THE
GREAT
MEMORIAL
NAME
P.W. GRANT
BT
127
G76
Fabri
i
SPESOR JAUNG NIE
MENATA
*~*~
ZEN UNBATAU Ter que
HODDERAND STOUGHTON
AAAA
****gun pada tog han och ❤
A 55066 1
QAZ
:

the west grand fathe
REFLEIRUSETEENT
ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
VERITAS
gole
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS UNUM
SCIENTIA
OF THE
TOOOH
| QUACRIS PENINSULAM AMOE NAMŰS
CIRCUMSPICE
}
1
1
į

THE GREAT MEMORIAL NAME.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Suo., Cloth, Price 9s.
THE BIBLE RECORD OF CREATION
TRUE FOR EVERY AGE.
EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"All thoughtful students will attribute a high value to this book. The whole is pre-
sented in the simplest manner, and as it were in pictorial form. The whole merit of the
work is in its detailed application, and we are convinced the candid reader will feel
grateful to the writer for the simple and natural fashion in which he leads him to see the
harmony there is between Science and Revelation.”—British Quarterly Review.
"So far as we are aware the writer of this book has propounded an entirely new theory.
We cannot attempt to enter fully into the numerous points, which are debated with great
skill and a considerable amount of learning. It is well worth not only a cursory perusal,
but careful study. A most original and interesting book."-Literary Churchman.
"A careful, thoughtful essay."-Christian.
"Those who are interested in the clucidation of these the earliest records of our race will
find a good deal that is valuable. The whole book may be accepted as a well-meant
vindication of acknowledged difficulties in the sacred records executed with considerable
ability."-Record.
“There is much in the work that marks its author as an original independent thinker of
large grasp, and as an honest and indefatigable labourer in the fields of sacred literature
and science."-Public Opinion.
"The author deserves the thanks of both sides for his vigorous and able work, and for
the wisdom and courage with which he has chosen his position."-Daily Review,
"It is a most valuable exposition of the first three chapters of the Bible. It is a splendid
repertory of exegesis, illustration, and discussion. From this point of view alone the work
is of signal value."-General Baptist Magazine.
"A valuable contribution to the Biblical Students' library."--Church Times.
His criticisms on
"A storehouse of information on scientific and biblical subjects.
current theories are shrewd, keen-sighted, and telling."-Baptist Magazine.
LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW.
U
THE
GREAT MEMORIAL NAME
OR,
THE SELF-REVELATION OF JEHOVAH
AS THE GOD OF REDEMPTION.
BY
P. W. GRANT,
Author of
"The Bible Record of Creation true for Every Age," etc.
London:
HODDER AND STOUGHTON,
27, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXXXIII.
PREFACE.
THE
HE passage of Scripture which suggested both the
form and the title of this work, has long appeared
to the writer to give the true key at once to the
manifold End and to the peculiar Method of Divine
Revelation. The proper use of this key will enable the
student of Scripture and of Human History to take a
correct and comprehensive view of the progressive work
of Redemption, and to find in the Prophetic delineation
and Historical accomplishment of that work an inde-
pendent Demonstration of the Being and Character of
God. This demonstration seems peculiarly needful in
such times of Religious Scepticism and Agnosticism as
the present, and at all times important as giving com-
pleteness to that Book which is divinely intended for
people of all nations and of every religious condition.
Had the writer's aim been merely to illustrate the truth
of this, his work might have been comparatively brief.
However, to effect his main object, it was necessary to
trace, to some extent at least, as well the course of the
Redemptive Work as the development of Redemptive
277151
mpls,
vi
PREFACE.
Truth. In doing so, he has endeavoured to present the
general scope of Scripture in such a manner as may
lead to the removal of not a few difficulties attending
the study of the sacred narrative, and to the attainment
of a more full conception of the unity and harmony, the
continuity and completeness of Revelation. Should his
labours contribute to the clearer knowledge of Divine
Truth on the part of some, and to the increase or confir-
mation of Christian Faith on the part of others, he will
be sincerely thankful for so happy a result.
INVERAVEN Bank,
Perth, July 1st, 1882.
PRIMITIVE AND
CONTENTS.
THE EVERLASTING NAME
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION OF JEHOVAH
AS THE GOD OF REDEMPTION.
SECTION I.:-Primitive Revelation of Jehovah as the God of
REDEMPTION
•
Salvation.
SECTION II. :-Patriarchal Revelation of Jehovah as the God of
Salvation.
CHAPTER III.
MOSAIC REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF
•
SECTION I.:-The Deliverer.
SECTION II. :- -The Deliverance.
SECTION III. :-The Desert Journey.
SECTION IV. :-The Organization of the Kingdom and Giving of
the Law.
SECTION V.:-The Ceremonial System.
SECTION VI.:-The Conquest of Canaan,
SECTION VII. :-The Times of the Judges and of the First King of
Israel,
PAGE
I
16
46
:
viii
CHAPTER IV.
PROPHETIC REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF
. 117
REDEMPTION
SECTION 1. David and the Covenant of Royalty.
SECTION II. :-The Earlier Prophets.
SECTION III. :-Prophets of the Restoration.
MESSIANIC
REDEMPTION
THE
•
REVELATION
CONTENTS.
•
CHAPTER V.
PERPETUAL
OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF
•
CHAPTER VI.
APOSTOLIC REVELATION OF JEHOVAH IN JESUS CHRIST AS
THE GOD OF REDEMPTION
. 295
CHAPTER VII.
HISTORICAL REVELATION OF JEHOVAH IN JESUS CHRIST AS
THE GOD OF REDEMPTION
· 331
PAGE
CHAPTER VIII.
·
223
MEMORIAL, OR
THE
REVELATION OF
JEHOVAH IN JESUS CHRIST AS THE GOD OF REDEMP-
TION, COMPLETE, TRUE, AND ETERNAL.
· 383
+
I.
CHAPTER I.
WE
E borrow this title from Exod. iii. 15:—“ And
God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
hath sent me unto you: this is My Name for ever, and this
is My memorial unto all generations,"-words of profounder
and mightier import than they at first suggest, relating at
once to the greatest work of God and to all the ages of the
world.
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
3:
2. They imply more than a promise or prophecy, that this
name and memorial, or memorial name, would be handed
down to posterity as a memento of Jehovah's regard for these
illustrious Patriarchs, as afterwards the anointing of Jesus by
Mary was to be spoken of as a memorial of her reverential
love. By the name of God," "the name of Jehovah,” and
the like, we are often to understand, not the mere term God
or Jehovah, nor the Divine Being viewed in Himself, but
rather God or Jehovah regarded as revealed or made known.
Thus, "they that know Thy name," they who know Thee as
Thou hast been pleased to reveal Thyself, "shall put their
trust in Thee." So, by certain of His works, He is said to
have made to Himself a great or glorious name.
In this way,
as, through His achievements, the conqueror of the Apoca-
lypse has on His head " many crowns or diadems," the
blessed God may be said to have made to Himself many
1
I
2
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
names, or to have given many revelations of Himself, of
which this special name or revelation is here so described as
to indicate its surpassing greatness and worth. Assumed by
Jehovah Himself, its very form, uniting the divine with the
human, is itself a revelation of infinite condescension and
grace, of infinite mercy and love.
In now
3. We need not say, that, thus self-assumed, it was given
to Moses to be conveyed to the oppressed and desponding
Israelites for their immediate encouragement, and in connec-
tion with their coming deliverance. Nor could any communi-
cation have been more appropriate. It reminded them, not
of their mere natural descent, but of their peculiar and
covenant relationship to the eternal God through that descent
from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It put before their minds
the only ground of hope for the help which they required,
the fact that they were a people thus specially separated from
other peoples, and therefore under the special care and pro-
tection of God. Accordingly, they might be, and they ought
to have been, perfectly assured of full deliverance.
pondering this great name as a memorial of the distant past,
let us mark its immediate and important use. It was a living
message to this despairing people. At the same time it was
greatly more. It was spoken, as the divine words declare, to
all generations. It is, in fact, a most highly prophetic, as
well as a most profoundly significant name. Neither Moses
nor the people could fully understand it. They could com-
prehend it sufficiently for their present need. As we have
suggested, it involved the idea of a promise or covenant, of
which they may have had a most imperfect conception, but
which we must truly know if we would really appreciate the
memorial name itself.
4. We are here naturally led to inquire as to the name
assumed by the God of the patriarchs,-Jehovah. We need
not say, that not a few now maintain that it was not so much
as known in earlier times, but was first employed by Moses
as peculiarly well fitted to inspire confidence in the Divine
THE NAME, JEHOVAH.
Deliverer.
It will afterwards be seen that this is a mistake, and
that, not the sacred name itself, but the divine interpretation
of it, was most appropriately given to Moses to be conveyed to
the people. We shall fully treat of that interpretation; here
simply assuming that Jehovah is to be regarded as the
personal name of the God of Abraham, viewed as also the
great "I AM," or as the only Living and True God. In this
way, the memorial name at the very least implies that the God
of the patriarchs was the true God, that they were His accepted
worshippers, and that their names would ever be specially
associated with His, and thus held in honourable and ever-
lasting remembrance. Apart from the express terms of the
Patriarchal Covenant, this involves a very great deal. It in-
volves a promise pertaining to all the ages. It encourages all
men to serve the God of Abraham, or, as we have said, the
Living and True God, with the assurance of being, like
Abraham, accepted and honoured by Him. The True God,
free from all partiality, cannot fail to treat all His sincere
servants alike. The most palpable reason for holding up these
believing and saintly men to the observation of all generations
would clearly appear to be the encouragement of all men to
follow their example and thus to enjoy like blessing. In fact,
the spirit of the sacred narrative is in fine accord with this.
The promise that Abraham would be "a father of many
nations" is, indeed, expressive of it. We give no forced
meaning to the term when we say that "father" here relates
not more truly to natural descent than to that likeness in
religious faith and character which countless multitudes would
bear to him who has been so fitly called "the Father of the
Faithful." Such a use of the term was by no means unfa-
miliar to the author of the history, as we find him previously
alluding to Jabal as "the father of such as dwell in tents,"
and of Jubal as "the father of all such as handle the harp
and organ." In this way it is clearly implied that many
nations would resemble Abraham in serving the same God,
and in being in like manner acknowledged and blessed by
3
4
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
Him. The religion, in fact, of the patriarchs would spread
among many peoples and descend to remotest ages.
5. This religion was of special character. Jehovah was
regarded not simply in the light of the only True God, nor
only as the Creator and Preserver, but also and emphatically
as Saviour or Redeemer of mankind. In proof of this, we do
not allude to the evidence of the New Testament, but to that
of the primitive and patriarchal history, of which we shall
afterwards treat. And here we may say in passing, that for
special reasons we propose to make but little use of the New
Testament in our exposition of the more ancient record. We
wish to view cach successive portion of Scripture according to
its own evident meaning, or simply as it may be fairly inter-
preted with the aid of only preceding portions. Thus we
shall take for granted the relation of the first promise to the
divine purpose of human redemption, and therefore its re-
velation of God as a Divine Redeemer. As such, accordingly,
He appeared to the patriarchs; so that henceforth we shall
regard them as saved persons,-in plain terms, as sinners
saved by divine grace,-and Jehovah their God as the God of
salvation.
6. All this will appear the more clear and certain, if we
contemplate them, not only as mere individual men, but also
as, in a high sense, representative or typical persons, with
whom Jehovah was pleased to enter into special covenant
relationship. He is said, in the homely, but most appropriate,
language of Scripture, to have " established His covenant with
them." We might show that this covenant was simply a new
and more definite form of the first promise already referred
to and of the covenant said to have been made with Noah.
However, we shall at present view it generally as it appears
in the patriarchal history, and as it casts a clear and undoubt-
ful light on the great memorial name. We would point
mainly to the grand and universal promise made to Abraham
and renewed to Isaac and Jacob: "In thee and in thy seed
shall all the nations-all the families-of the earth be
PATRIARCHAL COVENANT.
5
blessed." Till this promise has been fully realized in the
good of mankind, and that through the medium of the
Abrahamic race, Jehovah cannot be said to have completed
the revelation of Himself implied in the Everlasting Name.
7. This covenant promise is itself a grand revelation of
Jehovah. It makes known His supreme purpose towards the
human family, and thus reveals His spirit and character, nay,
unveils His very heart. It is a purpose which embraces the
entire world, determines the whole course of Providence,
and may well be called the purpose of all the ages, apart
from which history can trace no connected order, and
disclose no worthy end, in human affairs. The selection of
Abraham was far from indicating narrowness or partiality.
The covenant was in the widest sense universal. In no part
of the Bible, in no statement of the New Testament, can
we find a more express affirmation of the unlimited extent
of the Divine philanthropy: "In thee, and in thy seed,
shall all the families of the earth be blessed." How this
feature of the covenant should be so often overlooked or
forgotten, it is hard to know. That it was so entirely over-
looked by the Jews is strange in itself, and a clear proof of
their ignorance of their own Scriptures and of the end of
their national separation. We may safely say, that the
favoured race never did understand the world-wide purpose
of their own election, the glorious and gracious end of that
separation. It is vain to trace the religion of Scripture to
the unaided exercise of the high religious faculties of the
race. The Jewish mind was too narrow and exclusive to ex-
cogitate a system so grand and comprehensive. It is vain
to fancy Abraham a far-seeing man, pondering thoughtfully
the distant future of his posterity, and thus rising to the
conception of their great destiny and embodying that con-
ception in the promise of the covenant. Conjecture as we
may regarding the divine appearances and communications
of the history, we must not ascribe to the mere workings of
his mind what bears such decisive marks of a Divine reve-
6
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
lation. The covenant is a great prophecy as well as a
precious promise, whose fulfilment can leave no reasonable
doubt in any mind as to its real origin.
8. The Abrahamic race, in the line of Isaac and Jacob,
would be the medium of the promised universal good. This
implied that that race would itself be specially blessed.
Hence the words, "I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a
blessing." We need not say to how remarkable an extent
this was true of the three patriarchs. How far it became
true of their posterity we shall consider in due course. The
promise implied at the least the highest distinction. Their
relation to all nations involved this. A most important
question, however, here arises: In what sense are we to
understand the words "in thy seed" ?-generally and collec-
tively of the race, or specially and personally of a great
benefactor to spring from it, or of both? They certainly
admit of a double reference. In the New Testament, an
express allusion to the Messiah is often implied or affirmed,
as in the reasoning of Paul, or as in the beautiful words of
Christ Himself: "Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he
saw it, and was glad." Nor can scepticism object to such
allusion as made in support of the claims of Jesus, as we
find many and pointed predictions of a personal Messiah in
the Old Testament writings. We might even maintain that
Jacob's prophecy of the coming of "Shiloh" is one of these,
and that it naturally suggests the idea of patriarchal fami-
liarity with the expectation of such a deliverer. However,
we are unwilling to make evidential use of a prediction as
to whose precise meaning there has been so much learned
dispute. Whilst, then, fully holding a double reference, we
shall not here contend for more than a reference to the
collective race; leaving it to subsequent and clear announce-
ment to prove indisputably the more definite import of the
promise.
9. As yet we have spoken generally of the covenant
blessing as the universal good of mankind. We have, indeed,
:
I
THE COVENANT-REDEMPTIVE.
7
CC
said that, viewed in the light of the immediate connection
of the first promise with the story of the Fall, the promised
good must be regarded as redemptive. We now add that
this idea underlies the whole primitive history and the entire
narrative of the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant.
The patriarchs are, in the first instance, to be regarded as
sinful men, like the rest of the human family. The blessed-
ness to be universally secured must therefore involve a real
deliverance from evil as well as the impartation of good.
It cannot but include the pardon of sin; and this we find
strikingly illustrated by one of the most important facts in
the history of Abraham. We are told that, when the pro-
mise of a seed" numerous as "the stars of heaven' was
given to him, "he believed in Jehovah; and He counted.
it to him for righteousness." We need not say how large
and important a use the Apostle Paul makes of these simple,
but remarkable, words in illustrative support of the doctrine
of Justification by Faith. We are not now, however, making
our appeal to New Testament interpretation, but studying
the words according to their own natural meaning, at least
with the aid of only the early history. The form of expres-
sion is certainly fitted to indicate rather a righteousness.
ascribed to a man than a righteousness inspired or increased
within him. We may simply allude to the parallel case of
Phinehas, Psalm cvi. 30, 31: “Then stood up Phinehas and
executed judgment: and (so) the plague was stayed. And
that was counted to him for righteousness,"-the same expres-
sion being thus used. Now let us turn to the history for the
explanation, Num. xxv. 10-31: "And Jehovah spake unto
Moses, saying, Phinehas . . hath turned My wrath away
from the children of Israel . . . Wherefore say, Behold I
give unto him My covenant of peace; and he shall have it,
and his seed after him, (even) the covenant of an everlasting
priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made
an atonement for the children of Israel." Here we find a
righteousness, not created, but ascribed and honoured. So
"}
8
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
in the case of Abraham. However truly men may become
or be made righteous through faith, this is not what is
recorded of him. Apart from all formal doctrine or inspired
interpretation, we cannot say less than that he was accepted
and honoured, and therefore pardoned of God. He was
emphatically a man of faith; and faith in Jehovah was
virtually declared to occupy an important and central place
in his religion,-the religion destined to be ultimately esta-
blished over the whole world.
10. The sacred narrative clearly exhibits and forcibly illus-
trates another essential feature of this religion, that of sincere
and devoted obedience to Jehovah. The divine call of
Abraham to leave his native country, with the covenant-
promise then given, exercised his faith and obedience alike,
and that in a very high degree. The will of Jehovah was to
be the rule of his life. He was not to follow simply and
solely the general law of right, or the light of nature more
or less clearly diffused among men. He was, assuredly, to
be sincere, truthful, upright, benevolent, as all men are bound
to be; but his morals related to God as well as to man, nay,
put God first and man next, as they ought, and as the Scrip-
tures, from first to last, invariably do. We repeat, the will of
Jehovah was the rule of his life, whether seen in the light of
nature or conveyed to his mind by express revelation. In
this way his religion may be said to be inclusive of his
morals rather than his morals to be inclusive of his religion;
or, as already indicated, was to consist of faith in Jehovah
and obedience to His will. Hence the beautiful words, "I
am God Almighty. Walk before Me, and be thou perfect,"-
"Walk as if in My presence and according to My will, and
be thou sincere and upright in all thy ways." In course of
time his faith and obedience were brought to the severest
test by the divine command to offer in sacrifice his beloved
son, Isaac, through whom the grand covenant-promise was
to be realized. The sacrifice of such a son was really the
sacrifice of self, and thus gives a clear insight into the
COVENANT-FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.
9
nature and extent of the faith and obedience demanded of
the patriarch, and therefore of all also who would be of his
religion. This might be further illustrated by reference to
the history of Isaac and Jacob. The same covenant-promise
was made to them; and towards Jehovah they displayed the
like faith and obedience. Thus, accordingly, the maintenance
of the great memorial name implied that Jehovah would be
trusted and served by men of every generation, and finally
by mankind at large, viz., "all the nations and families of
the earth." This involves far more than it may at first
suggest. It involves that Jehovah would do whatever was
necessary to inspire faith in Himself and to secure obedi-
ence to His will; that is to say, that He would make such a
revelation of Himself, of His spirit and character, or as the
loving and merciful God of their salvation, as was fitted to
awaken the sincerest confidence and the most devoted love
in the hearts of all who thus knew Him.
11. We might here pretty largely treat of a most important,
though subordinate, promise, that of the land of Canaan. It
opens up an interesting field of inquiry, which, however, we
must not enter. Its fulfilment would form a strong and
lasting demonstration of the reality of the patriarchal cove-
nant, and yield no feeble aid to all enlightened Israelites in
looking forward with calm assurance for the fulfilment of the
higher and more spiritual promises pertaining to the distant
future. It would also give an early and practical illustration
of the import of that memorial name which was conveyed to
the people as they were about to be delivered from Egypt
and led to Canaan by Jehovah the God of their fathers.
12. So much, then, for the meaning of this simple and
sublime, this gracious and condescending name of the
Blessed God, Jehovah, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Of itself, it may be well to
note, it carries our minds no further back than the times of
these patriarchs. Whilst the redemptive work had been
carried on from the beginning, and whilst the primitive.
44
IO
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
history aids us in the interpretation of the patriarchal
promise, we are thus led to think of the Abrahamic race as
the grand medium of the world's salvation on the one hand,
and of the revelation of Jehovah as the God of salvation on
the other. It is not implied that the other races had been
abandoned, far less that nothing had been done for their
saving good. It so far proceeded on the fact, that they had
perverted, corrupted, or lost the truth previously revealed to
them. It involved no injustice to them and no neglect of
them, though it certainly raised the peculiar race to a higher
level of spiritual advantage, not than that which they might
have enjoyed, but than that to which their neglect or abuse
of early privilege caused them to sink. The establishment
of the patriarchal covenant thus formed a new beginning in
the history of redemption, from which, down to the present
time, we are to trace the real and consecutive development
of the redemptive work, and the like real and consecutive
development of the revelation of Jehovah.
13. This reminds us of the real end of divine revelation,
of which not a few entertain defective, if not erroneous,
ideas. That end is certainly and necessarily manifold.
Some seem to treat the Bible as simply containing a system
of truth or as setting forth so many important doctrines to
be received as divine and to be used in the formation of a
creed for the Christian Church. Some regard it as intended
to unfold a divine and perfect system of ethics fitted to
promote the moral and social well-being of mankind.
Others speak generally of it as revealing the mind and will
of God, first to the Jewish, and then to the Gentile world.
Others refer to the great central purpose of redemption as
that which it was mainly designed to make known. Now,
we agree with all these so far as they go. However, the
the great name which we have been contemplating suggests
the very highest aim of Scripture, and of all the divine
procedure which it records, namely, the revelation of
Jehovah Himself in order to the salvation of the human race.
REVELATION-HISTORICAL.
II
The mere revelation of any system of truth, or even of the
grand purpose of redemption, would have proved utterly
inadequate to secure that salvation, which, whatever else,
must at the least imply the impartation of the knowledge,
and the inspiration of the love, of the eternal God. No
moral system, however pure and good, could ever suffice to
renew the human heart, and thus prepare for the divine
communion and loving services of the future state. Vain,
accordingly, are all the attempts which have been made to
show that the principles and precepts of Scripture morals
may be found scattered among the writings of heathen
philosophers. Let all this be fully proved, the greatest
work of all remains for revelation to do, even that of so
making God known as to secure the trust and love of the
human heart.
14. All this clearly implies, that this revelation would be,
from first to last, historical. As already hinted at, God is
thus represented as entering the field of universal history,
associating His Name with the development and destiny of
a peculiar race, and yet carrying on His most glorious work
in relation to all nations to the end of time. This implies
very much. It implies what in due course we shall find the
sublime name, Jehovah, clearly sets forth,- we mean the
personality of God. Only a personal being could thus at once
promise or predict and carry on from age to age one vast and
consecutive work. Further, the religion of the Bible is thus
perfectly unique. No other religion ever existed so interwoven
with all providence, or so decisively appealing to all history
for successive and infallible proofs of its divinity. The gods
of many nations have perished with these nations, or have
disappeared as they advanced in knowledge or indulged in
speculation. Mythology has everywhere given place to history.
Religious ideas have generally partaken of the progressive
or retrogressive character of peoples. In India, the more
ancient shastras contain higher religious ideas than the more
modern. With the one exception of Israel, all nations may
12
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
be said to have changed their gods, or to have had different
religions at different stages of their course. At least, we no-
where find among them any one god represented as acting
from age to age in the fulfilment of a revealed purpose, or in
the execution of a progressive work, and requiring changes in
worship and service solely in accordance with the growing
light of his own self-revelation. In the case of Mahomed-
anism, which, though rising in a single tribe of Arabia, must
be allowed to have aimed, from the first, at universal conquest,
we have no historical revelation of God such as we refer to,
unless in so far as the prophet borrowed from the Jewish and
Christian Scriptures, but a so-called revelation to one indi-
vidual man, and completed within the latter period of one
single life.
15. We have considered the memorial name as suggesting.
a new beginning in the history of redemption. The Abra-
hamic covenant, viewed in the light of earlier revelation, may
be regarded as a general, yet comprehensive, outline of the
future work of Jehovah. Here, as in the first promise, He
appears in the character of Redeemer, as in the opening of
Genesis He appears in that of Creator. In fact, that promise
may be viewed as the point of contact and of separation be-
tween the Bible histories of creation and redemption, where
the former ends and the latter begins. As we read the former,
we are led to contemplate the created universe and to inquire
into the origin and primitive condition of man, and are
directed to the distant past and to endeavour to trace the ope-
rations, the revealings, the proofs of the very being of the
Eternal and All-originative Mind. We need not say with
what unlike results this endeavour has been carried out in
other ages and at the present time. The greatest minds have
come to opposite conclusions: On the one side, that all
nature is full of God, and that His glory is conspicuous alike
in all the order, grandeur, and beauty seen by every intelligent
eye, and in all those mighty, mysterious, and universal laws,
whose uniform and ceaseless operation the scientific mind
METHODS OF DIVINE SELF-REVELATION.
alone can trace and appreciate; and on the other side, that
the more accurately and scientifically the system of nature is
investigated, the more reason have men to magnify the potency
of these laws, and the less reason have they to infer the
agency of an intelligent, personal God. Without referring to
the theistic argument in its more philosophical and less
scientific form, and without remark as to how far a purely
scientific argument may be fairly expected to reach, we would
simply say, that it does seem strange that so many great and
highly cultivated minds should be thus divided as to the most
important of all questions,—that of the very being of God.
In view of this fact, it is a happy thing to find that Jehovah
has not left us without such a revelation of Himself as may be
said to present before our very eyes a demonstration of His
being on the one hand, and, on the other, a manifestation of
His paternal love and redemptive purpose and power. To
bring out our meaning we may once more advert to the study
of His creative work. Here we may be said to begin at the
end, or with the investigation of that work regarded as com-
plete; we inquire as to the cause, or rather the sum of the
causes, by which it was thus perfected or at least completed.
This leads to the contemplation of the previous and less per-
fect state of things, and to the investigation of the sum of
the causes to which that state owed its development; and
thus we move backwards through the long series of less and
still less perfect conditions, with the causes or agencies to
which they may be traced. So long as the inquirer can re-
trace the links of this complex chain of causation, he seems
to see, as we have already observed, more and more of natural
law, and less and less of the apparently direct agency of God,
who, in fact, seems ever to recede from his view. Hence
that mental perplexity which so often follows or accompanies.
physical research, and which, in so many instances, issues in
religious doubt. Now, in the case of the work of redemption,
to a very great extent at least, we are called upon, we may
say, by Himself, to begin at the beginning, to follow Him
13
14
THE EVERLASTING NAME.
step by step in His course, and to behold Him carrying on,
not only His eternally purposed, but His successively revealed,
nay, graciously promised, work from its most imperfect form
to its still imperfect, yet wonderfully advanced, condition in
the present day. To speak still more simply, He first gives a
promise, or tells beforehand what He designs to do; and then
He proceeds to do it. He gives a further promise, or
indicates a further design, and silently carries on His graci-
ous work. Thus a whole system of promise or of prediction,
or of both combined, is gradually developed, or the plan of
the intended temple is progressively sketched and completed,
whilst the temple itself, though often rudely handled and
sometimes greatly marred, continues, it may be, very slowly
to rise. The nature of the work itself, as a manifest product
of redemptive power and grace, the remarkable divine inter-
positions which occasionally promote its progress, and this
clear and systematic pre-intimation of the grand and complex
design,-all combine to demonstrate the presence of a Being of
personal and intelligent will, of merciful and gracious cha-
racter, and of all-sufficient power. This may seem too homely
a description to be consistent with fact. It may appear too
artificial to be the method of the Divine Redeemer.
It is,
and must be, most imperfect, and fitted, as it is intended, to
give but a hint as to the divine procedure. Still, we deem it
correct so far as it goes. It does imply infinite condescension
on the part of the great God, yet such condescension as is in-
volved in His great and gracious work or as is needful to meet
the wants and weaknesses of mankind. In fact, the divine
method now alluded to is simply that so far indicated by the
first promise, but which we have been pretty fully indicating
in our treatment of the great memorial name especially as
illustrated by the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. As we
still further trace the development of that covenant through
the pages of the Old Testament, we obtain a prophetic plan
of the redemptive work so clear, complex, and comprehensive,
that we cannot fail to regard the realization of that plan, as
METHODS OF DIVINE SELF-REVELATION.
15
exhibited in the New Testament and as carried on to our own
times, as presenting Jehovah in the clearest light, or all but
visibly carrying out, from first to last, His grandest purpose,
and thus all but audibly proclaiming His most gracious
Name.
PRIMITIVE
AND
I.
CHAPTER II.
PATRIARCHAL
JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF REDEMPTION.
REVELATION OF
I
N now going back to the earliest times of the Scripture
history, and inquiring concerning the beginnings of
the great redemptive work, we are led at once to ask, whence
the necessity of any such work of God? Man must have been
involved, nay, must have involved himself, in some tremen-
dous evil, from which he could not possibly emancipate
himself, before Jehovah could appear in the character of a
great and merciful deliverer. Accordingly, the Bible, viewed.
most justly as the inspired history of human redemption,
would have appeared organically defective, if it had failed to
give some necessary and adequate account of the original
state of man and of the introduction of the evil referred to.
We find, however, no such manifest defect. The opening.
chapters of Genesis, whatever their origin and date, have
been written as if with the express design of forming a
necessary and suitable introduction, not only to the remain-
ing chapters of that book, but also to all the subsequent
books of Scripture, or, as we may emphatically say, of forming
the inspired introduction to the inspired history of redemp-
tion. This, we need hardly say, is a most remarkable fact.
The human author of these chapters, let the age in which he
lived be as late as it can possibly be supposed, could know
nothing of the most important books, to which he was thus
unconsciously writing what the most enlightened readers
unite in regarding as a most appropriate introduction.
-
1
MORAL EVIL PRESUPPOSED.
17
Ba
2. Still, the full and detailed interpretation of this wonder-
ful portion of Scripture is undeniably involved in great and
manifold difficulty. We need not say to how many dis-
cussions it has given rise, or how numerous the volumes
which have been written concerning it. Instead of seeing,
in the suitableness to which we have referred, an infallible
mark of divinity, not a few have seen, in the freely acknow-
ledged difficulty, only a proof of human origin and error.
So far, however, as a general and practically sufficient inter-
pretation is concerned, we can admit of no great or real
difficulty. Let the chapters in question be contemplated as
they may, literally, historically, allegorically, symbolically,
mystically, or in any way obviously not inadmissible, and the
same three grand ideas will be found, naturally and invariably,
to rise up before the mind as the sum of all the ideas intended
to be conveyed, and as of themselves supplying all the light
required with respect to the necessity of the redemptive
work. Nor are these ideas obscurely or enigmatically ex-
pressed. They stand out clearly on the very surface of the
narrative. They are these:-First, that the entire universe
is to be traced to the creative power of God; Secondly, that
man was created in the divine image, enjoyed the divine
favour, was surrounded with all needful good, and was placed
under a law of obedience to the will of God; and, Thirdly,
that, under temptation which ought to have been resisted, he
disobeyed the divine law or will, and thus, on the one hand,
forfeited the life associated with loyalty to God, and, on the
other, at once incurred the just penalty of sin, and, spiritually
separated from the source of life, became the subject and
slave of moral evil. Now, regard as we may the nature of
the peculiar framework in which the ideas have been pre-
sented to the human mind, no ignorance or perplexity as to
the design or meaning of the details ought to prevent the
full reception and right appreciation of the all-important
truth expressed or implied. That truth will be found in
perfect accord with our reason and consciousness. In its
18
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
relation to God, it will give to us the only key to the great
mystery of the origin of the universe. In its relation to our-
selves, it will solve the strange enigma of our inner life, with
its high and noble idea of what we ought to be, its insatiable
craving for that supreme good which only God can supply or
rather be, and its humiliating sense of what naturally we
actually are. Most happily, and in harmony with our spiri-
tual instinct, it assures us that sin is no native original con-
stituent principle of our being, no king of rightful authority
over us, but a foreign foe, a tyrannical and deadly usurper,
from whose yoke we ought to seek, with all our heart, to be
delivered, but from whose terrible grasp we can be perfectly
and for ever freed by that divine and redemptive grace alone
which the Bible reveals. And thus it is, that not only do the
opening chapters of Genesis commend themselves to the
enlightened judgment as being what we have called them,
the inspired introduction to the inspired history of redemp-
tion, but also, as a matter of fact, in proportion as we enter
into the spirit of the introduction, and feel the power of the
truth which it sets forth, we shall be prepared to receive and
appreciate the great facts of the history, and to welcome the
rich and the free blessings of redemption.
I.
1. We might now proceed to treat of the first recorded
announcement of divine mercy to mankind; but it may be
better previously to deal with a point of great importance
in itself, pertaining to the origin and early use of the
memorial name, and which might again and again suggest
itself as we treated the successive portions of the earlier
narrative. We allude to the apparently direct denial of all
patriarchal, and, therefore, of all primitive, knowledge of the
SECTION I.
PRIMITIVE REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF
SALVATION.
NAME JEHOVAH EARLY KNOWN.
sacred name, or even of the term Jehovah, to be found
in Exod. vi. 2, 3, a passage of no small critical interest
and importance, thus translated in our English version:
'And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the
Lord (Jehovah): and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob by (the name of) God Almighty (El Shaddai);
but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them." We
need not say that, thus rendered, the latter clause has been
most extensively and confidently used, and that by authors
of great learning, to prove, as if to demonstration, that the
sacred name can be fairly traced to at least no earlier age
than that of Moses, that the Book of Genesis, in which it so
frequently occurs, must also be of still later date, and that,
in keeping with this, we must judge of the peculiar con-
struction and successive composition, not only of the Penta-
teuch, but also of many other books of Scripture. In fact,
the view thus taken of this passage has, to no small extent,
affected the entire criticism of the Old Testament.
19
2. What, then, do the divine words imply? Even accepting
the ordinary version, we agree with many in holding that
they by no means involve the supposed denial. They might
imply no more than that, however familiar with the name,
the patriarchs had not been made acquainted with its pro-
founder and grander import, as it had shortly before been so
marvellously interpreted to Moses, and through him to the
people by the sublime words, "I AM THAT I AM," uttered
by God Himself from the midst of the burning bush. To meet
the difficulty this view is sufficient. However, we decidedly
prefer to regard the words as designed to be most emphati-
cally affirmative, and, therefore, as put in the interrogative
form, "And by My name Jehovah,"-the name constantly
used by them,-" was I not known to them ?" ("Most
assuredly I was," being understood.) To bring out this, we
may give the most literal rendering of the passage: “And
God spake to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah. And
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by or in God
20
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
Almighty (El Shaddai); and by My name Jehovah was I
not known to them? And also I have established My
covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan," etc.
We may put the whole somewhat more freely thus:—“ And
God spake to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah. And
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, in the cha-
racter of God Almighty (El Shaddai); and as to My name
Jehovah, was I not known by it to them? And also I have
established My covenant with them, to give them the land
of Canaan," etc.
3. On all which we now observe,--
First, The conjunctive particle rendered "but," ought
here, we are persuaded, to be translated, according to its
regular usage, “and.”
Secondly, The clause in dispute may, with equal propriety,
be rendered interrogatively, as we have done; so that the
proper translation must be determined rather by the exercise
of sound judgment in view of the context and the circum-
stances of the case, than by an appeal to any rule of grammar
or usage of the language.
Thirdly, As God had been previously represented as ex-
pressly declaring Jehovah to have been the God of the
patriarchs, we cannot suppose the sacred writer soon after-
wards to represent Him as thus contradicting Himself by
denying their knowledge of the very name.
Fourthly, As the sacred writer clearly refers to the Book
of Genesis, he was evidently familiar with it, whether its
author or not; we cannot believe that he would represent God
as virtually denying the truth of the history, and thus setting
that book aside.
Fifthly, The denial of the knowledge of the name was
quite inconsistent with the design of the divine speaker,
which was to assure the people of His aid in fulfilment of a
promise made to their fathers, as could well be done by
reminding them of the special name of their covenant God,
but not by the denial of their knowledge of it
NAME JEHOVAH EARLY KNOWN.
Sixthly, The way in which this covenant is immediately
after introduced, “And also I have established," etc., appears
indisputably to demand the interrogative form which we have
given to the words. The use of " also," as here, must have
been preceded by some express affirmation. Let the clauses
be studied in connection, "By My name Jehovah I was not
known to them; and also I established" etc., and the in-
congruity will at once appear. Let the
Let the "also" express a
clear and suitable addition, and all will be simple and con-
sistent,—“As to My name Jehovah was I not known by it to
them? And also I have established," etc. In fact, the whole
thus becomes simple in itself and suitable to the end in view.
God is represented as saying that He had revealed Himself
as the Almighty or All-sufficient One, able to fulfil His own
designs, and as Jehovah or the Unchangeable One, sure
faithfully to perform His promises, and as the covenant-God
of the fathers, engaged to give the land of Canaan to their
posterity. This threefold ground of confidence is, in this
way, put before the minds of the people; and whilst they are
expressly assured of deliverance and of the possession of the
promised land, the assurance is confirmed with the signature
of the covenant,-" I am Jehovah."
2[
4. Thus, then, we have not the shadow of a reason for
doubting the pre-Mosaic knowledge and use of the great and
most sacred name. Not only so; but if we carefully study
these opening chapters of Exodus, with their announcement
of the memorial name, with the allusions to the history of
the patriarchs of which we have been treating, and with the
proof thence supplied, that Jehovah is indeed the covenant
name of God or His name as the God of salvation, we
shall not only be convinced of the author's familiarity with
the Book of Genesis, but also, as we are fully persuaded, be
enabled to perceive one of the main principles by which
the peculiar form of that Book has been determined. Theory
after theory has been devised to account for the evidently
non-accidental use of the Divine names God and Lord, or
22
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
Elohim and Jehovah. Pre-existing documents, more or less.
numerous, have been held to have been interwoven or con-
secutively united by the author or final editor. Now, we
do not here affirm or deny the existence or the use of such
documents; we simply and decidedly maintain that the
whole of that Book, and especially the opening chapters, have
been composed as if designedly in harmony with the great
memorial name of which we treat, or as if designedly to
set forth Jehovah as the God of salvation.
5. In giving the proof of this, our meaning will more fully
appear. We may briefly sum up the whole thus: In the
First place, the sacred writer, in the opening section, with
its general account of universal creation, uses the generic
term, God (Elohim), throughout. Secondly, in next section,
giving the more detailed account of the creation of man, and
of the probation and fall, he uses that name in combination
with the personal name, Jehovah, the Lord God (Jehovah
Elohim). Some would account for this by supposing the
existence of some peculiar document, in which the names
are thus invariably combined. We simply assume that the
sacred author thus intended to identify the God of redemp-
tion with the God of creation. This will appear the more
probable as we advance. In keeping with this idea, and in
complete disproof of the use of such a document as just
alluded to, we find certain exceptions to the all but universal
use of the compound name. We refer to the fact, that,
whilst the author uses that name himself, he is careful to
make both the tempter and the tempted to use the name
God (Elohim) alone. According to our hypothesis, the
name Jehovah could not have come into use till after the
promise of salvation had been given. Thirdly, immediately
after, and throughout the story of Cain and Abel, the name
Jehovah alone is employed. Eve is represented as acquainted
with it; whilst its use is most appropriate in a narrative whose
aim is to illustrate the fit approach to the God of salvation on
the one hand, and the mere treatment of Jehovah as the God
NAME JEHOVAH EARLY KNOWN.
of creation on the other. According to parental instruction,
Cain seems to have retained the covenant name, but to have
set at nought the covenant, and, in fact, to have introduced
the first form of Deism. Fourthly, the two names having thus
been significantly employed, and the distinctive or covenant
reference suggested, the sacred author, throughout the follow-
ing chapters, uses them for the most part separately. This
again has been deemed evidential of the existence of different
sets of documents. Whilst such may or may not have been
the case, we hold that the attempt to trace definite portions
of the history to special documents has proved a perfect
failure, and greatly prefer to trace the separate use of the
names to that freedom which every writer follows when he
has no systematic usage to maintain. Fifthly, when, however,
he again comes to record what specially pertains to covenant
relationship, we mean, to treat of the lives of the patriarchs,
-he is found, in keeping with our hypothesis, to make corre-
spondingly large employment of the covenant name. Sixthly,
throughout the closing chapters, in giving mainly the history
of Joseph, who, living in Egypt, must have almost always
used the generic name, we need not wonder, we might rather
expect, to find, as we actually do, the personal name, Jehovah,
rarely introduced. Yet, we may notice how naturally as well
as fitly it comes up, as from the heart of hearts of the dying
Jacob, whilst uttering his last paternal and prophetic blessings
on his sons: "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Jehovah."
Seventhly, we might return to our starting-point, and make a
further remark on the opening of the Book of Exodus, that
there the use of the covenant name was most appropriate,
and so is to be found not only largely employed, but also
divinely explained and illustrated.
M
II.
23
1. We have glanced at the primitive state and moral lapse of
the parents of mankind. They were placed under law, and
24
primitive revelation.
failed to obey. They were not treated as they deserved.
Their merciful God put them under a new law, the law of
divine and saving grace. This law we find expressed in
words, in themselves obscure, yet seem to be at once clear
and comprehensive, when studied in the light of circumstances,
addressed as they are said to have been to the tempter
whose wickedness and subtlety had triumphed over the sim-
plicity and weakness of the tempted: "I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed: it (or, he) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel." We need not suppose that, in the first revelation
of grace, no more was uttered than this one most wonderful
sentence. We cannot far err in regarding it as the inspired
and condensed summary of all the divine teachings or com-
munications, outward and inward, with respect to the merciful
treatment of the fallen. As we have said, it is certainly a
wonderful sentence. It is the divinely planted seed of the
new tree of life, which we see rising and unfolding itself as
we read the sacred page, which we may now behold in
all its fruitfulness and beauty in the midst of the garden of
divine revelation, and whose fruit is for the renewal of the
life of the world, as its "leaves are for the healing of the
nations." It is the fountain-head of that "river of the water
of life, clear as crystal,"-of that ever-deepening and widen-
ing stream of gracious promise and prophecy which flows
through the whole Old Testament Scriptures. Giving full
assurance of mercy, it would inspire the joyful hope of
deliverance. The tempter would be unmasked, and declared
to be a most deadly foe; whilst God would be anew revealed
as the true friend of man. The first clause seems clearly to
imply an express and personal promise of such loving and
gracious treatment as would issue in the renewal of the
woman's heart and her restoration to the obedient love and
delightful fellowship of God; and thus, experimentally and
truly, if not the full, at least the incipient, idea of redemption
would take possession of her mind. We may suppose the
1
THE FIRST PROMISE.
25
same of her husband. In the narrative, the restored faith of
both seems to be indicated. They would teach their children,
as they had been divinely taught. So the story of Abel
suggests; whilst the sad conduct of Cain and the divine
treatment of his case appear to prove his rejection and
perversion of his early instruction and his introduction of a
bold and self-sufficient Deism into the worship and service
of God.
2. The entire meaning of the promise could not possibly
have been understood. Its practical fitness for its immediate
end, we think we have proved. Only in the New Testament
can we find the key to its mighty import. As thus opened
up, we may safely affirm that even now no such short and
compact sentence could be framed by man capable of em-
bodying and expressing so great an amount of saving truth
or so fitted to be what it is, the first promise of redemption.
Besides thus revealing the grand purpose of grace, it may
well be called a miniature picture of the whole human race,
a condensed history of the world in divine hieroglyph or in
prophetic enigma. No other words could be better fitted to
occupy a first and permanent place in the finely organized
body of Scripture. However, we shall not treat fully of every
clause or of the whole in the light of the New Testament;
we would allude only to what the words of themselves
naturally suggest. They certainly point to a great contest
between moral good and evil, to be carried on through the
ages of the world; and thus imply a division of the human
family into two distinct classes, here called "the seed of the
woman," seemingly those resembling her in her state of
restored communion with God, and “the seed of the serpent,"
apparently those who remained in a state of alienation from
God or continued to resemble the tempter in spirit and
conduct,-in fact, as constantly spoken of in Scripture, "the
righteous and the wicked." This great contest, really carried
on through the interposing grace of the Divine Deliverer on
the one side, and the fearful resistance of the human heart
26
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
"
and will on the other, is destined to issue, sooner or later,
in the triumph of the cause of goodness or of both God and
man.
3. Had we here desired to make use of the light of New
Testament history, or even of Old Testament prophecy, we
might have expressly treated of the great and personal "seed
of the woman," in whom the whole successive and collective
seed might be said to be summed up or organically united as
one mystic whole. Indeed, apart from that light, the words
themselves seem more than hard to be understood unless on
the supposition of a reference to some such personal deliverer.
This does appear almost certainly implied in the peculiar and
striking form of the expressions,-" It (or, he) shall bruise
thy head," not the heads of thy seed, "and thou shalt bruise
his heel." However we shall not press the idea of such a
glorious personality, but rather leave it to come up in due
course, when we have to deal with so express a prophetical
announcement as it would be palpably unreasonable not thus
to interpret.
-
4. We must not contemplate the great promise as ex-
haustive of the primitive revelation of grace, or as left to
unaided tradition for preservation among men.
We are told
of continued communications from heaven. Soon public
as well as private worship seems to have been regularly
maintained. The first father would doubtless be the first
priest, offering the first sacrifices of not only praise and
prayer, but also and emphatically of confession of sin
through the medium of the solemn and, we are assured, the
appointed offering of animal life, as well as verbally and
along with like solemn petition for divine forgiveness. Nor
was this all. In those words which were addressed to the
tempted and fallen ones, and which at first sight suggest
the idea of a curse rather than a blessing, we are told of such
a constitution of the world or system of things, under which
the human race were to be henceforth placed, as would be
most suitable to their condition, as ill-deserving or under sin
GOSPEL OF PROVIDENCE.
27
on the one hand, yet as favoured of God or under grace on
the other; in fact, the providence of God was to correspond
with the promise of God, or was to be a grand, silent, and
universal, as well as ever-abiding embodiment and expression
of it. The carrying on of the providence would be the
carrying out of the promise, and might well be called a
providence of grace and redemption. The lot of mankind
would involve the mixture of good and evil, of happiness and
misery. So far as the body is concerned, the law of death
would universally reign. Still, the evils predicted were more
than equalled by the ill-deserts, and more than counter-
balanced by the blessings secured. These blessings would
never cease to set forth the goodness and forbearance of
God, and thus act as a silent but expressive and universal
gospel to mankind, whether they had ears to hear and eyes
to see or not This gospel of providence might be shown
to have had a far mightier influence on the different races
and through all the ages than we are accustomed to think,
or than many are prepared to admit. The vast amount of
happiness which under that providence men everywhere
enjoy, exerts an immense and penetrating influence on all
personal and social life, checking the fearful tendency to
despair under the thorough consciousness of sin, and
awakening a gladdening hope in proportion as the thought
of the divine goodness and mercy is realized. This might
be illustrated by reference to the many forms of natural
religion, which, in the absence of revelation, must have been
suggested by the contemplation of providence, and which are
by no means destitute of at least dim conceptions of salva-
tion. Thus, then, whilst the promise ought to have been
sincerely and heartily received and handed down from age to
age, even after it had been perverted or lost, or where no
renewed direct revelation was enjoyed, the great redemptive
providence, which can neither be perverted nor lost, however
it may be overlooked or misused, everywhere continued to
testify of that "goodness and forbearance" which all men
28
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
८८
ought to account salvation," and which ought to "lead"
all men "to repentance." No one, therefore, can justly
complain of the narrowness or partiality of the Scriptures.
They may, indeed, and they necessarily do, carry us along
the historical line, which leads, through many ages, directly
to the great and promised Redeemer, and may thus appear
to limit the operations of divine grace to the narrow regions
through which that line may seem to pass; yet we should by
no means infer that God nowhere else, or that He does not
everywhere put forth His powers and influences for the
saving good of mankind. So far, indeed, as the full develop-
ment of redemptive truth is concerned, and the grand
demonstration of the divine existence and character is
prophetically and practically conducted, these operations.
could not but have been of special and limited extent, yet
that only for a definite time, and in order to their ultimately,
and through the advent of the promised One, becoming the
more powerful in securing the salvation of the race at large.
5. The story of Cain and Abel is fitted, and, we presume,
was expressly intended to illustrate the influence as well as
import of the primitive revelation, and to record an early and
most awful instance of the result of the predicted contest
between moral good and evil. We shall not discuss the
question of the origin of sacrifice as here suggested, or the
question of the real difference between the offerings of the
two brothers. Abel assuredly appears in the character of a
humble believer in the divine promise, making practical and
symbolic confession of sin by offering what appeared to his
mind, whether through previous divine appointment or by
inward enlightenment, the most appropriate sacrifice. In his
case, we see the faith and humility of the renewed heart, and
thus a clear illustration of the operation of redemptive grace.
Cain, again, appears to have no deep consciousness of sin,
to feel no real want of divine forgiveness, to have set aside
the great promise, and, treating Jehovah simply as his creator
and preserver, to offer no more than a mere formal expression
PRIMITIVE APOSTASY.
29
of thankfulness for temporal good. As we have already said,
for the lowly and loving religion of revelation, he seems to
have substituted a cold and self-sufficient Deism.
If we may
repeat what has often been said, Abel is the primitive humble
and accepted publican; whilst Cain is the primitive proud.
and rejected pharisee.
6. As little has been recorded, we shall add little with
respect to the perpetuation and development of the primitive
faith and worship. The two classes first broadly marked in
the brothers just referred to, the religious and irreligious, at
least the true worshippers of Jehovah and the mere deistical
believers in His providence, must have soon religiously, and,
possibly, socially, separated. The passing reference to a
special period, when "men began to call on the name of
Jehovah," seems to point, not to the absolute beginning of
the public worship of the God of salvation, but rather to
some marked beginning of such worship, as contrasted with
the maintenance of the deistical worship on the part of some,
and, it may be, the neglect of all worship on the part of others.
That Jehovah continued to convey messages of encourage-
ment and warning appears evident from the brief but most
remarkable notice of the devout and saintly Enoch, who,
doubtless, with others of like spirit, would not only testify
against the growing wickedness and godlessness of men, but
also to the truth of Jehovah and His salvation from the
beginning. As time advanced, religion appears to have been
more and more widely neglected and abandoned. We read
of the introduction of no form of superstition, polytheism,
or idolatry. The Cainite or deistical departure from the
primitive religion apparently ended in practical atheism.
The passions, more or less violent, were thus let loose.
Daring wickedness abounded. Crime stalked forth in every
direction. The love of many of the true worshippers decayed.
Many fell away. Intermarriages between these "sons of
God" and "the daughters of men" broke down the wall of
partition between-to use a modern expression-"the Church
30
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
and the world." The former, the fruitful oasis, diminished;
while the latter, the barren desert, increased. The oasis by-
and-by was reduced to a fruitful field; and that field was at
last confined within the little circle of one single family, and
was in terrible danger of being swallowed up of the ever-
advancing waste. This must on no account be permitted.
The purpose of Jehovah must not fail. The work of grace
must not perish. If the entire "world of the ungodly"
should have to be destroyed, this family, now the whole
Church of God, must not be contaminated or turned away
from the faith and service of Jehovah.
III.
1. Hence a new and mighty, yet most awful event in the
early history of redemption,-the judicial and miraculous de-
struction of the godless world by a flood. As just implied, the
chief design was preservative and merciful. Had there been
no such end in view, we would have found it hard to believe
in the fact of so vast a supernatural intervention. Here the
end seems to demand the use of the means. We must not
forget, that in the view of God, as in itself, the moral rises in
importance immeasurably above the physical; so that we
need never wonder to find Him interfering, to the greatest
extent, with the settled order or natural course of the physical
world, if thus He would secure the moral and spiritual, and,
therefore, the eternal good of mankind. Nor need we
attempt to eliminate the supernatural element from this early
history, unless we are prepared to exclude it from the later
history as well. At the same time, we should neither magnify
nor multiply difficulties. Universal as are the terms of the
narration, knowing the freedom with which these are fre-
quently used in all languages, and keeping the real circum-
stances in view, we are persuaded that this flood, vast as it
undoubtedly was, may fairly be regarded as yet of com-
paratively limited extent. It would rover, doubtless, only
Kateg
A
NOAH.
31
the inhabited portion of the globe; and this, as just said,
might be comparatively small. The number of animals
preserved would, in like manner, be comparatively few. Thus
and otherwise may various objections be met. We cannot
deal largely with these.
2. Still, we may simply allude to one or two points. It has
been urged, that the differences of race, the development of
the more ancient languages, with the evidences of a very
early civilization, do not consist with the fact of so universal a
catastrophe or with so late a new beginning of the human
family. As to the first, we would observe, that, within the one
family of Noah, there may have been types of the differences
referred to, as, for example, of the incipient negro. As to
the second, within the same little circle, more than one lan-
guage may have been spoken; and as to the third, no small
amount of knowledge of antediluvian civilization may have
been possessed and so handed down by men so advanced as
to be able to build the ark. We shall say nothing of the
nature of the miracle, further than that it might have been
effected in various ways, as at least mainly by the submergence
of the land. As already indicated, the chief point to be con-
sidered is the great moral and spiritual end divinely intended;
and certainly the actual effect on the history of the world has
been vast. The grand lesson was needed, and continues in-
fluential to the present day.
3. Noah thus became the second father of the human race.
He was assuredly a most remarkable man. His was a strong
and righteous character. Long had he stood alone as a
devout worshipper of Jehovah, and a faithful witness for Him
and His salvation. His testimony as to the coming judg-
ment, implying, as it did, the preaching of pardon to the
penitent, was universally rejected. Hence the tremendous.
consequence. Hence, too, the new beginning of the work of
grace, or new era in the history of redemption. All this may
well appear sad. The very purpose of God might seem to
have been thwarted by the free and perverse will of man.
32
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
Still, all was by no means lost. The second father of man-
kind stood on a higher level of knowledge and experience
than the first. The power of sin, the depravity of human
nature, had, for ages and in every variety of manner, fearfully
manifested itself. The merciful and most singular preservation
of the one faithful family had confirmed the truth of all pre-
vious revelations, and given a further and most impressive and
encouraging revelation of the saving purpose of Jehovah.
Most fitly did the new era begin with a solemn sacrifice of
thanksgiving and self-consecration, with which God imme-
diately declared Himself well pleased. Assurance is given of
the stability and perpetuity of the new order of things. The
human family would never so again perish; as before, Pro-
vidence would continue to proclaim to all generations the
goodness and mercy of Jehovah. The first promise, now
called Jehovah's covenant, was established with Noah, and, in
its providential character, embraced the preservation of the
inferior creatures. The rainbow was appointed to be the
beautiful, universal, and perpetual token or symbol of the re-
newed covenant, in this its providential aspect; what we have
called the Gospel of Providence was thus to be proclaimed to
all mankind to the end of time.
4. We shall not treat of the prophetic words of Noah with
respect to the destiny of his three sons and their respective
descendants, by whom the world was afterwards to be peopled.
They point to the fact, that salvation would come, in some
special manner, through the posterity of Shem, whilst that of
Japhet would, in some way, more largely and afterwards, reap
the advantage of it, and whilst at least a portion of that of
Ham would experience the fearful degradation of hard ser-
vitude to both. We need not say how truly the remarkable
prophecy has been illustrated by history.
5. The growth and spread of these three races might be
here somewhat fully considered, though not without risk of
speculative error. As remarked, the sons of Noah possessed
no small amount of general, as well as of religious, knowledge.
CIVILIZATION TRANSMITTED.
They could transmit all the main fruits of the entire civiliza-
tion of past generations. On this account, we have set aside
the objection to the narrative of the deluge, that it left no
sufficient time for the development of such advanced kingdoms
as the Babylonian and Egyptian. The course of civilization,
instead of beginning with Noah, had, according to the
primitive narrative, been flowing on through all the ages, and,
as the ability to construct the ark abundantly testified, suffered
but little, if any, interruption or loss through the destructive
catastrophe. Further, it may be well to add, that we cannot
safely rely on the genealogical tables of Genesis as a perfectly
correct means of calculating the date, whether of the deluge
or of the creation of man. Errors due to the omission of
names or to numerical mistakes cannot now be detected.
Ample time is thus admitted for all the progress which
authentic history demonstrates. The same holds good with
respect to the development of the religious systems of the
East, to which not a few authors are prone to ascribe an
immense antiquity. Not only so; but the pure and lofty
monotheism of Noah and his family helps to account for one
most remarkable feature of these ancient, and, in some cases,
still surviving, systems often alluded to by the students of
comparative theology, namely, their early simplicity and purity
and gradual perversion and corruption. They suggest no
idea of having been derived from earlier systems of inferior or
less perfect type, as they may be fairly supposed to have done,
if such had been the fact, or if the ordinary theory of a slow
and continuous development of religious ideas were correct.
If we suppose the systems in question to have sprung from
the imperfectly retained knowledge of the revealed truth
possessed by the earlier families, and more or less gradually
modified and intermingled with naturalistic and pantheistic
error by their descendants as they were dispersed over the
world and settled down into separate peoples, we can easily
account for their original approach to a pure and sublime
monotheism, with a simple and less objectionable worship on
33
3
34
PRIMITIVE REVELATION.
the one hand, and their subsequent fearful corruption, through
the endless multiplication of gods and the addition of the most
cruel and abominable rites and ceremonies, on the other. If,
again, we suppose these systems to have been naturally
developed from some low and miserable type of fetish worship.
we are at a loss to understand, not only how they should show
no more palpable marks of their earlier forms, but also how,
with all the tendencies of human nature to polytheistic idola-
try which their own corruption so strongly illustrates, they
ever reached such a height of elevation. All is simple, when
we make use of the key which the sacred narrative supplies.
We then see how natural it was to start from the high level of
the knowledge of Jehovah, the One God, righteous and mer-
ciful, and to go on, amidst the varied and impressive scenes
of external nature, to use the powers of imagination and
speculation, in the poetical embodiment of somewhat beautiful.
religious emotion, or in the philosophical development of
religious thought. In this way the oldest and the best shas-
tras were composed by many hands and preserved to the
present day. In fact, all this is in full harmony with what we
find recorded in the sacred history. The religion of Jehovah
was greatly modified or entirely lost. The very name was
forgotten or set aside; polytheistic idolatry everywhere
abounded. The religion of the Chaldeans was of this type.
That of the Egyptians was the meanest and most degrading.
A falling away from the knowledge and worship of Jehovah, if
of a different character, yet almost as universal as that before
the flood, again took place. True religion was in danger of
perishing. A new mode of divine procedure was demanded.
The purpose of grace and mercy must not fail. The new
necessity must be turned into a new opportunity. A higher
revelation must be granted. A new era in the history of re-
demption must be introduced.
ELECTION OF ABRAHAM.
SECTION II.
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD
OF SALVATION.
I.
35
1. A second time we find the mass of mankind withdraw-
ing from the God of revelation. Let us not forget, that it was
not He who abandoned them, but they who abandoned Him.
The knowledge of Jehovah, handed down from age to age,
seems to have found a solitary abode in some small region of
Chaldea; and even there it was yielding to the corrupting
influences of surrounding idolatry. A new and, doubtless,
perfectly wise method of preserving, unfolding, and trans-
mitting the infinitely precious truth of redemption was
accordingly adopted. Abraham, one of the few who retained.
the knowledge of that truth, and who sincerely and faithfully
worshipped and served Jehovah, was instructed to leave his
native place, to live in a state of separation from his own, and
from other, peoples, and to dwell as a "pilgrim and stranger"
in the land of Canaan, which was afterwards to be inherited
by his family. All was of God; he was impelled by no
personal or domestic necessity. We cannot regard his de-
parture from the home of his fathers in the light of a mere
emigration. It was a pure act of faith in Jehovah, and of
obedience to His express command. The will of God was
gradually revealed; so that, at the outset, and at many a
stage, of his appointed pilgrimage, he really knew not whither
he would have to go. In a real and high sense, his journey
from place to place was a walk of faith, a walk with God, a
walk through the earthly, to the heavenly, Canaan. A covenant
of widest and most precious import was established with him,
as with Noah on the one hand, and with Adam on the other,
comprising all the promises which theirs involved, and com-
prising further promises peculiar to his race.
36
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION.
2. We have treated pretty fully, in the first chapter, of the
rich promises of this covenant or gracious constitution of
things, and, therefore, need add little in this place. We have
shown that, in realizing these promises, Jehovah gives a most
glorious revelation of Himself. The promises themselves are
such a revelation. They show forth His universal benevolence
and grace to mankind. They constitute the Abrahamic race
the special medium through which divine and saving good
would flow: "In thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families
of the earth be blessed." We have said, in the same chapter,
that though these words doubtless relate to the promised
Redeemer as well as to the collective seed or posterity of the
patriarch, we do not press the idea of a sufficiently clear re-
ference to the former. We need not say how glorious a pro-
spect was opened up before the unveiled eye of Abraham.
What must have been the effect of the first assurance, and
also of the frequent contemplation, of the fact, that his family
should be countless as the stars of heaven! So also of the
assurance, that, through him and his seed, the whole world
was destined to be divinely blessed! Yet, for many years, the
promise seemed barren. Old age came on apace, and yet no
son appeared to give the smallest pledge of largest fulfilment.
His faith was thus tried to the very utmost. Thus was he the
more fit to be the great and lasting exemplar of that faith
which was the root of his grand and massive character, and
which continues to be the root of saintly excellence in every
land. This faith was, indeed, the distinguishing feature, as it
was the central power of his whole interior and exterior life.
Still, assuredly nature combined with grace to make him what
he was, to give such largeness and intensity to his heart, to
lend such dignity and princely grace to his demeanour, to
awaken such profound humility before God, and, at the same
time, to inspire such courage and energy as distinguished
him through life. As the founder of so numerous and so
vigorous a family, he may be supposed to have been endowed
with the very finest physical constitution. He was designed
PROMISE OF CANAAN.
37
to occupy perhaps one of the most important places ever
appointed for man; and we may fully believe that he was
most admirably fitted for it as well by nature as by grace. We
may justly regard him as one of the greatest of the sons of men.
In one case, he ranks with the truest of heroes. Still, he is
not to be classed with the mighty captains and warriors of
history. The very instance referred to has been recorded,
not as one of singular prowess, as it indeed was, but as one of
a victorious faith in Jehovah, his God.
3. Such and more was the saintly and heroic man with
whose name the great Creator condescended to associate His
own, through all generations, and in connection with His
grand purpose of redemption. As we read the sacred story,
he seems to pass before our eyes, with his family, servants,
flocks, and herds, possessing not so much as a single field,
yet as if the whole land were his own, always divinely pro-
tected and blessed, and everywhere honoured and revered by
princes and people alike. As he had been selected as the
peculiar person through whom the work of grace was to be
carried on, so Canaan had been chosen as the most suitable
place in which, first as the abode of his race, and next as
geographically related to other regions of the world, that
work could be most effectually accomplished. Still, in secur-
ing it for even so high and universal an end, the natural and
really divinely gifted rights of the inhabitants must be per-
fectly respected. All peoples were thus virtually declared to
have a divine and sacred right of possession to their respective
countries, so long as they continued to fulfil the designs of
their common Creator, or till they exhausted His merciful
forbearance by the greatness and persistency of their wicked-
ness. In arranging for the future, Jehovah acted according
to His foreknowledge of the certain forfeiture of all possessory
right, no less to even life itself than to property, through
"the iniquity of the Canaanites," which is said to have been
"not yet full,"-not yet beyond all possible repentance on
the one hand, and thus all possible pardon on the other. The
38
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION.
terrible loss of all such rights Abraham was led clearly to see
and deeply to feel in the case of Sodom and the other cities.
of the plain, for whose preservation he is so vividly represented
as interceding directly with God, with such an agonizing
earnestness of compassion and such a profound depth of self-
abasing humility as have made him rank with the greatest of
all philanthropists and the purest of all saints. He found
that so compassionate was the "Possessor of heaven and
earth," that the presence of even "ten righteous persons
would have saved these fearfully wicked and hopelessly im-
penitent cities. Till the Canaanites became thus wicked and
impenitent, they would retain possession, and the promise as
to the land could not be fulfilled,-a most important and
instructive fact which must be remembered by all who would
justly appreciate the after command as to the conquest of the
country.
>>
CC
4. This reminds us of the partial survival of the primitive
religion in the times of Abraham, as we find in the interesting
and most beautiful case of Melchisedek, King of Salem
and Priest of the Most High God." The name of Jehovah
seems to have been lost, but the knowledge of His character
and redemptive work is still retained, as is suggested by
the divine name used by this King of Peace (Salem) on the
one hand, and by his priestly office and title on the other.
As he comes forth with bread and wine to refresh and bless
the hero-prophet of Jehovah, he somehow appears of more
than mortal character, and as if with a halo of heavenly
saintliness around his brow. While he acknowledges Abra-
ham as
blessed of the Most High God, Possessor of heaven
and earth," Abraham, in addressing the King of Sodom,
appropriates this name to his God, and says "I have lift up
my hand unto Jehovah, the Most High God, the Possessor
of heaven and earth, that I will not (take) from a thread
even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take anything that
(is) thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich."
Most remarkable words, revealing much of the spirit and
tr
ISAAC.
39
life of the patriarch, showing how he could recognize the
God of Melchizedek, exemplifying the openness with which
he could confess the name of his God before kings, and mani-
festing a nobleness of soul which may well be coveted and
cultivated in the present day, which would trace all wealth
to the Living God, and which would accept nothing from
man at the risk of concealing real indebtedness to Him. A
man whom divine grace had through faith so inspired with
goodness and so raised above all meanness, was well pre-
pared to be "the father of the faithful" of every age and
country.
II.
1. We shall not enter fully into the history of Isaac. He
was "the son of promise," and his father's faith related, in
the first instance, greatly to his birth, which, as palpably
miraculous, was fitted to be the proof and pledge of the
fulfilment of all the covenant promises relating to the entire
future of this world. Isaac was assuredly a beautiful charac-
ter, a truly saintly man. In him, as in Abraham, we see the
rich fruits of redemptive grace. He appears to have
cherished the profoundest reverence for the person and
memory of his father, doubtless because of his sincere and
simple-hearted piety towards his father's God. The former
he could not fail to regard as a prophet, and thus as a repre-
sentative of the latter. All must observe that the greatness
and energy of the father by no means re-appear in the son.
His was a quiet dignity, a meditative mind, and, as we have
hinted, a profoundly reverential spirit. He evidently sought
closely to follow the example of Abraham. Doubtless, in
meekly submitting, when he saw that he was the intended
"lamb for a burnt-offering," he recognised the authority of
the prophet and priest of Jehovah, and thus yielded himself
up to the God of his father's and of his own salvation. How
profound the picty and self-sacrificing spirit thus manifested!
40
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION.
How fine a demonstration of the saintship of father and
son!
2. The covenant of the ages was established with Isaac,
Gen. xxvi. 2-5, "And Jehovah appeared unto him, and said,
Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall
tell thee of sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee,
and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I
will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath
which I sware unto Abraham thy father; and I will make
thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give
unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham
obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments,
My statutes, and My laws." Here Isaac is treated as the son
and heir of his father, who is specially honoured and set
forth as an example to him and to all his posterity. Still,
though no direct reference is made to the submissive and
self-sacrificing spirit of Isaac, that spirit seems at least in-
directly commended and rewarded, in fact, "counted to him
for righteousness," by the allusion expressly made, not to
the first or second communication of divine promise to
Abraham, but to that special and most encouraging an-
nouncement made immediately after the intended sacrifice,
which Isaac may have heard, which he would perceive so
far to relate to himself, and which alone of all communica-
tions to his father was confirmed with an. oath, Gen. xxii. 16,
"By Myself have I sworn," etc.
III.
St
1. The story of Jacob, the last of the three patriarchs
whose names are associated with that of Jehovah in forming
the great memorial name, is certainly full of interest, and
suggestive of much valuable truth. In early years, however
excelling in natural force and originality of character, he
His
was decidedly less saintly and devout than his father.
JACOB.
name was too significant of his native disposition, which
may be traced through many years of his life, but which,
however repulsive in itself and fitted to lower him in the
moral estimate of many, we cannot but forget as we see him
rising, towards the end of his pilgrimage, to a most wonderful
height of real dignity, of renewed character, and, we may
say, of divine life. We cannot vindicate his or his mother's
conduct towards either Esau or Isaac. God's great and
wise designs require for their accomplishment no help from
the selfishness, the cunning, or the falsehood of any human
being. Only when true faith fails are false devices framed ;
and these, whilst furthering no good end, are sure, as in
the case in question, to meet with due reward. Our narra-
tive is true at once to human nature and to divine grace-
The story of Jacob can be appreciated only by those who
study it in its proper light, as that of a most remarkable
instance of personal salvation, of deliverance from a low
and ignoble type of human nature, and of elevation to the
highest and most venerable form of pure and saintly cha-
racter.
2. The first recorded revelation made to Jacob is familiar
to all; we allude to his dream of a ladder reaching from earth
to the open heaven, with Jehovah standing above and angels
ascending and descending, and thus finely expressing the
idea of free and merciful communication between heaven
and earth, between God and man. All was in perfect harmony
with the divine announcement of the redemptive covenant
with him and his posterity, Gen. xxviii. 13, 14, "I (am)
Jehovah, the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of
Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it,
and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the
earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the
east, and to the north, and to the south and in thee and
in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
Jehovah thus added the name of Jacob to His covenant
name; so that thus early do we find the great memorial
4I
42
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION.
name complete, "Jehovah, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." No other name was to
be added till the greatest name of all history was to give
the grand interpretation, and thus rather to magnify this
name anew than to set it for ever aside.
3. We must not pass over the honourable and expressive
name which Jehovah was afterwards pleased to give to Jacob,
by which his posterity were continually called, and which, in
keeping with its spiritual significance, has been well retained
in the fit and familiar name, "The Israel of God." On a
most memorable night of deepest anxiety and alarm, the
patriarch wrestled with God in a perfect agony of prayer;
and, through the very might of weakness, so prevailed as to
draw forth the divine words, Gen. xxxii. 28, “Thy name
shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast
thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." In
this change of name, as well as in the conduct for ever marked
by it, let us behold the divine recognition of the renewed
character of Jacob, as also the incalculable good which the
record of it has done to millions of saintly believers, who
have been thus encouraged to pray and to prevail, and to
become true princes with God, and real heroes and kings
among men.
4. We need not give the details of the settlement of the
aged patriarch, with his numerous family, in Egypt; nor
need we refer to the beautiful and touching story of Joseph,
itself a fine revelation of God and of His providence towards
His people, showing how the way was prepared, how the
necessities of famine constrained, and how the fittest region
was provided for the growth of the family into a nation. The
entire narrative is most instructive. If the earlier years of
Jacob are little to his praise, in his last days, we may safely
affirm, he rises, doubtless as the gracious result of his mani
fold afflictions, to a level of father and grandfather, in
heavenliness of spirit and grandeur of character. How full
of grace and dignity his interview with Pharaoh! A richer
LAST DAYS OF JACOB.
43
sacredness surrounds the pilgrim than the king. How
worthy of such a pilgrim, looking back upon the receding
earth and forward to the approaching heaven, the words in
which, we are told, "he blessed Joseph" (and his sons), and
said, “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did
walk, the God who fed me all my life long unto this day, the
Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads"!
Here we behold a piety which extends to every day and to
every incident of life, which makes God the preserver of the
body as well as the saviour of the soul. So, again, as he
pronounces his dying blessing on his sons, how fine and how
touching the parenthetical exclamation, "I have waited for
(I am expecting) Thy salvation, O Jehovah;" leaving, in the
circumstances, no room for doubt as to his regarding Jehovah
as the God, not of his mere temporal deliverance, but of his
entire eternal salvation!
5. A simple allusion to another part of the same blessing,
Gen. xlix. 10, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor
a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto
Him (shall) the gathering of the people (be),"-words which
have been long and extensively held to refer to the Messiah.
Nor, whatever the reference, have we ever met with any other
interpretation at all natural or even tolerable; "the Prince of
Peace" seems here and thus early revealed. At present we
shall only add, that, according as the words are thus or
otherwise understood, the patriarchal covenant, apart from
future inspired interpretation, will be held to point inclusively
to the personal or Messianic seed, or exclusively to the
collective seed of Abraham.
6. We might have alluded to the twelve sons of Jacob, who
seem, like their father, to have greatly improved in spirit and
character as they advanced in years, and who thus appear,
under the renewing influences of divine grace, to have been
prepared to fulfil the purpose of election. The long-continued
presence of Joseph, with his devout spirit, strong faith, great
wisdom, and high political influence, must have been of vast
44
PATRIARCHAL REVELATION.
consequence for both religious and secular good. The
promise of Canaan would deepen the sense of separation
from the Egyptians, and frequently lead to the anticipation of
a future return to it. The divinely provided abode would be
richly enjoyed, and might have soon tempted to forgetfulness
of their covenant God. In course of time, whilst the people.
greatly multiplied, their external condition was far from
enviable. Oppressed and enslaved, they would not appear to
others, and would sometimes hardly appear to themselves, the
people most highly favoured of God. Yet their afflictions
may have been their richest blessings, keeping them near to
Jehovah, and making them cling to promises which might
otherwise have been forgotten. The redemptive truth, which
had been more than once deeply corrupted and almost entirely
lost, would be retained by them the more faithfully in all
its integrity and purity. The wisdom of the covenant separa-
tion would be illustrated. God meant no injury to other
peoples; but, we may safely infer, that, for many ages, He
could not allow the selected race to mingle freely with others,
even with a view to their enlightenment, without more than
the risk, nay, without the certainty, of the renewed perversion
and loss of the truth of salvation. This, all should remember,
when thinking of the seeming partiality of the divine election.
As elsewhere said, the superior blessings conferred on
Abraham involved no loss to any others, for example, to
Melchizedek or to any of the princes of Canaan. Such
might rather have sought all good from Abraham's God.
Nor have we a shadow of reason for supposing that the spirit
of God was withdrawn from the men of other nations. In no
way were their advantages the less because those of the
chosen race were the greater. So it was with certain
members of the family of Abraham. Many seem to judge as
if Ishmael and Esau were, through the election of Isaac and
Jacob to their peculiar covenant position, actually rejected of
God and denied the very blessings of salvation. No such
wrong was done to either. Though they were not honoured
LAST DAYS OF JACOB.
to be made the special medium of blessing to the world, they
ought to have rejoiced in the promises of Jehovah, exercised
faith in Him as the God of salvation, and handed down their
knowledge of Him and His saving grace and truth for the
highest good of their posterity.
45
46
I.
CHAPTER III.
MOSAIC REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD
OF REDEMPTION.
WE
E have now to treat of the family of Jacob as a
very considerable nation. His twelve sons are
now represented by twelve large and well-organized tribes,
ruled by their respective elders or princes. Thus far the
patriarchal promise has been amply fulfilled. Still, all was
not prosperous. The sun of royal favour had long ago set.
"A king who knew not Joseph"-a new dynasty-now
reigned; the predicted oppression and bondage had to be
endured. As cruelty was added to both, the faith of the
people faltered; their spirit was broken; and they became.
utterly heartless and incapable of self-cmancipation. How-
ever, their case was far from hopeless. Jehovah was, through
their deliverance, about to give a new and most memorable
revelation of Himself. The cruelty of the oppressor was
about to be overruled for the good of the oppressed. The
nation was soon to rise from obscurity to a most conspicuous
place in human history. As a famine, which threatened to
destroy the chosen family, was made the means of securing
a necdful home in Egypt; so a crushing tyranny, which
threatened to destroy the favoured nation, was used to
awaken the desire to quit that home of so many comforts,
and to prepare for the coming deliverance.
2. We propose to treat of the following:-First, The
Deliverer; Secondly, the Deliverance; Thirdly, The Desert
Journey; Fourthly, The Organization of the Kingdom, and
MOSES.
giving of the Law; Fifthly, The Ceremonial System;
Sixthly, The Conquest of Canaan; and, Seventhly, The
Times of the Judges and of the First King of Israel. These
last two sections are added, as rather completing the Mosaic
Revelation than beginning another.
SECTION I.
THE DELIVerer.
47
I.
1. When, in the vivid language of the narrative, Jehovah
came down to deliver, He provided a man for the occasion
-nay, as often occurs, the cruelties inflicted were made the
very means of raising up the fit deliverer, and of securing for
him the best personal and princely education as the future
king of Israel. A more interesting or more instructive story
than that of the early days of Moses cannot well be found.
Nor can we name among the greatest men of history, kings,
warriors, statesmen, a man who rises up before the contem-
plative mind of purer spirit, of larger heart, or of more majestic
character, than this helpless infant became, or than the man
Moses continues to appear. There never was a more remark-
able deliverance than that of Israel; and there never was a
more remarkable divinely appointed deliverer. Only One of
higher name can apparently be named on earth; and He, no
mere mortal, has not been ashamed to allow the name of
Moses to be joined with His own in heavenly song.
2. His preparation was complete. However, we must
not dilate on the early and often overlooked lessons under
the parental roof, on the instruction on "the arts of the
Egyptians," on the training of the palace, or on what must
have been of mightier influence than we can appreciate, the
divine communion and spiritual teaching of many years of
meditative seclusion. We shall come at once to that mys-
terious and most solemn manifestation of the presence of
48
MOSAIC REVELATION.
$
Jehovah, the God of his fathers, on Mount Horeb, and in
the symbolic shrine of an apparently "burning bush." Here,
under the awful sense of the holiness and majesty of that
adorable Being, he received his great commission, from
whose responsibilities he, with the instinct of true greatness,
at first sensitively shrunk, but which he was afterwards
enabled most faithfully and heroically to fulfil. The thought
of this scene, or rather of Him who thus revealed Himself
and gave that commission, was greatly needed through every
stage of his subsequent career, and seems to have been ever
present even to the last days of his life, as, in blessing the
tribes, we find him beautifully saying, "Let the good will of
Him who dwelt in the bush be on the head of Joseph, on the
head of him who was separated from his brethren."
3. The exact meaning of the symbol we may not be able
to define. Many have suggested the idea of the people of
God, whether thus in Egypt or in like manner anywhere
persecuted and afflicted, yet protected and unharmed, a
bush burning, but not consumed. The fire, in this case,
must signify that of persecution or the furnace of affliction,
and not the emblem so often alluded to of the Divine
Presence, as the words used would seem to imply," And
the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out
of the midst of a bush." This flame can well be taken for
nothing else than the Shekinah, or visible token of the
presence of Jehovah. If the bush had any symbolical sig-
nificance, and if it may be taken to represent the people
among whom God is pleased to dwell, then, not improbably,
may have been intended,-First, the perfect safety of the
Israel of every age with whom He abides; and, Secondly, the
danger to which all are exposed who dare to do that Israel
harm.
4. Be this as it may, in giving Moses his commission and
preparing him for its fulfilment, Jehovah gave, in the words,
“I AM THAT I AM," a sublime revelation of Himself. In
the other words, expressive of His memorial name, He virtually
DIVINE INTERPRETATION OF JEHOVAH.
condenses into a single sentence the revelations of the past.
All was fitted to give needful assurance alike to Moses and to
the people. By some, who hold that the very term was
before unknown, the personal name, Jehovah, with the ex-
planatory equivalent, "I AM THAT I AM," is regarded as,
for the first time, appropriately employed to give the needed
assurance just referred to, when the faith of the people was
most severely tried by their sufferings on the one hand, and
when, on the other, courage had to be awakened and sus
tained in view of their coming deliverance. We fully agree
with them in holding that the occasion was most fit for the
introduction of some new and encouraging significant name
of God; but we as decidedly deny that that name was
Jehovah thus taken by itself. We hold that the actual and
fit thing done was that of giving the divine interpretation of
the name of their covenant God,-a name with which they as
well as their fathers were perfectly familiar, but of whose
sublime and glorious import neither their fathers nor them-
selves had any adequate knowledge. Of that interpretation
we might, as it well merits, have treated separately and fully.
However, as it was actually given at the opening of the
ministry of Moses, and as it was so to qualify him for it, nay,
as it formed the very first part of the Mosaic revelation, we
think better to deal with it here, and therefore as briefly as
we can properly and possibly do so.
II.
49
1. What we have just called the divine interpretation of
the name Jehovah, is to be found in Exod iii. 13, 14: “And
Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children
of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers
hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is
His name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto
Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and He said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
4
50
MOSAIC REVELATION.
It will be noted that this immediately precedes the words
which express more fully the great covenant or memorial name,
"Jehovah, God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." The connection between
the two names or the immediate substitution of the one for the
other, indicates their equivalent import, and thus implies that
the one may be viewed as the divine explanation of the other.
2. The same inference may be drawn from the evident
derivation of the term Jehovah. We may say at once, that,
with almost unanimous consent, it is regarded as the third
person singular of the future of the verb to be ( hava
', haya), and thus literally signifies, He will be, or, as the
Hebrew future form may have a present signification, He is,
nay, when used of continued state or course of action, and
apart from the relation of time, an absolutely indefinite sense,
comprehensive of past, present, and future. It belongs to a
class of proper names of very early date, and thus peculiarly
formed, of which we have such examples as Isaac (P,
yitschǎk), he will laugh, or he laughs; and Jacob (p,
yaǎkov) he will supplant, or, he supplants. The Hebrew
future, thus fitted to express continuance of being, condition,
or action, without limitation of time, and therefore through
all time, past, present, and to come, was most appropriately
used in the formation of that name which of all names may
be equally truly said to stand in no relation of time, and
to stand in relation to all time. This will be seen as we
advance. Literally, then, the sacred name means, He will be,
whilst what we call the explanatory name, though translated
as if in the present, is really in the future, I WILL BE THAT
I WILL BE, or, simply, I WILL BE; so that it has been well
said, that the latter, as used by God of Himself, is rightly in
the first person, I WILL BE, whilst the former, as used of Him
by His people, is properly in the third, HE WILL BE. When
this is clearly seen, the inference becomes self-evident, that
the names are equivalent or rather identical.
3. We are thus led to inquire concerning the true force of
I AM THAT I AM.
51
the expression, I AM THAT I AM, or, I WILL BE THAT
I WILL BE (ONE ON, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh). This
is the full descriptive name which God gives to Himself;
and then, in commanding Moses to give it as His name,
He shortens it into I WILL BE (77). If so, we may
ask, why not so translate? why render I AM THAT I
AM in the one case, and I AM in the other? Simply
because what is thus correctly and idiomatically expressed
by the future in the Hebrew, is as correctly and idioma-
tically expressed by the present in the English. So also
the present is rightly used in the Greek of the Septuagint
and in the Latin of the Vulgate. What, then, does the
English expression really mean? Certainly not the mere
fact, that I am what I am, which is true of every being
as well as of God,-a needless truism. As uttered by Jehovah,
it is felt to have a majesty and mystery most befitting and
wholly its own, and to have a meaning at once most intelli-
gible, and yet beyond the reach of all intelligence. I AM
THAT I AM,—yes, that is true, true now, but it implies more;
it implies, I HAVE BEEN THAT I HAVE BEEN, nay,
further, it as really implies, I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE.
We have found that the Hebrew future form is by no means
confined to a future sense. We have found that the English
present form is as little confined to present time. In both
languages, and in every proper rendering into any other
language, the divine words imply, as we may now repeat, I
HAVE BEEN THAT I HAVE BEEN, I AM THAT I AM,
and I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE. Further, as they are
intended to express what God is in Himself, and at the same
time to form a name by which He is contemplated as appear-
ing and acting towards other beings, they imply what He will
be to them, and therefore what He will do. They thus neces-
sarily suggest what they do not expressly declare, I HAVE
DONE THAT I HAVE DONE, I DO THAT I DO, and I
ILL DO THAT I WILL DO. In this way, we adhere to the
general ideas attached to them by the great majority of Bible
52
MOSAIC REVELATION.
students more or less learned, of eternal and independent
being, of absolute and unchangeable perfection, and the like.
4. We need not say that of late this view of the words has
been strongly objected to, for the most part on the ground
that such ideas are too abstract to have been grasped by
Israelites of that early age. We freely admit that the words
may then have been but partially understood. However,
whilst they could not fail to be at least so far understood
as to convey the intended encouragement, we must not over-
look the fact, that God is here expressly speaking of that
name which is His "memorial to all generations;
so that
we need not wonder to find it thus only partially intelligible
at first, as it has been becoming more and more intelligible
ever since, and yet, like every true name of God, must
remain but imperfectly intelligible for ever.
The very
expression, I AM THAT I AM, we cannot help regarding as
itself a simple, a sublime, and marvellous revelation of God.
Simpler words could not possibly be used-sublimer truth
could not be possibly suggested. At the present day, with
all our knowledge of the vastness of creation, no words can
be so combined as to give a more appropriate or a more
impressive name to the great and mysterious Creator.
5. We shall barely allude to one or two objections. It has
been said, that we are to regard I AM or I WILL BE as the
entire name, and that we cannot suppose it to have been
designed to suggest so much abstract truth. We have really
answered this already, and would simply add that, in this
form, it is merely an abbreviation of the fuller expression, I
AM THAT I AM, and is therefore to be interpreted by it.
At the same time, we are fully persuaded that the sublime
and peculiar I AM, viewed as the name of God, could not be
fairly used without suggesting all the truth to which the
objection refers. Again, it is said, that as Jehovah-or to
give its more correct pronunciation, Yahveh-simply means,
HE WILL BE, it can imply no such comprehensive meaning.
However, this is but another form of the same objection.
ور
I AM THAT I AM.
53
For if, as we find, I AM or I WILL BE is equivalent to I AM
THAT I AM or I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE, then the
name which is explained by these expressions, Yahveh, HE
WILL BE or HE IS, must be viewed as equivalent to HE
WILL BE THAT HE WILL BE, or HE IS THAT HE IS,-
expressions suggestive of all the truth in question on the one
hand, and reminding us on the other of like expressions used
elsewhere in Scripture, as, for instance, in the Apocalypse:
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the
Almighty,"—the Universal Agent as well as the Eternal One.
Further, it has been maintained that a more suitable meaning
may be found, if we take the expression as a simple statement
of fact, "I will be that " to Israel" which they need or desire."
To this we object, that it requires the addition of a word or
clause to give meaning to the name, that it takes away the
full and essential import of the more complete expression, I
AM THAT I AM, and that it so changes the whole sense and
character of the name, that however it might seem to give
comfort or to inspire confidence, it could not possibly be
called "
the dreadful name" of God, as it afterwards is, and
as, we are persuaded, it may be easily perceived and proved to
be.
In fact, in this book of Exodus, we find Jehovah repre-
sented as using a like abstract mode of expression: "I will
proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee; and will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I will
show mercy,”—words expressing not so much as the shadow
of arbitrariness on the part of God, yet, as Paul clearly
indicates, sublimely setting forth the grand prerogative of
Jehovah, and that after a manner exactly similar to that in
which the words I AM THAT I AM reveal Himself. Indeed,
if we are not to give all this force to the words, we think
they may better be simply held to imply no more than the
mere matter of fact, "I will be;" and, therefore, that, accord-
ing to a theory which has been ingeniously wrought out, the
name Jehovah means He who will be," or the promised or
*(
54
MOSAIC REVELATION.
coming One, or is simply a prophetic name of the Messiah,-a
theory, however which falls before the natural interpretation of
the unabbreviated expression, and, like the meaning just re-
ferred to, is utterly inconsistent with the idea of JEHOVAH
or I AM being the great and dreadful name of God.
6. A word in passing as to the pronunciation of the sacred
name; and sacred assuredly Jehovah has long been to the
ear as well as to the heart of every devout reader of Scripture.
Doubtless very many would deprecate the slightest change,
even for the advantage of knowing and using the exact
Hebrew term. We keep by the old and hallowed form, and
leave it to others to introduce, if it is to be used, the un-
doubtedly more correct Fahveh, assured that good sense and
right feeling will ultimately decide.
"C
7. One more remark as to the name. We have no doubt
as to its being purely original, and borrowed, in whole or part,
from no foreign source. Often has the peculiar inscription,
said by Plutarch to have been found in the temple of Isis at
Sais, been alluded to: ‘ἐγώ εἰμι παν το γέγενος καὶ ὄν καὶ
ἐσομέθον, και τον εμόν πέπλον οὐδεις πώ θνητὸς ἀπεκάλυψε,—I am
all that has been, that is, and that will be, and no mortal has
yet lifted my veil." This is certainly very beautiful, and finely
sets forth the mystery of universal nature to which it refers,
but cannot be at all identified with the words which we have
been considering, or be at all justly used to prove their Egyp-
tian origin. The genuiness of the inscription has been
doubted, and not without reason. The neuter is used, and no
personal being or will indicated. So far the idea of a veil might
be applied to Him, who was, who is, and who is to come.
He might be contemplated as so veiled in darkness that no
human being could possibly lift the veil and behold His face,
whilst He, in all compassion and love, has been lifting it
higher and higher from age to age, and has at last been
pleased to remove it as far as it can be removed from mortal
vision ; so that now all who truly turn to Him, "with unveiled
face beholding as in a glass the glory of Jehovah in the face
P
55
of Jesus Christ, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory."
IMPORT OF THE DIVINE NAME.
III.
1. We have admitted, that the sublimer meaning of the
divine name might at first be but very partially understood.
Why, it may be asked, use an expression at all obscure? In
reply, we may observe what must be kept in view as to many
parts of Scripture, that, in uttering or in any way conveying
what is intended to occupy a permanent place in the pro-
gressive revelation of Himself, as in the case in hand, God
must assuredly be supposed, sometimes at least, to make use
of words and expressions whose full import can be, if ever,
reached only through the growing light of many generations.
Thus parents use words which their children come only
gradually to understand, as, for example, in the case of the
early familiar name of God. So Christ acted on the same
principle; His mighty sayings being comparatively little
understood by His hearers, and continuing to this day to
demonstrate their divinity by their depth. In this way, we
are fully warranted in going on to consider the divine words
before us as intended for all ages, and thus in seeking to reach
their mighty and manifold meaning, as if they were spoken to
us of the present day.
z. We can conceive no words more becoming the mouth of
the Eternal God than those said to have been used,-I AM
THAT I AM. How simple! how solemn! how sublime !
How fitted to awaken the sense of mystery and the emotion
of awe! How much do they reveal! yet how much do
they conceal! What thoughts do they suggest of greatness,
of majesty, of incomprehensibility, of infinitude and eternity
of being! Hence the idea usually attached to them, namely,
that of what, to indicate a dim, inadequate conception,
we call necessary existence, existence uncreated, underived,
and therefore absolute, independent, self-sufficient, unchange-
able, and eternal. This eternal, necessary, uncaused being of
Ma
56
MOSAIC REVELATION.
God we may find impossible to comprehend, and very hard to
believe. Still, our belief we must not, because of difficulty, give
up: for, as a matter of fact, we cannot but believe in the
eternal and uncaused existence of some being or of some
thing; in fact, of that Being whom we call God, whose
Intelligence will account for all the intelligence and marks of
intelligence in the universe, or of that thing which we call
Matter, whose total want of intelligence or consciousness
leaves us in blank despair of ever accounting for the existence
of conscious and intelligent beings, or for the intelligent and
glorious constitution of the universe. Accordingly, and in
keeping with purest reason, Jehovah, in these simple words,
I AM THAT I AM, and in opposition to all the forms of
atheistic materialism or materialistic atheism, sublimely de-
clares His own eternal and uncreated being.
3. Again, these words, viewed especially as used by God of
Himself, clearly suggest the possession of every divine attri-
bute, or, as we may rather say, of absolute and unchangeable
perfection. For Him to declare, "I am that I am” and “I
will be that I will be," is assuredly to indicate the conscious
possession of all such perfection,-the consciousness of no
imperfection or limitation,-and to express as well absolute
self-satisfaction as absolute independence; thus implying the
impossibility of change, whether for the better, as by the
removal of limitation or imperfection, or for the worse, as by
the loss of the infinite perfection possessed. In relation to
other beings, He may, indeed, often appear to change, as He
must ever act differently towards them when they change in
themselves, or when they act differently towards Him. Thus,
should any holy being become unholy, He must appear to
change towards that being, He must cease to delight in him,
and begin to be displeased with him, if He would remain
without change in Himself or in relation to holiness and sin.
In fact, whilst absolutely the same, He may be said, in ever
adapting His procedure to His innumerable creatures, with
all their ceaseless changes, to be relatively infinitely change-
IMPORT OF THE DIVINE NAME.
57
able. Thus is the Jehovah of Scripture, whilst ever acting
according to the varying condition of mankind, exalted above
all the gods of heathendom, nay, above all the imperfect and
limited conceptions of the human mind.
""
4. Our next inference is, that the Divine Being who so de-
scribes Himself, clearly affirms His own unity, personality, and
spirituality: His unity, implied in the singular, “I AM;
His personality, involved in the affirmation of will,—almighty,
resistless will," I WILL BE AND DO THAT I WILL BE
AND DO;" and His spirituality, as underlying His unity
and personality on the one hand, and as alone consistent
with that unchangeableness which can only be contrasted with
the limitless changeableness of all material substance. In
this way, and at this early period, we find Scripture thoroughly
opposed to every form of polytheism and pantheism, and, as
we have already said, of atheistic materialism.
5. What we have said already involves the divine affirma-
tion of boundless knowledge and wisdom. Without adding
more as to this, we may next indicate what may seem less
easily deducible from the words, or less directly suggested
by them,—we mean, absolutely perfect moral rectitude. This,
of course, is included in the possession of all perfection;
while it might be maintained that such an expression as I
WILL BE AND DO THAT I WILL BE AND DO" con-
veys the idea of arbitrariness or wilfulness. However, whilst
no perfect being could have complacency in aught wilful or
arbitrary, we may safely aflirm, that, to be able to say, “ I will
be and do what I will be and do," a being must only and always
will or choose to do the right. No being, however infinite,
can do, or can be correctly conceived to do, things which are
so inconsistent as to involve contradiction. Now, only the
right is consistent with the right; sooner or later, the right
and the wrong must conflict. He, therefore, who would
always and everywhere reserve to himself the power to do
right, must resolve to do always and everywhere only the right,
or never and nowhere to do the wrong. This reasoning
58
MOSAIC REVELATION.
may seem purely abstract. We give it, however, for a very
practical end. It seems at least to enable us the more power-
fully to grasp the idea of the tremendous evil of sin or of dis-
obedience to the will of God, affecting, as it thus does, the
whole divine procedure, demanding as it may, a severity of
treatment utterly foreign to the divine Heart, or requiring, in
order to forgiveness, such an atonement as we actually find
revealed in Scripture. Nor does this by any means imply
that the divine will is, as to some it would thus appear, cold
and hard, severe and unyielding, resembling rather the un-
loving Fate of the heathen than the loving and merciful
will of the God of the Bible. Here, two things are to be
remembered first, that the perfection which the divine
words suggest cannot but imply the possession of infinite
love; and, secondly, that thus the changeless will spoken
of is just the will of that boundless, changeless love. The
divine name is simply complete. Implying the changeless
will of absolute and eternal rectitude, it is great and dreadful.
Implying, as it also does, the like changeless will of infinite
tenderness and mercy, it is the most gracious and attractive
name of God.
IV.
1. Only one point remains to be considered, namely, the
relation of God to the universe, and especially to mankind,
suggested by the self-revealing words in question. As the
Absolute One, standing in no necessary, far less in any
dependent, relation to any other being or beings, Jehovah
must be viewed as standing only in such relation as may be
said to be purely and solely due to some act or acts of His
will. Without, however, touching the question of the origin
of matter, and without affirming that the divine words cer-
tainly bear upon it, we may safely remark, that they at least
perfectly consist with the idea of absolute and universal
creation, and are thus perfectly fitted to form the descriptive
name of God viewed as the great Creator, and, we may add,
SUITABLENESS OF THE DIVINE NAME. 59
Preserver and Governor of the universe. We need not say,
that they naturally suggest the idea of His transcendent
existence, as that of a Being above the universe and per-
fectly separate, in His divine and uncreated essence, from it.
Still, this must imply no real distance from His own creation.
Throughout Scripture, the closest connection between Creator
and creature is affirmed. In Him, we are said "to live and
move and have our being;" and He is spoken of as “in all,
through all, and over all.”
2. Especially does the name Jehovah, "I AM THAT I
AM,” befit the Moral Ruler of the world. As such, and thus
as the sum of all goodness and perfection, He ought to be uni-
versally trusted, loved, and obeyed. In this way the Creator
occupies His proper place, and the loving and obedient
creature is drawn nearer and made more like Him. Jehovah
has thus the throne of the heart as well as the throne of the
universe. Sin, again, or disobedience to the divine will,
breaks the sacred and living link between creature and
Creator. Thus contemplated, sin again appears in its true
character, or as a tremendous evil. It virtually denies the
self-descriptive name of God, and practically appropriates it.
It is self-will, self-assertion, self-exaltation, nay, self-deifica-
tion. It practically says,
"I will be and do that I will be and
do," thus assuming the very name and place of God. It
mounts into His throne. It will not be ruled by His will. It
will be as God, its own will being its own law.
3. Hence one closing remark: Salvation implies the
opposite of sin. We do not here refer to the nature of the
medium of salvation. Be that what it may, the real end must
be the re-union of Creator and creature, the restoration of the
I AM to His place in the sinner's heart, the sinner's loving and
perfect and permanent choice of the supreme and perfect and
eternal will of God. He must no longer be self-dependent,
self-ruled, a god to himself. His whole life must be a
ceaseless Amen to the will of Him who alone has a right to
say,
"I will be and do that I will be and do." As one after
60
MOSAIC REVELATION.
another is thus won back to God, the work of redemption
advances. When the last will is perfectly subdued and con-
formed to the will of the supreme I AM, that work may be
said to be complete. In this way, that serene I AM, looking
back to the past, and saying, "I have been that I have been,"
appears in the character of the Great Creator; while looking
forward to the future, and saying, “I will be that I will be," He
appears in the character of the Divine Redeemer. In fact,
these divine words were used to awaken the loftiest con-
ceptions of Jehovah, viewed rather in the latter than in the
former character, that is to say, in that of the Redeemer of
mankind.
J
SECTION II.
THE DELIVERANCE.
I.
1. Here we are confronted with a vast and varied array
of miracles or supernatural works, all designed to be, to the
different parties concerned, infallible signs or proofs of the
being, presence, power, and will of Jehovah. We have
treated of the divine promises and predictions as fitted, by
their fulfilment, to give a clear and certain demonstration
of the being of God, and of the authority of revelation.
In these we have so many miracles of wisdom and knowledge
which can be unerringly perceived to be miracles or super-
natural communications, not at the time of their announcment,
but only at some future period and through their fulfilment.
Here, however, we are presented with a different order of
miracles, miracles of power,-whose design is to give instan-
taneous demonstration, and thus to create immediate belief.
We need not say how many objections have more or less
recently been urged against the reality, nay, even against
the possibility, of miracles. We cannot here treat of so wide
a subject. We are fully persuaded that nothing has been or
ever can be written in actual or logical disproof of either
ARRAY OF MIRACLES.
61
their possibility or their reality. Nor can we anticipate the
success or admire the wisdom of the attempts of not a few
to eliminate the miraculous element from the sacred Scrip-
tures. The argument based on the sacredness and in-
variableness of physical law, so earnestly urged in these days,
we deem groundless, or rather as built upon a mistaken view
of the real work of God, as if He had from the first esta-
blished a perfect order of things, which no free human
agency could, and no divine supernatural agency would, in
any way alter or destroy. The whole system of Bible
miracles proceeds on the principle that such free agency
exists, and that it has immensely disturbed and destroyed
the perfect created order of the world. In fact, one of the
fundamental ideas of the Biblical system is that of the
greatest moral disorder of necessity causing a vast amount
of social and physical disorder. Hence the work of God
is now, and has ever been since the first transgression, rather
redemptive and restorative than creative and purely evolu-
tional. Hence, too, the miracles of the Bible, as forming a
part of that work, are, to a very great extent, remedial. If
they interfere, locally and within a limited sphere, as in the
case of those of which we treat with the usual course of
nature, the design is still to secure or to restore the true
order in the higher and more sacred sphere of the social,
moral, or spiritual world. Thus it was in the case in hand.
How fearful the disorder involved in the degrading bondage
and cruel oppression of Israel! Shall we say that the waters
of the Nile were too sacred to be miraculously turned into
blood, even for the purpose of contributing towards the
emancipation of the enslaved, or of revealing the redemptive
power and will of Jehovah? We need not remark, that the
great deliverance is expressly and solely ascribed to Him.
He was then and ever afterwards to be accounted the sole
deliverer. Only thus could the grand end in view have been
effected. Unlike all others in similar position, Moses is
never spoken of as the great benefactor. This distinction
62
MOSAIC REVELATION.
t
is real. These incite the people to do some special work
for themselves, as great generals rousing them to action,
and leading them to victory. The glory of the result is thus
shared between all engaged, according to rank or achievement.
Moses, however, is viewed simply as an instrument. When
the great work is accomplished, the entire glory is given to
Jehovah. Nor is he praised as enabling the people to
emancipate themselves. Moses is no military hero. He
awakens no spirit of resistance; he provides no weapon of
war; he directs them to look solely to the arm of Jehovah,
and to be prepared to leave Egypt, not when the Egyptian
army has been overcome, but when the king and people of
Egypt have been divinely constrained to permit or command
their departure. The whole narrative is consistent. The
nature of the divine end involved the exclusion of human
agency and, therefore, the use of supernatural means.
II.
1. Let us consider, then, the miracles referred to. Space
will not admit of our entering into detail or following the
narrative in its brief but suggestive reference to each. To
treat these works in succession would require a large dis-
course.
They may be said to form one complete whole. All
seemed to have been necessary for the manifold end in view.
We must not suppose that Jehovah had but the one direct aim
of emancipation. He meant to affect the minds and hearts
of His people, as well as to reach the judgment and will of
the king and people of Egypt. He was moulding the
national thought and character of Israel. We cannot tell how
far He sought the highest good of the Egyptians and of other
people. At any rate, He had many ends in view, and was
working for all ages and for many nations. He was wonder-
fully revealing Himself, illustrating His own government of
the world, and doing what would provide an important part of
the sacred scriptures or the history of redemption.
63
2. The first end of certain of these miracles was that of
attestation. They were designed either to confirm or to
create faith in Jehovah as the God of Israel, and to seal the
demand made by Moses and Aaron, in that great Name, that
Pharaoh should allow His people to depart from the land of
Egypt. In the first instance, the faith of Moses and Aaron
was confirmed in relation to their divine commission. The
wonderful scene of Horeb, and the words heard there, must
not be allowed to become unreal or to be deemed a possible
illusion. In the second place, the Israelites had to be fully
assured of the divine authority or of the divinity of the
mission of Moses and Aaron. They must be willing to do
as Moses would direct, and to prepare for their early de-
parture as he might command. If Moses had been a
great warrior or popular leader, stirring them up to deeds
of self emancipation, the case would have been different.
They could then have judged of his capabilities and of their
own resources, and have acted accordingly. However, as they
were literally to do nothing, but to stand and see their sal-
vation, they required some sufficient proof, some infallible
sign that Jehovah had come for their deliverance. In the third
instance, Pharaoh could not be expected to forego the
advantage of the services of so many bondsmen at the doubt-
ful command of an unknown God, or in acknowledgment.
of a divine commission of which he had not the most indis-
putable evidence. We are apt to be horrified at the daring
impiety of his words :-"Who is the Lord,”—as if he meant,
who is God," that I should obey His voice to let Israel
go?" It had been well had the more expressive rendering
been adopted,—“Who is Jehovah that I should obey His
voice?" Who is this God of yours? Why should I obey a God
of whom I know nothing, whose very being may be unreal?
Hence he adds, "I know not Jehovah, neither will I let
Israel go." Jehovah, then, has to demonstrate His own being,
as that of the Supreme God whom all men are bound to obey.
If He would require of him obedience to His authority or
DESIGN OF THE MIRACLES.
64
MOSAIC REVELATION.
voluntary permission for the people to depart, of course the
conscience of the king, as guilty of injustice and oppression,
ought to have responded to the righteousness of the demand.
Still, Moses was not commissioned to present the plea of
equity as opposed to oppression, but to make a demand in
the name of Jehovah, the God and Father of Israel. In such
a case, reasoning in behalf of the being of God, or to show
that the God of Israel was the true God, would have been
utterly out of place and in vain. We can conceive no method
of any avail, or in any sense appropriate, unless that actually
adopted,—we mean, not the use of one kind of sign rather
than another, but the use of some kind of supernatural in-
terposition fitted to give suitable and infallible proof of the
being and power of Him whose servants Moses and Aaron
professed to be. That such interposition was appropriate
and sufficient for this end, we know from the result, as
Pharaoh and his people, however hostile in spirit, fully and more
than once owned their conviction; and we may add, as we
read the narrative from beginning to end, we feel perfectly
sure that there is not and never was a man so persuaded
of the uniformity of nature or so sceptical as to the super-
natural, as to resist the belief that he was directly dealt
with by an incensed and Almighty God, if, occupying an
unjust and tyrannical position, he had not only witnessed at
a distance, but experienced in his own person and heart, the
terrible as well as marvellous-we need not say, the miracu-
lous-treatment to which Pharaoh was, according to the
express and successive announcements of Moses, personally
and relatively subjected.
3. The faith of Moses and Aaron was confirmed. The
faith and hopes of Israel were revived. The message of
Jehovah to Pharaoh was rejected; whilst, through the arts of
the magicians, the first miraculous signs had no practical
effect. What, we may now ask, were these signs, at once so
many and so mighty, intended to accomplish? We may
simply note the following:-
65
(a) If the judgment and will of the king and people of Egypt
were to be reached, as we have shown they were, all
obstacles, such as the deceptive influences of the magicians,
must be removed. The opening contest was thus between
Moses and Aaron and these men. The latter were accus-
tomed to deceive the minds and to uphold the superstitions
of the Egyptians. In the use of enchantments, they seemed
to work miracles. Perhaps in this we may find the reason
for the choice of the first miracles of Moses, as being those
which these men could successfully imitate, and in imitating
which they were to receive their first, though not most
effectual, blow, by the clearest evidence of the vast difference
between the magic imitation and the miraculous reality,—
the rod of Aaron destroying their rods, and the frogs which
they drew from the river being proof of great art, but not,
like the vast multitude brought upon the whole land by
Moses, proof of the interposition of Almighty power. Their
enchantments henceforth fail them. Their secret arts are
exhausted; and the next divine work leads them to say,
"This is the finger of God." Afterwards they are so afflicted
in person by the plague of boils that they "could not stand
before Moses," and so for ever quit the field of contest.
Their public influence, at least, was thus destroyed.
(6) The superstitious and false religion of Egypt must be
exposed. Error must be removed, if truth is to be received.
To this end the defeat of the magicians contributed. So also
did those works which seem to have been directed against
the objects of superstitious worship, as, for instance, the
pollution of the sacred waters of the Nile.
(c) Through the extent and variety of these works, Jehovah
did what ought to have given the clearest and most impressive
revelation of Himself as the True and Almighty God, the
God of the whole earth, emphatically of Egypt itself, the
God who ruled over every form and department of nature
throughout the whole country,-land, water, air, light, man,
life in all its varieties,-whether to develop or to destroy.
SUPERSTITION EXPOSED.
$
5
66
MOSAIC REVELATION,
(d) Still, Jehovah proved that He was, in some sense,
specially the God of Israel. In certain of the miracles of
judgment, He broadly separated between them and the
Egyptians, making the latter to suffer severely and universally,
and protecting the former from all inconvenience and harm.
Thus, whilst "a darkness that could be felt" rested on the
whole land of Egypt, the Israelites "had light in all their
dwellings."
(e) Still, this implied no necessary exclusiveness or partiality
on the part of Jehovah, far less any real hostility against the
Egyptians. They ought to have seen a sufficient reason for
the distinction in the difference of the two peoples,-the one
oppressed, and the other oppressing; the former required by
Jehovah to leave Egypt, and the latter commanded by Him
to permit them. He ought, then, whatever His relation to
Israel, to have been recognised as the God of the whole earth,
and thus as the God of Egypt. This is no extravagant in-
ference. He had done more than demonstrated His being,
His power, and Godhead. He had again and again revealed
His spirit and character,-His spirit of forbearance, and His
character of mercy,-by removing plague after plague, notwith-
standing their frequent profession of repentance and promise
of obedience and their equally frequent return to wickedness
and violation of promise. They are not to be viewed as
simply idolaters, with no knowledge of their duty, and really
to be pitied as great sufferers for little sins,-little because of
their ignorance, however great externally or in themselves.
No, Jehovah did not condemn till He had given abundant
light. As a matter of fact, He not only constrained Pharaoh
to acknowledge His Godhead, but also convinced him of sin,
and compelled him to confess his own guilt and that of his
people: "I have sinned this time. Jehovah is righteous, and
I and my people are wicked;" and again, "I have sinned
against your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I
pray thee, my sin only this once," etc. This knowledge of the
forbearance and mercy of Jehovah ought to have led to re-
67
pentance and to sincere inquiry as to Him, His mind and
will. In thus alluding to the guilt of his people, Pharaoh
suggests that they also opposed the release of Israel, sharing,
as we may presume, in the advantages of their unrewarded
toils. If the narrative had left us simply to contemplate the
facts or to reflect on the wonderful forbearance and mercy
just referred to, we should have most naturally concluded
that Jehovah had done everything necessary to make Himself
known as the God of mercy, and therefore of salvation, and,
indeed, to show that He sought their real good. Why so
gloriously demonstrate His being? Why not wield His mighty
power at their first refusal? Why wait so long? Why yield
to entreaty so often? Why, in fact, so patient and merciful?
If He had not meant their good, why His great goodness,
His unwillingness to punish according to desert? Whatever
the real end, assuredly the apparent design was that of grace
and salvation. He doubtless foreknew that Pharaoh and
many of his people-we cannot say all of them-would resist
every proof of good-will and favour; but this cannot be held
to demonstrate that He did not seek their highest good,
seeing, as we know, He is everywhere and always seeking the
most lasting good, even the eternal salvation, of millions who,
He certainly foreknows, will to the very last refuse His grace
and resist His will. It becomes us to be careful as to how
we draw inferences from the idea of divine foreknowledge.
One thing is clear, that foreknowledge cannot possibly of
itself affect or interfere with the will, the volitions, the secret
springs of action of free moral beings. The mere announce-
ment, then, of the fact of persistent opposition and final
impenitence, must not, any more than the knowledge of it,
be assumed to prove that Jehovah, in His great work of
deliverance, did not, by His whole method of self-revelation,
seek the real welfare of the Egyptians, and use, however
ineffectually through wicked resistance, the most appropriate
and best means of securing it. We have said a good deal,
and might add much more, in support of such a merciful
DIVINE MERCY TOWARDS PHARAOH.
68
MOSAIC REVELATION.
purpose, or of such a merciful course of procedure as we have
endeavoured to indicate. We seem fairly bound to conclude
that such was the case, unless we find in the narrative some
statement or statements sufficient to prove the contrary or to
show that Jehovah had only one end in view, that of the
deliverance of His people.
4. We need hardly say that we have given to these remarks
their peculiar form because of the fact that certain statements
and parts of the narrative do seem favourable to that view of
the subject which would rather exclude a merciful design.
We refer, of course, to the allusions to the hardening of
Pharaoh's heart. By these very many minds have been so
greatly perplexed as to make the whole subject worthy of
special consideration. We may suggest the following :—
(1) Whatever these allusions involve, we must not forget
these three things: First, that the divine procedure, as we
have shown, was fitted to make, and actually did make,
according to their own acknowledgment, that very revelation
of Jehovah to the Egyptians which we have indicated.
Secondly, we have also shown that Pharaoh himself was so led
to see the righteousness and mercy of Jehovah, as to confess
his guilt; so that he did not err from lack of light, but in
opposition to it. A God whom he was constrained so to
acknowledge, all reason bound him further to seek and fully
to obey. We may therefore safely say that, had he followed
the light given, he would have certainly and soon risen out of
heathen darkness to the light of a redemptive revelation.
Thirdly, whatever may be said of the king, there was at
least nothing to prevent the people of Egypt from receiving
and benefiting from a revelation of such mingled judgment
and mercy at once so grand and impressive, and so fitted to
meet their case, Let it not be said that the signs and
wonders," which they were made to feel as well as to see,
were a manifestation of the severity, and not of the goodness,
of Jehovah. All knew well the fearful wrongs done to Israel.
The divine severity, by addressing and awakening the con-
ti
Kat
69
science in the first instance, only the better prepared the
way for the divine forbearance, in the second, to reach and
affect the awakened heart. In the circumstances, such for-
bearance revealed goodness and mercy, so long as the wrongs
of the oppressed were maintained. Nor are we speculating
abstractly and doubtfully as to what ought to have been the
result. We are expressly told that a good, however imperfect,
result followed,-Exod. xi. 3: " And Jehovah gave the people.
favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man
Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of
Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." They
did not look on him as an enemy, or on his God as simply
and solely severe. Again, though, like the Israelites, they
afterwards sinned and longed for the comforts of Egypt, "the
mixed multitude" that followed Moses must have been, at
least for a season, sincerely and profoundly impressed with
what they had seen and learned of Jehovah.
HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART.
(2) Before we can deny the designed revelation of mercy
even to Pharaoh himself, we must find some express or im-
plied denial of it in the narrative. Now the mere statement
that Jehovah had hardened His heart, or had declared that
He would harden it, when rightly understood, by no means
carries such an inference. It must be interpreted in keeping
with another and oft-repeated statement, that Pharaoh har-
dened his own heart. We find that, when certain plagues
were mercifully removed, and that at his own express request
or virtual prayer to God, the narrative assures us that he
abused the very act of grace, and hardened his heart against
the righteous and clearly revealed command of Jehovah. In
such a case, what did Jehovah ?-He mercifully answered the
prayer of the king. And what did the king ?-Why, he took
advantage of the very mercy revealed, and hardened his heart,
or emboldened himself to persist in his course of oppression.
Jehovah was, thus far at least, neither more nor else than the
perfectly innocent occasion, whilst Pharaoh was neither less
nor else than the only guilty cause, of this hardness of heart.
70
MOSAIC REVELATION.
All this, then, consists with the idea of Jehovah seeking the
highest good of the king, and, in this case, would simply be
an example of what daily occurs under all the light of Chris-
tian truth, we mean of people in distress, and especially in
the prospect of death, pleading for a respite, promising
amendment, and abusing divine goodness by hardening their
hearts or by persisting in sin. In their case, as in Pharaoh's,
in withdrawing the evil, God becomes, it may be well to
repeat, the innocent occasion, whilst they are really the guilty
cause, of their hardness of heart. Again, the case supposed
could not be affected by the foreknowledge of Jehovah, or by
His early disclosure to Moses of the perversity of the king,
as neither the one nor the other could possibly affect the free
working of his mind. At the same time, it must be acknow-
ledged that that disclosure does seem to exclude the idea of
merciful design. Why make it at all? The answer is simple.
The faith of Moses and the people had to be sustained.
They had to be encouraged to persevere, and to be led to
prepare for the final issue. However God might act again
and again on a principle of merciful forbearance, and however
this might harden rather than soften, as it ought, the heart
of the king, they were not to doubt the result. That this
disclosure was thus intended is evident from the fact, that
equally early the people were told to ask various articles of
use and ornament from the Egyptians,-not to "borrow," as
our translation unhappily renders the verb, and thus suggests
the idea of a divine counsel to deceive. As afterwards we
are told, God gave them favour with the Egyptians; and the
latter doubtless were but too willing in the end to give what
would seem needful for the departure, whilst, as has often
been said, no injustice was done, the latter, at the utmost,
receiving no adequate return for all their hard and unrequited
work.
ng
(3) Have we exhausted all the difficulties of the case ? We
have found that Jehovah may be viewed as virtually saying,
"I will deal mercifully with Pharaoh, I will seek his real good,
HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART.
71
but My mercy, instead of subduing, as it ought, will really
harden his heart as it ought not, but as, by the very laws of
his nature, it must when thus despised; and then I will, as
he shall deserve, deal with him in judgment in order to your
triumphant release." But, instead of thus explaining, as He
could not be expected to do, He simply and directly declares
the result, "I will harden his heart, and he will not let you
go, unless treated severely and overthrown, as he shall be by
mighty power." All this seems simple and clear. Does it
solve all difficulty? It must be confessed that, in alluding
to the final result, Jehovah does appear to treat Pharaoh as a
cruel and selfish oppressor, and therefore as an enemy whom
He must now destroy. Certainly the day of forbearance had
come to a close. The pursuit of Israel, after permission to
depart had been finally granted, displayed a spirit of abso-
lutely hopeless impenitence, which no further forbearance or
mercy could possibly subdue, and which therefore could not
fail to draw forth the sentence of just and irreversible
judgment. Hence, as Pharaoh and his army were seen with
not unnatural alarm, "Jehovah said unto Moses, Wherefore
criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the people, that they go
forward but lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand
over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall
go on dry (ground) through the midst of the sea. And I,
behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they
shall follow them: and I will get Me honour upon Pharaoh
and upon all his host." The hardening or emboldening of
heart here affirmed, can by no means be regarded as involving
the slightest infusion of evil or the least direct influence of
God. Just as the removal of the plagues led the king to harden
his own heart, so the sight of a way through the deep hardened
or emboldened him and his army daringly to carry on the
pursuit. Jehovah simply did what the safety of His people
required; and this was abused to the final and just destruction
of the reckless pursuers. Pharaoh would not give honour to
Jehovah freely and in return for His favour; and now Jehovah
72
MOSAIC REVELATION.
gets honour to Himself from Pharaoh as a memorably
vanquished foe. In no way, then, can Jehovah be said, as
some sadly conceive the narrative to imply, first to intensify
the wickedness of the king, and then to punish him for his
intensified wickedness. The whole is a fine revelation of
Jehovah and of His method of dealing with the sinful every-
where, in the first instance seeking their repentance and
welfare, and that merciful end failing, in the second instance,
treating them judicially and punishing them accordingly.
III.
1. We have so far anticipated. The people are commanded
to prepare for their departure. The decisive blow is struck.
The first-born are dead. We shall not allude to the Paschal
Feast, or to the provision for the safety of the first-born of
Israel. Never had there been such a night in Egypt. No
wonder there was a great cry" in it. The king is over-
come at last. He now urges the Israelites to depart.
2. We shall not attempt to describe the departure. Nor
shall we refer to the frantic resolution of the king even yet
to prevent it. Far less shall we endeavour to set forth the
grand miracle of the passage of the Red Sea, or the awful
destruction which followed. How exultant the emancipated
people! How sublime the scene on the sea shore, where
Israel gathered to thank and praise their Divine Deliverer!
With what enthusiasm did all hearts join in the song of
victory," I will sing unto Jehovah, for He hath triumphed
gloriously the horse and his rider hath He cast into the
sea"!
3. In this great deliverance, as conducted from first to last,
we have a wonderful revelation of Jehovah, for example, as
often alluded to, a grand practical demonstration of His
Power and Godhead. It was so to Pharaoh. He could not
resist its power. Unless at the very outset, he never ques-
tioned His existence, and, however unwillingly, received some
JEHOVAH SUPERNATURALLY REVEALED.
glimpses of His gracious character. In fact, in his case, we
have an illustration of how the very being of God may be
proved by miracles or by supernatural means. Though some-
times desponding, the hearts of Moses and of the oppressed
people must have ever been alive to the successive and over-
whelming manifestations of almighty power. In Goshen
and in all Egypt, they saw nature in her greatest wealth of
productiveness thus disclosing the most diversified operation
of the most mysterious powers, through which, doubtless,
they would often rise to the thought of the great Creator
whom their fathers worshipped. When, however, they saw,
as it were, every province of that nature invaded by the power
of Jehovah, and shown to be perfectly under His control,
their minds would grasp the idea of that Divine Being, who
had called Himself by the Name, I AM THAT I AM, as they
had never done before, and would henceforth, with greater
force and vividness, associate the thought of Jehovah with
that of all the works of His hand.
73
4. This general idea of Jehovah, however, would be greatly
lost in another, namely, that of the God of their fathers as
being indeed the great and mighty, the living and true God,
the God of the whole earth. Their fathers were long dead.
The promises of Canaan had not yet been realized. The
yoke of Egypt had been very heavy. Faith was failing; and
some were falling into idolatry. Now hope had revived,
and the fulfilment of the patriarchal covenant seemed to be
at hand. As mighty work succeeded mighty work at the word
of Moses, when the resolute despot was constrained to yield,
and when at last the Red Sea was crossed and the enemy
finally overthrown, the Israelites could hardly help feeling as
if they saw Jehovah before their eyes, the old covenant as if
visibly sealed, and a new and glorious era begun.
5. This is not all. Though known in former ages as a
redeemer, Jehovah had never come forth before in that
character in a way so strikingly impressive. As already said,
He was here all in all; Moses was a voice and no more. The
74
MOSAIC REVELATION.
people experience the great redemption; but they do nothing
to effect it. From this date, the idea of a Redeemer-God
takes possession of their minds. Nor was this idea one of
the mere understanding; it was rather that of the heart. The
miraculous display of power presented no mere panoramic
vision to the eye, but made a strong and penetrating appeal
to every personal, domestic, natural, and religious feeling.
Previously the iron had entered the soul of the whole nation.
Parental feeling had been fearfully violated and tortured. No
nation can pass through such " a furnace of affliction," and
experience such a deliverance, without being permanently
moulded by the process, or without feeling the influence of
it for many generations. From the time when Israel crossed
the Red Sea, and sang the hymn of triumphal praise, Jehovah
was their Redeemer as well as their God, and they were His
redeemed as well as His people.
6. Further, this great work was not, nor was intended to
be deemed a simple and righteous deliverance of the
oppressed out of the cruel hand of the oppressor. Israel was
taught to regard it as a work of mercy and grace on the one
hand, and as having a moral and spiritual bearing upon them-
selves on the other, viewed as guilty and sinful in the sight of
Jehovah. This was clearly, though symbolically, set forth by
the Paschal Feast, and especially by the sprinkling of the
blood as a condition of safety, when the destroying angel
passed through the whole land of Egypt. The redemption
was greater and of profounder meaning than it appeared.
The people were treated as sinners, as making confession of
sin, and as thus delivered by Jehovah. This they might not
perceive. Still it was fully implied in the divine command,
and it was afterwards amply illustrated by the most varied
instruction.
•
7. Another thought must be here added. The redemp-
tion of Israel was not designed to be viewed as that of only
one generation, but as that of the whole nation thenceforward
or through all future generations. This was implied in the
MARKED PROGRESS OF REVELATION.
75
permanent observance of the Passover. It was expressed in
what is called the preface to the Ten Commandments: "I am
Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
and out of the house of bondage ;" and it is brought out more
or less clearly in many parts of Scripture. Nor can we view
this as a
legal fiction;" for the whole nation was assuredly
in that one generation so delivered as to escape the permanent
evils, if not general destruction, which might have followed.
(C
8. How marked the progress of the self-revelation of
Jehovah as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of
redemption! He is no longer the God of a single person or
family, as of Abraham, or the family of Abraham : He is the
God of a whole nation, redeemed by His mighty power, and
so made His own peculiar possession. Still that nation is
but the multiplied family of Abraham, the seed in which all
the families and nations of the earth are to be blessed. Thus
has the great and eventually universal work of Jehovah.
advanced. Of necessity this peculiar people is separated
from other peoples. The character which they sustain as the
redeemed of Jehovah is the character which all nations are
to sustain. From this date, the very terms or language of
salvation may be said to have been formed or to have received
marked development. This redemption, and this redeemed
people, are types of the greater redemption and of the more
truly redeemed in the distant future. Because of the necessary
separation to which we have referred, and the apparent, but
unreal, partiality of Jehovah, we need not much wonder to
find a strong tendency towards self-exaltation manifesting
itself, resulting in great evils throughout the course of the
national history, and exerting a pernicious influence over the
scattered race to the present day. However, that tendency
was purely human. The final design of that separation was
universal and divine. And now, seeing the grand purpose of
the ages has been disclosed in the person, work, and kingdom
of Jesus, the true seed of Abraham, we behold in Jehovah the
God of salvation to all mankind.
76
MOSAIC REVELATION.
SECTION III.
THE DESERT JOURNEY.
1. The redemption from Egypt is now complete. The real
and the difficult work of Israel now begins. They are now
on their way to Canaan, and have to pass through "a great
and terrible wilderness." How shall so vast a multitude be
fed? Would any leader of common judgment ever propose,
apart from divine direction and promised aid, to take such a
course? The fact that it was taken by Moses may well suf-
fice to suggest the certainty of a direct divine commission.
In our day, many find it hard or impossible to believe the
reality of either the miracles of Egypt or those of the journey
which followed. They formed one great and consistent whole,
naturally traced at this distant date to human imagination,
unless evidently disclosing some grand divine purpose, or
actually securing some most important divine end. Only
when we see Jehovah thus revealing Himself or His mind
and will, or thus doing what has been and still is of great con-
sequence to the human race, does all appear at once consistent
and historical.
2. So gloriously redeemed, the people had every reason to
proceed in the strength and courage of perfect faith of their
unseen but covenant God. Having crossed the Red Sea
on foot, they ought not to have feared to follow through any
desert their unerring and Almighty Guide. Moses had amply
proved his divine commission; and they ought to have been
prepared to obey every command conveyed through him.
Jehovah was in their camp; and their desert-life was to be
one of peculiar and manifest dependence on Him,—of con-
stant and unwavering faith in Him,-of loving and devoted
obedience to Him. In fact, they were to walk by faith to
the promised land, as really as saints of all ages to the
heavenly country. They were thus to resemble Abraham,
THE DESERT JOURNEY.
the type of all believers, in his journey from his native place.
to the very region to which Jehovah, in fulfilment of His
purpose with Abraham, was now leading them. The faith
thus exercised would prove of highest use, not only or chiefly
in conducting them to the earthly Canaan, but also and most
desirably in uniting all who sincerely exercised it, to the
great and eternal One, and thus in creating and sustaining
that very life of love to Him, which He in no case allows to
perish. Intelligently viewed, all true faith in God,--we mean
all such faith as leads to the habitual love and obedience of
77
God, or, as Paul has said, all " faith which worketh by love,"-
is in the fullest sense saving faith. In this way Jehovah was
at once realizing a portion of His redeeming work, and re-
vealing Himself more clearly as the grand object of faith,
the Being whom the saved of every age are to trust, love, and
obey.
3. Throughout all this marvellous journey, Jehovah appeared
as the fountain of all needful good to His people. They were
now, and in obedience to His command, removed from the
natural sources of the very necessaries of life. First, water
failed; then food; and, at last, unless for miracle, raiment
must have failed. The bitter waters were healed, manna fell
daily around their camp, quails came at the divine command.
The smitten rock became a fountain of waters. Their clothes
waxed not old with years. Everything needful was supplied.
One grand and varied miracle of divine power and goodness
was continually wrought, taking, as it were, the place of
ordinary providence, raising the people out of the sphere of
nature, and bringing them daily face to face with the Invisible
God. In Egypt, Jehovah had assailed the stronghold of
Polytheism. In the wilderness, He would meet two of the
most subtle and terrible enemies of man, the Atheism and
the Pantheism of the human heart. The people are led where
they can have no hope but in God. As wants multiply and
destitution follows, men are apt to doubt and disbelieve: the
atheism of the heart appears.
Their murmuring gave expres-
78
MOSAIC REVELATION.
sion to it. They are allowed to know their own hearts.
Their foe is discovered and met. The riven rock reveals the
presence and the power of Jehovah, rebuking their unbelief,
and teaching them to renew their faith in Him. Again,
surrounded with abundant means of subsistence and comfort,
men too easily come to trust in the mere course of nature.
The resources of Egypt had been trusted and were not for-
gotten. In the desert their freedom from bondage began to
be lightly valued, and Jehovah to be little remembered. They
had virtually deified the then fertile fields of Goshen and the
fertilizing waters of the Nile. The forces of nature had more
or less taken the place of the power of God. So it is with
the mass of mankind. This is the Pantheism of the heart.
Nature is God-God is Nature. As Nature ceases to supply
the needful good, God virtually ceases to be. So men find in
the inhospitable desert, which thus becomes the fit place for
the self-manifestation of Jehovah,-of Him whose Name is
I AM THAT I AM, I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE, I
WILL DO THAT I WILL DO. As the natural supplies
fail, the supernatural abound. Jehovah is not limited by the
laws of nature. Nature is shown not to be the only nurse
of man. It is demonstrated that man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the
mouth of God." The Pantheism of the heart is met; and
Jehovah most wonderfully reveals Himself to faith, hope,
66
and love.
4. Further, this divinely conducted journey was designed
to make Jehovah vitally and consciously the ever-present and
all-sufficient God of Israel; and thus to fit them, first, to
fulfil His purpose in their taking possession of the Promised
Land; and, secondly, to fulfil the great end of their separation
as a peculiar people in relation to the well-being of mankind.
They were to be the living depositary of saving truth.
Canaan, whilst the gift of God, was yet to be the conquest
of faith, as the continued possession of it was to be secured
by the continued exercise of faith. The faith of the first
BALAAM.
79
generation failed, and Canaan was not won. The faith of
certain generations failed, and Canaan was again and again
lost. All the training of the wilderness was needed. Faith
had to be cultivated, and courage inspired. Never, perhaps,
did any succeeding generation rise to a higher faith and
devotedness than that thus miraculously taught, amidst the
hardships and discomforts, the divine works and revelations,
of the desert.
5. We may here note what must be treated more fully,
namely, the giving of the Law, the establishment of which
has been not quite correctly called the Theocracy and the
like. Much moral and spiritual truth was thus revealed.
The union of the mighty words and mighty works of the
Sacred Record gives to both the appearance of reality. Thus
the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai we may well regard
as a grand and most influential reality, felt still to be a most
practical and impressive revelation of God. Sublimely awful
as were the physical and supernatural accompaniments, yet
more sublimely awful has been the ministration of the same
Law to the hearts and consciences of men in every age to
the present day. The latter most undeniable fact ought to
contribute towards the illustration of the reality of the former
as described in the history, the more especially as we can
now perceive the relation of Sinai to Calvary, of the minis-
tration of death to the ministration of life. Without the
Sinaitic revelation of Law, with all its thunders of implied
condemnation, the system of revealed truth would be most
incomplete. Its very place in that system, with its perma-
nent use to all generations, ought assuredly to do what we
have said, -to indicate the reality of the whole as divine,
and to remove all suspicion of fiction or of purely human
tradition.
6. We might allude to one of the most mysterious cha-
racter of all history, we refer to Balaam, who occupies so
prominent a place in the narrative. In keeping with the
superstition of the times, the King of Moab endeavoured to
80
MOSAIC REVELATION.
14
get him to curse the children of Israel, and so to prevent
them from injuring his people. We shall only observe, First,
that Balaam seems to have belonged to the remnant of those
who dwelt in or near the native country of Abraham, and
continued to worship Jehovah, but not without practising
rites of heathenish character. Secondly, he evidently rose
to high repute as a prophet, who, by means of prayers,
incantations, and the like, could so influence the divine will
as to bring down good or evil on men. In his mind, as in
the minds of many, pure righteous principle had greatly lost
its hold, and selfish, superstitious feeling had usurped its
place. Thirdly, Jehovah was pleased to constrain him to
convey in the loftiest strains much divine truth, to disclose
the future of Israel, and to show that no human power could
alter the righteous and gracious will of Jehovah. Fourthly,
one thing especially was his conduct overruled to do, namely,
to show that all superstition was foreign to the worship and
service of Jehovah, the God of Israel. We have alluded to
Atheism, Polytheism, and Pantheism as antagonistic to all
Bible religion. In superstition, especially as mixed up with
the worship of the true God, we find a fourth antagonistic
force, often most degrading, and always injurious to the
religion which it misrepresents. It was so throughout the
Israelitish history, as it has been in that of the Christian
Church. Now, what is the main distinction between religion
and superstition? We suppose the same God to be nominally
worshipped. However, whilst true religion seeks to know
and do His will or to conform freely and cheerfully the human
to the divine will, superstition treats God as an object rather
of dread than of love, and, by means of vain practices,
endeavours to prevail on Him to alter His will, or at least
to conform His will to the wishes, the selfish, and, it may
be, the most unrighteous wishes, of the worshipper. Well
have the superstitious been described long ago (See "Select
Discourses," by John Smith, Cambridge):-"Such men
making account by their devotions to draw the Deity to
ALL SUPERSTITION Condemned.
81
themselves, and, winning the favour of heaven, to procure
such an indulgence to their lusts as no sober man on earth
would give them; they in the meanwhile not considering
that repentance, supplications, and prayers, ought to draw
us nearer to God, not God nearer to us; as in a ship, by
fastening a cable to a firm rock, we intend not to draw the
rock to the ship, but the ship to the rock." The case of
Balaam illustrates this. He used his incantations to draw
God to him, not to draw himself to God; to induce God to
conform His will to a most wicked purpose, and not to lead
God to withdraw him from every such purpose, and to conform
his desires to the holy and perfect will of God. Jehovah,
however, constrains him to speak at least in harmony with
righteousness and truth, and to declare, “God is not a man
that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should
repent... Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
neither is there any divination against Israel,”-no power can
turn Jehovah from righteousness or from protecting those.
who trust in Him and do His will. Let no one either trust
to superstitious practices or be alarmed because of them.
How instructive, in those early times, nay, even now, the
story of Balaam ! His avarice was too much for his sense
of right. Under the terror of Jehovah, he restrained it.
Still it proved his ruin. He used the very light which he
received as to the perfection of God to obtain "the wages
of unrighteousness," which he at first seemed nobly to refuse.
He had learned that the only way in which Jehovah could
be led to turn against Israel, was to tempt Israel to sin
against Him. This secret of Israel's weakness he revealed.
Temptation followed. Hence the sin and punishment of
Baal-peor. Hence, too, the vengeance dealt out to the
corrupt and corrupting Midianites. And hence, lastly, the
doom of the guilty prophet, who lived not to enjoy the wages
of iniquity, but was at last found among the slain, and now
occupies the terrible position of a beacon to warn mankind
against the vice of avarice, which led him to sacrifice the
6
82
MOSAIC REVELATION.
interests of Israel, which led Judas to betray the Blessed
Saviour, and which has lost many a man the crown of
immortality.
7. We cannot allude to the many practical lessons sug-
gested by the Desert Journey. We have just seen how no
unrighteousness can enter the acceptable service of Jehovah.
Nothing can induce Him to do evil or to encourage sin. We
are taught to appreciate the divine estimate of holiness and
sin. We allude to the entire treatment of Israel. Countless
are the recorded murmurings and rebellions against the Divine
Deliverer and Benefactor. Sin appears in its true character
of rebellion against God. Too few even yet so regard it.
Under the direct guidance of Jehovah, Israel could not fail
to learn that His will was their law, that unbelief, the source
of disobedience, was sinful, and that selfishness and godless-
ness, the cause of so much evil, entered greatly into the
national character. Faith, again, appears in all its ex-
cellence, in such cases as those of Joshua and Caleb, as con-
trasted with the unbelief and cowardice of the other spies
and of the mass of the first adult generation. We might draw
more than one like valuable lesson from the story of the
Brazen Serpent, in which we see how God, condemning sin,
encouraged faith, and gave a fine symbolic lesson with respect
to salvation through faith in Himself as the God of Re-
demption.
SECTION IV.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE KINGDOM AND GIVING
OF THE LAW.
I.
1. We come now to the most important work of Jehovah,
connected with the wilderness life of Israel,—the organiza-
tion of the kingdom, and giving of the Law. Had the
people achieved their own liberty by ordinary means, they
CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM.
83
would have naturally treated their leader as their king,
or elected some one else to the royal dignity, and ordained
laws, or left him to ordain laws suitable to themselves. How-
ever, having been divinely delivered, and being divinely
sustained, they were bound to regard Jehovah as their true
Law-giver and King. Of course, He might leave them to
follow their own judgment; but as He was using the nation
as the medium of a great and beneficent work, He could not
thus leave them to take an ordinary place among other
nations.
2. Still, in constituting Israel a kingdom, Jehovah conde-
scended to receive the consent of the people. Before the
giving of the Law, Moses, conveying a message, went down
from Sinai, and said to them, as he was told, Exod. xix. 4-6 :
"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I
bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself.
Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My
covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto Me, above
all people for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto
Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." Such was the
promise on the one side, and the condition on the other. We
are next informed, ver. 7, 8, that Moses "called for the
elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these
words which Jehovah commanded him. And all the people
answered together and said, All that Jehovah hath spoken
will we do. And Moses returned the words of the people to
Jehovah." Thus, before the Law was given, Moses was in-
structed as to the preparations for the giving of the Law;
Jehovah thus acknowledged as King, proceeding to act as
Lawgiver of Israel.
3. Here, however, we must note the development of one
essential feature of the kingdom. Jehovah appeared on the
mount, not only with the suitable tokens of divine glory and
majesty, but also with such attendant terrors as would seem
befitting the coming of the Great Judge of mankind, awaken-
ing awful alarm rather than natural reverence, and leading
84
MOSAIC REVELATION.
►
the people to entreat Moses to interpose, or to act the part of
a mediator, between Jehovah and them. Instead of simply
calming their fears, Jehovah acknowledged the propriety of
them by sanctioning their request, and by saying to Moses
that they "had spoken well." In fact, the manner of the
divine manifestation, in order to the intended legislation, was
assuredly designed and fitted to awaken the sense of sin, and
to lead to the appropriate request for mediation. This re-
quest being approved and accepted, Moses was appointed
mediator; and thus the kingdom was essentially mediatorial.
Moses was at once the representative of Jehovah to the people,
and the representative of the people to Jehovah. At this
peculiar period, this fact involved very much, and should
be carefully noticed in its bearing on the work in progress,
—we mean that of forming the national constitution. The
previously existing constitution, under which the Israelites
had been governed in Egypt, was to be remodelled; much
entirely new had to be added. For the time being, all offices
were virtually merged in the one mediatorial office of Moses.
He was about to retain, to alter, or to add what Jehovah
wished to be retained, altered, or added. Indeed, the whole
previous constitution was really set aside. He was now the
one prophet of Jehovah, revealing the divine will, and
establishing the new order in accordance with it. Under
Jehovah, he was now really the King of Israel; the elders,
princes, or heads of tribes retaining their position in so far only
as the new constitution might determine. He was now the
real and only priest, in the sense of the divine words,-Exod.
xix. 22: “The priests who come near to Jehovah," or whose
function and privilege it is to approach Him. Thus, as
already said, all powers were vested in him, or, he was
prophet, priest, and king. We repeat, then, the kingdom
was mediatorial.
4. All this is consistent. Jehovah, by the appointment of
the Passover, practically declared that He redeemed Israel as
a sinful no less than an oppressed people. By awakening
:
85
the sense of sin and leading to the desire of mediation, He
practically declared the same thing. In keeping with all this,
Moses received a further command, Exod. xxiv. 1-8: “And
He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou, and
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel;
and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near
Jehovah: but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the
people come up with him. And Moses came and told the
people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments: and
all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the
words which Jehovah hath said will we do. And Moses
wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the
morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars,
according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young
men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings,
and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto Jehovah. And
Moses took half of the blood, and read in the audience of all
the people: and they said, All that Jehovah hath said will
we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and
sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of
the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning
all these words." The people had made like promise before
the fundamental law was given. Here their engagement is
thus renewed, when it was read in their hearing. They were
assembled to enter, as a nation, into covenant relationship
with Jehovah, in virtue of all that He had done and promised
to do for them. He was thus recognized by them as their
Covenant-God and King. The act was voluntary on their
part as well as on His. He, indeeḍ, was not bound to enter
into such relationship with them. On His side, all was
mercy and grace; whilst, of course, they were bound thank-
fully to accept the constitution of things appointed by Him,
and to enter into the relationship so graciously proposed.
Throughout this transaction, Moses acts as a mediator, nay,
expressly as a priest. That transaction could not have been
completed and sealed without the solemn initial act of
THE KINGDOM MEDIATORIAL.
C
86
MOSAIC REVELATION.
expiation. The blood was sprinkled on the altar and on
the people. Two things were thus expressed,-the expiation
of sin, or the removal of all obstacle to union with Jehovah
due to sin; and the consecration of the people to the service
of Jehovah in fact, His acceptance of them as His people,
and their acknowledgment of Him as their God.
5. The work of organization was completed by Moses in
all its details. He may be regarded as having re-distributed
the powers and offices, which we have contemplated as
temporarily vested in himself. By the divine will he con-
tinued himself to act as king and judge; and as such he
represented Jehovah, the real King and Ruler. As to the
priesthood, whatever may have been the priestly functions of
the heads of families or of the tribes, he was divinely led to
appoint Aaron and his posterity to be the one and only
succession of priests in time to come, and that, of course, in
keeping with the mediatorial nature of the constitution. As
to the prophetic office, the appointment of any successor or
line of successors to Moses remained, from its very nature
as involving direct inspiration, in the hand of Jehovah. The
true prophet, thus directly inspired and commissioned, could
do what was beyond the power of king or priest. Thus he
could offer sacrifices when and where he was divinely led so
to do. Hence, as we have found, Moses acted as a priest.
So, too, Samuel and Elijah offered sacrifices without pre-
sumption, whilst Saul and Uzziah were guilty of profanation
in doing what belonged to the priesthood alone to do.
6. Thus was the mediatorial kingdom constituted. Jehovah
was the Redeemer- God and King of Israel, his sinful but
redeemed people. They were ever to regard Him as dwelling
in the midst of them. The symbol of His presence was often
visible to their eyes. Moses saw it in the comparatively small
flame of fire in the midst of the bush. Both Egyptians and
Israelites saw it, though neither may have recognized it, as it
came between them in the Red Sea, a guide to the latter as
it was a barrier to the former. It appeared in terrible
THE KINGDOM MEDIATORIAL.
87
grandeur on the heights of Sinai, when Jehovah gave His
"fiery Law."
It was visible, as a guide through the wilder-
ness, in the form of a cloudy pillar by day, and of a pillar of
fire by night; and again and again it filled the tabernacle,
when Jehovah was pleased most impressively to manifest
Himself to Moses or to the priesthood. The symbol, of
course, was intended to point to the reality. In this way,
Jehovah dwelt among them as their Redeemer-King. He
led them from place to place. If we may anticipate, He had
His visible palace and visible throne in the midst of their
camp, we refer to the tabernacle and mercy-seat. Sym-
bolically these were thus significant, whatever else they may
have typically meant. They were formed in keeping with
the ideas already expressed as to the kingdom. It was medi-
atorial; and hence the whole services of the priesthood.
Moses was prophet-king; and hence he, too, had access to
the tabernacle, as none, save the priesthood, had ever after.
Thus, in these early times, and in those of the temple,
Jehovah had His symbolic dwelling-place, accessible to those
who acted on the principle of mediation. Only as mediator
could Moses himself enter the sacred place. We read of no
such mediator again, till we come to read of One greater than
Moses, of One whose part was "to enter the true Taber-
nacle which God pitched, and not man,' even the Heavenly
Temple and eternal Palace of the Great King. To that Great
One Israel was taught to look forward. Jacob, we have seen,
pointed to Him as the Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, "to whom
would be the gathering of the nations." We have not indeed
pressed his words thus far, unless as interpreted in the light
of subsequent Scripture. But now Moses must be clearly
understood to point to Him, and that as one in some high
respects resembling himself,-Deut. xviii. 15-19: "Jehovah
thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of
thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him shall ye
hearken. According to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah
thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me
""
88
MOSAIC REVELATION.
not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me
see this great fire, that I die not. And Jehovah said unto
me, They have well spoken (that) which they have spoken.
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren,
like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth, and He
shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it
shall come to pass, (that) whosoever will not hearken unto
My words which He shall speak in My Name, I will require
(it) of him." As it was a mediator whom they desired, we
must look upon the promised Prophet as emphatically a
mediator, or as especially like Moses in respect of mediatorial
interposition. He would also, like Moses, be a king, whose
word must be obeyed as the express word or law of Jehovah ;
at the same time introducing a new economy or new order of
things, else He could not be like Moses, or instead of Moses.
Further, he would be a priest, as is specially implied in the
very idea of being sole mediator, as Moses at that time really
was. Besides, He and His dispensation must be regarded as
higher and more excellent than Moses and his dispensation,
otherwise they would not follow and set aside the latter.
Thus it is clearly implied that Moses perceived the symbolic
and temporary nature of his own office, and of his own
economy. How clear and grand a revelation of the Promised
Deliverer or Redeemer is this, added, as it is, to previous
and more ancient promises of the Seed whose part it was to
crush the serpent's head and to bless all the nations of the
earth! Thus was Jehovah Himself the more fully revealed.
Thus, too, were the eyes of this ancient people directed, even
by the founder of their peculiar constitution, to the distant
future, and to the coming of a greater and more glorious One
than himself, and, therefore, to the establishment of a greater
and more glorious kingdom than his.
II.
1. It is usual to divide the Laws of Moses into three
classes,-The Moral, the Ceremonial, and the Political, or
1
89
Judicial. By the Moral is generally understood the Ten
Commandments. By the Ceremonial are usually intended the
numerous ordinances pertaining to the life of the people,
viewed religiously, or in relation to personal purity, public
worship, priestly service, the sacrificial system, and serving
manifold purposes of lower or higher character, from that of
personal cleanliness to that of spiritual type or symbol.
Under the Political or Judicial are commonly ranked all
those laws which pertained to Israel as a nation, and which
were enforced with all the sanctions of national law. This
classification is to some extent ideal, as the one set of laws
might have been easily mixed with the others, or have been
viewed as belonging to one class or another, according as
they happened to be applied. Thus, those of the Decalogue,
when laid down with penal sanctions, really formed a part of
the Judicial Law.
2. Here our main work will be to treat of the Decalogue or
Moral Law; leaving the Ceremonial for separate treatment.
As to the Judicial, we do not propose to deal largely with it,
however important in itself, and however fitted to cast a
clear light on the character of the kingdom. It proceeded on
the principle that, though separated from other peoples, the
nation required laws and institutions in many respects resem-
bling theirs. At the same time, it ought to be remarked, that, if
it would be rightly appreciated, it must be studied in the
light of the special designs of Jehovah, and of the peculiar
condition and circumstances of the people. Only when these
are kept in view on the one hand, and when it is remembered,
on the other, that practical adaptation rather than ideal per-
fection is the true end of wise legislation, can the national
law of Israel be rightly judged. Regarding it simply as
divine, and thus inferring that it must therefore be absolutely
perfect, not a few have spoken of it as if rising above all
national law, ancient or modern, and as if fitted for other
nations, and not unworthy of their adoption. However, adap-
tation being everything, what might suit a semi-barbarous
THE MOSAIC LAW.
90
MOSAIC REVELATION.
people would be most unsuitable to a highly civilized nation.
All this holds as to both precepts and penalties.
these remarks, we shall go on to treat of the Decalogue.
With
3. The Law, written on the two tables of stone, and lodged
in the Ark of the Testimony, must have been thus separated
from all the others for some special end. They are usually
regarded as thus practically declared to be of perpetual and
universal obligation, as distinguished from all those which
were emphatically Mosaic, or of purely national and tem-
porary use. Though we cannot fully treat of this, we may
say, that, as they were placed under the mercy-seat or throne
of the Divine King, they may be safely considered, not only
as the more central and important of the Laws of Israel, but
also as representative of the whole Law which Jehovah was
pleased to enact, and which He determined, as their Covenant-
God and King, to administer and maintain. Sometimes they
have been viewed as the sum of all divine laws. Thus far
may we freely say, that those who, whether Jews or Gentiles,
keep those commandments in the spirit of love to God, and
in their application to the ever varying circumstances of life,
will not come far short of doing the whole will of God or of
bearing His perfect likeness. It will be observed that they
are accompanied with no sanctions, whether of reward or
punishment, which could be enforced by mere human power.
They thus specially addressed the individual conscience and
heart. If obeyed, Israel would continue to enjoy all the
privileges of the covenant-people of Jehovah. Placed in
the Ark of the Testimony, and thus under the symbolic throne.
of Jehovah, they formed the Laws according to which He
virtually declared that He would maintain and regulate His
kingdom.
S
4. This is in keeping with the grand motive to obedience
clearly expressed in the introductory words, Exod. xx. 2:
"I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,"-words which seem
to set forth the obligation of every Israelite of every age
CROWN-RIGHTS OF JEHOVAH.
to obey the precepts which follow, just as certainly as if
therefore" had been added, "Therefore thou shalt," etc.
We may note one or two things which they thus suggest :-
(1) Addressed to all generations, they set forth the foun-
dation of the claim which Jehovah was pleased to put forward
to the loyalty and services of Israel,-the foundation, in fact,
of His crown-rights as Redeemer-King. He does not
appear at all in the character of Creator. He speaks simply
and solely as the Deliverer from Egypt.
(2) The obedience demanded was thus essentially and
truly what is usually called evangelical, or that of persons
expressly regarded as sinful and guilty on the one side, and
as under mercy and grace on the other. The people were
to account themselves a redeemed people. As we have said,
Jehovah here speaks as Redeemer, and not as Creator. Of
course, all sincere believers would be led, through loving
Jehovah as their Redeemer, to love Him also as their Creator;
just as all such believers now rise from the love of Christ
to the love of their Eternal Father and God. Indeed, faith
in God lies at the root of all true saintship of all ages and
of all peoples.
(3) We shall just add, that Jehovah evidently claimed the
obedience of the heart and not of the mere external act.
Those who thus heartily obeyed these ten precepts, would
also heartily obey all the other laws and commandments of
God. It may be said, that no man, Jew or Gentile, was
ever able from the heart to keep the ten precepts in question.
Written on tables of stone, they can never be truly obeyed
till written on the tables of the heart. But what is it to
have the law of God thus. written? Is it not simply to be
inspired with love to Him? And does He not remind Israel
of the deliverance which revealed the divine love, and which
was thus fitted and intended to inspire gratitude and love in
return? True, the loving obedience of ancient saints must
have been imperfect. Still, the most ample assurances of
pardon were given to them, as they have been to Christians.
GI
92
MOSAIC REVELATION.
The whole ceremonial system, especially with its priesthood
and sacrifices, pointed to the mercy of God. In the second
of these commandments, that mercy is clearly expressed.
The tables of stone, too, were directly under the mercy-seat.
We may, however, conclude these remarks, and illustrate the
evangelical character of the obedience required of Israel
by quoting the sublime words of Jehovah, uttered in close.
connection with the giving of the Law, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7:
'And Jehovah passed by before Moses, and proclaimed,
Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin," etc.
5. Here we find a rich field opening up before us; but
which we can hardly enter. The law of the Ten Command-
ments is indeed " exceeding broad." Volumes have been
written upon it. The influence which it has exerted in the
world is immense. As soon as understood, every one with-
out exception commends itself to the reason or moral
judgment of mankind. We can scarcely do more than barely
allude to them in succession.
(1) The First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other
gods before Me (or besides Me)." All Israel, individually
and collectively, are required to treat Jehovah, their Great
Deliverer, as the only true God, as their one and only God.
This implies perfect faith in Him and supreme love to Him.
It implies the rejection of all other gods. It is so expressed
as to fit it to be the law of the external national life, and
thus to condemn all heathenism as opposed to revealed
religion; and to be the law of the interior personal life, and
thus to condemn all selfishness and all the idols of the heart.
Its best interpretation is, perhaps, to be found in another
precept, Deut. vi. 4, 5: "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God
is one Jehovah and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
How grand a revelation of Jehovah this very demand of the
whole heart! For it implies all the wondrous love of
:
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
93
Jehovah for His people, which at once makes Him worthy
of the love demanded, and gives Him a right to it.
(2) The Second Commandment,-"Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image," etc.,-not only forbids all
idolatry and image-worship, but positively reveals the one
true God of the First in all the glory of His Spirituality,—
that spirituality so finely implied in His Name I AM THAT
I AM, and as to which He is so jealous as to be deeply dis-
pleased with all worship and all religion inconsistent with.
it. The sublime words of Jesus beautifully express the main
requirement of this law: "God is a spirit, and they who
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. How
strong the testimony here given against all the sensuous and
idolatrous religions of the world and departures from the
true religion, in ancient and, to no small extent, in modern
times!
(3) The Third Commandment,-"Thou shalt not take the
name of Jehovah thy God in vain, etc.,-condemns all external
acts of profane or of false swearing, all misuse of religion, all
unreal words concerning God. The one great and spiritual
Being is not only to be supremely loved for His goodness and
mercy, but to be profoundly revered because of His great-
ness and holiness, His excellence and majesty. Especially is
He to be sanctified in the heart, and thus worshipped and
served with all sincerity and truth.
(4) The Fourth Commandment,—“ Remember the Sabbath-
day to keep it holy," etc.,-directs the mind to Jehovah as the
great and universal Creator, and to the beginning of all
things, the creation of the universe. We cannot here treat of
particulars or refer to the days spoken of; and would only
observe that they may be viewed as days of God, and thus of
indefinite length. The Israelites are here taught to regard
their own Deliverer, the God of their fathers, as the Creator
of the universe. Rest was specially commanded. Thus far
the form of the Law suited its national character. However,
the mere cessation from work would not have realized the
94
MOSAIC REVELATION.
divine idea of this sabbath-keeping. Whilst adapted to the
constitution of man, viewed simply as providing rest from toil,
the sacred day has been of incalculable use, as doubtless it
was intended to be, in the promotion of the highest interests
of mankind, providing a needful season for divine worship,
and for the culture and exercise of the spiritual nature, and
reminding continually of the glorious works of God and of
the obligation of all men to the adorable Author of their
being.
(5) The Fifth Commandment,-"Honour thy father and
mother," etc.,-puts Jehovah, as it were, within each family
circle, and represents Him as sweetly and tenderly addressing
the little ones as well as those more advanced in years. He
has given children to parents, and parents to children ;
appointed the gentle relation between them; inspired all
parental affection; and now encourages every act of filial love,
honour, gratitude, and obedience. He would dwell in all the
families of Israel,-in all the families of the world,-and
He reveals to the children how they are to be blessed and to
become a blessing. And, doubtless, He gives a clearly implied
lesson to parents, that if their children are thus divinely
taught to honour them, it is their duty to live and act so as to
be worthy of all the love and honour which their children can
show in later as well as in earlier life.
(6) The Sixth Commandment,-"Thou shalt not kill,”—not
only means "Thou shalt do no murder," but points to the
sacredness of all human life, we may say, physical and intel-
lectual, moral and spiritual. It condemns all injury done to
the person. It implies, positively, that life and all the bless-
ings which tend to the support of life in all its forms, are to
be protected and rightly used. Doubtless it requires all to
render every needed help to one another. Thus viewed, it is
a law of universal benevolence. In its positive form, it may
be interpreted by another, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself." The Universal Father says, "Little children, love one
another."
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
95
A p
(7) The Seventh Commandment, "Thou shalt not commit
adultery,”-surrounds the institution of marriage with inviola-
ble sacredness, and lends it all the aids of divine protection.
However general, and however pointed against all external
vice and crime, it must not be interpreted exclusively thus,
but also as extending to the regulation of the affections and
passions of the heart. It guards the right and pure relations
of the sexes; and, viewed positively, demands of them all
true and right-minded mutual respect according to the view
of Christ, and, as just said, it is intended to rule the inner as
well as the outward life.
(8) The Eighth Commandment,-"Thou shalt not steal,'
may be called the Law of Property. The preceding relates
to persons; this, though not exclusively, to things. Like the
others, it refers to the external conduct in the first instance,-
to acts which might be punished by the hand of man; but,
like them, too, it requires a right state of heart. Jehovah is
here revealed as the Universal Proprietor, distributing, accord-
ing to His righteous and sovereign will, all the wealth and
manifold blessings of the world, and here requiring the most
sacred regard to all the rights and privileges of mankind.
It assuredly relates to what is due to God as well as to what is
due to man. Viewed aright, it demands the use of all pro-
perty and all resources to the glory of the Universal Giver and
true Proprietor.
(9) The Ninth Commandment,— "Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbour,"-is also very comprehensive.
In the first instance, it forbids all false and injurious testimony,
as in a court of justice. However, it condemns every false and
injurious word in the ordinary intercourse of life. It may be
violated by the light acceptance and repetition of a doubtful
report, or by silence, when slander is unrebuked, or even
where well-deserved praise is withheld. The more these laws
are studied, the more do they appear suitable to all times and
all peoples, and the more clearly do they teach the higher
lessons of life, whether in relation to God or to man.
#
96
MOSAIC REVELATION.
(10) The Tenth Commandment,
"Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour's house," etc. Here Jehovah expressly passes over all
mere external actions, and enters within the realm of con-
sciousness and of the heart. He thus shows that He meant
the other commandments to be viewed, as we have viewed
them, in relation to the inner life. Underlying this Law there
is the grand fact, that Jehovah is the Author of all things, the
Lord of all beings, the Ruler of the world, the wise Disposer
of every lot and possession. His will is thus to be not only
acknowledged, but also sincerely and heartily accepted as
wisest and best. To obey it we must have perfect confidence
in Jehovah, and be fully assured that His appointments are
wiser and better than we could conceive. This Law is specially
fitted to convince of sin, as it reveals the sinful desire even in
the absence of the sinful deed. Thus was Paul convinced of
sin. It places all morality in its proper light, and sets aside
all goodness whose seat is not in the heart.
6. How clear and excellent a revelation of Jehovah do
these simple and most comprehensive Laws impart! No
nation was ever favoured with laws like these. They were
perfectly suitable to Israel in those distant times. No ethical
system developed by the human mind can be compared with
them. Jehovah occupies His proper place as Redeemer,
Creator, King. He appears worthy of all the love and obedi-
ence which He demands. All men occupy their proper
places. All rights are protected, all relations are acknow-
ledged. Religion and morals are not improperly separated,
but rightly united, or, we may say, identified. Happy the
man-happy the people-whose God is Jehovah, whose life is
ruled by this ancient but perfect Law, and whose dutiful love
to Jehovah is now inspired by the knowledge of Jesus
Christ!
K
THE CEREMONIAL LAW.
SECTION V.
THE CEREMONIAL SYSTEM.
*I
97
1. We have shown that the obedience demanded of Israel
by Jehovah was evangelical. Divine mercy, and, therefore,
salvation, was revealed. The name of the very throne of
Jehovah, the Mercy-Seat, was itself a remarkable, a beautiful,
and a standing revelation of this. Hence, we may say, the
whole Ceremonial system, which, apart from the facts of
human sin on the one hand, and of divine forgiveness on the
other, would not have been developed. Hence, too, the
early date of expiatory sacrifices, expressive, as they were,
of these two facts. Hence, further, the more or less gradual
development of ceremonial worship. We cannot tell how
far the sacrificial system was extended before the time of
Moses, or how far the Mosaic system was simply a modifica-
tion of it. The head of the house appears to have been the
original priest, who offered sacrifices and made intercession
for his family.
2. The priest we regard as the real centre of the whole
ceremonial. Perhaps it would be more exact to say, that the
sacrifice for sin offered by him was that centre. Most natu-
rally, every man conscious of sin and seeking forgiveness was
a true and proper priest. Most naturally too, the father of
the family was the true and proper priest, when the sins of
the family were to be confessed, and a family sacrifice was to
be offered. No man has or ever had a right to act the
part of priest on behalf of others standing in no special rela-
tion to him, unless by express divine appointment. In the
case of Israel, organized into a divine mediatorial kingdom,
Jehovah most justly as well as directly determined the
character of the priesthood in harmony with the nature of the
kingdom, and expressly appointed Aaron and his posterity to
7
98
MOSAIC REVELATION.
the sacerdotal office. If we connect this fact of the appoint-
ment of the Aaronic priesthood in keeping with the purely
mediatorial character of the kingdom with the great promise
which we have considered, that of a Prophet like Moses, we
shall, without appeal to New Testament authority, be able to
see that the Aaronic priesthood was undoubtedly typical of
a higher Priesthood destined to follow. We have found that
Moses was viewed as a mediator, in whom were vested, at the
time when the promise was given, all the offices of prophet,
priest, and king; so that the Prophet promised would have a
higher priesthood than that sustained by Moses at that time,
and therefore than that which Moses conveyed to Aaron, as
He would also have a higher kingly and prophetic office than
Moses continued through life to fulfil. Thus we have the
clearest proof that the Aaronic priesthood was temporary, sub-
ordinate to a higher then in the future, and really typical of it.
3. Jehovah being Redeemer-King, the function of the
priesthood was to offer sacrifices and to make intercession
for the people; viewed as confessing sin on the one hand,
and as consecrating themselves to their Covenant-God on the
other. The idea of their deliverance or of their being a re-
deemed people, with that of constant forgiveness, was thus
kept up from day to day, and from generation to genera-
tion, and written on every page of their history. This would
have been the case, though no tabernacle or temple had been
reared. The divine appointment of a Priestly Order would
have implied as much, as it obscurely underlies the existence
and functions of every such class in heathen lands, and
reveals the consciousness of sin and the sense of the need of
pardon more or less fully developed in every human mind.
4. The place for their observance, as well as the character
of the sacerdotal services themselves, were so far determined
by the purpose of Jehovah to embody the grand and cheering
idea of His own presence, as Redeemer-King, in the midst
of His people, in a permanent, visible, and impressive form.
Hence, the erection of the tabernacle, according to the plan
THE TABERNACLE.
99
divinely given to Moses. Whatever else, the tabernacle, as
also the temple afterwards, represented the dwelling-place of
Jehovah, the temple and the palace of the God and King
of Israel. This embodied no low and heathenish idea of
God. The real dwelling-place of Jehovah was the high and
holy place,-Heaven,—or the vast creation at large. So the
words of Scripture clearly express, and so the form and fur
niture of the tabernacle distinctly implied. The mercy-seat
simply represented or symbolized His throne; as the cherubim
evidently represented or symbolized His attendant ministers,
those angelic beings so often spoken of as surrounding His
heavenly throne, and as ever ready to obey His will, or to
carry out His behests with regard to this world and His
people. So far, accordingly, the tabernacle was symbolic of
the heavenly world; and, partly as such, and partly as the
symbolic palace of Jehovah, it was most fitly built in the
highest style of the art of the times, and adorned with the
richest ornaments which the worker in gold could supply.
5. We cannot here enter into details as to the meaning of
the different parts and varied furniture of the tabernacle.
We have just given the central idea, that of the abode of
Jehovah. Though confined to no temple built with hands,
nor even to the great temple of the universe built by Himself,
He was in a high and real sense present with Israel. The
inner chamber, the Holy of Holies, specially represented His
abode. The open court, or place of popular assembly, in
keeping with this, represented the dwelling-place of His
people. The idea of mediation, to which we have so often
referred, was distinctly embodied in the priesthood, and es-
pecially in the person of the high priest, who alone had full
access to the inner temple, the presence-chamber of the
Great King. In fact, the whole tabernacle, with its entire
priestly and ceremonial services, may be said to have repre-
sented and symbolized the religion of Israel, implying, as it
did, no small amount of that redemptive truth which was
destined to be revealed only after the lapse of many centuries
100
MOSAIC REVELATION.
and by that Prophet to whom we have alluded as greater than
Moses and all other prophets, priests, and kings.
6. Like the future temple, the tabernacle had a most im ·
portant use as the one and only place of national worship.
The erection of another was forbidden. One temple, one
altar, one priesthood, one ceremonial, one worship, de-
signedly and expressly set forth the divine unity on the one
hand, and the national unity on the other, in public and
perpetual protest against all surrounding polytheism, and in
powerful antagonism to the tendency of Israel to depart from
the pure worship of Jehovah. Thus was the tabernacle or
temple the local centre of the world to the tribes of Israel.
To it they turned their eyes as well as their thoughts from
all corners of the land, and, in the days of captivity or of
dispersion, from Babylon, as in the instance of Daniel, or
from other countries, as we find in the case of the Jews of
the present day. Nor was there of necessity any real super-
stition in this. Wherever Jehovah specially acts, there He
specially is; and wherever He chooses to appoint a place
of peculiar manifestation or of promised blessing, there He
may be truly, and not merely symbolically, said to dwell.
In some such sense we regard Heaven as His abode, and
thus call Him, in the sweet and sacred words of Jesus, “Our
Father in Heaven." Nor could the Israelites have been
taught to look to a more desirable or encouraging centre of
national life, national strength, national peace, or national
blessing. In this way Jehovah was all in all to the true or
believing Israel. His throne was in the midst of them; and
its name, the Mercy-Seat, whilst reminding them of their
own sinfulness, was the clearest and dearest revelation of the
loving Heart and free salvation of Him who deigned to dwell
among them.
II.
1. We can allude only generally to the functions of the
priesthood and to the different kinds of sacrifice. The ap-
PRIESTHOOD AND SACRIFICES.
IOI
pointment of the former did much, by the very sense of
distance between Israel and Jehovah which it could not fail
to produce, to show forth the reality and greatness of human
sin, and the holiness and majesty of God; while at the same
time it did equally much to secure confidence and peace in
the case of all who, through the appointed medium, ap-
proached Him in the spirit of genuine worship as the God
of salvation. With our knowledge of human nature, we need
not wonder at the evils due to hereditary priesthood. Still,
it was doubtless the wisest arrangement which the manifold
ends in view and the circumstances of the people, at that
period of imperfect revelation, really admitted. In the
absence of the full knowledge of the true and great High-
Priest, the heart of man, burdened with conscious guilt, and
longing for some assurance of pardon, is sure to crave priestly
aid of one kind or another; and if it can find no divinely-
appointed priesthood, will seek one of human creation. In
its purity, then, the priesthood in question was assuredly
beneficial. In the words of Kurtz, "Priestly approach to
God involved both bringing to God, and bringing back from
God. The priests brought into the presence of God the
sacrifices and gifts of the people, and brought from God His
gifts for the people, viz., reconciliation and His blessing.
2. The great number and variety of sacrifices, gifts, and
services may be traced, partly to their imperfection as merely
symbolic, and thus incapable of yielding permanent satis-
faction to the conscience, partly to their incompleteness as
types or pictorial representations of the great and future.
salvation which could be set forth by no one type or picture,
and partly because they often gave expression to ardent and
grateful devotion, and were thus repeated and multiplied
according to the desire of the worshipper.
J
3. In the sacrificial system, we find two most important
principles fully embodied and clearly expressed, which ought
never to be lost sight of, but which have often been imper-
fectly and erroneously viewed,-we refer to the principle of
102
MOSAIC REVELATION.
atonement, and the principle of self-consecration. However
distinct, and however each may have its proper place, these
have been not unfrequently confounded, or at least so con-
templated that the latter has been made to occupy the place
of both, or has been held to be the sole and constituting
principle of all sacrifice, Mosaic or Christian. We are
fully persuaded that both must be accepted as real and
divine, if we would understand the true nature of the ancient
sacrifices or of that of Jesus Christ. We do not accept
certain theories of atonement, nor propose to treat of the
nature of the great propitiation; but would here simply say
that, whatever the correct idea of atonement, the principle
of atonement is one thing and the principle of self-consecra-
tion is another, and that both principles are distinctively
embodied in the Mosaic and typical system of sacrifice.
4. The principle of atonement we find expressly alluded
to in Lev. xvii. 11, "For the life of the flesh (is) in the
blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
an atonement for your souls: for it (is) the blood (that)
maketh atonement for the soul." We are not prepared to
accept the rendering of Kurtz and certain others: "For the
soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you
upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls; for the
blood it makes atonement by means of the soul." This seems
less suitable than the English version. The words suggest
the idea of life for life; but must not be thus literally taken,
as the life of an inferior creature, apart from other con-
siderations, could not be accepted as equivalent to that of a
superior being. Whilst the actual death of the victim was
undoubtedly intended by God to be typical, however it may
have been purely symbolical in the view of the people, the
atoning virtue of the blood may be justly traced to the
We must not carry out too
express appointment of God.
exactly the parallel between the blood of these Mosaic sacri-
fices and the blood of the great sacrifice of the Cross. Whilst
holding fast by the idea of a true and proper propitiation, we
THE THREE CHIEF SACRIFICES.
103
should not separate the death of Jesus from the spirit in
which it was endured, or the life previously led, or even the
divine condescension involved in His birth. However, we
cannot here treat of the nature of the Christian atonement,
but must go on to consider briefly the three principal kinds
of sacrifice.
5. In treating of these, we may follow what we deem the
natural order.
(1) The Sin-Offering. Here, when the victim was slain, a
part was burned on the altar of burnt-offering, but almost the
whole body was burned elsewhere. However, the distinguish-
ing feature of this sacrifice was the abundant use of the blood,
which was carefully sprinkled in various ways and on various
parts of the tabernacle. The main idea thus expressed was
that of atonement for sin. Whatever else may have been
intended, this at least was emphatically the design of the sin-
offering, as was strikingly exemplified in the case of the sin-
offerings of the great day of annual atonement. Nor was it
less so in that of the sacrifice of "the red heifer without
spot," though we do not find it expressly called a sin-
offering. Thus, then, were the means provided for setting
forth the mercy of Jehovah in the full pardon of sin. As
Kurtz hints, this sacrifice specially sets forth what God
gives and man receives, and not the contrary; we may say,
pardon of sin and, in New Testament language, justification
of life.
(2) The Burnt-Offering. In this case, the main idea sym-
bolized was that of self-sacrifice or self-consecration, for the
most part as an expression of thanksgiving or of grateful love
to God. This seems to have been the most ancient form of
sacrifice, involving the idea of atonement, which continued to
be expressed by the sprinkling of the blood,-a fact which
clearly illustrates what we have said of the two distinct prin-
ciples of atonement for sin and of self-consecration to God.
In this offering both appear, though that of self-consecration
is the more prominent. Still, the idea is distinctly expressed,
104
MOSAIC REVELATION.
that, without atonement for sin, no sacrifice or service of self-
consecration would be accepted of God.
(3) The Peace-Offering. Some would regard this as an ex-
pression of thanksgiving, and others, of a sense of salvation.
It seems to have been presented in view of the deliverance of
the offerer from what in some way separated him from God
or broke up the state of union and communion with Him. It
therefore had for its main or more prominent end the design
of setting forth such peace, or such fellowship with Jehovah,
the God of salvation. Here, too, as in the case of the burnt-
offering, the sprinkling of the blood pointed to the fact of the
necessity of an atonement for sin in order to the enjoyment of
the blessing symbolized by the sacrifice.
6. We may, in passing, briefly note that these three kinds
of sacrifice have been often and finely regarded as closely
connected on the one hand, and as expressive, on the other,
of the three most essential elements of salvation,-atonement
for sin with pardon or justification, self-consecration to God
or sanctification, and peace with God or restored union and
communion with Him; or, as some would prefer to say,
justificatio, sanctificatio, and unio mystica. However, we may add,
that though all those may be safely held to have been implied,
though not formally apprehended in ancient times, we would
by no means limit the reference to these alone: all true sym-
bolism is fitted to express a great amount and variety of
divine truth, as may be seen in that of the New Testament.
III.
1. We cannot venture to deal much further with the cere-
monial system. We cannot so much as refer to the bloodless
sacrifices, or to animals used in sacrifice, or to the endless
ablutions and the like enjoined. Nor can we treat of the
daily, weekly, and monthly services. The morning and even-
ing sacrifices are peculiarly interesting, as, with the others,
tending to illustrate the mediatorial character of the kingdom,
PRINCIPAL FEASTS.
105
and to set forth, under many forms, the perpetual sacrifice and
service due to Jehovah and rendered by His people.
2. We might have treated in detail the annual festivals.
We have, perhaps, said enough as to the Passover, as commemo-
rating the great deliverance as well as the constitution of the
mediatorial kingdom. The Feast of Pentecost, while expressive.
of thanksgiving for the harvest or fruits of the land, may be
viewed as at the same time keeping up the sense of obligation
for the covenant-gift of Canaan. As to the Feast of Tabernacles,
it may be viewed as expressing the further debt of gratitude
for protection and guidance during the desert journey to that
land, with all its miracles of divine forbearance as well as of
goodness and power. The whole history of Israel, as re-
deemed, enriched, and governed by Jehovah, was thus
annually presented to the people, young and old.
3. We cannot altogether overlook the services of the
great day of annual atonement, most instructive and impres-
sive as they must have been to the whole nation, and fitted,
as they still are, to give the clearest insight into the entire
sacrificial system, as also the finest of all typical illustrations
of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. On that day, the
principle of atonement received the most striking and com-
plete exemplification. Then, too, the priesthood was shown
to stand on a common level of sinfulness with the entire
nation, and thus to have been raised to its peculiar elevation
simply for a symbolic purpose, and thus to be, as we have
already found, of duration only up to the coming of the true
High-Priest. The entrance of the high-priest within the veil,
his intercession before the mercy-seat, and his return with
the blessing of Jehovah to the worshipping assembly of Israel,
were all fitted to set forth in the clearest light the forgiveness
and salvation of God, and to be a perfect typical representa-
tion of redemptive truth, especially of the death, ascension,
and intercession of Jesus Christ. The whole ceremonial
system may be said to have been combined and embodied
in the solemn and memorable services of that day. All true
106
MOSAIC REVELATION.
Israelites would see, as if with open face, Jehovah, the holy
yet merciful God, in the midst of His people, and rejoice in
forming a part of that people whom Jehovah had redeemed
and was now treating as His own.
SECTION VI.
THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN.
1.
1. So much for the journey of Israel through the Arabian
Desert, with its trials and difficulties, its sins and sorrows, its
wonderful works and glorious revelations. Forty years have
almost gone, and most of the first generation have passed
away. To a nobler generation, strong in faith, accustomed
to hardship and self-denial, is now committed the work of
conquest. Already, indeed, has the territory to the east of
the Jordan been acquired, by the overthrow of Sihon, King of
the Amorites, and of Og, King of Bashan. As to the extermi-
nating war with the Midianites, to which many take strong
exception, we have little room for remark, but hope to give a
virtual, if not express, reply to objections in our treatment of
the question of the conquest of the whole land.
2. The time of the departure of Moses was now at hand.
Aaron had fallen asleep. Joshua had been divinely appointed
to be future captain of Israel. Moses, we are told, gave to
Israel a recapitulation of the Law, with manifold encourage-
ments and warnings. We may quote the following from his
prophetic dying benediction,--Deut. xxxiii. 26-29: "There
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the
heaven in thy help, and in His excellency on the sky. The
Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee;
and shall say, Destroy them. Israel shall then dwell safely
alone the fountain of Israel shall be upon a land of corn
and wine; also His heavens shall drop down dew. Happy
DEATH OF MOSES.
107
art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by
Jehovah, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy
excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee;
and thou shalt tread upon their high places."
3. Moses was not permitted to cross the Jordan, or to enter
the land which he had all his days longed to see in posses-
sion of Israel. We have already alluded to the personal, we
might almost say, the divine excellence of this most kingly
of men and most faithful servant of Jehovah. We shall not
repeat what we have said of his pure, lofty, and massive
character. It is hard to conceive the intensity of his patriot-
ism or of his religion. How near his communion and how
constant his walk with God! What energy displayed in his
daily work for so many years! What endurance of wrong as
tested to the last degree by the ingratitude, the murmurings,
the rebellions of the people! His work has come to an end.
How vast it was! He retained the nobleness and the might
of his spirit to the last. In finally parting with the people, he
spoke with the calmness and authority of a prophet of the
Most High God, and sought to infuse into their hearts the
spirit and courage of his own. But what shall we say of his
death? Silently, sublimely, he ascends the mountain, whence
he could see the land of his fathers' pilgrimage, of his people's
inheritance, and of his own deep affection, and where he was
to leave the body which had served him so long and so well,
to be buried by the Unseen Hand in some unknown spot, and
to commit his departing spirit to Him who is ever prepared
to receive into everlasting habitations the divinely renewed,
the pure in spirit, and the true-hearted of every age and
nation.
II.
1. Joshua now takes the leadership of Israel. One of the
best of captains and one of the noblest heroes of faith he
assuredly was. We would not at all compare him with Moses;
still, he was a most worthy successor. He had long before
108
MOSAIC REVELATION.
received his significant name, Joshua, afterwards the name of
Him who was all that it means,-Jehovah the Saviour. We
shall not further notice this wonderful coincidence,—the same
name divinely given, first, to the captain who led Israel to
the Canaan on earth, and, secondly, to that "Captain of
Salvation," whose part it is to "lead many sons to glory,"
the true Israel to the Heavenly Canaan. Though far from
wanting in skill and courage, Joshua was to trust in nothing
short of Almighty strength. His was to be a warfare and a
conquest of faith.
2. Before alluding further to this conquest, it may be well
here to consider, however briefly, the principle or principles
on which the commission of Joshua and the Israelites was
given, and on which it can be fairly vindicated. We need
not say that the whole is viewed by many as the work of a
barbarous age, which it would be impiety to ascribe to a
divine command. We start, however, with the full admission,
that it cannot possibly be defended unless on the ground of
a real and undoubted commission from Jehovah. The whole
question is simply this,-Was it right in itself on the one
hand, and consistent with the divine character on the other,
to issue such a command? As the Midianites were peculiarly
culpable, and, we may suppose, as wicked and corrupt as the
Canaanities, whatever may suffice to vindicate a divine
decree of extermination in the one case would also suffice to
vindicate a like decree in the other. We may submit the
following:-
(1) The commission is expressly ascribed to God in direct
fulfilment of the promise given to the patriarchs, to whom,
however, Jehovah clearly indicated that He could not give
the country for this just and important reason, that "the
iniquity of the Canaanites was not yet full," that is to say,
till what Jehovah foresaw would take place, that they, like
the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, would become so
utterly corrupt, that He could not but righteously doom them
to the like destruction. Now, none seem to question the
DOOM OF THE CANAANITES.
109
justice of the divine judgment in the case of these cities,
though man, woman, and child were destroyed. Why, then,
question the justice or propriety of the similar doom of the
equally deserving Canaanites? Only one objection can be
urged, namely, that whilst the elements of nature received
the commission in the one instance, man received the
commission in the other.
(2) Is this difference of real weight? It cannot be denied
that such a commission would be repugnant to the whole
heart of a Christian people. Nor need we suppose that it
would have been given to any people of culture and refine-
ment. We seem, however, to have no sufficient reason for
supposing it to have been at all revolting to those to whom
it was given. Even though it had to a greater extent than
any evidence suggests, it would only correspond to what
must often prove repulsive in the ordinary execution of law,
or in the needful defence of order, especially among only
half-civilized peoples. Of course God could have used some
mighty natural agency in this case as in the other to which
we have referred. However, we may fairly assume, that He
had an all-wise reason for using the agency of Israel. For
instance, to suggest but one, He may have designed by the
war of extermination to have given to the Israelites them-
selves a most terrible but needful lesson as to the fearful
character of the evils, moral and religious, for which the
Canaanites thus suffered, and as to the certain and awful
result of their yielding to temptation and falling into the
same deadly abyss of idolatry and crime.
(3) In this awful judgment on these Canaanites, instead
of something inconsistent with the divine and just govern-
ment of the world, we ought to see an awful and most
impressive example of the way in which Jehovah deals with
individuals and communities in all ages. Persistent impeni-
tence or final moral corruption must everywhere end in
destruction. Nay, every nation which fails to realize the
purpose of Providence, or which stands in the way of the
IIO
MOSAIC REVELATION.
great redemptive work, may expect some like terrible retri-
bution. Nor did the commission involve any real partiality
towards Israel. For, as surely as they failed to realize the
end of their separation, they suffered in some like terrible
manner. In all such proceedings, "the Judge of all the
earth" ever "does right," even when, to our limited minds,
He may appear to do wrong. He sees the end from the
beginning, and knows what would be the result to the whole
human race of the permission of the continued existence
and multiplication of even a very small, but wicked and
corrupt, tribe or people. It is usual to say, let such a people
be deserving of destruction, yet God is infinitely good as well
as just, and where, then, the benevolence or mercy of such
a decree? However, before we can judge of the divine
benevolence, we must be able to judge of the whole cha·
racter and natural destiny of a people. If God saw that such
a people would be no blessing, but the greatest curse to
mankind, and that for many generations, would not their
extinction be a real work of divine benevolence to the race,
as their supposed wickedness and corruption rendered it
directly a work of divine justice? Till it can be proved that
the continued existence of the Midianites and Canaanites
would have been a blessing rather than a curse to the world,
assuming, as we are bound to do, their wickedness and
corruption, and thus the justice of their doom, we are equally
bound to say, that no one has the shadow of a right to
deny the perfect consistency of that doom with the purest
divine benevolence.
(4) Accepting, then, that commission as unexceptionable,
we shall add one further observation, that we have, in the
divine procedure, an illustration of a law of divine redemp-
tive providence, that the righteous and good are destined to
supplant the wicked and evil in the world, or that the
children of God shall inherit the possessions and the fruits
of the toils of the godless children of men; not, indeed,
through violence or physical force, but as the result of the
CONQUEST OF CANAAN.
elevating and conservative power of the higher or moral laws
of our being on the one hand, and of the mysterious and
mighty working of that Divine Providence which has been
ordained to aid in securing the triumph of the great purpose
of redemption.
III
3. Returning now to the conquest itself, we need hardly
remark, that it involved seemingly insurmountable difficulties.
Still, Jehovah was on the side of Israel. The spies reported
that the Canaanites were feeble through terror. The
miraculous passage of the Jordan and fall of the walls of
Jericho declared the war to be of God rather than man, and
formed the most legible seal to the divine commission of
Joshua. The overthrow of the five confederate kings is also
very suggestive. Many have objected to the story of what
has often been deemed the crowning miracle of the whole
history, we refer to that of the sun and moon standing still
at the word of Joshua. In passing, I may simply say of
it :-First, Josh. x. 12-14, in which it is alluded to, has been
viewed by some as, in whole or part, parenthetical, and as
a mere quotation from another and highly figurative book,
called "The Book of the Upright." They would not take
the words literally as of a plain matter of fact. In the
absence of a better solution of the difficulty, this might be
accepted as sufficient. Secondly, Whilst some suppose that
the earth was made to cease to move on its axis, a most
mighty miracle involving many mighty miracles, if we take
the words historically, a more plausible hypothesis has been
suggested by those who think that the real miracle would
be that by which the refraction of the solar and lunar rays
would be so affected and such a supply of light given as to
cause the prolonged appearance of the sun and moon as is
described in the narrative. The time, too, may have in this
case been measured rather by the amount of work done than
by the number of hours really spent.
Various com-
4. We cannot treat of the details of the war.
binations were formed against Joshua, but with no success.
Jagad
1
112
MOSAIC REVELATION.
The entire country was not indeed subdued in his days; but
enough was accomplished to meet the wants of the people.
The whole land was divided by lot. To all intents the patri-
archal promise was fulfilled. The word of Jehovah had, after
the lapse of ages, proved true. At least, in a general way, it
could now be said, "So Joshua took possession of the whole
land, according to all that Jehovah had said unto Moses;
and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according
to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from
war." We might have introduced various striking and im-
portant facts, as those in relation to Joshua and Caleb, who
after more than forty years received the promised reward of
their faith in Jehovah, and faithfulness to the true interests of
Israel. We might, too, have pointed out how Jehovah gave
a still more complete revelation of Himself as the God of
salvation, in carrying on the great work done in Egypt and at
the Red Sea, and throughout the desert journey. However,
the above must suffice.
5. Joshua lived to a good old age. His influence for good
was great. Whilst he and the contemporary elders lived,
Israel adhered to the service of Jehovah, and thus con-
tinued to enjoy the most marked prosperity. The last days
of this true hero of faith and successful captain of Israel
came, but not before he had done his most wonderful work,
and seen his people planted in the land promised to their
fathers. As his faith had been rewarded by the fulfilment of
promise, it would doubtless be confirmed as to the better
country and the heavenly inheritance. Well knowing that
fidelity to Jehovah could alone secure the lasting possession
and enjoyment of the earthly Canaan, as faith in Him had
alone led to its conquest, Joshua gave to the people, as
Moses had done before him, the wisest and best counsel.
He gave all the glory of his victories to Jehovah, by whom
the land was thus to have been given to them.
Whilst they
were faithful to Jehovah, Jehovah would never fail them, and
that land, thus given, would then never be lost.
TIMES OF THE JUDGES.
113
SECTION VII.
THE TIMES OF THE JUDGES AND OF THE FIRST KING
OF ISRAEL.
I.
1. The Land of Promise has now become the possession of
Israel. We read of no appointed successor of Joshua.
His
death would set the fact of the sole kinghood of Jehovah
before the minds of the people. Israel thus appeared unlike
other nations. The Unseen King would be believed to dwell
in the land, and to have His throne between the mystic
cherubim. Othniel, the Son of Kenaz, and son-in-law of
Caleb, animated, doubtless, by the Divine Spirit, soon,
virtually at least, reigned over Israel, though neither wielding
the sceptre nor assuming the title of king. It is simply said,
he judged Israel.
2. During the long period of which we now briefly treat,
the redemptive work made but little apparent progress. In
this respect, it was not unlike the other works of God, in
which progress seems to be sometimes checked, if not to be
undone. Joshua had commanded the people to prose-
cute the work of conquest; and, if ‘faith had not failed, they
would have assuredly done so, and, in this case, have easily
triumphed. However, the tendencies to worldliness and
idolatry prevailed, and led to manifold evils; among them,
oppression from those whom they might have subdued. A
succession of departures from Jehovah is recorded, punished
by a corresponding succession of such oppressions. These
again were the means of leading to repentance, and thus to
divine compassion on the one hand, and to deliverance after
deliverance on the other.
the other. In this way, Jehovah may be
said to have given a succession of providential demonstrations
of His presence, and thus of His being and covenant-relation
to Israel. As the people were not divinely counselled to
8
114
MOSAIC REVELATION.
elect a king, or encouraged to ask Jehovah to select one for
them, they were fully warranted to believe that the mere
want" of a royal head could not prove detrimental to their
interests so long as they were faithful to their Invisible King.
3. We shall not treat of the successive judges of Israel,
who did so much for the national welfare, and to some of
whom, as deliverers from oppression, a large debt of gratitude
was due.
We may see in some of them noble examples of
sanctified heroism, and fine illustrations of the power of faith.
We might show this by allusion to the story of Deborah, or
to that of Gideon. In the Book of Judges, we see the great
variety of ways in which the divine power was put forth and
embodied in the persons of men, in order to effect the
manifold ends in view. Nor were the agents always of so
pure and exalted a character as we would have naturally
thought. We thus learn that Jehovah can ever find instru-
ments adapted to the work in hand; finer for the finer, and
coarser for the coarser work, as He had done in all ages, and
continues to do to the present time.
4. We must not so cursorily pass over the life of Samuel,
the last of the judges, and the first of the regularly organized
class or school of prophets. Immorality as well as irreligion
had spread among the people, and the priests, sons of the very
aged high-priest, Eli, were guilty of daring profanity and
gross sensuality. Religion was contemned. A man of the
nobleness and decision of Samuel was greatly needed and
wonderfully raised up. We shall not refer to his birth or to
his dedication to the service of Jehovah, or to the saintly
character of his mother, to whom all Israel was so greatly
. indebted for the training and spirit of such a son. With
priests and people corrupt, we need not wonder to read of
divine chastisement by the hand of the neighbouring Philis-
tines, whose victory and capture of the ark issued in the
death of the aged priest, and in the humiliation of Israel.
The way was thus opened up for Samuel to act the part of
both prophet and judge. Long and nobly did he judge
115
Israel. A grander character rarely rises up in the course of
history. He was truly the man for the times. He breathed
the spirit of Moses and Joshua. Sometimes he seemed
awfully severe both in judgment and in action. We cannot
correctly appreciate his circumstances and duties. He had
witnessed the fearful consequences of the lax morals of priests
and people. He had seen the terrible result of the amiable
weakness of Eli. His main work was to bring back the
people to the service of Jehovah, whom he himself most pro-
foundly venerated, but whom the mass of the people were
ever prone to forsake. He intensely desired their highest well-
being, and was, however apparently severe, most tenderly
alive to their interests. All revered him, as they might have
revered a Moses. Peace and prosperity flowed from his
righteous rule. However, as years advanced, and as his sons
were not like himself, the people began to ponder the ques-
tion of a more regular form of government, and thus of the
election of a king. Though no king had as yet been ap-
pointed, provision had been so far made for the appointment
of one.
The people may not have greatly erred in desiring a
more complete form of external government; but they did,
as Jehovah complained, very greatly err in desiring a king of
a purely worldly character, by whom they would really be-
come like the nations around them. They evidently acted as
if totally forgetful or unconscious of their special relation to
Jehovah, and of the grand purpose of their separation as a
people. They at least should have consulted Him. A king
was elected; and Samuel was led to take a prominent part in
his election. We shall not follow him to his place of retire-
ment from public life, but shall allude to him further in
so far only as he appears in the history of the kingdom.
THE PROPHET SAMUEL.
II.
1. We thus come to the brief consideration of the reign of
Saul, the first King of Israel. In early life, he appears to
have been of strong, simple, noble, and generous character.
*
116
MOSAIC REVELATION.
This he displayed in after life.
He had all the energy,
promptitude, and courage of a soldier, as his marvellous re-
lease of Jabesh-Gilead showed. Like many of this description,
Saul revealed no small amount of self-will, which misled his
better judgment, and made him forget his allegiance to the
only absolute King of Israel, nay, which, by leading, in a fit
of impatience, to usurp the priestly office, and to offer sacri-
fice to Jehovah, finally cost him and his family the crown of
Israel. In this, as in the second instance of recorded dis-
obedience, he was severely rebuked by Samuel, and expressly
informed of the forfeiture of the kingdom. The words of the
old prophet may seem harsh and disloyal. However, as Saul
was no ordinary king, Samuel was no ordinary subject. The
former had disobeyed the command of Jehovah, and the latter
was simply commissioned to pronounce the judicial result.
The king seems never to have afterwards really prospered.
We shall not refer to his treatment of David; nor shall we
allude to the noble conduct of his son Jonathan, or to his
friendship for David, whose brief and touching story is one of
the most beautiful in all history and worthy of its place in the
sacred volume. How sad the closing days of Saul! His last
battle ended in terrible disaster. He and his sons were slain.
One, indeed, remained; but the kingdom had really departed
from the family. In all the ardour of his love to Jonathan,
David could sincerely express in song his lamentations over
the fall of his king and of his friend. All possible honour
was paid to the departed as noble and heroic men. Their
mighty spirits had passed away. The crown was really lost.
Soon every obstacle was to be removed, and the way opened
for David, according to the pre-appointment of Jehovah, to
the throne of Israel, and thus, we may add, for the beginning
of a new era in the history of redemption.
CHAPTER IV.
PROPHETIC REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD
OF REDEMPTION.
I.
"A
SUCCESSION of prophets may be traced, more or
less clearly, along the course of the history; from the
time of Samuel to the period of that more distinguished line,
whose writings form so valuable a part of the sacred volume.
Certain of the former seem to have composed such historical
fragments as may, for a time, have been in common use, and
from which may have been selected not a little of what now
forms the sacred record. Schools of the prophets were thus
early founded, whence, doubtless, were sent forth many name-
less, but useful, instructors of the people. Many would be
under no special inspiration, and have no ability to unveil the
future, or to prophesy in the stricter sense of the word; now
and again, certain received messages from Jehovah to the
king and people. How Samuel acted in the case of Saul and
of David we are expressly informed. So, too, Nathan con-
veyed such messages to David. Others acted in a similar
way.
2. We might have devoted a chapter to what we might call
the Davidic Revelation of Jehovah, as the royal ancestry of
the Promised Deliverer now comes into view.
We propose
rather to include this in the general Prophetic Revelation,
dividing the chapter into three sections. The first on David
and the Covenant of Royalty; the second on the Earlier Pro-
phets; and the third on the Prophets of the Restoration.
118
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
SECTION I.
DAVID AND THE COVENANT OF ROYALTY.
I.
1. As a youth, David displayed a noble and beautiful
spirit; and, if we may judge from his influence over Jonathan,
his power to awaken admiration and attract affection was
incomparable. In estimating his whole career, we must not
overlook the times in which he lived, the circumstances with
which he was surrounded, or the fact that he was raised,
through a rough and perilous path, from the lowly rank of a
shepherd to the dangerous position of a heroic and popular
king. We shall neither refer to his early exploits by which
he rose to universal esteem, nor give details of the long
period of severe and ungenerous persecution which followed,
and during which he displayed the purest spirit of loyalty
towards his royal persecutor, and proved the sacredness with
which he ever regarded the person and life of "the Anointed
of Jehovah."
2. In announcing to Saul the forfeiture of the kingdom,
Samuel declared, "Jehovah has sought Him a man after His
own heart, and Jehovah hath commanded him (to be) captain
over His people." From this, as if expressive of the very
highest saintship, David has been called "the man after
God's own heart," without real warrant on the one hand, and
to the easy misrepresentation of Scripture on the other, by
those who have made miserable use of the sins and failures
which so sadly stained his after-life. It may be well to note
that the expression does not again occur in the Old Testa-
ment, and that, when it does re-appear in the New, Acts xiii.
22, it is accompanied with what seems an explanatory cause,
“Who shall fulfil all My will,"—a clause which appears to
give the key to the real meaning, and to show that a simple
contrast was drawn between the disobedient wilfulness or
DAVID.
119
self-will of Saul and the devout and obedient spirit of David,
and thus between the unfitness of the former and the fitness
of the latter to be, not an absolute or ordinary monarch, but
the vice-regal representative of Jehovah, as every king of
Israel was appointed to be, and ought to have regarded
himself. In this way, David is not exalted by Samuel as a
model saint above all other saints of God, but simply
declared to possess that spirit of faith in Jehovah and
devotedness to Him and to His kingdom
which pre-
eminently fitted him to occupy the throne which Saul had
lost. With the exception of the crimes to which we have
referred, and which were deeply deplored by himself and
severely condemned and terribly punished by his God, we
cannot but regard the general conduct of David as a most
wonderful manifestation of regard to the divine will. The
depth of his repentance and the severity of his self-condem-
nation, with the life-long humility and tenderness of heart
which followed, illustrate the truth of Samuel's or rather
Jehovah's words, as only a man most devoted to the divine
will and full of divine affection could have felt so awful a
sorrow, or have continued so profoundly to lament, because
of sin, however great, against God. We must not, then,
shut our eyes to the essential excellence and grandeur of his
character. Nor should any one forget the divine mercy
which accepted his sincere and penitent confession, or the
divine righteousness which may be said still to hold up this
wonderful man, in the light of his general and more faithful
career, for the imitation of kings and the instruction of
mankind. In fact, the personal history of David is to this
day a most valuable revelation of divine mercy and grace,
whose influence for good in the hearts of the holiest and best
of men no one can measure. Its impressive warnings of the
spiritual dangers which accompany the honours and activities
of life, and its encouragements to persevering trust in the
living God, notwithstanding the more or less deeply felt sins
and imperfections of the heart, render it most precious to all
120
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
who would pursue a course of real communion with God, as
well as of faithful service to man.
3. The will of Jehovah, then, was indeed the law of this
king. The true welfare of Israel was the desire of his heart.
Hence his mighty influence over his people, whom he led
from victory to victory, till not only were all surrounding
enemies subdued, but the territory of Israel was enlarged to the
extent promised to the patriarchs. The wars of David ended
in the peace of Solomon. The reign of Solomon, in fact, fine
type, as it was, of the reign of the Prince of Peace, was just
the crowning result of the reign of David. The two reigns.
might be viewed as complemental, two halves of one grand
whole, the former warlike and completing the promised
conquest of Canaan, and the latter peaceful and realizing
the intended glory of the kingdom of Israel. Thus the
kingdom was acknowledged to belong to Jehovah. The
throne was held to be His more truly than either David's
or Solomon's. When the latter succeeded the former, he
was said to "sit upon the throne of Jehovah." The whole
land, as we have said, promised to the fathers, was now in
possession of Israel; whilst the kingdom had now reached
its state of full organization. Never had it so prospered
before, and never did it so prosper afterwards. In this, its
exalted condition, we seem to find the realised idea of the
redemptive kingdom of Israel. Had king and people.
continued faithful to their Invisible Head, the reign of peace
and prosperity, thus divinely introduced, would doubtless
have continued. As if, however, to prove that this people
were exalted by Jehovah alone and by no power or virtue
of their own, and yet that this was not the real and glorious
kingdom which He designed to rear in this world, but at best
a mere shadow of it, the history records defection after
defection, both before and after this date, as if it were a law
of the national character as constant as any of the laws of
nature, ever to bring down, by their departures from Jehovah,
evil on their own heads, and thus to ruin all that He
G
THE COVENANT OF ROYALTY.
121
successively did for their good. Even Solomon, so honoured
to build the temple of Jerusalem, with all his early devoutness
and all his unrivalled wisdom, began the sad work of
destruction. To his defection, through the splendour and
luxury of his court, and in the tolerance of the idolatry of
his heathen wives, is traced the early and sad disruption of
the kingdom, however directly it was caused by the un-
paralleled folly and boastful despotism of his son, Rehoboam.
II.
1. Not only was David raised up to secure the whole terri-
tory promised, and the perfectly constituted kingdom designed
by Jehovah, in fulfilment of His covenant with the patriarchs,
but he was most highly honoured by having a new covenant
established with himself, forming a distinct era in the history
of redemption, and constituting him the father of a race of
kings, as the older covenant had constituted Abraham the father
of many nations. At first sight, at least, this Davidic Cove-
nant does not appear to point directly to the true David, or
expressly to assure the king that the Great Deliverer would
certainly spring from him. As afterwards interpreted by the
prophets, long before it was, according to the New Testament,
fulfilled in Jesus Christ, it will be seen to include the birth
and reign of this Saviour-King. However, when the promise
was announced, David cannot be proved certainly to have un-
derstood it of more than the perpetuity of his dynasty, as the
covenant of priesthood would be understood by Aaron to
involve the like perpetual dignity of his family.
2. Let us turn to the history. David became intensely de-
sirous of building a temple to the God of Israel, and con-
sulted the prophet Nathan accordingly. Naturally, Nathan
was pleased with the proposal; but was afterwards sent with a
divine message to the king, assuring him of the acceptance
of so devout and grateful a desire, yet declaring that his son
and successor would have the honour of building the temple,
and further announcing that his family would continue to
122
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
""
occupy the throne,-in fact, that, as it had been said of
Judah, the tribe of David, "the sceptre would not depart
from his family; 2 Sam. vii. 11-16: "Also Jehovah telleth
thee that He will make thee an house. And when thy days
are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set
up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an
house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall be
My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with
the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of
men: but My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it
from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house
and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee:
thy throne shall be established for ever." These words are
very strong and expressive, and cannot be taken as those of
mere Oriental exaggeration. We may endeavour to find out
what they certainly must imply, as also what they at least
may be supposed to involve.
(1) What they apparently must imply. First, They seem
clearly to state, that David would be succeeded on the throne
by a son who would build the temple which he had proposed
to erect. Secondly, The throne of this son was to be es-
tablished for ever, and was not to be taken from him, as
Saul's had been from before David, that is, from his family,
or that he would have no line of succession. Thirdly, This
is the more certainly indicated by what is added,—“ I will be
his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I
will chasten him . . . but My mercy shall not depart from
him. . . . And thine house and thy kingdom shall be es-
tablished for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established
for ever." Thus individuals might sin and so be punished,
nay, as David warned Solomon, might "be cast off for ever,”
or, as individuals lose the throne, as one or more generations
of the seed of Abraham might and did forfeit the Promised
Land. Yet, as all Israel could not possibly lose it, so the
PURPORT OF THE COVENANT.
123
entire seed of David could not finally fail. The sceptre might
fall from individual hands, or might be lost for generations,
but could not be for ever lost to the Davidic race. All this
is the more decidedly implied in the closing statement, in
which the kingdom and throne, thus descending, are still called
David's. It could not therefore be absolutely lost by any
default in the future, as it was not lost by himself, as Canaan,
viewed as the divine gift to Abraham, could not be absolutely
lost by his posterity, as it would thus have ceased to be his,
and that without any forfeiture of his own. Hence, Jehovah
is again and again said to do this or that for Abraham's sake,
and for David's sake. Fourthly, If so, the question naturally
suggests itself, Do the words imply that the throne and king-
dom would literally belong to the seed of David for ever, or
at least to the end of this world? Of course, if we suppose
that the king understood them to refer to the Great Redeemer,
he would regard them as pointing even to eternity. If not,
then he would simply infer that his royal house, like the
priestly house of Aaron, would continue till at least the divine
purpose for the separation of Israel was finally realized.
(2) Let us next inquire as to what the words may have
further involved or may have conveyed to the mind of the
king. First, As just hinted at, they must have suggested some
mighty divine purpose which they do not expressly announce.
Doubtless one and the same purpose would be seen to under-
lie the three successions alluded to,-the Abrahamic, the
Aaronic, and the Davidic-the National, the Sacerdotal, and
the Regal; so that, if the first were fully known to be the good
of all nations through the race of Israel, the other two would
be equally well understood. Secondly, If David be supposed
to have believed in the coming of a personal Redeemer, then
he may also be supposed to have interpreted the divine cove-
nant inclusively of Him. Of course we speak thus hypothe-
tically, because we do not wish to appeal to New Testament
authority, but simply to treat of the message itself, and of any
evidence which the king may have had of a Messianic refe-
124
PROPHETIC revelATION.
rence. The idea of the Shiloh or that of the Prophet like
Moses may have risen up in his mind, followed possibly
rather by a feeling of wonder than by a clear conviction, and
leading to the exclamation, "Can it be possible? Is it in-
deed meant that the Coming One is thus to be of my family?
(Is) this the law, the divine arrangement, as to the Man, the
Great Promised One?"
3. We shall not here allude to the Messianic Psalms. We
shall only allude to the closing prophecy of the king, which
seems clearly to imply all the knowledge of that Promised
One which the New Testament contains. We refer to
2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7,
These are the later words of David. The
oracle of David the son of Jesse, even the oracle of the man
(who was) highly exalted, the Anointed of the God of Jacob,
(the writer of) the sweet songs of Israel: the Spirit of
Jehovah spoke by me; and His word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel said to me, the Rock of Israel spoke.
Ruling over man (shall be) a Righteous One, ruling in the
fear of God. Even as the light of the morning He shall arise,
a sun, a morning without clouds: by brightness, by rain,
the tender grass (shall spring) from the earth. For, is not
my house thus with God? For He hath established an ever-
lasting covenant with me, ordered in all things and sure.
For (it is) all my salvation and all my desire," etc. Here
we are reminded of the Seventy-second Psalm; and in
both there seems evidently set forth One greater than David
or Solomon, or than any of the kings of the earth. The
idea is that of a glorious and righteous King, reigning
in the fear of God, and, like the sun, diffusing light, life,
and blessing on the whole earth; ruling, not over Israel
only, but over man or mankind. This covenant is just the
promise conveyed by Nathan, and yet embraces all the words
of comfort which either a living or a dying saint could wish;
all that could be desired for time or for eternity. Thus, even
apart from New Testament authority, we cannot but contem-
plate David as, like Abraham, rejoicing to see the day of that
MESSIANIC PSALMS.
125
great and promised Deliverer, unless for whom neither would
have been distinguished as they have been among men.
III.
1. We might have here gone on to illustrate the Covenant
of Royalty by treating fully of the Messianic Psalms. The
Second Psalm, however in the first instance referring to
David, might have been contemplated as descriptive of the
Great Messiah or Anointed of Jehovah rising like David,
amidst all enmity and opposition, to His mediatorial throne,
and finally reigning over all the nations of the earth. We
might have shown how finely the promised King and king-
dom are delineated in the Seventy-second Psalm, and how the
salvation of the whole world is there set forth in almost the
express terms of the Abrahamic Covenant,-a fact which
seems clearly to prove that, whatever the primary reference
to Solomon, a greater king than he, and a mightier and more
lasting kingdom than his, were intended by the Psalmist.
We might have treated pretty fully of the Hundred-and-tenth
Psalm; and, whilst pointing to the promised King as an universal
conqueror, with universal dominion, "judging or reigning
among," and, therefore, over, "the nations," we might have
dwelt on one most important point, in which He is declared,
with all the solemnity of an oath, to be what no King of Israel
was allowed to be, even a Priest, and that not after the order
of Aaron, the order appointed for Israel,-but after the
order of one who did not belong to the race of Abraham,
even that of Melchizedek, King of Salem, and priest of the
Most High God. The more this is carefully considered, the
more certain will the reference appear to be to the promised
Messiah alone, whose sacerdotal character demonstrates the
mediatorial nature of His kingdom, of which that of Israel
could only be a type and shadow.
2. Here we might have not inappropriately made some
lengthened reference to the whole Book of Psalms. It is
indeed a most wonderful and invaluable book, written many
126
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
centuries ago, of considerably varied and of much unknown
authorship, and found by the spiritually minded of every
age to be full of freshness and life, and as well fitted as ever
for the purposes of private devotion and public worship
among all the nations of the world. Nowhere can we yet
find more fit expression given to the purest and loftiest con-
ceptions, whether of Creator or of creation, of divine providence
or of the Redeemer and His glorious kingdom. Nowhere
do we find a more rich, a more varied, or a more truthful
revelation of the human heart, with all its sins and sorrows,
its desires and affections, its hopes and fears. Here, long
before the advent of Christ, were treasured up words of spirit
and life, disclosures of a full and free salvation. Here,
Jehovah appears as a Father, with all that tenderness of love
and all that abundance of mercy, which it would seem the
part of the New Testament to reveal. Take away this one
Book, and the Bible itself will be defective, the literature of
the race will suffer a mighty loss, and all earnest and devout
spirits will be deprived of one of their richest sources of con-
solation. Read or sung by those who hold their true key,
the experimental knowledge of Jesus Christ, these Psalms
shall never fail to provide themes for profoundest meditation,
and songs for sublimest devotion, or to commend themselves
as the undoubted and precious fruits of divine inspiration.
In fact, the man is not to be envied who has not learned to
prize this portion of Scripture as one of the richest treasures
which this world contains, or who cannot see in them and in
their influence a most pleasing, though very partial, fulfilment
of the great promise itself: "In thee and in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed." To allude to only one,
the Twenty-third Psalm, who can estimate its worth, or tell to
how many and to what extent it has proved a treasure on the
one hand, and a fountain of life, of comfort, of light, and of
blessing on the other ?
4
Ga
THE EARLIER PROPHETS.
SECTION II.
THE EARLIER PROPHETS.
I.
127
1. With the covenant established with David and the
prosperity of Israel under Solomon, it might have well been
expected that Jehovah would have long upheld His own
kingdom, in its unity, its perfected constitution, and in the
purity of its fully developed worship. In every age, however,
of the world, we find the agency of man interfering with the
progressive work of God. As already hinted, even Solomon,
notwithstanding all his wisdom, was the first thus to put a
period to all immediate progress, or rather to destroy what
by his own hands had become an accomplished work.
Doubtless causes had long been in operation, tending to loose
the bonds uniting the twelve tribes, especially those between
the ten tribes of the north and the two of the south. The
very selection of Jerusalem as the seat of government and the
centre of worship could hardly fail, unless under the greatest
wisdom and the kindliest liberality, to awaken jealousy and
create dislike. Even in the time of David, we find this
jealousy easily roused and issuing in war. The magnificence
of Solomon must have cost the northern tribes more than
they were disposed to give. On the accession of his son it
was not unnatural for them to complain, and to make a
relaxation of exorbitant imposts the condition of their con-
tinued allegiance to the house of David. We need not
narrate how Rehoboam, in the spirit of a supercilious despot,
and influenced by the reckless, but congenial, counsel of his
more youthful associates, treated their requests with scornful
defiance, and thus hastened the threatened rupture of the
kingdom. However effected by natural means and on the
ground of sufficient political reasons, this rupture had been
predicted to Solomon as a punishment for his unfaithfulness
128
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
to Jehovah and forgetfulness of the very design of the
separation of Israel. In other circumstances it might have.
simply proved the liberality of his mind to have tolerated the
practice of foreign religions. In a country, however, which
he knew to have been given to his people for the sole and
express purpose of maintaining the worship and realizing the
covenant designs of Jehovah, all such tolerance was dis-
loyalty to His Divine Sovereign and treachery to the cause
and kingdom of Israel. The tendencies to disruption were
thus unchecked, and in punishment of the sin condemned,
Rehoboam proving himself also most worthy of it, Jehovah
permitted an actual division of the tribes to follow.
2. The result was disastrous to the religion of the north.
Jeroboam, who had headed the revolt and been raised to the
throne, soon began to suspect, that if his people continued
to regard the temple of Jerusalem as the only place of
acceptable worship, they might be led to long for the
restoration of the national unity, and thus to return to their
allegiance to the house of David. He resolved therefore that
the new kingdom should have a new centre of worship.
Fixing on Bethel as the sacred place, doubtless as a spot of
many historical associations, he set up there a calf, and
encouraged the people to worship Jehovah under this idola-
trous form. Often afterwards was this monarch denounced
for thus "
causing Israel to err." He introduced no new or
heathen god. He simply did what the Israelites long before
constrained Aaron to do. The saddest days of religious
declension followed, ending in the darkest night of idolatry
and superstition. As time advanced, there seem to have
arisen three distinct parties in the northern kingdom,-the
remnant of the true and spiritual worshippers of Jehovah; the
calf-worshippers, or worshippers of Jehovah after an idolatrous
manner; and the worshippers of Baal, the Lord of the World,
the god of the neighbouring peoples. The descent from the
one to the other was by no means difficult or unnatural. In
the reign of Ahab, as specially practised and patronized by
THE PROPHET ELIJAH.
Queen Jezebel, a daughter of the King of Tyre, Baal-worship
rose to the ascendency, was supported by a numerous priest-
hood, and had a mighty and deadly influence on the kingdom.
The calf-worship of Bethel seems to have been greatly
superseded by the gross nature-worship thus upheld by the
Court. Under certain kings, the ten tribes enjoyed a good
deal of material prosperity; but having departed from
Jehovah, and ceased to fulfil the end of their separation, after
many a neglected warning, in the end suffered the terrible
doom of banishment from their rich and beautiful country,
and of miserable dispersion among their heathen oppressors.
3. Of those who sought to avert this doom none stands
higher in prophetic faithfulness and divine energy than
Elijah. We cannot enter into the details of his brief but
remarkable history. As we read, we find miracle succeeding
miracle, till we come to the decisive one on Mount Carmel,
when the priests of Baal were utterly discomfited, and the
prophet of Jehovah marvellously triumphed. Through the
ministry of Elijah, and afterwards through the fierce agency
of Jehu, Baal-worship received a terrible blow. However, the
true religion never again prospered; the nation sunk into
vice and corruption; finally it was rent by faction and
destroyed by the power of Assyria.
4. In contemplating such a ministry as that of Elijah, who
introduced no new truth, and, in fact, sought no original form
of worship, but simply the restoration of that which had been
first corrupted and then supplanted, we are reminded of a
most important fact of frequent or of almost perpetual
recurrence in the history of Revealed Religion, even up to the
present day. In all the alterations of that religion, ever
intended as improvements by those who have introduced
them, and ever expressive of supposed social progress and
intellectual culture, we find only so many tokens of spiritual
declension, and so many forms of religious perversion and
corruption. Every successive Elijah is thus simply a restorer
of the old, and not an introducer of the new.
Of course,
129
1
9
130
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
along with this there is the gradual and the normal
development of divine truth, whether by the inspired
revelation of it, or through the faithful study and use of
that revelation. From all this an important inference may
be drawn. When we see that all human additions to the
religion of the Bible,―of the Old or New Testament alike,-
and all substitutions for it, ever lead to unhappy results,
degrading or destroying more or less the religious character
of those who adopt them, and soon requiring the restoring
hand of the reformer, we have one of the strongest and best
proofs of the superhuman origin of that religion; as that
which cannot be improved by the mind of man must have
come from a higher source, even the Mind of God.
5. Great and faithful witnesses for Jehovah as were Elijah
and Elisha, they left no writings for future instruction. We
shall now, however, allude to one or two like faithful
witnesses who did, and whose writings, while testifying
against prevailing irreligion and immorality, give such
insight into their Messianic anticipations as prepare our
minds for the lofty and copious prophecies of Isaiah, to
which we mean mainly to direct attention.
(1) Hosea.-This prophet is regarded as a subject of the
northern kingdom, whose utter overthrow as a kingdom he
clearly predicts, whilst he as clearly declares that the
kingdom of Judah should be spared or divinely preserved.
This calls to remembrance the original division of the tribes,
as to which Jehovah expressly affirmed that Judah and
Benjamin were reserved to Rehoboam "for David's sake,"
that is to say, not from any divine partiality to that prince,
but because of the covenant established with him, which
implied as well the perpetuity of the kingdom as the per-
petuity of His throne. Hence the unlike destinies of the
nations. Any individuals belonging to the northern who
might escape the threatened doom are expressly alluded to
as afterwards being reunited with Judah under one head as
before the division,-"They would return and seek Jehovah
HOSEA AND AMOS.
131
their God, and David their king; and fear Jehovah and His
goodness, in the latter days." The relation of Jehovah to
Israel is fully and impressively illustrated under the figure
of a marriage covenant,-Jehovah the husband of His people,
He ever faithful, and they frequently and fearfully most faith-
less. In this way Jehovah's infinite condescension and love
towards His erring and idolatrous people are represented as
seeking, with all fidelity and tenderness, to restore them to
conjugal devotedness and love, and as most unwilling finally
to cast them off or to treat them as all the faithless and im-
penitent must be treated at last. Thus finely is the divine
character revealed, whilst, in full view of the persistent
wickedness and prospective doom of Israel, the divine
covenant, in its Davidic as well as patriarchal form, is firmly
grasped by this, as by other prophets, and discriminatively
used, under the light of inspiration, to set forth the real
future of both kingdoms.
(2) Amos.-Though belonging to Judah, this prophet was
sent to warn the ten tribes of their coming doom. He
assailed most fearlessly, in the time of Jeroboam II., the
wide-spread immoralities and corruptions of the nation, called
upon all to forsake Bethel and other places of forbidden
worship, and, like Hosea, predicted the dissolution of the
kingdom, with the union of all who were preserved and
restored to their own land with the southern people under
the true David:-"In that day will I raise up the tabernacle
(hut, or booth) of David that is fallen, and close (wall, or build
up) the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and
I will build it as in the days of old; that they may possess
the remnant of Edom and of all the nations on whom My
Name is called, saith Jehovah who doeth this." Thus the
eye of the prophet evidently rests on the glorious Object
whence all real union and prosperity come to the Israel of
God, even that One in whom the unfailing covenant would
be realized, and under whose benignant reign the nations
would be converted to Jehovah, and thus be joined to His
132
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
people. Thus, too, is the personal "seed of Abraham," and
the true heir of David's throne, distinctively and unmistakably
revealed; as this vast enlargement of the kingdom proves.
Much has been said in our day of "the ten lost tribes of
Israel," and of their future place in the world. Perhaps the
best idea as to them is, that as many as God was pleased to
restore to their own land, sooner or later after the return of
Judah from Babylon, were simply united as one with that
people, and that, unless in so far as they have been absorbed
into other races, they have either utterly perished or are in-
discriminately mixed with the Jews of different countries, and.
assuredly intended to share with them in their future destiny.
(3) Micah.-A subject of the southern kingdom, and, like
those just referred to, constrained to rebuke unrighteousness
and irreligion on the one hand, and to announce the terrible
doom of the inpenitent on the other, this prophet held with
like tenacious grasp the great covenant of what they now
deem ancient times. Whatever the degree or extent of
national unrighteousness and irreligion, and however these
may bring down the just and terrible judgment of Jehovah
against not a few generations, the covenant itself cannot
possibly fail, and Israel must rise as if out of the very dust
rather than any one promise, whether to Abraham or to David,
should not be fulfilled. All the prophets of this special period,
so far contemporary with Isaiah, and during the reigns of
various kings, have the same sad complaints to utter, and the
same dark future to disclose. Both kingdoms were trying the
divine long-suffering to the very utmost. The doom of both is
now clearly pronounced by Micah. Nobles and rulers, corrupt
priests and false prophets are alike condemned. Society, in
all its ranks, was without right principle, and yet had no sense
of coming evil: "Yet will they lean upon Jehovah and say,
Is not Jehovah among us? None evil can come upon us.
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and
Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house.
as the high places of the forest." Yet, whilst predicting this
МІСАН.
133
fearful desolation, involving the total overthrow of the temple
and the apparent extinction of the religion of Jehovah, the
prophet, with a triumphant glance into the distant future,
immediately adds, it matters but little whether in his own words
or in words borrowed from another of like inspiration:
"But
in the last days it shall come to pass (that) the mountain of the
house of Jehovah shall be established in the top of the moun-
tains," etc. The true people of Jehovah cannot perish. The
covenant must stand sure. This mighty grasp of the promises
is finely illustrated by the closing words of the prophecy,
whilst the character of Jehovah, as the God of salvation, is
set forth in all its unchanging faithfulness and all its exhaust-
less grace.
"Who is a God like unto Thee," Jehovah, "that
pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the
remnant of His inheritance? He retaineth not His anger for
ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will return, He
will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities;
and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, the mercy to Abraham,
which Thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.”
How grand the faith of this true prophet of Jehovah!
How free, too, was he from all narrowness, superstition, or
mere ceremonialism! How worthy of a great teacher as
well of a sublime poet these words which we cannot but
quote: "Hear ye, O mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and
ye strong foundations of the earth: for Jehovah hath a con-
troversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel! O
My people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I
wearied thee? Testify against Me. For I brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house
of servants, and sent before thee Moses and Aaron and
Miriam. O, My people, remember now what Balak, King ot
Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered
him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righte-
ousness of Jehovah. Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah
(and) bow Myself before the Most High God? Shall I come
134
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?
Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten
thousands of streams of oil? Shall I give my first-born (for)
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God?" How these words reveal
the heart of man under conviction of sin on the one hand,
and the heart of God towards the sin-stricken soul on the
other! What a contrast between the many fearful and bloody
rites of heathendom, and the pure and simple service here
required in return for full and free forgiveness, and in
view of boundless grace and mercy! How wonderful the
righteousness, including the loving-kindness, of Jehovah!
Taken in connection with the words previously quoted as
to the truth and mercy revealed to the fathers, how complete
their early revelation of the way of salvation! We shall
quote but one other passage relating to the One to whom
these ancient covenants specially relate. It follows a pre-
diction of the desolation of Zion and of the Babylonish
captivity; and is thus in harmony with what seems to dis-
tinguish the whole spirit of prophecy, which, when led to
contemplate the darkest times of the covenant-people, pre-
sent or future, appears ever to rise to the greatest height of
joyous and triumphant anticipation:-"And now are many
nations gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled,
and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the
thoughts of Jehovah, and understand not His counsel: for
He shall gather them as sheaves into the threshing-floor.
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thy
horns iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shall beat
in pieces many nations and I will consecrate their gain to
Jehovah, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he has
laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel
with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
MICAH.
135
small to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall
come forth to Me He who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth (have been) from of old, from the days of eternity.
Therefore will He give them up, until the time she that tra-
vaileth hath brought forth; and the remnant of His brethren
shall return with the children of Israel. And He shall stand
and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the
name of Jehovah, His God; and they shall abide, for now
.shall He be great to the ends of the earth. And this (one)
shall be Peace." We have found the coming of a Son
of David greater than himself, clearly alluded to by Hosea
and Amos. Here He is spoken of as, like His royal ancestor,
born in Bethlehem, and thus evidently as springing from the
house of David, when reduced to its original obscurity. Yet,
humble as might be the place and circumstances of His
birth, He would be more than simply superior to all other
men. He would be more than man, even One
even One "whose
goings forth were from the days of eternity." Thus unmis-
takably was His pre-existence announced. His birth would
be an incarnation. Some would, not without great proba-
bility, infer that the Angel of Jehovah, "whose goings forth"
or "comings forth" in ancient days are again and again
alluded to in the earlier Scriptures, is here intended and thus
identified with the promised Deliverer, as the words of Jacob
might suggest: "The Angel who redeemed me from all evil."
Be this as it may, the kindred words of Isaiah as to the "Child
to be born," will enable us to decide more clearly and cer-
tainly as to the nature of this early predicted incarnation.
We may add, that what is said in chap. iv. 10, seems fully to
prove that, not the virgin mother of Jesus, but Zion, or the
Jewish nation, is referred to, and that figuratively. From her
predicted pain and sorrow, she would be freed only after
she had suffered the fearful evils involved in captivity, and
while she was a captive in Babylon. Not till after this would
the coming and glorious King "stand up and feed in the
strength of Jehovah, and in the majesty of the Name of
136
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
Jehovah His God." How long after the prophet does not
say, and doubtless did not know. Very considerably did he
add to the revelation of Jehovah and His salvation. In
pointing to the higher nature of the Son of David, he did
more than we can sufficiently appreciate. We shall refer no
further to these three great and faithful servants and prophets
of Jehovah. They have all directed us to the times and
blessings of the Redeemer-King. Without alluding to
his history, we would close these remarks with a quotation
from another and earlier prophet of Judah,-we mean Joel,-
who enables us to contemplate thus early one of the very
richest, and, in its abundance and universality, the most
peculiar of these blessings, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Joel resembles the others in holding fast by the inviolable
covenant,—“And ye shall know that I am in the midst of
Israel; and (that) I, Jehovah, am your God, and none else:
and My people shall never be ashamed." Then follow the
words to which we refer,-" And it shall come to pass after-
ward, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also
upon the man-servants and upon the maid-servants in those
days will I pour out My Spirit. And I will give signs in the
heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and columns of
smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah
come. And it shall come to pass, every one who shall call
upon the Name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in Mount
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Jehovah hath
said, and in the remnant whom Jehovah shall call."
II.
ISAIAH.
S
1. With the personal history of Isaiah, as with that of not
a few of the greatest of men, we are but little acquainted.
ISAIAH.
te
137
We can put no real confidence in the Jewish tradition, which
connects him with the royal family of Judah. Nor need we
to suppose any such relationship to account for the access of
so great a prophet to the presence of Ahaz or Hezekiah.
His divine commission could not but lead him to occupy a
prominent place. His children as well as himself being
appointed signs to the nation, he must have been well and
widely known. Of his early education, which we may
suppose to have been suitable, we know nothing. However
great the influence of divine inspiration, we do not find it
superseding the use of mental culture or failing to employ
the highest and noblest souls for the accomplishment of the
highest and noblest works. The case of Jesus and His
apostles is no real exception. Their very want of ordinary
learning was designed to manifest the more evidently the
teaching and presence of God. However, the previous
culture of Paul was both providentially secured and pre-
eminently used by the same God," as he says,
"who
worketh all in all." If in any human writings we can trace
the finely and richly combined operation of mental culture,
nobleness of soul, largeness and ardour of heart, sanctifying
grace, and direct divine inspiration, assuredly we may behold
it, as with the light of day, in those of this wonderful man,
in whom, as has been often most truly observed, the spirit
of prophecy, we may say, the spirit of Old Testament reve-
lation, rose to the very highest degree of bright and glowing
illumination. In other words, his writings contain so
marvellous and so invaluable an amount of divine and
redemptive truth, expressed in the loftiest style ever reached
by human language, that we cannot but regard the whole
as far transcending the power of the highest unaided genius,
and as clearly self-demonstrative of divine inspiration to all
who have sufficient intelligence and spirituality to appreciate
them. With the Book of Isaiah in the one hand, and the
Gospels and Epistles in the other, the devout and careful
student, deeply conscious of his spiritual necessities, and
138
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
thus somewhat capable of the appreciation referred to, could
not fail to learn or to be confirmed in the assurance, that the
Jehovah of Israel is the true and eternal God, that Jesus
Christ is the promised Redeemer, and that the salvation of
the prophets and apostles is not only one and the same in
itself, but also the most real, the most needful, and the most
acceptable of all God's gifts to mankind. Well, accordingly
has Isaiah been called the Evangelical Prophet. His name is
in keeping with his teachings, signifying the help or salvation
of Jehovah, and thus being almost synonymous with that of
Him of whom it was his glory to write. We shall give no
analysis of his entire Book. Nor shall we discuss the ques-
tion of the unity of its authorship. The evidence of a double
authorship, one before and the other after the captivity,
seems perfectly insufficient, and most likely would never have
been thought of, unless to set aside the otherwise undoubted
proof of the reality of prophecy in the most literal sense of
the word. Especially was it deemed impossible that the
very name of Cyrus could have been foreknown and pre-
announced ages before the great conqueror lived. However,
to doubt or deny the possibility of such a disclosure is simply
to doubt or deny all divine foreknowledge, and to set aside
all Scripture authority. At the same time, we may say, that
for our special purpose, it is of no vital consequence whether
this Book was written by one or more authors, as, in either
case, the proof of inspiration from prophetic fulfilment is
equally clear and certain.
2. In relation to the religious and moral state of the
nation, Isaiah takes precisely the same position as the other
prophets. The reformation under Hezekiah could not stop
the growth of national corruption, and thus prevent the
otherwise certain captivity. The northern kingdom had
ceased to possess the revealed truth of Jehovah. To the
prophetic eye, which could penetrate the surface and discern
the real spirit of the southern nation, all appeared far from
healthy or sincere. The marks of disease and decay were
THE LAW OF DIVINE GRACE.
139
everywhere visible. The sight touched the great and tender
heart of Isaiah, which could sympathize with the spirit of
Jehovah towards His guilty people, and lament over their
guilt, corruption, and doom. Hence the simple, yet burning
words with which his prophecy begins, "Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth: for Jehovah hath spoken. I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled
against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his
master's crib (but) Israel doth not know, My people doth
not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters :
they have forsaken Jehovah, they have contemned the Holy
One of Israel, they are gone away backward." Such is the
sad and ever recurring complaint of Jehovah. His is a
perpetual contest with sin. His glorious work of grace seems
once more about to be frustrated by the wickedness of man.
How often do men unjustly complain of Him and of the evils
of the world! How often and how justly has He to complain
of them and of their rejection of the highest good! Out-
wardly the people appeared devoted to His service. Yet all
was hollow and formal. Hence the indignant demand, "To
what purpose (is) the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me,
saith Jehovah ?" When offered in token of true repentance
and genuine gratitude, they are good and acceptable; but
offered in impenitence and as the substitute for loving
obedience to God and righteous conduct towards man, they
are an abomination "in His sight." Still, Jehovah is full of
compassion. He condescends to reason with the most
rebellious and corrupt, in words which give the clearest
revelation at once of His perfect holiness and of His bound-
less mercy: "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide
Mine eyes from you; when ye make many prayers, I will
not hear your hands are full of blood;" they were all guilt
and impenitence, and, therefore, all entreaty and all prayer,
like every sacrifice, must be rejected. Wash you, make
you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before
CC
140
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
Mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the
widow." All sin and crime must be abandoned: good doing
of every kind must be practised: Jehovah must be served not
only in acts of worship or of loving obedience to Himself,
but also in acts of righteousness and benevolence towards
mankind: repentance must be sincere and complete; and the
varied fruits of repentance must follow. "Come now, and
let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool." Let sin be ever so
small, while retained unconfessed and unforsaken, be it no
more than simply "regarded in the heart," it cannot be
forgiven, no prayer can be heard, and no service can be
accepted; and yet, let sin be ever so great, let even the
"hands be full of blood," only let the old life of impeni-
tence be brought to an end, and a new life of repentance be
begun, and it shall all be most freely and fully forgiven,
treated as if it had never been committed; while prayer shall
be answered, and services accepted, and the returning
transgressor welcomed and restored to the favour of God.
Such is the great and universal law of divine and saving
grace here sublimely proclaimed to all mankind, as it was
mercifully announced to the people of former times, as by
the very lips of Jehovah, the God of salvation. Again and
again the same law is expressed by this evangelical prophet,
and throughout the whole sacred volume. Only as that
people accepted it and acted according to its spirit, could
they retain a divine right to the land inherited from their
fathers; and hence it is added,- If ye be willing and
obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse
and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the
mouth of Jehovah hath spoken (it)." So it is still with the
higher inheritance. It is received as the free gift of God
through Jesus Christ, and it is retained and finally possessed
through obedience to the will of God. The same divine
CC
THE JEHOVAH OF ISAIAH.
principles underlie all the promises and threatenings con-
tained in this prophecy. This first chapter thus forms an
appropriate opening to the entire book; whilst, as we have
found, it gives a fine revelation of the character and govern-
ment of Jehovah as the God of salvation.
3. We shall not attempt to deal with the successive
chapters, or to determine the real
the real order in which the
prophecies may have been written. At whatever time the
sixth chapter was composed, the vision which it records
must have been granted at the beginning of the prophetic
ministry, and thus long before the greater part, if not the
whole, of the book was written. We shall now follow an order
of our own, which we deem most suitable to our main
purpose, namely, the consecutive development of divine and
saving truth. In doing so we shall endeavour to present in
clear prophetic light, First, The Jehovah of Isaiah; Secondly,
The promised Redeemer; Thirdly, The results of the
advent of the latter; and, Fourthly, The destiny of certain
nations as set forth by Isaiah.
4. The Jehovah of Isaiah. We do not mean to suggest that
much was added to what had been long before revealed
concerning the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And yet,
as we ponder the words of Isaiah, our conceptions of that
glorious and gracious Being rise in vividness, strength, and sub-
limity far beyond those derived from any earlier source. We
shall select the following passages from among many of
similiar character.
141
CC
(1) We may begin with the vision, to which we have referred,
of the sixth chapter: In the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord (of all) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and His train (the skirts of His robe) filled the temple
(or palace). Near to Him (or it) stood (the) seraphim:
each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and
with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy (is)
Jehovah of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.
142
PROPHETIC REVELATION,
And the posts of the door (or the foundations of the
thresholds) moved at the voice of him that cried, and the
house was filled with smoke." Such was the vision of the
Divine Ruler of the whole earth which the youthful Isaiah
was honoured to see, and by which he was called to the
prophetic office and fitted for it. We need not conjecture
what were the circumstances or state of mind in which he was
so highly favoured. Whether the death of Uzziah, who had
long suffered for daring to enter the temple, had affected his
mind, we are not told, and we cannot know. Such visitations of
grace are often made when least expected and when they are
least of all traceable to any natural origin. So it was with
Jacob, and his vision of the ladder reaching from earth to
heaven. So was it with Moses, and the burning bush; so
was it with Saul of Tarsus, and the appearance of Jesus
Christ. Doubtless all were previously and divinely prepared
for what they were favoured to see. Isaiah was not visited
for the first time by Jehovah. The vision was, in its peculiar
nature, in full harmony with the ideas of God, of the covenant,
of the temple and its worship, with which he had been all his
days familiar. In fact, we might say, it set forth, in sublimest
form, the whole central truth of all previous revelation. In
what way the faculties of the young seer were elevated, and
his whole mind prepared, we cannot conceive. We are not by
any means to regard this great crisis of his life as that of his
first conversion to God. We would rather look upon him as
previously possessed of a pure and lofty spirit of devotion on
the one hand and of an ardent and noble spirit of patriotism
on the other, both of which seem as well drawn out as inspired
by the vision. He, in the first instance, calls the Divine
Being by the name of the Lord, and afterwards by that of the
King, not only most fitly because of His position on a throne,
but also most significantly of the thought of that absolute
sovereignty and universal government which would take
strong possession of his mind. We need not suppose that
any clear or definite form or similitude was presented to his
THE JEHOVAH OF ISAIAH.
view. All was consistent with the fact, which Isaiah well
knew, that what he saw or seemed to see was the Invisible;
and herein lies the perfection of all the Scripture visions of
God, that they never suggest aught inconsistent with this
fact, or leave on the mind the slightest impression of an actual
form or similitude. Yet how sublime and awful this and
every other vision of the Most High! How it filled the whole
soul of Isaiah! Not only prophets and apostles, but the
truly devout of every age, know what it is to have moments
in which they have such a sense of the divine presence and
glory, that they feel as if they actually saw "Him who is
invisible." In this case, the mind is full of the one all-absorb-
ing and overwhelming thought, rapturous or dreadful, of the
Unseen and Eternal. Whilst the Lord, the King, is thus as at
once seen and not seen, His throne is as if clearly and most
impressively present to his view. It is “ high and exalted,"
expressive of the might and the majesty of Him who sat upon
it. It, indeed, corresponded to the throne, or mercy-seat
within the Holy of Holies of the material temple of Jerusalem,
in which Isaiah was wont to worship; but it was very far
from being identical with it.
143
The temple or palace, too, was a very different temple,
though bearing so fit and necessary likeness to it. The
throne was high: the temple was sufficiently large for the
seraph to fly to the seer with "the live coal" taken from off
the altar." Though a vision and not a reality, all was
designed and fitted to convey a present and a lasting sense
of the glorious, heavenly, and eternal reality of which the
tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon were
designed and fitted to be a temporary and appropriate
symbol. Isaiah then, and doubtless ever after, felt that his
rapt spirit, his divinely elevated soul, was brought into the
immediate presence of the Reality of all realities, the eternal
King, living and reigning in His eternal kingdom, and espe-
cially employing unseen as well as seen, angelic as well as
human, seraphic as well as saintly, agency in the great work
144
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
of redemption, first, and always first, in the way of grace
and mercy, and next, and only next, in the way of judgment.
Hence the fact that the great King is surrounded with
ministering attendants, heavenly beings, here for the first
and only time called seraphim, elsewhere and frequently
cherubim, sometimes living creatures or living ones: for
we see no sufficient reason for distinguishing them, though
we think the new name here introduced may have been used
to show that the mere symbolic cherubim were not intended
and thus to distinguish between this heavenly palace and
the earthly temple. These beings, though spiritual, were
represented to the eye, and therefore in outward form sug-
gestive of what they were and how they were employed;
for instance, like angels of whom they are the representa-
tives, with wings to indicate powers of rapid motion in the
service of their Lord. Their name, "burning ones," suggests
the idea of bright intelligence combined with glowing love,
just such beings as the great King may be believed to place,
as here set forth, near His throne. Though in a high sense
most worthy of God, as being the most glorious work of His
own creative wisdom and power, yet in contrast with His
own infinite and uncreated Being, these seraphim, as well
as creatures of every form, may be regarded, and may well
feel themselves, as "less than nothing," and utterly unworthy
of Him. Hence apparently, having six wings each, whilst
"with twain they did fly," or were ever ready to do the will
of God, "with twain they covered their face," as if unworthy
to look upon God, and "with twain they covered their feet,"
as if unworthy to be looked upon by Him,-in fact, the spirit
of these and of all true servants of God seems thus delicately
and finely revealed, even that of doing all freely and fully
to God, and yet of never thinking of self or showing the
slightest sense of desert. Thus have we here a revelation
of the heavenly world, as if we were told, that such was the
way in which the will of God was done in heaven, that we
might learn to seek and to pray that we might, in like
THE SERAPHIM.
145
-
manner, do that will on earth. We have a still further
revelation of the heavenly world. These holy beings show
how they contemplate the Universal Lord on the one hand,
and this part of His dominion on the other. Their ministry
proves their knowledge of the supreme purpose of grace.
"And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy (is)
Jehovah of Hosts: The whole earth (is) full of His glory."
They use the Covenant-Name. They add what implies His
possession and command of all powers in heaven and cn
earth. Penetrated with the thought of the majesty, ex-
cellence, and purity of the great I AM THAT I AM, they
utter and repeat but one sublime and sacred word, "Holy,
holy, holy," yet as if they meant all heaven and earth to
hear, and all in such a way that, as we read in the present
day, we feel as if we were listening to their mighty voice,
and were never otherwise so touched with the feeling of the
holiness of God. But they also cry, "The whole earth (is)
full of His glory;" and here we almost doubtingly ask,
What can this mean? Did they not intend to express the
most awful of all contrasts,-that between the holiness of
Jehovah and the sinfulness of man? Áre not its darkness,
confusion, and woe the sad tokens of the departure of God
from our world? Some would therefore suppose a reference
to the promised future.
Nor need we exclude so glorious a prospect from the
seraphic vision. Still, the present seems more directly
referred to, though in the grace of the present they might
see the glory of the future. These holy beings saw the
divine glory reflected from the face of the infinitely diversified
creation, and flowing along the richly laden stream of a
bountiful and God-witnessing Providence. Perhaps they saw
it most clearly where it is most frequently unseen by human
eye,—we mean, in all Jehovah's manifestations of redemptive
grace, whether in His direct revelations of truth, or in that
universal providence, to which we have referred, and which
silently shows forth His very highest glory, the glory of grace
10
146
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
towards the guilty, even His paternal goodness and mercy
towards His most rebellious, and, we may say, most un-
natural children. As to our eyes the darkness of the cloud
brings out the more brightly the beauty of the rainbow; so
to their eyes the darkness of this world's sin and ill-desert,
especially of its ingratitude to God, may show forth the more
richly the glory of "the manifold grace" of Jehovah.
Such was the vision. We are next told of its immediate
effect. "Then said I, Woe to me! for I am undone; because
I (am) a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King,
Jehovah of Hosts." Isaiah was overwhelmed with what he saw
and heard, and felt as if he could live no longer. According
to a law of human nature, apparently a fundamental law of
every moral and spiritual nature, this revelation of God gave
him a new and most awful revelation of himself. In the dazz-
ling light of the divine purity, the darkness of his own native
impurity became most painfully visible. So it is with the
saintliest of men. So it was with one so highly commended
of God as Job, whose words are akin to those of Isaiah,
"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now
mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor (myself), and
repent in dust and ashes." This new and vivid consciousness
of sin gave like new and vivid insight into the sinfulness of
the people, with whom the young prophet identified himself,
and to whom he was about to be sent. Thus far was he
prepared for his office by being made to feel that, of himself,
he was utterly unfit for it. So it is with all truly sent of God,
prophets, apostles, preachers. The cry of Isaiah was heard
by Jehovah. "Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having
a live coal (a hot stone) in his hand, (which) he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid (it) upon my
mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine.
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged (expiated)." This
reference to an altar cannot prove that the earthly temple
was meant, as we find a like reference to an altar in the
1
PROPHETIC COMMISSION.
147
temple of the Apocalypse. The vision was simply adapted to
the end in view; and all that we need to suppose is, as has
been suggested, "the application of fire as a symbol of
expiation by sacrifice." We are simply told of the removal
of sin. However, we think more was implied, even the gift
of that which follows forgiveness in the case of all, the gift
of a new spirit, and in the case of a prophet, the gift of that
spirit in such abundance as not only to incline his heart to
the service of God, but also to qualify him to "speak in
God's behalf." In this instance, at least, all this followed:
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord (of all), saying, Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here
(am) I; send me." The new and divine spirit within promptly
and freely responds to the clear and divine call from above.
The prophetic commission is now given:-"And He said,
Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest
they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and under-
stand with their heart, and convert, and be healed" (or, "and
one heal them"). This seems a strange as well as sad com-
mission, the more especially as coming from the Divine
Lord to the covenant people. Certainly Isaiah is assured at
the very outset, that all his preaching of free pardon on the
one hand, and of coming evil on the other, would utterly fail
as to its first and most merciful design, even that of leading
to national repentance, nay, as a matter of fact, would issue
in deepened insensibility and persistent refusal of good. As
in the mission of Moses to Pharaoh, Jehovah spoke ex-
clusively of the final result. The mode of expression, though
often and fearfully misapprehended, ought to perplex none.
Yet we may give an illustration of like apparently objection-
able expression, in which the true key is happily supplied.
We refer to Jer. xviii. 1-10, where Jehovah compares Himself
to a potter, and His people to the clay, and asks the question.
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?"
148
PROPHETIC REVELATION,
Nothing would seem more arbitrary or more inconsistent
with all right idea of either divine justice or human responsi-
bility, and often have such expressions been used in argument
against the authority of Scripture. Shall man, it is demanded,
be likened to mere lifeless clay, and yet treated as capable
of ill-desert? Shall the potter do the whole work, and yet
have no share in either the credit or discredit of it? Now,
this is due to the oversight of two things: First, the Great
Potter ought assuredly to be believed to treat or to work the
kind of clay with which he deals according to its nature, as
the ordinary potter does his clay according to its nature ;—
the former acting according to the laws of a truly moral and
responsible being, and the latter, according to those of a
merely material substance. Secondly, and in perfect har-
mony with this, Jehovah expressly describes His method of
operation; and thus, as we have suggested, gives the simple
key to the whole mystery: "Behold, as the clay (is) in
the potter's hand, so (are) ye in Mine hand, O house of
Israel," simply in the hand of the One as in the hand of the
other, but not that both hands act after the like manner.
No; Jehovah deals with free moral beings; and hence He
explains," At what instant I shall speak concerning a
nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull
down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have
pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil
that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall
speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to
build and to plant it; if it do evil in My sight, that it obey
not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said
I would benefit them." Such, then, is the method of the Great
Potter: He simply presents the promises of mercy and the
threatenings of justice, and then deals with the nations,
as, doubtless, with individuals, according to the result; and
assuredly, when He demands, "Cannot I thus do ?" meaning
“justly do,” no reasonable being can possibly fail to acquiesce
Thus we receive from Jehovah Himself the key to all like
FUTURE OF ISRAEL REVEALED.
149
expressions, which have perplexed many and been abused
by not a few. In the light of this passage, we need be
at no loss to understand the real force of the words of the
commission to Isaiah, or of those relating to the harden-
ing of the heart of Pharaoh, or of those used by Paul of
God "hardening whom He wills," or of those used by the
same apostle as to "vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath.”
In all such cases, no more is claimed than the righteous
prerogative of carrying on the grand work of divine mercy
and grace, however men refuse the former and thus make
themselves the more worthy of punishment, or resist the latter
and thus harden themselves the more thoroughly against Him.
who is doing all for their good. In this way Jehovah vindi-
cates His own character and His own treatment of men.
The mission of Isaiah, then, was one of mercy, though he
is assured of its failure, not, we may presume, as to all indi-
viduals, but rather, as was sad indeed, as to any real national
repentance. Mournfully, therefore, he asks, "Lord, how
long?"-how long shall this national state of impenitence
and consequent suffering continue? And He answered,
Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses
without men, and the land be utterly desolate, and Jehovah
have removed men far away, and (there be) a great forsaking
in the midst of the land. But yet in it (shall be) a tenth,
and (it) shall return, and shall be eaten (or, shall be for a
consuming): as a teil (a terebinth) tree, and as an oak, whose
substance (some say, "root-stump ") (is) in them, when they
cast their leaves (or, when felled); so the holy seed (shall
be) the substance (root-stump) thereof." On all this we may
remark,―First, We have here a clear prediction of the state
of the nation through many, if not through all succeeding.
generations. Secondly, The evils of Isaiah's times were to
last till the whole land became desolate through the destruc-
tion and dispersion of the people. Thirdly, Yet a tenth, a
portion of the dispersed would return. Fourthly, Even these
would not hold their inheritance in perpetual possession, but
""
150
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
would be destroyed also, and therefore would not remain
faithful to Him who restored them. Fifthly, Yet, the entire
nation would not or could not finally perish; for, as a tree
that is cut down may retain such vitality as shall make it
spring up again, so "the holy seed," whether Messianic or a
continually saved and sanctified remnant, or both combined,
shall be "the substance," the indestructible and ever-reviving
strength of the covenant people. All this, we need not say,
has, up to this date, received a most wonderful fulfilment.
These few simple words, written so very long ago, contain
the whole history of the most remarkable people on earth,
the one and only professedly covenant nation, for at least the
last two thousand five hundred years. Did Isaiah, of his
own mind or by pure accident, thus correctly write, or did
Jehovah, as here represented, withdraw the veil from the
future of Israel?
Such was this glorious vision of Jehovah, of the heavenly
world, and of his own people. It included, as we have
found, a revelation of Isaiah himself. The effect was great,
and affected his whole subsequent ministry. Henceforth
to him Jehovah is ever the Holy One, the Holy One of
Israel. The same vision has exerted a mighty influence on
millions of devout believers in Jehovah and in Jesus Christ.
They, too, as they have, through it, beheld the glorious holi-
ness of Jehovah, have received an impressive and humbling
revelation of themselves, and been taught to put no trust in
their own goodness, but to put all trust in the mercy and grace
of "Jehovah of Hosts."
(2) We shall now do little more than quote without com-
ment a few passages, partly illustrating the influence of this
vision, and partly setting forth the glory of Jehovah.-Chap.
lxvi. 1, 2, expressing His infinite greatness and yet infinite
condescension towards the penitent and lowly, "Thus saith
Jehovah, The heavens (are) My throne, and the earth (is) My
footstool: what (is) the house that ye build to Me? And
what (is) the place of My rest. For all these did My Hand
GLORY AND GRACE OF JEHOVAH.
make, and all these (thus) came to be, saith Jehovah: but to
this (man) will I look, (even) to (him who is) poor and of a
contrite spirit and trembleth at My Word." Akin to this,
chap. lvii. 15, "Thus saith the High and Lofty One that in-
habiteth eternity, whose name (is) Holy: I dwell in the high
and holy (place), with him also (that is) of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to
revive the heart of the contrite ones." We shall now simply
add the following from chap. xl., in which the greatness and
glory of Jehovah are declared by Himself in order to the
comfort of His afflicted but redeemed people,-"Comfort ye,
comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accom-
plished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received
from the hand of Jehovah double for all her sins,”—not more
than she deserved, but much more than He mercifully desired
to give. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare
ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every moun-
tain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough places plain and the glory of
Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see (it) together.
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All
flesh (is) grass, and all the goodliness thereof (is) as the flower
of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because
the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it surely the people (is)
grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word
of our God shall stand for ever. . . Behold, the Lord Jehovah
will come as a mighty one, and His arm shall rule for Him.
. . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather
the lambs with His arm, and carry (them) in his bosom, (and)
shall gently lead the nursing (ewes). Who hath measured
the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven
with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a
measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills
in a balance? ... Behold, the nations (are) as a drop of a
151
152
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance;
Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And
Lebanon (is) not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof for a
burnt-offering. . . . To whom, then, will ye liken God? or what
likeness will ye compare unto Him? . . . Have ye not known?
Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the
beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of
the earth? (It is) He that sitteth upon the circle of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof (are) as grasshoppers;
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth
them out as a tent to dwell in. . . . To whom then will ye liken
Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your
eyes on high, and see: Who hath created these (things)?
He that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them
all by names by the greatness of His might, and as being
strong in power; not one is missing. Why sayest thou, ()
Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hidden from Jeho-
vah, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast
thou not known? hast thou not heard? The Eternal God,
Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary: (there is) no searching of His understand-
ing. He giveth power to the faint, and to (them that have)
no might, He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall
faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but
they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew (their) strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; (and) they shall walk, and not faint."
(3) We shall add the following passages as showing how
Isaiah deals even with the question of the very being of
Jehovah. He will be seen to speak in harmony with the
whole scope of Scripture, throughout which Jehovah is repre-
sented as demonstrating His own being, not so much by any
appeal to His glorious works of creation as by a reference
to those two kinds of supernatural evidence,-miracles of
power or miracles as usually so called, and miracles of fore-
knowledge, or prophecies or predictions of the future. The
PROPHETIC 'DEMONSTRATION.
153
former were used by Moses to convince Pharaoh and his
people. They were also used by Elijah to convince Ahab
and many of his subjects who were falling into heathenism.
In both cases it is easy to see, that no mere argument would
have been of any avail. Isaiah uses and appeals to the
second order of miracles referred to, those of divine fore-
knowledge. In the circumstances, we may safely say, only
some such supernatural means could have been successfully
used for the purpose. But, why, it may be asked, should
Isaiah make any such appeal? He was a prophet of Israel,
it may be said, and not an apostle to the Gentiles. Still, in
the first instance, the Israelites were ever prone to depart
from Jehovah, and ever ready to adopt the idolatrous religion
of the surrounding nations. It was of great importance,
therefore, to show that Jehovah had given infallible proofs
of His own existence, and that the gods of these nations or
of all nations have given no real proofs of their existence.
He sought thus to confirm the faith of those who adhered
to Jehovah their own true and covenant God, and to recover
those who were either wavering as to the truth of Jehovah
or had fallen away from it. In the second instance, Isaiah
entered fully into the spirit of the covenant, and knew that
Israel had been chosen for the purpose of revealing Jehovah
to the Gentiles. This he again and again shows in his
prophecies. It was right therefore that he should set forth
to the people, that, instead of receiving the false religion of
surrounding peoples, they ought to serve Jehovah aright and
thus impart to these peoples the true religion. And, in the
third instance, Isaiah knew that he ministered to all nations
in the distant future of which he so clearly speaks. Both
the scope of his principal prophecies and the express appeal
to future generations as to the truth of new disclosures of
the future, fully prove this. Thus, the grand controversy
pertains to our times just as well as to those of Isaiah.
The divine argument is still needed; and, we may say, it is
now clearer and stronger than it was in these former times or
154
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
in any time since. We shall quote the following in the order
in which they occur in the prophecy :-Chap. xli. 1, "Keep
silence before Me, O islands; and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let
them come near together for judgment." Ver. 8-10,
“And, thou, Israel, (art) My servant, Jacob whom I have
chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend. (Thou) whom I
have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from
the sides (or extremities) thereof, and said unto thee, Thou
(art) my servant; I have chosen thee, and not rejected (or
despised) thee. Fear thou not; for I (am) with thee; be
not dismayed; for I (am) thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right
hand of My righteousness." Ver. 21-23, "Produce your
cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong (reasons) (your
defences), saith the King of Jacob.. Let them bring forward,
and show us what shall happen: let them show the former
things, what they (were), that we may consider them, and
know the latter end of them; or make us hear things to come.
Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may
know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we
may be dismayed (amazed) and see together." Chap. xlii.
8—9, “I (am) Jehovah: that is My name: and My glory
will I not give to another, neither My praise unto graven
images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and
new things do I declare: before they spring forth, I tell
you of them." Chap. xliii. 9-13: "Let all the nations be
gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled; who
among them can declare this, and show us former things?
Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be
justified; or let them hear, and say, (It is) truth. Ye (are)
my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My servant whom I have
chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand
that I (am) He: Before Me there was no god formed,
neither shall there be after Me. I, (even) I (am) Jehovah;
and beside Me there is no Saviour. I have declared, and
PROPHETIC DEMONSTRATION.
155
have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange
(god) among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith
Jehovah, that I (am) God. Also from the day (henceforth) I
(am) He, and (there is) none that can deliver out of My
hand: will work, and who shall hinder it ?" Ver. 18-21:
"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the
things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall
spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way
in the wilderness, (and) rivers in the desert. The beast of
the field shall honour Me, the dragons and the owls; because
I give waters in the wilderness, (and) rivers in the desert,
to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people have
I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.”
Chap. xliv. 6-9: "Thus saith Jehovah the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts: I (am) the first, and
I (am) the last; and beside Me (there is) no God. And
who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order
for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the
things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto
them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: Have I not told thee
from that time, I have declared (it)? Ye (are) even My
witnesses. Is there a god beside Me? Yea, (there is) no
god: I know not (any). They that make a graven image
(are) all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall
not profit; and they (are) their own witnesses; they see not,
nor know; that they may be ashamed." Chap. xlv. 1-7:
"Thus saith Jehovah to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right
hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him. . . . And
I will give the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of
secret places, that thou mayest know that I, Jehovah, who
call (thee) by thy name, (am) the God of Israel. For Jacob
My servant's sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called
thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast
not known Me. I (am) Jehovah, and (there is) none else
(there is) no god beside Me: I girded thee, though thou
hast not known Me; that they may know from the rising of
156
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
:
banne
the sun, and from the west, that (there is) none beside Me.
I am) Jehovah, and (there is) none else. Forming light,
and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil,
I, Jehovah, do all these (things)." Ver. 18-25: "Thus
saith Jehovah that created the heavens. . . I have not spoken
in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the
seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain: I Jehovah speak righteous-
ness, I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves
and come; draw near together, ye (that are) escaped of the
nations they have no knowledge that set up the wood of
their graven image, and pray unto a god (that) cannot save.
Tell ye, and bring (them) near; yea, let them take counsel to-
gether: who hath declared this from ancient time? (Who)
hath told it from that time? (have) not I, Jehovah? And (there
is) no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour: (there
is) none beside Me. Look (turn) unto Me, and be ye saved,
all ends of the earth: for I (am) God, and (there is) none else.
I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth
(in) righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely (only), shall
(one) say, In Jehovah have I righteousness and strength: (even)
to Him shall (men) come; and all that are incensed against
Him shall be ashamed. In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel
be justified (made righteous), and shall glory" (boast them-
selves). Chap. xlvi. 9-13, "Remember the former things of
old: for I (am) God, and (there is) none else; I (am) God;
and there (is) none like Me; declaring the end (issue) from
the beginning, from ancient times (the things) that are not
(yet) done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
My pleasure; calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man
that executeth My counsel from a far country: yea, I have
spoken (it), and will also bring it to pass; I have purposed (it),
I will also do it. Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, that
(are) far from righteousness: I bring near My righteousness:
it shall not be far off; and My salvation shall not tarry: I will
place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory." Chap. xlvii. 5-6:
PROPHETIC DEMONSTRATION.
157
CC
"Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of
the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called The lady
(mistress) of kingdoms. I was wroth with My people, I
have polluted Mine inheritance, and given them into thine
hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient
(old) hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke." Chap. xlviii. 1-7:
Hear ye this, O house of Jacob and those called by the name
of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, who
swear by the Name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God
of Israel, (but) not in truth, nor in righteousness. For they
call themselves of the holy city and stay themselves upon the
God of Israel; Jehovah of Hosts (is) His name. I have
declared the former things from the beginning; and this went
forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did (them)
suddenly (quickly), and they came to pass. Because I knew
that thou (art) obstinate and thy neck (is) as an iron sinew,
and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared
(it) to thee; before it came to pass I showed (it) thee; lest
thou shouldst say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven
image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. Thou
hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare (it)? I have
showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and
thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not
long ago, and before the day, and thou heardest them not;
lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them." Ver. 16, 17:
"Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in
secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there
(am) I: and now the Lord Jehovah and His Spirit hath sent
me. Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel; I (am) Jehovah thy God which teacheth thee to profit,
which leadeth thee by the way (that) thou shouldst go."
It is to be remembered that these words were written hun-
dreds of years before the time of Christ, yet when the people
of Israel could be fitly called "the ancient people." Jehovah
is here represented as giving proof to them as well as to the
heathen of His own being and sole divinity. He speaks of
!
158
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
them as having idols and graven images, and thus as if many
of them had fearfully fallen away from Him the Covenant God
of their fathers. All is set forth in the form of a contest
between the true and only God, and the many false gods of
the heathen. At the same time the enlightenment of all nations
is clearly declared to be one design of Jehovah. By carefully
studying the passages quoted, we may gather the following:-
First, Jehovah expressly declares that, in order to give a
demonstration of His own being, one that shall stand from
age to age, He has been declaring the end from the be-
ginning, revealing the future, foretelling what neither His
people nor any others could have forescen, doing all this
systematically, appealing to the fulfilment of past predictions,
and calling upon future generations to mark the fulfilment of
new or additional predictions. Nor could we have a surer
test of divinity than a whole series or system of veritable
predictions; not one here and another there, without con-
nection or evident design, but all connected with one grand
and continuous work,-the work of human redemption.
Secondly, Hence all these demonstrative prophecies are
connected with the history of the covenant people, the people
selected and set apart in connection with the work of re-
demption referred to; and thus Jehovah specially speaks of
Abraham and Jacob, and of the people of Israel, as specially
chosen by Him, the people intended to show forth His
praise, and through whom He would be glorified. All this
consists with what we have found as to the great memorial
name, Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; in
fact, all is but another form of the same thing: the covenant
with Abraham on the one hand, and the divine interpretation
of the name Jehovah, “I AM THAT I AM,” on the other, are
here kept fully in view. Thus the things long before revealed
are clearly all those implied in the revealed purpose of the
call of Abraham or the choice of the nation of Israel, and in
the terms of the covenant, together with whatever additions
were made to that covenant, such as the promise to David.
159
All was familiar to Isaiah and the people of his times. We
have thus a guarantee as to the antiquity and reality of the
promises; for as early as the times of Isaiah, all could be
spoken of as well known on the one hand, and as very
ancient on the other. But Isaiah records predictions or
promises which those of after times, such as ourselves, were
to consider. All these, kindred with the others, are simply
a further development of the promises concerning the Messiah
and His kingdom,-an immense development, as all know
who are acquainted with the Messianic portions of the pro-
phecies of this great prophet. However, this is by no means
all. We have the clearest announcements as to the destiny
of almost every nation in any way related to ancient Israel.
Thirdly, as hinted at, one design of the demonstration in
question was the enlightenment of Israel, the maintenance
of their loyalty to Jehovah, and their turning from idolatry
and false religion. They are treated according to their real
character. They had no true delight in their Covenant God.
They did not obey His commandments; so that the truth of
Jehovah had in some sense to be forced upon them; they had
to be made, as it were, to see Him with their eyes. No
argument from reason would convince them. Hence the
peculiar and infallible proof, which they could appreciate,
was, in infinite condescension, used by Jehovah; and all, as
we have said, put before their very eyes. The same proof,
and for the same reasons, is needed still.
PROPHETIC DEMONSTRATION.
Fourthly, we are distinctly told that the same grand and prac-
tical demonstration was given that Jehovah might be known by
all the nations, even from the rising to the setting sun. Hence
one of the new things thus declared,—the marvellous call of
Cyrus to do the work of Jehovah, to grant release to Israel,
and to give liberty and commandment as to the building of
Jerusalem, together with the fall of Babylon and the destruc-
tion of its idolatrous religion. All this clearly implied that
the later portion of this grand prophecy was written before
the fall of that great city or the conquest of it by that great
160
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
warrior. In fact, unless on this supposition, all relating to
the name and agency of Cyrus must be regarded in the very
worst light, even that of a most impious as well as daring
imposition. However, all that which some deem most objec-
tionable, viewed as a real prediction of Cyrus, is so connected
with the most glorious prophecies, which have certainly
received an undoubted fulfilment in the time of Christ and
in every age thence to our own, that the mere particularity
of the prediction should now be no reason for doubt as to
its reality or for the view which some take of the late date of
the prediction referred to. Hence,
Fifthly, we may thus be thankful that so grand and glorious
a demonstration, so long ago expressly declared to be con-
ducted by the great God and Saviour of mankind in order to
the enlightenment and faith of those whom He has been
seeking to save and bless, has now come to such a height of
development that we now have all history holding up before
our eyes the most perfect testimony at once to the being of
Jehovah of Israel, and to the Messiahship of Jesus. If Jehovah
could so early and so triumphantly appeal to Israel as His
sure and certain witnesses, Jesus may now, with equally
triumphant assurance, appeal to His people as His witnesses;
for, most certainly, the covenants of Abraham and of David,
with all "the many and precious promises" which they imply,
and which were made so many ages ago, have been most
amply fulfilled, and are now being fulfilled more and more
wonderfully in the experience of countless multitudes, who
are "blessed in Abraham and his seed," nay, blessed as no
human eye has elsewhere on earth ever seen, and as it never
entered human heart to conceive.
5. The Promised Redeemer.-We have already found an
express promise of a special personal seed of the woman,
of Abraham, and of David, the great future Deliverer. There
can be no reasonable doubt of such a promise being not only
made through Isaiah, but also, as we shall find, wonderfully
unfolded by him. We have been treating of Jehovah's appeal
*
THE PROMISED REDEEMER.
161
to the fulfilment of previous promises and predictions con-
nected with the Chosen People in proof of His own sole
divinity; and we found that He spoke of giving new promises
and predictions, whose fulfilment in after times would yield
like proof to future generations. We now propose to treat
of these, especially in their relation to the great coming King,
of whom we found Micah predicting great things as to His
Person as being more than human. We have just found
Isaiah announcing expressly by name a great conqueror,
Cyrus, by whom Israel would be delivered from captivity,
by the overthrow of Babylon. The description of this tem-
porary deliverer as a bird of prey, may well be contrasted
with the description of the unspeakably greater Deliverer, the
promised Son of David. We may begin by quoting the
following with respect to,
(1) The Person of the Promised One. Isaiah xi. 1, 2,
"And
there shall come forth a rod (a twig or shoot) out of the stem
(or stump) of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
And the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah." Ver. 10,
“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people: to it (or to Him) shall
the Gentiles seek and His rest shall be glorious." Chap. ix.
6, 7, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given:
and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His
name shall be called Wonderful (or Wonder), Counsellor, the
Mighty God (some translate Hero-God, or Mighty Hero),
the Everlasting (or Eternal) Father, the Prince of Peace. To
the increase of (His) government, and to the peace (of His
reign) there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and
upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judg-
ment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The
zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this." Chap. vii. 14, “There-
fore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name
4
SA
II
162
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
Immanuel (With-us-God)." From all this we gather, First,
That One was to arise out of the house of David, who should
do a mighty work in the earth, in fact, to be a great Deliverer
and King. Secondly, As He is said to spring from Jesse, it
seems implied that He would arise, when the house of David
had returned to its obscure condition before he was raised
to the throne. Thirdly, He would occupy the throne of His
father David, yet evidently in no limited or literal sense,
His kingdom being universal as well as eternal. Fourthly, We
have here the true key to the meaning of the covenant, by
which David's throne was declared to be everlasting,-ever-
lasting as that of his great Son and successor. Fifthly, this
Son of promise would do what neither David nor any of his
other descendants could do,-He would establish righteous-
ness and peace. Sixthly, He would be the Shiloh of more
ancient prophecy,-to Him the peoples, or Gentiles, would
come or gather. Seventhly, He would be no mere man, how-
ever great and exalted, but assuredly divine. Hence Lastly,
His name, as here given, sets forth the glory of His person
and character, divine and human, the grandeur of His know-
ledge, and the perfection of His salvation. Emphatically
would He set forth the most precious and cheering of all
thoughts, "God with us," or that the Eternal God was indeed
on the side of sinful man.
S
(2) The work of the Promised One.-Here we may quote the
following:-Isa. xlii.
Isa. xlii. 1—10, Behold My Servant, whom
I uphold; Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have
put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to
the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His
voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not
break, and the smoking flax (or dimly-burning wick) shall
He not quench (or put out): He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail (or be dim), nor be discouraged
(or, be bruised), till He have set judgment in the earth: and
the isles shall wait for His law. Thus saith God (or the
God) Jehovah, who created the heavens and stretched them
163
out, who spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out
of it, who giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit
to them who walk therein: I Jehovah have called Thee in
righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee,
and give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light
to the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out
of the prison-house. I (am) Jehovah: that is My Name;
and My glory will I not give to another, nor My praise to
graven images. Behold, the former things have come to
pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth
I tell you of them. Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise
from the end of the earth," etc. Chap. liii. 4-12, "Surely He
hath borne our griefs (or sicknesses), and carried our sorrows
(or griefs); yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. But He (was) wounded for our transgressions,
(He was) bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our
peace (was) upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid (or, caused to
fall) on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, 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. He
was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall
declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land
of the living: for the transgression of My people was He
stricken. He made His grave with the wicked, and with
the rich man in His death: because He had done no violence,
nor (was any) deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased Jehovah
to bruise Him: He hath put (Him) to grief: when Thou
shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see (His)
seed, He shall prolong (His) days, and the pleasure of
Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. From the labour (or,
sorrow) of His soul He shall see, He shall be satisfied: by
His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for
THE REDEEMER'S WORK.
164
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him
(a portion) with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with
the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death:
and He was numbered with transgressors; and He bare the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Chap. lv. 3-5, "Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear,
and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting cove-
nant with you, (even) the sure mercies of David. Behold, I
have given Him (as) a witness to the nations, a Leader (or,
Prince) and Commander to the nations. Behold Thou shalt
call a nation (that) Thou knowest not, and a nation that
knoweth not Thee shall run unto Thee, because of Jehovah
Thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath
glorified Thee." Chap. Ixi. 1-3, "The Spirit of the Lord
Jehovah is upon Me; because Jehovah hath anointed Me to
preach good tidings unto the meek (or, afflicted); He hath
sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to (them that
are) bound; to proclaim the acceptable year (the year of
grace) of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all that mourn; to put upon them that mourn in
Zion, to give them beauty (or, a head-dress or crown) for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called (or that it
may be called to them) trees (terebinths) of righteousness,
the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified (or, to
glorify Himself)."
On the above we may observe-First, It is worthy of
notice that, at the close of the grand prediction as to the
Servant of Jehovah, and as to His being designed to be a
covenant to the Gentiles, a reference is made to former
prophecies as fulfilled, and to new ones as now declared. Nor
could grander new ones possibly be conceived than just those
which we have above quoted. How suitable the call, which
immediately follows the reference to the universal good so
finely promised, to "sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise
THE REDEEMER'S WORK.
165
from the end of the earth." Jehovah was to do a new and
most glorious thing for all nations in the predicted mission of
His Servant, and that new thing might well call forth a new
and everlasting song to the praise and glory of Jehovah.
Secondly, The Promised One is here most fitly called the
Servant of Jehovah, His Chosen One, the One in whom He
was peculiarly delighted; for, not only had He the greatest
and most glorious work to accomplish, but the very work
which, if we may speak so familiarly, was nearest to His
heart. Thirdly, We found that the Prophet like Moses was
to be a great mediator,-a prophet, priest, and king. We
have been led to think, for the most part, of Him as a king.
But we here find Him appearing in the character of a priest,
and that altogether unlike the national priesthood, or any
other priesthood ever or anywhere found on earth.
He was
to make a great sacrifice of propitiation for sin, and that the
sacrifice of Himself. On the ground of this self-sacrifice, He
would carry on His most singular and most glorious work of
priestly or mediatorial intercession. Fourthly, In virtue of
this same self-sacrifice, He would rise to His real position,
or would become the glorious and eternal king so often pre-
dicted. Whilst, in one sense, He was born to be a king, and
had a perfect right to the throne of His father David, in
another sense, He achieved His real and everlasting title to
the throne of which that of David was but a mere insignifi-
cant type, the throne of the Kingdom of the Redeemed.
Hence He must ever be contemplated as the Saviour-King
of mankind. Fifthly, Whilst thus laying the foundation of
His kingdom in His great priestly work, in order that He
might actually possess that kingdom, He had further a
mighty and glorious work to do, even that of enlightening,
converting, and sanctifying the human race. Still, He would
not rise to His universal dominion, as the great men and
warriors usually rise to the thrones of earthly kingdoms, by
strife or the use of physical force, but in a way of unexampled
forbearance, humility, meekness, gentleness, love. His empire
166
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
was to be one of love, of truth, of mercy, of righteousness, of
peace. Hence, Sixthly, He was to be a prophet, anointed
with the spirit of Jehovah, proclaiming and imparting all the
unspeakably rich and absolutely free blessings of salvation to
all classes of the children of men. Seventhly, We are ex-
pressly told that He would be given by Jehovah as a witness,
as well as prince and commander to the nations. Jehovah
would thus appeal to Him, as He did to His ancient people,
as His witness,-witness of the very being of Jehovah,—
witness as to the true character of Jehovah,-witness with
regard to the redemptive truth and manifold saving promises
of Jehovah; and, like them too, a witness as being specially
created or raised up to show forth the glory and praise of
Jehovah. Hence, Lastly, the grand declaration as to His
being a Light to enlighten all the nations of the world,—in
fact, as to His being the moral and spiritual Sun to give light
to this morally and spiritually benighted earth. Assuredly, if
any one should arise, after the days of Isaiah, at all realizing
such wonderful and glowing predictions, as most assuredly
there has arisen, Isaiah may well be called a true prophet, the
being and excellence of Jehovah may well be regarded as
having received the highest possible demonstration, the
mission of the Promised One may well be accepted as the
most real and the most glorious in the estimation of man-
kind, and the salvation which He was to bring may well be
welcomed, most joyfully and gratefully, as the source of all
true and eternal good.
(3) And yet, strange to say, in thus considering the pro-
phecies pertaining to the Promised One, we would come far
short of completeness, if we did not treat of those which
most clearly declare that He would be first rejected and
then accepted,-His work would, in the beginning, seem
a total failure, and yet, in the end, would be beyond all other
works a most glorious success. Isa. xlix. 1-12, "Listen,
O isles, unto Me; and hearken, ye nations, from afar;
Jehovah hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of
167
FAILURE FIRST, SUCCESS NEXT.
My mother hath He made mention of My Name (or, caused it
to be remembered). And He hath made My mouth like a
sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid Me,
and made Me a polished shaft (arrow); in His quiver hath He
hid Me; and said unto Me, Thou (art) My servant, O Israel,
in whom I will be glorified (or, will glorify Myself). Then I
said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent My strength for
nought, and in vain; (yet) surely My judgment (is) with
Jehovah, and My work (or reward) with My God. And now
saith Jehovah that formed Me from the womb (to be) His
Servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, Though Isracl be not
gathered (or, and Israel is not gathered), yet shall I be
glorious in the eyes of Jehovah (or, and I shall be glorious,
etc.), and My God shall be My strength. And He said, It is
a light thing that thou shouldst be My Servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will
also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest
be My salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith
Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, (and) His Holy One, to
Him whom man despiseth (despised of soul), to Him whom
the nation abhorreth (or, who causeth abhorrence to the
people, or is an abomination to them), to a servant of rulers,
Kings shall see, and arise, princes also shall worship, because
of Jehovah that is faithful, (and) the Holy One of Israel, and
IIe shall choose Thee (or, who hath chosen Thee). Thus
saith Jehovah, In an acceptable time (a time of favour) have
I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee:
and I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the
people, to establish (or, raise up) the earth, to cause to
possess desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, Go forth;
to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall
feed in the ways, and their pastures (shall be) in all high
places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the
heat nor sun smite them: for He that hath mercy on them
shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide
them. And I will make all My mountains a way, and My
168
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from
far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and
these from the land of Sinim." Chap.
Chap. li. 13-liii. 3,
"Behold, My Servant shall act wisely: He shall be raised up
and exalted, and be very high. As many were astonished at
Thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and
His form more than the sons of men: so shall He sprinkle
many nations (or, make them to rejoice, some say, to tremble);
kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for (that) which had
not been told them shall they see; and that which they had
not heard shall they consider. Who hath believed our report?
and to whom is the arm of Jehovah revealed? And He
shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root
(or sprout, springing from a root) out of a dry ground: He
hath no form nor comeliness; 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 ac-
quainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from
Him (or, as one hiding his face from us); He was despised,
and we esteemed Him not."
In these passages, the prophetic history of the Promised
One is wonderfully complete, and yet must have been to
many readers seemingly inconsistent. To this day they give
much perplexity to Jewish minds. Only as they are read
in the light of the New Testament can they be clearly under-
stood. Yet they unmistakably imply, First, The Servant of
Jehovah would be despised and rejected of men, would seem
to be condemned and afflicted of God and man, yet would
thus, as we have already seen, offer a great sacrifice for the
sins of the world. Secondly, However perfectly fitted for His
work, as a polished arrow in the hand of Jehovah, and however
engaged in the service of Jehovah, He would appear to have
spent His powers to no successful end; and thus to have
great reason for the complaint, "Who hath believed our
report ?" Thirdly, Nor is this all: He would be not only
disliked as many good men are by those whose interests they
GREAT CONTRAST.
169
seek, but He would be so hated by Israel, His own people,
as to be the abhorred of the nation, or its abomination.
The contrast between what this Servant of Jehovah was in
Himself and what He seemed to the people, between the
special delight of Jehovah in Him and the special hatred of
mankind, is the greatest in all prophecy, as, we may add by
way of anticipation, it is the greatest of all history. Fourthly,
Yet, so vast and glorious would His work be, that Jehovah
would treat it as a small thing for Him to recover the people
who would thus hate and reject Him, and give Him the
grandest of all works to accomplish, even that of being the
Light of the whole world, and of carrying His salvation to
all the races of men. All the families of the earth would
thus be finally blessed in Him, or He would realize, in all
its fulness, the covenant of Jehovah with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Of course, in judging at any one time, present
or past, of the advancement of the predicted kingdom, the
apparent failure and the real hatred above referred to should
be kept in view. Fifthly, Whilst despised and rejected of
many, whilst even "numbered with transgressors," having
thus made the needful propitiation for sin, He would not
only triumph over all opposition, but also rise above all the
kings and princes of the world, who would be constrained
to do Him homage, and to become His most lowly and
devoted subjects. Sixthly, In this way He would "sprinkle"
many nations, for such seems the sense of the word; that is,
He would deliver them from evil, and lead them to con-
secrate themselves to His service and to that of Jehovah.
He would, in fact, become Universal Saviour-King, under
whose reign the earth would be enriched with all good, and
all men be turned to righteousness and to God. Lastly,
Jehovah would be specially glorified in and through Him.
As most excellent in Himself, and as the medium of the
richest blessings to mankind, especially as revealing the true
character of Jehovah, He would, above all other beings,
bring about the highest glory to God. In a word, He would
170
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
give the highest form to the great memorial name; Jehovah,
the God of Abraham, would rise, if again we may anticipate,
to its truest and most glorious form,-Jehovah, the God and
Father of Jesus Christ. In so saying we may be deemed too
free in thus alluding to the grand fulfilment of these ancient
prophecies. However, they so read like history, and have
all been so wonderfully fulfilled, that one can hardly avoid
referring to Him. We have made no attempt to show that
all these predictions relate to one and the same promised
deliverer. We have proved that one such deliverer was
most assuredly promised; and no reasonable mind can
maintain that more than one is referred to in the Old Testa-
ment. The Jews, indeed, have suggested the idea of two
Messiahs, the one mean and suffering, and the other exalted
and glorious; but this was due to their difficulty in account-
ing for the apparently contradictory statements as to the
glory of the Messiah on the one hand, and His humiliation
on the other,-statements which history fully and satis-
factorily reconciles in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
All attempts to interpret the prophetic words otherwise than
as referring to one and only one personal Servant of Jehovah
and Saviour of mankind, have not only failed, but seem all
but, if not altogether, absurd. We may notice one objection,
-that based on the fact, that the Servant of Jehovah is
Himself called "Israel." However, this was most natural.
He would be the true Israel, a Prince prevailing with both
God and man. That the name refers to a person, and not
to the people, is evident from this,-He is immediately after
said to bring Jacob, that is to say, the people Israel, to
Jehovah.
6. The results of the Advent of the Promised One.-These
have been so far incidentally indicated, so that we shall
only add one or two quotations :-
J
1) Isa. ii. 2—5, “And it shall come to pass in the last
days, (that) the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be
established in the top (or head) of the mountains, and shall
PREDICTED RESULTS.
171
more.
be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow unto
it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go
up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk
in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the
Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And He shall judge
among (or between) the nations, and rebuke (or decide for)
many people; and they shall beat their swords into plough-
shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the
light of Jehovah." We prefer to treat these words here, as
we are now considering the general results of the coming of
Him of whom Micah as well as Isaiah wrote. It is perhaps
impossible to decide whether Isaiah borrowed them from
Micah, or Micah from Isaiah, or both from an unknown but
assuredly inspired writer. We may suppose Isaiah to have
quoted from Micah. Whatever the case, both at least regarded
them as truly prophetic. They do not expressly refer to the
Promised Redeemer; but they are introduced in the way
which suggest Messianic times. The chief idea to be gathered
from them is that of the destined triumph and universality of
the religion of Jehovah, viewed as the God of Jacob or Israel.
The passage has tended greatly to encourage the missionary
spirit in these more recent times. We may say that we have
here an exact description of the means and methods by which
modern missions have been carried on, and their success
among the nations has been secured,-" out of Zion has been
going forth the Law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.”
The Sacred Scriptures have been everywhere sent and ex-
pounded, and many have thus come to the house of
Jehovah," or joined themselves to His people. We need not
say, that here, as elsewhere, the prophecy is expressed in
terms of the local worship of the times of Micah and Isaiah ;
so that Zion and Jerusalem are spoken of as having the
same place in the future period referred to. We shall
(C
172
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
allude to the glorious result, the end of war and the establish-
ment of peace over the whole world, in connection with next
passage.
(2) Chap. xi. 1-10, partly quoted before,-"And there shall
come forth a rod (a twig or shoot) out of the stem (or stump)
of Jesse. and the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him.
:
and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked
(one). And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. And the wolf shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them. . . . They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people: to it (or to Him) shall the
Gentiles seek and His rest shall be glorious." We need not
say, that other prophecies might be added to this, pointing to
the same times and to the same glorious result. We shall
simply remark—First, Here, as in words just considered, the
connection between the universal establishment of the religion
of Jehovah, the religion to be propagated by means of His
Word, and therefore the religion of the Scriptures, and the
establishment of universal peace among the nations, is clearly
expressed. Here especially, the restoration of innocence and
concord to the world is traced directly to the universal pos-
session of the knowledge of Jehovah. Secondly, All the good
thus spoken of is traced to the Branch of the house of Jesse,
or to the great descendant of David, whose character and rule
are so set forth as to show that He is amply prepared to
accomplish the mighty work. Thirdly, The peace and pros-
perity are described as a return of the Paradisaic state of the
world. The wicked here said to be destroyed seems to be
the wicked one, the word is in the singular,-the serpent of
Eden, the cause of the world's sin and woe. He is to be
destroyed. We need not take the words altogether literally.
·
•
J
PREDICTED RESULTS.
173
The promised deliverer was to bruise the serpent's head.
power to deceive and pervert would thus be destroyed.
would be greatly, if not entirely, removed. To like extent
the endless and terrible strife introduced by sin would disap-
pear. The peace of Paradise would return, all men of every
temper and character would be so renewed as to live in
concord, as if the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid,
the lion and the ox were all changed in nature, and lived
together in peace, nay, as it is finally added, such that even a
little child could lead them according to his will. Fourthly,
As the work of the Promised One was to seem at first a
failure, and only afterwards a glorious success, we must not
look for a perfect fulfilment within any period which we may
deem sufficient to test the truth of the prophecy. So long as
we see the religion of the Bible advancing, and, as far as its
influence extends, creating prosperity and diffusing the spirit
of peace, we have no reason to doubt the truth of the pro-
phecy. We should neither forget the vastness of the work,
nor the apparently slow progress of every great divine work,
whether in creation or providence. To anticipate by way
of illustration, if the advent of the Promised One was
preceded by thousands of years of seemingly slow, and often
fearfully interrupted, progress, and yet was not behind its
appointed time or after the political, moral, and religious
state of the world was prepared for it, there can be no real
ground for scepticism as to the full and final accomplishment
of the predicted work, because of what may appear to our
minds long delay.
(3) One further result of the advent in question may be
referred to, Isa. xxv., And in this mountain shall Jehovah
of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast
of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on
the lees well refined. And He will destroy (or swallow up)
in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow
up death in victory (or, for ever, or completely), and the
His
Sin
174
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and
the rebuke (the reproach or shame) of His people shall He
take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken (it).”
Here we find most beautifully expressed a prediction of the
crowning work of the Promised One, or of Jehovah through
Him. The great salvation will be as an universal feast, the
source of the richest, purest, and most refined enjoyment,
not for the ancient covenant people alone, nor for any one
nation or class alone, but for all men in every land. Nor is
this all. The salvation promised embraces the destruction of
the terrible foe of the human race, even Death. This dark
world shall be flooded with the light of Heaven and of
immortality. This must not be supposed to imply that the
Old Testament saints had no knowledge of a future state.
It only means that that knowledge would be vastly increased
in Messianic times. The people of Jehovah, thus enlightened
and blessed, would no longer be the despised few which they
had been for many ages. They would comprise all nations,
and would be covered with the glory of salvation. The joys
of earth would blend with the joys of Heaven. In the most
touching of even this great prophet's words, "Jehovah will
wipe away tears from off all faces.”
7. Destiny of certain nations as set forth by Isaiah.-Whilst,
as we have found, the great burden of ancient prophecy con-
cerns the Promised Deliverer and His kingdom, which was
to embrace the whole world, the prophets were led to speak,
with more or less clearness, of almost all those nations which
stood in any near or marked relationship to Israel. Not a
few of their predictions were fulfilled not long after they were
uttered; and these were doubtless intended to influence the
minds of those who witnessed their fulfilment, and to give
them the reasonable assurance that prophecies relating to
the more distant future, say to the last or Messianic days,
would receive like certain fulfilment. Such predictions, like
many miracles of equally early date, had their own influence
and use, yet in a way which we may be little able to appre-
DESTINY OF OTHER NATIONS.
175
ciate. Though all formed a part of the grand system of
redemptive prophecy, we have now chiefly to do with such
as may be seen by ourselves to have been most certainly and
most remarkably fulfilled. Of these we shall refer almost
exclusively to two,—that relating to Babylon, and that relating
to Idumea. Whilst Isaiah reveals to some extent the future
of Assyria, of Moab, of Damascus, of Egypt, and of Tyre,
he has left it to other prophets to speak with greater clearness
of the destiny of more than one of these. We shall therefore
say here no more of them. We might have treated more
fully of his prophetic intimations as to the two kingdoms,
northern and southern, of Israel. We have already seen how
the whole land was, because of departure from Jehovah, to
be laid waste and to become fearfully desolate; and yet how
it would again be peopled by the return of a penitent remnant.
We need not say how all this has been most remarkably ful-
filled. Jehovah ever proves Himself impartial in all His
judgments. Though His own purposes with the covenant
people could not possibly fail, and whilst therefore that
people could not possibly perish till all these were accom-
plished, He acted towards each successive generation accord-
ing to its real character; and hence the whole chequered
history of this people, from the time of the Exodus to that
of the final destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the
nation, when the end of their election was not served, they
suffered like other people. Still, when certain of these were
in like manner overthrown and dispersed, as they served no
special divine purpose, there was no such reason for their
return. We need not say, that almost all these nations were
doomed to final destruction. They all had their time of
divine forbearance and mercy. None perished unless on
the ground of persistent wickedness. Some of them showed
an intense hatred of Israel as the people of Jehovah, and
thus of a worship and of laws purer, more just, and more
spiritual than their own; and so they are said to suffer the
just judgment of Jehovah on this account. So it was in the
176
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
case both of Babylon and of Edom. We shall now quote
the following with respect to these:—
(1) Babylon.-Isa. xiii. 17-22, "Behold, I will stir up the
Medes against them, who shall not regard silver; and (as for)
gold, they shall not delight in it. (Their) bows also shall
dash young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on
the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it
be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the
Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make
their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie
there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures;
and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate
houses, and dragons in (their) pleasant palaces: and her
time (is) near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged."
Chap. xiv. 22, 23, "And I will rise up against them, saith
Jehovah of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and
remnant, and son, and nephew, saith Jehovah. I will also
make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and
I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah
of hosts." We might leave this terrible prophecy to stand
as it is. All know how complete have long been the desola-
tions of Babylon, once so mighty, so grand, and so likely
to continue for very many generations. We are certain the
prophecy was long uttered before the date of such terrible
destruction. That a city, then so well situated, should be
allowed, even by the enemy, so to perish, or thus no more to
be inhabited, could have been foreseen by no human mind.
Jehovah pronounced the doom of this most wicked as well as
most powerful people; and no power could alter the divine
decree, or prevent "the besom of destruction" from doing
its perfect work.
(2) Edom.-Isa. xxxiv. 6-11, "The sword of Jehovah is
JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL.
filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the
blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams:
for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in
the land of Idumea. . . . For (it is) the day of Jehovah's ven-
geance, (and) the year of recompenses for the controversy of
Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,
and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof into
burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the
smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to gene-
ration, it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever
and ever." Ver. 15, 16, “There shall the great owl (the arrow-
snake) make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under
her shadow there shall the vultures also be gathered, every
one with her mate (companion, feminine). Seek (search)
ye out of the Book of Jehovah, and read: no one of these
shall fail, none shall want her mate (companion): for My
mouth it hath commanded, and His spirit it hath gathered
them." We need not say how wonderfully this prophecy has
been fulfilled. Edom has long ceased to be. The land is a
desolation. All was foreknown to Jehovah, and thus foretold
by Him. How striking the appeal to the "Book of Jehovah."
His threatenings have been fulfilled. Much more shall His
promises be all realized. The prophet does not speak at
random. He clearly speaks of the salvation of the nations at
large. All these predictions, whether of good or evil, which
have been so fully and truly fulfilled, assure us of the certain
fulfilment of the great promise of salvation.
177
III.
JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL.
1. Jeremiah.—This prophet as well as Ezekiel lived and pro-
phesied in most unhappy times. Their lot was far from
enviable. They were called to censure the whole nation, and
to pronounce the sad and approaching doom which repentance
might have averted, but which, they knew, impenitence wast
12
178
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
about to seal. The Ten Tribes had suffered for their sins.
The Two would receive no warning, and preferred the false
prophets who flattered them to the true who rebuked their
sins and made known their danger. A terrible calamity was
thus at hand. The city of Jerusalem, with the temple of
Solomon, was about to be destroyed; and the king and people
were soon to be led as captives to Babylon. To all intents
the nation was to be dissolved, and that, unless for divine
interposition, for ever. Jeremiah had given many an earnest
and faithful warning, but all to no practical purpose. One
portion of the people was carried off to Chaldea, and among
them the prophet Ezekiel. Jeremiah proceeded with his
work. To very many he seemed to be an enemy to his
country, even to sell it to the Chaldeans. Never was there
a more grievous error; as of all men Jeremiah is deserving of
the name of patriot. Still, as the prophet of Jehovah, he
knew that nothing but national repentance could possibly
save his country, nay, in the end, he knew that nothing could
prevent the most terrible slaughter of the people save full and
timely submission to the king of Babylon. This very counsel
created the deepest suspicion of treachery; and even to this
day, there are those who thus most fearfully misjudge this
great, noble, self-sacrificing servant of Jehovah and friend of
the people. To see how he loved his country, we have simply
to remember his words, "Oh that my head were waters, and
mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughters of my people!" To be assured
as well of the sincerity of his heart as of the wisdom of his
counsel, we have just to mark the fulfilment of his words,
together with the fact that the refusal to submit, when resis-
tance had become utterly vain, led to the most terrible destruc-
tion of city and people.
2. The Babylonish captivity, from beginning to end, is cer-
tainly one of the most remarkable episodes of history. We
know of nothing of like nature to be compared with it. It
had been often predicted as the sure result of the idolatry and
179
corruption of the people. Jehovah had been often and long
fearfully dishonoured; His temple had been most impiously
profaned; kings of the house of David had practised the most
cruel and horrid rites of heathenism; prophets had, in the
name of Jehovah, morally perverted both kings and people;
and all kinds of oppression and immorality everywhere.
abounded. All this has Jeremiah fully set forth; but not
without revealing the rich mercy of Jehovah, or assuring the
people of the happy results of repentance :- "Hath a nation
changed (their) gods, which (are) yet no gods? but My people
have changed their glory for (that which) doth not profit. Be
astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be ye horribly afraid,
be ye very desolate, saith Jehovah. For My people have
committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of
living waters, (and) hewed them out cisterns-broken cisterns
that can hold no water." Where (are) thy gods which thou
hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the
time of thy trouble: for (according to) the number of thy
cities are thy gods, O Judah." "O Jerusalem, wash thine
heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved." We
might quote passage after passage showing the sin of Judah
and the mercy of Jehovah. The kingdom was no longer a
standing revelation of Jehovah. Hence the predicted cap-
tivity. Still, all was not hopeless. That very captivity, fear-
ful as it was, Jehovah would use for the high and holy purpose
of curing the nation of what may well be regarded as a here-
ditary tendency to the deadly disease of superstition and
idolatry. The happy issue was foreseen and foretold; and
even the length of the captivity, seventy years, the time re-
quired for the cure, distinctly announced. The whole was
thus a most marvellous work of Jehovah, a mighty miracle of
providence and grace. For what else can we call the whole
providential treatment of the nation, all according to clear
prediction, by which the calamities of war, the desolation of
country and capital, the captivity of the people, their experi-
ence of a heathen yoke in a foreign land, their wonderful
BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY.
180
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
deliverance by the predicted aid of a mighty king, their
restoration to their own land, their rise to new greatness and
prosperity, secured the pre-intimated result of all, their com-
plete and perpetual cure of the fearful religious disease referred
to? In all history, we have not one instance of such national
dissolution, and such prolonged captivity, followed by such
national reconstitution, to say nothing of the foretold and
accomplished end in view. Well might the restored people
afterwards sing,-" When Jehovah turned again the captivity
of Zion, we were like them who dream. Then was our mouth
filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said.
they among the heathen, Jehovah hath done great things for
them. Jehovah hath done great things for us (whereof) we
are glad." The heathen as well as themselves could not but
see, in so wonderful a work, the hand of Jehovah. We shall
say no more of it, but leave it as an object of devout and in-
telligent contemplation, as an important work in the history
of redemption, and as a great and most legible monument of
the righteousness, wisdom, and power of Jehovah.
3. Jeremiah, thus carrying on a great struggle with the evils.
of the nation, comes far short of Isaiah in the development of
redemptive truth. Still, he has his own important share in
that development, especially in what he says of The Promised
One on the one hand, and of The New Covenant on the other:
Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in
the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this (is) His name whereby He shall
be called (or, they will call Him), JEHOVAH OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS." So, Chap. xxxiii. 15-17, "In those
days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness
to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the earth. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this (is the
name) wherewith she shall be called, JEHOVAH OUR
:
THE NEW COVENANT.
181
RIGHTEOUSNESS. For thus saith Jehovah; David shall
never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel."
We would observe, First, Here we have a clear, early
prophetic application of the promise to David of the coming
Messiah. Secondly, This illustrious Descendant of that King,
thus most beautifully described, would be at once a righteous
King and an all-sufficient Saviour. Thirdly, He would bear a
most significant and glorious name, JEHOVAH OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS. Fourthly, Jerusalem, the capital doubt-
less used figuratively of the entire kingdom, would bear the
same exalted name; suggesting the unity of King and king-
dom, already prophetically regarded as husband and wife,
one living organic whole, and thus fitly called by one and the
same name. Some would regard the name as given in the
former passage to Israel, whose place in the one sentence
corresponds with that of Jerusalem in the other. However
we prefer our translation and the idea it suggests and which
we have given.
From Jeremiah, we shall quote only another passage:
Chap. xxxi. 31-34, "Behold the days come, saith Jehovah,
that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah; not according to the cove-
nant that I made with their fathers in the day (that) I
took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt; which My covenant they brake, though I was a
Husband unto them, saith Jehovah : But this (shall be) the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After
those days, saith Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and
they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every
man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know
Jehovah for they shall all know Me, from the least of them
to the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.”
this we may add, First, That the same times are referred to
as those above spoken of as the days of the Messiah and of
On
M
182
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
!
salvation. Secondly, Jehovah will thus establish, through the
Messiah, and as we found indicated as early as by Moses
himself, a new and everlasting covenant, a covenant of
higher and more gracious character than the Mosaic. Thirdly,
This covenant would be distinguished by the great fulness
and freeness of divine forgiveness, and of the knowledge of
it. Fourthly, It would secure a salvation most spiritual and
real: the human heart would be renewed, and would be
so possessed of all holy, righteous and gracious principle as
to be in harmony with the mind and will of God, or as to
have the Law of God written upon it, in living reality, and as
that Law had been long before written on the tables of stone
in lifeless form. Lastly, This covenant, thus excellent in
nature, would be of universal aspect, securing to all the true
and saving knowledge of Jehovah. In all this we have a
marked advance in the development of redemptive truth.
4. Ezekiel.-As already said, this prophet was early carried.
as a captive to Chaldea. He had his abode among the
captives on the river Chebar or Chaberas. Thus he was led
to deal with his fellow-exiles, to seek their sincere repentance
and return to Jehovah, and to open up the truth to their
minds, first, as to what was about to befall Jerusalem and
their fellow-countrymen; and next, as to the principles of
divine mercy by which they ought to be induced to love and
obey their God. We cannot treat largely of his wonderful
prophecy, with all its mystic symbolism, with all its reiterated
warnings, reasonings; and pleadings with the people, and with
all its disclosures of the great Messianic future. We might
show that no writer of the Old Testament, or even of the
New, sets forth more clearly than Ezekiel the perfect freeness
of salvation as granted on the one and only condition of
repentance. We might quote those sublime words in which
Jehovah is said to have sworn by Himself, and thus to have
given the assurance of His oath, that He desires not the death
of any one, however wicked, but desires the repentance and
salvation of all, and that, therefore, He loves all mankind and
EZEKIEL.
183
seeks their eternal good. A declaration so grand and precious,
made so many ages ago, excelled by no like announcement
of divine compassion towards sinful men, may well be viewed
as having come, as it is represented, from the very mouth of
the Eternal God, and as being at once most encouraging to
the exercise of perfect faith in Him, and all but a visible seal
of truth on the page which contains it. We might note the
allusions of Ezekiel to the promised Son of David, the great
Messiah. We shall, however, quote only the following in re-
lation to Messianic times, and to what Jeremiah expressly
treats as a new covenant:-Ezek. xxxvi. 24—28, “I will take
you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all
countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all
your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put
My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and ye shall keep My judgments and do (them). And ye
shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall
be My people, and I will be your God.”
5. As to heathen kingdoms, we have found that Isaiah had
declared that Babylon and Edom were divinely doomed to
complete destruction. Whilst Ezekiel has, somewhat un-
accountably, made no reference to the destiny of Babylon,
both he and Jeremiah agree in adding like awful prophetic
testimony as to the total extinction of the race, and the
perpetual desolation of the land of Edom. Jeremiah, in
harmony with Isaiah, clearly predicts the like terrible fate
of Babylon. Another heathen power, once mighty among
the nations of the old world, is set forth in all the brightness
of its earthly wisdom as well as wealth and glory, even Tyre ;
and then declared to share the same fate as Babylon and
Edom. We might quote the words in which both her
character and her doom are most vividly depicted. How-
184
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
ever, we shall allude to only one other kingdom of at once
very high and very ancient renown,- -we mean Egypt, which
is very clearly and remarkably distinguished from all these,
and that, we think, as only the eye and pen of the divinely
illuminated prophet could distinguish them. We do not see
how it was possible for any uninspired mind to find any suffi-
cient or certain reason for supposing, especially for affirming
with the tone of infallibility, that Egypt would continue to
exist as a kingdom, and thus be so thoroughly contrasted
with the others. Further, we cannot but deem it entirely
beyond the range of human vision to descry in the distant
future not only, as we have said, the continued existence,
but the real character of such a nation as Egypt. We shall
simply quote a few prophetic and most truthful words:
Jer. xlvi. 25, 26, "Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel,
saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and
Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings. . .
and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek
their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of
Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward
it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith Jehovah."
So Ezek. xxix. 12-15, “And I will make the land of Egypt
desolate in the midst of the countries (that are) desolate, and
her cities among the cities (that are) laid waste shall be
desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among
the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
Yet thus saith the Lord Jehovah, At the end of forty years.
will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they
were scattered: and I will bring again the captivity of Egypt,
and will cause them to return (into) the land of Pathros, into
the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base
kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither
shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will
diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations."
K
DANIEL.
IV.
DANIEL.
185
1. This prophet is to be regarded as a link of connection
between the prophets already alluded to and those who
ministered after the Babylonish exile. He is more than
once referred to by Ezekiel as a saintly man of the highest
character, distinguished alike for his righteousness and his
wisdom. He was certainly a pure, noble, and beautiful
spirit. Comparatively little as we are made acquainted with
the details of his history, all the varied allusions to his course
of life combine to present a complete, well-defined, and
finely-proportioned character, which, at the outset, interests
and attracts, and, as time advances, seems to rise in royal as
well as prophetic dignity, till it reached such a height of
severe simplicity and serene sacredness as we cannot con-
template without mingled affection, reverence, and awe. Son,
as he was, of a captive race, he not only rose to the highest
offices of state, but, whilst serving both king and people with
all benevolence and conscientiousness, he never displayed the
fawning spirit of the courtier, but was ever prepared to speak
to his royal master the words of fidelity and truth, though
they should convey the deepest censure or call to the hum-
blest repentance. Morally and spiritually this wise statesman
and saintly prophet has, for many ages, exerted a quiet yet
mighty influence on the countless readers of the book which
is called by his name, and which has always been viewed as
holding an important place in the complete organic body of
Scripture. We need not say how its wonderful miracles and
prophecies have been questioned or denied, how its early
date has been disputed, and how the whole has been treated
as a mere fictitious, and therefore delusive, production of the
second century before Christ. Whether Daniel was himself
the author, or whether it assumed, in all parts, its present
form till some considerable time after his age, we do not
!
186
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
:
think it of essential consequence to maintain. Even the
Great Teacher wrote nothing; and yet His teachings have
been faithfully conveyed to us. No more need be demanded
than that this wonderful book of such pure and precious
influence, and of so many prophecies whose remarkable
fulfilment has long yielded infallible proof of their reality,
should be treated by us, as it has been treated in the New
Testament, as a veritable portion of the inspired history of
redemption. The main objection to the early date is kindred
to that to the like early date of the closing prophecies of
Isaiah. It is maintained that both contain statements and
narratives which must be deemed purely historical and not
at all of the nature of prophecy. Still, so long as we are
assured of the existence of real and indisputable predictions,
we must acknowledge the presence of an element certainly
supernatural and divine; and then it becomes us to beware
of limiting the spirit of revelation or of determining how far
that spirit may go in the disclosure of the facts of the future.
History seems, not only clearly or certainly, but most remark-
ably and wonderfully, to seal the prophecies of this book with
the seven seals of perfect divine attestation; and we may
safely say, that it is vastly more credible that God, to raise
up a visible and standing witness to Himself, should have
wrought and recorded these otherwise all but incredible
miracles of power and foreknowledge, than that the facts,
nay, the whole course, of history should so perfectly corre-
spond with the very words of an intentionally deceptive
prophetic fabrication.
-
2. In regard to the miracles of power, we may say that
they mark a most important period of the redemptive history.
The Babylonish captivity in some respects corresponded to
the Egyptian bondage. The people were under heathen rule,
and felt the rod of oppression. In both cases Jehovah was
pleased to give a glorious revelation of Himself. The shield
of His protection was thus visibly spread over the captives,
certain of whom, Daniel especially, rose to high estate,
187
became useful to these people, and prepared the way for
their release. We have said that the whole divine treatment
of captive Judah appears like a great providential miracle;;
and here we may add that the miracles of Babylon seem to
have been a mighty factor in the cure of the hereditary disease
of idolatry, and in the creation of a strong and lasting belief in
Jehovah, their own Covenant-God. Nor need we doubt that
the good of the Chaldeans and Persians was really sought by
Him, as was that of the Egyptians through the miracles of
Moses.
DANIEL.
3. Isaiah had given a clear and full revelation of the Servant
of Jehovah, the Son of David, and His universal kingdom;
Jeremiah and Ezekiel had spoken of the times of the Messiah
and of the new and everlasting covenant which He would
introduce. The whole history of Israel had proved the
necessity of something higher and stronger than that nation
yet possessed. The captivity had given some insight into the
despotism and cruelty of heathenism. No new prophecy was
needed to point to a better future. The covenants of Abraham
and David were sufficient. From his experience as a states-
man and his character as a sincere believer, Daniel must have
been more alive than any of his fellow-countrymen to the
contrast between heathenism and true religion, and to the
necessity just referred to of something higher and stronger
than his nation yet possessed. The restoration of the people
to their own land, however promised, and however intensely
desired by himself, must have appeared to him utterly insuffi-
cient to secure any great or lasting good to Israel or to the
world. He was thus prepared for those special intimations
as to the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God,
which were so wonderfully, yet most fitly, made to him, and
which we shall now proceed so far at least to consider.
4. We shall confine our attention to the great Messianic
prophecy of the seventy weeks, and to the three prophecies,
which form in reality one and the same prophecy, relating to
the four great empires and the kingdom of the Son of Man.
188
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
We shall begin with the latter. We need not say, that,
according to the ordinary view, Daniel was here led to give
a brief, but most comprehensive outline of divine providence
on the one hand, and of human history on the other, from his
own time to the end of the world. Anything more grand
prophetically, or more exclusively within the scope of omni-
science alone, we cannot conceive. Certainly here, if any-
where, we have an all-sufficient witness for Jehovah and His
salvation, provided always that human history continues to
demonstrate the truth of the marvellous prophecy. Being of
such remarkable character, we need not wonder to find that
it has been brought to the severest tests of criticism. The
main argument of many rests on the hypothesis of so late a
date as to allow the author of the book to set forth the known
facts of history in the form of a veritable prophecy. This
implies, of course, that the author consciously intended, and
perseveringly used great powers of intellect and imagination,
to deceive the men of his own and of future times. It implies
that he most wonderfully succeeded in two things,--First,
in deliberately fabricating a book of falsehoods which has
inspired for many ages the purest and noblest courage in
upholding and confessing the truth of God against all the
opposition of man; and, secondly, in so cunningly using and
spreading this Book as to lead those who had to do with the
canon of Sacred Scripture to place it among the most pro-
foundly revered Books of divine inspiration. Again, the
argument from a supposed late date must imply that no pro-
fessed prophecy could relate to the future of the author.
Accordingly, the greatest learning has been employed to show
that, though many details agree with history up to the time
of Antiochus Epiphanes, say up to B.C. 168, no details can
be so shown to agree with subsequent history as to prove the
exercise of supernatural power. The consideration of the
prophecy itself will, we think, clearly demonstrate the contrary.
We shall now treat the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and the
two visions of Daniel as one grand prophecy.
189
(1) Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.—The great king had been
pondering the unknown future. In keeping with this he had
a most remarkable dream, which, like many dreams, entirely
escaped his memory, and yet left a deep impression of its
awfulness on his mind. We need not say that Daniel alone
of all the wise men was enabled to tell the dream and to give
its interpretation. As the correct interpretation of the
dreams of Pharaoh's butler and baker assured the king of
the correctness of Joseph's interpretation of his own dreams
so here the disclosure of the forgotten dream assured Nebu-
chadnezzar of the correctness, nay, the divinity, of Daniel's
interpretation. Dan. ii. 31-35, “Thou, O King, sawest, and
behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness
(was) excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof (was)
terrible. This image's head (was) of fine gold, his breast and
his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs
of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest
till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the
image upon his feet (that were) of iron and clay, and brake
them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became
like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind
carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the
stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and
filled the whole earth." Such was the dream. Then Daniel
explained that, under the figure of that image thus formed of
various metals, God meant to set forth the idea of four suc-
cessive kingdoms or empires, of which he and his kingdom,
represented by the head of gold, formed the first. Two
kingdoms were to follow his, the first inferior to his, and the
second to rule over the earth. The fourth would be strong
as iron, and, like iron, would break in pieces and bruise. As
the feet and toes were part of potter's clay and part of iron,
this kingdom would be partly strong and partly broken (or
brittle); and, as the iron and the clay were mixed, but could
not be really combined, there would be a mixture, without
GRAND HISTORICAL PROPHECY.
190
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
union of race. As the words, king and kingdom, are inter-
changed, we cannot of course interpret the passage of a suc-
cession of kings in one and the same kingdom, but of a
succession of kingdoms with their respective kings. The first
kingdom being expressly declared to be that of Babylon, we
can be at no loss as to the others. The second must be that
of the Medes and Persians; the third, that of the Greeks;
and the fourth, that of the Romans. Unless in order to
escape the implied demonstration of divine foreknowledge,
no other interpretation, we are persuaded, would ever have
been suggested.
By treating the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians as
regarded as separate and successive, some have tried to set
aside the demonstration. But this is totally inadmissible.
The author of this book elsewhere clearly shows that he
regarded the united kingdom of Medes and Persians as
that which at once overthrew and succeeded that of Babylon.
Cyrus, the Persian, was the conqueror, though Darius, the
Mede, was put over the kingdom; and the enemies of Daniel
asked this Darius to issue a decree which should be un-
changeable as "the law of the Medes and Persians." Again,
in the vision of the ram and he-goat, the former is expressly
said to represent "the kings of Media and Persia." Nay,
Daniel, in interpreting the words written on the wall during
Belshazzar's feast, and immediately before Babylon was
taken, expressly points to the united kingdom alluded to:
"This kingdom is divided (or broken in pieces), and given
to the Medes and Persians." The third kingdom is virtually
declared to be that of Greece by the interpretation given to
the symbol of the he-goat. It will not do to divide the
Grecian into that of Alexander and that of his successors.
The author has in view only one Grecian kingdom. This
being the case, the Roman and the Roman alone can be
alluded to as the iron power, breaking and subduing all
things. Just as the Grecian was divided into four parts and
yet regarded as one; so the Roman was to be divided into
GRAND HISTORICAL PROPHECY.
191
more numerous parts or kingdoms, and yet to be viewed as
one and the same iron power. Whether these parts or
kingdoms should number exactly ten, we are not here told;
and as the toes, naturally suggesting that number, were
simply parts of the body, we need not suppose that any exact
and unchanging number was intended. Should the vision
of Daniel determine otherwise, well; and if not, then, as
ten is elsewhere used in Scripture for many times, all that
we can infer is, that the Roman Empire would be divided
into a considerable number of kingdoms. Nor should the
language of symbol be so rigidly understood as to admit
of no such thing as a change in the number of the states
represented. All this would be, to the mind of the king,
very simple, as pointing to four successive empires. The
next part of the dream must have appeared exceedingly
strange. A stone cut out without hands destroys the image,
becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth. Daniel
explains, ver. 44, 45, "And in the days of these kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,
(but) it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that
the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and
that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver
and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king
what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream (is) certain
and the interpretation thereof sure." In this way this pro-
phecy relates to the whole course of this world, even to the
end. The kingdom of God is assuredly that of the promised
Messiah, with the idea of which Daniel was familiar. Here
it is declared to be universal, succeeded by no other, eternal.
The predictions of all former prophets, especially those of
Isaiah, are here combined into one. This kingdom is of
divine origin and heavenly nature, in every way to be con-
trasted, rather than compared, with the kingdoms of this
world.
192
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
·
(2) We shall refer to the further proof of all this, when we
have considered the visions of Daniel relating to the same
subject, the first of which we find recorded in Dan. vii. 2-27,
"I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds
of heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts
came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first
was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. . . . The second like
a bear. . . and (it had) three ribs in its mouth . . .
Another, like a leopard (or panther), which had four wings
... and four heads, and dominion was given to it. . . . A
fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly
. . . it devoured and brake in pieces. . . . And it was diverse
from all the beasts which went before it; and it had ten
horns. . . . And there came up among them another horn,
before whom there were three plucked up by the roots:
and, behold, in this horn (were) eyes like the eyes of man,
and a mouth speaking great things. And I beheld till the
thrones were cast down (or set), and the Ancient of days
did sit. . . thousand thousands ministered unto Him: the
judgment was set, and the books were opened. And I
beheld then because of the voice of the great words which
the horn spake. I beheld (even) till the beast was slain,
and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As
concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion
taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and
time. And I saw in the night visions and, behold, (One)
like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and
came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near
before Him. And there was given Him dominion . . . that
all people, nations . . . should serve Him; His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
His kingdom (that) which shall not be destroyed." All this is
interpreted to Daniel. The beasts are kings or kingdoms.
"The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and
possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever."
These saints must be the subjects of the One "like the Son
GRAND HISTORICAL PROPHECY.
193
of man," to whom the kingdom is said to be given. He
and they are the one eternal kingdom, the kingdom repre-
sented by the stone cut out without hands. Here, the Son
of man is not said to appear till the doom of these kingdoms
is declared by the great Judge, the Ancient of days; and
then He is represented as coming in power and glory to
reign over the whole world, now, therefore, converted to
God,—all men thus having become the saints referred to.
The work of conversion has thus been long going on.
Jesus is not represented as a king till all thus acknowledge
Him. Such was the general meaning of the vision. But
Daniel is specially interested in that which was symbolized
by the fourth beast and the little horn, and is informed that
the fourth beast is a kingdom of great power and universal
dominion, out of which ten kings or kingdoms would arise,
and another after them, which would subdue three of them.
This one would speak against the Most High, and persecute
'and wear out the saints of the Most High," who would
feel His terrible power for a "time, times and the dividing
of a time." Then would come the judgment and the doom
of this wicked power; and his dominion would be taken
away and utterly consumed. Then the kingdom of the Son
of man would appear in all its glory. To show that His
kingdom and that of the saints are identical, the kingdom
is here said to be " given to the people of the saints of the
Most High," whose kingdom (is) an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey Him,-indicating
that the one glorious and universal kingdom is at once that of
the saints, that of the Son of man, and that of the Most High;
and, further, that these saints may be formed into or may
be subjects of many kingdoms on earth, all forming the one
kingdom of God and of the Son of man, Jehovah and His
Christ.
We need not say, that, with certain marked differences,
this vision is really a duplicate of the dream of Nebuchad-
nezzar. It may be here well to remark concerning them,—
13
194
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
First, That, in their nature, they were suitable to the very
unlike minds of the king and prophet. To the former these
great empires were fitly symbolized by a great and imposing
image. Such kingdoms set forth the power and glory of their
kings, who were treated more as gods than as men. Still all
would appear glorious and excellent in the eyes of the great
conqueror. To the enlightened and saintly mind of Daniel
they appeared of a totally different character. In the despotic
power of man, or in a kingdom ruled and maintained by
physical force rather than by righteousness and truth, nothing
divine or even truly human could be seen. All was unreason,
brute force, the law of might instead of the law of right;
conscience, especially towards God, disregarded and trampled
underfoot. In the symbolism here employed we may see an
immense amount of moral and political truth. Daniel well
knew the difference between political right and wrong, and
also the real source of right government, even the knowledge
of God; and he could well appreciate the diverse symbols
presented to his view.
Secondly, The four kingdoms of the dream are evidently
the four kingdoms of the vision. The last in the first series
corresponds most strikingly with the last of the second. Both
are especially distinguished by enormous power, breaking
and bruising all things. As already said, the Roman alone
could have been thus described.
Thirdly, In the vision, we are not told directly of the origin
of the divine and everlasting kingdom, as we are in the
dream, by the symbol of the stone cut out without hands; nor
are we told of the progress of that kingdom, as we are by the
reference to the stone becoming a great mountain; still the
same origin and progress are implied by the allusion to the
subjects as saints, holy persons, persons renewed in heart and
converted to God, who, as subjects of the divine kingdom,
could not but seek its enlargement or the conversion of sinful
men to God. It is not said that the One like a son of man
would, like the kings of the world, personally go on to set up
GRAND HISTORICAL PROPHECY.
195
His kingdom. This was so far implied; but till all such
lawless powers are put down, or till men are generally, if not
universally renewed, His kingly glory does not fully appear;
and hence He is here represented as coming to reign when
His kingdom is fully set up, when all usurping and godless
powers are dethroned, or when, which is the same thing,
the despotic, godless, and unrighteous elements are eliminated
from the governments of the world. Then, these despotic or
merely human and yet not truly human powers being removed,
according to the just judgment of Jehovah, the Eternal God,
"The Ancient of Days," the kingdom will be seen to be that
of the Son of man, or the Son of man will be seen in His
kingdom. As the judgment spoken of is not the last and
universal, but the providential, that especially of these king-
doms, we are not to regard it as visible; so this coming of
the Son of man with the clouds of heaven we are not to
regard as visible. Both should be regarded as symbolical of
the divine treatment of all godless kingdoms, and of the
triumph of the kingdom of the saints or renewed children
of God and consequent glorious reign of their King, the One
like a son of man.
Fourthly, Comparatively little is here said of any but the
last of the four kingdoms, whose terrible resistless power
is specially remarkable. Its ten horns, corresponding to
the ten toes of the image, are said to be ten kingdoms. We
may repeat that it would not do to press the exact number
ten, unless we find something in the dream or vision so
demanding. As the toes could only be ten, even though an
exact tenfold division were not intended, but merely a
manifold division, so we may suppose the number ten used
of the horns, partly in the same general way, and partly to
identify the kingdoms, or for the sake of congruity of
symbolism. The Roman kingdom would be divided into
ten kingdoms or into such a number, possibly a changing
number, as could be fitly symbolized by these ten horns.
But what specially attracted the eye and ear of the prophet
196
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
were the look and language of the little horn or kingdom
which would rise after the ten and subdue three of them.
Here again we may note that the number three may be taken
exactly or more freely of a part of the ten or more kingdoms;
that is to say, the numbers three and ten are to be taken
alike, either both exactly or both freely. In such cases very
often only the fulfilment can determine.
Fifthly, The divine kingdom must have been founded and so
far advanced before the rise of this impious and persecuting
power, as the saints are said to be worn out by him, and to be
under his tyrannical power for a period here called "a time,
times and division of time." This implies that the kingdom of
the saints or of the Son of man would make progress, and then
receive some fearful check from a strange antagonistic power.
We need not suppose it professedly atheistic. In Scripture, to
usurp the prerogatives of God is to blaspheme or to speak
against Him.
Sixthly, If we take the above view of the dream and
vision, this great prophecy may be fairly said to have been
amply and evidently fulfilled up to the present day. The
four kingdoms, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman,
have followed each other, and all in keeping with the double
symbolism. The kingdom of "the Son of Man,"
"the
kingdom of God and of heaven," the kingdom of the saints,
as all true Christians are apostolically and justly called,-this
one and the same kingdom has been set up, and has been
advancing towards universal dominion. It has been sadly
checked by a strange, impious, and cruel power, which has
certainly for ages persecuted and wasted "the saints of the
Most High."
Seventhly, The stone was to strike the image on the feet,
or the divine kingdom was to assail the Roman Empire after
its division into ten or some such number of kingdoms.
And so we find Christianity, though long existent, has been of
late wielding its mighty power against all lawless, despotic,
persecuting powers in these latter days, in a way it never did
GRAND HISTORICAL PROPHECY.
197
during the first centuries of its existence. Even when it
became connected with the state, the state remained despotic
and to a great extent heathen. Nominally Christian states
are yet to no small extent the same. The "little horn" wasted
"the saints," and renewed or maintained the brute character of
the kingdoms of Europe here symbolised. "The saints" are
now, as they have been for some time, rising to real influence,
by which despotism is losing its power, and liberty, especially
liberty of conscience, is extending its dominion. But we
shall say no more of the fulfilment of this great prophecy
till we have referred to the second kindred vision of Daniel.
(3) Chap. viii. 3-26, “There stood before the river a ram,
which had (two) horns: and the horns (were) high; but
one (was) higher than the other, and the higher came up
last. And a he-goat came up from the west on the face
of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the
goat (had) a notable horn between his eyes. . . . And I saw
him come close to the ram . . . and he smote the ram, and
brake his two horns . . . and there was none that could deliver
the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he-goat waxed very
great and when he was strong, the great horn was
broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the
four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth
a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south,
and toward the east, and toward the pleasant (land). And
it waxed great, (even) to the host of heaven; and it cast
down some of the host and of the stars to the gronnd, and
stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified (himself) even to
the prince of the host, and by him the daily (sacrifice)
was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast
down. And a host was given (him) against the daily (sacri-
fice) by reason of transgression, and it cast down truth to the
ground; and it practised and prospered. Then I heard one
saint (or holy one) speaking, and another saint said unto
that certain (saint) who spake, How long (shall be) the vision
(concerning) the daily (sacrifice), and the transgression of
198
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be
trodden under foot. And he said unto me, Unto two thou-
sand three hundred days (evenings and mornings); then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The explanation follows:
"The ram which thou sawest . . the kings of Media and
Persia. And the rough he-goat (is) the King of Grecia;
and the great horn which (is) between his eyes (is) the first
king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it,
four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his
power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the
transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce counte-
nance, and understanding dark sentences (cunning devices)
shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by
his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall
prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the
holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause
craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify (himself)
in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also
stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be
broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and
the morning which was told (is) true: wherefore shut thou
up the vision; for it (shall be) for many days." We may
now add the following observations :—
First, This vision completes the prophecy of the dream and
vision already considered, and helps us towards certainty with
respect to the kingdoms intended. Thus it enables us to repel
every objection to our view based on the supposition of the
second and third kingdoms being successively that of the
Medes and that of the Persians, as here both are symbolized
under the one figure of the ram with two horns, the one higher
than the other, the Persian than the Medean. Hence, the he-
goat here corresponds to the leopard or panther of the former
vision; and hence, further, another point of identity: as the
leopard is very swift, and yet is said to have four wings to
suggest the amazing speed of the conquests of Alexander the
Great, so in this vision the goat is said not to touch the ground,
GRAND HISTORICAL PROPHECY.
199
implying the very flight and speed just referred to. Thus it
is utterly vain to regard the Greek, and not the Roman, as the
fourth or last empire.
Secondly, The same thing is demonstrated by a very simple
difference between what is here said of this kingdom, and
what is said of the fourth or last of the former vision; the
one kingdom being expressly said to be divided into four
kingdoms, whilst out of the other ten kings or kingdoms are
said to arise.
There is certainly a striking resemblance between the little
horn which was to rise out of one of the four horns of the
third kingdom, and the little horn which was to rise among
the ten horns of the fourth. However, they are by no
means identical. We have pointed to a self-deifying and
persecuting Power corresponding to the latter, and which
has for ages wasted the saints of God.
Often has a power
corresponding to the former been referred to, by which the
temple of God at Jerusalem and the chiefs of the Jewish
nation were desecrated and fearfully crushed, -we mean
Antiochus Epiphanes, who is supposed, by those holding
by a late date, to be referred to in both cases. However,
whilst he may justly be regarded as the impious and persecu-
ting king of the third empire, at the utmost and most fitly
he may be viewed as simply a type of the blasphemous and
far more terrible destroyer of the fourth empire. It was
right that the former should be predicted, that the poor and
persecuted Jews, after prophecy had been closed for a long
period, should be cheered by the hope of relief.
Thirdly, Without entering into the details or giving any
real exposition of this one complex, comprehensive, and har-
monious prophecy, which consists of the interpretation of a
dream and two visions rather than of the dream and visions
themselves, we may now sum up the whole thus:-Four
despotic kingdoms, world-powers, as they have been called,
were to succeed each other, whose respective characteris-
tics are distinctly drawn,-the Babylonian, Medo-Persian,
200
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
Grecian, and Roman. Under the Grecians, the Jews were to
be persecuted, and their temple desecrated by a fierce and
unprincipled king, whom almost all interpreters identify with
Antiochus Epiphanes, with whom and the Jews there was
carried on a most deadly conflict. Whilst these four empires
lasted, a new, divine, universal, and everlasting kingdom was
to be set up, which would destroy all these kingdoms, and
eventually succeed them and continue for ever. This kingdom
we find in that of Jesus Christ. All these kingdoms have
passed away, except the last, which still exists, not in its
original unity and iron power, but in its ten or numerous
divisions, which have received in these recent times such a
blow from the divine kingdom, that they seem evidently pass-
ing away, the reign of despotism, of persecution, of brute-
force, of all that can fairly be symbolized by wild beasts,
evidently passing away. To destroy a despotic kingdom, we
need not destroy the subjects. Let the spirit and power of
despotism be destroyed, and the kingdom of despotism will
be at an end. Thus it is that the kingdom of heaven destroys
the kingdoms of the world. The glorious work will be seen
to be wonderfully advanced by any one who makes an intelli-
gent comparison between the more Christian states of the
present day and the four pagan empires of the prophecy.
Still, the work is far from accomplished; but even this is
most clearly and amply accounted for by the same prophecy,
in which we are told of a kingdom that would rise among the
ten or many kingdoms into which the Roman world would
be divided, and by which the saints, true Christians, would be
worn out, and thus the progress of the divine kingdom would
be checked. All this, to the fullest meaning of the prophecy,
has come to pass. The day of that wasteful power is coming
to an end; and now the divine kingdom, renewing "her
mighty youth," is advancing with unparalleled speed, and the
glorious work appears in the progress of almost every state of
Europe; whilst, at the same time, when we look to America
and to Eastern nations, we may feel as if we saw the stone,
M
THE MESSIAH OF DANIEL.
201
now a mountain, becoming greater and greater, as if before
long to fill the whole earth.
Lastly, We are thus presented with a grand outline of the
great work of Jehovah in the redemption of the world. Nor
can any thoughtful mind regard such an outline as in any
way unlikely or out of place. If He is indeed carrying on
such a work, why should He not fully reveal it? Why should
He not give, as this and other prophecies are fitted to give,
a standing and ever enlarging testimony to His own being
and saving purpose.
Of course the glorious work itself is
the noblest testimony. Still, that work has, in all ages, met
with interruption and opposition; and never yet has the
kingdom of heaven been so strong or so without mixture of
earthly evil as to make such testimony either superfluous or
undesirable. In all ages, the spirit of prophecy has been
the testimony of Jesus. We need it now as much as ever.
men.
5. Whilst we have thus presented to us all these kingdoms
as finally superseded by the kingdom of heaven, and whilst
we have been led to contemplate the King as coming in
power and glory when it has reached its meridian of strength
and universality, we have not yet been led to contemplate the
King, the One like a son of man, in His advent in this world
to lay the foundation of that kingdom and to set it up among
The view of the future of Daniel is yet incomplete.
The very heart and soul of the whole is yet so far unrevealed.
Further, the time when the divine work would begin has been
generally stated as in the days of those kingdoms; but the
spirit of prophecy would go still further, and add to the
revelation of the advent that of the definite period when it
would take place. All this we find in the only other prophecy
which we propose to consider, that of the seventy weeks,—
Dan. ix. 24—27. The prophet had been inquiring concerning
the seventy years of captivity predicted by Jeremiah; and find-
ing that these years were drawing to a close, he offered prayer
to God, with all confession of national and personal sins, and
with a fervour becoming the most ardent of patriots and the
202
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
CC
most devout of saints. He is honoured accordingly by being
assured of being a man greatly beloved," and by having the
clearest and most wonderful revelation of the promised
Redeemer and King granted to him:-" Seventy weeks are
determined (or decreed) upon thy people and upon thy holy
city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince (shall be) seven
weeks and three score and two weeks: the street shall be built
again, and the wall (or trench), even in troublous times. And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but
not for Himself (or, and nothing to Him): and the people of
the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanc-
tuary; and the end thereof (shall be) with a flood, and unto
the end of the war desolations are determined. And He shall
confirm the covenant with many (or, make firm a covenant)
for (or during) one week; and in the midst of the week He
shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations (or, and upon the wing or
pinnacle of abominations, a desolation) He shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation (or, even till the decreed
desolation be poured upon the desolated), and that determined
shall be poured upon the desolate." This great prophecy
seems perfectly clear in its general outline, though somewhat
obscure in one or two of its details. We shall treat it as one
of those fulfilled prophecies which ought to be understood, or
which we have a right to regard as sufficiently well interpreted
by its fulfilment :-
First, We have no reason to doubt that the promised One,
He who was to introduce the greatest changes in the world's
history, is the great and central figure spoken of. If we
translate, not "the Messiah," but "an anointed One,” as
may be fairly done, there might be, apart from the conjoined
THE MESSIAH OF DANIEL.
203
clauses of the sentence, room for dispute. However, when
we keep these in view, we can understand the words, "The
Messiah, or an anointed One, shall be cut off," of no one in
all history but that One of whom Isaiah wrote, and with
whom Daniel must have been thus far acquainted. These
words, so brief and strong, contained no new prediction.
Secondly, All this is clear when seen in the light of the clauses
referred to,—“to make reconciliation for iniquity; to bring
in everlasting righteousness; to seal up vision and prophecy;
and to anoint the Most Holy." These all meet in only
one subject of prophecy. They suggest nothing new. Isaiah
had pointed to the great propitiation and reconciliation in
immediate connection with the cutting off of the Servant of
Jehovah. He had so spoken as to identify the righteousness
with the salvation of Jehovah,-a righteousness and salvation
for mankind. This justifying or saving righteousness is
clearly alluded to in like close connection with the same
cutting off,—" He shall see of the travail of His soul, (and)
shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous
Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities."
again, as all vision and prophecy more or less directly relate
to the same Servant of Jehovah, its fulfilment in and by Him
would seal up or close the whole as thus true in Him. Once
more, the same Servant is most expressly and beautifully said,
in Isaiah, to be anointed by the Spirit of Jehovah. Of no
other being could the words be used, "to anoint the Holiness
of Holinesses," an expression never used of the inner
temple, as some have said, but to what is peculiarly holy,
and therefore above all applicable to the One here spoken of.
So,
Thirdly, The great addition here made to the grand system
of redemptive prophecy is the revelation of the very time
of the coming of the promised One. That time would seem
to be indicated with perfect exactness. At the same time,
as the beginning of "the seventy weeks" may not be so
expressly intimated as to leave no room for difference of
opinion, we may find like room for such difference with
204
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
respect to the close of them. However, this cannot possibly
affect our certainty as to the actual fulfilment of the prophecy
itself. If One really appeared in our world within a short
time of any point which can be at all fairly regarded as the
period intended, and with all the marks of predicted Messiah-
ship, no well-constituted mind could fail to see in His
advent the fulfilment and the truth of this prediction. We
do not by this mean to say that perfect exactness was not
designed, and may not be found, but simply to meet the
doubts of any with regard to the exactness of the calculation
of time which some have made, and which seems to us not
only wonderfully correct, but most wonderfully true to fact.
We might give the most ample reason for accounting these
seventy weeks weeks of years, the whole period being
490 years. Their division is very peculiar, and must be
regarded as significant. Of course the first question relates.
to the beginning as here distinctly marked by the issue of
a command to build the city; and we naturally infer that it
must be that of Cyrus in the year 536 B.C., whence deducting
490, we are brought to 46 B.C., not remarkably far from the
times referred to. However, there were really four royal
commands issued with regard to the city and temple of Jeru-
salem, the one just mentioned; a second by Darius Hys-
taspes in 518 B.C., relating to the temple; a third, when
Ezra was sent by Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B.C.; and
a fourth, when Nehemiah was sent by the same king in
444 B.C. Now, when we consult Ezra and Nehemiah, we
find that the first refers exclusively, at least verbally, not to
the city, but to the temple of Jerusalem; whilst the second
is simply a renewal of it; Darius searching the records and
removing all hostile obstruction to its full execution. The
third also relates to the temple, but the temple as already
built, and is really the first which expressly relates to the
city of Jerusalem, encouraging as many "of the people of
Israel," ""who are minded of their own free will," to go up to
Jerusalem along with Ezra, who is further commanded to do
SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL.
205
what no one is said to have been previously so commanded,
namely, to "set magistrates and judges, who may judge all
the people that (are) beyond the river, all such as know the
laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know (them) not.”
As many thus accompanied Ezra, and as a regular govern-
ment was thus now legally commanded, and that in harmony
with the laws of Israel, to all intents this command had more
to do with the re-building, at least the enlargement of the
city and its completion for the purposes of order and
government, than either of the former; so that if its date
agreed with the remaining dates of the prophecy, we do not
see how any reasonable mind should object to the adoption
of it.
There still remains the fourth, which may be said to have
been due to the failure of the people fully, or at least success-
fully, to carry out the third. Hearing of the unhappy state
of Jerusalem, "whose wall had been broken down, and
whose gates had been burned with fire," Nehemiah asked
liberty to go to Jerusalem to rebuild them, and to build a
house or palace for himself. His petition was granted, and
a letter of royal authority given to him. The city was such
that, when he saw it, he could say, "Jerusalem (lieth) waste,
and the gates are burned with fire," etc. Now this com-
mission, thus directly relating to the city, might, especially
as the last of these recorded decrees, be most fairly deemed
the one meant by the prophecy. If its date proved most
satisfactory, no one could justly object to our adoption of it.
Still it may be noted that, as the decree of Darius simply
supplemented that of Cyrus which had been disputed, so
this simply supplements the third, which had, from various
causes, failed to secure the desired permanent result. In
this way, the third, or that which best agrees with the pro-
phecy, may be fairly preferred to the others. By adding
490 years, we are brought down to 33 A.D. according to
our era. The birth of Christ being four years before the
ordinary date, we may calculate thus: 7 weeks + 62
206
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
to.
weeks = 69 weeks of years = 483 years, which less 457
26 A.D., according to the corrected date, or the year in
which Christ was actually thirty years, and in which He was
anointed by the Holy Spirit and began His public ministry.
Now it is expressly said that it would be that period of
483 to Messiah the Prince, not to His birth, but more
naturally to His appearing as the Messiah, or, as just said,
the beginning of His ministry. Then we are told, not that
at the exact close of the 62 weeks, but simply after them;
how long is afterwards indicated. But before it is so,
apparently to connect the doom of Jerusalem with the
cutting off of the Messiah, it is first referred to, and again
and finally spoken of, after the date of His death is alluded
"And He shall confirm the covenant, or make a firm
covenant with many for one week,"-simply one week,"
leaving us to supply the most suitable preposition. The
one week being evidently the last of the 70, which had
been carefully separated from the 69 which were to precede
the coming of the Messiah, we may regard the reference to
it as general, and so may render freely, "during the re-
maining week." This is the more allowable, as it is imme-
diately added, "(In the) half or midst of (not a, but) the
week" (the week just referred to), "He shall cause sacrifice'
(not the sacrifice, but sacrifice, all sacrifice of typical cha-
racter) ' and oblation to cease,"-doubtless by the great
sacrifice and oblation of Himself implied in the cutting off
spoken of, which would thus take place at or about three and
a half years (half a week of years) after the beginning of
His ministry. All as yet is in perfect keeping with fact.
As to the remaining three and a half years, we have no ex-
press information regarding them. During that time the
Gospel was fully preached with all the attesting evidence of
miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit,-all needed as well as
the three or three and a half years' ministry of Jesus to reveal
and make firm the promised covenant with many, even Jews
and Gentiles. Be this as it may, the use of the last term was
""
66
SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL.
207
important, if, while admitting the round unbroken number
seventy, it precisely fixed the date of the great propitiation.
As to the first period of seven weeks or forty-nine years, we
do not seem to have data sufficiently clear and certain to
admit of our determining the exact period intended. It
seems, at least, most probably to refer to the final building
of the street and wall of Jerusalem in troublous times; and
would be at once easily understood at the proper time, and
would tend to give all needful encouragement to those whose
lot in those sad times had not been overlooked by Him,
who, they may have been tempted to think, had forsaken
them.
Fourthly, There remains but one part of this great pro-
phecy for our brief consideration. As we have found, closely
connected with the rejection of the Messiah implied in His
evidently violent death is the predicted doom of Jeru-
salem: "The people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city. . . . On the overspreading of abominations
he shall make (it) desolate," etc. Here we have a second
and still more terrible desolation of that city. Unless in-
spired, who, whether in Daniel's time or at any time after,
would have thought of such a thing? The date of this
fearful catastrophe is not given, only, as already said, it
would be evidently seen to be connected with the rejection.
of Christ. That rejection took place both before and after
His death. To see its justice we must contemplate, say, the
three and a half years after as well as those before it; the
subsequent years being those of simple forbearance towards
the unbelieving Jews on the one hand, and of needful pre-
paration for the apostolic and Christian evangelization of
the world on the other.
Lastly, We may now most safely conclude that this great
prophecy has been fully realized. To this day, and to
the close of time, the book of Daniel will form a great
part of the redemptive history, and a wonderful monumental
witness to Jehovah.
208
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
SECTION III.
PROPHETS OF THE RESTORATION.
I.
1. In the writings of Ezra and Nehemiah, we have a suc-
cinct and valuable account of the return of a portion of the
captives, and of the progressive work of restoration, in which
they themselves eventually took a most important part. The
former thus alludes to this first royal decree :-"In the first
year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the
hand of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, Jehovah stirred up the
spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom, and (put it) also in writing,
saying, Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, Jehovah, God of
heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and
He hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem,
which (is) in Judah. Who (is there) among you of all His
people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jeru-
salem, which (is) in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah
God of Israel, (He is) the God which (is) in Jerusalem."
Accordingly, a large number of the people accompanied
Zerubbabel, the representative of the house of David, and
Joshua the high-priest; and in 536, the building of the new
temple was begun. The work went slowly on, was stopped
for a time, and then resumed in 520 B.C., the second year
of Darius Hystaspes. We need not pursue the history; but
many difficulties arose, at last surmounted by the faithfulness
and energy of Nehemiah, under whose directions the walls
were at last built and the city rendered more secure. From
such small beginnings the nation gradually rose to new
strength and greatness, but cannot be said to have been ever
restored to all the importance and independence of former
times. As already said, the people were cured of their fearful
tendency to idolatry. Still, they soon proved that they were
HAGGAI.
209
by no means freed from the power of sin. Naturally of
worldly spirit, the very difficulties which in their new circum-
stances they had to encounter, seem to have intensified that
spirit; the love of money to no small extent taking the place
of the love of their God, who had wrought for them so great
a deliverance. The power of prophetic rebuke had thus to
be wielded, as in earlier times. The return of morally evil
days directed the eyes of more than one prophet to the still
distant future, and to the coming of that Great One, of whom
Isaiah and his fellow prophets had so distinctly spoken.
2. We shall not enlarge, as we might, on this subject,
but go on to treat of the prophets of this important period,
-Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
II.
C
HAGGAI.
1. This prophet had to do very greatly with the re-building
of the temple. Forbidden to proceed with the work, the
people, from discouragement, soon became indifferent; direct-
ing their energies to the advancement of their own interests,
building for themselves comfortable and even ornamented
houses, and allowing the temple to become waste. Haggai
faithfully reproved their selfishness and religious neglect, and
assured them of the folly of both, as they thus deprived them-
selves of the blessings of providence, and thus sunk in poverty
rather than rose to wealth.
2. In his short prophecy, Haggai has more than one clear
glance at the great future. Thus, Hag. ii. 6-9, "For thus
saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet once, it (is) a little while, and
I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the
dry (land); and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all
nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith
Jehovah of hosts. The silver (is) Mine, and the gold (is)
Mine, saith Jehovah of hosts. The glory of this latter house
shall be greater than of the former, saith Jehovah of hosts:
14
210
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts.'
Here we have evidently a prophecy, or rather promise, of
Messianic times. It is in harmony with the prophecies of
Daniel regarding the kingdoms of the world and the king -
dom of God. The people saw that the temple, which they
had with such difficulty built, was not to be compared with
that of Solomon; and Jehovah came forth to cheer and en-
courage. They were feeble; while the heathen were strong
and might easily oppress. Yet Jehovah would shake all
nations; and this temple would, in some sense, be more
glorious than the first. This passage is quoted in the New
Testament as relating to the establishment of the immovable
kingdom of Christ, to which it evidently refers.
First, Jehovah appears as the universal ruler, with all power
over the world, and as soon to shake all the nations, and thus
to prepare for the advent of the Coming King and kingdom of
heaven. All this was in harmony with former prophecies,
and especially with those of the Book of Daniel.
Secondly, These great national convulsions having prepared
the way, "the desire of all nations would come.' Though
of late the old and favoured view has been abandoned by not
a few of the learned, we still think this fine expression points
directly to the promised Saviour-King, who alone can meet
and satisfy all the deeper, truer, and, we may say, divine
wants, desires, longings of sin-burdened humanity. This
has been objected to on grammatical grounds. Because the
verb is in the plural, and the noun, which is in the singular,
is to be taken in a collective or plural sense, it has been
inferred that a person cannot be meant. There would have
been force in this, if the expression, "the desire of all
nations," had been held to be a name of the Messiah, as
"the Servant of Jehovah," in which case a singular verb
would have been used. However, when a person is simply
described by an expression which implies, as here, the idea
of multiplicity, the sum of human desires,-that multiplicity
is most naturally indicated by the plural verb. Besides, if
S
رو
""
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS.
211
the above argument were of real force, it could not exclude a
direct reference to the Messiah, as the clause could be gram-
matically rendered, "And they shall come to the Desire of
all nations,”—the verb being sometimes, as in Lam. i. 4,
used with an accusative and without a preposition. How-
And now
ever, the English version seems perfectly correct.
we add further, that the view upheld alone seems suitable.
The shaking of the nations prepared for the advent of the
Messiah. In Malachi, as here, the Messiah is said to "come
to His temple," nay, is virtually described in a similar way,
"the Lord whom ye seek; the Angel of the covenant, whom
ye delight in." Further, we have a fine illustration in the
case of Saul, of whom Samuel said, "In whom (is) all the
desire (the word used by Haggai) of Israel? (Is it) not in thee,
and in all thy father's house?" Thus we have the unknown
object of the nation's desire on the one side, and the unknown
object of the whole world's desire on the other.
Once more, if we adopt the rendering proposed,—“ I will
shake all nations, and the choice things of all nations shall
come," apart from the unnatural mode of expression, the
advent of the Messiah is still implied, as all nations are thus
conceived to come with their wealth as a consequence of that
advent and the conversion to Jehovah which would follow.
We think, then, that we are led to contemplate the Messiah
under a most interesting aspect, not only as about to appear
at a comparatively early date, nor only as having His way
prepared by the mightiest providential movements, but also
as that great human Helper, for whom all the deepest sighings
and cryings of the human heart have been a true and universal
prophecy, and who alone could give hope, peace, satisfaction
to mankind.
Thirdly, Most naturally follows the next promise, “And I
will fill this house with glory." At the dedication of the
tabernacle of Moses, and at that of the temple of Solomon,
the symbol of the divine presence appeared; and it is said,
"The glory of Jehovah filled the house; and to this these
"}
:
212
•
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
words seem to allude. Jehovah had honoured both places,
and declared them to be His by thus filling them with His
glory. He here declares that He will do the same, or some-
thing similar, in the case of the new temple. We cannot
suppose that this at all refers to material splendour. No
silver or gold could make it equal to either, unless some such
divine manifestation were granted. This promise thus breaks
the supposed connection between the supposed "choice
things of all nations" and "the silver and gold" next referred
to. The meaning seems simple, the coming of the Messiah,
then the filling of the house with glory; and, assuredly,
that house was filled with the glory of Jehovah, when the
Messiah appeared, the true Shekinah, the grand Reality, of
which only the symbol was seen in ancient tabernacle or
temple. When the infant Jesus was taken to the temple,
and the aged Simeon exclaimed, "Lord, now lettest Thou
Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation," it was assuredly filled with glory; as it was ever
after when He entered it as His Father's house, and claimed
to be the Son of the Highest and the promised manifestation
of Jehovah. But especially did Jesus fill that house with
glory when He demonstrated that it was indeed the temple
of Jehovah, and the divinely appointed symbol and pattern
of the true temple of God, the temple which He came to
rear, the temple to which all nations would flow, bringing
their silver and their gold, all their gifts and graces and good
things of every kind, and the temple, doubtless, to which, as
the reality of which this was but the figure, the whole of this
prophecy chiefly, if not entirely, refers.
Fourthly, "The silver (is) Mine and the gold (is) Mine, saith
Jehovah of hosts." This might refer to the gifts of the
Persian kings, and to the expenditure of Herod in the renewal
of the second temple; but cannot well be so regarded, as the
reference seems clearly to be to the Messianic times just
alluded to. In this way, we may perhaps paraphrase the
words thus: "Think not of the seeming poverty of this house;
GLORY OF THE NEW TEMPLE.
213
I have all wealth at My command: I will secure all that is
needful for My purpose; and I permit no purpose of Mine to
fail because of the want of the means of fulfilling it." Thus
would the words finely apply to the True Temple, to which
we have just referred; and may now be the ground of all
confidence as to the divine supply of the means by which the
Christian Church would be extended and maintained; or, we
may regard them as finely and figuratively setting forth all
those gifts and graces, the gold and silver of the true sanctuary,
by which that Church or temple of God would be enriched and
ornamented.
Fifthly, The real meaning of the next promise will thus
become simple: "The glory of this latter house will be
greater than of the former;" a promise implied in that already
considered, "I will fill this house with glory," the glory of
the real being inconceivably greater than that of the symbolic
manifestation of Jehovah. This was true because of the
presence of Jesus; but it was not true because of the gold
and silver just spoken of; and, above all, it is true of that
temple which now exists, and which may be said to glorify
the material structure with all its services by showing these to
have been the divine figures of it and its spiritual services.
How glorious the living temple of Jesus in comparison of any
temple raised by man, however planned and appointed by God!
Lastly, The closing promise, "And in this place will I give
peace, saith Jehovah of hosts," is both superlatively excellent
in itself, and relatively important as casting a sure light on all
the others. This peace will doubtless include all external
peace and prosperity; but it relates doubtless to all that still
higher and profounder peace which involves salvation, which
the God of peace can alone grant, and without which the
awakened heart of man cannot be satisfied. "This place"
may mean Jerusalem, and not the temple alone. From it
would flow, through the Promised One, all the blessings of
peace, just as it is said in Isaiah, "And in this mountain will
Jehovah of hosts make unto all people a feast," and where it is
p
214
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
meant, that, through Jesus, the glorious gospel would go forth
in connection with the religion of Israel, and supply a true and
rich feast to all mankind. Wonderfully has this great pro-
phecy of Haggai been fulfilled; and yet its fulfilment cannot
be absolutely completed till the end of time.
3. We shall only very briefly refer to another and very
beautiful prophecy at the close of this short but precious
portion of Sacred Scripture,-Ver. 20-23, "And again the
Word of Jehovah came to Haggai... Speak unto Zerub-
babel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and
the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I
will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations..
In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerub-
babel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Jehovah, and
will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith
Jehovah of hosts." Such was the honour and reward of this
devoted son of David. The true David would spring from
him. He would be held sacred and precious as the very
signet of Jehovah. This evidently refers to Zerubbabel, not
as personally, but as relatively and representatively, thus
highly exalted. There were other descendants of David.
The descent of the Messiah is here pointed out. The time
referred to is the same as that just considered, that after the
shaking of the nations, and therefore too distant for the
personal exaltation of this governor of Judah. Much was
implied. The posterity of Zerubbabel were to be safely
preserved by Jehovah. All kingdoms might pass away; but
the kingdom of Him who may now be called as well the true
Zerubbabel as the true David would assuredly be set up,
become most glorious, and never pass away.
III.
ZECHARIAH.
1. This prophet belonged to the order of priests. Like
Haggai and Malachi, he is personally little known, yet, like the
ZECHARIAH.
•
215
former, did much to encourage the erection of the temple.
As regards the revelation of the Messiah, he has by some been
ranked almost with Isaiah, as if Jehovah had designed to
show that, after the exile, the spirit of prophecy was rich and
mighty as ever. Some have maintained that the latter part of
the Book belongs to an earlier age. Even were this correct,
it would but little affect our purpose. If we may anticipate
the history of Him of whom he and others so clearly wrote,
how decidedly may they be contrasted with Him,-they as now
lost and almost forgotten, unless in so far as they pointed to
Him, and He as ever living and ever walking as if before the
eyes of men in prophecy and history, the Object of highest
knowledge and purest love in the minds and hearts of His
people.
2. We can only quote a few passages, however interesting
and instructive the whole Book. The transition to post-
exilian from older times is thus marked by the prophet:
Zech. i. 2-6, "Jehovah hath been sore displeased with your
fathers. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Turn ye unto Me
. . . and I will turn unto you. . . Be ye not as your fathers,
unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus
saith Jehovah of hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways, and
(from) your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken
unto Me, saith Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they? and
the prophets, do they live for ever? But My words and My
statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did
they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and
said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, accord-
ing to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He
dealt with us." Thus would he persuade the restored nation
to hold fast by the word and commands of their covenant God,
who is true and faithful in all things.
3. The calling of the Gentiles is clearly set forth: Chap. ii.
10, 11, "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I
come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.
And many nations shall be joined to Jehovah in that day,
216
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
and shall be My people: and I will dwell in the midst of
thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent
Me unto thee." Here the universality of the religion of
Jehovah is finely expressed. In fact, Zion extends and fills
the world; and Jehovah dwells in the midst of His vastly
multiplied people. The fulfilment of prophecy will bring
Jehovah the nearer to all; present blessing being ever felt
to come from Him as promised and predicted good.
4. In Chap. iii., the Branch of David is now called by Jehovah
"My Servant the Branch," to be in due time brought forth to
accomplish His glorious work. Finely are Joshua the high
priest and "his fellows who sit before him" treated as signs
and figures of the future, yet in close connection with the
present. Joshua appeared before "the Angel of Jehovah . . .
clothed with filthy garments." The angel commands the
removal of these, and says, "Behold, I have caused thine
iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre
upon his head," etc. "Hear now, O Joshua, the high-
priest. . . For, behold, I will bring forth My Servant the
Branch." Thus is Joshua evidently set forth as a type of
this Servant of Jehovah. The high-priest was evidently
clothed in filthy garments, significant not only of his own
sins, but of the sins of the whole nation sacerdotally repre-
sented by him. The sin of the whole nation was removed;
a mitre and goodly raiment were then put on. The imme-
diate introduction of the lowly Branch of David and exalted
Servant of Jehovah, the name used combining two distinct
former prophecies, and showing that the Son of David in
the earlier writings of Isaiah is to be identified with the
Servant of Jehovah of the later, clearly proves that Joshua
appears here as a type of the Messiah, whose like represen-
tative and priestly character is thus finely set forth. What-
ever else, then, the Messiah would bear the sins of many,
and make atonement for them.
5. We need not say how striking and beautiful is that
THE COMING KING OF ZION.
217
Messianic prophecy with which the closing narrative of
Jesus has made all familiar: Chap. ix. 9, 10, “Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem :
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having
salvation (or, just and saved is He); lowly, and riding upon
an ass, even upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And I will cut
off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem,
and the battle-bow shall be cut off: and He shall speak
peace to the nations; and His dominion (shall be) from
sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth."
Here we may note, First, That the Promised One now
appears clearly and fully as the King of Zion. Secondly,
His character is not that usually deemed the most befitting
the kings and rulers of men, we refer especially to His
wondrous humility. Of course righteousness is held to be
an excellency of kings. He comes to save as well as to
reign. Thirdly, He is emphatically the Prince or King of
Peace. His kingdom is to be totally unlike all other
kingdoms in this, that it is to be neither extended nor
upheld by physical force or by the power of the sword.
He is to be the greatest of all warriors and conquerors:
yet He would wield no carnal weapon" Himself; and He
would deny the use of all such weapons to His subjects
and soldiers, in so far as His kingdom was concerned.
He would conquer the nations by speaking peace to them,
by the manifestation of gentleness and love, by breathing
the spirit of peace among them, by revealing all that truth
and love by which both inward and outward peace would
be secured. How striking the way in which all this is
expressed! It is not said, All His enemies shall be overcome
and disarmed, their battle-bows broken and the like. No;
but that all such weapons shall be cut off from those who,
as His subjects, "Ephraim," etc. might be expected to fight
for Him they shall be disarmed, or rather, they shall use
weapons of a totally different kind, spiritual, mighty, not
deadly but life-giving. Here, we may add, we have an
CC
218
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
exemplification of the meaning of the words of the like
Messianic prophecy of Haggai, "And in this place I will
give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts," whose Servant would
speak peace to the nations." Lastly, The kingdom of
this lowly, gentle, and loving One-of this King of truth and
love-would become universal."
66
1:
6. This prophet gives a still further and most vivid picture
of this Prince of the house of David and His divine kingdom,-
Chap. xii. 10, “And I will pour out upon the house of David,
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and supplications: And they shall look upon Me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one
mourneth for (his) only (son), and shall be in bitterness for
Him, as one that is in bitterness for (his) firstborn."
Chap. xiii. "In that day there shall be a fountain opened
to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness." Ver. 7, "Awake, O sword,
against My Shepherd, and against the man (that is) My
Fellow, saith Jehovah of Hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn Mine hand upon the
little ones." Not a little obscurity rests on these and other
announcements of Zechariah. Still we may gather the
following:-First, Never was any one so described in any
human writing apart from Scripture, as the wonderful One here
called a man, and yet the Fellow of Jehovah, nay, Jehovah's
Shepherd, doubtless the Shepherd of Jehovah's flock, great
as His Fellow, good as chosen by Him; and yet Jehovah
calls for the sword against Him, calls upon it to smite Him,
even to the scattering of the sheep. How wonderful a
description of Him of whose sufferings and death all the
prophets may be said, directly or indirectly, to have written!
How strange must this description have appeared to many
before history supplied the key! Secondly, This peculiar
one must in some way be identified with Him, however
apparently Jehovah, who, as we have found, is said to have
been pierced by those who would afterwards mourn bitterly
MALACHI.
I
in consequence; the Man, the Fellow and Shepherd of
Jehovah, being thus, in
being thus, in some way, one with Jehovah.
Thirdly, The fountain to be opened for sin and for unclean-
ness must assuredly be connected with the death spoken
of; whilst at the same time there would be a rich effusion
of the Divine Spirit, with all the happy consequences among
the people of God. Lastly, The sight of the great Sufferer
would lead to sincerest and deepest repentance; issuing
doubtless in application to the new and open fountain, and
thus further in newness of heart and life.
IV.
219
MALACHI.
1. We come now to the last of the Old Testament prophets.
His name, CC
My messenger," is most appropriate, but has
suggested that it is official and not personal. We certainly
know nothing personally of Him. His prophecy may have
been uttered in the time of Nehemiah, or, more definitely,
about the time of his second visit to Jerusalem; but, from
internal evidence, we would think at a somewhat later date,
when the people, having become yet more selfish and worldly,
deserved all the rebukes and needed all the warnings here
given. How sad, after all the wondrous deliverance from
heathen captivity, the need of such words as these!—Chap. i.
6, 7,“ A son honoureth (his) father, and a servant his master: If
then I (be) a father, where (is) Mine honour? and if I (be) a
master, where (is) My fear? saith Jehovah of Hosts unto you,
O priests, that despise My Name. And ye say, Wherein have
we despised Thy Name? Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine
altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee? In that
ye say, The Table of Jehovah (is) contemptible." As were
the priests, so were the people. No wonder the prophet is
led to think of the better days to come, and of the larger
kingdom in promise. The people most highly honoured of
Jehovah were again, and as often before, most deeply dis-
220
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
(C
honouring His great Name; and Malachi now reports His
faithful words,- From the rising of the sun even to the going
down of the same, My Name (shall be) great among the
nations; and in every place incense (shall be) offered unto My
Name, and a pure offering: For My Name (shall be) great
among the nations, saith Jehovah of hosts." The God of
Malachi was no mere national God of Israel, but the God of
the whole earth. How glorious the prospect thus grandly.
opened up of the universal love, honour, worship, and service
of Jehovah, the God of salvation!
A
2. The sad state of the people leads Jehovah further to set
forth the great Deliverer in the peculiar character of a refiner
and purifier of His servants as well as the messenger of His
covenant, Chap. iii. 1-4, "Behold, I will send My messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Mes-
senger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in Behold, He
shall come, saith Jehovah of Hosts. But who may abide the
day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?
For He (is) like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: And
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and He shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that
they may offer unto Jehovah an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in former years."
Here the first, but not the exclusive, reference is to the ancient
people. The words are most appropriate as part of the closing
Book of Old Testament revelation. The covenant had been
set forth from the beginning, and in every variety of form. It
involved the promise of all good to mankind. The Coming
One, the Angel of the Covenant, the One as to whom all
might well be intensely interested, was pointed to as all but
visible. He might soon appear. He would secure the
promised blessings. A messenger would prepare His way,
the way of Jehovah, with whom this Angel or Messenger is
identified, as we also found in Zechariah. All, indeed, might
FROM MALACHI TO CHRIST.
221
rejoice at His coming; and yet that coming had a double
aspect, one most joyous, and one most awful. Happy those
who were prepared for His appearance. As we read this
passage, we feel as if Malachi, the last of the prophets, had
been appointed to stand forth for the few coming centuries
for the express purpose of pointing forward to the great
advent, and of even saying to all, Behold, He cometh!
3. In fact, about four hundred years of chequered Jewish
history have yet to come. The house of David, even in the
line of Zerubbabel, sinks into obscurity. The priestly power
becomes transcendent; but becomes again and again more or
less subservient to royal influence and authority. The nation
passed through many a fiery furnace, the hottest of which was
kindled and heated by Antiochus Epiphanes, by whom the
temple was polluted, many put to death, and even the abolition
of the Jewish religion decreed and most violently attempted.
The Greek philosophy influenced not a few; leading by way
of recoil to intense legalism, the narrowest exclusiveness, and
to that forgetfulness of the world-wide character of the
Abrahamic covenant and of the prophetic interpretation and
illustration of it which we find so marked in the times of
Christ and His apostles. These closing prophecies might
have been a sufficient remedy. Safely we may say, that from
the time of Malachi to that of John the Baptist no real addition
was made to the truth of Jehovah. The only great events
'to which we would refer is the translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures into the Greek language, the provision of a fine
medium of New Testament revelation in the wide spread of
that language, and the preparation of a broad field for the
diffusion of the Gospel by the extended empire of Rome.
During all the four centuries implied, Malachi, in the closing
words of his prophecy and of the Old Testament Scriptures,
pointed to the coming of Him, who, as a glorious sun, the
Sun of Righteousness, would rise, with healing in His wings,
on all who feared Jehovah, and also to the coming of His great
herald, who, in spirit and power, would prove himself a very
222
PROPHETIC REVELATION.
Elijah. The nation is warned to keep by the law of Moses
and to obey the will of Jehovah their God. The coming
day would be great and dreadful as well as gracious and
merciful. Its very grace would be terrible in its issues if
despised and neglected. The coming Elijah, like his great
exemplar, would appear as a national reformer; seeking a
renewal of divine and spiritual life throughout the entire
people, even within every family and every social circle; and
giving to all the final and solemn warning of the danger of
setting at nought the herald and so refusing to acknowledge.
the great though most lowly and condescending King,-"Lest
I (Jehovah) come, and smite the land with a curse."
CHAPTER V
I.
MESSIANIC REVELATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD
OF REDEMPTION.
I.
، ،
S we have seen, the Old Testament closes with these
words,—Mal. iv. 5, 6, Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to
the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth (the land) with a curse,"
words which are said to have been fulfilled by the mission of
John the Baptist as the herald of the promised Messiah.
The day of the Messiah is thus predicted as one of judgment
as well as of mercy; and may be alluded to under either
aspect as circumstances may determine. We might assign
sufficient reason for the fact, that Malachi, in pointing to him.
who was to come as Elijah, should allude to the darker aspect
of the Messianic age. Fearful national corruption had to be
dealt with. The whole framework of society, even to its
inner circles of domestic life, required rectification. The
great reformer could not accomplish his mission without
setting forth in the burning words of a terrible faithfulness
the fearful consequences of continued impenitence.
2. In keeping with all this, the New Testament begins
with the history of John the Baptist. We need not say,
that, when this remarkable man appeared, there was a wide-
spread expectation of some mighty change in the state of
the world. A return of the golden age was looked for by
224
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
many throughout heathendom. This may have arisen from
the dispersion of the Jews, who, by speaking of the expected.
Messiah, may have awakened hopes of brighter days in many
a thoughtful and otherwise desponding mind. Possibly the
tremendous load of religious and political, of moral and
physical evil, everywhere felt throughout the Roman Empire,
may have intensified the desire of deliverance, and thus "the
wish" may have become "the father of the thought" of a
coming Deliverer. We may thus have one of those prophecies
of human nature which are true to divine providence, and
sooner or later come to be fulfilled. Be this as it may, many
devout and spiritual Israelites were anticipating the fulfilment
of the great promise of their sacred writings,-—were, as it is
said, "waiting for the consolation of Israel."
3. Nor were these hopes groundless. The promises of
Jehovah, given, not hundreds, but thousands of years before,
might, indeed, have appeared to fail. However, there was
no real delay. Not till the world was fully prepared for the
erection and extension of the heavenly kingdom, could the
Messiah appear and do His great work. We might show
that at no earlier period could the foundation of that king-
dom have been so advantageously laid as when the Roman
Empire had brought so many peoples under the sway of one
mighty sceptre, and had to no small extent paved the way for
apostles and evangelists spreading abroad the glad tidings of
the world's salvation. The Messiah indeed came neither
before nor after "the fulness of the time."
In the suc-
cession of the great empires of Daniel, Jehovah had been
marvellously, we may say, miraculously, "preparing the way
of the Lord," as now, within the narrow circle of Judaism,
He was about to prepare it through the agency of the new
and mighty Elijah, John the Baptist.
4. We shall not refer to the early history of the only son
of the aged Zacharias and Elizabeth. By the Spirit of God
he was consecrated from his birth to his great work; as both
physically and mentally he was highly qualified for it. His
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
preaching was in keeping with his mission, summed up, as
it was, in the few emphatic words, "Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand." He demanded no mere external
reformation, but a radical and complete "change of mind;
thus clearly showing that the coming kingdom was spiritual
in nature and holy in character. His appearance, his energy,
his authority convinced many that he was no ordinary man.
Multitudes hailed him as a prophet. To a deputation sent
to inquire, he said he was not Elijah. Jesus afterwards
affirmed expressly that he was. How can this apparent con-
tradiction be removed? We have simply to suppose that the
Jews meant Elijah literally raised from the dead, which John
certainly was not. Jesus, again, speaks according to the true
meaning of Malachi, as distinctly indicated by the words of
the angel who announced his birth, And he shall go before
Him in the spirit and power of Elijah." This spirit and
power he wonderfully manifested as he addressed the hypo-
critical and impenitent in words of fire. He swept away
every "refuge of lies," especially all that self-delusion built
upon the bare fact of their natural descent from Abraham.
The spirit of the man, the character of his mission, and the
correctness of Malachi's prophetic description may be seen
in the example of his preaching preserved on the page of
Matt. iii. 7-13,
But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them,
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet
for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We
have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God
is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And
now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: there-
fore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water
unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is
(6
225
11
15
226
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and
gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire."
5. Unless in so far as was implied in his call to a higher
and diviner life, and in his allusions to Jesus Christ, John
does not appear to have discoursed much as to the nature
of the coming kingdom. Fully to reveal that nature was
rather the part of the coming King Himself. To no small
extent it had been revealed by ancient prophecy; but almost
universal worldliness had perverted the national mind, and
greatly blinded it to the spirituality and true glory of the
expected kingdom. The mission of John was the more
deeply needed. He had to address and awaken the con-
sciences of men. His burning words were irresistible.
Terror was aroused. Interest was created. Doubtless many
sincere ones were attracted. Multitudes from all parts flocked
to the new and divinely-inspired prophet. The entire ac-
count of his person, his preaching, and his wonderful career,
has the stamp of truth from beginning to end. For more
than four centuries the voice of prophecy had been silent.
Since Malachi had briefly pointed to the second Elijah, the
greatest changes, religious, social, and political, had taken
place. The ideas of the people had been greatly altered;
and, we may safely say, that no mind could have conceived
a life and character so adapted to the times and necessities
of the nation, so consistent with the prophetic glance at his
mission, and so suitable to him as the herald of the Promised
One, as we find so simply and naturally described in the
Gospels.
6. Jesus, we need hardly say, afterwards bore the highest
testimony to the greatness and excellence of John. He said,
"He was a burning and a shining light;" "What went ye
out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet. . Verily, I say unto you, among them
that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than
John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is least in the
GREATNESS OF JOHN.
kingdom of heaven is greater than he." We need not suppose
that Jesus here alludes to the absolute greatness either of
John or of the least in the coming kingdom. His meaning
may simply be, that, whilst, measured by the divine know-
ledge possessed, John excelled all who went before him, the
least in the kingdom referred to, measured by the same
standard, would assuredly, and that through the agency of
Jesus Himself, excel John. At the same time, Jesus doubt-
less alluded to John's wonderful fitness for a divine com-
mission of the highest character and the greatest difficulty.
Some would regard fidelity to his trust as the main feature of
his remarkable character; and the most prominent feature it
may have been. Still, we may well be struck with the pro-
found humility of his spirit, as expressed in such words as
those with respect to his unworthiness to bear the shoes of
the coming Messiah. Nor was he behind in another not less
remarkable feature,-that of the purest and most self-denying
devotedness to the coming King, in whose exaltation he so
sincerely rejoiced, though knowing the issue would be the
eclipse of himself, "He must increase, but I (must) decrease.”
Nor should we infer, that, because he was so sternly opposed
to sin, whether in prince or people, he had no great depth or
tenderness of heart. We are, perhaps, too apt to conclude
that the presence of one strong quality precludes that of all
the gentler and more beautiful attributes of soul. Doubtless
Jeremiah was thus judged by many, and yet, to the unbend-
ing fidelity of Elijah, he added the exquisite tenderness of
David. We need not suppose that the prophet of the Messiah
was wanting in the softer and gentler elements of human
nature, as certainly he was not wanting in the deepest and
most self-sacrificing love.
7. His fidelity cost him first his liberty, and next his life.
How grand the daring as well as the faithfulness of John
toward Herod! No princely or royal patronage could silence
his faithful tongue. How strange that a head so noble and
sacred should be in any sense at the mercy of a wicked and
227
228
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
revengeful woman! Such is assuredly one of the mysteries
of iniquity. Still, no such head can fall before its time, or
contrary to the will of God. John's work, great as it was,
was really done. Martyrdom sealed and crowned the
grandeur of the man. He had, indeed, "prepared the way
of the Lord.” Like that of the Messiah Himself, his mission
may seem to have failed. Still, like His, too, it was a perfect
success, and has its influence, we may say, over every subse-
quent age. He did, at least, what ought to have realized the
direct end of his work, in the words of Malachi, that of
turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
hearts of the children to their fathers." His work, as that
of Jesus, was fully accomplished. As a whole, the nation
continued in unbelief and hardness of heart; and the last
words of Malachi were sadly fulfilled: "Lest," said Jehovah,
"I come, and smite the land with a curse,' -a curse which
soon fell on the entire land and people of Israel, and which
rests on both to the present day.
66
II.
""
I. "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John,
to be baptised of him. But John forbad Him, saying, I have
need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And
Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer (it to be so) now: for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he
suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened
unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,
and lighting upon Him: and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying,
This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus
did Jesus first appear in public, as He was about to begin His
Messianic ministry. This presentation for baptism was more
than a personal act. From what immediately followed, we
may infer that, in this baptism, He at once openly recognized
the mission of the Baptist, and was Himself initiated into the
BAPTISM OF JESUS.
office of Messiah,—at least, when the dove-like form de-
scended, His consecration may be said to have been com-
pleted; and then might He have used the words of the
prophet, "The Spirit of Jehovah God is upon Me; because
Jehovah hath anointed Me to preach good tidings to the
meek." He would now deem His public ministry begun.
The way has been prepared: the expected King has come.
2. We have no reason for supposing that John ever saw
Jesus before. His words seem literally true,-John i. 33, 34,
"And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He
who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare
record that this is the Son of God." But if these words are
not to be taken in a limited sense, whence the strong
expression of humility, "I have need to be baptized of Thee,
and comest Thou to me"? John knew of the presence of
Jesus, and had received the above infallible token of His
identity. His thoughts would often dwell with intensest
interest on the Coming One; and when He did appear, we
need not wonder to find John at no loss to recognize Him.
The look, the voice, the spirit with which the request was
made, would at once reveal the King, and send a thrill to the
heart of John. The reply of Jesus would confirm the instan-
taneous impression, "Suffer (it to be so) now: for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,”—to do the whole will
of God. Only One in all the country could have so replied.
The superior must sometimes appear to be the inferior. We
are not prepared to maintain with some, that Jesus was fitly
baptized, though without personal sin, because He was the
great sin-bearer, as it seems perfectly right that Jesus should
thus acknowledge the mission of John and thus also express
His belief as to the coming kingdom, nay, as we have already
said, as Jesus was thus, and along with the descent of the
Spirit, inaugurated into His own great office.
3. Miraculous as it must have been, yet in the circum-
229
230
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
stances, how natural that the heavens should open, that the
dove-like Spirit should descend, and that the voice of the
Father should announce all good pleasure in such a Son!
Let the central figure be that declared, and then, we repeat,
all is most natural. John had now received the promised
token, and was prepared to point to the undoubted Messiah.
Jesus, however, led by the Spirit just descended, appears to
have immediately set out for that wilderness, in which He
was "tempted of the devil." We may suppose His direct
design to have been to fast, meditate, and pray, and thus to
make special preparation for the great work on which He
was now entering; whilst the Divine Spirit had a further end
in view, that of the great spiritual trial or temptation which
followed. Here we must contemplate Jesus specially in the
character of a man, however sinless and perfect,-of a man,
indeed, possessing a higher than human nature, and recently
declared to be the Son of God. Here this second Adam,
this second perfect man, may be well compared, or rather
contrasted, with the first. Whilst both were tempted by the
same great enemy, their circumstances were very different,
the one in a garden with every blessing and every comfort;
the other in a desert, without food, all alone, nay, "with the
wild beasts."
Ang
4. Let us briefly consider the temptation itself. After
fasting forty days and forty nights, we are told Jesus "was
afterwards an hungered." This implies, we may infer, that,
when the sustaining miracle ended, the wants and cravings
of nature began to be felt. Hence the form of the first
temptation.
(1) "And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If
Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be
made bread." We need not suppose that Satan appeared
in any visible form, or that the temptation was not purely
internal, or within the sphere of consciousness, as in the
case of an ordinary man. It doubly accorded with the state
of the mind of Jesus, who so recently heard the Divine Voice
TEMPTATION OF JESUS.
declaring His sonship, and who seemed now exposed, as
the Son of God could not be divinely intended, to suffer.
If, then, really of so exalted a rank, why not wield His
almighty power,-why not command the very stones to supply
His need? How natural the thought! To a less pure or
less exalted mind, it might have been accepted as at least
not unwise. To Jesus its real nature and origin at once
appeared. It was subtle in the extreme. It was a two-edged
sword, cutting in two ways,-either by insinuating unbelief
as to His Divine Sonship, or by suggesting the use of power
apart from the guiding will of the Divine Father. So the
children of God are often tempted, in times of want and
difficulty, either to doubt the divine care, or to adopt some
wrong method of deliverance. In neither way was Jesus
overcome. He shows all confidence in God. He replies,
"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
In His miraculous fast, He had experienced the truth of
these words, and now He successfully wields them against
the insinuations of the adversary. A real victory is achieved,
and that by the simple power of faith in God,—a faith which
remains perfect; and Jesus retains the full consciousness of
Sonship, and continues to act in harmony with it.
(2) This very faith, rising, as it seemed to do, above all
thought of the use of means, appears to have suggested the
next temptation. It may not have been at once and directly
presented. We may suppose a new current of thought and
feeling flowing through the mind of Jesus, who, at this
crisis, may have been deeply pondering the opening course
of His ministry, and, in particular, the way in which He
should present Himself to the people. The prophecy may
have occurred, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly
come to His temple." The thought may thus have been
injected, Go to the temple, cast Thyself down, God will
protect, a visible miracle will be wrought, and the people.
will be at no loss to recognize their expected King. At least
231
232
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
we seem to have no reason to suppose that Jesus was
literally carried to the pinnacle of the temple, and as literally
counselled to cast Himself thence. Thus palpably self-
revealed, the tempter would have been powerless. Assuredly,
with vastly greater art, the temptation to presumption was
insinuated, as, with perfect simplicity of heart, and with
perfect reverence for the divine will, as expressed through
the laws of Nature, it was instantaneously resisted. The
sword of the Spirit is again victoriously wielded, "It is
written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The
conditions of life or of well-being are not to be neglected,
even by the most highly favoured of God, in the assurance of
the exercise of supernatural aid. Jesus retains perfect reve-
rence for God as well as perfect faith in Him.
(3) In the account of the third temptation, the dramatic
element reaches its full height. Pondering the words, we
are led to contemplate the under current of the thoughts
and feelings of the tempted, as He meditates on the vastness
and the difficulty of His redemptive work. He knows the
spirit of the age, and anticipates deadly opposition to His
spiritual teaching and Messianic demands. A reign of
power and glory would meet the popular taste. The tempter
has failed to convert faith into either distrust or presumption.
He would now render the proposed conquest of the world
easy, and all anticipated suffering needless. He promises
the dominion of the whole earth on the simple condition
that Jesus shall take his way of obtaining it. Instead of
spiritual means, let Him wield all His mighty powers, and
thus, physically, show forth His greatness. All nations will
flock to His banner. Ah! To what would this amount?
It would imply the abandonment of His mission, and the
abuse of divinely gifted powers to the end of the grossest
self-exaltation; in fact, the adoption of a course of evil in
reality atheistic and satanic, a virtual worship of the tempter,
who, to all intents says, All these things will I give to Thee,
if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." The intruder is
OPENING MINISTRY OF JESUS.
detected and vehemently repelled, "Get thee hence, Satan;
it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him
only shalt thou serve." To gain the whole world, or to
obtain a crown without the cross, Jesus will do no evil, far
less will He cease to do the will of God. The contest is
over. The victory is complete. The Divine Sonship is
manifested and maintained. The tempter withdraws; and
Jesus is prepared for future warfare and work. In Him we
see the grand elements of sinless character, perfect faith,
perfect reverence, and perfect love. We need not wonder to
read of beings expressly sent from the higher world to
minister to such a conqueror.
:
233
5. Jesus now proceeds to His work. John had testified
concerning Him, "He it is, who coming after me is pre-
ferred before me, whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to
unloose." So much for His immeasurable superiority. We
are told of another testimony,-John i. 29, "Next day, John
seeth Jesus coming to him," returning from the desert, and
now appearing among the people, "and saith, Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away (or beareth) the sin of the
world." Thus, after the interview and baptism, John seems
to have had the idea of divine propitiation fully presented to
his mind. As yet he had preached mainly of a mighty One,
"whose fan was in His hand; " but now, like Simeon, and
more clearly than before, "his eyes had seen his salvation,
and he shapes his new and higher testimony accordingly.
Thus did he introduce Jesus to his disciples and to the
nation. He made himself nothing, that Jesus might be all.
They do not seem to have had much intercourse, far less
can Jesus be said to have been in any sense taught by John.
They were one in heart and aim, though each moved in his
peculiar sphere. Jesus, as John finely said, was the bride-
groom, whilst he was the bridegroom's friend.
}}
*.
234
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
III.
1. Jesus now draws disciples around Him. The express
testimony of John leads two of his disciples to join them-
selves to Jesus. Others follow their example. Personal
attraction is the only force applied. To not a few it proved
resistless. How these first disciples were treated by their
new Master we are not informed.
are not informed. From the first, they at
least felt that He was perfectly familiar with their individual
character. They saw and learned enough to assure them
that they "had found the Messias; nor did they ever after-
wards repent of becoming His disciples. In Him they beheld
the embodiment of an excellence far beyond all previous con-
ception. His presence as well as His teachings bring them
nearer to God and to heaven. How finely He assures
Nathanael of ever finding in Him the medium of inter-
communication between heaven and earth, between every
believer in Him and the Divine Father, as had been sym-
bolized many centuries before by the mystic ladder of Jacob's
dream. A test of the mission of Jesus was thus given,-
Does faith in Him thus open heaven, or thus reveal God, as
He here declares? To true enlightened faith, we are
persuaded, the promise is ever fulfilled. Only when faith in
some way comes short, does heaven remain shut or God
unknown.
""
Sk
2. For further insight into the early ministry and self-
revelation of Jesus, we may glance at the exquisite story of
the marriage in Cana of Galilee. Here, we are told, "He
manifested forth His glory," and confirmed the faith of His
newly-made disciples. This miracle we have long viewed as
performed progressively, or as the servants drew the water.
out of the water-pots; so that there was the greatest abun-
dance of wine, but not the enormous redundance which the
conversion of all the water would imply. At this feast we
find the simple words illustrated, "The Son of Man came
eating and drinking,"-came to act socially as well as
MIRACLE AT CANA.
235
religiously, and thus to perform a part, we may affirm, vastly
more delicate and difficult than that of John or of any man
who withdraws from the sphere of social life. Here the
humanity of Jesus appears real. He reveals His sympathy
with the race as well in the joys as in the sorrows of life.
He manifests both His spirit and His power. Nor would
we overlook the important revelation involved in the few
but pointed words addressed to His mother, "What have I
to do with thee," or, "What to Me and to thee," an elliptical
expression suggesting that here the provinces of son and
mother were perfectly separate,-that, in fact, the work of
Jesus was purely His own. In the whole work of redemption,
even to details, as here in the working of a miracle, no
maternal influence can be allowed, no relative 'connection,
however close, can be recognized. Thus, from the first, did
Jesus put His mother in her proper place; and if His words
and acts in relation to her had been duly appreciated, whilst
she would have ever been highly honoured, she would never
have been idolatrously exalted and made to occupy a place
in the very work of redemption, to the dishonour of both
Father and Son.
3. Apart from the question of date, we may here allude to
the visit of Jesus to Nazareth, so fully recorded by Luke.
We wish to point thus early to a special source of opposition,
that due to the current notion of His birth. He had already
created great excitement, and was held in highest admiration.
His fame had reached Nazareth. In the synagogue He
opened and read a portion of Isaiah,-"The Spirit of the
Lord (is) upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach
the Gospel," etc. "This day," said He, is this Scripture.
fulfilled in your ears. And all bare Him witness and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."
How much of His spirit and manner, of His teaching in the
synagogues, and of the impression made through all Galilee,
do these words reveal! What ought to have been the result?
All wondered. All admired. Why, then, reject? No
236
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
prejudice, no thought of origin, should have neutralized the
abundant evidence presented. Unbelief was far from inno-
cent. We need not wonder, that, reading their hostile.
thoughts, He should say, "Ye will surely say this proverb
unto Me, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard
done in Capernaum, do also here in Thine own country."
He spoke to their consciousness. Doubtless all was said
wisely, though words exciting anger may not often be used
by any inferior teacher. He may have foreseen that even
present anger would lead to future good. The words which
followed excited the fiercest wrath. His hearers felt the
power of His implied condemnation. "They led Him to
the brow of the hill whereon the city was built, that they
might cast Him down headlong." Their enmity was deadly.
Their spiritual pride, personal and national, was mortally
offended. He had power to escape. In other regions His
teaching was welcomed. By-and-by the same question of
birth and lowly condition affected people there, and led to
like prejudice and rejection. With this sad fact in view, we
may now pause and here contemplate the real truth as to His
birth, and the few recorded circumstances of His early life.
IV.
1. From the words of their townsmen, it is clear, Joseph
and Mary were not known or believed to be of the family of
David. They were of lowly rank, and distant from Bethlehem,
seem never to have disclosed their royal descent, and may
have felt that any allusion to it would have only exposed them
to sceptical derision. Joseph was regarded simply as a car-
penter; and Jesus was treated as his son, or, apparently, as
one of his sons. The marvellous circumstances and mira-
culous character of His birth were doubtless unknown. How
far these, including its angelic announcement to Mary, were
ever made known during His life, we do not know. Though
we have two genealogical tables, we regard the real proof of
origin as based on the express testimony of Jesus Himself,
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF JESUS.
237
contemplated as otherwise infallibly demonstrated to be the
Promised Messiah. However fully recorded, the personal
testimony of Joseph and Mary, apart from this, would not now
be accepted. However, even setting aside all genealogical
and individual proof of descent, if God was pleased, as He
certainly was, to treat Him, or to set His seal upon Him, as
the Son of David, and especially as His own only-begotten
Son, knowing that all the links of connection were unmis-
takably present to the Divine Mind, we could have no
reason to object or to doubt. We need hardly add, that we
must come to the same conclusion, if we simply admit the
sufficient or unerring inspiration of the writers of the four
Gospels. So far as the idea of incarnation is concerned,
however mysterious, and however incredible to many minds,
we need hardly say, it is the very corner-stone of the whole
temple of revealed truth, and the central thought of the Old
as well as of the New Testament Scriptures.
2. We shall not enter into the details of the early history
of Jesus, comparatively few as they really are. We deem them
accurate in themselves, a perfect and beautiful contrast to all
apocryphal accounts, and in highest consistency with the
character of so wonderful and so truly divine an advent. Let
any one read them, as they appear on the pages of the
Evangelists; and as he reads, let him ask how one after
another consists with the great and central idea of incarnation
just referred to, and, we are persuaded, he will receive such
an impression of congruity as cannot fail to suggest the truth
and divinity of the narrative. Thus in the case of the Annun-
ciation, what could be finer, purer, or more appropriate than
the appearance and words of the angel? So, again, the song
of the heavenly choir, "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good-will towards men." Where is the poet who
could have composed so rich and grand, so short and com-
prehensive, so suitable and seraphic a natal song? Well may
it be called the Song of the Angels, as it is just such as angels
may be supposed to sing. It is the song of heaven as well as
-
23
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
of earth, of eternity as well as of all time. No words could
more fitly express the glory and the goodness of the fact and
of the end of the divine incarnation. Let not the idea of an
angelic mission be deemed in the least degree unlikely. No
event in the history of the wide universe can equal that which
it was designed to celebrate. In that one event, we have an
eternal and most glorious revelation of Jehovah as the God of
Salvation. In it we behold an infinity of condescension and
love, not to mankind alone, but to the whole moral universe.
The visit of the Magi was finely symbolical of the ultimate
gathering of all nations around the throne of the Son of David
and King of Israel. The entire brief narrative of the Infant-
Redeemer is like the garment of "the man Christ Jesus" in
the days of His final sorrow, "woven without seam throughout,"
of a piece from beginning to end. How far Jesus was mater-
nally or otherwise informed of these early circumstances we
are not told. We are apt to assume that they were all along
familiar to His mind as they have been to our own; or we
easily slide into the thought, that, because He was divine,
He, as a man, must have been perfectly acquainted with them,
and with all the other facts of His infant history. However,
we must not forget His real human nature, or that, as we are
expressly informed, "He grew in wisdom," and therefore in
knowledge, grew, in fact, in body and mind, in harmony
with the laws of the human constitution. We make these
remarks, because, according as we judge of His early know-
ledge of Himself, we shall be led to think of the way in which
the idea of His own person and mission dawned upon His
mind. What is recorded of His mother suggests the idea of
a meditative rather than of a communicative woman. Her
surprise at His reference to "His Father's business" would
seem to imply that she had not made His young mind familiar
with the thought of His supernatural birth or real divine
paternity.
M
3. We seem thus to gather, that the knowledge of Himself
and of His mission may be traced rather to divine internal
JESUS AMONG THE DOCTORS.
revelation than to external and parental information; in fact,
to His Divine Father, through the Holy Spirit and the
Sacred Scriptures, as His pure and perfect nature was gradually
unfolded, or as He grew up to perfect manhood and full pre-
paredness for the great work assigned Him. That Spirit was
doubtless with Him from first to last, "given," as we are told,
"without measure." How the perfect human and unbroken
Messianic consciousness grew up within Him, and blended
harmoniously with the divine and perfect knowledge, we
cannot know, but must leave in the realm of profound and
inviolable mystery. Under one aspect it might be contem-
plated as a mighty and glorious faith, to be deepened,
strengthened, preserved by the continued purity of His own
heart and the unfailing perfection of His own moral and
spiritual life. In this way, He could be at least tempted, like
other sons of God, to doubt His own divine sonship, though
no temptation could possibly prevail. This thought appears
to throw a great amount of light on His entire history, for
instance, on that portion of it which we have been contem-
plating, that of His temptation in the wilderness. However,
we shall say no more of it now, but proceed with our present
subject.
4. How interesting and instructive His converse with the
doctors in the temple, to which we have referred! How
interesting and instructive through all time, and especially to
the youth of every age, His wonderful reply to His mother,
"Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business ?" —
the only words of Jesus recorded in Scripture up to the age
of thirty; and may well be deemed most appropriate on the
one hand, and most expressive of conscious divine sonship
no less than of perfect goodness and wisdom on the other.
If the problem had to be solved, What saying would best
befit the lips of Jesus at this early or at any other period of
His life? we believe it could have been solved by no words
more satisfactorily than by those actually used. If Jesus
did not really utter them, how transcendent the genius which
239
240
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
د.
could put them into His youthful lips. The reality is more
credible than the fiction.
5. We have little else recorded of Him. We are informed
of two things,-that He went back to Nazareth with Joseph
and Mary, and “ was subject to them;" and that "He in-
creased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and
man." He thus acted in every way as a child, as a boy, as
a youth, as a man, and in every case as a son. These few
words thus recorded of Him form a key to very much per-
taining to His true humanity, and fully warrant us to con-
template Him as really placed under all the ordinary laws of
nature, and, at the same time, to distinguish carefully between
His mysteriously united natures, human and divine. As to
an avocation, we are not fully assured of how He acted in
relation to Joseph and Mary. We cannot but believe that
He was in every way helpful, and seemingly engaged at the
humble, yet honourable, work of a carpenter. How He
morally and spiritually passed the long period which pre-
ceded His public ministry we are not informed, and it seems
impossible to know. When contemplating that ministry, we
are perhaps apt to forget the period just alluded to, with its
pure and perfectly sinless life. Of one thing, at least, we
may be assured, that, whatever the external forms of action,
His entire life consisted in doing what He so beautifully
described in His early days,-"His Father's business." This
perfect and sinless service, in obscurity and humble circum-
stances, had, doubtless, a far closer connection with His
unfailing and glorious after career than we can possibly
conceive.
V.
1. During His public ministry, to which we now return, it
was again and again remarked that Jesus had never had what
are usually accounted the high advantages of a learned edu-
cation. This was a source of frequent wonder on the part of
His hearers. That One, with no such advantages, should
-
MINISTRY OF CHRIST.
241
continue to be the most profoundly revered Teacher of the
most enlightened of mankind, is still the greatest wonder, and
can be accounted for on only one principle, namely, that He
was all that He professed to be, the Messiah, the Saviour of
the world. In one book, at least, He was profoundly learned,
the Scriptures of God, with which the narrative of His tempta-
tion shows Him to have been perfectly familiar, and whose
grand design, He well knew, was to testify of Himself. The
same familiarity is most amply illustrated throughout the
whole course of His ministry. His entire life, in fact, was
an embodiment of the divine spirit and divine truth of these
Scriptures, and a realization of the promises and predictions
relating to the Messianic age.
2. In John ii. 13—25, we have a remarkable account of His
first ministerial visit to the capital: "And the Jew's passover
was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in
the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and
the changers of money sitting: and when He had made a
scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple,
and (or rather, even, not the men, but all, even) the sheep
and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and
overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves,
Take these things hence (clearly proving that it was not the
men but the sheep and oxen which He drove out; else the
men who sold doves would have been driven out also): make
not My Father's house a house of merchandise. And His
disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine
house hath eaten Me up." We need not say that a difficulty
arises from the fact that, in the other gospels, this or a like
act is placed towards the close of His ministry. Of course
such an act, like the more remarkable sayings of Jesus, might
have been repeated. Without discussing the point, we may
simply observe that, from its very nature, the impressive and
instructive act in question would seem most suitable to either
the beginning or the close of His more public life, or to both.
We need not be astonished to find Him at both important
16
242
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
periods appearing in all the authority of His Father, and thus
emphatically asserting His own Sonship on the one hand,
and vindicating the honour of Him whose temple and wor-
ship He, on both occasions, found thus and otherwise so
deeply dishonoured. His act was more than directly minis-
terial, or than an indignant rebuke of an offensive evil, it was
also highly symbolical, pointing to the true character of His
great work of rearing the glorious, holy, and living Temple
of His Father. "The Jews said unto Him, What sign
showest Thou unto us, seeing Thou doest these things?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews,
Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt
Thou rear it up in three days? But He spake of the temple
of His body. When therefore He was risen from the dead,
His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them.”
This sign, pointing as well to the nature of His work as to the
truth of His Messiahship, then belonged to the future, and
remains to this day and for ever the grand and all-sufficient ex-
ternal proof of His mission and authority. He doubtless knew
that the rightness of the act would commend itself to every
conscience, and thus be a sign of His right to do it. Whether
He had previously wrought such miracles as ought to have
carried conviction we do not know. It is, at least, added of
the same period, "Now when He was in Jerusalem at the
passover, in the feast day, many believed in His Name when
they saw the miracles which He did." Even those who
asked the sign may have witnessed some of these. So we
find others afterwards doing; so that, here and elsewhere,
Jesus may, because of the unreasonableness of any further
demand, have thus pointed to His future resurrection as the
chief external proof of His mission.
3. As a further illustration of Jesus' method of making dis-
ciples and of communicating divine and saving truth, we may
advert to the case of Nicodemus, whose attention and inquir-
ing mind were awakened by the miracles just referred to.
NICODEMUS.
243
a
Prejudice against Jesus soon spread, not improbably through
His decisive procedure in the temple. Hence the caution, if
not the timidity, of the secret visit of this Jewish ruler, who
discloses a spirit of sincerity and uprightness. He doubtless
inquired concerning the mission and special message of Him
whose miracles, he freely acknowledged, proved to be "
teacher come from God." Jesus at once alludes to the
Kingdom of God," and indicates that He was no mere
teacher, however come from heaven. He points to the great
fact, that instruction alone, however enlightened, cannot
suffice, that there must be a great spiritual change, that there
must be the origination of a new nature in the case of all who
would enter or become true subjects of the heavenly kingdom.
This implies more than the spiritual nature of that kingdom,
even its redemptive character. It pre-supposes the lapsed
and degenerate condition of mankind. Thus Jesus announced
at the outset the cardinal Christian doctrine of Regeneration
by the Holy Spirit,-a doctrine taught indeed in the Old
Testament, yet brought fully to light only in the New. In
alluding to water as well as Spirit, Jesus by no means refers to
what is now familiarly called Baptismal Regeneration, which,
we hold, is not taught in the New Testament, as it is most
certainly not taught in the Old; whilst Jesus assumes that
the doctrine here taught by Him is assuredly and sufficiently
clearly set forth in the Old, as otherwise He could not have
expressed His astonishment at the ignorance of Nicodemus,
“Art thou a master in Israel," one who ought to be familiar
with the Scriptures, "and knowest not these things?" For
announcement of the doctrine, we might refer to
Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from
all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you; and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments
an
244
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
160
and do (them)." The language of Jesus and of the prophet
is very strong and highly figurative. Those who take the
water literally and not figuratively or symbolically, exactly
resemble the Jewish Ruler, who thought Jesus meant a second
birth, not symbolically or figuratively, but literally. Taking
it thus, no wonder the learned Pharisee should have been
startled at the idea of such a birth. The only wonder is, that
still more learned divines should understand the reference to
water in the same way, literally, and yet be capable of accept-
ing such a thought, especially as all is simple when allowance
is made for such a figurative mode of expression as Jesus was in
the constant habit of using. Nay, we find Him putting the same
idea in a mild and beautiful form, when He says, "Except
ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot
enter the kingdom of Heaven." With what solemnity and
dignity the young Teacher here addresses the inquiring
Pharisee! What superiority do we perceive in the humble
peasant of Galilee! He speaks as the Son of God, and as if
the whole heart of God, with all heaven, were present to His
mind. Having pointed to the necessity of a mighty change,
He next, as in bold relief, set forth the truth which the Spirit
uses in effecting it: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life." Whatever the work of the Spirit, not till the faith in
Jesus here alluded to is fully exercised can the new birth be
justly said to be consummated or the divine spiritual life be
possessed and enjoyed. Thus, from the first, Jesus makes
faith in Himself a condition of entering the heavenly
kingdom.
4. In His treatment of the woman of Samaria, we might
give another and equally striking illustration of the teaching
of Jesus. We might thus show how He could, with perfect
wisdom and grace, deal with persons of every class of society
and every shade of character.
shade of character. He at once spoke to her con-
science and gained her confidence. How sublime the truth
WOMAN OF SAMARIA.
245
uttered by Him with respect to the spirituality of God: " God
is a spirit," and to the character of true worship, "they who
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." In
promising what He calls, in His usual highly figurative style,
"living water," and what, in fact, involves the gift of divine,
spiritual, and eternal life to all who believe in Him, He en-
ables every one to bring His mission to the test of experience.
He claims to be the only and the abundant fountain of life,
and assures all who drink, or who receive Him, that they shall
have in them "a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." Assuredly, “no man ever spoke like this Man." Who
ever made such a promise? Has it been fulfilled? It has,
and that in the case of countless numbers. If so, then how
unspeakably precious on the one hand, and how infallibly
demonstrative of His Messiahship on the other!
5. However, we must not enlarge. We cannot enter into
detail concerning His whole and varied work of evangeliza-
tion. Disciples everywhere multiplied, yet by no means to
remain, without exception, faithful to such a Master. Twelve,
we need not say, were appointed to the high and peculiar
office of apostleship. Then seventy others were sent forth
to preach the gospel. In this way He provided the nucleus
of the future Church, and prepared for its enlargement and
authoritative supervision. We might show how His claims.
thus became more widely known. We must not, however,
follow Him from place to place.
6. We may rather refer briefly to His general teaching.
Even here we can hardly allude to that most wonderful
outflow of divine wisdom, so long admired and extolled not
much less by highly cultivated unbelievers than by the
devoutest Christians, the Sermon on the Mount. It is diffi-
cult to understand how so many of the former can account
for such moral elevation and such supreme wisdom in one of
so imperfect educational culture. In this, as in other dis-
courses, Jesus rises up before the human mind as a Being of
unparalleled dignity and worth. Here He speaks as the
246
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
founder and lawgiver of the new and heavenly kingdom.
What are usually called the Beatitudes are profound and
comprehensive spiritual and moral aphorisms, the essential
laws of that kingdom, true to human nature in its highest and
richest development, and revealing, jointly and severally, the
sure and only way to real excellence and eternal blessedness.
Though not all absolutely original, they may be all called
original as here presented in relation to the new dispensation.
They wisely teach, that true happiness depends rather on
what men are than on what they possess. This forms a
distinguishing feature of the whole teaching of Jesus; His
great aim ever being to make men better, or more true and
noble men, excellent in themselves, men of purified and
perfected nature. We might go on to illustrate the moral
elevation of Jesus as a lawgiver, by showing how He dealt.
with the laws and precepts of the Old Testament, especially
how He set them forth in all their spirituality and breadth.
He thus met and opposed the fearful tendency of human
nature to the merely outward and formal,—a tendency at that
time acting with mighty and injurious force in the Jewish
nation, specially in the Pharisaic party, which thus became
the most thoroughly antagonistic to His teaching and to
Himself. The spirituality of His doctrine extended to the
entire worship of God as well as to the moral duties of man,
as we might fully illustrate by referring to what is usually
called the Lord's Prayer, though, strange to say, even it has
been sadly misused to subserve the very end to oppose which
it was expressly taught,-that of an external and formal
worship.
7. However, we cannot adequately treat of this great dis-
course. Yet, to one grand passage we may expressly allude,
-Matt. v. 43-48, "Ye have heard that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy; but I
say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that
despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the
HIGHEST MORAL PRECEPT.
247
children of your Father who is in heaven: for He maketh
His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them that love
you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the
same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more
(than others)? do not even the publicans so?
Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is
perfect." Here moral precept rises to its greatest height of
perfection. The Greeks deemed it a point of lofty ambition
to be excelled by none no less in the hatred of foes than in
the love of friends. But, with all the authority of a divine
lawgiver, Jesus here says, "I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, and do good to them
that hate you." Nothing can transcend this. The like pre-
cept, it has been often said, may be found elsewhere, even in
heathen writings. However, nowhere can so grand an utter-
ance be found, whether taken in all its completeness or
supported by the example given,—the glorious example of the
great Creator and universal Father of mankind. Here, in
fact, the gospel of divine mercy and love is said to be pro-
claimed throughout the whole world; whilst the example of
God, in loving and blessing His enemies, the most unjust and
wicked of men, is set forth to be copied by all His children,
and required to be followed by all who would, by likeness
prove themselves to be His children. The heart of God is
here unveiled. The spirit of providence is revealed. The
character of Jesus is made known. The duty of man is laid
down. In keeping with the grandeur of this entire sermon,
the excellence of the Speaker appears to rise immeasurably
above that of all men of ancient or modern times. From the
first to the last sentence, the calm and mighty tone is that of
One who could say, "We speak that we do know, and testify
that we have seen,"-that, indeed, of the Son of God and
Saviour of the world.
8. We shall not proceed further with the general teaching
of Jesus, but rather go on to treat of His more special teach-
248
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
ing with respect to certain subjects of highest moment. As
has been often remarked, He left no writing behind Him.
His work was not on this account the less safe or the less
complete. He may be truly said, as no other could, to have
printed and published all that He wished to convey to man-
kind. He knew of minds prepared to receive, and of memo-
ries prepared to treasure up, what He conveyed to them,
sometimes in such striking forms, and sometimes so repeatedly,
as to render it impossible for all to misunderstand or to
forget; whilst He further knew, that the Divine Spirit would
infallibly secure the permanent possession and universal diffu-
sion of the whole circle of redemptive truth as, without
mixture of error, imparted by Him to His chosen disciples.
VI.
""
1. The first of these subjects to which we would refer is
that of the Coming Kingdom. Both John and Jesus preached,
"Repent; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." This
kingdom is also called the Kingdom of God. Jesus speaks of
it expressly as His kingdom, "My kingdom is not of this
world." He says the same of Himself," I am from above;
"I am not of the world." The same, too, He says of His
disciples, "They are not of the world." Now, as they are
not of the world, because they are of a different spirit and
character from the world, so His kingdom may be said to be
the same, or of a different spirit and character from all the
kingdoms of the world. As such, or viewed thus generally,
it had existed from the beginning or from the time of the
first operations of grace in the renewal of the human heart.
Wherever God reigned over a willing people, nay, over one
devoted spirit, this kingdom really was. Of course, the kingdom
of God, in its widest sense, is co-extensive with the entire
universe. Here the expression relates to loyal human sub-
jects alone. But why should the kingdom spoken of be
preached as "at hand" or as about to appear? It was so,
•
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
249
doubtless, because it was about to be set up in its thoroughly
Messianic form. The promised Saviour-King had now
come; and, as such, was about to lay the foundation of His
kingdom. In one sense, the whole world is His Kingdom,
as He has a full redemptive right to it, and as the entire
universe is God's kingdom by creative right. However, we
here, of course, speak of that whose subjects all love and serve,
with whatever imperfection, their Saviour-King.
2. Let us begin with the King Himself, the promised
Messiah who had now come. Perhaps with restricted mean-
ing, Nathaniel said,-" Thou art the Son of God, the King of
Israel." Only as in some sense, but certainly not literally, to
to sit on the throne of David, did He require to be David's
son and heir. That throne, whatever else, was a type of His.
Those who would anticipate a second coming of Jesus to
occupy the literal throne of David, must consistently believe
that He will as literally fill the office of the Aaronic priest-
hood. We might refer to various points of contrast as well
as of resemblance between the kingdom of Jesus and of David.
Thus David was simply raised to the throne of an existing
and divinely ordered kingdom; whilst Jesus came to create,
order, and establish His. There were, indeed, those then
living who, as already hinted at, belonged to it in essential
character, as there had been in all ages, and as there may be
in lands in which His Name is unknown. Still, Jesus actually
set up His kingdom by leading such to accept Him as the
true Messiah, as well as by "calling sinners to repentance
towards God and faith in Himself,-by, in fact, revealing Him-
self to both classes and leading them to love and serve Him
as their Saviour-King. As it was by such self-revelation and
by such spiritual attraction that He gathered disciples and
formed the first nucleus of His kingdom, to save repetition,
we shall here say no more directly of Him, but go on to treat
of it in a way, we trust, fitted indirectly to set forth both His
procedure and Himself.
>>
3. We may therefore treat of His subjects. As just said,
250
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
Paul after-
"When it
they are made by His revealing Himself to men.
wards finely illustrates this by his own case,-
pleased God to reveal His Son in me." How much, how-
ever, does the self-revelation of Jesus insolve!
(1) It implies the revelation of man to himself. Self-
ignorance is a bar to the knowledge of Jesus. Without some
sense of sin and spiritual want, men can see no beauty in
Him, and are sure to treat Him with neglect, if not with dis-
like or contempt. Hence the foremost place which Jesus
has wisely given among the laws of His Kingdom to the
first beatitude," Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of Heaven." Hence, too, the force of the
words already quoted, "Except ye be converted and become as
little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven."
The impenitent will not seek this kingdom. The proud in
heart cannot prize or receive it. The striking parable of the
Publican and Pharisee illustrates the spirit and character of
those who are near it, and of those who are far from it.
Hence, too, the point of the saying,-"Woe unto you rich;
for ye have received your consolation." Such as are satisfied
with themselves and with their possessions, such as neither
know nor feel their deepest wants, will not seek, and so shall
never find, the true riches of the Heavenly Kingdom.
(2) Jesus enters the heart conscious of sin and want, and
thus prepared to receive Him. He reveals Himself to such as
have the humility, the simplicity, and sincerity of babes.
Worldly pride and prudence cannot appreciate His worth or
prize the blessings of His kingdom. Hence He turns
to others of totally different temper, saying, "Come unto Me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls: for My
yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Thus He reveals Him-
self to the sincere as the Friend of man, the Saviour of sinners,
the Giver of rest and blessing. He comes to man as a Saviour :
they receive Him as such; and they give themselves to Him
Kate
SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM.
as a King. He is theirs; and they are His. In revealing
Himself, He specially reveals His love. His love awakens
theirs. His is emphatically a kingdom of love.
(3) All this consists with the fact, that faith in Him is ever
declared by Himself and His apostles to be the sole condition
of salvation or the only door of the kingdom of Heaven.
Faith believes, trusts, receives Jesus as He reveals Himself
to the soul. As He speaks to the spiritually dead, faith
"hears the voice of the Son of Man," and new life, the
second birth, "the first resurrection" immediately follows.
Through this faith, love enters; and this love is life.
(4) Nor is this inconsistent with what we have found Jesus
teaching Nicodemus as to the new birth through the agency
of the Holy Spirit. Too often has this birth been contem-
plated apart from the knowledge and faith of Jesus. What-
ever the work of the Spirit, and whatever the great change
effected, we must not separate either from that knowledge
and faith. The Spirit enlightens the mind and prepares the
heart for the reception of Jesus, by awakening that conscious-
ness of sin and that sense of spiritual need, without which, as
already said, men will not seek salvation. The Spirit, further,
enlightens as to Jesus, and thus leads to the exercise of faith
in Him. Thus is that love created which constitutes the
new spiritual life; or thus is the new birth the result of the
faith in question.
251
(5) In this way the kingdom of Heaven is formed by the
living, loving union of Redeemer and redeemed, of King and
subjects, of Jesus and His people. In Him they do not seek
or find a mere future or distant salvation, but a salvation
which they immediately experience, and which consists of
the richest blessings which can be enjoyed in this world or in
the next,—as a full and free forgiveness of all sin, peace with
God, joy in the Holy Spirit, love to God and man through
love to Christ, and thus a new heart, a divine life, re-union
with God, separation from evil, and a real and conscious
connection with the unseen and eternal world. All this is
252
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
:
matter of experience, and that in proportion as Jesus is
known, trusted, accepted. Thus does He practically prove
Himself to be no mere man, nay, to be no mere creature, but,
as He affirmed, the Son of God and Saviour of man; and,
accordingly, He taught His disciples, that to see Him was to
see God, to love Him was to love God, to obey Him was to
obey God, and to be one with Him was to be one with God.
Thus is He all in all to every subject of the heavenly kingdom.
The connection between them is the closest possible, the
most real and precious, the most mysterious and wonderful.
(6) This union of faith and love has a mighty assimilative
power. The subject becomes more and more like his King
The spirit and character of Jesus are thus reproduced in all
His true disciples. If that spirit and character were not in
every respect faultless and perfect, growing likeness to Him
would not ever be growing goodness in His people. Only as
being perfect and the very image of God, nay, God in our
nature, could He at once support the faith and hope of
countless sinful beings, and have the assimilative power
referred to, by which all true believers are transformed into
the likeness of God. All this He has, without real exception,
been ever found to do and to have. We may say what we
have virtually said already, that He has amply realized the
truest idea of salvation, and thus proved Himself to be the
divine and divinely promised Saviour King, by being the life,
the light, the peace, the hope, the regenerating spirit, the
God-uniting power of all who have ever sincerely believed
in His name and yielded themselves up to His guidance and
control.
(7) Thus united to Him, and to God through Him, His
subjects are united to one another. They love one another,
as all belonging to Him; and they love one another because
of that sympathy which is due to the same common divine and
spiritual nature. In Jesus they are re-constituted a portion
of the family of God. We shall not here say much of the
Divine Fatherhood, but here close our remarks as to the
LAWS OF THE KINGDOM.
253
subjects of the kingdom of Jesus by thus identifying them with
the children and heirs of God.
4. We may now consider the Laws of the Kingdom. These
have been summed up by Jesus in the one law of love. There
may, of course, be numerous precepts, and thus countless
forms of duty or modes of obedience; but the real and whole
law, written, according to prophetic promise, on the heart of
every subject,-in fact, the law of the new or renewed nature
of man,-is this law of love. Jesus sets forth this law in
relation to Himself in the most expressive and decisive form,
demanding higher love to Himself than to relatives and
friends, parents and children, này, than to self or life, and
declaring that no man can be His disciple or worthy of Him,
who loves any object whatever more than Him. If Jesus is
what Scripture affirms, this is most reasonable and just. If
not, it is the most arrogant as well as extravagant demand
which could have possibly been made. This alternative may
well suffice to assure us of the divine reality of His claims.
All knowledge of Himself, and all experience of His redemp-
tive power, prove the justice and reasonableness of His
demands. He requires, with like justice and reasonableness,
mutual love on the part of all His subjects. They are re-
quired to love one another, as He had loved them." This
He calls a new commandment," -new as the law of the new
kingdom, and new as based on the new ground of common
redemptive indebtedness to Him. In fact, the two laws of
love, to which we here refer, are new forms of the old laws of
love to God and man, on which, Jesus finely says, "hang all
the law and the prophets,"-namely, "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy strength;" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself." This religion of love has well been styled the
Absolute Religion; and by some, who do not exalt Jesus to the
real height of His glory, He has been credited with the
honour of being the founder of this religion. It may be well,
however, to say, that the real founder is not Jesus, but one
66
1
254
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
whom those referred to are less inclined to honour, even
Moses, in whose writings these two great laws are found.
Still, we would rather trace them to the inspiration of God, of
which their superhuman excellence is self-evident proof.
Jesus has done something higher than what we have ascribed
to Moses on the one hand, and to divine inspiration on the
other; He has realized the living, absolute, and perfect religion.
which these laws simply indicate, but did not and could not
create. By inspiring, as He has in countless instances,
supreme love to Himself and equal love to His people, Jesus
has in reality inspired supreme love to God and equal love to
mankind. We bring out all this that we may add, that these are
the two eternal laws of the kingdom of heaven. Than these
no laws can be conceived as purer and higher in themselves, or
as ruling the highest and holiest beings in heaven or in any
realm of the moral universe. Perfect obedience to them is
indeed the noblest morality. Now, Jesus has assuredly created
this living morality, and continues to do so wherever He is
received and in proportion as He is received.
"Talk we of morals, O Thou bleeding Love,
The grand morality is the Love of Thee."
All this we hold to be intuitively certain. We repeat, then,
these are the laws of heaven, the laws of the moral uni-
verse, the laws which cannot possibly be either excelled or
repealed, but are divine and must be eternal. He who leads
men to obey them, who writes them on the heart, making
it natural for His subjects to obey them as thus being a part
of their new nature, can be no less than a new Creator, a true
Redeemer, the very Being to whom all give the appropriate
name of "Jesus; because He saves His people from their
sins." Hence the truth of the words of Jesus,-"By this
shall all (men) know that ye are My disciples, if ye have
love one to another," know that ye are My disciples, and
therefore truc subjects of the heavenly kingdom,-know that
ye are the disciples of Me, of Me as professing to be the
LAWS OF THE KINGDOM.
255
Messiah, and therefore that I am the true Messiah and Saviour
of the world.
We might have summed up the laws of the kingdom of
heaven in the one great law of loving obedience to the will
of Jesus or to the will of God. However, we have given what
we deem a more comprehensive and practically useful view of
them, nay, a view which seems essentially requisite in order
to the clear and correct apprehension of what is involved in
all true obedience to the will of God or of Christ. All who
love God or Christ supremely will accept and obey the will of
God or of Christ perfectly. In rising towards that love and
that obedience, the Christian must habitually receive Christ
fully, and as fully give himself to Christ. As he so does,
Christ dwells in his heart by faith, and he freely chooses the
will of Christ to be his will, and obedience to that will follows as
a matter of course. But the will of Christ being the will of
God, in obeying Christ he obeys God. In so far as he thus
obeys, he obeys the one and only law of heaven, the will of
God, and thus, to the same extent, realizes what heaven is, as
well as belongs to the kingdom of heaven on earth. Hence
it is that Jesus declares that finally those only who do the
will of God can have a place within the heavenly kingdom.
They only are fit for a place in that world where perfect
obedience to the divine will is the perpetual work. Those
who have Christ so dwelling in their hearts that they delight
to do the will of God, have the clearest and surest witness
within themselves that Jesus is the Christ, that they are the
saved of the Lord, that they have heaven begun in their
own souls, and that they are in course of preparation for the
heaven to which they look forward.
We might still further view these laws as summed up in all
that light which is in the renewed heart and mind, which
flows from the example and precepts of Jesus, which arises
from the growing knowledge of the Word of God and from
the thoughtful study of the relations and circumstances of
life. The combined light thus and otherwise arising will be
256
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
amply sufficient for all practical purposes, and, if carefully
followed, will be the very light "which shineth more and
more unto the perfect day." In following it, the Christian
will be able to discharge the manifold duties of life, and to
do the daily work of this world justly and nobly, wisely and
well. At the same time, whilst, as a whole, his path will
thus be clear and unmistakable, he will by no means become
independent of the divine and living Guide. In many a
difficulty and perplexity he will need the aid of heavenly
wisdom, and the comfort of the precious promise, "I will
guide thee with Mine eye." He will learn that it is one of
he sweetest and most sacred exercises of the devout and
loving heart ever to look up for this needful and promised
guidance," O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them
lead Me: then will I praise Thee, O God, my God."
We have said that the laws of the heavenly kingdom, the
law of supreme love to God and the law of equal love to
man, are true to our clearest intuition, and that no higher
law can be conceived by the human mind. It may be well
to allude to what some, in our day, would have us to deem
higher and nobler still. They regard Christians as acting
too much in view of the rewards and punishments of a future
state, and thus at the very least mingling a selfish spirit with
the purer and loftier spirit of benevolence with which they
may be animated. They would have all to seek the good of
others without the shadow of any other or ulterior aim. Self
is thus to be entirely suppressed. The good of others or of
mankind at large is to be the one and undivided object in
view. Hence the name of their ethical system, Altruism.
The Bible law is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
The Altruistic law is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour better
than thyself, or, at least, rather than thyself." The most
pure and noble of men have found it sufficiently hard to
fulfil the former. Our Altruistic friends deem it too easy for
them to obey with any sense of self-satisfaction, and so they
must prescribe to themselves a law of far more difficult ful-
ALTRUISM.
257
filment, requiring the loftiest possible spirit, and demanding
the greatest possible self-sacrifice. In return for the most
self-denying devotedness to the interest of mankind they
must look for no smile of loving recognition from any known
personal God; and they must go on in their noble career
without one ray of immortal hope to sustain and cheer them
amidst the countless difficulties and discouragements of life.
What shall we say to all this? We shall at once admit that
not a few noble spirits have most wonderfully persevered in
well-doing, even under the terribly depressing and dis-
heartening influence of religious doubt and perplexity.
There are assuredly men of both native and cultivated
benevolence, whom no dangers can daunt, and whose spirit
seems to rise with every opportunity of effecting secular
good. Still, these are exceptions, for the most part indebted
to the Christian culture of earlier life. However, under the
culture which they would introduce, with all that coldness
or deadness of heart which Agnosticism, or the idea of an
unknowable God, cannot but produce, and with all that like
coldness or deadness which must follow the extinction of the
hope of immortality, we cannot look for men of the spirit
which they so magnify or of a character at all comparable to
that of any sincere and genuine Christian. In fact, the loss
of a supreme love to God and of a joyous hope of immortality
is such a loss of divine and spiritual life as involves the loss
of the highest, richest, noblest elements of our very being,
nay, the loss of all true manhood, a loss which leaves the
very best of men at their very best in no higher rank than
that of the highest of the beasts that perish." In such a
state of degradation they will not long retain the pure and
unselfish spirit to which we now refer. All history illustrates
the truth of this. Low thoughts of God and high thoughts
of man, or a low sense of obligation to God and a high
sense of obligation to man will never long co-exist. Altruists
go far astray in denying or overlooking the purity and the
excellence as well as obligation of genuine love of self,-the
CC
17
258
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
love of that grand, eternal, and priceless being which God
has given us, and for whose culture and final perfection we
are, in virtue of promised and all-sufficient aid, most truly
responsible. There is as real and as great a difference
between pure self-love and every form of selfishness as there
is between light and darkness. Nor can any man possess
true self-love without seeking the highest well-being of
himself, without being prepared to deny all self-indulgence
and to refuse all unrighteous gain which cannot fail to injure
himself, or without cultivating all that love to God and man,
whose want or whose loss cannot, as we have said, but be
the greatest want or loss to himself. In fact, no man can
have, in the sense referred to, too great or too strong a love
of self, a love of his own being, which, as divine and im-
mortal, must ever transcend his highest appreciation and
ever be worthy of his profoundest love. Only as he thus
highly values and loves himself can he be expected to value
and love mankind. Christianity, whilst encouraging and
developing this true and most needful love of self, has a
power and a method of destroying all real selfishness
peculiarly its own. It is perfectly true that selfishness may
be intensely religious as well as intensely worldly. It is
perfectly true, that the man who devotes himself to the
services of religion solely with a view to escape the punish-
ment and to enjoy the rewards of a future state, is as
essentially selfish as the man who devotes himself to the
enterprises of life with a like exclusive view to escape the
evils and to enjoy the good things of this world. Nay, a
course of the greatest religious self-denial may be ardently
pursued from purely selfish motives or with a purely selfish
spirit, just as a like course may be pursued in like manner by
the miser under the influence of the selfish and sordid lust of
gold. Still, whilst all this is true, we must not regard the
simple and divinely implanted desire to escape evil and to
enjoy good, whether in this world or in the next, as in itself
wrong or selfish. When unperverted, it is simply a part of
EXCELLENCE OF TRUE SELF-LOVE.
259
that just and commendable self-love which all ought to
possess. In the outset, Christianity presents to the mind the
future results of a life of holiness on the one hand, and of a
life of sin on the other. Self-love is thus most undoubtedly
addressed. Nor is genuine love to God or real benevolence
to man yet supposed to exist. Now, if like other religions,
or as many ignorantly accuse it, Christianity did little or no
more than thus address self-love, it might be more than
suspected of developing a mere religious selfishness. But
having awakened a sense of sin and danger, and thus far
awakened the love of self, it is the part of the religion of the
Bible to do what no other religion has ever so truly and so
richly done, namely, to impart all the blessings of salvation
as the immediate, the free, and the unmerited gift of God
through Jesus Christ, or to bestow thus freely the gift of
Jesus Christ Himself as the real sum and source of these
blessings, and thus to give all that full and most wonderful
satisfaction to the whole heart, including the self-love
referred to, which, in the first instance, creates new gratitude
and love to Christ and to God and, in the second, destroys
native selfishness, worldly or religious, by leaving or pre-
senting no object fitted to awaken selfish desire or to intensify
and strengthen selfishness. Wherever this satisfaction of
self-love, which is destructive of selfish desire, is wanting or
imperfect, Christian life is wanting or imperfect. The desire
which remains to affect the heart and life is unselfish, even
that of becoming more and more Christian, more and more
truly satisfied with Christ and His salvation, more and more
loving and devoted towards God and man. To put this in
one other light, the Christian, having fully received Christ,
and having Christ richly dwelling in his heart, fully gives
himself to Christ, and thus has his heart so disengaged as to
be free to love Christ and to love God and man in Him.
In this way, in so far as he is a Christian, he has really but
one grand object of love,-Christ and all that are one with
Him, or God and all that are one with Him. In fact, union
260
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
with Christ, the invariable result of faith in Him, places the
Christian within the circle of the eternal kingdom, identifies
him with it and all that it includes, and thus leads him to
regard all as in a high sense his own, which he cannot but
love with a whole and undivided heart. Up to the extent
in which he fails to do this, or to the extent in which selfish-
ness remains or he has a divided heart, his Christianity is
imperfect. If it were at fault, he might be a perfect Christian,
and yet selfishness might continue. But it is proved to be
faultless and perfect by the fact that the more enlightened
and complete any one becomes as a Christian, the more
benevolent and the less selfish, the more faultless and perfect,
he becomes as a man.
5. What we have thus been endeavouring to illustrate may
at least suffice to show the oneness of the Messianic kingdom
on earth and in heaven. All united to Christ by faith are as
truly subjects of that kingdom whilst in this world as when
removed to the world above, just as children are members of
the same family as well in the days of childhood as in the
years of youth or manhood. Nor should any Christian be
satisfied till he is fully assured of being a loving and loyal
subject of Jesus, and thus of being within the pale of the one
eternal kingdom. Thus assured, he will know that death
cannot alter his destiny. If within that pale, enjoying union
and communion with Jesus Christ in this life, he will feel
that, after death, he will continue within the same pale and in
the enjoyment of the same union and communion. Here the
kingdom is specially one of grace and of remaining imperfec-
tion; hereafter it is one of glory and of completed perfection.
Still, as said, they are one and the same. The subjects enter
the one through faith and with renewed nature, and they enter
the other in all the perfection of their spiritual being. Within
the one they are still in their minority and at school, with all
the weaknesses of immaturity. When faithful and true, they
are prepared for the other, and, leaving all imperfections
behind, they are welcomed to blessedness and glory.
PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM.
261
6. We may now add a few descriptive allusions made by
Jesus to this kingdom,-allusions virtually prophetic, and now
clearly seen to be historically as well as spiritually true. Of
course, we can only select.
(1) In Matt. xiii., we have a whole series of parables de-
scriptive of it. We find its origin and growth illustrated by
the case of a sower, whose good seed falls on different kinds
of soil, and yields different results. Again, the mixture of
truth and error, of good and evil, of even righteous and
wicked men, to be found in the kingdom of grace is illustrated
by the case of an enemy sowing tares in the field of a
husbandman. The kingdom is compared to a treasure in a
field, and also to a pearl of great price, to possess which he
who finds goes and sells all that he has. It is further com-
pared to a net, which encloses bad fish as well as good,-the
bad not to be used, but to be cast away. The smallness of
the kingdom at the beginning and its ultimate greatness is
set forth by the small grain of mustard seed, which grows up
to a tree in whose branches the birds rest. The diffusive
spirit and converting power of the kingdom are illustrated by
the case of leaven hid in so many measures of meal till all
was leavened. These comparisons are, like the types of the
Old Testament, as we have said, really prophetic. All must
be combined, if we would form a clear and full idea of the
object described. When we do so, we may easily perceive
how accurately the Great Architect had given the plan of His
spiritual temple.
(2) The rich blessings of the kingdom, their freeness to all
men, the frequent contempt of the divine invitation to partake
of them, have been finely set forth in two striking parables,-
the first in Matt. xxii. 1—14, in which a king is said to make
a marriage for his son, but is slighted by those first invited,
and therefore sends forth and calls the poor and destitute,
who freely accept; and the second in Luke xiv. 16—24,
where a certain man is represented as making a great supper,
inviting many and receiving like treatment with the king.
262
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
(3) The work of the subjects or servants of the King and
its results are put in the clearest light in Matt. xx. 1—14, in
which labourers are said to have been hired at different times,
and yet all to have received from the Lord of the vineyard
the same reward; in Matt. xxv. 14-30, in which a man,
going from home, is said to give unequal sums of money to
his servants, five talents to one, two to another, and one to a
third, and, on his return, to deal with them according to their
faithfulness and industry; and in Luke xix. 12—27, where a
nobleman is represented as giving to his servants equal sums
of money, one pound to each, and as eventually rewarding
them in proportion to the work done. We may remark, that
these three modes of treatment appear to harmonize in some
such way as this: when all received the same amount and
yet realized different results, they were all rewarded in pro-
portion to these results; when they received unequal sums,
and yet realized proportional results, thus proving themselves
equally faithful and industrious, they were equally rewarded ;
and when the labourers were hired at different times, not
because they were unequally willing to work or unequally
devoted to their common master, but because they had not
equal opportunity, they were not allowed to suffer for what
they could not avoid, but received generously and graciously
the same reward. We regard these three parables as closely
connected, making up one whole, and setting forth the most
perfect principles of judgment. Even the servant with the
one talent, who hid his lord's money, is proved to be dis-
honest, whilst it is indicated that fidelity in the use of the
one would have secured as rich a reward as did fidelity in the
use of the two or of the five talents.
(4) We might add other representations of the kingdom,
especially in its relation to the great future. We shall not,
however, give the details, but do little more than barely refer
to the following:-First, In Matt. xviii. 23-35, we have the
parable of the Unmerciful Servant most impressively illustra-
tive of the great principle, that divine mercy cannot possibly
1
!
DOCTRINE OF JESUS AS TO HIMSELF.
extend to those unmerciful towards their fellow-men. Secondly,
In Matt. xxv. 1-13, we find the parable of the Wise and
Foolish Virgins powerfully representing two distinct classes
of professing subjects,-the true and sincere, who suitably act
in view of the coming future; and the self-deceived and
unwise, who make no real provision for it, and who are not
genuine disciples of Jesus or subjects of the kingdom.
Thirdly, we might treat of Matt. xxv. 31-46, where we find
the most solemn and awful representation of the judicial
separation of sincere and insincere followers of the Messiah,
under the figure of a shepherd dividing the goats from the
sheep of his flock. Here we shall simply allude to the
principle of judgment according to which Jesus, the King and
Judge, shall decide, or the test of character which He will
apply. It is in harmony with what we have indicated as to
the laws of the kingdom, as determined by the nature of the
connection of the King and His subjects. The King will, in
fact, treat all as they have treated one another, on the ground
that He is one with all His people, and that therefore those
who love and serve them prove that they love and serve Him,
saying, "Inasmuch as ye did (it) unto one of the least of
these My brethren, ye did (it) unto Me.”
263
VII.
1. Testimony of Jesus concerning Himself. We have
already alluded to Him as the promised King; and, in
treating of His kingdom, we have assumed what we are now
about to gather up as the sum of His teaching with respect
to His person, character, and work. We shall not omit aught
essential merely to avoid repetition.
2. His own testimony concerning Himself is of the highest
importance. We have treated of the testimony of prophets,
and intend to treat of that of apostles. Here we treat of
that of Himself, and that not by considering His direct
affirmations alone, but also by weighing what is indisputably
involved in what He says of His office and of His works.
264
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
3. Men have endeavoured to account for the rise and
progress, the excellency and moral triumphs of Christianity
apart from all supposition of divine origin, by taking various
views, and these far from consistent, of the person and
character of Christ. At one time, He was viewed as a great
religious impostor. Those thus regarding Him had a hard,
we would rather say an impossible, problem to solve, even
that of accounting for the purest system of morals, a system
essentially upholding sincerity, truthfulness, and the like,
and which had done more than any other to promote these
among mankind, proceeding from so base, so heartless,
and so false an origin. Others, again, admitted the ex-
cellence of Jesus, but, denying His higher nature, had a like
impossible problem to solve, even that of accounting for
such an one putting forth claims which they could not but
regard not only as extravagant, but also as at once irrational
and impious. Another view of Jesus was accordingly taken,
namely, that He was really a good man, at least in the
ordinary sense of the expression, that He put forth no such
claims as those just referred to, but that, after His death,
the imaginations of His devoted followers, together with
those traditions which arose and continued to magnify
what they conveyed to succeeding generations, may be re-
garded as clothing Him with a divinity and as ascribing
to Him attributes which He never claimed. In thus deve-
loping what has been called the Mythical Theory, they in
reality encounter as truly insuperable a difficulty as the others,
namely, that of accounting for the rise of a system of morals
and religion, so pure, so grand, and so mightily influential
for good, partly by the accidental accretion of traditional
fancies, and partly by the imaginations of men of inferior
education, and, on such a supposition, of questionable moral
principle,-questionable, because failing to prevent the
invention of mere imaginary stories and the palming off of
such as true, nay,' as inspired accounts of One who would
have condemned all such conduct as utterly inconsistent with
DOCTRINE OF JESUS AS TO HIMSELF. 265
His character and work among men. However, this is not
the place to refute this or any other kindred theory. If it
were, we might show, especially from those Epistles of Paul
whose genuineness is universally acknowledged, that the
whole Christian system of the gospels was too early deve-
loped and known to be accounted for by the mythical
hypothesis.
4. Jesus represented Himself as being entirely free from
sin. On one occasion He expressly demanded, "Which of
you convinceth (or, convicteth) Me of sin?" Though not
accustomed thus to allude to Himself, in this case He did
so for sufficient reason. However, all His personal allusions,
ever delicate, were consistent with this. He never owned a
sin or fault. He spoke as if invariably doing the will of
God, as always pleasing God, and as perfectly at one with
God. To the last His consciousness was that of a being
who had never in any way come short of His duty to God,
tɔ man, to Himself. All this, too, is clearly implied in His
claims to be the Son of God, the Saviour and Judge of
mankind. The admission of the smallest moral failure
would have entirely altered His position and negatived all
His Messianic claims. What, then, is the fair inference?
Must we at once accept His testimony? Of course all the
evidence of His mission is also evidence of the truth of this
testimony. Let us, however, simply contemplate Himself.
Two things at once present themselves: First, that He
could not possibly be without sense or consciousness of
sin because of any want of the knowledge of the divine
law or of the extent of human obligation. In His sermon
on the mount, He has raised the standard of duty to the
highest point, by setting forth the spirituality of the divine
law, or by showing that it reached the desires and emotions
of the heart, and not to outward actions alone. This very
spirituality is set forth by Paul as, when revealed to his mind,
convincing him of sin and also of such sinfulness as rendered
him incapable of true obedience. If Jesus, then, was un-
A
266
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
conscious of sin, He must have known of no inward desire
inconsistent with the perfect and spiritual laws of God.
His unconsciousness of sin, accordingly, could be traced
to no want of knowledge of the highest standard of duty,
and must therefore have been in perfect consistency with
fact; so that He must be regarded as a perfectly sinless
being, or He must be looked upon not as self-deceived, but
as guilty of deception, as, in fact, being the very opposite
of what He professed to be, and of what all the facts of His
history seem clearly to prove Him to have been. Secondly,
In truth, if sin be admitted or maintained at all, His case
must be accounted the most mysterious of all within the
circle of history. The most excellent of men who have ever
lived, have been most profoundly conscious of sin, and most
free to acknowledge it. So we find in the case of Isaiah
and all the purest characters of the Old Testament. So, too,
we find in the case of Paul, John, Peter, and James in the
New Testament. So also in the case of the most excellent
of every age of the world. If simply an excellent, but not
a perfectly sinless being, Jesus could not possibly have been
an exception. With thoughts of God and of law higher than
those of all men, He must have had a deeper sense of sin
than all, if He had any sense of sin at all, or any reason for
the least sense of it. His acknowledged and indisputable
moral elevation is thus an all-sufficient guarantee of that
sinless perfection which He professed to possess. He thus
appears on the sacred page, and continues to rise up before
the human mind, in all the moral perfection and stainless
beauty and grandeur of His being,-"holy, harmless, un-
defiled, separate from sinners," the one unique and perfect
likeness of God, the one unique and perfect form of man-
hood that ever appeared since the commission of the first
human sin.
5. We may learn not a little of His idea of Himself if we
consider the names and titles which Jesus used, or which He
allowed others to use of Him. Of these the simplest and
DOCTRINE OF JESUS AS TO HIMSELF. 267
most frequently used is that of The Son of Man. In this
there might be some reference to the like usage in the books
of Ezekiel and Daniel. However, the frequency and pecu-
liarity of its use show that Jesus intended to put emphasis
on the fact of His humanity; so that we cannot fail to per-
ceive, under such an emphatic use, the idea of a higher
nature or of condescension in the assumption of that
humanity. This name thus sets forth one side of His
nature, as another, The Son of God, sets forth a second;
the two being expressive of the divine and human in the
one person of Him who spoke and acted as otherwise He
could not possibly have done with respect to both God and
man. Further, in thus speaking and acting, He explicitly or
implicitly put forth the very highest claims,-claims to be
and to do what no mere man, however perfect and sinless,
could possibly have put forth. In a word, His idea of
Himself clearly involved three ideas,—first, that He was truly
human; secondly, that He was as really divine; and thirdly,
that He was the Representative of God and the Saviour-
King of man.
6. All this He clearly expressed, and that in ways which
appeared most daring and impious. Thus He spoke of
working as His Father worked, John v. 17-30, whilst saying,
"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth
the Father do," at the same time adding, "For what things
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." So the
Son is said to “quicken whom He will," even as the Father
quickeneth. He thus has power lodged in Himself and
exercised by Himself which could be lodged in no mere
human being, and could really be exercised by no mere
creature. He goes on to speak of Himself as universal
Judge, and thus as entrusted with an office which only God
can adequately fulfil. He further declares that He has all
life in Himself, to be imparted as well as possessed; so that
He affirms that He is the Author of a double resurrection-a
first and a second, a spiritual and physical-the one imme-
268
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
diate, the resurrection of the spiritually dead to spiritual life,
and the other in the distant future, the resurrection of the
physically dead to a glorious immortality. We need not
refer to the many other ways in which Jesus indicates His
divinity, as in these ever-living words, "I and My Father are
one," in which He alludes rather to a unity of power than to
a unity of will.
7. In treating of His subjects, we have already virtually
treated of the mission of Jesus. With whatever repetition,
we may here add the following: He openly acknowledged
His Messiahship, though, doubtless for sufficient reason,
often maintaining secrecy and enjoining silence on certain
who received good at His hand. Never did the slightest
appearance of misdirected or exaggerated enthusiasm, but
the most perfect wisdom and prudence, distinguish His
ministry. He knew best when and how to make Himself
known. In fact, He acted as the true Son of His Father in
going about doing good, using His resources as His goodness
and wisdom directed, and leaving, in great measure at least,
His own works and ways to reveal His character and mission.
Sometimes, again, He most clearly announced His own
mission as the Saviour of the world, the One promised and
sent of God, the One of whom all the prophets, nay, the
whole Scriptures, testified. In the Gospel of John, He is
represented as so fully, so frequently and variously referring
to Himself, and making Himself even the chief and central
subject of His teaching, that this has been made a ground of
objection to that Gospel, which has been so truly and beauti-
fully called the Gospel of the Heart of Jesus. Unless for
this Gospel, which the beloved disciple was divinely prepared
and honoured to write, the revelation of Jesus, we may say
His self-revelation, must have been incomplete, or rather
to no small extent lost. The very nature of His mission
required all the self-revelation which John, not inconsistently,
but in perfect harmony with the other evangelists, has thus
preserved to the world. As no other teache rever did, or ever
DOCTRINE OF JESUS AS TO HIMSELF. 269
required to do, Jesus had to make Himself the grand theme
of His own discourses. They have done much to diffuse
among mankind the knowledge of truth. He alone appeared,
or could appear, among men as The Truth itself. Of the
greatest of these providence has permitted comparatively
little to be known; and the world has suffered no marked
loss on that account. It is not the biography, but the
astronomy, of Newton which has so extended the bounds of
human knowledge and so added to the wealth of the world.
The same may be said of other great discoverers and teachers
of one or other kind of truth. This cannot, however, be said
of The Sent of God. It is the knowledge of Himself which
the world most deeply needs, by which the world has been
most richly blessed, and without which the world could not
be saved. In this knowledge we have the highest knowledge
of God, the only perfect knowledge of man, the richest know-
ledge of the origin, character, and destiny of the moral
universe. Jesus has inconceivably more than vindicated
Himself for making Himself, as we have said, the chief and
central subject of His teaching by His one utterance, which
shines on the page of John more brightly than the morning
star on the brow of early dawn,-"I am the Way, the Truth,
and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."
8. In thus revealing Himself He makes use of the most
striking and appropriate figures. Especially does He speak
of Himself as The Light of the World, as The Bread of Life,
as The Bread which came down from Heaven, as The Good
Shepherd, The Good Shepherd that gives His life for the
sheep, as The True Vine, of which His disciples are the
branches and of which His Father is the Husbandman. As
already alluded to, He sublimely says, "I am the Resurrec-
tion and the Life; then adding, as if not only to put a
clear and steady light within the very tomb, but to enable
all to bring His glorious words to the test of the most sober
experience, He that believeth in Me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me
"}
CC
270
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
shall never die," the conscious new life of faith will be the
pledge and the proof of the resurrection life of the future.
We need not refer again to His comparison of Himself to the
serpent which Moses raised in the wilderness, and to which
He seems to allude afterwards, "signifying what death He
should die,"-" And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all (men) unto Me,"-My Cross, or I Myself, the Cruci-
fied One, will be the mighty magnet by which men of every
class and country and generation will be drawn from the
seductions of the world and out of the depths of sin to Myself
and to Holiness, to God and to Heaven.
Thus does He disclose the nature and end of His death.
It is worse than vain to speak of the apostles, and especially
of Paul, as teaching concerning His propitiatory death as
He had not taught previously Himself. He had, indeed,
abundant reason for leaving it to the spirit of apostolic in-
spiration to give full development to the doctrine of pro-
pitiation after the great propitiation had been "accomplished
at Jerusalem." Still, He had spoken of it, as we have found,
in as clear terms as He wisely and fitly could during His life.
As occasion drew forth, we find glimpses of the great
redemptive truth escaping from the divine and human bearer
of the sin of the world. Thus, as His disciples strangely
disputed as to who should be "greatest in the kingdom of
heaven," He showed them that he who would be the
greatest must be the humblest and least of all; and when the
mother of James and John as strangely asked of Jesus the
highest places in that Kingdom, and when the other disciples
thus became indignant, Jesus at once revealed the character
and source of all true greatness, and set His own mission in
the richest light. In so doing, He points to the mighty con-
trast between the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of
heaven,―between the great ones of the former and the truly
great ones of the latter. We may quote the whole passage,
Matt. xx. 25—28: "But Jesus called them (unto Him), and
said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise
THE GREAT PROPITIATION.
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise autho-
rity upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but
whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister,
and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your
servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."
True greatness, then, is to be measured by humility on the
one hand, and by loving and self-sacrificing service on the
other. In this way, the contest of the ages, too often, as
here, carried on among the disciples of Jesus, as among the
men of the world, can alone be terminated, when such great-
ness shall not be sought, but when all, imbibing the spirit
and following the example of Jesus, shall seek to lead the
lowliest, the most loving, and the most actively benevolent
lives. The greatest, in fact, in the heavenly kingdom are
those who approach in spirit and conduct nearest to Him
who is virtually the greatest of all, and the King of all, even
"the Son of Man who came not to be," like the kings and
great ones of the earth, "ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for many; to lead a life of
perfect obedience to God and lowliest service to man, and to
die the death of a Redeemer, by giving His life as a ransom
or propitiation, as John the Baptist testified, "for the sin of
the world." We cannot here consider the nature of this great
and precious ransom. The incarnation and life of the Son of
God would have been incomplete without it. The example
of Jesus is of inestimable worth as that which all men will find
it their glory and blessedness to follow; but they will them-
selves be able truly to follow it only in so far as they take
their stand on His propitiation. The words of Paul are so
lofty in themselves, so accordant with the words of Jesus, and
so illustrative of what we have been contemplating, that we
cannot close without adding them, Philip. ii. 4-11: "Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the
things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus; Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
:.
271
""
272
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
+
robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no re-
putation, and took upon Him the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of men: and being formed in fashion as
a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above
every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of (things) in heaven, and (things) in earth, and (things)
under the earth; and (that) every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ (is) Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
VIII.
1. Whilst thus realizing the end of His mission, Jesus gave
at the same time the very highest revelation of God, espe-
cially as a Father. This by no means implies that the Divine
Fatherhood was previously entirely unknown, or had not been
revealed in the Old Testament, or was not known even by the
heathen. Still, we may safely affirm that it was so revealed
by Jesus, as it was not and could not have been by the
prophets however inspired, or by any one but Himself, of
whom it could be said, "The Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of
the Only-begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth."
We must not suppose, however, that Jesus, as some would
almost lead us to think, so presented God as a Father as
virtually to set aside all previous teachings concerning Him
as a King. In so frequently alluding to the Kingdom of God,
He carefully, though indirectly, reminded His hearers of His
and their Father's regal character or kingly relationship. It
becomes us ever to guard against the tendency to magnify
one aspect or portion of truth at the expense or to the con-
cealment of another. That so wonderfully revealed by Jesus
was a royal or regal, as well as a divine Fatherhood, and
as such is here contemplated.
2. This sublime and sacred, this near and most endearing
FATHERHOOD OF GOD.
273
relationship, He never ceased to allude to, in one way or
another, throughout the whole course of His ministry. He
constantly spoke of God as His Father, as the Father of man-
kind, as the Father of the righteous and good. We found
Him doing so in His earlier days, when He spoke of being
about His Father's business. So also He constantly alluded
to Himself as a son, and, to the more select circle of His
disciples, as emphatically the Son of God. By such frequent
usage He made these disciples familiar with the idea of this
divine relationship, as neither they nor any others had ever
been before. He always put Himself, directly or indirectly,
in the position of a son, and not in that of a servant or sub-
ject of Jehovah. His Father's will was His law. His
Father's glory was the end of His mission. All people and
all things were viewed and spoken of in'their relation to His
Father's purposes or will. The temple was His Father's
house. The coming kingdom was His Father's kingdom.
He appreciated all men in proportion as they did the will of
His Father. Still, in a real sense, He viewed all men, how-
ever degraded and fallen, as children of His Father; and
hence He mercifully treated them as closely related to Him-
self. His full sense of brotherhood, inconceivably stronger
than in any other human being, led to such familiar converse
and such compassionate conduct, as made the life of Jesus
unique in itself, and strikingly original and superior when
compared with the best of other lives. However, we do not
here so much consider His filial and fraternal spirit as allude
to the whole current of His language and character of His
discourses, with respect to the high relationship referred to.
3. We shall, then, go on to observe, that Jesus richly
disclosed the Fatherliness or Fatherly spirit and character of
God. Thus, as we have seen, in teaching His disciples to
love all men, even their enemies, He points to universal
providence as revealing their Heavenly Father's love to all
men, good and bad alike. In the same discourse, He illus-
trates His and their Divine Father's care by pointing to His
IS
274
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
care of even all inferior creatures. He condemns all contempt
of the very least of His disciples, by declaring how their
Divine Father wills their highest good, and how "their
angels behold that Father's face," or, in fact, how highly
they are honoured in heaven. How finely the parables of the
Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Money, and the Prodigal Son
reveal the intensely loving and gracious spirit of God! Jesus
sets forth what God has directly done for mankind, however
sinful and undeserving, especially in the gift of His Only-
begotten Son for their salvation. He thus fills the whole
world with the light of His and our Father's love. As we
ponder His words we seem to breathe an atmosphere of love.
As we contemplate His wondrous disclosures we seem to
gaze upon an occan of love. His Father is everywhere, with
all His power and wisdom, with all His care and bounty,
with all His compassion and mercy, with all His tenderness
and love. Jesus shows how, with Himself, all the most
precious gifts are freely bestowed,―cternal life, heaven,
blessedness, glory. Still, these gifts are not to be viewed as
simply revealing mercy and love. They also reveal holiness,
righteousness, and truth: for no blessing can be finally pos-
sessed by the impenitent. All who would enter heaven at
last must become righteous,-must, as Jesus said, have a
righteousness exceeding that of the Scribes and Pharisees,
who were highly esteemed by the multitude, and who deemed
themselves quite fit for heaven. What Jesus thus set forth
during His life was vastly more fully and impressively set
forth by His death, as most clearly interpreted by the Holy
Spirit, and as thus clearly indicated by the apostles, whose
part it was, as already observed, to show forth the nature of
the great sacrifice and the infinitude alike of the Father's
and of the Son's mercy and love which it involved.
4. Thus Jesus revealed His Father's spirit by pointing to
His Father's dealings with mankind. He further did the
same by manifesting His own spirit, the spirit of His mission,
the spirit of his daily intercourse with His disciples, the
FATHERLINESS OF GOD.
275
spirit of His whole teachings, the spirit of His entire course
of life. Thus he revealed the spirit of His Father in all
that He did to bring sinners to repentance, in receiving
the penitent and pronouncing their forgiveness, and pro-
claiming pardon to all who would accept, in announcing the
promises of the Holy Spirit and of all needful aid to those
who sincerely and earnestly seek. He revealed the spirit
and character of the Father by opposing the perversions
and corruptions of the age, by exposing the false and decep-
tive righteousness of the Pharisees and others, by showing
that all men must be renewed in heart and soul if they would
be restored to the divine favour, by His tremendous personal
struggle with surrounding evil, that struggle which ended in
His death. He did all this by acting throughout as the
Son and representative of the Father, doing all in His Name,
for His glory, and in order to the good of mankind. Thus
the Messenger breathed the spirit of Him who sent Him,
whether gentle or severe, whether holy and righteous or
loving and kind, whether in opposition to evil or in support
of good; everywhere acting as His Father would have acted,
and appearing as His Father would have appeared.
5. We might say, then, that He revealed the Father as a
mirror reflects its object, or as a son who perfectly resembles
his father may be said to reveal him. His heart perfectly
resembled, reflected, and revealed the heart of His Father.
His mind, His will, His moral nature, alike mirrored and
revealed His Father's mind, will, moral perfections. In this
way He could say, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father." However, He could do so, and appears actually to
have done so, not merely on the ground of resemblance, but
also on the higher ground of oneness with Him,-"I and
My Father are one," one in heart and will as well as one
in power. If we suppose the divine revealing itself in the
human, the infinite in the finite, we may find a more apt,
though necessarily imperfect, illustration in the instance of
a star which represents and reveals, through its tiny form
276
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
yet perfect beauty, the inconceivable greatness and incom-
prehensible glory of an immensely distant sun.
6. However, we must not close without treating of the
fact, that the Sonship of Jesus is the highest and most real
revelation of the Fatherhood of God. It is of vast importance
to be assured of the simple fact of the Divine Fatherhood.
That one word involves a whole world of meaning. Is it
true that the Infinite Being who created what seems so
like an infinite universe or an infinity of worlds, can really
be said to have become a Father at all, or to have put Him-
self under all the tender, the manifold, the eternal obligations
of true divine paternity? The very thought of such paternity,
with all these obligations, is vast and overwhelming. We
are so accustomed to speak, and that too often thoughtlessly,
of it, that we rarely form the least adequate conception of
it. When we do seriously ponder it, we find it hard to
believe that we or sinful men in general can possibly be
treated as the children of a Divine Father must, if He would
maintain His parental character, be eternally treated by Him.
In fact, all men are so imperfect, so unlike God, morally so far
from Him, and so doubtful of their own sonship, that they
stand in need of such a Son as Jesus was, and as He appeared
and yet appears, to demonstrate the reality of His own Divine
Sonship, and thus the like certain reality of the Divine Pater-
nity, or to show, without shadow of a doubt, that God has at
least one Son altogether like and altogether worthy of Him-
self. The whole history of Jesus proves Him to have been
such a Son. As we ponder and appreciate that history we,
like His most intimate disciples, "behold His glory, as the
glory of the Only-begotten of the Father," and we can have
no manner of doubt whatever of the Sonship of Jesus or of
the Fatherhood of God. As we thus grow in the knowledge
of Jesus as He appeared in life and death and after His
resurrection, we feel perfectly assured that the entire universe,
in as far as science has opened it up to the human mind,
contains no one created object, or even system of objects,
SONSHIP OF JESUS.
for one moment to be compared to the Son of Mary as mani-
festing the glory of God, or as so exalting God as to make
Jesus appear unworthy to be the Son of God, or to make it
appear beneath the dignity of God to have and to acknow-
ledge, or to love and to glorify, such a Son. We repeat,
then, God has, without shadow of a doubt, at least one Son,
and that Son altogether worthy of His Father. But we
cannot believe that God would have only one son. If He
has one, He must have many sons,-He must have a family.
If in "the Man Christ Jesus" we behold "the Son of the
Highest," all men, however degenerate, as having the same
nature, must also be the children of God. Let it not be
supposed that we mean by all this to suggest that the Sonship
of Jesus is the only but all-sufficient proof of the sonship of
mankind. No; we have, in the nature and circumstances
of man, the most ample proof of the latter. Only when we
contrast the greatness of God with our own insignificance,
and when we meditate on the miserable condition of vast
multitudes of men, our faith would sometimes fail, if we
could not turn from our own conscious imperfections, or from
the sad condition referred to, and contemplate the truly
Divine excellency of Him who, in our own nature, appears
so unmistakably "the Image of the invisible God," or, as we
may slightly alter the expression, the visible Son of the
invisible Father.
"Now to the Lord a noble song !
Awake my soul; awake my tongue;
Hosanna to the Eternal Name,
And all His boundless love proclaim.
"See where it shines in Jesus' face,
The brightest image of His grace ;
God, in the person of His Son,
Has all His mightiest works outdone."
277
ه التي
Ja
The reality, then, of the sonship of Jesus gives reality to
the fatherhood of God; and the fatherhood of God gives,
278
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
propriety to the whole work of salvation, reality to the
sonship of mankind, and verisimilitude to the whole revelation
of Scripture. Jesus, in fact, brings down God to man and
to earth, and raises up man to God and to heaven. In Him,
all revealed truth seems to embody itself and to shine forth.
In Him, both God and man seem alike present and alike
mingling among sinful and fallen men. In Him, as we
contemplate His abiding influence over the best and noblest
of our race, we seem actually to behold, as Paul would say,
"the Captain of salvation leading many sons of God to
eternal glory." As He attracts them to Himself, and makes
them more and more like Himself, He at once appears as
most undeniably their Saviour, and shows both what they
originally were as the created children of God, and what they
are destined to become when restored to perfect manhood,
or when their redemption is complete.
IX.
1. We have as yet said little of the mighty supernatural
works of Jesus. Up to recent times, these have had a
prominent place in His history, as the divine and infallible
seals of His sonship and mission; now it has become not
uncommon, even among those who deem themselves the
wisest and safest apologists, to put these in the background,
nay, to treat them rather as difficulties to be overcome than
as demonstrations to be welcomed. This is greatly due to
the present state of scientific opinion. The gorgeous vision
or dream of a universe, with its absolute sameness and un-
changeableness of physical force, and with its laws of
unexceptionable uniformity and infrangible continuity, has
fascinated many minds. In their view, God has retired from
the field of His own creation, allowing that great mysterious
force, in all its varied kinds and countless operations, to go
on working freely and without one act of divine interference,
let the disturbing forces, such as human volitions and desires,
S
MIRACLES OF JESUS.
279
act as they may. Many Christian apologists will not by any
means go thus far, and yet so much are they under the spell
of scientific enchantment, that they will not give to divine ·
interferences or to the miracles of Jesus any large or impor-
tant place in His redemptive work. We cannot here deal
with so wide and difficult a subject as that of the gospel
miracles. We are assured that neither science nor criticism
has done aught to disprove their reality, not to say possibility.
The great wonder would be that no such miracles had been
wrought, or that God had left His own world to wander away
from under His direct control, or allow His creatures to
disturb the order and harmony of His works, and yet put
forth no rectifying power, or, if sending one to rectify or to
redeem, give no commission to work any miracle or to do
more than to make use of the natural laws. We do think
the most unlikely phenomenon in all history would have been
the appearance of a Saviour with no supernatural endow-
ments and so with no miraculous works. The results of all
the miracles of Scripture on the physical state of the world
would not affect the scientific observations and calculations
of the most advanced and enlightened minds to the least
possible appreciable extent, far less to an extent at all to be
compared with what may be traced to any one day's operation
of the human will. No one need fear to admit the reality of
all these, lest he should admit of the introduction of a force
which would involve him in scientific miscalculation or
expose him to any "intellectual confusion." Indirectly,
indeed, one grand miracle, the Resurrection, or, to represent
the matter more correctly, the one grand continuous miracle
of the mission of Jesus, from His birth to His resurrection
and ascension, has so affected the world materially, mentally,
morally, socially, and religiously, that we have only to view
the mighty mass of good introduced in the light of reason or
of common sense, to behold in it an undoubted monument of
the reality of at least the one grand miracle referred to. We
might have dealt pretty fully with one objection which has
T
280
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
been started, namely, that the miracles of Jesus were not
witnessed by men of scientific attainments or in any way
brought to the test of scientific investigation. We would
only say that these miracles were so numerous on the one
hand, and many of them so palpable on the other, that there
could be no possible illusion or deception in the case of the
more select witnesses or of the more numerous and promiscuous
spectators. Thus, what science could be needed to enable
men of ordinary judgment to know whether a terrific storm
at once subsided at the command of Jesus, or whether, at
His command, the blind received sight, lepers were cleansed,
the lame walked, the dead were restored to life? In fact, if
we are to deny all miracles, we must part with Christianity
itself, and not with so many sentences or sections of the
Gospel history. What is the entire work of the Holy Spirit
but a supernatural and therefore miraculous interference with
the natural operations of the human mind? All fulfilment of
prophecy demonstrates the reality of one kind of miracles,
miracles of superhuman knowledge, and ought to lead us to
see that there can be no real unlikelihood as to the other
kind of miracles to which we now refer, miracles of power.
It is, however said, Why do we never witness such miracles in
the present day? In the first instance, Revelation being
complete, there is no longer the same need for them viewed
as proofs or seals of a divine commission; and, in the
second instance, though we do not now require to see them
as signs or seals, we do not know that, as simple acts or
interferences, they do not occur, and that daily and all around
us. All must allow that He could thus interpose, and yet in
such a manner that all science might utterly fail to detect the
slightest proof of supernatural operation. If therefore such
operation is at all needful or useful in the conduct of provi-
dence or in the promotion of the individual as well as general
good of mankind, we may be assured that it is by no means
wanting, though it may be traced or detected by no human
mind. We would therefore close these remarks by observing,
281
MIRACLES OF JESUS.
that as Christian apologists should be most careful to avoid
all unscientific treatment of the works and operations of
nature, so all scientific men should as carefully avoid all
unchristian limitation of divine operation and denial of the
miracles of Scripture.
2. Let us, then, come back to the history of Jesus. We
may well say, as already said in a slightly different form, that
the whole sinless and perfect life of Jesus may be contem-
plated as one grand and glorious miracle. Without constant
divine aid, no man-and we may in this view Jesus simply as
a man-could pass through this world of sin and temptation
without contracting many a stain. However perfect in
constitution or by birth, if a mere man, He could not have
sinlessly withstood the countless evil influences with which
He must have been daily assailed. In fact, admitting His
spotless life, it is much easier to believe in His divinity
than to believe such a life to be consistent with His bare
humanity, at least if we refused to admit of the constant
presence and aid of supernatural power. Nor would the
necessity of such aid imply a personal or natural weakness
inconsistent with the fullest moral responsibility; for such
responsibility does not involve such power as would render its
possessor self-dependent, or so independent of divine aid as
to require no trust in it and no prayer for it. However
mysterious free moral agency of every kind, and however
inconceivable the co-operating agency of the Divine Spirit,
we need be at no loss to believe that the latter was as
necessary to uphold the sinless perfection of Jesus as it is to
enable sinful men to lead truly holy, though yet imperfect,
lives. But Jesus was no mere man. His higher nature is
at least one, and that a chief, key to His immaculate and
unexceptionably holy life. In what way the divine and
human acted in His One Person we cannot understand; but
we can most assuredly believe that the presence of the
divine fully accounts for the perfection of the human. Deny-
ing or overlooking this presence, we cannot account for any
282
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
one portion of His noble and glorious career, for His
resistance of all opposition, for His endurance of His awful
solitariness of spirit and want of sympathy, for His calmness
in every spiritual storm, for His repose in God under the
terrible darkness of apparent desertion. How grandly He
acted in all changeful circumstances! What courage!
What defiance of both open and secret hostility! What love
of those whose spirit and conduct were fitted to quench it
and to kindle the intensest hatred instead! How perfect in
all His dealings with both rich and poor, the good and the
evil! How serene His spirit and how imperturbable His
composure, after the agony of Gethsemane, in the midst of
the violence of His captors, at the bar of His judges, Jewish
and Roman, after the fearful cry, "My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me?" and finally at the close of His
life, when He uttered His dying words, "Father, into Thy
hands I commend (or commit) My spirit"! Well might the
eloquent sceptic acknowledge that, "If Socrates died the death
of a sage, Jesus of Nazareth died the death of a God." In all
things, then, He may be called, physically, morally, spiritually,
before God and man, the miracle of miracles, the highest
and most glorious manifestation of the power and wisdom of
God.
3. Let us now turn to the mighty works ascribed to Him
in the Gospels; and on these we would make the following
remarks :-
(1) They gave exercise to supernatural power in every
variety of manner. They were totally unlike those of Moses.
The dispensations were different, and therefore fitly intro-
duced by different kinds of miraculous works. In the one
case, the deliverance of Israel required miracles of judgment.
In the other, the salvation of mankind required miracles of
mercy. These partook of the character of Jesus and tended
to reveal it. All nature was proved to be under His dominion.
He showed His power over the elements, stilling the storm,
walking on the waters. He could wield powers corresponding
MIRACLES OF JESUS.
283
to the productive powers of nature; supplying food to thou-
sands, turning water into wine. He proved His power over
the human body in all its varied states of health and disease,
nay, when dead as well as when alive; supporting His own
without food, healing all forms of disease, restoring lost
powers of hearing and vision, raising the dead, and thus
virtually creating new life. Thus, accordingly, He manifested
His power over the whole world, and gave abundant proof of
His real and universal dominion.
(2) His miracles were all wrought as occasion called forth,
and not for any display of wonderful or supernatural power,
or even directly to demonstrate His divine commission. In
His temptation He would work no miracle to supply His own
wants or to further His own designs, or apart from the accom-
plishment of His Father's will. His great and central purpose.
of everywhere doing good in harmony with that will ruled the
exercise of His powers. Though thus wrought as wisdom
and goodness or compassion dictated, all His miracles at the
same time demonstrated His Messiahship, as He Himself
again and again affirmed, and were doubtless intended to do
so, and thus to confirm the faith of His disciples and attract
the minds of the thoughtful; still, we repeat, He simply went
about doing good, and teaching and preaching as His mission
required; so that His miraculous powers were put forth as
the natural powers and various resources of any benevolent
man would be used in doing good to other men. In so doing,
He at once accomplished His great life-work, revealed His own
spirit and character, and gave sure and certain proof of His
commission. All was done as naturally or inartificially in
His case as any act of kindness can be done in the case of
ordinary men. The mysterious union of the human with the
divine in His person may have involved such an effort of
human will in connection with every act of divine power as
tended to exhaust His physical strength, and thus issued in
all that weariness and fatigue which ever attend severe human
toil. In this way, we may learn to judge of the mighty energy
284
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
as well as abundant goodness which His short and unresting
public life displayed.
(3) Whilst thus revealing Himself and blessing others, His
numerous works may be viewed as, to no small extent, sym-
bolical or typical of His higher and more properly redemptive
work. Thus, before working the greatest of all His miracles,
the raising of Lazarus from the dead, He expressly alluded
to the great truth about to be illustrated or symbolized, "I
am the Resurrection and the Life,"-words most descriptive
of His highest work. So, before opening the eyes of the
man born blind, He spoke of Himself as the Light of the
world, or as that Saviour whose part it is to remove all
darkness and blindness from the human mind. So, also, we
might refer to the case of the leper, whose cleansing so fitly
typifies the great work of removing what is well called the
leprosy of sin. How naturally He makes use of the miracu-
lous supply of bread to illustrate the most precious truth
concerning Himself, and hence those fine and most expressive
words, "The bread of God which cometh down from heaven,"
"I am the bread of life,' I am the living bread, if any man
eat of this bread, he shall live for ever"! In this way, the
works of Jesus, which were at the same time the works of His
Father, were symbols of truth and revelations of Father and
Son. They were, in fact, an efflux of the heart of God as they
were of the heart of Jesus. Instead, then, of denying them,
or in any way laying them aside as no longer of value to
mankind, we ought rather to hold, that the life of Jesus as a
manifestation of God would have been unaccountably imper-
fect if it had not been distinguished as well by works of divine
power as by deeds of highest human goodness. The whole
Gospel history is one grand and consistent whole, which cannot
be altered in its main outlines without irreparable loss, and
which sets forth the person, character, and works of Jesus as
the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, as no uninspired
man could have presented to the human mind, and as to baffle
all human efforts to suggest the very least real improvement.
>>
285
4. We must not omit all reference to another class of
miracles ascribed to the Son of God,-His predictions or
miracles of superhuman knowledge. In His early ministry,
we find certain disclosures of facts which could not have been
possibly known to any ordinary human mind. We refer to
the case of Nathanael and of the woman of Samaria. We
might allude to that knowledge which led Him to assure His
disciples of the great draught of fishes, or to pre-inform
Peter as to the piece of money to be found in the mouth of
the first fish caught. We might emphasize His announce-
ment of the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, to
which all the evangelists refer, and as to which scepticism.
can suggest no reason for doubt. In both instances He
appears as the Divine Teacher of hearts, and as fitted to be
the future Judge of the world. His teachings were to no
small extent of the prophetic type. His very tears over
Jerusalem were a prophecy. Of course, as the Messiah, He
knew and announced the future, nay, the most distant, results
of His mission. How fully, too, did He prepare the minds
of His followers for the awful event of His crucifixion. If
He had merely fancied Himself to be the Messiah, as modern
scepticism has suggested, and had thus expected to rise to
power and earthly glory, as did His disciples, He could not
have so given them warning, or have so instructed them to
be ready to meet all kinds of suffering and persecution for
His sake. Only the true and divine idea of the spirituality
and unworldliness of His kingdom, which we find underlying
all His teachings, but which His most select disciples failed
to take in, can account for His most striking declarations
with respect to the character, sufferings, and varied conditions
of all true discipleship,-for instance, for such an affirmation
Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever
will lose his life for My sake shall find it." At the same
time, He never fails to point to the glorious future, to the
surest and amplest success, to the eternal salvation of all
who trusted in Him. What He said of His death has found
as
MIRACLES OF KNOWLEDGE.
286
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
illustration in every age, and never more than in the present
day, when so many millions of the wisest and best of man-
kind, with one heart and voice, ascribe to it their highest life,
their richest happiness, and their most glorious hopes. We
must not, however, enlarge. We can only refer to one great
prophecy, that relating to the destruction of the city and
temple of Jerusalem, the dissolution of the nation, and the
dispersion of the people; all the penal and providential
result of their guilty rejection of Him as the promised Mes-
siah. As this was to be a judgment on the nation of Israel
typical of the final judgment of the whole human race, two
prophecies are really formed into one; making it hard, if not
impossible, so nicely to separate the one from the other, as
to determine what may properly belong to the former and
what to the latter, or what may be common to both. How-
ever, we know at least that the one great event took place at
so early a period as to leave no room to doubt as to the
reality of His prophecy. Nor can we have any doubt as to
the fact, that that prophecy must have had its place in the
Gospels before the predicted fall of Jerusalem, as we may rest
assured, that if it had been fabricated after the event, it would
not have been written in the form in which we find it. Thus,
then, we have Jesus presented to us in every variety of light,
and in a way so faultless and perfect, that, as we read the sacred
page, we seem to accompany Him from place to place, to be-
hold Him doing "works which no other man ever did," and
to hear Him speaking as no mere man was ever heard to speak.
In the whole narrative, we can perceive no trace of fiction.
All seems perfectly natural and real. A miracle, whether of
knowledge or of power, was as natural to Him as any ordinary
act of duty or of kindness could be natural to any upright
and benevolent man. No greater miracle could well be con-
ceived than that which would be involved in the actual results
of the life of Jesus, viewed as working no real miracle, and
as being, in any important respect, different from what He
appears, as the Son of God and Saviour of man, in the Gospels.
DEATH OF JESUS.
X.
287
1. It now remains for us to treat of the great events which
followed the great and marvellous course of Jesus the Christ,
namely, His death, resurrection, and ascension.
2. His death. On it we may observe,-
(1) Whether we consider the testimony of the prophets,
especially that of Isaiah, or His frequent allusions, we are led
to the conclusion that, as in no other instance, to die was
one of the chief ends or purposes of the birth of Jesus. For
the salvation of the world, His death was as necessary as His
life. Without here entering into the question of sacrifice or
atonement, we would simply say, that, however truly the most
glorious of all martyrdoms, it cannot possibly be regarded as
no more or nothing else than a martyrdom, as, in such a case,
the agony of the garden and the fearful cry of desertion from
the cross would imply less faith in His Father than that of
many a marytr, and take from Him that crown which He has
ever since worn as the King of martyrs.
(2) Jesus voluntarily undertook the work of redemption,
whilst fully knowing that His mission thus involved the death
of the cross. He spoke of laying down His life, of His
Father loving Him because He did so, of the impossibility of
any power taking it from Him, and thus of His death being
in the highest sense voluntary. We cannot, therefore, say
that there was any injustice in making it a condition of
human salvation. The entire injustice lay with those who
took His sacred and righteous life. Sometimes it has been
urged that no righteous king would allow a noble-hearted
prince to die, however, voluntarily, for the salvation of any
great number of His subjects. The case of Jesus, however,
was perfectly unique. No one else could say with Him,
"I have power to lay down my life," implying the right
to do so, far less to add, "And I have power to take it up
again," implying the Almighty power which resides in no
288
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
mere human arm. In fact, Jesus simply permitted His
enemies to inflict an evil of the most painful and shameful
character, from which He knew that He Himself could, and
His Father certainly would, speedily deliver Him.
All was
perfectly right and just in His Father's appointment of it,
and in His own submission to it, as what was seen by Father
and Son to be the wisest and most powerful means of
salvation.
(3) We must not, however, for one moment suppose that
Jesus went forward to meet His awful death as any one might
directly expose himself to some mighty physical force. His
death was infinitely removed from an act of self-destruction.
He had a great and glorious work to accomplish, and which
could not be carried on without awakening the most deadly
enmity, or completed without exposure to certain death.
He could not reveal His holy and righteous as well as gracious
and merciful Father without diffusing such divine light as
could not fail to be hateful to all the workers of iniquity, or
without opposing and condemning all the forms of moral and
spiritual evil which everywhere abounded and stood as barriers
against the reception of the truth which He came to reveal,
and whose upholders were thus sure to rise up, as did their
fathers in relation to the prophets, to compass His destruc-
tion.
His was therefore a contest very great and very
terrible. He had hardly begun His most merciful and self-
denying work, when He awakened the deadly wrath of very
many, so that He could not remain long in Jerusalem.
Hence at least one most important reason for the length of
the period of His ministry in Galilee and those places in
which He met with less opposition. Further, He had to
carry on His entire Messianic work, including the more or
less open assertion of His Messianic claims. As long as the
calls of duty permitted, He abstained from putting forth
these claims, and prevented His disciples from making Him.
and many of His works fully known; well knowing that if
He openly wrought miracles, or if He openly declared His
DEATH OF JESUS.
Messiahship to the multitude, He would indeed be accepted
by the people, yet as a national and worldly king, who would
wield the mighty powers with which He was endowed to
break the iron yoke of Rome and to “restore the kingdom to
Israel." Once He perceived the intention to make Him a
King of this description, and He immediately withdrew from
the multitude. If, again, He openly declared His Messiah-
ship, and as fully showed their mistake as to the nature of
His kingdom, the enthusiasm at first awakened would have
soon been converted into wrathful indignation. Hence the
prudential course to which we have alluded, and which may
be said to have run through almost His entire public ministry.
But it could not be always continued. He must sooner or
later make His claims fully known. Formally He may be
said to have done so in His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem
and appearance in the Temple. He did so in reality when,
knowing that His disciples were everywhere treating Him as
the Messiah, and that the magistrates opposed Him mainly
because they understood Him to profess to be the Messiah,
He yet gave not the slightest denial. At last He did so
openly and expressly, when adjured by the high priest to say
whether He was the Messiah, the Son of God, or not. He
had given the most ample evidence of the fact. He now,
in the highest court of Israel, with all the solemnity possible,
affirms it. The judge and people ought to have accepted
the evidence thus supported by His direct affirmation, and
thus crowned Him, at least in heart and service, as their
promised King, and not to have rejected Him as a false
pretender to the Messiahship and a blasphemous usurper of
the honours of divinity by condemning Him to the cross.
His death, then, resulted from His fulfilment of His mission
and His just and necessary profession as the Saviour and
King of men.
(4) We need scarcely add, that this death was thus a great
act of self-sacrifice. In this way He acted on the noblest of
all principles, and gave an everlasting example to all man-
289
19
290
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
kind. The spirit of such self-sacrifice animated Him from
first to last. He thus displayed the purest and most perfect
love to God and man, and exemplified, as no being else has
ever done or could ever do, the fulfilment of that law of His,
which it is most difficult to obey, we mean that of loving one's
enemies. Never was the glory of the highest possible virtue
presented in an intenser light than on the Cross of Jesus
Christ.
(5) We need say nothing of the greatness of the sacrifice,
as it simply passes all human conception, and can best be
regarded only as the object of perpetual contemplation, not
only in this world, but in the world to come, nay, throughout
the entire moral universe for ever and ever. How it has
occupied the thoughts of mankind ever since that "hour
and power of darkness"! How it is destined to occupy the
thoughts of men and of angels to the end of time, and to all
eternity! In the Cross, how many extremes meet! How
shameful, and yet how glorious! We leave it, as we ought,
for profoundest, devoutest, tenderest, most grateful, and most
loving meditation.
3. The Resurrection of Jesus.-Again and again did He point
to this event as the crowning evidence of His mission; re-
ferring, by way of illustration, to the case of Jonah; and
insinuating, by reference to the temple, that the temple of
His body would be taken down by the Jews, and in three
days raised again by Himself. When speaking to His disci-
ples of His approaching death, He at the same time alluded
to His resurrection; yet failed to convey a full idea of either;
doubtless, partly because their imperfect notions of His work
kept them from taking in the truth, and partly because He
was so accustomed to use the boldest figurative expressions
that they might question any literal meaning. All was open
to His own mind. From the first He could anticipate the
dark termination of His career, and knew better than did the
Baptist that He was bearing "the sin of the world," and
made all along to feel the mighty load. Happily the glorious
RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
issue was alike present to His mind. As we have seen, He
could say, not only "I have power to lay down My life," but
also, “I have power to take it up again." Concerning this
glorious event we may observe,—
(1) That it fully vindicated the perfect character and
Messianic claims of Jesus. It formed the Father's practical
justification of His Son. Jesus was really justified by Pilate
in so far as personal conduct was concerned, though he failed
to give Him all that protection which was due to His inno-
cence. In the Jewish court He was condemned on the ground
of false and impious pretensions to the Messiahship. If not
the true Messiah, His death, according to the law of His
country, was just. His resurrection vindicated His claims,
and, as Paul so finely says, "declared Him to be the Son of
God with power."
291
(2) This glorious event is, of all the events of history,
most encouraging to the desponding spirit of man. We do
not here allude to it in all its doctrinal or redemptive import,
but simply as a plain matter of fact. Here one of the human
race is found to have risen from the dead, and that to suffer
no second death. Why one? Has God no like design as
to others? It cannot be. There must be hope for mankind.
That hope will be clearly seen when the relation of the death
of Jesus to the sin and death of mankind is kept in view.
How beautifully this hope is set forth in the words of Peter,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and
that fadeth not away"!
(3) Did Jesus, then, indeed rise from the dead? Assuredly
He did. Well may we maintain that no other historical
event rests on a surer basis of abundant and unexceptionable
evidence. In the first place, He was seen by many most
competent witnesses, not once, but often, in various places,
and in such ways as to make it impossible for them to be
292
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
deceived. Thus He spent no less than forty days on earth
between His resurrection and ascension, conversed with
certain of His disciples again and again, opened up to their
minds the Scriptures relating to His death and resurrection,
and gave them instructions with respect to His kingdom,
amongst which we find the great commission to preach the
gospel, and thus to bring the whole world under His sway.
In the second place, the spirit of His disciples was so changed
as can be accounted for only on the supposition of their
having witnessed or been perfectly assured of His resurrection.
The cross had utterly confounded and cast them down.
Their Messiah had apparently thoroughly disappointed them.
Courage had forsaken them. Now they appear as men
inspired, and animated with a nobler courage than they had
possessed even in the presence of their Master. They were
prepared to face any foe and to dare any death. They had a
testimony to deliver, and they would deliver it at whatever
cost. What was that testimony? Why, that God had raised
Jesus from the dead, of which they were the chosen witnesses.
Now, we shall say no more on this point than that it is
utterly inconsistent with human nature for men to testify to
what they must have otherwise known to be false at the risk
of life itself, and without a single motive unless on the
supposition that their testimony was true. In the third place,
in a way which could not have been known by the apostles
at first at least, the doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus has
a most important place in the system of redemptive truth; so
that the event was most likely in itself. This adds mightily
to the evidence of fact. And, in the last place, the whole
character and result of the preaching of the Apostles may be
fairly said to have been impossible unless based on the truth
of the resurrection of Jesus. If such an event never took
place, the first preachers of the Gospel were the greatest
deceivers, that Gospel was without foundation, the richest
happiness enjoyed in this world was the creation of a
falsehood, and the most noble and excellent of human
ASCENSION OF JESUS.
characters, which have distinguished all subsequent ages,
have been inspired, sustained, and perfected by what at best
can only be called a beautiful fiction.
4. The Ascension of Jesus.-Here, again, we have sufficient.
evidence. Even though no human eye had witnessed this
event, the evidence of resurrection would have sufficed.
Still, the ascension gives completeness to the whole history
of Jesus, and is itself a glorious fact which has ever had the
most powerful as well as pleasing effect on every believing
mind and loving heart.
(1) As He thus ascended to heaven, Jesus left behind Him
a grand impression of His own glorious destiny. In the
cross we see the most awful eclipse of the Sun of righteous-
ness. In the ascension, we behold the most grand and
impressive rise of the same but henceforth unsetting Sun.
Jesus thus resembled the high priest, who, on the great Day
of Atonement, the day most highly typical of the sacrifice of
Jesus, after slaying the victims, entered within the veil, and
carried with him the blood of expiation into the Holy of Holies,
or into the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel. As the
high priest returned to bless, Jesus will indeed return, but in
the meantime He virtually returns in the person of His
Blessed Spirit to bless all who trust in Him and His great
propitiation.
293
(2) Before thus ascending, Jesus, as we have already hinted,
gave to His disciples the great apostolic commission, in
which we find Him, first, claiming as the Messiah and Son
of God "all power in heaven and earth; secondly, com-
manding them and their followers of every age to seek the
conversion of the world and the edification of His people;
and, thirdly, promising, as only a divine being could promise,
to be with them, that is to say, with all who faithfully
fulfilled this commission, "always, even to the end of the
world." We might comment on the claims and commission
of Jesus. How different His appearance on the cross as
utterly helpless and powerless, and on the mount of ascension
""
294
MESSIANIC REVELATION.
thus affirming His universal dominion and illustrating the
truth of His words by His glorious departure from earth to
heaven! How small, indeed, and feeble the army thus left
behind, and thus commanded to conquer the world! and yet
how vast their achievements and how glorious their con-
quests! They were not left without a leader. The invincible
Captain of their and the world's salvation has always been
with them, and has enabled them to make His the greatest
kingdom on earth, and will doubtless continue to lead them
from victory to victory, till they have literally conquered the
whole world.
(3) Before this ascension, Jesus instructed His disciples to
wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift and descent of the
Holy Spirit. He alone could fit them for the fulfilment of
the great commission. Jesus assured them that He went to
His Father and to heaven, and that He would thence send
that Spirit to lead them into all the truth, and to prepare them
for the proclamation of it. When the Holy Spirit came as
Jesus had declared, the fact of His own glorification was
infallibly attested, and, we may say, virtually made visible.
As we shall further see, Peter could now point to the effects
of the Spirit's presence, and thus demonstrate the exaltation
and enthronization of the crucified Messiah.
apostolic reveLATION OF JEHOVAH IN JESUS CHRIST
AS THE GOD OF REDEMPTION.
CHAPTER VI.
I.
(6
BL
LESSED (are) your eyes, for they see; and your
ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you,
that many prophets and righteous (men) have desired to see
(those things) which ye see, and have not seen (them); and
to hear (those things) which ye hear, and have not heard
(them)." How high the conception of Jesus of Himself and
of His mission! Did He in the very least degree exaggerate?
Or, did He not rather far more than realize the ideal of all
such excellent men? Has He not met and satisfied the
deepest desires of the human heart? Moses uttered such a
desire, "Lord, show me Thy glory;" and Philip expressed
the same in other words, "Lord, show us the Father, and it
sufficeth us." Has Jesus not justly replied to both, "He
that hath seen Me hath seen the Father"? Is not every
earnest heart now satisfied with the vision of "the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ"? We need not here again
refer to the fulfilment of prophecy, as we have already done
so, and shall soon have to do so in connection with the
Apostolic ministry. All the blessedness of which Jesus.
spoke has been assuredly realized by multitudes of His
disciples, both in life and at death. How many have, as the
world seemed to pass away, fully sympathized with the aged
Simeon, as he gazed upon the Infant Redeemer,-" Lord,
I.
296
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
:
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes
have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before
the face of all people: a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and
the glory of Thy people Isracl"! To dying eyes, even the
Blessed God can give no richer, no more joyful feast than
that of the blessedness here referred to,—the vision of Jesus
Christ.
2. In passing on to the Apostolic Revelation, we may
simply note the familiar fact, that Jesus has become at least
the temporal and spiritual centre of all history. Up to His
time, all inspired men pointed to a coming One, and to a
brighter future. Since His day, Apostolic and Christian men
have ever reverted to the past, and to One who has already
come, than whom they look for no greater or equal, and who
has ever proved Himself to be "all their salvation and all
their desire." In Him they see the promise of the world's
salvation and satisfaction, as they know Him to be the source
of their own.
3. We have referred to the fact that, between His
resurrection and ascension, Jesus often conversed with His
disciples, and commanded them to wait at Jerusalem “for
the promise of the Father," even the Holy Spirit, by whom
they would be divinely fitted for their Apostolic work. He
opened their minds to the true meaning of the prophetic
Scriptures, and dispelled all darkness and sadness, by show-
ing that "thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead: and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem." They formed the nucleus
of the new Kingdom. Pentecost soon came. The Spirit
descended. The apostles were inspired; the gift of tongues
was bestowed; and multitudes, from many lands, were made
to hear in their varied languages "the wonderful works of
God." We need not quote the remarkable discourse of Peter,
in which he opened the door of the kingdom to Jews and
proselytes alike, and by which no fewer than three thousand
-
GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
297
souls were converted to Jesus. We may simply note these
four things:-First, the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit
was a most evident and infallible proof of the glorification of
Jesus. Secondly, the apostle not only bore testimony to
the resurrection of Jesus, nor only showed how the Old
Testament promises had been fulfilled in Him, but called upon.
all to receive Him as their true and only Saviour. Thirdly,
The Spirit gave still further testimony as to the glorification
of Jesus by the conversion and enlightenment of these
thousands. And, Fourthly, The Kingdom of Heaven had
now fully come, whether we regard it as founded by Jesus
Himself in forming His disciples into that body of faithful
subjects to whom He gave the great commission to preach the
Gospel to every creature, or consider it as, at this time,
founded by Peter, when he thus pointed to Jesus as the true
foundation, and led, through the grace of the Spirit, so many
to build their faith and hope upon it. The long-promised
era has thus arrived. Its beginning, viewed as a manifestation
of the converting power of the Holy Spirit, given through
the intercession of Jesus as the exalted High Priest, was
most assuring and memorable. From that date we are to
see the Mosaic dispensation superseded by that of Christ and
of the Holy Spirit.
4. The effect of the great discourse was immense, and soon
seen. As we are told, "Then they that gladly received the
word were baptized: and the same day were added (unto
them) about three thousand souls; and they continued sted-
fastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came on every
soul and many wonders and signs were wrought by the
apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all
things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and
parted them to all (men), as every man had need. And
they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having
298
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the
Church daily such as should be (or, as were) saved." Here
the essential excellence of the new kingdom clearly appears.
It is assuredly a kingdom of love. Preachers and people all
rejoiced together in the mighty change wrought by the Holy
Spirit imparted through Jesus Christ; the result bore the
infallible marks of its divinity. All rejoiced in the great
salvation. To their overflowing love to Jesus and to God,
all added like abounding love to one another. Selfishness
seemed to have been destroyed. They were prepared for
any work and for any sacrifice. The apostles were full of
the spirit of Jesus, and this spirit was infused into the hearts
of the people. The latter sat at the feet of the former, and
drank in the truth of Jesus and of God from their inspired
lips. The Cross was as if ever before their eyes; and that
sweet and sacred ordinance, which Jesus had instituted so
shortly before His death, they seemed to think they could
not too often observe. Communion with God and with one
another in Jesus Christ was their intense delight. Heaven
had indeed come down to earth. The resurrection of Jesus,
as preached by the apostles and believed by the people,
exerted a marvellous power, creating new life, inspiring
eternal hope, and developing a strength and a courage which
no threatened punishment or even death could overcome.
Nor do we find the least trace of fanaticism. Beauty as well
as strength distinguished the spirit evolved. The new life
was one of lofty devotion, we may say of constant praise to
God. It affected even the most ordinary acts, leading the
disciples, as we are told, to "eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart," and thus, as by spiritual instinct, to
obey the beautiful precept afterwards given, "Whether ye eat
or drink or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
How fine, then, the picture of human life here so truthfully
drawn! The law of love was in every heart and in every
tongue. This gave the consciousness of a real and undoubted
salvation. We need not wonder that they had a mighty
FIRST CHRISTIANS.
299
influence over all around, or that they enjoyed the favour of
all the people. We need not say, that such has often been
the case with true and ardent and loving disciples of Jesus.
Persecuted by some, they inspire the admiration and gain the
favour of many who never join their ranks. Human goodness,
when so marked and so traceable to divine grace, is sure to
make its impression on the heart. In this way the Gospel
best commends itself. Thus early and thus strikingly was
Jesus commended to the judgment and faith of mankind, in
the very way in which He, at the close of life, gave beautiful
and touching instruction,-"A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that
ye love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are
My disciples, if ye have love to one another."
5. We would specially note one remarkable manifestation
of this love. We refer to the fact here recorded, that "they
had all things common." Many were poor. Many were
persecuted. Circumstances were peculiar. Those who had
the means supplied the wants of those who had not. They
sold their lands and possessions. They acted as members of
one family, as sons and daughters of one Divine Father.
They did not combine for their mere common good or in
common defence against the ills of life, according to some
theory of political economy, as in more recent times, and
thus in a spirit as likely selfish as benevolent. All flowed
from pure, warm, divine affection. We do not say that the
example of these first disciples is to be followed in its precise
form or in its peculiar details, however truly and universally
it ought to be followed in essential spirit and according as
Christian wisdom may direct. At this special time, we have
no doubt the mode of beneficence was really wise, the result
of the direction as well as impulse of the Holy Spirit. Nor
can we suppose a better beginning of the Christian Church.
All was purely voluntary. The apostles gave no command-
ment. The heart of the disciples was thus revealed. The
new kingdom was magnified; and, wherever the same heart
300
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
exists, however differently it may manifest itself, Jesus is
commended, and that kingdom advanced.
6. We might pretty fully refer to the third chapter of Acts
in illustration of the Apostolic method of preaching the
Gospel and extending the Church. We might allude to the
miraculous cure of the lame man at the gate of the temple,
and to its effect on the minds of many who were well acquainted
with him. Peter's address to the people is very simple, but
most remarkable. He testified to the unjust death and
glorious exaltation of Jesus, "the Prince of Life," in whose
Name and by whose power the acknowledged miracle had
been wrought. He then showed, in the fewest words, that
the sum of all the promises and prophecies had been realized
in the person of Jesus, as the Messiah and expected Son of
Abraham. Prophecy being thus made to combine with
miracle in sealing the Apostolic testimony to the resurrection
of Jesus, the demand is made, "Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Then he reminded them of the Prophet spoken of by Moses,
and of the days predicted by Samuel and all the prophets;
adding, "Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son
Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of
you from his iniquities." Thus simple and sublime was the
preaching of the inspired fishermen of Galilee. Like the old
prophets to whom they referred, "they spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost," else they could not have so
spoken at all.
""
7. The fruit of this discourse was very abundant. Many
of them that heard the word believed; so that now, as the
result of this and previous labours, and besides the many who
had gone to their respective homes, "the number of the men
was about five thousand." The enmity of certain of the
leading sects was aroused. Previously the Pharisees, who
prided themselves on their good works, had been the most
determined foes of Jesus. In now witnessing for His
(C
APOSTOLIC PREACHING.
301
resurrection, the apostles awakened the hostility of the
Sadducees, who denied all resurrection, and thus felt that they
were most pointedly assailed by the new doctrine. Next
day the apostles were brought before the rulers, and
demanded" by what power or by what name have ye done
this?" The answer was most noble, nay, most sublime.
We have seen how the Gospel created hearts of love to God
and man. We may now see how the same Gospel inspired
heroism of the highest and purest type. Let it be remembered
that the death of Christ was fitted to remove every vestige of
courage from the hearts of His followers, if He was not what
He professed to be, or if they had no real proof of His
resurrection. Peter may seem most cowardly in denying
Him. What shall we say of Peter now as an open and
unflinching confessor? He traces the miracle to Jesus. He
declares Jesus to be the corner-stone, rejected by his judges
before whom he had just been called, and yet exalted by the
power of God: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other Name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved." Finely does the historian add,
-"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marvelled; and took knowledge of them, that they had been
with Jesus. And beholding the man who was healed standing
with them, they could say nothing against it." They could
only command them to speak no more in the Name of Jesus.
As a display of that calm, sublime heroism to which we
referred, their reply is worthy of everlasting remembrance,-
"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you
more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak
the things which we have seen and heard." These are the
words of an unlearned and ignorant man! They are a light
for all the ages. Assuredly Peter and John exemplify the
salvation of Jesus which they preached.
8. We shall pass over the fearful case of Ananias and
Sapphira with only one remark, that, whatever else, it at least
1
302
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
showed how impressively the young community were taught
the infinite importance of sincerity and truthfulness, and thus
showed at the same time how sincere and truthful Peter,
John, and the other apostles were as appointed witnesses of
the resurrection of Jesus and preachers of His Gospel. The
first outburst of Christian benevolence, which was the occasion
but not the cause of the falsehood so awfully punished, was
also the occasion of the appointment of the seven first
Deacons, as they have generally been regarded, and who at
least were set apart to minister to the wants of the necessitous,
as widows and others, certain of whom, it was complained, had
not met with due attention. The apostles declared that
their more spiritual duties required all their time and labour.
Whether the office of deacon thus originated or not, the
seven were regularly ordained to the office of superintending
the distribution of the Church's liberality to the poor, if not,
as is often held, of managing the whole temporal affairs of
the Church. Whatever view we take, we now conclude that
the ministration to the wants of the poor became a permanent
and important institution within the Church. Christian
benevolence was thus apostolically declared to be a most
important feature of the religion of Jesus, who, throughout
His personal ministry, attended to the temporal as well as
spiritual wants of men, and thus set an example which we here
find nobly followed, as, in order to the full influence of His
Gospel, it ought ever to be followed wherever human wants
are to be seen.
9. However, these honoured disciples were not required to
devote themselves exclusively to this temporal ministration.
One of them, namely Philip, became an "Evangelist;
whilst the greatest of them, Stephen, immediately after appears
as a preacher of high repute and resistless power, finely
described as "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." We
must not treat of his brief and striking history; and would
further allude to him simply as the first Christian martyr.
In him we see a most beautiful type of Christian character;
وز
FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR.
303
one most faithful and fearless in his duty to his Master, and
one full of his Master's spirit, not only of love towards fellow
disciples, but also of forgiveness towards his fierce and cruel
persecuters. We shall not remark on his wonderful discourse,
in which he says so little in self-defence, and so much in
proof of the Messiahship of Jesus. His martyr-death glori-
fied his brief ministerial life and marvellously resembled that
of his Master. In that Master he expressed his perfect faith;
and as Jesus had prayed from His cross, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do," he prayed, as they
ruthlessly stoned him to death, "Lord, lay not this sin to
their charge."
IO. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young
man's feet, whose name was Saul." Thus we find a link of
connection between the martyrdom of Stephen and the
antagonism, possibly the conversion, of him whose accession
to the Church did so much to affect the history of the religion
of Jesus and to promote the highest interests of mankind.
How far the dying words of the martyr may have impressed
and secretly worked upon the mind of the persecutor we
cannot tell. He indeed persisted in his cruel course. They
at least must have continued to humble him through life,
and thus to have increased his gratitude for the grace of God.
We must, then, pause to contemplate the case of this most
remarkable man.
(1) All in the least degree capable of judging cannot fail
to regard Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle of Christ, as one
of the greatest and best characters of history. Happily no
man has ever made himself better known, compelled, as he
often was, to write in self-defence, and constrained, as he
also often was, to illustrate the saving grace of God by alluding
to himself as the chief of sinners saved by that grace alone.
We cannot but delight to contemplate Christ and Paul
together, the One as Saviour, the other as saved by Him,-the
indisputable salvation of the latter giving an infallible
practical demonstration of the divine mission and saving
•
304
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
power of the former. We might devote a whole chapter to
this one subject. How conscious of guilt! How concious of
spiritual bondage! "O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from this body of death ?" Yet, if ever man was
spiritually emancipated or truly delivered from the power of
moral evil, Paul certainly was. Then, how humble! How
grateful! What love to God! What love to Christ! What love to
Christians! What love to the whole human race! How pure,
noble, and self-sacrificing a course of life! What persecutions.
most cheerfully endured! What labours most perseveringly
carried on! What daring heroism! How free from all
selfishness and self-seeking! What nobleness in prospect of
martyrdom! Well may we say, What a miracle of grace! To
repeat, what an infallible seal of the redemptive mission and
power of Jesus Christ!
(2) One prominent feature of his renewed character all
may clearly see, that of simplicity, sincerity, veracity. The
idea of being "a false witness for God" he repels with
vehemence as impossible and absurd. The thought of doing
evil that good may come he shows to be utterly abhorrent to
his new nature. We cannot doubt the truth of his testimony,
whether with respect to Christ or with respect to himself;
whether to the miracles of which he speaks or to the cir-
cumstances of his wonderful conversion.
(3) He traces that conversion to the revelation of Jesus to
himself whilst engaged in the work of persecution. He gives
the true key to his noble character and mighty career in the
familiar words, "The love of Christ constraineth us, because
we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead;
and that He died for all, that they who live should not hence-
forth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them
and rose again."
(4) We might have put what we have said in a different form,
and pointed to many a contrast between Saul of Tarsus before
his conversion, and Paul the Apostle after it. How different
the self-sufficient spiritual pride of the Pharisaic persecutor and
CONVERSION OF THE GENTILES.
305
the fathomless humility and self-abasement of the Christian
Apostle, who speaks of himself as "less than the least of all
saints," nay, as "the chief of sinners"! What hatred to
Christ and His people on the one side! What love to both on
the other! How destructive of good before his conversion!
How creative of good after it! What a contrast, the young
persecutor consenting to the death of Stephen, and the aged
apostle sealing the same glorious testimony with his own
blood!
11. We shall pass over the brief references to the miracles
of Peter, and go on to treat of another most important event
in the apostolic history,-we refer to what is sometimes called.
"The opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles." Here
Peter, "the Apostle of the circumcision," and not Paul, the
Apostle of the Gentiles," was, doubtless with supreme
wisdom, the divinely appointed agent. He had been, as we
have found, highly honoured to use "the keys of the
kingdom," in opening that door to the Jews, and now he is in
like manner honoured to use them to open it to the whole
Gentile world. We may safely say, that Peter would not have
so acted unless expressly taught so to do. His prepossessions.
were too exclusive. His vision was now enlarged. Even
Paul, with all his culture and learning, would not, without
direct commission, have so soon and so thoroughly abandoned
his like exclusive prepossessions, as he was indeed a Jew of
the Jews. We may well marvel to find the apostles so slow
to catch the spirit of their Master, and to understand His
commission to preach the Gospel to the whole world. If we
think how the most excellent Christians, with that commission
before their eyes for ages, failed to discover their obligation
to send the Gospel to the heathen, we will not regard this as
incredible. We need not give the details of the vision of
Cornelius the Roman centurion on the one hand, or of the
vision of Peter on the other, which were the means of leading
the latter to preach to the assembled household and friends of
the former, and to open the eyes of all Jewish Christians to
20
306
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
the world-wide extent of the new dispensation. Nor shall
we quote the fit words of the apostle. They were in keeping
with his ordinary teaching as to Jesus,-His life, death, and
resurrection, His present work as a Saviour, and His future
office as a judge. The testimony of the speaker was confirmed
by reference to the testimony of the prophets, with which
Cornelius may have been so far acquainted. All was received
as true and as from God. "While Peter yet spake these
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them who heard the word.
And they of the circumcision who believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles
was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost: for they heard
them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered
Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ?
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the
Lord." Thus was Jesus most practically and most suitably
declared to be the Saviour of the whole world, and His Church
to be no longer even apparently confined to one nation, but
to be the Church of the believing in every land.
12. We shall not refer to the many ways in which the
Gospel was everywhere spread abroad, as indicated by the
history. We need hardly say, that that history, whilst
assuredly sufficient for its purpose, gives no information as to
a very great amount of Apostolic and Christian work. The
respective fields of the majority of the apostles and many
others can be discovered only by the somewhat uncertain
light of tradition. We are certain that numerous Christian
Societies or Churches were established in many regions, of
which some became strong centres of Christian life and
influence. Henceforth the sacred narrative treats mainly of
the labours of the Apostle Paul. With him Barnabas was
associated for a considerable time. They were together sent
forth by the Church to preach the Gospel. Everywhere, all
difficulties being duly weighed, they met with great success.
Acting as sent forth "to the Jew first, and then to the Greek,"
MINISTRY OF PAUL.
307
they too often found their fellow-countrymen the deadliest
foes to the truth, and the chief obstacles to success among
the Gentiles. Their preaching was exceedingly simple,
exactly similiar to that of Peter, and mainly dealing with the
facts of the history of Jesus. Old Testament prophecy was
freely used. Only after Churches were formed did they
unfold the truth in more varied and more doctrinal form.
They ever acted on the principle that faith in Jesus Christ,
and not any mere form of belief however full and enlightened,
was not only the appointed condition, but also the certain
and necessary means, of salvation. We shall not refer to the
opposition of certain teachers who sought to add to this
circumcision as a really, if not equally, essential condition; or
to the conference at Jerusalem, at which this error was
denounced and the simplicity of the Gospel vindicated. Only
thus gradually was the Mosaic and Christian economies duly
distinguished, and the freedom of the latter made to take the
place of the formalism of the former. The entire ministry of
Paul powerfully tended to this result, though Judaism was
destined to rise to new and most pernicious life within the
Christian Church, and to modify and pervert Christian doctrine
and practice, to an immense extent, to the present day. We
might go on to follow the great apostle in his ever-widening
circuits of untiring work. Especially might we follow him to
Europe, into which he had the high honour of introducing the
Gospel, and of thus being the real founder of that religion
which has been the main source of all the blessings of modern
civilization, and which, unless for its fearful perversion, would
have long ago made Europe as the garden of the Lord. We
might illustrate the wise and enlightened manner in which he
was enabled to treat all classes of men, to adapt himself to all
their peculiarities, and thus to gain very many to Jesus Christ.
As we ponder His mighty career, we are filled with amazement
at the power and wisdom and grace which God combined in
the person and work of this one man. We can never cease
to regard him as one of the most wonderful manifestations of
308
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
the creative and redemptive power of Jehovah, who, we might
say, may yet be seen as if visibly wielding that power in him
and through him in the earth. The other apostles, though
not so well known or so successful as he, did also their
glorious part. By all of them, and by many raised up to co-
operate with them, we may feel as if we saw Jesus with our
very eyes acting as the Captain of the world's salvation, raising
multitudes from deepest darkness to His most "marvellous
light," and leading them as sons of God to eternal glory.
13. We shall not deal further with the particulars of the
Apostolic history. At the time of the martyrdom of Paul, the
Christian Church had been planted in many cities and
countries. Doubtless extravagant notions have been enter-
tained of the numerical successes of this early period. Still,
these were very great. They were so among the Jews, if we
keep in view the terrible opposition and fierce persecution
endured, and that in keeping with the words of express predic-
tion. Vastly more numerous conversions took place among
the Gentiles, though even among them the dispersed Jews
often acted as the deadliest foes of the Christians. Viewed
nationally, we cannot but look upon the evangelization of the
Jews as a failure. The fault was all their own. They had
crucified their own Messiah, and they continued to show their
deadly hatred to Him by the persecution of His Apostles and
people. We must look upon the period between the death
of Christ and the Fall of Jerusalem as one of forbearance and
grace, during which every opportunity as well as all-sufficient
reason was given for national repentance or general conver-
sion. During the same period, multitudes among the heathen
abandoned idolatry and their virtual atheism, and became
worshippers and servants of Jehovah through faith in Jesus
Christ. In the case of all such believers, the most marvellous
changes were wrought in their inner and outward life. The
doctrine of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the
salvation of Gentile no less than of Jew, inspired the purest
faith in the one living and true God, and the brightest hope.
MIGHTY REVOLUTION.
309
of a blessed immortality. Within forty years, the mightiest,
though in many respects a most secret, revolution had taken
place; the religion of heathendom had received its fatal
blow; influences were set afloat in society throughout the
Roman Empire, destined to bring to ruin that vast pile of
growing despotism and corruption; and the foundations were
laid of a very different empire, even the long-promised
Kingdom of Heaven,-a Kingdom of righteousness and
liberty and peace, which, indeed, has suffered beyond measure
from prolonged and predicted corruption, but which may
now be seen rising to purity and power throughout the world.
Within that period, all the apostles except John had closed
their earthly course and gone to be with Him whom they so
nobly served. If we study the history along with numerous
allusions in the apostolic epistles, the results of their toils
will be seen to be immense. Their whole work, like that of
Jesus, will be seen to be that of no fancied, but of the real
salvation of the world. In the Person of His Son, the Eternal
Father had indeed come down from heaven to earth, and
raised many thousands to the rank of sons and daughters.
The old covenant with Abraham, that "in him and in his
seed all nations would be blessed," was now yielding the
most precious and abundant fruit. When the judgment
pronounced by Jesus on Jerusalem was inflicted, and one
great enemy of the truth thus judicially as well as actually put
out of the way, vast multitudes enjoyed the rich blessing of
Abraham, the blessing of a true and eternal salvation. Nor
would we be supposed to use this expression in any technical
sense or on the authority of the sacred narrative itself, but as
expressive of all those blessings and all that change of heart
and life which the most thoughtful minds of the present day
cannot but acknowledge to make up the sum of a real salva-
tion. Jehovah of Israel, the God of salvation, was thus
becoming the God of the whole earth. The partition wall
between Jew and Gentile was broken down. The antipathies
and separations of nations were largely removed. Even
310
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
masters and slaves were declared to be one. All com-
munities, and all ranks and classes of these communities, as
far as the new faith extended, were "all one in Jesus Christ."
We repeat, all the elements of salvation were possessed by
every believing heart. The New Jerusalem had indeed come
down from heaven, and all nations were beginning to flow
to it.
II.
1. From the whole of the above, we gather, that the preach-
ing of the Gospel involved, everywhere and at first, the im-
partation of only the most elementary instruction. Doubtless,
others as well as Paul, when first visiting any people, “deter-
mined to know nothing among them, save Jesus Christ, even
the Crucified." To do this of course implies a great deal
more than it seems, especially in the instruction of those who
entertained the most erroneous and degrading ideas of God.
The apostles, accordingly, must have done much which does
not appear on the pages of the narrative. At Ephesus, for
example, Paul spent a long time teaching the people in a way
which he but little indicates. As converts were gathered
into Churches, they received all needful instruction. For
a very considerable time, this seems to have been in great
measure simply oral. Happily Christian truth, in so far as it
is essential to salvation, is at once easily understood and
easily remembered. The story of the Cross may be told to
the young and the illiterate, and received by them to their
eternal good. In fact, this is one of the features of the
religion of Jesus, which at once reveals its universality and
demonstrates its divinity. The Gospel is neither a science
nor a philosophy, which only the few can understand and
appreciate. It is truly, as it means literally, good news,
which all may welcome, and by which all may be saved. The
inspired preachers and teachers had food for full-grown men
as well as food for babes. The more advanced in Christian
knowledge were appointed to the office of overseers and
THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.
311
teachers of the Churches. Provision was thus early made
for the instruction of all classes of the community. Of course
the Old Testament would be read by many. The New
Testament had to be written. We need not wonder, then,
to find that, at the outset, special gifts of the Spirit should
have abounded. As time advanced, the doctrines of divine
truth would be added to the facts of the Gospel testimony,
of which, indeed, they are for the most part the moral and
spiritual interpretation.
2. It is somewhat hard to conceive the precise state of the
Churches before they were supplied with so much as the
history of Jesus Christ. The want must have been soon and
widely felt. As indicated in the opening of the Gospel of
Luke, some earnest Christians seem to have early begun
to write out what they knew or what they could gather con-
cerning the life of Jesus. For aught we now know, various.
Gospels may have been written and circulated before those
now extant had any existence; and this would account for
the great similarity of detail distinguishing the three Synop-
tical Gospels. Long before the overthrow of the nation,
these were, doubtless by divine aid, prepared for perpetual
use. That of John, with his Epistles and Apocalypse, did
not appear till after that event. Jesus, though writing nothing
Himself, promised, and in due time gave the Holy Spirit to
bring to remembrance His words and works so far as He
desired them to be known, and to lead to the knowledge of
all truth which He wished to reveal to mankind; and to
the mission of this Spirit we may ascribe all the writings of
the New Testament, as truly as the early Christians were
wont to ascribe those of the Old. We must not, however,
enter upon the question of the extent of the inspiration thus
suggested. Most admirably are all the varied portions of
the New Testament fitted to secure the great and permanent
end in view. As read in the Four Gospels, the great bio-
graphy is assuredly perfect, as, in the Epistles, the truth as it
is in Jesus is set forth in all its purity and perfection. No
312
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
real discord, ethical or spiritual, can anywhere be found. The
writers, Paul, Peter, John, James, and Jude, represent that truth
in various forms and under various aspects, as they were led,
partly by the Spirit, who uses different organs to realize His
diversified and yet harmonious work, and partly by their own
peculiarities of constitution and culture, by which they were
fitted to do, through the Spirit, their respective parts. Thus
Paul was led to treat more fully than the others of the more
legal aspect of the redemptive work of Christ, and of the
function of faith in Christ as the one and only essential con-
dition of salvation; so much so that he has been not in-
appropriately called the Apostle of Faith. Peter again,
from the opening of his First Epistle, and from the way in
which he treats of the great future, might not unfitly be
called the Apostle of Hope. We need not say that John has
been often and most aptly designated the Apostle of Love;
and we may add, that the slightest study of their Epistles may
well suggest that James and Jude can have no fitter title than
the Apostles of Good Works. Whilst they all treat fully and
harmoniously of "the common salvation," or of "the Way,
the Truth, and the Life," they thus form a small, but
perfect, choir, whose voices are at once different in them-
selves, and yet never at discord with one another.
3. They agree in their teachings with respect to the
character and destiny of man, viewed in himself, in relation
to God, and apart from Jesus Christ.
4. They agree in their teachings concerning the Blessed
Saviour Himself,-His Person as the Son of the Highest,-
His character as altogether sinless and lovely,-His life and
death as at once a glorious revelation of God and a great
propitiation for sin,-His intercession in heaven, the upper
sanctuary, which He is described as entering as the great
High Priest of the whole Israel of God,-His exaltation to
the right hand of God, as universal Prince or Head over all
things in heaven and on earth, for the well-being of His
people,-His indwelling presence in the hearts of all who
HARMONY OF DOCTRINE.
313
believe as the perennial fountain of divine and spiritual life,
-His mercy in pardoning all the sins of penitent believers,
and His grace in imparting to all who believe the gift of the
Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of illumination, of sanctification, of
comfort, and of preparation for heaven,-His providential
government by which He makes "all things to work together
for good to those who love God and who are called accord-
ing to His purpose,"-His second coming to judge the world
according to His Gospel, and to appoint to all men their
respective places and destinies in the eternal state.
Add
5. The New Testament writers are at one in their teachings
concerning God, whether as revealed through the whole
course of the more ancient Scriptures, or as more gloriously
and graciously revealed by Jesus Christ, of whom they speak
as "the image of the invisible God," "the brightness of the
Father's glory, and the express image of His person," the
Son of God and Heir of all things. They may be said to
carry out the teachings of Jesus, by showing how Jesus
Himself, His life and death revealed the Father, as Jesus could
not do without such personal allusions as were discordant
with the unobtrusive spirit of His ministry, nay, as could not
be fully done till the entire course of Jesus, and especially
His humiliation, was completed and made known to the
human mind. Just in proportion as they set forth Jesus, the
crucified and glorified, did they perfect the divinely intended
revelation of Jehovah, viewed, whether in Himself, or in His
relation to mankind and the universe at large as Creator, King,
and Father, or, as we have all along been contemplating, as
the God of salvation. With the close of the sacred volume we
may
be said to have the close of that long series of revelations,
by which Jehovah has been pleased to make Himself known
to the sons of men. That volume may be more and more
deeply studied and more and more highly appreciated, and
thus practically Jehovah may be better and still better known;
but, we may safely say, that since the last of the apostles
was honoured to add the copestone to the temple of divine
314
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
truth, or to utter what may be called the crowning revelation
of God, in the simple and sublime sentence, "God is Love,"
no human being, however great in intellect or spiritual in
soul, has ever been able to add so much as one new idea
with respect to the character of God.
6. In treating of the teaching of Jesus, we said that He had
left it to His apostles to treat with sufficient fulness of the
nature of His propitiatory work. To that work He had most
descriptively and beautifully alluded in the memorable words,
"The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." The
doctrine of the apostles was in perfect harmony with this
twofold affirmation, and was little else than an inspired
interpretation of it. They gave no theory or philosophy of
the propitiation or atonement of Jesus Christ. Doubtless,
in their instructions to more advanced believers, they would
treat of so great and central a subject far more largely than
they have done in the comparatively few writings which they
have left behind. Still, regarding the Holy Spirit as the
real Author of the New Testament, we are assured that the
statements relating to the propitiation, and the allusions to
it, together with the whole scope of Scripture teaching, are
amply sufficient for the enlightenment of the Church of every
age. Still, we repeat, nowhere do we find a philosophy or
theory of atonement. In fact, the sacred Scriptures were
not designed to convey to the human mind any kind of
science or philosophy, even with respect to things moral
or divine. They state principles and record facts, which,
like the facts and principles of nature, may be used and ought
to be used for purposes of induction, and to enable us to
take the most philosophical and scientific, which just means
the most enlightened and enlarged, view of any and of
every subject whatever. Attacks on theology as a science
of divine truth, now not unfrequently made, we cannot but
regard as indicative of narrowness rather than of largeness
of view. Authoritative systems of theology ought to be
C
DOCTRINE OF PROPITIATION.
315
rejected, as all would resist the authority of any system of
natural or moral science. We may not only admit, but most
decidedly maintain, that faith in the great fact of atone-
ment, and not knowledge of the true theory or even the
exact nature, of the atonement, is of essential importance
in the practical matter of salvation. At the same time, such
knowledge is of momentous consequence in order to the
enlightenment and stability, the unity and prosperity, the
progress and spiritual power, of the Church; so that it
becomes all who would treat of so vast and difficult, we
might say, so mysterious a subject, to do so in the pro-
foundest spirit of reverence and apart from the imprudence
or rashness of mere ingenious speculation. In recent times
the doctrine of propitiation has given rise to much earnest
inquiry and not a little learned and able discussion. Much
yet remains to be done before a final and satisfactory idea of
it can be developed and proved to be scriptural, if such an
idea can possibly be reached in the case of a subject of so
mysterious a nature, of so vast a compass, and of such mani-
fold relations. One thing is certain, that, for all practical
or redemptive purposes, a most adequate idea of it may be
possessed by all Christians of ordinary understanding; and
such an idea the words of the apostles assuredly and most
naturally suggest. They by no means view the death of Christ
in the mere light of a martyrdom, however truly a martyr-
dom it was. Nor do they exclusively set it forth as the most
illustrious example of self-sacrifice in the interests of man-
kind, however truly also it was such a sacrifice. Nor do
they simply show that it was the very highest manifestation
of love intended and fitted to draw human hearts to God,
and thus to overcome the supreme selfishness of human
nature. All such and more, they more or less clearly in-
dicate. Still, they as clearly show that it was most
emphatically an atonement or propitiation for the sins of
the whole world. In this one respect, they all agree.
Many have, in these recent times, eliminated from their
316
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
theory of atonement, all idea of expiation or of substitu-
tionary sacrifice for sin. Whilst, however, due weight is
given to the clear statements of Scripture, that idea must
remain. It cannot possibly be excluded from any sufficient
and lasting theory of the great propitiation. However, we
by no means propose here to treat of any such theory;
and must leave these remarks simply to express the thought
of the perfect sufficiency of the apostolic revelation of this
central work of Jesus Christ.
7. We must not pass over the apostolic doctrine of the
Holy Spirit. That doctrine is indeed to be found in all parts
of Scripture, implied or expressed; and it was clearly stated
by the Great Teacher Himself. Still, only after His death
and through apostolic teaching do we find it, not only fully
expressed, but also finally set forth in its essential, yet most
mysterious relation to the doctrine of the Father and of the
Son, or as completing the glorious revelation of Jehovah as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,-the Father as the Fountain,
-the Son as the Medium, and the Holy Spirit as the Effi-
cient Cause, of human salvation. We need not say that the
grand and mysterious doctrine of the Godhead has ever been
a source of diverse opinion and of manifold discussion. We
may well note what we may call the admirable, nay, the ab-
solutely perfect skill of the divinely-guided penmen of the
New Testament in all their statements or allusions more
or less directly touching this great doctrine. As has been
often remarked, they never use such an expression as that
so long in common use, The Trinity. Possibly no ex-
pression could better suggest their real meaning. Still, they
never speak so abstractly or so scientifically. They invari-
ably speak most simply and practically. This may be most
clearly seen, if we for a moment compare or rather contrast
the New Testament allusions to Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, with the more or less extended and precise statements,
whether of the various authoritative creeds of Christendom,
or of the numerous theologians who have expressly treated
Madag
MYSTERY OF TRI-UNITY.
317
of the mysterious subject. In the apostolic writings the
great salvation is freely and in diversified ways, traced to
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and as freely and diversely
are they spoken of as if absolutely One, and yet as if not
less truly Three, the One sending, the Other coming, and
the like: nor do the writers appear to hint at, or to have the
slightest apprehension of, discord between what many would
deem the most contradictory statements. So long as we
are content to read their writings, whilst we may be im-
pressed with the profoundest sense of the mystery of the
divine existence as utterly beyond the possibility of human
thought, all seems as well the most simple and practical as
the most glorious and sublime revelation of the Infinite and
Eternal One. Only when we begin to inquire as to how that
One can reveal Himself as Three and yet declare Himself to
be but One, do we find our intellectual difficulties begin, and
the more consciously so, if we have been led to think of the
great mystery at the suggestion of any of the many formulated
doctrines of the Church. This seems clearly to suggest the
manifold wisdom of perfect and silent acquiescence in the
truth of Scripture teaching, admirably and perfectly skilful
as we have called it, or, if we would advance beyond this, of
at least abstaining from adding one sentence to that divine
teaching which could by any possible fairness of inference
imply the least shadow of self-contradiction. Thus, we
cannot see the slightest impropriety in the affirmation, that
the Divine Being is One in some one sense, and Three
in some other sense; for, so long as these senses are not
defined, they are not said to be understood, or to be even
within reach of the human understanding; and therefore,
no one has any logical right to deny the consistency of
two distinct affirmations, God is One, and, God is Three,
whose distinctive meanings are not defined. Nor do we see
that any one could logically find fault with such general
expressions as these, that God is One and only One Being,
and yet that there is some great, mysterious, and incom-
318
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
prehensible Plurality or Threefold Distinction in that Being.
If we may safely go thus far in our apprehensions and expres-
sions of what Scripture seems indisputably to teach, we appear
to be in the greatest danger, if we advance one step beyond,
of passing or leading others to pass to a High Arianism,
and thence to real Tritheism, sure to issue, through revul-
sion, if not in Sabillianism or the doctrine of a purely
official Trinity, in the full Unitarian denial of the Divinity of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. With all needful and most
reverent caution, then, let us accept the glorious doctrine
of the apostles; and let us treat it most practically and
in its most wonderful threefold relation to the work of
redemption; and then shall we find it the greatest help,
and not the least hindrance, in connection with our own
progress in the knowledge and use of the complete and
unbroken circle of divine and saving truth.
8. What the apostles expanded, and, as we have said,
diversely set forth, we find Jesus condensing in one grand
expression in His great commission, "The Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Now as
all Christians were to be baptized into this Name, and as
baptism implies a profession of faith, we seem to have indi-
cated by these words the sum of divine and saving truth, and
to have pointed out the real, the universal, and the ever-
standing creed of the Christian Church. Along with our
brief treatment of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, even at
the expense of a little repetition, we may refer to the work of
both Father and Son. The words of Jesus, interpreted by
Scripture teaching generally, imply a vast amount of truth. The
Father is to be regarded as the Father of the Son spoken of,
and also as the Father of mankind at large, and, in a special
sense, as the Father of all who believe in Jesus Christ. He
is thus to be viewed, as we have said, as the Fountain of
Salvation, loving the whole sinful race of man, sending His
Son, Jesus, for their salvation, and accepting all who return
through Jesus to Him. The Son, again, is to be contem-
ائے
METHOD OF SALVATION.
319
plated as God in human nature, sent by the Father as the
Saviour of the world, and especially to make an all-sufficient
propitiation for human sin. Further, the Holy Spirit is to be
viewed as divine, and as sent by the Father, in virtue of the
work of the Son, in order to enlighten the human mind, to
convince men of sin, to lead them to receive Christ as their
Redeemer, and through Him to return to God the Father.
The divine method of salvation is thus simple in the last
degree. When, through the grace of the Spirit, a man is
thoroughly convinced of sin, and led to accept Christ as his
Divine Redeemer, he at once loves Christ, or Christ may be
said "to dwell in his heart by faith." But in loving Christ,
he at the same time loves the Father. In this way, Christ, or
God in Christ, becomes the object of his supreme affection.
He can now, through this affection, serve God as he could not
before. He may yet be far from perfect, or from loving God
uninterruptedly and perfectly. He longs for perfection, and
yet feels that by no efforts or culture of his own can that
perfection be reached. However, ascribing all his faith in
the Son and all his love to both Father and Son to the grace
of the Holy Spirit, he accepts the promise given to all
believers, and thus trusts to that Spirit to carry on and com-
plete the work of grace which He has begun, and which He
will not abandon till He has brought it to perfection, and
thus till He has restored the subject of it to the perfect like-
ness of God, and fitted him for the pure and glorious services
of the heavenly world. In proportion to its advancement,
salvation thus becomes a matter of consciousness. As love
to God and that love to man which invariably accom-
panies it continue to grow, or, in other words, as the new
life of love continues to unfold itself, the Christian becomes
more and more deeply and assuredly conscious of it; and
thus knows, that Jesus is a Divine Saviour, not merely be-
cause the Scriptures so affirm, but also because he experi-
mentally knows it to be a plain matter of fact, that Jesus has
actually brought about His indisputably certain salvation.
Play
320
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
Not only is he assured of the forgiveness of all sin, he is also
conscious of a real oneness with God through faith in Jesus,
and of that love to God and man to which we have just
referred, and in the conscious possession of which he has the
most satisfactory assurance of a renewed heart and life, or of
the divine and eternal law being written in his heart. All the
essential elements of salvation he thus knows to be his. He
is assured that a more real salvation he could not possibly
possess. He knows that he is all "light in the Lord." He
cannot therefore desire another or a different salvation. He
simply knows that it is yet far from perfect; but now he as well
knows that the Divine Spirit is engaged to bring it to per-
fection, and that He is actually carrying him onwards and
upwards towards that perfection. He may, indeed, sin and
quench the grace of the Spirit, and thus proportionally lose
the peace of the Gospel and the consciousness of the divine
life within, as, in such a case, it is most natural and proper
that he should. Still, this is no proof of the uncertainty of
the reality of the salvation of Jesus Christ, but ought to be
regarded as a further proof of it; for if the reception of
Christ immediately inspires love to God and man as it was
never possessed before, and if the loss of the indwelling pre-
sence of Christ through unbelief and sin leads at once to the
loss of that love, nay, if only the renewed and full exercise of
faith in Christ can restore that love to the heart, we have
certainly the clearest evidence of the saving power of Jesus;
His presence thus ever bringing salvation, and His absence
ever implying the want or the loss of that salvation.
9. We shall not dwell upon the fact, that, after Christ, the
apostles have given the clearest and most complete descrip-
tion of Christian character and conduct. No sincere be-
liever who, under the teaching of the Spirit, makes use of the
New Testament, can be at any real loss to learn either what
he ought to be, or what he ought to do. As soon as Christ
takes His proper place in the heart through a simple and
sincere faith in Him, all beings and all things appear to the
JESUS SUPREME.
mind in their true light, and are made to occupy their proper
places. Then, God has His place; man has his place; the
world has its place. In fact, faith in Jesus puts the man in
his own proper place. He is no longer in the centre; God
is now there. Henceforth, he and all of like faith with him
are fully believed to be under the control and at the command
of the divine will, and, as so many orbs of new created life,
to revolve freely and harmoniously around that great and
eternal Centre. In proportion as he is thus full of Christ and
of God, or, in proportion as he is animated by "the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus," not only is his eternal salvation secured,
but also his fitness for his place on earth, and for the varied
duties of life is advanced.
321
10. We have already referred to the high place assigned to
Jesus in the heavenly world, or as Head over all things for
the good of His people. We would add to this one remark,
that the apostles seem clearly to represent Jesus in keeping
with His own words as to His investiture with "all power in
heaven and earth," as the visible Representative of the
invisible God, as, we might say, the great central organ
through which that all-pervading Spirit acts in the govern-
ment, not of the human race alone, but also of the entire
created universe, and as that One to whom all moral beings,
angels and men, are henceforth and for ever to turn their
thoughts as the true Shekinah, the living shrine and visible
presence of the Godhead.
11. Here we shall add but one remark more. The apostles
were inspired, not only to instruct with regard to salvation as
enjoyed in time, but to give the fullest and clearest instruction,
really needful or useful, as to the issues of the great re-
demptive work, or as to the character of the eternal world.
They lead us to anticipate the awful destiny of those who
persist in the rejection of Christ; but they do what is un-
speakably more pleasing,-they lead us to anticipate the final
perfection and eternal glory and blessedness of the kingdom
of heaven, through which the Everlasting Name of Jehovah
A
2 I
322
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
shall be revealed in highest form, or which shall be the most
glorious memorial, through all the ceaseless ages, of Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the God at once of Creation.
and Redemption.
1
III.
1. This leads us to the last branch of what we now treat as
the apostolic revelation. The apostles were in the highest
sense endowed with the prophetic gift, exercised by them, as
we have been considering, in the development of divine and
saving truth, yet still further exercised in the disclosure of
the future both of the Church and of the world. We cannot
go on to our next chapter without here briefly treating of the
strictly predictive portions of the apostolic revelation.
2. It has been maintained that, at least for a considerable
time, the apostles expected the speedy return of Christ and
the final judgment of mankind. Certainly two or three
expressions used by New Testament writers, as Peter and
James, would seem to lead to this conclusion, though, if the
matter were of essential consequence, we are not without at
least the means of a specious reply. We have thought that,
as Jesus had left behind Him two really distinct prophecies,
which were interblended inseparably into one, that of the
judgment of the Jewish nation, and that of the judgment of
the human race, the former being a type of the latter, and
both being on this very account the more thoroughly in-
separable, as just hinted, we may not far err in supposing
that, for a very considerable time, the two were so far treated
as simply one, and the words of Jesus thus freely under-
stood and freely used as if pointing to some one and early
coming of Jesus and some one and early judgment of
mankind. Still it would be rash to press the idea of such a
coming and judgment as certainly and in the fullest sense
intended. Thus Paul had so conveyed this very idea to the
minds of the Thessalonian Christians that they were raised to
a high state of excitement and alarm; and yet in his Second
APOSTOLIC PROPHECY.
323
Epistle he assures them that he had never intended to convey
such an idea, nay, that he could assure them of the contrary, as
Jesus would not come till after a period of declension to which
he goes on to refer. The words of Jesus were so strong as to
the suddenness of His return and as to the necessity of watch-
fulness, that we need not wonder that many inferred that His
final return was at hand, as we find a growing number
inferring the same thing even in the present day. Paul,
however, could not have so inferred, as, in such a case, he
could not possibly have interposed the period of declension
to which we have just alluded. As Christ's words were often
misunderstood, we may not far err in supposing that the
words of Peter and James were mere echoes of those of Christ,
and are no more to be interpreted of so early a return than
are His.
3. We are at least assured that Paul expected no personal
return of Jesus till the Gentile nations were converted, and
till the people of Israel, then cut off as rejecting the
Messiah, should again be grafted into the good olive-tree,
or till, as he expressly says, "All Israel shall be saved."
Here, then, we have an express prophecy, or, as we might
rather say, an apostolic interpretation of ancient prophecy,
-that the Gentiles would all be converted, and that Israel
would cease to oppose and eventually be also saved through
faith in Jesus Christ. We may say in passing that, from the
very structure of prophecy, we should expect to receive
comparatively little information with regard to time. The
prophetic vision of the future is not unlike our natural
vision of somewhat distant objects. The nearest may
possibly be seen to be at no great distance; but, as to
those beyond, we can hardly tell how wide a valley or how
many a wide valley may lie between. Paul himself might
have no idea that, after eighteen centuries, his own nation,
whilst so far fulfilling his prediction, as to continue so
distinct and separate from all other peoples, should continue,
with so few exceptions, to reject and abhor their own
:
324
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
Messiah. Still, his prediction as to the fulness of the Gen-
tiles has been sufficiently amply fulfilled to afford every
reason for the undoubting expectation of its ultimate fulfil-
ment. It has at least been so fulfilled in the case of the
Gentiles as to leave no just room for doubt regarding its
fulfilment in that of the Jews.
4. Let us return to his prophetic glance at a great
declension, nay, at a most terrible apostasy. He does not
say how soon it would come to its height or how long
it would continue to injure the Christian Church. Only
he declares that the spirit which would produce so fearful a
result was even at the early time at which he was writing
working among Christians. That upas-tree which was
destined to spread its branches and to shed its baleful in-
fluences over so large and so fair a field and for so long
a time, he could see in bud with his pure spiritual eye,
whilst to his prophetic vision the fully-developed form
rose up with all its dreary desolations around it. Here we
may quote his own words (2 Thess. ii. 1—12):-" Now we
beseech you, brethren, by (or, concerning) the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him
that ye be not soon shaken from your mind, nor be troubled,
either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, as
that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you
by any means: for (that day shall not come) except the
falling away (or, the apostasy) come first, and the man of
sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that,
when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now
ye know what restraincth that he might be revealed in his
season. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only
(there is) one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of
the way. And then shall the lawless one be revealed, whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of IIis mouth, and
I
A
THE GREAT APOSTASY.
325
shall destroy with the brightness of His coming; (even
him) whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie that they
all might be condemned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness." We cannot attempt any
full exposition of this important, but difficult passage. How-
ever, we may note the following: First, Paul's allusion to
the mystery of iniquity as then already at work seems to
imply that the great evil referred to was connected with
the evil cause thus
thus declared to be in actual operation.
Secondly, The development of that evil or the appearance.
of what Paul calls the man of sin was so far checked and
prevented by some cause or power then existing and acting;
so that its development or his appearance was to be expected
after the removal of that cause or power, and therefore,
whatever that cause or power, after the removal of the
existing constitution of things then affecting the Christian
Church, for instance after the overthrow of the Roman
Empire, which, viewed in some special aspect, if not as a
whole, must have been the restraining force alluded to.
If, accordingly, we can find any great apostasy succeeding
the fall of that empire, we have certainly no reason to
regard the man of sin as not already come or as destined yet
to appear. Thirdly, "The apostasy" points to the Christian
Church as destined to undergo some terrible spiritual change,
in virtue of which loyalty to Christ shall vastly cease, and
His religion be perverted to a fearful extent, if not really
overthrown. Fourthly, The man of sin now spoken of,
whether a personal or an organized unity, is to be regarded
as the outcome or as the cause, or rather as so far outcome
in the first instance, and so far cause in the second, of the
apostasy in question. The idea of personality seems
326
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
clearly to befit the circumstances stated, especially the
fact of his sitting in the temple of God and acting as
if he were God. Of course, in prophetic style, a spirit of
evil pervading a whole community might be thus boldly
personified. Whatever the exact reference, the usurpation
of the prerogatives of Godhead is implied-self-exaltation
above God is indicated. Be the man of sin whatever
we may suppose, the sphere of development and of impious.
and daring rule is undoubtedly the Christian Church, as
no other temple of God can be here imagined. Fifthly,
The authority thus claimed and maintained over the
Churches is to be upheld by false and delusive miracles
and wondrous works and by the most subtle forms of
iniquitous deception, which will be the more powerful and
successful because of the worldly and degraded character
of the professedly Christian people. These have not the
pure love of the truth, and so not only fall into error,
but are exposed to all kinds of imposition and delusion.
Sixthly, The terrible evil shall be destroyed by Jesus
Christ," by the spirit of His mouth and by the bright
ness of His coming." We admit that this would naturally
lead us to think of the final coming of Jesus Christ.
However, we know that He is said to come in more ways
than one; and here His final coming does not seem in-
tended.
From these observations we may assuredly infer at least
the following, whatever more,-First, That the progress of
the Christian Church would not be continuous, but inter-
rupted by some vast declension and departure from the truth.
Secondly, That within the Christian Church would arise some
vast and mysterious power, usurping divine authority, and
receiving homage and honour as divine. Thirdly, That the
terrible apostasy was so far connected with apostolic times,
and so far prevented by the state of the then existing world,
and therefore may be regarded as having arisen long before
the present time, whether still in existence or not. And
THE APOCALYPSE.
327
Fourthly, That, if such a mighty evil has already been de-
veloped, we can be at no real loss, with the description here
given, certainly to identify it, so that we shall clearly see
that the progress of the religion of Christ has been most
fearfully interrupted and retarded. By-and-by we may realize
its identification.
5. We shall now go on to the more extended prophecy of
the Apostle John, as found in the Apocalypse; treating, how-
ever, of only two things,-first, the apostasy above alluded
to; and, secondly, the ultimate success of the Gospel of Jesus,
or His ultimate reign over the whole earth. Let it not be
supposed that we propose to allude to the more obscure parts
of a book which many have pronounced utterly unintelligible.
Much wrong has been done to that book by purely fanciful
interpretations. We regard it as practically most useful,
when treated aright. Much of it is simple and most useful
to those who would be cheered and inspired by it. Even
where it is not or cannot as yet be fully understood, its pure
and heavenly spirit may be breathed, and the greatest spiritual
good obtained. At all times, the Epistles to the Seven
Churches are most useful. Perhaps no book of Scripture has
given greater consolation or inspired a loftier courage in
seasons of adversity and persecution. Where it may seem
darkest and most thoroughly beyond the penetration of the
learned, it will be found ever to encourage goodness and to
condemn moral evil of every kind. What we propose to set
forth we deem already so largely fulfilled, and so clearly in
harmony with what we have just found indicated by Paul,
that we think we can treat it in a simple and satisfactory
manner. We may add that our chief reason for alluding to
it at all is, that we think the predicted fact of a great apostasy
of vast importance to the right apprehension of the historical
development of the Christian religion down to our own times.
Often has it been argued that that development has been re-
markably slow, so much so, indeed, as to suggest at least
some degree of doubtfulness as to the truth of the Gospel ;
328
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
whereas, we are assured, when rightly contemplated, the con-
trary will clearly appear.
6. John distinctly indicates an apostasy as great and as
disastrous as that spoken of by Paul. He does so in most
striking and well-known symbolical language. We shall
refer to only his twofold representation. In the first instance,
the Church, in all her purity, is symbolized by a woman, "the
Bride, the Lamb's wife." In contrast with her we find another
woman fitted as well as intended to represent the Church as
faithless and degraded. In the second place, we find the same
Church set forth under the figure of a city,—when pure and
truly Christian, the New or Heavenly Jerusalem, when im-
pure and antichristian, Babylon. Now, all we here wish
to say is, that John points to a time when the latter shall
take the place of the former. That time is said to extend to
twelve hundred and sixty days, usually viewed as symbolizing
as many years. Here we treat not of the question, unless
to add that we cannot at least take the days literally. We
repeat, then, that John, like Paul, has most clearly and in-
disputably pointed to a time of fearful apostasy, a reign of
spiritual delusion and moral corruption, when the preroga-
tives of Christ and of God shall be usurped, and the mysterious
powers of evil raised to the most terrible ascendency.
✩
7. John points to a subsequent time of the full and uni-
versal reign of Christ over the world. We found Paul doing
the same. We have already seen that this was implied in
the terms of the Abrahamic covenant, and in the clear
announcements of the ancient prophets,-in fact, the grand
promise of Jehovah from the very first, expounded and
variably exhibited by these prophets. Some have considered
the tone of the New Testament different from that of the
Old, with respect to the ultimate triumph of the Messiah.
Nay, some have taken the most narrow, we might say, the
most gloomy, view of the work of conversion. However,
we may trace the difference referred to between the Old and
New Testament to two sources:-First, The fact that the
329
glorious reign of the Messiah had been so wonderfully set
forth in the writings of the prophets that there was no need
for a repetition of the same thing in the writings of the
apostles; and, Secondly, The fact, that, because of the very
nature of the first coming of Jesus, the fearful opposition
with which He met, and the apparent failure of His mission,
it was specially needful that Christ and His apostles should
prominently set forth the reality and glory of His second
coming. Besides this, the prophets having in reality blended
their announcements of the humiliation of the Messiah with
those of His glory, and that in such a way as to render their
words often unintelligible, when the predicted humiliation was
realized, it was specially proper and needful to set forth the
glory which was to follow. Hence the frequent and varied
allusions to the second coming of Jesus with the apparent
omission of such glowing references to the triumphs of the
Gospel as we might naturally have expected. At the same
time, there is no real omission. The misinterpretation of the
chapter relating to what is usually called the Millennium, has
perhaps done much to obscure the amount of truth really
expressed with respect to the glorious reign of Christ on
earth. The symbols there employed have been taken literally
or almost literally. The glorious and triumphant reign of
the Gospel, as preached in every land, and as made the
means of regenerating the human race, has not been main-
tained. We can attempt here no full interpretation of the
chapter referred to. We simply maintain that, the symbol.
being rightly understood, it is in keeping with the whole
testimony of Scripture from first to last, and assures us that,
when the apostasy shall have ended, and when the spiritually
usurping powers shall have been overthrown, the grand
promise of the ages shall be fulfilled-Jesus shall reign every-
where, the whole world shall be full of the knowledge of the
glory of Jehovah, and, as John indicates, mankind shall
experience a glorious resurrection to a new and heavenly
and eternal life.
Į
REIGN OF CHRIST.
330
APOSTOLIC REVELATION.
8. We might have noticed the sublime symbolic pictures
which John has given us of the reign of Jehovah and of
Jesus Christ. The fourth and fifth chapters have exerted a
mighty power over the minds and hearts of Christians.
They have marvellously set forth the whole redemptive
providence of God. They lead the simplest minds to grasp
the thoughts of the universal government of Jehovah.
The seventh chapter reveals the glorious issues of all the
struggles of the ages. Those who suffer with Christ are
seen to be glorified and to triumph with Him and in Him
for ever and ever. In fact, we might show that the Apoca-
lypse of John, so often misinterpreted on the one side, and
so often contemned on the other, is really a most wonderful
summary of the entire volume of inspiration. It contains
but little not to be found elsewhere, unless in so far as it
may be viewed as disclosing, more than any other book,
the grand Christian warfare, here with its successes and
there with its reverses, yet eventually issuing in the fulfil-
ment of all the promises, and in the glorification of Jehovah
in Jesus Christ in the actual salvation of the world. It
forms the best possible close to the entire volume of in-
spiration. It carries us along the stream of time from the
ascension of Jesus after His crucifixion to His return to
judge mankind and to perfect His eternal kingdom. Finely
does John appear in the end, as if representing all Christians
hopefully looking forward to the great future, and uttering
the heart-desire of all,-" Even so come, Lord Jesus, come
quickly."
CHAPTER VII.
I.
HISTORICAL REVELATION OF JEHOVAH IN JESUS
CHRIST AS THE GOD OF REDEMPTION.
I.
T¹
HE apostolic age is now ended, the entire volume of
inspiration completed. Though still small in com-
parison with the world or even the Roman Empire, the
Christian Church has been greatly enlarged since the great
day of Pentecost. Though yet possessed of life and vigour,
it does not appear in all places in all the glory and beauty
which the thought of its origin and character might suggest.
Existing amidst sin and temptation, and with subjects by
no means free from imperfection, its heavenly lustre was
but too soon dimmed by the surrounding earthly atmosphere.
Taking those of Asia Minor, unerringly depicted in the
Apocalypse, as fair samples of Christian Churches in general,
we see that the gold is still abundant, however perceptibly
tarnished. The candlesticks continued to shine, though
with a less glowing light. Divine warnings were needed
and faithfully given. The Ephesian Church was doubtless
not the only one which had "left their first love." So early
marks of decay are sad. Churches, like nations, seem to
be under a law of progress and retrogression, of growth,
maturity, and decay. At least we do well to remember in
studying the history of the kingdom of heaven, that its
origin by no means implies exemption from earthly in-
fluences on the one hand, or from corruption or extinction
Kat
اه
332
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
on the other. We can have no assurance of the permanent
progress of any one province of that kingdom; but we may
be perfectly assured of the ultimate and universal triumph
of the kingdom itself. In illustration of this, we do well
to fall back on the history of ancient Israel, so chequered,
often so retrogressive, sometimes as if under no divine con-
trol, yet on the whole ever advancing, and in the end
fulfilling its real and grand Messianic design. Many Churches.
have long ago perished-their very names being now
unknown. Still, others have taken their place, and the
Church in general, after all its internal ruptures and ex-
ternal assaults, is now stronger than ever.
2. We have alluded to Jewish opposition and persecution.
We need not wonder that they who rejected the King
should reject His subjects; and yet we may well wonder
that, with such infallible evidence, they could possibly reject
either. We know the fearful consequence. Jerusalem fell,
and the nation was dispersed, and that by no mere accident,
but by the just judgment of Jehovah. The prophet had
long before announced, that the nation which would not
serve the heavenly kingdom would perish; and this may be
said to be the law of Providence with respect to all peoples
visited by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we might illustrate
most amply by referring to the history of Europe. Here
we have the first, and that a most terrible, example. The
Jews still refuse to serve, and are still a banished race, as
if destined to remain homeless wanderers, till, according to
the words of Jesus, they learn to say, "Blessed is He that
cometh in the Name of the Lord.”
J
3. From the fall of Jerusalem to the end of the first
century, the Gospel continued to make considerable progress.
We need not say, that, of the apostles John alone survived
that event, and continued to prosecute his work to an extreme
old age, for the most part in Asia Minor, where he may be
said to have effected the chief work of his vastly important
mission,—that of writing his Apocalypse, his Gospel, and
•
CHURCHES IN GREAT CITIES.
333
Epistles.
The numerous societies or Churches no longer
enjoy the superintendence of the apostles; but yet possess
no small amount of zeal and energy. Many of them being
composed of the poor and illiterate had for their first pastors,
called Bishops or Presbyters, men of but little human culture,
yet full of the truth and spirit of Christ, and thus able to
give all the spiritual instructions which these primitive times
required, and to go on to evangelize the surrounding people.
The greater number of converts were drawn from among
the heathen. The Jews, for the most part, became everywhere
the most implacable foes. Though the Gospel spread east-
ward, its greatest and most permanent conquests lay to the
west. We read of large Churches in Asia Minor, in Greece,
and even in Rome itself. The Mother Church of Jerusalem
was necessarily greatly affected by the fall of the nation,
and thus never occupied the place of the main centre of
Christian influence and work. In many of the large cities,
such as Antioch, Ephesus, Alexandria, and Rome, where many
men of culture felt the power of the new religion, the
Churches became large and powerful. Though often assailed
by the mob as well as occasionally persecuted by the magis-
trate, they passively resisted every wrong, and, by their noble
and gentle spirit, converted many adversaries into friends.
Everywhere Christ was upheld as the One and only Saviour,
not of the Jews alone, but of the whole human race. The
simple and sublime truth as it is in Him possessed a mighty
power of attraction to multitudes, at once dissatisfied with
the religion of their fathers and conscious of wants which
the Gospel alone could satisfy. We may be assured that,
so long as preachers followed the example of Paul in
"knowing nothing among" the people "save Jesus Christ,
even the Crucified," the Churches continued to increase.
The very idea of Christ is so suitable to the human mind,
when awakened to a keen sense of its own necessities, that,
in simply holding it up, the least cultivated evangelists
wielded a most gentle, yet most mighty, power over their
334
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
more sincere and simple-minded hearers; and we know that
it was impossible for that one idea to be fully received
without working the grandest internal change and at once
breaking off all connection between the recipient and his
hereditary idolatrous religion. It was indeed early objected
that Christian preachers unfolded no philosophical doctrines
which could be either proved or disproved by processes of
human reasoning; and it would have been well if this very
objection had been long and practically regarded as indicating
the ignorance and weakness of the objector rather than any
want of excellence, suitableness or truth in the Gospel. In
this way would the endless disputations which afterwards
disturbed the Church and checked progress, have been
avoided, while the Gospel would have everywhere been
found to be that wondrous power which Paul calls it,—“the
power of God unto salvation to every one who believeth."
Doctrine of course must be sooner or later developed; but
when Christ is firmly and faithfully held to be the Truth,
and when no abstract doctrine is permitted to take its place
or to be entertained to its loss, many errors will be
escaped or at least speedily laid aside, and the circle of
truth gradually reached and securely maintained.
4. We make these remarks as so far pointing to one great
obstacle to the steady advancement of pure Christianity.
Whilst that advancement is to be traced to the operation of
the Divine Spirit, we are not to forget the constant and
powerful agency of man, whether for good or evil, whether on
the side of truth or error. The important fact should never
be overlooked, that, in entering the Christian Church, con-
verts, whether Jewish or heathen, brought with them a greater
or less amount of the ideas, traditions, prejudices, errors
which they had received from their parents and others, and
which might long cling to them and influence their modes of
thought and reasoning. An antagonism is thus created in
every thoughtful or active mind between Christian truth and
human error. In the case of the stronger intellects, specula-
A
INTRODUCTION OF ERROR.
335
lations are sure to arise and may lead to the maintenance of
erroneous doctrines as if they really were portions of revealed
truth. That truth is thus easily mixed with error, perverted
and corrupted. Hence the many errors and imperfect views
of Christ and His religion which were spread even in
apostolic times. From the very first, Judaistic elements to
some extent entered, and had to be met with all the energy
of apostolic exposure. By-and-by, the great Gnostic heresy
was developed, and exerted a mighty perverting force. We
must not pause to treat of its nature or of its extent. As
religious speculation was awakened in subsequent times and
in various regions, on almost every subject of importance,
erroneous ideas were entertained, and more or less widely
propagated. We might allude to the numerous controversies,
for example, concerning the Person of Jesus Christ, and thus
illustrate the influence of philosophical or theological specu-
lation, often very erroneous, nay, often exceedingly absurd,
on Christian doctrine. We here refer generally to this great
subject, as we cannot treat fully or consecutively of the
numerous and diversified opinions which were maintained,
sometimes to the distraction of the Church throughout the
earlier ages, and, doubtless, to the retardation of the progress
of the Gospel. Yet we must by no means condemn the free
and full discussion of religious opinion. Such discussion
seems to be a condition of the real and healthy growth of
Christian doctrine. Never was it more widely or variously
carried on than in the present day; nor would any enlight-
ened lover of divine truth desire to see it checked by
authority of any kind. When the Scriptures were at first
diffused and studied, diversity of interpretation most naturally
obtained. Only by discussion, with constant appeal to the
sacred volume, could subsequent correctness and harmony of
view be reached. For ages the voice of ecclesiastical autho-
rity was alone allowed to be heard. A system of doctrine
was developed as if by an unerring and infallible power, and
thus imposed with all the authority of the Divine Head of
336
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
the Church. The exercise of personal judgment was, with
like awful authority, forbidden. For centuries the Bible was
as a sealed book, or rather a book withheld from the count-
less readers for whom it was divinely written. When a new
age of freedom and of earnest inquiry arrived, and when the
banished and almost unknown volume was restored to its
rightful owners, we need not wonder to find the greatest
diversity of interpretation again arising, to be modified and
gradually removed only by free discussion and correct study
of Scripture. Thus, at the Reformation, the Bible was
studied to no small extent as a new book; doctrinal differ-
ences naturally arose; sects multiplied; and the diversified
result was urged as a sufficient proof of the failure of the
Reformation, and of the incompetency of personal inquiry.
At first, there might seem reason for such a conclusion.
However, as time and study advanced, manifold errors were
abandoned, and the truth was more and more fully brought
to light. The real cause of the apparent failure was not the
free use of personal judgment, but the power which had
concealed the Bible so long and thus exposed it to the mani-
fold mistakes which we have said were naturally connected
with the first and necessarily imperfect study of it.
5. Much might be said of the earlier literature of the
Church, forming, as it does, the important link between the
inspired literature of the apostolic age and the greatly
diversified writings of subsequent times. It enables us to
trace the progress of the Gospel, to note the manifold suffer-
ings and persecutions which were most heroically endured, to
illustrate the almost invincible power of meck Christian
passive resistance, and to appreciate the penetrating and
diffusive energy, to which Christ alludes in His parable of
the Leaven and Meal, of comparatively pure and unmodified
Christianity, unaided by worldly resources, nay, opposed by
the learning, wealth, and authority of Imperial Rome. We
must not, however, magnify these early writings beyond
their real value. Interesting and helpful as they are, they
CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.
337
fall immeasurably behind the apostolic writings of the New
Testament, and even serve what we might deem the almost
certainly designed end of enabling all intelligent readers
to mark the mighty difference between the fruits of the
highest inspiration and those of real, yet ordinary, spiritual
culture. As time advanced, writers of no little learning and
power arose, whose works still remain to give light to the
present day. At the same time, neither they nor the still
greater works which afterwards followed, can be rightly
studied without proving how unwisely Christian antiquity has
been exalted as supplying a profounder knowledge and clearer
understanding of the sacred Scriptures than can be found in
the writings of more recent times. That antiquity, often
extravagantly and delusively magnified and made the means
of misleading inquiring minds, ought certainly to be con-
sulted as helpful towards the interpretation of these Scriptures.
Still, however great and justly revered the Christian authors
of any former age, we must not suppose that they have antici-
pated the results of the studies of subsequent times. Nor
should we ever so magnify the interpretations of any man or
class of men, however learned or endowed with spiritual dis-
cernment, as to prevent the free and independent study of
any part of the inspired volume for ourselves.
-we
6. The authority which has been attached to the early
interpretation of Scripture, suggests the idea of another
authority which has been attached to the early Church,-
mean that of collecting the books of Scripture or of the
formation of the Sacred Canon. The New Testament writings
were soon in general use throughout the Churches, though
all were not held in equal veneration. The first known
catalogue has been traced to about A.D. 170, or about seventy
years after the death of the Apostle John; whilst most of
the books may have been in common use considerably before
that event. Gradually the canon of the present day, with
certain exceptions, was adopted by the Church. From this
fact a strange inference has been drawn, that, as we receive
Dag
22
338
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
the sacred volume on the authority of the Church, we ought
to submit to the Church as the infallible interpreter of the
volume thus obtained by us. This involves a threefold
error;-First, that the Church of any one period had an
infallible authority as to the canon, whilst it belongs to all
ages to judge, as we find exemplified in all our discussions
whether with respect to any entire book or with regard to
certain passages in one or other of the books. Secondly,
Another error is involved, that it is one and the same thing
for the Church to collect the sacred books and to have the
exclusive authority to interpret them. Thirdly, It is erro-
neously assumed that some one of the Churches of the present
day can be fairly proved to be the exclusive successor
of the Church which is supposed to have authoritatively
determined the canon. The Bible is not the book of any
one section of the Church, assuredly not that of any section.
usurping the name and place of the whole, but that of all
individual Christians, to be progressively understood and
interpreted aright by individuals as its Divine Author, the Holy
Spirit, is pleased to give the spiritual insight and power.
This is in keeping with the law of progress in all departments
of human study. All sections of the Church contribute more
or less to the common result. So exhaustlessly rich are
the treasures of Scripture, that the work of interpretation,
however apparently far advanced, is really not much further
than well begun.
7. We have referred to the persecutions of the Christian
Church. Nor need we wonder at either their greatness or
their number. Though the "Prince of Peace," and though
ultimately the Author of universal peace throughout the
world, Jesus said most truly of the immediate results of the
first preaching of His Gospel everywhere: "I came not
to send peace, but a sword." That Gospel would divide
families through its reception by some members and its
rejection by others. So it would separate friends and divide
neighbourhoods. As in the case of Ephesus, it would affect
EARLY PERSECUTIONS.
339
craftsmen, and thus arouse persecuting mobs. It would op-
pose all religions, Jewish and Gentile, and thus excite
intolerance and hate. It would indirectly reach and under-
mine all political despotism and wrong, and in this way draw
down the hostile, sometimes the exterminating decrees of
states. The words of Christ have been most amply verified.
They are still true as ever,-war first, peace next. From the
very nature and divinity of His kingdom, it cannot be other-
wise. Its unity-that personal oneness of Christians, rich
and poor, nay, even free and bond, and, further, of remotest
nations, the very glory of the new religion-awakened a
most deadly suspicion of some mysterious and unnatural
conspiracy on the part of these philanthropic and peace-
loving Christians against the common well-being of man-
kind. The hatred thus created and often greatly intensified
was still further augmented by the fact, that the Gospel would
brook no compromise, but, from its very character, could
not cease, directly or indirectly, to assail every form of
existing religion. In this, again, it revealed its essential
glory. Especially did this uncompromising truthfulness bring
down on Christians the ire and vengeance of the pagan
magistracy, whose obsequious loyalty to self-glorifying and
self-deifying emperors could not and would not allow the
slightest refusal to honour the Roman despot by offering
sacrifice to his image. Such refusal was traced, not to
conscience, of which the pagan mind had but the dimmest
conception, but to obstinacy which self-exalting rulers of
every age have been ever ready to regard as the only and
that the most wicked cause of all refusal to obey their most
unreasonable will. We need not wonder, then, at all the
early persecutions of the Christian people. Most violent
they often were, whether domestic, social, or political.
Perhaps it is only fair to acknowledge that the political have
usually been in some respects not a little exaggerated;
historians now finding less trace of so many as "the ten
great persecutions" of common belief. We are inclined
340
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
to think that persecution was more frequently local, and less
frequently imperial, than many suppose. Still, we are very
far from insinuating that most terrible sufferings, testing.
Christian faith and heroism, had not to be endured. The
enemy found out the secret of Christian life and power in the
sacred books which were so widely diffused and so profoundly
revered, and more than once aimed the most deadly blow at
the very existence of the Church by demanding, on the pain.
of death, the universal deliverance of these books to the
civil magistrate. Some yielded to the fearful demand; but
fidelity to the God of the Bible triumphed over every decree.
Strange that papal Rome should have followed so truly in
the spirit and footsteps of Rome pagan, in thus secking to
separate between the Christian people and the Book of God.
Both assuredly have had the common and instinctive, doubt-
less here the unerring, feeling that that Book was their
deadliest foe. Tremendous as was the opposition, the cause
of redemptive truth prevailed. Like Israel in Egypt, the
more they were persecuted the more numerous Christians
became. Periods of peace are followed by periods of war,
and the Gospel went on, or rather its great Author,
(C con-
quering and to conquer." "The little one became a thou-
sand, and the small one a great nation," in the midst of the
Roman Empire, destined soon, at least apparently, to triumph
over all social and political opposition, by the open acknow-
ledgment of Christ by Constantine, the Roman Emperor.
8. This great triumph has ever since marked an important
era in the history of the Church and of the world. The king-
doms of heaven and earth seemed to have become one. No
essential incompatibility seemed to forbid the union. Why
should not Church and State become one, as in the case of
ancient Israel? Was not that people Jehovah's? And why
should not a people converted to Christ be His also, and, in
Jike manner, one politically and religiously? Ah! Here was
what we deem the grand error. Judaism, which had in one
form been vanquished and banished from the Christian
tab
D
CLERICAL AMBITION.
341
Church in the days of the apostles, and especially by the
Apostle Paul, had, under another guise, re-entered that Church,
and succeeded in moulding it too much after the fashion of
the older dispensation, which had rightly, and according to
divine design, passed away. Paul had prophetically warned
the elders or bishops of Ephesus of dangers about to arise to
the Church, and that through men sustaining their important
office, nay, even from among themselves. Peter, too, had
warned the same class against the danger of yielding to
personal ambition and becoming "lords of God's heritage."
This very ambition had early entered the circle of the disciples,
even that of the very apostles, and had led to the most un-
seemly and unchristian contest "who should be the greatest.”
This same contest has engaged the fierce and scheming
energies of the clergy in many lands and for many ages. At
first, the Churches, with their bishops and deacons,-or, to use
their common name, with their elders,—were full of spiritual
life and of mutual benevolence, but, whilst one and catholic
in the sense of being open to Christians of all classes and
countries, were united by no ties of common, far less uni-
versal, ecclesiastical authority. As time, however, advanced,
the bishops acquired an ever-growing power, the Churches
were more closely connected and ecclesiastically ruled, and
gradually the greater number of them were united under one
fully and powerfully-organized system of clerical rule. What
was intended to be the abode of the highest form of personal
liberty and human brotherhood was gradually becoming the
habitation of the widest separation between class and class,
clergy and laity, and of the most terrible system of priestly
assumption and spiritual despotism which this world has ever
witnessed. When Church and State were united, the former
at least so far advanced toward this fearful goal of self-
degradation. We are far from saying that the bishops gene-
rally were consciously or really guilty of any personal
usurpation. Their first aim was doubtless that of closer and
more effective co-operation. As only the very highest
342
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
J
spirituality can secure the unity and peace of a Christian
community, as that spirituality decreased, the exercise of
authority would be deemed necessary, the full liberty of the
members would be distrusted, and the clergy would feel as if
they could conscientiously withhold very much of that liberty.
For evangelizing, too, the surrounding heathen, co-operation
would be deemed essential to success. The majority of
Churches, which came to form the catholic party, would find
union to be strength in contending against the great diversity
of opinion and the numerous sects which distinguished these
opening centuries. The authority thus increasingly, and by
no means always justly or charitably wielded, to no small
extent gained its end, and rendered the Church, thus highly
organized, a mighty engine to crush all parties differing in
points of doctrine, and to prepare, by growing influence, for
union with the governing power of the Empire. That union,
then, was not entered by the Church in all its apostolic purity,
or at the command or suggestion of any apostolic authority,
and is to be judged according to the light of Scripture. Many
have traced to it almost all the corruptions of the Church.
These, however, had been generated long before, though
they afterwards grew exceedingly. The early perversion of
the sacred ordinances, or the introduction of the superstitious
and pernicious doctrines of baptismal regeneration and euchar-
istic grace, had long before given a sacerdotal character
to the office of the clergy. Whilst bishops and presbyters
or elders—one and the same in apostolic times-came to be
two distinct classes, both exercised the functions, and were
called by the name of priests, a name never so much as once
given to them in the New Testament, but there given to
Christ and to all Christians without exception.
We here note this the more carefully as pointing to the
secret and seemingly innocent introduction of a change in
the very nature, spirit, and constitution of the Christian
Church, to which must now be traced, to a vast extent, the
terrible mass of subsequent corruption, and the development
7
CHURCH AND STATE.
343
of what we have called "the most terrible system of priestly
assumption and spiritual despotism which this world has ever
witnessed." The radical, but unchristian, distinction between
clergy and laity, thus slowly and secretly established, has
been most naturally productive of that vast amount of pride,
ambition, and despotism which has too often characterized the
so-called Christian priesthood. The ambitious and unseemly
contests of powerful and rival bishops did not need the union
of Church and State to excite them,-though that union gave
new and terrible fierceness to the contest for supremacy so
long maintained between the bishops of Rome and Con-
stantinople, the old and the new capital of the Empire. One
sad triumph, at least, was achieved: the clergy rose to be
the Church, whilst the Christian people sunk into a state of
spiritual bondage. Happily, for many ages the Gospel con-
tinued to spread and to impart abundant life to those who
thus came to occupy a greatly lower than their divinely-
appointed level. Many have strenuously maintained that the
rise of clerical power and the compact organization of the
Church were eventually of mightiest consequence in after
times, especially during the period of the irruption of the
northern races and the breaking up of the Roman Empire.
We do not dispute the partial force of this. All may have at
that time been overruled for good. Still, we know that the
Church, when most spiritual and free, achieved her grandest
victories over both Jewish and Roman opposition; and we
seem to have no reason to doubt that, with like freedom and
spirituality, she would have done vastly more for the real
conversion of the barbarians referred to than did the sadly
degenerate Church, and would have at a much earlier date
secured the real Christian welfare of modern Europe.
II.
1. The new relation of Church and State under Constantine,
however regarded in itself, certainly implied a previous
344
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
most noble warfare and most glorious triumph on the part
of the Gospel. The immediate result seemed of highest
consequence. Multitudes soon flocked to the banner of the
Cross. The Church received large accessions from the pagan
world. The influence of the imperial throne could not fail
to be great and wide. A change so vast could not but be felt
through every region of the empire. No doubt sincere and
earnest bishops and elders everywhere felt that a mighty
obstacle to progress had been removed, and that many people
were now disposed to hear the Gospel as they never had been
before. In this way much of the progress was genuine and
sure. The joy of countless hearts would be as a shout of
triumph ascending to heaven from many a land. A glow of
intense delight would spread through almost the whole
Church. The war of centuries would seem as if brought to a
close. The conversion of the world would seem to be at
hand. Certainly the historian or the reader of history must
ever be disposed here to pause and to contemplate the
countless victories of Him whom John saw in apocalyptic
vision "going forth conquering and to conquer." How vast
the contrast between the Church of early days, small and
feeble and oppressed, and the Church of the great Emperor,
whom
"the Nazarene" had conquered! Would, in this
case, that all had been gold that glittered! Would that the
union had led to no admixture of the worldly with the spiritual,
the spurious with the genuine, earth with heaven! It has
to be confessed, however, that manifold were the evils which
followed. Too many entered the Church who had never
entered "the kingdom of heaven." Even the reality of the
conversion of Constantine has been questioned by very many,
and continues to be doubted by many in the present day.
At this time no one claimed to be universal bishop, though
the high pretensions of the Bishop of Rome became higher
and more determined than ever. Up to this date, and for
generations after, there was no pope in the Church, no one
who claimed to be the sole successor of Peter, no one who
345
treated Peter as supreme among apostles or as supreme in
the Church at large. Still, as over the Church of the capital
city, the Bishop of Rome had risen to great influence, and thus
the foundation was laid for that rank which in course of
time he claimed for himself. The supremacy over the whole
Church he never achieved. When Constantinople became
the capital of the East, the bishop of that city contested his
claim, and sought to establish his own to that supremacy.
The long-continued contest between these two powerful
prelates clearly proves that neither could, even at that
comparatively early date, establish his right of succession to
the Apostle Peter, or that Peter ever had or claimed any right
to the supremacy. By-and-by the Roman Empire was
divided; and the two great branches of the Church, Eastern
and Western, were separated; so that, for either, now or at any
previous time, to arrogate to itself the exclusive title to be
the one and only Catholic Church, is simply to reveal the
spirit of the most sectarian and presumptuous bigotry which
one can possibly conceive.
2. It were quite beyond our design to attempt even the
briefest sketch of the history of these two branches of the
Church. That history is indeed full of instruction and
interest, and yet can be read by no enlightened and earnest
Christian without feelings of greatest pain and sadness.
During the course of it, not a few of the noblest spirits lived
to adorn the Gospel and to bless mankind, and, doubtless,
millions of sincere and devoted Christians, after adorning
the same Gospel, passed away to the world above.
in both East and West, we cannot but trace the gradual,
but fearful, corruption of both Christian doctrine and personal
and social morals, along with an ecclesiastical development
issuing in the West in the most wonderful organization of the
papal system.
Still,
3. In the East, the Church, after a period of decay even
verging towards spiritual death, had to encounter a most
terrible foe in the rise of the Mohammedan religion in the
EASTERN AND WESTERN CHURCHES.
346
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
opening of the seventh century. The real character of the
Arabian prophet we shall not discuss. We need not deny
to him the acknowledgment of great religious carnestness,
or, at the outset, at least, of general genuine sincerity. We
may suppose him to have become deeply dissatisfied with
the old religion of his country, as utterly incapable of
meeting the wants and cravings of his own spirit,-to have
made use of what he knew or contrived to learn of the
religion of the Jews and Christians with whom he was
acquainted,—and, after long-continued solitary meditation,
to have excogitated the more elementary principles of that
religion which has since borne his name, and about which
he began, in the first instance, to converse with a few of
his more intimate relatives and friends. The reception
which these few people gave to his doctrines most likely
suggested the idea that they must be really of God, that
he must have been divinely taught, and therefore divinely
commissioned to teach, or that he had received a prophetic
mission from Heaven. The religious element of his nature,
at first intensely awakened and persistently exercised, would
lend to his ideas all the charm and vividness of a direct
revelation. He fully believed that others, as Moses and
Christ, had been taught of God; and, as his mind pondered
certain portions of actually revealed truth, and combined
with them certain original and hereditary ideas of his own,
he may fairly be conceived to have sincerely and deeply
felt that what he now believed to be not only important,
but also divine truth, was decidedly in advance of all
that he regarded as previously revealed, and, as we have
already said, that he was really inspired of God, was as
truly a prophet as any who went before him, was in fact
the promised Paraclete of whom he had erroneously heard,
and thus was the last and greatest of the prophets, or the
prophet by whom all these were to be superseded. Accord-
ingly, with this in view, intensely hating all surrounding.
idolatries as well as all the idolatrous practices of a degenerate
MOHAMMEDANISM.
347
Christianity, he by-and-by made the first article of the new
creed, "God is One, and Mohammed is His Prophet." All
this we may admit or suppose, and yet believe that, perhaps
unconsciously to himself, a mighty ambition animated his
undoubtedly mighty soul, soon led to pretensions and courses.
which truth could not justify, and, working along with an
imperfect moral nature, impelled to the use of falsehood
as well as force in the propagation and support of the new
religion. The history of the prophet and of his first fol-
lowers testifies at least to the tremendous power of the re-
ligious nature of man, and to the immense share which it has
in the human heart. However false, sensual, and intolerant,
this religion agrees with every other in thus demonstrating
that man has been constituted a religious being, and in thus
further demonstrating that there must be a Divine Being by
whom he has been created, and whom he is designed to
worship and obey. In a word, man has been so made for God
that atheism can never be made to do for man. We do not
enter into the large and mysterious question of how so many,
not totally false, but very imperfect and greatly perverted
forms of religion should have arisen or should have been
allowed so often and so long to prevail. We make no in-
quiry as to the origin or the divine permission of the religion
now in question. We briefly treat of it simply as connected
with the Churches of the East, which, notwithstanding all
that had been done by councils and otherwise to eradicate
heresies and to establish what was deemed purely orthodox
doctrine, had suffered through growing contact with the
world, and become to no small extent lifeless and corrupt,
and, to say the least, whose faith in Christ and zeal in the
diffusion of His Gospel had grown too feeble to meet and
to answer the terrible shock which came from the fanatical
faith and the propagandist zeal of the fierce and warlike
followers of the prophet. In this way the religion of the
Cross, assailed in many places with terrible violence, seemed
destined to perish, and that of the Crescent to flourish and
348
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
occupy its place. Christianity is essentially a propagandist
religion. Her real and glorious watchword is, The whole
world for Christ! and never does she long retain unity,
strength, or even life, when she fails to fulfil her Gospel
mission. She may, as then in the East, contend again and
again in ecumenical council for the unity and purity of the
orthodox faith, and may magnify herself because of her
orthodoxy; but she cannot thus ward off pernicious heresies.
and divisions, or keep the "Light of Life" burning in her
midst, or prevent the threatening of her Divine Head from
being executed, that "the Candlestick" of the Church, which
fails to fulfil her purpose, "shall be removed out of its
place." In the East, accordingly, many a candlestick was
thus removed. In many a city and region the Crescent has
in reality displaced the Cross. Many a city, as Ephesus,
in which Christianity once flourished, has long ago utterly
perished. The Mohammedan power continued for ages to
advance. A new and splendid civilization arose in many
places to shed at least a brilliant earthly lustre on Islam.
Its main achievements were in the East. Still it seemed
ever to move westward. Not, however, till the middle of
the fifteenth century (1453), did the proud Crescent wave
over Constantinople, the fallen capital of Eastern Christ-
endom. At one time, even Europe showed some appearance
of danger. The warlike followers of the prophet triumphed
in Spain on the one hand, and, on the other, obtained victory
after victory over many a fair province, and, only after all but
triumphing, received a final check under the walls of Vienna.
4. It is now more than twelve centuries since the rise of
this most formidable and antichristian religion. Had its
great founder not incorporated with it a very considerable
amount of moral and religious truth, to no small extent
borrowed from the Christian, it could not have flourished as
it once did, or have withstood the renewed onsets of revived
Christianity as it has yet done. On the other hand, if Chris-
tianity had been simply one of the many forms of natural
MOHAMMEDANISM.
349
religion, as Mohammedanism is the younger of the two, and
had the opportunity of improving on the older, if that had
been possible, it might have been expected to have finally
triumphed over it, in this case the superior over the inferior,
instead of being now found in a state of universal decay, and
of virtually universal subjection to the purified and revivified
older religion of Jesus Christ. The brilliant civilization, to
which we referred, has passed away, or been totally eclipsed,
or become so effete as to obstruct all genuine progress, and
even to prove an intolerable incubus on every fair region of
the earth over which it continues to tyrannize rather than to
reign. We need not say how the Turkish Empire, once
so mighty and so threatening to Christendom, has long been
literally upheld, for mere reasons of state policy, by at least
nominally Christian people, and how it is now evidently
breaking up without the shadow of a hope of returning
strength or stability. The religion of the prophet, no longer
propagated at the point of the sword, is too cold spiritually
and too low morally to resist the power of that living Chris-
tianity which now wields the mightiest powers in the world,
and which is now earnestly and successfully, as at no former
period, carrying on that bloodless warfare by which the whole
human race is destined to be subdued to Jesus Christ.
5. We may here add a few remarks as to certain points of
difference or of contrast between the two religions in ques-
tion. First, We may note that Mohammedanism is traceable
to one definite age, and to the work of one individual man.
It thus embodies the moral and religious ideas of one mind.
It is not due to a revelation gradually unfolded and finally
and fully completed. It is the opposite of that of the Bible,
which we have been endeavouring to trace from early times
through many generations. Secondly, It is not, at least to
any great extent, original, but for the most part eclectic,
composed, as we have said, of fragments of truth borrowed
from the Jewish and Christian systems; whereas the religion
of the Bible is, from first to last and in all its essential
350
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
features, undeniably original. Thirdly, It is not for one
moment to be compared with the latter, with respect to pure
and lofty conceptions of the Godhead, to the system of morals
which it sets forth for life on earth, or to the delineation of
a future state and eternal life in heaven. Fourthly, From the
very first and with the full sanction of its founder, this
religion proved itself essentially antichristian, by using for its
propagation and support the power of brute force, the power
of the sword. We have designedly called this antichristian,
because true and primitive Christianity declares that her
weapons are not material or carnal, but spiritual alone, even
the weapons of love and truth. We are far from denying
that Churches have not been always content with these, but
have too often wielded the sword as cruelly and relentlessly as
the followers of the prophet have ever done. For this, how-
ever, they cannot plead either the example or the command
of the great "Captain of Salvation;" so that we would ever
regard all such as, up to the extent in which they have em-
ployed physical force, or sought the aid of worldly power,
not Christian, but antichristian or virtually Mohammedan and
pagan. Fifthly and lastly, Mohammedanism, accordingly, is
now inevitably perishing, because demonstratively proved to
have fallen behind the world in its progressive advancement
in every department of civilization; whereas Christianity has
more than recovered her lost strength and ascendency, and
appears in the way to final and universal conquest, because
her Divine Spirit, her Divine Head, her Divine system of
morals and religion, are so perfect as to be ever in advance
of the progressive condition of the world, to become ever
the more powerful as that condition rises, and yet never
to be reached, far less to be left behind by any progress
which we can conceive that world ever to make.
6. Let us now return to the Church of the West. In doing
so, we must linger a little longer in the East, and refer to the
great General Council which met at Nice under the presidency
of the first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, who, to
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.
351
all intents, there appeared as the visible centre and head not
only of the whole Roman Empire, but also of the whole
Christian Church. The scene was very grand. Prelates from
all parts there assembled for the first time around the repre-
sentative of worldy power, who desired to secure what
appeared a most laudable end, that of formulating the Creed of
Christendom and establishing Doctrinal Unity throughout all
the Churches. Such unity was necessary that these Churches
should be united under one universal authority. The Church,
in converting the Emperor, had really been converted by the
Emperor. From that date, the imperial authority assumed a
new aspect, spiritual and temporal. That authority was not
the less real because it was not expressly defined. If there
was no formal or legal contract, there was such a practical
acknowledgment of imperial dignity and power as could not
and did not fail to be silently and surely acted upon in time
to come by Constantine, who called himself Isapostolos and
Bishop of Bishops. When Constantinople was reared and
became the new seat of empire, the bishop, under the im-
mediate shadow of the throne, naturally rose to high external
dignity and power on the one hand, and as naturally felt the
pressure of the imperial hand the more heavily on the other.
As time advanced, episcopal ambition again and again used
the opportunity and power granted for purposes of episcopal
aggrandizement. Still, it could never resist the imperial
curb or dare to assume the air and state of civil power.
Always feeling its dependence, it could never assert its inde-
pendence, far less its superiority to its patron and support.
In course of time, it became totally otherwise with the Bishop
of Rome, the old and now deserted capital, The imperial
splendour had indeed departed. The bishopric seemed to
sink in imperial importance. The bishop did not lean so
directly on the imperial arm. It has been maintained that
the Emperor, on his memorable visit to Rome and resolution
to retire to the East, virtually constituted the bishop a temporal
prince, mainly in return for the priestly absolution of his
352
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
crimes. For this we have not a shadow of proof. What we
may regard as indisputable is, that the withdrawment of the
imperial court from Rome left Italy and the West very greatly
under the influence of the Bishop of Rome, who had pre-
viously, and as the bishop of the capital, risen to the highest
influence among the bishops of the West. He had now the
fullest and freest scope for the exercise of that influence and
for the attainment of the grand aim of his episcopal ambition.
The flood of northern barbarism which by-and-by over-
spread Italy along with other portions of the empire, neces-
sitated and called forth the manifold combined efforts of
the Western Churches, especially of the clergy, to meet the
mighty changes which could not but follow, and to bring
over the multitudinous invaders from Arianism on the one
hand, and from heathenism on the other, to the orthodox
religion of the regions thus invaded and overspread. The
separation of East and West became wide and deep. Rome,
now at least nominally Christian, became a new and powerful
centre of religious influence and ecclesiastical authority. The
conversion of the barbarian races was a new and important
work. In carrying it on, the Church waxed stronger and
stronger, more and more closely connected, and increasingly
under the authority of the Church and Bishop of Rome. As
we have said, the withdrawal of the imperial power from the
old capital admitted of the free and powerful exercise of
episcopal zeal and ambition; reminding us of the most
remarkable prophetic saying of the Apostle Paul in relation
to the great apostasy and the development of that tremendous.
power within the degenerate Church, that "the man of sin"
could not assume his real character and put forth his full
strength whilst "he that letteth or hindereth" continued to
"let" or hinder; but that, when he was taken out of the
way," the manifestation of evil would follow. At the point
of history to which we now refer, that of the removal of the
seat of empire from West to East, if, as general opinion holds,
the Roman power was the restraining force, its removal may
RISE OF THE PAPACY.
353
be fairly regarded as the very withdrawal of restraint referred
to, and as that which would give, as it actually did, the
opportunity for the exercise and development of the delusive
and despotic power to which the Apostle so wonderfully
directed attention. All this of course proceeds on the idea
that the papal system was specially, if not exclusively, the
terrible power to which Paul prophetically pointed. From
this date that power certainly continued to wax more and
more mighty, though ages were required to bring it to its full
and most mysterious development.
7. We by no means thus refer to the rise of the papal
power as if to deny all real Christian life and goodness to the
Churches of the West. Throughout the immediately following
ages there remained a vast amount of genuine Christian
vitality. The conversion of southern Europe implied mighty
energy. Amidst much wide spread ignorance, the knowledge
of Jesus and His salvation continued to exert a great and
elevating influence over many thousands of people. In treat-
ing the papal power as antichristian, we are far from meaning,
nor does consistency require us to mean, that the people
under its sway must also be all antichristian, or that there
may not be millions within the pale of the Roman Church of
genuine Christian character. Thus among Protestants, the
teaching and rule of a bishop might be heretical and anti-
christian, and yet many of the presbyters and people within
the bounds of his see might be thoroughly evangelical and
Christian. Who can tell how many, even in the darkest days
of the papacy, amid priestly assumption and the most deadly
persecution, both as certainly antichristian as Christ is the
Saviour,—may have lived and died in the faith and love of that
Blessed One? If we would understand the real character of
an ecclesiastical antichristian power, we must distinguish
between the people ruled by it, who may even ignorantly
approve of it, if they have not the light of many who may
feel its weight and yet not dare to contend against it, and
that usurping, crushing, and unscriptural power itself. As
23
354
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
time advances, such a power cannot fail to do measureless
evil to the Christian people. Their rights cannot be long
usurped and their privileges denied without tremendous loss
of spiritual light and life, or without a fearful return, more or
less complete, to the darkness and corruption of natural
heathenism. So it was for very many generations, and so it is
in certain Continental nations in the present day. Yet, most
gladly would we think of how the light of the Cross may
shine where deepest darkness may seem to reign. We trust
that, in many an obscure cell, in many a quiet home, in many
an unthought-of region, as also among the various hard-
working and sympathising clerical orders, there were those
who cherished the spirit of a loving devotion, and prepared
for heaven by sincere and humble service on earth. Still,
how sad for so many ages the intellectual, moral and spiritual
condition of Europe, nay, of entire Christendom! The Bible
had become an unknown Book. The crucifix had taken the
place of the Cross; penance had been substituted for repent-
ance; and the confessional had been used instead of the
throne of grace. Many were the woes of the millions. Ever
deepening were the corruptions of the Church. Long there
appeared no ray of hope for deliverance. All reform was for-
bidden. Martyrdom was the reward of the spiritual reformer.
Even the morals of ecclesiastics became so frightful as to
draw forth the ridicule and reprobation of many who showed
no inclination to forsake the bosom of the Church. Mid-
night darkness, now confessed on all sides, helped to prepare
for the return of long-departed day.
8. Let it not be thought, however, that we point exclusively
to the Western or Roman Church, or that we regard Protes-
tant Churches as free from all antichristian element. We
have pointed expressly to the use of physical force as abso-
lutely certainly, though very far from being exclusively,
antichristian. Now, when Constantine sought to bring about
the unity and concord of Christian doctrine, and when the
Council of Nice had formulated the Creed which goes by its
ANTICHRISTIAN ELEMENT.
44
355
name, he at once declared that those who refused to accept
it would be visited with civil pains and penalties. Now,
when he as the worldly sovereign thus determined to act, he
assumed a certainly antichristian position, nay, when he dared
to call himself Bishop of Bishops and Isapostolos,—equal to
the Apostles, he thus far made himself and his office anti-
christian; and, in after times, every temporal sovereign,
however antipapal and Protestant, who usurps the headship
of any branch of the Christian Church, or wields the sword
of state in support of any Christian doctrine, must also and
thus far be accounted antichristian. We thus write to bring
out the more fully what is or has been the extent of that
"falling away" of which the Apostle speaks. We thus allude
emphatically to ecclesiastical usurpation and political per-
secution as most palpably, though by no means exclusively,
opposed to the spirit of Christ and His true Church. That
falling away" may be seen in all Churches, in so far as they
become lifeless and corrupt, and in so far as they become
worldly and trust to worldly power and influence, whether in
alliance with the State or not. Hence the slow progress and
low condition of the Church. We need not say how strongly
it has been objected to Christianity itself, that, if it were really
of divine origin, God must have made it to triumph uni-
versally long before the present time. Now, of the general
question as to how such fearful errors and corruptions have
been permitted to enter the Christian Church and seemingly
to destroy the work of Christ so wonderfully carried on for
ages, we cannot here treat. We may only say, that it forms
a part of a still larger question, namely, that of the mystery
of free moral agency on the one hand, and of the mystery of
all moral and spiritual evil on the other. Most expressly,
however, do we wish to meet the objection to the truth of the
Gospel. In the New Testament both Paul and John clearly
and undeniably point to the coming of some terrible evil in
connection with the Christian Church, to some fearful deve-
lopment of unchristian and lawless power, to a thoroughly
356
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
worldly and antichristian state of the Christian Church, pre-
ventive of real progress or of the establishment of the pure
and unworldly kingdom of Christ. In this way we have a
clear prediction of the future. The question now is,-Has
that prediction been fulfilled? Without at all contending
about details, we hold,-and we think that all who compare
the Church of many generations with the Churches of Apos-
tolic times and of the New Testament, cannot but hold,-that
the most fearful change has taken place, that the predictive
words alluded to have been realized beyond all possible anti-
cipation, and that the state of Christianity may thus be fairly
accounted for. When this is kept in view, what has been
used as an objection may be fairly converted into a most
cogent proof. In the first instance, we have the proof due
to the most remarkable fulfilment of a most remarkable pro-
phecy. Things have been and are as they were predicted.
In the second instance, the predicted "falling away" or
apostasy has continued for many centuries,--for more than
twelve; so that, in justly measuring the time which it has
taken Christianity to accomplish all that it really has accom-
plished for the good of mankind, or to rise to its present
ascendency in the world, we must deduct at least these twelve
centuries from the eighteen during which, after long ago
conquering the Roman world, she has, in these more recent
ages, risen to the highest place among the most potent agencies
in this world. At the very utmost, then, we must regard the
remaining six centuries as the real period of the genuine
progress of the Gospel. Nay, if we study the history of all
Churches in the clear light of the Gospel or of the New
Testament, we shall see most ample reason for very consider-
ably shortening that period, and for holding that the Chris-
tian Church, in her primitive power, and in her partially, if
not fully, restored primitive purity, has accomplished, in a
comparatively short period, the grandest and the best work
for the temporal as well as eternal good of mankind.
9. Like the antichristian power of the East, that of the
THE PAPAL SYSTEM.
397
West has been long in a state of decay, and seems destined
to not very distant dissolution. In both cases, the progress
of society, especially the elevation of individual man, has
become the most mighty antagonist. Neither can possibly
harmonize with modern civilization. The light of resistlessly
advancing knowledge is everywhere dispersing the darkness
of both. Before treating of the great Reformation, we may
close our chief consideration of the papal system. We have
for the most part alluded to the development of sacerdotal
despotic power, as being most palpably as well as most
essentially antichristian. We have not attempted, and do
not intend to attempt, to depict that power in the transcendent.
height to which it ultimately reached, and which will assuredly
remain as the very greatest wonder of human assumption ever
recorded in history. The contrast between the apostolic
Christianity of the New Testament, and the papal Christianity
of the history of the Middle Ages, by no means too strongly
called "the Dark Ages," is perhaps the greatest between
two forms of what is accounted the same thing which the
human mind can possibly conceive. We can here only hint
at it. As the priesthood waxed stronger and stronger the
liberties of the people were more and more restricted; and,
as the papal power rose to its greatest height, as just referred
to, all religious freedom was overthrown. Rome papal be-
came more potent than pagan Rome. The Pope successfully
claimed the right to dispose of even all earthly crowns. The
old empire was more than restored in a new form, a form
new to all history. The imperial power had usurped the
office of Supreme Pontiff,-Pontifex Maximus, but now the
Pope or Pontifex Maximus usurped in some sense vastly more
than the imperial power. "My kingdom is not of this
world," said Jesus. His so-called vicar said and still says,
"My kingdom includes the whole world." All this outward
splendour, however, co-existed with growing inward corrup-
tion and decay. The priesthood was everywhere ignorant
and debased. The people were everywhere untaught and
358
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
superstitious. Nor was papal assumption exclusively that of
power over men. It most fearfully included that of the very
power and even the name of the Almighty God Himself,
Our Lord God, the Pope." Thus was fulfilled another most
remarkable portion of the predictive words to which we have
referred," He as God sitteth in the temple of God, show-
ing himself that he is God." Nor is this all. Idolatry or
creature-worship on no small scale has long been established.
Numerous saints have been canonized, and to all intents con-
tinue to be worshipped. The grand and mysterious prero-
gative which Jehovah claims to belong exclusively to Himself
has been, consciously or unconsciously, most fearfully usurped,
that of searching and judging the heart, in every case of
canonization, implying, as it does, a sentence of judgment on
the character of a human being. In no case has this usurped
power been exercised to a higher pitch of impiety than in
the instance of the Virgin Mother of Jesus. Long has she
been treated as a mediatrix, and therefore exalted to the
dishonour of Him who is expressly declared to be the " One
Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus;" but
in more recent times, the doctrine of her "immaculate con-
ception" has been defined. The worship of Mary has now
reached a height within the Church of Rome which ought
to satisfy every Christian and enlightened mind of the anti-
christian character of that or of any Church so fearfully
departing from the spirit and teaching of Him, who, on more
than one occasion, so spoke of His mother as to leave all
future generations, however justly holding her in high honour,
utterly without excuse in thus dividing between her and her
Saviour as well as Son the glory of mediation and of worship.
Nor is the time long past since the copestone of the papal
edifice was finally laid in the definition of the doctrine of the
infallibility of the pope. Thus has the work of ecclesiastical
self-evolution come to its perfection. Higher the pope
cannot rise or be raised. We can now contemplate the
whole edifice in the light of Scripture. There we find its
THE REFORMATION.
359
awful name, "Mystery;" and most mysterious it is, and yet
it is not Christian, it is not divine. We need not wonder to
find that, long before it was thus perfected it had begun to
decay and had received a shock, as from a mysterious earth-
quake, from which it has ever since been shaking, and which
will be followed by shock after shock, till it is finally and for
ever overthrown.
III.
1. For centuries before the Reformation, unless among the
comparatively few who devoted themselves to the study of
abstract philosophy, all kinds of learning were neglected;
and, we may say, the progress of the human mind seemed
completely arrested. As already hinted at, science took up
her abode for ages among Mohammedans rather than among
Christians. The densest ignorance rested alike on the priest-
hood and the people. The Bible, even in its Latin version,
was, to all intents, an unknown Book. Darkness, intellectual,
moral, spiritual, grew deeper and deeper, till it reached the
extreme of midnight, and till the light of the Gospel seemed, so
far as the great mass of mankind were concerned, to have
been totally and for ever extinguished. Most happily a glorious
day was at hand. What appeared the most terrible calamity
which could befall the Eastern Church,-the taking of
Constantinople by the Turks and consequent fall of the
Eastern Empire,-proved the richest blessing to Western
Europe, and the speedy emancipation of a large section of
Christendom from the iron grasp of the pope. The dispersed
Greeks, in travelling westward, brought with them rich
treasures of ancient literature, and, along with these, and
infinitely more precious than all of them, the Greek New
Testament. A mighty revival of letters followed. The mind
of Europe awoke from the slumber of ages. Seen in even
the dim light of that heathen literature, the moral and mental
darkness of that Church which ought to have been the
habitation of light, became visible. The ignorance, the
360
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
superstition, and the immorality of priests and people
awakened the detestation and scorn, and drew forth the
condemnation and ridicule of men of learning and wit who
never left the Church of Rome, such as Sir Thomas More
and Erasmus. The keenest weapons of these could not
reach the accumulated mass of evil. The corruptions of the
Church increased. One mighty spirit was about to arise and
to "shake terribly the earth." The history of the Reforma-
tion is to no small extent the history of Martin Luther. We
assume the knowledge of it, and shall not enlarge upon it.
We shall give no detail as to how his mind was stirred to its
greatest depths by the shameless sale of indulgences, which
could be regarded as nothing short of a bribe given by the
Church to immorality. Nor shall we allude to his discovery
of a copy of the Bible, or to his translation of it into the
German language. It is by no means our design to trace the
rise and progress of the Reformation. Our purpose will be
sufficiently served by this general reference to the recovery of
the precious Volume of Inspiration, to the preaching of the
pure Gospel of divine grace, to the restoration of the grand
doctrine of Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ to its central
place in the evangelical system, to the development and
diffusion of the spirit of pure and primitive Christianity, and
to the conversion of millions to the cause of the New
Testament religion. Protestant nations sprung up as if by
some creative word. In Germany, England, Scotland, and
other countries, the reformers were blessed with most wonder-
ful success. By the Roman party, they were of course
denounced as heretical; and their religion was treated as
new, and therefore false. However, it was older than that
opposed, and justly maintained to be simply a revival of that
of Christ and His Apostles. It was assuredly by no means
free from imperfections and errors; but these were due
rather to the retention of portions of the hereditary religion.
than to the introduction of new ideas as the result of mere
religious speculation. By-and-by, the Protestant Churches,
1
THE REFORMATION.
361
zealous for the truth and desirous of uniformity, formulated
their doctrines, and imposed their creeds on their respective
peoples. Whatever may be said of those "variations of
Protestantism" which have been held up as proofs of heresy,
these creeds were wonderfully consistent. The great mistake
of the reformers and their successors was the undue place
which they gave to mere doctrinal differences, and their
failure to magnify the grand central truths as to which all
genuine Christians are agreed. Their love of uniformity,
which they had learned from Rome, so far proved too strong
for the love of unity which they ought to have learned at
the feet of Christ. They failed to appreciate the fact, that
the wider the creed the narrower the ground of union, and
that the shorter and more general the former, the broader and
more substantial the latter. We freely admit that doctrinal
purity may have been for a longer time thus secured. Still,
we fear, these doctrinal formulas have led too often to that
cold doctrinal style of preaching which invariably issues in
a low, cold, and lifeless religion. This might be amply
illustrated from the history of the last three centuries; and
yet, at the same time, we rejoice in thinking of the great
"cloud of witnesses" to the simple
to the simple "truth as it is in Jesus,"
who have, from generation to generation, risen up to adorn the
Protestant pulpit, and to uphold the Church of Christ. A
comparison of Romish and Protestant countries will ever tend
to exalt that pulpit, and to prove that the unfettered Gospel
has always secured the temporal as well as spiritual welfare
of mankind.
2. The first converts from Romanism, knowing what
spiritual darkness is, were full of the spirit of life. Their
joys were often great. They, like those of apostolic times, felt
as if in a new world;—“ Old things having passed away,
and all things having become new." The whole social
circle was influenced wherever the pure Gospel was preached.
The Reformation seemed about to conquer. However, the
old religion would not so easily yield, the more especially
362
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
as the aid of the civil power could be and was called to its
protection; and the propagation of the Gospel was checked
by the power of the sword. We need not wonder at the
fact, that the protection of princes and civil rulers was
welcomed, and that Churches were more than willing to
assume a national form, and thus to enjoy a shelter from
despotic violence, which they expected from no other source.
Whilst first love and joy continued, and whilst the mass
of the people were, with their teachers, of one heart and
mind, all would welcome the broad shield of royal or princely
protection, and thank God for the grace of being permitted
to "sit under their own vine and fig-tree,-none daring to
make them afraid." Nor did they anticipate any danger
from the smiles of kingly favour, or from those laws which
were soon ordained for their religious good. The principle
and spirit of Judaism, so largely distinctive of the Roman
Church, re-entered the reformed Churches to no small extent.
The idea of either civil or religious liberty was then an
unknown and an unimagined thing. The sacredness of
conscience had too long been utterly ignored to rise at once
before the mind in all its real character. The identity, and
not the mere union, of Church and State under the old
theocracy-most natural and necessary in the case of a
people set apart for a most peculiar purpose-was viewed as
sanctioning and even demanding its practical renewal in the
case of every nominally Christian nation. In this way, the
use of the sword, or of the power of the civil magistrate,
in the maintenance of the true religion, and in the sup-
pression of heresy, was regarded, not only as right, but
also as invariably obligatory. Freedom of thought and in-
quiry was thus virtually prohibited. Virtually the creeds had
been once for all, as if unerringly, formulated; and no one
had a right to dispute their correctness or to deny their
authority. Persecution was the infallible consequence. The
Churches of the Reformation were thus disgraced. The
majesty of conscience was set at nought. The right—rather
LIBERTY AND PROGRESS.
363
the obligation-of private or personal judgment was trampled
under foot; and none, save perhaps the persecuted, saw
or felt the mighty wrong. To no small extent, Christianity
was shorn of her glory and strength. To all men the most
unseemly sight of Christians cruelly treating Christians was
too often and too prominently presented. Here the Refor-
mation had borrowed from Rome, and needed to be reformed.
The simple and sublime saying of Jesus,-"My kingdom.
is not of this world,". -was not understood, and is not fully
understood to the present day. When it is understood,
how glorious, how heavenly, how divine will the Church
of Jesus become! Happily, after all the sad experience of
ages, not one of the evils referred to can fairly be traced
to the New Testament. Only when misunderstood can the
Old Testament be made to appear favourable to the use
of physical power in relation to the Christian religion; and
we may safely say that that religion alone condemns all
persecution. In course of time, Protestant Churches came
to condemn it. The Bible, in fact, is practically demon-
strated to be morally as well as religiously perfect, as nations
gradually experience the power of its truth. Had the
Reformers and their successors better known the spirit and
character of the Bible, they would have appeared to far
higher advantage, and their religion would doubtless have
so contrasted with every other as to secure many a victory
otherwise lost. A brighter day has come. A spirit of libe-
rality, a spirit of mingled charity and conscientiousness, has
spread abroad. Amidst all the diversity of belief and of
ecclesiastical procedure, the enlightened eye may perceive
the growth of genuine unity of spirit.
3. Since the early times of Reformation, Christianity has
lent her mighty power to the cause of human progress in
general. By the study and use of the Scriptures, the cause
of civil and religious liberty has been wonderfully promoted.
How much the chief countries of Europe are indebted to
reformed Christianity for the last two centuries and a half,
364
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
it is simply impossible to say. The Europe of to-day is totally
unlike the Europe of pagan or exclusively papal times. In
striving to rise ever nearer to her apostolic spirit and
character, Christianity has become vastly purer, more bene-
volent and active. She has long been the mightiest power
in this world. England and Scotland are specially indebted
to her for the foremost place which they now occupy among
the nations, and for the wisdom and spirit with which the
whole British Empire has been more recently governed
and raised to prosperity. The great free and prosperous
Republic of the United States may be viewed as a modern
creation of primitive Christianity. We are very far from
saying that all Protestant states have made satisfactory pro-
gress. They have too often opposed every religious improve-
ment, and too faithfully followed the example of papal states.
in crushing the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty.
They have to a very great extent stereotyped the imperfectly
restored Christianity of the Reformers; or they have gone
to the other extreme, and, whilst still professing to hold
the creeds of earlier days, have departed from almost all
Scripture beliefs, and thus vainly endeavoured to substitute
for them the ever-changing ideas of a highly speculative
and virtually heathenish religious philosophy. Still, Chris-
tianity has evidently so taken hold of the mind of Europe,
that every such departure is sure to be followed with a
corresponding return to the genuine faith. With all its
errors and superstitions, the historical Church of the ages
has so deeply affected the whole moral and religious soil
of Europe, that no form of unbelief seems capable of out-
lasting a single generation. The conviction has been
gradually becoming universal, that mankind cannot live
without religion. The twofold outcome of the terrible French
Revolution seems to be a proof of the tremendous evils
sure at length to issue from a corrupt religion, and an
illustration of the like tremendous evils as sure to arise.
from the national abandonment of all religion.
The ex-
365
14
perience of the past appears clearly to show that the best
way to preserve the purity as well as to augment the power
of Christianity is to lead her to put forth all her strength
in carrying out the grand commission of her Divine Author,
and thus in seeking the conversion and civilization of the
world. Hence, as a matter of fact, she, more deeply con-
scious than ever of her real and mighty strength, and making
more abundant use of her own rich and varied resources,
is everywhere seen, especially in this country and in the
United States of America, renewing her apostolic youth,
and waxing stronger and purer in proportion as she toils
and fights for universal conquest. Looking back on the
whole history of our religion we find it a most undeniable
and most instructive fact, that all Churches have tended
to the highest development and richest life or to saddest
decay and surest extinction according as they have sought
the real good of mankind, or become cold, self-satisfied, and
inactive. Spiritual, devoted, active life is ever stronger than
all argument, however needful, to repel the assaults of
unbelief and error. This might be illustrated by reference
to the religious earnestness which did so much to repel
the unbelief of the last century in our own country, and to
the religious inactivity which has so encouraged sceptical
speculation as to check, to no small extent, spiritual pro-
gress in the very birthplace of the Reformation. Still, the
growth and influence of modern Christianity have been im-
mense. The whole spirit and framework of society has been
improved in proportion as she has been living and free.
In raising the tone and character of many of the greatest
minds, she has made them the fountains of social and
political good. To such minds the British constitution,
with all its excellence, has been greatly indebted. Under
the shadow of Christian liberty, science and art have been
safely and successfully cultivated. In fact, man as man
has been rising to a higher level in modern times. The
mutual hatreds of nations are passing away.
Whilst en-
RENEWED LIFE AND ENERGY.
-
366
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
lightened patriotism has suffered no loss, universal philan-
thropy has been greatly developed. The curse of slavery
has thus been assailed, and is now passing away. Nowhere
can the rights and liberties of even the most barbarous
people be trampled under foot without calling forth the
condemnation of many. But, what, it may be asked, of the
terrible scourge of war? Has modern Europe been the abode
of peace? If not, what of all the Bible predictions of
universal peace and concord? Why should the Author of
Christianity have been called the Prince of Peace? We
might here show that there is a special, an inward, a
heavenly peace, which Jesus has given to all His countless
and true-hearted followers, which no one else has ever been
able to create. We might show that there is afloat a spirit
of peace which has prevented many a war, which has made
war less vengeful and ferocious, and which is at least
ardently seeking to remove the causes of war, and thus to
do "the things which make for peace." However, it should
not be forgotten that, however advanced, no nation can
yet be called Christian in the full sense of the word.
The progress already made should convince every mind
that the Gospel has done what no other agency has ac-
complished, and that its success has left us no reason to
doubt its ultimate triumph in the peace of the world. In
every way that Gospel has been promoting the well-being.
of mankind. The progress of the last half century, not to
speak of that of the last two-and-a-half centuries, has been
so vast, and that under its direct or indirect influence, as to
warrant all Christian philanthropists to "thank God and
take courage," to have no doubts of the future of our race,
but rather to be assured that the blessings of temporal well-
being and of eternal salvation shall, in good time, be uni-
versally enjoyed through the Spirit and Gospel of Him, "in
whom," as the promised seed of Abraham, "all the nations
and families of the earth shall be blessed."
(
PRESENT STATE OF CHRISTIANITY. 367
IV.
1. We shall now glance at the state of the Christian
religion at the present time. We cannot of course deal fully
with so wide and complex a subject. It might have been
treated in a great variety of ways. We have already indicated
much that might be more definitely stated. We shall
content ourselves with the following:-
2. We may safely affirm, that Christianity, viewed as
greatly, if by no means perfectly, restored to its primitive
simplicity and purity, rises in point of vitality, enlightenment,
excellence, and activity, far above all other forms of religion.
Here we need not refer to any one Church or combination of
Churches, though we might do so with propriety and effect.
However, we would rather refer to the great amount of living,
enlightened, pure, devout, loving and noble religion to be
found in all or almost all Churches in this country and
elsewhere. We are not disposed to make much of the
numerous differences which unavoidably appear among Chris-
tians. Mere differences of opinion, which do not essentially
affect the spirit and character of a man, may well be kept
out of view in every general estimate of the existing state of
genuine Christianity. Thus judging, we are assured that
Jesus Christ never had so many enlightened and devoted
followers as in the present day. In the life and experience.
of these, His religion retains the freshness, the fulness, and
the devotedness of apostolic times. We shall not deny that
the peculiar bloom of first faith, first love, and first joy may
be wanting in the case of very many. Still, what is wanting
in one way is more than counter-balanced by the presence
of very much that is valuable in other ways. We need not
say that the most unreal and extravagant ideas of early
Christian life have been entertained and expressed by very
many. They seem to have neglected the calm study of the
Apostolic Epistles. In these we find allusions to faults and
failings, contentions and divisions, from which many Churches
368
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
seem greatly more free. For purest love and loyal fidelity to
Christ, we have multitudes scattered among all Churches,
whom it would be hard to suppose to have been excelled in
any age. Nor had Christ ever a greater number of devoted,
intelligent and faithful men engaged in the work of preaching
His Gospel and extending His kingdom. Never was there
so vast an amount of cultivated, enlightened, and consecrated
mind at His command or actually engaged in His service.
Not only in the pulpit, but in all departments of life, many
of the greatest of living men are to be found prepared for
every kind of work by which the cause of Christ and the
interests of mankind can be served. Never was the Church
possessed of greater wealth, with real willingness to use
it for every good end. Never was the Gospel adorned by
higher Christian character and conduct by so vast a multitude
of earnest and unpretending disciples. Of course, the
number of these is very insignificant when compared with
the whole population of the globe. It is certainly a matter
of the saddest reflection that divine truth should yet be
known by comparatively so few. We have already amply
accounted for this by the two facts,-the long-continued
corruption of Christianity, and the slowness of the reformed
Churches to learn the lesson of loyal obedience to the
apostolic commission to evangelize the world. Within the
last fifty years that commission has been better understood
and more faithfully obeyed than for many centuries before.
A double consequence has followed,-the Churches have
been revived and confirmed, and missions are more than
beginning to tell on the vast populations of Mohammedan
and heathen lands. Nor are we by any means to judge of
comparative power by comparative numbers. We might as
well judge of the comparative power of England and India by
the comparative numbers of their respective inhabitants.
The sincere and enlightened disciples of Christ are the most
powerful religionists of the present day. They hold the
truth, and they know that they hold the truth, and they are
INCREASING GLORY OF JESUS.
369
assured that "greater is He that is for them than all that are
against them," and that therefore they must prevail. They
are thus conscious of the renewal of their invincible growth,
and assured of the conquest of Papal Rome as were the early
disciples of that of Pagan Rome. They go forth to the sure
and certain conquest or restoration of the Eastern Churches.
They are determined to carry the spiritual warfare into all
Mohammedan countries, and they see the infallible tokens of
final and glorious victory. They are carrying their conquests into
all heathen countries; and have already achieved so much that
they have no doubt as to the result. They have learned from
the experience of ages, that a stationary is really a retrograde
and decaying Christianity, and that an aggressive Christianity
is always progressive, invincible, and undecaying. They have
learned, or, at least, are ever learning to put full confidence
in their Divine Leader. They are absolutely certain that He
cannot fail. "He must reign till all His enemies are put
under His feet."
3. Never before was Jesus so highly appreciated by so
many of the most enlightened and cultivated of men. We
express ourselves thus, that we may include a great and
growing number of the learned and refined, who do not
profess to be Christians in the full sense, and yet who are
constrained to regard Him as at least incomparably the
greatest, wisest, and best of beings who have trod this earth.
They acknowledge that, in all human history, from first to
last, He stands peerless and altogether alone. We do not
think they do this consistently, while they fail to draw the
conclusion, that He was more than human, or that He was
just what the Gospels declare, "The Son of God and Saviour
of the world." We simply state the important fact, which we
put in this form, that, in this and other countries, heathen
as well as Christian, wherever a higher education extends, the
same of Jesus has become and is increasingly becoming the
highest name on earth even among those who are not prepared
to accept Him in His true and full character of Divine
24
370
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
Redeemer. Over the minds of such, His life and character
have gained a real and seemingly final conquest. The Bible
idea of His Person may be rejected; but, we are assured,
such rejection cannot continue. It seems not only hard, but
impossible, to retain a lofty conception of His character and
teaching, and yet to continue to reject that idea. The early
controversies as to His Person were many and fierce; but
they eventually ended in the acknowledgment of the union.
of the divine and human, of Creator and creature, in the one
and glorious Person of Jesus Christ. Many intellectual,
benevolent, and refined people have been led to deny the real
Divinity, and to maintain the simple and perfect humanity
of Jesus; but, though such have again and again multiplied
and apparently prospered, they have ever failed to reach any
numerical greatness or to enjoy any lengthened prosperity.
We may, then, fairly affirm that never was Jesus revered and
worshipped by so many, so great, so intelligent, and so highly
cultured minds. They have been taught by no mere here-
ditary tuition to regard Jesus as Jehovah in human nature,
however confessedly "great the mystery" may be. They see
in Him, as the Scriptures clearly show, the wondrous good of
all the previous revelations and manifestations of "Jehovah,
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." They see in
Jesus this Memorial Name in its sublimest, most mysterious,
and most attractive and adorable form. They see in Him
"the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image
of His Person." In the exalted and glorified "Man Christ
Jesus," they see the eternal shrine of the Invisible God, the
grand and the perfect medium of intercommunication between
the Infinite and the finite, the Creator and His creation, the
Divine Father and His countless family, the Moral Ruler and
His moral universe.
4. Never was the glory of the Cross of Jesus more clearly
seen, or its power more deeply felt, by so many as at the
present time. As yet it has lost no ray of that glory, no
element of that power. What a contrast between the original
VISION OF JESUS CLEAR AS EVER.
371
sight of the Cross and the present vision of its import! At
the present day, its glory may be said to be brighter than
ever, as its manifold meaning has been more profoundly
studied and more fully understood, and yet, we may say
without self-contradiction, as its like manifold mystery is
more deeply felt to be at once grand and inexplicable. We
need not say that its design and character have, even by
excellent men, been differently contemplated, perhaps chiefly
because it has been, through the narrowness of the human
mind, too often contemplated as exclusively as intensely under
some one of its various aspects. As its glory was never more
clearly seen, its power was never more deeply felt. To illus-
trate this we would have simply to repeat much which we
have already said. We need not say how it has become the
greatest moral and spiritual force in this world-central, all-
attractive, and all-constraining. As a manifestation of love, it
arises above all human appreciation. Still, superficial must
all views be of its combined glory and power, from which is
excluded the idea of a true and divine propitiation. Contem-
plated aright, it mightily affects the conscience as well as the
heart, nay, the whole complex and mysterious nature of
man; and this it now does more deeply and more widely than
ever.
5. All this implies, as we have virtually said, that never did
Jesus wear on earth a brighter crown. Immediately after
the resurrection and ascension, the apostles lived as if they
saw Jesus at the right hand of God, and as if constantly
beholding His majesty and power. Like wondrous was the
vision of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, when he
wrote of seeing Jesus as the new Head of the race, "crowned
with glory and honour." Nor less grand was the prophetic
vision of John of the crowned warrior going forth "conquer-
ing and to conquer." But, it may be asked, do we now,
after so many centuries, enjoy like fresh and clear views and
visions of the majesty and dominion of Jesus Christ? From
what we experience in our own hearts, and from what we
372
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
observe of the present state of things, do we feel assured that
these first disciples were under no illusion, or that they did
not mistake their own beautiful fancies for glorious facts?
We are persuaded that never did Jesus possess, in the
consciousness and to the observation of His disciples, a
more real existence, authority, and dominion than in the
present day. Instead of one crown, in their eyes, He has
now, as was also seen in prophetic vision, "on His head
many crowns,”-crowns which He has gained by many
conquests, and to which He now, as clearly as ever, appears
to go on to add, till all the crowns of this world, as well in
possession as in right, are His, and till "the kingdoms of this
world have all become the kingdom of God and His Christ."
However, we mean still more than all this, we mean, that
now the real character of His kingdom and the real nature
and extent of what have well been called His "Crown-Rights"
are better understood and more justly acknowledged than at
any former period. Whilst fully holding Christ to be the
King of the whole earth by perfect right, as well as to be
"Head over all things for His Church," His people now see
more clearly than ever, at least since the days of the apostles,
that Jesus claims the exclusive as well as full dominion over
the individual mind and will of man,--that every Christian is
bound, and that without hindrance from any other, to be
perfectly subject to the will of Christ. So also, when
Christians unite in forming societies or churches, as in
apostolic times, they now, to a wider extent than ever, regard
themselves as directly and exclusively under the authority of
Christ, that no external human power had any right to
interfere with their procedure, so long as they violate no just
civil law, which they cannot do so long as they do the will of
Christ, and that no power whatever, political or ecclesiastical,
can thus interfere or claim any authority without usurping
the crown-rights referred to. In this way, for ages the
papal claims have been denounced as most impious as well
as most despotic.
CHRISTIAN NATIONS.
373
In the same way, the claims of kings or of Parliaments to rule
or to legislate as if at the head of any branch of the Christian
Church, have been becoming more and more evidently
inconsistent with the claims of Christ and the nature of His
kingdom. In proof of this we might give the most ample
details, both from the words and actions of churchmen, and
from the testimony and entire position of those who cannot
accept the theory of a National Church. Whilst this rejection
of all royal as well as papal authority has been increasing,
the right of Christ to reign over the whole earth has been
becoming more clearly seen, more deeply felt, and more
practically regarded, and hence the obligation of Christians
to convert the whole world to Christ has, during these last
fifty years, been taking an ever-growing hold on the Christian
conscience and heart. "The world for Christ" is becoming
the law as well as motto of every Christian. Hence those
grand missionary movements already hinted at and to which
we shall again refer. We shall now only add, that, viewing
the crown of Christ in the light of the extent to which His
actual influence and power may be said to be at work,
whether consciously felt or not, He must be said to be
already at the very head of the world. The nations may be
said to be more or less mighty and prosperous in proportion as
they are influenced by the spirit and teaching of Christ.
Britain stands foremost on the side of Christ and in the
march of civilization, of prosperity, of mind, and of power.
The great Republic of America is next in all these respects.
Germany, which ought to have had the lead, and which,
unless for her Christian fallings away, might have still been
in the van, follows. Other Protestant states have too long
kept by the rule of force and have fallen behind. Both
Greek and Roman countries, adhering to the corrupt past
and refusing to take the Bible for their guide, are still
behind, unless with one or two exceptions, which are perhaps
more apparent than real. Thus France has greatly parted
with the past, and has so far prospered accordingly; but she
374
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
has not yet to any extent accepted the Gospel of Christ, and
has not yet reached that stability which is essential to all
permanent prosperity and power. The fullest survey of the
state of the world thus enables us to behold the transcendent
power of Jesus Christ. We may regard the vast territory of the
United States as a kind of Canaan or promised land, gifted,
as if by Divine right, by Jesus to His faithful but persecuted
followers of other days, to be the home and the birthplace
of countless citizens of Zion, and where, as multitudes flowed
from other lands, the work of conversion might go on for
many ages, till an American Israel should occupy the whole,
and be as the stars of heaven innumerable. The same may,
in some measure, be said of the still more vast amount of
territory included in the various colonies of Great Britain.
That, too, seems to be a like gift for the purpose of
gradually raising a countless "seed to serve" Him who gave
it. Of a very different character must be regarded another
territory placed, we believe by Christ, under the dominion
of the British Crown in order to the exercise of British
missionary zeal as well as of British political justice and
wisdom,—the territory of India,—with its manifold teeming
populations. All these in some sense ruled by Christ as being
ruled by those who are ruled by Him, are regarded as provi-
dentially thus related to Great Britain for the grand purpose of
being converted to Him through British Christianity. Persia,
China, Japan, and other regions are all opening up to the
reception of the Gospel, whilst the whole Continent of
Europe seems prepared to welcome the same Gospel, and
thus to return to the purer faith of apostolic times through
the agency of British Christians. Thus does the kingdom
of Christ extend and His crown wax brighter and brighter.
6. Let us now contemplate the fruits of the presence of
Christ in the hearts of His people. Here we regard His
kingdom specially as that of the heart and the interior life, as
that which comes with no "observation," and as that which
is too often overlooked and really unknown by all who are
DEEPENING SENSE OF SIN.
375
"Thou shalt
not the sincere and conscious subjects of it.
call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from
their sins," was commanded nearly nineteen centuries ago;
and we may well ask now, how far He was justly so named,
or how far He has really accomplished His great and precious
work. Here we enter upon no new or original inquiry. We
deal with the most familiar matter of fact. We shall not
attempt to treat it in any peculiar or unfamiliar way.
(1) We may safely repeat that Jesus has exerted a mighty
power on modern society by greatly deepening the sense of
sin. The idea of sin runs through the whole Bible; and we
might show that that idea differs widely from all purely human
ideas of sin or crime, in being mainly set forth in its relation
to God. Mankind generally are so fallen from God, that
when they think or speak of sin against Him, they fail to
perceive the enormity of the guilt of departing from God or
of rebelling against His holy will. They can more easily
perceive the guilt of doing wrong towards their fellow-crea-
tures; though even in this they come far short of the stern
and sublime teachings of Scripture. The knowledge of Jesus,
and especially of His Cross or of His great propitiation for
sin, has awakened the human conscience and touched the
human heart as nothing else has ever done. The grand and
beautiful picture of Christ so perfectly portrayed on the sacred
page by the finger of the Holy Spirit, has so raised the ideal
of true goodness as to create a strong sense of failure to
realise that ideal, and thus to deepen the sense of shortcoming
and therefore of sin. However, most powerful has been the
influence of the Cross, as expressive of the Divine sense of the
guilt of sin, on the whole of our modes of thinking and
feeling with regard to good and evil, holiness and sin.
Neither the life nor the death of Christ has ceased to exert a
mighty force on the moral and spiritual nature of man,
enabling him to see clearly and to feel deeply the greatness
and reality of the terrible evil from which Jesus came to
deliver, and thus to know something of the reality and great-
376
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
ness of that salvation which He came to this world to provide
and secure.
(2) If Jesus has thus heightened or deepened that sense
of guilt which is common to mankind, He certainly shows
Himself equal to the mighty task of removing the fearful load
of guilt resting on the spirit and conscience of every one who
believes in His name. His wonderful promise, in this as in
other respects, He never yet fails to fulfil,-"Come unto Me
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest." This promise, so precious and great in itself, has been
experimentally tested by millions of human beings, and we
most confidently affirm, has never so much as once been
proved to fail. In all ages and in all lands, multitudes have
been seeking rest of conscience and assurance of pardon, and
have used the most varied means of gaining the end in view,-
such as the multiplication of prayers and good deeds, of
fastings and self-inflicted tortures, but all without satisfactory
effect. Multitudes, too, have tried to escape the stings and
forebodings of conscience by the forgetfulness of the past.
with all its conscious sins; but they have found the occasional
sense of danger or the final fear of death too mighty to be
thus overcome. Priestly aid, too, has been long and vainly
sought by those who call themselves by the name of Christ,
and yet have no real confidence in Him as the One and only
High Priest. Now that the Gospel is preached with apostolic
directness and simplicity, so that the New Testament is
rightly understood, the very simplest Christians know what it
is to be assured of divine forgiveness, and to be freed from
the terrible burden which otherwise would continue to over-
whelm and crush them.
(3) But what of another terrible evil,-the evil of moral
and spiritual bondage and degradation? It must be allowed
that education can do and has done very much to emancipate
from the power of natural passions and of acquired habit, and
to raise the character to a high pitch of culture and refine-
ment. Most noble, indeed, has been the spirit of many a
FAITH A CREATIVE FORCE.
377
Still,
man who never so much as heard the name of Jesus.
when we look a little more closely and think of that selfish-
ness which is the root of all sin, we see on the one hand how
vast a work Jesus has to do, and on the other how truly
divine must be the real accomplishment of it. Not forgetting
that there are rays of Christian light scattered over the realms
of heathendom and accounting for the development of such
noble character as that referred to, we maintain that no
power of a renewing and elevating spiritual character can be
compared with that of the full knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Hence the vast number of Christian people distinguished for
virtues and graces which would cast into the shade the virtues
and graces, not only of the more excellent heathen, but of the
more highly cultivated minds which refuse to own allegiance
to Jesus Christ. Here, however, we must appeal mainly to
the experimental evidence of the power of Christian faith;
and we would simply state that, wherever that faith is real
and enlightened, the character is renewed, the love of God
and man is inspired, the spirit of self-consecration and self-
sacrifice is developed, and the power of selfishness and of
every sinful tendency and habit, if not yet perfectly over-
thrown, thoroughly shaken, and evidently destined to be.
finally overcome.
(4) We have for the most part, though not entirely, con-
templated the salvation of Jesus in the light of a mighty
deliverance; but may here add to what we have said of the
development of character, that such development forms a
most important part of this great salvation. Christ infuses a
new and lofty spirit. Faith in Him is a mighty creative
force. It raises the heart to God. It draws forth the heart
to man. It inspires reverence on the one hand, and bene-
volence on the other. It thus writes the Law of God, the
Law of Love, on the heart. It restores the spirit of divine
sonship and of human brotherhood, whilst it introduces to a
sphere of moral manhood and liberty worthy of the children
of God. We use no undue expressions. We go not beyond
378
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
the truth. As the noble and glorious character of Paul was
an infallible seal of the mission and ministry of Jesus, so, if
in a much lower degree, the character of millions in our day,
as in other days, may justly be regarded as like infallible seals.
(5) But what shall we say of the blessed and glorious hope
of immortality which so wonderfully distinguished the early
disciples of Christ? It certainly remains as fresh and as full
as ever in the hearts of countless Christians. It still animates
through life, and cheers in death. It does so notwithstanding
the fact that so very many unbelievers in Christ have stoutly
denied a future world or an immortal life. We now find, that
wherever Christ is rejected, the hope in question soon fails
and is finally abandoned. We seem coming to this point
in spiritual history, when Christ alone shall sustain the hope
of heaven, when "Christ, the hope of glory," shall alone
cheer, and when "without Christ" shall unexceptionally imply
"without hope in the world." The advance of science is lead-
ing to this result. Yet men cannot long live in despair as to
the great future; and so Christ cannot long be abandoned.
Thus view His work in the human heart as we may, it is still
the same; and we may repeat, it is as fresh and full now as ever.
(6) We might allude to the spirit of Christ, of God, of the
Bible, of heaven, which has, through this work of Christ,
been generated and diffused beyond the distinct sphere of
well-defined Christian faith. Thus, how widely diffused the
spirit of benevolence and philanthropy! The atmosphere of
the world becomes more and more genial and pure under the
growing influence of the Gospel. The spirit of Christ is
penetrating even where He is but little known. In Christian
countries thousands appear almost Christ-like, who deny His
divine mission, and yet who are indebted to Him and His
people for all that excellence which tends to conceal how
much men are blessed through faith in Him. If we add to
the thought of this ever-spreading spirit the consideration of
our indebtedness to its diffusion and to the direct influence of
Jesus for the improvement of the manners and morals, the laws
HUMAN PROGRESS A REVELATION.
379
and institutions of modern society, as of the very creation of
free and constitutional government in England and elsewhere,
we behold a grand demonstration of the mission of Jesus, and
anticipate the completeness of that demonstration when the
progress thus made shall have issued in the full Christianiza-
tion of any one portion of mankind.
7. Hence as we thus see the progress of the Gospel of
Jesus, we also behold the advancing revelation of Jehovah as
the God of salvation. We need hardly say that that revelation
advances with every advance in the work of salvation, in the
growing appreciation of His character, and in the worship
and service of Himself. The present state of the Church and
the world, so far as traceable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is
to be regarded as His work, and thus as a new and further
revelation of Him,-yet a revelation consistent with all the
past revelations which we have been led to contemplate. His
worshippers in the present day go back in mind to the days
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, come down the stream of
time to those of Moses and the prophets, especially to those
of Christ and His apostles, and thence through subsequent
ages, and behold His presence and grace in all of them as
well as in the midst of themselves. To them He is the same
Jehovah, the same unchangeable God, the same ever-living
and all-glorious "I AM THAT I AM." In the case of other
religions, they see marks of universal decay and approaching
dissolution where they do not yet see, as elsewhere, only “the
desolations of many generations." They contemplate the
regions of ancient power, religion, and civilization, and they
behold how all has come to nought,—how the mere names of
divinities are known after their worship has ceased for ever,
or how even their names have been forgotten. In fact, to all
the religions of the world, that of Jehovah in Jesus Christ is
the one and only exception of a religion at once of ancient
origin, of gradual and consistent development, of living and
elevating power, of growing rather than of decaying influence,
and whose heavenly and supernatural character is j
380
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
witnessed by the palpable fact, that it is yet immeasurably
ahead of all the progress, the civilization, the refinement, and
the highest moral and spiritual condition of mankind. In
connection with this we may do well to close with one or two
general remarks:-
(1) Looking back upon the past, and contemplating the
whole course of divine revelation on the one hand, and of
human redemption on the other, we are now better than
ever able to understand and appreciate the grand doctrine of
the Spirit of Jehovah or of the work of the Holy Spirit. In
fact, we can now perceive more clearly than ever the com-
prehensiveness, the wisdom, the suitableness, or adaptation
to our nature of the threefold revelation of the Godhead as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do not mean to treat of
the great mystery here involved. The whole Bible, Old
Testament and New, is full of the grand and glorious
doctrine. Too often has it been treated as a mere subject of
high, abstract, and metaphysical thought and speculation,
instead of being simply and reverently regarded in the light
of the most practical and precious revelation of God,
especially expressive of the Fatherhood of Jehovah, the
Sonship of Jesus, and the agency of the Holy Spirit. The
underlying mystery belongs to the realm of faith, not to that
of the understanding or speculative reason. As we trace the
progress of human redemption or of divine revelation, we can
now behold the Holy Spirit working from age to age and
gradually and continuously evolving and unfolding the whole
system of divine and saving truth, and enlightening and
sanctifying the children of men. Just as science enables us
to trace the operation of divine power combining the material
elements, building them up into the frame of things, conse-
cutively developing the countless orders of organized being,
and finally establishing the present system of the world; so
the sacred history, conjoined with our knowledge of Christian
times, enables us to trace the operation of the Divine Spirit
from first to last, revealing the mind of God, imparting more
NO REAL SIGNS OF DECAY.
381
and more fully divine truth to man, setting forth that truth in
its greatest fulness through Jesus Christ, and finally, by means
of it, raising Christian society to its present height of illu-
mination and of moral and spiritual elevation. As we thus
trace that Divine Power in the material world, and that Divine
Spirit in the moral and spiritual, we can see in them, not two
separate and unconnected energies, but one and the same
Spiritual Power or Almighty Spirit dwelling in the same Divine
Mind, working harmoniously in two distinct realms, and yet
irresistibly moving towards the same final and glorious end.
(2) But, it may be asked, whatever the signs of progressive
prosperity, does not this religion so far at least show unmis-
takable signs of decay? Are not the opponents of Chris-
tianity more mighty, intellectually, than ever? Do not our
advanced men of science anticipate her early, at least her
certain, dissolution? Do not her friends fear and tremble
for some coming shock of arms? Doubtless it cannot be
denied that great and many are the difficulties now present
to the ablest thinkers and defenders of “the faith once deli-
vered to the saints." Still, that faith has weathered many a
storm and come triumphantly out of many a conflict. Never
were the most enlightened Christians more sure of victory
than at the present time. They know how former contests
have ended. They have confidence in Him who has been
leading His people in all generations; and though they by
no means ignore the difficulties in question or despise the
present antagonists of the Faith, they see that Christianity
has all the attributes and evidences of truth, that she is won-
derfully adapted to meet the nature and wants of man, and
that she must be in harmony with truth of every other kind.
They are assured that, so far as the Philosophy of Mind is
concerned, whatever certain philosophers may think, there is
no inconsistency between the real findings of philosophy, the
true facts of human consciousness, and the grand and essen-
tial truths of Christianity. As to the Science of Matter, they
may see difficulties in the way of present satisfactory reconci-
382
HISTORICAL REVELATION.
liation with these truths; but they are better able to appre-
ciate the real function of science in its relations to divine and
redemptive truth. They know that in Scripture those aspects
of the visible universe are set forth which are of merely
general character and which best fall in with the vastly en-
larged ideas of creation which science now suggests. In this
way, our advancing knowledge simply expands our minds and
enables us to rise to higher conceptions of the God of Reve-
lation as being the God of the Universe. The reconciliation
of certain definite affirmations of Scripture with certain
scientific conclusions either goes satisfactorily onwards or is
left calmly for future completion, or is regarded as of no
essential importance, on the ground that Scripture was not
designed to convey exact information as to matters of no
religious nature. Perhaps difficulties of a critical character
touching the structure and inspiration of the Bible are at
present more or less deeply felt by many. In dealing with
them, two distinct ideas of the Sacred Volume are kept in
view,—the one, that the Bible is a revelation; the other,
that it simply contains a revelation. We shall not treat of
the controversy thus arising. All may be perfectly assured
that, as the evidences of the divine truth and origin of
Scripture are complete and overwhelming, let Christians.
differ as they may in their treatment of the difficulties in
question, they ought not in the slightest degree to shake the
faith of any. They will yet be all duly solved, or at least be
ultimately found no more to affect the truth revealed than the
spots of the sun are found to prevent the illumination of the
world. As time advances, the discordant views, which are
due to imperfect knowledge, will cease to annoy, and finally
be forgotten. With the progress of true interpretation on
the one hand, and of the spiritual enlightenment of the race.
on the other, the Bible will be so regarded as the sole, the
all-sufficient, and the inestimable fountain of divine and
saving light, that all, rejoicing to walk in it, will feel that in
it, as in its great Author, "there is no darkness at all."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL, OR THE REVELATION
OF JEHOVAH IN JESUS CHRIST AS THE GOD OF
REDEMPTION, COMPLETE, TRUE, AND ETERNAL.
I.
I.
I
N this heading to our closing chapter, we simply expand
that of the first,―The Everlasting Name. That name,
we have found, has come down to us with ever-increasing
light and majesty. Other names have had dominion over the
minds of men, but they have all passed, or are now passing
away. Here we might have closed. With the details of
New Testament prophecy we deem it unwise to deal.
Not a
little of that prophecy relates to the corruptions of the Chris-
tian Church, and has been but too truly fulfilled; most
amply, as already said, accounting for the apparently slow
progress of the Gospel in the conquest of the world. Happily
many of these corruptions have, at least in some countries,
been very greatly removed; and the last fifty years have
witnessed so many and glorious triumphs, that even those
who seem ever ready to "tremble for the Ark of God" may
well be assured of final conquest. The Old Testament
history ought to teach all to fear less and to trust more.
However great and often repeated the recorded departures
from Jehovah and corruptions of His worship, the promises.
never failed. Progress was never long checked; Israel did
not and could not remain in captivity or perish; the grand
end, the advent of the Messiah, came in due time and in the
appointed manner. So the religion of the New Testament
384
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
cannot but finally prevail, however opposed by external
power or weakened by internal corruption. In fact, the
whole history of the past may now be turned into a bright
prophecy of the future.
2. From apostolic times Christians have been led to
anticipate a long period of mingled temporal and spiritual
prosperity under the form of the "Millennial Reign" or
"Latter-day Glory" of Jesus Christ. We cannot, with many,
limit this to a period of literally one thousand years, but rather
think that it must extend over a vastly greater cycle of time.
We may not be furnished with absolutely certain evidence of
this; but, regarding the work of human redemption as really
the grandest and most glorious work of Jehovah, we cannot
entertain the limited conceptions of it held by not a few,
but rather think that the thousands of years by which the
universal reign of Christ will have been introduced, may well
be taken as an index of the many thousands during which it
is destined to flourish, and to prepare a countless number of
redeemed spirits to make up the family of God and kingdom
of Jesus Christ. Let us lay aside our naturally little ideas of
the great redemptive work. Let us learn by the disclosures
of such a science as Geology to measure the eras and cycles
of divine time. Let us interpret the obscurer words of prophecy
by the clearer affirmations of express promise. What we
cannot discern, let us be content not to know. Then, living
in the growing light of what may seem a long continued
dawn, we can ever rejoice in the assurance of the coming of
a still more prolonged and unspeakably glorious day.
3. We shall now go on to treat of the subjects indicated
by the heading of this chapter, or of the Revelation of
Jehovah in Jesus Christ, as First, Complete; Secondly, True;
and, Thirdly, Eternal; and as the whole of divine revelation
may be said to be summed up in Jesus Christ, we shall close
by contemplating Him in the character of the great appointed
Witness of Jehovah, as announced by Isaiah on the one hand,
and as acknowledged by Himself on the other.
REVELATION COMPLETE.
II.
385
THE REVELATION COMPLETE.
1. Here we refer mainly to the Sacred Scriptures. Of
course, in carrying on His great redemptive work Jehovah
has been practically and consecutively giving a more and
more clear and full revelation of Himself. However, that
revelation is now presented to our view for the most part in
the Bible history, which records the mighty deeds and inspired
words of Jehovah, whence we gather our knowledge of Him,
as we obtain our knowledge of any man through the like
medium of his words and deeds. The sacred volume is no
mere treatise of religious doctrine or abstract theology, with
an addition or admixture of a variety of excellent ethical
maxims, the production of a few able and learned men.
Had it been so, it would have been hard to prove or to
believe its divine origin. Containing, however, as it does,
within the smallest compass, not only every variety of
literature, prosaic and poetical, but also a prophetic and
historical record of divine procedure, providential and super-
natural, for thousands of years, written by many authors during
a course of many centuries, and confessedly meeting the
wants of all who accept its teachings, we cannot but regard
it as most complete on the one hand, and as bearing the
stamp of surest divinity on the other. This we would
endeavour to illustrate by entering somewhat into detail.
2. In the first instance, Revelation is complete with respect
to its Divine Author, Jehovah Himself.
(1) His Being. Here the Bible rises immeasurably above
every other book professedly sacred. We have seen how
it contains the most wonderful name ever given to the God-
head, or rather assumed by God as His own greatest and most
glorious name, "I AM THAT I AM,"-a name which, in
simplicity, sublimity and significance, rises not only above
every name actually given to the Divine Being in any land,
25
386
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
but also above any name that could possibly be framed by
any combination of words. We have also seen that it
contains within itself, and as can be found nowhere else, an
infallible, supernatural, and divinely designed and constructed
demonstration of the sole divinity and redemptive power of
Jehovah, in those clearly expressed and indisputably fulfilled
promises and predictions to which He Himself appealed in
the days of Isaiah,—a demonstration which has become still
more complete and overwhelming by the addition of the New
Testament to the Old. Here one great and striking fact
should be remembered and fully kept in view, that over four
long and eventful centuries, during which the whole face of
the known world was entirely changed, intervened between
the last of the prophets and the beginning of that short and
wondrous Life by which all history has been changed.
Only the unerring foreknowledge, and therefore the absolutely
certain existence of that God "who calleth things that are
not as though they were," can possibly account for the
perfect harmony between the prophetic contents of the Old
Testament and the historical contents of the New. Thus and
otherwise has the Jehovah of Salvation enshrined Himself,
His power and glory, in the inner temple of His written
Word, as truly and demonstratively as has the God of Creation
in the outer temple of His wondrous Works; and we may
add, that he who would enjoy that calm and enlightened faith
in the Invisible and Eternal One, without which no perfect
manhood can be reached and no life of true happiness can be
maintained, must not, even in thought, separate these two
temples, or fail to treat the one as the holy, and the other as
the most holy place of the Most High.
(2) The Character of Jehovah.-Here again the Bible is
unique and incomparable. In it the divine perfections are
declared and illustrated as they have been in no other
writings, ancient or modern. The more glorious and awful
attributes of holiness, righteousness, and truth most naturally
and harmoniously combine with the more gracious and
REVELATION OF JEHOVAH COMPLETE.
387
winning attributes of condescension, mercy and love in form-
ing that perfect, full-orbed, and infinitely excellent character,
to which can never be added so much as one new ray of
grace or glory. However, as we cannot rise to a full
conception of the glory of the sun by directly contemplating
itself, or without thinking of it in its manifold relations to
the earth, and observing its endlessly diversified appearances
as it describes its daily course, and enables us to see the
objects of nature in every variety of colouring and under
every degree of light and shade; so we cannot rise to the
highest and most influential conceptions of the Blessed God
by simply meditating on His character, however glorious in
itself, or without contemplating Himself as He is represented
from beginning to end of Scripture, and in such countless
ways dealing with the children of men, individually and
nationally, as friends and foes, in all the severity of His
justice, and in all the tenderness of His grace and mercy.
(3) The manifold relation of Jehovah to the universe, especially
to this world of mankind.
""
First, That of Universal Creator. Under this we mainly
intend what may be called His physical relationship, every-
where represented in the Bible as the nearest possible, the
most constant, and the most truly unexceptional. As all
things came from His creative hand, they are all sustained
by His almighty power. "In Him all things consist or
"hold together." "In Him we live and move and have our
being." "One God and Father of all, who is over all, and
through all, and in all." Thus, whilst Scripture clearly dis-
tinguishes between Creator and creature, it does not in the
least conceivable degree separate between them. It does not
identify them with Pantheism, or thoroughly part them with
Deism. The Creative Power underlies all created powers.
In relation to the universe, the divine existence is in some
sense immanent, and in some sense transcendent, "in and
over"
as well as "through
through" all things. As the invariable
tendency of science is to remove God to an ever-increasing
388
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
distance from those who seek Him through it; so the like
invariable tendency of Scripture is to bring God nearer and
still nearer to those who seek to know Him through it. Apart
from references like the above to what we have called physical
relationship, how near in providential care and goodness and
in paternal grace and fellowship Christ constantly and most
attractively places the Divine Father in the very bosom of
His family. Here, again, science and Scripture must not be
parted. They are complementary, the one, through its dis-
closures of the vastness of creation, helping us to rise towards
the infinitude of the Creator; and the other, through its whole
teachings, especially through its revelation of Christ and His
salvation, assuring all who love God that He is not only near
them, but in them.
Secondly, The relation of Jehovah to mankind. Of late
the Fatherhood of God has been so warmly and almost ex-
clusively contemplated, that not a few have been led to set
forth the paternal relationship as that alone in which He can
be justly and intelligently regarded as standing to His rational
and responsible creatures. Their view, we are assured, is
narrow, one-sided, and defective. The Scriptures are com-
plete and satisfactory. In allusion to this relationship they
speak of God analogically under a variety of terms, specially
under these three,-Father, King, Lord; the loving Father,
the righteous King, the sovereign Lord. In the Old Testa-
ment, He is spoken of chiefly as Lord or King; in the New,
chiefly as Father. Only by the combination of the three
underlying ideas can we obtain the Scriptural and satisfactory
conception of the grand and unique relation in question. As
creator and sustainer of all, God is absolutely as He is sub-
limely called, "Possessor of heaven and earth." Thus exclu-
sively contemplated, His sovereignty is seen to be universal
and unlimited. In so far, however, as He has been pleased
to endow His creatures with a free, moral and responsible
nature, He has been pleased to limit that otherwise absolute
sovereignty. Placing them, by their very constitution, under
CON
DIVINE SELF-LIMITATION.
389
the rule of moral law, He implicitly undertakes to administer
that law, that is to say, to rule them according to the law
which He Himself has impressed upon their very being, and
therefore to act the part of a righteous and impartial ruler or
king. Thus His sovereignty is not in any sense arbitrary,
but maintained in harmony with that law or those laws which
He has been pleased thus virtually to prescribe to His own
all-governing procedure. Still further, in forming them in
His own likeness, and with a divine filial nature, He has been
pleased to assume the place of a father and to undertake to
treat them as His children. Than that thus implied no
relation could possibly be more near, precious and endearing.
As such, it has been contrasted with the regal or legal just
referred to, which, accordingly, has, as lower, more distant
and cold, to all intents been set aside as unworthy and unreal.
However, as the sons of God rise in being and culture, espe-
cially as they exercise their divinely gifted free moral powers,
they cannot but be viewed as subjects of the divine kingdom
as truly as members of the divine family. Nor can the rela-
tion of sonship, with all its implied nearness and oneness
with God, lose a single ray of its glory by that modification
which is due to endowment with those moral powers which
are the crowning work of creation, and which involve the
relation of subject and king. The real error lies in treating
these relations as not one and peculiar, but two and actually
similar to those among men. The divine relationship is
single, but most comprehensive, and thus to be illustrated
only by the necessarily imperfect analogy of various relations
among men. Hence especially the threefold relation to
which we have referred as set forth in Scripture,-that of
Lord, of King, and of Father. In this way does Revelation
commend its completeness to our minds, and prove itself
broader, deeper, and truer to our highest ideas of Godhead
than it appears in the light of our broadest theology.
(4) The grand purpose and work of Jehovah.-Here, of course,
we refer to that of human redemption, of which the Bible is
390
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
full, and of which we have been all along so treating as to
leave no necessity for further remark. We may simply say
that, as in other respects, so in making known this great
and saving purpose, the Bible bears a special mark of divinity
by being so easily intelligible to the great mass of mankind,
to all, in fact, capable of reading or of understanding the
very simplest language used among men. The Cross itself,
like the sun, sends forth the clearest light, sufficient for the
unlearned and the learned alike. None need complain of the
obscurity or the incomprehensibleness of those most needful
portions of Scripture which relate to the great salvation or to
that faith which is the one and only condition of eternal life.
(5) In the New Testament, though Jehovah appears, con-
stantly and attractively, as the God and Father of Jesus, and
thus as wonderfully realizing the covenant name which we
have been chiefly contemplating, it might seem as if the
personal name, Jehovah, had ceased to occupy its wonted
place. However, in the name of Jesus, Jehovah the Saviour,
it has an everlasting, a most constant, and the dearest place
in the hearts and minds of men. Most suitably as well as
sublimely, too, has He been symbolically represented, if not
under the actual name, at least under the name which we
found God giving as the interpretation or equivalent of it,
"He who was, who is, and who is to come," in the closing
Book of Scripture, and as seated on His throne in Heaven,
surrounded with representatives of both unfallen and re-
deemed creatures, with the exquisitely beautiful emblems of
His righteous and merciful government, and receiving the
worship and services of both alike. All is symbol and repre-
sentation, yet of the most glorious reality and the most
precious truth. The whole apocalyptic scene is wonderfully
fitted, as it has been most deeply felt, to render the highest
conceptive, meditative, and devotional aid to the loving
children, the devoted subjects, and the adoring worshippers
of the Eternal One, whilst all is so unveiled and brought so
near, that young children and old men, the peasant and the
REVELATION OF JESUS COMPLETE.
391
prince, feel, like John within "the opened door," con-
strained to fall down and worship Him who sits upon the
throne and the slain and risen Lamb. It seems by no means
too much to say, that, had these two chapters never been
written, one of the most useful and inspiring portions of
Scripture would have been wanting, and one of the most
abundant sources of the warmest, devoutest, and most ecstatic
worship unopened to the hearts of Christians.
3. In the next instance, and as just so far indicated,
Revelation is complete with respect to Jesus Christ. We have
most amply illustrated this already, and propose to close with
a further reference to the same theme, and may here be very
brief. In the four Gospels He is so presented to the mind of
the careful reader as to seem still in this world, still convers-
ing with men, still imparting all needful instruction, and
still calling upon all to receive Him and His salvation. So
truly and perfectly is this the case, that He may be said to
live through every age and dwell in every land. He is thus
the light of every generation as really as He was of His own.
The apostolic writings, by interpreting His Ministry and
especially His Cross, have completed His revelation. The
entire New Testament is full of Him. In no mean sense the
same may be said of the Old, and that, not merely because
containing so many clear and express promises and predic-
tions concerning Him and His coming kingdom, but also
because of all the glorious light of grace and mercy so con-
spicuous from beginning to end, and assuring every penitent
sinner of divine forgiveness and therefore of salvation as
decisively as do the clearest passages of the New. Wherever
Jehovah calls Himself gracious and merciful, and engages to
pardon the penitent, there Jesus virtually appears, and there
He implicitly speaks. The light of mercy which shone
steadily up to the advent of Jesus, simply resembled the
morning light which shines before the actual rise of the sun.
Many seem to be at a loss to know how men could be saved
without the full knowledge of Jesus Christ. All, however, is
392
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
very simple. The great Propitiation was the foundation of
the entire divine procedure towards mankind in every
age and country before it was actually made, as it has been
ever since, and as we find clearly and finely brought out in
the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews, in which, by that
propitiation, God is said to have set forth His righteousness
in the remission of sins committed in earlier times. Hence
the proclamation of mercy from the very beginning. Hence,
too, the existence of a gracious and merciful providence in
every land. In reality, whether as only coming or as actually
come, Jesus is all in all in universal providence on the one
hand, and in the whole Bible, Old and New Testament alike,
on the other. All, too, that we have said of the demonstration
of the Being of Jehovah involved in the harmony between
the prophetic contents of the former of these and the
historical contents of the latter, might be here repeated as
setting forth a like satisfactory demonstration of the divine
mission of Jesus Christ. Thus is the Bible, in its two
distinctly separate, yet perfectly consistent and comple-
mentary parts, complete in itself, self-demonstratively true,
and fitted for its grand purpose of being the light of sal-
vation to all nations to the end of time.
4. In keeping with this we go on to remark, that Reve-
lation is complete in relation to Man. In fact, the Bible is
intended and needed to reveal man to himself, as truly as
to reveal God to him. Without it he cannot follow the old
Greek maxim, "Know thyself." Even with all the aids of
science and philosophy, he would remain vastly ignorant of
himself, his true state and character before God, his origin
and destiny.
(1) The Bible alone adequately instructs us concerning our
creation in the image of God; thus assuring us of our native
rank as sons of the Eternal Father.
(2) It specially reveals man to himself as a sinner. It may
be said he needs no such revelation, as conscience, with its
sense of right and wrong, and in the exercise of its judicial
DELINEATION OF MAN COMPLETE.
393
Only
function, everywhere pronounces sentence against him.
However, nowhere is man so contemplated in his relation to
God, or sin so truly and impressively represented, as in that
"Word of God, which is quick and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
as men are enlightened with respect to the great laws of love
to God and love to fellow-men, can they really know their
sinfulness and guilt. Such is the deceptive power of fallen
nature, that the ideas of duty towards God and of sin against
Him take but slight hold on the mind. Conscience is thus
so far blinded, and testifies but feebly against evil, unless
committed against a fellow-creature. As we read the sacred
volume, we are led to see ourselves, as well in the light of
the estimate which God there puts on our created worth, as
in the light of the awful view which He takes of our sinful
character and conduct. Above all, nowhere does man appear
so guilty, or sin appear so exceedingly sinful," as when con-
templated in the light of the Cross.
(C
(3) The Bible alone reveals man to himself as a sinner re-
deemed by Jesus Christ. How wonderful and impressive a
revelation is this! Yes, what a revelation the Cross of
Calvary of the divinely estimated worth of the poorest, the
most ignorant, the least esteemed, no less than of the greatest
and wisest of mankind!
(4) The Bible reveals man to himself as a sinner saved or
pardoned and renewed, re-united in Jesus Christ to God
and to all so re-united, restored to the love, and therefore to
the likeness, of God,-as a saint of the Most High, though yet
imperfect, and as "an heir of God and a joint-heir with
Jesus Christ." All this of course involves the revelation of
his great future destiny, as now believing in Jesus, or as yet
remaining in unbelief, and therefore as, in the end, accepted
or rejected of the great God, Saviour, and Judge of mankind.
5. Further, Revelation is complete with respect to all that
W
394
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
truth which relates to the conditions of salvation and the
varied work of the Christian life. Much of this is implied in
what we have said of Jehovah, of Jesus, and of man. Here
we might allude specially to the essential importance of faith,
as set forth throughout the whole Bible, and, we need hardly
say, most prominently in the writings of the Apostle Paul.
We might also allude to the entire work of the Holy Spirit,
as enlightening, regenerating, sanctifying, guiding, comfort-
ing, perfecting Christian character, and preparing for heaven.
Just as the Scriptures were not designed to instruct as to
natural science, so we cannot look to them for the knowledge
of social or political science. Yet the man who makes
them his study and guide is sure to find in them such an
amount of light and truth, and such a rich and pure spirit of
humanity, as shall enlarge his heart, elevate and refine his
mind, and, in fact, render him, in every respect, wise in the
business of life, wise in all social movements for good,
wise in seeking the political advancement of his country, we
may say, wise in the promotion of the civilization of the
world. In this way, whilst the Bible is to be used mainly for
the spiritual good of the Christian, it may, to no small extent,
be employed in helping the Christian, directly or indirectly,
to occupy a foremost place in securing the liberties, the
rights, the manifold well-being of mankind.
6. Once more, the sacred volume is complete in the de-
velopment of a perfect Ethical System, to which no other can
be equalled, and which, in proportion as it is followed, per-
sonally, socially, nationally, never fails to secure the best
results. Other systems, such as the Buddhist, have been
compared with it. Strangely, a few have affected to prefer
the Buddhist to it. This most miserable preference is due to
the sad fact, that the relation and obligations of man to God,
the Great Creator and Preserver, are totally ignored, whilst
the entire acknowledged system of morals is limited to the
personal and social duties, to the mutual relations and obliga-
tions of mankind. Just as the truth of which we have been
ETHICAL SYSTEM COMPLETE.
395
treating is for the most part redemptive, so, we may say,
the ethics of the Bible are for the most part and emphatically
redemptive also. Even in the Old Testament Jehovah de-
mands the supreme love of the heart and the perfect services
of the life, less as Creator and Preserver than as Redeemer-
King. In the New Testament, this law of love is not only
finely represented as the first and great commandment, but
in various ways commended by all the disclosures of paternal
redemptive love, and identified with the law of perfect love to
Jesus Christ. Nothing can better prove the necessity of a
revealed system of ethics than the exclusion of this very law of
love to God from the systems of certain of the wise philoso-
phers of our own day. All Agnosticism, of course, must set this
law aside, as we cannot love a God whom we do not know,
and of whose very existence we may stand in doubt. How
unreasonable, too, to unfold the ethics of a common Brother-
hood, and yet to treat as needless and unreal the ethics of a
common Fatherhood! Vain, indeed, would be even the most
admirable code of moral laws. Man needs special induce-
ments to lead him to obey. Hence the Gospel, true to human
nature, begins at the real beginning, and seeks to awaken
gratitude and love before making any demand upon the
heart. In receiving Christ and His salvation as the free and
unspeakably precious gift of God, the previously unloving
sinner is inspired with such new and divine affection as in-
variably leads to self-surrender and subsequent obedience to
Christ and to God. All this may be briefly put in a slightly
different form. The man who receives Christ " as all his
salvation and all his desire," is immediately inspired with all
that love which freely and naturally constrains to do the Will
of God or of Christ, whilst, at the same time, he finds, in the
perfect example of Christ, a clear and all-sufficient expression.
of all that Will or all that Law which it is his whole duty to
obey.
7. The Bible is still further complete with respect to what
is of priceless value, though too often overlooked,—we mean
396
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
„
that Living, Life-giving, and Life-sustaining Spirit by which,
from beginning to end, it is so richly and marvellously
pervaded. It is the spirit of God, of Christ, and therefore of
heaven, of inspired prophets and apostles, of holiness and
righteousness and truth, of condescension and grace and
mercy and love. As this pure, spiritual, and unworldly atmo-
sphere is freely and daily breathed, the new divine life becomes
rich, strong, noble, joyous. In reading the sacred volume,
we inhale the divine and heavenly spirit and receive the
greatest benefit, even though we may not fully comprehend
the meaning of the author's words. Thus, how elevating
and refining the spirit breathed throughout the epistles to
the Seven Churches and other portions of the Apocalypse,
even to those who feel that they are far from reaching their
full import! So, how truly are the words of Jesus, as He
Himself has said, "Spirit and Life"! Let the Scriptures-be
treated as they ought, as the new garden of the Lord, the
true garden of the soul, in the midst of which the "True Vine,"
the new and immortal "Tree of Life," has been planted by
the Hand of God; and then shall we find this restored Paradise
enriched with the most genial, healthful, invigorating atmo-
sphere, so far different in different regions, yet everywhere
composed of the same life-sustaining elements, and never,
like that of the world, polluted or poisoned by the admixture
of any foreign or injurious principle.
8. In the last instance, the Bible may be said to be
complete with respect to what we may justly call its Organic
Form. We have just referred to its all-pervading and all-ani-
mating spirit. We need not say that its contents are most
various and most wonderfully adapted to affect the entire com-
plex nature of man. To prevent diversity of religious opinion,
which so many regard with horror, the desire has been
expressed that Revelation had been conveyed in some brief,
plain, and absolutely unmistakable form. Food, and that of
the most limited supply, would thus have been provided for
the understanding alone, whilst the imagination, the reason,
ORGANIC FORM OF SCRIPTURE.
397
the conscience, and, above all, the heart, would have been left
with slenderest fare, or rather, like the Prodigal, "to perish
with hunger." In their general contents and peculiar form,
the Scriptures, with their wondrous richness and variety, and
with their adaptation to meet the case of learned and un-
learned alike, are doubtless far more complete and suitable
than any mind or combination of minds could have conceived
or devised. How peculiar, too, the special form of the two
parts of the one volume, the Old Testament and the New !
How perfect the former as an introduction to the latter! As
the religion of the Bible is the religion of the Race, or rather,
as the redemption revealed is the redemption not of Jews
only, but of mankind, the history naturally begins with the
creation and fall of man, and carries us down to the time of
the last vision of the coming and kingdom of the Promised
Deliverer. Further, as this Deliverer was to be of the seed,
nay, to be The Seed of Abraham, the history naturally pertains.
to the Abrahamic or Messianic race. To this history have
been added books of varied nature and of highest value, as
those of the Psalms and of the prophecy of Isaiah, for which
all nations shall yet feel incalculably indebted to that race.
All form one complete organic whole, of which the beginning,
as we have said, is most natural and needful, the collective
body, as just hinted, is rich in historical, prophetic, and
devotional matter, and the end, as we would now observe, is
so framed, or, if we may use the expression, so rounded off,
as to be the evidently intended conclusion of the first or
prophetic portion of Scripture. We need hardly say, that
neither the author of the first chapters of Genesis, nor the
author of the last brief prophecy, could possibly know that
they were writing the most appropriate opening and con-
cluding parts of what would itself be the most appropriate
introduction to the final and direct and perfect revelation of
Jesus Christ, of which the same thing may be remarked,
namely, that the authors, in writing their respective portions,
could not know that they were providing the entire, har-
398
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
1
monious, and constituent parts of the second and chief portion.
of Scripture, with its appropriate opening and concluding
chapters, with its perfect body of Christian truth, and with
all its divine fitness to give saving light to all nations to the
end of time.
9. Thus then the Revelation of God, especially as contained
in Scripture, may well be regarded as complete and perfectly
sufficient for its manifold and glorious purpose. We have,
in fact, endeavoured to indicate a sevenfold completeness or
perfection: First, with respect to Jehovah as the God of
Salvation; Secondly, as to Jesus Christ, the Blessed Re-
deemer; Thirdly, with respect to man as fallen
fallen and
redeemed; Fourthly, in relation to all that additional re-
demptive truth which we need for practical saving purposes;
Fifthly, with regard to that whole circle of Christian
morals which incomparably excels every other ethical system;
Sixthly, as to that pure and life-giving spirit which
pervades the whole, and which is of divinest influence over
every believing reader; and, Seventhly, with respect to the
organic form of the entire volume of Scripture on the one
hand, and to the like form of each of the two complementary
parts, the Old and New Testaments, on the other.
III.
THE REVELATION TRUE.
1. Here, again, we refer mainly to the Sacred Scriptures,
in which that Revelation has been so self-consistently and so
suitably embodied. For the sake of argument, we at present
simply maintain the completeness and unerring correctness
of the Revelation, and express no theory as to the nature or
extent of inspiration,-a subject which believers are bound
to study and discuss among themselves, but which they do
not necessarily require to deal with in their argument with
the unbelieving. We need hardly say, that it is one of the
most important subjects of Christian controversy in the
REVELATION true.
399
present day. Here we deem it wise and suitable to treat
simply of the Sum of Revealed Truth as unerringly contained
in the sacred volume; assured that none who receive the
divine and precious treasure can far err with respect to the
beautiful and sacred vessel which contains it.
2. Our first, and, we think, an invincible proof of the
truth of Scripture is that sevenfold completeness or perfection
of the embodied Revelation of which we have been so largely
treating. The Divine Book may be said, like the mystic
Book of the Apocalypse, to rest on the Hand of its great
Author, and like it, though in a different sense, to be "sealed
with seven seals," each, and especially all combined, infallibly
attesting the truth and divine authority of the invaluable
contents. In plainest terms, we contend that we cannot
reasonably doubt the truth and divine origin of a Book,
composed by so many men and during so many ages, and,
therefore, of such varied circumstances and culture, and yet
containing the most complex, self-consistent, and complete
revelation of divine and saving truth. In the amount, the
variety, the sublimity, the simplicity, the preciousness, the
practical character and life-inspiring influence of its con-
tents, this Book excels all other books, especially all those
whose authors, though the wisest of men, were not acquainted
with it, we say without consciousness of the slightest ex-
aggeration,—as far as the light of the midday sun excels the
combined light of all the stars of heaven. And thus is it no
mere work of man, but the Book of God, His true and
faithful Word of Light and Life to mankind.
. . .
3. Our second, and, we think, a like infallible proof of the
truth of Revelation we have had reason to refer to and to
treat of over and over again, namely, the abundant and
certain fulfilment of those numerous, rich, varied, and most
wonderful promises and predictions, which, from beginning
to end, the sacred volume clearly records. All these are of
redemptive character, or more or less directly connected with
the one great and central work of redemption. Viewed in the
Wal
400
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
light of their undoubted fulfilment, whether seen by a just
comparison of the New with the Old Testament, or seen
by a competent study of human history, especially that of the
countless triumphs of the Gospel, they all appear truly
genuine Miracles of Divine Foreknowledge, as could so
many actually witnessed openings of eyes really blind or
resurrections of men certainly dead be justly accounted
genuine Miracles of Almighty Power. They have one most
important evidential advantage, that, as it is their fulfilment
which sets them as indubitable miracles before our very
eyes, the distance of the time at which they were recorded,
instead of weakening, only adds to their demonstrative
power. They do something more than thus directly seal the
truth of Revelation. By their fulfilment in our day or to our
certain knowledge, they prove the reality of at least one kind
of supernatural acts in ancient times, or, as we have just
called them, Miracles of Divine Foreknowledge; and thus they
at least remove all improbability from the record of like
ancient Miracles or acts of Supernatural Power. Nay, they
do more. They lend every accent of probability to such a
record, as it would seem most improbable that Jehovah would
professedly give forth prophetic proof of His own being
which could be appreciated only in after times, and yet fail to
demonstrate His presence by the visible fruits of the exercise
of almighty power. The two kinds of miracles naturally go
hand-in-hand. The certain presence of the one is a sure
guarantee of the presence of the other. Hence, we repeat,
the undoubted fulfilment of ancient prophecy not only proves
the genuineness of that prophecy, but guarantees the truth of
the contemporaneous record of miracles usually so called
of like evidential import. We note this the more carefully
of the miracles of the Old Testament, for whose reality we
seem to depend solely on the correctness of the record,
rather than by whose reality we are assured of the truth and
authority of that record. Of course, the whole character of
the sacred history, together with the actual effect of the
THE BIBLE A KEY TO ALL HISTORY.
401
miracles recorded on the nation of Israel, lends to these all
the marks of reality.
In fact, the entire Bible history, with the supernatural
element running from beginning to end, can alone account
for the whole course of all subsequent history, we may say
emphatically, for the state of the world as it now is, and
therefore must be received, if we would not lose the only key
alike to the present and the past. We are sorry that the
evidence of prophecy should be so often lightly regarded,
and that not merely because of its apologetic importance, but
also because it forms one of the most instructive, nay, one of
the most marvellous methods of Divine Self-revelation. How
near to His creatures must He be, who can and does foresee
and foretell the end from the beginning, and who, by clearly
manifesting His knowledge of many future agents and events,
gives full assurance of His knowledge of all future agents
and events, and, at the same time, of His actual, personal,
and intelligent government, not of mankind alone, but of the
entire moral universe!
4. Our third proof of the truth of Revelation is to be found
in those Miracles of Power to which we have just been refer-
ring. Leaving our remarks as to those of the Old Testament
to suffice for them, we shall here mainly allude to those of
the New, of which the evidence is most ample and satisfactory.
The New Testament writings are so connected, and the
Epistles of Paul, in which miraculous works are so specially
alluded to, are so universally acknowledged to be genuine, that
the argument for the most abundant and trustworthy testimony
can easily be constructed and shown to be complete. At the
same time, the whole history of Jesus as well as the entire
character of His mission makes His miracles appear most
natural. The fourfold Great Biography, with its words quite
as miraculous as its deeds, cannot be retained after the
elimination of the latter, whilst it cannot possibly be rejected
as a whole on any just or sufficient ground whatever, as it
forms itself a grand and most wonderful standing miracle,
26
402
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
1
self-attested and visible to all who have eyes to see. As in
the case of prophecy, we are sorry that not a few fail to
appreciate these mighty and glorious works as recorded
whether in the Old Testament or in the New. Apart from
their evidential power, which we hold to be all-sufficient, they
give to mankind a special revelation of the Blessed God, of
His mysterious Personality, and of His free and unrestricted
Government of the whole realm of nature. They teach us to
judge aright of the laws of nature on the one hand, which we
are too apt to regard as the real God, and that God a cold,
resistless Fate, and of the Author of nature on the other,
who, ordaining these laws with perfect wisdom, does not
allow them to become His own master or to exclude Himself
from the freest access to His own children or the closest
communion with them. Taking the whole of the Bible
miracles together, both those of power and those of know-
ledge, we think they justly suggest these important infer-
ences:-First, They form the most infallibly certain seals
or proofs of the truth of Revelation. Secondly, They appear
as one grand system of divine interposition, maintained
through all ages up to the full establishment of the Messianic
dispensation, and in more or less direct connection with the
continuous and progressive work of redemption. All thus
form an essential part of the real providential order of the
world, and serve a purpose, itself supernatural, most worthy
of them or rendering them most worthy of their Divine
Author. In other words, for such a purpose the super-
natural becomes, in a high sense, most natural. Thirdly,
As Jehovah appeals to the fact, that these were wrought
amongst the One Peculiar People, whilst no such works were
wrought amongst peoples serving other gods, in proof of
His Own Sole Divinity and Redemptive Power, we seem war-
ranted to infer, that, unless for evidential purposes, or as
special signs of His presence, they are nowhere to be ex-
pected. This does not imply that such works may not be,
even frequently and in all places, wrought as a needful part
L
REVELATION TRUE TO HUMAN NATURE. 403
of providential operation, unseen by human eye, and beyond
the reach of scientific detection. We thus write, because
we would assign a sufficient reason for the apparently total
absence of well-attested miraculous signs, since the full
establishment of the Christian religion on the one hand, and,
at the same time, would fully maintain that we have not
a shadow of proof that God may not and does not continually
and freely interfere with the natural course of physical causa-
tion, in order to accomplish the higher ends of His govern-
ment on the other. Fourthly, We are now prepared for our
final inference, that the celebrated argument against all
testimony in favour of miracles, and based on the idea of such
miracles being contrary to human experience, however other-
wise treated, should ever be regarded as utterly groundless,
as the History of Redemption records a grand series of
miracles of knowledge and of power, from earliest times
down to the final attestation of Divine Revelation, and that
series still followed by another as truly supernatural, though
of a different or of a purely spiritual nature, we mean the
directly divine operations of the Holy Spirit in the regenera-
tion of countless human beings through the truth as it is in
Jesus Christ.
M
5. Our fourth proof of the truth of Revelation is based on
the fact, that that Revelation, in its relation to God, to Christ,
and to mankind, is in harmony with all genuine human self-
consciousness on the one hand, and with all genuine human
instincts or intuitions, especially of a moral and spiritual
nature, on the other. We refer, in the first instance, to our
genuine self-consciousness, because we regard that as includ-
ing, when thoroughly awakened, a deep and distressing sense
of sin and ill-desert. Just in proportion as this sense is full
and deep, men have ever found within themselves the real
key to the whole mystery of Divine Revelation, and, even apart
from the seals or proofs to which we have been referring,
have felt that the Bible is indeed the Word of God, the re-
velation of the very salvation which they need, the true and
404
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
only light of eternal life which they require. So, again, with
respect to the higher instincts and intuitions, they directly
and clearly recognize the truth of the Scriptures in relation to
the person, character, and work of Jehovah and Jesus Christ,
as well as with regard to the state and necessities of man.
In fact, to the inner man the Bible is as truly the all-sufficient
light as is the sun to the bodily eye. Here we do not refer
to the details of history and the like, as to which there has
been and still is so much dispute. We allude to the grand
statements of divine, saving, and eternal truth, which form
the real revelation of Jehovah as the God of Salvation, and
which commend themselves to the higher and diviner
spiritual and moral nature of man.
6. Our fifth proof of the truth of Revelation is closely
connected with that of which we have just been treating.
It is based on the fact that the sincere reception of what
is thus recognized as Bible truth, or of Jesus as the divinely
provided Saviour, is invariably followed by such a change
of heart and life as gives the consciousness of a full and
rue salvation. Christ within is light and love and life
within, nay, is felt to be God within. Once within, He
needs no witness from without. He is, like the sun, an all-
sufficient witness for Himself, for God, and for the believer's
eternal salvation. Here, in this rich and clear and most
delightful experimental evidence, we have an illustration of
the special and most wonderful adaptation of the Bible to
the condition of all mankind. The poorest Christian finds
in it the richest treasure, "unsearchable riches," and can
carry it with him in his hand or in his heart to all the ends
of the earth. When he comes to the close of life, he finds
it the clearest light in the darkest place, and, as he passes
through the otherwise gloomy valley, he descries the world
beyond. In fact, the more truly and sincerely he receives
and acts upon the disclosures of that well-prized volume,
he knows that he becomes the more closely united to God,
the purer and more elevated in his spirit and character, the
BIBLE A SOURCE OF UNIVERSAL GOOD.
405
more able to overcome the downward tendencies of his old
nature, and to resist the manifold and strong temptations
of the world, in fact, to lead a more peaceful, noble, self-
denying and divine life. As of the least cultivated, such
is also the invariable experience of the greatest and most
highly cultivated minds of every land. If the belief, leading
to so many and so great inestimable results, were not the
belief of the Truth, it would leave every thoughtful mind in
the deepest and most bewildering perplexity. In such a
case we must trace the richest, most heavenly, and most truly
divine good enjoyed in this world to the most subtle and
most delusive of all human beliefs. All nature cries out
against such a frightful conclusion. The universal experi-
ence alluded to is simply and solely the fulfilment of the
great Abrahamic promise, with which we have had all along
to deal, "In thee, and in thy seed, shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed;" and, we may add, that this experimental
evidence, most demonstrative and satisfactory as it is, rarely
rises to its full power, because, as we must sadly admit, too
few Christians live at all up to the full height of Christian
privilege and duty. Hence it is that all periods of Christian
life and activity are at the same time periods of Christian
faith, and the contrary. In proportion as that faith is
strong, enlightened, and devoted, character rises, not only
in relation to the religious and spiritual, but also in relation
to the moral, social, and temporal. The true Christian is
the best friend, the most loyal citizen, the most genuine
philanthropist. Instead, however, of illustrating this, we
shall go on to remark that,—
7. Our sixth proof of the truth of Revelation, almost
identical with the last, is based on the fact, that, in pro-
portion as Christianity flourishes in any nation it promotes.
the highest and truest National Prosperity. Here we allude
to the outcome of a general experimental knowledge of
Revealed Truth. As the inward experience yields its inward
witness, so the external fruits or practical results bear, not
406
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
only to Christians, but to the world at large, a clear and
satisfactory testimony. In illustration we might simply
repeat what we have already said as to the most prosperous
and influential states being in reality at the same time the
most Christian. However, we would rather point to the
fact, that the most highly Christian are yet at an immense
distance from the goal of a full national prosperity. How
far from Christian, millions of the people of Great Britain!
What a spiritual condition that of multitudes in our larger
cities, and we may say of the great majority of the inhabi-
tants of our vast metropolis! So, how sad the state of the
majority of other professedly Christian nations! Whilst,
then, the presence of living and enlightened Christianity
everywhere demonstrates its divine origin by its mighty
elevating power, the absence of it ever suggests the same
origin, because of the fearful evils which remain to demon-
strate its necessity. This might be easily illustrated. It
might be so by a comparison, or rather by a contrast, which
we might draw between the Christian and non-Christian
portions of our own population. It might be so, by a
comparison which we might draw between nations more or
less under the influence of vital Christianity; and it might
be so, even by a comparison which we might draw between
nations whose religion is more or less remote from the
Christian. So clear and certain would be our conclusion,
that the grand thing wanting in every land could not fail
to be seen to be "the knowledge of Jehovah,” the God at
once of the Bible and of Salvation, the universal possession
of which, prophecy assures us, is yet destined to fill the earth
with all the blessings of righteousness, peace, and prosperity.
8. Our seventh and last proof of the truth of Revelation is
based on the nature and extent of the consequences which
must flow from the supposition of the contrary.
Firstly, It follows that all the manifold and apparently
overwhelming evidence, which we have been setting forth,
must be regarded as delusive in the very highest degree.
Madd
IF REVELATION UNREAL, WHAT THEN? 407
Yet, with such evidence before the mind, the idea of
delusiveness or insufficiency can only confound, and lead to
scepticism as to all evidence not purely mathematical. The
clearest evidence may be set aside by some moral bias,
especially accompanied with mental indifference and conse-
quent insufficient information; and hence, we are persuaded,
a wide-spread cause of unbelief. But when men are in
earnest and most desirous of coming to a knowledge of the
truth, and when they have so far received it as to feel its
saving power, then arises the conviction, that light from
heaven has dawned upon them, and, as they advance, they
become more and more deeply and vividly conscious of a
most wondrous transition from the darkness of nature and
sin into the marvellous light of grace and salvation. Then
are they prepared to weigh and appreciate the manifold and
infallible proofs of which we have been treating; and they
feel as if the very supposition of the possibility of being
misled by such an accumulation of the clearest evidence were
on a level with the possibility of being mistaken as to their
own existence or as to that of the external world.
Secondly, If this Revelation be unreal, then can the
grandest, the most precious, and, we may say, the most real
of all the changes ever effected on earth, be accounted for by
no adequate cause. The transition, to which we have just
referred, is assuredly grand, precious and real; and the
contrast which it implies between the natural character
which invariably precedes and the renewed character which
invariably follows in the case of all the sincere, is too vast
not to be certainly real; so that, if our Revelation be not real,
the greatest and best of all realities must be traced to the
most subtle and deceptive of all unrealities, and the most
wicked and sinful of mankind must have been transformed
into the most holy, excellent, and godlike, by means of the
most marvellous of all fictions, nay, by means of the most
cunningly devised system of lies,— -a system of error far tran-
scending, in heavenly beauty, in divine power, and in life-giving
408
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
influence, every known system of truth. So of the grand
crises of human history, traceable to the enlightening and
elevating power of Christianity, for instance that which so
soon followed the life of its great Founder, we must regard
the origin as a mighty and beneficent delusion, mightier and
more beneficent than all the truth of human science and
philosophy. This, we need not say, is a grand absurdity,
necessitating the sure and certain conclusion that the Reve-
lation in question is the Revelation of the highest and most
precious truth of God.
S
Thirdly, If our Revelation could be proved untrue, then
could the infinitely rich and precious treasures of mankind be
proved unreal and false. Jehovah Himself, the God of
Salvation, is such a treasure to all who know and love Him.
So, too, is Jesus Christ. So, again, is Eternal Life the Gift of
Jehovah through Jesus Christ. These and other treasures,
though in the highest sense to be enjoyed hereafter, are
even now enjoyed exceedingly, even up to the measure of
our intellectual, moral, and spiritual capacity. Vainly would
Secularism, of the more vulgar or of the more refined type,
divert attention from the great future, and direct it ex-
clusively to the transient present. Only a most brutish mind,
to say nothing of the deadness of the heart, could refrain
from thinking as intensely of the former as of the latter.
Only, in fact, as the future is satisfactorily and joyously
anticipated can the present be happily and rationally enjoyed.
We might have specially referred to what all men, every-
where and of every character, value as their real treasures ;
we mean the objects of their sincerest personal or domestic
affection. In proportion as these are esteemed and loved,
the thought of re-union in the better world is fondly
cherished; and thus, again, the happiness of the present is
vastly dependent on the prospect of the future. Is it said,
Such treasures need not perish, though our Revelation should
not be fully accepted? We reply, Let that Revelation be lost
and all is lost. With it, man is infinitely rich. Without it,
J
CHRISTIANITY OR AGNOSTICISM.
409
he is most miserably and irrecoverably poor. This we put in
the following form:-
Fourthly, If the Revelation of Jehovah in Jesus Christ be
set aside, there practically remains for mankind no real or
certain Knowledge of God on the one hand, and no cheering
and joyous Hope of Immortality on the other. As no other
religion can at all be compared with the Christian, we cannot
turn from the Christian to any other for one ray of light as
to God or as to immortality. Nor can we expect the slightest.
assurance from the reasonings of modern science or philoso-
phy. Such reasonings, indeed, may be most fairly and wisely
employed in confirming the true and precious announcements
of Revelation. But when these are rejected, intellectual,
moral, spiritual darkness and confusion are sure to follow.
Facts most sadly illustrate the truth of this. What is the
belief of some of our most advanced philosophers and of
many who accept their philosophy? They believe that there is
either no God, or that God is simply a great, impersonal,
unknown, and unknowable Power. Christianity, then, or
Agnosticism must be the creed of mankind. The same persons
set aside all belief in immortality. Christ, then, "our Life,"
66
our Hope of Glory," or Death, the end of all life, and Des-
pair, the scientific and philosophical condition of the world,
must be the great and the only alternative. For a season the
latter may widely obtain, but only under more or less conscious
protest,—the protest of man's highest, noblest, divinest nature,
-a protest which no science or philosophy can long with-
stand, and a protest which clearly and infallibly demon-
strates that the voice of Jesus in the Bible and the voice of
nature, or rather of the Author of nature, in the heart of man,
are not two discordant voices, but one and the same harmo-
nious voice, the voice of Jehovah, at once the Creator and
the Redeemer of the world.
M
9. The proofs, then, of the truth of Revelation are both
numerous and decisive. God has surrounded Himself with "a
great cloud of witnesses," all consistent and true.
Not a few,
410
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
however, will either triumphantly or despondently say, Are
there not many difficulties and many objections? We answer,
Where is the truth or system of truth surrounded with no
difficulties and suggestive of no objections? All truth of
every kind is certainly and perfectly harmonious. But the
harmony of truths of different kinds, say moral and physical,
or even of the same kind, say religious, may not be seen by
many, nay, to many they may appear discordant. The
difficulty of finding out a real harmony, where at first only
discord appeared, may be very great, and may not soon, or
even, through want of sufficient data, ever be overcome.
When, accordingly, two truths, apparently discordant, com-
mend themselves by sufficient evidence, they should be
firmly held, even though no principle or principles of
harmony can be found. Such principle or principles may, in
many cases, be beyond the range of present or even possible
knowledge. All wisdom demands, that we believe according
to evidence on the one hand, and that we never allow our
ignorance to deprive us of the benefits of our knowledge on
the other. Not only in relation to the harmony of revelation
and science and philosophy, but also in relation to the
harmony of Revealed Truths or to the criticism of the Sacred
Volume, especially in times of transition and controversy, it
becomes all to hold with unyielding firmness the grand and
central Truth, and to exercise all due patience as to the real
difficulties or apparent discords, which, in good time, will
either be satisfactorily removed or be found to have no
practical bearing on the continued and consistent maintenance
of the truth believed. One law at least ought to be care-
fully observed by all who would pursue the study of Revealed
Truth aright, and who would aim to rise to an intelligent and
satisfactory knowledge of it, namely, that of beginning with
the evidence of the truth, and not with such difficulties or
objections as those to which we have been referring. They
ought, in fact, to begin at the beginning, that is to say, with
themselves and with Jesus Christ; and as they learn the
REVELATION ETERNAL.
4II
truth concerning themselves, their guilt, their simpleness,
their moral weakness, their desires and necessities; and as
they find how Christ, the Truth, as He has called Himself,
meets them at every point, supplies all they need, and gives a
light which they little expected, they ought to receive Him as
He demands; and when they do so, they will find their con-
sciences at rest, their hearts inspired with love to Him and to
God, their hopes of heaven awakened, and their whole
minds full of new and divine light and love and life; that is
to say, they will find that the reception of the Saviour is
immediately followed by the consciousness of Salvation, and
will thus have a clear and express experimental witness to
"the truth as it is in Jesus." With such a witness, they
ought to be able to deal wisely with all the difficulties and
objections alluded to. They ought assuredly to seek their
removal; but, however they may seem great and even in-
surmountable, they are bound to hold fast the truth, to
conform their lives to its dictates, and to wait till all obstacles
are removed, or to treat them as, like the solar spots, practi-
cally incapable of obscuring the light of Heaven or of
preventing it from giving all the light required to lead to God
and to Immortality.
IV.
THE REVELATION ETERNAL.
1. Here, in the first instance, we still allude for the most
part to the Sacred Scriptures as fitted and intended to give
all-sufficient light to all future generations. “All flesh is
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word
of our God shall stand for ever." More than two thousand
years have passed since these words were written; not a
few generations have since come and gone; the word of God,
now become perfect, stands fast and shows no signs of ever
passing away.
All the evidence of the truth of Revelation
412
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
proves it to be everlasting. We have found that the Bible is
as suitable to our as to any former age. As already indicated,
instead of being in advance of the teachings of the Sacred
Volume, not only the great mass of mankind, nor only the
more cultivated and enlightened among men, but even the very
foremost among Christians, fall greatly short of these teach-
ings, and especially of the spirit and example of Christ. All
who know Him are perfectly assured that, never to the
end of time shall men reach the standard which He has
set forth, far less exhaust the boundless resources of the
religion which He has established in this world. The
treasures of Divine Truth were never more sincerely held to
be unsearchable than at the present day. Just as in nature
men are but beginning to discover and to use the most won-
derful and valuable principles and powers, as those of
Electricity, to speak of no other; so there are principles
and precepts on the very surface of the Divine Word which
have been overlooked or neglected for ages, and whose
mighty influence is but beginning to be felt as evidently
destined to affect the whole future of the world. For
example, how clear and simple the words, "My Kingdom
is not of this world, else would My servants fight"! Yet
how slow have men been to learn from them the real nature
of the Heavenly Kingdom, the sacredness and inviolability
of the Conscience of every human being, the nobleness of
the cause of Civil and Religious Liberty! How slow the
whole people of Jesus to comprehend the simple yet sub-
lime words of His Great Commission to preach the Gospel
to all mankind, and thus to win the whole world to Him!
Further, the Scriptures show that they were written for all
time. As we have seen, they point to a reign of grace and
glory, a reign of Christ for ages over the whole earth. The
words of Scripture have been so verified up to the present
time as to leave no reasonable doubt as to their truth with
respect to all time to come.
2. With the clearer interpretation and more enlightened
RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS.
413
A
application of the Sacred Writings, the great work of convert-
ing the nations will advance. As the study of the works of
God, whilst suggestive, in the first instance, of great diversity
of opinion, is sure to aid in the development of one grand and
consistent system of truth; so will it be with the study of the
Word of God. Like diversity will arise, nay, has, to an im-
mense extent, arisen. In good time, and by the aid of the
Spirit of Inspiration, the one grand, harmonious system of Re-
vealed Truth will yet rise up before the human mind in all its
beauty and majesty and strength. The power of a true Chris-
tian education, yet comparatively little understood and far
from vigorously employed, will by-and-by yield its many and
most precious fruits. As Christian life and light continue
to rise and to affect the entire spirit and character, the whole
course of the world's transactions will be improved. What a
change when the spirit of Christ is widely diffused, and men
of all classes act towards one another as brethren of the
same Saviour and as children of the same God! Then will
the Kingdom of Christ appear truly heavenly and divine,
and thus become more and more truly "the Pillar and
Ground of the truth," the standing, the living and visible
Revelation of God. To this revelation, and not merely to
that of the Written Word, we here specially refer. And how
glorious will be this living embodiment of the written
revelation! Then "out of Zion, the Perfection of Beauty,
will God shine." During the ages of the Millennial Glory,
what multitudes of Christ-like, God-like human beings shall
people this earth, as if in very deed the Heavenly Jerusalem of
Apocalyptic Vision had come down and filled every region with
the light and glory of Jehovah! As the race is thus raised
from the death of universal sin to the life of universal
holiness, "the First Resurrection" will appear in all its
freshness and beauty. Then shall the Church of Christ be
indeed the Revelation of God; and then shall the Reign of
Grace on Earth bear full witness to the Reign of Glory in
Heaven.
414
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
3. In this world we do not see the real and glorious
result of the great and progressive work of redemption. He
who is working all in all sets comparatively little more than
the scaffolding before our eyes. The real and eternal temple
is yet out of sight, though, indeed, we may see ever going
on the work of excavating and polishing the living stones
and even of building them on the living foundation. The
course of mere civilization points exclusively to the advance-
ment of the race, not to the immortality of the individual.
The course of Christianization points inclusively to both,-
to the immortality of the individual in the first instance, to
the advancement of the race in the second. Civilization
begins and ends with time; Christianization begins and ends
with eternity. The great spiritual centre of power and source
of life is Christ Himself in the eternal and heavenly world.
Thence He wields His attractive, new-creative, and love-
inspiring influence. He makes His people better men and
better citizens of this world by making them loving children
of God, devoted servants of Himself, and more and more
fit to be the citizens of heaven. His great and glorious
work is that of uniting all men to Himself and to God and
to one another, and thus of preparing them to be for ever
with God, with Himself, and with one another in the world
to come. Whilst on earth, their hearts are with Him, their
death is virtually past in His death for them, they lead
what has been well called a resurrection life with Him
and in Him. As they advance in years and grow in grace,
they become indeed more and more useful in this world ;
yet just as they seem to rise to the greatest height of their
moral and spiritual worth, physical decay progresses, and
they pass away from among men just as the work of grace
appears to be complete. Does the great Divine Worker thus
perfect His works only and immediately to destroy them?
Does He polish the living stones till they seem fully pre-
pared for their place in some great living temple, and then
cast them away as worthless and useless things? Or, does
CHRIST AND THE FUTURE.
415
He simply withdraw them by His invisible hand, and put
them in the place appointed for them when they are thus
fitted for it? Can we believe in the perfect wisdom of the
Divine Architect and yet doubt as to the final and glorious
design of His work? No; it is impossible. The visible
grace points infallibly to the invisible glory. The beginning
reveals the end of the new creative work. Never is Christ,
never can Christ, be formed in the heart as the Fountain of
Life, without being at the same time there formed as the Hope
of Glory. And when the sincere and consistent Christian
life is about to close on earth, the hope of heaven usually
rises to the height of full assurance, and normally, we do
not say unexceptionally, the last vision of the dying Chris-
tian is the vision of Christ, of God, and of the Eternal Home.
The one great thought of the Death of the Son of the Highest,
including the thought of that mystery of mysteries, and we
may say, that glory of glories, the Divine Incarnation, cannot
possibly be entertained, unless in full and inseparable
connection with this other thought, that a work of inconceiv-
able vastness and eternal duration must have been intended
and cannot fail to be accomplished. In fact, the Incarnation
and Infinite Condescension of God cannot but disclose and
demonstrate the celestial and eternal Glorification of Man.
Only the Grand Purpose of Redemption, which we have found
running through the whole Bible from beginning to end, can
be regarded as worthy of being the Grand Purpose of
Providence from the beginning to the end of time, or of being
the Grand Purpose of God in creating, preserving, and ruling
mankind. We cannot see within the veil. Thin as it is, we
cannot possibly rend it. The eye of faith alone can descry
"the land that is very far off." Nor can we, with all the
light of Revelation, rise to any clear conception of the
eternal world. In Scripture it is set forth under a variety of
figurative delineations, by which it is impossible to reach the
literal matter of fact. Still, we know enough when we know
that all the redeemed will be both like and with their
416
the perPETUAL MEMORIAL.
Saviour and God. Christians, in fact, seem to know no
more of the future state than they can learn or infer from
their own experience of the happy results of union and
communion with God through Jesus Christ, and of like union
and communion with one another. Still, all know that the
state and the place will exceed all possible anticipation. It
is enough for them to know that their whole being and
character will be perfected, that the union and communion
referred to will be complete, and that they will enjoy a
blessed eternity. As to the number of the redeemed, the
Bible is not so express as we mightwish. Some, indeed,
have formed the most miserable conceptions of it, as if that
of the righteous might be comparatively little greater, if
greater at all, than that of the wicked. If, however, we
regard the millennium as a vast period of possibly many
thousands of years, during which our world, peopled with
many times the number of its present inhabitants, all or
almost all of whom shall be righteous, then we are led to
contemplate the triumph of Christ over evil as both numerically
and morally inconceivably glorious, the work of redemption
as bearing some proportion to the vastness of the work of
creation, and the souls redeemed as possibly as numerous as
the stars or worlds composing the universe. Thus will the new
creation be worthy of its God, and of that infinite condescen-
sion involved in the incarnation and humiliation of the Son
of God. "Jehovah, the God of Salvation," will thus in very
deed be the highest, the most gracious and glorious Name of
God, His truly Memorial Name, the Name by which He would
desire to be known and remembered by all His Rational
Creatures through Eternity.
CHRIST THE TRUE WITNESS.
V.
417
CHRIST,
THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS, THE SUM OF THE REVE-
LATION OF JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF SALVATION.
I.—Christ a Witness for God.
1. Here, as in other parts of this chapter, considerable
repetition will of necessity be apparent. We have been
treating, and now specially treat, of the entire substance of
all the preceding chapters. Still, with all risk of such
repetition, we wish freely and fully to set forth the Blessed
and Adorable Redeemer, as embodying in His Own Person
and Work the sum of all Redemptive Truth, and thus as reveal-
ing and witnessing with respect to all the truth needful to
be known as to God, as to Man, and as to Redemption. That
Jesus should thus sum up in Himself all that truth, so that
all who know Him must infallibly possess all knowledge
needful for their eternal salvation, is ever found to be one
of the surest and most self-evident proofs at once of the
reality of His salvation and of His true and perfect divinity.
In Himself and in His relation to mankind, He thus per-
petually reminds us of the Sum in itself and in relation to
the world.
2. To the question of Pilate, "Art thou a King then?"
Jesus answered, "Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end
was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that
I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of
the truth heareth My voice." Thus to Pilate as to others,
did Jesus present Himself in the character of a Witness or
Witness-bearer. In the same high character He had long
before appeared on the page of prophecy,-Isa. Iv. 4: "Be-
hold, I have given Him (for) a Witness to the people, a
Leader and Commander to the people." Here rather than
previously He can, we think, be best contemplated in this
27
418
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
most important light; nay, as time advances, He appears
more and more clearly as a Witness worthy of the name given
to Him in the Apocalypse, "Faithful and True." Nor has
there ever been an age, nor will there ever be one, to which
His true and faithful testimony cannot be viewed as the
richest of all God's blessings to mankind. That testimony,
direct and indirect, is manifold and unerring. We say direct
and indirect, because He speaks to us as well by what He
was and is, and by what He did and continues to do, as by
what He said or taught, or through what was prophetically
witnessed concerning Him. Thus as Isaiah speaks of the
Israelites of his day as Jehovah's witnesses, because the
promises and predictions of more ancient times had been
fulfilled in them, in their experience and in their history, the
same thing may be said of Jesus Christ. He is, after the
same manner and in many other ways, immeasurably above
them and above all others The Witness of Jehovah.
3. We begin, then, with this, that Jesus, viewed as fulfil-
ling the many and varied promises and predictions of Old
Testament Scripture, is the Great and Infallible Witness
of Jehovah. Again and again He alluded to this divine
testimony to Himself: "Ye search the Scriptures. . . and
they are they which testify of Me." After His resurrection,
He said to two of His disciples, "O foolish, and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Behoved
it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His
glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself." How numerous, how diversified, how
perfect, how clear and unmistakable the promises and
predictions here referred to! No mind could conceive, and
no combination of minds could contrive a testimony for
Jesus as the Messiah for one moment to be compared,
for clearness, for completeness, not to say, for correctness,
to these ancient and well-known pre-intimations. Thus
is Jehovah the Divine and Infallible Witness for Jesus as
CHRIST THE GRAND MIRACLE.
419
the Christ. The converse is equally true, as it is that to
which we here mainly refer :-In realizing all these pre-
intimations, Jesus is the Great, the Central, and the Infallible
Witness of the very Being as well as of the Saving Purpose
of Jehovah. He continues to be so as really now as when
He was upon earth; nay, as the work of the world's
salvation advances, this grand reciprocal witness-bearing
becomes the more clear, certain, and beyond all contradiction.
And, we are constrained to add, never was this sure and
certain testimony of Jesus to the Being, and especially
to the Personality, of Jehovah, the Great Creator and
Redeemer, more deeply needed than by those who deem
themselves the foremost men of the present day.
4. For the sake of completeness, we must repeat what we
have so often dealt with already, that by His numerous, real,
varied, and wonderful Miracles, Jesus was divinely sealed as
the Sent of God and the Saviour of the world. All these
were in keeping with the spirit and character of His
mission. They were at once Redemptive and Divine. In
their case, as in that of the prophecies, the testimony was,
and continues to be, reciprocal. Through them Jehovah
bore witness to Jesus; and through them Jesus bore witness
to Jehovah.
5. We have been led to regard Christ Himself, from
first to last, we may say from His birth to His ascension,
as one grand Miracle. Here we might recapitulate all that
we have said of His sinless character, His mighty words and
deeds, His self-sacrificing life and death, His all-sufficiently
attested resurrection. In the light of all these, and in the
growing light of the peerless moral power and beneficent
influence which He has ever since His life on earth been
exerting over the world, and never more widely or more
happily than now, He may be truly said to appear to all
enlightened eyes as the standing and most glorious Miracle,
the Miracles of miracles, the great and settled Witness in the
Heavens of the Invisible and Eternal God, of the Invisible and
420
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
Eternal World, of the Redemptive and Future Glory of Man,
and, like the sun rising among clouds which often veil his
face, yet which his light and heat as often disperse, an In-
fallible Witness of His own Place and Purpose, through the
glory which silently shines and the influences which are every-
where shed abroad.
(C
CC
6. We cannot here omit what we have elsewhere pretty
fully illustrated, namely, that Jesus is emphatically the
Witness at once of the Fatherhood and of the Fatherliness of
God. Most clearly, and as no other before or since His
time, has He taught mankind concerning His Father and
their Father, His God and their God. He could say as no one
else ever could, "O Righteous Father, the world hath not
known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known
that Thou hast sent Me. And I have made known unto
them Thy Name, and will make it known: that the love
wherewith Thou lovest Me may be in them, and I in them."
More than this, they saw His glory as that of the
Only-begotten Son of the Father;" and in the glorious
Character and Sonship of the One they beheld the glori-
ous Character and Fatherhood of the Other. He that
hath the Son," be it only as a silent Witness, through perfect
resemblance, "hath the Father also." Especially hath Jesus
borne testimony with respect to the Fatherliness of God,
first by bringing Him near to all of us, counting the very
hairs of every head; and secondly by revealing His infinite
mercy and love by the gift of His Beloved Son, in life and
death, in time and eternity, for His sinful children. This
double testimony to that nearness is of vast importance. It
is clearly and emphatically expressed in the entire life as well
as teachings of Jesus. He lived and spoke as if His Father
were always present, always conversing with Him, and
always alive to every movement and every want. His revela-
tion of His Father's infinite love in His infinitely precious.
gift, implies such measureless interest in the well-being of
His children as cannot fail to lead to all that tender care
CHRIST AS MAN A WITNESS.
421
and all that minute attention of which Jesus so often and so
finely speaks; so that we cannot but here repeat what we
have said elsewhere, that, whilst advancing knowledge of the
vastness of creation and of the seemingly absolute and
unexceptional reign of the natural laws tends to depress the
human spirit under a sense of the inconceivable distance or
virtually total absence of God, the growing knowledge of
Jesus and His glorious testimony, especially when ac-
companied with real communion with Him in His loving and
confiding filial spirit, exerts the happiest counteractive
influence in making us feel as if full of the cheering presence
of God, as if touched in every bodily or spiritual part by
God, and as if surrounded by the living and life-sustaining
Spirit of God as by the invisible atmosphere which we
breathe, or as by that mysterious light, which we cannot
really see, and yet by which we are enabled to see all things.
7. Contemplating Jesus simply as a man, a man among
men, and apart from the special character of His mission,
we must regard Him as bearing the highest and most trust-
worthy testimony to Jehovah as Creator and Father of
mankind. In this respect, all men are more or less directly
or indirectly witnesses, we may say fellow-witnesses with
Jesus Christ. Man is emphatically a religious being. All
history records and illustrates the manifestations and dominant
influences of his religious nature, proving it to be as real
and powerful as are any of his bodily appetites or social
instincts. The exceptions to this are more apparent than
real, and can at least be easily accounted for. Like all
other instincts or constitutional principles within the whole
realm of nature, the religious instinct points infallibly to its
Object, or most truly and faithfully witnesses for that
unseen and mysterious Power which is believed everywhere
to work and to rule. Co-existing along with reason, or act-
ing in inseparable connection with our free moral nature,
it is susceptible of modification and perversion as no instinct
can possibly be in the case of the lower or irrational
422
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
creatures. Hence that vast diversity of religious ideas and
modes of worship. The terrors of a guilty conscience have,
even in the case of certain of the higher races, created the
most vengeful divinities, and led to the practice of the most
cruel and revolting rites. Conscious guilt, under the influence
of the religious nature, and apart from the knowledge of
salvation, pointed or bore witness to an unseen offended
Justice. Wherever the idea of divine goodness and mercy
has entered the mind of man, religion has been of milder
spirit and higher form; rising nearer to that of the Old
Testament, though never so approaching it as to conceal the
broad distinction between the Revealed and the highest of
the many forms of Natural Religion. Even the earliest Books
of Scripture introduce us to men who, with all their imperfec-
tions, witnessed nobly and truthfully as well for the Character
as for the Being of Jehovah, the One Righteous and Merciful
God. How true and faithful witnesses, by their pure and dis-
interested lives no less than by the power and divinity of their
words, the whole succession of Prophets! How vast, then,
however strangely mixed, the multitude of witnesses for God
in all ages and in every land! The testimony of very many
is feeble and indistinct. That of not a few is clear and
decisive. In all cases it seems a certain and undeniable
Law of Human Nature, that man rises or sinks in proportion
as he has higher or lower conceptions of God, and con-
tinues to act in harmony with them. This law is itself a
universal and infallible testimony. It demonstrates that man
was made for God, and therefore by God. In the case of
Jesus, whose sinless and perfect humanity can by traced to
the Presence and Power of God alone, this testimony rises
to the greatest possible height of clearness and certainty, as
His richly loving and profoundly confiding Filial Spirit in-
fallibly witnesses for the Fatherhood of God, and as His
whole Life on earth reflected the Beauty and witnessed for
the Moral Perfection of God.
A
8. This is not all. Far more highly than even through
423
His pure and perfect humanity does Jesus witness for the
Unseen and Eternal God and Father. Here we may observe
that faithfulness, though a primary qualification of a trust-
worthy witness, is by no means the only one. Such a witness
must possess all-sufficient ability to know and appreciate
that of which he is called upon to testify. The whole
character and history of Jesus give perfect proof of truthful-
ness or fidelity. He could not possibly misrepresent the
truth or in the least degree depart from it. Still, this does not
imply that He possessed the ability to know the whole circle
of saving truth which dwelt in the mind of God, or that He
could infallibly reveal or testify concerning that entire circle.
If simply a perfect man, He could not know the entire mind
and will of God, so as to be, personally and directly, a per-
fectly qualified and trustworthy witness concerning it.
However, He was more than man; and, as both God and
man in one glorious Person, He could and did unerringly
reveal the mind of the Father, or could and did give perfectly
trustworthy testimony with respect to the Father. Hence
His words to Nicodemus,-"" We speak that we do know,
and bear witness of that we have seen; and ye receive not
our witness;" and then He speaks of Himself as "in heaven,"
and thus as the fit, though not then accepted, Witness with
respect to heaven and heavenly things. Again, He has
left on the sacred page this wondrous utterance,-Matt. xi. 27,
"All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no one
knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any one know
the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
willeth to reveal (Him)." This revealing Jesus speaks of
to Nicodemus as witnessing; so that, as thus a witness,
"His name is called, The Word of God." But who is or
can be sufficient for this? Assuredly only such an one as we
have said Jesus is,-one truly divine, one truly equal to the
Father or truly one with Him. Such Jesus ever spoke and
acted as if He really were. Already has He most wonder-
fully revealed the mind and will of God. He is the one
CHRIST AN ALL-SUFFICIENT WITNESS.
T
424
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
:
"
and only visible Organ of the Invisible God. Such He
professed to be on earth. As such we are encouraged to
contemplate Him in heaven. Nor is He such an Organ
between God and redeemed man alone, but also between
God and all the orders of holy and unfallen beings in heaven
and doubtless throughout the moral universe.
II.-Christ a Witness as to Man.
1. He testifies with respect to sinless and perfect man-
hood. Here we refer to what He was in Himself, rather
than to what He said or did, unless in so far as His words
and deeds continue to reveal Him to us. In Him we see
Human Nature in all its normal and perfect growth. In Him
we see the real standard of divinely constituted humanity, to
which, as to an infallible test, we can bring all classes or all
individuals of the race. In this we do not refer so much to
comparative greatness as to the real and adequate possession
of all the constituents of human nature. In Jesus we see
all these in full perfection. Up to the extent in which any
man is wanting in any one of these, as in the religious or
moral element, he is really defective and degenerate as a
man, just as truly as is the man who is blind or deaf or dumb.
In Christ we see the religious, filial or divine nature in all
its fulness, strength, and beauty; and, as already brought
out, in proportion as that nature is developed in any man,
he may be justly viewed as a high or low type of manhood;
whilst if any one were totally destitute of it, he would thus
far fail to be a man. Again, in Christ we see the Moral
Nature, with its Laws of Benevolence, Righteousness, and
Truth, connecting Him with the moral world, as the Divine, to
which we have just referred, connected Him with His Father
and God. Here He in like manner reveals or witnesses con-
cerning true manhood, and shows how far, morally, men are
of normal or of degenerate growth, and how far they are
thus really worthy of the name of men. Corresponding with
CHRIST A WITNESS AS TO MAN.
425
His Filial nature, we find in Christ a like richly and beauti-
fully developed Fraternal nature, constituting Him the true
Brother of His race, especially of all true children of God,—
the highest standard and loveliest example of brotherhood ever
seen or known among men, and, as in the case alluded to,
presenting the genuine test of all real and complete man-
hood. Christ and those who resemble Him in filial relation-
ship and spirit towards the Divine Father can alone reveal, as
they alone exemplify, true and normal fraternity; as there
can be no real brotherhood where there is no real and common
fatherhood. Vain, accordingly, and short-lived have been
all atheistic and misnamed brotherhood. Christianity, we
may say Christ alone, has created and cherished the genuine
fraternal spirit, and can alone raise the human race to the
high and happy state of one divine and immortal family, and
thus of one united and loving brotherhood. This suggests
one point more: In Jesus we behold the Immortal Nature,
or that which connects Him with the Eternal World, ever
disclosing itself, and thus testifying with respect to the
Immortality of Man. Constantly does He speak of Himself
and of the heavenly state as if all eternity were open to His
view. The Sinless Son of the Eternal Father cannot but be
Immortal. All the sinless, and all the truly penitent, sons
of God must thus be immortal. That immortality may of
course be forfeited; but if one is endowed with an immortal
nature, all must have been originally endowed with the same.
It is a part of true manhood, as the Man Christ Jesus
practically witnesses or demonstrates; so that, as in the case
of the other constituents of humanity, he who ignores the
possession of this glorious immortal nature, thus far denies
his own true manhood, and thus far ranks himself with the
beasts which perish. Of all the perfect manhood of which
we thus speak, Jesus, then, is the true and faithful Witness, as
He has been constituted, and is destined universally to be-
come, the Redemptive Source and All-sufficient Medium.
2. However, the converse of this is true. Jesus is the true
K
426
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
and faithful Witness of the Guilt and Sinfulness of mankind.
Of this, indeed, every man has, in his own conscience, a
witness within himself, yet a witness that may be bribed,
blinded, and practically unfitted for its high place in the
economy of human life. As, by His life and teachings,
Jesus, in His own day, testified against the evils of the
world; so He continues to do so wherever He is known,
and in proportion as He is known among men. Silently
and most mightily He testifies against human sin through
the perfect contrast between His own life and the lives of
all mankind. As "holy, harmless, and undefiled," He
showed how truly and how far He was separate from
sinners." As we form a clear conception of His life and
character, we are penetrated with a deep sense of our own
unlikeness to Him, and so of our own sinfulness and guilt.
Again, by the terrible, the continued, and the most deadly
opposition awakened by the purity and perfection of His
own spirit, and by the unworldly character of His mission,
Jesus revealed the real spirit and character of mankind,-
revealed, in fact, the native enmity of the human heart to all
true goodness, and thus to God Himself. His rejection, His
persecution, His condemnation, His crucifixion, all bear
most overwhelming and humiliating testimony against the
moral and spiritual state of the world. Nor is this all; His
Death, as that of the only perfectly sinless human being,
nay, as that of the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of
the Eternal Father, and thus as undoubtedly the Great
Propitiation for human sin, bore silent and solemn testimony
against the whole human race as guilty before God, and
continues, nay, must continue to all eternity, to bear true and
faithful, divine as well as human testimony, not only to the
reality and universality of human guilt, but also to the
tremendous evil of all sin, whether in man or in any other
moral and responsible being.
t
CHRIST A WITNESS AS TO REDEMPTION. 427
III.—Christ a Witness as to Redemption.
1. We come now to close this chapter and this whole work
with one further reference to that great redemption of
which we have been, from first to last, so largely treating;
and here, of course, we cannot avoid repetition. In the
following ways Jesus may be contemplated as an all-sufficient
Witness:-
2. First, Viewed in the light of Scripture, He stands forth
before all thoughtful minds as the Great Central Object, to
which the entire rays of redemptive promise and prophecy
converge, and from which the whole light of accomplished
redemption flows forth, through the medium of His personal
history and of the accompanying apostolic doctrine, to be
everywhere diffused among men. For such an one, that is
to say, for some great and greatly needed deliverer, all
nations have secretly sighed and longed. Without such, the
human heart cannot possibly be satisfied. Wherever He is
known, and in proportion as He is known, that heart is at
rest, the hope of immortality returns, and men rejoice in the
knowledge of their origin and destiny. As Jesus is the centre
of all Scripture, He has become the centre of all history.
In Him the divine idea of redemption has been embodied.
To Him all men are turning as their only refuge from
despair, their only hope of escape from sin and death, or of
rising to blessedness and glory.
3. Secondly, In all His teachings concerning God and
man, especially concerning His own Mission, Jesus clearly
and fully testified with regard to the Great Redemption.
From first to last He places Himself in direct antagonism to
evil of every kind, disease as well as sin; and is most careful
to show, not only by a few striking miracles, but also by all
His allusions to death, that no evil whatever, not even death,
was beyond His power. As elsewhere said, His miracles
were redemptive. So His words were redemptive; His spirit
was redemptive; His entire life was redemptive. All com-
428
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
bined to reveal and illustrate that one Divine Idea of
Redemption which we have just said was embodied in
Himself.
4. Thirdly, Through His mysterious and adorable Person,
as both God and man, implying the appropriateness of His
attractive name, Emmanuel, God-with-us, and indicating the
essential nature of His office, as that of Mediator between
God and man, Jesus silently and sublimely witnesses to the
Grandeur as well as Certainty of the redemptive work. For
any purpose less grand and glorious He cannot be conceived
possibly to have appeared in such a mysterious and wondrous
form. The infinitude of the implied condescension and love
clearly and infallibly points to the glory and eternity of the
work to be accomplished. When we believe that God, in
the character of Mediator, has come down from heaven to
earth, we shall ever find it natural and comparatively easy
to believe, that He came for the express purpose of raising
men from earth to heaven.
5. Fourthly, Especially does Jesus testify to the same
effect through His Humiliation and Sufferings and Death.
Unless as redemptive, these are without adequate necessity
or even rational import, the more especially when the divine
glory of the Sufferer is kept in view. As we contemplate the
Cross, what depths of mercy are revealed! What an ocean of
love stretches out before our mind! How the heavens seem
to open as if to welcome our penitent and returning race!
How sin appears stamped with divine and eternal repro-
bation! How Christ rises up before angels and men as
worthy of endless and universal glory and blessing! How
the great God and Father unveils His infinite tenderness and
love! The Redemption of Man is seen to be the real end of
birth and life and death of Jesus Christ and the greatest of
all the works of God.
6. Fifthly, The same unerring Witness speaks with
abundant clearness in the Hearts of all Sincere and Genuine
Christians. "He that believeth hath the witness in him-
CHRIST AN INWARD WITNESS.
429
self." He is a witness to Himself by "the marvellous light"
which He imparts, and by being to the believer all that he
seeks, desires, or needs. He is a Witness for the Christian,
through the new life, peace, and hope which He creates, and
through the conscious union with Himself and with God
which He establishes, and which is intuitively seen to involve
a real and eternal salvation. He is a Witness for all
Christians as standing in like relation to Him, and as receiv-
ing like saving good from Him. In thus witnessing within,
He at the same time witnesses against the unbelieving world,
by revealing, experimentally, the contrast between the spiritual
death which precedes faith and the spiritual life which
follows it. He is an inward Witness for God, demonstrating
that He has Himself come from God, on the one hand by
leading to God, and on the other by Himself forming the
living, the precious, and the conscious bond of union between
the soul and God.
7. Sixthly, Christ has been constantly testifying concern-
ing His own great work by actually carrying it on from age
to age, ever since His Ascension to heaven and the Holy
Spirit's Descent from heaven on the day of Pentecost. That
promised descent we found to be an infallible proof of His
ascent to heaven and to God. The whole apostolic history
shows how He began His great work of converting the
world, and how He carried it on for some considerable time.
Subsequent history shows how He has been carrying it on
ever since.
Amidst all the predicted corruptions of the
Church and all the like pre-intimated oppositions of the
world, His Gospel has been effecting the most wonderful
changes in the state and character of men.
has been ever making good His great saying,
lifted up from the earth, shall draw all unto Me; and in
doing so, He has invariably been drawing them out of the
sins, the corruptions, and the sorrows of the world, and de-
livering them from every form of moral and spiritual bondage.
Thus does He testify as to the glorious redemptive purpose,
In this way He
“And I, if I be
>>
430
THE PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
by setting before our very eyes His most gracious and
excellent redemptive work.
8. Seventhly, Christ, in thus visibly doing, bears clear
and all-sufficient witness to the reality and glory of the
Heavenly and Eternal Kingdom. We thus see Him drawing
men towards Himself, leading them to set their affections on
Him and "on the things that are above," and thus teaching
them to live rather in eternity than in time, and rather in
heaven than on earth. Unseen as He is, His people are
clearly seen to love Him as their Saviour and to serve Him
as their King. He reigns on earth more really than any mon-
arch of the world. As millions depart from among men, they
turn their expectant and trustful eyes to Him alone. They
think of Him as their great Forerunner, and of the whole
Bible as testifying with respect to His and their Eternal
Home. He sustains their faith to the last, and amidst the
deepest weaknesses and necessities of dissolving nature,
as we look on them departing in peace and hope and joy,
we feel as if we actually saw Him meeting them, welcoming
them, and conducting them to His and their Father's House,
"not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." There,
assuredly, His glorious Kingdom, the redeemed Family of God,
shall continue with Him as its visible and immortal Head,
to shine forth, in the midst of the created universe, and
before the eyes of all intelligent creatures, as the highest
work of God, as the special manifestation of His full-orbed
character, and as at once the abode of all perfected human
concord and love, and the Home of the very Heart of Jesus
and of Jehovah, where "He will rest in His love," and which
"He will rejoice over with joy and singing," and whose Ever-
lasting Name and Memorial shall be, "JEHOVAH-SHAMMA,"
"JEHOVAH IS THERE."
APR 15 1915
Hazell Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury.


UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 06359 3803
;
1
+