Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN
 
 THE 
 
 CATECHIST'S MANUAL, 
 
 AND 
 
 FAMILY LECTURER; 
 
 DEI NO 
 
 AN ARRANGEMENT AND EXPLANATION 
 or 
 
 ST. MARK'S GOSPEL, 
 
 FOR PURPOSES OF 
 
 MISSIONARY AND DOMESTIC INSTRUCTION. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. SAMUEL HINDS, M.A. 
 
 or QUEEN'S COLLEGE, AND VICE-PRINCIPAL or ST. ALDAN'S 
 OXFORD. 
 
 (Formerly MMunary Hi the Society for the Oonrenion of Negroc*.) 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 PRINTED BY W. BAXTER, 
 
 FOR B FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET, LONDON, 
 
 AND J PARKER, OXFORD. 
 
 1829.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the many advan- 
 tages of education which candidates for 
 Orders enjoy, there are some points of their 
 professional instruction, which make no part 
 of an Academical course. The young clergy- 
 man is generally called on to commence a 
 full course of ministerial duty, qualified in- 
 deed with a competency of learning, but 
 without that gradual practical training, by 
 which men of all other professions are 
 initiated into business. Clients are slow in 
 trusting the inexperienced barrister; and the 
 young physician's practice is limited for many 
 years to a small number of patients; but the 
 young minister of the Gospel is, for the most 
 part, summoned from the abstract speculations 
 
 2031104
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 of a. college life, to enter at once on the new 
 and untried routine of parochial business and 
 of religious instruction. 
 
 If this is felt as a difficulty in the discharge 
 of the more regular duties which attach to an 
 ' English curacy, how much more appalling is the 
 scene which presents itself to the young Mis- 
 sionary or Catechist. He often has not en- 
 joyed even the same previous advantages of 
 learned study ; and can never have the same 
 fixed precedents to appeal to, in his first 
 uncertain career. Anxious and eager to ful- 
 fil his trust, yet conscious of unskilfulness, 
 and afraid of committing himself through 
 inexperience, he is always exposed to the 
 risk of being disheartened in the very thres- 
 hold of his professional life, or else, of ac- 
 quiring a rash confidence in his undisciplined 
 exertions. 
 
 Whether all this admits of being obviated 
 by any system of ministerial training which 
 may be adopted in our colleges at Calcutta
 
 PREFACE. vii 
 
 and Barbados, is a matter which deserves 
 the serious consideration of the benevolent 
 and enlightened Society under whose guar- 
 dianship these institutions are. My present 
 undertaking only applies to one part of the 
 difficulty the want of practice in composing 
 Sermons, expounding Scripture, conversing on 
 religious topics with the uneducated ; in short, 
 " dividing" or dispensing " the word of God." 
 The acquirement of this qualification is 
 quite distinct from the acquirement of reli- 
 gious knowledge; and a great deal of this 
 latter may be possessed, and the possessor 
 be still at a loss how to make a ready and 
 effectual use of it. Among the fully educated 
 clergy accordingly there are many who have 
 recourse to published Sermons; but still more 
 it may be expected of those who have not gra- 
 duated at our Universities. It is often the 
 only resource they have, and in employing 
 it, they are not unfrequently led to suppose, 
 (agreeably to the maxim so injudiciously in-
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 culcated by Addison%) that it is a proof of 
 modesty to preach sermons which have re- 
 ceived the approbation of good judges, rather 
 than their own crude essays. An indolent 
 habit steals insensibly on the preacher. Oc- 
 cupied perhaps with much distracting business, 
 he feels less and less disposed to apply himself 
 to the task of habitually preaching and lectur- 
 ing from his own stores ; and his addresses 
 consequently, in and out of the pulpit, never 
 attain that forcible character, which can only 
 be given by the genuine expression of one's 
 own feelings and convictions. 
 
 My first object in preparing the following 
 work, has been to provide a manual for cate- 
 chists, and young clergymen generally, who 
 may be experiencing the difficulty I have 
 noticed. It is designed to assist them in 
 their first course of preaching and lecturing, 
 by furnishing the substance of a series of 
 sermons or lectures, in a form requiring just 
 
 4 Spectator, No. 106.
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 so much alteration and addition of original 
 matter, as to lead to independent composition. 
 I have been desirous of putting into their 
 hands a book, from which they may provide 
 themselves, not with the Sermons of another, 
 but with materials which may be readily 
 worked up into Sermons of their own ; and 
 what is of more permanent consequence may 
 lead them on to the early practice of depend- 
 ing on themselves. 
 
 With this main object in view, others have 
 occurred to me, as capable of being com- 
 bined. 
 
 Laymen as well as clergymen are sometimes 
 required to perform a simple act of kindness 
 or duty that of reading the Bible to the sick, 
 the aged, or the ignorant. On these occa- 
 sions, some explanatory remarks or brief ap- 
 plication seem necessary as the reader pro- 
 ceeds; and without an attempt to add this, 
 he feels that his task has been imperfectly 
 performed. Short sermons, or detached notes,
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 by no means form a substitute. What is 
 needed is a perpetual exposition intermixed 
 with the reading and going on with it. 
 
 But it is not to the chambers of the sick 
 or the cottages of the poor that this need 
 is confined. Masters and heads of families 
 are bound by their situation to combine re- 
 ligious instruction with daily family worship. 
 A passage read from the Bible is an essential 
 part of the religions exercises of a family ; 
 and no occasion can be more suitable than 
 this, for introducing any remarks which may 
 serve to explain the meaning of the pas- 
 sage, connect it with other parts of Scripture, 
 or apply it to the practical business of life. 
 
 A Family Bible might seem at first sight to 
 be sufficient for all this ; and, without making 
 an invidious distinction in favour of any one, 
 it may be fairly admitted, that more than 
 one of those in circulation contain a rich 
 store of commentary, and may be consulted 
 throughout with edification. But what is
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 called a Family Bible, is not, after all, a 
 family book, in the sense of a manual from 
 which a father or master may read and ex- 
 pound to his domestic circle. From its very 
 form, it is rather calculated for reference 
 in solitary study ; and is, in fact, more 
 frequently consulted by the members of a 
 family individually, than used as the family 
 lecture-book. 
 
 Such at least has been the result of my 
 own observation ; and to provide the sort of 
 book which in this point of view is needed, is 
 accordingly one object which I have contem- 
 plated. The following work is, in substance 
 and in form, a series of Readings from the 
 New Testament, such as it has probably been 
 required of many, besides clergymen and ca- 
 techists, to give, either continuously, or on 
 some occasional need : and if its publication 
 shall facilitate the performance of this duty for 
 any so circumstanced, a very important purpose 
 will have been accomplished.
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 To have attempted to render such a book 
 alike suited, without change, to the various 
 capacities of all missionary congregations, as 
 well as of all the members of a family party, 
 composed as it often is of adults, juniors, and 
 mere children, of the educated and the igno- 
 rant, would have been plainly fruitless. My 
 plan has been, to abstain from all such com- 
 ment (except in a few short notes) as it would 
 require acquaintance with the original Greek to 
 understand ; without always supposing those 
 addressed to be entire strangers to a liberal 
 education. It is the catechist's and family 
 man's lecture-book ; and they will, it is hoped, 
 always find the matter disposed of, in a form 
 very easy to be transferred, if needful, to home- 
 lier language, and otherwise levelled to the 
 understandings of the weak and ignorant. 
 
 Occasional deviation from the manual is 
 indeed an exercise, which 1 should be as un- 
 willing to prevent, if it were practicable, in the 
 family lecturer's case, as in the catechist's.
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 It is a part of his duty, which may and ought 
 to be rendered easy, but never superseded. 
 Christianity is thoroughly a social religion ; 
 and for one who is reading the Bible for the 
 benefit of a circle of friends to give a social 
 character to his task, he must occasionally say 
 something that is his own ; he must vary or 
 follow up the remarks of his manual, and 
 express his assent or dissent to the views 
 which it suggests. He must do more he 
 must encourage and invite others to contribute 
 their share of remark, to ask for further ex- 
 planation of what is not understood, and freely 
 to communicate their own suggestions and im- 
 pressions. 
 
 The practice is immensely important. This 
 religious intercourse is not only, it should be 
 remembered, the discharge of a duty which 
 each individual owes to God ; but is a prin- 
 ciple of domestic union, which divine good- 
 ness has superadded to the ties of nature and 
 of worldly pursuit; and has added, we may
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 hope, for the express purpose of uniting a 
 family as such for ever. When the ordinary 
 course of society, not to mention the ruder 
 mischances of fortune, has dispersed, after a 
 few years of union, the party which assembled 
 round the father's fire side, what is the natural 
 fate of early affection, kindred pursuits, and 
 all that mingles in the spell of home ? If as 
 children of this world only we have been 
 united, the bond of union may be more or less 
 delightful, may be more or less lasting, but it 
 must yield to this world's decaying influence. 
 Do we wish to rivet it for ever? Do we wish 
 to carry it on to a period, when we shall be " as 
 the angels which are in heaven?" We must 
 begin, in an earthly home, the intercourse of 
 angels ; and, by exercising together a common 
 faith and a common hope, prepare to enjoy 
 together a common heaven.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION . . . . . .1 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . . ''8 
 
 John the Baptist's office . . . . ".' ' 9 
 
 Christ's baptism . ? ". . . .13 
 
 The Temptation ; .; -. . . . 16 
 
 The call of Simon, Andrew, James, and John . 18 
 
 Jesus's mode of teaching . . . . .23 
 
 The miracles of Jesus . . . . . . 24 
 
 CHAPTER JI. 
 
 Connection of Christ's lessons ., ,: * . 30 
 The cure of the palsied man r ..<..,-,. : 3* 
 The call of Levi ; and Christ's eating with publi- 
 cans and sinners ...... 36 
 
 Christ's answer to the Pharisees, respecting his dis- 
 ciples not fasting . .., . v v ; ; : v 38 
 The disciples plucking the ears of corn on the 
 
 sabbath 42
 
 xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 The twelve corrected in their discussion of the 
 
 question, who was to be first among them . 127 
 
 The case of one, not Christ's disciple, who cast 
 
 out devils in his name .... 128 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The question of the Pharisees respecting divorce 138 
 Little children brought to Christ . . . 186 
 The young man whose riches were an obstacle to 
 
 his becoming a disciple . . . .144) 
 Christ's declaration that he was to be betrayed, 
 
 put to death, and rise again . . . 1 51 
 
 The ambitious request of James and John . . 152 
 Bartima?us restored to sight . . . .154 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem . . .159 
 
 The withering of the fig-tree . . . .167 
 
 Christ's behaviour in the temple . . .175 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Parable of the vineyard . ..- ^-ii *rt ?,;<.'.. 180 
 
 The question of certain Pharisees and Herodians 187 
 
 The question of certain Sadducees . . . 189 
 
 Question of one of the Scribes . . . . 197 
 
 Christ's remarks respecting the Scribes . . 200 
 
 Christ's observation on a poor widow's offering . 201
 
 CONTENTS. MX 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Points of inquiry . . . . . . 203 
 The assertion respecting the time of the prophecy's 
 
 fulfilment 204 
 
 The character of the prophetic language of the 
 Old Testament, and its probable adoption by 
 our Saviour in the present instance . . 209 
 Whether history bears us out in the application of 
 all the prophecy, according to this method of 
 interpretation ...... 212 
 
 Destruction of the temple ..... 215 
 
 The rise of false Christs . . . ... 217 
 
 Wars and rumours of wars . . . . 218 
 
 Earthquakes, famines, and troubles . . . 219 
 Persecution of the Christians . . . .221 
 
 The Gospel preached to all nations . . . 223 
 The abomination of desolation .... 224 
 
 The figurative description of the change from the 
 
 old to the new theocracy .... 226 
 
 Supposing parts of the prophetic language to be- 
 long properly to the day of judgment, whe- 
 ther such parts can be reconciled with the 
 declaration of Christ concerning the period of 
 the whole prophecy's fulfilment . . . 230 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Christ anointed for his burial .... 239 
 
 Christ betrayed to the chief priests . . . 250 
 
 The last supper . .' .' . . 259
 
 xx CONTENTS. 
 
 Christ in the garden of Gethsemane . . . 267 
 
 Christ before the Jewish Sanhedrim . . . 274 
 
 Peter's denial of Christ 280 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The crucifixion 285 
 
 Pilate's behaviour ...... 288 
 
 Accomplishment of prophecy at the crucifixion . 295 
 Certain miraculous signs which attended the cru- 
 cifixion 300 
 
 Christ's ejaculation on the cross . . . .311 
 
 Conversion of the centurion .... 316 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Resurrection 325 
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene . . 332 
 Christ's appearance to two disciples on the way to 
 
 Emmaus ....... 341 
 
 Christ's first appearance to the eleven . . 348 
 Christ's appearance to the eleven when Thomas 
 
 was convinced ...... 350 
 
 Christ's appearance to the disciples at the sea of 
 
 Tiberias 355 
 
 Christ's appearance on the mountain in Galilee . 366 
 Christ seen of more than five hundred brethren at 
 
 once 371 
 
 Christ's appearance to James and to Peter . 375 
 
 Christ's ascension 377
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE following series of readings from the New 
 Testament will embrace St. Mark's Gospel ; but 
 continual reference will be made to the narratives 
 of St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. John, and oc- 
 casionally their statements introduced. 
 
 The selection of St. Mark's Gospel is not 
 merely accidental. Its design and character 
 seem to fit it for being first continuously read 
 and studied. St. Mark only has confined his 
 narrative to that portion of Evangelical history 
 which was strictly and properly the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ the subject of apostolical testimony. 
 His narrative embraces the period within which 
 Christ's ministry was included the compass of 
 events for preserving and attesting which the 
 Apostles were ordained witnesses. This period 
 commenced with our Lord's baptism, and ended 
 with his ascension. 
 
 B
 
 2 Introduction. 
 
 Not that St. Mark has attempted to relate all 
 that the Apostles saw and heard of their Master 
 during that time. This indeed is not done by 
 any one, nor by all together. St. John, who 
 wrote last, and, as it is said, with a view of 
 supplying certain omissions of the preceding 
 three even St. John does not pretend to have 
 completed the full and entire Gospel narrative, 
 He only put on record that, which, together with 
 the accounts before given, was sufficient and 
 right for the guidance of our faith ; and this he 
 did, not of himself, but under the superintend- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit^ which was promised to 
 the Apostles in their dispensation of the Gospel. 
 " There are also many other things," writes St. 
 John at the end of his Gospel, " which Jesus 
 did, the which,, if they should be written every 
 one, I suppose that even the world itself could 
 not contain the books that should be written V* 
 
 St. Mark indeed relates fewer facts than St. 
 Matthew or St. Luke, and is less circumstantial 
 in his account of those which he does relate than 
 either of the other three Evangelists. The prin- 
 ciple, which appears to have been contemplated 
 John xxi. 25,
 
 Introduction. 3 
 
 in his selection of facts, (and the same remark 
 will equally apply to St. Matthew and St. Luke, 
 although not perhaps to St. John,) was this, to 
 preserve the tissue and connected character of our 
 Lord's ministry. As this is a matter of great im- 
 portance, and as the Gospel histories cannot be 
 rightly understood without continual reference to 
 it, it may be necessary at once to explain what 
 is meant by this tissue-like connection in Christ's 
 ministry. 
 
 Our Lord, it will be observed, very gradually 
 communicated his revelations to his followers. 
 Whether it was, that their prejudices were so 
 strong, as to require that a display of truths 
 which ran counter to those prejudices, should 
 be very slowly and gradually made or that it 
 was done agreeably to the rule of ' ' giving to him 
 that hath," of rewarding faith in a little by mak- 
 ing the believer acquainted with more or that 
 both these and other grounds existed ; the fact 
 is undeniable. At first, we find him perhaps 
 merely hinting obscurely at some doctrine to 
 be embraced, some event that it was expedient 
 to bring to pass ; then, as the first reluctance 
 of prejudice or alarm is a little subdued, the 
 u2
 
 4 Introduction. 
 
 same lesson is repeated, and made somewhat 
 more explicit; lastly, before the close of his 
 ministry, it is fully and clearly stated; or 
 else, attention and interest having been strongly 
 excited, the promise is given, that, when the 
 Comforter shall come, he shall teach all the truth. 
 This was the method of instruction adopted with 
 respect to his being the Christ ; with respect to 
 his death ; the spiritual nature of his kingdom ; 
 the abolition of the Jewish law; and, in short, 
 with respect to all that he taught. 
 
 It was a method rendered more striking and 
 more intelligible by our Lord's manner of teach- 
 ing. He not only instructed his followers by 
 his discourses and conversation, but also by his 
 actions ; either explaining the meaning of those 
 actions, or else leaving it to be gathered from 
 something previously said or done by him, which 
 the action naturally recalled to mind. Thus, 
 when he washed his disciples' feet, he explained 
 to them what he meant by the symbolical action ; 
 but when he set a child in the midst of them, he 
 expected that they would understand what he 
 meant by their becoming little children, through 
 those other lessons of his in which the metaphor
 
 Introduction. 5 
 
 of being born again and the like had occurred. 
 Almost all his miracles seem to have had this 
 secondary character. In some it is explained, 
 as in the cure of the blind man related in the 
 ninth chapter of St. John ; but in most in- 
 stances, the connection with his verbal instruc- 
 tion furnishing a ready key, the meaning was 
 left to be the reward of docility and attention. 
 
 Now taking this view of the character of our 
 Lord's teaching, it is clear that whoever under- 
 took to record the course of his ministry, must 
 have made his selection of facts with reference 
 to this principle, whatever other object he may 
 likewise have had in view that is, he must have 
 selected and retained enough of our Lord's words 
 and actions, and of the incidents of his life, to 
 preserve this thread of progressive meaning, this 
 tissue of Gospel revelation. In order to furnish 
 a survey of Christ's ministry as a whole, all that 
 was strictly requisite, was to record some portion 
 of each progressive stage of instruction ; and to 
 take care that these parts should refer, in the 
 way explained, the one to the other. And this 
 is precisely what not only St. Mark will be found 
 to have done, but also St. Matthew and St. Luke;
 
 6 Introduction. 
 
 and it is to this principle perhaps that the 
 latter alludes, when he prefaces his narrative by 
 saying, " Forasmuch as many have taken in 
 hand to set forth in order a declaration of those 
 things which are most surely believed among us, 
 even as they delivered them unto us, which from 
 the beginning were eyewitnesses." St. John's 
 Gospel requires a different view, which need not 
 be here discussed. 
 
 It will be found however, as we proceed 
 through St. Mark's Gospel, that although it 
 contains in itself enough to preserve the con- 
 nection of our Lord's teaching, still much light 
 may be gathered from statements omitted by him 
 and recorded by the others. 
 
 The plan of reading his Gospel will be simply 
 this to distribute each chapter into portions 
 according to the various topics embraced by it ; 
 and to follow up each portion with some explana- 
 tory remarks. 
 
 In . adopting the established division of the 
 Bible into chapter and verse, it may be neces- 
 sary to caution some few against supposing that 
 this division is essential to the genuine character 
 of the Scriptures, or that it was originally used.
 
 Introduction. 7 
 
 It was introduced in a comparatively late period 
 of the Church, for convenience in reading and 
 referring ; and on this ground only it is now re- 
 tained. It is, on the whole, a good and useful 
 arrangement, although it will be found occasion- 
 ally to interfere with the course of an argument, 
 or the thread of an historical statement.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Ver. 1. 
 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 IN what sense the Gospel begins with the 
 baptism of Jesus has been noticed in the intro- 
 ductory remarks. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 in the meaning in which St. Mark here employs 
 the phrase, is his ministry, or the glad tidings 
 proclaimed by him. Accordingly, a little further 
 in this first chapter, our Lord is represented, 
 immediately after his baptism and temptation, 
 as preaching the Gospel, and saying, " the king- 
 dom of God is at hand." 
 
 Gospel is an old Saxon word meaning " good 
 news ;" and the title of good news appears to 
 have been affixed to the message of mercy from 
 God to man in Christ, by the angel who said to 
 the shepherds of Bethlehem on the night of the 
 nativity, " I bring you good tidings of great joy c ." 
 e Luke ii. 10.
 
 Jo/in the Baptist's office. 9 
 
 It is not however uniformly employed in the 
 same sense. Sometimes it is used for the whole 
 of Christianity; sometimes, as in this passage, 
 for our Lord's ministry. 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST'S OFFICE. 
 
 Ver. 28. 
 
 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my mes- 
 senger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before 
 thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye 
 the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did 
 baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repent- 
 ance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him 
 all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all 
 baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. 
 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle 
 of a skin about his loins ; and he did eat locusts and wild 
 honey ; and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier 
 than 1 after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy 
 to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with 
 water : but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. 
 
 It will be observed that the Jews very readily 
 flocked to John. It is said that " all the land 
 of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, went out to 
 him." All Judaea knew that the time specified 
 by the prophets for the Messiah's appearance 
 was come ; and were ready to listen to any per-
 
 10 John the Baptist's office. 
 
 son who should present himself either as the 
 Messiah, or as Elias, whom they expected to 
 precede the Messiah, agreeably to the prophecy 
 of Malachi". 
 
 Two circumstances respecting John are no- 
 ticed by St. Mark his dress and habits of life 
 his testimony to Jesus. 
 
 As Elias, in whose " spirit and power" he 
 came, lived much in the wilderness, and was 
 often secluded from public notice, this circum- 
 stance in the life of John was probably intended to 
 direct the attention of the Jews to him as the per- 
 son in whom Malachi's prophecy was fulfilled. 
 Malachi had said that " Elias should come before 
 the great and terrible day of the Lord," meaning 
 thereby the Elias of the new dispensation, the 
 great prophet of the latter days ; even as we 
 should speak of any very distinguished living 
 admiral, as the Nelson of his age. Now John 
 wrought no miracles, and made no assertion re- 
 specting his claim to be the Eh' as. It was the 
 more needful therefore, that even the minutest 
 points of coincidence between Elijah and him 
 should have been brought under notice. If the 
 d Chap. iv. 5.
 
 John the Baptist's office. 1 1 
 
 attention awakened by these points of resem- 
 blance had caused the Jews to suspend their 
 judgment, and to wait for further evidence, 
 then their candour and docility would in time 
 have been rewarded. For as John bare witness 
 to Jesus, without performing any miracles, so 
 Jesus afterwards bare witness to John, and con- 
 firmed his witness by miracles. Accordingly 
 John did not preach faith but repentance. It 
 was Jesus and the ministers of the Gospel 
 who preached belief; because they and not John 
 presented miraculous proofs to their hearers. 
 All that John's ministry seems designed to ac- 
 complish was, " to prepare the way of the Lord;" 
 to cause men to lend a candid and attentive ear 
 to him ; to suspend their decision ; and to admit 
 the force of his miraculous evidence when dis- 
 played to them. 
 
 The Baptist's testimony respecting our Lord 
 was, that he was mightier than himself: and, that 
 instead of a mere baptism by water such as his, 
 there was to be a baptism with the Holy Ghost. 
 From this declaration you would infer that some 
 new connection with the Holy Ghost is acquired by 
 Christian baptism, such as no other baptism could
 
 12 John the Baptist's office. 
 
 communicate, no not even John the Baptist's; 
 although ' ' among them that were born of women 
 there had not arisen a greater than John e ." 
 Accordingly we read in the Acts, that some 
 whom John had baptized, were re-baptized by 
 St. Paul, in order to admit them to this privilege 5 ; 
 and we find our Lord, in his last charge to his 
 apostles, not only commanding them to baptize 
 all nations, but declaring that " he that believeth 
 and is baptized shall be saved g ." It is not of 
 course that there is any charm in the waters of 
 baptism, nor that it affects us like a medicinal 
 application ; but the ceremony is a fulfilment of 
 a condition, which it has pleased Christ to enjoin 
 on us ; and he who complies with it, " is saved" 
 or admitted to the rights and privileges of a 
 Christian, not because he is affected by the 
 water, but because he has performed a specific 
 act of obedience to Christ. It is " not the 
 putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the 
 answer of a good conscience towards God," in 
 which, according to St. Peter, the saving efficacy 
 of Baptism consists'*. 
 
 Matth. xi. 11. f Acts xix. 8 Mark xvi. 16. 
 
 h 1 Pet.iii. 21.
 
 Christ's baptism. 13 
 
 CHRIST'S BAPTISM. 
 
 Ver. 9 11. 
 
 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from 
 Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 
 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the 
 heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon 
 him : and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art 
 my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 
 
 In St. Matthew it is mentioned, that when 
 Jesus approached John to demand baptism of 
 him, John objected, " saying, I have need to be 
 baptized of thee." But Jesus told him, " Suffer it 
 to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil 
 all righteousness ;" and upon this John baptized 
 him 1 . If therefore it be asked, why our Lord, 
 who had no sins to repent of, and who was him- 
 self to impart to mankind the Holy Ghost, should 
 have been baptized, and should have had attached 
 to his baptism the emblem of his union with the 
 Holy Spirit ; the proper answer must surely be 
 that which he himself gave to the scruples of 
 John. It was done "because thus it becometh 
 us to fulfil all righteousness" because this was 
 henceforth the established mode of attaining the 
 Matt. iii. 14.
 
 14 Christ's baptism. 
 
 means of righteousness or justification k . Christ 
 must be considered in this, and in several acts 
 of his life, as fulfilling the office of pattern 
 to his Church, and to each individual ; and as 
 doing, not what was needful for him, but what 
 was needful because " thus it becometh us to 
 fulfil all righteousness." He was baptized ; and 
 immediately his union with the Holy Spirit 
 was manifested by the descent of the Shechinah, 
 the brilliant flame which denoted God's pre- 
 sence to shew, that by following this appointed 
 mode, we too should enjoy fellowship with the 
 same Spirit. Hence in allusion to a similar mani- 
 festation attached to the infant Church on the 
 day of Pentecost, he speaks of their being " bap- 
 tized with the Holy Ghost 1 ,'' the very language 
 of John the Baptist before he baptized the Lord. 
 It is in allusion to his declaration on this oc- 
 casion that he was baptized because " thus it 
 becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" that he is 
 said by the apostle to have been " justified" or 
 " made righteous in the Spirit 1 "." 
 
 k In the original Greek, these two terms are expressed by 
 the same word, dutctieo-vtu. 
 
 1 Acts i. 5. and xi. 16. k 2 Tim. iii. 16.
 
 Christ's baptism. 15 
 
 The Holy Ghost is said to have descended on 
 Him " like a dove," not meaning that there was 
 the semblance of a dove, (for that would not have 
 been recognized as the token of divine presence ;) 
 but, that the holy light, or " glory of the Lord," 
 the established symbol of God's revelation of 
 himself, descended on him either in shape like a 
 dove, or else with that easy motion with which a 
 dove alights on any object. It was, no doubt, 
 the same brilliant emblem, which, in the form of 
 many tongues, descended on the Church after- 
 wards at the day of Pentecost ; and which, in the 
 long series of God's communications with man, 
 had been the chosen sign of his immediate pre- 
 sence. The cherubim that guarded the gate of 
 Eden held a flaming sword ; it was out of a burn- 
 ing bush that the Lord first called unto Moses ; 
 mysterious lightnings played around the summit 
 of Mount Sinai when the Law was preparing, as 
 they afterwards struck Saul blind at his conver- 
 sion ; it was a pillar of fire that guided the 
 Israelites through the wilderness ; and a glorious 
 light that was first attached to their tabernacle, 
 and afterwards abode in their temple, where God 
 fixed his name. And now, in like manner, when
 
 16 The Temptation. 
 
 God visited again his people, the Shechinah was 
 lighted in the new temple of Christ's body ; en- 
 veloped him at the Transfiguration ; and lastly de- 
 scended to fill his new body the Church, which 
 is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the present 
 earthly tabernacle of God. 
 
 THE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Ver. 12, 13. 
 
 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 
 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of 
 Satan ; and was with the wild beasts : and the angels minis- 
 tered unto him. 
 
 The account of the Temptation is given 
 in. detail by St. Matthew and St. Luke. The 
 consideration of the circumstances comprised in 
 this account is not called for, in the view sug- 
 gested by St. Mark, whose Gospel we are at 
 present taking as our main guide. Still it is re- 
 quisite to point out that this event, whether con- 
 sidered briefly or in detail, claims our attention 
 under two different aspects. I. As it was a real 
 and mysterious trial which Christ underwent in 
 connection with his office and ministry. II. As 
 it was an example, perhaps a symbol, of our own 
 exposure to temptation, both as a Church and as
 
 The Temptation. 17 
 
 individuals ; and also of our power of resistance 
 through him. 
 
 Of these two views the last only is immedi- 
 ately practical ; the other only so, as it is con- 
 nected with it. Throughout our Lord's ministry 
 indeed, his character and conduct may be con- 
 sidered in this twofold aspect; and it is im- 
 portant that the two views should not be con- 
 founded. Of Christ's individual intercourse with 
 the Father ; of the mode in which the agency of 
 Satan was directed against him, and was coun- 
 teracted by him ; of the support he derived, or 
 the pangs he suffered ; of all in short that relates 
 to his absolute nature and condition, we are told 
 scarcely any thing explicit. The notices are 
 only such, as are called forth from the occasional 
 contact, into which the practical view of our 
 Lord is brought with these matters. It is what 
 he has done for us ; what he has done which we 
 are to imitate, or otherwise practically apply, 
 that is the theme of Gospel history ; and this is 
 very plain in the account of the Temptation, as 
 in all the rest of the history. It is only a mys- 
 tery, in the same sense in which the whole of 
 Christ's life and conduct is a mystery ; that is, 
 c
 
 18 The call of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. 
 
 contemplated in a point of view that only acci- 
 dentally meets us, and is not intended as a part 
 of " the way and the truth." 
 
 THE CALL OF SIMON, ANDREW, JAMES, AND JOHN, 
 
 Ver. 1620. 
 
 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon 
 and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea : for they 
 were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, 
 and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straight- 
 way they forsook their nets, and followed him. And when 
 he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of 
 Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship 
 mending their nets. And straightway he called them : and 
 they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired serv- 
 ants, and went after him. 
 
 In conformity with the view given of the 
 probable design and character of St. Mark's 
 Gospel, he naturally relates as the first act of 
 our Lord's ministry the call of apostles the ap- 
 pointment of those who " from the beginning 
 were eyewitnesses" of his Gospel. 
 
 It will be observed, that these agents of Christ, 
 although designed for a mission which was in 
 time to embrace various Gentile nations, even all 
 the world, and not only Judsea or the Jews; were,
 
 The call of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. 19 
 
 without any exception, all Jews. This may ap- 
 pear at first strange, and somewhat at variance 
 with that nice choice of means adapted to every 
 end, which is discoverable in the redemption, not 
 less than in the creation of the world. But on 
 reflection, it cannot but be allowed, that there was 
 a peculiar propriety and fitness in this arrange- 
 ment. It was among the first duties of an apo- 
 stle, to point out the intimate and various con- 
 nection which subsists between the old and the 
 new dispensation ; to shew, in what way, the 
 former was a preparatory measure to the latter, 
 the blossom that made way for the fruit. Now 
 it is clear, that, in the then state of the world, 
 this could be done naturally, by none but persons 
 educated in the habits of the Law; and miraculous 
 means seem never to have been unnecessarily 
 resorted to. 
 
 We shall observe too, that, like those whose 
 appointment is here mentioned, all the apostles, 
 except St. Paul, were from the lower ranks of 
 society, and without more education than their 
 creed as Jews required. The expediency of this, 
 in removing all possible suspicion, that the propa- 
 gation of Christianity was owing to human wis- 
 c2
 
 20 The call of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. 
 
 dom, is obvious. Accordingly St. Paul, who is 
 the only exception, continually alludes to those 
 circumstances about his conversion and ministry, 
 which shew that his case does not affect the 
 argument. He was the last of the apostles, and 
 therefore could not have contributed his learning 
 and talents to set the scheme on foot ; nay, they 
 were employed to oppose it. His conversion was 
 not the gradual result of reasoning and deliberate 
 study, but of an awful, sudden, and conspicuous 
 act of divine interposition. He retained his na- 
 tural powers of eloquence and learning after his 
 conversion ; but appeals, in common with the 
 others, to the proper credentials of an apostle 
 the miracles which he wrought. Hence the recur- 
 rence of such passages as these in his writings 
 which are doubtless not the barren display of 
 humility, but a needful caution. " Moreover, bre- 
 thren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I 
 preached unto you, which also ye have received, 
 arid wherein ye stand : by which also ye are 
 saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached 
 unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For 
 I delivered unto you first of all that which I 
 also received, how that Christ died for our sins
 
 The call of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. 21 
 
 according to the Scriptures ; and that he was 
 buried, and that he rose again the third day 
 according to the Scriptures ; and that he was 
 seen of Cephas, then of the twelve : after that, 
 he was seen of above five hundred brethren at 
 once ; of whom the greater part remain unto this 
 present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, 
 he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles. 
 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one 
 born out of due time. For 1 am the least of the 
 apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, 
 because I persecuted the Church of God. But 
 by the grace of God I am what I am ; and his 
 grace which was bestowed upon me was not in 
 vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they 
 all : yet not I, but the grace of God which was 
 with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, 
 so we preach, and so ye believed"." " Christ 
 sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: 
 not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of 
 Christ should be made of none effect ." " God 
 hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to 
 confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the 
 weak things of the world, to confound the things 
 1 Cor. xv. 111. " 1 Cor. i. 17>
 
 22 The call of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. 
 
 which are mighty 15 ." " And I, brethren, when f 
 came to you, came not with excellency of speech 
 or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony 
 of God : for I determined not to know any thing 
 among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 
 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, 
 and in much trembling. And my speech and my 
 preaching was not with enticing words of tnan'& 
 wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and 
 of power : that your faith should not stand in the 
 wisdom of men, but in the power of God q .' x 
 
 One point requires notice in our Lord's call 
 of these apostles, mentioned by St. Mark as the 
 first. He found Simon and Andrew casting a 
 net into the sea ; and, in reference to their occu- 
 pation, he describes their future office as that of 
 fishers of men. This mode of teaching appears 
 to have been very common with our Lord, as we 
 shall frequently have occasion to notice. He 
 made his instruction at once more intelligible and 
 more lively, by adopting for the images of his. 
 figurative and metaphorical language, objects pre- 
 sent to his hearers, or scenes and occurrences 
 which were passing at the time. Thus, in his 
 P 1 Cor. i. 27. i 1 Cor. ii. 15.
 
 Jesus' s mode of teaching. 23 
 
 interview with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's 
 well, he told her, while she was drawing water, 
 that he had living water; and on the same oc- 
 casion he spoke to his disciples of the fields 
 being white to the harvest, pointing no doubt to 
 the crowds who were returning with the woman 
 from the city to see him, and alluding to the 
 state of the real corn fields which were likewise 
 before their eyes'. 
 
 JESUS'S MODE OF TEACHING. 
 
 Ver. 21,22. 
 
 A ml they went into Capernaum ; and straightway on the 
 sabbath-day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 
 And they were astonished at his doctrine : for he taught them 
 as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 
 
 The circumstance noticed in the last section 
 may be considered as one of the characteristic 
 and distinct marks of our Lord's teaching. So 
 too the peculiarity, which has also been pointed 
 out that he made use of his miracles, not 
 only for the purpose of evidence, but for conveying 
 instruction by hints and expressive symbols. 
 To us his parables too have an air of peculiarity. 
 But it is not to any of these points which the 
 
 ' John iv.
 
 24 The miracles of Jesus. 
 
 Evangelist alludes, when he describes his hearers 
 as astonished at his " doctrine" or teaching, and 
 alleges as a reason, that " he taught as one that 
 had authority, and not as the Scribes." The 
 novelty and singularity of which he speaks is, 
 that Jesus assumed the office not of expounding 
 Scripture merely, as all the doctors of the Law, 
 but of making assertions on his own independent 
 authority. The Scribes were accustomed to teach 
 thus, "It is written," or " It is said by them of 
 old time;" but Christ taught thus, " I say unto 
 you." It was no doubt, in order to shew this 
 independent authority, that, while he generally 
 conformed to the Jewish law, he occasionally 
 violated it, so as to attract notice to the viola- 
 tion ; asserting thereby, as he did also, in plain 
 words, "the -Son of man is Lord even of the 
 sabbath;" " all power is given unto me in heaven 
 and in earth." 
 
 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 
 
 Ver. 2345. 
 
 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean 
 spirit ; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone ; what have we 
 to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to 
 destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 
 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come
 
 The miracles of Jesus. 25 
 
 out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and 
 cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were 
 all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, 
 saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for 
 with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and 
 they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread abroad 
 throughout all the region round about Galilee. And forth- 
 with, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered 
 into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John* 
 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever ; and anon they 
 tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand, and 
 lifted her up ; and immediately the fever left her, and she 
 ministered unto them. And at even, when the sun did set, 
 they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that 
 were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered 
 together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of 
 divers diseases, and cast out many devils ; and suffered not 
 the devils to speak, because they knew him. And in the 
 morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and 
 departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon 
 and they that were with him followed after him. And when 
 they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for 
 thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, 
 that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth. 
 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, 
 and cast out devils. And there came a leper to him, beseech' 
 ing him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If 
 them wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with 
 compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith 
 unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had
 
 26 The miracles of Jesus. 
 
 spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he 
 was cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith 
 sent him away ; and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to 
 any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and 
 offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, 
 for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to 
 publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch 
 that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was 
 without in desert places : and they came to him from every 
 quarter. 
 
 It has been often remarked, that our Lord's 
 miracles are characterised, by evidencing not only 
 divine power, but divine mercy ; and that while 
 Moses and other mere servants of God dealt out 
 alike miraculous kindness and miraculous seve- 
 rity ; in the case of the Son of God, the divine 
 interposition was all in unison with the promise 
 of the heavenly host, " peace on earth, and good 
 will towards men," as well as " glory to God in 
 the highest." 
 
 In the miracles here enumerated by St. Mark, 
 this feature is very obvious. The first objects of 
 Christ's power, are objects of his mercy the 
 demoniacs, the diseased, and especially the de- 
 plorable and loathsome case of the lepers. 
 
 But this is not the only character which the
 
 The miracles of Jesus. 27 
 
 miracles of Christ exhibit when compared with 
 others. Their didactic use their application as 
 hints and instructive signs has been noticed ; 
 and besides this very remarkable point about 
 them, they were often acts which seemed to 
 encroach as it were on God's peculiar and re- 
 served province. By them were sometimes ac- 
 complished things which the habitual notions of 
 the Jews associated with the immediate agency 
 of God himself. Of this kind was the cure of 
 the leprosy. It was a disorder which we find 
 was looked on as a sign of divine displeasure, 
 and accordingly its removal was connected with 
 a religious ceremony, which denoted that God 
 himself had removed, as he had inflicted it. It 
 was under this impression that when Naaman 
 was sent to the king of Israel to be cured of this 
 disorder, the king of Israel exclaimed, " Am I 
 God to kill and to make alive, that this man 
 doth send unto me to recover a man of his 
 leprosy '?" When therefore our Lord undertook 
 of himself to heal this disease, he not only proved 
 that God worked with him, but indicated that he 
 was assuming a privilege which God had hitherto 
 
 ' 2 Kings v. 7.
 
 28 The miracles of Jesus. 
 
 reserved. He indicated his divine nature. So 
 too when he cast out devils, and shewed thereby 
 his power over the author of all evil. 
 
 Another circumstance about these miracles is 
 their conformity to certain prophecies which fore- 
 told the Messiah's career. Such is this of Isaiah. 
 " Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, 
 and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 
 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and 
 the tongue of the dumb shall singV On this 
 conformity there will be several convenient op- 
 portunities of saying more. 
 
 With respect to the miracles recorded here, 
 one observation can hardly escape you. In the 
 case of the first demoniac whom Christ cured; in 
 the case of the many out of whom he afterwards 
 cast out devils; in the case of the leper cleansed; 
 in all these cases, he enjoined secresy, or, at 
 least, forbad the publication of the miracles. He 
 charged the persons healed " to say nothing to 
 any man," and he " suffered not the devils to 
 speak because they knew him.'' 
 
 This be it remembered was the beginning of his 
 ministry ; and his revelations of himself were 
 
 * Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6.
 
 The miracles of Jesus. 29 
 
 gradual, and the evidences also, by which the 
 truth of those revelations was supported. The 
 expediency of all this has been already pointed 
 out* ; and the care with which he pursued the 
 system will be obvious as we go on. He dis- 
 pensed both truth and evidence, as men could 
 bear the one, and required the other. 
 
 < Page 8.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONNECTION OF CHRIST S LESSONS. 
 
 IT has been already remarked, that, through- 
 out the review of our Lord's ministry, it would 
 be necessary to bear in mind the gradual and 
 connected line of instruction which he adopted; 
 to observe, how he proceeded from hints and 
 obscure intimations to such declarations of him- 
 self and of his Gospel as were more and more 
 explicit. This was done, by means of a continual 
 variation of the forms in which the same lesson 
 was conveyed; and also, by means of different 
 combinations of the same truths. Thus, what 
 was at one time taught in a parable, in another 
 was taught by an allusion to present scenes and 
 . passing events ; as when he told Simon and 
 Andrew that he would make them fishers of men ; 
 or again by some third form of instruction ; every 
 succeeding lesson being more explicit than the 
 preceding. With the same object in view, what
 
 Connection of Christ's lessons. 31 
 
 was taught in one lesson was alluded to in 
 another on a different topic, so as to keep up 
 a connection throughout all his teaching. 
 
 Having now seen the commencement of Christ's 
 ministry, as contained in the preceding chapter, 
 we may expect to find, on our arrival at the 
 second , some illustration of this principle. Having 
 been now presented with the first lessons of our 
 Lord, we naturally look to discover, in each suc- 
 ceeding one, some such reference to the preced- 
 ing as has been described. We may expect too, 
 as we advance in the series of continued instruc- 
 tion, to find each link more explicit and intel- 
 ligible than the last. 
 
 The second chapter of St. Mark will not dis- 
 appoint these expectations. At the same time, 
 it will be necessary to preface a view of its con- 
 tents with some cautions, which will be found 
 useful, not only now, but in the whole of our 
 future course of readings. 
 
 And first, it must be clearly borne in mind, 
 that instruction is to be sought for, not only in 
 the record of our Saviour's words, but in that of 
 his works his more striking actions, and espe- 
 cially his miracles. Some remarks were made
 
 32 Connection of Christ's lessons. 
 
 on this subject when we were considering the 
 preceding chapter. 
 
 Again, although in the narrative of St. Mark, 
 or of any one Evangelist, a parable or instructive 
 miracle may be recorded, as if conveying the 
 first hint of any truth, which is found unfolded 
 in that Evangelist's narrative ; yet it by no means 
 follows, that this parable or miracle was the first 
 occasion of our Lord's inculcating the doctrine 
 in question. Sometimes the original and first 
 link in the series may be omitted ; and the first 
 named will then contain a reference to some piece 
 of instruction not recorded by that Evangelist. 
 In this respect it is that the use of the four 
 Gospels is apparent. We shall generally find in 
 one what has been so omitted in another. If 
 the view given of our Lord's ministry be correct, 
 that his teaching was progressive and connected 
 throughout, the Evangelists could not have been 
 insensible of the importance of the principle. In 
 their successive narratives therefore, nothing is 
 more likely, than that the first hint, or any 
 closely connecting links in a series of teaching, 
 if omitted by a preceding historian, should be 
 carefully related by a succeeding one, who had
 
 Connection of Christ's lessons. 33 
 
 experienced the need of it. If human wisdom 
 were too weak to suggest and perform this, it was 
 surely a case not unworthy of the extraordinary 
 assistance of the Holy Ghost, which was pro- 
 mised not less to the written than to the oral 
 Gospels of Christ's servants. To this cause we 
 may attribute the exactness of St. John's rela- 
 tion of the marriage-feast miracle, and its being 
 specified as " the beginning of miracles;" and also 
 his detail of many other matters wholly passed 
 over or slightly mentioned by the other three. 
 On, the other hand, what was already familiarly 
 known, either by means of an existing narrative, 
 or otherwise, might, if conciseness were an ob- 
 ject, be naturally omitted. Hence, doubtless, 
 many of the omissions of St. Mark and St. John. 
 To revert to an instance just noticed the mar- 
 riage-feast miracle at Cana. It was probably 
 so famous as to be neglected by St. Matthew and 
 St. Luke when selecting facts to record for the use 
 of the Church. On the same ground St. Mark 
 too might omit it, but still relate that portion of 
 Christ's teaching which was connected with it, 
 and which was to be illustrated by it. In pro- 
 cess of time, as the Church became enlarged, 
 D
 
 34 The cure of the palsied man. 
 
 and more of its information was drawn from 
 written documents ; as the persons converted were 
 removed further and further from the scene of 
 these occurrences; the necessity of recording 
 such an important event (hitherto unrecorded 
 from its notoriety) would be obvious. The last 
 Evangelist might have viewed the matter in 
 this light, when he wrote the account of the 
 miracle at Cana ; the other narratives supposing 
 all along in their readers a knowledge of it 
 a knowledge which in their case was de- 
 rived orally, as in ours it is from, the written 
 record. All this must be borne in mind as we 
 proceed. 
 
 THE CURE OF THE PALSIED MAN. 
 
 Ver. 112. 
 
 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days ; 
 and it was noised that he was in the house. And straight- 
 way many were gathered together, insomuch that there was 
 no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door : 
 and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto 
 him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 
 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, 
 they uncovered the roof where he was : and when they had 
 broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the 
 palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the*
 
 The cure of the palsied man. 35 
 
 sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there 
 were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in 
 their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? 
 who can forgive sins but God only ? And immediately when 
 Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within 
 themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things 
 in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of 
 the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, Arise, and 
 take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the 
 Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to 
 the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy 
 bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he 
 arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all ; inso- 
 much that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 
 We never saw it on this fashion. 
 
 Our Lord had, according to the preceding nar- 
 rative , performed various miracles of bodily healing , 
 in themselves no less expressive of a moral course 
 of healing than this. But the former were the first 
 obscure hints, awakening the attention. Now 
 he is repeating his miracles; and in this, first 
 shews a little more of their meaning. He now 
 begins to connect release from bodily infirmity, 
 with release from moral infirmity; and directs 
 his hearers to a reconsideration of his former 
 miracles, as at once symbolically expressing the 
 doctrine that he was the physician of men's 
 
 D2
 
 36 Christ eating with publicans and sinners. 
 
 souls, and confirming the truth of it, by the proof 
 they afforded of God being with him. Observe, 
 accordingly, that he first tells the man with the 
 palsy, " Thy sins be forgiven thee ;" and then, 
 when he cures him, expounds, as it were, the 
 hint contained in his miracles of healing, by say- 
 ing, " Whether is it easier to say to the sick of 
 the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, 
 Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk ?" 
 
 THE CALL OF LEVI, WHO IS THE SAME AS MATTHEW, 
 
 AND CHRIST'S EATING WITH PUBLICANS 
 
 AND SINNERS. 
 
 Ver. 1317. 
 
 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the 
 multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as 
 he passed by, be saw Levi the son of Alphseus sitting at the 
 receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he 
 arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus 
 sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat 
 also together with Jesus and his disciples : for there were 
 many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and 
 pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said 
 unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with 
 publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto 
 them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, 
 but they that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, but 
 sinners to repentance.
 
 Christ eating with publicans and sinners. 37 
 
 Here is an instance of our Lord's teaching by 
 reference to what was going on in the presence 
 of his hearers what was done or said. The 
 Pharisees were expressing their surprise that a 
 grave Teacher should be sitting at a feast with 
 publicans and sinners; and Christ, after reverting 
 to the character of his miracles, observes, that he 
 came not to call the righteous, but sinners to 
 repentance. He meant not, of course, that the 
 world was divided into righteous and sinners, 
 but that all were sinners before God; and this 
 truth was so worded, from the appearance of 
 many who were accounted shiners before men 
 also. If these Pharisees had carried their pre- 
 sumptuous arrogance further, and had claimed 
 for themselves, as distinguished from others, the 
 character of angels ; he might in like manner 
 have said, " I came not to call angels but men." 
 It was, in short, an implied rebuke for their as- 
 suming a character which did not exist on earth, 
 save in his own person for all had gone astray, 
 and there was none righteous, no, not one. 
 
 The passage furnishes also, you will observe, 
 a mark of the connection which was kept up 
 throughout the course of Christ's teaching. The
 
 38 Christ's answer to the Pharisees 
 
 proverb which he quotes, " They that are whole 
 need not a physician, but they that are sick," 
 connects this lesson with the symbolical instruc- 
 tion afforded by his previous miracles. Our 
 Lord's care to combine lesson with lesson is very 
 remarkable ; nor is it improbable that, among 
 other objects, he might have designed thereby to 
 train the minds of his hearers to a habit of 
 thought, which would facilitate their interpreta- 
 tion of the obscure instructions of the Old Testa- 
 ment by the use of that gradual light which the New 
 was throwing on it. God's whole series of revela- 
 tions was in fact on the same principle as that 
 portion of them comprised in the ministry of his 
 Son. His disciples learnt perhaps the true me- 
 thod of interpreting the Law, by the very act of 
 learning the Gospel as Christ taught it. 
 
 CHRIST'S ANSWER TO THE PHARISEES RESPECTING 
 HIS DISCIPLES NOT FASTING. 
 
 Ver. 1822. 
 
 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used ta 
 fast : and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples 
 of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not ? 
 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride- 
 chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them ? as long as
 
 respecting his disciples not fasting. 39 
 
 they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But 
 the Jays will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away 
 from them, and then shall they fast in those days. No,man 
 also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment : else the 
 new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the 
 rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old 
 bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the 
 wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred : but new wine 
 must be put into new bottles. 
 
 Keeping in view the tissue-like character of 
 our Lord's lessons, we shall observe, that he 
 sometimes preserves the connection, not, as in 
 the former instances, by repeating the same truth 
 so as to remind them of its having been pre- 
 viously taught ; but by clothing some different 
 doctrine in forms of expression which reminded 
 his hearers of a preceding portion of his ministry. 
 It would seem that, from the very earliest stage 
 of their training, the apostles were thus taught 
 to consider the counsel of God as a connected 
 whole. In the present instance, suppose St. 
 Mark to have written under the impression that 
 the beginning of miracles at Cana was fully and 
 universally known to his readers, so much so 
 as to be omitted in his narrative: he might
 
 40 Christ's answer to the Pharisees 
 
 still be supposed to preserve the allusions, or 
 apparent allusions to it, contained in the language 
 of our Saviour's reply to the Pharisees ; " Can 
 the children of the bridechamber fast, while the 
 bridegroom is with them ? as long as they have 
 the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 
 But the days will come, when the bridegroom 
 shall be taken away from them, and then shall 
 they fast in those days. And no man putteth 
 new wine into old bottles : else the new wine 
 doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, 
 and the bottles will be marred : but new wine 
 must be put into new bottles." That first mi- 
 racle, as the " beginning of miracles," might be 
 expected to be pregnant with meaning. Still, 
 agreeably to the view taken of the gradual dis- 
 closure of the meaning of all Christ's lessons, it 
 would at the time contain little self-explanation. 
 Read the narrative of St. John, and such is pre- 
 cisely the impression which it leaves an impres- 
 sion of surmise, which the circumstances taken 
 alone by no means satisfy. For the use of such a 
 lesson, if lesson it were, the great Teacher would 
 surely revert again and again to the images of that 
 scene ; would explain portion by portion ; first*
 
 respecting his disciples not fasting. 41 
 
 darkly, then more clearly ; and would finally com- 
 bine the whole, in the more advanced stages of his 
 ministry, into doctrines clear and explicitly ex- 
 pressed. Here is the beginning of such a process 
 of exposition. The employment of a bridegroom 
 and a nuptial train, as images to designate himself 
 and his disciples, was likely to kindle a train of 
 associations with the marvellous scene at Cana. 
 While the imagination was thus refreshed, our 
 Lord gives a meaning to that scene, which had 
 not yet perhaps been observed, " New wine must 
 be put into new bottles;" intimating that the 
 image on which he was harping, was the same as 
 that which he had symbolically presented to them 
 in the feast. And although the truth conveyed 
 was still dim and indistinct, they might perceive 
 that there was some connection between the 
 symbol of new wine and a new dispensation ; and 
 that all was annexed somehow to the " taking 
 away of Him" who described himself as "the 
 Bridegroom." 
 
 If it should occur to any, that, in this and in 
 some other cases which may be adverted to in 
 proof or illustration of the connected and tissue- 
 like form of Christ's teaching, the expression was
 
 42 The disciples plucking the ears of corn 
 
 only a common proverb it should be observed, 
 that were these the only expressions which appear 
 to allude thus to former acts and words, there 
 might be some force in the objection ; but observ- 
 ing a long train into which these fit, who can 
 scruple to give them a place amongst the rest ? 
 Perhaps even the observation respecting the new 
 cloth and the old garment, may be, like the one 
 which accompanies it, an allusion to some lesson 
 unrecorded ; to some portion perhaps of that very 
 scene at Cana. 
 
 THE DISCIPLES PLUCKING THE EARS OF CORN ON 
 THE SABBATH. 
 
 Ver. 2328. 
 
 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields 
 on the sabbath day ; and his disciples began, as they went, to 
 pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, 
 Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not 
 lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what 
 David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and 
 they that were with him? How he went into the house of 
 God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the 
 shew-bread, which is not lawful to eat but.for the priests, and 
 gave also to them which were with him ? And he said unto 
 them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
 
 on the sabbath. 43 
 
 sabbath : therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the 
 sabbath. 
 
 Christ here connects a declaration of his being 
 Lord of the sabbath with an event in the Old 
 Testament history, of which the circumstances 
 were somewhat similar. This confirms what was 
 before observed, that, in his method of combining 
 the several parts of his own instruction, he had 
 in view, amongst other objects, that of teaching 
 his disciples to connect his own ministry, as a 
 whole, with the facts of the old dispensation 
 so as to explain the former by the latter. 
 The passage of Old Testament history will be 
 found in the twenty-first chapter of the first book 
 of Samuel, and will derive further illustration 
 from the twenty-fourth chapter of Leviticus, 
 ver. 9. 
 
 The declaration that " the Son of man is Lord 
 also of the sabbath," was, or ought to have been, 
 intelligible to those, who knew that the strict 
 command of God was, " Keep my sabbaths." 
 This property in God's sabbath, was now claimed 
 by Christ, and accordingly they do all so far 
 appear to have understood his meaning, that his 
 enemies watched him closely, (see chap, iii.) in
 
 44 Christ plucking the ears of corn, tyc. 
 
 order to observe whether he would act as he 
 professed. The frequent tests by which they 
 tried his observance of the sabbath, and the 
 importance attached to his most trifling violation 
 of it, must be considered with reference to this 
 view.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CURE OF THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND 
 ON THE SABBATH DAT. 
 
 Ver. 17. 
 
 And he entered again into the synagogue ; and there was a 
 man there which had a withered hand. And they watched 
 him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day ; that 
 they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which 
 had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto 
 them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do 
 evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 
 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, 
 being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the 
 man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out : and 
 his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees 
 went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians 
 against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus with- 
 drew himself with his disciples to the sea. 
 
 IN considering the miracle here recorded, it 
 will be useful to call to mind the observation 
 made at the close of the preceding chapter. 
 The concert of the Pharisees with the Herodians
 
 46 Christ's charge to the unclean spirits, 
 
 to destroy Jesus, is very intelligible, if we suppose 
 that our Lord's miracle of healing on the sabbath 
 day had confirmed suspicions, already awakened, 
 that he was assuming the character of Lord of 
 the sabbath. They now felt justified in proceed- 
 ing against him, because he had not only avowed 
 it, but was acting up to the avowal ; he was 
 practically shewing, that his words were to be 
 construed in a sense which to their apprehension 
 was blasphemous. 
 
 CHRIST'S CHARGE TO THE UNCLEAN SPIRITS, NOT 
 TO MAKE HIM KNOWN. 
 
 Ver. 712. 
 
 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea : 
 and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from 
 Judaea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from be- 
 yond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multi- 
 tude, when they had heard what great things he did, came 
 unto him. And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship 
 should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should 
 throng him. For he had healed many ; insomuch that they 
 pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. 
 And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, 
 and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly 
 charged them that they should not make him known. 
 
 The unclean spirits called Jesus the Son of
 
 not to make him known. 47 
 
 God. Now it was his object gradually to exer- 
 cise the faith of his hearers to prepare them for 
 truth after truth and he did not therefore wish 
 to have himself avowed to those whose docility 
 and candour had not been so exercised. Even to 
 his disciples his revelation of himself was gradual. 
 It might also have exposed him to the hazard of 
 an attempt to force on him temporal royalty ; 
 and that there was some risk of this may be in- 
 ferred from his removal into a mountain. 
 
 APPOINTMENT AND MISSION OF THE TWELVE 
 APOSTLES. 
 Ver. 1319. 
 
 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him 
 whom he would : and they came unto him. And he ordained 
 twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send 
 them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sickness, and 
 to cast out devils: and Simon he surnamed Peter; and 
 James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; 
 and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of 
 thunder : and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and 
 Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and 
 Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, 
 which also betrayed him. 
 
 Our Lord appointed the twelve, " that they 
 might be with him;" and so be witnesses of the
 
 48 Appointment and mission 
 
 course of his ministry. Hence they are called 
 emphatically his Witnesses. 
 
 This view of their office is very important, 
 because it arises out of the most essential cha- 
 racteristic of our religion. It is an historical 
 religion ; that is, it is a religion whose doctrines 
 arise out of facts ; chiefly, miraculous facts. In 
 this respect Christianity essentially differs from 
 all the philosophical systems, or false religions of 
 the world. Even Mahomet only laid down doc- 
 trines ; but Christ performed actions out of which 
 doctrines flow. Thus he died for us, and hence 
 the doctrine of the atonement ; he sent the Holy 
 Spirit to us, and hence the doctrine of grace. 
 And this will account for our not finding 
 doctrines with which we are familiar, set forth, 
 as such, in the sacred narratives. They are con- 
 tained there, yet not as abstract propositions, but 
 involved in the facts related. 
 
 Our Lord after appointing the twelve, sent 
 them away from him for a short time : partly, no 
 doubt, to disseminate the* Gospel ; partly, per- 
 haps, to give them proof and experience of his 
 assistance in their ministry, when he should be 
 withdrawn from them in the flesh, and present
 
 of the twelve Apostles. 49 
 
 by the Spirit. Their mission now answered to 
 them the purpose of Moses and Aaron's being 
 sent to Pharaoh it trained them as they were 
 trained for their task of being leaders of the 
 Israelites. 
 
 Two names are recorded as on this occasion 
 given by our Lord to individuals amongst them. 
 Simon was called Peter* ; James and John, 
 Boanerges, or Sons of thunder. Peter is a word 
 signifying " a rock," and it was given to the 
 apostle as a prophetic intimation, that he was to 
 be the first stone laid in the spiritual edifice, 
 the Church. This was fulfilled in his being the 
 first who made converts to Christianity. Why 
 James and John were named Boanerges, does 
 not appear from Scripture. Their title perhaps 
 
 * Cephas was really the name given to Simon ; but as this 
 word in the corrupt Hebrew, in which our Lord and his 
 disciples conversed, meant a stone, the Greek word for a stone, 
 *fr($, which we render Peter, became in time his more 
 common title. The original name Cephas is preserved in John 
 i. 42. where it is explained by the Greek word nr^tf, " Thou 
 shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone," 
 (irfrgf.) It occurs also several times in St. Paul's Epistles. 
 See 1 Cor. i. 12. iii. 22. ix. 5. xv. 5. Galat. ii. 9. 
 E
 
 50 Our Lord accused of being beside himself. 
 
 alluded to some display of energy or eloquence, 
 which they were to make in the service of the 
 good cause, to which they were now attached. 
 
 OUR LORD ACCUSED OF BEING BESIDE HIMSELF, 
 AND OF BEING AN AGENT OF SATAN. 
 
 Ver. 1930. 
 
 And they went into an house. And the multitude cometh 
 together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 
 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold 
 on him : for they said, He is beside himself. And the scribes 
 which came*down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, 
 and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. And he 
 called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How 
 can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided 
 against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house 
 be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if 
 Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot 
 stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong 
 man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the 
 strong man ; and then he will spoil his house. Verily I say 
 unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and 
 blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme : but he 
 that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never 
 forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation : because 
 they said, He hath an unclean spirit. 
 
 Both the friends of Jesus and the scribes 
 were unwilling to suppose that he was one
 
 Our Lord accused of being beside himself. 5 1 
 
 commissioned by God. The reason was this. 
 The whole nation, with one consent, looked at 
 this time for their Messiah, but made sure of 
 recognizing in him a temporal king. Even the 
 disciples and apostles continued long under this 
 delusion. But the difference between their case 
 and that of those who rejected him was ; that 
 although they could not explain to themselves 
 how his lowly condition was consistent with their 
 view of prophecy, yet they were candid enough 
 not to shut their eyes to the evidence arising 
 from miracles. 
 
 The scribes, on the contrary, went so far as to 
 impute these miracles to the agency of Satan; 
 which occasioned our Lord to assert, that " he 
 that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
 never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal 
 damnation ;" meaning, that although they may 
 revile him, with some plea, as long as they 
 regarded his actions as merely those of a man; 
 yet, when they perceived his actions to pro- 
 ceed from superhuman agency, and they still 
 reviled ; it was God and not man they were 
 blaspheming. Their case was hopeless. Even 
 so when Ananias and Sapphira were smitten 
 
 E2
 
 52 Christ's disciples, his mother, and his brethren. 
 
 with death, St. Peter's declaration was, " Thou 
 hast not lied unto men, but unto God b ." 
 
 CHRIST'S DISCIPLES, HIS MOTHER, AND HIS 
 BRETHREN. 
 Ver. 3135. 
 
 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, stand- 
 ing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude 
 sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother 
 and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered 
 them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he 
 looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, 
 Behold my mother and ray brethren ! For whosoever shall do 
 the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and 
 mother. 
 
 This is a very striking instance of a peculiarity 
 in our Lord's teaching, which has been already 
 more than once noticed. Instead of expressing 
 in any metaphors that chanced to occur to him 
 those truths, which, ,from being new or strange 
 could only be expressed metaphorically, he fre- 
 quently made present scenes and objects the 
 sources from which he derived his figurative lan- 
 guage. This was probably the first lesson in a 
 long series, on a subject which only allowed of 
 
 b Acts v. 4.
 
 Christ's disciples, his mother, and his brethren. 53 
 
 figurative language the new relationship between 
 God and man through the Holy Spirit. As Jesus 
 was declared to be the Son of God, because of 
 the union of the divine and human nature in 
 him ; so he intimates that a union, of a different 
 kind indeed, but still a union between the divine 
 and human nature, was to take place in us. 
 That those who heard his word were to become 
 the sons of God by adoption ; "his mother and 
 his brethren." When afterwards in the Gospel 
 narrative, and in the apostolic Epistles, we meet 
 with the phrases, " being born of God," " born 
 again," " born of water and of the Spirit," 
 " putting on the new man which after God is 
 created in righteousness and true holiness," and 
 the many other kindred expressions, it will be 
 useful, from time to time, to think on this, the 
 apparent origin and fountain of all these phrases ; 
 we shall then be reminded that they are meta- 
 phors, and be guided in our interpretation of 
 them by remembering also the scene which 
 appears to have first suggested them.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 
 
 Ver. 19. 
 
 And he began again to teach by the sea side : and there 
 was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered 
 into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude 
 was by the sea on the land. And he taught them many 
 tilings by parables, and said unto them in' his doctrine, 
 Hearken ; Behold, there went out a sower to sow : and it 
 came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the 
 fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on 
 stony ground, where it had not much earth ; and immediately 
 it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth : but when the 
 sun was up, it was scorched ; and because it had no root, it 
 withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns 
 grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other 
 fell on gopd ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and 
 increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, 
 and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath 
 ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
 THE imagery of this parable was no doubt 
 derived from a scene which was frequently present 
 to Jesus and his hearers the fields with their
 
 Parable of the sower. 55 
 
 various culture and produce the rich land, the 
 stony ground, and the highway the ripened 
 corn, the blighted stalk, and the trampled blade. 
 These are accordingly images which very fre- 
 quently recur in his teaching; not only in his 
 parables, but in his other discourses, which of 
 course contained allusions to the imagery of his 
 parables. 
 
 By this repetition of the same images and 
 metaphors, under different combinations, in pa- 
 rable after parable and discourse after discourse, 
 there was one very obvious purpose accom- 
 plished. His lessons were more easily connected, 
 and each new one more readily and fully under- 
 stood, from the familiarity which his hearers 
 acquired with the class of metaphors so con- 
 tinually used. In this, as in all other respects, 
 the constant hearer enjoyed an advantage over the 
 casual attendant. And this indeed was agreeable 
 to our Lord's declaration, " to him that hath 
 shall be given." To the same principle must be 
 referred his practice of explaining his parables 
 only to his disciples. It was their privilege to 
 know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
 
 56 Explanation of the parable. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE PARABLE. 
 
 Ver. 1020. 
 
 And when he was alone, they that were about him with 
 the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, 
 Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of 
 God : but unto them that are without, all these things are 
 done in parables : that seeing they may see, and not perceive ; 
 and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any 
 time they should be converted, and their sins should be for- 
 given them. And he said unto them, Know ye not this 
 parable? and how then will ye know all parables? The sower 
 soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, 
 where the word is sown ; but when they have heard, Satan 
 cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was 
 sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are 
 sown on stony ground ; who, when they have heard the word, 
 immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in 
 themselves, and so endure but for a time : afterward, when 
 affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, im- 
 mediately they are offended. And these are they which are 
 sown among thorns; such as hear the word, and the cares of 
 this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of 
 other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh 
 unfruitful. And these are they which are sown on good 
 ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring 
 forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. 
 
 It appears to have been our Lord's usual 
 practice to explain his parables only to his dis-
 
 Responsibility of those instructed. 57 
 
 ciples, leaving others in doubt, if not in igno- 
 rance, of their full meaning. The want of 
 education in the class of persons addressed, may 
 account for the fact, that instruction plain enough 
 to us, required in their case explanation. 
 
 That he should make this distinction between 
 his hearers, was no proof of any unequal dis- 
 pensation of truth and mercy ; but only the re- 
 ward of docility, and humility, and candour ; for 
 any of his hearers might have partaken of the 
 privilege by becoming his disciples. Those who 
 came to him, he in no wise cast out. 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSB INSTRUCTED. 
 
 Ver. 2125. 
 
 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put 
 under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a 
 candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be 
 manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it 
 should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him 
 hear. And he saith unto them, Take heed what ye hear : 
 with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you : and 
 unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, 
 to him shall be given : and he that hath not, from him shall 
 be taken even that which he bath. 
 
 This declaration follows seasonably the expo- 
 sition of the parable ; because the disciples, on
 
 58 Images representing the kingdom of God. 
 
 being favoured with this clearer insight into our 
 Lord's meaning, required to be warned, that it 
 was not simply a mark of favour, but a talent, for 
 which they were responsible. Their candle was 
 lighted; but woe to them, if they hid it under a 
 bushel, and imparted not that light to others : it 
 was given to them to know the mysteries or 
 secrets of the kingdom of heaven; but it was 
 done, that through them these secrets should be 
 manifested and go abroad. They heard what 
 kings and prophets had desired to hear ; but the 
 impression to be made on their minds by this 
 was, that of responsibility for the employment of 
 the trust. They were to take heed how they 
 heard. Nay, on their use of each privilege 
 depended their enjoyment of fresh privileges ; 
 even as on the use of this world depend the en- 
 joyment of the next. " He that hath, to him 
 shall be given : and he that hath not, from him 
 shall be taken even that which he hath." 
 
 IMAGES REPRESENTING THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 Ver. 2634. 
 
 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should 
 cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night 
 and day, and the seed should spring and grow rip, he kn6\v-
 
 Images representing the kingdom of God. 59 
 
 eth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; 
 first tlw blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
 ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he 
 putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. And he 
 said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God ? or with 
 what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of 
 mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less 
 than all the seeds that be in the earth : but when it is sown, 
 it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and 
 shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may 
 lodge under the shadow of it. And with many such parables 
 spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. 
 But without a parable spake he not unto them : and when 
 they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. 
 
 By the kingdom of God, in this and in most 
 passages of the New Testament, is meant the 
 Church of Christ the Gospel dispensation. It 
 was called a kingdom, because God's former 
 Church, the Jewish, which it has succeeded and 
 superseded, was literally a kingdom. It was 
 distinguished from it by the additional expressions 
 " of heaven," and " of God ;" because our divine 
 King governs not his Church, as He did the 
 Jewish, by vicegerents, but is Himself our go- 
 vernor. His residence is in the hearts of the 
 faithful, his laws in the inspired word, which he 
 has given us. It is so distinguished also, be-
 
 60 Images representing the kingdom of God. 
 
 cause, agreeably with this change, there is no 
 longer any system of worldly rewards and punish- 
 ments, but all are future. God " hath appointed 
 a day in the which he will judge the world in 
 righteousness, by that man whom he hath or- 
 dainedV 
 
 These comparisons of the rise and progress of 
 the Christian society, to the growth of corn and 
 mustard seed, were possibly spoken in connection 
 with the warnings which are placed immedi- 
 ately before them in the narrative, and which 
 have been explained. The hearers were re- 
 minded, that the progress would be gentle, and 
 escape observation: and therefore the greater 
 need was~ there that they should take heed how 
 they heard ; lest they should be found behind 
 hand, and unable to follow up the growth of 
 truth. In this spirit St. Paul exclaims, "for- 
 getting those things which are behind, and reach- 
 ing forth unto those things which are before, 
 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus b ." 
 
 The comparison of the grain of mustard seed 
 differs from that of the corn in this. The 
 Acts xviii. 31. Philipp. Hi. 13, 14.
 
 Christ calming the sea. 61 
 
 image of the corn in its gradual growth suggests 
 the unobserved advance of Christianity ; the rapid 
 rise and wonderful spread of the mustard plant 
 suggests the contrast between the Gospel in its 
 maturity, and its obscure and humble begin- 
 ning. 
 
 CHRIST CALMING THE SEA. 
 
 Ver. 3541. 
 
 And the same day, when the even was come, .he saith unto 
 them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they 
 had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in 
 the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 
 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat 
 into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the 
 hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow : and they awake 
 him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we 
 perish ? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto 
 the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there 
 was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so 
 fearful ? how is it that ye have no faith ? And they feared 
 exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man 
 is this, that even the "wind and the sea obey him? 
 
 One of the characteristics of Christ's miracles 
 noticed in the early part of these readings was, 
 that they sometimes implied a claim to those 
 attributes, which long habit or especial revelation
 
 6:2 Christ calming the sea. 
 
 had made the Jews attach to Jehovah alone. Of 
 tills, kind was; healing the leprosy ; and of this 
 kind, perhaps, was the miracle of calming the 
 sea. In the Psalms, the control of the sea is 
 made a frequent and striking image of the exer- 
 cise of Omnipotence , and the Psalms were the 
 poetry, the light reading, of the nation, that 
 portion of Jewish literature, which his unedu- 
 cated followers were likely to be best acquainted 
 with. National ballads are familiar even to the 
 rudest peasantry ; and the psaltery contained the 
 national melodies of the Israelites. 
 
 His apostles too, it should be further remarked, 
 belonged some of them to a profession, which 
 made this miracle particularly striking to them. 
 They were familiar with the storms of the lake 
 on which they pursued their business as fisher- 
 men ; and as they were the least likely to be de- 
 ceived as to the reality of such a miracle, so 
 they were the most likely to appreciate and to 
 remember it. 
 
 c See Psalm Ixxvii. 19. xciii. 4.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CUBE OF A DEMONIAC, AND THE DEVILS CAST OUT 
 PERMITTED TO GO INTO A HERD OF SWINE. 
 
 Ver. 120. 
 
 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the 
 country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the 
 ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with 
 an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs ; 
 and no man could bind him, no, not with chains : because 
 that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the 
 chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters 
 broken in pieces : neither could any man tame him. And 
 always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the 
 tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he 
 saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried 
 with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, 
 Jesus, thou Son of the most high God ? I adjure thee by God, 
 that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out 
 of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is 
 thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: 
 for we are many. And he besought him much that he would 
 not send them away out of the country. Now there was there 
 nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And
 
 64 Cure of a demoniac. 
 
 all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the 
 swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus 
 gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and 
 entered into the swine : and the herd ran violently down a 
 steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand ;) and 
 were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, 
 and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went 
 out to see what it was that was done. And they come to 
 Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had 
 the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind : and 
 they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it 
 befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also con- 
 cerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart 
 out of their coasts. And when he was come into the ship, he 
 that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he 
 might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but 
 saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how 
 great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had com- 
 passion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in 
 Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him : and all 
 men did marvel. 
 
 CHRIST came to do away with the evil intro- 
 duced by Satan at the fall. This was of two 
 kinds; natural and moral; disease and sin ; death 
 and eternal death. Now the natural evil, besides 
 being in itself evil, appears all along to have been 
 regarded as a type and assurance of the moral
 
 Cure of a demoniac. 65 
 
 evil. Hence the spiritual penalty which corre- 
 sponds to death, has never even received a different 
 name from the natural penalty. 
 
 Christ came then to do away with both kinds 
 of evil ; and to shew this, he continually con- 
 nected his miracles of healing with his forgive- 
 ness of sins. His miracles of casting out devils 
 were of the same import, but carried the lesson 
 still further. In these cases, the immediate agency 
 of the Devil was recognized ; and the cure of them, 
 therefore, was at once a more palpable fulfilment 
 of his work in destroying the natural evil intro- 
 duced by Satan, and also a sign of his power to 
 destroy that spiritual evil, which was coexistent 
 with it; which was derived from the same Being, 
 and which was typified and attested by it. 
 
 Still in future ages, if not in that age, a doubt 
 might have arisen as to the reality of these pos- 
 sessions. A special miracle, such as this, might 
 have been performed, to prevent this doubt, so 
 destructive as it would be of a clear view of his 
 ministry. The same possession produced the 
 same effects on the human subject, and the brute; 
 and this in a case, which excluded all possibility 
 of doubt. The devils had expostulated through
 
 66 The raising of J aims' s daughter. 
 
 the organs of speech which belonged to their 
 victim, and had declared themselves. But this 
 was not enough. It might still have been said, 
 that these were the wild expressions of a, maniac 
 or enthusiast, fancying himself to be so afflicted. 
 The last stage of the miracle effectually pro- 
 vided against such a notion. The brute was out 
 of the reach of enthusiasm, and the same evil 
 spirits which possessed the man had passed into 
 the swine. To make it more apparent, it was not 
 one animal, but a whole herd. 
 
 THE RAISING OF JAIRUS'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 Ver. 2124, 3543. 
 
 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other 
 side, much people gathered unto him : and he was nigh unto 
 the sea. And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the 
 synagogue, Jairus by name ; and when he saw him, he fell at 
 his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter 
 lieth at the point of death : I pray thee, come and lay thy hands 
 on her, that she may be healed ; and she shall live. And Jesus 
 went with him. While he yet spake, there .came from the 
 ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daugh- 
 ter is dead : why troublest thou the Master any further ? As 
 soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto 
 the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And 
 he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and
 
 The raising of Jairus's daughter. 67 
 
 John the brother of James. And he coiAeth to the house of 
 the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them 
 that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he 
 saitli unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep ? the 
 damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to 
 scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the 
 father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with 
 him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he 
 took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha 
 cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, 
 arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked ; for 
 she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished 
 with a great astonishment. And he charged them straitly 
 that no man should know it ; and commanded that something 
 should be given her to eat. 
 
 It has been questioned, whether the damsel was 
 really dead ; or, whether our Lord's expression 
 meant literally that she was not dead but asleep, 
 i. e. in a swoon or trance. If her recovery was 
 miraculous, and all agree in this, the question 
 whether she were recovered from a trance or 
 from death, ought not to affect the character 
 of the miracle ; for to mere human agents the 
 one is as impossible as the other, and therefore 
 the one quite as much proof of superhuman 
 agency as the other. To man there are no 
 gradations of power perceptible in miraculous 
 
 F2
 
 68 The raising of Jairus's daughter. 
 
 agency. But if you consider the impression pro- 
 duced, the raising from the dead would be always 
 likely to operate on men's minds more strongly 
 than the miraculous cure of sickness. There are 
 really no degrees of power which can be measured 
 by us in miracles ; no divisions or gradations 
 when once the impossible is passed ; but the 
 practical effect is as if there were. 
 
 And the effect of this miracle is accordingly 
 one reason which would incline one to take the 
 more common view of it, and to suppose, that the 
 damsel was raised, not from a trance but from 
 death. Another reason, which is stronger, is, 
 that Christ selected, as witnesses of the miracle, 
 the three apostles, who were admitted as select 
 witnesses of two other of the most remarkable 
 passages of his life his Transfiguration, and his 
 agony in the garden of Gethsemane. There seems 
 a correspondence with this, in their being called 
 on to be present, at what may thus be considered as 
 the first instance of his restoring the dead to life. 
 
 But then how are we to understand our Lord's 
 assertion, " The damsel is not dead but sleepeth?" 
 In the same manner, no doubt, as when he said 
 " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, that I
 
 The raising of Jairus's daughter. 69 
 
 may awake him out of sleep 7 ." He meant to 
 hint by this expression in each case, that it was 
 not a final death ; but one from which the person 
 should recover, before his present connection with 
 life and this world was interrupted for ever and, 
 in this respect, therefore resembling sleep. It 
 was a temporary death. 
 
 As in the case of many of his other miracles, 
 his tone of voice perhaps and manner might 
 have given a further meaning to this expression. 
 It might have aided in conveying a hint after- 
 wards followed up so as to be intelligible that 
 death was always henceforward to be considered 
 in a new light, as more like sleep ; as a temporary 
 suspension of the energies of mind and body ; 
 and that these signal miracles were wrought to 
 prove, that it was he, Jesus Christ, who was to 
 remove the suspension. 
 
 To this at least we can scarcely help attributing 
 the language of the sacred writers who so con- 
 stantly use "sleep" and "sleeping" as simple, 
 unfigurative expressions for death. Thus St. 
 Matthew a , in his account of the crucifixion, writes, 
 " that the graves were opened, and many bodies of 
 
 1 John xi. 1 1. Chap, xxvii. 52.
 
 70 The healing of the woman with the issue of blood. 
 
 the saints which slept arose." In the Acts of 
 the Apostles b , St. Paul is described as saying, 
 that " David after he had served his own genera- 
 tion fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, 
 and saw corruption." The same apostle makes 
 the same use of the phrase frequently in his 
 Epistles, as in this sentence from the first Epistle 
 to the Corinthians , " For this cause many are 
 weak and sickly among you, and many sleep," 
 
 THE HEALING OF THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE 
 
 OF BLOOD. 
 
 Ver. 2534. 
 
 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve 
 years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and 
 had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but 
 rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the 
 press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I 
 may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straight- 
 way the fountain of her blood was dried up ; and she felt in 
 her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, 
 immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of 
 him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched 
 my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest 
 the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched 
 me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this 
 thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what 
 b Chap. xiii. 36. c Chap. xi. 30.
 
 The healing of the woman with the issue of blood. 71 
 
 was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him 
 all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith 
 hath made thee whole ; go in peace, and be whole of thy 
 plague. 
 
 Like many of the miracles of healing, this has 
 its symbolical allusion marked, by the emphatic 
 words, " thy faith hath saved thee." Its cha- 
 racteristic however, as distinguished from the 
 others, consists in its being the one which most 
 clearly denoted the doctrine contained obscurely 
 in the preceding chapter that Christ was not 
 dealing out his spiritual privileges as arbitrary 
 favours that he was not selecting at random sub- 
 jects for his kingdom but that the ground of his 
 selection was one which depended on men them- 
 selves. Hence the striking fact, which was made 
 as public as possible, that the " virtue which 
 went forth from him" followed the manifestation 
 of the woman's faith, as if in accordance to a 
 general law, and not as by an incidental exercise 
 of mercy. He had not by word or sign com- 
 municated with the woman he had not seen her, 
 for she stood behind him and yet she had shared 
 in the divine influence with those whom he had 
 called, conversed with, and taught. And to mark
 
 72 The healing of the woman with the issue of blood. 
 
 the circumstance more pointedly, after the general 
 attention to the fact was sufficiently excited, he 
 observes emphatically, " Thy faith hath made 
 thee whole." 
 
 This lesson might have been the more requisite, 
 because the object on whom he was proceeding to 
 work a miracle the damsel who lay dead was 
 one incapable of an act of faith at the time. 
 This miracle, performed while he was on his way 
 to her, became a preparatory warning against 
 drawing a wrong inference from the circumstance. 
 To strengthen the impression, he expressly re- 
 quires, that the damsel's friends, who were capa- 
 ble of faith, although at the time she was not, 
 should believe. His words to her father are t 
 " Be not afraid, only believe."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHRIST NOT ACCEPTABLE IN HIS OWN COUNTRY. 
 
 Ver. 16. 
 
 And he went out from thence, and came into his own 
 country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sab- 
 bath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue : 
 and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence 
 hath this man these things ? and what wisdom is this which 
 is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought 
 by his hands ? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, 
 the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? 
 and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended 
 at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without 
 honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and 
 in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, 
 save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed 
 them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he 
 went round about the villages, teaching. 
 
 MUCH of Christ's ordinary life must doubtless 
 have partaken of the character of other men's 
 lives. This, connected with the knowledge of 
 his earthly birth and parentage, seemed quite 
 irreconcileable with the preconceived image of
 
 74 Christ not acceptable in his own country. 
 
 Christ the Immanuel, which occupied men's 
 minds; and is a warning to us, not to frame 
 theories of propriety respecting the measures of 
 divine wisdom, and to try those measures after- 
 wards by these theories. 
 
 Any record, accordingly, of those parts of our 
 Saviour's life and conversation which were un- 
 connected with his ministry, would have been 
 likely, from the same natural disposition in man- 
 kind, to occasion mischief, after his claims to be 
 the Messiah had been unquestionably established. 
 The same bent of mind, would have led us probably 
 to the error of attributing an extraordinary cha- 
 racter to these, as well as to the parts of his life 
 which were really entitled to it. Like his country- 
 men, we should have been unwilling to see any 
 thing in the actions, words, or person of Immanuel, 
 which was not extraordinary extra-human a 
 part of his ministry a portion of his doctrine 
 a feature of his example. Even without this re- 
 cord, such has been the mischief produced by the 
 Church's legends. How much more would this 
 have been the case, had the topics which form 
 the subject of those legends rested on Scripture 
 authority. It is impossible to calculate the ex-
 
 Christ not acceptable in his own country. 75 
 
 tent of the superstitious practices which might 
 have been founded on a description of his dress, 
 for instance, his hours of rising and going to 
 rest, and the like; if these matters had formed 
 part of the inspired histories. But we may rea- 
 sonably suppose that it would have been great ; 
 judging from the effect produced by the unau- 
 thenticated tales, which pretend to furnish in- 
 formation of this sort. 
 
 One statement in this passage of St. Mark is 
 at first sight strange, and requires to be noticed. 
 It is said, that Jesus " could there do no mighty 
 work." Now we know abundantly from other 
 parts of Scripture, that " God gave not the 
 Spirit to him by measure" ;" that " in him dwelt 
 all the fulness of the Godhead bodily 1 ';" and that 
 " God in Christ " must have been omnipotent. 
 When it is said therefore, that he could do no 
 mighty work, it cannot be meant, that he had 
 not the power to do it, but that it was incom- 
 patible with the rule of his ministry that, grant- 
 ing that rule to be unbroken, it was impossible. 
 
 In like manner we say that God cannot act 
 unwisely, unjustly, and the like; meaning thereby, 
 
 John iii. 34. b Coloss. ii. 9. i. 19. c 2 Cor.-v. 19.
 
 76 Christ's mission of his apostles 
 
 not that His ability or power is restricted, but that 
 it would be inconsistent with his attributes as 
 revealed to us. So too we say of an upright man, 
 that he is incapable of a vicious or base action. 
 In the present instance, the circumstance which 
 rendered it incompatible with our Lord's character 
 and established course of ministry, and in that 
 sense impossible, for him to perform many mira- 
 cles, was the want of faith described in the pre- 
 ceding verse. For even the sick were not usually 
 healed without possessing this qualification; and 
 accordingly, he sometimes tells them that it is 
 their faith that has made them whole. 
 
 CHRIST'S MISSION OF HIS APOSTLES IN PARTIES 
 OF TWO TOGETHER. 
 
 Ver. 713. 
 
 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send 
 them forth by two and two ; and gave them power over un- 
 clean spirits ; and commanded them that they should take 
 nothing for their journey, save a staff only ; no scrip, no 
 bread, no money in their purse : but be shod with sandals ; 
 and not put on two coats. And he said unto them, In what 
 place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart 
 from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor 
 hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under 
 your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto
 
 in parties of two together. 77 
 
 you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in 
 the day of judgment, than for that city. And they went out, 
 and preached that men should repent. And they cast out 
 many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and 
 healed them. 
 
 The first and most obvious reason for this 
 mission seems to have been, the dispersion of the 
 good-tidings of Christ and his miracles, and the 
 baptism of those who should listen to the report. 
 And yet, it is certain, that so far from requiring 
 his apostles generally to be the heralds and 
 preachers of these his sayings and doings, our 
 Lord was continually checking the free disper- 
 sion of them. The natural course of his ministry 
 seems rather to have required his interposition to 
 check the indiscriminate spreading of his fame, 
 than to encourage and command it. All was 
 soon to be " made known," and " proclaimed on 
 the house-tops ;" but, as yet, it was, in some 
 measure, a " secret," whispered in the ear, and 
 confined to the closet. To the disciples only, it 
 was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom 
 of God, but to the unheeding multitude he spake 
 in parables. Why then this mission of the 
 apostles to preach and to perform miracles ?
 
 78 Christ's mission of his apostles 
 
 It was not simply the publication of his own 
 miracles and of the truths which they attested 
 that he was wont to forbid ; but the injudicious, 
 irregular, indiscriminate, publication of them. 
 What he laboured to prevent was the casting of 
 the pearls before swine, the scattering of the 
 good seed where there was no soil. Such a 
 mission as this of the apostles, divided into six 
 parties, might have been requisite in order to 
 give all an equal chance of becoming his dis- 
 ciples, and thereby sharing in their privileges. 
 Each party meanwhile may be supposed to have 
 been guided in their ministry, by a rule of 
 discrimination no less strict than that which 
 marked their Master's. 
 
 Another very important object, however, pre- 
 sents itself, as connected with this mission of the 
 apostles during his lifetime. It might have been 
 designed to give them a foretaste and experi- 
 mental proof of his spiritual presence, support, 
 and guidance of them, when after his ascension 
 they should be permanently separated from his 
 presence in the flesh ; even as Moses and Aaron, 
 in their mission to Pharaoh, went through a 
 probation, and acquired a practical conviction of
 
 tn parties of two together. 79 
 
 God's miraculous assistance, before they were 
 called on to perform the adventurous task of 
 conducting the Israelites out of Egypt and 
 through the wilderness. No situation is con- 
 ceivable which would more require a provision of 
 this sort a confidence founded on actual experi- 
 ence of support and guidance by their unseen 
 Lord than the situation of the apostles, when 
 called on to begin their ministry, after that he 
 had ceased to be manifested in the flesh. It is 
 true, that the miraculous strengthening of the 
 promised Comforter might (as we suppose) have 
 been made sufficient to supersede the need of all 
 this precaution ; but it is equally true, that its 
 assistance does not in the course of their ministry 
 seem to have been designed to supersede natural 
 means ; but only to accomplish that for which 
 no natural provision could suffice. 
 
 Accordingly, the whole arrangement of the 
 embassy on which the apostles were now sent, 
 shews a bearing upon this point. Every circum- 
 stance was so ordered, as to impress them 
 throughout this journey with the sense of mi- 
 raculous support from their absent Master. They 
 were to take no provision no clothes to claim
 
 80 Death of John the Baptist. 
 
 shelter and hospitality without scrip or purse 
 to heal the sick, and to cast out devils. When 
 the period approached too for the final separa- 
 tion, for which this had proved and prepared 
 them, he reminds them of all this ; in order that 
 the effect intended by it might not be lost on 
 them: " When I sent you without purse, and 
 scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing d ?" 
 
 The cure of the sick seems from this account 
 to have been performed through the ceremony of 
 anointing, and was probably attached to it. It 
 gave rise to the practice of anointing the sick still 
 observed in the Romish Church a practice which 
 is now superstitious, because the miraculous 
 efficacy attached to it for a time by divine 
 appointment has manifestly been withdrawn. 
 
 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 Ver. 1429. 
 
 And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread 
 abroad :) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from 
 the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth them- 
 selves in him. Others said, That it is Elias. And others 
 said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. But 
 when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I be- 
 
 d Luke xxii. 35.
 
 Death of John the Baptist. 81 
 
 headed : he is risen from the dead. For Herod himself had 
 sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison 
 for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had 
 married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful 
 for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore Herodias had 
 a quarrel against htm, and would have killed him; but she 
 could not: for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a 
 just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard 
 him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. And when 
 a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made 
 a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of 
 Galilee ; and when tlie daughter of the said Herodias came 
 in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with 
 him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever 
 thou \vilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, 
 Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto 
 the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto 
 her mother, What shall I ask ? And she said, The head of 
 John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste 
 unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by 
 and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the 
 king was exceeding sorry ; yet for his oath's sake, and for 
 their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And 
 immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded 
 his head to be brought : and he went and beheaded him in 
 the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to 
 the damsel : and the damsel gave it to her mother. And 
 when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his 
 corpse, and laid it in a tomb. 
 

 
 82 Death of John the Baptist. 
 
 In so concise a history as that of each Evan- 
 gelist, we are led to expect no more account of 
 John the Baptist, than has reference to Christ 
 and the Gospel. Accordingly, the mention of 
 him is occasional, and .forming nothing like a 
 connected narrative. He is only introduced to 
 our notice as proclaiming the Lord's approach, 
 baptizing him, and bearing testimony to him. 
 
 The more detailed narrative of his birth, and 
 here also of his death, is no exception to the rule 
 which probably guided the sacred penman in 
 selecting their notices of him. They record 
 minutely not only the circumstances of his birth 
 and parentage, but of his death ; as if in contrast 
 with the corresponding portions of the life of 
 Christ. In our Lord's case, each of these periods 
 had been especially marked by the finger of pro- 
 phecy ; and it might have been expedient, not 
 only to testify that these prophecies had been 
 fulfilled in Jesus; but also, that they had not 
 been fulfilled in the other great personage who 
 appeared with him, and whose* appearance had 
 occasioned in some a surmise that he was the 
 Messiah 1 *. Hence, whilst St. Luke, who details 
 b John i. 19.
 
 "Miracle of feeding five thousand. 83 
 
 the circumstances of our Lord's birth and parent- 
 age, relates also the birth and parentage of John, 
 St. Mark only records his death ; because his 
 Gospel contains the narrative of the crucifixion ; 
 but excludes the nativity and parentage of the 
 Saviour. 
 
 MIRACLE OF FEEDING FIVE THOUSAND WITH FIVE 
 LOAVES AND TWO FISHES. 
 
 Ver. 3044. 
 
 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, 
 and told him all things, both what they had done, and what 
 they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye your- 
 selves apart into a desert place, and rest a while : for there 
 were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so 
 much as to eat And they departed into a desert place by 
 ship privately. And the people saw them departing, and 
 many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and 
 outwent them, and came together unto him. And Jesus, 
 when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with 
 compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not 
 having a shepherd : and he began to teach them many things. 
 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto 
 him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far 
 passed : send them away, that they may go into the country 
 round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: 
 for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto 
 them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall 
 G2
 
 4 Miracle of feeding five thousand 
 
 we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give 
 them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye?" 
 go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two 
 jishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by 
 companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in 
 ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken 
 the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, 
 and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his dis- 
 ciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among 
 them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they 
 took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the 
 fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five 
 thousand men. 
 
 This was one of the many miracles which 
 conveyed not only evidence of divine support 
 and sanction vouchsafed to the performer, but a 
 hint that the performer was God incarnate. 
 These miracles evince such a design, from their 
 being plainly identified with some portion of that 
 agency, which Jehovah was known to have 
 claimed as his peculiar and immediate province 
 some act which was referred immediately to 
 Him ; and not to Him through the ministry of 
 his servants. God had given the Israelites 
 manna Jesus gives the multitude miraculous 
 food. Jehovah does it in the wilderness in the
 
 ivithfive loaves and tivofokes. 85 
 
 wilderness too Jesus performs the miracle. 
 More ; he speaks himself of both alike as sym- 
 bols of " the bread of life" the nourishment of 
 the soul in its spiritual growth. To those there- 
 fore who had understanding to receive the hint 
 conveyed by this miracle, his claim must have 
 seemed the same, as it did to the Pharisees when 
 they heard him assert, that c< the Son of man 
 was Lord of the sabbath." 
 
 This miracle had, we know, the effect of pro- 
 ducing an attempt to make him a king, and was 
 the cause of his retiring to a mountain. This 
 fact we learn from St. John '. But it does not 
 therefore follow, that all looked on our Lord's 
 marvellous act in precisely the light in which the 
 preceding remarks place it. Many might have 
 considered it only as affording proof of his power 
 to support an army miraculously, and be led 
 forthwith to hail him confidently as the Messiah ; 
 supposing, as indeed all the Jews did, that the 
 Messiah was to be a temporal prince. 
 
 . . .,' . ; ! >:.' J *7 .">]*. 
 
 - Chap. ri. tf .
 
 86 Christ walking on the sea. 
 
 CHRIST WALKING ON THE SEA. 
 
 Ver. 4552. 
 
 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into 
 the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, 
 while he sent away the people, And when he had sent them 
 away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even 
 was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone 
 on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing ; for the 
 wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch 
 of the night he cometh unto them, walking uoon the sea, and 
 would have passed by them. But when they saw him walk- 
 ing upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and 
 cried out: for they all saw him, and were troubled. And 
 immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of 
 good cheer : it is I ; be not afraid. And he went up unto them 
 into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore 
 amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For 
 they considered not the miracle of the loaves : for their heart 
 was hardened. 
 
 Among the characteristics of Jehovah's power, 
 especially in the language of the Psalms, no one 
 is more prominent than His control of the sea. 
 Sacred literature being the only literature of the 
 Jews, and the Psalms being, one might easily 
 conceive, the more popular portion, these pas- 
 sages must have been familiar to all in a humble
 
 Christ walking on the sea. 87 
 
 walk of life; but most familiar, and most interest- 
 ing, to men whose employment was on the sea. 
 The apostles, therefore, may be supposed to have 
 seen Christ walking on the sea, with more than 
 the feelings awakened by another miracle. The 
 act was doubtless associated in their minds with 
 many a pious meditation in which they had in- 
 dulged, while toiling peaceably with their nets, 
 or struggling against the storm. How often 
 must they have called to mind the language of 
 inspiration! " Thy way is in the sea, and thy 
 path in the great waters." " The Lord is 
 mightier than the mighty waves'"." How often 
 must their hearts and lips have appealed to 
 Him, as the only Being who could avert their 
 perils, and bless their labours ! 
 
 The words of Jesus to them, while performing 
 the miracle, would be likely to confirm any such 
 spontaneous suggestions ; and were doubtless de- 
 signed to do so. In the original they are, " Be 
 of good cheer, I AM f ." Now I AM, you may 
 remember, was the title which Jehovah had given 
 to himself when he sent Moses to the Israelites. 
 " And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I 
 
 * Psalm Ixxvii. 19. and $ciii. 4. ' 0{m, iy* ufu.
 
 88 Christ's popularity. 
 
 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 ? ." Ac- 
 cordingly, when Jesus made use of the same 
 expression to the Scribes and Pharisees, and told 
 them, " Before Abraham was, I AM," they con- 
 sidered it blasphemy, and would have stoned 
 him forthwith, had he not hid himself h . 
 
 CHRIST'S POPULARITY. 
 
 Ver. 5356. 
 
 And when they had passed over, they came into the land 
 of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were 
 come out of the ship, straightway they knew him, and ran 
 through that whole region round about, and began to carry 
 about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. 
 And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or coun- 
 try, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that 
 they might touch if it were but the border of his garment : and 
 as many as touched him were made whole. 
 
 From the eagerness here displayed to receive the 
 benefit of Christ's miraculous agency, it appears 
 * Exodus iii. 13, 14. h j h n v iu. 53, 59.
 
 Christ's popularity. 89 
 
 that the effect of the miracle of the loaves and 
 fishes could not have immediately subsided. It is 
 probable, that in this, as in many other instances, 
 persons were convinced by miracles, who after- 
 wards fell off from the faith. " Many of his 
 disciples," on one occasion, " went back, and 
 walked no more with him';" and this was doubt- 
 less the fate of great numbers. " Ye are they," 
 said our Lord to his apostles towards the close 
 of his ministry, " Ye are they who have con* 
 tinned with me in my temptations k ." Where 
 belief was felt and professed, the danger and 
 trial were not past. It was requisite that our 
 Lord should pray for Peter, who had been fore- 
 most in confessing him to be the Christ, that his 
 faith might not fail him. The Devil, then, as 
 now, was ready to pluck the word out of the 
 heart of the unimproving believer to make the 
 last state of many worse than the first. 
 
 1 John vi. 66. k Luke xxii. 28.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PHARISAICAL ABUSE OF THE LAW. 
 
 Ver. 123. 
 
 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of 
 the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they 
 saw some of his disciples eat bread with denied, that is to say, 
 with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, 
 and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, 
 holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come 
 from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many 
 other things there be, which they have received to hold, as 
 the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. 
 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy 
 disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread 
 with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, 
 Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, 
 This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is 
 far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching 
 for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside 
 the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as 
 the washing of pots and cups : and many other such like 
 things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the 
 commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
 
 The Pharisaical abuse of the Law. 9 1 
 
 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, 
 Whoso curse th father or mother, let him die the death : but 
 ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is 
 ('urban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be 
 profited by me ; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more 
 to do ought for his father or his mother ; making the word of 
 God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have 
 delivered : and many such like things do ye. And when he 
 had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, 
 Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand : there is 
 nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile 
 him : but the things which come out of him, those are the v 
 that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him 
 hear. And when he was entered into the house from the 
 people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And 
 he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? 
 Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without en- 
 tereth into the man, it cannot defile him ; because it entereth 
 not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the 
 draught, purging all meats ? And he said, That which cometh 
 out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out 
 of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornica- 
 tions, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, las- 
 civiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all 
 these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST'S mission appears, from the 
 terms of Malachi's prophecy a , to have had in 
 1 Chap. iv. 4, 5, 6.
 
 92 The Pharisaical abuse of the Law. 
 
 view mainly, the correction of the false views 
 which Were taken of the Mosaic dispensation. 
 He was the restorer of the Law to its natural and 
 true character and interpretation ; the great 
 doctors and guides of the nation having perverted 
 it by means of their unauthenticated traditions. 
 Through this method of expounding Scripture they 
 had made the word of God of none effect ; first, 
 by considering the forms and ceremonies of the 
 Jewish dispensation as an ultimate end, and 
 effectual in themselves, without reference to the 
 morality and true inward religion which they 
 were designed to aid, and keep up : secondly, by 
 obscuring and destroying the prophetic picture 
 exhibited in them, whereby our Lord was to be 
 recognized when he came as their promised Mes- 
 siah. Hence their obstinate blindness to his 
 miracles, and their persevering expectation of a 
 temporal ruler and deliverer. 
 
 The origin of these traditions is uncertain. 
 They appear to have been the gradual accumula- 
 tion of commentaries originally, perhaps, useful 
 and judicious, but in time mixed with bolder and 
 more independent speculations, as the temptation 
 to introduce them became greater, from the in-
 
 The Pharisaical abuse of the Law. 93 
 
 creased authority of traditional law. They bear 
 a very close analogy to the traditions of the 
 Romish Church. 
 
 Many allusions are found in the Evangelists 
 to the observance of this traditional religion, 
 which constituted the Pharisaical claim to supe- 
 rior righteousness. Of those contained in the 
 passage now read, the only one which requires 
 explanation is the evasion of the duty of support- 
 ing a parent ; by saying, that the means which 
 you would otherwise employ for that purpose were 
 corban, or a gift to God. It appears to have been 
 a practice with those who were unwilling to sup- 
 port their parents, to dedicate their property^-to 
 make a sort of reversion of it -to the service of 
 God ; which , by the sanction of the traditional 
 comments on their Law, left them free to use it 
 whilst in their owtt hands. 
 
 Concerning the effect of the outward piety 
 which tradition allowed to be substituted for 
 inward holiness, it deserves to be noticed, that 
 tradition was thereby not only a cause why the 
 Messiah was not recognized ; but presented a 
 strong obstacle to the reception of the evangelical 
 tenets. Of Christ's preaching, the very founda-
 
 94 Cure of the Syrophcenician woman. 
 
 tion doctrine was that of the atonement. Now to 
 men, who, like the Pharisees, were accustomed, 
 by laborious and exact external observances, to 
 be in their own eyes, in the eyes of others, and, 
 as they thought, in the sight of God, laying up in 
 store enough, and more than enough, merit, and 
 advancing day by day from superior to supreme 
 holiness, nothing could be more mortifying and 
 unacceptable than the doctrine of the atonement. 
 To be told that all, even the best, required the sacri- 
 fice of the Son of God for the remission of sins ; 
 that their pardon was a gift, not a right ; that, as 
 sinners, not as righteous men, they were invited 
 into the kingdom of their Messiah ; was a view of 
 that glorious period and personage from which 
 they at once averted their eyes. Heavier burthens 
 than those which they already submitted to. they 
 would have borne; but to be told that these 
 burthens were worse than useless, was intole- 
 rable. 
 
 CURE OF THE SYROPHffiNICIAN WOMAN. 
 
 Ver. 2430. 
 
 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of 
 Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have 
 no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain
 
 Cure of the Syrophcenician woman. 95 
 
 woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of 
 him, and came and fell at his feet: the woman was a Greek, 
 a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he 
 would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus 
 said unto her, Let the children first be filled : for it is not 
 meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 
 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the 
 dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he 
 said unto her, For this saying go thy way ; the devil is gone 
 out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, 
 she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the 
 bed. 
 
 The peculiar character of this miracle arises 
 from the object of the Saviour's mercy being 
 not only a Gentile, but one of the impious and 
 impure race of Canaan b . The delay which 
 Christ makes before performing it, as well as his 
 declarations and hints, all doubtless were intended 
 to direct the attention of the by-standers to this 
 circumstance, and thereby to convey to them his 
 first notice of the conversion of the Gentiles. 
 
 Two points about the probable origin and 
 nature of this woman's faith deserve to be 
 noticed. 
 
 The first is contained in the terms of her address 
 
 b See Bp. Horsley's Sermons, serm. xxxvii. and xxxviii.
 
 96 Cure of the Syrophcenician womcm. 
 
 to Jesus, which are omitted by St. Mark, but 
 will be found in St. Matthew's narrative of the 
 transaction ''. Her words were, " Have mercy on 
 me, Lord, thou Son of David." Now this denotes 
 that the woman was acquainted with the Jewish 
 Scriptures probably was a proselyte of the gate, 
 or devout Gentile : and that, from these Scrip- 
 tures, she, by candid and patient inquiry, had 
 elicited a truth, which was long a secret to the 
 apostles themselves. The passage of Scripture, 
 to which she evidently alludes in her address, is 
 that same with which the Lord afterwards con- 
 founded the Pharisees and scribes; "The Lord 
 said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 
 till I make thine enemies thy footstool ;" and if 
 the use of these words was the evidence of the 
 woman's faith, which recommended her to the 
 Lord, they must have been so used, as to indicate 
 that she had understood their true import. 
 
 The faith however which was most extraordinary 
 in her case, and which was directed to an object 
 still longer hid from the apostles themselves, was, 
 that the Gentiles were to be saved by David's 
 Lord and Son. How had she learnt this? It 
 
 b Chap. xv. 22. c L u k e xx . 42, 43.
 
 Cure of the Syrophcenician woman. 97 
 
 cannot be thought improbable, that she might 
 have been among those who had witnessed the 
 miracle of the loaves and fishes recorded in the 
 preceding chapter. If so, this might have 
 rendered her insight into the true explanation of 
 prophecy, even in opposition to the glosses of the 
 Jewish doctors, more easy. Our Saviour's words 
 do indeed seem to convey a hint of this. In that 
 miracle, it is to be observed, he not only supplied 
 bread for the multitude, but caused the " crumbs 
 that fell," the remains, to amount to far more 
 than the original little stock of provision out of 
 which the whole had miraculously grown. What 
 appears to have been primarily intended by the 
 miracle has been already shewn. It was one of 
 many, which indicate the character of God 
 manifest in the flesh. It was intended to convey 
 that impression, and to a candid mind it would 
 convey it. What if it did convey it to the 
 humble unprejudiced mind of this woman ? What 
 if it caused her, to return to her home intent on 
 searching the Scriptures, and from that search 
 afterwards to address Jesus as David's Lord and 
 Son? Even supposing that she had not discovered 
 from those Scriptures that the call of the Gentiles
 
 98 Oure of the Syrophoenician woman. 
 
 was predestined from the foundation of the world, 
 she would now have ascertained from the com- 
 bined evidence of Scripture and miracle, that it 
 was a manifestation of Jehovah to whom she 
 was applying the all-merciful, and the all- 
 powerful. 
 
 All this is by no means improbable ; and if 
 true, our Saviour's trial of her faith was put in 
 terms peculiarly appropriate. His words to her 
 hint at the miraculous scene of the loaves multi- 
 plied and the many fed, in a way which would 
 naturally make her remember the " seven baskets 
 of the fragments which were over and above," and 
 give a meaning to the circumstance even beyond 
 that perhaps which it was originally designed to 
 convey. Besides the bread of life and mercy which 
 supplied all who were the immediate objects of 
 the miracle, there was in reserve an abundance 
 more. There were twelve baskets full of the 
 fragments. Her deep interest in the question 
 might have roused her mind to its utmost acute- 
 ness and it is astonishing how much piety, 
 like every strong feeling, sharpens the intellect 
 and when told that Christ's bread was intended 
 for the children only, with a ready conviction
 
 Cure of him who was deaf. 99 
 
 and earnest hope, she might have alluded to 
 those fragments which were carefully gathered 
 up not to be lost not to be thrown away 
 but designed for some to eat, the original objects 
 of his bounty having had enough. Her train of 
 thought seems to run thus, " Lord, thou needest 
 not cast the children's bread to the dogs, they 
 have enough provided ; but there is still some 
 left, and the dogs may eat the crumbs that fall 
 from the master's table." 
 
 This view receives confirmation from the nar- 
 rative contained in chapter viii. 14 21. At all 
 events no one can reasonably doubt, that the re- 
 ward of the woman's faith applied to her belief in 
 Christ's power to shew mercy to the Gentiles also. 
 
 CURB OF HIM WHO WAS DEAF, AND HAD AN 
 IMPEDIMENT IN HIS SPEECH. 
 
 Ver. 3137. 
 
 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, 
 he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the 
 coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that 
 was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech ; and they 
 beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him 
 aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, 
 and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to 
 H 2
 
 100 Cure of him who was deaf. 
 
 heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, 
 Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and 
 the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 
 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but 
 the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal 
 they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, 
 saying, He hath done all things well : he maketh both the 
 deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. 
 
 The expression this miracle called forth, " he 
 doeth all things well," must be interpreted of our 
 Lord's duly fulfilling the prophetic marks of the 
 Messiah. Of these, none could have been more 
 known than those given by Isaiah concerning the 
 cure of the deaf, and dumb, and lame d ; and as 
 he did not wish to reveal himself to the multitude, 
 he accordingly performed this miracle apart, and 
 forbad its being published. It will be observed, 
 that both instances of his feeding the multitude 
 miraculously are followed up by cases of blindness 
 cured. The probable object of this will be more 
 apparent in the next, and therefore more explicit, 
 miraculous act. 
 
 d . Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MIRACLE OF FEEDING FOUR THOUSAND WITH SEVEN 
 LOAVES AND A FEW SMALL FISHES. 
 
 Ver. 121. 
 
 In those days, the multitude being very great, and hav- 
 ing nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, 
 and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, 
 because they have now been with me three days, and have 
 nothing to eat : and if I send them away fasting to their own 
 houses, they will faint by the way : for divers of them came 
 from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can 
 a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 
 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they 
 said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on 
 the ground : and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, 
 and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them ; and 
 they did set them before the people. And they had a few 
 small fishes : and he blessed, and commanded to set them also 
 before them. So they did eat, and were filled : and they took 
 up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they 
 that had eaten were about four thousand : and he sent them 
 away. And straightway he entered into a ship with his <lis-
 
 102 Miracle of feeding four thousand 
 
 ciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha. And the 
 Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seek- 
 ing of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed 
 deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek 
 after a sign ? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be 
 given unto this generation. And he left them, and entering 
 into the ship again departed to the other side. Now the 
 disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the 
 ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, 
 saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and 
 of the leaven of Herod, And they reasoned among them- 
 selves, saying, It is because we have no bread. And when 
 Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because 
 ye have no bread ? perceive ye not yet, neither understand ? 
 have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? 
 and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? 
 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many 
 baskets full of fragments took ye up ? They say unto him, 
 Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how 
 many baskets full of fragments took ye up ? And they said, 
 Seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not 
 understand ? 
 
 FOR the instruction of his disciples, as well as 
 for the relief of the multitude, Christ, we see, a 
 second time performs the miracle of feeding 
 numbers with a few loaves and fishes in a desert 
 place ; and follows it up, according to his usual 
 mode of instruction, with a hint to them, ta
 
 with seven loaves and a few small fishes. 103 
 
 avoid the prejudiced view of God's dealings and 
 promises exhibited in the conduct of the Pha- 
 risees. The connection between the caution and 
 the miracle, is marked by the terms of the cau- 
 tion being derived from the circumstances of the 
 miracle; " Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." 
 Now no feature of this Pharisaical " leaven" 
 was more apparent, throughout the early progress 
 of Christianity, than their prejudice against the 
 admission of the Gentiles to a full participation 
 of the privileges of God's elect. Their view of 
 the prophecies concerning the call of the Gentiles 
 was thoroughly darkened. The particular pre- 
 judice indeed which they, on this occasion, be- 
 trayed, was that of being content with no sign, 
 but the sign, which they literally interpreted 
 from Daniel, to be the appearance of the Messiah 
 in the sky. But this was only one instance of 
 a general principle of erroneous interpretation 
 and intellectual blindness ; against the chief fea- 
 ture of which the symbolical language of the 
 miracle was directed. Having then twice per- 
 formed a miracle with the same import the 
 fragments of the loaves and fishes having been 
 twice, by express order, gathered up, to an
 
 104 Miracle of feeding four thousand. 
 
 amount incalculably greater than was the ori- 
 ginal stock of provision the Syrophoenician 
 Gentile having seen through the meaning of it 
 all, and her faith having been publicly noticed, 
 commended, and rewarded j well might the Lord 
 express his marvel at the dulness of his apostles, 
 when he advanced one step beyond the miracle, 
 and connected it with a hint about the conduct 
 of the Pharisees, without being yet understood. 
 " Perceive ye not yet, neither understand?" ex- 
 claims he ; " have ye your heart yet hardened? 
 having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye 
 not? and do ye not remember?" He then calls to 
 their mind the former miracle, which was supposed 
 to have excited the belief of the Syrophcenician 
 woman, as well as this which he had, so lately 
 performed ; and the only question about each is, 
 " How many baskets full of fragments took ye 
 up?" They answered by a simple statement of 
 the number of baskets, without evincing that they 
 had gathered any thing from the fact; and caused 
 our Saviour to close the conversation, with the 
 same remark of mingled surprise and censure 
 with which he commenced it, " How is it that ye 
 do not understand?" Understand thev did not
 
 Cure of the blind man. 105 
 
 until St. Peter's vision ; nor was the Church fully 
 reconciled to the new doctrine, until long after 
 St. Paul's ministry had commenced. 
 
 CURE OF THE BLIND MAN. 
 
 Ver. 2226. 
 
 And he cometh to Bethsaida ; and they bring a blind man 
 unto him, and besought him to toutli him. And he took the 
 blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town ; and 
 when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, ho 
 asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I 
 see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again 
 upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, 
 and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his 
 house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in 
 the town. 
 
 This miraculous cure of a blind man has an 
 evident allusion to the dulness of our Lord's dis- 
 ciples, which was noticed in the last section. 
 In reference to this he had asked them, Having 
 eyes see ye not ? and having ears hear ye not ? 
 and do ye not remember ? When I brake the five 
 loaves among five thousand, how many baskets 
 full of fragments took ye up? And they said, 
 Twelve. And he said unto them, How is it that ye 
 do not understand ? The very slow and gradual
 
 106 , Oure of the blind man. 
 
 way too in which his miracle of healing the bodily 
 infirmity of the blind man was performed, itself 
 indicates this intended analogy. At first, the blind 
 man looks up, and sees men as trees walking ; 
 and it is only in a further stage of the miracle 
 that he sees plainly. Now with miracles per- 
 formed on the blind and deaf, the apostles had by 
 this time become familiar. The secondary appli- 
 cation too of these miracles the hints they con- 
 veyed of what our Lord was doing for the minds 
 and hearts of men they must by this time have 
 well understood. But in the present instance, the 
 application of the miracle to their case more 
 especially was intimated by the terms of the 
 reproof which he had just before given them. 
 " Having eyes do ye not see ?" They were there- 
 fore, one would think, led forcibly to attach a 
 meaning to a feature in this miracle, which dis- 
 tinguished it from other similar cases of sight 
 restored ; and to suspect, that the peculiarity was 
 intended to point at them, and at that dulness 
 which had lately called forth such strong expres- 
 sions from our Lord. Nothing perhaps more 
 required to be impressed on their minds, than that 
 while Jesus was commending and rewarding their
 
 St. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ. 107 
 
 faith, by clearer and clearer revelation ; they were 
 still to be on the alert about discovering the whole 
 truth that their faith, until they should arrive 
 at the perfect man, was even like the slow-coming 
 vision of this blind man restored to sight, and the 
 objects of it like the men which he saw as trees 
 walking. 
 
 ST. PETER'S CONFESSION THAT JESUS WAS THE 
 CHRIST. 
 
 Ver. 2738. 
 
 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of 
 Caesarea Philippi : and by the way he asked his disciples, 
 saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they 
 answered, John the Baptist : but some gay, Elias ; and others, 
 One of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom say 
 ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, 
 Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should 
 tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, that the 
 Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the 
 elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and 
 after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. 
 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he 
 had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked 
 Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan : for thou savourest 
 not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. 
 And when he had called the people unto him with his dis- 
 ciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, 
 let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
 
 108 St. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ. 
 
 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever 
 shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall 
 save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the 
 whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give 
 in exchange for his soul ? Whosoever therefore shall be 
 ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful 
 generation ; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, 
 when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy 
 
 From this passage we find, that the cure of the 
 blind man was followed up by questions from our 
 Lord to his apostles respecting their faith in him, 
 and a freer communication of light to them, " He 
 spake that saying openly." The truth of the 
 lesson conveyed by the miracle is here fully ex- 
 emplified in St. Peter's behaviour, even with all 
 the striking admonitions and reproofs yet sound- 
 ing in his ears. " Whom say ye that I am?" 
 asked Christ. Was he John the Baptist? as some 
 supposed. .Elias? as others thought. One of the 
 prophets ? according to a third surmise. No ; 
 " Thou art the Christ," exclaimed St. Peter. 
 His eyes were opened, and he saw but what? 
 Only, as it were, the blind man's first imperfect 
 vision the objects of faith confused and indis- 
 tinct. He discovered thus much, that his Master
 
 St. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ. 109 
 
 was the Christ ; but when the discourse turned 
 on other features of the scheme of redemption, no 
 less essential in the prophetic picture when 
 Christ talked of the* Son of man suffering being 
 rejected by the chief priests and elders put to 
 death and rising on the third day he could see 
 nothing of all this. His mind, like the eyes of 
 the blind man gradually acquiring sight, embraced 
 a view of the Messiah, which was only partial, 
 and in shadowy outline. He interrupted our 
 Lord, and forbad him to proceed ; and drew on 
 himself the harsh rebuke, " Get thee behind me, 
 Satan : for thou savourest not the things that be 
 of God, but the things that be of men." 
 
 It would seem from all this, that, although 
 faith was made a requisite preparatory to all 
 the blessings of the new dispensation, yet this 
 faith has ^>y no means always had the same 
 object. And how could it? To him that had, 
 to him was to be given. Faith, according to the 
 light afforded, was requisite at baptism ; but the 
 baptized afterwards had their eyes continually 
 opened to fresh truths ; every new one, a reward 
 of the faith exercised on the preceding object 
 which had been presented to it. Is it not so even
 
 110 St. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ. 
 
 now ? Who shall say, under his particular circum- 
 stances, what faith will be necessary for his salva- 
 tion ? That which enabled the leper to receive a 
 cure of his visitation was faith, faith in our 
 Saviour; but if he paused there, a worse thing 
 was likely to come upon him. St. Peter's ac- 
 knowledgment of our Lord that he was the 
 Christ was faith, and faith in Christ ; but what 
 was then commended in the apostle, would have 
 been too slender a stock for his salvation, had he, 
 under his after circumstances, never advanced 
 beyond it. Judas must have had faith in Christ; 
 else he would not have followed him so constantly; 
 but his faith did not enlarge and keep pace with 
 his circumstances ; and he, we know, perished. 
 That view again, which was great and glorious for 
 John the Baptist, was blindness, and like the im- 
 perfect sight of him who saw men as trees walk- 
 ing, in one of the least in the kingdom of heaven. 
 Let every one therefore examine himself not only 
 to ascertain whether he is in the faith, but whether 
 that faith embraces as much religious knowledge 
 as may be expected of him.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PROMISE OR PREDICTION THAT SOME THEN 
 
 PRESENT SHOULD LIVE TO SEE CHRIST'S 
 
 KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 
 
 Ver. 1. 
 
 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there 
 be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of 
 death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with 
 power. 
 
 No part of Christ's prophetic language has 
 more perplexed Christians than the expressions 
 concerning his speedy coming. Even in the 
 inspired age, as we find from St. Paul's second 
 Epistle to the Thessalonians a , the apostles them- 
 selves, by adopting the same language, raised 
 expectations in some, which it was requisite 
 afterwards to correct and qualify. In later times, 
 the obvious defect of a fulfilment of these 
 promises, in the sense which might otherwise be 
 attached to them, has led to a twofold interpre- 
 Chap. ii.
 
 112 The promise that some present 
 
 tation of these expressions ; and has obliged us 
 to solve the difficulty, by supposing that, in the 
 less obvious meaning of these words, Christ has 
 come, and his kingdom has been established ; 
 whilst, in a more literal and a more perfect sense, 
 he is yet to come and to reign. 
 
 Accordingly, in the present prediction, com- 
 mentators generally agree, that the coming of 
 God's kingdom in power alluded to the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem ; and identify with this the 
 promise recorded elsewhere as made to St. John 
 especially, that he should " tarry until his Lord 
 should come 1 '." The fact that St. John sur- 
 vived that great event, and that the event itself 
 has appeared worthy of being denoted by the 
 expression of " the Son of man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory," 
 are very plausibly alleged in support of this 
 view. 
 
 And yet, with respect to the application of the 
 " sign of the Son of man in heaven," to the 
 destruction of the holy city, it may be questioned 
 whether we are altogether warranted in so readily 
 adopting it. Our Lord, in his use of the words, 
 b John xxi. 22, 23.
 
 should see Christ's kingdom established, 113 
 
 certainly has reference to the event ; but it is 
 more accordant with the truth, and at least 
 equally so with his language, to suppose that 
 the destruction of Jerusalem was not the object 
 of his coming, but the sign that he had come ; 
 inasmuch as it involved the abolition of the tem- 
 ple service, and thereby supposed the establish- 
 ment of a new dispensation. 
 
 Now as the former dispensation was a theo- 
 cracy, this latter is naturally described under the 
 same image. Indeed it was actually, we know, 
 expected, that there should be a revival of that 
 same extraordinary Providence which marked 
 God's former government ; and which naturally 
 belonged to it, although the Jews had for some 
 time provoked God to withdraw it; or else, God 
 had seen good to discontinue it for certain wise 
 ends. Such an expectation, for example, appears 
 in the question once put to our Saviour by his 
 own apostles, " Lord, wilt thou at this time 
 restore the kingdom to Israel 1 ?" and it was in this 
 way, no doubt, that even the more enlightened 
 reconciled the two conflicting truths, that the 
 
 e Acts i. 6. 
 i
 
 114 The promise that some present 
 
 Messiah was to be " Immanuel," and yet a 
 temporal governor. 
 
 This view then of the Messiah's character and 
 kingdom being, not indeed correct, but only in 
 part incorrect, our Lord does not wholly dis- 
 courage the language which was so held respect- 
 ing him ; but only qualifies it with such hints as 
 might serve to clear up what was erroneous in it. 
 When asked, " Wilt thou at this time restore the 
 kingdom to Israel?" he replied, " It is not for 
 you to know the times or the seasons, which the 
 Father hath put in his own power." He speaks 
 himself of his kingdom soon coming, and of his 
 being a king ; but this he does so as to indicate, 
 that the future theocracy in the true Israel the 
 new kingdom of God was to be materially dif- 
 ferent from the former. True, it was to be re- 
 stored God's kingdom was to come again ; and 
 his disciples were taught to pray for it in those 
 words of the prayer which he gave them, " thy 
 kingdom come ;" and in this passage of St. 
 Mark we are told, that certain persons then alive 
 and with him, were taught to expect that they 
 should witness the event before their death. But 
 then, all this was designed to be qualified with
 
 should see Christ's kingdom established. 1 1 5 
 
 the remarks which he elsewhere makes, that " his 
 kingdom was not of this world ;" whereas the 
 former theocracy was ; that the new " kingdom 
 of God came not by observation," whereas the 
 former came with the lightnings of Mount Sinai, 
 and was throughout addressed palpably to the 
 senses ; men walking under it by sight, and not 
 by faith. He tells his hearers again, that this 
 kingdom was ivithin them; that is, not, as before, 
 consisting in rule and government administered 
 from external sources and through the mediation 
 of others, but by the indwelling of the Spirit, 
 within its new temple. It was from that shrine 
 that the new Paraclete was to answer when called 
 on it was in that kingdom the new guide and 
 governor was to reign. 
 
 This is really what seems to be meant by 
 " Christ's coming." The full establishment of 
 his Holy Spirit's dispensation was the coming of 
 his kingdom. Let us only compare with these 
 expressions, the language which he holds when 
 confessedly speaking of the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost, and it will be evident that this was 
 meant. " I will not leave you comfortless, I will 
 come unto you." " If a man love me, he will 
 i 2
 
 116 The promise that some present 
 
 keep my words : and my Father will love him, 
 and we will come unto him, and make our abode 
 with him d ." So too St. John, in hailing the final 
 establishment of that kingdom into which it had 
 been granted him to see his Lord so come, ex- 
 claims, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus 6 ." 
 
 Nor is there any sufficient reason why we 
 should affix a different interpretation to the ex- 
 pression, when it occurs elsewhere in the Gospel 
 histories. For, if it be sometimes used in re- 
 ference to the condition of the Church in a 
 future state, when the theocracy shall be no 
 longer " without observation," but the Christian 
 shall see his Lord and God " face to face," as it 
 were still, as far as this state is one of a divine 
 government, it may be considered as really only 
 a continuing of the Church's present state. The 
 difference consists, perhaps, not in any new rela- 
 tion in which we shall be placed, but in a clearer 
 perception of our present relations ; and through 
 this, and the increasing strength of God's grace, 
 a perfect security may be furnished against violat- 
 ing the duties which flow from those relations. 
 
 d John xiv. 18, 23. Revelations xxii. 20.
 
 should see Christ's kingdom established. 1 1 7 
 
 From the passage of St. Mark now read, it 
 appears, that, of our Lord's hearers, there were 
 others besides St. John, who were permitted to 
 see the new kingdom of God the latter theocracy 
 the dispensation, in short, under which the 
 Christian Church still is a kingdom in which 
 our divine Ruler's influence and government is 
 insensible, spiritual, within us, and only known 
 by its results. 
 
 THE TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
 Ver. 2 8. 1113. 
 
 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and 
 James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain 
 apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. 
 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; 
 so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared 
 unto them Elias with Moses : and they were talking with 
 Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is 
 good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; 
 one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he 
 wist not what to say ; for they were sore afraid. And there 
 was a cloud that overshadowed them : and a voice came out 
 of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. 
 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw 
 
 no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And 
 
 they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must 
 first come? And he answered and told them, Elias verily
 
 118 The Transfiguration. 
 
 cometh first, and restoreth all things ; and how it is written^ 
 of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and b& 
 set at nought. But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed 
 come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, 
 as it is written of him. 
 
 By connecting the narrative of this mysterious 
 event with the passages immediately preceding, 
 some probable view may be given of its object, 
 considered as a part of the Saviour's ministry. 
 
 In verses 27 29 we read of the disciples 
 reporting to Christ the various conjectures abroad 
 respecting him that he was John Baptist raised 
 from the dead Elias one of the prophets. 
 Now of these floating rumours, there were two 
 which had their foundation in Scripture. Before 
 the coming of the Messiah, Elias was, according 
 to Malachi's prediction, destined to visit Israel, 
 and to restore all things f . Again, the coming of 
 the Messiah himself, was shadowed forth under a 
 still darker type of the raising up of one like 
 unto Moses * ; and this is alluded to in the ex- 
 pression " that prophet," or " the prophet." 
 
 It is not impossible indeed that, joining the 
 prophecy with the recorded fact of Moses, like 
 ' Chap. iv. 5, 6. Deut. xviii. 15.
 
 The Transfiguration . 119 
 
 Elias, having no earthly remains to be traced 1 ', 
 the Jews might have supposed Moses like Elias 
 to have been taken up into heaven, and, like 
 him, designed to be restored to them on the 
 restoration of their theocracy. Against this vague 
 view of the prophet's language then, the glorious 
 scene of the Transfiguration might have been di- 
 rected. St. Peter had evinced faith enough when 
 the apostles were asked, " And whom say ye that 
 I am?" to reply, "the Christ;" but it by no means 
 followed that this confusion of thought was re- 
 moved even from his mind. To improve then, 
 as well as to reward, his incipient faith, 
 and the faith of the other apostles, Elias and 
 Moses were miraculously exhibited to their view. 
 This must have convinced them, that Elias did 
 not really come in the person of John the Baptist, 
 any more than that Jesus was only Moses re- 
 vived ; and hence the question that followed the 
 spectacle, " Why say the scribes that Elias must 
 first come?" Hence, too, as Christ could now 
 apply the prophecy to John without danger of 
 misapprehension, he tells them, that in his coming 
 the prophecy was fulfilled. 
 
 " Deut. xxxiv. 6.
 
 120 The Transfiguration. 
 
 But the more important object of the vision 
 seems to have been, not that which warned the 
 apostles against identifying John with Elias, or 
 Jesus with Moses ; but that which confirmed 
 St. Peter's assertion that Jesus was the Christ. 
 A change came over the Lord, " he was trans- 
 figured before them. And his raiment became 
 shining, exceeding white as snow ; so as no fuller 
 on earth can white them." This mysterious 
 brightness was of course the shechinah the 
 glory the well-understood emblem of divine 
 manifestation. On two favoured servants of 
 God this mark of His presence was known to 
 have rested, and on two only on Moses after 
 he came down from Mount Sinai, and his face so 
 shone that he wore a vail ll ; on Elias, or Elijah, 
 when he was borne away from mortal sight, 
 seated on a cloud so irradiated. By these very 
 marks, no doubt, the disciples recognized Moses 
 and Elias, whom they had never seen, but with 
 whom, so characterized, their Scriptures made 
 them acquainted. They now saw them " in 
 glory" to these servants of God, even as to 
 Jesus, the shechinah was attached. Were they 
 " Exodus xxxiv. 33.
 
 The Transfiguration. 121 
 
 then Immanuels too? Were they (their hearts 
 might have suggested) to be considered as Beings 
 of the same order as their Master? The sug- 
 gestion was natural, and seems to have been 
 anticipated, by the voice that told them, " This 
 is my beloved Son, hear him." Twice to our 
 Lord this glory had been attached, and on each 
 occasion that same voice accompanied it, to 
 guard against the possibility of supposing, that in 
 his case it denoted no more than in the case of 
 Elias or Moses. This was the great object of 
 the Transfiguration. It declared Jesus to be, 
 not like Elias, or like Moses, an inspired man 
 but the Immanuel the Christ him anointed 
 with the Holy Ghost the Son of God 1 . And 
 
 ' This expression must be interpreted by reference to a 
 common Hebrew idiom, the application of which was very 
 wide, and extended alike to inanimate and animate objects. 
 Thus, Isaiah xxi. 10. " O my threshing, and the corn of 
 my floor," is in the original, " the son of my floor." On 
 this principle we meet with " the son of perdition," " the son 
 of peace," " the sons of disobedience," and the like. The 
 analogous expression of the Son of God can only in fairness 
 be interpreted in like manner to mean a divine man an Im- 
 manuel.
 
 122 Scruples of the apostles. 
 
 hence its place in the sacred narrative is imme- 
 diately after the Lord's conversation with the 
 apostles about the rumours afloat concerning him, 
 and St. Peter's confession that he was the Christ. 
 Hence too it is followed up by the same injunc- 
 tion as that confession, that they should not 
 make it known publicly. Hence too it seems to 
 have led, as in the former case, to hints of his 
 death and resurrection. 
 
 That the apostles, however, should at first 
 have considered it as the opening scene of God's 
 new kingdom, and have therefore suggested the 
 erection of the three tabernacles, is natural when 
 we look back to the discourse of our Lord which 
 had but just before taken place respecting his 
 " coming in the glory of his Father," and his 
 promise that some present should witness it 
 during their natural lives. 
 
 SCRUPLE OF THE APOSTLES RESPECTING THE PRE- 
 DICTED BETRAYAL, DEATH, AND RESUR- 
 RECTION OF CHRIST. 
 
 Ver. 9, 10. 3032. 
 
 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged 
 them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, 
 till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept
 
 Scruples of the apostles. 123 
 
 that saying with themselves, questioning one with another 
 what the rising from the dead should mean. And they de- 
 parted thence, and passed through Galilee ; and he would not 
 that any man should know it. For he taught 'his disciples, 
 and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the 
 hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is 
 killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not 
 that saying, and were afraid to ask him. 
 
 This scruple of the apostles, respecting the 
 predicted betrayal, death, and resurrection of 
 Christ, is easily understood, when we remember 
 that, even after our Lord's death, they continued 
 to harp on the prophecies respecting his king- 
 dom, as if that kingdom were to be a temporal 
 one. In what way they were probably led to 
 reconcile this with the admitted marks of a 
 divine nature manifested in the person of their 
 Master, has been already suggested, and may 
 perhaps be a satisfactory solution of that which 
 otherwise seems an unaccountable blindness and 
 dulness on their part k . 
 
 k Seepage 113.
 
 124 Miraculous cure of a child 
 
 MIRACULOUS CURE OF A CHILD POSSESSED BY A 
 DUMB SPIRIT. 
 
 Ver. 1429. 
 
 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multi- 
 tude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. 
 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were 
 greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked 
 the scribes, What question ye with them ? And one of the 
 multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto 
 thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit ; and wheresoever he 
 taketh him, he teareth him : and he foameth, and gnasheth 
 with his teeth, and pineth away : and I spake to thy dis- 
 ciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. 
 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how 
 long shall I be with you ? how long shall I suffer you ? bring 
 him unto me. And they brought him unto him : and when 
 he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him ; and he fell on 
 the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, 
 How long is it ago since this came unto him ? And he said, 
 Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and 
 into the waters, to destroy him : but if thou canst do any 
 thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto 
 him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that 
 believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, 
 and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 
 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he 
 rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf 
 spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into
 
 possessed by a dumb spirit. 125 
 
 him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out 
 of him : and he was as one dead ; insomuch that many said, 
 He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him 
 up ; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, 
 his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him 
 out? And he saith unto them, This kind can come forth by 
 nothing, but by prayer and fasting. 
 
 Other similar miracles are recorded of our 
 Saviour, and have been already sufficiently the 
 subject of remark, to omit all that applies to this 
 in common with them : as, for instance, that it 
 may be classed among those which were typical of 
 a moral cure of the heart, when labouring under 
 a dumbness and a deafness, worse than the bodily 
 infirmity inflicted by Satan ; or again, that it 
 was performed in a way to denote the real agency 
 of the Devil, and to prove that Christ, by ex- 
 pelling him from his dominion over men's bodies, 
 was both willing and able to save to the utter- 
 most, even from his dominion over the soul, those 
 who came unto him. 
 
 What I should select as the peculiar and cha- 
 racteristic feature in this, is contained in the as- 
 sertion, "this kind can come forth by nothing, 
 but by prayer and fasting." These words seem
 
 126 Miraculous cure of a child. 
 
 to convey a hint of the essential difference be- 
 tween our Lord and his apostles and followers, 
 even when both were performing similar miracles. 
 And indeed, as the multitudes soon saw his 
 followers performing the same mighty works as 
 himself, both during his lifetime, and after his 
 death, and (if the promise he made was fulfilled) 
 even greater than these ; some such caution might 
 have been continually requisite, and might have 
 been given from time to time, although not left 
 on record. In the present instance, the failure of 
 the apostles in an attempt to do that, which they 
 might have effected had they used the prescribed 
 form of prayer and fasting, shewed that the gift 
 of the Spirit was in their case circumscribed, and 
 its efficacy made to depend on their observance 
 of these requisite conditions. Our Lord forth- 
 with, without prayer, without fasting , without these 
 preparatory steps which he declared to be requisite, 
 performs the miracle. What was the natural 
 inference ? That " God gave not the Spirit to him 
 (as to others) by measure 1 ,'' and subject to limita- 
 tions. Their miraculous power was given con- 
 ditionally. " What things soever ye desire, when 
 
 1 John iii. 34.
 
 The twelve corrected, fyc. 127 
 
 ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 
 have them m ." He had only to say the word, and 
 the sick man was healed, the devils were cast out, 
 and the dead were raised. 
 
 THE TWELVE CORRECTED IN THEIR DISCUS- 
 SION OF THE QUESTION WHO WAS TO BE 
 FIRST AMONG THEM. 
 
 Ver. 3337. 
 
 And he came to Capernaum : and being in the house he 
 asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves 
 by the way ? But they held their peace : for by the way they 
 had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 
 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, 
 If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and 
 servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst 
 of them : and when he had taken him in his arms, he said 
 unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in 
 my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, 
 receiveth not me, but him that sent me. 
 
 This discussion of the question, who was to be 
 first amongst the apostles, obviously arose out of 
 our Lord's preceding declarations respecting the 
 speedy establishment of his kingdom, rendered 
 still more vivid, and impressive, by the Transfi- 
 guration, which three of them had witnessed. Al- 
 " See chap. xi. 24.
 
 128 The case of one not Christ's disciple 
 
 though assured that that glorious scene was not 
 the commencement of his promised reign, they 
 continued doubtless to connect it with the ap- 
 proach of it. It is worthy of remark, that our 
 Lord did not wait for any expression to fall from 
 them on this occasion, which might give him a clue 
 for correcting their erroneous expectations ; but, 
 contrary to his usual method, himself extorts from 
 them the working of their minds, and by a beau- 
 tiful and expressive symbol, and one which long 
 formed a favourite image in his language, checked 
 their ambitious notions. In St. John's writings, 
 the same image most frequently occurs. St. John 
 was one of the three who had witnessed the 
 Transfiguration, and doubtless partook in the 
 general feeling, as strongly as any ; and it is not 
 unlikely, that this delicate reproof might have so 
 worked on his sensible heart, as to give the found- 
 ation for his peculiar fondness for the meta- 
 phorical use of the phrase, " little children." 
 
 THE CASE OF ONE NOT CHRIST'S DISCIPLE 
 WHO CAST OUT DEVILS IN HIS NAME. 
 
 Ver. 3850. 
 
 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one 
 casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us : and
 
 who cast out devil* in his name. 129 
 
 Vve forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, 
 Forbid him not : for there is no man which shall do a miracle 
 in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that 
 is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you 
 a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to 
 Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. 
 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe 
 in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about 
 his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand 
 offend thee, cut it off : it is better for thee to enter into life 
 maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire 
 that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, 
 and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut 
 it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having 
 two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
 quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
 quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out : it is 
 better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, 
 than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire : where their 
 worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For every one 
 shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with 
 salt. Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his saltness, 
 wherewith will ye season it ? Have salt in yourselves, and 
 have peace one with another. 
 
 Tliis incident ought perhaps to be considered 
 
 in connection with the failure of the apostles to 
 
 cast out a devil, which is recorded in the former 
 
 part of the chapter, and as a renewal of the same 
 
 K
 
 130 The case of one not Christ's disciple 
 
 lesson. It is not unlikely that the stranger had 
 tried the effect of observing such preparatory 
 requisites as our Lord had declared neces- 
 sary ; and that his trial had been permitted to 
 succeed, partly for evidence to improve his 
 own faith ; but still more, with a view of re- 
 newing in the minds of the apostles the impres- 
 sion made by their failure. It would naturally 
 present itself to their minds in a reflection 
 of this form. " We who are his commissioned 
 and chosen followers, by neglecting the appointed 
 means, fasting and prayer, failed to perform the 
 miracle of casting out a devil ; and here is one, 
 . who is not yet in the train of our Master's 
 followers, and nevertheless by duly performing 
 the ceremony in his name, he has succeeded. 
 Let us and others then beware of supposing our 
 Lord's power and ours alike. His is independ- 
 ent, and his own ; ours derived from him, and 
 subject to his arbitrary appointment." 
 
 Beyond this, which may be regarded as the 
 primary intent, for which our Lord permitted the 
 stranger to perform the miracle of casting out 
 devils in his name, it served incidentally as an 
 occasion for repeating another lesson which he
 
 n-hu cast out devils in his name. 131 
 
 had also lately given them. Ever since the 
 Transfiguration, and his plain statement respect- 
 ing the near approach of his kingdom, the apo- 
 stles had displayed feelings of ambition, and were 
 congratulating themselves on the place they held 
 as the chosen attendants of the future monarch, 
 and even disputing amongst themselves about 
 priority. It was this feeling which seems to have 
 stimulated the complaint against the stranger, 
 who, at this critical moment, was presuming to 
 assume a part like theirs ; and it was against 
 this feeling that our Lord directed the re- 
 marks which conclude this chapter. They con- 
 vey a solemn warning to his apostles, against 
 throwing any impediments in the way of those 
 who were likely to join them, as candidates for his 
 favour, and partakers of his free grace. By way 
 of reminding them of former lessons, in which he 
 had taught them what manner of spirit they were 
 of, he connects his present admonition with that 
 which he before gave them, when they, as now, 
 disputed amongst themselves for priority. For 
 this purpose it is, that he introduces into his lan- 
 guage the image of a child the symbol which 
 he had on that occasion adopted. At that time 
 
 K2
 
 132 The case of one not Christ's disciple, fyc. 
 
 he had set a child in the midst of them ; he 
 now recalls the lesson to their minds, and connects 
 it with the present by the metaphor he uses, 
 " Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones 
 that believe in me, it is better for him that a 
 millstone were hanged about his neck, and he 
 were cast into the sea." The various strong 
 figures, by which he goes on exhorting them to 
 sacrifice the dearest and most cherished pre- 
 judices, rather than fail in this respect, may per- 
 haps have been in like manner connected with 
 some expressive action or word which is not 
 recorded. Their meaning however, and its con- 
 nection with the reproof, is plain they were the 
 salt of the earth ; their rewards were to be pro- 
 portioned to their alacrity in spreading that so- 
 ciety which they seemed desirous to circumscribe 
 in removing, not in creating, scruples.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF THE PHARISEES RESPECT- 
 ING DIVORCE. 
 
 Ver. 112. 
 
 And he arose from thence, and comcth into the coasts of 
 Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort 
 unto him again ; and, as he was wont, he taught them again. 
 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful 
 for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he 
 answered and said unto them, What did Moses command 
 you ? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorce- 
 ment, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said 
 unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this 
 precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made 
 them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his 
 father and mother, and cleave to his wife ; and they twain 
 shall be one flesh : so then they are no more twain, but one 
 flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man 
 put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again 
 of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever 
 shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth 
 adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her 
 husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
 
 134 The question of the Pharisees 
 
 As it is expressly stated, that the object which 
 the Pharisees had in view, when they put the 
 question to our Lord respecting divorce, was to 
 " tempt" him that is, to ensnare him into some 
 reply which might form a ground of accusation 
 they were probably already aware of the doc- 
 trine which he held concerning divorce. Moses 
 had permitted divorce, at the pleasure of the 
 husband, except in a case of marriage to which the 
 husband had been compelled by law, on the ground 
 of previous seduction a . In objecting therefore to 
 the morality of the permission to divorce, Christ 
 would afford, it was thought, a handle for being 
 charged with contradicting the law of Moses. 
 From this snare, we may observe, he escapes, by 
 asserting the immorality of the practice, not on 
 his own authority, (as he would have done to 
 believers,) but on the authority of those very 
 Scriptures, which Moses had written, and sanc- 
 tioned by his miracles. He appeals to the 
 original form of marriage pronounced by God 
 himself on the first pair ; and reminds them, that 
 
 1 The right of the wife to divorce the husband was not part 
 of the Mosaic law ; but was a practice introduced only in the 
 age of Christ.
 
 respecting divorce. 135 
 
 this being the original appointment of God, it 
 could only have been owing to their hardness of 
 heart their stubborn natures their monstrous 
 prejudices that Moses was compelled to relax 
 the law; whilst he left at the same time this 
 record, to serve as a registered protest against 
 the measure. 
 
 It is somewhat singular, that so important a 
 qualification of Christ's rule, as the exception in 
 case of fornication, (or conjugal infidelity,) should 
 be recorded, neither in this account of St. Mark, 
 nor in St. Luke's, but only in St. Matthew's 
 Gospel. As it is found in St. Matthew's Gospel, 
 we are quite sure that it proceeded from Christ ; 
 and to us therefore the case remains practically 
 the same, as if all the Evangelists had recorded 
 it. But then, did those for whom St. Mark and 
 St. Luke wrote require this qualifying clause 
 less than those for whom St. Matthew wrote? 
 Did they require that for a time it should not be 
 laid before them? It would be difficult to con- 
 jecture. Perhaps the Gentile churches of Rome 
 and Asia Minor, who first received the Gospels 
 of St. Mark and St. Luke, required, from the 
 prevailing loose notions among Gentiles concern-
 
 136 Little children brought to Christ. 
 
 ing conjugal fidelity, that the precept should be 
 given as yet without limitation, and in its 
 simplest and strongest form. The churches of 
 Judaea on the other hand, which are supposed to 
 have been the first that used St. Matthew's 
 Gospel, were already enough enlightened on the 
 subject, to receive both the rule and the pre- 
 cept, 
 
 LITTLE CHILDREN BROUGHT TO CHRIST. 
 Ver. 1316. 
 
 And they brought young children to him, that he should 
 touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought 
 them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and 
 said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, 
 and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 
 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the 
 kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 
 And he took them up in his arms, put his hunds upon them, 
 and blessed them. 
 
 This is, perhaps, the most striking of the many 
 various and repeated lessons, which our Saviour 
 delivered on the requisite preparation for under- 
 standing and believing his Gospel. We know 
 that he taught in parables and obscure hints to 
 the Pharisees and the multitude, and enjoined
 
 Little children brought to Christ. 137 
 
 silence on his disciples respecting his plainer 
 instructions ; and the reason was, that the Pha- 
 risees and the people at large had not this re- 
 quisite preparation. In what it consisted, the 
 image of a child may suggest, even without the 
 confirmation and illustration furnished by other 
 parts of his teaching. It was humility, trust, 
 and affection ; in Scriptural language, fear of 
 God, faith in God, love to God. 
 
 The analog}' between Christians and children, 
 in these respects, must be carefully distinguished 
 from that by which Christians are said "to be 
 born again," " regenerate," and the like, in re- 
 ference to a new nature being infused into them 
 by the Holy Spirit. The admitting man to par- 
 take of God's Spirit is similar to a new formation 
 of man. He becomes " a new creature." The 
 source of the metaphor is indeed the same, as in 
 the former case; but, in the doctrine of regenera- 
 tion, we are taught to look to the image of 
 childhood, with reference to the Creator forming 
 a new Being, endowing a new creature with 
 sensation and thought and feelings; whereas, in 
 the lesson respecting the preparation of heart for 
 the Gospel, we are to regard the character and
 
 138 Little children brought to Christ. 
 
 habits of childhood, not the new creation of a 
 human Being. Out of the former view are de- 
 rived the phrases " brethren," " beloved in the 
 Lord," and the like; out of the latter the ex- 
 pression, " little children," as applied to Chris- 
 tians by Jesus, and by his apostle St. John. 
 On St. John's mind the image seems to have 
 made an unusually deep impression. In both 
 senses he continually employs the metaphor. 
 Was he the apostle who forbad these children ? 
 and did his heart therefore receive the lesson 
 with greater warmth, and allow it to sink deeper? 
 The favour shewn by Christ to these infants is 
 often made an argument for infant baptism. In 
 so applying it, however, we should carefully con- 
 sider the value of the argument. It proves 
 directly no more than that Christ considered in- 
 fants capable of benefit from his blessing ; and 
 this, although of itself no proof, forms a very 
 important feature in the presumptive body of 
 proof to be gathered from the New Testament. 
 At the same time, the fact, that the disciples 
 thought them improper objects of the Saviour's 
 notice, indicates that, up to that period, no in- 
 fants could have been baptized.
 
 Little children brought to Christ. 139 
 
 This is the more deserving of notice, because 
 not far back in the narrative, we read of our 
 Lord's setting a child before them, and making 
 it a symbol of instruction. Does it not seem 
 strange then, that, after witnessing our Lord's 
 notice of infants so lately, the disciples should 
 have supposed it improper that these should be 
 brought to him ? The inference is plain. They 
 could only have considered his former notice as 
 bestowed for the purpose of conveying instruction 
 to them. That notice shewed indeed that chil- 
 dren in themselves were not objects of dislike to 
 the Saviour ; but here were children brought to 
 be touched. That virtue should go out of him for 
 infants, was the scruple, and the only scruple ; 
 and this does seem to be designedly and formally 
 removed by our Lord's touching them. So con- 
 sidered, the use of his words on this occasion in 
 our baptismal service, is very appropriate; and, 
 as far as it goes, a very striking proof is furnished 
 by them, that infants are fit subjects of admission 
 to the blessings of the Christian covenant.
 
 140 The young man whose riches 
 
 THE YOUNG MAN WHOSE RICHES WERE 
 
 AN OBSTACLE TO HIS BECOMING 
 
 A DISCIPLE. 
 
 Ver. 1731. 
 
 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one 
 running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, 
 what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ? And Jesus 
 said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? there is none good 
 but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do 
 not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear 
 false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 
 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have 
 I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved 
 him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, 
 sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt 
 have treasure in heaven : and come, take up the cross, and 
 follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away 
 grieved: for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked 
 round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall 
 they that have 'riches enter into the kingdom of God ! And 
 the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus an- 
 swereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it 
 for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God ! 
 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than 
 for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they 
 were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, 
 Who then can be saved ? And Jesus looking upon them saith, 
 With men it is impossible, but not with God : for with God
 
 were an obstacle to his becoming a disciple. 141 
 
 all things are possible. Then Peter began to say unto him, 
 Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus an- 
 swered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that 
 hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
 or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel's, 
 but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, 
 and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, 
 with persecutions ; and in the world to come eternal life. But 
 many that are first shall be last ; and the last first. 
 
 This is a very striking incident. The young 
 man evidently came to Christ with incipient 
 faith; and, from the nature of his application, 
 must have assured himself that the teacher was 
 " a prophet sent from God ;" although he had 
 not recognized in him the Christ, much less 
 penetrated into the character of his kingdom. 
 How does the Lord behave to such an one? 
 Precisely in the same manner as he did to his 
 disciples, and to all who displayed any the least 
 symptoms of faith which might be ripened and 
 improved; and it is this view of the incident 
 which is perhaps the most important and in- 
 teresting. 
 
 If we call to mind his usual method then with 
 his disciples, and with others who listened to
 
 142 The young man whose riches 
 
 him, and gave symptoms of an incipient faith, 
 we shall recollect, that the mode in which he at 
 first rewarded, and encouraged, and improved it, 
 was not generally by an explicit declaration. 
 He was not wont directly to add to their stock 
 of faith, but to give them the means of doing so, 
 by some fresh exertion of that same candour and 
 docility, which had procured for them the be- 
 ginnings and rudiments of their belief. In some 
 instances we meet with the success of the experi- 
 ment recorded; as, for example, in the case of 
 the Syrophcenician woman. On the other hand, 
 instances of the failure of his kind endeavours 
 have also been left on the sacred record, as if for 
 the purpose of awakening the suggestion, that 
 although God be working with us, and within 
 us, yet we must work out the salvation which he 
 has procured for us. A very remarkable instance 
 of failure was noticed in the remarks on the 
 eighth chapter of St. Mark ; and if we turn to 
 it, and compare together our Lord's behaviour 
 during the conference with his disciples as there 
 recorded, and his dialogue with the young man 
 which we have now read, we cannot fail to be 
 struck with the sameness of the method adopted
 
 were an obstacle to his becoming a disciple. 143 
 
 by him in both cases ; and the more, because in 
 both his success was frustrated by the hardness 
 of heart displayed in the objects of his instruc- 
 tion. It would be needless to repeat the remarks 
 already made on the former instance; and we 
 may therefore confine our attention to those cir- 
 cumstances in the present case, which shew 
 that Christ was throughout the interview giving 
 the young man such hints, as would have made 
 him, if he had had sufficient docility, a dis- 
 ciple. 
 
 Observe then how he replied to the young 
 man's first question. There is not the slightest 
 notice of the subject of his inquiry. Taking ad- 
 vantage of a phrase of courtesy which the young 
 man had employed when speaking to him, our 
 Lord answers, " Why callest thou me good? 
 there is none good but one, that is, God." This 
 was his usual method. It was his custom to 
 engraft his instruction on every contingency 
 which would bear it, even an occasional word 
 or action. In this way it is that he adverts to 
 the epithet " good," as applied to himself. And 
 how does he this ? Not by rejecting it, and say- 
 ing that he is not worthy to be called good;
 
 144 The young man whose riches 
 
 but by reminding the young man of that which 
 he already well knew, that God only was good. 
 Had the young man paused upon the answer, 
 and pondered it in his heart, and followed it up 
 as was doubtless intended by our Lord it must 
 have led him to the great truth, that, although 
 none but God was good, yet He who stood before 
 him was good, and this even because he was the 
 Christ the Son of God the Immanuel. To 
 give the language of our Lord its full force, we 
 should, in reading the passage, make a pause after 
 each of the sentences, " Why callest thou me 
 good? there is none good but one, that is, 
 God." 
 
 No suitable remark, however, was elicited from 
 him so addressed, and the Lord therefore changes 
 the key of his instruction so, as haply to find 
 some other access to his heart and understand- 
 ing. The youth was wrapped up, it would seem, 
 in his views of the Mosaic law, and in his careful 
 observance of it. Here then might the door of 
 communication to his mind be found. Christ 
 recalls himself therefore to the question origin- 
 ally proposed, and tells him, " Thou knowest 
 the commandments, Do not commit adultery,
 
 were an obstacle to his becoming a disciple. 145 
 
 Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false wit- 
 ness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother," 
 all in a way which seems to intimate this " Sup- 
 posing you to continue under the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion, you of course must expect to inherit life by 
 keeping all the commandments." Now the sugges- 
 tion, which it was probably intended that this hint 
 should convey, was, that to do so was impossible, 
 and that to solve this very difficulty it was that 
 the applicant had sought the man of God. Had 
 the soil of his heart been prepared sufficiently, 
 here then was a clue to his obtaining, by an 
 effort of thought, or rather of humble docile at- 
 tention, a knowledge of " a more excellent way." 
 But even this attempt failed, and only produced 
 the dull reply, " All these have I observed from 
 my youth." He did not even perceive the force 
 of the remark respecting the perfect observance of 
 the Law, but spoke of having kept it all, as far as 
 it could be kept. 
 
 It is beautiful to trace the unwearied and 
 anxious search of the Saviour even after a single 
 lost one of the great human fold. His last reply 
 is put in a way calculated to rouse the applicant, 
 and (if he were susceptible of it) certainly to call
 
 146 The young man whose riches 
 
 into exercise his attention and inquisitiveness. 
 He startles him with the assertion, that, even 
 although all the terms of the present covenant 
 were fulfilled, there would be something " lack- 
 ing." St. Matthew's account is rendered more 
 emphatic by the introduction of the word ''per- 
 fect," which contains an obvious reference to the 
 imperfect character and results of the old dis- 
 pensation 13 . " If thou wilt be perfect, go and 
 sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
 thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, 
 and follow me c ." 
 
 And now, why did not such an assertion rouse 
 the youth to inquiry ? Our Lord has told us. 
 He had connected it with a test with a proposal 
 of such paramount interest to the young man 
 that it forthwith absorbed his attention, and 
 caused him to dismiss the original question al- 
 together. " Go thy way for this time; when 
 I have a convenient season, I will call for thee," 
 was probably the unuttered language of his mind, 
 as he went from the presence of our Lord. He 
 
 b T=A<O?. It is in the same way that TSXS, or " the end," 
 is put for the Christian dispensation. 
 e Matth. xix. 21.
 
 were an obstacle to his becoming a disciple. 147 
 
 was not " little child" enough to enter into the 
 kingdom of God; but he had come to Christ, 
 and Christ would not cast him out. He had 
 come to Christ, and Christ accordingly gave 
 him the full means and opportunity of believing, 
 even as he had done to his disciples. His an- 
 xious endeavour to awaken his faith is apparent 
 throughout the interview ; and in the last attempt 
 is very forcibly marked by the Evangelist's gra- 
 phic description, " Jesus beholding him loved 
 him." St. Matthew has omitted it, but St. Peter, 
 under whose superintendence St. Mark's Gospel 
 was written, had too much reason to remember 
 the impressive character of our Saviour's look, to 
 have left this little circumstance unrecorded. 
 
 His look indeed appears to have given an 
 emphasis to many of those hints which he de- 
 signed for exciting the attention and inquisitive- 
 ness of his hearers. Thus, in the sequel of the 
 present narrative, he is described as giving force 
 by a look to a remark, which was no doubt de- 
 signed to prepare the minds of the disciples for 
 the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's assistance. 
 When they remarked that the circumstances of a 
 great portion of the world must exclude them 
 
 L2
 
 148 The young man whose riches 
 
 from obtaining admission into his kingdom, 
 " Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is 
 impossible, but not with God : for with God all 
 things are possible. " The hint itself corresponded 
 with the observation which he had only just 
 before made to the young man, " there is none 
 good but one that is, God." It was an early 
 link in the chain of revelation which tells us, 
 that the requisitions of Christianity are imprac- 
 ticable to unassisted man, but that man is not 
 left to himself. The Christian is regenerate 
 a new nature is given to him a new birth into 
 otherwise unattainable righteousness ; and it is 
 " the new man, which after God is created in 
 righteousness and true holiness d ," who will be 
 able to accomplish things that are impossible to 
 men, because "it is God which worketh in him 
 both to will and to do of his good pleasure 6 ," 
 and, " with God all things are possible." 
 
 This remark, however, with which our Lord 
 now directed his look from the young man to 
 his disciples, was for the present as ineffectual 
 as his dialogue with the young man himself. 
 St. Peter, in the name of the rest, expressed 
 
 d Ephesians iv. 24. e Philippians ii. 13.
 
 were an obstacle to his becoming a disciple. 149 
 
 the feeling which seems to have been prevalent 
 amongst them, notwithstanding repeated rebukes 
 and corrections that his kingdom being near, 
 they were to share the honours and rewards of 
 it. " We," he reminds the Lord, " have left 
 all and have followed thee ; what shall we have 
 therefore?" Our Saviour's reply seems at firstsight, 
 instead of a fresh rebuke, to be an encourage- 
 ment ; by holding out to their mistaken ambition 
 a promise of reward in kind in this life, as well as 
 of future happiness. But the introduction of 
 " persecutions" in this train of promised wealth 
 and greatness, as if forming their distinguishing 
 character, at once nullifies the first impression 
 made by the promise, and affixes to it an interpre- 
 tation well adapted to the frame of mind which it 
 must have been designed to correct and improve. 
 Christ had more than once of late reproved the 
 temporal and worldly views of his apostles re- 
 specting his kingdom. Still the feeling again and 
 again displayed itself; and his reply now seems 
 to be purposely framed with reference to it, and 
 to be made in this spirit " The reward about 
 which you are speaking shall be an hundredfold 
 more than you have relinquished but as to the
 
 150 The young man whose riches, fyc. 
 
 present life, it shall be a sort of property, do- 
 minion, and influence, whose chief feature shall 
 be persecution f it is in a period to come, that you 
 are to expect the life eternal." Our Lord's lan- 
 guage is that of serious irony, the severity of 
 which is greatly increased, first, by the double 
 enumeration of sacrifices made, and of recom- 
 pences in kind ; and then, by the mention of 
 persecution, (the circumstance which qualifies and 
 changes the whole .character of the promise,) 
 being suspended until the close of the enumera- 
 tion. In a free paraphrase of the original, it 
 might be expressed thus " Lands, houses, and 
 brethren you have left ; and, in lieu of these, 
 lands, houses, and brethren you shall have : but 
 they shall be the land of the exile, the house of 
 the imprisoned martyr, the many brethren, the 
 
 ' St. Paul seems to have adopted the same form when he 
 told the Romans, rovro yg TTOMV, 0g<*f wftf cra^ivntg Ivt rw 
 *i<p**i etvrov. (Rom. xii. 20.) i. e. this is the way you are to 
 " heap coals of fire on his head," alluding to our Lord's rebuke 
 to St. Peter, when he desired Christ to call down fire from 
 heaven. It is a figure of speech, like files tv /3wr5, yapcs 
 *yct(io{, and the like expressions, so common in Greek poetry. 
 So too, Isaiah li. 21. " Thou drunken, but not with wine."
 
 Christ' s prediction of his death and resurrection. 151 
 
 first born of whom shall be esteemed stricken of 
 God, and his name a cause of your being hated 
 of all men." 
 
 CHRIST'S DECLARATION THAT HE WAS TO 
 
 BE BETRAYED, PUT TO DEATH, 
 AND RISE AGAIN. 
 
 . Ver. 3234. 
 
 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and 
 Jesus went before them : and they were amazed ; and as they 
 followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, 
 and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, 
 saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man 
 shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes ; 
 and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to 
 the Gentiles: and they shall mock him, and shall scourge 
 him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him : and the 
 third day he shall rise again. 
 
 Agreeably with the view given in the preced- 
 ing section, of Christ's words to his disciples, 
 we find him, in the very next portion of the 
 narrative, again telling them plainly those cir- 
 cumstances about his future career, which were 
 incompatible with their obstinate view of his 
 kingdom. They had grounds now for believing 
 on him, in spite of so much that was incom- 
 prehensible to them in his proceedings ; and all
 
 1 52 The ambitious request of James and John, 
 
 amazed they found him journeying still onwards? 
 to Jerusalem, and to certain death. Neverthe- 
 less they followed him, assured that he was the 
 Christ, and expecting, no doubt, some miraculous 
 solution of a difficulty which to them seemed 
 inexplicable. His plain avowal of his approaching 
 death, only seems to have kept alive this state of 
 suspense and surmise, without at all tending to 
 remove it. " O fools, and slow of heart to be- 
 lieve all that the prophets have spoken: ought not 
 Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter 
 into his glory ?" was applicable to them even to 
 the last period of their earthly intercourse with 
 their Master. 
 
 THE AMBITIOUS REQUEST OF JAMES AND 
 JOHN, THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE. 
 
 Ver. 3545. 
 
 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, 
 saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us what- 
 soever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would 
 ye that I should do for you ? They said unto him, Grant unta 
 us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on 
 thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye 
 know not what ye ask : can ye drink of the cup that I drink 
 of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized 
 
 Luke xxiv. 25, 26.
 
 the sons of Zebedee. 1 53 
 
 with ? And they say unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto 
 them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and 
 with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be bap- 
 tized : but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not 
 mine to give ; but it shall be given to them for whom it is pre- 
 pared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much 
 displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to 
 him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are ac- 
 counted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them ; 
 and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so 
 shall it not be among you : but whosoever will be great among 
 you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the 
 chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man 
 came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
 his life a ransom for many. 
 
 That all Christ now said, about the near ap- 
 proach of his kingdom, was interpreted by the 
 apostles in the sense in which every Jew expected 
 the renewal of the theocracy, is evident from the 
 request of James and John. They asked for 
 posts of honour; and it was in vain that our 
 Saviour, by allusion to the cup which his Father 
 had given him to drink, and the baptism or 
 immersion of the grave through which he was to 
 pass, endeavoured to awaken them to a sense of 
 their error. He was obliged plainly to tell them, 
 that, what he was going to purchase for them
 
 1 54 Bartimaus restored to sight. 
 
 that which made it expedient for him to go away 
 was not the prizes of his kingdom, but the means 
 of obtaining them. " To sit on my right hand, 
 and on my left hand, is not mine to give ; but it 
 shall be given to them for whom it is prepared." 
 
 BARTIM^EUS RESTORED TO SIGHT. 
 
 Ver. 4652. 
 
 And they came to Jericho : and as he went out of Jericho 
 with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bar- 
 timaeus, (the son of Timaeus,) sat by the highway side begging. 
 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began 
 to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on 
 me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace : 
 but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have 
 mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to 
 be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be 
 of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away 
 his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered 
 and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto 
 thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might re- 
 ceive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way ; thy 
 faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received 
 his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. 
 
 Besides the indication of divine power and 
 divine mercy displayed in this miracle, its moral 
 its instructive character is also apparent. The
 
 Bartinueus restored to sight. 155 
 
 disciples had now been familiarized with this 
 secondary and peculiar application of miracles by 
 Christ. In cases of blindness removed especially, 
 they had been more than once directed to the 
 symbolical notice conveyed concerning a partial 
 blindness of heart, and the gradual removal of it 
 in their case, as well as to that total blindness 
 which characterized those who were not in the 
 train of our Lord's followers. On the occasion 
 particularly noticed in chapter viii. when his re- 
 peated instructions had not been understood, we 
 may remember that his discourse was followed 
 up by a very remarkable cure of blindness. Here 
 we have a similar instance of dulness to another 
 lesson, followed up as before by the same sym- 
 bolical reproof. It was our Lord's custom even 
 to repeat instruction that had been understood ; 
 but there was much more reason for doing so, 
 when it had not at first produced the due impres- 
 sion. At this moment certainly the apostles ap- 
 pear to have required the continual renewal of the 
 warning that to many important features of 
 Christianity they were still blind ; that they still 
 needed to apply for sight to Christ, and were 
 still to hope for it only by persevering in faith.
 
 1 56 Bartimaus restored to sight. 
 
 This view of the miracle does not interfere with 
 its more essential character, that of its being 
 wrought in evidence of his divine power, at a 
 critical season, when his followers were amazed 
 and staggered at his continuing his progress 
 steadily to Jerusalem 1 '. Nor again does it pre- 
 vent us from considering it as an act of mercy 
 too towards the bodily affliction of Bartimseus. 
 It was doubtless more than an act of mercy to 
 him; it was a reward and strengthening of his 
 faith faith the more truly Christian, because his 
 calamity had precluded him from witnessing the 
 miracles of Jesus. Notwithstanding his blind- 
 ness, he had gathered the report of them, and so 
 devoutly, and humbly, and candidly had he pon- 
 dered on them, and on all he heard of the marvel- 
 lous person who wrought them, that he recog- 
 nized in him the Son of David. 
 
 Both as evidence, and also as symbolical in- 
 struction then, this miracle was very needful for the 
 apostles in their then circumstances ; and besides 
 these uses, the character of Bartimseus's faith 
 might have furnished no slight additional instruc- 
 tion. He, like them, acknowledged in their 
 " See ver. 32. and John xi. 8.
 
 Bartim&us restored to sight. 1 57 
 
 Master the Son of David the heir of the 
 .approaching kingdom; but he did not ask the 
 monarch whose notice he had attracted for lands, 
 houses, and bounty. No ; as if purposely to set 
 Bartimaeus's disposition in contrast with the 
 request of James and John, and the unexpressed 
 feelings of the other apostles ; Christ, instead of 
 asking him if he believed, bade him tell him what 
 it was he petitioned for. " What wilt thou that 
 I should do for thee ' ? The blind man said unto 
 him, Lord, that I might receive my sight." 
 Whether the afflicted believer himself intended 
 by the expression the removal of more than literal 
 blindness, may be doubted ; but the answer may 
 have been no less serviceable, as conveying a 
 suggestion of that need to the apostles, by way of 
 reproof to them. 
 
 And with respect to Bartimaeus himself too, 
 there might have been more than the mere 
 natural desire of enjoying the use of his eyes, 
 which prompted his application, and which called 
 forth the approbation of Christ on his faith. 
 Hitherto resting his belief on the report of others, 
 
 1 T/ 6tAt{ *-<>iV ert ; It is incorrectly rendered in our version, 
 What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
 
 158 Bartimaus restored to sight. 
 
 connected with his own knowledge of Scripture, 
 the feeling of his heart, when he exclaimed, 
 " that I might receive my sight," might have 
 been like that of good Simeon's a longing to 
 satisfy himself more perfectly, by the evidence of 
 sight, of that which he had hitherto otherwise 
 proved a longing to see the Messiah. Having 
 recovered the use of his eyes, he could not, it 
 would seem, leave Jesus. He followed him to 
 look on him as well as to hear him. On his 
 heart, if not on his lips, was surely Simeon's 
 prayer of thanksgiving, " Lord, now lettest thou 
 thy servant depart in peace, according to thy 
 word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation 15 ." 
 
 k Luke ii. 29, 30.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CHRIST'S ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM. 
 
 Ver. 110. 
 
 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage 
 and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of 
 his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your way into the 
 village over against you : and as soon as ye be entered into 
 it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose 
 him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do 
 ye this ? say ye that the Lord hath need of him ; and straight- 
 way he will send him hither. And they went their way, and 
 found the cold tied by the door without in a place where two 
 ways met ; and they loose him. And certain of them that 
 stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? 
 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded : and 
 they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and 
 cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. And 
 many spread their garments in the way : and others cut down 
 branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And 
 they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, 
 Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord : Hosannah in the highest.
 
 160 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 CHRIST'S entrance into Jerusalem is declared by 
 St. Matthew, in his narrative of the event, to 
 have been a fulfilment of a prophecy, and by 
 reference to that prophecy it must be explained. 
 Before referring however to the passage of Zecha- 
 riah, which contains the prediction in question 9 , 
 one general remark may be useful on the cha- 
 racter of the prophecies which relate to Christ. 
 They will be found on examination to fall under 
 one of the three following heads. I. Prophecies 
 in which the event was simply to correspond 
 with the literal assertion ; as that Bethlehem was 
 to be the place of his birth. II. Prophecies 
 in which the assertion was to be fulfilled only 
 figuratively; of this kind are the predictions 
 that he should reign, be a conqueror, and many 
 others. III. Prophecies which were to be fulfilled 
 both literally and figuratively. To this head 
 belong all those of Isaiah respecting his opening 
 the eyes of the blind, unstopping % the ears of the 
 deaf, and performing other miracles, which were 
 symbolical of Christ's ministry as well as evidence 
 of his divine mission. 
 
 s Zechariah ix. 9.
 
 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 161 
 
 Of these last then, there are some few the 
 one to which this event in St. Mark relates 
 among them whose literal fulfilment does not 
 seem to have made part of the design of the 
 prophecy, because in itself the action was unim- 
 portant ; but still, to have been fulfilled literally 
 by Christ, in order to direct the attention to the 
 prophecy ; and, by doing so, to teach the figura- 
 tive meaning conveyed both in the prophet's 
 language, and in his own symbolical action, 
 which was, as it were, the embodying of that 
 figurative languge. 
 
 Zecharias had prophesied of our Saviour under 
 the image of a king, who was to come, according 
 to the simple state of the early rulers of Israel, 
 their judges, and their lawgiver Moses himself, 
 sitting on an ass. This description was intended 
 as a contrast to the grandeur assumed by their 
 later sovereigns ; and still more to the pomp and 
 circumstance which had characterised the mighty 
 conquerors of the world, such as Cyrus and 
 Alexander. Following up this contrast, he goes 
 on to describe the Messiah's figurative reign, as 
 in other respects opposed to a reign of earthly 
 conquest, earthly pomp, and earthly dominion,
 
 162 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 " 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 unto 
 the heathen ; and his dominion shall be from sea 
 even to sea, and from the river even to the ends 
 of the earth." In short, the whole passage is a 
 figurative description of Jerusalem's future king, 
 and his universal kingdom; containing amongst 
 its images some which contradict its literal 
 interpretation, and which were doubtless inserted 
 in order that a literal interpretation should not 
 be put on it. He was to be " a king," and yet 
 he was to be " lowly ;" " his dominion" was to 
 be " from sea to sea, and from the river to the 
 ends of the earth," and yet " the chariot," and 
 " the battle bow," were to be " cut off" from 
 Ephraim and Jerusalem. It is among these 
 qualifying images, that his riding on an ass instead 
 of the war horse, is introduced immediately in 
 contrast with the mention of his being a king. 
 
 Now as this prophecy was one which especially 
 pointed out (if these circumstances were at- 
 tended to in the interpretation of it) the real 
 nature of Christ's kingdom or rather, as it 
 especially contradicted the prevailing notion of a
 
 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 163 
 
 temporal king and conqueror, nothing could be 
 more seasonable, than that Christ should follow 
 up all the many discussions which of late he had 
 held with his apostles on the subject, by some 
 act which might bring this prophecy vividly 
 before their minds, and enable them, by con- 
 necting it with all he had said, to correct their 
 obstinate notion respecting him. To those on 
 the other hand who were not yet become his 
 followers, the literal fulfilment of a well-known 
 prediction concerning Christ, would point him out 
 as the person claiming to be Zion's King ; and if 
 they perceived the event, although in itself 
 nothing extraordinary, and such as an impostor 
 might have fulfilled, yet so connected with a 
 miracle, as that none but " the prophetic King" 
 could have so fulfilled it ; then, to these also, the 
 symbolical lesson, the histrionic interpretation of 
 Zecharias, would be likely to prove the means 
 of conversion and faith. 
 
 Let us see then in what way the transaction 
 took place, and what are the results recorded. 
 Our Lord sends two of his disciples to bring an 
 ass, which they were to find at a given place, 
 ready for them to take ; the owner of which was, 
 
 M2
 
 164 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 upon their saying that the Lord had need of it, to 
 give it up. All this implies, that some revelation 
 must have been made to the owners of the 
 animal, of which the confirming sign would be 
 the arrival of these two men, claiming it under 
 certain circumstances which accorded with the 
 revelation; even as the arrival of Cornelius's 
 messengers at Peter's house in Joppa after the 
 vision to the apostle, was a sign that the vision 
 was true. For the apostles, who had already 
 witnessed so many of Christ's miracles, no addi- 
 tional one would perhaps have been requisite, in 
 order to make them believe that the prophecy of 
 Zecharias was fulfilled in Jesus, when they be- 
 held him riding on an ass into Jerusalem ; but it 
 was clearly requisite for others, who had not 
 been so circumstanced. When Isaiah predicted, 
 that he should open the eyes of the blind, and 
 unstop the ears of the deaf; the principal design 
 of the prophecy might have been perhaps the 
 only one that he should remove a spiritual dim- 
 ness from the hearts and understandings of men. 
 When he literally fulfilled these prophecies, no- 
 body could doubt that he was the person intended 
 by the prophecy in its fullest signification; be-
 
 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 165 
 
 cause the literal fulfilment involved in each case 
 a miracle. But here the circumstances were dif- 
 ferent. The event predicted was not of itself 
 miraculous ; and it was therefore necessary so to 
 fulfil it, as to render it miraculous. Christ did 
 this ; and hence probably the readiness with which 
 he was hailed by crowds as he passed on his way ; 
 the owners of the ass doubtless making known the 
 event, and communicating to others the grounds 
 of their own faith the miraculous circumstance 
 (whatever it was) which had wrought on them 
 to give it up at the bidding of strangers, and 
 without a single demur. 
 
 Much of the force and significancy of the whole 
 scene here described depends, it would seem, on 
 the animal whereon our Saviour rode being an 
 ass. For, in the prophecy, it is opposed to the 
 horse, which, together with other marks of a 
 temporal monarch's greatness, was to be " cut 
 off" from Jerusalem. And yet, St. Mark leaves 
 the description doubtful by the use of a word 
 which merely signifies " foal b ," and which is ac- 
 cordingly interpreted in our Bibles " a colt." 
 This word is indeed applicable to the foal of an
 
 166 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 ass, as well as of an horse ; yet when used by 
 itself, as in this passage, it would be more 
 naturally applied to the latter. St. Matthew's 
 narrative however leaves no room to doubt which 
 it was, and the only inquiry suggested is, why 
 St. Mark should have been thus ambiguous; why 
 using the word " foal," or " colt," he did not, like 
 St. Matthew, give the quotation from Zecharias, 
 which would have prevented all ambiguity. 
 
 The question seems to admit of a very plausible 
 solution. St. Mark was writing for the Chris- 
 tians of Rome ; St. Matthew for those of Judsea. 
 With the latter, not only the eastern habits, but 
 the record of the simple manners of their early 
 rulers, who rode on asses, made these animals 
 appear any thing but mean in their eyes; but 
 in the minds of the Romans, the mention of 
 them was associated with ludicrous and degrading 
 ideas. Had St. Mark then used the word ass, 
 he might to the great mass of the Christians, for 
 whom he wrote, have given the whole scene an 
 air of ridicule, to which he of course would avoid 
 exposing it. At the same time he would have 
 been false in his account, and would have de- 
 stroyed the main circumstance in the incident,
 
 The withering of the fig tree. 167 
 
 had he called the animal a horse. He therefore, 
 no doubt, designedly used an ambiguous expres- 
 sion, which those versed in the Jewish Scriptures 
 would understand aright, because they remem- 
 bered the words of Zecharias ; while to a new 
 Christian convert from heathenism, or to a heathen 
 then first reading his narrative, his description 
 would convey nothing ludicrous. Afterwards too, 
 when the same disciple was more fully in- 
 structed, and became acquainted with the Old 
 Testament Scriptures, they would direct him to 
 the true import of the word ; and thus he would 
 understand all the character of the incident, just 
 when he was prepared for profiting by it. 
 
 THE WITHERING OF THE FIG TREE. tti ; 
 
 Ver. 1214. 2026. 
 
 And on ihe morrow, when they were come from Bethany, 
 he was hungry : and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, 
 he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when 
 he came to it, he found nothing but leaves ; for the time of 
 figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No 
 man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples 
 
 heard it. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw 
 
 the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to 
 remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree
 
 168 The withering of the fig tree. 
 
 which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering 
 saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto 
 you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou 
 removed, and be thou cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt 
 in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith 
 shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 
 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when 
 ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 
 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against 
 any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive 
 you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will 
 your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. 
 
 As a miracle, performed for the purpose of 
 confirming the faith of the disciples in Christ, 
 the withering of the fig tree could scarcely have 
 been needed, after so splendid a series as they 
 had by this time witnessed. The action was 
 more probably a symbol, made miraculous in 
 order to fix the attention more strongly on it. 
 And this it was the more likely to do, because, 
 although as an exercise of power, it exhibited less 
 that was striking than most of his miracles on 
 record ; yet it must have attracted their especial 
 notice, because it differed in character from all 
 or rather from all but one ; and this very dif- 
 ference connected it the more strongly with the
 
 The withering of the fig tree. 169 
 
 event which it was meant obviously to typify 
 the fate of his barren hearers. 
 
 All Christ's miracles which are recorded had 
 a benevolent object, except this and the sending 
 the devils into the herd of swine. All the rest 
 were not merely indifferent in their results on the 
 welfare of mankind, but positively beneficial. 
 Whilst he proved by them his power, and typified 
 his doctrines, he at the same time proclaimed 
 the benevolent character of that mission which 
 he was thus attesting and explaining. But in 
 the display of mercy towards mankind, there 
 were two traits of severity which made part of 
 the scheme, and which, as they had been point- 
 edly taught in all the other modes of instruction 
 adopted by him, could not suitably perhaps have 
 been omitted in his symbolic method. The first 
 of these points was his destruction of the works 
 of Satan the second, his exclusion of unre- 
 pentant man also from his scheme of grace. 
 The former of these awful truths was communi- 
 cated by the miracle which exhibited the devils, 
 and together with the devils, those impure 
 animals possessed by them, as urged headlong 
 and hopeless down a precipice, and cast into
 
 170 The withering of the fig tree. 
 
 the sea to perish. In the present symbol the 
 latter act of severity is, no doubt, prefigured, by 
 the curse on the barren fig tree. Immediately 
 and primarily it declared the fate of Jerusalem ; 
 but it was a lesson more extensive, and doubtless 
 applicable to all God's creatures, who then or 
 hereafter should be visited by the Saviour or his 
 Comforter, and yet fail to repent and to bring 
 forth fruits meet for repentance. 
 
 From the natural expressiveness of the image, 
 it would seem to have been intelligible without 
 further comment. Indeed, if it had formed the 
 terms of a metaphor, and that metaphor had 
 been used by our Lord, under any marked cir- 
 cumstances, it would probably have been after- 
 wards called to mind and applied by the hearers 
 to the fate of the Jewish nation. But if we look 
 back on the gradual progress of his instruction, 
 this miracle had been long provided with a com- 
 ment and exposition in those frequent metaphors 
 derived from the productiveness of the -earth and 
 its plants, with which he had from time to time 
 familiarized their minds. Sometimes it was a 
 parable made up of these images ; sometimes an 
 allusion to the parable already expounded; some-
 
 The withering of the jig tree. 171 
 
 times a reference to present objects of agriculture 
 or of the spontaneous production of the fields in 
 which he was teaching ; at other times it was a 
 figure of speech which merely recalled these 
 scenes to the imagination. And besides this 
 general train of images, not long before this 
 miracle of the fig tree, and in his journey to 
 Jerusalem, Christ had predicted the fate of the 
 holy city and nation under a parable of the fig tree. 
 St. Mark has omitted the parable, but St. Luke 
 records it 1 . These occasional omissions of each 
 Evangelist, which, when supplied from the other, 
 throw so much light on the consecutive method 
 of instruction adopted by our Lord, leave us 
 room to conjecture, that our view of his ministry 
 would be infinitely more clear and easy, if some 
 of the facts which all have omitted could be re- 
 covered. But He who controlled the pen of 
 holy record knew best ; and whether it be that 
 greater exercise of docility, of faith, and of hu- 
 mility is called forth ; or that some object is at- 
 tained unperceived by ourselves, it is no doubt 
 wisest and best that it should be so. Our duty 
 
 e Chap. xiii. 6.
 
 1 72 The withering of the fig tree. 
 
 is to make the best use of that light which we 
 have; for then only, to him that hath, will more 
 be given. Even this miracle cannot be con- 
 sidered as the last lesson in the connected series ; 
 for it was doubtless by way of following it up 
 further that, after his prophecy of the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, he adds, " now learn the parable of 
 the fig tree," as if this prophecy illustrated and 
 explained it. 
 
 In the narrative of the miracle there is some- 
 thing more that requires notice. The words, " for 
 the time of figs was not yet," cannot be meant to 
 account for Christ's disappointment, as if it were 
 natural, but to indicate why he expected to find 
 fruit on the fig tree. The time of gathering in 
 figs the fig-harvest was not yet; and it was 
 reasonable therefore to expect that fruit should 
 be found on a tree, which, from its appearance 
 at a distance, exhibited no signs of barrenness. 
 Abundant in leaves, yet unprovided with fruit 
 against the time of its visitation ; it suggested 
 an analogy in this respect between it and the 
 devoted people of which it was a type; and 
 which was truly not only barren of fruit meet for 
 repentance, but abundant in all that outward
 
 The withering of the fig tree. 173 
 
 shew which promised much, and yet was ac- 
 companied by none. 
 
 Another circumstance, which may likewise have 
 been intended as a minute point of coincidence in 
 the analogy, is, that the blight of the accursed 
 fig tree was not a partial, not a temporary one, 
 but utter irrecoverable decay. " They saw the 
 fig tree withered from the roots." It was Jeru- 
 salem's final doom, and the image exhibits, to us 
 at least, a mournful and solemn coincidence with 
 the rejected Saviour's lamentation over the holy 
 city, the approaching destruction of which he had 
 pronounced only two days before. To us indeed 
 it suggests, and was intended to suggest, a picture 
 even more awful and awakening the last state 
 of God's unrepentant Church in every age, and 
 under all His dispensations. He hath appointed 
 a day ; and that plant of His which shall have put 
 forth no fruit by that day, will be " withered from 
 the roots." The dews of heaven will fall, but 
 not to revive that plant ; there will be a worm 
 within it that dieth not ; and it will be cut down 
 and cast into a fire that is not quenched. 
 
 There is still another circumstance about this 
 miracle, which deserves to be noticed ; it is the
 
 174 The withering of the fig tree, 
 
 instruction which it gave occasion to, unconnected 
 with its symbolical import. The Lord's behaviour 
 on the failure of his disciples to cast out the 
 devils, and his permission to a stranger to effect 
 what they could not, was noticed in its proper 
 place. Here we are come to a renewal of the 
 lesson then given to them. On the apostles 
 expressing surprise at the effect of the curse pro- 
 nounced on the fig tree, Christ intimates to them 
 at once the extent of miraculous power with 
 which they were to be invested, and the limita- 
 tions and conditions of its exercise limitations 
 and conditions which were perpetually to dis- 
 tinguish their authority from his. His language 
 contains, not only the promise elsewhere expressed 
 by " these miracles, and greater than these shalt 
 thou do ;" but the caution also before given, that 
 their miracles could not be wrought like his, by 
 their own independent authority, but by prayer 
 and the other forms to which he had attached his 
 promise of success, and which formed the legal 
 acknowledgment of the tenure by which they held 
 their authority. He accordingly tells them and 
 this most solemnly that if they bade the moun- 
 tain remove and be cast into the sea, it should
 
 Christ's behaviour in the temple. 175 
 
 obey ; but cautions them against the probable 
 grounds of failure to which as dependent agents 
 they were subject 1 '. They were to pray that their 
 command may be effectual, and to trust that it 
 would be so. 
 
 CHRIST'S BEHAVIOUR IN THE TEMPLE. 
 
 Ver. 11. 1519. 2733. 
 
 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple : 
 and when he had looked round about upon all things, and 
 now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with 
 
 the twelve. And they come to Jerusalem : and Jesus went 
 
 into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and 
 bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money- 
 changers, and the seats of them that sold doves ; and would 
 not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the 
 temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, 
 My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer ? 
 but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and 
 chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: 
 for they feared him, because all ihe people was astonished at 
 his doctrine. And when even was come, he went out of the 
 
 city. And they come again to Jerusalem : and as he was 
 
 walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, 
 
 * It should be remarked, that for an offence in this respect, 
 Moses was punished by being forbidden to enter the promised 
 land. See Numbers xx. 713.
 
 1 76 Christ's behaviour in the temple. 
 
 and the scribes, and the elders, and say unto him, By what 
 authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this 
 authority to do these things? And Jesus answered and said 
 unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer 
 me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 
 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men ? answer 
 me.. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall 
 say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe 
 him? But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people : 
 for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And 
 they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And 
 Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by 
 what authority I do these things. 
 
 In literal accordance with Christ's avowal, that 
 he taught daily in the temple, we find him there 
 the three first days of his final visit to Jerusalem. 
 On the first, he merely makes his appearance ; 
 on the second, he exercises an authority which 
 implied his having come, as the prophet ex- 
 presses it, into his temple 6 ; on the third, the 
 Jewish rulers demand of him the grounds of so 
 unheard of an assumption of authority. 
 
 To explain why the temple should have be- 
 come the resort of money changers, and persons 
 who sold doves, it must be observed, that all who 
 Malachi iii. 1.
 
 Christ's behaviour in the temple. 177 
 
 came up to the great festivals, contributed a small 
 sum to the treasury of the temple. Now as many 
 came from abroad from Alexandria and Asia 
 Minor, for instance it was found a convenience, 
 and worth the while of merchants, to provide the 
 current coin of Judaea, which alone was received 
 for the treasury, and to exchange it at some little 
 discount with those who had only the foreign 
 coin. The offering of doves is alluded to in the 
 account of Jesus's circumcision f , and was a cus^ 
 torn which sufficiently explains why the traffic 
 in doves also should have been carried on even 
 within the courts of the temple. As both the 
 money and the doves were designed for sacred 
 purposes, the traffic was doubtless on this ac- 
 count thought to be no violation of the sanctity 
 of the house of God. 
 
 That Jesus should take on himself to pro- 
 nounce authoritatively that it was, and to expel 
 these merchants, was naturally regarded by the 
 chief priests, as an action which could only be 
 warranted by an extraordinary divine commis- 
 sion. Had they come to Christ with minda 
 disposed candidly to examine whether this were 
 
 ' Luke ii 24. 
 N
 
 178 Christ's behaviour in the temple. 
 
 BO, they would most assuredly have met with 
 such an answer as might have satisfied and con- 
 verted them. They came however in a very 
 different temper, and they received therefore a 
 different reply. 
 
 This custom of framing his reply according to 
 the temper and design of the questioner, is a 
 feature in Christ's discourses which deserves to 
 be considered ; because it has given rise to an 
 objection, that his answers to the Pharisees were 
 not always what we might expect from the 
 author and promulgator of the truth. To those 
 then who came to him with a desire to learn, his 
 words always conveyed, at least, some hint which 
 would enable them to satisfy themselves ; a hint 
 doubtless proportioned in its clearness to the 
 candour and faith which it rewarded ; a hint not 
 always indeed profited by, but still always given, 
 agreeably to the promises. " To him that hath 
 shall be given." " Him that cometh to me I will 
 in no wise cast out." To those, on the other 
 hand, who came to him without any disposition 
 to learn, his replies were not, it would seem, 
 designed to instruct ; nor has the Christian reader 
 of the account which contains these replies, any
 
 Christ's behaviour in the temple. 1 79 
 
 ground therefore to apply them as if addressed 
 to himself. They were merely designed to silence, 
 to confound, and to rebuke; and were often ac- 
 cordingly mere arguments ad hominem. On this 
 principle should be interpreted his answer to 
 the Jews recorded in the tenth chapter of St. 
 John?, and others, besides this now under con- 
 sideration, in which apparently no instruction 
 was intended. On other occasions as, for in- 
 stance, in the account given at the beginning of 
 the preceding chapter, and that in the chapter 
 next to this although the applicants who are 
 represented as putting questions to him, were of 
 the same kind as these priests scribes and Pha- 
 risees, and as the Jews mentioned by St. John, 
 we may presume that, for the sake of others who 
 were likewise present, he so framed his answer to 
 them, as not only to silence the cavillers, but to 
 instruct the docile amongst his audience. 
 
 Ver. 34, 35. 
 
 N2
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD. 
 
 Ver. 112. 
 
 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain 
 man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and 
 digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it 
 out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at 
 the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he 
 might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vine- 
 yard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him 
 away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; 
 and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, 
 and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent 
 another ; and him they killed, and many others ; beating 
 some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his 
 wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They 
 will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among 
 themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the 
 inheritance shall be our's. And they took him, and killed 
 him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall there- 
 fore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy 
 the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
 
 Parable of the vineyard. 181 
 
 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the 
 builders rejected is become the head of the corner : this was 
 the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? And they 
 sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people : for they 
 knew that he had spoken the parable against them : and they 
 left him, and went their way. 
 
 OUR Lord gave as his reason for speaking in 
 parables to those who did not choose to become 
 his regular disciples, " that seeing they might 
 see and not perceive, and hearing they might 
 hear and not understand." It was a part of the 
 scheme of his ministry, that docility should be 
 evinced before any instruction was afforded ; and 
 that instruction, even to the disciples, should be 
 gradually supplied, as they progressively gave 
 signs of improvement in this quality. Consist- 
 ently with this then, a form of instruction was 
 adopted, which, although unintelligible to the 
 audience in general, was calculated to rouse the 
 attention and inquiry of those amongst them who 
 were well-disposed, and who would thus be led 
 to seek for, and to obtain, his meaning ; while, at 
 the same time, it would, like all divine blessings, 
 be ineffectual to those who were unprepared to 
 receive it. Hence his parables were generally so
 
 182 Parable of the vineyard. 
 
 contrived as to be clear and intelligible to us in 
 after days to be clear even to his rude audience 
 as soon as expounded but just obscure enough, 
 to need, in their case, the exposition. 
 
 An exception, however, from this general cha- 
 racter of our Lord's parables must be made. It 
 is when the information to be conveyed was, as 
 in the present instance, no part of the mystery 
 of redemption, and of the glad tidings of the 
 Gospel no part of that divine trust, which, like 
 the talent in one of the parables, was the prize 
 of him who already had. The denunciation of 
 God's rejection of the Jews for their abuse of his 
 former grace, was not of a character to require 
 concealment from all but the docile ; obviously 
 because, in that case, those above all others to 
 whom it was addressed as a last warning, would 
 have been the very persons excluded from re- 
 ceiving it. 
 
 Although therefore this warning is here con- 
 veyed in a parable, yet it is expressly stated that 
 his hearers required no explanation of it; but 
 readily understood it, and would gladly, if they 
 could have done it safely, have forthwith appre- 
 hended him for his boldness. St. Matthew's
 
 Parable of the vineyard. 1 83 
 
 Gospel* gives indeed a few words, which our 
 Lord added, in the form of an explanation, so 
 that the dullest might not now be uninformed ; 
 but the particular imagery of the parable, the 
 pointed and circumstantial detail of several fea- 
 tures of analogy, combined with his previous 
 conduct in the temple, must of themselves have 
 been misunderstood by few, and few could have 
 needed the exposition. In the same figure of a 
 vineyard and a pleasant vine, digged about and 
 carefully tended, and yet proving unfruitful, and 
 unprofitable to the owner, Isaiah had, seven 
 hundred years before this, forewarned his coun- 
 trymen of the loss of God's favour ''; and the 
 close agreement between the Lord's language, 
 and the language of that prophecy, was too strik- 
 ing to be unnoticed. The minute circumstance 
 of the hedge of separation, which protected the 
 vine from the intrusion of the stranger, and dis- 
 tinguished it from the common or the possession 
 of others the tower built there too were 
 images, which, to a people habituated to instruc- 
 tion and revelation through types and figures, must 
 
 Chap. xxi. 43. b Chap. v. 1 7.
 
 184 Parable of the vineyard. 
 
 have readily suggested the fence-work of rites and 
 rules by which God had separated them from 
 the profane Gentile world, as well as the holy 
 tower the temple to which the Lord of the 
 vineyard attached the manifestation of his pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 The other images are equally apposite, and, 
 when combined into one picture, form so graphic 
 an allegory, that none of our Lord's hearers could 
 have been blind to the intended meaning. The 
 servants sent from time to time were disregarded, 
 abused, and even killed so had the Jews done 
 unto the prophets, even to the last and greatest, 
 John Baptist. Then finally comes one, who is 
 called " the beloved Son" of the Master ; and the 
 scene closes with the plot against his life, and 
 the sentence which should await the murderers, if 
 they executed it. And this too they could not 
 fail to apply to him, against whose life they were 
 conscious of plotting at that very time. 
 
 Observe too, it is not simply a son, whom the 
 lord of the vineyard is represented as sending, 
 nor his son, but his " beloved son ;" and this ex-, 
 pression has a force which must not be over- 
 looked. In one sense namely, as our Creator
 
 Parable of the vineyard. 1 8 5 
 
 and Preserver God represents himself as the 
 Father of all. To his elect people the Jews, as to 
 us Christians, He was eminently and peculiarly so; 
 and to the obedient ,more especially still He was 
 a father and they his children . But Him whom 
 God anointed with the Holy Ghost, He called 
 his " beloved Son," to denote a difference arising 
 out of the union of the divine and human nature, 
 which gave him a title to this character, resting 
 on different grounds from any on which others 
 claimed it. At the baptism of Christ accordingly, 
 when the miraculous union was testified and 
 confirmed both by a vision and a voice, the term 
 was then so used, as to exclude all ambiguity in 
 its after use to denote that " the anointed Son 
 of God" was not so called as we are, because 
 created of God chosen of God obedient to 
 
 ' See the use of the expression " sons of God," opposed to 
 " daughters of men," in Gen. vi. 2. 4. also Job i. 6. Hoseai. 10. 
 If the words " then first began men to call upon the name 
 of the Lord," be properly, as some assert, " then began men to 
 be called by the name of the Lord," it must have reference to 
 the same fact. St. John, i. 12, 13. applies the old appellation to 
 Christians, and points out how they are entitled to it beyond 
 all others who are merely men, namely, from being born of 
 God through the Spirit.
 
 1 86 Parable of the vineyard. 
 
 God ; but as partaking of the divine uncreated 
 essence in a way distinct from all others. Now 
 the Jews, from their familiarity with the pro- 
 phetic name Immanuel connected with other pro- 
 phecies, must have expected in their Messiah, 
 " God manifested in the flesh," a Being whose 
 relation to Jehovah should be different from that 
 of Moses, or their prophets. When our Lord 
 therefore emphatically told them, that, after all 
 the other messengers of the lord of the vineyard 
 had failed, " the beloved son" was to come, one 
 distinct from all sons and servants, the hint 
 could hardly have been misunderstood. Once 
 more, they must either have recognized his claims, 
 or have held him guilty of blasphemy, for so 
 applying to God the title of his Father, as to 
 make himself equal with God. It was not the 
 bare charge of their conspiring against his life 
 which now made their malice more malicious, 
 but the charge of conspiring against the beloved 
 Son of God.
 
 The question of certain Pharisees. 187 
 
 THE QUESTION OF CERTAIN PHARISEES AND 
 HERODIANS. 
 
 . Ver. 1317. 
 
 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the 
 Herodians, to catch him d in his words. And when they were 
 come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, 
 and carest for no man : for thou regardest not the person of 
 men, but teachest the way of God in truth : Is it lawful to 
 give tribute to Caesar, or not ? Shall we give, or shall we not 
 give ? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why 
 tempt ye me ? bring me a penny, that I may see it. And they 
 brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image 
 and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. And 
 Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things 
 that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And 
 they marvelled at him. 
 
 The temptation, or test, or snare, consisted in 
 this. As was lately observed, the unbelieving 
 hearers were fiill of malice, on account of our 
 Lord's claim to be the Messiah, " the beloved Son 
 of God." Now in asking him whether it was 
 lawful to give tribute to Caesar they (with their 
 
 d uy^wua-t. This metaphor is very characteristic of men 
 who were mostly fishermen, and whom accordingly our Lord 
 was wont to designate as his future " fishers of men."
 
 188 The question of certain Pharisees. 
 
 minds fixed on the Messiah's temporal the- 
 ocracy) made sure of effecting one of two things. 
 They thought, he must either, by asserting the 
 legality of Caesar's claims, renounce his own claim 
 to be the Messiah a claim but now so forcibly 
 asserted ; or else, by denying it, make himself 
 amenable to the civil authorities. The Herodians, a 
 political sect, accordingly took part in the insidious 
 embassy ; because the object was to involve him 
 in a charge not of a religious, but of a civil 
 character a charge of treason against the Roman 
 government. His answer is agreeable to this 
 view of the question, (the artifice which sug- 
 gested it being of course known to him,) and con- 
 tains a hint which they could not fully compre- 
 hend, although the pithy nature of the reply 
 silenced them. " They marvelled." His remark 
 concerning the superscription and image on the 
 coin, as connecting the tribute with civil authority, 
 and the opposition which he makes between such 
 demands and the things belonging to God, inti- 
 mate a new character in the Messiah's theocracy, 
 in which the ecclesiastical should no more inter- 
 fere with the civil rule ; or the obedience of the 
 subject to the human magistrate, be incon-
 
 The question of certain Sadducees. 189 
 
 sistent with the obedience of the believer to God. 
 Caesar's dominion was to be one, Christ's 
 another. Jesus was a King, but not of this 
 world. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF CERTAIN SADDUCEES. 
 
 Ver. 1827. 
 
 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no 
 resurrection; and they asked him, saying, Master, Moses 
 wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife 
 behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should 
 take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there 
 were seven brethren : and the first took a wife, and dying left 
 no seed. And the second took her, and died, neither left he 
 any seed : and the third likewise. And the seven had her, 
 and left no seed : last of all the woman died also. In the 
 resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall 
 she be of them ? for the seven had her to wife. And Jesus 
 answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because 
 ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God ? For 
 when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor 
 are given in marriage ; but are as the angels which are in 
 heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise : have ye 
 not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake 
 unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God 
 of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of 
 the dead, but the God of the living : ye therefore do greatly
 
 190 The question of certain Sadducees. 
 
 Our Lord we see was acceptable to neither of 
 the two leading parties amongst his countrymen. 
 The Pharisees and their adherents objected to 
 the character of his kingdom in this world ; the 
 Sadducees and their party to his kingdom in 
 another world. As the Pharisees had been put 
 to silence, the Sadducees now try their skill in 
 argument with him, and present him with an 
 imaginary case, which, in their view, seemed to 
 render the doctrine of a future state inconsistent 
 with the Mosaic law. By that law 6 it was 
 ordered, that, " if brethren dwell together, and 
 one of them die, and have no child, the wife of 
 the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: 
 her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and 
 take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of 
 an husband's brother unto her." Here is a case, 
 they meant to say, which proves the absurdity of 
 supposing that God designs man for a future 
 state; because, if the woman and her many 
 husbands were to return to existence, must not 
 the husbands revive incompatible claims to the 
 same wife ? 
 
 It is to be observed, that the Mosaic law did 
 
 e Deut. xxv. 5.
 
 The question of certain Sadducees. 191 
 
 not teach the doctrine of a future state. On 
 this singular omission, Warburton has built an 
 argument for the divine appointment of Moses, 
 and the existence of an extraordinary Providence, 
 with the Jewish people. For, argues he, no other 
 people in the world ever were kept under govern- 
 ment, without this doctrine ; Moses therefore, 
 who must have been aware of this great instru- 
 ment of state-policy, especially from his educa- 
 tion in Egypt, the parent of early lawgivers, 
 could only have neglected to make use of it, 
 through positive divine prohibition, and from his 
 assurance of the exercise of an extraordinary 
 Providence the only substitute f . 
 
 At the same time, even in the books of Moses 
 are contained intimations, which, like the obscure 
 types of the ceremonial law, were unintelligible 
 indeed at the time when they were delivered, 
 and purposely so ; but yet contained a reference 
 to the doctrine, which became obvious as soon as 
 that doctrine had been revealed by Christ. For 
 Moses to have taught a future state of reward 
 and punishment, would have been an anticipation 
 of the peculiar feature of Christianity " the 
 
 1 Divine Legation of Moses.
 
 192 The question of certain Sadducees. 
 
 bringing life and immortality to light ;" still, this 
 does not forbid that the doctrine should have 
 been so implied in the communications made by 
 God to His people under the Law, as that certain 
 passages, when explained by an after revelation, 
 should bear undoubted reference to it. These 
 hints became gradually enlarged and made clearer 
 and clearer, through the prophets ; and thus, 
 although there was no authority for the doctrine 
 in the Jewish creed, yet, by the time of our 
 Saviour's birth, the more learned, and indeed the 
 greater portion of the nation, thought a future 
 state most consistent with God's revealed word, 
 and therefore maintained the doctrine. The Sad- 
 ducees objected, and in their arguments con- 
 fined themselves to the books of Moses, as the 
 source of the original Mosaic institution the 
 test of that conformity and orthodoxy, which was 
 binding on all members of the Jewish commu- 
 nion. Hence our Lord's reply is taken, not only 
 from this portion of the Scriptures, but from the 
 very scene in which God is described as first 
 appointing Moses to be his messenger, and his 
 lawgiver. 
 
 To understand the force of the quotation, we
 
 The question of certain Sadducees. 1 93 
 
 must refer to the third chapter of Exodus, from 
 which it is taken ; bearing in mind one religious 
 view which prevailed in the world at the period 
 of the Jewish lawgiver's call the locality attri- 
 buted to all the objects of worship. All nations 
 were then worshipping, each his own gods or 
 tutelary genii, attached to a people, a district, 
 a mountain, or a grove. The Egyptian, the 
 Moabite, and every heathen, had each his god 
 in this sense ; and it was no strange notion 
 which the Syrians entertained, when they said of 
 the Israelites, " Their gods are gods of the hills ; 
 therefore they were stronger than we ; but let us 
 fight against them in the plain, and surely we 
 shall be stronger than they f ." In accommodation 
 to this, among other rooted prejudices to which 
 incipient revelation accommodated itself, it was 
 first as a tutelary deity, as their god, by contra- 
 distinction, that Jehovah made himself known to 
 the Jews and to Moses. When they received 
 God's first call, their notion of the locality of a 
 
 r 1 Kings xx. 23. Balak's endeavour to obtain a curse on 
 Israel from Balaam, by making him shift his place, was pro- 
 bably part of the same superstition. See Numbers xxiii. 
 xxiv.
 
 194 The question of certain Sadducees. 
 
 deity his attachment to places and persons 
 was so predominant, as possibly to make another 
 view of Him unintelligible. The declaration, ac- 
 cordingly, that Jehovah was their God, because 
 Abraham's God, supposes this prejudice as yet 
 strong, and becomes equivalent to language such 
 as this. " The Egyptians have their gods, the 
 Canaanites are protected by theirs, but I am He 
 attached to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob." What then our Lord's words im- 
 ply what then must the Israelites have under- 
 stood from this, respecting the condition of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob? Surely, that they were 
 at that time in existence, for them to be called 
 God's peculiar subjects and for Jehovah, in 
 contradistinction to the god of Egypt and Ca- 
 naan, and of other places and people then exist- 
 ing, to be called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob. 
 
 Nor let any of us, from a conscious superiority 
 of religious knowledge, think meanly of a revela- 
 tion, which invested the God of all the earth with 
 so narrow and unworthy a character. God's 
 ways are not our ways ; and this particular in- 
 stance, at least, was, after all, in strict con-
 
 The question of certain ISadducees. 195 
 
 formity with his usual dispensations. He gives 
 his light gradually, and as men can bear it. The 
 incompleteness of the believer's view arises not 
 from any defect in the revelation, but from his 
 own condition and nature. Our present notions 
 of God may be far more narrow with respect to 
 the knowledge for which we are destined in a 
 future state, than compared with ours, this in- 
 cipient revelation of the Israelites. " We see," 
 was the fatal boast of the scribes and Pharisees. 
 Let us not say, " Lord, we thank thee that we 
 are not blind, as others have been, or even as 
 thy once favoured people ;" but let us pray, that 
 we may receive our sight. 
 
 Gradually the Israelites themselves were led to 
 a more perfect knowledge of God. The first ex- 
 press declaration, that their God was the God of 
 all the earth, was made on the solemn occasion 
 of his manifestation on Mount Sinai, three 
 months after their departure from Egypt. ' ' Now 
 therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed, and 
 keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 
 treasure unto me above all people : for all the 
 earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a king- 
 o.2
 
 196 The question of certain Sadducees. 
 
 dom of priests, and an holy nation *." In the 
 last words the allusion is to the assertion God 
 makes, that all people are His; and intimates 
 that he intends to select, set apart, and sanctify, 
 as it were, the Jews ; so that they should be to 
 the God of all the earth, what the priests were 
 to the tutelary gods of each nation. With them, 
 as with a sacerdotal order in the universal people 
 of God, were entrusted the mysteries of truth ; 
 and they only communicated with the deity, and 
 were acquainted with his dealings. 
 
 To return to the passage read from St. Mark. 
 In the latter part, the Sadducees are said to have 
 denied the existence of angels as well as the 
 resurrection. Our Lord's 'illustration of the fu- 
 ture state of man, therefore, from the condition 
 of " the angels which are in heaven," was a re- 
 proof to them for both errors ; although, as the 
 latter only was the subject in question, and ob- 
 viously the more important, the latter only was 
 fully disproved. 
 
 Exodus xix. 5, 6.
 
 Question of one of the scribes, 197 
 
 QUESTION OF ONE OF THE SCRIBES. 
 
 Ver. 2834. 
 
 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them rea- 
 soning together, and perceiving that he had answered them 
 well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all ? And 
 Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, 
 Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is one Lord : and thou 
 shalt lore the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : 
 this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely 
 this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none 
 other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said 
 unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth : for there 
 is one God ; and there is none other but he : and to love him 
 with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with 
 all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neigh- 
 bour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and 
 sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, 
 he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of 
 God, And no man after that durst ask him any question. 
 
 In reading this incident, we should not omit to 
 notice the striking contrast it exhibits to the two 
 former cases. Unlike the arrogant and insidious 
 Pharisees and Herodians ; unlike too the preju- 
 diced Sadducees, the scribe who now questioned 
 our Lord, really seeks for information, and has
 
 1 98 Question of one of the scribes, 
 
 some preparation of heart ; although not quite 
 enough, it would seem, at that time, to enable 
 him to understand and be converted. He was 
 not "far from the kingdom of God." Observe 
 therefore the very different character of our 
 Saviour's reply to him. Agreeably to his usual 
 method, he had silenced and confounded the 
 former uncandid and indocile questioners, by 
 answers which only exposed their weakness. But 
 his words to the scribe are such as would seem 
 to encourage further inquiry, and to involve no 
 reproach on his understanding or his heart. 
 
 As to the ground of his inquiry, it probably 
 arose from the opposition, which, in the nice 
 questions of Pharisaical learning, was made be- 
 tween the importance of observing the outward 
 acts of religion, and of practising the moral 
 duties, and cherishing inward piety. The tone 
 of religion among the learned evidently inclined 
 strongly to the former the ceremonial law was 
 in greater repute than the moral. Hence our 
 Lord's own words afterwards, " Beware of the 
 scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and 
 love salutations in the market places, and the 
 chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost
 
 Question of one of the scribes. 1 99 
 
 rooms at feasts : which devour widows' houses, 
 and for a pretence make long prayers : these 
 shall receive greater damnation." In these words 
 he opposes their rigid observance of all that was 
 ritual, and religious in appearance, to what are 
 emphatically termed " the weightier matters of 
 the law." Some scruples with reference to this 
 general corruption might have crossed the mind 
 of the scribe, when he asked Christ " which was 
 the first commandment of all." The ten com- 
 mandments are called simply the commandments; 
 the introduction therefore of the word all, implies 
 that he directed the question to the whole of 
 what was commanded by God, through Moses, 
 and the Prophets ceremonies and moral pre- 
 cepts. Our Lord understands the drift of his 
 question, and accordingly so replies, as to declare 
 that not only the first of the moral code was 
 more important than the first of the ceremonial, 
 but that the whole of the moral law was weightier 
 than any part of the ceremonial. This is the 
 first commandment of all, says he, repeating the 
 words of the commandment; and not only does 
 this stand before the ceremonial commandments, 
 but the second is like unto it like it in prece-
 
 200 Christ's remarks respecting the scribes. 
 
 dence and superior weight and better, according 
 to the scribe's own comment, " than all the whole 
 burnt offerings and sacrifices ''." 
 
 CHRIST'S REMARKS RESPECTING THE SCRIBES. 
 Ver. 3540. 
 
 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the tem- 
 ple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? 
 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to 
 my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies 
 thy footstool. David therefore himself calleth him Lord ; and 
 whence is he then his son ? And the common people heard 
 him gladly. And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware 
 of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love 
 salutations in the market-places, and the chief seats in the 
 synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts : which de- 
 vour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers : 
 these shall receive greater damnation. 
 
 In the preceding statement, we have seen a 
 scribe discontented with the view of his fellow- 
 scribes respecting the relative importance of the 
 moral and the ceremonial law, and instructed and 
 confirmed in his protest by Jesus. In the pas- 
 sage which follows, our Lord is represented as 
 
 u IleitTuy Ta o^cx,etvTUftTat x< 6v<riai. The article is omitted 
 in our English version, and the force of the sentence thereby 
 destroyed.
 
 Christ's observation on a poor widow's offering. 20 1 
 
 weakening the authority of the whole body of 
 scribes or interpreters of the law, by proposing a 
 question for their solution openly in the temple 
 where he was preaching. He asked them to ex- 
 plain in what sense Christ was at once to be 
 "the son of David," and "David's Lord?" 
 Their inability to answer the question was a 
 triumph over them, which was acknowledged by 
 the mass of his hearers ; who accordingly " heard 
 him gladly." The impression so produced en- 
 abled him to urge, with greater effect, on the half- 
 converted scribe, and on others, the warning with 
 which he follows it up, against the guidance of 
 the scribes either as instructors or as examples. 
 
 CHRIST'S OBSERVATION ON A POOR WIDOW'S 
 
 OFFERING. 
 
 Ver. 4144. 
 
 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how 
 the people cast money into the treasury : and many that were 
 rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, 
 and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he 
 called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I 
 say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than 
 all they which have cast into the treasury : for all they did 
 cast in of their abundance ; but she of her want did cast in all 
 that she had, even all her living.
 
 202 Christ's observation on a poor widoiv's offering. 
 
 This remark should be considered in connec- 
 tion with the preceding instruction and warning. 
 The widow offering her mite, was a present ob- 
 ject, on which our Lord hinged the continuance 
 of the lesson he had been giving. He had before 
 warned his hearers against the example of the 
 scribes in many respects ; and by his present 
 remark, declares that their most specious virtue, 
 that of liberality, was like all the rest, empty 
 show ; inasmuch as even this virtue depended not 
 on the external act, but on the intention and 
 circumstances of the giver.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 POINTS OF INQUIRY. 
 
 FEW subjects have caused more perplexity 
 than the prophecy contained in this chapter. 
 By some it has been confined to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem ; by others it has been supposed 
 to be a mixed prophecy; embracing, at once, 
 that event, and the literal end of the world. 
 With a view of obtaining, as far as may be, a 
 right notion of its true import and object, it will 
 be useful to consider, I. The assertion with 
 which it concludes that all should be fulfilled 
 during the generation of those addressed. II. The 
 character of the prophetic language among the 
 Jews, and the probable adoption of it here. 
 
 III. Whether history bears us out in the inter- 
 pretation of the prophecy on this principle. 
 
 IV. Supposing some expressions to be found 
 more properly applicable to the day of judg-
 
 204 Time of the prophecy's fulfilment. 
 
 ment, how they are to be reconciled with the 
 declaration of Christ, and the general tenor of 
 prophecy. 
 
 THE ASSERTION RESPECTING THE TIME OF THE 
 PROPHECY'S FULFILMENT. 
 
 Ver. 2837. 
 
 Now learn a parable of the fig tree ; When her branch is 
 yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is 
 near : so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things 
 come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily 
 I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all 
 these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away : 
 but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that 
 hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in hea- 
 ven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch 
 and pray : for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of 
 man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and 
 gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, 
 and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore : 
 for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, 
 or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest 
 coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto 
 you I say unto all, Watch. 
 
 The declaration respecting the time of the 
 prophecy's fulfilment closes the whole, and is 
 contained in the last ten verses of the chapter.
 
 Time of the prophecy's fulfilment. 205 
 
 The assertion that all should be accomplished 
 within the generation of those present, is made 
 without any qualification ; and therefore obliges 
 us not to seek for any in the exposition of the 
 prophecy, unless it be found certainly inappli- 
 cable to the events which took place within the 
 period literally .prescribed. The time seems in- 
 deed to be marked as accurately as it was pos- 
 sible, without fixing "the day and the hour;" 
 for the event was to take place within so short a 
 space as the ordinary life of those already adults, 
 and the several stages of approach to it, most 
 distinctly pointed out. 
 
 That " the day and the hour" should have 
 been withheld, seems to have been a natural and 
 reasonable trial of the disciple's faith ; who, hav- 
 ing observed the progressive accomplishment of 
 the signs, was to be ready when the last appeared, 
 for the event itself; and, by his reliance on its 
 certain approach, to shew an exercise of faith in 
 these prophetic signs. But that Christ should 
 avow himself ignorant of " the day and the hour," 
 may seem strange, and requires explanation. If 
 it be so, an objector may say, then was not God 
 manifested in Christ, and Christ could have been
 
 206 Time of the prophecy 's fulfilment. 
 
 only a messenger divinely inspired, and limited, 
 although in a less degree than others, in his view 
 of the scheme of Providence. What adds force 
 to the difficulty too is, that in the narrative of 
 the Acts, Christ's prediction of the same event 
 is alluded to, and to the prediction a similar 
 avowal is appended. "It is not for you to 
 know the times or the seasons, which the Father 
 hath put in his own power';" that is, set apart 
 as his peculiar province of knowledge. 
 
 It is impossible to explain it by reference to 
 those mysterious distinctions in the divine na- 
 ture, the existence of which we infer from other 
 parts of Scripture. For, if the terms Father 
 and Son be used in this sentence for the first 
 and second Persons of the Godhead, as so dis- 
 tinguished, it is plain that omniscience is denied 
 to the second Person. 
 
 But Christ could not have preached contra- 
 dictions ; and if, in so many parts of his min- 
 istry, he has displayed undoubtedly his character 
 
 1 Acts i. 7. titro It TJ $U H-tvo-ia. The Hut here gives to 
 the assertion of the Acts the same force as St. Mark's expres- 
 sion, " no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, 
 neither the Son, but the Father."
 
 Time of the prophecy's fulfilment. 207 
 
 as " perfect God, and perfect man," he could 
 not have meant now to deny it. If, on one oc- 
 casion, in accordance with much besides which 
 he did and said, he told his disciples, " All things 
 that the Father hath are mine k ," by the ex- 
 pression, " what the Father has put in his own 
 power," and by this similar phrase which we 
 meet with in St. Mark, he could not have meant, 
 that any portion of divine knowledge was with- 
 held from him. All evidently that our Lord 
 intended to impress on his disciples was, that the 
 exact knowledge of the time of the coming of his 
 kingdom was not part of the revelation which they 
 were to receive from him. This is the only point 
 of view in which the assertion was called for by 
 their question. In this light it was, no doubt, 
 addressed to them, and is to be considered by us ; 
 and not (as we may be disposed to regard it) as a 
 revelation about the divine nature. 
 
 Nor must we suppose that the expression was at 
 all calculated to suggest any different view at the 
 time. For from the Gospel narratives, especially 
 St. John's, it appears to have been not unusual 
 with our Lord, when contrasting the manifestation 
 
 k John xvi. 15.
 
 208 Time of the prophecy's fulfilment. 
 
 of God with his unperceived incomprehensible ex- 
 istence, to apply the term " Father," as expres- 
 sive of the latter 1 . Thus he declares; " He that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father m ," because, 
 namely, He was God made visible the mani- 
 fested, in opposition to the unmanifested, unper- 
 ceived, incomprehensible nature and existence of 
 God. I should interpret in the same way the 
 following passages, amongst others. " My Father 
 is greater than I n ," that is, what is manifested 
 of God is not so great and glorious as what is still 
 unrevealed to man. " I go to my Father ," that 
 is, God ceases to be manifest in the flesh. " The 
 Comforter," (that is, the Holy Ghost,) " whom 
 I will send unto you from the Father'," that is, 
 when God ceases to be manifested in my human 
 nature. It is in this sense, and in allusion to 
 such expressions as these, that God is called in 
 the apostolic language, ' ' the Father of lights*." If 
 then the term Father be employed when a denial 
 of divine manifestation is intended, a very natural 
 way it was to describe a portion of knowledge not 
 revealed, by ascribing it to the Father only. It 
 
 1 John x. 30. m John xiv. 9. John xiv. 28. 
 
 John xvi. 16, 28. P John xv. 26. 1 James i. 1 7.
 
 Language of prophecy. 209 
 
 was equivalent to saying, that it was not designed 
 for any scheme of revelation, whether conveyed 
 through men, through angels, or through the 
 manifestation of God in Christ. It seems nothing 
 strange to speak of unrevealed knowledge as at- 
 tached to God's unrevealed nature ; or to say of 
 it, that it belonged not to man, to angels, nor 
 even to the Son, the last and fullest channel of 
 communication. Christ was here speaking of him- 
 self as the angel of the new covenant; and this 
 information made no part of the message which, 
 in that character, he was conveying to mankind. 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF THE PROPHETIC LANGUAGE OF 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT; AND ITS PROBABLE ADOP- 
 TION BY OUR SAVIOUR IN THE PRESENT IN- 
 STANCE. 
 
 It requires but a slender acquaintance with the 
 writings of the Old Testament prophets to enable 
 us to observe the peculiarity of their language. 
 It is not only figurative, but the figures are of 
 the boldest kind, involving analogies so remote, 
 as in some instances to be scarcely discoverable. 
 If revolutions in empires be the subject, the 
 prophetic representation is filled with the disturb- 
 p
 
 210 Language of prophecy. 
 
 ance of the laws of the natural world, and the 
 sun, moon, and stars, are exhibited in commo- 
 tion'. If a deliverer is promised to the Jews, 
 the prophet expresses the promise by the rising 
 of a star, and the like 8 . 
 
 The origin of this style of writing is obvious. 
 It is all, on the face of it, a hieroglyphic trans- 
 lated into verbal description. Supposing the 
 scene, instead of being described in words, to be 
 expressed by those ancient Egyptian symbols, 
 such probably could be the figures which you 
 would find sculptured. That this style should 
 have grown into use among the Israelites from 
 the time of their captivity in Egypt, that is, from 
 their first efforts in any kind of literature, is riot 
 surprising. But it must not be thought that 
 hieroglyphics are the peculiar invention of the 
 Egyptians, or the contrivance indeed of any one 
 people. An art resembling theirs must always 
 be the result of the first efforts to record those 
 thoughts which have no exact counterparts in 
 the material world. The Mexican, by painting a 
 ship, could convey intelligence of the arrival of 
 
 * See especially Isaiah xiii. 10 ; xxiv. 23; Jeremiah xv. 9; 
 Ezekiel xxxii. 7 ; Amos viii. 9. s Numbers xxiv. 17.
 
 Language of prophecy. 211 
 
 strangers on his coast ; and could have recorded 
 thus any mere objects of sight ; but a further 
 effort to record abstract ideas such as strength, 
 superiority, time, age would force the half- 
 civilized author upon the use of symbols, which 
 suggested these ideas, as qualities conspicuous in 
 the real objects so represented. A lion, for 
 example, would express strength ; or again, a 
 symbol would be adopted because of some ana- 
 logy ; as a circle, to denote eternity ; or from 
 some accidental association, as a star for destiny, 
 and the like. Thus we recognize in Joseph's 
 dream of the stars which made obeisance to him', 
 an indication of the existence amongst the Patri- 
 arch's tribe of a mode of expression founded on 
 this custom, before the family of Jacob went 
 down into Egypt ; at least if we allow the dream 
 to be in accordance with the usual images of 
 Joseph's mind. 
 
 It is not indeed that such figurative language 
 is in the first instance derived from hieroglyphic 
 writing, any more than that this latter is caused 
 by a figurative mode of expression. They are 
 both alike the result of a natural effort to express 
 
 * Genesis xxxvii. 9.
 
 212 Language of prophecy. 
 
 ideas which have no exact counterparts in the 
 material world. In the formation of the vehicle 
 of thought, suppose the idea to be expressed was 
 " strength," for instance. If it was required to 
 give utterance to this idea first by word of mouth, the 
 word uttered would be that which denoted a lion, 
 perhaps, or any other very powerful animal or natural 
 agent. If again the idea ' ' strength' ' was first required 
 to be expressed in writing, the painted or sculp- 
 tu,red image of the animal most noted for strength 
 would be the written word. Many abstract terms, 
 in a more polished stage of expression, betray 
 this boldly figurative origin, which must have 
 belonged to all; although time has destroyed 
 their power of suggesting the parent image, as it 
 has in other cases wholly obscured and oblite- 
 rated it. Take as instances two common words 
 of very different import, connected with the same 
 class of sensible objects, consideration and disaster. 
 No one can doubt, that in their original formation 
 they were both an emblematic or hieroglyphic use 
 of the stars. Milton has happily recalled the 
 primitive character of the latter in the following 
 lines.
 
 Language of prophecy. 213 
 
 as when the sun, new risen, 
 
 Looks through the horizontal misty air 
 Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon 
 In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds d . 
 
 One point however is to be observed in the 
 case of tbe Jewish Scriptures, that the use of this 
 hieroglyphic writing, or rather of language the 
 hieroglyphic characters of which were still ap- 
 parent, was adopted only when the subject of the 
 inspired writer was either poetry, or a description 
 of some prophetic scene, which, by its nature, 
 required to be shadowed out, and not distinctly 
 described. Perhaps too, by this appropriation of 
 style to certain prophecies, the attention of the 
 people was fixed to them as prophecies ; and then 
 it will have answered a similar purpose with some 
 of the methods of instruction adopted by Christ 
 that of rousing curiosity and impressing the 
 lesson. However this may be, with the Jews 
 this kind of writing from the earliest times 
 characterized prophecy as distinguished from his- 
 torical relation ; and especially those predictions 
 which involved great and important changes in 
 the civil or religious state of the world. To 
 mention one. The vision of the beasts, in which 
 
 u Paradise Lost, book i. 594.
 
 214 Language of prophecy. 
 
 Daniel declares the succession of the four great 
 empires x , whether it be the language in which 
 the revelation was made by God to him, or by 
 him to others, is plainly of this description. So 
 too the older prediction of the Gentile prophet 
 Balaam y . 
 
 That our Lord, who taught by symbol and in 
 parables, as if to excite attention by reviving 
 forms of expression nearly obsolete in his day, 
 should also revive this language in his prophecy, 
 is not to be wondered at. By doing so, indeed, 
 he attained a further object of great importance 
 the obvious connection between his own clearer 
 predictions, and the former hints and obscure reve- 
 lations of the Old-Testament-prophets. Accord- 
 ingly, if we compare the images of the prophecy 
 in question with the Old-Testament-Scriptures, 
 we shall find, that they are all derived from 
 thence ; from one ancient prophecy especially, 
 which has for its subject the very event predicted 
 by our Lord. He collected, as it were, the detached 
 portions of a great prophetic group of figures found 
 in the Old Testament; and by additions of his 
 own, fitted them into one piece ; as the modern 
 artist cements the scattered fragments of ancient 
 
 x Chap. vii. y Numbers xxiv. 17.
 
 Destruction of the temple. 215 
 
 sculpture, giving a meaning by combination to 
 that which before was only a disjointed heap an 
 object of surmise and wonder. 
 
 The superior fitness of such terms in our Lord's 
 prophecies over any newly-invented ones of a 
 like character, or over the exclusive use of ordi- 
 nary language, is so far sufficiently obvious. It 
 remains for us to inquire whether within the 
 period specified that is, within the date of the 
 generation addressed events came to pass, which 
 corresponded with these images, and with the 
 rest of the prophecy ; and whether these events 
 were of sufficient importance to allow us without 
 hesitation to pronounce that the prophecy has 
 been fulfilled in them. 
 
 WHETHER HISTORY BEARS US OUT IN THE APPLI- 
 CATION OF ALL THE PROPHECY, ACCORDING TO 
 THIS METHOD OF INTERPRETATION. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 Ver. 14. 
 
 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith 
 unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what build- 
 ings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest 
 thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone 
 upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat 
 upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and
 
 216 Destruction of the temple. 
 
 James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, 
 when shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign when 
 all these things shall be fulfilled 1 
 
 The temple-service was an essential ingredient, 
 in the constitution of the Jewish polity, and 
 necessary to its very existence. The destruction 
 of the temple was therefore the appropriate sign 
 of God's new kingdom, and the pledge of its 
 establishment. This accordingly is the point to 
 which all the other signs tend, and is itself natu- 
 rally the last in the series. But on account of 
 the distinct character of this sign, the prophecy 
 begins with it, and then describes the several 
 approximations to it. For the same reason our 
 present inquiry will most properly begin with 
 the question, Whether, within the period of the 
 generation who were alive at the time of the pre- 
 diction, this event did take place ? It was even so. 
 Titus destroyed the temple and city, and passed 
 the ploughshare over its ruins, in token of its 
 being destined by the conqueror to be left desolate 
 for ever. The barren fig tree was now indeed 
 " withered from the roots." We know too, that 
 notwithstanding the attempt of the apostate em- 
 peror Julian, and the natural desire of the Jews
 
 The rise of false Christs. 2 1 7 
 
 in all ages, it has to this day remained unbuilt ; 
 although its condition is inconsistent with the 
 existence of the Jews as God's peculiar people ; 
 and is the test selected for all generations, of the 
 truth of Christ's assertion, that he was the Mes- 
 siah, and that the new theocracy is established. 
 
 THE RISE OF FALSE CHRISTS. 
 
 Ver. 5, 6. 
 
 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest 
 any man deceive you : for many shall come in my name, say- 
 ing, I am Christ ; and shall deceive many. 
 
 There can be no stronger proof of the full 
 conviction that the Jews of our Saviour's time 
 had, of the period of their Messiah's advent being 
 come, than the ready credulity with which they 
 followed pretender after pretender, and the en- 
 thusiasm which anticipated and gave birth to 
 these impostures. " I am come," said our Lord 
 to them, "in my Father's name, (i. e. doing mighty 
 works in my Father's name,) and ye receive me 
 not: if another shall come in his own name, 
 (i. e. claiming to be received on his bare word,} 
 him ye will receive*." His prophetic declaration 
 
 1 John v. 43.
 
 218 Wars and rumours of wars. 
 
 was most fully verified. Josephus, the Jewish 
 historian, records several instances ; and one is 
 alluded to in the history of the Acts under the 
 character of " that Egyptian, which before these 
 days made an uproar, and led out into the wil- 
 derness four thousand men that were mur- 
 derers y ." This took place, according to Jose- 
 phus and Eusebius, during the procuratorship of 
 Felix. 
 
 WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS. 
 
 Ver. 7, 8. 
 
 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye 
 not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end 
 shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and 
 kingdom against kingdom. 
 
 The continual agitation of men's minds during 
 the reigns of Otho and Vitellius, and still more 
 on Vespasian becoming a candidate for the im- 
 perial crown, were events in which this predic- 
 tion of "kingdom rising against kingdom," and 
 war felt, and reported, might be certainly re- 
 cognized. But, as during all these troubled 
 scenes, the Jews were waiting, with ill-sup- 
 pressed longings after vengeance, for the vainly- 
 y Acts xxi. 38.
 
 Earthquakes, famines, and troubles. 219 
 
 expected signal from a temporal Messiah ; this is 
 more probably the specific circumstance pointed 
 at in the hint of " rumours of wars." There was, 
 no doubt, a sullen and foreboding murmur going 
 through the nation, such as generally precedes 
 the revolutionary efforts of an oppressed people, 
 long before the rebellion was actually determined 
 on. Without Christ's warning, the disciples 
 might have been induced to expect, that it would 
 lead sooner than it actually did to the final over- 
 throw predicted. 
 
 EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES, AND TROUBLES. 
 
 Ver. 8. 
 
 And there shall be earthquakes iu divers places, and there 
 shall be famines and troubles : these are the beginnings of 
 sorrows. 
 
 To this list of natural evils St. Matthew adds 
 " pestilences'." As these are almost the cer- 
 tain result of famine, or great scarcity of food, 
 they may be considered as implied in the account 
 of any remarkable scarcity. Such a famine took 
 place in the fourth year of Claudius Caesar's 
 reign. It was specifically foretold by Agabus, 
 
 1 Chapter xxiv. 7.
 
 220 Earthquakes, famines, and troubles. 
 
 and was the occasion of the first contribution 
 at Antioch for the relief of the Christians of 
 Judaea, who, on the strength of the prediction, 
 were provided against the event*. Eusebius 
 states, that the whole Roman empire was affected 
 by it. 
 
 Pestilence is also one of the natural effects of 
 an earthquake; and of earthquakes we have a 
 great deal recorded. Besides those which appear 
 from Philostratus, the biographer of Apollonius 
 Tyanseus, to have been felt at this period in 
 Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, and Chios ; Josephus 
 mentions one which occurred in Judaea while the 
 Idumseans were encamped near Jerusalem. Had 
 this especially happened, without the prophetic 
 check, the Christians might have supposed that 
 the holy city was destined to fall by it in part, 
 and might have abandoned their post before the 
 time determined. 
 
 Of tumults, the whole history of the period dis- 
 plays one uninterrupted series ; and, as each of 
 these, like the earthquake and the murmuring of 
 the Jews, might have made the time of Jerusalem's 
 fate seem nearer than it really was, we easily 
 * Acts xi. 28.
 
 Persecution of the Christians. 22 1 
 
 recognize the propriety of all these being speci- 
 fied as only " the beginning of sorrows." 
 
 PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Ver. 9. 1113. 
 
 But take heed to yourselves : for they shall deliver you up 
 to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and 
 ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for ray sake, for a 
 
 testimony against them. But when they shall lead you, 
 
 and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall 
 speak, neither do ye premeditate; but whatsoever shall be 
 given you in that hour, that speak ye : for it is not ye that 
 speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray 
 the brother to death, and the father the son ; and children 
 shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be 
 put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my 
 name's sake : but he that shall endure unto the end, the same 
 shall be saved. 
 
 For an account of the fulfilment of all this 
 part of the prophetic description, we need not 
 go further than the inspired history itself. The 
 Acts of the Apostles contains an illustration of 
 all the various kinds of persecution here enu- 
 merated ; and from an allusion in St. Paul's 
 second Epistle to the Corinthians b to his own, it 
 appears how small a part must have been re- 
 b Chap. xi. 23, 24, 25.
 
 222 Persecution of the Christians. 
 
 corded by the inspired historian. It is impos- 
 sible to consider these predictions, in any point 
 of view, without being at the same time struck 
 with their most remarkable feature their utter 
 inconsistency with the character of an impostor. 
 
 The command that when delivered up to their 
 persecutors, the accused should not think before- 
 hand what they were to say, may be considered as 
 a warning that their faith would be especially put 
 to the test on these occasions ; and that the 
 evidence of it would be their abandonment of all 
 human arts of eloquence in pleading their cause. 
 Thus each man was provided with a miracle 
 in the use of inspired language, on the occasion 
 when he most needed it ; and this miraculous 
 assistance was the appointed reward of his faith 
 in the present prediction. 
 
 At the same time, the fact that many should 
 prove too weak for the trial, was foretold; in 
 order that their failure might not be imputed to 
 the weakness of their cause; and that others 
 might be the less likely to yield to the dismay 
 and forlorn feeling, which would be naturally 
 inspired, by finding friends, and kindred, and all 
 men their enemies.
 
 The Gospel preached to all nations. 223 
 
 THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO ALL NATIONS. 
 
 Ver. 10. 
 And the gospel must first be published among all nations. 
 
 This we know has never been literally ful- 
 filled. How far the wide circulation of the Gospel 
 amongst the various people of the world, before 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, may be considered 
 as an adequate fulfilment, is a point to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 There are two remarks which may be offered 
 in favour of this view. One is, that in the 
 language of Scripture, and not of Scripture alone, 
 the imperfect action is not unfrequently put for 
 the perfect the beginning for the accomplish- 
 ment. It is thus that we are sometimes said to 
 be " saved" by having our salvation begun. So 
 too we are sometimes called " just" and " justi- 
 fied," when no more is intended by the expres- 
 sions than that we are put into a way to become 
 just and justified. 
 
 The other remark connected with this is, 
 that, at this period, all nations were under the 
 Roman dominion all, at least, who were objects 
 of any consideration with the persons addressed.
 
 224 The abomination of desolation. 
 
 The preaching of the Gospel at Rome therefore 
 may be considered in the light of preaching to all 
 the Gentile nations, inasmuch as Rome was the 
 head and representative of the Gentile world. 
 Taking this view, in connection with the preced- 
 ing, the circumstance that Rome had received 
 the Gospel, may be considered as the fulfilment 
 of the prophecy as the work of universal con- 
 version commenced, although not perfected. 
 And this, by the way, will account for St. Luke's 
 closing his history of the Acts precisely at the 
 period when St. Paul arrives at the seat of empire, 
 and opens his commission there ; all the preced- 
 ing narrative having been a display of the pro- 
 gressive course of the Gospel scheme, directed 
 from the Jews to the devout Gentiles, from the 
 devout Gentiles to the heathen converts, and 
 traced up to this eventful period, when the whole 
 heathen world was preached to in Rome its capital 
 and representative. 
 
 THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Ver. 1420. 
 
 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, 
 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, 
 (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in
 
 The abomination of desolation. 225 
 
 Judaea flee to the mountains: and let him that is on the 
 housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, 
 to take any thing out of his house : and let him that is in 
 the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. 
 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give 
 suck in those days ! And pray ye that your flight he not iu 
 the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was 
 not from the beginning of the creation which God created 
 unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord 
 had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved : but for 
 the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the 
 days. 
 
 Of all the clauses of the prophecy, this is per- 
 haps the most striking. In another Evangelist 
 the meaning is more expressly given thus, 
 <c When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with 
 armies 1 '." In other words, the Christians were 
 to wait, until they had seen the Roman standard 
 pollute the holy city, and found themselves en- 
 compassed by armies, and their escape to all 
 appearance precluded, before escape was to be 
 attempted. Here was a trial worthy of the faith 
 of the primitive Church, and it was worthily 
 obeyed. Jerusalem was encompassed by the 
 troops of Cestus Gallius. Finding himself too 
 b Luke xxi. 20. 
 Q
 
 226 The figurative description of the change 
 
 weak however to storm the city, he withdrew his 
 forces; and in the interim which followed be- 
 tween this and the arrival of Titus, an oppor- 
 tunity was given to the Christians to escape, 
 which could not humanly- speaking have been 
 foreseen. They fled in haste to Pella, and suf- 
 fered no harm during the dreadful scene which 
 followed not a hair of any head was hurt. 
 
 THE FIGURATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE CHANGE 
 FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW THEOCRACY. 
 
 Ver. 2127. 
 
 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ ; 
 or, lo, he is there ; believe him not : for false Christs and 
 false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, 
 to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye 
 heed: behold, 1 have foretold you all things. But in -those 
 days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and 
 the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven 
 shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 
 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds 
 with great power and glory. And then shall he send his 
 angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four 
 winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost 
 part of heaven. 
 
 The last sign which was to precede the esta- 
 blishment of the new theocracy, was the destruc-
 
 from the old to the new theocracy. 227 
 
 lion of the holy city, and especially of its temple. 
 The mention of this accordingly is followed by 
 a description, which, agreeably to the interpre- 
 tation of the old prophetic language, may be 
 explained of the change of dispensation now to 
 be finally and completely accomplished. 
 
 Lest however the early Christians, swayed by 
 long rooted prejudices, should conceive that 
 Christ's reign so established was to take place by 
 his presence in the flesh once more amongst 
 them, he first warns them against this miscon- 
 ception, by repeating his prediction concerning 
 false Christs, and adding, " and then if any man 
 shall say to you, Lo, here w Christ ; or, lo, he is 
 there; believe him not." Many impostors, he 
 tells them, would take advantage of the erroneous 
 notion, and delude many, (as actually was the 
 case;) but that Christ in this new kingdom of 
 God was not to be " here," or " there." There 
 was to be no local temple or kingdom. The 
 hour was come, when neither to the mountain in 
 Samaria, nor yet to Jerusalem, should be attached 
 the presence of God ; but the true worshippers 
 were to worship Him in spirit and in truth. So 
 " when he was asked by the Pharisees, when the 
 Q2
 
 228 The figurative description of the change 
 
 kingdom of God should come, he answered them 
 and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with 
 observation ; neither shall they say lo t here, or lo, 
 there, for the kingdom of God is mthin you c ." 
 He was indeed, according to the promise made 
 to his disciples, to " come unto them ;" and, in 
 remembrance of this, the apostle who survived the 
 signs of his fixed residence with his Church ex- 
 claims, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus ;" but He 
 was to come as God manifested by the Spirit 4o 
 be within " the Church, which is his body, the 
 fulness of Him that filleth all in all d ." 
 
 After what has been already said of the import 
 and character of the prophetic figures here em- 
 ployed, it will be unnecessary to point out their 
 fitness to the present occasion. There is one, how- 
 ever, against which an exception may be taken 
 the image of the angels sent to gather " the elect 
 from the four corners of the heavens." But even 
 this is not inapplicable to the event which took 
 place on the establishment of Christ's Church, 
 when God by his " angels," or ministers, selected 
 and called various nations into his kingdom. 
 The term angel is by the inspired writers applied 
 
 c Luke xvii. 20, 21. Ephes. i. 23. 

 
 from the old to the new theocracy. 229 
 
 to those so sent, and the term elect, to those so 
 called. St. John, for instance, uses the term 
 " angel" in the sense of bishops': and the term 
 11 elect" became even more familiar in Christian 
 phrase. For the frequent use of this latter 
 term there was indeed a further reason. God's 
 former kingdom consisted of persons selected 
 out of the world ; set apart, and made His pe- 
 culiar people. In speaking therefore of the new 
 theocracy the spiritual Church the persons 
 composing it were fitly designated by a title, which 
 pointed out their claim to be the successors of 
 the Jewish Church, in all the privileges of God's 
 elect. 
 
 At the same time, the sending forth of God's 
 angels to gather together his elect from the four 
 winds of heaven, carries with it, to us at least, 
 so much more of the character of a description of 
 the day of judgment, that many interpret it 
 also of that day ; some apply it wholly in this 
 manner. The mention of this difference of 
 opinion naturally leads us to the next point 
 proposed for consideration, namely, 
 
 ' Rev. ii. and iii.
 
 230 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 
 
 SUPPOSING PARTS OF THE PROPHETIC LANGUAGE 
 USED BY CHRIST TO BELONG PROPERLY TO A 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, 
 WHETHER SUCH PARTS CAN BE RECONCILED 
 WITH THE DECLARATION OF CHRIST CONCERN- 
 ING THE PERIOD OF THE WHOLE PROPHECY'S 
 FULFILMENT. 
 
 On this question turns the main difficulty, the 
 only difficulty indeed which the prophecy in- 
 volves. If the language of the prophecy, accord- 
 ing to the interpretation proposed, seems to be 
 fully explained in reference to the change of dis- 
 pensation which was consummated and legally 
 sealed by the abolition of the temple-service, then 
 the whole did take place within the period pre- 
 scribed. But if any portions of it suggest, and 
 seem designed to suggest, a more awful scene 
 which is yet to be realized, how are we to recon- 
 cile the apparent inconsistency ? While He who 
 delivered the prophecy preached Truth as the 
 characteristic of his doctrine, and has confirmed, 
 by all that can give confirmation to the candid, 
 his own pretensions to be " the truth," the dif- 
 ficulty can occasion no faltering of faith ; no
 
 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 231 
 
 doubt, in that sense of doubting; but it may well 
 occasion doubt, as to the way in which the mean- 
 ing of the prophecy is to be received. 
 
 Let us see then. Our Lord was professedly pro- 
 phesying of the change of dispensation, the pledge 
 of which was the removal of the temple-service ; 
 for out of a remark on the goodly appearance of 
 the temple, the whole discourse took its rise, and 
 is clearly connected throughout with it. In the 
 course of the prophecy he has adopted a figurative 
 language from the Old-Testament-prophets, con- 
 sisting of a picture of the heavenly system de- 
 ranged, and the angels of God busy with the 
 execution of His high commands. These images 
 are evidently hieroglyphical, and we so interpret 
 them in the old Scriptures, and why not in the 
 new? But then he has introduced, it may be 
 said, images, which connected with other parts 
 of prophecy, we consider to be images of the day 
 of judgment. And why not consider them in 
 this place as hieroglyphic figures ? as mere sym- 
 bols for expressing that great change, which, by 
 its fulfilment, would confirm our faith in the next 
 great change the change from the kingdom on 
 earth, to the kingdom in heaven? Is it not very
 
 232 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 
 
 likely that our Lord adopted these awful images, 
 that he chose, as his hieroglyphics, the figures 
 proper to the final scene of the world, in order 
 that we may so connect the two, as to be con- 
 firmed in our hopes or our fears of the one, 
 whenever we read of the accomplishment of the 
 other? 
 
 Such is the view, into which we are led by 
 looking merely at the narrative of St. Mark. 
 But if we turn to St. Matthew, we shah 1 observe, 
 that his Gospel contains two distinct prophecies 
 the one in the twenty-fourth the other in the 
 twenty-fifth chapter. The former of these cor- 
 responds to the prophecy recorded by St. Mark ; 
 the latter relates to the course of events, subse- 
 quent to the establishment of God's kingdom, 
 inclusive of that last great day, when the Son of 
 man shall come to judgment. In St. Luke, as in 
 St. Mark, the record appears to be confined to 
 that change of God's kingdom, of which the con- 
 summation and seal was the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 It is true, that there are some few coincidences 
 of expression between the twenty-fifth chapter also 
 of St. Matthew's Gospel and this fifteenth of
 
 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 233 
 
 St. Mark ; and the like coincidence may be ob- 
 served between the two chapters of St. Matthew. 
 But agreeably to the supposed intent of divine 
 wisdom, in connecting the two events by certain 
 common images, so that the first coming of Christ 
 when fulfilled, might be a pledge of Christ's last 
 coming ; the more striking from the association 
 of ideas ; agreeably to this, some parallel ex- 
 pressions may be expected as well between St. 
 Mark's account, and the twenty-fifth chapter of 
 St. Matthew, as between the two successive 
 chapters of St. Matthew. Just such a coincidence 
 will be observed. 
 
 That the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew 
 commences a new series of prophetic visions, 
 beginning from the establishment of the Gospel 
 kingdom, marked as that event was by the sign 
 of the overthrow of the Jewish polity, is suggested 
 by the form of expression used by the Evangelist. 
 " Then," writes he, " shall the kingdom of heaven 
 be likened unto ten virgins," &c. that is, the king- 
 dom of heaven having been established, and the 
 overthrow of God's former earthly kingdom, the 
 last sign being accomplished, then, such and such 
 shall be the condition of the latter Church ; until
 
 234 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 
 
 the Church, the present kingdom of heaven itself, 
 gives way to a future state, the end and con- 
 summation of all God's probationary dispensa- 
 tions. 
 
 Observe therefore the way in which the narra- 
 tive proceeds from the one prophetic view to the 
 other ; and you will discover a further fitness in 
 the two being stated together, and connected by 
 common forms of expression. In the prophecy of 
 that terrible scene, in which the Jewish polity was 
 to be dissolved, the temple and the holy city sacked 
 and levelled, and its inhabitants massacred, or 
 driven houseless through a conquered land, it was 
 needful to give the Christian Church the fullest 
 assurance of security. On no occasion is the 
 term " elect" more forcibly applied to them. 
 Christ had called them his " little flock," allud- 
 ing to the parable of the " good shepherd who 
 would lay down his life for the sheep f ;" he had 
 told them, "Fear not," for it was the Father's 
 good pleasure to give them " the kingdom." 
 But it was requisite to repeat, and to make these 
 expressions more definite. Even the miseries of 
 Jerusalem were to be shortened for the new 
 
 f John x.
 
 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 235 
 
 " elects' sake;" and, although they should be 
 dispersed, although many who were intended for 
 the increase of the little flock, were not of the 
 original fold, from the four quarters of the world 
 he promises to gather in subjects for his kingdom, 
 sheep for his fold to elect a new Israel of God. 
 
 All these assurances were requisite ; but might 
 they not have led to the visionary prospect of a 
 state of glory, rather than one of trial ? Might 
 not the Church have hoped for an immediate 
 millenium; especially as such was, in fact, the 
 view which long habit had given them as Jews of 
 their Messiah's reign ? The prophecy of the con- 
 dition of the Church after the destruction of 
 Jerusalem after its sign of permanent establish- 
 ment is conveyed, in a way most strikingly 
 calculated to prevent this delusion. " Then shall 
 the kingdom of heaven be likened" and the com- 
 parison made is to " the wise and foolish virgins ;" 
 and this again is followed up by a similar parable 
 of " the servants and the talents." 
 
 Both these parables were evidently intended to 
 warn the Church, which had required and received 
 strong assurance of support as God's " elect," 
 that of the very elect there should be a further sepa-
 
 236 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 
 
 ration, and that those only who were on the 
 watch would be finally blessed. In both para- 
 bles, those to whom a difference of allotment is 
 made are marked as members of the Church, or 
 the " elect." In the parable of the virgins, they 
 are the bridegroom's chosen friends, an image 
 with which the disciples were, by this time, quite 
 familiar. In the parable of the talents, the same 
 truth was conveyed, by the circumstance, that 
 all who had the trust committed to them were 
 the Lord's servants the very title which the 
 apostles, and especially St. Paul, afterwards ap- 
 plied to themselves, in reference to those many 
 forms of instruction in which their Master had 
 represented them under this image. St. Paul 
 styles himself in his Epistle to the Romans, 
 " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ." St. Peter 
 in his second Epistle, " Simon Peter, a servant 
 of Jesus Christ." Of all his followers Christ 
 spoke, when he told Pilate, " If my kingdom 
 were of this world, then would my servants 
 fight s ;" and of all, when he promised, " If any 
 man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I 
 am, there shall also my servant be h ." 
 
 * John xviii. 36. h John xii. 26.
 
 Passages relating to the day of judgment. 237 
 
 The time is also fixed to the period which was 
 to elapse between the ascension of Christ, and 
 his re-appearance to judge the world. In the 
 parable of the virgins, it is represented by the 
 interval that is between the bridegroom's absence 
 and return to celebrate the feast the season of 
 the Church's finished probation and completed 
 joy. In the parable of the talents, it is 
 marked by the similar temporary absence of the 
 Lord who was to return and take account of his 
 servants. 
 
 That St. Mark, in his obvious care to abridge 
 and be concise, should have omitted the latter 
 prediction, will not appear so strange, if we con- 
 sider, that he wrote for a Church composed very 
 much of heathen converts, and therefore less 
 likely to require warning against the strong as- 
 sociation which was felt by the Jewish con- 
 verts, between the Messiah's kingdom and a 
 state of immediate glory and happiness. The 
 same motive might have influenced St. Luke. 
 St. Matthew, on the other hand, was writing for 
 those who had been converted from the centre of 
 Judaism, and whose numbers were receiving 
 additions continually from the same source. It
 
 238 Passages relating to the day of judgment, 
 
 is not the only common omission of St. Mark and 
 St. Luke which may be accounted for from this 
 circumstance of difference between their original 
 readers, and those for whose use St. Matthew's 
 Gospel was first composed.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CHRIST ANOINTED FOR HIS BURIAL. 
 
 Ver. 39. 
 
 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as 
 he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box 
 of ointment of spikenard very precious ; and she brake the box, 
 and poured it on his head. And there were some that had 
 indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste 
 of the ointment made? for it might have been sold for more 
 than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. 
 And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her 
 alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work 
 on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whenso- 
 ever ye will ye may do them good : but me ye have not always. 
 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to 
 anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, 
 Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the 
 whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of 
 for a memorial of her. 
 
 WHEN Saul was marked out by God for the 
 holy kingdom of Israel, " Samuel took a vial of
 
 240 Christ anointed for his burial. 
 
 oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, 
 and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed 
 thee to be captain over his inheritance* 1 ?" Like 
 to this in import was the action of the woman 
 here recorded. Christ's death and burial formed 
 the stage, which immediately led to that spiritual 
 kingdom, over which he alone was to be Lord 
 and Christ b for ever. Concerning the near ap- 
 proach of this kingdom, he had discoursed so 
 continually of late with his disciples, that their 
 minds were full of the subject, and their atten- 
 tion quickened to the excitement of any hint like 
 this, which from its obvious connection with the 
 divine appointments under the Jewish theocracy, 
 bore no obscure reference to the event. 
 
 But who was the woman, who was made the 
 agent in this transaction ? Was it from a divine 
 impulse that, like the prophet of old, she came 
 to anoint one greater than Saul, to be captain 
 over the Lord's inheritance ? Or, did she merely 
 intend a mark of respect to Jesus, and on this 
 account draw on herself the commendation re- 
 corded, and the promise which is here fulfilled, 
 that " wherever the Gospel shall be preached in 
 
 * 1 Samuel x. 1. b i. e. Anointed.
 
 Christ anointed for his burial. 241 
 
 all the earth, this, that this woman hath done, 
 shall be told in memorial of her ? 
 
 St. Matthew's, St. Luke's, and St. John's Gos- 
 pels all contain similar accounts of our Lord's 
 being anointed by a woman, and his vindicating 
 her conduct in so doing c . Nevertheless, it has 
 been supposed, from some disagreement or ap- 
 parent disagreement in the four narratives, that 
 three different incidents have been placed in re- 
 cord. How far this is likely to be the case, it 
 will be worth our while to inquire. 
 
 It will, I think, appear from that inquiry, that 
 there were two anointings, which took place in 
 the same house, and were performed by the same 
 person, but at very different periods of our Lord's 
 ministry. Both took place at Bethany, and in 
 the house of Simon the leper, and the woman in 
 both cases was Mary the sister of Lazarus ; but 
 her first act was performed early in Christ's min- 
 istry, and soon after her conversion ; the last, a 
 short time before the crucifixion. 
 
 In the first place, then, St. Matthew's account 
 so exactly accords with this of St. Mark, that all 
 are agreed in identifying the event intended by 
 
 c Matt. xxvi. 6. Luke vii. 37. John xii. J. 
 B
 
 242 Christ anointed for his burial. 
 
 these two. Again, St. Luke's story agrees in 
 many remarkable particulars with the other two. 
 He relates, for instance, that the event took 
 place in the house of one Simon, and at Bethany; 
 and that it called forth an expression of appro- 
 bation from our Lord; and these are the main 
 points which characterize the narrative in the 
 former two. But then, according to St. Luke, 
 it must have taken place two years before the 
 period to which it is assigned in the narratives of 
 St. Matthew, St. Mark, and also in that of St. John ; 
 and one circumstance is added, which would at 
 least make it inconsistent with St. John's state- 
 ment that the woman was a notorious sinner, 
 and that our Saviour, on this occasion, pro- 
 nounced the forgiveness of her sins. Lastly, 
 when we examine St. John's account, there ap- 
 pears to be an agreement as to time and other 
 circumstances with St. Matthew and St. Mark ; 
 but, in common with St. Luke, he differs from 
 both these Evangelists, in stating that the woman 
 anointed the feet of Jesus, whereas the other two 
 say that the ointment was poured on his head. 
 This however cannot be insisted on as an irre- 
 concilable disagreement ; because, while the main
 
 Christ anointed for his burial. 243 
 
 purpose of the woman's action might have been 
 fulfilled in pouring the oil on the head of Jesus, 
 it may have flowed over his body, and, like 
 Aaron's of old, descended to the skirts of his 
 garments d . Or, she may, through diffidence, 
 have begun with his feet, which, from the oblique 
 posture in which he reclined at his meal, would 
 be most accessible. Even St. Matthew and St. 
 Mark, who speak of the head being anointed, 
 report our Lord's words to have been, " she hath 
 anointed my body." From St. John too we 
 learn, beyond the statement of the others, that 
 this woman was Mary the sister of Lazarus, and 
 that it was Judas Iscariot who expressed dis- 
 content at the use of the ointment ; whereas in 
 the other Evangelists, the names of the woman 
 and of the disciple are suppressed. For this 
 variation there might be the same good reason, 
 which has been suggested for the omission of the 
 raising of Lazarus from the dead by the first 
 three Evangelists, and the minute record of it 
 subsequently by St. John. As long as Lazarus 
 lived, and the Jews continued a nation, and there 
 was consequently danger to be apprehended from 
 
 d Psalm cxxxiii. 2. 
 R 2
 
 244 Christ anointed for his burial. 
 
 their malice ; so long it might have been prudent 
 to, suppress the names of persons, the mention of 
 whom was most offensive to them. With the 
 same view that induced St. Matthew, St. Mark, 
 and St. Luke to omit the account of Lazarus's 
 resurrection, lest perhaps he might become an 
 object of persecution to the Jews, they might 
 have concealed the sister's name in the record of 
 an occurrence which took place at a feast where 
 the dead man restored to life was present. Some 
 similar motive of prudence might have suggested 
 also the suppression of the traitor's name for a 
 time, in connection with this transaction. 
 
 St. John's account then may so far be con- 
 sidered as the same with that of St. Matthew and 
 St. Mark, and differing from them only in certain 
 specifications. But many commentators 6 have 
 nevertheless contended, that it was a distinct event 
 which he relates, on the following grounds. I. 
 That the incident recorded by St. John is said to 
 have taken place six days before the passover ; 
 whereas that recorded by St. Matthew and St. 
 Mark appears to have happened only two. II. 
 
 Lightfoot, Whitby, and Maoknight. See Mant's Bible, 
 John xii. 3.
 
 Christ anointed for his burial. 245 
 
 That in St. John's narrative the scene is laid in 
 the house of Lazarus ; while according to St. 
 Matthew and St. Mark it took place in the house 
 of Simon the leper. 
 
 Merely glancing at the first of these objections, 
 one can hardly refrain from suspecting that it 
 must be founded on some mistake. So improbable 
 does it seem, that two events so very similar and 
 so strongly marked by our Lord, and noticed as 
 singular by all, should have occurred within four 
 days of each other. To notice nothing else in 
 this resemblance how strange it seems, that the 
 reproof of the Lord to the observation made on 
 the first occasion, should not have prevented the 
 renewal of a similar observation on the second. 
 But in truth, the narrative of St. John does not 
 state, or even imply, that the event he records 
 took place six days before the Passover. All that 
 can be inferred from it is, that it must have taken 
 place some time wthin that period ; and this ex- 
 actly corresponds with the statements of St. 
 Matthew and St. Mark. St. John relates, that 
 Christ came to Bethany six days before the 
 Passover, and this incident is mentioned as one 
 of those which occurred whilst he was there.
 
 246 Christ anointed for his burial. 
 
 Nor has the second objection any more found- 
 ation. For St. John's account certainly is not 
 that the feast was in the house of Lazarus, but 
 only that Lazarus was " one of them that sat at 
 the table with him," and that Lazarus's sisters 
 were performing a part, which it is nothing strange 
 they should have performed in the house of a 
 relation, a friend, or a neighbour. Why indeed 
 should the Evangelist think it necessary to state 
 that Lazarus was one of those who sat at the 
 table with Jesus, if he understood that Lazarus 
 was the person who entertained him. Nay more; 
 it is not indeed expressly said by St. John that 
 Simon the leper was the master of the house and 
 the entertainer; but there is one very remark- 
 able incidental notice, which really looks like an 
 intimation of it. Judas Iscariot (the disciple, 
 according to St. John, who found fault with the 
 waste of the ointment) is described as the son of 
 Simon. Why should this latter circumstance be 
 here introduced? Judas is no where else called 
 Simon's son; and the title of Iscariot that is else- 
 where used to distinguish him from the other 
 Judas, is here also employed by St. John. Why 
 should he now call him not only Judas Iscariot, but
 
 Christ anointed for his burial. 247 
 
 Judas Iscariot the son of Simon? It does certainly 
 look as if this Simon the leper were the father 
 of Judas Iscariot ; and that St. John was writing 
 under the impression that his readers were aware 
 of the transaction having taken place in the 
 house of Simon f . 
 
 That St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. John, then, 
 relate the same event seems to be nearly certain. 
 
 f I am aware that the words on which this last argument 
 rests, although found in the authorized text of the New 
 Testament, have had their genuineness doubted. I will say 
 more ; the authority of the MSS. is rather against their being 
 geuuine. But as there are some words which have crept into 
 numerous MSS. which we at once pronounce to be glosses 
 carelessly mixed with the text by transcribers, from the 
 likelihood that such words would form a very natural 
 marginal note ; so when an expression is more likely to have 
 been dropped than inserted, we should allow its proper weight to 
 this circumstance. Iscariot was the usual and only familiar 
 appendage to Judas's name. A transcriber, not perceiving the 
 ground of the addition " Simon's son," might accordingly 
 have omitted it, from mistaking it for a gloss interpretation ; 
 or from overlooking what he did not expect to find. In short, 
 the words are so much more likely to have been omitted than 
 inserted, that the reading is probably genuine ; although the 
 decision to which we might come on a bare comparative 
 estimate of the MSS. be different.
 
 248 Christ anointed for his burial. 
 
 But that contained in St. Luke's Gospel cannot 
 be the same. If it were allowable to take so 
 great a liberty with his arrangement of facts, as 
 to place at the close of our Lord's ministry an 
 incident which he places in the earlier part ; 
 still, the fact that at that time the woman was 
 a notorious sinner, can never be reconciled with 
 the character of Mary at the period assigned to 
 the event by St. Matthew St. Mark and St. 
 John; and to make these conform in point of 
 date with St. Luke, would be to destroy the force 
 of our Lord's remark on the occurrence, " she 
 hath done it for my burial," or, as it is expressed 
 more pointedly in St. John, " she hath kept this 
 for my burial." And yet St. Luke, like the 
 other three, relates that the event took place in 
 the house of Simon the leper ; and adds circum- 
 stances, bearing in every respect so close a re- 
 semblance, as to force upon us a suggestion of 
 at least some connection between the two oc- 
 currences. 
 
 And some connection is not really unlikely 
 or inexplicable. What if the woman, who two 
 years before anointed the Saviour's feet, and 
 wept in the act of doing it until her tears are
 
 Christ anointed for his burial. 249 
 
 said to have washed them, was Mary the sister 
 of Lazarus ; at that time a notorious and newly- 
 penitent sinner, but from that moment for ever 
 as remarkable for her repentance, her docility, and 
 her faith, as she had been for her sins? Hence 
 perhaps we find her afterwards sitting at the feet 
 of Jesus, whilst her sister Martha, who might 
 have had less reason to feel deeply the value of 
 any word that fell from him ; who, in short, loved 
 less because less had been forgiven her, " was 
 cumbered about much serving," and careful about 
 other matters *. With this too agrees the fact, 
 that St. John, earlier in his narrative and before 
 he has given his account of the second anointing, 
 speaks of Mary as one who had anointed the 
 Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her 
 hair 1 '. In this view of the matter too, we may 
 understand how it came to pass, that she of all 
 others should have ventured to perform an act 
 indicating an advance of faith beyond any which 
 had as yet been manifested. She, it would seem, 
 understood that she anointed Christ for a king- 
 dom, on which he was to enter through the grave. 
 It was a deliberate premeditated act. Against 
 * Luke x. 39. h John xi. 2.
 
 250 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 
 
 the day of his burying " she had kept" the 
 symbol of her confession of Jesus as the Christ ; 
 being thus perhaps the first of all his disciples 
 who believed in his death and reign conjointly. 
 And this explains to us the singular honour our 
 Lord conferred on her, in appointing that what 
 she had done should form a part of the Gospel 
 history, wherever it should be published. As 
 Peter's confession was rewarded with the promise 
 that his name should be associated with the 
 foundation of the Church ; so this further con- 
 fession of Mary procured for her the promise of 
 the fulfilment of which we are witnesses. ' ' Verily 
 I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be 
 preached throughout the whole world, this also 
 that she hath done shall be spoken of for a 
 memorial of her." 
 
 CHRIST BETRAYED TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 
 
 Ver. 1,2. 10,11. 4352. 
 
 After two days was the feast of the passover, and of un- 
 leavened bread : and the chief priests and the scribes sought 
 how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. 
 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar 
 
 of the people. And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went 
 
 unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when
 
 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 251 
 
 they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him 
 money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray 
 
 him. And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, 
 
 one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with 
 swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and 
 the elders. And he that betrayed him had given them a 
 token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; 
 take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was 
 come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; 
 and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him, and took 
 him. And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and 
 smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. And 
 Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as 
 against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? I 
 was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me 
 not : but the scriptures must be fulfilled. And they all forsook 
 him, and fled. And there followed him a certain young man, 
 having a linen cloth cast about his naked body ; and the young 
 men laid hold on him : and he left the linen cloth, and fled 
 from them naked. 
 
 Immediately after the occurrence which was 
 last considered the anointing of Jesus by the 
 woman Judas Iscariot offered his services to the 
 chief priests, in bringing about the design they 
 had formed of putting Jesus to death. On ac- 
 count of the resolution of Judas having been 
 formed, as it would seem, immediately after the
 
 252 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 
 
 Lord's anointing by Mary, some have imputed 
 his treachery to revenge for the open rebuke 
 which his avarice had on that occasion received. 
 He was, it will be remembered, the chief person 
 who cavilled at the waste of the ointment ; and 
 he did so, we are told, " because he was a thief, 
 and kept the bag." Others have taken this hint 
 of his love of money, and combining it with the 
 fact that he received and bargained for thirty 
 pieces of silver on betraying his Master, have 
 supposed avarice to have been the motive. Both 
 are plausible. And yet, when we come to reflect, 
 the scriptural account will scarcely warrant either 
 supposition. In commending or vindicating 
 Mary, Christ implied indeed disapprobation of the 
 view, which others, in common with Judas, had 
 taken of her conduct, but his words conveyed no 
 severity of reproof. It was no rebuke which can 
 be compared with such as all his disciples at least 
 had been accustomed to receive, and from the 
 authority with which the Master spoke, to receive 
 as no degradation. Witness that reply to the 
 suggestion made in their zeal for his honour, 
 ' Ye know not what manner of spirit you are 
 of;" and more especially that to Peter, "Get
 
 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 253 
 
 thee behind me, Satan." How often did he up- 
 braid them all for want of faith ; and continue to 
 be regarded by all, as one removed beyond the 
 sphere of their resentment as one whose rebuke 
 was not to be received like the insult of their 
 fellows. 
 
 Still less satisfactory is the attempt to account 
 for the traitor's deed, by supposing him to have 
 been induced by the paltry consideration of thirty 
 pieces of silver. For, if he held the bag, and, as 
 it is intimated, "was dishonest in his office, he 
 must have been too conscious of sacrificing an 
 established source of gain, to have made the 
 bargain. It is impossible too that Christ's mira- 
 cles could have failed to convince him of the 
 reality of his character as the Messiah ; and to 
 have excited in him hopes of greater gain, when 
 he assumed his reign. The great mass of the 
 Jews indeed were unbelievers ; but their case was 
 wholly different. To them Christ's miracles had 
 been sparingly displayed ; to them he had spoken 
 in parables only, " that seeing they might see 
 and not perceive, and hearing they might hear 
 and not understand and be converted." From 
 them he concealed, by the most positive injunc-
 
 254 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 
 
 tions on others, as well as by his own course of 
 ministry, all that might have forced conviction on 
 their minds, before the mind had, like a good soil, 
 been prepared for its reception. But to Judas he 
 had freely given all instruction, evidence, all 
 that was usually the reward of docility. Judas 
 was, in the language of the prophecy, " his own 
 familiar friend," and had been admitted to that 
 intercourse which precluded the possibility of unbe- 
 lief. He knew, and must have known, that Jesus 
 was the Christ : and if he considered him as one 
 who should wear an earthly crown, still stronger 
 seems the improbability, that he should betray him 
 for a sum of money which he might expect would 
 prove a trifle in the eyes of those his immediate 
 and nearest attendants, amongst whom he had 
 obtained a place. Could the promise of thirty 
 pieces of silver, could a trifling rebuke have made 
 him resolve to relinquish all the worldly advan- 
 tages which such a connection held out? But 
 before any attempt to reply to the question, there 
 is one observation which must be made. 
 
 Judas was treated, even as the rest of the 
 apostles, up to the moment of his defection. 
 That he was meanwhile so ill-disciplined in his
 
 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 255 
 
 heart as to be robbing the common purse of his 
 little fraternity, almost certainly denotes, that he 
 had received this favour before he had become 
 " like a little child" that he was an exception 
 in short to the general rule of the Messiah's 
 ministry while on earth, and of the Comforter's 
 dispensation ever since, even until now. It was 
 an exception, which, considered in all its bearings, 
 was sure to be always remembered and recorded ; 
 and might therefore have been made and exhibited 
 in a strong light, for the purpose of shewing, that 
 the rule from which it was a departure, was really 
 no limitation to the free mercy of God in Christ. 
 In the same manner as Adam's fall proved, that 
 the whole human race were incapable of standing 
 without divine assistance added to their natural 
 powers ; even so, Judas's case was perhaps de- 
 signed to shew, that if, in the recovery of fallen 
 man, the grace of God were more lavishly dis- 
 pensed, if His Son while on earth, or His Spirit 
 now, required of us no preparatory frame of heart 
 and mind, we should not be the better for the 
 removal of the apparent restriction in the offer of 
 mercy. To man in that unprepared state of 
 heart the grace of God would be the pearl thrown
 
 256 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 
 
 to swine. The v free gift of God's assistance is 
 only withheld from man until he is capable of 
 using it; not, as we may vainly suppose, until 
 he has deserved it ; and the joys and privileges of 
 heaven hereafter may, for all we know, he in 
 this way the reward of righteousness here. 
 
 But, if neither love of money, nor the impulse 
 of resentment, will account for Judas's betrayal 
 of his Master, to what shall we attribute it? 
 Was he then an involuntary agent of Satan? 
 This would be inconsistent with what we know 
 of God's dealings, and absolutely irreconcilable 
 with the responsibility which is charged on him 
 by the Saviour for his conduct, " The Son of man 
 goeth, as it is written of him, but woe to that 
 man by whom he goeth ; it were better for that 
 man that he never had been born." No 
 Judas's scheme developes itself only at the clos- 
 ing scene of it. He knew, and must have known, 
 that his Master was the Messiah ; but in common 
 with his fellow- apostles, he believed his destined 
 reign to be a temporal one. In common with 
 them, he could not comprehend how he was to 
 be put to death, and yet to reign and abide for 
 ever in this new theocracy. What then was the
 
 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 257 
 
 circumstance which caused so great a difference 
 between the other apostles and him ? It was 
 this they could not understand how all their 
 conflicting hopes and opinions were to be recon- 
 ciled ; but they followed their Master still in 
 humble faith even like Abraham proceeding to 
 the place of sacrifice with his child and leaving 
 it to God to explain and reconcile, what to them 
 was irreconcileable, incomprehensible. Of them 
 all, Peter seems to have been the most sorely 
 tempted. Our Lord's especial intercession for 
 him, and his attempt to rescue his Master in the 
 garden of Gethsemane, proves this. But it was 
 Judas only whose faith failed him. He was im- 
 patient of the delay and suspense under which he 
 laboured ; thought that it was surely impossible, 
 notwithstanding all Christ's assurances, that he 
 should be put to death ; and roused, no doubt, 
 by the Saviour's pointed remark on the action of 
 Mary, " she hath beforehand anointed my body 
 for my burial," he went out and resolved to put 
 the matter to the test. Secure of doing no per- 
 sonal harm to Jesus, he might (consistently with 
 his other views) have supposed, that when the 
 Messiah had extricated himself by a miracle from.
 
 258 Christ betrayed to the chief priests. 
 
 his enemies, his excessive zeal in hastening the 
 crisis would be overlooked, or even applauded. 
 Once resigned to temptation, the very means of 
 grace might have become to him ruinous, as 
 wholesome food is often found injurious to the 
 diseased stomach. The very warning which our 
 Lord at the last supper conveyed to him, " What 
 thou doest, do quickly," might have been wel- 
 comed as a sanction of his intended negociation 
 with the chief priests, which, then at least, he 
 was sure was not unknown to Jesus. Such must 
 have been his impression. For could he, after 
 being aware that Jesus was privy to his scheme, 
 have approached him in the garden of Geth- 
 semane with, " Hail, Master," and a kiss of 
 friendship and respect, unless he were under a 
 delusion of this sort ? Judas 's case reminds us of 
 the prophet Balaam. God forbade him to go to 
 Balak ; but, eager to be promoted to very great 
 honour, he was discontented under the prohibi- 
 tion, and sought to have it removed. So " God 
 came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, 
 If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with 
 them." " And God's anger was kindled, be- 
 cause he went 1 ." Like the prophet, Judas 
 1 Numbers xxii. 20.
 
 The last supper. 259 
 
 blindly mistook for a sanction the words which 
 were addressed to his presumptuous obstinacy, 
 11 What thou doest, do quickly." 
 
 But if we would see the whole character of the 
 transaction plainly developed, we must follow the 
 traitor beyond the scene of his treachery, and 
 observe his behaviour, when, to his dismay, he 
 saw Jesus submit to be condemned, and led away 
 for execution. Where was the miracle on which 
 he had confidently reckoned? The truth then, 
 flashed across him ; and the Saviour's declaration 
 which he had so often heard and marvelled at, 
 now gave light to scriptural prophecies which 
 he had hitherto perversely kept out of sight, or 
 misinterpreted. " I have betrayed the innocent 
 blood," he exclaimed, in allusion to that prophecy 
 which came most home to him k . The thirty 
 pieces of silver he cast away how could these 
 have tempted him ? and went and hanged him- 
 self. 
 
 THE LAST SUPPER. 
 
 Ver. 1225. 
 
 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the 
 passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we 
 
 " Psalm xci?. 21. 
 S2
 
 260 The last supper. 
 
 go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he 
 sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye 
 into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher 
 of water : follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say 
 ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is 
 the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my dis- 
 ciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished 
 and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples 
 went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said 
 unto them: and they made ready the passover. And in the 
 evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and 
 did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which 
 eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sor- 
 rowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another 
 said, Is it I ? And he answered and said unto them, It is one 
 of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. The Son of 
 man indeed goeth, as it is written of him : but woe to that 
 man by whom the -Son of man is betrayed ! good were it for 
 that man if he had never been born. And as they did eat, 
 Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, 
 and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, 
 and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them : and they 
 all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of 
 the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say 
 unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until 
 that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. 
 
 As the providing the ass on which Christ's 
 entry was made into Jerusalem was the subject
 
 The last wpper. 261 
 
 of a miracle; so the furnishing a room for the 
 Lord's last supper, seems from the narrative to 
 have been connected with some revelation to the 
 master of the guest chamber. Whatever further 
 ends were accomplished by this exercise of mi- 
 raculous agency at that time and on that occa- 
 sion, it must doubtless have served the purpose 
 of awakening the attention of the disciples to 
 expect some extraordinary scene at the feast a 
 feast honoured, even like that of Cana in Galilee, 
 by a divine interposition in its arrangement and 
 provision. 
 
 This feast did accordingly furnish two remark- 
 able occurrences for the Gospel record. The 
 first, which was our Lord's prophetic declaration 
 concerning Judas's betraying him, has been al- 
 ready noticed in the review of the traitor's con- 
 duct. The other and the more important cir- 
 cumstance, was the institution of the Eucharist. 
 In order then to read the narrative of this insti- 
 tution, so as fully to understand its import, we 
 must, in the first place, keep in mind the cha- 
 racter of the festival at which Christ delivered the 
 bread to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my 
 body ; and the cup of wine, likewise saying, Drink
 
 262 The last supper. 
 
 ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Tes- 
 tament. 
 
 Our Saviour must have eaten this supper the 
 evening previous to that on which the paschal 
 lambs were slain. For, on looking at the narra- 
 tive, we shall observe, that he was arrested in the 
 garden of Gethsemane afterwards, and early the 
 next morning brought before Pilate. That day 
 he was crucified : and his body was taken down 
 in the afternoon, so as not to be hanging during 
 the solemn season of killing the paschal sacri- 
 fices, with which the hour of his death must have 
 almost exactly coincided. The last supper was 
 not therefore a part of the general celebration of 
 the Jewish Passover, but must be considered as 
 an anticipation of it. 
 
 However strange the liberty of anticipating this 
 great feast may have seemed to his disciples ; 
 there can be little doubt, that they understood 
 that they were eating the Passover; and must 
 have been sufficiently accustomed to the licence 
 which from time to time he claimed as " the Son 
 of man," and the proofs by which he shewed his 
 authority, to have felt any scruple. He had told 
 them expressly that it was the Passover for which
 
 The last supper. 263 
 
 the guest chamber of him to whom they were 
 sent was to be used ; and if, as is strongly indi- 
 cated, the preparation was connected with some 
 miraculous revelation to the master of the guest 
 chamber, the miracle might have been intended 
 as the especial pledge that he was authorized to 
 anticipate the great festival. The last supper, 
 therefore, must be considered, as far as regards 
 the guests who were present, as the celebration of 
 the Jewish Passover. 
 
 Now this festival was commemorative of the de- 
 liverance of God's people from Egypt ; and it was 
 also typical of that greater deliverance which 
 Christ was to accomplish. This we know from 
 sundry passages which allude to this event in the 
 writings of the apostles. Christ is there called 
 " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
 world 1 ," " our Passover," and the like. Con- 
 sidering the feast then in this point of view, our 
 Lord's words, connected with that view, natu- 
 rally imply that he was really what the meat and 
 drink typified the meat, his body, the wine, his 
 blood. He tells the apostles, " This is my body," 
 meaning that it was his body which the eatables 
 1 Revelations xiii. 8. 1 Cor. v. 7.
 
 264 The last supper. 
 
 had always represented ; the original Lamb it^- 
 self being not the reality, but a shadow of that 
 " This is my blood," i. e. it is my blood which 
 the wine has all along represented ; the blood 
 sprinkled on the door posts in Egypt, and hitherto 
 commemorated by this feast, being itself but the 
 shadow, and not the substance. Accordingly he 
 had, on a previous occasion, told his apostles, 
 " My flesh is meat indeed," (i. e. my flesh is the 
 reality typified by the meat of the sacrifice,) and 
 " my blood is drink indeed," (i. e. my blood is 
 the reality typified by the blood of the vic- 
 tim".) 
 
 This typical character of the Passover is the 
 first point to be considered. The next is, that in 
 every sacrifice there was an accompanying feast 
 a custom indeed not peculiar to the Jewish 
 rites, but existing throughout the world, where- 
 ever sacrifice was practised. The festival of the 
 Passover was exactly of this character a feast 
 upon a sacrifice. When Christ therefore com- 
 manded that a feast corresponding to it should 
 
 " John vi. 55. The use of the word *i>6Sf in the original 
 expresses this meaning more clearly than the " indeed" which 
 corresponds to it in the English version.
 
 The last supper. 265 
 
 be continued, the Christian festival must be con- 
 sidered as the feast upon the sacrifice of Christ. 
 As oft as we renew the ceremony therefore, we 
 repeat the feast on the sacrifice, although the 
 sacrifice itself be not repeated ; but once made 
 for the sins of the whole world. 
 
 Lastly, putting these two views together, our 
 Christian rite will appear to combine two distinct 
 objects. First, it expresses by a significative 
 action the Christian sacrifice, and is a symbolical 
 record of it. For this purpose the bread is broken, 
 and the wine poured out; these actions being 
 significant of Christ's bodily sufferings, and the 
 shedding of his blood. Again, the rite is ob- 
 served as a feast, perpetually renewed, upon the 
 one sacrifice so recorded : and hence it is, that 
 we not only break the bread, but eat it; we 
 not only pour out the wine, but drink it. 
 
 Not indeed that even this last mentioned 
 portion of the ceremony is without an emblematic 
 character. Our Lord probably intended that the 
 visible and sensible reception of the elements 
 within us, and their conversion into our bodily 
 substance, should be a sign to remind us of that 
 our union with him which is described as the
 
 266 The last supper. 
 
 indwelling of his Spirit, and of Himself within 
 our hearts . Accordingly he on one occasion 
 told his disciples that he was " the life p ;" and on 
 another, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
 man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
 yow q ." So too, in allusion to this, we are taught 
 by the apostle, that " the Spirit is life because of 
 righteousness'." 
 
 This last remark leads me to notice also our 
 Lord's declaration, " Verily I say unto you, that 
 I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the 
 vine until I drink it new in the kingdom of God." 
 Jesus never partook afterwards of the Passover, 
 never, that we know of, celebrated the Eucharist 
 with his disciples. It is said indeed, that after 
 his resurrection, " He was known of them in 
 breaking of bread*," but this can hardly be so 
 applied. Rather say that the Holy Spirit of 
 Christ is in his Church, which is, his new body, 
 even as his fleshy frame was, when this declara- 
 tion was made 1 . When, therefore, after the de- 
 scent of the Holy Ghost when, at this day, a 
 Christian congregation partakes of the new 
 
 Rom. viii. 9, 10. p John xiv. 6. < John vi. 53. ' Rom. 
 viii. 10. ' Luke xxiv. 35. Eph. i. 23. ii. 22. Col. i. 24.
 
 Christ m the garden of Oethsemanc. 267 
 
 Passover, Christ is in the midst of them, they are 
 his body and members in particular. He is then 
 as truly present, and as truly a partaker in the 
 ceremony of " drinking the fruit of the vine," as 
 when his divine nature was united only with the 
 man Christ Jesus. In this sense he fulfilled his 
 declaration to the apostles, and in this sense 
 continues, in every age of the Church, to drink 
 the fruit of the vine in his own kingdom, the 
 kingdom of God on earth. He said that he 
 would drink it new; because it was thenceforth 
 to assume a new character and efficacy. He 
 came not to destroy, but to fulfil, God's former 
 appointments to make all things new. 
 
 CHRIST IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 
 
 Ver. 2642. 
 
 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the 
 mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be 
 offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will 
 smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But 
 after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But 
 Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will 
 not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
 That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, 
 thou shall deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehe- 
 mently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any
 
 268 Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. 
 
 wise. Likewise also said they all. And they came to a place 
 which was named Gethsemane : and he saith to his disciples, 
 Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him 
 Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, 
 and to be very heavy ; and saith unto them, My soul is ex- 
 ceeding sorrowful unto death : tarry ye here, and watch. 
 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and 
 prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 
 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee ; 
 take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, 
 but what thou wilt. And he cometh, and findeth them sleep- 
 ing, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest 
 not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter 
 into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 
 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same 
 words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, 
 (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer 
 him. And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, 
 Sleep on now, and take your rest : it is enough, the hour is 
 come ; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of 
 sinners. Rise up, let us go ; lo, he that betrayeth me is at 
 hand. 
 
 From the last supper our Lord, we observe, 
 proceeds with his disciples to a place called 
 Gethsemane, and in his way thither he foretells 
 their general desertion of him, and appoints 
 Galilee as the place .where they were to meet 
 him after that mysterious event his rising from
 
 Christ in the gdrden of Gethsemane. 269 
 
 the dead. Out of this prophetic declaration arose 
 the strong protest, of St. Peter especially, and of 
 the others, that, rather than forsake him, they 
 would die with him a protest which the re- 
 mainder of the narrative shews to have been as 
 weakly maintained in the case of St. Peter as of 
 the rest. This inconsistency will be more in- 
 telligible, if we consider the remarkable scene 
 which now took place in the garden of Geth- 
 semane, and which Peter, James, and John 
 were now especially selected to witness. For, 
 considering the long and steady devotion of the 
 apostles to Christ, their evident personal attach- 
 ment to him, as well as their faith in him, (now 
 put beyond a doubt it would seem by the ac- 
 cumulated evidence of miracles continued up to 
 that very day,) it requires certainly more than 
 the common failing of human nature observable 
 in mankind to account for the denial of him by 
 one, and the denial of him implied by the con- 
 duct of all, within a few hours after so sincere 
 and hearty an avowal of their constancy, and so 
 solemn a warning of the trial to which it would 
 be exposed. 
 
 Our Lord's own part in the scene which is
 
 270 Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. 
 
 described to have taken place at Gethsemane, 
 is perhaps the most mysterious, solemn, and af- 
 fecting picture in his history. On the cross it- 
 self, and amidst the sufferings and insults of the 
 hour of atonement, he exhibits the placid com- 
 posure of triumph. Death was there indeed em- 
 bittered by much that is mysterious, awful, and 
 overpowering, and by infinitely more, we feel, 
 than man can appreciate or comprehend ; but 
 his words, his actions, his whole behaviour, be- 
 speak the calm anticipation of a mind, either 
 not susceptible of the terrors inspired by his 
 situation, or previously steeled against them by 
 a struggle with human weakness, as incalculably 
 great, as the scene itself was both naturally and 
 mysteriously dreadful. For the record of that 
 effort to subdue human nature to an acquiescence 
 so complete as was exhibited at the crucifixion, 
 we must perhaps turn to the description of what 
 occurred in the garden of Gethsemane. It can 
 hardly be doubted, that during the whole of it 
 we are to recognise the final renewal of the tempt- 
 ation which commenced with his retirement into 
 the wilderness before his ministry began. When 
 that was ended, we are expressly told, that the
 
 Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. 271 
 
 devil departed from him "for a season*;" and 
 that this was one and the great period of his 
 return, not only the circumstances of the scene 
 indicate, but, taken in connection with these, the 
 many allusions made now by Christ to the 
 especial exertions of the tempter. Before his 
 arrival at Gethsemane, and after the Passover 
 had been kept, he reminded his apostles, that 
 they were the persons " who had continued with 
 him in his temptations;" as if arming them to 
 abide the last which they were to share with him 
 as his friends and coadjutors, and against which, 
 in that capacity more especially, he had taught 
 them to pray, " Lead us not into temptation; 
 but deliver us from the evil one." A little after 
 their arrival at the scene of trial 1 , he warned 
 them all now to use the appointed prayer, " Pray 
 that ye enter not into temptation." All were 
 admonished of Satan's desire to have them that 
 he may sift them as wheat ; and Peter knew that 
 an extraordinary trial awaited him, from the 
 intercession which the Lord told him that he had 
 made especially for him". In unison with all 
 these hints too is the expression which fell from 
 Luke iv. 13. Luke xxii. 39. " Luke xxii. 31.
 
 272 Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. 
 
 him at the close of the whole scene, " This is 
 your hour, and the power of darkness." 
 
 Nor do the circumstances of the event less 
 forcibly suggest this : " He began to be sore 
 amazed and exceeding sorrowful," is a description 
 .which accords with no other moment of his life. 
 The words too, " O my Father, if it be possible, 
 let this cup pass from me" what an agony of 
 soul they convey! Scarcely less affecting is his 
 request to Peter, James, and John, to " tarry 
 with Him ;" as if even their weak presence was 
 a comfort to him in that tremendous hour of trial. 
 " And he took Peter and the two sons of 
 Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very 
 heavy." Then saith he unto them, "My soul 
 is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ; tarry 
 ye here, and watch with me." 
 
 This view of our great Example has been the 
 more dwelt on here, because, in our reverential 
 contemplation of Christ's human perfections, we 
 are apt to overlook the important fact, that they 
 were not the result even of his original human 
 nature left to itself, but as it was influenced and 
 perfected by the same holy comfort which he has 
 imparted to all his disciples. " He was made in
 
 Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. 273 
 
 all things like unto us, sin only excepted." The 
 tears which fell on the grave of Lazarus flowed 
 from the same source, out of which, in unregene- 
 rate man, springs weak repining or sullen dis- 
 content; his unwearied industry in " doing good" 
 was but that, which the miser or the ambitious 
 man employs to other ends; and the calm 
 fortitude with which he endured insult, pain, 
 and death, was formed out of the very same 
 qualities, which, ungoverned and misdirected, 
 brought the guilty robber to a cross by his 
 side. The materials were all human and our 
 own, the workmanship alone divine. And is the 
 Lord's arm shortened? will not the same God 
 that worketh in us also, enable us like him per- 
 fectly to will and to do of his good pleasure, if 
 only the same mind be in us that was in Christ 
 Jesus ? It is true, indeed, that to us the Holy 
 Spirit is given by measure ; still that measure is a 
 measure of gr.ace sufficient for us. It is true, 
 that it is given in a way which renders not the 
 Christian as his Lord both God and man ; but, 
 still, the moulding of human nature into the 
 highest perfection of which it is capable is one 
 promised result of that union ; and it is enough 
 T
 
 274 Christ before the Jewish Sanhedrim. 
 
 for the disciple, that he be, in this respect, as his 
 Master, and the servant as his Lord. 
 
 CHRIST BEFORE THE JEWISH SANHEDRIM. 
 
 Ver. 5365. 
 
 And they led Jesus away to the high priest : and with him 
 were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the 
 scribes. And Peter followed him afar off, even into the 
 palace of the high priest : and he sat with the servants, and 
 warmed himself at the fire. And the chief priests and all the 
 council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death ; 
 and found none. For many bare false witness against him, 
 but their witness agreed not together. And there arose cer- 
 tain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard 
 him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, 
 and within three days I will build another made without 
 hands. But neither so did their witness agree together. And 
 the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, 
 Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness 
 against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. 
 Again the high priest asked him. and said unto him, Art thou 
 the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am : 
 and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of 
 power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high 
 priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further 
 witnesses ? Ye have heard the blasphemy : what think ye? 
 And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And 
 some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet
 
 Christ before the Jeitnsh Sanhedrim. 275 
 
 him, and to say unto him, Prophesy : and the servants did 
 strike him with the palms of their hands. 
 
 At this period of the Jewish history the great 
 council of the nation, before whom our Lord was 
 now brought, had not the power of passing sentence 
 of death. The decision of capital causes was in 
 Judaea, as in the other provinces of the empire, 
 reserved for the Roman tribunal. But still, the 
 Sanhedrim was long permitted to exercise a li- 
 mited jurisdiction over all Jews, whether by birth 
 or proselytism, and abroad, it would seem, as well 
 as at home*. It was confined to " questions of 
 their law," and on such a question our Lord was 
 now brought before them. 
 
 For the origin of the charge made against him 
 we must refer to the second chapter of St. John y , 
 where it is recorded of him, that, according to his 
 usual method of hinging instruction on present 
 scenes and occurrences, whilst he was teaching 
 in the temple, he spoke of his body as a temple 
 
 * See Acts, chap. ix. where Saul is described as applying to 
 the high priest for " letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, 
 that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or 
 women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." 
 
 ' Ver. 19. 
 
 x2
 
 276 Christ before the Jewish Sanhedrim. 
 
 which should be destroyed, and raised again by 
 his own power, within the third day. The words 
 therefore laid to his charge might have been, and 
 probably were, literally such as he had used. But 
 the falsehood of the evidence lay in the misappli- 
 cation of them. Jesus had spoken of the temple 
 of his body, as the Evangelist remarks ; the wit- 
 nesses gave in the evidence as if he meant the 
 Jewish temple of stone. Hence it was, no doubt, 
 that their evidence could not be made to agree, 
 because each false witness would probably enough 
 add something more which might go to prove the 
 criminal meaning of those words that they were 
 so spoken, namely, as to apply to the holy build- 
 ing at Jerusalem. Even so, we Christians and 
 it is a serious and fearful consideration may be 
 quoting the words of divine truth, the very lan- 
 guage of our Lord, and yet be guilty of false 
 evidence. When, like the Jewish witnesses, we 
 first frame a position, and then seek for texts of 
 Scripture to support it, and apply these only in 
 reference to the view predetermined on ; are we 
 not doing even the same? Nay, did not Satan 
 himself do the like ? The arguments by which he 
 sought to shake our Lord's constancy were texts
 
 Christ before the Jewish Sanhedrim. 277 
 
 of Scripture ; then, now, in every period, not 
 only " unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto 
 the Greeks foolishness," but to those too, who 
 being " called" neglect their calling, and by wis- 
 dom know not God r . 
 
 It was probably indeed owing to the conflicting 
 testimony of the witnesses, that our Lord's real 
 application of the expression was elicited, and his 
 accusers led to change their ground of inquiry, 
 and to ask him, " Art thou the Christ?" In call- 
 ing his body the temple, (they meant to ask,) did 
 he imply that God resided therein and attached 
 his manifestation thereto, as in that edifice strictly 
 so called ? If so, he must assert himself to be the 
 Immanuel, the Christ, whom the prophets de- 
 clared should be even such an one, " God with 
 us." Such would seem to be the turn which the 
 inquiry took ; and accordingly when in answer to 
 the question, " Art thou the Christ, the Son of 
 the Blessed ?" he replied in the affirmative, they 
 charged him with direct blasphemy. As forming 
 designs against the temple, and endangering the 
 city, he was, they thought, amenable to their tri- 
 bunal, and might also be made chargeable before 
 ' 1 Cor. i. 2124.
 
 278 Christ before the Jewish Sanhedrim. 
 
 the Roman authorities. Bat in asserting that he 
 was God, a new source of accusation more pal- 
 pably the object of prosecution is presented to 
 them. Had they possessed the power of life and 
 death, they would forthwith have condemned him 
 to be stoned, but this power they had not. Great 
 and horrible as his crime seemed in their eyes, it 
 involved only a question of their law, and how 
 were they to render his case one of capital offence, 
 and still cognizable by the Roman magistrate ? 
 
 The Messiah had been represented in their 
 prophecies as their God, and their King ; and as 
 a temporal king they doubtless expected him. 
 The means therefore of bringing Christ before the 
 Roman governor's tribunal were obvious ; and 
 indeed such an occasion had been again and again 
 sought for. Whilst amongst themselves there- 
 fore they dwelt on the blasphemy implied by his 
 pretending to be the Messiah, that person being 
 considered as the Immanuel ; we shall find them 
 before Pilate imputing treason to him, as implied 
 in the other character of the Messiah, his being a 
 king. He claimed to be the God of the Jews 
 and they had a law, and by that law he was 
 worthy of death. He claimed to be the king of
 
 Christ before the Jewish Sanhedrim. 279 
 
 the Jews and no loyal Roman, " no friend to 
 Caesar," would let him escape. This was their 
 case against him. 
 
 It is remarkable that the Jews should thus 
 have rejected Jesus, evidently for the want of the 
 signs of temporal royalty ; and yet have made his 
 accusation before Pilate rest on his pretension to 
 it. In short they accused him of doing that, 
 which had he done, they would have welcomed 
 him, risen in his behalf, and died for him. They 
 not only " laid to bis charge things that he knew 
 not z ;" but a crime, the doing of which was all 
 that was wanting to have secured him their 
 favour and obedience. 
 
 On closing these observations, one should be 
 added on the peculiar form of oath in use among 
 the Jews, to which we find Christ here submitting. 
 In all other communities the person swearing has 
 been justly considered as the only one who is 
 entitled to make the appeal to God which is made 
 in that solemn ceremony. For an oath is a reli- 
 gious ceremony, in which the juror places himself 
 as it were at the tribunal of God, and by a solemn 
 rite, demands there a punishment or acquittal, 
 
 1 Psalm xxxv. 1 1.
 
 280 Peter's denial of Christ. 
 
 independent of the sentence of the mortal judge. 
 Hence its universal adoption by the civil magis- 
 trate, in order to supply that inward scrutiny 
 which mere human proceedings cannot effect. 
 But, as it is an appeal from human to divine 
 judgment, it is obvious that the juror alone can 
 consistently make it. How comes it otherwise in 
 the Jewish civil code ? The reason is this ; God 
 was their king, and their chief civil governor 
 on earth was his vicegerent. Hence, in that 
 state alone, the civil magistrate could at once 
 transfer the person arraigned from human to di- 
 vine judgment ; from the court in which he 
 presided as God's vicegerent, to that of God 
 himself. 
 
 That Christ should submit to an oath, even so 
 imposed, is only in accordance with his payment 
 of the tribute money to the temple ; and indeed 
 with his general habit of conformity to the Jewish 
 law. His kingdom was not yet come. 
 
 PETER'S DENIAL OF CHRIST. 
 
 Ver. 6672. 
 
 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one 
 of the maids of the high priest : and when she saw Peter 
 warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou
 
 Peter 1 a denial of Christ. 281 
 
 also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I 
 know nut, neither understand I what thou sayest. .And he 
 went out into the porch; and the cock crew. And a maid 
 saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This 
 is one of them. And lie denied it again. And a little after, 
 they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of 
 them : for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth 
 thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know 
 not this man of whom ye speak. And the second time the 
 cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus 
 said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny 
 me thrice. And when he thought thereon, ho wept. 
 
 . Supposing the scene in the garden of Geth- 
 semane to have been a scene of especial tempta- 
 tion, in which Satan was exerting his mysterious 
 power against the Lord and his apostles, we 
 readily understand the failure of their constancy, 
 and more particularly the denial of Peter, even 
 of Peter, who certainly wanted neither faith nor 
 courage. It was Peter who first confessed him to 
 be the Christ, and was on that account honourably 
 distinguished by his Master. It was Peter who 
 braved the risk of interfering in his behalf when 
 he was apprehended. And yet, of all his followers, 
 it was Peter who denied him. 
 
 In truth, Peter's temptation seems, as far as we
 
 282 Peter's denial of Christ. 
 
 may judge from sundry incidental hints, to have 
 been really the same as that of Judas ; and to 
 have arisen out of a view common to all, that 
 Christ's kingdom was to be temporal. Hence no 
 doubt at a very early period Christ so severely 
 rebuked him, saying, " Get thee behind me, 
 Satan ;" words which, however severe they might 
 have seemed at the time, were proved by the after- 
 trial of the apostle to be a merciful warning, 
 the more severe the more merciful, because, the 
 more likely to sink deep into his mind, and to 
 prepare him for this his last and worst scene of 
 temptation. He to the last had looked forward, it 
 would seem, to some miraculous interposition in 
 behalf of Jesus ; and the absence of this at once 
 destroying all that he made sure of seeing real- 
 ized, was the point at which he was most likely 
 to fail. Accordingly he drew his sword in the 
 garden of Gethsemane an act far less audacious 
 but apparently of the same character as Judas's 
 betrayal. But Peter had faith enough to benefit 
 by our Saviour's prayer for him. " Put up thy 
 sword," said Jesus ; and the apostle was for the 
 time recalled to himself. But when his Master 
 stood before the high priest, was condemned, and
 
 Peter's denial of Chi-ist. 283 
 
 yet no heavenly rescue appeared when he evi- 
 dently shewed by his manner that he meant to 
 submit to death the apostle's mind was wrought 
 to the highest pitch of dismay. He could not 
 comprehend the event. Against faith he for the 
 moment desponded, and in that bewildered state 
 of mind denied his Master. But, unlike Judas, 
 he was still a little child of that same Lord who 
 had prayed for him, and still alive to the last 
 effectual aid which he gave him. Christ turned 
 and looked upon him. Oh that we all could 
 fancy ourselves in the many temptations of life, 
 turning to meet that look ! As when the Lord 
 stretched out his hand, and at the same moment 
 snatched Peter from the waves of Genesareth into 
 which he was sinking, and rebuked him for his 
 want of faith 7 ; so he now at once saved him, and 
 reproved him by a look. It was the last, and it 
 was decisive. Henceforth he was as patient 
 in faith as he was bold in hope, and fulfilled 
 exactly the command of Christ, "when thou art 
 converted, strengthen thy brethren 2 ." He it was 
 who first preached Jesus to the Jews ; and it is 
 remarkable, that the sum of his discourse was the 
 > Matt. xiv. 31. ' Luke xxii. 32.
 
 284 Peter's denial of Christ. 
 
 very point which seems to have constituted his 
 own former difficulty and trial the doctrine on 
 which his own faith was so near being ship- 
 wrecked. " Let all the house of Israel know 
 assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, 
 whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ 2 ." 
 
 * Acts ii. 36.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a 
 consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, 
 and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to 
 Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the 
 Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. 
 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he 
 answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again, saying, 
 Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they wit- 
 ness against thee. But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that 
 Pilate marvelled. Now at that feast he released unto them 
 one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. And there was one 
 named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made 
 insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the in- 
 surrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire 
 him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate an- 
 swered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the 
 King of the Jews } For he knew that the chief priests had 
 delivered him for envy. But the chief priests moved the peo- 
 ple, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And
 
 286 The crucifixion. 
 
 Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then 
 that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews ? 
 And they cried out again, Crucify him. Then Pilate said 
 unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried 
 out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. And so Pilate, will- 
 ing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and 
 delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. 
 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praeto*- 
 rium; and they call together the whole band. And they 
 clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and 
 put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of 
 the Jews ! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and 
 did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. 
 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from 
 him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to cru- 
 cify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who 
 passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander 
 and Rufus, to bear his cross. And they bring him unto the 
 place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a 
 scull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh : 
 but he received it not. And when they had crucified him, 
 they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every 
 man should take. And it was the third hour, and they cru- 
 cified him. And the superscription of his accusation was 
 written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with him 
 they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the 
 other on his left. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which 
 saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. And 
 they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and
 
 The crucifixion. 287 
 
 saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it 
 in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross. 
 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among them- 
 selves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot 
 save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the 
 cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were 
 cruci6ed with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour 
 was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the 
 ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud 
 voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being 
 interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? 
 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, 
 Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge 
 full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, 
 saying, Let alone ; let us see whether Elias will come to take 
 him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up 
 the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from 
 the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood 
 over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the 
 ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. There 
 were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary 
 Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of 
 Joses, and Salome; (who also, when he was in Galilee, fol- 
 lowed him, and ministered unto him ;) and many other women 
 which came up with him unto Jerusalem. And now when the 
 even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day 
 before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable coun- 
 sellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and 
 went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And
 
 288 Pilate's behaviour. 
 
 Pilate marvelled if he were already dead : and calling unto him 
 the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while 
 dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body 
 to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and 
 wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which 
 was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the 
 sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses 
 beheld where he was laid. 
 
 PILATE'S BEHAVIOUR. 
 
 WHAT share had Pilate in the guilt of Christ's 
 crucifixion? This need be only so far made a 
 subject of inquiry as to ascertain, whether there 
 be any ground in Scripture for asserting that he 
 was the involuntary and unconscious perpetrator 
 of so great a crime. Certainly, it would have 
 been at variance with God's course of providence 
 that it should have been so. From time to time, 
 the history of His Church and of the world fur- 
 nishes instances of persons, who, through their 
 very crimes, were made the means of bringing 
 about some of the designs of Providence, and 
 who are even said to be raised up by Him for 
 these purposes. Such, among many, was the 
 king of Babylon, who led the Israelites into cap- 
 tivity. But in no instance does the free agency
 
 Pilate's behaviour. 289 
 
 of the instrument appear to have received any 
 extraordinary impulse or check, either from the 
 immediate interposition of God, or from the cir- 
 cumstances under which the event was accom- 
 plished. In every case, our natural conclusion 
 is, that God chose the instrument because He 
 foresaw the suitableness of his character, not that 
 he made his instrument of that character in ac- 
 commodation to the event to be accomplished 
 by it. In Pilate's case especially, this will be 
 very evident, if we attend to one or two circum- 
 stances in the combined narrative of the four 
 Evangelists. 
 
 First then, his wife received a divine warning 
 through a dream, which she communicated to 
 her husband. Without pausing to inquire how 
 it came to pass that a Gentile should receive a 
 revelation, and of this particular kind too, from 
 the true God; it is certain that such was the 
 fact ; and that this occurred, not only in this 
 present instance, but in several others on inspired 
 record. To mention no more there is the case 
 of Pharaoh, who received, even like Pilate's wife, 
 divine communications in dreams. Probably, in 
 all these cases, the persons so visited must have 
 u
 
 290 Pilate's behaviour. 
 
 had the dream confirmed by a further miraculous 
 sign ; else it would have tended, one would 
 think, to encourage a superstitious interpretation 
 of ordinary dreams, already too prevalent in the 
 heathen world. Besides which, the person 
 visited by a dream would (if exempt from such 
 superstition) have naturally neglected to act 
 upon its suggestions, and would have been justi- 
 fied in so doing. By appending some miracu- 
 lous sign then to these occasional dreams, God 
 might have given an instructive hint to the 
 Gentile, by which he would see at once the 
 distinction between those ordinary dreams to 
 which he had once given credence, and a dream 
 accompanied by its appropriate test. The silence 
 of the historian respecting this sign would be 
 no proof that it was not given ; for, if it were 
 the long-established and invariable rule respect r 
 ing inspired dreams, the mention of it would, 
 on that very account, be the more likely to be 
 omitted. But, however this might be, Pilate's 
 wife certainly was warned by God in a dream, 
 and, through her, Pilate himself. 
 
 Secondly, there is much reason to believe, that 
 Pilate must have made sufficient inquiry into 

 
 Pilate's behaviour. 291 
 
 Christ's character and alleged crime, not only to 
 have ascertained that he was " a good and just 
 man," but that he was a very marvellous and 
 mysterious character. He evidently wished to 
 save his life ; and, when he at length yielded to 
 the wishes of the chief priests, he performed a 
 ceremony which, whether it be considered Jewish 
 or heathen, symbolically expressed his being no 
 party to the transaction. The question he put to 
 Christ too, " Art thou a king?" connected with 
 the inscription on the cross, and his appeal to 
 the Jews whether they would crucify their king, 
 all really indicate some information obtained by 
 Pilate respecting the Jewish hope of a Messiah ; 
 and not only obtained, but perhaps credited. That 
 he should make some inquiry, the lowest view of 
 the administration of justice seems to imply ; and 
 that from the accusers themselves he should re- 
 ceive much information, if only by way of ex- 
 plaining what could have induced the criminal to 
 pretend to be a king, is almost certain. If added 
 to this knowledge, his own less prejudiced mind 
 should have led him to suspect that the Jews had 
 failed to recognize their Messiah ; how greatly 
 would this feeling be increased by the presence of 
 u2
 
 292 Pilate's behaviour. 
 
 the Lord Jesus his dignified composure his 
 firmness in asserting his kingdom and his unac- 
 countable resignation to death, as if death itself 
 could not interfere with its establishment, " Know- 
 est thou not," said the astonished Roman, " that 
 I have power to crucify thee, and have power to 
 release thee a ?" There was enough in short about 
 the prisoner's case to have awakened a candid 
 mind to further investigation : there would have 
 been enough furnished by that investigation, to 
 have made one, possessed of the candour to inquire, 
 a disciple ; and Pilate might have become the 
 apostle instead of the murderer of the Saviour. 
 But there was in his case the same or a similar 
 blindness with that which darkened the view of 
 the Jews; and which still, under infinite varieties, 
 darkens the view of every man, until he submits 
 a docile and humble mind to the inquiry about 
 the truth. If he believed, even like Judas, that 
 a prophetic king of all the earth stood before him ; 
 still it was easier for him to put the question to 
 the test, by delivering him to the Jews for them 
 to attempt to crucify him, and providing a salve 
 for himself, by an indolent effort to save him, and 
 
 John xix. 10.
 
 Pilate's behaviour. 293 
 
 a formal washing of his hands ; than by patient 
 and humble inquiry, in the face of opposition and 
 calumny, to expose himself to the charge of being 
 no friend to Caesar, and endanger his fortune and 
 his very life. But that he had some doubts at 
 least whether the Jews would be able to accom- 
 plish the desired crucifixion, even after his per- 
 mission was given for it to take place, seems to 
 be implied in his expression of surprise when told 
 that Jesus was dead. When Joseph of Arimathaea 
 came to demand of him the body, (of course im- 
 plying that the body was lifeless,) he was astonished, 
 " he marvelled if he were already dead ;" nor 
 would he believe, until he had called the centurion 
 on duty, and questioned him whether he was 
 surely dead whether it had taken place so long 
 as to leave no doubt of it b . Did he at that 
 moment call to mind our Lord's hint, given at 
 the time when his mind was painfully wavering, 
 as it would seem, between truth and error, " My 
 kingdom is not of this world ; were my king- 
 dom of this world, then would my servants 
 fight for me c ?" When we read these words, 
 bearing in mind all that is besides related of 
 
 " Ei arA*< *irit*nt. c John xviii. 36.
 
 294 Pilate's behaviour. 
 
 the part Pilate took in the transaction, it does 
 really look as if the Lord perceived the thoughts 
 of his heart, and had stretched out his arm to 
 save him, but had been rejected. Pilate was not 
 sure that Christ was the king expected, and he 
 wanted those qualities which would have enabled 
 him to make himself sure. But still he inscribed 
 on his cross the title " the King of the Jews ;" 
 which could not have been from joining in the 
 insults of the Jews, for they disliked it, and he 
 refused to erase it when they requested him. 
 He appealed to them too in behalf of Jesus, by 
 calling him their king ; which he would hardly 
 have done, if he had desired to save his life 
 merely on the ground of his being a deluded but 
 innocent man. But wavering, and irresolute, and 
 desirous only of escaping risk, when these efforts 
 proved unavailing, he formally washed his hands 
 of the guilt, if guilt it should prove and having 
 thus, as he supposed, steered the prudent course, 
 he waited the result. So much doubt however 
 remained, it would seem, on his mind, as to make 
 him refuse credence to any but the centurion, 
 that the crucified man was dead. 
 The death of Jesus was a result, which, no doubt,
 
 Accomplishment of prophecy at the crucifixion. 295 
 
 left him satisfied (as it did the major part of the 
 Jewish nation) that his surmises respecting his 
 claim to be the promised king of the Jews were 
 unfounded ; and he was even less likely than 
 before to pay any attention to the preaching of 
 Christ's followers, or to the account of the resur- 
 rection. His test had been applied, and his 
 mind was probably henceforth made up. He did 
 not indeed continue very much longer procurator 
 of Judaea, but died a few years after, by his own 
 hand, at Vienne in Gaul, whither he had been 
 banished by the emperor for his mal-administra- 
 tion. 
 
 ACCOMPLISHMENT OF PROPHECY AT THE CRUCI- 
 FIXION. 
 
 The prophetic marks of the Messiah given in the 
 ancient Scriptures are of a character which pre- 
 cluded the attempt to fulfil them all in any but 
 the Messiah himself. They admit of being 
 divided into two classes, to both of which this 
 remark is applicable ; and there are but few, if 
 any, which may not be assigned to one or the 
 other of these classes. 
 
 First are those points, the fulfilment of which, 
 supposed not one but a series of miracles, as, for
 
 296 Accomplishment of prophecy at the crucifixion. 
 
 example, the opening the eyes of the blind, and 
 other healing powers. 
 
 To the other class belong those points, the 
 fulfilment of which depended on unforeseen acci- 
 dent, or on the agency of others on the agency 
 of those, I mean, who could not be suspected of 
 collusion ; or on accident, which could not be 
 foreseen or reckoned on by an impostor. Of 
 this description are the earthly genealogy of the 
 Messiah, and his birth place. Of this kind also 
 was the circumstance that he should be prized 
 by his enemies at just thirty pieces of silver, 
 neither more nor less. Most of these prophetic 
 marks were in themselves trifling; and very 
 reasonably so; because, as they were to make 
 no part of the Messiah's agency, they required 
 to be important in nothing but their exact ful- 
 filment. And being exactly fulfilled, their very 
 want of importance made them to be the more 
 striking, because the less likely to be an object 
 of ambition to the person whose cause they sup- 
 ported. Whenever it so happened, however, 
 that one of these trivial prophetic marks did 
 depend on our Lord's agency, then, we may 
 observe, that he gives it an additional difficulty
 
 Accomplishment of prophecy at the crucifixion. 297 
 
 and importance, by making its accomplishment 
 the result of a miracle ; that it might not be 
 mistaken for a mere human contrivance, or a 
 foreseen accident. Thus his riding into Jeru- 
 salem on an ass was remarked to have been 
 connected with the exercise of divine interpo- 
 sition. 
 
 Most of the prophetic characteristics of the 
 Messiah, however, which belong to this class 
 which depended namely for their fulfilment on 
 accident arose, as we might expect, out of the 
 events of that period, when he had resigned him- 
 self to his enemies, and when they, and not he, 
 were the contrivers of what befel him. The 
 narrative of the crucifixion, accordingly, abounds 
 with these. Besides the coincidence with the 
 several passages of prophecy which point to him 
 as destined to be an object of scorn, and as one 
 to be esteemed stricken of God, (all which is so 
 apparent in the treatment which he experienced 
 at the hands of his enemies,) we may observe 
 certain specific and extraordinary fulfilments. 
 Such was the provision that his garment should 
 not be parted, as was usual, but cast lots for 
 that no bone of him should be broken that
 
 298 Accomplishment of prophecy at the crucifixion. 
 
 (strange contrariety) he should make his grave 
 with the wicked, and yet be with the rich in his 
 death; a prophecy which was fulfilled by his 
 being crucified between two thieves, and after- 
 wards buried honourably in a rich man's new 
 sepulchre. 
 
 The immense number of prophetic marks, the 
 fulfilment of which was crowded into this brief 
 but awful period, were clearly calculated to give 
 the scene of atonement itself a similar character 
 to the ministerial agency of our Lord which had 
 preceded it. Throughout his ministry, he had 
 exhibited a conformity to the description of pro- 
 phecy, in every way which could excite attentive 
 inquiry and faith in the humble minded ; and in 
 his death the lesson was completed by a series 
 of hints, which doubtless wrought conviction on 
 many besides the penitent thief and the cen- 
 turion. 
 
 To aid the effect of ancient prophecy ful- 
 filled, he had himself added some predictions, for 
 the confirmation of his disciples' faith on this 
 their most trying emergency. As, for instance, 
 that he should be delivered over to the Gentiles, 
 instead of falling a victim, as was far more likely,
 
 Accomplishment of prophecy at the crucifixion. 299 
 
 to the immediate violence of his countrymen 
 that he should be crucified, instead of being 
 stoned, as had been so often attempted. To the 
 disciples, therefore, the remembrance of the scene 
 must have been an illumination of their views, 
 and a fixing of their faith ; so great as soon to 
 rouse them from the painful and mournful re- 
 flections attending it. It may be observed, that 
 in all the accounts of the crucifixion, with what- 
 ever variety they are given, while, on the one 
 hand, its close coincidence with prophecy is care- 
 fully alluded to by the writers, as the prominent 
 suggestion of their minds, no expression of 
 horror, or sympathy, or mourning, mixes with 
 the record. Fools, and slow of heart, even to 
 the period of the crucifixion, to believe all that the 
 prophets had written, all that Christ himself had 
 predicted prone as they had been to be sorrow- 
 ful, and even to chide with him at every men- 
 tion of his death no sooner was that event over, 
 and the Holy Ghost had called up the past to 
 their remembrance, and taught them its full im- 
 port, than the neglected meaning of so many 
 speaking images in the Lord's life and death 
 predominated over every other impression. As
 
 300 Certain miraculous signs 
 
 witnesses and historians of his life, they hence- 
 forth were eager to describe and give effect to 
 those very features of his ministry, which they 
 had failed to interpret, and which now, from 
 being so pointedly recorded, leave us in wonder 
 at the dulness of any who could have been at a 
 loss to comprehend them. In their account of 
 Christ's sufferings, his mockery, and his death, 
 that it behoved him so to suffer, is the impression 
 which they most study to convey, because that 
 which they had found the greatest difficulty in re- 
 ceiving. 
 
 CERTAIN MIRACULOUS SIGNS WHICH ATTENDED 
 THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 Isaiah's prophetic account of the Messiah, that 
 he was to be known by opening the eyes of the 
 blind, and healing all manner of disease and in- 
 firmity, was verified in two ways. The account 
 literally corresponded with the miracles which 
 our Saviour performed in evidence of his divine 
 mission. Again, those miracles, and of course 
 the prophecies too, were expressive of the moral 
 and religious effects of his ministry ; which, by 
 an easy metaphor, may be termed the removal
 
 which attended the crucifixion. 301 
 
 of spiritual blindness, of spiritual infirmity, and of 
 moral corruption. The cure of the blind, the deaf, 
 the lame, and the lepers, awakened the memory 
 of the prophecies ; the miraculous character of 
 these cures gave assurance that they were the 
 fulfilment of those prophecies ; and, from time to 
 time, a more important fulfilment was developed, 
 by Christ's so alluding to the miracles, and the 
 prophecies, as to give the one a metaphorical, the 
 other a symbolical, import. 
 
 In like manner Joel's prophetic marks of the 
 change from the old to the new theocracy , were 
 expressed in language, whose import was doubt- 
 less metaphorical; for it was the accustomed 
 language of prophecy, when employed about 
 future revolutions, whether civil or religious. 
 Still, as this far exceeded in importance all other 
 revolutions, and as the necessity of discerning 
 the signs of times was greater in this than in any 
 preceding instance, attention was recalled to these 
 prophetic marks also, by a literal and miraculous 
 fulfilment of them. Before that great and terrible 
 aera, whose commencement St. Peter declared to 
 have been the descent of the Holy Ghost h , the 
 Joel ii. 30,31. b Acts ii. 16.
 
 302 Certain miraculous signs 
 
 sun was to be " turned into darkness," and the 
 natural world thrown into disturbance. The 
 principal meaning of the prophecy was, of course, 
 contained in the change itself from the old to the 
 new kingdom ; but to rouse attention to the pro- 
 phecy as then fulfilling, and to the change as 
 nigh, at the crucifixion the sun was literally 
 darkened, and the earth quaked. As in the case 
 of Christ's fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecies, it 
 was further of importance that those signs should 
 be miraculous; in order to assure those who ob- 
 served in them a coincidence with the prophecy 
 of Joel, that to these signs, or to the events 
 to which they were appended, must the prophecy 
 apply. The affixing a miraculous character to 
 the fulfilment of a prophecy which might other- 
 wise accord with more events than one, makes 
 that prophecy equivalent to those to which one 
 and only one event corresponds. Providence de- 
 lights in variety, as well in the scheme of grace 
 as in the course of nature ; and it is beautiful to 
 contemplate the diversity of means in both by 
 which the same end has been accomplished. It 
 continually enforces on us a warning against 
 views of fate, necessity, and that eternal law, by
 
 which attended the crucifixion, 303 
 
 speculating on which, atheists satisfy themselves 
 of the existence of a supposed controlling prin- 
 ciple, while they deny the attributes and person- 
 ality of a God. Neither an eclipse of the sun, 
 nor an earthquake, are in themselves miracu- 
 lous, 'i hat the sun should he so darkened as 
 to give no more light at noon than it does 
 at midnight, is rare, but involves no necessary 
 miracle; for this actually did take place in 
 Portugal less than two centuries ago. But that 
 the sun should be eclipsed at all, unless when the 
 moon is new, is quite as contrary to the established 
 laws of the universe, as that water should burn or 
 fire wet us. It requires a very moderate acquaint- 
 ance with astronomy to be aware of this. Now 
 the eclipse at the crucifixion was a total eclipse, and 
 it took place at the full of the moon. This we are 
 certain of ; because the celebration of the Passover 
 was regulated by the full moon, and never could 
 take place at any other part of the month. Thus 
 the eclipse was the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy ; 
 and it was a miraculous fulfilment of it, in order 
 to excite attention to it, and to assure the spec- 
 tators that the prophecy's literal fulfilment was 
 now intended.
 
 304 Certain miraculous signs 
 
 Meanwhile those who, accustomed to the figu- 
 rative language of prophecy, considered these 
 expressions as the hieroglyphic description of a 
 mighty change in God's kingdom, would have 
 their attention awakened to the prophecy, and be 
 led to expect that change to be at hand, and to 
 be connected with the miracle they witnessed. 
 And if they had been followers and hearers of 
 the crucified Messiah, that scene must have 
 awakened further and more solemn thoughts. 
 His disciples must have remembered, that, in 
 allusion to the holy Shechinah, he used to call 
 himself" the light of the world ." They must 
 have seen in that noontide night, a' still more 
 awful and mysterious darkness stealing over all 
 the land of Israel, in that God's glory was with- 
 drawn. To their eye the temple of God mani- 
 fested in the flesh was destroyed, the light of 
 Israel was quenched. 
 
 Besides the eclipse which alone is noticed by 
 St. Mark and St. Luke, St. Matthew makes 
 mention of another sign, an earthquake d . These 
 were the two great features in the prophetic pic- 
 ture of "wonders in heaven above, and signs in the 
 c John viii. 12. ix. 5. xii. 46. J Chap, xxvii. 5 1 .
 
 which attended the crucifixion. 305 
 
 earth beneath ;" and to the earthquake therefore we 
 naturally assign the same character as to the eclipse. 
 But as an earthquake has nothing in it miraculous, 
 it may be asked, where was the miracle in this 
 instance ? where that evidence of the absence of 
 natural causes, which might stand in lieu of such 
 a specification as would render this and no other 
 earthquake a fulfilment of the prophecy ? To this 
 question it may be answered, that, making as it 
 did a part of the prophetic picture, it was not 
 necessary that more than one feature in that 
 picture should be so marked by miracle. For, if 
 the spectator was assured that the eclipse was the 
 fulfilment of the prophecy ; the addition of the 
 earthquake, or of any other physical disturbance 
 in heaven and earth, would of themselves be even 
 signs of confirmation, because increasing the like- 
 ness of the event to the scene described in the 
 prophecy. And it is indeed very possible, that, 
 besides the eclipse and the earthquake, other 
 signs in heaven and earth might have been given, 
 so as to render the prophetic picture more com- 
 plete ; although they are not on the Scripture 
 record. At the same time, it does so happen, 
 that even to the earthquake there was a miracle 

 
 306 Certain miraculous signs 
 
 appended. Amongst the effects of the earthquake 
 which are recorded, one is, that the stones of 
 many sepulchres were rolled away. Now, after 
 the resurrection, out of these sepulchres many 
 dead bodies, having received new life, walked and 
 visited their friends at Jerusalem d . By this cir- 
 cumstance then of the dead walking out of the 
 sepulchres so opened, the earthquake itself was 
 declared to be a divine interposition even as 
 when the angel rolled the stone from our Lord's 
 own sepulchre. The miraculous darkness indeed 
 could be known to be miraculous only to those 
 who understood enough about eclipses to be sure 
 that one could not naturally take place at the full of 
 the moon : but the release of the dead bodies from 
 their graves by an earthquake, was a miraculous 
 mark set on the earthquake which all could un- 
 derstand. He who ran might read that this was 
 the prophetic sign of the acceptable year of the 
 Lord, and that it was God proclaiming liberty to 
 the captives of the grave. 
 
 The last sign which remains to be noticed is 
 the rending of the vail of the temple. As this vail 
 enclosed the holy of holies, and separated it from 
 d Matt, xxvii. 52.
 
 which attended the crucifixion. 307 
 
 the parts of the sacred building to which the 
 people had access, it was of course guarded with 
 sufficient care to make it secure against any who 
 should venture to violate it. Like the sepulchre 
 after the seal had been set on it and the watch 
 appointed, it could only have been disturbed by 
 super-human agency. But why should the mira- 
 cles of the crucifixion take this particular turn ? 
 Remember what purpose this vail served. It 
 separated that most sacred recess, which the high 
 priest alone might enter, from the rest of the 
 temple. It formed the first mark of distinction 
 which was observed in the use of the temple with 
 respect to the several gradations of those who 
 worshipped therein. In these gradations con- 
 sisted a feature of the Jewish Church which was 
 not to be preserved in that which was to succeed 
 it. Among the characteristics of the Christian 
 dispensation as contrasted with the Jewish, no 
 one is more prominent than its unity or uni- 
 formity. Until Christ, the privileges of the 
 covenant between God and his chosen, were 
 dispersed in unequal degrees to the several classes 
 of those so favoured. The mere believer in the 
 one true God was considered as of course pos- 
 x2
 
 308 Certain miraculous signs 
 
 sessing a claim superior to the idolater; but 
 much inferior to the proselyte to Judaism. There 
 was a distinction between the portions of the 
 temple to which these two kinds of strangers were 
 admitted ; and from their place there, the one was 
 called the proselyte of the gate, the other the 
 proselyte of righteousness. Again, the lineal de- 
 scendant of Abraham considered himself heir to 
 promises which set him above the most perfect 
 proselyte. Nor did the gradations end here. 
 From the first institution of the Jewish Church 
 the principle of inequality was laid in the division 
 of the Israelites into the class of Levites, and 
 into those who were not like them to partake of 
 certain priestly privileges. The very Levites 
 again were marked by a very strong line of 
 separation, and the family of Aaron reserved 
 for the high priesthood, and its attendant pri- 
 vileges. They alone entered within the holy 
 of holies, within that vail, the first mark of those 
 distinctions which appear thus to have run 
 throughout the whole constitution of the Jewish 
 Church. The rending of the vail therefore was 
 a plain symbol that these partition walls were no 
 longer to divide God's people into separate classes,
 
 which attended the crucifixion. 309 
 
 enjoying distinction and degrees of grace and 
 privilege. It told figuratively but emphatically 
 of that change which was afterwards preached by 
 the apostle Paul, when he insisted on " one Lord, 
 one baptism, one faith ;" and when struggling 
 against the prejudices of his countrymen, he 
 besought them to preserve " the unity of the Spirit 
 in the bond of peace e ." In the dispensation of the 
 Spirit, all was one and uniform. Once a Chris- 
 tian, whether before Jew, or proselyte, or idolater, 
 the churchman was to claim and to enjoy the high- 
 est degrees of grace. In the new temple there was 
 to be no family like Aaron's, no tribe like Levi's, 
 no nation like the Israelites. The partition walls 
 between outward and inner court, between the 
 temple and its holy of holies, were all broken 
 down ; and the idolater who came in at the 
 eleventh hour, was as free of the new temple, as 
 the converted son of Abraham, whose fathers had 
 served there from the first dawn and early morn- 
 ing of the Church. 
 
 This be it remembered is no mere human 
 interpretation of the rending of the vail of the 
 temple. Its import was indeed so obvious, that 
 ' Epliesians iv. 3, 5.
 
 310 Certain miraculous signs. 
 
 human reason alone would probably put on it 
 such an explanation. But St. Paul's comment 
 on the change of dispensation, in his Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, contains the materials of all that has 
 been here remarked. A portion therefore of the 
 ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews will be a proper conclusion to these 
 remarks. 
 
 Chap. ix. 18. x. 1622. 
 
 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine 
 service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle 
 made ; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, 
 and the shew-bread, which is called The Sanctuary : and, 
 after the second vail, the tabernacle, which is called The 
 Holiest of all ; which had the golden censer, and the ark of 
 the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the 
 golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, 
 and the tables of the covenant ; and over it the cherubims of 
 glory shadowing the mercy-seat : of which we cannot now 
 speak particularly. Now when these things were thus or- 
 dained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, 
 accomplishing the service of God : but into the second went 
 the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, 
 which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. 
 The Holy Ghost this signifying, That the way into the holiest 
 of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle 
 was yet standing. This is the covenant that I will make
 
 Christ's ejaculation on the cross. 31 1 
 
 with them after those days, saith the Lord : I will put my 
 laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; 
 and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now 
 where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 
 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by 
 the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath 
 consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh ; 
 and having an high priest over the house of God ; let us draw 
 near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our 
 hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
 washed with pure water. 
 
 CHRIST'S EJACULATION ON THE CROSS". 
 
 The words uttered by our Saviour on the cross 
 are from the beginning of the twenty-second 
 Psalm. Of all the Scriptures the Psalms were 
 apparently most used by our Lord ; and it is 
 probable by that class of hearers with whom he 
 was most conversant. The Psalms, as has been 
 before remarked, held in the Jewish literature 
 that place, which national songs and works of 
 mere amusement occupy in the literature of all 
 other nations. They were probably familiar to 
 the lowest class of Jews to those whose know- 
 ledge of the other Scriptures was scanty. Nor 
 is it unlikely that in the sanction of many of the
 
 312 Christ's ejaculation on the cross. 
 
 Psalms, (the remark applies still more to 'the 
 Song of Solomon,) the Holy Spirit provided for 
 that cultivation of mind, which might enable 
 the Jews at large to be competent hearers of the 
 Messiah. The Jews had no literature besides 
 sacred ; and it would seem, that by these por- 
 tions of Scripture, the minds of all were stored 
 with a certain class of images, out of which the 
 Christian instruction was conveyed when the 
 Messiah came. 
 
 Our. purpose at present however is not with 
 our Saviour's use of the language and images of 
 the Psalms for the end here supposed, but with 
 his application of David's complaint, under some 
 great distress, to his own case on the cross. 
 Literally the words imply a desertion by the 
 Almighty of the complainant, " My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" nor can 
 there be any reason for attempting to force on 
 them a less obvious exposition, and to make 
 them merely expressive of great distress f . In- 
 deed, there is, if we consider, much reason against 
 adopting this view. Christ throughout his min- 
 
 ' See Bishop Porteus's Lectures on St. Matthew, Lecture 
 xxii.
 
 Christ's ejaculation on the cross. 313 
 
 istry is found maintaining his divine nature. He is 
 also found speaking of God as " his God ;" e. g. 
 " I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and 
 to my God and your God*." Here in like manner 
 he addresses Him most emphatically, " My God, 
 my God," as if implying, that some divine as- 
 sistance, which was not afforded, might have 
 saved him from that hour. In short, Christ 
 sometimes speaks as if God were speaking, on 
 other occasions his language is that of a man. 
 
 As to the general object obtained by this con- 
 trariety, it seems pretty obvious on reflection. 
 Had he, (making use of the miraculous evidence 
 employed by him,) had he always spoken as God, 
 he might have awakened in his hearers and in us 
 that natural propensity to ascribe locality to the 
 Deity, which, even as it is, and after so many 
 ages of Christianity, is by no means subdued in 
 the world. His person, his visible and corporeal 
 substance, and much more the nobler qualities of 
 his human mind, might have been conceived to 
 be a part of the Divine nature, and man himself, 
 to a certain extent, the literal image and counter- 
 part of his Creator. It does certainly seem, as if 
 
 John xx. 17.
 
 314 Christ's ejaculation on the cross. 
 
 the continual assertions of the Son of God's 
 human nature were made with a view to guard 
 us against this misapprehension ; which indeed 
 we are now the less competent to consider in its 
 most perilous aspect, because that caution has 
 generally preserved us from it. 
 
 On the other hand, had Christ only delivered 
 the good tidings of God, speaking of Him all 
 the while as his God as well as ours, he might 
 have appeared to us only like any other inspired 
 messenger of God. His character as the Im- 
 manuel ; the union of the divine with the human 
 nature which rendered the latter perfectly good 
 and holy, and fitted it for its part in the great 
 mystery of the redemption, all this would have 
 been concealed under a vail. And all this we are 
 sure it is requisite for us to have known, what- 
 ever parts of the wonderful scheme of grace may 
 be hidden from us in this our stage of trial and 
 earthly darkness. 
 
 But beyond this general purpose, which it is 
 reasonable to attribute to the occasional declara- 
 tions made by Christ of his human nature, it 
 seems as if a specific object were gained by the 
 ejaculation on the cross, " My God, my God,
 
 Christ's ejaculation on the cross. 315 
 
 why hast thou forsaken me?" The doctrine of 
 the atonement wrought for us in that great hour 
 is, that " God was in Christ reconciling the world 
 unto himself g ." What if the weakness or mis- 
 guided piety of the Christian world had led them 
 to contemplate the divine nature alone in this 
 act presented to them on the cross? What if 
 they had supposed God was suffering in Christ ? 
 These words at once silenced such a thought. 
 The disciples knew from all the course of the 
 Saviour's ministry that in Him God had been 
 manifested. They were at the same time con- 
 tinually assured, as well by their own reason, as 
 by Christ's language, that the manhood of Christ 
 made no part of the divine nature. It was this 
 that seems to have perplexed Philip, " Lord, shew 
 us the Father and it sufficeth us. " " Philip,'* our 
 Lord replied, " he that hath seen me, hath seen the 
 Father 11 ." But here was a scene, which stood 
 alone in its import, and its greatness ; a scene in 
 which the other passages of Christ's career 
 scarcely afforded ground for a clear and satis- 
 factory view ; a scene, in which, however awful 
 the spectacle exhibited, more than could possibly 
 '2 Cor. v 19. h Johnxiv. 8,9.
 
 316 Conversion of the centurion. 
 
 meet the human eye might be reasonably sur- 
 mised to exist amongst the secrets which the 
 Father had reserved within his own power or 
 province. What, if under all this clouding of 
 the mind, the Christian believer had thought 
 that God was suffering ? His error might indeed 
 have been corrected by the subsequent provision 
 of inspiration ; but it was surely more effectually 
 prevented by mingling the caution with the re- 
 cord of the event itself. And that the caution 
 was really necessary has been proved by the re- 
 sult. For although Christians would now reject 
 the idea as impious, and revolting, and absurd ; 
 yet in the early Church, and with the words of 
 our Lord accessible to them, there was a sect 
 who, from this very tenet, were called Patri- 
 passions, or believers in the sufferings of God the 
 Father. 
 
 CONVERSION OF THE CENTURION. 
 
 St. Matthew and St. Mark agree in stating the 
 language of the centurion to have been, " Truly 
 this man was the Son of God." According to 
 St. Luke it was, " Certainly this was a righteous 
 man 1 ," or one unjustly condemned. Really 
 
 1 Luke xxiii. 47.
 
 Conversion of the centurion. 3 1 7 
 
 there is no difference between the statements, 
 save in the mode of expression ; for the convic- 
 tion implied by the two sentences is the same. 
 Christ had been condemned, and was hanging on 
 the cross, because he had claimed to be the Son of 
 God. This claim he openly maintained to the last. 
 If then he was " a righteous man," and unjustly 
 condemned, this assertion was true ; and if this 
 assertion was true, he was unjustly condemned. 
 So that the two expressions were, in reference to 
 the conviction and faith wrought on the cen- 
 turion, equivalent, and meant the same thing. 
 It was only the difference between saying of one 
 condemned on a certain charge, that he is inno- 
 cent, and saying in express terms that he did not 
 commit such and such a crime, or that he did 
 fulfil such and such a duty, for the neglect of 
 which he had been condemned. In this very 
 language Pilate's wife sent her warning to her 
 husband, in consequence of a dream which had 
 divinely informed her of the justice of his won- 
 derful prisoner's cause. " Have thou nothing 
 to do with that just raanV 
 
 That the centurion should make use of an 
 
 " Matt, xxvii. 19.
 
 318 Conversion of the centurion. 
 
 expression, " the Son of God," which implied 
 a previous acquaintance with the Jewish faith, if 
 not an acceptance of it, leads us to conclude 
 certainly that, although a Roman and heathen by 
 birth, he must at this time have been a partial 
 proselyte. Those who had renounced idolatry, 
 but still refused to submit to the observance of 
 the ceremonial of the Jews, and to the badge of 
 circumcision, were called proselytes of the gate, 
 in contradistinction to the converts to Judaism, or 
 the proselytes of righteousness. They are some- 
 times described too as Gentiles, with the addi- 
 tion of some epithet, to distinguish them from 
 their idolatrous brethren; as cc devout," " fear- 
 ing God 1 ." Tn every part of the world, where 
 Jews were settled and where had they not found 
 their way ? some of this description of persons 
 probably existed. In the seat of empire, per- 
 haps, and especially in the army, the instances 
 would be less frequent than elsewhere, because of 
 the national pride which formed a check to the 
 renunciation of the Roman religion, and of the 
 policy which had included the standards of the 
 army and the preliminaries for battle in the re- 
 1 Acts x. 2. xvii. 4, 17. xiii. 26.
 
 Conversion of the centurion. 319 
 
 ligious view of the soldier. Still, even among 
 the soldiers, instances were to be found. For, it 
 can hardly be doubted that the centurion, whose 
 faith our Saviour during his ministry rewarded 
 by the miraculous cure of his servant, and ex- 
 tolled as superior to the faith of any native 
 Israelites, was a devout Gentile m . Cornelius too, 
 the first fruits of the Gentile world, was, we are 
 told, a centurion. 
 
 At the same time, that the case was likely to 
 have been less frequent among the Roman soldiery 
 than amongst any other class of Gentiles must be 
 admitted ; and that out of the force employed by 
 the empire at this time in Palestine, three of the 
 centurions should not have been worshippers of the 
 imperial eagle, but persons " fearing" the God of 
 Israel, is very surprising. That three should not 
 only have professed this apostacy from their na- 
 tional faith, and have become partially united with 
 the Jews, but in opposition to a tide of Jewish 
 prejudice also, should have appeared among those 
 whom our Lord favoured with miracles, con- 
 vinced, and, in one instance, at least, by express 
 revelation commanded to be baptized, is so strange 
 
 "See I.uke vii. 2.
 
 320 Conversion of the centurion. 
 
 as to startle us. We cannot help asking the 
 question, "Is it possible that there were at that 
 time three Roman centurions in Judsea, so simi- 
 larly circumstanced in points so unlikely for any 
 one ? And although we may answer, that pos- 
 sible it certainly is ; yet the improbability is so 
 great as to lead us to conjecture, that these three 
 were after all one and the same person. This is not 
 indeed intimated in the several accounts, yet 
 there is nothing in those accounts which contra- 
 dicts the supposition, or which is in the slightest 
 degree inconsistent with it. On the contrary, it 
 is much more agreeable to the usual progressive 
 acquirement of faith to suppos~e, that the cen- 
 turion, whose servant's cure is related by St. 
 Luke, was at that time only a believer in Je- 
 hovah, and had faith in Christ as one of His 
 commissioned messengers, on the strength of 
 some miracle which he had witnessed, or had 
 heard well attested that still uncertain as to the 
 exact character of this accredited messenger of 
 Him whom he acknowledged to be the one true 
 God, he with candour and attention observed 
 the several signs exhibited in the scene of the 
 atonement and that by them being fully con-
 
 Conversion of the centurion. 321 
 
 vinced, he acknowledged his claim to be " the 
 Immanuel," " the Christ," " the Son of God," 
 promised to the Jews. Still viewing the promise, 
 as it was most likely he should, through the false 
 medium of Jewish prejudices, he must have con- 
 ceived that this wonderful person, whose cha- 
 racter and pretensions he had so far ascer- 
 tained, was not sent but to the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel. What in the Jew was wilful 
 blindness, in the Gentile was error that ori- 
 ginated with his source of knowledge, and even 
 savoured of humility. He believed, if he so be- 
 lieved, even to his own exclusion from the bene- 
 fits purchased by the Son of God. But when 
 called on to be baptized to lead the way through 
 the vail, which in God's new temple had been 
 rent, who so ready as the good centurion ? who 
 so likely to be chosen for this honourable mark 
 of distinction? Selected to guard the cross of 
 Christ, because, probably, he was known to 
 favour the Jews, " to have loved their nation, and 
 to have built them a synagogue ;" he was acci- 
 dentally placed in a situation which enabled him 
 to witness, as a point of duty, all that occurred. 
 He placed himself opposite to Jesus. He read
 
 322 Conversion of the centurion. 
 
 the superscription on the cross, and knew the 
 penitent thief's assertion, that he died convinced 
 of its truth ; he saw the mysterious criminal 
 reviled, and esteemed stricken of God ; he felt 
 the earth quake, and was conscious that the sun 
 was turned into darkness; and he who had built 
 a synagogue for the reading of the Jewish Scrip- 
 tures, could scarcely have been ignorant that 
 these were among the scriptural marks of the 
 true Son of God. He saw too all these coin- 
 cidences meeting in the case of one, whose de- 
 meanor and words corroborated the evidence of 
 all these signs who, if he had not raised one from 
 the dead in his presence, had miraculously pre- 
 vented his servant from dying. Conviction, 
 under such circumstances, could have been pre- 
 vented only by that prejudice and hardened 
 state of heart, which characterised the majority 
 of the spectators. While the enemies of Jesus 
 saw in his last breath their triumph, and the 
 confirmation of their views, the centurion's more 
 just conclusion was, " Truly this man was the Son 
 of God." 
 
 To some it is more pleasing to dwell on in- 
 stances of conversion, in proportion as they bear
 
 Conversion of the centurion. 323 
 
 marks of being produced by a sudden and brief 
 operation of grace on the heart. With these, the 
 thief on the cross, and the centurion at the foot of 
 it, are supposed to be the more striking instances 
 of the efficacy of our Lord's miracles, and the 
 more worthy specimens of conversion, because 
 no gradual progress of faith is pointed out. But, 
 if the foregoing remarks have any foundation, 
 it is likely that the conversion of the centurion 
 of him whose faith surpassed any of the chil- 
 dren of Israel was the result of successive 
 stages of evidence. In the case of the thief on 
 the cross too, no notice is indeed taken of any 
 passages in his previous history; and with the 
 same hasty mode of inference it is concluded, 
 that all his conviction was wrought on the cross. 
 That he was once a sinner, a notorious violater 
 of the laws of God and his country, his own 
 confession on the cross proves ; but it does not 
 afford even a presumption that no interval had 
 elapsed between his course of crime, and his 
 hour of punishment. Like Mary, he might long 
 have been acquainted with the friend of sinners ; 
 might have come forth from his robber haunts 
 to listen to his lessons of salvation ; might have 
 v2
 
 324 Conversion of the centurion. 
 
 counted death itself gain in the pursuit of this 
 instruction ; nay, might have been more keenly 
 searched out by the Jews, exposed to arrest, 
 and finally brought to punishment through his 
 attendance on Jesus. All this is not contrary 
 to any thing on record ; whereas to suppose a 
 change of mind, from extreme vice to exalted 
 piety and faith, the work of one hour, is. That 
 the case was, in other respects, singular and 
 unparalleled, may go far indeed to support the 
 opposite opinion ; but why make any unneces- 
 sary exception from the regular course of grace ? 
 The pardoned thief's case would still be singular 
 and alone, if up to that moment his faith had 
 been progressive, and was then only fully esta- 
 blished ; especially, if, as is probable, it then 
 went beyond the extemporary faith of the apo- 
 stles themselves, and embraced the doctrine, 
 that Christ's death and reign were compatible 
 and connected. And both in the case of the 
 malefactor, and of the centurion, it can never 
 be too strongly urged, that their faith, whether 
 slow or sudden, was the result of evidence ; 
 without which, faith was never required, com- 
 mended, or rewarded by Christ.
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 ALTHOUGH each Evangelist's account of the 
 resurrection is, by itself, clear and intelligible ; 
 yet the comparison of any two, suggests the need 
 of such a thread to the narrative, as may recon- 
 cile apparent disagreement, and enable us to 
 arrange the incidents in their proper order. The 
 following summary exhibits that arrangement of 
 the main events which is most probable, and 
 best supported by a comparison of the several 
 narratives. 
 
 DAY OF THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 The earthquake ; the rolling away of the stone from 
 the sepulchre by an angel ; and the terror and flight 
 of the guard. Matt, xxviii. 2 4>. 
 
 Visit of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of 
 James, Salome, Joanna, and other women to the sepul- 
 chre, for the purpose of embalming the body. Mark 
 xvi. 1 5. Luke xxiv. 1 3. John xx. 1.
 
 326 The resurrection. 
 
 Mary Magdalene's report to Peter and John of the 
 removal of the body. John xx. 2. 
 
 Vision of two angels to the women left by Mary 
 Magdalene at the sepulchre, directing them to go and 
 tell the disciples that Jesus was risen. Matt, xxviii. 
 5 7. Mark xvi. 4 7. Luke xxiv. 4 8. 
 
 The report of these women to the apostles. Matt, 
 xxviii. 8. Mark xvi. 8. Luke xxiv. 8, 10. 
 
 Visit of Peter and John to the sepulchre, in conse- 
 quence of Mary Magdalene's report. Luke xxiv. 12. 
 John xx. 310. 
 
 Appearance of the Lord to Mary Magdalene, who 
 had returned with Peter and John to the sepulchre, 
 and was left there by them. Mark xvi. 9 11. John 
 xx. 11 18. (First appearance.) 
 
 Appearance of Jesus to the company of women, and 
 his message to his disciples, appointing them to meet 
 him in Galilee. Matt, xxviii. 9, 10. (Second appear- 
 ance.) 
 
 Appearance to Peter. 1 Corinth, xv. 5. (Third ap- 
 pearance.) 
 
 Appearance to Cleopas and another disciple in their 
 journey to Emmaus. Mark xvi. 12, 13. Luke xxiv. 
 13 36. (Fourth appearance.) 
 
 Appearance to the apostles assembled, Thomas being 
 absent. Mark xvi. 14^18. Luke xxiv. 3649. John 
 xx. 1925. 1 Corinth, xv. 5. (Fifth appearance.)
 
 
 The resurrection. 327 
 
 EIGHTH DAY AFTER THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 Appearance to the apostles assembled, Thomas being 
 present. John xx. 24 29. (Sixth appearance.) 
 
 BETWEEN THE EIGHTH AND THE FORTIETH DAY FROM 
 THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 Appearance at the sea of Tiberias. John xxi. 1 24. 
 (Seventh appearance*.) 
 
 Appearance on the mountain in Galilee. Matt, 
 xxviii. 16 20. (Eighth appearance.) 
 
 Appearance to more than five hundred brethren at 
 once. 1 Corinth, xv. 6. (Ninth appearance.) 
 
 Appearance to James. 1 Corinth, xv. 7. (Tenth 
 appearance.) 
 
 FORTIETH DAY FROM THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 The Ascension. Mark xvi. 19. Luke xxiv. 5052. 
 Acts i. 3 11. 1 Corinth, xv. 7. (Eleventh appear- 
 ance.) 
 
 St. John's statement that this was " the third time that 
 Jesus shewed himself to his disciples" means that it was the 
 third time of his shewing himself to them collectively; the 
 appearances which this Evangelist selected for record being 
 chiefly those which took place while the disciples were in as- 
 sembly. See chap. xx. 19, and 26.
 
 328 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 Comparing this general view of the facts of 
 the resurrection with St. Mark's account, the 
 additional matter to be derived from the other 
 Evangelists, and from St. Paul's first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, will be found to comprise many 
 independent statements, which require to be con- 
 sidered together with St. Mark's history. Taking 
 therefore the whole history of the resurrection as 
 it stands arranged in the above brief abstract, I 
 shall endeavour to point out the probable character 
 .and design of the several appearances of our Lord 
 in the flesh after his death and burial. 
 
 CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO MARY MAGDALENE, 
 Matt, xxviii. 1 10. 
 
 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the 
 first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other 
 Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great 
 earthquake : for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, 
 and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat 
 upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment 
 white as snow : and for fear of him the keepers did shake, 
 and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said 
 unto the women, Fear not ye : for I know that ye seek Jesus, 
 which was crucified. He is not here ; for he is risen, as he 
 said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go 
 quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead ;
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 329 
 
 and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye 
 see him : lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly 
 from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to 
 bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disci- 
 ples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they 
 came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then 
 said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell my brethren that 
 they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. 
 
 Markxvi. 111. 
 
 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and 
 Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet 
 spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very 
 early in the morning the first day of the week, they came 
 unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said 
 among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from 
 the door of the sepulchre ? And when they looked, they saw 
 that the stone was rolled away : for it was very great. And 
 entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on 
 the right side, clothed in a long white garment ; and they were 
 affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted : Ye 
 seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified : he is risen ; he 
 is not here; behold the place were they laid him. But go 
 your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you 
 into Galilee : there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. 
 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for 
 they trembled and were amazed : neither said they any thing 
 to any man ; for they were afraid. Now when Jesus was 
 risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary 
 Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she
 
 330 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned 
 and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, 
 and had been seen of her, believed not. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 112. 
 
 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the 
 morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices 
 which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 
 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 
 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord 
 Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed 
 thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining gar- 
 ments : and, as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces 
 to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living 
 among the dead ? He is not here, but is risen : remember how 
 he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The 
 Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, 
 and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they 
 remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and 
 told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It 
 was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother 
 of James, and other women that were with them, which told 
 these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed 
 to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then 
 arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre ; and stooping down, 
 he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, 
 wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. 
 
 John xx. 1 18. 
 
 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, 
 when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 331 
 
 taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and 
 cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus 
 loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord 
 out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid 
 him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and 
 came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together : and the 
 other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepul- 
 chre. And he, stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen 
 clothes lying ; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter 
 following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the 
 linen clothes lie ; and the napkin that was about his head, not 
 lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place 
 by itself. Then went in also that other disciple which came 
 first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. For as yet 
 they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the 
 dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own 
 home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping : and 
 as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, 
 and seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head, 
 and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 
 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou ? She 
 saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and 
 I know not where they have laid him. And when she had 
 thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, 
 and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, 
 Woman, why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? She, sup- 
 posing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou 
 have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and 
 I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She
 
 332 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni ; which is to say, 
 Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not ; for I am not 
 yet ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, and say 
 unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to 
 my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the 
 disciples that she had se'en the Lord, and that he had spoken, 
 these things unto her. 
 
 It is expressly stated by St. Mark, that the first 
 appearance of our Lord was made to Mary Mag- 
 dalene. She was called Mary Magdalene, or " of 
 Magdala," to distinguish her from others of that 
 name ; as, for instance, Mary the mother of Jesus, 
 Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary who 
 anointed our Lord. By many indeed the two 
 anointings of our Lord have been attributed to 
 two different women ; and she who performed the 
 first has been identified with Mary Magdalene. 
 But there is nothing in the Gospel narratives 
 which suggests the view of their identity; and 
 that it was probably Mary the sister of Lazarus, 
 who, in each instance, anointed Jesus, has been 
 already pointed out. 
 
 In St. Paul's enumeration of the several ap- 
 pearances of Christ, that to St. Peter b is placed 
 
 b 1 Corinth, xv. 5.
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 333 
 
 first. This however does not contradict St. 
 Mark's statement; because it does not imply 
 that St. Peter saw him first. And it may be 
 added, that St. Paul placed St. Peter's name first, 
 probably because he was the first of the appointed 
 witnesses who saw the Lord, and it was partly 
 with a view to include himself among these, that 
 he mentioned the subject. This is very likely to 
 have been the case. 
 
 To begin then with the appearance to Mary, 
 considering it as the first which was made. There 
 is one feature in the narrative which strikes us 
 as very extraordinary. On Mary attempting to 
 address Christ, whom she saw suddenly as she 
 turned at the sound of her name, he tells her, 
 " Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my 
 Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto 
 them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father, 
 and to my God and your God." 
 
 West, in his excellent work on the Resurrection, 
 very judiciously observes, that any attempt to 
 explain this, by attributing it to some mystery in 
 the divine nature of Christ, would only involve 
 the question in increased perplexity. The solu- 
 tion which he offers however is not altogether
 
 334 Chrises appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 satisfactory. These are his own words : " I take 
 Christ's forbidding Mary Magdalene to touch 
 him, to have been meant as a signification of his 
 intending to see her and his disciples again ; just 
 as in ordinary life, when one friend says to 
 another, " Dont take leave of me, for I am not 
 going yet," he means to let him know that he 
 purposes to see him again before he sets out on 
 his journey ." This is very ingenious, and in 
 itself not unlikely. But then the Lord's words 
 to Mary, if this had been his meaning, must have 
 been, " I am not yet going to ascend;" instead 
 of which he tells her, " I have not yet ascended d ." 
 The latter expression fixes the propriety of what 
 she was intending to do to a period after his 
 ascension, and corrects her mistake in doing it at 
 any time before. Instead of allowing her to follow 
 the first suggestion of her heart, he seems to 
 remind her, that what she was thinking to do, 
 he had appointed to be done after his ascension. 
 He intimates, that she was to defer it until then ; 
 and, as it would seem, for the purpose of con- 
 veying the same hint to his other disciples, he 
 bids her go and tell them, that he was about to 
 e West on the Resurrection. d &
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 335 
 
 make his promise good, and ascend " to their 
 Father, and his Father, and to their God, 
 and his God," implying that it would be 
 then time for them to do, what was not now 
 to be done, only because he had not yet 
 ascended. 
 
 But what was this act of affection or devotion 
 which was so forbidden or deferred ? The Evange- 
 list merely states, that Mary was beginning ta 
 address the Lord, and that he told her not to 
 touch him. For what end did she attempt to 
 touch him, as the expression is? Some light is 
 thrown on it, by the account of his appearance 
 to the women in whose company Mary went first 
 to the sepulchre. From a comparison of the 
 several narratives, it would seem that Mary 
 Magdalene, and other women with her, went 
 very early in the morning to the sepulchre that 
 on finding the stone rolled away, Mary must 
 have quitted her companions, and have flown with 
 the story to Peter and that Jesus must conse- 
 quently have shewn himself separately, to her 
 first, and afterwards to these other women. Now 
 how did these other women behave when they 
 saw the Lord? " They came and held him by
 
 336 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 the feet, and worshipped him." What so likely 
 as that Mary's attempt to touch him should 
 have been precisely the same? She probably at- 
 tempted to lay hold on his feet, and to worship 
 him. 
 
 But then, it will be said, Christ did not forbid 
 these other women to touch him, and why Mary? 
 True, it is not said that he forbad them; it is 
 even said that they did touch him, but the bare 
 statement that they seized his feet and worshipped 
 him, may be intended to express only an unfinished 
 action the attempt to do it. With this form of 
 expression no one can be unacquainted. That 
 Christ discouraged them, at least, is probable 
 from his language to them. He at once dis- 
 missed them, with the injunction to bid his bre- 
 thren meet him in Galilee ; without any apparent 
 sanction or approval of their prostration and ador- 
 ation. At all events, the disturbed state of mind 
 into which these women appear to have been 
 thrown by the previous vision of angels, as well 
 as by Christ's appearance, and which is marked 
 by the words, " Fear not," rendered them unfit 
 to receive the same lesson as Mary Magdalene, 
 and made it requisite that Christ should assure
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 337 
 
 them of the reality of his bodily presence. This 
 West himself has observed ; ' ' Mary Magdalene's 
 grief (the only disorder of mind she then laboured 
 under) for the supposed loss of her Master's 
 body was soon dispersed, upon her hearing him 
 call her by her name, and seeing him stand by 
 her ; she was immediately convinced that it was 
 Christ, and testified her conviction by giving him 
 the title of Rabboni, my Master. She wanted 
 not (and therefore there was no need of giving 
 her) any further proofs ; but, satisfied with what 
 she had seen and heard, she went to the disci- 
 ples, and told them she had seen the Lord ; and 
 that he had said such and such things to her. 
 But terror, the most untractable of all passions 
 when excessive, had seized upon the other Mary 
 and Salome ; a terror, which, had it proceeded 
 from the unexpected and supernatural appearance 
 of an angel, was more likely to be confirmed than 
 removed by the like appearance of Christ, had 
 he not proceeded gently with them, and, by his 
 gracious words and demeanor, given them en- 
 couragement and permission to familiarize them- 
 selves with him by degrees, and take in their 
 own way what proof they thought proper to re- 
 * z
 
 338 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 move their fears or doubts ; and convince them 
 that their affectionate and beloved Master was in 
 reality restored to them again from the grave f ." 
 
 Still, all this, it may be said, leaves the matter 
 ultimately unexplained. Supposing we are ready 
 to allow that Mary did, like the other women, 
 attempt to worship Christ, and that this was the 
 attempt to " touch him" which he interrupted ; 
 still, why should he interrupt her ? why should 
 he give as a reason for interrupting her, " I have 
 no yet ascended to my Father?" Even before 
 his death, were there not instances of suppliants 
 prostrating themselves in their petitions to him ? 
 why must Mary wait until he was ascended ? 
 
 The Evangelist who records the prohibition 
 furnishes an explanation in the sixteenth chapter 
 of his Gospel. St. John is there recording our 
 Lord's declarations and injunctions to his dis- 
 ciples, in reference to his decease. Jesus, having 
 foretold them of his disappearance from amongst 
 them, and their consequent sorrow, proceeds to 
 speak of his return to them as their Comforter. 
 " But I will see you again, and your heart shall 
 rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." 
 
 { West on the Resurrection, sect. xiv.
 
 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 339 
 
 Now that this promise related to his coming by 
 his Holy Spirit, in whose effects they were to 
 recognize him, is plain ; for " the joy" of his re- 
 turn in the flesh was soon " taken away," nor 
 did he, so, abide with his disciples " for ever." To 
 this promise then of revisiting his disciples and 
 brethren, is immediately annexed a direction re- 
 specting some change which was to take place 
 in the form of their petitions to God, from that 
 time forth for ever. " And in that day," adds 
 he, " ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily 
 I say unto you, that whatsoever ye shall ask the 
 Father in my name, he shall give it you." That 
 is, as he explains it g , T shall not need to offer 
 prayers in your stead. He was himself to be- 
 come the proper object of the Christian's prayers, 
 their glorified Saviour, their unmanifested 
 God. Instead of asking him to pray for them, 
 they were themselves to address the Father in his 
 name. He was to go to the Father. 
 
 Now all this was certainly intended to take 
 place under that change of dispensation and 
 manifestation, which was to commence with the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost. From that period 
 
 * See John xvi. 28, compared with ver. 26. 
 
 z2
 
 340 Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 accordingly we find prayers which have been pre- 
 served on inspired record addressed to the Lord 
 Jesus ; whilst those of the uninspired Church, 
 which succeeded the apostolic age, are offered up 
 either to Christ, or through his name. Mary, 
 however, seems to have mistaken his appearance 
 in the flesh, which was the pledge of his resur- 
 rection, for his promised coming, and forthwith 
 attempted to fulfil his command, and to pray to him. 
 It was only then to correct her misapprehension 
 about his coming, and not to mark any mys- 
 terious impropriety in her attempt, that he inter- 
 rupted her. He did not mean to object to what 
 she was doing, but to correct a misapprehension 
 of which it was a sign. She thought that his 
 coming as the Comforter was now fulfilled ; and 
 he reminds her, that, according to his prophecy, 
 his ascension was first to take place. 
 
 What confirms this view, is his marked allu- 
 sion to the language which he used when he 
 commanded his disciples to pray to him. " I 
 leave the world," said he on that occasion, " and 
 go to the Father. In that day ye shall ask the 
 Father in my name." His words to Mary were, 
 " I have not yet ascended to the Father ; I
 
 Christ's appearance to two disciples. 341 
 
 ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to 
 my God, and your God." 
 
 CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO TWO DISCIPLES ON THE 
 WAY TO EMMAU8. 
 (Fourth, appearance.) 
 Mark xvl. 12, 13. 
 
 After that he appeared in another form uuto two of them, 
 as they walked, and went into the country. And they went 
 and told it unto the residue; neither believed they them. 
 Lukexxiv. 13 35. 
 
 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village 
 called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore 
 furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which 
 had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they com- 
 muned together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and 
 went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should 
 not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of 
 communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye 
 walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was 
 Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art them only a stranger in 
 Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to 
 pass there in these days } And he said unto them, What 
 things ? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before 
 God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our 
 rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have 
 cmcifii'cl him. But we trusted that it had been he which 
 should have redeemed Israel : and beside all this, to-day is 
 the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain
 
 342 Christ's appearance to two disciples 
 
 women also of our company made us astonished, which were 
 early at the sepulchre : and when they found not his body, 
 they came, saying, That they had also seen a vision of angels, 
 which said that he was alive. And certain of them which 
 were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as 
 the women had said ; but him they saw not. Then he said 
 unto them, fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
 prophets have spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suffered these 
 things, and to enter into his glory ? And beginning at Moses 
 and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the 
 scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew 
 nigh unto the village whither they went : and he made as 
 though he would have gone further. But they constrained 
 him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the 
 day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And 
 it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, 
 and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes 
 were opened, and they knewhim ; and he vanished out of their 
 sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn 
 within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he 
 opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, 
 and returned to Jerusalem, and found tbe eleven gathered 
 together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord 
 is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they 
 told what things were done in the way, and how he was known 
 of them in breaking of bread. 
 
 Between the revelation of the Lord which was 
 made to Mary Magdalene, and this which was
 
 on the way to Emmaus. 343 
 
 made to certain disciples on their way to Emmaus, 
 two other appearances are on record, although 
 neither these, nor that to Mary, could have been 
 known to these disciples at the time. This is 
 clear from the account which they gave to the 
 supposed stranger of what had happened. They 
 told of certain women who had seen a vision of 
 angels, and who reported the strange tidings of 
 Jesus being alive ; but expressly state that he 
 had not up to the time of their account been 
 seen by any. Mary Magdalene had gone, it may 
 be remembered, very early in the morning, in 
 company with Mary the mother of James and 
 other women to the sepulchre, and on looking at 
 it, found it open, and saw other proofs of the 
 removal of the body. On this she must have left 
 her companions, and hastened with the news to 
 Peter and John. Meantime the other women 
 appear to have examined the sepulchre, to have 
 seen the vision of angels, and lastly to have re- 
 ceived the message, as recorded, for the disciples. 
 At the time the two disciples were on their way 
 to Emmaus at the time rather when they left 
 the assembly of Christians the only intelligence 
 which could have been received, was the original
 
 344 Christ's appearance to two disciples 
 
 statement of Mary Magdalene to Peter and John, 
 that the body had been removed ; the subsequent 
 account of the first visit of these latter to the se- 
 pulchre in consequence of this statement ; and the 
 additional circumstance of the vision of angels, of 
 which some of the women, outstripping their com- 
 panions, must by this time have informed them 1 '. 
 After these disciples had set out for Emmaus, 
 Mary Magdalene may be supposed to have ar- 
 rived from her second visit to the sepulchre, 
 where she had probably been left by Peter and 
 John when she accompanied them back thither ; 
 and to have reported that appearance of the Lord 
 to her which took precedency of all. The women, 
 to whose party she originally belonged, soon 
 after were favoured 'With a similar revelation ; 
 Peter may have been the next to see the Lord, 
 on his going with John a second time to the 
 sepulchre, in consequence of Mary Magdalene's 
 second report. At all events, Peter's revelation 
 
 b In order to reconcile St. Matthew's statement with St. 
 Luke's, it is necessary to suppose that some of the women ran 
 before their companions with the news ; and therefore knew 
 not of the appearance of Jesus to the rest, while they were yet 
 on their way.
 
 on the way to Emmaus. 345 
 
 must have occurred before the return of these two 
 disciples from Emmaus ; for they found the 
 assembly full of the report that the Lord had 
 been seen by Peter, that is, by one of his appointed 
 witnesses. 
 
 If it be asked, how the disciples came to be in 
 assembly at the early hour when the first reports 
 are said to have been brought to them, there is 
 nothing improbable in this supposition. Mary 
 Magdalene, the first who left the sepulchre, 
 carried the news of what she saw there to Peter 
 and John. In consequence of her information, 
 they must have immediately assembled the other 
 apostles; and the congregation thus gradually 
 increased, until the greater number of Christians 
 in Jerusalem were present. 
 
 Having thus cleared away the perplexities of 
 the preceding course of events, let us now turn 
 to the appearance of Jesus to the two disciples 
 in their journey to Emmaus. The first point that 
 attracts notice is, that Jesus should have walked 
 so long, and have so long conversed with them, 
 and yet have been unknown to them. The 
 second remarkable fact is, the inward sensation 
 which they describe, by the expression that " their
 
 346 Christ's appearance to two disciples 
 
 hearts burned within them ;" and which they 
 afterwards thought sufficient to have enabled 
 them, had they attended to it, to discover him. 
 
 With respect to the first point, if we look 
 back to the account of Mary Magdalene's revela- 
 tion, we shall find that she too was as ignorant 
 of the person of Christ as these disciples, and 
 only recognized him by the sound of his voice, 
 or, more probably, by some peculiarity in his 
 well known mode of addressing her. On the 
 present occasion it is expressly said, that the 
 disciples' eyes were holden, that they should not 
 know him. What this miraculous concealment 
 consisted in, it seems neither easy nor needful to 
 determine; but the object obtained by it is more 
 obvious. It might have been designed, in with- 
 holding from them all sensible evidence of the 
 reality of the resurrection, to prevent such evidence 
 from superseding the use of that which might 
 have been derived, as surely, from the Law and 
 Prophets. Christ therefore having proved to 
 them from Scripture the antecedent certainty of 
 this taking place, they were instructed in the ap- 
 plication of a kind of evidence, which, if the 
 Lord had been at first recognized, they might
 
 on the way to Emmaus. 347 
 
 have been tempted to undervalue and neglect. 
 It conveyed the same lesson as when he said, 
 " Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet 
 have believed' 1 ." " Except ye see signs and 
 wonders, ye will not believe'." 
 
 As to the internal sensation to which the dis- 
 ciples allude, it was perhaps some mode of 
 divine manifestation, effected by an impression 
 on the mind, which might afterwards serve, 
 when repeated and recognized, as a proof that 
 Christ though unseen, was with them, strengthen- 
 ing them under affliction suggesting to them or 
 prohibiting them when acting, preaching, or 
 writing deciding for them when deliberating in 
 short, it might have been the appropriate vehicle 
 of God's will for many points of guidance and 
 instruction, in their after ministry. Being then 
 given for the first time, it was strange, and its 
 character unknown ; although afterwards recog- 
 nized, familiarized, and boldly acted on. Like 
 Samuel of old, they did not yet know the Lord 
 when thus speaking to them ; but when after- 
 wards their hearts felt that same inward burning 
 repeated, they would naturally cry out, " Lord, 
 here am I." 
 
 11 John xx. 29. ' John iv. 48.
 
 348 Christ's first appearance to the eleven. 
 
 CHRIST'S FIRST APPEARANCE TO THE ELEVEN. 
 
 (Fifth appearance.) 
 
 Mark xvi. 1418. 
 
 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, 
 and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, 
 because they believed not them which had seen him after he 
 was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, 
 and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth 
 and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall 
 be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe : 
 In my name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with 
 new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink 
 any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands 
 on the sick, and they shall recover. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 3649. 
 
 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of 
 them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they 
 were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen 
 a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and 
 why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my hands and 
 my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit 
 hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he 
 had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 
 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he 
 said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave 
 him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honey-comb. And he 
 took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, 
 These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was
 
 Christ's first appearance to the eleven. 349 
 
 yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were 
 written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the 
 psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understand- 
 ing, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto 
 them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, 
 and to rise from the dead the third day : and that repentance 
 and remission of sins should be preached in his name among 
 all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses 
 of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my 
 Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until 
 ye be endued with power from on high. 
 John xx. 1925. 
 
 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the 
 week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were as- 
 sembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the 
 midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And 
 when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his 
 side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. 
 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace he unto you : as my 
 Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had 
 said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive 
 ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are 
 remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are 
 retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, 
 was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples 
 therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he 
 said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of 
 the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and 
 thrust my hand into bis side, I will not believe.
 
 350 Christ's appearance to the eleven 
 
 When Cleopas and his fellow-disciples returned 
 to the assembly which they had left at Jerusalem, 
 and were reporting what had happened to them, 
 Jesus is said to have manifested himself to all 
 present, and to have afforded certain proofs of his 
 bodily resurrection. This is the fifth and the 
 last appearance which is recorded to have been 
 made on the day of the resurrection. That day 
 was the day next to the Jewish sabbath, and 
 consequently answering to our Sunday, the first 
 day of the week. It was on account of our 
 .Lord's resurrection on that day, that it was 
 adopted by the Christians for ever after as the 
 weekly day of rest and devotion. On that day 
 week accordingly the disciples were again as- 
 sembled, when Christ again appeared to them. 
 
 CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO THE ELEVEN WHEN 
 
 THOMAS WAS CONVINCED. 
 
 (Sixth Appearance.) 
 
 John xx. 24 29. 
 
 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not 
 with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore 
 said unto him, W e have seen the Lord, But he said unto 
 them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails,
 
 when Thomas was convinced. 351 
 
 and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust 
 ray hand into his side, I will not believe. And after 
 eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas 
 with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and 
 stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith 
 he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; 
 and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side : and be 
 not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said 
 unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, 
 Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: 
 blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. 
 
 Thomas, who had been absent on the former 
 occasion, when Christ appeared to the assembly 
 of disciples, and had refused assent to the ac- 
 counts given him of the Lord's frequent ap- 
 pearances, now was favoured with the same proofs 
 as the other apostles, that his Master was risen 
 indeed, and expressed his faith in him as his Lord 
 and his God. 
 
 Throughout the history of the resurrection, 
 no one point is more observable than the slow- 
 ness of the apostles to believe the fact, even 
 on the evidence one of another. Many have 
 grounded on it a just argument for the reality 
 of the events ; inasmuch as, notwithstanding 
 their previous incredulity, they found grounds
 
 352 Christ's appearance to the eleven. 
 
 subsequently for believing and maintaining the 
 truth of it ; and this in opposition to their own 
 interests, in opposition to the prejudices of the 
 world, and at the risk of their lives. One 
 mode of shaping the argument, however, deserves 
 to be considered, as perhaps lessening its force, 
 while it seems on a cursory glance to increase 
 it. It is not unusually asserted and taken for 
 granted, that the apostles were incredulous per- 
 sons, and slow to believe any evidence ; and 
 on this supposition is grounded the necessity 
 of acknowledging the reality of the miracles 
 which convinced them. But really, when we 
 come to consider the class of persons to whom 
 the apostles belonged, they are likely to have 
 been very credulous persons. Their countrymen 
 were especially credulous. In that very age, they 
 were ready to listen to every impostor, who 
 successively claimed to be the Messiah. Why 
 should we suppose the apostles exempt from 
 this general feeling? Surely they were not ex- 
 empt from it ; nor is it requisite for their cre- 
 dibility to suppose that they were. All that 
 needs to be ascertained in their case, and in 
 the case of any alleged deception which may
 
 when Thomas was convinced. 353 
 
 arise from credulity, is, whether the deception 
 favoured their prejudices, or ran counter to them. 
 If the former, then, these witnesses were likely 
 to have been misled through their credulity ; if 
 the latter, their credulity would be likely to have 
 made them even indisposed to admit what in 
 justice and candour they ought to have ad- 
 mitted. Credulity is a strong disposition to 
 believe ; but to believe what ? No one can have 
 a strong disposition to believe contrary statements. 
 He who is credulous with respect to ghosts or 
 witches, is the most incredulous with respect to 
 any explanations which go to destroy the belief 
 in supernatural appearances, and in Satan's ex- 
 traordinary agency. Now the prejudices, the 
 hopes, the expectations, the credulity, in short, 
 of the apostles tended to all those points, which 
 were negatived by our Saviour, in his teaching, 
 his life, his death, and resurrection ; and hence 
 it was that they required more than enough evi- 
 dence for an impartial mind. " Unless ye see 
 signs and wonders," said our Lord to them, " ye 
 will not believe." " Except I shall see," said 
 Thomas, " in his hands the print of the nails, 
 and thrust my hand into his side, I will not be- 
 A a
 
 354 Christ's appearance to the eleven, fyc. 
 
 lieve." The apostles were probably credulous, 
 and would have believed on a tenth part of the 
 evidence, had Christ assumed a temporal king- 
 dom. But that very credulity interfered with 
 the belief in his spiritual reign. They were cre- 
 dulous, and would have followed him, adhered to 
 him, and fought and died for him, if he had 
 shewn a disposition to abide with them in the flesh 
 for ever ; but that very credulity made them the 
 more eager to forsake him and flee, when he 
 gave himself up to Pilate's judgment. Had their 
 credulity found in Christ a champion for Israel 
 against its enemies and oppressors, one miracle 
 an apparent miracle (for it would have been less 
 likely to be examined,) might have tempted them 
 to assent to his claims. But this very credulity 
 dictated the desponding exclamation, " We 
 trusted it had been he who should have redeemed 
 Israel." 
 
 Let us not therefore be afraid to look at the 
 weakness of these instruments of Christ, in 
 whom, by means of his constant and unwearied 
 efforts to save them, and, through them, others, 
 his " strength was made perfect." In this point of 
 view, their faith and their preaching are far more
 
 
 Christ's appearance at the sea of Tiberias. 355 
 
 wonderful and unaccountable, (save on the ground 
 of miraculous evidence,) than if we suppose, what 
 we have no right to suppose, that they were ex- 
 ceptions from the mass of uneducated Jews, and 
 singularly incredulous. 
 
 CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO THE DISCIPLES AT 
 
 THE SEA OF TIBERIAS. 
 
 (Seventh Appearance.) 
 
 John xxi. 124. 
 
 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the dis- 
 ciples at the sea of Tiberias : and on this wise shewed he 
 himself. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas 
 called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the 
 sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter 
 saitli unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We 
 also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship 
 immediately ; and that night they caught nothing. But when 
 the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore : but 
 the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith 
 unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, 
 No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side 
 of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now 
 they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. 
 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, 
 It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the 
 Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) 
 
 A a2
 
 356 Christ's appearance to the disciples 
 
 and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples 
 came in a little ship, (for they were not far from land, but as 
 it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. 
 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of 
 coals there, and fish laid thereon, aud bread. Jesus saith 
 unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 
 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great 
 fishes, an hundred and fifty and three : and for all there were 
 so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, 
 Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, 
 Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then 
 cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. 
 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his 
 disciples, after that he was risen from the dead '. So when 
 they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of 
 Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ? He saith unto him, 
 Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto 
 him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, 
 Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? He saith unto him, 
 Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto 
 him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, 
 Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? Peter was grieved be- 
 cause he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me ? and 
 he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things : thou know- 
 est that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou 
 girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but 
 when thou shall be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, 
 
 ' See note, p. 327.
 
 at the sea of Tiberias. 357 
 
 and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither them 
 wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he 
 should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith 
 unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the 
 disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his 
 breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth 
 thee ? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall 
 this man do ? Jesus saith unto him, If 1 will that he tarry till 
 I come, what is that to thee ? follow thou me. Then went 
 this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple 
 should not die : yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not 
 die ; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
 thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and 
 wrote these things : and we know that his testimony is tuie. 
 
 During the period of forty days which elapsed 
 from the resurrection to the ascension of Christ, 
 he continued to manifest himself on various oc- 
 casions to his apostles and other disciples. Some- 
 times he was seen of the apostles only, sometimes 
 of more than the apostles ; sometimes by one 
 person, at other times by two or three. Of these 
 appearances the last considered was according to 
 the best calculations the sixth on record, and 
 this at which we are now pausing, the seventh. 
 In all we reckon up eleven ; and yet, even these 
 perhaps are only selected from a greater number 
 which might have been requisite for leaving the
 
 358 Christ's appearance to the disciples 
 
 testimony of the resurrection sufficiently esta- 
 blished and divided amongst his followers, for 
 the wide and scattered portions of mankind on 
 which it was intended to operate. Like the other 
 selections from the immense mass of materials 
 for Gospel history, those which comprise the 
 account of the resurrection must have been chosen 
 with reference to some prominent object con- 
 templated in them, and entitling them to the 
 preference. Accordingly in the remarks which 
 have been made on the preceding instances, there 
 has been an endeavour to point out, what in each 
 case that feature of importance or distinction was 
 likely to have been. In the remaining instances 
 likewise in most of them at least it will be 
 easy to do the same. In this appearance of our 
 Lord, for instance, to the disciples at the sea of 
 Galilee, after the preceding manifestations of him- 
 self, it is impossible not to recognize a display 
 of certain characteristics, which (as far as the record 
 goes) had not since his resurrection been exhibited, 
 and yet were necessary to be exhibited, in order 
 that his full identity should be proved. Supposing 
 more appearances of a similar import to have been 
 required and given, in order to assure Different
 
 at the sea of Tiberias. 359 
 
 apostles; the record of one such was enough for 
 us ; but without that one, the recorded picture of 
 identity, as impressed on their minds by the ap- 
 pearances of the resurrection, would be incom- 
 plete. Nothing, it should be borne in mind, was 
 harder to be believed by the disciples, than the 
 truth of Christ's resurrection. The case of Tho- 
 mas, who continued to hold out in his dissent, 
 notwithstanding the assertion of his fellow dis- 
 ciples that Christ had been seen ; notwithstanding 
 the interpretation of the ancient prophecies, which 
 they alleged to have learnt from him during one 
 of his appearances so asserted; notwithstanding 
 the recollection too of his frequent predictions 
 concerning himself the case of Thomas proves 
 this extraordinary incredulity about the resurrec- 
 tion, in whatever way we choose to account for 
 it. In impressing on their minds accordingly a 
 truth so revolting and uncongenial to them so 
 directly contrary to their credulity our Lord 
 seems to have pursued the same course of gradual 
 and progressive revelation, which so strikingly 
 marked all his preceding ministry. The apostles 
 were his official witnesses, and more especially 
 (according to the emphatic designation occasion-
 
 360 Christ's appearance to the disciples 
 
 ally assumed by them) witnesses of the resurrec- 
 tion^. But how was it they were admitted to 
 the full knowledge of that event to which they 
 were especially to bear testimony ? Even by that 
 gradual illumination, which was most likely to 
 be received soberly, candidly, and retentively, 
 in the case of men so circumstanced. On 
 the eye long closed against the light we should 
 produce only distress and indistinctness by ad- 
 mitting a sudden and unexpected blaze of sun- 
 shine. The resurrection was made known to the 
 disciples on a similar principle ; so that the iden- 
 tity of their Master was a point not at once 
 fully established, but gradually developed. First, 
 his chosen witnesses heard of it from others ; 
 next, some of them saw his empty tomb ; then, 
 he is himself merely seen by one of them. This 
 was the first appeal to the senses, for his identity ; 
 and this was followed up by his conversing with 
 them separately and collectively, taking food with 
 them, and allowing and desiring them to handle 
 him ; each act being a fuller evidence than the 
 preceding of his being identically the same their 
 Lord and their God. 
 
 " Actsii. 32. iii. 45. x. 41.
 
 at the sea of Tiberias. 361 
 
 And yet there was something still wanting for 
 the assurance of many a further manifestation, 
 which it was perhaps not unreasonable to require, 
 as it was not thought unfitting that it should be 
 given a mark of perfect identity, which if not 
 missed at first, in the sudden tumult of joy, 
 might yet, if altogether omitted, have proved the 
 occasion of doubt, when he proceeded afterwards 
 to give them their commission, and to invest 
 them with heavenly powers, such as none but 
 God tabernacled in the flesh could have authority 
 to give. He had yet performed no miracle. He 
 had proved his identity with the man Jesus, and 
 having familiarized their minds with this truth, 
 he now preparatory to the meeting which he had 
 appointed for the whole body of his witnesses on 
 a mountain in Galilee he now, at the sea of 
 Tiberias, exhibits marks of his identity as God in 
 Christ as the Immanuel. 
 
 Nor let it be said that the apostles needed 
 not all the laboured gradation of discovery. If 
 Thomas, in the warmth of surprise and strong 
 feeling, anticipated the full display of Christ risen, 
 by hailing him as his God as well as his Master, 
 that conviction might have needed afterwards
 
 362 Christ's appearance to the disciples 
 
 some deeper root ; and if not in Thomas's case, 
 certainly in the case of some. For, notwith- 
 standing the assurance given at the sea of Ti- 
 berias, it was at the meeting which followed on 
 the mountain in Galilee, that " some of the 
 persons present doubted." 
 
 As to the character of the miraculous display, 
 exhibited at the sea of Tiberias for the purpose 
 now suggested, it was such as was exactly calcu- 
 lated to attain this end. Our Lord's divine 
 nature had been attested by two kinds of super- 
 human agency by miracle and by prophecy. In 
 this interview at the sea of Tiberias, he once again 
 displayed both. He caused a miraculous draught 
 of fishes, and he predicted the fate of Peter and 
 John. More both the miracle and prophecy, or 
 rather one of the prophecies, were so contrived, as 
 to be recognized by the peculiar features which 
 were known to belong only to the miracles and 
 prophecies of Christ. The miracle was symbo- 
 lical, and its symbolical character readily intelli- 
 gible by its connection with his many figurative 
 lessons delivered before his death. This was 
 characteristic of Christ's miracles, and of his 
 alone. One of the prophecies that respecting
 
 at the sea of Tiberias. 363 
 
 John was, in like manner, at once a test and 
 evidence, and also a warning against error; a 
 prophecy, in short, applied to purposes beyond 
 its prophetical use ; and in this respect unlike all 
 prophecies but those of Christ. 
 
 To be more explicit. No one who remembers 
 Christ's first call of two of the apostles, and his 
 accompanying hint, " I will make you fishers of 
 men," as well as the other allusions and meta- 
 phors by which this hint was followed up in 
 Christ's subsequent instructions, can doubt that 
 the miraculous draught of fishes, caused by his 
 presence, after these appointed "fishers of men" 
 had toiled all night in vain, was intended to re- 
 mind them of those previous metaphorical les- 
 sons ; perhaps to suggest, as a finish to the series 
 of instruction, that, although hitherto their labours 
 had been, comparatively speaking, unavailing, 
 yet, when he came to them according to his pro- 
 mise, the net which they should cast for the souls 
 of men would be even too small for the multitude 
 which should be ready to be taken 1 . 
 
 1 Compare too the parable of the net cast into the sea, one 
 of the lessons by which the apostles were familiarized to the
 
 364 Christ's appearance to the disciples 
 
 And when was he to come? This we know 
 was a point about which doubt, even during the 
 apostolic age, was entertained ; nor has the Chris- 
 tian world yet ceased to doubt and differ respect- 
 ing the fulfilment of the declaration. Jesus was 
 then come from the grave, and was bodily amongst 
 them. Although on the cross he had complained 
 that God had forsaken him, and might therefore, 
 without the renewal of his peculiar miracles, have 
 been mistaken for the mere man Jesus, bereft of 
 the indwelling and fulness of the Godhead, yet 
 his perfect identity was now proved. The Christ 
 God in Christ was as before manifested, and 
 the manifestation identified by the renewal of his 
 former agency ; by a miracle like his former mi- 
 racles ; and by a prophecy no less distinguished 
 as his own. Was he now come? Against this 
 misapprehension his prophecy concerning St. John 
 expressly guarded. He says of him pointedly, 
 " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that 
 to thee ?" certainly implying that he had not yet 
 come, in the sense in which he had so often and 
 so emphatically promised to come. It may be 
 
 use of images drawn from a fisher's employment for the pur- 
 pose of conveying Gospel instruction.
 
 at the sea of Tiberias. 365 
 
 added, that the same prophecy was a safeguard 
 also against another error respecting Christ's 
 coming ; namely, that it meant his final coming 
 to judge the world. For, at John's death, those 
 who did labour under such a mistake, would na- 
 turally revert to another and a true interpreta- 
 tion. 
 
 One remark must not be omitted respecting 
 Peter's conduct on this occasion. He alone pro- 
 ceeded to Jesus on the water" 1 , whilst the others 
 went in a boat. This was doubtless a display of 
 that improved faith, for want of which, on a 
 former trial, he had begun to sink on that very 
 lake. Having so lately been on the brink of ruin, 
 and having thrice denied his Master, it is natural 
 that this opportunity of shewing his faith should 
 have been given, and eagerly embraced. 
 
 m The original, s/3*xt Uvrtr us TV ti>wm, admits of being 
 rendered either, according to our Bible translation, " cast 
 himself into the sea," or " cast himself upon the sea." I have 
 adopted the latter as, on the whole, the more probable 
 meaning.
 
 366 Christ's appearance 
 
 CHRIST'S APPEARANCE ON THE MOUNTAIN IN 
 
 GALILEE. 
 (Eighth appearance.} 
 
 Matth. xxviii. 1620. 
 
 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a 
 mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they 
 saw him, they worshipped him : but some doubled^ And 
 Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given 
 unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe 
 all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am 
 with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 
 
 The great object of Christ's appearances to his 
 disciples must of course have been to satisfy 
 them, and through them all mankind, of his real 
 and full resurrection ; his resurrection as to body 
 and soul ; and not only so, but the resurrection 
 of the whole man in the same mysterious union 
 as before with the divine nature. It is with a 
 view to this entire and unqualified emancipation 
 of Christ from the effects of death, in opposition 
 to the many fancies which heretics in various 
 ages have indulged respecting the person of the 
 Redeemer, that the second Article of the Church
 
 on the mountain in Galilee. 367 
 
 of England contains that very specific statement 
 of the truth impressed on the apostles' minds, 
 " two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, 
 the Godhead and the manhood, were joined to- 
 gether in one person, never to be divided." 
 
 In what way this truth was gradually esta- 
 blished by the successive appearances on record 
 has been now considered. But there was one to 
 follow, which, from the history, would seem to 
 have been of greater importance than all. From 
 the first vision at the sepulchre, the angels pointed 
 to a meeting which Christ was to give his 
 apostles on a mountain in Galilee. To the first 
 persons whom he honoured with a manifestation 
 he delivered the same message ; charging the 
 apostles to prepare themselves for this interview. 
 Before it took place, he had, from time to time, 
 visited them collectively and separately ; nor was 
 the great meeting given, until the whole truth of 
 his real and entire resurrection had been dis- 
 closed. It is natural to seek then for the peculiar 
 object and importance of the interview between 
 Christ and his apostles on the mountain of 
 Galilee. 
 
 First then it is to be observed, that although
 
 368 Christ's appearance 
 
 Christ had-gradually manifested his entire nature* 
 it may be, to all his apostles, since his resurrec- 
 tion ; yet some might have been present on one 
 occasion, some on another, so that an official 
 summons and an appointed hour of meeting 
 might have been requisite to secure the attend- 
 ance and the evidence of all to the account in 
 which they were afterwards to agree, whether in 
 preaching or framing a document for after ages. 
 It is said indeed, more than once, that the eleven 
 were assembled when he appeared ; yet on one of 
 these occasions, we know that Thomas was ab- 
 sent. The apostles were emphatically called the 
 " eleven," or more commonly " the twelve," and 
 a meeting of" the eleven" or " the twelve," or 
 " the apostles," would no more imply the pre- 
 sence of every member of the apostolic body, 
 than a meeting of a vestry would imply the at- 
 tendance of every member of the vestry. At all 
 events, their presence as a body, from which no one 
 should be absent, could only have been accidental; 
 and it was at least more fitting and reasonable, 
 that they should on some one occasion be formally 
 assembled, to receive as a body that evidence of 
 which they were the joint depositaries.
 
 on the mountain in Galilee. 369 
 
 In the next place, what display of Christ's 
 return among them as the Immanuel as perfect 
 man and perfect God was given on the mountain 
 in Galilee, is not specified. Whether, on that 
 mountain, besides hearing and seeing him, they 
 witnessed some display of his glory, like to that 
 on the mountain of transfiguration, we are not 
 told ; but it is certainly said, that before he came 
 up to them and entered into communication with 
 them, they saw enough to make them worship 
 him. And this is the more remarkable, because, 
 on the other occasions, they seemed to require 
 some hints and proofs, in order to enable them 
 even to recognize him. 
 
 Lastly, more than the display of his full eman- 
 cipation from the effects of the grave must have 
 been contemplated in this interview. For, after 
 having been seen and worshipped by the apostles, 
 he proceeded to give them that great commission, 
 which, probably even more than the display of 
 himself, was the purport of their general sum- 
 mons to attend him. He now declared to them 
 in what name God was to be worshipped, in the 
 
 10 On the use of the word name, as applied to God's 
 revelation of himself, I have made some remarks in my 
 
 sb
 
 370 Christ's appearance 
 
 name of the blessed Trinity, "Go ye therefore, 
 and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost"." And this circumstance will ex- 
 plain, why supposing (as was done, in some 
 of the preceding remarks) that Mary Magdalene 
 on a former occassion attempted to worship him 
 why he forbad her by saying, " Touch me 
 not, for 1 am not yet ascended to my Father," 
 whereas he now received the homage of all 
 his apostles without interrupting them. Mary 
 Magdalene was, we supposed, acting under a 
 false apprehension that " Christ's coming" was 
 now accomplished. To her, no more was done, 
 than to correct this wrong impression, by re- 
 minding her of one of his former declarations, 
 which was inconsistent with her notion. To 
 have entered into a fuller explanation, would 
 have anticipated that which he had reserved for 
 this scene ; for the meeting on the mountain of 
 Galilee, which he accordingly bade her tell his 
 apostles to prepare for. Here, upon their wor- 
 
 History of Christianity, (vol. i. p. 150.) which the reader 
 may consult. 
 
 n Matt, xxviii. 18, 19.
 
 on the mountain in Galilee. 371 
 
 shipping him in a body, he clears up their view 
 of his coming as the object of their worship ; not 
 by forbidding the adoration, (which indeed he had 
 only forbidden to her, it would seem, because it 
 was a sign of error, and not as in itself improper,) 
 but by explaining to them how he was hence- 
 forth to be worshipped. He confirms their view, 
 that he was to be their Lord and God for ever ; 
 but reminds them, by the prescribed form of 
 initiation into his Church, that, as he had come 
 from the Father, and was the Son, so there was 
 yet a third Person the Holy Spirit a third 
 manifestation of that same God by whom he 
 was to come and rule his Church. " All power 
 is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, 
 therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
 in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost; and, lo, I am with you alway even 
 unto the end of the world." 
 
 CHRIST SEEN OF MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED 
 BRETHREN AT ONCE. 
 
 (Ninth Appearance.) 
 
 1 Cor. xv. 6. 
 
 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at 
 once ; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but 
 some are fallen asleep. 
 
 B b2
 
 372 Christ seen of five hundred brethren. 
 
 If this appearance be a different one from that 
 made on the mountain in Galilee, it is the ninth 
 on record. That it is the same however will 
 appear probable from the numbers assembled, 
 which at that early period before the descent 
 of the Holy Ghost may be best accounted for 
 by some previously arranged plan of meeting for 
 an important object; such as was the appoint- 
 ment to meet the Lord on this mountain of 
 Galilee. The eleven are indeed especially named 
 as present at that meeting, because to them the 
 commission to preach and baptize was immedi- 
 ately given. But it seems scarcely possible, that, 
 known as the summons was so long before, the 
 eleven only should have been present ; unless all 
 others were prohibited, and of this there is no 
 notice. Perhaps indeed our Lord's purpose, in 
 delaying the formal hour of meeting, might have 
 been, that the appointment should be generally 
 known to his disciples, and that those of them 
 who had fled and dispersed beyond Judsea on his 
 crucifixion, might have time and opportunity to 
 hear of his intended interview with the eleven, 
 and be present as assistant witnesses. For the 
 same reason a mountain in Galilee, rather than
 
 Christ seen of five hundred brethren. 373 
 
 any part of Judaea, might have been the place 
 appointed for the meeting. Had any spot in 
 Judaea been talked of as the place, the Jews 
 might possibly have heard of it, and have taken 
 measures to interrupt the meeting. At all events, 
 their suspicions would have been awakened, and 
 their inquiries put on the alert, by the influx of 
 more than five hundred obnoxious persons to- 
 wards any given point in Judaea; although the 
 movements of the eleven could hardly (as was 
 in fact proved at the ascension) excite any 
 alarm. 
 
 If it be however a different appearance, it is 
 only noticed by St. Paul; who states, that most 
 of those present on the occasion were living wit- 
 nesses at the time of his writing. In either view, 
 the purpose for wjiich Christ manifested himself 
 to so large a body of his disciples, besides his ap- 
 pointed witnesses, was probably this. In the first 
 propagation of the Gospel, almost all the original 
 disciples must have been needed as preachers of 
 the word so wide was the field of conversion, 
 which was suddenly thrown open to the Church. 
 So spoke the Spirit of God by the Psalmist, when 
 he exclaimed with reference to that extraordinary
 
 374 Christ seen of five hundred brethren. 
 
 period, " The Lord gave the word : great was 
 the company of those that published it n ." Now 
 for those so employed, no accidental qualification 
 could have been more desirable, than the circum- 
 stance of having seen Christ after his resurrec- 
 tion ; since on this turned the whole weight of 
 their Gospel report. Besides which, by thus bring- 
 ing together more than five hundred of his dis- 
 ciples before his ascension, our Lord not only 
 furnished them with a very valuable qualification 
 for the ministry ; but set them on communicat- 
 ing as a body. To this it may no doubt be at- 
 tributed, that they were found in so large num- 
 bers on the day of Pentecost, ready for the ex- 
 traordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost. Pre- 
 pared at once by the privilege of being eye-wit- 
 nesses of the resurrection, and also by the eminent 
 endowments, which seem to have been bestowed 
 by the manifestation on that day, they consti- 
 tuted a class of disciples qualified, beyond all the 
 future ordinary converts, for immediate appoint- 
 ments ; and out of these, no doubt, went forth 
 the first promulgators of the faith, Matthias and 
 Barnabas, Stephen and Philip, and others named 
 and unnamed in the inspired annals. 
 
 " Psalm Ixviii. 1 1 .
 
 Christ's appearance to James and Peter. 375 
 
 CHRIST'S APPEARANCE TO JAMES (tenth appear- 
 ance) AND TO PETER (third appearance). 
 
 1 Cor. xv. 5, 7. 
 
 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. 
 
 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 
 
 Of Christ's appearance to St. Peter, some 
 notice was taken among the earlier manifesta- 
 tions to which it belongs. Besides St. John's 
 notice of it, St. Paul also enumerates it in his 
 list, and adds a separate interview with one other 
 individual apostle not noticed in the histories, 
 St. James. Why these two apostles should have 
 been selected for what would seem a mark of 
 favour and honour, cannot certainly be deter- 
 mined. That St. James the Less was afterwards, 
 according to uninspired but very authentic ac- 
 counts, bishop of Jerusalem, the mother Church, 
 and the scene of our Lord's own ministry; whilst 
 St. Peter was the first preacher, both to the Jews 
 and to the devout Gentiles the foundation-stone 
 of the Church are circumstances in the history 
 of these two apostles, which may seem to make 
 such a distinction suitable. They might have
 
 376 Christ's appearance to James and Peter. 
 
 needed, it may be conjectured, some favour of 
 this sort to sanction their authority. But really 
 we have no traces of any such imaginable con- 
 nection between the honour vouchsafed these two 
 apostles and their several destinations. It is 
 more probable that it was James the Elder who 
 was thus favoured ; and that it was only an ad- 
 ditional instance of that preference which Christ 
 had, on several occasions, shewn to him con- 
 jointly with St. Peter and St. John. They only 
 were present, it may be remembered, at his 
 transfiguration. They were selected from the 
 whole number to witness his first miracle of re- 
 storing the dead to life. They too were called 
 on to attend and sympathize with him in the 
 most distressing scene of his ministry his agony 
 in the garden of Gethsemane. This view will 
 leave unexplained indeed the ground on which 
 that preference was shewn ; but it prevents the 
 difficulty from being considered as one peculiar 
 to the account of the resurrection. 
 
 And if this distinction shewn towards St. James 
 and St. Peter be considered as part of a prefer- 
 ence established during Christ's ministry, and 
 exhibited in former instances, it will not imply that
 
 Christ's ascension. 377 
 
 St. John, who formerly shared in this preference 
 with the other two, was excluded from it after 
 the resurrection. St. James and St. Peter were 
 indeed selected for individual interviews, and not 
 so perhaps St. John ; but for him alone it was 
 reserved to witness Christ's great coming in the 
 establishment of his spiritual reign. As if to point 
 to this intended compensation too, it was made 
 the subject of a distinct prophecy ; and of the 
 importance and gratifying character of the favour, 
 no words can give a livelier idea than the en- 
 raptured language of the apostle himself, when 
 hailing the event on its near approach: "He 
 which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come 
 quickly ; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus ." 
 
 CHRIST'S ASCENSION. 
 
 (Eleventh and lust Appearance.) 
 
 Mark xvi. 19, 20. Luke xxiv. 5052. Acts i. 111. 
 
 (See also 1 Cor. xv. 7.) 
 
 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was re- 
 ceived up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 
 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord 
 working with them, and confirming the word with signs fol- 
 
 Revelations xxii. 20.
 
 378 Christ's ascension. 
 
 lowing. Amen. And he led them out as far as to Bethany ; 
 
 and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came 
 to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and 
 
 carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him. The 
 
 former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus 
 began both to do and teach, until the day in 1 which he was 
 taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given 
 commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen : to 
 whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many 
 infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking 
 of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God : and, being 
 assembled together with them, commanded them that they 
 should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of 
 the Father, which, saith he, Ye have heard of me : for John 
 truly baptized with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the 
 Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were 
 come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at 
 this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? And he said 
 unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons 
 which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall 
 receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : 
 and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in 
 all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
 earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they 
 beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of 
 their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven, 
 as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white ap- 
 parel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye 
 gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus, which is taken up
 
 Christ's ascension. 379 
 
 from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
 seen him go into heaven. 
 
 Supposing the preceding manifestation to have 
 been the tenth, there will remain this one more, 
 which included in its circumstances the ascen- 
 sion. With this, therefore, as the last which 
 took place before the descent of the Holy Ghost, 
 and as attended by the significative act of ascend- 
 ing, the history of the resurrection may be pro- 
 perly concluded. With this too will be concluded 
 " the Gospel of Jesus Christ" in its strictest and 
 most confined limits ; summed up as it is in the 
 apostolic language by " Jesus and the resur- 
 rection." 
 
 .Christ is said to have met his apostles in Je- 
 rusalem ; to have led them forth as far as Beth- 
 any ; and there, in their presence, to have 
 ascended into the heavens. The propriety and need 
 of this formal departure is very evident. He had 
 so frequently, from the day of his resurrection up 
 to that moment, visited the apostles and others 
 of his disciples and again departed, that it was 
 quite requisite to fix, by some significative action, 
 that departure which was to be final final, I 
 mean, as related to his manifestation in the flesh,
 
 380 Christ's ascension. 
 
 for the purpose of assuring his witnesses of the 
 resurrection, to which they were to bear testi- 
 mony. From this period his followers were no 
 longer to expect his guidance and comfort in the 
 flesh, but another Comforter was to come, the 
 Holy Spirit. Him, the Immanuel, " the hea- 
 vens were to receive until the times of restitu- 
 tion of all things V 
 
 In reading the account of this transaction, 
 there is one false impression, against which some 
 may require to be cautioned. It is this. Christ 
 was seen ascending into the heavens ; and so an 
 indistinct notion is sometimes formed, that the 
 Godhead in Christ was subject to the local acci- 
 dent of ascending with his body, and again of 
 descending with the mysterious tongues of flame 
 on the day of Pentecost. But of course God 
 must at all times be equally omnipresent; or, 
 rather, He cannot be subject to locality, and is, 
 properly speaking, in no place. When therefore 
 he is said to come or to go to ascend or descend 
 to visit the world or to depart from it these 
 expressions can only mean, that He has ceased 
 to be manifested that he has begun again to be 
 p Acts iii. 23.
 
 Christ's ascension. 381 
 
 manifested that he has ceased to operate on us 
 that he has begun to do so and the like. In 
 the present instance, the visible and bodily ascent 
 of Christ into the heavens, could only be an ex- 
 pressive symbol that God was ceasing to be ma- 
 nifested in the person of Jesus Christ ; and, in 
 like manner, the opposite symbol of descending 
 fiery tongues, signified that God was beginning 
 to be manifested in a new way, even by the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 Whenever grosser notions steal upon your 
 mind and whose is the mind on which they do 
 not sometimes operate ? ask yourselves the ques- 
 tion, Whither was Christ seen to ascend by the 
 apostles, the witnesses of the ascension ? To the 
 heavens; that is, to the sky. But where is hea- 
 ven? Not surely in the atmosphere, that sur- 
 rounds this world : it is not surely a place bounded 
 by the lines of the astronomer or the geographer. 
 Heaven, the abode of God, is not a place, but 
 that of which a magnificent object like the sky 
 is a type and shadow. It is by analogy that we 
 thus ascribe to God, what is essential to the well 
 being of a man ; but one less enlightened than 
 the least in God's present kingdom addressed
 
 382 Christ's ascension. 
 
 him nobly when he said, " Will God indeed dwell 
 on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven 
 of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less 
 this house that I have builded p ." 
 
 " 1 Kings viii. 27. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.
 
 Til E 
 
 THREE TEMPLES 
 
 OP 
 
 THE ONE TRUE GOD 
 
 CONTRASTED. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. SAMUEL HINDS, M.A. 
 
 or QUEEN'S COLLEGE, AND VICE-PRINCIPAL OP ST. ALBAN'S HALL, 
 OXFORD. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 PRINTED BY W. DAXTER, 
 
 FOR B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET, LONDON 
 
 AND J. PARKER, OXFORD. 
 
 1830.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE following contrast of the Three 
 Temples comprises, together with much 
 additional matter, the substance of two 
 Sermons preached before the University 
 of Oxford, on the morning and afternoon 
 of Whitsunday, 1829. To this has been 
 appended the substance of another Ser- 
 mon, in consequence of its connection 
 with a portion of the former, which will be 
 noticed in its proper place. 
 
 It has occurred to me, that the title 
 of the work may appear strange and 
 quaint to some even of those who are 
 not likely to dissent from the view which 
 it contains. Whether any objection lies 
 against it on the score of incongruity, 
 must, of course, be determined by a pe- 
 rusal of the book itself. But I may be
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 permitted to remark, that the analogy I 
 have been pursuing has been denoted in 
 the title, in Scriptural terms ; and these 
 terms have been purposely introduced 
 with a view to recall a Scriptural view, 
 which the more needs to be prominently 
 set forth, in proportion as it has been 
 overlooked, or insufficiently attended to. 
 And that this is the case with many per- 
 sons that the view to which I allude is 
 less familiar to their minds than it ought to 
 be may be inferred from the very cir- 
 cumstance, that the Scriptural expression 
 of it, sounds to them strange and inap- 
 propriate.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ALL Revelation progressive, but especially Revelation 
 of the Divine nature The three stages in this Revela- 
 tion Why called Temples, p. 1 7. 
 
 The present comparative survey to embrace, I. The 
 marks which characterize them as Temples. II. The 
 resemblances and differences between the Temples 
 themselves, p. 7, 8. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE THREE TEMPLES. 
 
 I. Signs accompanying the dedication .of the Temple 
 of stone. II. The correspondence between this and the 
 sign given at the baptism of Jesus, the bodily Temple 
 confirmed by the account of the Transfiguration. 
 III. The Church, or the Temple of the Holy Ghost, 
 dedicated and marked by the same sign on the day of 
 Pentecost, p. 9 15. 
 
 The Christian Body, and not any place of worship, 
 properly our Temple The importance of this view 
 being made habitual, and the impediments to its in- 
 fluence, p. 1622.
 
 vi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MATERIALS Ol THE THREE TEMPLES. 
 
 The first Temple typical of the latter Statement of 
 the points of contrast to be considered in the following 
 survey the difference between the Materials, p. 23 26. 
 
 I. Temple of stone suited to the weakness and pre- 
 judices of the Israelites the present Church to an im- 
 proved spiritual, moral, and intellectual state and the 
 presence of the Immanuel, to the period of transition. 
 p. 2630. 
 
 II. The Temple of stone calculated for a partial dis- 
 pensation, the present Church, for one that is universal, 
 and the Immanuel's abode on earth, for the change from 
 the one to the other. The present dispensation incon- 
 sistent with the existence of a Temple of stone with the 
 return and abode of Christ in the flesh amongst us and 
 especially with the claims of the papal throne, p. 30 36. 
 
 III. The Temple of stone adapted to a gradation of 
 spiritual privileges the present Church, to an equal 
 participation. The residence of the Immanuel on earth 
 under the present dispensation, likewise inconsistent with 
 this view. p. 3641. 
 
 Proper notion of God's abode and presence to be de- 
 rived from the foregoing view. p. 41 43. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MODE OF DIVINE RESIDENCE. 
 
 Two distinct objects suggested by the question re- 
 specting the mode of Divine residence in the three 
 Temples, p. 4548.
 
 Contents. vii 
 
 I. First question, that, viz. respecting the communion 
 or intercourse between God and his chosen abode, not to 
 be pursued far cautions requisite in such an inquiry, 
 p. 4850. 
 
 II. The other question, that, viz. respecting the mode 
 of divine communication through the Temples, a more 
 proper subject of investigation Oracle appended to the 
 Temple of stone Christ's instructions the oracle of the 
 second Temple The Bible the oracle of the present 
 Church Fitness of these several modes of communi- 
 cation to their respective periods and stages in the 
 Divine dispensation. View of inspiration requisite for 
 attaching this authority to the Scriptures, p. 50 62. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DURATION AND STABILITY OF THE THREE TEMPLE8. 
 
 Inquiry into the ways of Providence, how far to be 
 pursued Application of the principle to the question, 
 why the several Temples have so differed in duration 
 and stability ? p. 63 68. 
 
 I. Duration and stability of the Temple of stone such 
 as was alone consistent with its design, as introductory to 
 Christianity explanation of the sense in which it was 
 introductory, p. 68 72. 
 
 II. Christ's abode on earth, why necessarily brief 
 long enough for his part in the Christian scheme and 
 also for making us personally acquainted with Him. 
 p. 7275. 
 
 III. The Church to last as long as the world 
 meaning of the promise, " the gates of hell shall not
 
 viii Contents. 
 
 prevail against it" the time of its duration unknown 
 the practical view which belongs to the question about 
 the time. p. 7579. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE TEMPLE SERVICES. 
 
 Religious service defined I. Service of the first 
 Temple a service of action expediency of this, owing 
 to its prophetic character combined with the moral and 
 intellectual degradation of the Israelites Hence, a literal 
 and minute observance required This system adapted 
 only to a partial dispensation, p. 81 89. 
 
 II. The service of the Christian Temple not only 
 different from, but contrasted with, that of the first 
 A service of words including moral conduct No 
 precise rules given for either evidence to the truth of 
 Christianity arising from this Baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper exceptions, and why. p. 89 99- 
 
 III. To the second Temple no peculiar service at- 
 tached, but only the training for one The Lord's 
 Prayer not an exception to this view. p. 99 104. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PERSONS OFFICIATING IN THE THREE TEMPLES. 
 
 I. The Levitical priesthood typical, and its object 
 . fulBlled in Christ's coming, p. 105107.
 
 Contents. ix 
 
 II. The priesthood of Christ consequently characterized 
 by several points of contrast with the former viz. 
 being employed about a real atonement all centering 
 in Him alone He exempt from sin appointed for a 
 single sacrifice, p. 108 111. 
 
 Twofold office of the Levitical priest, sacrifice and 
 intercession the former, fulfilled and abolished by 
 Christ; the latter, fulfilled but not abolished, p. Ill, 112. 
 
 III. Scriptural language respecting a priesthood 
 attached to the Church, considered, first, as to the office 
 of sacrifice; secondly, as to the office of intercession. 
 p. 113120. 
 
 What place the Church collectively and the various 
 orders of the Church occupy in the comparative survey, 
 p. 120126. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CONNECTION OF THE THREE TEMPLES WITH THE 
 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 
 
 The view of God as three persons the natural im- 
 pression arising from the differences between the three 
 Temples The historical facts of Revelation the first 
 foundation of the doctrine of a Trinity Consequent 
 need of especial provisions accompanying each change 
 of Temple for preserving the doctrine of the Divine 
 Unity, p. 127131. 
 
 I. Provisions attached to thejirst Temple prospective 
 Express declarations prohibition against more than 
 one Temple, p. 131 1S3.
 
 x Contents. 
 
 II Provisions of the second Temple ^Recurrence of 
 the " glory of the Lord" Miracles identifying the 
 Inimanuel's divine nature with Jehovah Occasional 
 violation of the Sabbath by Christ Hints and asser- 
 tions by which He confirmed the impression so made 
 Evidence that such was actually the impression left on 
 the minds of the apostles, p. 133 138. 
 
 III. Provisions belonging to the third Temple Allu- 
 sions contained in the New-Testament-Epistles to the 
 instruction of Christ on this point Indiscriminate trans- 
 fer of the Divine agency and attributes from one Person 
 to the other, by the New-Testament-writers The form 
 of baptism, the main provision, peculiar to the third 
 Temple, p. 139143. 
 
 CHRIST A PATTERN OF CHRISTIAN 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 The apparent principle of selection and omission 
 adopted in the biography of Christ, in reference to our 
 imitation of his example Why an example was espe- 
 cially needed for forgiveness of injury, and humility 
 Remarkable passage in the Epistle to the Philippians, 
 comprising all the views of Christ as an example of 
 humility, p. 146151. 
 
 I. His being made in the likeness of men In what 
 manner the Incarnation is applicable as an example to 
 us Christians, p. 151 155. 
 
 II. His taking on Him the form of a servant the 
 mode of imitating this part of our Lord's character,
 
 Contents. xi 
 
 essentially distinct from the former view particular 
 need of this feature in the pattern of humility how it 
 applies to us now. p. 155 159. 
 
 III. His dying on the cross the trial of humility 
 implied in this, and the trials corresponding to it in 
 the different ages and conditions of the Christian world 
 In what respect young persons are especially liable to 
 this kind of trial, p. 159163. 
 
 Qualities sometimes mistaken for Christian humility 
 Submission to human authority or power this often 
 incompatible with the true Christian virtue Morbid 
 temperament of the ascetic, whether in body or in mind, 
 and the spiritual pride combined with it Mischievous 
 effect of such cases in repressing the endeavours of the 
 sober-minded after real humility, p. 163170.
 
 THE 
 
 THREE TEMPLES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ONE TRUE GOD 
 
 CONTRASTED. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IN no view of Revelation is the wisdom of God 
 more conspicuous than in the slow and gradual 
 development of truth the admission of more and 
 more light, according as mankind have been able 
 to endure it, and have been capable of walking by 
 it. Contrast, for instance, the obscure hint given 
 to our first parents, that the seed of the woman 
 should bruise the serpent's head, with the Chris- 
 tian doctrine of fallen man's redemption through 
 Christ ; and observe how progressively the ori- 
 ginal outline has been filled up and finished. 
 The first intimation of a Redeemer, compared 
 with our present knowledge of that great truth,
 
 2 Introduction. 
 
 was like the confused mass of colouring which 
 the painter's canvass at first exhibits, and in 
 which no eye but his own can discover a future 
 form or meaning. Slowly it received touch 
 after touch, and line upon line, until at length 
 the understanding of a child may comprehend its 
 import, and the heart of a child be touched and 
 awakened by it. So again, with respect to our 
 knowledge of a future state. From a few pas- 
 sages in the writings of Moses, it may be elicited 
 and inferred; in the long interval between Moses 
 and Christ, a series of inspired messengers 
 suggest it with increasing clearness ; at length, 
 the Finisher of our faith the Author as well as 
 Finisher brings life and immortality to light by 
 his Gospel. 
 
 Remarkable as this progressive system has 
 been in the disclosure of all revealed truth, it 
 has been more especially so in God's revelation 
 of Himself. His immediate presence, his un- 
 delegated intercourse with man, has gradually 
 assumed a character more and more unlike our 
 gross conceptions of any earthly or created ob- 
 ject, until we of these latter days are found ac- 
 knowledging the reality of the Divine presence
 
 Introduction . 3 
 
 and communion, without any sensible manifest- 
 ation at all. To his first chosen people, God 
 was made known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob ; and his presence was associated with 
 a pillar of fire, or a cloud, a tabernacle or a 
 temple. The Israelites were taught to address 
 Him as especially present in a building made by 
 men's hands, as their forefathers are alleged by the 
 woman of Samaria to have associated his wor- 
 ship with mount Gerizim*. Their prophets, at 
 length, hinted at a new idea of God's presence, 
 in which the analogy to an earthly abode and a 
 local existence was to be more distant and 
 shadowy. " The Lord himself," said Isaiah, 
 " shall give you a sign ; Behold, a virgin shall 
 conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name 
 Immanuel," i. e. as the Evangelist explains it, 
 " God with us b ." Accordingly the Immanuel 
 came ; and his coming taught the worshippers 
 of God so far to divest their minds of an asso- 
 ciation between his holy presence and a local 
 habitation, as to contemplate the Divine nature 
 in its connection with the immaterial qualities of 
 
 . * John iv. 20. 
 
 6 Isaiah vii. 14. compared with Matt. i. 23. 
 B'2
 
 4 Introduction. 
 
 a human mind. " The Word was made flesh, 
 and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory c ." 
 But there was yet a further stage of revelation, 
 to which the Immanuel himself directed the views 
 of his Church. Not only that worship of God 
 was to be done away with, which connected his 
 presence with a mountain or a building with 
 Jerusalem or Gerizim it was expedient that 
 Christ, the fleshly manifestation, should go away. 
 He foretold a day, in which the true worshippers 
 were no longer to say, " Lo, He is here," or 
 " Lo, He is there ;" for the kingdom of God was 
 to be " within them." They were to worship 
 him as present by his Spirit present in no one 
 place in no one man but in his new body the 
 Church, " the fulness of Him that filleth all in 
 all 11 ." 
 
 It is my purpose, to compare together these 
 three successive stages, in which God has re- 
 vealed Himself as the Ruler of his elect : in other 
 words, to contrast the three Temples of the one 
 true God. I call these three channels of divine 
 
 c John i. 14. 
 
 d Compare Ephesians i. 22, 23. Luke xvih 20, 21. Matt, 
 xxiv. 23 27. John iv. 21 24. 

 
 Introduction. 5 
 
 intercourse, temples, because inspired wisdom has 
 thought proper so to represent them, in reference 
 to certain important points of analogy. Our 
 Lord, for instance, spoke thus of himself; 
 " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
 raise it up c ." His apostles hold a similar 
 language, saying, that " in Him dwelleth all the 
 fulness of the Godhead f ;" and, that the Word 
 was made flesh, and dwelt or tabernacled amongst 
 us*. Again, with respect to the Church, St. 
 Paul frequently reminds his Christian brethren, 
 that they are " the temple of the Holy Ghost," 
 and " the temple of God." In his first Epistle 
 to the Corinthians he writes, '* Know ye not that 
 ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of 
 God dwelleth in you? if any man defile the 
 temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the 
 
 ' John ii. 19. 
 
 ' Coloss. ii. 9. 
 
 ' 'Entrant u iifur. John i. 14. The expression seems to 
 be an allusion to the tabernacle, to which the Divine presence 
 was attached, during the period that was preparatory to the 
 establishment of Israel in the promised land and the building 
 of a temple. The correspondence between this period and 
 our Lord's ministry, considered as preparatory to the final 
 establishment of his Church, is obvious.
 
 6 Introduction. 
 
 temple of God is holy, which temple ye are h :" 
 and in his second Epistle to the same Church, 
 " What agreement hath the temple of God with 
 idols ? for ye are the temple of the living God ; 
 as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk 
 in them 1 ." To the Ephesians also he writes, 
 " Ye are built upon the foundation of the apo- 
 stles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
 chief corner stone ; in whom all the building, fitly 
 framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in 
 the Lord : in whom ye also are builded together 
 for an habitation of God through the Spirit V 
 To the same source must be assigned the repeated 
 use of the metaphorical expression " edification" 
 or "building up;" and this, not by St. Paul 
 alone ; it was no fanciful train of allusion which 
 his peculiar habits of thinking suggested ; but an 
 image derived from the very essentials of that 
 Gospel, which all the apostles alike preached. 
 St. Jude as well as St. Paul speaks of Christians 
 " building up" themselves on their most holy 
 faith 1 ; and in St. Peter's Epistles, as in St. Paul's, 
 the exhortation to come unto Christ as ' ' unto a 
 
 " 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. i 2 Cor. vi. 16. " Ephes. 
 
 ii. 20, 21,22. ' Jude 20.
 
 Introduction. 7 
 
 living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but 
 chosen of God, and precious," is followed up 
 with the declaration, " ye also, as lively stones, 
 are built up a spiritual house '"." 
 
 This comparative survey, which I propose to 
 take, will require, in the first place, a statement 
 of those marks which God set on his three 
 Temples, for the purpose of connecting them, and 
 of calling attention to the analogy : and secondly, 
 a consideration of the resemblances, and of the 
 differences between the three Temples, and of the 
 ends which appear to have been contemplated by 
 these points of resemblance or difference. It is 
 an inquiry, which, with the full blaze of Gospel 
 light to guide us, will remind us at every step of 
 our weakness and blindness. It is the lifting up 
 of the eye to Him who gives it sight ; it is the 
 exercise of our understanding on Him, in whom 
 " we live, and move, and have our being ;" and 
 every Christian should approach the discussion, 
 with the reverence and humility that is due to so 
 high and solemn a theme : but he should do so 
 with the full conviction likewise, that whatever 
 it has pleased God to reveal to us of Himself, is 
 '" 1 Peter ii. 4, 5.
 
 8 Introduction. 
 
 like the burning bush on Mount Horeb, it is our 
 duty to turn aside, and draw near, and examine 
 it ; only remembering, that the ground whereon 
 we tread is holy.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE THREE TEMPLES. 
 
 THE Dedication of the three Temples is the 
 first feature to be considered in the comparison. 
 There was a solemn consecration of each ; and a 
 miraculous sign declared each, in succession, to 
 be the abode of God the appointed channel of 
 his communications in other words, his Temple. 
 
 I. To begin with the Temple of stone at 
 Jerusalem. The mark by which God signified 
 its holy character was given on the com- 
 pletion of the building, and preparatory to its 
 use. It was formally and solemnly dedicated ; 
 and at its dedication, it was miraculously filled 
 with a " glory," or mysterious light \ With the 
 meaning of this light, as the established sign 
 of God's immediate presence and undelegated 
 communications, the Israelites, it will be ob- 
 served, were, at that time, fully acquainted. 
 They knew it by the Shechinah which had signi- 
 fied Jehovah's abode in the tabernacle, by the 
 
 1 Kings viii. 10, 11. 2 Chron. v. 13, 14. and vii. 2.
 
 10 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 pillar of fire which had conducted their fathers 
 through the wilderness, and by the lightnings that 
 played about the summit of Mount Sinai on the 
 delivery of the Law. They knew it also by the re- 
 cord of the burning bush, out of which God called to 
 Moses to appoint him their lawgiver and leader b ; 
 and, to add no more instances, they knew it 
 by that more awful record of man's exclusion 
 from paradise, which was accompanied with the 
 display of " cherubims and a flaming sword c ." 
 
 In manifesting this light then, at the dedi- 
 cation of Solomon's temple, God declared, by 
 a well-known symbol, that it was the appointed 
 place where men ought to worship Him that 
 there He was to be found when called on that 
 thither, as to the abode of the first Paraclete d , 
 the court of their heavenly Sovereign, both 
 king and people, priesthood and laity, were to 
 
 b Exodus iii. 2. Genesis ii. 24. 
 
 d The etymological meaning of the term yret^dn^Tts is 
 one called in; and in reference to this may be explained all 
 the significations which are claimed for it. God, as presiding 
 over his Church, is called in by the afflicted to comfort them, 
 by the ignorant to instruct them, by the weak to strengthen 
 them.
 
 Dedication of the three Temples. 1 1 
 
 resort. Though, in the words of Solomon on that 
 occasion, "God dwelleth not in a temple made 
 by hands," yet the circumstances of his presence 
 here were analogous to the local residence of 
 a human governor, and it was therefore called 
 " the house of the Lord." 
 
 II. Christ's human nature was the next Temple 
 to which God's presence and intercourse with 
 man was attached. Considered in this point of 
 view, his baptism corresponded to the dedication 
 of the temple of stone. It was the period from 
 which his holy service commenced. And ac- 
 cordingly the baptism of Jesus appears to have 
 exhibited a scene answering to the dedication of 
 the temple at Jerusalem. There is every reason 
 to understand the sacred writers, in their narra- 
 tion of that event, to be recording the descent of 
 the well-known symbol the Shechinah. The 
 Spirit of God is said indeed to have descended 
 on Him, in bodily shape, like a dove ; but this 
 must allude either to the easy motion with 
 which the holy flame descended, or to the figure 
 which it assumed ; for it is plain, that no other 
 semblance of a dove would have impressed the 
 spectators with the idea of the Divine presence.
 
 12 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 The Shechinah was the only recognised and 
 established symbol of this ; and it was doubtless 
 the rekindled Shechinah which so descended e . 
 With this, as well as with the fuller display on 
 the Mount of Transfiguration, was joined a voice 
 from heaven, saying, " This is my beloved 
 Son." 
 
 The repetition of these words, and their use 
 at the Transfiguration more especially, deserves 
 particular notice, in reference to the view which 
 we are now taking of our Lord, as the new 
 Temple. On two favoured servants of God in 
 old times this mark of his presence was known 
 
 e The author of " The Gospel of the Nazarenes" mentions 
 the appearance of " a great light" at our Saviour's baptism. 
 The independent authority of such a document is, of course, 
 nothing; but it may nevertheless be allowed to strengthen 
 a probability already resting on grounds certainly Scriptural. 
 The passage, to which I allude, will be found in Jones's 
 Canon of the New Testament, part ii. c. 25. . 11. See also 
 the remarks of Paley on the allusions made to this tradition 
 by Epiphanius and Justin Martyr. Evidences, part i. chap. 9. 
 . 1. A similar notice, mixed up with a great deal that is 
 mystical, occurs in the Sabean books, where John the Baptist's 
 part in this scene is recorded. See Fragments to Calmet, 
 DCXXII.
 
 Dedication of the three Temples. 13 
 
 to have rested, and on two only on Moses after 
 he came down from Mount Sinai, and his face so 
 shone that he wore a veil ; on Elias or Elijah, 
 when he was caught up into the heavens, seated 
 on a cloud so irradiated f . By these very marks, 
 no doubt, the disciples recognised Moses and 
 Elias, whom they had never seen, but with whom, 
 so characterised, their Scriptures had made them 
 acquainted. They on that occasion saw them 
 both " in glory ;" to these servants of God, 
 even as to Jesus, the Shechinah was attached. 
 Were they then Immanuels too? Were they 
 (their hearts might have suggested) to be con- 
 sidered as Beings of the same order as their 
 Master? Were they, like Jesus, temples of the 
 living God? The suggestion was natural, and 
 seems to have been anticipated by the voice that 
 told them, " This is my beloved Son." Twice to 
 our Lord this " glory" had been attached, and 
 on each occasion, that same voice accompanied 
 it, to guard against the possibility of our suppos- 
 ing, that in his case, it denoted no more than 
 in the case of Elias or Moses. This was probably 
 indeed the main purport of the Transfiguration. 
 f Called a chariot of fire, 2 Kings ii. 11.
 
 1 4 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 It declared Jesus to be, not like Elias, nor like 
 Moses, an inspired man but the Immanuel the 
 Christ the Son of God the Temple of his 
 presence and communication. 
 
 III. We come now to the last great and glorious 
 scene that scene, for which the preceding stages 
 in God's revelation of himself were preparatory. 
 Christ had spoken of yet another Paraclete, for 
 whose coming it was expedient that He should go 
 away. He had told his disciples that He would 
 come again ; but warned them against supposing 
 that his new body, the future Temple of God, 
 was to be even so local, as when God was mani- 
 fested in Him. " And then, if any man shall say 
 unto you, Lo, here is Christ; or, Lo, He is there; 
 believe him not g ." " The kingdom of God com- 
 eth not with observation, neither shall they say, 
 Lo, here; or Lo, there; for, behold, the kingdom 
 of God is within you h ." But this was not all; 
 his last and most important declaration, was 
 prophetic of that scene, which, like his own bap- 
 tism, was to be the dedication of the last Temple; 
 the correspondence between the two events being 
 most pointedly marked by his manner of express- 
 
 * Matt. xxiv. 23. h Luke xvii. 20.
 
 Dedication of the three Temples. 1 5 
 
 ing himself. Not long before his ascension, He 
 commanded the apostles, " that they should not 
 depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise 
 of the Father, which," saith He, " ye have heard 
 from me. For John truly baptized with water, 
 (alluding probably to his own baptism by John,) 
 but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
 many days hence'." Accordingly, on the day 
 of Pentecost, the mysterious emblem of God's 
 abiding presence and covenanted intercourse was 
 once more displayed. On the assembled Church 
 the Shechinah was poured out and dispersed. 
 The metaphor of " pouring out k " is used as if to 
 denote that it was the Church's spiritual anoint- 
 ing. It was, in the language of St. John ', the 
 unction from the Holy One. The Church became 
 the Lord's anointed. It was the Church's bap- 
 tism ; it was the dedication of the last Temple of 
 the one true God. 
 
 1 Acts i. 4, 5. 
 
 k '*!. Acts ii. 17. 
 
 1 1 John ii. 20. See also ver. 27. where he speaks of this 
 anointing " as abiding in" Christians, and as " teaching all 
 things," expressions used by our Lord in his promise of the 
 Comforter.
 
 16 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 It is this view of the Christian fraternity through- 
 out the world, and of each separate Church, and its 
 several congregations, that entitles it to be called 
 the Temple. No building made by hands corre- 
 sponds to that which was honoured, of old, by the 
 abiding presence of Jehovah. We, the wor- 
 shippers of God, are now his Temple. Buildings 
 of stone we have, indeed, which are dedicated to 
 God's service ; but if any analogy must be sought 
 for these from an earlier dispensation, it will be 
 found rather in the Jewish proseuchse or syna- 
 gogues. Our churches do not, at least, correspond 
 to the Temple at Jerusalem. Of no literal edifice 
 in the Christian world has it been written, that 
 the Holy Ghost dwells in it, and has filled it with 
 his presence ; but only of that figurative struc- 
 ture, in which we are " as lively stones." 
 Whatever reverence, therefore, may be due to 
 places set apart for divine service ; that reverence 
 ought neither to supersede, nor yet to be con- 
 founded with, the sense of God's presence which 
 we are required to attach to the congregation. 
 They, and not the walls that occasionally enclose 
 them, are the dedicated Temple. 
 
 And yet, it is melancholy to reflect on the
 
 Dedication of the three Temples. 1 7 
 
 cold-hearted indifference, with which this the true 
 sanctuary is regarded, even by numbers who 
 value the good-tidings of the Gospel. Has 
 Christ indeed gone and left us comfortless, that 
 we must look back for the source of our holy 
 love and zeal to days of miracle and manifesta- 
 tion ; and, like Peter, stand gazing with misplaced 
 enthusiam on the goodly stones of an earlier 
 Temple, unmindful of that to which the She- 
 chinah has been transferred? How poor, after 
 all, is that use of Christian privileges, which 
 awakens no habitual sense that God is present, 
 and Himself dispensing their secret virtue ! It 
 savours of the dulness with which numbers came 
 to the Immanuel to be healed or to be fed, and 
 yet failed to recognise " the Lord that healeth," 
 and Him who provided their fathers with manna 
 in the desert. 
 
 Is this apathy increased, or is it diminished, 
 by the further view which that same truth 
 carries along with it that we are individually 
 portions of this sacred edifice " lively stones," 
 as St. Peter expresses it? I fear it is increased. 
 We could be content to visit, at stated periods, a 
 m Exod. xv. 26.
 
 18 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 shrine or a holy person ; once or twice in our 
 lives, to make a toilsome pilgrimage to Jerusalem 
 or Mecca, and for the occasion to put any re- 
 straint on our conduct, and to wind up our hearts 
 to any pitch of devotion and holy fear : but to 
 feel that we have not to go to God, but that 
 God has come to us that He is mysteriously 
 with us, within us, and ever mingling the opera- 
 tions of his Spirit with our own government of 
 our will and affections that, do what we may, 
 whether good or evil, we are doing it with Him, 
 and either going along with Him or resisting 
 Him that in every act, and word, and thought, 
 we are either led by the Spirit, or else are 
 grieving the Spirit to live under the habitual 
 sense of this, what is it, but to struggle through 
 the narrow path, which he only treads, who is 
 " crucified unto this world," and has " tasted 
 the powers of the world to come?" On the 
 other hand, to entertain such a feeling occa- 
 sionally, but fills us with an undefined horror, 
 which forces us to dismiss it, and to emancipate 
 ourselves, if possible, from its harrowing in- 
 fluence. 
 
 Still it does return ; and then, how does the
 
 Dedication of the three Temples. 19 
 
 Christian behave ? Does he feel that it is indeed 
 the Lord God from whose presence he has been 
 vainly hiding himself? Does he recognise the 
 still, small voice that asks, Where art thou? 
 Let him then come forth trembling, ashamed, and 
 resolved thenceforward to walk humbly with his 
 God. He is yet in time ; for the Lord has called 
 him, and him who cometh He will in no wise 
 cast out. But does he still reply, " Depart from 
 me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Alas ! for 
 him a little while and indeed the Lord will be 
 no more with him ; and where his Saviour is, he 
 cannot then come. Or, does he plead with con- 
 science, and allege that it is impossible habitually 
 to recognise the Divine presence, because he is 
 not sensibly reminded of it ? O ! let him beware 
 of this worst delusion. It is not now for the first 
 time, that God has come to his own, and his own 
 have received Him not. It has occurred quite as 
 remarkably with those who have had sensible 
 manifestations and ocular proof, as it does now 
 with Christians, who complain of the absence of 
 such evidence. This is never the real cause. 
 We all know, if we have duly inquired, that God 
 is with us ; and if He lias chosen to assure us of 
 c 2
 
 20 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 this by any one sufficient method, let us not say, 
 that we neglect the behaviour due to his pre- 
 sence, because it ought to have been made known 
 to us in some other way. Let us think on those 
 who, amidst a series of miracles wrought, and 
 prophecies fulfilled, yet said to the Immanuel, 
 " We would see a sign from thee n ." 
 
 True we are not assured of the co-operation of 
 the Holy Spirit by the same means as we are of 
 the operation of our understanding on our affec- 
 tions or passions. We are not conscious of it. 
 But what then? Our condition in this respect 
 may be after all very like the condition of the 
 first followers of our blessed Lord, which we 
 would fain represent to ourselves to be so much 
 more favourable than our own. They believed in 
 Him, they obeyed Him, they loved Him, before 
 they knew that it was God in Christ, who was 
 the object of their regard and veneration. The 
 proof, the sensible manifestation of this, was the 
 reward of a faith exercised in partial blindness. 
 May it not be even so with us ? In another life, 
 although no other connection should be esta- 
 blished between God and his Church than now 
 St. Matt. xii. 38.
 
 Dedication of the three Temples. 21 
 
 exists ; if we should be so far changed as to be 
 made conscious of this connection, what a new 
 and exalted state of being might be the result ! 
 The difference between the first and the last stages 
 of apostolic faith and knowledge, would be surely 
 but a faint type of this. Nor is the expectation 
 unreasonable. That such a change at least may 
 take place, is conceivable, although the precise 
 character of the change be not. One, for instance, 
 who should be born blind, and acquire the use of 
 his eyes after his other senses and faculties had 
 been matured and exercised, would perceive not 
 only objects imperceptible by any senses which 
 he had before employed ; but would discover in 
 the objects around him, and most familiar to him, 
 relations which had been hidden from him, and 
 qualities hitherto incomprehensible*. In another 
 life the controlling influence of the Divine pre- 
 sence on our hearts and conduct may be only in 
 itself the same as now ; and our security from 
 sin, as well as our chief happiness, be made to 
 consist in the exercise of a new or latent faculty 
 
 I have here availed myself of an illustration, furnished by 
 one, to whose valuable suggestions in the course of the in- 
 quiry I have been often indebted. See Scripture Revelations 
 concerning a Future State, by a Country Pastor, Lect. ix.
 
 22 Dedication of the three Temples. 
 
 by which we shall be conscious of it. God may 
 not be more intimately present, more with us, 
 than He now is ; and yet, as often as we address 
 Him, our hearts may be assured of his presence, 
 and our devotions kindled, by a ray of glory 
 which eye hath not yet seen, only because the 
 eye is not yet framed to perceive it. When 
 exercising that more perfect control on our de- 
 sires and affections, for which our present life is 
 training us, what if that benignant countenance 
 that same look of affectionate remonstrance at 
 which the apostle wept and repented shall be 
 turned on us, to check impulses that now lead to 
 sin, even before an evil thought should be con- 
 ceived, or actual temptation have commenced ? 
 The present Temple may remain unchanged ; 
 save only, that by the rending of another veil, 
 we shall see God face to face, and " shall know 
 even as we also are known."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MATERIALS OF THE THREE TEMPLES. 
 
 THE expressions " true" and ". truth" are used 
 by the writers of the New Testament not only in 
 their ordinary sense, as opposed to what is false 
 and untrue ; but to signify reality, or substance, as 
 opposed to types, emblems, similitudes. Accordingly 
 these terms are often applied to Christianity, or 
 to some feature of the Christian scheme, for the 
 purpose of contrasting it with the Jewish dis- 
 pensation ; that being considered as the shadow, 
 and the Christian as the body, or " the truth." 
 All the rites and ordinances of the Mosaic Law 
 are, by the last Revelation, declared to have been 
 patterns, or images, or symbols, of events and 
 appointments in the Christian covenant ; for 
 which, exclusively, this character of truth or 
 reality is claimed. Even the personages of 
 Jewish history are represented as forming a part 
 of this preparatory and promissory system ; and 
 to have held office and ministry, the real effi- 
 cacy of which belonged to the analogous office
 
 24 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 and ministry of Christ, the true King, the true 
 Priest, and the true Prophet R . 
 
 It is, for instance, in opposition to the pre- 
 judices of the unbelieving Jews, who contended 
 for the eternal obligation and permanent cha- 
 racter of the Mosaic Law, as such, that our 
 Saviour tells them, "The truth shall make you 
 free b " alluding to the release which Christianity 
 offered from the burthensome rites of the Law. 
 Such too was the meaning of St. Paul, when he 
 drew the allegorical parallel between the child of 
 the free-woman and the child of the bond- 
 woman and of St. John, when he wrote, " The 
 Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
 came by Jesus Christ (1 ." 
 
 Again, particular portions of the two dispensa- 
 tions are set in contrast by our Saviour ; as when 
 he tells the Jews, " Moses gave you not the bread 
 from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true 
 bread from heaven e " in allusion to the manna, 
 with which God fed the Israelites in the wilder- 
 ness, and which he thus intimates to have been a 
 
 * See e. g. 1 Cor. x. Hebrews viii. ix. x. Rev. xiii. 8. 
 b John viii. 32. e Galat. iv. 22. d John i. 17. 
 
 John vi. 32.
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 25 
 
 type of the spiritual food he was to become to the 
 Church. So also, when he says, " my flesh is 
 meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed f " 
 the word which is rendered indeed in our transla- 
 tion being in both places (Aij0cif) " in truth." 
 
 It is in this sense, that the words " true" and 
 " truth" are used in his remarkable words to the 
 woman of Samaria, " the hour cometh, and now 
 is, when the true worshippers shall worship the 
 Father in spirit and in truth g ." The true wor- 
 shippers were so designated in opposition to the 
 typical Church under the old dispensation the 
 true worship, of which the Temple service had 
 been the prelude and preparation, was that, in 
 which God's attested presence should be attached 
 neither to a holy mountain, nor to a holy city 
 neither to Mount Gerizim, nor yet to Jerusalem 
 in which the Church should be at once the Tem- 
 ple and the worshippers. 
 
 By what successive stages God has, as it were, 
 educated the Church for this last and most ab- 
 stract Revelation of Himself what are the resem- 
 blances and the differences between these three 
 Temples, which we recognise as such by one 
 
 ' John vi. 55. * John iv. 23.
 
 26 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 common symbol being annexed to their dedica- 
 tion, and a common language applied to them 
 by inspiration in what respects the gradual 
 change thus made in God's Revelation of Him- 
 self has been accommodated to the slowly-open- 
 ing capacity of his Church to the prejudices, 
 the corruptions, and the weakness of his wor- 
 shippers these will be now the objects of in- 
 quiry. 
 
 The subject will be arranged under the follow- 
 ing heads. I. The materials of the three Tem- 
 ples. II. The mode of divine residence in them. 
 III. Their duration and stability. IV. The 
 Temple services. V. The persons officiating. 
 VI. The connection of the three Temples with 
 the doctrine of the Trinity. The remainder of 
 the present chapter will be occupied with the first 
 of these topics. 
 
 I. That the Temple of stone was appointed 
 in condescension to the weakness and prejudices 
 of God's first worshippers, will be evident, if we 
 consider what was the character and condition of 
 the Israelites, and the time of its building. They 
 were even then so imperfectly cured of the 
 idolatrous habits of the heathen around them,
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 27 
 
 as to be continually incurring divine chastise- 
 ments for worshipping strange gods. Obstinacy 
 so blind as this is unaccountable, except on the 
 supposition, that their notion of the distinct 
 nature of God was still very faint and confused ; 
 and such as must have perpetually yielded to the 
 influence of example and habitual hereditary 
 corruption. 
 
 All the nations around were worshipping, each 
 its own deities, attached to a people, a district, a 
 mountain, or a grove. There were gods of the 
 hills, and gods of the valleys' 4 . The Egyptians 
 had theirs, the Canaanites had theirs ; every 
 region, and every city, and almost every family 
 of the heathen world, had its own god. Could 
 the Israelites have been exempt from the in- 
 fluence of this view? We know that they were 
 not. The Israelite in Egypt had been a bonds- 
 man in morals and mind as well as in body, 
 and he continued to wear the chain that fettered 
 his heart and intellect, long after he had shaken 
 off external servitude. It was doubtless in ten- 
 
 k See 1 Kings xx. 23, and 28. So Eteocles in the Phoe- 
 nissae is made to address Polynices, Mvx><;, p 'rfe? W*Aii 
 tuvs. Phceniss. 67.
 
 28 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 derness to this weakness, that God's first Reve- 
 lation of Himself to them was as a tutelary 
 deity as their God, the God of their fathers, 
 the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. 
 Nor was it until a sufficient interval had elapsed, 
 that he formally and explicitly declared Himself 
 to be the God of all the earth likewise l . 
 
 It is true, that before the building of Solomon's 
 Temple, many must have been more enlightened 
 than to be included in this description ; still, 
 the ready relapse of monarch and people, priest- 
 hood and laity, into gross idolatry and this 
 in periods long subsequent shews how unfit 
 they were generally for any Revelation of God's 
 presence and communication, but such as should 
 be attached to a place. Possibly any other view 
 would, as yet, have been incomprehensible. The 
 Temple of stone was an accommodation to 
 this spiritual infancy of the mind. Because 
 the king dwelt in an house of cedar, it seemed 
 unfitting that the ark of God, which had been 
 honoured with the sign of his presence, should 
 dwell within curtains" 1 . All the circumstances 
 
 1 Compare Exodus vi. 7. with xix. 5. 
 m 2 Sam. vii. 2.
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 29 
 
 of an earthly and local theocracy were demanded ; 
 and in compassion to their weakness they were 
 granted. 
 
 Let us for a moment contrast the frame of 
 mind which all this supposes in the Israelites, 
 with the exercise of faith, necessary to embrace 
 the doctrine of God's presence and intercourse 
 by his Spirit his present indwelling in the hearts 
 of the faithful and it is impossible not to admit 
 that this last revelation would have been amazing 
 and inconceivable to the worshippers in the first 
 Temple. Scarcely could they be brought, by a 
 series of severe national judgments up to the 
 period of the Babylonish captivity, to adhere 
 even to the earliest improvement on their original 
 corrupt views ; and to worship without any sensi- 
 ble image to represent the object of worship. To 
 have attempted, in the first instance, to impress 
 them with the idea of a Divine residence amongst 
 them, in which there should be no local object at 
 all no fixed habitation to mark the Divine pre- 
 sence and communication this would have been 
 surely unavailing. It was only, when they had 
 entirely cast off their hereditary habits of idol- 
 atry, and had been thoroughly cured of image-
 
 30 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 worship, that they were fit for being taught to 
 worship Jehovah, " neither in mount Gerizim, 
 nor yet at Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth." 
 
 And yet, so abrupt would have been the tran- 
 sition of thought, from the contemplation of 
 God's presence, as it was manifested in the Tem- 
 ple of stone, to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit 
 within our hearts ; that some intermediate stage 
 was requisite, for the mind to pause and rest on 
 in the immense transfer of its conception. That 
 stage was the Immanuel God dwelling, not in a 
 house or tabernacle, but in the mysterious abode 
 of a man's human nature united with the hu- 
 man heart and mind, as well as with the human 
 body. There was just so much of locality about 
 the material part of Christ's human nature, as to 
 convey men's views, by an easy transition, to 
 that last mode of residence, which was to be 
 divested of all local associations that kingdom, 
 in which we are appointed to walk by faith, and 
 not by sight that Temple, in which the wor- 
 shippers now worship in spirit and in truth. 
 
 II. There is another aspect under which the 
 difference of materials in the three Temples may 
 be surveyed one associated not so much with
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 31 
 
 the weakness of man, as with the wisdom of God 
 with the progressive scheme of salvation, which, 
 even in our imperfect view of it, has been plainly 
 best accomplished in its several stages, by pre- 
 cisely such a kind of divine manifestation as was 
 attached to each. The comparison which has 
 been hitherto made relates to a difference in the 
 degree of revelation ; that which is now proposed 
 regards certain differences in kind between the 
 revelations. 
 
 In order to estimate the importance of these 
 differences, we must bear in mind, that the 
 Mosaic dispensation was partial, the Christian, 
 universal. The old Church of God was, not 
 accidentally, but designedly and by positive in- 
 stitution, limited to one elected people and one 
 place. Its first institution was on a principle of 
 preference, election, and separation ; and its par- 
 tial extent and exclusive character was further 
 preserved, by a strict command to celebrate the 
 appointed means of grace in the Temple only ; 
 and so frequently, as to render it impossible for 
 distant strangers to be in habitual and full com- 
 munion". Into the object of this limitation 
 n See Exod. xxxiv. 23. Deut. xii. ...
 
 32 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 I am not now inquiring ; but such was the 
 case. 
 
 The Christian dispensation, on the contrary, 
 began with the avowed design of embracing all 
 mankind. The commission of the Apostles was 
 " to baptize and make disciples of all nations ." 
 The commandment was that all men every where 
 should repent p ." 
 
 It is obvious then, how fit, how essential it 
 was, that there should be a Temple of stone for 
 the partial dispensation; the presence of God 
 in Christ for the transition state, when it was yet 
 partial, but preparing to be extended; and for 
 this last dispensation, which was to embrace all 
 the world, what Temple would have been suf- 
 ficient, but a Temple co-extensive and identical 
 with the worshippers themselves ? As in the true 
 atonement, there was no victim worthy of the 
 priest, no priest worthy of the victim, but He 
 who combined both in his own person ; so in 
 the true worship, there could have been no 
 adequate Temple, unless the worshippers and the 
 Temple had been the same. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 15. P Acts xvii. 
 
 30.
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 33 
 
 Let us, for a moment, imagine it otherwise. 
 Suppose, that, in order to enjoy the benefits 
 which we now derive from God's spiritual presence 
 amongst us as a Church, the Christian world 
 were obliged to resort, once even in a year, to 
 some appointed place where God had fixed his 
 name. Suppose it Jerusalem suppose it Rome 
 suppose it where you will, and you create an in- 
 surmountable obstacle to the universality of the 
 Christian religion. As soon as the work of 
 conversion extended beyond the limits of the 
 country where the Shechinah rested, the impossi- 
 bility of a general conformity must have been 
 felt. But when a distance of half the globe in- 
 tervened, a few occasional pilgrimages could have 
 been the only mode of compliance with the bond 
 of the covenant ; and even these would have 
 been limited to the robust and the wealthy q . If 
 again the possibility of removing all these im- 
 pediments were granted, the very removal of them 
 would at once create a stronger case of impracti- 
 cability. A Temple must have been provided, 
 
 *> Mahomet felt this difficulty when he ordered his disciples 
 to repair to Mecca once in tlieir lives.
 
 34 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 whose courts should be so spacious as to contain 
 all the families of the Christian world. 
 
 In a less degree, but only in a less degree, the 
 residence of the Saviour in the flesh amongst us 
 would have been inconsistent with the enlarge- 
 ment of his train of disciples into a fraternity 
 which comprehends some of all the portions of 
 civilized mankind. He must have continued to 
 be the source of all ecclesiastical authority at 
 least all reference and appeal on religious ques- 
 tions must have been finally made to Him and 
 how could all this have been done, in the case of 
 Churches, established in distant quarters of the 
 world, and varying in circumstances as much as 
 in distance ? I say nothing of the disturbance of 
 society arising out of the casual journeys to the 
 seat of spiritual empire ; or of the throng which 
 must have been for ever pressing on him, not, as 
 heretofore, from the small district of Palestine, 
 but from all the kingdoms of the world. 
 
 All this, and much more, that renders our 
 Saviour's fleshly residence amongst us inconsistent 
 with our present established state of probation, is 
 overlooked in those wild schemes of the fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy, which would realize this very
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 35 
 
 scene as the promised Millennium. From the 
 Anabaptists of the Reformation to the more in- 
 nocent speculators of the present day, no pro- 
 spect has been more attractive to the imagination 
 than this ; and yet it implies a change of con- 
 dition in the Christian world, which is at variance, 
 it would seem, with the very essentials of the 
 final dispensation. As soon as the Church of 
 Christ began to increase and spread, it became 
 expedient that He should go away. For a train 
 of disciples, which was to reach from one end of 
 the earth to the other, and to occupy a range 
 of countries and communities differing in all 
 ways, in their political institutions and domestic 
 habits, there could be no visible Head on earth 
 supposing of course Christianity to be otherwise 
 uncorrupted and unchanged. It was expedient 
 for the universal establishment of God's Church 
 throughout the world that the Temple of stone 
 should be destroyed it was expedient that the 
 Immanuel even should go away : and those who 
 would turn our contemplations and hopes to a 
 renewal of God's distinction of his once holy 
 city, or to the reign of Christ in the flesh amongst 
 his Church militant here on earth, these do seem 
 
 D2
 
 36 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 to bring us back, if not to " the beggarly elements"' 
 of the Law r , certainly, to a stage in God's pro- 
 gressive dispensations, which we have long since 
 passed. 
 
 And if this be so, what is the judgment we 
 are called on to pronounce on the claims of a 
 mere human Being to that earthly throne, which 
 it was expedient for us that even Christ should 
 leave vacant. If it be a fond enthusiasm to 
 mourn for the Immanuel's departure, or to ex- 
 pect his return to govern us in our period of 
 warfare and probation, it is a weakness, which 
 may be pardoned it is a weakness, which saints, 
 which apostles, for a time, felt. But for man 
 to rebuild the throne which God has pronounced 
 inexpedient to take his seat thereon and to 
 exercise that universal spiritual dominion, which 
 could have been attached only to the Immanuel's 
 throne this is indeed " to oppose and exalt him- 
 self above all that is called God, or that is wor- 
 shipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple 
 of God, shewing himself that he is God '." 
 
 III. There is yet another point of view, in 
 which, as in the preceding, we discover the fit- 
 ' Gal. iv. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 4.
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 37 
 
 ness of the materials of the three Temples for the 
 several stages of Revelation to which they re- 
 spectively belong. In this again, both the vision- 
 ary speculations respecting the Millennium, and 
 the claims of the Romish Church, and the Rom- 
 ish Bishop, will be found to be inconsistent with 
 the very essentials of the last dispensation of 
 God the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. In 
 other words, they both imply a relapse into a 
 stage in the progressive dispensations, which has 
 been long past and superseded. 
 
 Under the Mosaic covenant, the Church was 
 not only confined and partial ; but conveyed its 
 privileges to the members in very unequal de- 
 grees. The mere believer in the one true God 
 was considered as possessing a claim, superior 
 indeed to the idolater, but much inferior to the 
 proselyte to Judaism. There was a distinction 
 between the parts of the Temple to which these 
 two kinds of strangers were admitted : and from 
 their respective places there, the one was called 
 the proselyte of the gate, while the other was 
 named the proselyte of righteousness. Again, 
 the lineal descendant of Abraham the Hebrew 
 of Hebrews considered himself heir to promises,
 
 38 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 which set him higher than the most perfect pro- 
 selyte. Nor did the system of gradations end 
 here. From the first institution of the Mosaic 
 Church, the principle of inequality was laid down in 
 the division of the Israelites into the class which 
 the Levites composed, and those who were not, 
 like them, to exercise certain sacred functions. 
 The very Levites again were marked by a strong 
 line of separation ; and the family of Aaron re- 
 served for the priesthood and its attendant pri- 
 vileges. 
 
 In God's new dispensation, on the contrary, 
 there were to be no corresponding distinctions 
 there were to be no degrees of Christianity. 
 Once a Christian, whether previously, a Jew, a 
 proselyte, or an idolater, the churchman was to 
 claim and to enjoy the highest privileges of the 
 covenant. In the new Temple there was to be 
 no family like Aaron's ; no tribe like Levi's ; no 
 nation like the Israelites. Christ "our peace 
 made Jew and Gentile one, having broken down 
 the middle wall of partition between them 1 ." 
 
 It is this that is emphatically called by St. 
 Paul, " unity of the Spirit u ," (hor^ T 
 
 1 Ephes. ii. 14. Ephes. iv. 3.
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 39 
 
 that is, the unity, singleness, or oneness of faith 
 and; of privileges, which, in opposition to the 
 gradations of the former dispensation, charac- 
 terizes that Church in which God's Holy Spirit 
 presides and rules. 
 
 But how could this characteristic have been 
 preserved, had either of the former divine mani- 
 festations either of the former Temples been 
 made the permanent one? In the case of the 
 Temple of stone, the impediments are as obvious 
 as those which made it inconsistent with the 
 universality of the Christian dispensation. That 
 all men every where should equally enjoy the pri- 
 vileges of the Christian covenant, it was expedient 
 that God should be worshipped, neither on mount 
 Gerizim, nor yet at Jerusalem, but in spirit and 
 in truth. And equally inconsistent and inexpe- 
 dient would have been the abiding presence of 
 Christ in the flesh. Those removed by distance 
 from his personal intercourse, could not have been 
 considered as having the privileges of communion 
 in an equal degree with his immediate followers. 
 There would not have been equally for all " One 
 Lord," however there might have been " one faith 
 and one baptism."
 
 40 Materials of the three Templet. 
 
 It appears then that our present trust in the 
 Divine presence, communion, and assistance, 
 (marked as that presence is by no sign, and at- 
 tached to no place,) is a frame of mind, for which 
 the Church of God had been in gradual training, 
 from the delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai, to 
 the effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pen- 
 tecost. First was removed the prejudice which 
 connected the one true object of worship with a 
 sensible representation. And this was done, not 
 by addressing to the mind an idea altogether 
 spiritual, but by permanently establishing that 
 symbol, which, beyond all others that could have 
 been devised, was farthest removed from solid 
 substance and distinct form a holy Light. 
 Still for a time it was necessary to attach this 
 evanescent and unsubstantial emblem to a Temple 
 of stone ; until the Church was prepared for a 
 purer and more spiritual view to be exhibited in 
 the Incarnation. The display of that mysterious 
 union of the Divine nature, not merely with the 
 .body but with the heart and intellect of a man, 
 was itself the prelude and preparation for a view 
 of the Divine presence and intercourse, in which 
 we cannot point to any one place, or to any one/
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 41 
 
 human being, as the residence of the Godhead. 
 The sacred language is, not "ye are the Tem- 
 ples," but "ye are the Temple of the Holy 
 Ghost" the Temple, collectively, and lively 
 stones individually. We at last worship God in 
 spirit and in truth. 
 
 Worthy notions indeed of his presence, we 
 cannot presume that we have even yet acquired. 
 We are now doubtless only in training for that 
 further stage of divine communion, which is de- 
 scribed in Scripture as seeing God " face to 
 face," and knowing Him even as we are known 
 by Him*. Nay, do we always take care to 
 render our present views of Him habitually even 
 as pure and spiritual as we are able ? We have 
 learnt that He is omnipresent we should bear 
 in mind therefore, that the diffusion of the She- 
 chinah through the Temple of stone, its descent 
 on the Immanuel, and lastly on the Church, were 
 only symbols, to attest God's presence and inter- 
 course ; and that He could not have been more 
 present then, than he was before, or has been 
 since. Or rather in acknowledging his omni- 
 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
 
 42 Materials of the three Temples. 
 
 presence, we must be careful not to allow our 
 mind to dwell on the idea, as if God's presence 
 were the same in kind, and only different in 
 degree, from what we mean by the presence of 
 any Created object. God's omnipresence means, 
 not, strictly speaking, that He is present to all 
 things and all men ; but, that all things and all 
 men are present to Him. As far as regards his 
 being present to us, He is, correctly speaking, no 
 where. His existence cannot reverently be sup- 
 posed to require the accident of locality. We 
 say indeed, conformably with Scriptural language, 
 that He dwells in heaven. But where and what 
 is heaven ? Not surely a place not an abode 
 which can be described by the lines of the 
 astronomer or the geographer. It is a figurative 
 expression, involving a negation of all the cir- 
 cumstances of an earthly residence, and especially 
 of the limitation of space. It is still the infirmity 
 and want of capacity in man, as he now is, that 
 is consulted by the all-merciful Revealer of Him- 
 self; and even in this last stage of his Revela- 
 tion, we must adopt the spirit of the humble con- 
 fession which Solomon made when he dedicated
 
 Materials of the three Temples. 43 
 
 the Temple of stone, " The heaven and heaven of 
 heavens cannot contain thee ; how much less this 
 house that I have builded*." 
 
 1 Kings viii. 27.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MODE OF DIVINE RESIDENCE. 
 
 WE have now traced the erection of the three 
 successive Temples ; and have recognised them 
 as such by one common symbol being annexed 
 to their dedication, and a common language 
 applied to them by inspiration. Beyond this, 
 the proposed inquiry into the resemblances and 
 the differences between these three Temples has 
 been pursued as far as relates to the materials of 
 which they were composed the structure of stone 
 the human nature of Christ and the Christian 
 congregation or Church. From this comparison 
 it has appeared, that the gradual change so made 
 in God's Revelation of Himself, has been accom- 
 modated to the slowly-opening capacity of his 
 worshippers ; and to the progressive scheme of 
 salvation, which, even in our imperfect com- 
 prehension of it, has been plainly best accom- 
 plished in its several stages, by precisely such a 
 kind of divine manifestation as was allotted to 
 each. 
 
 The next feature of contrast which I propose
 
 46 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 to examine, is, the mode of Divine residence exhi- 
 bited in these three Temples; which, no less 
 than the materials, will be found most wisely and 
 mercifully adapted to the several stages in the 
 divine economy of grace. 
 
 The question respecting the mode of Divine 
 residence, Divine presence, Divine connexion, 
 or by whatever name we choose to designate the 
 mystery, may be answered in two ways ; and on 
 the difference between these two modes of view- 
 ing the question a great deal of practical conse- 
 quence depends. When we venture to suggest 
 to our minds any inquiry respecting the presence 
 of God in Christ, or the presence of God in 
 the Church, that inquiry, it is plain, may turn 
 either on the effect produced by the Divine pre- 
 sence on the human nature of Christ on the 
 one hand, and the Church on the other : or 
 again, the view taken of this mysterious pre- 
 sence, union, or connection, may be to consider 
 the Immanuel, or the Church, as the channel 
 of the divine oracles the medium of divine com- 
 munication. The object of the one, in short, 
 may be expressed by calling it divine communion.
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 47 
 
 that of the other, by calling it divine com- 
 munication. Now these two views are not 
 only wholly distinct, but by no means equally 
 open to investigation ; and questions, which in 
 the one may be safely and certainly answered, 
 are, in the other, often beyond our faculties, cer- 
 tainly beyond our knowledge. In the comparison 
 which has been now pursued, of the three stages 
 of God's Revelation of Himself, it is only &s the 
 channels of divine communication that the three 
 Temples have been contrasted ; and, indeed, it is 
 only in this point of view that they can be 
 considered under the common aspect of Temples. 
 To the Temple of stone the Temple at Jeru- 
 salem no other view of the Divine presence, 
 of course, belongs, than that of communication. 
 It was no otherwise connected with God than 
 as the channel of his messages to man, and of 
 man's service and addresses to Him. The same 
 is therefore the only view, which should be 
 pursued in contemplating either the Immanuel 
 or the Church, in an aspect analogous to that of 
 the first Temple. 
 
 Still, as the two others do admit of a different 
 view ; and as the inquirer is often tempted to stray
 
 48 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 from one path of research into another closely 
 connected with it, although eventually leading to 
 a different point ; I am perhaps called on to place 
 the following cautions at the entrance of a course 
 of inquiry into which I may possibly be leading 
 some. 
 
 First then, in Christians, as in Christ Himself, 
 there is an union of the Godhead with man ; 
 but we must beware of supposing, that in the 
 two cases, it is the same. Scripture declares 
 that it is different ; but does not further explain 
 the difference, than by intimating that He was 
 individually, we, only collectively, the Temple of 
 God. We are told that God gave " the Spirit 
 to Him not by measure ;" and that in Him dwelt 
 all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He was 
 perfect God as well as perfect man ; and this, 
 we know, is not our state of being. But, in 
 what way his human nature was conscious of the 
 Divine presence and union ; in what way the 
 man Christ Jesus was preserved from sin was 
 supported under suffering enjoyed perfect com- 
 munion with God and yet remained in all other 
 things like unto us; these are matters not re- 
 vealed ; and the suggestion of them is only
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 49 
 
 caused by the incidental contact into which these 
 questions are brought with the practical and 
 intelligible doctrines of the Incarnation and of 
 the Holy Spirit's assistance. 
 
 At the same time, a caution of an opposite 
 tendency may be necessary too ; namely, not to 
 suppose that the two cases of Divine union are 
 so wholly dissimilar, as to destroy the efficacy 
 of Christ's example. He could be to us no 
 pattern, if we were not, like Him, supported 
 by the Divine presence^ guided by it, and com- 
 forted by it. The record of his life his tempt- 
 ations and his sufferings would then be a 
 picture which we might admire indeed, but 
 hardly presume to copy. It is true, that 
 to us the Holy Spirit is given by measure ; still 
 that measure is a measure of grace sufficient 
 for us. It is true, that it is given in a way, 
 which does not render the Christian, as his Lord 
 is, both God and man : but still, the moulding 
 of our nature into the highest perfection of which 
 it is capable, is one promised result of that 
 union ; and to this we may hope to attain, if 
 " that mind be in us" which was also in Christ 
 
 * Philipp. ii. 5. 

 
 50 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 Jesus," who " suffered for us, leaving us an 
 example, that we should follow his steps 5 ." 
 
 These questions related, as I before observed, 
 to the communion or intercourse between God 
 and his chosen abode. The other view which 
 may be taken of the Divine presence in, or the 
 union or connection of God with, his Temples, 
 relates to the form of communication attached 
 to the Temple the appointed means by which 
 He issued his commands and made known his 
 will. 
 
 In the Temple at Jerusalem this was effected 
 by means of a voice, it is supposed, which pro- 
 ceeded from between the cherubims c . During 
 
 b 1 Peter ii. 21. This part of the subject is more fully 
 discussed in the view of Christ, as a pattern of Christian 
 humility, which has, on this account, been appended to the 
 present inquiry. 
 
 c See Exod. xxv. 22. Numbers vii. 89. Psalm Ixxx. I. 
 2 Kings xix. 15. Isaiah xxxvii. 16. The traditionary account 
 of a revelation by the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate 
 of the High Priest is very doubtful. It probably had its 
 origin in the circumstance of his being bound to wear this 
 ornament when consulting the oracle, the twelve precious 
 stones on it designating the twelve tribes whose representative 
 he then was. See Graves on the Pentateuch, note to part ii.
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 51 
 
 the continuance of the Temple of stone, however, 
 God frequently varied this expression of his 
 will, by raising up prophets especially commis- 
 sioned ; and as the period approached when the 
 Shechinah' 1 was to be wholly withdrawn, we find 
 the number and importance of the Revelations 
 of those human oracles proportionably great. 
 By this means, from the period of the establish- 
 ment of the Temple Oracle, to the close of 
 prophecy, there was a gradual departure from 
 the system of communication first annexed to the 
 Temple ; as if to smooth the way for the second 
 method, for which that had been preparatory*. 
 
 lect. v. which contains reference to the opinions of Lowman, 
 Spencer, and Witsius. 
 
 d This holy manifestation appears to have ceased with the 
 destruction of Solomon's Temple, which took place A. C. 588. 
 See Prideaux's Connection, part i. book iii. Lightfoot on the 
 Temple, ch. XT. sect. 4. and Calmet's Dictionary, Shechinah. 
 By the absence of this then from the subsequent building, 
 Haggai's prophecy, that " the glory of the latter house should 
 be greater than of the former," is fixed in its application 
 to the appearance of Christ as " God manifest in the flesh." 
 See Haggai ii. 9. 
 
 ' The Jewish account of the Bath Kol, (daughter of the 
 Voice,) by which it is pretended that occasional revelations 
 E2
 
 52 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 That mode of communication was, the oral 
 instruction of the Immanuel. His words became 
 equivalent to the mysterious intimation from the 
 cherubim ; to the voice or vision which instructed 
 the prophets ; and to that more awful Voice 
 which dictated the Law from Mount Sinai, when 
 as yet there was neither Temple nor Tabernacle, 
 but heaven was the throne, and earth the foot- 
 stool, in the glorious scene of manifestation and 
 revelation. 
 
 Lastly, to the Voice or Word of God in the 
 Jewish dispensation, and to the words of Christ 
 in the second Temple, corresponds the Christian 
 record in the Temple of the Holy Ghost. It is 
 true, that during the apostolic age the age of 
 inspiration the analogy was not between the 
 Bible and the former modes of communication ; 
 but between those modes, and the gifts and en- 
 dowments of the Spirit. But nevertheless, it is 
 the Christian Record, and not the many forms 
 
 were made, subsequent to the cessation of prophecy, is alto- 
 gether unworthy of credit. See Lightfoot's Harmony of the 
 Evangelists, Matt. Hi. 17. Prideaux supposes it to have been 
 a mode of divination like the Sortes Virgiliance. See Connec- 
 tion, fec. part ii. book 5.
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 53 
 
 of Inspiration, that constitutes the proper oracular 
 appendage of the last Temple. The apostolic 
 period embraced only the erection of the holy 
 edifice ; and, as the apostles were removed one 
 by one, the Temple rose, was completed, and 
 was left to its present provisions. The apostolic 
 age may be compared to the giving of the old 
 Law from Mount Sinai. That preceded the 
 building of the Tabernacle or Temple, the ap- 
 pointment of the mystic holy of holies, and the 
 supplementary inspiration of the prophets ; that 
 too was a scene more splendid and awful than the 
 permanent state to which it led. Even so the 
 apostolic delivery of the Christian Law exhibited a 
 more dazzling spectacle of glory than do the pro- 
 visions for its permanency ; but it was a display of 
 glory which was to be done away. God was not 
 to continue to speak in the same manner, and 
 with the same circumstances, as in the first 
 promulgation of the Gospel Law. Appropriated 
 to his third Temple preserved within his sanc- 
 tuary the Church there was to be an abiding 
 oracle. The Bible was appointed the permanent 
 channel of divine communication. It rests its 
 claims to be so considered, on the same strong 

 
 54 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 grounds which supported the authority of those 
 oracles of God which it has succeeded ; and de- 
 mands from us the same implicit obedience and 
 belief. Like them, the mode of delivery has been 
 made miraculous ; nor is any difference of au- 
 thority implied in the difference that exists be- 
 tween them in this respect that the earlier 
 oracles, namely, were intermittent, and renewed, 
 as occasion called for them ; whilst ours were 
 given once for all, are perpetual, and so consti- 
 tuted as to serve all occasions. 
 
 The fitness of this very peculiarity about the 
 Christian Record, no less than of those points 
 which characterize respectively the Jewish oracle, 
 and the teaching of Christ, will be very apparent 
 from the following obvious considerations. 
 
 In the first place, the whole system of God's 
 dealings with his elder Church, was accom- 
 modated (as I have already had occasion to point 
 out) to a far less advanced condition of spiritual, 
 moral, and intellectual being than ours. He ad- 
 dressed them and governed them, in comparison 
 with us, as children. He taught them by specific 
 rules ; to us He merely holds out motives, and, 
 for our guidance, provides general principles. In
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 55 
 
 accordance with this view, He gave them oracles 
 to answer specifically on every point of difficulty 
 which should dictate to the Church almost its 
 daily duty, with that tender allowance for its 
 weak capacity, and inaptitude to higher views 
 and a larger responsibility, which is shewn by the 
 parent or teacher, to the child. Trained by this 
 gradual progressive system of salvation, the 
 Church has been at length released from its 
 schoolmaster the Law its education is com- 
 pleted ; and it is sent forth to act on the prin- 
 ciples of the Gospel, enforced by motives more 
 high and heavenly. These principles and these 
 persuasives are the substance of the Christian 
 Scriptures f . Not requiring to be continually 
 
 f It may perhaps be necessary to point out, that I am not, 
 by this expression, excluding the Old Testament from the 
 Christian rule of faith. By the Gospel-fulfilment of the Law 
 and Prophets, the Old Testament volume becomes part of the 
 Christian Scriptures. What was shadowy and elementary 
 knowledge to the Israelites, has been converted by that event 
 into solid and perfect knowledge for the Christian. The 
 whole character of the book has been changed. To us its 
 prophecies assume the form of miraculous history, and to us 
 its historical records discover the purport of God's mysterious 
 dealings with his people, and the end to which the series of
 
 56 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 given, like the specific commands to the Jews, 
 they have been there permanently fixed ; and 
 being permanently fixed, it was only necessary 
 once for all to declare their authority by miracles. 
 A recurrence of Revelation requires a renewal 
 of miracles ; but the volume of the book once 
 closed, the object of miracles ceases. 
 
 Whilst the conformity of the oracular vehicle 
 to the character of the first and last Temples 
 respectively is thus beautifully exact, it is no 
 less interesting to reflect on the place occupied 
 by the teaching of the Immanuel the Oracle ap- 
 pended to the second Temple and the very ap- 
 propriate form of communication which was so 
 provided for the period of transition from the 
 first to the third. 
 
 Our Lord, whilst He was accomplishing the 
 
 events led; whereas to their eye all this was dark and per- 
 plexed. Its moral and religious precepts, again, have under- 
 gone a change, which may be compared to that of compound 
 substances submitted to some powerful test, which separates 
 the various ingredients the fixed, from the volatile and 
 exhibits the more valuable" in their unmixed purity. The 
 Gospel has analysed, as it were, the Law, and enables us to 
 separate from the dross of peculiar temporary and local ordi- 
 nances and precepts, the eternal commands of God.
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 57 
 
 scheme of man's redemption, was also training 
 his followers for the knowledge of what He 
 was doing. His lessons, however, contrasted 
 with those of divine inspiration, (as it appears on 
 the pages of the apostolic writings,) were not 
 properly explanations of the scheme, but state- 
 ments accompanying the things done, which 
 statements were left by him to be afterwards 
 explained. They were, in this respect, like the 
 heads of a lecture, which a professor first puts 
 into the hands of his pupils, and afterwards fills 
 up by word of mouth. Without the after com- 
 ment and explanation, the lecturer's synopsis 
 would be imperfect, and in many parts unintel- 
 ligible ; although the synopsis is highly useful 
 in preparing the class for his lectures, and after- 
 wards in recalling to their memory the train of 
 instruction hinged on it. Like this class-paper 
 then, our Lord's teaching contained hints and 
 expressions, which, little comprehended at the 
 time, it was the office of the Holy Spirit to re- 
 cal to the minds of the inspired, and to point 
 out all to which these hints were intended to lead 
 " to guide them into all truth p ." In conning 
 
 John xvi. 13.
 
 58 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 over the scheme of Christianity, as presented to 
 them in the parables and discourses of Christ, 
 one disciple would probably anticipate with more 
 readiness than another the filling up of the many 
 heads which his instruction embraced ; but to all, 
 until the day of Pentecost, that instruction was 
 only an outline ; and if the whole of Christianity 
 was stated, and enunciated, no part was fully 
 developed. 
 
 The advantage of such a transition-stage be- 
 tween the very different modes of instruction in 
 God's will, which the Christian and the Jewish ora- 
 cles exhibit, is obvious. But how could that have 
 been so well effected as by attaching the oracle of 
 enunciation (if I may be permitted so to describe 
 our Lord's teaching) to the person of an Im- 
 manuel; one whose character and life should 
 awaken such a lively interest in each brief an- 
 nouncement that was made, as to fix the lesson 
 indelibly on the mind, and to keep it there ready 
 for the enlightening of God's Spirit. His lessons 
 were not addressed to the understanding alone, 
 but to the heart, with all its human sympathies 
 and moral associations awake ; they were en- 
 grafted on passing occurrences and present scenes
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 59 
 
 of lively, intense, and often painful interest ; and 
 the minute impression produced thereby was 
 precisely such as the character of his teaching re- 
 quired. To take an instance connected with the 
 present view. When standing in the Temple, he 
 told the Jews mysteriously and solemnly, " De- 
 stroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise 
 it up h ." The declaration so made was of course 
 imprinted to the letter on the disciples' minds. 
 It was from God, (they might have argued,) for no 
 man could do those things that He did unless 
 God were with him. But, added to the awful 
 sanctity of a divine message, there was an 
 awakening of personal feelings towards him as a 
 man as their friend, their Master, their future 
 King. The remark took root, and entwined itself 
 in their minds, amidst many clinging associations, 
 which had connected the Messiah's glory with the 
 glory of that edifice, whose ruin his words mys- 
 teriously implied. All this served the needful pur- 
 pose of fixing the unexplained lesson on their 
 memory, until the Comforter, who was to teach 
 them all things, should explain it. 
 11 John ii. 19.
 
 60 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 Another, and not the least important, aspect, 
 in which we may contemplate the several changes 
 in the appointed mode of divine communication, 
 is that which is connected with the extent of the 
 people for whose use the oracles were respectively 
 intended. A voice speaking from between the 
 cherubim, was the most convenient for being 
 consulted in the guidance of a single church and 
 people; the words of Jesus sufficed, and were best, 
 for his immediate followers ; whilst for that dis- 
 pensation, in which the Church was to acknow- 
 ledge no limits but the boundaries of earth, no 
 period bat the end of time, there was need of a 
 voice which should go forth and be equally heard 
 in all lands, and its sounds unto the end of the 
 earth. The Bible is the only form of divine 
 oracle, which could have been unvarying, and 
 universally accessible. 
 
 The view which has been now claimed for the 
 Scriptures, supposes, of course, a certain estimate 
 of their inspiration it is indeed the reasonable 
 criterion of that estimate. The Bible is the pre- 
 sent vehicle of God's oracles. On the one hand, 
 therefore, to claim inspiration for its every word,
 
 Mode of Divine residence. 61 
 
 or even for that portion of its matter which 
 involves no divine appointment, revelation, or 
 command, is as unreasonable, as if the disciples 
 of Jesus had contended for every word which fell 
 from his lips, on whatever subject, being part of 
 the instruction from God to man, and had 
 applied it accordingly. As in Himself, (if such 
 an illustration may be used,) its divine character 
 is mixed with much that is purely human ; and to 
 confound and level the two is unwise, unwarranted, 
 and irreverent. 
 
 On the other hand, whatever portions of the 
 sacred record, whether prophecy, precept, or 
 history, exhibit an appointment of God, a 
 revelation, or a divine command, in all these, we 
 know that the Lord is instructing us. The ora- 
 cular vehicle may indeed be employed (as must 
 sometimes have been the case with the discourse 
 of Jesus) on subjects not the material of divine 
 communication ; but, whenever the relations be- 
 tween God and man, the dealings of God with 
 man, or the will of God respecting man, are the 
 subject, then, as if the Immanuel were still 
 speaking, whatever it declares, records, or com-
 
 62 Mode of Divine residence. 
 
 mands, it is " as the voice of the Almighty God 
 when He speaketh V 
 
 1 Ezekiel x. 5. In the Appendix to my c< History of the 
 Rise and Early Progress of Christianity," vol. ii. p. 334. I have 
 stated the several limitations of scriptural inspiration, which 
 may be recognized without infringing on the sufficiency and 
 supremacy of the Bible as the rule of faith, It is perhaps 
 necessary for me to add one caution in reference to the view 
 there briefly given that in cases where we might otherwise 
 have been left free to suppose the absence of Divine interpo- 
 sition, the assertion of this by the writer excludes all right to 
 do so.
 
 CHAFFER IV. 
 
 DURATION AND STABILITY OF THE THREE 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 CONTRASTED with the knowledge which was 
 granted to former ages, the Christian's view of 
 the scheme of Providence is indeed glorious. 
 He sees what prophets and patriarchs vainly 
 wished to see the connection of a series of 
 appointments from Adam unto Moses, from 
 Moses unto Christ, from Christ still further on to 
 the completion of all by his Spirit. In this 
 respect, the Scriptural representation of the 
 Gospel as of a " new creation" is beautifully 
 appropriate *. Antecedently to this, the mate- 
 rials of man's salvation wore the aspect of a 
 chaos dark and formless ; and the change was 
 truly as if Christ had said, " Let there be light, 
 and there was light." 
 
 This very enlargement of spiritual view, how- 
 ever, is the occasion of certain new and peculiar 
 doubts and difficulties. It sounds strange, but it 
 
 * 2 Corinthians v. 17. Galat. vi. 15. and compare Reve- 
 lations xxi. 5.
 
 64 Duration and stability 
 
 is unquestionably true, that the more fully the 
 Almighty has vouchsafed to allow us to compre- 
 hend his counsels the more freely He has walked 
 and talked with man the stronger has been 
 man's propensity to pry into secret things which 
 belong unto the Lord. He has placed the 
 Christian his new probationary creature in a 
 spiritual Eden. He has supplied him with the 
 true bread from heaven and the living water of his 
 Spirit. He has opened for him a free access unto 
 Himself; nay, He has come and taken up his 
 abode with him, and calls him no more servant, 
 but friend. And yet, it is out of this very 
 condition of things, that a tree of forbidden 
 knowledge springs up before our eyes ; and we 
 can scarcely persuade ourselves, that its fruits are 
 not as lawful to taste, as they are goodly to look 
 at. 
 
 Why did not God at once place mankind 
 under the present dispensation? Why did not 
 the atonement and the assistance of the Holy 
 Spirit immediately succeed to that sad event 
 which manifested the need of both ? Why, indeed, 
 should man have been permitted to fall; seeing 
 that God had in store provision, which can
 
 of the three Temples. 65 
 
 enable him to stand, even when enfeebled by 
 defeat and misery and sin ? Such are the specu- 
 lative questions which are suggested by our very 
 advancement in the knowledge of God's wisdom 
 and mercy; and which, whatever other reply 
 may be given, ought always to be first answered 
 by this It was the will of God. No reply which 
 is furnished, even by the additional light that He 
 has now granted to his Church, is adequate fully 
 to explain these and the like questions : and 
 explanations and arguments such as are offered, 
 always suppose the existence of some difficulty, 
 for the solution of which we must be content in 
 humble faith to wait. 
 
 At the same time it is no unimportant step 
 to have fixed on that which is the improper 
 subject of further inquiry the point to which 
 the character of inexplicable belongs. Having 
 ascertained this, we may then proceed with con- 
 fidence to examine and account for such diffi- 
 culties as may attach to other points, which, 
 however connected with these, are not in this 
 respect similarly circumstanced. 
 
 In the present instance we have no possible 
 clue to guide us in the inquiry why man was not 
 F
 
 66 Duration and stability 
 
 prevented from falling, rather than assisted in 
 rising again we are equally in the dark perhaps 
 about the withholding of the Atonement and the 
 other glories of the Gospel from Adam and his 
 immediate posterity. But if we take up the 
 question from the period when Scripture helps 
 us, and thereby encourages and invites inquiry, 
 we thenceforward trace a reasonable and a wise 
 administration of grace. From the earliest times 
 of which we have any record to the Gospel era, 
 human nature appears so grossly debased by the 
 corruption of evil so weak and unfit for the 
 fullest scriptural blessings that the delay of 
 those blessings is no matter of surprise. They 
 would have been lavished in vain on mankind. 
 What sort of influence can we conceive the 
 Gospel scheme likely to have had on the patri- 
 archal tribes ? What on the gross and degraded 
 minds of the Israelitish bondsmen ? Nay, in the 
 days of Israel's brightest national glory, would 
 it not have been a pearl cast to the swine ? Did 
 it not actually prove so with far the majority, 
 even when at length their Messiah came, in 
 accordance with long-cherished expectation, and 
 in fulfilment of a law, unto which they had
 
 
 of the three Temples. 67 
 
 been laboriously trained for 1500 years? And 
 this too, after exile and Gentile oppression had 
 long cured them of their worst disqualification 
 the passion for idolatry ; while intercourse with 
 various nations had at the same time given them 
 the opportunity at least of strengthening their 
 understanding, and applying the intellectual powers 
 so derived to the comprehension of evangelical 
 wisdom. They were, it is true, prejudiced deeply 
 prejudiced ; and at that time, their prejudices 
 were the chief impediment to the reception of 
 Christianity. But the dulness of the apostles 
 themselves, of those who did bow their hearts to 
 humble faith, exhibits the remnant of an inapti- 
 tude to comprehend, and to adapt the whole man 
 to, the Christian system, which in an earlier age 
 must have amounted to absolute incompetency. 
 
 All this is obvious, and matter of historical 
 fact; and with this before us, a scheme of salvation 
 in all respects gradually progressive, is obviously 
 that alone which was suited to the accomplish- 
 ment of God's merciful purpose. " When the 
 fulness of the time was come, God sent forth 
 his Son h ;" and we can so far account for the 
 
 " Gal. iv. 4. 
 F2
 
 68 Duration and stability 
 
 delay of that period, as to see that mankind were 
 blessed with it as soon as ever they were pre- 
 pared for it. We must leave to the secret and 
 reserved counsels of the Most High the cause why 
 man was permitted to fall ; but in the condition 
 of man fallen we see all the circumstances so 
 clearly demanding a preparatory training until 
 Christ, that we may appeal to the progressive 
 system, as proof of the wisdom and merciful care 
 of God ; and dwell with gratitude and edification 
 on every particular measure and appointment so 
 characterised. 
 
 I. Not the least striking instance of this ap- 
 pears in the difference of duration and stability 
 allotted to the three successive Temples, and to 
 the dispensations which they respectively intro- 
 duced. The Temple of stone was continued as 
 the abode of God, and the centre of his govern- 
 ment and spiritual influence, for more than one 
 thousand years, and was soon after destroyed 
 utterly and for ever. The second Temple the 
 Immanuel was only for a few years exhibited to 
 the world. And this too was destroyed; but 
 not like the Temple of stone, utterly or for 
 ever it was only partially destroyed ; and soon 

 
 of the three Temples. 69 
 
 raised again, and reserved for a future mani- 
 festation. The last Temple the Temple of the 
 Holy Ghost in contrast to both these, was so 
 established, that, according to the express declara- 
 tion of God, no decay or destruction awaits it 
 " the gates of hell shall not prevail against it c ." 
 
 Was this striking diversity in God's successive 
 appointments accidental? Impossible. Let us 
 for a moment reflect how completely the object 
 of either dispensation would have been defeated, 
 if this very diversity had not been established. 
 The Temple of stone with its appended service 
 was needed just for so long a period as the first 
 Church of God required preparatory training ; 
 and longer than this, it might have proved, 
 like the brazen serpent of the Israelites, a snare 
 and a source of error ''. The duration of the first 
 Temple, if limited to the same brief period as 
 was the Immanuel's, would have given no time 
 for the Law to do its work of education ; but, 
 on the other hand, to have preserved the con- 
 secrated building the nucleus of the Mosaic 
 service after Christianity had been established, 
 would have been to sanction a commixture of 
 e Matt. xvi. 18. "2 Kings xviii. 4.
 
 70 Duration and stability 
 
 the Mosaic and Christian dispensations wholly 
 at variance with the true relation which they bear 
 the one to the other. Judaism was introductory 
 to Christianity the Temple of stone to the 
 Church but it is highly important to under- 
 stand in what sense it was introductory. It 
 was not in the same manner as the Law from 
 Mount Sinai was introductory to the revela- 
 tions and instructions of the prophets ; nor 
 again was it in the same manner as the dis- 
 pensation of Christ was introductory to that of 
 his Holy Spirit ; for in both these cases, the 
 earlier was not necessarily done away with by 
 the coming of the latter. Whereas St. Paul 
 speaks of the Gospel as " a disannulling of the 
 commandment going before 6 ," " a new covenant, 
 that hath made the first old ;" adding, "now 
 that which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready 
 to vanish away f ." Judaism was introductory 
 to Christianity in another sense ; it was intro- 
 ductory, in the sense of representing it. The 
 word represent combines in its two meanings 
 the office which the Mosaic dispensation fulfilled 
 in reference to the Christian it was the type 
 
 9 Hebrews vii. 18. f Hebrews viii. 13.
 
 of the three Temples. 71 
 
 or picture of that which was to be recognised 
 when it came, and in this sense its representative. 
 It stood also in the place of it, and exercised 
 a sort of delegated virtue which it derived from 
 the Gospel, and which therefore the very coming 
 of the Gospel destroyed. The Mosaic Temple 
 being the seat of a typical religion, it was 
 essential, in order to fulfil its object, that it 
 should not be merely superseded, but that it 
 should be utterly and finally destroyed. This 
 doubtless, and not the divine vengeance on the 
 guilty generation which rejected the Messiah, 
 was the main purpose of the eternal decree that 
 it should never be rebuilded. Had the Jews 
 unanimously received their Saviour, we can 
 hardly doubt that that same destiny would have 
 awaited his former residence, differing only in 
 the circumstances of national suffering which 
 their rejection brought upon them. Had the 
 Jews become merged in the Christian Church, 
 the destruction of the Temple might have been 
 even a work of holy zeal, like the breaking of 
 the brazen serpent by Hezekiah; lest haply it 
 should divide their heart, and either allure them 
 back to " the beggarly elements of the Law," or
 
 72 Duration and stability 
 
 mislead them into a confusion between the sub- 
 stance and the shadow of God's appointments. 
 
 II. Both the Law of demolition, to which the 
 Temple of God manifest in the flesh was subject, 
 and the period allotted to its duration, are no less 
 in unison with the great scheme of Providence. 
 With respect to its duration, it was exceedingly 
 brief. If we measure it by the whole space of 
 the life of Jesus, it was only 33 years; if we 
 confine it, as more properly we should, to the 
 period of the manifestation of his glory, con- 
 siderably less. This which would have been 
 wholly inadequate for the purposes of the first and 
 the third Temples, was not only sufficient for the 
 object of the second, but adapted to it far better 
 than a longer period. In the first place, it is 
 plain He could not have continued with the 
 Church after he had laid its first foundation, 
 without assuming a character widely different 
 from that of Founder he must have become its 
 Governor. This is in other words to say, that 
 having provided a society to be governed by the 
 insensible operations of the Spirit, and the law 
 of an unvarying Record, He would, just so long as 
 He remained, have violated the principles He was
 
 of the three Temples. 73 
 
 establishing, or rather have suspended the law 
 He had appointed. It was, in his own words, " ex- 
 pedient that He should go away," for had He not 
 gone away, the Comforter could not have come*. 
 Come indeed, God's Holy Spirit might, and had, 
 in all ages ; but He could not have come (as 
 our Lord evidently means) as the guide and 
 Governor of the Church. For the Church to 
 walk by faith and not by sight, the visible guide 
 must be withdrawn. He had remained long 
 enough to lay the foundation of it, on principles 
 which excluded his further manifestation in the 
 flesh ; and all longer abode with us thus would 
 have been to retard the operation of the system. 
 
 He had remained also with us long enough 
 to accomplish what likewise appears to have been 
 one benevolent purpose of his coming. The 
 main peculiarity of the second Temple is not 
 that it was destroyed but that, after temporary 
 destruction, it was raised again, withdrawn, and 
 reserved for a future manifestation. Christ came 
 to found his kingdom on earth, and then left 
 the world, on a similar but more glorious errand, 
 viz. to prepare a kingdom for the same Church in 
 John xvi. 7.
 
 74 Duration and stability 
 
 heaven. He went from his own, to meet his own 
 again. His presence, though only "for alittle while," 
 was enough to introduce Him as it were to us to 
 establish an acquaintance arid friendship with man- 
 kind that in the final abode of heaven, where in 
 our turn we go to Him, we may go to a friend 
 already known and loved. Can we doubt that 
 such an object was intended ? Let us only ask 
 the question, what is the first natural impression 
 made by a perusal of the Gospels? Is it not 
 sympathy, acquaintance, and friendship with the 
 Saviour of the world ? Is not that perusal the 
 best comment on the fervid expression of the 
 apostle, " God is love h ." I see no reason that 
 so forcibly suggests itself as this for the fact, 
 that the register of Gospel truth is a biographical 
 memoir. It might have contained, equally per- 
 haps for all other purposes, a statement of objects 
 accomplished an enumeration of an atonement 
 a resurrection an ascension of miracles and 
 lessons. It might have been, at least, historical; 
 merging the individual in the great results of his 
 ministry. But it is strictly biographical. With- 
 out pretending to give an entire history of the 
 " 1 John iv. 8.
 
 of the three Temples. 75 
 
 Lord Jesus, it throws a biographical character 
 over all the monuments of Christianity which 
 were to be preserved ; and when we close the 
 book, we feel that something besides instruction 
 has been given something besides salvation 
 proffered ; we feel, in short, as if to us were ad- 
 dressed the very language he used to his apostles, 
 " I call you not servants, but friends 1 ." 
 
 III. Of the duration and stability of the last 
 Temple, we have the sure word of prophecy 
 the express declaration of our Lord. He has 
 promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against it ; an expression which will be set in a 
 clearer light by bringing in contrast with it his 
 declaration concerning the Temple of his body, 
 that it was to be destroyed, and raised again. 
 By coupling the intimation conveyed in his words 
 to the Jews, " Destroy this Temple, and in three 
 days I will raise it up k ," with those remarkable 
 words to Peter, " Thou art Peter, and upon this 
 rock 1 will build my Church, and the gates of 
 hell shall not prevail against it V we arrive at 
 the right interpretation and full spirit of both. 
 When speaking of his own body as analogous to 
 
 1 John xv. 15. " John ii. 19. ' Matt. xvi. 18.
 
 76 Duration and stability 
 
 the Temple of stone, he said that it was to be 
 destroyed, as well as raised again ; and the very 
 fulfilment of this saying in his death and descent 
 into the grave, must have thrown light enough on 
 his meaning ; but when speaking of his Church, 
 his congregational Temple, he provides a hint of 
 contrast in the remarkable words, " the gates of 
 hell (or the grave) shall not prevail against it m ." 
 The third Temple was not to be destroyed not to 
 go down into the grave the doors of no sepul- 
 chre (TruAai oSou) were to be closed on it, as in the 
 
 m The expression, " I will build my Church," 
 ftov TM lXi-/v, natural and easy as it sounds to our ears, 
 partly from our being familiar with Scripture, and partly, per- 
 haps, from the twofold meaning of the word church, an edifice, 
 and a body of Christians must have been, at the time, very 
 strange and striking. 'E**Ain then meant only an assembly 
 or congregation ; and to give any of the original force to a 
 translation of the Greek words, they should be rendered, " I 
 will build my assembly on this rock." The declaration im- 
 plied, that the Temple to be built under the new covenant, 
 was to be an assembly of men. It implied this very obscurely, 
 no doubt ; but our Lord's other declaration respecting his own 
 body as the Temple the residence of God was surely suffi- 
 cient to throw light on his expression, t'iKo$t>[t.foa T Ix*AW<* 
 ' [AW, *. T. A. when the Holy Spirit brought both assertions to 
 the minds of the apostles.
 
 of the three Temples. 77 
 
 case of the Temple of his body. It is only to end 
 with the end of all things in this world ; and in 
 token of its unchanging condition during the inter- 
 val, (so far, I mean, as regards its divine provi- 
 sions,) the whole of that period has been entitled 
 11 the last days," "the end," and the like. Indeed, 
 its splendid character, as comprising the fulfilment 
 of all the preparatory types and promises, and the 
 completion of Christ's ministry, more certainly 
 declare this, than even such implied declarations. 
 If the third Temple, like the former two, has 
 been accommodated to the circumstances of the 
 worshippers, and is adapted to the object of its 
 appointment, we must suppose that still as here- 
 tofore no renewal of inspiration will suspend the 
 sole supremacy of the sacred Record no new 
 display of miracles will alter the established 
 grounds of our faith n . Ages may yet be requisite 
 for the completion of that object on which the 
 present Temple's duration depends ; but it cannot 
 continue the same dispensation, (as we believe it 
 will,) if changes so destructive of its essential 
 character were to take place. 
 
 n See History of the Rise and Early Progress of Chris- 
 tianity, vol. ii. p. 70.
 
 78 Duration and stability 
 
 Do we presume to look farther onwards, and 
 to inquire what that object is which is to be 
 accomplished by the Lord's tarrying ? Of this we 
 know no more than of the day and the hour of 
 his coming. We must wait to discover and ad- 
 mire the expediency of this, for that period when 
 we shall be looking back on the finished history 
 of the three Temples of the living God, with a far 
 clearer eye than we now contemplate the two. 
 We shall then know why the fulness of the time 
 is not yet come. 
 
 There is however a definite and satisfactory 
 reply which every man may give and ought to 
 give to his heart, when it has been beguiled into 
 speculations about the probable duration of the 
 Church in this world. To him it is bounded by 
 the period of his own life. For the guidance of 
 the individual's conduct it can make no difference 
 whether the world and he expire in the same 
 moment; or the change from the kingdom on 
 earth to that in heaven be yet postponed for 
 ages. His duties, his hopes, and his fears, must 
 be in either case the same ; and would be no less 
 the same, if a view of the future were allowed him. 
 We are told that God " hath appointed a day in the
 
 of the three Temples. 79 
 
 which He will judge the world in righteousness ." 
 Prophecy could have added no stronger motive to 
 holiness, no clearer assurance of responsibility, 
 though it should have disclosed to us that day 
 and that hour. 
 
 Actexvii. 31.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE TEMPLE SERVICES. 
 
 ALL conformity to the will of God is, properly 
 speaking, religious service, whether the obligation 
 be made known to us by a law of our nature, or 
 by an extraordinary revelation ; for, the obliga- 
 tion rests ultimately, in both cases alike, on the 
 supreme authority of our Almighty Lord. But 
 by religious service, we ordinarily understand, 
 not those duties which natural conscience enjoins, 
 but those which have been prescribed by a 
 miraculous revelation ; and not only so, but 
 prescribed for us as attached to the Temple 
 of God as members of his Church or his 
 Kingdom. 
 
 This service has varied most strikingly in 
 accordance with the other variations in the three 
 successive Temples ; and the points of difference 
 constitute indeed one of the most important and 
 interesting features in the comparison. To begin 
 with the Jewish.
 
 82 The Temple serviced. 
 
 I. This consisted of numerous ceremonies, 
 many of them apparently trifling, but all en- 
 joined with extreme, and, if one may say so, 
 fastidious minuteness of detail. It was more- 
 over strictly and altogether a histrionic service 
 a service consisting not of words, but of action. 
 For, although prayer by word of mouth was 
 probably always practised individually among the 
 Israelites, and unquestionably for the greater 
 part of their existence as God's people ; yet it 
 appears to have made no part of the Levitical 
 ordinance to have been no portion of the regular 
 Temple-service. The exceptions which are re- 
 corded, such as Solomon's prayer at the dedication 
 of the Temple, rather strengthen the conclusion 
 to which we are unavoidably led, by the omission 
 of all command to pray, in a code of directions 
 so minute as the Levitical. 
 
 Several circumstances about the Israelites 
 combined to call for this particular kind of 
 service ; which, in itself, and without a due con- 
 sideration of these circumstances, cannot fail to 
 impress the mind with a mean and unworthy 
 idea of God's appointments for his chosen people. 
 So contemplated, however, the Jewish ritual not
 
 The Temple services. 83 
 
 tnerely exhibits marks of extraordinary wisdom 
 and far-looking design ; but its convenience, 
 its expressiveness, its wisdom in short, arising 
 from its connection with events then buried deep 
 in futurity, could not have been the invention 
 of the Jewish legislator, however wise and 
 learned. 
 
 The pervading principle of the first Temple- 
 service was, that it was not only typical, but 
 prophetic. Its sacrifices, its purifications, its 
 offerings, all its solemnities, constituted a per- 
 petual volume of prophecy expressed by sign ; 
 in which the atonement of Christ, the sanctifi- 
 cation of his Spirit, and all the leading features 
 of the Gospel, were prefigured. To the Jews 
 themselves it no more conveyed this meaning 
 indeed, than did their more obscure prophetic 
 Scriptures. Their service was to them, in this 
 respect, like a task which a child has learnt 
 by rote, without being required or being able 
 to comprehend its import. The Law was their 
 schoolmaster; and it was their duty and their 
 service to trust for an application of the lesson, 
 to Him who set it them. 
 
 But was this lesson, this service, reasonable? 
 o2
 
 84 The Temple services. 
 
 Was it necessary that prophecy should be so 
 embodied, and imposed in so cumbrous and 
 burthensome a form, in order to be handed down 
 from age to age, by persons too who could not, 
 generally at least, have derived from it any of 
 the appropriate hopes any satisfaction beyond 
 the sense of doing blindly, although humbly and 
 confidently, the will of God? The object was 
 of the last importance. " The Law was their 
 schoolmaster to bring them unto Christ ft ." No- 
 thing less than this toilsome training of genera- 
 tion after generation can be conceived adequate 
 to have given that bent to the national mind 
 those habits of religious view which should 
 prepare the appointed future generation for re- 
 cognising their Messiah, and embracing the 
 Christian doctrines thus made beforehand fami- 
 liar and congenial. Scarcely indeed, with all 
 this preparatory discipline, were any found, at 
 the allotted season, ready for the fulfilment of 
 the types. Without any such provision, what re- 
 ception was the Gospel likely to have met with ? 
 It may be said indeed, that the Gospel was, 
 after no great interval, proclaimed to the Gentiles 
 
 a Galatians iii. 24, 25.
 
 The Temple services. 85 
 
 also ; and that the obstacles to its reception 
 among them were not much, if at all, greater 
 than those which barred its access to the Jews. 
 If it was foolishness to the Gentiles, who had not 
 gone through this training of generation after 
 generation, it became also a stumblingblock to 
 the Jews. We should recollect, however, that 
 the dispersion of the Jews through the Gentile 
 world was the very means by which Christianity 
 was first introduced to the heathen. The apostle 
 Paul appears invariably to have preached in the 
 first instance in the synagogues 6 . Through the 
 
 b See the account of Paul and Barnabas's ministry in 
 Cyprus, (Acts xiii. 4); at Antioch in Pisidia, v. 14; and, 
 more especially, the latter part of the chapter from v. 42. At 
 Iconium, the next stage of their journey, the synagogue is still 
 the place where they preach, notwithstanding their late 
 ill-usage, and Paul's bold declaration. Acts xiv. 1. 
 
 So again in Paul's second journey, we find him at Philippi 
 preaching " on the Sabhath at the river side, where prayer 
 was wont to be made ;" (xvi. 13.) and at Thessalonica, we are 
 expressly told that " there was a synagogue of the Jews, and 
 Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three 
 Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." xvii. 
 1, 2. The like notices occur of his ministry at Athens, at Co- 
 rinth, and at Ephesus.
 
 86 The Temple services. 
 
 conversion of the Jews, partial though it was, 
 the spiritual conquest of their Gentile brethren 
 was effected. The important point to be con- 
 sidered, however, is not the actual result which 
 the training of the Levitical service produced on 
 the Jews ; but the result which it was calculated 
 to produce. It is by this, and not by the abuse 
 or the neglect of the system, that the system 
 must be estimated. It was a provision to pre- 
 pare the Jews for the Messiah and his revelation ; 
 and was no less a wise provision, because the 
 Jews did not generally and completely avail 
 themselves of it. 
 
 To understand fully, however, the fitness of the 
 Temple-service the grounds which rendered 
 such a typical and prophetic monument needful, 
 and especially for the Israelites we must bear 
 in mind the rude, the slavish condition of that 
 people, both in a moral and in an intellectual 
 point of view, at the time this service was com- 
 posed for them. Of all periods in the history 
 of mankind, the present age is perhaps the least 
 suitable for duly estimating the necessity of 
 a histrionic service, which this poverty of mind
 
 The Temple services. 87 
 
 occasioned. The great mass of such a people 
 were, possibly, incapable of having their atten- 
 tion excited, or their hearts elevated to God, 
 by the abstract thinking which the use of lan- 
 guage on such a theme supposes. Men so 
 circumstanced must have their outward senses 
 first strongly stimulated, in order to call forth the 
 exercise of the understanding . 
 
 It scarcely needs to be further pointed out, 
 that if a typical service, comprising obscure 
 prophecies, were necessary, it must have been 
 likewise necessary, to have this service described 
 with the most minute exactness that the ob- 
 servance of every tittle should be enforced and 
 
 c There is much probability in the view which assigns 
 to some of the Mosaic rites another instructive purpose, by 
 supposing them framed in opposition to the idolatrous prac- 
 tices and false creeds of the heathen. Certainly no method 
 could have been devised more likely to prevent all religious 
 communion between the worshippers of Jehovah and the rest 
 of the world, than to appoint for the former a service which 
 should exhibit to the latter a scene of impiety that was 
 revolting to their most sacred prejudices. " Lo shall we 
 sacri6ce the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, 
 and will they not stone us ?" was doubtless a feeling which 
 was designed to be strongly impressed on the Israelites.
 
 88 The Temple services. 
 
 no discretion allowed to deviate from the for- 
 mu l a to add or diminish or alter. The per- 
 formance of such a service was like taking a 
 copy of a book in an unknown tongue we dare 
 not alter word or letter or dot ; because we may be 
 destroying the sense in some material point. The 
 service of the Jewish Temple was a holy Record, 
 the language and characters of which, few of those 
 who were perpetuating it understood ; and none 
 perfectly enough to make it safe to give them 
 liberty to alter one tittle. It was therefore the 
 command of God to observe a literal fulfilment 
 of his service. 
 
 At the same time, this very restriction would 
 have been impracticable, but for a feature in God's 
 first Church, which has been already the subject 
 of discussion its narrow limits. Precise rules 
 about so intricate a ceremonial would have ren- 
 dered conformity impossible, in all climates, and 
 under all governments, as the Christian Church 
 exists now. The colder regions of the north 
 would have presented an insuperable obstacle to 
 the many ablutions ; whilst differences in the 
 government, laws, and national customs of the 
 different states of the world, would, in many
 
 The Temple services. 89 
 
 instances, have occasioned impediments no less 
 insurmountable. No discretion was left all 
 exercise of it expressly forbidden; because the 
 limitation of God's kingdom was an essential 
 principle of his dispensation. The more we 
 compare together the several parts of each dis- 
 pensation, as well as the dispensations them- 
 selves, the more clearly we thus perceive a con- 
 sistency and harmony pervading the whole scheme 
 of salvation. No analogy, perhaps, is worthy of 
 this vast and complex moral system so exhibited, 
 but the system of the universe ; and how much (we 
 may add) that is sublime and astonishing in both, 
 escapes the observation of the careless beholder, 
 from the very circumstance that the attention is 
 not startled by any jarring and disturbance. In 
 both, the various parts have been adjusted with 
 so delicate a mechanism the movements are all 
 so easy and imperceptible that we are apt to 
 forget the mysterious impulse by which the 
 course of the moral no less than of the natural 
 world glides on from time to eternity, accom- 
 plishing for us, silently though certainly, the vast 
 designs of Almighty wisdom. 
 
 II. The Law being a shadow of good things to
 
 90 The Temple services. 
 
 come, there is, as might be expected, not only 
 a difference, but a contrast between the service 
 of the first and third Temples. The Jewish 
 ritual was prophecy, which was now fulfilled ; 
 a pledge, which was now redeemed ; and the ser- 
 vice of the new and last Temple was accordingly 
 framed in reference to a real scene that had been 
 exhibited, instead of the representation of that 
 scene when only existing in promise. Hence it 
 not only differs from, but is, in several respects, 
 (as I have said,) expressly opposed to, the Levitical 
 service. 
 
 As to the form of this service the vehicle of 
 expression the clumsy and cumbrous method 
 by symbol was no more requisite. Higher in- 
 tellectual endowments were contemplated in the 
 new Israel. The Temple- service was now made 
 verbal ; and thereby was established one of 
 the most important channels of its influence. 
 A Christian habituated to address God altogether 
 in the same way as he communicates with his 
 fellow-creatures, must needs have his prayers influ- 
 enced by his use of language or other subjects ; 
 and his conversation, and indeed all that he utters, 
 influenced by his addresses to God. This, at
 
 The Temple services. 91 
 
 least, is the obvious and natural result which 
 must take place, unless there be some powerful 
 impediment to the process of association such, 
 for instance, as prayers with the lips and not with 
 the heart and understanding ; or, if the converse 
 be supposable, the habit of conversing and using 
 language on every other topic without regarding 
 the meaning of what we say, and attending only 
 to one's prayers. Some cultivation of mind too, 
 more at all events than the Israelites originally 
 had, is necessary for the benefit accruing from 
 this to take place that is, for the ordinary inter- 
 course of men to give increased facility to the 
 communication of their thoughts in prayer to 
 God ; and for their conversation with one another 
 to catch, not indeed the terms of their addresses 
 to God, but the frame of mind under which they 
 are uttered that consciousness of the Divine 
 presence, which shall habitually render all inter- 
 course among Christians, as the intercourse of 
 beings to whom the ear of God is open, not for 
 prayer alone, but for every word, evil or good, 
 idle or seasonable. 
 
 It is not, however, merely for the purpose of 
 enforcing a change from the Temple-service of
 
 92 The Temple services. 
 
 the Jews to our own, that the New Testament 
 contains such earnest injunctions to pray, and 
 such solemn assurances of the efficacy of prayer, 
 notwithstanding that our "Heavenly Father knows 
 beforehand what we have need of." The found- 
 ation of Christianity was laid for a superstructure 
 which did not immediately and at once rise on it. 
 After a time, the wise of this world mingled with 
 the simple and unlearned in seeking for ad- 
 mission into the Church. This new class of con- 
 verts were persons trained to doubt, to inquire, 
 and to speculate ; and this habit of mind, which 
 their philosophy and their learning produced, was 
 not to be confined to their age or particular pursuits 
 and circumstances. In all times it was sure to 
 appear among the vigorous weeds of man's culti- 
 vated intellect ; and it has been accordingly pro- 
 vided against in the instructions of the Gospel, 
 and in none more than in the importance assigned 
 to prayer. No point was so likely to be ques- 
 tioned (by men of a speculative turn) as the rea- 
 sonableness and utility of prayer had prayer been 
 left to our choice, or enforced with less earnest- 
 ness. That God must know what we need, before 
 we ask, was a truth which would be likely to make
 
 The Temple services. 93 
 
 it seem frivolous and vain to ask. Hence, the 
 assertion of this very view of Providence is made 
 prominent, as well as the importance of prayer ; as 
 if to indicate that it had been distinctly recognized, 
 and was nevertheless considered as not at all 
 interfering with the duty to which our presump- 
 tuous reasonings might have opposed it d . 
 
 The assertion, that the Christian service is a 
 service of words, will not, of course, be under- 
 stood to imply that all our Temple-service is com- 
 prehended in prayer. As was before observed, 
 moral conformity, no less than obedience to ritual 
 precepts, must, in an accurate estimate, be re- 
 garded as religious service. Whatever, in short, 
 conscience dictates, is the natural service of man- 
 kind, performed by an obligation, which the 
 Author of our being thus declares and com- 
 mands e . The revelation therefore of any ad- 
 
 d See Matt. vi. 8, 9. 
 
 That a recognition of this service, and of the obligation 
 to perform it, survived in the heathen world the knowledge 
 of Him who is the object of it, is plain from the occasional 
 avowal of a sentiment so forcibly expressed by Persius. 
 
 Quin damus id superis, de magna quod dare lance 
 
 Non possit raagni Messaloe lippa propago, 
 
 Compositum jus, fasque animi, sanctosque recessus
 
 94 The Temple services. 
 
 ditional service, supposes this, as the original 
 stock to which all other is only an addition. 
 In the case of the Jewish ritual, the addition 
 was, for the special reasons assigned, immense, 
 and of a distinct character. But even during 
 the Jewish dispensation, the prophets, as occa- 
 sional messengers of God, were commissioned 
 to remind the people, that this service was not 
 a substitute for, but a temporary appendage to, 
 that which had been enjoined from the creation, 
 by a law, no less than the law of God the dictate 
 of natural conscience f . When however the ob- 
 ject of all the extraneous ceremonial of Judaism 
 was accomplished ; the erection of the new Tem- 
 ple involved no need of additions foreign to the 
 natural service of a holy life. Contrasted with 
 the former indeed, the Christian flfrjo-xs/a was 
 to use the words of the apostle " to visit the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to 
 keep themselves unspotted from the world ? ." 
 
 Mentis, et incoctura generoso pectus honesto ? 
 Haec cedo ut admoveam Teraplis, et farre litabo. 
 
 Satyr, ii. v. 71. 
 
 f See e. g. Isaiah i. 14, 15, 16, 17. 
 
 * James i. 27. The word 6pi<rxtia is improperly rendered in 
 our translation " religion" it should have been " service."
 
 The Temple services. 95 
 
 The service of the last Temple has been regulated 
 solely by reference to relations between Man 
 created, redeemed, and sanctified, and his Cre- 
 ator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The only novel- 
 ties, in short, are those which have arisen out 
 of the revelation of so much of these relations 
 as were new, or before unknown. 
 
 Again, as these points were not, like the 
 subjects comprised in the Levitical service, ob- 
 scure and veiled in futurity ; but views so clear, 
 that those who ran might read ; the old system 
 of minute, unvarying rules, was no longer re- 
 quisite or suitable. The Christian was fully 
 instructed in the object of the service required 
 of him ; and provided with principles to which 
 he was to conform at discretion, according to 
 the diversities of age, climate, or country, to 
 which he might be subject. 
 
 In noticing this feature of contrast, I cannot 
 omit to observe, that the very opposite system 
 to that which was made an argument for the 
 divine legation of Moses, becomes an argument 
 now for the divine legation of the apostles and 
 their inspired coadjutors. That the Israelites 
 should have been bound to the observance of a
 
 96 The Temple services. 
 
 most minute and circumstantial ceremonial, with- 
 out any discretionary power to deviate from the 
 least tittle, was a system that must be referred to 
 divine, and not human, wisdom ; because the only 
 intelligible account of such a ceremonial is, that it 
 involved obscure prophecy, which would have been 
 exposed to corruption, by permitting the least al- 
 teration ; that the founders of the Church should 
 omit to dictate any service at all, can only be ex- 
 plained, by supposing their own natural suggestions 
 to have been restrained by divine control. It 
 would indeed have been the natural course for men 
 under any circumstances, who were establishing a 
 religious society, and enjoining a religious service, 
 to dictate, more or less precisely, that service ; but 
 with Jews, who had been educated in conformity to 
 the minute and literal directions of their Law, there 
 was the force of peculiar habit aiding the common 
 tendency of human nature. And yet no Chris- 
 tian liturgy appears on the pages of the New 
 Testament no directions about forming one. 
 Was this man's doing, or God's ? 
 
 The absence, then, first of typical institu- 
 tions, and next of minute and unchangeable 
 rules, appears to constitute the main peculiarity
 
 The Temple services. 97 
 
 of the Christian service, as contrasted with the 
 Jewish. It will be recollected however, that 
 there are two exceptions to this general state- 
 ment. Two typical ceremonies have been ad- 
 mitted into the service of the Christian Temple 
 Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. Their dis- 
 similarity, in this respect, from the rest of the 
 Christian service, deserves an attentive consi- 
 deration. It plainly indicates, that there is in 
 the events typified by them some distinguish- 
 ing feature, which has rendered this form of 
 expression suitable or needful for those events 
 especially. Now one difference between such a 
 mode of expression and that by words, is, that it 
 is invariable and universal. It addresses itself 
 alike to the apprehension of all ages, and of all 
 people. Record an incident, or register a pre- 
 cept, in terms ever so definite, still the change of 
 language necessary for conveying it from one 
 people to another, nay the change which time 
 produces even in the original language in which 
 it is deposited, (supposing no corruption of the 
 document to take place,) renders such a record 
 more or less liable to misrepresentation ; although 
 it doubtless possesses, in other points of view, 
 H
 
 98 The Temple services. 
 
 great advantages over a symbolical representation. 
 To uncultivated minds morever, a symbolical rite 
 is more impressive and attractive, and often 
 more intelligible ; and it should be recollected, 
 that although the Gospel is adapted and addressed 
 to a more enlightened state of society than was 
 the Law, it recognises, and has provided for, 
 those portions of an enlightened society, which 
 fall short in most, if not in all, Christian 
 countries, of the preparatory capacity for the 
 whole sum of Gospel- truth. Whilst therefore to 
 the Christian volume was committed the whole 
 of Gospel-Revelation, it was doubtless a wise 
 and merciful provision, to select the two 
 most important features for the record of type 
 and symbol, as well as of language. The 
 doctrines of Regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and 
 of Atonement by the death of Christ, followed by 
 his spiritual indwelling in us these form the 
 epitome of Christianity. Extracted from the full 
 record of Revelation, translated, as it were, into 
 symbol and type, and so, engrafted on the Chris- 
 tian service, their eminent importance was thereby 
 signified, and a preservative furnished against our 
 overlooking either the meaning or the importance
 
 The Temple services, 99 
 
 designed to be attached to the corresponding 
 passages of the sacred volume. 
 
 Still, even in the instance of these, we may 
 perceive a deviation from the method of pre- 
 scribing the symbolical service under the Law. 
 Those portions of our Christian rites have been 
 made the subject of an unvarying command, 
 which are the main and essential features, and 
 the exact observance of which no differences of 
 age or civilized society can affect f ; whilst all the 
 service requisite to be appended for the com- 
 pletion of each, has been left to the discretion of 
 the Church, limited only by the principle of 
 adding nothing that is either incongruous to the 
 rite itself, or otherwise inconsistent with the re- 
 ligion of which it forms a part. 
 
 III. In the foregoing remarks, the service of 
 the third Temple has been considered immediately 
 after that of the first ; and a comparison instituted 
 between them, which contains no reference to 
 the intermediate Temple the Immanuel. For 
 the reason of this, the inquirer must be reminded 
 of a distinction already pointed out between the 
 
 ' It has been remarked, that bread and wine are articles in 
 common use among all the civilized world. 
 H 2
 
 100 The Temple services. 
 
 ministry of Christ and the instruction of the Law, 
 as both of them introductory, though in a different 
 sense, to the Christian scheme 5 . Agreeably to that 
 distinction, the first Temple and its appendages 
 were, from their very nature, utterly destroyed 
 by the establishment of the Christian Church; 
 whereas the Immanuel was eternally connected 
 with it, and formed its foundation and its corner 
 stone. To the Temple of God " manifest in the 
 flesh" there was accordingly, in the strictest sense, 
 no peculiar service attached. All that related to 
 a service, was that preparatory training for one, 
 which his followers received ; and it is in re- 
 ference to this that He must have drawn the 
 analogy between their attendance on Him, and 
 that of the Levitical priests on the Temple of 
 stone h . Hence the very striking reply which He 
 made to one who consulted Him about the best 
 method of fulfilling the old service, " This is the 
 work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He 
 hath sent 1 ;" which was as much as to say, 
 
 * Chap. iv. p. 70. 
 
 h Matth. xii. 5. The text is a very remarkable one. See 
 some observations on it in the note appended to Dr. Whately's 
 Essay " On the Abolition of the Law." 
 
 1 John vi. 29.
 
 The Temple services . 101 
 
 " Why ask me about the best method of fulfilling 
 a service, which God is even now abolishing. The 
 only present service is to believe in me to trust 
 to me, and wait humbly for that which I am 
 preparing my disciples to receive." Faith in 
 Christ is still, as it was then, the very essence 
 and vital principle of the Christian service ; but 
 it was then the only service ; inasmuch as that to 
 which it led, and with which it is now connected, 
 was not yet given. The period of the inter- 
 mediate Temple was an interval of anticipation, 
 surmise, and preparatory training. Like Israel 
 waiting at the foot of mount Sinai, the elect of 
 Christ, without as yet discarding the obsolete 
 observances of their fathers, kept their eye 
 anxiously fixed on a mingled scene of light and 
 darkness, from which a new law and a new service 
 were about to be developed. 
 
 To this view the teaching of the Lord's Prayer 
 is no exception. Our Lord, as well as his fol- 
 lowers, recognized and performed no public service 
 but that of the old Temple. This prayer did not, 
 during his abode with them, correspond to its sub- 
 sequent use, and make a part of any form of 
 worship analogous to our Church Liturgies, but
 
 102 The Temple services. 
 
 answered rather to domestic and family prayer. 
 The leader of every sect was then considered in 
 the light of father or head of a family, whose 
 members were quite as intimately connected with 
 him and with one another, as a natural house- 
 hold ; and they accordingly joined as such in 
 certain common devotional exercises. " Lord, 
 teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples 1 ," 
 was the request, in compliance with which the 
 Lord's Prayer was given ; and it was, on the 
 same principle, contrasted with the long prayers 
 made by the disciples of the Pharisaic doctors*. 
 Its transfer to the public service of the Christian 
 Church was reasonable, and in no respect incon- 
 sistent with its original use ; but could only 
 take place when a public Christian service was 
 established. 
 
 It is pleasing to trace in this, and in other 
 instances, a manifest desire on the part of the 
 first Christians, to perpetuate, as far as was pos- 
 sible, the domestic character of that little circle 
 of familiar friends, out of which the Church arose. 
 The feeling was natural in the apostles and other 
 
 1 Luke xi. 1. " Compare Luke v. 33. with Matth. 
 
 xxiii. 14. and Luke xx. 46,
 
 The Temple services. 103 
 
 immediate followers of Jesus ; but to do this was 
 plainly a fulfilment also of his will. For this 
 very purpose he seems to have accustomed them 
 to consider one another as brethren, and to ad- 
 dress one another by that title. For the same 
 reason, apparently, they were taught to evince 
 their union with Him, by love to one another, and to 
 all who should bear his name : " a new command- 
 ment 1 give unto you, that ye love one another ; 
 as I have loved you, that ye also love one 
 another. By this shall all men know that ye are 
 my disciples, if ye have love one to another 1 ." 
 
 I cannot but think, that our present use of the 
 Lord's Prayer, so considered, is more impressive, 
 and connected with more delightful associations, 
 than if we view it as originally framed in reference 
 to the condition of the Christian world at large. 
 It seems thus, every time we utter it, to carry us 
 back to those holy moments, when a beloved 
 few sat at the feet of Jesus, or joined Him in 
 prayer to the Father ; and reminds us that we 
 are now " the Disciples." Its use becomes, not 
 indeed as in the case of the Sacrament, the ful- 
 filment of an express command, " Do this, as 
 
 1 John xiii. 34, 35.
 
 104 The Temple services. 
 
 oft as ye do it, in remembrance of me," but is a 
 dictate to the same effect, suggested by personal 
 attachment, and by those hopes of re-union with 
 the Lord in the flesh, which it was his own af- 
 fectionate wish to see preserved in his Church 
 until his second coming. 
 
 Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, 
 shall he find this feeling on the earth ? Are our 
 homes prepared for his reception, our hearts for 
 his sympathy, our lives for his scrutiny? Are we, 
 in short, so living, that we should, above all 
 things, like the Son of man to come and live 
 with us? Or do our hearts say, what our lips 
 dare not, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful 
 man, OLord?"
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PERSONS OFFICIATING IN THE THREE 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the second Temple is excluded in 
 the comparison between the several services, 
 it assumes an important place in the inquiry 
 to which that comparison directly leads that, 
 namely, which regards the officiating class in 
 the three stages of communion between God 
 and man. To this point I now proceed; and 
 intend to consider it so far as it is connected 
 with those differences and resemblances, which 
 have been developed in the preceding chapter. 
 
 I. The character of the Jewish priesthood 
 was intimately connected with the prophetic 
 object of their service. They were the principal 
 actors in the figurative representation of the Law 
 it was the same sacrifices, which they offered 
 oftentimes 11 . They were, as a Body, and the 
 high priest individually, the type of the true 
 
 Heb. x. 11.
 
 106 Persons officiating. 
 
 Priest ; and in Christ, accordingly, the type was 
 fulfilled, and rendered useless for the future 15 . 
 It is impossible to state this in any form which 
 shall be more explicit than the original declara- 
 tions of Scripture. Of the typical character of 
 the old priesthood, St. Paul, for example, writes 
 thus ; " We have such an High Priest, who 
 is set on the right hand of the throne of the 
 Majesty in the heavens ; a minister of the sanc- 
 tuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the 
 Lord pitched, and not man ." "There are 
 priests that offer gifts according to the Law; 
 who serve unto the example and shadow of hea- 
 venly things 1 '." " Now when these things were 
 thus ordained, the priests went always into the 
 first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of 
 God. But into the second went the high priest 
 alone, once every year, not without blood, which 
 he offered for himself, and for the errors of the 
 people; the Holy Ghost this signifying that 
 the way into the holiest of all was not yet made 
 
 b The reader will find this view clearly and ably stated 
 in the fifth of Dr. Whately's " Sermons on Several Occa- 
 sions." 
 
 Heb. viii. 1, 2. * Heb. viii. 5.
 
 Persons officiating. 107 
 
 manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet 
 standing. Which was a figure, for the time then 
 present, in which were offered both gifts and 
 sacrifices, that could not make him that did the 
 service, perfect, as pertaining to the conscience 
 which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers 
 washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on 
 them until the time of reformation. But Christ 
 being come an High Priest of good things to 
 come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, 
 not made with hands, that is to say, not of 
 this building ; neither by the blood of goats 
 and calves, but by his own blood he entered 
 in once into the holy place, having obtained 
 eternal redemption for us e ." Again, respecting 
 the nullity of the typical appointment, as the 
 necessary consequence of its fulfilment, the same 
 apostle in the same place writes, " In that He 
 saith a new covenant, He hath made the first 
 old. Now that which decay eth, and waxeth 
 old, is ready to vanish away f ." " He taketh 
 away the first, that He may establish the se- 
 cond*." 
 
 Hebrews ix. 6 12. ' Hebrews viii. 13, 
 
 ' Hebrews x. 9.
 
 108 Persons officiating. 
 
 II. In the second Temple, then, Christ was 
 the Priest the Priest, as well as the Temple and 
 the Sacrifice. His sacerdotal office, however, 
 differed from the corresponding office in the 
 Jewish Temple, inasmuch as it was employed 
 about a real and efficacious atonement and 
 sanctification, and He was the real character 
 which the former priesthood had personated. 
 His priesthood differed also from the Levitical, 
 in that all centered in Him alone ; whereas the 
 priests under the Law were many, and a suc- 
 cession : their service was, to transmit from one 
 generation to another the personification of a 
 character, which was properly his alone ; He, in 
 that character, " trod the wine-press alone* 1 ." 
 " They truly" (in the apostle's words) " were 
 many priests, because they were not suffered to 
 continue, by reason of death. But this man, be- 
 cause He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable 
 priesthood 1 ." 
 
 Another very important feature of contrast is, 
 that they were not exempt from sin; and this 
 circumstance, although it did not disqualify them 
 for representing the character of the Mediator 
 
 h Isaiah Ixiii. 3. Heb. vii. 23, 24.
 
 Persons officiating. 109 
 
 between God and man, yet did disqualify them 
 for being themselves truly priests and mediators. 
 Such, at least, is the light, in which Scripture 
 exhibits this feature of contrast. " Such an 
 High Priest," writes St. Paul, " became us, who is 
 holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, 
 and made higher than the heavens. Who 
 needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer 
 up sacrifice, first, for his own sins, and then for 
 the people's, for this He did once, when He 
 offered up Himself. For the Law maketh men 
 high priests which have infirmity ; but the word 
 of the oath, which was since the Law, maketh 
 the Son, who is consecrated for evermore k ." 
 " If He were on earth, He should not be a 
 priest, seeing that there are priests that offer 
 gifts according to the Law ; who serve unto the 
 example 1 and shadow of heavenly things" 1 ." 
 
 The priesthood of Christ was further dissimilar 
 from its type, in being employed about a single 
 
 k Heb. vii. 26, 27, 28. 
 
 i Rather, exemplar or pattern. The original word is 
 
 m Heb. viii. 4, 5.
 
 110 Persons officiating . 
 
 sacn/^-6- -made once for all. To recur, as before, 
 to the very words of Scripture. " Every priest 
 standeth daily ministering and offering often- 
 times the same sacrifices, which can never take 
 away sins ; but this man, after He had offered 
 one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the 
 right hand of God;" "for by one offering He 
 hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified'"." 
 " Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as 
 the high priest entereth into the holy place, every 
 year, with the blood of others ; (for then must 
 He often have suffered since the foundation of the 
 world ;) but now, once, in the end of the world, 
 hath He appeared, to put away sin by the sacri- 
 fice of Himself"." The need of continual sacri- 
 fice by the Levitical priesthood, would seem 
 thus to have arisen from the typical nature of 
 their office ; and this need no longer therefore 
 existed after Christ had come. To the same prin- 
 ciple indeed we may trace all the several differ- 
 ences between the two priesthoods, which have 
 been now briefly enumerated. It was hence that 
 the new priesthood not only superseded the old ; 
 but rendered such an office as that of a sacrificing 
 n Heb. x. 11, 12, 14. n Heb. ix. 25, 26.
 
 Persons officiating. Ill 
 
 priest impossible. "Where remission of sins 
 and iniquities is, there is no more offering for 
 sin ." 
 
 The priesthood of Christ, however, and of the 
 Levitical type which he fulfilled, comprised more 
 than sacrifice it was made up of this and of 
 intercession. It was the priest's office, first to 
 prepare, and then to present, the offerings to 
 convey, as Mediator, the addresses of the wor- 
 shippers to God. In this respect also, the only 
 efficacy attached to the Jewish priesthood arose 
 from its being the temporary representation and 
 type of Christ ; "for there is one God, and one 
 Mediator between God and man, the man Christ 
 Jesus p ." The mediatorship of Christ therefore, 
 the only real intercessor, fulfilled and annulled the 
 type, as in the case of sacrifice. There was 
 " verily a disannulling of the commandment going 
 before, for the weakness and unprofitableness 
 thereof. For the Law made nothing perfect, but 
 the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which 
 we draw nigh unto GodV But there is this 
 important difference between the two cases. The 
 intercession was appointed to be perpetual: not 
 
 Heb. x. 18. p I Tim. ii. 5. < Heb. vii. 18, 19.
 
 112 Persons officiating. 
 
 so the sacrifice. Christ's fulfilment of the priestly 
 office of intercession, did not, as in the other case, 
 abrogate the office itself. It is not written, as in 
 respect of sacrifice, that after He had once made 
 intercession, He for ever sat down at the right 
 hand of God, but " He ever liveth to make 
 intercession'." 
 
 This distinction as to the modes whereby the 
 two parts of the typical priesthood under the Law 
 has been fulfilled, requires to be attended to, 
 because it furnishes the main principle which we 
 shall have to apply in estimating the character of 
 the officiating class in our present Temple. In 
 proceeding now to the consideration of this, I 
 would first observe, that in the exercise of our 
 Lord's priestly office as Mediator, consists the 
 principal connection which at present subsists 
 between Him and his Church. It is He, to whom 
 unseen we are still directed as " ever living to 
 make intercession" for us. It is of Him in that 
 character, that St. John writes, " if any man sin, 
 we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation 
 for our sins *." 
 
 1 Heb. vii. 25. . 1 John ii. 1 .
 
 Persons officiating. 1 13 
 
 III. On turning to contemplate the condition 
 of the Christian Church now, as regards its 
 officiating class, we are immediately presented 
 with the fact that of the two offices comprised 
 in the priesthood of Christ, one can be no longer 
 exercised, because there is no more sacrificing for 
 sin, and the other continues indeed to be exer- 
 cised, but it is by Him the invisible Priest. And 
 yet, the language of Scripture would seem occa- 
 sionally to indicate the continuance of an earthly 
 priesthood, both for sacrifice and for intercession. 
 Are we to understand these expressions then as 
 mere metaphors, derived from the obsolete duties 
 of the priesthood, and employed only for the 
 purpose of illustration? Or are we to suppose, 
 that the Church is really admitted, in some way, 
 to a participation of that high and heavenly 
 character which properly belongs to Christ, and 
 which Aaron and his descendants only person- 
 ated ? Let us, as the easiest method of arriving 
 at the true meaning of Scripture, examine sepa- 
 rately first, those passages which seem to imply 
 that the duty of sacrifice is perpetuated and 
 attached to the Church and next, those, from 
 which we are led to infer some admission of the
 
 1 14 Persons officiating. 
 
 Church to privileges which belong to the media- 
 torial and intercessorial office of our sole High 
 Priest. 
 
 " I beseech you," writes St. Paul to the 
 Romans', " that ye present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; which is 
 your reasonable service;" to the Philippians", 
 " I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the 
 things which were sent from you, an odour of a 
 sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing 
 to God;" and again to the Hebrews", " By Him 
 (Jesus) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise 
 to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, 
 giving thanks to his name. But to do good, and 
 to communicate, forget not : for with such sacri- 
 fices God is well-pleased." St. Peter again, in 
 his first Epistle y, addresses Christians not only 
 as "lively stones," " a spiritual house;" but as 
 " an holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, 
 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." In 
 these passages, and in others which may be 
 added, one point is plain namely, that the sacri- 
 fice alluded to is not the atoning sacrifice, which 
 
 t Rom. xii. 1. u Philipp. i v . 18. 
 
 * Hebrews xiii. 15. y 1 Peter ii. 5.
 
 Persons officiating. 115 
 
 was limited to Christ alone, and of which the 
 expiatory sacrifices under the Law were mere 
 types. The sacrifice spoken of is the expression 
 of praise, thanksgiving, and other devotional feel- 
 ings ; and it is called a sacrifice or offering, be- 
 cause this symbolical form of expressing such 
 feelings had been in use during the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, and for ages antecedent to it. From 
 Abel's offering until the last legal service of the 
 Temple, this had been a regular method of per- 
 forming to God part of the natural service of 
 man. Considered in this point of view, the 
 Jewish sacrifices were not types of Christ's great 
 sacrifice ; and He therefore neither fulfilled them, 
 nor abolished the duty performed by means of 
 these. The change which took place in the 
 Christian Temple, was only a part of the general 
 change from expression by symbol, to expression 
 by words from the act of offering, to the voice 
 of praise, thanksgiving, devotion. The Old-Tes- 
 taraent-Scriptures bear testimony to this view; 
 for in them, as in the New, we find the meta- 
 phor applied to verbal prayer. Hosea, for exam- 
 ple, speaks of the " calves of our lips 2 ." The 
 
 1 Hosea xiv. 2. 
 I 2
 
 116 Persons officiating. 
 
 old Scriptures too, as well as the New Testa- 
 ment, dwell on the nullity of such sacrifice of 
 mere outward expression unless the heart goes 
 along with it ; as, for example, in these words of 
 the Psalmist, " The sacrifices of God are a broken 
 spirit ft ." It is plain, therefore, that the language 
 which the Gospel-writers hold respecting a sacrifice 
 of praise and prayer, is not peculiar to the Gos- 
 pel-dispensation ; and that the duty which it 
 expresses is no further contrasted with any 
 service under the Law, than that formerly praise 
 and prayer were expressed partly by symbol, and 
 that now they are not. In both cases, sincerity 
 and a corresponding frame of mind are requisite 
 to give efficacy to the address to God ; and this 
 service of the heart and moral conduct is accord- 
 ingly considered as the essence of the sacrifice, 
 and even called the sacrifice. It is only the form 
 of devotional expression that has been done away 
 with by Christ's coming; and hence, (the duty 
 remaining the same,) the form substituted, has 
 sometimes been called the sacrifice. This was 
 the more natural, because all such service to 
 God, still requires to be presented through the 
 
 Psalm li. 17.
 
 Persons officiating. 117 
 
 High Priest, as Intercessor and Mediator between 
 God and man. 
 
 We come therefore to the second class of 
 Scripture expressions, those namely which indi- 
 cate, that the privileges of this mediatorial and 
 intercessorial office, which is Christ's, are, in 
 some sense and in some degree, imparted to 
 Christians. I allude to such intimations as the 
 following, which our Lord gave to his disciples 
 while yet with them. " In that day, ye shall ask 
 in my name, and I say not unto you, that / will 
 pray the Father for you. For the Father himself 
 loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have 
 believed that I came out from God V or this 
 declaration of St. Paul, " We know not what we 
 should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself 
 maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
 cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the 
 hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, 
 because He maketh intercession for the saints 
 according to the will of God 1 ." That the apo- 
 stle was here representing the fulfilment of the 
 Lord's promise above quoted, seems the more 
 probable from a subsequent verse of the same 
 
 <> John xvL 26, 27. c Romans viii. 26, 27.
 
 118 Persons officiating. 
 
 "chapter, which is evidently connected with the 
 foregoing. " Who is He that condemneth ? Is 
 it Christ, that died, yea rather, that is risen again, 
 who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
 maketh intercession for us d ?" It certainly looks 
 as if by the intercession which St. Paul had be- 
 fore represented as the joint operation of our 
 hearts, and of that Holy Spirit by which Christ 
 dwells in us, he meant this very intercession 
 which is the continued office of our High Priest 
 the very point which forms the perpetual exercise 
 of his mediatorial office. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that these suggestions 
 tend to mere speculation on matters, which are 
 too high for us to examine. It is not at least 
 in this point of view that I desire to represent 
 them. The arrangement of the scheme of Reve- 
 lation doubtless requires from us not presump- 
 tuous scrutiny, but humble gratitude and con- 
 fident conformity. But with respect to this 
 point, the language of Scripture furnishes its 
 
 d Verse 34. I have adopted what I conceive to be the 
 right punctuation of this passage. The purpose for which 
 I have quoted it would not however be affected by retaining 
 that of our received version, " It is Christ that died," &c.
 
 Persons officiating. I ] 9 
 
 own explanation ; and exhibits a plain practical 
 truth, which the inquirer has already perhaps 
 anticipated. Our Lord spoke mysteriously and 
 obscurely to his disciples, in telling them of a 
 day when they should indeed ask the Father 
 in his name ; but that He did not mean by that, 
 that He was to pray for them. But St. Paul is 
 explanatory enough, when he introduces the 
 same topic. He there couples the declaration 
 with that which alone renders it intelligible. 
 It is the Spirit, who, by " quickening our mortal 
 bodies," and " dwelling in us," " beareth witness 
 with our spirit," " helpeth our infirmities," and 
 makes our prayers as it were his own. " We 
 know not what we should pray for as we ought : 
 but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us 
 with groanings which cannot be uttered." The 
 intercession is really his, who, residing by the 
 Spirit in his new Body the Church, so far raises 
 that Body to a participation of his priestly pri- 
 vileges. " Because we are sons, God hath sent 
 forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying 
 Abba, Father ." It is to the Church considered 
 in its union with the Spirit of Christ that the 
 r Gal. iv. 6.
 
 120 Persons officiating. 
 
 privilege of the Intercessor the immediate access 
 and address is granted ; and to this view of the 
 Church, perhaps, applies the language of St. John 
 in the Revelations, " Unto Him that loved us, 
 and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
 and hath made us kings and priests unto God 
 and his Father f ." 
 
 But the Church, it should be borne in mind, 
 inherits its priestly privileges collectively. It is 
 no individual man, who is privileged to mediate 
 and intercede for other men ; it is no earthly 
 mediator ; but the Spirit of Christ in the Temple 
 of " his new Body the Church, which is the 
 fulness of Him that filleth it," and who is so 
 connected with us now. 
 
 It is necessary to keep this steadily in view, 
 in order to distinguish the official character of 
 the Church collectively of the new body of the 
 Mediator which alone corresponds to the priest- 
 hood under the Law, from the ministerial offices 
 of a certain class of Christians set apart from the 
 rest for especial divine service. 
 
 Whatever question may be made about the 
 
 f Rev. i. 5, 6.
 
 Persons officiating. 121 
 
 precise orders requisite for a Church, there can 
 be no question, as to two points first, that the 
 inspired founders designed a separate class to 
 be set apart for religious services ; and secondly, 
 that there should be gradation and difference of 
 ministry between them. Such was the method 
 pursued during the exercise of extraordinary 
 gifts ; and such the system, which, in the con- 
 tinuance of the Church's ordinary powers, we 
 have received from the apostles. Christians 
 may differ about the obligation on all ages to 
 adopt the exact gradation of Bishops, Priests, 
 Deacons, and subordinate servants, which was 
 found in the Church at the cessation of miracles 
 and miraculous interposition ; but the historical 
 evidence for the existence of those different 
 orders in that period, is too strong to be resisted 
 by any candid inquirer. 
 
 These offices of the Church, both in the days 
 of miracle, and now, are of two different kinds. 
 Each separate Church is a distinct Society ; and 
 one class of offices therefore has for its object the 
 government and regulation of the Society. The 
 Church collectively (that is, the Church universal) 
 is also the Temple ; and another class of offices
 
 122 Persons officiating. 
 
 attached to it is that of performing service to 
 God. The former involves duties that are 
 ecclesiastical, the latter those that are spiritual 
 to the former belongs rule, to the latter ministry. 
 In the episcopal order of the Church of England, 
 both are united. Our Bishops are at once govern- 
 ors of the Christian society, and ministers of the 
 service performed in it to God. 
 
 If therefore we seek in the Jewish Church for 
 an analogy, which shall illustrate the place in th e 
 perpetual scheme of Providence now occupied 
 by the orders of the Christian Church, it will 
 appear, that the governing or ecclesiastical offices 
 correspond properly to the civil authorities of 
 the Jews, the Jewish civil rulers being at the 
 same time the ecclesiastical. It is in this point 
 of view probably that the apostle calls the 
 Church " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 
 an holy nation, a peculiar people *." To the 
 priesthood of the Jews again, the spiritual officers 
 of the Church correspond in part, and in part 
 not. They correspond, inasmuch as they officiate 
 in the Temple-service performed to God ; but 
 they differ, inasmuch as that service no longer 
 * 1 Peter ii. 9.
 
 Persons officiating. 123 
 
 includes sacrifice, (the most prominent business 
 of the priest under the Law,) and only comprises 
 intercession as the work of this divine Mediator, 
 who mysteriously resides within the Church as 
 his new body. 
 
 But the essential feature of distinction is this. 
 The Jewish priesthood officiated in their Temple- 
 service to the exclusion of the rest of the Church ; 
 the Christian Order are indeed distinguished in 
 the part they take from the great body of the 
 Church, but perform that service in common with 
 them h . Our ministerial order exercise indeed 
 priestly duties ; but they alone do not. All 
 Christians are desired to take a share in the 
 service of their Temple. " All have access by 
 one Spirit unto the Father 1 ." We are all made 
 priests unto God k . 
 
 This remarkable difference between the offici- 
 ating class in the earlier and in the last Temple 
 is an important fact to us. It carries on it (as 
 was observed of the Jewish service) marks of 
 
 " The members of our own Church should never forget the 
 expressive title of our service-book, " The Book of Common 
 Prayer" 
 
 4 Ephesians ii. 18. " Rev. v. 10.
 
 124 Persons officiating. 
 
 Divine counsel, not of human device. A change 
 like this, made by persons who were accustomed 
 to an exclusive priesthood in an age when no 
 other kind of priesthood was known cannot fail 
 to strike a reflecting mind as highly unnatural. 
 It was contrary to the one religious prejudice in 
 which Jew and Gentile agreed. But the unnatural 
 character of the measure appears in a stronger 
 light, if we go one step further in the inquiry, 
 and ask ourselves, why Gentile agreed with Jew 
 in this prejudice ? Our own hearts will tell us, it 
 was because it is congenial to human nature. 
 Men naturally crave after a religion by proxy. 
 Even now. with the Gospel word unveiled and 
 before us ; and in the midst of institutions that 
 are framed expressly to counteract this propensity; 
 how prevalent even now is the feeling, that the 
 clergy are to do the service of the Temple, not 
 with us, but for us ; nay, that they alone, and not 
 all in communion with them, are the Church. 
 What but this has been the source of that cor- 
 ruption of the Church of Rome, which has 
 gradually assimilated the Christian ministry there 
 to the exclusive priesthood of the Jewish Temple ? 
 What but this has led to the conversion of the
 
 Persons officiating. 125 
 
 communion into a Mass, and the restoration of 
 the Temple's mystic veil which Christ rent at the 
 moment of his death the closing again of that 
 " way into the holiest of all, which was not yet 
 made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was 
 yet standing '." 
 
 No wonder; for this universal access, great and 
 glorious a privilege as it is, is an increase of re- 
 sponsibility, which to carnal, low, and grovelling 
 minds more than outweighs the sense of dignity 
 to which it elevates them. The trust reposed in 
 these, can only be burthensome to them. They 
 cannot but feel as if talents committed to them 
 for improvement though it be a single one is a 
 hardship imposed by a hard master ; and indolently 
 neglect the service, expect ing that it will not surely 
 be exacted of them. 
 
 But if such persons endanger their souls, under 
 a delusion perhaps that the humble estimate they 
 make of their fitness for God's service will excuse 
 them at the last account ; if the slothful servant be 
 
 1 Heb. ix. 8. Dr. Whately's Sermon, already referred to, 
 has furnished me with this very important view. The pas- 
 sage to which I allude occurs at the close of the Sermon, 
 p. 167.
 
 126 Persons offitia ting . 
 
 threatened with his Lord's eternal displeasure ; 
 where shall the bold profaner of his Temple 
 appear ? he who, anointed by an unction from the 
 Holy One, officially consecrated as a member of 
 the kingdom of priests to the service of God, has 
 become the servant of sin? Surely "him will 
 God destroy m ." To the Church, and not to a 
 selected portion alone, are now affixed the mitre 
 and the plate engraven, " Holiness to the Lord/' 
 All have access in the Christian Temple, even to 
 its holiest of holies ; all have a portion of the 
 priestly duties to fulfil ; and all alike must there- 
 fore ever keep themselves pure, un defiled, and 
 unspotted from the world. 
 
 m 1 Cor. iii. 17.
 
 CHAFFER VII. 
 
 CONNECTION OF THE THREE TEMPLES WITH THE 
 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 
 
 WHAT then shall we say is the natural im- 
 pression which this threefold dispensation leaves 
 respecting its divine Author? Temple has suc- 
 ceeded Temple, bearing, all, equally strong marks 
 of the Divine presence ; but differing from each 
 other in the circumstances of divine Revelation, 
 as much as if three distinct Beings had in turn 
 presided over the changing kingdom of heaven. 
 In the first, we are presented with an object 
 of worship, made known indeed by symbol, but 
 expressly warning his people against supposing 
 that any symbol was a manifestation of Him. 
 In the second % " the image of the unseen God ;" 
 
 Coloss. i. 15. UXMI -rtv &uv rtv *t>tirv, 
 
 The Apostle's language contains an evident allusion 
 to the Mosaic record, that " God created man in his own 
 image."- Christianity is represented elsewhere as a new 
 creation, and Christ as a second Adam. (See e. g. Isaiah 
 Ixv. 17. 1 Cor. xv. 4547. 2 Cor. v. 17. Ephes. iv. 24.)
 
 128 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 a sensible manifestation is exhibited ; and ren- 
 dered more mysterious by the instrument of 
 manifestation being the human nature, " in all 
 things like unto ours, sin only except ed." In 
 contrast with both, the last Temple is dedicated 
 and possessed by an object of worship, of whose 
 permanent residence and presence no sensible 
 sign is established ; no symbol and varying 
 miracle as in the first Temple ; no manifestation 
 of an inferior intelligent nature conjoined, as in 
 the Immanuel. 
 
 The differences between the respective modes 
 of Divine government, the extent and cha- 
 racter of the worshippers the service required, 
 
 Might not the original declaration then, that man was God's 
 image, have had a prophetic reference to the mystery of the 
 Incarnation ? The same may be suggested of the wording of 
 the second Commandment of the Decalogue, Thou shall not 
 make to thyself any graven image, &c. which seems to 
 convey a hint of the one lawful " image of God," which He, 
 and not man, was to fashion, and before which, in the ful- 
 ness of time, " every knee was to bow, of things in heaven, 
 and things in earth, and things under the earth." Philip, 
 ii. 10. 
 
 Compare with the passages already referred to, 2 Cor. iv. 4. 
 Heb. i. 3. also Romans viii. 29. xii. 2.
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 129 
 
 and the motives to obedience, all present fea- 
 tures of contrast, and often, at a casual glance, 
 contrariety of views, no less striking than is 
 exhibited in the Revelations themselves. The 
 very Temples differ more widely than any which 
 can be brought into contrast from among all the 
 heathen Temples of all ages. 
 
 What then could have been the impression 
 designed to be left on us who are allowed to look 
 back on this past progress of the diversified 
 divine economy? It surely must have been de- 
 signed to suggest to our minds, and to habituate 
 our minds to contemplate, God as Three. 
 Three different divine Persons appear the agents 
 and rulers, in a threefold dispensation : so dif- 
 ferent, indeed, that, if left to form our conjectures 
 of the Divine nature from the facts of this pro- 
 gressive economy, all view of one God must have 
 been discarded. The facts of Revelation repre- 
 sent God as a Trinity ; and it is only by express 
 and perpetual qualifications of a view so sug- 
 gested, that we are assured of his Unity. It was 
 important and absolutely necessary, that as each 
 Temple arose, and exhibited a distinct divine 
 Person as its possessor, fresh declarations should 
 K
 
 1 30 Connection of the three Temples, 
 
 be issued, and new signs appended to the mark 
 of distinction, to shew that it was still one and the 
 same God in all. The doctrine of the Trinity, 
 in short, rests primarily on historical facts ; the 
 doctrine of the Unity, on a series of declarations 
 and other provisions made in reference to those 
 facts. If we suppose the Bible stript of all those 
 provisions which it contains for qualifying its 
 historical representations of the Divine nature, it 
 would exhibit three distinct Gods ; with those 
 provisions, that representation becomes a Trinity 
 in Unity. 
 
 Having in the preceding chapters, then, ex- 
 amined the Three Temples in reference to the 
 points of difference and contrast, which most 
 strongly denote the agency of three divine 
 Persons, I shall close the inquiry by pointing 
 out the principal method adopted to prevent the 
 error of supposing that these three are different 
 Gods. 
 
 But first, let me not be misunderstood when I 
 assert, that the doctrine of the Trinity rests on 
 historical facts. That God has assumed a three- 
 fold character in his threefold dispensation ; and 
 that distinct views of the Divine nature attach to
 
 With the doctrine of the Trinity. 131 
 
 Him accordingly, is the very result of the progres- 
 sive system of change, and is itself therefore matter 
 of historical fact. But that there are further 
 distinctions unrevealed, or unintelligible to us ; 
 and that the distinctions which are revealed, and 
 understood, have reference to these all this, of 
 course, is not matter of historical fact ; and can 
 only be derived, by inference, from God's apparent 
 design in creating a threefold impression of Him- 
 self, combined with the language of his Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 I. When the Jewish Church was established, 
 the prevalence of heathen polytheism made it 
 expedient that the Unity of the true God should 
 be set forth as the most prominent feature of be- 
 lief. But it is only in accordance with the view 
 which we take of the rest of that early dispensa- 
 tion, to suppose that the declaration of God's being 
 one, was also prospective was a provision, in 
 short, to keep up an habitual impression of the 
 divine Unity, preparatory to the change, in which 
 a new divine Person was to appear. Even as the 
 ceremonial of the Law was probably for the time 
 an antagonist system to certain religious rites of 
 
 K2
 
 132 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 the neighbouring idolaters ; but contained never- 
 theless, as its most important object, the pro- 
 phetic picture of the Gospel scene ; so, the en- 
 forcement of the divine Unity, although it served 
 the temporary purpose of a preservative against 
 the worship of false Gods, became, and was 
 designed to become, in the fulness of time, a 
 corrective of a false view of the Trinity. The 
 best preparatory course for this doctrine was 
 an habitual contemplation of God as one. Hence 
 not only was belief in the Unity made the subject 
 of commandment and reiterated assertion, under 
 the first dispensation; but the Temple was, by 
 the most solemn injunctions, appointed to be 
 but one. Whithersoever the Jews were carried 
 captive, into whatever distant parts of the world 
 they were dispersed by prosperous commerce or 
 disastrous exile ; to the Temple at Jerusalem 
 they were bound to repair, or else to forego the 
 service of Jehovah. No where else must a Temple 
 be built or sacrifice offered; although thousands 
 should yearly, by reason of distance or other 
 impediments, be debarred from all communion. 
 It seemed safer and better that the service of
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 133 
 
 God should be suspended, than that the Unity 
 of the Temple should be violated. It is in ac- 
 cordance with this principle, that the existence 
 of the Temple of stone was made incompatible 
 with Christianity ; and, in this respect too, it 
 was expedient for us, that Christ should go away 
 before the Comforter came that ' ' the Temple of 
 his body" should be withdrawn, before his new 
 body the Church was dedicated and that in the 
 last, as in the earliest, dispensation there should 
 be but one Temple of God on earth, in memorial 
 that there is only one God, and that He is to 
 be worshipped as one. 
 
 II. The Unity of the Divine nature was main- 
 tained during the second Temple in various ways. 
 It was intimated by the recurrence of the Glory 
 that filled Jehovah's first Temple, and which 
 now announced the human nature of Christ as 
 the abode of the same God. It was also in- 
 timated by Christ's performing- those particular 
 miraculous acts, which God had heretofore taught 
 his people to associate with his peculiar agency. 
 For example, the cure of the leprosy was, by 
 the most express and minute directions of the 
 Law, placed in the light of a miracle, which God
 
 134 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 did not delegate to his servants, but exercised 
 Himself. The priest pronounced the leper clean, 
 to indicate the miraculous character of the cure, 
 but he was not allowed to be an agent in the 
 cure: obviously to create the impression of the 
 immediate agency of Jehovah. When Jesus 
 therefore healed lepers, and sent them to the 
 priests, he was placing himself precisely in the 
 same situation that the Father had occupied. 
 It was in doing so, that the God of the old 
 dispensation had been recognized ; and the re- 
 newal of this, reminded the attentive disciple, 
 that the God of the new Temple was the same. 
 To take another instance. The God of Israel, 
 on leading his people from Egypt to the promised 
 land, delegated to Moses the general adminis- 
 tration of their law, their government, their pro- 
 visions, and the requisite measures for their 
 journeys. In one or two instances, however, 
 an exception is made, and God Himself, not 
 Moses his servant, was the agent. It was not, 
 for example, Moses by delegated power, but God 
 Himself, who fed them with bread from heaven. 
 When therefore Christ, in the wilderness, so 
 performed the like miracle, as to make its cor-
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 135 
 
 respondence exact in some of its minutest par- 
 ticulars a , what could have been the inference 
 designed, but that it was God, the same God 
 of their fathers, who was reminding his people 
 of his identity, by repeating his own appropriated 
 miracle ? 
 
 The miracles of walking on the sea, and stilling 
 its waves, can hardly be considered in a different 
 light, when we remember the many passages of 
 Scripture, of the Psalms especially, that described 
 Jehovah's power under this image, and recollect, 
 that it was to fishermen to persons on whom 
 such passages were likely to have made the 
 liveliest impression that these miracles were 
 exhibited. 
 
 But perhaps the most striking act of this de- 
 scription was his violation of the Sabbath. It 
 was of all the Jewish observances that, in the 
 enforcement of which Jehovah was considered as 
 most immediately concerned. Those who neg- 
 lected attendance on the Temple, and were 
 seduced into other habits of alienation from their 
 Law, yet revered this institution, and retained 
 
 * These points of coincidence are enumerated in " The 
 Catechist's Manual," p. 84.
 
 136 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 among their last scruples, that of violating its 
 sanctity. It was that portion of time which God 
 had sanctified, detached from profane service, and 
 set apart as his own. It bore the same analogy 
 to the other days of the week, that the Temple 
 did to the land of Israel ; the tribe of Levi to the 
 rest of his people ; and all Israel to the world. 
 It was holy to the Lord, and God spake of it as 
 " His Sabbath." This observance Christ more 
 than once publicly violated, and gave as a reason 
 for doing so, that the Sabbath had been appointed 
 by God, not for Himself to observe, but for man. 
 The way in which the declaration was made 
 provides most expressly for the idea of identity 
 between Christ and that Lord, whose institution 
 was the Sabbath. " The Sabbath," said He on 
 one occasion, "was made for man, and not man for 
 the Sabbath ; wherefore the Son of man is Lord 
 also of the Sabbath 1 ';" that is, " the institution 
 of the Sabbath is not like the immutable prin- 
 ciples of morality and virtue, with a view to 
 which man was formed, and which is an attribute 
 of God ; but is a positive institution, made for 
 man. Therefore the Son of man, as God, is 
 
 b Mark ii. 27, 28.
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 137 
 
 Lord of the Sabbath, and free from its obliga- 
 tions." On another occasion of his expressing 
 the same, the Jews understood Him, and at- 
 tempted to stone Him. " My Father," said He, 
 " worketh hitherto, and I work c ;" meaning that 
 He who gave Him the injunction to rest on the 
 Sabbath day, did not Himself conform to it, but 
 continued his work in keeping up the course of 
 nature ; and that He, Jesus, was to be considered 
 as that same divine Being. 
 
 All these indications were combined with re- 
 peated hints and express assertions, which con- 
 firmed the impression they were of themselves 
 calculated to make. When, for example, Philip 
 said to him, " Shew us the Father;" his reply 
 was, " Have I been so long time with you, and 
 yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? he that has 
 seen me has seen the Father, and how sayest 
 thou then, Shew us the Father' 1 ?" an answer 
 which, sufficiently explicit itself, yet refers to a 
 long train of intimations which had been pre- 
 viously lost on Philip " Have I been so long 
 time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, 
 Philip ?" Again, He employed such language as 
 c John v. 17. ' John xiv. 9.
 
 138 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 this to his apostles, " I am in the Father, and 
 the Father in me e ." " If a man love me, he 
 will keep my words, and my Father will love 
 him, and we will come unto him, and make our 
 abode with him f ." 
 
 The actual result of all this, appears on the 
 pages of the apostolic writings, where we find 
 attributed to Christ that agency, which the earlier 
 people of God were assured was the agency of 
 the Father; as in this passage of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Colossians, " by Him were all 
 things created, that are in heaven, and that are 
 in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be 
 thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : 
 all things were created by Him, and for Him: 
 and He is before all things, and by Him all things 
 consist 5 ." Or again, it is expressly said of Him 
 that He is "God h ," "the true God 1 ," "the 
 great God k ," " the Lord of Glory 1 ," " the King 
 of Kings and Lord of Lords m ;" all titles which 
 were recognised as descriptive of the Father. 
 
 e John xiv. 11. f John xiv. 23. * Coloss. i. 16, 17, 
 
 h Rom. ix. 5. ' 1 John v. 20. k Titus ii. 13. 
 
 1 James ii. 1. m Rev. xix. 16.
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 136 
 
 III. Together with the manifestation of a third 
 divine Person as presiding in a third Temple, 
 there was need of fresh provisions for declaring the 
 divine Unity. The need, however, was less in 
 this than in either of the preceding Revelations. 
 In the first place, the worshippers in the Third 
 Temple had now the full benefit of all the decla- 
 rations respecting the Unity, which had guarded 
 their predecessors from misapprehension. Of 
 these, the Old Testament Scriptures contained 
 many that had long familiarized those acquainted 
 with them with the idea of identity between God 
 and his Spirit. With the impression of these 
 Scriptures therefore, the coming of a Divine 
 Ruler, claiming to be that Holy Spirit, was in 
 itself less likely to create the notion of a different 
 Being, than the appearance and circumstances of 
 the Immanuel which was to be, as the prophet 
 intimated, " a new thing"." From Christ's own 
 teaching again, which contained on this as on other 
 points of Christianity, preparatory instruction, 
 much had been learnt ; or rather much had been 
 treasured up which was now explained by inspi- 
 ration. He, for instance, had promised them the 
 Isaiah xliii. 19.
 
 140 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 coming of another Comforter, describing Him at 
 one time as the Holy Ghost , at another as 
 Himself p , and then again as the Father 1. He 
 describes Him as his own Spirit 1 , as the Father's 
 Spirit ', and the Spirit of truth * ; or (agreeably 
 to the phraseology of the New Testament) the 
 presiding Spirit of the true or real dispensation. 
 
 III. Accordingly, the especial provisions made on 
 the coming of the third Person of the Trinity, for 
 preserving still the doctrine of the divine Unity, 
 are in some instances only allusions to Christ's 
 previous instructions now better understood and 
 applied. Thus St. John's words in his first Epi- 
 stle u , "he that keepeth his (Christ's) command- 
 ments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And 
 hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the 
 Spirit which He hath given us," are plainly a 
 reference to those passages above noticed, in 
 which our Lord identified his coming and the 
 Holy Spirit's ; and prepared his disciples to recog- 
 nise the abode of the Spirit with them as his own 
 residence in St. John's own language, to " know 
 
 John xiv. 26. P John xiv. 18. 1 John xiv. 23. 
 
 ' John xvi. 14, 15. John xv. 26. * John xv. 26. 
 
 xvi. 13. "1 John iii. 24.
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 141 
 
 that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hatli 
 given us." 
 
 As in respect of the Immanuel's divine nature, 
 that of the third Person too was identified with 
 the one God, by attributing to Him a sphere of 
 agency which had been before appropriated to 
 the Father, or to Father and Son identified. 
 Thus the Spirit is represented as " searching all 
 things, even the deep things of God x ," and even 
 as having raised Christ from the dead ?. Some- 
 times too that which is recorded of the Father in 
 the Old Testament, is quoted or referred to as 
 if it had been the agency of the Holy Ghost ; as 
 in Acts xxviii. 25, 26. where the apostle Paul 
 ascribes to the Holy Spirit words which Isaiah 
 declares to have been the words of the Lord*. 
 
 But the one great provision for the doctrine 
 of the divine Unity, which is peculiar to the last 
 Temple and as belonging to the final Revela- 
 tion, teaches that Unity at once with respect to 
 all the Persons is the form of words appended to 
 the rite of baptism. It is plain that Christians 
 
 1 Cor. ii. 10. illustrated by Deut. xxvii. 15. " The 
 secret things belong to the Lord our God." 
 
 ' 1 Peter Hi. 18. Isaiah vi. 8, 9, 10.
 
 1 42 Connection of the three Temples 
 
 are properly baptized unto Christ ; they are a 
 continuation of his disciples, and in that title, as 
 well as in the title of Christians, is implied that 
 it is so. The natural form of baptism therefore 
 would have been unto Christ. But it was espe- 
 cially enjoined, that it should be unto Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost ; so as to indicate that in 
 being baptized unto Christ, we are baptized unto 
 that God who has been worshipped as Father,- as 
 Son, and as Holy Ghost \ 
 
 At the time, this encouraged and obliged the 
 Christian convert to claim connection with the 
 Father, lest ignorance, or error, or prejudice, should 
 disjoin the God of the old dispensation from that 
 of the new. But it was no temporary provision. 
 It was a sacramental seal affixed to the great truth, 
 that God, manifested to Christians only in his Son 
 and by his Spirit, is still the same God of the 
 creation, the same God of Abraham, of Isaac, of 
 Jacob, and of Moses. The baptismal form con- 
 nects the earlier with the latter dispensations 
 the dispensation of the Law, with that of the 
 
 a The Scriptural expression is properly " into the name," 
 not " in the name" according to our version. The mistrans- 
 lation probably arose from the " in nomine'' of the Vulgate.
 
 with the doctrine of the Trinity. 143 
 
 Gospel, as provided by the Son, and taught and 
 perfected by the Spirit. It stamps the baptized 
 with the character of the true Israel the true 
 children of Abraham, and heirs of the promise 
 made unto the patriarchs and to Adam. It 
 teaches us that in Christianity are comprehended, 
 continued, and completed, all the covenants from 
 the fall unto the redemption and sanctification of 
 man, in whatever divers ways communicated and 
 ordained. It is a memorial to us, that although 
 " God in divers manners spake in times past 
 unto the Fathers 1 '," and unto us in his Son, and 
 by his Spirit, no variableness or shadow of turning 
 in Him is implied by these differences of manifest- 
 ation, and changes of dispensation. He is still 
 Alpha and Omega ; the beginning and the 
 ending, which is, and which was, and which is to 
 come c ." 
 
 b Heb. i. I. Rev. i. 8.
 
 CHRIST A PATTERN OF CHRISTIAN 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 IF Scripture did not expressly teach us, that 
 one object of Christ's appearance on earth was 
 to furnish an example for our imitation, it would 
 still be impossible to doubt that such was the 
 design of Providence. The Son of God could not 
 have lived with men on earth, instructed them, 
 died for them, and established a connection and 
 intercourse with them for ever, without being 
 regarded as a model of behaviour by his followers. 
 Imitation must naturally and certainly have taken 
 place, in proportion as the disciple believed and 
 loved Him. All that would seem requisite for 
 the inspired guides of the Church to do on this 
 score, would be, to regulate this strong impulse 
 to prevent it, if possible, from being directed to 
 any portions of his life and character, in which 
 imitation might be frivolous or wrong ; or again 
 to point specifically to those features of Chris- 
 tian perfection, in the attainment of which his 
 example might be most needful.
 
 1 46 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 Both these objects have been admirably ac- 
 complished in the Scriptures of the New Testa- 
 ment. There is no one characteristic of those 
 writings, which is more remarkable, or more 
 strikingly evinces the agency of Divine inspira- 
 tion, than the manner in which the believer and 
 follower of Christ has been secured, by the very 
 record of his life, from misdirecting the strong 
 desire which that record naturally excites, to copy 
 his manners and his actions. Although the 
 Evangelists were all contemporary historians, and 
 two of them his daily companions and familiar 
 friends, we may observe how scrupulously they 
 have abstained from the slightest mention of so 
 many circumstances about Him, which, as unin- 
 spired biographers, they most assuredly would 
 have related, and would have descanted on with 
 peculiar interest. Nothing short of inspired pro- 
 hibition can account for the fact, that, connected 
 as they were with the subject of their biography, 
 they were the authors of such meagre and scanty 
 narratives as the four Gospels that they should 
 have sparingly selected, and drily stated, a very 
 limited number of facts, instead of recording all 
 that they knew of so wonderful a person, and
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 1 47 
 
 expatiating on every particular point. In the 
 narratives of St. Matthew and St. John especially, 
 it is impossible, that, without Divine intervention, 
 there should have been no notice of Christ's person, 
 for instance his dress his domestic habits 
 in short, of all that train of private and familiar 
 anecdote, which every writer similarly circum- 
 stanced is irresistibly prompted to give, and every 
 reader, to demand of him. Surely the hand of 
 God was here, forbidding a display of matters 
 which formed not the proper object of Christian 
 imitation ; and which, at the same time, would 
 have been the most likely to attract the regard 
 of the unwise and superstitious in preference to, 
 and in lieu of, those features in our great Example, 
 which it becomes us to study and to transfer to our 
 own lives. If the mere traditionary tales of the 
 handkerchief which bore the impress of his fea- 
 tures ; of the sepulchre in which his body was laid ; 
 of the wood of the cross to which he was nailed ; 
 and of the blood which issued from his side if 
 the idle traditions concerning these and the like 
 matters have proved the means of diverting 
 thousands during so many generations from a 
 genuine devotion to Christ, to a superstitious re- 
 
 L2
 
 148 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 verence for circumstances unessential to hi& 
 character; what might the result have been, 
 had all these topics formed part of the authentic 
 Gospels? And yet so natural, so strong, must 
 have been the tendency to indulge the curiosity 
 of mankind on these points, that we can scarcely 
 refuse to recognise the prohibitory influence of 
 the Holy Spirit in the total suppression of all 
 such information by the Evangelists and other 
 inspired teachers. 
 
 The propriety and wisdom of the scheme of 
 Scripture inspiration, in making prominent, on the 
 other hand, those features of our Lord's conduct 
 and character, which it was most essential to 
 propose as a pattern for imitation, is likewise 
 very obvious. In the code of morality, which 
 the Gospel was designed to purify and perfect, 
 the virtues, which most needed Divine sanction 
 and express precept, were forgiveness of injuries, 
 and humility. Other points of morality re- 
 quired indeed to be enforced by stronger and 
 nobler motives than heretofore, and to be im- 
 proved and perfected in the Gospel description 
 of them; but, to be "meek and lowly," and 
 " unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek,
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 149 
 
 to offer also the other" were maxims of duty 
 not recognized at all by the wisest and best 
 authorities of old time. Condescension and 
 placability were praised indeed by heathen mo- 
 ralists as tokens of a generous and magnanimous 
 spirit"; but not humility, not free forgiveness 
 of injuries. The "masters in Israel" too they 
 had converted into a maxim of morals, the law 
 which said, " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a 
 tooth ;" and taught their nation to look down 
 with contempt on the rest of mankind even on 
 the lords of the universe on the ground, that 
 the children of Abraham were alone the elect 
 of God, and that it was part of their religious 
 character to foster the proud consciousness of 
 so high a distinction. Here then was the pro- 
 
 * Nee vero audiendi, graviter qui inimicis irascendum puta- 
 bunt, idque magnanimi et fortis viri esse censebunt. Nihil 
 cniin laudabilius, nihil magno et prteclaro viro dignius placa- 
 bilitate atque dementia. In liberis vero populis, et in juris 
 aequabilitate, exercenda etiam est facilitas, et altitude animi 
 qua dicitur. Cicero de Officiis, lib. i. 25. The meaning 
 which the expression " altitude animi" thus appears to have 
 acquired, is very remarkable. Aristotle, in like manner, cha- 
 racterises his ftvyet*tyv%*s as ovii (tinri***f- Ethic, lib. iv. 
 c. Hi.
 
 1 50 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 vince, in which the influence of the Saviour's 
 example was most requisite ; and it is accord- 
 ingly his conformity to these new principles of 
 morality which the sacred writers more especially 
 recommend to our imitation. How far this has 
 been done with respect to humility, is the point 
 which I purpose to examine. 
 
 Numerous passages of the New Testament will 
 readily occur, as forming part of the apostolical 
 exhortations, or of our Lord's discourses, in which 
 we are directed to learn of Him, in respect of his 
 being meek and lowly. But there is one in par- 
 ticular, which I would select as the basis of the 
 present inquiry, because it comprises all the dif- 
 ferent aspects under which Christ is elsewhere 
 separately proposed as a pattern of humility. 
 The passage to which I allude is contained in the 
 second chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Phi- 
 lippians b . " Let this mind," writes the apostle, 
 "be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : 
 who, being in the form of God, thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God ; but made Himself 
 of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of 
 a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : 
 
 b Ver. 5, 6, 7, 8.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 151 
 
 and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled 
 himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross." This passage, I have 
 observed, combines all the several points of view, 
 in which Christ is elsewhere represented as an 
 example of humility for the Christian to follow. 
 These are three. I. In the first He is presented 
 to our contemplation as being originally " in the 
 form of God," and " thinking it not robbery to 
 be equal with God," and yet condescending to 
 assume the nature and condition of a human 
 being. II. The next display of humility alluded 
 to is, that, instead of choosing that sphere of 
 human life which was noblest and most powerful 
 kingly rank, wealth, and power He " took 
 upon Him the form of a servant." " He came," 
 as He told his disciples, " not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister ." III. The last point 
 introduced into the picture of humility is his 
 death on the cross. " He humbled Himself, and 
 became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the cross." What the character and obligation 
 of the whole example so described is, will best 
 appear by considering these several circum- 
 c Matt. xx. 28.
 
 1 52 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 stances in the history of our Lord, and seeing in 
 what way we are able and bound to imitate Him 
 in each. 
 
 I. The first is, his being made in the likeness of 
 men. In applying this view there is a caution to 
 be observed, very obvious when stated, but still 
 perhaps requiring to be stated. The mystery of 
 the Incarnation can only be contemplated as a 
 part of the example of humility, by considering 
 Christ as to his divine nature alone as Him who 
 in the beginning " was with God," and " was 
 God," and yet condescended to be " made flesh," 
 and to ." dwell among us 1 '." And yet, to the 
 divine nature, we can no more presume to attri- 
 bute the very qualities of humility and conde- 
 scension such as those qualities exist in a human 
 mind than we can the passions of men. Christ 
 in his human nature, or considered as to his 
 manhood united with and perfected by the God- 
 head Christ so considered, exhibits the very 
 qualities which man is to cultivate, and which 
 man may hope, in a greater or less degree, to 
 attain. But when we speak of imitating the 
 humility of Him who became man for us if we 
 " John i.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 1 53 
 
 use the expression with due reverence we can 
 only mean the observance of that behaviour 
 which, in us, is the result of humility and meek- 
 ness. And it is important to observe, that the 
 same may be said in several other cases also. 
 For instance, our Lord bids us be " perfect even 
 as our Father which is in heaven is perfect 6 :" 
 intending, of course, that we should aim at the 
 perfection of our nature, without supposing, that 
 we are thereby identifying our nature with his. 
 It is more properly, in short, the works of God, 
 than the divine nature, which we copy ; even as we 
 recognise the Divine presence by its results, and 
 not as it were " face to face," not " knowing Him 
 as we are known of Him." To speak of God as 
 humble, is indeed an expression from which every 
 serious and pious mind revolts ; although humility 
 is among the most pleasing characteristics of 
 Christ, and of Christians. 
 
 The mystery of the Incarnation, therefore, if 
 made a part of the example of humility, must be 
 applied in a way somewhat different from that in 
 which Christ's humility is appealed to in taking 
 on Him the form of a servant, or in submitting to 
 Matt. v. 48.
 
 154 Christ a pattern of Christian humility, 
 
 the disgrace of the cross. Its application is not, 
 however, the less practical or the less important 
 on this account. It is clearly not requisite, either 
 for the excitement, or for the success of imitation f , 
 that the means or instruments employed by the 
 copyist, should be the same as those employed 
 by him whose work he is studying and copying. 
 All that is absolutely requisite is, that there should 
 be some means in his power capable of producing 
 similar results. We cannot indeed assume, we 
 cannot even comprehend, perhaps, those properties 
 of the Divine nature, whose exercise is developed 
 in the mystery of the Incarnation so far, I 
 mean, as that mystery looks to us like conde- 
 scension but we know that humility is requisite 
 in us, in order that we should do any thing 
 resembling it; and we may be sure, therefore, 
 that we are called on by the example to be 
 humble, and to exercise humility. At the time 
 when St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, the con- 
 verted Jew must have understood, without any 
 such abstract reasoning, that the example pro- 
 
 f See Archbishop King's Discourse on Predestination, and 
 Dr. Whately's Preface.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 155 
 
 posed would be followed, by receiving the de- 
 spised and unclean Gentile, (whom education and 
 early habit had taught him to consider as essen- 
 tially belonging to a spiritual grade beneath him,) 
 on equal terms, and as a brother. The convert 
 from heathenism, too, must have felt, in like 
 manner, that he was conforming to the model, 
 by suppressing the contempt so generally felt for 
 that nation to which the apostles belonged, and 
 by condescending to learn wisdom of the simple, 
 and to be governed by the very outcasts of a 
 despised race. And both they and we can alike 
 understand its application to the perpetual con- 
 dition of men in all ages to the rich and great, 
 as warning them not to allow the consideration 
 of those worldly distinctions, which set them 
 above others, to enter into their spiritual view of 
 those same persons ; to the wise, as teaching 
 them a similar lesson with respect to their less 
 learned or less intelligent Christian brethren. 
 In common practice indeed, the very cau- 
 tion, which has been above suggested namely, 
 that it is the work of God, and not God Himself, 
 we imitate is found unnecessary, as far as 
 regards the imitation of Christ, and is chiefly
 
 156 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 needed to guard us against a false view, which 
 may perhaps accompany that imitation. 
 
 II. The next feature in the great picture of 
 humility is, that Christ took on Him the form of 
 a servant. I have distinguished this view from 
 the preceding, because the apostle has stated 
 them separately, and because they are really and 
 essentially distinct. The mystery of the Incar- 
 nation having been accomplished, it would have 
 been a lesson of condescension to us, in whatever 
 station of life the Anointed of God had been placed. 
 But, instead of riches, honours, and empire, he 
 chose a humble condition, and unambitious course 
 of life. The application of the example is, in 
 this case, it will be observed, materially different 
 from the former. It is not merely an act, which 
 it requires humility in us to copy ; but one itself 
 proceeding from the meekness and lowliness of 
 a human mind. In this case, it is not merely 
 a similar result which the imitation attains, or 
 strives to attain, but literally " the same mind 
 which was in Christ Jesus." 
 
 The particular need of this feature in the ex- 
 ample of Christ's humility his refusal, namely, 
 to assume temporal royalty or any worldly dis-
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 1 57 
 
 tinctions, is apparent, when we recollect the 
 strong prejudices of the Jews at the advent in 
 favour of a temporal Messiah prejudices from 
 which the apostles themselves were not exempt, 
 until long after the crucifixion and the worldly- 
 mindedness connected with those prejudices. 
 But the more important and needful application 
 is perhaps to be assigned to a much later period 
 of the Church. Christ's death soon put an end 
 to the vague notions of his followers respecting 
 a kingdom of this world, to be governed by Him; 
 and theirdespised and destitute condition for a time 
 effectually checked the renewal of a similar ambi- 
 tion in the uninspired Church. Christians soon 
 ceased to feel it an humiliation, that the temporal 
 sceptre had for ever passed away from the true 
 Israel of God. The Lord's conduct in blessing 
 his enemies, and forgiving the injuries of his 
 persecutors the other feature of his example 
 made prominent by the sacred writers this was 
 then, it would seem, the most requisite. It was 
 when the Church ceased to be an object of perse- 
 cution, and rose in favour, in wealth, and in 
 influence, that, like its meek and lowly Founder, 
 it was presented by the Tempter with an offer
 
 158 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 of the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of 
 them. It was then that the Church began to 
 have need to remember his example and his 
 words, "My kingdom is not of this world f ." 
 " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly ." 
 
 It is our happy lot to have lived in an age, 
 in which we look back it should be with sorrow 
 and fear indeed, as well as with thankfulness 
 on the overwhelming success of that temptation, 
 and the ineffectual operation of the great example 
 which should have counteracted it. But although 
 we are not members of a Church, which has 
 yielded to that temptation, and has assumed 
 temporal dominion ; we must remember, it is 
 to the individual churchman, as well as to the 
 Church, that the example and the warning of 
 our Lord is addressed. Be our Church ever 
 so free from false ambition, its members indi- 
 vidually will not be guiltless, if to any one its 
 spiritual dignities shall become an occasion of 
 worldly-mindedness. It is not that wealth, 
 rank, empire, are, in themselves, unlawful 
 unchristian. It would be absurd to suppose this. 
 
 1 John xviii. 36. Matt. xi. 29.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 1 59 
 
 It is essential to the well-being of society that 
 these should be made objects of pursuit ; and 
 the acquisition of them is a real blessing to him 
 who rightly employs them. But the pursuit 
 of these objects is condemned by Christ's ex- 
 ample, in that point of view in which Christ's 
 example applies whenever the Church, namely, 
 or the individual, claims these glories of this world 
 as a Christian right, and pursues them as a 
 Christian business. This cannot be " the same 
 mind that was in Christ Jesus." 
 
 III. The last instance that is mentioned, as 
 filling up the Christian pattern of humility, is 
 the death of Christ on the cross: "He humbled 
 Himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross." It is not, of course, 
 Christ's mercy in making atonement for us, nor 
 his patience under suffering, and resignation to 
 the Father's will, that is considered; but, his 
 humility, in submitting to the disgrace, the 
 ignominy, of being crucified. How strongly and 
 generally the infamy of such a death was then 
 felt, is apparent, as well from contemporary 
 history, as from the manner in which it is per- 
 petually alluded to by that apostle, who so
 
 160 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 eminently united Christian heroism with Chris- 
 tian humility ; and who so often glories in this 
 confessed reproach to his cause. Besides the 
 passage particularly under consideration, may be 
 instanced his words in the Epistle to the He- 
 brews, where the same view of Christ's example 
 in this respect is taken. " Let us run the race 
 that is set before us. looking unto Jesus, the 
 Author and Finisher of our faith ; who, for the 
 joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, 
 despising the shame h ." So too, in his Epistle to 
 the Galatians, he speaks of "the offence of the 
 cross ! ;" and says of himself with reference to it, 
 " God forbid that I should glory, save in the 
 cross of our Lord Jesus Christ k ." 
 
 The Christian of the present day, however, 
 who should be subjected to a similar death, would 
 evidently find in it no trial of humility ; nor is it 
 now a subject of humiliation to belong to the 
 religion of a crucified Founder. His name has 
 long removed the idea of degradation, which once 
 attached to this kind of death, and has indeed 
 connected it with exalted and holy associations. 
 For the specific application of this part of the 
 
 " Heb. xii. 1, 2. 'Gal. v. 11. " Gal. vi. 14.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 161 
 
 great example, the Christian must, therefore, 
 consider to what portion of religious duty the 
 scandal or offence of shame now attaches what 
 now corresponds to it. It began with the cross, 
 which was " unto the Jews a stumblingblock, 
 (<rxav&xxov,) and unto the Greeks foolishness 1 ;" 
 but, in the progress of eighteen centuries, and in 
 the numberless variations of condition which have 
 affected the different branches and subdivisions of 
 the Christian world, it has been continually a 
 shifting point. Scarcely one century had elapsed 
 before it was transferred from the cross ; and the 
 learned and accomplished converts from heathen- 
 ism who then began more freely to embrace 
 the Gospel felt greater humiliation in becoming 
 disciples of an unlettered Christian teacher, 
 and students of simple Gospel-truth, than ap- 
 peared in acknowledging a crucified Lord, or in 
 dying themselves on the cross. Onward still in the 
 course of Christian history, we see, the Roman 
 convert especially, struggling with the sense of a 
 different worldly shame, in admitting Christianity 
 as the religion of his country, and, thereby, 
 sweeping away those monuments of paganism, 
 
 1 1 Cor. i. 23. 
 M
 
 1 62 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 with which ancestral and national glory were so 
 intimately associated. The scandal of shame has 
 been different in different times and places, but 
 in no age, in no Church, has Christianity ever 
 been exempt from it. Let us not presume to 
 say, that even we are free from every form of it. 
 If its influence extend to none else, it is at least 
 felt I believe keenly felt by young persons 
 in their first free intercourse with the world. 
 It is especially the case, with those who at the 
 age of eighteen or twenty are sent forth from 
 their home, for purposes of education or busi- 
 ness, to make their first essay of independent life. 
 There is, at that period of life, a shyness, and 
 dread, of avowing the control and the comforts 
 of religion, which often drives those who have 
 been trained in habits of piety, even into an open 
 disavowal of its influence. How many so cir- 
 cumstanced have, like Peter, denied their Master ! 
 not all would God it were like him to gather 
 strength from failure, and to deny Him no 
 more. 
 
 How can this be remedied ? I would sug- 
 gest to one assailed by this temptation, (which I 
 am far from regarding as contemptible, and easy
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 163 
 
 of resistance,) to imagine an Apostle saying to 
 him in some of these moments of his weakness, 
 " I was present when my Saviour was crucified. 
 I saw his cross prepared, and one on either side 
 of it, for a criminal of the vilest class. I saw 
 Him conducted to it, in the midst of a rabble, 
 such as collect at public executions, assailing Him 
 with their savage yells and their inhuman ri- 
 baldry hooting at Him, spitting on Him, buffet- 
 ting Him, and even while He was nailed to the 
 accursed wood, striving to rouse Him, if possible, 
 from the agonies of the death He was dying, to 
 keep alive the bitter sense of its degradation and 
 infamy. His friends were dispersed, his enemies 
 triumphant ; mine own countrymen had been his 
 accusers ; the Romans his executioners. I heard 
 Him distinctly say, ' My God, my God, why 
 hast thou forsaken me?' I saw Him expire, 
 while both enemies and friends around were dis- 
 posed to think, that the cause expired with Him 
 that the words, * It is finished,' were justly ap- 
 plicable to his kingdom. This was my trial 
 the present scene is yours and to both alike 
 apply that solemn warning, ' Whosoever shall be 
 ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the
 
 164 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come, 
 in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the 
 holy angels m ." This is no mere assumed case. 
 It is the very appeal which the apostles still make 
 to us in their writings. And if we refuse to 
 listen to their writings, let us not suppose that 
 we " should be persuaded, though one of them 
 rose from the dead" to repeat it. 
 
 IV. One consideration remains. In " looking 
 unto Jesus," and in applying his precept to be 
 " meek and lowly," we must be on our guard 
 against the many counterfeit qualities, which 
 have been mistaken for the true Gospel humility. 
 It is almost as necessary to observe what Chris- 
 tian humility is not, as to observe what it is. 
 
 1 . And first, it is plain from the case which has 
 been just considered, that we are not to suppose 
 that we are practising Christian humility, because 
 we are humbling ourselves to our fellow- creatures. 
 Humility to God is not only widely different from 
 humility to man, but in some cases calls for a be- 
 haviour which is the very reverse. Pride, stub- 
 bornness, contumacythese are among the most fre- 
 quent charges which have been brought even against 
 m Luke ix. 26,
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 165 
 
 Christ's meekest martyrs, and truest servants. 
 I do not say that the charge has been deserved ; but 
 it denotes a display of qualities only exaggerated 
 into their faulty excess. And surely Cranmer 
 was not the meeker Christian, when, in a mo- 
 ment of weakness, he submitted to the will of his 
 crafty adversaries ; than when his mild spirit re- 
 sumed its tone of firmness, and he in the same 
 breath set at nought man's authority, and bowed 
 himself heart -stricken before his Saviour. Luther 
 cast publicly into the flames the warrant of Papal 
 supremacy, renouncing his allegiance to the 
 Romish Church, when, as yet, there was no 
 Church of refuge for him to flee to ; and shame 
 on the Protestant, who should construe that noble 
 burst of heroism into a want of Christian humi- 
 lity. And what shall we say of those more 
 ancient worthies, who were even commanded by 
 their Master to confront kings and rulers for his 
 sake and for the Gospel's ? Nay, let us look at 
 the example of Christ himself; and recollect his 
 unbending demeanour before Pilate, when the 
 astonished Roman exclaimed, " Knowest thou 
 not, that 1 have power to crucify thee, and have
 
 166 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 power to release thee m !" In these instances, it 
 is not Christian humility which is absent not 
 humility to God but submission to man. A 
 Christian may and ought to be too humble to 
 make up his mind hastily on momentous points ; 
 he may and ought to be too humble to satisfy 
 his conscience, without a severe self-examination, 
 as well as an examination of the opinions of 
 others : but there are some who are too humble 
 to acknowledge and to speak the truth. 
 
 2. Again, where this confusion of worldly and 
 spiritual humility has not taken place, how often 
 have unchristian, and, at best, frivolous, practices, 
 been palmed on the world for the genuine fruits 
 of " that mind which was in Christ Jesus !" 
 The self-abasement of the monk, the hermit, 
 and the whole class of ascetics, furnishes ob- 
 vious examples of this false humility perhaps 
 the most striking instances of it that have 
 ever been exhibited. To the Protestant of our 
 Church and of our times, however, it may be 
 more profitable to contemplate that form of 
 self-abasement, which mistaken piety assumes 
 
 "" Johnxvi. 11.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 167 
 
 amongst us now. The hermit and the monk 
 have long since disappeared from amongst us 
 not so the morbid temperament, which gave 
 that shape to their devotion. Do we doubt it ? 
 Look at him, who broods over the picture of 
 man's fallen nature, to find there no trace of the 
 hand which created him, but only one foul, ab- 
 horrent mass of corruption. Look at him, who 
 reads in the divine decrees a mystery, not of 
 love as Scripture represents it but of harrow- 
 ing surmise and apprehension who sees in 
 election and predestination a stern economy, that 
 must render his holiest aspirations and best efforts 
 unavailing the thoughts of which has withered 
 within his heart the peace, the joy, the hope, of a 
 Christian ; and has left him only the faith of 
 those miserable unredeemed spirits, who " believe 
 and tremble." Look at such as these; and then 
 pronounce whether there be not here an abase- 
 ment of mind, no less pitiable, mischievous, un- 
 christian, than any bodily self- torment, that 
 has ever saddened the cloister of the monk, or 
 the cell of the anchoret. See whether there be 
 not the same spiritual pride combined with this 
 abject humiliation the like contempt for all who
 
 168 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 are pursuing a different path of holiness. Observe, 
 in both cases, the same rapid transition from self- 
 condemnation and despair, to over- weening con- 
 fidence to-day the abandoned of heaven, to- 
 morrow the chosen vessel and the spiritual guide 
 of others. 
 
 And if the evil results of all this were confined 
 to the deluded individuals if they extended no 
 further than to those who admire, and approve, 
 and imitate the mischief would be doubtless 
 great, but it would at least be bounded by some 
 definite line. Unhappily, the sober-minded, as 
 well as the enthusiastic although in a different 
 way are ensnared through the prevalence of such 
 behaviour around them the enthusiastic, from a 
 natural propensity towards the same; the sober- 
 minded, from their very abhorrence of it. These 
 last are tempted . to abstain altogether from la- 
 bouring after the attainment of Christian humility, 
 rather than incur the risque of being numbered 
 with those, who, on every side, are perverting and 
 bringing discredit on it, and rendering it odious by 
 the affectation of pride. Their's is the temptation 
 of the slothful servant, who hid his Lord's talent 
 in a napkin, because the employment of it was
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 169 
 
 attended with hazard of failure. It may be re- 
 garded indeed as one of the standing trials ap- 
 pointed us by Providence, that, exposed as every 
 Christian commandment and institution is to 
 abuse, and abused as every Christian command- 
 ment and institution is in turn, we should never 
 shrink from the use of that which is good and 
 holy, because it is abused. The strong tendency 
 to an opposite line of conduct is a matter which 
 demands the most serious consideration of every 
 man. In respect to the outward and ceremonial 
 part of religion, the existence of such a tendency 
 is indeed confessed, and has often been provided 
 against. We all know how much obstinate re- 
 sistance it has cost the Church of England, to 
 retain the surplice, the church music, and, I 
 may add, the venerable structures in which we 
 assemble for public worship, solely from a re- 
 action of feeling, caused by the abuse of these 
 and other innocent and seemly appendages of 
 devotion. In the case of these outward ordi- 
 nances, the tendency is obvious. But the ex- 
 posure and contempt of any flagrant perversion 
 of God's moral laws of inward Christianity 
 occasions a temptation more subtle, and there- 
 
 N
 
 170 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 
 
 fore more dangerous. For whilst the recoil 
 of the wrong impulse is the same as in the other 
 case, it is the heart and not the garment the 
 inward and not the outward man, about which 
 the feeling exists. 
 
 Let the sober-minded Christian then beware, 
 lest in the habit of suspicion, which he can 
 scarcely help acquiring from the detection of 
 false humility in its many forms of delusion 
 and imposture let him beware, lest he forget 
 that there is such a thing as true Christian hu- 
 mility. Let him remember too the place and 
 importance which it assumes in the Gospel 
 scheme. It appears there not only as an eminent 
 and distinguishing feature of Christian practice, 
 but as a previous and conditional requisite for 
 obtaining that divine grace, through which alone 
 we can practise Christianity at all. We are told, 
 to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; 
 forasmuch as " it is God that worketh in us to 
 will and to do of his good pleasure" ;" to Him 
 therefore, as continually present, we must con- 
 tinually humble ourselves, in order that we may 
 be enabled to do his will I may add, in order 
 n Philip, ii. 13.
 
 Christ a pattern of Christian humility. 171 
 
 that we may be enabled to understand it. For it 
 is in the study of Gospel truth, and not only in 
 the practice of the Gospel precepts, that " God 
 resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the 
 humble ." 
 
 James iv. 6. 1 Peter r. 5. 
 
 THE END.
 
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