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[All rights reserved.] [fsm PKINTBD AT THE TIMBS OPPICB, 34 QUBEN STREET, PARKDALB. PREFACE. making the following collection of articles on various Scripture subjects we are only carrying out thd design of the author. He had commenced the w;ork and spoken of it several times. Methinks, if he had got a glimpse into the future at the dawn of this year, the book would have been in the hands of friends and lovers of the truth some months ago. We believe the great enemy and deceiver tried in various ways to prevent the departed one using his pen ; he knew well how his ranks had been thinned through the pages of " Grace and Truth," and there- fore his wisdom was to try by all means to prevent anything of a similar aim being produced. The composition in many parts is blunt and homely. One literary friend wrote regarding it : " It is difficult to prune without hurting the vigour ; " so as we prefer having it in its native vigour, we rather give it to you unpruned. The title we have chosen is one which perhaps the Son of man, Who so often gave Himself this name, rejoices in more than any other. God commenced the seeking ; as soon as there was a wandering sinner to be sought, we hear, " Adam, where art thou ? " and it has never ceased since then. And now through these pages our desire and prayer is that many lost ones may be found and safely sheltered in the fold of the Good Shepherd. The Great Shepherd of the twenty-third Psalm, we believe, was more frequently preached upon than any other sub- ject in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America; it was i:i n ^\ _;^, VI Preface. always fresh and beautiful, suited to all classes and kinds of people, the aged and the youDg. " The Claims of the Man Jesus " was a subject that was studied and preached upon ten years ago ; there was mani- fest power and blessing on the evening on which it was first delivered. As the congregation were asked, " Who believes in this rejected Man ? " hundreds rose to their feet in testimony of their faith in Him. The study of " The Writing on the Cross " was done in student days twenty years ago ; may the Holy Ghost blees it to the strengthening of the faith of some in the precious Word which is our unerring chart ! The thoughts given on " The Name of God " and " His Name's Sake " comprise many years' study ; "His Name's Sake" was written about two years ago. We remember well the triumph with which the writer held it up in manu- script, because he always felt he had gained a victory when he got his fast-flowing thoughts vmtten on paper. " The Glory of God " was the subject of his last sermon on earth ; the one Lord's Day hie revelled in preaching on "The Glory," and the next he had entered the pearly gates and was beholding His glory. There was no theme that he more rejoiced in than God's exaltation. Man was nothing in his view, nowhere— a failure in every position ; but he had L'inse apprehension and appreciation of God. A friend said after enjoying his preaching for some months, " I have learned one thing since I came here, — I have learned to know God." As the voice is heard no more, may the printed pages have a similar result, and to His Name will be all the praise. M. L. MACKAT. 10, MORNINGSIDE DRIVE, Edinbubqb, Nov, 1885. CONTENTS. PREFACE ; y THE SEEKING SAVIOUR 1 THE GREAT SHEPHERD 15 " UNTIL " 26 SERVING AND FOLLOWING 31 THE SACRIFICE, THE PRIEST, AND THE SAVIOUR . 42 THE POWER THAT THE WORLD KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT .60 christ the power of god . . . .74 "say not in thine heart" . . . .86 righteousness, human and divine . . .95 job's question and Paul's answer . , . 104 the claims of the man jesus . . . .116 the writing on the cross 146 ^ r m 9 viil' Contents. fAoa THE NAME OF QOD 159 EMMANUEL-JESUS 180 HIS NAME 185 MT name's sake 194 THE OLOBT OF OOD 206 THE TWO ANTHEMS 235 "LORD JESUS, come'* •••••. 242 "FOR ever" . 244 ■/ TBE SEEKING 8AVI0UB. " For the Son of Man is come to seek and to, oave that which was lost." — Luke xix. 10, LL Christians rejoice in the reality of the divinity of our Lord and Saviour JesuB Christ; but is it not of great importance to keep in our hearts the reahty of His humanity, especially when Holy Scripture tells us that "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God " ? Among all the accounts of our Lord's life on earth, Luke presents Him most fully as a Man. Matthew traces His genealogy only up to Abraham, and presents Him as a real Jew; Mark gives us no genealogy, but begins with His Gospel-ministry, and John gives what might be called His Divine genealogy — " The Word was God ; " Luke t: js His genealogy up to Adam, thus showing Him to be the Son of Man. Our theme is the Son of Man, and His work as told to us in Luke xix. 10 : " For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.** There is a beautiful because Divine fitness in Luke communicating to us . 1 <■ \ / ■' .% The Seeking Saviour. this statement in its connection. Luke was not au apostle. Very little is known of him hesides his being ** the beloved physician," who certainly obeyed the second part of the evan^cfelioal commission — " to heal the sick," although we do not hear much of his preach- ing "the kingdom of God." It is a precious thought that the Saviour Himself, in sending out the twelve, thought of man both with regard to his spiritual and bodily needs. A Christian physician above all men is able to look at men as men. Has he to cure disease ? He sees man as^ made in the image of God, and knows nothing of difference between the best and the worst. He is as careful in setting the fractured limb of the burglar as in minis- toriug to the lameness of au empress. And where he sees an opportunity he can mo :3b deftly plase a woid that may be of spiritual power to his patient. Thus Luke the recorder has been chosen with Divine wisdom to give us many characteristic accounts of God's love to men. Only Luke tells us of the Good Samaritan ; the Shepherd going after the lost sheep ; the woman seeking for the coin that was lost ; the Father receiving the prodigal ; the Pharisee and the publican ; Christ's inter- view with Zacchgeus ; the penitent thief, and many other wonders of grace. In the nineteenth chapter of Luke we find that Zacohseus, the chief among the tax- gatherers, was very anxious to see this wonder- i.-^\ % \% flttW The Seeking Saviour. ful Man of whom he had heard, namely Jesus. There was a crnw.1, and he was little; but neither his own inability nor the presence of the crowd conquered him. He found a point of vantage on a sycamore tree, and our Lord, fully understanding the wish of Zacchseus and the small grain of faith that was workiug in him, told him He was to become his Guest. All murmured, not knowing the grace of the Saviour, and to the murmurings Zacchaeus answered by a vindication of himself. Fifty per cent, of wnat he had he gave to the poor, not a mere legal ten per cent. ; and had he taken anything wrongfully from any one, he gave him four times its value — a most con- scientious, upright man. This we hold to have been the practice of his life before he met Jesus, and his vindication of his moral uprightness when they all murmured at Jesus going to him. Jesus, however, makes very short work of all this self-vindication, as He did with Nico- demus, thiit very good natural man who came and paid Him the highest compliments, and who received this answer : " Ye must be born again." The conduct of Zacchaeus was very proper and commendable, but our Lord says, " This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.'^ Let us now look at this r. '■m >^' The Seeking Saviour. Divine reason for salvation coming to a self- righteous sinners house : First, the Person—'' The Son of Man.'* Second, His work — " is come to seek and to save J" Third, the objects of His work — " that which was lost.'' I. The Person. — The Son of Man. This is a wonderful name, and a name that cur Lord seems always desirous of being used. Does it not tell us of at least three things ? 1. Humi- liation ; 2. Perfection ; 3. HeirsMp. 1. Humiliation. — He reached His crown by the cross. Before His honour was humility. He, ** being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Ho passed by angels, for He never became an angel ; passed by all the princi- palities and powers in heavenly places, all the peers of gloiy, and came in the strength of His own strong love to be the Son of Man, to be one of us, in order that He might be one with us. He laid aside the crown and the sceptre of the universe to enter into lae circum- stances, sorrows, and responsibilities of man; to handle the saw and the axe, and to be the work- ing man in the midst of His own great work : ;:i( The Seeking Saviour. *" The foxes found rest-, and the birds had their neat In the shade of the cedar tree, But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God I In the deserts of Galilee." 2. His Ferfection. — Can one man live to the glory of God, and without sin ? Behold the perfect, sinless Son of Man. ** holy, harm- less, undefiled, separate from sinners." Adam failed, by the temptation to become as a god. The Son of Man prevailed, by taking the subject part of a man. He answered the devil's temptation by no appeal to His divinity, but to the Scripture given for man's use. Tne first man, through her who was to have been a help-meet for him, fell by indulging in the lust of the flesh ("the tree was good for food *'), the lust of the eyes (" it was pleasant to the eyes"), and the pride of life ("a tree to be desired to make one wise "). The Son of Man showed His perfection when tempted by the devil, manifesting Himself as THE promised Seed. The Son, in resisting by the Word of God the temptations of the devil, rested upon the written Word : " By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." When the lust of the flesh was suggested. He answered : " It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone." When the lus,t of the eye was before Him \ "It is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only Shalt thou serve.'* And when the pride of life was temptingly exposed: M The Seeking Saviozir. "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Have we seen His humiliation as Son of / Man ? We also soe His perfection in exalta- ii'/ tion as claimed by Him in this title ; for He claimed in it that which had been written by the prophet Daniel : " I saw in the night visions, 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 Hirn dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shaU not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." 3. Heirship. — The Son of Man is Heir of man. We have great exactness in 1 Cor. xv. 45-47, where Ch;'ist is spoken of as " the last Adam," and ** the second man;" that is to say, there are two men, the first one a total failure, the second his Son and Heir, " the Lord from heaven," in " Whom is all perfec- tion." And there never will be another representative head (Adam), for '* the last Adam" has come, and has been known as " a quickening Spirit." Cain is not spoken of as the son of man, neither is Abel nor Seth ; the Seed of the woman alone secures this title, and with it serves Himself Heir to all man's possessions. And what are these ? ** The cattle upon a thousand hills " are the Lord's. :^^..-,^--.-.,> V.V' ;-.> The Seeking Saviour. The gold in all the mines and the pearls in all the oceans belong to their Maker. Wnat, then, is man's possession, and what can he leave as peculiarly his own to his son and heir? Only- one thing, and that is his sin. Behold the Son of Man in anguish under it ! Behold Him bearing '' our sins in His own body on the tree I " '' Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world ! " If there had been no sin to bear, there would have been Son of Man ; if there had been no Son of no Man, there would have been no sin put away. II. His WoiiK. — When He has become Son of Man, we find Him doing a work commen- surate with this wonderful title. 1. He has come. 2. He has come to seek. 3. He has come to save. 1. He has come. — How precious is the word *' come " as found in Scripture : " Come now and let us reason together," says the con- descending and loving Jehovah. " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden," is the word of the Son of Man. '' Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." will be the glad summons of the Judge of all the earth. But however precious "Come" may be, "«6* come " is much more so, and can alone make the invita- tion possible. Tliat is to say, the Son of Man did not say to man, *' Come," till He Himself had come. ^ ( 8 TJie Seeking Saviour. '■■>. No sooner had the tempter ruined Creation work, than the Redeemer-God began His work, and came to seek the wandering Adam in these words of pathetic tenderness: "Adam, where art thou ? " And through type and symbols God has been coming to man, and at last " the Son of Man is come." Glorious event in the annals of eternity I Glorious cHmax of the history of time I Glorious mani- festation of the God of heaven I Glorious pi'ovision for the sons Of men! He has spanned all the distance between heaven and earth. He has bridged all the chasm between an a^gry God and a guilty sinner. He has. in His own person shown the true Jacob's ladder stretching from the throne of God to the rock-bound cover of the sinner's tomb. The lifeboat's noble crew do not invite the ship- wrecked sailors to come to the life-boat until the life-boat has gone to them ; so Christ does not say, "Come," until He Himself " is come.*' He has annihilated the distance. He can say, " I came down from heaven." " The Son of Man came not to be ministered imto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." He came not "to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'* " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Christ Jesus came from His Father and His eternal love, His crown, His throne, " into the world," this V The Seeking Saviour. distant, fallen, groaning, sin-doomed, God- hating world. 2. He came to Beek. — " Seek ye the Lord," is a Divine injunction, and as a duty is bind- ing on all creatures whom God has made. The law given to Israel discovered how loth man was to seek God, so that we find in Eomans iii. 11, among the various accusations brought against man, this one is prominert, *' I'here is none that seeketh after God." But now grace has revealed to us this wonderful fact, that God in the person of the Son is seeking the sinner. Adam ran from God when he fell, but God went after him, seeking him, as much as to say. If ye flee from Me, and if ye prefer the devil's lie to My truth, and prefer to do without Me, I come to seek you. I wish you back. I do not wish to do without you, — "Adam, where art thou? " He sought out the fishermen and their friends at Galilee's sea. He sought for little Zacchaeus in the midst of a crowd as he was on the sycamore-tree. Reader, He is seeking for you now, as you may be seated in the tree of your own self-righteousness or self-importance or self-greatness. But it is only as one descend- ing from all such morality trees or self- sufficiency trees that you can be found by the seeking Saviour. 3. He has come to save as well as to seek. — "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." His mission is /'-: lO The Seeking Saviour. ii' very specific ; Hia work is very exact : He came not to instruct men in science or art^ to teach them how to use the geologist's hammer, the astronomer's telescope, or the student's microscope. All these could be dis- covered and employed by the reason of man. He came not to solve or settle the questions arising between science a^^d religion. Ho came not to teach politics, or to decide whether unlimited monarchy or constitutional government or democracy is the best method. He came to save — to sxive us from the loenalty of sin by His atonement. ** For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of your- selves ; " "receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls ; " to save us from the poioer of sin by His Holy Spirit, by Whom we work out our *' own salvation with fear and trembling," knowing that *' it is God Who worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure ; " to save us from the preseiice of sin by the completed top- stone put upon Hie work. For '' to them that look for Plim shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Salvation-work has been His great work since creation-work was marred. Salvation- work is the work revealed from Genesis to Eevelation. Salvation was the work of the Father till the Son appeared (for " My Father worketh hitherto "). In type and sacrifice, in blood and fire, in history and prophecy, I ' n-f-niiTni i iiiriniT jmrirrf nrif i n i i i The Seekmg. Saviour. II salvation was the work. When the Son came it was still to worl^ at salvation, by tnreoept and example, by lessons and parables, by suffering, and finally at the Cross to say, <* It is finished." The Son of Man is come to save ; and since His day the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, the Holy Ghost, has come to unfold .o us this salvation, to carry on this Divine work among men, this heavenly work on earth, this eternal work in time, and by letter and instruction and unseen and un- heard influence to convey to us conviction, repentance, conversion, regeneration, salva- tion ; and to the Father, Son, and Holy G-host we bow as to the God of our salva- tion. Ill Those interested in this work, The Lost. Lost has bound up in its letters (1) the idea guilty; (2) the idea corrupt; (3) the idea valued. 1. The lost is guilty. — " All we like sheep have gone astray," etc. We' have left the fountrdn of living waters, and hewed out for ourselves " broken cisterns, that can hold no water." We have offended; and he who offendeth '* in one point is guilty of all." The holy law as an impartial jury has brought in the verdict ** Guilty." And thus we are lost to Him Who created us. We have brought ourselves under the curse of His holy law. Yea, we are guilty, as bound up in the same 12 The Seeking Saviour, d' // humanity of the apostoh'o accusation, "Ye have killed the Prince of Life." 2. The lost is corrupt. — Intended for the Creator's use, we are now by nature and practice of no use to Him, utterly " unprofit- able : " the fine gold has become dim. In- tended to show His power and Godhead in this world, we have sunk beneath the level of beasts; so that humanity has even wor- shipped '* birds, four-footed beasts, and creep- ing things." We have not only been guilty of specific breakings of God's holy law, by which we are seen to be transgressors, but our natures are fallen, we are depraved and corrupt, the imagination of the thoughts of the heart only evil continually. And the work of a seeking Saviour is required not only to pardon our transgressions, but to cover our- sin. Self-will, self-seeking, and self-pleasing have taken the place of God's will, God-seek- ing, and God-pleasing ; and thus while self is gratified we are lost to God. 3. The lost is valued. — While passing through the street, if a straw dropped from my hand I should think nothing and say nothing about it. But should I lose a five-pound note, I should at once think of and speak of my loss. And why ? Because I knew its value, and could do very badly with its loss. "I have lost the sheep," says the shepherd, be- cause to him it was valuable. "I have lost my piece of silver," says the woman, because The Seeking Saviour, 13 she could ill afford to lose it. '^ I have lost my hoy," says the father, heoause he loved the hoy. The lost is valued, the lost is loved. Oh, what love is in that little word 01 one syllable, " lost I " You even may not feel that you have lost God ; hut the grace and value and appreciation all begin on His side. You have chosen the world, the devil, and the flesh; but God says: I love you, I do not wish to do without you. I feel I have lost something. Suns and stars, planets and com(3ts, day and night, summer and winter, are all under My control. The reins of ten thousand stars and systems are held in My un- created hands. Angels that excel in strength rejoice to do My will, and obey My command- ments. The sea hears My voice and calms its waves. " The floods clap their hands " to My glory. The forests shake at My presence Flowers bloom to reflect the beauty of the Eternal. Yea, even " fire, hail, snow, and vapours " fulfil My words ; '* fruitful trees, and all cedars ; beasts and all cattle," join in alle- giance. Oh, thou vicegerent of God, made in His image, placed at the head of creation I I have Lost thee. Still I love thee, have so loved thee that I have said. Thou art lost to Me ; so loved thee that I have sent My only- begotten Son to seek thee. And only the lost sinner lies in, the pathway of the seeking Saviour. What is the answer, my fellow lost one, / '4 T/ie Seeking Saviour. that you and I have to make ? Let us do it together; for "there is no difference : for all have sinned and come short of the glory of • , God." Yes, Lord, we are guilty; we are corrupt; we are lost. We would write ''Lost " on the palms of our hands, on the soles of our , feet ; in all we do and wherever we go we are lost. "Lost" we engrave on our intellects, our wills,, our affections ; at all times, under all circumstances, and in all our faculties, we but say " Lost." We wait not for the judg- ment-bar to hear the doom. We accept Thy judgment, "Lost." But we joyfully .h ^ar through that word the echo from the eteiaal realities, "Loved " We hear it from the in- carnate Word, "It is finished." And as we are and where we are we joyfully believe the message that Thou, Father, hast sent by the Spirit to us, that "the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." And on our part we take the lost sinner's place., and claim the lost sinner's Saviour. ■■■■Mlli THE GREAT SHEPHERD, Psalm xxiii. HIS subject is au old theme, one which most of us have boeu acquainted with ^^^ from the time we sat ou our mother's knee. The twenty-third Psahn is one of the most perfect lyrical gems that the world has 0ver seen. We have read it many a time, but it is always fresh. ■ *' The Lord is my Shepherd I " It is a wonderful thing that He should condescend to make Himself our Shepherd. Three times in the New Testament is the Lord spoken of as a Shepherd : once in the Gospel of John, once in the First Epistle of Peter, and once in that wonderful letter to the Hebrews. In John X. 11 you read, ** I am the Good Shepherd ; " in Hebrews xiii. 20, " Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlast- ing covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will; " and lastly, if you look at the First Epistle of Peter v. 4, you will find this written, " And when the Chief ;«v' i6 The Great Shepherd. Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Each mention of the word has a distinct adjective, one the " Good Shepherd," one the " Great Shepherd," and the third the " Chief Shep- herd." Now we shall look first at the twenty-third Psalm in its glorious setting. It is a perfect gem. Most gems look well or not just as the setting they are in sets them olf properly or not. But this gem, which would he beautiful in any setting, shines out all the more here on account of the inimitable lustre of its setting. With the twenty-second Psalm on the one hand and the twenty-fom-th on the other, it could not fail to be beautiful. The twenty-second, you know, is the psalm of that wonderful hour of Calvary. It was the psalm used by our Lord during His crucifixion ; and it is thus the expression of our Saviour's feel- iugs at that d:eadful hour. Then we come into the twenty-third Psalm, the psalm of Christian experience, the psalm of the journey, the psalm of the desert, the psalm of the wildernesSc And then there is the glorious tweuty-fourth Psalm. It is not the dying psalm I nor the weariiiess and the weeping of the desert ; but desert cares are over, and weeping gone ; and we have the magnificent psalm of the glory of the King. V7e have the Good Shepherd in the twenty- second Psalm, the Great Shepherd in the 'Ihe Great Shepherd. 17 twenty-third Psalm, and the Chief Shepherd in the twenty-fourth Psalm. We have CrosSy desert, and croion. The cross, that is the twenty-second PsaJm; the wilderness, that is the twenty-third; the crown, that is the twenty-fourth. First, then, we have the Good Shepherd laying down His life with the cry, *' Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Then we have the Great Shepherd. For He must needs be a Great Shepherd, with such a great flock of sheep, and- very stupid ones, too, sometimes, to look after. We are going through this great wilderness, wandering about, and the Lord is the Great Shepherd looking after His flock. And then in the twenty-fourth Psalm we h ^ve the Chief Shepherd, who rewards all the under- shepherds. Looking then at its setting, the Good Shepherd on the one hand and the Chief Shepherd on the other, we look at the guidance of the Great Shepherd. And in passing let me say a word on one point. We hear a great deal at the present time of the goodness of God. They have made out that God is so good that He will never punish any one. Atid this belief is gaining ground daily, even among Christians, I am sorry to say; they try to explain away Christ's doctrine of everlasting punishment. Some go so far as to say that r,o one will be eternally punished; that all will be let off. But Christ says, **I am the Good Shepherd, and I lay down My life for 2 m. i 8 ;*. i8 The Great Shepherd. the sheep." There is no letting off there. There is the punishment of sin in the cruci- fixion of the Son of God for His sheep. Now in the psalm of the wilderness we have a wonderful perfection. The first verse is the theme of it all, and the challenge of faith. The Psalmist puts the Lord between him and circumstances, and boldly challenges any one or anything to come between him and God.* It is the challenge of faith. " Come what may," the believer can say, "I shall not want." I have not in the past wt^nted any- thing, or do not at the present want anything, but "I shall not want," because the Lord is my Shepherd. Of course our human nature will perhaps want many things ; it may want the very necessaries of life ; but those are not real wants. God says that they who trust in Him shall never want any good thing. The last verse is the summation of the whole matter, as the first is the challenge. The second verse makes provision for our Weakness^ and speaks about the pastures where the Great Shepherd leads His sheep. The great thing in a shepherd is to know all the best pastures, and where the greenest grass grows, so that his sheep may get the best possible food. Now Christ leads us into the greenest pastures, and by the still waters. The thoughtfulness of knowledge with the preparedness of power makes the guidance perfect. There is not a difficulty that has The Great Shepherd. 19 arisen, is arising, or will arise, but the Lord has anticipated it, and met it, and provided for it. His wisdom anticipated it ; His power provided for it. But the believer may say, " I am weak, I am going through the desert, and I can get nothing from the earth," for there is nothing that springs from the earth that will feed your faith. In other words, 'there are no waving cornfields in the desert. What will He send you ? Manna down from heaven. He will send you better than angels* food. " He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters." The pillar-cloud of His own eye leads me. ** He maketh me to lie down." This is the quietness of perfect confidence. The hungry sheep does not lie down in green pastures ; only the satisfied one ' does so. This is conscious communion with God, not the activity of service. We cannot always fight ; we must have communion. In warfare you must not put on the sleeping dress, but the fighting dress. Our loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteous- ness, and our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and lastly the sword of the Spirit, — that is the armour we are to wear when we go forth to the battle. That is the activity of battle. But if you are always battling, you will find 'm t4-h1 ^ 20 T/ie Great Shepherd. that you cannot always stand. The more we are in the quietness of perfect communion, the more shall we be able to stand the hardships of war. You often hear of believers, especially young disciples, who get up into the heights of bliss, and want to stay there. They mount up with ' wings as eagles ; and you may let them stay there, for they will be brought down to the daily fight of fife soon enough. And after the mounting what is there ? " They shall run and not be weary." And then shall they mount again? No, "they shall walk and not faint." That is a patient continuance in well- doing. And it is sometimes harder to do that than to mount with eagles' wings ; to keep amid the storms, and troubles, and sunshme of life a steady Christian walk and conversation. God's ways are various. It is not always sowing and reaping. He sometimes, after a time of refreshing and revival, sends a winnow- ing time ; and noce but those who are firmly resting on the Kock of Ages will stand through it all. But after this you would think that was enough; but no, having done all, we are to ** stand" — stand ! Yes, it needs grace to stand. Sometimes when the battle is pressing against us hard, we cannot do more than keep our ground, and it requires almighty grace to enable us to do even that. And after the mounting, and after the running, and after ■'■■"«' The Great Shepherd, 21 the walking, and after the standing, you might think that was surely enough. But there is a lower step yet. "He maketh me to lie down** in the quietness of confidence and communion. The third verse points us to the question of Sin still present in the believer, and requir- ing daily cleansing. Here it is no question of quickening, but of cleansing. But this He, the Great Shepherd, had also anticipated and met, so "He restore th my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name*s sake.** There is my weakness ; He gives me food. He thought I would be sinful, — "He restoreth my soul." Then in the fourth verse, when the Psalmist comes to speak about this awful'thing, Deathf there is a transition in iihe form of speech. At first, you notice he spoke about God; now he changes and speaks to God. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.** Does he not say "For He will be with me'*? No. "For Thou art with me." "He" sounds as though He were high up in the heavens, — " Thou,** that He is close beside me, down on our earth. "Thou art with me,** A Friend, more intimate than a.iy friend on earth — a Friend, more dear tha- any friend on earth, a Friend to dry every t3ar, a Friend who will ni u ^ 22 The Great Shepherd. stand by the grave and will weep with you and with me. He has a human heart, and He will not only stand by you, but He will weep with you, for He is a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It is not " I am going to tread the valley of death after awhile." I do not believe the deathbed is the valley of the shadow of death. I believe we enter it from our cradle. The Hebrew word could be rendered quite as cor- rectly, "I am now treading the valley of death." John Bunyan, in the Pilgrim^ s Pro- gress, makes Christian go through a river of death, which he finds deep and rapid and difficult to get through. Now according to the illustration of Joshua's crossing of Jordan, the Christian goes through dry-shod, and he can triumphantly sing — " Where are thy waves, O Jordan ? Thy emptied bed lies dry, And all thy power is broken, Thy waters stand on high. I fear not Jordan's river ; Its flood is pass'd for me , And, hasting dry-shod over, . I soon at rest shall be. , ' *♦ I do not dread death's valley, ; To me a pasture green ; For there, beside still waters. Is laid its peaceful scene. I do not fear death's shadow, A shadow ne'er can harm ; I must rejoice in Jesus, When resting on His ann.* TJie Great Shepherd. 23 •'* I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." We need both the rod and the staff, the rod to correct and the staff to support, and they both comfort. In the fifth verse we come to owr enemies — principalities and powers in heavenly places. These He has thought of and met as my Great Shepherd. Both lion and bear are known to Him and met by Him, and there is nothing left for me but to sit at His table under His banner of love. " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." He gives me the place of a royal priest beside Him. " Thou anointest my head with oil." Surely we have now reached the running over of our blessings, ** My cup runneth over.*' The Lord hath filled it to overflowing. There is water from the overflowing cup to refresh the earth, and there is incense from the adoring heart to ascend to God in worship. And let me say, in passing, to all Christian workers, Sunday-school teachers, and others, you will do very little good except with the overflow. We must ourselves be so filled with Divine truth, that we cannot contain it all, so that it will overflow, and the overflow will bless others. Unless you are filled to overflowing yourselves, never try to fill others, because you will need all you have got, and have none to spare. This is the finishing of it all — myself not i i m m /" '4 The Great Shepherd. I wanting, but running over to bless others. What more do we want? We have seen everything met: weakness, sins, death, and foes. What more can we want ? Yes, there is still something more. We have to look at our footprints left in the sands of the desert. He thought of this ; therefore ** surely good- ness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Before us we have Him- self: " Thou leadest me." Then *' Thou art with me," the Lord protecting either flank. We are guarded, you see, in the Jjront, and on either side, but there is stili the un- protected rear. " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." These great twin-brothers, goodness ari mercy, follow us from behind. And it does not say they have followed us merely in the past, but they shall follow us all the days of our life. The Psalm opened with the bold challenge, " I shall not want." " Find out anything, if you can, that I want." Now it closes with another challenge, which no one can gainsay, " Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.** We are protected on every side; and then there is nothing before us but the bright city of God, " the house of the Lord for ever. " City of the pearl-bright portal, City of the japper wall, The Great Shepherd. 25 City of the golden pavement, Seat of endless festival, Citv of Jehovah, Salem, City of eternity, To thy bridal hall of gladness From this prison would I flee ; Heir of gloir, That shall be for thee and me." r /' . e * !| ><■ " until:' 1. liSBSlHE shepherd seeks the lost sheep * * UNTIL he find it ' ' (Luke xv. 4). And it is only the lost sheep that lies in the pathway of the seeking shepherd. If I take the place of a lost sinner, and nothing else, it is not so much my part to seek Christ as His to seek me. This is grace. He seeks until He finds; He does not stop in His search until He and we meet. Alas I our part is only straying. The word of law would he, ** They that seek Me early shall find Me " (Prov. viii. 17). And the consequence of man being put on this ground is stated by God Himself: *' There is none that seeJceth after God " (Rom. iii. 11). The holy, just, and good law of God came demanding of us love to God, and proved that what God justly demands &om man He has not got, and cannot get, so that, without exception, it may be said of all men who ought to have sought after God, " There is none that seeJceth after Ood.** Gbace comes in now, and says, " I will seek you, and I will seek until I find." Thank God, it is He who breaks in, upon us, and not " Untiir 27 we upon Him. We would willingly remain among those who ** forget " God. Our wills are free only to wander, and get further from Him. In fact, the first thing God does in breaking in upon our enmity is "to make us willing." Our part is to take the place of a sinner and nothing else. Most people believe they are sinners, but comparatively few believe that they are sinners and nothing else but sinners. As truly as He hath shown us that we are lost, and nothing but lost, so surely can we gladly claim that seeking Shepherd, for He seeks until He finds. Nothing stops Him in His search; not all the hatred of man or devils ; not all the malice and spite and envy of the chief priests ; not all the murmurings of the Pharisees and scribes; not all the waywardness of the wandering sheep ; nor the indifference and degradation of those for whom He is search- ing. He will have His joy, the joy that rejoices not until it finds. 2. But there is another and an awfiil " UNTIL " in Luke xvii. 27 : ** They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all ; and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man." That little word " until " tells out the sad ■ml s - ii "^- 28 " Untiir story of what man is. Men will please them- selves, let God's claims or God's grace be where they may. And thus will they go on "until!" But every history has its until. The course of the vilest infidel is brought to a close by an UNTIL. The world's race to destruction will be consummated in that until. Vain are the thoughts of those who think of the gradual conversion of the world. They go on as Jesus Christ said they would — careless, and wholly engrossed with their own afifairs, until the Lord comes. This is not each man knowing the Lord from the least to the greatest. The world goes on in rebellion and self-pleasing until the Lord comes a,nd sweeps them away as with the besom of destruction. May we be now as men that believe this, and tell out the virtues of a Christ for sinners until that day ! Few of us, I fear, realise that there is a way of keejping out of hell, but no way of getting out of it. That vain imagination, that the punish- naent of the wicked will not be eternal, is sapping the very foundations of Christian action. What is the use of Christian effort ? let us take things quietly if, after su£fering for a while in a purgatorial hell, all are to be restored ! May God have mercy on us for our lukewarm- " Untiir 29 ness, and stir us all up to believe His simple word, that until Jesus comes men will go on in their mad career, but that this is the limit to their proud waves ; for we again read, that 3. The heavens will receive Jesus Christ ** UNTIL the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken," etc. And this untily while bringing glorious and final salva- tion to the Christ-receiver, restoration to God's ancient people, and emancipation to a groan- ing creation, is the time of destruction of all Christ's rejecters. For God says (Acts iii. 21, 23), that in the time of the restitution of all things ** it shall come to pass that evenj soul which will not hear that Prophet (Jesus) shall be DESTROYED from among the people." " Let God be true, and every man a liar." Christ will remain away until this time of mingled salvation and destruction : salvation to all who were sought out and found by Him ; destruction to all who rejected Him, it being one of God's impossibilities to renew, such to repentance. Solemn words I May we make our calling and election sure ! '* He came not to call the righteous, but sinner s.^^ Thus called and thus saved, we can patiently wait, leaning on the precious word, while even some that profess Christ's name are leaning to their own understandings, and taking their own ideas as their light, or, while a godless, reckless world is posting on to de- struction, taking no warning, dancing madly. ■:''?; ill 30 ♦' Untiir blindly on, until (and what an .until it will be!) — until He shall gird His sword on His thigh, to slay, and not to heal ; and, in the midst of their calamity and dreadful fear. His word is : — " I will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your fear comety ^ (Fiov. i. 26). Hfl m 8EBVING AND FOLLOWING. " If any man serve Me, let him follow Me." — John xii. 26. E are quite prepared to hear this, " If any man follow Me, he ought to serve Me," but it is the converse of this we have in this text. Is there not much Christ- less energy, restlessness, and activity among workers simply because there is so little follow- ing of Christ ? Who are Christian workers ? should every child of God not be a Christian worker ? The mothers and daughters at home work lor the Lord as well as the evangelist and preacher. Every member of the body should work, and if from not working some joint has become stiff, it has to be brought into working trim by gradually giving it a little to do day by day. Christ says to the sinner, Come to Me, and I will give you rest ; He says to the worker, Take My yoke and learn of Me, and you v^ill find rest. As the former part of this gracious passage shows how the sinner is to get rest, so this shows how the worker is to find his rest. This, therefore, could never refer to an un- mi . ; m 32 Serving and Following. saved man, and should never be applied to any except to those who are consciously converted. A dead horse could never be harnessed to draw the plough. You would not put a yoke on a cold corpse : and an unsaved man is dead (Eph. ii. 1) ; therefore you cannot apply the yoke to him. But to such as have life, these words must be very potential, very solemn, very encourag- ing, '* Take My yoke upon you.'^ What a feUowship ! What grace to give us to be sharers in His yoke ! And what was His yoke? I think we obtain some indications of its meaning if we do not dislocate the passage from its preceding context, but view it in the connection in which it stands. In the former verses He was upbraiding the cities wherein most of His mighty works had been done ; where He had been working good works, and had been called a devil; relieving men, and blamed for so doing, as one who had fellowship with Satan. Scornfully *' despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." This wa? His "yoke," rejection, when acting in p; < ;Tace ! And this is the yoke we are to Ial. Do good to men, and be blamed for it. Do many good things, get many reproaches ; lavish your love on this world, and be content to be misunder- stood; lavish your goods as to God, and get no return but side-looks from men. **Take My yoke," says our Lord and Master. The -7-. Serving and Following. ZZ road may be thorny, but it has been trodden before by Him. Do you know "the fellowship of His sufferings"? He says, "If any man will come after Ale, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Are you under His yoke, and no other yoke ? Not the yoke of a Grod- dishonouring legalism ; not the yoke of conformity to the world in its fashions, its smiles, its sneers, its gentilities, its ways of acting, its manner of judging, and its opinions of this and that. " My yoke " is all the Christian needs, and all the Christian wants. '•''liearn of Ife." Here again we have this beautiful, comprehensive Me. Keader, do you know its power ? It is Ms. Not My servants, not My angels, not My prophets, but Me. How many sit and learn of some great saint, generally taking his distinctive fUults, like cracks in reflecting mirrors, rather than his graces. A dear brother said one day, he believed the. memoir of a distinguished saint "had done much harm." "How can that be ? " I asked. " Because," said he, " men wish to get into hie experience, and then think they will get his feelings. If they could only pray as often, read so much of the Bible, get up at such an hour, conform to all the rules he laid down for his conduct, it would be all right with them, instead of going directly to the Lord Himself." There is real truth in this. 3 s. 34 Serving and Following. " Learn of Me," says Jesus. Do it by praying, by communing, by singing, by read- ing, by meditating, by watching His wondrous hand, — it matters little in what way it is done, but, at all costs, get to the only worthy pattern "• Me," and " learn of Me." " Fori am meek and lowly in heart.^' How unlike the maxims and practice of men — every man for himself ! Stand up for your rights ! Let no man trample upon you ! Do not be reckoned a fool! Get a character for being sharp, shrewd, and that no one is able to over- reach you ! How different this from the simplicity of the child vith the single eye, learning of Jesus to be '' meek and lowly ; " following Him who, " when He was reviled, reviled not again," but was dumb before His accusers. The true Christian walk is to learn of Jesus to be least of all and servant of all, without being proud of the service. *' Bearing all things, believing all thing, hoping all things, enduring all things ; " content to be nothing, or to do anything, for Christ ; to stand still, to advance, or to go whither that lustrous guiding Eye directs. Thus, and only thus, "ye sh&ll find rest unto your souls." How calmly and joyously did Jesus, who had said, " Lo, I come to do Thy will," turn li'om earth's rejections, earth's scorn and hardness, after He had done many mighty works, to His •Father, saying, " I thank Thee, Father ! " % Serving and Following. 35 In the parallel passage iu. Luke we are informed that *' Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast liid these .things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto habes. Even so. Father ; for so it seemed good in Thy sight " (Matt. xi. 25 ; Luke X. 21). Cast out by men, He found His rest in God; and this yoke of His He asks you to bear, and this is the rest He asks you to find. Our rest is not in service, not in much doing, not in a restless unbelief, not in an uneasy annoyance at not having a great crowd to speak to, ?nd thus have an opportunity of doing a greater amount of good, but in His Father. How many of the true saints of God are in bondage to their little bit of service, in their own little corner of the mighty vine- yard ! Our particular ways of doing things are often a yoke. Alas ! is it not the common sin of all the workers for God, that they get under yokes to their work, and when the character or sphere of their work changes, they are fretted and disconcerted, instead of resting in calm, childlike, simple faith on the unchanging Father ? Are we first following, then serving ? Are we serving Him in the following ? We fear that there are more who serve but do not follow tiian those who follow and. do not T , i r ' V> i \ [:>.! J ■■' 36 Serving and Following. serve. Hew much Christless work there is I How much this following Jesus, this learning of Him, this bearing His yoke, strips us of all that is of self 1 Live only for others — ^live as Christ lived — walk behind Him, and be of no reputation — cheerfully spend for Him — cheer- fully want with Him — need nothing else but Him. My fellow Christian, only in thus following Jesus can you find rest. You have tried many other things. Long ago you found none in the world ; since then you have been seek- ing rest in this and that. Have you perfect rest in the yoke-bearing of Jesus ? Only thus will you find that His yoke is easy and His bur'-^en liglit. Nothing else will suit that Divme life which God has implanted but His yoke. And this is a rest not to be got once for all, but is a rest we are to be ever seeking, and ever finding. ^ There is a rest that is obtained at first, and it is for ever ; that is the rest in the atone- ment and person of Jesus, — rest fc ^m the consciousness of all guilt imputed and con- demnation to be incurred. For there neither is, nor can be, any condemnation to us, who are **in Christ Jesus;" for He has eternally settled that question for us eighteen hundred years ago, and He ** dieth no more." But there is this day-by-day 7?7id?m^ of rest to our souls in bearing His yoke. The more yoke-bearing the more rest-finding. In these Serving and Following. 37 days of restless activity in every department of 'the Church and world, activity in business, politics, science, art, and religion, in the desire for the novelty, and the consequent un- rest, there is much need of standing still and listning to the voice of God's aged prophet, as with freshness he echoes the words of our blessed Lord through these many centuries. <* Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and ivalh therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls *^ (Jer. vi. 16). These paths Jesus trod — in these paths His followers, those who have come and got rest as guilty sinners, love to walk. In Philippians ii. w( get Christ's humiliation, the worker's example; in Philippians iii., Christ in exalta- tion, the worker's aim. Philippians is the letter of Christian experience, and twenty- eight times **joy " or ** rejoice," or some such word, is used; and Paul wrote it from a Komish prison chained to a soldier. He had already sung himself and Silas out of the prison at Philippi, and no doubt the jailer would appreciate this call to universal joy. How could Paul thus joy in his chains? Simply because he put God between him and all cir- cumstances. Sense and unbelief put circum- stances between us and God., Faith, that thus brings real joy, puts God between me and my riches, me and my poverty, me and my adversity, me and my prosperity — perhaps a h <t • 1 m III m 38 Serving and Following, ;'«' i I more difficult thing — and, whatever comes, faith puts God first. " Let nothing he done through strife or vain-glory ; hut in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." Paul understood the frailties and jealousies of Chris- tian workers — amongst their equals, not among either their superiors or inferiors. In the same letter he says, "I beseech Euodias, cind beseech Syntyohe, that they be of the same mind in the Lord." Possibly both had been energetic in sending contributions to Paul, but perhaps had been at variance as to their districts, or some other disputed point. In Luke ix. the apostles, with all authority and power, could not cast out a devil ; and the reason was, they were contending who should be greatest. God often cannot own, or show that He does own, Christian workers, because it would minister to their pride. *' Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." This is the true spirit of a Christian worker following in service, imitat- ing the perfect "Worker. The Perfect Woekeb. *' Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Here we have His highest glory. He is contrasted with Adam, who desired to be on an equality with God by an act of robbery; but Christ Jesus had it by right, and not by grasping Serving and Following. 39 robbery; and in the path of perfect service the first thing He did was — ** He made Himself of no reputation ; " and this is the very thing that most servants of Christ aim at making — a reputation. This is what the great mass of Christians encourage the servants to make — a reputation ; and this is where we find the root of the total failure of Christian workers, the desire to make a reputation. He has great reputation as a teacher, evangelist, preacher, visitor, or any- thing else. Then let him beware, and study Philippians ii. He is but a poor Sunday-school teacher ! then, praise God, he may be in the place to be used without his ambition or self-conceit being added to. A little taper may kindle a big fire. He is but a poor preacher, weak minister, or only an insignificant layman ; then let him read for his joy Phil. ii. '' But I have a reputation to make," says one ; *' I have a name to get as a popular preacher, an intellectual preacher, a logical preacher, an oratorical preacher, a profound preacher, an attractive preacher ; ' ' then look out, my friend, and read Phil, ii., and let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who *' made Himself of no reputation." Until we find that we have to please God alone^ independent of self and self's ambition, we shall have little of Christ's mind. He stepped from the throne which He had by right to the servant's . i 'W hi 11 '■'I HI fell 40 Set'ving and Following. M place, which He entered by choice, to show what obedience was, obedience in life, obedience in death, and obedience even in glory, when He takes the crown from the Father. But when He "took upon Him the form of a servant," He did not be- come an angel, but came down to the lower service. '* Was made in the likeness of men," and was there seen, not as man in his strength and glory, but being found in fashion as a man, " He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death ; ' ' and when death came did not choose the death of peace or honour, but the felon's death, the deaoh of shame, ** even the death of the cross." Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him. Fellow- worker, this is the path to the Well done ! This is the following Him in which true serving is found. Let this mind be in you. May we day by day be seeking to trace every footstep, bear His light and easy yoke along the path of His perfect obedience — that only good, comfortable, safe path for His disciples — and sing each day with calm confidence and joyful lips : — (( I ^ove to kiss each print where Christ Did set His pilgrim feet ; Nor can I fear that blessed path Whose traces are so sweet. Jf Serving and Following. 41 <» "^saA on, lead on triumphantly, O blessed Lord ! lead on ; Faith's pilgrims' sons behind Thee seek The road that Thou hast gone. •* He always wins who sides with God, To him no chance is lost ; God's will is sweetest to him when It triumphs at his cost. " 111 that God blesses is our good, And unblest good is ill ; And all is right that seems most wrong, If it be His sweet will." i'\ m THE SACEIFICE, THE PBIEST, AND THE SAVIOUB, E see these three — Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour — connected in that wondrous chain of doctrine in the end of Heb. ix. 24-28, where we find the word appear three times repeated — 1. He appeared to put away sin as the Sacrifice. 2. He appears befor- xod for us as the Priest. 3. He shall appear the second time for final salvation. Each of these has a difi'erent word in the Greek, used, as we might expect, with a Divine propriety, in each case serving only to eluci- date the different aspects under which the Lord Jesus is here seen. 1. He appeared, that is, became manifest as the One who ever existed, but now came to be visible. 2. He appears, that is, officially; for He always appeared before God, but now it is "/or us,^' Compare Exod. xxxiii. 13, where this word is used in the Septuagint. . ♦ .•'*« The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 43 3. He sihall appear, that is, shall be seen face to face, as a man with his friend. This is the word used in connection with Christ risen (1 Cor. XV. 5), etc. 1. The Sactiifioe. '* Now once, in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin hy the sacri- fice of Himself." He who was the invisible God took to Himself a true body, and became manifest to this world, not merely a manifes- tation of God, but God Himself manifest in the flesh. Wondrous thought 1 God has appeared; God has been manifested; God has been seen; God has been treading this earth, and has been seen by mortals' eyes. When was He here? On w^at errand did He come? How did He perform His work ? 1. The time tvhen He appeared — ** Now, once, at the end of the world." What? Has the world come to its end ? Yes, Christ gathered up the lines of all the past ages. He appeared at the end of the world, as under the period of man's trial. Man was proved utterly bad by Christ's coming, and His cross is the end of man's probation. '' In these last days God hath spoken to us by His Son." He sent His Son '' last," He is the ''last Adam." The last and worst thing against man is now out. He would kill God if he could. He killed God manifest in the flesh. This has brought the world to its end. The world is " condemned already." m^i m n:;« i .1 V -»1 44 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. God is only delaying the execution of the sentence to manifest His grace. After a man is condemned, his history is done. What of all the vaunted histories and progress of the race ? God looks at the period since the Cross as a blank — as a timeless gap, in ■which there is no earth-history, but a wondrous unearthly, heavenly calling going on, gathering people out of the world to share the throne with His Son. Now. Yes, during these eighteen centuries the relative position of parties has remained fixed, the world doomed, and God, saving, out of it. ** Now is the day of salvation." It has been one great long-suffering noio since Calvary. If we belong to the world, we are doomed — we are at our end already. If we are only in the world, but not of it, our sin is gone — we are safe. 2. The Vvork done. "He appeared, to put away sin." What ? Was sin put away eighteen hundred years ago? If it was not, Christ's mission failed, for He came to put away sin. He died in vain if sin be not put away. Friend, do ' you not realise this fact, that sin was put away by Christ before you were born? Are not all your efforts to try to get sin away? Is all your unrest not occasioned by the feel- ing that sin is not put away ? If you are trying to put away your sin, or to get your sin put away, you know nothing about the gospel. Let us look at a few things that this does not mean. ■h The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 45 (1) It does not oiean that, as to its 'presence in this tvorld, sin has been put away. Alas! no one can look to our streets, our jails, our asylums, our infirmaries, our newspapers, and dream of such a thought. It has been left to the too-wise Neologist to shut his eyes, and call evil good. I have just been wonder- ing why they don't deny the existence of death. They deny the resurrection; they deny the existence of sin, why not of death ? Is death not a rpere idea? Is death a reality? No philosopher ever felt death and told us what it is. The fact that I see it could be as easily got over as the fact of hundreds having seen a man risen from the dead is got over. Eeason, so called, gets over anything. When they have got rid of the servant, sin, it should be very easy to get rid of the wages, death. Is it not wonderful that they still let God speak, though they do try to tell us about the debt of nature ? They still must know chat death is the wages of sin, the Divine appointment. "It is appointed to men once to die." Sin exists all around as really as its wages, death ; therefore that its existence is done awav with m the world is not meant by the expression here. And moreover, God has settled the matter, for after Christ died and put away sin, He says, "If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar." (2) It does not mean that, a^ to its presence in the heart of any man, sin is put away. We h l¥*r I ' • •* 46 The Sacrifice, Priesi, and Saviour. appeal to every man who knows what sin is, and, though he is the oldest saint in the world, he, if conscientious, must confess that in him, that is, in his flesh, there dwells no good thing. One of the greatest signs of growth in grace is the judgment of sin within. It is as walking in the light that we detect our sin, and, above all, the God of truth has said, *'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us " (1 John i. 8). Therefore all your ideas of trying to get rid of the feeling of sin are absurd, and all your efforts in that direction are worse than useless. If you did not feel any sin in you, it would be the worst sign possible. Don't try to get rid of the feeling of sin. Look to God's Christ, who has put it away.' What does this mean ? Mark, it is not that He put away sms — "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away" (not the sins, butj "the sin of the world." Look at it from God's point of view, and you will be able to get a more scriptural grasp of the thought. Take away your mind irom yourself, or any other sinner — your ruin or your salvation. Look at the existence of sin in the moral government of God. God is not the Author of it. God's name has been dishoiioured ; God's glory has been assailed ; God's character has been com- promised. The foul blot, sin, has been put on the fair creation of God. Ciirist comes, say- iug, I will put it away ; I will erase the dark ' f The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 47 blot ; I will vindicate Thy name ; I will mani- fest Thy character. And, in prospect of it completed, He exclaimed, " I have glorified Thee upon the earth." Mark, this is al- / together mdependent of any single man's salvation. Had every soul from Adam down to the last man rejected God's offered mercy, Christ would, by His death, have glorified God by the putting away of sin. Man is always taken up with himself ; but the first note from the choirs in harmony with the chorus of heaven is, " Glory to God in the highest ; " then, bless His name I "Peace on earth." ■ And is it not of far more consequence that God should be glorified than that sinners should be saved ? Thanks be to God, both are accomplished by Chkist ; but the latter has its value only as the former is its foun- dation. Since God has been glorified as to the existence of sin, and in the person of His Son it has been put away. He can send forth His heralds, proclaiming a righteous way, by which the vilest sinner, born in sin, steeped in sin, may approach to Himself. He can now tell the messengers to go into all the world and tell the good news, that there is a way in which God is just, and can not only pardon, but justify sinners. He is now held forth as the meeting-place between God and any sinner in the wkole world. : -vm j 1 ' \ nil ' ! f ! i'lr .■ lA 48 The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour, " How did you see the truth ? " I once asked a man. "From an expression you once used in preaching." " What was that ? " "That God was dealing with us now in the gospel, not on the sin-question, but the Son-question." Blessed he God, this is His good news. Of course, if we refuse to accept of His Son, we remain in our condemned state under all our sins, with the superadded one of rejecting God's offered salvation. Suppose a harbour of refuge has been made, everything is ready to let in the ships that are riding out in the dtormy ocean, the ponderous gates that are swung across its entrances being opened. Any ship, now, in all the ocean may get into the harbour through these gates, but the actual state of each is in no way changed if it remains outside — only this, they know of safety, and won't take it. Thus has our Lord Jesus Christ taken away the barrier — the legal just barrier — sin be- tween man and God, glorifying God. Any poor, heavy-laden, tempest-tossed soul may come to Him, and through Him to eternal rest. Nothing will all this avail for them but only as they are in Him. He Himself is offered for the acceptance of all, and how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? The Sacrifice, Priest , and Saviour, j\g Without money and without price are His conditions. He will in no wise cast out whoever comes. Though sins he like scarlet, He can make them white as snow; though red like crimson, they shall he as wool. The chief of sinners is in heaven ; therefore God cannot he dealing with us individually on the sin-question. The platform is entirely changed. God's law has heen magnified ; God Himself has been glorified. Sin has been put away as the barrier between God and the sinner. Sin has been put away as the platform on which God now transacts business with man. His one question now is — What have you to do with My Son ? Do you accept Him ? Do you accept My way of putting away sin ? Do you accept of His putting away of sin as the putting away of your sins ? Then you are justified, accepted, complete, in Him. Do you neglect Him ? Then how great must be your condemnation. " This is the condem- nation that Hght is come into the world, and man loved darkness rather than light." Better would it have been for you never to have heard of such a Saviour, than, having heard of Him, to refuse to receive Him. '* He that believeth on Him is not condemned ; but he that be- heveth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only- begotten Son of God." How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? 'mu II; i m ■ li ^, |0 The Sacrifice, Priest , and Saviour, 3. The Person sacrificed, — " Himself." Wonderful truth I Had millions of angels, and tens of millions of the highest created intelligences, been sacrificed, they never could have put sin away. It required Himself, and Himself did it. It did not require our agency, for our agency was useless ; but Himself did it. Poor ignorant man tries by his own sacrifice to please God. Man's efforts are always to try, like Adam, to make a covering for himself; God's way is to cover us first, and then ask us to work. Not all the offerings of Old Testament days could put away a single sin ; but no sooner did sin and the great Sin-bearer meet, than He burned it up by His own intrinsic essential merit. Man, when he touched a leper, was defiled ; Christ, when He touched a leper, was not only not defiled, but cured the leper. When we touch sin, we are contaminated ; when Christ touched sin, He consumed it. Himself is the central word of all the revelation and the counsels of God. Himself is the alone sacrifice. Himself is the sum of every believer's creed — the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the ending, the first, and the last, of all his theology. We think much of His work, because it is that which is more close to us. It is that on which we stand; but what is the work without the Person? We stand on the work, but the work stands on The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 51 the Person. God has given us first Himself, and in Himself the work. The first note of all true scriptural preach- ing is Himself, The power with the anxious is giving them Himself, and in Himself , His work. The power to raise the straggling believer is knowing Jesus Himself, the One who was dead and is now alive for evermore. And the centre of all worship, the su'ojeot of all praise, the object to fill every eye in the coming glory, will be Himself seen as the Man of Calvary, who now once in the end of the world appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. n. The Priest. In these days of apostacy, it is well to consider Jesus Christ as our great High Priest, who hath entered for us within the veil. Are there any priests, then, on earth ? Yes. All true believers are priests ; and no minister, no pastor, no teacher can be called a priest in any other sense than that in which all Christians are. All Christians are not pastors, are not teachers, but all Christians are priests (Rev. i. 6, and xx. 6) ; and any Christian who assumes a special priesthood over other Christians is denying the High- priesthood of Christ, He hath made us unto our God a kingdom of priests made nigh, with the power and in the place where we can worship and serve as the royal priesthood. Wondrous truth 1 5a The Sacrifice^ Priest^ and. Saviour, But we are to consider not the priesthood of Christians, but the priesthood of Christ as now exercised for us, and as keeping us right all the way through our journey. And we see this in the second use of the word " ajppear " in Heb. ix. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." And is not this what we need when we come to understand that sin has been put away, that our sins have been borne by the great Sacrifice ? We have been brought into the presence of God by faith, but that very presence reveals to us that we are ever prone to sin and get defiled. God knows this, and God provided, and His provision is, that Jesus as our Priest now " appears " in the presence of God for us. Sin has been put away by Him as the Victim. Wrath has been poured out upon Him. The wrath, the condemnation, the judgment that were prepared against the sinner who believes, are gone now in Christ. There is no cup of wrath for the beHever now. There is now no condemnation — he shall not come into judgment ; for Christ has appeared and put away sin. The Victim's blood has been shed, and is accepted for us. We need Him now as our Priest appearing in the true holy place, and who offers there His own blood; and peace, pardon, and reconciUation are the The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour, 53 only notes that are heard from the throne of God, coming to every believer over that offered blood. Let us consider — 1st, Where He appears. He " appears in the presence of God." He was always in the bosom of His Father ; now He has taken our place, and representatively, according, not to the value of what He had as God, but of what He has acquired as the God-man who put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He is in the presence of perfect holiness, perfect light; and this is our place maintained, as procured, by the value of the precious Blood. Do we really believe that the sanctuary is our place? In the resplendent light of this Holiest of the holies, we learn the meaning of two words. These words are sin and lioliness. We begin to get into God's thoughts about sin. We begin to realise that " whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Solemn words ! It was because Jesus prayed for Peter that he was convinced of his sin. Christ's advocacy shows me what I am, leads me to judge my ways, my sins, myself, in the light of God. Every- thing inconsistent with the Ught of the *' Holiest" is set aside when we understand what the *' Holiest" is, and realise that our walk is there. We begin to understand what holiness is — that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. As to our standing, we know that Christ is our sanotification, perfect and un- ij-ii '3 54 The Sacrifice^ Priest, and Saviour, changeable ; but in our walk with God in the light, we cannot see God unless we are walk- ing in practical holiness. Place the smallest coin over the eye of the best-seeing man, and in the midst of the all-pervading light around, lie will be in darkness. Place the slightest unconfessed sin on the spiritual eye of the strongest believer as he walks in the light, and we can realise that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Blessed be His name, all is done that we may be partakers of His holiness, and His advocacy will not cease in the Holiest till that is accomplished. 2nd, When He appears. " Christ is entered . . . into heaven itself now, to appear " — now in the midst of all our wilderness experience ; now, just when we require Him most ; now, when we are sinners. It was when Satan desired to sift Peter that Jesus prayed. In the coming glory, when we shall be with, and perfectly like our Lord, while we stand upon His merit, we shall require no more His advocacy, His precious blood to wash out stains; but it is now that we require Him, and it is now that He appears in the presence of God for us. Not only did He once appear on earth and put away sin, but He now appears, at this present hour, before God on our behalf. He has not to come out of heaven at each suing of His believing one, and die over again; but He has with Him where He is the merit of His death, which has the continued efficacy The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 55 before God. It is not that Christ has washed my sins all away, and now tells me to make my way to heaven, which I'll reach if I hold on, but now He appears, now, after I have be- lieved; now I see Him by faith ever presenting to the eye of God His own precious blood, which cleanseth me from all sin. 'Now in the midst of the opposition of the world, the temp- tation of Satan, and the un-subject evil nature still within, Jesus is for us before God. iVow; as we rise each morning, afresh to the battle and the defeat, to the triumph and the conflict, we can go forward with the certainty that God is for us. 3rd, For ivliom He appears. "For us." He never required to leave heaven to die, and to return to His native home for Himself. It was for us He came, for us He died, for us He has again entered heaven. It is not for angels He appears; they stand on their own creature merit. He appears for us. We put in no claim but as He presents it. He looks after all our interests, for it is for us He appears. He . does not appear for the unsaved. He died for the unsaved, but He has entered into heaven for us, the saved. We claim Christ at Calvary as unsaved. We claim Christ in the Holiest as saved sinners. We must be justified before we can claim the merits of what is now being carried on before God. In other wordp, we must first be sons before we can lay claim IkW ^ ii 56 The^ Sacrifice^ Priest, and Saviour. to Christ's advocacy, which is God's provision for the walk of His own children. Neither is it " for us " as pure and spotless, and perfectly holy. We shall not be like Him till we see Him as He is. But it is for us as journeying through the wilderness, in which "we are apt to contract sin, and if any of us (saved ones) sin, we have Him as our Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. in. The Saviour. • " As it is appointed unto men once to die : " And after this the judgment : ** Sc Christ was once offered to hear the sins of many : *' And to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." This is the Divin^^^. Proportion, or Kule of Three- the grtjat parallel God has drawn be- t^c3u the TWO MEN, the only two men that weri^ seen by Him, the first Adam and the last Adam. The first two factors tell us what we have in Adam, death and judgment : death as the end of this state, judgment as the be- ginning of another and an eternal state. The second two factors tell us what we have in Christ — our sins borne and salvation given; our sins borne as the ^nd of our Adam state, salvation, complete and final, as the beginning of our glorified state, and v As (in the case of meuy all sprung from Adam) The Sacrifice, Priest, and Saviour. 57 Death IB to judgment i 80 (in the case of saints, all sprung from the Second Adam, all born of God) Christ bearing sin is to Christ appearing the second time for salva- tion. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die. Adam ate ; therefore it is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment, which must be eternal wrath. David trembled at the thought, and said, " Enter not into judg-. ment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified" (Psalm cxliii. 2). If God judges me I am condemned. Blessed be God for ever ! this is not our place. We do not stand in the first Adam. The first factors of the proportion are not ours in Christ ; death and judgment are past for us in Him ; we are ''dead" (Col. iii. 3) ; " we shall nob come into judgment " (John v. 24). Instead of death, we have '* Christ was once offered," and He not only put sin away, but He bore our sins. All our sins, beheving in Him, were on Him when He bore the wrath due to sin. They are gone for ever ; there- fore, since the sin is gone, the death is gone for the believer. He may be put asleep by Jesus, but we (Christians) shall not all sleep (1 Cor. XV. 51). There is no necessity for any Christian dying. There is a Divine appoint- ment for men as men dying. We know that some saved men have not died, and many saved 1 if J! i ; I ;i \ 1 ; M \ M II -. -.■.■_'i,us.----.\;v.-.u, ... ■sC' i I 58 T/te Sacrifice y Priest^ and Saviour. men will not die. But this fearful doom hangs over all men out of Christ — death, and they cannot get rid of it. Gnash at it, groan at it, philosophise about it, as they may, there it stands calmly as the appointment of God. Instead of judgment we have " Christ ap- pearing the second time without sin unto salvation.'* As truly as the enemy Death, which men know well abcut, stands across the path, so surely will the yword of judgment fall on every Christless soul; but in Christ we look not for judgment, but far salvation. There is no question of sin no^. He put ^ away. He bore our sins. Sin and sins have been dismissed. He had to do with them the first time He appeared, but the last time He appears He will have no sin on Him. He will enter into no question of sin, death, or judgment with His own, but salvation^ final and perfect, will bo His great work then. We shall then be perfectly saved as to our bodies, as we are now as to our souls. As He appeared and put away sin, so only as sinners "without strength," "un- godly," " lost," " condemned," " dead," could we claim Him. As He now appears for us only as the ransomed of the Lord, the re- deemed from men, the royal priesthood, so He will appear the second time only to them that look for Him. Of that day or hour no man knows ; but He that shall come will come and will not TJie Sacrifice, Priest^ and Saviour. 59 tarry. His first appearing to put away sin was death to all Laen, merely men, and to us who are the sons of God, now helieving in His Qame, it is the hearing of .our sins. His appearng the second time is judgment to all men, merely men, and is salvation to us who look for Him. Knoiving that He is coming, and looking for Him, are two things quite different. The head may teU us the former ; the heart must be exercised for the latter. He shall come as the great Saviour, saving us by power out of the enemy's hand. This salvation is our hope ; this salvation is nearer than when we belie^;ed. Insi^ead of judgment we are to be saved out of the midst of the whole doomed scene. Is this not a blessed hope — His glorious appearing ? At death our bodies are still left in the hands of the enemy, but His appearing is our hope. Friend, are you a man ? Then your end is death. '* It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment." Your only chance is to accept Christ, and then you will look for Him and His salvation which lie shall bring, every trace of sin being gone. Look back to Him as the Sacrifice, who appeared once and put away your sin. Look up to Him now as the Priest appearing in the presence of God, keeping us ever clean there. Look forward for Him who will appear the second time without sin unto salvation. n 1 ) i :: THE POWER THAT THE WORLD KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT. " For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." — Eom. i. 16. [HIS was the reason Paul gave for his readiness to preach the gospel at Borne, the centre of the world's wisdom, to Greeks or to barbarians, to wise or unwise. For, let man be cultivated or uncultivated, "wise or ignorant, he is lost; let him be rich or poor, he is lost, and needs nothing less than salvation. But the gospel is sufficient, however contemptible in the eyes of the great men at Eome, however foolish to human wisdom. It is the sufficient and sole power God now uses. Let us look. 1st. The power God is using. His gospel. 2nd. The purpose God is working out. Salvation. 3rd. The people God is blessing. ' Every one that believes. I. The Power God is using. His gospel. This is the only moral engine God is using to reclaim lost man. Man has The Power the World knows r, Hhing about 6i his hundreds of schemes, his philaathropio societies, his improvement of man as he ia, his reformation or alleviation of the first Adam, his many levers or helps to the gospel. God has but one powej-, which requires no help, and that is "His gospel." The words, **of Christ," are not in the best manuscripts, though certainly it is the gospel of Christ (2 Cor. X. 4), but the thought in Rom. i. is, that it is God's own good news, ** the gospel of God*' (i. 1). Good news to bad men is the wonderful and solitaiy lever God is using. The reception of a testimony outside of us is the only way by which we can deal with God. Therefore, since it is news to us, we have nothing whatever in it but hearing it. It is not that in itself the good news has any intrinsic power, but the message that this good news brings .is ** concerning Jesus Christ our Lord" (v. 3). The good news tells of God's justice perfectly satisfied, God's law magnified, God*s demands all met, and God glorified, while sin has been put away, for G d's Son is risen. Had He but died, there would- have been no good news: the good news is ** Christ has died ; yea rather, is risen." God is now proclaimed as just, while justifying sinners. It is because the gospel tells of God's demands being met that it is of use to the sinner's conscience. For God's demands are first. The need of the sinner, the good of man, the elevation m : «« }';i f <^^ kl f'ii-i ^\ 62 The Power the World knows nothing about. of the race, the progress of mankind, are not the first questions, but the glory of God, the vindication of His name, the equipoise of all His attributes preserved, an all-perfect, all- equal, because all-infinite God. The gospel proclaims His perfect love and His perfect hate : His perfect love to the sinner, His perfect hatred against sin. Man could be satisfied with the exhibition of love, but tries to get out of the reach of the demands of justice against sin. In our day- there is a great deal of talk about the love of God, though what is meant is not love at all, but the overlooking and winking at sin, the toleration of evil. This is the cause of the deep-seated hatred to *' the blood theology." We hear a great deal concerning following in the footsteps of the great Example, Christ, following Him in His devotion to God ; but where in all this is there rest to the conscience of a man who instinctively feels that God is just, and, come what may, that that justice must be upheld, though it should entail the eternal perdition of every creatm^e ? God can by no means clear the guilty. There is a great deal of whining sentimentality about God being so good, and so loving, and so merciful, forget- ting that His justice is equal to His love, His righteousness to His grace, because each is infinite. There is no such thing as God having a The Power the World knows nothing about. 63 a darling attribute. It is a human invention, measuring God by man. He is certainly showing His grace, a love all His own, in seeking out the vilest, and putting them on the throne of His Sou, and taking them to His own heart ; but it is a grace that flows through righteousness, through the settling of His every righteous demand, and the gospel comes revealing this. The law came demand- ing man's perfect obedience to God ; the gospel comes revealing God's perfect provision for man. All the grounds of the gospel have beer-, laid; therefore it can be preached. Every- thing on God's part has been done ; therefore it has only to be proclaimed. Nothing can be added to make the work more God-glorilying, for God would not order His terms to be preached till they were perfectly adjusted. He is the offended party. He has made the conditions ; He has satisfied the conditions ; and now He proclaims that all has been adjusted for our acceptance. Ours is the place of simple acquiescence. Hence the good news is God's power. If it fail to reclaim the vilest, then nothing will succeed. It has saved the vilest, and it is waste of time in a Christian to be at anything except this gospel. Let the world reform itself : all very well ; we are thankful for it. Let the dead bury their dead, and if they do it decently we are !» ■ C I ^ 64 The Power the World knows nothing about. very glad ; but the voice to us from Jesus is, "Follow Me." How many dear Christians waste their energies at all sorts of worldly mixed plans, instead of using the pne lever — God's own one power— His Gospel. In reading this text, we seem to see the" apostle, as it were, standing on the quarter- deck of a small contemptible ship, built on a new principle iirom all other ships of war, with his flag, " the Gospel," nailed up, and boldly saying, " Laugh on, ye wise, ye power- ful ; this is in your eyes foolishness and weakness ; but wait a little. I'm not ashamed of it, and am prepared to bring it to Rome, and lay it alongside all the heaviest gunboats or men-of-war. For it is the power of God, and will blow to pieces all that is of man." Or, says Paul, '* I have got the true philo- sopher's stone, that will not certainly change everything it touches into gold, but will do far more : it wiU change even the vilest sinner whom it touches into an heir of God, will raise him from the dunghill to the throne, will make the beggar a prince." What a talisman Paul and every believer carries with him, the very power of God unto salvation I Fellow- Christian, are we using this wondrous "power of God," believing it is what it is ? Why is there so little power? Because there is so little gospel. In the gospel is the power of God. Are we ashamed to stand up at all times with it, and with it alone? The Power the World knows nothing about. 65 And is it not hard, over and over again, dear brother, to go out with this same jaessage of glad tidings, and repeat the old story, and believe that it is the power of God ? Human wisdom would suggest something else, some- thing additional, but **the gospel" is all. We do not go out to make experiments to see whether the gospel is the power of God — that is unbelief, and will not be blessed ; but, starting on the ground that we have in our hand, the only power God will use, in the simplicity of confidence we proclaim His good news to all. We can't save a man; let us tell the story that God can use. We can't give the blow, but we can hold the instrument straight, on which the hammer descends which will rend the rock. How often is preached what God could not bless, except by making the hearers disbelieve it ! II. The Purpose God is working out. It is the power of God unto salvation, God is not come to help them who help themselves, nor ^to give pity or good advice, reformation or amelioration, but to give salvation. The force of the original word is " extrication." Many people seem to think that preaching the gospel gives people a nice easy pillow to lie down on and enjoy themselves — that it gives chem an easy short cut to heaven, and now thoy caii take their ease. In other words, people look at salvation as equivalent to toleration to continue in the world, and of 5 s i. i ! 66 The Power the World knows nothing about. the world, with a good prospect for eternity, rather than an extrication out of 'the world and its ways. Unless we are extricated from the world, our religion is useless. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Salvation is a deep and wide word. It is deep, and goes to the root of every principle that is away from God. It lays the axe at the root of every tree. It is wide and all- emhracing. It is often confounded with justification, but is much wider. Hence the confusion in some minds. Salvation, which from first to last is of God, begins with a man as he is, and never leaves him till he is set on the throne of Christ. There are three aspects in salvation to every Christian. 1st. A past salvation, 2nd. A present salvation, 3rd. A future salvation. 1st. A past salvation. — Every Christian can say, "By grace I am a saved person.'* "I have received the end of my faith, even the salvation of my soul." This salvation is equi- valent to justification. It has extricated us for ever out of the state of condemnation, and saved our souls from the grasp of him in whose arms lies the whole world. This can never be added to, aufl, blessed be God, can never be taken from. So the apostle could say, " Unto us who are saved " (1 Cor. i. 18). Thank God, it is not merely pardon of sin, but a taking of our souls out of the prison of m an an lild The Power t/te World knows nothing about. 67 condemnation, where we wer6 legally held, and placing us in the place of sons, in His own beloved Son Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of salvation, our perfect justification, unto which the gospel is the power of God — a justification in a new life out of death ; our souls made alive, quick- ened together with Christ, for it is a resur- rection salvation, from first to last; now of our souls, by-and-hye of our bodies. The moment a man believes, he is perfectly saved as to his soul, as sate as tho^e in hea\en, for Jesus has Himself taken upon Him the responsibility of presenting us at His Father's house. 2nd. There is a present salvation. — I mean by that a salvation which is going on in the believer from day to day. The former was an act, this is a work; so that it can be said, "Work out your own salvation.** Not cer- tainly work /or ity but work out what God has wrought in, and be sure it is "your own" first. This is the gradual extrication of our- selves from all that is around and within opposed to our Father-God. The first was the salvation of the soul of a condemned sinner; this is the extrication of an accepted son from aU that is against the place into which he has been brought. Before a man has received the first, the enmity is between him and God ; afterwards, and during this second process, the enmity is between .*'' ■^ ' n m ' ' ■■■■'■ J L it Jl n I i' :i i I , 68 The Power the World knows nothing about. him and himself. This is his progressive sanctification or growth in grace, and the good news from God is still God's power to extricate him thus day by day in his walk. It is a mere idle fable of sell-deceived ones who dream or suppose that even any child of God in this world can live without having sin in him. We have been asked if we did not believe that a Christian could reach sinlessness (entire sanctification, it is called, which, in this sense, is unscriptural and very dangerous teaching), tha't is to say, living perfectly in love, without having any sin in him, and if it was to be beli ed, because a man said so ; but no, all such statements are to be judged by the Word, and if the- greatest saint on earth came to us, and said that he had reached a point of perfect sanctification, that is, that he did not now sin, we would simply and conclusively quote, '* If we say we have no sin^ we deceive ourselves^ and the truth is not in us.^' In the one aspect of sanctification — separa- tion to God by blood — all believers are perfectly sanctified the moment they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a sickly and unejcriptural notion of perfect sanctification by attainment, spreading among some who talk of reaching to and {attaining this so-called sanctification; suffice it to say that it is not in Scripture, and is merely the competitive spirit of the flesh The Power the World knows nothing about. 69 brought into the things of God, by which we would wish to be before our fellow-Chrip- tians, and profess to have attained an undefined something, unlike the apostle, " not as though I had already fittained." Against such we must give no uncertain sound. No Christian ever reaches perfect sanctification. The perfect sanctification which he has in Christ is common to all believers, and is by faith the moment he is converted. There is no other except his gradual and progressive daily mortification of his earthly members, his gradual extrication out of all around that is inconsistent with the Divine nature implauted at regeneration. And in this aspect the righteous scarcely are saved (1 Peter iv. 18), but our God of salvation is able to save to the uttermost of 'time (Heb. vii. 25), And at every stage, to every saint, it will be always necessary to say, **Be ye holy, as God is holy," which proves he is not yet and v/ill not be in the body ; therefore *' work out your own salvation with fear and trem- bling, for it is God" (not Paul or yourself) ""- '* that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." 3rd. A future salvation. This is accom- plished, not even at death; though then the soul of the believer, being perfect in holiness, is absent from the body and present with the Loru, yet his body rests in the grave till the resurrection — the final extrication at the last '("fill,'! 1 70 The Power the World knows nothing about. of the man from the last power that holds — for the last enemy that will be put under is death. This is our hope. We are eaved by hope, not as to our souls, but as to our bodies, our all. The salvation which is at the end of our faith is that of our muh ; the salvation which is at the end of our hope is that of our bodies. This is the salvation unto which we are ** kept by the power of \jrod ** (1 Peter i. 6). And it is this salvation that is " nearer than when we believed." Death is not our hope. Death does not end our scene here. There is the claiming, the redemption by power of the purchased possession. This is our hope, " When He shall appear, we shall be like Him," and not till then. So "to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.*' There is no question of sin whatever, then, but final perfect salvation of the whole body of Christ by power, as well as by pui^rchase and practice. Thus we are saved, we are being saved, and we are to be saved ; saved by faith, saved by working, saved by hoping. May we rightly divide the word of truth ! (2 Tim. ii. 15). We can never be justified by hoping. That is by faith ; we have for a helmet the hope of salva- tion, and God*s great purpose with us is to extri- cate, to dehver us from this present evil world, and to deliver us from condemnation and wrath, from the power and presence of our evil . . i'i The Power the World knows nothing about. 71 hearts, and the power and dominion of Satan — from death and him that had the power of death. Blessed, glorious Divine purpose I He will have us before Him, but as holy and without blame, in love, according to the necessities of His own nature. He will have us to Himself as dear children, according to the purpose of His grace. May He give us plainly to see our perfect salvation in Christ, to diligently press forward, working out our own salvation, and to patiently wait for the salvation that will be revealed ! And His own good news is His own power unto this. His own Divine salvation. Is salvation not of God? Is our God not the God of salvation ? And this leads us to our third point. Who are the happy recipients of this salvation? Ill, The People God is blessing. ** To every one that beheveth." It has no y^r'&y and yet it has a limit. It has no \m}X) i>\ its ofier; it is to every one. It has H. IIi)^it in its application ; it is to every one that i ieveth. It is *' unto all " in its offer; b'.*^ I'l is only "upon all that believe " in its application. There is no question about anterior fitness, or felt want or position in respect to weaUh or righteousness. The offer is to all, high or low, rich or poor. It is on the principle of faith alone this salvation is secured ; but all who do believe have. This is what humbles man. i! ! ! 1* > \ !;. V fl3 ! ' I S. "I ■'ii! ,r ! /:>. 72 The Power the World knows nothing about* This is what makes it to be of graoe, for it is of faith that it might be of grace. " Are you saved ? " "No." " Then you never heard the gospel ? " " Oh yes, I sit under an • evangelical minister." " I don't doubt it, neither do I doubt but that he has preached the gospel, very likely, every Lord's-day in your ears, but you never heard it." " How do you make that out ? " " Because God says, -Hear, and your soul shall hve." *' What am I to hear ? " " 'News ; that is, something you never knew before — you could not have known before or guessed at before. News from God to you ; not news for sinners merely, but news for you. Not only news, but good news. Good news, not concerning you; for if you or I were in it, there would be no news, far less good news ; but ' good news concerning his Son Jesus (-hrist our Lord ' (Kom. i. 3). That Christ is for you, simply because you are a sinner." " What, Chfist for me individually, as if there were not another sinner in the world? " "Exactly, and when you receive and rest on Him, by believing the good news for your- self, you will say, Well, I never thought that was all — it is so simple — I am content no The Power the World knows nothing about. 73 longer to strive to acquire, but quietly to acquiesce in the God-made plan. God laid my sin on Christ. God did all the work. God said, *It is finished.* God comes with His own gospel, His own power, His own salvation ; and better news you never heard, and never will hear ; believe, then, where you are, and as you are, as news, as good news. Believe and live, for * the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.' " 1 1 . ■ 'i ,.].<■ t i-y .f^Vf ■X. CHBI8T THE FOWEB OF GOB. N considering this subject, the power of God, one would at first think that we should look to the manifestation of His power as seen in the rolling river, the majestic Niagara, roaring, rushing over with its millions and millions of tons of water, eclipsing all the steam-power that man could put together; or we may take our stand by the ocean and see it tossing the ships that man has built, and dashing them to pieces as children's toys, or the thunderstorm and the lightning flash, and say, Look what a God we have ! or we might take the telescope, and direct your eye away from this little speck called earth, to look at the stars at night, and see there millions and millions beyond what the naked eye can see revolving, the nebulas that we observe in the galaxy of the heavens, and to know that He upholds all these by the Word 0^ His power, and that He keeps the reins of the government of millions of stars, of many times larger dimensions than this little speck of creation, in His grasp. When we think of all this, well may we Christ the Power of God. 75 exclaim, " When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, what is man ? " We are lost in silent wonder. Let us also take the microscope and rub off the dust from the butterfly's wing, and we shall find that each speck of dust is a gorgeously chiselled feather, and the Hving God who has chiselled these feathers in the most perfect and beauteous form has counted the hairs of your head and mine, and has named every sparrow. His power is seen in what He can condescend to, as well as in wha-t He upholds, in the majesty of His might. But we are not to contemplate the power of the God of creation, to study His grandeur, though it is profitable for us to do so. Man has drifted from God, and so our little planet is bounded by death. Death goes round about it ; death envelops it physically. Seven miles up there is death. No man can live there. A band of death is round our globe ; but in a more real sense our fallen creation is bounded by the grave. Man's power can do much. He can almost annihilate time and space. He can tie the globe with a string, and take the lightning and send it as his message. He can bring creation under his feet, and do mighty things, but he is limited by the grave ; the tomb he has never been able to pass through ; the grave he has never been able to span ; but the peculiar manifestation of the ' t ■ \ iiil '/(> Christ the Power of God. power of our King begins where man's power ends. I. The Power of the Cross. — In 1 Cor. i. 18: ** For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foohshness ; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." The cross was not only death, but the most shameful death — the death of the felon — and this death, sufiered by Jesus, becomes the power of God ; for the moment that creation work was marred, the Lord God came in with the promise of the bruising of the serpent's head, setting forth that it was through death the new crea- tion was to be begun — showing that it was by death His new power was to be set forth, and that as soon as creation work was marred redemption work was begun. When the Lord v^as here and was found fault with, and challenged on the creation Sabbath for w^orking, those men who found fault with Him, as the destroyer of disease and of death, did not see that while God never can go against His commands. He can rise up in His power above all ; and that He who has seen His creation manned has begun in another sphere, in another work, aiid in another country, the country beyond the grave, through death and resurrection. So He tells us : '* My Father worketh hitherto, and I work " — working in the activity of His redeeming love ; and then He goes on to say, because He is the Son of God, that now we Christ the. Power of God. 11 may meet Him aB Quickener through the grave, or we mutt; meet Him as the Judge, the Son of Man, and then we shall have to meet the doom that is ours. Thus we ap- proach the cross as the power of God to guilty men. '' For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Ch'ist crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness ; but unto thom which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God." Christ the power of God has come into the domain of death, and met the de- mand of de th, and this is why Christ is the power of God unto salvation. The blood has paid the debt, the blood that runs in a scarlet line from the gates of Eden to the great white throne, and which then is the theme of the redeemed to all eternity. "Thou hast redeemed us with Thy blood " — the blood which tells of a life taken for a life forfeited. That is what satisfies God, although it is a stumbling-block to the Jew and foolishness to the Greek, both ancient and modern. To the one who requires a sign in these days, the blood will still be a scandal. To the man who wants wisdom, the blood puts all his wisdom in the dust. Why? Because it tells that Christ has entered into the domain where IbujiQMt 78 Christ the Power of God. neither man's wisdom nor power is available. In the grave man has no knowledge and no power — the cross is the power of God. But — II. The Tower of the Besurrection. — " And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead " (Eom. i. 4). This is abstract — not His own resurrection, but by resurrection from the dead. He has authority over the grave, the resurrection of good and bad — the resurrection that He has in His own right and in His own power, in which God raised Him from the dead — the resurrection that quickens us to go with Him, and the resurrection that He has of the ungodly to quicken them, and to bring them to the bar of judgment, whether they wiU or ^ot, — all resurrection declares Him to be the Son of God, and thus in the resurrection we have the Lord Jesus Christ shown to be the powerful One. If He went into the grave, He has been raised on the other side of the doom of sin ; if He went into the domain of death. He is declared now to be the Son of God in power by resurrection. He went into the monster's jaws and plucked out the sting. He was there in the power of the eternal God, and He is raised again from the dead, beyond all the powers of Satan and the grave, and is now raised to the throne of God, as we read in Eph. i. 18 : *' That ye may know what is /! Christ t/ie Power of God. 79 the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us- ward who heiieve, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." He was crucified in weakness, but was raised by power. We have seen Him thus in the power of the cross, also in the power of the empty tomb, the power of the resurrection, but we again see — III. The Power of His Quickening. — ^For we are quickened together with Him. He is revealed not only as the risen One, but as the quickening One. He that was dead /or- sin, and we that are dead in sin, were quickened together by the Spirit of power. The power of God is thus given to men who were dead. God would have been for ever incommunicable to dead sinners unless Jesus Christ, who was the life, had come into the place of death, and had been raised by the glory of the Father ; but now are we kings together with Him. One other thought in Heb. vii. the 14th to the 25th verse inclu- sive. IV. The Poy)er of His Intercession. — Christ intercedes for His own, whom He has justified and quickened. On high He is the Great High-priest, entering in with His own blood to appear in the presence of God for us, now to keep us clean, and He is there fet I, ; J, fHl 8o Christ the Power of God, making intercession, according to the un- sullied holiness of the presence of God. There He is, "ever living to make intercession." It is He who has hegun it at the cross, with whom we are quickened together from the tomb. He goes on to the end of our experi- ences, difficulties, and dangers. He is up yonder on the Throne to . save to the utter- most, that is to say, of time. He is our Advocate with the Father. He :'i our High- priest before God. ** It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is ever at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? " V. ffis Indwelling Tower. — Romans viii. 26: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." If we have an Intercessor yonder, we have an Intercessor here ; and as the Intercessor yonder is for His people, the Intercessor here is in His people. The Spirit does not dwell in an unconverted man. He quickens the uncon- verted. He seals, and dwells in, the beHever. There is a Christ for every sinner, and a Spirit ready to quicken him in connection with that Christ, but the Spirit only makes intercession within those who are the Lord's. So WQ haVe Christ in His power dwelling Christ the Power of God. U in us here by His Spirit, and we have Christ in His power appealing for us yonder; and in His power we go onward and pray that we may know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering — to know that we are thus identified with the risen One. This. is our standing and state here on earth; now on account of that power within us — the holy God — we boldly affirm that sin shall not have dominion over us. Keckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin. Of course it does not say sin shall not have its presence ; but it is a question of its dominion. Why ? Because the Spirit of God is within us. " Reckon '* yourselves — it is not "feel" yourselves dead. If I were really dead, and felt dead, it would be absurd to tell me to reckon myself dead to sin. Suppose I go to a registrar and say — ** There is a man in this parish who wants a vote." " What is his name ? " " James Blank." **Why, he is dead more than a year ago, and he can't have a vote." That is what you and I have to say to our old nature. "You have no vote; you have nothing to do with the government of me now. We are dead to sin, and the obsolete man is off the register" — ^the old man has gone, so far as voting is concerned. It is only the new man I ii ;ji( f • ! 82 Christ the Power of God, in Christ Jesus who has a right to my service. Let me take a familiar illustration. When the man with the palsy was healed, he did not merely get healing hut power. **Rise, take up thy bed, and walk," and so he carried his bed. Before this the bed carried him. He was dependent upon his bed, and upon those who each took a corner; but now, as soon as we have got into Christ, it is, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. Take the case of the reformed drunkard. Why, when he used to pass public-houses, the cursed desire for drink was paramount over his conscience and the interests of wife and family; but now, being dead to sin, he says to this craving, " You have no vote." He carries the obsolete man to the prayer or conference meeting, instead of the old man carrying him into the public-house. • So it is with us, " Rise, take up thy bed." We have power now, and sin shall not have dominion over us. VI. The Power of His Gospel— '''Fox I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto ' salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also tc the Greek." Christ speaks through us, and now we can use the power He has given us. In order to have this power we let God speak as much as possible, and ourselves to speak a3 little as possible. In the days of His humiliation He gave all power and authority fco His apostles — Christ the Power of God. 83 power and authority to oast out devils, and one came to Him and said, *' Your apostles could not do it." Why? Because there arose a reasoning among them as to which should be greatest. I believe that we often lose our power by thinking we are some- thing. There are Peter and Andrew; the man comes to be healed, but neither of them can do it. Peter could not be trusted with seeing that devil under him. Peter might say, " I am sorry for my dear brother Andrew, but if he had been like me he would have been successful." Brethren, in the holy work of God, the "holy self" often comes in. Whatsoever there is of self, let us cast it from us, and lean wholly and solely upon the Lord, and trust in the power of His might. Self- seeking is all the fouler when it enters the domain of God. By nature we all wish to be above and beyond our fellows ; may we have the desire to lift high the banner of the cross, and in its fold conceal the standard- bearer. May the standard-bearers be all hid, and Christ alone seen. Then, indeed, should we feel that we had in our hands the Gospel of God, which is the power of God unto salvation. We pray much for the Holy Ghost — the working power, and always ought to do so, but I would say, *' Go to your knees and ask God to show you what the Gospel is," for God has said that the Gospel is the power. None of us can save a soul, but we can hold ^^\ r 1. ! ' ■ >k IMAGS EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) #: % :A 1.0 I.I l:i|2^ 12.5 »£ Uii 12.2 u Ui ■MUu 1.8 1.25 1 1.4 III '-^ < 6" - ► % v] 7 ■%' Photographic Sciences Corporation ^^ >> 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. MS80 (716) 872-4503 <i' ^ p % 4?, f #* 84 Christ the Power of God, the instrament by which God can do it. We need nothiiig to add to that old Gospel, and nothing to be taken from it. When Paul was about to bring it to the walls of Borne, he said, '^ I am not ashamed to take it to Borne also, for it is the power of God," and we have it thus still. VII. The Power of His Beturn, — Lastly, the revelation which is to come is the mani- fested power of our King. It is hidden just now, and why? Christ has been re- jected. "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accusar of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night " (Bev. xii. 10). His power shall be from the river to the ends of the earth, when all nations shall be blessed in Him and call Him blessed, when He shall have broken His enemies to pieces, when His power shall be manifested in all its majesty. And now tc are waiting for Him in the midst of His foes — waiting for the power of our King to be seen in all its glory, when He shall reign, and we with Him, and when He shall put down all rule, and all authority and power; for He must reign till He hath put all enemie,' under His feet, and delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, and then shall be seen to all His adoring saints. His loyal subjects, the principaUties Christ the Power of God, 8s and powers of heaven, the wonderful power of oar King in its majestic reach from Gross to Crown. What a glorious hope is ours, reserved for an everlasting inheritance! while we know that this sin-stricken earth is reserved for fire. In Jude we have the judgment at the beginning of the day of the Lord, wbon the Lord oometn with the myriads of His saints. We who have been caught up previously, according to 1 Thess. iv., — our blessed hope — come with Him to execute judgment on all. 2 Peter iii. 10 gives us the judgment at the end of the same day. The day of grace has already lasted nearly two millenniums. The day of the Lord's reign is, according to Scripture, a thousaid years. In the evening of this day **the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that all these things shall be dis- solved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the dav of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'' I -V ••' 4' ''8AY NOT IN THINE EEABT:* Bonos X. 6. fAN always begins to suggest the remedy for himself; God has expected that man wiU say something in his heart, SO He advises him not to do it. " Say not in thine heart," — for this is the one thing man begins to do, to guess, to say ** peradventure," " perhaps," and " I hope so." " Say not in thine heart." You and I have to meet God whether we wish it or like it or not, how long soever we may put it off (for we have the fatal freedom to put it off), it is coming, we must meet the God with whom we have to do ; there is a hereafter, and you and I have to be in it ; and our condition in that hereafter is to be fixed now, and you and I have something to do with tlie conditions which fix that state; therefore "say not in thine heart " This is what the righteousness of faith speaketh with authority. As an oracle from God it comes, asking you and me to hear because it speaks. I. It speaks to us negatively; it tellB ns what not to do. V :■ , ■J v ** Say not tn thine Heart" 87 II. It speaks to as positively ; it tells us what to do. The former verse tells us that "Moses de- Boribeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth these things shall live by them." No man ever did them, so no man ever lived by them, and Moses does not describe the maw, but the "righteousness of the law which saith," an idea which has never had a tangible reality; the word which the Divine writer has chosen is ** describeth," painteth the righteousness of the law, but the righteousness of faith comes speaking and asking us to believe. No man ever kept the law, so no man ever lived by it, but the righteousness of faith comes speaking on this wise, " Say not in thine beart." Most people anxious about their salvation are communing with their own hearts, and not listening to the conditions which God lays down. A young man during the last week entered my room, and paused some time before he spoke. At last he said he had applied to several people, "but all had passed him on to some one else, saying it was not their business. He said, " I have read several religious books, yours among the rest, and I want to know how to get my soul saved." I replied, ** I will not pass you on, for it is my business to heal you if I can. What is your disease? " He hesitated, so I said, "You cannot feel as you would like to do ; is that >*> -i |ll m ''Say not in thine Hearth it ? *' " Yes, that is it ; I cannot feel right." I said, " You have to do with the just and holy God, who will never change His laws for as, a God of iufinite majesty, and you begin to talk of yovix feelings ; would it not be better to find out the conditions He has laid down ? " If you owed illOO, would it not be better to try and work with your hands to pay it off than to talk of how yon feel about your debt? Or suppose I appoint you by letter to come to my house at twelve to-morrow; you come, and are told that I have been out half-an-hour and shall not return for two hours. When I see you, I say, * Oh, I felt you would not come.* You show me my own letter, and say, *You appointed me to come at twelve.' We have nothing to do with feelings; we have to do with the Book, and what God says in it. It is not my feelings or yours. What is the use of that when there are conditions laid down ? " Submission is the point, not the details so much, not the clearness of reception, as the submission to the dictates of another, so the longing soul will be satisfied. I believe no one went to hell who longed for Christ The devil would say, " Go away ; we have no room for Christ here." I said to the young man, " Will you submit ? It is all laid down here ; you have only to endorse the cheque ; we have it here payable to sinner or bearer, a blank cheque signed and sealed in blood, and any *' Say not in thine Heart'' 89 man oan lift it up out of this verse, *That if tbou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved ; ' he oan endorse it on the back, and it is payable on demand." He saw he had to look away from himself to what had been done by another, that God was pleased to say He was satisfied with the work done on Calvary's Cross, and if He is pleased I may be thankful to accept it. I think the young man went away rejoicing in Christ's finished work. If I could have a trumpet tongue which would sound from one end of Britain to the other, there is one thing I should like to say to one class of people : not to Christians, for they have got to the root of the matter, and they will, " some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship,'* all get safe to land; not to the godless, for they do not care, and I may not have the capacity to reach them; but to a large class, a middle class, not careless nor doubting, not running to excess of rioting, but not F'^anding on the rook; and the text I would preach from to them would be, ** Say not in thine heart ; " go not by what thy heart says. To turn men in to what they feel, instead of out to what God has done and said, is the crying heresy of the present day, and this is our mission — to come with the oracles of God as contrasted with feelings. " Say not in thine heart," be- mi' ! I jii J ■ If 90 '* Say not tn thine Heart.'' it cause all men are ready to go by what they feel, and three-quarters of evangelic preaching is founded upon this sensational religion, "Do you feel God's Spirit working within you ? Do you feel getting better ? — then go on and get to heaven.'* Many good men have said it, but it is not in my Bible from G-enesis to Kevelation. I have searched from board to board, and the wordfeeUng in. connection with salvation is not to be found in it. I beUeve it has been got from the devil. The adversary of souls goes with the preacher, night after night, and does all he can to thwart the Word ; he comes as an angel of light, not as the serpent, for then you would not listen to him ; he comes neither outwardly immoral, nor outwardly out-and-out for Christ. If he came as a liar, you would say, ** Get thee behind me, Satau ; " if he came and said the Bible was not true, and there was no hell and no heaven, you would say, '* Get thee behind me, Satan; " all these are lies, and you would find them out soon ; so he will not do this with you who are better taught, but he will come as an angel of light ; or if he sees you inclined to one line of things, he will give you what will please you, lest you should hear and be saved. Our whole powers are devoted week after week to get people saved ; his whole work is to bhnd people, for ^* if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god ■>i .. ** Say not in thine Heart." 91 of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." What a diabolical work, to keep people unsaved I Like those wreckers that rear the beacon-light on the iron-bound shore, that the sailor may be dashed to pieces, even so he rears a beacon- light, but it leads to death, ruin, and desola- tion. Satan has substituted two things for the gospel which is the power of God. To those who have a traditional Christianity he finds he must do other things than contra- dict the Bible; so he comes and substitutes one truth for another, and there are two great lines of truth which he has taken and put in the place of one and the same truth. The one is the life of Christ; this was one great thing I was taught in early life, and my idea was that in order to be saved I must live a life like His ; children are taught this still, for the devil has taken that grand truth that we should imitate the life of Christ, and he has put it in the place of Calvary and Golgotha, and the dying Lamb of God. We need not begin with Christ at Bethlehem; He began with us there; we begin with His death, and having secured His death, we go back and retrace the steps of His life ; I believe Satan has invented no greater error than that of substituting the life \ iii^ 92 ^* Say not in thine Hearth of Christ for His death. The Apostle Paid says, " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ/' not the manger. The next truth he has put in a false position is the worli of the Holy Ghost in me, in place of Christ's work for me. I believe that the work of God the Spirit, in every regenerated man, in bearing witness that he is a child of God, is quite a step in advance of being saved. Israel was saved, but the people were never called the children of God; Abraham and Moses never had the spirit of sonship whereby we cry, " Abba, Father ; " but we must never put the work of the Spirit of God in the place of the work of the Son of God ; we must never think that what the Spirit works in us is to be taken as the ground of peace. I know the fearful Slough of Despond, the fearful darkness and despair a man gets into by looking into his own heart: the more conscientious a man is who looks into hii^self, the more despairing he gets if he is taught to look into his own heart, and into the work of God the Holy Ghost there, as the foundation on which to rest his hope of eternal life. The less the conscience speaks, the more peace the man gets ; the keener the conscience is, the more despair the man is plunged into. I have seen conscientious people almost driven to madness, because they were neve^* satisfied with God's work going on in their heart, and I have heard r. "Say not in thine Heart'* 93 others glibly talk of being satisfied with them- selves, and this because their consciences had never placed before them an eternal hell; " Say not in thine heart," for the righteous- ness of faith speaks, and you are to listen to it. Po not try to rear a ladder from earth to heaven because God has fixed a ladder from heaven to earth. I am never, and should never be, satisfied with the work of the Holy Ghost in me, but I am, and should bC) satis- fied with the work of Christ for me on the cross. The work of Christ on the cross is the ground of cur salvation, and we may be satis- fied with that alone; the more the Holy Ghost works in a man the more will he be dissatisfied ; the more faith a man has the more loudly will he cry, '* Increase my faith ; " it is too good to get only a little of; the more hope, the more love he has wrought in him by the Holy Ghost, the more he is dissatisfied with them and longs for their increase. Of faith, hope, and love we may desire more, but we can never say this of the work on Calvary's Cross — the more we see of it the more we are satisfied with it. " The cross still stands unchanged, Though heaven is now His home } ' The mighty stone is rolled away. But yonder is His tomb. And yonder is my peace, The grave of all my woes I Hi •I 1 1 AM ■ ■' .11 ■ .',1 94 ** Say noi in thine Heart." I know the Son of Ood has come, I know He died and rose. I change, He changes not, The Christ can never die, His love, not mine, the resting-place^ His truth, not mine, the tie." / . .* ^■.v^rj^,.;^f. BIGHTE0USNE8S, HUMAN AND DIVINE. <t The righteousaeaa which b of faith." — Eomans x. 26. HIS is a remarkable expression ; the righteousness which is of the law can be well understood ; it is the right doing between man and man, and between God and man. If you buy a good article from a man and pay him his just demands for it, you are neither obliged to, nor obliging, him ; in other words, you are equally righteous according to the righteousness which is of the law — ^it is a straightforward business transaction, you doing your part rightly, and he doing Ms ; it is pay- ing twenty shillings in the pouna. But what is the righteousness wh~ h is of faith? We shall see it — 1. As contrasted with the righteousness which is of the law : " He that doeth these things shall live by them." The righteousness of faith is not on the same line of rails at all; it is in contrast. 2. This righteousness which is of faifch, when it speaks o this wis^, tells us what has to be done that i may b.- exhibited, nothing less ■/f f s" i &!. t * ' taam /•' 96 Righteousness^ Human and Divine, than the incarnation and resurrection of Christ. 3. We see the utter uselessness and need- lessness of all man's efforts to do this work which the righteousness which is of faith demands : " Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend mto heaven ? (that is, to hring Christ down) ; or, Who shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to hring up Christ again from tne dead)." 4. We shall find the part which man plays in securing the righteousness which is of faith. ** If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 5. We shall see not only the part which man plays, but the medium wrdch unites him to this righteousness of faith : ** The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and thy heart," that is, the word of faith. 6. We shall see why this righteousness of faith thus benefits men : " For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 7. We shall see, lastly, the ground of it all : " For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him." (1) The righteousness which is of faith is contrasted with the righteousness which is of the law. It is utterly useless for any one of !■;*' Righteousness, Human and Divine. 97 ns to attempt to roc are righteouRness on the ground of law-keeping, for if from this moment until we were a hundred years old we never committed one sin, it would he all up with us; we have sinned in the past, the line of continuity is hroken, and we must get upon another line altogether; the righteousness which is of faith comes in when the righteous- ness which is of the law is hroken. The doing and the living go together, for the law does not say. Do, and he saved, it Joes not imply that the man is lost, but " he that doeth those things shall live by them," and the moment the doing is not perfected according to the law the man is lost. Men study the laws of G?d in nature, and think how exact He is, and yet they think His moral laws can be broken with impunity. He never puts summer in the place of winter ; the sun always rises and sets to a minute, so that men can predict its course for a thousand years at any part of the earth's surface, for it has never been known to be a second before or behind time. The stars come to their meridian to the one-thousandth part of a second, and their exactitude is so great that the difference of a hair's breadth in their place in the heavens would be far too large a divergence, — so exact is God. Are His moral laws likely to be less exact ? (2) Now we want to look into the work that has to be done, — Christ has to come out of I 7 If 1:*? iii I- '1-. M (;; m ><^ 98 Righteousness, Hunan and Divine. heaven to go to the grave , to come out of the grave and to go into heaven before this righteousness which is of Mth can be ac- complished. Hence, in the 3rd place, we see the uselessness and need- lessness of men trying to accomplish it. Can you go up to heaven to bring Christ down? can you descend into the deep to bring up Christ again from the dead ? It is needless, inasmuch as the work is done ; it is hopeless, inasmuch as man has no power to do it. Therefore we see, in the 4th place, that the part which man plays in securiDg this righteousness is v^ry simpk. " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus," made Lord by incarnation and resurrection," and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shait be saved." We see the medium, 6th. 'J'he word, the simple act of faith which links him to Jesus Christ, because 6th, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," and the ground 7th, Is, that there is no difference. This truth is at the root of all revelation from God to sinful men. There is no difference. St. Paul uses this expression twice : the first time in the third chapter of Komans, " There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Man does not like this truth when it is preached; it is often de- i I ',"•■ r:-.-«^, Righteousness, Human and Divine, 99 DOUDced as absurd and heretical, but it has stood since Paul's day. Cultivated men do not like to be brought down to the level of the murderer and drunkard; and without doubt there is a difference in the degree^ but not in the guilt of moral delinquency. There is a difference as to the depth in which men are down in the mud, but all are together in the horrible pit and miry clay. People waste their time in mud-measuring. One says, " My foot is only covered with the mud, but look at that fellow, he is ankle-deep in it ; " the one who is ankle-deep in mud says, **Look at that man, he is up to the knees in mud ; " while he, in his turn, says, " I am not* so bad as that man, he is up to the neck in mud." It is of no use to talk like that : here is a rope-ladder to help you all up from the pit. **0h," says one, **I am as good as my neighbour, and better than many." Very true, perhaps, but that is only the differ- ence between being up to the knees in mud or up to the neck ; if you are in the pit, you need a rope-ladder that you may get out and place your feet on a rock, for there is nb difference. One man with decent boots on, and only one foot a little muddy, says, " I do not believe there is no difference. Do you mean to say I am no better than that fellow there up to his neck in mud ? " No, my friend ; and very likely the man up to his neck will get hold of the ladder first, for he is so shocked at the X '-: I 1 \ '!i I ■If 4 !..i'' loo Righteousness^ Human and Divine, mud that lie is glad to get out of it ; while the respectahle man spends his time in argu- ing about the depth of mud he is in. It is not mud-measuring, but salvation, we have to do with, for " there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Here in the 10th chapter we have the other '* no difference," and it is about God's grace. There is no difference this time, for the same free God has the same free grace for every sinner out of hell : this is the foundation for the righteousness of faith being given to us. ! The work that has to be done is no other and no less than the incarnation and resur- rection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Incarna- tion alone is useless, death alone is useless ; resurrection is what makes the righteousness of faith applicable to us. It is significant that while man has invented, and annually celebrates, what he calls the day of Christ's nativity or Christmas, and another day which he calls Good Friday, or the day of Christ's death, God has appointed no such days, but one day to be celebrated, not yearly, but weekly, to keep in memory, not the birth of Christ, which would condemn us, nor the death of Christ, which would bring us in guilty of murder, but the resurrection of Christ, which shows what God is for the sinner — the Lord's day, which tells us of resurreo- Righteousness^ Human and Divine. loi tion, and assures us that we have not to asoend irto heaven to bring down Christ, nor descend into the deep, to bring Him up from the dead, but that the Lord became incarnate in order that He might rise. It does not say any- thing of death, because it is implied in re- surrection. If you and I accept the righteousness which is of faith, we gain it by the incarnation and lesurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people think they will reach heaven by a sort of guess-road ; you ask a man, '* If you were to drop down dead in an hour's time, where would your soul be ? " "What is tiie use of frightening me like that? what do you mean by it?" **If God were to withdraw His hand for one moment, and your heart were to stop beating, you would be a corpse ; then where should you be?*' " Oh, I hope " he would most likely say, but " I Iwpe " is nothing ; it is a miser a,ble wriggle out of the difficulty. " Have you gone up to heaven or down to the deep? for the righteousness which is of faith says that work has to be done." "I trust God will be merciful.'* You never read of mercy at the day of judgment. " Inasmuch as ye did it ... in- asmuch as ye did it not." ..." Come, ye blessed, . . . depart, ye cursed;" not one word of mercy, for there is no mercy at the judg- ■t: I f m m If \% \*A j^'^\ 102 RtghteousnesSy Human and Divine, ment-seat of God. We know the whole of the elements which enter into the judgment. We do not know who are saved or who are lost : all we can say of the best man on earth is that he professes to be converted, and we do not see anything in his conduct which is contrary to that profession. Human beings have to judge others by their actions, not by their faith. God only sees the heart ; and we are not to get a verdict from human judges, or from our own feelings, but to await the sentence of the unerring Judge. How may I get a favourable one ? God has instituted the Lord's day to this end, that those who are saved may come and wo/ship, and that those who are not saved may hear what they are to do. Just as the business of the week-days must be done, so the business of this day must be done. This business is not to hear a sermon and criticise it. If I were a salesman, 1 should not hke a person to come into my shop, and spend an hour and a half in looking over all my good^, and then go away without buying anything — that is not business. I want to do business for eternity. I want not to write nor preach what people like, but to get hold of a man's conscience, and to ask him. Have you the righteousness which is of faith ? Are you resting on the incarnation and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Think of the day and the ordeal of judg- RighteoustvesSy Human and Divine. 103 ment. Will you plead guilty or not guilty ? Guilty, not of living a wretchedly bad life as a thief or a murderer, but of breaking God's law in one point ? You say, *' I must acknow- ledge breaking it at one point." Then you are guilty. Have you any excuse to make ? " Yes, much." Have you prayed ? " Yes, all my life." Then pray on. Have you been charitable: "Oh yes, I give to the Hull Infirmary and to the Indian Famine Fund." Then sell all you have and give to the poor. You say, " That is very hard." Yes, but 1 can- not help it : such is the way you have chosen with your excuses, prayers, and good works. Another man pleads '* guilty" at once. Have you any excuses, any prayers, any good deeds, any endeavours to do right to plead in your behalf? "No." Have you nothing good to say for yourself? Are you only fit to be cast away from God ? "I have not a single excuse or palliation to present." Then God says, " I have nothing but a Saviour for one so bad as you are." If you come as a sinner alone, not sinner and company, God will give you Christ, for it is grace now, as it will be judgment then. The righteousness which is of faith is for any man who will take the place where righteousness can flow — the place of the lost sinner now ; for " Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." t •;■ I'!. y JOB'S QUESTION AND PAUL'S AN8WEB. [OB, in his distress, raised this question, " How should man be just with God ? " (ix. 2). The divinely-appointed sacri- fices in Israel, the ancient idolatries and sacrifices of Greece and Kome, the modem abominations to false gods in heathenism, all tell out that conscience as well as law ever keeps before fallen man this fundamental question. Man has never, even to his own sadsfaction, answered this question ; so that, where he is conscientious, his whole life is taken up in seeking for an answer in his own efforts, and fiDding none. Paul has answered it, or rather God the Holy Ghost, by the pen of Paul, in the letter to the Komans (iii. 26), where he tells us that Christ came, and shows how God Himself can be "just, and the Justifier of him who believe th in Jesus." Under several aspects do we find justification in the Scripture : — 1st, Justification by God. 2nd, Justification by grace. 3rd, Justification by blood. 4th, Justification by resurrection. J I J. -J {-. Job's Question and Paul's Answer. 105 6th, Justification of life. 6th, Justification by faith. 7th, Justification by works. ' Ist^ Justification by God. — What a wondrous truth I God steps in Himself and justifies the sinner. The process by which this is accom- plished, and the vindicatic n and manifestation of all His attributes in this justification, we shall shortly consider ; hnt the fact is the first thing to take hold of, that God has come in for our justification. '• Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works" (Eom. iv. 6). So also Isaiah (liii. 6), " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." God is " the Justifier of him who believe th in Jesus" (Kom. iii. 26). "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God*s elect? Shall God that justifieth?" (Rom. viii. 83). And He only has the right to lay to our charge — but He justifies us. He is spoken of as ^^ Him that justifieth the un- godly" (Rom. iv. 5). Man is going about trying to secure his justification ; he will not stand still and let God justify him. Jesus told the religious people of His day (Luke xvi. 15), *' Ye are they which justify yourselves; ** and as long as we are attempting to justify ourselves, we cannot submit to let God justify us. We excuse, palliate, cover over our sin, until we understand this fact, that it is God that justifies. ID io6 Job's Question and Paul's Answer. 2ndf Justification by grace. — God could point to mf alien angels, and say against all accusers, ** These staiid in creature righteous- ness," but He could not justify them by grace, for they never required it. In order to see the meaning of this expression, we must understand what and where man is when God steps in to justify him. In the Epistle to the Eomans, it is not until all men in the toorld — good, bad, and indifferent—have been brought in guilty before God, that God opens up His secret. It is not until man at his extremity cries. How then shall men be just with God ? in the sight of His inflexible justice and stern, unbending judgment, that God steps in and answers his question by opening up the treasures of His grace. The criminal has been found guilty at the bar, the judge has pronounced the sentence, the convict now awaits execution; his prayers, his tears cannot save him; he is condemned. It is in vain that he loudly calls for mercy, and promises amendment for the future ; the sentence has been passed ; the law is inflexible, and his blood is demanded : now is the time for grace. That Judge who has condemned has planned the way by which the condemned criminal may become a loyal subject. He wishes to show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to that condemned man. The thought arises in the Judge's heart ; for it is for His own name's sake that He does it ; and it/'.- V > JoUs Question and Paul's Answer, 107 thus we are "justified freely by His grace** (Eom. iii. 24 ; Titus iii. 7). But what of the justice of the Judge ? Is it to be sacrificed ? What of the inflexible character of His law ? Is it to be tampered with ? Nay, verily. This leads us to consider — Srd, Justification by blood. — He spared not His Son, but gave Him up to the death 'for us (blood being the emblem for " life taken "). So we are sipoken of as " being now justified by His blood'' (Rom. v. 9). Death has been demanded. Clirist has died ; the penalty has been paid. So if we are justified freely by His grace, it is " through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath sot forth a propitiation through faith in His blood^* (Rom. iii. 24, 25). Man could tolerate a certain kind of grace, or an interest in Christ's holy life, but he cannot bear the " blood " theology. But the key-note of God's justifica- tion is blood. Blood is the procuring cause, as this passage proves to a demonstration. The Judge was gracious; therefore He gave His Son for the criminal. The Judge "VTas just ; therefore He could not spare the life of His Son. God's justice is now displayed to the universe in the blood of His Son, as no- where, else it could be seen. It is according to the positive value of this precious blood that we are now justified. God's justice de- manded death; God's grace provided blood. So the obedient One, under all the load, says^ ii ■I'.: I! i I :-'ii I 'i ! ! I 1 08 Job's Question and Paul's Answer, " But Thou art holy, Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel I '* (Psalm xxii.). He vindicates God while He feels the judgment- stroke pouring out His precious blood, and thus puts away the sin that He bore ; and thus His precious ** hlood cleanseth us from all sin," sins of omission as well as sins of commission. Some seem to think that something less or something else than His blood can cleanse from the sin of failing to come up to obey His precepts, while the blood is required only for the sin of actual commission ; but sins of omission are as really sin as sins of commis- sion; and blessed be God, "His blood cleanseth us from ALL sin." And we are justified by His blood as the alone procuring, efficacious, meritorious cause. To nothing else in Scrip- ture is justification attributed as a meritorious cause. " By Him all who believe are justified from all things " (Acts xiii. 39). Athf Justification by resurrection. — " Jesus our Lord was delivered for our offences, was raised again for our justification*' (Rom. iv. 25). Christ was made sin for us, went into our very place of condemnation under the wrath of God ; but God in justice to Him has raised Him out of that place, thus justifying Him, and thus openly preaching to every clime, where the fact of His resurrection is known, that the legal barrier between Him and any sinner accepting Christ has been removed. It is not that there is merit or value in the Job's Queslton and Paul's Answer, 109 putting away of sin in Christ's resurrection — the precious blood alone does that — but there is the exhibition of the satisfaction of God's justice in the finished work of Christ. Christ, on Calvary, reckoned up the penalty demanded, gave Himself as an equivalent, paid thus in equivalent the amount demanded; but God, in raising Christ from the dead, has as it were with His own hand receipted the account, so that not only have we it paid by our Surety, but settled by Him Who made tiio just demand. It was for our offences that He was delivered. It was for our justification Ho was raised . How vague and imperfect are the ideas of justification entertained by many Christians, may be seen in the infrequent use of the resurrection of Christ, which is here so intimately linked with justi- fication. *' If Christ be not raised, ye are yet in your sins " (1 Cor. xv. 17) ; and conversely, " If Christ is raised, ye are not in your sins." His resurrection tells us that God is for us, and that God is for us in consistency, yea, in exhibition of His own majestic justice ; so in Eom. X. 9 the righteousness of faith speaks thus, ** Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down from above) ; or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead)," for the Word tells us, that **if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him froin the deadj thou i - t '■\-;,' ■ 1 10 JoUs Qtiestion and Paul's Answer, shalt be saved.*' " Who is he that con- demneth ? " (Christ most certainly should). *' Shall Christ that died, yea, rather y that is risen again ? '* (Kom. viii. 34). " If when we were enemies we were reconciled to G-od by the death of His Son, much morey being reconciled^ we shall be saved by His life" {H.is-resurreC' Hon life) (Eom. v. 10). Thus there is the most intimate and necessary connection between justification and resurrection. The Judge's Son, Who, according to the Judge's grace, took the place of the condemned criminal, has shed His blood, but has been raised from the dead, and now stands beyond the forfeit of His life, and the living One is the assurance to the condemned one that there is no con- demnation. "He was raised /or" (not on account of, but for) " our justification." &thy Justification of life (Itom. v. 18).— (Lit.) "As by one offence judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by one right- eousness the free gift came upon " (rather to or towards) "all men, unto justification of life.'' This carries us a step further in the perfect exhibition of the justification of the believer. Not only did Christ come to save, not only did He shed Hip piecious blood, not only did He stand my Surety, not only was He raised from the dead as my Head and Kepresen- tative, but I am quickened together with Him in this risen life. We are reckoned as having died, and now been raised together with Christ ;; Job's Question and Paul's Answer, ni (Eph. ii.)« Says the Psalmist, " Enter not into judgment with Thy servant": for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified " (Psalm cxliii. 2). I am justified, not as living in the first Adam life, but as having iied out of the Adam state, and now being raised and quickened with Christ. Eomans vi. is the full exhibition of this. We do not get justification and acceptance now before God by a simple restoration to us of that which was lost in Adam. After the penalty has been paid by our Surety, and He has been raised, we are, as in Christ, taken out of the old condemnation-place, and set down in a a resurrection (therefore justified) life, new and in the very place that Christ occupies, in virtue of what He has done. In other words, the old things are blotted out as by the cold hand of the grave. We make an entirely new start, as men that have been dead and are now ahve again, living the life of Christ. This is "justification of life.*' This is the " newness of life " — not freshness, or a merely sanctified walk, but life in entirely new circumstances, Christ's resurrection-life, in which we are now to walk, as those who have died to sin. So we are caUed on to "reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord'* (Rom. vi. 11); and (ver. 7) "he that is dead is justified from sin." It is only as those who have died (in Christ), and who are alive in a Life that knows no condemnation (Christ's risen life), that we -;• M h 1 1 ji; ; i Kill 112 Job's Question and Paul's Answer, can say we are justified from sin. Such is the bearing of* Christ's death and resurrection on our justification of life. Eph. i. 6 tells us that we are " accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Here we have three things — forgiveness, redemption, acceptance. We are not yet redeemed by power; but, so far. as our sins and their forgiveness are concerned, we do have redemption. And is there One in whom God dehghts, whom God loves, in all His universe ? We are accepted in that beloved ' One — not in the Adamic state perfected, not in the angelic state communicated; but accepted in Him Who is the beloved Son, in His resurrection state — quickened with Him after all the responsibilities of the Adamic state had been justly met — children in Jesus Christ to God Himself. And as Christ is (not was), so are we in this world. If we continue our illustration, it will be only to show how far surpassing man's power is God's justification. Not only has the Judge in His grace given His Son, Whose blood was shed, and Who was raised from the dead, but through that risen Son He communicates life to the condemned criminal, who therefore takes his place as a son — not by some gratuitous assumption or temporary adop- tion, but by an innate right, having now a son's life, and hence a son's position. This is "justification of life." Job's Question and Paul's Answer, 113 6^^, Justification hy faith. — "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God "'(Kom. v. 1). Faith is the acceptance of God's method of justification; faith appropriates what graoe provides; faith apprehends what graoe pre- sents. It is not faith that justifies ; but by grace are ye saved through faith. All has been finished centuries ago. Faith now gives credence and credit to the record, and accepts the scheme for the individual sinner — accepts God's condition of death and resurrection in the Surety, and is thus counted for righteous- ness, as apprehending all that God's justice has demanded and grace has provided. The moment we accept Christ we are justified from all things ; we can never be more justified (we then only begin to grow in grace), but it must be hy faith ^ not by feeling. Many anxious ones are looking for the feeling of peace within, supposing that to be faith : the ex- perience of what goes on within me is sense, it is not faith. Faith believes not what we feel, but what God says — **He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son " (1 John v. 11). It is of faith that it might be of grace. To make it abso- lutely free and open to any kind of sinner, no condition was imposed. God comes with a free gift, and only asks us to accept it. The 8 I, h J ■~" ' ! ' ' V f' 1 f' ■■ ^ 4^ fi a m ^4 *"t"'■i^■«.w^■'^■ yf'r? '^■"■" .??':■ 1 14 Job's Question and Paul's Answer, moment we do, we have peace (not with our- selves) with God, for Christ is our peace. Ith^ Justified by works (James ii. 24).— Certainly these are not deeds of the law — " By the deeds of the law there shall no fiesh be justified in His sight " (Rom. iii. 20). They are works of faith, (Look at the instances in James' Epistle, — Abraham's seemed to be against the law of the sixth commandment.) The works of faith show to men that there is faith, just as the figs on a tree show that the root is a fig root. If a man say he has faith — I say to him. Show me your works. (It is not, Show God. He can see faith — I can't.) My works justify my faith before men, as my faith justifies myself before God. A Christian is in a low state when he is searching for this faith among his works. He is in a doubtful state when he has to persuade other men that he has faith, who fail to see it m his works. My faith rests on Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and the words concerning Him for the know- ledge of salvation. My exhibition to men of faith stands on my works of faith alone. The condemned criminal has accepted the terms, the provision of the Judge, — that is, justifica- tion by faith. He now lives as the Judge's son, honours the Judge's will, obeys the Judge's commandments, walks, acts, speaks, as be- comes the son's place, so that men at once see that he is living in the Judge's home as the Judge's son. cv: Job!s Question and Paul's Answer. 115 God justifies us as the Author and Executor. Grace justifies us as the reason in God. Blood justifies us as the meritorious cause. Eesurrection justifies us as God's own assur- ance. Life (in resurrection) justifies us as our position before God. Faith justifies us as the instrument. Works justify us as the evidence to others. h [i r h; •'i • i< \ !.»• f :-t it TEE CLAIMS OF THE MAN JE8U8, ** The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy ; and because that Thou, being a man, makeet Thyself God." — John 1 33. JHIS is a very solemn statement — "Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." That was the opinion, at any rate, that the Jews had of Christ's own claims when He came into the world. They had no difficulty in knowing what He professed to be ; but they had great difficulty in believing that it was true. They had no difficulty in knowing what His claims were, but they had great difficulty in granting them. They were not like modern Unitarians, who would make out that God had not said in His Bible that the Messiah would come as " God manifest in the flesh ; " they allowed that, but said that it was blasphemy in Him to say that of Himself. That was what Judaism said, and what it says still. They should have been aware that there was a text in Zechariah which says, " Awake, sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my Fellovj, saith the Lord of Hosts" — that there Jehovah's fellow was a man. Over and over The Ccaims of the Man Jesus. 117 again did the Jews attempt to kill Him be- cause He called Himself God, or the Son of God in a way in which no human created being is so — the Uncreated, Eternal Son — ^the Son of God. This is what these rulers impeached Him for saying of Himself. Here it is strongly put, "Because that Thou, b^ing a man, makest Thyself God." In the 6th of John we read at the 18th verse, "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." The claim was fellowship with God. " He made Himself equal with God." Then, if we pass on to His crucifixion, we shall find that this was the head and front of His accusation. John xix. 7, " The Jews answered Him, We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Him- self the Son of God." This was His death- warrant — what they put upon His indictment as the greatest of all His crimes. In the Gospel by Matthew, xxvi. 63-66, He is indicted and condemned for the same thing, — "But Jesus held His peace. And the high-priest answered and said unto Him, I adjure Thee, by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said : nevertheless I say unto you. Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the '^ S. i.i if \A. V m }^ • ii8 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus. high-priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken hlasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses ? behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said. He is guilty of death.'* In the high-priest's estimation it seemed a greater sin than claiming to be the Son of God, that He pictured Himself coming in the clouds of heaven, and sitting on the right hand of power as Son of man ; that He, as the Son of man, would be raised up to be Head over every created thing ; and that He would sit, and reign, and govern with God as man. This was great blasphemy to their minds. Then we come to the title and accusation put upon the cross. " The superscription of His accusation was written over, The King of the Jews" Mark does not give us any other part — not even '' Jesus of Nazareth." The chief part of the accusation was that He was the Kirg of the Jews — the Messiah promised to the fathers, to fulfil all the promises made to Abraham and David. As such He was to sit on the throne of Israel — King of the Jews — God's own chosen people. Thus we find a three-fold claim made by Christ ; and all the three claims were dis- allowed by the Jews : — First, '' that He, being a man, made Him- self God," as John tells us, the Son of God, equal with God, very God Himself. Second, that He was the Son of man. Who The Claims of the Man Jesus. 119 would yet put everything on earth that opposed Him under His feet, and govern the whole creation. Third, that He was the King of the Jews, Who should establish the throne of Israel, and at last sit thereon. These are the three great naroes which are the centres of all His powers and greatest claims on this earth: — The Son of God, by which He has wrought out redemption for His people. The King of the Jews, to establish them in their own land in the latter day. He will restore Israel, and reign over His own people m His title of King of the Jews. The Son of man, under which title He is to be Lord of all- creation. All shall then know Him, even from the least to the greatest, and give Him obedience. We read in the^ 8th Psalm, " Thou hast put all things under His feet ; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea." These are representative of the different classes of creatures — the oxen and sheep, or domesti- cated animals ; the beasts of the field, or wild animals ; the feathered tribe ; and the fish of the sea ; and all are to be under Him. Though- we see not yet all things put under Him, stiU m counsel they are put under Him. This was so far seen while He was on earth. When He was tempted of the devil it was among the m. \;-. - ^ i r : r ef . 14: t M, V 1 20 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus. wild beasts of the desert, but they did not touch Him. When baptised, a dove was used by the Holy Ghost. When asked to pay the unjust tax, He said. Go and open that fish's mouth, and there was the money. When He required a quadruped to ride into Jeru- salem, there was the colt of an ass just at hand. And when He wanted to rebuke Peter in the midst of his blasphemy, the cock was ready to crow. Whether birds of the air, fish of the sea, or animals, wild or tame, all were subject to Him as the Son of man. The Son of God. Such claims as He advanced have never been advanced by any man before nor since. We are so accustomed by traditional upbringing to a sort of hereditary belief of truth that we are apt to take it second-hand, and lose its power. We are in danger of having this blessed book more in our heads than in our hearts, from being brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is good to be so brought up, but what we have by custom we generally have not so firm a grasp of. So that when infidelity assails us we have to fall back again on the pure Eevelation of God — what saith the Lord? We have a sort of traditional belief that the Bible is all right, ■ and that Christ is the only Saviour, and that the way by which evangelical preachers tell us to go to heaven is the correct one. In- Tfie Claims of the Man Jesus. 121 deed, we take for granted that to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is the way to be saved. But to believe {^11 that about Christ is not the same as believing in Him. To believe in Him is the saving thing. No matter what I have been : if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ* I shall be saved; and if I don't, and do everything else, I shall be damned. If you do everthing else, you are damned if you don't do that. He has made this the crucial, testing point, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." If that had been all, it would not have been so testing, but the opposite is equally true, for it is written, " He that be- Ueveth not shall be damned." The stately king that believes not shall be damned. The poor peasant that believes not shall be damned. The rich man and the poor alike that believe not shall be damned. The learned and un- learned shall be equally damned that do not believe in Christ. Be he the least sinner that ever lived, or the greatest sinner that ever lived; I cannot help it; he shall be damned if he believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ. If I had been judge, I would have said the good moral man will get to heaven and the gross offender only go to hell; but I am here not to make the rule of life, but to declare it. He that believeth not shall be damned, and I canuot alter it. It will not make it true if I preach something ii ■i. ; f I .r' :]:' I'SI 122 The Claims of the Man Jesus. I si' •: 5!i !lj else. So upon faith in Christ turns the whole question between God and man ? The blackest sinner that believes on Christ and claims Him as his own Saviour is saved for ever, and the best man on earth that comes to God without Christ must be damned. Thus you see Christ is made the turning point. The question to us, therefore, is. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? We have no new gospel to bring before you, though we trust we shall be enabled to give you some fresh aspect of it. I have been revolving this text very much in my mind — ** Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and ti\ou shalt be saved." I don't know another in all creation that I believe in. We cannot believe in our dearest friends. I will tell you why, — it is because we do not believe in ourselves. After that it is not likely we will believe in them. But I do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can believe in you so far, and you can believe in me so far. If I say, I will come and preach to you, I will come as far as lies in my power. Nothing short of some catastrophe will prevent me coming ; and you believe me thas far. But to believe wholly in any man or woman out of heaven we cannot, we dare not, because we do not believe in ourselves. Let me bring an instance before you. You remember the claimant that was so notoriously before the public not long ago. He advanced great 'I he Claims of i/ie Man Jesus. 123 claims, and put people to a great deal of trouble, and perplexed the minds of many people as to whether or not he was what he professed to be. I thought he was the genuine article for a time. During the first trial, and up to a certain stage in it, I believed in him. I thought he was the real Sir Eoger Tichborne. The trial went on, and fair play fifty times told vvas given him, but it would not do ; his roguery came out bit by bit, till it became more and more evident that he was an impostor. All that could be got in his favour was hunted up and brought forward. Every witness that could be trusted was heard on his side. Still his case would not hold water. It was patent that he was not the true heir of the estates. Moreover, those who had most to do with it, and heard and knew all the outs and ins of the case, formed in- dependent judgments solemnly, unanimously, and heartily against him. The impartiality of the judge and jury was patent to all ; and they, as well as the great voice of the English people, pronounced that no such blackguard has appeared for many years. Who believes in him now that he is proved guilty ? In fact, nobody, unless very peculiarly con- stituted can any longer have faith in him. I do not believe in him. He came forward claiming these estates, and has put their rightful possessors to extraordinary trouble and expense, as well as the country at large ; i n. w .... ■^ I :>■: 1 24 The Claims of the Man Jesus, but it has now been proved that he is no more Sir Roger Tichborne than I am. The Greatness of His Claims. ■ But the One whom I ask you to believe in makes far greater claims than those of that impostor. His claims were nothing to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. The throne of the Jewish nation is His Who was born King of the Jews. And more than that, the throne of the whole earth is His as the Son of man. And not only that, but the throne of the universe is His as the Son of God. Did you ever hear of such claims? He claimed by birth the throne of His father David, King of the Jews, and was crucified as such. He claimed also that, as Son of man, He would sit on the right hand of the power of God, and put all His enemies under His feet ; that as the Second Man — the last Adam — He would restore all that the first Adam lost ; that all on earth, both small and great, should yet bow down to Him as rightful King of nations. And not only that, but that He was the Son of God — equal with the Father — God Himself, the Creator of all things ; that He is Lord of all that ever was or will be encircled round the throne of God, and Possessor of everything in the universe as Heir of God. Did you ever hear of such claims as thes^ ? The question is, Who believes in Him as such ? The Jews did not. The Claims of the Man Jesus, 125 He oame to His own nation that He professed to be King of, and they would not have Him. They cried, " Away with Him ; onicify Him, crucify Him." They preferred Barahbas to Him. What is Barabbas ? He was a robber. Did you ever look at the history of the Jewish nation from that day to this ? If you do, and look also at their Bible history as a nation, you will find it to be one of robbery from beginning to end. I can never read accounts of them anywhere, and especially in their own serials, without repeating the word "robbery." Their robber king, ever since they chose him, has ruled them with a dreadful consistency — robbery, robbery, robbery, has been the one history of the nation. Thus the Jews, His owTt nation and people to whom He came, would not have Him. They clung to a Gentile monarch, crying, ** We have no king but Caesar." Then, again, the world was made by Him as the Son of man, and the world did not know Him, and hence did not believe in Him. The Jews would not have the Son of David, nor would the Gentiles have the Son of man ; for once, both Jew and Gentile were united to cast Him out. All refused to hav^ Him. This introduces the weak side of our Client's case. A good counsel always labours to get evidence to support the weak side of his client's case. Now I am pleading the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. I shall bring strong 5 ■ ' I ; m. n. W^^i'Y 126 T/ze Claims of the Man Jesus, evidence to prove what is supposed to be the weak side of His olaijis ; and I am to put the case before you as jurymen, and ask you to give a candid decision as before the living God. I care not if the enemy, Satan, himself be called ; I am quite prepared to meet him with unchallengeable evidence. Though the devil comes with all these six thousand years* experiences against us, I shall put the case as fairly as I can, and I fear not the issue. When He came to this earth He was bom in the worst of all circumstances. Although really the King of the Jews, the Son of man, and the Son of God, He was born among the beasts in a despised part of the land called Bethlehem. He spent the greater part of His life on earth in great seclusion. He was a carpenter working at the planes and saws ; and for thirty years He did not pubHcly advance His claims. Then when He entered on His ministry, and came forward as the King of the Jews, they would not recognise Him. I cannot put it very much stronge against Him than that. He came to JBj ■ own estates, and His own servants would not receive Him. He came to His own house and p(j^sessions, and His people kept Him out of both. So much for His claim as King of the Jews. The Jews to a man rejected Him, except a few broken- down fishermen and others. Just a few of these ignorant, p<Jor people 1 The Claims of the Man J^sus, 127 stood up for Him. Just a few of those senti- mental, weeping people, who had not much head, such alone dared to cry Hosanna in His presence. He never drew any great people round ahout Him. He went about despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and yet it knew nothing about Him. And when He came to His departure out of this world the Jews forsook Him, and the Gentiles, too, mocked and scourged Him. His friends even, who, we would have thought, would have stood up for Him, — even His friends left Him. His disciples forsook Him and fled. One betrayed Him ; another swore that he never blew Him ; not one of them stood by Him. And every man on earth left Him. We can see nothing around Him but a mob of infuri- ated Jews, and Gentile soldiers with their spears at His breast. AU on earth left Him, and all hell was let loose upon Him. He has come *20w to the crisis. Now is the crucial point, for He is to be given into the hands of God to be tested. Now we shall see if He is an impostor. He has been given into the hands of men, and they nailed Him to a tree ; now He is in the hands of God ; and hearken to His cry, ** My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " He is not only forsaken by all on earth, and all in hell, by Jews and Gentiles, by foes and i'i.i f ;■! W ^)'^i.'^'';'\r\V'f:W'''.p"}y^^ ' : 1,1 •I. u 1 i Mm 128 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus, friends, but He is -forsaken by God Himself. Does this not prove against Him? I am pleading the opposite side just now, because I am determined to give you all that can be said against Him first. Now it is perfectly ^ sure that His claim has been disallowed. ■ Therefore " we did esteem Him stricTceUj smitten of God, and afflicted," That is what the Jews said. You see, say they, that He is an impostor, for God has smitten Him for His imposition, and for saying that He was the Christ, the Son of God. His history now seems to prove Him an impostor. Jews and Gentiles all say He is an impostor. In fact, heaven, earth, and hell seem now against His claims. His Claims Disallowed. Have you anything else to say against Him? Not one of His claims has been allowed. All has been against Him as the one who claims to be the King of the Jews, the Son of man and equal with God. What have we now to say on His behalf? Well, we have just one short question to ask, and upon it we hang all our case. As to what you have said ^.gainst Him, we admit it all ; it is all true. We shall see what you, the jury, say when we bring forward our evidence. Eemember, my readers, you will all give a verdict as you read. It must be one way or other before God. We are now to put our Tfie Clavns of the Man Jesus, 129 case before you, and speak for our Client. We have not a long speech to make. Nor are we to try to convince you by any outburst of eloquence. Oratorical machinery never yet convinced a sinner of his sins, any more than it convinced a conscientious jury that a man was guilty against clear evidence to the contrary. If I were a juryman I should want nothing but the facts of the case. Well, I have only one short question to ask my opponents, and one question is all we need to ask. On that we hang all our case, and demand a verdict in favour of our Client. What is this question ? We quite allow all that has been said — that He was rejected, crucified, slain, and buried ; but we now ask, Where is He ? Where is He now ? In vain do you go to the sepulchre, and search the tomb for Him.* Where is He? "Well,*' says my opponent, "I thought you would ask that ; but my answer is, The dis- ciples carried away His body during the night." " Would you kindly give evidence for that, because I have some rebutting evidence ? *' **Well, I have a strong military leader, with his band of soldiers, who were set as a watch over His sealed grave." " Eoman soldiers, I know you are true men ; what do you know of this matter ? Is it true that you were set there as a watch ? " /* Yes, we were, and that on pain of death to every one of us should He be removed." 9 nfc 1: - •m 1 30 TJie Claims of the Man Jesus. " And is it true that there was a stone rolled to the mouth of His grave ? " " Yes, a huge stone, in order that no ordi- nary force should break into it." "And more than that, this stone was sealed with the governor's seal, that none should dare to touch it. Well, you did everything that you possibly could to make it secure ?'* " Yes, we did." By the way, my friends, you see how the wriggling of the serpent always discovers itself. A straightforward, conscientious man can never be deceived by the devil, because he goes in a straight line. The line of downright, genuine honetty and the line of Satan's pro- cedure can never go together — they are the opposite of parallel. The reason is, because Satan always uses crooked, round-about arguments; and if you meet him with clear and correct statements of truth, he will flee from you. So if the world had not taken such precautions against all possibility of Christ's body being stolen — setting a great stone, the governor's seal, and a strong guard to watch it — it would not have been so easy now to prove that He was raised from the dead. " Well, then, soldier No. 1, do you mean to say, after [all that, that the disciples stole the body of Christ out of the tomb ? " "Yes, they took it away when we were sleeping." " Indeed ! And in what way did they do it ?" The Claims of the Man Jesus. 131 u u Well, we cannot exactly say." Worse and worse ! And how do you know that they did it at all ? " No answer. You see, when a man is guilty, he makes him- self ridiculous all round. I ask you, jurymen, what is the strength of such evidence as that ? " You step down, sir ; your evidence is worse than useless. " Soldier No. 2, come up 1 How do you account for the removal of Jesus of Nazareth out of the tomb ? Is He risen ? " " Oh, no ; He is not risen." "Where is He, then?" " Well, V d happened to fall asleep a bit, and His disciples came and stole the body away." ** Did you see them through your sleep ? " '* No, but we are all agreed that it was they who took it away." I need not waste your time, jurymen, be- cause if we bring them all forward, they have all the same story to tell. Having heard one, you have heard them all. It is evident there has been some bribery behind the scene. Their theory is that His disciples took it away, and buried it somewhere else. If you ask each of them, he is sure of it ; and he is sme of it because he was sound asleep when it was done. Satan, have you any other theory for the defence of your position? Have you any other way of accounting for this body being removed, in spite of this ■■.\ I I ui 132 The Claims of the Man Jesus. stone, and the royal seal, and the guard of Boman soldiers ? No, he has not. His case rests on the evidence of a few sleeping soldiers I Do you maintain, on such evidence as that, that His disciples took His body out of that sepulchre, and embalmed it, and stowed it away in some secluded place out of every- body's reach and ken 2 In vain shall ye search for it there. Jews and Gentiles, men and devils, in vain shall ye search for it ; for He is not there at all. He is risen ; and I shall now prove it by unimpeachable evidence. Proof that He is risen from the Dead. Bring in Mary to the witness-box. " Now, Mary, what have you to say ? Who was it that you saw on that first day of the week, who said, * Touch me not, but go and tell my brethren ' ? " **That was my Lord and Master. I saw Him with my own eyes risen from the dead, and no man will convince me that it was not so. And He also showed Himself to Peter and John, and the rest of the disciples, as was said." " That will do, Mary, from you. That is very good evidence, but we want better still." Some may say that she was a poor sentimental woman, and her evidence cannot be trusted. Bring forward the Old Testament witnesses next. I do not found so much on it, though it is strong, circumstantial, corroborative '! ,». The Claims of the Man Jesus, 133 evidence. You will observe all my witnesses say He rose on the third day. Well, all the Old Testament witnesses say He would do so. Whence this corroboration? How does it happen that all Christendom from that day to this sets aside the first day of the week to worship God instead of the Sabbath or seventh day? There is a strong coincidence, unac- countable on any ground but that Christ rose on that day. Here come now His disciples and apostles. " What have you to say on this question ? " " Well, we were all assembled together on the first day of the week, and our Lord ap- peared right in the midst of us, and said, * Peace be unto you.' He showed Himself unto us, risen from the dead on that Lord's day. We are all eye-witnesses of that fact. There is, and can be, no doubt about it what- ever." " Well, that will do for you ; that is good sound evidence." We are simply letting you hear the evidence, without comment, because we have many more good witnesses. Here is another one ; let us question him. " What is your name, sir ? *' " My name is Thomas." " What are you ? " ** I was born a sceptic. I am the greatest doubter of all the apostles. They used to call me sceptical Thomas." (You see, God made use of the scepticism of Thomas to p?:ove ■<», 1!: Ml 1^ 1^1 1 34 The Claims of the Man Jesus, His resurreotion. The testimony of a sceptic is the very best evidence.) " Well then, Thomas, are you convinced that this Jesus of Nazareth is alive from the dead ? " " Well, I was a great doubter as to that. I did not believe every story about it that I heard; nor would I take it from the testimony of two, three, or four witnesses; but my doubts are all- clean gone now, because I know for certain that He is risen from the dead." " How do you know that so well now ? '* \ " Because I saw Him with mine own eyes, and thrust my own fingers into the prints of the nails in His body." " So you are perfectly sure it was the Lord ? " " Yes, perfectly sure ; and there is no man will ever convince me that it was not. As long as life lasts my scepticism as to that is gone." WeU then, readers, we hope you will give that testimony its due weight in forming your verdict. We have now a large multitude of five hundred brethren that saw Him at once. You can question any of them for their evidence. So we may dismiss these five hun- dred brethren without further examination. Paul's Evedenoe. Here is a noble-looking man, with a deter- mined look, closed lips, and silvered hair. '■• (. The Claims of the Man Jesus, 135 " Who art thou ? " **I am Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles. I was once Saul the persecutor, a blasphemous and injurious person. I haled to judgment and death all who believed in this crucified Man, and was exceeding mad against them." ** Why, I thought you would have been called as a witness for the opposition, since you did everything within your reach to destroy the hated and despised sect who believed in this Man. How is it that you have come over to be a witness on His side ? " "Well, as I was going on in my career of persecuting His followers, a light brighter than a midday sun struck me to the ground, and there I saw this Man of Calvary in the brightest effulgence of the glory of God. He is on the throne of God. Ah I ye poor soldiers of Eome, how did He get up there ? Did His disciples make a ladder up to that throne, in order to place Him there ? There He is now. How got He there, if He be an impostor ? " "Tell us, Paul the aged, did He say any- thing to you?" *' He said, ' I am Jesus, whom thou perse- cutest.' And from that day to this He has made me another and a new man ; and I am now going onward to that crown." Is he not a noble witness — Paul ? I think he is the first man in heaven I should like to see after our blessed Lord. What a clean out \ ' H rin 'it ^4 Ml /^ 136 The Claims of the Man Jesus he made with the devil, and what a bold stand for Christ 1 He oounted all his gain, position, and prospects but dung, and went abroad everywhere preaching the faith he once de- stroyed; working even with his own hands to make the gospel preaching free of charge. One time he had preached some eighteen months and had got nothing, and they took him outside the city to give him his wages, and gave him thirty-nine lashes with a whip. " Forty stripes save one " he gloried in when standing up for this rejected Man. And when he got them, he sang hallelujah. ' Our light affliction, which is but for a mono worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.*' There is a witness who believes in our Client ! having suffered the loss of all, and the torture of thirty-nine lashes with the whip thrice told, and then sung hallelujah over it all. " You may now go, Paul ; your evidence will carry its own weight with it.'* Stephen's Evidence. Here is another true witness. He is a great preacher. But he is not an apostle, nor is he an elder, but just a deacon, and withal a sensible, peaceful-looking man. " What is your name ? " He looks down very humbly and replies, "I am deacon Stephen.** " What were you ? ** The Claims of the Man Jesus. 137 '*I happen to be the first martyr of this dispensation among those who believe and preach that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. And for this they dragged me out and stoned me." " Were you not very much afraid when you saw the great crowds gathered, and the huge stones coming upon you ? " , " Not I. I never saw one of them.'* " What so filled your gaze that you did not see them ? " " I saw heaven opened." **That is something wonderful! And it was that, that did not let you see the stones when they were flying on you, breaking your bones and taking your life ? You had heard the angel choirs singing, and saw the blood- washed throng, with palms in their hands and crowns of gold ? It is a grand place, heaven, with its gates of pearls and streets of gold. Were you not very much impressed with the sight ? " ** I did not see one of them. I saw the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." " Well, I am just taking evidence for that very purpose now; are you sure you saw Him?" , "Yes; I saw neither angel nor saint, but I did see the Son of man — the crucified Man of Calvary — with the prints of the nails in His hands, standing on the right hand of God. I i ■!! ij 'J 1^ 1 iV ■ •;:v,^'. *." j<':v»;-.:v';-;;;-«'L';t f ■«, I |l i 4\ I I 138 T/^ Claims of the Man Jesus. I saw nothing of the sorrows of earth, nor of the glory of heaven, hut the Man of Calvary standing on God's right hand." Jurymen, are you now ready to give your verdict ? You have heard numerous com- petent witnesses declare that they have seen Him alive from the dead ; and some that they have seen Him in heaven itself, standing at God's right hand. Shall I now ask your verdict ? Are you satisfied with the evidence? No, I shall not ask it yet, because I have my best Witness to call still. I shall bring my best Witness last. I have brought a woman, a sceptic, five hundred brethren, a converted persecutor, and a martyred deacon, but I ca-nnot bring a single unconverted man who saw Christ after His resurrection. Paul saw Him when unconverted, but the sight converted him. Not one of my witnesses is from that regiment which is going on the broad way to destruction. Satan dare not put some of his witnesses into the box. They have such bad characters , but you can examine the characters of all mine, and you will find them true to the core — they are kings and priests unto God. The Witness op tee Spieit. Well, I have my best Witness last, and that is not Peter, nor John, nor Paul, but tlio Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He came down when Christ was glorified. Now The Claims of the Man Jesus. 139 with deepest reverence and worshipping awe we ask Him who He ia? and He replies, — •*I am the Spirit of Truth, come to take of the things of Christ, and publish them.** ** Why art Thou hsre on earth ? " ♦* I have come out from the throne of God, because the Man, Christ Jesus, was glorified there." '' Is He glorified ? '* ** I could not have come down here unless He, as glorified Man, had taken His place on the throne of God ; but now He has sent Me to gather together in one what He has purchased mth His own blood, and to form a habitation of God on the earth." "So it is settled, then, that the Man of Calvary is on the throne of His Father, God, in heaven? *' " Yes. ' Being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and ^iven Him a name which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of thinsfs in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' " " Thou hast come down to tell this, then ? " " Yes. * This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ ; not by water only, : -(.. r I'i \ I ■S- I ; Mi i i .M V II i 140 The Claims of the Man Jesus. but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness * " (1 John v. 6). What can we have after such evidence? This is the true witness of the Third Person of the Trinity— concerning an exalted Christ. " He shall not speak of Himself." That is plain. And why was that? In order that we should not build upon His work in our hearts, but upon Christ's work, of which He testifies. I used to make a gross mistake in thinking that the witness of the Spirit was what I felt within me. What is the witness of the Spirit ? Is it what you feel your heart saying ? No, that is the evidence of a liar. My friend, I cannot tell you all that His witness takes in, but I can tell you that what your heart says is not the witness of the Spirit. And in case there should be any mistake about His witness, it is v;ritten — ^it is all printed. I have not time to read over all that He has said of this risen Christ, but you can read it for yourselves. You will see it from the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles to the 22nd chapter of the Kevelation. There is His evidence. That is the witness of the Spirit, which He indited after His descent at Pentecost. Christ ascended, and the Spirit has come to bear witness to the fact, and all that He says is laid before you to be received as evidence. Now, are you to believe the evi- dence of your own erring heart? or the evidence TAe Claims of the Man Jesus, 141 ■I ^^— — — ^— ^^— « of this Spirit ? I don't believe my own heart as to any Divine truth . Whenever mjr heart contradicts the testimony of the Spirit I say to it, You are a liar, and there the controversy ends. Who believes in Him now? Well, friends, who believes in this rejected Man now? Who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ ? Does every one of my readers believe in Him? I ask you at least to believe in Him notOj if you never did before, and in your inmost soul say so to the living God. In spite of all the infidels on earth and devils in hell, I believe in Him that He is the Christ, the Son of God. If never before, I say, Christ for me. Friend, do you say that ? We may indeed be reckoned as fools for believing in Him — greater fools than those who still believe in a false claimant. After our Hero's own people would have nothing to do with Him, after He has been forsaken by man and God, condemned and persecuted, no wonder if we are counted fools for believing in Him. Think how few do believe iii Him. Surely we are credvilous. The whole world is against Him, and lieth in the wicked one. Well, now, do you believe in my Client ? 1 have said what I can for Him, and am determined to hve, and if need be die be- lieving in Him. Christ for me ! My friends, tl^e devil has great skill and .■■i.i 1 !.■ I ■■ ft i I Hi' ■ *-;t i ■Hi « 142 TAe Claims of the Man Jesus* mighty power in deceiving souls, but we do not fear him more than our own hearts. If you meet him always with God's firm testi- mony, that will silence him. If we are identified with this rejected Man, we must be rejected by the world, the devil, and the flesh ; and we have no sword where- with to fight them but the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Though you should be the most ignorant man living — not able to put .two lines together, or spell your own name — if you use that Word of God yqu will gain the battle. Look at the poor Jewish nation. ** We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afiiicted." They went wrong by not receiving and using both sides of the truth. They took the black side, and left the bright. " We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, hutr I Hke the little '' buts " of the Bible. A " but " shunts the train off one line of rails on to the other — off from the line of danger to the line of safety. The *' buts " of ibe Bible are the shunting-points of the Bible. *'But" — another line of rails altogether—. " He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chas- tisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." "For He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." Ah, there is the gospel. It is not as if we had nothing to believe in. The Claims of the Man Jesus. 143 How many of us are prepared to stand up and say, I believe in this murdered Man — Jesus of Nazareth ? Everything is against us. If the world were consistent it would stand and .. laugh at us. That is the offence of the cross. And if you are not getting insults thrown at - you, and getting reviled and laughed at, you are not accepting the Christ of Calvary ; for the world is not one whit changed from what it was when it cried out, " Away with Him, away with Him ; crucify Him, crucify Him." It is the same at heart. Jurymen, will you give your verdict now ? Do you believe in Christ ? Will you give your vote for Him? He that beheveth is saved. Believe now ! Give your verdict for Him, and you are saved for ever. Now, are you to answer this appeal with, Christ for me ? or are you to believe the devil's lie ? He is the father of Hes, and aU the evidences for his case are a few sleeping soldiers. Think of all the evidences the Spirit has advanced to prove that He is risen from the dead. And re- member all rests on the question of His resurrection. If Christ be not raised, we are stiU in our sins, and our faith is vain. But if Christ be raised from the dead, we are not in our sins. Are you, my friend, identifying yourself With this outcast Man of Calvary; then, since He is raised from under your sins, your standing is not in your sins, but in Him. Well, I think you surely can have no i^« % • 1 ?! i# li 144 The Claims of the Man Jesus, hesitation in giving your verdict in His favour now. Do you believe in Christ or no ? Every man on earth believes in somebody — either in Christ, or in some other person, or in himself. Look at the Papist ; he believes in the Pope. He believes everything the Pope says. Not what the Bible says, but what Mother Church says, and that interpreted by the Pope, whom, of course, he believes to be in- fallible I Then look at the Kationalist ; you cann9t ^Ti him down to believe in anything, or aiiy one but himself. The Secularist, Unitarian, and so-called Eationalist, beUeve in none but themselves. They croak and cry oat about the self-evident absurdities of the Gospel ; yet scarcely two of them believe the same thing, and nothing is sure but that they beheve in themselves. WeU, now, you may not believe in tlij Pope, but take care lest you beheve in your own heart. Beware of Eomanism on the one hand, trusting in another besides Christ, and scepticism on the other, which is trusting in yourself; but ''beheve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Yes, believe in Him against your own heart. Men of the world, will you have Him ? It is not that you are a great sinner or a little one. We don't ask anything about what you are. It is not, Do you beheve in this or that church, The Claims of the Man Jesus, 145 or creed, or religion ? No ; and that is why Christ is made the test for every man. You see, it is belief in a Person ; just giving your verdict for Christ. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.** Friend, do you say, Christ for me? Yes, I do, with all my heart ; Christ for me. Well, thank God, you are saved for ever; for God says, "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him Who sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." And if your own heart, after that, says to you, or any man or devil or angel says to you, You may not be saved after all, just reply, " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all ; " and He who bore my sins on the cross is now on the throne of God. Christ is risen; therefore I am not in my sins. I H m hi - -*i 10 < \M THE WRITING ON THE CB088. Hi Pi I EAT God has given us by inspired men a perfect revelation of His mind, to be communicated to us by the Holy Ghost, is not believed by many who profess the name of Christ. A very good Christian brother rather startled me (he is now with his Lord) some years ago by pointing out the discrepancies of the four Evangelists with regard to the writing on the cross, and after careful study I wrote the following to a perplexed enquirer. " I have been thinking over the conversa- tion that we had about the word of God, and am more and more convinced that our only sure standing ground is on the fact that we have a Divine and certain communication of God's mind, expressed in words that we can understand. You may remember that we were not meeting the arguments of those who deny the truths of the Scripture altogether — the avowed and open infidel — but considering the position of those who believe in some way or other that we have God's ideas, but with no Divine certainty as to language in which it is told to us. The Writing on the Cross, iM <'To the former class, the out-and-oat unbeliever, the only thing we can say is what a brother wrote to one of them, * Do you know that your only chance of escaping heU. is, that the Bible is a parcel of lies ? ' Many of this class are ignorant because they wish so to be, or at least have not taken the trouble to investigate the facts, and for this neglect they will be judged. If a man is not responsible for his beliefs^ he is responsible for the atten* Hon he has given to investigate the whole question. But the will is concerned. They hear or read what have been the stock objec- tions of infidels in every age, and bring these forward with great pretensions to originality, as if they had got something new and fresh. They have all been answered centuries ago, but it would not suit their one-sided enlighten- ment to take the trouble to investigate the pro and the con. The light having been thus rejected, darkness, as just judgment, must' follow. The after-sincerity of the man may be the surest sign and seal of his darkness. God pronounces a solemn word over such as are thus willingly ignorant, a word to which aU of us ought to take heed, because true for every rejected light (1 Cor. xiv. 36, 87). In speaking of the reception of Paul's writ- ings as from God, the Holy Ghost thus flmshes, ^ If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.* " But very many Christians, while shudder- if }i if m 148 Tke Writing on the Cross ing at such audacity, and believing that with- out a Divine communication there can be no faith, have still very unfixed notions, very vague ideas concerning the fact that we have the very Wobd of God now in our hands. They believe God has in some sort of way communicated His mind to man; that we have the substance, the ideas from God. Well, if even this be allowed, if these ideas are searched, we shall find in Scripture its idea of its own inspiration as to its nature and extent. Scripture is its own interpreter, its owji proof. I shall tell you what made me receive the Bible as the Word of God. In the first place, it alone gave me a photograph of myself as I knew myself. It told me that every imagination of my heart was only evil con- tinually, and no system of philosophy ever did so. It then showed me the only remedy consistent with God's love, justice, and holi- ness — substitution and the implantation of a new life ; all this was Divine. The Bible alone met my case ; I received it. It has evidences, external and internal, I believe, that cannot be answered. I have investigated them for myself. I have found them more than satis- factory, but the great evidence is that which comes to my conscience. The sun needs no rushlight to show that it shines. You can never define red to a blind man. " Scripture is God's Word to man ; in it, therefore, we see a perfect union of the Divine The Writing on the Cross. 149 » and human, as in the incarnate Logos ^ very God, very man. Every word is Divine ; every word is human. It is not man's word, and it is no mechanical inspiration. It is God using man's faculties to write His Word. What a rest for our weary souls, as they have fluttered for years, like the dove above the waste of waters, with the mournful cry. What is truth ? to be able to settle on the ark, with conscience at rest, the reason satisfied, and the heart filled, on such a ground. * All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God [theopneust], and is profitable for doctrine,' etc. ** Could the idea of the certain revelation of God be put in a form of words more absolute than this, spoken by the apostle Paul, * Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ' ? "A great German scholar was discussing some point with an EngUsh divine. The Englishman, to support his point, appealed to something Paul had written. The German, in deep thought, said : * Paul — Paul ! oh, yes, I have read some of his letters, but I do not agree with him.' **The poor wise man, I suppose, had not heard of a Holy Ghost who spoke the words, not Paul. And this is the school of advanced thought, this is the school from which we are to get our theology ! " * Prophecy came not in old time by tho :• I : i1 if :-i ■ m 150 The Writing on the Cross, will of man; but holy men of God spake, moved by the Holy Ghost ' (2 Peter i. 21). " * Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, . . . which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures ' — which are God-breathed — which are a unity — scrip- tures which * cannot be broken.' " * God . . . spaTce in time past unto the fathers by the prophets* (Heb. i. 1). " Jesus said to His disciples, * It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you' (Matt. x. 20). And Paul coidd appeal to the same truth : * Since ye seek a proof oi Christ speaking in me ' (2 Cor. xiii. 3). ** John say^ * He that knoweth God heareth us ; he tita-t is not of God heareth not us ' (1 John IT- 6). Ir was not Peter, it was not Paul, it was not John, it was God through and by each of these. " * He that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit ' (1 Thess. iv. 8). " * For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, becaiise v/hen ye received the Word cf God which y(^ hoarr? of us, ye received it not as the woid of men, but as it is in truth, the "VYord of God.' " We have got the Scriptures, the words of God. May God teach us to search them more, and know His mind I There are difficulties— ,'/ The Writing on the Cross. 151 difficulties on every hand. How could it be otherwise ? Can the finite so easily deal with the Infinite, and comprehend His thoughts ? But let us, as beings in the infancy of oui existence, conscious of ignorance, patiently sit at the feet of the great Teacher, and many, if not all, will disappear. But let us cling to this great broad principle — that God has spoken, that He has spoken in human lan- guage, distinctly, definitely, certainly, unmis- takably ; that the Scriptures are the words of God. This is the great sheet-anchor to our souls. We may be tossed up and down on the billows, but the anchor holds, and it alone will keep us from drifting without compass, without chart, without pilot, among the rocks, shoals, and quicksands of this dark tempestuous night of doubt, lawlessness, and infidelity. These days of trial need tried material. ' Nothing will stand the fire but asbestos.' That asbestos is the Word of God ; for empires will totter, kingdoms crumble, heaven be rolled back as an old garment, earth melt with fire, but the only asbestos, the Word of God, will endure for ever. We are therefore jealous over every sentence, every word, for not an iota of it shall perish. Therefore it is that I said to you, that I had been so happy to see the beautiful harmony, of the writing on the cross, which has been a pet theme in the hands of loose interpreters, to show the fallacy of the position we have indicated above. i k ■;■' j: I J ill I. If 152 The Writing on the Cross. " One night, while looking at the passage with some brethren in the Lord, one theory after another was advanced, which did not satisfy some of us. One writer on the Gospel wfctc brought forward, who said, that by this one simple illustration he could show the absurdity of holding that 'every word and phrase of the Scripture is absolutoly true.* Others, while going in for the doctrine of * the Words of God,' say, with a strange inconsis- tency, ' Well, the difference is so sHght ; but the sense is here.' I cannot understand the logic of such a statement, which sayp, 'The substance (!) of the story ^*s told in four distinct sets of terms, though not giving the words' — I think this gives up tho whole point. Ail allow the substance is there ; but we hold there is more. It is not a story ; it is an exact writing. I need hardly notice another theory which twists out the four from the three different languages in which the words were written. Let us now look at the Word itself. You are aware that the harmony of the Gospels is a moral harmony, showing the character of our Lord Jesus Christ under four aspects, not merely supplementary, but divinely, giving the story of the Son of David — the King (Matthew) ; the Son of God, the servant of man (Mark) ; the Son of man for this world (Luke) ; and God manifest in the flesh, very God of very God (John). ** It was asked, while we were looking at ■■'■'ta The Writing on the Cross 153 the words over the cross, 'If the four daily papers of a city had given as different an account of a certain writing, we should have said, " The substance is in all, but the exact words are not given." ' Now this looks specious; but let us look at it. The four Evangelists are nut as four daily papers, to give curious particulars to mankind; nor is there one mind breathing through these four papers, making their diversity a unity, as in the Evangelists. But you coald suppose four writers giving a correct history of the Ufe of a man ; one describing him as a poet, another as a military tactician, another as a kind benefactor, another his connection with a noble genealogy. "Now suppose there was written on his tomb this epitaph — * Here lies A B , son of C^ D , and father of E F . He was a pure and simple poet, a wise and skilful officer, a kind and thoughtful benefactor.' The first historian describing him as a poet, might write, * On his tombstone were written these words, "He was a pure and simple poet ; " ' the second describing the military man, * On his tombstone were these words — " He was a wise and skilful officer ; " ' the third telling his story to the poor he had benefited — * He was a kind and thoughtful benefactor ; ' and the fourth proving his position from the genealogical tree, would say, * On his tombstone is written — " He was ■•: ' i. •Wii^ f iiJ 154 The Writing on the Cross, C- >> » D- and father of E- Would any of these be wrong ? would they not all give the words ? There is not this discrepancy among the four accounts we have before us. Of course we must keep in mind that the differences between the four Evangelists on this matter are of the minutest character. If each of them had said that they gave the whole writing on the cross, there would then have been some diflSculty ; but if you will notice the formulas with which each introduces the writing, you will find that they are all different; not one says exactly that he gives just what the other gives. It will not do to turn and say, ' But these mean all the same thing — they are just the same.' *'If I were adjusting a microscope, and on looking through it you saw nothing but a con- fused haze, and if I then gave the slightest turn to the adjusting-screw, and you were to say, * You have scarcely touched it,' — look at the object now, and it is in perfect focus. If the difference is very small, the disturbing cause must be very small also. AU confess the smallness of the difference between the Evangelists' accoimt ; all that we show is that they do not say exactly in words that they give just the same thing. The weight and import of the particular formula remain with the philologist and exegete to discuss ; we merely point out the fact. We get the true WORDS, and nothing but the true words, from I :.,. The Writing on the Cross, M 155 each ; we get all the wobds (at least as many as God wishes us to get) from their united testiTPony. "Matthew says it was *His accusation written — This is Jesus, .... the King of the Jews.' ** Mark says, ' The superscription of His accusation was written over, THE King op thjb Jews. (the impo}:tant part of the accusation). " Luke says, ' A superscription also was written, This is the King op the Jews.* *' John says, * Pilate wrote a title ' (he tlone puts in Nazareth), •. . Jesus op Nazaeeth, the King op the Jewb.* " Thus the accusation, the superscription, the title, is, * This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.' There is the most per- fect harmon) in seeming diversity. The spirit alone can show us the beauty. These thmgs are spiritually discerned. We have got greater confidence in the words of our blessed Father- God since we saw the perfect unity of mind in all the book." Matthew, who tells us that the Old Testa- ment Emmanuel (God with us) is now trans- lated into the name Jesus (Jehovah our Saviour) — for none but God could save, and i IfU i; ■ i »i \ I ■f i i - '><^' 156 The Writing on the Cross. i \ if God condescends to be with us it must be as a Saviour — ^informs us that the Crucified One is Jesus, and that this accusation written was set up over His head, *' This is Jesus the King of the Jews." Note carefully that each reports Him as " The King of the Jews." Mark, who relates to us the servant work of our Lord, says nothing about " Jesus " as the Messiah promised to the fathers, but gives us the " head and front of His offending " to the Jews, not His accusation, but the superscrip- tion of His accusation, " The King of the Jews." Let us now notice what Luke writes. As Matthew wrote specially for Jews, so Luke wrote for Gentiles. He does not write of the accusation, nor the superscription of His accu- sation. Gentiles had nothing to do with that, but he tells us that "a superscription was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the Jews." John, whose writing was about God manifest in the flesh coming to His own kingdom, and His o^Ti Jews receiving Him not, and being in the world of which He was Creator, and the men of the world not knowing Him, tells us of the title that Pilate wrote. In no other Evangelist do we read of the despised name, the Nazarene. *' Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? " Very God of very God. John's great message was to be The Writing on the Cross, 157 ■ branded on His cross of shame with the despised of all despised titles, not as the grand titles of earth which men covet. Thus we have it in fuU, with the exception of " This is," but in perfect accord with the scope of the Gospel, *' Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." The chief priests of the Jews are reported in this Gospel to have objected to this ; but what Pilate wrote, God kept for all time. I would not have dwelt on this matter so fully, had it not been that so honest and faithful a com- mentator as Dean Alford, has given the power and influence of his great and good name to those who deny plenary inspiration, and takes this theme as a test point. I quote from the sixth edition of his full Commentary (1868), page 20, " The title over the cross was written in Greek. According, then, to the verbal in- spiration theory, each Evangelist has recorded the exact words of the inscription, not the general sense, but the inscription itself — not a letter less or more." It is very strange that a teacher of such ability should have lost sight of the fact that not one Evangelist says he gave the inscription itself in the general sense. Surely, apart from inspiration, we must give a man credit for saying what he means, and meaning what he says. If I say to a friend, I went to the top of Ben Nevis, and he was interested only in the locality, I would be perfectly correct. If I said to a meteorological II' 'M \ : ,! it ' .-i •■\ 1 58 The Writing on the Cross. friend, I went ta the top of Ben Nevis and examined the instruments, I am still verbally and absolutely correct. If I said to another doctor friend, I went to the top of Ben Nevis to examine one of the observers who was not in health, I would be still correct. K I told a preacher friend that I went to the top of Ben Nevis to give away some copies of the British Evangelist f would not this be correct ? and all contained in the one visit. And thus our faith is all the more strengthened when we find false witness against the Scriptures. Not one of the Evangelists says that he gives the whole inscription. What they do profess to give, they give in Divine peifectness. His Accusation. The SuPERSwiiiPTioN op His Accusation. A Superscription. A Title. We are not affirming that we understand all that is meant in these distinctions. We merely state them for study. THE NAME OF GOD. ** The name of the Lord is a strong tower : the righteoas runneth into it, and are safe." — Fboyebbs xviii. 10. I HAT name which was written, that He could by no means clear the guilty, is the strong tower to us, into which we run and are safe. A rock commands the city of Edinburgh, and on the top is a castle, and if you look at that castle from the streets around, — ^you will see the frowning guns pointing down and .commanding every street. If an enemy entered that city, and attempted to attack the garrison, those inside could sweep every street, and woe to the men outside. But walk up the esplanade, cross the draw- bridge, climb the steps up to the castle, and then you will find yourself standing by the side of the flag-staff, inside the auns; that ip where the righteous are in Christ. By nature we see Gtd against us ; we see Mount Sinai and hear the Lord's imperative words, *'Thou Shalt," and "Thou shalt not," arid "He that offends in one point is guilty of all," and " He can by no means clear the guilty." Where can the poor sinner stand ? But look r^. it' :| i m i6o The Name of God^ to Him who came from the Father — the Way, the Truth, and the Life came from the centre of God down to the sinner's place, and in Him we go hack to the very centre of God, and find ourselves inside the guns. For the very attributes of God that were against us — His righteousness, holiness, justice, truth — are now the very things that are for us, and we are ma'^.e the very righteousness of God in Christ. God is just ; that is the pillow on which the believer lies every night. Not that God is merely loving and merciful; but thalb God is so righteous, so just, so truthful, so holy, that He will not visit us with the doom He visited on His Son. " Payment God will not twice demand- First from my bleeding Surety's hand, And then again from me." You may be aware that through Scripture .there are different names given to the great God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and our Saviour. His name is that by which God reveals His personal presence in certain rela- tions to man, His self-manifestations in certain characters, that side of His nature which He is pleased to turn to man. God. The first, and most comprehensive, is the name God. You generally find out a man's theology by the name he uses for God. The The Name of God, i6i ^ name that the mere philosopher uses is Nattvre; he speaks of the laws of nature. We know only of the laws of our God, ?>nd ** nature ** is an idea that these philosophers have intro- duced to get rid of the great Creator and God. And then you will find others, who do not look so much at nature, who have another name for God: they call Him Providence. Gk) to the unconverted farmer, and ask him why in the spring-time he throws away his grain? It is because he believes in Providence, a providential God, who will look after food for man and beast. It is the name for God he believes in, and he trusts it accordingly. " They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee ; " and it is according as we know the name of God we trust in Him. The philosopher knows that the tides ebb and flow, the sur and moon rise and set; he knows the name Nature, and he trusts accordingly. The man that knows Providence^ and knows no other, trusts accordingly. But the name we first get revealed to us in Scripture, and the most comprehensive of all names, is the name God. If you look into the first chapter of Genesis, you will find this first name, and you find no other name in that chapter. We there see God, the great originating cause of all things — God, the great and glorious One, fashioning and furnishing all things, perfecting all things by the word of His power. You find Him making light 11 i 1 :; 'H: '• V 1^2 The Name of God. spring out of darkness, form out of chaos, and repletion out of the void. Adam was put under responsibility to walk manifesting that power, made in the image of God, with dominion over the creatures ; at the fall he lost the liheness of God, but the image of God he stUl has. An image has not necessarily likeness ; and man stands at the head of all creation, and separated from all creation. Let the philosophers try to bring this to the smallest limit they can, man is still the image God, with dominion over the crcatior. Almighty. Secondly, we come to another name, which you will find in the 17th chapter of Genesis. " The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am the Almighty God." This is the second circle within the first, telling out a little more of what God is. He is almighty. Abraham was to come out before that God, and to walk before Him perfect. He says, ** Walk before me, and be thou perfect." As Adam walked in the image of God manifesting God's name, we find that Abraham was to walk manifesting in perfec- tion the attributes in which h^ was related to God, and especially glorifying the almighti- ness of God ; against hope he believed in hope. One might have said to Abraham, "You play a fooUsh part." ''Nay," he The Name of God, 163 might have replied ; '* I am manifesting what the Almi^xity God is." That name was the tower into which Abraham went. In all the difficulties of his path afterwards, we see the almightiness of God manifested through him, the human instrument that God had chosen. Jehovah. Thirdly, we come to another name brought out more fully, which we find in the 6th chapter of Exodus. ** Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh : for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said, I am Jehovah : and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." This is a new name. He is dealing on the ground of redemption. The word that composed the name Jehovah was known before, but God adopted it as His new relationship name with the children of Israel, whom He was to redeem. He did not assume it until the era of redemption came. We find two explariations of this name in the book of Exodus: this name that is a strong tower, into which the righteous run and are safe. You will find the first explanation of ■f i \i i !'H ill il r64 TAe Name of God, this name that Israel knew in Exod. vi. 6, with these seven " I wills " : — " Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, ** And I will hring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, " And I will rid you out of their bondage, "And I will redeem you with a stretched- out arm, and with great judgments, "And I will take you to me for a people, " And I will he to you a God" [not merely a redemption /rowi something, but to an obje(^t — ^to God HimseK] . ' * And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you from under the burdens of the Egyptians. "And I will hring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ; " And 1 will give it you for a heritage. I am Jehovah." This is the strong name of Jehovah, and it was into this name Moses ran and was safe. By it he brought a,ll the judgments upon Pharaoh; he opened the sea, and he went through all the desert under the shadow of this name Jehovah. So, now, we find that Israel was to walk in the perfect manifestation of that Jehovah-name, for we read in Deu- teronomy xviii. 13, " Thou shalt he perfect with Jehovah thy God." They were not only to know Jehovah, but they were to manifest His name before the nations and amongst the I, I The Name of God, 165 nations : " Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God.'* Thus it was they fought against Amalek, and thus it was they not only prayed for the destruction of the nations, but with the sword accomplished it ; and it would have been their sin to have spared one of them, because they were manifesting His name Jehovah. Let us look at the other aspect of this name, the other half of that name Jehovah. In the sixth chapter of Exodus, we have the part that tells us of His redeeming power ; but in the thirty-third chapter we read, " And he (Moses) said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory. And He said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee ; and will be gracious to horn I will be gracious, and will show mercy o^. whom I will show mercy " — not merely 01 i'ci'eeming power, but good- ness or pa den.rtg love. We find it re- vealed ^n ib^i LfV- verse of the thirty-fourth chapter. * A ^ - .novah descended in a cloud, and stood with mm there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. And Jehovah passed by bifore him " — we shall use that word Jehovah, because there is another word in the Hebrew which means Lord, and which might confuse some — " and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah- God, merciful and gracious, long-sufifering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and i .+1 I ;*3 y^ 1 66 The Name of God, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." You see, the gracious character of Jehovah here manifested is not that of one looking over sin. God can look over nothing ; blessed be His name. He can forgive anything. All must be brought to the light on the ground of that precious blood of the Crucified but now Eisen One, that blood which cleanseth us from all sin. Jehovah is the name all through the wanderings of the children of Israel, and if we search in the Old Testament history, we find that this is the name used all along until Christ came. We find He is Jehovah Jireh — Jehovah will provide (Gen. xxii. 14) ; Jehovah Rophecha — Jehovah that healeth thee (Exod. xv. 26) ; Jehovah Nissi — Jehovah my banner, when Israel was fighting with Amalek, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (Exod. xvii. 1-5) ; Jehovah Shalom — Jehovah send peace (Judges vi. 24) ; Jehovah Shammah — Jehovah is there. When Ezekiel was looking at the departing glory, and onward to the coming glory, he saw the city having Jehovah as its light (Ezek. xiviii. 35). .W::|,'y'l it; TJie Name cf God. 167 Jehovah Tsidhenu — Jehovah our righteous- ness (Jer. xxiii. 6). Thus we see God hringing out of the secrets of His own heart further and further manifes- tations of what He is Himself. Is He not a strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe — safe for ever ! The Names Elohim and Jehovah, God AND Lord. Many critics, not seeing the wonderfully Divine purpose in the use of " God " and "Lord" in the hook of Genesis, \i2^nq fancied and ^wesse^Z that there were two documents, and that '' the way in which the two names are used can OTiZ^/be due to difference of authorship I " The man who believes he has God's words and Christ's Bible cares little whether there were two documents or two hundred, for to him they are words " which the Holy Ghost, teacheth ; " but to say that the use of two names " can only be due to difference ot authorship " is the presumption of ignorance. If we have the Word of God, who can say positively to what it can be due unless God the Author informs us ? Let us suppose the following as an illustration. A gentleman enters his office and says to a clerk, " Sit down. I wish a history of this business to be written out, and write as follows : — ' The master y finding his business rapidly increasing, gathered his men, and said, We must have a 1 jl 1 !>' 1 n! H If 1 «4? 'Us ii:X -''i i ;,";'■ >. • Si •ill . ii§ •\ ( I i 1 68; The Name of God. I new warehouse, and the master drew plans, and the master superintended the erection, and when the building was finished the master gave a great supper to the men (among whom was his son). And he said to his son, I intend to depart for a foreign land, and you, having had practical experience, are to be manager till I come back; and the /a^^er gave instructions to the son, and the father in the presence of the men gave all authority to the son, and the father departed, and the son took his place, and every month the father wrote to the son, and the son to the fatJiery and the men were very much interested in the travels of their master," and so on with the history. We have two names used here, ** master " and *' father." How much would we think of the common sense of the man who said, "The way in which the two names are used can only be due to two clerks having been used " ? In Genesis i. we have the name " God," because it is the Creator in the widest display of His wisdom and power. In Genesis ii. we have "Lord God," due to the fact that here we have God in moral relation to His creature and creation. Juit as in the above illustra- tion we had " master " with the men and " father " with the son, so we have hsre "Creator" (God) with the creation, and " Creator Master " (Lord God) with His created servant. The Name of God, 169 Turn up a few passages where the natues are together. Genesio vii. 16, " They that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as Grodi had commanded him : and tlie Lord shut him in." What can be more mechanical and contemptible than the double document idea here ? What can be more appropriate and instructive than to see Divine design in the ohan ge ? The God of creation commanded lion and lamb to come to the ark when Noah's voice would have been powerless, but the Lord, to whom Noah wur responsible, for whom Noah wrought, and to whom Noah was especially related as contrasted with crea- tion, this Lord looked after him and shut him in. 1 Sam. xvii. 47 : David was to slay Goliath that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel " (the Creator of all the earth alone could be known by the heathen in His power, but Israel had to learn more), " and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear." 2 Chron. xviu. 31 : '* Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped 7wm, and Qod moved them to depart." The Creator was only God to the heathen. He was in addition to this Lord in Israel (we retain the English names, as we write for those who have no pretensions to Hebrew), so the Lord helped Jehoshaphat and God moved the enemy. The boy spoke to his fri.ther, and his father, the master, gave (( H' ■V, 170 TAe Name of God. commandment to the servants. Can we use such language, and may God not be allowed to do it without the necessity of employing two documents ? We quite grant that there maij have been any number of traditions, documents, and direct statements from God. The first chapter necessarily is a pure and simple revelation from God without any man's aid, documentary or traditional. But to say there must have been two documents we consider to manifest a mere superficial acquaintance with the words of the book, and a lamentable exhibition of ignorance as to what is in it. Psalm vi. 9 says, " They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee," and a scriptural apprehension of what is in the name will give the only key to the propriety and purpose of its use. "■ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah^ He is my refuge and my fortress : my Godj in Him will I trust." But as we have been coming into circle after circle of this great name, God, ihe Creator — God, the Almighty — Jehovah, the I Am, we have still another name ; but it was not revealed by Adam, it was not revealed by Abraham, nor by Moses. He kept it for Him- self to reveal ; so He sayr -i^ rhe 22nd Psalm, *' I will declare Thy nai,'/. unto iiv brethren." // The Name of God. 171 He is promising us something more than Gl-od. He is promising us something more than Almighty. He is promising us some- thing more thd^n Jehovah. " I have another name to reveal, and I will do it myself." This is the promise ; and the fulfilment of it yoti find in John xx. 17 : " Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Fatheb. But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and yowr Father ; and to my God, and your God." " I ascend unto my Father," that s the eternal relation- ship; but think of this, "and your Father." That is a name v/e have no right to claim by nature. We can all call Him Ood^ and ought to, as His creatures, but Father is only known in resurrection. The great opposition to the glorious truth of God now is, that men are taught that they have a universal Father, ready to forgive and pardon all their sin, and so merciful and loving, that He can never think of damning any one. Look at Calvary's cross, see Him who hangs there, hear His cry, " My God, my God, why hast Thcu forsaken me ? " It is at Calvary we get the truth of that great name, at Calvary we know what it cost God. It is there that we get the awful truth of condemnation. The God-man had to cry, ** If it be possible 'i 172 The Name of God, let this cup pass from me." Can God spare any when He was not spared? K it were possible, would not God have let Him go free who had no sin of His own ? " How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?*' Calvary settles all arguments. Let us keep close to Calvary. After Calvary He says, " My Father *' — the eternal relationship — and *'your Father." And He gives us the secret of how we get into this relationship. Until He had come to the furthest limit of creation, yea, until He was made sin for us, and was on the cross, for- saken by God, cast out from heaven and earth, He never had called His Father, God; but now in that hour of darkness, in agony He cries, " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " " My God " was the word He took in that suffering, and substitution, and atonement. " My Go^," we should have cried for ever in an eternal hell. He took our creature relation, and said, " My God," that we might be able to say, ** Our Father'' ** I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; and to my God, and your God." Has He not revealed the name ? Yes. He it was who was with the Father from all eternity. In this circle of names we have got to the inner circle now, not the most comprehensive but the most intensive; the most comprehensive is God, the most intensive is Father. Circle after circle He passes in His outward journey // TAe Name of God. 173 ix> seek ns'the lost ones, for He came from the Father, but not only from the Father, but the innermost oircle of that circle, for He came from '^ the bosom of the Father ; " and He has come down with all His love to the sinner's place, that He r^ight call this Father God, that He might never rest until He had set us down in His retracing journey, with a thief as His first trophy, into the very bosom of the Father. *' The love wherewith He loves the Son, Such is His love to me." That is our place for ever. We can go no more out ; we are in the bosom of the Father for ever. Is it not remarkable that two of the greatest revelations that ever came from heaven to earth were entrusted not to great scholars, or even great theologians, but to two humble women ? At Sychar's well — ** I that speak unto thee am He " — was told to a poor weeping penitent the great fact of the advent of the Messias, and with it, to her ear alone, that remarkable revelation of the sweeping away of Judaism, that " God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The other was in resurrection to Mary. Even Peter and John had rushed off, and were thus deprived of being the bearers of the tidings of an opened heaven, and * 1 ascend to My ?^f I % I ^ ■ \i \ t i I ill J 74 The Name of God. Father and your Father, to My God and your God," was again given to a weeping woman. The moral condition of these helpless vessels which He chose shows the line that we must go on if we are to get into the mind of God concerning His truth. Leave God out, and then we have nothing but a human compila- tion; bring Him in, and we have a Divine book, perfect in every part, to be interpreter', on Divine principles, as containing Divine facts, and manifesting Divine purposes. As the God of Adam, He is the God ,cf Creation ; as the God of Abraham, He is the Almighty ; as the God of Israel, He is Jeho- vah ; but as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is our God and Father in Him. To each of those names there is a perfection corresponding. Matt. v. 43 is left for us who were to be His believing ones, when He went away : "Ye have heard that it hath been said, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I saj^ unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that . despitefuUy use you and persecute you : that ye TYiay he the children of your Father which is in heaven ; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth ruin on the just and on the unjiiHfc. Be ye there- fore ^er/ec^, even as your Father which is iu heaven is perfect." This is not acquirement; // The Name of God. 175 it is manifestation. You never could reach up to be sons; but now that you are sons, you are called to manifest whkt the Son was manifesting when He was here in a world that rejected Him. And we are to manifest Him, and so ** ye shall be the children of your Father which is in heaven." For "if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same ? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others ? do not even the pubhcans so ? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which, is in heaven is perfect." Look at that beautiful word, *' perfect." Some people dream of reaching a state of sinless perfection here — speak of reaching it by prayer, or faith, or some other road. This undefined it is nowhere in Scripture. Such only show their ignorance of how 'perfect is used in Scripture. God has definitely fixed His word against such a dangerous doctrine in these words : *' If we (who are walking in the Ught, and, in the former verse, have been cleansed from all sin) say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John i. 9), thus most conclusively proving that being cleansed from sin is not cleansed from the existence of sin within, as many would attempt to teach. Perfection is manifesting on earth what God has revealed to us from heaven, according to the relationship into which God has called us, and which He « Pn, 'fl 1*1 wL I'V' :l^; • \, : "\ \ 1« '; I ; . s m 176 The Name of God, ■A Q wiBnes men to know through us. Thus we see each is called to manifest according to what is revealed. Adam perfect hefore God (Gen. ii. 19). Abraham perfect before the Almighty (Gen. xvii. 1). Israel perfect before Jehovah (Deut. xviii. 13). Saints now perfect before the Father (Matt. V. 48). Job is called perfect by God ; and what do we find? The man that God calls perfect abhors himself. What a glorious lesson for us, that as Christ is, so are we ! yet we abhor ourselves. We know little of perfection in Christ if we are not more and more, day by day, abhorring ourselves. "Be ye therefore perfect," not as the Almighty, not as Jehovah, but, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." We are to be manifesting perfect grace coming out of the Father's heart to a world of sinners, telling out the love He has to a poor lost world — doing good to them that hate us, walking in His steps, and not bearing the character of loving our friends and hating our enemies ; but " love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." Thus we find that the character even of the little babes in Christ is, "they have known The Name of God. 177 the Father," and are mauifesting the perfect grace of the Father down here. But we find in 2 Corinthians, chap, vi., that we have lost nothing in comprehensiveness while gaining in intensity; we have reached the very bosom of the Father; and all that is His is ours. "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be their God, and they shall be ray people. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith Jehovah the Almighty.'' We have God, Jehovah, and the Almighty, and here is our Father ; for Ho is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. " They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." It is as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ we now trust Him, and He is our God and Father in Him ; and le.t us never dissociate these two names, God and Father, which He bears to us. Because He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, we stand as it were at the top of the highest height of all His glory, far above all principalities and powers. We look down and say. What has God wrought ! He has brought poor sinners from the dunghill to the throne. Some seem inclined to quarrel with God 12 t[ ■f ew IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I 1.25 |M 125 <ii Hi 12.2 ■ 2.0 1.8 1.4 6" — m /, °7 f Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WiST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14380 (716) 872I-4S03 4 '^ i\ (V iV ".U - ^ <^ o^ 178 The Name of God. because they are bom sinners. Friend, it is no misfortune to be bom a sinner., for if we had not been bom sinners we could never have had the hope of being seated on the throne, even as He is on His Father^s throne. The misfortune is, that ^^ light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." There is a Saviour for every sinner, but He had to say, when amongst sinners, " Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." We who have come to Him are beyond angels an^ beyond all creation, because we are identified with the lost sinner^s Saviour, and in Him stand at the very height of the glory of God. Because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we look upward into an infinity and eternity of love — a love thafc is all for us — a love that is fed by itself — a love that ever in its activities is being exercised for our needs, pouring out its rivers on the most arid hearts, taking the greatest pains and carewith the unworthy — a love all Divine, all unearthly — a love that is before and above all the glory — a love that planned the glory for us, and prepared us for the glory — a love that was manifested by the glory ; as Jesus says — " The glory thou gavest me I have given them" — for what purpose ? — *^that the world may beUeve that Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me " — a love that has saved The Name of God. 179 us, borne with us, cleanses us, and will present us spotless in that glory — a love that will be our study for ever — a love that passeth know- ledge, an ocean without a bottom and without a shore. < • ■ / , I I EMMANUEL-JESUS. I HE angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph . . . thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might he fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord hy the prophet, saying, . . . They shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us ' ' (Matt. i. 20-23). If we look at this prophecy and thi. fulfil- ment, we find two most important truths. 1st. If we are to have a Saviour, that Saviour must be God. 2nd. If God is to be with us, it must be as our Saviour. 1st. If we are to have a Saviour, He must be God. Jesus came to His own — He came to save His own. This refers primarily to the Jews, who are said to be Jehovah's own, and to belong to none others ; this shows that Jesus is Jehovah. But further, ohis calling of the Son of Mary Jesus, Saviour, is the fulfil- ling of that text, *' God with us." If heaven had been searched from end to end, no angel Emmanuel-Jesus, x8i could have saved a lost sinner. If heaven had been omptied, and every intelligent being that God had created had been offered up as a sacrifice to God, no sinner could have been saved. If, added to this, all the human race and all the lost angels, every creature existing, as created by God in heaven, earth, and hell, had been offered up on one tremendous sacri- ficial altar, no sin would have been blotted out. The most holy and perfect creature, or the greatest number of creatures, could never satisfy Divine justice as to the atonement of one sin, simply because v:hen in the service of God any creature is called upon by God to give up his life, he merely does his duty, merely gives God bacK what he received. He has nothing over to atone for sin. None but " God with us " could become " Jesus our Saviour." The uncreated all- creating One, in whom is life, could become sin, could lay down His life, could give Himself for our sins, could be the Saviour of sinners. 2nd. If God is to be with us. He must be with us as a Saviour. He is with angels, as they do His will in angelic purity, as their Creator and Master. He walked with Adam in inno- cence in the intimacy of the garden, but all this is lost. He cannot come now to train and teach us. Cain made this fatal mistake. He thought he was on the Eden ^-erms with ill if L% 'm ■J : A ii >^;- i32 Emmanuel-Jesus. God. Nicodemus made this mistake, leaving out of count the Son of man lifted up; he would have God with him as a Teacher. Not so. He must be a Saviour, or He cannot be "with men.*' As that word "God with us" comes out from the throne of God, and penetrates through the thick vapour of sin that surrounds this earth, it becomes changed into Jesus. As the prophecy rolls onward to its accom- plishment, the angel of Jehovah gives the necessary translation of " God with us." Its translation, not into Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, or English, or any other Babel tongue, but into the language of the sinner's need, let that sinner be barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, black or white, " God with us," when translated into this language of need, becomes " Jesus— Saviour from sins." And how truly we find Him coming to the sinner's place, in order that He might be the sinner's Saviour! Infidelity may stumble at the genealogy of Matthew i. The needy sinner reads it with joyful heart, as there he reads that God became one of U3 that He might become one with us, and so might become Jesus our Saviour. When man writes his genealogy, he tries to bring in the great namefc' and leave out the unworthy. If he could only get some of the blood-royal, or the blood of the nobles, to appear in his genea- logical tree, he would be exceedingly pleased. Emmahuel-Jesus. The needy sinner watches with wondrous interest what God has left out and what God has added to that list of names. God has intentionally left out the names of three kings — Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah — from the list. He has added three that did not require to appear — Tamar, Kahab, and the wife of Urias. Kead their histories in the Old Testament, and then adore His sovereign grace. To say no more about them, though much might be said, they were all Canaanites, belonging to the cursed son of Ham, who were commanded to be extirpated root and branch. Kuth is another who is added. She was a Moabitess, and the Ammonite and Moabite were not to come into the congrega- tion of God for ever. ii " Sovereign grace o'er sin abounding, Who its length or depth can tell ? 'Tis a deep that knows no sounding." Thus our Saviour is God, and God is with us as Saviour — really a Man, really the seed of the woman — really one w th the sinner — He who knew no sin made sin for us. Because He is one with us He can come under sin, can be made sin, can bear the penalty of sin, can die for sin ; because He is God He can bear our sins. He can put away sin. He can bear its doom, He can destroy him that had the power of death. He has risen; and this is Emmanuel-Jesus, God with us — our Saviour. i .J' " :w .? i84 EmmanUel'Jesus, Keador, none can save you but God. God can treat with you on no ground until you have accepted Him as your Saviour. Modern rationalism easily gets away from this by passing over the terrible factor **sin." Modern ritualism brings religion to God, while God is waiting to be " with us " as Jesus the Saviour. I f ' EI8 NAME. [O continue the subject of the different names of our Lord, we here give a careful investigation of Scripture in as few words of ours as possible. It is of great importance to study all Scripture in such a way as to derive our doctrines from Scripture, and not make Scripture fit into our doctrines. In our following study we have examined fifteen names, titles, and combinations used concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. There are many others, such as Son of Man, Son of God, King of kings, etc., which open up quite a different line of things. On pages 186 and 187 we give a table which, in itself, is very instructive. We give the num- ber of occurrences of each name before and after Pentecost, as found in the New Testament. What strikes us at the first glance is the frequency of the simple name *• Jesus " before Pentecost, and its rare occurrence after Pen- tecost, and that " The Lord Jesus Christ^' is never mentioned before Pentecost, and in one form or another is usad 99 times after Pente- cost. Take in connection with this one of the first Pentecostal utterances (Acts ii. 36), 1% fffi MENTIONS OF "HIS NMIE" . Boob. JllCt. Cbkiit. LOKD. Juci Ohkiit. CURIIT JUt'ft. Matthew .... 169 14 51 2 • •• Mark . t • 92 6 17 1 • • • Luke . • 97 12 85 ... • • • John . • 252 19 43 2 ... (After PentGcost) 1 t The Acts . 1 • 30 14 92 10 1 Romans • 2 36 26 13 6 1 Corinthians • 2 47 53 6 3 2 Corinthians • 5 38 21 6 • • • Galatians . 1 ■ 1 25 2 8 5 Ephesians . 1 • 1 27 17 5 6 PiULIPPIANS ■ • 1 18 10 9 8 Colossi ANS . • • • •• 19 8 1 2 1 Thessalonians • 3 3 13 • • • 2 2 Thessalonians • • • • 2 10 • • • 1 Timothy , • • • 2 3 3 5 2 Timothy • > . . 1 14. 3 7 Titus . • ... ... 3 ... Philemon * .. . i 3 2 2 Hebrews • 8 9 16 3 1 James . • ... ... 12 ... ... 1 Peter . • ... 10 5 9 2 2 Peter . • _ .. . 10 2 *.. 1 John . • 4 2 ... 8 ... 2 John . ■ .. . 2 • • • 1 ... 3 John . • . . • ... • • • • • • • •• JUDE . • ... 3 2 • • . Revelation After Pentecost • ■ 6 ' 8 6 • • . 62 260 326 102 50 Before „ I f Gli 51 196 5 In All . k < 4 • 676 311 622 107 50 NMIE" Juv» BHIIT. CuRin Jui-s. 2 • tt 1 • • • 10 1 13 6 6 3 G • • • 8 6 5 6 9 8 1 2 • • • 2 • • • ... 3 5 3 7 3 • •• 2 2 3 1 9 2 8 1 • • • 2 6 102 5 107 50 50 IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ' ' -. Lord JllDI Lord Cbriit. Juvi ODR Lord. Cbriit na LORB. Lord Jhdi Cbriit. Chbiit Jr.tvt OCR Lord. Juci CBRiar ODR Lord. Cbriit Juvi TBI LokD. Cbriit Jnvt mt Lord. Lord AMD Satiovr Jnoi Cbriit. .•• ... .«. ... §•• ... • •• ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 ^ ... ... ... • •• • • ■ • •• ... ... ... • • • ... 15 5 • ■ • • ■ . • •• 2 9 ... 4 • •f 3 10 1 2 • • • 3 5 ... ... 1 ... 3 ... .•• 1 7 1 1 2 • • * 1 1 .2 ... • •• 3 9 ... 1 11 ' * * • •■ • ■ • 4 2 1 1 1 \ ■'■ 1 2 ... • • • 1 2 • • . • •• ... 3 • • • ... ... 1 ... ... • •< 3 z 1, " ' 1 82 ... 34 1 2 4 7 2 1 8 1 1 35 .1 2 1 82 4 7 2 1 3 • !:r' M i t i88 His Name, ** God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ." It will be beyond our power to go over every passage. We shall therefore confine ourselves to the exceptional cases. 1. Jesus occurs 614 times as the name of the Babe from Bethlehem, the Man fi:om Naza- reth, the Sufferer of Golgotha. The 62 times after Pentecost — the proclamation of his Lord- ship — are thus derived : — In the Acts of the Apostles it is used 30 times after Pentecost, which we might have expected, thus 'nearly taking up half the num- ber, as showing to the Jew that Jesus was the Messias promised to the fathers. "Jesus of Nazareth ... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain " (Acts ii. 22). " This Jesus hath God raised up " (ii. 32). " God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ " (ii. 36). " The God of Abraham hath glorified His Son Jesus " (iii. 13). " God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you " (iii. 26). " The Sadducees being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead *' (iv. 2). " They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus " (iv. 13). " Commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus " (iv. 18). His Name. 189 " Against Thy holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed " (iv. 27). ** The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree " (v. 30). '* They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus " (v. 40). ** We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place " (vi. 14). " Stephen saw the glory of G-od, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (vii. 55). ''Philip preached unto him (the eunuch) Jesus*' (viii. 35). '' The Lord said (to Saul), I am Jesus,.whom thou persecutest " (iz. 5). *' He (Paul) had preached boldly at Damas- cus in the name of Jesus " (ix. 27). " Peter said, God anointed Jesus of Naza- reth with the Holy Ghost " (x. 38). " Paul said. Of this man's (David) seed hath God, according to promise, i\ ised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus " (xiii. 23). " He hath raised up Jesus again " (xl' )3). " This Jesus, whom I (Paul) preach unto you, is Christ " (xvii. 3). " There is another King, one Jesus " (xvii. 7). " He preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection" (xvii. 18). " bilas and T'imotheus testified to the Jews that Jesus was Jhrist " 'jcviii. 5). " Cert lin of Jie vagabond Jews, exorcis^-\ ul ' ■t-H 190 His Name. \ i if took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you hy Jesus, whom Paul preach- eth " (xix. 13). '* Tne evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" (xix. 15). " He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest " (xxii. 18). **One Jesus, who war dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive " (xxv. 19). " Contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza- reth" (xxvi. 9). " He said, I am Jesus, whom thou perse- cutest " (xxvi. 15). " Persuading them concerning Jesus" (xxviii. 23). In Komang it is used twice — *' That He might be just, and the Justifier of him who believe th in Jesus " (iii. 26). " The Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead " (viii. 11). In 1 Corinthians twice in the verse xii. 3— " No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost." In 2 Corinthians five times : — " Ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (iv. 6). " That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' !HJ!^fVf<W^f^*"'^-*!i3^fy»T-?7?HW ' His Name, 191 sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal body" (iv. 10, 11). " He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus " (iv. 14). In Ephesians once, " As the truth is in Jesus'* (iv. 21). In Philippians once, " At the name of Jesus* every knee should bow " (ii. 10). In 1 Thessalonians it appears three times — " Jesus, who deUvered us from the wrath to come " (i. 10). **If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him " (iv. 14). In Hebrews it appears eight times — " We see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels ' ' (ii. 9). "Seeing then that we have a great High- priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profes- sion" (iv. 14). " Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus" (vi. 20). " By so much was Jesus made a Surety of a better testament " (vii. 22). " Having boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus " (x. 19). " Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith " (xii. 2). " Ye are come . c . to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant " (xii. 24). r \ ^ 192 Ifts Name. " Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate " (xiii. 12). In 1 John we find four mentions of "Jesus"— **Who is a har — biit he that denieth that •Jesus is the Christ ? " (ii. 22). *' Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in Him" (iv. 15). " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God " (v. 1). " Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? " (v. 5). In Eevelation it is used six times — "Here are they that keep the command- ments of God and the faith of Jesus*' (xiv. 12). * ' The blood of the martyrs of Jesus ' ' (xvii. 6). " I am thy fellow servant and of thy bre- thren that have the testimony of Jesus : worship God : for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy " (xix. 10). ** The souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus " (xx. 4). " I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches*' (xx:. 16). In Galatians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, the name " Jesus " never appears alone. His Name 193 From the consideration of these names, and the timfe at which they were used, we may gather that the names most in accordance with Scripture, most commonly used after Pentecost, and therefore most suitable for us who live in these days, are either — " Christ," "the Lord," ** Jesus Christ," or "the Lord Jesus Christ.*' V ■ 5 13 y^ ''MY NAME'S sake:* MMEDIATELY after our Lord, in teaching His disciples how to pray, revealed to them their position as children, though still, far from home, and thus warranted to address His Father as their Father, and say, " Our Father who art in heaven," He instructed them to add, "Hal- lowed be Thy name." We thus join in worship with all the loyal universe of God, animate and inanimate. " Praise ye Him, all His a'^gels. Praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise yo Him, sun and moon : praise Him, all ye stars of light. " Praise ye Him, ye heaven of heavens, end ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. ** Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps : fire and hail, snow and vapours; stormy winds, fulfilling Hip word ; mountains and all hills ; fruitful trees and all cedars ; beasts and all cattle ; creeping things and flying fowl : kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth : both young men and maidens ; old men and children : let them praise the name ''My Name's Sake, 195 of the Lord ; for His name alone is excellent ; His glory is above the earth and heaven. . . . Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord." While we are loving sons, we are devout worshippers, and take our stand beside the adoring living ones, who rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holjr, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come ; " and falling down before Him that sits on the throne, we worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast our crowns before the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy, Lord, to receivf glory, and honour, and power ; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." And deeper still does our worship reach as we enter into the hall of redemption, for we can sing a new song, saying, " Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof ; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests ; and we shall reign on the earth." And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, in millennial glory will sing, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne for ever and ever. )) ff, " Hallowed be Thy name I ^' The name of d M'-< 196 ''My Name's Sake!' the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it, and are safe. "VV^hat is in a name ? The revelation of the unrevealed to dark- ened man; the photograph of the Eternal sent into time ; earth's miniature of heaven's glory. While the Uncreated One has revealed Himself under many names, He has " in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all things; by whom also He made the worlds, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.' Only in Christ can we read the true name of God. We purpose to draw the attention of our readers to a few leading lines of study connected with **His name," and its bearing on us. 1. Forgiveness. — 1 John ii. 12, **I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for ffis name^s sake^ The door of admission now for every child of Adam into the place of childhood with the Father is the door of forgiveness. Education, moral culture, reformation, sanctification are ail taught in- side, but the only door is forgiveness. That door has not been opened by our prayers, our tears, our groans, our works, or our feelings, but by His own hand, and for His name's sake. We did not draw to Him till He came to us. The debt was paid on Calvary's Cross; the Eesurrection is the divinely-signed receipt for the abolished debt. '* His name's sake '* is the blank cheque handed down from and *'My Name's Sake." 197 signed by God Himself to every sin-burdened soul, in which he can insert his own iniquity, transgression, and sin. What is the value of a cheque on a bank ? In itself only the value of the paper and the penny stamp upon it. But let a name be attached to it, and it then has all the value of the full resources of the one who has signed it. All heaven's resources are opened to the sinner accepting this Divine cheque. Are the sins like scarlet? Is heaven not now the resting-place of Him whose blood can make the foulest clean, and for whose name's sake they shall be white as snow ? Are they red like crimson, the damning coloui- of the hands of the murderer, red with the blood of a spotless victim ? They shall be as wool, for forgiveness was preached first to Jerusalem mm'derers of the Prince of Life. Doet, the black indictment of Isaiah xliii. 23, 24, cul- minate in " Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins ; thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities " ? Are the resources of heaven available for this ? Listen to the words of the God of truth as He proclaims free pardon to the most ungrateful of sinners : " I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions, for Mine own sahe, and will not remember thy sins." Mark, it is not merely out of pity for us, far less on account of any external activity, self- righteous agility, or internal emotion on our K M :4i ■ iqS ''My Name's Sake.'' m<-'\ E' ilsV ill part, bnt for His own sake. GlorioTis founda- tion; adamantine, everlasting, immovable rook on which we build. In Him " we have redemption through His blood, the forgive- ness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." 2. Guidance. — Psalm xxiii. .3, " Herestoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.'* The justified man needs daily forgiveness. The quickened soul needs to be restored. The re- stored soul needs to be led. All this has been anticipated, and all has been met, because all is linked with His name, and '^His name shall endure for ever : Hie name shall be continued as long as the sun." All within and around us is in constant change. Frames, feelings, fancies, tears, prayers, resolution, faith, hope, love, all have their ebbs and flows, but His name is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Has His blood been once presented at the throne for us, and accepted by us for justifica- tion before that throne ? It is of continued and unceasing efficacy, and thus the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing us (at every breath we breathe) from all sin. Am I prone to wander, prone to make mistakes, prone to follow the fleshly desires, prone to trip and fall into the mire ? He restoreth my soul. Would it be a disgrace for me to dishonour my Saviour Kedeemier, and cast a blot on that • i ''My Name's Sake.'' 199 name I bear? He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. His honour is compromised, and He is my Guardian Bedeemer. He upholdeth my steps, because His name is in them. On my eagle's wings He has committed .0 me His name. In my unwearied running He has given me His name to carry. In mine unfainting walk His name supports me. In the day of oppo- sition, in my single-handed combat, when, having done all, I am now to stand, His name is shield, sword, and helmet unto me ; and in lying down in His green pastures, it is His name which is my food. No turn of the way but is known to Him. Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from all iniquity. He leadeth me for His name's sake. 3. Communion. — Matt, xviii. 20, " Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." The forgiven and restored sinner is not con- demned to tread a solitary path, even though it lies through the wilderness. The Heaven- blessed soul is not called to partake of his joys alone. He has even in the desert a fellowship of God with fellow-sinners, saved by the same sovereign grace. He is to get sympathy firom, and to have sympathy with, others. Their numbers may be very small — only two or three — but the communion is very real. He requires no elaborate system of regulations or code of rules to claim this % .i. J i i * \ ! 1 1 ,^ ifit 200 ''My Names Sake:* Divine communion on earth. "His name" is enough. The most elaborate and costly building that an ordinary man may have built is only the grand mansion or castle of Mr. Greatpurse ; but a lowly cottage in which Her Majesty resides becomes a palace. The most gorgeously architectured building with- out God is a mere mass of building material. But His name with His first disciples at Jerusalem turned an upper ordinary family room into a heavenly temple, a Divine palace. The most eloquent preaching is but pleasing talk springing from human brains rf "His name " is not its burden. The poorest olo- cutioniot brimful of His name brings all heaven before the eyes of those who have the spiritual faculty of seeing. The most elaborate prayers may be but words of fancy, feeling, or edu- cation; but- " His name," breathed with stammering tongue and from groaning heart, will open the windows of heaven, sending down blessings, that we have not room enough to receive. Magnificent music, splendid in- struments, thoroughly trained singers, without " His name " as the centre of all their praise, may command the applause of the ear and reach the rafters of the building, but they have nothing pleasing to the ear of God ; but in His name we offer the sacrifice of praise continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Let us exalt His name together. ''My Names Saker 201 4. Activity, — 3 John 7, **For His name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles." Accepted according to the Victim's blood inside the veil, we are rejected with the Victim's flesh outside the camp. Our happy communion leads us to our living activity, dependent entirely on His name, independent of all the nations on the earth, their favours or frowns, their support or spite, their patron- age or persecution. There is a fellowship through His name in this Divine activity on the earth. There is a giving and receiving. There is the Joshua wielding the sword, and the Moses on the hill-top with arms uplifted and arms upheld by Aaron and Hur. " Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers, who have borne witness of thy love before the Church; whom, if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well ; because that for His name's sake thev went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We, therefore, ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth." This was written by an Apostle who knew much of His name, who in his younger days had lain on His bosom, and knew what it was to be independent of men, nature, or the world, and now in his old age puts himself alongside of the younger Gains the well-beloved, en- couraging him that " we might be fellow helpers to the truth." The older and more ■V m i'! . 1" ; i I H I '(' li [1 i , ' 202 '*My Names Sake.'' experienced saint wrote this cheering word to the younger. Flattery is abominable, but cheering words to solitary labourers in the activity of their mission for Sis name are as water on the dry desert. In works of faith, labours of love, and patience of hope, we are all prone to get disheartened. *'His name" of good cheer warms us up again. So many mistakes, diffi- culties, worries, and disappointments lie in the path of the man who is endeavouring to live for His name alone, that there is not a Christian but occasionally needs a word of God-cheer to support him and throw him on His name. Suspicions, insinuations, cold- shouldering, want of sympathy, malicious words, silent ignoring, are common enough. Let us imitate the more excellent way of John the aged, drawing close to his hundredth year, that we may be fellow-helpers to the truth. 6. Testimony. — Acts ii. 21, " Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall he saved." '/The Lord said unto him (Ananias), Go thy way, for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel " (Acts -ix. 16). Peter was the Apostle to the circumcision, and he had to begin his testimony at Jeru- salem, to be extended to Judssa, Samaria, and thence unto the uttermost part of the earth. Paul, on the other hand, was the Apostle to m\ p ** My Names Sake,^* 203 the Gentiles, and he was to testify inwards towards the children of Israel. But the subject of each was the same. They were not left to choose their text. ** The name of the Lord '* was the salvation preached by Peter, the keynote of his testimony. ** My name" was what Paul was to bear before Gentiles, kings, and Israel's children. Arts and sciences, politics and philosophy, earth's ena' tments or human cultus, were all second- ary " His name " was emblazoned on their banner, and under that flag they had the royal authority of Heaven to bear the testimony to every creature. We can sue for sufferance when we wish men to listen to our opinions, ideas, or thoughts, but with all the calm majesty and full Divine authority of our message, we can carry the standard that He gives us from palace to hovel, from frozen iceberg to coral strand, to barbarian, Scythian, black or white, bond or free, Jew or Gentile, and looking every responsible fellow-being steadfastly in the face, can say on Heaven's authority, '* If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in tliine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved*" 6. Shame. — Acts v. 41, '* And they departed from th>3 presence of the council, rejoicing that they were coimted worthy to suffer shame for His name's sake.'' This is the only crown ) 1 m rv: 204 ''My Name's Sake." lis that an unsympathetic world can give to those who bear His name in testimony. It is the crown of thorns in miniature — His suffering for righteousness at the hands of men. We can never touch His suffering at the hands of God for sin. And this shame carries with it a special blessing, because it is for His name it is obtained. Peter, who was foremost in bearing this shame for His name, writes more fully of it in his first letter, in the first chapter of which he tells us of the Old Testament Scriptures foretelling "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." In the second chapter, " This is thankworthy (or the character of grace), if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently ? But if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God," suffering as Christ suffered. When He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. In the third chapter, *'If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled." In the fourth chapter, " Kejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf." ''My Names Sake.'' 205 7. Glory, — Eev. xxii. 4, "They shall see His face, and ffis name shall be in their fore- heads." Soon the cross will give place to the crown, the curse from the earth will be removed, the glory wiU take the place of the shame, the forgiving and forgiveness having done their work for ever, the leading through the desert finished, the isolated gatherings now consolidated into one grand multitude — all nations now blessed in Him, and calling Him blessed, but still His name shall endure for ever. The outstanding feature of saint- ship will carry the imprer*^ of His name for ever. Angels may excel m strength and in wisdom, and may love to do His will ; but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, revealed to us in Him who is the Lamb of God, taking away the world's sin, wiU be the name by which saints are known through the millennial age, and to the ages of ages, in that hght which eclipses all human lights of candle or all natural light of the sun, for' we shine in the light of God, and His name shall stamp each brow. " They that know Thy Name will put their trust in Thee." "Hallowei: be Thy Name." \ \ ii ■>. i THE GLOBY OF GOD, ** Glory to God in the highest." — Ltjkb ii. 14. "But God, who commanded the light to shine out of dark- ness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light o£ the knowledge of the glory of God in the faco of Jesus Christ.'' — 2 Cob. iv. 16. jHE glory of God ! " is an expression which is much used, but we have little apprehension of the full length and depth comprised in it, as manifesting the excellency and perfection of God as revealed at various stages to man. The best idea of it will be got from tracing its history in the Word. When man had been placed before God ia Eden, and he had failed, we find that God came down, and in righteous execution of His sentence. He drove him out of Paradise, and placed the cherubim, and the sword, and the • flame, and the gate to keep him out; and no man dare now come to God but with the recognition that He is a ''consuming fire." He dare not come but recognizing the claims of God on him as a sinner ; for the Shekinah flame was between God and the sinner. The Glory of God. 207 mer ; for the The olobt with Israel. . We now see a glorious change in the rela- tive position of the sinner, his God, and the glory. Typical redemption put man typically with God at the right side of the glory. This we see in Israel redeemed from the earth. 1. In the wilderness. — The first time we read of the sinner's position with regard to this glory being changed is in Exod. xiii. 17, " And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near" (God often does not take the nearest way. It would have been a great pity if Christ had said to Peter, "I have prayed the Father that you should not be tempted.** Peter would have lost a great deal) ; "for God said, Lest perad- venture the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.*' We are not con- verted to peace with ourselves^ but to peace with Grod ; we are not converted to sleejpy but to wear the helmet, and not to lie down, but to go through the desert ; but if we have to go through a desert, we have a constant untiring leader. And this is the attitude in which we now meet the pillar-cloud of the glory of Jehovah. A constant leader. — " And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And Jehovah went before them by day in a 'pillar 208 The Glory of God, of a cloudy to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire ^ to give them light ; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." Protecting. — " And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them ; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these ; so that the one came not near the other all night " (Exod. xiv. 19, 20). The redeemed people, those that had been redeemed by the blood sprinkled, are thus put at the Godward side of the flame, and it is now placed between them and their foes ; the flame that manifested the might of God has now been transferred to the rear of the camp of Israel, and God is visibly /or His people, on the ground of redemption seen in the shed blood. This refers to an earthly redeemed people, yet it gives a glorious illustration of where the heavenly people redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus stand. God had put up the flame now, and His people are seen at the Godward side of the flame, and the enemy at the far side. It guides the children of God day and night, for by night and day, storm and calm, He is always the same, independent of circumstances. Peter saw the wavesy and The Glory of God, 209 began to sink. And really the waves had nothing to do with it, for it is as easy to walk on the top of the waves as on a sea of glass, each impossible by nature. By day and by night the pillar of the glory of Jehovah led the Israelites, but it was darkness to the Egyptians. Yes, many an unconverted man would try to do what the Christian, the saved one, does. It is a solemn text, *' Which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.^' What is light to a Christian, to the uncon- verted one is darkness ; what is the pathway to faith is destruction to unbelief. " If our 'gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost " Avenging. — ** And it came to pass, that in the morning- watch, Jehovah*' (this is His re- lation-name to Israel — this is preferable to -'the Lord *') " looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the 'pillar of fire and of the cloudy and troubled the host of the Egyptians." Not only darkness, but trouble to that Egyptian host. Providing food. — ** And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel ; speak unto them, saying. At evtn ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye c'lall be filled with bread " (Exod. xvi. 10-12). Manna and quails were given from Jehovah, their God. 14 . ,: !■ ■I ■ M' 210 The Glory of God. \\m In laiOj a devouring flame. — Look at chap, xxiv. vers. 15, 16, *' And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the fflory of Jehovah abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days : and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." His name — in pardoning mercy. — Again we read, in chap, xxxiii. ver. 18, " And he (Moses) SMid, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.'' Then in chap, xxxiv. vers. 4-7, "And Jehovah descended in the cloudy and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah," etc. This cloud went with Israel all the way through; it was their token from Jehovah, telling them when they were to move and when to stop. They had no power over that cloud ; it had the power over them ; and we find that at the giving of the name of Jehovah, Jehovah Himself descended to the place where He was manifested — where His name was known. Filling the finished tabernacle. — Turn to chap. xi. ver. 33, *' So Moses finished the work. Then a clond covered the tent of the congre- gation, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of Jehovah The Glory of God. 211 filled the tabernacle." It was the cloud that, abode thereon. The cloud was above the taber- nacle and as the cloud moved on, the glory moved on, keeping its place ; for when the cloud was taken up, the children of Israel went on ; but if the cloud were not taken up, then they went not on, " for the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journey." Thus we see the book of Exodus has ended in a contrast with what the book of Genesis begins. In Genesis, God was making a home for man; in Exodus, man was making a home for God : God in Genesis preparing a beautiful dwelling on earth for man to manifest Him, but sin had come in, and the consequence of sin has been seen ; but now a most glorious thing has been brought in, for God has come to dwell with man, and the glory of God fills the place that man had made, on the ground of redemption — ^redemption by blood — ^redemption by the power of God, through the Red Sea, bringing them on through all their journeys, and the glory of Jehovah is now under the roof that man has made. Gon8ecration.-—^\xroL now to Lev. ix. 22 : "And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin-offering, and the burnt- offering, and the peace-offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the i- ill il ' ir 212 The Glory of God, congregation, and came ont) and blessed the people ; and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire . out from before Jehovah, and consumed upon ' the altar the burnt-offering and the fat ; which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.*' Our God is always a consuming fire. We see here a manifested acceptance, showing that the offering was well-pleasing to Jehovah. Over the mercy -seat, — " And Jehovah said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark, that he die not ; for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat " (Lev. xvi. 2). God appears now in His great apostolic capacity, in the very holiest of all, whither the blood was carried. Turn to Numbers, where we get the arranging of the host of Johovah. The responsible adviser, — " And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the . charge of Jehovah, and journeyed not ' ' (Numb, ix. 19). Look at the repetition of that word, the cloudy the cloudy the cloud, the cloud; it is, the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God, ringing through our ears at every stage and step of our pilgrimage. In needed discipline. — ^Alas that this mani- The Glory of God. 213 festation of the glory should be required I It comes in very solemnly here; we have dis- cipline to exercise ; it is the same appearance, the same glory of Jehovah. " And the Lord came down in the 'pillar of the cloudy and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam : and they both came forth;" and what waa it for now? "Our Ood is a consuming fire." And He said, "Hear now my words : If there be a prophet among you, I, Jehovah, will make myseK known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream " (Numb. xii. 5, 6). And Miriam was smitten with leprosy. In just vindication. — The majority went against the faithful two. Majorities are not always right. Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the faithful minority , cast out by the great majority, who met to stone them. The congregation turned on them, and bade them stone them with stones. What happened? " And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel" (Numb. xiv. 10), and vindi- cated these two. And still another more solemn appearance. In righteous judgment. — " And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congre- gation ; and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto all the congregation " (Numb. xvi. 19). "And there came out a fire from Jehovah, and I: ' .1 n 214 The Glory of God, consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense*' (ver. 35). And so now, as we see, the judgment was manifested upon them by the glory of Jehovah. The glory of Jehovah is very silent. I have often been asked, ** Is there any work of God going on at such and such a place ? " My answer is, " I never yet found God ceasing to work.'* I have seen God working in power, when He was com- ing with His breath, and sweeping hundreds down, and converting people by scores at a time. I have seen Him come with the wind, winnowing the wheat from the chaff, sifting, and seeing who will stand. That is the work of God ; it is as really the work of God to find out who are on the Lord's side, as to justify the sinner believing in Jesus. Thank God for sifting times, for winnowing work. Then God may be working in His strange, but necessary, work of discipline, vindication, or judgment. But still He is the same God of all grace. Providing water, — " And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and tiiey fell upon their faces ; and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rook before their eyes ; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock ; so thou shalt give the The Glory of God. 215 congregation and their beasts drink" (Numb. XX. 6-8). Unwearied to the end. — Leaders and human guides may die, pass aivay, or change, but the leading glory of Jehovah coutinues ever the same to the journey's end — He saves to the uttermost of time. Read Deut. xxxi. 14, 15, '' And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die : call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congrega- tion, and the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud, and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle." Thus ends the wilderness march of the re- deemed host, in which we have seen the pillar of cloud, the glory of Jehovah, appearing at all times for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- tion, for instruction in righteousness ; whether as looking to the enemy, as for God's claims, or the congregation's need, all was under and connected with that glory — their leader, their responsible leader, their continuous leader, their avenging leader, their leader to the end, their provider of bread and water, their centre of worship and acceptance, their meeting- place with Jehovah, in holiness and grace, smiting Miriam with leprosy, devouring the apostates, or forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. As we have thus traced the path of '% ill 1 '.' ! :if 2l6 The Oiory of God, the glory through the wilderness, let us look at it still as connected with Israel. 2. In the land,. — The tabernacle of the wilderness changes, but the glory changes not, for the glory of the tabernacle is the glory of the temple, the glory of the wilderness is the glory of the land, and the glory of the desert is the glory of the kingdom. The moving glory has become the permanent glory, but that which led Israel through the pathless waste was the same glory as in the days of David and Solomon. " It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thank- ing Jehovah ; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah, saying, For He is good; for His mercy en- dureth for ever : that then the house was filled with a cloudy even the house of Jehovah : so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled tlie house of God " (2 Chron. v. 13). I think we have often too little worship, adora- tion, praise; we are very earnest in 'prayer — and I don't think we can be too earnest in prayer — but let us not forget or neglect praise to God. Let us know the meaning, of worship. What is worship? Worship is noc telling God what we are, or asking God to give us anything, nor teaching saints, nor telling out God*s love to sinners ; it is giving God back The Glory of God. 217 His own, — giving God back I Yes ; and is it not wonderful ? What was their worship ? Praising and thanking Jehovah; ''And when they lifted up their voices, . . . and praised Jehovah, saying, For He is good, and His mercy endure th for ever." This is the refrain, the chorus through all their goings, ** He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever." It was thus giving Hiaa back His own, telling Him concerning His all-forbearing mercy, in spite of all their sin and failure. And what have we to give Him back ? I have often thought it was as when Jehovah revealed His name. If you had heard those dead rocks when each part was proclaimed, the rocks echoed it back — "Jehovah, Jehovah,'* the rocks echo; "Jehovah," "merciful and gracious,*' "merciful and gracious,*' "long-suffering," "long-suffering." The echo of these cold stones was worship to God. Look at sleeping Saint Dorcas ; she is lying dead ; here stand some of the bene- fited ones. Here is a mother with her little daughter. "Ah I that saint was my best friend." Oh! is it not pure religion "to vint the fatherless and the widows in their afiBliction " ? Jesus never sent a servant with His gifts ; He came Himself, " and grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Do not hand down your gifts, or send them by a servant — visit. The weeping ones may have been coming one by one to the house of Dorcas; I? 2l8 The Glory of God. and a mother takes up a little dress : ** Look, she made this, and that, and this other for my dear little daughter." This was woiohip, telling out what she made, what she did, what she was ; and we come to our Father God, and say. This is what He is, what He was, what He did, for " He is good, and His mercy endureth for ever." That is worship, — that is the overflow of the full heart. As the priests of old were' telling out what He was and did, praising and thanking the Lord when the singers were as one, " then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Jehovah. So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud ; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God." There is nothing like the glory of Jehovah for putting all the priests of God on their faces. We must get the glory of Jehovah not in the cloud of the Popish or Kitualistic incense : if we attemnt it we are crucifying Christ again, for if we use the type we mean the Antitype has not come, but has yet to come and be crTicified again ; but as with on3 heart we know something about ** the glory," and take our place imder *'the glory,*' there is then no room lor the flesh; the glory of Jehovah fills the house. But I must take you to solemn but very real scenes at which we must look. We have been tracing the glory of Jehovah as telling out what Jehovah "V7as to Israel in the desert and in the The Glory of God. 219 : "Look, other for 3 worohip, did, what ther God, He was, Flis mercy bip, — that out what ,nking the " then the the house could not cloud ; for 3 house of B glory of ts of God le glory of Popish or it we are e the type le, but has in ; but as ring about mder *'the 3 flesh; the But I must L scenes at 3en tracing out what , and in the land ; buu Israel is drifting into apostasy, and carried into captivity and righteous judgment. Israel is to be cut off as the vessel to contain "the glory" on the earth, and so the glory- must depart ; so we look now at this sad scene. 3. The glory departing, — Eead at B2:Ak. i. 4, *' And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloudy and a fire unfolding itself^ and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire." " And above the firmament that was over their heads was the Kkeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire-stone ; and upon the Hkaness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it ; from the appear- ance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah" (vers. 26-28). "Then I arose, and went forth into the plain : and, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar ; and I fell on my face " (iii. 23). " And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel \ 220 The Glory of God. was there, according to the yision that I sa^ in the plain *' (viii. 4). " And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house " (Ezek. ix. 3). Such is the departing glory; and we find Ezekiel seeing it symbolised under revolving wheels and fluttering wings, going away from the house it had fiUed with so much beauty and glory. All has failed in man's hands. Whatever event of God rests to any extent upon man is a failure ; what is of God solely stands. Thus Israel under law was man under trial— not to find out if he was a sinner, but to see if he was a reclaimable sinner. Where, then, was the law? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until "the seed" came to whom the promise was made, ordained through angels in the hand of a Mediator; but the Mediator implies two parties, for the Mediator is not of one. If I have a bridge remarkable for strength, however strong Cf pier of the bridge may be, if the other pici be weak, the whole bridge gives way. But " God is owe," and there is one Mediator be- tween God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. God is one. It is not one pier sound, and the other feeble. God is one, and we are in God, for the God-man, Christ Jesus, spans the distance. But I will take you to another scene of this glory, no longer in the midst of the beloved The Glory of God, 221 nation Israel, nor in faint shadow-symbol, but in real manifestation. The Globt n^ the Mak Chbist Jesus. Turn to Luke ii. ver. 9, ** And, lo ! the angel of Jehovah came upon them, and the glory of Jehovah shone round about them." (They were shepherds, not princes.) Ah! we have not lost sight of it yet; the glory is back again. "The glory of Jehovah shone round about them, and they were sore afraid." The blessed One is come. God is manifest in the flesh. This is the true likeness of God, the express image of His person. Well may the anthems rise louder than at the temple's dedication : " Glory to God in the highest, on the eaith (not merely Israel) peace," etc. But in another passago (Luke ix. vers. 28-32) we get a little heaven, a glimpse, a specimen of the glory, as the high-priest* s breastplate was the glory in miniature. " And it came to pass about an eight days after theco say- ings, He took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Ellas, who appeared in glort/y and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jeru- salem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep ; and when they lil' n I 222 The Glory of God. were awaks they saw ffis glory .''^ They had then the specimen of the coming glory. He had told them that there were some standing there who would not taste of death till they saw the kingdom of God. He now fulfils His promise in the case of Peter, James, and John, and gives them here the representation of it. They saw Him in His glory. Kead another text — John i. 14 (which of course is the key to all the rest) : " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." This is the glory we now see, not the glory of Jehovah merely — He was this— but '* the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth." " The law was given by Moses; but grace and truth were given by Jesus Christ '* ? no ; but " came by Jesus Christ," for He was not the manifestation of God, as the Eationalist would have us to believe, just as good men are manifestations of God: no, no ; He was God manifest in the flesh. " He was the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full jf grace and truth." God has. come in the glory of His grace. And what has man done with Him ? The only One on whom God could look with unmixed com- placency — the only One on whom God could open heaven, man casts out, disowns, rejects, cries concerning Him, **Away with Him I " we will have nothing to do with Him ; we cannot The Glory of God, 223 rhey had lory. He ) standing tiU they fulfils His ,mes, and Bsentation (which of " And the among ns. y as of the grace and y see, not was this— 11 of grace by Moses ; by Jesus as Christ," of God, as )eheve, just f God: no, kesh. " He tten of the God has . And what >nly One on mixed com- God could ?ms, rejects, iHimr'we ; we cannot have on eai-th the glory of heaven. When He came up from Jordan, heaven opened upon Him ; it had never opened on anyone else. He is the glory of heaven ; He is as the glory for earth. ** The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land." He is the centre of heaven and earth. When on the earth, as He stood there in the place of confessed sin, God was looking, and all were asked to look at Him; heaven opened upon Him, and man would have nothing to do with such glory, for it burns up man. And . in man's deepest hate. He would say, **I have glorified Thee upon the earth ; glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee before the world was." But if man cast Him out, God said, " Sit Thou at my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." The glory of Jehovah, the glory of the Father, the fulness of grace and truth, has been rejected by men, and is now in he aven. If we are to see the glory of God to hve under the glory of God, to work for the glory of God, it must be as seeing the unseen, living by faith, entering through the veil into an opened heaven. The Globt of God for us now as seen in THE FACE OF JeSUS ChRIST. In Acts vii., Stephen begins to speak about the God of glory ; and they could not hear of '.■( ..^f-r.--i^' % 224 T^ Glory of God, that. He begins with the God of glory ^ and ends with the glory of God. " When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of Gody and Jesus standing on the right hand of God " (vers. 54, 55). If you and I are to see the glory of God, it must be through an open heaven. You wiU search in vain for it on the earth^no glory of God there. The conditions to see the glory of God now are ai. open heaven, men full of tho Holy Ghost, prepared for the martyr's doom. Eemember there is no other place where you can see Him. He is dead, and He is buried, and He is alive again. Oh ! what a glorious gospel we have to the glory of God! "The Lord laid upon Him " my iniquity ; lor if I had had to lay my sins, I might have left some of them out ; but the Lord knew me better than I knew myself — the Lord laid them on Him. I remember the case of a young friend to whom I was talking. I could not get him to see the doctrine of the substitution of the just for the unjust ; at last I quoted that text to him. He saw it all. *'0h!" said he, ''I like that text the best." " Why ? " " Because there is nothing about believing in it." The Glory of God, 225 If you and I have to get up faith, it is the worst work we have to do. Some may say, "I wish I had the right kind of faith.'* Suppose you had, you would then come to God and say, "Oh, lodi what nice faith I have got ! " Faith is the fee they wish to give God for saving them. "It is by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God." Wondrous truth ! if any one has to be condemned for my sin, it is the Lord Jesus Christ; but blessed be God, He has been condemned. He las been laid low, J3e was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities, and the chastise- ment of my peace was upon Kim, Where is He now ? Heaven is opened, and He is the Man yonder on the throne of God ; and I lose sight of the glory of God, because I see the glorious Man, I see Jesus. " I will not- gaze on glory, But on my Saviour's face ; Not on the crown He giveth, But on His pierced hand ; The Lamb is aU the glory Of Emmanuel's land." " And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God " (vers. 55, 56). Was He waiting for His own Jews yet to come back before He finally sat down, until His enemies were made His footstool ? 15 M 226 The Glory of God. Now we get that wonderful word with which we started. When we see the glory it is in the face of Jems Christy and it is the manifestation of a MaUy the whole fulness of grace and truth; gazing on a seated Christ, with judgment gone and sin gone, and heaven opened to the needy sinner down here ; it is glory for ever, glory now in the face of Jesus Christ. We are the temple of God on the earth now (Eph. ii. 21). From us alone do the rays of glory shine to a dead world ; hence we read, **But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lordy are changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. iii. 18). We gaze through an opened heaven on Him ; the glory of His face is re- flected from our faces to this poor world. We were, in chap. iii. 2, " a letter ; " now we are ** a mirror," and thus manifest glory after glory of Him to the world. Just as we remain by faith unveiled before Him, we represent Him here. Alas ! how poorly we have served this needy world 1 how little we remain before Him! and how Httle do w<^ therefore reflect Him ! Some think that, i^i order to gain the world, we must assimilate to their darkness. This would be like a mirror being placed out of the light into the mi(Jst of a dark room. The more we oppose the world, the more we work for its good. The more we sit before the glory, the more per- fectly we shall shine it out on others. The The Glory of God. 227 Lord give us to go on from glory to glory, and to do all as under that glory I And better days are coming : it is not to be always re- jection ; it is not to be always the stones and the martyrdom ; we can wait for our posses- sions ; our time is coming. The Glory that is yet to come. You will find, as early as in Numbers xiv. 21, this word of promise, " As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah ; " not merely shall we see it outside the earth, through an open heaven, on the throne of God, but the earth itself filled with the glory of God. We know it has not as yet been fiUed. It has been going on from bad to worse ; but all the earth is to be filled with this same glory. We work for that glory; and if we work in any other way, or for any other motive, we are not in the mind of God. And now we are looking for the time when the whole earth shall be filled with ihe glory of Jehovah, But that time cannot come till the glory comes back ; and there is no glory but in the face of Jesus Christ ; and until the face of Jesus Christ is seen, the glory of Jehovah cannot fill this earth. You find in Isaiah iv. 5 and 6, " And Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of "«i ^^ £-1 228 The Glory of God. K flaming fire by night ; for upon all the glory shall be a defence." As we saw it departing in Ezekiel, so we see it returning in EzeLiel xliii. 1 : " After- wards he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east; and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like a noise of many waters ; and the earth shined with His glory." And still another in the prophet Haggai ii. 7-9, "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come : and I will fill this house with glory^ saith the Lord of hosts. . . . The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts." And then, lastly, in the book of Bevelation xxi. 10, " And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jeru- salem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone, most precious, even like a jasper stone." " And I saw no temple therein ; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the (Glory that is. Yet to Come) — temple of it." The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, We are back to where we started. The lamb in Egypt and the Lamb in glory ; the lamb at the beginning and the Lamb in the end. The Lamb brings in the thought of The Glory of God. 229 blood, — life forfeited, life taken, redemption aocomplished, and that is the ground of all the glory. Do you know what the enemy is at now? They are taunting us about our. blood-theology. That is the point we shall have to stand up for in this day. I remember when at school we used to have to work out long problems ; and I have often worked out some problem in algebra, and at the end come to a most absurd result. What was the reason? Merely one line left out. Our great Rationalistic thinkers have brought out a wondrously stupid result with all their thinking, a very unscriptural result ; and why? They forget one factor, and that factor is sin. The Bible is the history of sm, and the doctrine of that Bible is the doctrine of nin put away, from Genesis to Revelation. "With- out shedding of blood " (bloody blood and sin go together) "there is no remission of sin." Thy tell us that we preach the theology of the shambles. Let us stand by the blood-theology, sound it in every ear. God first shed blood in providing a covering for the sinner Adam ; God last shed blood in sheathing His sword in the Man His fellow. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending, the First and the Last, the Author and Finisher, of the "blood- theology." It is blood from Eden down to the great white throne, and beyond it. In that coming glory, it is Jehovah, God, and the Lamb. *f The Lamb Himself is the " [ i 230 TJie Glory of God, glory thereof, and the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, for the glory of God** (have we not seen it?) " doth light it, and the Lamh is the light thereof." Let us apply this wonderful line of truth. In the light of such glory we may well ask, Who shall he able to stand ? (Rev. vi. 17). Who shall be able to Stand? Unconverted man ! have you come up to the standard of the glory of God? "I am better than my neighbour." Measure yourself by the glory of God. If you are ' ual to Christ, you are fit for heaven ; and ii i are one inch short of it, you are unfit for heaven. Good, moral people think there is some differ- ence between what we call great sinners and little sinners. God says there is no difference in His sight. If a man comes and says, ^' I cannot feel all this, that there is no difference (who could?), but I believe it, for God has said it," that man believes God and not his own feehngs. I was speaking to a lady some time ago. She said, ** There must be a difference." I said, *' God says there is none, as in Bomans we have, ' For all have sinned, and come short of tlie glory of Gody " and I tried to illustrate it thus: — Suppose there are some men wishing to get into the Queen's body-guard, and the qualifi- cation is that each must be six feet high. The Glory of God. 231 They are measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, which is not wise. One man says, '^ I am the tallest man in the village ; 1 shall be admitted. " Here is a man five feet six, eight, ten, eleven, — they forgot one thing, they forgot to put themselves along a six-foot rail and measure themselves with it. So here is a sinner ; he measures himself with his neighbours. Have you measured yourselves with the glory of God and said, "I am as He is " ? The day of trial comes. The man of five feet six is measured and rejected, likewise the next, till the measurer comes to the five feet eleven man; he takes him and puts him beside the six-foot measure. He is short, and he is rejected too, just as really as the five feet six man. What Scripture tells us is this, there is no diflference, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." And if you have come short one inch, it is the same as if you came short six feet. And I ask you also this question, dear brother in Christ— In the light of that glory, who shall he able to stand ? All the greatest of earth's history have been prostrated before it. If we look at chap, xx'. ver. 18 of Exodus, the redeemed people were unable to stand; and in Hebrews xii. 21, when Moses speaks of this, he says, "I exceedingly fear and quake." Then, again, in Exod. xxxiii. 23, "And I will take away mine 232 The Glory of God. hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen." So that Moses was unable to stand. Then, if we go on, as we read, in 1 Chron. xxi. 16 we find another passage, " And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a dravm sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.*' So that David was unable to stand. And again, we find in 2 Chron. v. 14, " So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud ; for the glory of tho Lord had filled the house of God." So that the 'priests were unable to stand. When Job saw the glorious One, he had to exclaim (xlii. 6), " Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." So Joh was unable to stand. And, if we go on to Isaiah vi. 5, we find, ** Then said I, Woe is me I for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean hps, and I d\vell in the midst of a people of unclean Hps ; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah was unable to stand. And in Ezekiel i. 28, we fiad, " And when I saw it, I fell upon my face." Ei'eJciel was unable to Soand. And if we come to Daniel, that precious Tke Glory of God. 233 man who loved " the book," we find (chap. x. 8), " Therefore I was left ^.lone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me." Daniel was unable to stand. Then we find, in Matt. xvii. 6, " When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid." The disciples were unable to stand. And then, in Acts ix. 3, when the Apostle Paul saw the glory, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven; and he fell to the earth. Thus Paul was unable to stand. And, last of all, in Kev. i. 17, " And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead." Johrij who lay in His boaom, was unable to stand seeing Him in glory. And then He came with the touch of His almighty resur- rection, glorious power, and put it on him, and identified Himself with that power ; and now not only was John able to stand, but to see Him and all the judgments and torments, and give the hallelujah to His God, as thus being able to stand by His resurrection touch in the glory of God ; and that is the place in which we stand. John was then as much at home in the midst of thundering and wrath as on the tender breast of his loving Lord, because he had been made able to stand. Do you know the meaning, the power of the glory of God? Have you beheld that glory by ;<;v-(£\.w;;. r.v."-. ■; r^:t <-^^y ^ffr'H 234 TAe Glory of God, faith in the face of Jesus Christ? Are you reflectmg that glory ? Are you working under the power of that glory, and that glory alone ? Then, when that glory unclouded dawns, you shall he ahle to stand. THE TWO ANTHEMS. Luke ii. 13, 14. "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Goodwill toward men (good pleasure in men). n LiTKE zix. 38, 39. "Blessed be the King that Cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven, And glory in the highest." IHE Lord Jesus had now finished His public ministry, and was about entering on the most momentous work the world ever heard of ; the question of sin was to be settled. His disciples, energised by the Spirit of God, give the Omega Song, as angels had sung the Alpha Song — the angels sang the Song of Annunciation ; men, the Song of De- parture, and fitly so. In the former we see Christ a Divine Stranger coming upon a mission to earth. In the latter we find the Eejected One accomplishing His Father's will, yet sent to a death of doom by wicked hands. Let us put the two alongside and see — I. The different choristers employed. II. The change in the order of the words in the two anthems. III. The change in their substance. 236 The Two Anthems. i <\ IV. What is common to botL I. The choir that sang the first anthem were angels. These heralded the coming of Christ as a body-guard — the advent of Him who had not where to lay His head. These told out God's purposes of glory in the highest ; peace, best of blessings, on earth ; God's good pleasure in man — first in His Son, then in the myriads saved by Him, who shall do His will in heaven, when God shall see His good pleasure fulfilled in men. In the Anthem of Departure, the singers are men, those who had clung to their Master through good and evil report ; who had acknowledged His King- ship, and received Him as sent from God. Here we find redeemed hearts singing Him back to heaven, as angels had sung Him down from heaven. II. We find a reversal in the order of the words. The Anthem of Departure ends with "glory in the highest." The Anthem of the Annunciation commences with it. There is a Divine propriety in this. Angels from heaven begin with that which lies nearest them — ^God's eternal purpose. Man begins with that which is nearest to him — "Blessed be the King." It is like the rainbow, but inverted. One limb of the bow begins at the throne ; the apex is on earth. Angels descend down one limb ; redeemed sinners ascend by the other. Peace, the apex, is on earth. We, inverting the bow, commence with what is on earth, The Two Anthems, 237 and end with that which is in heaven, and so We get the rainbow from heaven to earth. III. We find a change in the substance of the two anthems : peace in heaven in Luke xix., peace on earth in Luke ii. Glory in the highest in the former, glory to God omitted. In the Anthem of Departure, God's good pleasure in man omitted, and its place taken by " Blessed be the King." This looks at the representative character of the King who comes to reign and accomplish God's good pleasure in men. One clause of each anthem is nearly alike ; another clause of each has a different application ; while the third we find opposed in each. Men have not listened to the words of the Departure Anthem, and so have got wrong thoughts concerning peace. There never has been peace on earth since Christ left, nor will be till He returns. We cannot get peace while the Prince of Peace is rejected, since the world has said, " We will not have this Man to reign over us." The peace of the Christian now is in heaven. This is our centre. Peace now is only to be got by faith in a rejected Christ — He is our peace. The saints of God have got their headquarters in heaven, heavenly men sent back to earth, takei) out of the world by faith in Christ's death, sent back to it with a new life by faith in His resurrection. We get from above — (a) Our birth. 238 TAe Two Anthems, m (h) Our calling. (c) Our testimony. \d) Our blessings. \e) Our worship. If) Our hope. Ig) Our home. All these are heavenly witnesses for God down here. We are to get our information from the heavenly book, and so to bear testi- mony for God among rebels who reject Him. The Crimean War, the Franco-Germanic War, the Turko-Russian War, are all fresh in the memories of this generation. Has there ever been universal peace in this world since the days of Christ? The anthem of the angelic host is perfect. Nothing could be more perfect, comprehen- sive, and intensive, than that beautiful Gloria in Excelsis. (1) "Glory to God in the highest." The whole universe must re-echo this note. Not a sun, nor planet, nor comet, nor system, but sounds back this strain. Mountain, rock, river, and ocean, peal forth its music. Forest and field, and everything that hath breath, add Amen. An(3l first, above, and beyond all things for which Christ came, was the showing glory to God in the highest, infinitely beyond man*s interests or thoughts, hopes or fears. But we descend fi:om the generic song of all the universe to the specific note for earth. (2) "On earth peace." We know the The Two Anthems. 239 desolation of war, the absurdity of war, the unreasonableness of war, the inhumanity of war. We have yet to learn the supreme, God-like blessings of peace on earth. The path of the Prince of Peace was correctly notified by the angelic anthem. But men by wicked hands took Him, imprisoned Him, and murdered Him, finding no fault in Him. A sense of the most common justice would tell us that ** Peace on earth " must be postponed till this murder of the Just One be investigated and avenged, and He shall return in His glory to establish His kingdom in peace. So He taught us, " When ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified, for these things must-first come to pass. . . . And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh." '* Our God shall come and shall not keep silence." Men have to beat their " ploughshares into swords" (Joel iii. 10) before they beat their " swords into plough- shares ** (Isa. ii. 4). Science can tell us much of human steps rising up to heaven ; it can tell us nothing of that ladder led down from heaven to earth on which angels ascend and descend. Nothing but " a sword " can be for the earth till the Prince of Peace is accepted as Lord, " When the crowns that are now Bound the false one's brow Shall be worn by earth's rightful Lord.* I :^'V^ ■■-'■ 240 The Two Anthems^ Not only have we the widest circle, " the highest," giving glory to God by the mission of Christ, and the more limited one, " earth," gaining peace, but we have the condition of the individuals on earth detailed. (3) " Good pleasure in men.*' For this, we believe, is by far the most correct and satis- factory explanation of the original. ** Good- will to men " is in every way imsatisfactory, weat, and untenable. We believe " God's good pleasure in men" solves all the diffi- oalties. The universe, the earth, and men, are thus thought of in the three parts of this ^^ Gloria.'^ It is the same thought as ** This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (see eudoTcia, in Matt. xi. 26 ; Luke X. 21 ; Eom. x. 1 ; Eph. i. 5-9 ; Phil. i. 15, ii. 13 ; 2 Thess. i. 11, besides the very frequent use of the verb). God was now for the first time well pleased with a Man ; saw His good pleasure in a Man, and the divinely-given guarantee that not only in this Man, but on the many men to be saved by, identified with, and sanctified through, this Man, His good pleasure should rest with complacency. His delight shall be in the sons of men, in indivi- duals now, but in the whole earth as such by- and-bye, when men shall be blessed in Him, and call Him blessed ; when none shall say to his neighbour. Know the Lord, because all shall know Him, and universal peace shall be on the earth, and this little planet shall choir The Two Anthems, 241 forth without discord among the other orbs of God, its true note of praise blending with all others in glory to God in the highest. Our hope is Christ. The Jew rightly looked for an earthly hope. Christ's feet shall again stand on the Mount of Olives (Zeoh. xiv. 4). We look for Him in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17). Then we shall come with Him to share His glory (Zech. xiv. 5). Then will peace be brought to this poor earth. Then shall all nations be blessed in Him. The Gospel is to be preached as a witness to all nations, to gather out a people for the Lord (Acts xv. 14). Popular remedies are tried to effect that which will only be effected when God brings in His- Only-begotten into the world again, and sets up a kingdom, the Bride, the Church, reigning with her Lord (Eev. xx. 6). Peace has been transferred to heaven, and will be there so long as its Eepresentative is there. Then, when He returns, shall be the consummation of that of which the Annunciation Anthem was the announcement ; then from every part of God's creation — save from the banished lost ones — shall the cry echo, " Glory to God in the highest ! " Then shall the earthly and heavenly choirs join in the universal song of praise — " Thou art coming ! we are waiting With a hope that cannot fail, Asking not the day nor hour ; Besting on Thy word of power, jl ^,- ... . 242 '' Lord Jesus, Come! Anchored safe within the veil Time appointed may be long, But the vision must be sure ; Certainty shall make us strong, Joyful patience can endure ! " "LORD JE3T7S, COME." "Surely I come quickly. Bey. zzii. 20. Amen." Even so, come, Lord Jesus." — LoED Jesus, come! Thy Spirit taught Thy bride To long to be beside (Eoin. viii. 2, 3.) Her Lord, who bought her with His blood, Who in her place of doom once stood: Lord Jesus, come! Lord Jesus, come! From idols turned, in grace, We seek our Father's face ; (1 Thess. i. 9.) We serve Him by His Spirit given; We wait for Thee, our Lord from heaven: Lord Jesus, come! Lord Jesus, come ! Our hope, our joy, our crown, Our glory and renown ; (1 Thess. iii. 13.) Our hearts unblamable, do Thou In holiness establish now : Lord Jesus, come! Lord Jesus, cdme ! The comfort of Thine own, To claim Thy rightful throne, (1 Thess. iv. 16.) Thy sleeping saints to raise; then we, Who live, from earth caught up shall be: Lord Jesus, come! ** Lord Jesus, Come'^ 243 Lord Jesus, come ! Thy scattered nation lies An outcast in our eyes, (Luke xxi. 24.) But shall be gathered — this Thy word — By Thee, as David's Son and Lord: Lord Jesus, come! Lord Jesus, come ! The whole creation's groan Shall cease by Thee alone Appearing un this earth again, As Son of Man o'er earth to reign : Lord Jesus, come! (Luke viii. 35.) Lord Jesus, come ! Though many scoff and say, Where is His coming day ? And even virgins wise now sleep, And for their Lord no vigil keep : Lord Jesus, come I (2 Peter iii. 4.) Lord Jesus, come ! May none of us e'er say. That Thou dost long delay. And live as those afar that roam ; Thy Spirit and Thy bride say. Come: Lord Jesus, come ! (Luke xii. 45.) •f ''FOB ever:' JHO in every-day life, in the things of men, falls into any mistake about the words 'for ever,* or supposes that * for ever ' always means the same duration ? No, the context always decides the sense. " A father gave to a child a plaything. The child (but of five years old) asked, * How long is this to be mine ? ' The father replied, * For ev^r.' And the child aaid, * Then it is Lay own, my \ c ry own , and I may burn it if I like, o*" give it to my sister.' ... If I say, God is 'tor ever, hovr long does this *for ever' last ? " ♦ 'Tis an endless for ever, the life of God.* And if, when the earth and time are past, God, in God's endless for ever^ declares some- thing is to be * for ever,' 'tis an endless for ever which God so pronounces, and will make good too. The bhss and blessed j.o^^s if those who love the Lord JesuR Christ is as endlesS as is He wVo has loved them, and whom they love ; and the woe of those brought up for judgment after man's for overs have ceased, and sent into torment, is to an endless for " For Ever. 245 ever, where their worm dieth not, and where their fire is not quenched (Mark ix. 44). God's Word does use the words ' for ever ' in the same way ps do men for durations which have an end ; but there it is said of something in maris day, and not when man's day, with all its subdivisions of time, is past {e.g.^ the passover — a feast for an ordinance for ever (Exod. xii. 14-17) — done away in Christ). The * for ever ' of the Mosaic economy, with its mediatorships, priesthood, sanctuary, nation, etc., seeing that it all pointed on to Another, the Lord Jesus Christ, was necessarily hmited to the duration of that economy. Just as the *for ever' of a man's service to another was limited to his life {e.g,^ 2 Kings v. 27, 'Leprosy cleave to thee and to thy seed for ever'). How difi'erent is the * for ever ' in the above cases from its sense where it is used either of " (1) God Himselfi '' (2) Of the truth of His Word, ** (3) Of the blessedness which awaits His own people. That of which, when time is done, and it is in God's eternity, the weal or the woe is ' for ever,' is surely an endless position, whether of the good bound up in one bundle of life with the Christ of God, or *' (4) Of those wicked, raised up in the day of God, still haters of Him and of His Son. " My statement is plain, and, I trust, distinct. The words * for ever,' * ever,' etc., if they are applied to any thing or person, in ;..(-.» *}'.;rp". 246 ''For Ever!' man's day, may be a duration limited by the context, short or long. ** But, if presented to us as being said of God. oi of anything found in His presence when man's day is past, then they are as much for perpetuity as is the God who announces them ; then for ever is as lon^r as He endures." Bom. i. "ilh. For ever^ the lifetime of God, The Maker and Monarch of all, An endless for ever with Him, We Him as the blessed shall call. EoM. ix. 5. For ever, our Lord Jesus Christ Over all God blessed shall be : The Man who was slain, now as crown'd With glory and honour, we see. Heb. xiii. 8. For ever, Chrisi; Jesus the same To-day as He was yesterday, On the cross or the great white throne, Or now in our wilderness way. 1 Petbb i. 23-25. For ever, the word of our God Doth live holy, perfect, and sure; What Jehovah in judgment or grace Has spoken shall ever endure. Gal. i. 5; Kev. iv. 9. » For ever and ever to God The glory and honour shall be. To Him who is set on the throne. The Lamb who was slain on the tree. y/ r-'"w\ ''For Every 247 Eev. xx. 10. For ever and ever shall all. Who neglected or scom'd at the light, Be under the wrath of their God, Tormented by day and by night. 1 Thess. iv. 17; Eev. xxii. 6. For ever and ever shall all, Who accepted the Christ that was slain, Be like Him in whitest array, And with Him eternally reign. ■■'■;,"'■ \ ..VJ b- Ovep 2 JOO Copies Sold in Three Months. AiUNDANT GR/IGE. Dr. the ; ■■■ >i*— BY THE LATE— ••;■:■" '•'• fK P. MacKajfy Author of Grac( &» Truth. —Crown 8vo., 250 Pages. Cloth $1.00. — work contains (i) Portrait specially enj|raved A'om a photog-aph (furnished by his brother Rev. A. B. MacKay, of MontK.'xO; (z) a Brief Biographical Sketch of the late Dr. MacKay ; (3) Memorabilia of the author, by Miss Annie Mac> Jherson, of London, England; (4) A Prefatory Note, by Rev. . H. 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