A devotional life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

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LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

PRINCETON, N. J.

Di'vision
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DEVOTIONAL LIF^

OF

OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR

JESUS CHRIST.

BY THE ^

Rev. EDWARD L. CUTTS, B.A.

Bon. D.D. Univ. of (he South, U.S.A.

AUTHOR OF

'turning-points of general and of ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORV,

"CONSTANTINE THE GREAT," "CHARLEMAGNE," ETC.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TR.\CT COMMITTER.

LONDON :
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.

43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
26, ST. GEOKGRS PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, S.W.

BRIGHTON: 135, north street.

New Yohk : E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.

1884.

PREFACE.

HAT the writer has proposed to himself in
this work is not a d tailed Nairative of all
that our Blessed Lord did and said, so much as
a series of studies of His Person, Character, and
Work.

The endeavour has been made to impress vividly
on the reader's mind that Jesus was a real historical
person, perfectly human in character and natural in
life ; and, at the same time, never to suffer him to
lose sight of the great truth that Jesus was very
God ; and to call attention to the relation of the
two Natures in the one Person of the Christ. The
endeavour has been made to direct attention not
only to the invisible side of the Saviour's work in
its relations with God and with the human soul,
but also to the human side of His work in the
establishment of a kingdom on earth as His agency
for carrying out the work of the salvation of men.

iv PREFACE.

It has been necessary, for these ends, to consider
in some detail all which the Gospel tells us of the
Divine Infancy, Childhood, and Youth, and also all
which it tells us of the closing scenes of the Divine
life. But it has been thought sufficient to summarise
the events of the Ministry, dwelling only on such
features of it as seemed necessary to the main pur-
pose of the work. This has been done partly for
the sake of reducing the size of the book, and partly
in order to present in fewer traits, and therefore
more easily grasped at one view, what is intended
to be a Portrait rather than a Biography.

The sacred subject has been approached with
hesitation, humility, and reverence. Undertaken in
the first instance for the writer's own edification,
then wrought out in a scries of Sermons, then
digested into the present form, in the hope, and
with the prayer, that it might help others to form
to themselves a more vivid knowledge of our Blessed
Lord, and so to love Him with a more enthusiastic
loyalty, to trust Him with an unhesitating con-
fidence, to live to Him with an entire self-devotion.

CONTENTS.

Preface Page

St. John's Prologue

PART I.

THE CHILDHOOD AND OBSCURE LIFE.

CHAP.

1. THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE 9

2. THE INCARNATION 23

3. THE VISITATION 3I

4. "IT CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS" 44

5. THE NATIVITY ... 55

6. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 59

7. THE CIRCUMCISION 63

8. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE 68

9. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 80

10. THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS 89

11. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 93

12. THE HOLY CHILDHOOD 96

\l. THE "SON OF THE LAW" I04

14. THE OBSCURE LIFE 1 14

15. " HE WAS SUBJECT UNTO THEM " 121

16. HIS GROWTH INTO MANHOOD 127

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

PART II.

THE PREPARATION.

CHAP.

17. THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS C^SAR Page \yj

18. THE FORERUNNER 163

PART III.

THE MINISTRY.

19. THE BAPTISM

20. THE GREAT FAST

21. THE TEMPTATION

22. THE FIRST DAYS OF THE MINISTRY

23. THE FIRST MIRACLE

24. THE SON OF MAN

25. THE HOLY CITY

26. LANDMARKS OF THE MINISTRY

27. SUMMARY OF THE GALILEAN MINISTRY

28. THE MIRACLES

29. THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY

30. THE SON OF GOD

31. THE TRANSFIGURATION

32. THE JUD^AN MINISTRY

33. THE WORDS OF JESUS

34. "BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE"

35. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

170

180
184
197
201
208
219
230

234

254
262

274
281
288
299
307

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

37.
38.

35-
40.
41.

PART IV.

THE PASSION AND DEATH.

THE HOLY WEEK

THE LAST SUPPER

THE PASSION

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

THE CRUCIFIED

THE BURIAL

^^Ǥ^ 337
369

392

430

459

468

PART V.

THE RISEN LIFE.

42. THE RESURRECTION. THE APPEARANCES

43. THE RISEN LIFE

44. THE ASCENSION

473

539
547

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

THE PROLOGUE.

[HERE are two ways of writing a life of oui
blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Like St. Luke, to begin with the birth of
the Babe of Bethlehem, and to let his life and
character and work gradually develope themselves,
until the reader is constrained, with the Apostles, to
recognize him as the Son of God ; and to continue
the narrative until the Gift of Pentecost reveals the
fulfilled work of Christ in the restoration to mankind
of in-dwelling Deity. Or, like St. John, to go back
to the pre-existence of the Divine Person, who took
upon Him our nature of the substance of the Virgin
Mother, to assume from the first days our com-
pleted knowledge of his work, and to make full use
of this knowledge in our study of all the incidents
of the history.

The latter method will best serve the purpose
of the devout contemplation of the Person and
work of Jesus, which is proposed in the following
pages; and the proper Prologue to such an under-

£

J

2 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

taking is that which St. John himself has prefixed
to his Gospel : —

" In the beginning was the Word :

" And the Word was with God :

" And the Word was God.

" The same was in the beginning with God.

"All things were made by Him; and without Him
was not anything made that was made.

" In Him was life, and the life was the light of
men.

" And the light shineth in darkness, and the dark-
ness comprehended it not. . . .

" He was the true Light, which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world.

" 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.

"But as many as received him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name. Which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God

" And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among
ITS (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."

PROLOGUE.

" In the beginning," They are the same words with
which Moses, in the book of Genesis, commences the
history of the creation of the world : — " In the be-
ginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Moses carries us back into the period before any
created thing or being — man or world or angel —
existed ; into that inconceivable eternity in which
God lived alone ; into that unbounded abyss, un-
broken yet by sun or star, which was not therefore
dark and void, but filled everywhere with the splen-
dour of the presence of God.

Of all the rest of the sons of men without excep-
tion it may be asserted that they had no existence
before they were conceived and born into this world ;
but John asserts the pre-existence of Jesus ; and he
does not date back his pre-existence to any definite
period when it began ; but he carries us back to
that period of which Moses spake, beyond the be-
ginning of all things which had a beginning; and he
asserts that then, already, Christ existed : " In the
beginning was the Word."

But since in that eternity God lived alone, where
was there place for the existence of the Word ? The
Evangelist answers, though God lived alone, " the
Word was with God." The Word was with God
not as a separate Being outside the Godhead, for he
adds " the Word was God." It is the mystery of the
Trinity of Being in the Unity of the Godhead, which

B 2

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

is thus brought before us. The Word is the second
person of the ever blessed Trinity.

Not only was the Word in the beginning, before
creation began, but creation was His work : " All
things were made by Him"; all created things
without exception, animate and inanimate, angels
and archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities,
and powers: "Without Him was not anything
made that was made."

"In Him was Life." As he himself explains, "as
the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to
the Son to have life in himself." He is the source of
life to living beings. " And the Life was the Light of
men." " He was the true light, which Ughteth every
man that cometh into the world ;" the source of light
to all men, of intellectual light, of spiritual light, the
light of reason and of conscience, the light of revela-
tion.

" He was in the world ;" " He came unto His own ;"
He left "the glory which He had with the Father before
the world was ;" lie " came forth from the Father and
came into the world," and " the world knew Him
not ;" " His own received Him not." The Evangelist
anticipates in his prologue the perplexing fact of the
history that His own world (regarding the facts in a
broad general way) did not recognise Him when He
came, His own creatures did not receive Him.

And St. John sums up what he has said in the

PROLOGUE. 5

words " the Word was made flesh and dwelt amon"-
us." A mere commonplace to those who have known
it all their lives, and never thought about it ; the most
august and glorious truth of all truths which affect
the human race, to those who realize its meaning;
God entered into our humanity, God became m.an,
God dwelt among men.

" And we " who believed in Him " beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth." The Epiphany of God In-
carnate was not in the splendour of a descent from
heaven, surrounded by shining hosts, in the sight of
gazing mankind. It was in the humility and weak-
ness of the birth at Bethlehem. The redemption of
man from sin and death was not by an exercise of the
royal prerogative of mercy, but by the suffering of
the penalty of sin upon the cross. The glory which
they beheld who gazed upon the Person and Life of
Incarnate God was the glory of "grace and truth."

Most of us, it is to be feared, are too much in the
state of spiritual development in which the Jews were
in our Lord's time, profoundly impressed by physical
might and material splendour, idolizing intellectual
clearness, and depth, and vigour, so that a com-
bination of them would be the fulfilment of our
h'ghest conceptions of a Divine Incarnation. We
have, most of us, hardly caught a glimpse of the
superiority of the spiritual over the intellectual

6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and the physical. We need to lay seriously to heart
at the beginning of our study of the person and life
of the Lord and Saviour that the revelation which
God gives of Himself in Christ is not a sudden
flashing forth of splendour and power, but the slow
dawning of grace and truth, displayed in the daily
course of a human life. Therefore it was that " the
Light shined in the darkness and the darkness" of
man's dulled spiritual apprehension " comprehended
it not."

Let us take care, in our present study of His Person,
and character, and work, that we do not fall into the
same blindness, and fail to understand the glory
which consists in the fulness of grace and truth.

He did not by a mere act of creative power make
all men Sons of God ; but to them that received him
and "believed in Him, to them He gave power,"
through a spiritual regeneration " to become the Sons
of God."

The keenest intellect fails to explain to itself, the
profoundest spiritual insight into the things of God
fails to divine, the way in which the human nature
is united with the divine nature, in the person of
Jesus : any more than " the spirit of a man which
knows the things of a man," can explain the way in
which the material body and the immaterial soul are
united in one man.

The union of the human and di\'ine natures in

PROLOGUE.

Jesus is a mystery. The fact is revealed to us, but
not the " how." We accept the fact as a revelation.
What we have to do is to apprehend clearly and
accurately what it is which God has revealed on the
subject, and to hold it fast.

We have also in our studies of the subject to take
care to avoid the various erroneous ways of conceiv-
ing the mystery which have suggested themselves,
and naturally suggest themselves, to men's minds, and
which have been declared to be unsound. It may
be useful briefly to enumerate the chief of these
errors : —

1. The failure to realise the true and complete
humanity of Jesus.

2. The failure to realise the true and consubstantial
deity of Jesus.

3. To think of the union of the two natures as if
they were fused into one mixed nature which is
neither human nor divine.

4. To think of Jesus as two persons, a man in
whom God was pleased to dwell.

The truth as opposed to these errors is that God
the Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity,
assumed human nature to Himself, so that two whole
and perfect natures, — that is to say, the Divine
nature and the human nature, — stand side by side, not
mixed together, but intimately united, and never to
be divided again, in one person. And the personality

S A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of Jesus is to be found in the divine nature. The divine
person took human nature to himself without adding
a human person to himself, as a human soul at the
resurrection maybe conceived to take a material body
to itself, without adding another self to itself

In all the great crises of the history we shall find
ourselves face to face with this great mystery, and
shall do well to study it again and again, that we may
the more fully enter into the blessed truth, which is
thus announced on the threshold, the WORD WAS
MADE FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.

PART I-THE CHILDHOOD.

CHAPTER I.

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE.

HE grey dawn appears first in the heavens ;
then the distant snow peak glows with rosy
Hght ; lastly, the sun rises over the eastern
hill and slowly fills the land with Day. So the rising
of the Sun of Righteousness has its premonitions.

The Gospel history opens amidst the sacred splen-
dours of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, with the
supernatural glory of an angelic apparition, bringing
a divine revelation that the New Dispensation is
about to appear.

If we desire to realise vividly not only this grand
opening scene, but also many subsequent scenes, of
the history, we shall do well to take some pains to
make ourselves acquainted with at least the broad
features of the architecture of the Temple and the
Ritual of its worship.

It was an age of architectural magnificence. 'She
Greek sovereigns of Syria and Egypt had studded

lo A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the countries round about Palestine with new cities
planned on a scale of extraordinary grandeur — the
main streets bordered in their whole length with
colonnades of great splendour, large public places
surrounded with colonnades, magnificent temples,
and public buildings. Herod the Great had ac-
quired this taste for magnificence, and, desiring to
ingratiate himself with his subjects, had beautified
Jerusalem with public buildings, and rebuilt the
Temple/ enlarging its precincts, and surrounding it
with cloisters, on a scale of magnitude and sump-
tuousness which made the whole group of buildings
one of the most costly and splendid architectural
achievements of the ancient world.

The situation of the Temple greatly assisted its
general effect. Jerusalem is situated on a projection
of table land surrounded on three sides by deep and
narrow gorges, — the Valley of Kedron on the east,
the Valley of Hinnom, which sweeps round the
western and southern sides, and joins the Kedron
valley at the south-east corner of the site ; this plat-
form is again divided by the Tyropoean valley into
two irregular and unequal portions, the larger, IMount
Zion, on the west, the site of the ancient city of

' Probably it was the surrounding buildings of the Temple
which were rebuilt by Herod, while the central and most
sacred portion containing the Holy Place and Most Holy
Place were added to and adorned.

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. ii

David, and the lesser, Mount Ivloriah, on the east,
the site of Arannah's threshing-floor outside the
ancient city, where the destroying angel was stayed,
where David offered his thanksgiving sacrifice, and
which he therefore adopted as the site of the Temple
This eastern hill, then, was bounded on the east and
south by the precipitous sides of the valleys of Kedron
and Hinnom, and the Tyropoean valley separated it
from the city on the west ; on the north an artificial
trench, excavated in the rock from valley to valley,
isolated the Temple site from the rest of the hill,
and on this side the strong palace-fortress of Antonia,
based on a precipitous rock, 75 feet high, defended
and dominated it. Herod had enlarged the natural
available area on the south by vast substructures
faced with enormous blocks of stone. So that the
Temple stood isolated on its rocky platform close
by, and yet apart from, the city. The walls which
enclosed it seemed to grow out of the natural rock
and rise sheer out of the depths of the surrounding
valleys in stately strength.

The enlarged area included by Herod in the
Temple precincts was in all probability identical
with the Haram area of the modern city. This
area is irregular in shape, its mean measurement
being 982 feet from east to west, and 1,565 feet from
north to south, including 35 acres, about four times
the area of Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was enclosed

12 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

by walls 40 feet high, of vast thickness, built of
immense blocks of white marble. Internally the
enclosure was surrounded by cloisters or porticos,
intended not only for ornament, but also to give
large spaces of shade from the heat and glare of
the eastern sun. On three sides, viz. the west, norht,
and east, these cloisters were formed of double
rows of marble Corinthian columns -i,"/ feet 6 inches
high. The cloister on the south side was called the
Royal Portico, because at its western end a bridge
thrown across the Tyropcean connected it with the
ancient palace on the western hill. This royal en-
trance was enlarged into a vast hall consisting of
a body and aisles 600 feet long and 100 feet wide,
formed of four rows of polished white marble co-
lumns, forty in each row, each formed of a single
stone 40 feet high, with gilded Corinthian capitals ;
the aisles were 40 feet high, and the centre 100 feet,
ceiled with carved and gilded beams of cedar, the
floor paved with coloured marbles. It may give a
measure of this magnificent portico to say that it
was 100 feet longer than York Minster, and rather
wider than its nave and aisles. These cloisters as a
whole were a magnificent work. There are remains
of similar colonnades of the same style which may
help us to realise the architectural efiect. The
double columns of the porticos of the Parthenon at
Athens are but 34 feet in height, and may help us to

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 13

realise the grand height of the Temple cloisters ; the
broken lines of columns which still remain at Palmyra
may help us to picture the effect of the long double
colonnades of the vast quadrangle of the Temple.

Within this area was formed an inner court, situated
centrally between the north and south sides, but a
third nearer to the west than the cast. This situa-
tion of the inner court was dictated by the natural
formation of the hill, which here rose to its highest
point, and this natural rise offered the opportunity to
give to the inner court an increased dignity by con-
structing it on a platform elevated 22 feet 6 inches
above the area round about it. The external appear-
ance of the inner court was that of a strong building,
about 500 feet square, enclosed by a high wall of
white marble ornamented with sculptures on its ex-
ternal face. Three lofty gates of highly ornamental
design gave entrance to it on the north and three on
the south ; the one eastern gate — the Beautiful Gate —
was one of the most magnificent portions of the
whole building, faced with Corinthian brass, the leaves
of its great doors covered with thick plates of gold
and silver. Broad stairs of white marble gave access
from the outer court through these gates to the inner
court. The level platform of the inner court was
paved with marble, and surrounded with a cloister of
single marble columns.

Towards the western side of the inner court the

14 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

apex of the hill aftbrdcd another platform elevated
9 feet above its marble pavement, for the basis of
the central and most sacred portion of the Temple,
viz., the roofed building which contained the Holy and
Most Holy Places. The apartments themselves were
of comparatively small dimensions, the outer holy
place 60 feet by 30 feet, and the inner and most
sacred place a cube of 30 feet by 30 feet, and 30
feet high ; and both these chambers were lined with
plates of gold. But according to the measurements
given by Josephus, the external dimensions of this
building had been increased by the addition of
chambers at the sides, and a lofty fagade 150 feet
in width and height, ornamented with thick plates
of gold. An arch 60 feet high occupied the centre,
and formed the entrance, closed by its thick veil of
•'blue and purple and fine linen and scarlet," and
ascended by a flight of twelve broad marble steps.

In the middle of the inner court, in front of the
entrance to the holy place, stood the altar of Burnt
Sacrifice, a great structure of unhewn stones, 75 feet
square, and 22 feet 6 inches high, whence the charcoal
fire kept always burning sent up its thin blue wreath of
smoke into the sky. A low marble wall 4 feet 6 inches
high fenced in the portion of the court around the altar
and the Temple to keep it clear for the ministering
priests and Levites. The remainder of the inner court
was the court of the Israelites ; the women's court was

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 15

at the east end. A low wall surrounded the inner
court a little way from the bottom of the stairs, and
marked out the limits beyond which none but a son
of Abraham might approach, but the remainder of
the great outer court v/as open to Gentiles also.

The outer haram area has now, — and possibly the
outer court of the Temple formerly had, — a profusion
of trees, olive, acacia, and cypress, assuming the den-
sity of a grove under the eastern wall ; and beneath
their shade the people of modern Jerusalem delight
to rest. The contrast of the varied foliage with the
stately white colonnades around the court, and the
magnificent architectural group which rose in the
midst, and the blue sky above, would add to the general
beauty of the scene. If one of our cathedral closes with
its ancient elms were surrounded b}^ a vast cloister it
might give us some idea of the combination. This
grand group of buildings was seen to the greatest ad-
vantage when looked down upon from the opposite
heights of Mount Olivet. Thence the site appeared
no longer as a projecting neck of table-land, but
as " Mount Moriah " rising with precipitous sides
out of the depths of Kcdron. The eye could
see over the outer wall into the court and catch
glimpses of its cloister, could see the inner court on
its raised platform, and the Temple itself rising out
of the midst of the group and crowning the white
marble substructures with its golden roofs and

1 6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

gates. Josephus^ says "it appeared to strangers,
when they were at a distance, like a mountain
covered with snow, for as to those parts of it that
were not gilt they were exceeding white," while the
plates of gold, which covered the whole vast front of
the holy place and its roof, " at the first rising of the
sun reflected back a very fiery splendour, and made
those who forced themselves to look upon it turn
their eyes away, just as they would have done from
the sun's own rays."

The Gospel history opens at the time of the even-
ing sacrifice. The ritual of the evening worship con-
sisted of three portions, the Burnt offering, the Vocal
worship of the Levite choir, and the offering of the
Incense in the Sanctuary. On the evening on which
the history opens the Lamb had been slain, its blood
sprinkled upon the altar, and its members laid upon
the fire upon the altar, while the priests sounded
the silver trumpets. The preparation for the offer-
ing of the incense had been made. The people
had been as usual cleared away from between the
porch and the brazen altar, and the Levites re-
moved from between the altar and the holy place,
so that all might see the subsequent ceremony.
The Levite choir had formed into semi-choirs on

' " Wars," book v., chap. 5.

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 17

each side of the altar, the musicians bearing their
instruments. Then the ceremony began as usual.
One priest ascended the steps, and lifting the corner of
the great veil entered the holy place to fetch away from
the golden altar the ashes of the morning incense.
Another took the golden censer which hung at the
horn of the brazen altar and filled it with live charcoal
from the pure consecrated fire maintained at the south-
east corner of the altar ; and then he also entered
within the veil to place the live coals on the altar of
incense for the new offering. Meanwhile a Levite
had brought out from the chamber of the Temple in
which the incense was prepared and stored, a covered
golden vessel containing a portion of it. The priest
to whom the honour had fallen by lot of making the
actual oftering took the allotted quantity on a golden
salver, and entered within the veil. A moment after
the Prefect of the Temple, who presided over the
sacrifices, sounded the signal for the offering.

The people could not see into the holy place, so as
to witness the actual offering ; but all knew well what
was behind the veil, and in what the ceremony of the
offering consisted.

In the Holy Place was the golden table on the right
hand bearing the twelve loaves of the Shew bread.
On the left the tall seven-branched golden candle-
stick, with its seven lamps burning. In front, before
the second veil which screened the entrance into the

C

i8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Most Holy place, stood the golden altar of incense
with the fire already burning on it.

The priest's duty was to pour the incense from his
salver upon the live coals, and as the fragrant cloud
rose and spread through the house, to retire slowly
backward with an obeisance to the Divine Presence
secluded within the dark ^ mysterious solitude of the
Most Holy Place. Then, having emerged again from
behind the veil, his duty was to turn to the people,
and standing there on the top of the flight of twelve
steps, framed within the lofty golden doorway, with
the veil of blue and fine linen and scarlet and purple
forming a rich background to his simple white robes,
to lift his hands, while the people knelt before him on
the marble pavement, and to pronounce the solemn
blessing which God had commanded : —

" The Lord Bless you and Keep you.

" The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be
gracious unto you.

" The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and
give you peace."

Then the Levite choir burst forth with the chanting
of the evening Psalms,

On this evening the priest entered the Holy place,
and the people outside waited for his reappearance ;

^ The second Temple is said to have lacked the Shekinah,
the luminous appearance over the Mercy Seat which in the first
Temple formed the visible symbol of God's presence.

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 19

the Lcvite musicians handled their harps, and the
people watched in breathless silence, ready to pro-
strate themselves to receive the Blessing. But he did
not come. It was his duty not to delay, lest the
people should fear that he had been struck dead for
some failure in his office. But minute after minute
passed and he did not come. At length, after a time
which seemed long to the anxious spectators,
he came hastily forth with marks of agitation, and
instead of giving the usual blessing, he made signs to
them that he had seen a vision in the Holy Place, and
had been struck speechless. Perhaps he gave the
blessing in dumb show, with extended hands, and the
service concluded as usual, and the worshippers dis-
persed to wonder at the portent.

This was what had happened within the veil. The
priest to whom had fallen by lot to offer the incense
was named Zacharias ; and his wife, who was also of
the sacred family, was named Elizabeth. " They were
both righteous before God, walking in all the com-
mandments and ordinances of the law blameless.
And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was
barren, and they both were now well stricken in
years."

When Zacharias had entered into the Holy Place to
offer the incense, " there appeared unto him an angel
of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of
incense," and when Zacharias saw him he was troubled

C 2

20 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him,
"Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard." We infer
that the aged priest had not ceased to hope and pray
for offspring, and perhaps at this holiest time, when his
office permitted him to stand before the presence of
God and minister before Him, he had taken the oppor-
tunity again to prefer his request : — " Thy prayer is
heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son."
Then the angel went on to declare the great destiny
which awaited the child. " Thou shalt call his name
John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many
shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor
strong drink ; and he shall be filled with the Holy
Ghost even from his mother's womb. And many
of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord
their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit
and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of
the just ; to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord:" i.e., he shall be a Nazarite, filled from his birth
with the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets of
old ; a great religious reformer ; the forerunner of the
Messiah predicted by Malachi in the last words of
ancient prophecy.^ Thus the spirit of prophecy in

1 " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord ; and he
shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers." — Malachi iv. 5, 6.

THE ANGEL /iV THE TEMPLE. 21

breaking its long silence of 300 years, takes up in the
first words of the new revelation the last words of the
old, and binds them into a continuous revelation.

Zacharias, troubled and awed by the unexpected
apparition, with the natural slowness of age to believe
in any departure from the common order, expressed
his doubt : —

" Whereby shall I know this ? For I am an old
man and my wife well stricken in years."

And the angel answered in words which make us
think that angels may feel some sense of offended
dignity : —

" I am Gabriel, that stand in the Presence of God,"
one of the most honoured and trusted of the servants
of the Great King, " and I am sent (by God) to speak
unto thee and to shew thee these glad tidings. And
behold thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak
until the day that these things shall be performed,
because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season."^

And so it was that the priest emerged from behind
the veil agitated and unable to speak the Evening
Benediction.

1 It is said "of Abraham, when he was promised a son in his
old age, that, being not weak in faith ... he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief" (Rom. iv. 19, 20).
Zacharias was weak in faith and staggered at the promise, and
asked for confirmation of it.

22 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

What a splendid opening of the Gospel ! What a
striking scene of earthly magnificence and superna-
tural glory ! The material magnificence of the chamber
— with its walls and ceiling and furniture of gold,
lighted by the mild radiance of the seven sacred
lamps ; the sacredness of the place — divided only by
a curtain from the mercy-seat on which dwelt the
special presence of God ; the awe of the sudden
apparition of the glorious angel, as if he had stepped
suddenly from behind the second veil ; the aged
priest in his white robe in the midst of this splendour
and awe, receiving the first words of the new re-
velation of God to man — the proclamation of the
speedy advent of the long-promised Messiah, and the
announcement that the son to be born to him out of
due time should be the Herald of the Christ.

The grey dawn had appeared in the sky.

A brief paragraph tells us that as soon as the
days of his official ministrations were accomplished
Zacharias departed to his own house, somewhere in
the hill country of Judea ; perhaps in the Levitical
city of Hebron. " And after those days his wife
Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself," and the know
ledge of her state, " for five months, saying, thus hath
the Lord dealt with me to take away my reproach
among men."

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 23

CHAPTER 11.

THE INCARNATION.

|HE history opened amid the splendour and
awe of the Temple of God in Jerusalem
and the solemnities of the Evening Sacrifice.
Its second scene, with dramatic contrast, is laid in a
maiden's chamber in a cottage of a mountain village
among the hills of Galilee.

The part of Galilee, north of the great plain of
Esdraelon, is a region of hills, for the most part green
and wooded. One of their features is the upland
valleys of fertile soil and pleasant climate which
usually lie just below their highest summits. The
valley of Nazareth is one of these upland hollows,
surrounded by gently rounded heights. On one of
its slopes, half concealed among groves and gardens,
are the flat-roofed white houses of the modern vil-
lage which represents the ancient Nazareth. It was
an obscure village unnamed in the Old Testament,
unnoted at the time of the beginning of the New
Testament.

In the spring time the sloping hill sides which

24 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

enclose the valley are green with grass and studded
with the bright flowers which abound in the Syrian
fields ; the fertile bottom of the valley is cultivated
and covered with crops ; shaded by broad-leaved
fig-trees, and olive-trees with twisted trunks and
white under-leaves ; gay with scarlet blossoms of
pomegranate. The flocks dot the hill sides, wild
pigeons coo among the garden trees, and the pea-
sants work cheerfully among their vines. The vil-
lage well, outside the village, is frequented, morning
and evening, by groups of women, who talk and
laugh while they leisurely fill their tall water-jars
of classic shape, then poise the elegant burden
on their heads, and, with upright figure and elastic
step, return through the village street to their
humble homes. The country, the village, the vil-
lage life, have changed but little in all these cen-
turies.

In the days of which the Gospel speaks, among these
lowly villagers of Nazareth, not distinguished from the.
rest, like them fulfilling all the duties of a humble
household, fetching water from the well morning and
evening like the rest, is a young maiden ; already at
an early age, according to the custom of the East,
betrothed to a kinsman of mature age, and like
station, a carpenter in the village. The maiden,
Mary, is pure and sweet, and thoughtful and gentle,
with a latent grandeur of character which future

THE INCARNATION. 25

events will develope, and a wondrous destiny, which
was now about to be accomplished. Joseph was
calm and good and kindly. They were peasants, and
contented in their peasant life ; yet the care with
which Jews preserved their genealogies left no doubt
that they were descended from the ancient royal
house of Judah, — they were " of the house and lineage
of David."

In all this preliminary description we have been
taking pains to get our minds fully and strongly
impressed with the historic truth and every-day
reality of the scene and persons ; for the next step
in the history carries us at once into the sphere of
the supernatural, which, indeed, is always about us,
though so seldom manifested.

The Christian imagination of the Middle Ages,
endeavouring to realize the scene of the Annuncia-
tion, has almost uniformly placed Mary in the
solitude of the chamber of her cottage home, and
with a beautiful instinct of piety has represented her
as kneeling in prayer, when the chamber is suddenly
filled " with brightness and perfume," and the startled
maiden looking up sees the " majestic grace" of the
Archangel Gabriel standing before her, the same
Divine messenger who lately had appeared to the
aged priest Zacharias in the Holy Place of the
Temple.

26 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

He thus addressed her : —

" Hail, thou that art highly favoured : ^ the Lord
is with thee : blessed art thou among women."

She, amazed at the glorious apparition, and con-
sidering in her mind the meaning of his words
remained silent.

The angel gently reassured her : —

" Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with
God." And then he made the wondrous announce-
ment which he had been sent from heaven to make
to the shrinking maiden : —

" Behold thou shalt conceive, and bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus,

" He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of
the Highest.

" And the Lord God shall give unto him the
throne of his father David.

" And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for
ever.

" And of his kingdom there shall be no end."

We are told that every Hebrew woman for ages
past had cherished in her heart the sublime hope that
she perhaps might prove to be the mother or the
ancestress of the Messiah ; much more must every
woman of the house of David have indulged this
hope ; and the hope must have been intensified at

1 Or "graciously accepted," marginai reading.

THE INCARNATION.

this period by the general expectation which pre-
vailed that the time was ripe for the Messiah's coming.
All who were " looking for redemption in Israel "
were familiar with the ancient prophecies ^ relating
to the Messiah, and the allusions to them in the mes-
sage of Gabriel would be at once recognised by the
pious and thoughtful Mary. So that the announce-
ment would be intelligible to Mary, and the thought
not altogether strange to her, that the hope of the
Hebrew women was to be fulfilled to her; that she
was the daughter of Eve, of Abraham, of David,
whom God had chosen for this great destiny.

But how could it be } It was probably some
natural shrinking of maiden modesty which dictated
the question : —

" How shall this be, seeing that I know not a
man."

And the angel said : —

" The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; there-
fore that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God."

Moreover, for her assurance, and for a sign to her,
he told her of the supernatural conception of
Elizabeth.

" Behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also con-

' See note at the end of this chapter.

28 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

ceived a son in her old age ; for with God nothing
shall be impossible."

We saw in the case of the annunciation to Zacharias
that it was possible that he had been praying for a
child since the angel's opening words are, " Thy
prayer is heard, and thou shalt have a son" ; so here
again it is possible that Mary had been praying the
common prayer of Hebrew women, for the angel's
opening words are " Hail thou that art graciously ac-
cepted." At least, if she had not prayed for it, this
high destin)' was not thrust upon her, without re-
ference to her willingness. It was offered to her, and
she humbly and trustingly accepted it : —

" Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me
according to thy word."

"And the angel departed from her ;" the brightness
of his presence faded into the dim light of the com-
mon day, and the lonely chamber resumed its usual
homely aspect. But what a tremendous result re-
mained, to Mary and to the world : The Holy Spirit
the Lord and Giver of all life, had created a new
germ of human life within her. Mary was "with
child of the Holy Ghost." "The Word was made
flesh."

God had become incarnate.

The snow peak glowed with rosy light.

THE INCARNATION. -9

NOTE.

The following are some of the prophecies alluded to at
page 27 :—

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver
from between his feet, until Shiloh come " (Gen. xlix. 10).

" Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end
of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and pro-
phecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and
understand that from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and to rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince
shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks " (Dan.
ix. 24).

The prophecy is probably dated from the seventh year of
Artaxerxes, when he made his decree and wrote the letter to
Ezra (vii. 11), from which period to the passion of our Lord
was exactly 490 (seventy weeks of) years.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots " (Is. xi. i).

" I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn
unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and
build up thy throne to all generations " (Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4).

" Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper "'
(Jer. xxiii. 5).

" The Lord hath sworn unto David, he will not turn from it ;
of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne " (Ps.
cxxxii. 11).

" Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain
thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his I\Ies-
siah. . . . Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

30 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

I will declare the decree : Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession " (Ps. ii. i-6).

" Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall
call his name Immanuel," God with us (Is. vii. 14).

" Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his govern-
ment and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of
. David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it>
with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this" (Is. ix. 6, 7).

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER III.

THE VISITATION.

HE Angel had given Mary a sign, viz. the
conception of her cousin Elizabeth. She
had not previously known of it, for they
lived far apart, lOO miles or more, Mary at Nazareth,
Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea, probably at
or near the Levitical city of Hebron. Moreover,
Elizabeth had " hid herself," and waited in silence till
she saw the event. The supernatural maternity of
Elizabeth was vouchsafed to Mary as a sign to assure
her of her own miraculous conception. It was a
duty not to refuse — like Ahaz — the offered confirma-
tion of her faith. Accordingly " she arose and went
into the hill country of Judea with haste, and entered
into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth."
" And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard
the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Ghost, and she spake out with a loud voice:" — i\Iary
did not first tell her the honour bestowed upon
herself; Elizabeth knew it by revelation, and was
the first to speak of it : — " She spake out with a

j2 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

loud voice," i.e., with the inspired energy and in the
exalted language of a prophetess : —

" Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me

That the mother of my Lord should come to me,
For lo ! as soon as thy salutation sounded in mine ears,
The babe leaped in my womb for joy.
And blessed is she that believed,

For there shall be a performance of those things which
were told her from the Lord."

This inspired Canticle of Elizabeth's is not so
familiar to us as the other Evangelical Canticles, and
its significance is often overlooked. The Angel had
given Mary a sign, and in obedience to the implied
direction she goes in haste to seek this confirmation
of the wonderful announcement which had been
made to herself. In the fact of Elizabeth's maternity
she finds the sign she sought. She receives, moreover,
the additional confirmations of Elizabeth's inspired
knowledge of her own miraculous conception, and of
her prophetic assurance : —

" Blessed is she that believed,

" For there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord."

" Blessed is she that believed ;" so the fulfilment of
the proffered honour had been dependent upon Mary's
faith in the word of God, and her resignation to His
will. Not indeed that the birth of the Messiah was

THE VISITATION.

33

dependent on Mary's faith, but His birth of her was.
Had she failed in faith and willingness, another would
doubtless have been chosen — or rather God chose one
v/ho, he foresaw, would not fail, — but Mary's faith and
holiness were the causes why this blessedness fell
upon her and not upon another.

" Blessed art thou among women." We know that
some of the most lamentable perversions of the faith
have been with respect to the Virgin Mary. The
dogma of the Immaculate Conception, — i.e., the theory
that she was herself conceived free from the taint of the
hereditary sinfulness of Adam's fallen race, — is a part
of that tissue of Mediaeval poetical fancies which
sought to exalt the mother of our Lord ; another of
these opinions was her assumption, — i.e., that her body
did not see corruption, but was " assumed" taken up to
heaven, and that there she was received by her divine
Son, and crowned Queen of Heaven ; that she exer-
cises a prevalent, almost authoritative, interest with
her Son, and is to be sought as a mediatress by those
who fear to approach Jesus ; in short, that she holds
an intermediate nature and position between the
ordinary Saints and the Incarnate Lord, and is her-
self an object of worship and prayer.

But it would be a very vulgar error, if, in refusing
our assent to these exaggerations of the character
and position of the Virgin, we were to run to the
other extreme, and refuse to award to her her rightful

D

34 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

position in the estimation of wise, thoughtful, and
pious minds. God chooses instruments fit for his
purposes ; and we cannot doubt that for this crowning-
honour of womanhood He chose one whose holiness
of character marked her out for such a destiny.
There is no disputing that the mystery of the Incar-
nation places the Virgin Mother in a position which
is unique and transcendent, and which commands our
reverent interest. We cannot refuse to recognise the
significance of the words of Gabriel, " Hail, thou that
art highly favoured : blessed art thou among women" ;
echoed by the inspired canticle of Elizabeth, " Blessed
art thou among women," and, " blessed is she that
believed " ; accepted by Mary in her inspired utter-
ance, "All generations shall call me blessed, for He
that is mighty hath done to me great things, and
holy is His Name."

The attitude of mind which it is right to entertain
towards the Blessed Virgin Mother seems to be indi-
cated in the words of Elizabeth, " Whence is this to
me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me.'"
In all worldly respects Elizabeth was the superior ;
one the wife of a priest, that is of the aristocratic
caste of the Jewish nation, the other a peasant
woman ; one an elderly matron, the other a young
unmarried girl. True, they were cousins, and this tie,
if it diminished the social distance between them,
would only lead to a more kindly familiarity on the

THE VISITATION.

35

part of her who possessed the superior natural and
social advantages ; but it is Elizabeth who says in
the tone of one who receives the distinguished
honour and unexpected condescension of a visit
from one greatly superior, " Whence is this to me ?
To what do I owe this honour ?" And the ground
of this feeling is that Mary is " the Mother of my
Lord."

We are expressly told that Elizabeth spoke under
the influence of the Holy Ghost, and therefore we
conclude that this feeling in her was a legitimate and
laudable feeling. To any one disposed to exaggerate
this feeling unduly, the tendency ought at once to
find its correction in the remarkable words of our
Lord to the woman who cried to him, with natural
womanly feeling, " Blessed is the womb that bare
thee, and the breasts which thou hast sucked." But
he said, " Yea rather blessed are they that hear the
word of God and keep it " (Luke xi. 27, 28).

When Mary set out in haste to seek the sign of the
wonderful announcement which had been made to
her, she told no one what had happened, " she kept
these things in heart." But now the sign is fulfilled,
and the angelic message abundantly confirmed by
Elizabeth's inspired words, and her heart is .set at
rest. And thereupon the spirit of inspiration falls
upon her also, and in the like prophetic strain she

D 2

36 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

lifts up her voice and praises God in the words of the
Magnificat : —

" My soul dolh magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,
For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me

blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and

holy is His name.
And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation

to generation.
He hath shewed strength with His arm ;
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their

heart ;
He hath put down the m.ighty from their seats,
And exalted them of low degree ;
He hath filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of

His mercy.
As He spake to our Fathers, to Abraham, and his seed for

ever." '

^ Comparing this with the song of Hannah, in which she
gave utterance to her thankfulness to God for the birth of
Samuel, we find a remarkable similarity of thought between
them. There is also a certain similarity in tone and ex-
pression between Mary's canticle and some of the Psalms,
e.g, the 98th, the " Sing unto the Lord," which is put in the
Prayer-book as its alternative canticle. This inspired hymn
of praise affords such fitting expression to the thankfulness of
Christ's Church for the Incarnation, which has given the divine
nature to the human nature, and taken up the human nature
into the divine, and made us one body with Christ, that we
take the words out of Mary's mouth and use them, with such

THE VISITATION. 37

We men, who write books and preach sermons,
usually look at things from our own stand -point,
and write and preach as men to men, dealing
with those questions and taking those views of
matters which are interesting to us men. The sacred
history does not forget that half mankind are
women, and often appears to be specially address-
ing them ; dealing with such subjects — and treating
them from such points of view — as are specially in-
teresting to them. This whole Gospel of the child-
hood— of equal importance to us all — seems espe-
cially addressed to women ; the maiden purity of
the Jewish girl, the presentation to her mind of the
thought of maternity, the incidents of the Visitation
of Elizabeth, the mutual congratulations of the two
holy women, seem to belong to the regions of thought
and feeling into which women only can fully enter.^

Such, then, is the simple, beautiful history of the
Incarnation of the Son of God ; thus it was that "the
Word was made Flesh."

silently-understood modifications of meaning as are needed,
as the Church's daily thanksgiving for the Incarnation of the
Son of God — for the mystery of the Word made Flesh.

^ When we call to mind that Luke professes to have com-
piled his history from the testimony of those who had personal
knowledge of the events, we see at once the high probability
that all this "Gospel of the Childhood" is Mary's own nar-
rative of the events which she had " kept " and " pondered in
her heart" (Luke ii. 19 and 51).

38 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

It may be of advantage to direct attention here to
one or two points which, in the subsequent history,
we shall find of the utmost importance.

The first is this, it was the Divine Power, the power
of the Lord and Life Giver, which created in the
womb of the Virgin the germ of that humanity, which,
taking substance from her, grew into a true human
child, who was in due time born in Bethlehem.

The reason of this miraculous conception was, we
suppose, to estop the descent of the hereditary taint ;
for Adam's fallen race are naturally born in sin, and
children of wrath (Ps. li. 5 ; Eph. ii. 3) " born in sin,"
i.e., inherit a nature which is full of germs of evil, and
which, if left to develope without interference, would
grow up into a sinful life ; " children of wrath " i.e.,
seeing the necessary antagonism between good and
evil, such an evil creature must necessarily be in
antagonism to God and an object of aversion to
Him. Had the son of Mary been the child of her
marriage with Joseph, he would have inherited this
hereditary defect and fault. But it was necessary that
the sacrifice for the sin of mankind should himself
be sinless, free from hereditary taint as well as
guiltless of actual sin. Therefore was Jesus thus
miraculously conceived by a direct exercise of the
creative power of the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Life
Giver.

But the Holy Being which was thus miraculously

THE VISITATION. 39

conceived in her, took substance of the Virgin
Mother, flesh of her flesh, bone of her bone ; He was
" the fruit of her womb " ; His human nature was
derived from her human nature ; so that He was
truly man, as truly as she was woman, lineally
descended from the first man ; inheriting Adam's
manhood in all that constitutes true manhood, only
not inheriting that taint, or defect, or fault, which
came in upon our manhood afterwards, and which is
no more a part of true human nature than disease
is a part of life.

Note, again, as a truth of the highest consequence,
that from the moment of her conception He was not
only man, but God also. "The flesh and the con-
junction of the flesh with God began both at one
instant," says Hooker (" Eccl. Pol.," bk. ix., 1. 3-5).
God the Son took to Himself our human nature of
the substance of the Virgin Mary ; " the Word was
made flesh."

Note again, that the humanity which he took to
himself was perfect human nature, or human nature
in its perfection. As the first unfallen Adam pos-
sessed each faculty perfect in itself, — perfect reason,
perfect affections, perfect will, and all in perfectly
harmonious proportion, — so the second Adam took
upon Him our whole nature, perfect in all its powers-
and faculties, and in their harmonious proportion and
just equipoise.

40 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Yet again, though truly man, our Lord stands
above all other men, on a different platform of being.
A man is truly animal, but the immortal spirit within
him puts him far above all other animals ; so Jesus
is truly man, but the deity within him puts him far
above all other men. There are many men; there
is but one Christ.

Mary remained with her cousin Elizabeth about
three months, and then returned to her home in
Nazareth. Then it became known that she was with
child ; and " then Joseph, her husband, being a just
man, and not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privily. But while he
thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son
of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife ;
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name jESUS, for he shall save his people
from their sins " (Matt. i. 19.). Self-respect required
that he should put her away ; pity led him to do it
privately, and not to bring her to public shame ; the
heavenly message satisfied his doubts at once, and he
at once obeyed the heavenly command, took the
Virgin Mother under the shelter of his name and
home, and accepted the charge of the Holy Child.

It was not God's design that the mystery of the

THE VISITATION. 41

Virgin-birth should immediately be made known to
men ; thus, therefore, He protects the reputation of
the Virgin Mother and her child. Ignatius (the
disciple of St. John) says that thus also God con-
cealed from Satan the fact that " the Virgin had con-
ceived, and born a son," and so protected him from
any special assaults of Satan until the time came for
him to enter upon the Messiahship, and to encounter
in the wilderness the special assault of the great
enemy of mankind.

Very little is said of Joseph in the Gospels, — his
dream and conduct on this occasion ; his presence at
the purification, when he, as well as Mary, " mar-
velled at those things which were spoken of" Jesus;
his second dream, and consequent flight into Egypt
with the Mother and Child ; a third dream, which led
him to return from Egypt; and yet a fourth dream,
directing him to take up his residence at Nazareth ;
his custom of going up to Jerusalem with Mary every
year at the feast of the Passover; his visit thither
when Jesus was twelve years old ; these are the only
occasions on which he is an actor, and then always a
silent actor, in the sacred history ; but we must not
overlook the importance of his position in the holy
family, as its head, the Guardian of the holy Child-
hood.

The Scripture tells U5 he was "a just man," that is,
an upright, good man ; the frequent revelations given

42 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

him indicate that he was especially under the Divine
guidance ; and his prompt and exact obedience to
these revelations is evidence of his faith and piety.
His intentions towards Mary on the present occasion
shew that he was a considerate and charitable man.
The way in which the Evangelist associates him with
Mary in their marvelling at the things which were
spoken at the purification, and the way in which
Mary associates him with herself in their anxiety
when they could not find Jesus on the return from his
first Passover, indicate his entire sympathy with
Mary in the care of the Child, and the earnestness
with which he fulfilled his duty as His guardian.

God chooses agents qualified for the work they
have to do. We seem to see in these traits of
Joseph's conduct the outlines of a character, wise,
holy, calm, gentle, retiring, full of faith in God and
obedience to God ; one of those men, full of calm
wisdom and quiet power, who do nothing striking,
to be talked about, but who fulfil quietly and well
all the duties of their life.

The angel spoke to Mary of her child as the Mes-
siah, the son of David, the founder of the Universal
and Lasting Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace : —
" The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His
father David, and He shall reign over the house of
Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no
end." He speaks to Joseph of the other and deeper

THE VISITATION.

43

aspect of His work : — " He shall save His people from
their sins." We shall find, now one now another, of
these two aspects of the work of the Christ con-
tinually brought forward throughout the Gospels, —
the spiritual work of Christ in the souls of men, and
the external organisation of the heavenly kingdom ;
and the two must both be kept in view, in order to
obtain a complete conception of the work of Christ.

44 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER IV.

" IT CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS.'

T came to pass in those days that there
went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed " (Luke
ii. i). Preachers and painters have set the Nativity
before our minds surrounded by a halo of religious
sentiment through whose golden haze the event
sometimes perhaps assumes an appearance of un-
reality. It is right that we should view the event
with the eye of faith in all its divine grandeur and
infinite importance ; but first let us see clearly with
the eye of reason that it was a real event; and
mark — as the sentence above quoted suggests — how
and where and when it fits in with the course of the
world's history.

We shall find it in the end very useful to our
main object, if we take a little pains at the outset to
obtain a clear summary view of the course of Jewish
history from the Captivity down to the period of the be-
ginning of the Gospel narrative. Such a review soon
makes us recognise what a prominent place Daniel's
prophecy of the course of history (Dan. ii. 31) must

" IT CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DA VS." 45

have held in the minds of the Jewish people " in
those days " which we are considering ; for its earlier
portions sketch the period from the Captivity to the
period at which they had arrived, and there were
reasons for believing that the remaining portion of the
prophecy was about to enter upon its fulfilment. The
great image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream had typified,
according to Daniel's interpretation, four great mo-
narchies, succeeding each the other on the stage of
history; and with these four monarchies the Jews
had been brought into intimate political relations.
The kings of Assyria put an end to the kingdom of
Israel, and carried the Israelites captive, " and placed
them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan,
and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings xvii. 6), i.e. in
the fertile district watered by the (modern) Khabour,
the northern part of Mesopotamia. And Nebuchad-
nezzar put an end to the kingdom of Judah, and car-
ried the Jews captive to Babylon. Thus the Assyro-
Babylonian monarchy was made the instrument of
God's chastisement of his people for their sins.

When Babylon, " the head of Gold," had been suc-
ceeded by the Persian monarchy, " the silver king-
dom," Cyrus (B.C. 536) gave the people leave to re-
turn to their own land and rebuild their city and
Temple. Only a small proportion of the people had
a sufficiently strong feeling of patriotism and religion
to abandon the homes in which they had been born,

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and the occupations in which they had grown into
prosperity in the fertile plains about the Tigris and
Euphrates, to undertake the task of reclaiming the
desolated hills of Judea and rebuilding the city and
Temple out of their ruins. The rest of the people
remained in the land of their captivity, a numerous
and prosperous people, enjoying a large amount of
self-government under a prince of the house of
David, to whom they gave the expressive title of
" Prince of the Captivity."

The difficulties which the returned exiles encoun-
tered in the reconstruction of their city and Temple
are told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. What
we have especially to notice here is that Ezra revived
in the new commonwealth of Israel the original
theocratic constitution. Restored Israel was a Church,
not a Monarchy. The high priest was its chief magis-
trate, the Law of Moses its code. It was virtually
independent, under the protection and patronage of
the Persian monarchy.

After 250 years' duration the Persian monarchy
gave place to the Grecian, " the kingdom of brass."
Alexander (B.C. 306) visited Jerusalem, which opened
her gates to him, and the conqueror left to the
Jewish commonwealth its independence, and took it
under his protection.

The Macedonian conquests broke up the political
constitutions of the ancient civilisations of the East

"/r CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS." 47

and of Egypt, and introduced a new civilisation in
their place. Greek cities were built on a scale of
great architectural magnificence ; the Greek language
became the universal medium of literature and of
commercial intercourse ; Greek manners were gene-
rally adopted by the better classes of the Eastern
races ; and Greek philosophy undermined the ancient
Eastern religions, and produced a general tone of
scepticism.

In the division of the Greek conquests which fol-
lowed on the death of Alexander, Judea became the
frontier country between the rival kingdoms of Syria
and Egypt. For the most part it retained its self-
government, paying a tribute to the Antiochus of
Syria or the Ptolemy of Egypt, as each alternately
gained the superiority ; and, on the whole, the Jewish
nation flourished under the Greek rule. For a time
the strong religious feeling of the Jews resisted the
inroad of Greek manners. Antiochus Epiphanes
aimed at the more complete incorporation of Judea
into his dominion. He aided Joshua to supplant his
brother Onias " the Good " in the high priesthood,
and the traitor proceeded to use his influence to in-
duce the people to abandon their national pecu-
liarities, and to adopt Greek manners. Soon after-
wards Antiochus seized the pretext of some civil
commotions to march upon Jerusalem, and occupy
it as a conqueror. He pillaged the Temple of its

48 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

sacred vessels and treasures, carried off spoil and
captives, and left Philip, a Phrygian, as governor of
the city. A few years later he again occupied the
city, pillaged it, destroyed its walls, and dedicated
the Temple to Zeus Olympius, to whom he set up
an altar upon the great brazen altar of burnt sacri-
fice. He caused heathen altars to be set up through-
out the country, and proceeded to compel the Jews,
by torture and death, to abandon their religion and
adopt that of their conqueror.

This last outrage led to the revolt of the Maccabees
and the war of independence, which, " if less famous,
is not less glorious than any of those in which a {qw
brave men have successfully maintained the cause of
freedom or religion against overpowering might." ^

The revolt was ultimately successful. Judea
secured its entire independence, and the family of
its liberators (the Asmonean family) obtained, as the
reward of their patriotism, the hereditary high priest-
hood, and the supreme authority.

The priest-kings of this race continued for a cen-
tury, till a contest between Hyrcanus and his brother,
Aristobulus, who had driven Hyrcanus away, and
seized the priesthood, offered a pretext for foreign
intervention.

The Roman republic, the fourth great power, " the

1 " Bible Diet." : Art. Maccabees.

"/r CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS."

49

iron kingdom," had already succeeded to the Greek,
and was extending its sovereignty over the East.

Hyrcanus sought the aid of the Romans. Pompey
took Jerusalem by force of arms (A.D. 6^) and
restored Hyrcanus ; but he reduced the area of his
dominions, gave freedom to many cities, placing them
under the prefect of Syria, and forbade Hyrcanus
to wear the diadem, the token of independent sove-
reignty, on his high priestly tiara, ie. he reduced
Judea to the position of a dependent state. In
47 B.C. Julius Cresar confirmed the government to
Hyrcanus, with the title of " Ethnarch "; but he made
Antipater the Idumean, who had been Hyrcanus's
chief minister. Procurator, ie. the representative of
the Roman sovereignty, a kind of " Political Resi-
dent" at the court of Hyrcanus; and Antipater
made his eldest son, Phasaelis, governor of Judea,
and Herod, his younger son, at fifteen years old,
governor of Galilee, to which, shortly afterwards, the
government of Ccele Syria was added. The relations
between the higli priest and the procurator were
strengthened by the betrothal of Hyrcanus's grand-
daughter, the beautiful Mariamne, to the noble youth,
Herod, who had already given evidence of a great
character. When Antony came to Syria in 41 B.C.
he conferred on Phasaelis and Herod (Antipater,
their father, having been recently slain) the title of
" Tetrarch."

E

50 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Antigonus, the son of the Aristobulus above
mentioned, maintained his claim to succeed to his
father's usurped dignity. He obtained help from
the Parthians, and with their aid obtained possession
of the person of his uncle Hyrcanus, mutilated him
by cutting off his ears, and so made him incapable,
as a blemished person, of exercising the office of
high priest ; he killed Phasaelis, and reduced Herod
to the necessity of a hasty flight. Herod fled to
Rome, and besought the interest of Antony and
Caesar, his friends and patrons, to solicit of the
Senate the appointment of Aristobulus, the son of
Hyrcanus and brother of Mariamne, to the high
priesthood. The Senate instead, at the instance of
his powerful patrons, conferred on Herod the govern-
ment of Judea, with the title of " King." It was, how-
ever, three years before Herod, with the aid of Roman
arms, succeeded in driving Antigonus out of Jeru-
salem. During the siege Herod married Mariamne.
When seated in Jerusalem he sent for Hyrcanus, and
treated him with great outward respect, affecting to
regard him as co-sovereign ; but he raised an obscure
priest from Babylon, Ananelus, to the dignity of
high priest. Soon after, indeed, he deposed Ananelus
and raised Aristobulus to the dignity which his an-
cestors had held for so many generations ; but
shortly he had the unhappy youth secretly mur-
dered. Before long he had Hyrcanus put to death,

"/r CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DA YSP 51

and then, in a fit of jealousy, Mariamne, and took
care ever after to exclude the Asmonean family from
a position so dangerous to his own security.

Herod was a man of noble presence, an able
statesman, a successful administrator, an ambitious
prince, in favour with the emperor. Josephus says
(Antiq. xv. 10, 3), whereas there were but two men
who governed the Roman empire, first Caesar, then
Agrippa, who was his principal favourite ; Caesar
esteemed Herod next to Agrippa, and Agrippa had
no greater friend than Herod except Caesar. He
built up a kingdom which in its extent and prosperity
recalled the traditional splendour of Solomon. Lavish
in his expenditure and magnificent in his tastes, he
strengthened and beautified his capital. He built the
strong castle of Antonia on the north of the Temple,
and a palace-fortress in the upper city, and otherwise
strengthened the city with forts and adorned it with
public buildings. Especially he rebuilt the Temple
with such magnificence as to make it one of the
wonders of the world.

But though Herod was by hereditary profession a
Jew, and though he used the fanatical attachment of
the Jews to their religion as an engine of state, he
really shared the Roman toleration of, and practical
disbelief in, all religions. He affected Roman
manners, and sent several of his sons to Rome, where
they lived in great friendship and intimacy with the

E 2

52 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

emperor and the principal men of Rome (Josephus,
Antiq. xv. lo, i).

He built a theatre in Jerusalem, and an amphi-
theatre outside the city, in which he instituted
quinquennial games with combats of gladiators in
honour of Caesar. He built a temple of Jupiter in
his new town of Caesarea by the sea, and another
temple in the city of Sebaste (Samaria) which he
strongly fortified. Besides building several other
cities, palaces, and public works in his own dominions,
his magnificence was displayed in costly works in
other places both in Syria and In Greece ; e.g., he built
a street a mile long, adorned with colonnades as an
entrance into the city of Antioch, and gave revenues
for the revival of the splendour of the Olympian
games there; he rebuilt the temple of Apollo at
Rhodes, and gave the citizens a large sum for the
repair of their fleet.

By the success and splendour of his reign, by the
magnificence of his public works, and by the estima-
tion in which he was held by his contemporaries, he
merited the title, which history has bestowed upon
him, of " the Great." But he was a man of strong
and violent passions, suspicious, jealous, unscrupulous,
tyrannical, and cruel. He was as unhappy in his
domestic relations as he was fortunate in public
affairs. The sections of his family intrigued against
one another and inflamed his mind with suspicions,

"/r CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DA F5." 53

under whose influence, at various times, he put to death
his favourite wife Mariamne, and three of his sons,
and many others of those who were nearest to him.

It was in the seventieth year of his age and thirty-
fourth^ of his reign — when sickness had enfeebled him,
and domestic treasons and domestic tragedies had
embittered his life ; when his successful, magnificent,
tyrannical, bloodstained reign was drawing to its
close — that the Gospel history begins.

It was the 26th year of the reign of Augustus,
one of the great ages of the world's history and one
better known to us than any other period of ancient
history, an age of great Statesmen, and Philosophers
and Poets.

"These things were not done in a corner," said
Paul at the tribunal of Fcstus. The Roman arms
had thrown the world wide open, and the light of
Greek philosophy and Roman common sense had
lighted it up, and a spirit of universal incredulity
searched everything through and through.

" Those " were " the days " in which the decree
went forth from Caesar Augustus " that all the world
should be taxed," i.e., that a census of the Roman world
should be taken ; and Herod, in compliance with the
wish of his imperial patron, ordered such a census to
be made in his kingdom.

^ Thirty-seventh from his nomination to the kingdom.

54 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

In Italy the people would be numbered naturally
by their towns and villages ; but it was in accordance
with ancient Jewish usage that a census of the
people should be taken by their tribes and families.
Therefore all the people were ordered for the pur-
poses of this census to go to the place from which
their family had sprung, and so it came to pass that
" Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of
Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which
is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and
lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused
wife, being great with child " (Luke ii. 49).

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 55

CHAPTER V.

THE NATIVITY.

ALF A DOZEN miles south of Jerusalem,
situated on the crest of a long limestone
hill, was the little city of Bethlehem, dear to
Israel as the birth-place of King David, dearer to the
true Israel as the birth-place of a greater than he.
The descendants of the once royal house were scat-
tered far and wide. Since the Captivity the high-
priests had been the rulers of the nation — until the
Romans came and conquered the land, and placed
Herod over it— and the ancient royal house had
fallen into obscurity and decay. Of the men and
women, who came up to Bethlehem because they were
of the house and lineage of David, some were from
the neighbouring fields and farms, and some from the
distant hills of Galilee ; some, perhaps, men of wealth
and consideration, some peasants and artisans ; some,
doubtless, had friends in the town who housed them
hospitably, and some crowded the caravanserai out-
side the city walls.

This caravanserai was connected with the history
of David. When the king was returning to Jeru-

56 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

salem after the defeat of Absalom's rebellion, he
invited Barzillai, the old Gileadite chieftain who had
so hospitably entertained him in his temporary-
exile, to accompany him to Jerusalem, and attach
himself to his court, that he might return his
hospitality. Barzillai declined on the ground of his
advanced age, but substituted his son Chimham for
himself. It would seem that David gave Chimham
lands at Bethlehem out of his patrimonial estate ;
and that Chimham, in the princely spirit of his
father, built on this land a caravanserai for the public
accommodation, — it is one of the ordinary works of
Eastern charitable munificence ; and this " Khan of
Chimham " became well known as the place where
travellers were accustomed to assemble, and form
themselves into caravans for mutual protection on
the hazardous journey down to Egypt.

To this historical khan strangers had been flocking
all day, till all the chambers ranged round its court
were filled, and the court itself crowded with the
horses and mules and asses of the travellers. In
the evening of the day a middle-aged man came,
accompanied by his youthful wife, who approached
the time of her confinement. There was no room
for them in the khan ; but beside the khan, in the
hill-side, was one of the innumerable caves which
honey-combed the limestone hills of Judea, used as
a stable ; here the late comers found a rude shelter ;

THE NATIVITY. -^y

and here during the night, under circumstances of
such discomfort, the young wife was delivered of a
son, whom she wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and
cradled in a hollow of the rock out of which the
cattle ate their provender.

The sun had risen above the eastern hills!

This birth takes its place as a plain historical fact
in the record of the world's doings : — Augustus,
perhaps, was supping with Maecenas and Horace, in
Rome ; Herod was, perhaps, in his palace-fortress of
Macherus, only a ^ew miles off across the Judaean
hills, when this child was born in the grotto-stable
adjoining the khan of Chimham, at Bethlehem.
The name of the new-born child was inscribed next
day in the census roll, among the children of the
house of David ; and Justin Martyr, one hundred
years afterwards, appealed to the original documents
of the census, still preserved among the archives of
Rome.

" The Virgin and Child ! " How many myriads of
representations of the subject Art has given to the
world ! There is a perennial human attraction in the
sight of a mother and her child which touches every
heart ; there is a mystery of nature in this type of
reproduction — of life reproducing itself in another
life, which has an undying interest. There is a
special natural attraction, too, in this mother and
child ; for this is the first and only perfect human

58 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

babe the world has seen. Adam and Eve were
created in maturity. When Eve looked upon the
firstborn cradled in her lap, she looked upon the
exiled heir of Paradise, whose sole inheritance was a
fallen nature. This Babe, conceived by miracle and
born of a Virgin, is the one only human babe which
has exhibited fully and without imperfection the
characteristics of the race, the divine ideal of a
human child.

But it is the divine mystery in the Virgin Mother
and the Divine Child which has made this group
the subject which Art has more frequently repro-
duced than any other. And it has had the effect
of teaching vividly the great foundation-truth of
religion, that the " Word was made flesh," that the
Son of God was born of a woman. Only let us bear
in mind, in trying to paint the picture to our mind's
eye, that it is a true human child lying on the lap of
his mother. We must not imagine any luminous
glory, like that of Moses when he came down from
the Mount, beaming from his infant person ; we must
not suppose that there is really any divine depth in
his limpid eyes. He is God as well as man, but the
Godhead is, here as always, invisible ; all which is
visible is man. And yet the Nativity of the Divine
Child was not without its external signs and super-
natural indications to call the attention of the world
to the Babe of Bethlehem.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. SO

CHAPTER VI. '

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.

HERE were in the same country shepherds,
abiding in the field, keeping watch over
their flock by night. And, lo ! the angel
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the
Lord shone round about them, and they were sore
afraid."

" And the angel said unto them," as he had done
to Zachariah and to Mary, " Fear not," " For, behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be
to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the
city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

And he gave to them a sign, as he had previously
given to Zachariah and to Mary, " This shall be a
sign unto you, ye shall find the Babe wrapped in
swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger."

And when the angel had proclaimed his gospel,
there suddenly flashed upon the sight of the shep-
herds " a multitude of the heavenly host," the choir
attendant upon the heavenly choragus, who burst
forth into an anthem of praise : — " Glory to God in

6o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards
men." ^ The angels did not fade again into the
darkness, but ascended to heaven in the sight of the
wondering shepherds. And when the angelic vision
had receded out of sight, the shepherds said to one
another, " Let us go even unto Bethlehem, and see
this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord
hath made known unto us. And they came with
haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe
lying in a manger."

And when they had seen it, and so the message
was verified by the sign, then "they made known
abroad " what had happened to them, the vision of
angels, and the good tidings proclaimed from heaven,
that this Babe was the Saviour, the Messiah, the
Lord. And all they that heard it, including, no doubt,
many of the strangers " of the house and lineage of
David," who were gathered for the occasion at Beth-
lehem, "wondered at those things which were told
them by the shepherds." And they returned to their
flock, " glorifying and praising God for all the things

^ It may be well to state at once that the Authorized Version
of the Gospels has been adhered to throughout this work.
The Revised Version has not yet been received by the Church,
neither have its proposed alterations in the Greek and in the
Translation yet received the general adhesion of scholars. See
articles in the Quarterly Review ,iox 1881 and 18S2; and
pamphlets by the Bishop of Derry and Bishop Wordsworth
of St. Andrews.

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 6r

which they had heard, and seen, as it was told unto
them."

"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered
them in her heart."

We wonder, perhaps, why this angelic vision
and this great announcement came to two or three
humble shepherds, and not to Augustus in Rome, or
to Herod in Jerusalem. But at least we see that it
is in accordance with the fact that Jesus was not
born in the house of the Caesars on the Palatine
Mount, or in Herod's palace at Jerusalem, but in a
stable in Bethlehem ; it is in harmony with our
Lord's utterance, " I thank Thee, Father, that Thou
hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes ; even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in Thy sight."

These shepherds were the chosen representatives
of Israel, they were the firstfruits of the chosen
people who recognised the Lord. If we knew
who — or rather what — they were, we should, perhaps,
recognize the propriety of the announcement to them ;
for God does not act capriciously, — there is a reason
of infinite wisdom for all He does. There is a good
Mediaeval story that two ascetic devotees in a
nunnery, who were beginning to feel some motions of
spiritual pride, were told in a dream that there were
in the city two holier women than they. And when
they sought the house indicated to them in their

62 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

dream they found two homely women, who had hus-
bands and children, and who were so fulfilling the
ordinary duties of their lowly life that they were
more devout than the devotees. If we knew what
these shepherds of Bethlehem were, we might find
them men who knew as well as the chief priests and
scribes of Jerusalem that Christ should be born at
Bethlehem, and who had a longing as great as
Simeon's to see His advent, and who in their night-
watch were accustomed to talk of, and pray for, and
expect His coming; and we might recognise it as the
reward of faith and prayer, that they were chosen to
be the first of all Israel to hear the Gospel, and to
see the Lord.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 63

CHAPTER VII.

THE CIRCUMCISION.

I HEN God called Abraham out of the rest of
mankind and brought him into relations
of special nearness to Himself, in a New-
Covenant, He gave him an outward sign (the sign
of circumcision), by which he and all his posterity, —
the heirs of the promises, — should be admitted into
this new covenant : — " I w^ll establish My covenant
between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their
generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee and to thy seed after thee. . , . Every
man-child among you shall be circumcised, and ye
shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it
shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and
you" (Gen. xvii. 7, 10, 11).

The peculiar nature of the rite had probably an
allusion lO the doctrine of " original sin," i. e. the
doctrine that every child, naturally descended from
Adam, has inherited from him a nature corrupted
through sin ; and it signified the remission of the
guilt attaching to this condition of hereditary sinful-
ness ; and admission into the special covenant of

64 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

grace : — " being by nature born in sin and children
of wrath, they were hereby made children of grace."

The taint of Adam's sin had not been inherited by
our Blessed Lord owing to the miraculous nature ot
His incarnation ; the angel spoke of "that Holy Thing
that shall be born of thee " ; and St. John declares that
" in Him is no sin " ; and St. Paul, that he is " holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners " (Heb.
vii. 26). Why, then, should he be circumcised ? Be-
cause, being a child of Abraham, born under the
law, and sent to fulfil the law, it was clearly fitting
that he should enter into the covenant which God
had made with Abraham and his seed, and the only
way to enter into it was through the appointed rite :
so he was obedient to the law in this its initiatory
obligation. And though sinless by nature, as sinless
afterwards in life, yet he came to be made " sin for
us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. v. 21), and so he
humbled Himself to be "numbered among the trans-
gressors."

Accordingly, "when eight days were accomplished
for the circumcising of the child, his name was called
Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he
was conceived in the womb" (Luke ii. 21).

It was a domestic rite, performed, not at the temple,
but at home ; not by a priest, but by the father, or
some friend of the family. As it was our Blessed
Lord's first obedience to the law for man, so it was

THE CIRCUMCISION.

his first suffering, and these were the first drops of
His precious blood shed, on behalf of man.

The rite was usually accompanied by the giving of
a name to the child. And our Lord was named
Jesus in obedience to the divine direction given first
to Mary, " thou shalt call his name Jesus " (Luke
i. 31), and afterwards to Joseph, "thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins" (Matt. i. 21).

The custom of giving a name to a child is coeval
with the human race, and names are all, more or less
intentionally, significant. God called the first man
Adam — Earth, because he was made of the dust of
the ground. And Adam called his wife's name Eve —
Life-giving, because she was the mother of all living.
And Eve called her first-born Cain — Acquisition,
for she said, " I have gotten a man from the Lord,"
the idea is more definitely expressed, perhaps, in the
medidcval name, Deus-dedit. Lamech called his son
Noah — Consolation, saying, " This same shall com-
fort us."

God had previously announced the supernatural
births of Isaac and of John the Baptist, and in both
cases had dictated a name at the time of the an-
nouncement. And now the name dictated by God
at the annunciation is given to the Divine Child,
the name which announces his quality, Jesus —

F

66 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Saviour, "because he shall save his people from
their sins."

Let us not fail to observe the fulness of the inter-
pretation of the Saviour's name thus given us from
heaven, Jesus, " because he shall save his people from
their sins." It defines the mode of salvation. He
shall save his people out of the miseries of this world
into the happiness of heaven by saving them from their
sins. And as there is no other Saviour than He, so
there is no other salvation than this. It is sin which
is the cause of ruin and misery and death, and the
effects can only be removed by the removal of the
cause.

To take all men such as ^'^^-' -n-e, and translate them
to heaven, would only be -^ x.iLioduce sin and misery
into the abodes of the blessed. To place a single
sinner as he is among the blessed in heaven would
not be to save him. The evil is in the man himself,
not merely in his surroundings. The cause of man's
infelicity is sin. The only effectual remedy for his
miserable condition, is not to alter his surroundings
merely, but to alter himself, to eliminate sin out of
his nature.

Joshua could only save his people from the wilder-
ness, and plant them in the Promised Land, where
they took their sins with them ; and consequently
were miserable, and perished in Canaan as their
fathers did in the wilderness. Our Jesus saves his

THE CIRCUMCISION. 67

people from their sins, and even while they remain in
the wilderness of this world they are already saved/
they have eternal life/ their conversation is in heaven ;''
and when He brings them into the heavenly Canaan
they live a perfectly sinless, and , therefore a perfectly
noble and blissful life for ever.

* I Cor. i. 18. " John vi. 54. ' Phil. iii. 20.

F 2

68 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE.

FTER the birth of our Lord, the holy
family, doubtless, remained in Bethlehem
till it was the time to go up to Jerusalem
to fulfil the requirements of the law. For it was
commanded in the law (Lev. xii.), that when a
woman had given birth to a child, she should, at
the end of forty days for a male-child, and of eighty
days for a female child, " bring a lamb of the first
year for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or
a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, unto the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest ;
who shall offer it before the Lord, and make an
atonement for her. And if she be not able," by
reason of poverty, " to bring a lamb, then she shall
bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, the one
for the burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering ;
and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and
she shall be clean." It is a remarkable rite — that a
woman after childbirth, should have to offer a burnt-
offering and sin-offering, and have an atonement
made for her, in the same way as for one who had

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 69

committed a sin. It seems to have been to teach,
over and over again, with respect to every child born
into the world, that Adam's sinful nature descended
to every one of his posterity, so that in every
birth the mother brought a sinful being into the
world.

So, when the days of her purification were accom-
plished, Mary came up to Jerusalem, bringing the
offering of the poor — the two turtle-doves — for her
offering. Wc have all seen the beautiful modern
engraving which represents her with the sweet but
solemn happiness of a young mother, bringing her
turtle-doves nestling in her bosom.

But there was a further commandment of the law
to be observed. It was required that every first-born
man-child should be taken to the Temple on the day
of the mother's purification, to be presented before
the Lord.

This was a memorial of the sparing of the first-
born of the Israelites, when the plague slew the
first-born of the Egyptians on the night of the
Exodus. In that night of terror and anguish the
destroying angel slew all the first-born of Egypt,
both of man and beast. The Israelites were not
spared for their innocency, but of God's special
mercy ; and in token of this the paschal lambs (repre-
senting the first-born of cattle) were slain, and their
blood sprinkled on the doorposts of the houses of the

^o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Israelites, and the angel seeing in the blood the con-
fession of guilt and the token of the vicarious sacrifice^
passed over them. But God claimed the first-born of
Israel, both of man and beast, for ever after, as
belonging to Himself: "Sanctify^ unto me all the
first-born," the first-born " among the children of
Israel, both of man and beast, it is mine." The first-
born children were dedicated to His service (Exodus
xiii. 2, and xxxiv. 19). The first-born of beasts, it
clean, were offered in sacrifice ; if unclean, the owner
might redeem them at a price to be paid to the
Temple treasury ; if he did not care to redeem them
they were to be slain as a quasi-offering.

God afterwards took the Levites instead of the
first-born : " The Levites shall be mine ; instead of
the first-born of all the children of Israel have I taken
them unto me" (Numbers viii. 14, 16). Only the
Lord commanded that every first-born should be pre-
sented before Him in the Temple, and that he should
be redeemed by payment of a half-shekel. It was
the individual domestic inemorial, as the Feast of
the Passover was the national commemoration, of
the deliverance of the first-born on the night of the
Passover.

Accordingly, when Mary went up to Jerusalem for
her Purification accompanied by Joseph, "they brought

' To sanctify = to dedicate to God's service

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 71

Jesus also to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord "
(Luke ii. 22), The presentation of Christ was the
antitype of all the presentations of first-born which
had been made for fifteen centuries. This was the
true First-born, the Only-begotten, whom God had
sanctified for his own service.

And He is not without witness. As the angels
hovered over Bethlehem, and the shepherds " made
known abroad the saying that was told them concern-
ing this child," and the star appeared to the Magi,
and their inquiries called the attention of Herod and
of the chief priests and scribes and all Jerusalem to
their announcement of the birth of Messiah, so now
again, when he appears in his temple it is not without
welcome and witness.

" There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
Simeon ; and the same man was just and devout,
w^aiting for the consolation of Israel," i.e., for the
Messiah's coming, "and the Holy Ghost was upon
him " in an unusual manner or degree, as is shown by
what is next stated of a special inspiration. " And it
was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he
should not see death before he had seen the Lord's
Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the Temple "
(Luke ii. 25). And when Joseph and Mary entered
with the child Jesus to do for him according to the
law, the Holy Spirit caused Simeon to recognise in
him the Christ for whom he waited. " Then took he

72 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

him up in his arms," — (the tradition that Ignatius
the Bishop of Antioch, was the child whom Jesus set
in the midst of his disciples and took in his arms
(Mark ix. 2)^), gives the venerable martyr additional
interest in our eyes ; with similar interest we regard
the man who took up Christ in his arms), — " and
blessed God, and said : —

" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ;
A light to lighten the Gentiles,
And the glory of thy people Israel."

" And Joseph and his mother," we read, " marvelled
at those things which were spoken of him." ^ It
would seem that they were ignorant of the fulness of

1 This song of Simeon has been adopted by the Church of
Christ as one of the canticles of its evening vi^orship from the
earliest ages ; it is so mentioned in the " Apostolical Consti-
tutions." It expresses the calm faith of one who in the evening
of life, assured of the salvation which God has given in Christ,
is content to lie down in peace and sleep the sleep of death, in
full confidence of a joyful awakening. The evening of every
day is a type of the evening of our life ; of the evening of the
world's life ; and every evening the Church borrows the inspired
words of Simeon to express its calm faith and thanksgiving.
Happy the man who in the evening of his life can say, " Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation." That it may be so with us let us so
live every day, that every evening we may sing that song.

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 73

the mystery to which they were so near. They knew
of the miraculous birth, they beHeved that He was to
be the Messiah ; but they did not comprehend the
divine nature of the child, and the rays of glory
which, as it were, broke forth from behind the
veil of his humanity from time to time and played
about his infant head, filled them with wonder : —
" Mary kept all these things and pondered them in
her heart" (Luke ii. 19). "Joseph and his mother
marvelled at those things which were spoken of him "
(Luke ii. 33), and so by observation and comparison,
meditation and prayer, did they gradually ascend to
the height of that divine knowledge which still was
" not far from them, but in their mouth and in their
heart." So we also, though we knew the great truths
of the Gospel long before, yet if we keep them and
ponder them in our hearts, are continually gaining
new insight into that which we had before seen and
thought we knew, but now find that our former know-
ledge was comparative ignorance.

"And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary
his mother. Behold, this child is set for the fall and
rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which
shall be spoken against ; (yea, a sword shall pierce
through thine own soul also) that the thoughts of
many hearts may be revealed."

Another remarkable person was also present, one
Anna, a prophetess, an aged widow, if we rightly

74 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

understand the narrative,^ of the great age of over
lOO years, who "departed not from the Temple";
but, perhaps, being recognised as "a prophetess,"
lived in one of the numerous apartments of the
Temple, and " served God with fastings and prayers,
day and night." " She coming into " the women's
court of " the Temple, that instant gave thanks like-
wise unto the Lord ; and " subsequently " spake of
Jesus to all them that looked for redemption in Jeru-
salem,"— viz., to those numerous persons who, doubt-
less, visited the devotee and prophetess in her own
apartment, and those whom she met continually in
the women's court when they came to worship there.

Pause to look at the group of persons thus brought
before our eyes, as they stand, probably in the
women's court, outside the magnificent gate called the
" Beautiful Gate." The priest, holding the Holy
Child in his arms, on the upper step ; and on a lower
step Simeon and Anna uttering their inspired praises
and blessings ; and Mary and Joseph standing won-
dering by ; and probably a crowd of spectators whose

* " She had lived with an husband seven years from her
virginity, and she had been a widow 4 score and 4 years"
(Revised Ver.). A woman of eighty-four would hardly be
spoken of emphatically as " of a great age," but if about
12 + 7 + 84 = 103, it would be natural so to speak of her.

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 73

attention has been attracted, and who gather upon
and about the foot of the stair gazing upwards at the
group. It is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Hagg ai,
" The desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill
this house wuth glory, saith the Lord of hosts" (Hag<^ai
ii. 7) ; and of Malachi, " The Lord whom ye seek
shall suddenly come to his Temple " (Mai. iii. i).

If Simeon was, indeed, as many have thought, the
famous Simeon son of the great Rabbi Hillel and
father of the Rabbi of hardly less reputation, Gamaliel,,
then he was at this time the chief of the Sanhedrim, the
representative of the Law; and the occasion assumes
an appearance of high symbolical significance. The
Priest who receives the divine child, the great Rabbi,
and the Prophetess, represent the great branches of
the Jewish Church and the great ideas of its religion.
We see the Lord suddenly come to his temple and
there received and acknowledged by prophet, priest,,
and scribe ; and the prophetess fulfils her function by
speaking of Him to all them that looked for redemp-
tion in Israel. Or, we may see, in the group of the
aged Simeon with the infant Jesus in his arms, the
Law, aged and ready to depart, acknowledging and
giving its testimony to the Gospel.

We linger yet a little longer to note the light
which is thrown by this narrative upon the state of
the Jewish Church at the time of our Lord's corning.

76 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The popular view of the state of the Jewish
church at this period is that true rehgion was dead.
We seem to read of the Sadducees as wordly-
minded sceptics, of the Pharisees as hypocrites,
and of the priests and scribes as the persecutors
and murderers of Christ. When we look more
closely we see that, however this may have been
the general character of the people, there were many
exceptions. If we only glance through the sacred
narrative so far as we have already gone, we find
Zacharias the priest and his wife Elizabeth "both
righteous before God, walking in all the command-
ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless " ; Mary
" filled with grace " and " blessed among women " ;
Joseph " a just man " ; Simeon "just and devout " and
" the Holy Ghost was upon him" ; Anna, who " served
God night and day"; and "all them that looked for
redemption in Jerusalem."

A flood of light is thrown also on God's dealings
with the Jewish church in those latter days. It was
300 years since the canon of Scripture had been
closed, the people had lost their independence, they
were now living in intercourse with Greece and
Rome, in the full blaze of science and philosophy and
civilisation, in one of the most enlightened and
civilised periods of the world's history, yet we find
God's ordinary and his supernatural grace still
active among his people. We go no further than the

THE PRESENTATION IiY THE TEMPLE. 77

group before us, for illustration of the ordinary grace
by which men became eminent for saintliness, in Mary
and Joseph, of the supernatural grace by which God
works always in his church, in Anna the devotee and
prophetess, and Simeon the just man and devout with
whom the Holy Ghost habitually was, who had re-
ceived special divine revelation, and was inspired with
the " Nunc Dimittis " and the prophecy to Mary.

The narrative throws light also on another subject
which must often exercise the mind of the thoughtful
reader, viz., the rejection of Christ by the Jews as a
nation. We are sometimes disposed to think that
there must be some special excuses for a rejection
which was so general. Their rejection seems to have
arisen from the fact that Christ was not the kind of
Messiah whom they expected, and did not promise to
do what they desired. They expected a temporal
conqueror, who would deliver them from the Roman
yoke and found a new universal empire, of which
they should be the leading people. He was some-
thing far grander and offered them something far
more desirable ; but the worldliness, pride, and
unspirituality of their hearts made them blind to the
spiritual glory of Christ and his kingdom, and they
rejected him, declared him a deceiver, and crucified
him. But we have evidence here that the humble,
teachable, spiritual minded, were not unprepared to
accept Christ as he was, and the kingdom as it was

78 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

now revealed. The shepherds accepted the Babe
cradled in a manger as "Christ the Lord" (Luke ii. ii).
The magi we shall presently see worshipped the
child of the lowly Mary as King of the Jews, and
offered him the presents of a king (Matt. ii. ii). Simeon
recognised as the Lord's Christ the child whose
parents could only bring as the offering for his re-
demption the two turtle doves of the poor. The
" Nunc Dimittis " shows that the two thoughts which
were so repugnant to the wordly Jewish mind, a
suffering Christ, and the equality of the Gentiles, pre-
sented no such difficulties to the pious Jewish mind : —
" This child is set for the fall and rising again of many
in Israel ; and for a sign which shall be spoken
against ; yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own
soul also"; "a light to lighten the Gentiles" as well
as " the glory of thy people Israel."

" That the thoughts of many hearts may be re-
vealed." So said the prophet Malachi, " the Lord
whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple . . •
but who may abide the day of his coming, and who
shall stand when he appeareth?" (Mai. iii. i, 2.)

The Lord does spiritually come from time to time
to his church ; he comes from time to time in the
spiritual history of each one of his people, and when
he comes it is a testing time.

Our time is a time of Christ's coming to his church,
in a great revival and increase of true religion among

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 79

us, in a republication of half- forgotten truths, in a
call to greater earnestness, unworldliness, self-denial,
and self-devotion. It is a testing time, the honest
and good hearts, the pure and teachable hearts, ^vill
receive the new manifestation of Christ to them, and
respond to it and grow in grace and holiness ; the
proud and worldly and impure will be offended, and will
harden themselves against Christ, and seek another
Christ, and find nothing but disappointment.

8o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.

[HE incident of the Adoration of the Magi,
related by St. Matthew, seems, from the
internal evidence of the history, to have
occurred some time in the second year from cur
Lord's birth. In that case we must conclude that
Joseph and Mary had settled down in the place to
which God's providence had led them. It might
well seem to them to be God's will that the Child
should not only be born, but also be brought up, in
the city of his father David.

" There came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying,
' Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? For we have
seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him.' " —
iMatt. ii. I, 2.

It does not appear, on a study of the whole nar-
rative, that the star (as represented in popular pic-
tures) went before them as a guide from their abode
in the East to Jerusalem, It seems only to have
appeared to them as a sign, and then to have dis-
appeared, other indications leading them to under-
stand its meaning. We call to mind that these Magi
came from the country of Balaam, who prophesied

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI. 8r

of the " Star which should come out of Jacob, and
the Sceptre which should rise out of Israel " (Numb.
xxiv. 17) ; the country of Daniel, who prophesied
(Dan. ii. 44, 45 ; vii. 13, 14) of the fifth universal
kingdom, and of the " One like the Son of Man . . .
to w^hom was given dominion and glory and a king-
dom, that all people, nations, and languages should
serve him." If these prophecies had been, as is very
possible, preserved among the successors of " the wase
men of Babylon," together with some traditional inter-
pretation of them, this would perhaps be enough to
account for the meaning which they assigned to the
appearance of this star.

Again, when we compare the way in which God
was revealing his will at this time to Joseph in
repeated dreams, with the recorded fact that God
warned the Magi in a dream not to return to the
East by the way by which they came, it is a probable
conjecture that God also revealed to them in a dream
the birth of the Universal King, and bade them go
and worship him ; and that he gave them a sign in
the star, as he had given a sign to Zechariah, to the
Virgin, and to the shepherds. So that these Gentiles,
like God's people, had ancient prophecy and present
revelation and confirmincr siern.^

' The incident has an interest as one of the series of special
revelations which God from time to time made to persons out-

G

82 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

Naturally the Magi went to the capital of the
country to inquire for the new-born King of the
Jews. Their inquiries were publicly made, and be-
came generally known. And when Herod the king
heard of them " he was troubled and all Jerusalem
with him." The magnificent old tyrant, half dis-
tracted with disease and family discords, jealous of
the power which he felt was falling from his dying
hands, was in such a state that the suggestion of a
pretender to the grand monarchy which he had built
up with daring and statesmanship, and craft and
crime, and which he had hoped might grow into a
still grander Empire of the East, would be likely to
excite suspicions which would breed danger to his
throne and all about him. No wonder, therefore,
that all Jerusalem also was disturbed with mingled
hopes and fears.

He summoned the chief priests and the scribes,
the political and religious leaders and the men of
learning, and no doubt they obeyed his summons
with fear. But his present object was only to ask
them where, according to the prophecies, Christ
should be born. For while the Gentiles were vaguely

side the special covenant : as to Job and his friends, Abimelech,
Pharaoh, Balaam, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus, Alex-
ander the Great (if we credit Josephus's account of his dream),
these Magi, and Cornelius the centurion.

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI. 83

expecting the birth of some illustrious monarch, the
Jews were definitely looking for their Messiah ; and
it would at once suggest itself to the mind of a Jew
that it was He at whom the inquiries of these
Eastern Magi pointed. Herod at once took it for
granted, and sent for the chief priests and scribes of
the people to inquire of them where Christ should
be born.

The prophecies relating to the Messiah had, no
doubt, been of late collected and studied with the
interest natural in those who expected their speedy-
fulfilment. The chief priests and scribes had no
difficulty in replying that a prophecy of Micah (v. 2)
pointed out Bethlehem as the birth-place of the
Messiah, " for thus it is written by the Prophet, And
thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the
least among the princes of Juda ; for out of thee
shall come a Governor that shall rule my people
Israel."

Herod dismissed the priests and scribes, and then
he carefully obtained information from the Magi as
to the time of the star's appearance. This they told
him, and from what they told him he made his cal-
culations as to the age of the child they sought. In
answer to further inquiries they had no definite
information to give. So Herod indicated Bethlehem
as the probable birth-place of the King they sought,
and sent them thither to complete their quest; and

G 2

84 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

desired them, when they had found the child, to
bring him word again, professing his pious intention
to go and worship him also. The inquiries of the
Magi would have the effect of raising the expectation
of all the Jews as to the coming of the Messiah.
The replies of the chief priests and scribes would
inform the Magi of the Jewish belief as to the
character of the King whose birth had been made
known to them.

When they had departed from Jerusalem, journey-
ing south towards Bethlehem, " lo ! the star which
they saw in the East " re-appeared to them ; " and
when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding
great joy." We can suppose that the ignorance of
Jerusalem that any king had been born among them,
and, perhaps, the incredulity of Jerusalem that God
should have revealed Messiah's birth to these strangers
rather than to his own people, may have perplexed
and troubled their minds ; and this re-appearance of
the sign, was a confirmation of all which they had
believed, and which had led them to set out on their
long journey, and a proof to them that they were in
the right way, and under Divine guidance in the pro-
secution of their search. And " the star went before
them, until it came and stood over where the young
child was."

The star was therefore moving at but a small
height in the air, or it could not have plainly indicated

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI. 85

one particular house from among the houses of the
city. For the next sentence tells us that it was not
in the stable of the inn, nor in the inn itself, but in
a house that the Magi found the Holy Family ; which
agrees with the conjecture that they had taken up
their settled abode in Bethlehem. " And when they
were come into the house" they no doubt told all
the story of the star and of their journey, and of the
object of their coming. " And when they saw the
young child and Mary his mother they fell down and
worshipped him," did homage to him as to a king.
And opening their treasures they offered presents to
him as to a king : " they presented unto him gifts,
gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

We have put the Adoration of the Magi in its
chronological order, but in the natural grouping of
the circumstances of the Nativity, it stands beside
the Adoration of the Shepherds. The one was the
manifestation of the Christ to the Jews, the other his
manifestation to the Gentiles.

It was the first fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy (Ix. 3).
" The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to
the brightness of Thy rising." That other prophecy
in the Psalms (Ixxii. 10, 11) seemed also here to find
its first fulfilment : —

"The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall give presents
The kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts."

86 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

They were the first-fruits of the Gentiles, of whom
the Psalmist went on to say : —

" All kings shall fall down before him :
All nations shall do him service."

The King who was born was not to be King of the
Jews only, but his kingdom was to extend over all the
nations. The Jews were not to be a dominant race,
but Jew and Gentile were to stand on terms of equal
citizenship in the kingdom of the Christ. Already
Simeon had declared him "a Light to lighten the
Gentiles," as well as "the glory of God's people
Israel." And so a revelation of the birth of the
Desire of all Nations is made to the Gentiles as well
as to the Jews ; at the same time as to the Jews, for
we assume that it was on the night of his birth that
the star appeared ; nay, it was made to Herod the
King, and to the chief priests and scribes, by these
Gentiles.

The Magi, who acknowledged the infant of Beth-
lehem as the Christ, were the first-fruits of the
Gentiles ; and the devout imagination of the Gentile
Christians delighted to dwell upon the incident. It
assumed that the number of the Magi was three,
answering to the three gifts ; that they were kings ;
that one was an Asiatic, one an Ethiopian, one a
European ; thus making them more strikingly sym-
bolic of the three races of mankind, and the three

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGT. 87

quarters of the world. It attributed a symbolical
meaning to the three gifts : —

" Sacred gifts of mystic meaning :
Incense doth their God disclose,
Gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
Myrrh his sepulchre foreshows."

The painter, perhaps, does rightly in retaining this
traditional treatment of the subject, on the ground
that his business is to present to our minds all the
inner significance of the history ; but in studying the
life of our Lord we must distinguish between this
symbolic treatment of its incidents and the actual
facts of history.

Among the early paintings in the Roman cata-
combs, the Adoration of the Magi is a favourite sub-
ject. In the system of parallels which they delighted
to draw between subjects of the two Testaments, the
deliverance of the three children from Nebuchad-
nezzar's burning fiery furnace was the parallel subject
with this Adoration of the Magi. It helps us to see
the prophetic aspect of the latter, and the encourage-
ment it gave to the Christians for the first three
centuries. In times of persecution, the picture of the
three Israelites delivered from the hand of the Baby-
lonian king encouraged the Christian to be true to
his God ; and the picture of the three Gentile kings
worshipping the infant Saviour was a prophecy and
assurance that the time should come when the " Kings

88 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents, the
Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all
kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall
serve him" (Ps. Ixxii. lo, ii). "Thus saith the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him
whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation
abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and
arise, princes also shall worship " (Is. xlix. 7 ; see also
Ix. 9-17).

Nor is the prophecy yet fulfilled or its encourage-
ment no longer needed. The kings and nations of
the world have not yet acknowledged the kingship
of Christ, rather the nations of Christendom seem to
be revolting from Him. We may still be encouraged
by the prophecy of the Adoration of the Magi.
They were the first-fruits of a harvest which shall
yet surely be gathered in. "Why do the nations
rage together, and the heathen imagine a vain
thing } " " All kings shall fall down before him, all
nations shall do him service."

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 89

CHAPTER X.

THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.

JHE Magi, being warned of God in a dream
not to return to Herod, returned to their
own country by another way. Herod's
design of identifying, through the Magi, his infant
rival in the kingdom, having failed, he proceeded
to take his measures with characteristic vigour and
unscrupulousness.

We conclude that the result of the inquiries
which Herod had made of the Magi v/as that the
star had appeared to them something less than two
years before, and that its appearance indicated the
time of the birth. Herod, accordingly, gave orders
that all the children in Bethlehem and its neigh-
bourhood of two years old and under should be
killed, so as to ensure the death of the unknown
child in the general slaughter.

Bethlehem was only a village, and it has been
computed that not more than ten to fifteen children
could have perished by Herod's order ; a small act ot
ferocity for him who in his own family had slain a
wife whom he passionately loved, a father-in-law, a

JO A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

brother-in-law, a brother, and three sons. We know,
from Josephus, that at this time bodily pain and
mental anxiety had wroug'ht him to a state of almost
insane ferocity. For, a few months afterwards, on
his deathbed, knowing that all Judea would rejoice
at their deliverance from his tyranny, he commanded
all the principal men of the entire Jewish nation,
wheresoever they lived, on pain of death, to come to
him where he lay dying at Jericho. And when they
came he had them imprisoned in the Hippodrome ;
and gave orders to his sister and her husband, that as
soon as he was dead, before the news of his death
was made public, they should surround the Hippo-
drome with soldiers, and massacre all who were in it ;
in order that the mock mourning of the nation for
his death might be turned into real mourning because
of their own dead.

But it is not the mere brutality which slew a dozen
children in order to ensure the death of one, which
makes the special heinousness of the act. It is the
deliberate intention to slay the Messiah. Granted
that Herod knew nothing of the divinity of Jesus, or
of his spiritual character as Saviour of the world, he
did know that the Messiah was the One promised in
a long series of prophecies, whose advent had been
long looked for by the nation as of One who was at
their head to win a universal monarchy, and to intro-
duce into the world a Golden Age of prosperity and

THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. 9I

happiness. There was a universal expectation, among
both Jews and Gentiles, of the immediate advent of
such a king. Herod clearly believed that the Child
whose birth had been signified to these wise men by
the portentous star was this expected Messiah ; and
he deliberately intended to identify him by means of
the Magi and slay him, and, failing this, he recklessly
sought to include him in the massacre of the inno-
cents. For the Herod family had, it is said, the
ambition to use the Jewish race and the Jewish
religion as the means of building up a great Eastern
Empire. The successful growth of the power of
Herod from the subordinate government of Galilee
to a monarchy extending almost as widely as the
kingdom of Solomon seemed to sanction the ambitious
idea. And the temper of the Jews — their impatience
under the Roman yoke, their fanatical valour, their
expectation of a career of conquest — seemed to
encourage the expectation of a still grander future.
The design over which the mind of Herod brooded
seems like a debased rival of the Messianic idea
which filled the mind of the nation with grander
though still inadequate aspirations. Herod seems
deliberately to have regarded the Messiah as a riv^al,
and to have sought to slay him in the dynastic
interests of his own family : — " this is the heir, come,
let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours."
Herod was the first c^reat Antichrist.

92 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Herod's disturbance was all for nothing, and his
wicked precautions, had they succeeded, would have
been not only a crime, but a blunder. His rival was,
indeed, to be king of the Jews, but his kingdom was
not to be of this world. He would have reigned
without depriving Herod of his crown. Nay, had
Herod deferred to the will of God, and done that
which he acknowledged with his own mouth to be his
duty when he said to the Magi " I will come and
worship him also," it might have been the beginning
of the conversion of that proud stubborn will ; it
might have kept the temporal crown on the head of
his posterity ; at least, it would have secured for
himself an unfading crown in heaven.

Not only a crime, but a blunder ; nay, we should
think it sheer madness in Herod, recognising the
Child of Bethlehem as the subject of the prophecies,
to suppose that he could hinder the accomplishment
of the counsels of God ; but that all who sin are simi-
larly blind, when, knowing the will of God, they
strive against it, and think to get any good in spite
of Him. It is not without reason that the Scripture
speaks of sin as folly and madness also, and true
wisdom as synonymous with holiness.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 93

CHAPTER XL

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

HE providence of God watches over all of
us, and special providences probably occur
to all of us sometimes. We should expect
that special providences, even miracles perhaps, would
attend every step of the life of Jesus. And in fact
the history so far has been a series of marvels.
Though we observe that while the supernatural has
preceded the birth of the holy child and surrounded
his cradle, nothing supernatural has manifested itself
in the child himself He is a natural human child,
reposing peacefully in the midst of angel choirs and
human worshippers, apparently unconscious of it all.
We arc not surprised, therefore, when we are told
that while a dream warned the Magi not to return to
Herod, another dream bade Joseph " arise and take
the young child and his mother and flee into
Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for
Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
When he arose he took the young child and his
mother by night and departed into Egypt " (Matt,
ii. 13).

94 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Or, if we are surprised, it is that we should have
expected some striking judgment would befall the
wicked king, or that some miracle would turn aside
the swords of his soldiers. Whereas what really
happened was that Jesus fled to save his life from
Herod. We gather, in passing, this lesson for our-
selves, that the prudent evasion of danger is one of
God's providential ways of delivering us from danger,
as our industry and foresight are one of His ways of
providing for our needs.

Again, when we look forward to the subsequent
life of Christ, we see and note the remarkable fact
that no miracle was ever wrought on his behalf. He
could have commanded the stones of the wilderness
to become bread, he could have prayed and his
father would have sent him more than twelve legions
of angels in the garden, but did not. And we
realise the truth that he came to work miracles on
behalf of others, but not to have miracles wrought
on his behalf, " he came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister" ; he came to live the ordinary human
life, under its ordinary conditions of weakness, danger,
suffering, and sorrow. So now when he is in danger
he flees from it.

The Evangelist draws our attention to the fact
that this fulfilled the prophecy of Hosea (xi. i).
" Out of Egypt have I called my son," Hosea's
direct allusion is to Israel's deliverance from Egypt

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 95

and the Evangelist's quotation of his words points out
to us the remarkable historical analogy between the
life of God's people and the life of Jesus. As Israel
was driven by famine out of Canaan to seek refuge
in Egypt, and returned out of Egypt to dwell in the
Promised Land, so our Lord was driven by Herod's
persecution to seek safety in Egypt and returned to
dwell at Nazareth.

For " when Herod was dead behold an angel of the
Lord appeared again in a dream to Joseph, in Egypt,
saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother
and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which
sought the young child's life."

And Joseph obeyed the intimation. It would seem
to have been his intention to return to Judea, pro-
bably to Bethlehem. But " when he heard that
Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father
Herod, he was afraid to go thither," — Archelaus was
known to be of a cruel disposition ; and he showed
it by putting to death 3,000 Jews in the Temple, soon
after his accession, — "and being warned by God in "
another " dream, he turned aside and went into
Galilee," which was under the rule of the milder
Antipas, and took up his abode again at Nazareth.

96 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XII.

THE HOLY CHILDHOOD.

FTER the return from Egypt we have seen
that Joseph was turned from his intention
of settling in Judea, and returned with
Mary and the Holy Child to their former home in
the little mountain village of Nazareth ; there the
childhood and youth of our blessed Lord were passed.
All that is told us of that "wondrous childhood "
is contained in one brief sentence : —

" The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled ^ with
wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him" (Luke ii. 40).

He grew physically in body, and the immaterial
part of his human nature, his human spirit, also
developed vigorously. This is not so difficult to
understand, it seems merely to declare the natural
healthy growth of the child of Mary.

But the next sentence makes us aware of the
difficulties which really lay hidden in the former sen-
tence. He grew in wisdom, i.e. in knowledge and

^ The word in the original is in the present tense, and implies
gradual growth in fulness of wisdom.

THE HOL V CHILDHOOD. 97

experience, and the sound judgment which comes of
reflection on knowledge and experience. How could
He be less than omniscient ? Yet it is clear that the
Divine nature controlled itself by self-imposed con-
ditions of union with the human nature. " The Word
was made Flesh, and dwelt among us " as one of us ;
God became man and lived as man, imposing upon
himself the necessary limitations of that wonderful
relation. As He grew bodily from the smallness
and helplessness of infancy into the full stature and
vigour of manhood, so intellectually He grew from
the vacuity of an infant's mind to the range of know-
ledge and intellectual vigour of His manhood.

Still more we read " the grace of God was upon
Him." So entirely was He man, that though He was
God also, yet His human nature received that gift of
God's grace which human nature needs in order to
its perfectness. Theologians tell us that that which
was breathed into the nostrils of Adam at his creation
was not merely the animal soul and human spirit,
but that it included also a gift of divine grace, an in-
breathing of the Holy Spirit, which is, as it were, the
essence of the life of man ; and that it was the with-
drawal of this gift, consequent upon man's sin, which
left him with his faculties enfeebled, discordant, tainted
with corruption. It was declared of John the Baptist
that he should be " filled with the Holy Ghost even
from his mother's womb " (Luke i. 15). John said of

II

98 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Jesus, " God gave not the Spirit by measure unto
him" (John iii. 34). His human nature, then, though
conceived without sin, though perfect, yet needed
and received the grace of God, though all the while
intimately and inseparably united with the divine
nature in the hypostatic union.

The humanity of Jesus was a true human nature ;
was developed and acted according to the laws of
human nature ; united, indeed, with the divine nature,
but not altered by it ; showing forth the divinity,
indeed, but after a truly human manner. Otherwise
we fall into the heresy that the divine and human
natures were confused into a third nature siii generis.
It is true the divinity constantly manifests itself in
ways which we could not anticipate, and cannot
reduce to rule, but we must hold that, however the
divine was united with the human, and however
it manifested itself, it was in ways consistent
with the true and real human nature, and natural
human living and human thinking and human acting,
of Jesus of Nazareth. We know so little of the
divine nature that we cannot predicate its mode of
acting through the human nature ; but we do know
a good deal of human nature, and we must hold fast
that side of the truth, that Jesus was really man.

This will be the place to call special attention to
the truth that He whose human growth and develop-
ment we are tracincr had received our human nature

THE HOL V CHILDHOOD. 99

in its cntircncss and pciTcctness. Let us consider
our human nature. Every man possesses a certain
bodily organisation, as head, heart, limbs ; and every
man has also certain faculties of mind, as thought,
reason, affection, conscience, will. But different men
have these common qualities in different proportions.
One is taller or stronger than another ; one has less
scope or acutcncss of intellect than another ; one has
a more affectionate disposition ; another a stronger
will. It is these differences between one man and
another, partly natural, partly the result of education,
which constitute what we call character.

Our Blessed Lord took our human nature free from
any taint of hereditary corruption or weakness ; he
took it in its entirety and perfection, each faculty
perfect in itself — perfect reason, perfect affections,
perfect will — and all in harmonious proportion and
just equipoise.

Still, though perfect beyond our experience of
human nature, it was human nature ; our Lord was
perfect man, but He was man. He grew in bod}",
m.ind, and spirit, and was gradually filled with
wisdom. He grew up, as children and boys grow
up, naturally, subject to influences from the things
and persons around them.

It seems clear that Joseph and Mary pursued no
exceptional method in their training of his childhood.
He seemed to them a merely human child. They

H 2

loo A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

knew, indceu, that angelic messages, and prophetic
utterances, and signs and wonders, had revealed that
He should be the greatest of the children of men, the
Desire of all nations, the Messiah, the Saviour, but
they knew no more than this ; and though, no doubt,
tliey watched over him with the tenderest solicitude,
and fulfilled to the utmost the duty of wise parents
in his training, yet it was by no exceptional methods.

One great part of a child's education lies in the
unconscious influence exercised upon him by his
natural surroundings, and by the character of those
among whom he grows up.

The child Jesus grew up in a secluded mountain
village, among picturesque hills and valleys and fields,
strewn in spring-time with a profusion of flowers,
among vineyards and olive-yards and plots of wheat.
From the hill-tops above thevillagewereviews of grand
varied historic scenery; snow-crowned Lebanon and
Hermon in the distance, the broad plain of Esdraelon
close by, with the Kishon winding through it, the
great battle-field of the Holy Land, bounded on the
south by the hills of Ephraim, all full of great historic
memories. The Lake of Capernaum, with its teeming
commercial population, was not far off over the
north-eastern hills, and gleams of the Great Sea
could be caught on the western horizon. Amid such
natural surroundings the child grew up, in the simple,
unsophisticated humanness of Eastern village life,

THE HOL V CHILDHOOD.

under the influence of tlie wise and good Joseph, and
of the sweet, pure, thoughtful, young mother.

The more dehbcrate and systematic instruction
and training which we call education, and which
helps so largely in the development of a human
being is worth a few moments' thought.

Where much thought and care have been bestowed
upon methods of education we find various systems
adopted.

The curriculum of Jewish education consisted of a
study of the Sacred Books. And they afforded the
materials for a wide, and deep, and true education.
Let it be remembered that the Sacred Books of the
Jews comprised a whole literature ; the literature, not
of one age, but of all the ages from Abraham to
Christ ; it included history, philosophy, poetry, law,
religion. No nation in the world at that period pos-
sessed a literature which offered so grand a subject
of study, so favourable a material for the training of
a great man, as that divinely inspired and divinely
preserved literature of the great Hebrew race. No
people at that period had so true and complete a
knowledge of human history, so true and profound a
philosoph}', grander models of poetry ; above all, no
other nation had that which is the key to all right
knowledge and true wisdom, the knowledge of God,
and of man's relations to God, to nature, and to his
fellow-men. It was a nation which had a grand past

I02 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to be proud of; and though at present held under a
foreign yoke, it resented the indignit}-, and was sus-
tained by the confident expectation in the immediate
future of the achievement of a universal monarchy,
which should last so long as the world endured.
The consciousness of a great ancestry and a great
destiny is no mean help to the formation of great-
ness of character.

These Sacred Books, then, and these traditions,
and these national sentiments, aftbrded the material
of the education of a Jewish youth. The Rabbis dis-
couraged the study of Gentile learning. It was an
innovation, and an evidence of unusual freedom of
thought, ^^•hen Gamaliel, a little later, allowed and
encouraged the Jewish youth to read the Greek and
Latin writers. But Greek was the common language
of commerce in Galilee in the time of which we are
speaking ; Greek civilisation and literature had been
disseminated all over the East, and no intelligent,
thoughtful person could well be ignorant of the great
outlines of Greek teaching.

We have abundant evidence that our Lord had a
familiar, thorough, and profound knowledge of the
Sacred Books ; there is no reason to think that He
was less acquainted with the Greek language and
Greek thought than Peter and John and James, who
wrote their Epistles in Greek.

Then we must bear in mind what manner of child

THE HOL Y CHILDHOOD. 103

Me was whose training and education we are consi-
dering. When we say that He possessed every
human faculty in perfect and harmonious develop-
ment, we are saying that Tie was a child of great
genius and of unexampled " many-sidedness " ; when
we add that He was as perfect in affections and in
will as in intellect, we recognise that we have no
deductions to make for the flaws of temper, and the
waywardnesses which so often reduce great genius to
sterility. We have a vast genius, a perfect moral cha-
racter, and firm will, untainted by any hereditary or
acquired imperfection; and quickened and invigorated
by the grace of God to the keenest edge and finest
temper. We have our human nature in the highest
possible manifestation of what man is capable of
being. It is the Child of the highest endowments
and noblest promise which the race ever bore, who is
thus growing up, in silence and obscurity, in the
home of Joseph, in the mountain village of Na.^areth.

J04 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XIII.

"THE SON OF THE LAW."

|N the course of our study of the Gospels we
arrive now at a fact of the most remarkable
kind.

We have seen how fully the history of the Nativity,
with the group of events around it, is related — the
Annunciation and Birth of the Forerunner, the An-
nunciation to the Virgin, the Visitation, the Nativity,
the Adoration of the Shepherds, of the Magi, the
Circumcision, the Presentation, the Flight into Egypt,
the Return to Nazareth. We shall see hereafter at
what length the history of the three years' ministry
is told, — the Discourses, Parables, Miracles, Life.
Lastly, the history of the Passion and Death is
related in continuous and minute detail.

In contrast with this, we find, between the history
of the Nativity and the history of the Ministry, a
space of thirty years of our Lord's life which the
Evangelists leave almost an entire blank.

Not quite a blank ; for that point of the Sacred
Life when childhood ends and responsibility begins
is marked by one incident, which is recorded. More-

" THE SON OF THE LA IV." 105

over, the period of childhood, on one side of that
incident, and the period of manhood on the other,
are each summed up in a sentence.

The incident is the visit to Jerusalem at twelve
years old. The sentence which sums up the child-
hood is that which we considered in the last chapter:—
" The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled
with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him "
(Luke ii. 39-40), and the sentence which sums up the
manhood is this, " And Jesus increased in wisdom
and stature, and in favour v,ith God and man," —
which will occupy us in the next chapter.

It is this incident of the visit to Jerusalem which
we have now to consider. St. Luke relates it as
follows : —

"Now His parents went up to Jerusalem every year at the
Feast of the Passover. And when Jesus was twelve years old
they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the Feast " (Luke
ii. 41, &c.).

There is a time in a boy's life when the mind
begins to look abroad beyond the circle of home,
when the affections begin to bud, and the will to
assert itself; in short, when the boy develops into
the young man. It was the custom of the Jews,
when their boys attained this age, to carry them up
to Jerusalem at one of the feasts. There they were
l)resented to the Rabbis, in one of the chambers of
the Temple, to be questioned as to their religiouj

io6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

knowledge, and further instructed in it. Then they
were brought into the Temple, to take part in its
solemn worship. And from that time they entered
upon all the obligations, and were entitled to all the
privileges, of adult members of the commonwealth of
Israel.

This formal admission of the youthful Jew into the
full privileges of the covenant was not based upon
any commandment of the law. It was an ecclesi-
astical regulation which those " who sat in Moses'
seat " had made, or it was a religious custom which
had gradually grown up, out of a conviction of its
practical usefulness for edification. Our Lord's obe-
dience to it, therefore, assumes an important signifi-
cance. In his circumcision, we saw he submitted to
the first precept of the law, and accepted the obliga-
tion to obey the whole law ; but here he dutifully
observes an ecclesiastical regulation, and so sets us
the example of that deference to lawful ecclesiastical
authority which he afterwards broadly enunciated in
the sentence : — " The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat : All therefore whatsoever they bid you
observe, that observe and do" (Matt, xxiii. 2, 3).

This, then, was the purpose for which, when Jesus
was twelve years old, his parents brought him up to
Jerusalem, It was such a crisis in the spiritual life
as Confirmation and First Communion are with us,
and this, perhaps, would have been enough to account

" THE SON OF THE LA IK" 107

for its being recorded by the Evangelist, even
if nothing remarkable had occurred in connexion
with it.

But something remarkable did occur. "When
they had fulfilled the days," viz., the eight days of
the Festival, " as they returned homewards the child
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and
his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him
to have been in the company, went a day's journey,
and they sought him among" the travelling groups
of " their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they
found him not they turned back again to Jerusalem
seeking him ; " looking anxiously among the people
they met, and making inquiries from time to time.
" And it came to pass that after three days," — accord-
ing to the Jewish way of speaking, we should say on
the third day, for they travelled homeward one day
and returned to Jerusalem the next, and some time
on the third day,—" they found him in the Temple,
sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them
and asking them questions. And all that heard him
were astonished at his understanding and answers."
Some of the popular pictures of the subject represent
the boy Jesus seated in the midst, while the venerable
Rabbis stand round receiving his teaching. It is a
conception of the subject not borne out by the narra-
tive, and quite out of harmony with our Lord's cha-
racter ; and it conveys a lesson quite inconsistent with

loS A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the true lesson of the whole incident. The youth had,
probably, with the freedom of Eastern manners, joined
some group of learned men as they sat in the shade
of one of the cloisters of the Temple, and listened to
their conversation, and, at length, by asking ques-
tions took part in it.

"All that heard him were astonished at his under-
standing and answers." It is wonderfully interesting
to watch the development of children's minds ; to see
how the great problems of life, the mysteries of the
unseen and the future, present themselves to their
young intelligence. What profound questions they
ask, taxing all our wisdom to answer, and often
taxing our candour to confess that we cannot answer
them. Now and then we meet with a child of espe-
cially sweet disposition and thoughtful mind, whose
just observations and suggestive questions delight
and instruct us.

Such an exceptional child Jesus was. Not a pre-
cocious child, which implies some abnormal develop-
ment, or some injudicious forcing of the intellect, but
a boy who possessed all human qualities in their
highest perfection. A modest, ingenuous boy, but a
boy of the highest genius. Brought up hitherto in
the seclusion of a mountain village, he has found
himself for ten days past in the stately streets of the
sacred city, crowded with multitudes of his country-
men from all parts of the world. He has seen, for

" THE SON OF THE LAW." 109

the first time, the imposing magnificence of the
Temple; he has joined with deep spiritual insight
and fervour in the awful solemnity of the sacrifices.
The bud which has been long slowly swelling in the
shade, bursts at once into bloom when brought out
into the sun.

He had listened to the teachings of his home; he had
learnt what further could be learnt from the addresses
of the village fathers in the synagogue of Nazareth ;
but here he is at the source of the theological teaching
of his Church. Hillel, Simeon, and Gamaliel were
Rabbis whose learning and wisdom have gained them
a place among the very foremost names on the roll
of the learned men of the Jewish nation. We can
imagine the eager interest with which the boy Jesus
would listen to their deep learning, their practised
acuteness and subtlety, their ripe experience; and
would propound the questions which he had pondered
in his own mind ; and we can realise the generous
pleasure with which the great Rabbis would recognise
the clear insight, the untaught justness of thought,
and elevation of sentiment, and would catch glimpses
of the purity and sweetness of disposition ; in short,
the wonderful genius, the spiritual grandeur, of this
Galilean boy.

But it would be utterly out of harmony with the
character of our Lord to suppose that he was teaching
the doctors. Ihe Fathers of the Church, from the

no A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

earliest of them downwards, have understood the
incident otherwise, " Not teaching, but hearing," says
Origen ; " Not teaching them, but asking them ques-
tions," says Gregory the Great, who says again, " It is
His will as a boy to learn by asking questions, who,
by the might of His divinity, gave their science to
these very doctors."

The superficial objection, that he was God, and
knew all things, and could teach these doctors, but
could not be taught by them, has already been dis-
posed of He was man with man's ignorance, and
however perfect as man, needed to learn like other
men. The relations of the divine nature to the
human nature in their union in Christ are unknown
to us ; we can only watch with reverence the way in
which we sometimes seem to see in Jesus a con-
sciousness of his divinity, and sometimes seem to
witness a manifestation of the divinity in his words
and acts. It is by pondering the subject again and
again, on each occasion when the history brings it
before us, that we come to realise more vividly, and
to hold more firmly, the truth of the perfect Godhead
and the perfect manhood united in the Person of
Christ.

The sequel of the present narrative opens before
us at once one of the profoundest of these occasions.
" When they saw Him they were amazed." And his
mother uses a mother's privilege, and gently remon-

" THE SON OF THE LA \Vr in

stratcs with him on the anxiety lie had caused :

" Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us ? Thy father
and I have sought thee sorrowing."

The remonstrance sheds a flood of h'ght upon the
training of the infancy. He had not been treated as
one whose actions were never to be interfered with,
one who was above a father's control and a mother's
remonstrance. We confidently infer that the training
of his infancy had been that of any other sweet and
holy child in a wise and good family.

Our Lord's answer is not so easy to understand.
" How is it that ye sought me } Wist ye not that I
must be in my Father's house } " ^

We note the different meaning of the word "Father"
in the question and repi}-. We learn from Mary's
question, " Thy father and I have sought thee," that
it had been the habit of the household to speak of
Joseph as the father of Jesus. But our Blessed Lord
in his reply uses it in a different sense, "Knew
you not that I must be in my Father's house.'"
She uses the word, according to the conventional

^ The words in the original are iv rohj tov irarpoc fiov, in the

• of my Father. Many ancient authorities translate them

in the house of my Father ; which seems to agree better with
the whole drift of the answer—" How is it that ye sought me?
You should have known where to find me— in my Father's
house." The words above have been adopted in the Revised
Version.

112 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

habit of the household, for Joseph. His reply carries
her back to the thought of Him who was really His
Father ; to the day when it was said to her, " There-
fore that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God."

We have here, then, the record of his conscious-
ness of his own Divinity ; and we may suppose
the first intimation he had given of his conscious-
ness of it. Are we to suppose that Mary and Joseph
had told the child of the miraculous conception and
the wondrous birth } These are not subjects we
talk to children about. Are we to suppose that
they had filled his mind with ambitious dreams
by telling him that he was marked out by all the
wonders which surrounded his birth to be the Mes-
siah } If we think of the education which Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert gave their children we shall
see that it is the wise aim of those whose children are
born to high destinies to bring them up modestly and
naturally ; we suppose, therefore, that this was the
first intimation which Jesus, now that he had crossed
the line which divides boyhood from manhood, gave
of his consciousness of his own true parentage.

Ah ! what thoughts must have been awakened in
the hearts of Mary and Joseph. Twelve long years
had elapsed since that wondrous time, and its
memories were not forgotten, indeed, but had faded
into the background of their uneventful life. All

" THE SON OF THE LA IV." 113

that long time no new wonders had happened ; the
infant had grown into a sweet and holy child, a pure
and noble boy, but their life had been bounded by
the mountain valley of Nazareth, and nothing had
broken its calm tenor. The apocryphal gospels,
indeed, talk of the miracles of the childhood of Jesus,
and the wonders which surrounded him, but they are
clearly the inventions of the natural human taste for
the marvellous ; and we mention them only because
they make more striking, by contrast, the fact of the
thorough naturalness of the real childhood of the
Lord.

" They understood not the saying which he spake
unto them." They knew that he was the son of
the miraculous conception, they believed that he
was the destined Messiah, but they did not (in all
probability) know that he was divine. This ignorance
of theirs helps us, again, to realise the perfect
humanness of his childhood. They knew that his
conception had been miraculous, they believed in his
great future destinies, but meantime there was no
great present awe to interfere with the perfect natural-
ness of their relations to him.

114 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE OBSCURE LIFE.

E went down with them and came to
Nazareth and was subject unto them.
(But his mother kept all these sayings in
her heart), and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature,
and in favour with God and man '^ (Luke ii. 51, 52).

He went down to Nazareth with them.

Not only the infancy and boyhood, from birth to
twelve years old, but also the early manhood, from
twelve to thirty, those years when the character is
being fully formed and settled, were spent in the
seclusion of the mountain village. Let us try to realise
what that obscure life at Nazareth was like.

And first of all we have to clear away some mis-
apprehensions which commonly exist in the English
mind, naturally regarding that life from the stand-
point of its own prepossessions, with respect to the
supposed poverty, and lowly social condition, and
ignoble calling, of the holy family.

If the ordinary better-class English Christian would
be perfectly candid he would confess that he never
quite overcomes the painful impression produced on

THE OBSCURE LIFE. nj

Ill's mind by the fact that our Lord was born among
" the lower classes " ; the fact carries with it, to his
mind, a presumption of inferiority of race. And
after all that can be said about it, the fact remains
that there is something in pedigree, and that the
" well born " have by nature a more refined organisa-
tion than the " low born." In other words, to be of
the lower classes carries with it a presumption of
inferior natural endowments, and therefore of inferior
capacity for the attainment of the highest type of
refined humanity. The English people are supposed
to be made up of an inferior conquered and a superior
conquering race. The upper classes are supposed to
represent the fiery chivalrous refined Norman, and the
lower classes the slow and heavy Saxon. The truth
IS that the two races have long since so thoroughly
intermingled, that the distinction of race does^'no't
practically exist among us ; but the feelings and
habits belonging to such a distinction of race have to
a great extent survived, and it is still largely taken
for granted that the lower classes arc of a naturall}-
inferior race and type.

But, however it may be in England, there was
nothing of this distinction of race, or of this feeling
between the upper and lower classes, in Jewish
society. They were all of one blood. They all claimed
Abraham as their father. One Jew was of one tribe
and another of another, but the progenitors of th.e

I 2

ii6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

tribes were twelve brothers. The noble and the vine-
dresser, the great lady and the gleaner in the barley
field, were all of the same blood. We can perhaps
best understand this state of society by comparison
with the highland clans ; the chief of a great clan
was recognised as a noble among nobles, but all the
men of his clan were his cousins, and, by birth, of as
good blood, and as proud of their good blood, as he.
The nearest approach to an aristocratic caste among
the Jews at this time was the priestly family, which
was supported by the labours of the rest of the
people, and whose chief had been the virtual ruler of
the nation from the return from the captivity to the
time of Herod. The only other family which could put
forth any hereditary claim to special distinction was
the family of David, which had been the royal
family of Judah down to the captivity, and from
which, moreover, the Messiah was to be born.

But Joseph and Mary and Jesus were of the family
of David ; and, if we do not misunderstand the
genealogy of St. Matthew, Jesus was the represen-
tative of the family, and not only David's son, but
David's heir. That their pedigree, as of the house
of David, was well known and recognised is evident
from the fact that they went up to Bethlehem to be
enrolled at the census " because they were of the
house and lineage of David." That little family of
Nazareth, though poor and obscure, was at least of

THE OBSCURE LIFE. 117

one of the great races of mankind, and of the ancient
royal family of that race.

In the case of this family of Nazareth, then, there
was, as a matter of fact, no inferiority of race, and no
sentiment of inferiorit}^, which might diminish their
own self-respect or lead others to treat them as in-
ferior.

Again, as to their supposed ignoble calling. Joseph,
we are expressly told, was a carpenter, and Jesus in
all probability was so also : trades tend to be heredi-
tary in the East, and Jesus is called "the carpenter"
(Mark vi. 3). The average Englishman has an illi-
beral prejudice against handicrafts, which did not
exist in the Jewish mind.

It was one of their national customs that every man
was taught a trade ; probably not merely as a pru-
dential precaution, so that if necessary he could earn
his living by it, but as a part of his education.

Thus Saul of Tarsus, the son apparently of
wealthy parents, who had received a liberal education
at Jerusalem from the most famous Rabbi of his
time, had learned a trade and fell back upon it for
subsistence when his conversion had brought about
his temporal ruin. Some of the most famous of the
Jewish Rabbis practised handicrafts as their regular
occupation. It was not possible, therefore, for the
Jews to have the feeling that the mere fact of a man
exercising a handicraft put him in a low social caste.

ii8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Again, as to the poverty which we think so humi-
liating a circumstance in the condition of the holy
family. It is one of the bad features of our present
state of civilisation and society that we think poverty
in itself an evil and a disgrace ; it is in a plutocracy
that poverty is loss of caste ; in an aristocracy a
gentleman is a gentleman, however poor. This scorn
of poverty is unphilosophical and unchristian ; and
though it may obtain among ill-regulated minds at all
times in all countries, it did not exist in the East in
the time of our Lord so generally and in so exag-
gerated a form as among us.

The study of that household of Nazareth may
teach us all a needed lesson. It may be that our
climate and soil and social habits compel us to
surround ourselves with appliances in houses and
gardens, clothing and food, objects of beauty and
sources of amusement which we obtain only at the
cost of incessant exertion ; whereas in the East the
ease with which sufficient shelter, food, and clothing
can be obtained ; the possession of an air, a sky, a
" nature " in which to live is delight enough, allows
men to be poor and their lives simple, and gives them
leisure for thought, for poetry, for religion.

An Eastern house and its furniture and menage might
content a Stoic. An iron pot, an iron " griddle " for
baking the flat bread, and a handful of charcoal, are
sufficient for its simple cookery ; two or three
earthen jars containing meal, sour milk, and water^

THE OBSCURE LIFE. 119

are all its stores. The one living-room of the family
is amply furnished if the earthen floor has been raised
at one end of the room for a divan, with a strip of
carpet laid upon it. A round brass tray and a bowl
in which to serve the simple meal, a spoon to eat it
with, and an earthenware vase of water of which all
may drink, are the table equipage. A chest in one
corner may contain the best dresses, and the two or
three trinkets of the family; a bundle laid upon it
contains the thin mattresses and coverings, which at
sunset are carried up a rude ladder and spread on
the flat house-top, which constitutes the common bed-
chamber of the whole family.^

But this kind of life, accepted as God's disposition
of our lot, carrying with it no sense of humiliation or
privation, is not poverty ; it becomes poverty when it
is borne with dissatisfaction and envy, or when there
is anxious scheming of mind and wearing labour of
body in the endeavour to force one's way out of it.
But a life so simple and frugal may yet be contented
and cheerful, bright and happy ; may be full of re-
fined enjoyments, full of intellectual richness and
dignity; may be spiritually grand and elevated. Such
a life may be the life of a philosopher, the life of a
Christian ; it was the life of the Son of Man.

' The wealthy lady of Shunem, wishing to make hospitable
arrangements for Elisha, said, " Let us make a little chamber
on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and
a stool, and a candlestick" (2 Kings iv. 10).

I20 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Although the Scripture is silent on the history of
these eighteen years, yet we may gather a note or
two which will help us to realise the progress of the
sacred life.

Some time during those years Joseph, the guardian
of the sacred childhood, died. Thenceforth the
mother and the son alone formed the humble house-
hold (for we accept the primitive tradition, that
those who are called in one place the " brothers " of
our Lord were really his cousins) Let us try to
realise the daily life of that household. All great
men (and regarding our Lord's humanity we recog-
nise in Him a great man — the greatest of the race) —
all great men, it is said, have owed much to their
mothers. We will not enlarge on the subject, but let
us think for a moment of the character of Mary,
pure, sweet, and gentle, with a deep thoughtfulness
to which the Gospels often direct attention, — " Mary
kept all these things [about the Nativity] and pondered
them in her heart " ; and again about the twelve years
old incidents, "His mother kept all these sayings in her
neart" (Luke ii. 19, 51), with a grandeur of spirit
which breaks forth in the Magnificat ; with a spiritual
insight which anticipated the first miracle ; with the
heroic devotion which stood beside the cross. Think,
O you sons, what such a mother must have been to
such a Son ; and think, O you mothers, what such a
Son to such a mother !

A DEVOTIOXAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XV.

"HE WAS SUBJECT UNTO THEM."

jE went down with them, and came to
Nazareth, and zvas subject unto thetn."
Subject to Mary and to Joseph. The
two cases are different. Mary was his mother and
had that sacred natural claim to the obedience of
her son. Joseph was but his foster-father. Let us
reaHse what this going down to Nazareth with them,
and subjection to them, impHes. ReaHse the obscure
village life, the daily round of lowly toil, the narrow
circle of the cottage home.

When we read of God the Son emptying himself
of " the glory which he had with the Father before
the world was," and becoming man, the transaction
is so beyond the range of our experience, and the
contrast so transcends the measure of our limited
being, that we fail to realise the condescension, the
humilit}'. When we see the Divine Child cradled in
the rude manger in the stable of the inn, we recognise
that this was, humanly speaking, a mere accidental
occurrence, and the Divine Child unconscious of the
strange incongruit)-. But when we see the Lo}' of

122 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

transcendent genius reared in a peasant's home ; the
young man of royal descent and of grand destinies,
sharing the daily labours of a carpenter's shop, and
playing the part of a dutiful son to Joseph, his foster-
father, then we have perhaps an exhibition of
humility and obedience which our habits of thought
enable us better to appreciate ; and we gaze with
amazement at the son of David and the Son of God
living thus from infancy to manhood.

Meditating upon it, we recognise that humility,
submission, patience, obedience, are as striking fea-
tures of our Lord's life at this period, as transcendent
wisdom and miraculous power were of the period of
the ministry, or meek endurance of the Passion.

Subordination is the rule of creation : it makes
the harmony of the universe ; without it is chaos.
Higher and lower, superior and inferior, command
and obedience, are the order of God. The Divine
Three Persons, are co-eternal and co-equal, and none
is greater or less than another, but there is subordi-
nation among them. The Father is the source and
fountain of Deity ; the Son is begotten of the Father;
the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son.
The Father sends the Son, and the Son is sent by the
Father, and the Spirit is sent by the Father and the
Son. Among the angelic hosts there are archangel
and angel, superior and inferior, command and obe-
dience. The inevitable necessities of human nature

»//£■ JVAS SUBJECT UNTO THEM.'' 123

enforce subordination, so long as there are mothers
and infants, grown men and boys. Society means an
organisation of men ; and organisation implies subor-
dination. In the Church "he made some apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers, for the edifying of the Body of Christ." In
the mystical body some members are more, some
less, honourable. In the little world of each man's
being there must, for his well-being, be command
and obedience ; the muscles obedient to the nerves,
the passions to the reason, and all subject to the will.
Humility is not meanness; obedience is not degrading.
Humility and obedience are the great foundations of
a perfect character ; the bonds of harmony and power
and greatness in the individual and in society, in the
Church, and in the hierarchy of heaven.

We shall find, on consideration, that as there are
in Christ's humility two phases, — God humbling
himself to be man, and the man humbling himself to
low estate, — so we shall see our Lord's obedience in
four different categories. Obedience to God, " Lo, I
come to do thy will, O God " : religious obedience, in
his submission to circumcision : ecclesiastical obe-
dience, in his conformity to the custom of catechising
and first sacrifice : parental obedience to ]\Iar}-, and
civil obedience to Joseph.

We shall find, moreover, something taught by our
Lord's independent action in remaining behind in

124 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Jerusalem, and in his reply to his mother ; viz., the
limitation of obedience, to God first, and then the
other obligations in their order.

Again, we learn what obedience is. It is not
merely a natural deference to those whom we recog-
nise as greater or wiser than ourselves ; Joseph and
Mary were not greater, nor wiser (at least, as he grew
up to manhood) than Jesus ; but in God's providence
they had been put in a position of authority over
him, and therefore he obeyed them. Origen points
the lesson: "We see that the lesser is often placed over
the greater, that he who is in authority may not be
swollen with pride because he is in authority, but
that he may recognise that his better is subject to
him, as Jesus was subject to Joseph." It is God who
putteth down one and setteth up another. *' We
must needs be subject " to those set over us in God's
providence " for conscience' sake." All rightful
authority comes from God, and is to be exercised for
the welfare of the subjects and for God's glory. We
obey those whom God, in nature or in providence,
sets over us, because He has set them over us. And
so all true obedience is really paid to God, in the
person of his representatives to us, in the family and
society, in the State and in the Church.

Seeing that of all that life of preparation, from his
nativity to his entry on his Messiahship and ministry,
these few words are all which are told us of his moral

''HE WAS SUBJECT UNTO THEM:' 125

character, they are the more emphatic, and demand the
more searching and prolonged study. " He went down
with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject
unto them." Humility and obedience, then, are
clearly the traits of character thus set in such em-
phatic relief before us. They are the foundations of
every noble and perfect character. They needed to
be laid broad and deep to sustain the superstructure
of the character of the perfect man, the exemplar of
the race. And we men need to study the lesson,
and never more than at the present time. Yor want
of humility and want of obedience are among the
wide-spread faults of our age and country. We find
everywhere an impatience of obscurity, an impatience
of control ; everybody craving and striving to be rich,
to be distinguished , everybody scorning subordina-
tion, refusing to acknowledge any man as master.
Jesus came to set us an example of that which is
noblest and best in human character and life. This
does not mean tkat v.c arc mechanically to copy
the details of his life ; but to adopt its principles,
and apply them in the circumstances of ours. We
are not to suppose that Jesus did all this merely for
the purpose of teaching us a lesson of humility and
obedience, and patient preparation in obscurit}\ No,
Christ did not do things merely to furnish an
example. He lived the life which naturally became
him, he said the words and did the deeds which were

126 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

proper to him, and we are permitted to look on and
learn. This obscurity was his natural preparation
for his work, this humility and obedience were the
natural discipline of his manhood. " He learned
obedience by the things which he suffered." " He
was made perfect through suffering." Very likely He
often looked forward during these years of patient
training, not with impatience but with longing, for
the Divine signal to go forth and begin His work.
" His heart burned within him," " He felt straitened,"
until the time came. What a rebuke to our impa-
tience, and rashness, and self-will ! For all those
thirty years the Son of God was humble, obedient,
patient, and silent; and waited till God gave Him the
sicrii

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 127

CHAPTER XVI.

HIS GROWTH INTO MANHOOD.

" He increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with
God and man."

HIS brief statement sums up the eighteen
years of our Lord's Hfe which lie between
* his visit to Jerusalem at twelve years old, and
the commencement of his public life. Important years
in every life, during which the child is growing into
the man, and character is setting, and the powers are
maturing, and the question is deciding what manner
of man he will be, whether he wall resolutely under-
take the work God sent each man into the world to
do, or whether he will miss it, or decline it, and make
shipwreck of his life.

" He increased ... in favour with God."
It is a statement of the same kind as the former
one, relating to the period of childhood, that " the
grace of God was upon him," but it adds something
to that statement. It tells us that just as any child
of man growing up from an innocent childhood into
a wise and holy manhood receives grace upon grace,
and grows in the love and favour of God, so was it

128 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

with the Son of Man. May we not assume that the
way in which the statement that Jesus increased in
wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man
is connected with the account of his admission to the
higher privileges of the Sons of the law, indicates a
relation of cause and consequence between the two ?
" The grace of God was upon him " in his childhood.
On the threshold of manhood he is admitted to new
means of grace, and these new means of grace, used
as they would be by him, naturally produce the
result that he " grows in wisdom and in the favour of
God."

It is easy to see how all this bears upon the subject
of Confirmation. Probably the time for the adminis-
tration of this Apostolic rite chosen by the Church of
England is borrowed from this example of our Lord.
And we may certainly point to His example of obe-
dience to the observances of His Church in urging our
young people to present themselves for confirmation
and first communion ; and we may confidently hope
as the result of their earnest preparation and devout
participation that they also will increase in wisdom
as in stature and in favour with God and man.

" Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in
favour with God and man " is almost a repetition of
the summary of the childhood, " the child grew,
and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and
the grace of God was upon him " ; and they impress

HIS GROWTH INTO MANHOOD. 129

upon us again the continuous natural growth of the
Son of man according to the laws of human develop-
ment. And yet there would be a difference between
the two periods, if only the natural difference between
the spontaneous development of the child, and the
conscious self-cultivation of the youth. We try there-
fore to picture to ourselves the circumstances of his
youth, and reverently to conjecture the natural
growth and development of that perfect human mind
and character.

We see the acute insight into nature and human
life exercised on a larger scale, as the youth begins to
range wider afield beyond the limits of his native
valley and hills, and to walk with observant eyes
among the busy streets of the cities on the western
shore of the neighbouring lake, — the royal watering
place of Tiberias, the commercial city of Capernaum,
and the agricultural towns of the fertile plain.

We follow him three times a year, when, in scru-
pulous fulfilment of the requirements of the law, he
goes up to Jerusalem. Thrice a year, eight^ days on
each occasion he spent in the holy city, receiving to
the full all the wisdom, grace, and communion with
God which the human soul most capacious of such

» From the time of leaving Nazareth to the time of returning
would be about fourteen days, three being spent on the journey
in each direction.

K

I30 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

influences could receive from the divinely-appointed
channels of special communion and special grace.
Thrice a year he would be brought within reach of
the currents of thought which circulated among the
inhabitants of the capital, and of the freer, wider range
of ideas which the Hellenist Jews brought up with
them from all parts of the civilised world. What
opportunities for one with the eye which nothing
escapes, the intelligence which comprehends at a
word, the judgment which distinguishes at a glance
the wheat from the chaff, the profound genius
which assimilates all knowledge and experience and
converts them into wisdom ! His discourses, parables,
and proverbial sayings savour as strongly of this
universal insight into nature, and experience of life,
as the writings of Solomon ; and this comparison
with the writings of Solomon helps to bring out
more vividly the grander moral tone, the truer, deeper,
healthier philosophy of life, of the words of Jesus.

We may venture upon another conjecture as to the
human growth and development of the youth of
Jesus. The wide knowledge of the Sacred Books, and
profound understanding of their meaning, were not,
probably, an intuition of the Divine side of his Being.
We rather see in this the evidence of many an evening
and many a Sabbath spent in reading, and many an
hour in meditation ; we may even venture to think
that we see indications of a special line of study when

HIS GROWTH INTO MANHOOD. 131

we afterwards read how, " beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded " to the two disciples on
the way to Emmaus, and afterwards to the ten apos-
tles, " in all the Scriptures, the things concerning
himself."

Again, when we read so often ' afterwards of his
going up into " the mountain " and spending the
night in prayer, we confidently conclude that this
was no new thing, but the continuation of a habit of
vigils spent under the stars upon the hills of Nazareth-
Yes, his preparation for his great office and his
great work was not in schools and universities, in
cabinets and camps ; it was in the calm routine of a
simple human life ; in the thoughtful contemplation of
nature ; in the profound study of God's word ; in
solitary meditations and communings with God under
the midnight stars ; in the penetrating and wise
observation of human life ; in mountain village and
busy commercial town and grand historic capital ;
in the earnest fulfilment of all religious duties and
the use of all means of grace.

"All great things are done in solitude," says a
great thinker.- At least the forty years which Moses
spent in the wilderness were a preparation for his
great work parallel with these thirty years of silence

' Luke vi. 12. Matt. xiv. 23 ; xv. 29. Luke ix. 28.
« J. P. Richter.

K 2

132 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and seclusion in which our Lord " increased in wisdom
and stature and in favour with God and man."

Observe that this silent obedient life was part of
the work of redemption.

In the first place, it proved that when God made
Adam and placed him in the world, he did not place
a being of so frail a nature, in circumstances of such
temptation that it was unreasonable and unjust to
expect him to live an obedient life. For Jesus being
very man, a second Adam, living the ordinary-
human life, under ordinary circumstances, did live
an obedient life, and grew continually in the favour
of God,

It teaches us a most important lesson, that we are
not now so frail, nor are in circumstances of such
temptation, that it would be unreasonable and unjust
in God to expect us to live consistently holy lives.
Without God's grace we could not, but God gives us
grace ; without great watchfulness and firm resistance
to temptation and perseverance in well-doing we
could not, but watchfulness and firmness and perse-
verance are not virtues beyond our reach.

Again, this holy life was part of the work of our
redemption ; as Jesus was conceived without the taint
of hereditary sin, so it was necessary that he should
grow up free from actual sin, in order that he might
be the spotless lamb of God, fit offering for the sins
of the world.

HIS GROWTH INTO MANHOOD. 133

This holy life of humility and obedience is a part
of the price paid for our redemption, as well as the
Passion and the Cross. " As by (the) one man's dis-
obedience (the) many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of (the) one shall (the) many be made
righteous." The obedience God requires is not in
one or two great heroic crises of life only, but it is the
obedience of a life. Christ's meritorious obedience was
not merely that of the Incarnation and the cross, but
also of this thirty years of a " subject " life. " Being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient" (Phil. ii. 8). "He learned obedience
by the things which he suffered," not merely by the
sufferings of the Passion, but by the patience and
endurance of all his previous life.

Lastly, he increased in favour with man. We
picture to ourselves the quiet unpretending fulfilment
of all the humble duties and domestic and social
charities of life, the frank, unassuming, kindly inter-
course with neighbours and friends. We know from
the details of his subsequent life that in his wisdom
there was no assumption, in his holiness nothing
austere and repellent. His unselfishness, his ready
sympathy, his many-sidedness, his gentleness, we
can readily understand, attracted liking, so long
as no claims to a higher character excited doubt,
distrust, and opposition. And so " he increased in
wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man."

134 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Does it seem wonderful that his character did not
excite more attention and remark than is impHed
here, and elsewhere more plainly stated ? But we see
so little of any man's life that we can hardly judge
of it as a whole ; and if we see ever so much of it,
it is only the external life we see ; of all that inner
life of thought and feeling and motive and aim
which is the real life we see nothing. Two men may
be living side by side, doing almost the same things,
leading almost the same external lives, while their
inner lives are wide as the poles asunder. To their
neighbours all the members of that holy family, per-
haps, seemed equally blameless and estimable ; while
holy as the lives of Joseph and Mary no doubt were,
there was the difference of grey dawn and dazzling
noon between their lives and his.

136 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

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A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 137

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF
TIBERIUS C^SAR.

" Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Csesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being
tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea
and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias, the tetrarch of
Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the High Priests " (Luke
iii. I, 2).

LONG period of thirty years has elapsed
since the days when Herod the Great
reigned over the Jews, and Caesar Augustus
commanded that all the world should be taxed, and
Christ was born in Bethlehem. In entering upon
the second part of his Gospel, St. Luke again fixes
his chronology by enumerating the contemporary
sovereigns. And this would be enough to enable the
contemporaries of the Evangelist at once to syn-
chronise his narrative with the general history of the
times, and to recal to their minds the political con-
dition of the countries in which the events of the
narrative occurred. But we at this distance of time
and place need some research and reflection in order

138 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to prepare our minds with this prehminary know-
ledge.

In Chapter IV. we sketched the course of the
history down to the time of Herod the king, and the
political condition of the country in the latter part of
his reign. But in the interval of thirty years many
important political changes had taken place, as the
sentence which we have quoted from St. Luke is
enough to indicate. These it will be necessary to
explain, and to add a few notes on the religious con-
dition of the people, in order to lay before the reader
a sketch of the circumstances in which the public life
of the Lord was lived.

" In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius."
Tiberius succeeded Augustus eighteen years after
the birth of Christ (a.d. 14), but made no change in
the imperial policy towards the nations of the East,
and has no personal connexion with the Gospel
history.

About four years after the nativity, the magnificent
tyrant Herod died at Jericho in horrible suffering of
body and mind. He left a will, by which, subject to
its confirmation by Augustus, he named his son
Archelaus to succeed him in the kingdom ; but he
diminished the extent of his dominion by severing
from it Galilee and Perea, i.e., the country beyond
Jordan, which he left under the name of a tetrarchy

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CESAR. 139

to Antipas ; and erected Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and
Paneas into another tetrarchy in favour of Philip.
The Herodian princes flocked to Rome " to receive
their kingdoms and to return," while some went to
plead against Archelaus and to say, " We do not wish
to have this man to reign over us," In the end the
Emperor confirmed the will of Herod, with the ex-
ception that he only allowed Archelaus to assume
the title of Ethnarch, promising to give him the
royal dignity hereafter if he should so reign as to
prove himself worthy of it.

The opposition offered to the sovereignty of
Archelaus, and the distrust of him shown by
Augustus even while giving effect to his father's
disposition in his favour, were justified by the event.
After nine years of misgovernment, the principal of
his subjects sent a formal embassy to Rome to com-
plain of his tyranny. They sustained their accusa-
tions before Augustus, and Archelaus was deposed
and banished.

Augustus did not replace Archelaus by another
king, or add his dominions to those of one of his
brothers, but included his government in the Province
of Syria, and placed it under the immediate care of
a Procurator. ^

' The office of a Procurator, strictly speaking, was to act
under the governor of a province, as chief of the revenue depart-
ment ; but sometimes, in a small territory contiguous to a larger

I40 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Josephus says that " after the death of Herod and
Archelaus the government became an aristocracy, and
the high priests were entrusted with a dominion over
the nation." -^ The relations of Imperial Rome with
the kingdoms of the East are well illustrated by the
relations of Imperial England now with the kingdoms
of India.

The Procurator of Judea seems to have been imme-
diately appointed by and responsible to the Emperor.
He represented the imperial authority. The Roman
troops and garrisons were under his command. He
only had the power of capital punishment. The
taxes were farmed according to the financial
system of the Roman Empire. The chief lessors
were Roman Equites, who sublet special taxes or
special localities to speculators, who again employed
inferior agents in the actual collection. The system
gave rise to much chicanery and oppression, and the
Publicani were always an unpopular class. But in
Judea the actual collectors of the taxes, who were
mostly Jews, were specially hated as men who lent
their services to the conqueror and made gain of
the degradation and oppression of their own country.

province, and dependent upon it, the Procurator was the head
of the administration, and had full military and judicial autho-
rity,— being, however, responsible to the President of the pro-
vince. The position of the Procurator of Judea partook more
of the latter character, though with some special modifications'
» " Antiquities," XX., x. lo.

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CAESAR. 141

In other respects the Emperor allowed the admi-
nistration to revert to something like its ancient con-
dition before the Senate had conferred on Herod the
title and authority of king. The ancient laws and
customs were administered by the High Priest, as-
sisted by the ancient council of the Sanhedrim, a
council consisting of the chief priests, — that is, the
heads of the twenty-four courses into which the
priesthood was divided, — and others of the most
influential men of the nation. If, as is probable,
the ancient constitution was carried out, there were
judges appointed in every town, with Scribes as
their assessors, from whom there was an appeal to the
Sanhedrim.^ The Sanhedrim appears to have
exercised a considerable ecclesiastical authority over
Jews beyond the limits of its civil jurisdiction.

The Procurator usually resided at the new city of
Caesarea, which Herod had built on the sea coast, and
thus maintained his communications with Italy. A
strong Roman garrison in the Castle of Antonia held
possession of Jerusalem. At the great feasts, when
Jerusalem was crowded by a vast multitude of Jews,
filled with religious and patriotic fervour, the Gover-
nor was accustomed to go up with a reinforcement of
troops as a precaution against any sudden fanatical
outbreak, to which the Jewish temper was liable, and

^ Josephus, "Antiquities," IV., viii. 14.

142 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

took up his residence in the palace of Herod the
Great.

The Roman authority was guilty of occasional
acts of cruelty ; and, sometimes ignorantly, some-
times wantonly, offended the religious scruples of the
Jews ; but on the whole their government of Judca was
not systematically oppressive ; the tribute not exxes-
sive ; and though the religious and patriotic feeling
of the Jews was sore at their subjection to a heathen
power, yet their material interests prospered, and they
enjoyed a great amount of practical religious and
civil liberty. Jerusalem was still the religious capital,
not only of the whole of Palestine, but of the great
Jewish colonics in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cyrenaica,
Cyprus, and of the multitudes of Jews who were
scattered throughout all the commercial cities of the
world.

" In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius
Pilate being Governor of Judea.^' He was the fifth
who had been appointed since the deposition of
Archelaus. ^ He had been appointed by Tiberius in
the year A.D 25-6, and consequently had now been
about two years in his government. Two incidents
related by Josephus will help us to realise the

^ Viz., I, Ccponius ; 2, Marcus Ambivius ; 3, Annius Rufus ;
4, Valerius Gratus ; 5, Pontius Pilatus.

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CESAR. 143

character of the man. On his first coming he had
ordered the army from Caesarea to Jerusalem to take
up their winter quarters there. Under former
Procurators, out of deference to the reh'gious objec-
tion of the Jews to have the " hkeness of any thing "
within the precincts of the Holy City, the troops
sent to Jerusalem had carried standards which had
not the usual sculptured ornaments ; but Pilate sent
the troops up with their usual standards, and since
they made their entry into the city in the night this
was not observed. But as soon as it became known the
people came down in multitudes to Cffisarea and
beset him day after day entreating that he would
withdraw the idolatrous ensigns. Pilate refused, on
the ground that it would be derogatory to the dignity
of the Emperor. At last, on the sixth day, wearied
out with their continual annoyance, he surrounded
the crowd of supplicants with his soldiers, and
threatened them with immediate death if they did
not cease from annoying him and return home.
But they threw themselves upon the ground, and
bared their necks, and declared that they were
willing to die rather than that their law should be
transgressed. Pilate was moved by their resolution,
and consented to withdraw the objectionable ensigns.^
On another occasion Pilate was about to construct

' Joscphus, "Antiquities," XVIII., c. 3, § I.

144 ^ DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

an aqueduct to bring water into Jerusalem, out of the
sacred money. The Jews again raised a tumult and
insisted that he should abandon his design and " some
of them used reproaches and abused the Procurator
as crowds of such people usually do." Pilate sent
disguised soldiers with concealed daggers among the
crowd ; and when they refused to disperse and
assailed him with reproaches he gave a signal and
the soldiers drew their daggers, and, far exceeding
their commanders' intentions, killed and wounded
many of the people, peaceful spectators as well as
the tumultuous mob.

"Annas and Caiaphas being High Priests."
Seeing that the High Priest was the head of the
administration of Judea, it is not surprising that
St. Luke, in fixing the chronology of his history, and
glancing at the political condition of the scene of it,
should include among the names of the princes and
governors who administered the various divisions of
the country, the name of the contemporary High
Priest who was the chief of the administration of
Judea, and whose authority over the Jews, in certain
matters, extended far beyond the boundaries of
Judea.

But the remarkable statement that there were two
High Priests ("Annas and Caiaphas being High
Priests ") requires explanation.

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CjESAR. 145

It is not difficult to conjecture how two men could
be said to be High Priests at the same time.

In the reign of David there were two priests of
apparently nearly equal authority Zadok and
Abiathar (i Chr. xv. ii; 2 Sam. viii. 17). Indeed
it is only from the deposition of Abiathar and the
placing of Zadok in his room by Solomon
(i Kings ii. 35) that we learn certainly that
Abiathar was the High Priest and Zadok the
second. In later times we find two priests, the
High Priest and the second priest (2 Kings xxv. 18)
of nearly equal diginity ; the coadjutor probably
helping the High Priest in the administration of his
office, and taking his place in the ceremonies of the
divine service, if anything prevented the High Priest
from officiating in person. Herod and Archelaus
more than once deposed a High Priest and appointed
another for reasons of political convenience. The
Romans could not be expected to be more scrupu-
lous than the Herods, and they not infrequently
changed the occupant of the office, which they natur-
ally regarded from its political rather than from its
religious side. The Jews themselves, regarding the
office from its religious side, probably found a way of
mitigating the confusion which might have been
caused by the co-existence of several High Priests, by
regarding the elder (by creation) of the ex-priests
as still High Priest, and the present holder of the

L

146 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

office as his coadjutor. Annas had been appointed
High Priest by Ouirinus, governor of Syria, after the
battle of Actium, but after seven years tenure of
office was deposed by the Procurator Valerius Gratus
(A.D. 14) and Ismael appointed in his place, but he
in turn was soon deposed in favour of Eleazar a
son of Annas. He only held office for a year, and
was replaced by Simon son of Camithus, who again
held the office only for a year and was succeeded by
Joseph Caiaphas the son-in-law of Annas. Before
his death Annas had seen five of his sons, in the
office of High Priest.

It is easy to see how Annas might be regarded all
this while as being the rightful High Priest, and how
his sons and son-in-law, while exercising the civiP
authority of the office, might willingly accord to him
the personal deference and ecclesiastical precedence
which the religious feeling of the Jews dictated

" Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee."

Galilee, ir the Old Testament of inferior interest
to the other two divisions of the country, in the
Gospel history becomes of as great importance and
deep interest as Judea, for among its hills He lived for
thirty years, and its lake, its cities, its hills and plains

' Hyrcanus had left the civil government to his brother Aris-
tobulus. — Josephus, "Antiquities," XIV., I, 2.

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CALSAR. 147

were the scene of the greater part of His public
ministry. The intermediate Samaria, then the scene
of the turbulent story of the rival kingdom of Israel,
now hardly appears in the history.

The Sea of Galilee is a mountain lake about
thirteen miles long, by about six miles across in its
broadest parts. The country in the midst of which it is
situated is for the most part an undulating table-land,
which slopes abruptly down to the shores of the lake,
where its waters lie about a thousand feet below the
general level of the country, and seven or eight hun-
dred feet below the level of the Mediterranean. This
deep depression in which the lake lies is probably of
volcanic origin ; and the climate, like that of the
whole deep Jordan valley is tropical in its heat, in
strong contrast with the clear bracing atmosphere of
the hills and upland valleys of the country round.

The hills on the eastern shore have the monotonous
horizontal outline which belongs to the whole range
of hills forming the eastern boundary of the Jordan
valley ; but those on the western shore are more varied
in outline,espccially at the northern end, and present a
varied face of sloping hillside, and jutting crags ;
numerous springs break out and run a longer or
shorter course into the lake scattering verdure and
fertility along their course. The hills for the most
part slope abruptly down to the shore, but they leave
all round a narrow margin of greater or less breadth ;

L 2

148 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and the whole circumference of the water is fringed
by a beach of white sand, often bordered with shrubs
of thorn and oleander.

There are three larger spaces left between the v/ater
and the hills. Where the Jordan enters at the north,
in a foaming rapid torrent, a little plain of fertile land
is left between the lake and the high wall of the
eastern range. At the southern extremity the river
flows out into a wide valley which continues all the
way to the Dead Sea. About the middle of its
western side the hills suddenly recede and leave a
level plain of five miles wide and six or seven miles
long, watered by four springs which pour forth their
almost full-grown rivers through the plain, and give
to the rich soil a wonderful fertility ; this is the plain
of Genesareth.

In the time of our Lord this mountain lake
abounded in fish, and was the highway of a consi-
derable traffic.

The hills in the north of Galilee, with the
exception of a (qw rocky summits about Nazareth,
were all wooded and sank down in graceful slopes
and broad winding valleys of richest green. The
plain of Esdraelon which stretched from west to east
across the breadth of the country, and from north
to south from the foot of the Galilean hills to the
yise of those of Samaria, was exceedingly fertile.
The plains and valleys grew corn ; the terraced hill-

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CESAR. 149

sides olive and vine ; the higher slopes were dotted
over with sheep. The whole region of Galilee was
thickly studded with towns and villages, and was
perhaps the most busy and thriving portion of the
whole land. The eastern side of the Jordan valley,
and how great a breadth of the grass of the wilder-
ness beyond its boundary wall of hills we do not
know, was also part of the territory of Antipas.

Herod the Tetrarch, until his father's death called
him to the throne, had passed most of his life in Italy
in friendship with the Emperor and familiar inter-
course with the great nobles of Rome. Josephus
says that he was of a quiet, indolent, unambitious
spirit ; he seems to have had something of his father's
ostentation and religious laxity. He had brought
from Italy a taste for magnificence and for the man-
ners of Rome.

He fortified Sephoris, the most considerable of
the towns of Galilee, on the hills near the Mediterra-
nean, and made it the metropolis of the Tetrarchy.

At a spot a little south of the fertile and populous
plain of Genesareth, and divided from it by a spur
of the mountains, the steep hills leave a narrow
strip of land between their slope and the water, and
at its southern extremity some remarkable hot
springs break forth from the foot of the hills. At-
tracted by these hot springs Antipas built, on the
strip of lake shore, a new city, which, in compliment to

ISO A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the Emperor, he named Tiberias. He built a palace
for himself, — of whose gilded roofs and royal furniture
and stores of silver Josephus speaks [Life, § 13], — a
stadium, and adorned the city with fine buildings,
and attracted to it Greek and Roman as well as
Jewish inhabitants. Beyond Jordan he also built the
city and palace of Macherus, as a protection to his
trans-Jordan territories on the side of Arabia. The
city was situated (we learn from Josephus, for its
very site is now unknown) on a spur of the range of
hills which bound the eastern side of the valley,
about four miles north of the Dead Sea, on the
confines of his own jurisdiction, and of the territories
of Aretas, the Arabian king, whose capital was at
Petra, and whose daughter Herod had married and
repudiated.

The steep declivity of the Jordan valley defended
the site of the city on the west ; two deep lateral
ravines defended it on the north and south, a great
artificial fosse on the east side completed the isolation
of the city. Its great natural strength was increased
by strong walls and towers. The elevated peak of
the hill within the city was converted into a citadel
with additional strong fortifications, and within the
citadel the Tetrarch had built himself another mag-
nificent palace. Pliny speaks of the place as second
in strength only to Jerusalem. In these strong
places Herod maintained a force of foreign merce-

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CESAR. 151

narics. He was a favourite of the Emperor and a
wealthy and prosperous prince.

Philip's Tetrarchy of Ituraea and the region of
Trachonitis was the least important of the shares
into which Herod had divided his inheritance among
his sons. Having the upper course of the Jordan
and the north-east shore of the lake of Galilee, for
its western boundary it extended under the southern
base of Hcrmon and to the south of Damascus-
Trachonitis was the remarkable volcanic district
anciently called Argob, and in modern times the

Lejah.

From the description of Josephus, from whom most
of our knowledge of the Herods is derived, Philip
would seem to have been the best of the Herodian
princes. " He had shown himself," he says.^ " a person
of moderation and quietness in his government ;^ he
constantly lived in that country which was subject
to him ; he used to make his progress with a few
chosen friends ; his tribunal also, on which he sat
in judgment, followed him in his progress; and
when any one met him who wanted his assistance,
he made no delay, but had his tribunal set down
immediately wheresoever he happened to be, and
sat down upon it and heard the complaint; he
then ordered the guilty that were convicted to

> "Antiquities," XVI 1 1., iv. 6.

152 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

be punished, and absolved those that had been
accused unjustly."

The Tetrarch of Ituraia had probably more excuse
for city building in his remote province than some of
his contemporaries. He built a new city for his
capital at the foot of Hermon, near the sources of
the Jordan which he called Caesarea in honour of his
Imperial patron, while to distinguish it from the
numerous other Caesareas people added his own name
to that of his patron, so that it is known to us as
Caesarea Philippi. On the hill, over the cavern from
which the visible fountain of the Jordan issues, he
built a temple of white marble in honour of the
Csssar. Also, on the triangular plain which the
Jordan leaves on the eastern bank where it flows
into the sea of Galilee, between the river, the
mountain, and the lake, he found in the town of
Bethsaida the site for another royal city and palace
on the pleasant shores of the lake, which he named
Julias in compliment to his patron's daughter.

The Tetrarchy of Lysanias was situated on the
eastern slope of Antilibanus, in a district fertilised
by the river Barada (the Abana of the Old Testa-
ment), on its course towards the plain of Damascus.
It was not a part of the dominions of Herod, and it
does not enter into the gospel history and need not
detain us longer.

FIFTEENTH \hAR OF TIBERIUS CAESAR. 153

That holy land then, over which our Lord travelled
to and fro, was divided into three jurisdictions.
There were some dififerences also in the character of
the populations of the several parts of the land.
In Judea, Gaza was a Greek city, and Ca^sarea a
Roman, but the rest of the people were of more
unmixed Jewish race than elsewhere.

In Galilee, Tiberias as wc have seen had more of
the character of a Greek than of a Jewish city ; and
the Galileans generally had a greater admixture of
foreign blood than the people of Judea.

The centre of the country stretching from the
sea eastward to the Jordan, and from the southern
border of the plain of Esdraelon to the northern
border of Benjamin, was inhabited by the Samari-
tans. These were descended from the Assyrian
colonists with whom Esarhaddon had peopled
the desolated country of Israel. They had adopted
the religion of the land, but when Ezra refused to
allow them to unite with the Jews in the rebuilding
of the temple, they built a rival temple on Mount
Gerizim, and the apostate priest Manasseh origi-
nated a rival priesthood there. The antagonism
had continued throughout the subsequent period ;
the Samaritans receiving only the Pentateuch, and
keeping up their schismatical priesthood and worship.
Herod the great had rebuilt the city of Samaria,
erected a heathen temple there, and peopled it with a

154 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

colony of veterans, and called it Sebaste (Augustus)
in honour of the Emperor. The Jews refused to hold
any intercourse with them, and the Samaritans
retorted by opposing the passage through their
country of the Galilean pilgrims bound to the feasts
at Jerusalem, and driving them to go round by the
eastern side of the Jordan.

In the Tetrarchy of Philip there was a prepon-
derating Gentile population, and cities which were
largely Greek in civilisation and religion ; Gadara
and Hippos are described by Josephus as Grecian
cities ; Caesarea Philippi the capital of the Tetrarchy,
and Bethsaida Julias had been built by Philip in the
classical taste of the Herod family.

- The population of the whole land was divided into
three broad political parties. First, the Herodians,
M'ho are mentioned in Matt. xxii. 15, and Mark xii. 13.
They were those whom hereditary connexions
and personal interest bound to the cause of the
family which for so many years had been the ruling
family of the whole country, together with others
who, with little personal attachment to the Herods,
yet looked upon the continuance of the power of that
family as the only practicable barrier against the
direct dominion of Rome. In Judea, especially, a
large part of the noble and wealthy classes were
anxious to keep things as they were, and were sensi-

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CJSSAR. 155

tively afraid of anything which should provoke Rome
or give it an excuse to deprive them of the large
measure of self-government and religious toleration
they still possessed.

But a very large proportion of the people in all
the sections of the land were profoundly dissatisfied
with the political condition of the sacred nation, and
nourished desires and expectations which made the
situation critical and dangerous.

The general feeling of the people, that in them
submission to any earthly sovereign was not only
a national degradation, but also a sin against their
allegiance to God, found its highest expression in
the party of the Zealots. Josephus says, "These
men agree in all things with the Pharisaic notions ;
but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty ;
and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord.
They also do not value dying any kinds of death . . .
nor can any such fear make them call any man
Lord." 1 The Jewish historian attributes the rise of
the party to Judas of Galilee, who, when Cyrenius
came to Syria on the deposition of Archclaus and
began to take account of the substance of the
people, headed a revolt against the Roman autho-
rity. The revolt was put down with great severity.

» '< Antiquities," XVIII., i, i and 6.

156 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

But the fanatical spirit survived and showed itself in
many future outbreaks. It culminated in the great
rebellion of the time of Hadrian and Vespasian,
which resulted in the destruction of the city and
the dispersion of the people.

In matters of religious belief and practice also
there were two great schools of thought among the
Jews, the Pharisees, and Sadducees, to which the
Essenes may be added as a third.

The Pharisees were not a sect, but a party or school
among the Jews. The name means " separated,"
and it seems probable that it was in the days when
the Greek masters of Palestine, and a party among
the Jews themselves, were introducing Greek ideas
and usages, and obliterating the distinctions between
the Jews and the Gentiles, and so " mingling " the
sacred race with the races among whom they dwelt,
that the more zealous Jews maintained the more
rigidly every point of difference, and a more exclusive
attitude, and obtained the name of the Separatists.

But besides a strict adherence to the law, which
would have been commendable, the Pharisees of our
Lord's time believed that, in addition to the written
law which contained general principles, Moses had
given an oral law, which completed and explained the
written law ; and that this oral law was as binding as
the written law. To this oral law had been added,

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS C^SAR. 157

from time to time, the decisions of prophets and
Rabbis, which were all equally binding. A principle
had been adopted by the late teachers of "fencing
the law," i.e., adding prohibitions, ex majori cautcia,
to keep men far away from the approach to any
violation of the law, e.g., the law said, " Thou shalt not
seethe a kid in its mother's milk," the Rabbis added
a prohibition to use any milk in the cooking of any
flesh. Thus they multiplied prohibitions and cere-
monials, which interfered with personal conduct and
social intercourse, until they became " a burden too
heavy to be borne." In the Mishna, written a short
time after this period, these "traditions" were at
length committed to writing, and the book remains
to us as an illustration of the popular teaching of
the Pharisaic school to which our Lord so often
alludes.

But in these later times, the Pharisees were fast
tending to become, not merely a school, but a sect or
caste, for they formed societies among themselves,
and avoided association with those who did not
observe the same rules of life as themselves.

Another characteristic of the Pharisees is that they
exalted the office of Rabbi, which depended upon
learning and personal character, to the depreciation
of that of Priest, which, being hereditary, was inde-
pendent of personal merit.

Josephus says "they live meanly, despising deli-

158 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

cacies in diet, and follow the conduct of reason, and

what that prescribes to them as good they do

They also pay a respect to such as are in years. . . .
whatsoever the people do about divine worship,
prayers, and sacrifices, they perform according to
their directions The cities give great attesta-
tions to them on account of their entire virtuous
conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their
discourses also." ("Antiquities," bk. xviii., ch. i, § 3.)
There was much hypocrisy among them, as there
will always be among any large party of men who
make asceticism obligatory instead of voluntary ; they
were all, in a sense, formalists, but much of the
religious earnestness of the nation was to be found
among the Pharisees ; they professed a strictness of
moral conduct as well as a scrupulousness in the
observance of religious duties ; they contrasted favour-
ably with the cold, legal orthodoxy of the Sadducees,
and with the lax religious belief and practice of the
Herodians, and the carelessness of the multitude, and
were held in high respect, and consequently exercised
a considerable influence among the people.

The origin of the Sadducees is more obscure.^
The most probable conjecture is that the priests of
the time of Zadok (who obtained the High-Priesthood
on the accession of Solomon) formed a kind of sacer-

^ Article upon them in Smith's " Bible Dictionary."

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CESAR. 159

dotal aristocracy, to which afterwards were attached
all who for any reason reckoned themselves as
belonging to the aristocracy,— such, for example, as
the families of the high-priest, judges, and individuals
of the official or governing class. The leading dis-
tinction between the Sadducees and the Pharisees
was that the former denied that the oral law, as it
existed among them, had come from Moses, or had
any religious authority ; though it is possible that
they observed many of the customary observances
which had been thus introduced as matters of
custom.

Thus rejecting the oral law, and relying entirely
on the written law, they also rejected the doctrine of
a resurrection from the dead, on the ground that it is
not taught in the Law of Moses. The belief that
they rejected all the Old Testament Scriptures except
the Tentat^uch is now generally admitted to be an
error ; though it may be, that not only they, but the
Jews generally, regarded Closes as standing on a
higher level of authority than any of the later Pro-
phets ; so that, while admitting that there appear to
be allusions to a future life in the Prophetical and
Poetical Writings, they might still decline to accept
it is a doctrine divinely revealed, on the ground that
it was not definitely taught by Moses.

In the narrative of the New Testament the Saddu-
cees seem to have consisted of a small number of

i6o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

persons oi the highest class of Jewish society, whose
position gave them an influence in the conduct of
affairs not less than that which numbers and popu-
larity gave to the Pharisaic party.

These two schools of thought — the Pharisees and
Sadducees — were widely scattered throughout Jewish
society. There was still another religious school, not
numerous, but which excited much interest, and
probably exercised an influence far out of proportion
to its numbers. These were the Essenes. In doc-
trine they did not differ from strict Pharisees, the
difference lay chiefly in their mode of life ; they
separated themselves from the world, lived a rigid
ascetic life, and gave themselves to religious contem-
plation. They were to the Jewish Church of those
times what the anchorites and monks were after-
wards to the Christian Church.

About two centuries before the period of which we
write, there arose in the solitary country on the west
side of the Dead Sea a society of pious men, who
sought refuge in these solitudes from reigning cor-
ruption, from the strifes of parties, and the storms
and conflicts of the world. They attracted the
interest of the elder Pliny, who describes them as
"a race entirely by themselves, and, beyond every
other in the world deserving of wonder; men
living in communion with nature ; without wives,
without money. Every day their number is replen-

FIFTEENTH YEAR OF TIBERIUS CESAR, rfii

ished by a new troop of settlers, since they are much
visited by those whom the reverses of fortune have
driven, tired of the world, to their mode of hving."
Josephus tells us they entirely addressed themselves
to agriculture, and had all things in common ("Anti-
quities," xviii. 1,5). When a boy of sixteen he himself
joined their ranks. " When I was informed that one
whose name was Banus lived in the desert, and used
no other clothing than grew upon trees, and had no
other food than what grew of its own accord, and
bathed himself in cold water frequently, by night
and by day, in order to preserve his chastity, I imi-
tated him in those things, and continued with him
three years."

From their original seat colonies had been formed
in other parts of Palestine, some even in villages and
towns ; and individuals attached to their body even
lived in the ordinary occupations of life. Manahem
(said to have been the colleague of Hillel, the great
Rabbi), the friend of Herod, was an Essene, and
the school was regarded with favour by Herod on
that account.

Josephus states that in his time their numbers
were only about 4,000 ; but it is probable that they
excited general interest, and exercised that influence
which examples of purity, self-denial, unworldliness
and spirituality do usually exercise, silently, it may
be, but extensively upon the mind of their age.

l62 A nrVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

This, then, was the scene of the history of the
years of our Lord's pubhc Hfe : this Palestine, with
its teeming population of mingled nationalities, with
its administrative divisions, its political parties, its
sects and schools, the domination of Rome giving
a certain unity to its political constitution, and the
Jewish religion and municipal law giving a certain
unity of national life.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 163

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE FORERUNNER.

JIHEN a monarch makes a royal progress, a
forerunner or harbinger or courier goes before
him to give notice, that everything may be
duly prepared for his coming ; so John the Baptist
goes before the Lord Jesus, " to prepare the way of
the Lord." Usually the harbinger goes on his way,
no one looks at him a second time, or remembers
him after he is gone; but John is a remarkable
person ; the functions he fulfils are important ; for a
little while he and his ministry occupy the foreground
of the history, and claim our attentive consideration.

John is so important a person in the history of
the Christ that he himself was the subject of more
than one ancient prophecy ; for he is the " Voice "
of Isaiah proclaiming " Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God";^ he is the " Messenger " who, Malachi fore-
told, "should prepare the way before Him";- and
the " Elijah "^ of the same prophet, who was to be
sent before the Advent of the Lord.

' Isaiah xl. 3. - Malachi iii. i. ^ Malachi iv. 5.

M 2

i64 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

His birth was attended by remarkable circum-
stances. It was announced to Zachariah by the angel
Gabriel in the Holy Place of the Temple ; he was
born like Isaac of a mother past the age of child-
bearing ; his name was divinely given to him before
his birth ; the voice of revived prophecy declared
him in his earliest days to be the prophet and fore-
runner promised of old time : " Thou child shall be
called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go
before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways."^

A single sentence contains his history from the
day on which these words were spoken of him
during the thirty years which passed away until
the Gospel brings him upon the stage again :
" The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was
in the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel."
If we also recall to mind that the angel had directed
that the child should be brought up as a Nazaritc
from his birth, and had declared that he should be
filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's
womb, we shall have before us all the knowledge we
possess of John's early years.

The desert mentioned was probably that which lay
between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. But we have
seen that this was the very locality in which the
Essenes had their head quarters, and the story of

> Luke i. 76.

THE FORERUNNER. 165

Josephus indicates that besides the large communi-
ties on the shore of the Dead Sea there were indi-
vidual recluses scattered over the neighbouring desert.
John would appear, to people who knew anything of
him, to be one of these. And there, in the solitude and
mortification, in the reading and prayer and contem-
plation of the ascetic life, John was trained for his
office and work.

The contrast between this ascetic life of John
in the desert and the life of domestic charities and
homely duties which Jesus led in the home at
Nazareth is very sharp and striking, and naturally
attracted the attention of their contemporaries :^John
with his attenuated figure and features, his prophet's
mantle of rough hair cloth girded with a leather
thong, his dark dishevelled Nazaritic hair flowing
over his shoulders, his dark deep-set eyes, now with
the mystic's dreamy inward look of habitual medi-
tation, now flashing with the fire of prophetic
inspiration ; Jesus with his calm and gracious pre-
sence, his golden hair and outward-looking observant
eyes, his white tunic, woven without seam, which
loving hands had made, girded after the fashion of
the day with a scarf of many colours, and the
striped blue robe ; the contrast in their mode of life,
John holding aloof from men, "neither eating nor
drinking"; Jesus freely mixing with his fellows, ac-
cepting invitations to marriages and to feasts.

i66 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

In allusion to thfe objections which people made
then, as they do now, some objecting to John's
asceticism and some to the absence of it in Jesus, the
Lord replied "Wisdom is justified of all her chil-
dren." Probably the stern, self-denying, unworldly
ascetic is the most efficient preacher of repentance,
and renewed religious earnestness, to a religious
world like that to which the Baptist had to preach,
formal and proud, wealthy, worldly, and self-indul-
gent. While it was of the essence of Christ's ex-
ample to show the pattern of a holy life, not in an
exceptional mode of life, but in a life led under
the ordinary conditions ; thus hallowing the common
human life and showing all men how they may
hallow their own lives after the pattern of His.

At length, at the age of thirty years, ^ " the word of
the Lord came to John in the wilderness," that is the
prophetic inspiration came upon him, and he came
forth into the fertile populous Jordan valley, and
began to preach Repent, for the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand.

His remarkable appearance, like " one of the old
prophets risen again,'^ naturally attracted the atten-
tion of the people ; his declaration " the kingdom of

1 It was the age at which the law (or custom) allowed the
sons of Aaron to enter upon their priestly functions.

THE FORERUNNER. 167

Heaven is at hand " fell on their expectant state
of mind like a spark on tinder.

By " the kingdom of heaven '^ John's contem-
poraries understood that kingdom which God had
promised to the Son of David (Ps. i. S); that fifth
great monarchy of which Daniel had prophesied
(Dan. ii. 44, 45 ; ix. 24) ; that reign of peace and
righteousness whose characteristics Isaiah had de-
scribed in beautiful language, as familiar to the hearts
of God's people in that day as in this. They had
gathered together all the prophecies of the Old
Testament relating to the Messiah and his kingdom,
and out of them they had evolved a magnificent
picture of a Messiah who should be a legislator like
Moses, a conqueror like Joshua and David, a mag-
nificent monarch like Solomon ; who should break
the yoke of Rome from off the neck of the world,
and make Jerusalem instead of Rome the centre
of the world, and the Jewish instead of the Roman
the dominant race ; who should establish a reign of
peace, justice, prosperity and happiness, such as the
world had never seen ; a reign which should extend
to the uttermost part of the earth and last to the end
of time. We must grasp this idea in all its gran-
deur, and all its likelihood, if we would understand
the exalted condition of mind of those who were
" looking for redemption in Israel," if we would un-
derstand the full significance of John's prophecy,

i6S A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

"the kingdom of Heaven is at hand," and of Christ's
fulfilment of it.

As the preparation for the coming of this kingdom
John preached repentance ; a national revival of
spiritual holiness. So in former times in preparation
for the giving of the Law, Moses had bidden the
people to sanctify themselves. So at this time when
the Jews admitted Gentiles into the covenant of
Abraham they first baptized them with water to
purify and fit them for admission among the people
of God. And so John baptized the Jews unto
repentance to purify and fit them for admission
into the higher dispensation of the Kingdom of God.

Profounder minds might have seen that the
character of the Forerunner and the mode of his
announcement of the kingdom foreshadowed the
nature of the Christ and of his kingdom. The royal
herald was not a warrior, but an ascetic, and the
note of preparation was not " He that hath no
sword let him sell his coat and buy one," but
" Repent."

The Baptist's preaching produced a widespread
and profound impression over the whole of Palestine :
" All men counted John that he was a prophet."
" Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea,
and all the region round about Jordan, and were
baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins."^

' Matt. iii. 5.

THE FORERUNNER. 169

" Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to his
baptism."! The despised publicans;- the hated
soldiers^' of Herod Antipas from the neighbouring
Macherus. Herod^ himself " knew him to be a
good man and an holy, and observed him, and when
he heard him he did many things, and heard him
gladly" ; and "the Jews," i.e., the authorities of the
nation, " sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to
ask him, Who art thou ? Art thou Elias ? Art thou
the Christ?" 5

' Matt. iii. 7. ^ Luke iii. 12.

' Luke iii. 14. ^ Mark vl 20.

'' John i. 19, 2:.

PART IIL-THE MINISTRY.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE BAPTISM.

HE scene of John's baptism was at Bethabara
(or Bethany), beyond Jordan, where the
Jordan valley as it approaches its de-
bouchure into the Dead Sea, widens into a broad fertile
tract of country, with the Judean hills on the west,
and the long wall of the mountains of Moab on the
East. The remarkable depression of the country,
here i,ooo feet below the level of the Mediterranean
Sea, gives it a tropical climate ; and the groups of
palms and luxuriant vegetation, fed by numerous
springs, gave the landscape an air of beauty in
striking contrast with the bare and brown hills which
enclose it. The important city of Jericho was on
the other side of the river at the foot of the western
hills ; the strong fortress of Macherus with its de-
pendent town was at about the same distance on an
isolated spur of the Moabite hills. The Jordan here
is a broad and rapid stream ; but the scene of the
Baptism was probably some affluent rising from

THE BAPTISM. i7i

the eastern range, whose sparkling waters afforded
the typical element in convenient abundance, while
the groups of trees nourished by the water-course
afforded shade to the disciples, as they sat and
listened to the prophet. " Then cometh Jesus from
Nazareth of Galilee to Jordan unto John to be
baptized of him" (Matt. iii. 13).

It may be doubted whether the significance of the
baptism of Jesus is commonly understood, and
whether the incident holds so important a place as it
ought to do in the popular view of the sacred life.
It was, in fact, the outward designation of Jesus as
the promised Messiah, and his solemn consecration
to the office.

When Jesus "came from Nazareth of Galilee to
Jordan unto John," he was an unknown man ; he had
said nothing and done nothing to attract men's atten-
tion to him ; he was one among the thousands who
came from all parts to hear John preach and to be
baptized of him.

John had, indeed, some previous knowledge of
him ; they were cousins ; he could hardly be ignorant
of the prophetic utterances at the time of their in-
fancy which had foretold their after destinies, and rela-
tion as the Forerunner and the Christ ; he recognised
that there was an incongruity in his baptizing Jesus
for the kingdom of Heaven, that he ought rather to
be baptized for the kingdom by its destined king.

172 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The reply, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it bc-
cometh us to fulfil all righteousness " {Mat. iii. 14-15),
seems to mean that since he had not yet been called
and consecrated to his office he was yet one among
the rest of the people ; that in this character he was
doing right in showing faith in John's announcement
of the kingdom and seeking his baptism as one who
desired to enter into it; and that, though hereafter their
relation might be altered, John would do right now
in performing the functions of his office upon him.

But John could not declare him to be the Christ
on the testimony of others, he could not add his inde-
pendent testimony until he was authorised by the
sign which had been given him. For as it had been
revealed to Simeon that he should not die till he had
seen the Lord's Christ ; and, as on a particular day
he came by the spirit into the Temple and it was
made known to him that the child then being pre-
sented was the Christ, so it had been revealed to
John that he should not only vaguely prepare men's
minds for the Messiah's coming, but that he should
know the Messiah by the testimony of a sign from
heaven, and should point him out to the people : —

" He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said
unto me. Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and
remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost " (John i. 33).

" Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass
that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was

THE BAPTISM. I73

opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like
a dove upon him : and lo, the heavens were opened, and a voice
came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased" (Matt. iii. 17, "This is," &c. ;
Mark i. 1 1 ; Luke iii. 22).

Then the long line of Messianic prophecy, which
began in Paradise with the promise of " the seed of
the woman," and which had grown continually clearer
and more definite, designating successively the seed of
Abraham, of Isaac (not of Ishmael), of Jacob (not of
Esau), the tribe of Judah,thc house of David, reached
its climax when the Baptist stretched forth his hand
towards Jesus and said : —

" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." " This is he of whom 1 said. He that cometh after me
is preferred before me, for he was before me " (John i. 29, 30).

Now that we are perhaps better prepared to under-
stand its significance we may glance again at the
brief but important narrative and make a further note
or two upon it. It was as he was praying that the
heaven was opened and the dove descended and the
voice was heard; as if the supernatural conclusion
was connected with, was in answer to, his prayer.
The heaven was opened, " rent asunder " is the force
of St. Mark's expression ; and as Stephen saw
heaven opened and the glory of God and the Son of
man standing on the right hand of God, so now
Jesus saw "the heavens opened unto him " and the
glory of the Divine Majesty, and the spirit descend

;74 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

out of the midst of the divine glory, in a bodily shape
like a dove, — of light or fire perhaps, and lighting
upon him, as the tongues of fire afterwards on the
disciples on the day of Pentecost ; and there came a
voice out of the opened heavens, the voice of the
Father, saying " Thou art my Beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased."

St. Mark and St. Luke say that the voice was
addressed to Jesus. If John heard it, as St. Matthew's
" This is my Beloved Son" seems to suggest, for a
further confirmation of the appointed sign of the
descending dove, still the declaration was addressed
to Jesus, and was for his sake ; not only, or chiefly,
if at all, for the sake of them that stood by. It was
God's declaration to the man Jesus of his being the
Son of God, beloved of God, and approved by God,
made at this momentous crisis of his life and work.
It was the confirmation to the human mind and
spirit of the Son of Man of God's approval of his pre-
vious life up to this great crisis, and an assurance of
his love and support in the great work to which He
now called Him.

The descent of the Holy Spirit at his baptism
was not only the designation of Jesus as the IMessiah
of the ancient prophecies, it was also his consecration
to the office, and qualification for the work.

The Hebrew word " Messiah," translated into Greek
is " Christ," and translated into English is " Anointed.'"

THE BAPTISM. 175

The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed mean precisely
the same thing. We shall better understand the
significance of the title if we consider some of its
types.

In the ancient dispensation God directed that three
classes of men should be solemnly designated and
consecrated for their office by the ceremony of
anointing, i.e. the pouring of consecrated oil upon the
head. The three classes of men who were to be
anointed were kings, priests, and prophets. Thus
Samuel anointed Saul, and afterwards David to be
kings of God's people (i Sam. x. i ; xvi. 13); and
Zadok anointed Solomon (i Kings i. 34). Moses
anointed Aaron to be priest (Exod. xxix. 7). God
bade Elijah to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria, and
Jehu to be king of Israel, and Elisha to be prophet
in his own place (i Kings xix. 15).

The meaning of the ceremony was this. These
three classes of men are appointed by God, and He
delegates to them something of His own prerogative.
The king is the vicegerent over a particular nation of
Him who is the King of all nations, King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. The priest fulfils a two-fold
function : at one time he stands at the head of the
people as their representative and spokesman, offer-
ing their prayers and solemn things to God ; at
another time he stands before the people as God's re-
presentative, the channel through which he gives them

176 A DEVOTIOXAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

grace and blessings. The prophet speaks God's
words to the people. The anointing was a sacra-
mental rite ; oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit ; and
the pouring it upon the heads of these men was not
only an authoritative appointment of them to their
offices, but it was also a sacramental communica-
tion to them of the graces of the spirit necessary to
qualify them to fulfil the functions delegated to them.
For example, David was thus designated out of all
the sons of Jesse as the future king of Israel, and
when Samuel poured the oil upon him " the Spirit of
the Lord came upon David from that day forward "
(I Samuel xvi. 13).

But these ancient kings were only types of Him
to whom, as Son of Man, all power is given in
heaven and in earth. He is the real king, of whom
all others are vicegerents. The ancient priesthoods,
whether of Melchizedek or Aaron, were types of
Him who is the only real priest ; who being God as
well as man. represents the godhead to us, and is
the channel of all pardon, grace, and blessing to us ;
and who, having taken our humanity, being the
second Adam, represents our race before the mercy-
seat, and offers our prayers and praises, with the in-
cense of his own intercession. God spake of old
time by his prophets, who brought occasional and
partial messages to his people, but in these last days
he has spoken unto us by his Son, who is the very

THE BAPTISM. 177

word and wisdom of God. Thus Jesus is tJic king,
the priest, the prophet, emphatically THE ANOINTED
OF THE Lord, the Christ, the Messiah.

He was not only designated to this office at his
baptism by prophetic voice and heavenly sign, but the
Holy Spirit was given to him to fit him for the fulfil-
ment of the great office and work of the Messiahship.
We have already been told that " the child grew and
waxed strong in spirit, filled wnth wisdom, and the
grace of God was upon him," ^ and again, that "Jesus
ncreased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with
God and man." " Now we are told that he received
fresh grace of the Holy Spirit to fit him for new
duties : the Baptist says in allusion to this occasion,
" God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him" ;^
and St. John the Evangelist tells us that it is of this
" his fulness that all we have received, and grace
upon grace.""*

Those long years of silence and obscurity which
were thus brought to a close, were not silent and
obscure through the voluntary choice, so to speak, of
Jesus ; they were a part of his humility and obedience
to the will of God. \^ery possibl}' he had alread}'
said many times in his heart in allusion to this
baptism of the Spirit, as he did afterwards to the

' Luke ii. 40. - Luke ii. 52. ^ John iii. 34. ■• John i. 16.

N

178 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

baptism of blood, " I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened till it be accom-
plished." But it was not for him to assume to him-
self the Messiahship, and to go forth to its awful
work, until God should call him and qualify him :
" No man taketh this honour to himself, but when
he is called of God, even as was Aaron," So Christ
glorified not himself to be made a High Priest, but
he that said unto him, " Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee."

At every great crisis of the history the question
arises anew of the nature of the relations of the
divine nature and the human nature in Jesus. We
should have thought that the Son of God need
not thus wait to be called by God the Father to
take upon him the office and work which he came into
the world on purpose to fulfil ; and that God the Son
did not need the grace of the Holy Spirit to qualify
him for it ; but we gather that it was the duty of the
Son of Man to wait for God's call, and that the Son
of Man did need the grace of the Spirit. We should,
perhaps, have thought that the Son of God did not
need to pray to the Father, and did not need
the Voice to assure him of the Father's love and
approval ; but we see in many places that the Son
of Man habitually prayed, spent nights of prayer, and
we gather that the Son of Man was strengthened
and reassured by the gracious words of God.

THE BAPTISM. 179

John's ministry had done its work of attracting
universal attention, and the multitudes who were
baptized by him were an evidence of a real and wide-
spread spirit of moral preparation ; it was then that
Jesus came to John ; and John's ministry was crowned
when he designated and sacramcntally consecrated
the Messiah. His ministry was virtually accom-
plished, and he begins to recede into the background
of the history: "John decreases while Jesus in-
creases." 1 Shortly after John was imprisoned and after
some months he was put to death. Let us not fail
to learn a lesson from his humility who described
himself as no one, a mere voice uttering a message ;
who contentedly saw his own popularity wane before
that of Jesus ; and another lesson from his boldness in
rebuking vice not only among publicans and harlots,
but among chief priests and kings ; let us remember to
his honour the testimony of his Lord, " a prophet, yea,
I say unto you and much more than a prophet, for
verily I say unto you among those that are born of
woman there hath not arisen a greater than John,
the Baptist"; and we are constrained to add the-
glorious conclusion of the saying, " notwithstanding,
he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater
than he."

^ John iii. 30.

N 2

j8o a devotional LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XX

THE GREAT FAST.

HE long years of growth and preparation are
over, and this one perfect and unspotted
scion of the great human race, like a young
plant which had grown in a sheltered situation, and
bloomed under a smiling sky, — this brilliant youth
(he was still only thirty years old), the flower of the
human race, — has been led forth from his obscurity
by the hand of God, and proclaimed by a voice from
heaven to be the promised man round w^hom the
whole history of the world turns, the " Desire of all
nations," the destined Saviour and King of men.
The Divine Spirit has been poured without measure
upon that perfect humanity. He stands upon the
threshold of his career. What will follow .'' What
divine splendours will henceforth surround the Beloved
Son ? What will be the great achievements of the
Champion of mankind } We expect now the Jewish
nation first, and then all the nations, to rally round
their natural Head and Prince.

It is very striking to find that what docs really
immediately follow is the record of his being brought

THE GREAT FAST.

into the depth of human destitution and feebleness.
" Immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilder-
ness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days
[and forty nights, St. Matthew iv. 2] . . . . with the
wild beasts" (St. Mark i. 12, 13), " and in those days
he did eat nothing ; and when they were ended he
afterward hungered " (St. Luke iv. 2). The Fasting
followed " immediately " upon the Baptism ; and all
three of the Evangelists specially call our attention.
to the fact that this first act of the newly-consecrated
Messiah was undertaken under a strong impulse of
that Holy Spirit which had just been without measure
given to Him : " He was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness," say St. Matthew and St. Luke, while
St. Mark seems to indicate the urgency of the
impulse, — " the Spirit driveth him into the wilder-
ness"; overcoming, perhaps, some natural shrinking
of the human will from the great initial trial and
combat with the powers of evil, as afterwards from
the great final conflict at Gethsemane.

Again the Fasting clearly is related to the subse-
quent Temptation ; St. Matthew says, "He was led up
of the Spirit into the wilderness [in order] to be
tempted of the devil." What were the relations
between the Fasting and the Temptation of our
Lord ">. The question opens up the whole subject of
the use of Fasting as a spiritual exercise. We find
it taken for granted all through both the Old and the

i82 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

New Testaments as a proper accompaniment of times
of special prayer, and a proper preparation for great
spiritual crises. Ezra^ fasted before he started from
Babylon to go up to Jerusalem to undertake the
reconstruction of the theocracy of Israel ; Christ
fasted before he called His twelve Apostles ; ^ Saul
fasted during the crisis of his conversion ; ^ the Pro-
phets and Teachers of Antioch'^ fasted before they
consecrated Barnabas and Saul to the apostolate ;
Barnabas and Saul,^ fasted when they ordained elders
in every city.

Our Lord seems to throw light upon the special
relation of the Fasting to the Temptation when he
says to his Apostles, who had failed to heal the
paralytic boy, " This kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting." ^

The Fasts which at once occur to our mind as
presenting the most resemblance to that of our Lord
are the Fasts of Moses before he went up into Mount
Sinai to hold communication with God and to receive
the law, and the Fast of Elijah on his pilgrimage to
the Vision and the still small voice of God in Horeb.

On the whole, we seem to gather that this great
Fast of our Blessed Lord, immediately after his desig-

' Ezra viii. 23. - Luke vi. 12. ^ Acts xi. 9.

* Acts xiii. 3. * Acts xiv. 23. * Matt. xvii. 21.

THE GREAT FAST. 183

nation to the office of the Messiah, and imn:iediately
before his first great encounter with the Enemy or
Mankind, was the solemn disciphne of his human
spirit for the work upon which he had entered.

It gives a clue to the whole character of the
work of Redemption. The great Champion of fallen
humanity was to fight by suffering, and to conquer by
dying. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

i84 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE T E M P T A T I O N.

HE history has already brought us face to
face with great and glorious mysteries of
the unseen world. We have heard the
Father's voice from heaven, and seen the Spirit
descending in bodily shape upon the Incarnate Lord.
We have seen the angels of God mingling in the
affairs of men, appearing to the priest in the Temple,
and the maid in her cottage, and to Joseph and the
Magi in dreams. We are now to be brought face
to face with another, — the darkest and most dreadful
of the mysteries of the unseen world, — the existence
of evil spirits, and their agency in effecting the
original fall of man, and in aggravating man's sin
and misery in every age.

The Gospel postulates the history of the Fall,
tliough now it first alludes directly to it. As soon as
he has assumed the Messiahship, Jesus finds himself
confronted with the Arch Enemy.

There are many Christian people who have very
vague notions about the Satan of the Scriptures.

THE TEMPTATION. 185

Some think him a kind of unreal personification of a
principle of evil which pervades the world. Some
who believe in Satan's real personality think of him
as if he were present to every man, and tempting
him always, i.e., as ubiquitous and omniscient, makint;-
him a kind of evil deity. It is important for the
understanding of the whole religious history and
condition of man to have an accurate knowledge of
this important subject.

Satan was originally one of the angels of heaven,
probably an archangel, one of the chiefs of the
heavenly hosts. Angels, like all creatures with a
free will, are liable to set their will in opposition to
God's will, i.e., to sin; and the Scriptures tell us
that some of the angels, of whom Satan was chief,
did actually sin. We know how fallen men and
women seem to have a jealous hatred of the good,
and to take a dreadful pleasure in bringing others
down to their own moral level. The fallen angels
exhibit the same dreadful malice. There was, per-
haps, some special relation between Satan and man-
kind. It has been conjectured that God executes
his ordinary providential government of the universe
through his angels, and that the special care of this
world and its newly-created race had been committed
to the archangel Satan, and that when he fell, instead
of its beneficent ruler he became its tyrant, so far as
his power was permitted, in accordance with God's

i86 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

wonderful ways, who is accustomed to let evil kings
still rule nations, and evil fathers still rule their
families, and who out of all this evil will eventually
deduce a higher good, and justify his long-suffering,
and vindicate his wisdom and goodness in the face of
men and angels.

Others have conjectured that the fall of the angels
)ccurred before the creation of mankind, and that
the creation of this new race had some relation to
the angels' fall, and that this directed the special
malice of Satan against our unhappy race, and made
him the special enemy of mankind.

This spiritual foe of mankind, then, is a fallen
archangel. By falling into sin he did not cease to
be an angel, and become a being of another nature.
He did not gain any new powers, or any increase of
his original powers, rather we may be sure that his
original powers suffered deterioration.

We need not suppose, then, that Satan knew more
of the divine scheme by which man was to be reco-
vered from the fall into which Satan had seduced
him than the unfallen angels ; and we seem to gather
that this scheme of redemption was not made known
beforehand to them, but that they watch it unfolded
before their eyes with intensest interest, — "which
things the angels desire to look into." Perhaps Satan
knew as much of it as the unfallen angels, and watched
it with equal interest, and sought to defeat it.

THE TEMPTATIOX. 187

The circumstances of the Baptism may have directed
Satan's attention to Jesus. He, as well as the Baptist,
had, perhaps, recognised the signs of the Messiah-
ship ; he too, perhaps, had heard the voice saying,
" Thou art my Beloved Son." He recognises Him
of whom it had been prophesied from the beginning,
that He should " bruise the serpent's head." He
recognises the great Champion of the human race,
and he, the great Enemy, enters into spiritual conflict
with Him. It is an awful moment in the world's
history. The Champion of the human race has
entered the lists, and its great and hitherto trium-
phant Tyrant comes forth to meet him.

The weapons of Satan's warfare are temptations ;
and his temptations are always adapted with great
subtlety to the character and circumstances of those
he assails. Coarse temptations, pleasure, wealth,
ambition, — are adapted to coarse minds ; but to finer
natures he presents more refined allurements. He
approached unfallen Eve in some bright disguise, and
tempted her with the hope of raising mankind at once
to that more glorious height which God had held out
vaguely in the future as the reward of steadfastness.
The Tree of Life God had given to sustain their
actual life ; this higher life, He had declared, was in
some way connected with the other Tree of Know-
ledge. Satan led Eve to believe that the eating of
Ihis other tree would raise her at once to that higher

iS8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

life without probation and delay. Eat of it and " ye
shall be as gods."

No doubt he approached our Lord in some disguise.
Perhaps it is to his apparent form on this occasion,
that St. Paul alludes when he says, that Satan " is
transformed into an angel of light." ^ And he
adapted his temptation to our Lord's nature and
circumstances. He is the " Beloved Son," He is the
destined Deliverer. This fact is the key to his three-
fold temptation : it is based upon the " If thou be the
Son of God."

The Lord kneels in the desert, at the end of his
forty days' fast, reduced to the extremity of human
weakness ; one appears to him like an angel of light ;
he only anticipates by a few hours — or moments —
the coming of the angels who ministered to Him
when the Temptation was done. In plausible words
he utters the suggestion, " If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread " : — If thou
art the Son of God thou hast great destinies before
Thee ; suffer not thyself thus to perish miserably of
hunger ; thy fast has surely lasted long enough ; now
exert the power which, as Son of God, thou must
needs possess, and so save thyself for the great future.
Where would have been the harm .^ In after years,
twice over. He wrought a miracle to alleviate the

' 2 Cor. xi. 14.

THE TEMPTATION. 189

discomfort of the multitudes suftering from a few
hours' fast; why should lie not make a similar exertion
of His power on this occasion ? In a few hours — or
minutes — the angels did bring supernatural succour ;
why should not the king of the angels anticipate their
ministration ? He Himself gives us the reply : —
Jesus answered him, saying, —

" It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proccedeth out of the mouth of God."

The meaning of the answer is a little obscure. Let
us turn to the place in which " it is written," viz.,
Deut. viii. 3, and study it there, and we shall arrive
at its meaning. God fed Israel with manna in the
wilderness, " to humble them, and to prove them,
and to make them know that man doth not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proccedeth out
of the mouth of God shall man live " ; i.e., God fed
Israel with manna to make them know that He who
gave life, and ordinarily sustains it by ordinary food,
could, in the absence of ordinary food create new
means of sustaining it, or without means could sustain
it by the mere word of his power. The manna fell
every day, just sufficient for every person, until they
entered the Promised Land, and came within reach
ot the garnered corn of the Canaanites. Thus God
brought Israel to trust with entire dependence and
confidence in Him for the supply of their necessities.

Jesus is truly man, living ;i true human life in all

I90 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

respects, not bringing in his Godhead at every turn,
or even in any extremity, to help his human feeble-
ness, or soften the conditions of his human life. He
exercised His divine power with the utmost readiness
and freedom on behalf of others, never on His own
behalf He had undertaken this fast under a divine
impulse, " the Spirit had led him up [" driven him "]
into the wilderness," and he left Himself in the
hands of God. To have complied with Satan's sug-
gestion would have shown that His trust in God's
providence had come to an end. It was not so, He
still had perfect confidence in God. And thereby
He taught zis a perfect confidence in God ; God often
lets man reach the extremity of endurance before He
interferes ; so often that it has become a proverb,
" Man's extremity is God's opportunity."

"Then the devil taketh him up into the Holy City, and
setteth him on the pinnacle of the Temple, and saith unto him,
If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down, for it is written.
He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy
foot against a stone " (Matt. iv. ; Luke iv.).

Whether Satan actually transported our Lord in
the body, or only in a trance or vision ; whether,
afterwards, in the third temptation, he caused him
actually to see all the provinces of Palestine from
some Pisgah-point, or only in a vision caused the
kingdoms of the world and their glory to pass before
His mind's eye, we do not know; and it is of little

THE TEMPTATION. 191

importance to the matter in hand. We must bear in
mind that there were no spectators of the temptation,
that its circumstances can only be known from our
Lord's own narration of them, and that he has told
them in such a way as to produce upon our minds
the truest impression of this great and mysterious
transaction.

''The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose."
Our Lord had quoted Scripture in justification of his
leaving Himself, even in this extremity, in the hands
of God ; Satan appeals to this sublime and entire
confidence in the providential care of God. He
quotes the Scripture promise contained in the 91st
Psalm, which applies to Him,— if He be the Son of
God,— and suggests to Him to make proof of it:
" Cast thyself down from hence : for it is written, He
shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee ;
and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest at any
time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

Jesus, no doubt, had long looked forward, during
the years of obscurity and waiting, to the hour when
He would enter upon the office and work of the
Messiah; His human heart was likely now to be
swelling with a solemn exultation in the conscious-
ness of the dignity and the powers lately committed
to Him ; He might well be in haste to make proof of
His powers; to realise them to Himself in their
exercise ; to convince this doubting spirit.

192 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

But the clear insight of the mind and spirit of
Jesus saw the fallacy and the snare. Satan had mis-
quoted his text, it runs, " He shall give his angels
charge of Thee to keep thee in all thy ivays." God's
promise to preserve us " in all our ways " does not
justify us in running into danger in order to make
proof of His prom.ise ; nay, the promise does not
extend to dangers which we wilfully incur, but only
to those which come to us in the fulfilment of God's
will for us, in walking in those ways which God has
marked out for us to go in.

Our Lord's reply to the temptation is again given
in Scripture language, which touches the very heart
of the matter : " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God," — thou shalt not put His promise to the proof
to see if He will be as good as His word. Christ's
perfect and entire trust in God was not tinged with
the sin of spiritual presumption.

" Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and
the glory of them, and saith unto him, All these things will I
give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."

Satan is " the Father of lies," but his suggestions
generally have some truth in them, and it is that
element of truth in them which makes them so
dangerous : —

" A lie which is half a truth is the greatest of lies."
There was truth in his assertion to our first parents

THE TEMPTATION. 193

that there was a higher state of being possible to
them, and that God was delaying their admission
into it ; the lie was in teaching them that it was
possible for them by their own act to abridge this
delay, and that the means to do so was to eat of this
mysterious fruit which God had forbidden. So it is
possible that there was a truth in what Satan here
asserts to Jesus. We have already alluded to the
suggestion that the government of this world had
been committed to Satan, and that he still exer-
cises a certain power over it. The vocation of the
Messiah was to establish a universal monarchy ;
Satan knew so much, as every Jew knew it ; and
Satan may have shared the common Jewish error that
it was a great temporal monarchy which the Messiah
was to establish and rule. The temptation he offered
was to withdraw his opposition, to use the power
given him to aid Jesus in the accomplishment of his
design, to abridge the long delay before the ultimate
triumph of the kingdom, if the Messiah would make
in r^turn some acknowledgment of the suzerainty of
the Angel of the World. We must suppose that
Satan knew not, any more than men did at that time,
the awful mystery of the Deity which lay hidden in
the humanity of Jesus, and that he did not know-
that Jesus had penetrated his angelic disguise.

Jesus answered, " Get thee behind me, Satan ! for
it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,

o

194 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and Him only shall thou serve," and so taught us
not to be tempted to take evil roads to right ends,
but to hold fast to God's way, though it seem to lead
a long way round, through huge dangers and terrible
sufferings ; that not for the sake of gaining the highest
and noblest ends for ourselves, not in the desire of
securing the greatest blessings to others, ought we to
swerve a hair's breadth from the right, — that we
ought not to do evil that good may come.

" Then the devil departed from him [" for a season,"' Luke
iv. 13], and angels came and ministered unto him."

The difficult question of the relation of the Temp-
tation to the double nature of our Lord, is sure to
suggest itself to the thoughtful student of the history
of our Redemption. First, we lay it down as a certain
truth that Jesus endured the Fast and the Temp-
tation in the strength of His human nature, aided by
such helps of grace as are giren to other men in their
time of need, but without availing Himself of the
attributes of His divine nature. He endured the Fast
as man. He encountered the Temptation as man.
This is essential to the understanding of one great
aspect of the transaction. Jesus was what unfallen
Adam was. He was subjected to the same temp-
tation in its essence as that with which the Enemy
assailed Adam. And while the first Adam fell under
the assault, the second Adam remained uninjured.
It was necessary to the vindication of God's wisdom

THE TEMPTATION. 195

and justice. Men will think that God placed
Adam under circumstances in which it was morally
impossible for him to retain his integrity ; the second
Adam, under the same circumstances, did stand.

Then the horrible thought suggests itself, suppose
Jesus had succumbed to the subtlety of the Tempter.
The reply of the great theologians is, that Jesus was
" impeccable." Grasp clearly the truth, that though
the assumption of the human nature clothes the Son
I if God with human body, mind, and will, yet it is the
Son of God who has assumed them ; and it is blas-
phemous, impossible, to conceive of God yielding to
temptation, and falling into sin.

Yet the temptation was a real temptation ; for that
human body, soul, and will, were capable of feeling
the force of temptation ; His body, we know, felt
hunger and thirst, His mind felt unkindness and
unsuccess, His will felt the instinctive human desire to
escape from that which was painful to human nature.

The difficulty remains a difficulty, after all that can
be said. Just as it remains a difficulty how Jesus
could grow in wisdom, seeing the Son of God is
omniscient. Let it be enough for our consolation to
be assured that " He was tempted in all points like
as we are," and can feel the sympathy of personal
knowledge and experience for us in temptation,
and will efficiently succour them that are tempted.
Let it be enough for our assurance to know that His

C) 2

ic6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

human will did not yield to temptation ; that Adam
might equally have retained his integrity ; and that
we sons of Adam who are born again into the second
Adam by the Spirit, are now placed, like him, upon
our probation ; that we can and must resist temp-
tation ; that if we yield we fall, like the first Adam, into
ruin ; if we remain firm, we triumph in the second
Adam, and tread Satan under our feet.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 197

CHAPTER XXII.

THE FIRST DAYS OF THE MINISTRY.

^^NE of the features of the history, which will
** strike every thoughtful mind, is its sur-

prises. What happens is so different from

what we should have expected ; but when we come
to consider it, what really happens, — we can often
see, and so we learn to take always for granted, — has
a profounder appropriateness, a higher spiritual
grandeur, than our anticipation. We should not
have expected that this gracious youth, just pro-
claimed Messiah, and declared the Beloved Son,
and filled with the Spirit, would have been imme-
diately led into the wilderness to undergo the
forty days' fast. As little should we have expected
that after the mysterious initiation of the forty days'
fast, and the first great spiritual achievement of
the victory over the great Enemy of Mankind, His
life would pass straight from this tremendous strain
to scenes of calm idyllic beauty.

After the forty days were over, " Jesus returned
to Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was
baptizing." And now it is that the prophecy of

igS A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

John rises to its highest strain. The object of
prophecy was to point forward to the Christ, and
to declare the nature of His person and His work.

John is enabled to identify the Messiah, and to
point Him out to all who were expecting His
advent ; he also utters some remarkable declarations
as to His person and His work : —

" He that cometh from above is above all ; he that is of the
earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth, he that cometh from

heaven is above all He whom God hath sent speaketh

the words of God. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given
all things into his hand" (John iii. 31-35).

" No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him"
(John i. 18).

" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world" (John i. 29, 36).

"The same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost''
(John i. 33).

" Of his fulness have all we received, and gi-ace upon grace "
(John i. 16).

In these words we recognise that the last and greatest
of the Prophets speaks in no ambiguous words : —

I. — Of the eternal Sonship and mission unto the
world.

II. — Of the Great Sacrifice.

III.— Of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The office of John was to prepare the way for
the Christ, and we find that his ministry had been
so effectual that he sends his disciples to Jesus and

THE FIRST DA YS OF THE MINISTRY. 199

they become His disciples even before He Ir^'^
called them : —

"The next day John seeth Jesus coming to him, and saith,
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world" (John i. 29). And "Again, the next day after, John
stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as ht
walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God ! And the two
disciples followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them
following, and saith unto them, What seek ye ? They said unto
him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where
dwellest thou? He saith unto them. Come and see. They
came and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth
hour."

" One of the two," he tells us, " was Andrew," and
the other, doubtless, was John, who, as usual in his
Gospel, refrains from naming himself. Of the nature
of the momentous interview we are told nothing,
but of the result of it : —

" Andrew first findeth his brother Simon, and saith unto him,
We have found the Messias ; and he brought Simon to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him he said, Thou art Simon the son
of Jona, thou shalt be called Cephas (which is, by interpreta-
tion, [Peter], a stone)." The day following, Jesus " was minded
to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip and saith unto

him. Follow me Philip findeth Nathanael [otherwise

called liartholomew] and saith unto him. We have found him
of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus

of Nazareth, the son of Joseph Nathanael answered

and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art
the King of Israel."

Thus the first step of the Messiah is to begin to

200 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

gather a body of disciples ; and these five, — Andrew
and John, and Simon, PhiHp, and Bartholomew, all
of them apparently originally disciples of John, —
become the first believers and adherents of the
Messiah, the nucleus of the Church of Christ.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 201

CHAPTER XXllI.

THE FIRST MIRACLE.

|FTER two days thus spent at Bethabara
the third day Jesus left the company oi
John, whom apparently he never saw
again, and went forth to commence his own work.
He did not go up to the Holy City to assert
his office before the High Priest and Sanhedrim.
He did not go down to commercial Capernaum to
preach to the crowds of his countrymen. " There
was a marriage at Cana of Galilee," probably of some
relation of the Holy Family, for "the mother of
Jesus was there," and her subsequent conduct is like
that of one who was familiarly acquainted with and
interested in the domestic arrangements. "And both
Jesus was called, and His disciples to the marriage."
And this is not a mere incident between the Temp-
tation and the next great event in the history, — this
2S the next great event, for here He wrought His
first miracle ; and the marriage feast was not the
mere accidental scene and occasion of the miracle,
but the miracle rose out of and received its sig-
nificance from the marriage feast.

202 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The narrative is too familiar to need that we
should repeat it here, our business is to point
out the significance of " this beginning of miracles."

We note the comment of the Evangelist that in
this miracle " He manifested forth His glory." John
did no miracles. There is a great gap in the exer-
cise of miraculous powers from the time of Daniel
until the days of our Lord. We who are familiar with
the multitude of miracles which our Lord wrought
afterwards, may easily fail to realise the great effect
which this first manifestation of the revival of this
Divine Power would have upon the minds of those
who witnessed it, in making them feel that " a great
Prophet was risen up among them, and that God had
visited His people." The Evangelist emphatically
adds that after witnessing the miracle " His disciples
believed on Him." We note a progressive strengthen-
ing of their faith. They believed in Him on the
word of John the Baptist ; their faith was confirmed
by his supernatural knowledge ; it rises to a more
entire belief when they witness His miracle. It was
destined to rise through many subsequent degrees
before it arrived at that absolute conviction which
made them His witnesses to all the world.

We should expect that the first manifestation of
this miraculous power would take place on some
appropriate occasion, and that it would have some
special character and meaning ; and — if we have

THE FIRST MIRACLE. 203

courage to confess it — this turning of water into
wine at a wedding feast is not the kind of occa-
sion, or the character of miracle, we should have
expected. What is the explanation of it ?

We find the significance of the miracle both in the
occasion of it and in the nature of it.

We shall very imperfectly comprehend much of
the Gospel if we fail to realise from the beginning
the important place which the Church of Christ
holds in the Scripture view — in the Divine view — of
the work of redemption.

We must first grasp the great truth of the real,
indissoluble union of the Divine nature and the
human nature in the person of the Christ. Then we
must realise that they who are truly Christians are
organically united to Christ's humanity by an ineffable,
mysterious, but real union ; " members of His body,
of His flesh, and of His bones" (Eph. v. 30), so
that the Church is the body of Christ, an extension,
as it were, of the humanity of Christ. The Church
is united to God in Christ. The Church, Head and
Body, is the mystical Christ.

This union of the Divine nature and human
nature, first, as regards the sacred humanity of
Christ, is again and again spoken of in Holy Scrip-
ture under the figure of the union which unites man
and wife, so that they are no longer twain, but one
flesh. And the inspired imagery is not restricted to

204 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

this narrower union, but grasps the wider union of
God with our humanity in the mystical Christ,

In the Old Testament Scripures the forty-fifth Psalm
is the great Epithalamium — the marriage song — of
Christ and his church. First the Psalmist addresses
the Royal Bridegroom : —

"Thou art fairer than the children of men, full of grace are
thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty,
according to thy worship and renown ; ride on because of
truth, of meekness, and of righteousness, and thy right hand
shall teach thee terrible things,

" Thy arrows are very sharp, and the people shall be sub-
dued unto thee, even in the midst, among the king's enemies.

" Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever ; the sceptre of thy
kingdom is a right sceptre ; thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity, therefore hath God anointed thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellows.

" All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of
the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad."

Then turning to the Bride he says : —

"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, incline thine ear;
forget also thine own people and thy father's house ; so shall
the king have pleasure in thy beauty, for he is thy Lord God
and worship thou him," &c.

And this symbolism is wrought out in greater de-
tail in the allegory of the Song of Solomon, which is
the elaborate expression of the love of redeemed
humanity for God, of the soul for its Lord, of the

THE FIRST MIRACLE.

church for Christ, of the bride for the Heavenly
Bridegroom.^

St. John the Baptist had already used the same
imagery when his disciples complained that the
people were deserting him and going to Christ : " He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom " (John iii. 29).

Our Lord frequently uses the same similitude: —
" The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain
King, which made a marriage for his son, and sent
forth his servants to call them that were bidden
to the wedding " (Matt, xxii.) represents the ex-
ternal aspect of the Church of Christ in this world.
The last scene of Christ's kingdom here on earth
is represented in one of the latest parables, " Then
shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten
virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet
the bridegroom" (Matt, xxv.) And "the mystical
union betwixt Christ and his church " is symbolised,
St. Paul tells us, by marriage (Eph. v. 22— end).

And so St. John in the Revelation : —

" I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thun-
derings, singing. Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready. And to her was granted that she should be anayed in
fine linen, clean and white ; for the tine linen is the righteous-

' See also Hosea ii. 14-20, &c.

2o6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

ness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb "
(Rev, xix. 6-10).

The marriage at Cana of Galilee was a type of his
kingdom, — his church — the nucleus of which was
already gathered together, and was there present with
him in the persons of his mother and his five
disciples.

It is more than a mere beautiful similitude, re-
peated so often because it so fittingly expresses the
mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his
church, — the noble, redeeming, protecting affection of
God, — the dependent, devoted, clinging love of the
human soul for God ; it is so profoundly true that the
highest act of worship which Christ ordained in his
church is that Feast on Bread and Wine, which is
more than a type, it is a foretaste, of the marriage
supper of the Lamb.

We recognise, then, a deep significance and pro-
priety in the occasion of " this beginning of miracles."

Again, we find the significance of the miracle in
the nature of it : the turning of the common element
of water into the nobler wine which invigorates and
" maketh glad the heart of man." Isaiah uses
figurative language of the same kind : "Instead of the
thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle tree" (Isaiah Iv. 13).
" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad

THE FIRST MIRACLE. 207

for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose" (Isaiah xxxv. i), typifying that elevation
of the whole being and life of humanity to a
higher level which Christ came to effect in his king-
dom.

The whole incident also is significant of the tenor
of the life of Jesus. We have seen that it is most
probable that the family at Cana were relatives of
our Lord. The first act, then, of the Lord after He
has begun to gather together disciples is to take
them with Him", not into the wilderness to ascetic
discipline, not into the cities to teach and preach, but
into a home, to recognise the social ties and fulfil the
kindly sympathies of life.

2o8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SON OF MAN.

EFORE we go any further in the history
let us address ourselves to a question which
is one of legitimate interest to every student
of the life of our blessed Lord.

In every picture which represents a scene of the
Gospel history whether it be the nativity or a miracle
or the sacrifice of the cross, the part of the picture
upon which the artist has spent most time and
thought, and perhaps, like Fra Angelico, most
prayer, is the Divine figure in whom the interest
centres, whether it be as the holy child on His
mother's lap, or the Lord bidding the storm cease, or
the dying Saviour.

And we ourselves in endeavouring to meditate
upon these subjects, have to begin by painting a
mental picture of the scene, as truthfully and as
vividly as we can ; and we are thus led to consider,
not as a question of idle curiosity, but as a matter of
devout interest, whether there is any authentic repre-
sentation or description or any probable tradition of
the personal appearance of Jesus.

THE SOX OF MAX.

There is no reason why there might not be The
arts of painting and sculpture were at a high decree
of excellence at the time, and the custom of perpe-
tuatmg the likeness of great men was common The
atrium of every noble Roman house contained a
series of busts of ancestors, and the public places of
the cities were crowded with the statues of Emperors
and distinguished men. The public collections of
Europe contain hundreds of such ancient portraits of
■such merit as portraits and as works of art as modern
art can hardly equal.

We have it on record that the Emperor Alex-
ander Severus placed in his oratory statues of four
persons whom he considered to be great religious
teachers, viz., Abraham, Orpheus, Christ, and
Apollonius of Tyana. But this was two centuries
after Christ, and whether His statue was derived from
original portraits then extant, or was, like those of
Abraham and Orpheus, a mere ideal, we are not told
There are early pictorial representations of Our
Lord among the painted decorations of the Roman
Catacombs, and some of these paintings are as early as
the second century; but a glance at them is enough
to show that they are merely conventional symbolical
hgures, and were never intended to be portraits The
same judgment applies to the sculptured representa-
tions of Gospel scenes which are common on the
sarcophagi of the fifth and sixth centuries.

P

2IO A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

There are many legends which show that it was
a subject in which Christian people naturally
took a great interest. Such as the legend of the Veil
of St. Veronica : — that when our Lord was on His
way to Calvary, she lent Him her veil with which to
wipe the sweat of agony from His face, and that when
He returned it to her, a portrait of the sacred
features was found to have been miraculously im-
pressed upon it. Or that of Abgarus, king of
Edessa : — that he was a believer in Christ, and wrote
to invite him to his dominions, and that our Lord
declined to go, but sent the king a portrait of him-
self painted by St. Luke.

Such legendary portraits, with the growth of the
rage for relics, after the fourth century multiplied, so
that in the sixth century every principal city and
Christian community had some image, picture, cameo,
or other representation of Christ, each having a
legend which carried it back to the great original.
The superstition became so great and objectionable
that the Council of Constantinople in 754, A.D., con-
demned all pictures which pretended to have come
down from Christ or His apostles. Li fine, an ex-
haustive study of the subject leads to the conclusion
that no authentic portrait of our blessed Lord
exists.

There is not even a consistent tradition. At the
earliest period at which we find the subject under

THE SON OF MAN.

discussion, we find no historical statement of what
the Lord's appearance was, but only arguments as to,
what it was likely — from this or that consideration —
to be.

The earliest conjectures seem to have been founded
upon the evidence supplied by allusions in prophecy ;
and the conjecture which at first found favour was
derived from the famous prophecy in the 53rd
chapter of Isaiah : —

" He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see
liim there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is
despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief; and we hid, as it were, our faces from him ; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not."

It was perhaps the depressed condition of the
early church, when "not many wise, not many
learned, were called," which led it the more readily to
receive the idea that the Lord in his humiliation had
taken a form which was studiously mean and repul-
sive. A little later we find that other passages ol*
Scripture were quoted as leading to the opposite con-
clusion ; e.g.. Psalm xiv. 2.

"Thou art fairer than the children of men, full of grace arc
thy lips, because God hath blessed thee for ever."

" My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten
thousand; ... he is altogether lovely" (Cant. v. 10, 16).

Isaiah, speaking of the Christ, says (xxxiii. 17) —

'■'Thine eyes shall sec the king in his beauty."
1' 2

2J2 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

In support of these texts was urged the general
consideration that Christ being perfect man, the
perfections of his mind, and of his soul, must have
been manifested in the perfection of his bodily form
and feature.

There is a famous description of the personal ap-
pearance of our Lord which professes to have been
written by Publius Lentulus, a Roman friend of Pilate^
but was really written, it is more probable, about
the beginning of the fourth century. It is interest-
ing and, indeed, important, since it gives the general
character of face and person which art had probably
already adopted, and which the great Italian masters
and modern painters have accepted as the type for
their representations of Christ. The letter runs
thus : —

" At this time appeared a man who lives till now,
a man endowed with great powers. Men call him a
great prophet ; his own disciples call him the Son of
God. His name is Jesus Christ. He restores the
dead to life, and cures the sick of all manner of
diseases.

" This man is of noble and well-proportioned
stature, with a face full of kindness and yet firmness,
so that the beholders both love him and fear him.
His hair is the colour of wine [yellow probably] and
golden at the root — straight and without lustre, but
from the level of the ears curling and glossy, and

THE SON OF MAN.

divided down the centre after the fashion of the
Nazarenes \i.e. Nazarites]. His forehead is even and
smooth, his face without blemish, and enhanced by
a tempered bloom. His countenance ingenuous and
kind. Nose and mouth in no way faulty. His beard
is full, of the same colour as his hair, and forked
in form ; his eyes blue and extremely brilliant.

" In reproof and rebuke he is formidable ; in ex-
hortation and teaching gentle and amiable of
tongue. None have seen him to laugh, but many on
the contrary to weep. His person is tall, his hands
beautiful and straight. In speaking he is deliberate
and grave, and little given to loquacity. In beauty
surpassing most men."

This is not, we repeat, an authentic document,
and it is not the record of a consistent early tradition,
but it is a proof of the early adoption of that type
of person and countenance which has been generally
adopted by art, and which the devout imagination o\
subsequent ages has found satisfactory.

It will at once occur to the reader that golden hair
and blue eyes, and a blooming complexion, are not
the prevalent type of Eastern physiognomy. But it
is a type which does occur, though rarely, and is
highly regarded. We are reminded that David was
" ruddy and of a beautiful countenance,* and fair ot

' See I Sam. xvi. 12, iS ; xvii. 42.

214 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

eyes " (marginal reading), " a comely person," " ruddy
and of a fair countenance," which the commentators
assert to mean that he was of this rare type ; and
the thought is suggested that, as so often happens,
the constitution of the great ancestor had reappeared
in this remote descendant, and that there was a
special human propriety in his title of the Son of
David ; or, in other words, that David, the king,
warrior, statesman, prophet, poet, the man of widest
spiritual experience and deepest human sympathy of
all men known to us, was, more completely than we
commonly think, a type of David's Lord.

In one particular, we may be allowed to suggest,
artists seem to have often erred, viz., in representing
our Lord as of middle age. This one perfect un-
spoiled example of humanity, this flower of the great
human race, had only just entered upon His brilliant
manhood ; He was only thirty years of age when He
left the peaceful, pure, unworldly home in which
He had been reared, the mountain village in which
He had bloomed, and entered upon the grand career
of His public life and work. The gravity, wisdom,
and authority which appear in the narrative of the
ministry may well, indeed, give tlie impression of
ripened powers and experience ; and it adds to the
grandeur — and, what is more important, to the truth
— of our conception of the history if we bear in
mind that all this fjcntleness and sweetness was

THE SON OF MAN.

215

exhibited by a youth of brilliant genius, in the first
flush of a great career ; that He was little more than
a youth who manifested this ripe wisdom, and
practical sagacity, and lofty authority, and this
power of a great character over those with whom
He had to do.

His dress was that which had become almost
universal among the inhabitants of the Mediterranean
world — the tunic and pallium. His tunic, — " the coat
without seam, woven from the top throughout," —
is spoken of as if of more than usual value, the hand-
some gift, perhaps, of some devout disciple ; and
the pallium, we may suppose, would not be of inferior
material. A shawl of many colours may have girded
the white tunic about the middle, and the pallium
was not improbably striped like the modern haik of
the East. Sandals completed the simple, classical,
and dignified costume.

He was a man among men. There did not shine
forth from Him any token of superhuman dignity
which at once made Him a marked person, and set
Him apart from free association with His fellow men.
And He did not, by any unusual reserve of manner,
keep Himself aloof from others. He mingled among
men in a natural, frank, unpretending way. He
travelled about on foot, according to the custom, in
a country in which the roads are chiefly footpaths.
He conversed readily with the people about Him.

2i6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

He accepted the hospitalities offered Him. He had
a broad humaneness of character which was not of
any particular type. We Englishmen do not regard
Him as a Jew, so all the nationalities of Christen-
dom have regarded Him as a Man, with nothing
to narrow His humanity down to any particular
national type, so as to make them feel that He was
not of the same nationality as themselves.

We see the same absence of class feeling in His
intercourse with different ranks and classes of people.
He meets every one on the broad ground of common
humanity, man to man. He moves among the
highest of his countrymen with natural, unconscious
dignity ; He moves among the common people with
the frank, natural courtesy which respects the dignity
of manhood in the masses of mankind. He recog-
nises the essential equality of man to man.

But beyond this we see in Him a profound and
tender respect for the dignity of human nature, even
in the fallen and degraded — what wonder, since, in
His eyes, all mankind were fallen and degraded ;
and He esteemed fallen and degraded humanity
worth the Incarnation and the Cross to regenerate
and restore.

His courteous conversation with the woman ol
Sychar, His pathetic compassion for the penitent
woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and for
the woman taken in adultery, His acceptance of

THE SON OF MAX. 217

Matthew's invitation to dine with his fellow pub-
licans, His inviting Himself to dine with Zaccheus,—
these are only examples of that free association with
all classes which made the Pharisees complain that
" He was a friend of publicans and sinners," that " He
receiveth sinners and eatcth with them " ; criticisms
which drew from Him the blessed motive of his un-
usual conduct,—" The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost." He came from
heaven and took our nature upon Him in order to
seek and to save; so he puts Himself beside the
lowest on the ground of common humanity, and wins
confidence and sympathy, and then seeks to raise
the lowly to the level of His own perfect manhood.

One notable feature of our Lord's external
bearing is the calm and repose of His ordinary
manner. He is sympathetic but not emotional.
There is no effort, haste, eagerness, or anxiety ; it
is the calm of perfect faith, and consciousness
of power equal to the achievement. It is not the
result of natural impassibility. He looked round
with grief Qt the blindness and hardness of some ; He
ivept at the thought of the dreadful fate which He
prophesied against Jerusalem ; He spoke with stern
rebuke to Peter ; His eye kindled with anger as He
poured forth a scathing torrent of denunciation
against the Scribes and Pharisees—" Woe unto you^
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! "

2iS A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Is there not a trait of kindness of manner in the
numerous records of His laying His hand on people ?
He touched the eyes of the blind ; He ptit His fingers
in the ears of the deaf ; He laid His hand upon the
sick ; it was His habit. He could do no mighty
work there, save that he laid His hand upon a few
sick folk and healed them. " When the sun was set"
they brought the sick, " and He laid His hands npon
every one of tJiein, and healed them." He called the
deformed woman to Him .... and He laid His
hands on her, and immediately she was made
straight. "He took the blind man by the hand, and
led him out of the town, and then pat His hands
upon himl' To the leper Jesus pnt forth His hana
and touched him. Peter's mother-in-law ; He took
her by the hand, and immediately the fever left her.
He took Jairus's daughter " by the hand." So with
children, " He took a child and set him in the midst
of them,and when He had taken Him in Wisarms^' Sic,
He said unto them, " Suffer the little children to
come unto Me .... and He took them zip in His
arms, and put His hajids upon them, and blessed
them."

All this may help us to realise the true humanness
of the Son of Man, who at the same time was
Son of God, the perfect human naturalness of the
life of Him who at the same time was in heaven
(John iii. 13).

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 2:9

CHAPTER XXV.

THE HOLY CITY.

ERUSALEM differed from all the other
great capitals of ancient or modern times
in this, that it was a mountain city.
Situated on the backbone of limestone hills, which
runs from north to south through the middle of the
country, the ravines west south and east of it iso-
lated it on three sides, and though surrounded by
loftier hills, gave it the safety and dignity of a pre-
cipitous site.

It was architecturally a grand city. The pile of
buildings which constituted the Temple, on its
eastern hill, was one of the wonders of the world ;
the series of fortresses and towers which protected
and adorned the city were not unworthy of the last
builder of the Temple.

The fortress-palace of Antonia on the north-east,
as described by J osephus, was a grand building ; and
the palace of Herod, in the north-west angle of the
city, with the group of wall towers adjoining and
communicating with it, formed another grand group
of buildings ; and between these two groups extended

220 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

a strong and lofty wall strengthened by mural towers ;
the whole forming a strong series of defences on the
north side, where the city was most accessible. A
less massive wall, with the usual mural towers run-
ning along the edge of the steep declivities and
picturesquely following their sinuosities, was enough
to complete the natural defences of the city on the
other sides. Internally, while the general slope
of the plateau was from west to east, the lines of
streets ran in parallel lines from north to south.
The old Asmonean palace, adorned by Herod, occu-
pied the Summit of the hill of Zion, on its eastern side,
overlooking the Temple. The Xystus adjoined it.
The palace of the High Priest was in the same quarter
of the city.

No doubt the courtiers of Herod the Great and the
other princes of the country had imitated his ex-
ample in the sumptuousness of their residences in the
capital. And though Herod's palace was now only
occupied by the Roman Procurator on his visits at the-
Feasts, yet the High Priest, and the chief priests, and
the members of the Sanhedrim, had their sumptuous
residences in the city, and the wealthy nobles of the
whole country probably had their palaces there,,
which they occupied on their periodical visits at the
great festivals.

Again, Jerusalem differed from other capitals in
this, that it was the centre of a great periodical

THE HOLY CITY.

pilgrimage. We are all familiar with descriptions of
the gathering of the annual caravan of pilgrims
outside Cairo and its march across the desert to
Mecca ; and with descriptions of the Christian
pilgrims who every Easter crowd into the Jordan
and struggle for a place at the holy sepulchre. These
descriptions may help us to realise the scenes which
Jerusalem witnessed three times a year at the great
festivals.

For a week before the festival the whole country
from Dan to Becrsheba was in motion. The inha-
bitants of each little hill-top village set out together
in their best array, trooping across the hills in cheerful
groups ; at every cross road they fell in with similar
groups, and as these crowds fell into the great main
roads of the country, they formed an almost continu-
ous stream of pilgrims. On their way to the Passover
one man in each family would carry a lamb across
his shoulders for the sacrifice ; if the feast of
Tabernacles was the occasion, one of each group
would bear a basket loaded with corn, fruits, grapes,
and flowers, the firstfruits of the land. They
lightened the journey with songs. And thus, rising
before dawn, resting in the heat of the day, and
journeying again till night, the streams of pilgrims
marched up towards the holy city and poured into
all its gates. Not only the inhabitants of the hoh'
land, but large bodies from the great colonics of their

222 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

race, and groups from all the large towns of the
civilised world came up to every feast. A caravan
from Mesopotamia/ and another from Damascus,
mostly perhaps on horseback, taking the road down
the Jordan valley and going up through Jericho. A
caravan from Alexandria and another from Cyrene
and another from Cyprus crowding the decks of the
ships which landed those at Joppa and these at Ptole-
mais. A caravan of Idumaeans coming through the
rocky defiles of the mountains of Moab. Individuals
from still more widely scattered places, " Parthians,
and Medes.and Elamites,and the dwellers in Mesopo-
tamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and
Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the
parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,
Jews and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians," all
flocked up to the great national festivals at the
holy city. The great majority on foot in family

^ Jews, according to Philo, were very numerous at this period
in Mesopotamia, especially in the cities on both banks of the
Euphrates. Petronius, the Prefect of Syria, was so struck with
the great numbers which came to Jerusalem at the feast from
those quarters that he feared a powerful force of them might
come thence to help their countrymen to resist the setting-up
of the Emperor's image in the Temple. One quarter of Alex-
andria, then the second city of the empire, was inhabited by
Jews ; their quarter was divided by walls and gates from the rest
cf the city, and they were ruled by their own officers under their
own laws. There were other great colonies of Jews, in Cyrenaica,
Cyprus, and Antioch.

THE HOLY CITY

o-roups, the richer famiHes on horseback with servants
and sumpter horses ; the princes of the land, and
chieftains who had travelled from far through
dangerous deserts and defiles, with armed escorts.
Philip the tetrarch from his capital of Caesarea with
his guard of Babylonian horsemen ^ clad in armour ;
Herod Antipas, from Macherus, surrounded by his
" lords, high captains and chief estates of Galilee,"
and guarded by his Gallic^ mercenaries. The Pro-
curator also always came up from Caesarea-by-the
Sea, with a strong force of legionaries and of horse-
men, and took up his residence in the palace of
Herod the Great, to maintain order and to guard
against fanatical outbreaks on the part of the im-
mense number of pilgrims in a state of religious
excitement, which had more than once occurred."

It is estimated that the number of pilgrims
present at the Passover when Titus laid siege to
the city, amounted to two millions seven hundred
thousand and two hundred.

They filled the houses, they pitched their tents on
the open ground around the Temple,^ and perhaps
in the open spaces— the " broad places "—of the city,

1 See Josephus, "Antiquities," XVII., 2, § 2 ; XIII., n, § i;
"Wars," II., 17, §9-

2 E.g., at the Passover after the death of Herod the Great
and that of the following year, Josephus, "Wars," II., i, § 3-

3 Josephus, "Antiquities," XVII., 9, § 3.

224 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

they lodged in the adjoining villages. From early
dawn till nightfall, and during the Passover through
all the moon-light night, the streets of Jerusalem
were filled with a bustling multitude, and the great
court and wide porticos of the Temple were crowded
with devotees.

It is here, at Jerusalem, at the Feast, that we
should have expected that the Messiah would have
been proclaimed, and would have wrought His
beginning of miracles. As His brethren said on a
later occasion, " If Thou do these things, show
Thyself to the world " ; and our Lord's reply to
them may answer us : " My time is not yet come " ;
but He did go up to the Feast.

So not many days after the miracle at Cana, " the
Feast of the Passover was at hand, and Jesus went
up to Jerusalem."

His first manifestation of Himself was by the exer-
cise of an act of authority in the Temple. For the
convenience of the pilgrims, oxen and sheep for
sacrifice were allowed to be kept for sale in the outer
court of the Temple itself; and since the offering to the
treasury of the Temple of Roman or Greek money,
with its idolatrous images, was regarded as a pro-
fanation, the money-changers were allowed to have
their tables in the court in order to exchange these
foreign moneys for shekels.

"And Jesus found in the Temple those that sold

THE HOLY CITY.

oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money
sitting : and when he had made a scourge of small
cords," — after the symboHcal manner of the ancient
prophets, — " he drove them all out of the Temple, and
the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers'
money, and overthrew the tables, and said unto them
that sold doves, Take these things hence ; make not
my Father's house an house of merchandise " (John
ii. 13-16).

The people seem to have submitted to this
peremptory treatment, His majesty overbore all feeling
<)f resistance ; they recognised that tie who thus
acted claimed to be a prophet, and to be acting by
Divine command. This explains, also, the action of
the authorities of the Temple, who did not find fault
with his rebuke of a practice which they had per-
mitted, but only asked him, " What sign showest
thou, seeing that thou doest these things .?" — Prove
thy claim to this character, and justify this action, by
the usual miraculous credentials ; by some sign, for
example, like Elijah's fire from heaven on Carme!
or Isaiah's going back of the sun-dial of Ahaz
They recognised that he claimed that old prophetic
authority, akin to the dictatorial authority in the
ancient republic of Rome, — which superseded all
f)rdinary magistracies ; but they asked for a verifi-
cation of his claim.

"Jesus answered, Destroy this temple, and in three
Q

226 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

days I will raise it up." The Evangelist explains
that He spake of the temple of His body, and that
He referred to His resurrection. This was the sign He
offered. And we remember that on two subsequent
occasions when they asked for a sign He said, "A
wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign ; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of
the prophet Jonas " (Matt. xii. 39 ; xvi. 4). The
offered sign was again His resurrection from the dead.

We note, then, that from the first, and always, he
foreknew His own resurrection, and that He appealed
to it, from the first, as the great evidence of his
character and words. This ambiguous application of
the word temple to his body requires a little further
consideration. We are familiar with the idea, because
St. Paul says of our bodies that they are " Temples
of the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us" (Cor. vl. 19),
and this is through our unity in the Body of Christ.
The Temple was a temple because God dwelt in it,
and our Lord's humanity was a Temple because God
the Son dwelt in it. We recognise, then, in this
utterance a covert allusion to the fact of the union of
the Divinity with the humanity in His Person.

Again, we note that, as on the first occasion of His
coming to the Temple at twelve years old, He had
called it His Father's house, — " Wist ye not that I
must be in my Father's house .?" (Luke ii. 49), so now
again He uses the same phrase, "Make not my Father's

THE HOL Y CITY. 227

house an house of merchandise " : calling God His
Father, and Himself the Son of God. The phrase
might be taken in a lower sense as one of the recog-
nised titles of the Messiah, in which it had already
been applied to him by Nathanael, in which the Jews
would in all probabilitv understand our Lord to use
it now. But we can hardly doubt that the higher
sense was always latent in the title when applied to
the Messiah. Thus our Lord, in His first public
utterance in the Temple before assembled Israel,
claims to be the Messiah, and acts with authority in
the House of God ; enunciates the great truth which
lies at the root of His Person and Work ; and appeals
to His Resurrection from the dead on the third day
as the great and sufficient evidence of it all.

We gather from a cursory remark of St. John that
our Lord proceeded during the days of the Feast to
work miracles, — which are not specified, — and that
"many believed in His name "when they saw them
(John ii. 23). The incident in the Temple could not
have happened without creating a considerable sen-
sation, and the subsequent miracles would greatly
intensify the public interest in this remarkable person
who had so suddenly appeared in the midst of them..

The incident of Nicodemus's visit to our Lord shows
that Jesus had attracted attention in the very highest
ranks of the nation. It is not our purpose to dwell

228 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

here on our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus,
but we may briefly point out that St. John seems
to give the heads of our Lord's discourse, and that
these brief heads include the great truths of His
Gospel : —

His own pre-existence in heaven, " No man hath
ascended up to heaven but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of Man " ; with the further
mysterious indication of his simultaneous life in
earth and in heaven, — " even the Son of Man, which
is in heaven " ; His mission by the father, and the
object of his coming, " God so loved the world, that
he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have ever-
lasting life " ; His sacrifice, and the saving effect of
it, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that who-
soever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life " ; fallen man's incapacity for the
higher life, without a re-impartation of the Holy
Spirit, " Except a man be born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God " ; a promise of the gift of
that Spirit to those who should enter into the new
dispensation, " Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God " ; entering into the kingdom of heaven, then,
was not merely entering into an earthly reign of peace
and righteousness, but was being grafted into a higher

THE HOLY CITY. 229

phase of spiritual life, so that it was like being born
over again into a new and heavenly life. The mystery
of the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God,
pardon through the sacrifice of the cross, faith in
Christ, the work of the Spirit, the agency of the
church, all arc here.

We note that our Lord did not begin with high-
raised expectations of immediate acceptance among
His people. He foresaw His death from the first. He
did not gradually develope a scheme of doctrine, we
find all the essential features of it, its deepest and
highest truths, in His very first discourse.

:230 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXVI.

LANDMARKS OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY.

N Studying the early portion of the Lord's
life, the aim of this work has required us to
consider with some completeness all the

incidents of the life which the Evangelists have
recorded. But in dealing with the abundant materials
which the sacred narratives supply of the public
ministry, the limits, within which it is desirable that
this work should be restricted, will compel us to
pursue a different method. We shall have to select
the features which seem to be of special importance
to our aim. But it seems desirable to endeavour to
give, though ever so briefly, a connected sketch of the
public ministry, arranged, — so far as it can be so
•arranged, — in chronological order, and to point out
the broad features which characterise its different
portions.

There are certain great landmarks which help us
to grasp and remember the plan and progress of the
history.

First of all, we call attention to two very important
events, or groups of events, which enable us to divide

LANDMARKS OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY.

the period into three portions, each of which has its
special characteristic features. These critical groups
of events are,— (i) the Confession of our Lord's
Divinity by the Apostles, the Discourse on the
Church and Ministry, the Prophecy of the Passion
and Death, and the Transfiguration ; (2) The Trium-
phant Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

The first portion of the public life previously to
Peter's confession was spent chiefly in Galilee, with
the occasional visits to Jerusalem at the feasts, which
were the duty of a pious ]^^w. The teaching is chiefly
an unfolding to sympathising hearers of the nature of
the kingdom,— as in the conversations with Nico-
demus and the Samaritan woman, the Sermon on
the Mount, the group of Parables of Matt, xiii.,
and the Discourse on the Bread of Life, in the syna-
gogue of Capernaum (J jhn vi.). The majority of the
miracles were wrought in this earlier half of the
ministry. Especially we notice that, immediately
on his entering upon the Mcssiahship, he began to
gather disciples ; at an early period he chose the
twelve Apostles ; after they had been his constant
companions for some months he sent them out to
preach, and they returned to him towards the end of
this first portion of the histor^^ A thoughtful con-
sideration of the subject will show that, throughout
this period the Lord was gradually leading the
Apo.stles up to the confession of his Divinity.

232 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The second portion of the public ministry which
follows the confession of the Divinity presents these
especial characteristics : the scene of the history is,
not entirely but for the most part, in Jerusalem and
Judea, and the country beyond Jordan ; miracles do
not cease, but they become less frequent. The dis-
courses are of two kinds, (a) to the Apostles, arc
specially adapted to prepare them for the passion
and death of their Lord, and the spiritual nature of
the kingdom ; ()3) to outside hearers, and these are
no longer instructions addressed to a multitude of
more or less sympathising hearers, but arguments
addressed to disbelievers, disputations with opponents,
parables aimed at the prejudices of the people, and
denunciations of the hypocrisy and wickedness of the
Pharisaic sect.

The third portion of the public life, from the
triumphal entry into Jerusalen to the death upon
the cross, extends only over six days, but its history
in the Gospels occupies as large a space as either of
the others, and is crowded with events of infinite
consequence. The actors in the great drama are
now brought on the stage together — disciples and dis-
believers, chief priests and scribes, Sadducees and
Pharisees, Roman governor and Herodian king ; the
doctrine of the previous ministry is brought to a
focus — the claim to Divinity and to Royalty, the
prophecy of Passion and of Resurrection ; the most

LANDMARKS OF THE P UBLIC MINISTR V. 235

striking parables, the keenest controversies with oppo,
ncnts, the most sublime discourses to the disciples;
the grandest events, the Triumph, the Last Supper,
the Betrayal, the Agony in the Garden, the Arrest,
the Trial, the Passion, and the Death.

We shall endeav'our to summarise the first and
second of these portions of the public ministry.
The consideration of the Confession of the Divinity,
and of the Triumphal Entry will require an ampler
exposition ; and in studying the solemn events of
the Holy Week, and the great events which follow,
it will again be necessary to adopt the more detailed
method of the earlier oortion of the wotk.

234 ^ DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXVII.

SUMMARY OF THE GALILEAN MINISTRY.

OW long Jesus remained in Jerusalem on the
occasion of the first Passover of His public
ministry is not stated, perhaps only for the
week of the feast. He next went not to Nazareth or to
Capernaum, but back to the Jordan where he kept a
body of disciples about Him. He took up John's
preaching "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,^' and
His disciples baptized those who offered themselves.
The natural jealousy of John's disciples when they
saw that Jesus baptized and all men came to him,
brought forth that reply of the Baptist's so sublime in
its humility and self-abnegation " a man can receive
nothing except it be given him from heaven. Ye
yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the
Christ, He that hath the bride is the bride-
groom . . . He must increase, but I must decrease "
(John iii. 27-30). And he renews his testimony to
Him in remarkable words " He that cometh from
above is above all, he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit by
measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and

THE GALILEAN MLYISTRY,

hath given all things into his hand. He that be-
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him" (John iii. 31-36).

After a period of uncertain duration John was
seized and cast into prison, and tlien it would seem
Jesus also closed His ministry of preparation and
entered upon another phase of his work.

On His way to Galilee, by the nearest route across
Samaria, he came to the neighbourhood of Sychar.
And while His disciples went into the neighbouring
town to buy provisions, he sat to rest by the famous
Well of Jacob, which was in the wide entrance of the
valley in whose narrower gorge the town is situated.
It was now that the I'emarkable conversation occurred
with the Samaritan woman who came from the neigh-
bouring town to draw water. We can only point out
the chief significance of the conversation which St.
John has given at some length. After allegorising
the water of the well, and speaking of the approach-
ing changes which should abrogate the temple
worship, he is at length led to reveal himself to
her.

" The woman saith, I know that Messias cometh, which
is called Christ : when he is come he will teach us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he."

We can only call attention to this remarkable re-
velation of himself to this Samaritan woman, His con-

236 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

sent to stay in their town and teach them more fully ;
the belief of many ; the terms in which they expre-ss
their belief indicating the burden of his teachings
"we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour
of the world."

This Avas the only occasion on which our Lord
preached to the Samaritans : — " I am not sent,"
He said, "but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." This was an instance of His readiness, to
preach in season and out of season, and to give
of His truth and grace to all who sought it of
Him.

Arrived in Galilee He entered upon that systematic
tour of preaching and working miracles of which sa
many incidents are recorded by the first three Evan-
gelists. His reputation had preceded Him, " there
went a fame of him through all the region round
about" (Luke iv. 14) ; "the Galileans received him,,
having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at
the feast'' (John iv. 45). At first he joined on his
preaching to that of John and to his own previous-
Ministry of preparation. He "came into Galilee
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and
saying : — The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand, repent ye and believe the Gospel "^
(Mark i. 15). We call attention to the remarkable
phrase " the gospel of the Kingdom of God " ; it
expresses in a phrase that which is the fact, but

THE GALILEAX MIXISTRY.

which is often overlooked, viz., that Christianity
was presented to mankind not as a new rehgion,
— since the fall there had only been one Religion,
salvation through faith in the atonement of the
sacrifice of the Son of God, — it was presented as
the establishment of a kingdom, a divine or
heavenly Kingdom upon earth, destined to be
universal and everlasting.

The first incident recorded is the second miracle at
Cana, when a certain officer of the court of Herod
Antipas whose son was sick at Capernaum, hearing
that Jesus was in Cana, w^ent thither, and obtained
by his faith and importunity the gracious assurance,
" Go thy way thy, son liveth," and at that very hour he
found afterwards the fever had left him. Next we
hear of Him at Nazareth, where He had been brought
up ; at first " they wondered at the gracious words
which proceeded out of his mouth " ; but on His pro-
ceeding to intimate that He could not work any
miracle among them because of their want of faith
in Him, they justified his judgment of them by a
sudden outbreak of violence, in which they sought
His life. It would almost seem as if He thus offered
to reside where He had been brought up, and
only on their proving the truth of His words
that a prophet hath no honour in his own
country, " leaving Nazareth, came and dwelt in
Capernaum."

238 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Hitherto Jesus had had disciples ; now He pro-
ceeds to a further step in the organisation of the
kingdom : — He began to select His apostles, men
who should be hearers of all His teachings, formed
on His example, that they might hereafter be His
witnesses, the depositories of His doctrine, the foun-
dation stones of His church, the ministers of His grace,
and the executors of His will. On the same day, it
would seem, He called Peter and Andrew, James and
John ; and, after the significant miracle of the draught
of fishes, in which He showed how He would give
them success as "fishers of men," "they brought
their ships to land, and forsook all, and followed
Him " (Matthew iv. i8, 22 ; Mark i. 11, 20 ; Luke v.
I, 11). The other apostles He probably selected from
time to time within a short period.

At Capernaum his teaching and his miracles rapidly
increased his fame : —

" Straightway on the Sabbath-day he went to the synagogue,
and taught, and they were astonished at his doctrine, for he
taught them as one that had authority, and not as the
scribes."

He did not merely interpret Scripture as a com-
mentator on God's word, He spoke as one who had
a new word from God to deliver. Moreover, in the
midst of the .synagogue service a remarkable inci-
dent occurred. There was present one possessed

239

-.Ar>TVC •

{oUo«ed,*; Jesus'^* , ^„„e o"*^ „-,ed

saying- " tv^teNV l^>f" „ T;hey ««"= ' . ., , what
'^"'i *' T atne out of l^--^- ^,,, *»^g '= *'^av>de*

t-;re:i-:-:tt^-s::\o:.a

-^e even ^^ evangev ^^^ ^^ te^

" ^"'^•" 'Id abroad *t°"f .\„^ce iv, 33)- ^^„,«ent
fame spread a ^^^^ ^ ,, ^ l^ setv.ce 3<=f ^,,

=^'* , thefevef ^^f' ^'': ' resumed h<=' ;„„5trio"s

btougW ti ^„d W

every o-^<= °'

240 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

outof many, crying- and saying, Thou artChrist the Son
of God" (Matt. viii. 14; Mark i. 29; Luke iv. 38).

"And in the morning" of the next day, "rising up a
great while before day, he went out and departed
into a sohtary place, and there prayed. And Simon
and they that were with him followed him, and when
they had found him they said unto him, All men
seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go
into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for
therefore came I forth." And He commenced that
missionary tour which St. Matthew thus summarises, —

"Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all
manner of sickness, and all manner of disease, among the
people" (Matt. iv. 23).

Among the miracles of healing thus alluded to, the
healing of a leper is particularly mentioned by all
three evangelists, perhaps because, leprosy being
looked upon as a divinely-sent infliction, and a special
type of sin, its cure was a striking evidence of divine
power, and a type of the healing of the sins of
human nature (Matt. viii. 2 ; Mark i. 40 ; Luke v. 12).
On the occasion of a return to Capernaum we read
that " it was noised abroad that he was in the house.
And straightway many were gathered together, inso-
much that there was no room to receive them, no,
not so much as about the door, and he preached the
word unto them," This was the time of the cure of

THE GALILEAN MINISTRY. 241

the paralytic let down " through the roof " ; and is
remarkable as the first instance recorded in which
Jesus connected spiritual absolution with healing;
and the Scribes and Pharisees who were present
accused him of blasphemy, — " Who is this which
speaketh blasphemies ? Who can forgive sins but God
alone ? " and He asserted that " the Son of Man hath
power on earth to forgive sins." And the people
" were all amazed and glorified God, which had given
such power unto men," and "were filled with fear,
saying, We have seen strange things to-day " (Luke
v. 21-26, and Matt. ix. 8).

About this time occurred the call of St. Matthew
from the receipt of custom to be an apostle.

Here may be intercalated the visit to Jerusalem
for one of the feasts, recorded in the fifth chapter of
St. John ; which had serious results, and forms a
turning point in the history. Jesus healed the man
who lay in the porch of Bethesda on the Sabbath-day.
The rulers considered this a breach of the command-
ment, and concluded from it against His pretensions to
be the Messiah :— " This man is not of God, because
he keepeth not the Sabbath." In His defence of Him-
self from the charge he made claims which still further
alarmed and outraged the hearers. Our Lord appeals
to John's testimony ; He appeals to His own miracles ;
He appeals to the voice of God at His baptism ; He
appeals to the Scriptures : —

242 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

" Ye sent imto John and he bare witness unto the truth ;
but I have greater witness than that of John, for the works
which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that
I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me. And
the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of

me Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think that ye

have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."

" The Jews sought the more to kill him because he
not only had broken the Sabbath, but said that God
was his father, making himself equal with God." This
was the beginning of the open antagonism of the chief
men of the nation against Jesus, which ultimately re-
sulted in His trial, condemnation, and death.

St. Matthew groups together with this violation of
the Sabbath two other similar instances, — the plucking
the ears of corn on the Sabbath, as they walked through
the cornfields, and the healing of the man with the
withered hand in the synagogue of Capernaum (Matt,
xii. I, 9). There are two other instances recorded
(five in all) in which Christ disregarded the Phari-
saical mode of keeping the Sabbath ; healing the
man with the dropsy at the house of the Pharisee
(Luke xvi. 7), and healing the man who was born
blind at Jerusalem, at the time of one of the Feasts
(Luke vi. 14). They made it the test question on
which they decided against his claims; while our
Lord's persistence in thus dealing with the Sabbath,
and his declaration, " the Son of Man is Lord also of
the Sabbath," seems to indicate that some deep

THE GALILEAN MINISTRY. 243

significance lay beneath his persistence. Was it that
the question was whether the Messiah was to be tested
by the glosses which the Pharisees had put on the
law and the prophets ; or whether the reasoning of
the paralytic was to be admitted by the Pharisees, —
" He that made me whole said unto me, Take up
thy bed and walk " ; and of the blind man who said,
" Herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not
whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if
any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will,
him he heareth : if this man were not of God, he
could do nothing " ; and of the people, " Can a man
that is a sinner do these miracles that this man doeth?"
Their final conclusion was, as we learn from all the
Evangelists, that the Pharisaic party, whose religious
prejudices were offended, took counsel with the
Herodian party, who were afraid of the civil tumults
which the enthusiasm of the people for this claimant
of the Messiahship might occasion, " what they might
do to Jesus," says St. Luke ; " how they might destroy
him," say St. Matthew and St. I\Iark.

We call attention to the next important step in the
development of the Lord's " plan." He had returned
to Galilee, where the people were still generally
disposed in His favour.

" And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a
mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

R 2

244 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

And when it was day he called unto him his disciples, and out
of them HE CHOSE TWELVE, whom he ordained that they should
be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and
to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils ; whom
he also named apostles."

It was a great manifestation of power, that He
could not only work miracles Himself, but that He
could give to others the same power. It was a great
step in the organisation of His church.

He addressed an ordination charge to these newly-
appointed ministers, recorded Matt. x. 5-42.

The Sermon on the Mount seems to have fol-
lowed soon after the ordination of the apostles. It
is an elaborate declaration of the relation of the New
Dispensation to the Old. As the law was given
from Mount Sinai, as the blessings and cursings were
pronounced when Israel entered Canaan from Ebal
and Gerizim, so now our Lord enunciates the new
law, and it begins with the blessings and cursings
of the Gospel Covenant. ^

The most striking feature of this great discourse is
the assumption by Christ of authority to deal with
the law, given by God under such awful sanctions,
amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Mount
Sinai, spoken with His own voice, written with His
own finger upon the monuments of stone. He declares

* We assume that St. Luke's sermon (vi. 20-end) is the same
as St. Matthew's sermon (v., vi., vii.).

THE GALILEAN MIXISTRY. 245

that He did not come to abrogate the old law but to
fulfil, — to fill full, i.e. to complete it. And so He takes
the Decalogue, and extends it beyond outward acts
to words, and thoughts, and intentions. Not only.
Do not kill, but do not give way to excessive anger;
not only, Do not commit adultery, but do not indulge
a loose thought. The old law tells men what they
are to do and not to do ; the new law tells them what
they ought to be. The old law speaks of outward
manifestations of evil ; the new law deals with the
character and dispositions of the heart. At the end
of the sermon St. Matthew repeats the remark that
the people " were astonished at his doctrine, for he
taught them as one having authority, and not as the
Scribes " (Matt. vii. 28, 29).

About this time must be placed the renewed decla-
ration, made by all three evangelists, of the continued
spread of Christ's reputation, not only throughout
Judea and Samaria and Galilee, but " throughout
all Sy/ia," and "Decapolis" (Matt. iv. 24, 25), in
Idumea and beyond Jordan, and the country of Tyre
and Sidon (Mark Hi. i — 12, and Luke vi. 17-19);
and how " great multitudes " from those countries
" followed him," and brought their sick to Him, and
He healed them, " and the whole multitude sought to
touch him, for there went virtue out of him and
healed them all" (Luke vi. 19).

To about this period also belongs the fact, men-

246 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

tioned by all three evangelists, that His relatives came
to expostulate with Him on the danger He ran in
denouncing the Pharisees, and to use their influence
to restrain Him.

Besides the Twelve thus solemnly called out and
ordained, there was also a group of women who
attached themselves to Jesus. We are first told of
them in Luke viii. i, 3, when some of the most pro-
minent of theni are expressly named : " Mary called
Magdalene, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's
steward, and Susanna, and many others, who
ministered to him of their substance." This is in the
earlier part of the ministry. We are told of them
again at the cross: —

" Many women were beholding afar off, which followed Jesus
from Galilee, ministering unto him, among whom was Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the
mother of Zebedee's children" (Matt, xxvii. 55, 56).

During His subsequent journey through Galilee He
was accompanied by these two groups, the group of
apostles and the group of ministering women.

Some of the incidents of the journey are the heal-
ing of the Centurion's servant, in which He fore-
told the admission of the Gentiles, the failure of the
Jews.

" Verily, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
And I say unto you, that many shall come, &c., and shall sit
down in the kingdom of God, but the children of the kingdom
shall be cast out" (Matt. viii. 10-12).

THE GALILEAN MINISTRY.

The raising of the widow's son at Nain. The first
of the raisings from the dead, which sent a new
thrill of wonder and rejoicing through the people.

"There came a great fear upon all, and they glorified God,
saying that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God
hath visited his people" (Luke vii. i6).

The message from John the Baptist ; the anoint-
ing of His feet by the sinner in the house of
Simon the Pharisee; the healing of the blind and
dumb man, when the Scribes from Jerusalem ex-
plained his miracles by attributing them to Satanic
power.

In the usual harmonies of the Gospel the parables
of the 13th chapter of St. Matthew are introduced
here, but it is difficult to suppose that our Lord
had not from the beginning of his public ministry
made use of this striking form of popular teaching
which he continued to employ to the end.

The same day at evening as he crossed the lake
occurred the stupendous miracle of the stilling of the
storm, when : —

" He rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea. Peace, be
still ! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." " And
they feared exceedingly, and said one to another. What manner
of man is this, that even the wind and sea obey him 1 " (Matt,
viii. ; Mark iv. ; Luke viii.)

And having arrived at the south-east corner of the
lake, He landed and proceeded towards the city of

?A^ A DEVOTIONAL LIFE Op OUR LORD.

Gadara, and on the way healed the two demoniacs,
and suffered the devils to go into the herd of swine,
and when the people in fear besought Him to depart
out of their country He allowed himself to be rejected
by them ; but sent the demoniac, who wished to follow
Him, back to his own city to be his witness to them of
" what great things Jesus had done for him, and had
had compassion on him " (Mark v. 19).

On His return to Capernaum He healed the woman
who had an issue of blood, and raised Jairus's
daughter. Afterwards He healed two blind men, and
a dumb man possessed, when the Pharisees again
said " He casteth out devils through the prince of the
devils " (Matthew ix. 27, 34). Yet again He seems to
have visited Nazareth ("his own country") and
taught in their synagogue, but they were offended at
Him.

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of
James, and Joses, and Juda, and Simon ? And are not his
sisters here with us ? And he marvelled because of their unbe-
lief."

The apostles having been in attendance on their
Lord for some time. He now sent them out through
the villages to preach, saying "the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand," and gave them power to work
miracles to attract attention to their mission, and to
authenticate their message. " They departed and
went through the towns preaching the Gospel [" that

THE GALILEAX MIXISTRY.

=4';

men should repent " Mark vi.] and healing every-
where." "And they returned and told him all things
both what they had done, and what they had taught"
<Mark vi.).

About now, after a year's imprisonment, John the
Baptist was beheaded in prison.

About this time we must place the miracle ot
the feeding of the five thousand with the five loaves
and a few small fishes. A miracle so important
that it is the only one which is mentioned in
all the Gospels. Not perhaps so striking in itselt
as many other of the miracles, but important
in its spiritual significance, as evolved in our
Lord's subsequent discourse founded upon it.
" Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life ;
which the son of man shall give unto you ;" "the
bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven
and giveth life unto the world ;" " I am the bread ot
life ;" " I am the living bread which came down from
heaven : if any man eat of this bread he shall live
for ever; and the bread which I will give is my
flesh which I will give for the life of the world."
And w^hen they objected, " How can this man give
us his flesh to eat.?" He reiterated more impres-
■sively : —

" Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

250 A DEVOTIO^AL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day, for my flesh is meat
indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, dvvelleth in me and I in him. As the
living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that
eateth me even he shall live by me " (John vi. 27, &c.).

It was a plain declaration of His own pre-existence
in heaven ; that He came down from heaven to give
spiritual life, everlasting life to mankind ; that this
life depended for every man on a living union with
Christ ; that this union was effected by " eating "
Him. In speaking of his flesh and blood there was
a covert allusion to his death. In speaking of his
flesh being meat indeed and his blood drink indeed
there was a plain allusion to the great Sacrament of
the Holy Communion, which He would afterwards
appoint.

There was something in this teaching which
offended many of those who hitherto were reckoned
among his disciples. We gather that it was the de-
claration that he came down from heaven : "Is not this
Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we
know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from
heaven ?" and the remonstrance of Jesus is " Doth
this offend you .'' What, and if ye shall see the Son
of man ascend up where he was before .''" " How can
this man give us his flesh to eat .'"' they asked. Our
Lord replies, " It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh

THE GALILEAN MINISTRY.

profiteth nothing ; the words that I speak unto you
they arc spirit and they are life." It is not a gross
carnal eating of my material flesh I speak of, but a
spiritual manducation whereby you shall be par-
takers of mc. But notwithstanding " From that time
many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him." It was a turning-point in the history.
All the Jews were willing to receiv'e a Messiah after
their own ideas of him, but as the true nature of the
Messiah and His work was unfolded, the worldly-
minded and unbelieving fell off from Him ; the
spiritually-minded and believing were carried on,
often with difficulty and hesitation, but were carried
on to realise and embrace the great truth of the
divinity of the Saviour, and to be content with a
salvation through sacrifice, and to be willing to forego
their dreams of earthly power and splendour, and to
share their master's sufferings here that they might
be partakers of His kingdom and glory hereafter.
This is the first great development of the truth to
the general bod)" of the disciples, — it had already
been communicated to Nicodemus ; and this is the
first great defection of those who had been disciples.
The defection seems to have been so great as to
lead to the fear that it might extend even to those
most closely attached to Him : —

"Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away.'' Peter
answered, Lord, to whom shall we go.-' Thou hast the words of

2 52 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God."

Some still believed that He was the Messiah, that
His words were true, and they accepted this develop-
ment of His teaching, that He came down from
heaven, and that it was by union with Him that men
receive everlasting life. We must not omit to mention
that the miracles of the previous night, when Jesus
walked on the sea, and sustained Peter so that he
also walked on the sea, had strengthened their faith
in Him, so that " they that were in the ship came and
worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son
of God" (Matthew xiv. 33).

A journey to the country of Tyre and Sidon for
the sake of rest comes in here, with the incident of
the healing of the daughter of the Syro-Phoeni-
cian woman. On His return from this retreat
Jesus visited the region of the Ten Cities which
lay on the east side of the Lake of Galilee, inha-
bited by a mixed population, among whom were
only a proportion of Jews ; but the fame of Jesus had
gone forth there also, so that " great multitudes came
unto him, having with them those that were lame,
blind, dumb, maimed, and many others and cast
them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them ; inso-
much that the multitude wondered . . . and they
glorified the God of Israel " (Matthew xv. 30, 31).

The healing of the blind man at Bcthsaida-

THE GALILEAN MINISTRY. 253

Judias is one of this group of miracles (Mark viii.
22), and the feeding of the four thousand. Thence
He journeyed northward to Ca^sarea Philippi at the
foot of Hermon. Here we are arrived at the first of
the prominent groups which divide the period of the
ministry.

!54 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MIRACLES.

N devoting a chapter to the miracles of our
Lord, it is with the intention of making some
general observations only on this remark-
able feature of our Lord's work. We call to mind in
this connexion that " John worked no miracle," for
he did not bring any new revelation ; he did not share
in the work of Christ ; he came only to prepare the
way for Him who should bring the new and fullest
revelation, and establish the new and last dispensa-
tion. We observe that our Lord wrought no miracles
until He entered upon His office of Messiah. The
apocryphal gospels relate a number of miracles which
they say Jesus wrought in His infancy and boyhood,
and it is very natural that an inventor of a history of
Jesus should suppose that the divinity within Him
should manifest itself throughout His life in wonder-
ful ways. But we have already seen that the obscure
life of thirty years was a time of patient waiting and
preparation and self-restraint. It is in harmony with
the rest of the history that no miracles are wrought
till they are needed as a feature of the ministry.

THE MIRACLES. 255

As soon as Jesus has been designated as Messiah
by the word of prophecy, and by the voice and sign
from heaven, and has received the anointing of the
Holy Ghost, then miracles are expected from Him as
an appropriate part of the character of the Messiah.
The divine mission of Moses was authenticated by
miracle, and it was to be expected that the " Prophet
like unto Moses " (Deut. xviii. 15), who was to intro-
duce a better dispensation, would likewise prove His
divine authority by divine power. Isaiah had pro-
phesied that it would be so (xxxv. 5, 6). Every one
expected it. It is remarkable that before he had
exhibited any such power, Satan assumed his pos-
session of it, and the Temptation consisted, in part,
in the suggestion to make a wrongful use of it. It is
remarkable that His mother not only expected it, but
anticipated the time and way in which He would first
exercise it. The people expected it of the Messiah ;
the Jews said, " When Christ cometh will he do more
miracles than these which this man hath done?"
(John vii. 31). He Himself appealed to His miracles
on several occasions as one of the evidences that He
was the Messiah, e.g., when John sent two of his
disciples to ask, "Art thou he that should come, or
do we look for another ? " (Matt. xi. ; Luke vii.), and
to the people generally (John v. 36 ; xiv. 1 1.).

The last paragraph leads us on to the further
observation that the miracles were not intended to

-56 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

overawe and compel men to acknowledge His claims.
He was often ^ challenged to show a sign from heaven :
in this sense he always declined to do so ; and the
reason is easily discovered. It is that no wonders,
however striking, have the power to compel belief,
independently of the moral condition of those to
whom they are manifested. The miracles were
intended as one part, and an important part, of the
evidence of divine mission ; they called attention to
the miracle- worker; they strengthened and confirmed
the faith of those who were disposed to believe on
other grounds ; but they were not intended and were
not sufficient, to compel unwilling souls to believe.

When we observe that Jesus wrought no miracle
till he entered upon the office of the Christ, and that
Satan's temptation was to an abuse of the power
which He had recently received, but had not yet
exercised, we call to mind also the more general
observation which we have already had occasion to
make, that Jesus never exercised the power on His
own behalf. He willingly fed thousands of hungry
people, once and again, with miraculous bread, but
He refused to turn the stones into bread in His own
extremity. He could have allowed the Boanerges
to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans, who
refused Him hospitality, but instead, he journeyed
on to another village. His Father would, at His
' John ii. i8 ; Matt. xii. 38, xvi. i ; John iv. 48.

THE MIRACLES. 257

request, have sent twelve legions of angels to rescue
Him from arrest, but He bade Peter put up his hasty-
sword, and healed Malchus's ear, and gave His hands
to be bound. He could have come down from the
cross when they challenged Him to do so, as easily
as afterwards He rose from the sepulchre, but He
bore all till He could say, " It is finished ! " and then
He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. No, His
miraculous power was at the service of every comer,
to supply every one's desire, but He never used it on
His own behalf; He lived our ordinary life under its
ordinary conditions, and used neither His divine
attributes nor the supernatural powers entrusted to
Him for the work of His ministry so as to make His
lot different from ours.

When we gather together the miracles which are
related in detail in the Gospels, we find that they are
only about forty in number, but we must be careful
to give their full meaning to many passages which
•expressly tell us that very many more were actually
wrought.^ Those which are related have been selected,
most of them, as specimens of the ordinary kind of
miracles, and the way in which they were wrought,
some because of something peculiar and remarkable
in the circumstances.

' John ii. 23; Matt. viii. 16, and parallel passages; iv. 23,
xii. 15, and parallel passages ; Luke vi. 19 ; Matt. xi. 5, xiii. 58,
ix. 35, xiv. 14, 36, XV. 30, xix. 2, xxi. 14.

S

258 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

A brief analysis of these will be useful : —

Seventeen are cases of healing, — including fever,
leprosy, palsy, the withered arm, the issue of blood,
dropsy, blindness, deafness, dumbness, Malchus's ear.
John iv. 47 ; Matt. viii. 2, 14, ix. 2 ; John v. 5 ;
Matt. xii. 10, viii. 5, ix. 20, 27 ; Mark viii. 22 ; John
ix. I ; Luke xiii. 10, xvii. 11, xviii. 35, xxii. 51.

Six cases of demoniacal possession, — Mark i. 24,
v. 2 ; Matt. ix. 32 ; xvii. 1 5 ; Luke xi. 14 ; Matt. xv. 22

Three cases of raising the dead, — the child of
Jairus, very lately dead (Matt. ix. 25); the widow's
son of Nain, a young man who was being carried to
burial (Luke vii. 11); Lazarus, a middle-aged man,
who had been dead four days, and was actually in his
grave (John xi. i).

All these may be included in one class as miracles
of healing.

A second class may be called miracles of power,
and may be divided into —

Three cases of creative power, — the turning of water
into wine (John ii. i), and the two miracles of feeding
the multitudes with miraculous bread. (Matt. xiv. 19 ;
Mark viii. 6, and parallel passages).

Three,- — the miraculous draughts of fishes (Luke
V. 6 ; John xxi. 6). Peter's finding the shekel in the
fish's mouth (Matt. xvii. 27).

Four, — passing unseen through a hostile crowd
(Luke iv. 30) ; twice clearing the Temple of buyers and

THE MIRACLES. 259

sellers,and money-changers (John ii. 13 ; Matt.xxi. 12) ;
and causing those who came to arrest Him to fall to
the ground (John xviii. 6), may be classed together.

Two, — control over the natural powers in stilling
the storm (Matt. viii. 26), and walking on the sea
(Matt. xiv. 25).

A third great division of the miracles must be made,
though it only contains one example.

One miracle of destruction, viz. — the withering of
the barren fig-tree (Matt. xxi. 18).^

Studying the character of these miracles, we see
that they are symbolical of the character of the
dispensation which they accredit, types in the region
of the physical world of the spiritual work which the
miracle-worker came to accomplish ; to heal souls
sick of manifold diseases and infirmities ; the dead in
trespasses and sins to raise to life again ; to calm the
disorders with which all nature is distracted through
the fall ; to ensure by His presence and divine power
the safety of the ship of His church over the storms

' Contrasting remarkably with the miracles of Moses, among
which are fourteen miracles of punishment and destruction : — the
ten plagues, the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the
defeat of the Amalekites, the fire which destroyed Korah and
his company, and the earthquake which swallowed the tents of
Dathan and Abiram. Two miracles of power, for evidence : —
the serpent and the leprous hand : three miracles of mercy,
— the smiting of the rock on two occasions, the brazen serpent.

S 2

26o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of this world, and bring us finally to the haven where
we would be.

If we place ourseleves beside the Lord as He works
His miracles, we shall soon observe that He exercises
His wonderful power as if the power belonged to
Himself, differing in this from all the other workers
of miracles in the Scriptures ; for the miracle-workers
of the Old Testament spoke of their power as only
delegated ; and when Moses forgot himself on one
occasion, and spoke as if it was by his own power
he would bring water out of the rock, he^brought
upon himself a signal punishment. The miracle-
workers of the New Testament attributed their power
to the Name of Jesus.

This, again, accounts for the calmness and absence
of effort with which He works ; not as Moses, whose
hands must be held up that Israel may prevail against
Amalek ; not like Elijah, who stretches himself three
times on the body of the widow's child to restore
him to life ; He but speaks to the departed soul,
and it comes back out of Hades, " Maid, arise ! "
" Young man, I say unto thee, arise ! " " Lazarus,
come forth ! "

We observe the ready and true sympathy with
which he enters into the sorrows and sufferings which
apeal to Him, the readiness with which He puts His
power at the service of every suppliant. We see at
last when we have gone up and down with Him every-

THE MIRACLES, 26 r

where, that He never once refused to work a miracle
of healing- when asked ; He did refuse to work a
miracle of vengeance {Luke ix. 55). Looking at the
scries of miracles as a whole, we see that the first was
an act of creative power, and a type of the marriage-
supper of the Lamb ; and the last would have been
the one act of destruction, a type of God's judgments
impending over the faithless nation and church, — but
that He wrought one more, as it were out of due time,
when, to repair the too-hasty zeal of His friend. He
wrought a last act of miraculous healing, unasked,
upon his enemy (Luke xxii. 51).

262 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY OF THE
CHRIST.

THOUGHTFUL review of our Lord's
words will show that He exercised a re-
markable reserve in putting before men
the doctrine of His own Deity. Its acceptance by
man was the essence of man's correspondence with
God's plan of salvation.^ But its acceptance de-
manded a depth of spiritual insight, which men
hardly possessed without some preliminary prepara-
tion and training of their moral nature. Accord-
ingly we find that our Lord did not at once openly
proclaim and urge this fundamental truth of the
Gospel. He presented himself to the knowledge
of men, " he dwelt among them," and His works of
divine power, His words of divine wisdom, His life of
perfect holiness, continually asked the question
" What think ye of Christ ?"

We seem to trace the growth of the thought
in the minds of the disciples. On witnessing some
of the earlier miracles " they were astonished " —
" amazed " (Luke v. 9 ; Mark i. 27).

^ John i. 12 ; iii. 16, 36 ; vi. 40, 47.

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY. 263

Some of the miracles brought them into such
conscious presence of divine power that " they were
afraid," e.g., after the miracle of the stilling of the
storm " they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to
another, What manner of man is this, for he com-
mandeth even the winds and water and they obey
him ?" When He had come to them walking on the
sea they worshipped Him, and said, " Of a truth thou
art the Son of God " ^ (Matthew xiv. 33).

We see how the mere wonder deepened into fear ;
and how fresh manifestations of power made them
ask themselves, What manner of man is this ? And
the inquiry ripened into conjecture that He was more
than man, and the awful thought suggested itself to
their minds, Was He divine ? The thought once sug-
gested would receive confirmation from many recol-
lections of the authority with which He taught, "It was
said to them of old time . . . but I say unto you " ;
of the calm authority of self-conscious power with
which He said to the winds and waves " Be still," and
to the evil spirits " Come out of him," and to the
dead " I say unto thee, arise" ; of His supernatural
knowledge of distant events and men's secret thoughts.
The title " Son of God," by which the voice of

' The phrase was one of the titles of the Messiah, as we
shall presently see, and did not yet in the mouths of the disciples
imply a belief in his Deity.

264 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

prophecy had designated Him, and by which the voice
from heaven at His baptism had spoken of Him, would
begin to assume a new and awful significance. A
natural fear would withhold them from breaking
through the reserve in which Jesus himself veiled
the awful truth. They would shrink from admitting
to one another vague thoughts which might seem to
another blasphemous ; perhaps they had not put
the thought into definite words, even to their own
consciousness. But their minds were ripe for the ac-
ceptance of the truth, if presented to them from the
outside, and our Lord took measures to bring them
to the conclusion.

" He asked them, saying, Whom do men say that I,
the Son of Man, am ? And they said. Some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, or others
Jeremias, or one of the prophets ;" perhaps consci-
ously evading the implied application of the question
to themselves. Then, with the searching look which
reads men's hearts, and with solemn earnestness of
inquiry, He put the question direct to their own souls,
" But whom say YE that I am ?"

When a solution of a salt has evaporated till it is
saturated, a touch which makes the containing vessel
vibrate is enough to cause the spiculae of crystals to
dart through the liquid, and crystallisation begins.
So our Lord's solemn question and his searching look
seem to have sufficed to crystallise the thought with

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY. 265

which the minds of the apostles were full, into a de-
finite conviction ; and it is wonderfully true to nature
that the impulsive Peter should anticipate the rest in
the mental process, and, accustomed as he was to speak
for the rest, should be the first to give utterance
to the tremendous confession, to \Ahich the rest by
look and gesture assented, Thou ART THE CHRIST,
THE Son of the Living God,

The terms of Our Lord's question, and of Peter's
reply, require careful consideration.

Our Lord's question is, " Whom do men say that I,
the Son of Man, am ? " Peter's reply is, " Thou art
the Christ, the Son of God!' The two titles are con-
trasted with one another.

The title Son of Man was not applied to our
Lord by others,^ but it is the title by which our Lord
was accustomed to designate himself. What was
its meaning .?

It was one of the names given by prophecy to the
Messiah. In the vision of Daniel,

" One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven^
and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near
before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should
serve him, and his dominion is an everlasting dominion"
(Dan. vii. 13).

This kingdom succeeded, in the prophet's vision to

' In his lifetime ; it is used by Stephen (Acts vii. 56) ; and
by St John in the Revelation (i. 13 ; xiv. 14).

266 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the four kingdoms foretold by the four typical beasts,
and it was understood — rightly — by the Jews to be a
prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom. Our
Lord plainly alluded to Daniel's prophecy in his own
prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the end
of the world : " At that day they shall see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with power and great
glory " (Matt. xxiv. 30) ; and again before Caiaphas,
" I say unto you that hereafter ye shall see the Son
of Man sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven " (Matt. xxvi. 64).

In using the title, then, our Lord was using one of
the names appropriated to the Messiah by prophecy,
and was openly claiming to be the Messiah.

But why did He specially use this out of the many
titles attributed in Scripture to the Messiah } We
find the explanation in this, that the title sets forth
our Lord's relation to the human race. He was the
second Adam, the representative of the human race,
the Son of Man, THE MAN ; the archetypal man,
the perfect man. His is the human character and
human life which do justice to the idea of hu-
manity. " The fairest among the children of men,"
the natural prince, leader, and chief of mankind.

It was by this title, then, that Jesus puts his ques-
tion to the disciples, " Whom do men say that I, the
Son of Man, am?" And Peter replies, "Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY. 267

It is true, " Son of God " was, as we have before said,
one of the common titles of the Messiah ; it had
already, in that sense, been given to our Lord by the
angel Gabriel, " that holy thing that shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God " (Luke i. 35) ; by
John the Baptist (John i. 34), " I bare record that this
is the Son of God " ; by Nathanael at the very begin-
ning (John i. 49), and by the disciples a little while
before, after the walking on the sea (Matt. xiv. 33)
So that Peter's answer did not necessarily imply more
than that Jesus was the Messiah. But we have
already had occasion to note the higher significance
of the title, as our Lord uses it when He speaks of
God as His Father ; and here the context makes it
quite clear that it is in this higher sense St. Peter
now applies it, otherwise the latter half of St. Peter's
reply would be only a tautological repetition of the
former half. Our Lord's rejoinder especially, which
we must proceed to consider, makes it clear that more
than this is meant : —

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jona ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what-
soever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. "
(Matt. xvi. 17, 19).

His declaration that this truth had been revealed

268 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to Peter by God ; the blessing pronounced upon him
who first gave utterance to it ; the promise that the
church should be founded upon it ; all imply that it
was a great and hidden truth which had thus been
brought to light ; so great that to have had it revealed
by God to the soul's consciousness was to have
received an honour and a blessing ; so fundamental
that it would form the basis of that spiritual kingdom,
— that Messianic reign of peace and righteousness, —
which Christ had come from heaven to establish on
the earth.

The declaration that only by God's special grace
could St. Peter's mind have been moved to the recep-
tion of this great truth is very remarkable ; it agrees
with the words spoken a short time before, when the
disciples murmured at his declaration, that he came
down from heaven, " No man can come unto me
except it were given him of my Father" (John vi. 65).
Our Lord's joy that his work had reached this critical
stage is very striking.

His Deity recognised by His disciples. His mind
at once goes forward to the foundation of His church
upon this doctrinal basis ; to the formation of a
ministry by which His church should be built ; and
looking forward to the end. He prophesies the ulti-
mate triumph of this church and Kingdom, which
He lived and died to establish.

The passage which we have thus summarised

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY. 269

requires a little further elucidation, and we com-
mend it to the careful consideration of those who
desire really to understand the "mind of Christ,"
the aims and methods of the Divine Saviour of
mankind.

" Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jona ; and I say
unto thee, Thou art Peter [a stone], and upon this rock
I will build my church, and I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven " (Matt. xvi. 19). Immediately the Lord has
brought the Twelve to this spontaneous recognition
and open confession of His Deity, His thoughts go
forward at once to the subject of the Church, the
kingdom of heaven. The Forerunner had proclaimed
the advent of the kingdom, "the kingdom of heaven
is at hand." The baptism was the consecration of
the King. The gathering of the disciples, and the
nomination of the Twelve, was the gathering of sub-
jects and the preparation of administrators. The
confession of His Deity by the Twelve was the re-
cognition of the Divine-human nature of the King,
the quickening in the souls of the disciples of the
germ of the spiritual-temporal kingdom.

The words seem to imply that the King is promising
some special honour to him who was the first to
make public recognition of his character. The honour

270 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

is not that he will build his church on Peter,i — the
church is founded personally on Christ, doctrinally
on the dogma of His Deity : it is that He will give
to Peter the keys of the Church. Keys are a well-
known symbol of office. In the ancient Jewish
monarchy the key was a symbol of the office of
Minister ; Isaiah says of Eliakim, " the key of the
house of David will I lay upon his shoulder : so he
shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and
none shall open " (Is. xxii. 22). In the revelation
of St. John (iii. 7) our Lord Himself is spoken of
as " he who hath the key of David, he that openeth
and no man shutteth ; and shutteth and no man
openeth."

We call to mind that the power of binding and
loosing was afterwards conferred upon the rest of the
Apostles (Matt, xviii. 18 ; see also John xx. 23). What
was specially given to Peter is in accordance with the
facts of the case. All the Apostles tacitly assented
to Peter's confession, but he was the first to utter it ; so
the powers of the ministry are conferred upon all the
Twelve, but to Peter was given the honour of making

* We content ourselves here with stating that the Fathers
agree by a great majority that either Christ Himself, or St.
Peter's confession of Christ, is the Rock and Foundation
of the Church. Thus Origen, Hilary, Chrysostom, Isidore of
Pelusium, Augustine, Cyrel of Alexandria, Leo the Great,
Gregory the Great, Bede, Gregory VH.

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY. ill

the first publication of the Gospel, and admitting
three thousand Jewish disciples into the kingdom on
the great Pentecost, and also of being the first to
proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles, and admitting
the first Gentile disciples, Cornelius and his friends,
to the privileges of the kingdom of God.

The Apostles had, by the process which we have
sketched, gradually grown up to the recognition of
their Lord's Deity, and to its open confession to Him
and to one another. But it is remarkable— and yet
true to nature — to observe how imperfectly they had
yet apprehended it and its necessary consequences ;
though now they knew Christ, yet still they knew Him
only " after the flesh." St. Peter's rebuke, which we
have presently to notice, is an illustration of this.

The Apostles having grasped the truth of our
Lord's divinity, their minds are ready for the recep-
tion of another truth : —

" From that time forth began Jesus to show unto hi.s disciples
how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be
raised again the third day" (Matt. xvi. 21).

The contrast between the divine glory just con-
fessed, and the suffering and death thus spoken of,
must have filled them with amazement. Instead of
laying the saying up in his heart, and pondering it in
humble faith, Peter, elated by the commendation
lately bestowed upon him, seems to have treated it as

272 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the utterance of an unworthy access of fear and
despondency, and he took upon himself to rebuke
our Lord, and to encourage him, " Be it far from thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto thee." Our Lord's sharp
rebuke, " Get thee behind me, Satan ! " has been
thought by commentators to throw a light upon the
working of the human mind of Jesus. Every man
and every position has its special temptation ; that of
the Christ, they suggest, was to seek the fulfilment
of his designs for the regeneration of mankind by
those means which would seem to all men the most
direct and obvious, by the use of the supernatural
wisdom and the miraculous power which he possessed,
and to turn from the passion and the cross, and the
slow agency of moral means. This was the chord
which Satan struck in the temptation, and this chord
was touched now by Peter. Therefore it was that
Jesus spoke with the sharpness of one who has been
touched on a sensitive nerve, " Get thee behind me,
Satan ! thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but the things that be of men."

The thought gives deeper significance to the words
which He proceeded to speak. When He had called
the people unto Him, with His disciples also. He said
unto them, —

" Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself, and
ke up his cross, and follow me ; for whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and
the Gospel's, the same shall save it " (Mark viii. 34, 35).

THE CONFESSION OF THE DIVINITY. 272

" For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul ? Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall
the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of
his Father with the holy angels " (Mark viii. 36-38).

" For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father
with his angels ; and then he shall reward every man according;
to his works " (Matt. xvi. 27).

Not only I, He seems to say, but you must suffer
and die. Not in this life, but when I shall return in
glory at the last day, then shall you receive your
reward, and every one according to his faithful service.

274 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE SON OF GOD.

HILE recognising from the very beginning
the Divinity of the blessed Lord and
Saviour, we have taken great pains to
insist upon, and to aid the reader to realise, the true
manhood of Jesus. Our unwavering grasp of
the truth that He was very God is of such
infinite consequence that we think it right to dwell a
little upon it here ; not to prove it, — we assume that
the reader of such a work as this does not need to
have it proved, — but to help him to ponder the fact
more leisurely, and to realise it more completely.'^

Christ's claim is to no inferior Deity ; the old
Arianism and semi-Arianism are obsolete ; the only
real alternatives which present themselves, and indeed
the only hypotheses seriously held now, are that He
was simply man and nothing more, or that He was
very and eternal God, of one substance with the
Father.

We may note first that no other historical person

' This chapter is much indebted to Canon Liddon's " Bampton
Lectures "

THE SON OF GOD. 275

has put forth any claim to be more than human,^ and
no ether historical person has raised even a suspicion
in the minds of men that he was divine.

To one who accepts the Gospels as authentic his-
tories of an historical person, the words of Jesus
Himself form a very striking illustration of the
subject. It is not for the sake of their evidence,
so much as for the sake of putting them before the
believer for his meditation, that we call attention to a
scries of very striking sayings, which show our Lord's
self-consciousness on this subject.

No man, of all the sons of men, has had any con-
scious existence before he was born into this world,
but our Lord frequently gives utterance to his con-
sciousness of a pre-existence with God in heaven. He
said to the Jews at Capernaum : —

"The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven
and giveth Hfe unto the world. I am the bread of life. He

* A claim to remote divine descent is common enough in
history. The heroes of Greece, the Scandinavian chiefs, and
in modern times certain families among the Sandwich Islanders.
The apotheosis of the Roman emperors is only a seeming con-
tradiction to this statement. When the Romans had ceased to
believe in their gods, and had come to recognise that some of
them were only great men whom the veneration of posterity had
numbered among its deities, it was not a very exaggerated
compliment to Julius or Augustus to place them also in the
company of the few exceptionally great ; and only a coarse
flattery which paid the same compliment to others who were
great only in the accident of their rank.

T 2

276 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

that eateth of me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on
me shall never thirst. . . . For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John vi.
33-38).

And to His apostles He said, I came forth from the

Father and am come into the world ; again, I leave
the world, and go to the Father (John xvi. 28). And
to His angry opponents in the Temple He said, " Your
Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw
it and was glad " ; and in reply to their obvious objec-
tion, " Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham?" He replied, "Verily, verily, I say
unto you, before Abraham was I AM " (John viii. 58).
No man, of all the sons of men, is Avithout sin ; all
inherit a sinful nature, and all live faulty lives, and
the holier men are the humbler they are, and the
deeper sense they have of their sinfulness and their
shortcomings. We know something of the humility
and the holiness of Jesus, and it is the more significant,
therefore, when we find him habitually speaking
as one who is conscious of a perfect moral purity. It
is not merely in direct assertion such as Satan
"cometh and hath nothing in me" (John xiv. 30),
or the challenge to His enemies, " Which of you
convinceth me of sin ?" (John viii. 46) ; it is in the
assumption of moral perfectness with which He re-
bukes the hypocrite, or defends the penitent sinner.
"Who can forgive sins but God alone?" the Jews
asked with perfect justice. Yet Jesus habitually

THE SON OF COD. 277

assumes and exercises this divine prerogative : " Son
be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee " (Matthew
ix. 2). " Her sins, which are many, are forgiven "
(Luke vii. 47).

He habitually speaks of Himself as having relations
towards mankind, and claims upon mankind, such as
no mere man can have upon his fellow men. He is
"the Light of the world" (John viii. 12), and the
life, and source of life, to the soul (John v. 26 ; vi. 35).
He is the one means by which men can come to
God: "no man cometh to Father but by me" (John
xiv. 6). He hears and answers prayer: "If ye ask
anything in my name I will do it " (John xiv. 14).
He will raise the dead to life again : " All that are in
the graves shall hear my voice " (John v. 28), and He
will be the universal judge of mankind (John v. 27,
&c.). He claims to share with God the trust, love,
and honour of men : " Ye believe in God, believe also
in me " (John xiv. i) ; "If God were your Father ye
would have loved me ... He that hateth me hateth
my Father also " (John xv, 23).

In all these places, — and many more might be
quoted, — our Lord is not asserting His divinity: He is
talking on many and various subjects, and in the
course of His utterances He is using words which
can only be satisfactorily explained on the theory
that He who uses them is more than man.

There are other passages in which He directly claims

278 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to be God, co-equal with the Father. Now, the Jews,
—and our Lord, as to his human nature, was a Jew, —
were strict monotheists ; they knew nothing of inferior
gods, they believed in one God, Creator of all things.
All other beings, angel or archangel, cherub or
seraph, however exalted, they rightly regarded as
created beings, and quite understood that an infinite
gulf separates the Creator from all which he has
created.

The first passage to be referred to is that already
considered in detail, in which the apostles distinctly
confess that they have been brought to the conclusion
that their Master was "the Son of the living God,"
and Jesus accepts the confession, and declares him
blessed to whom God has revealed that great truth.
On a subsequent occasion, He asserts it to His apostles
in language still more direct. In the conversation in
the supper-room Philip says, " Lord, show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus turns, and says to
him in reply, —

" Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known me, Philip ? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ;
how sayest thou then. Show us the Father ? Believest thou not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me."

Judas, on the same occasion, asked why Christ
manifested Himself to His disciples, and not to the
world. Our Lord replies, that the manifestation of
God is made to love, —

THE SON OF GOD.

279

" If a man 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 " (John xiv. 23).

Joining Himself with the Father in this divine in-
dweUing in the loving and obedient soul.

We see some reason for the question of Judas in the
reserve with which Jesus presented this truth to the
faith of men, which has been already discussed.^ But
as time went on He openly expressed the truth in
such words that the people perfectly understood the
drift of His meaning ; and He finally left them
without excuse by stating it with unequivocal and
startling plainness. When the Jews found fault with
Him for healing on the Sabbath-day, and thus breaking
the commandment, He defended Himself by saying,
"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John
V. 17), and they rightly saw that the logical inference
from His words was that " He made Himself equal
with God," a conclusion which He did not in any
way contradict. Again, when the Jews gathered
around Him in Solomon's Porch, at the Feast of the
Dedication, said " How long dost thou make us to
doubt.? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly"
(John X. 24), He points them to His words and
works as the evidence of what He was ; He declares
that those who are His sheep know Him ; and
speaking of the security of His sheep he goes on to

' See page 262.

28o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

say, " No one can pluck them out of my hand " ; and
again, " My Father, which gave them me, is greater
than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand." They are safe in His own hand,
safe in His father's hand ; and He reconciles this
double statement by saying, "I and my Father are
one" (30); "The Father is in me, and I in him " (38),
He further explained. Again, the hearers understood
Him to claim Deity, and "they took up stones to
stone him" for the blasphemy (31). Again, in the
disputation with the Pharisees, already alluded to,
when He concluded the conversation with the sen-
tence, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham
was, I AM " (John viii. 58), their religious feelings
were shocked, outraged, at this assumption to Him-
self of the sacred name, and they took up stones to
stone Him. Lastly, when on His trial before the
Sanhedrim, the High Priest stood up, and solemnly
adjured Him to declare, "Art thou the Christ, the Son
of the Blessed ^ " he solemnly declared, " I am. Here-
after shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,"
ie.,com'mg in divine power and glory (Matt. xxvi. 63-4).
" Then said they all. Art thou, then, the Son of God ?
And he said unto them. Ye say that I am." Well
might the High Priest appeal to the Council, and say,
"What need we any further witnesses, for we ourselves
have heard out of his own mouth " (Luke xxii. 70, 71).

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 281

m^

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

HE Transfiguration, in the middle of the
public life, the Temptation at its commence-
ment, and the Agony towards its close,
contrast strongly with the thorough humanness of
the ordinary course of our Lord's life. In these the
veil seems to be drawn aside for a moment, and we
are allowed glimpses of relations with the unseen
world, full of awe and mystery.

The Evangelists ^ connect the Transfiguration with
the confession of St. Peter and the subsequent con-
versation on the Passion, as if the transactions had
some relation to one another.

Jesus went up into a high mountain — conjectured to
have been one of the peaks of snow-capped Hermon —
to pray, and took Peter, James, and John, with him.
And as he prayed he was " transfigured," " the fashion
of his countenance was altered," " his face shone as
the sun," " and his raiment became shining exceeding
white as snow," "white as the light." We gather

* Matt. xvii. 1-13 ; Mark. ix. 2-13 ; Luke ix. 28-36.

282 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

that He appeared in supernatural majesty and splen-
dour ; " majesty " is the very word St Peter uses in
speaking of it many years afterwards, — "we were
eye-witnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter i. 16). Com-
paring these descriptions of the three evangelists with
St. John's description of his vision of the Son of Man
(Rev. i. 13-15), we recognise that the Transfiguration
was an anticipation of the glory of the ascended
Lord.

" And behold, there appeared unto them two men,
which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory,
and they were talking with Jesus," and the subject of
the conversation is told us, — "they spake of his
decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem."

" And there came a cloud and overshadowed them,
and they feared as they entered into the cloud."
St. Peter (2, i. 17) calls the cloud, "the excellent
glory " ; it was probably the Shekinah_, the visible
symbol of the presence of God. And there came a
Voice out of the Cloud, saying, " This is my Beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him."
" And when the disciples heard it they were sore
afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said,
Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted
up their eyes," " and looked round about, they saw
no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves."
" And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus
charged them, saying. Tell the vision to no man until

THE TRANSFIGURATION. 283

the Son of Man be risen again from the dead." " And
they kept that saying with themselves, questioning
one with another what the rising from the dead
should mean."

It is easy to see that this vision of the glorified
Son of Man, and this voice from " the excellent glory,"
would confirm the disciples in the belief in His Deity
which they had recently confessed ; and would help
in that preparation of their minds for the shock of
His Passion and Death, whose first mention had
called forth Peter's "rebuke," and which still they
could not understand, "questioning with one another
what the rising from the dead should mean."

But the transaction needs a profounder exposition.
It was not a mere vision, a pageant intended only for
the edification of the three apostles ; it was a real
transaction in the development of the life and work
of the Saviour; and the three apostles were permitted
to witness it, as the same three were afterwards
allowed to be witnesses of the Agony.

Moses and Elias were talking with Jesus. It at
once comes to mind that Elijah was translated with-
out dying : had this anything to do with his appear-
ance to our Lord t But Moses died a natural death ;
true, there was something unusual in the circum-
stances of it, but we are expressly told, twice over/

* Deut. xxxiv. 5 ; Joshua i. r.

284 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

that he died. And though " Enoch was not, for God
took him," and Elijah was translated without dying,
we are not to conclude hastily that their bodies
underwent the change into glorified bodies : this would
be to anticipate the resurrection of Christ, the first-
fruits from the dead ; and we are not to conclude
that their souls, though by a special grace released
from the body without the mortal dread and pang,
went to any other place than that where the souls of
other saints of God await, in peace and happiness,
the consummation of their bliss and glory at the last
great day. The true answer to the natural question.
Whence did Moses and Elias come } is, probably,
From the place of the blessed departed.

What was the object of their appearance to Jesus.?
" They spake with him of his decease [his " exodus "
is the word in the original] which he should accom-
plish at Jerusalem." They did not announce it to Him,
for He knew it long before, when He said to the Jews,
" Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up again " ; He knew the mode of it when He said
to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up " ; He had, a week before, announced to his dis-
ciples in the plainest and fullest terms that He
" must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things,
and be killed, and be raised again the third day."
Instead of being sent to make some communication

THE TRANSFIGURATION. 285

to Jesus on the subject, were they rather sent to Him
to receive some communication from Him ? The
transaction, we have said, is connected by the Evan-
geHsts with the confession of His Deity, are the
relations between the two to be sought in the trans-
action itself, not merely in the admission of the
three disciples to witness it ? Was the " trans-
figuration " a manifestation of the glory of the Son of
Man to Moses and Elias, as well as to the apostles ?
Was the recognition of the Deity by the apostles
such a critical point in the development of the work
of the Saviour, that its results reached into the unseen
world, and extended to the saints under the altar,
who cry, " How long ? "

When, " suddenly, the disciples looked round about
and saw no man any more," whither had Moses and
Elias departed ? Surely back to the place of the
blessed departed, from which they had come to this
mysterious interview. Our Lord shortly afterwards
Himself "descended into Hades," and "preached to
the spirits in prison." Is it possible that the great
Lawgiver and the great Prophet, on their return
from this interview on Hermon, announced the
actual appearance on earth of the long-promised
Deliverer, and heralded to the hundred generations
of expectant souls in Hades, as John did to the
living generation, that the kingdom of heaven was
at hand ?

286 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

We are led on by such like considerations to the
general question of the relations of Jesus to the
unseen world. We, too, are surrounded by the beings
of the unseen world, and they are unseen actors in
the drama of our lives. It is consistent with our
notions of Jesus that He should be conscious of these
superhuman agencies ; and glimpses of His relations
with them are occasionally given us. The angels
seem to be continually hovering about His path, and
He is conscious of their attendance, " I could pray to
my Father, and he would give me more than twelve
legions of angels " ; their presence is made visible to
us at the Nativity, when they sang their anthem of
rejoicing ; at the Temptation, ministering to Him ; in
the Garden, strengthening Him; at the tomb, attending
upon His Resurrection ; and again, at His Ascension.
He has relations with the evil spirits in the Tempta-
tion, and in His delivery of the possessed from the
spirits, " who knew him who he was, the Holy One of
God."

He has relations with the departed spirits of men,
as when He said to the departed spirit of Jairus's
daughter, "Maid, arise!'' and of the widow's son,
" Young man, I say unto thee, arise ! " and of Lazarus,
" Lazarus, come forth ! " and when He talked with
Moses and Elias on the mount; and when He
" preached to the spirits in prison."

He has relations with the powers of Nature, as

THE TRANSFIGURATION. 287

when " he said to the winds and the sea, Peace, be
still ! and immediately there was a great calm."

His relations as Son of Man with God we speak
of with reverence, but we clearly have indications of
them in His frequent prayers,^ notably in His prayer
before the raising of Lazarus, — " Father, I know that
thou hearest me always," and in the prayer in the
garden, " If it be possible let this cup pass from me ;
yet not my Avill, but thine be done " ; and on the
cross, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me ?" " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit !"
In the great eucharistic prayer, in John xvii., there-
are words which seem to be those of the Son of Man,
" I am no more in the world .... but I come to
thee." " For their sakes I sanctify myself" There
are others which can only come from the Son of God :
"And now, O Father, glorify me with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was."

' Matt. xiv. 23 ; Luke vi. 12, ix. 28 ; Mark i. 35.

288 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE JUD^AN MINISTRY.

N coming down from the Mount of Trans-
figuration they found that a man had
brought his lunatic son to be healed, and
during the absence of their master, the nine apostles
had tried and failed to heal him, — a failure which
drew forth the public rebuke, " O faithless and per-
verse generation, how long shall I be with you, how
long shall I suffer you ? " and which he afterwards
attributed to their own deficiency in faith arising from
want of due use of the means of grace, "this kind goeth
not out but by prayer and fasting." The incident
supplies us also with the fact that a sincere though
feeble and wavering faith is not rejected by the
merciful Lord : " Lord, I believe : help thou mine un-
belief ;" and " Jesus healed the child and delivered
him to his father " (Mark ix. 14-27 ; Luke ix. 37-42).
As they journeyed back to Capernaum, Jesus again
spoke to them of his Passion : " Let this saying sink
down into your ears ; the Son of Man is delivered into
the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and after
that he is killed he shall rise again the third day

THE JUD^AN MINISTR V.

And they were exceeding sorry ; but they understood
not the saying and were afraid to ask him " (Matthew
xvii. 22, 23 ; Mark ix. 31, 32 ; Luke ix. 44, 45).

But the apostles seem to have inferred that a
crisis was at hand, and the old ambitious disputes
broke out again as to " who should be the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven." And He took a child and set
him in the midst, and said, " Except ye be converted
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven"; and when He had taken
him in His arms He said, "Whosoever shall receive
one of such children in my name receiveth me ; and
whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but
him that sent sent me " (Matthew xviii. i - 5 ;
Mark ix. 33-37 ; Luke ix. 46-48). To this period
belongs the discourse on offences;^ on forgiveness,
with the parable of the unmerciful debtor.-

The Feast of Tabernacles approaching, our Lord
went up to it by the direct road through Samaria,
sending the seventy disciples before Him into every
place where He himself should come, to proclaim the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. On this journey He
healed the ten lepers. He arrived at Jerusalem about
the middle of the Feast. There was great difference
of opinion about Him among the assembled pilgrims :
" Some said, He is a good man ; others, Nay, but He

Matt, xviii. 6 ; Mark ix. 42. ' Matt, xviii. 15.
U

290 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

deceiveth the people." The Pharisees sent officers to
arrest Him, but they returned overawed by what they
had heard, saying " Never man spake Hke this man."
The discourses, " I am the light of the world," " If
any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink," and
'' I am the good Shepherd," recorded in John vii. 1 1—
5 3 ; viii. 1 2-59 ; x. 1-2 1, took place at this feast ; and the
incident of the woman taken in adultery (John viii. i-
11), and the healing of the man who was born blind.
The latter miracle, being wrought on the Sabbath day,
confirmed some of the Pharisees in their conclusion
that " this man is not of God, because He keepeth not
the Sabbath day" ; while others persisted in the obvious
argument, " How can a man that is a sinner do such
miracles.^" and there was a division among them.

It is on this visit to Jerusalem that we hear first of
our Lord's friendship with the family of Bethany, and
it is probable that the teachings and discourses in
Luke xi., xii., xiii., may be inserted in this place.

He did not afterwards return to Galilee, but spent
the time between this Feast and the last Passover in
the villages of the Jordan valley and its boundary
hills. In the middle of the period occurs the Feast
of the Dedication, to which our Lord paid a visit
which is briefly recorded by St. John (x, 22-42), and
from which it almost appears as if he had to escape
from his enemies by a hasty flight.

Many of our Lord's parables belong to this later

THE JUD^AN MINISTR Y. 291

period of His public life : The Great Supper, the
Lost Sheep, the Piece of Silver, the Prodigal Son,
the Unjust Steward, the Rich man and Lazarus.

The sickness of Lazarus led Him to incur again
the danger of a visit to the neighbourhood of Jeru-
salem, in spite of the remonstrances of His disciples,
" Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and
goest thou thither again ? " When He persisted,
"Thomas said unto his fellow disciples. Let us also
go, that we may die with Him."

It is not within our plan to give the beautiful
history of the raising of Lazarus in detail ; we can
only indicate how it illustrates the true humanity
of the Lord in His friendship for the family of
Bethany, in the keen sensitiveness of His sympathy
with the sorrows of others, which made Him weep
with the weeping sisters and friends, although He had
delayed His visit in order that this grief might come
upon them ; and although He knew that He was
going so shortly to turn their tears into joy. It is
an assurance full of comfort that the blessed Lord
does not, as we might have thought, regard our
human sorrows with the smile of half contemptuous
pity which we bestow on the griefs of children, but
keenly feels our present grief, and sorrows with us.

We have also to point out the fact that the
performance of this miracle so near to Jerusalem,
and immediately reported to the Pharisees, ripened

U 2

292 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the growing resolution of the leaders of the nation
to compass His destruction. " Some of them went
their way to the Pharisees, and told them what
things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief
priests and the Pharisees a council, and said. What
do we .'' for this man doeth many miracles. If we
let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him, and
the Romans shall come and take away both our
place and nation. Then Caiaphas, being the High
Priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know
nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for
us that one man should die for the people, and that
the whole nation perish not," — the common fallacy
of mere worldly policy, to think a small injustice
lawful which may avert the risk of a great evil.
" Then from that day forth they took counsel to put
Him to death."

St. John makes upon this utterance the very re-
markable note : " And this spake he, not of himself,
but being High Priest that year, he prophesied that
Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that
nation only, but that also He should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad."

Jesus, therefore, hearing of their designs, " walked
no more openly among the Jews," but again with-
drew " unto a country near to the wilderness, to a
city called Ephraim " (John xi. 54), which is con-
jectured to have been to the north-cast of Jerusalem,

THE JUD.^AN MINISTR V. 293

on the eastern side of the hills overlooking the Jordan
valley.

At length the time approached for the Passover
Feast, and Jesus steadfastly set His face to go up to
Jerusalem.

He knew that it was His last journey thither. The
Apostles knew th.e great danger He incurred, and
they with Him, in putting Himself into the power of'
the Jewish rulers. We are not to suppose, with His
enemies, that Christ's career was cut short and His
life left incomplete. He had evaded His enemies
for a time ; it was only when the time had come
that all should be accomplished that He went up to
Jerusalem and surrendered Himself to their power.

The world is amazed at the heroism of Regulus,
who returned to Carthage to certain torture and
death. Jesus showed equal heroism when now He
"set His face steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem,"
knowing all which should befall Him there.

And let us not fail to recognise the heroism of
Thomas and the rest of the Apostles, who also took
their lives in their hands, content to "go and die
with Him." Perhaps we do not always do justice to
the Apostles. Their slowness of belief and dulness
of apprehension seem amazing to us who know all
the glorious sequel of the history which was then
only in its obscure beginnings. We are disposed to
despise them for the faults and failures, which we

294 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

know only by their frank confession of them ; for it
is they who tell us of the ambition of James and
John, the denial of Peter, the drowsiness of the
watchers at Gethsemane, and the panic and flight of
them all. To those who looked on from the outside,
their character and conduct might wear another and
nobler aspect. They were the first -w^ho had spiritual
insight enough to believe in Him in His obscure
beginning ; their faith was so strong that they left
all to be His followers ; they were entirely faithful
for three years, while other disciples were offended
and forsook Him, and men generally wondered and
vacillated ; they clung to Him with a strange tenacity
even when a death of shame seemed to have ex-
tinguished all their hopes. This is what men saw
of them and admired. We know how, subsequently,
they comprehended the plan of their Lord, and,
cheerfully resigning all their hopes of temporal
greatness, spent their lives in poverty and hard-
ship, toil and danger, in carrying out His plan ; and
ultimately sealed their faith in Him, and ended their
work for Him, with a martyr's death.

" A nd Jesus going tip to Jenisaleui took tJie twelve
disciples apart in tJie way, and said nnto them "
(Matt. XX. 17) ; "-Behold we go up to Jcrusalcni, and
all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accoiJiplished" (Luke xviii. 31) ;
for he shall be delivered imto the Chief Priests and unto
the Scribes ; and t/tey shall condemn him to dcatJi, and

THE JUDJ£AN MINIS TR 1 •. 295

shall deliver him to the Gentiles ; and they shall mock
him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit icpon him,
and shall kill him : and the third day lie shall rise
again " {Mark x. S3, 34)-

This is the third plain prediction of His sufferings.
The first He gave immediately upon Peter's con-
fession of His divinity/ the second a little while
after,- and now again with still more minute par-
ticularity. But St. Luke adds, "they understood
none of these things, and this saying was hid from
them, neither knew they the things which were
spoken," which is not to be carelessly taken as
tautological. " They understood none of these
things"; they, like the rest of their countrymen,
were entirely prepossessed with the idea of a tem-
poral Jewish monarchy and a Messiah w4io should
revive the glories of a Solomon on the larger scale
which the ampler stage of the then civilised world
afforded. The idea of shame, and suffering, and
death, and rising again, belonged to a totally different
order of things. They had totally failed to grasp
the idea of a suffering Messiah, and the ideas
involved in it, viz., that by utter obedience He would
attain universal dominion ; that infinite humility was
the condition of infinite glory, and death at the
hands of His enemies was the stroke of victory and
the entrance to eternal life.

' Matt. xvi. 21 ; Mark viii. 31 ; Luke ix. 22.
' Matt. xvii. 22 ; Mark ix. 31 ; Luke ix. 44.

296 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Therefore " this saying was hid from them " ; they
took it, probably, to be a profound, mysterious
saying of the same kind as that which spoke of
eating His flesh and drinking His blood as the
heavenly nourishment which should make men live
for ever. And so " they did not know that the
things which were spoken " were plain truths, to be
fulfilled in a few days with such literal fidelity.

Yet they saw that a crisis was at hand. They con-
jectured that the time of preparation was drawing to
a close, and that the kingdom which had so long been
kept prominently before their minds was about to be
established ; and the old rivalries, and ambitions,
and jealousies broke out again among them. Salome,
" the mother of Zebedee's children," viz., James and
John, presuming upon the fact that they two, with
Peter, had so often ^ been selected by the Lord out
of the rest for special privilege, and that John was
honoured with his special affection, came with James
and John, and asked that when He entered upon His
kingdom, these two might "sit on His right hand
and on His left" i.e., occupy the highest places " in
His kingdom."

They travelled by the great road along the Jordan
valley and through Jericho, now, by the care of the
Herod family, a fine Greecized city, with its royal

' E.g., to witness the raising of Jairus's daughter, and above
all to be present at the Transfiguration ; and subsequently to
be watchers with Him in Gethsemane.

THE JUD.-EAX MINISTR Y 297

palace, and hippodrome, and aqueducts, the centre
of a luxuriously fertile and well-cultivated district,
watered by the abundant springs of Jericho. As He
entered into Jericho occurred the healing of blind
Bartimaeus and his companion ; and as He departed,
He called Zaccheus, the chief of the Publicans of the
city, and dined with him, probably at his country
house in the suburb of the city ; when Zaccheus gave
the church his great example of restitution as an
accompaniment of true repentance.

And as they journeyed on towards Jerusalem, and
the expectation which had caused the ambitious re-
quest of the sons of Zebedee gathered strength in the
minds of the disciples. He spake the parable of the
nobleman who went into a far country to receive a
kingdom, and to return, intimating that what awaited
them was to be put in offices of labour and responsi-
bility, and that for their reward they would have to
wait till the Lord's second coming. " And when He
had thus spoken. He went before, ascending up to
Jerusalem."

But, as we have seen (p. 223), the vast numbers who
came up to the great feasts could not all find accom-
modation within the city ; some lodged in the neigh-
bouring villages, some camped round about. Our
Lord, on this occasion, took up His abode for the
festival time at Bethany, at the house of Lazarus.

Here, on the Sabbath, at an entertainment in
honour of Jesus, in the house of Simon the leper.

298 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Lazarus was one of them that sat at table, Martha
served, Mary anointed Him with the ointment whose
odour filled not only all the house, but has filled
all the Church of Christ, and Judas and others
murmured, and Jesus defended the act of costly
devotion.

St. John gives us a glimpse of the state of feeling
which surrounded Jesus as the crisis approached.
Among His disciplies we have seen was an eager
expectation that the kingdom of God was about
immediately to appear. The public mind was
occupied with Him, and there was a general ex
pectation that something was about to happen.
The people who came out of the country to the
feast, as they stood in the Temple, talked about
Him to one another, and conjectured whether He
would venture to come to the feast (John xi. 56).
What made them question it was that " both the
Chief Priests and the Pharisees had given a command-
ment, that, if any man knew where He were, he should
show it, that they might take Him " (John xi. 56, 57).
Many, hearing that He was staying in Bethany, went
out there to see Him, and not only Him, but also to
see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.
And " the Chief Priests consulted that they might put
Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him
many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus
(John xii. 9-12).

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 299

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE WORDS OF JESUS.
sai INCE our limited space compels us to pass

by many of our Lord's words, it may be
useful to make a few obsei-\'ations sug-
gested by a general survey of them.

First as to the occasion of His utterances. He did
not, like the Greek philosophers or Jewish rabbis of
His day, establish a school to which His disciples
came to hear His teaching. He was always teaching,
everywhere. True, it was His custom on the Sabbath,
when He attended the Synagogue, to take the office
of expounding the Scripture lesson ; and several of
His discourses were delivered in the Temple to the
people assembled at the feasts ; but these are only
instances of His custom of teaching everywhere, in
the public streets, in the house, by the sea-shore, at
dinner, on the mountain-side, in the boat, in the
Synagogue, and in the Temple. Like the sun, which
shines always, everywhere, so the Light of the world
sheds forth spiritual light continually, and in lavish
abundance.

We all know how much words gain in effect by
the manner in which they are spoken. The same

300 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

words which in one man's mouth seem tame, strike
nobody, win nobody, are by another spoken with a
fire which thrills the soul, or a winning grace which
irresistibly attracts. Our Lord's mode of delivery
seems to have been ordinarily calm, as His whole
temperament was not emotional ; but St. Mark not
unfrequently notes that He " looked on " a person
whom He addressed, or " looked round about on "
those who surrounded Him, as if there was something
very noteworthy in the effect of His glance. And
there are several notes in the Gospels of the general
effect of His words upon those who heard Him.
When He spoke in the Synagogue at Nazareth, " all
wondered at the graciou-s words which proceeded out
of His mouth " (Luke iv. 22). When the Sanhedrim
sent officers to take Him, they, standing awhile on
the outskirts of the crowd, heard Him speak, and
were so disarmed of prejudice and won by His
words and manner, that they returned without at-
tempting to touch Him, saying, " Never man spake
like this man."

In studying the form of His utterances, we may
divide them into set discourses, conversations,
parables, proverbial sayings.

When we speak of set discourses, — such as the
Sermon on the Mount, the Ordination charge to the
Apostles and the Seventy, and the Eucharistic Dis-
courses,— there is no evidence that they were studied

THE WORDS OF JESUS. 301

orations : probably they flowed freely and spon-
taneously out of the fulness of His mind ; for His
familiar conversations tend to run into lengthy
monologues, which are exacth- of the same style as
the set discourses, as in the conversation with Nico-
demus, with the Samaritan woman, at the grave of
Lazarus.

His " style" is remarkable for simplicity, and even
homeliness ; its most striking feature is its calm,
familiar common sense. Even in eloquent passages,
it is not the eloquence of florid phraseology and
rhetorical skill, but that of the grandeur of the
thought and the clear direct force with which the
thought is expressed, or the depth of the feeling and
the "touch of nature" with which He makes other
hearts thrill in unison with His own.

But His teachings were conveyed most frequently
in familiar conversations, arising naturally out of the
circumstances of the moment, taking their happy
illustrations from objects then under the eyes or in
the thoughts of the hearers ; sometimes following
easily the devious channels suggested by answers or
remarks, sometimes putting these aside as irrelevant,
and pursuing His own train of thought. One re-
markable characteristic of His answers to questions
is the way in which He seems to look into the
questioner's mind, and put aside his verbal query
and answer the thought which is in his heart ; a

302 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

similar characteristic is the way in which He answers
a question by another question which throws the
querist back upon himself, and makes him think out
the subject for himself, or turns him from the sub-
ject he has proposed to another of more vital con-
sequence ; another is the way in which He concludes
and sums up a whole discourse by a parable.

The abundant use of parables is a very remarkable
characteristic of our Lord's teaching.

His utterances seemed remarkable to his contem-
poraries in this, that they were not disquisitions on
a text, like the discourses of the rabbis, or like
modern sermons ; they were not inquiries into truth,
like the discussions of the philosophers ; " He taught
as one having authority," i.e. not as one who had
learned from others, or gathered from books, or other-
wise possessed only a borrowed and partial know-
ledge, but as one who possessed, of himself, a full
cognizance of all the truth of the matters upon
which He speaks, and whose utterance is to be
accepted as conclusive.

When we turn to the substance of our Lord's
teaching, an objection has been brought against
Christ in this respect, which it is worth while to
mention, because it puts in a striking point of view
what the general subject matter of His teaching was.
It has been objected that whereas Christ is said to
have had supernatural wisdom, and to have desired

THE WORDS OF JESUS.

to use that wisdom for the welfare of mankind, He
never made any disclosure of the secrets of nature,
which would help men in the progress of civilisation ;
He did not point out one overlooked substance, or
one property of matter, or one application of natural
laws which would add to the convenience of life : He
is said to have performed many wonderful cures, but
He did not point out one medicine which could per-
manently assist in the cure of disease, or the mitiga-
tion of pain, or the prolongation of life. In other
words, He did not anticipate the discovery of elec-
tricity, or of the steam-engine, or of quinine or
anaesthetics.

The observation is quite true and striking, and
valuable, in that it puts clearly before us what was
not and what was the subject matter of Christ's
teaching. It brings out forcibly the truth that the
special revelation which Christ made to mankind
was outside the sphere of physical science ; it was
in that sphere of moral and spiritual truth which lies
above that of physical science.

St. Paul says (2 Tim. i. 10), " Our Saviour Jesus
Christ brought life and immortality to light through
the Gospel": that was the subject matter of His
teaching. What, after all, is the knowledge which man
wanted, then, and always ? We look at the wonderful
universe about us, and study it. We look at ourselves
and our fellow men, and study their lives. We see how

304 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

men spend a few short years of suffering, and sorrow,
and disappointment here, and die, and are seen no
more. We cannot accept this as the natural and neces-
sary, and satisfactory condition of human life. We find
powers within us which seem to have no adequate
sphere of action in our Hfe ; we feel capacities for hap-
piness which are only disappointed ; we feel a deep
capacity for life, and knowledge, and achievement
which seems to be prematurely extinguished by
death. We have a profound conviction that some-
thing is wrong, that everything is wrong ; the uni-
verse a terrible mystery, and life a dreadful dream.

What, then, is the knowledge of which man needs
the revelation } It is not the knowledge of animal-
culae and fossils ; it is not the invention of steam-
engine and telegraph, and the discovery of specifics
and anaesthetics, — all good enough in their way ; he
will discover them all in good time. The knowledge
man wants by Divine revelation, because it is beyond
the range of human science or human philosophy to
discover, is this : — What does the universe mean }
What am I ? Whence came I .-' What is the use of
life? Is there anything after this life.'' Is there a
God .'* What is He ? What are my relations to
Him?

And this is the knowledge which Christ gave to
man. Taking the word "philosophy" to mean an ex-
planation of the universe and of human life, Christ

THE WORDS Of JESUS. 305

was the greatest of philosophers. Look through His
teachings. He tells us the profoundcr truths of the
Godhead; the Trinity of Persons; the union of God
and man in Christ; the gift of the Spirit to man.
The reconciliation of God and man through Christ ;
the regeneration of human nature by the Spirit ; the
last judgment; life everlasting, and the second
death.

No, Christ did not reveal science to man, He re-
vealed God to man ; He did not bestow specifics
and anaesthetics, but He gave him Divine grace ; He
did not teach new systems of astronomy, but He
gave man the principles of a wise and holy life. He
knew that it was not political revolutions, or appli-
cations of science to the arts of life, which were
needed to ameliorate the condition of mankind ; all
the scientific discoveries that could be made would
not do so much for the amelioration of the conditions
of human life as the revelation of the Ten Command-
ments; the things which were really needed to be
known, those He revealed; the new powers which
men really needed, those He gave; and He organised
an institution by means of which this revelation and
this grace should be spread and perpetuated to the
end of time.

The great revelation of all which Christ made to
the world was Himself, God manifested Himself \n
Christ. Christ showed us in Himself a perfect man

X

3o6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and a perfect human life. This was the great sub-
ject matter of His revelation, not merely this truth
and that truth, which are scattered throughout His
words, but His own person, character, and life. This
is the master clue which at once gives unity to the
words of Jesus,

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 307

CHAPTER XXXIV.

" BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE."

j^^N tlic following morning, Jesus set out from

Bethany to go to Jerusalem. His apostles

accompanied Him, and a great number of

the pilgrims who came up with Him by the high

road from Jericho, after their Sabbath halt at

Bethany, naturally resumed their journey with Him

at daybreak next day.

When they approached the little village of Beth-

phage, Jesus sent two of His disciples, saying : — 1

''Go into the village over against you, and as soon as ye
be entered into it, ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her
whereon never man sat : loose them and bring them unto me.
And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this ? say ye that the
Lord hath need of them."

This is the only place in Avhich He styles Himself
" the Lord." " This was done," says St. Matthew,
— according to His wont, pointing out the corre-
spondence of our Tord's acts with the ancient
prophecies — " This was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet,- saying, ' Tell ye

' iMatt. xxi. 1-3 ; Mark xi. i-ii ; Luke xix. 29-34; John xii-
12-19. - Zcch. ix. 9,

X 2

3oS A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the daughter of Sion : behold, thy King cometh unto
thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt,
the foal of an ass.' And the two disciples went,
and did as Jesus commanded." And the other
Apostles, and the rest of the people, understood the
Lord's intention. The Apostles were anxiously-
expecting the proclamation of the Kingdom. The
people who had come up with Him seem to have
shared their expectation, and when Jesus now gave
His permission, they enthusiastically embraced the
permission to treat Him as a King.

The usual dress of the time and country was the
tunic and pallium, the pallium being a large, plain,
unshaped piece of woollen cloth, not unlike a Scotch
plaid. With some of these they made extempore
caparisons for the beasts, "they put on them their
clothes," and Jesus mounted the colt; the ass, perhaps,
went before, like the caparisoned horses which are
still, in the East, led before a person whom it is
desired to honour.

It must be borne in mind that the ass of the East
is a larger and finer animal than our English ass,
and has not our ideas of meanness and poverty
attached to its use. It was and is commonly used
by persons of condition. " Ye that ride on white
asses " was addressed to rulers and judges. The
horse was indeed the nobler animal, but was usually
reserved for war, while the ass and mule were used

THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE. 309

for peaceful travel. Pilate came up to the Feast
from Caesarea-by-the-Sea, surrounded by a militar\-
staff, at the head of an army ; Herod rode southward
from Sepphoris along the mountain-tops, surrounded
by courtiers and attended by his guard ; Jesus
approaches over the Mount of Olives, riding an ass's
colt, and is surrounded by a few disciples on foot ;
but we must not let the lowliness of the accessories
veil the significance of the fact that our Lord
on this occasion assumed the insignia of royalty.
The multitude took off their upper garments and
spread them before Him on the path, so as to make
a continuous carpet for the King to ride over ; they
cut down branches from the wayside trees, ana
strewed their foliage under His feet ; they filled the
air with acclamations : —

" Hosannah to the Son of David ! Blessed is the King that
cometh in the name of the Lord ! Blessed is the kingdom of our
father David ! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest ! "

St. Luke has recorded a touching incident of His
progress, omitted by the other Evangelists. As the
road from Bethany winds round the slope of Olivet,
it rises over a little shoulder of the hill, and suddenly
reveals the view of the city on the opposite hill, its
mighty walls and towers, its palaces and streets, its
groves and gardens, the Temple, with its marble walls,
its long colonnades, its lofty gates, its gilded roofs,
that striking combination of massive strength, and

310 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

architectural splendour, and lavish magnificence,
Avhich made this view of Jerusalem from the east one
of the most impressive sights in the world.

What fresh acclamations would burst forth as the
multitudes came in sight of the royal city, to which
they were at length, after so many ages of expectation,
conducting the King who should there at once
commence His glorious reign. And the Lord paused
to gaze, but the sight which filled them with ad-
miration and triumph filled Him with sadness. His
prophetic mind knew that the throne to which He
was being conducted in triumph was the Cross ; that
Jerusalem, rejecting the kingdom He was about to
set up, would perish in consequence ; that this very
hour of His coming to it was the crisis of its fate.
He foresaw the strong city and the magnificent
temple ruined and laid waste ; and while the multi-
tude shouted, " Hosannah," He sadly gazed and wept.

" He wept over it, and said, If thou hadst known, even thou,
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace,
but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall
come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side ;
and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within
thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."

And He journeyed on. And many in Jerusalem,
hearing that He was coming, took branches of palm-
trees in their hands, and went forth to meet Him ;

THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE. 311

and " the multitude that went before and that
followed after " conducted Him thus in triumph into
the city. But some of the Pharisees from amon^j
the multitude said unto Him, " Master, rebuke thy
disciples !" And He answered and said unto them,
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, if these should hold
their peace, the stones would immediately cry out "
(Luke xix, 39). So important, so momentous, was
the event, that if men had failed to recognise it, some
supernatural manifestation would have illustrated it,
even as the darkened sun His passion, an earthquake
His death, an earthquake His rising again.

" And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was
moved, saying, Who is this ? And the multitude said, This is
Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee " (Matt. xxi. lo-ii).

" And when he had looked round about upon all things, and
now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the
twelve" (Mark xi. 11).

The full meaning of this transaction needs careful
consideration : the more so that its importance is in
these days very commonly undervalued. We note,
first, that it was brought about, like His baptism,
by His own direct initiative. Unless He had sug-
gested it, this royal entry into Jerusalem would not
have taken place. Its meaning clearly is that it was
the deliberate and open assumption on the part of
our Lord of a royal character. The royal pomp
was a very humble one, compared with a Roman
triumph, or even with the entry of an Eastern king

312 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

into his capital. No magnificent chariot or tall war-
horse, no crown and royal robes, no surrounding
splendour of attendant nobles, no guard of prancing
horsemen or display of the power of an army.
"Thy King cometh unto thee, meek, sitting upon an
ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass." But the fact
remains beyond question, that now, at length, our
Lord assumed the royal character, and entered into
Jerusalem at the great Feast of the Passover, in a
royal procession, amidst the acclamations of His
adherents and of the multitudes who hailed Him
as the long looked-for King of the House of David,
inaugurating the Kingdom of David, in the name of
the Lord,

This is a part of our Lord's official character which
lies rather in the back-ground of the popular realisation
of THE Christ. The popular religious mind sees
Jesus clearly, and accepts His work, as the Sacrifice for
its sins ; values the prevalence of His intercession as
the High Priest ; but does not adequately realise His
royalty as King of the kingdom of God, and its rela-
tions to Him in this character.

From a very early period, and throughout the
length and breadth of Christendom, this day used to
be marked, and its significance brought out, in the
picturesque symbolical manner of those times, by a
procession of the Christian congregation, carrying
palms, or such substitute for palms as the climate

THY KIXG COMETH UNTO THEE. 313

of the country and the season of the year afforded.
We, after our more prosaic fashion, still celebrate the
birthday of Christ ; wc observe His death day ; His
resurrection day is our greatest festival ; and the
observance of His ascension day is fast reviving. Wc
have a special service in our Prayer Book for the
accession day of our temporal sovereign (whom
may God long preserve in health and prosperity ;)
but the accession day of our Heavenly King goes
without its due observance.

Perhaps the failure of many to appreciate the King-
ship of Christ may arise partly out of a misunder-
standing of some phases of the Gospel history. When
the people would have taken Jesus by force and made
Him a king, ^ He would not allow it ; and this may
leave on the minds of superficial readers an impres
sion that He altogether refused the kingly office.
But this is not so. He refused to take up His king-
ship on their initiative, at their time, in their way, and
the kind of kingship which they meant. But it was a
part of the will and counsel of God from the beginning
that He should be a king. It was as important that
He should be king as that He should be sacrifice and
priest. Accordingl}-, when His time was come, and
in His own wa}-. He did openly assume the kingly
dignity, He did actually become a king. It was for

' John vi. 15.

314 ^4 DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

this He died. This was the accusation which the
Jews brought against Him before Pilate. When
Pilate asked Him, " Art thou a king, then V he
acknowledged it. This was the crime for which He
was finally condemned, as was declared by the certi-
ficate of His accusation affixed to the cross : " Jesus
of Nazareth, King of the Jews." And it was this
open assumption of royalty on Palm Sunday which
formed the ground of the accusation which He never
attempted to deny.

If we picture Jesus to ourselves as He appeared to
the people, we shall see that they had good cause for
their enthusiastic reception of Him. This young man
of three-and-thirty, though brought up in obscurity,
was the lineal heir of David ; He had a dignified and
gracious presence, i winning manners, great purity
and elevation of character, a profound, yet practical
wisdom, an eloquence which won adherents and
astonished and disarmed opponents ; He might well
seem worthy to revive the kingdom of David and of
Solomon, Besides His great natural gifts, He was
endowed with supernatural powers of the most ex-
traordinary kind. He seemed to exercise authority,
at His own pleasure, over sickness and health, over the
winds and waves, over life and death, over the powers
and beings of the unseen world. These supernatural

* See page 208.

THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE. 515

endowments seemed to be God's testimony to the
truth of His claim to be the Messiah.

We know that He had still higher endowments,
which the Jews were ignorant of; He was not only
Son of David, but Son of Man ; not only the fulfil-
ment of Israel's ideal, but the fulfilment of the
world^s ideal. He from whom mankind, dead in
Adam, received a new life ; Himself, like Adam, a
perfect man, possessing all the qualities of human
nature, in their highest perfection and in balanced
harmony. Not only the heir of David's throne, but
the natural head and king of mankind.

For what is the ideal of a king, which, the more
nearly they approach it, kings are really kings } Is
it not the lineal representative of the great ancestor
to whom the race looks back as the founder of its
national existence ; the Father of the People, who in
person, mind, and character is the embodiment of
the great qualities of his race ; who goes forth in
war as the champion of his people against their foe,
and offers his life in single combat for them, and
by his victory delivers them from their enemy ;
whose great heart embraces all his people in its
love ; whose sagacious mind continually studies
their well-being ; whose days are spent in their
service ; whose reward is their appreciation and
their love ; and who, if this be denied, can still
patiently bear and magnanimously forgive ; still

3i6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

toil and sacrifice self for the public good, content
with the welfare of his people for his reward ?

Jesus fulfilled this ideal of a king of men, and
more, for Jesus had that unique and transcendent
claim, that He was not only man, but God. He made
the world, He made man, He became incarnate that,
as man. He might rule His own world, and, because
He ever liveth, His is an everlasting sovereignty.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 517

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

HIS may be the most appropriate place for
considering- with greater completeness the
subject which we have had to alkide to so
frequently throughout the former pages of the Life
of Christ, the subject of the Kingdom of the Christ.

Many of the prophecies of the ancient Scriptures —
a profoundcr study will reveal that the ancient Scrip-
tures as a whole — speak of a future king and a future
kingdom. They ascribe to this king attributes which
seem sometimes to be more than human, and they
describe this kingdom in language which seems to
recall Paradise or to anticipate Heaven.

We will only refer here to a few of the more
obvious of these predictions, and it will be enough
in many cases to call them to mind by a salient
sentence.

The 132nd Psalm defines that this king shall be of

the posterity of David.

"The Lord hath made a faithful oath unto David, and He
will not turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon
thy seat."

The 89th Psalm says, in the same strain, —

" I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn

3iS A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

unto David my servant : Thy seed will I establish for ever, and
build up thy throne to all generations. . . .

" I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my
covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make
to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven."

Of the universality of the dominion of the Son of

David, the iioth Psalm says, —

" The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

And the 2nd Psalm, —

" Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain
thing.'' . . . Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree : the Lord hath said unto me. Thou
art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I
shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," &c.

Of the nature of His reign, the 72nd Psalm speaks :

" Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness
unto the king's son. He shall judge thy people with righteous-
ness, and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring
peace, and the little hills righteousness. He shall judge the
poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and
shall break in pieces the oppressor. . . . Li his days shall the
righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon
endureth."

Then it goes on to speak of the universality of His

dominion and of the willing allegiance of the kings

of the earth : —

" The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents ;
the kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts. Yea, all kings
shall fall down before him : all nations shall serve him."

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 319

Of the continuance of His kingdom, it says, —

"His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be con-
tinued as long as the sun ; and men shall be blessed in him :
all nations shall call him blessed."

Isaiah is full of descriptions of the peace, righteous-
ness, and blessedness of this future kingdom.

"With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth, . . . and with the breath
of his lips shall he slay the wicked. The wolf also shall dwell
with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and
the calf and the young lion and the falling together, and a little
child shall lead them. . . . They shall not hurt nor destroy in
all my holy movi-ntain ; for the earth shall be full of the know-
ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Is. xi.).

" It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of
the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the moun-
tains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations shall
flow unto it. And many people shall say, Come ye and let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in
his paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many people. And they shall beat
their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-
hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more " (Is. ii.).

" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for
them ; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. . . .
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an
hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing ; for in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. . . . And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with

320 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

songs, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads : they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away " (Is. xxxv.).

These and many like prophecies seemed to say
plainly that the days would come when a Son of
David would establish in Jerusalem a world-wide
monarchy, that the kings of the earth would pay
liim a willing obedience, and that those who refused,
He would conquer with the sword ; that the nations
would believe in God, and that Jerusalem would
become the centre of the world's worship, as Avell as
the seat of universal empire. They seemed to say
that this King, by wise laws and a just adminis-
tration, would introduce an era of justice, virtue,
prosperity, and happiness, and raise mankind to the
highest point of well-being. In short, that the king-
dom of Messiah would realise that ideal of the
primgeval golden age of the world which man has
never forgotten, and whose restoration has been the
aspiration and hope of the noblest souls through all
the sinful, sorrowful centuries of the world's history.
It was a noble ideal. It was true in its broad general
outlines. The great error of the Jews was as to the
means by which it was to be brought about, and the
place they were to take in it.

If the previous predictions, with their figurative
language, seem to leave the king and the kingdom
somewhat like a beautiful vision, which might be

THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN.

amply fulfilled by reference to the future happiness
of the blessed in Heaven, there were other prophecies
which seemed, with prosaic plainness, to place the
kingdom among the kingdoms of this world, and
to define with perfect precision the time of its estab-
lishment.

Nebuchadnezzar's vision, and Daniel's interpre-
tation of it : — Nebuchadnezzar saw in his vision a
great image, with a head of gold, breast and arms
of silver, belly and thighs of brass, feet part of iron
and part of clay. He saw a stone, cut out without
hands, which smote ^ the image upon his feet, and
Ijrake them in pieces like chaff of the summer thrash-
ing-floor, and the wind carried them away. But the
stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole
earth.

In this vision, Daniel declared, God made known
to the king what should be in the latter days. To
this mightiest king of the first great empire God
vouchsafed a revelation of the future course of
empire, an outline of the future history of the
world. " Thou, O king ! " said the Prophet, " art
a king of kings, for the God of Heaven hath given
thee a kingdom, and power, and strength, and glory;
and wheresoever the children of men dwell, He hath
made thee ruler over them all : Thou art this head

• The force of the original is " smote repeatedly."
Y

322 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of gold ; and after thee shall arise another kingdom
inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass ;
and a fourth kingdom strong as iron and this king-
dom shall be divided. And afterwards shall the God
of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be
destroyed, and it shall last for ever." A subsequent
vision, of the Four Beasts, which God sent to the
Prophet himself, confirmed this vision of the king.

The Jews knew how the vision of Nebuchadnezzar
had been verified in the course of six centuries of
history ; how the Babylonian empire had given place
to the v^^ider Asiatic dominion of Persia ; how the
Greek conquests had united Asia and Egypt with
Greece ; how the Romans had succeeded to Greece,
and added the west to the east and south in the
greatest empire the world had seen. The Jews
gathered from Daniel's interpretation of the vision
that the Roman empire would give place to a Jewish
empire, which would spread over all the world, and
last to the end of time. Finally, Gabriel had brought
to Daniel a message, which seemed to define the time
when the last empire should be established : —

" Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of
sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and pro-
phecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and
understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince

THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN.

shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks," &c.
(Dan. ix. 24, 25).

The Jews understood the prophetic weeks to be
weeks of years, each day a year, and 70 x 7 = 490
years, 69 x 7 = 483 years. That period had elapsed
since the decree which went forth to rebuild Jeru-
salem, and the Jews were naturally in a condition of
intense suppressed excitement, expecting some
sudden and great deliverance ; and throughout the
world there was a vague expectation of the coming
of some remarkable person, and of some crisis in the
world's history. It was in the midst of this excited
state of feehng that the herald voice of John the
Baptist fell : — " Prepare ye the way of the Lord : the
kingdom of heaven is at hand."

But the nature of the kingdom which Jesus in-
augurated disappointed the expectations of the Jews.
It was, in fact, a totally new idea among men. An
empire stretching over all continents, embracing all
peoples, without necessarily disturbing the existing
political arrangements of the world, not dethroning
a single king or altering the constitution of a single
commonwealth.

Christ demanded the entire allegiance of every
human being, but He would accept only voluntary
adherents. He promulgated not so much laws to
regulate the outward conduct, as principles to control
the motives of action. Pie did not propose to enforce

V 2

324 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

obedience by any temporal penalties ; the ultimate
and capital punishment (in this world) of the gravest
offender, was simple exclusion from the number oi
His people. Of the worldly possessions of His
subjects, He claimed everything as His own, and left
them to contribute what they would.

Just because this Sovereignty was so vague and
spiritual, therefore it was so absolute and universal.
It could not be satisfied with external deference to
certain definite injunctions and restrictions. It
claimed to reign in the reason, affections, conscience,
will of men ; it demanded that every man should
yield himself up entirely in his internal life of belief,
and motive, and aim, and therefore, as an inevitable
consequence, in his external life of action, to fulfil
every word and every wish of the Christ with a
willing, entire, and enthusiastic obedience. To minds
filled with ideas of conquest, political ascendancy,
and temporal power and grandeur, the " kingdom
not of this world," the spiritual kingdom of which
He spoke, seemed an unreal mockery of sovereignty ;
it excited the pity of Pilate, the scorn of Herod, the
rejection of the Jews !

Profoundcr spirits will recognise that what Christ
claimed was really a Sovereignty so absolute, and
universal, and searching, that nothing short of the
possession by the Sovereign of perfect wisdom, per-
fect goodness, and the most single-hearted intention

THE KINGDOM OF HEA VEN. 325

to rule for the well-being of the governed, could
justify such a claim on the part of the Sovereign, or
make its acceptance tolerable to the subject.

The misunderstanding of the nature of the king-
dom of the Christ was not confined to the Jews of
those days : it prevails largely at the present day.

Some people think that when Christ said, "My
kingdom is not of this world," He meant that it was
not in this world,— that it related entirely to the
future life of the saints, after the resurrection, in
heaven. A very slight examination of the sense in
which He Himself and His immediate followers spoke
of His kingdom is enough to show that whatever it
is, it is a thing of this world. When the Baptist,
when our Lord, when His Apostles, proclaimed to
the Jews,— expecting that the kingdom of God
would immediately appear, — " the kingdom of
heaven is at hand," could they possibly mean
that thousands of years were to elapse before it
should come .? This cannot be, for on one occasion
our Lord said plainly :_" Verily I say unto you,
there be some of them which stand here which shall
not taste of death till the kingdom of God come
with power.'*

The erroneous notion is partly due to a careless
misapprehension of the meaning of the phrase
" kingdom of heaven." A very little attention would
be enough to show the reader of the Gospels

326 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

that the phrase, " kingdom of heaven," used only by
St. Matthew, means exactly the same thing as
«' kingdom of God," used by St. Mark and St. Luke.^
A critical examination of some of these texts (to
which we refer in a note below) - would prove that
" kingdom of heaven " and " kingdom of God " are
equivalent to " Church of Christ." A mere glance at
the hundred places, or thereabouts, in which the
phrases " kingdom of heaven " and " kingdom of
God " occur, would show that in nearly all of them
the context defines them as meaning a state of things
here on earth. To limit ourselves, by way of
illustration, to the parables, there are thirty-two of
them ; they extend over the whole period of our
Lord's public ministry ; nineteen out of the thirty-
two are parables of the kingdom : — " The kingdom
of heaven is like this," and " the kingdom of heaven

^ Thus, in recording the parable of the mustnrd seed, St.
Matthew says : " The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of
mustard seed" (xiii. 31). St. Mark (iv. 30) says, " Whereunto
shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like a grain of mustard
seed." In recording the mission of the apostles, St. Matthew
says, the Lord bade them, "As ye go, preach, saying the king-
dom of Heaven is at hand." St. Luke, in the parallel passage,
says. He sent them "to preach the kingdom of God^' (Matt,
X. 7 ; Luke ix. 2).

^ " Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Chuixh,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ; and I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven^'' where
church = kingdom of Heaven. See also i Thess. ii. 12.

THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN. 327

is like that." The first of all the parables is that of
the sower,— "the kingdom of heaven is like a sower,"
— which relates to the preaching of the Gospel, and
the way in which different classes of men would
receive it ; and the last of all the parables is that of
the vine,—" I am the vine : ye are the branches," —
which illustrates the organic union of the Church
with Christ. A mere glance at the parables, as they
occur in all their beautiful familiarity to the memory,
is enough to show that they speak of a state of things
here upon earth. ^- For example, it can only be here
that the seed of the word sown falls by the wayside,
or on stony ground, or is choked by thorns. It is
only here that tares grow together with the wheat ;
they are bound into bundles and cast into the fire
before the wheat is gathered into the garner of
heaven. There are bad fish, as well as good, in the
Church's net now, but when the net has been dragged
through the ages of this life, and has reached the
shore of eternity, only the good shall be put into
vessels, and the bad shall be thrown away. It is here
that the wise and foolish virgins wait for the Bride-
groom's coming; there the doors have been shut, and
they that were ready have sat down to the marriage
supper of the Lamb. At the marriage feast here,
some guests, alas ! have not on the wedding garment ;
all are clad in white robes there.

The kingdom of God is not, indeed, as some of the

328 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

texts show us, limited to this life and this world ; it
extends into the next life, has its final place in the
new heavens and the new earth. Like man's life,
which begins here and lives on in the next phase of
being, so the " kingdom of heaven," the " kingdom of
God," the " Church of Christ," begins its life here,
and lives on in another and more glorious phase of
existence eternally in the heavens.

Again, there are some who think that Christ's
kingdom, so far as it relates to this life, is altogether
internal and spiritual, quoting, in support of this
idea, the text, " the kingdom of God is within you " ;
in pure misapprehension of the real meaning of
the text, which is, " the kingdom of God is in the
midst of you," is already in the world, though you
have failed to recognise it ; and another text, " the
kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost," z>., not such a kingdom of con-
quest, and political ascendency, and temporal honours
and wealth, as the Jews were expecting, but, as so
many prophecies had described it, a kingdom of
peace, righteousness, and happiness, the result of
the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Church of
Christ. This would make the Dispensation of the
Messiah a Religion only ; but it was prophesied before-
hand, it was proclaimed at its inauguration, it was
actually established and exists as a Kingdom, the
successor of the four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar's

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 32c>

vision, and accomplishment of what they typified and
crudely aimed at, viz., the organisation of mankind
into one harmonious society, a brotherhood of man-
kind, peaceful and virtuous, prosperous and happy,
under the wise rule of a beneficent Monarch.

It is the notion of some people that they do honour
to Jesus when they suppose that He is concerned
only for the great spiritual interests of men ; they
think it derogatory to His divine dignity to suppose
that He was much concerned for the improvement of
man's temporal condition. It seems to be a common
idea that the conditions of this life cannot be much
mended ; that we must all endure them as well as
we can, and look for compensation for our sufferings
here in the happiness of the next world. We may
find our lot in this life tolerable, but the earthly lot of
millions is most miserable, and that, very largely.
through preventible causes. We are guilty of gross
and cruel selfishness, when we tell such men to suffer
patiently and wait for heaven, when they are suffering
from the errors of our imperfect social systems, or
from the faults of our neglect of our duties towards
our fellow-men. We misrepresent Christ and His
kingdom when we say that all this ignorance, poverty,
vice, and misery, are the normal condition of things
in the Dispensation of the Christ upon earth. \\''c
give cause for a very dangerous revolt against Christ
and His kingdom.

330 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

In the face of all the ignorance, poverty, vice,
misery, which exist in the nations of Europe, you
tell the suffering people that this is the realisation of
all the prophecies and promises of Christ's kingdom
in this world, and that Christianity has nothing better
to give, and no better hopes to offer for the condition
of suffering humanity here. The miserable are taking
you at your word ; they are beginning to believe so
much of your Christian teaching ; and they are
saying. If this is all which Christian civilisation can
do for the masses of mankind, all it can even hold out
the hope of to the end of the world, then Christianity
is a failure, and we will try if we cannot find some
new bases, some new principles on which to recon-
struct society. It is not so ! The kingdom of God,
which Christ came to establish upon earth, includes
the elevation of human character and the ameliora-
tion of the conditions of human life here in this
world, as the first stage of a restoration of humanity
to something still more glorious and blessed in the
future phase of its existence.

They misunderstand God and Christ, and God's
designs for man, and Christ's work, who think that it
was only worthy of the God-Man to care for the
future interests of the race, and derogatory to His
dignity to care for its wretchedness here. It is worthy
of the greatest kings, philosophers, statesmen, to pro-
mote the stability, prosperity, happiness of a single

THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN.

nation. It is worthy of the Divine King-, Philosopher,
Statesman, to restore peace, virtue, prosperity, and
happiness to a whole world. True, man's life here lasts
only threescore years and ten ; nay, the average dura-
tion of a generation is only thirty years ; but the life
of a nation lasts for centuries ; the life of the race here
may last for tens of centuries before the end come ;
true, it may possibly come to-morrow, but also it is
very possible that wc may}'ct be in the infancy of the
world's life.

If one could sec the misery of one great town un-
veiled for a moment, and catch for one moment its wail
of sorrow, the cry of appeal which it sends continually
up to heaven ; if one were forced to gaze for a whole
day on the misery of the world, as it lies always under
the eye of God, and to listen to the awful sound of
its agonised appeal to its God, then, perhaps, it might
be thought worthy of the Incarnate God, worth the
Sacrifice of the Cross, to rescue this world from sin, and
turn it into the kingdom of God which Isaiah describes.

Christ was not merely a religious teacher, who
enunciated great truths, and left scholars to propagate
those truths, and left the truths to work their own
effect in the minds, and ultimately in the conduct, of
men. He organised a society, that society He called
a kingdom, and His design was that this kingdom
should spread till it embraced mankind. It was

332 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

not a symbolical, unreal kingdom, but a real external
organisation of men, women, and children. It aimed
at internal progress and external conquest. Christ
appointed a ceremony of initiation by which His
disciples should be openly enrolled as His sub-
jects ; and another ceremony which should call them
together at weekly intervals, and cement their union
with Him and with one another. He enunciated
laws, and insisted upon implicit obedience to
them ; He gave authority to a body of officials
to administer the affairs of His kingdom, and pro-
vided for their continuity. He required of the citizens
of His kingdom a revenue for the maintenance of its
institutions and the honour of its king.

As Moses was a great statesman, who out of the
twelve tribes organised a nation and a church, so Christ
was a great statesman, who out of the nations of the
world organised an empire and a church. Christ's
method differs from that of ail other statesmen in the
recognition of the fact that the amelioration of the
condition of mankind was to be wrought out, not in
the region of politics, or science, or material prosperity,
but in the region of morals, and in laying down a
plan for the organisation of mankind on that basis.
Christ's kingdom differs from all kingdoms of this
world especially in this, that while other kings and
statesmen find their wisest efforts baffled by the
inherent folly and wickedness of mankind, and can

THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN.

■only resign themselves to it, Christ recognised that
the amelioration of the condition of mankind was
impossible without the communication of new spiritual
forces, which should deal with these inherent faults
of fallen human nature, and to those who enter into
His kingdom He communicates those new spiritual
forces by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Christ's plan of a spiritual empire leaves to the
" Powers that be " of this world, which are themselves
" ordained of God," are the " ministers of God ap-
pointed for this very thing," all that relates to the
defence of the commonwealth from foreign enemies,
the maintenance of internal order and security, the
promotion of commerce and the arts, the punishment
of crime. The plan of the spiritual empire commits
to another set of ministers that which relates to the
public worship of Almighty God, to the moral and
spiritual life of the people. The temporal and the
ecclesiastical are co-ordinate powers in the plan of
the spiritual empire, the kingdom of Christ. Where
the power of the State ends, there the power of the
Church begins. Caesar can only maintain external
obedience by the sword ; the church bids the citizen
render a willing obedience to the law, not only for
wrath, but also for conscience sake. The State can
only organise the general platform of national well-
being, and control the grosser injuries which man
does to his fellows ; the Church bids him abstain from

334 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the vices which injure himself and society a thou-
sand times more than all the crime, and not only
abstain from injuring, but do his duty to his fellow-
men. In short, the State can deal only with the
material interests and the external life and order of
society ; the Church deals with the internal life — the
beliefs, hopes, and aims of the soul, which are the
inner springs and regulators of the external life of
man.

When the State fails to seek the aid of the Church
of Christ, and to aid it in turn with every facility for
fulfilling its functions, it is failing in wise statesman-
ship; when the State begins to legislate without regard
to the higher legislation of Christ, it has entered upon
a downward course. For a Christian state to formally
sever its relations with the Church, and profess to rule
independently of Christianity, is to put itself back
sixteen centuries in the course of civilisation, and to
enter upon a course of confusion, misery, and ruin.

If we inquire, What did this kingdom offer to its
subjects in return for this entire obedience .-' we shall
see it was still a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom not of
this world. It did not offer to its subjects temporal
rewards, power, honours, wealth. It appealed to
that which is deepest, and highest, and noblest in
human nature ; it offered to satisfy the inmost crav-
ings and highest aspirations of man. It offered him
God's pardon and love, and the indwelling of the

THE KINGDOM OF I IE AV JIN. 335

spirit of God, victor)'' over his own disordered vicious
nature, and a growth into the nobleness of perfect
humanity ; it offered to put every man into his true
place in the world, and give him his right work to do,
and to guide him by a divinely-ordered path to a
peaceful death and to a happy eternity beyond the
grave.

To those who could take a wider view of the world
and of human society, it offered the prospect of a
brotherhood of nations which, while leaving to man
all the advantages of national patriotism, and leaving
every race to work out its own type of progress,
secured the advantages of a universal empire in the
maintenance of peace and the free mutual interchange
of all the advantages of various climes. It offered to
remove from society the causes of its disorder and
unhappiness ; to secure universal liberty without
licence ; and equality, by raising the lower to the level
of the higher ; and a true fraternity of heartfelt mutual
respect and divine charity.

This Kingdom was an essential part of Christ's
plan for the salvation of the world. It was the great
means by which He proposed to apply His spiritual
gifts to mankind, and work out the designs of His
providence in the future of the world's history.

His kingdom was a spiritual kingdom, and a
kingdom not of this world, but it had from the first
a visible existence and an external organisation.

336 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

First, Christ ; then Christ chose twelve apostles ;
He bade them make disciples, — so He named the
subjects of His kingdom, — of all nations, bap-
tizing them into His Church, And so we read, on
the Day of Pentecost the number of the names of
those assembled was 120, and the Holy Ghost came
upon them, and the Church was thereby fully consti-
tuted ; and the 3,000 who believed in Peter's preach-
ing were baptized into the Church ; and the Lord
added to the Church daily by baptism those who were
brought into a state of salvation. And so the Church
spread from country to country, and subsequently
from generation to generation, until it has come
down to us.

The division of the Church into sections, the break-
ing down of the pales of discipline which should
separate it from the world, the imperfect Christianity
of its members, have obscured its glory, weakened
its power to train up its own children into saintli-
ness, and to win ground among the heathen nations ;
but there the Church is still, the sole hope which
Christ has given us of the regeneration of human
society here, and of fitting mankind for the better
world to come. Like a great ship, with a leaky
hull, and torn rigging, and a mutinous crew, she
still staggers through the heavy seas, fraught with
the destinies of mankind. Our hope is in the pre-
sence of her Lord, and in His promise, " Lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the world."

PART IV.-THE PASSION AND DEATH.

CHAPTER XXX VI.

THE HOLY WEEK.

E reverently follow the Gospels in their de-
tailed narrative of the last eventful days.
It would seem that every day (Luke
xix. 47) Jesus came into Jerusalem, usually coming
very early in the morning, according to the custom
of the East, remaining all day, and returning in the
evening to His lodging at Bethany. On the Monday^
morning, as He came in, occurred the cursing a^>
the barren fig-tree, a miracle which differs from
all His other miracles in being purely a miracle
of destruction.^ It is easy to see the Lord's intention
in it. All His miracles had a spiritual significance,
and so has this ; in them the act of beneficence is the
primary motive of the miracle, and the symbolism
grows out of it ; in this the miracle was wrought for

' The destruction of the herd of swine was only an incident
in a miracle of healing.

Z

338 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the sake of the symbolism ; and of the meaning of
the symbolism we may take our Lord's own parable
of the barren fig-tree as the authoritative expla-
nation. He was come, in this His last visit to
Jerusalem, in the avowed character of the King
Messiah, — He was come to seek the fruit of many
ages of cultivation bestowed upon the Jewish Church
and nation ; and He found a strong city and a mag-
nificent temple, crowded with the Passover pilgrims,
a grand worship, and myriads of victims ; all the
outward appearances of a flourishing Church ; and
within a High Priest who had determined on His
murder, and a Sanhedrim which, as a body, had
conspired with him to accomplish it ; and hypocritical
scribes, and Pharisees, and sceptical Sadducees, and
worldly Herodians ; and a people whose ideal of a
Messiah was one who by political revolution and
earthly conquest should gratify their revenge and
ambition. It was the peremptory repetition, in
striking symbol, of what the Lord had said before
in parable, "Lo these three years I come seeking fruit
on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down, why
cumbereth it the ground V And this time there was
no respite.

And so the Lord passed on, and entered the city
and the Temple. And now, at this time. He repeated
the act of authority which He had done three years
before, on the occasion of His first entry upon His

THE HOL V WEEK. 339

public ministry. " He began to cast out them that
sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the
tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them
that sold doves ; and would not suffer that any man
should carry any vessel through the Temple," and
said unto them, "It is written. My house shall be
called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have
made it a den of thieves!" (Matt. xxi. 12; Mark
xi. 15-19 ; Luke xix. 45, 46).

A glance at the passage of Isaiah's prophecy from
which our Lord quotes, and to which He alludes,
will show the deep significance of the allusion. It is
from one of the places where he is prophesying the
redemption of the Gentiles and their equal privileges
with the children of Abraham : —

" Let not the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to
the Lord speak, saying, the Lord hath utterly separated me
from his people. . . . For thus saith the Lord . . . The sons oi
the strangers that join themselves to the Lord to serve him,
and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. . . .
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them
joyful in my house of prayer ; their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar ; for mine house
shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God
which gathercth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather
others to him besides them that are gathered unto him."

And the Prophet goes on with words which may
well have been also in the minds of the Lord and
of His hearers : —

" His watchmen are blind : they are all ignorant," &c.
Z 2

340 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

And yet firrthcr : —

" The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart :
and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the
righteous is taken away from the evil to come," &c. (Is. Ivi.
3,6,7,8; Ivii. i).

The symbolism of the act in the light of the
allusion, and under the circumstances, was that the
King was come to cleanse the impurities of Israel
and to admit the Gentiles into the kingdom of
Heaven.

The Scribes and Chief Priests heard it, and their
resolutions against Him were confirmed by what
they heard, but they feared openly to interfere with
Him, " because all the people was astonished at His
doctrine" (Mark xi. i8).

"And the blind and the lame came to Him in the
Temple, and He healed them," and the children, who
had caught up the cry of the multitudes on the
previous day, expressed the general feeling excited
by His assumption of authority, and His " doctrine,"
and these miracles, and cried in the Temple, saying,
" Hosannah to the Son of David." And the chief
priests and scribes were sore displeased, and, as on the
previous day,called on Jesus to rebuke and silence their
acclamations: — "Hearest thou what these say.?" But
again our Lord accepted and justified the popular
recognition of Him as the Christ : — " Yea, have ye
never read. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
Thou hast perfected praise.?" "And He left them,

THE HOLY WEEK. 341

and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged
there" (Matt. xx. 15-17).

The next day, the Tuesday of Holy Week, as
Jesus and His disciples were walking to Jerusalem,
the Apostles observed that the fig-tree to which their
attention had been attracted the previous day, and
which our Lord had cursed, had already " withered
away " (Matthew) : " dried up from the roots " (Mark).
And they marvelled, and called their Lord's attention
to it. The Lord took occasion from their wonder
that His curse had been so quickly fulfilled to speak
to them of the power of faithful prayer, which should
enable them to do as wonderful things as this. And
to this condition of prayer, faith, He added another,
charity : — " When ye stand praying, forgive if ye
have aught against any, that your Father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. ]?ut
it ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which
is in heaven forgive you your trespasses." Seeing
that the prayer in question had cursed the fruitless
fig-tree, the correction might have been needed by
those who once would have called down fire from
lieaven upon the Samaritan village which refused
them hospitality. And so they passed on their way.

It was a busy day ; affairs were hurrying on to
their great consummation. When the Lord was
come into the Temple, the Chief Priests, and the

342 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

elders of the people came, and, interrupting Him
as He was teaching, demanded His authority for
acting as he was doing. They knew He had openly
claimed to be the Messiah : that was His authority.
He had declared, over and over again, that His
Heavenly Father had given Him this authority.
There was nothing to be gained by simply reiterating
His claims to these men, who had finally rejected
them. Therefore He replied, as He often did, and
does, so as to throw back the questioner upon Himself,
and leave Him to answer Himself, — " I will ask you
one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will
tell you " what you ask : — " The baptism of John,
whence was it, from heaven, or of men .?" And they
reasoned with themselves, — " If we shall say from
heaven, He will say. Why then did ye not believe
him V for the very purport of His ministry was to
prepare the way for the kingdom, and the very
climax of His prophetic office was when he pointed
out Jesus as the Messiah. But they feared to say
that it was not from heaven, "for all men held John
to have been a prophet," and they themselves seem,
if not to have shared, at least not to have questioned,
the popular belief in Him. They were reduced to the
necessity of evading His question, — " We cannot tell."
And Jesus answering, said, " Neither tell I you by
what authority I do these things." They are reduced
to a pitiable confusion. They come arrogantly

THE HOLY WEEK.

343

professing that it is their right to inquire and decide
upon his claim to be Messiah ; he asks them what is
their decision on John's claim to be a prophet and
the Forerunner of Messiah. If they admit their
inability to determine the lower claim, how can they
decide upon the higher ?

He proceeded immediately to turn their eyes in-
ward upon themselves, and to show them, by means
of a parable, the true character of their attitude
towards John and towards Himself " A certain man
had two sons ; and he came to the first and said, Son,
go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and
said, I will not; but afterward repented and went. And
he came to the second and said likewise, and he said,
I go, sir, and went not. Whether of these twain did
the will of his father } They say unto him, The first."

Then Jesus showed them the application of the
parable, and how they had condemned themselves.
You chief priests and rulers are like the second son,
who make a hypocritical pretence of respect and
obedience to God's commandments, but really slight
and reject them. The first son is like the publicans
and harlots, who though once they openly and rudely
refused to obey God, yet through John's preaching
have come to a better mind, and repented and believed
in me. " Verily I say unto you, the publicans and
the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you.
For John came unto you in the way of righteousness,

344 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and ye believed him not ; but the publicans and the
harlots believed him ; and ye, when ye had seen it,
repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

" Hear another parable," He went on, and spoke
the terrible parable of the wicked husbandman, who
beat and wounded and killed the servants successively
sent to them by their Lord ; and when, at length, he
sent his son, saying, " They will reverence my son,"
said among themselves, This is the heir, come, let us
kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. The
meaning was not difficult. " The vineyard of the
Lord of Hosts," Isaiah had told them, " is the house
of Israel." God had in the old time sent His prophets
to His people, and they had ill-treated and slain
them ; He whom He had now sent was His Son, who
was entitled to the reverence due to the Son of God,
and they were conspiring to kill him, that their
temporal prosperity might not be disturbed, — "lest
the Romans come and take away our place and
nation." What, therefore, he asks, "shall the Lord
of the vineyard do unto them .-* " A comparison of
the Gospels leads us to conjecture that it was some
of the bystanders ^ who replied to our Lord's question.
" He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and
will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, who

' Some maintain that it was the Chief Priests and elders who
were led to make this admission, so fatal to themselves.

THE HOLY WEEK. 345

shall render him the fruits in their season." Then
our Lord turns to the questioners, and accepting the
sentence which the people have just pronounced,
-iipplies it to them in the words, " Therefore say I unto
you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you,
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"
(Matt. xxi. 43). He had thus really replied to their
original inquisition. He was the Son of Him who had
sent the prophets of old ; and as their forefathers had
in their wicked blindness persecuted and slain the
prophets, so they in like wicked blindness were about
to slay Him, and the result of their crime would be
precisely that which by their crime they were seeking
to avert, God would take the kingdom from them,
and give it to others. " And when they heard it they
said, God forbid " (Luke xx. 16). For the Chief
Priests and Pharisees " perceived that he had spoken
this parable against them," and " they sought to la}-
hands on him, but they feared the multitude because
they took him for a prophet."

Yet another parable He spoke to them, the parable
of the king who made a marriage for his son, and the
invited guests made light of it, caring more for their
farms and their merchandise, and some even took the
messengers and entreated them spitefully, and slew
them. Whereupon the king was wroth, and gave
command to send forth his armies, and destroy those
murderers, and burn up their city. And in the place

346 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of the invited guests he bids his servants go into the
highways, and gather as many as they found, both
bad and good, and so the wedding was furnished
with guests. Again, the king's son is Himself. In
the first parable, the son and heir was killed by the
wicked husbandmen. Here it is on account of the
son that the wicked guests are invited to partake of
the king's banquet. Not now a demand for the fruits
of the vineyard, but an invitation to come to the
marriage. But the lesson is the same ; they who
refused to give the fruits of righteousness, equally
refuse to receive the spiritual good things — pardon,
enlightenment, faith, grace — which Christ offers. The
priests and rulers, scribes and Pharisees rejecting*
the publicans and harlots and the Gentiles, become
the guests of the royal banquet. And He added a
warning to those who did accept the Gospel invitation,
in the case of the guest who, not having taken the
pains to come " holy and clean, in the marriage gar-
ment required by God in Holy Scripture," was also
bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness.

Again, His enemies were afraid to arrest Him in
the midst of the crowd of pilgrims who surrounded
Him, hung on His words, believed in Him, were ready,
no doubt, to defend Him from attack, needed, pro-
bably, but a word from Him to stir them up to some
fanatical attack upon themselves; but they took
counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk.

THE HOLY WEEK. 347

The device was an ingenious one. His popularity
made themselves powerless against Him. They pro-
posed to put to Him, for His solution as a teacher and
prophet, in the hearing of all the people who crowded
about Him in the Temple, a question whose answer
would involve Him in this dilemma, — if He should
answer yes, it would shock the general feeling and
destroy His popularity ; if He should answer no, it
would be an open preaching of sedition, and so they
could employ the Roman power to do what they
were not sufficiently powerful to do. So " they sent
forth spies feigning themselves just men," who began
with treacherous compliments, " Master, we know
that thou art true, and carest for no man : for thou
regardest not the person of men, but teachest the
way of God in truth : Is it lawful to give tribute to
Caesar, or not t Shall we give, or shall wc not give ? "
(Mark xii. 14, 15.) " But Jesus perceived their crafti-
ness," and with a word tore away all their pretences.
" Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites >. Show me the
tribute-money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and
superscription } They say unto him, Caesar's. Then
saith He unto them. Render therefore to Ca.'sar the
things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things
which are God's. And they marvelled and held their
peace " (Luke), " and left him and went their way "
(Matthew). It certainly was a very striking solution

348 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of the question. The production by his questioners
of the coin with Caesar's image and name as the
current coin of the nation/ was an admission on their
parts, nay, was an undeniable evidence, of all the
historical and political facts of the case. His words
were not only a sufficient reply, ad hominem — an
evasion of a difficulty, — but they contain a profound
solution of the religious difficulty of the case ; and
have sufficed to indicate the elucidation of difficult
questions of the duties of the individual to the Church
and the State ever since. They are pithy, and preg-
nant as a proverb ; they are cast into poetical form.

Render to Cassar the things which are Caesar's,
And to God the things which are God's.

And they have passed into a proverb. It was one of
those brilliant strokes of insight into the principles
which underlie a difficult question, one of those felici-
tous expressions of the solution which belong to the
very highest rank of practical intellect.

Then came the Sadducees, " which say there is no
resurrection," and proposed one of the difficulties
which seemed to them insoluble, and so seemed to
justify their unbelief Master, " Moses wrote unto us,"
— this statement that it was Moses who wrote it is of
the essence of their case, — " Moses wrote unto us, If a

^ There is a Rabbinical saying, " The coin of the country
shows the master."

THE HOLY WEEK. 349.

man die having no children, his brother shall marry
his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother." Then
they put an imaginary case, — "There were seven
brethren who all married a wife successively without
issue, and all died one after another ; last of all the
woman died also, for all men die. But if all men
come to life again, then at the resurrection whose
wife of the seven will this woman be .''" Their inference
is, that Moses did not believe in the resurrection, or
he would never have given a commandment which
could lead to such a confusion.

Our Lord calml}' took their question as it stood,
and in a few brief words showed that their insoluble
difficulty vanished, and was no difficulty at all, in the
light of a fuller knowledge of the conditions of the
resurrection, "Ye err because ye know not the Scrip-
tures, neither the power of God. For when they shall
rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels of God." And
having thus easily disposed of their captious question,
and made their attempt to perplex and confound
Him the occasion of a manifestation of more than
human knowledge. He proceeds to address Himself
to the disbelief of the resurrection which underlay
their question. If they did not receive the rest of
the Scripture, they did believe the Pentateuch. It is
true that the absence of clear statement of a future
life from the Books of Moses is a remarkable fact,

350 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and to some a difficulty to the present day. He
took one of the best known passages in the Books of
Moses ; where at the burning bush God revealed
Himself to Moses as "the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob " (Ex. iii. 6), and our
Lord drew from that one phrase the profound and
unanswerable argument, " God is not the God of the
dead, but of the living " ; therefore Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob were still living when God spoke to Moses,
more than 200 years after the death of the latest of
the three great patriarchs ; " for," he draws the general
deduction, "all live unto Him." And again we read,
"they were astonished at his doctrine," and some of the
Scribes openly expressed their admiration, " Master,
thou hast well said " (Luke xx. 39).

" But when the Pharisees heard that the Sadducees had been
put to silence they were gathered together ; and one of them
which was a lawyer (scribe) asked him a question, tempting
him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment of
the law ? Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets " {i.e.
the whole Scripture). — Matt. xxii. 34-40.

It is the last point but one of his public teaching,
and it consists of a summing up of the Old Testa-
ment Scriptures, with a declaration of the Gospel
interpretation of them. It is the Sermon on the
Mount in summary.

THE HOLY WEEK. 351

" And the Scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou
hast said the truth, for there is one God and there is
none other but he, and to love him with all the heart
and with all the understanding, and with all the soul,
and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour
as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and
sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, he said unto him," not with the tone of a
successful disputant, but with the calm authority of
one who speaks from a higher plane of knowledge
and station, " Thou art not far from the kingdom of
God " ; his ready acknowledgment of the evangelical
interpretation of the Scriptures, placed him at the very
threshold of the kingdom, still only at the threshold ;
he needed repentance, and faith in Christ, to place
him within the kingdom, among the disciples of the
Lord. And after that they durst not ask Him any
question at all. Then the Lord turned upon His
questioners, and proposed to them a counter-
question, " What think ye of the Christ, whose son
is he .? "

"They say unto Him, The Son of David."
" How then doth David in spirit [of prophecy] call
him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy
footstool ? If David then call him Lord, how is he
his Son ?" The inference to which he would lead
them is obvious. He who was David's Son, and yet

352 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

David's Lord, must be superior to David. How
superior ? This David's Lord, whom God calls to sit
"on his right hand,'' who is He ? They saw the in-
ference, and again, as in the case of his former ques-
tion, " no man was able to answer him a word " (Matt,
xxi. 42-46). This is the last point of His public teach-
ing: after summing up the law and the prophets in the
one word, love, finally He puts before them Christ,
as David's Lord, sitting on the right hand of God.

We pause for a moment to remark on the calm
self-possession, the fulness and depth of wisdom, the
perfect dignity with which our Lord met these re-
peated and varied assaults. It reminds us of the
Temptation in the Wilderness, when with similar
brevity, and insight, and appeal to Scripture, He met
and foiled the attempts of Satan.

Then the Lord turned from his opponents " to the
multitude and to His disciples," and after some pre-
liminary words He poured forth, in the hearing of
those who had hardened their hearts to reject or to
destroy Him, those woes which form His last utter-
ance ; beginning by denouncing them because they
would not become disciples of His kingdom, and
hindered others : —

" Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye neither g'o
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go 10.**

and concluding with the prophecy : —

THE HOLY WEBfv. 353

" Ye are the children of them that killed the prophets. Fill
ye up then the measure ' of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

" Wherefore, behold I - send unto you prophets, and wise ment
and scribes ; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and
some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and perse-
cute them from city to city : that upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel
unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew-
between the terrple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all
these things shall come upon this generation."

Then in the strain of tender, yearning grief w hich
runs through all his character he mourns over the
fulfilment of his own denunciations.

" O Jerusalem ! Jesusalem ! thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee I How often ^ would
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.

" Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say
unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt,
xxiii.).

' As the heathen nations who preceded the Israelites in the
land filled up the measure of their iniquities, and were destroyed
by thern. See Acts vii. 52.

- Observe that He speaks of Himself as the Sender of the
new race of prophets and wise men and scribes, whom He
classes with those whom God sent of old, thus inferring His
unity with God.

' " * How often ' includes, at the same time, all the calls of the
former prophets, with all the invitations of those afterwards
sent, and known beforehand to be in vain, although it places
the calls and invitations of Christ Himself in the centre." —
Stier, " Words of the Lord Jesus."

2 A

354 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

I.e. till the great second advent,^ " when every eye
shall see him (and they also that pierced him), and
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."

At his trial before the Sanhedrim he referred them
to the same time. " Hereafter shall ye see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds."

It was the Lord's last public utterance to the people
generally, an awful farewell. It reminds us that the
last word of God by the last of the ancient prophets
was " I will send you Elijah [John the Baptist] the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord ; and he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children and the heart of the children
to the fathers, lest [otherwise] I come and smite the
earth with a curse" (Malachi iv. 5, 6), and John the
Baptist's last word of public teaching was " He that
believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath
of God abideth on him" (John iii. 36). He began
the sermon on the mount with eight beatitudes, he
concludes his public teaching with eight woes.

There is an incident related by St. John (xii. 20)
which occurred on one of the early days of this week,
but on which of them it is impossible to determine.
It is convenient to introduce it here. " There were

' Some hold that these concluding words are words of hope,
that they are a prophecy of a time when Israel will acknow-
ledge Christ as Messiah, and welcome Him with Hosannahs.

THE HOL V WEEK.

355

certain Greeks among them which came up to worship
at the feast/' commentators arc agreed that they
were heathens in religion. They may have come
from one of the Grecised cities of Galilee. The same
came to Philip which was of Bethsaida in Galilee,
and desired him saying " Sir, we would see Jesus.'^
They in common with other people could see him
and hear him so as to gratify a mere curiosity like
that of Zaccheus ; but the narrative implies that
they sought a special interview, Philip does not
take upon himself at once to introduce them. " He
cometh and telleth Andrew ;" and after consultation
together, the two " tell Jesus." " And Jesus answered
them, saying" : — We understand this to mean that
Jesus granted to these Gentiles the interview they
sought, and that this is the substance of his discourse
to them. The tenor of it leads us to conjecture
that these Gentiles had seen or heard of the trium-
phal entry ; they had certainly heard something of
the expectations so many were entertaining that
"the kingdom of God would immediately appear."
They were disposed to believe in Him ; — " Jesus
answered them, saying. The hour is come that the
Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die it abideth alone ; but if it die it bringeth
forth much fruit." The Lord declares that the time
has conic for his glorification ; and then, looking for-
2 A 2

356 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OCR LORD.

ward to what is so soon about to happen to him, he
gives these inquirers the clue to its meaning. His
death, of which they would soon hear, which perhaps
they would witness, and which would seem to falsify
his declaration of coming glory, was the necessary
condition of his glory : — except a corn of wheat die
it abideth alone, only if it die does it germinate into
new life and bring forth a hundred-fold. The pro-
found parable of nature whose meaning is inexhaus-
tible. Christ must pass through death in order that
he may attain to the higher life and power of his
risen humanity. More than this, the Son of God de-
scended into the death and corruption of this sinful
world, that out of him might spring into the air of
heaven the myriads of the redeemed. And here lies
another profound meaning : the grains which spring
up out of the grain which dies and germinates are of
the same kind, so they who spring up out of Christ's
death and rise again in Him, shall be like Him,
members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
Glory through suffering is the great thought which
lies under many of our Lord's utterances at this
time. He goes on to utter words which apply to
those who would be his disciples. " He that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life
in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." He
had said the same words before, immediately after He
had first plainly spoken to His disciples of approach-
ing suffering, shame, and death (Matt. xvi. 25 ; Mark

THE HOLY WEEK. 357

viii. 34 ; Luke ix. 24). He says them now in the
same connexion. On that former occasion he had
said " If any man will come after me, let him take up
his cross and follow me," and now again he implies
the same thing : " If any man will serve me let him
follow me." He must follow me in my death, but He
adds, and " where I am there shall my servant be,''
viz., in my consequent glory, for " if any man serve
me, him will my Father honour."

Then, for the first time, the coming horror casts a
shadow over his soul ; we shall find him give re-
peated expression to it hereafter : " Now is my soul
troubled. And what shall I say V What his lower
will says is, " Father, save me from this hour !"
Then his higher will corrects this first shrinking back :
" But for this cause came I unto this hour." And the
struggle ends in the prayer, "Father, glorify thy
name." Not my name, it is the Father's glory which
in utter self-abnegation he desires to be glorified
in himself We see plainly it is the beginning of
the horror, and the shrinking of the lower will, and
the triumph of the higher will, whose climax we shall
see in Gethsemane.

" Then there came a voice from heaven, saying, I
have both glorified it and will glorify it again."

Three times, at three great crises, the Father spoke
from heaven to the Son. In each case partly for His
own assurance and support, incidentally for the as-
surance and confirmation of the faith of others ; first

358 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

at His baptism, when He entered upon his Messianic
office ; then at the transfiguration, when Moses and
Elias visited Him, and spoke to Him of the exodus
which He should accomphsh at Jerusalem ; and
now again when his soul is first assailed by the
mysterious horror of the coming passion, in answer
to his renewed offering of himself to fulfil his Father's
will to the end.

" The people that stood by and heard it said that
it thundered ; some said that an angel spake to
him. Jesus said this voice came not because of me,
but for your sakes.'^ Then his mind going forward
to the result of that obedience to death of which he
had spoken ; he continues : " Now is the judgment of
this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast
out. And I if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me.
This he said signifying what death he should die."

The fact that St. John concludes this scene by
saying, " These things spake Jesus, and departed,
and did hide himself from them,'' seems to indicate
that the scene occurred after that long contest with
the Jews on Tuesday which we have described. This
would be consistent with the common belief that our
Lord did not visit Jerusalem on the Wednesday, or
on the Thursda}' until the evening, and then did
not show himself openl}' in the temple. And the
whole tenor of that discourse with the Jews, and this
with the Gentiles seems in harmony with this chrono-
logical arrangement.

THE HOLY WEEK. 359

It was perhaps these words of the Lord still ringing
in their ears, " Behold your house is left unto you
desolate," which led one of the disciples, as they
went out of the Temple, to say unto Him, " Master,
see what manner of stones ^ and what buildings are
here ? " He replied briefly and emphatically, " Seest
thou these great buildings ? Verily I say unto you,
the days will come in the which there shall not be
left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown
down " (Matt. xxiv. i, 2 ; Mark xiii. i, 2 ; Luke xxi. 5).

As they returned to Bethany " He sat upon the
Mount of Olives, over against the Temple " ; at the
same place, probably, where he had paused on Palm
Sunday, in his triumphal entry, to gaze upon the
magnificent spectacle. What He had said then, and
what He had repeated on this day, occupied their
minds, and Peter and James, and John and Andrew
came to Him privately, saying, " Tell us when shall
these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy
coming, and of the end of the world."

We must not here go into the details of the prophecy
which follows ; we can only briefly point out that : —

First, He warns them against being deceived by
false prophets, or alarmed by every threatening por-
tent : " See that ye be not troubled, for all these
things must com.e to pass, but the end is not yet."

Then He goes on to utter the great prophecy,

' Josephus tells us there were foundation stones in the Temple
25 cubits long, 12 wide, and 8 high, of the purest white marble.

36o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

which, incidentally called forth by the question of
the disciples, is so appropriate here, among the last
utterances of the Lord, that we suppose He would
have delivered it even without any such request.

He speaks of two great events, the destruction of
Jerusalem, which was the destruction of the national
polity and the religious worship which had endured
since Moses ; and the final destruction of the world
at the last great day. Both these were advents of
Christ ; one typical of the other. It is the manner
of the ancient prophecy in one utterance to speak
together of a nearer and a more distant fulfilment,
connected in the Divine counsels ; and so to speak
of them as if they were beheld in one vision, without
distinguishing clearly the nearer from the more dis-
tant fulfilment. " Future events in time," says the
Bishop of Lincoln (Wordsworth), " may be compared
to distant objects in place. In a mountainous country
two ridges of hills, rising the one above the other, are
seen from a distance almost as one, although there
may be many miles between them ; and it is only
when the spectator arrives at the summit of the first
ridge that he is aware of the chasm between it and
the second. So it is with future events. Thus the
Prophets of the Old Testament pass rapidly from
describing the first advent of Christ to the second
advent, so that the two advents seem to be blended
together in one.". And in this prophecy of our Lord's
we have the same combination of the two great de-

THE HOLY WEEK. 361

structions, of Jerusalem and of the world. " The two
events, however, are not confusedly mingled together,
as might seem to a careless reader. Both are to-
gether in the vision before our Lord's eyes, but not
confounded. In the earlier part, as far as Matth.
xxiv. 28, the nearer event, the destruction of Jeru-
salem, stands out clearly, although through it there
doubtless appears the vast outline of the farther
judgment; and in the words in which the former is
pictured the latter is not forgotten. After the 28th
verse the more distant and awful event comes out as
the prominent and distinct object of the prophecy,
though not without constant remembrance of the
type and shadow which so fitly prefigured it. In
the next chapter the first coming of judgment is past
and forgotten ; the last stands out grandly and alone.
The great Prophet has travelled on in His prophetic
course, and is gazing on the mightier range beyond." ^
We refer the reader to his Bible for the prophecy,
and only transcribe its magnificent conclusion. "Then
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken : and
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven ;
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. And He shall
send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet,

' Bishop Walsham How, " Comm. on Gospels."

362 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and they shall gather together His elect from the four
winds, from one end of Heaven to the other" (Matt.
xxiv. 29-31 ; Mark xiii. 24-28 ; Luke xxi. 25-28).

They had asked Him " When shall these things
be?" and He reserves His reply to this part of their
question to the last : " Of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, neither the Son
[Mark], but my Father only." It shall come sud-
denly and nexpectedly. " As in the days that were
before the flood," — that first great destruction of the
world, — " they Avere eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into
the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took
them all away ; so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be." And He left this till the last (apparently)
in order to impress upon their minds the practical
conclusion, "Watch therefore and pray [Mark], for
ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."
" Watch ye therefore and pray always " (says St.
Luke's gospel), " that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and
to stand before the Son of Man."

The Lord proceeds with striking iteration to urge
upon them this practical lesson of watchfulness by
several parables.

The man taking a journey to a far country, who gave
to each of his servants their work, and commanded
the porter to watch : — " Watch ye, therefore," &c.

THE HOLY WEEK. 363

The thief in the night : " Therefore be ye also ready."
The ten virgins waiting for the Bridegroom, who
comes at midnight when they have all fallen asleep,
and some have let their lamps go out.

The parable of the talents pursues the idea of the
rewards and punishments which, when He comes.
He will distribute among His disciples according to
their fidelity.

And He concludes with a representation of the
tremendous scene of the final judgment, "When the
Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy
angels with Him ; then shall He sit upon the throne
of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all
nations, and He shall separate them as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats ; and He shall set
the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the
left. . . . Then shall the King say unto them on His
right hand : Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of
the world ; for," &c. " Then shall He say unto them
on His left hand : Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels ; for," &c.
"And these shall go away into everlasting punish-
ment, but the righteous into life eternal."

This great prophecy ofthe coming of Christ, and this
revelation of the final scene, in which many previous
partial revelations are gathered up and completed,
closes another phase of the teaching of the Lord.

364 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

There is no indication in the Gospels which leads us
to appropriate any recorded act or saying of our Lord
to Wednesday in Holy Week. On the contrary, as we
have seen, the natural inference from what our Lord
said to the Scribes and Pharisees on Tuesday is that
those were his last public words, Wc conclude that
on this day the Lord remained at Bethany with his
disciples.

But the day is marked by one event in the history
of the passion ; it is the day of the Betrayal.

The character and career of Judas present one of
the most difficult of problems to the student of the
character and motives of men.

We assume that when our Lord chose him he had
at that time the elements of a great character, and
was as likely to turn out worthy to sit on one of the
twelve thrones as any of the others. From the fact
that he was entrusted with the common purse of the
company, and made its disbursements and distributed
its charities, — in short, was its treasurer, — we infer that
he had the qualities which make a good steward : he
was shrewd, accurate, careful of money. The tempta-
tion to which such a character is liable is over-care
about money, — covetousness. And Judas fell before
this temptation. John tells us that before the last
journey to Jerusalem he had already so far fallen
that he had begun to pilfer from the money under
his care (John xii. 6). He tells us that the indignation

THE HOL V WEEk'. 365

of some at what they called the waste of Mary's
precious ointment, which might have been sold for
three hundred pence and given to the poor, was origi-
nated by Judas (John xii. 4, 5), and that his anger
really arose from disappointed covetousness : " This
he said, not that he cared for the poor ; but because
he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was
put therein."

The next step is that at which we now arrive.

Two days before the Passover (Matthew, Mark),
" the Chief Priests, and the Scribes, and elders of the
people assembled together unto the palace of the High
Priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that
they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But
they said. Not on the feast-day, lest there be an up-
roar among the people " (Matthew xxvi. 3-5).
" Then entered Satan into Judas [John] surnamed
Iscariot^' (of Kcrioth to distinguish him from the
other Judases of the disciples), and " he went unto
the Chief Priests" (Matthew), " and captains " (John),
and said unto them, What will ye give me and I
will deliver him unto you ? " And they were glad, and
covenanted to give him " (John) " thirty pieces of
silver" (Matthew), "and he promised and sought
opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence
of the multitude" (John).

In the endeavour to account for the monstrous act
a theory has been suggested that Judas was irritated

366 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

by our Lord's hesitation to seize upon the power and
kingdom of which he had been talking these three
years, and that he sought thus to precipitate an open
collision between the Jewish authorities and Jesus and
'his disciples, and to force him into immediate and
decisive action.

Another theory of the same kind is that Judas
was so well aware of his master's perfect innocence
in every respect that he was quite sure that on trial
he would be acquitted ; he would get his thirty pieces
of silver and no harm done.

The Gospels give no hint of any such motives.
They seem, quite consistently and in several places, to
intimate that covetousness is the sole and sufficient ex-
planation of the monstrous conduct of Judas. Grown
into a passion, broken out into theft, irritated by dis-
appointment, it had laid him open to Satan, whose
powerful evil influence, working on all this evil in
his soul, hurried him into the commission of the
last monstrous wickedness. There needs no more
subtle explanation. It is according to our every-day
experience that a master-passion which has under-
mined the moral sense by a course of lesser sin,
under the influence of temptation and opportunity,
leaps at a bound into some extreme of wickedness.
It is quite according to our every-day experience
that a man in such a crisis seems to lose the power
of comparing the wickedness and the danger of his
act with the small advantage to be gained by it. He

THE HOLY WEEK. 367

seems for the time to be under some strong abnormal
influence, — Satan has entered into hun. It is quite in
harmony with our experience that the man should
persist against a number of sh'ght incidents which
might, one would have thought, have given him
pause, and that, as soon as the crime has been con-
summated, the scales should fall from his eyes, and he
should see as clearly, and be as amazed and shocked
at his own deed, as other men.

This is the awful lesson of the example of the
traitor-apostle, that the man who gives way to any
form of sin is never safe from being hurried through
it into the extremcst acts of unutterable baseness or
monstrous crime ; and that the highest station, the
most sacred calling, nay, the most holy surroundings,
the greatest grace, will not shield the man who thus
lays his soul open for Satan to enter in.

His public ministry had been consciously and
deliberately brought to a close, as we have seen,
on the Tuesday, when all its salient points had
been summed up, as in some great peroration, in the
controversies with priest and scribe, Pharisee, Sad-
ducee, and Ilcrodian ; in the historical allusions from
John's baptism forward ; in the parables of the hus-
bandmen and the marriage supper ; in the woes.
Wednesday seems to be an interval which divides two
great stages of the work. Thus far the prophet has
spoken his message from God. Now the priest is
about to offer the atoninsr sacrifice.

368 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE LAST SUPPER.

N Thursday, in Holy Week, it is plain
from the Gospel narrative that our Lord
did not go into Jerusalem until the
evening. We read, " Then came the day of un-
leavened bread when the Passover must be killed "
(Luke). " The disciples came to Jesus, saying
unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for
thee to eat the Passover '\? (Matt. xxvi. 17; Mark
xiv, 12), "and he sendeth forth two of his disciples
[Peter and John (Luke)], and saith unto them, Go
ye into the city," and " when ye are entered into the
city" (Luke), "there shall meet you a man bearing
a pitcher of w^ater, follow him " " into the house where
he entereth in ^' (Luke), "and say ye to the good
man of the house, The Master saith. Where is the
guest-chamber where I shall eat the Passover with
my disciples ? And he will show you a large
upper room, furnished and prepared ; there make
ready for us."

THE LAST SUPl'ER. 369

" Now when the evening was come '* (Matthew)
" he Cometh with the twelve '' (Mark) and " sat down,
and the twelve apostles with him " (Luke).

The Apostles fully shared with their country-
men the belief that the Messiah would found a fifth
great temporal empire, like those of Assyria and
Persia, Greece and Rome only more extensive and
glorious, and that he would thus make the Jews
the dominant race, the nobles, of the world. It was
a natural result of this belief that they should in-
dulge in vague and vast ambitions as to the positions
of power and grandeur which the monarch of this
world-wide empire would assign to them, whom he
had chosen from the beginning as the companions
of his fortunes, and the assistants of his labours,
who had believed in his future greatness from the
first, and been faithful to him in his early years of
obscurity.

We have already seen that these ambitions went
so far as to lead to jealousies and disputes among
themselves. The Jews would be the dominant race
in the universal monarchy, and they twelve, chosen
by the Lord from among all His countrymen, would
iloubtlcss be foremost among the princes, chief over
the ministers of the kingdom, but who should be
greatest among themselves ? On several occasions
this rivalry had come under the notice of the Lord,
and He had taken steps to correct it.

2 B

370 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

First ^ at Capernaum, in the earlier days of His
ministry (soon after the transfiguration), " there arose
a reasoning among them, which of them should be
greatest" (Mark, Luke) "in the kingdom of heaven "
(Matt.). "And he sat down and called the twelve."
" And took a child and set him in the midst of them,"
and directed their attention to him, by a gesture.
And when they had looked upon the child standing
in his simplicity and innocence with wondering eyes
among them, the Lord took him in His arms with
natural human affection, while He expressed in words
the meaning of the living symbol. "Verily, I say
unto you, except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself
as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven" (Matthew).

Again, on the last journey to Jerusalem, after Jesus
had said to the young ruler," who asked what he
should do to inherit eternal life, " Sell all thou hast
and give to, the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven, and come and take up the cross and follow
me " (Mark). Peter presently said, —

" Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thae ; what shall

• Matt, xviii. 1-5 ; Mark ix. 33-37 ; Luke ix. 46-48.
■ Matt. xix. 16-22. ; Mark x. 17-22 ; Luke xviii. 18-23.

THE LAST SUPPER. 371

we have therefore? Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto
you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when
the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall
sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel "
(Matt. xix. 27-28).

It was only a few days after this that Salome came
with James and John, asking the Lord to grant her a
boon, that her two sons might sit, one on His right
hand and the other on His left, in His kingdom.'-
And the rest were moved with indignation against
the two brethren. And Jesus again took occasion to
say to them all, " Ye know that the princes of the
Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that
are great exercise authority among them. But it
shall not be so among you ; but whosoever will be
great among you let him be your minister, and who-
soever will be chief among you let him be your
servant. For the Son of Man came not to be minis-
tered unto but to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many." A lesson far too deep for them
at that time, still too deep for most of us ; that the
church of Christ is indeed a kingdom, but not of this
world, and so different from the kingdoms of this
world that its princes should be the most humble and
unostentatious, and the most powerful should wield
the power of moral influence only.

' Matt. XX. 20 ; Mark. x. 35.
2 B 2

372 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

This very evening, St. Luke's Gospel (xxii. 24-30)
tells us, the old rivalry broke out again, " there was
a strife among them which should be accounted
the greatest." ^

After this backward glance we shall better appre-
ciate the remarkable interlude which our Lord intro-
duced into the great transactions of that great occa-
sion. We know how the Evangelists narrate the
most amazing facts, the most moving incidents, in
calm, simple narrative, without a word to express
their own feeling of them, or specially to call the
attention of their readers to them. This is the one
exception to the rule : St. John prefaces his account
of the feet -washing with the words, "Jesus, knowing
that the Father had given all things into his hands,
and that he was come from God, and went to God,"
yet performed this wonderful act of condescension.
St. John says, supper having begun,- — it may very
well have been at the time of the first ceremonial
hand-washinghereafter mentioned, — Jesus "riseth from
supper, and laid aside his garments," apparently both
pallium and tunic, reducing Himself to the likeness of

' It is probable that the words of rebuke which St. Luke
records were not spoken at the moment, but afterwards, when
the Lord had prepared the way for them by the striking sym-
bohcal act which we have to consider.

* Not "after supper being ended," as our version trans-
lates it.

THE LAST SUPPER. 373

the scantiest clad of the lower class of slaves ; then
He girded a towel about Him, and poured water into a
basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to
wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
It was the act of a slave, performing the humblest of
services to his master's guests.^ And the Apostles
sat in silent awe and reverent wonder, while the
Lord went from one to another, and performed this
menial office for them.

But when He came to Peter, his sense of the
incongruity, his feeling of respect, would not suffer
him to persevere in the attitude of wondering passive
submission ; he who once before remonstrated, " Be
it far from thee. Lord, this shall not be unto thee,"
again ventured upon remonstrance. He shrank back
from the Lord's approach, he deprecated his Lord's
act : " Lord, dost thou wash my feet .'' " Jesus said
unto him, "What I do thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter." But Peter persists ;
having broken the awed silence he has gained bold-
ness, he is not content to submit now, and await the
promised explanation of its significance ; he protests
peremptorily " Thou shalt never wash my feet." The
patient Lord, allowing for his good intentions, con-

' St. John the Baptist probably alludes to the same menial
service when he declares hijnself not worthy to unloose the
latchct of the shoes of Him who should come after him.

374 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

descends to argue with him ; and giving a further
meaning to the symboHsm, says, " If I wash thee not,
thou hast no part with me." Whereupon Peter, with
a most characteristic minghng of impetuosity and
real love for his Lord, instantly flies to the other
extreme, " Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands
and my head." To which the Lord replies, following
up the new symbolism he has introduced, " He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is
clean every whit." ' And he adds, " And ye are
clean, but not all ; for," explains the Evangelist, " he
knew who should betray him ; therefore he said. Ye
are not all clean."

" So after he had washed their feet, and had taken
his garments, and was set down again, he said unto
them, Know ye what I have done unto you .? Ye
call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I
am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed
your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that ye should do
as I have done to you."

St. Luke, chapter xxii. 24, probably refers to this
symbolical act and its explanation ; only he mentions

' It was the custom of the guests at a banquet to wash the
whole body before going, the dust was again washed off their
sandalled or slippered feet when they arrived at the guest-
chamber.

THE LAST SUPPER. yji

what John docs not, the immediate occasion of it in
the strife among them that very evening which of
them should be accounted the greatest; and he records
some words spoken at once, in which, as on a former
occasion, he tells them that greatness in the kingdom
of heaven is estimated by different standards from
those of earthly kingdoms. " Ye shall not be so, but
he that is greatest among you let him be as the
younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve."
" For," — these seem to be the subsequent words after
the feet-washing, — " whether is greater, he that sittcth
at meat, or he that serveth, but I am among you as
he that serveth.^' Then He again comforts them, per-
plexed and cast down, by the assurance that the pro-
mises He has made them of grandeur and power in His
kingdom are real, though the grandeur and power be
different in kind from that Avhich they anticipate, —
different, and of a higher order. " Ye are they that
have continued with me in my temptations," He re-
cognises their claims on His love ; and he re-
news his promises that He will abundantly satisfy
them ; " I appoint [bequeath] unto you a kingdom, as
my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat
and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on
thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel ;" sit at
the royal banquet, and act as vice-gerents of the
king.

The mode in which it was customary at this time

376 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORL

to celebrate the great festival of Israel's deliverance
from the bondage of Egypt was as follows : ^ —

Relations, friends, neighbours, arranged themselves
beforehand into parties of not less than ten, to partake
of the feast. The inhabitants of the holy city accom-
modated these parties in their houses so far as there
was room for them, the rest ate it in their lodgings in
the suburbs, or in their tents pitched round about the
city. One of the party carried the paschal lamb on his
shoulder to the temple ; there a careful organisation
arranged the numerous sacrifices and facilitated the
speedy accomplishment of the prescribed ceremonial.
Each man sacrificed his lamb, and a priest caught
some of the blood in a basin and passed it on through
a chain of Levites to the altar, at whose base it was
poured out ; the internal fat of the victim was taken
out and given to the priest to be burnt upon the
altar. The sacrificer then took his victim away to his
temporary abode.

There it was spitted on two transverse spits of
wood, care being taken that not a bone should be
broken, and it was roasted for the festal meal.
Unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and a sauce of

' I have assumed that the Last Supper was the true Passover,
as the three synoptical gospels so plainly state, and that the
difficulties with which St. John's gospel surrounds this assump-
tion, are capable of explanation.

THE LAST SUPPER. yj-j

vinegar and spices, were eaten with it, and four cups
of red wine mixed with water, were passed round the
company at stated intervals. A service of praise,
called the Hallel, was sung, divided into two parts,
the first consisting of Psalms cxiii., cxiv., the second
of Psalms cxv.-cxviii., inclusive. The guests adopt-
ing the custom of the time reclined at table, which
was probably arranged in three sides of a square, the
chief of the party acting as the master of the feast.

" When the party was arranged, the first cup of
wine was filled and a blessing was asked by the
head of the family on the feast, as well as a special
one on the cup. Then they washed their hands.
The bitter herbs were then placed on the table, and a
portion of them eaten, either with or without the
sauce, and they washed their hands again. The un-
leavened bread was handed round next, and some of
it eaten with the bitter herbs dipped in the sauce.
Afterwards the lamb was placed on the table in front
of the head of the family. Before the lamb was
eaten the second cup of wine was filled, and the
son [or some one of the guests representing him] in
accordance with Exodus xii. 26, asked the father of
the family the meaning of the feast. " What mean
ye by this service V and the master of the family re-
plied, " It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who
passed over the houses of the children of Israel in
Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered

378 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

our houses," with a further application of Deut. xxvi.
5, &c.

"A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down
into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there
a nation, great, mighty, and populous : And the Egyptians
evil entreated us, and laid upon us hard bondage : And when
we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our
voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our
oppression : And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a
mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great
terribleness, and with signs, and wonders : And he hath
brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a
land that floweth with milk and honey."

Then the first part of the Hallel was sung. This
having been gone through, the lamb was carved and
eaten. After eating it they washed again. The
third cup of wine was poured out and drunk, and
soon afterwards the fourth. The second part of the
Hallel was then sung, and concluded the prescribed
ceremonial.

Our plan does not require us, and our limits do not
permit us, to enter into the details of all that was done
and said at this supper, which occupies five chapters
of St. John's gospel ; it is the less necessary that we
should do so because it is one of the most popularly
familiar parts of the sacred history. We can do little
more than indicate broadly the order of events and
call attention to the salient features.

It was probably after the earlier part of the cere
monial was fulfilled, and while the company was

THE LAST SUPPER. 379

engaged in the substantial part of the supper " as they
did eat," that Jesus " was troubled in spirit '' and
made the announcement that one of them should
betray him. "And they were exceeding sorrowful ''
(Matthew, Mark) ," and looked one on another doubt-
ing of whom he spake ^' (John). Suspicion fixed on
no one, and a fear seems to have fallen upon each
lest he should be the one who should do this ; they
began to ask him one by one, " Is it I } and another said
Is it I V but our Lord declined to point out the traitor,
only he repeated " It is one of the twelve that dippeth
with me in the dish." Then Peter beckoned to John
who reclined at table next to his master, — Peter per-
haps being next Him on His other side, and therefore
behind Him as He reclined on His left side, — and
motioned to him (John) to ask who it was of whom He
spake. John, accordingly, throwing back his head, 1
so that it touched his master's breast, asked him in a
low voice, " Lord, who is it .?" and the Lord in the same
tone, unheard by the rest, replied " He to whom I
shall give a sop when I have dipped it ; and when he
had dipped the sop he gave it to Judas Iscariot.'' No
doubt an answering gesture from John intimated to
Peter the meaning of the Lord's act, and pointed out
to him also which was the traitor. None of the
others would know, for the very act by which the

' This seems to be what the original implies.

38o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Lord thus pointed him out was a customary act of
honour and kindness from a superior to an inferior at
the table.

It is not possible to determine with certainty
whether it was now immediately, or subsequently
after the institution of the Eucharist, that Judas
left the room. The ancient Fathers take the latter
view, and it is assumed in the exhortation in the
Communion Service, ^ but the more modern commen-
tators hold that immediately after giving him the
sop the Lord bade him " What thou hast resolved
to do do quickly,'^ and that Judas at once, in confu-
sion, went out.

Then Jesus began to prepare His disciples for what
was to follow. " Now is the Son of Man glorified
and God is glorified in him. As I said unto the Jews
so now I say to you, I go away, and whither I go ye
cannot come, Peter said unto him. Lord whither
goest thou } Jesus saith unto him, whither I go thou
canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. Peter said. Lord, why cannot I follow
thee now } I will lay down my life for thy sake.
Jesus said unto him. Wilt thou lay down thy life for
my sake ? Verily, verily, I say unto thee the cock
shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice."

' " Lest after the taking of that holy Sacrament tho devil
enter into you as he entered into Judas."

THE LAST SUPPER. 381

It is not possible to determine certainly whether
the prescribed ceremonial of the Passover was first
strictly completed, and then our Lord, taking a cake
of the paschal bread, and filling another cup of wine,
instituted the great sacrament of the Gospel, of
whether, when the eating of the paschal lamb was
ended, He merged the Passover into the sacrament
by using the fourth and last of the ceremonial cups
for the institution of the new memorial, before the
Passover was concluded, and the final Hallel sung.
Nor is the question of any great importance ; in
either case the Passover, the memorial of Israel's
deliverance from Egypt and from the destroying
angel, by the paschal lamb, was taken as the basis on
which the new memorial of the spiritual deliverance
by means of the great Sacrifice was established.

" He took bread,^ and when He had given thanks
He brake it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, Take,
eat, this is my body, which is given " for you : Do
this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after supper.
He took the cup ; and when He had given thanks
He gave it to them, saying. Drink ye all of this ; for
this is my Blood of the New Testament [Covenant],

' In the original, "the bread,'' the loaf, one of the loaves
provided for the Passover.

- Present tense, "being given "(St. Luke), "being broken"
(St. Paul, I Cor. .xi. 24).

3S2 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

which is shed 1 for you, and for many for the remis-
sion of sins : Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in
remembrance of me." - The Lord, we have sug-
gested, has already entered upon his High-Priestly
work, and this is part of it. His breaking the bread,
and saying, " This is my body, which is given for you,"
His taking the cup, and saying, " This cup is the new
testament of my blood, which is shed for you and for
many for the remission of sins," was a solemn dedica-
tion of the Victim. He had said, "No man taketh it
[my life] from me, I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again" (John x. 18); and
here He anticipates what Judas and the Chief Priests
and Pilate were about to accomplish, and voluntarily
offers himself It is this which converts the martyr-
dom into the Sacrifice, as it is the dignity of the
Victim which makes that Sacrifice a sufficient satis-
faction for the sins of the world.

The full significance of what our Lord herein did
and said would probably hardly be at once apparent
to the Apostles.

When the great sacrifice had been offered ; —
And when the Lord had "opened their under-
standing," and had shown them " in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself," "how Christ ought to

* Being shed.

2 Harmonised narrative, from the Prayer of Consecration,
Holy Communion Service.

THE LAST SUPPER. 383

have suffered these things and to enter into his
glory";-

And when the Holy Spirit had brought all things
to their remembrance, and had led them into all
truth ;—

And when they compared these words with those
which He had spoken before in the synagogue of
Capernaum, " I am the Bread of Life, which came
down from heaven, that men may eat thereof, and
not die. And the bread which I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no
life in you. Whoso eateth my Flesh, and drinketh
my Blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and m)-
blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As
the living Father hath sent me, and I liv-e by the
Father,so he that eateth meeven he shall live by me"; —

Then we find the full significance of this New
Memorial understood, and the breaking of the bread
at once takes its place as the great act of the Church's
worship,^ and the great means of communion with
Christ.

" As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew
the Lord's death " (i Cor. xi. 26).

^ Acts ii. 42, 46.

3S4 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

" The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break is it not the
communion of the body of Christ ? For we, being many, are
one bread and one body : for we are all partakers of that one
bread" (i Cor. x. 16, 17).

Let US not fail to see clearly the significance of the
Institution.

When man had fallen God came to him, called
him out from the place where he had hidden himself
in shame and fear, led him to confession of his sin,
gave him the promise of a Saviour, and taught him
to show his faith in the promised Saviour, and to
plead His merits and death in the rite of sacrifice,
and clothed Adam and Eve in the skins of the slain
lambs, a type of the clothing of the righteousness of
Christ That rite of sacrifice at once became the
great act of worship through which man obtained
access to God, seeking pardon and blessing ; through
which God gave by anticipation the gifts which
Christ should in the fulness of time purchase for
mankind with His precious blood-shedding. The
sacrifices of the Mosaic dispensation were offered
every morning and every evening, were multiplied on
the Sabbaths and new moons and great festivals ; once
a year all Israel joined in the great Passover sacrifice
in token of the great deliverance which gave them a
national existence; once a year the High Priest entered
into the very presence of God, in the Most Holy Place,
to make a solemn atonement for the people.

THE LAST SUPPER. 385

All the long series of sacrifices, with their various
shades of meaning, were memorials looking forward
to the great Sacrifice of the Incarnate Son of God on
Calvary. They were all fulfilled in that. And now,
on the eve of the great Sacrifice, the Lord solemnly
appoints a new symbolical memorial, and commands
it to be adopted henceforth as the great act of His
Church's worship, by which they shall show their
faith in Christ crucified, and plead His merits and
precious death before the throne of grace.

The old symbolical system of worship was not
abruptly swept away when the new was introduced.
The two overlapped for a time, but the one gradually
died out while the other grew and spread ; so that,
after a while, it came to pass that the system of sacri
fice, which had formed the centre of the worship, not
only of the Jews but of all the great nations of anti-
quity, had entirely disappeared, and the breaking of
the bread alone existed as the memorial, till the end
of time, of the great Sacrifice of Calvary.

Again, it is only by a spiritual union with Christ,
and through the grace which flows to us from Christ,
that we are able to live to God. Christ is our life.
And this great truth is symbolised in this new-
memorial. Not only the bread is broken, and the
blood-red wine poured out, but Christ gives them to
His disciples, and bids them eat ; they are not mere
empty figures of Christ feeding us with Himself, but

2 c

386 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

in them Christ does actually feed us with the heavenly
bread which is Himself; and the bread which He
gives is, not only figuratively but actually (though
spiritually), His body and blood, by which He gives
us eternal life and promise of a glorious resurrection,
by which He dwells in us and we in Him, so that as
He lives by the Father so we live by Him.^

To give the whole of our Lord's discourse on this
occasion would be to transcribe several chapters
of St. John's Gospel." We must refer the reader to
them, and content ourselves with briefly indicating
the chief topics of the discourse. First, in view of
His approaching removal from His disciples, He
gives them assurances full of hope and comfort : —
" Let not your heart be troubled. I go to prepare
a place for you among the mansions of my Father's
house. I will come again and receive you unto
myself, that where I am there ye may be also."
Then, in reply to Thomas's remark, " We know not
whither Thou goest : how can we know the way .-' "
He makes the famous declaration : — " I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life : no man cometh to the
Father but by Me ! " And again, in reply to Philip's
request, " Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us,"
He makes the equally important reply, entering into

1 See John vi. == Ibid. xiv. xv. xvi.

THE LAST SUPPER. 387

the deep mystery of His own relation to the God-
liead : — " He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father. I am in the Father, and the Father in
Me, The words that I speak unto you I speak not
of myself : the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth
the works [that I do]."

Then He proceeds to speak of the third person
of the blessed Trinity, and to promise His perpetual
l)resence in His Church : — " I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter, even the
spirit of truth, that He may abide with you for ever.
He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ... In
that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and
ye in Me, and I in you. . . . The Comforter, which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My
name. He shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said
unto you." Then, recurring to His departure : — " Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
I said, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye
loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto
the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And
now I have told you before it come to pass, that
when it is come to pass ye might believe."

Then He spoke the last of the parables, to illustrate
the profound subject He had touched upon above, of
their union with Him through the Spirit : —

" I am the vine, ye are the branches. As the branch cannot
2 C 2

388 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye
except ye abide in me. , . . Herein is my Father glorified that
ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye be my disciples."

He speaks of the love He bore them, and of the
proof He is about to give of it, in laying down His
life for them, and bids them love one another. He
foretells that the world will hate and persecute them.
He forewarns them of it, that when it shall come
they may remember that He foretold it, and may not
be offended. Again He recurs to the office and work
of the Holy Spirit : — " To reprove the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment," and " to guide
the disciples unto all truth." And finally dwells
again on His departure: — "A little while, and ye
shall see me, and again a little while, and ye shall
not see me, because I go unto the Father." And
when they complain that they cannot understand,
He says plainly, " I came forth from the Father, and
am come into the world : again I leave the world
and go unto the Father." " The Father loveth you
because ye have loved me, and have believed that I
came out from God."

His disciples replied, " Now speakest thou plainly,
now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and
needest not that any man should ask thee ; by this
we believe that thou earnest forth from God."

Our Lord concludes in the spirit in which He so
often concludes His sayings, like some strain of

THE LAST SUPPER.

solemn music which ends in a plaintive minor key,
and leaves a gentle sadness on the soul : — " Do ye
now believe ? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now
come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone ; and yet I am not
alone, because the Father is with me. These things
have I spoken that in Me ye might have peace. In
the world ye shall have tribulation ; but be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world."

Then He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and uttered
that great prayer in which the Son's soul is laid open
to the Father, and we are permitted with reverent
awe to listen to the communication of the Son of
Man at this solemn time with the Almighty Father.
He speaks of His Father's glory, and His own glory
in the accomplishment of the redemption of mankind.
" Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son that
Thy Son may also glorify Thee, as Thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given him. And this is
life eternal that they should know Thee, the only God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have
glorified Thee on the earth [in His pure and obedient
life] ; I have finished the work which Thou gavest
me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with
Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was." Then He prays for His
disciples, that when He is removed they may be kept

390 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

safe in the midst of an evil world, and not for them

only, but " for all who shall believe on Me through

their word;" the whole Church to the end of time; for

the unity of the Church — " that they all may be one,

as thou. Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they

may be one in us," — and twice over He gives the

reason, — " that the world may believe that Thou hast

sent me." Lastly He prays for the future blessedness

and glory of redeemed mankind in words of touching

personal affection : — " Father, I will that they also

whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am,

that they may behold [and share] my glory, which

Thou hast given me ; " and twice over He does not

pray for, but declares that God loves them as He

has loved Himself : — " Thou hast loved them as Thou

hast loved me," and again, — they are the concluding

words of the prayer, — " That the love wherewith

Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The discourse and prayer concluded, they " sang a

hymn," — probably the second part of the Passover

Hallel, which concludes with the significant words : —

" Bind the sacrifice with cords,
Even unto the horns of the altar.
Thou art my God, and I will praise thee.
Thou art my God, and I will exalt thee.
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good,
And his mercy endureth for ever."

Through the streets He led them, and out of the
gate of the city, and down the steep hill side, over

THE LAST SUPPER. -,91

the brook Kidron ; and it seems to have been during
this walk that He warned them again, " All yc
shall be offended because of Me this night, for it is
written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall
be scattered abroad. But after I am risen, I will go
before you into Galilee." Peter again protested his
fidelity : — " Though all men shall be offended because
of Thee, yet will I never be offended." Jesus said
unto him, " Verily, I say unto thee that this night
before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice."
But he spake the more vehemently, "Lord, lam ready
to go with thee, both unto prison and to death"
(Luke). "Likewise also said they all" (Matt, Mark).

392 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE PASSION.

HE scene is the garden, carpeted (being
spring time) with grass and flowers, the olive
trees with twisted trunks and pale green
foliage, the paschal full moon, chequering the scene
with silvery lights and luminous shadows. The
time, near midnight.

The three Evangelists record the Agony in words
which we shrink from paraphrasing.

" He took with him Peter and James and John,'*
leaving the others at the gate of the garden, " and
began to be sore amazed and to be [sorrowful,
Matt.] very heavy ; and saith unto them, my
soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, tarry ye
here and watch with me. And he went a little further
[about a stone's cast (Luke)], and kneeled down
(Luke) and fell on his face on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible the hour might pass from him.
And he said Abba, Father, all things are possible unto
thee ; take away this cup from me ; nevertheless not
what I will, but what thou wilt." " And there ap-
peared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening

THE PASSIOX. -^^c^.^

him. And being in an agony he prayed the more
earnestly. And his sweat was as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the ground " (St. Luke).

"And he comcth unto the disciples and findeth them
asleep [sleeping for sorrow (Mark)], and saith unto
Peter: Simon, slcepest thou.? Couldst not thou
watch one hour } Watch ye and pray lest ye enter
into temptation. The spirit trul)^ is ready, but the
flesh is weak.

" And again he went away and said, O my Father
if this cup may not pass away from me except I
drink it. Thy will be done. And he came and
found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy,
neither wist they what to answer him.

"And he left them, and went away again, and
prayed the third time, saying the same words.

" Then comcth he to his disciples, and saith unto
them, Sleep on now and take your rest ; behold the
hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into
the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going ,' behold
he is at hand that doth betray mc."

We gaze with awe upon the outward symptoms
of this spiritual " agony,'' the kneeling, the prostra-
tion, the restlessness, the repeated prayer, the bloody
sweat, the supernatural aid. Wc reverently try to
comprehend the mystery which we are permitted to
witness.

First we note with profound interest the touchincr

394 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

evidence which it offers that our Lord was truly
human, sharing even in the weaknesses of our frail
nature ; in the clinging to human companionship, and
seeking human sympathy in an hour of suffering and
dread ; for we gather clearly from His own words
that He took the three apostles not as witnesses of
the agony only, as at the raising of Jairus's daughter
or the transfiguration, but to support Him with their
companionship ; He bade them " Watch with me]' and
His mournful reproach was, " Could ye not watch with
me one hour ? " Again in the shrinking of the human
will, we recognise an illustration of the true humanity
of Jesus, with its true human will acting freely ; ^
and we note for our own comfort that the natural
shrinking of our hearts from what is painful or ap-
palling is not sinful ; provided it be accompanied as
in Jesus, by a readiness nevertheless to suffer, and to
do, all which is according to the Divine will. Yea, the
obedience which fully recognises the suffering before-
hand, and shrinks from it, and yet forces itself to
obey, is the truest obedience, and the truest heroism.
But we recognise that this is not a mere shrinking
from the passion and the death. The great anta-
gonism of life against death, the repugnance of

^ This place has always been recognised as affording one of
the strongest arguments against the Monophysite and Mono-
theUte heresies.

THE PASSION. 395

unfallen humanity from such a total contradiction of
its nature, and such hke theories, will not explain our
Lord's dread and prayer and strife. " My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," " He began
to be amazed and very heavy,'' express something
more than this, deeper than this, different from this.
They express an anxiety, an amazement at some un-
expected horror, some abyss suddenly opening before
Him ; the bloody sweat is the token of some tremen-
dous mental conflict and endurance, beyond all
ordinary human experience ; and this is proved again
by the angelic aid which was given, because needed,
to sustain His human nature in a trial too great for
mere human endurance.

It was the horror of the sins of mankind then laid
upon Him. As the high priest laid his hands on the
head of the goat and so typically charged it with the
sins of the whole people, so now before the blood of
the Lamb of God was shed upon the altar of the
cross, the sins for which His blood was to atone were
laid upon him, " he hath laid upon him the iniquit3/of
us all " (Isaiah liii. 6).

We need not suppose, there is no reason for it
except to accord with a certain theological hypothesis,
that our Lord felt these imputed sins as the sinner
feels them, with the sense of guilt and of alienation
from God ; the prayers in which at the three intervals
of the agony he addresses God as " ]My Father," and

396 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

expresses his entire resignation to His will, is
enough to prove this. It may help us, perhaps, to
understand it if we try to enter into the shrinking of
one unaccustomed to it who is called upon to examine
and handle loathsome wounds and sores in order to
heal them ; or try to enter into the horror of a person
charged, though innocent, with some great wicked-
ness which he abhors. To have the sins of mankind
brought to His consciousness ; to be made to realise
them in all their foulness and impiety ; to be brought
in some mysterious way into personal relation to
them ; to have to take them upon Himself, though
only for the purpose of making atonement for them ;
may be enough to account for the dread, the prayer,
the agony which we have witnessed.

When our Lord came to His disciples the third
time He said, " Sleep on now and take your rest ;"
we infer that the occasion in which He had desired
their watchful sympathy was past ; the darkness
and horror which had nearly overwhelmed His soul
and forced from His body the bloody sweat, had passed
away " It is enough " he continues, looking forward
to the next fore-ordained and foreseen act of His
passion, " Behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of
Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."

Then the noise of a crowd is heard approaching ;

the red glare of torches, blotting the silvery moon-

, light begins to shine upon the twisted olive trunks,

THE PASSION. 397

and upon the dim forms of an approaching crowd of
men. He knows what it portends : " Rise, let us be
going : behold he is at hand that doth betray me."

Hie Betrayal.

After having been permitted to gaze upon the
Saviour of mankind, shrinking from the horrible
burden of a world's sins, crushed under tlic weight,
enabled to endure it only by angelic help, it is the
more incumbent on us to dwell upon the next scene
of the tragic history, in which amidst confusion and
terror we shall see the Lord calm and self-possessed,
dignified, and gracious ; conscious of overwhelming
power; proving it by throwing His enemies into
powerless awe ; using it to work a miracle of healing
on one of them ; and then allowing Himself to be
seized, bound, and carried off, that the will of God
might be fulfilled.

At the end of the last section we have seen how
the midnight stillness of the moonlit garden was in-
terrupted by the distant sounds of a crowd ; and how
the Lord announced to the disciples the approach of
His betrayal.

"And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the
twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with
swords and staves from the Chief Priests " " and
Scribes," (Mark) " and elders of the people^' (Matthew)
[a band, with lanterns and torches and weapons

39S A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

(John)] ; a band of soldiers, whether part of the
Roman temple guard, or of those in the service of
the High Priest, to whom Pilate alludes afterwards,
" Ye have a watch " ; servants of the Chief Priests ;
a mixed crowd of gazing friends, {e.g., the young-
man with the linen cloth) and enemies and curious
idlers. " Jesus therefore, knowing all things that
should come upon him, went forth " to meet them,
"■ and said unto them. Whom seek ye ? They answered
him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am
He. And Judas, also, which betrayed him stood
with them. As soon then as he had said unto them
I am He, they went backward and fell to the
ground " (John xviii. 4). Whether some sudden flash
of the glorious majesty of the Son of Man was
suffered to shine forth upon them, or some super-
natural awe suddenly seized their minds, we are not
told ; or was it merely the natural effect of that moral
majesty which on a former occasion, in lesser degree,
had seized the minds of the officers sent to fetch
Him before the Sanhedrim, when they came back
without Him, saying "never man spake like this
man .?" We are only told the effect, not the cause ;
a sudden awe simultaneously struck the whole
multitude, and they retreated a pace backward,
and fell to the ground. Thus in the act of his
surrender to them He proved even to themselves that
they had no power over Him. Then after a moment's
pause He asked again, " Whom seek ye ?" They reply

THE PASSION. 399

again, "Jesus of Nazareth." " Jesus answered, I have
told you that I am He ; if therefore ye seek me let
these go their way; that the saying might be
fulfilled which he spake. Of them which thou gavest
me have I lost none."

Then the awe seems to have passed away from
them ; it would be very natural if shame and anger
at the momentar}^ weakness which had overpowered
them succeeded to it. Judas proceeded to fulfil his
bargain ; and, superfluous as it now was, to give the
arranged signal, " He came to Jesus, and said. Hail,
Master, and kissed him," [" drew near unto Jesus to
kiss him" (Mark)], the kiss which has become the
type of treachery in all after ages ; and Jesus said unto
him, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a
kiss.?" (Mark.)

Then a scene of confusion ensued. The officers
laid hands upon Him. "When they which were
about him saw what would follow, they said. Lord,
shall we smite with the sword?" And Peter drew
the sword he carried, and smote one of those who
had laid hands on his Master, Malchus, a servant of
the High Priest, and cut off his right ear. Jesus
appears to have disengaged Himself for a moment
from the hands of those who held Him, saying, "Suffer
ye thus far.?" and then He touched the ear of the
wounded man, and healed him ; His last miracle — a
miracle of healing on His enemy. Then Jesus turned
to Peter and said unto him, Put up again thy sword

400 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

into his place, for all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword. The cup which my Father
hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (John.)
" Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father
and he shall presently give me more than twelve
legions of angels .? But how then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled that thus it must be } " (Matt.) " And
Jesus said to the multitude. Are ye come out as
against a thief, with swords and staves, to take me ?
I was daily with you in the Temple, teaching, and
ye took me not. But the Scriptures must be ful-
filled " (Matthew, Mark). "This is your hour, and
the power of darkness " (Luke).

Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.
St. Mark records an incident of the flight which
helps to bring the haste and confusion graphically
before us ; one young man, who followed him with
nothing but a linen cloth cast about his naked body,
when they laid hold on him, left the linen cloth in
their hands, and fled away naked. It has been con-
jectured that St. Mark, who relates the incident, was
himself the subject of it.

T/ie Trier/.

" Then the band and the captain and officers of the
Jews took Jesus and bound him," and led him back
to the city, " and led him away to Annas first, for he
was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the High

THE FASSIOX. 401

Priest that same year." ^ It has been suggested with
considerable appearance of probability that Annas
and Caiaphas, the father-in-law and son-in-law, so
intimately connected in the high-priestly duties,
inhabited different portions of the same great building

' There is some difficulty in understanding the official relations
of Annas and Caiaphas. The subject has been dealt with in
an earlier chapter, page 144, Annas had been appointed High
Priest in his 37th year, after the battle of Actium, by Ouirinus, the
imperial governor of Syria, but was deposed by Valerius Gratus,
the procurator of Judea, at the beginning of the reign of Tibe-
rius, and Ismael was appointed in his place. Ismael in turn
gave place to Eleazar, a son of Annas, who, after a year's tenure
of the high office, was supplanted by Simon, and he, after
another year, by Joseph Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, who
continued to hold the office for near twenty years. But Annas
seems still to have retained the title, and something of the power,
of High Priest. In St. Luke's enumeration of the rulers at the
beginning of John the Baptist's ministry, we have seen that he
puts the two together, "Annas and Caiaphas being High
Priests" (Luke iii. 2). In Acts iv. 6 he calls " Annas the High
Priest," and names Caiaphas as the chief " of the kindred of
the High Priest." Here Matthew and John call Caiaphas the
High Priest, but John says that they carried their prisoner first
to Annas, and that he sent him on to Caiaphas. In times a
little later than this we gather from the Jewish writers that the
High Priest had a colleague who shared his labours, and on
emergency could officiate for him ; we have seen (p. 144) that
there are some traces of a similar arrangement in earlier times ;
and it seems probable that Annas was the colleague of his
son-in-law, and, from having himself been High Priest, from his
domestic relation to Caiaphas, and from his force of character,
retained an unusual degree of power and prestige.

7. D

402 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

which was the High Priest's official residence. It is
disputed whether the preliminary examination took
place before Annas or Caiaphas ; we adopt the view
that it took place before Annas.

Annas received the prisoner and began to ques-
tion Him about " his disciples and his doctrine." It
Avas not an official examination, but an informal,
preliminary interrogation, in which Annas, no doubt,
sought materials for the future formal trial. " He asked
of his disciples and his doctrine," — of His followers
who had so lately brought Him in royal triumph into
the city, and whose numbers were unknown ; and of
His doctrine, what He taught them ; from which a
conjecture might be formed what were His aims and
plans. That the questions were not authoritative,
that their tenor suggested a party and a plot, that
their motive was to entangle him in his talk, will
account for the tone of our Lord's reply. "Jesus
answered him, I spake openly to the world. I ever
taught in the synagogue and in the Temple, whither
the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said
nothing. Why askest thou me .'' Ask them which
heard me what I have said unto them ; behold, they
know what I said." I have no band of followers, I
have no secret designs, I have always spoken openly,
in synagogue and Temple, to all who frequented
them ; all who believe in me are my disciples, and all
the world knows what I teach ; why do you ask ms }

THE PASSION. 403

All that I have said and done has been openly, you
know it ; at the proper time your witnesses can testify
it. I have nothing to reveal, and nothing to add.
" Why do you ask me ? " is one of those counter-
questions with which Jesus was used to turn a man's
thoughts inward upon himself, and make an appeal
to his conscience. He declines to submit Himself to
the irregular inquisition ; He contents Himself with
declaring that His life and doctrine lie open to all
men, and refers him to the testimony of others.

" One of the officers which stood by," considering
the prisoner's answer wanting in respect, "struck
Jesus in the face with the palm of his hand," an
indignity rather than an injury, saying, " Answerest
thou the High Priest so .' " It was, perhaps, the first
personal indignity which had been offered Him in all
His life, for there was a certain meek dignity about
Him which repelled familiarity, and compelled even
from His enemies a certain respect. It was just the
sudden insult which makes the blood rush into a man's
liead, and the angry word to his lips ; and while we
Nhrink with horror at the outrage, we look with startled
interest to see how the Lord will bear or answer it.
" Jesus answered him " with meek dignity and calm
rebuke, " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the
evil ; but if well, why smitest thou me .' "

Annas has seen and heard enough to know that
further interrogation will be useless, and he directs
2 D 2

404 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Him to be taken, bound as He is, to Caiaphas.
Caiaphas appears to have sent messengers to summon
an immediate meeting of the Sanhedrim, and directed
that in the meantime Jesus should be kept in custod)'.
At a very early hour, the members of the San-
hedrim, or many of them (for Joseph certainly, and
Nicodemus probably, and perhaps others, were not
there), came in answer to the High Priest's hasty
summons to his palace, and there took their seats,
and sent for Jesus, and for the witnesses who had
been brought to give evidence against him. They
had already prejudged the case. In former councils
they had resolved that He must be destroyed as an
act of policy, in order to avoid the risk of a popular
insurrection, and the advantage which the Roman
Emperor might take of the pretext to deprive
them of the degree of liberty and self-government
they still possessed. But the forms of a trial must
be gone through. They had resolved to destroy Him
by a judicial condemnation and execution. There
was a certain show of fairness in the trial. Many
false witnesses came and bare false witness against
Him, but their witness agreed not together, and was
dismissed. At the last came two false witnesses, and
one gave evidence that He had said, "I will destroy
this Temple made with hands, and build another
made without hands," while the other gave His words
as, " I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to

THE PASSION. 405

build it in three days." We remember well the words
which these witnesses had misunderstood and incor-
rectly repeated, and note this evidence that they had
sunk into the minds of the hearers. But the Jewish
law required that two witnesses, at least, should agree
in their testimony, and on the want of agreement
between these two witnesses this evidence also was
dismissed, and the case seemed on the point of
breaking down.

Then the High Priest rose and addressed Him,
" Answerest thou nothing } What is it which these
witness against thee ? " But Jesus, who seems to have
been silent throughout the examination of the wit-
nesses, still "held his peace, and answered nothing "; —
the judge sought only to find some occasion out of
His own admissions, and He declined, as before to
Annas, to submit to the treacherous interrogatory.
Not from contemptuous indifference to the details by
which they arrive at a foregone conclusion, to which
He is already resigned, for every passion in every
human heart, — from the most blundering false witness
to the High Priest, in whose heart a politic murder
and the gift of prophecy are mysteriously conjoined —
is of profound interest to Him who watched the work-
ings of human passion towards the consummation of
the great tragedy with grave, sorrowful, pitying^ eyes.

' Stier, " The Words of the Lord Jesus."

4o6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Then, at length, the High Priest brings forward
the thought which had been all the while in all mind.s
as the real ground of their animosity, that He had
sought to lead men to believe him to be the Christ, the
Son of God. He himself lays this charge against Him.

" Art thou the Christ, tell us ? "

And He said unto them, " If I tell you ye will not
believe. And if I also ask you, ye will not answer
me nor release me " (John).

Then the High Priest made a solemn appeal to
Him, which, as an obedient Jew, He could not refuse
to answer : —

"I adjure thee, by the living God, that thou tell
us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God "
(Matthew).

"Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said [I am,
(Mark)] : hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds
of heaven."

Then the High Priest, with the conventional signs
of horror, rent his clothes, and the rest of the Council
no doubt joined in his demonstration. The High
Priest and Council were the formal representatives of
the Jewish nation. Good cause had they for rending
their garments, and for any other expression of
horror and woe, for this was their formal and con-
clusive rejection of the Messiah.

Taking advantage of the declaration he had thus

THE PASSION. 407

wrung from Jesus, the High Priest addressed the
Council, saying, " He hath spoken blasphemy. What
need we any further witnesses ? Ye have heard His
blasphemy ; what think ye ?

And they all condemned him to be guilty of death."
The trial was ended, and the sentence pronounced.
But it was necessary to the fulfilment of their inten-
tions to obtain the consent of the Procurator to the
execution of the capital sentence. So Jesus was
again remanded till the day had sufficiently advanced
for them to wait upon the Roman Governor.

Meantime Jesus was left in the hands of the officers
and servants of the High Priest, who, it would seem,
took Him into the hall where the servants and idlers
were ; and there amused themselves by mocking and
ill-treating the prisoner. They spat on Him in con-
tempt and hatred of His pretensions as King-Messiah ;
they blindfolded Him, and struck Him, saying, " Pro-
phesy, who is it that smote thee } " in ridicule of His
pretensions to be a prophet. They "smote him,"
and "spake blasphemously against him." Surely, the
abstinence of the Gospels from all comment, here and
throughout the scenes of the Passion, is very remark-
able. But a little reflection tells us that comment
would but detract from the solemn awe of the bare
facts simply, briefly told. Very little reflection teaches
us that in the meek majesty thus subjected to the
thoughtless cruelty and coarse buffoonery of the

4o8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

crowd is a picture of the patience of God, strong
and patient, provoked every day by the thoughtless
wickedness, the unintentional blasphemies, of men

Peter's Denial.

We have a pause, during which we have time to
turn to the followers of Jesus.

When in the garden they all forsook him and fled ;
yet Peter and John, having easily escaped in the
crowd and confusion, continued to follow in the
distance to see what would happen. When they
arrived at the High Priest's palace, John, who was
known to the High Priest, was allowed by the woman-
servant who acted as porter, to enter with the rest
He probably stood with the rest, and heard the brief
colloquy between Jesus and the High Priest, and then,
when Jesus was remanded, he went to her that kept
the door and asked admission for Peter, who mean-
time had been standing without.

Now the servants and officers had made a fire in
the midst of the hall, for it was cold, and stood round
it warming themselves, and Peter came and stood
among them.

While Peter stood by the fire, the servant who had
seen him enter came and " looked earnestly at him,
and said. This man was also with Him. And he
denied him, saying, Woman, I know Him not." And
he went away from the fire, and stood in the porch,

THE PASSION. 409

where another maid saw him, and said to them
that stood by, This fellow also was with Jesus ot
Nazareth ; and he said, I know not the man. One
of the servants of the High Priest, being a kinsman ot
him whose ear Peter cut off, said. Did not I see thee
in the garden with Him ? Peter then denied Him
again. He seems to have got out of their dangerous
neighbourhood, by going to another part of the hall ;
but there also, " about one hour after, they that stood
by said. Surely thou art one of them, for thou art a
Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he
began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this
man of whom ye speak. And immediately, while he
yet spake, the cock crew."

And the Lord, from the midst of the servants who
were ill-treating Him, turned and looked upon Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how
He had said. Before the cock crow thou shalt deny
me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

TJie Trial before Pilate.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator, or Governor,
of Judea, ordinarily resided at the new city of
Ca:sarea, which Herod the Great had founded by the
sea, but it was the custom of the Governors to come
up to Jerusalem at the great feasts with a considerable
military force as an addition to the garrison, in order
to prevent any outbreak among the multitudes of

4IO A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

pilgrims assembled there, excited by religious en-
thusiasm. His official residence in the capital was
the palace of Herod in the Upper City.

Thither then, at the very early hour at which, in
those Eastern countries, the business of the day
begins, the Jewish magnates brought Jesus, and
stopping in the portico of the palace, because they
could not enter into a Gentile house without incurring
that amount of ceremonial defilement which would
have prevented them from sharing in the solemnities
of the Festival, they sent word to Pilate, who came
out to them. Probably the portable official chair, — •
"the judgment seat," — which was carried about with a
Roman magistrate, was brought out, and he sat down
in it on the marble pavement of the portico, thus
elevated by its steps above the level of the crowd.
They seem to have thought that Pilate would have
given sentence upon their condemnation, without
instituting any independent inquiry. A single glance
at the prisoner standing there bound among them
would be enough to show that it was not an ordinary
criminal whose execution they sought ; and this may
account for Pilate's unexpected inquiry, " What
accusation bring ye against this man .'' " They an
swered in a way to show their resentment, "If he
were not a malefactor we would not have delivered
him up unto thee." Pilate replied at once in a similai
tone, " Take ye him and judge him according to your

THE PASSION. 411

law," i.e., you have your own laws, with which I do
not desire to interfere ; if you have tried and con-
demned him, execute also your own sentence ; but if
you seek a sentence from me I have the right to
inquire first into the charge against Him.

They replied :— " We have found him guilty and
deserving of the punishment of death, but it is not
lawful for us to put any man to death, therefore
we bring him to thee " (John) ; and, finding that
Pilate would do nothing without hearing the charge,
" they began to accuse him, saying. We found this
fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to ^\\q
tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a
King" (Luke).

Pilate, they knew, would care very little about the
religious aspect of the claim of Jesus to be the
Messiah, or the Son of God, therefore they presented
to him the political side of it, and accused Jesus of
setting himself up as King; and though He had
evaded the snare which they set for Him when the}-
asked Him whether it was lawful to give tribute to
Caesar, yet they now falsely asserted that He had
given the answer they hoped He would have given ;
and they asserted it as if Christ had gone about in a
seditious spirit, forbidding the people to continue to
pay their tribute to the Emperor, and claiming their
allegiance and tribute to Himself This was a serious
charge among a people like the Jews, bearing

412 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

uneasily the yoke of their foreign master, and fre-
quently breaking out into insurrection against it.

Pilate at once went into his judgment hall with
his own attendants, leaving the Jews standing without
in the portico, and interrogated the prisoner : —

" Art thou the King of the Jews ? " Jesus answered,
" Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell
it thee of me ? " The counter question seems to ask
the sense in which Pilate uses the phrase — in his own
sense as a pretender to temporal dominion and the
opponent of the Roman power in Judea, or in the
sense in which He had Himself put His claim to the
Messiahship before the people, which no doubt had
been made known to the Governor. And this will
give the corresponding meaning to Pilate's answer : —

"Am I a Jew?" I ask not as a Jew inquiring
about his prophesied Messiah ; I ask as the Roman
Procurator inquiring into a charge of sedition : —

" Thine own nation and the Chief Priests have
delivered thee unto me," which made it unlikely that
His claims were merely theological claims, such as
His own nation and its religious chiefs might be
expected to sympathise with ; therefore he puts the
plain question, leaving opinions and distinctions
aside, — " What hast thou done } "

Our Lord's reply is full and explanatory : —

" My kingdom is not of this world." He implies
that He is a King, but not in the sense in which

THE PASSION. 4,3

Pilate has defined the question. And in reply to the
question of fact, " What hast thou done ? " He goes
to the very point of it when He adds, " If my king-
dom were of this world, then would my sen-^ants fight
that I should not be delivered to the Jews," but 1
have done no act of sedition, and have not used
force against the machinations of my enemies ;
" therefore," He repeats, not in mere repetition, " My
kingdom is not from hence." He has answered
Pilate's question that He claims not such a king-
dom as Pilate defines, but maintains that there is
another Kingdom, more wide-spreading than Rome's
universal dom.inion, more enduring, more thorough ;
not an earthly but a heavenly sovereignty, and over
that kingdom He, — who stands there a prisoner at
the bar of Pilate, — is King.

Pilate, noting the claim implied in this answer,
pushes the question, — " Art thou a king, then .^ " And
the Lord replies distinctly, " Thou sayest that I am
a king " (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). The impor-
tance of this distinct claim is marked by the fact
that the synoptical Gospels which omit the previous
conversation which led up to it, all record this im-
portant fact— that as Jesus before the Sanhedrim
clearly claimed to be the Son of God, so before Pilate
He as distinctly claimed to be the King of the king-
dom " not of this world," — the "stone cut out without
hands,"— the last great kingdom of Daniel's prophecy.

414 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Jesus continues : — " To this end was I born, and
for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of
the truth heareth My voice." This is not a mere
continuation of His defence, a mere assertion of the
truth of His answer to Pilate's question : a very
little attention is enough to detect something much
deeper than this. He had just spoken of His king-
dom as not from hence ; whence, then, was it ?
And now He speaks not only of being born, but
also, — for it is no mere tautology, — of coming into
the world ; whence, then, did He come .''

According to our Lord's usual method of over-
passing, or even putting altogether aside the special
topic, in order to speak to the heart and conscience
of those to whom He spoke, so now He passes away
from the subject of examination ; He has satisfied
the Governor's inquisition, now He applies to
the man's heart; He has asserted His heavenly
sovereignty. He seeks a disciple of His kingdom
in Pilate. He presents the subject in His usual
tentative, enigmatical way, seeking to kindle and
encourage thought, inquiry, faith. The emperor's
Procurator, in so difficult a government as that of
Judea, must have been a statesman of considerable
capacity, like most of his compeers, having no
religious faith. From his position, impressed with
the grandeur of the imperial power, and anxious,

THE PASSION. 415

above all things, to retain the imperial favour. The
Lord presented before this man's intellect and con-
science that there was another world besides this, a
kingdom sublimer than the empire, a power greater
than Caesar's. He offered Himself and His claims to
his faith. He declared Himself to have come into
the world, the King of this sublimer Kingdom, the
revealer of " the Truth," and He distinctly offered
him this truth and claimed his attention to it.
Surely it is sublime to see the prisoner thus pre-
senting himself to His judge, — to see Jesus seeking to
win Pilate.

We may, with great probabilit}-, suppose Pilate to
have been in the condition of philosophic doubt
which was common among the educated Romans of
his age, and it is with the spirit of a man who is
weary of the philosophers and their opposing systems,
and incredulous of Eastern theologists, that he gives
his famous reply : — " What is Truth } " No one can
tell, is what he means, — not knowing that it stood
before him, and offered itself to his acceptance.

But though the Governor will not stay to hear a
thesis on truth from this Jewish enthusiast, at least
he is quite convinced that there is nothing to be
feared from Him. Accordingly, he went out again to
the portico, Jesus accompanying him, and "said to
the Chief Priests and to the people, I find no fault in
this man."

4i6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Whereupon " the chief priests accused him of many
things, but he answered nothing." Then said Pilate
unto Him, " Hearest thou not how many things they
witness against thee ? Answerest thou nothing ? But
Jesus yet answered nothing." Pilate had declared
Him innocent : He needed not to speak ; " so that
Pilate marvelled greatly " (Matt., Mark). " And they
were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the
people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from
Galilee to this place " (Luke).

Pilate caught at the last statement, and saw in it
a way out of his difficulty. He asked if the prisoner
were a Galilean, and as soon as he knew that He was,
and therefore was Herod's subject, and belonged to
Herod's jurisdiction, he sent them and their prisoner
to lay their complaint before Herod, " who was at
that time in Jerusalem," having no doubt come up
to the Feast.

Before Herod.

Herod Antipas, being a Jew, came up to Jerusalem
for the great Feasts. Some passages of Josephus^
help us to picture to ourselves the state with which
he journeyed through the country, among the humbler
pilgrims, " splendidly adorned," with his " lords, high

> "Antiquities," Book XIII., chap xi. ; "Wars," Book II.,
chap. xvii.

THE PASSION. 417

captains, and chief estates of Galilee," followed by
an escort. He had, no doubt, a palace in Jerusalem
where he resided at the Feasts ; and another passage
of Josephus indicates that when he went up to the
Temple he would go thither " in a pompous manner,
{i.e., in procession], adorned with royal garments,"
surrounded by his courtiers, " and with his followers
with him in their armour." ^

There had been some quarrel and coolness between
the Judean Procurator and the Galilean Tetrarch,
and Herod took it as a conciliatory overture and an
amende, when Pilate sent this Galilean prisoner to
him, and sent the Sanhedrim to plead their cause
before him.

Herod knew who Jesus was. He was connected
with a passage in Herod's life to which he could not
look back without a troubled mind. He had believed
in John the Baptist, and heard him gladly, and did
many things in obedience to his teaching ; and had
reluctantly put him to death, entangled by his rash

' Herod the Great had, besides his body guard, a band of
Thracians, another of Germans, another of Galatians, all in the
habit and arms of their countrA-, besides the main body of his
army (Josephus, "Antiquities," Bk. xvii., chap. viii.). Philip
the Tetrarch had a troop of Babylonian horsemen for his guard
(Ibid. Bk. xvii., chap. ii.).

• Perhaps in consequence of Pilates massacre of some of
Herod's subjects at a former feast (Luke xiii. i).

2 £

4i8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

oath. This was He of whom he had heard soon
after the Baptist's death, as teaching and working
miracles, and he had for a moment thought it was
the murdered John come to life again. He had
learned since that it was not John, but that John had
declared Him to be the expected Messiah ; and for
these two or three years He had heard of His rising
fame, but had never seen Him.

He was glad of this opportunity. " When Herod
saw Jesus he was exceeding glad, for he was
desirous to see him of a long season, because he had
heard many things of him, and he hoped to have
seen some miracle done by him." He is not pre-
pared to listen to Christ in the spirit in which he
listened to John. Years of vice have deadened his
soul to good impressions. His motive for wishing to
see Jesus for a long time, and his satisfaction at
seeing him now, is nothing but idle wonderment.

And when He was brought before him, "he
questioned with him in many words, but he answered
him nothing. And the Chief Priests and Scribes stood
and vehemently accused him," but He answered
nothing. It becomes clear that these silences of
Jesus, so markedly recorded, are very significant. As
we ponder their meaning we recognise that these
silences are awful. They do not arise from a feeling
of human scorn, though that may not be altogether
absent from their complex meaning. We observe

THE PASSION. 419

that the accusations brought against Him before the
Sanhedrim, and before Herod, seem to fail without
any answer. We observe that He seems to decline
to defend Himself, except in His explanation to
Pilate. But his silence in the other cases seems to
convey a condemnation of him to whom He will
not speak. He would argue with the Jews on the
subject of His claim to be the Son of God so long a^
there was a hope of convincing them, but He refused
to wrangle with the Sanhedrim, which had resolved
to murder Him. He would explain to Pilate, who
lionestly sought explanation ; He refused to speak to
1 lerod, who, notwithstanding his knowledge of the
Baptist and his teaching, now regarded the Messiah
only with the idle curiosity with which one regards
any one who has attained a certain notoriety, and
wanted to see a miracle, as he would a conjuring
trick. It was not scorn or indignation ; it was the
blank inactivity to which grace is reduced in presence
of a hardened human will. " Ephraim is given to
idols — let him alone."

Finding that Jesus refused to gratify his curiosity
by word or deed, Herod found nothing in the vehe-
ment accusations of the Chief Priests and Scribes
which seemed to him to call for judicial notice. It is
clear that the accusation that He claimed to be King
of the Jews had also been raised before Herod, as
likely to rouse his jealousy now, as it had done,
2 E 2

420 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

thirty years before, that of his father Herod the
Great ; but Herod could not be made to see anything
serious or dangerous in such shadowy pretensions.
He contented himself with contemptuous mockery.
Herod, with his men of war, " set Him at nought and
mocked Him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe " —
some faded robe of white, the Royal colour, gorgeous,
perhaps, with tarnished broidery — and so sent Him
back, in mock state, to Pilate.

Before Pilate again.

Then Pilate saw his prisoner brought back to him
from Herod, and the responsibility of dealing with
Him forced upon him.

What was it in Jesus which so strangely impressed
the soul of the harsh, imperious Procurator? We
suppose it was entirely His appearance. His natural
dignity and gracious bearing, the intellectual genius
and elevation of moral character which must have
had their outward expression in His face, would not
be lost on one accustomed, like a Roman statesman,
to measure men. But added to this was the present
bearing and expression which indicated what was
now the moral attitude of the man. No fear of His
clamorous accusers, no deprecating appeal to the
Governor, were apparent, but a calm, dignified self-
possession. No scorn of the baseness which was
hounding Him to an undeserved death, no stern
defiance of the Roman who held His fate in his hands.

THE PASSION. 421

Not the ecstasy of a martyr, lost to what is around
him because his thoughts arc ah'eady in another
world, not the Stoicism of the philosopher, but the
grave pity as of a superior being, regarding, from his
safe height, the passions, the errors, the sins of the
actors in the human tragedy. Nay, more, a kind of
strange, yearning look of love glancing over the
multitude who clamoured for His death ; and a strange,
searching" slancc, as of one who read men's hearts,
appealing to all which was best and noblest in His
own. This, we suppose, it was which it takes so long
to describe, but which his practised eye read at a
second glance, — this it was, we suppose, which so
impressed the mind of Pilate.

Pilate summoned the Chief Priests and the rulers
and the people, and made a short address to them, as
they stood gathered about the portico of his palace :
" Ye have brought this man unto me as one that per-
verteth the people, and behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man
touching those things whereof ye accuse him ; no,
nor yet Herod, for I sent you to him, and lo! nothing
worthy of death is done unto him." " But ye have a
custom that I should release unto you a prisoner at
the Passover, will ye therefore that I release unto
you the King of the Jews t " His appeal was to the
people, over the heads, as it were, of the Jewish
authorities, for he recognised that " the Chief Priests
had delivered him for env\-." But the Chief Priests

422 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

raised a cry, and which was taken up in the crowd,
demanding the release of Barabbas, who, for a certain
sedition in the city, accompanied by murder, had
been cast into prison. Pilate put the question again
to the people, " Whether of the twain will ye that I
release unto you ? " They cried with greater unani-
mity, "Barabbas!" "Pilate saith, What, then, shall
I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ ? " and
some one raised the ominous cry, Let him be cruci-
fied ! "Why," asks Pilate, " what evil hath he done? "
but again the cry was caught up and repeated by the
crowd,^ "Crucify him! crucify' him! And again he
said unto them the third time. Why, what evil hath
he done ? I have found no cause of death in him."
And then he proposes a compromise, " I will therefore
chastise him, and let him go " ; but they continued to
cry, incessantly and loudly, that He might be crucified.
Pilate had taken a strange interest in this re-

^ It is a common-place to illustrate the fickleness of men by
pointing to the crowd which cried Hosannah ! on Sunday and
Crucify Him ! on Friday. But the illustration is untenable. It
was not the same crowd. On Sunday it was a crowd who came
up with Him to Jerusalem, who knew Him and His words and
works ; and they were headed by the twelve Apostles. And
those who came out from Jerusalem to meet Him were disciples.
But on Friday it was the vast crowd of strangers from all parts
of the world, who did not know Him, and who not unnaturally
accepted the judgment of the Chief Priests, and rulers, and
Pharisees, and re-echoed their demands on Pilate.

THE PASSION. 423

inarkable person, and still laboured to save Him by a
dramatic incident which should protest his own con-
viction of His innocence, and alarm the conscience of
the people by throwing the guilt of His death upon
them. " When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing,
but that rather a tumult was made, he sent for water
and washed his hands before them, saying, I am
innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it."
And, no doubt, once more the Chief Priests and rulers
led the answer which the crowd adopted and repeated,
" His blood be on us and on our children !"

It was probably during this interval that a message
came from Pilate's wife. Tradition, which has pro-
bability on its side, says that she, like so manj-
of the Gentile Avomen who had been brought under
the influence of the Jewish religion, was herself a
proselyte of the gate. Her message was, " Have thou
nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered
many things this day in a dream because of him."
But Pilate still temporised. He commanded Barabbas
to be released, and he commanded that Jesus should
be scourged.

Then the soldiers took Him into the great hall of
the palace, which was called the Prsetorium, and
stripped him of His raiment and scourged Him ; then,
in brutal mockery of the meek prisoner, they threw
one of their old military cloaks over His shoulders for
a royal robe, for their regiment bore the name of the

424 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Augustan regiment, and wore cloaks of the imperial
purple, they plaited a wreath of thorns, and put it
about His sacred temples for a mock crown, and put a
reed in His bound hands for a sceptre, and mocked
Him, bending the knee before Him, and saying,
"Hail, King of the Jews!" Then, one more brutal
than the rest ended the sport by spitting upon Him,
and snatching the mock sceptre out of His hands,
smote Him with it on the head.

Pilate seems to have been sitting in the Praetorium,
and the pitifulness of the sight seems to have sug-
gested to his mind another appeal to the people.
He went out again into the portico, and said, " Be-
hold, I bring him forth that ye may see that I find
no fault in him," and as he spoke Jesus was led forth
by the soldiers wearing the crown of thorns and the
purple robe. And Pilate called their attention to
the pathetic sight, " Behold the man ! " Pallid, soiled,
blood-stained, clad in the ragged purple cloak, and
crowned with thorns, but with His calm, dignified
self-possession unshaken, the look of yearning pity
and forgiving love unchanged. Probably it was a
double appeal, to the better sense of the Chief Priests,
Is this a man whose pretensions you need fear .-* and
to the natural compassion of the people at so pathetic
a sight. But the sight of its victim only maddens
hate, and "when the Chief Priests and officers saw Him
they cried out, saying, * Crucify him, crucify him ! *

THE PASSIOX. 425

The appeal to the people would seem to have been
successful, they were silent. Pilate, therefore, saith
unto them, ' Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find
no fault in Him.' "

Then the rulers in explanation to Pilate of their
persistency in desiring His death, and in defence of it
to the now wavering multitude, brought forth the
charge which they had hitherto kept in the back-
ground " By our law he ought to die because he
made himself the Son of God."

" When Pilate heard that saying he was the more
afraid." Superstition is the Nemesis which pursues
unbelief Pilate was familiar enough with the sons of
the gods, the demi-gods and heroes of the classical
mythology, and naturally the words would convey to
him some similar meaning now.

Pilate had been struck, perplexed, moved by this
remarkable person, and could not explain his feelings
to himself; his wife's account of her dream ; all pre-
pared him for something unusual ; and when he
heard that this strange man claimed to be the Son of
God he was prepared to entertain the idea that there
was something supernatural about Him. His was
the very aspect a suffering God might bear. He
returned once more into the judgment hall taking
Jesus with him and asked Him " Whence art thou T'
But Jesus gave him no answer. An answer to this
question, born of superstition, could lead to no useful

426 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

result. Pilate had already passed the crisis of his trial.
Had he stood firm against the clamour of the people,
and refused to allow an innocent man to suffer, it
might have been the turning-point in his evil career,
and have led him on from strength to strength. But
in temporising, in trying b}^ unjust compliances to
conciliate the crowd, in condemning Jesus to be
scourged, and allowing Him to be further mocked
and tortured, he had failed in his trial, and would
fail again. Then he said, " Speakest thou not unto me.
Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee,
and power to release thee } Then Jesus answered,
Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it
were given thee from above." God has power to release
me ; thou who boasteSt of thy power hast allowed it
to be taken out of thy hands by the Chief Priests ;
thy sin is not so great as that of those who have
delivered me into thy hands.

Then Pilate seems again to have brought Him out
and to have tried to induce the Jewish leaders to
forego their intentions, but the Jews {i.e., the rulers)
cried out saying, "If thou let this man go thou art
not Caesar's friend : whosoever maketh himself a king
speaketh against Csesar." Then Pilate brought him
out again and sat down in his judgment seat, and
made a final appeal to them, " Behold your king."
What can such a king do against the power of Csesar,
a king who declares Plimself that He only claims to be

THE PASSION. 427

a king in some religious, transcendental sense which
involves no opposition, no disloyalty to Caesar.
But they replied only with clamours, "Away with
him ! Away with him ! Crucify him !" " What," says
Pilate, " shall I crucify your king ?" The Chief Priests
answered, " We have no king but Caesar."

Pilate saw clearly the covert threat, that if he let
this man go who claimed to be king of the Jews,
especially if any such popular tumults arose about
Him as the Jewish authorities feared, he might incur
the suspicion of the suspicious and jealous Tiberius;
and that the Jewish authorities would exonerate
themselves by stating the fact that when they them-
selves had arrested this pretender and delivered Him
up to the Procurator, and demanded His execution
as necessary to the public tranquillity, Pilate had
refused to listen to them, and had released Him.

It was easy for Pilate to exert his power and influ-
ence on behalf of this innocent person, but he was not
the man to risk his own interests for the sake of pro-
tecting another person ever so innocent and ever so
interesting : "Then delivered he Him therefore unto
them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and
led Him away."

There were two other prisoners awaiting execution
by the common Roman method of the cross. The
centurion in charge of the three prisoners proceeded to
the execution of their sentence. A c^uard of soldiers

428 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

fall In ; some precede the criminals ; they according
to the custom take up each his cross to bear it on
their shoulders, as criminals in later days go to the
gallows with the halter round their necks ; other
soldiers close the procession, and thus they proceed
through the streets, and out of the city gate, towards
the hill of Calvary, the common place of execution.
And on the way Jesus, worn out with suffering, could no
longer bear the burden of his cross, and a man coming
towards the city just then meeting them, the soldiers
laid hold of him and imposed upon him thedisagreeablc
task of bearing the cross to Calvary. The man was
Simon the Cyrenian, himself afterwards a Christian,
and the father of two well-known Christians, Alex-
ander and Rufus. A crowd of people followed,
among them a number of women, who, struck with
natural compassion for the gentle, dignified, un-
complaining sufferer, bewailed and lamented him.
" The sacred narrative has no record of any
woman's enmity against the Redeemer." It
was not the women who had followed him from
Galilee, it was not strangers who had come up
to the feast, it was women of Jerusalem. They
probably knew something of His pretensions and of
His character, and without being believers, even
though disbelievers, the present suffering, and the
cruel fate of the " gentle enthusiast " moved their
natural womanly compassion, and they showed it in

THE PASSION. 429

expressions of pity and sympathy. The incident is
remarkable for the reply which Jesus made. His
human heart is touched by the sympathy, and He
responds to it, and the tenor of His reply shows how
even at such a time under such circumstances, His
heart was full not of indignation with others, or of
self pity, but full of sorrow for the misery of
the people which thus rejected Him : " Daughters of
Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves,
and for your children. For behold the days are
coming," during the dreadful miseries of the siege
by the Romans, " when they shall say, Blessed are the
barren and the wombs that never bare, and the paps
which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say
to the mountains. Fall on us, and to the rocks, Cover
us. For if they do these things in the green tree
what shall be done in the dry," i.e., if such things are
done to me, green with the sap of grace and fruitful
in all righteousness, what things will be done to this
people from whom the sap of God's grace is de-
parting, who are drying up root and branch, and
becoming fit fuel for the consuming judgments of
God?

430 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS.

HE last Seven Words of our Blessed Lord
upon the Cross have always afforded special
subject for devout meditation. No doubt
these sayings were naturally called forth by the
occasion ; and so, remembering what the occasion
was, they demand the most reverent and loving
regard. But we shall soon find reason to regard
them as having a wider scope and profounder meaning
than that which satisfies the immediate occasion.
We shall find reason to regard them, not merely as
the natural ejaculations of the dying Son of Man, but
as also the solemn utterances of the Son of God ;
uttered while in the act of accomplishing the atoning
sacrifice, and deriving deeper meanings from their
reference to the great transaction. God forbid that
we should put meanings into the words other than,
and beyond those, which the Lord intended ; but let
us take care that the deeper meanings which the
Lord did intend do not escape us.

rilE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 431

The First Word.

" And when they were come to tlic place which is
called Calvary [Golgotha], there tliey crucified him,
and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the
other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do" (Luke
xxiii. 33).

The soldiers stripped Him of His clothes, stretched
His body upon the cross as it lay upon the ground,
and nailed Him to it with great nails, tearing through
the delicate network of nerves in hands and feet.
The " title of his accusation " — the nature of the
crime for which He had been condemned — written on
a scroll in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin, — was nailed to the cross above His head. A
soldier put upon His head in mockery the crown of
thorns with which they had crowned Him in the
Praetorium. The cross was raised, and planted, with
jolt and jerk, into the place in the ground prepared
for it, and fastened in its place.

" Then said Jesus" would seem to imply that it
was when the crucifixion was finished that He uttered
the words, " Father, forgive them.'' " Father! " Later
He addresses Him, " My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me.?" But here it is "Father." It is
He who is Son of God as to His human nature, and
eternal, only-begotten Son of God as to His divine

432 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

nature, the human nature and the divine nature con-
stituting the one Christ, who thus addresses the
eternal Father, with entire confidence that He would
be heard ; as when at the grave of Lazarus he said,
" I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of
the people that stood by I said it."

" Father, Forgive." The Victim is laid upon the
altar ; " the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world." The precious Blood already issues
forth into the sacred hands ; those priestly hands are
stretched out as if in supplication. He looks up to
heaven, and His words are the appropriate expression
of the great Act which is being accomplished, —
" Father, forgive." Isaiah truly said (liii. 12), —

" He hath poured out His soul unto death. He was num-
bered with the transgressors. He bare the sin of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors."

" Forgive ikein." Forgive whom .-' The answer to
that question needs careful thought.

" Them." The soldiers, who had just finished their
cruel work .'' Yes, but they were only the human
instruments who carried out the order of their superior
officer. Pilate, who gave them their orders, was really
responsible rather than they. But Pilate would have
released Him, had he not been goaded by the covert
threats of the Jewish rulers, and hounded on by the
clamorous cry, "Away with Him ! Away with Him!
Crucify Him ! " Nay, we must go further yet, all these

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 433

were but in various degrees, instruments of a greater
power behind them. The sins of men — they were the
real cause of the death of the Saviour : —

" He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him,
and with His stripes we are healed. . . . The Lord hath laid on
Him the iniquity of us all '' (Is. liii.).

It is soberly true that every man's sins, — your sins
and mine, — had a share in causing the passion and
death of the Lord. Nothing could make this clearer
than the assurance of the apostle (Heb. vi. 6), that
when now we sin "we crucify the Son of God afresh,
and put him to open shame." In all that protracted
tragedy of blows, insults, torture, and death, — in all
that previous ignominy of betrayal, denial, and coward
flight, — in all those deeper sufferings which are indi-
cated by the bloody sweat in the garden, and the crj-
of anguish on the cross, — of all these things, it is
soberly and sadly true, you and I have a share in
the guilt.

" They know not what they do." No doubt that is
literally true ; and it is the plea which mitigates the
unspeakable horror of that which they did. The
apostle Peter after\vards makes the same excuse for
them: "Ye did it in ignorance, as did also your
rulers" (Acts iii. 17). And Paul says, had they
known it, " they would not have crucified the Lord
of glory " (i Cor. ii. 8). But they were not w ithout

2 F

434 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

sin in what they knowingly did. The chief priests
delivered Him for enyy ; Pilate surrendered a man he
judged innocent to the clamour of the mob and his
own selfish fears ; the soldiers treated with gratuitous
cruelty one whose Jnnocence and meek dignity should
have moved even their hard hearts to compassion.

Let us beware, for in doing any evil we know not
how great the evil is whxh we do. Let us beware,
for we are warned that ot^r faults do " grieve the
Spirit," that our sins do " crucify the Son of God
afresh," that the scandal of our ii:'consistent character
and conduct " put Christ to open shame."

" Father, forgive them."

Let us thank Him for the intercession thus begun,
and carried on day by day, in which He pleads the
precious blood for the forgiveness of penitent sinners.
Let us be sure that God "heareth the Son always."
If we are penitent, let us come and throw ourselves
upon our knees before Him, and obtain His all-pre-
vailing intercession, and be sure that we rise with
the gracious pardon, " Son, thy sins are forgiven
thee " ; and with the solemn warning " Sin no more,
lest a worse thing befal thee."

Let us treasure in our hearts the proof these- gra-
cious words give us of the love of Christ. " I\Iany
waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods
drown it," says Solomon (Cant. viii. 7). All the
waters of man's sins did not quench the Divine love

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 435

of man ; the floods of his ingratitude could not drown
it. In the first agony of His torture, rejoicing in the
blood-bought right of interceding, He interceded for
His murderers.

And Christians must be of Christ's spirit. True
Christians are. But a little while afterwards, we find
the first martyr, Stephen, with the same divine love
and patience, praying for his murderers, " Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge." And we must pardon
those who injure us ever so undeservedly, ever so
bitterly, ever so ungratefully. Christ seeks to win us
to this spirit by His example ; we are to " Love one
another, as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for
us." But failing to win us to forgiveness by example,
He enforces it by a solemn threat, — " Except ye for-
give every one his brother their trespasses neither
will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses."

Let us lay down our hatreds at the foot of Christ's
cross, and forgive that we may be forgiven.

TJie Second Word.

It was the duty of the soldiers, having crucified the
condemned, to keep guard over them until the slow
torture had completed its work. Accordingly, they
cleared away the spectators for a little space about
the crosses for their place of guard. They proceeded
first to share among themselves the garments of the
criminals, which formed the perquisites of the execu-
2 F 2

436 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

tioners. His other garments "theypartedintofourparts,
to every soldier a part," but His tunic " was without
seam, woven from the top throughout " ; clearly a
handsome garment, the costly gift of the same spirit
of devotion which had thought the alabaster box of
very precious ointment not too costly an offering.
The soldiers thought it a pity to mar it, so "they cast
lots for it, whose it should be."

"And the people stood beholding." The Chief
Priests and rulers and Scribes and elders had allowed
their hatred to get the better of their sense of decorum,
and had followed with the crowd to the place of
execution. And they condescended to mock Him as
He hung upon the cross, and the spectators joined
them ; and the passengers who were coming into and
out of the city by the high road, a few yards off,
paused for a few moments to see the spectacle, and
they too joined in the chorus of derision. " Ah, thou
that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three
days, save thyself, and come down from the cross.
He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be
the King of Israel, let Him now come down from
the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in
God, let him now deliver him if he will have him, for
he said, I am the Son of God."

And the soldiers also mocked Him, saying, " If thou
be the King of the Jews, save thyself"

And the robbers also, which were crucified with

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 437

Him, added a touch of horror to the scene, by joining
in the mockery of the Innocent One who hung
between them. " If thou be the Christ, save thyself
and us."

It was a repetition of the threefold challenge of the
Temptation, " If thou be the Son of God " prove it
by a miracle wrought on thy own behalf Our Lord
did not answer by a word.

We infer, from the narratives of St. Matthew and
St. Mark, that at first both the robbers joined in the
horrid mockery of their fellow-sufferer ; and from
St. Luke that it was after some interval that the
second robber came to a better mind, and rebuked
liis fellow, saying, " Dost not thou fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation. And we indeed
justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds ;
but this man hath done nothing amiss." Then,
turning to Jesus, he said, " Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto
him, Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be
with me in Paradise" (Matt, xxvii. 44; Mark xv. 32 ;
Luke xxiii. 39-43).

What a contrast between the unbelief of the Jews
and the faith of this robber ! Our Lord might again
have said, " I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." The disciples themselves had abandoned the
hope " that this was he which should have restored
again the kingdom to Israel." This robber shows

438 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

a confidence which, considering the circumstances, —
that he who prayed hung dying on the cross, and He
to whom he prayed was dying on the cross beside
him — was subHme. Certainly, the three greatest
examples of faith in the Gospels are the Syro-Phoeni-
cian woman, the centurion of Capernaum, and the
" good thief"

We know nothing of the previous history of this
man, except that he had been a robber, a man of
violence, who had (according to his own confession)
in his cruel death only received the due reward of his
deeds. But his fear of God, his admission of the
justice of his sentence, his rebuke of his fellow, arc
all indications of a man not ignorant of God, not
without religious feelings, not without some traits
of generosity and nobleness of character. But the
most striking evidence of a remarkable character
is that he recognised moral excellence and true
grandeur in a man dying a felon's death, and
believed in Him whom all the rest of the world had
hounded — or abandoned — to His fate.

As to the cause of the wonderful impression so sud-
denly made upon him, the near approach of death
does often clear away the mists of passion which have
clouded a man's better nature, and enables him to take
a juster estimate of things. We will venture, therefore,
to conjecture that the sight of Jesus on the cross, the
hearing of His words, — though they were only the

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 439

first brief words which we have been considering, —
wrought this change in the robber's estimate of his
fellow-sufferer. There are stories of the times of
persecution, of the judge on his tribunal being con-
verted by the Christian's behaviour under torture ;
of the executioner throwing down his sword, and
declaring himself a convert, and joyfully sharing the
martyrdom he should have inflicted. The one meek
suffering face among a crowd of faces made diabolical
by angiy passions ; the persistent patience in the
midst of torture ; the gentle dignity which shines out
amidst circumstances of degradation ; the kind of
unearthly light in the eyes and the whole expression ;
these have a pathos and power which have many a
time gone straight and all-powerful to the heart of a
calm and thoughtful spectator. Thoughts of God,
feelings of repentance, were already at work in the
robber's heart. Did it need more than the sight of
the Divine ]\Iartyr, and the grace of God, to touch
the heart of this robber, this man of strong impulses
for good and evil }

Let us try to realise with the eye of faith this same
heart-touching sight, that by God's grace our hearts
may be suffused with a rush of tender penitence, and
sympathy, and love, and trust.

" To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." The
crucified usually lingered about three days and

440 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

nights before their dreadful torture terminated in
welcome death. Jesus calmly looks into the future and
knows that this will not be His fate. To-day He Him-
self shall be released from suffering, and shall have
entered the place of the blest departed. And He who
hangs nailed hand and foot to the cross, calmly
promises salvation to the dying robber. " Verily I say
unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."
The calm confidence with which He takes for granted
His own power, and the authority with which He
disposes of life and death and Paradise, are very
characteristic. He makes of Calvary a judgment-hall,
and of the cross a throne.

This is His reply to the taunt " If thou be the Son
of God save thyself," "If thou be the Son of God
save thyself and us."

The penitent thief spoke no more, but he lived on
for three hours ; a short time measured by the dial,
but how long in the events which it witnessed !
Events how efficacious in the growth and ripening of a
soul ! He lived but three hours, but long enough to hear
the gracious words to His mother and His beloved
disciple; long enough to pass through the super-
natural darkness which had so great an effect on all
-w ho experienced it ; long enough to hear the bitter
cry ; long enough to see the light return ; to hear
the Lord declare His work finished ; and commend
His spirit to the Father.

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 441

Let us beware, for ourselves and others, that this
example of the penitent robber, believing on his
hard death-bed, pardoned at the last hour, be not
perverted ; and we harden our hearts in sin, in a vain
confidence that we have only at last to say, " Lord,
remember me," to be forgiven and saved. He believed
on Christ when he saw Him, and was saved. We
have seen Christ a thousand times, and heard His
teaching, and seen His miracles ; if we have not
already been saved by that sight, our case is not that
of the penitent robber, it is rather that of the Scribes
and Pharisees, who saw and heard, and rejected Him,
and perished in their sins.

Let us beware how we take the case of the penitent
thief as an encouragement to hope for any miracle
of mercy to ourselves at the eleventh hour. We do
not know all the circumstances of his case. This we
do know that our case cannot be the same as his.
" The Scripture has told us of one man who was
saved at the eleventh hour that none should despair,
only of one that we should not presume."

Let us so repent of our sins now, and believe in
Christ now, and commend ourselves to Him now, and
live to Him now and always ; that when the end of
oLir life shall come, — and we may pray, with holy
Jiishop Andrewcs, that it may come without shame
and pain, — we may have the blessed assurance

442 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise," the
waiting-place of the saints of God, through which
our Lord has passed ; and that when He shall come
again at the last great day, we may go back with him
to Heaven, there to be with Him for evermore.
" Lord, Remember me."

The Third Word.

The women who had followed Him from Galilee,
and had followed afar off to Calvary, had gradually
made their way through the crowd of spectators
and reached the margin of the little space which the
soldiers kept clear around the cross.

It is very characteristic of our human nature that
when Peter's impulsive zeal had denied his Lord,
and Thomas's dogged fidelity had forsaken Him, and
all had fled and left Him to His fate, it was a group
of loving women who had the courage to stand
beside His cross ; yes, and the youngest Apostle
" whom Jesus loved " with them, for love is stronger
than zeal, stronger than fidelity, stronger than death !

St. John (xix. 25, 26, 27), tells us, —

" Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his
mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Mag-
dalene.

"When, therefore, Jesus saw his mother and the disciple
standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman,
behold thy son.

"Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And
from that hour that disciple took her to his own home."

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 443

We look back three-and-thirty years to the moun-
tain villlage of Galilee, and call to mind the sweet
story of the pure and thoughtful maiden, chosen b}-
God out of daughters of the line of David, for the
unique honour of being the mother of the Messiah.

For thirty years they had lived, — the mother and
the Son, — in undivided companionship. We try to
imagine what effect upon the development of the
character of that holy and thoughtful maiden, the
companionship of such a son must have had. For
the three years of His ministry she, with other holy
women who were His disciples, had followed His
fortunes, as the twelve apostles did ; and His mother,
together with them, witnessed the continual manifesta-
tion of His power and wisdom ; and she was brought,
like the rest, to recognise the truth, to which Peter
gave utterance in the name of all, " Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God." But if this was
a stupendous truth to the others, what was it to her,
who was His mother .''

Simeon's prophecy had come to pass : "A sword
shall pierce through thine own soul also." She has
the courage and self-control to stand by the cross,
gazing upon the sufferings she is not allowed to
alleviate. Amazed, perhaps, and perplexed like the
rest ; anguished beyond the rest.

The Lord calmly surveys the scene, and, as His
eye sought out Peter's in the judgment-hall, so now

444 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

He meets the eyes which gaze upon Him with a depth
of awestruck inquiry and mute appeal, " and having
loved his own which were in the world, he loved
them unto the end." He knows what approaches,
the three hours' darkness, the mental conflict, the ex-
piring cry. He would spare His mother the sight ot
His last sufferings ; He would be alone with His task !
alone with God !

So, He takes farewell of His mother; He commits
her to the filial care of the disciple who so often dis-
cribes himself, as the highest honour and dearest
happiness of his life, as " the disciple whom Jesus
loved " ; " Woman, behold thy Son ; Son, behold thy
mother," "And from that hour that disciple took
her to his own home," and was a son to her. She
obeyed His wish, and meekly left Him in His dying
hour ; for she too had learned the lesson, " Not my
will, but thine be done."

The incident recals us to the reflection that our
Lord was human as well as divine. At first, indeed,
we saw Him human, when they crucified Him. But
then He bore Himself so royally, so divinely, on the
cross, that we saw only the Son of God, Intercessor,
Dispenser of Salvation. Now again we are reminded
that He was truly human, had the natural affections
of human kind, acknowledged the claims of natural
duty and personal affection.

We learn that the ties of relationship are sacred,^

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 445

the claims of personal friendship sanctioned and

sanctified. He sanctifies anew the first commandment

of the second Table, " Honour thy father and thy

mother."

T/ic Fourth Word.

Three hours had passed, the sun had shone down
on the spectators, and on the bare bodies of the cruci-
fied ; and the shadow of the cross, slowly turning, had
marked the weary hours. Noon had come. He had
not come down from the cross ; and God had not
interfered to save Him. But at noon a portent
happened, a miraculous ^ darkness came over the
scene, which continued for another three long hours.

Like the Egyptian darkness, it must have filled
all with awe. We should suppose that it was accom-
panied by a silence as awful. No man moved from his
place, no man spoke to his fellow, they expected
something to follow ; they listened intently, and
heard nothing but the slight rustle of involuntary
movement in the crowd, or the sigh of pain or exhaus-
tion from the cross.

The meaning of the portent, like most of God's
language, is manifold. They had asked more than
once in past times for a sign from heaven ; they
had now challenged God's interposition ; and this

* Since it was Passover time the moon was near the full, it
could not therefore have been an eclipse.

446 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

supernatural darkness was a sign to them from heaven
by which God signified His displeasure at their deed.
It had another meaning also, the sun's darkness was
symbolical of the darkness which came over the
soul of the sufferer.

As at Gethsemane, so now again, some darkness of
spiritual horror, necessary to the complete endurance
of the burden of sin and its atonement, came over
His soul. We gather its nature from His subsequent
Word ; it seems to have consisted in a sense of aban-
donment by God.

Rejected by the people, betrayed by one of His
chosen twelve, abandoned by the rest ; mocked,
tortured, dying ; He deprives Himself of the sym-
pathy of His mother and His friend, He is alone with
God ; and now God hides Himself; and the Son of
man endures the blank awful desolation of the soul
which is cast off by God.

He, the sinless one, had lived in the light of God's
countenance as none other did ; He feels its privation
as none other could. It is the last dread penalty of
sin to be separated from God, to be abandoned by
Grace, to be left in the utter darkness of despair.
" God made as though he heard him not " so He " be-
came like them that go down into the pit " (Psalm
xxviii. i).

It would seem to have been at the end of the three
hours of darkness, corresponding with the three hours

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 447

of this last spiritual agony, that at length, as in
amazement and horror and unendurable anguish. He
cries out " My God ! My God ! why hast thou for-
saken me ?"

" My Godl'' He no longer says with confidence
" Father," but " God." Always He spoke of Him, ad-
dressed him, as " Father" ;* even in the agony of
GethsemaneHesaid, "Oh, myFather." Nowthe sense
of filial confidence has fled, and He can only address
him as " God." Yet still it is " my God " ; still, on
the verge of despair, he holds fast to God ; he calls
upon God. In Gethsemane he reached the bounds of
obedience; His human will, shrinking with dread,
yet adopted the divine will as its own. Here He
reaches the bounds of faith. God seems to have for-
saken Him, but still He holds fast to God, as Israel
held fast the Angel ; still he calls upon God, like him
\vho said " though thou slay me yet will I trust thee."
" My God ! My God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? "
" Why hast thou forsaken mc .'" He pleads with God ;
what have I done that thou shouldst forsake me .? He
is the only one of all the Sons of men who could
thus justly " maintain his own cause." It is only in
Him that we can say " Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect " (Romans viii. '^2))-

And with the prayer the crisis passes away.
Despair, which at length finds utterance in a cry to

' Jshn XX. 17 is the only, apparent, exception.

448 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF 6UR LORD.

God for help, is no longer despair ; the darkness of
the soul is rent asunder by the cry to God, and God
dawns upon it.

So, it seems most probable, the symbolical material
darkness also at the same time passed away ; and the
light of day relieved from their terror the awed spec-
tators of the scene.

Our consideration of the subject is by no means
<:oncluded till we have observed that these words are
identical with those of the beginning of the twenty-
second Psalm, that wonderful Psalm which reads like
a narrative, rather than a prophecy, of the Passion : —

" They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my
bones : they stand staring and looking upon me (v. 17).

" They part my gannents among them, and cast lots upon
my vesture (v. 18).

'' All they that see me laugh me to scorn : they shoot out
the lip and shake their heads, saying,

" He trusted in God that he would deliver him : let him
deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him (vv. 7, 8).

" But be not thou far from me, O Lord ; O my strength
haste thee to help me" (v. 19).

The strain of anguish and of prayer ending in the
voice of praise and thanksgiving : —

" Ye that fear the Lord praise him ; all ye, the seed of Jacob,
glorify him ; and fear him all ye seed of Israel (v. 23).

" For he hath not despised nor abhorred ihe affliction of the
afflicted ; neither hath he hid his face from him ; but when he
cried unto him he heard (v. 24).

My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation " (v. 25).

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 449

It is remarkable how often, in reading the bio-
graphics of great saints, we find that they were sub-
ject to seasons of spiritual darkness and distress.
We, too, may have experience of seasons when the
heavens seem brass, and the earth iron, and God
seems to have forgotten us, and our religion seems
a vain imagination. Let us take courage ; God has
not really forsaken us ; He only tries us ; He seeks
to make us cling closer to Him, by letting us feel
something of what it would be to be separated from
Him for ever.

T/ic Fifth Word.
St. John says (xix. 28, 29) : —

" After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accom-
plished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a
sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his
rnouth."

Again the true humanity of our blessed Lord is
brought vividly to our minds. We know, — happily
only by hearsay, — the horrible thirst produced by
long torture and wounds. We may conjecture that
the tension of spirit had hitherto made our Lord
insensible to all mere bodily pain. Now, the tension
past. He becomes conscious of the physical suffering
and exhaustion, and He does not disdain to sf.\-
" I thirst," and to accept the draught which one of
the soldiers gives Him.

2 G

450 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

This is the obvious natural explanation, and the
true one, as far as it goes ; and it is full of con-
solation. We see how truly " He took our infirmities
and bare our sicknesses." He truly suffered, and we
can feel assured of His true sympathy with those who
suffer. How many in pain and sickness, on fever
bed and battle-field, amidst the tortures of martyr-
dom, have been sustained, have realised that their
suffering was sanctified, by the recollection of His
sufferings on the Cross.

But the Evangelist shows that this does not
exhaust the explanation of the words when he says,
" Jesus knowing that all things were now accom-
plished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith,
I thirst."

" All things were now accomplished." He sur-
veyed the work of atonement and saw that it was
accomplished ; He looked through the series of pro-
phecy " beginning at Moses and all the prophets,"
and surveyed " the things concerning Himself"
When we hear Him in the preceding Word quote
the first verse of the twenty-second psalm, and when
we read the remainder of the psalm, we feel per-
suaded that the whole of it was in His mind. And
now we find the Scripture which was to be fulfilled
by His " I thirst" in the 69th Psalm, v. 21, —

" They gave me gall to eat ; and when I was thirsty, they
gave me vinegar to drink."

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 451

And in this same Psalm we find other prophecies of
the Passion : —

" Take me out of the mire that I sink not. O let me be
delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters
(v. 14).

" Let not the water-llood drown me ; neither let the deep
swallow me up ; and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me
(V. 15).

" Hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble ;
hear me speedily (v. 17).

" Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it ; deliver me because
of mine enemies (v. 18).

Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my
dishonour. My adversaries are all before thee (v. 19).

" Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness ;
and I looked for some to have pity on me, but there was none ;
and for comforters, but I found none " (v. io).

Thus calmly He surveys the prophetic antici-
pation of His sufferings. It is not in unrestrained
yielding to the physical craving that He says " I
thirst," but only after recognising that it is the will
of God, does He seek its alleviation. Otherwise, as
in His hunger and thirst in the wilderness, so now,
in His death thirst on the cross, He was ready to
leave Himself without a word in the hands of God.

Some of the great commentators give a further
mystical interpretation to the Saviour's thirst upon
the cross, and see in it a symbolical expression of
the intense desire for the salvation of mankind which
led him to take the form of a servant, and humble
Himself to the death of the cross.
2 G 2

453 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

At least we may learn one other lesson. Not to
be impatient under our sufferings ; they, too, have
been foreseen, and are according to the will of God.
They are to help us to work out our sanctification.
Let us not be in haste to escape from them anyhow
but only when they have wrought God's will in us ;
only when we have calmly examined and ascertained
that we may seek alleviation without going against
the will and counsel of God for us. We may sanctify
our sufferings by joining them with those of Christ,
and rejoice in them with St. Paul, as " filling up that
which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in our
flesh " (Col. i. 24).

The Sixth Word.

When Jesus had received the vinegar He said,
" It is finished " (John xix. 30).

Jesus had considered and recognised that all things
were now accomplished ; and He pronounces His
work finished.

The Passion ; the work of Atonement ; the won-
derful design of the blessed Trinity.

Begun in the humiliation of the Incarnation; carried
on in the patient waiting of the thirty years' obscurity;
in His manifestation as God by works of power and
words of wisdom ; the cup of shame and suffering
drained to the dregs ; the full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for all the sins of
all mankind made ; the Father's will done; the Divine

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 453

Justice vindicated ; the Divine love illustrated. All
was accomplished — fully, perfectly; and He who
knows, pronounced, "// is finished!'

Oh! the satisfaction, the joy, the triumph of the
retrospect of that great work thus gloriously con-
cluded. Think not only of the Divine nature of the
Lord, but of His human nature too, not insensible to
the peace which should succeed the storm and strain
of the Passion ; not insensible to the grandeur of the
achievement, — the redemption of the world ; not in-
sensible to the dominion and the glory which the
Divine man had won, and which made Him the
Saviour and Benefactor of the myriads of saved
mankind for all eternity. Praised and blessed be
His holy name !

He had already, by anticipation, sung His hymn
of triumph and thanksgiving (John xvii.) : —

" I have glorified thee on the earth ; I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was (v. 4).

" And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to thee (v. 11).

" And now I come to thee ; and these things I speak in the
world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves
(v. 13).

" Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be
with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory which
thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst me before the foundation
of the world (v. 24).

" And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them " (v. 26).

454 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

Our life and our work are also planned out in the
counsels of God ; He hath " prepared good works for
us to walk in." Let us seek to know His will, and
to fulfil His will, so that, when we come to the end
of life, and make a calm retrospect, we may be able
humbly to submit our work to our Father, praying-
His merciful consideration for faults and short-
comings, but feeling that we have not altogether
failed in the work which He gave us to do.

The Seventh Word.

We have to go back to St. Luke (xxiii. 46) for the

last word : —

"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said,
Father, into thy hatids I commend my spirits and having said
this he gave up the ghost."

Again we find, in this supreme word, our Lord is
using the words in which the Psalmist had prophesied
of Him (Ps. xxxi) : —

" In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust . . maice haste to de-
liver me. . . . Into thy hands I commend my spirit, for thou hast
redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. . . O love the Lord
all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth them that are faithful.
... Be sti'ong, and he shall establish your heart, all ye that
put your trust in the Lord."

" Father." His human soul has emerged from the
darkness into the clear consciousness of God's ap-
proval of His finished work, of His loving favour.
We almost expect to hear once more a voice from

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 455

Heaven : " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased."

"Into Thy hands I commend [yield up] my
spirit." The words mark the voluntariness of His
death. He had said, " No man taketh my life from
me ; I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again."

Death by crucifixion did not usually take place
so soon. The two others who were crucified with
Him lived on. But Jesus is now going to exer-
cise His power to lay down His life. Not to escape
pain. Not till all His work is finished. But now
that it is finished, and no more remains to be done
or endured for mankind, He exercises His power to
surrender His soul into the hands of God.

"He bowed His head and gave up the ghost."
He was truly human, with a human spirit as well as
body. No mere phantom feigning the actions of
human life. He lived as man lives ; He dies as man
dies, by separation of the soul from the body.

What a death ! We hope to die with dying head
supported on soft pillows, soothed by affectionate
attentions, and words of prayer. His thorn-crowned
head fell forward — ah ! it fell upon the bosom of
the Father ; and His spirit, released from suffering,
went forth in peace and triumph into the hands of
God. " Into thy hands," said Christ :— " The souls
of the righteous are in the hands of God, and there

456 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the
unwise they seemed to die, and their departure is
taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter
destruction, but they are in peace" (Wisd. iii. 1-3).

Again Nature showed her sympathy with the great
event ; or, to speak more correctly, God showed signs
in heaven and earth symbolical of the event : — " The
earth did quake, and the rocks rent."

The three last Words, we suppose, followed rapidly
one upon another. The people had hardly breathed
from the tension of the supernatural darkness, when
they were startled by the earthquake : — Signs in
heaven above and in the earth beneath, such as the
Jews had asked of Jesus. And their continued im-
penitence proved how useless such signs would have
been, had Jesus vouchsafed them at their asking.

But there were other significant signs : " The veil
of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom." St. Paul seems to say (Heb. x. 20) that it
was the second veil, which hung before the entrance
to the Most Holy Place, symbolising " the great pall
of death and the power of death, through sin sepa-
rating from God, that is, the Jlesh of sin and death
which the Saviour received from us, in order that
dying He might rend the veil first in His own flesh,
and the Spirit and life of God might burst through
upon man in a stream never more to be restrained." '
' Stier, " Words of the Lord Jesus." Sub. voc.

THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 457

Another sign of similar significance : " The graves
WCTC opened, and after His resurrection many bodies
of the saints which slept arose and came out of the
graves, and went into the holy city and appeared to
many" (Matt, xxvii. 51-54); signifying that His
death had destroyed the power of death, and that
through His resurrection all should rise again. " O
grave, where is thy victory ! O death, where is thy
sting ! "

We are told the effect of these latter wonders upon
the minds of the spectators — the three hours' dark-
ness, and the unusual death, and the earthquake ; —
" When the centurion, and the}' that were with him
[i.e. the soldiers], watching Jesus, saw the earthquake
and those things that were done, they feared greatly,"
and "the centurion glorified God, saying. Certainly
this was a righteous man." " Truly this was the Son
of God." " And all the people that had come to-
gether to that sight, beholding the things which were
done, smote their breasts and returned."

Jesus, the great example, teaches us how to die,
humbly commending our souls into the hands of
God as to a faithful Creator and most merciful
Saviour. Our trembling, shrinking souls, when we
give up the ghost, do not pass out into the dark, but
into the warm, gentle, loving hands of the Father
who made us, and who loves us in Christ Jesus.
" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my

458 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

last end be like His ! " Yes, but that it may be so,
we must live the life of the righteous, the faithful,
pure, obedient, loving, self-sacrificing life of Christ.

Let us take up our cross and follow Him. Let us
crucify the natural man with the affections and lusts.

" Every man," says an old writer, " has a cross
outside his Jerusalem, — the city of his soul, — on which
he crucifies either himself or Christ." With us which
is it ?

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 459

CHAPTER XL.

THE CRUCIFIED.

^

ALVARY, the Cross rising out of it, the dead
Christ upon the Cross. It had all come
about in the natural course of human motive
and action. The unscrupulous policy of the High
Priest and Sanhedrim, the contemptuous indifference
of Herod, the selfish cowardice of Pilate, wrought what-
ever they would, but it was what "God's hand and
God's counsel had determined before to be done"
(Acts iv. 28 ; iii. 18). It is not merely the undeserved
sufferings of an innocent man which we have followed
with pained interest ; the sight before us is not merely
a dead man. We have been witnessing the final
and decisive combat of the Divine man against the
powers of evil. Those sufferings were the Cham-
pion's great blows against sin and Satan,and His death
was the final stroke of victory ; for He fought by
patient endurance and conquered by dying. And
the dead Christ upon the Cross is the trophy of the
victory which was the world's redemption.

Christ's death was the great Sacrifice for sin. The
rude vulgar cross becomes dignified into an altar ; the

46o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

poor, bleeding man upon it is " the Lamb of God,"
the Divine Victim ; the judicial murderers were the
assistants who prepared and bound and slew the
sacrifice ; when He ascended to heaven He, as High
Priest, carried His own blood into the Most Holy-
Place, and made atonement before God for us.

Christ upon the cross is the centre of religion.
This is the Seed of the Woman promised after the
Fall, whose heel indeed Satan bruised in His passion
and death, but who bruised Satan's head with the
same passion and death, and "destroyed the works
of the Devil." The long line of ancient sacrifices of
slain beasts, from the two lambs which God taught
Adam and Eve to offer before they were expelled
from Paradise,^ down to the last victim which was
■offered on the great altar of the Temple in Jerusalem,
pointed to this, and were fulfilled in it. On the very
eve of its offering the Lord had ordained a new memo-
rial of it, and the long line of eucharists of the church
of Christ spring out of it, and commemorate it to the
end of time. And when time shall be no more, we
read, in the description of the heavenly worship, that
there is " a Lamb as it were slain in the midst of the
throne " of heaven, and " the four-and-twenty elders
fall down before the Lamb, saying. Thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." And

' See p. 384.

THE CRUCIFIED 461

the angels say, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and blessing." "And every
creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and
in the sea," says, " Blessing and honour and glory and
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.^ "

Christ was the great Sacrifice to which all others
point, but what is the meaning of sacrifice ? The
man who stood before an altar offering a sacrifice
admitted — (i) that the wages of sin is death, (2) that
he himself was a sinner, (3) that God had consented
to accept some other in his place, (4) that his victim
represented this other, and (5) that the blood of the
victim made satisfaction for his sins. That other was
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. Nothing,
perhaps, can be more clear and definite than the
words which the Spirit put into the mouth of Isaiah
long before, —

" Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. . . .
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him :
and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way, and the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . . He was cut
off out of the land of the living : for the transgression of my
people was he stricken." -

' Rev. V. 6-14. - Isaiah liii. 3-10.

462 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD

And this inspired explanation shows us that not
only the death, but the previous sufferings, of our
Blessed Lord, were part of the Sacrifice.

It is conceivable that the Son of God might have
become man, in order to enter into intimate relations
with our human race ; He might have taught His
doctrines and wrought His miracles ; He might have
lived His life as a pattern of the way in which men
ought to live, and have manifested His character as
an illustration of perfect humanity, and might all the
while have lived the life of serene happiness which
became — as it seems to us — alike His divine person-
ality and His human sinlessness. Nay, if it was
necessary that He should lay down His life as a sub-
lime sacrifice for the sins of the race, it is conceiv-
able that He might have permitted Himself, amidst
the mingled tears and praises and thanksgivings of
mankind, to be laid upon the great brazen altar of
burnt-offering in the midst of the magnificent court
of the Temple, — as Isaac His prototype was laid on
the altar on the wood, — and so, by a comparatively
painless death, or even by a painless euthanasia, have
ascended, like Elijah, in a chariot of fire. But we
gather that the indignities and tortures of the passion
the agony of Gethsemane, the abandonment of the
three hours' darkness, the horrible and ignominious
death of the cross, were necessary parts of the penalty
which He bore for us. All this it cost to redeem us.

THE CRUCIFIED. 463

The question still remains, and is sure to be asked by
a thoughtful mind, how could the death of one
innocent person, whoever he might be, be accepted
by Eternal Justice, as a substitute for the real guilty
one?

It is according to the method of God's Revelation
to tell us the facts which it is necessary for our
salvation to know, to tell us what we are to do in
order to co-operate with what God has done and is
doing for our salvation, and not to explain to us why
God did this, or why we are bidden to do the other.
It is better to admit at once that in this matter God
has not seen fit to reveal, and that, therefore, we
cannot know, all the meaning of this great mystery
of redemption, which the " angels desire to look into."

But something may be said which may perhaps
help us in part to realise its meaning. We must
clearly understand, to begin with, that the nature of
this transaction is not, as some imagine, that the
compassionate Saviour threw Himself between a con
demned race and the wrath of an angry God, and
wrung from Him, by His humiliation and sufferings
and death, the pardon which He was unwilling to give.
The Father concurred with the Son in this great act
of love and self-sacrifice ; " God so loved the world
that He gave His only-begotten Son" to die for it.

The ancient series of typical sacrifices reached its
highest point of typical significance in the sacrifice

464 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of Isaac, which took place, be it remembered, on this»
very mountain ; and in this transaction it is not only
the meek resignation of the son which is brought
before us, but also, with a wonderful pathos, the
anguish of the father, who devotes "his son, his only
son, whom he loves," at the claim of a great religious
necessity. Herein God the Father, in His conde-
scension, represents His co-operation in the death
and passion of the Son.

The problem to be solved, so to speak, was this,
God must, by the necessity of His divine nature, be
perfectly, infinitely just. But the just judge can no
more let the guilty escape than he can let the inno-
cent suffer. One is as contrary to justice as the
other. Considerations of mercy may come in after-
wards. But even in our imperfect social condition, if
a judge should let a criminal escape, out of mere pity,
we should feel that every vice had received encourage-
ment, and every virtue had been discountenanced by
the unrighteous decision, and that a blow had been
struck at the very basis of society. So if God, the
King and Judge of angels and men, could cease to
be perfectly, infinitely just, the corner-stone of the
universe would be shattered ; the bond which holds
together all reasonable beings who people all the
worlds would be snapped asunder, and men and
angels let loose to sin without restraint. For God
must be consistent ; if He overlook one breach of His

THE CRUCIFIED. 465

law He must overlook all. If God be inconsistent
the moral universe has nothing firm to stand on, and
must fall into ruin.

The problem, then, was this, how could God be just,
and yet the justifier of the sinner.'' This was what
the Incarnation and Sacrifice of the Son of God
effected. He became man, yet without inheriting the
fall ; He rendered a perfect obedience to the law of
God ; and then He offered Himself a voluntary sacri-
fice for sin. The infinite dignity of Him who thus
obeyed and died made His obedience a full satisfac-
tion to the Eternal Justice for the sins of the whole
world.

Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in his " Great Exemplar,"
gives an illustration which may help us to understand
the nature of this "satisfaction." Zeleucus, kinsf of
the Locrians, finding that lust was undermining the
virtue of the State, published a law that any one of his
subjects found guilty of adultery should be punished
by the loss of his eyes. His own son was the first
convicted under the law. What was to be done .-* If
the king let his son go free he could not justly punish
any other, and the law must be a dead letter, and lust
be allowed to run riot. To inflict the penalty would
disqualify the prince from reigning, lead to a disputed
succession, and bring another set of evils upon the
State. The king solved the problem by sharing the
penalty with his son. Each was deprived of an eye.
2 II

466 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The law was vindicated, and the prince was spared.
So God gave His only-begotten Son, and the Son
gave Himself an innocent victim, for the race with
which He united Himself; and so mercy and truth
met together, righteousness and peace kissed each
other (Ps. Ixxxv. lo). God was able to be "just, and
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom.
iii. 26).

The cross of Christ is the measure of the sinfulness
of sin. Sin is so horrible a thing, so huge a difficulty
in the universe, that it needed the Incarnation and
death of the Son of God to rescue the race which had
become infected with it.

The cross of Christ is the measure of the love
of God. From the height of heaven to the depth
of earth, from the bliss and glory which the Be-
loved Son had with the Father before the world
was, to the torture and ignominy of the cross, this
is the measure of the love of God for sinful man.
The cross is St. Paul's measure of " the length and
breadth and depth and height " of " the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge" (Eph. iii. 18, 19).

The dead Christ on the cross ! What countless re-
presentations of it have men made to themselves, from
the rude scratches on the wall of the hermit's cell to
the ivory and jewelled masterpiece of art on the altar
of a cathedral ; what countless better representations
of it has faith presented before the eyes of the penitent

THE CRUCIFIED. 467

sinner closed in prayer, and the eyes of the dying
saint closing upon this world. It is the symbol
which sums up Christianity. God Incarnate dying
for men. Sin atoned ; death conquered ; heaven
won !

46i! A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE BURIAL.

jT seemed, doubtless, to the Jewish authorities
that the death of Jesus had put an end to
the pretensions of this latest claimant of the
Messiahship. Yet we see already indications of His
approaching triumph. The penitent thief believed
on Him as He hung dying on the cross ; the cen-
turion who superintended the execution, as soon as
He was dead, said, " Truly, this was the Son of
God " ; the people, who had at first mocked Him,
at last smote their breasts in compunction, as they
returned to the city. Joseph of Arimathea, who
is described as rich and honourable, a good and
just man, a member of the Sanhedrim, who was " a
disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews,"
who had not consented to their " counsel and deed "
against Jesus, now threw aside his reserve, went in
boldly to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, in
order to give it burial. Nicodemus, too, another
member of the Sanhedrim, who at first came to
Jesus by night, and who had once cautiously inter-
posed a word on His behalf in the Council, now

THE BURIAL, 469

broke through his caution, and joined Joseph in his
pious task.

" Pilate marvelled if He were already dead " ; but
when he had summoned the centurion who superin-
tended the execution and received his report, which
left no doubt that the sentence had been fully carried
out, he directed the body to be given to Joseph. And
he bought a winding-sheet of fine linen and took Him
down from the cross, and wrapped Him in the linen.
And, since that day was the Preparation {i.e. the
Friday), and the Sabbath was rapidly approaching,
they took the body to an adjoining garden which
belonged to Joseph, in which was a tomb hewn out
of the rock, in which no one had yet been laid. And
they took the body of Jesus, and wound it in the
linen with the spices, and laid it in the tomb, and
rolled a great stone, probably the unfinished door of
the tomb, so as to block temporarily the entrance
into the sepulchre, and departed.

"And the women, also, which came with Him from
Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and
how His body was laid. And they returned and pre-
pared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath-
day, according to the commandment."

" Now the next day the Chief Priests and Pharisees
came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember
that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After
three days I will rise again : " — they had come at last

470 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to understand the meaning of the signs which Jesus
had thrice given them, — " Command, therefore, that
the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest
His disciples come by night and steal Him away,
and say unto the people He is risen from the dead ;
so the last error shall be worse than the first." But
Pilate was angry with them and with himself, and
not disposed to make any concession to them. He
had refused to alter the title on the cross at their
request ; he had given up the body of Jesus to His
friends ; and now he repulses them : " Ye have a
watch [perhaps a guard of Roman soldiers put at
their disposal during the feast] ; go your way, make
it as sure as ye can. So they went and made
the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a
watch " (Matt, xxvii. 62-66).

After the turbulent and tragical scenes of the
Passion, after the intense spiritual interest of the
Words on the Cross, after the deposition of the body
in the new tomb in the garden, after all is over, a
reaction seems to come over our minds, and a calm
seems to spread itself over the history. " They rested
the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment ": —
the early Church gave it the name of the Great
Sabbath.

But the pause in the action of the history is only
apparent. While the Sacred Body is being taken

THE BURIAL. 471

down from the cross, and is resting in the tomb, it
is our business to take up the history again at the
moment when the Lord cried with a loud voice and
yielded up the ghost.

When He "gave up the ghost," what was it which
took place ? It was the separation of the immaterial
part of human nature from the material frame-work ;
in popular language, the separation of the soul from
the body, which takes place at the death of every
man.

The body remained upon the cross till the pious
care of Joseph and Nicodemus gave it sepulture.

What became of the human soul ?

If angels waited about dying Lazarus to bear his
soul to Abraham's bosom, may we not be sure that
they awaited His death upon whom they were
attending throughout His earthly career, and that
His soul "was carried by the angels to Abraham's
bosom," — went to the place of departed spirits ; in
the language of the Creed, "descended into hell ?"

But the Divine Nature ? Is indissolubly united
with the human nature, and went forth with it into
Hades ^ among the blessed dead, and there the Christ
preached to them the glad tidings of the Incarnation

* The opinion of the ancient theologians was, that since the
body is a part of the human nature, the Divine nature remained
also with the Sacred Body.

472 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

of the Son of God, and His victory over sin and
death, and His accomplishment of the work of Re-
demption.i

1 The third of the Thirty-nine Articles had originally another
clause in these words : " For the Body lay in the Sepulchre
until the Resurrection, but His Ghost departing from Him was
with the ghosts that were in prison, or in hell, and did preach
to the same, as the place of St. Peter doth testify."

PART V-THE RISEN LIFE.

CHAPTER XLII.

THE RESURRECTION.

»*iia'N the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn
a 1^1 towards the first day of the week ....
' " Behold there was a great earthquake : for
the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and
came and rolled back the stone from the door of the
sepulchre, and sat upon it. His countenance was
like lightning, and his raiment white as snow : and
for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as
dead men." Such is St. Matthew's magnificent de-
scription of the outward terrors which accompanied
our Lord's resurrection. He does not say that the
stone was thus rolled awaj^ in order to make a way
for the Lord to come forth. He who in His risen
body could appear in the Upper Room, when " the
doors were shut for fear of the Jews," could come
forth from the sepulchre still closed and sealed.
And it is the opinion of many of the great ancient

474 ^ DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

writers that our Lord had already risen, and gone
forth ; and that the appearances of the angels, who
had, doubtless, been attendant upon the Resurrection,
one opening the tomb and others sitting within it,
was for the sake of the women, — as the angel and
the attendant choir at the Nativity for the sake of the
shepherds, and the two angels at the Ascension for
the sake of the apostles, and all these things
ultimately for the sake of the whole church.

We have not sufficient data for arranging all the
events of this day with any certainty in the order of
time in which they occurred, but the following sketch
will help the reader to the probable arrangement,
which has a large consensus of commentators in its
favour.

It will be remembered that Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus, no doubt with the assistance of their
servants, had placed the body of our Lord in the
tomb, on Friday evening, " and rolled a great stone
to the door of the sepulchre and departed," just in
time to avoid a breach of the Sabbath.

But "when the Sabbath was past" (Mark), "very
early in the morning " (Luke), " when it was yet
dark" (John)," as it began to dawn " (Matthew), the
holy women set out to the sepulchre, bearing the
spices which they had prepared, in order to proceed
with the intended embalming. It is possible that the
women came in two parties, one spoken of by

THE RESURRECTION. 475

Matthew and Mark, the other by Luke and John, who
visited the sepulchre at different times; and they
^' came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun "
(Mark). And when they had entered into the
garden and came within sight of the grotto, they
saw that the stone was rolled away, and the entrance
to the tomb stood open. And Mary Magdalene, we
conjecture, at once ran back to tell Peter and John
of this, which, as it had certainly not been done by
His disciples, must, she thought, have been done by
others, in order to remove the body.

" She runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other
disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have
taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not
where they have laid him " (John xx. 2).

The rest of the women entered into the sepulchre,
probably into the outer chamber, and saw an angel
in the appearance of " a young man clothed in a long
white garment," sitting on the right side, and they were
afraid. " And he said. Be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of
Nazareth which wascrucified: he is risen; he is not here;
behold the place where they laid Him," inviting them
apparently to enter, or a^ least to advance and look
into, the inner chamber, in the wall of which was the
lociihis in which the sacred body had been laid. Then
he resumes, " But go your way, tell his disciples, and
Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall
ye see him, as he said unto you'' (Markxvi.). "And

476 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. ^

they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear
and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples
word " (Matthew xxviii. 8).

But Peter and John had previously received
the message of Mary Magdalene, and ran to
the sepulchre, and John " did outrun Peter and
came first to the sepulchre. And he, stooping
down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying ;
yet," with the retiring modesty characteristic of the
youngest of the apostles, " went he not in. Then
Cometh Simon Peter following him," and, with his
characteristic impetuosity, at once " went into the
sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the
napkin that was about his head not lying with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by
itself Then went in also that other disciple, which
came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and be-
lieved/' Believed what .■' Apparently the news which
Mary had brought of the body having been removed,
which was what they came to ascertain for them-
selves. " For as yet they knew not the Scriptures,
that he must rise again from the dead. Then
the disciples went away again to their own
home."

THE RESURRECTION. 477

TJie First Appearance.

Mary, we suppose, returned to the sepulchre,
arriving there after the two apostles had already
departed, and she stood without, weeping for what
she supposed to be the desecrated tomb and the
stolen body. After a while, " as she wept, she stooped
down ^ and looked into the sepulchre and seeth two
angels in white sitting, the one at the head the other
at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain."
Stier (" Words of the Lord Jesus '') gives us a
beautiful thought here : — So we stand without by
the graves of our dead weeping : if wc would look
within, in faith, we should see a vision of angels and
hear a message of comfort.

" They say unto her, Woman, wh)' wcepest thou ".?
Her eyes are dimmed with tears, and her heart dulled

' Peter also " stooped down " to look into the sepulchre. It is
very common in the East to make doorways very low ; the door-
way into Jerome's monastery at Bethlehem was low ; the door-
way into Kochane's church is 3 feet high, partly to prevent
animals from entering, partly to make them more easily de-
fensible against men. Vineyards outside Tabreez have low
doorways closed by massive stone doors, turning on stone pins,
worked out of the stone itself. In such cases it would be
necessary for a man to stoop in order to look into the chamber
to which the door gave access. — " Christians under the
Crescent," pp. 214, 302.

478 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

with grief, and the sight of the " two men in shining
garments " did not make her afraid, as it had the
other women. She repHed simply out of the fulness
of her heart, " They have taken away my Lord and I
know not where they have laid him." " They have
taken away the Lord," she had said to Peter and
John ; there is an exquisite touch of nature and of
pathos in her saying to these strangers, " They have
taken away my Lord."

" And when she had said this she turned herself
back," — perhaps some look or gesture of the angels
at the sudden appearance of the Lord made her turn,
— " and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was
Jesus." Whether it was that her tear-dimmed eyes
and grief-dulled heart prevented her from looking
at Him observantly ; or whether, as in the subsequent
appearance to the two disciples going to Emmaus,
so in this, " her eyes werehclden," or he " appeared in
anotherform." Forwhen Jesus addressed her, "Woman,
why. weepest thou .-* Whom seekest thou .-'" still
she did not recognise Him ; but " supposing him to
be the gardener, she saith unto him. Sir, if thou
have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast
laid him, and I will take him away." The unex-
pected interposition of Nicodemus and Joseph on
Friday evening, the statement that the body was
carried to Joseph of Arimathea's garden and laid in
his unfinished tomb, " because the Jews' prepara-

THE RESURRECTION. 479

tion day for the sepulchre was nJgh at hand," seem
to indicate that the disciples may have regarded
Joseph's tomb as only a temporary resting-place ; and
make Mary's conjecture that the person who had the
control of the garden had removed the body, a not
improbable one.

"Jesus said unto her, Mary !"

The one word, spoken, doubtless, in the tone in
which she had often heard it, full of sympathy, full
of searching power, struck, as mere tones often do,
full on the chord of memory. Who fails to picture
to himself the sudden uplifting of the drooped head,
the wide opening of the eyes, the lighting up of the
whole face, the impulsive movement with which she
starts forward to seize His hand or arm, the joyful
exclamation " Rabboni !" my Master !

But Jesus withdraws a step and says, " Touch me
not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go
to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God."

Our Lord's meaning in this reply is obscure, and
has afforded subject of various interpretations. Why
does He say to the Magdalene " touch me not," since
He allowed the other women a little later to " hold
him by the feet and worship him " without rebuke,
and since the same evening He bade the apostles
"handle me and see" } What is the meanincr of the

4So A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

reason He gives '^ for I am not yet ascended to my
Father " ?

We give briefly the general interpretation of the
best commentators. Mary's attempt to lay her hands
upon our Lord was not in the spirit of the other
women who " held him by the feet " in adoration, or of
the apostles who, at His invitation, touched His body
with reverent awe ; but was an impulsive gesture of
mere human affection, unbefitting the new relations
in which the Risen Lord stood to her, and to all His
disciples, and to all human kind. " For I am not
yet ascended" may mean the old relations of familiar
human intercourse arc ended, the new relations of
spiritual nearness of intercourse not begun till after
the ascension. This seems to be what St. Paul
means when he says (2 Cor. v. 16) " though we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know
we him no more." Perhaps He had indeed appeared
to her first because her grief was greatest, and that
because her love was greatest ; but the great object of
His appearance to her was not to resume old relations,
but to reward her fidelity at the cross and grave by
making her the first human witness of His resurrection,
and by giving to her, and sending by her, the first an-
nouncement of His approaching ascension. " Go to
my brethren," the Risen Lord still graciously calls
His disciples His brethren, " and tell them, I ascend to
my Father and your Father, and to my God and your
God."

THE RESURRECTION. 481

" I ascend." He anticipates it in His human mind
and thought with exultation, it is the ascension to
His Kingdom and glory, the kingdom and power
which will enable Him to work out all His great
designs for the eternal happiness of mankind, the
glory which He values because He will share it with
His redeemed. '

" To my Father and your Father, to my God and
your God," not to our Father and our God, because
the Father is His Father in a different sense from
that in which He is our Father, and His God in a dif-
ferent sense from that in which He is our God.

We record our Lord's appearance to the other
women narrated by St. Matthew, before we make
some general remarks on the particular features of the
two appearances.

TJic Second Appearance.

"And as they" {i.e., probably, the other women) -
" went to tell his disciples " of the vision and message
of the angel, —

"Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held
him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto

' John xvii. 22, 24.

■ Origen, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, and .Augustine, all
place this appearance of our Lord to the women in this place ;
though some suppose it to have taken place towards the close
of the Forty Days.

2 I

482 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

them, Be not afraid ; go tell my brethren that they go into
Galilee, and there shall they see me " (Matt, xxviii. 9, 10).

Possibly the "brethren" He mentioned means not
the apostles only, but the disciples generally.

Possibly here comes the general summary state-
ment of St. Luke (xxiv. 10, 11), " It was Mary Mag-
dalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James
and other women that were with them, which told
these things unto the apostles. And their words
seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them
not."

The appearance of the angels at the sepulchre
causes us no surprise ; it seems natural. We have
gathered from the whole history that they were always
about our Lord, as they are about us, and that they
ministered to Him, as they minister to us who are
heirs of salvation (Heb. i. 14). But what is re-
markable is their variety of appearance ; " the angel
of the Lord," whose " countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow," who rolled back the
stone, and the one " young man clad in a long, white
garment," who " sat at the right side," and the " two
men in shining garments," and the " two angels in
white, sitting one at the head and the other at the
feet." And still more remarkable, that the first was
seen by the soldiers, and the others by the women,
and none of them by the apostles. We gather,
throughout the Scriptures, that angels have the power

THE RESURRECTJOX. 483

to make themselves visible, or to remain invisible to
men ; so at the Nativity, the multitude of the
heavenly host were at first unseen, and afterwards
seen. And we see, in other instances, that they some-
times appear as mere men,i at others, in a glorious or
terrible splendour." We also have indications, that
men may see or not see angels, according to their
own mental or spiritual state ; so Elisha prayed God
to open the eyes of his servant that he also might sec
the horses and chariots of fire which Elisha saw round
about him.

TJic Third Appearance.
An appearance to St. Peter, is mentioned in Luke
_^cxiV;jt4^ithout any note of the circumstances, and
without any note of time, except that it was
between the appearance to Mary Magdalene, which
is specially said to be the first of His appearances,
and that to the assembled apostles the same evening,
when it is told to the two disciples returned from
Emmaus. It is very possible that it occurred in the
morning, after the appearance to the women. It
seems in keeping with the character of St. Peter, that
when the women came relating their wonderful stor}-,
that they had seen the Lord, though all the apostles
were incredulous, that he, in his impulsiveness, should

» Gen. xviii. 2 ; Mark xvi. 5, &c. = Judges xiii. 6, 23 ; Matt.
xxviii. 2, &c.

2 1'*

4S4 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

set out again to the sepulchre by himself; ^ and it may-
have been then that the Lord appeared to him. Why-
did He appear to Peter, who had denied Him, and
not to him and John, " the disciple whom Jesus loved,"
when the two visited the sepulchre together ? Perhaps
because Peter needed the speedy assurance of pardon
and love to save him from despair, or, at least, to
mitigate his bitter regret. As there is, in a sense,
"joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more
than over ninety-and-nine just persons which need
no repentance," so, in a sense, God gives more sensible
comforts and supports to penitent sinners than to
saints, having merciful regard to their needs rather
than to their deserts.

Why did our Lord appear first to the women before
He appeared to any of the apostles } Why do the
women so readily believe in His resurrection, while
the apostles are so slow of belief.' The two facts go
together. The one believe with the slowness of cal-
culating judgment, the other with the quickness of
loving zeal ; men reason, women feel ; and this very
unreasoning affection made the women more bold in
their fidelity, and more constant in their attachment.
They stood by the cross when the apostles stood
aloof in perplexity ; it was not the apostles who
begged the body, and laid it in the tomb, but the

* St. Luke's notice, "Then arose Peter and ran unto the
sepulchre," &c. (xxiv. 12), may relate to this second visit.

THE RESURRECTION. 485

women were there to help ; they were last at the
entombment, and first at the resurrection. The risen
Lord appears first to them, to reward them for their
love and faithfulness. Not only so, but with the
further design, that they should form one of the
links in the preparation of the church to receive the
truth of the resurrection ; so the minds of the women
are prepared by the empty tomb and the vision of
angels, the minds of the apostles b}' the report of
the women, and the minds of the 500 b)'' the message
of appointment, and the mind of Cleopas and his
friend by the opening of the Scriptures, and the mind
of the church b\' the combined word of the witnesses
and the testimon\- of prophecy. Jeremy Taylor has
a thought here, " Tender dispositions and pliant
natures will make up a greater number in heaven
than the severe and wary and inquiring people, who
sometimes love because they believe, and believe
because they can demonstrate, but never believe
because they love. When a great understanding and
a great affection meet together it makes a saint great
like an apostle " (" The Great Exemplar.").

The Fourth Appearance.

Two of the disciples, not of the apostles, one named
Cleopas, the other unnamed, were going the same
day, apparently in the latter half of the day, from
Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, at a dis-
tance of about " threescore furlongs," i.e., about 7^

486 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

miles ;i and as they went " they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And while they
communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself
drew near, and went with them." St. Mark says. He
" appeared in another form unto them " ; St. Luke
says, " their eyes were holden that they should not
know him." The two statements are not contradic-
tory, but complementary. "As His manifestation
generally, so His manifestation in this or that way,
was conditioned by a corresponding influence upon
those who beheld, and accompanied by it " (Stier).
Whatever the cause, the fact is quite clear, that
throughout a long conversation, whose subject-matter
was our Lord Himself, whose argument was the
Scripture indications that Jesus was to suffer and die
and rise again, though their thoughts were turned in
this direction, and His words made their hearts burn
within them, yet they did not recognise Him, they did
not suspect that it was He.

The opening conversation is recorded at length by
St. Luke : " He said unto them. What manner of
communications arc these that ye have one to another,
as ye walk, and arc sad } " He knew, but appearing
to them as a stranger, He conceals His knowledge ;
besides, with true sympathy, He would lead them
first to open their hearts and give expression to their

1 The received reading ; but see Condor's " Tentwork in
Palestine," i. 14.

THE RESURRECTION. 487

trouble and sorrow ; the mere utterance of our anxiety
and grief into a friendly ear, instead of shutting it up
in the heart and brooding over it, affords some relief;
and, moreover, it opens the heart to consolation.
' Cleopas answered, Art thou only a stranger in Jeru-
salem, and hast not known the things that are come
to pass there in these days ?" He does not say
whether He knows, or does not know, to what they
allude ; but in pursuance of His own intention, draws
them on to speak at length of that of which their
hearts are full, by the further question, "What
things?" Whereupon they tell Him, first one speaking
and then the other taking up the history, which
St. Luke summarises in the words, " Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in
deed and word before God and all the people," — that
they still hold to, however disappointed in Him in
other respects ; — " And how the chief priests and our
rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and
have crucified him." These were the things which
had come to pass in Jerusalem, and which had caused
so much excitement that they supposed it impossible
for any one, out of the many strangers who filled
Jerusalem at the Feast, to be ignorant of the facts.
But they go on to speak of their own relation to the
history in a way which seems to indicate that this
stranger, by that gift of sympathy which some possess,
had already won their confidence.

488 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

"But we trusted that it had been he which should have
redeemed Israel.' And beside all this, to-day is the third day
since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of
our company made us astonished, which were early at the
sepulchre ; and they found not his body, but said that they
had seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
And certain of them which were with us [viz. Peter and John,
and perhaps others not mentioned], went to the sepulchre, and
found it even so as the women had said. But him they saw
not " (Luke xxiv. 21 -24).

All this gives us a very interesting view of the
great transactions we have been studying, as they
presented themselves to the eyes of ordinary disciples.
We note the lasting impression produced by our
Blessed Lord on the minds and hearts of those who
had known Him ; they still regard Him with respect
and affection, though their hopes in Him have been
so rudely dispelled. That He was a prophet mighty
in word and deed, before God as well as the people,
they still maintain, in spite of His apparent failure,
utter and ignominious. We note, too, in them, as in
the apostles, that failure to realise the meaning of the
forewarnings of His fate which He had given them,
which seems so strange to us, to whom the warning
has always been presented side by side with the
fulfilment.

Having thus drawn them on to speak all that was
in their hearts, then the Lord took up the discourse :
" O fools, and slow of heart to believe, notwithstanding
all that the prophets have spoken." He at once goes

THE RESURRECTIOX. 4S9

to the heart of the matter, rebukes their faint hopes
and ready disappointment, and demands bcHcf in
Jesus. Then He puts full before their minds the
doctrine of a suffering Messiah, " Ought not Christ to
liavc suffered these things, and to enter into his
glory? " He puts the two ideas before their minds, —
Suffering and QAoxy, — and the one the condition of the
other." And beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning himself."

He does not at once reveal Himself to them in His
Person, but through His Word.

The Evangelist docs not give us even the briefest
summary of this great exposition of " Christ in the
Scriptures." He expounded unto them in all the
Scriptures the tilings, — not merely the direct verbal
prophecies, — concerning Himself. Not only the Seed
of the woman, and the Promises to Abraham, Isaac.
Jacob, Judah, Moses, David. The "things" con-
cerning Himself in the Scriptures would include the
Exposition of the Law, which condemns sin; and the
Sacrifice, which figuratively predicts the atonement ;
the typical nature of the whole history of God's
people from the Creation to the Resurrection ; the
way in which the whole histor)' of mankind had
pointed and pressed forward to a Deliverer, not of
Israel only, but of mankind. The " things " in Isaiah,
— a Deliverer, not without conflict, glorified through

490 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

suffering, glorified above all the glory of the universe
at the right hand of God, through humiliation and
anguish, in which were gathered together shame and
suffering and agony inexpressible.

The Evangelist does not attempt to give even
the briefest summary, but that divine exposition,
developed by the Holy Spirit, is the basis of the
teaching of the Church of Christ. We have the sub-
stance of this great discourse, not only when Matthew
says, " This was done that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled," or when Paul interprets what " the Holy
Ghost signified " by the ordinances of the old law, or
when John reveals how the Paradise was a type of
the New Jerusalem ; but what lay hidden in all the
Old Testament Scriptures of the suffering and the
glory of the Christ is expounded in all the Scriptures
of the New Testament ; and what they both tell us
of Christ's suffering and glory will, perhaps, be more
fully revealed to us hereafter.

"And as theydrew nigh unto the village whither they
went. He made as though He would have gone further,"
Thus Christ makes as though He would withdraw
Himself in order to incite us to more earnest desire
for His presence. " But they constrained him, and
said, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the
day is far spent." And He responded to their wishes,
and " went in to tarry with them." And their evening
meal was prepared and set before them. " And it
came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took

THE RESURRECTION. 491

bread and blessed it, and brake and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and
he vanished out of their sight." In relating what
took place to the apostles, the same evening, they
said, " He was known of them in breaking of bread."
It is abundantly clear that their recognition of Him is
in some way connected with this significant breaking
of the bread, and that there is a Eucharistic allusion
of some sort. It was not a reminiscence of the insti-
tution of the Last Supper which caused them to
recognise the Lord, for these two disciples had not
been present on that occasion, and it is very impro-
bable that amidst all that hurry of great events which
had filled up the time from Maundy-Thursday to
Easter-Day, the apostles had described to the disciples
the circumstances of the institution, whose signifi-
cance they themselves probably did not yet realise.
There is nothing to justify the assumption that it was
an actual celebration of the Eucharist on the part of
our Lord. And yet the pointed statement that it
was when " he took bread and blessed it, and brake
and gave to them " that " their eyes were opened, and
they knew him," has a Eucharistic allusion too plain
to be overlooked. We accept Stier's explanation,
that the transaction has a typical significance, and
means, " In this breaking of the bread the risen Lord
will ever reveal Himself to those who believe in
Him."

" He vanished out of their sight." His first

4T- -^ DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

approach to them as they walked along the road
seems to have been in such a way as seemed natural
in a man travelling the same way, nothing in it
excited special attention. But it is clearly stated
that in His disappearance there was something preter-
natural, at least to the nature of a mortal body,
though natural, it may be, to a risen, " spiritual
body " ; " he vanished out of their sight," — became
suddenly invisible to them. We call attention to the
fact here, we shall have occasion to dwell on its
significance hereafter.

The Fifth Appearance.

The narrative of the appearance to the two disciples
■continues, and leads up to the account of the next
appearance. When Jesus had vanished from their
sight the two disciples naturally converse upon what
had happened ; it is the first opportunity they have
had of comparing their impressions ; and we note
that what they specially dwell upon is not the fact of
the resurrection, not His appearance or disappearance,
but the effect produced upon their minds by His dis-
course to them : " they said one to another. Did not
our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by
the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures .-' "
His words, His tones, His looks, kindled a glow of
conviction, a glow of emotion at the grand and
glorious truths thus set before them. The chief,

THE RESURRECTION. 49.1

total, and lasting effect of His appearance, was the
moral effect of His words, not the mere wonder of
the incident.

Then, late as it was, they rose up the same hour
and returned to Jerusalem, and went to the house
where they knew they were likely to find some of
the apostles, probably the house of Mary, the mother
of John Mark. The doors were shut and secured for
fear of the Jews, but were opened to the two disciples,
and there they found ten of the apostles (Thomas
was absent), " and them that were with them," viz.,
the women or some of them, and perhaps other
disciples. They found the Christian company at
their evening meal, but in a state of excitement ; and
were at once met with the news which agitated them:—
"The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to
Simon." They seem to have passed over the appear-
ances to Mary Magdalene and the other women as
less conclusive. They had thought their first account
of the visions of angels were " idle tales " ; the>-
would therefore be disposed to hesitate to accept
their further stories of the appearances of Christ
as other than similar illusions of a highly-wrought
imagination ; but when Peter also affirmed that the
Lord had appeared to him, his character guaranteed
his testimony, and they believed.

Then Cleopas and his companion related what
had happened to them on their way to Emmaus,

494 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

and how Jesus " was known of them in breaking of
bread."

And while they were thus speaking, and while the
disciples were hesitatingi to receive their intelligence,
lo, "Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them " ! In
the same mysterious way in which He had disap-
peared from the sight of the two as they sat at table
at Emmaus, in the same mysterious way He suddenly
appeared in the sight of the disciples now, standing
in the midst of them ; and saluted them, " Peace be
unto you ! "

Notwithstanding the previous assurances of His
resurrection, and several appearances, yet the sudden
apparition had the natural effect of exciting the
superstitious fear which seizes most men's nerves
when brought into contact with the supernatural ;
"they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed
that they had seen a spirit." The mysterious nature
of His appearance, notwithstanding the closed doors,
proved that it was not a mere natural body, under
the ordinary conditions of humanity, which they saw.
Jesus took means to reassure them. "Why are ye
troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ?
Behold my hands and my feet," bearing the scars of
the sacred wounds, " that it is I myself." I am not
merely an unreal appearance, a spirit ; " handle me,"
and convince yourselves, " for a spirit hath not flesh

' " Neither believed they them" (Mark xvi. 13).

THE RESURRECTION. 495

and bones as ye see me have. And when he had
thus spoken he showed them his hands and his feet "
(Luke), " and side " (John). While they yet could
not believe for the very joy and wonder of it, and
stood in amazement, He gave them another proof of
His true corporeity, " Have ye here any meat .'' And
they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and of an
honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before
them."

By this time their minds had had leisure to grasp
the wonderful fact ; passing through the stages of
affright, and incredulous amazement, and joyful
conviction, — "then were the disciples glad" (John), —
at length they were sufficiently composed for con-
versation. " Jesus said to them again, Peace be
unto you," and then spoke the words which show
us the great purpose (beyond the evidence of His
resurrection) of this appearance : " As my Father
hath sent mc, even so send I you." Looking forward
to His own ascension. He began already to unfold
His designs for the future conduct of the work of the
redemption of mankind. He commits to the Church
the grand mission which the Father had given to Him,
and gives to it the authority and the power necessary
to the fulfilment of the mission. For " when he had
said this, he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost : whosesoever sins ye remit they are
remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain

496 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

they are retained." The power of the Spirit was the
indispensable qualification for fulfilling the mission
which Christ gave to His Church, and the object of
the mission was to give remission of sins to those
who would repent and believe. A very striking and
important act. This breathing was certainly an out-
ward sign of the conferring of the Holy Ghost imme-
diately spoken of, it was the means by which Christ
conveyed that which He bade the apostles receive.
God at the creation of man breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
The common belief of the Church is that at the
creation of man a gift of the indwelling presence of
the Holy Ghost accompanied this gift of a reasonable
and immortal soul. Now the risen Christ again
breathes on His Church in token of the giving of the
same gifts. As the Father hath life in Himself, so
" hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,"
" The second Adam was made a quickening spirit."

The relation of this " breathing " and saying, " Re-
ceive ye the Holy Ghost," to the subsequent out-
pouring of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost,
is a question of considerable difficulty. To say that
the words and act were only a promise and pledge of
the Pentecostal gift, seems an inadequate explanation
of the imperative " Receive ye," and to reduce the
divine " breathing " to an empty symbol, and to miss
the importance of the occasion of the first appearance

'I HE RESURRECTION. 497

of the Risen Lord to the assembled disciples. Yet
to say that they now received the gift of the Personal
Presence of the Holy Ghost, seems to be in contra-
diction to the whole tenor and spirit of the history of
the Pentecost. Perhaps a comparison with the gift
of the Holy Spirit in baptism, and the gift, with
its miraculous manifestation, in the subsequent and
connected laying-on of hands, may point to a solu-
tion of the difficulty. In that case this breathing
and " Receive ye " would really confer the Holy
Spirit, which was given in fuller measure, and with
special gifts, on Pentecost. This gradual growth,
with marked stages of development, is observable
throughout the history : " first the blade, then the car,
then the full corn in the ear."

There were others besides the apostles present on
this occasion, as at Pentecost, and as on the occasion
of the giving of the great commission (Matt, xxviii.
i6-end ; Mark xvi. 15-19), and the narrative does
not say that the " Peace," and the commission, and
the breathing, and the power of the keys, were
limited to the apostles. The apostles and others,
men and women, assembled here, probably represent
the whole Church of Christ, and the words were
spoken, and the spiritual gifts given to the Church as
a whole, and to the apostles in especial. The whole
Church is the Body of Christ, the Spirit personally
dwells in the whole Church. But these powers,

2 K

498 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

inherent in the Church, are to be exercised by the
several organs to which they are specially committed :

"He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ" (Eph. iv. ii, 12).

" God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily
prophets, thirdly teachers, &c. Are all apostles ? are all pro-
phets? are all teachers ?" &c. (i Cor. xii. 28, 29).

There is no note of the termination of this appear-
ance, and we conclude that the Lord vanished out of
their sight, in harmony with the suddenness of His
apparition in the midst of them, and in the same way
as He disappeared from the two disciples at Emmaus.

The Sixth Appearance.

Again, a few words of history connect the last
appearance with the next. Thomas was absent when
our Lord appeared to the disciples. The other dis-
ciples said unto him " we have seen the Lord." But
as they had refused to believe the testimony of the
women, and had not given ready credence to the
story of Cleopas and his companion, so Thomas
refused to believe even now, when the earlier testi-
monies were thus greatly strengthened by the disciples,
fifteen or twenty in number, who had conversed with
Him, and seen the sacred wounds, and touched His
sacred person. When they told him of this sensible
proof of the reality of the Lord's appearance, he

THE RESURRECTION. 499

replied that he would not believe on anything short of
similar testimony of his own senses, " Except I shall
sec in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe." And eight days after,
according to Jewish reckoning, i.e., on that day week,
which was therefore again Sunday, the disciples were
gathered together, apparently in the same accustomed
place of meeting, and Thomas was with them.
" Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in
the midst," probably appearing suddenly as before,
and addressed them all with His usual gracious
salutation, " Peace be unto you." Then He turned to
Thomas, and showed that He knew what he had
said, and condescended to give him the proof he had
desired ; for his incredulity had not been the result of
an unwilling heart, but of a slow and cautious mind : —
" Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side : and
be not faithless but believing." It would seem that
Thomas did not avail himself of the offered test. The
sight of his Lord, after all that he had heard from the
others had prepared him for it, was enough to dispel
his incredulity on the instant ; our Lord's preternatural
knowledge of his incredulous words had the same
effect as at the beginning of the ministry on Nathanael ;
His gracious condescension touched his rugged
fidelity to the core. All this at once broke down
2 K 2

500 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the crust of incredulity, and led to the instant ac-
knowledgment of the risen Lord : — " He said unto
him my Lord and my God !"

But Thomas's exclamation goes much further than
a mere acknowledgment that Christ had really risen
again from the dead and stood before him. " All
those earlier sayings and testimonies of Jesus which
pointed to the unity of the Son with the Father,
which such a deep-thinking spirit as his had appre-
hended and pondered from the first, now all seem to
combine into clearness, and he beholds at once exter-
nally and internally their perfect truth. The doubter
overcome, now believes, as is often the case, all the
more swiftly, readily, deeply, because of his having
long doubted. What no apostle had hitherto said,
what the Lord Himself had never said directly, he
utters, as the first witness of the last truth," (Stier :
"The Words of the Lord Jesus.") At first they had said
"what manner of man is this that even the winds and
sea obey him." Peter had said " thou art the Christ
the Son of the living God," recognising in Him
something divine, but with so partial a recognition
that directly after " he took him and began to rebuke
him, saying this shall not be unto thee ;" Thomas is
the first who plainly and unambiguously calls Him
" Lord and God." And the turn of the phrase gives
evidence not only of a fully convinced will but of a
full and overflowing heart. Thomas the unbelieving,

THE RESURRECTION. 501

is the same Thomas who had said " Let us go also
that wc may die with him." Such a man would be
ordinarily undemonstrative, but when emotion did
break through natural reserve, then it would burst out
in some strong manifestation ; as in the present
instance, where he pours out the expression not only
of a full apprehension of faith in the risen Jesus as
God, but a deep adoring love for the Divine Master :
" My Lord and my God."

The Lord replied, with that searching encouraging
graciousness which was characteristic of His dealing
with His disciples, "Thomas, because thou hast seen
me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have
not seen, and yet have believed." Thus, having at
length given to His chosen witnesses the evidence
which has satisfied them all, and after which wc hear
no more of any doubt on their part. He looks forward
to " all them which shall believe on me through their
word," by faith not by sight, and pronounces them
blessed ; it is another and final benediction — blessed
are the believing.

All these appearances took place at Jerusalem
during the Passover festival.

TJie Seventh Appearance.

The eight days of the feast being concluded,
•* Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee"
(Matt, xxviii. 16), for our Lord had bidden the disciples

502 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to go into Galilee, and had promised to meet them
there, indicating the very place " on a mountain," and
probably also the time. In the meanwhile He
vouchsafed another separate appearance to certain
of the apostles ; " and on this wise shewed he him-
self. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas
called Didymus^ and Nathanael," of Cana, in Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his
disciples." " Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a
fishing. They say unto him. We also go with thee.
They went forth and entered into a ship imme-
diately ; and that night they caught nothing. But
when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the
shore," in the dim morning twilight, " but the disciples
knew not that it was Jesus," whether because of their
distance from the shore, and the partial obscurity, or
because He appeared " in another form." " Then Jesus
said unto them. Children, have ye any meat. They
answered him No." It was the question an early
traveller along the shore might ask of a fishing-boat
nearing the shore, with the intention to purchase of
them for his morning meal. "And he said unto
them. Cast the net 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.
Then that disciple whom Jesus loved said, It is the

' The Twin. - Otherwise called Bartholomew.

THE RESURRECTION. 503

Lord." Doubt as to His appearances has altogether
ceased ; they are not even unprepared for further
appearances, and they recognise His presence not
hesitatingly after careful examination of His person,
but as we recognise a friend at whose appearance we
are not surprised, by some characteristic trait. In the
miraculous draught and in the whole tone of the
incident, the apostle recognised the Master's manner.
Lastly it was the instinct of love which was first to
recognise Him, though it was zeal which was most
prompt to act, and leaped into the sea to reach Him
the sooner. " Now when Simon Peter heard that it
was the Lord " he laid hold of his fisher's coat and cast
it on, for it is characteristic that he alone apparently of
all the party had flung off his garment that he might
put his whole strength into his labour ; and now
again it is characteristic that he leaves fish and net
to their fate, and pausing an instant out of reverence
to clothe himself, the next instant he " cast himself
into the sea " " for they were not far from land, but
as it were two hundred cubits [about eighty yards]
hat he might at once come to Jesus." The other
disciples came in a little ship " dragging the net with
fishes."

"As soon, then, as they were come to land they saw
a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
Jesus saith unto them. Bring of the fish which ye have
now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net

S04 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and
three, and for all there were so many yet was not the
net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.
And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art
thou ? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then
Cometh and taketh bread and giveth them, and fish
likewise."

The incidents of the narrative class this appearance
with that to Mary Magdalene, or that to the two
disciples at Emmaus, rather than with the two other
appearances to the apostles. Here is no opening
salutation, " Peace be unto you," no encouragement
of their recognition. The Lord seems to hold Himself
apart. Though Peter cast himself into the sea to go
to Him, it does not appear that He did go and address
Him, but rather, finding no encouragement to do so,
kept at a distance, till at the command, " Bring of the
fish which ye have now caught," Peter went and drew
the net to land. And when all was ready, "Jesus
then cometh and taketh the bread and giveth them."
It would seem not improbable that He " Showed
himself to the disciples " on this occasion in another
form, which did not however prevent them, with the
experience of former manifestations, from recognising
Him in His words and ways. They did not venture
to ask Him, but they knew it was the Lord. He
seems to have acted with reserve, holding Himself
aloof, and the}- seem to have been hushed into

THE RESURRECTION. 505

reverence and awe, and to have silently done what He
directed, and waited quietly till He should explain
Himself.

We cannot fail to see that the whole transaction is
symbolical ; and in attempting to learn what our Lord
designed to teach in it, we cannot fail to connect it
with the miracle, similar in its general character,
different in some of its incidents, which took place at
the beginning of the ministry. Then

" Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren,
Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into
the sea : for they were fishers. And he saith unto them. Follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway
left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence
he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John
his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their
nets ; and he called them ; and they immediately left the ship
and their father, and followed him " (I^Iatt i\'. 18-22).

They were already His disciples, ever since His
baptism ; this was their designation ^ to be apostles ;
and this designation was accompanied by the first
miracle of the miraculous draught : — When He had
spoken to the people out of their boat,

" He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let
down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said
unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken
nothing : nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

' Their actual ordination as apostles took place afterwards
(Matt. X. 2-4. Mark iii. 13-19. Luke \ i. 12-19).

5o6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude
of fishes : and their net bralce. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come
and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so
that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me ; for I am a sin-
ful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were
with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken :
And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which
were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear
not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they
had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed
him."

This first miracle clearly was connected with the
first designation of the apostles. It was the sym-
bolical assurance that the gospel net, which, as fishers
of men, they should let down into the sea of the
world, should enclose a great multitude of disciples.
That in a whole night's labour they had taken
nothing, but when Christ gave the word, they over
filled their nets and boats, has an obvious signifi-
cance. The breaking of the net and escape of part
of their take doubtless has also its prophetic meaning
in the breaking of the unity of Christ's Church, and
consequent loss of souls.

We conclude that the second miracle has a similai
general intention and meaning. At the appearance to
the apostles on the evening of Easter- Day, our Lord
had given them their mission. He was about, on
the occasion of the appearance to the general body

THE RESURRECTION. 507

of disciples on the mountain, to complete their com-
mission. This miracle has reference to that apostolic
work, and is an assurance of success. Again all
night they had caught nothing ; again, at the Lord's
command, they let down the net; again they take
such a multitude of fishes that they were not able to
draw the net. But on this occasion the net does not
break ; all the fish are landed. They are all great
fishes ; not some good and some worthless, as in the
Parable of the Net. The net of the first miracle is
the net of the parable, which encloses a multitude of
good and bad, and breaks and lets some escape, and
the remainder are taken into the ship, viz. the ark of
Christ's visible Church, which is in danger of sinking.
Here the net contains only good fish, and they are
all safely landed on the shore, where the Risen Lord
stands awaiting them. The numbering of the fish,
and the careful record of the number, we feel must
shadow out some mystery, which, however, the medi-
tations of nineteen centuries have left unsolved, and
which, perhaps, was not intended to be known until
the fulfilment shall reveal it. The symbolical feast
of bread and fish miraculously prepared, and the
command to add to it of the fish now caught,
and to which at length, when all is ready, the Lord
invites them, seems to have some points of con-
nexion with the two miraculous feedings of the
people in the desert, and others with the two

5o8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

parables of the Marriage Supper; and we may,
perhaps, safely conclude that the general meaning of
the symbol is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb,
which shall follow upon the final ingathering of the
draught of redeemed ones ; and in its minor details,
perhaps, to the communion of saints (" those now
caught ") with angels (those already in heaven), and
of both with Christ. The whole transaction, then,
is a symbol intended for the apostles, and sets forth
how by their labours, and the labours of their succes-
sors, as fishers of men, the net of the Church, slowly
dragged through the ages of the world, should at
length be landed safely on the shore of eternity, with
its precious burden of souls, every one known and
numbered, by the painful ministry and by Christ ;
and then should ensue the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb, when the final result of His work and of
their work will be united and apparent, and the
Master will felicitate His faithful ministers on the
results of their joint labours.

" So, when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon
Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more-
than these } He saith unto him, Yea, Lord ; thou
knowest that I love thee." He does not now boast
his love as above others' ; he humbly, but confidently,
appeals to our Lord's knowledge of the truth of his
love. " He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He
saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of

THE RESURRECTION. 509

Jonas, lovcst thou mc ? He saith unto him, Yea,
Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee ? He saith
unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the
third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?
Peter was grieved that he said unto him the third
time, Lovest thou me ? And he said unto him,
Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that
I love thee. Jesus said unto him. Feed my sheep."

The threefold repetition of the question would
greatly intensify its effect. If we desiderate some-
thing more in our Lord's words than a mere three-
fold repetition of the same idea, we may understand
that, with our Lord's special love for the little ones.
He first bids him have a special fatherly care for
them, " Feed my lambs." Then, distinguishing the
adults from the children, " Tend my sheep," Then,
having obtained Peter's third heartfelt declaration,
" Lord, Thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that
I love thee ;"i He repeats, emphatically, "Feed my
sheep," with reference to the whole flock. If thou

' The first and second " lovest thou " is ayaTrtic, and implies
the esteem founded on the excellent qualities of the loved one.
In Peter^s reply he uses the word ^iXa, which implies rather
unreasoning natural affection. Our Lord, in the third question,
adopts Peter's word, thus accepting his assurance of strong
personal affection. So in the three " feeds,'' the first and last
is fiooKt, find food for ; the second is Troifiavi, which includes
all a shepherd's work of tending, leading, guarding, as well as
feeding.

5IO A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Jovest Me, show it in thy care for mine. The Lord
calls them My sheep, My lambs, when committing
them to the care of His ministry. We may gather
that love for Him, which will lead to love for them,
is the great qualification for the ministry. " Have
always printed in your remembrance how great a
treasure is committed to your charge ; for they are
the sheep of Christ, which He bought with His
death, and for whom He shed His blood."^ We
have the whole gospel implied ; love was the motive
of God's redeeming work ; " God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son ; " " Christ also
hath loved us, and," therefore, " hath given himself
for us " (Eph. V, 2). " As my Father hath sent me,
even so [in the same spirit of love] send I you "
(John XX. 21).

Note that our Lord had already conferred apostolic
authority in terms as full as these on all the apostles.
The power of the keys conferred on Peter (Matt,
xvi. 19) is afterwards conferred in the same terms
on all (Matt, xviii. 18). The administration of the
Pastorate of Christ, conferred on all in John xx.
21-24, is here confirmed separately to Peter.

The Lord continued : " Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and
walkedst whither thou wouldst : but when thou shalt

' *' Exhortation on Ordination of Priests."

THE RESURRECTION. 5"

be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest
not" This spake He, signifying what death— viz.,
the death of martyrdom— He should die. " And when
he had spoken this, he said unto him Follow thou
me." " Then Peter, turning about, sccth John follow-
ing, and saith. Lord, and what shall this man do " —
what will be his fate? "Jesus saith unto him, if I
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?
Follow thou me."

All ancient commentators arc agreed that in this
special address to St. Peter the Lord is referring to
his threefold denial of Him in the Passion. We often
look on the whole body as having been unfaithful,
and say in a breath that Judas betrayed Him, Peter
denied Him, all forsook Him and fled. But we must
notice that the degrees of guilt here spoken of are
very different. Judas's deliberate betrayal of Him
into the hands of those who sought His life is in-
comparably worse than Peter's cowardly shrinking
from the danger of being known as His follower, and
Peter's apostacy far worse than the silent shrinking
from His side of the rest when they saw that their
Master was overpowered and taken. Make what
allowances we will for Peter— the sudden surprise,
his fidelity in heart even while unfaithful in his lips,
his speedy and deep repentance — still Peter's sin
was one of open and formal apostacy. This will

512 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

help us to understand our Lord's purpose in this
address to Peter. The Lord had ah'eady forgiven
him, He sent a message to him by St. Mary Mag-
dalene, He appeared to him in person ; but now,
when illustrating the work and success of the aposto-
late and its succession, He takes steps to reinstate
Peter in the apostolic office in the presence of his
brethren. It was to give him who had thrice denied
Him the opportunity of thrice protesting his love
and fidelity. It was done before the other apostles,
because Peter had boasted his fidelity as above
theirs : " Though all shall be offended, yet will not
I." A gentle rebuke lay in our Lord's words, yet
the rebuke was arranged in love, so that Peter
might set himself right with his Lord, with his
fellow-disciples, and with his own grieving, loving
heart. The command with which the Lord thrice
replies to his profession of love, is the formal re-
instatement of Peter into his apostolic office, for-
feited by his apostacy. And to a man like Peter,
of burning zeal, and with a tender heart, overflowing
with loving compunction for his fault, and thirsting
to prove, if it might be, how truly he yet felt,
" Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny
thee again," it was with exultation he received the
Lord's prophecy, that he should again be put to the
test of confession or denial, and then should seal his
fidelity with his blood.

THE RESURRECTION.

5ii.

The expression, "Thou shalt stretch forth thy
hands and another shall bind thee," may seem
obscure to us, but the Evangelist expressh'- tells us
that in these words our Lord "signified by what
death he should [not die, but, mark the expression]
glorify God." To " bind to the cross " seems to have
been a common phrase for crucifixion. It intensifies
the whole tone and meaning of the passage. The
Lord tells Peter not only that he shall show his
fidelity in the supreme trial, and die a martyr's
death ; but that his death shall be the same as his
Master's, on the cross he shall glorify God. The
legend tells us that when the time came, Peter re-
quested to be crucified head downwards, as unworthy
to meet death altogether in the same attitude as his
Lord.

When he asks about John's future, our Lord re-
bukes the spirit of curiosity with the practical "What
is that to thee," all thy concern is to faithfully follow
Me ; at the same time that He did obscurely indicate
that John should still survive in that great next
coming of Christ, when the state of transition, in
which Jew and Gentile stood side by side, but
separate in the Christian Church, should pass away
with the destruction of the Jewish polity, and the
Christian Church in its purity and completeness should
be fully and finally established.

2 L

514 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The Eighth Appearance.

The appearance to a large body of disciples, "about
500 brethren at once," on a mountain in Galilee is
in some sense the great appearance of the Risen
Christ. Our Lord Himself, on the eve of His Passion,
had expressly spoken of it as the sequel of His Resur-
rection : "After I am risen again, I will go before
you into Galilee " (Matthew xxvi. 32). The angel
who appeared to the group of women at the
sepulchre said, " Go your way, tell his disciples
and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee : there
shall ye see him, as he said unto you " (Mark xvi. 7).

After He had risen He again spoke of it, bidding
the women " Go tell my brethren that they go into
Galilee, and there shall they see me."

St. Matthew mentions only the first appearance to
Mary Magdalene, and the subsequent and connected
appearance to the other women, concluding with the
Lord's message, " Go tell my brethren," &c. ; and then
He proceeds at once to mention this appearance in
Galilee. St. Luke and St. John pass by this appear-
ance altogether. St. Mark records the great com-
mission which our Lord gave at this time to the
Church, but does not define where and when it was
given. St. Paul gives us a sense of the greatness of
the occasion when, enumerating the chief appearances,
he says : —

THE RES URRECTION. 5 1 5

" He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve ; after that he
was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the
greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And
last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due
time" (i Cor. xv. 5-9).

The other appearances then which we have con-
sidered, and have yet to consider, were special
appearances vouchsafed to special persons for special
reasons ; this was the great appearance of the risen
Lord to the disciples generally. It would seem from
St. IMatthew's narrative of it — " Then the eleven
disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain
where Jesus had appointed them " — that some more
definite direction had been given by our Lord as to
tlie place of this appearance ; and, unless we are to
suppose that the 500 disciples had assembled acci-
dentally, or for some other purpose which is not
intimated, and which we cannot conjecture, our Lord
must have appointed the time as well as the place
where He would shew Himself to the disciples.
The message given by the Lord must have been
conveyed from one to another of the known disciples.
These repeated notices of it, before the passion and
after the resurrection, the appointment of time and
place, the assembly of a great number, and St. Paul's
mention of it, with his appeal to the greater number
of them then still alive, force upon us a sense of the
solemnity and importance of this one appearance,
2 L 2

5i6 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

notwithstanding that only St. Matthew's gospel
relates it, and that with exceeding brevity. This is
all he narrates of the incidents of this great event : —
"And when they saw Him they worshipped Him,
but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto
them.^' We see the large assembly of disciples
gathered in groups on the mountain, far from the
towns and villages, at the appointed time, in anxious
expectation of the promised manifestation. At
length Jesus appears, — at first, it would seem, at
some little distance ; because it says afterwards, " He
came and spake unto them." "And they worshipped
him," they did not run to greet Him, as the Rabbi
whom they had loved, or as the Messiah in whom
they had hoped, now wonderfully restored to them
from the dead ; but when He appeared, they, still
remaining at a little distance, " worshipped him."

" But some doubted." The statement is one of
those admissions which shew the careful veracity of
the sacred history. Just as the women readily be-
lieved and the apostles doubted, so now with the
larger body of disciples, some readily believe at first
sight, while some are unconvinced. It is not clear
whether they only doubted at first while Jesus was in
the distance, and that their doubts were gradually
satisfied when He came near, and as He spake ; or
whether some continued doubtful — it may very well
be — to the end. ' There is reason again here to con-

THE RESURRECTION. 517

jecture that our Lord's risen appearance, though it
had sufficient marks of identity to satisfy the minds
of most, had yet enough of difference to account for
His not being recognised at once and beyond doubt
by some.

Then "He came near and spake unto them " — His
words acquire a special meaning when we call to
mind that this w^as the one utterance of the risen
Christ to the disciples at large — " All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth." It is as the risen
Christ addressing His Church that He speaks. As
God He possessed all power in heaven and earth from
all eternity, and if we accept the profound conclusions
of the ancient fathers, the power of the Godhead
was always manifested towards the creatures through
the second person of the Trinity. It is to the Christ,
now that the will of the Father has been accom-
plished, the work which He undertook finished, that
all power in heaven and earth has been given, as the
reward of His humiliation and obedience, of His holy
life and passion and death.

It is in this plenitude of power that He goes on to
give His commission to His Church. The scene reminds
us of that earlier day when He first chose the twelve
and ordained and sent them. Then the Lord stood
in the midst, surrounded by the apostles, who formed
an inner circle round Him, and the group of faithful
women who ministered to Him stood beside them,

5i8 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

while the general body of the disciples formed an
outer circle round about. The words which He speaks
on this occasion are addressed to His Church as a
whole, represented by the 500, and to the ministry of
the Church, represented by the eleven in particular.

" Go ye therefore, and make " Go ye into all the world,
disciples of all nations, bap- and preach the gospel to every
tising them in the name of the creature. He that believeth
Father, and of the Son, and of and is baptised shall be saved ;
the Holy Ghost : teaching them but he that believeth not shall
to observe all things whatso- be damned." — St. Mark xvi.
ever I have commanded you : 15, 16.
and, lo, I am with you alway,
even to the end of the world.
Amen." — St. Matthew xxviii.
19, 20.

Putting the two accounts together we get the fuller
view of this great utterance of the risen Lord to His
Church : — Go ye into all the world and proclaim the
gospel to every creature, and make disciples of all
who will accept it, admitting them into the unity of
the body of Christ, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
by baptising ; and then continue teaching them all
which I have taught you ; he that believeth the gospel
and accepts discipleship shall be saved ; he that re-
fuseth shall be condemned. And lo I am with my
Church always, even to the end of the world. Amen. ^

' This word so frequently used by our Lord is a solemn
and emphatic asseveration of the truth uttered.

THE RESURRECTION. 5i9

Wc have here : —

1. The declaration of His own Messianic authority
as the basis of His following commission.

2. The command to proclaim the gospel that God
has taken our nature and come among us, and has
made atonement for our sins, and reconciled us to
Himself in Christ. To proclaim it " in all the world,"
*'to all nations" "to every creature," to Jew and
Gentile, to civilised nations, and to barbarous nations
also.

3. The brief, comprehensive direction how to pro-
ceed with those who shall accept the proclamation.
Make disciples of them, avowed followers of Christ,
sworn subjects of His kingdom, receiving them into
the kingdom by the initiatory rite of baptism, and
then going on to teach them all things which Christ
Himself had taught, and by His Holy Spirit should
teach them.

4. The great promise that though Christ would no
more be visibly among them, yet invisibly He would
be with them always, even to the end of the world.

St. Mark adds the promise of the renewal of the
miraculous powers which He had given to the
apostles when He had first sent them forth to preach,
with the addition of others, " And these signs shall
follow them that believe : in my Name shall they cast
out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ;
they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink

520 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

any deadly thing it shall not hurt them ; they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
These should be signs to the disciples that though
gone away from them, He was still among them,
according to His promise ; and they should be signs
to the world which should certify that the gospel
they proclaimed was indeed a gospel from God.

The effect of this appearance of the risen Christ to
His disciples must have been great. When the 500
returned to their villages and towns they would tell
what they had seen, and thus prepare the hearts of
men for the preaching of the gospel. The twelve
were His chosen and official witnesses, but all these
500 were His witnesses also ;^ and St. Paul's reference
already mentioned is an instance of the way in which
their testimony would be continually appealed to for
a whole generation of the church's history: — "He
appeared to more than 500 brethren at once, of whom
the greater part are still alive, but some are fallen
asleep ;" and as, one after another, they fell asleep, the
testimony of the survivors would be heard with the
deeper interest, till at length surely Christian people
would go from far and wide to see and speak with
the last old man living who had seen the risen Christ,
— and he was possibly the Apostle John

' So not only Moses, but above threescore persons with him
were admitted to contemplate the divine vision on Sinai. —
Exodus xxiv. 9-1 1.

THE RESURRECTION. 521

TJie Ninth Appearance.

St. Paul (i Cor. xv. 7) mentions an appearance
to James, and seems to place it here in the order of
time : " After that," viz., the appearance to the above
500 brethren at once, " he was seen of James, then of
all the apostles," which last appearance seems to have
been that of the Ascension. As of the appearance
to Peter, so of this to James, we have no particulars
whatever. ^

TJic Tenth Appearance.

The tenth and last of this series of appearances of
our Lord is that which ended in His Ascension. We
shall consider it first here as one of the appearances
of the forty da}-s, the Ascension will need a separate
consideration.

It is St. Luke alone who tells us the details of this
appearance. But in reading his narrative (xxiv. 44-53),
we soon perceive that in the earlier part of it he is
giving a summary of all our Lord's sayings during the
various appearances already considered. And we may

' J. Taylor says that in the [Apocryphal] Gospel of St. Matthew,
which the Nazarenes of Berea used, are these words : "When
the Lord had given the linen in which He was wrapped to the
servant of the High Priest, He went and appeared unto James.
For James had vowed, after he received the Lord's Supper, that
he would eat no bread till he saw the Lord risen from the grave.
Then the Lord called for bread, He blessed it and brake it, and
gave it to James the Just, and said. My brother, eat bread, for
the Son of Man is risen from the sleep of death."

522 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

very profitably study this inspired summary " And he
said unto them, These are the words which I spake ^
unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must
be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the psalms,~concerning me.
Then opened he their understanding, that they might
understand the scriptures, and said, Thus it is written,
and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from
the dead the third day : and that repentance and re-
mission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye
are witnesses of these things."

The words which probably belong to this last
appearance begin at the 49th verse : " And behold I
send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry
ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with
power from on high." For the same evangelist in the
beginning of his book of the Acts of the Apostles
(i. 3) gives us another summary of these great events :
" He was taken up, after that he, through the Holy
Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen ; to whom also he showed
himself alive after his Passion by many infallible
proofs [viz., the repeated appearances under different
circumstances, the touch, the eating, &c.], being seen

' Comp. Matt, xxviii. 6. Mark xvi. 7. Luke xxiv. 8.
' Luke xxiv. 27.

THE RESURRECTION. 523

of them forty days, and speaking of the things per-
taining to the kingdom of heaven " ; i.e., the principal
object of His appearances and discourses in the forty
days was first to establish the truth of the Resurrection,
and secondly to instruct the apostles concerning His
Church.

Then at verse 4 he appears to take up the
narrative of the last appearance just as at chapter
xxviii. 49 in the Gospel. And, " being assembled with
them, commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John
truly baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they
therefore were come together " — would seem as if it
related to some different gathering from the assembly
just mentioned, but that the command not to depart
from Jerusalem establishes the fact that this assembly
was after all the appearances in Galilee, and when
they were gathered together at Jerusalem for the Feast
of Pentecost The right conclusion, perhaps, is that
the former part of the discourse was spoken by our
Lord when He appeared to the apostles assembled
again according to their wont in the upper chamber
in Jerusalem, and the latter part after they had had
opportunities of consulting with one another on the
way from the city to the neighbourhood of Bethany,
and while they were gathered in a group about Him

524 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

immediately previous to His ascension. " When they
therefore were come together, they asked of him,
saying, Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel ? And he said, It is not for you to
know the times or the seasons [the periods and
epochs], which the Father hath put in his own power.
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and unto the utter-
most parts of the earth " (Acts i. 6, 7, 8). The great
subject of this last discourse, then, was the imminent
advent of the Holy Ghost.

Let it be recalled to mind here that, whatever
indications of the personal existence of the Holy
Spirit may be contained in the Old Testament Scrip-
ture?, i is in the Incarnation that both the second and
third persons of the Holy Trinity are clearly revealed
as distinct personal subsistences. When Gabriel
announced to the Blessed Virgin " the Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
.shall overshadow thee, therefore that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the So7i of God,"
it was the first time in all the scriptures that the Holy
Ghost had been thus spoken of, and the first time He-
had been revealed to man as a distinct, self-acting,
divine person, and it is from this time that the dis-
tinct personality of the Son, and of the Spirit, stand
out clearly as essential parts of the Divine Being.

THE RESURRECTIOX. 525

John the l^aptist had first spoken of the mission of
the Spirit : " I indeed baptise with water, but one
mightier than I cometh .... He shall baptise you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire " (Luke iii. 16).

Our Lord had spoken to His Apostles at consider-
able length and with great clearness on the subject in
the great discourse before His Passion.

" These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present
with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you" (John xiv. 25, 26).

And again,

" When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth
from the Father, he shall testify of me" (John xv. 26).

And yet again,

"It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away I will
send him unto you," &:c. (John xvi. 7, &c., to the end of the
15th verse).

No doubt the Holy Spirit had been in the world,
striving with sinners, helping saints, inspiring pro-
phets, from the beginning, even as the Son had been
appearing to men in Theophanies, and ruling them
in providence ; but as now the Son had come amon--
men in a different way, taking their nature upon Him,
and entering into their race, so the Holy Ghost was
about to come among men not only by fuller out-
pouring of grace, but in a different \va\-, entering

526 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

personally into redeemed humanity, and vouchsafing'
a personal and abiding presence in Christ's Church
and in each of Christ's people. How great and im-
portant this coming of the Holy Ghost we gather
from our Lord's words, that it was for the advantage
of His disciples that He Himself should leave the
world in order that the Spirit might thus come.

The special object of this last appearance, apart
from its being the prelude of the visible ascension, is
the announcement that now that Christ was about to
depart, the Holy Spirit would speedily come, " not
many days hence ;" and that the apostles were not
to depart from Jerusalem, but remain together until
the fulfilment of the promise.

Thus Ave have seen all the great events of re-
demption were announced beforehand, the Incarna-
tion and Nativity by Gabriel, the whole Ministry by
John Baptist, the Betrayal, Passion, Death, and
Resurrection by our Lord Himself, the Ascension by
our Lord to Mary Magdalene, the coming of the Holy
Ghost by John the Baptist, and by our Lord before
His Passion and after His Resurrection,

The Forty Days.

We have thus arranged in order and narrated the
history of our Lord's appearances during the forty
days between the Resurrection and the Ascension.

THE RESURRECTION. 527

There are some general considerations which can
more conveniently be made here.

St. Luke, looking back over these forty days, and
summing up, in the beginning of the Acts of the
Apostles, the characteristic features of their transac-
tions, says, " He showed himself alive to the apostles
whom he had chosen by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God " (Acts i. 3). Two
objects of our Lord are specially mentioned : first to
show Himself alive to the apostles whom He had
chosen, by many infallible proofs ; and second, to
speak to them of the things pertaining to the king-
dom of God. A brief catalogue of the several
appearances will bring them usefully together in one
view, and will help us in our reference to them.

1. To Mary Magdalene, very early in the morning
of Easter-Day. She is bidden to tell His brethren,
first, of course, of His resurrection, and then of His
approaching ascension (John xx. 1 1-19 ; Mark xvi. 9).

2. To the women, also early in the morning, as
they returned from the sepulchre. They are bidden
to tell His brethren, first, of course, of His resurrec-
tion, and then to remind them of the appointed
appearance in Galilee (Matt, xxviii. 9). The apostles
do not believe the testimony of the womea

3. To Peter, probably in the morning (i Cor. xv. 5 ;
Luke xxiv. 34).

528 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

4. To the two disciples at Emmaus, in the after-
noon. He expounds to them in all the scriptures
the things concerning Himself (Mark xvi. 12, 13;
Luke xxiv, 13-35).

5. To the ten apostles, in the evening. They have
already the evidence of the women, of Peter, of
Cleopas and his companion ; He gives them the
evidence of sight, touch, eating before them. He
gives them mission, and the inbreathing of the Spirit,
and the power of the Keys (Mark xvi. 14; Luke
xxiv. 36 ; John xx. 19). All these appearances take
place on Easter-Day,

6. To the eleven apostles, on the following Sunday,
in the evening. Thomas is convinced, makes his
confession of Christ's Godhead (John xx, 26).

7. To five apostles, and two others unnamed, at
the Sea of Galilee, early in the morning. Typical
miracle of the success of the fishers of men, reinstate-
ment of Peter in the apostleship (John xxi. 1-24).

8. To above 500 brethren, including the apostles,
on a mountain in Galilee, The great pre-appointed
appearance to the Church, He gives His great com-
mission to the Church, and His promise of His
presence with it (Matt, xxviii. 16-20; Mark xvi.
15-18; I Cor. XV. 4).

9. To James (i Cor. xv. 7),

10. To the eleven apostles, and perhaps other
disciples, on the fortieth day, in the upper room in

THE RESURRECTION. 529

Jerusalem. The Promise of the Comforter. The
Ascension. The angeh'c message.^

First, to study the evidential aspect of these appear ■
ances, " He showed himself alive by many infallible
proofs." We cannot insist too strongly upon the
importance of this view of the subject. The resurrec-
tion is the keystone of the arch of the evidence ot
Christ's character and mission. He had thrice over,
when asked by the Jews for a sign from heaven to
attest His claims, given them this sign, " Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up. . . . He
spake of the temple of his body" (John ii. 19-21);
" There shall no sign be given you but the sign of
the prophet Jonas ; for as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth " (Matt. xii. 40 ; xiv. 4). He had given the
same assurance to His disciples : " From that time,"
viz., of Peter's confession of His divinity, " began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto
Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the chief priests
and elders and scribes, and be killed, and be raised
again the third day" (Matt. xvi. 21, also xvii. 23 and

' Some of these appearances (3, 9) are not recorded in the
Gospels, but are alluded to by St. Paul (i Cor. xv. 5-7), and this
at once suggests the possibility that there may have been other
appearances which are nowhere mentioned. Indeed, the passage
John x.\. 30, 31, may allude to such other occasions.

2 M

530 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

XX. 19) ; for He said " I have power to lay down my
life, and I have power to take it again " (John x. 18).
Had He not risen again, the world would have heard
nothing more of Jesus of Nazareth. His rising again,
" as he said," proved that He was what He professed
to be, — God Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us ;
that His death had been, not a triumph of His
enemies, but the voluntary Sacrifice of the Lamb of
God to take away the sins of the world ; that He was
master of death and the grave.i

Let us, then, briefly summarise the evidence of the
Resurrection. And first, let us glance at the fact that
our Lord was indeed mortal man, flesh of our flesh,
bone of our bone. He was born of a human mother,
and received nourishment at her breast, He increased
in stature and wisdom and grace, i.e., He grew,
physically, mentally, spiritually, like other children.
Again, after the age of childhood, it is repeated that
He grew into manhood, growing in favour with God
and man. He lived the ordinary life of men for
thirty years ; for three years, indeed. He led an
extraordinary life, as Rabbi, Prophet, Worker of
Miracles, but it was of the life of these three
years that we are told how He hungered and
thirsted, and ate and drank, and was weary and

1 Taken from " Some Chief Truths of Rehgion," by the same
author.

THE RESURRECTION. 53I

rested and slept, was moved with compassion and
anger, sorrow and dread, and wept and prayed, —
how at last He suffered physical, mental, and spiritual
agony, and gave up the ghost and died. For thirty
years and more there was nothing about Him, His
appearance, His mode of life, which made those who
knew Him suspect for a moment that He was other
than man. So much so that when He began His
ministry, those of " his own country," i.e. of Nazareth
"were astonished, and said. Whence hath this man
this wisdom and these mighty works ? Is not this
the carpenter's son } is not his mother called Mary ?
and his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and
Judas } and his sisters, are they not all with us ? and
they were offended in him" (Matt. xiii. 54-58). And
again, subsequently, when the thought that there was
something superhuman about Him was proposed
to their minds, they rejected it at once, on the
evidence of their own life-long knowledge of Him :
" Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know .-^ how is it, then, that he saith,
I came down from heaven ? " (John vi. 42.)

And it was only gradually that His words and
works wrought in the minds of those who were His
constant companions the conviction that He was
something more than man ; and at length God gave
them faith to recognise that He was God as well as
man. But all through His life, all who knew Him,
2 M 2

532 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

from the mother who bore Him to the soldier who
thrust his spear into His heart, never doubted that
whatever else He might be, — prophet, Messiah, Son
of God, — He was man.

2. We must glance briefly at the evidence that the
man really died.

The histories assert it in the most unequivocal
terms ; all four evangelists tell us " he gave up the
ghost," the soul was separated from the body, which
is the mystery of death.

His friends were convinced of His death; for having
obtained His body from Pilate, and taken it down
from the cross, they made no attempt to rekindle
any lingering spark of life — how could any spark of
life linger in a body which had a gaping spear-wound
penetrating to the heart, which had already drained
its life-blood ? — but they laid it in the tomb, and pre-
pared the ingredients for its embalmment. Their
despondency at His death, their astonishment at the
news of His resurrection, the incredulity of some, prove
that they had no doubt of the reality of the death.

His enemies were convinced of it. We may
be sure that " the chief priests and scribes and
elders," whose hatred had led them to forget dignity
and decency, to join the crowd and flock out of the
city to witness the crucifixion, and who challenged Him
to descend from the cross, and save Himself, as he had
saved others, from death, and so establish His claim

THE RESURRECTION. 533

to their belief, would not have left Him till they were
convinced that He was really dead. When they
heard that Pilate had given up the body to His
friends, they had no fear that His friends might
resuscitate Him. They only feared that they might
secrete the body, and pretend, in the absence of the
corpse, that He had come to life again.

Impartial persons, whose official duty it was to
ascertain the fact of the death, attested it. The Jews
begged that the bodies might not remain exposed to
view by one of the entrances into the city on the
Sabbath of the Passover, and therefore the soldiers
came and gave the coup de grace to the two robbers,
and put an end to their torture. When they came to
Jesus they saw that He was dead already, and did
not treat Him as they had done the others ; "but one
of the soldiers," to make assurance doubly sure,
" pierced his side with a spear, and forthwith came
thereout blood and water." And when Joseph asked
Pilate to allow the body to be surrendered to His
friends, the governor " marvelled if he were already
dead," and sent for the centurion who had superin-
tended the execution, and only when assured that
He was certainly dead, did he give permission.

Lastly, there is scientific evidence of the fact of
death, for the only explanation of the recorded
phenomena of the " blood and water " which followed
the soldier's spear-thrust, is that the " great cry" was

534 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the natural accompaniment of a rupture of the heart,
and that the spear pierced the sac of the heart, and
gave vent to the extravasated blood, which already-
had begun to coagulate ; it was the separation of the
serum from the red corpuscles which produced the
appearance of blood and water ; and that separation
is conclusive evidence that death had already some
little time taken place.

Next we examine the "infallible proofs" that it
was the same Jesus who had died upon the cross who
was afterward seen alive.

The evidence extends over forty days at various
intervals, and the appearances were witnessed by
more than 500 persons. Some of them, His chosen
witnesses, saw Him again and again ; e.g., Peter not
less than six times (viz., 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10).

The appearances were under a great variety of
circumstances. He appeared usually without previous
notice, but in the great appearance to the 500 after
notice.

He appeared to single individuals (i, 3, 9), to two
persons together (4), to groups of apostles and others
(5j 6j 7> 8> 10). to 500 persons at once (8).

He appeared in a garden (i), in a room (5, 6, 10),
walking along the road (4, 10}, on the seashore (7),
on a mountain (8, 10), in Jerusalem and its neigh-
bourhood (i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10), in Galilee (7, 8).

In the early morning (i, 2, 7), at noon (10), in the
afternoon (4), in the evening (5, 6). Five times in

THE RESURRECTION. 535

the same day, the day of the resurrection, on that
day week, at unknown intervals during forty days,
on the fortieth day. It was never a mere transient
apparition ; He was always close by the witnesses,
remained some time with them, talked with them,
ate with them, they scrutinised the scars of His
wounds (5, 6), they touched Him (2, 5, and perhaps 6),
He breathed on them (5), He ascended from earth
in their sight (10).

Another remarkable line of evidence that it was
the same Jesus, besides this abundant identification
of His body, consists in the identity of mental and
moral character which is seen in the whole history.
Some modification of bodily state and appearance
there was before and after the resurrection, but the
character displayed in every word and act of the
forty days is absolutely identical with the character
of the Jesus with whose previous life the Gospels have
made us so well acquainted. In this moral identity
even more than in the physical we have evidence of
His declaration to His disciples, " It is I myself" ^

' It will be observed that all the appearances were to dis-
ciples only. There was no appearance to His enemies with a
view to their conviction. This is in accordance with our Lord's
repeated refusals to show them a sign from heaven ; because
that is not the way in which faith can be produced in the souls
of unbelieving men. "If they believe not moral evidence,
[Moses, and the prophets], neither will they be persuaded though
one rose from the dead."

536 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

The testimony of the apostles to the fact of the
resurrection was " confirmed by " miraculous " signs
following."

And, lastly, perhaps, the most conclusive evidence
of the Resurrection of the Lord is the existence of
His Church, for the great doctrine on which it stands
is His Deity, and the great fact is the Resurrection.
It could never have existed and prevailed and con-
tinued if those foundations had not been sure.

The Resurrection is the central miracle of all the
miracles of the Gospels and Acts. If that be rejected,
all the others go with it ; if that be established, all the
others arc easy after it. If Christ did not rise, then
we are of all men most miserable ; if Christ rose, then
shall we also rise through Him.

The second characteristic of the Forty Days in St.
Luke's summary is that the Lord was speaking to them
of the things pertaining to " the kingdom of heaven."

He had said a little time before, " I have many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them
now." His death and resurrection had, however,
done much to disabuse their minds of traditional
misconceptions, and to prepare them to appreciate
more truly the plan of Redemption and the nature of
the kingdom. And now, in this interval, having
done upon earth all that was needed to establish
the broad and ever-during bases of the kingdom, and

THE RESURRECTION. 537

being about to quit the world, and leave to His
apostles the duty of building up the kingdom on the
foundation He had laid, it was natural that He should
speak to them about its principles, and give them
directions as to its organisation. Not that our Lord
necessarily, or probably, gave them minute directions
as to all details. He promised that when the Holy
•Ghost came. He should guide them into all truth ;
and, doubtless, the organisation of the Church grew
imder the apostles' hands on the lines already laid
•down by the Lord, guided, as the occasion arose, by
the Holy Ghost.

When we examine the words of the risen Lord, as
recorded in the Gospels, we see how they fall into the
order of St. Luke's summary.

Some of them are on the evidences of the Resurrec-
tion (4, 5, 6), the rest are all directed to the affairs of
the kingdom. And this fact should not be passed
over without notice, that what He talked to them
about — or, at least, what the Holy Spirit has caused
to be recorded of His conversations for our edifica-
tion— is not the wonders of the under world, through
which He had just passed, or the glories to which
He was immediately going, but the affairs of the
kingdom.

A very brief examination of the summary of the
appearances on p. 528 will be enough to remind us
of the various sayings pertaining to the kingdom.

538 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

At the first appearance (5) to the apostles whom
He had long before selected and ordained, He gives
them this mission, " As my Father hath sent me, even
so send I you ;" and the afflatus of the Holy Spirit ;
and the Power of the Keys.

In the appearance (7) at the Sea of Galilee, the
miracle and the meal are both symbolically prophetic
of the future of the kingdom, and the discourse to
Peter relates to the pastoral office.

In the appearance to the whole body of disciples
(8), He bids the Church preach repentance and remis-
sion of sins among all nations,

Baptize-^ those who should believe, and declares
belief and baptism the condition of salvation,

Teach all things which Christ had taught them ;

Gave them the power of miracles for confirmation
of their preaching,

Gave the promise of His continual presence with
His Church.

In the last appearance (10) gave the promise of
the Holy Spirit,

Prophesied the universal spread of the Gospel,

Ascended in their sight.

Gave by two angels the promise of His second
coming.

' He had previously instituted the other Sacrament, and in
several of the appearances there seem to be Eucharistic allu-
sions, e.g., at Emmaus, and at the Sea of Galilee.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 539

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE RISEN LIFE.

|N reading the narrative of these appearances,
we are impressed with a sense that some
mysterious change had taken place in our
Lord's physical constitution and mode of life. Before,
He was — as to His manhood — like other men, and
lived like other men. Now, we are expressly told
of two appearances (5, 6), that when " the doors were
shut," He suddenly "stood in the midst;" of another
(4), we are expressly told that He suddenly "vanished
out of their sight ; " and the narrative of the other
appearances seems to imply something of the same
mysterious kind in His appearance and disappearance.
Again, in the appearance on the way to Emmaus,
we are expressly told that " He appeared in another
form," as well as that "their eyes were holden ; " in
that to Mary Magdalene the narrative seems to
imply something of a similar kind.

It is the general belief of the Church ^ that the

' "It is," says Stier ("Words of the Lord Jesus"), "the
universal tradition of the Church," " the universal belief of
Christendom, that our Lord did not ascend to heaven on the

540 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

explanation of all this is that in our Lord's resurrection
that change took place in the constitution of His body
which will take place in all human bodies in the
general resurrection ; and that these mysterious phe-
nomena are only consequences of the natural pro-
perties and powers of the "raised" or "spiritual,"
or " glorified " body.

This removes one difficulty in comprehending the
declaration of Holy Scripture, that He was " the first-
fruits of them that slept," whereas we have on record,
three in the Old Testament and three in the New,
who have been raised again from the dead. Theirs
were cases of resuscitation, the soul returned into its
old body, and they resumed their former life; His
was the only true resurrection, for He rose with a
spiritual body, and entered upon the higher phase of
human life. His was not now (and henceforward) a
sublimated and unreal humanity; He was still as truly,
entirely, perfectly, man as when He lay in the cradle,
or hung upon the cross ; only He had entered into
that higher phase of human nature which the redeemed
will also enter into at the " Resfeneration." ^

morning of the Resurrection, that He did not ascend until
Ascension Day." The Forty Days were (probably) not merely
for the sake of the Apostles and of the Church, but had some
primary natural reason in the economy of the Lord's human
life, or saving work.
1 Matt. xix. 28.

THE RISEN LIFE. 54 1

It is from St. Paul that we learn most on the sub-
ject. In the famous 15th chapter of the ist Book of
Corinthians, he tells us the body is sown (in the grave)
a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body ; and adds
emphatically, " there is a natural body and there is a
spiritual body," and goes on to illustrate it by the
different nature of the bodies of warm-blooded beasts
and of cold-blooded fishes; of beasts which walk
upon the earth, and fishes which swim in the water,
and birds which fly in the air. What he teaches is
that in the resurrection we shall certainly have bodies,
but that these bodies will be " spiritual ; " by which
he probably means of a more attenuated, ethereal
substance, and with modified properties. The phe-
nomena of our Lord's appearances seem to indicate
some of these properties of the " spiritual body," of
profound interest to us, for they give us glimpses of
what we shall be hereafter, for " when he shall appear,
we shall be like him."

We have spoken of the historical proofs, first, of
His natural death, and then of His having been reall}-
seen alive again. It may be worth while to say a
few words about the popular difficulty in receiving
the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. The
difficulty is briefly and coarsely this: when a
man dies, his body is chemically resolved into the
material substances of which it is composed, and
these very particles of matter are taken up again into

542 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

other organisations. So that the particles of matter
which were once part of the body of a soldier, are
taken up into the rank corn crops which grow on the
battle-field where he was buried ; that corn made into
bread becomes part of the body of another man, who,
in turn, dies. At the resurrection, whose body shall
these particles of matter belong to, for they once
formed part of both their bodies ?

But the same science of physiology which teaches
us these facts, teaches us also that our body is con-
tinually undergoing waste and repair of tissue ;
every time we act, we waste a portion of muscle,
every time we think, a portion of brain, every time
we wash our hands, we wash away a portion of skin ;
and, since with our civilised habits we do not waste
away our nails fast enough, we are obliged, from time
to time, to pare them. The substances of which our
body is composed are continually being resolved into
their constituents, and their place is being continually
supplied by new matter. So that, the physiologists tell
us, in a dozen years or so our body has been entirely
changed, and yet the identity of the body remains.

The identity of the body, then, does not depend upon
its being composed of the same particles of matter.

St. Paul's explanation of the subject in the famous
chapter on the resurrection (i Cor. xv.) is strictly
scientific. He illustrates the matter by the analogy
of vegetable life. " Thou sowest grain, it may chance

THE RISEN LIFE, 543

of wheat, or of some other grain, but God giveth it a
body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his
own body."

What is a seed ? Examine it under the micro-
scope ; let the chemist analyse it ; let the physiologist
describe it. And the total of our knowledge of it is
that it consists of a germ and of a mass of matter
gathered round the germ to be its first food. Place
the seed under favourable circumstances, and the
germ puts forth life, the same favourable circumstances
convert this mass of food into a condition fit for the
germ's use, and by the time it has consumed that, it
has grown strong enough to gather additional food
from the soil and water and air around it. It gathers
what it needs, and rejects the rest. It moulds what
it gathers into certain forms, and gradually constructs
for itself stalk, leaf, ear, full corn in the ear. But every
seed produces its own kind of plant. Plant a grain of
wheat and a grain of barley side by side in the same
soil, give them the same culture, yet one will produce
a wheat plant and ear, the other a barley plant
and ear ; and no earthly power can make a grain
of wheat produce anything else than wheat, a grain
of barley anything else than barley.

Why } The germ, that mysterious source of life,
has this property, it produces its own kind. St. Paul
tells us every human being has a life-germ, and at
the resurrection that germ will be placed under the

544 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

circumstances favourable to its germination, and then
it will gather, not gradually, but at once, the elements
it needs to build up for itself a new body, and that
body its own body. Every man is an individual
work of God. No two men are physically, mentally,
spiritually alike ; and at the resurrection — " the
regeneration" St. Paul also calls it — a man's life-
germ will no more produce an alien body, than a
wheat-germ will produce a barley-plant. Wherein
lies this germ of the human body.'' It is unphilo-
sophical to suppose that it is a property of the
mere matter of which a body is composed. It is
independent of that matter. It is only the avowed
materialist who will argue that everything belonging
to a man — thought, reason, conscience, will — is a
function of the mere matter of which his body is
composed. It is a part of the life, that life which, at
the separation of soul and body in death, goes not
with his material frame, but with his soul — with
himself

" There are celestial bodies and there are bodies terrestrial ;
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terres-
trial is another. ... So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown
in dishonour, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power ; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body. . . . Flesh and blood cannot inherit the king-
dom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
.Behold, I show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

THE RISEN LIFE. 545

at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we [who are still alive at that
day, shall, like the Lord Jesus] be changed. For this corrup-
tible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory.-' . . . Thanks be to God which
giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord."

But there remains a further subject. These appear-
ances of the Lord to the disciples occupy but a small
portion of the forty days. Where was He in the
mysterious intervals between these appearances, and
how engaged ? He was still truly man, therefore
living some phase of true human life. He was not
in heaven, for He said to Mary, " I am not yet
ascended to my Father," and wc know that He did
not ascend until the fortieth day. He was still upon
earth, — and how engaged .-* Who, before he has him-
self assumed his spiritual body, and has experience
of the new life, can conjecture the conditions of that
enlarged and glorified existence .'' But a raised and
glorified man is still man, not essentially changed.
We have had occasion to remark on the identity of
our Lord's mental and moral and spiritual character-
istics after and before His resurrection ; we may, then,
thus grasping firmly the truth of His manhood, be
suffered to think what meditations, what thanks-
givings, must have occupied the days and nights of

2 N

546 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

such a man, who had passed through such a life !
What prayers, perhaps what solemn preparations of
the human soul and spirit, before the man ascended
into the presence of God, before the Christ received
His power and kingdom ! If forty days of fasting
prepared Him for the ministry, the forty days of the
risen life may have been the fitting preparation for
His ascension to His kingdom and glory.

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD. 547

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE ASCENSION.

ilE now arrive at what we feel to be a fitting
consummation of the earthly life and visible
manifestation of the Emmanuel — the God
with us. It was not necessary that the apostles
should be witnesses of the act of the Resurrection,
for their seeing Him after He had risen was as con-
clusive evidence of the fact as if they had seen Him
rise; but had He, after the occasional mysterious
appearances of the forty days, merely ceased to
appear any more, having ascended unseen in secret,
it might have left a vague and unsatisfied feeling in
the minds of the apostles and of the Church. But
He departed from the earth and ascended to heaven
openly, in the sight of tlie Avitnesses chosen before,
that they might testify of the great facts of His
ministry to the world.

As our Lord had foreknown and foretold His
sufferings, death, and rising again from the dead,
so He had foreknown his ascension, and had spoken
of it at a still earlier period. In the discourse in
the Synagogue of Capernaum He spoke plainly of
it: "Doth this oflcnd you" (viz. His declaration

548 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

that He came down from heaven, compare verse 41) ?
" What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up
where He was before" (John vi, 62) ? And imme-
diately after His resurrection, in the first appearance,
to Mary Magdalene, He spoke again of His ascen-
sion, and announced it as the next great event to
occur : " I am not yet ascended to my Father."
" But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend
to my Father and your Father, and to my God and
your God."

It is very interesting to see how holy Scripture in
various places and in various forms, in narrative,
prophecy, psalm, epistle, and type, puts before us
the various parts of this great transaction, and gives
us a connected and authoritative history of it.

First we have the brief, plain narrative of the fact
given by St. Luke (xxiv. 50), as it was witnessed
by the apostles. " He led them out as far as to
Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed
them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them,
he was parted from them, and carried up into
heaven." We picture to ourselves the scene. The
apostles had come up to keep the Feast of Pentecost.
Jesus seems to have appeared in the midst of them
as they were assembled together in their upper room
in Jerusalem, as He had done on the evening of
Easter-Day, and on the next Sunday evening. But
on this occasion He did not vanish again out of

THE ASCENSION. 549

their sight, and leave them gazing at one another in
wonder. He led them forth down from the upper
room into the sunshine of the streets of the city —
how they must have glanced at the passers by, won-
dering whether they would recognise Him ; out of
the city gate, along the road down the hillside, by
which they had so often accompanied Him — it was
like the old days when they were accustomed to
journey with Him ; past Gethsemane — not without
recollections arising in every heart of what had
happened there ; so up the ascent of the Mount of
Olives, and a little way along the table-land until
they approached familiar Bethany. Then when He
paused they would gather round Him. He repeated
the promise of the Comforter, and bade them not
depart from Jerusalem until its fulfilment, which
should be shortly: —

" He commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith
he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptised with water ;
but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence " (Acts i. 4, 5).

And they asked Him a question, the last which

the disciples put to their Master —

" Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons ' which the Father hath put in his own

1 The periods or the epochs.

550 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter-
most part of the earth " (Acts i. 6, 7, 8).

— words wc shall have occasion to dwell upon here-
after. And while they were thus conversing with
Him, He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
And while He was thus blessing them, He rose up
from the midst of them, and slowly ascended, while
they gazed ; and they watched Him for a brief while
still ascending far above them, till a cloud received
Him out of their sight. They have seen the last
of their Lord ; but that last sight will rest in their
memories evermore. His hands were still out-
stretched, blessing them and the world, while His
eyes were already turned upwards towards the
heaven to which He ascended.

But when the eye has ceased to see Him the reason
still follows His ascent. It was a true human body,
though in the condition of a spiritualised body, a body
composed of material substance, however etherealised ;
and it must, according to the essential property of
matter, occupy some definite space, and pass by a true
local translation from place to place. Our reason,
then, still follows the ascending Lord beyond the
cloud, and sees Him still ascend, beyond the moon,
beyond the sun, "through the heavens" (Heb. iv. 14),
" far above all heavens " (Eph. iv. 10), " into heaven

THE ASCENSION. 55i

itself," the highest heaven, " there to appear in the
presence of God for us " (Heb. ix. 24).

St. Luke, in the fuller narrative of the Ascension,
which forms the preface to the Acts of the Apostles,
adds a very significant incident to the history. While
the apostles still " looked steadfastly toward heaven,"
wrapt in silent wonder and awe, " behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Yc
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven .-•
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen
Him go into heaven " (Acts i. 10, 11).

We have no doubt or difficulty in recognising who
these two men in white apparel were. We call to
mind that our Lord was attended by angels through-
out His sojourn here, and their ministrations are re-
vealed in certain great crises of the history. Gabriel
announced the Incarnation, a multitude of the
heavenly host attended the Nativity, and celebrated
it with an anthem whose words are given to us by
revelation (Luke ii. 13, 14). At the conclusion of
the Fasting and Temptation, " behold, angels came
and ministered unto him" (Matt. iv. ii). During
the agony in the garden, " behold an angel appeared
unto him, strengthening him " (Luke xxii. 43). He
Himself said, at the time of His arrest, that He
needed but to pray to the Father and He would
send "twelve le^-ions of angels" to His defence

552

A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

(Matt. XX vi. 53). At the Resurrection "an angel
descended from heaven, and came and rolled back
the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and sat
upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and
his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the
keepers did shake, and became as dead men " (Matt,
xxviii. 2, 3, 4). " Two men, in shining garments,"
announced to the women, " He is not here, he is
risen " (Luke xxiv. 4). Mary saw " two angels in
white sitting, one at the head and the other at the
feet, where the body of Jesus had lain " (John xx. 1 1).
St. Mark seems to speak of one of them when he
describes " a young man sitting on the right side of
the sepulchre clothed in a long white garment"
(Mark xvi. 5).

We cannot doubt that these "two men in white
apparel " were also angels attendant upon the Lord
at this great crisis of His ascension. And with this
clue the devout imagination easily realises the whole
transaction. The angels who had attended His
whole earthly career, with awe and wonder, at His
humiliation and His suffering, with amazement and
indignation, it may be, at the blindness and wicked-
ness of man, seeking to understand ^ the mystery of
love revealed in Redemption, waited eagerly upon

1 "Which things the angels desire to look into" (i Peter
i. 12).

THE ASCENSION. 553

His departure from the scene of His humiliation,
and welcomed His ascent to heaven with joyful
triumph. The angelic anthem at the Nativity would
suggest to us the probability of a similar triumphant
anthem of return. But we are not left to conjecture.
The twenty-fourth Psalm is assigned by the Church
as one of the special Psalms for Ascension Day, and
we do not doubt that in its concluding verses we
have again revealed to us in prophecy the very
words of the angel's song : —

Lift up your heads, O ye gates ;
And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ;
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of glory .''
The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates ;
And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ;
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of glory ?
The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.

There is no difficulty in completing what is thus so
plainly indicated. Just as there was a multitude of
the heavenly host attending at the nativity, at first
invisible, while one of them made the annunciation to
the shepherds, and then they flashed into sight out of
the darkness, and their song broke upon the stillness,
and was heard by the shepherds sounding fainter and
fainter as " they went away from them into heaven "
(Luke ii. 15). So now the ascension was attended by

554 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

the hosts of angels, though they continued invisible
and inaudible to the gazing apostles, except two who
were detached by the Lord, and sent back with
a farewell message to His disciples : a beautiful trait
of His tender consideration, still thinking for His
people even in this intense crisis of His own ex-
perience. The substance of that message we may
consider another time, at present our hearts are
following our Lord. The sight placed before us in the
sacred scriptures is not the humble Jesus flitting
silent and alone through the spheres. We may with
great probability suppose that as the cloud (the
Shekinah }) hid Him from the gaze of the apostles,
His body put on its glory, the glory of which the
three apostles were vouchsafed a glimpse on the
Mount of Transfiguration, the glory with which John
again beheld it in Patmos,when he saw one like unto
the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the
foot, and girt about the breast with a golden girdle ;
His head and hair white as snow, with dazzling light.
His eyes like flaming fire, His bare feet like glowing
brass. His countenance like the sun shining at noon,
His voice like the mellow sound of many waters
(Rev. i. 12-17, compare Matt. xvii. 2 ; Mark ix. 2, 3 ;
Luke ix. 29).

The heavenly host, not crowding in disorder about
Him, but in ordered ranks — the very name " host "
implies it — accompany Him ; and thus in a grand

THE ASCENSION. 555

triumphal procession — compared with which the most

gorgeous triumph of the Caesars along the Via Sacra

to the Capitol was but a train of ants creeping

through the galleries of an ant-hill — the triumph of

the Son of Man swept through the heavens, casting

a new brightness upon the sun with its glory, and

filling the vaults of heaven with the chant with which

the victorious Lord was welcomed to His kingdom.

And so Christ " entered into heaven itself, to appear

in the presence of God for us " (Heb. ix. 24).

And here at the entrance to the everlasting doors,

when human imagination would tremblingly abstain

from pressing further, God has been pleased to draw

aside the veil and permit us to gaze into the royal

halls of heaven, and be witnesses of the glory of the

Son of i\Ian to the end.

" The Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as
snow, and the hair of his head Hke the pure wool : his throne
was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery
stream issued and came forth from before him : thousand thou-
sands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him. ... I saw . . . and, behold, one like the Son of
man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient
of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was
given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
nations, and languages, should serve him : his dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his king-
dom that which shall not be destroyed '' (Dan. vii. 9, 10; 13, 14).

Hitherto we have looked on at our Lord's ascen-

536 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

sion as spectators of its outward incidents ; let us now
regard it from another point of view which may help
to complete our realisation of the true character of
the glorious transaction.

There are some persons who quite fail to realise
the truth of the incarnation of the Son of God, and
who believe that at the ascension He threw aside the
mask of humanity which had now fulfilled all its
uses, and returned to heaven as He came down from
heaven for our redemption. There are others who
are better instructed in the truth that the two
natures — the Divine and human — are indissolubly
united in the Christ, who yet fail clearly and firmly
to realise the truth of the humanity, and its conse-
quences, at all times and under all circumstances, and
it is, perhaps, especially at the ascension that their
mental grasp of the humanity and its consequences
becomes feeble and confused. Therefore, it is the more
necessary here to call to mind that Our Lord was
truly man as well as truly God, not a mysterious
being of a mixed nature, partly human and partly
divine — and, therefore, neither truly God nor man.
His was a true human life, in all the phases through
which it passed. Wc too shall die and rise again and
ascend to heaven as our Lord did ; they are natural
phases of human existence ; and in all the circum-
stances transcending ordinary human experience,
which .surrounded the death and resurrection and

THE ASCENSION. 557

ascension of our Lord, still his was a true human life
in the midst of and through it all. St. Paul, speak-
ing on the Areopagus, said God " hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained "
(Acts xvii. 31). And our Lord Himself says "God
hath given him {i.e., Jesus) authority to execute judg-
ment also because he is the Son of Man" (John v. 27).
He knew beforehand of His ascension as He
foreknew of His passion and death. And as the
prospect of His passion had filled His human
soul with trouble ^ and exceeding sorrow,^ and His
human will had shrunk back ^ from the awful
endurance of the expiation, so His human soul
must have looked forward with longing to the
ascension to heaven, to the entering into His king-
dom and His glory. We see the evidence of it
in the words of the Eucharistic prayer, " Father, the
hour is come, glorify Thy Son, that the Son also may
glorify Thee : as thou hast given him power over all
flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him "... He prizes His power
because of the benefits it enables Him to give to His
people, and so in looking forward to His glory. He
desires to show it to, and share it with, His loved ones:
" Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given

' John xii. 27. - Matt. xxvi. 38. ' Ibid. xxvi. 39, 41.

558 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

me be with me where I am that they may behold my
glory which thou hast given me." " And the glory
which thou gavest me I have given them " (John xvii.
I, 24, 22).

The ascension was the foreseen consummation of
the earthly life of Jesus. It was the reward of His holy
and obedient life, the crown of the successful accom-
plishment of His mediatorial work. The apostle tells
us it was because sHe humbled Himself and became
obedient to death, even the death of the cross, that,
" tJicrefoi'e God hath very high exalted Him, and given
Him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in
heaven and things 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,"

Dare we attempt to enter into the human mind of
Christ, and realise the exultation with which, when
the time was fully come. He proceeded to leave the
scene of His humiliation and His suffering, and to
ascend to heaven, there to receive the kingdom over
all things which He had won, there to share the glory
of God. Hold firmly to the truth that He was very
man. It was not only the Son of God who was
going to return to the glory which He had with the
Father before the world was, and resume the
universal dominion which He had before ; it was
the Son of Man who was going to be attended by the

THE ASCENSION. 559

angel hosts to the highest heaven, to be presented
before God, and to receive from God the sceptre of
universal and everlasting sovereignty, to be seated on
the right hand of God, " angels and authorities and
powers being made subject unto him " (i Peter iii.
22). "According to the working of his mighty-
power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised
him from the dead and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality
and power and might and dominion, and every name
that is named not only in this world but also in that
which is to come ; and hath put all things in sub-
jection under his feet" (Eph, i. 21), " from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool/'
This was " the Kingdom of Heaven" which the Divine
Son of Man had won, not merely an earthly kingdom,
though including that. This was the dazzling height
for which we now see the long and painful discipline
of His humanity in purity, humility, unselfishness,
entire conformity to the will of God, was not too long
and too severe a preparation.

But docs Christ now rule the world with absolute
unquestioned authority } It is evident that He does
not yet. The present attitude of God and Christ
towards the world is, in continuation of our subject,
declared by another of the remarkable series of
scriptures which have conducted us surely through
all these glories of the unseen world :

56o A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Why do the heathen rage,

And the people imagine a vain thing ?

The kings of the earth set themselves up,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their bonds asunder,

And cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh :

The Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath.

And vex them in his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree :

The Lord hath said unto me,

Thou art my Son ;

This day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for

thine inheritance.
And the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ;
And dash them in pieces like a potter^s vessel.
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings :
Be instructed, ye that are judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear.
And rejoice unto him with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from

the way, when his wrath is kindled, yea but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

This consummation of the earthly hfe of Jesus is
too full of significance to be comprised in one line of
thought. We enter, still under the distinct guidance
of Holy Scripture, upon another.

The whole elaborate typical system of the sacrifices

THE ASCEXSION. 561

of the ancient dispensation culminated in the ritual
of the Day of Atonement, when the high priest
annually offered a solemn sacrifice for the sins of the
people. St. Paul describes it so far as is necessary
for the present purpose, and points out its significance,
in the seventh chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews.
On that one day in the year alone, the high priest
took of the blood of the special sacrifice slain at the
great brazen altar, and passing through the court,
through the ranks of the priests and Levites, entered
into the Holy Place, and, still proceeding, entered
into the Most Holy Place, and there offered the
atoning blood before the Shckinah enthroned on the
Mercy-seat, between the overshadowing wings of the
cherubim. This, says the inspired apostle, was a
type of Christ, w^ho, " not by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood entered in once into
the Holy Place," " entered into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us " (Ileb. ix.
12, 24), for "this man, because he continueth ever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. For such an high priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens ;
who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer
up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the

2 (;

562 A DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF OUR LORD.

people's ; for this he did once [for all] when he offered
up himself" (Heb. vii. 24-28).

We are plainly taught, then, the significance of the
Ascension from this point of view. The death of
our Blessed Lord on the cross was the slaying of the
Victim ; at the Ascension, the High Priest passed
through the courts, "' the heavenly places " of God's
temple of the universe, into the heaven of heavens,
" there to appear in the presence of God for us,"
to present the atoning blood before God ; and
we are taught that this was the crowning act
of the Atonement. And this great act was per-
formed in the presence of the assembled angels.
The Divine Man had come up from earth, and
entered into the highest heaven, in order to make,
in the presence of the angels — no unconcerned spec-
tators— this great atonement for the sins of man-
kind.

A grand occasion, an august ceremonial, a great
crisis — this one priestly act, of which all other offerings
of all other priests are but types.

A priest, defines St. Paul, is " taken from among
men, ordained for men in things pertaining to God."
He fulfils a twofold function. He stands at the head
of his people, and represents them before God in
prayers and offerings. He turns round and faces the
people, representing God to them in pardon and
blessing. Our High Priest fitly represents man

THE ASCENSION. 563

because He is man, the second Adam, the natural
head and representative of redeemed humanity. He
fittingly represents God to man because He is God,
and has the power of judgment and grace.

In that hour, when Jesus came up from earth, and
presented His merits and sacrifice before the throne of
grace, the atonement was completed. " Righteousness
and Truth met together, Merey and Peace kissed
each other."

Again, call to mind that He was really man, and
continues really man, having forgotten nothing of His
human experiences during His sojourn upon earth.
St. Paul beautifully points out one of the conse-
quences,— "We have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may find grace to help in time of
need." ^ " He ever liv'eth to make intercession for
us," and is "able to save evermore them that come
unto God by him." ~

Heb. iv. 15, 16. - Ibid. vii. 25 (marginal reading).

THE END.

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GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS,

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" Perfecting Holiness."

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Sinai and Jerusalem ; or, Scenes from Bible
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Under His Banner,

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