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 I* NOV 25 1907 
 
 Division ^S2.'42l 
 Section ,S535 
 
tutiiesi in tfie Hife of Cfirigt 
 
 ./ BY 
 
 J. B. SHEARER, D. D., LL. D., 
 
 Professor of Biblical Instruction, Davidson College; Author of 
 "Bible Course Syllabus." "Modern Mysticism," and 
 "The Sermon on the Mount." 
 
 I 
 
 Richmond, Virginia : 
 ^rcsfaptcrian Committee of publication 
 
 1907 
 
Copyright by 
 R. E. MAGILL, 
 Secretary of Publication, 
 1907. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 Whittet & Shepperson, 
 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
Srhtrattnn. 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE GLORY OF THE MASTER AND 
 
 DEDICATED TO HIM WITH GRATITUDE FOR 
 
 THE PRIVILEGE OF TEACHING HIS 
 
 WORD FOR SO MANY YEARS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of the World at the Christian Era. The 
 
 Fulness of Time, 9 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 Who is the Lord? Who is Christ?, 16 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 His Names and Titles, 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Christ's Prayers, 38 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Christ's Controversies, 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Parables, 54 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 Miracles, 61 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 Typology 68 
 
6 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Prophecies Fulfilled in Christ, 76 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Christ's Prophecies, 84 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Parousia, or the Coming, 91 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 Four Last Days of Christ's Public Ministry, . . . 108 
 
 CHAPTER XHL 
 The Passover, The Lord's Supper, The Betrayal, 118 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Trial, 125 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Crucifixion, 134 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Resurrection and Ascension, 143 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Overlapping of the Dispensations, 155 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Summary of the Gospel of Christ, 164 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The author does not propose to write a commentary on 
 the Gospels ; nor does he undertake to write another Life 
 of Christ ; nor does he aim to discuss disconnected inci- 
 dents and fragmentary topics found in his life. He has, 
 for thirty-five years, carefully drilled his college classes in 
 the Gospels with such exposition as they seemed to need 
 and time has allowed. 
 
 He has made no effort to set up doctrinal tenets in 
 abstract categories. But his aim has been to make a 
 wide and exhaustive induction of the facts, in the Gospel 
 and elsewhere in the Scriptures, which throw light on the 
 person, character, and work of Christ. 
 
 This method, if successful, would give a many-sided 
 and complete view of him and his salvation. We may see 
 him as the concrete Saviour in his completeness ; and we 
 may also get the absolute measure of his salvation. The 
 painter adds touch to touch, till the portrait is complete, 
 and so may we. In presenting complete and concrete 
 truth, we may add bone to bone, till every joint is articu- 
 lated, and flesh and blood and life find their place in the 
 living concrete truth. 
 
 This little volume is the author's attempt to realize 
 this for his classes. It begins with Christ's environment 
 
8 Preface. 
 
 and closes with a summary of the Gospel. It surely is 
 not presumption to attempt these things. If this attempt 
 in an untried field shall inspire some loving hand and 
 heart to do the work better, the author shall be more 
 than grateful. 
 
 J. B. Shearer. 
 Davidson, N. C. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of the World at the Christian Era. 
 The Fulness of Time. 
 
 PAUL says: "When the fulness of time was come, 
 God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made 
 under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, 
 that we might receive the adoption of sons." The impli- 
 cation is that no previous time would have been suitable 
 for the coming of Christ, and for the setting up of his 
 kingdom, and that the affairs of this world had been so 
 ordered and arranged by an all-wise providence as best 
 to carry out the covenant of grace between the Father 
 and the Son for the salvation of his people. We believe 
 that redemption was central in the divine plan, and that 
 Christ was, as he still is, "head over all things to the 
 church." (Gal. iv. 4; Eph. i. 22.) 
 
 The seed of the woman was promised to our first 
 parents after they sinned. His redemptive and media- 
 torial work was set forth in type and in prophecy for 
 four thousand years. We may study the history of 
 nations and peoples never so closely, and we can find no 
 time, nor place, nor people, nor conditions suitable for the 
 advent of the Messiah, in comparison with his actual 
 coming. 
 
 The Abrahamic covenant was unfolded with varied 
 
10 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 form and dress, all converging toward the fulfilment of 
 the promise : "In thee shall all nations of the earth be 
 blessed." Apostasy needed to try its own experiments 
 and test its own devices. Human philosophies needed to 
 try their substitutes for the knowledge of God. The 
 oracles of God needed to be set up and verified against 
 all comers. A people must be prepared to be the matrix 
 of the Gospel, and conditions must be found favorable to 
 its spread and propagation. It would be of great interest 
 to trace the unfolding of history from the first promise 
 down to the time of his coming. But this is not our 
 purpose. We only desire to set forth the state of the 
 world when Christ came, and to recognize it as the 
 fulness of time for God to send his Son. 
 
 The civil conditions were favorable. The Roman 
 Empire furnished the arena for the triumphs of the 
 Gospel. The barriers of national boundaries were largely 
 broken down. Roman citizenship was the ambition of 
 all nations and peoples, and the protection of Roman 
 law was felt and enjoyed everywhere. The Latin and 
 Greek languages were spoken and written throughout 
 the empire along with provincial dialects and tongues. 
 Highways of travel radiated from Rome to the remotest 
 provinces, and heralds of the cross went in safety to 
 Spain and Britain on the west, and to Persia and India 
 on the east. The most distant populations were, to a 
 certain extent, cosmopolitan, or, at least, were accustomed 
 to all the generic types of civic and social culture; and 
 Roman manners dominated them all. Thus had the 
 Roman Empire broken down the barriers and established 
 a universalism of language, manners and accessibility. 
 
 Paganism had proven a failure and was growing effete. 
 We believe that the human race was at first of one re- 
 ligion and of one faith and worship. We are not told the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. ii 
 
 nature of the general apostasy before the flood, except 
 its extreme wickedness. After the flood, polytheism 
 gradually superseded the worship of the true God, often 
 overlapping and tolerating it for a season. Polytheism 
 gradually crystallized into permanent systems of religion 
 hostile to the religion of the living God, all of which we 
 call Paganism. These false religions had their traditions, 
 their literature, their gods and their demi-gods, their 
 heroes, their devotees, their priesthoods, their hierarchies, 
 their altars and their sacrifices. Of course, much of all 
 this was lost in the lower and degenerate forms of Pagan- 
 ism, but even these give abundant evidence of a higher 
 origin. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that pagan religions were 
 wholly false and absolutely evil. Their institutions were 
 of traditional origin ; and their fundamental principles 
 and practices were largely copied from the true, and 
 were but partially perverted and emasculated. While it 
 is true that no pagan religion provided and offered any 
 sufficient plan for personal salvation, they were all of 
 great value to society and to the state. All religion is, in 
 a proper sense, conservative. Faith in any god and in 
 any creed is an anchor to society. Even superstitions are 
 of value for this purpose. For this reason, pagan peoples 
 usually present substantially the same conditions from 
 century to century. Many nations and peoples have been 
 kept from decay in this way, until the dawn of a better 
 day. 
 
 Some students of comparative religion, observing 
 these facts, have maximized them in such a way as to 
 make them the peers of Bible religion, and even superior 
 to it for those peoples where the several pagan religions 
 prevail. Others attempt to find that faith is the common 
 saving element in them all. They forget that faith is of 
 
12 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 no saving value, except it rest in a "thus saith the Lord." 
 Paganism has derived its strength and power from its 
 moral and ethical systems. These conform largely to the 
 teaching of the natural conscience, and are reinforced by 
 tradition and by copying from others. Some of them are 
 so excellent and so striking, that it has been charged that 
 Moses and Christ are mainly indebted to paganism for 
 their moral teachings. Paganism more commonly ex- 
 alted the sturdy, manly, and heroic virtues and their 
 imitations. At the coming of Christ, paganism had had 
 its day. The experiment had been fairly made, and it 
 was found wanting. In proof of this, several facts may 
 be cited : 
 
 1. The ancient sturdy, manly virtues were disappear- 
 ing before a growing immorality. With the growth of 
 wealth and culture, the Greeks and the Romans yielded 
 to sensuality, effeminacy, profligacy and immorality. 
 The satires of Horace and Persius Flaccus were none 
 too severe ; and the scorpion lash of Cicero, laid on the 
 backs of the senatorial party at Rome, fairly exposes the 
 true condition. The only use they had for the effete sys- 
 tems of religion, was to help them control the ignorant 
 masses. 
 
 2. The family had become unstable, and divorce was 
 made easy. The decay of virtue makes easy divorce. 
 At Rome, marriage became mercenary, and she set the 
 fashion throughout the empire. Even at Jerusalem, it 
 was openly taught that a man might put away his wife 
 for every cause. The size of the dowry largely deter- 
 mined marriage at Rome, and a larger dowry insured 
 divorce ; and the shameless swapping of wives for money 
 considerations excited no surprise. 
 
 3. The gravest immoralities were prevalent. Infanti- 
 cide was common, just as it is to-day among pagan 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 13 
 
 nations. Especially were female children put out of the 
 way. This was true of children born in wedlock as well 
 as the illegitimate. Fornication was justified and sodomy 
 was a boasted iniquity. Paul's picture of paganism, as 
 it existed in the Roman Empire, is not overdrawn ; Rom. 
 i. 24-32. The heathen to-day admit that they also an- 
 swer to his description of the Gentile world. 
 
 4. Lust flourished under religious sanctions. The 
 passions were all deified. Bacchus was the god of revelry 
 and drunkenness, and the Bacchanalian orgies were 
 largely patronized and practiced. Venus was the goddess 
 of lust, and her votaries made no secret of their licentious 
 worship and their prostitutions in honor of their goddess. 
 A thousand harlots were kept at public expense at her 
 temple at Athens. The gorgeous magnificence of Daphne 
 in Egypt baffles all description. Taste and culture, music, 
 painting, and sculpture were exhausted to adorn and 
 beautify the altars and temples and groves and gardens, 
 where the foulest orgies were frequented by their votaries 
 from all the world. 
 
 5. Human sacrifices were made to their gods in many 
 places. These degenerated into gladiatorial shows and 
 fighting with wild beasts in the arena. Rome's proudest 
 day witnessed uncounted multitudes in the great amphi- 
 theatre, and conspicuous among them were Augustus and 
 his court, all clad in their holiday garb of regal splendor, 
 and the noblest Roman families, vicing with each other 
 in their magnificent display. We may almost hear their 
 cries and shouts of frantic joy when a favorite gladiator 
 draws the life-blood of his antagonist, or pours out his 
 own in bravest fight ; little cared they which. 
 
 All these several items tell us of a degenerate and 
 effete paganism. But we must not overdraw the picture. 
 These things were on the surface, and were the flowering 
 
14 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 out of failing false religions ; but the middle and lower 
 classes were not so bad, else they had all perished in their 
 own putrescence. 
 
 Philosophy had run a shorter career of failure. It 
 had to be proven that "the world by wisdom knew not 
 God," and the experiment was fairly made. The Greek 
 philosophies prevailed throughout the Roman Empire 
 without controversy or conflict with the superstitions of 
 paganism, as suited to the exoteric circle ; while the 
 votaries of the popular religions aped the prevailing 
 philosophies and sought access to their charmed esoteric 
 circle. The natural and necessary result of all this was 
 the more rapid decadence of popular faiths and a ten- 
 dency to universal skepticism. 
 
 These philosophies covered the whole range of the 
 learning of their day. They included an ontology, a 
 cosmogony, a psychology, a theology, an ethical system, 
 and a scheme of redemption, but in no proper sense a 
 religion. They were atheistic, theistic, or trinitarian. 
 
 They were in no proper sense the original products of 
 the philosophers whose names they bear. The systems 
 were all eclectic, modified in the transmission from school 
 to school. No man was considered a great teacher till he 
 had travelled and studied in the East, which was regarded 
 as the fountain head. Pythagoras and Plato, the two 
 fathers of Greek philosophy, travelled and studied many 
 years in the East. They studied Sabianism in Egypt ; 
 Magianism in Central Asia ; the Brahminical philosophy 
 in India; and Judaism in contact with all these. They 
 copied, adopted, and taught what they fancied, and 
 worked up the eclectic materials gathered thus ; and as 
 they taught admiring disciples, they elaborated the sys- 
 tems that bear their names. 
 
 Out of these grew the Epicurean and Stoical schools 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 15 
 
 with their rival ethical systems. Under these two ban- 
 ners, the civilized world was arrayed for several genera- 
 tions. The one culminated in a hopeless fatalism, and the 
 other in a licentious materialism. 
 
 The experiment was fairly made. Philosophy fostered 
 a universal skepticism, and had no power to renovate a 
 decaying social and religious life. All man-made devices 
 and hopes were set aside by the logic of results and 
 looked vainly for vindication. 
 
 Judaism, like salt, averted universal decay. We find 
 here the purpose and the value of the dispersion. Here 
 was the first great fulfilment of the promise made to 
 Abraham, "In thee shall all nations of the earth be 
 blessed." We may not, in this connection, elaborate this 
 great fact. Suffice it now to say that the synagogue was 
 the centre of religious life in every hamlet, town and city 
 throughout the Roman Empire, and great numbers of 
 Gentile proselytes were gathered in, waiting for the 
 "Hope of Israel." 
 
 Judaism had served its temporary purpose. It had 
 saved the oracles of God against the time of universal 
 apostasy, and stood as a witness-bearer to the truth 
 against all comers. The time had come for its unfolding 
 out of its protecting sheaf into Christianity. The syna- 
 gogue and its Gentile proselytes largely accepted Christ, 
 when they were convinced that Jesus was the Christ. So 
 the fulness of time was come, "And God sent forth his 
 Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem 
 them that were under the law, that we might receive the 
 adoption of sons." (Gal. iv. 4.) 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Who is the Lord? Who is Christ? 
 
 IT IS the purpose of this chapter to show that the 
 Hebrew name translated LORD, in capitals, in the 
 Old Testament Scriptures, is the specific name of the 
 second person of the Trinity, and was so used from the 
 beginning. The Hebrew name is transliterated some- 
 times into Jehovah, especially in a few compound forms. 
 It is translated "I AM," in Exodus iii. 7, 14. Modern 
 scholars are disposed to transliterate it into Jahveh and 
 other cognate spellings, contending that the name is a 
 future tense, and ought to be so translated, if translated 
 at all. This name is the only word in the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures, the pointing of which does not essay to give the 
 traditional pronunciation, because tl-e name was nevei 
 pronounced in later times, on account of some supersti- 
 tion. One of the two other Divine titles was read for it 
 wherever it occurred, and it was pointed accordingly. 
 The unpointed Hebrew word is a future form of the verb 
 "to be" following the analogy of very many other nouns 
 formed on verbal roots. Such future forms do not 
 ipso facto carry future signification with them. We 
 are not justified therefore, in dogmatizing on the mere 
 etymological structure of the name, certainly not at the 
 outset of this discussion. Whatever value may attach to 
 this hypothesis, will be cited for confirmation later on. 
 He is called "An Angel," and "The Angel of the Lord" 
 in divers places, as in Exodus iii. 2. In all such con- 
 nections, we find that Jehovah himself is the person so 
 designated, evidently called an Angel, because he is r 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 17 
 
 messenger appearing for a purpose, in execution of a 
 commission. Many maintain that "Malak Jehovah" are 
 appositive words, which is probably true, though not 
 necessary to this exposition. The theophanic manifesta- 
 tion of the Lord in creature form was as distinctly spoken 
 of by the Lord himself in the third person as was the 
 Incarnate Son, the Messiah, in after times, both in 
 prophecy and history. We shall have occasion to illus- 
 trate this more fully in the sequel. 
 
 He is also called a ''man" in numerous passages, as in 
 Gen. xviii. i, 2, 13; xxxii. 24; Josh. v. 13, etc. The con- 
 text in each case shows that the Lord appeared in human 
 form to instruct or to comfort. Hence the name man 
 does not mislead. 
 
 It is now proper to determine the actual personality of 
 this "Man/' "Angel," "Jehovah," "Jahveh," by an induc- 
 tion of all the essential facts. 
 
 I. He was the Creator of all things. In the first chap- 
 ter of Genesis and the first three verses of the second 
 chapter, God is named as the Creator in the general out- 
 line account of the first seven days. But in Exo. xx. 11, 
 the whole of those thirty-six verses is summed up in 
 these words : "For in six days the Lord made heaven and 
 earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the sev- 
 enth day : wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day 
 and hallowed it." These words were articulately spoken 
 on the mountain by him who introduced himself as the 
 "Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the 
 land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Creation is 
 thus limited to him. This accords exactly with the added 
 statement of details of creation as found in the second 
 chapter of Genesis, beginning at verse four, where the 
 Creator is in every case called "Jehovah God." This 
 limitation of the personality of the Creator prevails 
 throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 
i8 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 II. He was the law-giver and the judge from the be- 
 ginning. He was the author of the covenant of works in 
 the Garden of Eden, and when it was broken, he passed 
 sentence on all the parties as of right. That he was also 
 the proper ruler of all need hardly be said, with full power 
 and authority to enforce every sentence, or to mitigate 
 and postpone the penalties in the interest of sovereign 
 mercy. 
 
 III. He was the object and expounder of the earliest 
 worship, as he was likewise of all that came after in 
 later dispensations. This abundantly appears in the 
 fourth chapter of Genesis^ for Cain and Abel brought 
 each an "offering unto the Lord." He decided the merits 
 of each by accepting the one and rejecting the other; 
 and in his rebuke of Cain, he expounded the necessity 
 of the sin-offering for the sinner, while, at the same 
 time, he convicted him of sin. There is no need to cite 
 in this connection the sacrifices, prayers, vows and cov- 
 enants of Noah and the patriarchs, and repeated theo- 
 phanies, to show that they worshipped him and were 
 taught by him. The first commandment spoken by him 
 seals the case for all time : "Thou shalt have no other 
 gods before me." 
 
 rV. He was the accepted God of providence from the 
 beginning. Eve said : "I have gotten a man from the 
 Lord." "The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any 
 finding him should slay him." In covenanting with Noah, 
 he gave assurance that, "while the earth remaineth, seed- 
 time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and 
 winter, and day and night shall not cease." The Old 
 Testament Scriptures represent him as giving the early 
 and the latter rains, as measuring the span of human life, 
 as opening his hand and supplying every living thing, as 
 guiding the wind in his circuits, and stretching out the 
 heavens, and guiding all by his hand. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 19 
 
 V. He claims to be divine ; was so recognized every- 
 where except by apostates, and is called God throughout 
 Moses and the Prophets. He says on Sinai: "I am the 
 Lord thy God;" by Isaiah, "I am the Lord, and there 
 is none else, there is no God beside me;" and so every- 
 where. "The Lord, he is the God," was the decision of 
 the contest at Carmel against the apostate Ahab and the 
 priests of Baal. Pharaoh in Egypt, who knew not Joseph, 
 rejected his divine authority and entered the lists backed 
 by the magicians to assert the supremacy of the gods of 
 Egypt, and he and his people were ground to powder. 
 All the names and attributes of essential divinity are 
 ascribed to him and claimed by him. 
 
 VL Israel entered into theocratic covenant with him at 
 Mount Sinai, having made a preliminary covenant 
 through Moses in Egypt. By this covenant at Sinai he 
 became their civil head and king. In this double rela- 
 tion of God and king, he gave the law at Sinai, and set 
 up the Sinaitic codes, moral, religious, ecclesiastical, po- 
 litical, civil and social. He was their leader out of Egypt, 
 and Moses was his deputy. At Sinai and in the wilder- 
 ness, he punished and pardoned their sins, and they were 
 frequent witnesses of his glory, power, goodness and 
 wrath. Did they understand all these things? There 
 can be no doubt of it, though they were so often stiff- 
 necked and rebellious. When they set up their ritualistic 
 idolatry at Mount Sinai, contrary to the second command- 
 ment, they bore their punishments by the sword and the 
 plague with some appearance of fortitude ; but when the 
 Lord announced a purpose to lead them no longer, but to 
 commit them to the leadership of a mere angel, a creature 
 of limited power and wisdom, they were filled with the 
 greatest grief and amazement and broke down utterly. 
 They wanted their divine leader or none, even at the 
 
20 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 risk of being consumed in the way for their stiffness of 
 neck. Moses shared their grief and consternation, and 
 so interceded with him, that he not only resumed sus- 
 pended relations, but renewed his covenant to ''do mar- 
 vels" and to put them in possession of Canaan. In 
 Exodus xxiii. 20-25, he is called "An Angel" and "Mine 
 Angel," who was under covenant appointment to do the 
 same for them. From this, and from similar passages, 
 theologians derive the name "Angel of the Covenant," 
 and the reason is obvious. Israel was familiar with the 
 fact that their Lord God was a "messenger," and so far 
 at least occupied a subordinate position. 
 
 VII. Did they not also recognize his position as 
 mediator? The answer is easy, if we admit that they 
 understood the simplest symbolisms of their own system. 
 Their priest was a type of the true mediator ; their 
 prophet also did mediatorial work for another ; tlieir king 
 was only a viceroy, a' typical mediatorial king. Their 
 Lord God administered and executed His several func- 
 tions of prophet, priest and king in three typical forms of 
 human office and officers, which directly symbolized him. 
 The three were gods to the people in the same sense in 
 which Moses was a god to Aaron and also to Pharaoh. 
 Every bloody sacrifice spoke of a ransom by a Redeemer. 
 Redemption is a mediatorial function. Redeemer was 
 his darling name, and redemption his specific preroga- 
 tive. Jacob and Job spake of him as their Redeemer. 
 David and Isaiah abound in extolling this supreme rela- 
 tion of the Lord to his people. His redemption is set 
 forth as past, present and future. His favorite name is 
 Goel, the one who, as a blood-brother, redeems blood with 
 blood, life with life. Here the mediatorial idea is funda- 
 mental, and was far more familiar to the oriental mind 
 than to lis. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 21 
 
 Every theophany was a prophecy of the incarnation, 
 every sacrificial victim pointed to the sin-bearer, every 
 burnt offering proclaimed the body to be prepared for him, 
 the shed blood foreshowed his blood, his life, to redeem 
 forfeited life. He promised to come in person to glorify 
 the second temple, and to compensate its other deficien- 
 cies. He promised to send himself as Messiah, Servant, 
 Redeemer, Prince of Peace, Immaniiel, and Saviour, suf- 
 fering and triumphant. 
 
 Vni. The doctrine of the Spirit is equally as promi- 
 nent and patent from Genesis to Malachi, called "God's 
 Spirit/' the "Spirit of the Lord," ''My Spirit," and 
 having a divinity and personality as indisputable as the 
 Lord himself. His position and relations to Jehovah in 
 his specific works of creation, providence and redemption 
 make him the co-ordinate agent, or rather, the efficient 
 instrument (words may not properly define it), and 
 equally subordinate in execution, with a super-added pro- 
 cession from the Lord himself. 
 
 We are now in a position to recognize "Elohim," to 
 whom are ascribed, in a general way, all divine attributes 
 and works, as the First Person in the Godhead centering 
 in himself the three personalities, and so giving his name 
 to the Three in One, and before whom, and to whom, and 
 by whose commission the Lord executed his mediatorial 
 work under the covenant of grace. 
 
 The word "El" — Elohe — plural Elohim — is used in 
 three senses in the Old Testament Scriptures, just as the 
 word "God" in English and Theos in the New Testament. 
 
 1st. Divinity or deity as opposed to humanity; 2nd. 
 The Godhead, embracing all three persons ; and 3rd. The 
 first person, God the Father. It is easy to determine 
 from the connection in which sense the term God is used 
 to-day; and in the same way we determine, from the 
 context, in which sense it is used in the Scriptures. 
 
22 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 There is no categorical statement and definition of the 
 Trinity in either Testament, nor of either person in the 
 Godhead. The facts were universally accepted and were 
 as well understood as the duafity of man. The duality of 
 man was never attacked until the rise of Sadduceeism, 
 which sect also seemed to be the most malignant oppo- 
 nents of the claims of Christ. It is now so plain that the 
 doctrine of a Tri-une God was held outside of the Jewish 
 people and anterior to Mosaic writings, that the enemies 
 of the Bible openly charge that the doctrine is of heathen 
 origin and was adopted from Egypt by the Hebrew law- 
 giver. In New Testament times, the Pharisees did not so 
 much question the doctrine itself as the claims of Christ 
 to be the "Son" and "Lord." 
 
 It would seem sufficient to rest the argument here, but 
 for these facts : The Jews of the present day are Unitar- 
 ians, and some who call themselves Christians are of like 
 faith ; and, what concerns us more, many of the straitest 
 orthodoxy, when answering the question, "what think 
 you of Christ," fail to recognize the name Jehovah as the 
 specific name of the second person in the Trinity, but 
 make it the "incommunicable name of God," and apply 
 it loosely to the Godhead and to either person of the 
 Trinity. Others tell us that it is the "covenant name of 
 God," but may, or may not signify the second person. 
 Others again, who agree substantially with the theory of 
 this paper, are free to admit that they have not recognized 
 it in a clear-cut way in their reading of the Scriptures and 
 in their prayers and preaching. 
 
 IX. It becomes necessary, therefore, to go to the New 
 Testament for confirmation of these views. This we 
 can do without contravening the fact that Christ and his 
 apostles rested all their claims on the older Scriptures. 
 It is legitimate to show that the men of Christ's day held 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 23 
 
 this view prior to and independently of his claims and 
 teaching. It is legitimate for confirmation to show that 
 those who rejected him and those who accepted him, alike 
 accepted the sonship of the Lord Jehovah. The burning 
 question was this: "Is the man Christ Jesus our Lord of 
 glory ?" 
 
 It might be well to notice here that the name Jehovah 
 is used over seven thousand times in the Old Testament, 
 and is uniformly rendered "kurios" (Lord) in the Sep- 
 tuagint version. It is often qualified by the appositive 
 "adonai" (my Lord), which often displaces it, and is 
 rendered in the same way. The use of the name and its 
 equivalent, both in the Hebrew and Septuagint, is so 
 numerous and closely continuous that we are irresistably 
 led to conclude that the name Jehovah and knrios (Lord) 
 belong to the same recognized personality. And where- 
 ever adonai and its equivalent, knrios, refers to any one 
 else, it is clearly so indicated in the context. The same 
 means of discrimination is easy in the New Testament, 
 where, in the sense of sir, master, or my lord, it is found 
 applied to persons lower than divinity. 
 
 Except as thus applied, the New Testament use of the 
 word Lord is to name the Lord Jesus Christ, the God- 
 man, the Second Person, the Eternal Son, "which is and 
 was and is to come," the "Lord God Almighty." 
 
 X. It remains to identify the Lord of the Old Testa- 
 ment with the Lord of the New. If a man familiar with 
 the Septuagint should read on for the first time into the 
 Gospels and then on into the Acts and into the Epistles 
 and on through Revelation, he would find himself 
 strangely at home, in familiar scenes, familiar names, fa- 
 miliar ideas, and familiar terminology. At no place will 
 he pass, even by insensible gradations, into new appli- 
 cations and significations of the words and names which 
 
24 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 were the common property of all that generation ; other- 
 wise, the trend of the teaching would be fallacious in 
 the last degree. 
 
 Let him start with Luke's Gospel. In the account of 
 Zachariah's vision, he reads such words as these : "Walk- 
 ing in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
 blameless ;" "An angel of the Lord ;" "The temple of the 
 Lord ;" "He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and 
 shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall 
 be filled with the Holy Ghost (Spirit), even from his 
 mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall 
 he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before 
 him (who?) in the spirit and power of Elias;" "to 
 make ready a people prepared for the Lord." What an 
 array of the "stock phrases" of the Old Testament re- 
 peated in their invariable and necessary significance. 
 
 He reads further: "His wife Elizabeth conceived and 
 hid herself five months, saying, 'Thus hath the Lord 
 dealt with me' — 'to take away my reproach among men.' " 
 He reads next of Mary : "a virgin" '^'of the House of 
 David," and the "angel Gabriel." He says to Mary, 
 "The Lord be with thee;" "Thou shalt bring forth a son 
 and shalt call his name Jesus ;" "He shall be called The 
 Son of the Highest;" "and the Lord God shall give him 
 the throne of his father David;" "He shall be called the 
 Son of God." He reads again of Mary's visit to Eliza- 
 beth, who said : "whence is this to me that the mother of 
 my Lord should come to me?" And then Mary's won- 
 drous song, beginning, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
 and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." 
 
 Passing by familiar landmarks, he reads again the 
 burning words of Zacharias: "Blessed be the Lord God 
 of Israel : for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 
 and hath raised up a horn of salvation in the house of his 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 25 
 
 servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy 
 prophets which have been since the world began ;" ''and 
 thou child shalt be called the prophet of the Highest ; for 
 thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his 
 ways." 
 
 In the second chapter he reads in the story of the shep- 
 herds, and of the presentation, and in the prophecies of 
 Anna and Simeon, repeated expressions like these : 
 "Angel of the Lord ;" "Glory of the Lord ;" "A Saviour, 
 which is Christ the Lord ;" "To present him to the Lord ;" 
 "Law of the Lord;" "Lord's Christ;" "Mine eyes have 
 seen thy salvation." 
 
 These numerous quotations are taken from these two 
 chapters of Luke, at the risk of being tedious, to illus- 
 trate the use of the term Lord, by those familiar only with 
 the Hebrew and Greek usage of "Jehovah" and ''Lord" 
 in Moses and the Prophets. A glance identifies their 
 Lord with the Babe of Bethlehem, and John as his 
 promised forerunner. Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, the 
 Angelic host, the shepherds, Anna, and Simeon all so 
 understood it. As we read through this Gospel and the 
 others, and the remaining Books of the New Testament, 
 we find the same obvious identification of the Lord 
 Jehovah as the incarnate Christ, at the very foundation 
 of the history and the doctrine alike. 
 
 Some minds, however, are much more impressed by 
 more definite categorical statements. We may, there- 
 fore, cite a few of these. In John i. 1-14, the Word who 
 "became flesh" is declared to be divine and of eternal co- 
 ordination with God, the Creator of all things, the true 
 Light of whom John was sent to bear witness, "the only 
 begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father," and 
 much more to the same purpose. The identification is 
 obvious, but the tenth verse needs special emphasis : "He 
 
26 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 was in the world and the world was made by him, and 
 the world knew him not." A careful reading will show 
 that verses ii, 12, 13, also refer to his mediatorial and 
 redemptive work before he "became flesh and dwelt 
 among us." It is pertinent here to cite the fact that the 
 "Word" in John is the "Wisdom who was set up and 
 anointed from everlasting before all worlds, first to 
 create, then to uphold and govern, and judge, and after- 
 wards to redeem and save the world; all which works 
 are, in Scripture, ascribed to the Son of God." (Cruden). 
 Compare the eighth chapter of Proverbs, in which this 
 glorious attribute, "Wisdom/' is made also the eternal 
 fellow of the Creator, Revealer and Redeemer, and is 
 adopted as his name. It would be interesting here to 
 trace the use of this name Wisdom, Logos, Word, Memra, 
 in the Targums and in the Hindoo and Greek philoso- 
 phies, to express this second person in the Godhead, but 
 time would fail, to say nothing of the difficulties of the 
 exploitation. 
 
 In I Corinthians x. 4, 9, we have the identification 
 complete : "They did all eat the same spiritual meat and 
 they did all drink of the same spiritual drink ; for they 
 drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them and that 
 Rock was Christ." "Neither let us tempt Christ as some 
 of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." 
 No comment is needed. So also in Hebrews iii. 14, 15: 
 'Tor we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the 
 beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end : While 
 it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not 
 your hearts as in the provocation ;" and in iv. 2 : "For 
 unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them." 
 
 Abraham saw the day of the LORD. Christ says : 
 "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was 
 glaB." When the Jews cavilled he said : "Before Abra- 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 27 
 
 ham was, I am." They took up stones to stone him, so 
 enraged were they that he should identify himself with 
 Abraham's Lord and theirs. (John viii. 56-59.) 
 
 These quotations might be multiplied indefinitely. It 
 is much more to the purpose to insist upon it that the 
 Scriptures represent him as the mediator of all the cov- 
 enants, "the one mediator between God and man," and 
 that the quotations and applications of Old Testament 
 history, type, and prophecy are so numerous and con- 
 tinuous as to constrain us to recognize the two Lords as 
 one Jehovah — Jahveli — Christ. The only escape from this 
 conclusion is the recent hypothesis that all these quota- 
 tions from the Old are but fanciful adaptations made by 
 the admiring, but ignorant, writers of the New Testament. 
 
 If now we accept the suggestion that the true name 
 of the LORD is Jahveh, and carries with it the future 
 sense as is apparently implied in its future participial 
 formation, then the very name points to the promised 
 seed — "He that will be." The Septuagint renders it by 
 the present participial form, "'he that is," which form of 
 liis name is found expanded in Rev. i. 8: ''He that is 
 and was and is to come." This triple designation is used 
 as- a proper name, and governed by a preposition, and 
 under that designation he is twice called "The Lord God, 
 the Ruler of all things." 
 
 I find but one serious difficulty in accepting the con- 
 clusions of this discussion. There are numerous passages 
 like these, 'T will send mine Angel;" "The LORD said 
 unto my Lord, thou art my Son ;" "He shall send them a 
 Saviour;" and such like. Such passages abound in the 
 Prophets. The LORD speaks of the Son, the Saviour, 
 the Servant, the Messiah, the Shiloh, the Redeemer, in 
 the third person as one commissioned by him, sent by 
 him, and executing his will. How then can he be speaking 
 
28 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 of himself? The answer is easy as to the Messiah. The 
 man Christ Jesus, the personal God-man, was and is and 
 will always continue to be two natures in one person 
 forever; but he was not yet born of the Virgin Mary. 
 It was, therefore, both natural and right that the LORD 
 speak of his own Incarnate Self in the third person. The 
 same principle applies to the theophanic manifestations of 
 himself in some form of concrete visible bodily presence, 
 which itself also was a type and prophecy of the incar- 
 nation. 
 
 We may sum up the conclusions reached in this dis- 
 cussion : 
 
 1. The doctrine of the Trinity is the surface doctrine, 
 the foundation principle, and the all-pervading teaching 
 of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. 
 
 2. The name Jehovah is the specific name of the second 
 Person, and all the works of creation, providence and re- 
 demption are ascribed to him. 
 
 3. He is the mediator of all the covenants, the seed of 
 the woman, the seed of Abraham, Lord and Christ, 
 prophet, priest and king, God blessed forevermore. 
 
 We may be allowed to suggest one inference from this 
 doctrine. We find here the highest unity in the Scrip- 
 tures. The one personal LORD is the Creator, the Re- 
 vealer, the Mediator, the Saviour, the Redeefiier, and 
 will be the final judge. He is the author, agent, and end 
 of the whole ; type and anti-type, prophecy and fulfilment, 
 originate and meet in him. Bible teachings of doc- 
 trine and morals are all as holy, just, and good as him- 
 self. He ever has been and still is head over all things 
 to the Church, and shall reign till all his enemies are put 
 under his feet; and then cometh the end. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 His Names and Titles. 
 
 WE ARE now prepared to assume, without further 
 proof, that the Lord of the Old Testament is 
 the Lord of the New, and that Jehovah, the eternal Son 
 of God, is the incarnate Son as set forth in type and pro- 
 phecy. We may assume, further, that all the names and 
 titles given him in either Testament need careful con- 
 sideration. We shall find these names and titles to be 
 very numerous. Indeed, language seems to be exhausted 
 in setting forth his person, his character, his attributes, 
 his offices, his work, his relations to God and man, and 
 especially to the redemption of the human race. While 
 the entire Scriptures testify of him, the best introduction 
 to our study of him would seem to be found in his names 
 and titles. These are so numerous, overlapping each other 
 so in their significance, and are all so pertinent and nec- 
 essary to each other, that they reveal him fully to our 
 faith. His names and titles give us the entire Gospel in 
 brief and exhaustive definition. 
 
 We shall not attempt a scientific classification of them, 
 but shall seek to follow a natural and easy order, group- 
 ing those that are nearly synonymous, and then those 
 that may be cognate. Definition and illustration, rather 
 than -discussion, is our aim. A portrait is the combined 
 result of truthful strokes of tlie artist's brush. May we 
 not aspire so to combine his names and titles that we 
 shall have a portraiture of himself and his glorious Gos- 
 pel ? It is competent for us to gather his names and titles 
 
30 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 from both Testaments, for he is the author of them both, 
 and both treat of him. 
 
 1. His specific name is Jehovah. It occurs seven thous- 
 and times in the Old Testament, and is translated Lord. 
 His disciples called him Lord throughout the New Tes- 
 tament, recognizing loyally his divine authority over all. 
 The terms "King of kings" and "Lord of lords" are 
 properly grouped here, so also "My Lord and my God." 
 Also the "Lord God" numerously. 
 
 2. He is called the "Son of God," "The well-beloved 
 Son," "The only begotten of the Father," "The Son," 
 and such like. These names make him the second person 
 in the Trinity, the eternal Son of God. All evangelical 
 and orthodox Christians so understand it. 
 
 3. He is also called "The Son of Man," because he was 
 "born of a woman," in the "likeness of sinful flesh." He 
 was human as well as divine — "Very man and very 
 God" — "two distinct natures in one person forever." 
 
 4. The name "Immanuel" emphasizes his proper di- 
 vinity and humanity — God with us. It is expressed by 
 John : "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." He 
 was "God manifest in the flesh," and we call him the 
 Incarnate Son of God. 
 
 5. "The Almighty" is his name, because he is infinite 
 in power, as seen in creation and providence. This is 
 beautifully and sublimely set forth in Job, chapters 
 xxxviii. to xli., and in Isaiah, chapter xl. See Rev. i. 8. 
 
 6. He is called "The Ancient of Days," because age 
 and wisdom meet in him. He said, "Before Abraham was 
 I am." The Psalmist says: "From everlasting to ever- 
 lasting thou art God." Eternal self-existence is his. 
 
 7. Cognate to this is his name, "The Counsellor." He 
 guides his people with his counsel. When we lack wis- 
 dom and ask him, "He giveth to all man liberally." "We 
 took sweet counsel together. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 31 
 
 8. He is "The Wonderful." He combines in himself 
 all the wondrous attributes of the Infinite God. "He is 
 glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." 
 "Thou art the God that doest wonders." "Thy testi- 
 monies are wonderful." He is wonderful in his works. 
 
 9. He is called "The Angel," i. e., the messenger. The 
 prophet says : "My Messenger." In the earlier mention 
 he is the Messenger of the Covenant with Israel, and the 
 theocratic leader out of Egypt In the later mention, he 
 is the Messenger of the Covenant, (Mai. iii. i,) 'the Lord 
 himself coming to his temple to save and purify his people* 
 
 10. Isaiah names him: "My righteous servant," be- 
 cause he was appointed to hard and dangerous service, in 
 order to justify many, and bear the sins of many." The 
 Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minis- 
 ter." "He took upon himself the form of a servant" — 
 a bond slave. 
 
 11. He is called "David My Servant" and "David My 
 King" several times in the. later prophets, who promise 
 his coming to his temple and to rule over his people. King 
 David was a type of the true king, who was born into 
 the world to this end. "He shall sit upon the throne of 
 David his father, and of his dominion there shall be no 
 end." 
 
 12. He is called "The Lion of the tribe of Judah." The 
 lion among beasts represents courage, strength, and valor. 
 In Christ is fulfilled Jacob's prophecy of Judah. He com- 
 pares him to a lion's whelp, to a lion, to an old lion ; 
 "Who shall rouse him up?" (Gen. xlix. 8-10.) 
 
 13. He calls himself "Alpha and Omega," the begin- 
 ning and the end, the first and the last. Three times he 
 so names himself and gives no explanation (Rev. i. 8, 
 etc). He may refer to his supreme agency from creation 
 to the consummation of all things. The context would, 
 
32 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 however, seem to make him the beginning and the end of 
 our salvation. Or it may include both, and do no violence 
 to truth. 
 
 14. Three times he applies to himself as a proper name, 
 the phrase, "He, which is, and which was, and which is 
 to come." This would seem to express all that is included 
 in the name Jehovah, or Jahveh, throughout the Old 
 Testament — the eternal self-existent Son of God, who 
 promised to come, has come, and is yet to come in clouds 
 and great glory. (Rev. i. 8, etc.) 
 
 15. John called him "The Word." Wisdom was his 
 name in Proverbs and other places. Under this name 
 John (i. 1-18) sums up and ascribes to him divinity, crea- 
 tion, providence, life, light, adoption, regeneration, in- 
 carnation, grace, truth and revelation of the Father. This 
 name marks the proper transition to those names and 
 titles which more definitely belong to him as the friend 
 of sinners. 
 
 16. His personal name is Jesus — designated to Mary 
 ""in vision and given to the child when born. This was 
 
 the name by which he was known at home and abroad, by 
 his friends and by his enemies ; Jesus of Nazareth, to dis- 
 tinguish him from any other Jesus or Joshua. His name 
 Jesus was inscribed on his cross. "Thou shalt call his 
 name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." 
 This name and the reason of it contains the entire Gospel 
 in a word. It is salvation from sin, its guilt, its conse- 
 quences, its dominion, and its power. 
 
 17. Cognate to this is the name "Saviour," found so 
 numerously in the Old Testament and in the New, but it 
 is not always identical in meaning and usage. In the 
 Old Testament, the "Saviour" was the deliverer of his 
 people from such temporal evils as famine and pestilence ; 
 while, at the same time, he was none the less their 
 
Studies in tpie Life of Christ. 33 
 
 Saviour from sin. Disasters often befell his people be- 
 cause of sin. Their salvation was deliverance from both, 
 wrought by their theocratic ruler and Saviour. Compare 
 Psalm xxvii. This sense is not excluded from New Tes- 
 tament usage, but has less prominence, because of 
 changed administration. Compare Matthew xiv. 30. 
 
 18. He is called ''The Christ/' and "Christ" as in com- 
 pound forms "Jesus Christ," and "Christ Jesus." He is 
 called "The Lord's Anointed" also, and "The Holy One," 
 and also "The Messiah." These several names may be 
 grouped as one, because they are all translations of one 
 and the same generic idea into several languages. Men 
 were set apart in the olden times to official position and 
 function by anointing with oil. Aaron and his sons were 
 anointed to be priests ; David was anointed to be king ; 
 Elijah anointed Elisha to be prophet. Those who were 
 anointed with holy oil were holy to the Lord, set apart, 
 consecrated to special service. These all were types of 
 the Lord's Anointed, The Holy One, The Messiah, The 
 Christ, The Man Jesus, whom the Lord anointed to be 
 prophet, priest, and king of his people. 
 
 19. He calls himself the ''Light of the world," "The 
 bright and morning star." Peter calls him the Day star ; 
 Zacharias calls him the "Day-spring from on high." 
 Malachi calls him the "Sun of Righteousness." These 
 several names and titles are substantially one, and may 
 properly be grouped in one, "The Light of the World." 
 The pertinency of the name is obvious, and will be more 
 apparent when we consider other cognate names and titles. 
 
 20. He calls himself "The Way." Man is lost in ig- 
 norance and sin. He is far from hope and God, wan- 
 dering in pathless deserts, exposed to eternal death. The 
 only road to salvation is Christ. "No man cometh unto 
 the Father but by me." 
 
34 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 21. He calls himself "The Truth." He came to bear 
 witness to the truth against all comers. Sin and Satan 
 are false in every utterance and in every aspect. The 
 father of lies is the prince of this world, and men believe 
 him because he is a liar. Christ came to vanquish him 
 with the truth, and to scatter the darkness of sin with the 
 light of his truth. 
 
 22. He says : "I am the Life." John says : "In him 
 was life, and the life was the light of men." Hence these 
 titles overlap each other. He is the source of life to the 
 dead in sin. Natural life originates with him, but it 
 means more than this. "The hour is coming and now is. 
 when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; 
 and they that hear shall live." "You hath he quickened 
 who were dead in trespasses and sins." "As the Fathei 
 hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have 
 life in himself." He said to Martha : *T am the resurrec- 
 tion and the life." He claims these among the preroga- 
 tives of sonship. (John v. 17-30.) 
 
 23. Peter calls him the "Prince of Life." This recog- 
 nizes his jurisdiction over life, temporal and eternal. Life 
 is the pervading principle of his kingdom — light and life; 
 but darkness and death reign in the kingdom of Satan. 
 
 24. He is also called "The Prince of Peace." He is the 
 the only purchaser and procurer of peace between God 
 and man, between man and man, and between man and 
 his conscience. He shall rule till they shall learn war no 
 more, and till they shall not hurt nor destroy in all his 
 holy mountain. He has left his peace as a legacy to his 
 disciples. 
 
 25. He is the one "Mediator" between God and man, 
 in all ages and dispensations. He mediated all the cove- 
 nants, and is the only revealer of God to man from Eden 
 to the resurrection. By him we have access to God. A 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 35 
 
 mediator is a peacemaker. "God is in Christ reconciling 
 the world unto himself." 
 
 26. He is the "Great High Priest." This is part of his 
 mediatorial work. All other priests were but types of 
 him, and derived all of their value from him. The blood 
 of bulls and goats represented his blood shed for sin. As 
 High Priest he has entered the vail of the Holy of Holies 
 in heaven with his own blood, covered with the halo and 
 incense of his intercessions for his people. 
 
 27. He is called "The Lamb," "The Lamb of God that 
 taketh away the sin of the world." The lamb was brought 
 to the Tabernacle ; the sinner laid his hands on its head 
 confessing his sins; the lamb died, the sinner lived. Why? 
 Christ fulfills the bloody sacrifice ; the blood of Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin ; Blood for blood ; Life for life ; 
 "He gave his life a ransom for many." This is the vica- 
 rious atonement. Christ was our penal substitute. This 
 would seem to be the very culmination of his titles. 
 Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. 
 
 28. John calls him "My Redeemer." Redeemer is a 
 favorite name throughout the Scriptures, and Redemption 
 is the name for his salvation. The redeemer pays a pur- 
 chase price, a ransom. The price was blood. (Rev. v. 9.) 
 So everywhere. The word Job uses is Goel — blood 
 brother — sometimes rendered blood avenger, whose duty 
 it was to redeem blood with blood, life with life. In this 
 sense Christ is our blood-brother and redeemer. 
 
 29. In further execution of his mediatorial work he is 
 called the "Shepherd," the "Good Shepherd." David 
 declares him in lyric numbers, "The Lord is my Shepherd, 
 I shall not want." In John x. 1-29, Christ expounded 
 his relation of shepherd to his people much more fully 
 and in terms most endearing. "I am the good shepherd ; 
 the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." Their 
 
36 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 eternal safety is assured by himself and his Father. ''He 
 is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls." 
 
 30. He says again: "I am the door; by me if any 
 man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out 
 and find pasture." The true church, the spiritual king- 
 dom is the sheepfold. He is the only way of entrance to 
 salvation and to God. Faith in him admits to the true 
 Church on earth, and opens the gates of heaven. 
 
 31. "The first born among many brethren." He is not 
 ashamed to call us brethren. Those who are conformed 
 to his image are his brethren. Believers have the adop- 
 tion of sons and are brethren in that one family which is 
 named of Jesus Christ. But he is the First-born, entitled 
 to all the honors belonging to the name. 
 
 32. Christ is the First Fruits in the resurrection, (i 
 Cor. XV. 20.) The offering of first fruits was made to the 
 Lord on the first day of the week after the Sabbath in 
 Passover week. It was the earnest and pledge of the har- 
 vest which was then ripening. This was the type and 
 prophecy of Christ rising from the dead on the first day 
 of the week. His resurrection is the pledge of ours. 'Tf 
 the first fruits be holy, the lump is also holy." (Rom. xi. 
 16.) 
 
 33. He is called the Advocate with the Father. 'Tf a 
 man sin we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus 
 Christ the righteous." This does not refer to the repent- 
 ing sinner. But the reference is to the sins of believers. 
 These do not bring us into condemnation, but they offend 
 a loving Father and expose his children to his chastening 
 rod and to his sore displeasure. But when we repent 
 and ask forgiveness and reconcilation, Christ pleads for 
 us as our advocate and friend. "If we confess our sins, 
 he is faithful and just to forgive our sins." 
 
 34. He is also the Judge. Abraham called him 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 37 
 
 the "Judge of all the earth." This is one of the preroga- 
 tives of sonship as expounded by himself. "The Father 
 judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the 
 Son." "And hath given him authority to execute judg- 
 ment also." (John v. 22, 2.'].') The context shows that the 
 resurrection call is the call to judgment. ''Before him 
 shall be gathered all nations." (Matt. xxv. 31). "Behold 
 I come quickly ; and my reward is with me, to give to 
 every man according as his work shall be." Who shall 
 abide the day of his coming? 
 
 35. He says I am the "Resurrection." Other agents 
 are mentioned in connection with the resurrection ; but 
 he is the supreme power. He laid down his own life and 
 took it again. He raised Lazarus and the widow's son. 
 He says: "The hour is coming when all they that are in 
 their graves shall hear his voice and come forth ; they that 
 have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that 
 have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." 
 
 Perhaps there are other names and titles that ought to 
 be cited in a complete portraiture. These may suffice. 
 They are so coherent with each other, that they are unified 
 in him. The effort to explain away one or more only 
 mutilates the portrait and the person, and stultifies the 
 unbelieving critic. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 Christ's Prayers. 
 
 THE definition of prayer given in the Westminster 
 Catechism does not exactly fit Christ's prayers. 
 Sinners need to pray in the name of a mediator, and also 
 to make confession of sins and crave forgiveness. It 
 may not be amiss to give a somewhat more generic defi- 
 nition in the form of an analysis. We find in prayer, 
 invocation, adoration, confession, pleading, petition, dedi- 
 cation, thanksgiving, blessing, and intercession. These 
 elements may not all be found in every prayer, but are 
 all found in prayer, if we make any considerable induction 
 of the prayers of sinners, of saints, of angels, and of 
 Christ. 
 
 We may here inquire why Christ prayed, and whether 
 it was necessary for him to pray. There would seem 
 to be no reason why the second person in the Trinity, 
 co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, should pray. 
 Prayer is the language of a person occupying an inferior 
 and dependent position toward God, along with a sense 
 of need that he only can supply. 
 
 The Son of Man — who was God and Man in one per- 
 son — occupied an inferior position, born of a woman and 
 made under the law. He took the place of the sinner, 
 except that he was free from sin. His prayers were not 
 preceptive and exemplary, as some suppose. But they 
 grew out of the necessities of the case. As man, he was a 
 dependent creature, as much as any other man. He was 
 subject to the same infirmities as other men, except sin — 
 the same joys, the same sorrows, the same temptations, 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 39 
 
 the same need of help and strength as other men — the 
 same relations to the Holy Ghost, the same loyalty to the 
 Father in heaven. Intercession for his friends was of the 
 very essence of his mediatorial work, as well as prayer 
 for them who despitefully used him. We need hardly 
 stop to argue these patent facts. 
 
 While we propose to discuss Christ's prayers so far 
 as they are noted and recorded, we may emphasize the 
 fact that prayer was his habit, and was in no sense limited 
 to special and scenic occasions. In Luke ix. 18, we read: 
 "As he was alone praying," etc., and in Luke xi. i : "As 
 he was praying in a certain place." These are natural 
 and easy references to an evident habit of prayer; and 
 then it shall appear that he met all exigencies with prayer. 
 
 " Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 The Cliristian's native air, 
 His watchword at the gate of death 
 He enters heaven with prayer." 
 
 The poet might well have written these same words of 
 Christ. If prayer were necessary for him, how much 
 more for his people ! 
 
 His religious life and experience, until he was thirty 
 years old, is summed up in a few words. "The child 
 grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and 
 the grace of God was upon him;" "Wist ye not that I 
 must be about my Father's business?" "And Jesus in- 
 creased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God 
 and man." (Luke ii. 40, 49, 52.) There is no evidence 
 that he was different from any other pious youth, except 
 that he was "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from 
 sinners." 
 
 In a study of his prayers during his ministry, so far 
 as recorded, we find some of his utterances quoted in 
 
40 Studies in the Life of Christ, 
 
 brief ; the burden of other prayers may easily be gathered 
 from the occasion and the context, as we shall see. 
 
 I. He was praying while John was baptizing him, ac- 
 cording to Luke, perhaps in an audible tone of voice. "It 
 came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized and praying, 
 the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in 
 a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came 
 from heaven, which said : "Thou art my beloved Son ; in 
 thee I am well pleased." He evidently was praying for 
 the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and for a divine attesta- 
 tion of his mission; and he received a prompt answer. 
 (Luke iii. 21, 22.) And in Luke iv. i : "Jesus being full 
 of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by 
 the Spirit into the wilderness." There is no reference 
 here to personal holiness, for he was always perfectly 
 holy, but he here received the baptism with the Holy 
 Ghost, which he afterwards promised his disciples, and 
 which they received at Pentecost; and by which both he 
 and they received those extraordinary prophetical and 
 miraculous gifts which were necessary. Failure to recog- 
 nize this fulness of the Holy Spirit has led to mischievous 
 error. 
 
 n. He fasted and prayed in the wilderness, when he 
 was tempted of the devil, forty days. (Luke iv. i, 2.) 
 Luke does not say that he prayed, but fasting means 
 nothing without prayer. This was a gigantic and heroic 
 struggle, and he gained the victory by fasting and prayer, 
 and by the right use of the "word of God which is the 
 sword of the Spirit." This is a lesson for us in 
 temptation. 
 
 HI. He had extraordinary and protracted seasons of 
 prayer on occasions of great importance. 
 
 I. All night on the mountain. (Luke vi. 12, 13, 17, 20.) 
 The occasion was momentous, for "When it was day, he 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 41 
 
 called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose 
 twelve." "And he came down with them and stood in the 
 plain." And there was a great multitude, and he healed 
 them all, and then he spake that crisis sermon, beginning : 
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom 
 of heaven." That night of prayer was well spent, and 
 its answer echoes down the ages, working ever enlarging 
 results. 
 
 2. On one morning, "rising up a great while before 
 day," he went out into a solitary place and prayed till his 
 disciples found him. This was his preparation for his 
 first circuit of Galilee, upon which he entered that clay. 
 (Mark i. 35-39-) 
 
 3. On another occasion, "he withdrew himself into the 
 wilderness and prayed." This seemed to be his prepara- 
 tion for confronting a great company of Pharisees and 
 doctors of the law from every town in Galilee, and Judea, 
 and Jerusalem, "and the power of the Lord was present 
 to heal." (Luke v. 16, 17.) 
 
 IV. He prayed for little children. They "brought unto 
 him little children that he should put his hands on them 
 and pray." (Matt. xix. 13). Mark says: "He put his 
 hands upon them and blessed them," (x. 16.) This 
 blessing, therefore, was a prayer, and we are entitled to 
 consider other acts of blessing as prayers. Even the 
 official blessings of the Old Testament, and the apostolic 
 benedictions of the New Testament are prayers, as readily 
 appears from the very forms of invocation. This is not 
 to be confounded with the declarative blessedness of 
 Psalm xxxii. i, 2, and of the Beatitudes of Matt. v. 3-1 1. 
 
 V. So also when he blessed the five loaves and two 
 fishes and fed the five thousand. Matthew says : "he took 
 the five loaves and the two fishes in his hands, and looking 
 up to heaven, he blessed and brake and gave the loaves to 
 
42 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 his disciples, and they to the multitude." (xiv. 19.) This 
 notable miracle was wrought in answer to prayer. We 
 learn from John that he gave thanks in addition, and so 
 also says Matthew in his account of the feeding of the 
 five thousand. (John vi. 11 ; Matt. xv. 36.) 
 
 VI. From these things we may fairly conclude that the 
 blessing of the bread and the wine of the Lord's supper 
 was a prayer of thanksgiving, for Matthew and Mark 
 use both terms, "blessed" and "gave thanks." Luke and 
 Paul both say ''he gave thanks." 
 
 VIL He was praying when the Transfiguration scene 
 occurred. "He took Peter and John and James and went 
 up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the 
 fashion of his countenance was changed and his raiment 
 was white and glistening. And behold, there talked with 
 him two men, Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, 
 and spoke of his decease which he should accomplish at 
 Jerusalem," or "of his departure which he was about to 
 accomplish at Jerusalem;" (Luke ix. 28-31.) This de- 
 parture included his death, resurrection and ascension. 
 No doubt this was the subject of his prayer. Moses and 
 Elias "appeared in glory," doubtless resurrection glory, 
 sent to confer with him about it, and he was transfigured 
 into the same glory that he might "see of the travail of 
 his soul and be satisfied." This was an adumbration of 
 his glorification. John was permitted to see the consum- 
 mation in vision on Patmos. (Rev. i. 13-16.) In the 
 Transfiguration, his prayer was answered, and he was 
 strengthened and comforted. This was no mere scenic 
 and spectacular lesson to the three disciples. They were 
 to be witnesses to tell of it, but were not permitted to 
 speak of it till after the consummation. Their immediate 
 lesson was in the voice that came out of the cloud after 
 the conference was over : "This is my beloved Son ; hear 
 him." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 43 
 
 VIII. He prevailed in prayer at the grave of Lazarus. 
 (John xi. 33-42.) We are twice told that he "groaned in 
 spirit" or "groaned in himself" — not a mere sympathetic 
 grief, in which he shed tears along with his friends, but 
 it must have been the unutterable groaning of the spirit 
 in sympathetic intercession. (Comp. Rom. viii. 26.) The 
 proof of this is that when he came to the grave, and the 
 stone was taken away he "lifted up his eyes and said : 
 Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." Here we 
 may find implied intercession, petition and thanksgiving. 
 We need not recite the answer, except to note that Laza- 
 rus was raised, his friends comforted, and many believed 
 on him. 
 
 We may note these words of his thanksgiving: "Father, 
 I know that thou hearest me always." His prayers al- 
 ways prevailed, and never returned empty on his own 
 head. Why? He had the mind of the Spirit, and he 
 asked for things agreeable to God's will. Our salvation 
 depends on the prevalency of his intercession. (Heb. vii. 
 25.) He said to Peter: "I have-prayed for thee that thy 
 faith fail not." He said to Peter in the garden: "Put up 
 thy sword; thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my 
 Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve 
 legions of angels?" (Matt. xxvi. 53.) He said again: "I 
 will pray the Father and he shall send you another com- 
 forter." 
 
 IX. His last prayer with his disciples — John xvii. 1-26. 
 This is the longest and most comprehensive of his re- 
 corded prayers. It consists of three parts : 
 
 I. He prays the Father for their mutual glory — John 
 xvii. 1-8: "Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may 
 glorify thee." I have glorified thee on the earth ; I have 
 finished the work which thou gavest me to do ; and now, 
 O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the 
 
44 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 glory which I had with thee before the world was." The 
 pleas that he makes are almost pathetic, when we con- 
 sider that Gethsemane and the cross were even then 
 casting their shadows upon him. 
 
 We learn from this and other Scriptures that the glory 
 of God is the ultimate ground and reason of all things, 
 and as for man, his "chief end is to glorify God and 
 enjoy him forever." 
 
 2. He prays for his disciples who were with him — • 
 verses 9-19. He recites lovingly and loyally all that he 
 had done for them, and prays that they may be kept from 
 evil, and sanctified through the truth. He knew that the 
 ties which had been growing in strength for three years, 
 were about to be severed, and the yearnings of his heart 
 found their expression in these petitions. They realized 
 it later. 
 
 3. He prayed for all the elect — verses 20-26: "Neither 
 pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall be- 
 lieve on me through their word" — "Whom thou hast given 
 me" — For thou lovedst them before the foundation of the 
 world. 
 
 The burden of the petition is for their oneness. The 
 term unity has been so abused and made to imply a visible 
 external unity, that we prefer the term oneness. This is 
 the mystic indwelling, '^As thou. Father, art in me, and 
 I in thee, that they may be one in us." 
 
 It is also a oneness in glory: "The glory which thou 
 gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even 
 as we are one." It is also a oneness in perfection; "I in 
 them, and they in me, that they may be made perfect in 
 me." It is also a oneness in knowledge and love ; "I have 
 known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent 
 me." "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may 
 be in them, and I in them." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 45 
 
 This is the "oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace ;" 
 and ''the oneness of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
 Son of God." (Eph. iv. 3, 13.) This mystic oneness has 
 been secured to every beUever by this prayer of our Lord. 
 There is here no hint of external unity. 
 
 X. His prayer in Gethsemane. Some great, crushing 
 sorrow came upon him, and he said : "My soul is exceed- 
 ing sorrowful, even unto death." It was sufficient to 
 destroy life ; "and his sweat was as great drops of blood 
 falling down to the ground." He must have died then 
 an.d there, but "there appeared an angel from heaven, 
 strengthening him" — evidently seen by the three disciples. 
 ''This cup" must have been the anguish and agony he 
 suffered and which was about to kill him — it was, no 
 doubt, the analogue of the remorse of a sin-laden soul in 
 despair. His prayer was answered — this sorrow passed — 
 his life was spared — his body and soul were strengthened 
 for the finishing of his work on the morrow. Paul seems 
 to refer to this prayer and its answer in Heb. v. 7 : "Who 
 in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers 
 and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him 
 who was able to save him from death, and was heard in 
 that he feared." There is no other recorded experience 
 of Christ that fits this reference in Hebrews. No prayer 
 of Christ was ever unanswered; "Father I know that 
 thou hearest me always." 
 
 XL His prayers on the cross. We have a record of 
 three : 
 
 I. He prays for his crucifiers : "Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do." (Luke xxiii. 34.) Some 
 think that he prays only for the Roman soldiers who ex- 
 ecuted the cruel deed, and not for the surging, howling, 
 scoffing mob. But others say. It would seem that this 
 
46 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 prayer was answered, when three thousand at Pentecost, 
 and five thousand another day, repented and were saved. 
 
 2. His expostulation to God after three hours of dark- 
 ness: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 
 The darkness did but symboHze his suffering and despair, 
 because God had forsaken him when the sins of a lost 
 world were laid upon him. This prayer was also heard, 
 and the light of his countenance shone again in his soul. 
 
 3. His dying prayer. His work was done. He cried, 
 "It is finished." And he said, "Father, into thy hands 
 I commend my spirit." Need it be said that this prayer 
 was heard when "he bowed his head and gave up the 
 Ghost?" His first martyr, Stephen, uttered a similar peti- 
 tion addressed to him : "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." 
 (Luke xxiii. 46; Acts vii. 59, 60.) "Lay not this sin to 
 their charge." 
 
 Xn. He blessed his disciples at his ascension. Luke 
 xxiv. 50, 51 : "He led them out as far as to Bethany, and 
 he lifted up his hands and blessed them." This lifting up 
 of the hands is the posture of prayer and especially of 
 invocation, as may appear from numerous Scriptures, and 
 the blessing was a prayer, as we have already seen. "And 
 it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from 
 them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped 
 him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy ; and were 
 continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. 
 Amen." 
 
 The Lord's prayer is an invaluable prayer lesson, as 
 against the futile prayers of the Pharisees ; but Christ's 
 prayers are exhaustive prayer lessons to us. It is true, 
 here, as in all things else, that he has "left us an example 
 that we should walk in his steps." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 Christ's Controversies. 
 
 EVERY reformer excites antagonisms. Every new 
 invention lias won its way in the face of opposi- 
 tion. Every new thing must run the gauntlet of sus- 
 picious and hostile criticism. 
 
 How much more has this been true of the prophets of 
 all ages. God has sent them to a hostile people. The 
 hostility was already there, and often well organized. 
 The prophet's mission has always been aggressive and has 
 aroused opposition, which may have seemed indifference. 
 His mission has been to vindicate truth and to condemn 
 and destroy the false. He has always been raised up for 
 a special purpose, and at a necessary time, and to meet 
 a crisis — not sent to refute an abstract principle, but to 
 attack evil forces and to confute erring and sinful persons. 
 Lashed to fury by the truth, they have persecuted the 
 prophets in all ages. There was always a timeliness in 
 their coming and commission. This is not far to see as 
 we read the story of the prophets. Samuel was no acci- 
 dent in the history of his period. Elijah had a commis- 
 sion to break the yoke of Baal from the necks of Israel. 
 Isaiah and Jeremiah had crisis work to do, and they 
 aroused the bitterest antagonisms and persecutions. 
 
 Christ was no exception to the rule. "He came to his 
 own and his own received him not." The four Gospels 
 record his oppositions, antagonisms, and persecutions. 
 The Scribes and Pharisees and their followers attack him 
 and his teachings at every point, until the truth is vindi- 
 cated against all comers. It was a life-and-death struggle 
 
48 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 for the truth. His baffled enemies had nothing left but 
 to kill him in malignant hate and fury. So their fathers 
 had killed the prophets and for the same reason. Heresy 
 and falsehood has always been cruel, malignant, and 
 murderous, because sin and Satan are the inspiration of 
 it, and the Spirit of God has no fellowship with it. 
 
 It was a warfare — truth and falsehood — holiness and 
 sin — Jesus and the Jews — God and the devil — both parties 
 on the alert. It was one man against a thousand ; and 
 two against ten thousand. The odds seemed fearful as 
 men saw it. The enemy were wary and cunning and 
 skilful ; Christ was equally ready for the offensive or 
 defensive, and the rout was complete in either case. 
 
 The devil made two attacks upon him before he entered 
 upon his work. He stirred up Herod the Great to kill 
 him in tender infancy. Herod knew and believed in the 
 popular expectation of the Messianic King to be born 
 at Bethlehem, and he slaughtered the innocents, thinking 
 to defeat the sure word of prophecy in the interest of his 
 own personal and family ambitions. Within two years 
 he himself died in horrible agony of body and soul, such 
 as no others may have ever suffered, unless it was Philip 
 II. of Spain, and a few other great persecutors. After- 
 ward the devil measured strength with Christ in the 
 wilderness for forty days, and was so defeated that he 
 left him for a season. 
 
 We shall rapidly consider some of the more acute con- 
 troversies between Christ and the Jews. 
 
 I. He drove the traders from the temple. (John ii. 
 13-25.) He went from Galilee to Jerusalem to his first 
 Passover. "And he found in the temple (i. e., in the 
 temple area and in the buildings connected with the tem- 
 ple), those that sold sheep and oxen, and doves, and the 
 changers of money sitting; and when he had made a 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 49 
 
 scourge of small cords, he drove them all out, and the 
 sheep and the oxen ; and poured out the changer's money, 
 and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold 
 doves, take these things hence ; make not my Father's 
 house a house of merchandise." He repeated the same 
 thing during the last week, after he entered Jerusalem in 
 triumph, riding on the colt, and he said: "Take these 
 things hence; it is written, my house shall be called a 
 house of prayer, and you have made it a den of thieves." 
 The disciples who witnessed it remembered that it is 
 written, ''The zeal of thy house has eaten me up." This 
 was the meek and lowly Jesus. We hardly realize the 
 hardihood of the assault; the righteous indignation and 
 fury with which he drove them all out, smarting under 
 the indignant lash. Such was the majesty of his bearing 
 and the power of his truthful proclamation, that no one 
 dared resist him in their headlong flight. They had pro- 
 faned the temple with the connivance of Pharisees and 
 High Priest, who doubtless shared their iniquitous and ex- 
 tortionate gains, but they had no redress in law or equity. 
 The king was come into his temple. Some of the less 
 timid spectators came cringing with the question : "What 
 sign shewest thou us seeing thou doest these things?" 
 Like a flash came his reply : "Destroy this temple, and in 
 three days I will build it up." He pointed forward to his 
 death and resurrection as the supreme witness to his au- 
 thority. We are told that many at the feast believed on 
 him when they saw the miracles which he did. 
 
 2. On a certain day in Capernaum he challenges their 
 thoughts and vindicates his right to forgive sin. Phari- 
 sees and doctors of the law out of every town in Galilee 
 and Judea and Jerusalem were sitting by, watching him 
 in his teaching and miracle-working, apparently by a pre- 
 concerted arrangement. When the man, sick of the palsy, 
 
50 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 was let down through the roof he said : "Son, be of good 
 cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." They said in their 
 hearts : "Who is this that speaketh blasphemies ? Who 
 can forgive sins but God only?" He challenged their 
 thoughts and vindicated his equal right and power to heal 
 body and soul. "And he arose and departed to his own 
 house." That self-constituted tribunal was vanquished, 
 and the multitude glorified God. 
 
 3. Controversies about the Sabbath. These seem to 
 have been numerous. They had covered over the Sab- 
 bath with many puerilities, and practically forbade works 
 of necessity and mercy. We may note several cases : 
 
 He healed the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda on 
 the Sabbath. (John v. 1-15.) Jesus said to him, "Rise, 
 take up thy bed and walk." The Jews said to the man : 
 "It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for thee to carry 
 thy bed." Then the Jews sought to slay Jesus because he 
 had healed the man on the Sabbath. 
 
 On a Sabbath in the synagogue there came a man with 
 a withered hand, and they watched him that they might 
 find an accusation against him, and they asked him : 'Ts 
 it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" He confuted them 
 with their own usage, if a sheep fall into a pit on the 
 Sabbath, and he asked : "How much better, then, is a man 
 than a sheep?" And they were filled with madness and 
 communed with the Herodians how they might destroy 
 him. (Matt. xii. 9-14. Also Mark and Luke.) 
 
 He again 'healed a woman sorely afflicted for eighteen 
 years, and the ruler of the s^vnagogue was filled with in- 
 dignation because he healed her on the Sabbath day, and 
 gave directions to the people to come and be healed on 
 six days, but not on the Sabbath. Jesus confuted him 
 with his own custom of loosing his ox or his ass and 
 leading him to water. (Luke xiii. 11-16.) 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 51 
 
 On another Sabbath, Christ and his disciples were 
 passing along, probably on their way to the synagogue, 
 for there were Pharisees in the company. They plucked 
 the ripe corn by the wayside to satisfy their hunger, a 
 thing allowed by Moses. (Duet, xxiii. 25.) The Phari- 
 sees said it was not lawful to do this on the Sabbath. 
 Their glosses made it both reaping and threshing. He 
 confuted them by citing David's eating the shew-bread, 
 and the work of the priest at the altar on the Sabbath 
 which they justified. He claimed the right to expound the 
 Sabbath both by precept and example, because he was 
 Lord of the Sabbath ; he made it for man, and not man 
 for it, and therefore had put upon it the law of mercy and 
 not sacrifice. 
 
 4. His arraignment of Pharisaic traditions. This is 
 done in the most sweeping and comprehensive way in the 
 Sermon on the Mount. He discusses Phariseeism nndcr 
 four heads — Literalism, Formalism, Covetousness, and 
 C^nsoriousness. He sets up the true standard of morals, 
 doctrine, and practice, as found in the Old Testament 
 law, as against Pharisaic glosses and interpretations, 
 which made void the law and rendered it of none effect. 
 His challenge is in Matt. v. 20 : "Except your righteous- 
 ness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven !" The full discussion of this is found in another 
 little volume by the author. 
 
 5. Christ had a running controversy with Pharisaic tra- 
 ditions during his entire ministry. It was liable to break 
 out any time, for they sat in Moses' seat and taught their 
 traditions in his name. Their doctrines of marriage, di- 
 vorce, filial obligation, baptism, ceremonial purifications, 
 sinful defilements, self-righteousness, social and civil 
 caste, and so on, were all so vicious, and so prominent in 
 
52 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 their teaching and practice that antagonisms and con- 
 troversies were the constant and inevitable result. Christ 
 struck the root of the evil when he said : "Ye are of your 
 father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. 
 He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in 
 the truth, for there is no truth in him." ''Because I tell 
 you the truth ye believe me not." (John viii. 44, 45.) 
 
 6. They said : "He casteth out devils through Beel- 
 zebub, the prince of devils." They could not dispute his 
 pofwer over devils, but ascribed it to Satanic agency. His 
 retort was scathing: "If I, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, 
 by whom do your children cast them out?" Jewish ex- 
 orcists pretending to cast out devils were notorious im- 
 postors, and they judged Christ by them. After con- 
 futing their charge by apt parables, he lays to their charge 
 the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Ghost, in 
 that they ascribed his mighty works to the Father of lies. 
 (Matt. xii. 24-32.) 
 
 7. They deride him for his relations to publicans and 
 sinners. A woman — a penitent sinner — washed his feet 
 with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, 
 and they blamed him for it. He defended her manifes- 
 tation of gratitude. She loved much, for she had been 
 forgiven much. 
 
 When he ate with publicans and sinners they murmured 
 at him. But he justified his course with three parables: 
 The Hundred Sheep, The Ten Pieces of Silver, and The 
 Prodigal Son, 
 
 8. The last week fairly bristles with controversies and 
 antagonisms. It almost seems that it was his deliberate 
 purpose to drive them to fury with the truth about them- 
 selves. He silenced successively Pharisees, Sadducees, 
 Herodians, Scribes, and Lawyers, and then denounced 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 53 
 
 woes against them on eight different counts. They retired 
 from his denunciations to compass his death by treachery. 
 Conckision. We are so accustomed to look at the love 
 of Christ and his meekness and gentleness in the hands of 
 his enemies, that we often overlook the heroic side of his 
 life, his sturdy manhood, his staunch advocacy of truth, 
 and his fearless rebuke of falsehood and sin. He had a 
 mission — to overcome evil, to restrain and conquer all his 
 and our enemies. He stood in the very forefront of the 
 battle. He faced every foe and conquered every enemy. 
 Death and hell, men and devils are vanquished foes. He 
 is still the captain of our salvation, made perfect through 
 suffering. His strong right arm strikes down our 
 enemies. We read of the "Wrath of the Lamb." When 
 the great day of his wrath is come, who shall be able to 
 stand? (Rev. vi. 16, 17.) 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 Parables. 
 
 THERE are in the Scriptures three classes of stories 
 used for didactic purposes — Parables, Fables, and 
 Allegories. These all are often called parables, but it 
 would seem best to distinguish them according to the defi- 
 nitions of the older rhetoricians, thus : 
 
 1. The fable is a story, in which animals and inanimate 
 things are represented as speaking and acting like rational, 
 speaking men ; and the story is told for its lesson or 
 moral, which may usually be summed up in a single brief 
 sentence. The story is fictitious, and impossible of a 
 literal realization. There are a few fables in the Old 
 Testament. Jotham's fable of the trees seeking a king 
 over them, (Judges ix. 8-15), is the oldest fable extant, 
 and is as apt as any made since. Joash's fable of the 
 thistle proposing to marry the daughter of the cedar of 
 Lebanon is equally pertinent, though grotesque, ^sop's 
 fables transmit to us much of the wit and wisdom of the 
 ages. The fable is adapted to wit, both serious and 
 ludicrous, and also grotesque, and is better suited to teach 
 the lower forms of truth in every-day life, rather than 
 the higher forms of intellectual and spiritual truth. 
 
 2. The allegory is a fictitious story, in which the narra- 
 tor tells a literal story, in which an entirely different story 
 is meant, and there is enough verisimilitude in the one 
 to suggest the other. The literal story need not be in all 
 points true to nature as in the fable and parable, and may 
 be, in some points, impossible, but the story intended is 
 some truth to be exemplified and elucidated. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 55 
 
 Nathan's reproof of David, (2 Samuel xii. 1-4), and 
 the cunning story of the wise woman of Tekoah, (2 Sam. 
 xiv. 4-7), are allegories. Nebuchadnezzar's dreams were 
 allegories ; and this form of teaching was not uncommon 
 among the prophets, and sometimes occurs in the New 
 Testament. 
 
 3. The parable is a story told for illustration by com- 
 parison. It always starts with a personal agent or actor, 
 and, though usually fictitious, it must be true to nature 
 in all its details, and possible of realization. The word 
 inashal in Hebrew means primarily a similitude, but is 
 translated both "parable" and "proverb." A proverb is 
 the moral or lesson of a story expressed in terse and 
 aphoristic form, easy to be remembered. The parable 
 and the proverb are so logically related that we may 
 start with the parable and discover the proverb, or we 
 may start with the proverb and construct a parable that 
 teaches it. 
 
 Christ's parables are so numerous and varied that we 
 need to give especial attention to the principles of their 
 interpretation. They are stories told for illustration — 
 e. g., Matthew xiii. 31, 33, 47: "The kingdom of 
 heaven is like a grain of mustard seed" — "Is like unto 
 leaven" — 'Ts like unto a net" — also in Matthew xviii. 23 ; 
 Matthew xx. i : 'Ts likened unto a certain king" — "Is 
 like unto a man that is an householder," This formula 
 is not always used, but the comparison is always implied. 
 Indeed, this is the meaning of the Greek word parabole — 
 something put alongside for comparison. 
 
 In argument, the parable illustrates — "throws light 
 on" — by means of the obvious similitude, and makes the 
 apprehension of the truth more easy. It also has the 
 force of an argument from analogy, which is not a mere 
 likeness, but is an identity of relations, quoad hoc. While 
 
56 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 this form of argument is perhaps the most common and 
 the most satisfactory in its results, it is Hable to abuse 
 and is dangerous, because of false analogies, mistaken 
 identities, and careless conceits, and fancied similitudes, 
 which must needs lead astray. So taught Solomon, 
 (Prov. xxvi. 7) : "The legs of the lame are not equal; 
 so is a parable in the mouth of fools." This fact is 
 emphasized by Christ in Mark iv. ii, 12: "Unto you it 
 is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; 
 but to them that are without all these things are done in 
 parables : that seeing they may see and not perceive ; and 
 hearing they may hear and not understand ; lest at any 
 time they may be converted and I should heal them." So 
 also in Matthew xiii. 10-16. 
 
 This danger and abuse of the parable is not the fault 
 of the teacher, but of the hearer. His folly and sin make 
 the parable dangerous. (Prov. xxvi. 7.) Compare John 
 viii. 45 : "Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not ;" 
 verse 44 : "Ye are of your father the devil and the works 
 of your father ye will do." Isaiah denounced this per- 
 verseness as judicial blindness. (John xii. 37-41.) Paul 
 gives the ground and scope of the judicial blindness in 
 2 Thess, ii. 10-12: "Because they received not the love of 
 the truth that they might be saved; even for this cause 
 God shall send them strong delusion that they should 
 believe a lie ; that they all might be damned who believed 
 not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 
 
 There are, however, sound principles of interpretation 
 of parables, which may be easily recognized. The true 
 lesson of the parable is its moral, or application. This 
 is the real point of likeness, the true analogy, and the 
 actual point of the comparison. This is implied in the 
 very act of comparison. In what does the likeness con- 
 sist, is the only question. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 57 
 
 The moral or point of the parable is often stated ; e. g., 
 "The laborers in the vineyard." The moral is stated 
 (Matt. xix. 30) in aphoristic form: "Many that are first 
 shall be last; and the last shall be first." "For the king- 
 dom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder," 
 etc. (Matt. XX.) ; and it is repeated and amplified at 
 the close of the parable (Matt xx. 16) : "So the last shall 
 be first, and the first last ; for many be called, but 
 few chosen." 
 
 The point or moral is sometimes to be gathered from 
 the surroundings and from the occasion, or, as we say, 
 from the conext; e. g., Luke xv. i, 2. The Pharisees 
 and scribes murmured because Christ received sinners 
 and ate with them. Then he spake the parable of the 
 lost sheep and others. 
 
 Sometimes the point or moral is self-evident, and needs 
 no expHcation; e. g., Matthew xiii. 31, 33: "The grain of 
 mustard seed ;" "The leaven a woman hid in the meal." 
 
 Some parables are compound, with one general and 
 several specific morals. For example, the parable of the 
 sower, (Mark iv. 3-20), of which the general lesson is: 
 "He that hath ears to hear let him hear," (verse 9), and 
 it is repeated in verse 23 ; and in verse 24 we find the 
 lesson: "Take heed what ye hear;" and in Luke viii. 18, 
 "Take heed how ye hear." These are three several 
 statements of the general lesson of the entire parable. 
 Besides this, the parable has four sections, and the lesson 
 of each argues and reinforces the general lesson of the 
 whole. 
 
 A few of the parables are allegorical. The parable of 
 the sower, just considered, is largely allegorical. The 
 parable of the tares of the field is distinctly so; (Matt, 
 xiii. 24-30, 38-43). Christ expounds both of these and 
 guards them against the dangerous tendency to an ex- 
 
58 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 cessive allegorizing in our interpretation of these and 
 other Scriptures. Such parables are not to be considered 
 pure allegories. 
 
 Some parables, so-called, such as 'The vine and the 
 husbandman," (John xv. i-8), are not proper parables, 
 but rather sustained and elaborated figures of speech, 
 based on genuine and instructive analogies. The 23rd 
 Psalm is a similar expansion of the shepherd and his 
 sheep. Christ takes up the same figure and unfolds it 
 along different lines : "I am the good shepherd ; the good 
 shepherd giveth his Hfe for the sheep." (John x. 11.) 
 These, and similar passages, are beautiful and instruc- 
 tive beyond expression, but ought hardly to be considered 
 parables. They are not stories told for illustration, but 
 they might easily be thrown into parabolic form. 
 
 Some parables are presumably histories, but not neces- 
 sarily so, e. g., the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. 
 (Luke xvi. 19-31.) So also the parable of the prodigal 
 son, (Luke xv. 11-32) ; so also the parable of the wicked 
 husbandmen, (Luke xx. 9-18) ; and others. In fact, as 
 already said, all parables must be true to nature and 
 possible of realization. 
 
 We have seen that every parable has its specific lesson, 
 or moral, or basic principle. Now, it is important to em- 
 phasize this principle of interpretation ; only the point 
 or moral of a parable may be used for doctrine, that is, 
 to set up and prove any dogma, doctrine, or truth. The 
 drapery of a parable may not be so used. Mistake here 
 may lead, and has led, to the most serious errors. In the 
 parable of the laborers in the vineyard, it is said, they all 
 received a penny, whether they wrought little or much. 
 From this it has been argued that the rewards in heaven 
 shall be the same for all. This certainly contradicts the 
 teaching of other Scriptures. It is argued also, that the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 59 
 
 eleventh hour men are not to be blamed for standing all 
 the day idle, because "no man had hired them," and so 
 on. If the drapery of the parable may be used for doc- 
 trine, then every man will find doctrines such as suit him, 
 and there w^ill be no limit to his conceits. Devout allegor- 
 izing has been the bane of a sound exegesis in all ages, 
 and the parables of Christ have been wrested to support 
 the vagaries of heretics, mystics, and fanatics in every 
 generation, and especially in our day. 
 
 But, is the drapery of a parable of no value for didactic 
 purposes? Yes, often of great value, to illustrate doc- 
 trines taught elsewhere in the Scriptures; but we are 
 limited in such use of the drapery, by the analogy of 
 Scripture. The drapery may also be used to illustrate 
 any fact or truth we may have gotten from observation 
 or experience. In the parable of the prodigal son, it is 
 said : "Not many days after the younger son gathered 
 all together and took his journey into a far country, and 
 there wasted his substance in riotous living." This may 
 be used to illustrate how rapidly young men sometimes 
 rush to ruin when they cut loose from home and its 
 restraints under the mad impulses of selfishness and lust. 
 
 Not only the drapery of parables may be used in this 
 way to illustrate truth otherwise established, but all his- 
 tory and its drapery, all the facts of science, all God's 
 handiwork in nature, and all the best products of poetry 
 and fiction may be used in the same way. 
 
 But what check have we against the abuse of parables, 
 and what further guide have we in finding the right 
 interpretation of parables? A great safeguard is found 
 in the fact that Christ gives companion parables in so 
 many cases — sometimes doublets, sometimes triplets, 
 sometimes quartettes. 
 
 In Matt. xiii. 31, 33, we have two companion parables, 
 
6o Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 illustrating the same truth, but with dififerent drapery. 
 In the fifteenth chapter of Luke we have three parables 
 illustrating the same truth. The stories differ widely in 
 their plot, and in the unfolding of the details, but we 
 easily trace a common lesson. In Luke v, 33-39, we find 
 a quartette, four parables, all short, and very unlike in 
 details. These companion parables serve to point out 
 the true lesson and to check false interpretations in this 
 way; the companion parables cross each other like inter- 
 secting lines which have one point in common, and but 
 one. That point in common is the analogy sought, the 
 true similitude, and may be discovered by simple inspec- 
 tion. This common point is the lesson of each, and the 
 only moral of each parable; all the rest is drapery. In 
 the parables of the leaven and the mustard seed, to which 
 the kingdom of heaven is likened, we discover the prin- 
 ciple of life and growth in both parables, nothing more, 
 nothing less. In the quartette of parables just cited, we 
 find that Christ is questioned about the fasting of John 
 and of the Pharisees, while his disciples ate and drank. 
 He replies by four parables, the one common lesson of 
 which is "there is a fitness in things," and with this 
 homely \vord, with this obvious principle, he justifies the 
 fasting of John's disciples, condemns the fasting of the 
 Pharisees, defends the conduct of his own disciples, and 
 clarifies the whole doctrine and usage of fasting for all 
 time. 
 
 Many will consider these views narrow and cramping, 
 and so they ought to be, as against the licentious use of 
 the marvelous teaching of Christ by parables. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Miracles. 
 
 THE supernatural is the general name for all re- 
 vealed manifestations of divine operations, 
 whether in the physical or moral world. The natural is 
 the general name for all the operations of second causes 
 in the material and moral universe, so far, at least, as they 
 come within our observation and experience. 
 
 There are five modes or manifestations of the super- 
 natural, which exhaust all that is revealed in the Scrip- 
 tures — Creation, Providence, Inspiration, Miracle and 
 Redemption. We propose to discuss only the miracle in 
 this chapter. 
 
 Miracles are called by several other names in the Scrip- 
 tures : "Signs," "wonders," "mighty works," the "finger 
 of God," the "works of the father," "spiritual gifts," the 
 "Holy Ghost," etc. These numerous names furnish such 
 a definition of the miracle that the plainest mind can ap- 
 prehend its true significance, and make it so simple, that 
 a scientific or logical definition sometimes seems difficult. 
 Its claim to be supernatural is universally understood, 
 even by those who dispute such claim. It is conceded also 
 that the Scriptures claim a supernatural origin for the 
 miracle, and the only way to minimize the miracle is to 
 minimize the intelligence and authority of the witnesses 
 who have recorded them. This discussion, however, 
 assumes the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures and 
 the truthfulness of the witnesses to the miracle and to all 
 else in the book. This chapter only proposes to make a 
 
62 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 study of the miracle as set forth in the Scriptures, and to 
 differentiate it from God's other works, as already named, 
 and as constituting other modes of the supernatural. 
 
 It is important, at the outset, to define the relation of 
 the miracle to nature's laws, and also to creature agency. 
 Some define it as a violation of nature's laws — a defini- 
 tion obviously unfortunate, because the same God who set 
 up nature and its laws and upholds them all by his power, 
 is also the author of the miracle. Some have defined it 
 as supra-natural — a term that it would be hard to dis- 
 tinguish from supernatural ; and it is also hard to see 
 why Providence, and the redemptive processes are not 
 equally supranatural and miraculous ; and, as a matter of 
 fact, the advocates of this definition do extend the term 
 miracle so as to include the others, and especially the re- 
 demptive processes. 
 
 The creature agent, who is, by courtesy, said to work 
 the miracle, has no such power. He only announces the 
 miracle, but God works it, and he only. Elijah, in calling 
 down fire from heaven, only announced and declared the 
 miracle. Moses' rod stretched over the sea, had no power 
 to open the road through its waters; and Moses com- 
 mitted a great sin when he smote the rock at Meribah, 
 and cried : "Ye rebels, shall we fetch water out of this 
 rock?" The true miracle-worker was, in every case, 
 divine. The result was always something that could 
 have never taken place in God's ordinary providence, 
 which works always through second causes, and the wit- 
 nesses recognized the presence of a new cause or agency. 
 This is not a mere reasoning from a strange and wonder- 
 ful event back to a cause, which ignorant and supersti- 
 tious people have done in all ages ; but the cause and the 
 result were announced and declared beforehand, and the 
 miracle must needs be accepted as evidence of the pres- 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 63 
 
 ence of God working such a result, and that for a suffi- 
 cient reason. 
 
 We believe in the uniformity of nature's laws, or rath- 
 er we believe that the same causes under the same condi- 
 tions always produce the same effects. In the laboratory 
 or in every day life, a new cause introduced, wittingly or 
 unwittingly, always modifies the result. In the miracle, 
 God intervened as a competent cause, or agent to produce 
 any result that he might please, and for such purpose as 
 he might declare. 
 
 The miracle was wrought primarily and mainly for 
 confirmation, and may be called a prophet's testimonials. 
 A prophet claims to be a spokesman for God. His testi- 
 monials were miracles of power or of knowledge. 
 Miracles of power had precedence of miracles of knowl- 
 edge, in time certainly. When the prophet spoke for 
 God, and the miracle was wrought for confirmation, there 
 was God on the witness stand with the prophet, speaking 
 through the miracle, and testifying to the messenger and 
 his message. This is the simplest possible statement of 
 the Bible doctrine of the miracle, its nature and use. 
 
 Christ so understood it, and so represents it. Matt. xi. 
 20-24: "Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! For if the mighty 
 works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre 
 and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sack- 
 cloth and ashes," etc. John v. 36, 37 : "But I have greater 
 witness than John: for the works that the Father hath 
 given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness 
 of me, that the Father hath sent me," etc. John x. 37, 
 38 : "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 
 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works," 
 etc. John xiv. 10-12: "The Father that dwelleth in me, 
 he doeth the works." "Believe me for the very work's 
 sake," etc. 
 
64 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 The Scriptures so represent it from the very earliest 
 recorded miracles. The Lord at Horeb gave Moses three 
 signs to confirm his own faith, by working which he was 
 also to confirm his mission and his message to his own 
 people. And when Pharaoh rejected these same signs in 
 the interest of his own gods, which claimed precedence of 
 Jehovah, the Lord wrought "wonders in the land of 
 Zoan/' until the gods of Egypt were all overthrown, and 
 their arrogant hierarchy was utterly destroyed in the 
 death of the first-born in every house. Before crossing 
 the sea, Moses said : "Stand still and see the salvation of 
 God." At Mount Sinai, the fire, the smoke, the thunder- 
 ings, the lightnings, and the quaking mountain attested 
 the presence of the Lord on the mountain, and attested 
 the ten words he spake, and confirmed forever the claims 
 of Moses as his great prophet. And so we might traverse 
 the Old Testament Scriptures in confirmation of this 
 view. 
 
 The Jews of Christ's day so understood it. John iii. 
 I, 2, Nicodemus said : "Rabbi, we know that thou art a 
 teacher come from God : for no man can do these miracles 
 that thou doest, except God be with him." John xi. 45, 
 47, 48, at the raising of Lazarus: "Many of the Jews 
 which came to Mary, and had seen the things which 
 Jesus did, believed on him." The chief priests and Phari- 
 sees held a council about it and said : "What do we ? for 
 this man doeth many miracles. If we let him alone, all 
 men will believe on him," John xii. 10, 11. They even con- 
 sulted to put Lazarus to death in order to get rid of the 
 evidential power of that miracle. John ix. 30-33 : The 
 blind man restored to sight challenged the unbelief of 
 the Pharisees in clarion tones: "Since the world began, 
 was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of any 
 one that was born blind. If this man were not of God 
 he could do nothing." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 65 
 
 The miracles of Christ, and of his apostles, and others 
 after him, were numerous and varied for obvious reasons. 
 They were open for inspection and criticism. They could 
 not deny that he healed the impotent man, but they criti- 
 cised him for doing it on the Sabbath. They could not 
 deny that he cast out devils, but with a self-stultifying 
 criticism, they said he did it through "Beelzebub, the 
 prince of devils." There was no place to charge him 
 with being a cheat and impostor, juggling with the ig- 
 norance of a few superstitious witnesses with obscure 
 tricks of legerdermain and sleight-of-hand performances. 
 His power brought the dead to life ; he quelled the storm 
 and the sea at a word ; he healed all manner of diseases, 
 which ran through the whole gamut of human suffering 
 anH woe ; and he crowned it all at last with his own resur- 
 rection. Impostors in all ages have wrought lying 
 wonders to sustain their claims, from Jannes and 
 Jambres, who withstood Moses in Egypt, to Elymas, 
 the sorcerer, and on down to the annual liquefaction of 
 St. Januarius' blood at Rome, or the pretended healings 
 at the shrine of "My Lady at Lourdes." But we need 
 not compare Christ's miracles with theirs, much less with 
 the delusive miracles of mind cure. Christian science, and 
 faith cure amongst us ; which three profess to do sub- 
 stantially the same miracles of healing, but by means 
 contradictory and wholly irreconcilable. May we not 
 quote of them all 2 Thess. ii. 9: "Whose coming is after 
 the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying 
 wonders ?" 
 
 Miracles illustrate the divine character, and the same 
 may be said of his works of creation and providence. 
 Psalm xix. i : "The heavens declare the glory of God and 
 the firmament sheweth his handy-work." Acts xiv. 17: 
 "He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, 
 
66 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling 
 our hearts with food and gladness." The miracles are 
 worthy of our careful study, because they do embody and 
 reflect the divine attributes in great glory. The miracles 
 recorded in the Bible are always worthy of Mm; there 
 is nothing puerile, or fanciful, nothing at all like the 
 foolish and superstitious conceits and fabrications of 
 designing impostors, or ignorant fanatics. God's works, 
 whether great or small, are all worthy of him, and his 
 miracles are all wisely adapted to the conditions which 
 called them forth at his hand ; and they fill us with never- 
 ending admiration, as they show forth his "Being, wis- 
 dom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." 
 
 In Christ's miracles we realize his personality as per- 
 haps nowhere else — "the brightness of his glory, and 
 the express image of his person." (Heb. i. 2.) "The 
 image of the invisible God." (Col. i. 15). "In him dwell- 
 eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. ii. 9.) 
 
 It is maintained by some that miracles are mainly di- 
 dactic in their purpose, and may be called "Parables in 
 Action," and are to be expounded like parables ; or, to 
 state it differently, that every miracle is intended to teach 
 some great spiritual truth, and that the processes of the 
 miracles are the reflex and expression of spiritual pro- 
 cesses. Those who hold this view are in danger of 
 minimizing and even overlooking the primary evidential 
 character of the miracle. Besides this, they do certainly 
 fall into methods of interpretation, which are not legiti- 
 mate even for parables, if the theory set forth in the last 
 chapter be true. 
 
 There are certain transactions in the Scriptures which 
 are sometimes called parables in action. They are prop- 
 erly complex symbolisms, which are always explained. 
 The symbolism arrests the attention and gives vividness 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 67 
 
 to the explanation given. The prophet Abijah met 
 Jeroboam (i Kings xi. 29-36), and he rent his own new 
 garment into twelve pieces and gave ten of them to Jero- 
 boam, and the same time expounding the symbolism. In 
 the prophets are found similar symbolisms, notably the 
 yokes of wood and iron of Jeremiah, and the explanation 
 was always given by the prophet. Now, there is no hint 
 of any such symbolism in the miracles of Christ, and no 
 explanation of such symbolism is ever given. 
 
 The same rules may be laid down for interpreting the 
 incidents and drapery of the miracle as for the parable. 
 They cannot be used to set up doctrine, but may be used 
 cautiously to illustrate truth otherwise conceded and 
 established ; and all attempts to use them so must be 
 limited by the analogy of Scripture. 
 
 As a matter of fact, however, the best expositors who 
 attempt to parallel miracles and gracious spiritual opera- 
 tions, find it necessary to point out contrasts as well as 
 likenesses in the parallel, in order to escape absurdities of 
 doctrine. In doing this, they logically surrender the 
 theory. 
 
 It is legitimate to study these works of God as ex- 
 pressing his character and his perfections, as already 
 indicated, and it is legitimate to illustrate any truth by 
 the incidents and drapery of the miracles, just as in the 
 case of the parables ; and if this is all that is meant by 
 these expositors, then it has always been done, and ought 
 always to be done without the doubtful nomenclature of 
 "Parables in action." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 Typology. 
 
 THERE is a strong disposition to degrade the types 
 of the Old Testament Scriptures to mere symbols 
 and visible figures or signs, used to teach some spiritual 
 truth ; and in some cases to mere memorials analogous 
 to the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper; or to signs 
 like the water in Christian baptism. Such interpreters do 
 thereby minimize the supernatural, both miracle and 
 prophecy. They eliminate the prophetic element in the 
 type just as they minimize, if they do not deny, the literal 
 predictive element in written prophecy. They are, at 
 least, consistent, but they are very far from the tradi- 
 tional and the Bible view. A proper definition of types 
 can be gotten only by a study of them in the light of the 
 entire Scriptures. The word type is the English form 
 of the Greek tupos, which means, primarily, a blow. The 
 anti-type, anti-tupos, is the result of the blow. The type 
 and the anti-type correspond as the die and its imprint, 
 or as the die and the casting. The ancient type was a 
 piece of metal with some character or figure upon it, and 
 a similar figure was made upon something else — metal, 
 wood, or clay — by a blow or some form of pressure, ex- 
 actly as it is done to-day. The name type, transferred 
 to ordinances of religion as found in the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, is so used because of correspondences similar 
 to those of material types and anti-types which suggest 
 such usage of the terms. 
 We are now prepared for a definition of these terms in 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 69 ~ 
 
 their religious usage. By analysis, we find three elements 
 in a type: 
 
 1. It had a distinct present use and value when insti- 
 tuted or whenever repeated. We may illustrate this by 
 the Passover. The sprinkled blood of the lamb on the 
 door posts of the Hebrews in Egypt saved the lives of 
 their first-born, because the angel passed over the houses 
 when he saw the blood. The present use and value was 
 obvious. And when the Passover was repeated in after 
 years, it was a memorial of the transaction in Egypt, and 
 also a sacramental pledge of the divine care and 
 protection. 
 
 2. The type also foreshadowed and set forth some- 
 thing in the future of far more value than the literal 
 type, and was, therefore, distinctly prophetic of that 
 future thing. The lamb slain and the sprinkled blood 
 set forth Christ slain and his blood sprinkled, and the 
 safety of his people when the destroying angel passes by. 
 I Cor. V. 7, 8: "Purge out therefore, the old leaven, that 
 ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even 
 Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us : therefore let us 
 keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the 
 leaven of malice and wickedness ; but with the unleav- 
 ened bread of sincerity and truth." Here we quote the 
 likeness of the type and anti-type in minute detail. The 
 type was prophecy. 
 
 3. The third feature of the type is this : Its present 
 use, efficacy, or value, was derived from its future signi- 
 ficance. The anti-type was the embodiment of the type, 
 and the thing signified gave value to the sign. 
 
 Illustrate again from the Passover. The literal blood 
 of the lamb had no real virtue, nor protecting power in it. 
 The real protection was in their covenant relations with 
 him who should redeem them with his own blood. His 
 blood only was the true blood of sprinkling. 
 
70 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 We are now prepared to state our definition in a single 
 proposition. A type was something that had a present 
 use and meaning of its own, while pointing to and setting 
 forth something future, from which its present value 
 was derived. 
 
 The ceremonial usages of the earliest ages, afterwards 
 embodied in the law of Moses, were typical of Christ. He 
 fulfilled them all. Col. ii. i6, 17: "Let no man judge 
 you in meat, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new 
 moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of 
 things to come, but the body is Christ.." Heb. x. 1-14: 
 "The law having a shadow of things to come," etc. 
 (Verse i.) This is the ceremonial law as indicated by the 
 context which refers to sacrifices and offerings made by 
 priests. This law was the shadow of things to come and 
 pointed to Christ, who (verse 14) "by one offering per- 
 fected them that are sanctified." 
 
 This law was the Gospel in elaborate object lessons, 
 constantly enacted and re-enacted, and expounded by in- 
 spired patriarch, priest, and prophet. When this was 
 waxing old the volume of written prophecy was rapidly 
 expanded. In the book of Hebrews is set forth the fulfil- 
 ment of it all in its more obvious details. We do not 
 understand that Paul set up any new significance to these 
 types, but rather that he cited their known and accepted 
 meaning in order to set up the claims of Christ and the 
 Gospel which fulfilled them all. 
 
 It is difficult to give an exhaustive classification of the 
 types of the Old Testament, nor is it necessary. But the 
 following classification may suffice for the purpose of 
 vindicating the definition reached, and may also enable 
 us to set forth in one bird's eye view the fulfilment of all 
 in the Gospel. 
 
 I. Personal types. Christ fills the offices of prophet. 
 
' Studies in the Life of Christ. 71 
 
 priest, and king, and we may expect to find each of these 
 ofifices set forth in personal types. 
 
 1. Moses, and every prophet after him, was a type of 
 Christ. Moses says, (Duet, xviii. 15, 18, 19) : "The 
 Lord, thy God, shah raise up unto thee a prophet from the 
 midst of thee hke unto me; unto him shall ye hearken." 
 We learn from verses 18-22, that every true prophet was 
 of the same order and authority as Moses ; and we learn 
 also from Acts iii. 22, 23, and also from Acts vii. 52, that 
 Christ was the true prophet to be raised up like unto 
 Moses and all the rest, and they all were types of him. 
 Christ was the revealer in all the ages, and every prophet 
 represented him and derived his authority from him. 
 
 2. Melchizedek, and every other priest in every true 
 hierarchy was a type of Christ. Melchizedek evidently 
 belonged to a hierarchy older than the Aaronic priest- 
 hood, and superior to it, as Paul plainly shows in Heb. 
 vii. 1-17, and was, therefore, a type of Christ. Every 
 priest appointed of God from among men was a mediator 
 between God and man, to offer gifts and sacrifices, make 
 intercessions, and have compassion on the ignorant. 
 Compare Heb. v. i, 2. Christ was the true priest, the 
 one mediator between God and man ; the true intercessor, 
 having compassion and superseding all other priests who 
 represented him till he should come, and who derived all 
 their authority from him. Compare Heb. iv. 14-16; v. 
 4-6; vii. 24-28. 
 
 3. David was a type of the true king. It is a mistake 
 to suppose that a king was no part of the original plan 
 for the government of God's ancient people. The theo- 
 cratic covenant at Sinai made the government regal, with 
 the full consent and choice of the people expressed in a 
 constitutional way, and the Lord — Jehovah — was the 
 head of the civil commonwealth, as well as of their eccles- 
 
'J2. Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 iastical system. And the chief ruler, whether judge, or 
 king, was the divinely authorized viceroy of the true 
 king. Now Moses, in Deut. xvii. 14-20, provides for a 
 king, and sets forth his qualifications and his duties — 
 really a constitution for the kingdom. And when they 
 demanded a king, it was necessary to rebuke and punish 
 the spirit in which they did it by the utter failure of their 
 first king; but the next king was chosen of God to be the 
 highest earthly type of the true king. 
 
 In Psalm Ixxxix. 20-29, we find a wonderful covenant, 
 full of promises, made to David and his seed, promises 
 which culminated in his son's eternal kingdom. This 
 is because David is a type of the true king, Christ Jesus. 
 Isaiah evidently refers to this in chapter Iv. 3, 4: ''I will 
 make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure 
 mercies of David." "Behold, I have given him for a 
 witness to the people, a leader and commander to the 
 people." Who is this David? It is Christ. These chap- 
 ters in Isaiah are Messianic, beyond question. The prom- 
 ised Messianic king is called David again and again by 
 the prophets. Jeremiah xxx. 9 : "They shall serve the 
 Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will rais& 
 up to them." Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24: "I will set one shep- 
 herd over them, even my servant David." "My servant 
 David shall be a prince among them." So also in 
 Hosea iii. 5. 
 
 II. Sacrificial Types. Under this head are included 
 all offerings made upon the altar by the priest. The lamb 
 without blemish was brought to the altar ; confession of 
 sin was made with hands laid upon its head ; its blood 
 was shed in place of the sinner's blood ; the lamb died, 
 the sinner lived; the blood was sprinkled on the altar, or 
 before the Lord, or on the sinner ; certain parts were 
 consumed on the altar with fire from heaven ; the re- 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 73 
 
 mainder was to be eaten by the priests, or by the officer. 
 All these steps were but types of the Gospel and its salva- 
 tion. Christ is the lamb without blemish; our sins are 
 laid on him ; his blood cleanses from all sin ; he died that 
 the sinner might live. "It was not possible that the blood 
 of bulls and goats should take away sins." (Heb. x. 4.) 
 "By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are 
 sanctified." 
 
 III. Tabernacle Types. These were continued in the 
 temple and its furniture. It will suffice to recount the 
 more obvious of these. The tabernacle was the Royal 
 Pavilion, and the temple was the palace of the Great 
 King. The Holy of Holies was a type of the heavenly 
 tabernacle into which Christ should enter with his own 
 blood, and with incense also, making atonement and inter- 
 cession for his people. The veil, the mercy seat, the 
 cherubim s, the shew bread, the golden candlestick were 
 evidently types. And many other things in the royal 
 pantomime worship of the sanctuary were types either in 
 themselves or by reason of their necessary connection 
 with actual types. This is the more apparent from the 
 elaborate visions of Ezekiel and his lessons therefrom. 
 
 IV. Special Types. There were a number of isolated 
 transactions which are certainly typical, but belong to no 
 group like those already enumerated. The Passover is 
 in this respect, unique. It stands disconnected with 
 others. The offering of first fruits on the day after the 
 Sabbath during the Passover is also unique, and it sets 
 forth the resurrection of Christ, who is the "first fruits 
 of them that slept." The brazen serpent was also a type 
 of Christ, as elaborate as the Passover in its symbolism. 
 Compare John iii. 14, 15; viii. 28; xii. 32; xix. 18. 
 
 The manna is another one of those special types, and 
 it is beautifully expounded by Christ himself in John vi. 
 
74 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 30-35: "I am the true bread that came down from 
 heaven." The scape goat on the Great Day of Atonement 
 is another special type. (Lev. xvi. 6-22.) The High Priest 
 laid his hands on the head of the goat, confessing the 
 sins of the people, and the goat was led away into the 
 wilderness, and turned loose to bear their sins away into 
 forgetfulness. The parallel is obvious, familiar and com- 
 forting. 
 
 V. Historic types. There is a wonderful parallel between 
 the history of God's chosen people of old, and the un- 
 folding of the Gospel and the setting up of Christ's king- 
 dom. Some of these types are familiar and obvious, such 
 as the bondage in Egypt, the deliverance, the promised 
 Canaan, the cities of refuge, the Prophet Jonah, Queen 
 Jezebel, Zion the Holy City, and many others. Many 
 prophecies of the latter days are expressed in historic 
 terms, embodying the experiences of the prophet's gen- 
 eration ; the one is made a type of the other. Many 
 prophecies have a double fulfilment, one historic and 
 within the horizon of the prophet and his generation, and 
 the other reaching far away into the distant future ; and 
 the transition from the one to the other is possible and 
 easy because of this typical relationship. 
 
 It is necessary, however, to put in a caveat against a 
 fanciful typology, not warranted by Scripture. It does 
 not follow, because many things in the tabernacle were 
 types, that the curtains of goat's hair, badger skins, and 
 ram skins dyed red, had a typical and spiritual meaning. 
 Several things connected with bloody sacrifices were cer- 
 tainly typical ; it does not, therefore, follow that the skin- 
 ning and the quartering of the sacrificial victim had a 
 typical significance. A mistake here has led to a spiritual- 
 izing and allegorizing mode of interpretation limited only 
 by the fancies and vagaries of the interpreter. What 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 75 
 
 criterion have we, then, by which to test the claimed 
 typicahty of anything? There are two rules which 
 mutually re-enforce each other. The first rule is that 
 we must find a Scripture warrant, expressed or implied, 
 for such typicality. The second rule is that we must 
 reject all non-essential features and find the type only in 
 essential analogies, just as we rule out the drapery in the 
 interpretation of parables, confining ourselves to genuine 
 and necessary identities. And just as in miracles we may 
 not use the incidents of a miracle to teach doctrine ; so 
 here, there are numerous details connected with types 
 which are non-essential and accidental and have no typical 
 significance. The safe application of these rules requires 
 a thorough knowledge of Scripture, and a reasonable 
 amount of common sense. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 Prophecies Fulfilled in Christ. 
 
 WE HAVE seen that the entire ceremonial system 
 of the Old Testament Scriptures, and many 
 other things found therein, constitute an elaborate system 
 of prophecy, expressed in object lessons, and that these 
 are all fulfilled in the Gospel. The word prophecy, how- 
 ever, usually suggests spoken and written prophecy. 
 
 The prophet was a spokesman for God, and was di- 
 vinely inspired so to speak and write. Prophecies fall 
 under two distinct and well-defined classes or heads — 
 inspired teaching and expounding of truth, and the pre- 
 diction or foretelling of future events — or in other words, 
 Teaching prophecy and Predictive prophecy. 
 
 There is found in the Old Testament a large volume 
 of Messianic prophecy, which finds its fulfilment, either 
 partial or complete, in the New. Some of this Messianic 
 prophecy is still to be completely fulfilled in the final tri- 
 umphs of the Gospel. 
 
 Christ says : "Think not that I am come to destroy the 
 law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to 
 fulfill." (Matt. V. 17.) There is a proper sense, in which 
 Christ is the embodiment of all the truths of doctrine and 
 morals found in the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as 
 the fulfilment of typical and written prophecy. It is a 
 most interesting study to note that all his teachings, all 
 his thinking, and all his actions, are but the expression, 
 the conscious expression, the sympathetic expression, of 
 truth as set forth in the Old Scriptures, which was his 
 Bible. This grew out of the very necessities of the case. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. yj 
 
 for he was 'the author of those Scriptures. All the truths 
 of both Testaments were evolved out of his own conscious 
 subjective experience. In this highest and best sense he 
 fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. We propose here, 
 however, to cite an outline of the more obvious predictive 
 prophecies, whose fulfilment is noted by the writers of 
 the New Testament, and which make their appeal to the 
 plain, common sense of the ordinary reader. 
 
 If there were but a few of these prophecies, they might 
 be explained away as fanciful adaptations or accidental 
 coincidences, as has been sometimes attempted. They are, 
 however, too numerous, varied, and comprehensive to be 
 treated in this way. 
 
 1. His supernatural conception and his dual nature 
 are plainly foretold. Isaiah vii. 14: "A virgin shall con- 
 ceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." 
 Matthew and Luke tell of the Virgin Mary and her son 
 Jesus, and all the succeeding Scriptures are based on his 
 supernatural origin. His name Immanuel means "God 
 with us." "The Word became flesh and dwelt among 
 us." (John i. 14.) No wonder Isaiah (ix. 6) broke out 
 in that triumphant psean : ''Unto us a child is born, to us 
 a son is given; and the government shall be upon his 
 shoulders ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun- 
 seller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The 
 Prince of Peace." These passages set forth his humanity 
 and his divinity, both of which he claimed for himself 
 so constantly. 
 
 2. The time of his birth was foretold. The time, first 
 by Jacob, Genesis xlix. 10: ''The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Judah nor a law-giver from between his feet till 
 Shiloh come." Christ was twelve years old when Arche- 
 laus, Herod's son and successor, was degraded from the 
 throne in Judea, and banished to Gaul, and his kingdom 
 
78 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 abolished, and Judea degraded into a mere Roman pro- 
 vince, and so the sceptre departed. 
 
 But the time is more definitely set in Daniel's prophecy 
 of the seventy weeks. (Daniel ix. 24-27.) Interpreters 
 may differ about some points in this wonderful prophecy ; 
 but there can be no question that the sixty-nine weeks — 
 four hundred and eighty-three years — reached to ''Mes- 
 siah the Prince." The entire Jewish people and many of 
 the pagan world were expecting the Prince about this 
 time, and this fact made it possible for so many false 
 Christs to rise up in this period and deceive many. 
 
 3. The place of his birth was foretold in Micah v. 2: 
 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little 
 among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he 
 come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose 
 goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." 
 Christ was born in Bethlehem, and the Jews told Herod 
 it should be so. (Matt. ii. i, 6; Luke ii. 4-7.) 
 
 4. The mission of John the Baptist, the forerunner, the 
 herald of the King, was foretold in Mai, iii. i : "Behold, I 
 will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way be- 
 fore me." Mai. iv. 5 : "Behold, I wih send you Elijah, the 
 prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day 
 of the Lord." Isa. xl. 3, 4: "The voice of him that crieth 
 in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
 straight in the desert a highway for our God," etc. The 
 angel applied these prophecies to John the Baptist before 
 he was born, and Zacharias, his father, did the same 
 when his tongue was loosed, and he was "filled with the 
 Holy Ghost and prophesied." (Luke i. 17, 67, 76.) Mat- 
 thew and Mark, and Christ do the same. (Matthew iii. 
 13; Mark i, 2. 3.) Matthew xi. 14: "And if ye will be- 
 lieve it, this is Elias which was for to come." 
 
 5. The prophets foretold that Christ should preach 
 
' Studies in the Life of Christ. 79 
 
 glad tidings and work miracles. Isaiah Ixi. 1-3 : "The 
 Lord hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the meek ; 
 he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- 
 claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
 to them that are bound," etc. The fulness of that Gospel 
 and its glorious fruits are set forth in chapter Ixv. of 
 Isaiah and in many other places — the same glad tidings 
 that Christ did preach. We have already sketched, in 
 chapter vii., the extent of his miracles which the prophets 
 foreshadowed : "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, 
 and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. There shall 
 the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb 
 sing." John sent to Jesus out of the darkness and gloom 
 of his dungeon, and asked : "Art thou he that should 
 come, or look we for another?" Note the answer: "Go 
 and shew John what ye do see and hear : The blind receive 
 their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
 the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have 
 the Gospel preached unto them." 
 
 6. It was foretold that he would be opposed and re- 
 jected By Jews and Gentiles. The fifty-third chapter of 
 Isaiah reads like history — it is history, written by in- 
 spiration, before the time. The twenty-second Psalm, 
 quoted further on, also reads like history. The prophet 
 sees it all enacted in vision, or otherwise, with the eye of 
 inspiration, and he testifies like a contemporary witness, 
 only because God sees the end from the beginning. "A 
 root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeli- 
 ness ; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that 
 we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of 
 men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and 
 we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised 
 and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah liii. 2, 3.) "He came 
 to his own, and his own receiveth him not." (John i. 11.) 
 
8o Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 "Neither did his brethren bdieve in him," (John vii. 5.) 
 In the second Psahn we read : "Why do the heathen rage 
 and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the 
 earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together 
 against the Lord, and against his anointed." (Psalm ii. 
 I, 2.) Peter tells us, (Acts iv. 25-27), that these words 
 were fulfilled when both Herod and Pontius Pilate, witb 
 the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered 
 together against the Holy Child Jesus, whom God had 
 anointed. 
 
 7. His betrayal and the purchase of the potter's field 
 with the price of blood was foretold. Zech. xi. 12, 13: 
 "If ye think good, give me my price ; if not, forbear, so 
 they weighed me thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord 
 said unto me. Cast it unto the potter, a goodly price that 
 I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of 
 silver, and cast them unto the potter in the house of the 
 Lord." Compare Matthew xxvii. 3-10. 
 
 8. Next we note his quiet submission to the scourging 
 and other cruel indignities. Isaiah liii. 7: "He was op- 
 pressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; 
 he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep 
 before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his 
 mouth." Isaiah 1. 6: "I gave my back to the smiters, and 
 my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not 
 my face from shame and spitting." "Psalm cxxix. 3: 
 "The plowers plow-ed upon my back, they made deep 
 their furrows." A full record of these things is found 
 in Matthew xxvii. 13, 14, 26-31 ; xxvi. 67, 68. 
 
 9. Then his crucifixion along with others. Psalm xxii. 
 16 : 'Tor dogs have compassed me ; the assembly of the 
 wicked have enclosed me ; they pierced my hands and my 
 feet." Zech. xii. 10: "They shall look upon me whom 
 they have pierced." Isaiah liii. 12: "He was numbered 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 8i 
 
 with the transgressors." Compare Mark xv. 27, 28: 
 "And with him they crucify two others; the one on his 
 right hand and the other on his left." "And the Scripture 
 was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with 
 the transgressors." 
 
 10. Then we read of the mocking and the vinegar, the 
 gall, the lot. Psalm xxii. 7, 8, 18: "They laugh me to 
 scorn ; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying. 
 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let 
 him deliver him, seeing that he delighted in him." "They 
 part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my 
 vesture." Psalm Ixix. 21 : "They gave me also gall for 
 my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to 
 drink." Matthew, Mark and Luke tell how they mocked 
 him and reviled him : "He saved others, himself he cannot 
 save." "If thou be the Son of God, come down from 
 the cross." Matthew, Mark and John tell how they di- 
 vided his garments, and cast lots for his coat, woven 
 throughout without seam, "that the Scripture might be 
 fulfilled." All the Evangelists tell of the vinegar they 
 gave him for his thirst; only Matthew tells of the gall, 
 given probably in compassion to deaden his sensibility 
 to suffering, which, when he had tasted, he refused to 
 drink. 
 
 11. His intercession and his death for sinners, and his 
 burial are also set forth in prophecy. Isaiah liii. 12, 5, 
 6, 9: "He hath poured out his soul unto death;" "He 
 bore the sin of many and made intercession for the trans- 
 gressors ;" "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
 us all ;" "For the transgression of my people was he 
 stricken ;" "For he shall bear their iniquities." "He was 
 wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our 
 iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, 
 and by his stripes are we healed." Comp. Luke xxiii. 34 : 
 
82 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not 
 what they do." Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell how 
 Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable man and a counsellor 
 and evidently rich, secured the body of Jesus and laid it 
 in his own new tomb, hewn out of a rock, and rolled a 
 great stone to the door of the sepulchre; "with the rich 
 in his death." Peter confirms the language of Isaiah, but 
 cannot say it plainer or better, (i Peter ii. 23-25) : "Who, 
 when he was reviled, reviled not again ; when he suffered, 
 he threatened not;" "Who, his own self, bare our sins in 
 his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, 
 should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were 
 healed. For ye were as sheep going astray ; but are now 
 returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." 
 
 12. The last group we mention foretells his resurrec- 
 tion, his ascension, his glorification, and his gifts to men. 
 His resurrection is foretold in Psalm xvi. 9, 10: "My 
 flesh shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul 
 in hell (sheol, the realm of the dead, the grave), neither 
 wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption." Peter 
 in Acts ii. 25-32, shows that David was not speaking of 
 his own grave and his own body, but, "Being a prophet 
 and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, 
 that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he' 
 would raise up Christ to sit on his throne ; he seeing this 
 before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul 
 was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." 
 In I Cor. XV. 4-8, Paul sums up the evidence of his resur- 
 rection, and puts "according to the Scriptures" first in 
 the summary. Luke, in Acts i. 3, says : "He showed 
 himself by many infallible proofs for forty days." 
 
 In Psalm Ixviii. 18, we read: "Thou hast ascended on 
 high ; thou hast led captivity captive ; thou hast received 
 gifts for men." Psalm ex. i : "The Lord said unto my 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 83 
 
 Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies 
 thy footstool." Acts i. 9: "While they beheld, he was 
 taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." 
 Stephen saw him in his ascension glory. Acts vii. 55, 56 : 
 "Being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly 
 into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus stand- 
 ing at the right hand of God." 
 
 The Prophet Joel foretells his ascension gifts ; (Joel ii. 
 28, 29: "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; and your 
 sons and your daughters shall prophesy; you old men 
 shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see 
 visions, and also upon the servants and the handmaids in 
 those days will I pour out my spirit." These wonderful 
 ascension gifts were given at Pentecost, as explained by 
 Peter, Acts ii. 6-21. These pentecostal gifts, called some- 
 times charisms of the Spirit, were not limited to a few 
 men and women, specially called and set apart to the 
 prophetic office in an official way, but old men, and young 
 men, men-servants and maid-servants, a whole genera- 
 tion of believers, with no respect to rank or social or offi- 
 cial position, were practically an inspired generation of 
 prophets and teachers. The remainder of that prophecy 
 of Joel seems to point to that great and terrible day of the 
 Lord which culminated in the destruction of the Jewish 
 state, temple, and holy city, and these charisms seem in- 
 tended, in part at least, to deliver his own elect in the 
 "Great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning 
 of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be," for 
 "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall 
 be saved." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 Christ's Prophecies. 
 
 WE have seen that Christ was the prophet — the re- 
 vealer in all dispensation, sometimes in his own 
 person, but more commonly by prophets and by his Spirit, 
 in vision, or by direct inspiration, or both. All previous 
 prophets were types of him, received their commission 
 from him, and spake the messages given them by him. 
 When they foretold future events, as they often did, they 
 saw the future with his omniscient eye. "Holy men of 
 God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 
 Peter i. 21.) All prophets subsequent to him also spake 
 in his name and by his authority, delivering his messages. 
 There is a proper sense in which he was the only prophet ; 
 the others were only agents employed by him, and they 
 derived all their power from him. Other human prophets 
 were called prophets because they spake for him — 
 they were his spokesmen. He was called a prophet be- 
 cause he spake for the Father. The Son, Jehovah, the 
 second person in the Trinity, was spokesman for the 
 Father. In the theophanies he appeared in temporary in- 
 carnations, in fire, in a cloud, and in other forms ; but 
 in the fulness of time, he came in permanent incarnation, 
 the Son of God the Son of Man, the Man Christ Jesus. 
 He himself spake many prophecies, foretelling future 
 events, some of which have been fulfilled, and some are 
 yet to be fulfilled. We shall consider some of them : 
 
 I. He foretells the persecution of his disciples — perse- 
 cutions, cruel, relentless and unnatural. Matt. x. 16-25 : 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 85 
 
 "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. 
 Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, 
 and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and you 
 shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake : 
 And the brother shall deliver the brother up to death, and 
 the father, the child; and the children shall rise up 
 against their parents, and cause them to be put to death, 
 and ye shall be hated of all men for my sake. ... If they 
 have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much 
 more shall they call them of his household." See also 
 Mark xiii. 9; and John xv. 18-21. For the fulfilment, we 
 need only cite the persecution that began with Stephen, 
 the first Christian martyr, Acts viii. 1-4: "At that time 
 there was a great persecution against the church, which 
 M^as at Jerusalem." And later on, came the ten great 
 persecutions by the Roman Empire, and then all the blood 
 of the martyrs, down to the present day. 
 
 2. The baptism of James and John. Matt. xx. 21-23 : 
 When their mother came to Jesus and asked promotion 
 for her sons in his kingdom, he said, "Are ye able to 
 drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized 
 with the baptism that I shall be baptized with ? They said 
 unto him. We are able. And he said unto them, ye shall 
 drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism 
 that I am baptized with." The cup to be drained means 
 suffering. Psalm Ixxv. 8 : "In the hand of the Lord there 
 is a cup, and the wine is red ; it is full of mixture, and he 
 poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof, all the 
 wacked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink 
 them." Christ prayed in Gethsemane: "O my Father, if 
 it be possible, let this cup pass from me." So also the 
 word baptism, Luke xii. 50: 'T have a baptism to be 
 baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be ac- 
 complished." 
 
86 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 3. He foretells his betrayal and Peter's denial of him, 
 and how they all forsook him and fled. Matthew tells the 
 story in chapter xxvi. Judas covenanted with the chief 
 priests to deliver him for thirty pieces of silver, and 
 Christ said at the Passover supper, "One of you shall 
 betray me," and when Judas, reclining on his left, said, 
 "Master, is it I?" Christ replied: 'Thou hast said." He 
 said again, ''What thou doest, do quickly," and Judas 
 went out. Christ also told his disciples that they would 
 all be offended and forsake him that night, and that Peter 
 should deny him thrice before the cock crowed twice. 
 Peter and all the rest said that they would die with him. 
 The story of the fulfilment need hardly be recounted ; how 
 he was betrayed in the garden ; they all forsook him and 
 fled, and Peter denied him at the high priest's house. 
 
 4. He foretells the manner of Peter's death by cruci- 
 fixion. John xxi. 18, 19: "When thou wast young, thou 
 girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldst: But 
 when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands 
 and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou 
 wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he 
 should glorify God." Tradition says that Peter asked to 
 be crucified with his head downwards, because he thought 
 himself not worthy to be crucified upright like his Master. 
 
 5. He foretells his own death and resurrection several 
 times. Matt. xii. 39, 40: "As Jonas was three days and 
 three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of 
 Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the 
 earth." Matt. xvi. 21 : "From that time forth began Jesus 
 to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto 
 Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief 
 priests and scribes, and be killed and rise again on the 
 third day." Matt. xx. 17-19: "Behold, we go up to Jeru- 
 salem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 87 
 
 chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn 
 him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to 
 mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him, and the third 
 day he shall rise again." We hardly need to recount the 
 story of his suffering, death, and resurrection, to show 
 the fulfilment of these prophecies. The story is the 
 foundation of the faith and hope of every believer. 
 
 6. He foretells the destruction of the Jewish nation ; 
 (Luke xiii. 1-5.) When some one told him of the Gali- 
 leans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, 
 he said : "Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners 
 above all Galileans, because they suffered such things? I 
 tell you, Nay ; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
 perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam 
 fell, etc. I tell you, Nay ; but, except ye repent, ye shall 
 all likewise perish." The emphasis is on the "all like- 
 wise," foreshowing great disaster on that entire people — 
 great temporal disaster. It was for this he wept over 
 Jerusalem. Matt, xxiii. 37, 38: "Behold your house is 
 left unto you desolate." 
 
 7. The destruction of the city and temple is but a part 
 of this great national overthrow. (Matt. xxiv. i, 2.) 
 When Jesus went out of the temple for the last time, his 
 disciples showed him the wonders of the structure, and 
 he said: "See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto 
 you. There shall not be left there one stone upon another, 
 that shall not be thrown down." (Luke xix. 43, 44; xxi. 
 20-24.) We need quote only in part, "Thine enemies 
 shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, 
 and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even 
 with the ground and thy children within thee." *'For 
 these be the days of vengeance ; . . . and they shall fall 
 by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive 
 into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of 
 
88 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 the Gentiles, till the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The 
 Jewish campaigns of Vespasian and Titus left nothing 
 unfulfilled. 
 
 8. He foretells his going away and return. John vii. 
 33 : "Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go unto 
 him that sent me." He said the same unto his disciples 
 again in John xiii. 33. In John xvi. 16, he says: "A little 
 while, and ye shall see me ; and again a little while, and 
 ye shall not see me, because I go to my Father." And 
 in John xiv. 2, 3 : "I go to prepare a place for you ; I will 
 come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I 
 am ye may be also." By comparing John xiv. 19, 28, 29, 
 with those others just quoted, it is obvious that this 
 promised coming back refers, primarily, if not entirely, 
 to his coming back for individual believers to carry us 
 to the Father's house, which has many mansions. 
 
 9. He foretells his resurrection call. In John v. 17-31, 
 he claims the prerogatives of quickening, of judgment, of 
 regeneration, and of the resurrection, as given him by the 
 Father, and each is the pledge and guarantee of all the 
 rest. ''For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quick- 
 enetli them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 
 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all 
 judgment to the Son." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead (dead in 
 sin) shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and they 
 that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in him- 
 self ; so hath he given to the Son to have Hfe in himself." 
 Compare Eph. ii. i. Then he adds as the climax of these 
 correlated prerogatives : "Marvel not at this, for the hour 
 is coming in the which all they that are in their graves 
 shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that 
 have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that 
 have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 89 
 
 10. The general judgrnent is also foreshown by him — 
 a just judgment — an authorized judgment, given him to 
 execute, of which God hath "given all men assurance, in 
 that he hath raised him from the dead." The principles 
 of that great assize are announced in Matt. xxv. 31-46: 
 "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all 
 his holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne 
 of his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all nations : 
 and he shall separate them one from another, as a shep- 
 herd divideth his sheep from the goats," etc. ''These go 
 away unto everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into 
 life eternal." Christ revealed this same to John in 
 Apocalyptic vision, Rev. xx. 11-14: "And I saw a great 
 white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the 
 earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no 
 place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, 
 stand before God ; and the books were opened, and an- 
 other book was opened, which is the book of life, and the 
 dead were judged out of those things which were written 
 in the books, according to their works. . . . And who- 
 soever was not found written in the book of life was cast 
 into the lake of fire." 
 
 11. He made emphatic mention of his second coming, 
 and so do several of the apostles. But there is a great 
 diversity of opinion as to their exact meaning, and these 
 differences turn largely on the time of his coming, 
 whether pre-millennial or post-millennial. The full con- 
 sideration of these differences of opinion call for a special 
 discussion, and are now passed over. But there are some 
 points on which all agree, literally or typically : 
 
 I. He shall come suddenly; when not expected. Matt, 
 xxiv. 37-39: "As the days of Noah were, so shall the 
 coming of the Son of Man be," etc. Luke xvii. 24-30: 
 "For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of one part 
 
90 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 under heaven; so also shall the Son of Man be in his 
 day." 
 
 2. He shall come in clouds and great glory to gather 
 his people. Matthew xxiv. 30, 31 : "Then shall appear 
 the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall 
 all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the 
 Son of Man coming in clouds and great glory. And he 
 shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, 
 and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, and 
 from one end of heaven to the other." 
 
 3. It will also be a day of vengeance of our Lord. 
 2 Thess. i. 8: "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
 heaven with his holy angels, in flaming fire, taking ven- 
 geance on them that know not God, and that obey not the 
 Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Malachi iii. 2 : "Who 
 may abide the day of his coming; and who may stand 
 when he appeareth?" 
 
 While several of these and similar prophecies refer 
 primarily to the destruction of the Jewish polity, all agree 
 that there shall be a later and higher fulfilment. 
 
 12. His promises are all prophecies. His power and 
 his truth stand pledged to the fulfilment of every promise. 
 They shall surely come to pass. 2 Corinthians i. 20 : "All 
 the promises of God in him are yea, and in him are 
 Amen." Both Testaments are full of his promises. Mat- 
 thew xi. 28, 29: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." John vi. 37 : 
 "All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me ; 
 and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." 
 Isaiah i. 18 : "Come now and let us reason together, saith 
 the Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
 white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they 
 shall be as wool." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Parousia, or the Coming. 
 
 THERE are two comings of Christ which are evi- 
 dently taught in the Scriptures, and are spoken 
 of as the first and second comings. He came first in the 
 flesh to redeem the race, and this coming includes all his 
 life, from his birth to his resurrection and ascension. He 
 will come a second time in clouds and great glory to 
 judge the living and the dead. This much is conceded by 
 all interpreters of the Scriptures. After this, there is a 
 wide divergence of views. 
 
 There are a large number of terms and phrases, which 
 all confessedly refer to a coming of Christ, either di- 
 rectly or by necessary implication. We may quote some 
 of them: "The coming of the Son of Man," "Thy king- 
 dom come," "The day of the Lord," "He shall come in 
 clouds and great glory," "The glorious appearing," "The 
 Lord is at hand," "Behold I come quickly," "Come, Lord 
 Jesus," "He that is and was and is to come," "When the 
 Son of Man cometh," "Then shall the end be," and such 
 like. Such terms and phrases are freely used in Mes- 
 sianic prophecy, in Christ's prophecies, in the Epistles, 
 and in the Book of Revelation. 
 
 There is hardly a difference of opinion about those that 
 refer to his first coming in the flesh, and some do neces- 
 sarily refer to his second coming in person. It is claimed 
 by some that all such terms and phrases refer to one or 
 the other of these two comings. They interpret the 
 prophecies of Christ and his apostles as referring to the 
 
92 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 second coming only, and they so interpret all references 
 to the Parousia, or Coming, wherever found in the New 
 Testament. 
 
 Besides this, there are diversities as to the times, rela- 
 tions, and manifestations of the second coming; also as 
 to the place it should hold in the faith of the church. 
 Some, in exalting it, interpret prophecy with intense dog- 
 matism, and seem chargeable with violating the propor- 
 tion of faith, and of minimizing fundamental teachings of 
 the Scriptures. 
 
 We do not expect to solve all the questions that arise 
 here, within the compass of this discussion, if indeed, it 
 can be done at all. We may not dogmatize about the 
 details of unfulfilled prophecy, much less can we make 
 the best attainments in holiness to depend on the accept- 
 ance of such dogmatic interpretations as some do. And 
 if it shall be made to appear that the Parousia designates 
 a number of things distinct from the second coming 
 and not to be confounded with it, then their whole system 
 of exegesis falls under suspicion, if it be not entirely 
 overthrown. We pass by the Old Testament prophecies 
 of the coming of the Messiah, as the Lord, as David the 
 King, as the Saviour, as a Son born, as Immanuel, as the 
 Prince of Peace, as the Suffering Servant, as the Seed of 
 the woman, as the Seed of Abraham, as the Son of a 
 virgin, and such like; all of which were confessedly ful- 
 filled in the Incarnate Son of God, born of the Virgin 
 Mary, God manifest in the flesh, the Man Christ Jesus, 
 the author of eternal redemption, the Good Shepherd, 
 crucified, dead, buried, risen, ascended, and set down at 
 the right hand of the throne of God. 
 
 Now, Old Testament Messianic prophecy does not stop 
 with this first coming, but spans the whole arc of Gospel 
 times, under the oft-repeated formula: "It shall come 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 93 
 
 to pass in that day;" and covers the whole Christian dis- 
 pensation, and outlines the progress and the final triumph 
 of the Gospel until the resurrection and the general 
 judgment. 
 
 The New Testament takes up these same prophecies 
 in the same terms and in varied expression, and by fre- 
 quent reference, covering all the ground from Pentecost 
 to the final glory. We propose to show that the whole of 
 Christ's administration, in person and by the Spirit, from 
 Pentecost to the general judgment, is the real Parousia or 
 coming. This will be the more evident if we shall suc- 
 ceed in classifying the various leading acts of his admin- 
 istration as set forth in the Scriptures, both prophetically 
 and historically. 
 
 He is prophet, priest and king. His administration 
 continued in all three offices, but we are mainly con- 
 cerned in this discussion with his administration as king. 
 We speak of his spiritual kingdom, which also has a 
 parallel visible form and organization, and we speak of 
 his providential kingdom. These two are not separate 
 and independent kingdoms, but are both included in his 
 mediatorial kingdom ; "For he is head over all things to 
 the church." We also speak of his moral government 
 over moral beings, and his government of animal and 
 physical creation. We may very properly make these 
 distinctions and others in our analysis, but we must guard 
 against the idea of separate and independent ad- 
 ministrations. 
 
 These several governments or kingdoms have been 
 coeval with the race, and no new rule was given him at 
 any time. The seven thousand in Israel, who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal, were as truly members of his 
 spiritual kingdom as the three thousand who entered it at 
 Pentecost. He was the providential ruler and guide of 
 
94 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 Joseph in Egypt, and of John on Patmos. His moral 
 government has always included angels, men, and devils. 
 His mediatorial kingdom extends from Eden to the res- 
 urrection. 
 
 The invisible spiritual kingdom has no organization in 
 this world. The visible church has its organization and 
 government, including spiritual and carnal elements, and 
 is not purely a spiritual body like the invisible church, 
 which it overlaps and represents. He is not the spiritual 
 head of the visible church in the same sense in which he 
 is the head of the spiritual kingdom, but only so far as 
 every believer has the kingdom in his heart. His govern- 
 ment of the outward kingdom is rather providential. 
 
 Having made these distinctions, we are prepared to 
 see that the Parousia or the administration of his kingdom 
 embraces some things that refer only to the spiritual 
 kingdom, some that refer only to the visible church, some 
 that refer only to individuals, some only to nations, some 
 only to the race, some only to devils, some only to the 
 physical universe, and some only to the final consumma- 
 tion of all things. He was and is equally connected with 
 them all as mediatorial king. We may note several mani- 
 festations of the Parousia : 
 
 I. The coming in his kingdom. Christ says: "There 
 be some here that shall not taste death till they see the 
 Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matt. xvi. 28.) 
 Mark says : "Till they have seen the kingdom of God 
 come with power." (Mark ix. i.) Luke says: "Till they 
 have seen the kingdom of God." (Luke ix. 27.) Whatever 
 these equivalent expressions may mean, it came in the 
 lifetime of his disciples. Pentecost only fulfills this pro- 
 phecy. We are confirmed in this by the fact that so 
 many other extraordinary prophecies converge on that 
 day. This hardly needs to be argued. At any rate, this 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 95 
 
 coming of the Son of Man can have no possible reference 
 to his personal second coming at the end of this dispensa- 
 tion, whether pre-millennial or post-millennial. 
 
 2. His coming to overthrow the Jewish people, the 
 temple, and the Jewish polity. (Matt. xxiv. 1-42.) The 
 disciples were told that there should not be one stone 
 left on another of the temple, that should not be thrown 
 down. They asked him privately : "When shall these 
 things be, and what shall be the sign of the coming, and 
 of the end of the world?" He answered with a rapid 
 sketch of what should transpire before the end ; verses 
 4-14, and says : "^'then shall the end come." "End of 
 what?" "The world" — the aeon — the age — the Jewish 
 polity, as we shall see. 
 
 Then he gives more elaborate answer of the coming 
 of the end — the Roman armies — the false Christs — the 
 great tribulation, unequalled before or since. Verses 
 15-28. He says that the coming of the Son of Man 
 should be like the shining, sudden lightning ; the carcass 
 and the eagles shall be unmistakable signs. Without at- 
 tempting here to expound fully Daniel's prophecies in the 
 eleventh and twelfth chapters of that book, it sufficeth to 
 say that the abomination of desolation, the eagles, and 
 the taking away of the sacrifice, refer to the siege of Jeru- 
 salem by Roman armies, the destruction of the city and 
 temple and the end of the Jewish polity. And 
 they who asked him when these things should be, were 
 told they should see these things in their life-time. 
 
 Then he cites the portents that should accompany his 
 coming, verses 29-31 : "Immediately after the tribulation 
 of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon 
 shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
 heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken." These 
 symbolisms express the direst calamities. "Then shall 
 
96 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then 
 shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
 the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
 power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with 
 a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together 
 his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven 
 to the other." "When ye shall see all these things, know 
 that it is near, even at the door." 
 
 One will say : "Surely these things refer to his second 
 coming." Not at all. For Christ adds, verse 34 : "Verily 
 I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these 
 things shall be fulfilled." 
 
 Language, and symbols, and figures of speech, and the 
 direst cataclysms possible in nature fail to set forth fully 
 the horrors of his vengeance when he came to overthrow 
 the Jewish people, the temple, and the Jewish polity. 
 Then he bids them watch, because they know not what 
 hour the Lord doth come, and gives counsel and promise 
 to insure safety. It will be shown later on how he passes 
 from this to another coming. 
 
 3. He cometh to avenge his people. Paul says : 
 "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give 
 place unto wrath ; for it is written, Vengeance is mine ; 
 I will repay, saith the Lord." (Rom. xii. 19.) See Deut. 
 xxxii. 35 ; and in numerous places in the Old Testament 
 Scriptures. The imprecatory Psalms teach us that he 
 makes his people's cause his own. 
 
 He comes to avenge his people in answer to their cry. 
 (Luke xviii. 1-8.) "He spake a parable to this end that 
 men ought always to pray and not to faint" — the parable 
 of the unjust judge. This is evidently a prayer lesson 
 to persons who pray. The application he makes of the 
 parable is this: "Shall not God avenge his own elect 
 which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 97 
 
 with them? I tell you he will avenge them speedily." 
 Then he adds : "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man 
 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" That is, when 
 he comes to answer prayer, our faith will in no sense be 
 commensurate with the answer. 
 
 In order to escape this lesson of the parable, and the 
 caveat which is added, and in order to make this purely 
 a second coming parable, they do allegorize the entire 
 parable, and make the widow represent the widowed 
 church, oppressed and persecuted, crying almost hope- 
 lessly to an apparently hard-hearted judge, who will 
 avenge her after long delays ; and they say that the 
 "speedily" has no reference to lapse of time, but only 
 refers to the imminent expectation of the second com- 
 ing, the sole hope of the church. Then they say that 
 when he shall come, be the time long or short, there will 
 be but little true faith on the earth, and his second coming 
 will be a day of vengeance on an unbelieving world — the 
 great and terrible day of the Lord. 
 
 In support of this last contention, they cite the parable 
 of the leaven hid in three measures of meal, and they tell 
 us that the leaven is the sin of unbelief, and that it shall 
 so leaven and corrupt the whole earth that Christ must 
 needs come to destroy the world, and rescue his elect 
 bride, "The lamb's wife," from her oppressions and per- 
 secutions. 
 
 These are fair samples of the allegorizing exegesis, 
 which is made to do duty in proving that all references 
 to his coming mean his second coming in person. By 
 such methods, any truth may be perverted or set aside, 
 and any subjective conceit set up in its place. 
 
 4. His presence with his people to answer prayer. We 
 here note the true meaning of the Parousia. This word 
 has been adopted by convention to include all comings of 
 
9^ Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ for any and all purposes in the 
 administration of his mediatorial kingdom. This word is 
 a compound of the neuter verb, "to be." It means "to be 
 present," "to be alongside of," ''to be at hand." This 
 root idea is present in all forms of the verb and its deriva- 
 tives. They are often rendered "come" and ^'coming;" 
 but the notion of coming is not in the words themselves, 
 but in the context, and the rendering is proper. Other 
 words, expressing action, are also used to express the 
 comings. The distinction is not far to see. In one case, 
 active intervention is the prominent idea; in the other 
 case, continuous presence or ever-presence for the pur- 
 poses expressed, is evidently the prominent idea. 
 
 We find, then, his presence with his people to answer 
 prayer, with a special warrant for social prayer. (Matt. 
 xviii. 19, 20: "If two of you shall agree on earth as 
 touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done 
 for them of my Father, which is in heaven. For where 
 two or three are gathered together in my name, there am 
 I in the midst of them." 
 
 5. His presence to provide for his people and bless 
 them by his providential care. Phil. iv. 4, 5, 6: "Rejoice 
 in the Lord always." "Let your moderation be known 
 to all men ; the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, 
 but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving, let your 
 requests be made known unto God." The Lord is at 
 hand, or near, with providential care. This is the same 
 doctrine that is taught more fully in Matthew vi. 25-34. 
 Nothing but a foregone conclusion can find in it the im- 
 minency of the second coming. 
 
 6. His presence with those who spread the Gospel. 
 Matthew xxviii. 19, 20: "Go ye therefore and teach all 
 nations," etc. ; ''and lo, I am with you always, even unto 
 the end of the world." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ, 
 
 99 
 
 In fact, the Scriptures teach a universal Parousia, and 
 ever-presence with his people in all conditions and emer- 
 gencies. In proof of this, we need only to cite the twenty- 
 third Psalm in the Old Testament, and its companion 
 piece in John x. 1-18. 
 
 7. His coming to reckon with individuals, both during 
 life and at death — to reckon with both the righteous and 
 the wicked. This is the very essence of a moral govern- 
 ment. The parables of the Ten Virgins, the Ten Talents, 
 and the Ten Pounds, all converge to this point, so far as 
 they enunciate the principles of his government. This 
 reckoning is consummated at death, and declared at the 
 general judgment. "As the tree falleth, so it shall lie. 
 As death leaveth us, so shall the judgment find us." 'Tt 
 is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the 
 judgment. It has been held by believers that Christ 
 comes for his people at death in a true and proper sense. 
 What else did Stephen mean when he said : "Lord Jesus, 
 receive my spirit?" What else did the Psalmist mean 
 when he said : "Yea, though I walk through the valley of 
 the shadow of cleath, I will fear no evil, for thou art with 
 me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." 
 
 A plausible exegesis may make these passages mean 
 something else, but God's people will still cherish the 
 popular and traditional view that the dying believer is 
 safe in the arms of Jesus, and that the whole trend of 
 Scripture sustains it. John xiv. 3, is a personal promise. 
 
 Yet we are told that it is wrong to talk about preparing 
 for death, or, at least, that it is a very low and groveling 
 faith that makes one expect to die when we ought to be 
 ever watchful and on the alert for the coming of the Son 
 of Man. They quote Titus ii. 11-13: "Looking for that 
 blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great 
 God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Paul uses this term 
 
loo Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 "appearing" five times. Once it certainly refers to his 
 second coming to judge the quick and the dead. Four 
 times it means as many distinct things, which is evident 
 from each context, just as we claim for the coming. The 
 word "appear" is also used in two or more meanings, 
 which can only be decided by the context. 
 
 8. His coming to execute judgment on nations. Na- 
 tions, as such, have no resurrection, and cannot be ar- 
 raigned, as such, at the final judgment. But they are 
 under his moral government, and he executes judgment 
 on them in the unfolding of history. These facts are 
 revealed in the Scriptures, and there we find the key to 
 history. Sodom and Gomorrah, Amnion and Nineveh, 
 Edom and Moab, Tyre and Babylon, attest his visitations. 
 The ninety-eighth Psalm is a song of praise and joy, "Be- 
 fore the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth. With 
 righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people 
 with equity." This cannot be the general judgment only, 
 because part of it was already accomplished, and was a 
 matter of joy and praise, as is recounted in verse i. 
 Compare Psalm xcvi. 13. 
 
 In recounting these eight manifestations or sub-divi- 
 sions of the Parousia or coming, we have sought an ex- 
 haustive, rather than a scientific classification of his ad- 
 ministrative activities in his mediatorial reign in this 
 world, prior to the millennium, at least, and certainly 
 prior to the general judgment. Some of these items 
 overlap each other and really imply each other. 
 
 9. His second coming in person. That he shall come 
 a second time in person, is conceded by all, however much 
 they may differ as to the time, purposes, mode, measure, 
 and continuance of his administration therewith. We 
 rely on such passages as these. Acts i. 11 : ''This same 
 Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. ioi 
 
 come in like manner as you have seen him go into 
 heaven;" John i. 51: Christ said, "Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you. Hereafter ye shall see the heaven open, and the 
 angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son 
 of Man;" Matt. xxvi. 64: "Hereafter shall ye see the 
 Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and com- 
 ing in the clouds of heaven." 
 
 It is proper here to put in a much-needed caveat. It is 
 difficult to dogmatize about unfulfilled prophecy. The 
 literal and the figurative are often so blended that it is 
 difficult to distinguish between them. There is a great 
 deal of symbolism, which is not always easy to explain, 
 even in fulfilled prophecy, and it is much more difficult in 
 unfulfilled prophecy. Perhaps that is what Peter meant 
 when he said : "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any 
 private interpretation," (2 Peter i. 20), or better, "No 
 prophecy is its own interpreter," or "Furnishes its own 
 interpretation." The Greek word rendered "private" 
 seems to justify this exegesis. 
 
 Certain outlines of facts are stated clearly and boldly 
 in prophecy, and may not easily be set aside; other facts 
 in detail are far more difficult of explanation. The litera- 
 ture of the matter under discussion is abundant illustra- 
 tion of this. We need, therefore, to proceed cautiously. 
 
 There are two widely divergent views, the pre-millen- 
 nial and the post-millennial. One says that Christ will 
 come in person at the close of the millennium, and the 
 other says that his personal coming will usher in the mil- 
 lennium, and that he will remain till the final consumma- 
 tion of all things earthly. We shall consider the post- 
 millennial view first, for this is the one usually received, 
 and most in accordance with the creeds of the Reformed 
 Churches, which seem to limit his personal presence to the 
 resurrection and the general judgment. 
 
102 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 This view assumes that the Gospel will be preached by 
 the church, as at present organized, until the whole world 
 shall, slowly or rapidly, be won to Christ, and the race 
 shall be redeemed from paganism and idolatry, and the 
 Jews won back to Christ. Then there shall be a thousand 
 years (perhaps three hundred and sixty thousand years) 
 during which the Gospel shall prevail over all the earth, 
 perhaps in the same sense in which false religions pre- 
 viously prevailed, and during which the powers of evil 
 shall be so restrained that Christ and his saints shall rule 
 the world, just as Satan and his host had ruled it pre- 
 viously. This view does not recognize the personal pres- 
 ence of Christ in the millennium, except as he is present 
 with the church to-day, which presence has been shown 
 to be one phase of the Parousia. The church holds a 
 commission to disciple all nations and preach the Gospel 
 to every creature, and has the promise of his presence, 
 guidance, and help till it be accomplished. 
 
 The full accomplishment of this is amply set forth in 
 Messianic prophecy. The covenant with Abraham guar- 
 antees that all the nations of the earth, and all the families 
 of the earth shall be blessed in him and his seed ; and 
 Paul tells us : "That the seed is Christ." Isaiah sets forth 
 the glorious triumphs of the Gospel when the "knowledge 
 of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the 
 sea;" (Isaiah xi. 1-9.) So also in Micah iv. 1-7; Isaiah 
 xlv. 22, 23; Phil. ii. 9-11. "Look unto me and be ye 
 saved, all the ends of the earth : for I am God and none 
 else. I have sworn by myself, the word hath gone out of 
 my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that 
 every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear ;" "And 
 that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord 
 to the o-lorv of God the father." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ, 103 
 
 Two great events are certainly connected with his sec- 
 ond coming, the Resurrection and the General Judgment. 
 
 First, the Resurrection. Christ said, when discussing 
 the prerogatives of the sonship, "The hour is coming 
 when all they that are in their graves shall hear his voice 
 and shall come forth; they that have done good unto 
 the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to 
 the resurrection of damnation." (John v. 28, 29.) Paul 
 says: "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of 
 the just and the unjust." (Acts xxiv. 15.) And so every- 
 where in the Scriptures ; notably i Cor. xv. 
 
 The resurrection of the dead and the sudden change of 
 the living shall attend the "Coming of our Lord;" "For 
 the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
 with a voice of an arch-angel, and with the trump of 
 God," all of which we learn from i Thess. iv. 15-18. 
 
 Then, certainly, comes the General Judgment. We 
 learn from Jude that the fallen angels shall be judged in 
 that great day. (Jude, verse 6.) The righteous and the 
 wicked will stand before the Judge, as we learn from 
 Matt. XXV. 31-46. All the dead shall be judged. (Rev. 
 XX. 11-15.) 
 
 When Christ had replied to the questions of his disci- 
 ples concerning the coming of the Son of Man to destroy 
 Jerusalem, the Temple and the Jewish polity, as already 
 noted, he passes on to tell them of his second coming to 
 judge all nations and peoples at the general judgment. 
 The one was a type of the other. The wonderful por- 
 tents and cataclysms which described his coming to judge 
 the Jewish nation, also should signalize the general judg- 
 ment and therefore made it logical to pass from the dis- 
 cussion of one to the other. The doctrine of historic 
 types is familiar to every Bible student, and therefore we 
 need not expand this further. 
 
104 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 The principles regulating the general judgment are 
 already set forth in Matt. xxv. 31-46, and also in Rev. xx. 
 11-15 and elsewhere; and also the justice of the sentences 
 pronounced. It is hardly pertinent to discuss this at pres- 
 ent, except to quote "These go away into everlasting pun- 
 ishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
 
 Beyond this nothing is revealed except this — "Then 
 cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the king- 
 dom to God, even the Father." "Then shall the Son 
 himself be subject unto him that put all things under him 
 that God may be all in all." (i Cor. xv. 24, 28.) 
 
 We may now consider the pre-millennial view, usually 
 called millennarianism. The main features are : That 
 Christ shall come in person and establish his kingdom on 
 the earth ; that the martyrs shall be raised from the dead 
 to rule with him ; That he and they will overthrow all 
 earthly powers and his universal kingdom shall occupy 
 the whole earth for a thousand years ; that he and they 
 shall rule over the righteous and the wicked ; and that 
 peace and happiness shall prevail ; and that at the end 
 the rest of the dead shall rise ; and then the general 
 judgment. 
 
 There are, however, so many variant views, advocated 
 with so many shades of difference, that we cannot define 
 this doctrine much beyond this single proposition, "That 
 Christ shall come again in person to live and reign with 
 his saints a thousand years." Very many writers have 
 elaborated their views variously, according to their skill 
 in expounding history, prophecy, parables, and all refer- 
 ences to the Parousia, literally and allegorically, so as to 
 fit and elucidate this proposition with which they start 
 their investigations. Their voluminous discussions sound 
 like special pleadings and foregone conclusions. 
 
 They start with a dogmatic interpretation of the twen- 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 105 
 
 tieth chapter of Revelation, which is confessedly one of 
 the most difficult portions of a book which has such an 
 admixture of fact, figure and symbol that interpreters 
 have been at their wits end, and doubtless will be till it 
 shall all be fulfilled. Starting with it, they re-inforce 
 their interpretation in every possible way from other 
 Scriptures. 
 
 The Jews held to a millennium — that the Messiah 
 would set up universal empire at Jerusalem for a 
 thousand years. When Christ repudiated this mission, 
 they crucified him. This was to be their golden age. 
 Judaizing teachers introduced this doctrine into the early 
 church, and Justin Martyr was its ablest expounder then, 
 and little improvement has been made upon him since. 
 After the able refutation of this doctrine by the leading 
 fathers early in the fourth century, we hear little of it till 
 the Reformation. Since that time it has had some able ex- 
 pounders. It fell into disrepute because of the extrava- 
 gances of the Anabaptists, and other fanatical mystics, 
 and was condemned alike by Protestants and Catholics. 
 
 It was revived about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, and ably advocated by Bengel, the great preacher 
 and commentator, and was advocated by the Irvingites in 
 England, and more recently by the Millerites in this coun- 
 try. It has reached its most fanatical culmination in the 
 Mormon Zion and in Dowieism. 
 
 All recent mystics make this the leading feature of 
 their eschatology, and they profess to Hold the imminent 
 expectation of his personal coming in glory at any mo- 
 ment as the sum of their hopes and expectations, and as 
 their highest and best motive to holy living. They even 
 claim the certain witness of the Spirit to the truth of 
 their teaching. They charge a low and groveling life to 
 those who do not agree with them. 
 
io6 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 The Jewish commonwealth was a theocracy, and the 
 Lord, the Second Person of the Trinity, was the civil 
 head and king. But he was not present in a visible body, 
 but he ruled by viceroys, who held communication with 
 their King by prophet and oracle only. Besides the civil 
 commonwealth, he was the head of the true spiritual 
 kingdom just as he is to-day; and he was also the head 
 of their ecclesiastical system, which must not be con- 
 founded with the civil commonwealth, though they were 
 coterminous. 
 
 Now, millennarianism says that the Lord Jesus — the 
 second person in the flesh — is to come as the glorified 
 Son of Man, in visible form and actual bodily presence, 
 and set up a kingdom, a civil commonwealth, and preside 
 over it as a king for a thousand years, and that at the 
 end of that period, the last earthly battles shall be fought ; 
 Gog and Magog encompassing the camp of the saints and 
 their city, and waging fiercest warfare till overthrown by 
 fire from heaven. They claim that the kingdom heralded 
 by Christ and promised by him, is this millennial civic 
 commonwealth, and that it is this we pray for when we 
 say "Thy kingdom come." 
 
 But, in rebuke of all this, Christ told his disciples, who 
 evidently held the Jewish doctrine of a civic Messianic 
 millennium over which he would preside, that his king- 
 dom was a spiritual kingdom, already set up in the hearts 
 of men. And when Pilate asked him : "Art thou a king?" 
 he answered : "My kingdom is not of this world, else 
 would my servants fight." He asserted his kingdom as 
 the very object of his birth; and he was the real and only 
 king over his real and spiritual kingdom at that time, as 
 he has been ever since. It would seem that his repudia- 
 tion of all claims to the civil rule of a civil commonwealth 
 on earth ought to be a sufficient answer to the pre-mil- 
 lennarian. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 107 
 
 We have examined all the leading passages in the Gos- 
 pels and Epistles, and in the Old Testament also, which 
 refer to the Parousia or coming, and we have found that 
 they may be classified under eight heads, not one of which 
 refers in any way to his second coming in person. 
 
 We have shown also that he shall come in person to 
 raise the dead and conduct the judgment of the great day. 
 Besides this, the twentieth chapter of Revelation — itself 
 an undeciphered hieroglyph — has not a single word in it 
 to indicate that he will establish a civil commonwealth of 
 the saints, and preside over it in a visible personal pres- 
 ence. And yet, there is a proper sense in which we may 
 say with John : "Even so, come. Lord Jesus, come 
 quickly." "The Spirit and the bride say come." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Four Last Days of Christ's Public Ministry. 
 
 WE usually speak of the closing week of his work 
 as The Last Week, beginning with the first day 
 of the week preceding the Passover, and ending with 
 the first day of the next week, on which he rose from 
 the dead and appeared to many. 
 
 He closed his Perean ministry, crossed the river, passed 
 through Jeficho, stopping a little season, and then moved 
 on with his disciples and others on their way to the Pass- 
 over, teaching as they went, and then "he went on before, 
 ascending up to Jerusalem." (Luke xix. 28.) John 
 (xii. i) says: "Then six days before the Passover Jesus 
 came to Bethany, where Lazarus was," etc. There had 
 been much controversy as to when he arrived there and 
 how to count this six days. It is not to be supposed that 
 he and his disciples, much less the crowd, reached there 
 on the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. It was 
 contrary to Jewish usage to travel any distance on the 
 Sabbath. Some claim that we must count six intervening 
 days between the day of his arrival and the Passover, 
 which all concede to have been on Friday. This would 
 put him at Bethany on the Friday before the sixth day of 
 the week. Others claim that he spent the Sabbath at 
 Jericho, or on the way, and reached Bethany on the first 
 day of the week. The Jews, in counting time, usually 
 counted the day at each end of the period. According to 
 them, Pentecost was fifty days after; we say forty-nine; 
 with them "eight days after" was a week; we say seven 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 109 
 
 days after. We claim, therefore, that the count stands 
 thus : 
 
 Sun. Men. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. 
 123456 
 
 Accordingly he reached Bethany on the first day of 
 the week, Sunday. This was the view taken by Robinson 
 in his "Harmony." This puts the supper at Simon's house 
 on Sunday evening; the triumphal entry into Jerusalem 
 on Monday ; and so on. 
 
 The papal tradition of Palm Sunday is urged against 
 this view as proving that the triumphal entry took place 
 on Sunday. The reply is easy ; the tradition is not proved 
 as is the case with so many traditions. It is a curious fact 
 that some who accept this tradition as certain, reject the 
 far more certain tradition that Christ was crucified on 
 Friday. They say he was slain, the Passover lamb, on 
 Thursday, the fourteenth, and that this was necessary to 
 fulfill the type ; and they further claim that the triumphal 
 entry into Jerusalem was his public setting apart as Pass- 
 over lamb, which was under the law on the tenth, and it 
 must of necessity have been on Sunday. 
 
 We shall consider these views later. They are cited 
 here to show that their advocates must of necessity so 
 count the time as to put Christ at Bethany on Friday be- 
 fore. John tells us that many Jews went up before the 
 feast to purify themselves, and that they were on the alert, 
 inquiring for Jesus, whether he would come to the feast, 
 and when they heard that he was at Bethany, much people 
 came out to see him and also to see Lazarus, who had been 
 raised from the dead, and many went away believing. 
 But the chief priests took counsel to kill Lazarus to get 
 rid of his witness. 
 
 If we follow John's account, the order of events is easy 
 and natural. First, the arrival at Bethany on Sunday; 
 
no Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 Second, The supper at Simon's house that evening, where 
 Lazarus was a guest, and Martha served, and Mary an- 
 ointed Jesus' feet with spikenard and wiped them with 
 the hairs of her head; Third, on the "next day" (after 
 this supper), he rode the ass's colt into the city. (John xi. 
 55-57; xii- I-I5-) The other evangeHsts give no hint of 
 the chronological order. 
 
 Monday. This ''next day" great multitudes went out 
 to meet him when they heard he was coming to Jeru- 
 salem, to welcome his coming and to join a great escort. 
 Up to this time Christ had discouraged all popular dem- 
 onstrations, perhaps, because they savored of civil com- 
 motions and did not sufficiently recognize the spiritual 
 nature of his kingdom. But now he and his immediate 
 disciples seem to have planned the procession, and ordered 
 its details. They deliberately secured the ass's colt on 
 which he rode in the center of the procession. A multi- 
 tude went before, and a multitude brought up the rear. 
 He rode as a king, making a royal progress. Many pro- 
 vided themselves with palm branches and went forth to 
 meet him ; a multitude spread their garments in the way ; 
 and a multitude cut down branches of trees and strewed 
 them in the way. 
 
 The whole multitude of the disciples rejoiced and 
 praised God for all the mighty works they had seen. 
 Those in front and those behind seem to have answered 
 back and forth : "Hosanna ; Hosanna in the highest ; Ho- 
 sanna to the Son of David ; Blessed be the king that 
 Cometh" — all in ceaseless refrain. 
 
 Some Pharisees asked him to rebuke the enthusiasm of 
 his disciples ; he replied, ''If these should hold their peace, 
 the stones would immediately cry out." Thus heartily did 
 he approve and accept their homage and praise. The 
 Pharisees said among themselves : "Perceive ye how ye 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. hi 
 
 prevail nothing? Behold the world is gone after him." 
 This was no howling mob crying Hosanna to-day and 
 "crucify him" to-morrow. It was a great host of disciples 
 gathered to the Passover from every town and city during 
 his public ministry. His enemies were overawed and 
 discomfited, and henceforth they dare nothing against 
 him except by treachery, darkness, and cowardly, lawless 
 haste. 
 
 This great procession followed the road directly over 
 the Mount of Olives, instead of winding about its foot, as 
 they might have done. When they came to the crest of 
 the mountain, and the beauty of the Holy City, and the 
 golden splendors of the temple burst upon their vision, 
 they evidently stopped in silent and devout admiration, 
 as did every pious Jew who passed that way. And Jesus 
 sat weeping on his royal seat as he looked upon the city, 
 and said, 'Tf thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this 
 thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! But now 
 they are hid from thine eyes." Once more, in prophetic 
 vision, he outlined her doom. 
 
 When they entered the city, the whole city was moved, 
 saying. Who is this? And the multitude said: This is 
 Jesus, the prophet, of Nazareth of Galilee. The proces- 
 sion ended at the tempk area, and he entered into the 
 temple, and v^^hen he had looked round upon all things, 
 and now eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany 
 with the twelve. So ends the second day of the week. 
 
 Tuesday. They returned to the city, and on the way 
 Christ cursed the barren fig tree, which, the next day, 
 was dried up to the very roots. We may consider this 
 incident and miracle to better advantage in the trans- 
 actions of that day. 
 
 They went direct to the temple, and he repeated the 
 cleansing of the temple, driving out the dishonest and 
 
112 Studies IN THE Life OF Christ. 
 
 lawless traders and money changers. Compare John ii. 
 13-17; Mark xi. 12-19. This time he says "My house." 
 On the former occasion he said "My Father's house." 
 The tabernacle was the royal pavilion. The temple was 
 the palace of the great King. His kingship had been 
 recognized and asserted the day before, and none dared 
 challenge it. He was, by covenant, their theocratic king, 
 their civil and religious head, and now he publicly claims 
 the temple as his own house, and no one challenges his 
 claim. And he denounces those in possession of it as a 
 "den of thieves." Their dishonest practices and their 
 unlawful occupation of the temple were only too well 
 known to be disputed. Compare Mai. iii. i. 
 
 He spent the day in teaching and healing, and the very 
 children caught up in the temple the refrain of the great 
 royal procession of the day before, "Hosanna to the Son 
 of David !" When the chief priests expressed their dis- 
 pleasure, though they dared not interfere, he quoted from 
 the eighth Psalm — a Messianic psalm — and silenced their 
 cavils. The entire verse reads : "Out of the mouths of 
 babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because 
 of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and 
 the avenger." Then they sought to destroy him, but 
 availed nothing, for "they feared him" and they were 
 afraid of the people. And he went out to Bethany 
 again at night. 
 
 Wednesday. This is the last day of his pviblic minis- 
 try. We have no record of any other day so full of 
 labors. They evidently started early to the city. The dis- 
 ciples, as they passed, marvelled that the fig tree was so 
 soon withered away. 
 
 Commentators differ greatly as to the significance of 
 this miracle, while all concede serious difficulties. Was 
 it merely a spectacular miracle as some suppose ? Hardly ; 
 
Studies in the Life of Ghrist. 113 
 
 for we are told that he was hungry, and he saw a fig 
 tree and sought fruit thereon. Why did he expect to 
 find fruit on it if the "time of figs was not yet?" We 
 may not be able to answer, but we may be sure that 
 Christ was at home among fig trees, and knew their habits 
 of fruit bearing ; and it impugns his intelligence to sup- 
 pose that he had no right to expect to find fruit among 
 the leaves so early in the season, either fruit dried on the 
 tree from the last season, or more probably, a few figs of 
 an early crop that came out on the new wood of the last 
 year and attained some size before the leaves were full 
 grown. We may only say that he was looking for figs 
 in good faith because he was hungry. 
 
 Another difficult question : Why should he be hungry 
 so early in the day and so soon after the morning meal? 
 Perhaps they left Bethany before the hour for the morn- 
 ing meal, for we are told that "All the people came early 
 in the morning to the temple, for to hear him." (Luke 
 xxi. 38.) Or perhaps their means to supply a morning 
 meal was scant. We may not suppose that thirteen men 
 taxed the bounty of Lazarus and his sisters for a week, 
 when it was the custom for those who attended the feasts 
 to bear their own expenses, and not be burdensome to the 
 people in and near the city. The law enjoined a special 
 tithe for this purpose. (Duet. xiv. 23-26.) There are 
 indications that he and his disciples went hungry on other 
 occasions than this. 
 
 There are other questions. Was this a case of pet- 
 ulance on account of the disappointment? Impossible. 
 No one but a blatant infidel can entertain such a 
 suggestion. 
 
 Was the fig tree blasted on account of its barrenness? 
 There is no evidence, or even hint, that it was a barren 
 tree. Then, what was the motive for blasting it? It is 
 
1 14 Studies in the Life of Christ, 
 
 not given. Then what is the spiritual lesson taught by 
 this miracle? The obvious reply is that we may not alle- 
 gorize and spiritualize the miracles. There is a pet theory 
 that miracles are parables in action. We show elsewhere 
 that this theory applies false principles of interpretation, 
 both to parables and miracles. 
 
 The disciples marvelled that the fig tree was dried up 
 so soon, and Christ took occasion to give a last lesson on 
 the ''Faith of miracles." And then he passed from that 
 by an easy transition to a last lesson in prayer. The 
 blasting of the fig tree gave the opportunity for these 
 lessons in faith and prayer, and this was doubtless, part 
 of the motive. Beyond this, we cannot go. We have 
 dwelt upon its recognized difficulty. Common modesty, 
 however, would bid us refrain from adding another les- 
 son to the one he gave. 
 
 We propose only to sketch the work of this day, and 
 not to discuss it. We may easily trace its trend and 
 scope. All his enemies seem to have measured their 
 strength with his in every form of cavil, and he put 
 them all to rout in a fair field, and then he turned his 
 batteries upon them as they fled in consternation before 
 him. He used parables all day long with a climax of ver- 
 satility and power. His enemies had rallied from the 
 consternation of the last three days. We may note the 
 principal incidents of the day by number: 
 
 I. The chief priests and elders came and interrupted 
 his teachings, and said : "By what authority doest thou 
 these things? And who gave thee this authority?" He 
 retorted with the question about the baptism of John, 
 "Whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" When they 
 evaded the issue, he refused to answer at their hypocriti- 
 cal tribunal. Then he spake three parables to them ; The 
 two sons; The wicked husbandmen; and The marriage 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 115 
 
 of the king's son ; and then quoted and applied the pro- 
 phecy of the Rejected Stone. They perceived that he 
 spake of them and left him and went their way. They 
 would have laid hold on him, but they feared the people. 
 (Matt. xxi. and xxii. ; Mark xii. ; and Luke xx.) 
 
 2. Then the Pharisees and the Herodians, with the aid 
 of spies, came with the question about tribute to Caesar: 
 "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" How 
 adroitly he turned the tables on them with the image and 
 superscription on a penny. The right to coin money has 
 always been jealously guarded as one of the regalia of 
 government. They held their peace. 
 
 3. Then came the Sadducees, with their puzzle of the 
 woman that had seven brothers as husbands : "Whose 
 wife shall she be in the resurrection?" His reply out of 
 the Scriptures silenced them also, and after that they 
 durst not ask him any question at all. 
 
 4. Then came a scribe, a lawyer with far more honesty 
 of purpose, but still tempting him, and asked : "Which is 
 the great commandment of the law?" Christ gave him 
 the summary of the two tables. The lawyer answered so 
 discreetly that Jesus said : "Thou are not far from the 
 kingdom of God." (Mark xii. 28-34.) "And no man 
 after that durst ask him any questions." 
 
 5. Then he asked them a question : "What think ye of 
 Christ? Whose Son is he?" They said, David's. And 
 he said: "How then doth David call him Lord?" (Psalm 
 ex. I.) They could not answer. Still they asked no more 
 questions, but the common people heard him gladly. 
 (Matt. xxii. and Mark xii.) 
 
 6. Then he summed up all his former indictments 
 against the Scribes and Pharisees, and denounced eight 
 woes against them for their hypocrisy and iniquity, and 
 proclaimed their speedy doom. His heart seemed to re- 
 
ii6 Studies IN THE Life OF Christ. 
 
 coil from the picture, and he cried : "O Jerusalem, Jeru- 
 salem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them 
 that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
 thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chick- 
 ens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your 
 house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye 
 shall not see me henceforth till you shall say. Blessed is 
 he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Mat- 
 thew xxiii. 1-39.) 
 
 7. Toward evening he sat over against the treasury, 
 perhaps resting after the labors and excitements of the 
 day; and commended the poor widow that cast in two 
 mites of her penury — all that she had, even all her living. 
 (Mark xii. and Luke xxi.) 
 
 8. Certain Greeks desired to see him, and they told 
 Jesus, But he answered them saying: "The hour is come 
 that the Son of Man should be glorified." He had no 
 time to gratify an idle curiosity. We have but a sum- 
 mary of his last formal address and exhortation to his 
 disciples, as found in John xii. 20-36. As he departed 
 he made his last call, his last public proclamation of the 
 Gospel. (John xii. 44-49.) 
 
 9. When he went out from the temple with his disciples 
 he uttered his prophecies concerning the destruction of 
 the temple, and city, and the Jewish polity, and then on 
 to his second coming and the scenes of the general judg- 
 ment. He seems to have continued this discussion as they 
 returned to Bethany, as was their custom. We consider 
 these prophecies more fully in another place. 
 
 10. After he had finished all these sayings, he told 
 them that he should be betrayed after two days, the day 
 after to-morrow at the Passover, and be crucified. 
 "Then," evidently on Wednesday, his enemies held a 
 council at the palace of the high priest to consult how 
 
Studies IN THE Life OF Christ. 117 
 
 they might take Jesus and kill liim. "Then" Judas went 
 to them and covenanted to betray him for thirty pieces of 
 silver ; and from that time he sought opportunity to 
 betray him in the absence of the multitude. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Passover, The Lord's Supper, The Betrayal. 
 
 THURSDAY: Christ seems to have spent the fifth 
 day of the week in much-needed rest at Bethany. 
 The fifteenth of Nisan fell on Friday, the sixth day of the 
 week. The Jews counted their days from sunset to sun- 
 set. The Passover lamb was killed on the fourteenth, 
 at three o'clock, the time of the evening sacrifice, and 
 was eaten after night-fall, and this was on the fifteenth. 
 No other time was lawful, except on certain conditions, 
 which are not pertinent here. Thursday, the fourteenth, 
 was called the first day of unleavened bread, because on 
 that day they put away all leaven out of their houses, pre- 
 paratory to the Passover week. (Exodus xii. 6, i8.) Mat- 
 thew, Mark and Luke agree in this nomenclature. Mark 
 and Luke say that the Passover was to be killed that day, 
 and Matthew's account agrees. (Mark xiv. 12; Luke xxii. 
 7; Matthew xxvi. 17.) 
 
 It has been generally held that Christ and his disciples 
 ate the Paschal lamb at the usual time, and that he was 
 betrayed late that night, and tried and crucified Friday 
 morning. Some object and put the crucifixion on Thurs- 
 day, because of the assumed necessity of his death at the 
 exact hour of killing the Paschal lamb, in order to fulfill 
 the type. Now, there is no indication in the Scriptures 
 that this was necessary. It is not legitimate to press the 
 accidental details or drapery of types beyond Scriptural 
 indications, and beyond their obvious substance and nec- 
 essary identities. The only limits to sucli allegorizing 
 would be the subjective conceits of the interpreter. 
 
Studies IN THE Life OF Christ. 119 
 
 Some claim that Christ and the apostles ate the Pass- 
 over proper on the fourteenth (the evening of the thir- 
 teenth of our count, i. e., Wednesday evening), twenty- 
 four hours earlier than the regular time. This would 
 have been unlawful, and impossible to him who fulfilled 
 all righteousness. Others say that they did not eat the 
 Paschal lamb at all, but only a preliminary meal, ante- 
 dating the Passover proper twenty-four hours, a pre- 
 liminary meal, beginning the eight days feast of un- 
 leavened bread. Both these theories are designed to re- 
 inforce the theory that he was crucified, dead, and buried 
 on Thursday. Does this agree with the record? 
 
 Matthew, Mark, and Luke give the same account of 
 the preparations and arrangements of Christ and the 
 Apostles for eating the Passover. Mark describes the 
 day : "The first day of unleavened bread, when they killed 
 the Passover." Luke says : "When the Passover must 
 be killed." Matthew uses the words, "Prepare the Pass- 
 over," "Keep the Passover." All three say "Eat the Pass- 
 over." He sent two disciples, Peter and John, into the 
 city to prepare and ''Make ready the Passover." This 
 service would seem to devolve on Judas Iscariot. Per- 
 haps he was absent intriguing with the Jews ; or perhaps 
 Christ did not propose that he should know in advance 
 Where they would eat the Passover, lest they should be 
 interrupted by betrayal. They followed his directions and 
 found an "upper room furnished and prepared." It is 
 evident that Christ had already spoken for the place. It 
 is generally supposed to be the house of John Mark. All 
 this transpired before night-fall. "They made ready the 
 Passover." (Matt. xxvi. 17-19; Mark xiv. 12-16; Luke 
 xxii. 7-13.) 
 
 Those who reject this view, argue further that it was 
 necessary that Christ die on Thursday, in order to lie in 
 
I20 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 the grave three full days and three full nights. We 
 shall consider this supposed necessity later on. 
 
 Now, Matthew says : "When even was come, he sat 
 down with his disciples." Mark says : "And in the even- 
 ing he Cometh with the twelve." What evening? Why, 
 the evening of the fourteenth, about which they had just 
 been writing. Luke says: "When the hour was come, 
 they sat down." 
 
 This, then, was Friday, the fifteenth, which began at 
 six o'clock p. M. We come now to the Passover meal. 
 If there were any doubt whether this was a real Passover 
 it disappears with the first words Christ spake after sit- 
 ting down with his disciples. "With desire have I desired 
 to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say 
 unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be 
 fulfilled in the kingdom of God." (Luke xxii. 15, 16.) It 
 was fulfilled when "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed 
 for us." (i Cor. v. 7.) 
 
 This was, evidently, the first Passover kept by him and 
 the apostles as a family, or as the Apostolic College. No 
 former Passover attended by him furnished the necessary 
 conditions. The question of place and rank at the table 
 was both natural and proper, to be settled, however, by 
 the Master of the feast. He properly rebuked their un- 
 seemly strife and ambition. (Luke xxii. 24-30.) 
 
 Christ presided and distributed the food, according to 
 Jewish usage. Peter and John were responsible for the 
 the service, and passed the food to him for distribution. 
 They all reclined, leaning on the left elbow, John on his 
 right, and Peter exactly opposite. The table extended a 
 few feet beyond Peter and John on the right, and the 
 various dishes of food and drink were placed on this ex- 
 tension. The other ten apostles were arranged on each 
 side of the table to his left. Judas Iscariot was next to 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ, 121 
 
 Christ on his left, the post of highest honor, because of 
 his official rank as treasurer. John on the right, occupied 
 the highest place socially, for he was the disciple Jesus 
 loved. Christ, Peter, and John also occupied the post of 
 service, the real post of honor as he expounded it. Wc 
 do not know how the others ranked, but he promised 
 them a kingdom and thrones, presumably in the same 
 order, rank and position, as now assigned them, Judas 
 excepted. 
 
 During the supper, which began with the cup distri- 
 buted to them all, and before eating the Passover, Jesus 
 emphasized his lesson of service by washing their feet. 
 This was often done by a serving host. Peter loyally 
 objected, but soon understood that he was also the serv- 
 ing Saviour, and that there was no salvation without his 
 cleansing service. This was the important lesson, but 
 he told them he meant it also for an example to them to 
 render service to each other. There is no evidence that 
 he intended to institute the rite oi" sacrament of foot- 
 washing, as some suppose and practice. (John xiii. 1-20.) 
 There are other obvious lessons taught in his exposition 
 of what he had done. He expressly exempted one from 
 the statement that they were all clean. He indicated the 
 betrayal by quoting Psalm xli. 9: "He that eateth bread 
 with me hath lifted up his heel against me." 
 
 While they were eating, he made the more definite 
 statement : "One of you which eateth with me shall betray 
 me." They every one began to say, "Lord, is it I ?" The 
 commotion and the consternation, and the questioning 
 among themselves concealed the by play in which he 
 indicated the traitor to John by the sign of the sop given 
 to Judas, for Peter had beckoned to John to ask him. 
 Not to be behind the others in manifestation of interest, 
 Judas said : "Master, is it I ?" With the answer and with 
 
122 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 the sop that Christ gave him, Satan entered into him. 
 Jesus said : "What thou doest, do quickly," and he went 
 out and "it was night." They had, perhaps, assembled 
 and sat down after sunset, before it was entirely dark. 
 Christ then said some things concerning his departure 
 and glorification, which he said much more fully later 
 on. In the meantime, Judas went to find the officers, in- 
 tending, no doubt, to entrap and betray him in that upper 
 room. But the exact hour had not yet come. 
 
 Christ then proceeded to institute and expound the sac- 
 rament of the Lord's Supper, to be observed ever after by 
 his people, as we learn from Paul in i Cor. xi. 23-25. It 
 was and is a monumental custom. Its institution and ob- 
 servance from the beginning is both the illustration and 
 the proof of all it represents, just as a monument of stone, 
 with its inscriptions, bears witness to the truth of that 
 which it commemorates. In this sense, the Passover is a 
 monumental custom. Without attempting here any full 
 discussion of this ordinance, it is sufficient to say that it 
 is a memorial, a witness, a seal of covenant promises on 
 the Divine side, and a seal of faithfulness on man's side. 
 Under the form of a symbolic feast, the Spirit applies 
 and the believer receives the benefits of redemption pur- 
 chased by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Some hold that it is a blood covenant. Christ says: 
 "This is my blood of the New Covenant." The circum- 
 cision blood is called the "blood of my covenant" in the 
 Old Testament. When a blood covenant was made and 
 ratified between two parties, they both became partakers 
 of each other's blood by infusion, or by tasting, actually 
 or symbolically, and the two parties became partakers of 
 the same life, and so became blood brothers. The goel 
 or blood brother is called the avenger of blood, the re- 
 deemer. So Christ is our blood brother and redeemer. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 123 
 
 when we partake of his blood ; and we are aU partakers of 
 a common Hfe, his blood and his Hfe, This is a fascinat- 
 ing theory and probably true. At least it comports with 
 the facts and illustrates them. 
 
 The prophecy of Peter's denial of him, and the perse- 
 cutions and the dispersion have been considered under 
 the head of Christ's Prophecies. (Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John.) His words of comfort, in view of his de- 
 parture, his promise to return, and the promise of the 
 Comforter, have been considered elsewhere. (John xiv.) 
 His last prayer with his disciples and his agony in the 
 garden have been considered under the discussion of 
 "Christ's Prayers." 
 
 Judas, traitor and coward as well, lost several hours 
 in getting a band of soldiers and officers from the chief 
 priests and Pharisees, who had charge of the local police, 
 and in drumming up a multitude with swords and 
 staves — a tumultuous rout. They overtook Christ and 
 his disciples as they were about leaving the garden of 
 Gethsemane. 
 
 Christ challenged them, "Whom seek ye ?" They said, 
 "Jesus of Nazareth ;" and he said, "I am he." They were 
 so overawed by the majesty of his presence that they went 
 backward and fell on their faces. All former attempts 
 to arrest him had failed for the same reason, and this 
 would have failed also, but for his voluntary surrender. 
 He evidently sought to dismiss his disciples in safety, 
 for he said: "If ye seek me, let these go their way." 
 Either then or before, Judas kissed him, and Christ re- 
 proached him for his perfidy. It is hardly fair to charge 
 the disciples with wholesale cowardice, for, instead of 
 leaving as he suggested and indicated, they prepared to 
 fight their way out and to save their Master, though they 
 had but two swords against such odds. Peter had one 
 
124 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 of these swords, and he inflicted a wound, which Christ 
 at once healed, bidding him put up his sword. 
 
 When they saw him submit to be bound, and when he 
 rebuked their intemperate zeal, and defended his present 
 course out of the Scriptures, and then rebuked the mul- 
 titude of his captors — then the panic came and they all 
 forsook him and fled as he wished them to do at first. The 
 soldiers evidently sought to arrest them also, probably on 
 account of Peter's rashness. Mark tells of a young man 
 who fled, leaving a linen garment in the hands of the 
 soldiers. It is supposed that it was Mark himself. Why 
 he should have followed is a mystery, unless Judas and 
 the multitude called at his house to find Christ, and then 
 he followed to see the result ; and he was scantily clad, 
 because he was just out of bed. 
 
 They led Jesus away to trial. It was now after mid- 
 night. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Trial. 
 
 'T'TT'E NOTE several things personal and official con- 
 VV cerning the judges who were to arraign Jesus 
 and compass his death : 
 
 1. The Pharisees and Herodians had conferred to- 
 gether to destroy him, because he confuted them in the 
 controversies about the Sabbath. 
 
 2. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, they 
 gathered a council and determined on the death of Christ. 
 The prophecy and the advice of Caiaphas confirmed them 
 in their purpose. 
 
 3. They took counsel to kill Lazarus also for no crime 
 except that Jesus had raised him from the dead. 
 
 4. Before the last Passover they had laid their plans 
 to arrest him, but were overawed by the great popular 
 demonstrations in his favor. 
 
 5. They bribed one of his disciples to betray him by 
 night, for fear of the crowds by day. 
 
 6. They suborned false witnesses to testify against him, 
 and they found many ready perjurers, to whom they 
 doubtless paid their price. 
 
 7. They sought to kill him according to the forms of 
 law, judicial murder, though they had sometimes stirred 
 up a mob against him to kill him. No wonder Christ said, 
 "Ye are of your father, the devil." 
 
 8. We learn from Josephus that the high-priesthood 
 had become a venal office ; that the appointment was made 
 yearly for money or for political purposes ; and that the 
 
126 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 office might be vacated at the will of the Romans. Annas 
 was made high priest A. D., 7 or 8, and the office re- 
 mained in his family for thirty years or more, with brief 
 exceptions ; such was the political influence of himself and 
 family. Caiaphas was his son-in-law, and filled the office 
 at this time for nine or ten years. 
 
 9. Josephus also tells us that the council or Sanhedrim 
 of seventy members was a court of large jurisdiction, both 
 in the city and throughout the province. We learn from 
 the Book of Acts that their jurisdiction extended as far 
 as Damascus. The power of life and death had been 
 taken away from them for good and sufficient reasons, 
 possibly as early as A. D. 12, when the scepter departed 
 from Judah and a law-giver from between his feet, as 
 Jacob foretold. (Genesis xlix. 10.) If it was not done 
 so early, it certainly was done four years before the cru- 
 cifixion. Capital ofifences could only be tried before a 
 Roman tribunal. 
 
 10. The Talmudists tell us that there was a smaller 
 council or Sanhedrim, of twenty-three members, who had 
 a local jurisdiction, subject to the review of the greater 
 council. Josephus tells us that other towns and cities had 
 each a local council of seven, subject to the great San- 
 hedrim. 
 
 11. The great Sanhedrim usually met in a room in the 
 temple pile, and the smaller usually met in another room 
 in the temple area. Pilate's judgment hall was in the 
 tower of Antonia, which overlooked the temple. The 
 high priest presided over both these councils by virtue 
 of his office, which was become political as well as re- 
 ligious and ecclesiastical. To him and them were en- 
 trusted local self-government and general police powers, 
 and required of them as well. Indeed, this was the usage 
 in all Roman provinces. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 127 
 
 12. It seems evident, also, that Annas, the ex-high 
 priest, Hved with Caiaphas, his son-in-law, in the high 
 priest's palace, hard by the temple area; and it is evident 
 also that he held high official position. Some agree that 
 I the "palace" or "hall" or "house" of the high priest was 
 not their private dwelling, but the "hall" of judgment, 
 where the council usually met. This can hardly be true, 
 because servants of the high priest, both men-servants 
 and maidens, seem to have occupied the "hall" around a 
 fire built for their comfort, for it was cold. John got in, 
 because he was an acquaintance of the high priest and 
 had a welcome there. He brought in Peter to warm 
 himself. This "hall" must have been the court of the 
 palace into which the rooms opened on three sides, after 
 the fashion of the day. 
 
 We are now prepared to follow the course of events 
 after the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. Owing to diffi- 
 culties in the harmony, there is room for a difference of 
 opinion as to the exact order and nature of some of the 
 rapid series of events which transpired in six hours be- 
 tween the arrest and crucifixion. We follow Robinson in 
 the main : 
 
 Christ was carried before five different tribunals. 
 When Judas and his band of temple guards set out to 
 arrest him, they probably went down the stairs from the 
 temple area to the valley of Jehoshaphat and across the 
 brook Kedron, to the garden of Gethsemane, unless they 
 went by the upper room, where they had eaten the Pass- 
 over, which is more probable. They, no doubt, returned 
 by the temple stairs, instead of by the circuitous route 
 through the city. In fact, this was the usual route for 
 temple traffic and for military expeditions. 
 
 I. They carried him first to Annas, the ex-high priest, 
 called, sometimes, the high priest. He was evidently 
 
128 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 awake, and all his household, including Caiaphas and also 
 the scribes and elders, all on the elert for the great event. 
 Annas probably sat as a committing magistrate. We are 
 not told exactly what he did except that he sent him to 
 Caiaphas. It would seem to have been an official act. 
 
 2. They carried him to Caiaphas, and the scribes and 
 elders assembled. This was before day, no doubt, and 
 after three o'clock, as the two cock crowings would indi- 
 cate. There is no certain way to decide whether this was 
 an informal gathering for conference, waiting for the 
 assembling of the great Sanhedrim, who had to be sum- 
 moned from all parts of the city, or whether it was a 
 meeting of the council of twenty-three for a preliminary 
 trial. We seem to be shut into the latter conclusion for 
 several reasons : He was detained there for a consid- 
 erable length of time; he stood bound before them as a 
 criminal; the high priest questioned him of his disciples 
 and his doctrine, hoping to make him incriminate himself 
 and his disciples, after the usual mode. When he replied 
 in a dignified way and referred him to those that heard 
 him for information, one of the officers smote him with 
 the palm of his hand — a dastardy deed — and said, "An- 
 swerest thou the high priest so?" He answered with 
 quiet dignity, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the 
 evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?" 
 
 3. As soon as it was day, possibly an hour before sun- 
 rise, the great Sanhedrim, or council, had been gotten 
 hurriedly together in their hall in the temple area. They 
 consisted of "chief priests and scribes," "elders and all 
 the council," and they took charge of the prisoner, and 
 "led him into their council," the high priest presiding and 
 directing the prosecution and inquisition. 
 
 They had suborned many false witnesses, but their 
 witness did not agree. Then came two drilled witnesses 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 129 
 
 to testify that when he purged the temple three years 
 before, he said: "I will destroy this temple that is made 
 with hands, and in three days I will build another made 
 without hands." But their witness did not agree. No 
 two of his enemies had the same impression of anything 
 he had said or done. One could almost imagine that 
 Nicodemus, or Joseph of Arimathea, or Gamaliel were 
 there to expose these witnesses with relentless cross ex- 
 amination. But they and the other chief rulers that be- 
 lieved on him had hardly been summoned to this untimely 
 and perjured court. 
 
 Then Caiaphas adopted his last resource to escape utter 
 failure. He put Christ himself on oath. He had not till 
 then answered a word. There was no need, for the wit- 
 nesses were all self-convicted liars. Caiaphas said : "I 
 adjure thee, by the Iving God, that thou tell us whether 
 thou be the Christ, the Son of God." This was the grava- 
 men of all their charges, and the secret of all their fiendish 
 animosity. He will hear him confess it. Jesus said, "I 
 am ; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right 
 hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." The 
 high priest rent his clothes in frantic wrath, crying, 
 "Blasphemy." "What think ye?" "And they all con- 
 demned him to be guilty of death." All, not one vote to 
 stay the malice of this packed and perjured jury. 
 
 Up to this point they had acted with some show of 
 regard for the forms of law. But now they rush upon 
 him like a mob, as they did on Stephen afterward, and 
 they spit in his face and buffetted him, and smote him 
 with the palms of their hands, and mocked him and 
 blindfolded him, and smote him on the face and bade him 
 prophesy who smote him, and many other blasphemous 
 words and deeds. They would, no doubt, have torn him 
 in pieces, had they dared do so. 
 
130 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 4. But they could not carry out their sentence, for it 
 was not lawful for them to put any man to death. (John 
 xviii. 31.) So they led him away to Pilate's judgment 
 hall. But they would not go in, lest they defile themselves 
 with pagan contact during the Passover festival, though 
 they stood ready to defile their hands with innocent blood, 
 and their souls with falsehood, perjury, hate and murder. 
 
 Every time that Pilate communicated with them, or 
 they with him, he had to leave his judgment throne and 
 hall and go out to confer ; though, later on, it does seem 
 that they forgot their scruples in their effort to control 
 and direct the howling mob, and overawe the governor 
 into compliance with their demands. 
 
 Pontius Pilate was a weak and vacillating governor, 
 with some sense of responsibility for the righteous rule 
 of Roman law. He made a number of efforts to get rid 
 of the case, or acquit the prisoner, and at the same time 
 save his popularity as governor. He misread the mob 
 before him. They were in no sense representatives of the 
 real public sentiment in Jerusalem, nor of the multitudes 
 that had joined in the triumphal procession, and who 
 had seen and heard Christ all the week, and whose right- 
 eous indignation the rulers feared. The crowd in Pilate's 
 judgment hall were evidently the tumultuous rout that 
 went with Judas to the betrayal, increased by the 
 sycophantic dependents and hangers-on of the scribes and 
 Pharisees, hurriedly gotten together for the occasion in 
 the early morn. 
 
 Pilate's Several Efforts: 
 
 1. He declined jurisdiction and referred the matter 
 back to them. They answered that he was a malefactor, 
 deserving to die, and that he must take the case. 
 
 2. Then he resumed the case, and they brought three 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 131 
 
 charges : Perverting the nation, forbidding to pay tribute 
 to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, the King. Not one 
 word of blasphemy, on which charge they had passed 
 sentence on him. They brought no witnesses, not even 
 a perjured one. Pilate asked him of his kingdom, and 
 when told that his kingdom was spiritual, he went out to 
 the Jews again and said: 'T find in him no fault at all." 
 
 3. Then they accused him of many things, to which 
 he made no answer, so that Pilate marvelled. Still, no 
 witnesses. Pilate reported again : "I find no fault in this 
 man." 
 
 4. Then they grew the more fierce. "He stirreth up 
 the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from 
 Galilee to this place." They evidently charge sedition. 
 When Pilate heard that he was a Galilean and belonged 
 to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to him, for he was in 
 Jerusalem at his palace, attending the feast. His ac- 
 cusers followed him there, but made no impression. 
 
 Herod was so pleased with the courtesy shown him 
 by Pilate, that they made friends that day. They had 
 been at enmity. This was foretold in the second Psalm. 
 Peter expounds it so in Acts. After Herod and his sol- 
 diers had ''set him at naught, and mocked him, and ar- 
 rayed him in a purple robe," he sent him back to Pilate. 
 
 5. Pilate announced to the Jews that neither Herod 
 nor himself had found anything worthy of death in him. 
 He, therefore, proposed to chastise him and let him go, 
 thinking thus to compromise the case, and set him free as 
 a donative to the people at the feast. This last would 
 have been accepted joyously, if only a fair representation 
 of the constituency had been there. But the chief priests 
 moved the people to ask the release of Barabbas, guilty of 
 sedition and murder, perhaps the tool of these seditious 
 rulers. And they demanded that Christ be crucified. 
 
132 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 Pilate asked three times : "Why, what evil hath he done ?" 
 But they cried out the more, "Crucify him, crucify him." 
 At this crucial moment, the chief priests and elders evi- 
 dently mixed with the mob, inspiring and directing and 
 leading their cries. 
 
 6. In the midst of the tumult, Pilate took water and 
 washed his hands before the multitude, saying: "I am 
 innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye to it." 
 Then answered all the people, and said : "His blood be on 
 us and our children." ''Willing to content the people, he 
 released Barabbas unto them" and "delivered Jesus to 
 their will." He had him scourged by the soldiers, as was 
 the cruel custom before crucifixion. The soldiers — the 
 whole band — put a scarlet robe on him, a crown of thorns 
 upon his head, and a reed in his hand, and bowed the 
 knee and mocked him. "Hail king of the Jews," and they 
 spit on him and took the reed and smote him on the head. 
 
 7. Pilate made one more effort to save him. He 
 brought him out to them wearing the crown of thorns and 
 the purple robe, and said : "I find no fault in him," re- 
 peating it a second time, but they cried out: "Crucify 
 him, crucify him.^' Then they showed their true colors in 
 the face of the trumped-up accusations and they said: 
 "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because 
 he made himself the Son of God." 
 
 8. This seemed to perplex Pilate greatly, and he went 
 back into the judgment hall for a conference with Christ. 
 "Whence art thou?" He gave no answer. Pilate rebuked 
 him for not answering, and he said : "Knowest thou not 
 that I have power to crucify thee and power to release 
 thee ?" Jesus answered : "Thou couldest have no power 
 at all against me, except it were given thee from above ; 
 therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater 
 sin." Pilate was greatly mystified. He had a little while 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 133 
 
 before received a message from his wife, "^Have thou 
 nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered 
 many things this day in a dream because of him." 
 
 He seems to have set himself still more resolutely to 
 release him. Then the Jews made their last and fatal 
 thrust: "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's 
 friend." Then Pilate brought him forth to the judgment 
 seat in the Pavement. He said to the Jews, in irony and 
 derision, perhaps : "Behold your king." "Shall I crucify 
 your king?" The chief priests answered: "We have no 
 king but Caesar." Then he delivered him to be crucified. 
 
 The utter shamelessness of the chief priests and elders 
 is obvious at every point in their prosecution before 
 Pilate, and this last pretended zeal for Caesar was eclipsed 
 only by their shameless reply to Judas, when, stricken 
 with remorse, he brought back the thirty pieces of silver, 
 saying: "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent 
 blood." They said, "What is that to us; see thou to 
 that;" themselves the most criminal. When he threw 
 down the money in the temple and went and hanged him- 
 self, they took counsel and said they must not put it in 
 the treasury, because it was the price of blood — "tainted 
 money." They, therefore, expended it for a charity ; they 
 bought the potter's field, to bury strangers in, and so 
 perpetuated their own infamy. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Crucifixion. 
 
 AFTER the soldiers had mocked Jesus, they took 
 off the purple robe, and put his own raiment on 
 him, and led him away to crucify him. It was the custom 
 for the convict to carry his cross to the place of execution 
 in ignominy and shame. So they laid the cross upon him 
 and started, as John tells us; and Paul says: "He en- 
 dured the cross, despising the shame." But he was not 
 equal to it; his strength was exhausted. He had fasted 
 since the paschal supper; he had borne the agonies of 
 Gethsemane, under which he must have died, bleeding 
 at every pore, had not an angel strengthened him ; he 
 had been dragged in fetters to five different tribunals, with 
 all the indignities to which he had been subjected; the 
 soldiers had scourged him as only the Roman soldiers 
 knew how to do; "They ploughed upon my back, and 
 made deep their furrows ;" and with all, he had not one 
 moment of rest or sleep. No wonder he was crushed 
 under the cruel beam, and they found it necessary to 
 compel another to bear it for him, one Simon, a Cyrenian 
 coming out of the country. They would put that indig- 
 nity on no one of themselves. Two malefactors also 
 were led with him to be put to death. A centurion and 
 his band, a hundred men, constituted the military escort, 
 and four soldiers were detailed to each convict to execute 
 the cruel sentence, 
 
 A great company followed him, consisting of the chief 
 priests and scribes, who had compassed his death, and 
 the mob who thirsted for his blood. But the events of the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 135 
 
 night and morning had become known to his intimate 
 friends, and many of them, inchiding John and his mother 
 and other ministering women, came upon the scene and 
 followed, bewailing and lamenting him. But Jesus turned 
 to them and said : "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for 
 me, but weep for yourselves and your children." He told 
 them of the impending doom of the city, and said : "If 
 these things be done in a green tree, what shall be done 
 in the dry?" 
 
 They came to Calvary outside the gate — the place of a 
 skull — so called, either because it was the usual place of 
 public executions, or because the little conical hill bore 
 some resemblance to a skull. This last is usually accepted* 
 The exact location is of small import. 
 
 They offered him a stupefying draught, as was the 
 custom, to deaden his sensibility to suffering, but he 
 would not drink, for he had said : "The cup that my 
 Father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink it?" 
 
 Crucifixion was an ignominious death among the 
 Romans; slaves and criminals of the lower and baser 
 sort were put to death in this way. There was a coarse 
 brutality about it, from which we turn away with horror. 
 The Evangelists give us no details; no more need we. 
 A loyal, loving heart cares not to dwell upon it, save as it 
 attests the infinite love of him who bore our sins on the 
 accursed tree. 
 
 They crucified him, and also the two thieves — one on 
 his right and one on his left. It was done the third hour, 
 nine o'clock, according to Mark. In John it is stated that 
 Pilate passed sentence "about the sixth hour," 12 o'clock. 
 It is universally held that this is a corruption of the text, 
 not only because it disagrees with Mark, but also because 
 Matthew, Mark, and Luke state a number of things which 
 transpired after he was crucified and before the sixth 
 
136 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 hour, when all three expressly state that the darkness 
 began. No variant reading has been discovered for either 
 Mark or John. Scholars have felt shut in to believe that 
 there has been an error here in copying John's Gospel. 
 This discrepancy was noted in the second century. The 
 time was when infidels and skeptics made much of a 
 few discrepancies in numbers like this found in the 
 Scriptures, but now we hear but little of objections from 
 that source, because they are so easily accounted for. 
 
 It seems meet, however that his crucifixion and his 
 death should substantially correspond with the hours of 
 the morning and the evening sacrifice — the" third and 
 ninth hours. We put forward this solution of the diffi- 
 culty with some diffidence. They divided the night into 
 four periods, of three hours each, beginning at six, nine, 
 twelve, and three o'clock by our own mode of count, 
 called the first, second, third, and fourth watches of the 
 night. Small note was taken of the intervening hours for 
 ordinary purposes. The day was divided into four simi- 
 lar periods of three hours each, beginning at six, nine, 
 twelve, and three o'clock by our computation. These 
 periods seem to be named or designated by the hour at 
 which they began, and little note was taken of the hours 
 inside of each period. 
 
 The only mention of an intervening hour inside of one 
 of those periods to be found in the Scripture is in the 
 parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, where mention is 
 made of the eleventh hour. According to this, these 
 several hours designated periods, and not exact defi- 
 nitions of time by the sun-dial. If we allow this expo- 
 sition, then Mark locates the crucifixion in the second 
 period between nine and twelve o'clock. According to 
 John, it was nearly noon at which time the third period 
 began. Eleven o'clock or thereabouts, would fulfill the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 137 
 
 limits of both statements, and harmonize them both. 
 Besides, this would give two more hours for the num- 
 erous details of the trial and sentence, and also allow an 
 hour for the incidents of the crucifixion before the dark- 
 ness set in. Besides, if more time is needed, we are not 
 obliged to suppose that the darkness began exactly at 
 twelve o'clock, and ended exactly at three, nor that he 
 died exactly at three. We may note further that these 
 times are estimated, and not verified exactly to the hour 
 and minute, as is done with chronometers to-day. 
 
 By applying this principle of approximate estimation, 
 we easily resolve some of the discrepancies in numbers 
 found in Old Testament history. This solution does not 
 disagree with the typical parallel indicated above, for 
 the morning burnt offering was made and consumed in 
 the second period, and the evening sacrifice in the fourth 
 period, and not at any point of time. 
 
 Was Pilate there? Why not? The chief priests and 
 elders were there to gloat on the scene. The noblest 
 Romans, men and matrons, found their highest recrea- 
 tions in gladiatorial butcheries, executions of criminals, 
 and combats with wild beasts. Besides, Pilate affixed a 
 title to the cross, "The King of the Jews." The chief 
 priests, writhing under the sarcasm of it, asked him to 
 change it, but he replied: "What I have written, I have 
 written." He must have been there. 
 
 The fulfilments of prophecy during the events of the 
 crucifixion have been discussed under another head, and 
 need not be noted again. 
 
 Christ's prayer, "Father, forgive them, they know not 
 what they do," was evidently a plea for the soldiers who 
 were his executioners, as we see from Luke xxiii. 33, 34. 
 His prayers were always answered, and we have an inti- 
 mation of the answer in this case, for the centurion in 
 
138 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 charge, and they that were with him, glorified God when 
 all was over, and said : "Truly this was the Son of God." 
 Who will say they did not exercise a genuine faith in 
 him, as other centurions and soldiers did, before and after 
 this? 
 
 The surging mob that had followed him reviled him, 
 wagging their heads, and the chief priests and scribes and 
 elders mocked him, and the soldiers Hkewise, saying: "He 
 saved others, himself he cannot save." "If thou be the 
 Son of God, come down from the cross ;" "He trusted in 
 God, let him deliver him," and many other such blas- 
 phemous words and actions. But he "reviled not again." 
 
 The two thieves also joined in the mocking and railery, 
 "casting the same in his teeth," "If thou be the Christ, 
 save thyself and us." But presently one rebuked his 
 fellow sharply, and full of contrition, said to Jesus, "Lord, 
 remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." And 
 Jesus said to him, "To-day thou shalt be with me in 
 Paradise." No repenting sinner was ever yet rejected by 
 him, nor ever shall be. "In Paradise." Where? Not in 
 the grave ; not in Hades, the realm of the dead ; not in the 
 purgatory of the Papist to which they consign the best 
 of men for a season; not in the linibus patrum of the 
 fathers, invented as a temporary receptacle for unbaptized 
 infants and good heathens ; nor yet in the rather colorless 
 intermediate state which some suppose to be the abode 
 of all the dead till after the resurrection of the body. 
 
 Paradise? Where? It is the abode of the blest. The 
 Scriptures call it heaven ; Eden, the earthly paradise, was 
 its type and symbol, which paradise was lost. The Book 
 of Revelation, which tells of Paradise regained, is full 
 of figures drawn from the earthly Paradise. While their 
 bodies were still hanging lifeless on the cross, Christ, in 
 his twofold personality, God and man, and the repentant 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 139 
 
 and forgiven malefactor, made perfect in holiness, imme- 
 diately passed into glory. Such is our faith. 
 
 Now, his mother and her sister and other ministering 
 women from Galilee had overcome their fears and stood 
 by the cross, and John stood by them. The Angel at the 
 Annunciation had said to her : "A sword shall pierce 
 through thine own soul because of him." In this, her 
 extremity, he committed her to the care of the beloved 
 disciple, and he took her to his own home. 
 
 When Jesus was betrayed in the garden, he said : "This 
 is your hour and the power of darkness." He might have 
 asked for twelve legions of angels to defend and avenge 
 him, but no, the Scripture must be fulfilled. Peter says 
 that he was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore- 
 knowledge of God, to be crucified and slain by wicked 
 hands. Sin and Satan had everything their own way. 
 Malignity was triumphant and blatant. When they dis- 
 honored the Son, they dishonored the Father. 
 
 Again and again the Father had spoken from heaven to 
 attest and vindicate the claims of his Son. Shall the 
 Father give no witness now, even though the Son is 
 draining the dregs of the cup of wrath in the sinner's 
 place? It would seem that heaven could forbear no 
 longer. At midday began a series of portents, such as 
 had never yet been witnessed by man, nor ever shall be 
 until the final consummation. At high noon, when the 
 sun was shining in his splendor on Jerusalem and on the 
 hills and valleys of Palestine, there settled a pall of dark- 
 ness over all the land. The sun was veiled in darkness 
 for three hours. The word, in the original, may or may 
 not mean total darkness; but, taken in connection with 
 the other portents, we may fairly assume that it was 
 total. The story of that three hours is not written. There 
 was nothing for men to write. The reviling, scoffing 
 
140 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 mob is stricken into silence and abject fear. The Roman 
 soldiers cease from their profane raffle. Not a voice nor 
 sound is heard, unless, perchance, the sobbing of the 
 women, now retired to a distance, or now and then a 
 groan from the suffering Saviour, or now and then a 
 drop of clotted blood falling to the ground. 
 
 What does it mean ? It is not a mere portent to rebuke 
 his enemies. His despairing cry at the end of the period 
 tells the story: "My God, My God, why hast thou for- 
 saken me?" Gethsemane is repeated, and more than 
 repeated, in the anguish and throes of spiritual death — the 
 hiding of God's face. His prayer was heard ; his ex- 
 postulation touched the Father's heart. The darkness is 
 lifted, the sun comes brightly out in the middle of the 
 afternoon ; the divine favor is restored ; and he had fin- 
 ished the work the Father had given him to do. A great 
 cry; a shriek. Then he said: "Father, into thy hands I 
 commend my spirit." And he cried, "It is finished," and 
 bowed his head and gave up the Ghost. 
 
 And behold the vail of the temple was rent in twain 
 from the top to the bottom, as if the great descending 
 hand of Jehovah had rent it. The way into the Holy of 
 Holies is henceforth open to all. He will no longer oc- 
 cupy the royal pavilion as the theocratic head of his peo- 
 ple. They have repudiated and murdered their king. 
 
 And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. Earth- 
 quakes are said to be more awe-inspiring and terrific 
 than any or all of nature's portents besides. It was so 
 at Mount Sinai, and it was so here. 
 
 And the graves were opened — rock-hewn tombs in the 
 sides of the mountain, and many bodies of the saints, 
 which slept, arose and came out of their graves after 
 his resurrection and went into the Holy City, and ap- 
 peared unto many. The significance of this resurrection 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 141 
 
 will be considered in the next chapter. It is sufficient to 
 mention it here. 
 
 In these portents Christ was vindicated, his claims to 
 sonship attested, and his enemies confuted. No wonder 
 the centurion and those with him said: *'Of a truth this 
 was the Son of God." No wonder the crowd that 
 hounded on these things, smote upon their breasts and 
 departed. 
 
 The Jewish law did not allow a body to hang on the 
 tree over night, but it had to be removed by the going 
 down of the sun. The Romans had no such law, but the 
 victims of crucifixion sometimes lingered two or three 
 days before dying. But, now, this day was the prepara- 
 tion for the Sabbath, and that Sabbath, the Sabbath of 
 the Passover, was a ''high day," probably the most im- 
 portant in the year. Out of defference to the Jews, Pilate 
 gave orders that their legs be broken and their bodies 
 taken away. The soldiers on either side brake the legs of 
 the two thieves, to end their agonies, but when they came 
 to Jesus, they found him dead, and brake not his bones, 
 and the Scripture was fulfilled: ''A bone of him shall not 
 be broken." This was the law of the Passover lamb, 
 which was a type, a prophecy of him. We have seen 
 that typology was prophecy in elaborate object lessons. 
 
 But was he dead ? Perhaps he had swooned. In order 
 to be sure of his death, one of the soldiers pierced his side 
 and sought his heart with the precision of a Roman 
 spearsman, and when he pierced the pericardium, "forth- 
 with came there out blood and water." The blood which 
 had accumulated there from the broken valve had already 
 separated into the watery serum and the more solid 
 coagulation. Another Scripture was fulfilled: "They 
 shall look on him whom they pierced." John only records 
 the piercing, but he insists on the truth of his testimony 
 
142 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 as eye-witness. His executioners were satisfied of his 
 death. The centurion assured Pilate he was dead. There 
 could be no mistake. 
 
 Then came Joseph of Arimathea, and begged the body 
 of Jesus. He was a rich man, an honorable counsellor, 
 already a secret disciple, waiting for the kingdom of God. 
 Nicodemus joined him. They took down the body with 
 loving hands and wrapped it in fine linen, with myrrh 
 and aloes. They laid it in Joseph's own new rock-hewn 
 tomb, in a garden hard by. And they rolled a great 
 stone and closed the sepulchre, no doubt the properly 
 fitted door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the other 
 Mary sat over against the tomb and saw how they laid 
 him, and then went away to prepare sweet spices and 
 ointments ; and they rested on the Sabbath day, accord- 
 ing to the Commandment. 
 
 On the next day, which was the Sabbath, the chief 
 priests and Pharisees went to Pilate and said: "Sir^ we 
 remember that that imposter said while he was yet alive : 
 'After three days I will rise again.' " So, to make sure, 
 they put the governmental seal on the stone and set a 
 watch of soldiers, lest his disciples should come by night 
 and steal the body away. So they unwittingly provided 
 wakeful, watchful, and disinterested witnesses to his res- 
 urrection, for it was death for a Roman soldier to sleep 
 on his post. ' ''^ "'• ' ; 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Resurrection and Ascension. 
 
 AT EARLY dawn, the first day of the week, after 
 the Sabbath was passed, there was a great earth- 
 quake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven 
 and came and rolled away the stone from the door of the 
 sepulchre and sat upon it. His appearance was like 
 lightning. This earthquake was no natural phenomenon, 
 though earthquakes were not unusual in Palestine. It 
 was connected with the power of the angel, and was a 
 fitting miraculous attestation to the resurrection and to 
 Christ's triumph over death and hell. No wonder the 
 watch did shake with fear, and became as dead men. Be- 
 fore they recovered, he was risen and gone, and not in 
 haste, as was indicated by his disposition of the grave 
 clothes. They evidently fled in terror. Before the women 
 arrived at the sepulchre, some of the watch were well on 
 their way into the city, to report the facts to the chief 
 priests. They assembled with the elders — one of the 
 Sanhedrim, doubtless— and took counsel, and gave large 
 money to the soldiers, bribing them to suppress the facts 
 and say that the disciples came by night and stole the 
 body while they slept. And they promised, "if this come 
 to the governor's ears we will persuade him and secure 
 you." This arrangement inevitably leaked out and became 
 current, to the evident discomfiture of his enemies and a 
 larger reaction of popular faith and favor. The actual 
 testimony of the only eye-witnesses to the resurrection 
 scene thus became public property, and was all the more 
 effective, because of the shameful eflfort to suppress it. 
 
144 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 There has been much discussion of designations of time 
 in the history as given in the Gospels, ''On the third day," 
 and "After three days." These two are easily disposed 
 of as signifying the same thing, counting part of Friday 
 as one day ; Saturday as one day ; and part of Sunday as 
 one day. This mode of counting was usual among the 
 Jews. But the phrase "Three days and three nights" 
 has given much trouble, for on any mode of reckoning, 
 he was only two nights in the grave, and only about 
 thirty-six hours in all, instead of seventy-two hours 
 (three whole days and nights.) The traditional solution 
 is that the phrase is technical, and was well understood 
 by those for whom the Evangelists wrote. We have a 
 similar usage in i Samuel xxx. 11-13, where the phrase 
 "three days agone" (which is "day before yesterday") is 
 called "three days and three nights." We reconcile the 
 apparent discrepancy in this way : "A night and a day" 
 was a unit period, called also a day. Any part of this 
 unit counts as the whole, and might be called by any name 
 given to the unit. In this nomenclature the day, or any 
 part of it, no matter how small,was properly called "a day 
 and a night." Parallel to this was the mode of counting 
 the years of a life, or of a king's reign. A few days or 
 any fraction of a year, at the beginning or end of a 
 reign, was counted as a year — any part of the unit was 
 counted as the whole. Yet, some have been so troubled 
 with the apparent contradiction that they have found it 
 necessary, by a forced exegesis, to locate the crucifixion 
 on the day before the Passover, Thursday, which has 
 already been confuted. 
 
 To return to the events of the early morning. The two 
 Marys, Salome, Joanna, and other women were on their 
 way to the sepulchre with the spices they had bought to 
 anoint the body. The exact order of events and the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 145 
 
 number and order of his appearances that day are not 
 easy of solution, as gleaned from the accounts of the four 
 evangelists. It is usually admitted that there were five 
 appearances of Christ that day, though no one of the 
 Gospels mentions them all. Mark mentions three and 
 says he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. Every effort 
 has been made to explain away this as the first. The 
 appearance to Peter is not mentioned by either evangelist. 
 The appearance to the company of women is mentioned 
 only by Matthew, and incidentally alluded to by Luke. 
 The appearance to Cleopas and another disciple is men- 
 tioned by Mark and Luke. The appearance to the apostles 
 at night is found only in Mark and John. 
 
 Much of the difficulty of arranging the order of events 
 is due to the assumption that all the women went to- 
 gether to the tomb. This assumption is by no means 
 necessary, but rather the contrary. We may assume that 
 they had agreed to meet at the tomb early the first day of 
 the week. And they seem to have arrived, some alone, 
 and some two and three together ; "when it was yet 
 dark ;" when "it began to dawn ;" "Very early in the 
 morning;" "At the rising of the sun." These would 
 seem to be different designations of time, in part at least. 
 No doubt they were all there by sunrise, or soon there- 
 after. Starting with this theory, we easily adopt the 
 following as the order of events : 
 
 I. Mary Magdalene reached the tomb "while it was yet 
 dark," and §aw the stone rolled away, and the watch 
 gone. She ran with such speed as the occasion inspired 
 and told Peter and John, evidently not very far away, 
 and said, "They have taken away the Lord out of the 
 sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him." 
 They both ran with all speed, John out-running Peter. 
 John looked in and saw the linen clothes lying. Peter 
 
146 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 then ran up and went into the tomb, and noticed the or- 
 derly arrangement of the linen clothes, and the napkin 
 that was about his head, wrapped together in a place 
 by itself. John then went in, and noting these things 
 carefully, he believed, strangely enough, "For as yet they 
 knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the 
 dead." Then they went home — Peter's home, which was 
 in the city. But Peter was still "wondering in himself 
 at that which was come to pass." His faith was still weak. 
 He was mystified. 
 
 By this time Mary Magdalene had gotten back and 
 stood at the sepulchre weeping. She stooped down and 
 looked in, and saw two angels sitting, the one at the head 
 and the other at the foot where the body of Jesus had 
 lain, and they said : "Woman, why weepest thou ?" When 
 she had told her trouble, she turned and saw a man near 
 her. She supposed it was the gardener, and made her 
 plaint. But Jesus said, "Mary." She knew him and 
 cried, "Master," and was evidently about to embrace his 
 feet, when he forbade her. This was the first appear- 
 ance, according to Mark, and there was ample time for 
 these things before the rising of the sun — the best part 
 of an hour. 
 
 2. By this time the women had all arrived on their 
 errand of love, some of them wondering who would roll 
 away the stone. The first sight that greeted their eyes 
 was the angel sitting on the stone now rolled away, very 
 much as the watch had seen him. He bade them, "Fear 
 not." Thus reassured, they entered the sepulchre and 
 there saw another angel and he too said: "Be not 
 afifrighted." The two angels joined in assuring them 
 that he was risen from the dead ; "Come and see the 
 place where the Lord lay." How sweet the invitation to 
 these yearning, loving hearts and ministering hands. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ, 147 
 
 While they were still much perplexed, two other men 
 in shining garments stood by them and joined in the con- 
 ference with them — four angels and possibly a dozen 
 women. This could not have been a formal conference- 
 one angel after another talking and formal replies from 
 the women. It is so much easier and more natural to 
 suppose that these four angels talked informally with the 
 women as they arrived, and as they passed in and out 
 at their kind invitation. The four angels separately and 
 jointly addressing one and another of the women, 
 told them the story, soothed their fears, confirmed their 
 faith and bade them go quickly and tell his disciples. And 
 they must especially tell poor, suffering Peter, whose 
 memory of the denial was still acute, and his faith still 
 weak; "He is risen from the dead and goeth before you 
 into Galilee." And the women departed quickly in 
 fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word. 
 Mary Magdalene seems now to be in the forefront, for 
 she had already seen him. 
 
 And as they went Jesus met them, saying, ''All hail, 
 and they came and embraced his feet and worshipped 
 him," Mary Magdalene with the rest. He does not now 
 forbid to touch him. He repeated the message of the 
 angels to his disciples. They went and told all these 
 things to the eleven and to all the rest. But their words 
 seemed as idle tales. This was the second appearance. 
 
 3. Paul in I Cor. xv. 5-8, in making a partial list of 
 the witnesses, says, "He was seen of Cephas (Peter) then 
 of the twelve." It is usual to locate this appearance to 
 Peter in the afternoon, for the two disciples going to 
 Emmaus had not heard of it when they left the city, 
 though they do refer to the visit of Peter and John to the 
 empty tomb. But on their return to the city, they were 
 told that he had appeared unto Simon. This, then, was 
 
148 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 the third appearance, and the special reason of it is not far 
 to see, other than that he was the chief apostle, as the 
 Romanist claims. It would seem profane to attempt to 
 describe the sacred and holy tenderness and love of that 
 interview. 
 
 4. The fourth appearance was to Cleopas and another 
 disciple, as they were going that same day, toward even- 
 ing, to a village called Emmaus. Cleopas was the hus- 
 band of the other Mary, and was also the brother of 
 Joseph, and was thus the double uncle of Jesus. His 
 name was also Alpheus, and he was the father of James 
 the Less, of Jude and of Joses. We have reason to think 
 that Luke was his companion on this trip ; and he wrote 
 full details of their meeting with Jesus, while Mark only 
 mentions the fact of his appearing to them. They were 
 both mature men of fifty or sixty years, men of great 
 prominence and influence among the early disciples. 
 
 This interview is the most striking and interesting of 
 them all in the recorded details. Emmaus was named 
 for its "hot baths," and was seven and a half miles north- 
 west of Jerusalem, quite a long walk. As they walked, 
 they communed earnestly and sadly of the events of the 
 last few days. Jesus joined them^ but their eyes were 
 holden, that they did not know him. 
 
 We may allow Luke to tell the story in his own words, 
 (xxiv. 17-27) : "He said unto them, what manner of 
 communications are these that ye have one to another 
 and are sad ? And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, 
 answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in 
 Jerusalem, and hast not known of the things which are 
 come to pass in these days ? And he said unto him, what 
 things? And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of 
 Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word 
 before God, and all the people ; and how the chief priests 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 149 
 
 and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death 
 and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been 
 he which should have redeemed Israel ; and besides all 
 this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. 
 Yea, and certain women, also of our company, made us 
 astonished, which were early at the sepulchre ; and when 
 they found not his body, they came saying that they had 
 also seen a vision of angels, which said he was alive. 
 And certain of them which were with us went to the 
 sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said, 
 but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools 
 and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have 
 spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things 
 and to enter into his glory? And, beginning at Moses 
 and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the 
 Scriptures the things concerning himself." 
 
 We know not the exact arguments he used, but there 
 was ample time, as they walked, to unfold the Scriptures 
 from Genesis to Malachi, and to set up his claims, and 
 to expound his sufferings from type and prophecy— "the 
 lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world"— 
 and also to assure them of his resurrection glory. We 
 may not put words into his mouth ; no more may we sup- 
 pose that he omitted anything of importance in the un- 
 folding. 
 
 As they drew nigh the village, they pressed their hos- 
 pitality upon him. Some have entertained angels un- 
 awares. Abraham once entertained him in theophanic 
 incarnation, along with two angels, and was blessed. 
 These men were also blessed in entertaining the same 
 Lord, incarnated and risen. They knew him when he 
 took the bread and blessed it; and he vanished out of 
 their sight. And they said to each other, "Did not our 
 hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the 
 way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" 
 
150 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 They returned at once to Jerusalem, and found tlie 
 eleven gathered together, and others with them, who said, 
 "The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared unto 
 Simon." Some did not believe the story of the two dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 5. Still later in the evening, the eleven sat at meat with 
 doors shut, for fear of the Jews. The word, in the orig- 
 inal, means shut, barred, and barricaded. Jesus suddenly 
 appeared in their midst with the salutation, "Peace be with 
 you." "They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed 
 they had seen a spirit." He showed them his hands and 
 his feet and his side. When they still could hardly believe 
 for joy and wonder and the overmastering ecstasy, he ate 
 a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb before them. 
 
 He then gave them a summary from Moses, the Pro- 
 phets, and the Psalms ; how it behooved him to suffer and 
 to rise from the dead on the third day. And he opened 
 their hearts to understand the Scriptures. He also gave 
 them the great commission : "Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the gospel to every creature." But he bade 
 them tarry at the city of Jerusalem until they were "en 
 dued with power from on high," by which all the neces 
 sary "signs following" might be wrought and realized in 
 attestation of their mission. 
 
 Here, again, Luke is much fuller in recording details 
 because this was, in a sense, a continuation, repetition 
 and expansion of his interview with Jesus on his way to 
 the country. The appearance named by Paul may have 
 been the one just recited or it may have been the one a 
 week later, or it may have included both. 
 
 6. Thomas, called Didymus, was absent when Jesus 
 showed himself in the midst of his disciples, and when 
 he was told of it, he expressed his unbelief in the most 
 emphatic terms. "After eight days" — seven by our 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 151 
 
 count — they were all assembled, and Thomas was present, 
 and the doors were shut. Christ again appeared in their 
 midst, and he challenged Thomas : "Reach hither thy 
 fingers and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand 
 and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but be- 
 lieving." Thomas explored the still gaping wounds, and 
 said, "My Lord and my God," convinced and adoring. 
 Jesus said: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou 
 hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and 
 yet have believed." What other lessons he gave that 
 night, we are not informed. 
 
 7. The seventh appearance recorded was to seven of 
 the disciples, presumably all apostles, who went fishing in 
 the Sea of Galilee, under the leadership of Peter. They 
 toiled all night, and caught nothing. In the morning a 
 stranger stood on the shore and bade them cast the net 
 on the right side of the ship. They did so, and were 
 barely able to land the net, with the help of the other 
 little ship — ''one hundred and fifty and three great fishes." 
 John recognized him^ and told Peter. And they all soon 
 knew him, and they saw a fire of coals on the land and 
 fish laid thereon and bread. And Jesus gave them a 
 morning meal of his own providing — ''bread and fish 
 likewise." John speaks of this as the third appearance 
 of Jesus to his disciples, though four were absent. 
 
 His challenge of Peter's love three times — "Lovest thou 
 me?" — and his commission — "Feed my lambs," "Feed 
 my sheep" — are matters of great interest at this inter- 
 view. So, also, his prophetic description of how Peter 
 should die. It seems also that Jesus asked Peter to follow 
 him a little distance for a more private interview, and 
 Peter looked behind and saw John following, and said 
 to Christ, "Lord, what shall this man do?" Jesus re- 
 plied, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
 
152 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 thee? Follow thou me." In this reply he rebuked Peter's 
 jealousy, and at the same time intimated to John to re- 
 main behind and await his return. Out of this incident 
 grew the report that John would not die. He recites 
 the incident in his gospel, in order to show the absurdity 
 of the report. (John xxi. 19-24.) 
 
 8. Then he appeared to the eleven by appointment on a 
 certain mountain in Galilee. It is agreed that the five 
 hundred disciples mentioned by Paul were present at this 
 time for a final interview, a fitting close of his Galilean 
 ministry. Here he repeated the great commission, in 
 slightly varied form, and said, "Lo, I am with you al- 
 ways, even to the end of the world." Whatever else the 
 Parousia may mean, this promise has always been in- 
 effably precious, and always will be. 
 
 9. After this, he appeared to James, but we know 
 nothing of it except the bare fact. 
 
 10. There may have been other appearances, and prob- 
 ably were, for we read : "He shewed himself alive after 
 his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 
 for forty days." Enough, however, has been told us for 
 our instruction and profit. (Acts i. 3.) 
 
 At the end of forty days the apostles met him in Jeru- 
 salem for the last time, evidently by appointment. He 
 repeats certain promises and injunctions that he had 
 given before, touching their early baptism with the Holy 
 Ghost, so that they shall be witnesses to him, both in 
 Jerusalem, and in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the utter- 
 most parts of the earth. 
 
 And he led them out as far as Bethany, or better, "till 
 they were over against Bethany," on Mount Olivet. "He 
 lifted up his hands aad blessed them." And "while he 
 blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up 
 into heaven ;" and "sat on the right hand of God." As he 
 ascended, ^'A cloud received him out of their sight." 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 153 
 
 While they were still looking upward, two men, in 
 shining apparel, two angels, stood by them and said : 
 "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen 
 him go into heaven." Luke says ''They worshipped him 
 and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were con- 
 tinually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen." 
 
 There is a strong probability that "forty days," so 
 often recurring in the Scriptures, is an abbreviation for 
 "forty and two days" and signifies six weeks. If so, then 
 the Ascension took place on the first day of the week, 
 just six weeks after the resurrection, and one week be- 
 fore Pentecost. The statement made by Luke in Acts i. 
 12, that Mount Olivet was a Sabbath day's journey from 
 Jerusalem seems to confirm this view. They had already 
 begun to observe the first day of the week as their Sab- 
 bath, and they considered it important to observe the day 
 according to approved usage. 
 
 We have already seen that in the closing crucifixion 
 scene, "The graves were opened ; and many bodies of the 
 saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after 
 his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared 
 unto many." It is plain that the rock-walled tombs were 
 opened by the earthquake when the rocks were rent, but 
 this resurrection of the saints was after Christ's resurrec- 
 tion and connected with its power. What did it signify? 
 We may not speculate, much less dogmatize about it. 
 But Paul gives us the key when he says : "Now is Christ 
 risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them 
 that slept." On the first day of the week after the Sab- 
 bath in Passover week the high priest presented a new- 
 mown sheaf, the first fruits of the ripening harvest, before 
 the Lord. This first fruits was the earnest and pledge of 
 the harvest and of the divine blessing thereon. This was 
 
154 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 a type which Christ fulfilled in his resurrection the first 
 day of the week, the earnest and the pledge of the res- 
 urrection of his people. When our great High Priest 
 passed into the heavens it would seem meet that he carry 
 with him a sheaf of first fruits of them that slept, these 
 saints that came out of the graves after his resurrection, 
 of which many people in Jerusalem were witnesses ; and 
 these first fruits he presented to the Father as his pledge 
 to bring all his people in due season. His resurrection 
 was his pledge to us ; their resurrection was a pledge to 
 the Father. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, to thy 
 name be all the glory." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Overlapping of the Dispensations. 
 
 THE Scriptures consist of two parts, called the Old 
 Testament and the New Testament, the Old Cov- 
 enant and the New Covenant. They set forth the history 
 and the principles and the varied forms of two great 
 divine administrations, which we call dispensations. The 
 term covenant is more scriptural, perhaps, but the word 
 dispensation suits our purpose better, because its usage is 
 not so varied. 
 
 We call one Jewish and the other Christian, but there 
 is no distinct line of cleavage, as we shall see, but rather 
 a transition period, which is easily recognizable. 
 
 Moses is called the author of the Jewish Dispensation, 
 and the Christian Dispensation is named for Christ. The 
 Old Testament Scriptures give account of other dispen- 
 sations, or administrations, or covenants, both before and 
 after Moses. 
 
 Strictly speaking, there has been but one administration 
 or dispensation from the beginning to the end of time, in 
 which the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have originated, 
 executed, and perfected the divine plan and purpose for 
 the salvation of sinners. But such changes have been 
 made from time to time in the outward form and in the 
 organization and franchises of his redeemed people, that 
 we may fairly speak of them as different dispensations of 
 divine origin. The church dates back to the beginning, 
 and has had various forms of life and organization till 
 now, and will have till the end of time. 
 
156 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 We seek to discover the law of these changes; how 
 originated and how executed. Were they the naturahstic 
 products of an evolutionary process, constantly reaching 
 after something better, both in form and principle? 
 Some say yes. These suppose that they have discovered 
 the history of the material universe from dead matter in 
 primeval form, through all its inorganic and its organic 
 forms, up to man. They then consistently seek to account 
 for the historic unfolding of all human institutions, social, 
 civil, religious, and ecclesiastical, by the same, or anal- 
 ogous evolutionary processes, and they leave scant room 
 for divine agency. 
 
 Or may we suppose that all the changes we trace in 
 form and doctrine throughout the ages are a development 
 from germinal forms and principles, according to neces- 
 sary laws, and under the providental guidance of infinite 
 wisdom? Yes, say some. 
 
 This theory is certainly much more reverent and at- 
 tractive than the other. We do not propose to reply to 
 either of these theories except as a presentation of the 
 historic facts may bear upon them. 
 
 While the covenant of grace was made in the counsels 
 of eternity between the Father and the Son, there has 
 been a human side in which man was not only the benefi- 
 ciary, but a prominent factor in the various forms of ad- 
 ministration of that eternal covenant. Several changes 
 were made in the outward form and dress of the church 
 on occasion to suit varying conditions, and each change 
 issued in a new dispensation, until another change be- 
 came necessary. 
 
 Our object is to sustain this principle, that each new 
 dispensation was engraffed on the old, overlapping it for 
 a season, but not superseding it till it became necessary by 
 the logic of events. This comports with a fuller discus- 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 157 
 
 sion and definition of Bible covenants found in Chapter 
 IV., pp. 43-52 of '^Modern Mysticism" by the author. 
 The same principle is further elucidated in the discussion 
 of the Synagogue, which is to be published in another 
 connection. 
 
 We may note, further, that every dispensation had 
 certain fundamental facts and features, which are of the 
 very essence thereof, and which continued through all 
 changes of form and dress and will continue till the end. 
 The form and fashion might change, but the substance 
 remained unchanged and unchangeable. 
 
 A careful induction would seem to indicate six dispen- 
 sations — The Patriarchal, The Abrahamic, The Mosaic, 
 The Regal, The Synagogue, and The Christian dispensa- 
 tions. We shall see that none of these were independent 
 of the others, but they overlapped and supplemented each 
 other. Accidental and temporary features passed away 
 when they had served their purpose. Universal and nec- 
 essary features abide. 
 
 I. The Patriarchal Dispensation. The history before 
 the flood is very meagre, but we easily recognize certain 
 fundamental features of their spiritual life and worship. 
 They had so much of natural religion, as is suggested by 
 the family, the Sabbath, the moral law and its sanctions, 
 and the obligation to worship God, all accentuated by di- 
 vine teaching. They had a ritual typology in their wor- 
 ship, bloody offerings and oblations, administered by a 
 priesthood on holy ground "Before the Lord." There 
 were divine communications in various forms. It need 
 hardly be said that the fulfilment of all this was in the 
 Gospel, and that Christ was the substance of it all. It 
 would seem also that the head of the house was the re- 
 ligious head of the family in the three-fold ofitice of king, 
 priest and prophet, as appears so plainly later on. And 
 
158 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 the place for assembling for ordinary worship was the 
 home, or tent, or family roof-tree. The human adminis- 
 tration was, therefore, patriarchal. What form of hier- 
 archy there was above and superior to the single family 
 priest is not revealed, but essential analogy, as seen later 
 on, would seem to say that there was a governmental 
 bond maintained by such a hierarchy, and lodged in it. 
 After the flood, Noah evidently followed antediluvian 
 antecedents in worship from the day he came out of the 
 ark. The patriarchal system exactly fitted the conditions 
 as at the beginning. Tradition says that Shem became 
 the great high priest in the hierarchy in which Melchize- 
 dek was his possible successor. Some think that Melchi- 
 zedek was Shem himself. 
 
 II. The Abrahamic Dispensation. This began with the 
 covenant with Abraham, whereby he became the father 
 of the faithful for all time, and also the father of a people 
 who should receive and preserve the oracles of God 
 against the time of universal apostasy. This dispensation 
 or covenant was ratified and sealed with the rite of cir- 
 cumcision. He and his descendants preserved the pa- 
 triarchal system in worship and form unmodified, for 
 four hundred and thirty years. He also recognized and 
 lived under the older patriarchal hierarchy, for he paid 
 tithes to Melchizedek, a great high priest. Have we no 
 traces of this hierarchy later on? When Joseph was in 
 Egypt the worship of Jehovah seems to have been the 
 religion of the state under the shepherd kings, and 
 Potipherah, priest of On, seems to have been their high 
 priest. Moses lived for forty years in close contact with 
 Jethro, prince and priest of Midian. Balaam, another 
 high priest of the same people in the far East, marks a 
 stage in the apostasy and decay which went rapidly on 
 while Abraham's descendants were growing into a great 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 159 
 
 people. There is no indication that there were any other 
 than family priests among them till they reached Mount 
 Sinai ; at least, after the expulsion of the shepherd kings 
 and their worship. 
 
 III. The Mosaic Dispensation; sometimes called the 
 Sinaitic Covenant. Up to the Mosaic institutions there 
 had been no modification of the patriarchal system of 
 worship, except the natural results of turning away from 
 the worship of the true God to polytheism and idolatry. 
 This went on more and more rapidly as the centuries 
 passed, and with such momentum that the worship of God 
 by the Hebrews was often put in jeopardy. 
 
 The Mosaic legislation was God-given, and consisted of 
 two parts, civil and religious. The family was adjusted 
 to the State, and became an integral part of a great com- 
 monwealth. This commonwealth was a confederated re- 
 pubUc of sovereign States. This, we cannot discuss at 
 this time, except to define this commonwealth as a theo- 
 cracy, of which Jehovah was the civil head and king. To 
 this was added a fairly well defined and imposing ritual 
 of pantomime and pageant worship, which was national 
 in its aspects, and not to be confounded with the worship 
 of individuals, families, and congregations. The civil side 
 of this covenant passed through various modifications 
 down to the time of its final overthrow by the Romans. 
 These, however, would hardly be called dispensations, ac- 
 cording to the definition under which we are working, 
 except, perhaps, one. 
 
 On the reHgious and ecclesiastical side in Mosaic legis- 
 lation Jehovah was also the head of the church, as he has 
 been in all dispensations, and that headship was mani- 
 fested at the tabernacle along with his civil headship. 
 The two met in him separately and yet conjointly, each 
 in equilibrio. 
 
i6o Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 The patriarchal system was modified to this extent : 
 
 1. The priesthood was taken out of the family, and 
 lodged in a priestly tribe and family ; and a hierarchy was 
 set up with a high priest, having priests under him. 
 
 2. The oracle and the spirit of prophecy were taken 
 out of the family and lodged in the high priest by virtue 
 of the office, and in such prophets as might receive a 
 special divine call to the office of prophet. 
 
 3. The Levites were assistants to the priests in the 
 tabernacle service, and were also the educators of the 
 young; and by reason of their leisure, became the learned 
 expounders of the divine law. Tithes supported priests 
 and Levites. 
 
 4. The head of the family remained as before — the 
 responsible head and teacher of his house — and the pa- 
 triarchal forms and modes of moral and spiritual worship 
 remained as heretofore. Levites and inspired prophets and 
 teachers assisted and reinforced this simple patriarchal 
 worship. Organized congregations were not yet intro- 
 duced. 
 
 5. Moral law was written in permanent form as the 
 foundation of this covenant, and was further elucidated 
 and applied in detail throughout their social and civil in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 6. Ritual and typical worship remained as handed 
 down from the beginning, and the details were all care- 
 fully written — prophecy in elaborate object lessons. No 
 new rite was imposed, but the times, and seasons, and 
 number of established rites were ordained to suit new and 
 changed conditions. 
 
 7. The Abrahamic Covenant continued with its coven- 
 ant promises, sealed by circumcision, and with a modified 
 patriarchism as above set forth. It may be fairly claimed 
 that the Mosaic dispensation was engraffed on the 
 Abrahamic. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. i6i 
 
 IV. The Regal Dispensation. It may be questioned 
 whether the advent of the kingdom marks a new dispen- 
 sation. This much is certain ; it marks a great epoch in 
 the history. Some go so far as to say that the theocracy 
 was suspended from the advent of the kingdom to the 
 captivity. It would be easy to show that this is not true, 
 but it is not necessary to the trend of our argument to 
 do so. 
 
 Saul's kingdom was a^failure, if not a fiasco. The 
 kingdom culminated in David in all that pertains to the 
 new order of things. We may note prominent features : 
 
 1. David and his kingdom became a most prominent 
 type of Christ and his kingdom. He was the viceroy of 
 the theocratic king in a more obvious way than was seen 
 in Mosaic institutions before his time. 
 
 2. The king greatly strengthened federal bonds be- 
 tween the tribes, and power was more centralized than 
 ever before. The Levites, who were now very numerous, 
 were utilized to fill federal offices, because they had no 
 tribal and sectional allegiance. 
 
 3. David greatly enlarged and expanded the temple 
 ritual by arranging the courses of the priests and the dis- 
 tribution of their duties. He also arranged courses of 
 singers, musicians, porters, and treasurers for the temple 
 service. He seems also to have distinguished tithes from 
 taxes — taxes for state purposes, tithes for the ministers 
 of religion, though this distinction was not new. 
 
 We need not trace here the rise of poHtico-religious 
 parties under the kingdom, its corruption, decline, and 
 final apostasy, ending in the captivity. 
 
 V. The Synagogue Dispensation. The captivity for 
 seventy years was the next great epoch in the history. 
 The kingdom was overthrown ; the temple was destroyed ; 
 its elaborate ritual was suspended; and so also was the 
 
i62 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 outward form or shell of the Sinaitic and Regal Dispen- 
 sations. The patiarchal system was gone forever. The 
 temple and the ritual were to be restored for a season and 
 maintained by a remnant returned to Palestine. The 
 Aurahamic Covenant remained, and also the social life 
 and usages continued as laid down in the law. The 
 spirit of prophecy remained. Daniel and Ezekiel, and 
 perhaps others, were the prophets of the captivity. How 
 shall the sacred oracles, the faij^i of the people, and spirit- 
 ual worship be preserved? 
 
 The answer is obvious. The synagogue was engraffed 
 on the Abrahamic Covenant to supersede the patriarchal 
 form and dress. Outside of the family sprang up the 
 organized congregation with its spiritual worship — 
 reading, preaching, praise and prayer. This was the 
 catholic and universal feature, overlapping the restored 
 ritual for five hundred years. It was destined to remain 
 the permanent form and dress of the covenant after the 
 ritual should pass away. 
 
 VI. The Christian Dispensation. This marks the di- 
 viding line from all that has gone before — the great epoch 
 foreshadowed in type and prophecy. The Abrahamic cov- 
 enant remained in its essence. The moral law remained 
 in full force and was of universal application. The syna- 
 gogue remained as its permanent form and dress, with its 
 simple spiritual worship. The head of the family re- 
 mained the religious head of his house, but as an integral 
 part of the church, under its teaching and government. 
 
 The one distinguishing feature of this dispensation is 
 this: The ritual, typical, and ceremonial worship of all 
 former dispensations passed away because they were all 
 fulfilled in Christ. When the substance came, the shadow 
 passed away. 
 
 By a strict logic it might seem that the theocracy, the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 163 
 
 Jewish commonwealth, and all the Jewish ritual were 
 properly ended when Christ arose from the dead and 
 ascended into heaven. But this was not God's method. 
 We find here the same overlapping which has been traced 
 in all former dispensations. For thirty years the early 
 church conformed to the Jewish ritual, though it was 
 early decided that Gentile converts need not be circum- 
 cised nor conform to the ritual. The duration of this 
 overlapping period is the apostolic period, which was 
 really temporary, extraordinary, and in a sense abnormal 
 and transitional. The ritual was finally abolished, not by 
 legislation, nor divine command. But it was all deter- 
 mined by the logic of events. Daniel's famous prophecy 
 connected the Roman armies with the making of "Sacri- 
 fice and offering to cease," and so it turned out. The 
 only semblance of a ritual in this dispensation is bap- 
 tism and the Lord's Supper. Many questions emerge 
 here, which it is not pertinent to answer in this discussion. 
 
 There shall be yet another dispensation. The Millen- 
 nium. Of this, we may not dogmatize, but it is fair to 
 presume that the same principle of overlapping shall pre- 
 vail there also. 
 
 All these changes of dispensation and their overlapping 
 were of divine origin and appointment, and cannot be 
 accounted for as growth development; much less were 
 they the naturalistic product of evolutionary processes. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Summary of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 WE ASSUME, without formally reciting, the hope- 
 less, lost condition of the human race after the 
 fall, both for time and eternity — the guilt, the curse, the 
 wrath, the woe, the death, temporal and eternal, and all 
 the numerous ills that have grown out of sin. All of this 
 happened according to the "determinate counsel and fore- 
 knowledge of God." "The Lord hath made all things for 
 himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil." (Prov. 
 xvi. 4.) 
 
 The Gospel is the remedy for all of this. The 
 covenant of grace between the Father and the Son dates 
 back to the counsels of eternity, and when man sinned 
 the Son at once undertook the mediatorial work of re- 
 demption. 
 
 The term Gospel, in its broadest sense, includes the 
 whole body of truth as found in the Scriptures, and all 
 the administration of grace from the beginning to the end. 
 It includes the authoritative statement, and re-statement 
 of all the doctrines of natural religion, and all the revela- 
 tion of the way of life, as set forth in type, prophecy, and 
 historic facts and realization. 
 
 Christ and his salvation are the beginning and the end 
 of the Scriptures, and the central thought and purpose 
 of the whole. Redemption spans the whole arc of time, 
 and reaches out into eternity in its consummation. Every 
 truth in the Bible is of the very substance of the Gospel 
 or ancillary to it. 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 165 
 
 In the narrower sense, the Gospel is good news, salva- 
 tion, the supply of all man's need, and the remedy for all 
 his ills. It is summed up in the words "Christ and him 
 crucified." It embraces that modicum of tnitli whicli is 
 necessary to our justification, adoption, sanctification, and 
 final glorification. 
 
 We do not propose here to state that modicum of trutli 
 in creedal form, nor to sketch a systematic theology or 
 soteriology. Both creeds and theological systems are of 
 supreme value in their places and relations for the defense 
 of truth and the exclusion of error. But we propose to 
 present in popular form a many-sided view of the Gospel 
 as found in the Scriptures, so that arranging and com- 
 bining them all into one whole we may get a complete 
 summary in concrete form, rather than abstract state- 
 ment. 
 
 Summary of the Gospel of Christ, or man's needs sup- 
 plied by the Gospel, and how? 
 
 1. The new birth. The Gospel finds man dead, spir- 
 itually dead, 'Mead in trespasses and sins." He "must be 
 born again," ''born of water and of the spirit." (John iii. 
 3-8.) "Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
 nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i. 13.) This 
 is "The washing of regeneration and the renewal of the 
 Holy Ghost." (Titus iii. 5.) Christ quickens by his word 
 and Spirit and "the dead hear the voice of the Son of 
 God, and they that hear shall live." (John v. 25.) Re- 
 generation is so intimately connected in time and causa- 
 tion with faith and repentance, that serious mistakes are 
 made in the analysis, and serious errors arise as to the 
 source and origin of efficacious grace. Such errors con- 
 dition regeneration on faith and repentance, and not on 
 the "will of God" and the "election of grace." 
 
 2. Repentance. Man is not to be saved in his sins, but 
 
i66 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 he must turn from them toward obedience and hohness; 
 and he desires to do so when born again. This is also a 
 gift, a grace. "Turn thou to me and I shall be turned." 
 "After that I was turned I repented," said Ephraim. (Jer. 
 xxxi. i8, 19.) This grace implies faith, as we shall see. 
 
 3. Remission of sins. This, with repentance, is a gift 
 of God. "God hath also granted to the Gentile repentance 
 unto life." (Acts xi. 18.) Repentance and remission of 
 sins are the first stage in a new life. But "without the 
 shedding of blood there is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) 
 Christ's blood — "blood shed for many for the remission 
 of sins." (Matt. xxvi. 28.) Thee vicarious atonement 
 of Christ is the very essence of Christianity. Compare 
 Acts X, 43. 
 
 4. A perfect righteousness. God's holy law requires 
 nothing less and will be satisfied with nothing less. Sin, 
 original and actual, is all man can furnish in place of a 
 personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. Christ in the 
 flesh took the sinner's place under the law, not only to 
 pay the penalty of the broken law for the sinner, but, 
 by a life of obedience, to work out a perfect righteous- 
 ness "imputed to us and received by faith alone." This 
 is the "righteousness of God" so often mentioned in con- 
 trast with our own. Compare 2 Cor., v. 19-21. The 
 doctrine of Atonement cannot stand without imputation 
 also. 
 
 5. The adoption of sons. All claim to a father's love 
 and care was gone, forever gone. But "To them gave he 
 power to become the sons of God, even to as many as 
 believed on his name." (John i. 12.) "Beloved, now are 
 we the sons of God." (i John iii. 2.) We read of the 
 "whole family in heaven and on earth," named of Jesus 
 Christ — Christians. (Eph. iii. 15; Acts xi. 26.) 
 
 6. The true Fatherhood of God. There is a spurious 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 167 
 
 sentimentalism prevalent to-day, which claims sonship in 
 God's family for every sinner on earth, and ignores the 
 curse of the law, and the wrath of God on sinners. It 
 practically denies that sinners are children of the wicked 
 one. "Ye are of your father the devil/' said Christ to 
 the Jews. God is the Father in the household of faith, 
 and not the father of the devil and his children. Jesus 
 Christ is the elder brother in this same family. 
 
 7. The true brotherhood of man. This same spurious 
 sentimentalism abolishes the distinction between the 
 righteous and the wicked, and places them in one family. 
 It modifies the Gospel into altruism, and practically denies 
 the distinction of brother in Christ. But the Gospel puts 
 the believer into God's family by adoption ; and Jesus 
 Christ is our elder brother as well as our Reedemer. 
 
 8. Holy living. "Without holiness, no man shall see 
 the Lord." "Be ye holy as God is holy." This was the 
 divine foreordination for his people. (Eph. ii. 10.) This, 
 we call sanctification, which is a work of God's Spirit by 
 the word, progressive toward the perfect standard and 
 example set by Christ. This gift enables us more and 
 more to die unto sin and live unto holiness. 
 
 9. This implies deliverance from the power of sin, as 
 well as from the guilt of sin. There is now ''no con- 
 demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus," because they 
 are pardoned, justified, and acquitted. Liability to pun- 
 ishment is gone, because he died, the just for the unjust. 
 By his sanctifying grace he delivers us from the power 
 and dominion of sin. 
 
 10. All these needs of the sinner are received by faith. 
 Faith lays hold of the precept and the promise alike for 
 its warrant. Even faith is the gift of God. The disciples 
 said "Lord, give us more faith," and the centurion said, 
 "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." Paul says: 
 
1 68 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of 
 yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Eph. ii. 5, 8.) 
 
 11. Peace with God. "God is angry with the wicked 
 every day," and the "carnal mind is enmity against God." 
 The Gospel makes peace between the parties in the way 
 already set forth. (Rom. v. i.) 
 
 12. Peace of conscience. "There is no peace to the 
 wicked." Conscience condemns, and the passions rage 
 and burn with constant apprehension of evil. The good 
 and the bad are in constant warfare within him, if con- 
 science be not seared. The bitter anguish and remorse 
 cease, aiiH the forgiven sinner finds rest in his soul. This 
 peace is enhanced by the sense of pardon, and the love 
 and confidence of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 13. Peace among men. This does and shall prevail 
 wherever the Gospel prevails, and just to the extent to 
 which it controls the hearts and lives of men. Conten- 
 tions, strifes, and selfishness are the normal condition of 
 the sinner, but the Gospel is the antidote for all this. 
 Isaiah ii. 4; Micah iv. 3, etc.) 
 
 14. Hope instead of despair. The sinner is without 
 hope and without God in the world so long as he is 
 without Christ. But in Christ he can "rejoice in hope 
 of the glory of God." More than this, he "glories in tri- 
 bulation also." (Rom. v. 2, 3.) 
 
 15. He can also have a foretaste of joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory. Joy in the Lord and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost are part of the heritage, while blackness and 
 despair are the heritage of sin. (i Peter i. 8.) 
 
 16. The love of God shed abroad in the heart. Jesus 
 is to his people the "Chief among ten thousand, and the 
 one altogether lovely." This love says: "Whom have I 
 in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I 
 desire besides thee." It sanctifies and sweetens all the 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ. 169 
 
 ties of life. It embraces in its arms all that love him, 
 and in reaching after the salvation of lost sinners also, 
 it is transformed into the same great love that brought 
 him down to save us, if indeed it be not the same in its 
 origin. 
 
 17. Communion and fellowship. Love is the key to 
 this, and of its very essence. It is expressed in the apos- 
 tolic benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the love of God the Father, and the communion and fel- 
 lowship of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you all.'" 
 This is no empty formulary. There is fellowship in 
 the family, there is fellowship in the church ; there is 
 the communion of saints on earth and in heaven ; there 
 is communion and fellowship with God. All that fellow- 
 ship is love. 
 
 18. We need strength in weakness. Paul says "when 
 I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Cor. xii. 10.) Again, 
 "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth 
 me." (Phil. iv. 13.) 
 
 19. Deliverance from temptation. He teaches us to 
 pray, "Lead us not into temptation." "He suffered being 
 tempted that he might succor them that are tempted." 
 (Heb. ii. 18.) So also i Cor. x. 13, and 2 Pet. ii. 9. 
 
 20. Victory over all our enemies. The wicked one 
 wages a cruel and relentless warfare, but he is no match 
 for the Captain of our salvation, who goeth forth con- 
 quering and to conquer. Compare Rom. viii. 35-39. "The 
 last enemy is death, and thanks be to God which giveth 
 us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (i Cor. 
 p- 54-57; 26.) 
 
 21. He bears our griefs and carries our sorrows with a 
 true brother's sympathy. He overrules all things for 
 the good of his people, and for his own glory, because he 
 is head over all things to the church, which he redeemed 
 with his own precious blood. (Matt. xi. 28, 29.) 
 
170 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 22. He provides a mercy seat. We need a prayer hear- 
 ing and a prayer answering God. The Father will not 
 turn us empty away when we come in the name of his 
 Son. He hears the poor and the needy. He is the 
 widow's portion and the Father of the fatherless. The 
 mercy seat is not set up in vain; none go empty away. 
 Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. 
 
 23. Sinning children have an advocate with the Father. 
 He finds his wandering sheep and brings them back to the 
 fold, and he bears the lambs in his bosom. If he does not 
 always turn aside the chastening rod he helps us bring 
 forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness when exer- 
 cised thereby, (i John ii. i.) 
 
 24. He gives citizenship in his kingdom. The visible 
 church with its rights, franchises, government, and wor- 
 ship is a priceless blessing to believers and their seed. 
 But the invisible church, the true, spiritual kingdom, 
 who may estimate it ? Believers are no longer aliens from 
 the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the coven- 
 ants of promise, but fellow citizens with the saints and of 
 the household of God. 
 
 25. He writes our names in heaven. "A book of re- 
 membrance was written before him for them that feared 
 the Lord and that thought upon his name." (Mai. iii. 16.) 
 He keeps a register of all who are his, so that not one 
 shall be lost. That register is the "book of life" — "The 
 Lamb's book of life." 
 
 26. He will call us home in due season. We need a 
 home; we are pilgrims and sojourners here; this world is 
 not our home. In the Father's house are many mansions, 
 and he has gone to prepare a place for us, that we may be 
 with him in heaven, our home. (John xiv. 2, 3.) 
 
 27. He will confess us before the Father and his holy 
 angels. He shall say : "Behold, I and the children which 
 
Studies in the Life of Christ, 171 
 
 God hath given me." (Heb. ii. 13.) There is no such 
 promise for those who will not confess him here. 
 
 28. He will openly acquit his people in the judgment. 
 Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and all his 
 holy angels with him. The dead, small and great, shall 
 stand before him. He shall say to his people, "Come ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
 you from the foundation of the world." (Matt, xxv.) 
 
 29. Our bodies shall be redeemed in the resurrection — 
 the whole man redeemed — body and soul reunited in res- 
 urrection glory. This shall be the "resurrection of life." 
 
 They who remain shall be caught up to meet him in 
 the air, changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. 
 (i Cor. XV.; i Thess, iv. 15-17.) 
 
 30. This Gospel shall win all nations. He shall have 
 the "heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
 of the earth for his possession." "The knowledge of the 
 Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." 
 "The whole earth shall be filled with his glory." 
 
 31. The race shall be redeemed socially, civilly, politi- 
 cally, commercially and industrially. ''They shall learn 
 war no more ;" "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all his 
 holy mountain." Compare Isaiah xi. 1-9. This shall not 
 be accomplished by Christian civics, institutional church, 
 altruistic philosophy, a new theocracy, and such like, but 
 by the personal faith and holiness of the individual. 
 
 32. There shall be a new heavens and a new earth, 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness. Whether this represents 
 the final triumphs of the Gospel during the milliennial 
 period, or whether it tells of the final abode of the blessed 
 somewhere in a renovated earth and heavens, we may not 
 decide. But, on any interpretation, we have a glimpse 
 of the ineffable glory. 
 
 33. All these things are duly authenticated to us, by 
 
172 Studies in the Life of Christ. 
 
 three witnesses — the Father, the Word, and the Holy 
 Ghost — and these three are one. This authentication is 
 found in the entire Scriptures, and confirmation is found 
 in the heart of every behever. 
 
 34. He has given us his Word and Spirit, by which all 
 these things are executed and perfected. 
 
 35. We may quote still briefer summaries : "Godliness 
 is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life 
 that now is and of that which is to come." (i Tim. iv. 8.) 
 Or this, "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and 
 Christ is God's." (i Cor. iii. 21-23.) 
 
 These things, stated in scriptural form and in semi- 
 logical order, do so overlap and reinforce each other 
 that ye may see this great salvation in its entirety. We 
 may bow our heads in reverential awe and gratitude and 
 cry, ''Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us ; to thy name 
 be all the glory." 
 
 Chapter two sets forth the names and titles of Christ, 
 and this summary presents his salvation in detail. If the 
 reader shall get from these two chapters a complete view 
 of Christ and his salvation, the author will be more than 
 grateful. He has found these two studies exceedingly 
 profitable to himself. 
 
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