologists ; and Cicero
has rK>t overlooked the fact, " Totum prope Coelum nonne humano genera
completum est." Tuac. quca. i. 13.

§ 8. CHRIST INCARNATE. 135

in either capacity, it is his character of restorer of the broken
relations between the invisible world and ourselves that
attracted the reverence of those ancient tribes.* Plato
deemed the visit of such a being essential for the discovery
of true wisdom, and the solution of the innumerable pro-
blems which human inquiry had started but could not
solve. The sacrificial institutes of all nations pointed with
more or less clearness to man's need of a propitiation ; and
for propitiation must not the victim be as to his flesh
mortal, yet so gifted as to become an immaculate and effi-
cacious offering. Others again, like the Mohammedans,
worshipped energy, and regarded the Deity as the king of
men. They sought, therefore, in their idea of religion for
a Ruler and Head.

51. All these wants, it will be observed, are met in
Christ. He came as the very image of the Father's person
and the brightness of His glory, to teach by
example and by precept : as man, to die ; as JJSSiis the^rl
God-man, to unite heaven and earth, and to jiws^anlT the
rule in God's stead over man. Thus did He JJ£ J&SE of
take up at his coming the unfulfilled promises

of every system, and accomplish them. He was not the
prophet, priest, and king of the covenant only, but the
Desire of all nations concentering in himself the longings
of all. " In Him did all fullness dwell." On His head are
many crowns ; and concerning his teaching it may be
affirmed, that not Israel only, but the isles (the regions of
the Gentiles) waited for His law. (Is. xlii. 4.)

52. Viewed therefore only as a medium of revelation,
the incarnation of Christ seems natural ; view-

. Incarnation:

mg Him still further, as our example, His in- natural as a

revelation of

carnation seems absolutely necessary. In the God; necessary
first character He comes to announce the of perfect vir-
Diyine will, and manifests, as far as our capa-

* Tacitus, Germania.

136 CHAPTER III.

cities will allow, the attributes of the invisible God ; thus
bringing God to man. In the second character He comes
to aid and exalt our piety ; to engage our affections ; to
give us a perfect type of holiness ; in one word, to bring
man to God ; and for this purpose His incarnation seems
not only appropriate but essential.

Man is naturally imitative. Example sways him more
than precept. All human models of excellence

Man imitative. . „ . ,, . ., ■,

are imperiect ; in copying them we insensibly
a perfect ex- blend their virtues with their faults, and too

simple adapted

to influence often admire both. At once to satisfy this

human feel- .

itig nece.s- tendency of human nature, and to guard against
the evils connected with it, the ancient Stoics
formed their model man ; seeking by this creation to avoid
on the one hand the dullness of abstract description, and
on the other the imperfections incident to all visible excel-
lence. Copying a perfect example as the surest way of
attaining a perfection became, in their teaching, a settled
law.

To this scheme (which, however, was perhaps the best
that was practicable in their position) there lay the fatal
objection that the whole character was ideal ; defective of
course in its virtue, and above all in its influence. It in-
spired no interest ; it awakened no sympathy. The whole
plan was but one short remove from an abstract morality ;
it was free no doubt from many of the imperfections of
living models, but eliciting none of the affectionate reve-
rence which is excited by a real existing object, and ex-
erting therefore no personal practical power.

This double want, first of a perfect character, and se-
condly of a perfect character vested with all that can in-
Both f0Und in terest human feeling, the Incarnation supplies
chnst. jt exhibits spotless, living virtue ; corrects in

actual practice the errors of human nature ; and realizes a
nobler picture of excellence than the conceptions of ancient

§ 8. CHRIST IXCARNATE. 13t

philosophy ever formed ; the more touching and impressive
from the hnmble station which Christ filled, and the solemn
duties he came to discharge. His was virtue struggling
that it might be triumphant ; the very form which it must
ever assume in the history of our race.

53. The best exposition of these remarks is found in the
way in which the apostles speak of holiness.
To begin the Divine life we are "quickened These views

• i /^i • t i • • confirmed by

with Christ." In our baptism we are buried apostolic teach-
with Christ ;" " we rise with Christ ;" we re-
member Him who before many witnesses wit- Virtue copying

^ Christ.

nessed a good confession, and so we are "to
put on Christ." (Eph. ii. 5; Rom. vi. 4 ; 1 Tim. vi. 13;
Rom. xiii. 14.) In persecution we are told of Him who
"endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself ;
and who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame." Beneficence is enforced by
appeals to the example of Him, who " though He was
rich, yet for our sakes became poor." We are to love one
another as " Christ loved us." Even relative duties are
enjoined in the same form; and husbands are to "love
their wives as Christ loved the church." All excellence is
summed up in the comprehensive precept that we are to do
what is pleasing to the Lord, and to purify ourselves even
as He is pure ; " looking unto Him the author and finisher
of our faith." (Heb. xii. 3.)

And as all virtue is thus represented, not in the abstract,
but in the person of Christ, so all happiness is

• i tt- t/» Happiness.

dependent on our union with Him. " If a man union with
love me he will keep my words ; and my Father
will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with him." To die, is, in apostolic language, "to
depart and be with Christ." The sum of all blessedness
is "to be forever with the Lord." " Having suffered with
Him, we shall also be glorified together." This is the sum

12*

138 CHAPTER III.

of all blessedness ; for another apostle is contented to re-
main in comparative ignorance of a future life, under the
conviction that it involves conformity to the pattern of the
Great Master, and admission to His presence. " Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
(1 John iii. 2.) To be like Him is complete holiness, and to
be with Him is eternal unspeakable joy ; terms that clearly
imply a personal Christ ; the incarnation at once of virtue
and love.

54. It is in fact through His incarnation that the church
consequent *s identified with her Lord. She reads in His
Christ and ins history her own ; she follows His steps, she
church. becomes the image and reflection of His life.
He came at first in lowliness, and in lowliness His church
began ; He was visited with the Holy Ghost at the Jordan,
and she at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost ; He labored
in weariness and watchings, and she is still a pilgrim and
a stranger upon the earth ; He was made perfect through
suffering, and ascended from the cross to His crown, and
here, too, she is the heir of His destiny. In this respect He
has left her an example ; and to "follow the Lamb wither-
soever He goeth," is a description of both her nobles^
office and her richest reward.

Sect. 9. — Christ incarnate a Saviour through Suf

FERING.

55. In the person of our Lord, then, we have God re-
vealed and the law set forth. He is at once the expies^
image of the Father, and the living model of holiness. Ir

Him we see what God is, and what man ough>

The incurnn,-

tion in relation to be. The connection between His incarna
tion and his sufferings is yet to be considered.
He became man that He miffht suffer and die. He wa#

§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 139

"made of a woman . . . under the law that He might re-
deem us from its curse, and that we might receive the
adoption of sons." (Gal. iii. 13; iv. 4.) "Forasmuch as
the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death
He might destroy him that hath the power of death, that
is, the devil ; and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." " Wherefore
in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His
brethren." " And in that he himself hath suffered, being
tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted."
(Heb. ii. 14, 15, 18.)

Let us mark what these expressions entail.

56. He came in our nature. He was made of a woman.
The Creator appeared as a creature ; the ever

Christ man :

blessed God, a mourner. The Author of life, what this in-
light, and happiness, has Himself wept tears.
One who is infinitely holy, and the Giver of all law, has
become obedient to law, and has been seen in strange
contact with sin : these are facts whose amazing signifi-
cance can be forgotten only through familiarity, and they
are of the deepest interest to our race,

Sin and misery, holiness and happiness, form the oppo-
site sides of the universe. The whole of the contact with
mystery connected with them none can unravel. sm"
We know little more than that they are irreconcileable
antagonists, and that by a gracious arrangement the dark
elements of evil will be in the end subservient to the prin-
ciple of good. To the side of holiness Christ belonged.
Sin, which is opposed to it, he abhorred with an intensity
which no fallen creature can conceive ; and yet, by sin and
its shadow — misery — He was for years surrounded. They
touched him in every nerve. Heaven and its purity were
exchanged for earth and its corruptions. Here he lived,
and here at length He died in such suffering as can be ex-

140 CHAPTER III.

plained only on the supposition that He had been charged
with the sins of the world, and was bearing the penalty
due to them all.

What such a life involved it is not easy to say ; but it
might be imagined, if one eminently holy were called, by
some mysterious arrangement, to spend part of his eternity
in hell. In the case of such a sufferer, however, the shock
which his moral nature would undergo in listening to the
blasphemy and in witnessing the wretchedness of the lost,
would be less painful than was endured on earth by our
Lord. Heaven and earth must have presented contrasts
more striking to Him than would be presented by earth
and hell to the holiest of mankind. Amidst the sadness
and temptations to which this hourly contact with evil ex-
posed Him, our Lord entered upon His work and fulfilled
the duties of His ministry.

57. Nor was it only that Christ appeared as man.
Christ under He was made under the law ; placed therefore
law' in the same position in relation to it as were

those whom he came to redeem. His mental and moral
constitution was essentially the same as ours. He had
an intellect like our own, adapted for the investigation of
truth. He had a conscience, too, to perceive the relation
in which He stood to other beings, and to recognize the
duties which those relations implied. He had a will to
decide His choice, and affections to impel him to action.
In all points (sin only excepted) He was one of ourselves.
He was under the law, and therefore subject to all its
requirements. He was bound to obey what it

Subject to it. * . . . , . . J

enjoined ; to avoid what it condemned. Cre-
ated under it, he was also to be judged by it ; and, though
this subjection was founded on His own act, yet still it
was as complete as if He had been descended immediately
and directly from the first transgressors.

§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 141

In this condition He was of course liable personally to
all the consequences of His acts. To Him the Answerable for
command came, as to ourselves, with both hlsacts-
promise and threatening: " Indignation, wrath, tribula-
tion, and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil ;"
" glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good."
(Rom. ii. 8-10.) With this announcement before Him,
He became, by fulfilling the law, entitled in His human
nature to its rewards, as by disobedience He would have
become in His human nature, and on His own account
subject to its penalty and curse.

In this condition, moreover, He was entitled to the
results of His obedience for all whom he repre- Entitled for
sented. It is clearly a principle of God's consequences'16
present government that we suffer through one of them-
another. The state and interests of each generation
depend largely on the character and doings of preceding
generations, as all have suffered in consequence of the
acts of our first parents. How this connection is main-
tained, we need not enquire. Still less need we enquire
whether the constitution of the world might not have been
so arranged as to make all men independent of one another
for good and for evil. The fact is, that Christ came into
a world where this close connection had been already
established, and himself subject to it. By one man's
offence many were made sinners ; by one man's obedience
(if he be obedient) many shall be made righteous. (Rom,
v. 19.)

Under this law, then, and subject to its conditions,
Christ appeared. He came to obey ; He exposed himself
to all the consequences of failure ; and, in the event of
His success, he became entitled, as Mediator, to all the
honors of obedience. If He keep the law without blemish,
He is himself accepted, and for us there is hope. If, on
the other hand, He fail ; if, through his own weakness or

142 CHAPTER III.

by the subtility of the devil, He shall be seduced in thought
or word from the narrow line of perfect holiness, our ruin
is irremediable and complete. Paradise lost is lost for ever.
Christ must bear the common curse : the Divine plan of
recovery, which embodies the maturest fruits of infinite
wisdom, proves abortive ; and the blessed God himself is
left to deplore the ruin, which His own frustrated benefi-
cence makes only the more touching and profound.

58. With these facts in view, we may appreciate in
some measure the fearful responsibility and consequent suf-
fering which the life of Christ involved.

In common life the happiness and destiny of men some-
times depend upon the acts of an hour or a day. When
the importance of such seasons is seen, men
Toived in this enter upon them with the keenest anxiety ;
and, if that anxiety continues, it becomes
intolerable. Protracted doubt under such circumstances
is what few can bear.

Sometimes, again, in the history of our race, not only
men's own destiny is dependent upon their decisions, but
the destiny of others ; and then the anxiety is, to benevolent
minds, yet more oppressive. Happily there are few occa-
sions on which men are called to act habitually under the
weight of such responsibility ; but, when the occasion
occurs, it is generally found that, unless they be sustained
by eminent virtue, either their hearts become callous, or
their minds give way under the strain. History abounds
with illustrations of both results.

Now in the case of the Messiah,, the happiness, not of
Man's happi- Himself alone, but of millions, was suspended
nor8'Suspended uPon the results of His obedience. If He fall,
on lt- the world must fall, and fall for ever. For not

only were the interests of time and of the body at stake,
but the interests of eternity and of the soul. Nor these
interests alone. He had undertaken to magnify the law ;

§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 143

to honor what man had treated with contempt ; and to give
to the universe an example of perfect obedience. If He
fall, the law and the government of God must fall ; and
thenceforth the justice and the mercy of the Eternal are
covered with confusion. Can any finite mind measure the
weight of this responsibility ?

What wonder that Christ Himself longed for the time
when it should cease; " I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished !"
(Luke xii. 50.) And what wonder that angels ministered
to Him ; that Moses and Elias, the representatives of
earlier dispensations, appeared and conversed with Him on
His coming death ; (Matt, xvii ;) and that God Himself
cheered and strengthened Him when he seemed sinking
under His load! (John xii. 28.)

59. Everything, moreover, was adapted to increase the
burden. The responsibility rested on Him

. Burden in-

not for an hour or a day, but during every act, creased by dr.
and thought, and motive of His whole life.
Had He been influenced by one guilty, or even imperfect
motive, had His love to God or man for one moment
faltered, His probation must have ceased, and His con-
templated sacrifice have been rendered of no avail for us,
being required for Himself. . . . All around Him, too, was
calculated to exhaust His love, and to tempt Him to diso-
bedience. Everywhere was contamination, had He been
disposed to yield to it. By all He was treated unjustly,
and injustice might have exasperated Him. His country-
men returned hatred for love, and His love might have
failed. . . . Doubts were thrown upon His relation with the
Father ; facts were appealed to in confirmation of them,
and His filial confidence might have given place to dis-
trust. . . . Men who are engaged in arduous enterprises
unite with themselves others who comprehend their plans
and sympathize *with their purpose. Such association

144 CHAPTER III.

lightens anxiety, even when it does not bring complete
relief. But Christ stood by Himself. His brethren did
not believe in Him. (John vii. 5.) His most promising
disciples misunderstood the very designs of His mission.
(Luke xviii. 34 ; John xii. 26.) " He trod the wine-press
alone, and of the people there was none with Him.". . . In
this burdened and lonely state, He encountered sufferings
such as no other being on earth ever endured. He came
to redeem, and how was He welcomed ? Within a few
months of His birth, Herod sought His life. He travels
over Judea and Galilee ; and, wherever He goes, heals all
manner of sickness and disease ; but He is without a home.
" The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ;
but the Son of man had not where to lay His head." If
He work miracles, they are ascribed to the devil ; if He
does not work them, the people deny His authority. (Matt.
xii. 24-38.) He comes in humble form, and calls Him-
self the Son of man. His hearers then take occasion to
despise His poverty and birth. He claims to be the equal
of the Father, and they accuse Him of blasphemy. (John
vi., vii.) He speaks plainly, and they seek to put Him to
death ; He speaks in proverbs, and they say He is mad,
and hath a devil. (John x. 19, 20, 36-39.) In either case
He is regarded as an impostor of the vilest description, as
smitten and blasted even of God. (Isa. liii. 4.) They that
hated him without a cause, were more than the hairs of His
head. (Ps. lxix. 1-4.) . . . Nor was this all. The hosts of
darkness seem to have had, in the days of our Lord, pecu-
liar power over the human race, and that power was no
doubt exerted to the utmost. Of all who ever appeared
in human nature, Christ was most exposed to it. With the
view of seducing Him into sin, the temptations of the
wilderness were conducted by the Prince of darkness him-
self; and from that history it may be concluded that every
circumstance of the life of Christ was employed in succes-

. § 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 145

sion with consummate skill to lead him astray. Those
temptations occurred in the wilderness, and before the
more severe of the trials of His ministry had bes;un. What
must they have been among the multitude, when the malig-
nity of His enemies and the falseness of His friends had so
bitterly wounded Him, and the various incidents of His
life afforded better hope that they might be tried with
success !

60. Amid such trials, and under the burden of these
responsibilities, Christ moved on to the closing Approach of
scenes of His life. In prospect of these, He final 8trusgle-
prayed earnestly that the cup might pass from Him. So
intense was the struggle, that blood was forced
from every pore of His body; the agony too
great for endurance. For this hour, however, He had
come. The cup was not removed, and He was now to
drink it to its last dregs. His disciples leave Him; the
boldest and most zealous of their number denies with oaths
that he even knew Him. He is charged with blasphemy •
a reproach that might well have broken His heart. The
people whom He came to save have const ired to murder
Him; and they begin the accomplishment (f their purpose
with the cruelty of merciless ruffians. The night that in-
troduced the day on which He suffered, had been spent in
the agony of the garden — in visiting, at the command of
his persecutors, all parts of the city, and in pleading before
five successive tribunals. These exhausting struggles have
passed, and now He is condemned. The spotless Son of God
is to die the death of a felon and a slave. He is smitten
with the fist, and tauntingly asked to tell who smote Him.
He is spit upon and scourged, crowned with thorns and
mocked, and then led away to be crucified. Compelled to
carry His cross, He faints under it; but at length He is
nailed to it, to endure a painful and lingering death. Here,
with an emaciated frame, His physical strength prostrated

13

146 CHAPTER III.

by continued watching, His power of self-control, weakened
by suffering and the approach of death, began a conflict
severer than any He had yet known, and involving in its
result the permanence of all his past achievements, and the
destinies of the moral universe of God.

"It was the hour and the power of darkness." The
That struggle warfare was well nigh accomplished; but one
cSydpo0"siWeth &n^ struggle remained. Every human aid had
disadvantage. for some i\me been withdrawn ; the moment of
nature's utmost weakness was come ; and that moment was
chosen by his foes for the crisis of our race. If now He
can be tempted — if but one impatient desire or selfish
thought can be excited within, there is hope that the plan
of mercy may prove a failure, and the dominion of fallen
spirits be restored.

Nor only so. So far He had been sustained by commu-
nion with His Father. Often had He retired from active
labor, to seek solace in the consciousness of that presence
and love. But all is now at an end. He has chosen His
work : He is pleased to bear our sins, and He must abide
by the consequences of His choice. Since that agony of
the garden, another trial has been completed, and another
sentence passed. In spirit, Christ has been arraigned at
God's bar under the imputation of human guilt ; and now
justice claims her own. Even with the representative of
sinners, in that dread moment, God can hold no inter-
course, nor can God give help. " 0 my God, I cry in the
day time, but thou hearest not." " Our fathers trusted in
thee ; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them." " But ]
am a worm, and no man ; a reproach of men, and despised
of the people." " My God, My God ! why hast thou for
saken me ?"*

* Psalm xxii. 2, 4c, 6,1.

§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 147

61. "The moments of agony roll slowly away — the
power of hell has gained no advantage — the Ita successful
Messiah, strong in His own unaided virtue, has lssue'
baffled every attack of earth and hell, and shines glorious
in untarnished holiness. His last moment has arrived
Doth He yet retain His integrity ? Doth He, amidst these
unfathomable trials of His benevolence, still love His
neighbor as Himself? Hearken to the prayer that quivers
upon his parched and fevered lips : ' Father, forgive them ;
for they know not what they do.' Although forsaken of
His Father and His God, doth He yet trust in Him with
filial confidence ? Hearken again : ' Father, into Thy
hands I commit my spirit.' "* The conflict is over; all is
finished ; man is still the object of pity and love, and God
of reverence and trust.

The work of our salvation is now achieved. The apos-
tate race of Adam is delivered from the curse ; the broken
law is doubly vindicated — first, by the obedience of the
Lawgiver, and then by His endurance of the penalty; and
the whole has been effected at a cost of suffering, and under
a continued burden of responsibility, such as none on
earth can conceive. Hence the dignity of the Conqueror.
" Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given
Him a name above every name ; that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, and every tongue confess." (Phil,
ii. 9.) Hence also, as He ascended into heaven, a new
song burst from the lips of the redeemed of every kindred
and tongue : " saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." Hence
the repetition of the strain: "Blessing, and honor, and
glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

* Dr. Wayland's Sermons.
14

148 CHAPTER III.

Such were the sufferings of our Lord. How blessed the
arrangement that laid help on one so mighty ! How un-
speakable the love that was willing to endure such suffer-
ing, and incur such risks for the sake of a race that had
willfully broken a righteous and beneficent law 1

G2. To complete the view of the sufferings of Christ, we
must regard them from another poiut. As

Efficacy of

His sufferings man, He was rendered capable of suffering ;
'divinity; the but it is as God that His sufferings have an in-
tbem His man- finite value, and become more than equivalent
to the penalty originally denounced against
transgression. His human nature made suffering possible ;
His Divine made it efficient ; and both illustrate the wis-
dom and love which devised and executed the scheme.
This point of view we shall occupy hereafter. The thing
to be noticed now, is, that the very incarnation and obe-
dience of our Lord involved sufferings and responsibility
such as no finite mind had ever known or can now con-
ceive ; and that under the continued burden of this respon-
sibility He went forth teaching and preaching, exhibiting
in Himself, in the meantime, the great truths of the king-
dom of God.

63. Combining the facts of this section with those of the

preceding, we gain a new view of the sufferings

"under law," of our Lord. Even if He had not come to

our example as . » T ,

well as sacri- make atonement for sin, an Incarnate teacher,
free from suffering, could never have been a
perfect model of holiness. As our example, no less than
as our sacrifice, He needed to be made under the law.

CHAPTER IV.

CHRIST THE TEACHER AND PROPHET:
THE LAW : HIS OWN WORK : FAITH.

§ 1. Lessons taught in the earlier miracles of our
Lord.

§ 2. The sermon on the mount. Christ the fulfill-
ment OF THE LAW IN MORALITY AND DOCTRINE.

§ 3. Christ's teaching in relation to His own work,
and the necessity of faith in hlm.

§ 4. Christ's further disclosures in Galilee and Ju-

D.EA.

§ 5. Teaching by parables.

150

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CHAPTER IV.

CHRIST A TEACHER AND PROPHET: SCENES AND LESSONS
CONNECTED WITH OUR LORD'S PERSONAL MINISTRY.

Sect. 1. — Lessons taught in the earlier miracles of our

Lord.

1. And now the character of Christ as a teacher sent
from God is fully announced : He has proved

• • tt i i i Summary of

His mission ; He has been honored and re- Christ's jour-
jected by His countrymen. On the banks of
the Jordan, at Jerusalem, and throughout Samaria, He
has proclaimed His message, though as yet without any
extensive success. The next two years and a half of His
life are devoted to the establishment of His prophetic
teaching-office. Thrice in this time He makes the circuit
of Galilee, preaching everywhere the Gospel of the king-
dom ; once He visits Jerusalem (John v. 1-41), once the
coasts of Tyre and Sidon (Luke vii., viii.), and once the
regions of Samaria. At the close of these labors, He
goes up to Jerusalem, and thence to Peraaa ; and after six
months more of such itineracy, He goes once again to Je-
rusalem immediately before He suffered.

2. It is to His labors in Galilee, however, that our
attention is first called. Here He wrought

° Galilee the

most of His miracles; here He first revealed chief scene of

His teaching,

the great moral truths contained in the sermon

(153)

154 CHAPTER IV.

on the monnt ; and here, moreover, He spoke some of His
parables, though most of them were delivered towards the
close of His career. At the commencement of His min*
istry, His miracles and direct discourses were the chief
means of His teaching.

3. It is Matthew who notices the instructive fact, that
as Christ was Himself despised by His countrymen, so He
selected one of the most despised localities of Palestine as
the scene of His labors ; and that this choice was in ful-
fillment of an ancient prediction. (Matt. iv. 14, 16.) Thu
natives of this region were lightly esteemed by their Jew-
ish neighbors ; partly because of their distance from the
temple, and partly also because of their frequent contact

with Pagans. Here as elsewhere, however, the

Reasons. .

very debasement of the people proved their
need of redemption, and enhanced its value. Sinners are
nearer to the kingdom of God than the self-righteous; and
so the poor Gallilean was nearer than the proud Pharisee.
(Matt, ix. 13.) The theme of Christ's teaching was ever
repentance and faith (Mark i. 14, 15) ; expressions that
implied at first little more than a sense of need and guilt,
together with a spirit of dependence upon the power and
grace of the Messiah. For the conscious sinner, this mes-
sage was of all others the most welcome.

4. In entering upon His work as teacher, He deemed it
Selects ms dis- important to select His companions, in order
cipIes- that they might be eye-witnesses of His mira-
cles, and of His resurrection, and be enabled to record
what they had themselves seen and heard. Four of the eight
writers of the New Testament were therefore chosen at
the commencement of His ministry, and all remained with
Him to its close. Simon Peter, James, John, and after-
wards Matthew, were all formally invited to become His
followers.

§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 155

5. This invitation was preceded by a remarkable miracle.
The first three of the disciples iust named were

r J The first mira-

iishermen, and had been following their craft euioua draught

of fishes.

on the Lake of Tiberias — they were busy wash-
ing their nets on the shore of the lake. Through Peter's
ready compliance with the request of our Lord, He had
been enabled to teach the people uninterrupted by the
pressure of the crowd who attended to hear Him. In re-
turn, perhaps, for this civility, our Lord bade Peter to
push out into deep water, and to let down his nets for a
draught ; designing, as has been said, to take the fisher-
men in His net. To this suggestion Peter replied, that
they had been all night laboring without success ; but,
added he, with the beginnings of no feeble faith working in
him, " Nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net."
This act of faith was immediately rewarded; for "they
inclosed a multitude of fishes, so that the net began to
break," and the boatmen were obliged to beckon to their
partners to come to their help. This miraculous act (mira-
culous in its knowledge) became to the fishermen the sign
of a higher presence than they had yet recognized, filling
them with astonishment and fear. And with Christ rever.
other feelings, too — Peter yields freely to the euced
impulse of the moment, and as he first saw the highest
glory of his Saviour, so now he is the first to confess his
own sinfulness : " Depart from me, for I am a Peter,s confes.
sinful man, 0 Lord." sion-

6. Thus it has ever been. The discovery of a Divine
presence leads to conviction, and conviction The Divine pre-
to a dread of deserved wrath. In old times it produced3 con-
was the common judgment, that none could vlction of sin-
see God and live. That feeling had existed ever since
Adam had retreated from the presence of his Creator, and
nad hidden himself among the trees of the garden. Manoah
judged that he must die, because he had seen God. Isaial

l5f> CHAPTER IV.

learnt aad confessed the uncleanness of his lips, when he
saw " the King, the Lord of Hosts." Ezekiel fell upon
his face — and Daniel's beauty was changed, when he
came in contact with the Divine glory. So long as men
but hear of God, they deem themselves safe ; but when
once their eye sees Him, they either abhor themselves and
repent as in dust and ashes, or in despair they cry to the
rocks to cover them. It is in God's light that men see
themselves and feel their guilt

7. Christ admits his confession, but bids him to lay
Christ receives aside his fear ; intimating, that in the living
rion^chwra^ manifestation of God in Christ, the near ap-
and caiis him. proach 0f the Holy One is not only support-
able, but ever refreshing. "Fear not," says He, "for
nenceforth thou shalt catch men" — clothing his promise in
the language of the craft with which Peter was familiar —
and when they had brought the ships to land, " they for-
sook all and followed Him."

Everything is here significant ; not the words only, but
the acts. Christ had said nothing of His kingdom, and
nothing of His requirements ; and yet discipleship evi-
dently involved repentance, and the abandonment both of
earthly possessions and of earthly love. From the first the
disciples gave up the world, and that to them perhaps was
not much. They gave up worldly affections too, and that
was as much to them as to ourselves.

8. Not unlike this early miracle was the last that Christ
c h risfs last performed (John xxi. 1-23). Then, again, He
dranght of the *s sa^ *° nave s^own himself to his disciples ;.
fishes. alluding probably to His first manifestation at
Cana,* and perhaps also to the invisibility of His spiritual
nature ; for that nature (whether as belonging to Christ or
to angels) is ever said in Scripture to appear to man, and

* John ii. 11. etpavipu)j£.

§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 157

often to be withdrawn. At this last manifes- £)0S(! rtscm"

blance be-

tation, three at least of the same apostles were tween the two
present, and probably the whole. Here also there had
been a night of fruitless toil, and already perhaps the dim
feeling had arisen in their minds, that this second night
was a spiritual counterpart of the first ; but the feeling
must have been dim, or they would earlier have recog-
nized the voice and the looks of their Friend. At early
dawn He stood by the shore, and with friendly interest in
the result of their labors, asked after their success. They
answer, they have taken nothing — Christ's power requiring,
even in natural things, that a confession of poverty precede
the bestowment of His gifts. " Cast the net," said He,
"on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They
cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for
the multitude of fishes."

And this was enough. One disciple, at least, has dis-
covered his Lord ; and Peter, to whom John communicated
his discovery, unable to wait until the ship reached the land,
throws himself into the sea that he may find himself the
sooner at his Master's feet.

How beautiful do both apostles come out here in their
proper characters. It was love in the person of John that
first detected the presence of Christ, and it was courage
and energy in Peter that first reached him. When the
disciples gained the shore, they found a fire kindled, with
fish laid upon it (whether by earthly or by miraculous mi-
nistration we are not told), and they were bidden by our
Lord to bring the fish they had taken (an hundred and
fifty and three), and to unite in a common meal. Numer-
ous as the fish were, and all of them large, yet, it is added,
was not the net broken.

9. If the first miraculous draught of fishes suggested to
the apostles of our Lord their appropriate signifiCance of
office, and its earthly results, this last miracle th'ese mir^' s-

14

158 CHAPTER IT.

suggests no less strongly the glorious ingathering of
the nations into the kingdom of the Father. There
some of the fish were lost ; here all are secured. There
the number is not told us, and those that were taken were
both good and bad ; here everything is fixed, and the fish
that were taken were all preserved. Here, moreover, the
toil ends in a meal of the Lord's preparing, and symbolical
perhaps of the great festival in heaven with which he will
refresh his servants, when they sit down with Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.

Again, awe and fear are shed upon the hearts of the
disciples by His presence, for their love is yet imperfect, and
none of them durst give utterance to any feeling of doubt,
or ask for further manifestations of grace, "for they knew
that it was the Lord."

19. The scene is again changed, and we enter the syna-
gogue of the town of Capernaum. Christ is

Healing of the , „ L

demoniac in here before us, and it is the Sabbath. As was
His custom, He had come up to worship, and
was engaged in teaching the people. They are astonished
at the authority with which He speaks, and He is about to
show Himself mighty not in words only, but in deeds. An
opportunity is here to be offered of making yet deeper im-
pressions of His power, and of showing His authority
over a domain which no human arm had yet entered. There
was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. Hith-
erto Christ had ruled in nature — changing the water and
healing disease ; now He is to prove that even the spirits
obey Him.

The demon who occupied the person of this poor man,
'Hit, as soon as Christ entered the place, that now he was
near one who was stronger than all ; and hoping to avoid
an attack by a hasty expression of inferiority, he cried out :
"Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus
of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ? I know who

§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 159

thou art, the Holy One of God." The earth had not jet
received her King, but heaven and hell had both borne
witness to him. " The devils believe and tremble."

Such testimony, however, was likely to bring truth itself
into suspicion, and Christ therefore rebuked him, saying :
11 Hold thy peace and come out of him ;" addressing the
unclean spirit on His own authority and in His own name.
The spirit at once obeyed the call, and having torn the
man, .though without doing him permanent mischief, he came
out ; teaching us here, as we are taught elsewhere (Mark
ix. 26), that Satan torments most those whom he is com-
pelled to resign.

11. The precise nature of the fearful affliction which was
here relieved, will be noticed hereafter. It is

Result on the

enough now to remark that the result of this minds of the

• • • ttti neople.

miracle was unmixed astonishment: "What

word," said they, "is this; for with authority and powei

He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out."

12. On the same day our Lord healed the mother of
Peter's wife, and in the evening crowds of sick

Connection be-

people visited or were brought to Him, and tween these

cures and the

He healed them all. "The devils also came -sufferings of

our Lord.

out of many, crying out and saying, Thou art
the Christ;" to which record Matthew adds the remark
that these miracles were all in fulfillment of the ancient
prophecies: "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our
sicknesses ;" intimating (as St. Peter explains) not so
much that he relieved them, nor merely that in relieving
them He exhausted His own nature ; but also that He
stooped and came under the conditions of which those out-
ward sicknesses were but the external sign. The sins they
represented were laid upon Him ; and in bearing the mortal
life which included them, and the guilt which caused them,
He bore them in their curse and significancy for ever
away.

160 CHAPTER IV.

13. The next two miracles of our Led add yet more tc
iieaiiD" of the our knowledge of His power and mission,
leper. Whether they really occupied the place in His

ministry which we assign them, is somewhat uncertain ; but
they were clearly at the commencement of it, and are both
highly instructive. The first was the cure of the leper, and
the second of the paralytic. The disease of the first suf-
ferer had spread over his whole body, and he was leprous
from head to foot. This leprosy was undoubtedly the
most fearful disease known in the East, and was doubly
fearful under the Jewish law. It was the type of moral
pollution. All sickness, indeed, was more or less indi-
cative of a tainted nature ; but this was the chosen symbol
of it. It was in itself a living death ; a dissolution by
degrees, limb after limb, of the whole frame. It was,
moreover, incurable by human art, and was regarded as a
direct infliction from God, by whose power alone it could
be healed. (2 Kings v. 7.) Hence it was that the leper
bearing about, as he did, the visible token of sin in hi8
soul, was treated everywhere as a great sinner — as one in
whom sin had reached its highest manifestation, himself
polluted, and polluting all he touched. He went covered in
garments of mourning, as if lamenting his own decease ; his
clothes rent, his head bare, his lip unshaven, himself and all
that pertained to him unclean. The disease itself the Jews
called " the finger of God," and emphatically, "the stroke."
To heal it was one of the most decisive evidences of Mes-
siahship. "The lepers," said our Lord, "are cleansed,"
and on such maladies he delighted to exercise His power
and love.

In this case the leper comes manifesting his faith, bow-
ing and worshiping (though the terms of themselves do not
imply a recognition of any thing specially divine). He
asks healing. He acknowledges Christ's power, and leaves
the result to His pity and wisdom. "If Thou wilt," says

§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 161

he, " Thou canst make me clean." An appeal which showed
a heart open to Divine influence, and readily receptive of
it. Thereupon Christ "put forth His hand and said, 1
will ; be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy was
cleansed."

14. A double injunction followed this cure. He first
commanded to tell no man ; and then bade him

Christ's injunc-

go and show himself to the priests, and offer tions on the

occasion.

the gifts appointed by the law. (Lev. xiv. 2.)
The first command has several parallels in the

Their meaning.

Gospels; (Matt. ix. 30; xii. 16; xvi. 20;
xvii. 9 ; Mark iii, 12 ; v. 43 ; vii. 36 ; viii. 13, 26 ; ix. 9 5
Luke viii. 56 ; ix. 21 ;)" and it is probable that it was
prompted by different reasons on different occasions. Some-
times it was intended to prevent popular tumult, and a
public effort of the people to take and make Him a king ;
a result that would have frustrated the great end of His
life. Sometimes, as Luther suggests, it was meant to set
an example of humility ; and often, perhaps, (for the com-
mand is given to the man healed, and not to the multitudes
who witness the miracles,) to secure the spiritual profit of
the sufferer. Very occasionally, our Lord ordered the
person healed to a sphere of external activity ; (Mark v.
19 ;) but generally He enforced quietness and retirement,
seeking, doubtless, in each case, the prosperity of the
inward life. In this particular instance the precept was
neglected, (without sin, perhaps, for Christ might mean
that he was first of all to tell the priests, and then that he
should be free to tell it to others too,) and, in consequence,
Christ was unable to enter into the city openly, (Mark i.
45,) that is, without offering some gratification to the
earthly and selfish hopes of the people. There is clearly a
kind of popularity, quite as unfavorable to the diffusion of
truth, as concealment itself. The second precept is also
instructive. He implied by it, that the institutions of the

14*

162 CHAPTER IV.

law were to be observed, and that not even the shadow
was to be removed, till He had established the substance
in its room. " Go show thyself for a testimony unto them,
a proof that thou art healed, that thou mayest be admitted
again into the congregation of Israel, and that the priests
themselves may have an evidence of my power, and the
unreasonableness of their unbelief."

14. The scene again changes. Christ has entered the
Healing of the court of some friendly dwelling, and multitudes
cbSKvowed- crowded around to hear Him. Pharisees and
iy forgives sm. c]oc<j-,ors 0f the law are present from the distant
parts of Galilee, and from Jerusalem itself; nor is there
room to receive them — "no not so much as about the
door. The occasion was evidently important, and the
truth which Christ had taught in His previous miracle by
implication, He resolves to teach plainly in this. A poor
paralytic, whose friends could not come near for the press,
is carried by them to the roof of the house, (by the steps
against the outside wall of the building,) and is let down
before the Lord. This manifestation of faith was novel,
and it was inconvenient, for Christ was teaching at the
time ; but He condescends to our need, and ever welcomes
our faith. Seeing their faith, therefore — at once theirs and
the poor man's — He addressed him, " Son, be of good
cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee." No word had been
spoken, no petition presented ; but Christ loves to do
above what we ask. He saw, no doubt, the man's heart,
and the deep sense of sinfulness that was excited there ;
and, adapting His message to his case, gave him the assu-
rance, not of healing, but of pardon.

Here is a new claim. " This man," said the Pharisees
The thoughts ni their thoughts, " blasphemeth ; pretending
we^andour t° exercise a power which belongs only to
Lords reply. G0d." And here again is a new miracle
Perceiving in His spirit what thoughts were stirring in

§ 1. LESSOXS TAUGHT IX THE EARLIER M RAGLES. 163

their breasts, Christ at once repels them ; giving, in the
vindication of His language, an evidence of His divinity,
"for the thoughts of the hearts of men are open only to
God. (1 Sam. xvi. T ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 9 ; Jer. xvii.
10.) He even indicates the line of argument which, in
their thoughts, they had taken. "You suppose," His
answer implies, " that my command is powerless — a blas-
phemous intention, but without result ; its issues are in a
world concealed from your view. It is easy to say, ' thy
sins be forgiven thee,' but to say 'be healed,' would be a
surer test of the divinity of my mission. I will fulfill your
implied demand. You ask an outward sign of the commu-
nication of inward grace — a proof within the cognizance of
your senses of miraculous power ; and that proof I will
supply. That ye may know that the Son of Man hath
power to forgive sins, I will now utter the harder saying,
1 Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.' And immediately he
arose, took up his bed, and went forth before them all."

How the Pharisees felt or thought on witnessing this
miracle, we are not told ; but the people, far less hardened
against the truth, were all amazed, and glorified God.

16. Ordinarily the miracles of Christ were miracles
rather of healing, than of forgiveness. There
are some other instances, however, in addition timesn?omSct-
to the one now under consideration ; and in ^v^ness^o"™?-
these, as well as by other passages of Scripture, J^TtoTt1™™"
this power of Christ is confirmed (Luke xvii.
19 ; John v. 14). It is probable that in many instances
bodily healing prepared men to receive these better bless-
ings of which it was the appropriate sign. Here, at least,
it is clearly shown that Christ had the power to bestow the
greater gift, and that the straitening was not in Him, but
in the narrow contracted views of those who applied for
healing. The greater faith of this applicant, though itself
a sift, was counted worthy of the richer reward.

1C)4 Cn AFTER IV.

17. This act of forgiveness prepares the way for even a

more remarkable development of the true cba-
inkrm man at racter of our Lord. The Pharisees whom he

had met at Capernaum had returned to Jeru-
salem, and Christ himself has gone up to the feast. (John
v. 1-4.) In the neighborhood of the pool of Bethesda
(the upper fountain probably of the pool of Siloam) a
great multitude of impotent folk lay. One of these poor
sufferers, who had been thirty and eight years " in that
case," Christ addressed ; seeking first to excite hope in
the breast that must by this time have often yielded to de-
sponding feeling. "Wilt thou," said He, "be made
whole ?" The man was thus led to trust the love of the
questioner in order that he might ultimately trust His
power ; and Christ is thus seen awakening the faith which
in a few moments He will demand. " Most gladly," is the
spirit of the reply; "my infirmity is no consequence of
unwillingness, only when the water has its healing power
I have no man to put me into the pool, and while I am
entering another steppeth down before me." But now the
long years of disappointed expectation are at an end.
Jesus saith unto him : " Rise, and take up thy bed and
walk ;" and the man, believing that power went forth with
the word, was immediately made whole, and took up his
bed and walked.

18. The same day, however, was the Sabbath — the day
Christ claims sacred to worship and rest. The Jews there-

LToV°work* fore' tliat is> the sPiritual neads of the nation,*
contmuaiiy. fouucl fault with the man for carrying his bed

on that day. Doubtless the act might seem to be forbid-
den by the letter of the ancient law ; but really it was part

* So John generally employs this phrase. John i. 19; vii. 1 j xviii
12, 14.

§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 165

of the healing, and was included therefore among those
acts which (as Christ tells us elsewhere) it may be sinful
to leave undone. (Luke vi. 9.) In His next miracle in-
deed our Lord took this ground, and showed that forms
must ever yield to the life ; and that as "the Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" — He Himself
as Lord of man, and still more therefore of the Sabbath
too, has power to alter its requirements as He will. Here,
however, He takes even higher ground, affirming that in
this act He kept the Sabbath — kept it, that is,

.•,-,,.■■ , n .. . His beneficent

with the highest beneficent activity, which in activity is the

tt« • rr- -n • i holiest rest.

His case, as in His Father's, was identical
with the holiest rest. The quietism of the Sabbath is con-
fined, He implies, to beings framed like you, ever in danger
of losing the full repose of your nature amid the multitude
of earthly toils ; but with Me and My Father rest and
activity are one.

19. This defence exasperates His adversaries the more.
He is now in their esteem not only a Sabbath-

TX. Asserts bis

breaker, but a blasphemer, for He makes Him- identity with
self equal with God. So far from denying this claims equal
charge, Christ confirms it with the most em-
phatic protestation. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee."
(ver. 19.) He asserts the complete unity of operation be-
tween the Father and Himself; first denying all action of
His own independently of God, and then affirming posi-
tively that his acts are also the acts of God. As an evi-
dence of this oneness, He appeals to His quickening power,
for He giveth life in all senses (see chap. i. sec 3), to
whomsoever He will, then to His office as Judge, and then
to His consequent dignity. Now, says He, God will be
worshiped and adored in me ; all therefore must honor
the Son even as they honor the Father ; and all who dis-
honor the Son shall be condemned.

J 66 CHAPTER IV.

20. In proof of the truth of the claims He calls in the

testimony of John His forerunner, reminds

Evidence in

proof of this them of the voice that was heard at His bap-

usseriion. . .

tism, of the mighty works which He had Him-
self performed, of their own Scriptures, and lastly, of the
witness of their ancient prophet, Moses. " For he," adds
He, " wrote of me." (John v. 31-46.) The unbelief of
His hearers He ascribes distinctly to their denial of the
teaching of Moses — who had spoken of a prophet to be
raised up like unto Himself — and especially to the fact that
they had not Christ's words remaining in them. Sin and
selfishness, their preference of the falsehood that exalted
them, to the truth that laid them low (vers. 39-44), hatf
diminished their susceptibility of religious impression.
They loved not God, and were obstinately bent on reject*
ing their Teacher, and therefore both himself and His mes-
sage were disowned.

21. And now the revelation of Christ's personal cha-
The revelation racter seems complete. He has been recog-
B^Sharac'ter nized by the Father. Even unclean spirits
complete. k&Ye owne(j Him. He heals diseases, exhausts
Himself with days of weariness and toil, manifesting
wherever He goes His power and love. He forgives sin.
He substitutes for the shadowy observances of the Mosaic
economy, what He as lawgiver pronounced to be substan-
tial obedience ; and now he claims distinctly the functions
of God, identity with the Father, together with the honor
and responsibilities which belonged exclusively to Him.

Sect. 2. — The Sermon on the Mount. Christ the ful-
fillment of the Law in Morality and in Doctrine.

22. How Christ as man maintained the holiness and
cnrist's hoii- dignity of His position, is an interesting ques-
ty8nu5ntained ^on- Contact with the world must have tended
by prayer. ^o ruffle the tranquility of His feelings ; and

§ 1. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 167

certainly that contact was more frequent and harassing
than anything His disciples afterwards knew. We find
Him now in Galilee and now in Jerusalem, walking several
times in the course of a few years over nearly the whole of
Palestine, and even when residing in Capernaum sur-
rounded with crowds of hearers. He seems to have lived
in public rather than alone.

It is certain, hovever, that this activity was sustained
by meditation and prayer. It was thus he prepared at
first for His work ; and soon after the disclosures mentioned
in the previons section, we find him spending the whole
night in prayer ; an occupation that formed a fitting close
to His labors in Jerusalem, and as fitting an introductiou
to the selection of His apostles, and the delivery of the
Sermon on the Mount. The fact of this prayer is men-
tioned only by Luke (Luke vi.), though on other occasions
a similar fact is recorded by other evangelists.

23. Thus it is that our Lord's was an angelical life (as
Leighton calls it), devoted both to contempla- Herein our ex_
tion and to activity. And we need in this re- amPle-
s'pect to copy him. Contemplation we require, that our
troubled spirits may be quieted ; that truth may produce
its appropriate impression upon our hearts ; and then acti-
vity, that we may spend the strength gained by prayer in
beueficent consecration. True piety ought ever to be en-
ergetic and practical ; it ought also to be meditative and
secluded. Days spent among the multitude need nights of
calmness and devotion. (Matt. xiv. 23 ; Luke vi. 12.)

25. After this solemn preparation, Christ selected twelve
of His disciples and constituted them apostles.

1 _ Sermon on the

Having descended from the mountain where Mount: where

delivered.

He had prayed for and chosen them, He went
up to an extended plain in (r6 6po$) the mountain district
of Capernaum, (see Luke compared with Matthew,) and
in the presence of His disciples and of a large multitude

168 CHAPTER IV.

of people, He proceeded to give what may be considered
as a delineation of the moral law of Christianity, considered
both in itself and its connection with the previous dispen-
sation.

Throughout this discourse He seems to have a double
object of this object in view — first to correct the misinterpre-
uTmon. tation of the precepts of the law by Jewish

teachers, and then to unfold and develope in its utmost
depth the spirit of the old economy ; indicating, moreover,
the application of its principles, not only to the Jews, but
to the whole of the human race.

25. But this last statement makes it necessary that we

should retrace our steps. Christ is Himself

Christ the ful- r .

fiiiment of the the fulfillment and completion (rt^pwoi?) of the
law. If that ancient economy be regarded as
an outline, Christ in His office and ministry is the reality
it represented. If it be regarded as the type, He is the
substance. The type itself therefore we must study — not
independently, but in its connection with the antitype, in
order that we ma^y understand the full significance of both.
The truth, therefore, we mean to illustrate is, that the
Gospel in all its parts is the completion of a gradual and
progressive revelation.

26. The truths and purpose of God are in themselves
What meant incapable of either progress or change ; but
Sveadeve°o^s" the revelation of those truths is capable of
ment of truth. both# Apart from divine teaching, the whole
world of religious truth is shrouded in darkness ; but the
sun of revelation rises, and ever as it rises the mists are
scattered, and there is brought out first one prominence
and then another, till every hill and valley is bathed in
splendor. The landscape was there before, but it was not
seen. The development is not of new creations, spreading
as the light extends ; it is development of light only, show-
ing, and not forming, the beauty it reveals.

§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUN1. 169

3T. From the first God taught the unity of the Divine
natnre, but that there was a plurality in the Examples as to
Godhead was but indistinctly disclosed. Seve- GodtheFather-
ral expressions in the very earliest books imply,* and are
evidently calculated to suggest it. In the later prophets
the truth comes out with greater distinctness ; but it is in
the New Testament only that it is revealed.

So also the work of the Holy Spirit is recognized in the
Old Testament, and with increasing clearness The Holy
as we' approach the times of the Gospel. It Spmt
is in the New alone, however, that we have a full view of
His character and work.

28. This gradual disclosure of the Divine will is still
more remarkable in the case of our Lord.

Especially true

The first promise contains a prophetic declara- of the work of

1 r i Christ.

tion of mercy. It foretold His coming and
work, though in mysterious terms. The first act of accept-
able worship was a type, expressing by an action the faith
of the offerer in the fulfillment of the first prediction. There
was to be triumph through suffering, and there was to be
the substitution of the innocent for the guilty.

These promises and types were multiplied with the lapse
of time. In the person or worship of Enoch, of Noah, of
Melchisedeck, and of Job, there was much that was typical

* The first set of expressions which clearly suggest a plurality of per-
sons in the Godhead, include all those in which " the Angel of the Lord"
has applied to Him the incommunicable name of Jehovah, or in which
He speaks in His own name ; Gen xvi. 7. and ver. 13. Similar expres-
sions may be found in Gen. xxii. 11 — 18; xxxiii. 11 — 13 ; xxxii. 28 — 30;
Rosea xii.4,5; Ex. iii. 2— 15 ; xix. 19, 20; xx. 1; xxiii. 20, 21; com-
pared with Acts vii. 38 ; Jos. v. 13— 15 ; vi. 2 ; Isa. lxiii. 8, 9 ; Mai. iii. 1#

Another set of expressions includes such as these — " Let us make man
in our own image," and the use of the plural noun to indicate the true
God, with a singular verb. Gen. i. 1 ; Ps. lviii. 12 (Heb.) ; Prov. ix. 10
(Heb.) ; &c.

The third set includes such passages as Num. vi. 22 — 27 ; Isa. vi. 3—8 ;
Isa. xlviii. 16; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, 7.

15

170 CHAPTER IV.

or predict.ve, and still more in the history of Abraham
and his immediate descendants.

Under the Mosaic dispensation other typical persons,
and places, and things were instituted, and the design of
these institutions was more distinctly explained.

Between the days of Samuel and Malachi, a period of
six hundred years, a succession of prophets were sent, who
gradually set forth the person and work of the Messiah.
They foretell, too, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and
the general prevalence of the truth.

In the extent of their predictions the prophets have not
gone beyond the first promise, which was intended to give
hope of a complete redemption. But in their clearness
in the detailed account they give of what redemption in-
volved, and of what it cost, the difference is most marked ;
while in the same qualities the Gospel has gone at least as
far beyond the prophets as the prophets had gone beyond
the law.

29. It is noticeable, too, that the predictions of the Old
So of practical Testament and its practical doctrines go hand
holiness. jn han(j ^he revelation spreads on each

point. The light that illuminates the living spring or the
harvest field of truth, shows with equal clearness the way
that leads to them. The law gives divine precept with
greater clearness than previous dispensations ; and the
prophets go beyond the law, occupying a middle place
between it and the Gospel. They insist more fully on
personal holiness as distinguished from national and cere-
monial purity, and their sanctions have less reference to
temporal promises. The law had said, "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and the extern or
this precept nothing could exceed. The prophets expound,
and enforce, and animate it with a new spirit, and direct
its application to greater holiness. The rule of life be-
comes in their hands increasingly luminous and practical.

§ 2. THE SERMON OX THE MOUNT. 171

30. This gradual development of the truth may be illus-
trated from the law and the Gospel. Mark, The illustra_
for example, how under the ancient economy, towfofhoiiness
the idea of the holiness of God was revealed. howtausht-
The heathen nations have no word which properly repre-
sents this attribute, and to the Jews it needed to be sug-
gested by a special institution. In preparation for this
arrangement, all animals were divided from the first into
clean and unclean. From the clean, one was afterwards
chosen without spot or blemish ; a peculiar tribe, selected
from the other tribes, was appointed to present it, the
offering being first washed with pure water, and the priest
himself undergoing a similar ablution. Neither priest nor
victim, however, much less the offerer, was deemed suffi-
ciently holy to come into the Divine presence ; but the
offering was made without the holy place. The idea of
the infinite purity of God was thus suggested to the minds
of observers ; and holiness in things created came to mean,
under the law, purification for sacred uses. Under the
Gospel it has higher significance, and is taught by an infi-
nitely holier sacrifice. Now it involves freedom from sin,
and the possession by spiritual intelligences " of a Divine
nature."

The demerit of sin, and the doctrine of an atonement,
were taught in words taken from an equally

& . 1 J The guilt of sin,

instructive rite, though still imperfectly. The how taught

° # . under the Law

victim was slain, and its blood, which was the and under the

Gospel.

life, sprinkled upon the mercy-seat and to-
wards the holy place, the abode of the Invisible King ; and
while the people prayed in the outer court, they beheld the
dark volume of smoke ascending from the sacrifice which
was burning in their stead. How mysteriously, yet plainly,
did this suggest that God's justice was a consuming fire,
and that the souls of the people escaped through a vica-
rious atonement !

It 2 CHAPTER IV.

The moral lesson, it will be noticed, of both these exam-
ples, is identical with the teaching of the Gospel ; but how
much clearer and fuller are the statements of the second
economy than those of the first. And if we compare these
two revelations with an intermediate one — for example the
53rd chapter of Isaiah, where the Great Victim is repre-
sented as God's servant, and as Himself dying for the ini-
quity of the people, and as making intercession for trans-
gressors, the gradual development appears plain. What
was ritual at first is here mysteriously linked with some
human sufferer ; but who he is, and who are to profit by
his sufferings, are questions unsolved till we turn to the
Gospel, and there we find that both predictions, the type
and the prophecy, are fulfilled and completed in the cross.

If we compare the precepts of the Pentateuch on repent-
ance, with those of the prophets on the same duty,* or the
statements of both, on the relation between the Jews, or
the world generally, and Him who came to enlighten the
Gentiles as well as His people Israel ; or mark the increa-
sing clearness and spirituality of the whole horizon of
spiritual truth as the dawn of the Gospel-day drew on, we
shall not fail to be struck with the consistency and yet
gradual development of the whole. Throughout there will
be found evidences of the presence of that God who, as
Bishop Butler expresses it, appears ''deliberate in all His
operations," and who accomplishes his ends by slow and
successive stages, whether they refer to the changes of the
seasons, the movements of providence, or the more formal
disclosures of His will.f

* Deut. xxx. 1 — 6; Ez. xviii.; Isa. lvii. 15, 16; Ps. li.

■f- Sornotirues this gradual development of truth is spoken of as suc-
cessive dispensations — the Adamic, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the
Christian. Dispensation meaning in this connection the way in which
God deals with man. The Adamic continued only during man's inno-
cency; the Patriarchal lasted 2,500 years; (Gen. iii. ; Ex. xx. ;) the

§ 2 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 113

31. With the books of the Gospel, however, (it must be
added,) the development of the Evangelical

Development

truth (so far as the present state is concerned) ceases with the

v x y Gospel.

ends. There may be passages in the Bible
whose full meaning is not yet discovered, and which are
perhaps " reserved," as Boyle expressed it, "to quell some
future heresy, or solve some yet unformed doubt, or con-
found some error that hath not yet a name," or proved, by
fresh prophetic evidence, that it came from God ; but we
are to look for no further revelation, nor are we to regard
as developments of Scripture doctrine the additions or ex-
positions of men. The gradual development of truth in
Scripture is one thing ; accretions that overlay that truth
is another ; and it is for the first only that we contend.

32. Two practical conclusions may be gathered from
these facts, in addition to the great lessons for Tw0 practicai
which they are here adduced. conclusions.

First. The Bible must be regarded, not as a series of
distinct revelations, but as one and indivisible. Reveiation one
Doctrines clearly revealed in the New Testa- and indivisible-
ment depend for many of their evidences, and yet more for
their illustrations, on the Old. The one dispensation is
the completion of the other. The first is the type, or the
early figure ; the second, the heavenly reality. The nature
of the " good things to come" may be learned both from
the shadow and from the things themselves.

Hence, secondly, we have an important test of truth, and
of the relative value of truth. If it be said,

n Truths com-

for example, that the sacrifice and priesthood mon to both

. , . . ~ dispensation^.

of Christ are not revealed m the Gospel, or

their subordinate truths, we look to the law ; and if it be

maintained that there is now no priesthood and no sacri-

Mosaie 1,500 more. The Patriarchal contains many of the first princi-
ples of the Mosaic, in sacrifice and circumcision, for example, as do both
dispensations of the Gospel.

15*

1T4 CHAPTER IV.

fice, either we have a series of shadowy observances with-
out reference or meaning ; the blood, the altar, the holy
place, the propitiatory intercession, are all types of nothing ;
and the previous economy is robbed of all its significance ;
or if it be supposed that the earlier dispensation is abol-
ished, the substitution of the Gospel in its place implies a
change in the very principles of the Divine government.
Under that dispensation law was inexorable ; now it is
yielding and remiss. Then repentance alone was power-
less to save ; now it is mighty and efficacious. At first,
man was pardoned through an atonement ; at least, by pre-
rogative. As it is, the mystery is solved. Revelation is a
consistent whole ; the doctrines of the later manifestations
unfold their meaning when studied amidst the patterns of
the earlier ; and each dispensation is strengthened by its
agreement with the other.

33. The object of these remarks, however, is chiefly to

explain our Lord's relation to previous dis-
which Christ pensations. As they were typical, He came

to complete them {nXiq^aaC^ • putting the sub-
stance in the place of the shadow. As they were predic-
tive, He fulfills them. As they inculcate precepts and
truths in relation to God and man, he develops and ex-
plains them ; giving them a clearer, wider, and more spi-
ritual application to the various duties of human life, and
making them and Himself a full and perfect revelation of
the will and character of His Father.

34. With the view of commencing this fuller revelation,
scene amid our Saviour now addressed His disciples and
rn^rfVa^deiT- tne multitude. They were assembled in the
verod. early morning (Luke vi. 13), amidst some of
the finest scenery in the world, under an oriental sky, to
listen to words such as were never before uttered on earth.
God spake to Moses and to the Israelites in Sinai with a
voice so terrible, that the people desired to hear it no

§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 175

more ; and even Moses said, " I exceedingly fear and
quake ;" but Christ spoke with meekness and love, in tones
and amid scenes which were in beautiful harmony with the
truths He came to reveal. M The law came by Moses, but
grace and truth by Jesus Christ."

35. The people were evidently gathered together with
curious excited feeling. Many of them had ,

° J Spoken by no

witnessed His miracles : some saw in Him the common teach-

' er.

promised Messiah ; others, at the least, a teacher
from God. The character of the sermon, and the phrases
employed, plainly indicate that more than a common teacher
was speaking ; and at its close His hearers acknowledged,
that this was also their impression ; for He taught, said
they, "as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
(Matt. vii. 29.)

Most of His hearers, it is probable, had the common ex-
pectation of their nation. They looked for a Expectation of
temporal deliverer, hoped for the establishment hls hearers-
of a temporal kingdom, and counted as a matter of course
on their admission to all its immunities.

36. At the very outset of His discourse Christ comes
into collision with all these carnal expecta- First peCuiiari-
tions. The nature of His kingdom and the four's doc- ^
character of its members are at once revealed. tnue-

He announces Himself not as a judge of the heathen, nor
as an avenger of the wrongs of His country ; but as the
bcstower of spiritual blessings, and that upon those only
who had no hope in themselves. (Matt. v. 3-11.) He
formally blesses those who are poor in spirit, who are con-
scious of their spiritual poverty, and then those who under
the influence of this feeling have a deep sense of guilt and
imperfection. This disposition, again, gives rise in them
to a spirit of humble meekness ; to a strong desire after
righteousness. In proportion as this desire is fulfilled and
they obtain forgiveness, there springs up a compassionate

176 CHAPTER IV.

love for others ; they endeavor to impart to their brethren
the peace which they themselves enjoy. The world, how-
ever, misunderstands their aims, and dislikes what they
are seeking to diffuse. They are therefore reviled and per-
secuted ; and for this condition, too, a special blessing is
reserved.

To each of these classes Christ makes a promise of grace
and love proportioned to the character of the receiver. To
the poor is given the possession of a kingdom ; to the
mourner, comfort ; to the suffering meek, lordship and do-
mion ; to the hungry, the supply of their wants ; to the
merciful, mercy ; to those whose hearts are pure, the vision
of God ; and to the promoters of peace, the recognition of
their resemblance to him.

These promises are interwoven, it may be observed, with
quotations from ancient predictions, explaining, appropri-
ating, and fulfilling them all.

After this introduction, which is common to both Mat-
thew and Luke, our Lord proceeds to state

The promised

blessedness uot His relation to the Law. He first intimates,

intended to

take men from however, that the blessedness He had an-

duty. '

nounced to his disciples was not intended to
justify any abandonment of the world. " Ye are," says He,
" the salt of the earth, and the light of the world." As if
He had said : "Ye are a noble and indispensable element
in this lower state ; the image and means of its purity, the
secret of its preservation, especially as through you the
Spirit of God will exercise his enlightening, quickening,
and consecrating power. What salt is in the covenant —
what it is in preserving from decay, in seasoning and puri-
fying acceptable sacrifice — what light is to a darkened and
guilty world — such are ye The kingdom is yours — by and
by ye shall enter it — but now I leave you to your wcrk,
and after work will come your reward He that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved."

§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 1?T

31. Then follows (in Matthew only, as is most fitting) a
disclosure of his relation to the Law. "I am Chr]St>s re]a.
come," says He, "to give you a deeper insight tl0n t0 the law"
into its requirements, and therefore to exhibit a noble and
perfect performance of them. (Matt. v. 17, 18.) Nor let
it be supposed that mine is a revelation unknown to the
ancient prophets. It is, on the contrary, the fulfillment of
their predictions and of the law itself. If that law be
regarded as a collection of moral precepts, I appear to
disclose their depth, to yield them in myself complete
satisfaction, and afterwards to show to my church in its
practical holiness the fullness of all that purity which they
demand. If it be regarded as a collection of ritual insti-
tutes, I appear to achieve the great sacrifice of my own
oblation, and then to secure to my church in its holy con-
secration the realized spirit of the ancient theocracy, that
all my disciples may become kings and priests unto God."
That all this fullness of meaning was in the mind of our
blessed Lord, is plain ; for He contemplates the fulfillment
of the law as extending into the distant future, and as
reaching in fact to the end of time. " Heaven and earth,"
lays He, "shall pass away; but the law shall not pass
iway till all be fulfilled." Most of what was ceremonial
ended in Him. What was spiritual and moral is to be
embodied by His grace and power in His church.

38. In studying the following verses (21-48), there are
two rules laid down by the commentators, of

. „. . „ T , Rules for in-

great importance.* The sayings of our Lord terpretmg

t i ,, Christ's expo-

herein are all to be regarded as expressing the sition of the
spiritual sense of the Old Testament com-
mands ; and His explanations (with His moral precepts
generally) must themselves be interpreted in His spirit.
The first rule Luther has well illustrated in his tii

Illustrated.

commentary on the passage : " Mark," says he,

* Tholuck.

178 CHAPTER IV.

" how Chris., takes up the command. Ye have heard from
the Pharisee how Moses ordained, and how, from ancient
times, it has been said, ' Thou shalt not kill;' and on that
account you natter yourselves as persons diligent in study-
ing and practising God's commands as they have learned
them from his own prophet. You build upon and boast
of it, that it is Moses who tells you, ' Thou shalt not kill ;'
you stop short, however, at the letter, and will let it have
no other than the plain meaning the sound conveys ; and
thus you darken the words with your crude assertions and
corrupt glosses, so that it is impossible to see what they
imply or express. But do you suppose He speaks merely
of your hand when he says, ' Thou shalt not kill ?' What
then dost thou mean ? It implies not simply the hand,
the foot, or tongue, or any other single member, but all
that thou art in body and in soul. He addresses himself
not to the hand, but to the whole person. Hence it is that
' Thou shalt-not kill,' expresses as much as if he had said :
Whatever members you have, and however you may kill —
whether by hand, or tongue, or heart, or gesture — whether
you look fiercely and refuse with your eyes to let your
neighbor live, or whether you mean with your ears to kill,
and hate to hear him praised, all is condemned ; for then
is your heart and all within you so disposed as to wish him
dead. Though, therefore, the hand be motionless, and the
tongue silent ; and though eyes and ears refrain, still may
the heart be full of murder and blood."*

So also must we interpret the language of our Lord in
the spirit in which it was spoken. He speaks broadly and
impressively, reckoning upon the candor and common sense
of His hearers to apply His truth : " Whosoever shall
say to his brother, ' Thou fool,' shall be in danger of hell-
fire y and yet sin is folly, and the sinner is really a fool.

* From Luther, slightly abridged.

§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 179

And is this language always forbidden ? No ; our common
sense and the spirit of our Master teach the exception.
"If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out." Shall the
members suffer for the unholy desires of the heart ? ]S"o ;
but common sense and the spirit show us the meaning ;
better lose an object as dear as the eye than risk your soul.
" Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay ; for what is
more than this cometh of evil." Is then every oath for-
bidden ? Nay, but it is elsewhere said to be an end of
strife. God, and our Lord, and His Apostles, have all ap-
pealed (as the oath does) to God in confirmation of their
statements. Again, the spirit limits the precept and shows
the meaning.

Let it be remembered, moreover, that in all the teaching
of our Lord there is much that is figurative. .
A happy figure is, as Augustine expressed it, Lord's teaching
"little to the little, and great to the great;"
intelligible to the child, and when received into the mind,
is like a seed, which, through the fructifying influence of
thought and meditation, casts off the husk and becomes a
tree. It is something addressed to all men, and to all parts
of men ; fancy, wit, intellect, and feeling, only it must be
interpreted with care. So the following are to be inter-
preted ; " Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also;" "Let not thy left hand
know what thy right hand doeth ;" "When thou fastest
anoint thy head and wash thy face ;" " Let the dead bury
the dead;" "Salute no man by the way." Expressions
that Imve a beautiful spiritual meaning, but not all the
meaning which the figures may seem to imply. After all
the pains which may be taken, however, to reach the full
sense of the teaching of our Lord, it will remain a ques-
tion whether we have seen down into the depth of Hid
meaning. His words are ever like the deep sea, intensely
clear, but immeasurably profound.

180 CHAPTER IV.

39. His morality, as between man and man, is summed
Morality of the UP m tw0 forms ; in each case in a single pre-

Gospel. cept> The firgt ig> « CQpy Go(j .» u Be ye per.

feet even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (v.
48) ; and the second, which is, perhaps, more direct and prac-
tical in its application, "Whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them" (vii. 12).
40 Our Lord then proceeds to expose and correct pre-
valent opinions or practices in relation to reli-

llis precepts in . . . -,-_. .. , .

r-iation to re- gious duty. All ostentation He absolutely
condemns ; whether in alms-giving, in fasting.
The love of the or iR prayer. Prayer itself He explains and
world. illustrates. The besetting sin of our nature,

i he eager desire of earthly treasures, He rebukes (Matt
vi. 1-24) for a threefold reason ; the treasure itself is pe-
rishable— the pursuit of such treasure as our great aim, is
a perversion of our powers ; and if it be pursued, it must
be at the cost of heaven ; for no man can serve Mammon
and God.

Having cautioned His hearers against this tendency, He
further forbids all anxious feeling in relation
even to subsistence. Distract not your minds
with the question what ye shall eat, or wherewithal ye shall
be clothed ; your anxiety is useless (v. 27). It is heathen-
ish (v. 32). It is a denial of the love, or an invasion of
the province of God (v. 32). Spend your energies, there-
fore, on duty temporal and spiritual, and leave the issues
of your diligence with Him (v. 33).

After these general precepts, He goes on to condemn
uncharitable the spirit of harsh and uncharitable judgment
judgments. jn ^j^ jjjs hearers were especially prone to
indulge, and bids them direct their attention chiefly to the
correction of their own faults. "When these are removed,
it will be time enough to examine and censure your neigh-
bors." (Matt. vii. 1-5.)

§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 181

41. These precepts seem to have produced a double im-
pression. Some sneered and others were huni-

x Results on dif

bled. The first class He rebuked (vii. 6), and ferent classes

of bearers.

the second He cheered, leading their thoughts
to the sufficiency of Divine grace, and presenting encour-
agement to confiding and affectionate prayer (v. 7-11).

His discourse is closed with a brief description of the
different paths He and His hearers had been End of the dif.
considering — obedience ending in life, disobe- pu^ueToy^
dience in death (vii. 14). To the one termi- them-
nation, He tells them they can be led only through a nar-
row gate, and by a narrow way ; to the other the way is
broad, easy, and plain Some, He intimates, may attempt
to combine the guilty indulgences of the broad road, with
a claim to religious influence, and a heavenly reward. The
attempt, however, our Lord repudiates, and teaches all to
repudiate it too. " By their fruits ye shall know them"
(v. 20). Their end, He tells His hearers, will not differ
from their course ; and that course will at length appear
to be as foolish and disastrous as it is inconsiderate and
sinful (v. 26).

42. Never was morality revealed so humbling, so en-
nobling, so spiritual. It makes the character

of God our model,, and the grace of God our racter of this
encouragement. It brings us at once into con- mma 1 y"
tact with Him, and the blessed result is a nobleness and
reality of holiness, as far removed from bitterness and
hypocrisy, as it is from selfishness and pride.

43. These truths appear and re-appear during the min-
istry of our Lord, sometimes with ample illus- Its iessona re.
tration, and sometimes in new and instructive Peatod-
connections, but the substance is not changed. What is
here said may be said more at length, but more than this,
it seems hardly possible to say. These other passages, how-
ever, may all be examined with instruction and advantage

16

182 CHAPTER IV.

The forbearance, and humility, and love, which form the
groundwork of all inward religion, are repeat-
edly enforced by our Lord, and often with
touching emphasis, as in Matt, xviii. 1-35, and the parallel
passages; again in Luke xvii. 1-10; and again in Mark
x, 1, 3-16. The grace of humility is indeed expressly
commended and illustrated on no less than seven different
occasions.

The contrary vices of ambition and contention are point-
edly rebuked in Matt. xx. 20-28, and in Luke

Ambition, &c. ..«.„« ^i • , -i • tt- t • i

xxn. 24-30 ; Christ reminding His disciples in
the last passage, that the chief distinction among them is
to consist in a larger share of service, and in more exhaust-
ing toils ; " for whosoever will be chief among you, let him
be your servant." These precepts He enforced by His
own example, and illustrated from the spirit of little chil-
dren, whom He took and set in the midst.

But though this is the true spirit of His gospel, and His

disciples were to be sustained in cherishing it,

Persecutions

He warns them that men will resent their
efforts, reject their message, and visit them with bitter per-
secution, such as He Himself encountered, (Matt. x. 16 ;
xvi. 24-27 ; Luke xiii. 26-35 ; xxi. 12-19 ; John xv. 18-27 ;
xvi. 33,) assuring His disciples in several of these pas-
sages, that they are to be conformed to His sufferings,
(though in an infinitely lower sense,) and that, having suf-
fered with Him, they shall also be partakers of His glory.

The spirituality and comprehensiveness of the Divine
The spiritual- ^aw m its two great commandments, He illus-
h?n*?TeneMPof trated in most of His discourses, especially in
we law. His answer to the lawyer. (Mark xii. 28—34.)

Its application to all of every nation, He taught in reply
to the question of another lawyer, at an earlier period
of His ministry. (Luke x. 25-27.) The spirit of the law
was still further illustrated in His fearful denunciations of

§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 183

the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, (Luke xi. 37-54 ; Matthew
xii. 38-42; xvi. 1-12; John viii. 2-10,) and especially
in Matthew xxiii. 13-39. The law of divorce He also
took occasion to explain, freeing it from licentious abuse.
(Matthew xix. 3-12.)

Uncharitable judgments Christ rebuked from the history
of the Galileans, and at the same time corrected uncharitable
the impression which the Jews had gained Judsments-
from a perversion of their own dispensation, to the effect
that providential calamities were not so much the evidence
of the general disorder of human nature, as of individual
guilt. (Luke xiii. 1-9.) The persecuting spirit of His
disciples He also severely condemns. (Luke ix. 56.)

The great lesson of prayer He repeated, (Luke xi. 1-13,)
also the lesson of confidence in the provi- Prayer Trust
dence of God ; (Luke xii. 1-59 ;) frequently ^P^ence.
recognizing, in the directest forms, the dependence of man
for all spiritual blessings and Divine attainment, on the
sovereign grace of His Father. (Matt. xi. 25-27 ; Luke
x. 11-24 ; John xvii.)

44. These passages are all independent, it will be no-
ticed, of His parables and miracles, each of Miracles> para.
which was intended to set forth some great ^chSt in-*8
moral or spiritual truth. They are indepen- mora?teTch?18
dent, moreover, of the acts of His life, which 1Dg'

were in themselves an embodiment of divinest law, exhi-
biting in deeds what His teaching set forth in the common
tongue.

45. What our Lord taught in relation to Himself, (faith
in Him being represented elsewhere as the The great evan-
foundation of all acceptable service,) and in fhatmoSitP
relation to the union of His disciples, will be ^"teuSit
noticed hereafter. It is enough to state, in elsewhere-
passing, that Christ regards the feeling of reliance on
God's covenant mercy as essential to obedience. Without

184 CHAPTER IV.

it there is no true sense of sin, no recognition of God, no
desire for holiness, and therefore no virtue. The connec-
tion between these excellencies and faith, which last is but
a persuasion by the heart of our true condition, and of the
fullness of the mercy that saves us, is one of the sublimest,
as it is one of the most important practical truths of the
Gospel.

§ 3. Christ's teaching in relation to His own work.

46. In the last section, Christ appears as the expounder
Chnst pro- °f the moral law. In this character the peo-
t™dXd<>r" ple admired Him. As a worker of miracles
Fares, ^lQj a]so ]j0re testimony to His power and
grace. But He had other and more significant lessons,
and was soon to show how far the Jews, and how far His
own disciples, even, were prepared to receive them. A
right understanding of the Divine law, and admiration of
Christ's works and character, were far from being all the
Gospel which our nature required.

It needed time, however, to prepare the people for far-
thou"h gradu- ^her disclosures ; and in the interval our Lord
al]y- proceeded with His mission of love, revealing

as much in miracles, and afterwards in parables, as they
were able to bear.

47. The first narrative that meets us after the sermon

on the mount, is the healing of the centurion's
centurion's sur- servant. Matthew, writing for Jewish con-
verts, omits the fact that this soldier sent to
our Lord through the Jews, as it might have ministered to
She old national pride. (Matt. viii. 5.) Luke, writing for
Gentile converts, mentions it to keep in mind the favor in
which the. Jews once stood to God. (Luke vii. 1, &c.)
With like moral purpose, Luke does not notice our Lord's
comment on this Gentile's faith as fully as Matthew does ;
the one inserting what might check the corrupt tendency

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 185

of his Jewish readers, and the other omitting what might
have strengthened similar feelings in the minds of Gentiles.
(Matt. viii. 11, 12.)

The quality which drew forth our Saviour's remarks was
the centurion's faith ; and involving, as it did, ghows import.
a recognition of Christ's relation to the spiri- ouTLofrd'sth ia
tual world, it is very beautiful. Christ appears P°wer-
to him as the true Imperator ;* the ruler of both heaven
and of earth. " Speak the word only, and my servant shall
be healed."

48. Luke's next miracle is highly characteristic of His
Gospel. It is the history of the widow's son,

i t i • i i . , The raising of

her only son ; a word which he uses with the widows
quite touching human emphasis. (Luke vii.
12.) We find it again in the case of the daughter of
Jairus ; and again in the miracle of the child possessed
with an evil spirit, (viii. 42 ; ix. 38.) The whole narrative
is rich in suggestions ; and exhibits the tenderness of the
character of Christ in striking contrast with the dignity
and power ascribed to Him in the earlier verse.

49. Though these miracles had a deep spiritual mean-
ing, a direct spiritual revelation of Christ had A spirituai
not yet been given in Galilee. At Jerusalem JernlSghhST1"
he had distinctly announced his office in all self ftt hand"
its dignity, and had excited bitter hostility amongst the
leaders of the people. (John v.) He had intimated, more-
over, that the time was at hand when all true obedience
would be tested by the way in which men received His mes-
sage, and submitted to His claims ; (ver. 20 ;) but we do
not find, as yet, any announcement of these truths to
His countrvmen in Galilee. It was now, however, at
hand.

* Trench on the Miracles,

16*

186 CHAPTER IV.

50. For the last several months John the Baptist had
been in prison, paying the penalty of his
messengers to fidelity; and, though he had long ago borne
witness to the person and office of our Lord,
he, or perhaps the little band that still adhered to him,
was not prepared for all the results of His mission. (Matt.
xi. 1-6; Luke vii. 18, 19.) He perhaps expected a tem-
poral king, or had counted at least on personal favor.
His own protracted imprisonment had, perhaps, weakened
his faith ; and had certainly weakened the faith of his fol-
lowers. He therefore sends them to Christ, not to ask
whether He was a prophet, for this fact he does not seem
to doubt, but whether He was the Messianic prophet whom
Moses foretold (npo^tr^ ^ ip%6usvos). In reply our Lord
appeals to His miracles, and quotes a passage from the
ancient prophets, applicable only to the Messiah, and ful-
filled in Himself; adding, in the hearing of John's disci-
ples, though not of the multitude, " Blessed is he whoso-
ever shall not be offended in Me." He then proceeds to
honor and defend before the people the ministry of John,
and tells them the character which they had

Christ's reply .

and defence of gamed by their treatment of His message.
"God," says He in substance, "finds it impos-
possible to meet the expectations of unsanctified men. He
has addressed them by different ministries, and has adapted
His truth to their condition, but all in vain. When one
servant came mourning, men had no tears ; when another
came in joy, men ^rrfnot dance. It is impossible to please
them. A just God is approved by the conscience, but soon
becomes an object of dread and hatred to their hearts. A
God all mercy might^rifease their hearts, but by their con-
science would certainly be condemned. At last, however,
the wisdom of God will commend itself, in all its disclo-
sures, and methods of disclosure, to His children. "

§ 1. Christ's teaching. 18T

51. A significant fact soon threw light on the intima-
tions which Christ was about to give. He had _

° Dines •with a

entered the house of a Pharisee, at his invita- rharisee; re-
ceives a woman
tion, to dine, and had met with a kindly recep- ^ho is a sin-

tion. (Luke vii. 36.) But Christ's higher cha-
racter is not that of a common guest, nor yet of a worker
of miracles. Neither did Simon, nor on an earlier occa-
sion, did Nicodemus fully see His power or grace. This
favor was reserved for a humbler visitant. A poor woman
enters the house, a sinner of the city ; and after an inter-
view with Him, left it with a clearer knowledge of our Lord,
and with holier satisfaction with His teaching, than either
the Jewish rabbi or the courteous host had gained. No-
thing rightly introduces us to Christ but sin, significance of
and nothing rightly reveals Him but a sense of thls fact*
sin. His highest character is, that He forgives and can-
cels it. He is the prophet and the teacher, but he is above
all the Redeemer ; and those only know Him who come to
Him with this feeling. So she came, weeping and anoint-
ing His feet, and wiping them with her hair. Her faith
opened the door of her heart, and entertained Christ there
as He most loved to be entertained ; while everything else,
the hospitality of the Pharisee and the enquiries of Nico-
demus, left Him still without. And it is this truth which
Christ came to reveal — that men are lost, and that He ap-
peared to seek and to save them. Sin only leads us to
Him ; and He leads us only as sinners to God. The same
truths — that a sense of need is the quaynTation that helps
men to see Christ, and that Christ's highest character is
that of a Saviour — came out in other parts of the inspired
narrative, but nowhere in action motfef clearly than here.

With true Pharisaic spirit, the host saw in this reception
of a sinner, an evidence against the Messiahship of his
guest ; but Christ rebuked his reasoning. (Luke vii. 39.)
The gift of her love He honored before the least of His

188 CHAPTER IV.

host ; not as the ground of her acceptance, but as the evi-
dence and fruit of it. " Much has been forgiven ; for
(thou seest) she loves much." "Thy faith (adds He, to
make this truth clear) hath saved thee. Go in peace."
2. It is in connection with some such scene, and pro

Christ's excia- bably with this, that our Lord answered and
mation. gaid . « j thank the(^ 0 Father) Lord of hea-

ven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes. ..." Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and
ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matt. xi. 25-30.)
Here are clearly the rudiments of a teaching not less im-
portant, and infinitely more cheering, than the right expo-
sition of the law. (Luke viii. 1.) But these lessons were
to receive in a few weeks an ampler explanation.

53. The feeling that found utterance, in the case of the
woman who was a sinner, in tears and gifts, prompted
others of her sex to services of personal kindness. (Luke

viii. 2, 3.) The sorrows of the one, and the

Christ served m '

and followed active labors of the other, were alike accepted,

by women.

and were both probably the fruits of conscious
forgiveness and spiritual blessing.

54. And now commences the second circuit of Galilee.

In company with His disciples, our Lord

The second and t . .

third circuit of visited every city and village, preaching the

Galilee. ax

glad tidings of the kingdom. (Luke viii. 1.)
A third time was the journey taken. by the apostles (ix. 1) ;
and afterwards by the seventy (x. 1) ; all working and
preaching as they went.

At the commencement of this tour our Lord healed the
Miracles mari possessed of a devil, blind, and dumb ;

begSrdSg of e the Scribes blaspheming, and asking further

the°se journeys. gigng of Wg miggion JJe fl^ with Hig dis.

§ 3. Christ's teachixg. 189

ciples, crossed the lake of Tiberias, healing the demoniacs
of Gadara ; raising the daughter of Jairus ; stopping the
issue of blood ; opening the eyes of the blind, and casting
out a dumb spirit. (Luke xi. 14 ; viii. 26, 41-56.) Through-
out the whole of these miracles we trace a double charac-
teristic. Everywhere the destructive power of the devil is
rebuked, and the redeeming power of the Saviour is re-
vealed. If He judged at all, it is sin or unbelief, not the
sinner. The poor and guilty are ever welcome.

55. Every act of healing, moreover, performed on the
bodies of men, represented significantly the

' r -i Lessons taught

spiritual healing that they required ; and ex- in these mira-

cles.

ceptmg the miracles that were wrought upon
the devils, or upon the sea, all taught the necessity of a
sense of need and faith. When the poor sufferer, who had
a fountain of uncleanness in her very flesh, said : " If I
may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be clean ;"
He replied : "Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee; go
in peace." (Luke viii. 48.) " Eear not," said he again,
"only believe." (Mark v. 36.) "Believe ye that I am
able to do this unto you ? And they said, Yea, Lord.
According to your faith be it unto you." (Matt. ix. 28, 29.)
How instructive is this truth — that faith, which is nothing
in itself, is everything under the Gospel, because it places
us in living connection with Him in whom all is stored !

56. And now that the coming of the kingdom of God
has been twice announced throughout Galilee, rurther notice
and Christ's character as a teacher revealed, the j£ethtVeiYer? °f
time seems come for more spiritual disclosures. results-

But the result of the labors of the disciples is instruc-
tive, and first claims our regard. Twice during his per-
sonal ministry did our Lord commission and send forth
His disciples. To the tribes of Israel, He first sent the
twelve ; afterwards the seventy (a number answering to
what the Jews supposed to be the number of the nations of

190 CHAPTER IV.

the earth) ; and now the former return to tell the success
of their message.

He sent them out to announce the approach of the king-
owect of their dom of heaven ; He conferred upon them the
mission. power of working miracles; He bade them

make no provision for their journey, but trust in God ; to
be content with whatever was offered to them ; to abide in
the first house that was kindly opened to them, and thence
to extend their labors round it. (Luke ix. 1-6.) In the
end they found their wants all supplied, and they admitted
that they had lacked nothing. (Luke xxii. 35.) In their
work they were to combine purity with wisdom, the quali-
ties of the serpent and dove.

As soon as He had sent them, He Himself went forth to
Christ Himself teach and preach " in their cities ;" thus show-
tempo?LCe°-n ^nS tnat under His kingdom He gives no com-
ously- mands which He does not Himself obey. (Matt,

xi. 1.) He first bears the cross, and then says to His dis-
ciples: "Follow Me."

57. He seems to have selected a well-known spot at the
head of the lake, as the place of meeting after

The twclv© TG-

turn; and com- this first missionary tour was completed. " The
Christ the re- apostles," we are told, "gathered themselves
together, and told Him all things, both what
they had done and what they had taught." (Mark vi. 30.)
How delightful is this confidence ! They told Him of
their failures and of their success ; of their wisdom and of
their folly ; of their reliance and of their unbelief. We
can easily imagine the blessedness of this meeting; the
honest greetings with which every new comer was wel-
comed by those who had chanced to arrive before him.
We seem to see Christ listening with affectionate earnest-
ness to the recital of their adventures ; and interposing
from time to time a word of encouragement or of caution,
as the character and narrative of each might demand.

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 191

The heart of each was unveiled, and the words spoken
were eminently in season. The fatigues of their journey
were none of them remembered, as each received from the
Saviour the smile of His approval. That was truly a
joyful meeting ; and of all that company not one has for-
gotten the day, nor will ever forget it

58. Christ saw, however, that His disciples needed fur-
ther counsel. By doing His will they were They retire t0
prepared for richer communications, and they a desert placP
nad committed errors which needed correction. Sur
rounded as they were, moreover, by the crowds, they found
rest and retirement equally impossible; "there were many
coming and going, and they had no leisure, no, not so
much as to eat bread." (Mark vi. 31.) " Come ye," said
He, " yourselves into a desert place, and rest awhile."

The religion of Christ requires retirement, as certaiuly
as it requires publicity. The disciples had for some time
been living before the eyes of men, and they needed com-
munion with one another and with their Lord. For some
weeks they had traveled on foot under a tropical sun, rea-
soning with unbelievers and instructing the ignorant, obe-
dient to every call of weakness and poverty ; and now they
needed rest. His rule is ever consistent with benevolence ;
He cares for the benefactor as well as for the recipient.
"He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."

Partly to meet these necessities, and partly, perhaps, to
be out of the jurisdiction of Herod, whose anxious curiosity
concerning Him might have interfered with our Lord's
plans, He and His disciples cross the lake and enter the
desert, i. e., the thinly peopled country of Bethsaida. Here,
in the cool and retired neighborhood of the lake, He began
to instruct them, and without interruption to make known
to them the mysteries of His kingdom. It was a season
such as our Lord seldom enjoyed; and it must have been
delightful to all who witnessed and shared His love.

192 CHAPTER IV.

59. Soon, however, the scene was changed. The mul-
vssited by the titude from Capernaum, making a hasty journey
crowds. round the north end of the lake, discover the

place of His retreat ; an immense crowd approaches, and
the little band is surrounded by them. Some of these
suitors present most importunate claims ; healing and
strength are sought by most for themselves or for their
friends ; and every one, believing his own claim to be most
urgent, presses forward with anxious importunity.

The interruption could not fail to be unwelcome. The
apostles needed rest ; they required further instruction, and
such opportunities of intercourse with Christ were exceed-
ingly rare. But what did they do ; rebuke and dismiss
the multitudes ? Not so. The providence of God had sent
them, and that same providence forbade our Lord to send
them away unblessed. He at once broke up the conference
with His disciples, and addressed Himself to the work
before Him. His instructions were doubtless of great
value ; but it may be questioned whether even they were
more important than the example of humility, kindness,
and compassion, which He here exhibited.

His presence awed and stilled the crowd. He views
them as "sheep scattered without a shepherd.'*

A day devoted L

to teaching (Matt. ix. 36; Luke ix. 11.) He seeks at

and healing.

once to relieve and instruct them ; speaking to
them of the kingdom of God, and healing those that had
need of healing.

The greater part of a long summer's day had been em-
ployed in this double work. Now the shades of evening
The people are gathering around the multitude, who have
need bread. nothing to eat. To send them away fasting
would be inhuman, for most of them had come from far,
and many of them were women and children, who could
not perform their journey homeward without previous re-

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 193

freshment. Even Philip, moreover, who was a native of
that district, knew not where it was possible to buy bread
for them, had the money to pay for it been at hand. The
crowds, therefore, were thrown upon the bounty of our
Lord. He had not led them into the wilderness ; they
came to Him of themselves, to hear His words, and be
healed of their infirmities ; he could not send them away,
however, "lest they should faint by the way." (Matt. xv.
32.) Nothing remained to be done, therefore, but to put
forth Divine power.

60. The little basket of provisions in the hands of the
disciples seems barely enough for themselves. The miracle of
It consists of only five loaves and two small the loaTCS-
fishes ; but with God's blessing and the Saviour's power it
is enough for all. The large mass of human beings,
amounting now to five thousand, besides women and chil-
dren, are arranged in groups of orderly guests all seated
on the grass. Silence is obtained ; the blessing of God is
implored upon the scanty meal ; and immediately He begins
to break the loaves and the fishes. He distributes them to
His disciples, and His disciples distribute them to the mul-
titude. He continues to break and distribute ; basket after
basket is filled and emptied ; and at last the baskets are
returned full, and it is announced that the wants of the
multitude are supplied. The miracle then ceases, and the
miraculous provision of food is at an end. (Mark v. 25-44.)

Everything here is instructive. To have led the crowds
into this position without providing; for them,

° Lessons.

would have been presumption ; to sustain them
when there, was unmingled mercy.

He began to break and distribute in faith the meal which
had been provided only for Himself and His disciples ; the
supply increased as it was required, and it ceased not until
All that had been prayed for was accomplished.

IT

J94 CHAPTER IV.

And these were the acts of a single day. Private kind
These the acts ncss an(^ instruction, the cure of disease, pub-
of a single day. ylc teaching, and the relief of the wants of
famishing crowds, filled up the day. Such were the occu-
pations of the Son of God.*

The impressions these labors produced upon the multi-
tude were deep and general, though alas ! not

Result.

of the holiest kind. It was concluded that He
must be their deliverer ; and many of the people were dis-
posed to employ all the means in their power to induce
Him to assume those royal honors which He had shown
that He could so easily maintain.

61. Aware of this feeling, our Lord first sent away His
The crowd di*- disciples ; and the multitude, supposing that
misled. Christ must remain in the desert till the morn-
ing, and that they would find Him there, quietly dispersed ;
our Lord retiring, after they left Him, to spend the greater
part of the night in communion with God.

The night itself was an important and instructive one ;
abounding too in evidences of the Saviour's kindness and
power. (Matt, xiv.)

Early in the morning the people collected to carry their
purpose into effect, and began to seek for Jesus ; He was
nowhere, however, to be found. They therefore crossed
over the lake in some boats that had arrived that morning
from Tiberias, and entered Capernaum, where they found
Him in the synagogue teaching the people.

62. And now comes the decisive disclosure of our Sa-

viour's character. The people had expected a
naum/nisdis- temporal king. Christ's power had seemed to

course there. . . TT. A, . -\r • i i

point Him out as the coming Messiah, and
they appear to hail and crown Him. But the higher their
hopes the greater their disappointment, and ultimately the

* See Dr. "Wayland's Sermon on "a Day in the life of Jesus of Naza-
reth," from which many of these thoughts are taken.

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 195

greater their rage, when He offered them something en-
tirely different from what they sought. Carnal, earthly
enthusiasm easily passes over to opposition, and Christ
was about to feel the truth of this rule. " Master," said
they, "when earnest thou hither?" (John vi. 25-27; 35,
51.) Their question, which sprung probably from idle
curiosity, which must say something, and hoped, perhaps,
to hear how He had come, our Lord answered only with a
rebuke: "Yerily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not
because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the
loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat that pe-
risheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting-
life ; and which the Son of man shall give unto you, for
him hath the Father, God, sealed." " Not conviction, out
self-interest; not a spiritual kingdom, but secular bless-
ing— ■ the meat that perisheth' is the object of your pur-
suit. The meat which, imperishable in its nature, supports
an immortal life, is what I have come to reveal ; and that
meat I give ; and that meat," he adds, " I am."

By what works of Divine appointment (they answer)
may we obtain this blessing — this meat, and the eternal
life which you profess to impart ? " Credit my testimony,
believe on me," is His reply, " and the gift shall be yours.
With this faith everything is bestowed ; pardon and holi-
ness, and a blessedness such as your largest thoughts have
never conceived."

This answer suggests other questions. "You profess to
be the greater prophet of whom Moses wrote. What sign
showest thou ? Give us not human food, but heavenly,
such at least as Moses gave ; nay more, let it be angels'
food, celestial manna, and so fulfill our expectations of
millennial bliss." " That celestial bread," our Lord replies,
" is Myself; heavenly bread Moses did not give, but I give
it. I give it for the life of the world. He that cometh
to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me

196 CHAPTER IV.

shall never thirst. Receive Me as Redeemer, Sanctifier,
King, and All, and your happiness shall be complete."

This effort to awaken the desire of the Jews for the
bread that Christ came to supply failed ; they scrupled
about His meaning, and murmured at His sayings. He
did not, therefore, reason with them on their scruples, but
points out the source of them ; the dispositions of their
hearts and minds. Of these it was necessary that they
should be rid, before they could receive His divine mani-
festation. " Murmur not among yourselves ; no man can
come unto me, except the Father draw him." (John vi.
43, 44.) Seek within you, and not without you, the cause
of your surprise. It lies here, that you have no sense of
spiritual need, and no sense therefore of the value of the
provision I have made. This lesson God teaches, as your
own prophets have foretold. Not, however, that any man
can know and be united to God but through the Son ; for He
only hath seen the Father, and He only hath revealed Him.

The rejection of Christ is ever the expression and result
The general °f unsanctified natural feeling. The salvation
truth. 0f Qhrist is too spiritual for the unrenewed ;

too humbling for the proud ; too holy for the sinful ; too
heavenly for the sensual and earthly. The influence of
the Spirit, and the cogency of the truth understood and
believed, are required to induce men to come to Christ,
and these are from above. Man's ruin, therefore, belongs
to himself; his salvation to God. The first is the fruit of
our corruption and depravity ; the second originates with
the Father, is effected by the Son, and is received through
the Spirit. We have ruined ourselves, and in God only
is our help to be found.

These great truths our Lord puts in+o other forms, and
Remarkable repeats them. He gives Himself, He tells
S^dTitr them> "as the bread of heaven;" He gives

meaning. tl ^ g^,, Hig b()dy> Qr j-^ tQ ^^ hap>

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 197

piness. " This," adds He, " is the bread I give. It is
by this I secure for them that believe everlasting life."
" Yerily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh,
and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in
you " His "flesh and blood" is clearly a phrase equiva-
lent to his sufferings and death ; not separated from his
earthly existence, and teaching, and spirit, but involving
them all. He, the bread — His flesh and blood, our life,
exhausts the whole truth ; and these expressions embody,
though in dark and figurative phraseology, the sublimest
truths. All figures apart, Christ himself as our sacrifice — ■
Christ himself as the substance of all blessings, the staff
of our strength, the support of our life — must be believed
and trusted. He must be in us, and we in Him, in order
that we may be saved. As the Father is the life-giving
Father, so I, adds He, am the life-giving bread : " he that
eateth Me shall live."

63. Throughout the chapter these figures are inter-
changed, and literal interpretations are added A hard saying.
Most of His hearers, however, failed to under- M hy reJected-
stand how His words explained and illustrated each other.
Adhering to the outward and material sense, they seized
upon the expressions which were most striking ; hesitated,
from the low position of the teacher, to give them their
deepest meaning ; and found in the whole hard sayings
which they could not bear ; comparatively difficult, but
superlatively distasteful. Jesus, moreover, knowing in
Himself that His disciples also (for not a word had been
espoken by them) murmured, said unto them: "Doth this
offend you ? What if ye shall see the Son ascend up
whither He was before ? (John vi. 61, 62.) All your
hopes of an earthly kingdom must then vanish, and the
idea of eating my flesh in a literal sense become perfectly
groundless. Can ye not perceive that it is a spiritual truth
T am teaching ; and it is to spiritual influences, and doc-

11*

198 rilAlTKK IV

trines, and blessings I refer ; but in that spirit ye are defi-
cient, and, as I said before, your carnal sense is the cause
of your misunderstanding and unbelief." (ver. 65.)

64. Then followed a sifting of His disciples. " From
Many of the that time many went back, and walked no
disciples leave. more wj^ Him." They were not prepared

for a spiritual kingdom ; and Christ rather favored than
discouraged their going. (John vi. 66-69.) To the twelve
he said, "Will ye also go?" And Peter, speaking, as
usual, for the rest, bore testimony to his experience of the
Peter's comes- blessedness of his fellowship with Christ:
S10n- " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the

words of eternal life;" therefore, he adds, "We believe
that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

65. In His reply to this confession, Christ warned them
The traitor in- that there was one who did not share their
dicated. conviction. He had chosen them and called
them ; but one of them had the heart of a foe. Even the
traitor was not unwarned ; these words might have led to
repentance and pardon — failing this result, they must have
deepened his enmity. Probably it may have been from this
very conversation (which embodied statements quite incon-
sistent with the idea of a temporal kingdom) that Judas
gathered fresh motives for the betrayal of Christ ; and if so,
it is an instance of spiritual truth becoming, as it often
does, life to them that are saved, and death to them that
perish.

66. The revelation of Christ that is most spiritual, is
General les- a^s0 m°st humbling. Some reject Him, as did
sonB- His countrymen at Nazareth, because of the
lowliness of His guise and position ; others, as here, for
the humbling depth of his doctrine, and the spirituality of
His reign. Those who, like Peter, acknowledge the com-
pleteness of their dependence on Christ, are the first to

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 199

ascribe to Him His true dignity : " Thou givest eternal
life ; Thou, therefore, art the Son of the living God."

61. The miracle of the loaves evidently suggested to oui
Lord the phraseology of His discourse to the

i sh ill ti«i Christ's mira-

people at Capernaum ; and the bread which cies aii signm-
He had broken was a symbol of the bread of
life He was about to supply. The eating, the division into
companies, the ministration of the disciples, and the subse-
quent care of the fragments, may all be regarded as more
or less symbolical of the order and duties of the church
His miracles are thus not only evidences — they are lessons.
As He was Himself the Word of God, so all the acts of
this Word are words. They are not pictures merely, which
we are to examine and admire ; they are words which we
are to understand ; for they have each, if we are to studj
them, their own, and often the deepest meaning.

68. Nine of the miracles recorded in the Gospels were
wrought in nature. The water He made wine ;

tt tt i Enumerated

the tempest He stilled ; the sea He made as and classified.

t t i tut • • tt ^n nature.

solid as earth, and walked upon it ; twice He
multiplied the bread, till now five thousand, and then four
thousand were filled ; twice He found in the miraculous
draughts of fishes emblems of the work and progress of
His kingdom ; once the fish supplied Him, through Peter,
with proof of His sonship ; and once the barren fig-tree was
blasted and withered as an emblem of the fate of the city
near which He stood.

The remainder of the miracles were all wrought in a
nobler field. Twice He healed persons afflicted

tt it 0Q man.

with leprosy ; four times He opened the eyes
of the blind ; thrice He cast out devils ; thrice He raised
the dead ; and many times besides He healed all manner of
diseases. These are His recorded miracles — many others
of the same kind He did in all parts of Judea, " which are
not written" in these books.

200 CHAPTER IV.

69. All these miracles illustrate the blessings Christ
came to introduce ; all, the necessity of power
in these mira- and of faith ; and each miracle has, besides,
lessons of its own.

How beautifully does His power over nature illustrate
His providence. "All things are put under His feet."
He was about to send forth His disciples into a cold perse-
cuting world, but He bids them distrust neither His in-
clination nor His ability to help them. " 0 fear the Lord,
ye His saints ; for there is no want to them that fear him."
(Ps. xxxiv. 9.) Nature and providence are His ; He is
nead over them all for the church.

How instructive when the lepers are cleansed ; the blind
eyes opened ; the possessed restored to their right mind ;
the dead raised ! Each act an emblem of the spiritual
blessings which Christ came to bestow ; and each, \fi ex-
amined in detail, illustrative of the principles on which Hfe
still acts in imparting His gifts.

Man and God are alike revealed in these portions of the
sacred page.

TO. As the miracles of Christ are illustrative of His
character and work, so are His acts and the

All flic sets of

Christ part of circumstances of His life. Every thing He

His revelation. . .

did aud suffered was instructive ; revealing
sometimes the nature of His work, and sometimes the
character to which Christians are to be conformed.

71. Prophets, for example, had described Him as gentle
illustrated in au<^ compassionate. " He shall not cry, nor
ins gentleness, y^ ^ nor cause His voice to be heard in the

street; "a bruised reed shall He not break, and the
smoking flax shall He not quench." (Is. xlii. 2, 3.) " He
shall feed His flock like a shepherd ; so shall He gather
the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom."

And turning to His life, how does He sustain this dis-
tinction ? His emblem was the lamb; the Holy Ghost

§ 3. Christ's teaching. 201

descends upon Him as a dove descends ; angels speak of
the truth He reveals, as "peace on earth, and good will to
men." (Luke ii. 14.)

How does He employ the power with which God en-
dowed Him ? Once, it is true, He cursed the barren fig-
tree, and it withered away ; but it was barren and unowned.
The curse, moreover, was intended to be an instructive and
solemn warning. It is true also, that He destroyed the
herd of swine belonging to the Gadarenes ; but the miracle
was in rebuke of the worldliness it elicited, and was in-
tended, moreover, as an evidence of the reality of the
power He had dispossessed. All His other miracles were
entirely and distinctly acts of love.

And what utterances has He given ? It is true that He
denounced the Scribes and Pharisees ; and against them
His voice was heard. But then they were hypocrites, and
He came to teach truth as well as mercy. His gentleness
was never intended as a renunciation of wisdom or of
righteousness ; and to disabuse the minds of the people
concerning their false guides, was clearly part of his office.
In relation to others, however, how lowly was His whole
deportment ; how easy of access ; how tender in invita-
tion ; how mild in rebuke ; how ready to suggest excuse
when the offender himself had none. How did He address
the people? "Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. xi. 28.)
How did He receive children ? " Suffer them," said He to
His disciples, to " come unto me, and forbid them not" . . .
"and He took them up in His arms and blessed them."
(Luke xviii. 16.) At the grave of Lazarus "Jesus wept."
(John xi. 35.) His mother He commended to the care of
His disciples. How gentle in all His dealings with Hi3
apostles ; bearing with their mistakes, forgiving their infir-
mities, and loving them, in spite of repeated provocations,
even unto the end. . How pitiful towards His enemies,

202 CHAPTER IV.

weeping over the city whose inhabitants were about to
Imbrue their hands in His blood ; healing the ear of the
servant of His bitterest foe ; not destroying those who came
to apprehend Him, but surrendering himself quietly, ar-
ranging only for the escape of His followers. On the cross
He prayed for His murderers, and afterwards bade His
disciples proclaim to them first the Gospel of peace.

He is the same still — He relieves, and teaches, and
chastens, and pities, and employs us with the same conde-
scension. It becomes us, therefore, to dismiss all slavish
dread ; to trust Him, to admire Him, to follow and copy
Him, till by studying His character we are " changed from
glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Co*",
iii. 18.)

12. Again, He commanded His disciples to practise
illustrated in self-denial ; and Himself illustrated, in every
ins poverty, circumstance of his condition, the virtue He
thus enjoined. He has told us, "the Son of Man hath not
where to lay his head." During his private life, indeed,
He lived with Joseph and Mary at Nazareth ; and after
He had entered upon His ministry, He had some friends
who, like Martha, afforded Him the accommodation of
their dwellings ; but these advantages were occasional, and
of the nature of hospitality. He never possessed an apart-
ment He could call His own. He was born in another
man's house. Widows ministered to him of their substance.
He partook of the last Passover in another man's chamber.
At last He was buried in another man's grave. And He
felt this condition the more painful from the dignity He
had left. It was part of his humiliation to bear it. Yet
He never repented of His engagement. It was ever His
feeling : " Lo, I come — / delight to do thy will, 0 God."
(Ps. xl. t, 8.) As His agony drew nearer, He even longed
for it : "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how
am I straitened till it be accomplished." (Luke xii. 50.)

§ 3. Christ's character. 203

And does not this poverty fit Him for His position ?
How it illustrates His grace ! How cheering What taugM
to the poor ! It is enough that the servant be by this fact
as his Master, and the disciple as his Lord. How sugges-
tive of the test of true greatness. Such greatness is per-
sonal, and not circumstantial ; it is in the character, and
not in the condition. How humbling to our nature ! The
people allowed Him to suffer, and so proved their real
character. It was a reproach to the Corinthians, that Paul,
while preaching and working miracles among them, had to
labor day and night for his support. How much greater
the reproach that this was Christ's condition ! Surely (our
first feeling is) men will " reverence the Son.' At His
coming nobles and princes will welcome Him to their
homes ; and they will deem themselves amply repaid by
His condescension in accepting their invitations. But He
was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the
world knew him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. (John i. 10, 11.) The Lord -of
all, and the acquaintance of grief — the image of the Invi-
sible God, and yet "the despised and rejected of men."
And is human nature changed ? How do we receive His
Gospel — the members of Christ — the poor ? The rule still
holds: "He that receiveth you, receiveth me." It may
still form the ground of our own sentence : " Inasmuch as
ye did it not unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it
not unto me." — Depart. (Matt. xxv. 45.)

13. The miracles and parables, the sayings and acts,
and the sufferings of our Lord, therefore, are A11 chat's
all instructive, and reveal some truth connected JJ^ f^uc!7'
either with God, or with ourselves, or with tlTe-
both.

204 chapter iv.

Sect. 4. Christ's further Disclosures in Galilee and

IN JuDJEA.

74. Christ's desire for further private intercourse with
Resolves to His disciples, and the continued presence of
visit Gaiiiee. Herod in Galilee, induced our Lord to remove
from the neighborhood of Capernaum. He resolved to
visit the north of Galilee, and thither He now proceeded
with His disciples

75. Before leaving Capernaum, however, He had a long

conversation with Scribes and Pharisees from

Conversation

with the Jerusalem on the use of tradition, and espe-

Scribes. . ,

cially on the importance of inward religion, as
compared with ceremonial purity (Mark vii. 1-23) ; Christ
teaching, in opposition to the common doctrine of the
Pharisees, that the things which are within are those that
defile, and that for evil thoughts, and unholy desires (rather
than for neglect of ceremonial observances) men will be
condemned.

76. The first visit of our Lord is paid to the region of
visits Tyre and Tyre and Sidon ; and there the Syro-Phoeni-
s,llou' cian woman pleaded with Christ for her daugh-
ter (against even His own discouragements) and prevailed.
" 0 woman," said He, " great is thy faith ; be it unto thee
even as thou wilt." (Matt. xv. 28.)

77. In the district of Decapolis the miracle of feeding

a large multitude was repeated ; and a deaf
and dumb man was healed. Again the Scribes

seek a sign, and again the disciples of our Lord are warned

against their temper and spirit.

78. At Bethsaida a blind man received his sight, and

the common admonition was added — that he

Bethsaida

should tell no man what Jesus had done.
And here, being in the neighborhood of Csesarea Phi-
lippi, our Lord found himself once more alone with His

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IX GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 205

disciples, and continued the conversation which He had
broken off a little time before. He resumed it (in the
midst of a season of solemn prayer) by asking the opinions
generally prevalent concerning himself. Peter renewed
the confession he had made on a previous occasion ; and in
contrast with those who said that Jesus was only a pro-
phet, he affirmed : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God." (Matt. xvi. 16, 11.)

79. Thus had Peter twice borne testimony to our Lord :
first, in opposition to those whom Christ's spi- peter>a second
ritual teaching had estranged ; and now, in confess'OD-
opposition to those who entertained inferior views of His
person. His answer our Lord expressly ascribes to no
human teaching, but directly to God : " Flesh and blood
hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, who is in
heaven."

80. On receiving this confession of Peter, in relation
to the truth which forms the unchangeable basis Christ's pro-
of the kingdom of God, Christ called him by mise-

the name which, in the exercise of a prophetic spirit, he
had already assigned him : " Thou art Peter, the man of
rock ; and on thee, as a steadfast witness in my name, I
will build my church ; a church that is to remain imperish-
able, triumphant over both hell and death." (Matt. xvi. 18.)
In fulfillment of this promise, we find that the labors of
Peter formed the foundation — that is, the com- , m _„

Its fulfillment.

mencement of the spiritual temple which Christ

came to found — both Jews and Gentiles having been first

called and converted under his ministry. (Acts ii. and x.)*

* It is with reluctance we differ from our excellent author ; but in this
instance, as in a few before, we must express our decided dissent from
his interpretation of this important passage. The facts here mentioned
respecting Peter's labors may be fully admitted, without regarding them
as at all concerned in the fulfillment of this particular promise.

To us it appears clear, from the preceding context, that Peter spoke
here simply as a true disciple, in the name of the rest, (as he did in John

18

206 CHAPTER IV.

81. Christ then adds, " and I will give thee the keys of
a second rro- the kingdom of heaven ; whatsoever thon shalt
mise- bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and

whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven ;" a promise which was afterwards extended to all

vi. 68, 69,) in reply to a question of our Lord as to the nature of their com-
mon faith in Him. That faith our Lord approves as divine in its origin,
and true in its object; and therefore worthy of being* recognized as the
essential characteristic of his disciples in all ages. By means of this
faith He will build His Church ; for this alone unites the soul to Him, the
true foundation, and makes it partaker of His life, stability, and useful-
ness. So Peter himself, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, understood and
clearly expounds his Master. " Unto whom coming, as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye
also, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house." (1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.)
No merely human authority can set aside this inspired interpretation,
sustained, as it is, by the concurrent voice of all the Apostles and Pro-
phets. (Ps. cxviii. 22; Isa. xxviii. 16; Acts iv. 11, 12; Rom. ix. 33;
1 Cor. iii. 11; Ephes. ii. 20-22; 1 Peter ii. 6-8.)

It follows, " that the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" are given to
Peter, not as the Primate of the Church (as Rome contends), nor as an
Apostle or Preacher of the Gospel (as most Protestants, with our author,
suppose) ; but as the representative of all true believers in Christ, building
on Him as the true foundation. These coustitute the Christian Church
in all ages, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail. The pro-
fession of this faith in the appointed mode makes them members of the
Visible Church — which is only the aggregate of all particular local
" churches of the saints." The power of the Keys, or Church Power in
general, is here given by Christ alike, and equally, to the individual be-
lievers of whom they are composed, to be exercised under His laws in
thoir united capacity. This interpretation is so impregnably fortified by
the repetition of the same term in Matt, xviii. 18, in immediate connec-
tion with the action of particular churches, that we can only wonder at
the pertinacity with which a different opinion is held.

Hence it is impossible for us to agree in the opinion of our author in
paragraphs 80-82 ; much less in the Note which aims to support it. To
suppose our Lord would say what he does in Matt, xviii. 15-20, in reference
to a Jewish synagogue, is, in our judgment, opposed to all sound
exegesis, all facts, all analogies ; not to mention that near this time all
Christians were excluded from the Jewish synagogues. (John ix. 22.)
—J. N. B.

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDJ2A. 207

the twelve (John xx. 23), and implied that the laws and
truths of the kingdom of Christ were to be

° Its meaning

revealed and enforced in the personal ministry and fulfill-
ment.

of his apostles, and then to be committed by
them in a permanent written form to the custody of his
church. (2 Cor. ii. 15; Matt. x. 13.) This kingdom,
however, the disciples did not yet understand ; and there-
fore they are strictly forbidden to proclaim Christ's dig-
nity and office — a caution which the result of the very first
subsequent disclosure of our Lord proves not to be un-
ueeded.

82. Here, it will be observed, the word " church" occurs
for the first time in the Gospel; nor do we

. . T ,T . The church.

meet with it again m the Inspired JSlarrative,
in the same sense, till we come to the Acts of the Apos-
tles.* -

83. We have already seen that Christ frequently spoke
of himself in mysterious terms. He had told

■XT- i T-r -it. tt Christ's king.

JNicodemus that He was to be lifted up; He dom founded
had assured the multitude that unless they ate
His flesh, and drank His blood, they could not live ; but
the truth involved in these declarations had not been dis-
tinctly revealed, and the declarations themselves, therefore,
were in a great measure incomprehensible. " From this
time," however, "He began to show unto His disciples
how He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, and be
killed, and after three days rise again;" and "this saying
He spake even openly." (Mark viii. 32.)

* Twice it is found afterwards in Matthew : " Go tell it to the church,"
and "if he hear not the church ;" hut in this passage, probably, the
reference is rather to the ecclesiastical assemblies of the Jews. The
principle embodied in the command is universally applicable ; but it is
doubtful whether there was any intention upon the part of our Lord to
bring out there the peculiar ideas of the Church of Christ. [But see the
preceding Editorial Note. — J. N. B.]

208 CHAPTER IV.

♦ 84. This idea, that His kingdom was to be established
Peter's opinion through suffering, His apostles could not ad-
of this truth. mjk Peter, therefore, took Him aside and
began to rebuke Him, saying, ''Be it far from thee, Lord ;"
(Matt. xvi. 22, 23;) an exclamation inspired, doubtless, by
love — but by love of an earthly origin. As Christ had
commended Peter for a confession which flesh and blood
had not revealed unto him, so now He reproves him for
utterances which sprung from a feeling entirely selfish.

85. " Get thee behind me, Satan," says our Lord, in

language of stronger indignation than any he

Christ's reply.

had yet used in addressing His followers. He
then turned to His disciples, and gave them a lesson the
very opposite of what Peter had sought to enforce,
reminding them that life itself is to be held in subordina-
tion to the interests of the kingdom of God. " Be ready,"
his language implies, " to sacrifice everything on its behalf,
and remember that this precept is of present importance,
for ' there are some standing here who shall not taste death
till they see the kingdom of God coming writh power ;' " an
expression which the disciples did not understand, but
which became plain in the events of Providence, and had
its fulfillment in the days of Pentecost.

86. Six days after this conversation our Lord took Peter,
The transfigu- James, aud John, up into a mountain to pray,
fngfoiiOTre?1" and as he prayed, the fashion of his counte-
by glory. nance was altered, "and his raiment became
white and glistening." (Luke ix. 29.) The earth had dis-
owned her King ; His last words with His disciples had
been of suffering ; now heaven owns Him, and the suffer-
ing is seen to be followed by glory. The representatives
of the ancient law and prophets appear, and talk with Him
of the issues of His approaching decease ; and in the end
they both disappear, while Christ is revealed as the King
whom all nations are henceforth to obey (v. 31).

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AXD JUDAEA. 209

87. This act seems doubly significant. Coming after
the declaration of His suffering, it was proba- . . ,M

° L Its significance

bly intended as a solemn installation of our to the disci-

. . p1cs-

Lord before His three chosen disciples, adapted

to confirm them in their previons confession, and to reveal
more clearly his dignity. He is here formally set forth as
the King of the Church, and His word is declared to be
her law. (Matt. xvii. 5.)

Nor was the fact without significance to our Lord him-
self. The transfiguration takes its place with

• . To our Lord.

His baptism and the temptation, as essential

to His complete preparation for his final conflict. It

cheered and sustained Him.

The whole transaction may also be regarded as a repre-
sentative prefiguration to us of the kingdom of God, in
which Christ's chosen disciples shall witness and share His
glory ; and all of every dispensation make the Divine
counsel in the work of redemption the great theme of their
thoughts — a theme that shall fill them with admiration and
praise.

These three disciples, it may be noticed, witnessed and
shared His glory, as still later they beheld his sorrow.
(Matt, xxvi. 37.)

88. The object of the mission of the apostles Christ had
already explained, and the spirit of self-denial

J r ' r The spirit

in which that mission was to be undertaken, which becomes

TT.li • i/»i apostles.

Additional lessons are now imparted ol the
most instructive kind.

A man, whose son was possessed by an evil spirit, had
appealed to the disciples to heal him — but they had
failed. From this failure the Scribes took occasion to
dispute the miracles and authority of their Master ; and,
during the dispute, Christ suddenly appeared among the
crowd, rebuked the multitude, gently chided the unbe-

18*

210 CHAPTER IV.

lief of the lather, and then healed his son. (Mark, ix

This defective power of the disciples Christ afterwards
Great faith explained, ascribing it to the deficiency of
needed. their faith ; and the deficiency of their faith to

the want of that collectedness and devotion which are ex-
pressed by fasting and prayer : the whole lesson being
intended to impress on their minds that they were not yet
fully prepared for the duties of their ministry — duties
which required, in an eminent degree, self-renunciation and
trust.

Another lesson was taught, no less impressively, in
Teaches by an another form. Though Christ had repeatedly
tyof acMdlike discouraged tie earthly conceptions which His
disposition. disciples had formed of His reign, their hopes
in this respect were not yet eradicated. As an evidence of
such expectations, tinged as they often were with some-
thing even worse than erroneous thoughts, the disciples dis-
puted, on their way back to Capernaum, who was most
active in their Master's service, and who should, therefore,
have the first place in His kingdom. (Mark ix. 33-37.)
"When they reached the town, Christ asked them on what
subject they had disputed by the way, intending that the
very shame of answering His question should be a suffi-
cient rebuke. Nor did he say more ; but proceeded, by a
very significant act, to show them the impropriety of their
contention, and the spirit which they must cherish under
His authority : " He is greatest," said He in effect, "who
is most childlike and unassuming ; nor is it, in religious
acts, the action itself which gives worth, but the motive
and spirit of the actor;" "to receive, therefore, a little
child in my name, is to receive even me." A principle
that destroys all pride, for it measures acts by their mo«
tives, and motives by their humility.

§ 3. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 211

On a later occasion, when a similar question was dis-
cussed. Christ laid down the rule that those are

' Activity and

greatest in His kingdom, who are most labori- humility tests

43 ° of greatness.

ous and humble : " He that is greatest among
you, let him be your servant." (Matt, xxiii. 11.)

The principle that things are to be estimated by the
motive in which they are done, suggests a question to
John's mind which brings out another lesson. " We saw
men," said he, " casting out devils in thy name, and we
forbad them, for they followed not us;" but Noeffortin
Christ says, "Forbid them not; for no man Christ's name

* ' ' to be con-

that does miracles in my name, can lightly demnedwith-

J out reason.

speak evil of me." (Mark ix. 38-40.) This
act may have proceeded from inward opposition, and then
the principle applies — he that is not with me is against me.
But it may have proceeded from inward affinity, and some
measure of reverence which may lead to full discipleship ;
and then — he that is not against us is on our part. At all
events, forbid them not. Test acts by their motives, and
so tested, there seems no reason why in this case they
should be condemned.

Another lesson He had to teach them. The disciples
remembered the scenes of the transfiguration, Unhoiy zeai
and the character of Christ had since appeared condemncd-
to them more glorious than before. In passing through a
village of the Samaritans, the people had formally rejected
Him ; and the disciples, reminded, probably, by what they
had witnessed, or perhaps by the locality in which they
then were, of the example of Elijah, asked permission to
call down fire from heaven to destroy these despisers — a
request that Christ immediately rebuked. " The way of
tne Son of Man," said he, " is different ; through rejection,
rather than through judgment, He is to pass to His glory ;
He came not to destroy men's lives, but to TheSonofMa»
save them." " And they went," it is added, " to came t0 save'

212 CHAPTER IV.

another village." (Luke ix. 51.) Whether ncre is the
greater, the patience or the zeal ; the unwearied diligence,
or the inexhaustible endurance — we need not decide.
Christ is equally perfect ; in meekness as our model, and
in activity as our Redeemer.

Mercy finally rejected, however, is followed ultimately
but win finally bv judgment; and, therefore, before leaving
judge. ^jg district, He began to upbraid those cities

in which His mighty works were done, because they
repented not. (Matt. xi. 20-24. His first advent was only
to save ; His second will be both to save and to condemn.

90. After again annouucing His approaching decease,

Finally leaves aild giving instructions to His ApOStleS in

uaiiiee. reference to the spirit which is to be cherished

by all His followers, (Matt, xviii.,) He takes His final leave
of Galilee, and goes up to Jerusalem.

Samaria He takes by the way, sending seventy of His
The seventy disciples into the various villages and towns
sent out. 0f ^hat district, to proclaim the approach ol

His kingdom.

91. It was now eighteen months since Christ had visited

the capital ; the interval he had employed in

Goes up to Je- , . .

rusaiem pn- preaching in Galilee, and in training the Apos-
tles for their work. Now, however, He re-
solved again to visit it ; partly to confirm the impressions
which His previous labors had produced, and partly to
avoid the imputation that He feared to give evidence of
His mission in the presence of the Sanhedrim. As it was
His pule to "deal prudently," He determined (though
against the remonstrances of His family) to go up privately,
and to app#ar suddenly in the city, before the Chief Priests
had timt to take measures for seizing His person.

After His relatives, therefore, had left Galilee, He him-
self set out for Jerusalem, and arrived about the middle of
.he feast : the feast was that of Tabernacles, and the time,

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 213

the month* of October. In Jerusalem and its neighborhood
He remained till the feast of Dedication, held in the mid-
dle of the following December.

92. Already great anxiety had been expressed in the
city for His reappearance, and the most oppo-

. . iTT TT, „, Christ's address

site opinions were held concerning Him. lhe at Jerusalem,
charge of Sabbath breaking, which had been
urged against Him eighteen months before, and since
through Galilee by the Pharisees and their friends, was still
fresh in the public mind, and Christ found it necessary
again to explain His conduct. (John vii. 11-24.

On hearing His defence, the people expressed great
surprise that one uneducated taught so well; "but my
teaching," said He in explanation, " is not mine, but his
that sent me :" as you yourselves might also

7 J J ° Desire to learn

know, had you the heart and the desire (dtteiv) essential to

knowledge.

to learn, (ver. IT.)

This boldness still further surprises them ; and they ask
whether, as the Scribes had not laid hands upon Him, they
really knew that He was the Messiah ; but they themselves
answer the question by affirming, that, as they know whence
Jesus is, He cannot be the Christ, who is to reveal him-
self suddenly and in His glory, (ver. 27.)

on • i • . , ,,. , Christ known

Christ refutes their reasoning, by telling them and not
that they both know Him and know Him not ;
real knowledge requiring obedience and love.

The Pharisees then attempt to take Him, but Chris*
warns them that, before long, they shall seek him and no+
find Him ; the Jews maliciously interpreting His words to
imply that He was about to publish His Gospel to the
Gentiles. (John vii. 34, 35.)

Christ then announces Himself as the living water, and
as the true light of the world ; foretells in mysterious terms
His own death ; (John vii. 3t, 38 ;) affirms that the free-
dom He comes to proclaim was not from the Roman yoke,

214 CHAPTER IV.

but from sin, and that truth was the great instrument of
imparting it ; that in their hatred of truth they proved
themselves to be no true children of Abraham, their
boasted progenitor, but children of the devil. " Him,"
adds He, " whom Abraham longed for, ye seek to destroy."

93. These announcements on the part of our Lord
The feeling of elicited different expressions of feeling. Some
the crowd. ga^ ^hat jje wag a (jaiiiean j some that He

was a Samaritan, and had a devil ; many believed, think-
ing Him " a good man," or " a prophet," or even " the
Christ ;" but at the close the crowds cried out : " He hath
a devil," and took stones to stone him. (John viii. 48 ;
vii. 12-40; viii. 59.)

94. During these popular discussions the Pharisees were
Movements of n°t idle. After the failure of their officers to
the Sanhedrim. take Qhrig^ the Sanhedrim met, and discussed
what steps should be taken in reference to Him. Some
thought that He had broken the law and was a blasphemer.
Others (among whom Nicodeinus was one) thought that
He ought not to be condemned unheard ; and at length
they seem to have resolved that, though no decisive judg-
ment should be pronounced upon Him, it should be punish-
able for any one apart from the authority of the Sanhe-
drim, to acknowledge Him as the Messiah. (John vii. 52 ;
ix. 22.

95. They attempted in the meantime to entrap Him by

the case of a woman taken in adultery. If He
taken in adui- had excused her, they would have appealed to

His decision as evidence of His contempt for
the law ; and if He had condemned her, her death would
have made Him amenable to the civil power. (John viii.
3—11.) His reply to their questions is as just as it is
ingenious. The lesson to her accusers, and to the woman
nerself, and Christ's defence of the law, are equally com-
plete.

§ 4. DISCOURSES IN GALILEE AND JUD^A. 215

96. As the cure of the impotent man, on the occasion of
Christ's previous visit to Jerusalem, had pro- The blind man
duced such results, our Lord now performs a healed-
similar miracle, healing on the sabbath day a man born
blind. He first corrects the interpretation which the dis-
ciples were disposed to put upon the man's affliction, and
then healed him ; first curing his physical blindness, and
then giving him to understand His own character and
truth. I must work (said our Lord in explanation of this
miracle) while the time of my personal ministry lasts (" the
day"), for the end of my labors (" the night") approaches,
when no man can work ; while I am in the world, I am
the light of the world. (John ix. 4, 5.)

By the gradual progress of the cure our Lord taught
important spiritual lessons.

A great sensation was produced by this miracle ; and
the Sanhedrim attempted to corrupt, or to alarm the blind
man, to induce him to deny the reality of the miracle, or
the true character of Him who had performed it. With
all courtesy and firmness, however, he maintained the truth,
stating the fact in the simplest terms, but in such a form
as implied that he deemed Christ no common man. In the
end they cast him out — the first decisive public act of the
rulers against our Lord.

97. Our Lord afterwards lays hold of this history — the
miracle and its results — as an instance of the

T-^. T Lessons taugb

two opposite tendencies of His teaching. I by this bis-

tory.

am come into this world," says He, " that they
who see not, might see, and that they who see might be
made blind :" a principle spiritually fulfilled in this case,
and in all time. (John ix. 39.) Wheresoever the truth of
Christ operates among men, the blind are made to see, and
the seeing become blind ; the grace and the condemnation
go hand in hand.

216 CHAPTER IV.

m

98. This treatment of the poor blind man, and the gene-
Christ the good ra^ conduct of the Pharisees, prepare the way
shepherd. for ^q beautiful parable of the good shepherd.
Ctrist is Himself set forth as the divinely-appointed leader
of His people ; His voice harmonizes with the divine draw-
ing within ; they know it, and admit Him, and he knows
them and their wants ; and, as they need, supplies them all.

Contrasted with Him is the hireling and the thief — the
Contrasted second sacrificing to wholly selfish ends the in-

SJaSftKT" terests of tbe flock; ancl the first without

thief. courage to risk much for their good. " But I,"

says our Lord, " know my sheep, and am known of mine ;
and I lay down my life for the sheep.11 (John x. 14-16.)

With this view of His self-sacrifice before Him, His
thoughts glance to that greater development of His king-
Corn which that sacrifice is to introduce. "And other
sheep I have which are not of this flock ;" souls ready for
His truth among other nations. " Them also," he adds,
" I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there
shall be one flock and one shepherd."
• 99. Slightly varying the picture, He tells them, more-
over, that He is not only the shepherd, but the

Christ the doo ;. . . ,

door of the flock. By him men enter into the
fold. Entering by Him men find safety, "they shall be
saved j" liberty, "they shall go in and out;" plenty, "and
they shall find pasture." Freedom, sufficiency, and salva-
tion are combined in Christ ; and all are imparted to those
who believe.

100. To the wo/V.ly-mmded hearers of our Lord these

words conveyed no meaning. Instead of inspi-

All deemed hy . , ,-t • i

the people ex- ratior, they saw in them nothing but extrava-
ga^re. " He hath a devil," said they, "and
is mad." But others were irresistibly attracted to Him.
They heard words which no other man could utter, and
they saw icurte which no other man could do. On another

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 21 *

occasion during this same visit, His words became yet
more decided. (John x. 22-42.)

101. New divisions arose; the life of Christ was every
day endangered, and His ministry disturbed ; Chri8t retire8
He therefore left Jerusalem, and went with intoPenea-
His disciples into Persea.

102. During the two months Christ remained in the neigh-
borhood of Jerusalem, He delivered the para-
ble of the good Samaritan (Luke x.) ; visited

Martha and Mary at Bethany ; a second time taught the
disciples to pray, and received the report of the seventy,
who were now returned from their mission into Samaria.
(Luke x.)* Our Lord's remarks on receiving this reporf
are highly instructive.

103. Christ's stay in Persea was shortened by a message
from the family at Bethany. With this family, Recalled to Be
who resided within a mile and a half of Jeru- thany-
salem, Christ seems to have formed, during his protracted
visit to the city, a close and affectionate intimacy ; and it
is expressly said, " that Jesus loved them." The brother
of the family was taken ill, and the sisters sent messengers
into Peraea (about two days' journey) to inform our Lord
of their affliction. Our Lord replied by informing their
messenger that Lazarus should not be separated from his
sisters by death; and having dismissed him, Christ remained
for two days longer in the district to which He had gone.
In the meantime Lazarus died. Christ announced the fact
of his death to the disciples, and then proposed to go to
Bethany and visit him. This resolution alarmed the dis-

* This is the order of Wieseler and Robinson, and seems on the
whole to agree best with the history. Neander supposes that our Lord
spent part of the interval between the feast of Tabernacles and the
feast of the Dedication iu Galilee, and that He there received the report
of the seventy. Though adopting this arrangement, however, he seem?
to prefer the order given above.

19

218 CHAPTER IY.

ciples ; who had not forgotten the hostility of the Sanhe-
drim, and Thomas deemed the result so hopeless, that he
supposed their return to Jerusalem identical with a resolu-
tion to die with their friend. (John xi. 7—15.) Christ,
however, proceeds to dispel their fears. He reminds them
that they still had His personal guidance, and that walking
in His light they were secure.

104. He returns at length to Bethany; the anxieties of

the sisters are calmed. Jesus weeps at the
grave of His friend, and offers audibly His
prayer and thanksgiving to His Father ; not for His own
sake, or as if this prayer and answer were something pecu-
liar, but for the sake of the Jews ; and closes the scene by
raising the dead man from his grave. (John xi.) The
miracle is so striking, that the disciples had their faith
strengthened, and many, even of the Jews, believed.

105. The narrative of this chapter is one of the most
„ . , touching and instructive in Scripture, as a re-

Christ the re- ° # L

surrectioa and velation in relation to Christ, and in relation

the life. '

to individual experience. Here, for the firsl
time, He is himself clearly revealed as "the resurrection
and life." Parables and particular passages had involvea
this truth — here it is stated plainly, under circumstances
peculiarly affecting.

The Resurrection and the Life ! He has announced it.
He is himself the pledge of it. It is to His death we owe
it. It is His power that achieves it. Mark how these
thoughts are illustrated in different parts of Scripture.
" Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming when they
that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of
man, and shall come forth." " God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He hath loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ."
" Since by man came death, by man came also the resur-
rection of the dead." "The first man is of the earth

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDJEA. 219

earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven ; and as
we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly." " This is the will of Him
that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and be-
lieveth on Him, may have everlasting life ; and I will raise
him up at the last day." "lam the resurrection and the
life." "Lo! this is our God ; we have waited for Him
we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation." (John v. 28
Eph. ii. 4 5; 1 Cor. xv. 21, 47-49; John vi. 40; xi. 25
Is. xxv. 9.)

106. Looking at the fifteenth verse of the chapter, how
instructive to notice the facts it contains. LflFsons iu re.
Christ's movements regulated by regard for chSS/sVo-
the welfare of His disciples ; all done for the cecdmss-
increase of their faith — the quality on which, mainly,
Christian excellence depends — all done in a way contrary
to their hopes ; (" If thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died;") one disciple suffering for the benefit of his
brethren : Christ, never too confident of His power, nor
too late in His movements ("Let us go unto him").
These are truths illustrated in every Christian's life, but
never more impressively than in this touching history.

107. The raising of Lazarus exerted an important influ-
ence in hastening the final catastrophe of the

° - L The influence

life of our Lord. On the one hand, it led of this miracle

, . -ion *'ie move-

many to believe ; and, on the other, it induced ments of the

, . Sanhedrim.

the ruling party to take active measures against
Him. They were satisfied that their sentence of excom-
munication against His followers had failed, and they began
to fear, that if they let Him alone, all men would believe.
A meeting of the Sanhedrim was therefore summoned, and
the most turbulent race that ever lived made the peace of
the state their plea for decisive measures. " If this thing-
go on," said they, " the people will proclaim Him king, and
the Romans will come and take away our place and nation."

220 CHAPTER IV.

(John xi. 48-50.) Caiaphas, the high priest, concurring in
this view, decided (in language of prophetic import) that
it was better that one should die for all, than that the
nation should perish." It was therefore resolved, on pre-
tence of the safety of the state, that Jesus must die ; and
an order was issued for seizing His person, in the event
of His attending the coming festival of the Passover.

08. After this decision Christ retired again to Pera^a,
Christ retiree where great multitudes followed Him. Many
again to Peraea. miracles were wrought by Him during this
journey, and the details of a few are recorded. His chief
teaching, however, was by parables. The whole narrative
is instructive, and may be found between the thirteenth
and nineteenth chapters of Luke. Twice, during those
four months, He foretells His own death : first, as recorded
in Luke xiii. 33 ; again, in Luke xviii. 31-35 ; in the
second case, with most remarkable minuteness and pathos.
Again also, a third time, in reply to the ambitious request
of the mother of James and John, where He speaks of His
baptism of suffering, and of His giving His life " a ransom
for many ;" an expression which itself suggests the vica-
rious and atoning character of His death. (Matt. xx. 28.)

109. In relation to the law, Christ taught, as we have

seen, its spirituality and its comprehensiveness.

In relation to . . _ ' _

the law, obedi- It is summed up in love — love to God and

G11CG is lOYC

love to man ; and its requirements can be
fulfilled by no other obedience. We are now prepared to
appreciate the meaning and significancy of faith.

110. In relation to Himself, Christ teaches, as we now

see, that He is the Saviour of our race, the

In relation to

Christ, owi- hope of the guilty, the bread of the perishing"

ence is faith. r ° J ' r b>

the life of the dead ; that to save us He gives
His life for ours, and that to profit by His work we need
to believe. The nature of the relation of His death to our
salvation belongs properly to another place ; the truth to

§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 221

be noticed here, is the connection between salvation and
faith.

111. All the blessings of the Gospel are represented as

depending upon this principle. Is sin can-

AU blessings „ , „

dependent on celled ? Are we accepted as though we were
guiltless ? " Being justified by faith, we have
peace with God." Are we exhorted to be holy ? We must
be "sanctified by faith that is in Christ." Do we need
consolation ? " In Him believing we rejoice with joy un-
speakable and full of glory." Do we live ? It is " by the
faith of the Son of God." Do we walk ? "We walk by
faith." Do we stand? "We stand by faith." Do we
conquer? " This is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith." In a word, without it there is no salva-
tion. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved." It is to man all that Christ is ; for It is t0 m.m al,
it is by faith only that we accept Him for the tbat Christ is
purposes which He is sent to accomplish. He is God's
unspeakable gift, therefore receive Him. He is the refuge
of the guilty, enter into Him. He is the prophet, listen to
His voice. He is priest — trust His sacrifice. He is king
— obey His commands. He is our brother man — cherish
towards Him a brother's love. He is the mighty God,
reverence and adore Him. These feelings are faith, and
by faith we are saved.

112. Unbelief, on the other hand, is the damning sin.
All else may be forgiven, but not this. It is

' . . . Unbeliefthe

contempt of Divine law; "for this is God's condemuing
•' commandment, that we should believe on the
Dame of His Son, Jesus Christ." (1 John iii. 23.) It is
the denial of the truth of God ; of His wisdom and love.
It involves the rejection of mercy and the exclusion of
hope. " He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy
under two or three witnesses ; of how much sorer punish-
ment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath

10*

222 CHAPTER IV.

trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an
unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace."
" He that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 16 ;
Heb. x. 28, 29.)

Sect. 5. — Teaching by Parables.

113. Some few weeks before our Lord fed the five thou-
sand, and delivered His discourse in the syna-

poY»oTjipc first

gogue of Capernaum, but many months after used by our
the commencement of His ministry, He seems
to have introduced a new and very favorite form of teach-
ing ; new to Him, but very familiar to Jewish teachers.
We refer to His parables.

114. The advantage of this kind of teaching is, that it

tests men's dispositions, (Matt. xiii. 13.) and

Advantage of .

this kind of is well adapted to give a figurative exhibition

teaching. L & °

of truth before it is intended clearly to reveal
it. It is often useful, moreover, in gaining a man's judg-
ment against himself; and even where there is no need of
concealment, it attracts the attention of men, who might
otherwise have remained indifferent. It is for one or other
of these purposes that the parable is employed with such
frequency by our Lord.

115. For the interpretation of these parables, one or

two rules may be mentioned as important-
Rules for the
interpretation It may be gathered from the place which

this form of teaching occupies in His public
ministry, that parables must never be made the first or
sole ground of doctrine. Doctrines otherwise proved may
be illustrated or confirmed by them, but beyond this we
must not go. It is a modification of this rule, that what-
ever in them is abstruse must be interpreted according to
those parts of Scripture which are plain.

The great rules of interpretation are: Ascertain the

§ 5. TEACHING BY PARABLES. 223

scope, either by reference to the context or to parable pas-
sages ; seize the one truth which the parallel is intended
to set forth, and let those parts of the parable which are
explained be explained in harmony with it. Any inter-
pretation of a particular part which is not consistent with
the great truth which the whole represents, or which does
not tend to elucidate it, reject ; and even of doctrines
which are consistent with the general design, no one must
be received that does not agree with the clear revelations
of Scripture.

116. How far the different parts of a parable may be
interpreted and applied, is an interesting How farall the
question. From the specimens of parable in- ^ertsaJg gjJJSJl
terpretation which are given in Scripture, it cant
may be gathered that we must avoid both the extreme of
supposing that only the general design is to be regarded,
and the extreme of insisting upon every clause as having a
double and spiritually significant meaning. In the parable
of the sower, for example, which our Lord himself inter-
preted, the moral application descends to the minutest par-
ticulars. (Matt. xiii. 4T.) The birds, the stony ground, the
thorns have all their meaning; and, as Tholuck has re-
marked, it may be said generally, that the similitude of a
parable is perfect in proportion as it is on all sides rich in
practical applications. In the parables of the tares and of
the unjust steward, again, not all the circumstances are
explained. "While men slept," in the first, (Matt. xiii. 25,)
and the phrase " I cannot dig, and to beg I am ashamed,"
in the second, have neither of them any application in the
inspired explanation of our Lord. (Luke xvi. 3.)

Provided, however, we keep in view the great lesson of
a parable, and interpret all its parts in harmony with that
lesson, there is little danger of our abusing this form of
instruction. If it be abused, the habit of mind which such
a practice tends to strengthen must prove mischievous ;

224 CHAPTER IV.

t

either leading into serioas errors, or tempting ns to leave
uncultivated one of the richest fields of Scriptural study.

117. We come now to the first parable. Our Lord's first
miracle taught the superiority of His Gospel as compared
with the law ; His first discourse, the nature and require-
ments of His kingdom, and the means of its establishment.
Christ's first His first parable is also, in its own way,
parable. solemn and appropriate.

It was spoken in Galilee. An atrocious act of Pilate's
which had excited attention at the time, induced some of
our Lord's hearers to ask His opinion upon it ; hinting,
probably, that as the blood of the murdered Galileans had
been mingled with their sacrifices, they had been guilty of
some enormous sin. Christ rebuked this uncharitable
spirit ; reminded them that in the chastisement which had
overtaken others, they might see an image of the chastise-
ment that might one day overtake themselves ; and inti-
mated that however true it might be that the sufferings of
the human race are the consequence of transgression, par-
ticular individual suffering may not be the consequence of
individual sin. Such events (he shows thein by another
instance) are rather calls to repentance to those who are
spared, than evidences of the special anger of God or of
the peculiar guilt of the sufferers. (Luke xiii. 1-9.)

After this warning he again brings the side of grace
prominently forward ; and while he represents the punish-
ment of neglected opportunity as certain, he reminds them
that punishment is deferred that men may turn and live.

His first parable, therefore, teaches the long-suffering

and severity of God. In the world, as a fig-tree in a

vineyard, the Jewish people were established

Its meaning. x A

that they might bear fruit to God's glory.
Fruit they were to bear, the organic produce, that is, of
the inner life ; not something growing as an excresence, or
merely attached from without. On coming to seek fcr this

§ 5 TEACHING BY PARABLES. 225

fruit, the owner found none ; poisonous fruit (tpyo nov^d)
he might have found; withered fruit ("pya v$xpd), fruit fair
perchance in appearance, but not of living growth, he
might also have found ; but good fruit Qpya xaxa, ipya
ayol^a) there was none. For three years — a time quite
sufficient to have exhausted His patience and prove the
nature of the tree ; or perhaps intimating by this expression
that under three dispensations He, the great proprietor,
had visited them, that of the law, that of the prophets and
His own ; or again by the appeals of natural law, and of
written law, and now, last of all, of His gospel — for three
years (at all events) have I come, says He, seeking fruit
and finding none. " Cut it down ; for why should it, in ad-
dition to its worthlessness, injure and impoverish the
ground" (xatapyd xal t-qv yr>v)1 At the request of the
dresser of the vineyard, however, it is spared for another
year, and the interval is spent in digging around and ma-
nuring ; in the appliance, in short, of all those means
which in God's dealings with man are generally multiplied
immediately before they are forever withdrawn.

And such is the general principle of God's procedure
Before the flood the world had Noah, a

The general

preacher of righteousness ; and one hundred principle in-

1 ' volved.

and twenty years were allowed them to return.
Before the catastrophe of the captivity the Jews had most
of their greatest prophets, who for many years warned and
instructed them. Before the final destruction of Jerusalem,
they had the ministry of Christ and his apostles.

How affecting that God should thus threaten, that He
may not chastise, and chastise that He may

Lessons.

not condemn. Postponements of judgment
are intended as mercies ; but they may be abused to the
aggravation of our guilt. As God thus deals with nations,
so He deals with individual inquirers. All abused privi-
lege will ultimately magnify divine love and justice : love

226 CHAPTER IV.

in bestowing it, and justice in the consequent ruin that our
abuse of it will have incurred.

118. The significance of this parable is increased by

comparing it with one of those which our Lord
one of his latest delivered during the few last days of His life.

Here it is the fig-tree to which the Jews are
compared ; a tree not generally planted in vineyards, but
suffered to grow in the hedge, and even there expected to be
fruitful. (Luke xiii. T.) In the other parable the tree is the
vine, which seems chosen to represent the value of the plant,
and the care required in cultivating it.* (Luke xx. 9.) The
image is also in frequent use in the Old Testament, so that
it is doubly appropriate ; itself familiar and connecting the
two dispensations.")" There, too, the husbandman is the
planter as well as owner, and the whole is let out to vine
dressers. It was solemnly entrusted to them, and they
were to bring a proportion of its fruit in its season. He
afterwards sent his servants to receive his share ; but one
they slew, and another they ill treated, till at length he
was constrained to send his own son, his only son, his well-
beloved : phrases all intended to indicate, as strongly as
possible, the difference between him and the servants he
had previously sent — the worth, and dignity, and dearness
of his person. "And when the husbandmen saw him, they
said, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and the inherit-
ance will be ours; and they cast him out of the vineyard
('without the gate'), and slew him."

The moral and the application are immediate. The
three evangelists all notice the exasperation of the Pha-
risees and Scribes (the vine-dressers of the parable); and
Christ only stays to intimate, by a change of the figure,
that after all the purpose of God will be achieved; the

* Nulla possessiopretiosior, nulla majorem operas r^uirens.
•f Deut. xxxii.; Ps. lxxx. ; Isa. v. ; xxvii. ; Jer. ii. ; TCzek xy.

§ 2. TEACHING BY PARABLES. 227

vineyard will yet yield its fruit, and the rejected stone be-
come the head of the corner.

Among the first and last parables, therefore, which our
Lord spoke, were two in which He set forth man's profit-
lessness and guilt, God's severity and love ; truths at the
foundation of our faith.

119. The whole of the parables of our Lord belong
more or less completely to the doctrine of His Parabies divid.
kingdom ; and they may be arranged so as to ^JCSSE
exhibit its progress, its peculiarities, and its Jf* k[n|dom°f
final development. of God.

1. Parables on the progress of the kingdom of Christ.

The sower. Matt. xiii. 3; Luke viii. 5; Mark iv. 3.

The tares. Matt. xiii. 24.

The mustard seed. Matt. xiii. 31 ; Mark iv. 31; Luke xiii. 18, 19.

The leaven. Matt, xiii. 33 ; Luke xiii. 20, 21.

The hidden treasure. Matt. xiii. 44.

The pearl. Matt. xiii. 45, 46.

The net. Matt. xiii. 47

2. Call to enter the kingdom of Christ.

The feast. Luke xiv. 16-24.

The royal marriage. Matt. xxii. 1-14.

3. Moral requisites for entering the kingdom * f Christ.

A. Anti-pharisaic.

The lost sheep. Matt, xviii. 12 ; Luke xv. 4,

The lost piece of money. Luke xv. 10.

The prodigal son. Luke xv. 11-22.

Strife for the first places at feasts. Luke xiv. 7-11.

B. Positive requisites.

The sower. Matt. xiii. 3-23.

The wedding garment. Matt. xxii. 12.

The two sons. Matt. xxi. 28. *

The tower and the warring king. Luke xiv. 28-33.

4. The true spirit of the kingdom of Christ.

A. Forgiveness and love.

The good Samaritan. Luke x. 25-37.

The unforgiving servant. Matt, xviii. 23; Luke vii. 41

228 CHAPTER IV.

B. Prayer.

The importunate friend. Luke xi.
The importunate widow. Luke xviii. 1.

c. The right use of worldly possessions.
The rich fool. Luke xii. 7, 16-21.
The unjust steward. Luke xvi. 1-13.
The rich man and Lazarus. Luke xvi. 19-31.

D. The Spirit of the kingdom under the character of prudence and
watchfulness.
The householder. Matt. xxiv. 45-51.
The ten virgins. Matt. xxv.
The pounds. Luke xix. 2-28 ; Matt. xxv.

5. Activity in the kingdom of Christ.

a. Its source.

The vine. John xv. 1.

The barren fig-tree. Luke xiii. 6.

The wicked vine-dressers. Matt. xxi. 33-41.

The talents. Matt. xxv. 14-30.

B. Favor independent of works.

The laborers. Matt. xx. 1-16.
c. Duties belonging to man, results to God.

The ripening corn. Mark iv. 26.

We but indicate the significance and meaning of these
parables. No paraphrase can exhaust or fairly represent
them. They may be studied and restudied. There is
nothing more profound or instructive in all the teachings of
our Lord.

120. There are two peculiarities more in these parables
Each parable which need to be understood, in order that we
JSSriSJo? ma>T Justly appreciate them. Most of them
truth. exhibit but partial views of truth, some phase

or corner, and not the whole ; we must therefore compare
them — and some of them are prophetic.

The parable of the ten virgins, for example, sets forth

the duty of a waiting Christian. (Matt, xxv.)

The five wise are those who are prudently and

thoughtfully conscious of their responsibilities and office

§ 5. TEACHING BY PARABLE?. 229

(ppoptpoi). The five foolish have only an external profes-
sion of Christian life ; life in outward manifestation only,
not fed from any internal fountain. There is in both,
even among the faithful, a certain acquiescence in present
things ; though between the two classes there is the wide
distinction, that the case of the wise is remediable, while
that of the unwise is without remedy.

Comparing this parable with the marriage of the king's
son, where the unworthy guest actually finds Hence the im.
admission to the marriage supper, and is only JJm^n?
thence cast out, (Matt, xxii 1-14,) we gather them'
that there is a church on earth with a feast of blessings, as
well as a church in heaven, and that some will be found in
the one, and not in the other.

Comparing this parable of the virgins with the parable
of the ten talents which immediately follows it, we gather
that Christians are not only to wait for Christ, but to
work for Him ; and that not only is decay and declension
in the spiritual life condemned, but also sloth and idleness
in our outward and earthly engagements. The two com-
pared may also suggest, that the contemplative and the
active character make up the complete Christian ; and that
the one element may predominate in one man, and the
other in another.

Comparing the two parables of Matthew and Luke, other
minor instructive facts appear. (Matt. xxv. ; Luke xix.)
To every man these talents were given according to his
individual ability ; the privileges of grace not destroying
the peculiarities of personal character, nor bringing all to
the same standard, but rather filling the vessel which is
formed by the natural gift.

In Matthew the faithful servant says : " Behold I have
gained ;" while in Luke his language is, " Thy pound
hath gained :" the two accounts making up the acknow-
ledgment of Paul, " I, yet not I, but the grace of Christ

20

230 CHAPTER IV.

in me." The servant who is punished, moreover, is not
one who, like the unjust steward, has wasted his master's
goods. Nor has he spent his portion in riotous living like
the Prodigal. Nor was he ten thousand talents in debt,
like the unmerciful servant. Still his guilt was great and
peculiar ; and the lesson taught is, that men are answerable
not only for positive sin, but for the neglect of privilege.
The pound wrapped in the napkin, and the talent hid in
the earth, are subjects of just condemnation.

Nor is it undeserving of notice, that while the virgins
sinned through over-confidence, the man with the one talent
sinned through distrust. To doubt our Lord's forgiving
love, and his gracious acceptance of our work, with all its
faults, if done from a true heart, is itself sinful, and the
cause of sin ; as powerful a cause perhaps as the excessive
confidence, and consequent indifference of his sleeping
church. To both classes Scripture has words of counsel ;
to the second, "Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling" (Phil. ii. 12) ; and to the first, " Ye are
not come unto the mount that might not be touched, and
that burned with fire ; nor unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest. . . . But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and
unto the city of the living God .... and to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprink-
ling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Heb.
xii. 18-24.)

What a fearful picture does this parable of the talents
give us of the condemned sinner, half-cowering and half-
defying; and even on his own ground how justly is he
condemned ! The opportunities and the place which he
had left unused, and has therefore forfeited, God (as His
rule is) hands over to another. And not only ip the talent
forfeited, but the unprofitable servant is himseK cast into
outer darkness. While within there is joy, and light, and
feasting, to celebrate the master's return, the darkness

§ 5. TEACHING BY PARABLES. 231

without is his portion, the blessedness he might have gained
forever lost.

Study, therefore, the truths and the parables of the
Gospel as a whole. So shall we gain juster conceptions
of their meaning, and a clearer insight into the love and
wisdom which the Bible reveals.

121. The second peculiarity of the parables of Christ, is
their prophetic character. They contain de-
scriptions both of the past and of the future ; times Pro-me
of human nature in all time, and of the pre- P *
gress and development of the kingdom of God.

The parables of the thirteenth of Matthew, for example,
are individually highly instructive ; and they are no less
so in their connection as embodying a complete history of
the church.

In the first parable, that of the sower, we have the his-
tory of the commencement of the Gospel. It

-, . ,. n. o, . , , __. Illustrated in

is descriptive of our saviours own work ; His the parables
instructions scattering the seed of the kingdom
by every mountain, and stream, and city of His native land,
with most diversified results. Some heard, but History of the
understood not His sayings. Others heard ohurch-
with joy, and gave some fair promise of blossom and fruit ;
but the seed perished because it had no root, no fixed vital
principle in them. In others the seed was choked by the
cares of the world, or by stealthy attachment to its plea-
sures. Others, again, received it, and bore fruit, thirty,
sixty, or an hundred fold : a distinction of character re-
tained throughout Scripture, which tells us that there are
little children, and young men, and fathers in Christ, (1
John ii. 13,) as there are in the world the ungodly, the
sinner, and the scornful.

And this fulfillment might have been witnessed and
studied in the lifetime of our Lord. He well said to His

232 CHAPTER IV.

disciples : " Know ye not this parable ; how then can ye
know all parables?" (Mark iv. 13.)

In the parable of the tares, He gives the history of the
church in the ages immediately following His own. Cor-
ruption and evil sprang up almost as early as truth, and
ripened more quickly.*

The third parable exhibits the rapid growth of the visible
church. The .seed speedily becomes a tree, so strong, that
others made it their shelter : " The birds of the air came
and dwelt in the branches thereof."

This union was found signally unfavorable to the purity
of truth. At first the visible church had been well nigh
identical with the invisible ; but now whole nations are
nominally converted in one day ; and at length, in the dark
ages, the most fearful crimes are perpetrated under the
name, and with the sanction of what was called religion.

Even then, however, the true spirit existed somewhere,
though dormant. In the mass, however lifeless, there was
concealed a little leaven, working unseen, still retaining its
energy and power, and gradually assimilating the lump to
itself. In the fullness of time (as the fourth parable teaches)
the whole will be leavened, and the earth will be filled with
the knowledge of the Lord.

But how is this result to be achieved ? A question
answered in the fifth and sixth parables of this chapter.

Some will find the truth who have not sought it, and
these are the accidental treasure-finders. Others will find
it as the result of diligent search.

The fifth parable represents the man who stumbles
unexpectedly upon the Gospel, and recognizes its worth.
His judgment and his feelings are all interested in the dis-

* The seeds of corruption were sown secretly ; unworthy members
being admitted unawares. The evil is confined to no age ; but requires
habitual watchfulness in our own. " While men slept, the enemy came
and sowed tares." J. N. B.

§ 5. TEACHING BY rABABLES. 233

eovery. So is it with the converted prodigal, with the
man reclaimed by some awakening dispensation of the
providences of God, or by the earnest address of the
preacher. So was it with the Reformation of the sixteenth
century. So also with the revivals of true religion in
modern times, with all epidemic movements of piety (if they
may be so called) as distinguished from the earnest perse-
vering spirit which the next parable suggests. Nor is it
insignificant to notice, that the man who thus lights upon
truth, buys the field in which the treasure is found. Cap-
tivated with religion and the blessings it confers, he finds
at first a difficulty in distinguishing between the accidental
and the real ; between its adjuncts and its essentials. In
time he is able to say, " Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ;" (Eph. vi. 24 ;) but
this sentiment is the fruit of expanded charity; and his
first feeling is somewhat exclusive and restricted.

The sixth parable describes another class of converts,
already pretty numerous in our age, and likely to be
largely augmented — the truth-seeker; the merchantman
dealing in goodly pearls. It is his business to seek the
goodliest. Continuously and determinately he employs
his skill. At length he succeeds ; and, finding true piety,
the kingdom of God, to be the pearl of great price, he
secures it with no less firmness and decision than the trea-
sure-finder, but with less boisterous joy ; and with the
advantage of purchasing only the pearl, not also the field
that contained it.

The unity and the love of the last days of the church
will depend much on the general diffusion in our age of
intelligent piety. The careless and the ignorant may be
surprised into the Gospel, and be blessed and saved by it j
but they are not likely to take the Gospel only. There
are sure to be in their faith human admixtures of prejudice,

20*

234 CHAPTER IV.

of party feeling. The' age of pearl-seeders will be the
brighest for the church.

The last parable closes the scene : it foretells the univer-
sal spread of the Gospel, and intimates that not till the
end of the dispensation will the separation of the wicked
and the holy be complete.

The whole of the parables, it will be noticed, admit and
receive a beautiful personal application to individual cha-
racter ; but they are, in the opinion of many thoughtful
men, no less applicable to distinct eras in the history cf
the church.*

122. Especially does this prophetic character belong 1j
Prophetic para- the later parables of our Lord: the laboreis
bles* in the vineyard, the ten pounds, the wicked

husbandmen, the marriage of the king's son, the ten vir-
gins, and the talents — all spoken within the last days of
His life — contain intimation of His second coming ; and
some of them of the decisions of the judgment.

* Alexander Knox has given this view of the parables of this chapter;
and his remarks have been made an illustration of the general truth.
The volume of Mr. Maurice on the Parables is rich in happy illustrations
of Scripture truth. See also Storr, Neander, Lisco, and Trench.

CHAPTER V.

CHRIST THE PRIEST AND SACRIFICE.

§ 1 Christ goes up to Jerusalem to be crucified.
§ 2. The Church and the institution of the Last Supper
§ 3. The denial of Peter, and the Crucifixion of our
Lord.

§ 4, Christ crucified Afresh — or the feelings that actu
ated his murderers common to every age.

§ 5. Christ our Propitiation and Priest — the influence
of the cross on God and on man.

236

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CHAPTER V.

Sect. 4. — Christ goes to Jerusalem to be crucified.

1. To avoid the snares of His enemies, and to secure a
short season of undisturbed intercourse with His disciples,
Jesus retired to the Tillage of Ephraim, in the Christ in
desert of Judaea, and thence to the valley of peraea-

the Jordan. (John xi. 54.) Here He spent some time
delivering the parables which are recorded between the
tenth and thirteenth chapters of Luke, and preparing the
minds of His disciples for the closing scenes of His life.

As He knew that His return to the city would expose
Him to the machinations of the Pharisees, it may be asked
why He did not remain still longer in secret. Might He
not by such a course have carried on the religious training
of His disciples, and so have prepared a greater number of
agents to disseminate His truth.

2. This question is natural ; and if Christ had been a
mere teacher of truth like other prophets, it would not be
easy to answer it. He, however, was not only a teacher ;
He was to become a sacrifice. He had been
manifested, in order that in Him all previous Vto the Pass-

over.

revelations might be fulfilled ; and especially
that the types of the law and the predictions of the pro-
phets might have in His death their appropriate realization.
He did not seek this termination of His course ; but went
to meet it, in the execution of His calling, in obedience to

(239)

240 CHAPTER V.

the Divine will, and with a love that was prepared for any
suffering. As therefore a few months before He had " set
His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem," so now He leaves
Peraea with the same purpose, and with a clear perception
of the final issue of His journey.

3. On the way He heals the blind men near Jericho,
Reaches Beth- visits Zacchasus, and at length, six days before
any- the Passover, arrives at Bethany.

The fame of Christ had already reached the ears of the
thousands of Jews who were now gathering from all quar-
ters to the Holy City. The resurrection of Lazarus, in
particular, had created a great sensation ; and as soon as
Crowds visit tne sabbath-law allowed, crowds flocked to
iiim there. Bethany to see Jesus, and to convince them-
selves, by inquiry and other evidence, of the reality of the
miracle. The enthusiasm on our Lord's behalf was so
strong, that the chief priests consulted that they might put
Lazarus also to death. (John xii. 10.)

4. Attended by His disciples and the multitude that

had gathered to Bethany, Christ set out for

His triumph-

ant entry into Jerusalem. Many others advanced from the

Jerusalem. .

city to meet Him, and in the increasing throng
Monday morn- Christ mounted an ass which His disciples had
ing' found in a village near, and so. rode towards

the gates. He thus aptly represented the peaceable cha-
racter of His kingdom, and its total rejection of worldly
display, as foretold by Zachariah. With joyous shouts He
was introduced into the city, while on all sides was heard
the cry: " Hosannah, blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord."

As he descended the Mount of Olives, before entering
the city, he saw it and wept over it ; and uttered a pro-
phecy, which its later history amply verified. (Luke xix.
43, 44)

5. The raisins: of Lazarus had, as might have been ex-

§ 1. CHRIST GOES TO JERUSALEM TO BE CRUCIFIED. 241

pected, hastened the resolution of the Sanhedrim to put
Jesus to death. The time and mode of His p]anfl of the
execution depended on the manner of His Pharisees-
arrival in the city ; and the Sanhedrim had already ordered
that, if any one ascertained His place of abode, they
should be informed of it, that measures might be taken for
His arrest. (John xi. 53-57.) The triumphant entry of
Christ, and the shouts of the multitude, was a severe blow
to their party. " See," said they in anger, " how ye pre-
vail nothing ; behold the world is gone after Him" (xii. 19).
They determine, therefore, to make use of craft in order to
ensnare Him ; and though they had already gathered
abundant material from His labors in Galilee and Jerusa-
lem to sustain the charge they were seeking to bring
against Him, namely, that He claimed to be the Messiah,
they thought it better to seek some new facts that might
either justify an accusation on the ground of the Jewish
law, or enable them to present Him as a culprit to the
Roman authorities.

6. They first of all sent some of their number to ask for
the authority on which he founded his assump-

■* m L They send to

tion. In reply, Christ admitted their right to to ask his au-

r J ' ° thority.

ask the question, but seemed to doubt their
ability to judge of the evidence that ought to guide their
decision. He therefore tested them ; and as they could not
answer His question, He declined to tell them by what au-
thority He performed His miracles and asserted His claim.
(Matt. xxi. 23-27.)

7. They then combined with the Herodians, and framed
a question which, they thought, could hardly Wi{h the He_
be answered without offending either priests or as^mm^Smt
the politicians. "Master," said they, "we tribute-
know that Thou art true. Is it lawful to give tribute to
Caesar or not V (Matt. xxii. 15-21.) To deny the obli-
gation would have subjected Him to accusation before the

21

242 CHAPTER V.

Roman tribunal ; to acknowledge it, would have laid Him
open to the charge of degrading the nation. Christ's reply
indicated that it was not His office to alter the relations of
civil society, and that "the things of Caesar are to be
given to Caesar, and the things of God to God."

Both attempts therefore failed, and it was clearly impos-
sible to render Christ justly amenable to either tribunal.

8. A question asked by the Sadducees, with no political
The question of reference, however, received an equally deci-
onetheaidedsu^es siye answer ; and after that "they durst not
rection. agk Him any questi0n." (Luke xx. 20-40.)

The days of this week He spent in Jerusalem and at
Bethany, in healing the blind and the lame,

Engagements . . . . .

oftwpiast receiving their ascriptions ot praise; and in
delivering some of the most solemn of His
parables. To this period belong the parables of the two
sons, of the wicked husbandmen, of the kingdom, of the
ten virgins, of the king's son, and of the talents.

To the same period also belong His predictions in refer-
ence to His second coining and the destruction of Jerusa-
lem (Matt. xxiv. xxv.) ; His lamentation over the city
(Matt, xxiii.) ; and His warning against the evil example
of the Pharisees.

The significant miracle is the cursing of the barren fig-
The miracle of tree ; a symbolical representation of the ap-
theng-tiee. proaching destiny of the city.

9. As in previous sections we have seen how He insists
on the necessity of faith in His mission ; so here He repre-
sents faith as proving itself by works (Matt. xxv. 31-46) ;
and the importance of his doctrine on a working practical
faith is enforced by representations of its connection with
the decisions of the final judgment.

10. Among the visitors at Jerusalem there were a few
The visit of the Gentiles who had come to the knowledge of

Gentiles. ^ |rue q.Q(^ &n(j were accustomed to WOrsllip

§ 1. CHRIST GOES TO JERUSALEM TO BE CRUCIFIED. 243

statedly at the feast. Christ's triumphal entry into the
city awakened their attention, and made them desirous of
speaking with Him. Not venturing to address Him per-
sonally, they sought the mediation of His disciples. They
spoke to Philip, Philip to Andrew, and both together
"told Jesus." (John xii. 20-22.)

11. Seeing in these cases a prefiguring of the great re-
sults that were to flow from His own sufferings,

t • ^ mi 1 • o( Announces the

Jesus said : " The hour is come that the bon of effect* of n;s
man should be glorified," and then He set
forth the necessity of His death. The seed corn abideth
alone, said He, except it die ; but when it dies it brings-
forth much fruit. (John xii. 23-31.) As He, therefore,
was to be glorified through suffering, He then intimates to
His disciples that the glory destined for them was to be
secured only in the same way. " He that loveth his life
(that is, makes this life his chief good) shall lose it ; but he
that hateth his life in this world (that is, deems it valueless
in comparison with the interests of my kingdom) shall
keep it unto life eternal."

12. " Now is my soul troubled." The kingdom which
His death was about to establish, brought to

. . His trouble of

His mmd the struggles He must undergo be- spirit ana
fore His death could be accomplished. His
will, however, is unshaken, and the calmness of His mind
undisturbed. I cannot say, "Father, save me from this
hour. For this cause came I unto this hour, not to escape
but to suffer it." To this completion of His work He had
looked forward from the beginning ; all His feelings and
wishes, therefore, are now centred upon it, that God may
be glorified among men by His death. "Father, glorify
thy name."

13. As He uttered this prayer, the very outgoing of
unselfish holiness, there came a voice from hea-
ven, saying, " I have both glorified it, and

241 CHAPTER V.

will glorify it again." His previous life, in which the
perfect manifestation of God had been revealed, had glori-
fied the name of the Father ; and now His sufferings and
their results were to glorify it yet more in the establish-
ment of His kingdom.

He now interprets the voice, and shows how God is to

be glorified. "Now is the judgment of this

world ; now shall the prince of this world be

cast out ; and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw

all men unto me." His sufferings are His victory; His

work is finished by them, and they form the sentence of

.condemnation to the ungodly world; or, possibly, on this

hour are suspended the interests of the world. This is the

crisis of its destiny.

14. The public ministry of Christ now closes. His
The last words ^as^ words are a repetition of His earliest : " He
of ins ministry. ^^ ke]ieVeth on me, believeth not on me, but
on Him that sent me ; and he that seeth me, seeth
Him that sent me. I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in dark-
ness. If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge
him not ; for I came not to judge the world, but to save
the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my
words, hath one that judgeth him ; the word that I have
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John
xii. 34-48.) See John iii.

15. Christ then left the temple, and spent the few hours

that intervened between the end of His public

His last hours

spent with iiis ministry and His arrest, in instructing and

disciples.

comforting His disciples. In these conversa-
tions He displayed unequalled love and calmness, mingled
with loftiness and humility. The last hours of His life
He thus devoted, not to the comforting of His own mind,
but of theirs ; in preparing not Himself but them for His
approaching departure and the severe conflicts which were

§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUPPER OF OUR LORD. 245

to accompany the formal commencement of His king-
dom.

16. The Sanhedrim, as we have seen, had resolved upon
His death ; all that remained was to decide

• Plan of the

when and how it should be accomplished. An Sanhedrim

, . aided by Judas.

unexpected opportunity was soon afforded them

•by the proposition of Judas to deliver Him into their

hands. (Luke xxii. 3-6.)

IT. In the end Christ was condemned — not for inter-
fering with the secular power, for He disclaimed Charge on
all such interference ; nor yet for any violation Jjjchut \list
of the Jewish law, for no charge was brought deatil-
against Him on that ground ; but because He announced
Himself to be the Messiah, (Matt. xxvi. 65,) in terms that
implied equality with God. The connection of this fact
with the innocence of His character and the completeness
j>f His work will hereafter appear.

Sect. 2. — The Church — and the Supper of our Lord.

18. The public ministry of Christ is now completed.
He has delivered His last discourse, and the

hour of His death is at hand. Having come His work as
to Jerusalem with a full knowledge of what institutes the
waited Him, he regards His work as virtually
dosed. He therefore administers to His disciples the
last supper, gives them His parting counsel, and offers His
intercessory prayer. In the narrative of these last hours
of His life are some of the most touching exhibitions of
His love.

19. The whole is introduced by a significant act: He
washes the feet of His disciples ; partly to re- Washes H5
move those carnal expectations of an earthly disciPles' fee*.
kingdom which still cleaved to them, and partly to teach
them by a specific act an important spiritual truth.

20. This act, doubtless, surprised more than one of

9[*

246 CHAPTER V

their number ; but their reverence for Him prevented their
Peter's rcmon- resisting His will. Peter only impetuously ex-
ChSSexpiar claimed: " Lord, dost thou wash my feet?"
nation. ancj even wnen cnrist told him that he should

know the meaning of this act by and bye, he was not satis-
fied ; till at length his self-will was rebuked by the decla-
ration, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me."
(John xiii.) As if Christ had said, "the renunciation of
this spirit is essential to true discipleship ; nor can any
enter my communion unless spiritually purified by me."
Alarmed at this assurance, Peter cries out, " Lord, not my
feet only, but also my hands and my head." To which
Christ answers, "That is too much. He that is washed
and clean, needs but to wash his feet. Ye have already
received the purifying principle of life through faith in me,
and all that is now required is continued purification.
Your natures are renewed, and what you require is rather
ontward than inward ; the cleansing of the thoughts and
feelings more than of the man /"

21. "Ye are clean," said He, "but not all." He thus
prepared the way for the disclosure which He

Indicates the r L J

traitor, who was about to make more plainly, that one of

retires.

them should betray Him. At this announce-
ment the disciples were all confounded. Each began to
say, "Is it I ?" nor did the one who was guilty ask the
question till all had expressed, with the self-diffidence of
true disciples, their suspicion of themselves. (John xiii. 10.)
The Passover supper was now in progress, and Jesus
answered their questions by intimating to John, who sat
next Him at table, that the traitor was he to whom He
was about to give a morsel of lamb or of bread, after He
had dipped it in the sauce ; and, having dipped, he gave it
to Judas. This warning of our Lord's, coupled as it was
with an act expressive of close intimacy, might have awak-
ened the conscience of the traitor ; failing to do this, it must

§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUTTER OF OUR LORD. 24f

have made him anxious to leave such a fellowship, and to
take the last step in his guilty course. He therefore went
out immediately, and left the disciples with their Lord.

22 " And now," said Christ, " is the Son of man glori-
fied," (the ideal of all holiness is about to be Christ lori.
realized,) and God is about to be glorified in fied-
Him (the Divine holiness and love alike revealed) ; and
if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him
in himself, (shall raise Him, that is, to His own glory,)
and shall straightway glorify Him. (John xiii. 31, 32.)

23. He then instituted the last supper at the close, and
in the place, therefore, of the paschal feast,

The supper in-

givmg the disciples the bread as His bodv, stituted its

significant-}'.

and the wine as His blood. The one, corn
bruised, that the eater might live ; the other, the grape
crushed, that those who partook of it might be refreshed —
"His body broken for us;" " His blood, the seal and
emblem of the new covenant, and given for many for the
remission of sins."

The first rite, therefore, which Christ observed and in-
stituted, denotes the spiritual birth of the And relation to
Christian. The last denotes the origin and the baPtism-
continued support of His spiritual life. Both are eminently
simple, and highly significant.

24. The nature of the church of Christ has already been
intimated in connection with the repeated reve- Hischurch Hia

ations of His kingdom. His church is His kinsdom-
kingdom, and all in whose hearts He reigns are its mem-
bers. But the meaning of this reign, its dependence
above all on Himself and His priestly office, is gathered
only from the closing chapters of St. John's Gospel. We
shall therefore now notice the thoughts which are there
expressed ; comparing them especially with acts and ex-
pressions of our Lord on other occasions.

248 CHAPTER IV.

25. Under the law God was the temporal ruler of the
Theiawt-mpo- Jews, as well as their invisible King. He pre-
ral* scribed not only the religious rites, but the
civil regulations under which they were to live ; and He
enforced obedience by temporal sanctions.

The worship enjoined under the law was also, to a great
extent, carnal. It consisted in outward bodily acts ; and
though most of them had an inward meaning, which be-
came distinct when they were explained by the Gospel, yet
were they in themselves profitless — figures only of things
to come.

The whole institution, moreover, was local and tempo-
Local and par- rarV >' designed and adapted only for one peo-
tial- pie. It had for its center Jerusalem, and for

its limits the borders of Palestine ; so that no Gentile,
even though a convert to Judaism, was admitted to equal
privileges. What he did enjoy, moreover, was in the way
of favor only, and not of right.

26. Already has our Lord announced that His kingdom

, is spiritual ; and, less distinctly, that it is to be

Christ's church l , ' J '

spiritual aud one and universal — announcements which are

universal.

brought out clearly in the closing chapters.
His is a spiiitual kingdom and a spiritual church. It is
formed in man's heart, and it admits of no

Bestowing . . ,

moreover equal other authority than is m accordance with

privilcffc.

this character. Our Lord therefore disclaims
all right to interfere in temporal concerns ; saying to one
who wished Him to decide between him and his brother :
Who made me a judge or a divider over you F" (Luke
xii. 13.) He bids His disciples submit to the civil power;
and so far from promising long life and worldly
prosperity as the rewards of obedience. He
prepared them for suffering apd death. (Malt, xxviii. 20.)

So also, under this dispensation, worship \s to be pre-
sented in spirit and in truth — not v-itb many outward vV«.

§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUPPER OF OUR LORD. 249

ble signs, as under the law, but with two simple ordi-
nances ; the whole subject to the law of Christ, with the
general rules given afterwards by His apostles, ordaining
that all things should "be done decently and in order,"
and "for the edifying of the church." (1 Cor. xiv. 12-40.)

As the old dispensation was intended for one nation, so
is the new for all nations. The people of God is to com-
prise henceforth not children of Abraham merely after the
flesh, but as many as embrace the Gospel.

All who thus embrace it are admitted to equal privi-
leges. " One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Eph. iv. 5.)
" Neither circumcision avail eth anything, nor uncircum-
cision, but a new creature." (Gal. vi. 15.) Here there is
"neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond
nor free." (Col. iii. 11.)

The one church of Christ, therefore (His kingdom), is
the whole body of the faithful ;* with duties which none but
spiritual persons can discharge — privileges which none but
spiritual persons can appreciate — and promises which none
but spiritual persons can obtain. The spirituality of its
members forms part at least of the essence of the church.

21. If, with these explanations before us, we traverse
"the holy place" of the Gospel, as Olshausen

. x Proyed.

calls it (John xiv.-xvii.), we shall sqe at once
how these truths pervade this discourse, explain its mean-
ing, and add to its impressiveness.

In describing His disciples, He speaks of their privileges,
their character, and their duties, and all are

. . ' Christians spi-

spintual. Once they knew not God, but by ritual in pm-i-
believing on Christ they learned to know Him,
and to come to Him (xiv. T). Faith brings them into
closest communion with their Lord. Henceforth He is in
them. If he is the Vine, they are the branches. If he
is the Head, they form His body. He goes to prepare a

* See the note on page 205-6, and Appendix, Note II.

250 CHAPTER V.

place for them, that He may receive theni to Himself
Given by the Father to the Son, they are preserved by Al-
mighty grace, and none shall pluck them out of the Father's
hand. Hated of the world, they are loved of God, and at
last they shall behold and share His glory.

As their privileges are spiritual, so is their character;

so also are their duties. They have believed,
character and They are men of prayer ; and whatsoever they

ask the Father in Christ's name (in dependence,
that is, upon His merits, and for the interest of His
Church), they are to receive. They are not servants, but
friends, for their knowledge is founded on holy intimacy,
and their activity is a willing obedience. They keep His
sayings. They bear much fruit. They are in the world
as Christ was in the world, blessing it, yet not identified
with it, and as He sanctified Himself for their salvation, so
are they sanctified by His truth. Among themselves they
have but one law — old, yet new ; for it grows out of new
relations, was illustrated in Christ by a new example,
gathers strength from new motives, and is the sum of the
holiness of the new man — to love one another even as
Christ hath loved them : this law being the evidence of
their discipleship, and the decisive proof of the divinity of
His mission.

28. The Church, then, is the noblest form of social life.

It is the perfection of union. It is not a nation,

The church not .

a nation or fa- but something more extensive, for it may in-
clude all nations. It is, however, more select,
for it takes none on the mere ground of national right. It
is not a family, but something more expansive, for it is to
comprehend all the families of the earth. It is yet equally
caste, or secret tender in its bonds of union. It is not a caste,
eoShing* f°r it despises none and rejects none. Yet,
ad^ante'jjfs^f like the caste, it preserves, amid human depra-
vity and change, a sacred order, not of minis-

§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUPPER OF OUR LORD. 251

ters ; but of saints, all kings and priests unto God. It is
not a secret society, for it makes no reserve of its doctrines
or practices from the world ; yet each of its members find,
in the secret communings of his soul with God, the sources
of a hidden life. "Without the defects, therefore, of the
nation, the family, the caste, or the secret society, it com-
bines the advantages of them all. Its members are brethren ;
they form a holy nation, a peculiar people — a band whose
life, and principles, and motives, and strength, are all con-
cealed and hidden with Christ in God.

29. Such is the idea of the Church of Christ, as He
Himself developed it. Where his Gospel was
preached among the nations, churches were churches haTe
formed ; little sections, that is, of this universal lege and cha-
Church, were gathered together under the same
laws, and for the same beneficent purposes.* They are
therefore all described in similar terms. In Rome a church
was formed, and its members were " beloved of God, whose
faith was spoken of throughout the whole world." So in
Corinth, they were "the sanctified in Christ Jesus." In
Galatla, they were "the children of the promise." In
Ephesus, they were "the saints, the faithful in Christ Je-
sus." In Philippi, they had " fellowship in the Gospel,"
and "the good work was begun in them." In Colosse,
they were " saints who had been delivered from the king-
dom of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's
dear Son." In Thessalonica, they were those to whom
"the Gospel had come; not in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."
And those whom the Apostle James addressed, were those
whom God had " begotten by the word of truth, that they
might be a kind of first. fruits of his creatures."

All these expressions, it is not necessary to show, sup-
port the conclusion drawn from the discourses of «ur Lord,

* See Appendix, Note II.

252 CHAPTER V.

that the one Church of Christ (with all sections of that
church) is composed of spiritual, faithful, i. e. believing
men, converted by Divine grace, through the power of the
truth. They rely on Christ as their salvation, and by vir-
tue of their faith in Him, they bring forth appropriate
fruit — a life of holiness and of love.

30. It is in perfect accordance with this view of the
The church the church that it is represented in Scripture as
temple of God. the tempie 0f the Holy Ghost. Under the

Law the temple was at Jerusalem. There only, after the
tabernacle was taken down, did God dwell and manifest
His presence. In the days of our Lord He was Himself
the temple ; not, it will be observed, the synagogue, a place
of assembly for worshipers, nor even the sacred precinct
in which the temple was reared (to Up6v), but " the habita-
tion itself (iaoi), where His honor dwelleth." Now, how-
ever, the Church of Christ (not a literal building, not the
body of our Lord, but the Church of Christ,) the great
body of the faithful, forms the dwelling of the Spirit, and
individual Christians are the living stones. "Ye," says
the apostle, "are built together into a holy temple to the
Lord." (Eph. ii. 21.)

31. This temple is without an altar, without sacrifices,
peculiarities of a,1(l without a sacrificing priest on earth. Its
this temple. ^rue a^-ar js j-j^ cross ; its sacrifice the one offer-
ing of our Lord ; its priest, He who has passed into the
heavens." Or, if the worshipers be regarded as offerers,
the altar is their hearts ; the sacrifice is faith, and love,
and praise ; and the priest is our Advocate on high. Us
and our services He presents, with other merit than our
own, unceasingly to Gofl. (Rom. xii. 1 ; xv. 16.)

32. We have but glanced at the truths of these chapters

in John. They embrace, it will be observed,

Deep signifi- .

cance of John the whole work of Christ ; that work which

xiy .-— xvii.

has its foundation in Himself, and is to be con-

§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 253

summated in the complete communion of His people with
Him — beginning in a kindred spirit, and in kindred labors
on earth, and ending in kindred blessedness in heaven.

Sect. 3. — The Denial of Peter — the Trial and Cruci-
fixion of Christ.

33. And now the life of our Lord is drawing to its close.
He and His disciples have partaken of the last Christ's warn-
supper. Judas was already at work for the ing"
betrayal of his Master; and our Lord, foreseeing His
danger, had forewarned them of its approach. " All of
you," said He, " shall be offended because of Me this
night." (Mark. xiv. 27-31.) Peter, with his wonted bold-
ness, denies our Lord's assertion: "though all should be
offended, yet will I never be offended." Christ repeated
the warning, and gave it in a personal form. " Before
cock-crowing," said He, "thou wilt deny me thrice." But
he spake only the more vehemently : " If I should die with
Thee, I will not deny Thee." So also said they all.

34. Nor was this self-confidence unnatural. The disciples
had just listened to the parting words of our Peter's seif-con
Saviour, and had been melted into tears at the someCrespects
announcement of His approaching departure. natural-

As they walked through the quiet streets of the city to the
garden of Gethsemane, all Jerusalem seemed wrapt in
repose. Within the week Christ had entered the temple
amidst the hosannas of the multitudes ; hypocritical pro-
fessions of attachment seemed more easy at that hour than
offence or denial.

35. As soon as the disciples reached the garden our
Lord renewed His warning, and desired them to pray lest
they should enter into temptation ; while he went beyond
them and prayed also. Taking with Him Peter and James
and John, the three who had witnessed His transfiguration,
He retired into a more secluded part of the garden. Here

22

254 CHAPTER V.

He began "to be sorrowful and very heavy." (Matt. xxvi.
37-39.) Anxious to be kept from interruption while He
prepared His own mind for the events which were ap-
proaching, He said to this chosen band: " Tarry ye here
and watch with Me while I go and pray yonder," and then
Our Lord's ^^ them. Soon he was overwhelmed with
agony. agony. Falling down to the ground, his body

streaming with blood, he cried : " Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but
as Thou wilt." He then rose, and visited these disciples ;
but they were already asleep. He rouses them,
want oV watch- exhorts them to watch, and again retires to

fulmss. . . . , . . ,

pray with yet stronger crying and tears. And
again He had to rebuke their slumbers (v. 40-45). How
affecting, that the only personal request Christ ever asked
of His disciples should have been denied by the boldest
and most ardent of them ! Peter must long have remem-
bered these scenes.

36. The time for prayer had now passed. The soldiery,
The approach w^n lanterns and torches, are already in the
of the soldiery. gar(jen . again Jesus calls the sleepers, and
tells them of the approach of the betrayer. Before He
had completed His warning, Peter found himself surround-
ed with armed men ; the recollection of his Master's pre-
diction flashed across his mind ; and the time of trial he
supposes to have come — he has now a character to redeem.
To show therefore that, though just now asleep, he is pre-
pared for any emergency, he drew his sword, and smote off
the ear of the servant of the high-priest. This act sprung
no doubt from enthusiastic religious feeling ; but from reli-
gious feeling guided by passion or pride, and unchecked
by a watchful sober frame. Whatever its origin,

Peter's unhal- . . ° '

lowed zeal is it was one chief cause of the temptations that

rebuked.

afterwards befell him. It awakened his own
fears, and probably excited the ill will of the soldiers.

§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 25o

31. Christ rebuked the zeal of His disciple, healed the
wounded man, and gave Himself into their hands. " Put
up thy sword into its sheath," said the meek Sufferer : " the
cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it ?"
Peter now felt that he had done wrong. As His guilty cow.
this sudden explosion of impetuosity had no ardlce'
principle to sustain it, it was soon succeeded by cowardice.
Seeing that Jesus offered no resistance, but suffered Him-
self to be bound like a common criminal, Peter with the
rest forsook him and fled. They who had said : "Though
we die with Thee, we will not be offended," were now hiding
themselves among the trees of the garden. Having secured
their Prisoner, the guard retired from the garden.

38. The glare of lanterns and torches soon grows dim in
the distance. Gethsemane is again as still as when the
disciples entered it. Peter gropes from his hiding-place.
His alarm is subsiding, and he begins to reflect upon his
conduct. His Master is on His way to the hall of the
high priest, without, as far as he knows, a single friend.
Is it curiosity that prompts him, or is he subdued by the
recollection of his own previous vow and his Master's
love ? From whatever cause, he turns his steps towards
Jerusalem, and slowly follows the crowd that is bearing
his Lord into the presence of the Sanhedrim. His motives,
however, are not the purest. His decision is half-hearted
and incomplete. It is therefore only afar off he follows ;
and on gaining admission into the hall, he takes his place
among the soldiers and servants, waiting at his leisure to
see the end. The association is suspicious, and betrays a
state of feeling ill suited to contend with the difficulties
that are soon to surround him.

39. The trial of the Son of God had already begun. He
was asked concerning His disciples and doc-

° L The trial before

trine ; He was accused of threatening to de- the tfanhedrim

has begun.

stroy the temple, but the evidence proved con-

206 CHAPTER V.

tradictory. Having failed to elicit a confession, and to
establish their charge, the high priest solemnly adjured
Him, and asked pointedly : " Art thou the Christ, the Son
of the Blessed ?" And Jesus said, " I am. And here-
after ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand
of power, and coining in the clouds of heaven. Then the
high priest rent his clothes and said, what need we any
further witnesses ? Ye have heard His blasphemy, what
Christ is con- think ye ?" (Mark xiv. 61-64.) And they
demnod. condemned Him to be guilty of death. He

was condemned, it will be observed, because He made
Himself equal with God.

40. He was now mocked and spit upon. The men who

held Him blindfolded Him, struck Him on the

Is mocked.

face, and in ridicule of his claims to super-
natural knowledge, cried out : " Prophesy unto us, thou
Christ, who is he that smote thee." (Matt. xxvi. 68.)

41. And was there none present to shield the Lamb of
Peter's neu- God from this insult and pain ? Yes, there sat
traiity. one Qf jjjg c|10Sen apostles tamely beholding

the whole of this outrage. A few hours before he had
professed his readiness to lay down his life for His sake ;
but now he dare not, or will not interpose.

42. In this condition a more decisive trial awaits him.
As the light of the fire shone upon his troubled counte-
nance, and before the worst of these outrages had begun,
a little maid coming up said, apparently without much in-
tention: "Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth." The
word so fitly spoken roused his conscience and fears. He
felt immediately the inconsistency of his position. He was
looking on as an unconcerned spectator ; he had been silent
when questions affecting his Redeemer's character had been
discussed — questions which none was so qualified to answer
as himself. To confess himself a disciple would be to
plead guilty to ingratitude, and would probably have ex-

§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 257

posed himself to personal danger. And yet he was not
prepared to deny his Lord ; he takes shelter, therefore, in
an equivocal answer, which was meant to be IIis equivcca_
denial, but which seemed less awful than the tlon'
open avowed apostacy of which he was ultimately guilty :
" I know not," said he, " what thou sayest."

43. Fearing lest the charge should be repeated, he re-
tired to the porch. The very change, however,

1 J ° ' ' His denial.

led to farther inquiry ; another servant met
him with the same taunt : " This fellow was also with Jesus
of Nazareth." He had now gone too far to recede: To
acknowledge the fact would convict him both of ingrati-
tude and of falsehood ; for every one understood his former
answer as a positive denial. A simple affirmation, more-
over, is not enough ; he therefore declares with an oath,
" I know not the man."

44. Again he enters the hall, and is. once more in the
immediate presence of Christ. The torment- IIis denial with
ing accusation is again repeated, not by a maid oaths

only, but by the whole company of the soldiers. One ex-
claims, as the light of the fire falls upon Peter's face, " Did I
not see thee with Him in the garden ?" and another, shrewdly
noting his replies, adds, " Surely thou art a Galilean ; for
thy speech betrayeth thee." Surrounded on all sides by
the evidence of his guilt, agitated with fear and remors >,
every unholy passion bursting forth with ungovernable
power, he began to curse and to swear, saying, " I know
not the man." And immediately the cock crew.

45. During this whole scene the trial and mockery of
Christ had continued. He, however, was marking the succes-
sive steps of the apostacy of His servant, and was more
deeply wounded by what He saw than by the treatment of
the priests who condemned, or of the crowds who reviled
Him. One look of mingled sorrow and love broke the heart
of the faithless disciple, softened the hard brow, and sent

258 CHAPTER V.

him out weeping bitterly. It is not easy to tell which is the
more instructive here — the fall of the apostle, or the ten-
derness of his Lord,

46. But we proceed with the main thread of the story.

Caiaphas and the Sanhedrim had already con-

Christ is L J

brought before deinned our Lord. In the dependent condi-

Pilate, who . .

nDds no fault tion of the Jewish nation, however, they had

in Him. . . .

no power to visit His alleged crime of blas-
phemy with the punishment which, under their own law, it
deserved ; they therefore took Him to the Roman governor.
Pilate questioned Him, and affirmed that he found no fault
in Him. But hearing that He had been in Galilee, under
Herod's jurisdiction, and that Herod was then in Jerusa-
sends iiim to lem> ne sen^ Him to that king — an act of cour-
iierod. .£eSy agajnst Christ, which healed old feuds and

made the two governors friends.

47. Herod set Him at naught, and mocked Him ; in
ridicule arrayed Him in (a.a/*7tpdv) the white royal robe of
the Hebrews, and sent Him back to Pilate. (Luke xxiii.
11.) Again Pilate expressed his conviction that Christ

was innocent, and appealed to the people,

Pilate again . .

appeals to the ottering to release Him, or to chastise Him

people. - . T_, . , . .

and let Him go. But the people and the chief
priests cried, " Away with Him ; not this Man, but Barab-
bas ;" till at length Pilate, " fearing a tumult," complied
with their request ; and, having scourged Him, " delivered
Jesus to their power." (Luke xxiii. 25.) The crown of
thorns and the imperial purple robe {xoxxivrtv ^xa^vSd Ipdriov
rtop^poin') were now put upon Him. Again He is spit
Christ is a<-ain upon and smitten ; and the soldiery, mocking
mocked. Him, bowed their knees and worshiped, say-

ing, "Hail, King of the Jews."

48. While Christ was thus clothed in purple and crowned
with thorns, Pilate a third time appealed to the people.
"Behold, I bring Him forth to you," said he, "that ve

§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 259

may know that I find no fault in Him. Behold the Man.
But when the chief priest and the officers saw Him, they
cried out, Crucify Him, crucify Him." Wea- Afterathird
ried out with their importunity, and under the ed^Ter'to bed"
significant threat that if he let Him go, he was crucified-
not Ceesar's friend, Pilate yielded, and delivered Jesus
unto them to be crucified. (John xix. 4-16.)

49. The whole of the previous night had been spent in
such toils and anguish as must have exhausted Christ sinks
His strength. Our Lord had thrice traversed under h5scross-
the greater part of Jerusalem, and was therefore little
qualified, physically at least, for the suffering that awaited
Him. In carrying His cross to the place where He was
to be crucified, He sunk under it. Another was pressed
into this service, and at length they reach the place of exe-
cution.

Here they stripped Him ; nailed Him to the wood ;
strong iron pins being driven through the Is nai]t.d to the
nerves and sinews of the hands and feet. As cros8-
these tortures began, some friendly hand, probably, offered
Him a draught of the stupefying drink which criminals
were wont to take on such occasions, a mixture of wine
and bitter herbs (" vinegar and gall," " wine and myrrh") ;
but when He had tasted, He would not drink. (Matt,
xxvii. 34.) In the fullest consciousness our Lord entered
upon the last hours of His life.

At nine in the morning He was nailed to the cross ; He
was then lifted up, a thief on either hand ; and there He
hung till three, mocked by the priests, cruelly tortured by
offers of drink to quench His thirst, (Luke xxiii. 36,) railed
at by one, at least, of the malefactors who suffered with
Him, and deserted of God. At length, " between the
evenings," at the time of the offering of the Paschal lamb,
Christ our passover was sacrificed for us. He died literally

2 GO CHAPTER V.

of a broken heart ; His heart bursting asunder from the
intensity of His responsibility and suffering.

His death. J L J °

" It is finished," were His last words ; " Father,
into Thy hands I commend my spirit ;" and, having said
this, He gave up the ghost. (Luke xxiii. 46 ; John xix.
30.)*

51. Amid these sufferings, it was not of Himself that
Christ's last our Lord was thinking. As He passed early
dVresseda?o m the morning along the streets of the cityf
Srheutteredreoa' and beheld the crowds of women who followed
their behalf. an(j bewailed Him, He turned to them and
said, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me ; but weep
for yourselves and for your children." (Luke xxiii. 28.)
As they nailed Him to the cross, He remembered the fierce
invocation upon themselves of His blood ; and He there-
fore prayed : " Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." As the weary hours wore on, one of the
malefactors who were crucified with Him, after owning the
justice of his own punishment, and vindicating the inno-
cence of Christ, said unto Jesus: "Lord, remember me,
when thou comest iuto thy kingdom ;" thus acknowledging
His sovereignty and mercy. And Jesus said, " Verily
I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in Para-
dise ;" asserting, in a practical form, the qualities which
the penitent thief had acknowledged and owned.

As life ebbed away, another scene, no less touching, was
witnessed. There were standing by the cross His mother,
His mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary
Magdalene. "When, therefore, Jesus saw His mother
and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, (so John
ever prefers to describe himself,) He saith unto His mother,

* Dr. Stroud has shown, in an essay on the physical causes of the
death of Christ, that He exhibited all the symptoms of thj somewhat
uncommon disease here named, and that nothing less could account for
them.

§ '. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 261

"Woman, behold thy Son;" and then saith He to the
disciple, "Behold thy mother ;" and from that hour that
disciple took her to his own home. (John xix. 25-27.)

Even, therefore, at Calvary, Christ thought of the weep-
ing crowds that followed Him — of the guilt of
the men who murdered Him — of the danger of even to the
the thieves who were crucified with Him — and
of His widowed and disconsolate mother, whom He was
leaving behind. If His life was noble and beneficent, His
death was divine.

52. How characteristic and instructive, even in these
scenes, are our Lord's last words, as recorded characteristics
by the different evangelists ! In Matthew and ^^Sms
Mark we have the cry of conscious desertion : last words-

" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" the cry
of the smitten Lamb. In Luke it is the cry of a Son, still
at the close dependent upon God as a Father, and sure of
support and acceptance : " Into thy hands I commend my
spirit." In John it is the cry of one divinely conscious
of himself, securing with His own hands the completion of
His work : " It is finished !"

Sect. 4. Christ crucified afresh — or, the feelings that
actuated his murderers common to every age.

53. The fact of the crucifixion of Christ stands as the
centre of the Gospel. All the doctrines of Christianity
cluster around it, and become distinct in the light it sheds
upon them. It harmonizes and explains the justice and
mercy of God, and is the key of all the insti-

Christ's (3(?p th

tutes and mysteries of the ancient law. As a a revelation of

, . . ,, , . -in • , • human nature.

revelation ot human nature and of man, it is no
less instructive.

54. During His life, Christ had been known only as the
benefactor of our race. He was ever ready to The holiness o{
give up His own comforts at the slightest wish Christ's life-

262 CHAPTER V.

of those round Him. His miraculous power, never exerted
on His own behalf, was at the service of the humblest peti-
tioner. His benevolence was unwearying ; His sympathy
with all that was lovely and harmless in man was perfect ;
and the purity of His life was complete. He rebuked sin
indeed, but He always pitied the sinner. He claimed to
be the Messiah of prophecy, but this claim interfered with
no temporal throne. For such a being to die a death of
violence seems an outrage on some of our most cherished
conceptions, both of the government of God and of the
better nature of man.

As this death was designed to atone for all guilt, nearly
all guilt combined to accomplish it. It ga-

The malig- & I O

nancy of the thered tribute from every bad passion. It was

passions that

conspired cowardice that led the disciples of our Lord to

against Him ,

lead us to hope desert Him ; it was covetousness that betrayed

that the cruci- , . - .

fixion is nev<£ Him ; it was perjury that bore false witness
against Him ; it was envy that delivered Him
up. Cruelty scourged and crowned Him with thorns.
Popular fickleness chose Barabbas, and rejected Him ;
while, in the soldiers, coarse brutality buffeted and mocked
Him. In contemplating these scenes, our first reflection
is : "never surely is man to repeat this wickedness. May
we not hope tha*, it will remain a crime without a parallel ;
a sad, yet solitary monument, of human guilt."

55. And yet, against this hope, it must be remembered,
that the thing which has been is the thing also

And yet the ■•■»*• i •

contrary is the that shall be." Mankind repeat themselves
from age to age ; each generation is the echo
of its predecessors. Throughout all time, our besetting
sins remain unchanged ; they have ever been worldliness
and unbelief. With all the records that have come down
to us, telling how our fathers fought and fell, we begin the
divine life like children, and are vanquished by temptations
which were old in the days of Abraham or of Paul. Add

§ 4. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 263

to the fact of this tendency, that in the early church were
some who, after Christ had suffered, "crucified him afresh,
and put Him to an open shame ;" and it becomes plain
that this fearful catastrophe of the crucifixion

Christ may be

may be repeated. Men are still capable of crucified

J r x afresh,

disowning and rejecting Christ. They have
the power, and too often the disposition, to bufifet and
scourge Him — to crown and crucify Him. Nor was there
a single act with which either the disciples, or the judges
of our Lord, or the Jews generally, were chargeable,
which may not be repeated, and is not repeated, even in
our own day.

56. Mark, for example, the conduct and bearing of the
favored disciples of our Lord amid those scenes. By some who
Peter, as we have seen, deserted and denied St-oftSdis-
Him. Judas, another of His disciples, de- ciples-
praved by paltry hope of gain, or, at the very best, by
impatient unbelief, sold Him. "What will ye give me,"
said he to the Pharisees, "and I will deliver Him unto
you ?" and, for thirty pieces of silver, he betrayed to death
one who had been his best friend, and whose innocence he
himself attested. Among the bitterest of the ingredients
of the cup which He had to drink was this fickleness and
desertion. Two of their number at least, Peter and John,
had heard their master accused, and had uttered no word
of defence ; they had quietly looked on while He was
smitten and mocked, and attempted neither to succor nor
to console Him. They might have vindicated His charac-
ter, even if they could not have obtained His release. One
of them, the boldest, had denied, in the presence of the
multitude, that he ever knew Him ; a statement which
those who heard it knew to be false. If this was the cha-
racter of the disciple, they might have reasoned, what can
the character of the Master be ? Whence comes the teach-
ing that produces such results ? This conduct had doubt-

264 CHAPTER V

less wounded the Lamb of God more deeply than the treat-
ment of His foes ; and this wounding He received in the
house of His friends !

Alas ! for us, Peter and Judas still live ; and it may-
be safely affirmed, that Christ is seldom treated in His
truth or in His followers with insult and wrong, but there
are professed disciples who contribute to this treatment,
who desert Him in the presence of His enemies, or who
are ready to give him up into their hands.

57. But let us look again at this scene, and at the con-
duct of the judges of Christ. Among the

By others who . . . ,

copy the eon- most instructive parts of the history is the

duct of the . .

judges of record of the wavering, timorous Pilate. As
Roman governor, he no doubt held in his
hands the power of life and death. He believed Christ
to be guiltless, and was willing to save Him.
He appeared anxious to do right, so long
as His virtue cost him nothing ; and yet, in the end, pre-
ferred ease and influence to conscience.

And is not Pilate living still ? Are there not now many
who would be models of piety, if their piety did not dis-
turb their tenure of wealth and station ; who would save
the Son of God from degradation, if they were not appre-
hensive that in the task they might degrade themselves ;
who "find no fault in Him," and would therefore "let
Him go ;" and yet, if the crowd threaten a tumult, or the
powerful hint that such conduct bespeaks a man no friend
of Cossar's, hand over the Lord to His foes, and consign
Him and His cause even to the cross ?

Not very different was the course taken by the chief
The sauhe- rulers. '• Among the chief rulers," says John
dnm' " many believed Him, but because of the Pha-

risees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put
out of the synagogue ; for they loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God." (John xii. 42.) They were

§ 4. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 265

members of the Sanhedrim, and they had a voice in its
deliberations ; they were present, probably, when our Lord
was condemned, and they either joined in the cry, "He is
guilty of death," or they silently acquiesced in it ; for the
sentence seems to have been passed without a dissentient
voice.

It cannot be affirmed that the rulers were peculiar in
yielding to this fear of men. False shame operated in all
ranks, as we may learn from the case of the parents of the
man who was born blind ; but it is said to have operated
chiefly among the higher classes — an instructive fact. (John
v. 14.) How many are there now with whom the verdict
of men outweighs every other consideration ; and who are
ever ready to sacrifice their convictions to their position ?
In heathen countries this influence deters the true disciple
from Christian profession itself; and in countries avowedly
Christian it acts yet more insidiously, that it is not open
disavowal of Christ at which it aims, but secret neglect,
The world seldom asks us formally to disown the Gospel,
but only to forget it. Act as if principles were false and
error true ; you may then leave it to others to repudiate
the principles you hold, and to defend the error upon
which you act. The world may thus gain all it seeks ; and
men fall into the- sin of the chief rulers, and do their part
to crucify the Son of God afresh, without giving up one
outward badge of Christian discipleship.

There is one more fact connected with the decision of
the judges, no less striking. Christ was con- Those who
demned on the charge of blasphemy. The vSy^four
evidence which was first adduced against Him Lord-
having broken down, He was then asked the question:
" Art thou the Son of God ?" and He replied in the appro-
priate idiom of the language He spoke, " Thou hast said;"
i. e. " I am." Then said the judges : "Ye have heard his
blasphemy, what think ye?" and they answered, "He is

266 CHAPTER V.

guilty of death." (Matt. xxvi. 63.) Nor did He, when
brought before Pilate, deny the character which He thus
claimed; and on the charge of "making Himself equal
with God," to use the language of the other Evangelist,
His judges condemned Him. Is it not a startling fact,
that there are those in our own time who say that Christ
was not the Son of God in any true sense ; who maintain
that it is blasphemy to ascribe this title to Him in any
other sense than as it belongs to all revealers and inter-
preters of the Divine will ?

If Christ were not the Son of God, He deceived the
people. But if He was the Son of God, then those who
would withhold that title, who affirm that either He never
used it with a deep full meaning, or that if He did so use
it, He used it wrongfully, really express their readiness to
join in the decision of the Sanhedrim, "We have heard
His blasphemy; He is guilty of death." To deny His
sonship is to concur in the sentence ; for it is to charge
Him either with blasphemy or with deception. And, in
either case, if guilty, He was justly condemned.

57. But let us mark the conduct, not of the rulers only^
but of the Jews themselves, as they gathered Iiy thoso wh0
around the cross. Christ was evidently a Smt of the n"
favorite with them. His kindly bearing, His Pe°Ple-
unwearied beneficence, perhaps the mystery that lent
dignity to his life, seem to have caught and pleased the
popular mind. More than once it is said that the great
obstacle to the success of the plans of the Pharisees was,
that "they feared the people." It is certain, moreover,
that with such a governor as Pilate, any outburst of popu-
lar feeling would have delayed, even if it had not pre-
vented, the crucifixion. And yet how impressive is their
silence. The poor sufferer carries His cross till He faints
under it. The crowd follow, and watch Him till the person
of our Lord is nailed to it. The cross is lifted up in the

§ 4. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 267

air, and shook down into its socket among the holes of Cal-
vary. Thousands, probably, of that crowd had witnessed
His miracles, and very many of them had shared in the
gifts of His bounty. ISTot a week before they had thronged
His steps as he entered their city, and had swelled the cry
— " Hosanna ! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of
the Lord!" but now, though looking with eager gaze, they
utter no sounds but of taunting curiosity, or of gross igno-
rance. " Let us see if Elias will come and save
Him." To the very end, amid all the horrors acquiescence
of the actual sufferings of our Lord, they pre-
served the spirit they had manifested at the beginning,
when they fearlessly invoked His blood upon themselves
and upon their children.

And are there not such among the people still ? They
honor Christ so long as He confers easy blessings ; ex-
press boundless admiration of His Gospel ; speak glow-
ingly of the dignified simplicity of His character, of the
beauty of His precepts ; and can contrast with these qua-
lities the conduct of some who profess, and, alas ! only pro-
fess, to be his disciples. But let him contradict their
prejudices, or seek to enforce practical holiness, and they
blindly follow their guilty guides, disown the truths they
once admired, and persecute the cause they seemed to
love !

'But surely,' it will be said, 'human nature has not
sunk to the level of Jewish degradation. Men In theiT cry
no longer prefer the thief and the murderer for Barabbas-
to the noble and virtuous Nazarene.' Not sunk to this
depth of degradation ! Who, then, are the darling idols
of worldly applause ? Whom do men follow, and with
whom do they most associate ? Is the heroic character, or
the patient and teachable, the favorite with the people ?
Put on one side the Barabbases of history, the men who
have gained influence and wealth (by whatever means), and

268 CHAPTER V.

who have those gifts to distribute ; and, on the other, tne
self-denial, the meekness, and the suffering of the cross.
Bid men take their sides ; and how many will liuger with
Christ, " deeming His reproach greater riches than the
treasures of Egypt ?" What the Jews did is done still.
Multitudes act in accordance with their decision ; and if
they were compelled to speak they would join the cry, "If
we must choose — not this man, but Barabbas."

1 But, at least,' it will be said, ' even if this were their cry,
it would be consistent and open. Men do not
e?yof ChiSt* ac^ insult to injury. None now put on Him.
the scarlet robe, or the crown of thorns. None
bow the knee in derision of His claims.' It may be hoped
not. And yet how many of us have confessed guilt which
we did not feel ! How often have we joined in public
prayer while our hearts were unconscious of the submission
which our knees expressed ! For how many mercies
have we presented thanksgivings, though receiving them
as our right, and wasting them on our lusts ! And does
this conduct differ from the sin of the soldiers, who called
Him king, and despised the royalty they ascribed ; or can
we hope that the mocking reverence which shocks so much
when offered to Him when He was poor, will appear less
guilty when offered to Him now that He is exalted !

58. If we look, then, beneath the outward acts of human
ah classes conduct to the hidden principles from which
guilty. they spring, it will be found that the guilt of

crucifying the Lord is oft repeated — by avowed disciples,
who desert and deny, and would even sell Him, and with
Him every principle of conscience ; by men of rank and
wealth, who would aid His cause, but they fear a tumult
or think that to identify themselves too closely with
Christ might compromise them with the world ; by 1 hose
who believe but do not confess ; who admit Him to have
been a good man, but deem it blasphemy to regard Him as

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 269

more ; by the people, whose fickle admiration ends when they
feel the pressure of the morality of His Gospel, and the self-
denying character of the Christian life ; and by those who
in every age have preferred the specious to the real, or
who have mocked with empty lip-service that Divine King
who is satisfied with nothing less than the homage of the
heart !

59. But this event of the crucifixion throws light upon
other facts. It is the revelation of Man. It shows what
he has done and what he is. It is also The cruci.
the revelation of God. It sets forth his char- SVgS™1*
acter in forms and colors more distinct than weiiasofMan.
are to be seen in creation. And to the study of this aspect
of the cross we now proceed.

Sect. 5. — Christ the Propitiation.

60. Man is created under law. That law is not an ar-
bitrary institution ; it is the embodiment of principles ne-
cessary to the happiness of intelligent beings. A1I guiity.

It has its origin not in the sovereignty of God, by r?gntVm™
but in his character. Love to himself and to P°*slble-
our neighbor is the sum of its requirements ; requirements
which it is impossible to conceive of otherwise than as ex-
tended "throughout the moral universe of God.

Sin is the transgression of law, and all men are sinners.
"The whole world lieth in wickedness." "All have gone
astray." "There is not a just man upon earth that sin-
neth not." "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us." (1 John v. 19; Ps. xiv. 3;
Ecc. vii. 20 ; 1 John i. 8.) No language jan be more clear
or decisive ; and the purpose for which it is used is de-
clared to be, "that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty before God." (Rom. iii. 19.)
Justification by right therefore, that is, freedom from guilt
and punishment on the ground of innocence, is impossible.

•23*

27 0 CHAPTER V.

The simple statement of our true condition leads by one
step to this result.

61. But after a man has been pronounced guilty by
May man be law> ^' ^s possible to arrest the consequences
ieasSnhim- °^ ms n11^ 5 ne mav be forgiven. Reasons may
tencea?eforma- ^e f°uncl *w himself, or in another, to justify
tion? the interference on his behalf of the supreme

power. Mercy may be extended to him as the reward of
previous good conduct ; as a consequence of his penitence,
or of his promise of amendment ; or as an answer to his
humble and earnest appeals to the government. In cases
where the crime is trivial, or the propriety of the law is
doubted, or the evidence is unsatisfactory, such pleas are
sometimes admitted ; the penalty clue to transgression is not
inflicted, and the man who is himself guilty, is nevertheless
treated as innocent. May we not expect pardon, if it is
asked on similar grounds, at the hands of our Creator ?

G2. A thousand voices give a ready and affirmative
How angered ™VlY- " My son acknowledges his fault, and I
by many. forgive him. Am I better than the great
Father of all ! Are not the yearnings of my heart in
such a case a faint image of the yearnings of His ? His
tender mercies are over all His works ; and He is ever ready
to forgive."

63. He is : our forgiveness is the result of His mercy ;
The true an- an(^ yet neither penitence nor mercy is properly
swer. the ground of forgiveness. Keeping in view

the case of a pardoned criminal, it must be remembered
(in contrast with it) that our sins against God are not
trivial. They are capital ; subversive of all authority,
and in violation of all law. Our guilt is not questioned,
irow byanaio- We have done evil from our youth up, and are
Snfo/the8 na" Jus^y chargeable with ten thousand transgres-
case- sions. The law we have broken is righteous

and beneficent, eternal and immutable The penalties it

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 271

inflicts are involved in a great degree in transgression it
self; punishment being but the unavoidable perpetuation
of sin, and requiring for the removal or prevention of il
miraculous interposition. God, moreover, is not only pa-
rent of His creatures, He is judge, and has to discharge
official functions ; and these cannot be neglected without
injury to His character and the very foundations of His
government.

In perfect accordance with these views are the convic-
tions of human nature as expressed in the re-
ligious rites of all nations. Those rites imply and human
a state not of innocence, but of guilt. They
include sacrifice and suffering as grounds of forgiveness ;
and clearly teach that the heart of man, when not misled
by a false philosophy, has an instinctive consciousness that
something else is required for pardon besides penitence.
History confirms these impressions by presenting a thou-
sand examples, in which it is evident that guilt is not can-
celled by sorrow, however profound, or by promises of
amendment, however sincere.

64. But let us turn to the Bible. Having broken the
law, whence comes, according to its teaching, our hope of
forgiveness — from ourselves or from another ? TI

o liow answered

Is pardon suspended there on man's virtues inScriPture.
and penitence, or on something else ? And again a thou-
sand voices will reply : repentance and sincerity are con-
stantly spoken of as the pre-requi sites of par- Repentanee
don. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and needed-
the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him return unto
the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and unto
our God, for He will abundantly pardon." "If we con-
fess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a broken and a con-
trite heart, thou wilt not despise." (Is. Iv. *J ; 1 John i. 9;

272 CHAPTER V.

Ps. li. 17.) And, it will be added, the very precepts of
our Lord we have already considered point to the same
results. No true penitent is ever condemned.

These passages we joyfully admit. They form an im-
portant part of the gospel ; but only a part. To regard
them as teaching that repentance is alone ne

But not the i • . , -, P n

meritorious cessary, or that it is the ground of forgiveness,

no llSfl

is a fearful abuse, and subversive both of re-
pentance and of holiness. For if this view be sound, we
if so, what nave several consequences. It then follows
then? that the law is changed, both its denunciations

and precepts. It tells us that "death" is the "wages,"
i. e., the just desert "of sin;" but to maintain that re-
pented sin, being cancelled, has no such desert, is clearly
to limit and even to contradict this principle. To those
under law it affirms that " he that doeth these things shall
live by them ;" but now others besides may live ; not only
those who do them, but those also who repent of their mis-
doings.

Does it not follow also, if this reasoning be admitted,
that God himself is changed ? He can clearly cherish no
abhorrence of sin as sin, but only of sin as unrepented. The
innocent and the penitent-guilty are alike in His sight.
Sin wept over is annihilated and forgotten.

Nor can it be deemed a refinement of reasoning to main-
tain, that if repentance is a meritorious ground of pardon,
repentance itself is impossible. True repentance is hatred
of sin as such ; but on this reasoning sin as such is not
hateful, but only the sin which is not the subject of peni-
tence. But if sin is not of itself wrong, but only sin un-
repented of, it follows that men can repent only of their
impenitence. But impenitence itself is not wrong if
cherished in relation to what is not wrong. So that both
sin and penitence are destroyed. Sin has no existence

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 273

without impenitence ; and impenitence can involve no guilt,
nor penitence have existence, where there is no sin.

To maintain therefore, as is the tendency of our nature,
that repentance cancels sin by some mysterious influence
of its own, is to subvert the very foundation of morals.
Such a view overturns the first principles of holiness. If
the law is just, it is just that it should be enforced. To
confess that it is just does not destroy its justness, and to
acknowledge that we deserve to die cannot alter our de-
serts. " Therefore by the deeds of the law can no flesh
living be justified ; for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

May it not be added that if repentance were the ground
of forgiveness, our state would be but little alleviated by
the knowledge of such a truth. Repentance is the hatred
of sin, and the practice of holiness. Even if these only
be the terms on which salvation is offered to our race, are
we prepared to fulfill them ? And if we need even for re-
pentance Divine help, whence, and on what grounds, is
that help to be obtained ?

65. The conclusions to which reason and law thus lead
are confirmed by the express teachings of Scrip-

Scripture

ture. That repentance is necessary to salvation teaching on the
we have seen. That it is not the only thing
necessary, nor in any sense the meritorious ground of it,
are conclusions drawn from the fact that salvation is al-
ways ascribed in Scripture to something else ; and from
the further fact that nothing man does can in any de-
gree deserve pardon. "Without shedding of blood there
is no remission." "If ye believe not that I am He, ye
shall die in your sins." "The Son of Man came to give
His life a ransom for many." (Heb. ix. 22; John viii.
24 ; Mark x. 45.) " This is my blood shed for many for
the remission of sins." " God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " Christ

274 CHAPTER V.

hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us." " And in Him we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins, according to
the riches of his grace." (Matt. xxvi. 28; John iii. 16;
Gal. iii. 13; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14.) Whatever the full
meaning of these statements is, they imply that more than
penitence is required for salvation, and that it is not to
penitence as a ground or meritorious cause that our salva-
tion is ascribed.

Further, it must be noticed, that the insufficiency of all
On salvation personal acts to deserve pardon is stated in
by grace. Scripture to be absolute. It is an insufficiency

in kind, not in degree. The teaching of the Bible is not
that with Christ they will together secure the blessing, as
if all contributed to the result ; but that the effective in-
fluence belongs to Christ alone ; and that our acts, whether
of activity or of emotion, are demanded for other purposes.
This is the doctrine of the Epistle to the Romans ; in
which it is repeatedly affirmed, that our salvation is the re-
sult of a reception of Christ, or of faith in Him, inde-
pendently of works, whether of simple obedience, or of
penitential reformation. " We are justified by faith with-
out the deeds of law." " It is of faith that it might be of
grace." " Christ is made unto us redemption ; and in
Him we have redemption through His blood, even the for-
giveness of our sins." " We are justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."
" He hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God (righteous
in the sight of God) in Him." (Rom. iii. 28; Rom. iv.
16; 1 Cor. i. 30; Eph. i. 7; Rom. iii. 24; 2 Cor. v. 21.)
And that nothing in man can efficiently contribute to the
result, is made plain by the general conclusion reiterated
elsewhere — one purpose indeed of the whole arrangement.

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 275

"He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Cor. i.
31 ; 2 Cor. x. 17.)

66. Pardon, therefore, it seems, is the result of Christ's
death — and of Christ's death alone. Repent- But the propi.
ance, and other personal acts, have no power cJjjj" Beni-
to obtain it : they are but the conditions or Hnce an<* faith

* the conditions

qualifications, on which His death is made °n ^cn it be-

* ' comes ayail-

available for sinners. able-

67. But how, it may now be asked, is the death of Christ
the ground of our justification ? All the reasons

that weigh with God in this arrangement it is Christ the

impossible for us to know; but such as are re- justification/

vealed may be examined, and they cannot fail

to be examined as themes of the deepest interest.

From what has been already said, it is clear that God's

government is a government according to law ; perfections of

He has himself both official functions and a G.0?' an,d prin-
ciples of his go-
personal character ; sin is a grave and fearful Ternment-

offence against Him. Therefore, however compassionate
God may be towards the sinner, the arbitrary exercise of
prerogative in remitting sin is impossible, because incon-
sistent with holiness. And while these are principles in
relation to this question which spring, so to speak, out of
the very nature of the Divine government, there are facts
no less important, resting on experience. Men are sinners ;
and, as such, are exposed to the punishment connected with
disobedience. The infliction of punishment, however, is,
in a great degree, suspended. In the mean time an extra-
ordinary measure has been introduced into the world by
God himself. This measure provides a valid ground for
the bestowment of pardon ; and is nothing less than the
sacrifice and death of His Son. The following passages
place these facts in the clearest light. " The blood of
Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." "God
sent forth his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and

276 CHAPTER V.

for sir." "He who knew no sin was made sin for us."
" Sacrifice and offering" (the ritual appointments of the
law) "thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared
me. Lo ! I come to do thy will, 0 God." (1 John i. T ;
Rom. viii. 3 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Heb. x.) Here a simple-
minded believer might pause ; and, believing these truths,
be saved. The death of the Messiah is recognized in all
these passages, and in many others, as the ground or con-
sideration, on account of which pardon is revealed and be-
stowed on man. God must punish, is the first truth.
Through Christ punishment is suspended or remitted, is
the second.

68. But Scripture goes still farther. It not only tells
The truth ex- us what constitutes the ground of pardon ; it
riamed. a|g0 eXp]ains ^0 some extent how it is so. It

gives undoubted intimations respecting the design, the ne-
cessity, and the nature of the appointment ; the properties
which impart to it its power with God, and with man. It
tells us, for example, that the scheme itself originated in
the love of the Father, and was, moreover, intended to
illustrate His holiness. " God so loved the world, that He
sent His Son" to reconcile it to Himself. God hath "set
forth His Son a propitiation for sin, to declare, or display
His righteousness ; that He might be just, and the justi-
fier of him that belie veth in Jesus." (Rom. iii. 25.)

The influence of this act upon God's government is also
revealed. " Christ hath redeemed us from the

His death satis-
fies justice and curse of the law, being made a curse for us ;''

reveals mercy.

" He died the just for the unjust ;" Christ gave
" Himself a ransom for us."

That God regarded His death as a sufficient reason why
Thus glorify- a^ wn0 believe in Him should be forgiven, is
conciHnghtsrc" equally plain. Because He laid down His life,
Effidai reia- tae Father gave him power to give eternal life
tlon8, to as many as God had given Him. Through

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATIOX. 277

His dignity and innocence "He bare our sins (not His
own) in His own body on the tree ;" " He became obedient
unto death ;" and, therefore, " God also hath highly exalted
Him, and given Him a name above every name." (Phil
ii. 8.) " If the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of
an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify to the purifying
of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without
spot to God, purge our conscience from dead works ?"
(Heb. ix. 13) — from the burden and the condemnation of
works which end in death.

The conclusion, therefore, is, that in Christ and His
Dbeclience unto death God beholds an adequate reason for
;he exercise of mercy. There the rectitude of the Judge
and the love of ftie Father are equally displayed. His
people, accepted in the Beloved, have the punishment of
their sins cancelled. They are judicially placed in the
condition and character of personal virtue. They become
objects both of complacency and affection.
God looks on Christ, and He sees in Him the both look tothe
ground of forgiveness. They look on Christ,
and are justified through faith, which faith is itself an in-
strument of holiness. Heaven and earth, God and man,
are thus alike influenced by the cross.

69. Every part of this scheme, it must be added, " is
witnessed by the law and the prophets."
Throughout the whole of revelation, God is witnessed by
everywhere presented as the moral Governor
of man. For thousands of years he appears teaching the
great truth of His own righteous demands, and of man's
inability to meet them.

The Bible is a record of God's requirements on the one
hand, and of man's incompetency on the other. The con-
nection of sin with punishment is everywhere asserted ;

24

278 CHAPTER V.

and more than this, the doctrine of the transference cf
punishment is repeatedly and forcibly revealed. Reason
concurs in these lessons. The experience of common life
sustains them ; and thus all lend their evidence to confirm
what becomes to us glad tidings of great joy — a message
of wrath blended with a message of love ; tidings happily
as universal in their announcement and adaptation as is
the disease they are intended to heal.

70. The terms in which the various aspects of this great
in what terms work are described are all significant. The
described. death of Christ is called a propitiation, for it
makes it possible for God to receive sinners into favor, and
prompts to the exercise of mercy in a way consistent with
the claims of justice. It is called an expiation, for it
covers sin, and provides for the removal of guilt and con-
sequent punishment. It is an atonement, both expiating
and propitiating, while it brings into friendship those who
were once opposed. It is vicarious or substitutional,
being endured in our stead. And it is satisfactory, for it
vindicates the broken law, answers all the moral purposes
of punishing the trangressors, and is deemed by the Law-
giver himself to be a sufficient reason for pardoning all
who believe. Its first fruit is forgiveness said peace — com-
placency on God's part, and confidence on ours ; its ultimate
fruits, redemption and salvation — that is, actual freedom from
sin in its guilt, power, and misery, and in the end eternal
life : redemption differing from salvation only in suggesting
the price paid for these gifts. In part they are already
enjoyed, but in their fullness they are yet to come.

71. We must not go farther on this question than Scnp-
The Divinity of ture guides us ; but it is impossible to over-
fnrthV"ffieIcy look the fact, that if the Being who suffered
ofthis sacrifice, ^ pena]ty 0f human guilt be not He whose
justice demanded the sacrifice, our notions of satisfaction

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 279

are all confounded ; and the atonement not only leaves the
attributes of justice and love unreconciled, but it does ab-
solute violence to both.

If our Lord were man only, then we have the law of God
satisfied, and even honored, by the sufferings eisenomeritin
of One who Himself owed to that law all the His sufferi°g-
obedience He could give. There could in that case have
been no merit in His humiliation ; none in His submission ;
none in His obedience ; and (inasmuch as the law of God
requires us to give up our lives for the brethren) none in
His death. And to all created intelligences will this rea-
soning apply ; to all, in fact, except to that one Being who
owes no duty but to Himself. To Christ it does not
apply, because He was at once the Great God and our Sa-
viour— the Child and the Everlasting Father — Jehovah-
man !

Nor is it easier, if the divinity of our Lord be denied, to
reconcile the attributes of God's character.
What infinite justice is there in placing the tion of the di-
penalty of human transgression upon one
totally distinct from the Lawgiver, an inferior and inno-
cent ? "What infinite love in accepting the endurance of
pain, which was, after all, no satisfaction ? And if it be
maintained that the infinite love was in Christ, and the
infinite holiness in Him, then it follows that the merit of
our redemption is practically transferred from Jehovah to
the man who achieved it ; leaving the blessed God Him-
self to be outdone by His own creature in the manifestation
of His noblest perfections, and in the very dispensation
intended to display them ! Admit the Scriptural scheme,
and all is consistent. The love and holiness on the part
both of Gor] and of Christ are infinite ; yet there is no fear
of idolatry, though men " honor the Son even as they honor
the Father !"

280 CHAPTER V.

72. This great fact of the life of our Lord, ending in Hi&

death, may be variously regarded. On the

Prfiotiojil lTiflu*

enceofthc side towards God it is the instrument of our
justification. By His obedience many are
made righteous. We are justified by His blood — we are
reconciled by His death. On the side towards men it is
the instrument of our holiness. With both God and man
it is omnipotent, containing every element of power ; in
itself, adapted to stir to its utmost depth all human feeling,
and appointed by God as a reason on account of which
the influences of His Holy Spirit may be infused into all
hearts. " He has received gifts for men," even "the pro
mise of the Holy Ghost." (Ps. lxviii. 18; Acts ii. 33.)
His is " a name above every name, that every knee should
bow, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the
Father."

But the fact that the death of Christ is adapted to have
power with men claims additional illustration.

73. At first sight His obedience unto death may seem to

embody neither wisdom nor power. The Jew

Its influence . 1 n .

over natural deemed it not only powerless and inanimate,
but a weakness and an offence. The Greek
called it foolishness. (1 Cor. i. 23.) In the event of the
crucifixion, Christ is no doubt exhibited in His deepest
humiliation. As He passed from the hall of judgment to
the hill of Calvary, He seemed a common criminal ; His
brow still marked with the thorns, and His face swollen
with the agony of the previous night and the blows of the
soldiery. When He reached the spot where they meant to
crucify Him, He appeared as one of the poorest and most
friendless of men. Amid shouts and taunts He was lifted
up. Others are crucified with Him. To the eye of man
all are abject, and He most abject of all.

"There are not wanting, however, even amid those in-
dications of weakness, mysterious tokens of a Divine, pre-

§ 5. CHRIST THE TROriTIATION. 281

sence, and of the solemn significance of His death. The
earth, and the sky, and the temple, fit representations of all
created and divine things, are moved at the scene. Angels
that excel in strength are watching the sufferer with reve-
rent interest. That victim, seemingly disowned by earth
and heaven, and therefore suspended between them, is our
Maker. In that meek and lowly form is veiled the incar-
nate God. Angels that smote a camp, and destroyed the
first-born of a nation in a night, have worshiped Him.
His very enemies, who put Him to death, and who have
often watched Him in His acts and speech, can bring
against Him no consistent or intelligible accusation. His
judges ' find no fault in Him.' There, amid the scoffs of
His murderers, dies the only One of Adam's race that knew
no sin. A life of unequalled beneficence is consummated
by a death of violence and anguish, itself an expression of
the noblest beneficence. Thus viewed, elements of gran-
deur and tenderness, of loftiest splendor and the lowliest
condescension, all blend in that dread sacrifice. Do men
look with interest on greatness in misery ? It is here : The
King of Glory despised and rejected of men ! Are they
touched with sympathy for distress ? How deep must have
been His anguish, when even His patient spirit cried out,
* My God, my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me V — and
rejoiced when He was able to say, ' It is finished V Do
they need, in order to feel most deeply, to have some con-
nection with the sufferer ? They have a suspicion that,
somehow or other, the case might have been their own.
It is the man Christ Jesus who dies, and dies in the stead
of men. Should wisdom attract ? Here was the great
Teacher Himself, speaking as man never spoke, giving les-
sons even from the cross ! The God-man, of whom Plato
had glimpses, is here dying ignominiously, an example of
perfect innocence, and enduring the treatment due to con-
summate wickedness ! Are men strongly affected by what

24*

282 CHAPTER V.

they know as affecting others ? This sacrifice stirs all
worlds — hell is losing its prey — heaven is stooping to be-
hold its King incarnate and dying, that He may recover to
His allegiance a lost province of His empire, indulging
His mercy and satisfying His justice, whilst His last
breath magnifies His law and proclaims His Gospel."*
Looking through history, it appears that this scene has
influenced the noblest of our race, and has prompted to
deeds of unparalleled devotedness. Children have felt its
power, without being repelled by the mystery. The
mightiest intellects have studied it, without grasping its
vastness. Those living by faith in it have become par-
takers of a Divine nature ; the world has become crucified
to them, and they to the world. No earthly terrors could
appal, no earthly charms could allure them. The very
miracles of the life of our Lord wrought upon the bodies
of men, seem to be but faint types of the mightier miracles
wrought through the Spirit in their souls by this miracle
of grace.

If we look more deeply into this power, we shall find
that it has elements of even a nobler kind.

74. Human life is made up in a large measure of sin
and suffering. The first shows us our guilt,

Influence oyer

religious emo and the second our helplessness. Guilt leads
us to view God with distrust, and suffering
makes it needful that we should have a Friend who can
show us how to suffer, and give us, at the same time, an
assurance of sympathy and relief. No religious system
that fails to provide for these necessities of our condition
can have a permanent hold upon the human heart. The

* Abridged from Dr. Williams's Lecture on " The Cross the Conser-
vative Principle of our Literature." Some of the following thoughts
will be found expanded and illustrated with great beauty in the same
address.

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 283

provision supplied in this respect by the Gospel is identified
with the cross.

Conscious of our guilt, and judging God by ourselves,
it is hard to believe that He is ready to be
" pacified towards us for all our abominations."
(Ezek. xvi. 62.) Till this is believed we cannot love Him.
It is confidence only that brings man back to God. This
is the true principle of our recovery. But what is so
adapted to produce this confidence as the death of Christ ?
He appears as "the way, and the truth, and the life."
Herein God " commendeth His love to us, that while we
were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom. v. 8.)
The reasoning is irresistible : " He that spared not His
own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things." (Rom. viii. 32.)

But still, though God is thus shown to be love, He is
felt to be infinitely above us. We shrink from telling Him
of our cares and weakness. If we knew of Assurance of
one who had experienced human life, and yet P>'mPathy-
had the almighty power of God, in Him we might trust .
His personal recollections of our condition would encourage
our application and dependence. And is not this want
nobly met in our Lord? "We have not a High-Priest
who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin." (Heb. iv. 15.) If poor, we may remember that He
"had not where to lay His head." If suffering reproach,
it is told us that He was deemed "a glutton and a wine-
bibber ;" "a friend of publicans and sinners;" "a blas-
phemer," and "mad." If unjustly treated by men, and
apparently deserted by God, we need but to turn to Cal-
vary, and, while gazing there, we cease to think it strange
concerning the fiery trial that has befallen us. We are
crucified together. He knows our sorrows. " He remem-
bers that we are dust."

284 CHAPTER V.

And is an example needed ? Would even the teaching
An example of °f our Lord be imperfect if He had not Him-
patieuce. sejf shown us how i0 Sllffer ? Q0 again to the

cross. When He was reviled He reviled not again ; when
He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself
unto Him that judgeth righteously." (1 Pet. ii. 23.) Am
I forbidden to feel ? Is stoic indifference a Christian
virtue? " Jesus wept." He was "troubled in spirit."
(John xi. 35; xiii. 21.) "Father," said He, "if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not as I
will, but as thou wilt." Men murder Him, and He prays
for them. His Father deserts Him, and yet He trusts
Him. Herein He suffered, " leaving us an example that we
should follow His steps." (1 Pet. ii. 21.)

15. Nor are there wanting other influences. What am
its influence I* anc^ what is my condition ? is a question that
Sm rfSSt lies at the foundation of all religion. Rightly
as to ourselves. ^Q k110w ourselves is the beginning of all know-
ledge. Contemplate, then, in the light of the cross, the
condition of human nature. Ancient and modern philoso-
phies have delighted to flatter our pride. They have
traced up our pedigree to God, and they have claimed for
us a dignity which would be very welcome, if only it could
be maintained. Brahmins, for example, speak of them-
selves as an incarnation of the Deity ; and the Pantheistic
tendencies of men, or their pride, tempt them to hold the
sentiment even when they have not shaped it into words.

It follows from this doctrine that in beings so noble,
there can be no deep inherent depravity. A taint of evil
on the surface there may be, but that is all, and it is easily
removed. Perhaps (it is darkly hinted) their condition is
properly chargeable on matter, on provoking circumstances,
or even on the blessed God ; so that, after all, men may be
guiltless of any worse evil than misfortune. But bring
this language to the cross. What lessons are taught

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 285

there ? He who hung upon it tasted death for every man,
because every man had sinned, and so had deserved to die.
He is the just one, and for the unjust He suffers. In the
agony and passion of this second Head of the race, I read
the desert of the first. I am no God, nor part of God, but
a condemned sinner. The blood of a divine atonement
was needed to purge my sins. Am I told of the native
dignity and innocence of man, and of his sympathy wi1h
the divine ? The divine in all its perfection became incar-
nate. For that perfection man had no sympathy. Nor
was it even welcomed in the world it came to redeem.
Yeiled at first, the Divine glory gradually shone through
the veil more brightly till the world was illumined ; but
ever as it shone, the hatred in men's hearts burned fiercer,
and here, on the cross, they are doing what they can to
extinguish it forever.

Am I told that the Jews, the murderers of our Lord,
were worse than men ; and that now, at least, virtue needs
but to be seen in order to be worshiped ? I look again
at the cross. Every tendency of human nature which
these murderers exhibited I mark around me still. Men
are capable of doing over again that deed of blood. They
crucify the Son of God afresh in His followers, His prin-
ciples, and His kingdom. They put Him even now to an
open shame. And is it amid these scenes, and with the
history of this teacher before me, that I am to speak of my
native worth, and claim equality with God ? Thoughts like
these, everywhere absurd, are impious here. The cross,
the exhibition of man's deserts, itself the expression of
man's depravity, is clearly adapted to annihilate all such
dreams. In the end it may exalt us to unknown dignities,
but its first lesson is of humiliation and guilt. What man
deserves, and what man has done, what therefore man is,
are truths revealed at Calvary in characters which none
need misunderstand.

286 CHAPTER V.

T6. What again is religion, and what are its claims ?
The nature of Men's characters are moulded by the object of
true religion, their worship, and by the truths they hold ;
those especially that refer to God and holiness. Every
religious faith some deem to be alike. There is true piety,
they say, in all creeds. Sincerity is its essence. Men
will never 'see eye to eye.' Have charity; and receive
as brethren, if they be but sincere, the worshipers of Bud-
dha and of Jehovah, of Mahomet and of Christ.

All such equality the cross disclaims. Had Christ been
content to blend Sadduceeism, and Pharisaism, and Hea-
thenism into one religion, to sanction all as meaning the
same thing, or even to allow them a place in that pure and
exclusive system He came to reveal, He would never have
suffered. Instead of such blending, however, He de-
nounced all compromises. He assailed every false system,
and by the advocates of all He himself was condemned.
Truth was not on His lips an eclectic faith, a compound of
all human opinions, and, as such, adapted to meet the
prejudices of all. Like its Author, it stood out distinctly
from every thing earthly, formed no secular alliances, and al-
lowed no rival. Had He been contented to share the throne
of men's hearts, or to elaim for the religion of the Bible a
place among other systems, neither He Himself would have
suffered, nor would His apostles have had to contend with
the ten thousand opposing influences in Jerusalem, in
Athens, and at Rome. Of this peculiarity of the teaching
of our Lord, the cross is at once an evidence and a result.

IT. But it answers another question. May not God
And the supre- Pass by transgression ? Is not law the ema-

SSuSfrtf nation of Gocl's wiU? He instituted, and
law- may He not abrogate it ? He is beneficence

and grace. He is the Father of His creatures, and may
He not indulge the yearnings of His parental heart, and
look with equal eye on all His children ; pitying the weak-

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. . 287

ness of the sinful ; but in the exercise of a mercy which no
finite mind can comprehend, pardoning all, and ultimately
receiving them into favor again ? A question of deepest
interest, answered partly in nature and in history. The
prevalence of misery in a world created by one who is
Almighty, bespeaks a character, if merciful, yet certainly
just. The deluge, the history of the Jews, chastened and
disowned, the voice of conscience, and the natural fore-
bodings which all men feel of a coming jndgment, bespeak
the existence somewhere of a holy law. But in the cross
these questions are completely solved. If ever under God's
government mercy might revolt against justice, it was
surely here. The Saviour had been sold by the traitor,
and deserted by His disciples. He had been assailed by
false accusers, and condemned by a judge who acknow-
ledged the injustice of the sentence. He is now handed
over to a brutal soldiery and fickle people whom He had
often befriended. It was hard to bear, and yet it was to
be borne. He meekly drank the cup of His woe ; and it
was the Father who mingled it. It was His hand that
held it to His lips. If tenderness could have saved our
Lord, He must have been saved, for tenderness was there
as the heart of man, in its hour of most impassioned feel-
ing, has never conceived it. If mercy could have saved
our race at a smaller cost, His death was a needless sacri-
fice. But it behoved Him to suffer. Divine pity ever
leans on truth. Mercy, as she forces her way to the sinner,
must do homage to justice, and pay the debt before she
can free the captive. Nowhere else in the universe does
the sanctity of law and the reality of the holiness of God
stand out in bolder relief. The lesson is taught in facts,
is proclaimed to heaven and earth, and may be read by all.
There is mercy, but it is in harmony with justice. There
is love, but it spends its force in the gift of the Son. Par-
don there is, but it is obtained through no weakness in the

288 CHAPTER V.

law, through no fickleness or false benevolence on the part
of the Judge !

18. Whether, therefore, we look at the death of Christ
as adapted of itself to excite pity and awe ; to
touch our religious feelings as guilty and mis-
erable ; to instruct and quicken our conscience in relation
to ourselves, to religion, and morality, or to God, it is
clearly "the power of God to every one that believeth."
" To every one that believeth ;" for without faith the whole
sacrifice is robbed of its significance. I must believe that
He is the gift of the Father's love ; that in dying He does
homage to law ; that I deserve what He suffers ; and that
in earnestly pleading His death, I acknowledge my own
guilt, and desire to be freed from it — or these truths are
powerless. Believing them, forgiveness is inseparable from
holiness.

Nor let it be thought that we make more of this prac-
tical power of the cross than the Bible makes.

Results affirm- . . . .

ed in Scrip- It is the mightiest plea it employs. Christ
"loved us, and gave Himself for us," and His
love "constrains us to live not unto ourselves, but unto
Him that died for us, and rose again." We " are bought
with a price," and feel that we are therefore bound to glo-
rify Him "in our bodies and spirits which are His."
(2 Cor. v. 14; 1 Cor. vi. 20.) When is Christ set forth as
" the power and wisdom of God ?" As crucified. Where
did He spoil "principalities and powers, and make a show
of them openly?" On the cross. When was " the judg-
ment of this world," and when was "the prince of this
world cast out " from his throne ? In the last hours of our
Saviour's agony. What was the chosen theme of the most
successful preacher who ever lived ? " Jesus Christ and
Him crucified," whom alone Paul determined to know.
What is the vow of every Christian, and what the reason
for it? " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 289

of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world." (1 Cor. ii. 2; Gal. vi.
14.) So completely in truth does this doctrine operate
upon our virtue, and so adapted is it, by the view it gives
of the consequences of sin, of the excellence of the law, of
the love and faithfulness of God, of the tenderness and
grace of Christ, that those who profess to receive it and
are not virtuous, are represented not as the " enemies" of
the precepts and example of Christ only, but as emphati-
cally the " enemies of the cross." (Phil. iii. 18.)

T9. The death of our Lord, as we have now viewed it,
was the work of the people. "By wicked Intercessor
hands " was he crucified and slain. In another and pnest
sense, it was the work of God. " According to His deter-
minate counsel," He was delivered up into their hands. In
yet a third sense, it was the work of our Lord. He gave
Himself for us. He had power to lay down His life,
and He had power to take it again. (John x. 18.) Dying,
He was the victim offered once for all. Giving Himself to
die, He was the intercessor and priest.

Properly the priesthood and intercession of Christ are
terms that refer to His whole work. Derivately and in ac-
tual usage, they express all He has done for us. As priest,
(toft's, t. e. tfpa pe^ei!/.) He attends to things that pertain to
God ; teaching His will, offering atonement for sin, bring-
ing us near, and pleading on our behalf. As mediator
(fisait^i) or intercessor, He goes between God and man,
satisfies divine justice, and removes from us the sentiment
of wrath (opy»j xcifspyoj) with which God cannot but regard
iniquity. This blessing He achieves for our race, and at
His own cost. Sent forth from God, He appears on earth,
finishes His work, and then, as our (artoj-oxoj) apostle (as
well as our Father's), enters for us into the glory he had
left. Having sanctified Himself for this office, He now
sanctifies us, and is in His own person (J aytdfav. tyyroj.

25

290 CHAPTER V.

TtpoSpo/toj. <v*r,o,) the pledge of the fulfilment of every
covenant promise, the forerunner and the author of our
salvation.

More commonly, however, these terms are restricted in
meaning to the work of Christ in heaven ; especially the
two first. He is high priest for ever. He liveth to make
intercession for us. Even as so restricted, however, care
must be taken to include in them all the Bible includes.
The intercession of Christ is properly the completion of
His sacrifice. It perpetuates the efficacy of His expiation.
It bears to atonement the same relation that providence
bears to creation. The covenant of pardon and eternal
life is founded on the atonement of the cross ; the adminis-
tration of the covenant on the continuance of the power of
the atonement in heaven. God created and now sustains.
Christ died and now intercedes.

His work in heaven is to appear for us in our nature —
(Heb. ix. 24 ; Acts vii. 56) as our substitute, having
obeyed and suffered in our stead ; and generally as our
friend : to exhibit His atoning sacrifice as the ground on
which the blessings for which He pleads may be bestowed,
both largely and righteously, and to intimate His will,
either in words or in some form of appeal yet more impres-
sive, that the gifts He purchased may be shed down upon
His Church. (Heb. ix. 10-12, 23 ; John xvii. 24 ; Heb.
vii. 25.) So regarded, the intercession of our Lord justi-
fies our largest expectations, and is the pledge of our final
success.

Let it not be supposed, however, that this office of our
Redeemer is needed to awaken the love of the Father, or
to remind Him of what He might otherwise forget, or to
draw down blessings which are grudgingly bestowed. In
the love of the Father the office itself originated. His
people and their interest are graven upon the palms of His
hands, and He can never forget them. What He giveth, He

§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 291

giveth liberally. The office is rather a provision intended
to impress upon all, that mercy is exercised even still in
harmony with justice, and that our communion with God
is ever through the mediation of Christ. Its first great
truth is, that if God is at peace with sinners, it is through
the sacrifice of the cross ; and its second truth, that as
Jesus pleads, so He must prevail, and they in Him. We
are to come boldly to the throne, though ever feeling that
it is a throne of grace. He links Himself with us as peti
tioner, asking His rights, that we may feel our depend-
ence, and that we may be linked with Him as Heir and
King.

CHAPTER VI.

CHRIST AS KING.

§ 1. The Resurrection of our Lord, and Lessons cok
nected with it.

§ 2. Christ the King of Hades — the Forerunner — the
First Fruits of them that slept.

§ 3. The Invisible King.

§ 4. The Second Coming of our Lord

294

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CHAPTEE VI

CHRIST AS KING.

Sect. 1. — The Resurrection op our Lord, and lessons
connected with it.

1. And now the overthrow of the scheme that Christ
came to proclaim seems complete. His disci-
ples had deserted Him ; the boldest of their apparent^ the
number had denied Him, and the Founder of thThopeTof
the new faith has Himself been put to death. 1S lsc,ples#
In this impression the apostles evidently shared. With the
crucifixion of their Master, they seem to have abandoned
all expectation of the establishment of His kingdom.

2. Within six weeks, however, after this apparent ter-
mination of their hopes, the views of the dis- change in their
ciples are entirely changed. We find them Tiews'
again assembled in Jerusalem, neither sorrowing nor de-
spondent, but declaring publicly that the Jesus, whom the
Jews with wicked hands had crucified and slain, was both
Lord and Christ, and that through faith in Him alone are
men to be accepted and forgiven. (Acts ii. 36.)

3. And what intermediate historical fact is there to ex-
plain this transition ? Christ has re-appeared

among them ; He is raised from the dead ;
their faith in His previous promises has thence received a

(295)

296 CHAPTER VI.

new impulse ; and convictions have been imparted which
ins resurrec- were before unknown. His resurrection has
tlon' given the idea of new and even closer commu-

nion with Him ; communion, moreover, which is never to
be dissolved. According to their own assertions — asser-
tions repeated in one form or another more than fifty times
in the Acts and Epistles — this event was the foundation of
their steadfast faith in His person and in Himself as Mes-
siah, as well as of their own certain hope of a blessed im-
mortality. His resurrection, in fact, justified their previous
convictions, and for ever confirmed them.

4. This issue of His death He had Himself foretold.
Foretold by "I nave power to lay down my life, and I have
himself. power," said He, "to take it again." (John x.
17, 18.) Elsewhere, even more clearly (Matt. xvi. 21 ;
xvii. 23 ; Luke ix. 22 ; Mark ix. 31), specifying in these
passages the precise interval of three days, during which He
was to remain in the grave. The full import of these predic-
tions, however, had been hidden from the disciples ; nor did
they gather comfort from them till now they were fulfilled.

5. But if this was to be the issue of the sufferings of

our Lord, must it not have deprived them of

Difficulty of ,.«.

these previous much of their bitterness : A difficulty that

predictions. ,

cannot be perfectly solved. It is answered,
however, as far as it can be answered, in the mystery of
His incarnation, and the nature of His atonement. The
consciousness that death was but a passage to glory did
not prevent the struggle of nature with suffering, especially
such suffering as His for our sins. We know that He
reached heaven through faith (Heb. xii. 2), as must all
His followers ; and His sacrifice lost as little of its moral
import, and His sufferings as little of their intensity from
the assurance of His resurrection, as do the present trials
of believers from the equally certain assurance of an im-
mortal life.

§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 297

6. Paley has pointed out the fact, that if the Gospel had
been a forgery, the inspired writers would never

° J * The resurrec-

have represented Christ as appearing after His tion an evi-

. . * dence and con-

resurrection to His disciples only ; and no sedation only

. . . to disciples.

doubt this remark is just. But there is in the
fact itself a still deeper truth. During His life He showed
Himself to all, beseeching men to be reconciled, and at-
tracting their confidence by services of unwearied love ;
but in His resurrection He was known only to His own.
It was a miracle, by which believers were to be con-
vinced. Those whose hearts had received no saving im-
pression from His ministry, would have received no such
impression from His re-appearance. If the living Christ
had not led them to repentance, neither were they to be
persuaded though He rose from the dead.

7. Another reason still is suggested by the fact, that His
resurrection was not only intended to seal and

A preparation

confirm the faith of those who already believed, for invisible

communion.

but also to teach to such the great lesson, that
communion with a visible Saviour was now to yield to
communion with a spiritual being ever present, though
mostly invisible. Forty days He remained on earth to
give them the full assurance that He was risen — to afford
them a clearer insight into the mysteries of His kingdom ;
but only forty days, for He did not mean them to cleave to
any visible manifestation of Himself. His re-appearance
was but a preparation for higher and eternal union. To
such as believed, therefore, it was an instructive lesson and
a decisive evidence ; but to unbelievers it would have been
inappropriate and useless.

8. In accordance with this fact He appeared to His dis-
ciples only, and all His appearances were in

Christ appears

love ; that love showing itself differently, how- to disciples
ever, according to the condition of its object.

298 CHAPTER VI.

Such as were in sorrow it soothed ; such as were walking
in light it gladdened ; such as had gone astray it rebuked
and restored.

9. Christ's first appearance was graciously afforded to
Christ's first tQe two women who visited His tomb. As
appearance. ^ey returned in sadness from the place where
He had lain, He met them. T^iey were filled at once with
successive aP- j°y> surprise, and fear. Immediately they fell
pearances. before Him and embraced His feet. "Be not
afraid," said He ; and then bade them go and announce
His resurrection to His disciples, of whom he spoke as His
"brethren."

Next He visits Mary, who had remained at the grave
second appear- oppressed with grief and anxiety. Seeing Him
ance* unexpectedly in the morning twilight, she did

not know Him ; He therefore called her by name, and im-
mediately she recognized His voice. With an exclamation
of joy she stretched forth her hands, probably intending to
touch Him, but Christ warned her that He had not yet
ascended to His Father ; that the time of His union with
His people (of which He had previously spoken) was not
yet come ; and that henceforth the fellowship that was to
subsist between Himself and His disciples was to be not
personal, but spiritual : " Cleave not," therefore says He,
"to me ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father."

Early in the afternoon of the same day, He appeared to
Third appear- Peter (Luke xxiv. 33, 34 ; 1 Cor. xv. 5) ; and
ance. Fourth. iater ^0 tw0 ^{sc[^\es going to Emmaus, a small

village a mile distant from Jerusalem. They had heard
that the body of Christ was not found in the sepulchre ;
but the news that He had appeared to any had not reached
them. As they walked, they conversed freely of all that
had occurred, and of the disappointment of their hopes.
While absorbed in conversation a stranger joined them,
and took part in it. By degrees he ascertained their feel-

§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 299

ing, and thence began to expound the Scriptures, and to
show that the facts which were shaking their faith ought
really to confirm it. "For thus," said he, "it behoved
Christ to suffer." Under the power of His teaching, their
hearts burned within them — a new light dawned upon
their souls. The person of the speaker, however, was not
recognized ; they were not aware of the appearance of their
risen Lord ; perhaps their attention was so occupied with
the thoughts He uttered, that they did not particularly
notice His appearance ; or perhaps His sufferings and re-
surrection had somewhat changed Him. When they ar-
rived, therefore, at their journey's end, " He made as if He
would have gone farther." He had no reason to intrude
upon them, but they courteously urged Him to remain,
and on His complying they courteously gave Him the
place of the host. Before they began, He pronounced a
blessing, then brake the bread and gave it them ; and in
this act they discerned the Friend who had so often sat
with them at table and shared their meal. (Luke xxiv.
30, 31.)

Christ seems to have returned to Jerusalem ; and in the
evening of the same day He met the assembled Fifth apPear-
apostles, all being present except Thomas. On ance"
the following Lord's day He appeared to the apostles again,
Thomas being; with them. Afterwards He ap-

o. n m-i Sixth. Seventh

peared to seven of them on the Sea of Tibe- Eighth. Ninth

Tenth.

rias ; then in the mountain of Galilee to the
apostles, and the five hundred other brethren ; then to
James ; then again to the eleven at Jerusalem, immediately
before His ascension.

10. His conduct and language on these dif- J^S^awgh-
ferent occasions are highly instructive. ly instructive.

When He first appeared to the disciples they were as-
sembled with closed doors, and suddenly He stood in the

300 CHAPTER VI

midst of them, and said, repeating the usual salutation,
ins language though with deeper significance: "Peace be
auns£sCtPles unt0 y°u-" " And theJ were affrighted, sup-
Tisit. posing they had seen a spirit." He gently

rebuked their fears ; and, to prove that He was there in
bodily presence, He appealed to His hands and His feet,
and ate before them. He then explained to them the
Scriptures, and opened their hearts to understand them.
And then were " the disciples glad when they saw the
Lord."

Again He said : " Peace be unto you ;" and added, " As
My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you ;" thus
consecrating them as the messengers of His peace to men.

He then breathed upon them, as a symbol of the in-
spiration they were to receive from the Father to prepare
them to preach His gospel, and to proclaim in His name
forgiveness of sins. That this symbolical act might be-
clearly significant, He added the explanation : " Receive
ye the Holy Ghost." His previous disclosures must now
have been remembered by them. Their higher life pro-
bably became stronger ; though what farther was implied
in this act was not imparted till the day of Pentecost. It
was indeed affirmed to be partly prophetic, and had refer-
ence to the promise of the Father, and the power with
which they were hereafter to be endued from on high.
(Mark xvi. It, 18.)

11 The week following Christ appeared to the eleven
a second time, when Thomas was with them.

His language . .

at His second Again He stood mysteriously in their midst,
offering the very sign that Thomas had unbe-
lievingly required. "Reach hither thy finger," said He,
11 and behold My hands :" — a manifestation at once of
knowledge and of love, that drew from this disciple an
expression of faith stronger than any that we have yet
heard from the disciples : " Mv Lord and my God." (John

§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 301

xx. 27, 28.) This utterance of faith sprang clearly rather
from outward evidence than from inward feeling : and
therefore Christ adds, when expressing His acceptance of
it, the significant promise : "Because thou hast seen thou
hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed ;" intimating that in after time true faith
must be impossible if it depend on present sensible signs
of assurance ; and that such true faith, connected as it is
with the consciousness of religious want, and the percep-
tion of Christ's grace, rather than with visible evidence, is
doubly blessed.

12. In later appearances Peter is formally reinstated in
his office, and his fears are removed ; the dis- His languag0
ciples are commissioned to preach the gospel m later T1Plts*
to every creature, and to admit men of all nations to
Christ's communion and fellowship.* He assures them (the

* We think it somewhat surprising that our author should pass so
cursorily over the final Great Commission j under which all Christ's
ministers must proceed in the spread of Christianity throughout the
world. " It is required of stewards," says the apostle, " that a man be
found faithful ;" and this Commission, without doubt, is the ultimate rule
and test of our fidelity.

It is, indeed, a just and beautiful view of Dr. Angus, that the ministers
of Christ are authorized by the Commission, to " admit men of all nations
to Christ's communion and fellowship." But this language is too general
to convey to any intelligent reader, much less to an intelligent heathen,
any definite ideas of the prescribed order, or manifold natnre of that
fellowship. The least that could be said with propriety, it seems to us,
wonld be to point out that this communion with Christ required in the
Commission is threefold — vital, by faith in the Gospel ; visible, by bap-
tism in the Triune Name; and practical, by a life of universal obedience
to His will — " teaching them to observe all things ichatsoever I have
commanded you." This is Gospel order. The Acts and the Epistles
show how faithfully the apostles observed it. In so doing we act in
communion with Christ — we walk in His light, and He is with us to the
end of the world. But let no man deceive himself. " If we say that we
have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not tho
truth." (1 John i. 6.)— J. N. B.

26

302 CHAPTER VI.

assurance being given in instructive connection with their
last commission) that all authority is given to Him in
Heaven and in earth, and that He will be with them even
unto the end.

13. During one of these interviews, the old worldly
spirit of the disciples again appeared ; and they asked Him
whether He intended then to establish His kingdom in its
glory ? " It is not for you," He contents Himself with re-
plying, "to know the times and the seasons." (Acts i.)
You know your own calling, and I have given you a pro-
mise whereby that calling shall be fulfilled, even the pro-
mise of the Spirit ; all else you may leave

Christ ascends. . ,^. ... , , .

with me. With this reply and this promise, he
was carried up out of their sight ; ascending in His glo-
rified human nature to His Father.

14. And now the great work of Christ's incarnation is
Glorified hu- complete. In ancient times He was spoken of
2£k£E«. as -the Angel of God," "the Angel of His
chrSSevCTai* presence," the Messenger of the covenant,"
pears- "the Lord." In some of the prophets (espe-
cially Ezekiel and Daniel) " His likeness is as the appear-
ance of a man." Henceforth these titles cease : likeness
has become reality. It is the appearance of a man no
more, for His manhood has been verified and adored.
The glory has taken a 'permanent form, and as a glorified
man He is ever after set forth in the book of God. As
such He stands in the midst of the golden candlesticks ; as
such He Himself tells us He will hereafter be seen, "sit-
ting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds
of heaven ;" and as such, when the judgment is past, His
name will be made excellent in all worlds.

15. To the very close the Gospels retain their pecu-
Pecuiiaritiesof Hanties ; and nowhere are those peculiarities
proservedSu more strikingly seen than in the narrative of
the dose. our Lord's ascension. In Matthew it is the

§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 303

Messiah claiming rightful dominion, and promising HU
presence. " All authority is given unto Me in heaven and
earth. Go ye, and teach all nations : Lo, I am with
you ;" and this position he seems to occupy still, for
nothing follows to weaken the impressiveness of this last
utterance. He still stands in the attitude of authority
and of love. In Mark He is received up into heaven ; but
as His apostles go forth to preach His Gospel, He is spoken
of as working with them, and confirming their words with
signs following. There we have Christ in his energy and
might. In Luke he appears as a man ; as a priest taken
from among men, executing the functions of His priestly
office ; for as He is parted from His followers, He lifts up
His hands and blesses them. Luke had commenced his
history with the man Jesus in his infancy, and in His va-
rious human relations ; and he now closes it with a view
of the same Jesus, a man still, though risen and glorified ;
entering the heavenly temple, and as He enters it, receiving
man's adoration and praise. In John, again, the great
office of the Comforter, Christ's representative on earth, is
distinctly revealed. He is to reign in the place of the
Lord, and, therefore, after a beautiful exhibition of Christ's
dignity, as attested by Thomas, and a no less beautiful ex-
hibition of His love, as shown in His treatment of Peter,
Christ is mysteriously withdrawn. The last scene shows
us Peter and John following Him. The Gospel ends, and
we see Him no more.

We may say, therefore, that in Matthew he is everywhere
Messiah, the Prince. In Mark he ascends to the right
hand of power, as the Captain of Salvation, in order to
share the ministry of His servants. In Luke, as the Priest
to be alone in the sanctuary of heaven ; and in John, as the
Son of the Father, introducing the children to the Father's
house, and quietly leaving the interests of His king-daw to
the immediate government of His Spirit

304 CHAPTER VI

16. The permanent influence of the presence of Christ
in heaven, of Christ as having our nature in

Influence of . , .

Christ's incar- union with His own, it is not difficult to con •
ing aii crea- ceive. By this uuion He has embraced in on<
bond of love all intermediate orders of intelli
gences, without annulling any real and native difference.
He has thus introduced a law of relationship, which
obliges the highest to recognise the lowest, and enables the
lowest, without presumption, to take the place assigned
them. The Incarnate Word now glorified, brings together
in the mystery of His person the angelic and the human
— the most recent and the most ancient of God's intelligent
tribes. Things in heaven and things on earth find a com-
mon centre in Him.

It. Nor can we be surprised at the result of this mys-
influenceof terious change on the minds of his disciples.
SttJSS? " They worshiped Him, and returned to Jeru-
of ms disciples. saiem wj^]1 great j0y : and were continually in

the Temple, praising and blessing God." Sorrow had
filled their hearts, but henceforth their worship was praise,
and their whole life a psalm. The First Fruits of the
Resurrection had been accepted for them, and the feast of
the resurrection, like every feast of first fruits, must be kept
with joy. Another festival was indeed at hand, and at
Pentecost the first fruits of all their ground, in yet another
sense, were to be offered to God. (Lev. xxiii. 10.) But in-
dependently of that blessing, Jesus and the resurrection
formed now their feast, and with no other feelings than of
gladness could they look upon Him. His new life, His
glorified nature, the first trophy ever won from the grave,
was at once the pledge and the model of their own.

§ 2. christ the king of hades. 305

Sect. 2. — Christ the King of Hades. The Forerunner
The First Fruits of them that slept.

18. The great questions that have continued to perplex
all heathen nations in their religious inquiries,

relate to God, his nature, and attributes ; to difficulties of
holiness, its rules, and motives; and to another trriiooifa'rov
life, its reality, and the preparation for it. On V"J ''
all these questions it may be said that the heathen have no
knowledge. They form conjectures, sometimes commend-
able, sometimes fearfully defective ; but knowledge they
have none. All these questions, however, are answered in
the Gospel. In Christ we have God manifest in the flesh ;
in His life and person we have law embodied ; and we
have now to consider His relation to the future. His very
incarnation solves innumerable difficulties con- How solved .
nected with the Godhead ; His life and teach- Lbc GosPel-
ing are no less decisive in regard to ethical questions ;
while in His resurrection and ascension we find "life and
immortality brought to light," revealed with as much clear-
ness as is consistent with our condition.

19. The teaching of Scripture on this question is highly
instructive. It calls Him the conquorer of The question
death. He has the keys of the invisible state. Jj^by the
(Rev. iii. ?.) " He shutteth and no man open- GosPeL

eth ; he openeth and no man shutteth." He is our fore-
runner, for he hath shown us the path of life. "For us
He has entered within the veil." One in human form has
passed through the dark valley — has gone in a nature, on
which death can have no more dominion, into the presence
of God, and has become a pledge of the in- Itsthreefold
gathering of the whole harvest of the Church. asPect-
As conqueror he has gained a right to complete our re-
demption. As forerunner he has shown us in what senses,
and to what an extent, our redemption will be complete.

2G*

306 CHAPTER VI.

Aud as the first fruits of them that sleep, He gives the
assurance of the accomplishment of His work, and of the
final manifestation of the sons of God.

21. But what is immortality, and what the future life on
which men are to enter ? Questions which the

What is Iin- . .

mortality?— heathen answer in most contradictory forms ;

Christ illus- .

trates it as the proving the correctness of their replies, even

Forerunner

when sound, by arguments altogether incon-
clusive.

With many of them future life was something between
opinions of the being and not being — a state corresponding to
heathen. ^ state 0f man's mind in dreams or in infancy.

Its happiness, even in the case of the noble and generous,
was unreal, " a shadow dealt out to shadows ;" or, if it as-
sumed form and substance, it was sensual only.

With some it was the destruction of all individual con-
sciousness, the annihilation of distinct personal existence,
the absorption by the Spirit of the Universe of all indivi-
dual derived spirits. With none did it involve or suppose
the revivification of the body. Hence Achilles preferred
the condition of the meanest slave on earth to the very
highest of the unsubstantial glories of Elysium. Hence Ho-
mer describes the souls of his heroes as going to the shades,
and the heroes themselves (avtov? 6f) as a prey to dogs and
birds. Hence also the remarkable fact, that nowhere in
ancient systems was the punishment of another life made
a practical motive to virtue.

The arguments employed to prove even such a future
life, as some were disposed to admit, were none

Reasons in sup- . . . a .

port of their of them conclusive. The soul, it was said, is

views

not material, and therefore it cannot die. There
are serious irregularities in this life, said others, and a
future state of retribution is necessary to vindicate the
justice of God, and to equalise His dealings. Men are
capable of continued improvement, and have evidently a

§ 2. CHRIST THE FORERUNNER. 307

disposition to entertain fears and hopes of something after
death. And, it was sometimes added, is not eternal hap-
piness a necessary consequence of virtue ; or if not, then
of the goodness of the Creator ? Thus they reasoned, but
never in such forms as to produce conviction. Probability
was the utmost point they ever reached, and the probability
was never practical.

It is in Christ only that life and immortality have been
brought to light ; and it is in the Gospel only that the
powers of the world to come (to use that expression with
new meaning) exercise holy influence over men's hearts.
In the Gospel, moreover, the same act that seals our title
to it reveals its nature, and proves its reality ; the resur-
rection, namely, of our Lord. Mortal life with its humi-
liation and fears, death with its anguish and dismay, and
Hades (the world unseen), were all included in His victory.
He subdued and explained them all ; and by a double
title — the title of conquest and of experience — has gained
authority alike over the dead and the living.

22. To the Christian, therefore, the hope of immortality
is not merely an inference of reason. Nor is our knowledge
it a feeling excited by a mere verbal promise, SuHtf alT
which might be interpreted with latitude of actualfact-
meaning. It is a deduction from an actual fact, all the
parts of which have been set before us. Our conclusions
are not fancy, nor even reason. They are knowledge. If
the future had only been announced, analogy and conscience
might have suggested, no doubt, many cheering lessons,
and have justified the conclusion that, after a protracted
probation and successive stages of improvement, the human
soul might reach a higher state of enjoyment and of virtue.
But any such scheme would clearly have formed a striking
contrast to that blessedness which the Gospel reveals.
Christ has gone through the several stages of our course,
and we know from His history that there is but a step be-

308 CHAPTER VI.

tween us and the highest promotion. One who was made
in all points like unto us, has, in our view, trodden upon
the earth, and passed immediately " into the heavens,"
entering from this earth into the presence of God, nor fear-
ing to show Himself there in the form of man.

What that future life is, may be said, in one sense, to be
unrevealed. The fact of our personal con-

C'hrist illus- . .

trates it as the sciousness, the spiritual elements of the state
itself, are indeed told us ; but the mode of life,
its transactions, its condition, are all hidden. And wisely
hidden ; for human life would be a burden, and human
probation an impossibility, if heaven and hell were present
to the senses as they are now to our faith. This much only
is told us, that when we come to the end of our course, and
our next step must rest upon ground that is unseen, we
have but to put our hand into Christ's hand and be led by
Him. Trusting His guidance and care we are secure ; on
that unseen ground He stands ; over it He reigns. The
awful solemnity of entering upon it He has known. If in
that hour our hearts begin to fail, we have but to realise
the personal affection of our Redeemer — to remember, that
the moment we cast off our moorings {avd-kvais) from the
shores of mortality, we are at once and forever with the
Lord. If we long for a clearer conception of what this
union involves, we are shut up to analogies and figures
We know only that it includes whatever is involved in the
union of the members with the Head — that Head itself
divine. We are heirs with Him. We shall share His
glory. We shall possess something incorruptible and un-
dented. What these expressions precisely mean, we know
not ; but they mean something which human nature can
bear ; something adapted to that nature, and in its condi-
tion of perfect holiness ; something, in short, which is a
reward even to Him who is " the brightness of the Father's
glory, and the express image of His person ;" something

§ 2. CHRIST THE FORERUNNER. 309

fhat repays the agonies of the garden and the cross ; and
this knowledge is enough.

23. And if, again, the question be raised, how can man
live again, and with what body will he come ?

- 1 So He illus-

we nave at once an answer in the resurrection trates our ro-
of our Lord. It is human nature in its essen-
tial elements, though glorified, that is to inherit eternity.
The very body now subject to dissolution is to escape the
power of death, and to appear in imperishable vigor. The
animal tendencies of our frame will doubtless cease.
"When this mortal puts on immortality," what is natural
will become spiritual; but that frame will be a body still.
To suppose that it will be a mere rudiment, something
saved from the wreck of the former tabernacle, and only
needed to connect the earthly with the heavenly state, is
to rob the language of Scripture of its significance. "Our
citizenship (^ jto'kitka) is in heaven, whence we look for the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies and
fashion them like unto His glorious body, by that mighty
power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Him-
self." (Phil. iii. 21 ) The very nature of the change is
illustrated and confirmed in the resurrection of our Lord.

24. And this state is to be uninterrupted and endless :
' while life, or thought, or being last.' "Ever go our end]es8
with the Lord," is the phrase that indicates the hfe-
nature, and origin, and duration of our joy ; conformed to
His image in body and in spirit, and therefore in bliss.

25. An obvious objection to these doctrines is their
sublimity, and the disproportionateness between . .
them and man. That human nature should be these doctrines

founded on

thus ennobled, gifted in all its faculties with an their subiimi-

. ty.

endless life, and with a chief place in the family
of God, seems so little accordant with our deserts or pre-
sent condition, that we shrink at first from affirming or ad-
mitting it.

310 CHAPTER VI.

26. But let the truth of man's original creation and the
Answered by truth of Christ's death be considered, and the
man^Torfginai objection is answered. Human wisdom com-
greatness, and mjts jjere a double mistake. Looking at man
as he is, it assumes for him, in his own unassisted power,
too much. Looking at man as originally created, it assigns
to him as certainly too little. Man as redeemed it entirely
disregards. The inspired writers, on the other hand, while
they deal faithfully with man in regard to his actual corrup-
tion, magnify, without scruple, his character as related to
God and the future. The general style of the Bible prepares
us, in fact, to receive whatever it may declare to be his
ultimate destiny. Its first statement concerning us fore-
shadows our final greatness : " God created man in His
own image. In the image of God created He him." The
very aim of the New Testament confirms this view ; for its
great and precious promises were revealed that we might
be made partakers of a "divine nature." And constantly
is human salvation spoken of as a restoration and recovery.
It brings man back to the state he has lost. In it we are
"begotten again to a lively hope."

27. But it is the scheme of redemption which makes

these expressions not only intelligible, but al-
of the scheme most natural. That scheme sets forth the fact,

indeed, that man is to live forever, and as part
of the family of the blessed God. But it lessens the sur-
prise excited by this miracle by announcing another. This
result is, it tells us, the effect of the union of our nature
Men identified w^n the Divine in the person of the Messiah,
with Christ, The second includes the first, as the greater
includes the less ; and the miracle of the results is for-
gotten in the miracle of the means.

Thi; truth of the indissoluble union between Christ and
His disciples, He continually exhibits in His teaching ;
sometimes in figures of speech, and sometimes in literal

§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 311

statements. Christ calls Himself "the shepherd who lays
down his life for the sheep." He is a vine, and the source
of life to every branch. Nor is this enough. It is part
of His intercessory prayer for His followers, that "they all
may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee ;
that they may be one in us." Language can scarcely be
more intense or decisive. His oneness with the Father is
made a type of our oneness with Him.

28. As, therefore, Christ is Himself "the Prince of
life," "the living One," "He who has life And hence ^
in Himself," who is "the life and the light of mortaL
men," who "liveth for evermore," "whose goings forth
are from everlasting," and who is Himself " the Father of
an eternal age," so all His followers share His existence,
and are identified with His eternity. " Because He lives
they shall live also." They may, therefore, fear extinction
only when He, the Lord of life, is Himself no more.

Sect. 3. — The Invisible King.

29. Zechariah has described in a beautiful prediction
the nature and the results of the Gospel. "In

* The Gospel

that day," says he, "a fountain shall he opened overthrows ail
for all sin to the house of David, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem :" and, as the consequence of
this blessing, "the idols shall cease from the land." This
prediction has been partially fulfilled. The fountain is
opened, and as Christianity extends, idolatry recedes.

30. But, in the Bible sense of the word, idolatry includes
more than the adoration of an image. It in-

^ t and makes God

eludes the withdrawal of a spiritual affection the object of

supreme lore.

from God, and the bestowment of that affection
on other beings. It is a sin not of outward worship
only, but of the heart. When, therefore, idolatry is for-
bidden in the Bible, it is implied that God, and God only,
is to be the object of supreme love. Reverence and obe-

312 CHAPTER VI.

dience are ultimately due only to Him ; and it is the
recognition of this truth which is to be an evidence and
the result of the success of the Gospel. The tenor of all
ancient prophecy confirms this prediction. When the
mountain of the Lord's house is established on the top of
the mountains . . . the idols shall be utterly abolished.
(Is. ii. 1-17.)

31. And yet both in Scripture prediction and in Scrip-

ture history we have an apparently contradic-
preme love and tory fact. Everywhere throughout the Bible

worship are

ascribed and a mysterious Being is found besides Jehovah,

due to Christ. , i • •»-» •

vested with Divine honors. To this Being,
He himself assures us, there has been committed a power
which embraces all things in heaven and in earth ; while
elsewhere we find intimations which seem to teach that His
authority is recognised in other worlds besides our own.
Apostles pray to Him. Pious men ascribe to Him, their
creation, and forgiveness, and safety. Titles of highest
dignity are awarded to Him. " On His thigh is a name
written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." He is even
the " Prince of the kings of the earth." One prophet,
Jude, quotes from another to show that He is surrounded
by ten thousands of His saints, and that He is to be our
Judge ; and the last book of inspiration discloses the fact
that heaven resounds with His praise, owing to Him the
very light that fills and beautifies the place.

32. This dignity, moreover, is not assumed by Himself,
Not assumed but formally given to Him by the Father as
nvmbytte the consequence of His human nature. The
fiw&ftoni Father gave Him this authority, "because He

our obligations Jg t]ie £on of man» YOT t^e same reaSOn

Christians render Him homage. As the Son He redeemed
us, and therefore we love Him. As the Son He offers us
salvation, and we believe on Him. As the Son He is to re-
ceive us to glory, and we hope in Him. As the Son He

§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 313

is c ur strength and life, and we rejoice in Him. As the
Son He is our king and head, and we obey and adore Him.
These emotions, moreover, are supreme. They constitute
all that we have to offer — love, and fear, and joy ; adora
tion, obedience, and praise.

33. Nor is there really any contradiction between these
facts and the language of the prophets. The

This supreme

Son of Man is not the rival God of the Crea- love and wor-

rrn i • c oi • Ship no£ idola-

tor. The dictate 01 Scripture, which bids us try, for Christ
to worship God, is not here at war with the
impulse of the heart which bids us to worship man. The
appointed Sovereign and the eternal Sovereign are one.
Our nature is interwoven with the Godhead. The Re-
deemer is King, and the Father is honored in the Son.

34. This supremacy of Christ is His Kingship ; it rests
on a foundation which forms part Of the very wu-

* j ±nis supre-

throne of God. His dominion is established in nifcyJs , •

Christ s king-
human hearts. It is founded in willing submis- sbip-

sion. It is maintained by spiritual authority. It is esta-
blished in righteousness. It will ultimately unite heaven
and earth. It begins, as we have found, in its peCuiiari-
individual conversion. Its grandest earthly tks-
manifestation will be seen in the general extension of
truth ; the richest and noblest manifestation of all will be
seen in heaven. Christ's death founds it ; Christ's Spirit
forms it ; Christ's will (which is ever in harmony with the
will of the Father) rules it ; Christ's glory (which is also
the glory of the Father, and comprehends the full blessed-
ness of the redeemed) is its end.

35. The establishment of this kingdom is the great
theme of ancient prophecy, and the very pur-

_' _ Zr : J Where the Gos-

pose of the gospel. JN early every narrative of pel is Pro-

«, ...«.• . i . n claimed, and

Christ's sunerings ends in the creation of a men believe,

s-,i 1 .,, —,, a kingdom is

Church co-extensive with our race. The stone founded, and
which the builders rejected is immediately seen is to be tniver
as the head of the corner. (Ps. cxviii. 22.)

314 CHAPTER VI.

The most mournful of the ancient predictions first shows
Him as despised and afflicted, and then as having the many
for His portion, and the mighty for His spoil. (Is. liii.)
The 22d Psalm, which opens with His awful exclamation,
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ?" and run3
through every mood of sadness, closes with the assurance
that all the ends of the earth shall worship before God.

These predictions are fulfilled in the record of His life.
The sufferings of Christ terminate in the glory which should
follow. He made reconciliation for iniquity, brought in
an everlasting righteousness, that all peoples, and nations,
and languages may serve Him. He tasted death for every
man, and God hath therefore crowned Him with glory and
honor. Because He took upon Him the form of a ser-
vant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given
Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on
earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father." (Phil. ii. 9, 10.)

36. And yet the Governor of this kingdom is Himself
The King mm- unseen. His Church is established and extend-
seif unseen. j^ The members of His living body are all
complete, but there is no visible head. T';e dome of the
temple seems perfect, but the top-stone, v hich binds and
sustains the whole, is hidden in the jlouds. Christ's
is clearly an invisible reign. To the world the church is
His only visible representative upon earth. In the church
herself we have only the Spirit, whose presence on earth
we enjoy on the condition, it seems, of the absence of the
Lord. "It is expedient," said He to His disciples, "that
I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter cannot
come ; but if I go, I will send him unto you. And he
shall take of mine, and show it unto you." (John xvi. T)

§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 315

37. The wisdom and necessity of this arrangement we
cannot thoroughly understand. A thousand

° J All the reasons

proprieties may be harmonized by it, and-pos- of this arrange-

11 J J x merit not re-

sibly all classes of intelligent beings are con- veaied; some

J . . are-

templating the fact, and admiring it on

different grounds. We may, however, notice one or two
of the subordinate fitnesses involved in it, connected espe-
cially with the condition of the church.

Nor must it be thought that in thus attempting to find
in ourselves reasons for this procedure, we are attaching to
man an importance which he may not justly claim. The
whole tenor of Scripture sanctions what would else be
proud assumption. The promotion of human interests is
every where reckoned one great end, amongst deeper rea-
sons doubtless, of the dispensations of God. When Christ
emptied Himself of glory, and visited our world in poverty
and weakness, it was for our sakes He became poor. (2
Cor. viii. 9.) After He entered it, He endured sufferings
most mysterious and intense ; carrying our griefs and bear-
ing our sorrows. (Is. liii.) He then passed into glory,
not reigning on earth or continuing with His followers ;
and the reason He has Himself given : " It is expedient
for you that I go." (John xvi. 7.) His exaltation even
has direct reference to our welfare. He ascended to re-
ceive gifts for men, and to become our advocate with God.
Clearly then we may regard the indivisibility of Christ in
connection with His church, and seek in that connection
for some of the reasons of the arrangement.

38. It is obvious then, first of all, that if Christ's king-
dom is to be co-extensive with the world, and A un;Terpai
its members are to be scattered through all JSeJantaTt
lands, this universality is best secured by the Slb!e kmg"
influence of an unseen Ruler, and an energy purely spiri-
tual. To fix Christ's position on earth ; to announce that
He was here rather than there, would inevitably result in

SI 6 CHAPTER VI.

collecting the church round one centre of influence and
blessing. Now, the image of His reign is the air, or the
light, the element that surrounds the earth, sustaining and
purifying all that breathe. Under another constitution
this image would fail, and the church would become a
scene of exclusiveness and privilege appropriated by such
only as happen to reside in the vicinity of the court, or
have personal access to the Great King. There might in
that case be light and warmth at the centre, but at the
extremities we should have little else than coldness and
death.

39. Nor need we insist on difficulties which the suppo-
sition of a visible king would involve, difficul-

fortditiori of ^ .

the world, and ties, however, both obvious and important.

of the church .--,_, ,., n , P i i •

adapted to this Where could we find a place tor such a being,
constituted as the world and the church are ?
Are they either of them moulded into meetness for His
personal presence, or are they likely to be under the exist-
ing conditions of our probation ? And even if a place
could be found for Him, and Christ did appear, is it con-
ceivable that such a visitant could reside amongst us with-
out disarranging the business of life ? If He came in
humiliation, would men recognise His majesty ? If in
glory, would not the veneration of those who love Him,
and the curiosity of the world, be destructive of all atten-
tion to earthly concerns ? Would it be possible, moreover,
fur our eyes to behold Him ? It is certain that when apos-
tles saw Him in the transfiguration, they fell on their faces
and were sore afraid : and even the disciple who knew Him
so well, when in Patmos he saw His glory, fell at His feet
as dead. Till therefore the church is free from all impedi-
ments, till earthly duties and earthly relations cease or
change, till we have spiritual bodies to make the presence
of Christ no longer isolated or partial, our very physical

§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 317

condition demands that Christ be unseen. His invisibility
seems essential to His reign.

40. A second reason of this arrangement is found in the
spiritual life of all Christians. Faith is its

. Faith, the prin-

basis and condition; but iaith is the ground cipieofspiri-
and confidence of things hoped for, the convic- tachmentto "

„ -, . -i~» ,1 • • i the invisible.

tion of things not seen. By this principle

man's spiritual life is maintained, and to perfect it is one

grand design of nature, providence, and revealed truth.

Upon our faith, moreover, all holiness depends. It is
the chief element of happiness and of virtue ; and as the
whole are perfected by use, an invisible Redeemer is re-
quired to meet this necessity of our condition. Faith, to
conquer, must fight. Hope, to be triumphant, must not
see. Love must seek its object through clouds and dark-
ness ; patience have her perfect work, and even joy smile
through tears. A visibly present Christ would interrupt
their process : stop our growth, or bring on a forced matu-
rity. In any case it is a blessing adapted only to the per-
fection of heaven.

41. A third reason is found in the fact that Christ's
kingdom is designed to be in every condition

Christ nneeen,

the image of Himself. It is to reflect Him in the church .is

-r-r. t .<,. . n . -n-. • t conformed to

His humiliation, as well as in His triumph ; his humiiia-

ln • -ii tion.

and, by progressive stages, to grow up m all
things into Him who is the Head. " The Head of man," says
the apostle, "is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God."
(1 Cor. xi. 3.) Our relation therefore to Him is analogous
to His relation to the Father. Suffering is the condition of
our glory, and the apostle Peter tells us it was the condition
of Christ's. His suffering consisted, in its essence, in the
absence of the Father : ours consists, in a great measure,
in the absence of our Lord. His sufferings ceased on.
His ascension ; and ours cease at His second coming.

21*

318 CHAPTER VI.

Herein again " He hath left us an example that we should
follow His steps."

42. But though not visibly present with His church,
He is, however, Christ is with her, both in the whole body and
chureh IndVn ^n each °f ^s members. He has promised to

each member. be wjt^ ]ier a]wavSj eYen unt0 the end of tllC

world ; He has declared her to be "His fullness, (or com-
pletion,) the fullness of Him that filleth all in all."

Individual members are instructed that the same truth
is applicable to them ; they are told that they " eat His
flesh and drink His blood ;" that Christ is in them except
they be reprobates; that if He be in them "the body is
dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of right-
eousness," and that " they live, yet not they, but Christ
liveth in them." That Christ Himself, therefore, will in-
habit the hearts of His people and reign in them, entire
in each and entire in all, is His own clear and reiterated
promise.

But what do these expressions involve ? All that they
involve none perhaps can tell. The presence and influence
of His Spirit is certainly involved : and, judging from the
facts of His own history, perhaps more.

43. We know that He Himself was God manifest in the
Personally per- nesh, Deity enshrined in our nature; and we
haps. know that, moreover, the Holy Ghost was
given without measure unto Him. Applying this case to
our own, it may, perhaps, be said, that as Christ is God,
He pervades, by His mysterious omnipresence, the whole
body of His earthly followers, and each of them. As God
He is certainly the appropriate source and principle of
holiness ; as man, He is the appropriate channel for its
conveyance. As God-man, therefore, He is both spring
and stream ; Himself the holiness He gives ; Himself the
divine nature, which, through His Spirit, is to be united
by Him with our own.

§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 319

44. Or, if we take lower ground, we have then th«
truth that Christ reigns by His Spirit in the and CPrta;niy
church ; an agency which the previous suppo- by llls Spint-
sition does not however supersede. Over and above the
personal indwelling of Christ (if that view be admitted),
the faithful follower of Christ is blessed with the presence
of the indwelling Spirit himself; not indeed as an inde-
pendent agent, but as proceeding from Christ, and as re-
presenting Him. This last modification is important, be-
cause it secures the dignity of our Lord, and harmonizes
the statements of Scripture. Hence He is called the
" Spirit of the Son," " the Spirit of Jesus." Hence it
is that the two divine Personages bear in the scheme of
mediation the same title ; they are both Paracletes, — Com-
forters, Teachers, Exhorters, Helpers, and Advocates.
The worK of intercession, which, perhaps, the title mainly
implies, is expressly said to be carried on by both. (See
John xiv. 16 ; 1 John ii. 1 ; Rom. viii. 26.) As Christ is
the consolation of Israel, so the Spirit is the other Com-
forter (still the same term) ; expressions that imply the
complete adaptation of both to human nature in all its
misery and wants.

45. It is a consequence of this view of His office that
all the duties of the Spirit have reference to

~ TT , , . .The Spirit hon-

Chnst. The things He reveals are things that ors and re-
belong to him. " He shall receive of mine," said
our Lord, " and shall show it unto you ; He shall bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told you ;
He shall not speak of himself a<j>' savtov. (i. e. of His own
authority), but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak." His power of convincing the world, whether of
sin, or of righteousness, or of judgment, is exercised with
exclusive reference to the work of the Redeemer ; He will
prove to men that they are guilty, for they do not believe :
that they are to be justified only in Christ, and amply in Him,

320 CHAPTER VI.

for He has ascended to the Father, and that His is the only
authority, for the power of the prince of this world is
justly condemned and is now overthrown. So complete
is this practical identification, that the position of both in
the world is the same. By Christ, of himself it was said,
" The world hateth me," and " hath not known me ;" and
of the Spirit, He said," "The world cannot receive Him,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." (John
xv. 18 ; John xiv. It.)

46. What an affecting view does this give of our nature
Father, son, and of Divine love: the Father and the Son
concernedin11 anc^ the Spirit, all subjected to rejection, and
redemption. ajj boaring wjth our guilt and seeking our
recovery !

47. It is owing (it may be added) to this miraculous

union of these divine persons, that they are re-

The acts of all . .

in a sense the presented as co-operating in each part of the

acts of each.

work of human redemption. It is now "the
Spirit that giveth life," and now it is Christ, the second
Adam, who is " made a quickening Spirit." (1 Cor. xv. 45.)
So when Christ is in us, "the Spirit is life ;" and our law
is " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ." (Rom. viii. 2,
10.) Every act of each person of the blessed Trinity is
thus the act of all : nothing seems done in which all are
not, though diversely, the agents ; a union that is made to
represent the union of the church — that "they all may be
one," said our Lord, "as we are one."

48. The effect of the work of the Spirit in the heart is
By the spirit simply the subjugation of all to Christ. He im-

Christ reigns. partg j-fe an(j }10liness> « By Qne gplrit Wfi

are baptized into one body ;" by the same Spirit " we have
access to the Father," and through Him Christ reigns and
will reign till every foe, inward and external, be forever
subdued.

49. Why there should be, as we know there is, a close

5ome reasons.

§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 321

connection between the departure of Christ and The gift of the
the communication of the Spirit, it is not per- ^"de^Xt-""1
haps possible to discover ; but the fact is clearly ure of ChnPt
revealed, and there are circumstances in our Saviour's work
which may in part explain it.

50. Christ is our Priest, ever living to make intercession
for us ; but His advocacy could scarcely begin
till His sacrifice was finished, nor His sacrifice
take effect till it had been publicly and solemnly presented
before God.

Christ is our Teacher and Model, and His purpose is to
conform His Church to Himself. He is therefore presented
in Scripture as in everything preparing the way for the
progress of His church. It is His appropriate function as
our forerunner, Himself to touch the goal ; nor till then is
He in a position to appeal to His example, and to bequeath
His Spirit, and to say to us, " Follow me." Or, changing
the figure, it is the work of the Spirit to complete in each
Christian the image of his Lord, by effecting in him a
death unto sin and a resurrection to holiness, and an ascen-
sion of his affections, and finally, of his soul to God ; but
the Divine Workman could not begin the copy till the
original was finished : before He could stamp the image
the die must be complete.

Christ is our King ; His Spirit is the fruit of victory and
the gift of conquest ; but the influence of the Spirit cannot
be bestowed till the triumph is consummated and attested
by the appearance of the living Sacrifice, Priest and Victor,
in the presence of the Father. The enlargement, there-
fore, and the establishment of the kingdom, is postponed
till the acknowledged defeat of evil through the spirit of
righteousness incarnate in Christ.

Here we gain, therefore, a view of a double empire, re-
quiring a double agency. Christ has a sove-

10 , A double em-

reignty m heaven and another on earth: there pirem heaven
He intercedes with the rather on the throne in

322 CHAPTER VI.

His glory, so also does His Spirit in the unspoken utterances
of the hearts of His disciples. There he makes mention of His
sacrifice, pleading on behalf of the guilty His obedience unto
death : so does His Spirit in convincing the sinner, " making
mention of His righteousness and of His only." (Ps. lxxi.
16.) To heaven He gives His bodily presence, itself a com-
memoration and a perpetual advocacy, and on earth He
works with a power and a vitality which His bodily pre-
sence never diffused. We gain, therefore, by this arrange-
ment, an agency which is the perfect image of His own, better
adapted to our condition of probation, and more mighty
in promoting our holiness ; " for Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of
the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the pre-
sence of God for us." (Heb. ix. 24.) "Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God ; as it is written, I will dwell in
them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Now if any man defile the temple of
God, him will God destroy." (1 Cor. iii.)

52. And this is the ministration which begins with the

Acts of the Apostles, or, as they have been
Apostles the called, the Acts of the Holy Ghost. The in-

c&rlicst liistorv

of this minis- carnation and ministry of our Lord was the
manifestation of the Father and of the Son ;
our age is the manifestation of the Spirit.

53. In Matthew and Mark we have nothing of this

truth; in Luke a little, but most in John.

Tli 6 truth £r3r

dually reveal- The Lord thus reveals one secret after another,
bringing forth each in its season, and leading
the devout inquirer to say, "0 the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God."*

* "As the Son was working in the world long before His incarnation,
so did the Holy Ghost also act upon mankind long before His effusion j
but as it was at the incarnation of the Son that the fullness of His life
first manifested itself, so it was not until the effusion which took place

§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 323

54. But though this spiritual reign is, in its final uni-
versality and blessedness, the chief part of His caution,
kingdom, it is not all. The affairs of the whole ^^"f^
earth, and, as we may gather from some pas- nature-
sages of Scripture, of the universe of God, are under His
management. It is He who " determines concerning a
nation to establish, and concerning a people to establish or
to destroy," to enlarge or to diminish. " He is King of
kings, and Lord of lords." All are amenable to His
authority, and controlled by His power. He girds them
and guides them, though they know Him not. When they
move in the direction of His purpose, they are invincible,
and when they oppose it, they are overthrown.

There is thus a kingdom within a kingdom — the king-
dom of His grace within the kingdom of His providence :
and the one is subservient to the other. He is Head over
all things unto the church. An almighty Spirit, and bound-
less resources are at His disposal. Therefore "this King
shall reign and prosper." " He shall have dominion also
from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the
earth. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him : all
nations shall serve Him. His name shall endure for ever :
His name shall be continued as long as the sun : and men
shall be blessed in Him : all nations shall call Him
blessed."

Sect 4. — The Second Coming of our Lord.

55. In every age the Church of Christ has sought con-
solation in the past and in the future. In the

. . . Christians ever

one she contemplates the origin of her mercies ; look to the past

. . . ana the future.

in the other, the completion of them ; and m
both, the unaltered author and channel, "Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." It can there-
on the day of Pentecost that the Spirit poured forth all His power."—
OhTiausen,

324 CHAPTER VI.

fore excite no surprise to find in Scripture, that the grace
given to us at the first advent, and the grace to be revealed
in us at the second, are topics of constant precept and
encouragement : (1 Cor. i. 4-7 :) or that Christians are
The coming of described as "waiting for the Son from hea-
of'deeplnfe™6 ven >" an(^ as "looking for the blessed hope
e8t* and the appearing of the glory of the great

God our Saviour." Christ's first coming and His second
are the grand objects of their faith and hope. (2 Pet.
iii. 12.)

56. But though the coming of Christ is thus a theme of
Much that is deepest interest, there is much in the commu-
bie°inPre?atiou nications of Scripture in relation to it that is
tolt- incomprehensible. The union of Christ with

His Church is most intimate ; and yet is there between
them a mysterious? separation. How long that separation
is to continue is a question not answered in the Bible. It
has already lasted for ages, nor can we tell when it will
close. " The times and the seasons which the Father has
put in His own power," He allows us to examine and
discuss, but we cannot clearly define them ; they are not
revealed.

5t. That this separation will one day cease is undoubted.
The fact of ins ^ne uni°n between Christ and His church
coming certain. must ke made apparent. Nature and grace
alike proclaim the coming of a glorified Messiah as essen-
tial to complete their course. Nature through all her
regions cries aloud for Him who is to restore her unwilling
frailty, (Rom. viii.,) and to make all things new; and if
creation groan and travail together in pain for the mani-
festation of the sons of God, what must be the desire of
the sons of God themselves, what their ardor, to find them-
selves perfect in Him ; to behold their labors recognized,
their faith vindicated, and truth triumphant. This desire
and hope He will fulfill. The promise of final reunion

§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 325

with His people is connected by our Lord himself with
the declaration of His Messiahship ; for in the same sen-
tence in which He avows Himself to be the Son of God,
He foretells that "hereafter men shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds with power and great glory." (Matt,
sxiv. 30.) His apostle repeats the truth, and assures us
that the " Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God;" (1 Thes. iv. 16;) and that, when He comes, His
people will be gathered together unto Him. (2 Thes. ii. 1.)
And so shall they " ever be with the Lord."

58. But while the fact of His coming is certain, the time
is concealed ; concealed, however, in such a

. .^ . The time con

way as deserves careful inquiry. AY rapt up in ceaied: so con-

. . , . ceaied as to

this concealment are most instructive lessons, excite expccta

59. Very often, for example, the coming of

our Lord is spoken of as impending, and at hand. In the
twenty-fourth of Matthew the words of Christ Now s ken of
read as if He meant to imply that, immediately as"athand."
after the overthrow of Jerusalem, the standard of His glory
should appear in the heavens : the first event indicating to
the disciples that their redemption drew nigh. In the first
Epistle to the Thessalonians again, St. Paul seems to
speak of himself and of his fellow-disciples, as those who
"are alive and remain to the coming of Christ" in glory;
and declares elsewhere that He who is coming (o ipxofisvoi)
will come, and will not tarry. The apostle James is
equally explicit: "Be patient; stablish your hearts; for
the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." " The end of all
things," says Peter, " is at hand; be ye therefore sober,
and watch unto prayer;" and our Lord Himself appearing
in the book of Revelation, closes His warnings with the
repeated assertion, " Behold I come quickly." (Heb. x. 37 ;
James v. 8 ; 1 Pet. iv. 7.)

On the other hand, passages in the same inspired writers

28

326 CHAPTER VI.

Now "as re- as strongly point to a remote period as the
mote." ^me 0f pjjs coming ; while others teach plainly

that all definite information in relation to it is purposely
withheld. In the chapter of Matthew, for example, just
quoted, our Lord warns His disciples that the Gospel is
first to be preached for a witness unto all nations, before
the end come ; and in the following chapter He com-
pares Himself to a master of servants who cometh " after
a long time," and " reckoneth with them." (v. 14 ; 25-29.)
The same Paul, who, in the first Epistle to the Thes-
salonians, addressed the church as if those who were then
alive were to behold Christ, warns them in his second
Epistle, that his words were not meant to justify any such
conviction, inasmuch as that day was to be preceded by a
great apostasy, and of course by a still greater diffusion of
truth. The apostle who speaks of His coming a3 "draw-
ins: niffh " exhorts Christians to endurance from the exam-
pie of the long patience of the husbandman waiting for the
fruits of the earth. (James v. ?.) And Peter, who, in his
first Epistle speaks of the end of all things as at hand, and
bids Christians hope for the grace that is to be brought
unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ, in his second
Epistle meets objections to the tardy approach of the
Judge ; not by denying the fact, but by reminding his
readers, that the march of Providence is not to be measured
by earthly conceptions, and that with God a thousand
years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years.
(2 Pet, iii. 8.) So also in Revelation the promise of the
speedy advent of Christ is preceded by a description of
antecedent events which seem to fill up long ages of time.

61. Yet more decisive as proof of a purpose to conceal
Now as though tne t"Tie' are tne Passages which tell us plainly
formation6 ™' tnat a^ definite information on this subject is
were withheld, withheld. " Of that day and hour," says our
Lord, " knoweth no man ; no, not the angels which are

§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 327

in heaven ; neither the Son, but the Father." " The
Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." The
master of the house may come "at even, or at midnight,
or at cock-crowing, or in the morning ;" but whenever he
comes it " shall be as a thief; as the flood of Noah, and as
a snare to all them that dwell on the face of the whole
earth." (Mark xiii. 35.) " And ye yourselves know per-
fectly," says the apostle, " that that day so cometh as a
thief in the night." (1 Thess. v. 2 ; 2 Pet. iii. 10.)

62. The apparent contradiction of these passages — a
contradiction only apparent — has often excited

J rr . Hence the

uneasiness and even suspicion. Infidels and doubts of some

Christians and

professed Christians have taken occasion from the scoffs of

• t infidelity.

them either to doubt the coming of our Lord
itself, or to examine, with curious unsettled feeling, the
question of the time. The doubts and suspicion of both
these parties are expressly foretold. Our Lord

, , . „ -rr- Both foretold.

intimates that before He appears, even His
servants may begin to say in their hearts, "My Lord
delayeth His coming." (Luke xii. 45.) And Peter says
plainly that " in the last days scoffers shall come walking
after their own lust; and saying, where is the promise of
His coming ? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
(2 Pet iii. 3.) Nothing, therefore, is unforeseen ; and
even the unbelief of man contributes evidence in support
of the Divine origin of the Gospel.

63. How, then, are we to account for the peculiar
phraseology of the Scriptures on this question,

the mingled light and obscurity, the seeming this apparent

contradiction.

opposition of announcements : In reply, we

remark that there are facts which relieve the difficulty ;

and, perhaps, remove it.

64. First : it deserves to be noticed that " the coming
of Christ" is a phrase used in Scripture in different senses,

328 CHAPTER VI.

(1.) His appearance in the flesh is so called, both at
Meaning of the His birth and on His entrance upon His public
SmhT^oftbe ministry. In this sense He is come (John jm.
Lord/ 28; 1 John iv. 2, 3 ; 2 John 7 ; Matt, xviii.

11 ; xx. 28; Eph. ii. 17;) and in this sense for thirty
years of His life He was to come. (Matt. ill. 11 ; Mark i.
7 ; Luke iii. 16; John i. 15-30 ; Matt. xi. 19.)

(2.) Any great interposition either of His Providenca
or of His Spirit is so called : " Repent," says He, in ad-
dressing an early church, "or I will come, and take thy
candlestick out of its place." (Rev. ii. 5.)

He himself applies it to the outpouring of His Spirit
and the consequent beginning of His reign. "Verily I
say unto you, there are some standing here that shall not
taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His
kingdom." "Ye shall not have gone through the cities
of Judah till ye see the Son of Man coming in power."
(John xiv. 18—28; Matt. xvi. 28; Mark ix. 1.)

His coming to destroy Jerusalem, to end the previous
dispensation, to manifest the justice and the faithfulness of
God, is emphatically so called ; and His predictions of this
coming were fulfilled within forty years of our Lord's
death. (Matt. xxiv. 27-30 ; see ver. 34 ; Luke xxi. 27, &c.)

(3.) It is applied to His visible appearance for judgment,
(Matt. xvi. 27 ; 1 Thess. v.,) and, as some Christians
hold, for the complete establishment of His kingdom.
Whether this last be a visible appearance is, so far as the
present question is concerned, unimportant. The reign of
righteousness is foretold, and is even begun. In that
glorious issue all believe. Some, however, hold that right-
eousness will reign in the person of our Lord ; while others
think that His reign is spiritual only : having commenced
at Pentecost, and being completed in the universal diffu-
sion of His truth. That His coming to judgment is per-

§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 329

Bonal, nearly all agree. He is to appear in the clouds of
heaven, and every eye is to see Him. (Acts i. 11.)

The use to be made of these facts is obvious. It is
clear that we must set aside, as free from difficulty, all the
passages that speak of our Lord's first coming, of the
destruction of Jerusalem, or of any unexpected visitation in
the early church. The announcements they contain of a
speedy return have all been fulfilled.

Of other passages, and the difficulties they involve, we
have other solutions.

Secondly : the coming of Christ in His kingdom and for
judgment is not a single act, but many combined. He
came to reign at Pentecost ; He comes as each Christian
repents and believes His Gospel ; in all the glory of His
reign He is still to come. He came in judgment at the
destruction of Jerusalem : He comes in judgment at the
death of the sinner : for final judgment He is still to come.
To each believer redemption is drawing nigh. Every
sinner is already hastening to the coming of the day of
God. And within a few brief years we all shall have
passed to our account with shame or with honor. It may
be affirmed, therefore, as a fact, that Christ comes to re-
deem or to judge at death, and that each instance of His
coming is a kind of type of His final appearance — is to the
man, what that will be to the race. The final coming will
in truth but confirm and perpetuate what is done, when
we die. As a principle of interpretation, therefore, the
amplest announcements of complete salvation for the church,
and of awful vengeance for those who reject the Gospel,
have repeated fulfillments. For each of us, "the end of
all things is at hand." Christ is coming, and is even now
'' at the door."*

•=• See this truth illustrated in the fulfillment of Christ's promise that
He would come to His disciples, as given in John xiv. 3. The fulfillment
began with His resurrection, v. IS; was carried on in their spiritual life,

28*

330 CHAPTER VI.

65. Thirdly : these expressions may be justified on an«
Things near or other ground. The language of Scripture must
SgSthescaie &lways De interpreted with reference to the
employed. scheme of things of which it treats. What is
near on one scale is distant on another.

The coming of our Lord may be remote when measured
on the scale of human life ; but, measured on the scale
suggested by the interval between the first promise and its
fulfillment, or by the eternity which His coming is to intro-
duce, it may seem even at hand. We are now occupying
a place between the two advents ; the whole interval fills
the sphere of our vision, and seems therefore vast and
boundless. Let us wait, however, till we look back upon
it the day after the last judgment, when it will be seen as
the commencement of an endless progress, and it will have
lessened to a point. Then the scenes of Calvary and the
glory that has followed them will appear in retrospect as
they did appear to the prophet. There He is seen " taken
from prison and from judgment ;" " despised and rejected
of men." Here He sees "the travail of His soul and is
satisfied." (Is. liii. 8, 3, 11.) Between the two events
thousands of years may have intervened ; but they are
thought of no more.

And this form of announcement, it may be added, has

been God's plan from the first. The primaeval

the language promise sounded as if it was to be fulfilled in

of Scripture

the first age after the fall ; but four thousand
years passed away before the Seed of the woman was born,
and the power of the old serpent was subdued. The tem-
poral promise to Abraham, that his seed should inherit the
land in which he was himself a stranger, seemed at first to
require an early accomplishment ; but at the end of two
hundred years his seed did not number seventy souls ; and

v. 23; advanced when each Christian died. Phi!, i. 23; and is completed
at His coming in glory. 1 The*, iv. 17.

§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 331

it was not till David's time that the greater part of that
prediction was realized. The last prophet, Malachi, spoke
as if the first advent was to be witnessed by the men of
that age : " The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come
to his temple," (Mai. iii. 1,) and yet ten generations died
before the time came ; and the temple even of which he
spoke needed almost to be rebuilt, before it could be filled
with the glory of its great Guest. The truth seems to be,
that the movements of the providence of God may be pro-
nounced near or remote, large or small, as we measure
them by God's standard or by our own. Now He speaks
as if the coming of His Son were at hand, as if a few more
years were to bring in the new heaven and the new earth ;
and again, as if His days were thousands of years ; and
both descriptions are true. Here, it is God that speaks as
God, and there He speaks as man, condescending to our
weakness, and addressing us in tones and forms familiar to
ourselves.

But, fourthly, these facts have a deeper significanc}^
This apparent contradiction (which is really ah intended to
none,) this clear obscurity is intended ; it is {^^JJJJiSJ
salutary ; it forms an important part of our for Cbrist
discipline. God means us to examine and conjecture ; and,
doubtless, the investigations of good men into the mean-
ing of the prophetic Scriptures, conducted in an humble
practical spirit, are acceptable to Him. To cherish expec-
tation, and to encourage inquiry, He has permitted gleams
of light to cross our path. But it is at least as clear that,
while He means us to inquire, He does not mean us to
define ; and, therefore, our light consists only of gleams.
He that is coming will come. His coming is as certain as
His existence ; for He is equally the existing and the
coming One (j <Z» and u sp^o^oj ;) but all certainty concern-
ing the time of His coming is withheld.

And withheld so as to excite our watchfulness and hope.

332 CHAPTER VI.

Had the time of His appearance been foretold, the cer-
tainty would have destroyed our hope, and His coming
would have been regarded with comparative unconcern by
all except the single generation that was to witness it.
The anxious solicitude now cherished amongst us would
have been chilled into indifference ; the movements of the
providence and the grace of God, which are now studied
so thoughtfully, would have been watched with little inter-
est ; and it may be safely affirmed that the character of the
piety of the church would have been seriously changed.
We should have been saved by hope — by the patient wait-
ing for God — no more.

With consummate skill, therefore, has the whole lan-
guage of revelation been constructed, in real harmony,
though in apparent contradiction, so as to produce this one
result. When and how Christ is to appear we know not ;
but we are waiting for Him. Our feeling is watchfulness
and hope, certainty and doubt, inquiry and awe. It is
Christ's purpose thus "to live in our faith, remote yet near,
pledged to no moment, possible at any ; worshiped, not
with the consternation of a near, or the indifference of a
remote certainty ; but with the watchful vigilance that
awaits a contingency that is ever at hand."* These feel-
ings He who knows us best knows to be best for us ; and
therefore He preserves the salutary suspense which ensures
and deepens them.

66. But every provision of Divine wisdom is liable to

abuse. God is a spirit, and nis spirituality is
ment liable to His glory ; but because He is a spirit, and

therefore unseen, men have denied His exist-
ence. The time of Christ's coming is not told us ; and
therefore men are tempted to deny the judgment ; or, at
least, the uncertainty which was meant for holy watchful-
ness is abused to godless security.

+ Prof, Butler's Sermons. Dublin, 1819.

§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 333

Alas for us ! The forbearance of God leadeth to repent-
ance; but men know it not: "The Lord is

,11 . -n- • i , • i The delay is

not slack concerning His promise, but is long- owing to His
suffering to usward ; not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
(2 Pet. iii. 9.) He would rather be known in love than in
terror. Christ, the sacrifice, continues to be revealed, that
Ave may not one day be dragged into the presence of Christ,
the judge. Now He is mighty to save ; then he will be
mighty to destroy. He defers the hour of His coming
that He may multiply the number of His redeemed. De-
spise not this grace : seek not to frustrate this purpose.
If His first advent is loved, we shall welcome and wait fo<*
His second ; but if His first advent is despised, his second
will be contemplated with dismay. If our hearts are not
prepared to receive this glorious Redeemer ; if we have no
taste for a kingdom of purity, and meekness, and love, no
desire for the bringing in of " an everlasting righteousness,"
His coming will not therefore be annulled : but it will be
to us a coming in wrath. Our feeling will correspond with
fearful accuracy to the description of the prophet : " Then
shall the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the mighty men cry, saying to the moun-
tains, and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the
face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb." " The wrath of the Lamb I" The
wrath of exhausted patience ; the wrath of rejected media-
tion, and of despised love : " The wrath of the Lamb!"

And now our work is done. Rapidly and imperfectly
have we sketched that Life which is the source of all
life, and to which we owe our all. We have traced Him in
infancy and in manhood ; in secret and among the crowds ;
at work and in prayer. We have listened to His teaching
We have watched His sacrifice. We have heard the an-

334 CHAPTER VI.

noimcement of His kingdom. As man He has won our
love. As God He has claimed our reverence. He has
appeared as Creator ; as Redeemer ; as Judge. Religion
begins in submission to His righteousness, and it is com-
pleted in likeness to His character. Conformity to His
death and the truths it teaches is renewal and pardon ;
conformity to His life is holiness and bliss. " Be wise now,
therefore, 0 ye kings : be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem-
bling ; kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from
the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed

ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEO TRUST IN HlM."

APPENDIX.

Note I. (Page 93.)

Although the idea of the Messianic Kingdom of God
may be truly said to pervade the Old Testament prophe-
cies, the phraseology of the New Testament seems clearly
derived from the language of Daniel, in expounding the
symbolic imagery of Nebuchadnezzar's first grand prophetic
dream. " In the days of these kings shall the God of
Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,"
&c. In the seventh chapter, this kingdom is disclosed as
strictly Messianic (vs. 13, 14; comp. ix. 25, 26,) and holy,
(v. 27 ;) being given to the Messiah, and through Him to
"the people of the saints of the Most High."

Hence the language of John the Baptist, of Christ, and
His Apostles ; " The time is fulfilled ; the kingdom of God
is at hand; repent ye, and believe the Gospel" — words
which do not merely designate the prophetic time, but more
strongly still the spiritual and holy nature of the approach-
ing kingdom. This last point is strikingly demonstrated
by our Lord himself at the beginning of his ministry, in
his conversation with Nicodemus ; " Yerily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God." (John iii.) In precise accordance with
this view, Paul speaks of Christians as " delivered from
the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom
of God's dear Son." (Col. i. 13.) This kingdom then
properly includes only the regenerate, the holy — those who
receive Christ, and submit to His authority as their Su-
preme Head. Of such only, as far as man could judge,
were the primitive churches organized ; and the fearful

deaths of Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, were evidently

(335)

336 APPENDIX.

designed as warnings against the intrusion of others into
the visible fold of Christ. (Acts i. 18; v. 11-14.)

Yet inasmuch as such intruders could not always be de-
tected, and it was foreseen that their number would increase
through relaxation of vigilance in future time, the phrases
" kingdom of God, and of Heaven," appear to be used by-
Christ in some of the prophetic parables with greater lat-
itude— as embracing all who profess submission to Christ,
whether that profession is made in sincerity or not. (Matt,
xiii.) J. N. B.

Note II. (Page 249 and 251.)

One fertile source of practical error has been the con-
founding of the Visible with the Invisible Church, and
reasoning from this assumed identity, that they differ from
each other only as a part differs from the whole.

The essential difference between the two, appears in the
following extract from Curtis on Communion:

" So far from it being a manifest truth, that it is only a
difference of numbers that constitutes the distinction be-
tween a particular Visible Church and the Universal
Church, which is invisible ; there arc at least two ob-
vious points of distinction as to qualification necessarily
arising from the fact, that the one is a visible, and the
other an invisible body. 1. He who possesses true piety
without any profession, becomes at once a member of the
invisible Church, while he only, who makes some credible
and appropriate profession, (without here determining what
it is) is eligible to visible Church fellowship. 2. ^l cred-
ible profession of faith in Christ, in some particular way
or ways, is all that can be required for admission to the
one, while no conceivable profession without the reality
admits to the other." J. N. B.

THE END.

DEC 2 0 1928