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THE 
 
 Christ of the Apostles' Creed: 
 
 THE VOICE OP THE 
 
 CHURCH AGAINST ARIANISM, STRAUSS AND RENAN, 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 Tt vfiiv 6oKei rreoi tov Xpiorov ; rlvo^ vlo^ egtl ; 
 
 Matt, xxii. 42. 
 
 ' The Lord of hosts hath walked 
 This world of man : the one Almighty sent 
 His everlasting S<.n to wear the flesh, 
 And glorify this mortal human shape." — Milman. 
 
 BY 
 
 KEY. W. A. SCOTT, D. D 
 
 rJi 
 
 PASTOR OF THE 42d 6TKEBT PRESB\TEU1AN CIIUKCII. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 
 
 770 BROADWAY. 
 
 1867. 
 
 r 
 
 L 
 
^1- 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the yeiir 1S67, 
 
 By PwEV. W. a. SCOTT, D. D., 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tho 
 
 Southeru District of New YorJi. 
 
 MoCkba and Milxbb, 
 
 Stereotype IS, 
 
THE APOSTLES' CREED, 
 
 E MtUtbt 
 
 in ©oi tl)e Jatl)cr 2llinigl)tn, maker of Ijtamn anlr earti) ; 
 
 autr C Mtlitbt 
 
 in jJe0U0 €l)rist 1)10 onin iSon, our forb; 
 
 llll)o ruQ0 fonccbcli b^) tijc (Join ©l)O0t, born of tl)c llirgin 
 iflarn ; 
 
 jSufferA unbcr J]ontiu0 JJilote, xoas rrucificb, kalr, anb 
 buvieb ; 
 
 J5c bc0cntlicir into l)cll; 
 
 ®l)e tljiri) bag l)c rose again front tl)e bcab; 
 
 ^t ascmicb into l)caucn, anb sittetl) on tl)e rigljt l)anb 
 of ®ob tl)c Jatljcr ^^linigljtn ; 
 
 from tl)cnce l)e bIjoII tome to jubje ti}t quirk anb tl)e 
 beab. 
 
 3 bdictJe in tl)c (5ols ®i)O0t ; €l)c ijolg (Catljolic €I)urcl) ; 
 ®l)e Communion of Saint0 ; ®l)e forgit)cnc00 of Bin0 , (El)e 
 rr0urrcction of tl)c bobji, anb tl)e life cDcrlasting. 2lmen. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Never since the foundation of the world was there so 
 much learning and human intellect employed on Pilate' s 
 question: ''What shall I then do with Jesus which is 
 called Christ?" as at this moment. But if this was a 
 grave and solemn question with the Roman Procurator 
 and the Jewish people more than eighteen hundred years 
 ago, it is not less important now. The knightly Roman 
 Governor and both Jews and Gentiles made great mis- 
 takes in answering this question. Barabbas was released 
 and Jesus was crucified. But when the Lord of glory 
 was slain with wicked hands, this question did not cease 
 to agitate the minds of both Jews and Gentiles. Nor has 
 it ever been entirely at rest from that day to this ; but at 
 no time, nor in any generation since Jesus was born, has 
 this question excited as much interest as it does now, 
 throughout the civilized world. For nearly fifty years 
 the leading Reviews of Europe have been heavy with 
 ^elaborate Articles on lives of the Lord Jesus. Such 
 publications are almost endless, and their names legion. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 In Great Britain and Germany and France, and perhaps 
 even in our country, theological and metaphysical sub- 
 jects are among the most popular topics of discussion. 
 The public mind is greatly exercised on matters of the 
 most solemn importance concerning Christ, the Church, 
 and Christianity. '' Tracts for the Times," '' Essays and 
 Reviews," and '' Replies ;" and Renan, Newman, Pusey, 
 and ''Ecce Homo," are rivals for popularity with the 
 latest sensational novels. Nor is this to be regretted. For 
 although the results are not always such as are to be de- 
 sired, yet the mental excitement manifested on such ques- 
 tions is far more hopeful than indifference or stupidity. 
 Amid the awful tendency of modern times to a gross 
 materialism, we hail this intellectual activity as a good 
 omen. All light, it is true, is not saving, yet saving grace 
 always enters the soul by light. And besides, this in- 
 tense interest on such subjects is in itself altogether justi- 
 fiable. For if Christianity is any thing, it is every thing. 
 And as Scherer most feelingly admits, a religion that is 
 not positive is nothing at all.* And any proper idea of 
 the Christian religion without some knowledge of the 
 person and character of its Founder, is impossible. There 
 have been many controversies in the Christian world on 
 minor points, concerning which different branches of the 
 Catholic Church took their position, and in process of time 
 have modified or changed their grounds. But from Simon 
 
 ♦Melanges d'histoire religieuse ; pp. 250-254. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 Magus and Cerintlius to Theodore Parker and Renan, the 
 question, ^' What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?" 
 has been a vital one. Faith in the Incarnation, the per- 
 sonal history, real death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
 is the fundamental article of Christianity, and without 
 this belief the Church could have had no existence. Is 
 this belief correct ? Does it rest on the truth, or is it a 
 misbelief ? A conspectus of the theological and critical 
 literature of the age would lead ns to think that this, 
 beyond all comparison, is the most absorbing question of 
 our times. Perhaps one reason for this is, that there is 
 more critical learning set free from other pursuits, and at 
 leisure to be employed on such investigations, than ever 
 before. Our scholars are now better acquainted with the 
 languages and dialects cognate to the Hebrew. We know 
 more of the habits and feelings of Oriental life. W^e can 
 perhaps better apprehend the modes of thought common 
 to our Lord' s followers in His day, and hence we are 
 brought more closely into sympathy with Him, and our 
 desire is therefore stronger to know more fully the parti- 
 culars of His human life. Nor is it possible for us to con- 
 ceive of a greater subject, or one that should more ear- 
 nestly employ our noblest energies than to apprehend the 
 true God, whom to know aright, and his son Jesus Christ, 
 is life eternal. 
 
 Christ of the Apostles' Creed ! And why not ? 
 According to Pearson, there are twelve articles in this 
 Creed, half of which are concerning Christ ; or, if we 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 count the lines composing it as printed in our Catechism, 
 nine out of the fourteen are taken up in defining and ex- 
 pressing what we are to believe concerning God' s only 
 Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And in the Nicene and the 
 so-called Athanasian Creed, quite as much prominence is 
 given to explaining what we are to believe concerning 
 Christ. Only ignorance or prejudice can say the Apostles' 
 Creed is not our Creed. The Apostles' Cre^d is common to 
 all believers in Christ. It no more belongs to prelatical 
 and papal communions than does the Bible, or than Christ 
 himself. All branches of the one great holy Catholic 
 Church claiming to hold evangelical or orthodox doctrines, 
 believe in the Apostles' Creed as fully as they do in the 
 Ten Commandments, the Lord' s Prayer, or the Sermon on 
 the Mount. It is a part of their symbols and is taught in 
 their families and in their schools. They do not hold that 
 the Creed was given in its present form by inspiration, as 
 the holy Scriptures were, but that it embodies the funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Gospel, as believed and preached 
 by the Apostles."^ And if in some quarters there are signs 
 of unduly exalting the rites and formularies of Christian- 
 ity, or even a tendency in some prelatical zones towards 
 Rome, there are, on the other hand, evidences of a deep 
 and earnest awakening, as we believe, to the great doc- 
 
 * The purpose of this volume does not require a critical history of the Apos- 
 tles' Creed, but a brief review of false doctrines put forth in the early ages, which 
 this Creed was intended to deny and confute, as well as some remarks on the 
 use of Creeds, and the Council of Nice, may be found in our Appendix. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 trines of the Cross, indicated by an increasing desire, in 
 many non-prelatical communions, to make more promi- 
 nent the doctrines of their ancient symbols, and to adhere 
 more steadfastly to such a platform as the Apostles' 
 Creed. This, with an out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, is 
 all we conceive to be necessary for the latter day glory. 
 
 The occasion of the following Discourses is easily 
 described. In the midst of other excitements and a differ- 
 ent style of preaching, the author felt a very great desire 
 to hold up "the central figure of the universe" more 
 prominently before the minds of his hearers. In casting 
 around for a plan, he thought to make Witsius on the 
 Creed the foundation of a series of Discourses on Christ, 
 but he soon became convinced it would not be expedient 
 to follow this great author as closely as he had intended 
 to do ; he therefore determined to adopt a plan of his own, 
 more fitted, according to his judgment, to the necessities 
 of the times. Accordingly, he applied himself to the study 
 of Lightfoot, Baronius, Barrow, Hooker, Bingham, Lard- 
 ner, Lei and, Charnock, Bates, Leighton, Ridgely, D wight. 
 Hill, Dick, Calvin, and Hey, with a free use of lexicons 
 and commentators on the points under examination. As, 
 however, I did not find any one of these authors, great and 
 learned as they are, altogether such as I thought just the 
 kind of book I should like to put at this time into the 
 hands of my congregation, I have attempted to interest 
 them in the following discourses. / swear hy no man\^ 
 words, nor do I prcr^si'^WS^j^sio adopt any of the 
 
 *>' 
 
 > 
 
 s^ 
 
 ff^^' ' 
 
 
X PEE FACE. 
 
 authors referred to in this volume ; "but 1 wish here to 
 acknowledge the value I set upon and the use I have 
 made of Witsius' '^Dissertations on the Apostles' Creed ;" 
 Burnet's and also Rev. E. Harold Browne's '^ Exposition 
 of the Thirty-nine Articles ;" Suicer de Symb. ; Ball Def. 
 Fid. Nic. ; Pearson's '' ' Great' Exposition of the Creed ;" 
 Bishop Forbes' '* Explanation of the Nicene Creed ;" and 
 Harvey's '' History and Theology of the Three Creeds." 
 
 Although freely using these authors, I have followed 
 my own plan, and endeavored to present the Cheist of 
 THE Apostles as the great Saviour of the world. And I 
 hope I shall not be considered rash and presumptuous for 
 venturing to preach and publish Discourses on subjects 
 so profound and so mysterious, because so many other 
 authors of the highest culture and finest intellectual 
 powers have already put forth their best efforts in the 
 same direction. It has seemed to me the specialities of 
 the times laid this duty on me, at least as far as my own 
 congregation was concerned. It is indeed not easy for us 
 to realize the debt we owe to the able and learned defend- 
 ers of our holy faith in past ages ; and after all the slurs 
 at, and attacks made upon our Creeds, on account of their 
 stiffness, dry logic, and artificial and professional defini- 
 tions, I am more than ever convinced that we are in greater 
 need of an exact theology than at any time since the days 
 of the Apostles. It is one of the many evidences of God' s 
 care over His Church, that He has raised up from age to 
 age men qualified by learning and grace to explain, defend, 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 and propagate the great doctrines of the Cross, which 
 have been most surely believed by the Church of God 
 from the beginning. And as it has been, so we believe 
 it will be. And as every age has its own characteristics, 
 and calls for its own authors, so every man has his own 
 anointing {charisma)^ and is called to do his own work in 
 his own day, and to do it well and quickly, and with all 
 his might, for the night of death cometh speedily, when 
 no man can work. As the only way to get darkness out 
 is to let light in, so my great desire in these Discourses 
 has not been so much to find out novelties or to expose 
 false doctrines in detail, as to explain the truth according 
 to the Divine Word, and with the light of the interpreta- 
 tion put upon it in* past ages by some of the ablest and 
 most pious scholars, and thus to guide the mind to a well- 
 grounded faith in the " Redeemer of God's elect." For 
 if Christ be formed in our hearts the hope of glory, then 
 we are not so easily led astray by false doctrines. , If the 
 mind is full of the light of truth, error cannot enter. 
 
 If this volume should find its way into the hands of 
 the learned critic, I beg he will remember that these Dis- 
 courses are not sermons, but rather historical and expo- 
 sitory Dissertations^ delivered before large assemblies, 
 consisting of persons of all ages and classes and conditions 
 in life ; and being continued from week to week, some 
 repetition was occasionally necessary, as also frequent 
 amplifications and explanations that would not have been 
 required before a body of theological students. And 
 
XU PEEFACE, 
 
 they are now published as nearly as possible just as they 
 were delivered, and at the desire of many who were 
 interested in them as they fell from their author's lips. 
 If otherwise qualified, it is well known that the absorbing 
 cares and labors and sympathies of a city Pastor in our 
 times do not allow leisure and strength for the pursuits of 
 literature as he might desire. But God does not require 
 every thing from any one man. 
 
 I beg also to invite the attention of kind readers, espe- 
 cially of liberally educated young men, to the ^'Aspect 
 of Modern Thought concerning Christ," as seen in our 
 examination of the theories of Strauss and Kenan, in the 
 Appendix to this volume. It is also hoped that the brief 
 review of the early heresies and philosophical opinions 
 advanced in the early ages concerning Christ, and the 
 notice of the Arian controversy, as given in the Appendix, 
 will be acceptable to the reader, and increase his interest 
 in thes^ Discourses. The volumes which I have ventured 
 heretofore to offer to the public, have been chiefly his- 
 torical expositions of Biblical characters, and designed 
 mainly for the young. In this one, my earnest wish is to 
 promote the sincere, intelligent, and humble belief of the 
 Truth concerning Christ, and especially to present Him 
 as He has been believed on in the world and received up 
 into glory, an Almighty Saviour. 
 
 Nbw York, February, 1867. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 BELIEVING IN THE NAME OP JESUS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 The Great Miracle — Dean Stanley. — The only Rule of Faith— The Name 
 Jesus, its Etymology and Signification — Strong Attachment of early 
 Christians to the Person and Name of Jesus — Bernard's Hymn 17-32 
 
 II. 
 
 BELIEVING ON THE NAME CHRIST. 
 
 Use of Creeds — Paul's Style of Preaching — The Faith of the ancient Jewish 
 Church — Cyril on the Name Christ — Why Jesus is called Christ — 
 Anointing — Hooker and Leighton. — Why we profess to believe this 
 Article 33-43 
 
 IIL 
 
 CHRIST GOD'S SON AND OUR LORD. 
 
 Respect for the Proper Titles of Persons — St. Peter's Confession of Christ 
 the True Faith — Mystery on such a Subject as the Persons of the God- 
 head — Jesus is God and Lord — Gregory Nazianzen, Theodorei. — Our 
 Covenant a Sacramental Oath — Quotations from Cleantfies, Epicteius, and 
 Seneca 49-67 
 
 IV. 
 
 JESUS "CONCEIVED" AND "BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY." 
 
 Disbelief— '•Needle-Guns" now wanted — "A Restatement of Doctrines — 
 Testimony of the Creeds — AtJuinasim. — The Incarnation — Our "Goel" 
 — Leighton 68-84 
 
XIV COKTENTS. 
 
 y. 
 
 CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE. 
 
 VXBS 
 
 Kabbinical Invention about two Messiahs — Pontius Pilate and his Official 
 
 Report to Rome — The Article of the Creed abundantly sustained 85-101 
 
 YI. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 King Clovis — The Bearing of this Article — The History of the Cross — The 
 Empress Helena — Death by Crucifixion described — This Doctrine funda- 
 mental — Christ's Trophies still hanging on the Cross as his Great 
 Triumphal Arch 102-123 
 
 YII. 
 
 GOD'S ONLY SON OUR "DEAD CHRIST." 
 
 Christ Suffering an exact Fulfilment of the Prophecies of the Jewish Church 
 concerning the Messiah — The Specialities of this Article of the Creed 
 confuting Mohammed and early Heretics — Our Lord's real Death, and 
 why — ^Benefits — Luther on Willingness to die 124-143 
 
 YIIL 
 
 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 Invited to Jesus' Funeral — The Hebrew Belief— Christianity teaches Respect 
 for the Dead and their Bodies — The Prophecies fulfilled in a Roman 
 Death and a Jewish Burial — Our Lord's Pall-bearers — Why Jesus was 
 buried — ^Uses of this Article 144-168 
 
 IX. 
 
 "HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. 
 
 Unsatisfactory State of this Article — Its History — Use of Abstracts — Calvin, 
 Dr. A. Alexander, Reformed Dutch Church — History of Terms, Sheol, 
 Hades^ Hell — Theory of Witsius, Calvin, and others rejected — What the 
 Descent into Hell means 169-193 
 
 X. 
 
 "HELL" NOT GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 Sheol and Hades among the Fathers — Peter's Argument — Dr. Barrow on 
 S'lcol — The Scriptures know nothing of Christ in Gehenna, nor of a 
 Limbus Futrum . . » » 194-223 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 XI. 
 CHRIST ROSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 PAQB 
 
 Christ's Resurrection a Vital Doctrine — Witnesses and Proofs — Jewish 
 
 Burial and Tomb — Why Jesus was so long.Buried 224-248 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION HISTORICALLY DEMONSTRATED. 
 
 Not incredible— Narratives not Fictions — The Witnesses — -The Marys — The 
 
 Evidences as a Whole— Benefits of this Doctrine 249-273 
 
 XIIL 
 
 CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 Historic Notice of Ascension Day — Place from which He Ascended — Sacred 
 Associations with Nature — Tiyne of the Ascension — The Fact itself and 
 the Proofs — With what Body He Ascended — Why He Asctnded, and 
 the Benefits 274-295 
 
 XIV. 
 
 "AND SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OP GOD." 
 
 Our Lord's " Session " at the Right Hand of God — Heaven of Heavens — Sir 
 William Rowan Hamilton's Suggestion that our Lord was Ten Days in 
 Ascending — Equality with the Father — The Place of Honor — Siiting 
 and Standing — Why He sitteth at the Right Hand of God 296-313 
 
 XV. 
 
 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 History of this Article, and its Points concerning the Coming of Christ in the 
 Last Judgment — Paul on Eternal Judgment — The Doctrine as set forth 
 in the Confession of Faith — Flace and Time of the Last Judgment — Jesus 
 Chihst the Judge, his Qualifications for this Office — Augustine. — Proofs 
 of God's Love 314-337 
 
 XVI. 
 
 CHRIST JUDGING THE WORLD. 
 
 Christ is the Final Judge of Quick and Dead— The Day is fixed— It follows 
 the General Resurrection — Premonitions and Moral Proofs of the Judg- 
 ment—Unfinished Problems— Awful Splendor of the Day — The Parties 
 
XV^l OONTEITTS. 
 
 Txon 
 Judged — Sins of the Qodlj — Our Responsibilities in Yiew of the Last 
 Judgment 338-357 
 
 XVIT. 
 
 RULES OF CHRIST'S FINAL JUDGMENT. 
 
 "Orations" on the Last Judgment — Br. Watts on "According to their "Works," 
 Distinct separate Destinies — Proceedings public — Eternity unchange- 
 able follows — The terrible Individuality of the Last Day — Doctrines and 
 Lessons from the Day of Final Judgment 358-381 
 
 The Appendix, page 383. 
 
 For chief things in tho Appendix, see Contents to Appendix, page 431. 
 
I. 
 
 BELIEVING IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 " And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His 
 Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment." — 1 John 
 iil 23. 
 
 Jesus Christ is "the greatest miracle of history.'* 
 He is himself the strongest " testimony to Christianity." 
 And man himself is the most complete proof that he 
 needs Christ. Human history is an illuminated pictorial 
 series demonstrating man's need of a Saviour, just such 
 as the Gospel makes known to us. ''For after that in 
 ;he wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, 
 it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save 
 them that believe." "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, 
 who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, 
 and sanctification, and redemption : That according as it 
 is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 
 1 Cor. i. 21, 30, 31. " When the fulness of the time was 
 come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made 
 under the law, to redeem them that were under the 
 law." Gal. iv. 4, 5. 
 
 Dean Stanley well says: "First and above all, 
 stand those great moral doctrines of the Gospel, to which 
 
18 BELEEVESTG EN TIEE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 the highest place has been assigned, beyond dispute, in the 
 Gospel itself. But, next after these, ecclesiastical history 
 teaches us that the most vital, the most comprehensive, 
 the most fruitful has been, and is still — not the supre- 
 macy of the Bible, or the authority of its several books ; 
 not the power of the Pope or of the Church ; not the 
 sacraments, not original sin, not predestination, not justi- 
 fication, but the doctrine of the Incarnation."^ 'Now, if 
 I am not mistaken in my reading of Dean Stanley' s vari- 
 ous works, there is in them a decided tendency to Broad 
 Churchism, and perhaps to Monotheism or Sabellianism, 
 with which I cannot sympathize. I say this, however, 
 in no invidious sense. What I wish here to say is mainly 
 this, that I am not willing to be held responsible for the 
 opinions or views of any author, however learned or great 
 his reputation, whom I quote, except as far as I expressly 
 adopt them. I acknowledge no king in Zion but the 
 LoPwD Jesus, and no Rule of Faith but the Holy 
 Scriptures. Nor do I wish here to dogmatize in any 
 unfriendly manner on the great question of the relative 
 importance of the doctrines taught in the Word of God. 
 It is not for me to settle the proportion or quantity of the 
 doctrines of Revelation necessary to salvation, but in this 
 case, as I understand the Dean, we have the truth, the 
 great truth. For whatever may be said of the point of 
 a standing or falling church, our holy religion, from 
 beginning to end, depends upon the Incarnation. This 
 certainly was included in the Apostle's direction : 
 ''Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
 saved." God the Father Almighty is known to us by 
 His two great works of creation and redemption. The 
 Gospel of St. John opens with a solemn declaration that 
 the Son of God is the author of both these works. ''In 
 
 * Ijecture V., on Eastern Church. 
 
CHRIST THE CREATOR. 19 
 
 the "beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God." "All things were made 
 by Him. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the 
 only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 
 It is impossible by any fair interpretation of these verses 
 to deny that the Word means Jesus the Son of God. 
 *'The Word was God," and "all things were made" 
 by the same Word, and this same " Word was made 
 flesh." The author of creation is God the Son, and 
 the same is the author of the work of redemption. As 
 creatures and subjects of moral government, therefore, 
 we have a deep concern in apprehending the true char- 
 acter of the Son of God, for He is our Creator and our 
 final Judge. But it is still more important for us as 
 sinners to apprehend the mercy of God in Christ, and 
 receive Him as our Saviour. The work of redemption 
 at once implies our ruin and misery, and declares the 
 necessity for the Son of God becoming our Mediator. 
 As sin has separated us from God, iand as the very idea 
 of religion implies our reconciliation to God, so there is 
 no religion without faith. For whosoever cometh to God 
 must believe that He is, and that He is what He reveals 
 Himself to be in his Word. There is no reconciling the 
 sinner with God — no coming of the sinner to God — no 
 receiving of the sinner by God — without a Mediator. 
 This Mediator is God' s only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 There is for us as sinners no such a thing as truly believ- 
 ing in God the Father, but by believing in Jesus Christ 
 His Son. " No man comes unto the Father but by me." 
 
 It is true, there is a place for repentance and prayers 
 and a new obedience ; but nothing brings us to God 
 except faith in Jesus. Nothing washes away our sins 
 but the blood of the La,mb otGod^^, We cannot worship 
 
20 BELIEVmG IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 God but througli Christ. We cannot see God but in 
 Christ, nor can God look on us in love but as He sees us 
 in Christ. There is then a specialty in our professing to 
 believe in Jesus Christ that we must not overlook. 
 
 1. In our text, the sura of our duty is declared to be to 
 believe on the Name of the Son of God, and to love one 
 another as He hath commanded us. This is the com- 
 mandment of God Himself. In other Scriptures we are 
 taught that we must worship the Son as we worship the 
 Father — honor Him as we honor the Father — and we are 
 commanded to hear Him rather than Moses or Elias, and 
 we are taught to ascribe the names, works, titles, and per- 
 fections to Him that we find given to God in the Scrip- 
 tures. But here a positive command from God is given 
 to believe in the Name — that is, in the Person, character, 
 and mission of His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. As a commandment of God, the text not only 
 implies duty on our part, but grace from God. '* Faith 
 in Jesus Christ is a saving grace alone, whereby we re- 
 ceive and rest upon Him for salvation, as He is offered to 
 us in the Gospel." The gift is grace, and the exercise of 
 it is God working in us. It is God's commandment that 
 we should believe on his Son. So Jesus commanded the 
 man at the pool of Bethesda to rise and walk, and enabled 
 Mm to obey. The same is true of the man with a with- 
 ered hand. The command was accompanied with the 
 gift of power to obey. 
 
 3. Note also that we have clear illustrations from the 
 Scriptures that Duty and Grace are joined together. 
 '' Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; 
 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to 
 do of his good pleasure." Phil. ii. 12, 13. In the text 
 
BELIEF god's COMMAND. 21 
 
 the command of faith and the command of lore are linked 
 and knit together, as if the weight of our salvation hung 
 equally and alike upon both ; as without faith it is im- 
 possible to please God, so it is equally impossible to 
 please Him without love. No duty will profit without 
 faith, and no faith will profit without love. As whatever 
 is not of faith is sin, so whatever duty we perform with- 
 out love to our fellow-men and towards God is not ac- 
 cepted of God. If I give all my goods to feed the poor, 
 and have not love, I am nothing. See BurMtt, 
 
 The specialty of the text, then, is, that God commands 
 us by the Gospel to believe in His Son Jesus Christ — to 
 come to Him pleading His name and merits, that we may 
 obtain the forgiveness of sin and the blessings of salva- 
 tion ; and that for His sake, and after His example, we 
 should love one another, and be liberal and self-denying 
 and charitable, even as Christ himself hath loved us and 
 given Himself for us. It is this that makes a Christian 
 a follower of the Lord Jesus, a child of God, an heir of 
 glory. 
 
 My principal purpose for the present, however, in 
 reference to the text, is to offer some remarks on believ- 
 ing in Jesus, or rather on Jesus as the object of belief. 
 Faith, belief, and the authority of the Divine command 
 and the reasons for obedience, cannot be here dwelt upon. 
 The second Article of our Creed is, '' And (I believe) in 
 Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord." Here are three 
 leading subjects : 1st. The double name given to our 
 Lord ; 2d. His relation to the Father is declared : His 
 only Son ; 3d. His dominion over us, and our submission 
 to Him as our Sovereign Lord. Or perhaps I should 
 be more easily understood if I said, we have here 
 four titles ascribed to our Lord : 
 
22 BELiEvma m the name of jesus. 
 
 I. His proper name, Jesus, which like other Bible 
 names is also significant, and in his case truly significant, 
 of his character and work. 
 
 IL We have the name of his office, Chkist. 
 
 III. His nature— He is God's only Son. 
 
 ly. His dignity— OUR Lord. 
 
 I limit myself this evening to the Name Jesus : " And 
 this is his commandment, that we should helieve on the 
 Name of his Son Jesus Christ.' 
 
 Then let us attend to the Name, and see how its mean- 
 ing is realized. 
 
 I. The Name of a person, according to the usage of 
 Holy Scripture, signifies the person himself, his authority, 
 and all that is implied in or expressed by his titles. 
 And so far are our Lord's names and titles from being 
 insignificant, that it is boldly affirmed by our best scholars 
 that the name of Jesus is possessed of a dignity and 
 meaning superior to all the other names ascribed to 
 him, or even of God the Father, and that it is for this 
 reason it is said, ''His name is above every name, and 
 that at it every knee shall bow, and every tongue con- 
 fess that He is Lord." 
 
 It is not considered that the double name Jesus Christ 
 is to be reckoned as a proper and surname. This desig- 
 nation is not like Simon, with the surname Peter, or John, 
 whose surname is Mark, but like John the Baptist ; 
 that is, a proper name with an official title. Jesus was 
 his proper name, and Christ his official title. The 
 learned have also called our attention to the fact that one 
 of these names is Hebrew and the other Greek, and that 
 
JESUS IS SAVIOUE. 23 
 
 these names are intended to signify that the Son of God 
 is a Saviour alike to Jews and Gentiles, — a light to lighten 
 the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel. Perhaps, 
 too, the first name is Hebrew and the other Greek, to 
 show that salvation is of the Jews — to the Jew first, and 
 also to the Greek. Salvation is of the Jews, as a fountain 
 or reservoir, until the time appointed of the Father ; then 
 it overflowed. As in baptism, the second place is as- 
 signed to the Son, so the same order is followed in the 
 Creed. And as, in declaring our belief "in God the 
 Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth," we ac- 
 knowledge His attributes of power and majesty, so also 
 by believing in Jesus Christ we accept of his miraculous 
 history, and believe in his whole life, sufferings, and 
 work, from his birth to his coming in glory as the Judge 
 of quick and dead. Nor is it without reason that the 
 name Jesus Christ is made a part of this Article of the 
 Creed. Particular significancy is attached to the name. 
 Twice do we find the angel referring to it. Speaking 
 to Joseph, he said, " She shall bring forth a son, and 
 thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for He shall save his 
 people from their sins." And on another occasion, the 
 angel said to the Virgin Mother, "Behold, thou shalt 
 conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt 
 call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be 
 called the Son of the Highest ; and the Lord God shall 
 give unto him the throne of his father David." The name, 
 then, was intended to be significant. Its etymology ad- 
 mits of a twofold analysis. One is intimated by the 
 first angelic announcement, which is a direct interpretation 
 of the name, "for He shall save his people from their 
 sins." This may be understood as from the Hebrew 
 Hiphil infinitive Hoslieang (J/*^iri) as an abstract term, 
 Salvation, or as the concrete, Saviour. The meaning, 
 then, is, "He is salvation," that is, "He shall save." 
 
24 BELIEVING IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 The other etymology attaches the name Je Hovah to the 
 name Jesns by the use of the letter J, as the pronominal 
 prefix: ''^He shall save," in which case J represents the 
 abbreviated form Jeho^ which occurs several times in 
 the Bible, as in Je>^o-ram, /e/^oshaphat, &c. This inter- 
 pretation is also according to the very order of the words 
 in the JS'icene Creed. Closely after the Eternal Word is 
 declared to be God of God, it is added: "Who for us 
 men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and 
 was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the "Virgin Mary." 
 That is, as his name intimates, He is "Jesus, Jehovah, 
 Salvation." 
 
 The angelic announcement of the name Jesus, then, was 
 exceedingly emphatic. " Jehovah shall save." "Thou 
 shalt call his name Jesus ; He shall be great, and shall 
 be called the Son of the Highest — to give the knowledge 
 of salvation unto his people by the remission of their 
 sins." Luke i. 33-77. According to our understanding, 
 then, of the angelic announcement, Jesus is only an ab- 
 breviation of the two names of Jehovah Joshuah, that 
 is, Jehovah, Salvation.* The Hebrews were familiar 
 with this combination. Thus in Exo. xiv. 13 : "Fear not, 
 stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Here the 
 Hebrew words are Jehovah Joshuah, and the very same 
 form occurs in 2 Chron. xx. 17. 'Nor is this interpretation 
 set aside by saying that our name Jesus is Greek-Latin, 
 for it is confessedly the Greek rendering of the Hebrew 
 Jeshua or Joshua, just as we have Ose for Hosea, Mes- 
 sias for Messiah, Esaias for Isaiah, Zecharias for Zacha- 
 riah. Nor is this view interfered with by the fact that 
 the name Joshua or Jeshu was common amons; the Jews. 
 
 See Harvej on the Creed, 1 vol, p. 165 e< seq. Also Witsius. 
 
THE DISTmGUISHJNG IfAME. 25 
 
 The first individual having this name may be regarded 
 as typifying the Son of God. Joshua, you know, was the 
 leader of the chosen people into the Land of Promise, 
 which was a type of the rest that remaineth for the people 
 of God in heaven. Even some of those writers who have 
 wished to get rid of a Hebrew etymology for the name 
 Jesus, seek to derive it from a Greek word having the 
 same signification, for example, loi, making its future £«<y<^, 
 and thence laaouq^ and by changing alpha into eta, Irjaooc;^ 
 Jesus, meaning one w7io heals. The great Witsius on this 
 subject gives a remarkable quotation from Babhi HaJc- 
 Jcados in support of Theophylact's declaration, that 
 "the name Jesus is not Greek, but Hebrew," which is 
 this : " Because Messiah shall save mankind. He will be 
 called Jeshua. But the people of another nation, who 
 shall embrace his religion, will call him Jesus ; and, 
 therefore, you find this name Jesu pointed out in Gen. 
 xlix. 10. For the first letters of the Hebrew words for 
 until S7iilo7i come^ form the name i^* Jesu." 
 
 The name, then, may have belonged to Joshua, and 
 still its full signification have been reserved for Christ 
 Jesus. In its fullest sense the name Jesus means Jeho- 
 vah—Salvation. That is, in Himself He is God, and 
 in relation to us. He is the salvation of God — He is God 
 our Saviour. I have said that Jesus is the Greek for the 
 Hebrew of Joshua, and that the name was not an uncom- 
 mon one among the Jews in Apostolic times. See Acts 
 xiii. 6 ; Col. iv. 11 ; Heb. iv. 8. Still there is no room 
 for any confusion or uncertainty as to the name applied 
 to our Lord. It was assigned to him twice before his 
 birth, and was given to him, according to Hebrew usage, 
 when he was dedicated to God. For when "eight 
 days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, 
 his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the 
 
26 BELIEVING IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 angel Ibefore he was conceived in the womb." Luke 
 ii. 21. 
 
 He was also distinguished from others hearing the 
 same name by the place of his residence, and by his re- 
 puted father's name. Thus he was called " Jesus of 
 Nazareth," *' Jesus the son of Joseph;" and in process 
 of time, '* Jesus Christ," and then "the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." The general meaning, then, of our Lord's proper 
 name is Deliverer, Saviour, or, more strictly in accord- 
 ance with Hebrew idiom, Jehovah ouPw Salvation, or 
 Jehovah the Savioue. 
 
 Eusehius says, "the name Jesus translated into the 
 Greek language signifies the salvation of God — that is, 
 the salvation of Jehovah." And this interpretation is 
 supported by Hebrew usage. Joshua, who was a type of 
 our Saviour, was first called HosJiea ; but Moses prefixed 
 the letter Jod, and changed it into JehosJiua^ Joshua. 
 The reason for this is thought to have been threefold : 
 
 1. By this prefix a more certain assurance was given 
 to Joshua himself that Jehovah would be with him in 
 the conquest. The prefix united his name with God' s, 
 and then it meant : He shall save, 
 
 2. The people, perceiving that God had thus joined 
 his own name with that of their leader, were more willing 
 to obey, and more courageous and hopeful. 
 
 3. Moses, being a prophet, foresaw that Joshua was a 
 type of the coming Messiah, and therefore attached this 
 sacred prefix to his name. Nor is it altogether unworthy 
 of notice, that the name thus composed contains all the 
 letters of the name Jehovah, the true God. 
 
 II. In the second place, when we profess our faith, 
 and say, / believe in Jesus, that He is Christ, the only 
 
SALVATION FROM Sm. 27 
 
 Son of God, our Lord, how are we to understand that the 
 name Jesus fulfils its signification % 
 
 When the angel announced that his name shall be 
 called '' Jesus, ^'' he added, ''for he shall save his 
 people from their sins." Save not by setting up a tem- 
 poral kingdom — Save not by merely setting a virtuous ex- 
 ample — Save not by merely explaining the doctrines of the 
 Gospel, not merely by working stupendous miracles and 
 dying a martyr for the truth. He shall save not simply 
 by rising from the dead, and opening up the way to im- 
 mortality and everlasting glory, but He shall save his 
 people from their sins by offering himself once for all 
 a sacrifice to satisfy Divine Justice and reconcile them to 
 God. " 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 — for having himself purged our sins, sat 
 down," &c. See Heb. i. 3 ; x. 12, 14. To understand, there- 
 fore, the name, Jesus, a Saviour, we must remember — 
 
 I. Our state by nature — dead in trespasses and in 
 sins. Children of disobedience and of wrath — sinners, 
 poor and blind and miserable. And then — 
 
 II. That Jesus procures and applies to us a real, spirit- 
 ual and eternal salvation. But what is salvation ? What 
 is it to be saved ? Is it not freedom from evil and a par- 
 ticipation in all good ? Is it not deliverance from sin, 
 which is the greatest of all evils — redemption from sin, its 
 curse, pollution, dominion, and damning power ? Sin was 
 so prominently in the mind of the angel as the sum of all 
 misery that he speaks of no other evil. As if he meant 
 to say, Jesus saves his people from all real evils in saving 
 them from their sins. And that this is the true view of 
 sin, we have only to reflect that it is the abominable thing 
 
28 BELIEVING IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 that God hates. Its odiousness lies in its being the very 
 work, image, and chief delight of the devil, whose works 
 Jesus came to destroy. 
 
 It is an extremely vile kind of pollution, which infects 
 the soul. It is a tyrannizing domination that binds around 
 our limbs and our very souls the heaviest and most gall- 
 ing chains. And it taints the conscience with a sense of 
 guilt, which is a heavy punishment. It is guilt that makes 
 an accusing conscience — and awakens a certain fearful 
 looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which sliall 
 devour the adversary. Sin is the fountain-head of all 
 misery ; hence if it is put away, if we are saved from sin, 
 we are saved from all real evil. There is only one thing 
 therefore to be afraid of, and that is sin — only one thing 
 to desire, and that is to be saved from our sins — for that 
 implies God' s favor, which is heaven and eternal salvation. 
 "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven." 
 
 By all this, however, I must not be understood to mean 
 that there is not something positive in our salvation. We 
 are not only redeemed/rom sin^ but redeemed to rigMeous- 
 ness and true holiness forever. Not only saved from sin, 
 but saved to heavenly bliss. Salvation is not all a nega- 
 tive. A state of happiness is deliverance from evil into 
 a state of good. Darkness is dispelled by light, but light 
 itself is a reality ; nakedness is remedied by clothing, and 
 poverty is removed by abundance : so sin is taken away 
 in respect to its guilt by our propitiation, the Lamb of 
 God, and in regard to its pollution and dominion by the 
 renewing of the heart and the indwelling of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 In order, then, to our salvation by Jesus, we must have 
 justification of life, true holiness, and communion with 
 God ; and this brings peace of conscience, and lastly the 
 
GOD IN CHRIST WITH US. 29 
 
 enjoyment of God in glory. This is the salvation of 
 Jehovah Jesus, which He has provided, purchased, and 
 applies to all who believe in Him. 
 
 And this He did by taking upon himself our guilt. 
 For, being God-man, he could bear the weight, and give 
 ample satisfaction to Divine Justice for our sins. For 
 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being 
 made a curse for us. By his obedience righteousness 
 comes upon all men to justification of life, and grace 
 reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Hence the 
 Apostle is able to say, '' God is in Christ, reconciling the 
 world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
 them." 
 
 This salvation is applied, as our theologians say, ini- 
 tially in this life, and perfectly in the world to come. 
 Believers have the first-fruits here, and the full harvest 
 in the future life. *'He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life, and is saved by hope." Jesus lives now 
 as the Intercessor witli the Father. By His Spirit in the 
 ministry of His Word, He calls, invites, and draws to 
 himself His people. They are born again, are penitent, 
 regenerated, and believing, and made heirs of glory. 
 And at death He receives the soul immediately into His 
 kingdom above. 
 
 Jesus fulfils the meaning of His Name, then, by pro- 
 curing salvation for His people and applying it to them. 
 But to receive this salvation, we must receive Him. This 
 Is the ''commandment of God, that we should believe on 
 the name of His Son Jesus Christ." There is but one 
 God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man 
 Christ Jesus. Nor is there any other Mediator. There is 
 no other Saviour. "Him hath God exalted with his 
 right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour." " For God 
 
30 BELIEVIKa IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 
 above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and 
 things under the earth." Phil. ii. 9, 10. 
 
 In the person of Jesus Christ we have the God-man. 
 God the Son is here, and man is here, with a reasonable 
 soul and a true human body, and thus God and man meet. 
 This is proof of man' s restoration to the image in which 
 he was created. And this is proof also that there is a 
 God, a truly living personal God, in contradistinction to 
 the dead god of deism, the far-off indifferent god of 
 heathenism, or the impersonal force or power, or natura 
 naturans^ of unbelieving Science and of German transcen- 
 dentalism, or pantheism, which is atheism. The necessi- 
 ties of my nature are such that God must come down to 
 me, or I can never glorify and enjoy him. He must take 
 pity on me, and, self-moved, come down to me and seek 
 me, or I can never go up to Him. The cravings and as- 
 pirings of the great universal heart of suffering humanity 
 plead for just such a Jehovah Jesus as is our Lord Christ. 
 The poor heathen could not live without gods, but while 
 they made their heroes gods, they remained themselves as 
 base as their vilest gods. But Christianity reveals God 
 to us, and reveals His Son Jesus Christ in us, that we may 
 become partakers of His nature and live with Him forever. 
 
 Since, then, such is the precious import of the Name of 
 Jesus, ought we not seriously to ask ourselves, Do we 
 really *' believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our 
 Lord?" 
 
 It is not enough that we have heard of Him, and can 
 tell who is the Redeemer of God) s elect. It is not enough 
 that we have never formally renounced Him. We must 
 believe that Jesus is Christ, and believe this with the 
 
PRAYER rOR LIGHT. 31 
 
 heart unto righteousness. Bo you really know the mean- 
 ing of the Name, the precious Name Jesus ? If so, you 
 know there is no other name to be compared with it. 
 As the sun in the firmament darkens all the stars, so tlie 
 glory of Christ's sufficiency, as seen by the eye of an 
 appropriating faith, eclipses the lustre of all other 
 objects. As salvation is found in Jesus alone, what are 
 honors and riches without Him ? If you are a merchant, 
 and all your property is on board a ship, would you not 
 feel anxious about bringing it safely into port ? How much 
 more anxious should you be to come to Jesus and lay up 
 your salvation in Him. It is wonderful how strongly 
 many of the early Christians expressed their affection for 
 Jesus. In the first ages of the Church, Christians seem 
 to have had such a believing, loving soul— such strong 
 affection for the person of Jesus, that no other creed or 
 profession was needed. It was enough to know Jesus. 
 Many of them, like Bernard in his celebrated Hymn to 
 the Lord Jesus, could say : — 
 
 *' Most blessed Jesus, dearest friend, 
 Hope of my longing, panting mind, 
 I seek Thee with my tears and sighs, 
 To Thee my soul lifts up her cries. 
 Jesus, cordial to the heart, 
 Who light and life dost still impart, 
 A living fountain, full and fresh. 
 Surpassing every joy and wish. 
 When on my heart Thoii'rt pleased to shine, 
 My soul is cheered with truth divine ; 
 All I contemn but things above ; 
 My bosom glows with heavenly love. 
 Jesus, my chief and lasting Good, 
 My Saviour, strength, and precious food, 
 Thy presence grant. Thy glory show. 
 Thy boundless love cause me to know." 
 
 O everlasting Truth, Incarnate Wisdom of the Father, 
 hear us when we call upojL-Tiieer-<^J£rostrate in spirit at 
 the footstool of Thy Majesty, "fe^di^^ Thine infinite 
 
 j' ^ 'I 
 
32 PRAYER FOR LIGHT. 
 
 perfections, rendering all glory and benediction to Thee. 
 We come to Thee in search of Thine Own Self, the Eternal 
 Verity, to catch a ray from Thee, the light of the world ; 
 to walk in Thee, who art the Way ; to live in Thee, who 
 art the Life. Open Thou our hearts, to attend to that 
 which Thou hast revealed of Thyself, of Thine Everlast- 
 ing Father, and Thy Blessed Spirit. And as by Thine 
 Incarnation new light has come to us, lighten Thou our 
 eyes, that we may see Thee, and let memory, will, and 
 understanding, all bow down before Thee, that Thou may- 
 est be all in all.* Amen. 
 
 ♦ Slightly altered from Bishop Forbes. 
 
BELIEVING 01^ THE NAME CUEIST. 33 
 
 II 
 
 BELIEVING ON THE NAME CHRIST. 
 
 "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath-days 
 reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must 
 needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead ; and that this Jestjs, whom 
 I preach unto you, is Christ." " And testified to the Jews that Jesus was 
 Christ" . . . . " showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." — Acts xvii. 
 2, 3 : xviii. 5, 28. 
 
 The only authority we acknowledge in matters of faith 
 is the Word of God. The authority of Creeds and Articles 
 and Confessions of Faith is derived from Holy Scripture 
 alone. And the best guides for the interpretation of them 
 are, First, the natural, literal, grammatical meaning of 
 their text. 
 
 Secondly, a knowledge of the controversies prevailing 
 at the time these creeds and confessions were drawn up, 
 and which made it necessary to have such articulated 
 formularies of faith. 
 
 TJiirdly, the doctrines of the primitive Church which 
 it was the intention of these formularies to embody, 
 defend, and follow. 
 
 Fourthly, the writings and known opinions of the 
 eminent men who drew up these formularies, or who 
 
34: THE PROPER USE OF CREEDS. 
 
 adopted and defended them. We all "believe that all 
 synods, and associations, and convocations, and councils, 
 and assemblies, and Popes, and Bishops may err, and 
 have erred, and that the only infallible rule of Faith and 
 Life is the Word of God given by Inspiration. And we 
 believe that the authority of the Holy Scripture for which 
 it ought to be believed and obeyed dependeth not upon 
 the testimony of any man, or church, or assembly, but 
 wholly upon God, who is Truth itself, and the author 
 thereof. We receive the Bible, therefore, as our infallible 
 Rule, and it alone and only, because it is the Word of 
 God. 
 
 *' The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the 
 Scripture itself ; and therefore, when there is a question 
 about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is 
 not manifold, but one), it may be searched and known 
 by other places that speak more clearly. 
 
 '*The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of 
 religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, 
 opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private 
 spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are 
 to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in 
 the Scripture. 
 
 **The whole counsel of God, concerning all things 
 necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and 
 life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good 
 and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scrip- 
 ture : unto which nothing at any time is to be added, 
 whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of 
 men." — Conf. Faith, chap. i. sees. 2, 4, 9, 10. 
 
 It is plain, then, that in using the Catechism, the Ten 
 Commandments, the Creed, and Articles of Faith, we do 
 not mean to substitute them for the Word of God. They 
 
BELIEVING ON THE NAME CHRIST. 35 
 
 are only helps— they are nothing except they are sup- 
 ported by and are according to the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 We are told in our text what was Paul's manner. 
 Three Sabbath-days he went into the synagogues, to their 
 religious meetings, where their sacred Scriptures were 
 read and explained, and prayer was made ; and there he 
 oifered salvation first to the Jews, '^ opening and alleging 
 that Jesus is Christ." 
 
 His method seems to have heen to prove to the Jews, 
 by collating their own Scriptures — by citations from them, 
 firsts that the Messiah they were looking for was to be a 
 suffering Messiah, and that it was spiritual blessings, 
 and not temporal, they were to receive from Him— that 
 the Messiah promised was not to be a great hero, like Da- 
 vid, to deliver them from the Roman yoke, but a suffer- 
 ing Prince^ who was to save them from sin. Then, 
 secondly^ he applied these citations to Jesus of Nazareth, 
 and by appealing to the well-known and admitted facts 
 of his life, he showed that all their own Scriptures were 
 fulfilled in him, and therefore "this Jesus, whom I preach 
 unto you, is the Christ." 
 
 And as he did at Thessalonica, so also we find him 
 doing at Corinth, where *^ he reasoned in the synagogues 
 every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, 
 and was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews 
 that Jesus was the Christ.'''^ And so did Apollos also: 
 *'For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, 
 showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ." 
 
 1. Then these passages prove that it was a custom of 
 the Jews to allow liberty of speech in their synagogues, 
 after the reading of the Scripture lessons, to men of repu- 
 ted learning, or such as might be supposed able to say 
 something for edification, although they might not be 
 
S6 RIGHT KIND OF PEEACHESTG. 
 
 priests. So Jesus at Nazareth, who was not a Levite, 
 and Paul and Apollos in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 2. Here is proof that the Jews in the days of the Apos- 
 tles had, and acknowledged their Holy Scriptures as 
 divinely inspired. 
 
 3. That they belieyed their Scriptures taught them to 
 expect a Messiah. 
 
 4. That the material facts in the life of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, as then publicly stated by the Apostles and early 
 disciples, were admitted to be true. In rejecting Him as 
 the Messiah, they did not deny the truth of his personal 
 history as related by his followers. We have here proof 
 
 5. Also that expository preaching was the style mainly 
 adopted by our Lord and his Apostles. Apollos was elo- 
 quent and learned, and pre-eminently '^mighty in the 
 Scriptures," but he used all his eloquence and knowledge 
 of the Scriptures to convince the Jews that Jesus is the 
 Christ. And so Paul employed himself with all his 
 might in opening up and showing from the Old Testament 
 that Jesus, whom he preached, was the Christ. Note 
 
 6. It is said, they reasoned^ testified^ persuaded., con- 
 vinced. They did not show any edict from king or em- 
 peror. They had no commission from Caesar to persecute, 
 imprison, or burn those who would not believe. They rea- 
 soned., testified^ conmnced., and persuaded., by pouring 
 light into the mind ; by discoursing first from the received 
 Scriptures, and then by applying these Scriptures to the 
 facts of our Lord' s life. They reasoned with vehemence of 
 spirit and earnestness of affection, as well as with great 
 judgment, and an abundant use of learning and common 
 sense. They believed, and therefore they spoke, and they 
 
BELIEVING 0]N^ THE NAME CHRIST. 37 
 
 spoke as they believed, and their words were from their 
 hearts. They loved the souls of men, and they were on fire 
 for the glory of God. If their sermons were printed in the 
 old style, they would be full of italics — quotations from- 
 the Bible. Their grand point was to demonstrate every- 
 where that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they preached, was 
 the long-expected Messiah. They aimed to gain this 
 demonstration by producing the prophecies of the Old 
 Testament, and applying them, and comparing them with 
 what Jesus had done and suffered, and by urging what 
 had taken place after his death, in proof that He was 
 what He claimed to be. His resurrection, ascension, the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost, the miracles wrought by the 
 Apostles, and the success of their preaching, they alleged 
 were proofs of his Messiahship. It was thus they sought 
 to convince the people that Jesus is the Christ. And oh, 
 if all who have been and are called Christ' s ministers, 
 had only kept closely to their commission, and preached 
 the Gospel, and nothing but the Gospel, as Paul did, it is 
 our solemn conviction the whole world would have been 
 converted to Christ long ago. 
 
 In the discourse last Sabbath evening on the Name 
 Jesus, it was shown that it was not without a purpose 
 that the form of words, believe on the Name of His Son 
 Jesus Christ, was used by the Apostle. 1 John iii. 23. 
 The names of the Son of God are significant and precious. 
 The name Jesus being the abbreviation of Jehovah 
 Joshua, Jehovah our Saviour, or the Salvation of Jeho- 
 vah, was expressly given to our Lord by the Angel, 
 while the other appellation, Christ, expresses His func- 
 tions. It is to the second name, Christ, given to our 
 Lord in the second Article of the Creed, that I now invite 
 your prayerful attention. 
 
 While the name Jesus occurs about seven hundred 
 
38 HOW CHKIST WAS ANOINTED. 
 
 times ill the four Oospels to designate our Redeemer, 
 the name Christ, by itself, is used about sixty times in 
 the Gospels and in the Acts, and two hundred and forty 
 times in the Epistles and the Book of Revelation. The 
 name Jesus was our Lord' s proper human name, and the 
 name Christ expresses his official title. The form Jesus 
 Christ is found, I believe, but five times in the Gospels 
 and one hundred and sixty times in the Epistles, and the 
 opposite collocation, Christ Jesus ^ is not found in the 
 Gospels at all, but occurs quite frequently in the Epistles. 
 It was to be expected that in the course of time the 
 proper human name Jesus would be absorbed in the 
 official designation — Christ. And as the Evangelists give 
 us memoirs of our Lord, describing his human life — that 
 is, his life and acts as He appeared in the world as a man, 
 so they generally call him Jesus ; and, as in the Epistles, 
 the object is to show the great work He accomplished by 
 his life and death, so He is generally designated by his 
 official name, Christ. Christ is His hypostatical name, 
 indicating His two natures in one person. He is called 
 Christ, says Cyril, "not because He was anointed by 
 human hands, but because he was from eternity conse- 
 crated by the Father to be an High Priest overmen." 
 And not a Priest only, but a Prophet and a King. *' He 
 anointed himself as God, anointing his l)ody with his 
 own Deity, and being anointed as man." And hence 
 we may see why it is said in the Holy Scriptures that 
 Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost ; namely, be- 
 cause the work whereby the Son of God became the 
 Son of man is ascribed to the power of the Holy Spirit. 
 He was conceived by the Holy Ghost. His unction 
 (anointing) was that of the Deity on the humanity, as 
 some of the ancients have expressed it. 
 
 Our Lord's proper human name, then, is Jesus, and 
 
BELIEVING Oi^ THE IsAM^E CHRIST. 39 
 
 his official title is Christ, which also expresses his person, 
 human and Divine. And the way his double name and 
 his title are used throughout the New Testament, is a 
 proof both of the intelligence and honesty of the sacred 
 writers, and proves also their faith in his Supreme Divin- 
 ity, as well as in his real humanity. As the name Christ 
 is his official title, it should be preceded by the definite 
 article in the text. Thus: " This Jesus whom I preach 
 unto you is the Christ," and he " testified to the Jews 
 that Jesus was the Christ." That is, Paul proclaimed, 
 and proved mainly out of their own Scriptures, that Jesus 
 was the Messiah promised to their fathers. And so also 
 when our Lord himself says : " It is life eternal to know 
 the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent," 
 He means that he was to be received as the Messiah — 
 that they must believe that He, Jesus, was the Christ. 
 Jesus the Christ is to be taken, then, in the same way that 
 we understand John the Baptist or the Baptizer — that is, 
 Jesus is the Messiah, who is called Christ because he is 
 God' s Anointed One as PropJiet, Priest, and King. • The 
 Messiah is spoken of in the Old Testament as The Anointed, 
 especially by David and Isaiah. And Daniel uses the 
 appellation, ''the anointed One," with express reference 
 to the Great Deliverer, and calls him the Prince, and the 
 High Priest, and the expiator of guilt, ix. 24, 26. When 
 Jesus was born, the common appellations by which the 
 Great Deliverer of Israel was spoken of were these two : 
 He who is to come, and the Messiah icho is called 
 Christ. 
 
 To believe, then, that Jesus is the Christ, means : 
 First, that He is the Deliverer promised under the name 
 of Messiah, the anointed One, the Holy One of God, in 
 the Old Testament, and that all that is said of this Deliv- 
 erer or Saviour in the Old Testament Scriptures, under 
 
40 JESUS THE CHRIST. 
 
 this or any other name, is true of Him. Secondly^ to be- 
 lieve that Jesus is the Christ, and that all that is said con- 
 cerning the Messiah of the Old Testament is true of Him, 
 requires us to receive Him distinctly as fulfilling the 
 offices of The Anointed One : namely, as our Prophet, 
 Priest, and King, and that He is supreme and absolute in 
 all these offices. He is the divinely appointed^ qualijied^ 
 commissioned^ and accredited Saviour of sinners. ''His 
 name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save his people 
 from their sins." Every one, therefore, who understand- 
 ingly and sincerely unites in saying, ''And I believe in 
 Jesus Christ," confesses to the belief that Jesus is the 
 true and only Messiah, "the Redeemer of God's elect." 
 This confession distinguishes us as Christians from Pagans 
 and Mohammedans, and from all deists and atheists. 
 And also from the Jews, for I helieve in Jesus Christ 
 means that I believe the Messiah who was promised to 
 the patriarchs has come — the prophecies are already ful- 
 filled, and fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. I therefore 
 believe He is the Messiah. I believe that a promise was 
 made to our first parents, repeated, enlarged, and renewed 
 afterwards in many ways, but specially to Abraham, and 
 foretold by the prophets, that a Divine man^ the God- 
 man, teas to come, who should he the Messiah, and redeem 
 his people ; and I believe that Jesus, who was born of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary in the days of Herod, is that 
 true Messiah, so long and so often promised. And I 'be- 
 lieve not only that He fulfils all the signification of his 
 angel-selected and announced name Jesus, " for He shall 
 save his people from their sins," but I also believe that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, anointed to three spe- 
 cial oflBices, belonging to Him as the Mediator between 
 God and man — that He executes his office as " a Prophet 
 in revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of 
 God for our salvation," and the office of a priest in his 
 
BELIEVING ON THE NA3IE CHRIST. 41 
 
 once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy Divine Jus- 
 tice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual 
 intercession for us ; and ^' the office of a king in subduing 
 us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restrain- 
 ing and conquering all his and our enemies ;" and that as 
 my Prophet, Priest, and King, He will at last confer actual, 
 perfect, and eternal happiness upon me, and all who be- 
 lieve in Him. And I believe all this, because it is accord- 
 ing to His Holy Word, and because the unction by which 
 He became and was proved to be the true Messiah, was 
 not only typified by the material anointing with the holy 
 oil, but was according to the fore-ordination of the Fa- 
 ther, by the Spirit of God, which He received as the Head, 
 and conveys to all his members, who are in Him as the 
 branches are in the vine — Christ is their life. '' Who is 
 He then that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea 
 rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand 
 of God ; who also maketh intercession for us." All this 
 is the true meaning of '' And I believe in Jesus Christ." 
 
 I. What, then, is the signification of the name Christ ? 
 As Jesus is the Greek for the Hebrew Joshua^ so Christ 
 is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew Messiah, or, as 
 it is written in the New Testament, Messias. You may 
 remember that the woman of Samaria said : *' I know that 
 Messias cometh which is called Christ." And Andrew 
 said to his brother Simon, '' We have found the Messias, 
 which is, being interpreted, the Christ." The signification 
 of both names is the same, namely, the anointed. And 
 as Paul and the most of the Apostles, if not all of them, 
 used the Greek language in writing, so they used the 
 Greek name Christ for Messiah, and the same was retained 
 in the Latin language by simply rendering it into Latin 
 letters, Ohristus, which is the original of our English 
 name. 
 
42, JESUS THE PEOMISED MESSIAH. 
 
 II. Why is our Lord Jesus the Anoin^ted One ? The 
 answer to this question carries us back to the custom of 
 anointing as we find it in the law and among the Patriarchs. 
 With them, whatever was set apart to holy or religious 
 uses, or specific ofiices, was anointed with oil, under the 
 notion that such an anointing was an ordination or official 
 setting apart to the service of God. Thus Jacob poured 
 oil on the top of tlie pillar. And Moses anointed the 
 tabernacle and all the vessels, and this anointing was their 
 dedication. And so the High Priest was invested with 
 his office by the use of the holy anointing oil. When 
 Jesus therefore is caled Messiah, Christ, the meaning is, 
 that He is the Anointed One, who fulfils all these types 
 under the law. 'Now it is plain there was a general expec- 
 tation that such a person as Christ was to come. 
 
 The woman of Samaria said: '^I know that Messias 
 Cometh." 
 
 The Jews acknowledged that our Lord's name was 
 Jesus, but ''agreed that if any man did confess that He 
 was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. ' ' Jo. 
 ix. 22. '' And all men mused in their hearts of John the 
 Baptist, whether he were the Christ, or not," and when 
 Jesus taught in the Temple, those who doubted as to his 
 character and claims said : ' ' When Christ cometli, no man 
 knoweth whence He is," and those who believed said, 
 "When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than 
 these which this man doeth?" From these passages it is 
 plain that both parties, those who believed in Jesus and 
 those who did not believe, agreed that a Messiah was to 
 come. And this expectation was built on the promises 
 made to the fathers ; and as they understood the promises 
 and the prophecies, Christ was to be the Anointed One, and 
 the time for his coming was at hand, if not actually ful- 
 filled. The line of argument to prove that Jesics of Naza- 
 
BELIEVING ON THE NAME CHRIST. 43 
 
 reth is Messiah is on this wise : Because in Him all that is 
 promised or foretold of the Messiah, as to descent^ family^ 
 place and time of coming, is minutely fulfilled. Jesus was 
 born and lived and died before the Jewish people were 
 dispersed or were wholly deprived of a national polity, and 
 while the second Temple was standing, and sacrifices were 
 still continued, and the tribes and their genealogies were 
 still distinctly preserved. The prophecies as to the time^ 
 place^ and manner of Ms Mrth not only all meet in Him, 
 but meet in no one else. He is therefore the Christ. 
 And besides, Jesus taught what the Messiah was to teach, 
 wrought such miracles as the Messiah was to work, and 
 suffered and accomplished all that the Messiah was to 
 suffer and obtain. All that John the Baptist foretold of 
 Jesus he had learned to expect of the Messiah, nor did 
 Jesus fail to fulfil every thing he had promised concerning 
 Him. And His Apostles went everywhere preaching and 
 proving out of the Scriptures that Jesus is Messiah. In a 
 word, it is proved that Jesus came into the world at the 
 time the Messiah was to come — that he was born of the 
 very family, in the very place, and at the very time, and 
 after the same manner, that the prophets had foretold of 
 the Messiah, and that these predictions were never fulfilled 
 in any one Before His coming, nor have they been fulfilled 
 in any one since. We conclude, therefore, that Jesus is the 
 Messiah. Moreover, He taught the great truths, wrought 
 the very miracles, suffered the very indignities, and re- 
 ceived such glory, as the prophets said the Messiah was 
 to teach, and which he was to do and suffer and receive. 
 We conclude, therefore, that it is our duty to believe that 
 Jesus is Christ, the promised Messiah. 
 
 III. How and when did Jesus become the Messiah, 
 Jehovah' s anointed One ? 
 
 It is well known that great use was made in ancient 
 
44 ANCIENT ANOINTINGS. 
 
 times of anointings of various kinds, and for many pur- 
 poses. The general meaning of the act was to designate^ 
 set apart^ consecrate, and qualify. Thus, Cyrus is called 
 God's anointed, because God had consecrated him to the 
 work of releasing the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. 
 And so also, but in a far higher sense, Jesus is called 
 Jehovah' s anointed One in the second Psalm, and in other 
 Scriptures. And hence also in the Bible, anoint, anointed, 
 and anointing, are employed in a variety of forms to 
 illustrate the sanctifying influences of divine grace upon 
 the soul. 
 
 At least three significant kinds of anointing are found 
 in the Scriptures : 
 
 1. One for health and cleanliness, as for sundry diseases, 
 and under this head we perhaps should class the anointing 
 of the dead body. 2. Anointing of guests and strangers, 
 as when the woman who was a sinner washed Jesus' feet. 
 Among the Egyptians this was the ordinary method of 
 making a guest feel his welcome. 3. The great anoint- 
 ing, however, was for the consecration and inauguration 
 of a person to some part of divine service — thus the 
 designating to the service of God, or to a holy use, the ves- 
 sels of the tabernacle and the priests, and subsequently 
 kings and prophets. Proof is abundant from the monu- 
 ments that this custom prevailed in Egypt as well as 
 among the Jews. It was the usual way of investiture 
 into any sacred ofiice among the ancients. The appella- 
 tion, then, belongs to our Lord in a pre-eminent degree. 
 First, He was anointed by His Father's designation — 
 being pre-ordained to his work ; secondly. He was anoint- 
 ed typically in the Jewish priests and kings and proph- 
 ets. The proof that they were anointed and were types 
 of the Messiah is so well known, that no citations or illus- 
 trations are needed. And as the Messiah unites the func- 
 
BELIEVING ON THE NAME CHEIST. 46 
 
 tions of Prophet, Priest, and King, so typically He was 
 anointed, and so pre-eminently anointed as combining all 
 in one, that his name expressed his official title — The 
 Anointed One. Jesus was anointed typically to the 
 prophetical office, and to the priestly office and the kingly 
 office in all the prophets, priests, and kings that God gave 
 to his people in their typical economy. 
 
 And thirdly^ Jesus was actually anointed with the 
 Holy Spirit. He fulfilled all righteousness, was circum- 
 cised, and was baptized with water. And the Holy Spirit 
 descended upon him at his baptism. Isaiah had foretold 
 this, saying : '' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
 the Lord God hath anointed me to preach good tidings 
 unto the meek ; He hath sent me to bind up the broken- 
 hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the open- 
 ing of the prison to them who are bound ; to proclaim the 
 acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance 
 of our God ; to comfort all that mourn ; to appoint unto 
 them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for 
 ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise 
 for the spirit of heaviness ; that they might be called 
 trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He 
 might be glorified." Isaiah Ixi. This prophecy Jesus 
 explained and applied to himself in the synagogue of 
 Nazareth. And St. Peter tells us that "God anointed 
 Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." 
 
 As to the question. When did Jesus become "The 
 Anointed One ?" it must be remembered that the whole 
 A7ork of Redemption was decreed in the Eternal Mind 
 from all eternity. Our salvation by the work of God's 
 dear Son is not, therefore, any " after- thought " of the 
 Almighty, by which to "mend" or repair his works of 
 creation that had been marred by Satan. In the Divine 
 Mind, God's Son was contemplated as incarnate and cru- 
 
46 PROPIIET, PEIEST, AND KING. 
 
 cified from all eternity. The actual incarnation was when 
 the Word was made flesh — when the two natures, "the 
 Godhead and the manhood, without confusion of sub- 
 stance," were inseparably united in one Divine Person, 
 whom we know as Christ. The great Hooker says, Jesus 
 " took the very first element of our nature, before it was 
 come to have any personal subsistence, and the flesh and 
 the conjunction of the flesh with God began both at one 
 instant ; his making, and taking to himself our flesh was 
 one act, so that in Christ there is no personal subsistence 
 but one, and that from everlasting." 
 
 In the incarnation of the Son of God his glory was 
 put into the form and habit of our flesh, so that the Apos- 
 tle says, " We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only- 
 begotten of the Father." It was this taking of manhood 
 into God, when the Word was made flesh, that the Apos- 
 tle Paul speaks of as the mystery of godliness: "God 
 manifest in the flesh." It is quite enough, then, for our 
 purpose in this discussion, to say, first, that Jesus was 
 anointed of God, when, in the Divine purposes, "He 
 was set up from everlasting." "He was foreordained 
 before the foundation of the world." He was sent from 
 the Father. He came from God, appointed to this work. 
 Secondly, He was anointed typically under the Old Tes- 
 tament. Thirdly, He was anointed actually with the Holy 
 Ghost. And his anointing was accredited by his mira- 
 cles, and by the outpouring of his Spirit in conversions, 
 and the building up of his kingdom. 
 
 For the Eedemption of sinners by the Messiah consist- 
 ing in their deliverance from a state of sin and death, and 
 in bringing them into a state of righteousness and eternal 
 life, it was necessary that He should offer a sacrifice pro- 
 pitiatory, and hence it was necessary that Messiah should 
 be a Priest. And as deliverance from sin could not be 
 
BELIEVINO ON THE NAME CHRIST. 4T 
 
 oMained without the revealing of God's will to us con- 
 cerning our salvation, so there was a necessity that the 
 Messiah should be a prophet. And as the salvation of 
 sinners implies their translation from a state of darkness 
 into the light of God' s kingdom— from the kingdom of 
 Satan into the kingdom of heaven, and this requires the 
 authority and power of a king — even of the Son of God, 
 who was manifested that He might destroy the works of 
 the devil — our Redeemer must therefore be a king. 
 And thus we see that in every particular Jesus has the 
 unction^ the threefold anointing, and is indeed the 
 Anointed One, our Saviour. 
 
 ^' Jesus Christ is our anointed Saviour, anointed to be 
 our King, our great High Priest, and our Prophet, and in 
 all those our Saviour ; our Prophet, to teach the way of 
 salvation ; our Priest, to purchase it for us ; and our 
 King, to lead and protect us in the way and bring us safe 
 to the end of it. A name full of sweetness and comfort. 
 It is a rich ointment, and in the real and true preaching 
 of the Gospel it is an ointment poured forth, diffusing its 
 fragrant smell for believing souls." — LeigMon, 
 
 Finally, we should believe and profess this article, 1st. 
 Because unless Jesus is Christ we have no Saviour. If 
 He is not the Prophet of God, He could not reveal the 
 way of salvation ; nor could He work out salvation for 
 us, if He is not a Priest ; nor could He confer salvation 
 upon us, unless he is a king. But we have proved that 
 Jesus is the Messiah who was to come, and that he was 
 anointed to all the offices of a Prophet, Priest, and 
 King. We therefore have boldness to enter into the 
 holiest by the blood of Jesus ; and having such a High 
 Priest over the house of God, we may draw near with a 
 true heart, in full assurance of faith. Heb. x. 19. 
 
48 ouESELVEs Livma saceifices. 
 
 2. We iniist profess this article, and prove by our lives 
 that it is true, or we practically say Jesus is not the Mes- 
 siah. ''For whosoever believeth that Jesus is Christ, 
 is born of God." And again saith St. John, " Who is a 
 liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ? This 
 man is the antichrist, as denying the Father and the Son." 
 ''He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," 
 Whosoever believeth shall be saved. 
 
 Christ died for us that we should live to Him. He 
 bought us with a price. We are therefore not our own, 
 but must glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, 
 which are God' s. 
 
 3. This profession of faith must be an individual, 
 personal one. '^ I believe in Jesus Christ." We must 
 receive him as the Redeemer of God's elect — as our 
 Prophet, Priest, and King. It cannot be done by proxy. 
 
 Whence is our name Christians? Are we not so 
 called after Christ ? Have we then His spirit ? Bo we 
 rejoice at this name as the early Christians did ? When 
 it was given to them it was a name of reproach, but they 
 loved it, and they suflfered all manner of persecution and 
 death for His sake. "Let every one then that nameth the 
 name of Christ depart from iniquity." Christ was the 
 Anointed One, a Prophet, a Priest, and a King. Are we, 
 like Him, consecrated to God ? Do we teach the way of 
 salvation, and offer ourselves a living sacrifice to God, 
 and labor and pray for the coming of His Kingdom ? If 
 we are really Christians, then we have an unction from 
 Him, for God hath established and anointed us in Christ 
 to be Kings and Priests unto Him. What think ye then 
 of Christ ? Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? O 
 that every one of you may be able to say, Lord^ I believe ; 
 help Thou mine unbelief. Amen. 
 
JESUS CHRIST god's SON A]ST) OUE LORD. 49 
 
 III 
 
 JESUS CHRIST GOD'S SON AND OUR LORD. 
 
 " But these things are -written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life tlirough his name." — John 
 XX. 31. 
 
 It is properly considered a part of a good education to 
 acquire the habit of addressing every one by his proper 
 titles, giving honor to whom honor is due, and reverence 
 to whom reverence is due. 
 
 This is clearly the teaching of the Bible. And St. 
 Paul recognized it when he said, in relation to his reproof 
 of Ananias, "I wist not, brethren, that he was the high 
 priest : for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the 
 ruler of thy people." Acts xxiii. 5. 
 
 We are ready to form our estimate of a person's 
 bringing up, character, refinement, and politeness, 
 by his tone of voice and the style he uses in address- 
 ing his neighbor. His culture and acquaintance with 
 good society are at once recognized by the grace with 
 whicli he makes his salutations. Nor is this incon- 
 sistent with common sense, or in any way forbidden 
 by the Gospel. Christianity is not a crusade against 
 good manners ; nor is it built upon the ruins of civiliza- 
 
50 JESUS CHRIST GOD^S SON AND OUR LORD. 
 
 tion and of the Fine Arts. Ancient history, and tlie monu- 
 ments of the early ages of the Church, prove that no 
 man was more honest and polite than Abraham the friend 
 of God, and the Father of the faithful ; and no people 
 were more considerate in showing marks of respect where 
 they were due, and could not be construed into, or be 
 mistaken for, marks of homage to idols, than the primitive 
 Christians. But, if I am not mistaken, our times are dis- 
 tinguished for two grave errors, the prevailing of which 
 proves that our Christianity, in at least two particulars, is 
 not equal to that of the first ages of the Church, namely : 
 F'lrst^ We are deficient in respect for aged persons, and we 
 do not give honor where honor is due, to our teachers, 
 magistrates, and parents. Irreverence, and a want of 
 obedience and humility before superiors, are prominent 
 faults among us. And the fruits of such things in child- 
 hood and youth are nothing but evil to the Church and 
 to society. And, secondly^ There is in our day a sad, a very 
 sad want of reverence for the name of God, and especially 
 for the NAME of Jesus Christ. Tlie early Christians were 
 so full of love for the name and character of Jesus, that 
 they had very little need for any other Creed, or Confes- 
 sion, or Articles of Faith, than the mere name of their Re- 
 deemer. To be called a Christian in honor of Christ, 
 although the name was then one of reproach, and sub- 
 jected them to the severest persecution, was their highest 
 honor and greatest delight. But so much are we given 
 to things gross, earthly, and temporal — so great is our 
 idolatry for human intellect, and its developments and 
 creations, progress and material achievements, that but few 
 seem to be aware of the deadly heresy that is destroying 
 the life of our Christianity. Nothing is more clearly 
 proven by the present age of the world, and the present 
 state of Christendom, than this : namely, that the advance 
 of the physical sciences, increased wealth from the wonder- 
 
THE DEADLY HERESY. 51 
 
 ful aids of science in using the elements, and the products 
 of the earth, is not true piety ; it is not even morality. The 
 printing-press, the public schools, the telegraph and rail- 
 ways, steamships, oil-wells, and gold-mines, are intended 
 for good, but they are not the only good ; they may be 
 so used as not to be good at all. They are not of them- 
 selves sufficient to make men decent and moral and 
 happy, much less pious. 
 
 The politeness and mental activity and scientific cul- 
 ture of France were never greater than when she abol- 
 ished Christianity and drenched her soil in blood. You 
 may depend upon it, mental culture, public education, 
 commercial prosperity, and material wealth, may be very 
 far from morality and true piety. However much we 
 may insist on good works, and admire every thing that is 
 lovely and refined, still the amenities and elegancies of 
 society are not always evidences of pure morals, nor is 
 mere morality the same thing as grace. We may have even 
 the form of godliness, and yet be without its power. And 
 when we see from the Holy Scriptures on the one hand, 
 that God's only-begotten Son has a name that is above 
 every name, and excels all mankind in glory, and that 
 there is nothing in the universe to be compared to Him, 
 and that consequently we owe Him the deepest reverence, 
 the profonndest homage, the most ardent love, and that 
 it should be our greatest delight to confess His name ; 
 and then, on the other hand, call to mind the fact, that we 
 have many schools of philosophy and theology, repre- 
 senting colleges and universities in all parts of Christen- 
 dom, that agree scarcely in any thing else except as Herod 
 and Pilate agreed — to condemn Jesus of Nazareth — either 
 by denying His personal existence, or His divinity, or 
 atonement, or the influence of His Holy Spirit ;— when we 
 see that Strauss, and Renau, and such writers, are the 
 
 I 
 
52 JESUS CHRIST god's SON AND OUR LORD. 
 
 most popular of our day ; and when we find so little 
 reverence for the Son of God in many of the books used 
 in our Christian families and societies, then we are filled 
 with shame, and are obliged to confess that our type of 
 religion falls far below that of the martyrs, and confessors, 
 and covenanters of old. We seem to forget that it is the 
 will of God the Father ''that all men should honor the 
 Son, even as they honor the Father." " No man can say 
 that Jesus Christ is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." We 
 seem to forget that ''whosoever shall confess that Jesus 
 is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God, 
 and whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the 
 Father." We read that when many disciples went back, 
 and walked no more with Jesus, He said unto the twelve : 
 " Will ye also go away f ' And then Simon Peter nobly 
 answered, saying : " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou 
 hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are 
 sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." 
 John vi. 66-69. 
 
 Here Peter declares that (1.) Jesus is Christ — tliat 
 Christy meaning the Christ promised in the Old Testa- 
 ment as the Messiah to come, and (2.) that the promised 
 Messiah who is called Christ was the ^on of God, and 
 therefore (3.) he called him Lord. And so in Mattli. 
 xvi. 16, 17, when Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the living God," Jesus not only acknowledged the 
 truth of his profession, but added: "Blessed art thou, 
 Simon Bar-jona :' for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
 unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." 
 
 And as on the Day of Pentecost, so everywhere and 
 always the burden of the preaching of the Apostles was 
 to prove that Jesus of JSTazareth was the Christ the Son 
 of God, risen from the dead and exalted to reign both as 
 Lord and Christ. So the Ethiopian converted said : 
 
 J 
 
CONFESSING JESUS AS CHRIST. 53 
 
 ** See, here is water ; what doth hinder me to be bap- 
 tized?'' And Philip said, '*If thou believest with all 
 thine heart, thou may est." And he answered and said, 
 *' I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." And so 
 Philip preached in Samaria, and so Paul preached, from 
 his first sermon in Damascus to his last one from the 
 block on which he was beheaded in Rome, saying, Jesus 
 is Christ the Son of God. Acts viii. 35, 37 ; and ix. 20. 
 
 It would perhaps surprise many of you if you were 
 to look out the passages of Holy Scripture that speak of 
 Jesus as Christ the Son of God, and make faith in Him as 
 such the only condition of salvation. You remember 
 that the second article of our Creed on which we are 
 speaking says : " And I believe in Jesus Christ, His only 
 Son, our Lord." We have already spoken of the name 
 Jesus, and also of His official title, Christ. It remains 
 therefore for us now to dwell on the other two titles in 
 the article : His only Son^ our Lord, which declare His 
 relation to the Father and His relation to us. And here, 
 
 I. It is reasonable, if our holy religion be what we 
 believe and say it is — a revelation from God, the Infinite, 
 to us His finite creatures, that there should be mystery 
 in it — and there must be, until the finite can comprehend 
 the Infinite, which is clearly impossible. Jesus Christ 
 and the Holy Spirit are not known from the works of 
 creation. All we know of them is from Revelation. The 
 Doctrine of the Trinity no man can know unless it is 
 revealed, and no mortal can fully comprehend it even 
 when it is revealed. A fact or doctrine may be de- 
 clared, and the manner or nature of it still be incompre- 
 hensible. We believe many things as facts which we 
 cannot explain. The mystery of the Incarnation, the 
 miraculous birth of Jesus, and of his relation to the 
 Father Almighty— a relation expressed by the words, 
 
54 JESUS CHRIST god's SOUf ANI> OUR LORD. 
 
 " His Son," " His only Son"— '^ His only-begotten Son" 
 — *'His eternal Son," I believe, because I find it 
 declared in Revelation, and I believe it on the simple 
 direct authority of God Himself, which is to me the 
 highest possible authority, and to believe which I con- 
 sider the highest act of reason and common sense ; but, 
 at the same time, I candidly and boldly confess I do not 
 comprehend this doctrine. And although I do not know 
 that I have a correct understanding at all of what is 
 meant when I say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son 
 of God^ His only-begotten and eternal Son, still I do 
 honestly and firmly believe it, and I have good and 
 sufficient grounds to believe it, for Jesus Christ Himself 
 so says of Himself. He declared that He was the Son of 
 God, therefore I believe He is. The Father himself pro- 
 claimed by a voice from Heaven that Jesus was His Son, 
 and the Holy Spirit proved that Jesus was the Son of 
 God, as the voice from Heaven proclaimed Him to be, 
 by descending upon Him. I see no way to escape from 
 the necessity of believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of 
 God, but by rejecting the authority of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, for certainly they do represent it to be the sum of 
 our Confession of Faith in relation to Jesus Christ, to 
 believe and profess that He is the Son of God. And this 
 is precisely what our opponents have done and are doing 
 directly and indirectly ; namely, rejecting, undermining, 
 weakening, or overthrowing the authority of the Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 I candidly confess, I do not understand the use of many 
 words found in our theological literature. Some terms 
 and phrases are used I could wish altogether omitted. 
 Nor do I think it wise and best for us to indulge our 
 curiosity in speculations on the miraculous conception of 
 Jesus. The history of the Church is full of the proceed- 
 
WHAT THE GOSPEL EEQUIEES. 55 
 
 ings of councils and of the writings of learned men, en- 
 deavoring to explain the miraculous birth of Jesus and his 
 Divinity, but all is of very little use. I understand that 
 the Gospel requires me to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is 
 the Christy the Son of God, and that he is God, and I believe 
 just what the Holy Scriptures teach. And by the terms, 
 /S(9?^, His only Soii^ hegotten^ and only -begotten, I under- 
 stand that Jesus the Christ came from God the Father, as a 
 Mediator — that the term Son denotes proceeding from the 
 Father, sent by the Father, and yet equality with the 
 Father, both as to Nature and the Degree of it. Ac- 
 cording to the Scriptures, the term father is applied to 
 God expressing personal agency, intellect, devising, lov- 
 ing, and sending his Son ; while the term Son denotes 
 coming in obedience to the will of God, and is used in 
 reference especially to his milking known to us the will 
 of God, revealing the knowledge of God to us for our 
 salvation. And for this reason He is called The Word, 
 as words, language, and speech are the means of commu- 
 nicating ideas to and among men. And so also named 
 Jesus, for He shall save his people, and Christ with refer- 
 ence to his official titles as Mediator, the Anointed One, 
 prophet, priest, and king. And the Holy Spirit makes us 
 holy by applying to us the merits of Christ — the benefits 
 purchased for us by his death : namely, enlightening us 
 in the knowledge of Christ, renewing our hearts, and 
 working in us the fruits of the Spirit, Avhich are love, joy, 
 peace, and charity — making intercession in us, and pre- 
 paring us for the inheritance of the saints in light — 
 dwelling in us, that we may be meet to dwell with God. 
 This is the reason the term holy is made a prominent pre- 
 fix to the third person of the Trinity. 
 
 II. The texts just cited, and they are only a specimen 
 of many more of a like nature, prove that Jesus Christ 
 
56 JESUS CHRIST god's SON AND OUR LORD. 
 
 is THE Son of God in a sense higher than any creature. 
 Angels are sons of God, but Jesus Christ is more excel- 
 lent, not only as to the degree, but also in the kind of his 
 nature, than they. When our Lord told the Jews that He 
 was the Son of God, they inferred that He made himself 
 equal with God. And if this inference was not correct, 
 surely He would have protested, and told them that they 
 were doing him injustice — ^that it was a calumny to 
 charge him with claiming to be equal with God, when He 
 had not done so. If He were a mere man, or creature, 
 however high. He would certainly have vindicated him- 
 self from the charge of blasphemy in claiming to be the 
 Son of God, and therefore equal with God. As our Lord 
 allowed them to put this interpretation on his words, it 
 must have been correct. That was what he meant. John 
 V. 18. He did not seek his own glory, but the glory of 
 the Father who sent him, and as the Father was to be 
 honored in His Son, He taught them, in claiming to be the 
 Son of God, that He possessed the same nature, essence, 
 power, and dignity that belonged to the Father. ^' The 
 Name of God is in him." The same titles, attributes, 
 works, and worship that are proper for the Father are, 
 according to the Scriptures, to be given to the Son. "He 
 is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express 
 image of his person." He is the light of Light, and t]ie 
 life of the world. " We beheld his glory, the glory as of 
 the only-begotten of the Father." "Christ Jesus, being 
 in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
 with God. ^ * Wherefore God hath exalted him * * that 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 5-11, inclusive. 
 
 III. The relation of Jesus Christ to God the Father 
 denoted by the words. His only Son, not only gives him 
 pre-eminence over all creatures, but equality with, iden- 
 
JESUS EQUAL TO GOD. 57 
 
 tity as God Jehovah himself. Jesus Christ is not only 
 superior to all creatures, but is in all respects like and 
 equal to God, and one with Him. *' There is but one 
 only living and true God ; but in the unity of the God- 
 head there be three persons, of one substance, power, 
 and eternity : God the Father, God the Son, and God the 
 Holy Ghost." — Conf. Faith^ chap. ii. ** And these three 
 are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and 
 glory." See also I. and II. of the XXXIX. Articles, and 
 Conf. Faitli^ chap. viii. The same point is made in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. The great proposition of that 
 epistle, according to Schoetgen, is that Jesus of Nazareth 
 is God^ and one of the arguments is that He is superior 
 to angels, and therefore, as according to old Hebrew the- 
 ology, whoever was superior to the angels was God, for 
 they believed angels were so near to God, that there 
 could be no higher creature. As Jesus was higher than 
 the angels, who were the highest creatures, He was God. 
 
 lY. In professing our belief in Jesus Christ, God's 
 only Son, we say also that He is our Lord. 
 
 The Names God and Lord both signify the Divine 
 Nature without distinction of persons^ but the words 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost indicate a separate person- 
 ality. This is according to Theodoret, and seems to us 
 to be well expressed. It is well understood that among 
 the Jews the word Lord was used for God. They held 
 the name Jehovah in such reverence, that instead of pro- 
 nouncing it, they used the equivalent term Adonai, Lord. 
 ** So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy 
 Ghost is Lord. And yet there are not three Lords, but 
 one Lord."* We are not baptized into three names, 
 
 'Bishop Forbes, Niccne Creed, pp. 115-117. 
 
 I 
 
58 , JESU3 CHRIST GOd's SON AND OUR LORD. 
 
 but in one Name. ^'Baptizing tliem in the name of 
 the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." 
 One JVame, One God, hut three persons. Gregory Nazi- 
 anzen says: *' Define oar pious faith, teaching that we 
 acknowledge one unbegotten God, that is the Father, and 
 one begotten Son, that is the Son, who indeed is called 
 God when He is spoken of by Himself, but who is termed 
 Lord when He is mentioned with the Father. The first 
 term is given to Him on account of His Nature, the latter 
 on account of there being one principle in the Deity 
 [/xovapxcay^ Examples could be given also from the Scrip- 
 tures of the term Lord being applied to the third person 
 as well as to the second person in the Trinity. 1 Cor. 
 viii. 6 ; xii. 3. We are not, then, without Apostolic 
 authority to apply the term Lord pre-eminently to Jesus. 
 This term is generally attributed to the second person of 
 the Trinity. And for this and in so doing we have strong 
 historic testimony for our faith to rest upon. The term is 
 given to Jesus by the Apostles, who were Jews, and were 
 accustomed to use that term as convertible with the term 
 God, and as the equivalent of Jehovah. It is applied in 
 the Apostles' Creed to Jesus, and so also in the Nicene- 
 Constantinople Creed. And thus we have historic annals 
 bringing to us from the very days of the Apostles them- 
 selves the proof that there was such a person as Jesus of 
 Nazareth, who claimed to be the Son of God, and called 
 himself Lord, and was received and believed in as such 
 then, and has been ever since to our day. Whatever we 
 may claim for the supernatural in our holy religion, it 
 starts with historical facts, and we cannot know what it 
 is until we believe them. It is not in any wise derogatory 
 to the divinity of our faith that it receives aid from the 
 facts of history, just as any other system does. 
 
 Our theologians attempt to make the clause of the 
 
I 
 
 JESUS IS OUR LORD. 59 
 
 Creed under consideration emphatic by telling us that 
 Jesus is OUR Lord essentially^ because He is God, 
 and mcariously because, according to the designation 
 of the Father, He became incarnate, and to Him as such - 
 was given all power in heaven and earth, and all things 
 were put under His feet, and He was exalted as Head over 
 all things to the Church. It is in proof quite sufficient 
 for us, then, that He is our Lord : — Firsts That He called 
 himself Lord. His disciples called him Lord — the ' ' Lord 
 from Heaven" — "My Lord and my God." And every 
 tongue is bound to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father. Secondly^ The old versions, 
 the Fathers, and ecclesiastical historians from the earliest 
 ages gave the name Lord to Christ. Thirdly^ The name 
 Jesus, it has been shown, is the abbreviation of the two 
 Hebrew words Jehovah Joshua, meaning Jehovah Sa- 
 viour, or Salvation. He then is our Lord. Fourthly^ 
 Jesus is assuredly both Lord and Christ, because 
 as God' s Son He was designated^ appointed, sent forth, 
 qualified, and accredited as His Anointed One, to execute 
 the threefold offices of a Prophet, Priest, and King. It 
 is only in this view, I can understand the Scriptures that 
 speak of the Father' s eternal Decree, and of believers as 
 the Father's gift to his Son, and of the Son's purchase 
 of them with a price, and of the Son's actual dominion 
 over them, possession of them, and reigning in them — 
 as by His effectual calling, and delivering them from 
 this present evil world, bringing them to himself and 
 purifying them as a peculiar people. And hence, David 
 before his Incarnation called him Lord (See Acts ii. 35, 
 6), and his Apostles and disciples and followers ever 
 since have called him Lord, and every creature at the 
 final judgment ^vAforexer afterwards shall acknowledge 
 that of truth He is Lord, to the glory of God the 
 Father, _ _ 
 
60 JESUS CHEIST god's SON AND OUR LORT). 
 
 My dear brethren, no presentation of Jesus Christ as 
 the only-begotten Son of God can suffice, unless we con- 
 template his relation to us as the Son of God, as well as 
 his relation to the Father. It is only then that the sove- 
 reign love of God the Father presents itself to our view. 
 It was when we were enemies, God loved us and gave 
 His Son for us. We who are by nature the children of 
 wrath, and of disobedience, and of our Father the Devil, 
 are exalted through him to be the sons of God. He gave 
 his only-begotten and well-beloved Son to die on the cross, 
 that we may be conformed to his image, that He might be 
 the flrst-born among many hretJiren. So amazing is his 
 grace that the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. 
 How amazing, how astonishing, that He who, being in the 
 form of God, and who thought it not robbery to be equal 
 with God, made himself of no reputation, but took apon 
 him the form of a servant — in the likeness of sinful flesh — 
 God manifest in the flesh — and that He hath exalted us at 
 the same time to the greatest height of dignity of which 
 we are capable, by giving us the glory which the Father 
 gave Him, and by making us partakers of the Divine 
 nature. Brethren, God's dear Son has neither sold his 
 birthright as Esau did, nor forfeited it like Reuben, nor 
 lost his kingdom like Saul, by disobedience. Nor has 
 he resigned His offices as The Anointed One. He exe- 
 cutes them to-day, and as our High Priest, Prophet, and 
 King reigns to make us joint heirs with Him in his glory. 
 
 V. Why, then, do we insist on professing our faith in 
 this Article of our Creed ? 
 
 I. We should believe all this Article of our Faith, not 
 only because it contains the doctrine which, according to 
 the Holy Scriptures, is unto salvation, but also because it 
 is the articulated voice of the pious in all ages. It is the 
 
THE VOICE OF ALL AGES. 61 
 
 voice of the Church coining down to us from Eden. It 
 is the voice of Abel, of Enoch, of Noah, Abraham, and 
 Moses. It is the voice of the prophets and of the Apos- 
 tles, and of the Church in all ages, that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God, and our Lord. It is the united voice of 
 all Christendom, Roman, Greek, Anglican, and American 
 — of all the house of Israel on earth or in heaven, that 
 God hath made that same Jesus who was crucified, both 
 Lord and Christ. It is pleasant and full of comfort to 
 think that the Church in heaven and on earth agree in 
 this Article, to think how many millions have professed 
 their faith saying. And I believe in Jesus Christ, His only 
 Son our Lord, and are now in the New Jerusalem. 
 
 II. We must profess this Article, in order to our re- 
 nouncing the jurisdiction^ reign, and dominion of 
 Chris fs enemy, Satan, whose works He came expressly 
 to destroy. It is not merely in the pious romances and 
 legends of the Church, but it is a blessed reality, that the 
 Name Jesus has power over Satan and all his legions. 
 Satan is the prince of the power of the air. He rules in 
 the children of disobedience. He is the god of this 
 world. His subjects are the slaves of sin and the flesh. 
 To belong to Christ, then, we must renounce the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil. There are but two kingdoms — 
 the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of the devil. 
 There are but two masters, nor can we serve them both 
 at the same time. We must make a choice. Whoever 
 belongs to Christ does not belong to Satan. He is rescued 
 from his tyranny. He is translated from his kingdom. 
 He is delivered from this present evil world. lie has 
 learned that the friendship of this world is enmity with 
 God. He is dead to sin, through the death of Christ. 
 It is not, then, as a mere empty or unmeaning form of 
 words, that in baptism, or confirmation of your baptismal 
 
 I 
 
62 JESUS CHEIST god's SON AND OUE LOED. 
 
 VOWS, when you publicly professed your faith in Jesus, 
 that you renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil. I find 
 in Witslus^ a copy of a pathetic address delivered by a 
 pastor in the earlier days of Christianity to young persons 
 at baptism, an abstract of which seems to me worth read- 
 ing to you. It shows the earnestness of the pions servant of 
 Christ, and illustrates the custom of our own days. ' ' You 
 intend," said he to the young persons presenting them- 
 selves to be baptized, '' you intend this day to show the 
 hand-writing of your faith to Christ. Your conscience 
 will be the pen, ink, and paper ; your tongue, the form. 
 Attend, then, to the manner in which you subscribe this 
 profession. Men that are about to die make a testament, 
 and appoint another to inherit their possessions. To- 
 morrow night you, too, are going to die to sin ; and now 
 your renunciation is a testament ; you make the devil the 
 heir of your sins, and you leave them to him as an inher- 
 itance. If any of you, then, retains in his mind any 
 thing which belongs to the devil, let him renounce it as 
 one that is about to die, who is no longer master of his 
 own possessions. Let none amongst you, therefore, re- 
 tain in his heart any thing that pertains to the devil. 
 Cast in the devil's face all the remainders of filthiness and 
 wickedness, and be joined to Christ. The whole trans- 
 action in which you are now engaged is awful and tre- 
 mendous. All the powers of heaven are present in this 
 place ; the angels and archangels, though invisible, are 
 recording your words ; the cherubim and seraphim are 
 bending from heaven to receive your engagements and 
 present them to the Lord, that the angels may all rejoice 
 over the penitent." It is well to note the solemn, devout, 
 and pious manner in which it was usual in ancient times 
 
 * Witsius on the Creed, 1 vol. p. 361. 
 
COVENANTING WITH CHEIST. 63 
 
 for persons on becoming communicants to renounce 
 Satan and all his works, and all his service, and all his 
 angels, and all his pomp, and to join themselves to the 
 Lord Christ, and to his service forever. 
 
 III. We must, then, believe this Article, and acknow- 
 ledge our belief of it, in order that we may truly and 
 really become the subjects of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 How can we acknowledge that we are His, and not 
 our own, except by receiving Him as He is offered to us ? 
 Ahel confessed Him when by faith he offered a more ex- 
 cellent sacrifice than Cain. Moses did the same when he 
 preferred the reproaches of Christ to the glory of Egypt. 
 And so Daniel confessed his faith in Christ in Babylon. 
 He is thy Lord^ saith the Psalmist, and worship thoiM 
 him. 
 
 ly. Do we really believe in Jesus Christ, His only 
 Son, our Lord^ then we must ohey Him as our Sovereign. 
 If we profess to call Him Lord, and yet do not obey His 
 precepts, then our profession is false and hypocritical. 
 *' Why call ye me. Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
 which I say V '^ If ye love me, ye will keep my com- 
 mandments." 
 
 If a centurion's authority over his soldiers and ser- 
 vants is such that he secures prompt obedience, saying to 
 one go, and he goeth, and to another come, and he 
 cometh ; how much more supreme is the authority of 
 Him who reigns at the right hand of the Almighty, both 
 as Lord and Christ? I have often wondered at and 
 admired the address of Socrates to God, saying, '' What- 
 ever place or rank thou mayest assign me, I would die a 
 thousand deaths rather than abandon it." (Arrian. lib. 
 iii. cap. 24.) And so said Epictetus : " The life of every 
 
 I 
 
64 JESUS cimisT god's son and ouk loed. 
 
 man is a military service, — Ibotli long and diversified. 
 Thou must act the part of a soldier, and perform without 
 reserve whatever thy supreme commander may require, 
 even anticipating, if possible, his will." It is even sup- 
 posed by some of our great scholars that our name Sacj^a- 
 ment^ for the Lord' s Supper, is borrowed from the oath 
 of a soldier to his general — Sacramentum — by which he 
 bound himself to follow his general' s standard and obey 
 his orders. Do you not remember David' s heroes ? They 
 heard the king express a wish that some one would give 
 him water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which was 
 before the gate, and immediately they broke through the 
 warrior host of the Philistines, and drew water out of 
 that well, and brought it to David. Oh, is there any one 
 of us willing to do so arduous, so perilous, so glorious 
 a service to please God ? Can we say of the trials and 
 sorrows and labors of this life, as Paul did — "JSTone of 
 these things move me, neither count I my life dear to my- 
 self, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the 
 ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus." 
 Acts XX. 24. [See these quotations in Witsius.] 
 
 Y. Do we really believe in Jesus Christ His only Son, 
 our Lord f Then we cheerfully submit to be disposed 
 of by Him as our true and only Sovereign. If He is our 
 Lord, then we are his property, and there is no one to 
 hinder Him from doing what He will with his own. 
 ''Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against 
 God ? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. 
 Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter 
 power over the clay?" Strive to remember, dear breth- 
 ren, in your heavy losses and bereavements and afflic- 
 tions, the noble examples of cheerful submission set us by 
 Aaron and Moses, Eli and David. Besides, it is not only 
 wicked, but it is in vain to contend with the Providence 
 
WE ARE god's PEOPEETT. 65 
 
 of the Almighty. It is wicked^ for to set up our judg- 
 ment in opposition to God' s, is to asperse his government, 
 and say we know better than He does, or we are better 
 than He is. It is wicked and vain. "Let the potsherd 
 strive with the potsherds of the earth ; woe unto him that 
 striveth with his Maker." 
 
 And Job says, "I know that Thou canst do every thing, 
 that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Nothing 
 is too hard for Thee." Although, then, you fret and vex 
 your soul, yet you cannot change or control the ways 
 of Providence ; but by submitting, acquiescing, you can 
 make them all subservient to your happiness. Even the 
 heathen teach us, as I have just said, that it is the part of 
 every good man to receive the will of the gods as best, 
 and to follow their appointment without murmuring. 
 Very few Christian poets have surpassed the following 
 lines from Cleanthes^ which I copy from Witsius : 
 
 "Father of alll Great Ruler of the skyl 
 Thy power I own, thy wisdom still descry. 
 Whate'er the paths through which thou'rt pleased to lead, 
 With joy I follow, and obey with speed. 
 Were I to fret, and act a wayward part. 
 Follow I must, though with an aching heart. 
 Fate leads the willing, drags the unwilling soul ; 
 Tranquil, the good ; tho bad, compelled to howL" 
 
 Epictetus, the philosopher, furnishes us also with a 
 beautiful paragraph on this point : 
 
 " I have surrendered my inclination to God. Is it His 
 will that I should be sick of a fever ? Then it is my will 
 also. Is it His will I should give my attention to any thing ? 
 It is my will too. Is it His will I should earnestly desire 
 any thing? Then I do earnestly desire it. Is it His will 
 I should obtain the possession of any thing ? Then I am 
 
 5 
 
66 JESUS CHRIST god's sot^ akd oue lord. 
 
 so inclined. Is it His will that I should not obtain it 1 
 Neither is it mine." 
 
 Surely it is enough to say with Seneca, ''A man should 
 be pleased with whatever pleases God." "To a good 
 man there is nothing evil, either living or dying. What 
 then shall I think when God does not afford me the means 
 of subsistence, or the power to live ? What else, but 
 that as a good commander he sounds a retreat for me ? 
 I submit, I follow, commending my Leader, and praising 
 his works. I came into the world when it seemed good to 
 him, and now I retire when He pleases ; and while I lived, 
 this was my employment, to praise Him alone or with 
 many, rendering thanks to God for all things, blaming 
 nothing whatever that is done by Him." 
 
 Have we received Christ as our Lord ? Are we happy 
 in the thought that He is supreme, commanding and dis- 
 posing of all things ? Can we say cheerfully with our 
 Hymn — 
 
 " He that formed me in the womb, 
 He shall guide me to the tomb ; 
 All my times shall ever be 
 Ordered by his wise decree. 
 Times of illness, times of health, 
 Times of penury and wealth, 
 Times of trial and of grief, 
 Times of triumph and relief, 
 Times the tempter's power to prove, 
 Times to taste a Saviour's love ; 
 All must come, and last, and end 
 As shall please my Heavenly Friend. 
 Thee at all times will I bless ; 
 Having thee, I all possess ; 
 How can I bereaved be. 
 Since I cannot part with thee ?" 
 
THE BLESSED USE OF TPwIALS. 67 
 
 And are we striving to be conformed to His will, who 
 said: ''Not my will, but thine be done," that we may 
 know the power of his resurrection and be conformed to 
 his death 1 Then we have the blessed hope that we shall 
 be raised in the resurrection of the last day, and our 
 bodies be made like unto his own glorious hody. Cheer- 
 fully therefore and with courage let us tight on, and faith- 
 fully perform all our duties, and suffer, all the evils our 
 heavenly Father sees best to send upon us. 
 
 " Trials must and will befall ; 
 
 But with humble faith to see 
 Love inscribed upon them all, 
 
 This is happiness to me. 
 God, in Israel, sows the seeds 
 
 Of affliction, pain, and toil ; 
 Trials make the promise sweet ; 
 
 Trials give new life to prayer ; 
 Trials bring me to his feet, 
 
 Lay rae low, and keep me there." 
 
 I 
 
68 CONCEPTION AND BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 IV. 
 
 JESUS "CONCEITED" AND "BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY." 
 
 " And tho "Word was God. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us." — John i. 1-14; with 1 Jdnx iv. 2, and 1 Tiir. iii. 16. 
 
 The FORMS of modern disbelief, which are both wide- 
 spread and exceedingly dangerous, are in many points 
 widely different from the unbelief of the last century. 
 In many ways they are peculiar, and differ from and are 
 more subtle than the forms of unbelief that have existed 
 at any time, or through any of the ages since Christ and 
 his Apostles. A general resemblance may indeed be 
 traced through them all from age to age, but each age has 
 its peculiarities. The j)YeY ailing fo7y/is of unbelief in our 
 day are exceedingly subtle. Great modesty is professed. 
 And the highest mental culture, and the most intense 
 admiration for the works of the Creator, and for the Fine 
 Arts as expressive of the Godlike in man, are made 
 the glosses under which the Personality of God, and the 
 existence and character of His Son Jesus Christ are denied 
 or undermined. The character of the attack agreed upon 
 by the enemies of Eevelation is changed. There is, then, 
 in some measure, a necessity for " a restatement of Chris- 
 tian doctrines," and a new line of defense. Many of the 
 old arguments, like the arms and artillery of a past age, 
 
CIIRISTIAIS^ DOCTRINES RESTATED. 69 
 
 fail to meet the necessities of our times. We now want 
 needle-guns. A very large portion of what is called the 
 evangelical Christian literature of our day is useless — 
 irrelevant to the new issues. Its uselessness is owing to 
 the crudeness of the thoughts, and the want of elegance, 
 , elevation, and refinement in its literary style. If I am not 
 greatly mistaken, this is generally admitted by our best 
 scholars and our most pious men, and that, too, in regard 
 to a great many publications found in our Sabbath- 
 Schools and popular religious societies. The necessity 
 that, certainly in some measure exists for '^a restate- 
 ment of Christian doctrines," does not, then, arise from 
 any new revelations made to us, nor from any progress 
 or improvement in the doctrines of Revelation, but is 
 owing chiefly to the style in which these doctrines have 
 been set forth, and to the kaleidoscope views of error 
 that are filling the land. Its Protean forms require man- 
 ifold answers. Nor are we without fear or some sus- 
 picion that '^a restatement of Christian doctrines" does 
 not always mean a new statement of old Christian doc- 
 trines, but a new statement of new doctrines under the 
 cover of restating the old. It is apparent to all, that in 
 some cases we have old and familiar phrases employed in 
 an entirely different sense from that in which they were 
 used when they first became precious to the people of 
 God. Nor are we without evidence that zeal for new 
 forms of doctrine, a restatement of the orthodox faith, 
 is sometimes a wish to get rid of old doctrines altogether. 
 
 Ever since the fourth century, at least, our Creed has 
 been received as the Apostles' Creed, to distinguish it 
 from the Athanasian, Nicene, or- other formularies. By 
 calling it the Apostles' Creed is not meant that it was 
 composed, or adopted by the Apostles just as we have it ; 
 but that it embodies and sets forth the doctrines which 
 
70 CONCEPTION AND BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 the Apostles Ibelieved and preached. It is true that the 
 whole of the Christian religion is comprehended in two 
 parts : — loliat we are to believe, and how we are to Ime 
 in order to be saved. These two parts are the mystery 
 of the Truth, and the mystery of Godliness or Piety. 
 And the only rule or standard for both is the Word of 
 God contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- 
 taments. These Scriptures teach in a way very different 
 from all the systems of philosophers. They do not 
 arrange their doctrines into any regular system, according 
 to the precepts of any human school, ancient or modern. 
 Oriental or Western. As chemistry, geology, or astrono- 
 my exists in its elements in nature, but is not set before 
 us in orders and classes until Science has worked out its 
 discoveries, so it was only when the lirst teachers of 
 Christianity found it necessary for the instruction of the 
 young and of heathen converts, that they arranged the 
 principal doctrines of the Bible under heads and into 
 classes. The followers of Jesus Christ at first required 
 no other Creed, Confession of Faith, Articles or Cate- 
 chism, than simply to receive Him as He was preached to 
 them, believe on his Name, and live so as to explain and 
 recommend their religion by their temper and conduct. 
 It is also to be remembered that the Apostles' Creed is 
 received by the whole Christian world ; with small excep- 
 tions, and without serious dissension we may add, it is 
 properly explained in the Mcene Creed, and is embodied 
 in almost all the doctrinal statements of Christians every- 
 where, and so has been from the earliest ages. 
 
 The texts of Holy Scripture just read, seem to me to 
 require but little analysis, defence, or explanation. It is 
 true that some have denied that the first chapter of John, 
 and the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of 1 Timothy, 
 are a part of the inspired writings. But the reasons 
 
A COMPLETE DEMONSTRATION. 71 
 
 given for rejecting these portions from the !N"ew Testa- 
 ment are not satisfactory. As to the first chapter of John, 
 they are absolutely worthless, and cannot be entertained. 
 As to the sixteenth verse from the third chapter of 1 
 Timothy, I think it only necessary to say that I use it in 
 connection with the other texts, because I regard it as 
 genuine, and because, if it were not, it most happily ex- 
 presses the doctrine of the Incarnation as taught every- 
 where in the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine of the Trinity 
 or of the Incarnation does not depend on any one text of 
 Scripture. I am willing to rest the defence and explana- 
 tion of these great mysteries on the Word of God as a 
 whole. While, therefore, I do not regard the sixteenth 
 verse of 1 Timothy, third chapter, as of doubtful author- 
 ity, still I rest more upon the testimony of the inspired 
 writers as a whole, than upon any one text. And surely 
 it were difficult, perhaps impossible, to find anywhere 
 else words more happily chosen and better put together 
 to express our views of the great mystery of the Incarna- 
 tion. ^'God was manifest in the flesh." Jesus Christ, 
 God's only Son our Lord, is Emmanuel — God with us. 
 The Incarnation as set forth in the Apostles' Creed was 
 the first great truth elaborated and defined by the scientific 
 thought and classic culture of the early Church, and it 
 seems to us impossible to improve it. Perhaps this is 
 one of the reasons why the thought and strength of 
 Christendom are now absorbed on the Person of Christ. 
 
 It is true that I am ready to believe any doctrine upon 
 the authority of God, whether it is set forth in one or 
 many texts. One word from God is sufficient. One text 
 clearly interpreted is quite and altogether sufficient— just 
 as one demonstration in mathematics is as good as a thou- 
 sand. The great doctrines of the Gospel, however, are 
 not tied to any one text, nor dependent on any peculiar 
 
72 COiN^CEPTIOlS^ AND BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 line of interpretation. They beam from the whole vol- 
 ume of Revelation, as light does from the whole heavens 
 when the sun appears. 
 
 It must be remembered also, as I have endeavored 
 before to impress upon your minds — that mystery 
 belongs to true religion, for it is a communication from 
 the Infinite to the finite — and that a fad or a doctrine may 
 be revealed, and yet its mode of existence not be com- 
 prehended. The existence of a thing is apart from our 
 comprehension of its existence. There is a God, but no 
 creature can fully apprehend the nature or existence of 
 God. The miraculous conception and nativity of Jesus 
 Christ I believe, because the Word of God says so. The 
 whole Incarnation is a mystery. I believe the facts stated, 
 but I do not understand, nor am I able to explain them 
 fully. Nor have I any ear for, nor patience with, the 
 spurious Gospels that crowded the early ages of the 
 Church, and have come even to our own times, concerning 
 the birth, infancy, and youth of Jesus. I regard them 
 as the tales of inconsiderate writers — mere fables or 
 monkish legends, although such men as Baronius and 
 Xavier have given some of them the sanction of their 
 great names. Again : I wish to say that on these subjects 
 I know nothing beyond the testimony of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. I have no explanation to give except what it has 
 seemed good to the Holy Ghost to reveal to us, saying : "A 
 Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, who shall be the son 
 of the Highest, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, 
 the Prince of Peace," and "the Holy Ghost shall come 
 upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
 thee," and accordingly ''she was found with child of the 
 Holy Ghost." ''He was conceived by the Holy Ghost 
 and born of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 The third Article of the Creed, as embodying and set- 
 
THE WORD WAS GOD. 73 
 
 ting forth the meaning of the texts quoted concerning the 
 mystery of the Incarnation, presents us two main parts, 
 namely : 
 
 I. The SUBJECT of the Incarnation ; and 
 
 II. The FACT AND MODE THEREOF. 
 
 1. The subject : Who is it that was conceived and 
 born ? The relative refers to its antecedent in the second 
 Article, which is— ''and in Jesus Christ His only Son our 
 Lord ;" and the third is ; "Who was conceived by the 
 Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." This Article 
 does not say that the Father or the Holy Spirit was born 
 of the Virgin Mary ; but it does say, Jesus Christ, God's 
 only Son our Lord, was conceived and born. 
 
 When Paul says, '' Without controversy, great is the 
 mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, 
 justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the 
 Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
 glory," he gives us the whole Gospel. 
 
 Here I understand, 1. ''Without controversy" to 
 mean, it cannot be disputed that in revealed religion 
 there are mysteries, especially that such facts as he im- 
 mediately alludes to are undeniable as facts, and yet 
 sublimely mysterious. 
 
 2. God in this passage is the Creator of all things. 
 And, 
 
 3. Godliness here denotes the substance of all revealed 
 religion. The doctrines therefore stated in the 16th verse of 
 this third clmpter of 1 Timothy, are identical with the whole 
 tenor of the Gospel, and the very same that we find in 
 the first chapter of John. It is admitted that Jesus Christ 
 
 I 
 
74 co:n-ception akd birth of jesus. 
 
 is called The Word, and that the Word was with God in 
 the beginning, and the Word was God. [2-5 verses.] 
 
 The term Word represents also the intimate relation 
 of the Son with the Father. As reason dwells in man, so 
 the Word dwells in God ; and as the Word goes forth 
 from the heart and lips of man, so the Word is sent forth 
 from God the Father. (See p. 65, Dr. Browne.) 
 
 It is equally clear that the Word of the first verse, 
 and of which the following verses are adjuncts descriptive 
 of the Word, and the Word of the 14th verse, are one 
 and the same. ''And the Word was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us." What or ^cho then was it that was 
 made — not simply was, but was made flesh f ''Without 
 controversy," may I not say the antecedent here is the 
 Word which was in the beginning with God and was God, 
 of which the Apostle says, "All things were made by 
 him ?" [2-5, verses.] '' God was manifest in the flesh." 
 
 Was made flesh — became man, not by bringing hu- 
 manity from Heaven, nor by transmuting Divinity into 
 human nature, but by being born of a woman, deriving 
 from her his humanity. Perhaps the language of the ori- 
 ginal creation will assist our apprehension of this clause. 
 God made man' s body out of the dust of the ground, and 
 then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man 
 became — iDas made — a living soul ; for so the Apostle 
 explains : The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. 
 Man became a limng soul^ not by casting off" the nature 
 and qualities of dust. The created elements of dust still 
 remained — dust he still is and to dust must return — but 
 he became a living soul by receiving a soul from the 
 Almighty. After the same manner, perhaps, we may 
 compare the Incarnation with the creation, and say, so 
 the Word was made flesh; not ceasing to be God or 
 
GOD MADE FLESH. 75 
 
 man, but became God-man — Immanuel, God with ns. 
 So the Council of Ephesus (a. d. 431) decided against the 
 Nestorians, decreeing that "Christ was but one Person, 
 in whom two natures are intimately united but not con- 
 founded." And so also the Council of Chalcedon(A. d. 451) 
 condemned the doctrine of the transubstantiation of the 
 human nature of Christ into the Divine, as held by Euty- 
 chus. They decreed that the two distinct natures of Christ 
 " are united in one Person, without any change, mixture, 
 or confusion." 
 
 When one Apostle says, " God was manifest in the 
 flesh" — and another says, " And the Word was made flesh 
 and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth^'' we are 
 to understand God in human nature, which human nature 
 was composed of a true body and a rational soul, which 
 means, as old Athanasius expressed it, that God " appro- 
 priated to himself a human body as an instrument per- 
 sonally united to him," and with whose eyes God might 
 look on us and see mankind, with whose ears He might 
 hear, and with whose hands He might act, and with 
 whose feet He might walk among His people, and in 
 which he might both suffer and be glorified, and both 
 die and revive and rise from the dead ; so that on 
 account of the very intimate union of human nature with 
 God the Son, the actions performed by Him are really 
 and truly the actions of God, and the blood he shed is 
 the blood of God, and of Him might be justly said : "Lo ! 
 this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will 
 save us : this is Jehovah, we have waited for him, we will 
 be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isa. xxv. 9. This 
 is the glory of the Lord revealed, which the Apostle John 
 says we beheld, "the glory as of the only-begotten of 
 the Father, full of grace and truth. ' ' There are many lines 
 of argumentation that might be pursued to prove the truth 
 
 I 
 
76 COI^CEPTIOX AND EIRTII OF JESUS. 
 
 of this Article : such as 1. The general and essential agree- 
 ment of all orthodox creeds: Heidelberg, Westminster, 
 Church of England. It is a noteworthy fact, that the 
 miracuk^us proofs of our Lord' s nativity and life were so 
 manifest in the earliest ages of the Church, that the reality 
 of his human nature was called in question by errorists 
 long before His Divinity was impugned. 
 
 2. The prevailing idea of the heathen concerning the 
 communication of the gods with men. Rude and civilized 
 nations have believed that the divinities descended to earth, 
 assumed human forms, and mingled with men, and did and 
 had to do with human beings just as they have with one 
 another. The gods in heathen fables are often made a 
 great convenience when paternity was wanting for a child. 
 
 3. There was an outstanding promise from the earliest 
 time that God would walk in the midst of his people. 
 
 4. Symbols of the old dispensation taught the same 
 thing. I cannot dwell on these. Are they not found in 
 the books 1 
 
 Then without allowing our curiosity to carry us into 
 mysteries which it is not becoming in us to profane, we may 
 say that the reason why the Lord Jesus is called the 
 Word is that it has pleased the Father to make known to us 
 the revelations of His grace through His Son. Language, 
 words, speech is the vehicle, the channel for conveying 
 thought — making known our wishes. So it is only through 
 His Son that the will of God is made known to us for our 
 salvation. Even the patriarchs and prophets spake by the 
 Spirit of Christ. They were illuminated by His Spirit. 
 He is the only High Priest and Prophet of God. And as 
 the Word was the Creator of the world in the very begin- 
 ning, so it was worthy of the Divine Method that the way 
 
CHRIST WAS TRULY A MAN. 77 
 
 of salvation should be revealed by the Word, and that 
 the heart should be created anew by the very same power 
 that created all things. Nor is it unworthy of being 
 remembered that it is the work of Ilim who is God's only 
 Son to make us the sons of God, even all who believe on 
 His name — that He who is himself the express image of 
 the Father and the brightness of his glory should restore us 
 to the image of God in which we were created. And hence 
 as this is done by His Spirit, whose office it is to make 
 us holy by renewing the heart, and applying the benefits 
 of his redemption, so the Spirit is called the Holy Spirit. 
 
 II. As to the FACT AND MODE of God manifesting him- 
 self in the flesh, we are to receive the words conceived and 
 horn in their full force. The Gnostics, the Doceta3, and 
 the Manich^ans taught that Jesus did not actually take, 
 but only assumed the appearance of a man. This opinion 
 prevailed generally for a time among several Oriental and 
 Judaizing sects. This and similar errors are found float- 
 ing along the current of theological controversy in the 
 early ages, and connected with the Apollinarians, Nesto- 
 rians, Eutychians, and Monothelists. It was to meet and 
 refute such heathenish conceits or Jewish fancies, the 
 Church put forth and adhered so firmly to the terms of 
 our Creed: "The Word was made flesh." Jesus was 
 truly man — not a phantom or spectre, but was born of 
 his mother as other children, and grew in stature and in 
 wisdom just as John the Baptist did. He had all the 
 essential parts of a human being, mind, soul, body, and 
 aff'ections, and was subject to thirst, hunger, fatigue, 
 sorrow, and tears, just as we are, excepting our sense of 
 guilt or sin. He came eating and drinking, and was found 
 in fashion as a man. He was perfect man because, accord- 
 ing to the Scriptures, he had a human body and a human 
 soul, both subject to human conditions and invested with 
 
78 CONCEPTION AND BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 human attributes. His human body took its substance 
 from his mother ; he was born, grew, and was liable to 
 hunger, pain, weariness, bleeding, and wounds and lacer- 
 ation. He had flesh and blood, and bones, and nerves, and 
 was cruciiied, dead and buried, as if he were only a man ; 
 and yet He was God. 
 
 First. ' ' God was manifest in the flesh. ' * " The Word 
 was made flesh," not by any change of Divinity into 
 humanity. This is impossible, for it is essential to the 
 Divine nature that it should be unchangeable. Nor, 
 secondly., Was there any confusing., compounding, or 
 confounding of two natures into one ; for in Jesus * 
 Christ we have two distinct natures, each having its own 
 distinct properties, and yet but one person. 
 
 Nor, thirdly., W^as this union of these two natures for 
 a few years only. It remains forever. In Phil. ii. 7, we 
 are expressly told that the Son of God took upon himself 
 the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of 
 men. By the form of a servant we are given to under- 
 stand his debased condition. His human nature was in 
 the state or debasement of a servant, and his humanity 
 was real. Being in the form of God — equal with God- 
 God himself. Heb. ii. 14. 
 
 And, fourthly., In the mother of our Lord, all the re- 
 quirements of the prophecies and promises concerning the 
 Messiah are fully satisfied. He was to be of the seed of 
 Eve and of the seed of Abraham, of the nation of Israel, 
 of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, and to be 
 born in Bethlehem, and of a virgin. And every one 
 of these requirements is fully met in the history of the 
 miraculous conception and birth of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 Born of the Virgin Mary asserts then that she was his 
 mother — that his human nature was not brought down 
 
JESUS BETTER Til AN ADAM. 79 
 
 from heaven, but was taken from her substance, just as 
 John the Baptist was born of his mother. He ''was 
 made of a woman." He was " the fruit of Mary's 
 womb, and the seed of the woman." The blessed Virgin 
 is expressly called his mother, and is so recognized by 
 Him and by his disciples. The expression then that 
 Christ descended from heaven does not belong to his 
 human nature, but to Him as the Son of God. By this 
 expression I understand simply what the Apostles say : 
 " God was manifest in the flesh." '' The Word was made 
 flesh." It is worse than blasphemy to seek any explana- 
 tion of our Lord's descent from heaven in the dew of the 
 eternal Godhead, or of celestial, starry, or elementary mat- 
 ter becoming refined, and producing as a result the child 
 Jesus. Errorists have shown themselves exceedingly 
 ingenious in devices to get rid of the simple truth of our 
 inspired record, but still it remains true, that Jesus 
 Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, was conceived by the 
 Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of 
 her at the stated time and in the usual way, and yet with- 
 out sin, so that He did really come in the flesh, was the 
 Son of man, as well as the Son of God. 
 
 The wording of this Article concerning the Incarnation 
 is very important. "' The Son of God took man's nature 
 in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance ; so 
 that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the 
 godhead and manhood, were joined together in one Per- 
 son, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God 
 and very man." 
 
 What, then, are the benefits, or as Witsius denominates 
 them, the fruits of the Truth of this Article to us ? The 
 Heidelberg Gatecl[\\sm answers, that Christ is "our Media- 
 tor ; and with his innocence and perfect holiness covers 
 
 I 
 
80 COlSrCEPTIOK AND BIETH OF JESUS. 
 
 in the siglit of God my sins, wherein I was conceived 
 and brought forth. ' ' 
 
 There are three points in this Article: — 1. Jesns 
 Christ was lorn of a Virgin hy the power of the Holy 
 Ohost. 2. He was taken from among his brethren as one 
 of them ; and, 3. He was truly man as well as really 
 God. And the first, that he was born of a Virgin, shows 
 that He was not under the curse that fell upon Adam on his {/ 
 own account. He was not represented in Adam' s cove- 
 nant, and consequently not liable to the imputation of 
 Adam's guilt. He did not exist in Adam, when Adam 
 sinned ; for He was not born by virtue of the ordinary 
 law of generation descending from Adam, nor as a fruit 
 of the Divine command given to Adam before the fall, 
 which said, ''Be fruitful and multiply." On the con- 
 trary, Jesus Christ was born in the fulfilment of the new 
 promise in the covenant made after the fall, in which He 
 is denominated ''the seed of the woman," and appointed 
 the second Adam, the Head and representative of the new 
 creation to proceed from the woman. [See this sub- 
 ject presented at length in Witsius, vol. ii., p. 29, &c.] 
 This immaculate conception and birth of our Lord estab- 
 lishes the original purity of his human nature. He was 
 holy, harmless, without sin of any kind, except as He 
 bore our sins as our propitiation. And this vieAV of our 
 Lord's human nature is important, for it gives Him the 
 right and ability to suffer for us as our Surety, since 
 He was under no obligations to suffer for himself ; and it 
 also is intended as a cover for our original sin, in which 
 we are conceived and born. As our Surety His righteous- 
 ness is perfect in every thing the law could demand of us. 
 For our sake, therefore. He was conceived and born with- 
 out sin, in order that His original righteousness might 
 cover our original sin, and supply our want of original 
 
JESUS IS OUR GOEL. 81 
 
 righteousness. When we say that Christ is thus made 
 of God to us righteousness, and that \yY putting on Christ 
 we are covered, and are one with Him, and thus saved 
 from original as well as actual sin, we do not mean that 
 the life and sufierings and death of Christ were not also 
 necessary. By no means. His great redemption work 
 consists in and of all his life and death. — His entire right- 
 eousness, original and actual, active and passive. 
 
 And as to the other two points, that Jesus Christ was 
 man^ and taken from his brethren to represent them, we 
 may consider them together. They are in fact insepara- 
 ble, and are supported by the same texts of Scripture. 
 "There is," says Paul, "one Mediator between God 
 and men, the man Christ Jesus." And as the one only 
 Mediator, He combined in himself the two natures be- 
 tween which He was to mediate. He was the Son of God 
 T^ — was God ; and he was the Son of man — was man. He 
 could therefore lay his hands upon both and make them 
 to he at one — make an atonement — " satisfy divine justice 
 and reconcile us to God." 
 
 And still more, as our Surety, He had to perform all 
 the law required of us, and endure all the law demanded 
 of us ; and as the law is very extensive and searching in 
 its demands of us, reaching the body, the soul, and the 
 spirit, both as to its requirements and its threatenings, so 
 Jesus was made of a woman, and made under the law, 
 that human nature in Him, subject to the law, could 
 magnify it and make it honorable, fulfil all righteousness 
 in body and soul, and that He by his death might taste 
 death for all, and deliver his people from the power of 
 death. And hence He is our Goel, Redeemer. " For he 
 who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified should be all 
 of one blood, that they might call each other brethren." 
 " Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like 
 
 6 
 
82 CONCEPTION AND BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 unto his "brethren." ''For verily He took not on him the 
 nature of angels, [He undertook not the redemption of 
 angels,] but He took on him the seed of Abraham." 
 
 You remember that the Hebrew Goel, Redeemer, 
 was to be the nearest of kin that was capable of the func- 
 tions pertaining to the Goel. And it was his duty to 
 redeem the inheritance of his kinsman that had been sold 
 or alienated ; and to recover his kinsman' s freedom if he 
 had become a captive, or was in bondage for debt ; and 
 to avenge his blood, if murdered ; Siudi fourthly, to marry 
 the wife of his deceased kinsman to raise up seed to him, 
 that his family might not become extinct in Israel. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, that the Prophets who 
 flourished after Moses should speak of the coming Mes- 
 siah as the great Goel, Redeemer, Kinsman, for all 
 things that the law required in the Goel are found united 
 in Christ. First. By his meritorious righteousness He 
 has redeemed our forfeited inheritance, and makes 
 " Paradise Regained" more glorious than the " Paradise 
 Lost." Secondly. He delivers us from the captivity of 
 Satan and the power of sin. Thirdly. He takes ven- 
 geance on our enemies, the devil and his allies, and all 
 our sins. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the 
 works of the devil. Fourthly. By redeeming us from 
 the guilt, and power, and pollution, and dominion of 
 sin. He gives us power to become the sons of God, even 
 to as many as believe on his Name. Thus he saves and 
 redeems by price and by power. 
 
 In conclusion, let us learn especially, 
 
 I. That Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord, is the 
 one and only Mediator between God and men. It is only 
 when, and as we see the glory of God in Christ, that the 
 
DO WE LOVE THIS CHRIST? 83 
 
 conscience oppressed with the load of guilt finds peace. 
 God's method of justifying and saving sinners is wisdom 
 beyond the grasp of any creature. How astonishing the 
 love, how sublime the plan, that God's Eternal Son should 
 be born of a woman and become a man to redeem them 
 that are under the law, who should believe on his name, 
 and accept Him as their surety. Having both the natures 
 of the parties at variance which He was to reconcile, He 
 could do justice to both. God and man meet in Christ, 
 and man who was at enmity with God is reconciled to 
 God, and taken into his close embrace. It is there and 
 thus the treaty of peace was begun and concluded. '' Had 
 God and man treated anywhere but in the person of 
 Christ, a peace had never been concluded, yea, it had 
 broke up at first ; but being in Him, it could not fail, for 
 in him they were already one. One person, so there they 
 could not but agree : ' God was in Christ, reconciling the 
 world to himself.' " — LeigMon. Dear hearer, do not 
 these mysteries satisfy your soul, thirsting after salvation % 
 Is not this the only way of reconciliation worthy the per- 
 fections of God and safe for man \ Are not these some of 
 the awful mysteries of the Gospel, which eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the 
 heart of man ; which were kept secret since the world 
 began, but now are made manifest, and by the Scriptures 
 of the prophets, according to the commandment of the 
 Everlasting God, are made known to all nations for the 
 obedience of faith \ Rom. xvi. 25, 26. 
 
 II. Should we not feel the strongest love for Christy 
 seeing that He has so loved us f Angels are superior to 
 us, but when angels sinned, they were left without a Goal 
 — left to suffer the punishment due to their transgressions. 
 Christ took not upon himself the nature of angels, but our 
 nature. He came down to us in the likeness of men — be- 
 
 I 
 
84 CO]S^CEPTION AKD BIRTH OF JESUS. 
 
 came man. The Lord of glory did not empty hiriiself, 
 did not veil the rays of ineffable majesty, to become 
 one of the cherubim or seraphim, or a companion 
 with the highest orders of angelic hosts in their govern- 
 ment of worlds — not to be born a monarch, and sit on a 
 throne, but to be born of a woman in a stable — born to' 
 suffer and to die, that we might live. " In all things he 
 was made like unto us, that he might be a merciful and 
 faithful High Priest, in things pertaining to God, to 
 make reconciliation for the sins of the people." 
 
 III. Forget not, dear brethren, one thing more : He 
 who was conceived of the Holy Ghost and horn of the 
 Virgin Mary must be formed in our hearts, the hope of 
 glory. He must live in our hearts, and be nourished 
 there, and grow up there, until by His dwelling in us, we 
 attain unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ. We are not Christ' s unless we have His spirit. 
 Are we Christ's 1 Do we really belong to him ? Angels, 
 you know, announced his birth, saying : ''Glory to God 
 in the highest, peace on earth, good- will toward men." 
 Have we peace with Godf Can we and do we truly say : 
 We adore Thee — we worship Thee — we acknowledge Thee 
 as our God and Saviour — we expect salvation from 
 Thee ? May the whole world unite with us in knowing, 
 acknowledging, and praising Thee, to whom be glory, 
 with the Father and the Eternal Spirit, as it was in the 
 beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without 
 end. Amen. 
 
PILATE TIIE HEATHEN JUDGE. 85 
 
 V. 
 
 CHRIST "SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE. 
 
 " Thus it is Av^ritten, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer." — Luke xxiv. 46, 
 "But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his proph- 
 ets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled." — Acts iii. 18, together with 
 chapter liii. of Isaiah. 
 
 I HAVE not time this evening, nor do I consider it at 
 all necessarj^, in sucli a presence as this, to analyze or to 
 present a synopsis of the texts of Holy Scripture read in 
 order to show that they teach that Jesus Christ suffered 
 under Pontius Pilate^ nor is it my purpose now to 
 speak of the application of the fifty -third chapter of Isa- 
 iah to the Messiah. It is confessed by the most ancient 
 Jewish authorities that this prophecy does relate to the 
 Messiah. And so plainly does it suit the character of 
 Jesus, that it has long been contended by some Jewish 
 Rabbis that two Messiahs are promised in their sacred 
 books, one to redeem and suffer, and another to reign as a 
 glorious Prince. A sufficient answer to this is, that such 
 an interpretation of the old Hebrew Scriptures is clearly 
 an invention, for the purpose of getting rid of the testimo- 
 ny of the sacred writers to Jesus as the promised Messiah. 
 AYe are not able to find a syllable in support of it from the 
 beginning of Genesis to the end of the book of Revela- 
 
86 
 
 tion. Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms, know 
 nothing of two Messiahs, but they do speak of one Mes- 
 siah who was both to suffer and die and to triumph, to 
 be humbled and to be exalted, to be clothed with human- 
 ity, and yet to wear the robe of immortality and of inef- 
 fable majesty. There is no trace of any expectation of 
 two Messiahs among the Jews before the coming of Christ. 
 This interpretation was not thought of until it became a 
 necessary invention to weaken or destroy the proof that 
 Jesus was the Messiah, by showing that all the require- 
 ments of the old Jewish Church were fulfilled in Him. 
 
 The fourth Article of the Apostles' Creed is : '^ Suf- 
 fered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and bur- 
 ied." We do not find both expressions, " suffered" and 
 *' was crucified," in some of the old Creeds, but only 
 was crucified under Pontius Pilate. The sense is not 
 changed by the omission, but I prefer both expressions 
 just as we have them, and, by divine assistance, I hope to 
 show that both are true, and that both are important 
 terms in our holy religion. I confine myself, for the pre- 
 sent, to the first clause : *' Suffered under Pontius Pilate." 
 Common ecclesiastical usage appropriates the word Pas- 
 sion to the sufferings of our Lord at and during his 
 crucifixion, as in Acts i. 3 : ''To whom also he showed 
 himself alive after his passion"^ ^ — his suffering — pre- 
 eminently, his sufferings at the close of his life. 
 
 I. Then let us look a little at the heathen judge under 
 whom our Lord suffered. 
 
 First. Pontius Pilate is named in this Article of the 
 Creed, not because he was in any way able to impart 
 value to our Lord's sufferings ; but it was well to iden- 
 tify historically the period of our Lord's sufferings and 
 death. The Evangelists had told us of the epoch of his 
 
~-\ 
 
 PILATE FULFILLINa PROPHECY. 87 
 
 "birth, so also it was desirable to fix that of his death. 
 There are historic periods connected with historic names 
 in the Roman Empire. And such simple references to 
 easily identified persons are strong collateral proof of the 
 truthfulness and authority of our sacred writers. If they 
 had not been honest, straightforward men, never suspect- 
 ing that any one would ever doubt their veracity, we 
 cannot think they would have dared to commit them- 
 selves to dates, names, and events, as they have done. 
 
 The Creed, in saying that Jesus suffered under Pon- 
 tius Pilate^ fixes the date of his crucifixion, and enables 
 us to examine the events of the Gospel by the light of 
 the profane history of the same times, in the same century. 
 LuTce tells .us that Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea 
 when John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness, 
 and we know from Roman history that this was true ; and 
 we know also that Pilate was removed from office just 
 before the death of the Emperor Tiberius, and after he 
 had held his government ten years. And it is also in 
 evidence that it was the custom for all Roman governors 
 to make reports from their government to the Emperor, 
 and for these reports to be kept on file at Rome. And 
 no doubt Pilate made a report to his imperial master at 
 Rome concerning the life and trial and death of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, and accordingly Justin Martyr^ in his defence 
 of Christianity, or Apology^ as it was called in his day, 
 written in the early part of the second century, boldly 
 appeals to the '' Record of the Acts of Pontius Pilate," on 
 file in Rome, for the truth of the facts concerning Jesus 
 as given by our Evangelists. TertulUan also, from the 
 early age of the Church, and in fact, I believe, the vol- 
 ume of evidence from the Fathers and the first ages of the 
 Church, is decidedly in favor of the Acts of Pilate as a 
 
88 "SUFFEEED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE." 
 
 well-known and existing record, on file in Rome, of 
 Pilate's government in tlie second century. 
 
 And you are all aware, I presume, that there is a pas- 
 sage in Joseplius that speaks of Christ as an extraordinary 
 person who appeared at this time in Judea ; but as it is 
 alleged that this passage is an interpolation, and does not 
 "belong to the original text, I do not insist upon it. I am 
 not willing to decide dogmatically that the passage in 
 Josephus is spurious, but we do not need any doubtful 
 authority. We have direct testimony from the " Annals 
 of Tacitus," which cannot be impeached, that ^'Nero 
 j)ersecuted with exquisite torments a sect of men com- 
 monly called Christians^ — so called from Christus, whoX 
 in the reign of Tiberius was executed under Pontius 
 Pilate, the Procurator of Judea." Testimony of this sort 
 might be greatly multiplied, but it cannot be necessary. 
 
 Secondly. It is a fact, then, in the next place, that 
 Roman history acquaints us with the state of Judea as a 
 Roman province under just such a government as is im- 
 plied in our narrative. The Jews were then under the 
 Roman yoke, a foreign, heathen, hated government. 
 Pontius Pilate was a Roman knight, and the Roman gov- 
 ernor of Judea under the Emperor Tiberius. The sceptre 
 had actually departed from Judah. The appointed time 
 for Messiah's advent had expired. The Jews themselves 
 bore witness to their own degradation, when they said to 
 Pilate, '' It is not lawful for us to put any man to death ;" 
 and confirmed it by saying: ^'We have no king but 
 Caesar." It is not material to determine how the JeAvs liad 
 lost this power of life and death. It is sufiicient to prove 
 that such was the fact at this time, and that it was also a 
 fact that the Procurators had the power of life and death, 
 which is well attested by the history of the administra- 
 tions of the provinces of the Roman empire, that of Judea 
 
PILATE'S GEEAT CONFESSIOK 89 
 
 included, and to prove also that Jesus suffered under 
 Pontius Pilate. Now, let it he noted that prophecy- 
 required, if Jesus of Nazareth were the true Messiah, 
 that he should be taken from prison and from judg- 
 ment — that is, from confinement and guards, and from the 
 place of judgment ; and that at this judgment-seat his 
 innocence should be established. Accordingly, after all 
 the base arts employed to condemn our Lord, after a strict 
 investigation, and protracted discussion, the perfect inno- 
 cence of Jesus is fully recognized by his judge, and 
 jive times declared by him. And I need not here say that 
 "the whole concern of our salvation turns upon this 
 hinge ;" namely, that Jesus Christ was innocent, and 
 was condemned and suffered not for sins of his own, but 
 for us. Pilate acted unjustly in condemning Jesus to 
 gratify the • clamors of the mob — condemning a person 
 whom he himself had acquitted ; but this acquittal is a 
 precious testimony to us. ' ' Then was the chastisement 
 of our peace upon him, and with his stripes we are 
 healed." 
 
 Again, Thirdly. As the promised Messiah was to be a 
 Saviour for Gentiles as well as Jews — all nations were to 
 be blessed in Abraham's seed — so it was right for him, in 
 suffering "/or all^ to suffer from alV^ " For of a truth, 
 [Acts iv. 27] against thy holy child Jesus, whom, thou 
 hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the 
 Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together." 
 
 Again, Fourthly. Nailing to the cross was a Roman 
 punishment — unusual ampng the Jews. If Jesus had 
 been put to death by a Hebrew judge, he would have 
 been stoned^ according to the laws of the Jews ; but as he 
 was condemned under a Gentile governor, he was cruci- 
 fied, and the Scriptures were fulfilled. 
 
90 "suffered under POISTTIUS PILATE." 
 
 Again, Fifthly. It is in evidence abundantly from 
 profane history, that Pontius Pilate was a man of just 
 such a temper and disposition as we should expect him 
 to be, from his picture drawn for us by the Evangelists. 
 
 Philo says he '' was a man of an inflexible and severe 
 disposition, charged with accepting bribes, with acts of V^ 
 injustice, rapacity, violence, and oppression, with the 
 frequent murders of persons uncondemned, and, in fine, 
 with the most insatiable and savage cruelty." And 
 surely it required such a man ; — a man of such barbarous 
 character only could have pursued so cruel, inconsistent, 
 and vacillating a course as he did in condemning Jesus. 
 We may add, however, before we leave him, that his 
 wickedness was no gain to him. He was punished for 
 his crimes in various ways. First he was reprimanded, 
 then deposed by the Goveror-Greneral of Syria, and at last 
 sent to Rome, to plead his cause in person before the 
 Emperor, but failed in his defence, and was condemned 
 to perpetual exile in Gaul, and there he was so tormented 
 by his own conscience, and by persecution, that he laid 
 violent hands on himself. '•' Thus," as Bishop Ado^ in his 
 Chronicles of Yienne, the place where Pontius Pilate 
 died, says, *' seeking in death a speedy release from a 
 train of protracted calamities." I might add here that 
 this kind of testimony could be rolled up almost indefi- 
 nitely, and that there is no conflicting evidence— there is 
 not a syllable of counter or impeaching testimony. There- 
 fore, when we say suffered under Pontius Pilate^ our 
 Creed is in harmony, firsts with historic, with known and 
 acknowledged historic personal verities belonging to the 
 life and times of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. 
 
 Secondly^ it coincides with prophecy — in this, first, 
 Shiloh could not come until the sceptre had departed from 
 
THE GLORIOUS SUFFERER. 91 
 
 Judah, which was not true iintil after the death of Herod 
 the Great. Secondly^ according to the Psalmist, Christ 
 the Lord' s anointed was to sufler not only from the Jews, 
 but also from the Gentiles ; ^' Why do the heathen rage, 
 and the people imagine a vain thing % The kings of the 
 earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together 
 against the Lord and his anointed. ' ' And so our Lord him- 
 self predicted. "The Son of man shall be betrayed unto 
 the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall 
 condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles 
 to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him." 
 
 II. Let us inquire, in the second place : Who " suffered 
 under Pontius Pilate?" Answer: It was Jesus Christ, 
 God' s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy 
 Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary — Christ the Media- 
 tor, the God-man, who suffered in his whole person. The 
 whole man, body and soul, owed obedience to the law of 
 God. The whole man, therefore, was liable to punish- 
 ment. It was necessary then for Christ, as our represen- 
 tative and surety^ to suffer in his whole person, both in 
 soul and body, that He might satisfy Divine Justice in 
 all its claims upon man, by sustaining the punishment 
 due to sin, expiating human guilt, and glorifying God in 
 both the body and soul of human nature. Guilt lay on 
 man ; both his body and soul were therefore to suffer, — 
 both were contaminated with sin, and all his faculties 
 impaired by sin. The whole man must suffer. Heidel- 
 berg Catechism well says, " The words. He suffered^ mean 
 that all the time Jesus Christ lived on earth, but especially 
 at the end of his life, He sustained, in body and soul, the 
 wrath of God against the sins of all mankind ; that so, 
 by his passion, as the only propitiatory sacrifice, he 
 might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damna- 
 
 I 
 
92 WHAT CHEIST SUFFEEED FOE US. 
 
 tion, and obtain for us the favor of God, righteousness, 
 and eternal life." 
 
 III. In what sense did Dimnity suffer in the person 
 of Christ f In itself the Godhead suffered nothing ; but 
 Divinity afforded strength to the suffering humanity of 
 the Mediator. So great was the weight of the curse upon 
 sin that human nature could not have endured it without 
 support. 
 
 Again, the indwelling of Divinity imparted value and 
 woiih to the sufferings of the Messiah Christ. It is in 
 reference to such an indwelling that the Apostle refers in 
 Col. ii. 9, when, in speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, " In 
 whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." 
 Bodily here is emphatic. Christ dwells in true believers 
 mystically, and is present in the elements of the sacra- 
 ment symbolically, and is said to have ^\N^i figuratively 
 and typically in the Ark, in the Temple ; but here it is 
 said, all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in 
 Christ. Bodily^ that is, really and personally : as the 
 body is opposed to the shadow, and means the reality, 
 and designates a person. The merits of the sufferings of 
 Christ are often described as flowing not from the length 
 of time he suffered, nor from the intensity of his suffer- 
 ings, but from the dignity of the sufferer. Apostles tell 
 us, '' God hath purchased the Church with his own 
 blood" — ''the Lord of glory was crucified" — "Christ 
 through the Eternal Spirit offered up himself unto God" — 
 that " the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth 
 us from all sin." The boundless value, the infinite worth 
 of the God-man is derived from the Dignity of His per- 
 son—" all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him 
 bodily." 
 
CHRIST SUFFERED FOR US. 93 
 
 IV. What did Christ suffer under Pontius Pilate 1 
 Answer : He suffered the wrath of God against us. He 
 endured the penalty of the law of God. He satisfied 
 Divine Justice by the sacrifice of Himself, so that, as the 
 lamb of God, he taketh away the sin of the world. 
 
 As God is holy and just and good, He hates sin. 
 " Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. 
 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Evil shall not dwell 
 with Thee ; the foolish shall not stand in Thy sight ; 
 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing." " And the 
 wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungod- 
 liness and unrighteousness of men." Here the wrath, 
 and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, are 
 joined together by the Apostle. Now as God is a holy 
 God, He will not forgive transgression and sin, and will 
 by no means clear the guilty, unless there is satisfaction 
 rendered — His law magnified and honored. And this is 
 just what Christ does by His righteousness, obedience, 
 and suffering. God vindicates His holiness and makes 
 manifest His displeasure against sin in three ways. 1. He 
 punishes sin in the believer' s Surety. He is the propitia- 
 tion for our sins. 2. He punishes believers themselves 
 at the same time that He forgives them. Ps. xcix. 8. 
 3. Sinners impenitent and unbelieving, rejecting Christ, 
 are made to suffer under the guilt of unpardoned sin. ''It 
 therefore became Him, for whom are all things, and by 
 whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, 
 to make the captain of their salvation perfect through 
 sufferings." Heb. ii. 10. And in Romans iii. 25, 26: 
 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through 
 faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness — that He 
 might be just, and the justifier of him that belie veth 
 in Jesus " — " who is the end of the law for righteousness 
 to every one that belie veth." 
 
94 "sirrrERED uis^der pontius pilate." 
 
 'T/ie purpose therefore of his sufferings is to Ibe learned 
 from the history of our sin and misery. 
 
 ** By one man sin entered into the world, and death 
 l3y sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all 
 have sinned." The sentence on all men, therefore, is 
 death: ''For in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
 surely die." It is true our first parents did not die, that 
 is, their mortal life did not end the moment they sinned, 
 but they did at once begin to die. The sentence began 
 to be executed. They became mortal — liable to sickness, 
 and fell under the sentence of death, which is only 
 delayed in its execution ; and they died spiritually, and 
 so became subject to eternal death. And this is pre- 
 cisely our situation. ISTow the purpose of Christ's suffer- 
 ings and death is to redeem us. ' ' The righteousness of 
 God, which is by faith unto all and upon all them that 
 believe, being justified freely by His grace through the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God hath set 
 forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to 
 declare, I say, at this time His righteousness for the 
 remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance 
 of God ; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness : 
 that he might be just and the justifier of him wl^ich 
 belie veth in Jesus." 
 
 The cause of our Lord's sufferings, therefore, is not 
 to be found in any shortcomings of His own, but in Ms 
 substitution for His people ; that is, the wrath of God was 
 laid on Him for the punishment of our sins. It is in this 
 sense we understand the Prophet, saying: "We did 
 esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted — 
 wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities 
 — despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief. Surely He hath borne our griefs 
 and carried our sorrows. He was oppressed and He was 
 
Christ's manifold suiteeen-gs. 95 
 
 afflicted. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him and to make 
 Ilis soal an offering for sin. Therefore he shall divide the 
 spoil with the strong ; because He hath poured out His 
 soul unto death ; and he bare the sin of many, and made 
 intercession for the transgressors." 
 
 Y. What constituted the sufferings of Christ? His 
 sufferings began with his human life, and ended with it 
 on the cross. For man's sake the ground was cursed. In 
 sorrow we eat of it all the days of our life. As Christ 
 suffered for us as our Surety, bearing the form of a servant, 
 and appearing in the likeness of sinful flesh, so the suffer- 
 ings of his whole life are to be taken into the account and 
 collected into one amount and laid upon Him. TJiinTc of 
 his sufferings in volunteering to come and die for us, when 
 He emptied himself of the glory which He had with the 
 Father before the world was. Then think of his infancy, 
 his circumcision^ flight into Egypt, the journey through 
 the desert, and the murder of the children of Bethlehem. 
 Think of his private life as the son of the carpenter 
 Joseph, to whom he was in subjection till he was of age. 
 Think of his public life^ his baptism, temptation, toil, 
 preaching, travelling, working miracles, and how He was 
 persecuted, misrepresented — his life hunted by the Scribes 
 and Pharisees, and betrayed, deserted, apprehended, and 
 crucified ! And shall we visit with Him the garden of 
 Gethsemane, after eating the last Passover and the last 
 supper with his disciples ? Think of his anguish and 
 sorrow when betrayed and forsaken, insulted and mocked. 
 Think what He suffered from the Jews when He was 
 falsely accused, unjustly condemned, cruelly derided, 
 thrice denied by Peter. Think how He suffered in the 
 judgment hall of Pilate and before Herod, and was con- 
 demned and the robber Barabbas preferred before him ; 
 and how He was torn with cruel scourges, crowned with 
 
96 "suffered under pontius pilate." 
 
 thorns, clothed in robes of mock royalty, and hung on the 
 cross ! And when we consider also that all these suffer- 
 ings He took voluntarily upon himself — that He knew 
 them all beforehand — the bitter dregs of the cup He 
 anticipated from the beginning ; and then consider how 
 repulsive sin, and the odious sufferings of guilt, must 
 have been to a nature so pure and sensitive as was the 
 Holy Sinless One, and surely we are ready to exclaim : 
 
 " how He loved us ! amazing love ! 
 for this love let rocks and hills 
 
 Their lasting silence break ; 
 And all harmonious human tongues 
 
 The Saviour's praises speak." 
 
 As to the duration of our Lord's sufferings it is not 
 necessary to enlarge. His whole human life was, like 
 ours a long mortal disease, a continual death. From liis 
 conception he was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. 
 The shadows of the cross began to fall upon his manger 
 cradle. For us He was presented at the Temple and 
 circumcised, and for us He was baptized, and was tempted 
 in the wilderness ; nor did He cease His sufferings until 
 He gave up the ghost on the cross. 
 
 I do not seek here, my brethren, any novelties, or 
 claim any originality, as if we had made new discoveries 
 in theology. I am only trying to present you with as 
 clear an exhibition of the truths believed from the begin 
 ning as I can. And according to my view, an abstract of 
 the argument for the truth of this Article of our Creed 
 would run in this line ; namely, 
 
 1. We have historic evidence in support of the fact 
 alleged, both from the Evangelists and from cotemporary 
 and subsequent profane history. The existence of the 
 
PROOFS OF OUR CREED. 97 
 
 Christian Church itself, from the period of the crucifixion 
 to this moment, and such an existence and such a history 
 as it is, is no mean evidence — but in fact a living miracle 
 of the truth of the Gospel history, embracing the miracu- 
 lous birth and supernatural sufierings of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth. You must remember here that our Lord's enemies 
 as well as his friends confessed and believed in the fact 
 of his suffering under Pontius Pilate, and that his enemies 
 alleged this fact as a reason for not believing in him. 
 They rejected Him because it was true He suffered under 
 Pontius Pilate. 
 
 2. There is a natural, or very wide spread notion, that 
 suffering either procures by merit or purchase, or is in 
 some other way efficiently connected with, the pardon of 
 sin. It is not material now to speak of the origin of this 
 opinion. It is quite sufficient that it prevails and has 
 prevailed — namely, that the suffering of victims, animals 
 sacrificed, for example, was in some way effective towards 
 the pardon of the sins of the persons who offered them. 
 If Jesus Christ then has made an atonement for sin, He 
 must have suffered. 
 
 3. All our ideas of the perfections of God demand 
 satisfaction to His justice before there can be pardon 
 offered to the sinner. It is the voice of all heaven, earth, 
 and hell, that there can be no remission of sins without 
 the shedding of blood. Blood cannot be shed without 
 suffering. It behooved Christ therefore to suffer under 
 Pontius Pilate. 
 
 4. The promises and prophecies of the Old Testa- 
 ment concerning the Messiah to come represent Him as 
 a suffering Messiah. The seed of the woman was to 
 bruise the serpent' s head, but the serpent was to bruise 
 Ms lied — and so in the Psalms and in the Prophets. 
 
 7 
 
98 "suffered undee po:n^tius pilate." 
 
 5. Jesus Christ foretold liis own sufferings — making 
 tlie revelation of them to his disciples stronger and clearer 
 as they became able to bear it, and as the time approached 
 for Him to suffer and die. He was a true prophet ; his 
 predictions were fulfilled. 
 
 6. Then, in the next place, we have the testimony of 
 the Evangelists, supported by profane historians, that 
 Jesus did suffer under Pontius Pilate. 
 
 7. Jesus, after his resurrection, speaks of his suffer- 
 ings — shows his wounds — and his Apostles and the early 
 Christians all thus believed, preached, and testified, and 
 many of them died as martyrs to their faith — martyrs for 
 the truth of what they saw and heard. 
 
 8. The miracles of the day of Pentecost, of the 
 planting of the Church in the first ages, and the success 
 of the Gospel in the world, and the second coming of the 
 Lord Jesus and his judgment of the world — all imply the 
 truth that He suffered under Pontius Pilate, but is now 
 ascended and reigning at the right hand of the Father as 
 Lord and Christ. The truth of this Article then rests 
 partly on historical documents and partly on theological 
 reasons. The historic evidence is overwhelming. It is as 
 strong as it can be made. And besides, all the theological 
 reasons that require satisfaction to be made to the justice 
 of God in order that sin may be pardoned, require also that 
 Jesus as our Mediator should suffer for us. All the 
 Scriptures that speak of Him as a High Priest to make an 
 atonement for sin, or as being a propitiation for us, imply 
 of necessity His suffering before, during, and leading to 
 his death as an atonement. 
 
 And if still it be asked. Why did Christ suffer under 
 Pontius Pilate? our answer is, *' to satisfy Divine Justice 
 
WHY CHEIST SUFFERED. 99 
 
 and reconcile us to God." He expiated our guilt. He 
 evinced his love to the Father and to us, by bearing 
 the wrath of God due to us on account of our sins. 
 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by 
 the death of his Son. All things are of God, who hath 
 reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. '*God was in 
 Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing 
 their trespasses unto them." 
 
 ''It hath pleased the Father, — ^having made peace 
 through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all 
 things to himself.""^ These texts must now suffice as 
 specimens of what the sacred writers teach on this sub- 
 ject. It is true that in the Scriptures reconciliation is 
 ascribed to God the Father, as He loves us and deter- 
 mines to give His Son to die for us, and also to the Son^ 
 as he obeys the Father, and renders satisfaction, and 
 intercedes for us and in us, and believers are said to 
 reconcile themselves to God by receiving Jesus Christ as 
 he is offered in the Gospel. 
 
 Again, all the rites, types, and texts that speak of and 
 set forth Jesus Christ as the propitiation^ the propitia- 
 tory in his blood, are in proof of Christ' s sufferings to take 
 away sin. The essential idea of atonement is covering in 
 order to an agreement, or an at-one-ment. The covering 
 of the Ark of the covenant was called the Mercy-Beat — 
 firsts because it covered the law, and, secondly^ because 
 it offered mercy to the believer. And hence Christ is 
 himself our Mercy-Seat. He covers our sins with his own 
 perfect righteousness, so that they may not condemn us in 
 the sight of God. He sprinkles us with his blood. And 
 
 * Rom. V. 10 ; 2 Cor. y. 18, T9f:-e^i^l9, 20, 
 
 /; 
 
 
 :^ 
 
100 "suffered under POKTIUS PILATE." 
 
 he erects a throne of grace, on which God sits to hear our 
 prayers, and grant us pardon and eternal life. 
 
 Finally^ what benefit do we derive from the suffer- 
 ings of Christ under Pontius Pilate % "What are the re- 
 sults ? Our standards generally sum up saving knowl- 
 edge as consisting of a knowledge of our misery, deliver- 
 ance from it, and gratitude for this deliverance. See 
 Eom. vii. 24, 25. 
 
 The sufferings of Jesus are a picture of our misery 
 from the evil of sin. All this He suffered for our sins. 
 How awful their demerits, when such punishment was 
 endured by God' s own Son on their account ! If such 
 things were done in the green tree, what shall be done 
 in the dry ? 
 
 How should we Tiate sin f It was the sole cause of 
 the sorrows of our Lord. It is said, you know [see 
 Witsius], and correctly, that by the shadow projected 
 from the pyramids, we may estimate their height. So i: 
 is by Christ's death and Christ's sacrifice we should esti- 
 mate the evil of sin ; and by what sin is, we may estimate 
 the length, and depth, and breadth, and height of the 
 atonement through which we may obtain forgiveness. It 
 was our sins that crucified Jesus, the Lord of glory. 
 Neither Judas, nor the Scribes, nor the chief priests and 
 rulers of the people, nor the Jewish populace, nor Herod, 
 nor Pontius Pilate could have done any thing against the 
 Son of God ; neither scourges nor thorns nor nails would 
 have been prepared to torment him ; nor w;ould the 
 prince of darkness have attacked him with all his forces 
 — unless He had taken upon Himself our sins, which 
 could not be exjDiated in any other way. Whatever then 
 our Lord dislikes, let us abstain from. What He com 
 mands, let us do. Let us take up our cross and cheerfully 
 
SYMPATHY OF OUE HIGH PRIEST. 101 
 
 follow Him. He has set us an example. "The chafe 
 comes not by wearing chains, but feeling them." There 
 are many great truths which are lost amid the noise and 
 glittering mazes of the world. It is only among the iron 
 facts of life we are able to grind them out. To know 
 what poverty is, we must taste it — we must try its temp- 
 tations, grudges, and gnawing shame — we must freeze 
 with it, test its sleepless hunger — our own crippled backs 
 must acha over the same long furrows, or bend over the 
 same straight benches. It is on this principle our great 
 High Priest is able to succor us when tried. '' He knows 
 what sore temptations mean. He has felt the same." 
 
 ** — How was He, 
 Tho Blcssod One, made perfect ? Why, by grief— 
 The fellowship of voluntary grief — 
 He read the tear-stained book of human souls — " 
 
 He poured out his soul unto death for us. He carried our 
 griefs — bore our sins. Let us love Him — believe in Him 
 — live and die for Him And to Him be all the glory, 
 world without end. Amen. 
 
102 JESUS CHEIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 YI 
 
 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 •' When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people 
 took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 
 
 " And when they had bound him, they led Mm away, and delivered him to 
 Pontius Pilate the governor. 
 
 "And Jesus stood before the governor : and the governor asked him, saying. 
 Art thou the King of the Jews ? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 
 
 "And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered 
 nothing. 
 
 " Then saith Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness 
 against thee ? 
 
 " And he answered him to never a word ; insomuch that the governor mar- 
 velled greatly. 
 
 " Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called 
 Christ ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. 
 
 " And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done ? But they cried out 
 the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 
 
 " Wlien Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult 
 was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I 
 am innocent of the blood of this just person : see ye to it. 
 
 "Then answered all the people and said, His blood le on us, and on our 
 children. 
 
 " Then released he Barabbas unto them : and when he had scourged Jesus, 
 he delivered Mm, to be crucified. 
 
 " Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and 
 gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 
 
 "And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 
 
KING CLOVIS' ZEAL. 103 
 
 "And wh3n they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, 
 and a reed in his right hand: and thoy bowed the knee before him, and mocked 
 liim, saying. Hail, King of the Jews 1 
 
 " And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head. 
 
 *' And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and 
 put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. 
 
 " And as they came out, they found a man of Gyrene, Simon by name : him 
 tliey compelled to bear his cross. 
 
 "And wlien they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a 
 place of a skull, 
 
 *'They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had 
 tasted thereof, he would not drink. 
 
 " And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots : that it might 
 be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet ; They parted my garments among 
 them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched 
 him there ; and set up over his head his accusation, this is jesus the king OP 
 THE JEWS." — Matt, ixvii. 1, 2, 11-14 and 22-37. 
 
 It is written of Clovis, the first king of France, that 
 when he heard the Bishop of Rheims read an account 
 of the crucifixion of our Lord, he exclaimed, laying his 
 hand on his sword : " Had I been there with my trusty 
 Franks, I should soon have dispatched that impious 
 rabble." Nor is it improbable that there are many now 
 who are more ready to draw their swords for the name 
 of Jesus, than they are willing to live for Him and love 
 their fellow-men for His sake. It is desirable for us to 
 have as noble a feeling for and sympathy with our Lord 
 as the founder of the Frank monarchy, while at the same 
 time we should evince it in some more Christian-like way. 
 ''They mourn the dead aright, who live as they would 
 have us do." 
 
 St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Philippians, says he 
 counted all things but loss for the excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ Jesus, and that I might " know him," says 
 he, ''and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship 
 of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death ; 
 
104 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of 
 the dead." 
 
 In considering the question of our Lord's sufferings 
 under Pontius Pilate, it was found that historically the 
 evidence was as complete as it could be in the nature of 
 the case — that there is no counter testimony, no conflict- 
 ing or contradictory evidence — not a syllable. " The 
 matter of fact concerning the death of Christ," says 
 Bishop Burnet, ''is denied by no Christian." Even the 
 early and the best informed Jews, and all the early oppo- 
 nents of Christianity, acknowledged the personal exist- 
 ence and the main facts in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, as 
 related by our Evangelists. Severus, Celsus, Porphyry 
 and Julian, and Gibbon did not deny the substantial 
 facts reported in the evangelical memoirs of Jesus. They 
 endeavored to explain them, however, in such a way as 
 to take from him his true character. His manner of life. 
 His sufferings and death on the cross, were not only 
 acknowledged by them, but used as an argument against 
 his claims as the Messiah. His followers were bitterly 
 reproached with his sufferings and the ignominy of his 
 cross ; and yet we know historically that they gloried in it. 
 They did not deny, nor seek to cover up and hide from 
 public view, the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ on 
 the cross. They avowed their belief in Him because He 
 " suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and 
 buried." Paul, you remember, tells Felix and Festus 
 and Agrippa that these things were not done in a corner. 
 He appeals in his discourses to the facts of Jesus' 
 life and death as well known and uncontradicted. And 
 you remember his determination not '' to know any 
 thing among the Corinthians save Jesus Christ and 
 Him crucified." The Cross of Christ, in his estima- 
 tion, was the centre and sum of all true religion. 
 
EREORS REFUTED BY THE CREED. 105 
 
 **The foundation of foundations and the pillar of sacred 
 wisdom." 
 
 The last chapters of the four Gospels give us so plain 
 and full an account of our Lord' s sufferings and death as 
 scarcely to require a word of comment. The details are 
 familiar to you all, and yet they cannot fail always to be 
 deeply interesting to you. The reality of our Lord's 
 sufferings and death is proven by the prophecies and 
 types of the Old Testament, by his own predictions 
 concerning Himself, and by the preaching, letters, and 
 discourses of the Apostles, and by all the theological 
 reasonings that require an atonement such as we under- 
 stand Christ to have made in order to the forgiveness of 
 sin. This Article of the Creed was intended, as indeed 
 were all the other Articles, to meet and deny heretical 
 opinions, or false doctrines, that began to spread in the 
 Church even in the first ages. As some denied that 
 Jesus had really come in the flesh — that is, denied the 
 reality of his human nature, so they denied the reality of 
 his sufferings and death. 
 
 It is a distinctive statement in our Creed that Jesus 
 Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the 
 womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, and who suf- 
 fered under Pontius Pilate, loas also crucified^ dead and 
 buried, for the following reasons : 
 
 First A theory known as the Sahellian had been put 
 forth, declaring that the sufferings of our Lord Jesus were 
 the sufferings of the Father Almighty. In Church history 
 this is known as Patripassianism. The zeal of the fol- 
 lowers of Sabellius was so great for the unity of the God- 
 head, as they understood it, that they contended there is 
 but one person in the Godhead, and consequently that it 
 was the Father himself who was born of the virgin and 
 
106 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 suffered on the cross. They believed the [ouffla] substance 
 of the Godhead was the sole property of the Father, 
 and the other two persons of the Adorable Trinity were 
 only influences or energies embodied and sent forth from 
 him. It is to meet this view that the Catechism says, 
 "There is but one only, the living and true God;" but 
 that '' There are three persons in the Godhead ; the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are 
 one God, the same in substance, equal in power and 
 glory." And for the same purpose the Creed aflirms, it 
 was God's only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who suf- 
 fered, was crucified, dead and buried. 
 
 Again, Secondly. This distinct afiirmation is made to 
 deny the doctrine of Basilides and his followers. Basil- 
 ides was a disciple of Simon Magus, and lived in the 
 second century, and taught in Egypt and Persia. He 
 said that our Lord suffered only in semblance and not 
 in reality— that it was really Simon the Cyrenian, who 
 had been compelled to bear his cross, that was crucified 
 in his stead. A small sect called Docetce also maintained 
 this opinion. This was also in part the views of the 
 Gnostics. Mohammed also, in the Koran, says that at 
 the last hour of his sufferings Jesus was withdrawn and 
 caught up to heaven, and a Jew was crucified in his stead. 
 For such a corruption of the true history, there is of 
 course no shadow of proof. No authority is even offered. 
 It was a mere idle assertion. Still it was thought desira- 
 ble to preserve, in a well-selected and guarded form of 
 words, what the Church believed on so important a point. 
 For surely no part of the Gospel history is written more 
 plainly than the account of our Lord's sufferings and 
 death. For the Divine Word endured all things in the 
 flesh. His Divinity not suffering, but giving support and 
 worth to the sufferings He endured. For in the one 
 
CRUCrFIXION HEATHEN. 107 
 
 Christ, who was God and man, — truly man, and yet the 
 fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily, — while 
 that which was born of the woman was born to suffer 
 and did suffer, yet it was impossible for the Godhead 
 himself to suffer. Hence we may say, God suffered in the 
 liesh, God redeemed us; and the blood of Jesus, God's 
 only Son, may be called the blood of God, shed for us ; 
 but we may not and do not say the Ineffable Godhead 
 suffered in the flesh, or through the flesh.* 
 
 . In order that we may have this subject before us as 
 clearly as possible, I propose to consider, I. The mean- 
 ing of the affirmation made in the Creed — was crucified. 
 
 And here, First. It is not necessary to prove that the 
 literal or material wooden cross did not exist before the 
 death of Christ. It is a mistake to contend, as some do, 
 that the cross is original with Christianity. Crucifixion, 
 or death on a cross, as a punishment for alleged offences, 
 was not Jewish at all, but a Roman — a heathen one, and 
 not peculiar to the Romans. It was practised among the 
 Hindoos, as a punishment for theft, from the earliest 
 period of their history ; and is found also in the remotest 
 times among the Scythians, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, 
 Greeks, and African tribes, and is still in use among the 
 Mohammedans, and I think also among the Chinese, who 
 do not, however, nail the sufferer, but tie him to the cross 
 to be tortured to death, or killed in some other way.f 
 
 Secondly. We find three terms in use among the Ro- 
 mans by which crucifixion?i^ a punishment was expressed : 
 namely, Patibulum, Furca, and Crux. These terms are 
 sometimes distinguished by good Latin writers, and some- 
 
 * See Forbes on the Niceno Creed, pp. 220, 221. 
 
 \ See word Criicifixion in Encyclopaedia Britan. 8th ed. 
 
108 JESUS CHEIST WAS CEUCIFIED. 
 
 times employed indiscriminately. Patibulum was the cross 
 with one beam bifurcating, resembling our capital letter 
 Y, and probably has its name from its two spreading 
 branches or hoYii^—paUentes^ the lying open of the horns, 
 from patere^ to stretch apart. And hence the same kind 
 of a cross was called Furca from its resemblance to a fork, 
 an instrument familiar in husbandry. Constantine the 
 Great introduced the new Patibulum^ that is, the gibbet 
 or our gallows, on which the malefactor was strangled and 
 not nailed to the wood. The form of this new Patibulum 
 was that of the Greek capital letter Pi, or nearly like our 
 capital H. The reason for changing the old Patibulum 
 into the new, given by Constantine, was, that it was not 
 becoming for a Christian government to continue the 
 punishment of the cross, in the same form at least as it 
 was anciently used by the Pagan Romans. The more 
 common term was Crux^ which is our English Cross, the 
 form of which was not always the same. Sometimes it 
 was like the capital letter X, consisting of two beams 
 crossing each other in the middle. This is a very ancient 
 form, and is cdi'^ledL Saint Andrew'' s Cross, from a tradition 
 that he was crucified on a cross of this kind. The other 
 and more frequent form made use of resembles our capi- 
 tal letter T, the erect or middle beam rising, however, 
 a little above the cross-beam. On some of the crosses of 
 this kind there was also a central bracket or projection to 
 assist in keeping the body from falling from the upright 
 beam. It is no doubt in allusion to this that the Latin 
 poet Mcecenas is quoted, saying : — 
 
 " Whate'er th' events that may betide, 
 Don't fail for me this to provide ; 
 Even though I share the dreadful lot, 
 On the sharp cross to sit, and rot." 
 
 All crosses were not exactly of the same size. The 
 
ISTERO'S AWEUL CRUELTIES. 109 
 
 higher the cross the greater the infamy, or supposed 
 atrocity of the crime punished. Accordingly Suetonius 
 tells us of the mockery of Galha^ who, when a poor vic- 
 tim cried out for relief, protesting that he was a Roman 
 citizen, and appealed to the laws for protection, the 
 Emperor mocked him by pretending that his punishment 
 should be mitigated by putting him on a much higher 
 cross, and also by painting it white. Ordinarily, how- 
 ever, crosses were not high, for the sufferers were gene- 
 rally fastened to them without ladders, and in many cases 
 it is historically in evidence that the dogs and jackals 
 and wolves tore out and devoured the entrails of persons 
 crucified as they hung on the cross. This also is proven 
 from what Suetonius says of Nero, who was certainly as 
 near an impersonation of the fiend of hell as we can find 
 in history. The Roman historian says that Nero bound 
 a number of young men and girls naked to crosses, and 
 then clothed himself in the skin of a wild beast, and 
 came rushing out upon them from a cave, and acted upon 
 them all the fury of a devouring beast. This implies that 
 their bodies, as they were fastened to the cross, must have 
 been within a short distance of the ground, probably within 
 about four feet of the ground. There was also a piece of 
 wood usually on the centre of the transverse beam, to 
 which was attached a statement of the crime for which 
 the person on the cross was put to death. So you 
 remember our Lord's accusation was set upon his head: 
 
 ** This is the King of the Jews." 
 
 The Greek term used in the history of our Lord's 
 crucifixion is not definite as to the form of the cross. It 
 simply denotes a beam or stake of wood used for crucify- 
 ing. But the general belief is that it was the ordinary 
 Roman cross, which was in form like our capital letter T, 
 the upright beam being longer, and extending below the 
 
110 JESUS CHRIST WAS CEUCIFIED. 
 
 line and above the transyerse beam. Pictures, monu- 
 ments, coins, allusions in the early Fathers, especially 
 TertuUian, and history, prove, I think, quite conclusively 
 that this was the form of our Lord's cross. The history 
 of the pious labors of the Empress Helena, mother of 
 Constantine, to find the true cross, and how she succeed- 
 ed, is it not written in the books at great length? I 
 hope, however, I may say without irreverence, that 
 I do not attach any importance to the story of the 
 finding of the true cross on which our Saviour was cru- 
 cified by the mother of Constantine. The learned are 
 divided as to the facts of the life of the Empress Helena, 
 and generally consider the story of the finding of the 
 cross an invention, and of no consequence. The only 
 remark I have to make concerning it, at present, is this ; 
 as the dead body was granted to Joseph of Arimathea, it 
 is probable the disciples could have had the cross also, 
 and would have taken it with them from Jerusalem to 
 Pella, when they fled, according to the warning given 
 them by our Lord, from the horrors of the siege by the 
 Komans. If they did not take it with them, it was be- 
 cause they did not consider the mere wood on which He 
 was crucified as of any consequence. And if they did 
 take it with them, it would hardly be found in Jerusalem 
 again in the time of Constantine. The material cross is 
 certainly of no advantage to the Church. It is not the 
 wood of the true cross, but Him who died on it we wor- 
 ship. It is faith in, and love to, and service for Him who 
 was crucified that avails for salvation. 
 
 II. From these short notices of the history of cruci- 
 fying, as a punishment for alleged crimes, I proceed in 
 the SECOND place to speak briefly of the Mode of Cruci- 
 fixion, as in use among the Romans at the time of our 
 Saviour's death. 
 
JESUS PREPARED FOR CRUCIFIXION. Ill 
 
 The Mode of Crucifixion deserves our attention in 
 several particulars. Three things were customary before 
 fastening tlie person to the cross : 'beating^ compelling 
 the person to be crucified to carry his own cross, and 
 stripping him of his clothes. The order for capital pun- 
 ishment among the Komans in our Lord's day was in 
 these terms : " Go, sergeant, bind the hands, beat, muffle 
 up the head, hang on the ignominious tree ;" or thus : 
 ' ' Sergeant, take away, strip, beat, chastise, execute all 
 the law on this person." Accordingly Livy says : ''Be- 
 ing scourged, they were fastened to the cross." And 
 Josephus says, at the destruction of Jerusalem, ''the 
 Jews were, in the first place, whipped and tortured" 
 with all sorts of stripes, and then crucified. It is even 
 said they ceased to crucify because they could get no 
 more wood for crosses. 
 
 The books prove to us that tJie whipping or beating 
 was done sometimes with rods, and sometimes with whips 
 having sharpened birds' claws and small bones or pieces 
 of lead attached to the lashes or ends of the whips. This 
 beating was sometimes inflicted on the road to the place 
 of execution, and was often so severe that the suflerer 
 perished under it before reaching the place for the cruci- 
 fixion. Sometimes it was done at a post before starting 
 to the place of crucifixion. This scourging was one of 
 the kinds of suffering which our Lord endured. St. 
 Matthew says : "And when he had scourged Jesus, he 
 delivered him to be crucified." So also says St. MarJc, 
 and SL John says the scourging was inflicted by Pilate 
 for the purpose of appeasing, if possible, the fury of the 
 Jews, hoping, as is said by St. LuJce, that having chas- 
 tised him, the Jews would consent to let him go. Pilate' s 
 weakness and his desire to let Jesus go is seen, firsts in 
 this — that he is convinced that Jesus is innocent, and so 
 
112 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 repeatedly declares. Secondly. He hoped that the sight 
 of Jesus severely scourged would melt the enraged Jews, 
 so that they would no longer demand his crucifixion ; and 
 then, Thirdly^ if his policy did not succeed, and he was 
 compelled on expediency to yield Jesus to the populace 
 to be crucified, then the Roman law would "be observed 
 in first scourging him. 
 
 The second thing done, according to Roman custom, to 
 a person about to be crucified, was to compel him to 
 carry his cross to the place of execution. They did not 
 carry the condemned to the fields or to the prison-yard in 
 a wagon, as we do, to be executed, but required the male- 
 factor to carry his cross to the place where he was to die. 
 This was a part of his punishment, and formed a part of 
 his shame and disgrace. Plutarcli alludes to this in his 
 Discourse ^'on the slowness of the Divine Vengeance," 
 saying, as the malefactor carries forth his cross on his 
 body, so every one by his wickedness is the author of his 
 own calamities, and produces out of his own bowels his 
 own sorrows. 
 
 Accordingly our Evangelists tell us Jesus tore Ms 
 cross until exhausted, when Simon the Cyrenian was 
 compelled to help him. This help seems to have been 
 granted him, however, more from cruelty than out of 
 pity. They were afraid lest he should faint and die by 
 the way, and they should thereby lose the satisfaction of 
 seeing Him expire on the cross. 
 
 Again, Thirdly. It was a Roman custom to crucify mal- 
 efactors naked— i^iQj stripped off their clothes. The 
 wording of the law required the condemned to die on the 
 cross "as naked as he was born." The testimony on 
 this subject is very full ; and I need not stop to show 
 
. ADJUNCTS OF CRUCIFIXIOl^. 113 
 
 how all these particulars are found in the history of our 
 Lord's crucifixion. 
 
 III. The Crucifixion itself. It is evident, I think, 
 that the cross was usually planted in the ground, and 
 raised before the body was fastened to it. This explains 
 the forms of expression which we find so often: ''To 
 ascend the cross;" ''to mount the cross;" "to climb 
 the cross ;" " to be lifted up on the cross." 
 
 The instalments with which the body was fastened to 
 the cross were cords or nails, generally rugged nails, 
 such as we usually call spikes, used for the purpose not 
 only of fixing and holding the body, but also to increase 
 the suffering. The hands were first bound with cords, 
 beginning with the right hand, and the nails driven 
 through the palm of the hand, or the wrist, and then the 
 feet were stretched out and transfixed in the same man- 
 ner—sometimes crossed, so that the same spike transfixed 
 both, and sometimes with a distinct spike to each foot, 
 and sometimes only tied across. 
 
 Much ingenuity was exercised in making the position 
 of the body of the criminal as painful as possible. The 
 most usual posture was with the arms extended at right 
 angles from the body, as nearly as possible, with the feet 
 hanging down in front of the upright beam. Sometimes 
 the posture was inverted, and the head was downwards 
 towards the earth, as Seneca expressed it. It is said St. 
 Peter was crucified in this posture, at his own request, 
 because, he said, he was not worthy to die in the same 
 way his Lord had suffered. 
 
 Remlings were common after the body was fastened to 
 the cross. Dying on the cross was full of pain and 
 shame. Death Avas brought on by various causes. Some- 
 times it was occasioned by the loss of blood gradually 
 
114 JE3US CIIEIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 flowing from tlie wounds made by the nails and by the 
 scourging ; sometimes the unfortunate sufferers would 
 live long enough on the cross to die by hunger and thirst, 
 or to be devoured by birds or beasts, and sometimes 
 they were killed by being pierced with a sword or a 
 spear, and sometimes burned with fire. Instances of all 
 these kinds are easily found in history. The Evangelists 
 tell us that the legs of the thieves were broken, and 
 Christ's body was pierced. All the particulars required 
 in the Roman crucifixion are found in the history of our 
 Lord' s death. He was beaten^ made to carry Ms cross 
 without the gates, and v^as stripped of his clothing. He 
 was lifted up on the cross, and subjected to the bitter re- 
 vilings of Jews and Gentiles, and the soldiers mocked 
 him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and the 
 customary guard was also there, — ''the soldiers sitting 
 watched him there." 
 
 Death on the cross was distinguished as the most 
 paiiifvl and the most ignominious kind of punishment. 
 Anciently, it was only the meanest and the most abandoned 
 persons that were condemned to die on the cross. Rob- 
 bers, assassins, and slaves guilty of the worst offences — 
 ''monsters in human shape," as Witsius says, "only 
 were candidates for the detested cross." Before a Roman 
 citizen could be subjected to this punishment, he had to 
 be degraded by servile stripes and deprived of the rights 
 of a freeman, just as a priest or ecclesiastic in Papal 
 countries must be unfrocTced before the civil law can 
 punish him. Crucifying was synonymous with the 
 severest suffering — our word excruciating is derived 
 from it. And Cicero in his impeachment of Yerres, who 
 had crucified a Roman citizen, says that "crucifixion 
 was the most cruel and terrible of all punishments, such 
 as no man should ever see, or hear, or think of." And 
 
THE IGNOMINY OF THE CROSS. 115 
 
 Horace more than once speaks of tlie severity of the 
 punishment of whipping and scourging among the 
 Romans: "To be cut by the terrible whip and to be 
 whipped to death." And when we apprehend the fact 
 that there are many nerves and tendons in the hands and 
 feet, and consider that the wounds from the scourging 
 were left open, and the action of the air, wind, and sun- 
 shine on such fresh open wounds, and then remember the 
 transfixing of the feet and the nailing of the hands with 
 rugged spikes, and that the weight of the body was 
 chiefly sustained on these open and distended wounds in 
 the expanded limbs, and," still more, that the blood under 
 such circumstances was forced in an unnatural quantity 
 on the brain and stomach, then we may perhaps begin 
 to have some idea of the painfulness, the awful painful - 
 ness of death by crucifixion. 
 
 Even in the law of Moses it is said : He that is hanged 
 is accursed^ a curse of God^ which St. Paul applies to 
 Jesus. Deut. xxi. 22, 23, quoted Gal. iii. 13. Here it 
 may be proper to remark, that although crucifixion was 
 not a Jewish mode of punishment, yet the Jews were in 
 the habit of hanging the dead body on a gibbet or 
 gallows. This I illustrated to some length in my Lectures 
 on Esther, in the death and disgrace of Haman. Ordi- 
 narily the Jews put to death either by stoning, burning, or 
 strangling, or with the sword or battle-axe. And after 
 death, in order to let the people see that the offender was 
 really dead, his body was exposed by hanging on a gal- 
 lows. Why, then, was peculiar infamy attached to 
 Jianging on the cross f May we say with Witsius that God 
 was pleased thus to brand this kind of punishment with 
 peculiar infamy, because the sin of our first parents had 
 relation to a tree f Is every one hanged a curse, accursed^ 
 of God, to remind us of the fatal tree where the Divine 
 
116 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 wrath, was first kindled against our race ? And is it for 
 this reason that the Cross has become the symbol of our 
 deliverance from the curse ? Moses' law did not mean 
 that the simple hanging on the cross of the body of a per- 
 son, guilty or innocent, penitent or impenitent, neces- 
 sarily excluded him altogether from the mercy of God, 
 but it did signify, and was a memorial of the fact, that 
 the only hope of mankind escaping from the curse of the 
 sin that was committed by disobedience in eating of the 
 forbidden fruit of a tree, rested in the sufferings of God's 
 own Son on the Cross, who would come and die in the ful- 
 ness of time to redeem us from the curse of the law. 
 ''Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
 being made a curse for us ; for it is written, Cursed is 
 every one that hangeth on a tree." — >S'^. Paul. To hang 
 on a tree among the Jews was literal, as it is now in rude 
 and lawless districts, as the branches of trees were used 
 for gibbets or a gallows ; and as wood is part of a tree, 
 so the beams or stake used for crucifying was also called 
 a tree. 
 
 The curse of Jianging on the tree, in Paul' s mind, was 
 emphatic, for it was a painful death, a shameful death, a 
 lingering death, amid the jibes and scoffs of the profane, 
 and such a death as only the lowest and the vilest could 
 suffer among the Romans. 
 
 I believe that Jesus Christ, God's only Son, was cru- 
 cified and dead, because this is implied in all the types 
 that speak of Him as a sacrifice. It was thus He finished 
 the work committed to him. He laid down his life for 
 Ids sheep. He laid it down voluntarily, and he did it 
 2)lously, offering up prayers and supplications, and with 
 perfect peace and composure committing his soul to his 
 Father. "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 
 The Paschal Lamb, Isaac, and the Jewish altars, all 
 
WHY CHEIST DIED ON A CROSS. 117 
 
 preached this doctrine. The reasons, then, why our Lord 
 was put to death on the cross, may be stated in this 
 way :— 
 
 1. It was predicted the Messiah should so suffer ; the 
 types proclaimed the same thing ; He himself foretold his 
 own sufferings, including crucifixion. 
 
 2. Man's first disobedience, ''that brought death into 
 the world and all our woe," was about a tree. And it 
 pleased God that the atonement by which pardoned sin- 
 ners may regain Paradise should be finished on a tree. 
 
 3. As Jesus was the Mediator, the Messiah for Gen- 
 tiles as well as for Jews, so it was requisite He should 
 die under Jewish as well as Gentile law. But how could 
 this be brought about ? There were only four methods 
 known to the Mosaic law for capital punishment, namely : 
 firsts slaying with the sword, but this involved no dis- 
 grace ; secondly, stoning, but this would break his bones, 
 which was not to be done to the Messiah ; thirdly, hurnir 
 ing, but this could not be done, for then the flesh of the 
 great Paschal Lamb would not have remained to be the 
 food of hjs people ; fourthly, strangulation, but then 
 this would have rendered his flesh unclean. How, then^ 
 was Jesus to die ? The accusation against him under the 
 Jewish law was blasphemy, because He made himself 
 equal to God by calling himself the Son of God. The 
 punishment for this was death by stoning. But they had 
 not the power to put any one to death according to Jew- 
 ish law. This indictment, therefore, fails, and the offence 
 made available was a political one, that he claimed to be 
 a king, and was therefore Caesar's enemy and rival. The 
 superscription over his head on the cross proves that the 
 procuring cause of his death, according to the judgment 
 rendered against him, was that he claimed to be the king 
 
118 JE3US CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 of the Jews, On this charge he was condemned to suffer 
 Roman punishment, which was to be crucified. And this 
 kind of a death meets all the prophecies concerning the 
 sufferings of the Messiah. It was necessary He should 
 die from the shedding of his blood, and that He should 
 die in a conspicuous and open manner ; and that his suf- 
 ferings should be with such agony, and under such shame 
 as would properly express the wrath of God against sin ; 
 and that He should die on a tree, as one under the curse 
 of God. All these requisites are found in his crucifixion, 
 and found only there. 
 
 In bringing this discourse to a conclusion, I wish, my 
 dear hearers, to say : 
 
 I. I have not, and do not consider it important to dwell 
 on the explanation and proofs of this article of our holy 
 religion, because I suppose that any of you are in danger 
 of believing SabelUus^ the Egyptian philosopher of the 
 third century, or of following Basilides, the disciple of 
 Simon Magus, or that you are about to adopt the Koran ; 
 but I am aware that while the forms of error are changed, 
 that their restatements are quite as dangerous as the old 
 ones, and often much more so, because the restatement 
 embodies all the essential error of the old one, but in a 
 more subtle and plausible form. I believe that the Son 
 of God, having taken man's nature, "truly suffered, was 
 crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, 
 and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also 
 for actual sins of men." Here is a great vital purpose in 
 view. I do not see any way to be saved unless this Article 
 is true. I know the Deist, the Socinian, and all who deny 
 the Divinity of our Lord, think but little of this Article. 
 Those who deny that there is any necessity for a propitia- 
 tory sacrifice, or that God had need to be reconciled to 
 man, may adopt the opinions of the Docetce or of the 
 
CHRIST A SACRIFICE FOR SIN, 119 
 
 Koran, and deny that our Lord truly suffered and was 
 really crucified. It may content them to say that as it was 
 man who was at enmity with God, and not God with man, 
 that Jesus had only to come and set an example, and call 
 men to repentance, and then be recalled to heaven with- 
 out really suffering and dying. This would be more 
 consistent in our humble opinion than to hold to the reality 
 of his death, and yet deny that his blood was shed for the 
 remission of sins, and in order to appease the wrath of 
 God. We can see no way to save sinners but by recon- 
 ciling the justice of God with his mercy. Justice calls for 
 wrath on the sinner ; Mercy pleads for pardon. To recon- 
 cile Justice and Mercy ^ to punish sin and yet forgive, 
 the sinner being penitent and believing, God was pleased 
 to ordain the sacrifice of His Son ; and in order to tliis He 
 sent His Son, made of a woman and under the law, con- 
 ceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, and 
 suffered under Pontius Pilate. 
 
 And in support of this view you will remember many 
 passages of Scripture that speak expressely of reconci- 
 ling God to us. For example, 2 Cor. v. 19. 
 
 You know, also, that there are many texts that tell us 
 of the wrath of God against sinful men, illustrated by the 
 expulsion from Eden, by the Hood, the destruction of the 
 cities of the Plain, the Canaanites and the history of the 
 Jews, and in fact of all ancient nations. 
 
 And the same thing is proven expressly and distinctly 
 by the Jewish sacrifices. It is not necessary for my 
 argument to prove, as I believe, that sacrifice was at first 
 and originally a divinely instituted rite, for even if it were 
 devised in the first instance by man, still, as sacrifices were 
 sanctioned by the Almighty and made a type of Christ, so 
 the purpose of sacrifices remains unchanged, and that 
 
120 JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. 
 
 purpose certainly was to deliver from the wrath of God, 
 There was and there is an opinion ; almost or quite 
 universal, that in some way sacrifices could and did turn 
 away the wrath of God. The Passover was expressly 
 appointed and made to represent the turning away of the 
 wrath of God from the Israelites when it fell heavily upon 
 the Egyptians. And then we find in the books of Moses 
 the most minute and painful directions for those who have 
 sinned as to how they may offer a sacrifice that shall avail 
 as an atonement for their sins. Whether it was a priest, 
 a prince, or any one of the people, he was to bring a 
 victim, confess his sins upon its head, and then slay it as a 
 sin-offering. The same thing is illustrated in the services 
 appointed for the day of expiation, when the high priest 
 made an atonement first for himself, and then for the 
 people ; and also of the scape-goat, which was offered at 
 the same time, the sins of the people were confessed on 
 his head. Now the Jews looked on these sacrifices as 
 strictly propitiatory. And the heathen made the same 
 confession of faith by their sacrifices ; and especially in 
 times of peculiar danger, when they went so far as to 
 resort to human sacrifices, hoping to propitiate the gods 
 by the noblest victims. And as the terms used by the 
 sacred writers to describe the death of Christ are taken 
 from the Jewish sacrifices, these sacrifices must have been 
 types of the death of Christ, and his death must therefore 
 be regarded as propitiatory. He was led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter. He is called the Lamb of God — the Lamb 
 slain — a Lamb without blemish and spot. And the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews expressly compares the priesthood 
 of Aaron with that of Christ, and explains that whereas 
 the Aaronic priest offered the blood of bulls and goats, 
 which could not take away sin, that, on the other hand, 
 Christ offered not the blood of others but, his own blood — 
 offered himself to bear the sins of many ; and so put away 
 
SPECIA.LITIES OF HIS CRUCIFIXIOIf. 121 
 
 sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Under the law, without 
 the shedding of blood there was no remission, and so it is 
 under the Gospel ; but here it is the blood of God's dear 
 Son that cleanseth us from all sin. 
 
 II. It should be observed that our Lord's sufferings 
 on the Cross were attended with some notable advan- 
 tages : namely, it was public — everybody knew of his 
 crucifixion ; and as he was three hours on the cross, there 
 was sufficient time to take note of his sufferings and 
 death, and so also there was time and opportunity for 
 him to show his pity upon the penitent malefactor at 
 His side, and to manifest his heavenly disposition, and 
 pour forth His fervent prayer for His murderers, and 
 commend his spirit to his Father. It thus pleased God, 
 by his Providence, so to order the crucifixion that the 
 course and manner of our Lord's death might be conspic- 
 uous, and every reasonable excuse for unbelief concern- 
 ing it be taken away. St. Paul declared before King 
 Agrippa that the main facts of the Gospel were open and 
 known to all the world. These things were not done in 
 a corner^ or secretly. And our Lord himself boldly 
 declared to His accusers : I spoke freely to you and to 
 the world. I taught publicly in your synagogues and 
 in the Temple, and in secret have I done nothing. And 
 as He had lived and taught, so He died. As Moses 
 lifted up the serpent in the wilderness on a pole in a 
 conspicuous place, so was the Son of Man lifted up on 
 the Cross, that He might draw all men unto Him, and 
 that whosoever believeth on Him, thus crucified, should 
 be saved. 
 
 III. Nor, thirdly, is it improper to say that his 
 posture on the cross was emblematic of the design of his 
 death — signifying his Infinite Love. His arms were ex- 
 
122 JE5US CHRIST WAS CRUCLFIED. 
 
 tended signifying the comprehensiveness of his love, embra- 
 cing all mankind, and showing how earnestly He sought 
 and entreated them to be reconciled to God. The Cross 
 was as it were his pulpit, from which, by his streaming 
 blood and expiring groans when He gave up his spirit, 
 He calls men to repentance, and preaches free grace and 
 oifers remission of sins. JSTor was there ever a throne 
 that taught such humility blended with the most exalted 
 dignity as the Cross of Jesus. On the Cross, He was 
 encircled with rays of infinite glory, yet sutlering the 
 acutest pain, the most awful agony and the deepest shame 
 on our account. But it was then as a glorious conqueror, 
 having spoiled principalities and poicers^ — the powers 
 of hell, of darkness, sin, and death, — He made a show 
 of them, openly triumphing over them upon His Cross. 
 Never was there such a triumphal column as the Cross. 
 Never were such trophies hung on any triumphal arch as 
 those of Jesus when He hung on the tree. There the 
 worlds with all its counterfeit pleasures and bewitching 
 charms, was held up defaced and worthless. Henceforth 
 the believer says, the world is crucified to me, and I am 
 crucified to the icorld. And here too our sins are 
 exposed as His trophies. They are abolished in His flesh 
 and slain upon His Cross, so that the handwriting of 
 ordinances that condemned us was nailed to His Cross, 
 and our bonds cancelled and our debts paid. 
 
 And so the old grim monster, '' the terror of kings and 
 King of Terrors," Death itself, hangs gasping and dying 
 on His Cross. Here we see Death with its sting plucked 
 out and all its terrors quelled, and the grave no longer 
 claiming the victory. 
 
 It is thus we may understand St. Paul' s words : coii- 
 formdble to his death — planted together with him in the 
 likeness of his death — crucified together with Christ ; 
 
BEHOLD now HE LOVED US ! 123 
 
 having our old man crucified together A^ith him, that the 
 body of sin may be destroyed, so that we may no longer 
 serve sin — for they that are Christ's have crucified the 
 flesh with the passions and lusts thereof. 
 
 I know not where to find any thing equal to the word 
 of ilie Cross ^ which is the power of God to sal cation, for 
 exciting us to our duty. Does it not inflame our hearts 
 with love to think of our Lord' s cruel sufferings for us 1 
 How He was despised, and endured the shame and the 
 pain of tlie Cross ! What should we not be willing to 
 endure and do for Him, who died for us ? What greater 
 encouragement can we have to hope for mercy from God 
 than this, that He spared not His own Son, but delivered 
 Him up to the sufferings of such a death for us ? How 
 can we have higher evidence of God's love towards us 
 than this ? Is it not the heart of God we see yearning 
 over us in the dying agonies of His Son on the Cross % 
 
 How great a horror should sin excite in us, seeing 
 that it was for sin Jesus thus died ! How much should 
 we love Him who voluntarily yielded himself to such a 
 death for us ! With what readiness should we give up the 
 world and devote ourselves to His service ! With what 
 patience should we bear suffering and affliction, bereave- 
 ment and pain, seeing he has suffered for us, and endured 
 far more than we are capable of feeling ! And with 
 what confidence should we accept of the offer of mercy ! 
 seeing that it hath pleased God to bruise Him and put Him 
 to grief in our stead ! Oh I how earnestly should we flee 
 to the Refuge set before us by His atonement ! And 
 surely, if we neglect so great a salvation there will be no 
 escape for us. But if we come unto Him, He will in no 
 wise cast us out. 
 
124 god's only SOIf OUE "dead CHRIST." 
 
 VII. 
 
 GOD'S ONLY SON" OUR "DEAD CHRIST." 
 
 The evening of last Lord's Day we contemplated 
 Christ as Crucified on a Roman cross under sentence 
 of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. This evening, 
 if the Lord will, we are called to behold Christ dead. 
 *' 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 Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up 
 the ghost." In Mark xv. 88, 39; Matth. xxvii. 50-57; 
 Luke xxiii. 46 ; John xix. 30-42. 
 
 To say that these passages of the sacred writers con- 
 cerning the last hours of Jesus can be explained away, so 
 as not to mean that Jesus really died on the Cross, is to 
 say they have no meaning at all. I hope you will here 
 observe, (1.) The promises and prophecies of the Old 
 Testament, the rites, and types, and sacrifices of the 
 Mosaic dispensation, contemplate and require that the 
 Messiah should suffer^ be crucified^ and die from cruci- 
 fixion on the Cross. (2.) The Evangelists give us a narra- 
 tive of events leading to his crucifixion,, and of the 
 results that followed ; and, (3.) This narrative has been 
 received by all Christians from the time the records were 
 made — which was soon after the events occurred — to this 
 day as a true history. It is in evidence also, (4.) That our 
 
BEHOLD THE MAN ! 125 
 
 history contains an account of things that were most 
 surely believed at the time they are alleged to have 
 taken place, both by friends and enemies. Our Lord's 
 enemies believed that He really died on the Cross, and 
 his friends and followers were so certain of the reality of 
 his death, that they prepared him for his burial, and did 
 actually lay him in a tomb. The truth of this clause of 
 this Article in our Creed is believed by us, then, (1.) Be- 
 cause the other Articles being proved to be true, this one 
 is true also. (2.) It is believed distinctly on account of 
 the tradition of the Church concerning His death both 
 before and subsequent to the crucifixion. (3.) The direct 
 testimony of the narratives. (4.) All the theological argu- 
 ments that call for the death of the sacrifice offered for 
 sin, and the shedding of blood in order to the remission 
 of sins, call for the death of Christ as our Mediator. 
 
 We have considered the sufferings of our Lord. We 
 have witnessed his passion and crucifixion. We have 
 seen the man Christ Jesus after a night of misery and 
 insult ; buffeted before the priests ; mocked in royal array 
 before Herod; scourged and crowned with thorns by 
 Pilate ; betrayed by one of his Apostles and forsaken by 
 them all, and his precious body nailed to the cross. 
 Behold the man ! "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass 
 by \ Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto 
 my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord 
 hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger ?" But God 
 has mercifully put it beyond the power of the body to 
 endure the extremity of mortal agony for any great length 
 of time, for when the forces of nature are spent, life 
 ceases in death. This law obtained with Jesus. And if 
 any other proof could be wanting for the reality of his 
 death, it is given in his pierced side, when from his heart 
 there came out a mingled flow of blood and water. This 
 
126 god's only SOIf OUR "dead CHRIST." 
 
 is of itself, without tlie torturing, the scourging, and 
 crowning with thorns, and the nailing to the cross, quite 
 sufficient to cause his death. And when this witness of 
 "blood was given, it was accompanied with such pheno- 
 mena, that the Centurion cried out, " Truly this was the 
 Son of God." The words of our Creed, suffered under 
 Pontius Pilate^ was crucified, dead and buried, may 
 seem a useless repetition, and accordingly in some of the 
 ancient copies this Article was expressed by the single 
 phrase, was crucified under Pontius Pilate. And this 
 does indeed comprehend all ; still there was a purpose, 
 and an important one, to be served by retaining the four 
 terms, suffered, loas crucified, dead and buried. Each 
 one of these terms disclaimed and rejected from the faith 
 of the Church some erroneous conceit or false doctrine 
 concerning the sufferings and death of Christ, and by 
 using them all in the order of the Article, we have a more 
 full and clear statement, affirming the reality of his suffer- 
 ings, and setting forth the manner and main circum- 
 stances and complete effect of his sufferings, which ended 
 in his death on the cross and actual burial in the tomb of 
 Joseph of Arimathea. It is a possible supposition in such 
 cases, that, even after crucifixion was commenced, the 
 sufferer might be taken down and live. Such cases are 
 on record in the books. Our Lord' s persecutors, in their 
 cruel mockery, spoke of his saving others, now let him 
 save himself by coming down from the cross. But in his 
 case it is plain nothing of the kind was done. Our Lord 
 remained on the cross, and his sufferings continued till 
 they terminated in death. And our surgeons and medi- 
 cal men will all tell you that the wound from the Roman 
 spear in his side would have produced certain death, if 
 there had been no other cause. 
 
 Under Pontius Pilate does not exclude his sufferings 
 
HIS SUFFERINGS UNDER PILATE. 127 
 
 "before nor after his arraignment at Pilate's judgment bar — 
 does not deny his sufferings in the garden, and before 
 Herod, and on the way to Calvary, and on the cross. 
 Suffered under Pontius Pilate — i7:\ Ilovriou noAmu — is in- 
 tended to express what He underwent in the way of 
 judicial process, his arrest and arraignment, his sentence 
 from Pilate— that He was treated, prosecuted, condemned 
 and put to death, professedly, according to law as a 
 malefactor. It embraces all the infirmities which He bore 
 for our sake, from his manger-cradle to his last moment 
 on the cross — all the discomforts and sufferings of his 
 infancy, youth, and manhood, of his private and public 
 life — all the pains and sorrows that He underwent and 
 endured in the course of his ministry, and chiefly just 
 previous to his death. Under Pontius Pilate designates 
 the consummation of the judicial process. All before 
 was leading to this, and all after was the effect of his con- 
 demnation by the lioman governor, who scourged him 
 and delivered him to be crucified. Suffered, then, is to 
 be taken in the sense of was punished as a malefactor, 
 and so were fulfilled the Scriptures which foretold that 
 Christ should thus suffer. He was striclcen and smitten 
 of God for us. Gfod made him sin for us — a propitiation 
 — a sacrifice— made Him, His only Son our Lord, who 
 knew no sin — who was perfectly innocent and free from 
 all sin — made Him sin for us. That is. He was treated 
 as a malefactor in our place, and bore the wrath of God 
 against sin, that we might be made the righteousness of 
 God in him. He was numbered among the transgressors. 
 
 But while suffered under Pontius Pilate affirms the 
 punishment of death under a professed legal process, in- 
 flicted upon him as a condemned malefactor, it remained 
 still to describe the nature, and exact kind and manner 
 of that suffering, which, according to the Scriptures, had 
 
128 GOD'S ONLY SON^ OUR " DEAD CHRIST." 
 
 to be most painful and covered with ignominy. Hence, 
 the expressions was crucified and dead were added. It is 
 true, we might suppose was crucified included suifering, 
 for crucifying was the most excruciating kind of suffer- 
 ing, and also that loas crucified would mean also that he 
 really died. But it has already been shown, firsts that 
 Sabellius held that it was the Father Almighty that suf- 
 fered and was crucified, and, therefore, the Creed and 
 Catechism affirmed it was Jesus Christ, God's only Son, 
 who suffered and was crucified. And, secondly, that the 
 Docetai and Basilides, and such like errorists, said that 
 Jesus did not really suffer, but only seemed to suffer. 
 
 And Apollinaris conceived the monstrous notion that 
 Christ had no human soul, but that the place of the 
 proper human soul in his body was occupied by his 
 Divinity. Consequently, he denied the possibility of 
 Christ's true and natural death. For if He had no proper 
 soul in union with the body, of course there could be no 
 death, for there could be no separation of body and soul, 
 as when we die. And, thirdly^ Mohammed and others 
 said it was Simon the Cyrenian, and not Jesus Christ at 
 all, that " suffered, was crucified, dead and buried." 
 
 The affirmation, therefore, is emphatic, Jesus Christ 
 suffered under Pontius Pilate— ^o suffered that He was 
 crucified even unto death, and that He did actually die, 
 and was buried as a dead man^ his body being treated as 
 that of any other dead man. Our Catechism asks: 
 '* Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist ?" 
 
 ^^ Ans. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being 
 born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, 
 undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and 
 the cursed death of the cross ; in being buried, and con- 
 tinuing under the power of death for a time." The 
 
NATURE OF CHRISt's DEATH. 129 
 
 Heidelberg Catecliism asks : *' Why was it necessary for 
 Christ to humble himself, even unto death f' 
 
 ^'' Ans. Because, with respect to the justice and truth 
 of God, satisfaction for our sins could not be made other- 
 wise than by the death of the Son of God." 
 
 I thought last Sabbath evening that I should be able 
 to treat of both terms, dead and buried^ this evening, but 
 find now that I shall be obliged to postpone Our Lord's 
 Burial to the next Sabbath evening. 
 
 To assist your memory, I propose the following order 
 in the remarks which I hope now to make on Christ as 
 dead on the Cross : namely, 
 
 I. Of the nature of his death. 
 
 II. Why, or how, and for what reasons it came to 
 pass that Jesus did die on the Cross. The necessity of 
 his humiliation unto death. 
 
 III. And thirdly, but briefly, the ends aimed at and 
 accomplished by his death. 
 
 lY. And lastly, something as to the benefits secured to 
 us by his death. 
 
 I. In what did Chris f s death consist f WJiat was its 
 nature f The Article declares, first, the fact and quality 
 of Our Lord' s sufferings. He was dealt with as a male- 
 factor by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate; and, 
 secondly, He was crucified, which explains the manner 
 of his sufferings, fulfilling exactly all the requisites of the 
 Scriptures ; and, thirdly, it affirms the result or end of 
 his sufferings on the cross — He was dead. His sufferings 
 were completed only when, and not until, he gave up the 
 
 9 
 
130 god's only son OUE "dead CHRIST." 
 
 ghost. He lost, or rather laid down his life by the siiflfer- 
 ings He endured when He died on the Cross. 
 
 Plain, however, as the narrative of our Lord' s suffer- 
 ings and death is, I confess I am not altogether surprised 
 at the weakness that would seek for some interpretation 
 that would relieve the sacred writers from affirming the 
 literal, actual death of the Son of God. Were not the 
 heart-sorrows of His life enough to satisfy the wrath of 
 God against sin ? If Enoch and Elijah were translated to 
 heaven without tasting death, how is it that God' s own 
 dear Son must pass through the mortal agony of actual 
 death 1 There certainly must have been some great cause 
 why the Lord Jesus humbled himself unto death. And 
 so indeed there was. The law of God said, ''The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die." '' Without the shedding of 
 blood, there is no remission of sins." Man is a sinner, 
 and must therefore die, or an able, accepted substitute 
 must die for him. Mere suffering, wrung from the heart, 
 mere agony of the body and soul, however severe, and 
 long continued, is not enough unless it end in actual 
 death. Death is the penalty. Not mere suffering, how- 
 ever exalted the sufferer, or however severe, can meet the 
 requirements of the law. No seeming death, no deep 
 trance, no syncope from which the sufferer may be re- 
 covered will meet the case. The law calls for blood — for 
 life. The law is earnest, specific, distinct. It demands 
 blood, and that the blood be so shed as to produce actual 
 death ; the law calls for suffering, to be endured with 
 agony and under shame, and to be continued till de^th 
 actually takes place on the accursed tree. So it was with 
 the Hebrew sacrifices. The Paschal Lamb really died — 
 was truly slain. At the very hour, or at least at the same 
 great Jewish Festival, at which Jesus was crucified, 
 
WHAT CONSTITUTED HIS DEATH. 131 
 
 thousands of Hebrew lambs were recently slain or djang. 
 The death of their great antitype was as real. 
 
 Again, the Son of God took on Himself human nature, 
 became truly man, was born, and breathed, and lived in 
 this world just as a true and proper man — as John the 
 Baptist did ; and one of the chief ends for which He be- 
 came man was, that He might die. For this end He 
 came into the world. Wherein^ then^ did Ms death con- 
 sist f I answer, Jesus died when and just as a man dies 
 when his soul leaves his body. His human nature it was 
 that suffered and died ; and his human nature was per- 
 fect. As his Divine nature was not changed or confused 
 with his human nature when He became man, so neither 
 did his human nature cease to be human nature when it 
 was taken by his Godhead. It was his manhood that was 
 crucified, was dead and buried. His death did not, 
 therefore, consist of the separation of his Divinity from 
 either his body or his soul. If this were so, then it was 
 not the Son of God that died, but the Son of Mary. 
 Then Christ would be divided into two separate persons, 
 and the mystery and the blessing of the Incarnation 
 would be lost. But we believe ''the eternal Son of God 
 became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and 
 man in two distinct natures, and yet inseparable in one 
 person forever. When Jesus said, '^ It is finished^ and 
 gave up the ghost," the meaning is not that his Godhead 
 disconnected itself from his humanity. His human na- 
 ture was, and is, and will ever remain absolutely perfect. 
 '' Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to him- 
 self a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived 
 by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the 
 Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin." Catech., 
 22 Ques. After Jesus expired, his body was there before 
 the eyes of the beholders, just as the body of your friend 
 
132 god's only son our "dead christ." 
 
 is before you on the bed after the breath has left it, and 
 you are closing the eyes. This was the dead Christ of 
 our sculptors and painters. His holy head was slightly 
 drooped ; his gentle and loving eyes were softly closed ; 
 his blessed heart was still ; his wounds ceased to drop 
 the clotting blood ; his body is still suspended by the 
 rugged nails; but the long agony is over. *'He has 
 lived our life to its last pang. His soul has gone out of 
 the torn and mangled body. Jesus of jN'azareth is 
 dead."* The death of Christ must be as complete a dis- 
 solution of his soul and body as was that of Adam, and 
 of every one of Adam' s race at death. Accordingly the 
 record is emphatic. Jesus breathed out Ms spirit and 
 gave up the ghost. But who can tell what death is? 
 Who knows what life is ? Now the term dead, applied 
 to Jesus Christ, must comprehend and mean all that death 
 physical means when applied to any mortal man. When 
 our first parents sinned, they died a spiritual death — fell 
 from original righteousness and lost communion with God 
 — and in this state of spiritual death we are all born and 
 continue until we are regenerated, and if not regenerated 
 or born again, this spiritual death ends in death eternal, 
 which is also called the second death — which is an end- 
 less separation of the soul from the presence of God and 
 the joys of heaven. In the word dead, as applied to 
 Jesus Christ, there is, then, no reference to spiritual or 
 eternal death, as just described. It belongs exclusively 
 to his body. It means his true and proper death, not 
 differing in any way from that temporal death which all 
 of our race must undergo. Jesus Christ actually died 
 just such a death as you and I must go through in meet- 
 ing the appointment of our Creator, who has appointed 
 
 * See Bethune, 
 
WHAT IS TEMPORAL DEATH? 13,3 
 
 Tinto all men once to die — we must needs die, and are as 
 water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up 
 again. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see 
 death ? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the 
 grave? The awful sentence on Adam was in these 
 words : ''In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, 
 till thou return unto the ground : for out of it wast thou 
 taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re- 
 turn." Gen. iii. 19. And accordingly, dying is de- 
 scribed as returning home, for at death the body, which 
 is dust, returns to the earth as it was ; and th^ spirit 
 returns to God who gave it. Ecc. xii. 7. Death, in the 
 light of these texts, is a returning of man to original prin- 
 ciples. It is a ceasing of the vital functions of the body. 
 It is no longer capable of motion, appetite, or passion. 
 There remains in it neither perception nor sense. There 
 are the hands and arms, but they are crossed over the 
 body, cold, stiff, motionless. There are the eyes, but 
 they see not. There the lips once so fervid and eloquent, 
 but now mute as marble. The chest and lungs, once 
 heaving with rushing blood and deep emotions, are as 
 lifeless as the tombstone. There has been a sad dissolu- 
 tion of partnership between the body and the soul. This 
 separation is so complete that it looks as if the body were 
 the cage, and the soul a winged inhabitant who had just 
 fled away — as if the body were a temple, and the soul a 
 Divinity that dwelt in it, but had departed from it. And 
 this dissolution between the body and the soul produces 
 fatal effects upon the body. For death is a breaking of 
 the link that unites the body and the soul together, and 
 when this link is broken the body is nothing but dust. 
 Now, in the history of the crucifying of our Lord, we 
 have such antecedents and such signs following as plain- 
 ly imply the reality of his dying. In this history, we 
 see what would produce death in any of his followers — 
 
134 god's only son our "dead cheist." 
 
 exactly what did produce death in nearly every one of 
 his Apostles. There is the same extreme anguish, the 
 same tearing and gashing and rending of his flesh, the 
 same effusion of blood, and the same breathing out of the 
 breath of life, that there would have been, if it had been 
 St. Peter or St. Paul who was crucified. The Scriptures 
 speak of his being slain^ cut off^ taken away^ destroyed^ 
 slauglitered, sacrificed, crucified, and these terms mean, 
 when applied to the Son of God, just what they express 
 when used in describing the violence done to a prophet, 
 an apostle, or any other martyr. And He was judged to 
 be dead by the same signs that would lead to such a con- 
 clusion in any other similar case. Thus the soldiers 
 judged him to be dead — seeing Mm already dead, they 
 did not hreaJc Ms legs, and both friends and enemies con- 
 cur in the judgment of the soldiers. His enemies exult 
 over him dead, and his friends and followers mourn him 
 as really dead, and think of nothing more than of giving 
 him a proper burial. And accordingly, the very terms 
 used by the Evangelists express precisely the real nature 
 of his death. St. Mark says. He expired, He breathed out 
 Ms soul or his last breath, St. Matthew says. He let go 
 Ms spirit, or gave up the ghost ; and St. John says. He 
 delivered up his spirit into the hands of God ; and St. 
 Luke describes the same thing by repeating the words of 
 Jesus: ''''Father, into thy hands I commend, or commit 
 my spirits And in proof of the same thing, we may 
 call to mind his own words, saying, / lay down my life, 
 I give my life a ransom. And accordingly, on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elias spake to him 
 of his decease, wliich he should accomplish at Jerusalem. 
 Again and again, and by various figures and terms, did 
 He foretell to his disciples his sufferings and the kind of 
 death He was to die. " And when Jesus knew that his 
 time was come, that he should depart from this world." 
 
cheist's death desceibed. 135 
 
 Wherever his going out of the world or leaving his disci- 
 ples, or his dying is spoken of, the idea is that He would 
 die just as one of them would die : His soul would leave 
 his body, and the ordinary signs would be found on his 
 body, and he would be judged to be dead, just as one of 
 them would be. 
 
 Shall we say with Peter and Paul, that death is a dis- 
 solving of our earthly Jiouse^ or the laying of it down^ or 
 putting off our tabernacle? Shall we say it is going 
 abroad, away and out of the world, being absent from the 
 body — a going hence, the way of all the earth, a being 
 seen no more among men ; a resting from one's labors ; a 
 falling on sleep; sleeping with one's fathers; gathered 
 to our people ; being added to our fathers, or a going 
 over to the majority ; being taken or cut off from the land 
 of the living ; going down into the pit ; to the house 
 appointed for all living ; making our bed in darkness, or 
 a lying down, or resting, or sleeping in the dust 1 In a 
 word, we find no phrase in philosophy, poetry; or Scrip- 
 ture, by which human death is expressed, that does not 
 apply to our Lord' s death. I believe, therefore, with the 
 Creed, in Jesus Christ, who suffered, was crucified, dead 
 and buried — that his death was a true and proper death — 
 just such a real separating of his soul and body as takes 
 place when one of us dies. 
 
 In the death of Christ, who is the second man, the 
 Lord from heaven, we have firsts then, just such a death 
 as was pronounced against Adam, the first man. Christ, 
 as our substitute, surrendered himself to the whole of the 
 death which lay upon Adam, as the effect of the Divine 
 wrath for his sin. And surely this is love beyond de- 
 gree — love transcending reason' s grasp, and almost para- 
 lyzes faith itself — that He who restored so many diseased 
 persons and raised the dead, and who is the author of life 
 
186 god's only son our "dead christ." 
 
 and immortality, should himself submit to death. And 
 that He should die for the expiation of our sins ; for He 
 '*made his soul an offering for sin, to finish the transgres- 
 sion, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for 
 iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. " ' ' As 
 it is appointed unto men once to die, so also Christ was 
 once offered to bear," to take upon himself, and thus to 
 take away, ''the sins of many." 
 
 Again, secondly. In CTirisV s deaths we have Mm 
 witnessing to the whole of the New Covenant. " The Old 
 Testament was confirmed by the blood of victims sprin- 
 kled on the altar, the book of the Covenant, and the peo- 
 ple. Ex. xxiv. 6-8 ; Heb. ix. 18, 19. But as the New 
 Testament far excels the Old, it was proper that it should 
 be ratified by much nobler blood, even by the blood of 
 the Son of God, dying as a testator for the confirmation 
 of his testament." — [See Witsius on this head.] He died 
 to make the promises of the New Testament sure and 
 irrevocable. In Him as a faithful and true witness all 
 the promises of God are yea and amen. As a prophet he 
 preached unto us a new and better covenant, which was 
 established upon better promises, and was ratified with 
 his blood, and hence He himself calls his blood ''the 
 blood of the New Testament," and where a testament is, 
 there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
 His death, therefore, was necessary for the fulfilment 
 and confirmation of his prophetical ofiice. 
 
 And, thirdly. The same thing is true of his priestly 
 office. "For every high priest taken from among men, 
 is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he 
 may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." But Christ 
 had no other sacrifice to offer than himself. Therefore He 
 made his soul an offering unto death for sin. As our 
 Passover, Christ must be slain for us. We were sold 
 
WHY CHRIST DEED. 137 
 
 under sin, and nothing but the life's blood of Him who 
 would redeem us could purchase our ransom. We could 
 not be redeemed ''with corruptible things, as silver and 
 gold, but only with the precious blood of Christ, as of a 
 lamb without blemish and without spot." " We, who 
 were sometimes alienated and enemies, were reconciled to 
 God by the death of his Son." '' Yet now hath He recon- 
 ciled us in the body of his flesh through death." 
 
 And again, fourthly. It was necessary for Christ to 
 die to complete His kingly office, and exalt His regal 
 dignity. 
 
 II. Why was it necessary for Christ to humble him- 
 self even unto death f or How did it come to pass that 
 Ood) s only Son, so holy and sinless, died such a death as 
 this? 
 
 I answer, first. It was according to the determinate 
 counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was not by chance 
 or a casual event, or a suddenly devised expediency, that 
 the Son of God was delivered up to be crucified and slain 
 by wicked hands, but by the eternal decree of God. 
 Hence, although Herod and Pilate, Jews and Gentiles 
 conspired together to crucify the Lord of glory, God's 
 innocent Son, yet He was a Lamb slain from the founda- 
 tion of the world. 
 
 Secondly. It was by his own free consent that He was 
 crucified to death. He yielded himself voluntarily. He 
 laid down his life for his sheep. Hence it is said the 
 Church \^ purchased with his blood. " When thou shalt 
 make his soul an offering, thou shalt see thy seed and 
 prolong thy days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall 
 prosper in thy hand ; thou shalt see of the travail of thy 
 soul, and be satisfied." And so the Apostle tells us Jesus, 
 
188 god's only son our "dead christ." 
 
 for the suffering of death, was crowned with glory and 
 honor — that He, pouring out his soul unto death, received 
 from his Father a portion with the great— that He being 
 obedient to the death, God exalted him, and gave him a 
 name above all names. Isa. liii. ; Heb. x. and ii. And in 
 regard to all typical persons and rites in the old Dispen- 
 sation, especially the paschal lamb, St. Peter says ex- 
 pressly those things which God before had shewed by the 
 mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer. He 
 hath so fulfilled ; and so the risen Saviour said, O fools and 
 slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken : 
 ought not Christ according to their predictions to have 
 suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory ? It 
 was thus the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets 
 testified beforehand of his sufferings. 
 
 And, tJiirdly. As Christ was ordained to death from 
 eternity by the appointment of the Father, and by His 
 own free choice, and was so set forth by the types and 
 in the prophecies, so also He was instrumentally and 
 judicially and actually put to death in Ms proper person 
 under Pontius Pilate. A special Providence so directed 
 that the treachery of Judas and the conspiracy of the 
 Jewish rulers and the concurrence of Pilate and Herod 
 should bring about His death in exact fulfilment of the 
 Scriptures. And this moreover, we are told, was done 
 without destroying the free agency of those who executed 
 our Lord. They did it all with wicked hands. Judas 
 was covetous, the rulers were blind with envy and rage, 
 and the governor was fickle and selfish, yet it was 
 Jehovah who laid upon Him the iniquities of us all : He 
 was stricken, smitten, afflicted of God. It was the Lord 
 of Glory, the Prince of Life who was thus treated. '* Ye 
 denied," says Peter, ^* Ye denied the Holy One and the 
 
ENDS OF Christ's death. 139 
 
 Just One ; Ye slew the Prince of Life, ye crucified the 
 Lord of Glory." 
 
 III. Why did Christ thus die f What ends did He 
 accomplish by humiliating Himself unto death f 
 
 Answer. First He fulfilled the Father' s purpose, and 
 finished the work and mission on which He was sent into 
 this world. He came from the glory of eternity which He 
 had with the Father before the world was — from the 
 bosom of his Father to do His will — to reveal His love to 
 us, and to die that God might be just and yet the justitier 
 of them that believe in Jesus. It pleased Jehovah to 
 bruise him for us. This command to lay his life down, 
 says He, I received of my Father. And the cup which 
 my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? No one 
 taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself ; I 
 have power to lay it down, and have power to take it 
 again. The blood which I shed is my flesh, which I will 
 give for the life of the world. The Son of Man came to 
 give his life a ransom for many. 
 
 Secondly. By dying He illustrated the perfections of 
 God in harmony and manifested the Divine Glory. On 
 the cross we have a demonstration of His righteousness 
 (Rom. iii. 25). 
 
 Thirdly. Hereby Christ also acquired a right to uni- 
 versal dominion and eternal glory. For to this end 
 Christ died, that He might be Lord of the dead and living. 
 The Prince of our Salvation was made perfect through 
 suffering. For the joy that was set before Him He 
 endured the Cross ; He was obedient unto death — there- 
 fore God hath highly exalted him, that at the name of 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and 
 things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that 
 
140 god's only son our "dead CHRIST." 
 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father. Phil. ii. 
 
 Fourthly. He died on the Cross to redeem us by being 
 made a curse for us. " Being justified by His blood, we 
 shall be saved by Him from wrath. For if, being ene- 
 mies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His 
 Son, much more shall we be saved by His life." But 
 now once in the end of the world, as the Apostle in the 
 Hebrews saith, hath He, Christ, appeared — that is, in the 
 end of the old Dispensation, He hath appeared to the 
 putting away, the expiating, the abolishing of sin, the 
 procuring of pardon for sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
 "For the blood of Christ the Son of God cleanseth us 
 from all sin." '' He gave himself for us that He might 
 deliver us from this present evil world, and redeem us 
 from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
 people, zealous of good works. He loved us, and hath 
 washed us from our sins in his own blood." 
 
 I have but little time left for practical inferences 
 from this great and awful theme. But surely you are 
 already prepared to admit— I. that we should love Him 
 who hath loved us, and given himself for us. And surely 
 we should exercise repentance toward God and faith in 
 His Son, seeing that He did not spare His own Son, but 
 delivered him up to death for us all— and having done 
 this, made the greatest possible gift : how shall He not 
 with Him also freely give us all things ? 
 
 II. Christ s death is to he regarded as the death of 
 Death. Heb. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 When the sorrows of death compassed. Him and the 
 sorrows of hell, as the Psalmist expresses it, compassed 
 Him about, then Death came upon Him to swallow him 
 up ; but Death himself was swallowed up by the dying 
 
Luther's willingness to die. 141 
 
 Kedeemer in a perfect and complete victory. Christ 
 abolished death — rendered it feeble and without effect ; 
 so that the believer's death is not to be regarded as the 
 punishment of sin, but as the termination of sin, and the 
 end of all his sorrows, and the entrance into life eternal. 
 
 '* Since, then, Christ died for us, why must we also 
 die?" 
 
 '' Ans. Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins; 
 but only an abolishing of sin and a passage to eternal 
 life." Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 "Death, we confess, retains its name; 
 Its fatal sting it cannot claim. 
 The Christian finds this last of foes 
 Ordained to give him sweet repose." 
 
 I have selected from one of Lutlief s letters a few 
 striking sentences on this subject, in his own peculiar 
 style. " Our enemies often threaten us with death. But 
 if they were as much distinguished for wisdom as they 
 surpass every one in folly, they ought really to threaten us 
 with life. A truly ridiculous sort of terror, as if they 
 could deter Christ and His people from their purpose by 
 the fear of death ; for Christians are the conquerors of 
 death through Christ, who vanquished and triumphed 
 over the King of Terrors, and showed himself alive as a 
 trophy of his victory to his disciples. Those men, in 
 reality, discover the same egregious madness, as if I 
 should intend to intimidate a person by bringing forth 
 his horse saddled and bridled, that he might take a ride." 
 Eather, since the world and sorrow and sin and Satan 
 press us so hardly, we would say, Make haste, O death, 
 and let my last day on earth soon come to end my sins, 
 and usher me to my home with Jesus. Nor, III. is it im- 
 proper for us to make the death of Jesus an example^ for 
 
142 god's ojstly son our "dead christ." 
 
 from Him we learn, 1. To do with all our might tlie work 
 given us to do by our Heavenly Father, and not be 
 impatient to rest from toil, or to win the prize, till our 
 work is all done, and done successfully. 
 
 2. Like our Lord, as the decisive hour approaches we 
 should endeavor so to disengage ourselves from domestic 
 concerns and secular affairs, that we may be ready to 
 depart promptly and go willingly whenever Jesus calls. 
 
 3. We may humbly imitate Him, committing our 
 departing soul to God. Stephen did this under a shower 
 of stones. This may be done even when there is not 
 left power to utter words. And, 
 
 4. We should die believing that He is the resurrection 
 and the life — in the hope of a blessed resurrection at the 
 last day. 
 
 O my beloved brethren, what a sight is a dead 
 Christ ! The amazement of heaven, the terror of hell — 
 the wonder of the beholding universe ! Dead from suf- 
 fering the wrath of God due to us — upon both his body 
 and his soul, — the death-punishment which in fact makes 
 the hell of the lost in the world of woe, except a feeling of 
 conscious personal guilt. When He bowed His head and 
 said, ^' It is finished," He bore the pang of the curse and 
 drank the cup of wrath, and the Father accepted His 
 atonement for His people. If, then, Jesus our Lord, who 
 thus gave himself for us, is with us in the toils, son'ows, 
 and temptations of life, we need not fear that He will for- 
 sake us when the last enemy approaches. Through the 
 whole way of the dark valley, in the fearful mystery of 
 death, He will be with us, and comfort us. 
 
CHRIST OFFERED TO US. 143 
 
 " Jesus can make a dying bed 
 
 Feel soft as downy pillows are, 
 While on His breast I lean my head, 
 And breathe my life out sweetly there." 
 
 But, my dear hearers, let me beg you not to forget that 
 the precious benefits of Christ's death are offered to you 
 upon the condition that you accept them. They are not 
 absolute and without conditions. Our Lord established 
 a covenant and fulfilled His engagements with His Father 
 for all that will come to God through Him. He invites. 
 He draws, He calls, and whosoever will may come. 
 AVhosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but 
 he that believeth not shall be damned. We must accept 
 salvation as it is offered to us in the Gospel, or we have 
 no share in it. 
 
144 OUE LOKD CHRIST BUELED. 
 
 YIII. 
 
 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 " And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him 
 down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre." — Acts xiii 29. 
 
 The way in which our text was fulfilled is described 
 by the Evangelists. Let us read their record from St. 
 Matt, xxvii. 57-66, and St. John xix. 31-49. 
 
 Last Sabbath evening, following the order of the 
 words in the fourth Article of our Creed, we were wit- 
 nesses of our Lord's death. We are now to attend his 
 funeral and burial : such a funeral as never was since 
 graves were first digged, or tombs first cut out of the 
 rocks, nor ever will be again till tombs and graves are no 
 more. The Evangelists tell us of the preparation made 
 for the funeral, both as to the body of our Lord and as 
 to the tomb to receive it. And then they tell us who 
 were the hearers of the sacred body, and their attendants, 
 and as to how the funeral was conducted. The funeral 
 was public, solemn, and decent. There was no pomp or 
 empty show ; no hypocrisy in tears or outcries ; no hired 
 mourners ; but there were melting hearts and flowing eyes 
 over his tomb. There was deep, unutterable feeling in 
 the breasts of those who laid Jesus in Joseph' s tomb. 
 
THE FULNESS OF OUR CREED. 145 
 
 In many of the ancient Creeds, the two particulars, 
 " buried," and ^'descended into hell," are joined together 
 as one Article ; or else the latter phrase, ''He descended 
 into hell," was wholly omitted ; or, if inserted, was re- 
 garded as the substance of the former, and stood in its 
 room. But, for quite sufficient reasons, I prefer the whole 
 Article as we have it : '' Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was 
 crucified, dead and buried." It is necessary for us now, 
 however, to consider these two particulars separately. 
 " He descended into hell," according to Bishop Pearson, 
 belongs to i\\Qjifth Article of the Creed, and should be 
 taken together with the words, " third day He rose again 
 from the dead." 
 
 One purpose, at least, is secured by the use of all these 
 words : " Buried ; He descended into hell :" — namely, we 
 have a wonderful fulness, distinctness, and security for 
 every thing mentioned in the Scriptures concerning our 
 Lord's person and sufferings, concerning his arrest, 
 arraignment, and treatment by Pilate and Herod, and of 
 his conduct on the cross, his actual death and burial, and 
 how He was employed while his body lay in the tomb : 
 all these particulars are comprehended in the scope of the 
 Article professed as a part of our faith ; and when we 
 remember how many spurious gospels were afloat in the 
 early ages of the Church, and how many crude notions 
 were in the minds of philosophic Gentile converts, we 
 are not at all surprised that the ancient formulas of the 
 Faith of the Churcji should be so full and particular 
 about so many of the incidents of our Lord's last hours, 
 and burial and resurrection. Our Creed specially makes 
 mention of our Lord's burial to oppose the erroneous 
 views of Simon Magus and the Docetse, or Phantasiasts, 
 as they were called, who denied the reality of oar Lord's 
 
 10 
 
146 OUE LOKD CHEIST BUEIED. 
 
 human nature, and said that He had no true body, and 
 did not therefore really suffer, hut only seemed to do so ; 
 that all the history is unreal — a mere appearance. We 
 know that such errors began even in the lifetime of the 
 Apostles themselves, as we learn from 1 John iv. 1-3 : 
 ^'Beloved, helieve not every spirit, but try the spirits 
 whether they are of Grod ; because many false prophets 
 are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit 
 of God : every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is 
 come in the flesh, is of God : and every spirit that confes- 
 seth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of 
 God : and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye 
 have heard that it should come ; and even now already 
 is it in the world." 
 
 In the previous discourses, I have attempted to prove 
 that the Divinity and the Humanity of our Lord were 
 not confused or mingled, but each perfect in its own 
 nature, and so remained, and is so still, and yet consti- 
 tuting one person forever ; and that the perfect humanity 
 of our Lord consisted of "a true body and a reasonable 
 soul," and that his djang was, like the death of Adam or 
 of St. Paul, the separation of his "reasonable soul" 
 from his " true body ;" — that the death of the Son of God 
 did not consist in His Divinity freeing itself from and 
 leaving his humanity, but in the dissolution of his soul 
 from his body. And from this it follows, that his burial 
 was the sepulture of his dead body, according to the cus- 
 tom of his countrymen at the time. 
 
 The reality of our Lord's death is clearly demonstrated 
 by the actual commitment of his body to the grave, and 
 is acknowledged by the Apostles in their discourses and 
 epistles. 8t. Paul^ in 1 Cor. xv., declares that the burial 
 of our Lord was one among the other great Articles of our 
 
THE REALITY OF CHRISt's BURIAL. 14T 
 
 holy religion, which he was accustomed to preach as a 
 matter of faith. His words here are so remarkable, I beg 
 you will especially notice them. Please to read with me 
 from 1 Cor. chapter xv., beginning with the first verse, 
 and onward to the end of the fourth verse : 
 
 " Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel 
 which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, 
 and wherein ye stand : 
 
 2. "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory 
 what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in 
 vain. 
 
 3. '' For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I 
 also received, how that Christ died for our sins according 
 to the Scriptures. 
 
 4. "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the 
 third day according to the Scriptures." 
 
 In maintaining the proposition of this Article of our 
 Creed, that Christ was hurled^ I desire to call your atten- 
 tion : — 
 
 To the fact that ^^e 'burial of Jesus of Nazarethy 
 crucified under Pontius Pilate, was in exact fulfilment of 
 the Holy Scriptures concerning the Messiah. This will 
 be sufficiently proven from two things : First, that accord- 
 ing to Jewish prophecies and types, the promised Messiah 
 was to be buried ; and, secondly, according to our sacred 
 records, Jesus was buried precisely in the way the 
 long promised Messiah was to be buried, and therefore 
 our Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ of God, 
 the Saviour of sinners. These points are after Pearson's 
 manner. 
 
148 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 I. The Jewish Messiah was to he buried. 
 
 As kindness to the aged and unfortunate distinguislies 
 Christianity from Paganism, so does the respect shown In 
 the burial of the pious dead. It was urged by the Empe- 
 ror Julian the Apostate, that one of the great inducements 
 held out to the heathen to turn Christians was the care 
 that would be taken of them at death, and the funeral 
 solemnities with which they would be honored. It is 
 true the early Christians not only showed becoming honor 
 at their funerals to their dead, because the majority of 
 them at first were Jews, and as such they had been care- 
 fully educated in such a custom ; but also, perhaps, as a 
 mark of peculiar affection to the faithful, as one with 
 them in Christ, and in the hope of the resurrection of 
 the dead. As the Gospel in India changes the funeral 
 pile of the widow into decent mourning, so Christianity 
 taught the heathen from the beginning to bury the dead, 
 while remembering their virtues, in hope of life and 
 immortality. Thus we read that when Ananias died, 
 though he died for his sin, yet they " wound him up, and 
 carried him out, and buried him." And when Stephen 
 was stoned, ''devout men carried him to his burial, and 
 made great lamentation over him ;" and when Dorcas 
 died, " they washed her, and laid her in an upper cham- 
 ber," to get her ready for her burial. Burying the body 
 is moreover eminently proper among Christians with 
 respect to their bodies, which are ''temples of the Holy 
 G-host," and are purchased by Christ as well as their 
 souls. The bodies of believers are therefore at the resur- 
 rection to be made like unto his own glorious body. 
 Surely, then, it is becoming for them to be laid in the 
 wardrobe of the grave with such solemnity and propriety 
 as if we expected them to come forth at last to an immortal 
 and glorious life. 
 
BUEYLNG A HEBREW CUSTOM. . 149 
 
 It is therefore an error of the great historian Tacitus, 
 to say as he does, that the Jewish custom of burying the 
 bodies of their dead, instead of burning them, as the 
 Romans did, was borrow^ed by them from Egypt. In this 
 the Jews did not differ from the Romans more than they 
 did from the Greeks, for the Greeks also burned the 
 bodies of the dead. And if we must say the Jews bor- 
 rowed the custom from any other nation, it was rather 
 from the Persians than from the Egyptians, for they had 
 the custom before they went down to Egypt at all. The 
 oldest and the most beautiful fragment of history on the 
 subject is Abraham's purchase of a burying-place of the 
 children of Heth, in which to bury his dead out of his 
 sight. 
 
 The rites of burial were almost universally granted 
 among the Jews, both as to funeral ceremonies and a place 
 for interment. The place of burial was not always the 
 same. It seems never to have been particularly deter- 
 mined. For we find their graves upon the highway or in 
 their gardens [2 Kings xxi. 18, 26], and upon the moun- 
 tains, and in the towns and in the country. The general 
 custom, however, was, and it is still the custom in the 
 East, and in some measure throughout Christendom, to 
 have the graveyard outside of the town, on a hill-side, 
 not very far from the gate. And though at first the 
 Greeks and Romans made their temples repositories for 
 their dead, in later ages they buried the dead without 
 their cities, and chiefly by the highways. 
 
 In proof that the Hebrew Church believed that the 
 promised Messiah was to be buried, let us consider : — 
 
 1. That all among the Jews who admitted that the 
 Messiah was to suffer and die, believed that he was also 
 to be buried. For this was the custom of the Jewish 
 
150 OUE LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 people. And the proof of this is so abundant, there can 
 "be no need of specifications beyond the general statements 
 just made concerning Jewish funeral rites and burying- 
 places. Every one who reads the history of the Jews, 
 knows how often there is mention made of the sepulchres 
 of their fathers. The care of their own poor, the educa- . 
 tion of their children, and the respectful and proper bury- 
 ing of their dead, have always been specialties of the 
 Hebrew race. It is also in evidence, that among them 
 public criminals who were executed were not buried in 
 their fathers' graves, but in sepulchres appointed for 
 them by the civil authorities, or obtained for them by 
 their friends. If our Lord's body had not been claimed 
 by his friends, he would have been buried in the common 
 place for executed persons, and then we should not have 
 had such clear evidences of his identity in the resurrec- 
 tion. It was also usual for the instrument which was 
 used in the punishment to be buried with them. And if I 
 attached any importance to the story of the finding of the 
 true cross by the Empress Helena in the holy sepulchre 
 in Jerusalem, I would urge this latter statement as a 
 proof of its truth ; I have, however, before stated, that I 
 concur altogether in the judgment of many eminent men, 
 who regard the whole story as an invention, and to be 
 ranked with pious frauds. It was, however, in exact 
 conformity with the doctrines, sentiments, and customs 
 of both the Jewish and Christian Church to show respect 
 to the dead, and for our Lord' s friends to give him pre- 
 cisely such a burial as our Evangelists say they did. 
 
 2. The 53d chapter of Isaiah is full of expressions set- 
 ting forth the sufferings and death of the Messiah. Let 
 us turn to this chapter. I must for the present rest on 
 the authorities ancient and modern, Jewish and Christian, 
 
chkist's sufferings for us. 151 
 
 who admit that this prophecy relates to the Messiah. 
 Kead verses 2-9. 
 
 Here it is to be noted — He was not only *' stricken, 
 smitten, aiflicted of God, wounded, bruised, chastised, 
 covered with stripes, oppressed, and carried as a lamb to 
 the slaughter, and taken from prison, but he was cut off 
 out of the land of the limug : for the transgression of 
 my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with 
 the wicked^ and with the rich in his death ; because he 
 had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his 
 mouth." Here, then, it is affirmed of the Messiah that 
 He should be remarkable in his sufferings — that they 
 were to end in his death, and that He was to be buried. 
 And he made his grave with the wicked — that is, as 
 Bishop Lowth translates it, his grave was appointed for 
 him—\)j his persecutors — with the wicked. It was their 
 design to throw him into the common grave of malefac- 
 tors, without any mark of respect, or means of future 
 identification. And even if Lowth' s rendering be not 
 received, still the Scriptures cannot be broken. His 
 grave was loith the wicked in this respect : the garden of 
 Joseph of Arimathea was near Golgotha, which was pre- 
 eminently the place of the wicked ; and He was also sur- 
 rounded and guarded by heathen soldiers, and by a most 
 ungodly Jewish mob. Verily his grave was among the 
 wicked. 
 
 3. The words of the Psalmist are prophetic of the Mes- 
 siah, saying : '' My flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt 
 not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine 
 Holy One to see corruption." xvi. 9, 10. 
 
 As this passage from the Psalms is expressly quoted 
 and made the subject of comment and argument by the 
 Apostle Peter, let us turn tojihfi--ascond chapter of the 
 
 
152 OUK LOKD CHEIST BUEIED. 
 
 Acts of the Apostles, wliere Peter is explaining and de- 
 fending the conduct of the Apostles filled with the Holy 
 Ghost against the charge of drunkenness, as alleged 
 against them by the vain and mocking Jews on the day 
 of Pentecost. "But Peter, standing up," &c. [Please 
 read verses 14-36.] 
 
 This discourse of Peter is full, clear, powerful. It 
 proves the Jews had the book of Joel and the Psalms, 
 and that the Psalms were ascribed to David — that Joel 
 and David foretold Gospel times, and David expressly 
 predicted the death and burial, and yet not the 
 corruption of the flesh of the Messiah in the grave. 
 These allegations could not be applied to David. His 
 flesh did see corruption. The moth and the worm did 
 have power over him, and over every one else that has 
 been buried except Jesus. " Therefore let all the house 
 of Israel know assuredly^ that God hath made that same 
 Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." ver. 36. 
 
 4. The only other passage I have time to refer to is 
 Matt. xii. 40, where our Lord says : "For as Jonas was 
 three days and three nights in the whale's belly," — [and 
 here note, whale means any great fish, the term in the 
 original not being definite as our English name wliale is], 
 " so shall the Son of man be three days and three 
 nights in the heart of the earth." This must mean his 
 burial in the grave. Our Lord meant to say, I will fulfil 
 this type of myself. And so He did most accurately — for 
 he was laid in the tomb. 
 
 Secondly, We are now prepared for the statement, that 
 our Jesus of Nazareth^ whom we most surely believe to 
 be the true Messiah, was buried in the very way the Jew- 
 
BUEIED ACCOEDma TO PEOPHECY. 153 
 
 isTi writers foretold that their Messiah would he buried. 
 And this was done, too, contrary to all ordinary or mere 
 human expectations in the case. As our Lord was cruci- 
 fied on a Roman cross, and by virtue of Roman law, it 
 was to be expected his body would be left to share the 
 fate of the bodies of other malefactors, and have been 
 given to the fowls of the air or to the beasts of the fields. 
 Both Horace and Juvenal^ as well as other writers, tell 
 us this often happened to the bodies of persons who 
 were executed on the cross. Sometimes the dead bodies 
 were exposed in the wind and weather until the flesh was 
 consumed, and a mere skeleton was left. Classical authors 
 abound in descriptions of cases verifying each of the 
 foregoing statements. It is also in evidence that among 
 the Romans, a guard was usually stationed around the 
 cross, lest a pitying hand should take the body from the 
 accursed tree, and cover it with earth. "^ 
 
 First. Remember here, that it was under the autho- 
 rity of Roman law that Jesus was crucified. His body, 
 therefore, on the cross, is under the custody of a Roman 
 guard. Accordingly, we find a centurion in command at 
 the crucifixion, t with Roman soldiers, watching Jesus. 
 And as soon as Jesus is dead, this officer reports the fact 
 to Governor Pilate ; but the watch still remain. How, 
 then, is Jesus to have a grave with the rich ? Who is to 
 provide a tomb ? How is his blessed body to be obtained 
 and laid in it ? Here again, as so often before, we find 
 the wrath of man made to praise God. They who had 
 petitioned for his death, icho had always met Pilate's 
 affirmations of Jesus' innocence, and willingness to show 
 
 * Seo authorities in Pearson, pp. 322, 323, 324. 
 
 f See author's "Centurions of the Gospel" — second edition now in press, by 
 the same publisher. 
 
154 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 him mercy, with the cry of, '^ Crucify Him! crucify 
 Him P ' now intercede that his dead body may be taken 
 down from the cross and buried. They make no scruple 
 to have the innocent Jesus crucified, yet they were very 
 zealous for some of their laws. Their prejudices were so 
 bitter and their bigotry so malignant, they thought them- 
 selves serving God by slaying his dear Son, and yet they 
 must have the law kept that required the dead bodies of 
 executed malefactors to be buried before or by the going 
 down of the sun of the same day of the execution Thus 
 they understood the words of Moses, in Deut. xxi. 22, 23, 
 saying: " If a man have committed a sin worthy of 
 death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a 
 tree ; his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, 
 but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day." Accord- 
 ingly, under this general law, and the more especially in 
 this case, because the next day was an liigli day^ that is, 
 one of the Sabbaths, of which there were three in a year, 
 which was called the Sabbath of the holy convocation, 
 " the Jews besought Pilate that their legs might be 
 broken, and that they might be taken away." John 
 xix. 31. 
 
 According to Lactantius, it was a kind of coup de 
 grace, and often done to criminals on the cross, to break 
 their legs, that they might the sooner be put out of pain. 
 The Jews, in our Lord's case, did not ask it to be done 
 for this reason, but to hasten his death by increasing his 
 sufferings. 
 
 The day of preparation is a well-established fact in 
 Jewish history. In Josephus we have a copy of an edict 
 of the Emperor Augustus in favor of the Jews, which 
 says : ''No one shall be obliged to give bail or surety on 
 the Sabbath day, nor on the preparation before it after 
 
THE JEWISH HIGH DAY. 155 
 
 the ninth hour." The Sabbath began at the ninth hour, 
 that is, at 3 o'clock the preceding evening. Lightfoot, 
 with many others, thinks it was called '^ a high day" — 
 
 1. Because it was the Sabbath. 
 
 2. It was the day on which all the people presented 
 themselves in the temple, according to the word of the 
 Lord in Exo. xxiii. 17. 
 
 3. It was the day on which the slieaf of the first-fruits 
 was offered, according to Lev. xxiii. 10, 11. And in this 
 case it is also probable the Passover fell on that Sabbath. 
 It was with great emphasis therefore a JiigTi day. For 
 upon this day this year it happened that three or four 
 solemnities fell together. 
 
 Secondly. You will bear in mind, brethren, that as 
 the Jews had not the power of life and death in their 
 hands at this time, so, although they instigated, conspired 
 for, and procured his death, yet he was put to death by 
 Roman authority, and that his body was still in the 
 hands of the Romans ; yet by Roman custom it was left 
 to the option of the magistrate to do, or allow to be done, 
 what might seem good to him with the bodies of executed 
 malefactors. Pilate had power to dispose of the body, 
 of Jesus as he pleased. He could have had it burned, 
 according to Roman custom, or he could have caused 
 it to remain on the cross to be consumed. But the 
 disposing of the body was not a matter that gave him 
 any anxiety. It was required of him that, in his report 
 to the emperor at Rome, he should acquaint his imperial 
 master with the fact, that such a person as Jesus of 
 Nazareth was crucified on the charge that he claimed to be 
 the king of the Jews ; but no report about his body or 
 
156 OUR LOED CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 about his peculiar Jewish notions was required. And 
 as Pilate had no personal ill-will against Jesus, and 
 delivered him to be crucified wholly to please the Jews, 
 so he had no motives to gratify in refusing the request 
 that his body might be taken down from the cross in 
 order to its burial. But still, we are trembling as we 
 see the three bodies taken down from their crosses, lest 
 the Scriptures are now to be broken. Is He to make 
 his grave with the same wicked persons with whom he 
 died 1 For these two thieves crucified with Him, one on 
 his right hand and the other on his left, the Jewish 
 authorities have already provided the appointed or usual 
 burial-place. Are they going to carry our Lord's body 
 away with them ? Is there no help for it 1 Will no one 
 come to the rescue ? How can we hope for any one hav- 
 ing wealth and influence now to come forward, and 
 profess respect for the dead Christ? Is there any one 
 who will be bolder for Him now that He is dead, than 
 while he was yet alive ? What says the record ? * ' There 
 came a rich man named Joseph, a counsellor: and he 
 was a good man, and a just : 
 
 51 "(The same had not consented to the counsel and 
 deed of them :) he w^as of Arimathea, a city of the Jews ; 
 who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. 
 
 52 "This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body 
 of Jesus. 
 
 53 "And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, 
 and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein 
 never man before was laid." 
 
 II. This brings me, in the next place, to the burial 
 
 ITSELF. 
 
 We have had a Boman death. Jesus was treated as 
 
MAN^NER OF HIS BUEIAL. 157 
 
 a malefactor under judicial process and was crucified, 
 and so met in His suffering and death every requirement 
 of Jewish prophecy concerning the promised Messiah ; 
 but if the prophecies required a Homan malefactor's 
 death, they quite as certainly call for a Hebreio burial, 
 and just such a burial we have in every particular. 
 Our Lord's body was disposed of neither according to 
 Roman or Jewish custom, but precisely as the Prophets 
 had said the body of the suffering and dying Messiah 
 would be disposed off. You have seen how the body 
 was obtained. Let us now see how it was prepared for the 
 grave ; how the tomb is prepared for it, and the persons 
 who actually fulfilled the Scriptures by burying Him. 
 
 First. In a Hebrew burial, linen clothes and pre- 
 cious spices were used, varying in quality and quantity 
 according to the wealth of the parties. You have not 
 forgotten, that a woman having an alabaster box of oint- 
 ment of spikenard, very precious, once came to Jesus, 
 and brake the box, and poured it on His head ; and that 
 Jesus then said, ''She is come beforehand to anoint my 
 body to the burying." Mark xiv. 3-8. And when 
 Christ was risen, '' Mary Magdalene and the other Mary 
 brought the spices which they had prepared, that they 
 might come and anoint Him." Mark xv. 1. Luke 
 xxiv. 1. 
 
 Wrapped it in a linen cloth. Such cloths were then 
 common, and so were precious spices. Embalming, it is 
 well known, was common in Egypt, as we know from its 
 monuments and mummies, and from the Bible history of 
 Jacob and Joseph. Jewish embalming differed in some 
 respects from that of Egypt, and as it was with the Egyp- 
 tians, so it probably was with the Jews, their earlier 
 embalming was more costly than in later times. Still the 
 
158 OUE LOED CHEIST BUEIED. 
 
 hundred pounds weigJit of the Evangelist is not too 
 nmch. For, (1.) the fact itself of such a quantity being 
 used is not incredible. Mcodemus and Joseph of Ari- 
 mathea were men of large wealth. And it was proper 
 for them to give some expression of their respect for the 
 dead, by the value, of the precious spices used for his 
 burial. Nor, (2.) is collateral history wanting to confirm 
 our narrative. Even in 2 Chron. xvi. 14, we find that 
 such a quantity of spices was used that they formed 
 a bed on which the dead body was laid. *' They laid 
 King Asa in the bed, which was filled with sweet odors 
 and spices." And, according to Josephus, at the funeral 
 of Herod five hundred servants bearing aromatics were 
 employed, and Onkelos used 80 lbs. Tyrian weight of the 
 most precious spices at the funeral of Rabbi Gamaliel 
 Senex.^ 
 
 Our Lord' s body was wrapt in the linen cloth with a 
 mixture of myrrh and aloes, but this was all done in 
 great haste — an imperfect embalming. The time was too 
 short to perfect it, the Sabbath was approaching. Hence 
 the pious women prepared themselves for a second em- 
 balming as soon as the Sabbath should be past. 
 
 Thus we see how the spices and linen clothes of Nico- 
 demus were used in wrapping the body of Jesus, just as 
 had been done to his friend Lazarus of Bethany, who, 
 when Jesus called him, "came forth bound hand and 
 foot with grave-clothes, and his face was bound about 
 with a napkin." John xi. 44. And so when " Peter went 
 into the sepulchre, and saw 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." 
 John XX. 6, 7. See Pearson on Creed, p. 326. 
 
 See Witsius, vol. ii. pp. 121-2. 
 
HIS PALL-BE AEEES. 159 
 
 Secondly. Observe, that as our Lord's dear body was 
 carefully prepared for his burying, according to Hebrew- 
 custom, so also a sepulchre meeting the requirements 
 of our prophecies was also punctually prepared. ''And 
 when Joseph had taken the body of Jesus, he wrapped it 
 in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, 
 which he had hewn out in the rock ; and he rolled a great 
 stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed." Mat- 
 thew xxvii. 59, 60, with Mark xv. '' For in the place 
 where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the 
 garden a new sepulchre, wherein never man was laid, 
 which Joseph had hewn out of a rock for his own tomb : 
 there laid they Jesus, and rolled a great stone to the door 
 of the sepulchre." 
 
 Thirdly. The hearers and attendants., or the persons 
 who fulfilled the Scriptures by burying our Lord^. 
 
 The history shows that both our Lord' s friends and 
 enemies agreed in begging for his body, but from very 
 different motives. It was of no consequence to Pilate to 
 distinguish between the friends and enemies of Jesus. 
 Their different motives in asking to have his body re- 
 moved were nothing to him. All he cared to know was 
 the fact that he was really dead, and that the crucifixion 
 had taken place according to Roman usage, so that his 
 report of the case to Rome would not bring him into 
 trouble. The persons begging for Jesus' body were in 
 his sight Jews, simply Jews. Among them, first in appli- 
 cation were our Lord' s implacable enemies, who desired 
 that his body should be taken down from the accursed 
 tree, not out of any respect to Him or sympathy for his 
 friends, but for fear the land should be defiled ; and they 
 were the more importunate because of the approach of a 
 high Sabbath day. Nor is it improbable that their con- 
 
160 OUR LOED CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 sciences began to sting them for what they had done, 
 and that they were therefore anxious to remove their 
 victim out of their sight by removing it away from 
 public view. 
 
 And now just at this time, when our Lord's enemies 
 are asking for his dead body, and Pilate has made him- 
 self sure that He is really dead, and shows a willingness 
 to consign the bodies of the malefactors to Jewish treat- 
 ment, a rich man, an honorable counsellor, that is, a 
 member of the Sanhedrim, and Nicodemus, also a mem- 
 ber of the Great Sanhedrim, supported by a company of 
 pious women, beg that, as Jesus' friends, they may have 
 the custody of his dear body. Their object is to show 
 respect and to bury it. Our Lord's enemies, being satis- 
 fied that He Was really dead, have no zeal for his body, 
 except to avoid breaking the law by its remaining on the 
 Cross ; they therefore relinquish it, and the more readily 
 because no doubt Pilate preferred to accommodate parties 
 so honorable, influential, and wealthy as Nicodemus and 
 Joseph of Arimathea, and such a company of women. 
 They beheld the crucifixion afar off: The soldiers and 
 the crowd of surging people keep them at a considerable 
 distance ; but still they showed more courage and 
 greater affection for Jesus than his disciples, did who had 
 vowed they would rather die with him than forsake him. 
 
 Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man, a good and just 
 man, and an honorable counsellor. He was a man of 
 high rank and respectability. He belonged to Rama in 
 the tribe of Benjamin, but his residence was now in 
 the City of Jerusalem. Nicodemus was also a member 
 of the Sanhedrim— the same who came to Jesus by 
 night, and who believed upon Him, but did not confess 
 Him openly during his lifetime, for fear of the Jews, 
 
WHY WAS CHRIST BURIED. 161 
 
 who said that whoever did confess him should be a 
 cast-out. 
 
 A Divine Providence is seen in the character of these 
 men. The Apostles could not so properly ask permission 
 to bury their Master, lest the Priests and Pharisees, who 
 fabricated the story about the stealing away of his body, 
 should have alleged he had never been buried at all. It 
 was well, just, and proper that such men as these — men of 
 culture and social position, rank, and wealth, should get 
 possession of the body and give it an honorable burial. 
 
 III. Why was Christ buried f Seeing He was so 
 soon to rise from the dead, why was there any funeral 
 at all ? Our answer is — 
 
 1. To fulfil the types and prophecies, and to prove that 
 Jesus was the true Messiah. 
 
 2. To prove thereby that he really was dead, — that 
 there could not be any mistake about it. 'Not can any 
 more vital reason than this be given, for on the reality of 
 his death depends the perfection of his sacrifice as our 
 Priest, and the fact of his resurrection. The truth of 
 Christianity depends upon the reality .of Christ's death, 
 burial, and resurrection. If these are not facts, just as our 
 Creed afiirms, and as the Scriptures teach, then we are 
 yet in our sins. Tliese are the most important subjects 
 we can possibly think of, or devote our attention to. 
 Since so much depends on his death, if we may so speak, 
 abundant proof of it should be given, and this proof 
 should be as convincing, clear, and powerful as it can be 
 in the nature of the case, and the nature of the human 
 mind considered. And such, we maintain, is the evidence 
 before us of the death and burial of Jesus Christ. He 
 
 11 
 
162 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 bowed his head and gave up the ghost. His enemies 
 exult ; his friends mourn. Both are convinced he is 
 really dead. The Roman soldier makes it doubly certain 
 by an awful cut in his side, that brings out both blood 
 and water. And here also, note how Providence pro- 
 tects the Scriptures, and turns their fulfilment so point- 
 edly on Jesus. He was to be pierced, and not a hone of 
 him V)as to he hroJcen ; and an ignorant Roman soldier, 
 unbidden, fulfils both requirements. The soldier is sent 
 to break his bones, but he disobeys his commander— and 
 does what he was not sent to do. And yet both his diso- 
 bedience of his lieutenant, and his voluntary piercing of 
 the dead body of Jesus, were necessary to prove that He 
 was the Messiah. A simple and direct proof of the reality 
 of his death is therefore given in his burial. 
 
 3. Such a distinct statement of our Lord's burial 
 assists us to comprehend more clearly his Hypostatical 
 or Personal union : His two natures in one person. His 
 death did not consist in the separation of his Divinity 
 from his humanity, but in the dissolution of his soul from 
 his body, so that it was the true and proper body of the 
 Son of God that was laid in the tomb. 
 
 4. Christ' s burial has its place and influence in our 
 Lord' s great worTc of redemption. His estate of humilia- 
 tion was completed by being brought to the dust of death. 
 The English Litany well says: ''We invoke Him, by 
 the mystery of Thy Holy Incarnation, by Thy holy na- 
 tivity and circumcision, by Thy Cross and Passion, by 
 Thy precious death and burial." And although I am 
 not ready to believe that every act of Jesus has a sacra- 
 mental influence in our salvation, still I think Augustine's 
 words on this point are worthy of attention. "What- 
 ever," says he, "was done on the Cross of Christ, at his 
 
BURIED TO COI^^QUEE. 163 
 
 l3urial, at His rising the third day, at His ascension into 
 heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God, were so done 
 that mystically, not in words only, but in actions, the 
 Christian life here below is depicted. For we that are 
 Christ's, * have crucified the flesh with the affections and 
 lusts.' ' If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 
 things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right 
 hand of God.' " 
 
 5. The distinction of the parties who honored our 
 Saviour by burying him, and the new tomb, and the place 
 where it was, and its being a tomb hewn out of the living 
 rock, in which no man had ever been laid, all contributed 
 to make our Lord's death more widely known at the 
 time, and more fully to demonstrate the truth of his resur- 
 rection, as stated by his friends. 
 
 6. Again, Christ's burial is specific and emphatic, in 
 order that correct, sweet, and proper thoughts may be 
 connected with our meditations upon the grave. Arch- 
 bishop Leighton expresses this reason somewhat in this 
 way : For the further assurance of his death, and the 
 glory of his resurrection, as likewise to commend the 
 grave itself to us, as now a very sweet resting-place. He 
 hath warmed the cold bed of the grave to a Christian, so 
 that he need not fear to lie down in it, nor doubt but that 
 he shall rise again from it, after our Lord's example. 
 
 When He was laid in the tomb. He went to conquer 
 Death in his own dominion — as if by man' s sin death was 
 an enthroned dragon, and the grave was his den — a 
 loathsome place of indescribable terror ; but our Lord 
 went into it, grappled with him there, overcomes him, 
 and so conquers that henceforth he is not an enemy, but 
 a benefactor to all Christ' s friends — a mere door-keeper 
 to open the way for them to glory, or to provide for them 
 
164 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 a bed to rest on. When believers die, they do but go 
 into Christ's bed, where he lay before them. Accord- 
 ingly, St. Stephen's death is described as a falling on 
 sleep, and the grave was known among the early Chris- 
 tians as a resting-place. Indeed, our name Cemetery is 
 the Greek word for a resting-place, or a place to sleep in 
 and be refreshed — in which to wake up and go forth to a 
 more vigorous and happy life. 
 
 lY. The practical uses of this part of the Article 
 are easily stated. 
 
 I. The narrative of our Lord' s burial is full of instruc- 
 tion. It gives us distinct information as to the certainty 
 of his death. Pilate would not allow Joseph to take pos- 
 session of our Lord's body till after he had made careful 
 inquiry respecting his death, and was well certified of 
 the fact. Mark xv. 44, 45. Nor was it enemies that 
 buried Jesus, who might have been so anxious to get rid 
 of a disagreeable job, that they would not hesitate to lay 
 him in the sepulchre half alive. It was Ms friends who 
 had charge of his body and directed his burial, and we 
 are sure they were well satisfied that there was no longer 
 a breath of life in him. He was really dead ; and his 
 literal burial was necessary to complete his humiliation. 
 It was thus that He descended into the lower parts of the 
 earth. 
 
 II. The burial of our Lord is a clear and certain proof 
 that his work of expiation has been thoroughly performed 
 and the curse abolished by His death. In his. humiliation 
 He endured the wrath of God due to us for our sins. As 
 the hanging on the tree fulfilled the curse, so the burial of 
 the body denoted that the curse was exhausted. The pen- 
 alty could not go beyond death. Our Lord' s sleep, there- 
 fore, in the tomb was sweet to him. He then rested from 
 
BEJSTEFITS TO US, 165 
 
 his labors, that had heen indeed great and long in their 
 accomplishment, but were now thoroughly and well done. 
 The law called for the shedding of blood, and blood has 
 been shed. The law called for the death of the sinner ; 
 and here is the death of his voluntary, able, and accepted 
 surety. And in our surety' s burial our sins were buried. 
 They are removed from God's sight, and covered over, 
 so that we are justified by believing in Him. 
 
 III. And, thirdly^ by his burial we have assurance 
 also of complete sanctification. It was our old nature 
 that He look on him, out of the flesh and blood of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, and it was in this nature He *' suf- 
 fered, was crucified, dead and buried." By his death 
 He broke the tyranny of sin, by which the devil held us 
 captive ; and when He was laid in the grave. He buried 
 the mortal flesh that He might raise it in newness of life 
 unto eternal blessedness. This is the Christian's true and 
 only life — to be dead with Christ and buried with Him, 
 and risen with Him to the life of God — a life with Christ 
 in God. 
 
 It was thus that He pursued Death to the remotest 
 and strongest corner of his dark castle, and, conquering 
 him in his own fortress, sanctified the grave, so that it 
 becomes, like Esther's spice-baths, a resting-place for 
 our bodies, until they are called forth to be perfumed 
 and anointed, and we awake to behold God's face in 
 righteousness, and to be satisfied with his likeness. 
 
 lY. Here is, therefore, an illustration of our Lord's 
 complete sympathy with Ms people. As the Father hath 
 loved Him, so He loves them, and He not only gave his 
 life, but also his death for them. There is no kind of 
 trial nor form of suffering through which they are called 
 
166 OUE LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 to pass, that He has not passed through himself on his 
 way to victory and glory. ''In that He himself hath 
 suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that 
 are tempted." Here, then, dear child of God, only be 
 careful - to remember your glorious Leader ; — tempted, 
 weak, afflicted, mourning, remember how your blessed 
 Lord endured for your sake. Only imitate Him — receive 
 the cup your Heavenl}^ Father gives you ; and when you 
 come to pass into the dark shadow of death^ go as your 
 Lord did, commending your soul to God, and say, O 
 death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy vic- 
 tory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Y. The example of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicode- 
 mus, and the pious women who showed their veneration 
 for the dead Christy should quicken our faith and zeal, 
 and increase our love. We may not be able, like Con- 
 stantine, to build a cathedral in honor of his tomb, nor 
 to burn incense and costly spices in our places of worship 
 in memory of his embalming — such service He has not 
 asked from us ; but He does require our hearts and our 
 lives. The most costly spices and the most magnificent 
 temples are not as precious in his sight as faith, love, and 
 charity. I do not, however, envy the man so devoid of 
 the religion of places as to have no emotions on visiting 
 the reputed tomb of Jesus. It is of very little conse- 
 quence whether the holy sepulchre is the precise tomb, 
 or covers the exact spot where Jesus was buried. It 
 stands for that sacred place. And as we do not worship 
 the material wooden cross, but Him who died on the 
 cross, so we do not worship the marble tomb in the 
 church of the Holy Sepulchre, but Him who was cruci- 
 fied, dead and buried, as our Mediator, and of Avhose 
 burial this is the local commemoration. Nor need we 
 
ARE WE EISEX WITH CUEIST. 167 
 
 go as pilgrims to the Holy Land in order to receive the 
 benefits of our Lord's death and burial. From the his- 
 tory before us, we have such an account as to put us into 
 living communion with Him whom these weeping women 
 and their rich friends buried in Joseph's tomb in the gar- 
 den. " By virtue of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, 
 our old n?an is crucified, dead and buried with him, that 
 so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign 
 in us ; but that we' may offer ourselves unto him a sacri- 
 fice of thanksgiving." Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 But oh ! my brethren, it were a vain and useless thing 
 for us merely to investigate the historical accuracy of the 
 narrative, of our Lord' s sufferings and death, and to take 
 our views of Calvary just as we do of any other mere 
 historical place. Is there not something exceedingly pre- 
 cious in the blood of Christ ? Are we not closely related 
 to Him who was crucified, dead and buried ? AVas he not 
 God-man, our Mediator, and did He not die, and was He 
 not buried /or us ? Truly may we say, all other miracles 
 grow dim before the Cross. The Cross shines all others 
 into shade and darkness. What in all the universe is of 
 equal value with the blood of the Son of God ? Well 
 may we say (as a great French preacher does), " Ye other 
 miracles, wrought in favor of our souls ! ye astonishing 
 prodigies that confirm the Gospel ! je great and terrible 
 signs of the second coming of the Son of God ! vanish all 
 of you before the Cross ! This glorious light makes your 
 glimmering vanish ; and after my imagination is filled 
 with the tremendous dignity of this sacrifice, I can see 
 nothing great besides." 
 
 But what is the sepulchre to the ungodly ? It is dark- 
 ness, and worms, and corruption, and the doorway to 
 hell. The grave is a terrible place to them who are out 
 of Christ. Death, in respect to them, is but the arresting 
 
168 OUR LORD CHRIST BURIED. 
 
 sergeant of the Judge. The grave is Ibut a prison to keep 
 their bodies in, to secure them against the great day of 
 trial. If the grave is but a perfumed bed for the saints 
 to rest on until they are called to see the King in His 
 beauty, and enter into His kingdom, so it is only a dark 
 and loathsome dungeon for the wicked till they are called 
 to hear their doom, and go to their awful execution. 
 
 " The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead 
 shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that 
 hear shall live. Marvel not at this : for the hour is com- 
 ing, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his 
 voice, and shall come forth : they that have done good, 
 unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done 
 evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." — John v. 25-29. 
 
THE DECENT INTO HELL. 169 
 
 IX 
 
 "HE DESCENDED INTO HELL." 
 
 It is my purpose now, if the Lord be pleased to con- 
 tinue his blessing upon us, to ask your attention to the 
 Urst part of tlie flfth Article of our Creed just recited : 
 '-' ^e," that is, '' Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, 
 who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin 
 Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead 
 and buried : He descended into helV^ I do not, as is my 
 custom, name any text of holy Scripture this evening, 
 because I cannot find one that teaches what these words 
 of the Creed are generally supposed to mean, if they are 
 received in their popular or usual sense. Even St. 
 PauVs language in Ephesians, about Christ' s descending, 
 do not affirm that He descended after his death into hell, 
 Nor does St. Peter say in his sermon on the day of Pente- 
 cost that Jesus descended into hell. He says that the 
 16tli Psalm is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ, and 
 proves that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the true 
 Messiah. And it is candid also, to admit, that the words 
 of the Psalmist applied to Jesus : ^'Thou wilt not leave 
 my soul in hell," do imply that in some sense He was in 
 hell, for if He was not left in hell^ He must once have 
 been there. There is a sense, then, in which the Creed 
 does affirm that Christ descended into hell. What is this 
 
170 "he DESCEi^DED INTO HELL." 
 
 sense, and is it true ? Is it according to the Scriptures ? 
 As tlie words : "He descended into hell," are not found 
 in the Bible applied to Messiah, who is called Christ, in 
 the sense attached to them by the Church of Rome, it is 
 important for us to ascertain, if possible, the sense in 
 which this Article is to be received as containing the truth 
 of God. The meaning of the word Tiell^ and of de- 
 scended^ will come more appropriately under discussion 
 in another place, and an examination of those passages 
 of Scripture which it is alleged teach the literal, local 
 descent of Christ into hell, and so authorize the doctrine 
 of Purgatory and its kindred errors, I must reserve for 
 the next Discourse. 
 
 It is not surprising this Article of our Creed should 
 have attracted great attention and given rise to much 
 learned discussion, and yet, perhaps, there never was a 
 time when it was more worthy of attention tlian the 
 present. The current of religious thought in our day is 
 so spasmodic and unsettled, that a subject of this nature 
 receives, perhaps, greater attention because it is obscure, 
 and the terms in which the doctrine is taught are harsh 
 and repulsive. And, besides, important doctrines are 
 supposed to depend upon the interpretation of this 
 Article. In a general way^ we may say the Church of 
 Rome, the Lutheran Church, and a portion of the High 
 Church party of England are arranged on one side in the 
 discussion, and almost all other branches of the Church 
 are on the other side. The most learned men, and men 
 of the greatest intellect and culture of the last generation 
 and of the present, have given their profoundest investi- 
 gations to this subject. 
 
 In the works of Barrow and Lightfoot, Pearson and 
 Burnet, Witsius and Harold Browne, and the late Arch- 
 bishop Whately, we have learned, able, and exhaustive 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THIS SUBJECT. lYl 
 
 dissertations on this Article or kindred topics. Almost 
 every actual or possible side of the questions involved is 
 presented, and yet, after one has toiled through them all, 
 it is very much to be doubted whether he is really any 
 wiser, or any better satisfied, than he was when he began 
 his investigations. All learning is not wisdom. Nor are we 
 all able for all things. One of the great Calvin' s best say- 
 ings is, that *' God has not given it to any one man to know 
 all the truth." On many subjects, as if to mock the pride 
 of human intellect, it is still true that ignorance is bliss. 
 The indefinite and unsatisfactory results of the learning, 
 time, and talents that have been spent on this subject may 
 be accounted for, perhaps, by remembering that great and 
 good men are not always free from bigotry and prejudice. 
 Their investigations are often carried on to support certain 
 dogmas of faith or peculiar views, and every thing is seen 
 with that coloring on it which favors them. The great 
 authors I have named, and many others might be added, 
 scarcely agree on the leading points of this Article, and 
 yet they do not so differ as to materially affect a single 
 doctrine or precept of the Gospel which is in order to 
 salvation. Again, a great difficulty in all discussions of 
 this kind is to determine the meaning of the terms used in 
 presenting the doctrine, and its explanation ; and in this 
 particular case the difficulty is increased, from the fact 
 that the terms used are taken from four different languages 
 embracing in their range of historic signification a period 
 of, let us say, three or four thousand years ; and these 
 terms are used, moreover, in different senses in our his- 
 toric documents even in the same age, and greatly modi- 
 fied in their meaning by the subjects to which they are 
 applied, and their adjuncts. And let it also be distinctly 
 kept in mind, that we are not obliged to believe any doc- 
 trine or Article of faith simply because it is in the Cate- 
 chism, Creed, Confession, or Thirty-nine Articles, but 
 
172 *^HE DESCENDED mTO HELL." 
 
 because it is tauglit in the Word of God. And if there is 
 any doctrine in our formularies that is contrary to the 
 Word of God, I do not and will not believe it — though 
 all the patriarchs and czars of Russia, and all the empe- 
 rors, popes, and councils and convocations and assemblies 
 on earth should affirm it. 
 
 In order to be brief and as easily understood as I can 
 in my presentation of such a subject, the following 
 method is proposed : namely, 
 
 I. A condensed history of the Article. 
 
 II. Endeavor to ascertain historically, and from the 
 Scriptures, the meaning of the terms used. 
 
 III. Examine briefly some of the passages of Scrip- 
 ture alleged to teach the literal, local descent of Christ 
 into hell, and which are thus perverted to the support of 
 the doctrine of Purgatory, and kindred follies which are 
 subversive of salvation by grace. This last head must, 
 however, lie over altogether, for the evening of next 
 Lord' s day. 
 
 I. Then let us attempt a condensed notice of the history 
 of the Article itself. The words: "He descended into 
 hell," do not appear to have had a place in the most 
 ancient Creeds, either private or public, and consequently 
 their authority and meaning have been much disputed 
 in ancient times among the Fathers, just as they are now 
 among learned men. It may not be for our edification in 
 this presence, to attempt an exhaustive review of the opin- 
 ions and explanations that have been given of it. And in 
 view of the confusing and unsatisfactory nature of the 
 results obtained by those who have engaged so labori- 
 ously and so learnedly in the investigations of this Article, 
 I have often been ready to wish that our Creed, like that 
 
PREACHING ON THE CREED. 173 
 
 of Nice, had omitted the words altogether, or that some 
 Scriptural and definite interpretation had been affixed to 
 them. Still, I do not feel myself at liberty to pass over 
 these words altogether, however difficult they may be, 
 or however unsuccessful I may be in presenting my 
 thoughts concerning them, because they occur in the 
 symbolic books of all Christendom, and are taught by 
 the catechisms in our schools and in our families by every 
 Church of the Keformation as well as by the Church of 
 Rome. Formerly it was the custom, in all the Reformed 
 churches, for their ministers to read the Scriptures 
 regularly and in course, and to explain the Catechism 
 systematically and regularly before their congregations 
 on the Lord's day. And to aid them in this method 
 of instruction, and so secure an intelligent acquaintance 
 of the people with the Articles of our holy religion, and 
 promote as far as possible a uniform and Scriptural expo- 
 sition of God's truth, summaries of Christian doctrine — 
 epitomes or heads of our great common faith — were 
 drawn up and printed for the use of ministers. Nume- 
 rous works of this kind were published in Holland and in 
 Great Britain. The late Dr. A. Alexander, of Princeton, 
 N. J., prepared a synopsis of Bible Truth, or of Chris- 
 tian doctrines of this character ; and in former years, and 
 in fact until quite a recent period, the greatest theologians 
 and the men of most mind and culture employed them- 
 selves a great deal in preparing catechisms and abstracts 
 of Bible truth for the young. 
 
 " The Institutes of Christian Doctrines," by the " great 
 theologian," John Calvin, were prepared professedly as 
 a Commentary on the Apostles' Creed. 
 
 Many of our best bodies of Divinity, or treatises on 
 Theology, have been written on and according to the order 
 
174 "he descended into hell." 
 
 and arrangement of the Catechism, or, more "briefly, of 
 the Apostles' Creed. Originally it was made the duty of 
 our brethren, the Pastors of the Reformed Dutch Church, 
 to go through the exposition of the Catechism containing 
 our Creed once every year, each of the fifty-two Sabbaths 
 having such a part assigned to it as would enable them 
 to accomplish it in the year ; but this has been changed 
 so as to require the Pastors of the Dutch Church in 
 America to complete this exposition only once every four 
 years, so that now a lecture of this kind about once a 
 month is substituted for one every Sabbath. Still this is 
 better, far better, than the total neglect of such lectures 
 by perhaps all the other churches. Once a month is 
 better than not at all. How far the preaching of the fun- 
 damental doctrines of the Gospel has been discontinued — 
 to what extent the regular systematic teaching of the doc- 
 trines of the Bible, as presented in our Catechism, and 
 authorized by the standards of the Church, has been neg- 
 lected — and how far this neglect has led to the apostasy 
 of the times, to the decay of family religion and the prevail- 
 ing of false doctrines, you have as good an opportunity to 
 judge as I have. And while I assume not to be a monitor 
 to my brethren, nor will I bring any railing accusations 
 against them, I must say, that it seems to me the root of 
 all the calamities of the times, and the fruitful source of 
 the prevailing irreligion and infidelity and awful extrava- 
 gance and licentiousness of our day, is in a great measure 
 owing to the decline of fundamental religious truth — the 
 Truth of God' s Word ; and this decline among the people 
 is in a great measure to be laid to the charge of the 
 ministers who have ceased to preach it. 
 
 As to the Article : ^'He descended into Tiell,^'' we 
 have no knowledge of any writer before Buffln, in the 
 beginning of the fifth century, who speaks of it as a part 
 
HOW THIS ARTICLE COMES. 175 
 
 of the Creed of Christians. He tells us it was neither in 
 the symbol of the Church of Home, nor in the symbols 
 of any of the Oriental churches before his day ; but says 
 he found these words : He descended into hell^ in the 
 symbol of the Church at Aquileia, a large city in the 
 northern part of Italy, immediately following, as in our 
 Creed, the words, was dead and 'buried. The words as 
 he gives them are : Descendit ad inferna^ which he says 
 are borrowed from St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 But JRuffin himself explains Paul and the Creed as speak- 
 ing of Christ' s 'burial. 
 
 It is confidently affirmed, by men qualified to make 
 such an affirmation, that there is no mention of such a 
 doctrine as that Christ descended into Jiell^ in the sense put 
 upon these words by the Church of Rome, by any of the 
 Fathers or Councils of the Church for at least four hun- 
 dred years after Christ. Although Irenseus, Tertullian, 
 Clement and Origen, Ambrose and Augustine, "^ seem to 
 have believed in an intermediate kind of state into which 
 our Lord descended, — which they speak of as the invisible 
 state, where men are after death, and concerning which 
 they seem neither to have held nor to have been able to 
 give any very definite expressions, — still, they know no- 
 thing of any draught or copy of the Apostles' Creed that 
 contains the words : He descended into hell. 
 
 The first place, then, we find these words, or their fair 
 equivalent, in use as a part of the Creed of the Church 
 was at Aquileia, about four hundred years after Christ, 
 After this, but whether before the beginning of the eighth 
 
 * Augustine even went so far as to say that nobody but an unbeliever could 
 deny the descent of Christ into hell. But he gives no proof from Scripture nor 
 from ancient Creeds of the doctrine. Nor does he explain the sense he attached 
 to these words. What did he mean by them f 
 
176 *^HE DESCENDED INTO HELL." 
 
 century we cannot say, this Article was inserted in the 
 Creed of the Church of Kome, where it remains to this 
 day, and is acknowledged as a part of the Apostles' 
 Creed, adopted by all our churches. The Church of 
 England at the Reformation received three Creeds, in two 
 of which this Article is contained. These three Creeds are 
 the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, and the so-called Atha- 
 nasian. The Article is in the Apostles' Creed as received 
 by the Church of England, and in the Creed of Athanasius, 
 also received by that Church, but is not in the Nicene or 
 the Constantinople Creeds. In the service of the Protest- 
 ant Episcopal Church in the United States there are two 
 Creeds, the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, as 
 modified by the Fathers of Constantinople. The words, 
 He descended into hell, are not in this Creed. And in the 
 Book of Common Prayer, before the Apostles' Creed, are 
 these words of direction : " Then shall be said the Apos- 
 tles' Creed, minister and people standing. And any 
 churches may omit the words : He descended into hell, or 
 may, instead of them, use the words : He went into the 
 place of departed spirits, which are considered, as words 
 of the same meaning in the Creed." 
 
 As just intimated, the Apostles' Creed, including these 
 words, is in our Catechism, and in the symbols of all the 
 churches of Christendom ; the expositions of them, how- 
 ever, are not all alike. ''He descended into hell" is 
 explained in our standards and by a marginal note to 
 mean : '* He continued in the state of the dead and 
 under the power of death until the third day." And the 
 answer to the fiftieth question, larger Catechism, says, 
 " This is the meaning of the words. He descended into 
 hell." The third Article of the Church of England, 
 which is the same in the, Episcopal Church of this 
 country, is in these words : "As Clirist died for us, and 
 
THIS AETICLE IN ENGLAND. 177 
 
 was buried ; so also it is believed that He went down 
 into hell." 
 
 This Article, in the time of King Edward YL, was 
 much fuller than it is now. These words were added to it : 
 ''That the body of Christ lay in the grave until His resur- 
 rection ; but His spirit, which he gave up, was with the 
 spirits which were detained in prison, or in hell, and 
 preached to them, as the place in St. Peter testiheth." 
 This was in a. d. 1552, in the seventh year of the reign of 
 King Edward YI. But ten years after, in the synod under 
 Queen Elizabeth, the Article was adopted as it now stands. 
 As expressed in King Edward' s day it was determinate in 
 its meaning, but as now used it is wholly indefinite, and 
 very free and general, and may mean almost any thing. 
 
 Perhaps it is asked, why were these words inserted, or 
 why are they retained in the Creed ? 
 
 The reasons why, or the object in view for inserting 
 them, I think may be briefly stated in this way. 
 
 1. It was felt to be a necessity to state something 
 concerning our Lord's place of existence and actions 
 during the time that transpired between His burial and 
 His resurrection. The words incorporated into the Creed 
 were regarded as the best form of expressing what was 
 thought to have been the universal or almost universal 
 belief of the Fathers ; and yet, as there was a want of 
 certainty as to the meaning of the terms, or as to the 
 doctrine intended to be expressed by them, the Article 
 was left liable to a very general interpretation, just as it 
 was in England under Elizabeth. The leading minds of 
 Christendom could agree on the form of words as a whole, 
 but could not and did not agree in the details, or reasons 
 given for believing it. This is seen in the history of the 
 great Council of Nice. See our Appendix. 
 
 12 
 
178 "he descended into hell." 
 
 2. It seemed necessary to be thus full and compre- 
 hensive in declaring the true faith concerning our Lord' s 
 death and burial, in order to meet, deny, and refute the 
 extraordinary conceits and false doctrines of those who 
 from the times of the Apostles themselves had denied 
 our Lord's human nature. It is well known that spuri- 
 ous gospels filled Christendom through all the early cen- 
 turies of the Church ; and strange as it may seem, yet it is 
 believed to be true, that in the first ages of the Christian 
 Church it was not our Lord's Divinity, so much as his 
 real proper humanity, that was the subject of the chief 
 controversies. It was not the reality of his miracles that 
 was denied, so much as the source of the power by which 
 He wrought them. 
 
 3. I understand, therefore, that this Article was in- 
 tended to mean that Christ fulfilled all the conditions of 
 his covenant in taking our place and dying for us. It is 
 not so much the design of the Article to explain what 
 those conditions are, or what they required of Him, as it 
 is to declare that He did faithfully and fully comply with 
 ail his engagements, whatever they may have been. The 
 words, " He descended into hell," as used by the Fathers 
 generally, and in the Creed, I understand, therefore, to 
 mean, that He underwent whatever was predicable of 
 man' s dissolution — whatever was true of any man as to 
 the absolute separation of his soul from the body, and the 
 independent, existence of the soul when out of the body, 
 was true as to the separation of the soul of Christ from 
 his body. 
 
 When Adam our progenitor died, his body was buried ; 
 so when Christ died, his body was buried. When Adam 
 died his soul went to God ; and when Christ died his soul 
 went to God. But as Christ conquers death and sin, and 
 
SHEOL, HADES, INFERIS-A. 179 
 
 gains a complete victory over Satan, so Christ's body 
 does not see corruption, as Adam's did, nor does his soul 
 remain in the invisible world without his body, as ours 
 do, waiting for the resurrection of the last day. Our 
 Lord Christ fulfilled the twofold conditions required in 
 man's dying, and then resumed his proper and true char- 
 acter by rising from the dead to die no more — rising be- 
 fore his body could see corruption. 
 
 II. Having thus briefly taken an historic view of the 
 Article, let us now investigate, a little after the same 
 manner, the history and meaning of the terms used. The 
 word hell^ in the English version of our Creed, corresponds 
 to Inferi or inferna in Latin, Hades in Greek, and SJieol 
 in Hebrew. I do not say it is proper to use these words 
 always as interchangeable. I do not say they are always 
 synonymous, or that there is no shade of difference in 
 their meaning, according to their respective derivations, 
 nor that these terms, in their respective languages, have 
 not undergone considerable changes, meaning sometimes, 
 and in some places, something a little different from what 
 they meant at other times, and in other places. This is 
 true of many words in all languages. It must be true 
 of all languages having words that can be used to convey 
 sense at all. Still, we may venture to say there is a re- 
 markable correspondence between the Hebrew Sheol, the 
 Greek Hades, the Latin-Greek Inferi^ and our English 
 or Saxon Hell, both in their etymologies and history. 
 SJieol is believed to come from SJiaal, ''to ask, seek," 
 especially in reference to finding a place, or ascertaining 
 the nature of a thing — meaning, it is out of the way, and 
 to find it and see it, one must seek for it. The Greek 
 Hades is from a, which is privative — a negative, meaning 
 not^ and i^siv, to see — not to see—^'ilnQ unseen" — ''that 
 which is invisible"— and was used among them for the 
 
180 "he descen^ded into hell" 
 
 abode, receptacle, or mansion of the dead, and changing 
 what the religious opinions of the two nations requires to 
 be changed. Where the Hebrews used Sheol^ the Greeks 
 used Hades, Inferna^ Iiiferi, is Latin, borroAved from the 
 Greeks, haying the same general meaning — the unseen — 
 and applied by the Romans to those beneath the earth, 
 the manes, or spirits of the dead. And our English 
 word Hell is from the Saxon liel-an^ to hide, or to cover, 
 having the same root as lioll^ a cavern or a Jiole, and as 
 Hel-yer^ a roofer, one that covers, and hence also that 
 which is covered — the thing or the place that is covered. 
 In some parts of England to this day the slating or tiling 
 of the covers of their houses are called their Jiel-ings.^ 
 There is, then, a remarkable similarity in the etymological 
 meaning of the words Sheol^ Hades^ Infern% and Hell^ as 
 seen in the roots from which they are derived. They all 
 agree in signifying hidden, covered, unseen, secret, invisi- 
 ble. And the correspondence between these terms, his- 
 torically examined, is quite as remarkable, and the more 
 remarkable because the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin are now 
 dead languages. Concerning Slieol^ I design to speak in 
 another place. And as we have no use for the Yulgate in 
 this discussion, I say nothing further of the Latin Inferi. 
 But it is well to remember that the Septuagint, the Greek 
 version of the Bible, generally uses Hades as equivalent 
 to Slieol. It is found eleven times, if I am not mistaken, 
 in the Greek Testament, signifying not the past simply, 
 perhaps never, but a dark place, invisible, what is cov- 
 ered, unknown, or known vaguely — a darkness, a place 
 in which one cannot see for the want of light — especially 
 the unknown future state, including the grave, which is 
 the abode of the dead. In the 2d chapter of Acts, Hades 
 
 * See Dr. A. Clarke on Matthew xi. 23. Bishop Harold Browue, also, on this 
 particular. 
 
» 
 
 EXTENT OF SHEOL OR HADES. 181 
 
 is the translation of 8heol from the 16th Psalm, and in the 
 places where it is found in the book of Revelation, it is 
 connected with death, and the result of death, namely, the 
 grave. And in the glorious passage : grave^ where is 
 thy victory^ the original of Paul is Hades. 
 
 In considering historically the word Hades among the 
 Greeks, we find them using it for the grave, and also for 
 the place to which the spirits or manes of the dead went 
 after their burial. Their belief was, like that of the 
 Egyptians, that the unburied were detained on the Styx ; 
 while the buried passed over and mingled with the 
 souls of men detained there in a state separate from their 
 bodies. Hades was in fact represented by the Greeks as 
 the Deity who presided over these realms, comprising 
 both the happy fields of Elysium and the gloomy realms 
 of Tartarus. Every one who is familiar with classic 
 authors knows tliat the souls of the good were in Ely- 
 sium, while such wicked spirits as Ixion, Tantalus, and 
 the Danaids were grievously tormented in Tartarus. So 
 the Odyssey and JGneid everywhere. Quotations are 
 unnecessary. 
 
 And so the Hebrew Sheol was applied to the whole 
 region below the surface of the earth, extending down- 
 wards indefinitely or inconceivably, and meaning a 
 vast extension, ill-dehned, dark, desolate, and dungeon- 
 like, and called a pii^ a deep pit, or covered place, an 
 abyss, the darkness, the depths of the earth. Thus 
 Jonah (ii. 2) says: "Out of the belly of hell cried I, 
 and thou heardest my voice." Here hell in Hebrew is 
 Sheol, and the Prophet must have meant out of the 
 whale's stomach, at the bottom of the sea. He was out 
 of human sight, in a terrible place, and in a fearful 
 condition. And not to dwell on other places, take Ps. 
 16th, ver. 10 : For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell^ 
 
 V E i^ •«> A i A \i 
 
182 "he desceis^ded into hell." 
 
 which is explained according to Hebrew idiom hy the 
 corresponding clause : neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy 
 One to see corruption. That is, thou wilt not leave me 
 under the power of death ; and Ps. cxli. 7 ; " Our bones 
 are scattered at the mouth of the grave" — Sheol ; and also 
 xlix. 14: ^'Like sheep, they are laid in the grave" — 
 Sheol. That is, says, Witsius, they die like sheep, which 
 are not usually buried, and which surely do not penetrate 
 into the hell of the lost, or into what is called a Lirnbus. 
 And Hezekiah and Jacob both use Sheol for the grave. 
 Is. xxxviii. 10 ; Gen. xxxvii. 35. ^'I said, in the cutting 
 off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave" — 
 Sheol. ' ' I will go down into the grave — Sheol — to my son 
 mourning." Clearly meaning the state of tlie dead — to be 
 among the dead — equivalent to gathered to one's fathers. 
 According to this usage, and the old Hebrew idiom, if we 
 wished to say Christ was buried, and was, while He remain- 
 ed in the grave, and in the state of the dead, in the same 
 condition as the Patriarchs and Prophets were when they 
 died, we could not use more appropriate words than He 
 descended into Sheol^ Hades, And St. Peter in his dis- 
 course on the day of Pentecost quotes from the 16th Psalm, 
 and uses Hades for Sheol, where it must be admitted the 
 meaning is the state or condition of departed spirits — the 
 invisible world where the dead are. True, Hades among 
 the Greeks was a very comprehensive word. It com- 
 prised the place, condition, and state both of the wicked 
 and of the good. It included Tartarus for the wicked, 
 and Hlysium for the good. Our Lord, in Matt. xi. 23, 
 says: "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto 
 heaven, shaltbe brought down to hell." Here hell is in 
 opposition to heaven, and both are used figuratively. 
 Great privileges enjoyed but abused lead to utter desola- 
 tion, and irretrievable ruin. In this text the original 
 word for hell is Hades. 
 
HADES IN EEVELATION. 183 
 
 And in Rev. i. 18 : " I am He that liveth, and was dead ; 
 and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have 
 the keys of hell and of death." Here hell is Hades— and 
 means not the place of departed spirits, but the grave^ in 
 a general sense. And in vi. 8 : ''And his name that sat 
 on him was death, and hell followed with him." Here 
 Hades is hell — clearly meaning the grave^ the state of the 
 dead, into which the slain entered. And xx. 13, 14 : 
 ''And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and 
 death and hell delivered up the dead which were in 
 them ; and they were judged every man according to 
 their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake 
 of fire. This is the second death." Here it is clear that 
 death is personified, and represented as the keeper or 
 jailer of the dead, and Hades is the general name for the 
 place of the spirits of the dead. The sea and death have 
 the bodies of the dead, and Hades holds their souls, and 
 both give up their wards, and the bodies and souls are 
 united, and enter upon their eternal and unchangeable 
 destiny, after the general resurrection and the judgment 
 of the great day. And as to St. Peter's quotation of the 
 16th Psalm, it is to be observed that he applies these 
 words, with his own peculiar energy and directness of 
 purpose, in such a way as to prove the resurrection of 
 Christ, by showing that they were not, and could not 
 be true when applied to King David, but that they were 
 emphatically and undeniably true when applied to Jesus ; 
 for that "his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh 
 see corruption," where it is plain he means that David's 
 soul did remain in Hades, and his flesh did see corrup- 
 tion. David was not himself the Messiah ; but as Christ 
 fulfilled these requirements, He was the Messiah. And 
 here soul being for person^ and Hades for the grave, the 
 last clause is explanatory of the first, in the sense I have 
 attached to the words of the Creed. And the point of the 
 
184 "he descended into hell." 
 
 argument lies clearly in the miracle of the resurrection, 
 which is true, because our Lord's soul, his perfect human 
 nature, did not remain in the grave, and under the power 
 of death, and consequently his body did not see corrup- 
 tion. As He is the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, 
 who died for us, meeting the curse of temporal death on 
 the first Adam, so his body and his soul passed into and 
 through the same state that our souls and bodies do 
 when we die — changing what is to be clianged, because 
 He was the immaculately Holy Son of God. Our bodies 
 see corruption, our souls do not come back and reanimate 
 our bodies. They remain in the spirit- world. But Christ 
 rose from the dead, having his perfect human nature, both 
 body and soul, in union with Divinity. 
 
 Whatever, then, may be the derivation of the word 
 Sheol, or however varied its signification, all agree 
 that it is used in the Sacred Scriptures for the state and 
 abode of the dead, and hence that it means the grave in 
 which the body rests, and the invisible world to which 
 our souls go when they leave the body in death. The 
 poetical description of the gates of defi^^h implies that it is 
 something more than the grave. It is true, there are other 
 Hebrew words for the grave, and for pit, corruption, and 
 burying, and sepulchre ; but still it is true, that in many 
 passages Sheol must mean the grave, the invisible world, 
 the state and abode of the dead, as a state and a place 
 distinguished from the present life. Any Hebrew Con- 
 cordance or Dictionary will assist the reader to the 
 places. 
 
 On the whole, it seems to me the Creed must be taken 
 either figuratively to mean, that Christ endured in his 
 soul, while still in the body, the agonies of hell ; or that 
 the words. He descended into hell, must mean that his 
 body was buried, and his soul went to God, so that He 
 
Calvin's exposition. 185 
 
 completed his work for us by dying just as we do. The 
 first of these views just named, the figurative or meta- 
 phorical interpretation of the Article, is adopted by the 
 great Witsius, and many others. 
 
 According to this view the meaning is, that not only 
 was the body of Christ given up for our redemption, bat 
 that His soul suffered the tortures of condemned and 
 ruined men. This view is taken by the authors of the 
 Heidelberg Catecliism^ in answer to 44th Question, where 
 it is said the words, '* He descended into hell, are added, 
 that in my greatest temptations I may be assured and 
 wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, 
 by his inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish 
 agonies, in which He was plunged during all his suffer- 
 ings, but especially on the cross, hath delivered me from 
 the anguish and torments of hell." 
 
 This was the exposition of the Reformers generally. 
 Calmn says, that our Lord's descent to hell means not 
 his going to the place of spirits, but His suffering upon 
 earth, in Gethsemane and on the cross, all the torments 
 of hell and the sufferings of damned souls. And it is 
 thought it was owing to the growing popularity of Cal- 
 vin' s views in England, during Elizabeth's reign, that the 
 Article put forth in King Edward's reign suffered the 
 change we have already referred to. But although this 
 is the view of Calvin and a great many of the Reformers, 
 I am not satisfied that it is the meaning of the Creed, or 
 according to the Word of God. Those who hold this 
 view do not agree in telling us what Christ did suffer. 
 They tell us He suffered the extreme wrath of God, or 
 the very torments of hell in his soul, and some of them 
 that liis soul actually went to Gehenna, the place of the 
 damned, and suffered there its extreme torments. This 
 view I cannot receive for before our Lord couli actually 
 
186 "he descended into hell.". 
 
 suffer the torments of lost souls, He must feel the con- 
 sciousness of personal guilt and degradation, as well as 
 the superadded wrath of God. As I understand the 
 Word of God, this consciousness of degradation — this 
 feeling of personal guilt— is the essence of the fire un- 
 quenchable, the life of the worm that dieth not. Now, 
 as a lamb at the temple bore the sins of the people, so 
 Christ bore our sins. But was the lamb guilty of sin ? 
 'No. The lamb bore the curse of sin, endured the wrath 
 of God as to the penalty it met ; but there was no trans- 
 fer of personal guilt to the lamb. In fact, the lamb was 
 not punished at all. The lamb was sacrificed. So Christ 
 suffered, but He was not punished. He endured the 
 wrath of God due to our guilt, not due to himself It was 
 our debt, not His own, which He paid. He died as our 
 substitute and in our place, but, according to our view of 
 the atonement, it was impossible for Christ to suffer the 
 actual torments of hell, or to endure in his person the 
 agonies of lost souls in Gehenna. Perhaps we may say 
 He suffered the equivalent of them for his people, but 
 not the actual torments of the lost ; for the torments of the 
 damned consist — 
 
 1. In a consciousness of personal guilt — a feeling that 
 they themselves deserve all that is inflicted on them, both 
 as to degradation and suffering. This our Lord could 
 never experience. There was not and could not be any 
 transfer of personal guilt to Him, but only the transfer of 
 obligation to pay a debt or endure a penalty. 
 
 2. The torments of hell comprise utter despair. Dole- 
 ful region ; no hope ever enters there ! This cannot be 
 said of our Lord' s sufferings. 
 
 3. Hell is total separation from God, without any 
 glimpse of his favor. Now, as it is impossible to apply 
 
TIIEEE CREEDS EXAMINED. 187 
 
 these things to Christ, I do not believe that the great men 
 who explain the Creed as teaching metaphorically that 
 Christ endured the torments of hell for the elect, are cor- 
 rect. If' the time allowed it, much more might be said 
 on this point ; but this must suffice, at least for the pres- 
 ent. [See Pearson and Lightfoot on this point.] 
 
 The other view to which I alluded a few minutes 
 since, and which is the one I adopt, namely, that Christ 
 died and was buried, and his soul went to God, and that 
 this is simply all the Creed means and all that the Scrip- 
 tures teach, is sustained, I think, very satisfactorily, and 
 in this way : 
 
 1. There is no passage of Holy Scripture that teaches, 
 when properly explained, that Christ either endured the 
 actual torments of hell, or locally descended to the place 
 of damned souls. This statement I am obliged for the 
 present to assume, but if the Lord be pleased to give us 
 his assistance, I will try to prove it in the next Discourse. 
 
 2. It has been proved that the descent into hell is not 
 found as a separate, distinct Article in any of the 
 earlier Creeds. It is not in any copy or draught of the 
 Apostles' Creed in use in the Eastern or the Roman 
 churches for at least four hundred years after Christ. It 
 is not in the Creed of Irenseus, nor of Tertullian, Origen, 
 or Cyprian. It is not in the Nicene Creed adopted in 
 A. D. 325, nor in the version of the Nicene Creed used 
 by the Fathers of Constantinople. The words of the 
 Nicene Creed are : "He suffered and was buried, and the 
 third day He rose again." But in the Creed called the 
 Creed of Athanasius, of the year A. d. 333, eight years 
 later, we read : "Who suffered for our sins, descended 
 into liell^ rose again the third day." Here observe that 
 
188 
 
 loas buried is omitted, and descended into hell is used in 
 its place, clearly showing that these phrases were then 
 supposed to be synonymous. How the doctrine that 
 Christ descended into hell, in the sense of the Church of 
 Rome, ever got into the Apostles' Creed, nobody knows, 
 but certainly it was not there before the tifth century, 
 and possibly not until long after. We have the opinion 
 of Erasmus, that it was not formally adopted till long 
 after. 
 
 It is to be remembered here, that almost, perhaps, all 
 of the old creeds that recognize the descent into hell in 
 any way, explain it as meaning the same thing as Heioas 
 buried. The creeds that contain these words, ''He de- 
 scended into hell," omit the words, "He was buried ;" 
 while those that have the words, " He was buried," omit 
 the other words, " He descended into hell." It is fairly \ 
 concluded, therefore, that the one phrase was equal in 
 meaning to the other, and varied merel}^ as a matter of 
 taste. "The churches of the East originally understood 
 by Christ's descent into hell, just what the churches of 
 the West called his burial."^ 
 
 Tlie only difference, according to the view I have, 
 between the phrases : "Christ was buried," and, "Christ 
 descended into hell," when properly understood, is this: 
 The latter w^ords have a wider meaning, and are to be 
 referred partly to his body and partly to his soul ; 
 whereas the words was buried are limited to the body, 
 and do not go beyond the grave. And this is the main 
 reason for retaining the words in the Creed, as we now 
 have it. The expressions used are emphatic as to the 
 reality of our Lord's death and burial. They affirm 
 that his death was a real human death. His soul was 
 
 ♦Vossius. 
 
CHANGES IN WOEDS. 189 
 
 separated from his body, just as our soul is at death, and 
 his body was buried, and his soul went to God, and 
 remained with Him until the morning of the third day, 
 and then returned and resumed his body. And all this 
 is for our comforf, and the assurance of complete redemp- 
 tion. Let us repeat. Our view (1.) is according to the 
 draughts or versions of all the known creeds of the 
 Churches for four or live hundred years after Christ. (2.) 
 In itself it is true, and contains nothing but the truth : 
 namely, that Christ's body was buried, and his soul went 
 immediately at death to God. And, allow me to say, 
 (3.) That, while this view can be shown to be in har- 
 mony with the Word of God, and the analogy of our 
 holy Faith, that the other, and all other interpretations, 
 as far as I am able to comprehend them, break down — 
 utterly break down, when tested by common sense, 
 reason, and the Bible. And, (4.) It may be important, 
 in view of the historic sketch we have,taken of the terms 
 used in the Creed, to observe distinctly, that words 
 change their meaning, even in the same language, in pass- 
 ing from one generation to another, and are even shaded 
 or modified by their adjuncts in the same age and country. 
 There are many instances of this in our own language. 
 Take a single example. Knave originally meant a boy, 
 a young man, then a servant, and now a rogue. It 
 is now always used in a bad sense, yet there was a 
 time when it was used precisely as we use the word 
 servant. The words of our translation, '^ Paul, a servant 
 of the Lord," in old versions is, " I, Paul, a knave of the 
 Lord." A similar change has come over the word hell. 
 It has been shown that it corresponds in its original sig- 
 nification to Infer ni^ Hades ^ and Bheol^ and like them 
 has passed through several modifications, until now its 
 common literal signification is the place of the damned — 
 the home of Satan, and the central seat of his empire. It 
 
190 "he descei^ded into hell. 
 
 »5 
 
 does not seem to us that the Creed meant to say, or that 
 the Scriptures allow us to believe, that Jesus Christ, at 
 his death, went to Satan's home. The word "hell" in 
 the Creed is, then, to be understood in its historic sense, 
 and not as now popularly applied. The original Saxon, 
 we are told, meant to hide, and then the place where a 
 thing was hidden, a hole, a cavern, and hence the com- 
 mon idea of hell even now is associated with a pit, a hole, 
 a gloomy cavern. 
 
 Thus we have "hell's gate," "hell's mouth," and 
 the like popular expressions. The word, therefore, 
 means both the place of the dead and the place of the 
 punishment of the wicked. The primary idea was the 
 place of the dead, in a very general sense, the unseen, 
 unknown "bourne" beneath the earth, or in the invisible 
 state, from which " no traveller returns" to give us a de- 
 scription of it. The Hebrews had two words for which 
 our translators have used but one. For Gehenna and 
 Sheol our translators used the same word, hell^ which, 
 when it is the translation of Gehenna^ is to be taken in 
 its secondary sense of the place of the future eternal pun- 
 ishment of the wicked ; but when our translators used 
 hell for Sheol^ then it means the region beneath the 
 ground, the grave, the place of the dead, the unseen 
 world, which is the primary sense of the word. We 
 must not, therefore, confound Sheol and Hades and Hell 
 in the sense of the grave, the unseen world, with Gehenna^ 
 or the place and condition of lost souls. I do not, 
 indeed, regard the doctrine of a future state, or of the 
 future and eternal punishment of the wicked, as depend- 
 ing essentially upon the critical examination of words ; 
 but still it is fair and proper to observe, that we do 
 not depend upon the use of the terms "Sheol" and 
 " Hades " by the sacred writers for our knowledge of the 
 
OUR loed's paeadise is heaven. 191 
 
 nature and intensity or duration of the punishment of 
 the ungodly after death. The awful realities awaiting 
 impenitent, unbelieving souls at death are spoken of in 
 God's Word in terms of no doubtful meaning, and are 
 proved and explained by the Bible as a whole. And, 
 (5.) That the soul is separate, and different from the body, 
 and at death leaves the body altogether, but still exists, 
 and does not go to sleep or sink into an unconscious state. 
 It returns to God who gave it, in just as literal a sense as 
 the body returns to dust whence it was taken. And the 
 state of happiness succeeding immediately after death to 
 the souls of the pious is called Paradise, which is heaven, 
 or at least a part of heaven, and is the same thing as a 
 being present with the Lord ; while the souls of the wicked 
 go at death into torment, which is hell — but neither the 
 wicked nor the pious receive their tinal and full reward 
 until the resurrection and the general judgment, when 
 the soul is united to the body. I believe, therefore, in an 
 intermediate state — not as a half-way stopping-place 
 between heaven and hell — not a^ 3i Limbus Patrum, or 
 Purgatory, out of which souls may be delivered by 
 masses, or the intercession of saints and angels ; but as 
 the iirst degrees of glory or of perdition, which are as it 
 were preparatory to the final consummation of bliss or 
 misery to be assigned to each one at the last day according 
 to their works, whether they be good or evil. The Paradise 
 which our Lord promised the penitent on the cross 
 was a place of bliss ; it was the place to which His own 
 soul went, according to His commitment of it to God His 
 Father. It was heaven — the same kind of a heaven 
 Abraham was in when he took Lazarus into his bosom. 
 And so the rich man opened his eyes in hell ; but it does 
 not follow from this that a deeper hell was not still in 
 reservation for the lost, after the general judgment, and 
 greater and higher degrees of glory in heaven for Lazarus, 
 
192 "he descended into hell." 
 
 and for the penitent, and for all the pious dead after the 
 general resurection. 
 
 Rejecting as I do the idea of an intermediate state, as 
 a kind of Purgatory, and not being satisfied with the 
 metaphorical interpretation offered by the Reformers, 
 but explaining the words. He descended into liell, as 
 substantially synonymous with, and He was hurled^ it 
 may be properly asked. What then became of our Lord's 
 soul during the time that passed between His death and 
 His resurrection ? It might be quite a sufficient answer 
 to this question to ask another : Where was the soul of 
 the son of the widow of Nain, or of Lazarus of Bethany, 
 during the time between their dying and their restoration 
 to life? And I have no answer to give to this question 
 as to the young man of Nain or as to Lazarus, for the 
 Word of God does not furnish us any information on the 
 subject. But as to our Lord's soul we may safely say : 
 It was with God all this time. His soul returned to God, 
 according to His dying commendation of it to God his 
 Father, and with him was the penitent thief, to whom He 
 had promised Paradise the very same day they were cruci- 
 fied. Our Lord went immediately to heaven when He gave 
 up the ghost. The next day was the holy Sabbath, and 
 so, speaking with reverence. He spent it with His Father 
 resting in heaven, after completing His great redemption 
 work, as His Father did after the work of creation. And 
 so, after the rest of the Sabbath, He descended on the 
 morning of the first day of the week, which we now call 
 the Lord's day, from heaven into Sheol, that is, into the 
 tomb of Joseph of Arimathea — early in the morning, 
 not to remain there under the power of death, and in the 
 state and abode of the dead, but to take up His dead 
 body, and come forth as the conqueror of sin, death, hell, 
 and the grave. 
 
SAINTS EISE LIKE CHRIST. 193 
 
 Truly thus was it impossible for Him whom God hath, 
 raised up, having loosed the pains of death, to be holden 
 any longer rn the grave. Thus He ascended upon high, 
 leading captivity captive. 
 
 " Now empty are the courts of death, 
 And crushed thy sting, despair; 
 And roses bloom in the desert tomb, 
 For Jesus hath been there. 
 
 " And He hath tamed the strength of hell, 
 And dragged him through the sky ; 
 And captive behind his chariot wheel 
 He hath bound captivity."* 
 
 Christ's work for his people is indeed complete. He 
 exhausted the curse, and for the soul that believes in Him 
 there remains no more hell — for there is no more guilt. 
 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. 
 He follows us into the regions of the dead, and bursts 
 asunder the bars of death, and opens the door for a 
 glorious resurrection, when our vile bodies shall be 
 fashioned like unto his own glorified and ascended body. 
 And not only so, but thus are we called to follow Him to 
 heaven. First at death our soul is to be commended to 
 His God and our God, to His Father and our Father— and 
 the body to the grave, to rest in hope, until He calls us 
 to arise and see Him in the full glory of his kingdom. 
 
 Almighty God, enable us by Thy grace to cast away the 
 works of darkness and put on the armor of light, that 
 in the day when Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, shall come 
 with great power and glory, to judge both the quick and 
 the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through Him 
 who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, 
 now and ever. Amen. 
 
 * Heber'a Easter Hymn. 
 13 
 
194 "hell" not GEHENNA NOE PUEGATOET. 
 
 X. 
 
 HELL" NOT GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 " For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell : neither wilt thou sufl'er thine H0I7 
 One to see corruption." — Psalm xvi. 10. 
 
 According to the division of the Creed which I am 
 following, the whole of the Fifth Article is: "He de- 
 scended into hell ; the third day He rose again from the 
 dead." At present I am engaged only on the first clause 
 of this Article : *' He descended into hell." 
 
 Last Sabbath evening, in order to be as concise and as 
 clear as the nature of the discussion of such an Article as 
 this admits, I proposed the following method : namely, 
 
 I. To offer you a short history of the clause — He de- 
 scended into hell, as it lies in our Creed. 
 
 II. Ascertain historically and from the Scriptures the 
 meaning of the words, descended into hell. And, 
 
 III. I proposed to examine briefly the passages of 
 Scripture which it is alleged teach the local descent of 
 Christ's soul into hell, and which are thus made to sup- 
 port the modern doctrine of Purgatory. The first and 
 second heads I presented as well as I could last Sabbath 
 
VAEIOUS IIEANINGS OF HELL. 195 
 
 The third and last one remains for our present 
 attempt. That is, it is my purpose now, with God's 
 assistance, to show that the words, He descended into 
 Tiell^ as they lie in our Creed, do not mean Gehenna or 
 Purgatory in any sense, and that the passages of Holy 
 Scripture generally brought forward in proof of such an 
 interpretation of the Creed, do not teach or favor it, nor 
 allow any such doctrine to be preached as a part of the 
 Faith once delivered to the saints. 
 
 It has been shown, I hope satisfactorily, that the 
 words BTieol^ Hades^ ivferi^ ivferna^ and our Saxon 
 word liell^ bear a remarkable correspondence with each 
 other, both as to their etymological meaning and as to 
 the changes and applications they have undergone. They, 
 are terms so vague and extensive that they are found 
 comprehending the invisible world, wherever and what- 
 ever it is, or is supposed to be — the state of the dead — the 
 place of spirits separated from their bodies, both good 
 and bad — and often simply the grave. Also it is to be 
 noted that these words, as is usually the case in the prim- 
 itive state of a language, and perhaps especially so in the 
 Oriental languages, have passed from their primary to a 
 secondary sense. This is empliatically the case with our 
 word hell. It has now a determinate meaning. Now it 
 means the place of the future and eternal punishment of 
 the wicked ; but its original meaning was any thing cov- 
 ered — a hole, a pit, an abyss, the invisible. It is also true 
 with these terms, as with others, that they are used in a 
 figurative or metaphorical sense. 
 
 Again, although the descent of Christ into hell is not 
 formally stated anywhere in the Scriptures, nor found as 
 a distinct Article in any copy or draught of the Apostles' 
 Creed, or of any ancient Creed, public or private, for 
 about four hundred years after Christ, yet it was held as 
 
196 "hell" not GEHENNA NOR PUEGATORY. 
 
 an Article of Faith, in some sense, "by almost all tlie 
 Fathers. And Augustine boldly says, *'!N"one but an 
 infidel would deny the descent of Christ into hell. " 
 
 There was, undoubtedly, a general opinion among the 
 ancients, both heathen and Christian, that the souls of 
 men descended at death into what they called the infernal 
 regions, not meaning the hell of the damned, but the state 
 or receptacle of spirits separated from their bodies, which 
 was supposed to be beneath the earth. Here they thought 
 the soul was detained — left to wander about in vast unde- 
 fined regions. Some of the Fathers and theological wri- 
 ters of former ages have maintained that this was the 
 meaning of these words in the Creed, which, however, I 
 think is a mistake. Old TertulUan says that Christ de- 
 scended into hell that He might satisfy the conditions of 
 mortality, and complete the form of human death in the 
 shades below.* As I understand him, he means precise- 
 ly what I suppose our Creed means — namely, that the 
 body and the soul of Christ were reduced by death to 
 the precise condition that marks the natural dissolution 
 of every other man.f Seeing, then, that such Fathers as 
 Tertullian and Augustine, and the Church of the earliest 
 ages, generally understood the sixteenth Psalm, quoted 
 by Peter in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles and portions of Colossians and Ephesians, and of 
 first Peter, to mean that in some sense Christ did descend 
 into hell, it is important and necessary for us to examine 
 these several places of Holy Scripture, and ascertain, as 
 clearly as we can, what they do really mean. They are : 
 Ps. xvi. 10, quoted in Acts ii. 27 ; Eph. iv. 8-10 ; 1 Pet. 
 iii. 18-20. 
 
 * See Browne and Pearson, f See Harvey, vol. 1, p. 337. 
 
NO ^^LIMBUS PATRUM." 197 
 
 As ftir as my present investigations are concerned, the 
 main interpretations of those passages of Scripture may 
 be classed in the following order: I. The Fathers and 
 Schoolmen, at least many of them, used the words of the 
 Creed or their equivalent, descendit ad inferna^ as 
 expressing what they understood these passages to mean, 
 without affixing any clear or definite meaning to the 
 phrase, every one having his own interpretation. 
 
 II. The Roman Church and some others teach that 
 Christ descended literally and locally to hell ; that is, to 
 some part of it ; at least, to the part they call Limbus 
 Patrum — alleged to be on the confines of the place of 
 torment ; and that He delivered from this Limbus Patrum 
 the souls of the Patriarchs especially, and of good men 
 who had died but were still not fit to go to heaven till He 
 rescued them. There is great diversity of opinion, how- 
 ever, about Christ' s descent into hell, and great latitude as 
 to the doctrine of Purgatory, among those who believe in it. 
 Even in the Church of Rome it was not formally affirmed 
 till the Council of Florence, in 1439. The Primitive 
 Church knew nothing of it, nor of the descent of Christ 
 into Jiell^ if these words mean any thing more than Christ's 
 death and burial, as I have endeavored to explain them 
 in the last discourse. The general idea among the Fathers 
 and the Schoolmen of Hades and Sheol was that they meant 
 the state of the dead, including the place of their existence, 
 both of the good and bad, comprising Elysium and Tar- 
 tarus, Paradise and Gehenna, and at least that the godly 
 were not perfectly happy till the resurrection of their 
 bodies. Even those who have taught that Christ by 
 preaching to the spirits in prison delivered them from hell, 
 do not hold that all sorts of bad people are thus to be saved. 
 They tell us some are so bad they go to hell at once, and 
 for them there is no hope. Others dying who are not bad 
 
198 " HELL I^OT GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 enougTi to goto liell, and yet not good enongli to go to 
 heayen, are sent to Purgatory, and there their sins are 
 scoured away "by fire and torment, provided money 
 enough is paid to priests for singing dirges and saying 
 masses. If there is not much money paid, it takes hun- 
 dreds of years to get out of Purgatory ; but such is the 
 power of the Church keys in the hands of his Holiness 
 the Pope, that prayers, masses, and dirges, well paid for, 
 are supposed to shorten greatly the time. It is perfectly 
 consistent with this view of Purgatory, for rich men to 
 hestow vast sums of money on monasteries, chapels, 
 cathedrals, and schools, on condition that the priests say 
 so many masses and prayers to deliver their souls as soon 
 as possible from the fires of Purgatory. But does the 
 Creed mean this ? Is there such a doctrine taught or 
 allowed to be believed by the Word of God ? I think not. 
 That a higher degree of glory, a more perfect state of 
 holiness and happiness is in reserve for God' s people in 
 the ages to come — after Christ' s second coming, or after 
 the general judgment — is the common belief of Christen- 
 dom. We have Origen, Lactantius, Hilary, Ambrose, 
 Augustine, and others, in proof that the souls of the pious 
 dead are at least in some measure held back from perfect 
 glory — such a fulness of glory as is to be given to them at 
 the resurrection.* This I can believe, if by it we are to 
 understand that believers at death are happy, and do 
 immediately pass to glory, so that, being absent from the 
 body, they are present with the Lord ; and provided also 
 that it allows of different degrees in glory, and ever increas- 
 ing weight of glory, especially at the resurrection of the 
 body, and also different degrees of punishment for the 
 ungodly. But if these Fathers are to be interpreted so as 
 
 * Quotations are in Browne, pp. 81, 82. 
 
TRUE MEAJS^ING OF THE CREED. 199 
 
 to mean that the state of the souls of the pious dead is a 
 Purgatory, as explained by the Church of Rome, then I 
 cannot believe them. Nor can I receive the opinion of 
 Durandus, that all the texts produced to prove the descent 
 of Christ into hell and Purgatory simply mean that a 
 virtual influence from Christ's death was exerted on the 
 souls of the dead, and thus the words, He descended into 
 liell^ are to be taken figuratively, and mean that the 
 benefits of His redemption are extended to the regions 
 of perdition. 
 
 III. Witsius, Calvin, and the Reformers generally 
 taught that the words. He descended into hell^ were to be 
 interpreted figuratively, or as a metaphor, and were 
 exhausted in the agonies of our Lord's soul while in the 
 body. This has been shown to be altogether inadmissible. 
 
 TV. Bishop Pearson and some others hold the doc- 
 trine that Christ literally went to hell — to Gehenna — and 
 passed through the regions of lost souls, and devils 
 damned, literally, for the purpose of showing that He 
 really was a conqueror, and that His people have noth- 
 ing to fear from hell or the devil. This view, also, I 
 am obliged to reject. But another, and, as I think, the 
 true view of this whole subject, is, 
 
 Y. That the Creed, the best Fathers, and the Word of 
 God all agree in teaching as an Article of Christian faith, 
 that by our Lord' s death, burial, and descent to Hades, 
 we are to understand that, as the second Adam, he met 
 the death penalty incurred by the first Adam, both as 
 to his "true body " and '' rational soul :" that is, in every 
 sense, whatever is predicable of man' s dissolution in con- 
 sequence of Adam' s sin, was true as to the real separation 
 of the soul of Christ from his body. His body was buried 
 and his soul went to God just as the body of any other 
 
200 "hell" ]^0T GEHENNA NOE PUEGATORY. 
 
 mortal man returns at death to dust, and his soul to God 
 who gave it. But as Christ conquers sin, death, and the 
 grave, so His "body and soul remain in Sheol, Hades, 
 Inferni, Hell, only as long as Jonah was in the whale- 
 that is, his body did not see corruption, nor did his soul 
 remain with God, waiting the general resurrection. The 
 only difference between the death of the Lord Jesus in 
 these particulars, and the death of a believer, lies in this : 
 His body is taken up again by his soul before it decays — 
 our bodies remain till the resurrection. His soul remained 
 only one day and two nights with God his Father in Para- 
 dise, which is heaven, till it came back to reanimate his 
 body, but the souls of believers remain with God, wait- 
 ing the resurrection of the last day. 
 
 This view seems to me to harmonize every text of holy 
 Scripture that refers to the subject at all, and to be true 
 in itself and consistent with reason and common sense. I 
 quite agree, however, with the very learned and excellent 
 Dr. Lightfoot, when he says : '' There is not an Article in 
 our Christian faith that still hath more need of explication 
 to bring it to common reason or the analogy of faith than 
 this one." The wording of this part of the Article is 
 so obscure and harsh, that I could wish it were modified. 
 For to think of the soul of our Saviour, in any sense, in 
 the same place with Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him, is 
 to my mind exceedingly repulsive. To think that He 
 who had by his death purchased heaven for others, should 
 himself, after death, literally and locally descend into the 
 place of the damned, I cannot believe. 
 
 I. All the symbolical books of the Churches of the 
 Keformation as well as the Creed of the Church of Eome 
 acknowledge the truth of the proposition as it lies in our 
 Creed — that Christ descended into hell. The only ques- 
 
PETER ON THE PSALM8. 201 
 
 tion, then, is, in what sense are these words to be under- 
 stood, and, when thus understood, is the doctrine so stated 
 according to the Word of God ? In the minds of most 
 of our writers who defend a literal, local descent of 
 Christ's soul into hell, the principal text is the one read 
 out of the sixteenth Psalm : ''For David speaketh," &c. 
 [See Acts ii. 25-27, with 31-36 verses.] 
 
 Here observe, that having repeated the text from the 
 Psalmist, the Apostle applies it to Jesus of Nazareth, to 
 prove that He is Christ the promised Messiah : '' He David, 
 being a Prophet, and seeing this before, spake of the 
 resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, 
 neither did his flesh see corruption." The way this pas- 
 sage is made to teach the doctrine that Christ descended 
 into hell is this : If the soul of Christ were not left in 
 hell at his resurrection, then his soul was in hell before 
 his resurrection : but it was not there before his death ; 
 therefore upon or after his death, and before his resurrec- 
 tion, the soul of Christ descended into hell.* But if we 
 can show that the passage, as we have it in the Psalms and 
 in the discourse of St. Peter, does not admit of such an 
 interpretation as this, then of course it does not prove this 
 doctrine. The interpretation under review requires that 
 hell should mean the place, at least some part of the world 
 of woe, where the spirits of men separated from their 
 bodies at death are detained, and undergo more or less 
 torment ; but I have shown that Sheol or Hades here 
 means the grave, or the unseen world, and not the place 
 of future punishment at all. Again, to make this inter- 
 pretation true, it must be shown that the word soul as 
 used by the Psalmist signifies the human soul of Christ 
 in distinction from his body, and as it was while wholly 
 
 * See Pearson, p. 338. 
 
202 "hell" not gehen-j^a nor purgatory. 
 
 separate from his dead body. But this cannot be proven 
 from the Psalms nor the Acts. The Hebrew word for soul 
 in this place is nepTiesTi^ which does not mean the spirit, 
 the immortal, thinking part of man. Its primary sense is 
 ** breath," "life," whether of man or beast — a living 
 creature^ whether rational or irrational. So the word is 
 used in Gen. i. 20, 21 and ii. 7, and its corresponding word 
 in Greek in Acts and in 1 Cor. xv. 45. In process of time 
 the same word came to signify the body of a man or of a 
 beast, and even the corpse after the life had left it. Thus, 
 Numbers xix. 11 : " He that toucheth the dead body of any 
 man shall be unclean seven days." ''Whosoever touch- 
 eth the dead body of any man that is dead." "If one 
 that is unclean by a dead body.'''' In each of these 
 passages, and there are many more, the Hebrew for 
 dead, body is nephesh — the very word used for soul 
 in this Psalm. There are two other texts where this 
 word is so emphatic that I wish to quote them. 
 They are these: "All the days that he separate him- 
 self to the Lord, he shall come at no dead body" — ne- 
 phesTi. Numbers vi. 6. And in Lev. xix. 28 : "Ye 
 shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead " — 
 nephesli. Again, the word soul means ^er5o?z. "Who- 
 soever hath killed any soul," that is, any person. " Let 
 me die the death of the righteous." In Hebrew it is. Let 
 my soul. " Let me die " — Hebrew, let my soul " die with 
 the Philistines." In these and such places, soul means 
 the person, the man himself. In Amos vi. 8 : " The Lord 
 God hath sworn by himself," Hebrew, be-neplieslio — by 
 his soul, that is, by himself, by his own being, existence, 
 there being no one greater. And every one acquainted with 
 classical authors remembers that the Greek equivalent is 
 used with quite as much latitude, meaning the body, and 
 the body and the soul, the person. If I say not a soul was 
 present, do I not mean not a person was present % Even 
 
BODY AND SOUL DISTINGUISHED. 203 
 
 in our own language, soul is not limited to the thinking, 
 immortal part of man, but is synonymous with person. 
 See Psalm xi. 1 ; xxxv. 3, 7 ; Job ix. 21. Observe the 
 Apostle' s words : ''For David speaketh concerning him." 
 [25, 27 verse]. Here my fleshy that is, my body, my dead 
 body, as distinguished from the living soul., shall rest in 
 liope. ''Because Thou wilt not leave my soul" — Me — 
 my person, my humanity, comprising both my true body 
 and reasonable soul, under the power of death in the 
 grave. "Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One" — Me — 
 Myself — "to see corruption." To see corruption is to 
 undergo corruption, as to see death is to die, undergo 
 death. Believers in general are saved from the perpetual 
 dominion of death, but Christ was saved even from the 
 first approach of putrefaction. 
 
 " Thou wilt not leave my dead body in the grave " — 
 Beza, and also the Geneva Bible. — Thou wilt not resign, 
 abandon, give me, myself, over to the dominion of the 
 grave. The Holy One cannot mean the dead body 
 separate from the soul ; and yet it means just what my 
 soul means in the other phrase, where my soul is an 
 oriental way of using the emphatic personal pronoun 
 myself. The essential meaning certainly is : " Thou wilt 
 not leave my soul and body separate." 
 
 If I am not mistaken, I have made the point that our 
 scholars admit that the word used by the Psalmist for 
 soul does sometimes mean the body, even the body of a 
 dead man, a corpse — such a body as a Nazarite was for- 
 bidden to touch, and which no one could touch, accord- 
 ing to the law of Moses, without being rendered unclean. 
 And in this place it means me, myself. 
 
 As I understand the two clauses of the Psalm to mean 
 essentially the same thing, soul cannot here be limited to 
 the body as separated from the immortal spiritual part 
 
204 "hell" isroT gehenna nor purgatory. 
 
 which we call the soul, but must be taken here for the 
 person of man, consisting of both soul and body. That 
 it is so to be understood, in this and many other places, 
 many of our scholars admit. 
 
 A second point here to be noted is, that the word 
 '' hell" in our translation is used in this place in its old 
 wide sense — the unseen world, containing the grave for 
 the body, and the existence of the soul separate from the 
 body. 
 
 Thus, then, if the soul of Christ means Christ himself, 
 is an emphatic oriental way of saying me — meaning his 
 entirety as a man, his ''true body " and ' ' rational soul ;" 
 and if hell here means the state of the dead, including the 
 grave for the body and the return of the soul to God, 
 then the meaning is plain and eminently Scriptural. 
 
 Dr. Barrow, indeed, contends that Sheol, Hades, and 
 Inferna, in the sense of the Creed, has no application to 
 the state of the soul at all. His argument is to the effect 
 that the Old Testament does not speak of the soul of 
 man going down into any such a state or place as is 
 denominated Sheol, but thus represents the body, while 
 the soul returns, going up to God who gave it. The 
 bodies of men naturally return to dust, fall into the dust 
 of death, descend into the bosom of the grave, and are 
 therefore said to descend. But the souls of the righteous 
 are in the hands of God, not in Sheol. ^Now it is cer- 
 tainly true that the Hebrew idea was that the soul went 
 wpicard, not downward, consequently did not go into 
 Sheol, in the sense of Purgatory or Limhus Fairum. One 
 of the things that distinguishes the soul of man, in Bible 
 language, from the spirit of a beast, is that it goes up. 
 Enoch and Elijah were taken up. The souls of the right- 
 eous are always supposed to ascend, to go up to the 
 society of the heavenly Jerusalem. Again, it may fairly 
 
SHEOL IS THE GRAVE. 205 
 
 "be asked, if Sheol signifies the state or place of the soul, 
 how are we to understand such expressions as these, 
 namely: "The grave {Sheol) cannot praise thee, death 
 cannot celebrate thee ; they that go down into the pit can- 
 not hope for thy truth. In death there is no remembrance 
 of thee. In the grave {Sheol) who shall give thee thanks ? 
 There is no work, nor service, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, 
 in the grave {Sheol) whither thou goest." All these 
 expressions are easily understood if Sheol means the 
 place to which the body is consigned at death ; but they 
 are not true if applied to the state of departed souls. 
 
 It is, however, true, that in the times of the New 
 Testament the Jews adopted the heathen idea of Hades, 
 and seem to have supposed it meant the place of punish- 
 ment for the souls of the Avicked, or at least the invisible 
 world into which the soul passes when it leaves the 
 body, just as some Christians have adopted the idea of 
 Purgatory, from the heathen. 
 
 Now, if we take the words. He descended into hell, 
 in the sense of the grave, or in the still more general 
 sense of into the state of the invisible world into 
 which the dead pass, then the meaning of the Creed is 
 certainly a correct one. Tlie meaning, then, is just as 
 it was often expressed in some of the old Creeds, an 
 expletive of the word buried, or as standing in the 
 place of was buried. The meaning, then, is, our Lord 
 passed into the state of death — that happened to him 
 which happened to Jacob and the pious prophets and 
 kings of Israel— namely. His soul went to God, to whom 
 He committed it when He gave up the ghost, and his 
 body was laid in the tomb. This meaning meets the 
 requirements of every text of Holy Scripture concerning 
 the Messiah, and is sustained by all the passages in the 
 New Testament descriptive of his burial and resurrec- 
 
206 "hell" not GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 tion. In 1 Cor. xv. 1-4, you remember Paul says, as if 
 he intended an exhaustive enumeration of points of 
 •doctrine to be believed on this subject, " I delivered unto 
 you first, that Christ died according to the Scriptures, and 
 that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day." 
 Here note, he mentions only his death, burial, and resur- 
 rection. If, then, by He descended into hell, any thing 
 else or any thing more is meant than what his death and 
 burial comprehend, would not the Apostle have specified 
 it also % If, between his burial and his resurrection, our 
 Lord had performed any such work as going down to 
 Gehenna, or delivering the patriarchs from the torments 
 of Purgatory, would he not have here enumerated it as 
 among his memorable exploits \ 
 
 Again, suppose that Hades is to be taken in its Greek 
 meaning, and not strictly in the sense of Sheol, as in the 
 earlier Hebrew, still there is this difficulty — tlie inde- 
 finiteness of the term. It may mean the place of damned 
 spirits, shut up in despair, or it may mean the place com- 
 mon to all souls, both good and bad, miserable and 
 blessed. But against this view is the text from Revela- 
 tion, where Death and hell (Hades) were cast into the 
 lake of fire. Now it cannot be true that Paradise, 
 the good part of Hades, was cast into the lake of 
 fire, which is the second death. And, besides, if tliis 
 is true, then that part of Hades, which is Elysium, 
 Paradise, as opposed to Tartarus, is below us — beneath 
 our feet — under tlie earth. Who believes that? Does 
 not Paul clearly intimate that the third heaven is Para- 
 dise? At least, I cannot believe, from all I have yet 
 seen, that the place destined to receive the souls of God's 
 people is in the darksome bowels of the earth. I con- 
 clude, therefore, that Sheol, Hades, Hell, in the sense of 
 the Creed, is not to be applied to the place or state of the 
 
WHAT CHRIST DID DO. 207 
 
 soul at all, but to that of the body. It means either the 
 grave, or, more generally, the invisible world into which 
 tlie dead pass when the soul leaves the body. In this 
 sense, descending means falling from life and the descent 
 of the body to the tomb. And the word hell is used in 
 its broad sense of Sheol^ meaning that his body was laid 
 in the grave, the common receptacle for the bodies of all 
 Adam's race, and his soul went to God, as do the souls 
 of all God' s children at death. 
 
 If the word Sheol, translated liell^ means here the 
 grave in its wide sense, as it does in other places, 
 including the state or condition of men after death, and 
 during the separation of the soul from the body ; the 
 prophecy of the Psalmist would then run in this style : 
 *'Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell" — that is, thou 
 shalt not suffer me to remain under the power of death 
 and in the common state of the dead, whose bodies see 
 corruption, and whose souls are without their bodies until 
 the general resurrection. This interpretation makes the 
 Creed mean : that Christ was crucified unto death, was 
 actually dead, and was buried, and He descended into 
 hell : — that is. His death and burial were accompanied 
 with and realized the twofold conditions of the death 
 penalty resting on Adam and his posterity as to both his 
 soul and his body. His body was laid in the grave, and 
 so far was committed dust to dust, and his soul returned 
 to God His Father — He went unto the dead. He was as the 
 pious dead are. He remained in the state of death as other 
 men do. The only difference here to be noted between 
 his death and burial and that of one of his followers lies 
 in this : namely. His body remains only a short time in 
 the grave. It did not, could not see corruption. As He 
 finished His work as representative sufferer on the Cross, 
 and as His body in itself.- like His soul, was without sin, 
 
208 "hell not GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 SO it could not see corruption. And therefore His soul 
 returned from heaven on the morning of the third day 
 after His burial, whereas our bodies see corruption, and 
 our souls are with God without their bodies until the 
 resurrection. '^For the further assurance of His death, 
 and glory of His resurrection, as likewise to commend the 
 grave to us, as now a very sweet resting-place, He hath 
 warmed the cold bed of the grave to a Christian, that he 
 need not fear to lie down in it, nor doubt that he shall 
 rise again, as we know, and are after to hear, that Jesus 
 did Himself" — LeigMon. There is then nothing here 
 about Christ going to Gehenna, nor in favor of a heathen 
 Purgatory. 
 
 II. But perhaps no place of Holy Scripture has been 
 more abused by perversion than Eph. iv. 8-10, which is 
 this : 
 
 '•' Wherefore He saith. When he ascended up on high, 
 he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 
 
 "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also 
 descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? 
 
 '' He that descended is the same also that ascended up 
 far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." 
 
 Now it is admitted many of the ancient Fathers under- 
 stood these words of the Apostle to mean that Christ 
 descended into hell, although it is not clear what they 
 understood hell to mean. Perhaps generally, however, 
 by hell they meant the lowest parts of the earth, suppo- 
 sing that hell was in the centre of it, or at least inside 
 of our earth, and so they conceited the Apostle meant. 
 
 Confessedly this is a passage of some difficulty, but I 
 hope to give you a fair and clear view of it. What, then, 
 is the Apostle's object? Answer. He is exhorting be- 
 lievers to walk worthy of their vocation, which they were 
 
i-AlJL ON THIS SUBJECT. 209 
 
 to do by showing tli em selves obedient to all the commands 
 of Christ. And as a motive urging them so to do, he 
 reminds them of the variety of gifts and offices conferred 
 on them as members of the Church of Christ. And speak- 
 ing of the gifts of Christ to his people brings to His mind 
 one of the Psalms (Ixviii. 18), that speaks of Messiah as 
 a military conqueror, and this suggests to his mind a 
 beautiful analogy. The Psalm probably was primarily 
 used for the removal of the tabernacle, but is here applied 
 by the Apostle to the glorious ascension of Christ after 
 His resurrection from the dead. 
 
 1. When he ascended up on 7iigh, alluding to a Roman 
 triumphal procession, when the conqueror was placed in 
 an elevated car or chariot. 
 
 2. Be led captivity captive. Conquered kings and 
 generals were usually bound behind the triumphal car, 
 to grace the procession. 
 
 3. And gave gifts unto men. The triumphing con- 
 queror among the Romans was wont to throw money and 
 bread among the crowd — even to the rebellious — that is, to 
 those who had fought against him. For it belongs to the 
 hero to be generous. 
 
 The next verses (9 and 10) are parenthetical, and 
 applied positively by the Apostle to our Lord. Where, 
 
 1. Observe, He who descended and ascended is the 
 same, and is the Messiah. 
 
 2. Ascending implies descending. 
 
 3. And this descending is his humiliation, in contrast 
 with his exaltation after his death. And, 
 
 14 
 
210 "hell" ITOT GEHENNA NOE PURGATOEY. 
 
 4. The contrast so tersely presented does not say 
 or intimate, or even allow the idea of his descent into 
 Gehenna. His ascent was not from Gehenna, nor from 
 Hades. He who ascended so high is the same who had 
 descended so loio, but this descent is most remarkable in 
 view of the glory He left when He emptied himself of it 
 to become a man. His abasement is unparalleled ; so also 
 is His exaltation. His humiliation was down to the 
 lowest parts of the earth ; His exaltation '' far above all 
 heavens." And the purpose, 
 
 5. Is "that He might fill all things." Be head over 
 all to his Church — the sole, Supreme, only Head. Foun- 
 tain to Jews and Gentiles — filling His Church with gifts 
 and graces. Hence it follows, 
 
 6. " And he gave some. Apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
 and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers. 
 
 *'For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : 
 
 " Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto 
 the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ : 
 
 ''That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to 
 and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, 
 by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby 
 they lie in wait to deceive." 
 
 Descended must be understood in a literal or meta- 
 phorical sense. The metaphorical sense is easy enough, 
 if we apply it in general to our Lord's humiliation, which 
 includes all His suiferings both of body and soul. But 
 if descended is taken literally for a local descent, it 
 requires limitations and must be guarded. Taking 
 Sheol, Hades^ hell in a general sense for the receptacle of 
 
JACOB GOING TO SHEOL. 211 
 
 the dead, both the grave and the future state of the 4ead, 
 then we can see that descended was used specially in 
 regard to the body, and means that it was laid in the 
 grave — descended to the tomb and to the dust of death. 
 Thus Jacob in his bitter wailing said, / will go down^ 
 descend unto the grave, Sheol — the common grave, the 
 house appointed for all living, unto my son mourning. 
 Now what did Jacob mean ? Unquestionably, as I think, 
 he meant, I shall die ; my body will descend into th^ 
 grave, dust to dust, whence it was taken, just as the 
 body of my son has already done, and my soul will re- 
 turn to God who gave it, just as the soul of my son 
 Joseph has done. He meant that whatever had hap- 
 pened to his son Joseph, both as to his body and to his 
 soul when he died, would soon happen to him. When 
 our Lord said : '^ No man hath ascended up to heaven, 
 but he that descended from heaven" (Jo. iii. 13), He did 
 not mean that He had descended or would descend into 
 the place where the souls of the dead were detained 
 separate from their bodies, nor to the place where the 
 souls of men are tormented. He meant that He had come 
 from heaven into this world. Nor is it probable the 
 Apostle meant any thing more than just what our Lord 
 meant — namely, the Incarnation, His descent from His 
 Father's bosom to the womb of the Blessed Virgin, and 
 to the sufferings of human life — the lower parts of the 
 earth — in opposition to the heights of heaven. As when our 
 Saviour said : ''Ye are from beneath. I am from above : 
 ye are of this world. I am not of this Avorld ;" and the 
 phrase, " I will shew wonders in heaven above and signs 
 in the earth beneath," — the meaning is, this world which 
 is below and heaven is above. This portion of Holy 
 Scripture does not teach that Christ descended into any 
 such a place as Purgatory, or Limbus, or Gehenna, when 
 His body was laid in Joseph's tomb. For, 
 
 I 
 
212 "hell not GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 1, It is not proven, nor can it be proved, that the 
 descent of which the Apostle is speaking was performed 
 after his death at all. The contrary is strongly implied. 
 
 2. It is not proved, and cannot be proved, that the 
 Apostle means the place of departed souls in any sense by 
 the words the lowest parts of the earth. When Paul says, 
 Christ descended into tJte lower parts of the earthy what 
 does he mean ? Does this mean any thing more than the 
 whole state of Christ's humiliation 1 In his mind, accord- 
 ing to Hebrew ideas, the universe was divided into two 
 parts ; the upper ^ which is heaven ; and the lower ^ which 
 is the earth. When Christ therefore came forth from the 
 Father out of heaven, to be born of a woman. He 
 descended into the lower parts of the earth — by clothing 
 himself with human flesh. The Psalmist uses the words 
 "lowest parts of the earth" metaphorically for the 
 womb. '' Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 
 My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made 
 in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of 
 the earth." Ps. cxxxix. 13, 15. "The lowest parts of 
 the earth," then, may denote the earth itself, as opposed 
 to the highest, which is heaven, and also those parts of it 
 which are lower than others, and less known, obscure 
 and hidden : and thus came to signify the place of 
 burial. Thus in Ezekiel : "When I shall bring thee 
 down with them that descend into the pit, with the 
 people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts 
 of the earth." Again: "They are all delivered unto 
 death, in the midst of the children of men, to the nether 
 parts of the earth, with them that go down to the pit." 
 Chrysostom calls death, the lower parts of the earth. 
 Those that are buried are therefore said to be under the 
 earth. Theophylact has briefly given the sense, saying : 
 " It is manifest that He who was above, not only descended 
 
 J 
 
SPIRITS ns^ PRISON. 213 
 
 into the earth, when He became incarnate ; but also into 
 Hades when He died" — that is, He was buried. Even 
 hell is used in the same sense — as opposed to heaven 
 both in situation, dimension, and character. Thus Job 
 says, when speaking of the unsearchableness of the 
 Divine perfections : "It is high as heaven, what canst 
 thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know?" 
 And Amos says: ''Though they dig into hell, thence 
 shall mine hand take them ; though they climb up into 
 heaven, thence will I bring them down." 
 
 III. And now, as to the only other text I have time to 
 notice, 1 Peter iii. 18-20, which is as follows: ''For 
 Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the un- 
 just, that he might bring us to God, being put to death 
 in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit : By which also 
 he went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; Which 
 sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering 
 of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a 
 preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved 
 by water." This text the Article of the Church of Eng- 
 land, by the Synod of Edward VI., claims as authority 
 for believing that Christ' s soul went to hell and preached 
 to the spirits there. But I must say I do not think it ad- 
 mits of any such an interpretation. Even Augustine says 
 that the difficulties of interpreting this place as many of 
 the Fathers did, so as to make it support the actual de- 
 scent of Christ' s soul into hell, are so many and go great 
 that he was ready to give it up ; and, in fact, he did at 
 last declare that St. Peter s words did not belong to the 
 doctrine of Christ's descent into hell.* In order to make 
 this text prove that Christ descended into hell, it is 
 
 ♦ The original i3 in Pearson on the Creed, p. 338. And the texts just com- 
 mented on, see the Commentators generallj. 
 
214 "hell" not gehen^na noe purgatory. 
 
 necessary to show, (1.) that the spirit here spoken of is 
 the soul of Christ ; (2) that the time when he preached to 
 the spirits in prison, referred to by the Apostle, was after 
 his death, and before his resurrection. But neither of 
 these conditions is possible. They are not in the text. 
 The spirit here spoken of is not the soul of Christ, but the 
 Holy Spirit, or the power of His Divinity. Let us look 
 at this passage carefully. The Apostle's object is to 
 exhort believers to suffer persecution patiently, and be 
 ready always to give a reason for the hope that is in 
 them, and to preserve a good conscience, although they 
 suifered for righteousness' sake. [See the verses going 
 before.] And to strengthen them, the Apostle presents 
 the example of Christ himself also. Who hath once 
 suffered (18-20 verses). It seems to me the only possible 
 inference here is, as Christ suffered and yet conquered, 
 so be of good cheer, you shall conquer also. The 
 only points to be made emphatic in support of my 
 views are, 
 
 1. Christ was put to death in the flesh — that is, in 
 human nature. 
 
 2. But was quickened hy the Spirit — which does not 
 mean his human soul, but the Holy Spirit, the same by 
 whom He was conceived ; and, 
 
 3. By which Spirit (19 ver.), He went and preached — 
 that is, by the ministry of ]S"oah, one hundred and twenty 
 years — unto the spirits in prison. The only meaning of 
 this passage, in the light of Revelation and common sense, 
 is, that Jesus Christ, by his Holy Spirit, inspired Noah, 
 and preached by Noah to the disobedient antediluvians, 
 who are and were, when Peter wrote, in the prison of 
 
CHRIST PREACHED BY NOAH. 215 
 
 hell — the place of lost souls. ^ In confirmation of this 
 view, 
 
 1. Noah is expressly called in Scripture a preacher of 
 righteousness. 
 
 2. The Apostle tells us elsewhere that the Spirit that 
 was in the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament 
 was the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 3. The inhabitants of the old world were disobedient, 
 as here described, and were cut off for their sins. They 
 were warned and called to repentance. And, 
 
 4. For this very purpose, the Apostle makes emphatic 
 the preaching of Christ to them by Noah — to prove that 
 they were without excuse. True, it had been said, *'My 
 Spirit shall not always strive with man." But God's 
 Spirit — the Holy Spirit^the very same by whom Christ 
 was conceived, and by which he was raised from the 
 dead— did strive with them in the days of Noah, but they 
 are now, says he, in prison, for they were disobedient, 
 impenitent. They would not repent. 
 
 The place, honestly and thoroughly examined, then, is 
 not to be interpreted figuratively — spirits in prison are 
 not Gentiles and Jews in this world in the bonds of 
 iniquity, and under the power of Satan ; they are the poor 
 lost souls of the old world who rejected the preaching of 
 Noah. Nor does the place furnish a syllable of proof 
 that Christ suffered himself the torments of Gehenna, 
 either in his soul before he died, or when he died, or that 
 his soul went to Gehenna before his burial and his resur- 
 rection, or that He preached the Gospel to souls in Limhus 
 
 * So Hammond, Barrow, Pearson, and a great many of the most learned and 
 best authors. 
 
216 "hell" not geheni!^a nor purgatory. 
 
 Patrum^ and took thence the Patriarchs and Prophets 
 with him to Paradise. The great Calmet, a Roman Catho- 
 lic, and a believer in Purgatory, frankly admits this text 
 does not admit such a meaning, nor teach this doctrine. 
 
 It should be here remembered, that the opinion that 
 Christ's soul went to hell to preach to the souls of men 
 there, in order to save them by applying unto them the 
 benefits of his death, is not to be taken as teaching uni- 
 versal salvation to all the lost. This is not the sense in 
 which this doctrine was generally applied. This is not 
 the meaning of Purgatory ; although by Jiell^ Hades^ and 
 Ivferni^ the Fathers who held this view understood the 
 common receptacle of the souls of all men, both good and 
 bad, yet it was not to the souls of the wicked that Christ 
 preached, but to the souls of the Patriarchs, Prophets, 
 and of the people of God. And as those who believed 
 in a Saviour to come were kept out of heaven and shut 
 up in Purgatory till He came, so, since his death, those 
 who believe in Him as having come— as having already 
 and actually suffered under Pontius Pilate, must also go 
 to Purgatory. Certainly, this is a most gloomy, uncom- 
 fortable doctrine, and in my humble judgment altogether 
 contrary to the Word of God. Nor can I believe this is 
 the meaning of the Creed ; nor do I believe that Christ 
 ever preached in any such a place as hell, in the meaning 
 of this interpretation : 
 
 1. Because the texts of the sacred writers produced 
 as proofs do not admit of such an interpretatioa as favors 
 this opinion. 
 
 2. The whole idea of Purgatory is borrowed from the 
 Apocrypha and a corruption of heathen superstition. 
 
 3. The doctrine itself that Christ went to hell to preach 
 the Gospel is false, and inconsistent with the nature of 
 
NO PREACHING TO LOST SOULS. 217 
 
 the Gospel itself. Tlie time does not allow me to dwell 
 on this. But surely it is admitted : 1. That the souls of 
 Noah and of the Patriarchs are not the disobedient spirits 
 Peter tells us were in prison. Noah, and the Patriarchs 
 and Prophets, are remarkable for their obedience — faith 
 prompt, implicit. They were blessed with Divine favor 
 before their death. They received their reward. 
 
 2. If faith in a Messiah to come was not sufficient, we 
 have no reason to believe that faith in Jesus as the Mes- 
 siah who has come is any more efficacious. 
 
 3. If preaching on earth is not effectual, we see no 
 reason why it should be after death. If the living hear 
 not Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be per- 
 suaded though one arose from the dead. And when 
 dead, neither would they be persuaded if Christ and his 
 Apostles were sent unto them. 
 
 4. In the nature of things, probation, trial, free agency, 
 implies retribution, an end of the trial. 
 
 5. The Word of God everywhere teaches that it is 
 grace, not sufferings — not the sufferings of the creature, 
 but grace, that purifies, and saves. 
 
 6. We are not to expect deliverance from hell, because 
 the Word of God teaches that the punishment of the 
 wicked is without an end. The certainty of the future 
 punishment of the wicked is as clearly and distinctly and 
 earnestly taught in the Bible as is the happiness of the right- 
 eous. And that there is a place for the punishment of the 
 incorrigibly wicked is as positively taught in the Bible as 
 that there is a place for the dwelling of the godly ; and the 
 duration of the punishment of the wicked in the place of 
 
218 HELL NOT GEHENI^^A NOE PUEGATOEY. 
 
 future torment is described by the very same terms that 
 are used to express the duration of the happiness of 
 the pious. If the Word of God does not authorize and 
 require our belief in a place of torment for those who 
 disobey the Gospel, then it is impossible for us to prove 
 from it that there is any such a place as heaven. 
 
 It seems proper to turn again for a few moments here 
 to the opinion of Pearson. He says the word Hades in 
 the Creed may be taken in its general sense for the state 
 of the dead, or as meaning nothing more than that Christ 
 was literally and truly buried ; and yet he contends that 
 the meaning of the Article on this subject, according to 
 the Church of England, is, that Jesus went through the 
 regions of sorrow and of hell in order to prove to us that 
 we who believe in Him are delivered from the conse- 
 quences of sin, so that we have nothing to fear from hell 
 or the power of Satan. 
 
 As to this opinion, that Christ went to hell, not to 
 suffer its torments, nor to preach to the spirits there in 
 prison, but to triumph over Satan and all the powers of 
 hell in their own dominions, and to show thus to His 
 people that they have nothing to fear from hell and the 
 grave, nor from the devil and his angels, let us remark : 
 
 1. It is true that Christ, having spoiled principalities 
 and powers, did make a show of them openly, triumph- 
 ing over them, and that when He ascended up on high, 
 He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And it 
 is true that believers are more than conquerors over sin 
 and death, and hell and the grave, through Him that 
 loved them, and died for them. But — 
 
 2. It is also true that this triumph is everywhere in 
 the Scriptures ascribed to the death of Christ — not to his 
 
THE CROSS HIS TRIUMPH. 219 
 
 descending into hell, but to His Cross and resurrection 
 from the dead. Tliere is not a single text or passage of 
 the sacred writers that tells us that Christ descended into 
 hell to triumph there over the devil. All those places 
 which have been produced in favor of any such an opin- 
 ion, we have found, when properly understood, wholly 
 opposed to any such meaning. Leading captivity captive 
 belongs to Christ' s ascent, not to his descent. The spoil- 
 ing of principalities and powers was on Calvary, and the 
 fastening of the handwriting of ordinances was to the 
 Cross, and the making a public show of his trophies — all 
 refers to his death on the Cross. His triumphal arch is 
 erected on Calvary, not in hell. His triumphal proces- 
 sion is not through the infernal region, but from the 
 grave on earth to heaven. None of his glorious achieve- 
 ments are ascribed to his descent into hell. All is 
 ascribed to his death and resurrection. 
 
 '• — The Incarnate Loed, 
 Once bleeding, now triumphant for my sake, 
 I mark him, how, by seraph hosts adored, 
 He to earth's lowest cares is still awake. 
 
 " The sun and every vassal star, 
 
 All space beyond the soar of angel wings. 
 
 Wait on His word ; and yet he stays his car 
 
 For every sigh a contrite suppliant brings. 
 
 "He listens to the silent tear 
 
 For all the anthems of the boundless sky — 
 And shall our dreams of music bar our ear 
 To His soul-piercing voice, forever nigh? 
 
 " Nay, gracious Saviour — ^but as now 
 
 Our thoughts have traced thee to thy glory-throne, 
 So help us evermore with thee to bow — 
 
 Where human sorrow breathes her lowly moan."* 
 
 ♦ Keble. 
 
220 "hell" ]S"0T GEHENNA NOR PURGATOEY. 
 
 The essential meaning of the Article is given in the 
 marginal reading of the Catechism: ''He continued in 
 the state of the dead, and under the power of death, 
 until the third day." 
 
 The words, '' He descended into hell," mean that the 
 soul of Christ was really separated from his body, and 
 his body, being truly a dead body, was laid in the tomb. 
 This was necessary, that as our Surety, the second Adam, 
 He might undergo the condition of death — of the death 
 penalty pronounced upon Adam-— might be truly man in 
 death as He was when living. He was born as other 
 men are born. He lived and died, physically, as other 
 men die. He appeared in this world in the similitude of 
 sinful flesh, and went out of this world into the other 
 and future world in the same similitude. He died from 
 the same causes that produce death in any other man. 
 He suffered, he bled, he cried out, he thirsted, he* gave 
 up the ghost as any other man. His body was as lifeless, 
 as dead, as the body of the penitent thief at his side, 
 when taken down from the cross. His body was laid in 
 the grave in the ordinary way, and his soul went to God 
 who gave it, just as the soul of Abraham did when he 
 gave up the ghost. Christ' s soul went to God according 
 to his own wish and direction, when He commended it to 
 his Father, and the soul of the penitent went with him. 
 But as his conception was not like that of any other man, 
 as He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, so He was the 
 Holy One, and his body could not see corruption. The 
 death penalty had exhausted itself when He gave up the 
 ghost. But remember, my dear hearers, that He who 
 thus suffered was the God-man, the Mediator, and that 
 we have in all His sufferings and in all His triumphs a 
 deep personal concern. For, 
 
HIS AMAZING LOVE. 221 
 
 I. When He emptied himself of his glory — to descend 
 to the womb of a woman, to the lowest parts of the earth 
 — to engage in the great work His Father sent him to do 
 in his state of humiliation — then He entered the palace 
 of the strong man armed, namely, the devil, the enemy 
 of God and man, but being stronger than the devil, He took 
 from him all his armor in whi(;h he trusted, and divided 
 his spoils — took from his list of charges against us, the 
 long, heavy indictment against us, and the mortgage bond 
 he held upon our souls for the heavy debts we are under, 
 and He nailed the handwriting of ordinances that con- 
 demned us to his own cross, and satisfied Divine Jus- 
 tice by the sacrifice of himself, so that through the blood 
 of the everlasting covenant, we who believe in Him shall 
 be more than conquerors over sin and death, hell and the 
 grave. 
 
 II. Behold, then, how much He loved us ! How 
 closely are we united to Him ! He bore our iniquities, 
 that we might be partakers of His heavenly glory. Are 
 you then afflicted ? Do you suffer hours of terrible dark- 
 ness, when Satan seems almost to get possession of you, 
 and you feel as if surely God has forgotten to be gra- 
 cious ? Then remember your dear Saviour's agonizing 
 prayer: ''O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
 pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou 
 wilt." And a few moments afterwards He prayed again, 
 saying: ''O my Father, if this cup may not pass away 
 from me except I drink it. Thy will be done." And as it 
 was not possible for it to pass away, so He drank it. 
 But hark! what a piercing cry is this! "My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" And Jesus, when he 
 had thus cried, gave up the ghost. 
 
 III. My dear brethren, there is no enemy before us 
 
222 "hell" not GEHENNA NOR PURGATORY. 
 
 that Christ has not already met and already defeated 
 before us and for us, and so signally defeated that all 
 His followers are sure to be more than conquerors in every 
 conflict to which they are called on their way to His heav- 
 enly kingdom. Light shall surely arise after darkness. 
 After the storm there is the happy haven into which we 
 are certain to make a glorious entrance with all sails 
 spread. 
 
 Are you not, then, willing to endure a little as soldiers 
 of the Lord Jesus ? Are you not willing to be conformed 
 to Him in suffering, as you hope to be like Him in glory ? 
 For if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. And 
 since He drank the bitter cup of suffering, that the cup 
 of grace might be offered to us, surely we should submit 
 to the chastisements of His love ; they are to strengthen 
 our holy desires — try our devout affections and exercise 
 our labor of love. 
 
 Dear friend, have you seen the Son of God in tears ? 
 Have you seen His bloody sweat 1 Have you heard His 
 piercing cry when He died drinking the dregs of the cup 
 of Divine wrath, and have you never in remembrance of 
 Him taken your place at the Lord' s Supper 1 He died 
 for you — died to open to you the gate of heaven. Why 
 then are you not converted and saved ? Though indeed 
 Christ were born a thousand times in Bethlehem, and 
 crucified again on Calvary, and not born in thee, thou art 
 eternally lost. 
 
 O, Almighty God, most gracious and merciful, raise 
 up, we humbly pray Thee, thy power, and come among 
 us, and create us anew in Christ Jesus, and with great 
 might succor, strengthen, and help us by Thy grace ; and 
 whereas through our many sins, and shortcomings, and 
 wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the 
 
A PRAYER FOR HELP. 223 
 
 race that is set before us ; 0, be graciously pleased, in 
 thy sovereign mercy, speedily to help and deliver us, 
 through the sacrifice and satisfaction of Thy Dear Son, 
 our Lord, to whom, with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be 
 honor and glory, world without end. Amen. 
 
224 CHRIST EOSE THE TIIIRI* DAY. 
 
 XI. 
 
 CHRIST ROSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 " That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, 
 even so we also should walk in newness of life." — Rom. vi. 4. 
 
 " Say not in thine heart, "Who shall ascend into Heaven ? (that is, to bring 
 Christ down from above :) Or, Who shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to bring 
 up Christ again from the dead.) But wliat saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even in 
 thy mouth, and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith which we preach ; that if 
 thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 
 heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with 
 the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth coufession is 
 made unto salvation." — Rom. x. 6-10. 
 
 " For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 
 Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that he was buried, and 
 that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures," &c. — 1 COR. xv. 3, 4. 
 
 So prominent is the fact of our Lord' s resurrection in 
 the preaching of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost 
 and ever afterwards, as well as in some of their Epistles, 
 that the truth of all we are taught in the New Testament 
 concerning Christ depends on the fact of his resurrection. 
 It is necessary to the proof of the Divinity of his person, 
 the genuineness of his mission, the efficacy of his atone- 
 ment, and the eternal life of his people. When Philip 
 preached Jesus from Isaiah to the Ethiopian, he told him 
 that the condition on which he might be baptized 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRIITE. 225 
 
 and saved was : *' If tliou belie vest with all thine 
 heart." And the Ethiopian ans\yered : ''I believe that 
 Jesus Christ is the Son of God." That is, he believed 
 all that Philip had preached to him concerning the life, 
 Messiahship, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. 
 That is, he preached as Paul preached, saying, '^ If thou 
 shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe 
 in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, 
 thou shalt be saved." And so also Paul, in his discourse 
 in the synagogue at Antioch (Acts xiii.), boldly declares 
 that the voices of the Prophets read every Sabbath were 
 fulfilled in the things which the Jewish rulers and people, 
 with the Gentiles, did unto Jesus, and that Moses, David, 
 and all their sacred writers had foretold the sufferings 
 and death of the Messiah, just such sufferings, and just 
 such a death and burial and resurrection as the admitted 
 facts of the day declared to have been accomplished in 
 Jesus of Nazareth, and that, therefore. He was the true 
 Messiah of God. Nothing can excel the point and power 
 of the Apostle's argument in this case. It is precisely 
 the argument used by Peter on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 And it may be well here to observe, that whatever 
 disputes have been carried on about the other Articles of 
 our Creed by the Fathers and the Schoolmen, and by the 
 theologians of the Reformation, they have almost uni- 
 versally agreed about this one. Among them all, it has 
 been recognized as the corner-stone of the Church of God, 
 without which it would fall to the ground, 'Hhe pillar 
 of Christianity itself." Its nature, and the consequences 
 inevitably flowing from it, if true, are of such importance 
 that it is an essential, fundamental Article of our holy 
 faith. The Apostle, in 1 Cor. xv., shows conclusively, 
 that if Christ did not rise again the third day from the 
 lead, according to the Scriptures, then we have no 
 :5 
 
226 CHEIST K03E THE THIED DAY. 
 
 Church, no Gospel, and Christianity itself is nothing. 
 '^ And our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. 
 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God ; because 
 we have testified of God that He raised up Christ ; whom 
 He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if 
 the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised ; and if Christ 
 be not raised, your faith is vain ; ye are yet in your sins. 
 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the 
 first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came 
 death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." 
 
 In the light of so many clear passages of Holy Scrip- 
 ture that assert, imply, or allude to the resurrection of 
 Jesus, it is astonishing that any one claiming to be a 
 Christian at all should deny it, or have any cavils about 
 this Article of our Creed ; and yet, according to the public 
 journals, an assembly or synod of Protestant divines and 
 laymen in Europe have passed solemn resolutions by a 
 large majority vote, within the last few months, to the 
 efi^ect that we have no satisfactory and consistent account 
 of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. "^ In fact, the direct 
 and inevitable tendency of all those theological specula- 
 tions that throw doubts on the inspired authority of 
 God' s Word, and do not recognize the death of Christ as 
 an atonement or vicarious sacrifice for sin, and do not 
 receive the doctrine of justification by faith and salvation 
 by free grace, is to ignore or set aside the doctrine of 
 Christ's resurrection. It is of great importance, there- 
 
 ♦This Synod met in Nismes, France, in the summer of 1866. I refer to the 
 proceedings as published at the time from memory, and simply as an illustration 
 of the signs of apostasy in our day. I feel rery confident that my allusion is 
 fiiUy supported by tlie published notices of the meeting. It is, however, exceed- 
 ingly gratifying to know that Guizot, Pressense, and others of like views, are 
 making their influence felt in France in favor of the old faith of the Reformed 
 French Church. 
 
WITNESSES OF THE RESURRECTION. 227 
 
 fore, to find an Article of our holy faith setting forth so 
 clearly and firmly the fact that in all ages, from the time 
 of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, it has been 
 most surely believed that "the third day He rose again 
 from the dead." Such testimony from the voice of the 
 holy apostolic universal Church is a safeguard for those 
 who love the truth as it is in Jesus. According to the 
 Scriptures, the Church on earth is God's witness to testify 
 concerning the Lord Jesus, His Holy Anointed One, and 
 is especially set forth in the world to bear witness of His 
 resurrection from the dead. Thus, in choosing Matthias, 
 it is said : " Wherefore of these men, which have com- 
 panied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in 
 and out among us, mnst one be ordained to be a witness 
 with us of Ms resurrection.^^ And accordingly God did 
 pre-design witnesses for this purpose — such persons as 
 were best fitted to give the proper testimony — persons 
 well qualified to know and state the truth, and sufficient 
 in number to establish a fact by law. They were so well 
 acquainted with our Lord' s person before his death, and 
 admitted to such familiar intercourse with him after his 
 resurrection, that it is impossible for them to have been 
 themselves deceived. Nor are we able to discover any 
 possible motive they could have had to deceive others. 
 And besides the many separate, distinct appearances of 
 our Lord to different parties, at different times and under 
 different circumstances, and for the space of forty days, 
 we have the testimony of above fiye hundred eye-wit- 
 nesses that He did appear alive in his human body after 
 his resurrection, and gave them such tokens and signs of 
 the identity of the body in which He appeared to them 
 with the body in which He was crucified, that they did 
 firmly believe in the reality of his resurrection ; and He 
 the more convinced them of this by continuing with them 
 and speaking to them mya^y^giffiS^^e^ancerning the king- 
 
228 CHRIST EOSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 dom of God. And as we do not see how it was possible 
 for so many eye-witnesses to be deceived, or to desire to 
 deceive others, so we are not able to conceive how it was 
 possible for them to have succeeded in deceiving them- 
 selves or the world in such a matter of fact as this, if 
 they had been wicked and reckless enough to have tried 
 to do so. 
 
 In the two Discourses already delivered on the fifth 
 Article of our Creed, it was my object to show in what 
 sense our Lord descended into Tiell, and that whatever 
 Gehenna or Purgatory may or may not be, our Creed 
 knows notliing of them. As I am now travelling on the 
 line of the Apostles' Creed, I do not wish to be turned 
 aside to other discussions, however important they may 
 be. The other clause of the fifth Article is : " The third 
 day He roseagain from the dead.'''' This is a distinct, 
 positive proposition, and I propose, with God's assist- 
 ance, the following method : namely, 
 
 First. A brief history of the Article, and some expo- 
 sition of its main particulars. And the 
 
 Secokd Discourse, for next Sabbath evening, if the 
 Lord be pleased to grant us his blessing, will be a brief 
 historical demonstration of the truth of our Lord's resur- 
 rection. 
 
 I. Historically, we find this Article in all the ancient 
 creeds just as it stands in the Apostles' Creed, coming 
 after our Lord's burial or descent into hell, and followed 
 by his ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father 
 Almighty, and coming to judgment. There are no essen- 
 tial variations in its wording — no variations at all except 
 as to some small matters of mere taste as to the use or 
 omission of ''again," or ''from the dead," some consid- 
 
THE RESURRECTION DENIED. 229 
 
 ering these words as implied in He rose^ and not neces- 
 sary to the meaning. This Article was inserted in the 
 symbols of the Church's faith in ancient times, and pre- 
 served with fidelity just as we have it ; firsts because it is 
 stated with singular emphasis by the Apostles ; and, sec- 
 ondly^ because it was a proper denial of many foolish 
 and wicked conceits that were taught by false teachers 
 even in Apostolic times. For we learn from Paul to Tim- 
 othy that there were false teachers in his day who said 
 ** the resurrection was already past." 2 Tim. ii. 18. And 
 from 1 Cor. xv. 12, that there were some who said " there 
 is no resurrection of the dead.'' The Sadducees, who 
 denied a future state, and denied all resurrection, did not 
 of course admit the resurrection of Christ. The Essenes, 
 who seem to have been quite a large sect in the first cen- 
 turies of our era, believed in the immortality of the soul, 
 but denied the resurrection of the body. Then, of course, 
 Simon Magus, the Docetse, and all the errorists of those 
 days who denied the real and proper humanity of our 
 Lord Jesus, denied also the reality of his resurrection 
 and ascension. Augustine tells us, that the Cerinthians 
 held that Jesus, whom they took to be a mere man, had 
 not risen, but was yet to rise. Apelles, a disciple of Mar- 
 cion, held that when Christ came from heaven, He formed 
 for himself as He descended an airy and sidereal flesh, 
 but when He arose and ascended into heaven. He restored 
 this body to its pristine elements, which being thus dis- 
 persed,. His spirit alone returned to heaven.* 
 
 It does not seem to me necessary, or for our edification, 
 to have at present any farther details concerning the 
 fables and conceits of many men who have tried to be 
 wise above what is written in the Word of God for our 
 
 * BrowTie, p. 99, and our Appendix. 
 
230 CHEIST HOSE THE THIED DAY. 
 
 instruction concerning the resurrection of Christ. Quite 
 enough has been said to show that the strong language 
 of the Article in the Church of England, and in our Con- 
 fession of Faith, and in our Catechism, and in the Cate- 
 chism of Heidelberg, is justified, and was no doubt 
 designed to oppose the exaggerated opinions that were 
 advanced on the one hand by those who taught that our 
 Lord's body after his ascension had ceased to be human, 
 by being transubstantiated into his Divinity ; and to 
 oppose also, on the other hand, the absurd views enter- 
 tained by all those who denied the verity of his essential 
 humanity. 
 
 The words of our standards on this point are : ''On 
 the third day He arose from the dead, with the same body 
 in which he suffered ; with which also He ascended into 
 heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of the Father, 
 making intercession." — Conf. FaitTi^ Chap. viii. sec. 4. 
 And the Fourth Article, Church of England, says, " Christ 
 did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, 
 with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the per- 
 fection of a Man's nature, wherewith He ascended into 
 heaven, and there sitteth until He return to judge all men 
 at the last day." The same doctrines are taught in the 
 symbols or formularies of the faith of the Christian world ; 
 but perhaps nowhere set forth with more clearness and 
 emphasis than in the questions 51 and 52 of the Larger 
 Catechism, with their answers, which are as follows : 
 
 Q. 51. What was the estate of Christ's exaltation ? 
 
 A. The estate of Christ' s exaltation comprehendeth his 
 resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the 
 Father, and his coming again to judge the world. 
 
CHRIST EXALTED IN THE RESURRECTION. 231 
 
 Q. 52. IIow was Christ exalted in his resurrection f 
 
 A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not 
 having seen corruption in death (of which it was not pos- 
 sible for him to be held), and having the very same body 
 in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof 
 (but without mortality and other common infirmities 
 belonging to this life), really united to his soul, he rose 
 again from the dead the third day by his own power ; 
 whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to 
 have satisfied Divine Justice, to have vanquished death 
 and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of 
 quick and dead. All which he did as a public person, 
 the Head of his Church, for their justification, quickening 
 in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of 
 their resurrection from the dead at the last day. 
 
 In the proposition of the Creed : the third day he 
 ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD, there are three particulars 
 to be noticed : 
 
 I. The simple statement of the fact itself, He rose 
 again, 
 
 II. ''He rose again from the dead,'''' And, 
 
 III. He rose again from the dead the third day. 
 
 The thing affirmed is the resurrection of Christ, — the 
 action itself. He rose again. This part of our subject 
 may be dealt with in this way : namely. Firsts show from 
 the Hebrew Scriptures that the ancient Jewish Church 
 believed that the Messiah was to rise from the dead ; and, 
 Secondly^ show from the New Testament that Jesus of 
 Nazareth did rise from the dead just as it was promised 
 and foretold the Messiah should do ; and, therefore, we 
 believe this Article is true, and that Jesus is the true and 
 
232 CHRIST EOSE THE THIRD DAT. 
 
 only Messiah. This is the line of argument offered by 
 Bishop Pearson. 
 
 I. It is directly and repeatedly declared by the Apos- 
 tles, as well as by our Saviour himself, that his suf- 
 ferings and resurrection were according to the Scriptures. 
 Paul asserts, in one of the places cited in the beginning 
 of this Discourse, that he constantly preached that Jesus 
 rose again from the dead the third day^ according to the 
 Scriptures. And our Lord himself, in his discoursing 
 with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, after they 
 had recited to him the things which had just come to 
 pass in Jerusalem ; namely, that Jesus of Nazareth, a 
 Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the 
 people, had been delivered by the chief priests and rulers 
 to be condemned to death, and tliat He had actually been 
 crucified, and besides all this, to-day, said they, is the 
 third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain 
 women also of our company made us astonished which 
 were early at the sepulchre ; and when they found not 
 his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a 
 vision of angels, which said 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 said Jesus unto them, O fools and 
 slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoTcen : 
 Ought not Christ (who is the Messiah) 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 
 afterwards, late in the evening, after long communing 
 with them, when, as they say themselves, their hearts 
 were burning within them, unconsciously testifying of 
 Jesus while He talked with them, and while He opened 
 to them the Scriptures— for all this time " their eyes were 
 
CHRIST IN THE JEWISH CHUECH. 233 
 
 holden that they should not know him" — but when it 
 was towards evening, ^'he opened their eyes and they 
 knew him ; and he vanished out of their sight. And 
 they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, 
 and found the eleven gathered together, and them that 
 were with them. Saying^ the Lord is risen indeed and 
 hath appeared to Simon.^' 
 
 Observe here, 1. That the Jews then had and acknow- 
 ledged as their Holy Scriptures the very same books that 
 we have, and spoke of them as consisting of the same 
 divisions that we recognize. Our Saviour speaks of 
 ''Moses and all the Prophets, and expounded, unto them 
 in all the Scriptures." And in the verses following, when 
 He appeared to the disciples and did eat a piece of broiled 
 fish and honeycomb, He said unto them, These are the 
 words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, 
 that all things must he fulfilled which were written in the 
 law of Ifoses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, 
 concerning me. 
 
 2. It was then admitted by the Jewish Church that 
 their Scriptures did promise and speak of a Messiah to 
 come. When these two disciples had recited the facts of 
 the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, our Lord immediately replied that these were the 
 very things their own prophets had spoken concerning 
 the Messiah. Ought not Christ — which you know is the 
 Greek for Messiah — ought not this Jesus of Nazareth, who 
 claimed to be the Messiah, and who was as you believe 
 the Messiah — who should have redeemed Israel ; I say, 
 if Jesus of whom you speak was indeed the Redeemer of 
 Israel, as you once hoped he was, ought He not, accord- 
 ing to your Prophets, to have suffered precisely these 
 things and to enter into His glory ? And then to prove 
 this, " beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He 
 
234 CHRIST ROSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things 
 concerning himself .^^ And, 
 
 3. On the very same point, and at the same time, 
 as a proof also that Jesns had foretold his sufferings and 
 resurrection to his disciples, observe what He says to 
 them when He. appeared to them after his resurrection, 
 and when they were so terrified and affrighted, and sup- 
 posed that they had seen a spirit, that in order to calm 
 their troubled hearts, and give them the strongest assu- 
 rance that it was He himself, their own real and true Lord 
 and Master, that He said: "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 then they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish 
 and of an honeycomb, 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 yet with you^ that all 
 things must he fulfilled, which were written in the law 
 {that is, in the five hooks of Moses), and in the Prophets, 
 and in the Psalms, concerning me. ' ' These are the words ^ 
 said Jesus, that is, the things that have come to pass in 
 these days here in Jerusalem, and about which you are 
 so much concerned, and which are just the things I was in 
 the habit of talking to you about. I taught them to you out 
 of your own Scriptures. They are the things concerning me 
 which you should believe. And "then opened He their 
 understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. 
 And He 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, begin- 
 ning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. ' * 
 Luke xxiv. 
 
THERE ARE NOT TWO MESSIAHS. 235 
 
 So clearly do tlie Hebrew Scriptures speak of a suffer- 
 ing Messiah as well as of a glorious and conquering and 
 reigning and exalted Messiah, that modern Jewish doctors 
 have held that there were to be two Messiahs : one to 
 fulfil the prophecies concerning the suffering Messiah, 
 whose earthly sorrows were to end in a bloody death ; 
 and the other to fulfil the predictions concerning a 
 Messiah who was to conquer and reign as the Son of 
 David, and restore their nation to the golden age and land 
 of their fathers. "^ It is not necessary to spend a breath 
 in proving that the Scriptures knoAV nothing of two 
 Messiahs. There is but one Mediator between God and 
 men. Nor can it need illustration in such a presence as 
 this, that both classes of the Hebrew texts concerning the 
 Messiah who was to come — both those that foretell his 
 sufferings and the glory that should follow, as Moses and 
 Elias did on the mount of transfiguration, are fulfilled in 
 Jesus of JN'azareth. The things foretold as to happen 
 to the Messiah, are the very things which did happen to 
 Jesus of Nazareth. The predictions of a suffering Mes- 
 siah were fulfilled in his state of humiliation, and the pre- 
 dictions of a conquering, exalted, and reigning Messiah 
 are fulfilled in his state of exaltation. '' For Him hath God 
 exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour." 
 But I have not time, nor do I think it necessary, to enter 
 further upon details to prove that the Jewish Church 
 believed in a Messiah who was to rise from the dead. 
 For all those places in the Psalms and in the Prophets 
 that speak of his sufferings and death, and then of his 
 glory, and of his kingdom, involve the necessity of his 
 resurrection from the dead. According also to the types, 
 as well as to fulfil the prophetic oracles, the Messiah 
 
 Pacatumque x'egot, patriis yirtutibus, orbem. See Vth Discourse. 
 
 L 
 
236 CHRIST ROSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 promised to the Jewish Church was to rise from the dead. 
 And now, secondly^ that Jesus of Nazareth did rise from 
 the dead the third day, as our Article affirms, and just 
 as it was promised in the Old Testament Scriptures the 
 Messiah should do, I have need only to point you to the 
 history of the event itself in the Gospels, and the repeated 
 declarations and allusions to it by the Apostles in their 
 discourses and Epistles. But just here I only wish to say 
 on this point, that if the proofs of the resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ are not sufficient to establish its truth, then 
 no matter of fact on earth can be established by testi- 
 mony. As a '* sturdy "old author says — to refuse the 
 proof we have of the resurrection of Jesus, "is in effect 
 to decline all proof by testimony, to renounce all certainty 
 in human affairs, to remove all grounds of proceeding 
 securely in any business or administration of justice, to 
 impeach all history of fabulousness, to charge all man- 
 kind with insufficiency of perception, or extreme infi- 
 delity, and to thrust God away from bearing credible 
 attestation in any case."* 
 
 II. The second particular which I am to notice is that 
 ** He rose again from the dead." The subject of this 
 affirmation, He^ is Jesus Christ, who ''suffered under 
 Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried : He 
 descended into hell. The third day he rose again from 
 the dead." And still more, it is of his human nature this 
 affirmation is made. As to his Divinity, no accession of 
 glory is predicable. God is the highest, and cannot 
 ascend. He is always the ever blessed and unchangeable 
 in all His perfections. The words, '' He rose again from 
 the dead" — imply, 1. That He was really dead. This 
 
 * Quoted from Barrow in Bethune, vol. i. p. 436. 
 
JEWISH SEPULCHEE8. 237 
 
 has been proved beyond the possibility of donbt. His 
 friends, his enemies, the Roman guard, Pilate and the 
 centurion, have all given their testimony that his death 
 was real. The piercing of his side by the soldier' s spear 
 itself was enough to make sure of his death. 2. He was 
 also actually buried — laid in the new tomb of Joseph of 
 Arimathea, in a garden. Although He was so soon to 
 rise again, yet He was honored with a solemn funeral, 
 and His burial was according to the Scriptures, and the 
 marks of honor bestowed upon Him at His funeral com- 
 pleted the evidences that in His state of humiliation he 
 met all the requirements of the promised Messiah. He was 
 not carried from his own house to his tomb, but from a 
 Roman cross, by a small but honorable and select train, 
 who were unable from the shortness of the time to prepare 
 His body as they wished for His burial. It was not the 
 burial of an earthly conqueror, but of the Prince of Life, 
 who even then held in his hands the keys of death and hell. 
 The rent veil, the opened graves, and the earthquake after 
 the darkened sun, attested that it was God's own Son that 
 was laid in the tomb. His body was not enclosed in a 
 coffin of wood or iron, as with us, but was laid in a recess 
 or niche — on a kind of shelf somewhat like a vault in our 
 house of reception for dead bodies, except that it was the 
 side and not the head that was toward the open court. 
 Nor was there any wall, door, or slab to fill the moUth of the 
 vault or recess where the body was laid. To fully under- 
 stand the passages of the Gospel narratives of the burial 
 and resurrection of our Lord, we must remember some 
 minute matters concerning Jewish sepulchres. They dif- 
 fered in several particulars from our ordinary graveyards. 
 The sepulchres of wealthy Jews were made out of caverns 
 in the rocks. Sometimes a natural cave was selected, and 
 cut and changed to their taste. Others cut their tombs 
 out of the living rock — this was the way Joseph's tomb 
 
238 CHRIST EOSE THE THIED DAY. 
 
 was made. It was liewn out of a rock. There was then 
 no possible outlet from it, or way to get into it but by 
 the door. Let this be noted. It was hewn out of the 
 solid, living limestone rock. Ordinarily the entrance into 
 such a sepulchre was first a descent into an open area, or 
 kind of court, the covering of which was the living rock 
 itself, and then, if you looked around on each side, you 
 would see a recess some six feet or more lower than the 
 area in which you are standing. And these recesses also 
 had cavities or niches of their own, in which the dead 
 bodies were laid. Of course their sepulchres were not 
 always precisely of the same shape or size. This is a 
 description of an ordinary one, such as might have 
 belonged to a man of wealth, like Joseph of Arimathea. 
 Usually there were places in such a tomb for twelve or fif- 
 teen bodies, or more if the family was very large. There 
 is no difiiculty then in our record, which speaks of John 
 and Peter having entered into the sepulchre where our 
 Lord was laid, *'and, stooping down, looked into the 
 place," the niche below the entrance area, where the body 
 of our dear Lord had been laid. But while the rest are 
 standing in the area, and looking down into the recep- 
 tacles where the dead bodies were to be placed, Peter, 
 true to his nature, actually descends, and goes to the very 
 recess whence the dead body of Jesus had just risen. 
 [See Lig^tfoot and Witsius.] 
 
 Fme circumstances are to be noted in the narrative. 
 (1.) Our Lord' s tomb was not in the family vault of Joseph 
 the carpenter of Nazareth, but the sepulchre of Joseph of 
 Arimathea. Our Lord was not born in a house belonging 
 to his reputed father, nor was He buried in a tomb that 
 was his own. He was born and lived among the poor, 
 but had his tomb with the rich ; for the Scriptures cannot 
 be broken. He lived in other mens' houses, and his body 
 
OUR LORDS NEW TOMB. 239 
 
 was embalmed at the expense of his friends, and then laid 
 to rest in another man's tomb. (2.) It was a tomb hewn 
 out of the rocli. there were no concealed passages in the 
 earth, through which the body could have been removed. 
 (3.) It was a new tomh—onQ in which no man had ever 
 been laid. Joseph belonged to a provincial town. His 
 father was not buried in Jerusalem. But he, having risen 
 to distinction, being now a member of the Sanhedrim, 
 and residing in Jerusalem, has prepared himself a tomb. 
 And Providence so orders all this that no suspicion could 
 arise about the identity of our Lord's person when He 
 arose from the dead, or any one be able to say that it was 
 some other person who had risen in his place, or that he 
 had arisen by virtue of having touched the bones of some 
 old prophet who had been buried there before him, after 
 the example of the case spoken of in 2 Kings xiii. 21. 
 (4.) It was a ncAV tomb in a garden — which, among the 
 Jews, was often the case. You remember our Lord' s last 
 passion of the bloody sweat began in a garden — so his 
 humiliation was concluded in a garden, and thence He rose 
 to glory. The sepulchre, says BurJcitt, was in a garden, 
 to expiate Adam' s sin committed in a garden ; as by the 
 sin of the first Adam we were driven out of Paradise, 
 the garden of delights and heaven-like pleasures ; so by 
 the sufferings of the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, 
 our Mediator, who lay buried in a garden, we may 
 hope to gain a joyful entrance into the Heavenly Para- 
 dise itself. And well may we ask, where else could He 
 have been buried with more propriety than in a garden, 
 who, like Aaron's rod, was to bud forth again on the 
 third day, and to whose death, burial, and resurrection 
 it is owing that our bodies shall again, like reviving 
 grass, come forth from the earth ? So Witsius. (5.) Our 
 Lord's tomb was near the place of the crucifixion, in the 
 immediate neighborhood of the place of the punishment 
 
240 CHRIST KOSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 of convicted persons, so that he did indeed make his 
 grave with the wicked — that is, surrounded by them and 
 among them, though not of them. The words, therefore : 
 '-^ He rose again from the dead^^^ are emphatic— they do 
 not mean that He had risen once before, and that this was 
 the second time He rose from the dead. They are intend- 
 ed to express that it was He himself who rose — the very 
 same soul and body — the same soul that he committed to 
 God when He gave up the ghost on the cross — entered 
 again into the very same body that had hung on the cross, 
 and had been embalmed and laid in Joseph's new tomb ; 
 that his reasonable soul and true body were actually 
 united again. The saints who rose out of their graves at 
 his resurrection received new bodies, for their old ones 
 had decayed ; but our Lord's body did not see corruption. 
 His body was truly dead. His soul was altogether and 
 completely out of his body. The separation between his 
 body and soul was as complete as between the body and 
 soul of a believer now at death ; but there was no disso- 
 lution of his body in the sense of decay, or of the separa- 
 tion of its constituent elements. His body was saved 
 from the first or faintest approach of putrefaction. For 
 as Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and suffered 
 only in so far as He was our Surety, and as the work of 
 atonement was completed when the sacrifice was made, 
 and He himself said, ''It is finished, and gave up the 
 ghost ;' ' so it was not possible for His body to be holden 
 in the grave so as to see corruption. There was none of 
 Adam's sin resting on it, nor was the guilt of any actual 
 transgression found in all His life. He was holy, harm- 
 less, the innocent Son of God. The honor of his burial, 
 after his death, with the rich, is ascribed by the Prophet 
 to his immaculate character : " Because he had done no 
 violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." Isa. liii. 9. 
 There were causes proper and natural to retard the work 
 
JONAH A TYPE OF CHRIST. 241 
 
 of corruption, such as the embalming with the precious 
 spices, but doubtless as far as necessary it was the effect 
 of miraculous or supernatural power. For in addition to 
 the reason just intimated, that as his sufferings were now 
 at an end — the penalty ceasing with his death — and as he 
 knew no sin, neither original nor actual ; so there was 
 nothing in His body that corruption could seize on. And 
 besides, it was necessary also that His body should not 
 see corruption, by being turned into dust, so that its 
 identity might be so clearly seen that no doubt could be 
 raised on that point. 
 
 III. The third particular affirmed is that He rose the 
 third day^ on which I need not dwell long. In Matt, 
 xii. 40, our Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees, who 
 demanded of Him a sign, that no sign should be given 
 to them ^'but the sign of the Prophet Jonas; For as 
 Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's 
 belly ; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three 
 nights in the heart of the earth." Here it is to be 
 observed, 
 
 1. The history of Jonas was then known to the Jews. 
 
 2. It was received by them as a true history. Our 
 Lord appeals to it as both genuine and authentic. And, 
 
 3. The Prophet Jonas was in this matter a type of 
 our Lord's burial and resurrection.* 
 
 Now three days and nights, according to Hebrew 
 reckoning, means any part of two days having two nights 
 and one whole day between them. This mode of compu- 
 
 * See Vlllth Discourse. 
 16 
 
242 CHRIST EOSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 ting time prevails still in the East. When travelling iu 
 Bible Lands, I was frequently put in quarantine for 
 three days and nights, as at Hebron and Smyrna — the 
 meaning of which was, that I was hurried off to the 
 quarantine grounds just before sunset, kept there the 
 following night, next day, and the following night, and 
 then next morning at sunrise discharged, as having 
 fulfilled my quarantine of three days and three nights, 
 not forgetting the hacksMsTi. That this is the true view 
 of the Jewish mode of computing time is seen conclu- 
 sively in the circumcision of a child, which you know 
 was to be on the eighth day, but any unexpired portion 
 of the day of the child's birth, however short, was 
 reckoned as one of the entire days, and circumcision was 
 performed on the eighth day, that is, upon the day week 
 from birth — ^the eight days including the first and the 
 last. Bishop Pearson illustrates the Hebrew usage by 
 the third day ague, which is so called, though there be 
 but one day's intermission between the paroxysms there- 
 of, and hence, to make it tertian, the first and third days 
 are both included in the computation. There are in- 
 stances in the Bible also in which it is clearly seen that 
 eight days mean only six full days, counting the frag- 
 ment of the day at the beginning of the reckoning and the 
 fragment of the day at its close, which, being held as two 
 days, make the eight. In our Lord' s resurrection the facts 
 are thus : He was crucified and buried on the day of 
 preparation for the Jewish Paschal Sabbath, which is 
 our Friday. His body was laid in a tomb before sunset 
 on Friday, which was counted by the Jews as one day. 
 He remained in the tomb that night and all the following 
 day and night, which was the Jewish Sabbath, and 
 answers to our Saturday. Then early the next day, 
 which was the first day of the Jewish week, and 
 answers to our Lord' s day, He rose again from the dead. 
 
WHY HE EOSE THE THIRD DAY. 243 
 
 And thus were fulfilled the Scriptures and His own 
 promise kept. The third day, on which He rose, is our 
 Sabbath. The learned Witsius adds here, and elaborates 
 it with his usual eloquence, that our Lord's resurrection 
 was in the Spring of the year, which he considers an 
 emblem. This is an accommodation I do not fancy. 
 
 If, thet^, it is still asked. Why did our Lord continue 
 three days, and but three days, according to Jewish 
 reckoning, in the grave 'i Our answer is, 
 
 1. So much depended upon His resurrection, that 
 sufficient space between His death and resurrection was 
 given, that every reasonable and proper proof might be 
 furnished of the reality of His death. 
 
 2. But he did not continue under the power of death 
 any longer, because this third day was the time required 
 by the types and our Lord' s own prediction for him to 
 rise. The proof, moreover, of His resurrection was more 
 easy and determinate then than it could have been if the 
 time of rising had been prolonged. 
 
 And now from this brief review of the Article from a 
 historic point of view, I ask, have we not proofs quite 
 sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this Article, as far 
 as the nature of such a subject admits of demonstration ? 
 First. We hold that the resurrection of Jesus is an Article 
 of Faith resting upon testimony purely Mstorical. Nor is 
 there any defect in the evidence. There is no broken 
 link in the chain. The Scriptures at once and boldly 
 remove the objection that such a thing as the resurrection 
 of the human body is impossible, by ascribing it in our 
 Lord's case, and in every case, directly to the power of 
 God. St. Paul introduces his argument about the resur- 
 rection of the human body by declaring that God gives 
 
244 CHRIST EOSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 to every seed its own body. So also is the resurrection 
 of the dead. There is no antecedent presumption that 
 can make the resurrection of the body incredible. For 
 as a simple act of Almighty power, the resurrection, to 
 say the least of it, is in no way more marvellous or more to 
 be cavilled at than the creation of man at first. Besides, 
 except among the Sadducees, the Jews cherished a tradi- 
 tional faith in the doctrine of the resurrection from the 
 dead in order to the highest happiness of the future state. 
 It is clearly demonstrated in our Lord's discourse with 
 the Sadducees on this subject that the resurrection of the 
 dead was an Article of faith in the Jewish Church. '' But 
 as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not 
 read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 
 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the 
 God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the dead, but of 
 the living." 
 
 And in his preaching before Agrippa, you remember 
 Paul appeals boldly to the king's reason on the subject : 
 *' Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you 
 that God should raise the dead?" And again, when 
 preaching at Thessalonica, in the Jewish synagogue, on 
 the Sabbath days, he reasoned with the people out of the 
 Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs 
 have suffered and risen again from the dead ; and that 
 this Jesus, whom he preached unto them, is the Christ, 
 the promised Messiah. And then on Mars' hill he 
 preached to the Athenians, reasoning from the works 
 of creation, and the admitted sayings of their own poets, 
 that the only true God was Jehovah, the Creator of all 
 things, and that He was to be worshipped, and not 
 images of gold and silver or stone, graven by art and 
 man's device. And that He now commandeth all men 
 everywhere to repent. Because he hath appointed a 
 
HOJiOEED m HIS RESUREECTIOK". 245 
 
 day in which He will judge the world in righteousness 
 by that man whom He hath ordained ; whereof He hath 
 given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him 
 from the dead. Acts xvii. 2, 3, and 30, 31. Here the 
 Apostle plainly sets forth that the raising of Jesus from the 
 dead is the most persuasive and convincing of all argu- 
 ments for the truth of his Messiahship that could be used. 
 We see our Lord's humiliation in his birth and the 
 circumstances of his life, and in his sufferings and death, 
 and Ave see the favor of God demonstrated in his resur- 
 rection. "For though He was crucified out of weakness, 
 yet He liveth by the power of Grod." His resurrection 
 was a miracle of the greatest power. It is recorded out 
 of Pliny that he reckoned two things impossible, even 
 to God himself ; namely, to endoio mortals with eternity^ 
 and to recall the dead to life.'^ And yet in our Lord's 
 resurrection we have both these impossibilities realized, 
 and so realized that Jesus is the life and the resurrection, 
 and by his Gospel life and immortality are brought to 
 light. In raising our Saviour to life, God the Father 
 declared his special love to Him, his approbation of His 
 work as Mediator, and acceptance of it as completely 
 meeting all his demands. It is in this sense St. Paul 
 explains the Psalm concerning the Messiah: This day 
 have I begotten thee. That is, this day was He declared 
 to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. 
 
 Secondly. Our Lord himself distinctly told his dis- 
 ciples that He must rise again the third day after his 
 death. He made repeated declarations of this kind, and 
 so widely was the fact known that He had given such 
 assurance to his friends, that his enemies did all in their 
 
 ♦ Mortalcs setornitate donare et revocare defunctos. 
 
246 CHRIST EOSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 power to frustrate any collusory attempt on the part of 
 His followers to give the semblance of verification to his 
 words — to the fact that he had announced in the early 
 part of his ministry, in figurative language, saying, 
 ''Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it 
 lip ;" but the Evangelist adds, " This he spake of 
 the temple of his body." And if his friends forgot this, 
 his enemies did not. They made it a matter of accusa- 
 tion against him before Caiaphas, and taunted him with it 
 as He hung bleeding on the cross, while, as it appears 
 from their conduct after his death, they knew perfectly 
 well they were perverting his words, and accusing him of 
 saying what he had never meant. Oh, with what a fiend- 
 ish hypocrisy did they come to the Roman governor, 
 asking for a guard to be placed over the sepulchre ; "for 
 we remember," said they, "that that deceiver said, while 
 he was yet alive. After three days I will rise again. 
 Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure 
 until the third day." And accordingly a guard was set, 
 and the tomb was sealed. 
 
 I have only time to add, that we do not believe that 
 our Lord's body was absorbed into his Divinity, or that 
 it was changed into a spirit ; but that it remained truly a 
 human body ; yet it was divested of all that was mortal 
 or corruptible — of all that was attached to it in conse- 
 quence of his taking our place .to die in our stead. As 
 He lived in the similitude of sinful flesh — in our nature, 
 when He lived — subject to our earthly accidents, as 
 hunger, thirst, sleep, work, pain, and death ; so He lives 
 after the spirit, that is, in the similitude of the spiritual 
 body, when He was taken up from the earth in the body 
 with which he was raised from the dead — which body* is 
 
 * This is the sense of a passage quoted by Browne, p. 101, from' Theophylact. 
 
WE SHALL EISE LIKE CHRIST. 247 
 
 incorruptible, unchangeable, and is the model after 
 which our bodies are to be fashioned in the resurrection. 
 As the union between the Divinity and the humanity of 
 Christ was not dissolved by death, nor by his burial, so 
 neither is the union between believers and Christ dis- 
 solved by death. As Christ' s body rested in hope in the 
 grave, so the believer hath hope in his death. How 
 sweet are the lines of a Christian poet,* in view of death, 
 saying : 
 
 " Hide me in my Saviour's grave 
 
 Till thy wrath is all o'erpast — 
 Summoned to my heavenly home, 
 
 Then I shall with joy reply, 
 Answering to thy call, I come, 
 
 Gladly get me up and die ; 
 Made, and bouglit by grace divine, 
 Thine I am, forever thine." 
 
 Yes, forever thine, for Christ both died and rose from the 
 dead as a public person, the Head of his Church, for the 
 justification of His people, their '* quickening in grace, 
 support against enemies, and to assure them of their res- 
 urrection from the dead at the last day." He could say, 
 and no one else could have so said : / am the resurrection 
 and the life. He that helieveth in me, though he were 
 dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and he- 
 lieveth in me, shall never die. Our Lord' s resurrection 
 is the seal and pledge and model of our resurrection. 
 Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first 
 fruits — which are a pledge of a full and glorious harvest 
 — the first fruits of them that slept. For as Christ is 
 risen, so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring 
 with Him. The Head living in glory, the members must 
 
 * Rev. C. Wesley. 
 
248 CHRIST EOSE THE THIRD DAY. 
 
 be there also. Because I live, said the blessed Saviour, 
 ye shall live also, and where I am, there shall ye be also. 
 Blessed be God, our life is hid with Christ in God, " and 
 when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we 
 also appear with Him in glory." ' ' Forever blessed be the 
 God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us 
 again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ 
 from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, 
 reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power 
 of God through faith unto salvation." Amen. 
 
THIS ARGUMENT RESTATED. 249 
 
 xir. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION HISTORICALLY DEMONSTRATED. 
 
 •• For I delivered unto you first of all — * * And that He was buried, and 
 that Ho rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." — 1 CoR. xr. 3, 4. 
 
 In the Discourse last Sabbath evening, I offered 
 you, First^ some brief remarks on tlie importance of this 
 Article of our Creed — showing that it was the key-stone, 
 without which the whole arch must fall to the ground. 
 Secondly. I explained the history of the Article and the 
 reasons for adopting its phraseology. Thirdly, The main 
 particulars of the Article — namely. He rose, He rose 
 again, and He rose again the third day, were explained. 
 It was found : First. That the Jewish Church believed in a 
 Messiah who was to suffer and die, and to rise from the 
 dead. Secondly. It was also found that Jesus of Naza- 
 reth suffered and. died, was buried and rose from the 
 dead, precisely as the promised Messiah of the Jewish 
 Church was to do ; and our conclusion — and certainly it 
 seems to us a fair and an inevitable conclusion — is, that 
 Jesus is the true and only Messiah. It is my purpose 
 now, with God's blessing, to offer you — 
 
 I. A summary of the evidence on which we believe 
 this Article— that Christ rose from the dead the third day 
 according to the Scriptures. 
 
250 HISTORY PROVES THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 II. The Effects or Benefits resulting from His resur- 
 rection. 
 
 I. A summary of the evidence in behalf of the truth 
 of our Lord's resurrection. And on this head we may 
 remark, that our Lord' s resurrection from the dead is not 
 absurd or incredible in itself. In the history of his life 
 and death, as well as in the whole history of the Jewish 
 Church before his mysterious Incarnation, and in the 
 history and existence of the Christian Church at this very 
 hour, we have very strong presumptive proof of the truth 
 of his resurrection from the dead, just as it lies before us 
 in the Evangelical Memoirs, and in the Discourses and 
 Epistles of his Apostles. All cavils about the resurrec 
 tion of Christ, as to its impossibility, are silenced at once 
 by resolving it into the power of Divinity. St. Paul 
 boldly meets this objection in regard to the resurrection 
 of believers by his argument from the growth of plants 
 from seed. He declares, you remember, that ' ' that which 
 thou so west is not quickened, except it die. And that 
 which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall 
 be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some 
 other grain : But Grod giveth it a body as it hath pleased 
 him, and to every seed his own body. So also is the 
 resurrection of the dead." God giveth to every one his 
 own body. Nor is there any antecedent presumption 
 why the raising of the body is more incredible than its 
 original creation. The same Almighty power that created 
 man at first out of the dust of the ground, can raise his 
 body in the resurrection. And besides, it is certainly a 
 presumptive argument of no small force to look at the 
 consequences. For such is the relation of the fact of 
 Christ's resurrection to Christian doctrines, that it is their 
 only support, and the foundation of Christian faith. It 
 is the key-stone of the arch. If Christ is not risen from 
 
THIS DOCTRINE ESSENTIAL. 251 
 
 the dead, ** Christianity is the most consummate impos- 
 ture " that the world has ever seen. But if Christianity 
 is the result of a base conspiracy, how can we account 
 for its fruits in the world 1 What consistent, intelligible 
 account does any one give of the ordinances, institutions, 
 and effects of Christianity, who denies the resurrection 
 of Jesus ? The Lord's Bay, the existence of the Church 
 itself, proves the truth of our Lord's resurrection. This 
 doctrine must be true, or we must abandon every thing 
 that belongs to the Gospel. All our hope of salvation 
 depends on the truth of what the Apostles preached, and 
 the Creed of the Church has always declared, that Jesus 
 Christ rose from the dead the third day. If Christ be not 
 risen, our preaching is indeed foolishness, and your faith 
 is vain ; ye are yet in your sins, and we are all false wit- 
 nesses. And they also which are fallen asleep in Christ 
 are all perished. But now is Christ risen from the dead, 
 and ever lives and reigns as an Almighty Saviour. And 
 '^if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
 and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him 
 from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 
 
 II. In the second place, we do not rest our belief on 
 presumptive proof alone. We have abounding positive 
 evidence of the truth of this great fact^ which is as strong 
 as the nature of the case admits. And as a specimen of 
 this kind of evidence, may I ask you to read, Urst, an 
 account of our Lord's death and burial, as in John 
 XX. 38-42, compared with what the other Evangelists 
 say on the same points — as in Matthew xxvii. 57-66 ; 
 Mark xvi. 1-7. And, secondly^ the narrative of our 
 sacred writers concerning his resurrection, especially in 
 Matthew xxviii. 1-15. Also Luke xxiii. 55, 6Q ; xxiv. 
 1-9. John xxi. 1-10. 
 
252 HISTORY PROVES THE EESUERECTIOJST. 
 
 Firsts then, may I not ask any one who reads this 
 account of our Lord' s death and burial and resurrection : 
 Is there not in it internal evidence that it is a simple, 
 staightforward, natural account of just what eye-wit- 
 nesses saw, heard, and believed \ Is there in any part of 
 these records any particle of evidence against the honesty 
 of the writers? Is there, in regard to any particular, the 
 slightest or smallest sign of a made-up story \ Do not 
 *' Fictions usually go naked of circumstances?" The 
 events described in them are said to have happened 
 "once upon a time;" but the narrators do not tell 
 us when, nor where, nor how ; or, if they do profess to 
 give us such details, it is done in such a way that we can 
 never find the place nor identify the parties, nor get a 
 solid foundation for the things stated as facts. Whereas 
 our sacred writers have, each in his own way, given a 
 simple and direct and independent narrative of the resur- 
 rection of Jesus from the dead. No one of them ever 
 seems to think that any account of it was to be written, or 
 had been written, different from his own, or that any other 
 view could be taken of it than the one he presents. And 
 hence, although at first there may seem to be such omis- 
 sions or additions as to amount to discrepancies in their 
 accounts, yet when the Evangelists are fairly examined, 
 there is no contradiction between them, and that which 
 at first seemed to be against them, turns out, in fact, in 
 favor of their intelligence and honesty as witnesses. Each 
 one is an original, independent picture from his own point 
 of view. And both the fact itself of our Lord's resur- 
 rection, and of the preaching and recording it as a fact, 
 were so arranged as to make the time suitable, and in 
 every way best calculated to give strength to the truth of 
 the facts stated. Our Lord was long enough in the tomb 
 to prove that there was no delusion as to the fact of his 
 being really dead. He was so long in the tomb that no 
 
THE TBIE OF THE RE3UERECTI0N. 253 
 
 ordinary or natural cause could by any possibility bring 
 him forth alive. And yet his resurrection was not delayed 
 until he was forgotten. He rose from the dead while yet 
 his features were fresh, vivid in the memories of friends 
 and foes — even his wounds fresh — and while the feelings 
 of both friends and enemies were greatly excited, and while 
 the whole conversation in many a circle and through many 
 warm discussions must have still occupied the time and 
 thoughts of the Jewish rulers as well as of Jesus' late 
 followers — He rose while both friends and foes were keenly 
 alive to the scenes of his death. And yet, strange as it 
 may seem, his enemies were more observant of what He 
 had said about his rising from the dead than his friends 
 were. It is strange that his disciples were so stupid or 
 forgetful as not to keep in mind his promise that He 
 would rise the third day from the dead. Still, it was so 
 ordered as to fulfil the Scriptures, and make the proofs of 
 the fact of his resurrection as strong as they could be. 
 
 In the early part of his public ministry, our Lord had 
 said, speaking of his body: "Destroy this temple, and 
 in three days I will raise it up again." You remember 
 the Jews perverted his meaning, and made these words 
 the ground of a charge against him before Caiaphas that 
 he was the enemy of the Jews, and desired to destroy 
 their beautiful temple, and overthrow their worship and 
 polity ; and yet, after his crucifixion, they understand 
 the words literally, and do every thing they could to 
 prevent their coming to pass. And again, our Lord 
 declared no sign from heaven should be given to that 
 generation, in regard to his Messiahship, except that of 
 Jonah the Prophet, for ''as Jonas was three days and 
 nights in the whale's belly, so must the Son of Man be 
 three days and nights in the heart of the earth." And 
 still again, immediately after our Lord had instituted the 
 
254 HISTORY PROVES THE EESUREECTION. 
 
 Holy Supper, He said unto his disciples: ''All ye shall 
 be offended because of me this night ; for it is written, I 
 will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall 
 be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will 
 go before you into Galilee." Matt. xxyi. 31, 32. 
 
 It is certainly wonderful, how many Scriptures were 
 fulfilled in our Lord' s sufferings and death, and that the 
 events, moreover, by which they were fulfilled were the 
 free acts of parties wholly unconscious of these outstand- 
 ing prophecies, or at least without any idea or wish to 
 bring about their fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth. Little 
 did the Jews design, by arresting Jesus and delivering 
 him to Pilate — to be mocked, to be condemned — his gar- 
 ments parted — to be crucified, and pierced, and then to 
 be buried just as he was buried, to prove that in all and 
 each and every one of these particulars God was ordering 
 the exact fulfilment of the prophecies and types concern- 
 ing the promised Messiah, and that by their fulfilment 
 in Jesus, it was to be demonstrated that He was the 
 Messiah, God' s own Son, our Redeemer. 
 
 Again : Secondly. Our records clearly authorize us to 
 take up another line of argument in support, historically, 
 of the truth of our Lord's resurrection, namely, from the 
 conduct of the Jewish rulers, as it lies in the history 
 before us. If they had designed to make themselves 
 unconscious witnesses to the truth of our Lord' s resur- 
 rection, the chief priests and rulers of the Jews could 
 not have done better than they did. For observe, when 
 they heard all that had been done on the morning of the 
 resurrection at the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, they 
 immediately summoned the assembly, and took counsel, 
 and resolved to bribe the soldiers to make a false state- 
 ment, saying, '' Say ye. His disciples came by night and 
 
I 
 
 THE ROMAN GUARD. 255 
 
 stole him away while we slept." Read here the account 
 from Matt, xxviii. 11-15. Perhaps this idle story is not 
 worthy of credit. It scarcely deserves serious considera- 
 tion ; yet you will not fail to observe the sepulchre is 
 under guard, a Roman guard — xooffrwdta — which usually 
 consisted of sixty soldiers. How many were detailed for 
 this service we do not know, but the circumstances 
 justify us in concluding it was quite a strong guard. 
 Was it, then, probable that all such a guard would fall 
 asleep at once, and that, too, when death was the penalty 
 for sleeping on guard ? Besides, if they were all asleep, 
 how did they know the disciples had stolen away the 
 body, and if they were not asleep, why did they not make 
 resistance, and prevent the body being removed ? And 
 how could the breaking of the great seal and the removal 
 of the body have been effected without making such a 
 noise as to rouse the sleeping guard ? Or, how was it to 
 be made credible that a few unarmed men and women 
 could have overcome, in any way, a Roman guard, and 
 carry away the body ? The disciples were not thinking 
 of any such a thing. They had forsaken their Lord and 
 fled, and were so broken in spirit and without hope, that 
 they were still in an upper chamber, '^ with closed doors for 
 fear of the Jews." And besides, it is marvellous that such 
 a handful of men could have supposed they could effec- 
 tually conceal the stolen body, if they had succeeded in 
 getting possession of it. If they had stolen it, where did 
 they hide it ? Why were they not compelled to produce 
 it ? Why did not the Sanhedrim have them all arrested '\ 
 Why did not Pilate order the arrest of the guard that 
 had so failed to do their duty ? The history, it is true, is 
 not full on all these points. But it is quite fair to ask, 
 why was not the missing body sought for ? Why was it 
 not produced ? The burial linen was left in the tomb — 
 was found neatly folded up. There was no hurry or 
 
256 HISTORY PEOVES THE EESUREECTIOI!^. 
 
 fright in tlie coming out of the tomb. No human eye saw 
 Jesus rise out of the tomb, but the evidence that He had 
 risen is positive. 
 
 The earthquake and the angels have so completely 
 overcome the guard that they neither see nor do any thing 
 until some time has elapsed ; then some of them go into 
 the city and report, and the Jewish rulers invent this 
 idle tale to account for the disappearance of Jesus' body. 
 If there was any shadow of truth in their invention, why 
 did not Pilate charge the disciples with the offence ? Or 
 why did they not fly to the rocky shores of the Lake of 
 Galilee, to Herod's jurisdiction ? Why were they never 
 taxed with this charge afterwards ? The infatuation and 
 want of common forethought in the Jewish council when 
 they put their money into the hands, and their falsehoods 
 into the mouths of the Roman soldiers, really become 
 strong evidences against themselves, and proofs for the 
 truth of our Lord's resurrection. 
 
 The following lines from an old Latin poet are worthy 
 of being preserved. The argument may be better than 
 the poetry, but still it is not without merit ; 
 
 " Speak, ruthless keeper ; answer, guard profane ; 
 Your words, I'll show, are wholly false and vain. 
 If fast asleep, as you presume to say, 
 Within the grave immur'd, our Jesus lay, 
 Till stolen from the tomb by daring hands, 
 Unawed by terror of the Roman bands, 
 Whose are these clothes, that in the grave remain, 
 The charge of which two angels don't disdain ? 
 Can you suppose the thief would long delay, 
 In judging which might seem the quicker way — 
 To unbind the clothes, and strip the body bare, 
 Or seize the sacred corpse without such care ? 
 If thieves make haste, and not one moment lose, 
 What man of sense or reason can refuse. 
 
THE AXGEL PREACHING. 257 
 
 That, in its linen wrapt, 'tis fully proved, 
 Christ's stolen body must have been removed ?"* 
 
 Thirdly. Let us attend to tlie declanitlon of the angel 
 to the women at the sepulchre. You remember these 
 women designed to make our Lord's embalming more 
 perfect than they had done, for the want of time on the 
 evening after the crucifixion. They came to the sepul- 
 chre early in the morning, prepared with spices. And 
 they said among themselves as they were coming, Who 
 shall roll us away the stone and open the door of the 
 sepulchre % And behold, there was a great earthquake. 
 (Read here Matt, xxviii. 2-8, &c.) 
 
 They did not know of the Roman guard and the seal- 
 ing of the great stone at the door of the sepulchre. 
 These things had been done after they left, and at the 
 request of the Jewish rulers. These pious women had 
 no thought that Jesus had risen, nor, at that time, was 
 there any such expectation among his friends. They 
 came prepared, after having rested over their Sabbath, 
 according to the commandment, to anoint and embalm 
 his dead body in a more perfect manner than they 
 had been able to do when it was laid in the tomb. 
 You remember it was the tomb of a rich 'member of 
 the Jewish Sanhedrim — that it was a new tomb, in 
 which no man had ever been laid — that it was hewn 
 out of the solid limestone rock on the hill-side of the 
 garden — there was no passage into it or out of it except 
 by the door, which was closed with an immense hewn 
 stone that rolled into the opening on a grooved runner — 
 a heavy hewn stone door that was easily rolled into its 
 place for shutting the door, because for that purpose the 
 
 * Quoted from Sedulius in Witsius, vol ii. p. 177, where the Latin maybe seen. 
 17 
 
258 HISTORY PROVES THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 groove was on an inclined plane, the descent of which 
 aided the pushing up and closing the door, but of course 
 to roll or push it back so as to open the door would 
 require greater strength. These doors were so arranged 
 that while one man could shut them, it would take full 
 half a dozen men to open them. Nor was the sealing of 
 the stone an unheard of or unusual thing. We read of 
 the same thing in Daniel' s life, when he was cast into the 
 lion's den by the king of Persia. In such cases the door 
 was sealed either by closing the two faces together and 
 placing the wax on them, or by sealing the ends of cords 
 that were used in tying the stone in its place, as the ends 
 of cords are sealed over packages by our express com- 
 panies, or for custom-house purposes. In the case before 
 us there was less trouble, because the great stone was 
 really a door worked in grooves and could therefore be 
 easily sealed. The seal used was no doubt Pilate's 
 official seal, or that of the city of Jerusalem. 
 
 Fourthly. Observe the manner of our Lord's resur- 
 rection. 
 
 All the incidents attending the rising of our Lord on 
 the third morning must be studied, in order to realize the 
 simplicity and the awful grandeur of the scene. 1. There 
 was a great earthquake. 
 
 2. A glorious retinue of angels descended and went 
 into the tomb, and sat watching where the body of Jesus 
 had lain. 
 
 3. Our risen Lord left his sepulchre vestments in the 
 tomb: "The linen clothes and the napkin wrapped 
 together in a place by Itself," intimating that henceforth 
 He should have no need of funeral garments or adorn- 
 ments, because He rose to die no more, but to put 
 
i 
 
 THE FOUR MARYS. 259 
 
 immortality on his human nature, and assure his people 
 of eternal glory with him in his heavenly home. 
 
 4. The angels declared to the women that Jesus was 
 risen as He had foretold to them, and was going into 
 Galilee to meet his disciples, as He had promised them. 
 And here we should keep in mind who these women were. 
 They were his friends ; they could not be mistaken as to 
 his identity. There are various conjectures and in some 
 cases conflicting opinions concerning the different Marys 
 spoken of in the Gospels, and in some instances it is difii- 
 cult to distinguish them. All that is important, however, 
 we can know. It is probable they were all together at 
 our Lord's funeral, and at the sepulchre on the morning 
 of his resurrection. There are at least /our Marys in the 
 Gospels : 1. Mary, the Blessed Virgin, who was the 
 mother of our Lord. 2. Mary Salome, who was her 
 sister, and wife of Cleophas. 3. Mary Magdalene, that is, 
 Mary of Magdala. And, 4. Mary sister of Martha and 
 Lazarus of Bethany. Note the piety as well as courage 
 of these women. They were ardently desirous of com- 
 pleting their pious work on our Lord's dead body, but 
 they did not forget the duties of the Sabbath. They 
 waited till the Sabbath was past. They did not fulfil 
 one commandment by violating another. Nor are we 
 without some useful reflections on the communication of 
 the news of our Lord's resurrection to such women first 
 of all. 1. Has not God a right to reveal himself to 
 whom He pleases ? 2. Is it not agreeable to his method 
 of making known his glory to employ weak and feeble 
 instruments to bring about great results, for the purpose 
 of showing clearly that the efficiency and the glory are 
 to be ascribed to himself, and not to the agent employed ? 
 The treasure of Gospel grace is committed to earthen 
 vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, 
 
260 HISTORY PROVES THE RESUEEECTION. 
 
 and not of man. 3. There was a fitness in rewarding these 
 pious, zealous, and holy women with the first intelli- 
 gence of their Lord' s resurrection. They were more faith- 
 ful, and attached, and courageous to our Lord than the 
 Apostles themselves ; therefore, as Burkitt says, our Lord 
 sent them as Apostles to the Apostles. When all the dis- 
 ciples forsook him and fled, they followed Jesus to the 
 cross, and followed his body to the tomb, and are the first 
 to visit it after the Sabbath, and are the first to hear of 
 his resurrection. 
 
 Note also the circumstances of the resurrection. 
 AYhen our Lord died there was an earthquake, and the 
 sun was veiled; so at his resurrection there is another 
 earthquake, as if to show that all nature sympathized 
 with its Creator, the God-man, in his great work of re- 
 deeming the world. And an angel comes from heaven to 
 open his prison-door. The descent of such an ofiicer from 
 tlie court of heaven was a proof that the Eternal Throne 
 was now begirt with the bow of Peace. Justice was satis- 
 fied. The prisoner was to be discharged. And besides, it 
 would seem fit for angels to assist at the resurrection of 
 our Lord. An angel first made known his conception, and 
 declared his birth. As angels had been his companions 
 and comforters in the temptation, and in many a severe 
 conflict with the devil and the powers of darkness, and 
 had witnessed his agony in the garden, it was well for 
 angels to witness his resurrection. He could indeed have 
 raised himself, and have rolled away the great stone, and 
 have put to flight the Roman guard, or have restrained 
 them from touching him as He walked out and away. 
 But it is ever agreeable to the plan of Sovereign Grace to 
 employ creatures as agents, both men and angels, and 
 even the lower creation, when the Divine glory can be 
 better presented to our comprehension by so doing. And 
 
ALL WAS FOKETOLD. 261 
 
 besides, as an angel had foretold his conception, first pro- 
 claimed his advent, and now rolled away the stone, and 
 first preached his resurrection, and bore him company in 
 his ascension to heaven ; so when he comes to judgment 
 He shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. 
 Note also how emphatic is the angeFs declaration to the 
 women. He is not here. His body is no longer where 
 you laid it. Death has lost its prey, and the grave has 
 lost her guest. Do not doubt. Come, see the place lohere 
 the Lord lay. He appealed to their senses. Come, see 
 for yourselves. His body is not here. Here are the grave- 
 clothes, but He is indeed risen, as He said He would do, 
 and He goeth before his disciples into Galilee to meet 
 them there, as He promised them. For we must remember 
 that it is constantly repeated, according to our authorities, 
 that all his sufferings, and every thing about his death 
 and his rising the third day from the dead — all was accord- 
 ing to the Scriptures, and according to his own predic- 
 tions and promises to his disciples. Nor can I help 
 thinking that any one who thoughtfully reads the history 
 of our Lord's death and resurrection, will be impressed 
 with the fact that there was an overruling Providence 
 directly employed in making the evidences of the reality 
 of his death so plain that no doubt could remain on that 
 point ; then also in making sure of the sepulchre, to pre- 
 vent our Saviour's resurrection, or even the semblance of 
 a verification of his words about his rising again from the 
 dead. Every thing the Jewish rulers and the Eoman 
 governor did to prevent our Lord's resurrection only 
 made it more certain and palpable. And thus were his 
 enemies made witnesses for the truth. The providence 
 of God so overruled the circumstances of our Lord's 
 burial as to avoid the possibility of deception. Though 
 his friends obtain leave to embalm and bury his body 
 after the manner of the Jews, yet as soon as this is done 
 
262 HISTOEY PROVES THE RESURRECTIOl^. 
 
 they go away home to keep the Sabbath, and then his 
 enemies obtain a guard of Roman soldiers to act as senti- 
 nels in keeping the body. His friends, His enemies, the 
 centurion, Pilate, and the soldiers, all agree in declaring 
 he was really dead. His funeral is public, and distin- 
 guished from the burial of the malefactors that were cru- 
 cified with him. And then, after He was buried alone by 
 himself, the place was made as secure as possible, and put 
 under the care of a Roman guard, expressly to prevent 
 his body from being removed ; and thus the precaution 
 of his enemies becomes the means of furnishing the most 
 striking proof that his death and resurrection were awful 
 and yet most glorious realities. 
 
 The point in hand is on this wise ; Jesus often foretold 
 his death and resurrection. He was really dead. Every 
 precaution was taken to prevent the removal of His body 
 by stealth. Yet on the third day the body is missing, 
 and was never seen again as a dead body. Thus far 
 friends and foes are agreed. Now there are two explana- 
 tions offered for the missing of the body. First. The 
 angels^ the women, and our Lord's disciples affirmed that 
 He was alive — that He had risen from the dead, and that 
 his resurrection was proof that He was the Son of God, 
 the Messiah, as He had claimed to be. Secondly. The 
 Jewish rulers, as soon as they hear a report of what has 
 occurred, invent the tale that while the Roman guard was 
 asleep his disciples came and stole away his body, and 
 hired the Roman soldiers to adopt and affirm this story as 
 their explanation for the missing of the body. But the 
 story of the Jewish rulers is not worthy of belief. 1. For 
 it supposes a guard of sixty Roman soldiers all sound 
 asleep at once — although it is known the punishment for 
 sleeping while on guard was death. 2. The disciples 
 were few, unarmed, and in every way despondent. 
 
THE EVIDENCE COMPLETE. 263 
 
 3. Nor could they have concealed the body, if they had 
 obtained it. And, 4. Neither the Sanhedrim nor Pilate 
 ever charged the disciples with this offence, or made any 
 effort to produce the body. Here is the empty sepulchre, 
 the grave-clothes, but where is the body ? 
 
 On the other hand, the account given by our Evangel- 
 ists is the true one, because it is supported by testimony 
 angelic, human, and dimne — by testimony unimpeach- 
 able by reason, common sense, or legal rules of evidence. 
 
 1. It is presumed to be true, because, the whole case 
 being considered, there is nothing absurd or incredible in 
 the history. 
 
 2. It explains how it happened that the soldiers did 
 not see Jesus when He rose. They had been prostrated 
 by an earthquake, and were so affrighted or fainting 
 they could not see him. 
 
 3. Then the angels declare Jesus was risen — the women 
 saw Him, and the disciples affirmed that He was alive. 
 Nor could they be deceived. Nor could an increase of 
 the number of witnesses add any thing to the validity of 
 their testimony. Nor is it possible to conceive of any 
 motives that could have induced them, as men of common 
 sense, to adopt as true what they knew was false. They 
 were persecuted, and almost all of them put to death, for 
 believing and declaring that Jesus was risen from the 
 dead, and was alive, and was both Lord and Christ. They 
 gained no pleasure of a worldly nature ; no wealth or 
 rank, or any such thing, by affirming the resurrection of 
 Jesus. Rather, they endured every species of trial and 
 toil on land and sea, going everywhere to declare that 
 Jesus was the Messiah, and proved what they said by 
 showing that He h^^^ti'Disa^ dead according to the 
 
264 IIISTOEY PROVES THE RESUEEECTIOI^r. 
 
 Scriptures. And tliey were "believed at the time by thou- 
 sands in Jerusalem and wherever they went preaching. 
 
 The proof of our Lord' s resurrection, then, is two-fold. 
 It rests upon sufficient testimony, and it is confirmed by 
 miracles, and is theologically demonstrated by all the 
 arguments and reasons for the truth of Christianity. The 
 witnesses are the Jewish priests and rulers, the heathen 
 guard, the two angels at the se*pulchre, and the numerous 
 parties to whom Jesus showed himself alive after His resur- 
 rection, and with some of whom He remained for forty 
 days, giving them every opportunity, by free, familiar 
 social intercourse, to satisfy themselves as to his identity. 
 There are recorded eleven different times, when, on eleven 
 different occasions, and in different places, our Lord 
 appeared alive after his resurrection to his friends, not 
 always the same friends, but to parties of them differently 
 composed every time. 
 
 These parties were his Apostles, friends, and a great 
 multitude of above five hundred brethren at once. The 
 number of such witnesses is then more than sufficient. 
 And they were qualified by their intelligence and moral 
 character to give evidence. There is not a syllable known 
 or even offered as to their characters, on which their 
 veracity can be impeached in any respectable court on 
 earth. They were in such a situation and temper as to be 
 very slow in believing themselves. They were incredu- 
 lous to a fault ; and yet their unbelief should make us 
 more ready to believe what they reported. Clearly, as it 
 seems to us now, our Lord had foretold to them that He 
 would rise from the dead ; yet so blind were they on this 
 subject, and so little were they expecting Jesus to rise 
 from the dead, that when the women reported what the 
 angel had told them at the sepulchre, their words 
 seemed to the disciples as idle tales^ and they Relieved 
 
DOUBTIKG THOMAS CONVINCED. 265 
 
 » 
 
 them not. And at a later period; and after they had 
 received more information touching the matter, and had 
 conversed more about it, and when Jesus appeared in 
 their midst, then they were terrified as if they had seen a 
 spirit. This does not look as if they were too ready to 
 receive the report of his resurrection as worthy of credit. 
 And, you remember, Thomas was so determined in his 
 unbelief, that "unless he saw in his hands the prints of 
 the nails, and put his linger into the print of the nails, 
 and thrust his hand into his side, he would not believe." 
 And yet our Lord was pleased to indulge him — to take 
 him upon his own conditions, and to give him the 
 demonstration he required. 
 
 Nor is there a single moral blot on their characters by 
 which to discredit the testimony of our Lord' s disciples. 
 No instance of dishonesty or any want of integrity was 
 ever brought to light by the magistrates or ecclesiastical 
 bodies before whom they were examined and gave their 
 testimony. They were called fools and fanatics, and 
 reviled as the oftscouring of the world, not for crimes 
 or vices they had committed, but for believing the 
 Gospel of the Cross. There was no possibility that tliey 
 could have been deceived. ''We have not," says the 
 Apostle Peter, " followed cunningly devised fables, 
 when we made known unto you the power and coming 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His 
 Majesty." Nor was there any motive for them to 
 deceive others. There were no worldly gains or honors 
 to be obtained by professing to believe in the resurrec- 
 tion of One who had been crucified, and whose Gospel 
 promised no earthly kingdom. To profess the faith of 
 Jesus' followers, then, was to submit to persecution of 
 every kind from both Jews and Gentiles, and often to 
 endure death on the cross or in the amphitheatre, or in 
 
266 IIISTOEY PROYES THE EESUREECTION. 
 
 dungeons or on the block. Nor were they martyrs for 
 mere opinions, but to facts which as eye-witnesses they 
 could not deny. And among these witnesses we should 
 remember that even Judas is to be numbered. He 
 declared, throwing down the cursed money which he had 
 received for his treacher}^, "I have betrayed innocent 
 blood" — meaning, that Jesus was truly what He said He 
 was, the Son of God ; and that all He said of himself is 
 true. And so also Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, 
 both members of the great Hebrew Senate, men of culture, 
 rank, and wealth. They honored him dead more than 
 they had ever had courage to do while He was alive ; and 
 rejoiced no doubt in His resurrection. And then Ave must 
 not forget the testimony of that fierce, persecuting Phari- 
 see, Saul of Tarsus, who, as Paul the Apostle, exposed 
 himself to all sorts of dangers, gave up all his expecta- 
 tions of worldly honor and fame, and devoted his life 
 to preaching Jesus and the resurrection, and laid his head 
 under Caesar's bloody axe as a martyr to the faith. 
 
 Again, all those texts of Holy Scripture that speak of 
 Christ's ascension and of His coming to judge the world 
 imply the truth of His resurrection. A remarkable inci- 
 dent is recorded concerning the death of Stephen, who, 
 in the presence of his enraged enemies, as they were heap- 
 ing stones upon him, said : Behold I see the Jteavens 
 opened^ and the Son of Man — the Son of Man — Jesus 
 in his human nature, standing on the right hand of God, 
 Remember, in coming to your verdict, that Jesus was 
 dead — that He was laid in the tomb — that it was sealed 
 and guarded. Remember, it is now empty. His dead 
 body was never produced after it was laid in the new 
 tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Remember the angelic 
 testimony — the divine demonstration in the earthquake, 
 and in the resurrection of many of the saints that slept. 
 
CUMULATIVE EVIDENCE. 267 
 
 Take into account the numher and character of the 
 witnesses — the places where they gave their positive 
 evidence in behalf of the resurrection of Jesus — and that 
 their arguments were never refuted — ho other explana- 
 tion was ever offered to account for the missing body 
 except the clumsy falsehood of the Jewish rulers — that 
 no contradictory testimony was ever offered — no cross, 
 questioning before the magistrates ever put them to shame 
 or weakened their evidence — nor did any torturing or 
 cruel kind of death ever wring from them any recantation. 
 Remember too the time when they gave this evidence. It 
 was in Jerusalem, and immediately after the resurrection 
 took place ; and that they continued ever afterwards, 
 wherever they went, till death closed their labors, to give 
 their testimony to these facts. The truth of our Lord's 
 resurrection may be shown from miracles, concerning 
 which we may truly say : If we receive the witness 
 of men — in this case it is in fact the witness of both 
 angels and men — the witness of God is greater. If then 
 the human testimony, the historic proof of the truth 
 of our Lord's resurrection, is of such a character that it 
 cannot be impeached, or shown to be unworthy of credit 
 by any respectable court having jurisdiction of historic 
 verities, how shall we escape from the seal which God 
 himself has been pleased to set to this truth ? It is not 
 needful for me to say that I refer to the descent of the 
 Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and to the miracles 
 wrought by the Apostles in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 as well as to all the miracles of Christ himself before his 
 death, and the attestations from heaven at His baptism, 
 and on the mount of transfiguration, and then His ascen- 
 sion, and in a word the success of His Gospel and the 
 present existence of His Church, and the influence of 
 Christianity upon mankind, past and present. You 
 remember the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost and 
 
268 HISTORY PROVES THE RESURRECTIOIS'. 
 
 afterwards, boldly declared that their power to work 
 miracles and to preach the Gospel was from the Holy 
 Ghost, which was given as a proof that Jesus was 
 Christ, and had died and risen from the dead, as they 
 constantly alleged. " With great power gave the Apos- 
 tles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." 
 Acts iv. 33. ''We are," said they, "his witnesses of 
 these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God 
 hath given to them that obey Him." Acts v. 32. It is to 
 be remembered that this point is made distinct and clear 
 by the declaration, that ' ' the Holy Ghost was not yet 
 given, because that Jesus was not glorified." And our 
 Lord himself promised to send the Holy Ghost as a 
 comforter and companion to his disciples after his ascen- 
 sion. And in giving his last command to go into all the 
 world and preach the Gospel, it is said, and " these signs 
 shall follow them that believe" — during the apostolic 
 age — " 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." These signs are the miracles ordained to give 
 proof of His resurrection, as a cardinal doctrine in plant- 
 ing the churches and establishing His kingdom in the 
 world. This argument comprises every conversion to 
 Christianity that has taken place — every poor sinner that 
 has been pardoned and saved by the Gospel is a witness 
 for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. 
 
 II. But I must hasten through the second and last 
 part of this discourse : What are the Benefits or Reasons 
 for ChrisV s resurrection f I answer, they are two-fold : 
 First, as to Himself; and secondly^ as to His people. By 
 his rising from the dead He declared himself to be the 
 Son of God — proved that He had satisfied Divine Justice, 
 vanquished death and him that had the power of death, 
 
WHY OUR LORD ROSE. 2^9 
 
 that is, the devil, and that He was Lord of quick and 
 dead. '*For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and 
 revived, that He might be Lord both, of the dead and 
 living." Kom. xiv. 9. 
 
 There was a necessity, then, for the human body of 
 our Lord to be raised from the dead. It illustrated the 
 Dignity of his person, and showed his enemies and his 
 friends that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate was 
 crucified, dead and buried, was God's well-beloved Son, 
 and accepted in heaven above as the only Mediator 
 between God and men. 
 
 The Reasons for, or the Necessity of, our Lord's rising 
 from the dead might be shown in this way. 1. To fulfil 
 the divine oracles and types concerning the promised 
 Messiah. 2. Hereby it was clearly proved that He was 
 the Son of God in the sense He had claimed to be, and 
 that He had completed the work He came to do. Christ, 
 says the Apostle, "was raised up from the dead by the 
 glory of the Father," which means not merely to the glory 
 of the Father, or for the Father' s glory, but by the glory 
 of the Father displayed in His Son, owning Him as His 
 Son, showing that Jesus was not guilty of blasphemy in 
 claiming to be the Son of God. His resurrection was a 
 perfect demonstration that He had fully satisfied Divine 
 Justice — paid the whole debt laid to his account for us — 
 and had conquered death, hell, and sin, and was now 
 Lord and Christ. 
 
 If our Lord had continued under the power of death, 
 it would have argued that the satisfaction He had ren- 
 dered by his obedience and the sacrifice of himself was 
 not sufficient, and that the end designed by him in his 
 sufferings and death had not been attained. But as the 
 Justice of God was fully satisfied, it was not possible for 
 
270 HISTORY PROVES THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 our Saviour to be held any longer as a prisoner. His 
 release was demanded by Justice, as well as to accomplish 
 the promise and purposes of God previously revealed 
 concerning the Messiah, in the types and prophecies of the 
 Old Testament. He is the first-begotten of the Dead, and 
 the Prince of the kings of the earth. He alone can say : 
 ** I am He that was dead and am alive forever more, and 
 have the keys of hell and of death." 
 
 "Hail, purest victim Heaven could find, 
 
 The powers of hell to overthrow! 
 Who didst the chains of Death destroy; 
 
 Who dost the prize of Life bestow. 
 
 " Hail, victor Christ I Hail, risen King I 
 
 To Thee alono belongs the crown ; 
 Who hast the heavenly gates unbarred, 
 
 And dragged the Prince of Darkness down. 
 
 " Jesus 1 from the death of sin 
 
 Keep us, we pray ; so shalt Thou be 
 The everlasting Paschal joy 
 
 Of all the souls new-born in Thee." — Breviary. 
 
 Secoij^dly. '^ What doth the resurrection of Christ 
 profit us ? 
 
 ^' Ans. First, by His resurrection. He hath overcome 
 death that He might make us partakers of that righteous- 
 ness which He had purchased for us by His death ; 
 secondly, we are also by His power raised up to a new 
 life ; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge 
 of our blessed resurrection." — Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 He rose from the dead as '' a Public Person, the Head 
 of His Church, for the justification of his people, their 
 quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to 
 assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the 
 last day." [See Ans, to 62d Question, Larger Catechism.'] 
 
JUSTIFED AND SANOTIFED. 271 
 
 1. Then our Justification. 
 
 "He was delivered for our offences, and was raised 
 again for our justification." "Justified in the Spirit" — 
 proving that Divine Justice was satisfied, and conse- 
 quently all who are in Christ are also justified. "Who 
 then shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? 
 It is God thatjustifieth, who is he that condemneth ; It is 
 Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again." Since 
 God hath acknowledged that His Justice is satisfied by 
 the resurrection of Christ — for that is the discharge of our 
 Surety from prison — then all further prosecution is 
 arrested. 
 
 2. Through Christ's resurrection we have sanctifica- 
 tion — "Ye are risen with him through the faith of the 
 operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." 
 Believers therefore are risen with Christ as well as justi- 
 fied in Him. They are said by the Apostle to be planted 
 together with him in the likeness of his resurrection, 
 that, as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory 
 of the Father, even so they also should walk in newness 
 of life. This is what Paul means by knowing the power 
 of his resurrection, and being made conformable to his 
 death. When our Lord came forth from the grave. He 
 was both a living soul, like the first Adam, and He was 
 also a quickening Spirit. He had life for his people as 
 well as for himself. Not merely that He was to ascend 
 and reign in glory, but that He might live by His Spirit 
 in believers. As the Head, He sends life through all his 
 members. He is their life. As we are by nature dead 
 in trespasses and in sins, so we must be quickened and 
 raised by His Spirit to newness of life ; our hearts must 
 be created anew, and our affections set on things above. 
 And if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
 
272 HISTOEY PROVES THE EESUliRECTIO:^r. 
 
 by the death of his Son ; much more, being reconciled, 
 we shall be saved by his life. That is, by his resur- 
 rection and life as Lord and Christ. It is thus that we 
 are regenerated unto a lively hope of an inheritance uncor- 
 ruptible and undefiled, reserved in the heavens for us. 
 
 3. The glorification of helieters follows their justifica- 
 tion and sanctification. This Paul declares positively in 
 Kom. viii. 30. "Moreover," says he, "whom He did 
 predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called ; 
 them He also justified ; .and whom He justified, them He 
 also glorified^ Nor could it be otherwise, as He is the 
 first-fruits of them that sleep in Him. He is the first- 
 born brother ; believers are joint-heirs with Him. If by 
 his resurrection. He is declared God's own Son, and 
 receives his title to life and immortality, then are his 
 people partakers with Him of the same inheritance. He 
 is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, among 
 many brethren. Christ the first-fruits ; afterwards, 
 they that are Christ's at his coming. As Christ is the 
 Head, and his people are the members, they cannot be 
 separated. " The body shall follow the head." Because 
 I live, ye shall live also ; and where I am, there shall ye 
 be also. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
 all his people be made alive. If the spirit of him that 
 raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, He that 
 raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your 
 mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. His 
 rising from the dead is an earnest that we shall rise also. 
 Our Lord's resurrection demonstrates the validity of all 
 his promises, and the truth of all He has taught concern- 
 ing a future state. This is an illustration in his own 
 person that He is the resurrection and the life ; and that 
 His Gospel does bring life and immortality to light. 
 Thus Paul says before Agrippa and Festus, that "having 
 
OUR MODEL FOR GLORY. 273 
 
 obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witness- 
 ing both to small and great, saying none other things 
 than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should 
 come : that Christ should suffer, and tliat he should be 
 the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew 
 light unto the people and to the Gentiles." Acts xxvi. 
 22, 23. 
 
 He is, therefore, the pledge and pattern of our resur- 
 rection. If we are planted together with him in the like- 
 ness of his death, we shall be also planted together with 
 him in the likeness of his resurrection. As we have borne 
 the image of the earthy — that is, of Adam — so we shall 
 also bear the image of the heavenly — that is, of Christ, 
 knowing that He who raised our Lord shall raise us by 
 His power, and our vile bodies shall be fashioned like 
 unto His own glorious body ; that He who raised the 
 Lord Jesus, shall also raise us by Jesus. And as Christ 
 rose to eternal life, heavenly, holy, and blest, so shall his 
 people live with him in glory, where sin and sorrow, 
 pain and death, can never again reach them. And, dear 
 brethren, as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of 
 the Father, so ought we to be dead to sin, but alive unto 
 God, and to walk in newness of life, in the hope of the 
 resurrection unto eternal life in glory. Amen. 
 
 18 
 
274 CHEIST ASCEXDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 XIII 
 
 CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 " And it came to pass, while he blessed thsra, he was parted from them, and 
 carried up into heaven." — Luke xxiv. 51, with Mark x\l 19, and Acts i. 1-12. 
 
 This Article, like the one on the Eesurrection of Christ, 
 is a simple question of fact supported by testimony and 
 by theological argumentation. It implies the truth of 
 Christianity, and Christianity involves its truth as an 
 essential part of itself. The same line of historic evi- 
 dence and of theological reasoning that proves the truth 
 of our Lord's resurrection, proves also his Ascension. 
 Still, I am quite willing this Article should rest on an 
 independent investigation, and on its own evidence, in 
 the light of this nineteenth century. 
 
 In the early ages of the Church, the Ascension and 
 Assumption of Christ meant the same thing, and, like the 
 solemn days of the Nativity and the Passion, the feast of 
 the Ascension was kept as a great day. Chrysostom calls 
 the feast of the Assumption an illustrious and refulgent 
 day, and describes our Lord's exaltation as the grand 
 proof of God's reconciliation to sinners. Our Lord's 
 emphatic words to Mary, after his resurrection, *' Touch 
 me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father : but go 
 
Christ's return to heaven. 275 
 
 to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend nnto my 
 Father and your Father, and to my God and your God," 
 are especially worthy of attention. Here our risen Sa- 
 viour expressly declares that He would ascend to his 
 Father, and it is clearly implied that something of pecu- 
 liar importance was involved in his ascension. And this 
 inference is abundantly borne out by history. It is in 
 evidence that it was not until after Jesus was glorified, by 
 ascending into heaven, that the Holy Spirit was given 
 with such marvellous and unparalleled power. The fes- 
 tival of the ancient Cappadocian Christians in commemo- 
 ration of Christ' s ascension, was not an unmeaning one. 
 This festival they called Episozomene^ because they 
 observed it as a proof that on this day our salvation was 
 perfected, Jesus Christ having finished the great mis- 
 sion He came to fulfil on earth, and having returned to 
 heaven. In our Lord's resurrection from the dead, we 
 see Him receiving from the High Court of Heaven and the 
 hand of Eternal Justice his discharge from prison in full 
 for the payment of the debt He had assumed for us ; and 
 in his Ascension, we see the Father recalling him, as an 
 ambassador who has fully succeeded in accomplishing 
 his mission in a foreign country is called home to his 
 native land to enjoy the honors and fruits of his labors. 
 
 The ceremonies of Ascension Day in Papal churches 
 are somewhat after this style : After the Gospel, the Pas- 
 chal taper is put out, to denote that on this day our 
 Saviour left the earth and returned to heaven. Flowers, 
 images, and relics are then heaped upon the altar. The 
 priests are robed in white. On this day the Pope used 
 to curse all heretics, and pronounce his blessings on the 
 faithful. It is still one of the three solemn days on which 
 his Holiness pronounces blessings, but the cursing is 
 now confined to Holy Thursday. The old and the East- 
 
276 CHRIST ASCEIS^DED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 ern churches make a much greater display of ceremony 
 on this day than is known among us. At one time, in 
 many of the ancient churches, it was usual to represent 
 Christ's Ascension by drawing up an image of him to 
 the roof of the church edifice, and then cast down an 
 image of Satan, in flames, to represent his falling like 
 lightning from heaven before our Lord. Nor are there 
 wanting historic evidences that the most ridiculous 
 pageantry was often resorted to in the early ages of the 
 Church in celebrating this day. Ceremonies that we 
 regard as nothing but a wicked travesty — a blasphemous 
 commemoration of one of the greatest events in the his- 
 tory of our redemption. For ages, also. Christians used 
 to travel into the Holy Land to adore the footprints of 
 Jesus' feet where He last stood, and from whence He 
 ascended into heaven, just as they do now to kiss the 
 marble tomb that represents the place of his burial, and 
 to witness the lights that are kindled on Ascension Day 
 in the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives, 
 which are so many and so brilliant that it looks as if the 
 whole of the sacred mount was on fire. Such historic 
 traditions concerning such an event are only valuable, 
 however, as presumptive evidence of the truth of the 
 fact commemorated. It is, accordingly, an undisputed 
 fact that Christians have always contemplated our Lord's 
 ascension with the most profound satisfaction. Poetry 
 and painting have vied with each other in celebrating 
 this event in our Lord' s history as the most perfect tri- 
 umph of His humanity over every adverse power. 
 
 The only variation I find in this Article : ''He ascend- 
 ed into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the 
 Father Almighty," is, that in some of the ancient Creeds 
 the name of God and the attribute Almighty are omitted. 
 In such copies as I refer to, the Article reads in this way : 
 
THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 27 T 
 
 "He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of 
 the Father." The sense is the same. The only part of 
 the Article I design to consider this evening is the first 
 part : "He ascended into heaven. 
 
 5> 
 
 The history of our Lord's ascension is given in Mark 
 xvi. 19 ; Luke xxiv. 51, and in Acts i. 1-12. In this 
 history you see, — 
 
 I. We have the "place from which He ascended. It is 
 nothing to my purpose to prove or disprove that the 
 church or mosque on the Mount of Olives marks the 
 exact spot from which our Lord ascended ; yet I have so 
 much reverence for what is called the religio loci^ that I 
 could not enter that church, and climb to its summit, and 
 then look up into the clouds that hung over the whole 
 region, without feeling that I was indeed looking on the 
 very pathway my Saviour had used when He ascended 
 into heaven. It will not be understood, however, that I 
 receive as true the foolish stories found in the legends of 
 saints, and the traditions of the Church of Kome, about 
 the building of the splendid chapel by the Empress 
 Helena on the place whence Christ ascended to heaven — 
 that miracles were wrought to protect the dust that last 
 received the prints of our Lord's sacred feet — that the 
 marks of his feet are still there to be seen — and that it 
 was found impossible, as Jerome reports, to cover and 
 arch over the summit of the building, and that hence it 
 was circular, leaving an open dome, where the Lord's 
 body had passed, and that thus the passage-way along 
 which our Lord' s body went, in his ascension from earth 
 to heaven, still continues open. It is of no consequence 
 to me, as a traveller, to be shown the marks of footsteps 
 that are said to be the prints of our Lord' s foot, either on 
 the earth or on the rock, nor is it of the least concern to 
 
278 CHKIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVES'. 
 
 me which has the best claims to the oldest foot-marks, the 
 monks or the Mohammedans, for both claim the original 
 stone on which our Lord's foot last rested at the moment 
 when He began his ascent ; but it is of importance to me 
 that it is historically true, that the Empress built a chapel 
 on the Mount of Olives, and such a chapel stands there 
 to this day as a monument of the truth of the faith of the 
 Church on this subject, nor is there any shadow of doubt 
 but this Church of the Ascension, if not covering the 
 precise spot, still overlooks the real spot and the whole 
 surroundings of the glorious Ascension.* And I can- 
 didly admit I do not envy any one who is such a skeptic 
 that he is not in sympathy with the poet who says : 
 
 " I cannot look above and see 
 
 Yon high-piled pillowy masa 
 Of evening clouds, so swimmingly, 
 
 In gold and purple pass, 
 And think not, Lord, how Thou wast seen 
 
 On Israel's desert way 
 Before them, in thy shadowy screen 
 
 Pavilioned all the day! 
 
 "Or, of those robes of gorgeous hue 
 
 Which the Redeemer wore, 
 When, ravished from his followers' view, 
 
 Aloft his flight he bore, 
 When lifted, as on mighty wing, 
 
 He curtained his ascent, 
 And wrapt in clouds, went triumphing 
 
 Above the firmament. 
 
 ^ Is it a trail of that same pall 
 Of many-colored dyes, 
 That high above, o'ermantling all, 
 Hangs midway down the skies — 
 
 * This subject is qiiite fully presented by Witsius and Lightfoot, and often 
 ccnmentea on by modern travePers. 
 
NATURE TEACHES US 279 
 
 Or borders of those sweeping folds 
 
 Which shall bo all unfurled 
 About the Saviour, when He holds 
 
 His judgment on the world ? 
 
 ** For in like manner as He went, — 
 
 My soul, hast thou forgot ? — 
 Shall be his terrible descent, 
 
 When man expecteth not 1 
 Strength, Son of Man, against that hour, 
 
 Be to our spirits given. 
 When Thou shalt come again with power. 
 
 Upon the clouds of heaven." — William Croswell. 
 
 There may be a thousand lying traditions uttered by 
 the guides of the Holy places, but when I tread the soil 
 of Olivet, I am sure I tread '^ where His blessings were 
 heard, and His lessons were taught." I am sure that I 
 am treading on the place whence '* His humanity, clothed 
 in the brightness of God," ascended into heaven, to show 
 me the way and teach me how to follow Him. I know 
 perfectly well that on these hills, which I see around the 
 Holy City, Jesus toiled ; from these still gushing fountains, 
 I know He drank when weary and thirsty. And the 
 same airs are blowing on me ** which breathed on his 
 blessed brow." But, my brother, complain not, if with 
 untravelled eyes you are seeking to follow Jesus. For 
 even — 
 
 " If my feet may not tread where He stood. 
 Nor my ears hear the dashing of Galilee's flood, 
 Nor my eyes see the Cross which He bowed Him to bear, 
 Nor my knees press Gethsemane's garden of prayer — 
 Yet, loved of Thy Father, Thy Spirit is near 
 To the meek and the lowly and penitent here : 
 And the voice of Thy love is the same even now, 
 As at Bethany's tomb, or on Olivet's brow." — H. H. Millman. 
 
 Witsius thinks Christ chose to ascend from Olivet, 
 
280 CHRIST ASCEKDED IJ^TO HEAVEN. 
 
 (1.) Because, as it was the place of his great suffering and 
 bloody sweat, so it was proper to exhibit in the same 
 place his glorious ascent, as a Conqueror, to heaven. 
 (2.) That from the very spot where He had struggled with 
 the infernal hosts, He might ascend to the highest heavens 
 with trophies of their complete and final overthrow. The 
 scene of conflict was the scene of victory. 
 
 Note the two statements before us: "And He led 
 them out as far as to Bethany." Luke. "And they 
 returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet," 
 after witnessing his ascension. These are not contradic- 
 tory. You know the Mount of Olives and Bethany are 
 places very dear to our Lord. They lie on the same side 
 of Jerusalem. The name Bethany was applied both to 
 the city and district in which it was situate. And in 
 going to Bethany, the way was by or over the Mount of 
 Olives. "He led them out as far as to Bethany," there- 
 fore means, He led them along the usual road towards 
 Bethany, which winds round the Mount of Olives, until 
 he came to the spot where the district^ that is, the town- 
 ship of Bethany began, and in which was the city of 
 Bethany, and which was also in view from the spot where 
 He blessed them, and from which he ascended. And 
 hence the statement, that after the ascension the disciples 
 returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, is 
 strictly correct. It is a simple and natural description of 
 the journey and of the place. He ascended not from the 
 town of Bethany^ but from the district of Bethany^ lying 
 on the side of Olivet next to and overlooking the town 
 of Bethany. 
 
 II. We have the time. ' ' Until the day in which He was 
 taken up," being seen of his Apostles and friends /or 
 forty days after his resurrection. During these forty 
 days our Lord had appeared many times to his disciples, 
 
WHY AFTER " FORTY DAYS." 281 
 
 and spoke many things to them pertaining to the kingdom 
 of God. Perhaps it was for the purpose of giving them 
 such instruction, extending through such a length of time, 
 that they might have more clear and. distinct views, and 
 be the better able to understand him, and to satisfy them- 
 selves of the reality of all they were called to testify 
 about, that the interval of forty days was allowed to pass 
 before He ascended. I do not know why ^usi forty days, 
 and no more and no less, were the determinate number. 
 You know, however, that this is a favorite Bible num- 
 ber. Moses was just so long on Mount Sinai. Elijah 
 travelled forty days in the strength of the food he received 
 under the juniper-tree in the wilderness of Beersheba, 
 until he reached Horeb, where Jehovah' s still small voice 
 had more effect upon him than the earthquake. And 
 Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness. And so also it 
 is to be noted, as parallel, that it was forty days from his 
 birth to his presentation in the temple. Let us now 
 attend to 
 
 III. The FACT ITSELF. '' He was parted from them, 
 and carried up into heaven. " ' ' 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 steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, 
 two men [that is, angels], stood by them in white apparel, 
 which also said. Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing 
 up into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up from 
 you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
 seen him go into heaven." 
 
 You may remember that an Apostle says, "Now, he 
 that descended is the same that ascended." This is dif- 
 ferent from the case of Moses in the mount ; he had to 
 ascend before he could descend. But Christ descended 
 first, and took upon himself in his descent our nature, 
 
282 CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 and tlien in it He ascended. It is He, the God -man, the 
 person Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven. Our 
 Lord's ascension is, therefore, the second step of his ex- 
 altation. By his ascension is meant that on the fortieth 
 day after his resurrection, and in the full view of his dis- 
 ciples, in clear daylight, He went up in his body from the 
 earth into heaven — ascending from the side of the Mount 
 of Olives overlooking Bethany, and that He ascended 
 truly into heaven, passing through air and visible clouds 
 into the highest heaven, and that his human body is there 
 to remain in glory till He comes to judge the world. 
 
 The FACT ITSELF of our Lord's ascension is as clearly 
 affirmed as terms can do it. It was not a vision, nor a 
 mere appearance, but a reality. Christ Jesus was visibly 
 elevated to heaven. It was the perfect man Christ Jesus 
 that ascended. The ascension, however, is predicable, 
 strictly speaking, only of his humanity. The Godhead is 
 omnipresent, but the human nature of Jesus Christ is not 
 ubiquitous."* It was the same body that " was dead and 
 buried," that arose and ascended. ''This man, after he 
 had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the 
 right hand of God," Heb. x. 12. Many texts of Scrip- 
 ture might be quoted as to the fact that it was his human 
 body the Apostles saw ascend, but I give you here only 
 one, and that one especially for the purpose of showing 
 that his body glorified is the pattern and earnest of our 
 own glorification. Paul expressly tells us that as in this 
 life, while living in this world, we are after the likeness 
 of the first Adam, so in the resurrection we shall have the 
 
 * The doctrine of transubstantiation or of consubstantiation cannot be true. 
 For Christ's body remains in heaven. It is only his Divinity, his Spirit, that is 
 everywhere with his people. See this point well but briefly argued in Bethune, 
 vol. i p. 459. 
 
PEOOFS OF HIS ASCEIS^SION. 283 
 
 image of Christ the second Adam, the Lord from heaven 
 our Redeemer. "For our conversation is in heaven; 
 from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ : Who shall change our vile body, that it may be 
 fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the 
 working whereby He is able even to subdue all things 
 unto himself." Phil. iii. 20, 21. 
 
 Here it is clearly taught : (1.) That our lives and con- 
 duct are to be heaven- ward. For (2.) Our Saviour is in 
 heaven, and that His body is glorified in heaven. And (3.) 
 He is coming again to perfect his work of redemption in 
 us, by changing our vile bodies into the likeness of his 
 glorious body. And this He will do by his mighty 
 power in subduing and overcoming all things for his 
 own glory. 
 
 The proofs of our Lord' s ascension need not be dwelt 
 upon. The method used to prove upon evidence His 
 resurrection might be repeated in support of the fact of 
 His ascension. Thus, we could show from the types and 
 prophetic oracles of the old Jewish Church that the 
 promised Messiah was to ascend into heaven ; and then 
 we can prove that Jesus of Nazareth did really and truly 
 ascend into heaven, and therefore we believe this Article 
 to be true, and that Jesus is the true and only Messiah. 
 
 The high priest, under the law, is understood to have 
 been a type of the Messiah, and his going into the Holy 
 of Holies once a year is considered typically to represent 
 Christ ascending into heaven. Such an application of this 
 type to the Messiah has been generally admitted even by 
 Jewish commentators. And then, prophetically, we might 
 refer to passages out of the Psalms, especially from the 
 sixty-eighth, which Paul expressly quotes, and applies 
 not to Joshua, David, or any of the Prophets, but to 
 
284 CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 Christ : '* Thou hast ascended up on high ; Thou hast led 
 captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men." And 
 so, on the other hand, we have the authority of the New 
 Testament for believing that Jesus Christ did really and 
 truly ascend into heaven, just as the Jewish Church 
 believed the Messiah was to ascend. There is no more 
 figure of speech nor metaphor used in describing his 
 ascension than in describing his birth — which is in no 
 sense metaphorical, but literal and true. Jesus of Naza- 
 reth was literally and truly "conceived of the Holy 
 Ghost," and took unto himself of the Virgin Mary "a 
 true body," with "a rational soul," and literally and 
 truly did He die and rise again, and ascend into heaven. 
 All this we do most firmly believe, 1. Because the dis- 
 ciples saw him ascend. 2. Two angels declared that he 
 had thus ascended. 3. Jesus said He would ascend. 4. 
 Stephen and Paul, and John the Evangelist, saw him in 
 his ascended state. 5. His ascension was demonstrated 
 by the descent of the Holy .Spirit ; by the miracles of the 
 Apostles, the fruits of their labors, and the spread of the 
 Gospel to this day. Every thing that proves the reality 
 of the Christian religion is an evidence of the truth of 
 Christ's ascension. And 6. The destruction of Jerusalem, 
 the end of the Hebrew polity, the ceasing of Hebrew 
 sacrifices in the overthrow of the temple, are standing 
 proofs that He was the Son of God ; and that as He said. 
 He would ascend again to His Father, so He undoubtedly 
 fulfilled his own words, and thus is it proved that He is 
 the true and only Messiah, the Saviour of sinners. 
 
 lY. In the fourth place, what are ice to believe as to 
 the nature and properties of the body in which Christ 
 appeared after his resurrection^ and which He took with 
 him when He ascended into heaven f The best answer 
 
HIS HUMAN BODY ASCENDED. 285 
 
 we can give to this question is found in the answers of 
 the Larger Catechism to the 52d and 53d questions, and 
 in the fourth Article of the Church of England, all of 
 which let us read. 
 
 Q. 52. How was Christ exalted in Ms resurrection ? 
 
 A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not 
 having seen corruption in death, of which it was not pos- 
 sible for him to be held, and having the very same body- 
 in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof, 
 but without mortality and other common infirmities 
 belonging to this life, really united to his soul, he rose 
 again from the dead the third day by his power, whereby 
 he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satis- 
 fied Divine Justice, to have vanquished death, and him 
 that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and 
 dead : all which He did as a public person, the Head of 
 his Church, for their justification, quickening in grace, 
 support against enemies, and to assure them of their 
 resurrection from the dead at the last day. 
 
 Q. 53. How was Christ exalted in his ascension f 
 
 A. Christ was exalted in his ascension, in that having, 
 after his resurrection, often appeared unto, and conversed 
 with his Apostles, speaking to them of the -things pertain- 
 ing to the kingdom of God, and giving them commission 
 to preach the Gospel to all nations ; forty days after his 
 resurrection, he, in our nature, and as our head, triumph- 
 ing over enemies, visibly went up into the highest 
 heavens, there to receive gifts for men, to raise up our 
 affections thither, and to prepare a place for us, where 
 himself is, and shall continue till his second coming at the 
 end of the world. 
 
 The Article of the Church of England says : *' Christ 
 
286 CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 did truly rise again from death, and took again his 
 "body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining 
 to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith He 
 ascended into heaven." Some have objected to these 
 statements because it is said they are contradicted by the 
 Apostle's denominating the body of the believer, in the 
 resurrection, ^' a spiritual hody.^'' But the objection is 
 not well put. For we do not exactly or fully know what a 
 spiritual body is. ''A spiritual body," however, is clearly 
 material, and is called "spiritual" only because it is 
 refined from all earthly elements. Our Lord's body after 
 his resurrection was the same body that was buried, but 
 without any of the liabilities or infirmities of this life — 
 such as belong to mortal bodies. Moreover, according to 
 St. Paul' s reasoning, it was essentially the same body — 
 or there was no resurrection at all. That which is sown 
 is altered in shape, and yet that which is sown is the same 
 for substance that is raised. In a modified sense, the 
 body of Christ as He rose from the dead was material, and 
 so continues to be. It was endowed with the same senses 
 that it had before his death, and these senses were exer- 
 cised in the same manner, although doubtless capable, 
 humanly speaking, of a much greater degree of action 
 and of higher perfection. The Fathers of the Church 
 understood the Scriptures on this point just as we do. 
 Ignatius says, Christ was in the flesh, that is, in perfect 
 humanity, after Ids resurrection. And Irenseus says, 
 Jesus Christ was received into heaven after his resurrec- 
 tion in his flesh. And another says: '' If any one shall 
 not acknowledge that Christ is set down at the right hand 
 of the Father, in the same flesh which He took here, let 
 him be anathema." And so another : *' He ascended into 
 heaven, not divesting himself of his holy body, but 
 uniting it to a spiritual one," which is explained by 
 Augustine by saying, that all the difficulty about our 
 
HOW OUR LORD ASCENDED. 287 
 
 Lord' s taking his human, that is, his earthly body, into 
 heaven, is removed by understanding what is said in 
 Scripture : " It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spir- 
 itual body." 
 
 As the heresies in primitive times denied the reality 
 of our Lord's human nature, and taught that he had a 
 body only in appearance, and that when His Divinity 
 left his body, it dissolved into air ; or, as some of them 
 said, his body ascended no farther than the sun, in which 
 it was deposited ; so it was proper and necessary for the 
 Faith of the Church to be expressed in such terms as 
 would clearly teach that His body was a true and proper 
 human body ; and that it was with the very same body in 
 which He lived and suffered, and was crucified, and 
 which was buried in Joseph's new tomb, in which no 
 other body had ever been laid, that He ascended into 
 heaven. Accordingly our records say that He actually 
 ascended— ascended in clear daylight, in full view of all 
 the disciples, in the same body in which He was when 
 He talked with them, ate with them, and had kept com- 
 pany with some of them for forty days after his resurrec- 
 tion. He blessed the disciples, and ascended, and was 
 parted from them. While they were standing looking on 
 He went up through the atmosphere. Hoio his body thus 
 ascended without wings I am not informed ; but you 
 remember the Angel Jehovah, who appeared to Manoah, 
 and who was no other than Jesus Christ, did the same 
 thing. This angel appeared in the shape, size, and dress 
 of a pious prophet. But when the flame of Manoah' s 
 altar of sacrifice went up toward heaven from off the 
 altar, then the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of 
 the altar. Judges xiii. Nor is there any difficulty here 
 that is not removed the moment we remember that He pos- 
 sessed absolute Divinity as well as true humanity. The 
 
288 CHEIST ASCEXDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 power of the Godhead within himself was quite sufficient 
 to raise himself aloft, or to command legions of angels, 
 invisible to human eyes, to form a glory-cloud with their 
 wings, and bear Him up to heaven. The words descrip- 
 tive of the manner of his ascending are peculiar and 
 suggestive. " Until the day in which He was taken up^''^ 
 intimating that He was lifted up as into a chariot of 
 triumph by legions of invisible angels, and borne aloft 
 through the air into heaven. And this very properly 
 brings me, in the next place, to inquire : 
 
 Y. By what cause or immediate agency did our Lord 
 rise from the dead and ascend into heaven ? Who 
 raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Him into heaven ? 
 The Agent, or immediate efficient cause of his exaltation, 
 is certainly no other than the power of Godhead — 
 certainly could be no other than '' that Divinity common 
 to the three Persons not divided in nature, power, and 
 operation ;"* whence it is attributed most commonly to 
 God the Father, who in the order of nature and in all com- 
 mon operations precedes. Sometimes it is ascribed to 
 his own power — the Son laid down his life and took it 
 up again. Sometimes, also, our Lord's resurrection is 
 attributed to the Holy Spirit, by whom He was filled at 
 his baptism, and by whom He cast out devils and 
 wrought his miracles, and so also performed this, the 
 greatest of all his miracles, raising himself from the dead. 
 [See Rom. viii. 11.] Observe, it is an undoubted ftict, 
 that, according to the Scriptures, our Lord' s resurrection 
 from the dead is ascribed to the Father, to himself, and 
 to the Holy Spirit. Thus St. Paul in several places 
 ascribes the raising of Christ from the dead to God the 
 
 * The learned Dr. Barrow. 
 
I 
 
 THE AGENT OF HIS ASCENSION. 289 
 
 Father. He says in 1 Tim. iv. 13, that it is a part of the 
 Divine glory, that He who quickeneth all things raised 
 up the Lord Jesus. And so St. Peter, on the day of 
 Pentecost, says, "This Jesus hath God raised up.'' And 
 St. Paul again, as if he could not find words, but labored 
 to express his thoughts, speaks of the ' ' exceeding great- 
 ness of his power which he wrought in Christ when he 
 raised him from the dead." "He was raised up from the 
 dead by the glory of the Father." And yet Jesus him- 
 self declared he would raise himself up ; and so also his 
 resurrection is ascribed to the Holy Spirit — ^''quickened 
 by the SpiriV^ — " He was declared to be the Son of God 
 with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the 
 resurrection from the dead." Observe especially the 
 positive language of Peter in Acts v. 30, 31 : " The God 
 of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged 
 on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to 
 be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to 
 Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses 
 of these things." And again, in another place, he said, 
 " Ye killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised 
 from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." And then, 
 when speaking of the lame man healed at the Temple 
 gate, he says, " Be it known unto you all, and to all the 
 people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of 
 Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the 
 dead^ even by Him doth this man stand here before you 
 whole." Many passages of Holy Scripture ascribe our 
 Lord's exaltation to God the Father, showing that "the 
 God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glor}^," has 
 shown unto us the wonders of redemption, and "what 
 is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who 
 believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 
 which He wrought in Christ when He raised him from 
 
 19 
 
290 CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 tlie dead, and set him at his own right hand in the 
 heavenly places." Eph. i. 17-23. 
 
 And so also there are many places in the New Testa- 
 ment where our Lord's resurrection and ascension to the 
 glory of the Father are ascribed to himself. In John x. 
 17; ii. 19; v. 26. As where He says, "Destroy this 
 temple," meaning his body, "and in three days I will 
 raise it up." I will. "Therefore doth my Father love 
 me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. 
 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. 
 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take 
 it again. This commandment have I received of my 
 Father. And as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath 
 He given to the Son to have life in himself." And his 
 promises were often made in his own name, and to the 
 effect that He would rise again from the dead after He 
 should be crucified. 
 
 And so also the same life-giving power which belongs 
 to the Father and to the Son, belongs also to the Holy 
 Spirit. The same power, honor, and homage is ascribed 
 to the Three persons of the Godhead. And as Jesus 
 Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in 
 the womb of the Virgin Mary, so His body was quickened 
 and raised by the same Holy Spirit. How then are we 
 to understand these texts of Holy Scripture ? I answer, 
 they are all harmonized by receiving the doctrine of the 
 Catechism, that " there is but one only, the living and 
 true God." And that "there are three persons in the 
 Godhead ; the Father, the Son, and the Hojy Ghost ; and 
 these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in 
 power and glory." Clearly there is no other explanation 
 than this : the 'same Divine Essence is common to the 
 Three persons in the Godhead. 
 
WHY CHRIST ASCENDED. 291 
 
 yi. WJty^ then^ did Christ ascend into heaven f 
 
 The REASONS why Christ ascended into heaven are 
 plain. 1. It was to fulfil the types and prophecies con- 
 cerning the Messiah. 2. It was necessary to fulfil his 
 own words, in which He had foretold this of himself. 
 John vi. 62 ; xx. 17. 
 
 3. That He might thus appear as a Priest in the 
 presence of God for us. 
 
 4. That He might take upon himself more openly and 
 exercise more fully his kingly oflSce ; and, 
 
 5. Give perfect assurance to his followers that his 
 promises of life everlasting and of the resurrection of 
 their bodies were to be faithfully and literally kept. 
 
 By believing this Article, therefore, our faith is con- 
 firmed in Jesus Christ as God's only Son, our Lord and 
 Saviour. And our Hope is also strengthened, and our 
 affections are to be set on things above where Christ is. 
 ''For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be 
 also." '' If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all 
 men unto me." 
 
 YII. Then, in the last place, let us consider the 
 Benefits we derive from the ascension of our Lord into 
 heaven. For as our Mediator He ascended for his people 
 as well as for himself. His ascension proves his work 
 of atonement finished and accepted, and that He has com- 
 pletely triumphed over all his enemies. The Heidelberg 
 Catechism asks : "Of what advantage to us is Christ's 
 ascension into heaven ? Ans. First That he is our advo- 
 cate in the presence of his Father in heaven ; Secondly. 
 That we have our jlesh in heaven, as a sure pledge that 
 
292 CHRIST ASCEI^DED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 he, as the Head, will also take up to himself, us, his 
 members ; Thirdly, That He sends us his Spirit as an 
 earnest by whose power we seek the things which are 
 above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, and 
 not things on earth." 
 
 1. As our Advocate with the Father, He intercedes 
 for the pardon of our sins, for the acceptance of our 
 persons and services. He offers up oar prayers and 
 praises, pleading for their acceptance because of his own 
 merits, and our complete salvation for his sake. ''He 
 ever liveth to make intercession for us." ''If any man 
 sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
 the Righteous ; and He is the propitiation for our sins. 
 Him hath God exalted as a Prince and a Saviour to give 
 repentance unto Israel and remission of sins." 
 
 " Christ ! the beauty of the angel worlds ! 
 Of man the Saviour and Redeemer blest I 
 Grant us one day to mount the path of light, 
 And in thy glory rest." 
 
 2. He ascended into heaven to take possession of it, 
 and to reside there, as to His humanity, in our name and 
 behalf and in our nature. As Head of His Church, He 
 sits on the throne of dominion, overruling all things for 
 the Church, which is His body. And as He is there in 
 our nature. His glorified body is a pledge that where the 
 Head is the members must be also. As Enoch, under the 
 patriarchal dispensation, was translated to heaven as a 
 pledge of a future state and the resurrection of the body ; 
 and Elijah under the dispensation of the Law and the 
 Prophets, so Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and in His 
 true body ascended from earth to heaven, as a pledge, 
 
FRUITS OF HIS ASCENSIOIf. 293 
 
 earnest, and proof of the resurrection of His people and 
 their ascension to eternal glory. 
 
 There is a sense also in which our Saviour went to 
 heaven to prepare a place for us ; to prepare mansions in 
 His Father's house for his followers, where is fulness of 
 joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. 
 He is therefore our forerunner, who has gone to prepare 
 for our reception and entertainment in the heavenly 
 world. It is His declared will that where He is, there we 
 shall be also, that we may be partakers of his glory. 
 Well may it be said, we have a double assurance of 
 heaven : since our flesh is there as a pledge, and the 
 Holy Spirit is in our souls as an earnest. 
 
 Again : 3. Our Lord tells us himself that it was 
 necessary for Him to return to the Father, to send the 
 Holy Spirit to dicell in His Church on earth. "Never- 
 theless I tell you the truth : it is expedient for you that 
 I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not 
 come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto 
 you." And when " He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. He 
 will guide you into all truth — He shall glorify me : for 
 he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." 
 And again, in John vii. 39, it is said, "the Holy Spirit 
 was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glori- 
 fied." This clearly means that the Holy Spirit was not 
 yet poured out in the manner and measure that God did 
 intend to bestow it upon his Church, because Jesus was 
 not yet actually received into glory. It was God' s pur- 
 pose, therefore, to send the Holy Spirit more abundantly, 
 as on the day of Pentecost, into his people, as a distin- 
 guishing sign of Christ's ascension. And accordingly, 
 just before He ascended, He told his disciples to tarry in 
 the city of Jerusalem until they should be endued with 
 power from on high. "For behold, I send the promise of 
 
294 CHRIST ASCE:t!rDED INTO HEAVEN. 
 
 my Father ripoii you. 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, and returned to Jerusalem with 
 great joy ; and were continually in the temple, praising 
 and blessing God." Luke xxiv. 49-53. 
 
 It is not for us to explain why it is that it has pleased 
 Infinite Wisdom to bestow the gifts and graces of the 
 Divine Spirit upon the Church, for the enlightening, 
 sanctifying, and saving of His people, as a reward for 
 the obedience of His Son, and as a proof of his ascen- 
 sion, but it is in this manner the Scriptures set these 
 things before us. The Apostle expressly declares that 
 all the gifts and graces bestowed on the Church for the 
 perfecting of the saints is according to the measure of 
 the gift of Christ after His ascension up on high. ** And 
 because He was obedient to death, therefore did God 
 exalt him ; for the suffering of death, we see Jesus 
 crowned with glory and honor." It is thus He sees the 
 travail of his soul and is satisfied. And herein also lies 
 our encouragement. We cannot distrust his promises to 
 give us comfort in affliction, strength in weakness, and 
 complete deliverance from all our enemies, for He is 
 exalted to reign over all things for His Church. He is 
 exalted as our Advocate. He is our friend at court, to 
 receive and hand in our petitions, indorsed by his recom- 
 mendation. Wherefore we may come boldly to the 
 Throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy, and grace 
 to help in time of need. 
 
 Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that like as 
 we do believe Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, to have ascended into the heavens, so we may 
 
A PRAYER. 295 
 
 also, in heart and mind, thither ascend, and with Him 
 continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with Thee 
 and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. 
 Amen. 
 
296 "SITTETH AT THE EIGHT HAND OF GOD/' 
 
 XIY 
 
 "AND SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. 
 
 "Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of 
 the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye 
 now see and hear." — Acts il 33. 
 
 ' * Looking unto Jesus, ** * * and is set down at the right hand of the 
 throne of God."— Heb. xii. 2. 
 
 " Tho God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a 
 tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, 
 for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." — Acts v. 30, 31, with 
 Eph. i. 20-23, inclusive. 
 
 In tlie Discourse last Sabbath evening on the sixth 
 Article of our Creed, which is in these words: *'He 
 ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of 
 God the Father Almighty," I desired you to consider it 
 as divided into two parts : First. Our Lord' s ascension. 
 Secondly. His position — '' sitteth on the right hand of 
 God the Father Almighty." The first part was the sub- 
 ject of the last Discourse, in which I spoke of the his- 
 tory of the Article, how it has been regarded by the 
 Church, and how the festival of Ascension Day has been 
 observed. I endeavored to explain the fact of the 
 ascension of our Lord, its nature^ manner., truili and 
 certainty J necessity and advantages. The proofs of the 
 
HIS BODY IN HEAVEN. 29T 
 
 fact were named, and the nature and properties of the 
 body in which Christ ascended were found to constitute 
 the spiritual body of St. Paul, which he declares is the 
 body of believers in the resurrection. The body in 
 which Christ ascended into heaven, and which is still in 
 heaven, according to our standards, and of the Orthodox 
 Church throughout the world, is '^ the very same body in 
 which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof," 
 ^'with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the 
 perfection of man's nature," " but without mortality and 
 other common infirmities belonging to this life." When 
 our Lord rose from the dead. He took again the same 
 body ill which He lived, suffered, and died, and in this 
 same body He ascended into heaven. This body had the 
 same senses that belonged to it before death, and they 
 were capable of the same, and even of a greater perfec- 
 tion of their functions, as it was now a spiritual body — 
 that is, a purified, a heavenly body. This was the doc- 
 trine of the best, and, in fact, of almost all the Fathers. 
 
 It will be remembered, also, that in the history of the 
 ascension of our Lord, two places are distinctly specified 
 — the place from which He ascended, and the place to 
 which He ascended. He ascended from the side of Mount 
 Olivet, which lies towards the town of Bethany, and on 
 the border of the district or township of Bethany ; and 
 "He ascended into heaven,'^ ^ where He ''sitteth on the 
 right hand of God the Father Almighty." It is of the 
 position, posture, or ''the session" of our Lord's human 
 nature in heaven that I am to speak this evening. And 
 the order I propose is — 
 
 I. The fact itself, as stated in the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 II. Some explanation of the terms or phrases, ''into 
 heaven," and " sitteth at the right hand of God the 
 Father." 
 
298 "SITTETH AT THE EIGHT HAND OF GOD.'' 
 
 III. Some reasons for Christ's '^session" on God's 
 right hand in heaven. 
 
 I. The fact itself. The learned and eloquent Witsius 
 introduces his dissertation on Christ's sitting at the right 
 hand of God the Father in the following style : Whoever 
 loves Christ in sincerity, cannot fail, on many accounts, 
 to take pleasure in meditating on that unbounded glory, 
 to which the Father has been pleased to exalt him. No 
 spectacle can be more excellent, more splendid, or more 
 delightful in the esteem of believers, than that to which 
 they are invited in the Song of Solomon : ''Go forth, O 
 ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the 
 crown wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day 
 of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his 
 heart." According to his method of interpreting Scrip- 
 ture, which is still followed by many good men. King 
 Solomon here is the Lord Jesus ; the day of his espousals 
 is the Gospel dispensation, which is the day of the glad- 
 ness of his heart. And the putting of the crown upon 
 his head denotes the great glory of his kingdom by the 
 conversion of souls, as on the day of Pentecost and in 
 the spread of the Gospel. I do not altogether adopt this 
 typical illustration, but still the application is beautiful. 
 And we can all pray that the daughters of Zion, true 
 believers in Jesus, may come in great crowds from all 
 parts of the world to behold His crown. 
 
 As to the fact : ''and sitteth on the right hand of God, 
 the Father Almighty." First The Scriptures speak as 
 plainly and as positively as they can. Mark says, "He 
 was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand 
 of God." And this was the fulfilment of our Lord's own 
 words to the priest, who asked him, "Art thou the Christ, 
 the Son of the Blessed ? and Jesus said, I am : and ye 
 
THE SCEIPTUKES FULFILLED. 299 
 
 shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
 power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Mark 
 xvi. 19 ; xiv. 62. The same is found in Matt. xxvi. 64. 
 And in Luke xx. 42, our Lord quotes the 110th Psalm, 1, 
 and applies it to himself. See verses 41-44. 
 
 And before the council of the elders and chief priests, 
 when they demanded to know whether He were the 
 Christ or not, He said. Hereafter shall the Son of Man 
 sit on the right hand of the pow^er of God, and by this 
 He meant He was the Son of God. Luke xxii. 69, 70. 
 And Acts ii. 34-36. Peter, preaching by the power of the 
 Holy Spirit, applies the 110th Psalm, 1, to Jesus. In Rom. 
 viii. 34: "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ 
 that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even 
 at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
 for us." 
 
 *' If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things 
 which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand 
 of God." Col. iii. 1. " By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
 who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God ; 
 angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject 
 unto him." 1 Pet. iii. 22, with Hebrews i. 3 and 13. 
 
 And Heb. viii. 1 : " We have such an high priest, who 
 is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the 
 heavens." Now there can be no denial but that these 
 texts refer to Jesus Christ. 
 
 And Secondly. As the largest portion of the Apostles' 
 Creed is composed of terms, words, and statements de- 
 signed to embody and set forth the true faith concerning 
 our Lord Jesus^ so these statements are meant to deny 
 and refute heresies that disturbed the faithful followers 
 of Jesus even in the early ages of the Church. Many 
 erroneous and blasphemous doctrines were taught, and 
 
300 " SITTETH AT THE EIGHT HAND OF GOD." 
 
 foolish conceits indulged, even in the days of the Apos- 
 tles, by Judaizing and philosophical teachers, concerning 
 the human nature of our Lord. His Divinity was 
 admitted, but his humanity denied. Hence, the Creed 
 was intended to affirm that his human nature was perfect 
 — that though conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb 
 of the Virgin Mary, yet He was truly born of her, taking 
 a true body from her substance, and having a reasonable 
 soul — and that it was this perfect human body that was 
 really crucified, dead and buried, and rose again and 
 ascended into heaven, and sitteth still at the right hand of 
 the Throne of God. And thus the Creed denies the doc- 
 trine of the heretics who said that His body was not real, 
 but only, assumed, and also the doctrine of those who 
 said that when His Divinity left his body it dissolved 
 into air, or, as some of them have said, his body ascended 
 only as far as the sun, in which it was deposited. On the 
 contrary, the true faith of the Church, and which is cer- 
 tainly according to the Holy Scriptures, is : that Christ 
 took his body, the very same body that was laid in 
 Joseph's new tomb, and which was a perfect human 
 bod}^, but free from all sin, and hence could not see cor- 
 ruption in the grave, and with this body came forth from 
 the sepulchre, and in it appeared alive after his resurrec- 
 tion for forty days, and in the same body ascended into 
 heaven, where He sitteth at the right hand of God. 
 
 II. The words into heaven and sitteth imply clearly that 
 Heaven is a "place as well as a state. Into heaven indi- 
 cates the place to which our Lord ascended. Heaven, in 
 ordinary language, the immediate presence of God — the 
 place of purity and happiness where God' s greatest favor 
 is enjoyed. The Jews used the term for heaven, however, 
 in a more general sense. The clouds are called ^'the 
 clouds of heaven," that is, of the first heaven. And 
 
INTO HEAVEN OF HEAVENS. 301 
 
 Paul speaks of being' caught up into the third heaven, 
 and sometimes we hear of the seventh heaven, and the 
 heaven of heavens, and in Hebrews vii. 26, it is said : 
 '^ And he must needs pass through the heavens, because 
 He was made higher than the heavens." And again, 
 Eph. iv. 10: ''For He that descended is the same also 
 that ascended up far above all heavens." And in Heb. 
 ix. 12, 24, we are expressly told that Christ our High 
 Priest entered into that within the veil — "into the holy 
 place, even into heaven itself to appear in the presence 
 of God." This is the place called the heaven of heavens. 
 And by ascending into heaven, our Lord fulfilled his 
 words to his disciples when He said : " What and if ye 
 shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was 
 before." Now as the Son of God came from the Father 
 Almighty, it was not strange that He should return to 
 Him — to the place where He was before his actual incar- 
 nation ; but it is a wonderful display of his sovereign 
 love, that He should take our nature from the grave, and 
 in it ascend to the heaven of heavens — that His body 
 which was taken out of the substance of the Blessed 
 Virgin, and which was a true human body — with flesh 
 and blood, and bones, like ours — that He should take 
 this body to the right hand of Infinite Majesty, to be 
 seated above angels, and archangels, and principalities, 
 and powers : this is what he meant when He spoke to his 
 disciples about going up to where He was before. Bishop 
 Pearson speaks of the Heaven of the Creed into which 
 Jesus ascended, in this way: "Whatsoever heaven," 
 says he, " then, is higher than all the rest which are called 
 heavens ; whatsoever sanctuary is holier than all which 
 are called holies ; whatsoever place is of greatest dignity 
 in all those courts above, into that place did He ascend, 
 where in the splendor of his Deity he was, before he took 
 upon him our humanity." p. 400. 
 
302 " SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOB." 
 
 It may not be out of place here to remark, that the 
 late eminent and scholarly Sir William Rowan Hamilton, 
 of Dublin, attempted to illustrate from our Lord's ascen- 
 sion the vastness of our universe, and the consequent 
 glory of our Lord as Head over all to His Church. It is 
 certainly a very ingenious attempt to elucidate one of the 
 grandest questions of our faith. His theory is this. As 
 God is everywhere present, the ascension is predicable 
 only of our Lord's body, which is certainly correct. 
 Then a local translation of Christ's body implies a change 
 of place^ and a change of place requires time ; and as we 
 have already attempted to show, this must also be true. 
 For even a spiritual body is material, and cannot be 
 ubiquitous, nor pass without a period of time from one 
 place to another. But what has all this to do with our 
 Lord's ascending into heaven ? Well, let us see. (1.) The 
 ascension was gradual. While our Lord was blessing 
 his disciples. He was parted from them. A cloud 
 received him, and as they stood gazing up towards 
 heaven, he disappeared far up, passing still upwards 
 through the air. His ascension did occupy time. It was 
 not instantaneous. (2.) Is it not reasonable, then, to 
 suppose that still more time was occupied in the ascend- 
 ing of his body, after the disciples lost sight of him ? The 
 cloud that received Him out of their sight was not the 
 heaven where Jesus sitteth at the right hand of God. 
 Some period of time must have elapsed between his dis- 
 appearing in the cloud over the Mount of Olives, and 
 his taking his seat at His Father' s right hand. Bui 7iow 
 long was this period f 1 cannot decide. May we say it 
 was ten days ? Did it take the human body of our 
 blessed Lord ten days to ascend into the heaven which is 
 far above all heavens ? If so, then how mighty, how vast 
 is our Father's house ! No eye, no telescope has pierced 
 through the awful interspace. Light itself may not yet 
 
TEN DAYS ASCENDING. 303 
 
 have been able to come from thence to ns. And who can 
 tell but such an effluence of light from the Eternal Throne 
 is to burst upon us when the new heavens and the new 
 earth are to appear ? I do not say, brethren, this is to be 
 an Article of Faith. I do not venture to say that Christ' s 
 body was ten days in ascending into heaven. Reason 
 has nothing to say on this point. It is a matter of 
 Revelation, and revelation leaves us with a record that 
 only suggests. And the suggestion lies in this way : 
 First. According to the Scriptures, our Lord's ascension 
 was to be before the descent of the Holy Spirit on the 
 day of Pentecost. The Scriptures fully authorize us to 
 say that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are ascribed to Christ' s 
 ascension as a completed act. Secondly. The descent of 
 the Holy Spirit, being purely Divine, Spiritual, cannot 
 be measured by time. Thirdly. As our Lord's ascen- 
 sion into heaven is alluded to in the Scriptures in such 
 close connection with the descent of the Holy Spirit, 
 may we not say, that as soon as Jesus took his seat on 
 the right hand of God, then the Holy Spirit fell upon the 
 Apostles ? May not the finished work of ascending up 
 on high have been instantly followed by the wonderful 
 outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost ? And 
 we know that Pentecost was ten days after the Ascension. 
 May not the transit of our Lord from the cloud over 
 Bethany to the Throne have been but one continued pas- 
 sage, in long triumphal pomp, through Powers and Prin- 
 cipalities made subject to him? May not the only- 
 begotten Son have then been set forth by proclamation 
 and investiture, while the Universe beheld its God, and 
 all the angels worshipped him ?* And would not this 
 view harmonize with the 110th Psalm, and the application 
 
 * See North British Review, Sept 1866, p. 37. 
 
304 " SITTETH AT THE EIGHT HAND OF GOD." 
 
 of it to Christ by the Apostles? Was it not thus the 
 everlasting gates lifted up. their heads, that the King of 
 Glory might return to his Throne ? This view is not con- 
 trary to Scripture or the articulated faith of the people 
 of God, as far as I know. And it certainly opens up 
 grand conceptions of the glory of Christ, as well as of the 
 mighty vastness of our Father's House, in which are 
 many mansions. 
 
 Although there are but few themes, if indeed there 
 are any, in the whole range of theological contemplation, 
 more noble than this one — very few more sublime and 
 profitable for devout reflections — yet it is a subject of 
 considerable difficulty, and of much controversy among 
 learned men, both ancient and modern. It is the more 
 important, therefore, that in our remarks we should en- 
 deavor to keep the facts as stated in the Holy Scriptures 
 distinctly before us, and try to know the meaning of the 
 terms in which these facts are set forth. 
 
 I do not understand that the Creed or the Word of 
 God tea(jhes, that Christ' s sitting at the right hand of God 
 means that He is not equal to the Father. I do not see 
 that the learned controversies that have been carried on 
 about the place of honor among the ancients, or with the 
 Romans, have any thing to do with this point. Whether 
 with the Romans the highest place of honor was at the 
 right hand or at the left one, has nothing to do with 
 this Article. All we need to know is, that the Bible 
 speaks of the practice of the Hebrews. In the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, we have the expressions, ''the right hand 
 of the Majesty," and " the right hand of the Throne of the 
 Majesty," and ''the right hand of the Throne of God," 
 clearly intimating that this was the place of honor. Accord- 
 ingly, we find in the 80th Psalm, 17, that the man whom 
 
THE RIGHT HAND IS HONOR. 305 
 
 Grod loves and honors is tlie man of Ms riglit hand. And 
 Solomon says : " xl wise man's heart is at his right hand ; 
 but a fool's heart is at his left." The meaning of this is, 
 that riglii-Ttand tilings are wise, useful, excellent, good ; 
 and left-hand things are just the contrary. In Joseph's 
 placing of his sons to receive his father's blessing, we find 
 the elder on Jacob's right hand, as the place of the highest 
 honor. And Job complains of the want of respect among 
 the young men of his day for the aged, by saying that 
 things had come to such a pass, that even the lads, the 
 youth not of age, assumed to take their places at his right 
 hand. And our Lord himself declares that at the last 
 day, His people will be set on his right hand, as a token 
 of his approbation and of the honors to be done to them ; 
 but the wicked on his left, in testimony of their disgrace. 
 The sacred writers certainly refer to the custom of the 
 Hebrews, and mean by the right hand, the place of high- 
 est honor — denoting dignity equal to that of the Father. 
 Chrysostom says : "If inferiority had been intended, the 
 Scriptures would have placed our Lord on the left hand 
 of the Throne." And TheopJiylact says : " Christ sitteth 
 on the right hand, and on liigh ; in order to show that He 
 is equal in dignity to the Father." And another old 
 writer says : " The Father offers Christ his Son an exalt- 
 ed place by himself on his Throne ; and, for the purpose 
 of doing him honor, he has set him in an everlasting seat 
 at his right hand."* 
 
 Is Christ, then, greater than the Father? So some 
 Socinians have charged us with holding. They say it 
 must be so, if our views of the dignity of sitting at the 
 right hand of the Father Almighty are correct. But the 
 Apostle takes an entirely different view: "When all 
 
 * Quoted from Witsius, vol. ii. p. 242. 
 20 
 
306 " SITTETH AT THE EIGHT HAISD OF GOD." 
 
 things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is 
 excepted, who did put all things under Him." 1 Cor. 
 XV. 27. It is clear therefore that sitting at the right hand 
 of the Throne of God does not mean superiority, but 
 only that He is equal, not inferior. The Father is con- 
 sidered as sitting in the midst of the throne, and our Lord 
 as Mediator is next in dignity. IN'or are you to suppose 
 that the seat on the left of the throne must always be 
 filled with some other person who is inferior. When 
 King Solomon desired to show that there was no one 
 whom he would honor more than his mother Bathsheba, 
 he placed her on his right hand, whereas if he had 
 placed her at his left side, leaving the seat at his right 
 side, vacant, it would still have implied there was some 
 one to be preferred to his mother, although not then 
 actually occupying the seat of dignity. The representa- 
 tion of the Persons of the Godhead as occupying a throne 
 refers to the administration of the Mediatorial kingdom 
 of our Lord Jesus. And his Session at the right hand is 
 a metaphor, signifying that He occupies the place of 
 honor, of power, and of joy. And so also. 
 
 The term sitteth on the right hand of God the Father 
 Almighty in heaven is metaphorical, not expressive of 
 literal posture, but implying dignity, sovereignty, repose, 
 continuance, and the exercise of supreme judgment and 
 authority. Our learned men have shown that it denotes, 
 firsts honor. Servants stand, but the master sits. Angels 
 stand around the Throne; but Daniel says, "I beheld 
 till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of 
 days did siV^ And in showing Christ's superiority to 
 angels, the Apostle asks : *'To which of the angels said 
 He at any time. Sit thou on my right hand ?" 
 
 Secondly. It expresses judicial and royal authority. 
 "Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
 
SITTDiTG AND STANDING. 307 
 
 twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. xix. 28. And it was 
 predicted of the Messiah that He shall bear the glory, and 
 shall sit and rule upon his Throne. ''In mercy shall the 
 Throne be established, and He shall sit upon it." Zech. 
 vi. 13. Isa. xvi. 5. 
 
 Thirdly. Sltteth at the right hand of God denotes rest 
 and long continuance in dignity. It refers to the glorious 
 rest which the Redeemer enjoys. *' Sit thou at my right 
 hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Ps. 
 ex. 1. " For He must reign till He hath put all enemies 
 under His feet." 1 Cor. xv. 25. 
 
 We must not think, however, that our Lord's sitting 
 is inconsistent with Stephen' s vision of him " standing at 
 the right hand of God." Here the word does not denote 
 posture of the body so much as his perfect readiness to 
 receive the martyr' s soul. Sitting expresses his glorious 
 rest and authority ; and standing declares his readiness to 
 protect his servant. Thus Gregory the Great says : *' We 
 must consider what is intended by Mark' s expression, ' He 
 sat on the right hand of God,' and by Stephen's saying, 
 ' I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing 
 on the right hand of God.' Why does Mark affirm that 
 He sits, while Stephen avers that he saw Him standing ? 
 But know, brethren, that it belongs to a judge to sit ; to a 
 warrior, or helper, to stand. Since, therefore, our Re- 
 deemer, being exalted to heaven, even now exercises 
 universal judgment, and will come at last as the Judge 
 of all, Mark describes Him as sitting after He was 
 received up ; for, in consequence of the glory of His 
 ascension, He will appear as Judge at the end of the 
 world. Stephen, engaged in the labors of the contest, 
 beheld him whom he regarded as his helper in a stand- 
 ing posture ; because He fought for him, and supported 
 
308 " SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD." 
 
 him by his grace from heaven, that He might obtain the 
 victory over the perverseness of His persecutors on 
 earth."* 
 
 The meaning, then, of the words : "And sitteth on the 
 right hand of God the Father Almighty," is that Christ 
 in his person and in his kingly office occupies the highest 
 glory. This is the crowning part of His exaltation. 
 Even on earth He was transfigured, as an illustration of 
 the glory that was in him, but then veiled, and in his 
 resurrection He came forth from the dead to an immortal 
 state, and in his ascension 'VHe was received up into 
 heaven and sat on the right hand of God." This glory 
 is peculiar to Christ. "• He set him at his own right 
 hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities, 
 and power, and might, and dominion, and every name 
 that is named, not only in this world, but also in that 
 which is to come : and hath put all things .under His feet, 
 and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the 
 Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that 
 filleth all in all." Eph. i. 20, 23. From this passage of 
 the Apostle it is clear that Christ is above all prophets, 
 teachers, and legislators of past ages, and of the present 
 and of all future ages of the Church. Men and angels, 
 however glorious in his service, are under Him. ' So it 
 was with Moses and the Prophets, and so it was with his 
 own Apostles, and so in all ages to come, Christ is far 
 higher than all the angels. No creature is associated 
 with Him in his dominion. He is the sole, Supreme, 
 only "Head over all things to the Church, which is his 
 body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." 
 
 But it is said, believers have the promise of reigning 
 
 * Quoted out of Witsius, vol. ii. pp. 248, 249. 
 
EEIGNING WITH CHRIST. 309 
 
 witli Him, of sitting on thrones, standing at his right hand, 
 and the Apostles are to sit on thrones with Him, judg- 
 ing the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, I apprehend that 
 these and all such expressions are figurative. They mean 
 identity of will and communion with Him. They approve 
 of and rejoice in His government and in His glory, as if it 
 were their own. When it is said believers are *' partakers 
 of the Divine nature," the meaning is not that they 
 become infinite as God is infinite. The only sense possi- 
 ble to such a phrase is that they are partakers of Divine 
 things, not in degree and quality, but in Mnd — they are 
 assimilated in a small degree to His likeness. 
 
 The words, then, '*sat down at the right hand of the 
 Throne of God," express the glory of our Lord, which 
 is common to Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit ; 
 and they set forth at the same time the peculiar glory 
 which, according to the mystery of the Trinity of Persons 
 in the Godhead, is to be ascribed to the person and offices 
 of Christ as Mediator. We do not read anywhere in the 
 Bible that the Holy Spirit sits at the right hand of God. 
 Nor do we read of the Holy Spirit being born of a woman, 
 or sent into the world to suffer and die. As it was the 
 Son of God, the person Christ Jesus, who fills the office 
 of Mediator, so the glory of that office belongs only to 
 Him. He therefore sits at the right hand of the Throne. 
 You have observed, doubtless, that the term holy is an 
 eminent specialty of the third person of the ineffable 
 Trinity. Why is this ? Not because the third person is 
 more holy than the first or the second ; but simply, 
 because it is the divine economy that the third person 
 shall operate on the human heart, and make it holy by 
 applying to it the benefits purchased by the death of 
 Christ. And hence the third person is called the Holy 
 Ghost, or the Holy Spirit, because it is his office to make 
 
310 "SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD." 
 
 men holy. And as Christ is the Mediator between God 
 and men, so his person and offices are peculiarly glorified 
 by his ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand 
 of the Throne of God. His own glorified body is there in 
 the glory which, as God's own Son, he had with the 
 Father before the world was. And in respect to his 
 office, He fills it by sitting at the right hand of God the 
 Father — that is. He is reigning, ruling, ministering, and 
 governing all things for his Church. As Peter said : 
 *' Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly 
 that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have cru- 
 cified, both Lord and Christ." '' Being by the right hand 
 of God exalted." 
 
 III. In the third place, let us inquire, why is Christ 
 thus sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God in 
 heaven ? 
 
 1. To show the glory of God the Father. " God hath 
 highly exalted him," Phil. ii. 9. In his resurrection from 
 the dead, our Lord received his discharge for the full 
 payment of the debt He assumed for us ; and in his 
 ascension the Father recalls him, as an ambassador who 
 has accomplished his mission in a foreign country is called 
 home to his native land to enjoy the honors and fruits of 
 his labors. As God's onl}^ Son, He has essentially a 
 kingdom and glory, but it is in his mediatorial or personal 
 kingdom as God-man that we see him sitting at the 
 Father's right hand. In his humiliation, he emptied 
 himself of his glory, took on himself our nature. In his 
 exaltation He takes human nature with him to his eternal 
 glory, and in it is exalted, that in all things He might 
 have the pre-eminence. For He is the Head of the body, 
 the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from 
 the dead. 
 
CHRIST INTERCEDmG. 311 
 
 **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 : 
 
 ** And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled 
 himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
 of the cross. 
 
 '' Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and 
 given him a name which is above every name : 
 
 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and tilings 
 under the earth : 
 
 ''And that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
 Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 
 6-11. 
 
 In the work of redemption Christ glorifies the truth, 
 holiness, justice, and mercy of God. The Father is glo- 
 rified in the Son. 
 
 2. One part of His office as our High Priest is to 
 appear before God to make intercession for us. You 
 remember that when Solomon had caused his mother to 
 be seated at his right hand, he assured her that none of 
 her requests should be denied. But how much more 
 may we rely on the interceding requests of Jesus sitting 
 at the right hand of the Throne of God ? He upholdeth 
 all things by the word of his power, and having made 
 an atonement by the sacrifice of liiiiiself to satisfy Divine 
 Justice, He then sat down at the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high, to make intercession for us. " For Christ 
 is entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the pres- 
 
312 " SITTETH AT THE EIGHT HAI^D OF GOD." 
 
 ence of God for us." Heb. ix. 24. *^But this man, 
 after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat 
 down at the right hand of God. From henceforth ex- 
 pecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Heb. x. 
 12, 13. 
 
 3. Again, Christ is thus exalted at the right hand of 
 Ood to protect His Church and mndicate His people^ and 
 complete their salvation. The Father gave him to be the 
 Head over all things to the Church. He is a King who 
 rules in the midst of his enemies. He will maintain the 
 right of His people, and powerfully defend their cause 
 against all their enemies ; for their enemies are His ene- 
 mies. 
 
 4. And is there no terror in the consideration of this 
 Article to the ungodly ? Who is this that is seated in 
 glory ineffable at the right hand of the Throne of God ? 
 Is it not He whom the Jews rejected, saying : ''We will 
 not have this man to reign over us?" But He does not 
 now wear the mock robe of royalty, but is clothed with 
 the majesty of the Eternal Throne. The sceptre in his 
 hand is no reed, but the rod of His Power, with which 
 He keeps the universe in awe. Yain are the efforts of 
 men and devils to keep Christ from reigning. " He that 
 sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the Lord shall have 
 them in derision." In spite of the feeble rage of the 
 ungodly, and the fury of demons, our Jesus reigns still, 
 and shall reign forever. He shall put down all rule, all 
 authority and power, and bring every thing into subjec- 
 tion. And with Him His Church is exalted and reigns in 
 spite of all her foes. 
 
 '* Superior to their rage in every form, 
 Treads on the clouds, contemns the bursting storm; 
 Hears tempests rush, and dreadful thunders roll, 
 With smiling count'nance, with undaunted souL" 
 
SECURITY WITH CHRIST. 313 
 
 Let the potsherd of the earth strive with the pot- 
 sherds of the earth, but woe unto him that striveth with 
 his Maker. However rich or poAverful his adversaries 
 may be, Jehovah will break them in pieces like a potter's 
 vessel. He will beat them like dust before the wind, 
 and reduce them to powder like the mire of the streets. 
 '' Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 
 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the 
 way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." 
 
 Are you indeed, my dear brethren, subjects of such a 
 King ? Are you followers of the Lord Jesus 1 With 
 what fervor, then, should you adore Him ! How earnest- 
 ly should you serve Him ! What is there on earth, 
 among all its joys, honors, or pursuits to be compared to 
 the riches of the glory of the inheritance of His saints ? 
 Are you, then, living for His glory ? Are you praying 
 and laboring that His kingdom may come? Are you 
 toiling in anticipation of that unfading crown of glory 
 which He will put on your heads, and which is to encir- 
 cle them forever ? May you be faithful unto death, and 
 enter into life eternal. Amen. 
 
314 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 XV. 
 
 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 " Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
 this samo Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
 manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." — Acts i. 11. 
 
 " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which 
 are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we 
 believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus 
 will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, 
 that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not pre- 
 vent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
 with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and 
 the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are live and remain shall be 
 caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so 
 shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these 
 words." — 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. 
 
 Last Sabbath eyening we saw God's only Son, our 
 Lord Jesus, sitting on the right hand of God the Father 
 Almighty, as Lord and Christ, exalted with the right 
 hand of God to be a Prince and a Saviour, on the throne 
 above all angels, principalities, and powers of the present 
 age, and of all ages to come. Ruler and Judge Supreme 
 over all things to His Church. We have now to consider 
 the senenth Article of our Creed, which embodies the 
 declaration of the two angels to the disciples as they wit- 
 nessed our Lord's ascension. The w^ords of the Creed 
 
CHRIST COMma IN JUDGMENT. 315 
 
 are : ^' From thence He shall come to judge the quick and 
 the dead ;" or, as it is expressed in the fourth Article of 
 the Church of England: ''And there sitteth until He 
 return to judge all men at the last day." Our subject, 
 then, is Christ coming to sit in the judgment of 
 
 QUICK AND DEAD AT THE LAST DAY. Alld may the 
 
 spirit of Almighty wisdom and grace assist us to make a 
 profitable use of tins doctrine. 
 
 This is the last of those particular characters ascribed 
 in the Creed to our Lord Jesus. The whole of the Arti- 
 cle, if fully expressed, would read in this way : "And I 
 believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was 
 conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, 
 suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and 
 buried : and I believe that He descended into hell, and 
 that He rose again the third day from the dead, and that 
 He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth on the right 
 hand of God the Father Almighty ; and 1 believe that 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who now sitteth in his perfect 
 human nature on the right hand of God, shall come 
 ' with glory ' to judge the quick and the dead ; and that 
 'his kingdom shall have no end.' " You see, brethren, 
 how large a portion of the Creed is employed in express- 
 ing what we are to believe concerning the Lord Jesus. 
 If the Creed be printed in fourteen lines, nine of the 
 fourteen are required to express our belief in Jesus ; and 
 of course the same proportion will obtain in whatever 
 sized type it may be printed. This may remind us that 
 our faith in Jesus is to be regarded as of special conse- 
 quence, both as to our own souls and as to our influence 
 on others. 
 
 The points of this Article are four in number : First 
 That Christ shall come again, that is, to this world. 
 Second. That He shall come from the highest heaven 
 
316 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 into which He ascended when He left this world. 
 Third. The end of his coming is to judge; and, 
 FourtJily. The objects or persons to be judged are tJie 
 quicJc and tlie dead. The Article relates to Christ in 
 His person and office as Mediator and King, and implies 
 the presence of the same human body in which He 
 ascended. It declares His coming^ the place from which 
 He shall come, the end of his coming, and the parties to 
 be judged by him. There is no essential variation in 
 the old copies or draughts of this Article of the Creed. 
 In some of them it is read from thence, and in some 
 from whence, and in some simply, He will come, and in 
 some from thence or from whence He shall come is all 
 left out, and we have only : He shall judge the quick 
 and the dead. 
 
 The other words, however, when omitted are left 
 out not because they are not supposed to be true, but 
 because they are thought to be unnecessary, being implied 
 in the other clause. For if Christ is to judge the quick 
 and the dead, it is implied He will come again from 
 heaven to this world. In choosing words to constitute an 
 articulated faith, it is better, however, not to leave any 
 thing to be implied that can b}^ any possibility be mis- 
 construed. The Article, therefore, is to be received as 
 we have it. Nor are the reasons for our holding it as a 
 part of our faith essentially different from those that 
 caused it at first to be adopted. In the early ages of 
 Christianity, the chief difficulties in the Church as to 
 Articles of Faith related to our Lord's human nature. 
 And hence the fulness and earnestness of the large part of 
 the Creed that speaks of Christ. The same teachers and 
 sects for the most part who held erroneous views con- 
 cerning our Lord's human nature, also denied a future 
 judgment. The bearing of the ancient Creeds is very 
 
cheist's kingdom endless. 317 
 
 clear on the Incarnation. And in them the sitting of Jesus 
 on the right liand of God in his human nature is connected 
 immediately with his coming from thence to judge the 
 world. This was designed to condemn the idea of Sabel- 
 lius, that the Son was merely an emanation from the 
 Father, without personal subsistence, put forth for a time 
 and then reabsorbed when his mission was achieved. 
 Particularly was this the purpose of the clause added in 
 the Nicene Creed: ''And whose kingdom shall have 
 no end." When the work of redeeming our race is com- 
 plete, the exercise of the Kedeemer' s office will cease, but 
 not his kingdom of glory, for from all eternity the decree 
 had gone forth in behalf of God's own Son, " Thy throne, 
 O God, is forever and ever." For when the kingdoms 
 of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of 
 his Christ, He shall reign forever and ever. 
 
 Some, as the Manicheans, it is believed denied both the 
 resurrection and the future judgment. The Marcionites 
 and other Gnostics also denied the future general judg- 
 ment, on the ground that God was so full of grace and 
 mercy, that there was no necessity for the general judg- 
 ment, for God regarded all human actions with indif- 
 ference. Men were insignificant in his sight. Now even 
 a limited acquaintance with the literature of our day is 
 quite sufficient to show that similar views are prevalent 
 among us. The Swedenborgians, after their founder, 
 generally hold that the passages of Scripture which speak 
 of the judgment day are not to be literally interpreted, 
 but are used as metaphors or figures of speech. The 
 idea of Swedenborg probably was, that men are a kind 
 of waif, subject to two opposite influences, one from God 
 and good spirits, and the other from evil angels, and as 
 they yielded to one or the other, the soul was good and 
 rose, or was bad and fell. Consequently heaven and 
 
318 CHRIST coMma to the last judgment. 
 
 hell are not to be regarded as places, or as the result of 
 a Divine appointment, but as the necessary conditions or 
 status of the man himself, according as he is good or 
 evil.* Another reason for the use of this Article was to 
 express the faith of the Church in the continuance of our 
 Lord's kingdom, and the eternity of the union between 
 liis Divinity and humanity — two perfect natures in one 
 person forever. Origen taught that the kingdom of 
 Christ, after many ages, should end. And MarceUus of 
 Ancyra thought that the office of King was committed 
 temporarily to our Lord, and consequently that his kingly 
 office would cease and his human nature come to nothing. 
 On the other hand, the Scriptures teach that His kingdom 
 shall have no end. The present forms of His kingdom 
 of power and of grace will cease, but the kingdom of 
 his glory shall have no end. It shall last forever. This 
 Article therefore teaches the eternity of the mysterious 
 Incarnation. It asserts that Christ as man shall reign 
 forever. On this point we may well adopt the words of 
 Chrysostom, saying: ''We wonder at the awful and 
 ineffable nature of this mystery. Our Lord put on oui 
 flesh, not to lay it aside again, but to have it ever with 
 Himself. He inhabits his human tabernacle forever. 
 Otherwise He would not have deemed it worthy of the 
 royal Throne, nor would He have been adored, wearing it, 
 by all the heavenly host of angels, archangels, thrones, 
 dominions, principalities, and powers.' 'f 
 
 There are two additions in the Mcene Creed as adopt- 
 ed by the Fathers of Constantinople, namely, the words 
 ''with glory :" "and he shall come again with glory, to 
 judge both the quick and the dead :" and also the words : 
 
 ♦ See Bishop Browne, p. 101. f Forbes, 250. 
 
THE THREE GREAT CREEDS. 319 
 
 "whose kingdom shall have no end." The texts of Holy 
 Scripture brought forward in the preceding Discourses in 
 proof of our Lord' s ascension, and sitting on the right hand 
 of God as Christ in human nature,* all imply the doctrine 
 that Christ will come to judge the world. Several of 
 them expressly affirm it. Paul^ in his celebrated discourse 
 on Mars hill, declares, that ''God now commandeth all 
 men everywhere to repent : Because he hath appointed 
 a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness 
 by that man whom He hath ordained , whereof he hath 
 given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him 
 from the dead." Acts. xvii. 30. It will not then seem 
 out of place, or useless, I hope, to have alluded thus 
 briefly to the crude conceits and unscriptural opinions 
 that are denied and refuted in the Creed, for by so doing 
 we see how error has promoted truth. If such errors had 
 not arisen, we should not have had such accurate state- 
 ments of the truth in the early formulas of the Church. 
 When dangers were discovered, then the Church was 
 obliged to define and protect the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 And it is wonderful to see how the three great Creeds — 
 the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, are 
 devoted to the full and accurate statement of what was 
 believed concerning the two natures of Christ, God and 
 man, intimately united, yet not confounded, and to re- 
 main ''in two distinct natures, but one person forever." 
 — Catechism. Athanasius, in a. d. 365, declares that 
 all the Churches in the world, whether in Europe, Asia, 
 or Africa, approved of the Mcene faith, except a few 
 persons who followed Arius.f The great value of these 
 old Creeds consists in the way they guard and set forth 
 
 * Deus et Homo unus est Christus. — Athanasian Creed. 
 f See his Epist. ad Jovian, torn. 1, p. 246. 
 
320 CUEIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMEI^TT. 
 
 the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation. The 
 ancient subtleties and monstrous errors of the early ages 
 may not be revived again, but doctrines quite as blas- 
 phemous and damaging are held and taught among us. 
 In fact, on this subject it is particularly to be noted, that 
 there is but little that is new. 
 
 The departures from the faith of God's elect that 
 grieve us now are for the most part similar to, or iden- 
 tical with, those that tried the Church in past ages, even 
 from the days of the Apostles themselves. And a knowl- 
 edge of these facts should strengthen our faith and com- 
 fort us, for they prove that there has always been a 
 faithful body of believers, who have held to the truth 
 essentially as it is in Jesus. And if the errors and awful 
 apostasies and moral degeneracy of past ages have not 
 destroyed the Kingdom of God, we need not fear that the 
 gates of hell will prevail against it now. The existence of 
 the Church of Christ, with the purity and power that it 
 now has, in the midst of and in spite of the corruption, 
 apostasy, and unfaithfulness of its members, is a strong 
 argument for the Divinity of the Gospel. 
 
 It is not without special significance that the Apostle, 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews, speaks of the necessity of 
 considering the doctrine of Eternal Judgment as among 
 the first and great principles of the doctrines of Christ. 
 Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, 
 let us go on unto perfection ; ''not laying again the founda- 
 tion of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward 
 God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of 
 hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal 
 judgment." Heb. vi. 1, 2. 
 
 Here it is clearly seen : 1. That the Apostle thought 
 there were signs of departing from the faith of the Gospel 
 
PAUL ON ETERI^AL JUDGMEOT?. 321 
 
 in fundamental doctrines even in his day, and hence his 
 exhortation not to fail or go back from the doctrine of 
 Christ. 
 
 2. Eternal judgment is one of the fundamental doc- 
 trines which the ungodly in his day denied, as also in our 
 times, and as, in fact, they are always desirous of deny- 
 ing and getting rid of. 
 
 3. It is well to observe here also the connection in 
 which this doctrine is spol^en of^'^and of the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead, and of eternal judgment." — And 
 
 4. This doctrine of eternal judgment is here enumer- 
 ated among the fundamental principles which lie at the 
 very foundation of all godliness — ''the foundation of 
 repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God." 
 
 According to the standards of our holy religion, we do 
 most certainly believe that 
 
 **I. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and 
 see corruption ; but their souls (which neither die nor 
 sleep), having an immortal subsistence, immediately return 
 to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, 
 being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the 
 highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in 
 light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their 
 bodies ; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, 
 where they remain in torments and utter darkness, re- 
 served to the judgment of the great day. Besides these 
 two places for souls separated from their bodies, the 
 Scripture acknowledgeth none. 
 
 "II. At the last day, such as are found alive shall not 
 die, but be changed : and all the dead shall be raised up- 
 
 21 
 
322 CHRIST COMING to the last judgment. 
 
 with the self-same bodies, and none other, although with 
 different qualities, which shall be united again to their 
 souls forever. 
 
 *' III. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of 
 Christ, be raised to dishonor ; the bodies of the just, by 
 his Spirit, unto honor and be made conformable to his 
 own glorious body." 
 
 And the next chapter ^^ of the last judgment ^^'' says : 
 
 '' I. God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge 
 the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all 
 power and judgment is given of the Father. In which 
 day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but 
 likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall 
 appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account 
 of their thoughts, words, and deeds ; and to receive 
 according to what the}^ have done in the body, whether 
 good or evil. 
 
 ' ' II. The end of God' s appointing this day is for the 
 manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal sal- 
 vation of the elect ; and of his justice in the damnation 
 of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For 
 then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and 
 receive that fulness of joy and refreshing which shall 
 come from the presence of the Lord : but the wicked, 
 who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished 
 with everlasting destruction from the presence of the 
 Lord, and from the glory of his power. 
 
 *' III. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuad- 
 ed that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all 
 men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly 
 
THE PLACE OF THE JUDGMENT. 323 
 
 in their adversity : so will he have that day unknown to 
 men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be 
 always watchful, because they know not at what hour 
 the Lord will come, and may be ever prepared to say, 
 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen." [Chapters 
 xxxii. and xxxiii. of Confession of Faith,'\ 
 
 By the day of the future general judgment is under- 
 stood the important day which is the last day of the pres- 
 ent economy, or dispensation of grace, the day when the 
 eternal state of all men will be unchangeably fixed. It is 
 the day on which Christ shall come to judge the quick 
 and the dead, and we believe in this doctrine of our holy 
 faith, not only because we are personally concerned in 
 it, but also because it is the last act of the Mediatorial 
 reign of Christ, "the brightest manifestation of his divine 
 glory, the anchor of Christian hope, a powerful antidote 
 against carnal security, a check to raging lusts, and an 
 incentive to conscientious piety." — Witsius, 
 
 I. In the order I propose to follow, our first inquiry is 
 as to the place where Christ is to judge the world. 
 *'From thence He shall come." But to what place will 
 He come ? 
 
 Where is this general judgment to take place 1 The 
 general Scriptural designation is, in the air or in the 
 clouds. 1 Thess. iv. 16 ; Matt. xxiv. 30. 
 
 1. Perhaps this is the best place, in order to fill the 
 Apostle's declaration that every eye shall see him. As 
 if the clouds were to form a vast amphitheatre for this 
 day, '^the day for which all other days were made." 
 
 2. It is a favorite scriptural representation to speak of 
 the clouds as God's chariot, or as his royal Throne. The 
 law was given in clouds. The Son of God dwelt in the 
 
324 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 pillar of cloud by day, and unveiled enough of his glory 
 by night to make it a pillar of fire. He ascended in a 
 cloud, and He will come again in like manner. 
 
 Those who are not content with a cloud-formed 
 amphitheatre for the scene of the judgment, in a general 
 way, have endeavored to prove that the words of the 
 two angels to the disciples, on the Mount of Olives, 
 when the Saviour ascended into heaven, mean that He is 
 to come in the same place — that all men are to be 
 assembled for the last judgment in the Valley of 
 Jehoshaphat, which lies below the Mount of Olives, from 
 which our Lord ascended. 
 
 It is alleged that Christ should display the Majesty 
 of his glory in view of Calvary, where He suffered the 
 ignominy of the Cross, and that He should judge where 
 He himself was judged. This idea is held by many, in 
 both Papal and Protestant churches. Even Mohamme- 
 dans have adopted the idea also, that the scene of the 
 last judgment is to be over Jerusalem. There are many 
 conceits about this, as well as about the holy city itself, 
 that I do not think worthy of foimal statement or refuta- 
 tion. I do not think the words of the angels, on any fair 
 rule of interpretation, can be applied to the place^ but 
 to the manner of Christ's coming. Nor is it at all clear 
 from the best interpretation we can get of Joel's 
 prophecy, which is generally applied to this subject, that 
 he had any such meaning in his mind. On the contrary, 
 it is clear that Joel is not speaking of the last judgment 
 at all, but of a day of vengeance on Messiah's enemies 
 previous to it. Our conclusion therefore is, that the 
 place will be in the air or on the earth, then a part of the 
 new heavens and new earth. To fix the place, however, is 
 of little consequence. For the fact that Grod has appointed 
 such a general judgment, according to the Bible, is. 
 
THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT. 825 
 
 certain, and it will be righteous^ universal, decisive, and 
 eternal as to its consequences. 
 
 II. Our second inquiry is as to The Time when Christ 
 is to come to judge the quick and the dead. 
 
 1. God has fixed a day — a certain, determinate day — 
 hy which we are to understand a fixed period, without 
 determining how many hours are to be occupied with 
 the proceedings. 
 
 2. The precise period in the chronicles or epochs of 
 time. when this day shall be is not revealed to us. And 
 as we understand our Lord, we are even forbidden to 
 exercise our curiosity about it. The angels of heaven 
 do not know when it is to be. Paul could not write 
 about it. Even the inspired Apostles, who were guided 
 to Avrite on other subjects by the Holy Spirit, were left in 
 darkness as to the time of our Lord's appearing to judge 
 the world. It is not strange, then, if men will indulge 
 their own inventions on such a subject, that they shall 
 write many absurd and wicked follies about it. God 
 has concealed it from us to try our faith and obedience, 
 and teach us to watch and be always ready. 
 
 3. It is called the last day of the world. It will be 
 preceded by the resurrection of the dead. It is always 
 spoken of in such a way as to imply, even when it is not 
 so expressed in words, the resurrection of the dead and 
 the end of the present economy, and the beginning of the 
 eternal and unchangeable state of all men of Adam's race. 
 The term last day does not of necessity imply the annihila- 
 tion of our solar system or of our solar globe itself. Time 
 may go on. The planets still occupy their orbits. This 
 globe, being purified as by fire, may be the abode of happy 
 beings forever. But the last day means the end of the 
 
326 CHEIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 present dispensation — the winding up of the Mediatorial 
 economy in regard to our race. It is nonsense, however, 
 for unbelievers to argue that the Scriptures teach the lite- 
 ral consuming and end of the world by fire, and then to 
 argue that the Scriptures are in error, for that science — 
 astronomy and geology, for instance — teach us there can 
 be no such thing ; for we have the most palpable evidence 
 of fearful convulsions having taken place in our planet 
 already, and that we embody within ourselves elements 
 quite sufficient to rend us all to pieces, and to burn us to 
 cinders. We know, astronomically, that other bodies in 
 the solar system have been torn to pieces. Why may not 
 the earth in like manner be multiplied into a small system 
 of asteroids 1 There is nothing in true science, as yet 
 developed, to contradict the sacred writers, even if they 
 taught that this earth is to be literally consumed by fire. 
 Many learned and able theologians so understand the 
 Word of God. But this is a point, like the duration of 
 our present dispensation, that does not seem to us to be 
 revealed. I find nothing in the Bible that authorizes us 
 to say when the end of the world is to be, nor any thing 
 that requires us to believe that the end of the world lite- 
 rally means the destruction of our solar system. On the 
 contrary, all that I understand by it is its purification. 
 
 III. In the third place, who is to preside in the judg- 
 ment of the world? ''From thence He shall come to 
 judge the quick and the dead." 
 
 1. The Scriptures teach that the Triune God will be the 
 Judge of all men. Solomon says, "Know thou, that for 
 all these things God will bring thee into judgment," and 
 " God will bring every work into judgment." The 
 Apostle Paul also speaks of the "day of wrath and revela- 
 tion of the righteous judgment of God," and of " God the 
 
JESUS IS THE JUDGE. 327 
 
 Judge of all." These texts represent God as the Creator, 
 Lawgiver, and Supreme Governor of the Universe, and 
 as having, therefore, the power and the right, and in fact 
 l^eing under obligations to take cognizance of the actions 
 of his creatures, who are his subjects, and to reward or 
 punish them according to their conduct, rendering to 
 every man according to his deeds done in the body, 
 whether good or bad. 
 
 2. It is, however, clearly revealed in the Scriptures, 
 that it is the settled economy between the Persons of the 
 Godhead, that Messiah, who is the God-man, the Media- 
 tor between God and men, is to be the Judge. This is a 
 part of the official duty of the Messiah promised to the 
 Jewish Church. The pious Israelites looked for a Mes- 
 siah who is described as "judging and seeking judgment, 
 and hasting righteousness." As the anointed King over 
 Zion, we may apply to him the words of the Prophet : 
 " The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the 
 Lord is our King : He will save us." Isa. xxxiii. 22. 
 Nor is it without good reasons that the Chaldee paraphrast 
 renders the 72d Psalm with direct reference to Christ : 
 ''Give the King thy judgments, God, and thy right- 
 eousness unto the King's Son." That is, according to the 
 Chaldee comment, to King Messiah, who is King David's 
 Son. Nor should it be forgotten that literally in the his- 
 tory of our Lord's trial, we have the exact fulfilment of 
 the propliecy of Micah, v. 1 : " They shall smite the 
 Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek, " 
 
 And our Lord spoke plainly on this subject : '' The 
 Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 
 to the Son." John v. 22 ; Matt, xxv., xxvi. ; Acts xvii. 
 31 ; Kom. ii. 16 ; Rev. xx. 12. 
 
 
 [s, God has appointed a day 
 
 ;UHIVER:irY] 
 
328 CHEIST COMmG TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 to judge the world, and He hath ordained that the judg- 
 ment shall be by that man Christ Jesus ; and Peter says, 
 God hath commanded us to preach unto the peoplej and 
 to testify that it is He, which was ordained of God to be 
 the judge of quick and dead. And accordingly it is 
 declared in another place of Holy Scripture, that it is 
 before the judgment seat of Chkist that we must all 
 appear. 2. Cor. v. 10. 
 
 '' He shall come as a Judge, who once stood before the 
 Judge. He shall come in that form in which He was 
 judged, that they may see Him who pierced him, and 
 that they who received Him not may then know Him."* 
 
 3. It is true also that our Saviour said, according to the 
 passage in John viii. 15 — 50: ''I judge no man: and 
 there is one that seeketh and judgeth, that is the Father." 
 
 But a little candor and reflection will relieve these 
 places from any contradiction. The meaning is : 1. That 
 the Father judgeth no man in a visible form. The 
 embodiment of the Godhead is in the Second Person, as 
 developed or manifested to man. 2. The meaning is, 
 there is a perfect harmony and oneness of mind between 
 the Father and the Son. The judgment is not held sepa- 
 rately by either. And, 3. The meaning is, that as the 
 work of redemption has been executed by God's Son — 
 as He is the Mediator— as He was born of a woman, 
 suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and 
 buried, rose again from the dead, and ascended into 
 heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, to reign as 
 King and Head over all things to His Church, so it is a 
 part of his kingly office to preside in the general judg- 
 ment. This is the meaning of the Apostle' s words, when 
 
 * Augustine. 
 
WHY JESUS IS THE JUDGE. 329 
 
 he declares that God will judge the world in righteous- 
 ness by that man whom He had ordained. Acts xvii. 31. 
 '^And God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus 
 Christ." Rom. ii. 16. 
 
 When therefore we hear our Lord saying, *'I judge 
 no man," the meaning is, I am not sent as Moses was. I 
 have not come as a minister of wrath to condemn the 
 world. " God sent not His Son into the world to con- 
 demn the world, but that the world through Him might 
 be saved." John iii. 17. 
 
 Clearly also our Lord means, that He will not judge 
 separately from the Father. '^' And yet," says He, ''if I 
 judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and 
 the Father that sent me." " The Son is come in the name 
 of the Father, nor can He do any thing of himself, 
 but what He seeth the Father do." ''I do nothing of 
 myself ; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these 
 things." John viii. 28. ''And hath given Him authority 
 to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man." ^ 
 John V. 27. 
 
 The reasoning of Augustine, in his sixty-fourth 
 sermon on these passages, and in explanation of the 
 economy of the judgment by the Son, is very much to my 
 mind. It is to this effect. That as the Son of God became 
 the Son of Man, and by His humiliation, obedience, and 
 sufferings in human nature, and by His sacrifice of him- 
 self satisfied Divine Justice, so that we may be reconciled 
 to God, so it is eminently proper for Him as Mediatorial 
 King to judge and punish the enemies of His kingdom. 
 And as He submitted to be judged and pronounced guilty 
 and was put to death by men, so it is expedient that his 
 judges should be judged and their sentences reversed. 
 " He who stood under a judge will sit as Judge." *' He 
 
330 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 who was himself falsely pronounced guilty, will condemn 
 the truly guilty." It is as the Son of Man, to judge the 
 quick and the dead, that He will appear visibly in the 
 clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which 
 pierced Him. Rev. i, 7. In saying therefore that ^'the 
 Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 
 unto the Son ; that all men should honor the Son, eyen as 
 they honor the Father," the meaning is that the Father and 
 the Son are equal, and that in the judgment of the quick 
 and the dead no one will see the Father ; but all shall 
 see the Son, because He is also the Son of Man, so that 
 the wicked may see their Judge. ''It is right that they 
 who are to be judged should see their Judge."* But 
 oh ! who can support the dreadful presence of God, or 
 who may stand in His sight ? Who can endure to hear the 
 voice at which the earth melteth, and at whose reproofs 
 the pillars of heaven tremble — that awfal majesty before 
 which the seraphim hide their faces ? Is it not then a 
 proof of the condescension and mercy of God, that the 
 judgment of quick and dead is assigned to the Son of 
 Man? 
 
 He shall come to judge — He who came once before in 
 our nature — He who was conceived by the power of the 
 Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born 
 of her — He who suffered so deeply for us, who died to 
 redeem us : He shall come in glory to judge the quick 
 and the dead. 
 
 In holding that Jesus Christ, visible as the God-man, 
 is the Supreme Judge of all men and angels, we are not 
 to be understood as separating his Divine from his human 
 
 * Rectum erat ut judicandi viderent Judicom. See also Augustia de Trini. 
 lib. 1. cap. 13. 
 
TIIE SON OF MAN THE JUDGE. 331 
 
 nature. His majesty, power, wisdom, and glory will 
 then manifest his Eternal Divinity, but his acts in judg- 
 ing will be visible by his human form. Consequently 
 He is the Judge in his own right, and not by a merely 
 delegated authority. The will as well as the Deity of 
 Christ is the same as the will and Deity of the Father. 
 The exercise of the Divine perfections, therefore, in judg- 
 ing the world, is by the authority of the ineffable God- 
 head. Isaiah, speaking in the name of Jehovah, says: 
 ^'I have sworn by myself ; the word is gone out of my 
 mouth in righteousness, and shall not return ; that unto 
 me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." 
 Isa. xlv. 23. And yet we find St. Paul applying these 
 very words to our Lord Jesus. As Judge, therefore, the 
 Son of God appears in his own right and by his own 
 authority, but makes himself manifest as the Son of Man. 
 
 Thus it is plain that the quick and the dead are to be 
 judged by the Lord Jesus. He has the original, absolute 
 right to be judge, because as God He is the Creator of all 
 things, and, as Supreme Lord and King over the universe, 
 all things are governed by him. It belongs to Him there- 
 fore to institute an inquiry as to the way his laws have 
 been observed, — to reward service performed, and pun- 
 ish disobedience. If this is not to be done, then, so far 
 as His government is concerned, there is no difference 
 between the good and the bad. But we know there is a 
 difference. Virtue is in part its own reward, but only in 
 part: vice is in part its own punishment, but only in 
 part. There must, therefore, be a final adjustment. The 
 uneven scores that run on so long here must be compared 
 and put together, and perfect justice rendered. Hence, 
 there must be an account given of the talents bestowed 
 upon us, and the opportunities granted to us for doing 
 good and getting good. This is everywhere taught 
 
332 CHRIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 or implied in the Word of God. And as our Saviour is 
 thus qualified by his attributes to be the final judge of 
 men and angels, so also is He placed in the proper posi- 
 tion by his office as both Lord and Christ. He sits on 
 the right hand of the Throne of God as King over all 
 things for his Church. He is therefore the judge by his 
 Father's appointment. The Apostles expressly declared 
 He is ordained by God the Father for this very office. 
 Nor are there wanting even to our limited apprehensions 
 important reasons why the Father assigned the final 
 judgment to the Son. Does it not prove that God conde- 
 scended thus to show us his goodness % There must be a 
 strict and impartial judgment, says God, but let my crea- 
 tures see there is no vindictiveness in it. Let the admin- 
 istration of it be attempered by putting it into the hands 
 of my Son, who is also the Son of Man. Surely his worst 
 enemies cannot complain that He is their judge when 
 they remember that He is the very same who prayed for 
 them when He was dying, and who shed his blood to 
 redeem sinners. Nor will His followers fear to meet 
 him face to face, when they call to mind that He is 
 their brother, that He sits in judgment in their own 
 nature, and remember how meek and lowly, mer- 
 ciful and full of pity He was, and that they are to 
 meet him clothed in the robes He has put on them, 
 redeemed and washed from sin in his blood. And 
 besides, how better could God the Father show his crea- 
 tures the greatness of his Justice than by exalting to the 
 Judgment Throne Him who, out of regard for his Eternal 
 Rectitude, obej^ed his will and offered himself a sacrifice 
 to satisfy Divine Justice % Who better deserves this 
 crown, or can so worthily hold the sceptre, than He who 
 willingly submitted to the scourge and the mockery of 
 royalty, and bor^ the Cross ? And how awfully will it 
 aggravat J our guilt to be condemned by a Judge so mild, 
 
DO WE BELIEVE THIS APwTICLE ? 333 
 
 just, and gentle ? How can we stand before Him and 
 answer for having violated laws so righteous and good — 
 for having neglected and despised blessings and mercies 
 so numerous, great, and long continued, and so well 
 devised to bring us to repentance ! How can we stand 
 before such a Judge, and answer Him for having rejected 
 so many calls and so many gracious offers of his pardon- 
 ing mercy ; for defeating so perse veringly his serious 
 purposes of mercy towards us ; for having forfeited his 
 favor and incurred his displeasure by sinning against 
 our own souls, and for having abused His great love ! 
 
 When one looks at the world it may well be asked, do 
 any of us really believe this Article ? Even if we admit 
 the vague idea of future retribution, do we bring home 
 to ourselves the awful strictness with which the proceed- 
 ings of the judgment-day will be carried on ? There may 
 be a kind of general mute acquiescence that the balance 
 will be adjusted at last between good and evil, and the 
 good will be somewhat rewarded and the bad in some 
 measure punished ; and even this vague, unsatisfactory 
 conviction causes great uneasiness when some great crime 
 has been committed, or when death knocks at the door. 
 But this is far below the proper and scriptural view of 
 the awful judgment to come which should dwell upon 
 our minds. We need both the prohibitions of conscience, 
 supported by the sanctions of Eternal Justice, and the 
 stimulus of faith to enable us to maintain our Christian 
 character. No point is more emphatically pressed in Holy 
 Scripture than the certainty and strictness of the details 
 of the coming judgment. "And I saw the dead, small 
 and great, stand before God ; and tlie books were opened, 
 and another book Avas opened, which is the Book of Life ; 
 and the dead were judged out of those things which were 
 written in the books according to their works. And the 
 
384 CHRIST COMrNG TO THE LAST JUDGMEIS^T. 
 
 sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and 
 hell [that is, the grave and the whole region of the 
 departed,] — delivered up the dead which were in 
 them ; and they were judged every man according to 
 their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake 
 of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was 
 not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the 
 lake of fire." Eev. xx. 12-15. 
 
 1. In conclusion, as an unbelieving heart is one of the 
 greatest curses which can come upon a man, so a real 
 belief in the last judgment is a great grace from God. 
 For promoting zeal and piety, the saintly Basil has well 
 said concerning the future judgment: "Blessed is that 
 soul, which day and night hath no other care than how, in 
 the great day, when every creature shall stand around the 
 Judge to give an account of their works, she shall be able 
 to relate lier life. For whosoever continually places that 
 day and that hour before his eyes, and ever thinks of his 
 defence at that most just tribunal, is likely to commit no 
 sin, or at least very few." And so also Chrysostom says : 
 * ' Let us ever be saying to ourselves and to others, there 
 is a resurrection, and a terrible judgment awaiting us." 
 
 2. The sincere belief of this Article would powerfully 
 reconcile us to submit to the dispensations of Divine Pro- 
 vidence. All earthly prosperity and adversity is rapidly 
 passing away, and we are hastening to the Judgment-seat. 
 Surely then we are not to repine at the Providence of God 
 as exercised toward us or our fellow-men. 
 
 3. It should also keep us from judging rashly con- 
 cerning our fellow-men. God has not appointed us to 
 sit in judgment over them, nor has He trusted to our 
 hands the avenging sword of Justice. "Who art thou 
 
rrs INFLUENCE ON us. 335 
 
 that judgest another man' s servant ? To his own master 
 he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for 
 God is able to make him stand. So every one of ns shall 
 give account of himself to God." Rom. xiv. 4-12. 
 
 Is it possible for lis, my dear brethren, to think of 
 any subject that can be compared in importance with 
 this one ? It is said of a distinguished name, expressive 
 of a nohle life^ that he lived and acted as God's steward 
 over an immense estate, doing good with all his revenues 
 and maintaining a cheerful and happy state of mind 
 under a life-long deformity, which deprived him of most 
 of the pleasures and pursuits of other men, because lie 
 felt every day that he might die to-morrow.'^ 
 
 How should it influence our words and our conduct, 
 if we could, in a proper way, realize that we must here- 
 after certainly render a strict account of all our actions — 
 that all our doings must undergo a strict scrutiny before 
 Him who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins of the 
 children of men ! And how careful should we be of the 
 entries now made in the records which are to be pro- 
 duced in that day, since every one is to be judged and 
 rewarded and punished according to the deeds done in 
 the body, whether they be good or bad ! It is with the 
 greatest propriety, then, that the Apostle speaks of the 
 doctrine of eternal judgment as a fundamental principle 
 of our holy religion, necessary to be believed, in order to 
 repentance from dc^ad works and faith toward God. It is 
 impossible to conceive of a sharper "spur"t to the 
 doing of good, or to devise a stronger '*curb" from 
 doing ill, than the real belief that we must appear before 
 the awful and impartial Judgment- seat of Christ. 
 
 * " A Noble Life," by Mias Muloch. f See Dr. Barrow^ on the Creed, p. 45T. 
 
 X 
 
336 CHEIST COMING TO THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 4. And so on the other hand, if we are ourselves 
 dealt unjustly by ; if we are misunderstood and wick- 
 edly misrepresented ; if we are subjected unjustly to 
 reproach, scorn, persecution, even unto death, then let 
 us remember there is One who knoweth all these things, 
 and He will appear for the innocent at last and vindicate 
 the honor of His laws. God shall bring forth thy right- 
 eousness as the light, and thy judgments as the noon- 
 day. The Apostle, in view of this final settlement, and 
 with a good conscience, could say : With me it is a very 
 small thing that I should be judged of you, or in man's 
 judgment. Ps. xxxvii. 6 ; 1 Cor. iv. 3. 
 
 5. N'or can I conceive of a more powerful stimulus to 
 beget in us sincerity^ than the profound conviction that 
 God will judge us — not by our professions or pretensions, 
 promises or appearances, but according to our individual 
 realities — according to the deeds done in the body. Not 
 only our words and actions, but our motives, designs, 
 feelings, the most inward recesses of our hearts, where 
 are the seeds of things, the germs of moral character 
 which no human laws can reach, will then be brought to 
 light. Every thought that rises in the mind, as well as 
 every word that passeth out of our mouth, as well as 
 every deed that our hands have performed, will then be 
 judged. And since we know that this awful judgment 
 awaits us— but when we may be called to meet it we 
 know not — then surely we should watch and be diligent. 
 What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy con- 
 versation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto 
 the coming of the day of God ? Notice how the blessed 
 Apostle stirred himself up, and reminded his beloved 
 Timothy of the awards of the eternal judgment: "I 
 charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his 
 
ARE WE LOOKING FOR IT? 337 
 
 appearing and his kingdom. For I am now ready to be 
 offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have 
 fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
 kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
 of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
 shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto 
 all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. iv. 1-8. 
 Let us, then, by the grace of God, which appeareth to all 
 men, deny ourselves — deny all ungodliness, worldly lusts, 
 and live soberly, righteously, and piously in this present 
 world, in the blessed hope of the appearance of the great 
 God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with the 
 Father, through the eternal Spirit, be equal and eternal 
 praises. Amen. 
 
 22 
 
838 CHRIST JUDGING THE WOELD. 
 
 XYI 
 
 CHRIST JUDGING THE WORLD. 
 
 " Because he hatli appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in 
 righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given as- 
 surance unto all men, in that he hath raised Him from the dead." — ^Acts xvii. 31. 
 
 1. In the Discourse last Sabbath evening, the doctrine 
 of our Creed concerning Christ coming to judge the 
 world was stated, and a brief history of the Article was 
 given, and some reasons were offered, why it was 
 adopted as an exponent of the Faith of the ancient 
 churches, and why it should be retained and believed 
 in, just as we have it. 
 
 2. Your attention was directed to the place where 
 and to the time when the general judgment was to be 
 held. The place, we thought, was the air of the new 
 earth ; the time not known, because not revealed to us 
 nor to the angels. 
 
 3. It was sTiown, however, that the fact was certain, 
 and that Jesus Christ was to be the Judge — that according 
 to the Scriptures it was the solemn appointment of the 
 Father Almighty that his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 in His human nature, should be the Judge — in the same 
 perfect human nature in which he ascended into heaven 
 
PROOF TEXTS OF THE JUDGMEIH?. 339 
 
 after His resurrection, and in which He now sitteth on the 
 right hand of the Throne of God in heaven, shall He come 
 visibly with power and great glory to judge the world. 
 
 Among the particulars yet to be considered on this 
 Article, let us now proceed — 
 
 1. To consider, why God hath appointed a day of 
 general judgment. 
 
 And 1. That God has appointed such a day is as 
 clearly and as positively affirmed in the Word of God as 
 language can express it. Matt. x. 15 ; xii. 36 ; xxv. ; 
 Ecc. xi. 9 ; Acts xvii. 31 ; Heb. ix. 22 ; 2 Pet. ii. 9 ; iii. 
 7 ; 1 John. iv. 17 ; Jude ; 2 Thess. i. 7-10 ; iv. 14-18 ; 
 Heb. vi. 1, 2; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; E.om. xiv. 10, 11 ; Jo. v. 22 ; 
 Rev. XX. 12. 
 
 2. The resurrection of Christ is a proof that He is to 
 come again to judge the world. 
 
 A few texts on this point at present, as Acts xvii. 
 31 ; and Rom. xiv. 9, 12, are deemed quite sufficient. 
 '' Because God hath appointed a day, in the which he 
 will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom 
 He hath ordained ; whereof He hath given assurance 
 unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the 
 dead.^'' *'For to this end Christ both died, and rose, 
 and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and 
 the living. For we shall all stand before the Judgment- 
 seat of Christ. So then every one of us shall give 
 account of himself to God." It is usual in the sacred 
 writers to connect the resurrection of the dead with the 
 eternal judgment^ as in the Epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 
 1, 2. For the most part the same texts of Holy Scripture 
 that prove our Lord's resurrection, ascension, and sitting 
 on the right hand of God, also speak of his coming again 
 to judge the world ; and when in any of these proof texts 
 
340 OIIKIST JUDGIiS^G THE WOELD. 
 
 His second coming is not spoken of in express terms, it 
 is always clearly implied. "This same Jesus," say the 
 angels to the disciples, "which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen 
 him go into heaven." Acts i. 11. "For if we believe 
 that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which 
 sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For the Lord 
 Himself shall descend from heaven — and the dead in 
 Christ shall rise first." 1 Thess. iv. 14-18. ''And to you 
 who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall 
 be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in 
 flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not 
 God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. 
 
 It is in evidence then that God has appointed a deter- 
 minate day for the judgment of the world in righteous- 
 ness by Jesus Christ, as the Creed afliirms. This Article 
 then denies and refutes on Scriptural authority the 
 opinion or surmise of those who hold that there is no 
 fixed day for a general judgment. It is a notorious fact 
 not only that there were ancient heretics who denied any 
 resurrection from the dead, or any determinate general 
 judgment of mankind ; but there are now certain teach- 
 ers who either altogether avoid committing themselves 
 on the subject, or who hold the opinion that by the term 
 day^ in regard to the last judgment, we are to understand 
 simply that as the present season of grace is sometimes 
 called the sinner's day, or the day of God's long-suff*ering 
 and patience towards us, so when the Gospel dispen- 
 sation ceases, and there is an end of its shining light, 
 during which sinners were called to repentance, then 
 comes what is called the last day^ for then the Judgment 
 will commence, but that we cannot fix any definite idea 
 to the term day as used in reference to it. On the 
 
JUSTICE EEQUIRE3 A JUDGMEISTT. 341 
 
 contrary, the Creed implies what the Scriptures declare, 
 that God has appointed a day for the judgment of the 
 world in righteousness by our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 shall come from heaven for that purpose. [See Confes- 
 sion of Faith^ chaps, xxxii. and xxxiii., quoted in pre- 
 vious chapter.] 
 
 3. Again : Such are the relations between God as Crea- 
 tor^ Supreme Lawgiver^ and Universal Governor^ that 
 His Justice requires an open and final adjustment cf 
 the affairs of His Universe. Speaking with reverence, 
 He is bound by his Eternal Justice to be faithful to him- 
 self, to his laws, and to all the virtuous beings in all his 
 universe — to vindicate his moral government by reward- 
 ing the obedient and punishing the disobedient, and thus 
 show that there is a difference between those that serve 
 Him, and those that serve Him not. If the Supreme 
 Being does not take notice of His creatures, and reward 
 the obedient and punish the disobedient, then this world 
 is indeed a poor melancholy atom, and we are orphans in 
 the vastness of a creation that has no Creator. If Epicurus 
 is right, that there is no notice taken of human conduct by 
 the Supreme Being, then what becomes of Gfod's Justice % 
 But we know that some visitations of vengeance have 
 fallen upon mankind. And if so, must there not be equal 
 justice done to all % For if the inequalities of this life are 
 not put to right in the world to come, it is impossible for 
 God' s creatures to see His Justice, or to know that there 
 is in fact any difference between doing well or doing evil. 
 To deny the future judgment is to destroy the foundation 
 of all morality. 
 
 Even among the heathen, we find from the remotest 
 antiquity some dark notions about a future judgment — 
 some ''few sparkles of light in their consciences" about 
 a future state or of a judgment to come. Both philoso- 
 
342 CHEIST JUDGING TIIE WORLD. 
 
 I)hers and poets in Greece and Eome wrote about it. 
 Plato and the Platonists, and Cicero and Yirgil abound 
 with references to a future trial and rewards and punish- 
 ments to come from a final adjustment of the contest now 
 carried on between good and evil. Man's moral nature 
 is so strongly impressed with the idea of some future 
 state, and of some final result as to the contest between 
 good and evil, that all nations and ages have in some way 
 expressed their belief on the subject. All lands have 
 temples and worshippers, and all zones have altars and 
 sacrifices. The savage tribes of the wilderness, the hiero- 
 phants of Egypt, the schools of Kome, the sages of the 
 Academy, and the wise men of the East, have all, though 
 in different ways, confessed their conviction as to the 
 reality of moral evil, and the necessity of some future 
 retribution. Now whence this moral sense, and this idea 
 of a future judgment ? Is it innate 1 If so, whence does 
 it come, but from the Creator? Is it learned from tra- 
 dition or acquire'd by reason? Whence its unwersal' 
 ity unless it is divinely inspired? But although all 
 ages have felt painful convictions on these subjects, yet 
 none knew how to escape from the wrath to come. For 
 the two thousand years intervening between Noah and 
 the coming of Christ, God left the world to prove to 
 itself that by its own wisdom it could not find Him out 
 nor deliver itself from the power of evil. The very idea 
 of our accountability after death for the actions of this 
 life involves the day of future retribution. 
 
 And although it is not possible to analyze these notions 
 of the heathens, and say exactlj^ how much they received 
 from others, or how much they have discovered by the 
 mere light of nature, or how much they owe to the dim 
 and scattered glimmerings of divine truth revealed to the 
 Hebrews, yet enough is clearly seen to show that there is 
 
FOUR UJSTVERSAL JUDGMENTS. 343 
 
 a wide-spread and deeply painful consciousness that 
 something is needed to break down the reign of evil ; and 
 that, as an actor in the old French revolution said, if there 
 is no God, we must make one, for the world cannot be 
 governed without a God. Human society cannot continue 
 to exist, if all idea of a future state and accountability 
 for our conduct after death were lifted oft" the heart of 
 man. Moral responsibility is necessary to break or to 
 endure the reign of moral evil. 
 
 The heathen, especially Plutarch and Cicero^ have 
 written largely concerning the necessity of a judgment 
 to come. And the Sacred Scriptures clearly and fully 
 confirm what natural religion, or perhaps we should 
 rather say, what common sense, reason, and the Provi- 
 dence and attributes of God require, that there should be 
 a future general judgment. 
 
 Nor is it unworthy of notice, as Wltsius argues, that 
 we have precedents in sacred history that should be 
 received as proofs and warnings of the judgment to come. 
 We read in the Bible of four public and universal judg- 
 ments upon our race. Firsts in Paradise, when we were 
 all represented in Adam ; second, on the world before the 
 flood ; third, on the nations in the plains of Shinar, 
 at the tower of Babel. And the fourth is the last judg- 
 ment. 
 
 The wisest heathen have been found, like the royal 
 Psalmist before he went to the sanctuary of God, and 
 learned their dreadful end, stumbling at the prosperity 
 of the wicked in this world. From this unequal, 
 unfinished state of things two opposite conclusions have 
 been drawn ; namely, that the Supreme Being is totally 
 indifferent to human actions, and consequently there is no 
 final judgment-day for rectifying the miseries of this life. 
 Every thing is left to chance or blind fate. This is too 
 
844 CHRIST JUDGING THE WORLD. 
 
 monstrous to need refutation. The other view is that the 
 miseries of this life, in which the most pious and good, 
 and in every way some of the best men on earth are 
 deeply involved, and pass out of this world without any 
 redress, imperatively call for a future judgment. The 
 moral proof, then, of a future judgment is deriyed both 
 from within ourselves, and from the works of creation and 
 Providence, — from conscience in us, and from evidences 
 of design in the works and government of God. The 
 whole constitution of the universe, and the whole frame- 
 work of human society, are witnesses for its necessity. 
 The testimony of the moral sense is universal and strong. 
 Nor are there wanting evidences of design in the works 
 of the Creator, which lead us irresistibly to the con- 
 clusion that the unfinisJied problems of his Providence 
 in this world must be completed in the world to come. 
 We cannot believe they are dropped and abandoned. On 
 the contrary, all we know of the wisdom of God con- 
 strains us to believe that He has secured a perpetual 
 identity to all His moral creatures, and guaranteed that 
 this life of man shall so far lap over and impress itself on 
 the life to come, thUt this world is only the sowing, and 
 futurity is the harvest. The natural world unquestion- 
 ably demonstrates the perfect wisdom. Almighty power, 
 and Supreme goodness of the Creator. Is it reasonable, 
 then, to suppose that His moral government is less 
 perfect ? In the light of reason and common sense, does 
 induction teach us there is a God, who is all wise, all 
 powerful, and supremely good? And is it not, then, a 
 legitimate conclusion that there is a final Judgment-seat, 
 when and where the apparently inconsistent dispensa- 
 tions of His moral government over the universe will be 
 cleared up ? For if this life is really nothing but a life 
 of trial, to be succeeded by a final retribution, then we 
 are sure the goodness, truth, and justice of God will be 
 
UNFINISHED PROBLEMS. 345 
 
 vindicated in the moral world quite as clearly as his glo- 
 rious perfections are seen in the natural world. Some 
 things are clear, even now. For example, there are some 
 cases just such as we have referred to. Cunning gains 
 over honest simplicity. The truth is, that though honesty 
 is upon the whole the best policy^ yet there are cases 
 whose sequel we do not see, and hence, as far as this 
 world is concerned, there are exceptions to this great 
 maxim. No one is prepared to say there are not indivi- 
 dual cases that are exceptions to this rule, if this life is 
 the whole of human existence. For it is certainly the 
 testimony of human experience that many things here 
 are unfinished. Many cases are adjourned to a heavenly 
 tribunal, where, from the character of God, we look for 
 a perfect vindication of innocence, and of all his ways 
 towards his creatures, in the punishment of wrong-doing 
 and the reward of well-doing. If, in the checkered 
 events of human life, we see men of integrity made the 
 victims of the snares and evil deeds of the artful, who 
 receive a temporal reward; and if we find the godly 
 suffering from sickness and other visitations of Divine 
 Providence, is it not evident that this is not the end ? — 
 these cases are adjourned to the eternal world. It is quite 
 true also that sometimes God lays his hand upon trans- 
 gressors, so that He may be known on the earth by the 
 judgment which He executes upon them. And are these 
 any thing but preludes or pledges of that awful judgment 
 which is to come? Proofs that we must leave many 
 things, sadly unfinished as they are, without seeing the 
 reasons, to the judgment of the last day, being perfectly 
 sure there is One above us who sees all, and who ren- 
 ders to every man according to the deeds done in the 
 body — according to his works. 
 
 4. Let me call your attention now, in the next place, 
 
346 CUEIST JUDGING THE WOELD. 
 
 to something in regard to tlie circumstances and 
 manner of the proceedings of the Judgment- day which 
 may be clearly learned from the Scriptures. The 
 Lord Jesus shall come in his human nature from his 
 throne at the right hand of God, from heaven, and 
 He shall come msibly in the clouds of heaven, and 
 with power and great glory. Innumerable hosts of 
 holy angels will appear with him. Matt. xxiv. 30 ; 
 2 Thess. i. 7. 
 
 His coming is to be sudden^ — as it was in the days of 
 Noah and of Sodom and Gomorrah. This proves that the 
 world will then be very much as it is now — that His 
 coming will be unexpected — that it will be sudden — in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the archangel' s voice 
 shall shake all the earth, and rouse the dead out of their 
 sleep. 
 
 " Lol on a narrow neck of land, 
 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand, 
 
 Tet how insensible ! 
 A point of time, a moment's space, 
 Removes me to that heavenly place, 
 Or shuts me up in hell. 
 
 " God ! my inmost soul convert, 
 And deeply on my thoughtful heart 
 
 Eternal things impress. 
 Give me to feel their solemn weight, 
 And save me ere it be too late ; 
 
 Wake me to righteousness," — Wesley. 
 
 Tlie manner in which the sacred writers speak of our 
 Lord's coming to judge the world impresses us with the 
 great solemnity, glory, and magnificence of the event. He 
 once came in meekness and humility to teach us how 
 great was his love for us, and to show us our duty. He 
 shall come again in his glory, and His holy angels with 
 him, in terrible majesty, to teach us that every creature is 
 subject to Him. 
 
MANl^R OF THE JUDGMENT. 347 
 
 In Heb. xii. 26, the Apostle seems to have in his mind 
 a contrast between the glory of the giving of the law at 
 Mount Sinai and the glory of the eternal judgment, when 
 Christ shall judge the world according to that law 
 ^' whose voice then shook the earth ; but now He hath 
 promised, saying : Yet once more I shake not the earth 
 only, but also heaven." 
 
 Our Lord expressly declares, in Luke ix. 26, that He 
 would come to this world again after his sufferings and 
 death, and come in His own glory, and in the glory of His 
 Father, and in the glory of the holy angels. The same is 
 substantially, and almost in the same words, to be found 
 in many other places. 
 
 The splendor of the Divine Majesty will be made 
 manifest : *' When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, 
 and all the holy angels with him, then shall He sit upon 
 the throne of his glory." Matt. xxv. 31. "Hereafter 
 shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
 power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." "All the 
 tribes of the earth shall see the Son of Man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." Matt, 
 xxiv. 30, and xxvi. 64. 
 
 According to the Scriptures also, the magnificence of 
 this day is to be ushered in with the trump of God, 
 by which the dead are to be raised. "For the Lord 
 himself shall descend from heaven with a shout (1 Thess. 
 iv. 16), with the voice of the archangel." That is, with 
 authority to enforce obedience from all angels, powers, 
 and authorities— for all are put under Him who is the 
 Head over all things to His Church. 
 
 But how are we to understand these words, with a 
 shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump 
 of God f Are they to be taken in a literal sense ? Why 
 
348 CHRIST JUDGIIS'G THE WOELD. 
 
 not ? Is there any reason for departing from the literal 
 meaning ? Was there not a literal sounding of the trum- 
 pet exceeding loud at the giving of the law % Why was 
 not this intended to be a model for the Judgment-day ? 
 And is not this view supported by the use of trumpets in 
 executing the Divine judgments upon Jericho ? It may 
 be metaphorical^ however, so far as the instrument is 
 concerned. It may be that the voice that is to call the 
 world to judgment and wake the dead, will be composed 
 of thunder such as those heard when God spoke in the 
 hearing of the people at Mount Sinai. Perhaps it will be 
 an articulated voice formed by the angel hosts in the air, so 
 in harmony as to produce a sound loud enough to fill the 
 whole earth, and yet as if the utterance of but one trum- 
 pet, and that as soon as the attention of quick and dead 
 is secured, from the same hosts will be heard the sum- 
 mons of the parable of the virgins : " Behold, the Bride- 
 groom cometh ; go ye out to meet him." 
 
 All that need be insisted on is, that Christ's command 
 to bring the quick and the dead to judgment will be 
 effectual. It will gather them before him. And as the 
 sound of a trumpet by one who blows it well is loud, 
 penetrating far and wide; so Christ's call to judgment 
 will reach every cavern and receptacle of the dead on 
 the mountains and on the plains, and under the seas. 
 And as the phraseology of the sacred writers is Jewish, 
 it is not strange they should represent the gathering of 
 mankind to be judged, as if called by a trumpet, as tlie 
 Israelites were accustomed to be assembled on festival 
 days, or for other solemn purposes. 
 
 Again, an immense retinue of angels are also men- 
 tioned in several places by the inspired writers, as 
 contributing to the glory of Christ when He shall come 
 to judge the world. So our Lord says himself ; '' When 
 
ANGELS AT THE JUDGMENT. 349 
 
 the Son of Man shall come in glory, and all the holy 
 angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the Throne of 
 his glory." And Enochs the seventh from Adam, pro- 
 phesied, saying, ''Behold, the Lord cometh with ten 
 thousand of his saints," and Paul says the Lord Jesus 
 shall be revealed from heaven "with his mighty angels." 
 
 Nor are the angels to be mere idle spectators. They 
 are to be employed in assembling the vast multitudes. 
 "He shall send His angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the 
 four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." " And 
 the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from 
 the righteous, as the goats are separated from the sheep. 
 For the Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they 
 shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, 
 and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a 
 furnace of fire." Angels are employed as his ministers 
 now, and assist His people, and carry home their souls 
 when they leave their bodies, and will aid in taking them 
 through the air to meet their Lord, and in punishing the 
 incorrigibly wicked. 
 
 It may be asked, in what sense then are saints to judge 
 the world, and even angels, according to St. Paul's words 
 in 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3 ? I answer, in precisely the same sense 
 that the Apostles and believers are promised to sit on 
 thrones with Christ, or to reign with Him : namel}^, their 
 will is in perfect harmony with His. They approve of 
 his decisions. And their justification and example, as 
 sinners saved, is a just condemnation of those who have 
 rejected Christ. No importance is to be attached to the 
 fact that historically believers became magistrates in the 
 Roman empire, or may be such now, as an interpretation 
 of this passage. Nor do I think it exhausted by simply 
 saying that believers judge the world and angels in Christ 
 
350 CHEIST JUDGESTG THE WOELD. 
 
 as their Head. This is true ; but a specialty is attached 
 to the fact that their individual wills are in perfect sub- 
 mission and in sweet harmony with the mind of Christ. 
 They rejoice therefore with approbation in all his ways. 
 It may also be true that the term judge is here to be taken 
 in the> sense of govern^ and that saints are to exercise 
 authority under Christ in the new heavens and the new 
 earth. 
 
 5. We have come now to the paeties to be judged. 
 '' From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the 
 dead." God hath appointed a day in the which He will 
 judge the world by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Both persons and their works must pass the Judgment- 
 seat of Christ — those who may be living, the quick, and 
 all who have died — both good and bad — and all evil 
 spirits. 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude 6. 
 
 To judge the quick and the dead^ that is, the world, 
 or rather the moral agents that are in it, or have belonged 
 to it. Those are dead who ar^e said to have fallen asleep; 
 and those who are living at that time, who, in contradis- 
 tinction to the dead who are asleep, are denominated the 
 quiclt^ the living. The terms the quick and the dead are 
 co-extensive with the whole of our race. The dead are 
 to be raised, and the living to be changed, for in every 
 case corruption must put on incorruption and mortality 
 must put on immortality. 
 
 The quick and dead does not mean^ as some say, the 
 hodies and tJie souls of men, nor the good and the had, 
 but those who are alive at the moment of the judgment, 
 and all the dead from the beginning of Adam's race. 
 The similes used of the flood and of the overthrow of the 
 cities of the plain imply clearly that the world shall be 
 going on just as it is now. It shall be peopled, and there 
 
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD. 351 
 
 will be good and bad, and those alive shall be caught up 
 quick to judgment, undergoing a change equivalent to 
 death, for the purpose of putting off mortality and put- 
 ting on immortality. The Son of Man shall come as a 
 thief in the night. St. Peter declares, in the very words 
 of the Creed, that God ordained Jesus Christ to judge the 
 quick and the dead; and so does St. Paul: "I charge 
 thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing 
 and his kingdom." And Peter in another place says: 
 *' Who shall render an account to Him that is ready to 
 judge the quick and dead;" and Paul in another place, 
 that He may be Lord both of the dead and living.* 
 
 From which Scriptures it is clear the quick and the 
 dead means all men ; and that some shall be living when 
 the Judge shall come, but that the living and the previous 
 dead shall together and at the same time be the subjects of 
 the last judgment. Thus we are told in 1 Thess. iv. 15, 
 that we which live — who shall be alive — remaining on 
 the earth when the Lord shall come, shall not prevent 
 them which are asleep. We shall not, indeed, all fall 
 asleep — all shall not die, or be found dead, when the 
 day of the great judgment comes, but we, that is, the hu- 
 man beings then alive, shall be changed in a moment, in 
 the twinkling of an eye. 1 Cor. xv. 51. 
 
 That all must be judged is according then to both rea- 
 son and Scripture. All are creatures. All are therefore 
 accountable in the measure the Creator has imposed ob- 
 ligations upon them. As it is appointed unto all men 
 once to die, so after death is the judgment for all men. 
 And so also says St. John : " I saw the dead — all the dead 
 
 * Acts X. 42 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5 ; Rom. xiv. 9. 
 
352 CHRIST JUDGING THE WOELD. 
 
 —small and great, stand before God, and the dead were 
 judged out of the things written in the Ibooks, according 
 to their works." All will be there, every one— the rich 
 and the poor, the master and the servant, the mightiest 
 and the lowest, the learned and the ignorant — all, without 
 any exception and without any partiality, must appear 
 before the Judgment-seat of Christ and undergo this 
 trial, and receive sentence according to the deeds done in 
 the body. The last judgment is to be universal. No one, 
 not you nor I can escape it. We shall certainly stand 
 before the Judgment-seat of Christ. He shall come to 
 judge the quick and the dead. 
 
 But whether good angels are to be judged or not, all 
 men, both good and bad, must appear before the Judg- 
 ment-seat of Christ. So the Scriptures positively affirm. 
 2 Cor. V. 10, and Jude 14 ; Rom. xiv. 10-12 ; Acts x. 
 42.; 2 Tim. iv. 1. 
 
 Collective terms are used, and classes specified by the 
 sacred writers, in such a way as to show conclusively 
 that all men must be judged. It could not be otherwise ; 
 for all are creatures, all have sinned ; their outstanding 
 unsettled accounts must be adjusted, so that it may appear 
 that God is indeed just when He judgeth, and righteous 
 when He condemneth. If any were rejected or over- 
 looked, there would be no guarantee for justice. 
 
 6. What is to he judged f Thoughts, words, and deeds. 
 The sacred writers specify idle and hard speeches, that is, 
 arrogant and cruel expressions against our fellow-men 
 as well as against God. 
 
 And are the sins of the godly now to he exposed as 
 well as the sins of the wicked f Much is said on both 
 sides of this question. That they will be published is 
 argued — 
 
THE SINS OF THE GODLY. 353 
 
 First. From the fact that the Scriptures speak in a 
 general way of the works of all men, good as well as bad, 
 coming before God in the judgment. 
 
 Secondly. Impartial justice would seem to require 
 both sides of a case, what is against as well as what is for 
 the parties to be judged. The sins from which they are 
 saved, if seen, would show the greatness of their salvation 
 and render the condemnation of the ungodly more fully 
 justifiable, if it could need it. 
 
 Thirdly. The memory of the sins of the godly is per- 
 petuated in the sacred records : Why may they not be 
 mentioned again and for the last time at the judgment ? 
 
 Fourthly. The Grace of God in their salvation, and 
 the Justice of God in the punishment of the incorrigibly 
 impenitent, would be more palpably displaj^ed by bring- 
 ing their sins to light than by keeping them in darkness. 
 Nor is it possible not to see that the idea of publishing 
 their sins at the last day is a stimulus to watchfulness 
 against committing sin, whereas the contrary doctrine 
 would lead to carnal security. 
 
 On the other side, it is said : 
 
 1. The Scriptures do not anywhere affirm positively 
 that the evil doings of saints will then be made public. 
 
 2. The promise of God on the contrary is, that He 
 will remember no more our sins, but will cast them into 
 the depths of the sea. And it is asked, if God has re- 
 moved our sins out of his sight, why will He allow them 
 to be exposed to the gaze of angels and men, our former 
 friends and enemies? If they have once been buried, 
 why bring them from the depths of the ocean before the 
 vast assembly of the universe ? 
 
 23 
 
354 CHRIST JUDGING THE WORLD. 
 
 3. It is said again, Christ is our advocate, our propi- 
 tiation, the mercy-seat which covers our sins: He will 
 not expose the short-comings of his clients, nor allow the 
 covering of the mercy- seat to "be lifted to discover our 
 sins which are under it. 
 
 4. It is alleged also that as we are to be judged by 
 the Gospel, and not by the Law, therefore our sins will 
 not be published, for the Gospel has forever pardoned 
 them. And finally^ it is said, the sins of believers will 
 not be made known to the universe on the day of judg- 
 ment, for such an expose would overwhelm them with 
 shame, whereas the Church is to be presented at that time 
 to the Father holy, without blemish, not having spot or 
 wrinkle or any such thing. While so much may be said 
 on both sides, and many of our ablest theologians have 
 confessed themselves unable to come to a decision, it does 
 not become me to dogmatize at all ; but I cannot help 
 inclining to the first view : namely, that such a recogni- 
 tion, at least of the sins of Christ's people, will then be 
 manifested as shall exalt the exceeding greatness of His 
 Grace. The texts just quoted on the other side are capa- 
 ble of a clear explanation without proving the points they 
 are quoted for. 
 
 The time admonishes me that I must close this discourse. 
 In doing which, allow me two remarks. I. While angels 
 and men shall be spectators of the judgment, they will 
 also all he interested in its awful scenes. Holy angels 
 assist and approve. And every man and every evil spirit 
 will both feel in himself, even in his own condemnation, 
 the justice and the goodness of God, and see the same in 
 the judgment of others. The uttered and executed sen- 
 tences of the last day will be exactly according to what 
 every one has read beforehand in his own conscience, 
 and has been reading all the time from his death till the 
 
FORESHADOWS OF THE JUDGMEN'T. 855 
 
 judgment in his own heart. The decisions of the last day- 
 will be as it were transcripts from the consciences of the 
 parties judged. Men are happy or miserable immediately 
 after death, but their case is not fully made up, for all 
 their works are not then matured. Some men' s sins are 
 open and go beforehand to judgment, but other men's 
 sins follow after them. This is clearly taught by our 
 Lord in one of his parables, in the anxiety of the rich man 
 about the coming of his brothers to the same place of tor- 
 ment with himself. And also in the voice from heaven, 
 saying, *' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from 
 henceforth ; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from 
 their labors ; and their works do follow them." 
 
 There are many fearful cases that cannot be fully made 
 up for judgment till the last day itself. Their records 
 are not complete. There remains a reckoning to come 
 after death for those sins to which men are accessories, 
 though committed long after they have themselves left 
 this scene of action. A man's influence is immortal. 
 The sins of ill-educated children are to be laid to the 
 account, in some measure, at least, of their parents ; and 
 so the influence of teachers on their pupils, of the heads 
 of business houses over the young people in their employ ; 
 and, in short, of all the corruption and evil that has or 
 may result from the example one sets, or the opinions and 
 doctrines one publishes. The harvest that a bad book 
 or fiendish print may reap for the garner of the authors 
 and publishers at the last day, it is beyond the power of 
 any mortal tongue or pen to describe. Beware of your 
 influence upon others. 
 
 II. My second and last remark is, that the Bible view 
 of the day of future and final retribution proves the 
 necessity of regeneration and sanctification hy the Holy 
 
356 CHEIST JUDOmG THE WOELD. 
 
 Spirit. According to the Scriptures, so minnte and exact 
 are the records for the Judgment- day, that our thoughts 
 and words, as well as deeds, are to be scrupulously 
 examined. We are then to answer for the meanest as 
 well as for the loftiest of our thoughts ; and so awfully 
 thorough and just will the scrutiny of the last day be, 
 that with an unerring hand all the threads of the intents 
 of our heart will be traced out, and all the complications 
 of the web of life will be unravelled, from the beginning 
 to the end. It may be that comparatively our world is 
 as a grain of sand on the shores of eternity, yet we 
 know that God hath prepared his Throne in the heavens 
 and that His Kingdom ruleth over all. We know that 
 the hairs of our head are numbered — that a sparrow 
 cannot fall to the ground without the knowledge of our 
 heavenly Father. The very same reasons and arguments 
 and convictions on the human heart, and testimonies of 
 Holy Scripture, therefore, which establish the existence 
 of God and of his moral government over the world, 
 prove at the same time that all the complications implied 
 in the holding of a general judgment are clear as day to 
 God' s all-seeing eye, and quite as easily held in his Eter- 
 nal Mind and Omnipotent Hand as the minute and exact 
 and vastly complicated works of creation and Providence. 
 And if the All-wise and All-powerful has made every 
 atom of the material universe subject to His laws, which 
 is certainly true, why is He not as supreme over the 
 intellect and the moral feelings? If the Almighty has 
 arranged for weighing and adjusting every particle of 
 matter, and does actually control it, is He not quite as 
 able to weigh and balance every principle of the heart, 
 that has been called into play, through every day and 
 hour and moment of our lives ? He knoweth our frame : 
 He knoweth that we are but dust. We must then he horn 
 again. We must be created anew in Christ Jesus. We 
 
THE OBJECT OF LIFE. 357 
 
 must be restored to the image in which we were created, 
 and this work can only be done by God's own Spirit. 
 We cannot stand in judgment and answer for our 
 thoughts, no more than for our words and deeds, with- 
 out the new creating and cleansing power of the Holy 
 Ghost. Our prayer should therefore continually be : 
 ** Create in me a clean heart, God ; and renew a right 
 spirit within me." 
 
 The carnal mind is at enmity with God. The great 
 object, therefore, to be kept in view by us all the time is, 
 that we may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, 
 to find mercy of the Lord through the propitiation that is 
 made for our sins — to bring into captivity every thought 
 to the obedience of Christ, that we may be conformed 
 more and more to the pattern of Him who is the bright- 
 ness of the Father's glory and the express image of his 
 person. And may God grant unto us grace, that at the 
 general resurrection in the last day, we may be found 
 acceptable in His sight, and receive the blessing which 
 His well-beloved Son, our Lord, shall then pronounce on 
 all who love and fear Him, saying : "Come, ye blessed of 
 my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 beginning of the world." Grant this, we beseech Thee, O 
 merciful Father, through Jesus Christ our Mediator and 
 Redeemer. Amen. 
 
358 EULES OF chkist's final judgment. 
 
 XYII. 
 
 RULES OP CHRIST'S FINAL JUDGMENT. 
 
 " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the 
 earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was no place for them. 
 
 " And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were 
 opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of hfe : and the dead 
 were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to 
 their works." — Ret. xx. II, 12. 
 
 In some measure you have in your minds from the pre- 
 ceding Discourses the history of the Article of our Creed, 
 which is in these words : '^From thence He shall come to 
 judge the quick and the dead." You have learned some- 
 thing of the reasons why it was adopted by the ancient 
 churches, and why we should retain and believe it 
 just as it is. The place and the time of the general Judg- 
 ment have been spoken of. It has been found that Jesus 
 Christ in his perfect human nature is to appear visibly 
 in the clouds of heaven with his holy angels, with power 
 and great glory, as the Judge of quick and dead. Rea- 
 sons also have been given why God hath appointed a day 
 in which to judge the world in righteousness by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. The ends to be accomplished by the gen- 
 eral judgment, speaking with reverence, seem to be 
 worthy of the Creator and of his works and ways. The 
 
THE JUDGMEJ^T TO COME. 359 
 
 manner of conducting the assembly of quick and dead,, 
 which terms are co-extensive with all the moral agents 
 that have .been on our globe, at least all of our race and 
 all evil spirits, has impressed us, I hope, with the solem- 
 nity,, glory,, and magnificence of the event. It only- 
 remains, according to our method, to speak of the Rules 
 OF Pkoceeding according to which the last judgment is 
 to be held, and sentence pronounced and executed, and 
 to make a few reflections on the awful scene. And if I 
 am not very much mistaken, all attempts at rhetoric or 
 impassioned oratory are wholly out of place when directed 
 toward such a subject as this. I am aware that Oratiots^s 
 by one of the greatest Christian orators, and one of the 
 most remarkable men of modern times, were delivered 
 and published on the ''Judgment to Come," and that 
 much art and oratorical machinery has been used by great 
 French preachers, and perhaps by others, in preaching on 
 the awful Judgment-day of Almighty God ; still I cannot 
 help thinking it is misplaced. The fact, the simple fact 
 itself that there is a judgment to come — a day appointed 
 by our Maker in the which He will judge the world in 
 righteousness by our Lord Jesus Christ, and that when 
 He comes to judge the quick and the dead, we must every 
 one appear before him, and stand at his Judgment- seat, 
 this fact itself is more awfully eloquent than any decla- 
 mation can make it. On such a theme, the best possible 
 effort is to get the simple, awful subject into the mind 
 and upon the heart, as nearly as possible in the way it is 
 presented to us by the inspired writers themselves. The 
 text is a palpable allusion, if not to the passages them- 
 selves, yet certainly to the same customs, and employs the 
 same imagery, that we have in Matthew xxv. and Daniel 
 vii. 9, 10. 
 
 1. Note the utter destruction of the kingdom of Satan, 
 
360 RULES OF Christ's final judgment. 
 
 the complete overthrow of the powers of darkness (Rev. 
 XX. 9 and 10), which conies before the last judgment. 
 
 2. Here is a description of the Day of Judgment. And 
 truly may we say, with the pious Matthew Henry, as we 
 read it : "The Lord help us firmly to believe this doc- 
 trine of the judgment to come." " And I saw," says the 
 Apostle, ''a great white throne." The same our Lord 
 speaks of, saying : " When the Son of Man shall come in 
 his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall He 
 sit upon the throne of his glory." The same that Daniel 
 saw : ''I beheld, till the thrones were cast down, and the 
 Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as 
 snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool ; his 
 throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning 
 fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before 
 him ; thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand 
 times ten thousand stood before him ; the judgment was 
 set, and the books were opened. And I saw in the night 
 visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with 
 the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days." 
 vii. 9-13. 
 
 I do not say that the events referred to by Daniel are 
 identical with the event described in Matt. xxv. 31-46, 
 and in the text. Nor is there any direct connection 
 between them in point of time, or as of cause and effect, 
 that I am aware of. But the imagery is essentially the 
 same. And no one should press the figures used beyond 
 what the nature of the scene fully justifies. Reference 
 is had in the mind, in all these passages, to oriental cus- 
 toms. The Rabbins were constantly in the habit of 
 speaking of the opening of the books before the Throne 
 of Judgment, as if allegations were then to be made 
 out of the records, the indictment read and proof sub- 
 
TIIE THRONE AND THE BOOKS. 361 
 
 mitted, after the manner of liiiman courts, or as in the 
 calling and sitting of a grand judicial convention or 
 Sanhedrim. 
 
 A great throne here means a very Tiigli throne ; and 
 white^ that is, shining, refulgent, intimates its purity, 
 equity, justice, righteousness. The great white throne is 
 the Throne of His glory. 
 
 And Mm that sat on it — the Son of Man, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, but appearing now in such awful majesty, 
 that heaven and earth fled away ; and there was found 
 no place for them. As if the sun, moon, and stars grew 
 pale, and were overshadowed by the brightness of his 
 coming ; and that He was all in all, the fulness of all. 
 The language does not imply necessarily the annihilation 
 of the material universe, nor the total destruction of our 
 solar system. But it does imply the destruction of all 
 evil, and the impossibility of any escape from the all- 
 seeing eye of the Judge. 
 
 And I saw the dead — all the dead, as well as all 
 living, small and great, stand before God. ''And before 
 Him shall be gathered all nations;" and all the indi- 
 viduals of all nations and ages. The sea, the land, the 
 grave — "death and hell delivered up the dead which 
 were in them : and they were judged every man accord- 
 in": to their works." 
 
 'O 
 
 ''And the 'books were opened : and another hoolc was 
 opened^ which is the Book of Life: and the dead were 
 judged out of the things which were written in the hooks, 
 according to their works. ^'' The imagery here, though 
 taken from human courts of justice, is painfully emphatic 
 and minute. The scene is on this wise. Here is the 
 judgment throne. Here are the laws enacted and pro- 
 mulgated by the All- wise and Almighty Creator. Here 
 
362 EULES OF Christ's final judgment. 
 
 are His creatures, and here are the records of their lives, 
 of their thoughts, words, and deeds. It is at once 
 apparent that the acts and characters of the persons 
 to be judged are far from being in conformity with the 
 statutes. The 'books are opened; namely, the records of 
 common sense and reason, proclaiming the propriety, 
 fitness, and prudence of things, all of which shows that 
 the laws of God were reasonable, just, and good, and that 
 there is no valid excuse for having violated them. And 
 the book of providence, common, special, and universal, 
 is opened. And so also are the hook^ of Divine omnis- 
 cience^ of God^s remembrance, and the book of every 
 sinner's own con^science. And the Book of Revelation, 
 of nature and of law, natural and revealed, and by all 
 these records the dead are condemned. But now another 
 book is opened, which is the Book of Life. No defence is 
 supposed to be made, for the reason that none is possible. 
 No excuse can be offered. All are speechless ; even those 
 who are saved are saved by free sovereign grace. They 
 have no claims to plead, but their pardon. The Book of 
 Life, in a strict sense, is opposed to the book of death, the 
 second containing the names of the condemned. It is the 
 record of Christ' s people, of those whom the Father gave 
 him ; but in a more general sense we may understand by 
 it the whole Revelation of His grace, in which repent- 
 ance is preached, pardon offered, and eternal life prom- 
 ised, to all who shall believe upon Him. 
 
 Thus we see from this brief summary of the proceed- 
 ings, as set before us in the text, that though the expres- 
 sions are strongly figurative, and after the style of the 
 Rabbins on Daniel vii., still, awfully grand truths are 
 embodied in the passage. There is a fearful speciality in 
 this trial. All the persons are judged out of those things 
 which were written in the books, according to their 
 
ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS. 363 
 
 works, and the issues of the trial are, that whosoever of 
 all that were judged was not found written in the Book 
 of Life was cast into the lake of fire. The Judge *' shall 
 separate them one from another," &c. E-ead Matt. xxv. 
 37-46. 
 
 Now, according to their worTcs does not exclude their 
 faith. For their works are nothing but the fruits of their 
 faith — proofs whether their faith was true or false. It is 
 onl}^ by its works that faith can be visibly judged. IN'o 
 one can suppose that repentance, faith, and prayer are 
 excluded altogether out of the account taken of the good 
 works which are acknowledged by the King, when He 
 welcomes the blessed of his Father into the kingdom pre- 
 pared for them from the foundation of the world. 
 
 According to their worTcs implies there are degrees 
 of guilt, and consequently of punishment. Our Lord 
 clearly refers to an appointed day of final judgment in 
 his woes upon Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, and 
 that it would be more tolerable in the day of judgment 
 for Tyre and Sidon, and for Sodom and Gomorrah, than 
 for those who had the offer of His mercy, but rejected it. 
 The greatest guilt will rest on them who have had the 
 most light, the greatest gifts and talents, and neglected or 
 abused them the most. Men will be judged according to 
 what they had, whether with one talent, or two, or fi.YQ, 
 or ten. They will be judged according to the dispensa- 
 tion under which they lived, whether of the Patriarchs, 
 or under Moses or Christ, Socrates or Confucius, and the 
 sentence will be pronounced according to the compliance 
 or non-compliance with the rules of the dispensation 
 under which the persons judged have lived. And as 
 every man's conscience condemns him, so those who 
 have not had the written law of Moses, nor the light of 
 
364 EULE3 OF Christ's final judgment. 
 
 the Gospel, are condemned, not for neglecting or despi- 
 sing what they never had any knowledge of, but for 
 not living according to the light they had. The greatest 
 guilt will therefore rest on those who have the law of 
 nature, the light of tradition, the teachings of conscience, 
 and the revelation of God's will, and the preaching of 
 the Gospel, if their names are not found in the Book of 
 Life. He that believeth not is condemned already — the 
 wrath of God abideth on him that hath not believed on 
 the Son of God. 
 
 Allow me to present you here with a paragraph from 
 Dr. Wails ^ on this point: *'To make this matter yet 
 plainer, and to reconcile the different representations 
 which are given of our justification by faith in this life, 
 and the importance attached to our justification by our 
 words and works at the day of judgment, it must be con- 
 sidered that every Christian who is admitted into heaven, 
 may be said to have a twofold right to it ; namely, there 
 is a right of inheritance which is by faith, whereby we 
 are justified, and become the children of God, and joint- 
 heirs with Christ (Gal. iii. 26 ; Kom. viii. 17) ; being inter- 
 ested by the free gift of God in the benefit of his Son's pur- 
 chase, that is, the inlieritance of heaven : and there is also 
 a right of congruity or fitness (meetness or preparation 
 for), which arises from actual holiness of life and heart, 
 whereby we are prepared for the actual possession of this 
 inheritance. So an infant may have a right of inheritance 
 to his father' s estate by birth or adoption ; but he has not 
 the right of congruity, fitness, or qualifications for possess- 
 ing the estate till he grow up to twenty- one years, or to 
 the age of discretion and capacity to enjoy it, and then he 
 is put into the possession." Now it seems to me this dis- 
 
 * Watts's Works, vol. iv. p. 39. 
 
HOW THE HEATHEN AEE JUDGED. 865 
 
 tinction is clear and proper. We may Ibe said to be justi- 
 fied by faith and by works, and the one implies the other. 
 It is certainly by faith alone we are justified, and have 
 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ; and it is 
 just as certain we must be sanctified, and that every man 
 will be judged according to his works — according to the 
 deeds done in the body. 
 
 1. When it is asked, what is to be the rule according 
 to which sentence is to be pronounced upon those who 
 have not had the written Word of God or the preached 
 Gospel of his grace ? the answer is, the sentence will in 
 every case be in exact conformity to strict justice. For as 
 many as have sinned without law, shall also perish with- 
 out law ; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be 
 judged by the law. E-om. ii. 5-16. A heathen will not 
 be condemned for rejecting the Gospel, for it was' not 
 offered to him. But he will be condemned for what his 
 own heart condemns him, and for not knowing God. 
 Their guilt will lie in this : ' ' Because that which may be 
 known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed 
 it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the 
 creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood 
 by the things that are made, even his eternal power and 
 Godhead ; so that they are without excuse. Because that 
 when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, 
 neither were they thankful ; but became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 
 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and wor- 
 shipped and served the creature more than the Creator, 
 who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God 
 gave them up unto vile affections. For even their 
 women did change the natural use into that which is 
 against nature. And even as they did not like to retain 
 God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a 
 
366 RULES OF Christ's fiital judgment. 
 
 reprobate mind, to do those things which are not con- 
 venient." Rom. i. 19-28. 
 
 2. The method of the judgment will he according to 
 righteousness. Judgment will then be laid to the line 
 and righteousness to the plummet. The dead and the 
 living changed will be judged, out of the things written in 
 the books which will then be opened, according to their 
 works. There will be no passion, prejudice, partiality, 
 mistake or error, nor any arbitrary severity. The eternal 
 principles of right will be observed in all the proceedings. 
 The conscience of all moral beings will testify that the 
 world is judged in righteousness. The mercy shown in 
 that day will be through perfect righteousness. God 
 will be faithful to himself, to his laws, and to his Son and 
 to his promises. As Christ is the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that belie veth, and as there is 
 no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and as 
 Christ has fulfilled the law, magnified it, and made it hon- 
 orable, Gfod can now be just and yet justify them that 
 believe. So the sinner who is found penitent and believ- 
 ing, is justified and saved. Divine Justice is satisfied 
 with the sacrifice of Christ, and beams brightly because 
 of the atonement which He made, and the sanctification 
 He has wrought. Sin is punished, but the sinner is saved 
 through the righteousness of Christ. But let us never 
 forget that there is no escape in that day, unless we are 
 pardoned for Christ's sake. We must be sheltered under 
 the covering wings of the Almighty Saviour. 
 
 3. It deserves to he noted., that the ^pronouncing of the 
 sentence of ahsolution comes hefore that of condemnation. 
 This order of proceeding with the twofold sentence may 
 have been intended to teach us that God delights more in 
 mercy than in wrath— is more ready to forgive than to 
 
GOOD WORKS ARE FRUITS. 367 
 
 condemn. In the mean time, too, every word of approba- 
 tion towards the godly, uttered in the hearing of the incor- 
 rigibly wicked, will add to their anguish. 
 
 The approbation of the godly will be wholly of free 
 Grace and according to the riches of Divine Mercy. It is 
 not here required that we prove that salvation is by Grace 
 and not by works. For the works approved of in the 
 day of judgment are not without flaws — stained with 
 numerous blemishes, and if accepted, it is through Grace. 
 Nor would they have ever been undertaken or executed 
 without the mighty working of God' s Spirit, nor are they 
 ever spoken of in the Scriptures as having merited the 
 favor of God. The rewards given are all gracious. The 
 reasons for making mention of the services of believers 
 are : First To show that they are believers, and their 
 good works are the evidences of their faith, fruits of the 
 Spirit of God which has been sent forth into their hearts. 
 Secondly. To show that they are indeed meet for their 
 inheritance in glory. Their good works prove that they 
 are in union with Christ, and have friendship with God. 
 For they are the fruits of the spirit of adoption given 
 unto them. These good works prove they have sought 
 the Kingdom of God and His righteousness — proofs that 
 they walked by the Spirit and not after the flesh — proofs 
 that as Christ was interceding for them above, so His 
 Spirit dwelt in them and interceded in them in a corre- 
 sponding work — that as He was preparing a place for 
 them in his Father's honse of many mansions, so He was 
 preparing them for their place in glory. 
 
 4. You note that the day of the general judg-ment is 
 made a distinctive^ prominent day in the Holy Scriptures. 
 ''But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the 
 night," says St. Pete3?ff=3^*d^so the coming of our Lord 
 
368 EULE3 OF Christ's final judgment. 
 
 is often referred to as a prominent and great event. As 
 it marks the end of time in the sense of merging it into 
 eternity, it is the last day, the day of final, universal 
 judgment, when Christ is to be glorilied, and all the attri- 
 butes of God will be seen to be perfect and glorious. His 
 Justice, Goodness, Mercy, Holiness, Immutability, Omni- 
 potence, Omniscience, and Truth and Grace, will then 
 all be made so manifest, that every intelligent creature 
 will unite in saying : Just and true are all thy ways, 
 Lord God Almighty. 
 
 5. In reference to the execution of the sentence : 
 
 First. Observe the order is the reverse of that observed 
 in pronouncing it. "And these shall go away into ever- 
 lasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
 The pronouncing of. the absolution and welcome of the 
 godly comes before the condemning of the wicked, but 
 the wicked are sent away into everlasting punishment 
 before the righteous go into life eternal. In the execution 
 of the sentence, then, there is a fulfilment of the Scrip- 
 ture, which says: The righteous hath joy and shall 
 increase his joy, " when he seeth the vengeance." 
 
 Secondly. To both the righteous and the wicked there 
 is the same fixed, determinate idea of a place for them to 
 dwell in or to inhabit — not more so for one than for the 
 other. There is equal positive, absolute certainty of 
 character in the wicked as in the righteous. One goes 
 into life eternal, the other to endure punishment ever- 
 lasting. 
 
 Thirdly, Bternity is equally attributed to the existence 
 and place of the abode of both — not of one more than of 
 the other. The duration of the punishment is expressed 
 by the very same word that expresses the duration of the 
 life of the righteous. The terms used and the justice of 
 
THE REALITIES OF THE EXECUTION. 369 
 
 God clearly teach that the same duration, continuance of 
 existence, awaits both the godly and the ungodly. 
 
 Fourthly. Nor is the sentence a mere negative one. 
 The mere going away does not exhaust it. The righteous 
 go into life eternal — a life that is to be filled with joy and 
 service — with enjoyments which only those who love 
 God can ever know. It is a life of service and of pleas- 
 ure — a life of knowledge and love ever increasing and 
 never to be diminished or to have an end. The wicked, 
 on the other hand, not only lose all this, but they are 
 driven away from the presence of the glory of God. 
 They lose every thing that makes heaven, and to this are 
 superadded the pains of hell. They go away into ever- 
 lasting punishment. They depart from the glory of 
 God to the perdition of devils. They depart into 
 everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 
 And even if it is admitted, as some say, that this lan- 
 guage and similar Scriptural phrases are not to be inter- 
 preted in a literal but in a figurative sense, the meaning 
 is essentially the same. Material fire, and a literal pit 
 vomiting forth fire and smoke, is not at all necessary to 
 constitute the eternal hell of the finally and incorrigibly 
 wicked. Material elements in their punishment are not 
 essential. The chief ingredients of their suffering will be 
 within, of the conscience — self-condemned — and upon 
 this the outpouring of the wrath of God Almighty. If 
 the Word of God describes the torments of the lost in the 
 world to come by metaphors and figures of speech, it is 
 because such is the weakness and poverty of language 
 that it is not sufficient for describing the realities in sim- 
 ple words. And if the figures used— which are the most 
 awful that can be found — come short of the things them- 
 selves, what must the realities be % Truly it will be an 
 awful thing to fall into the hands of the living God as an 
 
 24 
 
370 RULES OF Christ's final judgment. 
 
 unreconciled sinner — as one who has despised so great a 
 salvation ! 
 
 6. The doctrine of a future general judgment is not to 
 be so understood as to stand in the way of each man 
 passing under a particular and personal judgment, imme- 
 diately after death. The Bible tells us the soul at death 
 returns to God who gave it, and must then receive evi- 
 dence of his favor or of his condemnation, and conse- 
 quently pass at once to a state of happiness which is 
 Paradise or heaven, or into a state of misery, which is 
 hell. This is not the place for me to speak of the latitude 
 with which the terms heaven or hell are used, nor of the 
 degrees, spheres, or mansions there may be in the ampli- 
 tudes of the world to come. It is perfectly clear, how- 
 ever, from the parable of our Lord about Lazarus and 
 the rich man, that happiness or misery immediately 
 follows death, and also that the state into which men 
 pass at death may be increased in intensity. And our 
 Lord promised the penitent thief on the cross that hB 
 should be with Him that day in Paradise. And accord- 
 ing to Peter^ the souls of those who refused to believe^ 
 Noah's Gospel, were in the prison of hell when he wrote, ,^ 
 suflering the vengeance of God. And nothing is plainer ' 
 in PauVs Epistles than that he conceived of but two 
 possible states for believers : namely, present in the body 
 in this world, or absent from the body and present with 
 the Lord in a state of happiness. But it is not seen how 
 these passages of holy Scripture are in conflict in any 
 way with those that speak of a future general judgment. 
 
 It is evident, for two reasons at least, that a general 
 judgment must follow the private sentence that is passed 
 on individuals. First. The justice of God must be made 
 manifest to all the universe, in order that He may be 
 adored by His intelligent creatures. It must be seen that 
 
ALL DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. 371 
 
 He is just when He judgeth, and righteous when He 
 condemneth. He must appear to be, as well as actually 
 be, just, holy, and good. Secondly. It is necessary that 
 a future public judgment should follow after the personal 
 judgment has passed, because neither all the penalties of a 
 man' s sin, nor all the rewards of his well-doing are ren- 
 dered up at his death, nor can they be before the general 
 resurrection. This point was considered at some length 
 in the last Discourse. 
 
 7. If in the proceedings of the general Judgment, and 
 in many points connected with the events of that day, 
 grave difficulties are suggested, we should remember that 
 we are finite and very feeble, and of very limited under- 
 standings — that our globe itself, the theatre of so many 
 events which seem to us so vast, is only a grain of sand of 
 exceedingly small proportions compared with the vast- 
 ness of the Universe of God. What difficulties are there 
 which Omnipotence and Omniscience cannot remove or 
 overcome as to the place of the judgment, the assembling 
 of the parties to be judged, and the examination of the 
 records of guilt, and the pronouncing and execution of the 
 sentences? "'God will bring to light the hidden things 
 of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the 
 hearts of all men." Conscience will then be set free and 
 unmasked. The very elements of nature will give up the 
 echoes of human crime. 
 
 8. There is no argument against the minuteness or ex- 
 actness of the individual judgment and sufferings of the 
 ungodly after the day of the general judgment that does 
 not lie equally against the minuteness of Divine Provi- 
 dence now, and the fact of individual suffering in this 
 world. And as the Providence of God over our world 
 needs no proof from us in this place, and as it is equally 
 
372 EULEs OF Christ's fikal judgment. 
 
 palpable that an awful individuality of suffering is laid, 
 or may be laid upon us in this life, so it is just as palpable 
 the same thing may be done in the Day of Judgment. 
 The scrutiny of that day must be concerning individuals, 
 not as classes, races, or societies, but into their several 
 individualities, and into the thoughts, words and deeds of 
 each one, as if he were the only subject and stood alone 
 before the Judgment- seat. It cannot be otherwise. For as 
 our sins are our own acts, so every soul must then 
 answer for himself to his own master, and bear his own 
 burden, and bear it as if he were absolutely alone. And 
 yet every ungodly man, while he will be condemned by 
 his own conscience, will also be condemned by all other 
 sinners. And every secret sin will then be exposed, and 
 all the ramifications of evil-doing will come home to rest 
 on the head and the heart whence they proceeded. 
 
 Now the books are open spread ; 
 Now the writing must be read, 
 Which condemns the quick and dead ; 
 Now, before the Judge severe, 
 Hidden things must all appear ; 
 Naught can pass unpunished here."* 
 
 Nor will there be any mistakes committed on this day. 
 The judgment will be according to the deeds done in the 
 body, and what these deeds are the books then opened 
 will show, so clearly that there will be no denial or error. 
 'No miscalling of names, no perjury, nor false testi- 
 mony ; but every case will be determined according to 
 the books, according to the deeds done in the body, and 
 each one's case separate and distinct from all others, 
 whether the things done be good or bad. 
 
 * Missal Dies irfe dies ilia 
 
THE EOCK OF AGES. 37 S 
 
 By way of reflections, I offer — 
 
 I. This thought : The field of Jcnowledge is indeed 
 wide. The number of things desirable to be known may 
 be very great, but our happiness may be eternally 
 secured if only a few things were drawn down from our 
 heads into our hearts. How much would our lives be 
 altered, if we did really and truly believe in the great 
 and last Judgment of which we have been speaking ! 
 Then how gladly would we hearken to the Gospel's joyful 
 tidings, offering us pardon ! How much more seriously 
 would our thoughts be directed to those things that 
 concern the world to come ! And if we thus lived 
 under a solemn and ever present sense of infinite realities, 
 then we should feel much less the sorrows of this life, 
 and the noise and vanities of this world would pass as if 
 we heard them not. What is all this world in view of 
 the Judgment-seat ! Is it not altogether unworthy of 
 beings as intelligent as we are to allow the speck of time 
 to eclipse eternity — to allow the strife and toil, passion 
 and pleasure of this short life to shut out from our view 
 the awful future ? Should we not strive to live as in the 
 light of the Judgment-seat of God, and always in full 
 view of the Cross of his Son ? 
 
 " Rock of ages, cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in thee : 
 Let the water and the blood, 
 From thy wounded side which flowed, 
 Be of sin the double cure ; 
 Cleanse me from its guilt and power. 
 
 " While I draw this fleeting breath, 
 When my heart-strings break in death, 
 When I soar to worlds unknown, 
 See thee on thy judgment-throne. 
 Rock of ages, cleft for me. 
 Let me hide myself in thee." 
 
B74 RULES OF Christ's final judginient. 
 
 But I must guard you against the presumption that 
 any mere degree of awakened attention to the salvation 
 of your soul in view of these awful scenes will secure 
 your safety. Deep and powerful convictions do not 
 always result in true conversion. There is a kind of 
 repentance which is not unto life, but unto death. Such 
 was the repentance of Judas when he came and threw 
 down the thirtj^ pieces of silver, saying, I have betrayed 
 innocent blood, and then went and hanged himself, and 
 went to his own place. You read also of one who trem- 
 bled as Faul reasoned before him of righteousness, 
 temperance, and a judgment to come, but was not con- 
 verted. Felix cried. When I have a more convenient 
 season, I will send for thee. But there is not the slightest 
 evidence that he ever thought the convenient time had 
 come. He had ample opportunity to see the Apostle, and 
 to have learned more about the way to prepare to meet 
 the judgment to come, if he had desired to do so. But 
 he did not avail himself of these opportuities. He escaped 
 from the importunity of his conscience at the time, on the 
 plea of a more convenient season, which he never found. 
 But, dear hearer, what more convenient time can you ever 
 have than the present? To-morrow may not be yours. 
 This very night your soul may be required of you. And 
 if to-morrow does not come to you, the awful day of 
 judgment will surely come. If the more convenient 
 season for you to come to Christ does not come, still it is 
 absolutely certain you must appear before his Judgment- 
 seat. And if the Apostle contemplates the day of the 
 appearing of the Lord Jesus in His Kingdom as the day 
 of his coronation, when he shall receive his crown of 
 righteousness, and so also all who love his appearing, 
 then how awful will be the doom of all hypocrites and 
 unbelievers ! If the righteous scarcely be saved, what 
 shall be the end of the ungodly and of all who disobey 
 
THERE MUST BE A JUDGMEISTT DAY. 375 
 
 the Gospel ? He that helieveth and is baptized shall 
 he saved : He that helieveth not shall he damned, 
 
 II. The consummation of all things belonging to our 
 dynasty, in the way that we understand the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, is in perfect harmony with the hest views of the 
 heathen^ and is supported by reason, common sense, and 
 tradition. It is in harmony essentially with Rabbinical 
 and Hindoo philosophy, as well as with the teaching of 
 Greek and Roman poets and moralists. According to the 
 Hindoos, the Supreme Deity is the Supreme Pontiff and 
 Judge of the universe. All law, all intelligence, all sys- 
 tems are from Him and accountable to Him. Even the 
 Brahmin is an emanation from Him, bringing to the earth 
 the attributes he possessed in heaven. [KTow all such 
 ideas imply a final judgment, when the conflict between 
 good and evil must be decided. Is it not reasonable to 
 suppose there is a just end appointed for this contest? 
 For without this eternal judgment, how will the Justice 
 of God ever be made manifest ? If men' s lots are now 
 diverse, is that difference always according to right ? Is 
 there no injustice in the disproportions of this world? 
 Is not Divine Providence a golden chain that hangs 
 between heaven and earth, of which we see at best only 
 a few links, while all the rest are either so far above, 
 towards the end that is attached to the Eternal Throne, 
 that even our faith cannot see them, or they are so deep 
 in the mysteries of Providence that we cannot fathom 
 them : and in the mean time, is it not a precious discipline 
 to wait in hope for the clearing up of all in the Great 
 Day ? Is there not a God who is all- wise, almighty, and 
 just ? Does not evil now reign ? If not triumphant over 
 good, still certainly it has a vast empire. Are there not 
 evil spirits, angels who have fallen from their allegiance in 
 heaven, and some who have kept their places of duty and 
 
376 EULES OF Christ's rmAL judgment. 
 
 glory ? Is there to be no final settlement witli the wicked 
 angels? Did not God make man holy, and then, after he 
 sinned and fell, did He not show him mercy, and does He 
 not now offer to restore our race to Paradise again ? But 
 all do not accept this ofier. Many live in total ignorance 
 or wicked contempt of it. Must there not be a day for 
 showing the harmony of all God' s ways — a day for doing 
 justice to the pure and holy angels and other virtuous 
 beings in the universe, as well as for avenging his saints ? 
 
 III. The Day of Judgment is a clear demonstration 
 of the Supreme Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Nothing less than the sum of all the Godhead could be 
 equal to the functions of the Judgment-seat. Not only 
 will the duties of that awful day require that all authority 
 and power in heaven and earth should be in his hands, 
 but that He should also have omniscience to search the 
 heart and try the reins of all intelligent beings. And as 
 Christ in his own person executes his office as Judge 
 of the quick and the dead, He will show more of the 
 splendor and majesty of God than had ever before been 
 manifested to created beings. The Judge of quick and 
 dead is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ordained as Media- 
 tor, Saviour, Advocate, King, Lord, and Christ. Thus the 
 Apostle declares that God hath given assurance of the 
 judgment of the world in righteousness by Christ, in 
 this, that He hath raised him from the dead, and ordained 
 him to that work, and appointed a day for it. As Christ 
 has redeemed his people, they meet Him on the judgment 
 throne as a friend. But his enemies, who would not that 
 He should reign over them : how will they stand before 
 Him, and answer for rejecting His offers of pardon ? Then 
 will they be speechless and without excuse. The mercies 
 of God and the very blood of the Cross will be awful 
 witnesses against them. 
 
SAD^T AND SmNER BEFORE GOD. 377 
 
 ly. SucTi a day must he tJioicgJit of icitJi very different 
 views and feelings hy different Icinds of people. The 
 vast assembly at the Judgment will be divided into two 
 great classes, the righteous and the wicked. The right- 
 eous rise to the resurrection of life, and the wicked to the 
 resurrection of shame and everlasting contempt. The 
 righteous will then lift up their heads with joy. Their 
 sorrows are past. Oppressed innocence is now redressed. 
 The Judge on the Throne is their friend. His words are 
 distinct and authoritative. Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world. Enter now into the joy of your 
 Lord. Here on earth. He said, Come, take up your Cross ; 
 deny yourselves ; follow me. But now the work is done, 
 the race is run, ''the gate is past and heaven is won." 
 And so, on the other hand, how awful the condition of 
 those who are then numbered with his enemies ! Every 
 mouth will be stopped, and all will be guilty before God. 
 And the Judge will say. Bring hither these mine enemies, 
 WHO WOULD NOT that I should reign over them, and slay 
 them before me. Cast them into utter darkness, where 
 there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. 
 I called them to come. I besought them to repent and 
 forsake their evil ways. They were warned that sin 
 would bring them to this awful end ; but they would not 
 hearken. Now they must reap as they have sown. 
 
 Y. Since, then, there is a day fixed for the judgment 
 of all men by the Lord Jesus, let the wicked and the pro- 
 fane know that Divine vengeance, though it is slow, does 
 not sleep. The record of every human being is now 
 making up for this awful day. And though we know not 
 the time, we know it will surely come. And whether 
 that day be far remote or near at hand, the day of death 
 cannot be very far from every one of us, and after death 
 
378 EULES OF Christ's final judgmeot:. 
 
 we can make no more preparation for the Judgment-seat. 
 As we die, so we appear for judgment. Nor is there any 
 possible escape. No place in which to hide. All nations, 
 small and great, and of all generations are there. The 
 sinner hidden in the centre of the material universe, even 
 if it were piled in ruins upon him, could not escape. 
 The piercing eye and Almighty hand would drag him 
 forth to the Judgment Throne. 
 
 yi. And the certainty of a judgment to come should 
 make us more in earnest for the salvation of our fellow- 
 men. Can it be that there is an endless eternity just 
 before us ? Is there an endless heaven for the pious and 
 an eternal hell for the ungodly ? How then can we rest, 
 or allow ourselves to live' so sluggish, so engrossed with 
 the things of this life 1 Seeing that such awful things are 
 before us, part and parcel of which we must ourselves 
 soon be, what manner of persons ought we to be in all 
 holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasten- 
 ing unto the coming of the day of God ! 
 
 yil. The contemplation of the judgment to come 
 should make us more patient in suffering, more content 
 to endure the trials of this life, and teach us to think less 
 of the honors and show and riches and glory of this 
 world. What will all these things be in that eventful 
 day ! How then will the unjust, the slanderer, the 
 drunkard, the whoremonger, the liar, the murderer, the 
 profane and the contemner of God, the despiser of the 
 Gospel of Christ appear before God ! In that splendid 
 and awful assembly their laughter will be turned into 
 mourning, and their joy into lamentation. But it will be 
 all in vain for them to cry for the rocks and the moun- 
 tains to fall on them and hide them from the face of the 
 Throne of God and of the Lamb. 
 
SAD CHAI^GES AT THE JUDGMENT. 379 
 
 There is, then, no need Of arguments to prove that it is 
 wisdom to prepare for the judgment. We know we are 
 sinners. We cannot escape death and the Judgment. 
 As sinners out of Christ we cannot abide the day of the 
 revelation of the righteous judgment of Almighty God. 
 Then surely we should now acquaint ourselves with Him, 
 and be at peace. 
 
 VIII. Will there not, then, be many awful changes in 
 human conditions — many awful disappointments at the 
 Judgment- seat of Christ? We cannot judge of men's 
 condition after death from their condition here. The 
 parable of Lazarus and the rich man is a picture of most 
 striking contrasts. Every thing was reversed. Here 
 Lazarus had his evil things : there he was comforted. 
 Here the rich man had his good things : there he was 
 tormented. We cannot, then, always judge of a man's 
 tru-e character from his present circumstances. A man's 
 true character is what he really is in the sight of God. 
 It is the way of his life and of his heart towards his 
 Maker and towards his fellow-men. This is not fully 
 known to any but the All-seeing Eye. But a man's 
 circumstances, his status and condition in this world, are 
 affected by the dispensations of Divine Providence to- 
 wards him in things material, or of the earth, earthy. 
 And hence worldly prosperity is not always a sure 
 indication that we are in a state of grace, nor is worldly 
 adversity a proof that God does not love us. On the con- 
 trary, adversity is more friendly to a heavenly disposition 
 and the laying up of treasures in the skies than pros- 
 perity. It is believed that worldly prosperity destroys 
 more happiness, and ruins more immortal souls, than 
 adversity. Chastisements are evidences of our Divine 
 sonship. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. The 
 branches of the true vine are pruned that they may bring 
 
380 EULES OF Christ's final judgmeitt. 
 
 forth more fruit. Alas ! that many who are first will then 
 be last — first in promise and expectation, in gifts and 
 opportunities — shall then he found rejected, reprobate, 
 lost ! To what a height of glory will the meek then be 
 raised up, and to what a depth of woe will many of those 
 who have been so prosperous in this world be then con- 
 signed ! And, ah ! if such disappointments as these were 
 all. But to think of the divisions that will take place in 
 that day between Pastors ahd their flocks, Sabbath-school 
 teachers and their pupils, parents and their children. 
 Ah ! there will be mourning in the judgment, when the 
 wicked go away into everlasting punishment. 
 
 Will not the young think on these things ? Will not the 
 impenitent consider ? How can any of you abide in this 
 awful day ! The year is drawing towards its close. You 
 have been often, very often invited to come to Christ and 
 live. And some of you, I see from the almond blossoms on 
 your heads, are already far advanced in the way to the 
 house appointed for all living. Are you ripening for 
 heaven, or are you far down in the broad and crooked 
 way, which leads to destruction ? Do you not know that 
 it is appointed unto you once to die and after death the 
 judgment? How do you expect to feel and conduct 
 yourself amid the astonishing scenes just referred to? 
 When you die, you expect to be buried. You, do not 
 believe your soul will be in your coffin. Where will it 
 be ? Will not your body rise from that grave ? Will 
 you not, with these very ears of yours, hear the arch- 
 angel' s trumpet much more distinctly and effectively than 
 you hear my voice? And will not your eyes see the 
 Judge and the great white Throne, and the gathering 
 millions of millions, and the books opened ? And then 
 what sentence will you hear ? And what will become of 
 you then ? Which way will you go from the Judgment ? 
 
THE PALACE IK THE SKIES. 381 
 
 Will you ascend with the glorious Redeemer to reign 
 with him, or be sent down with evil angels and ungodly 
 men to perdition? And do these things make any 
 impression on you ? Does your heart tremble ? Then 
 to-day seize the offer of me*rcy. Cry unto God for pardon. 
 Accept the Gospel's gracious offer. Now Jesus says, 
 Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out. 
 
 " Then grant us, Saviour, so to pass our time trembling here, 
 That when upon the clouds of heaven Thy glory shall appear 
 Uplifting high our joyful heads, in triumph we may rise, 
 A nd enter, with Thine augel train, Thy palace in the skies." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 " It is better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is 
 unworthy of Him ; for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely." — Lord 
 Bacon, 
 
 " Surely I had rather a groat deal men should say, there was no such man at 
 all as Plutarch, than that they should say, there was one Plutarch^ who used to 
 eat his children as soon as they were born, as the poets say of Saturn." — Plutarch. 
 
 It is obvious that many points may be in the mind of a think- 
 ing, reading, studious, earnest-hearted pastor, which may give 
 shape and color to the pictures which he draws for his hearers, 
 that it is not expedient to give in detail from the pulpit. My 
 object in this Appendix is to describe briefly the field of thought 
 and critical examination passed over in the preceding Discourses, 
 as seen from the study. It seems to me important for us to know 
 something of the views entertained concerning Christ in the ages 
 immediately following that of the Apostles, and to have in view 
 the lights under which the great Council of Nicaea was held, in 
 A. D. 325 ; and to examine how far and in what respects the 
 skeptical theories of our schools of modern criticism are the reflec- 
 tion of ancient speculations. By taking such a «urvey of the field, 
 it will be seen that, after all, the Apostles' Creed is essentially the 
 true voice of the Church of God, and that nothing has been 
 brought to light, either by unbelieving science or disbelieving 
 criticism, that should cause us to discard even the articulated 
 utterances of our faith as to its fundamental doctrines. I propose 
 in this Appendix ; — 
 
 I. A few remarks on the vital importance of the question that 
 occupies so large a part of our modern philosophical and critical 
 literature. 
 
 25 
 
386 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. A brief review of some of the opinions advanced concern- 
 ing Christ, from the days of the Apostles to the Council of Nicsea 
 which are alluded to, denied, and confuted in the Apostles' Creed. 
 
 III. The Aspect of Modern Thought concerning Christ, with 
 special reference to the theories of Strauss, Tiibingen, and Renan. 
 
 And, Finally, a few words to theological students and young 
 ministers of the Gospel. 
 
 I. The paramount importance of the question now at issue. 
 
 It is seen from the sayings of Lord Bacon and Plutarch, quoted 
 above, that it has been long and learnedly debated by great men, 
 whether Atheism or Superstition was the greatest evil to man- 
 kind. Formerly, it was held by many that even Atheism was not 
 worse than gross and unworthy conceptions of God ; but now it 
 is generally believed that any kind of religion is better than none 
 at all. It is, however, very far from the truth, that all religions 
 are equally good, or that one kind of religion is for one country 
 and one people, and another for another people. This is old 
 heathenism. It is the doctrine of local national deities and patron 
 saints. It is then of great im])ortance to have clear and correct 
 views of God and of His character and Government. For as the 
 stream cannot rise higher than the fountain, and as the effect is of 
 the same character as its cause ; so the sum of perfection pro- 
 posed as attainable by any religion, is to become like the object 
 of worship. There are many ways in which this point might be 
 historically illustrated. It will suffice, however, for our present 
 purpose, to remark : — 
 
 That our apprehension of what God is, and our belief concern- 
 ing His works and ways, have a very important bearing upon our 
 mental and moral character, and consequently have an essential 
 influence upon our happiness, here and hereafter. Three facts 
 from the experience and history of mankind may be referred to in 
 proof of this position. First. Our race has and does, and, we may 
 add, ever will, worship something. Secondly. Men become like the 
 objects which they worship as gods. Thirdly. Man has no means 
 within himself, or within the reach of his own inherent power and 
 wisdom, by which to extricate himself from the evil into which he 
 is introduced when he makes his entrance into this world. And 
 hence we may add, fourthly^ our race needs Divine help. And 
 
APPENDIX. 387 
 
 this Divine interposition is the Gospel. Our holy religion is from 
 heaven. It is of God, and is made known to us by Revelation. 
 It is the religion of the Eterxal Word. I stop not here to 
 inquire into the historic proofs, that man is so constituted that he 
 does and will worship something. Nor is it necessary here to 
 inquire what that something is, nor whether it is a good desired or 
 an evil feared. Nor is it to our purpose to ask how our race 
 comes to possess such a constitution. It is quite enough that the 
 fact lies over the whole territory of human existence and migra- 
 tion. Whether man's moral and religious constitution is born 
 with him, or is deduced from reason or tradition, or is implanted 
 Viy culture, or is the residt of all such agencies, it is not material 
 to our argument. All we now insist upon is, that man is such a 
 religious heing^ that he has^ and does^ and ever will acknoicledge 
 and worship something as God. This is characteristic of all the 
 tribes of our race. It is a religious capacity, a moral sense, a con- 
 science, an apprehension of God and a hereafter, rather than any 
 superiority of physical structure or quantity of brain that dis- 
 tinguishes human beings from lower animals. The cases reported 
 by some travellers, of tribes that have no religious belief at all, 
 are not sufficient to disprove the correctness of this position. A 
 more thorough acquaintance with them has thus far shown that 
 such reports were erroneous. If any such example is really found, 
 it will be an exception, and if the whole history of the case were 
 known, doubtless it could be satisfixctorily explained. Among all 
 tiibes and nations, and through all ages, there has been found 
 some idea of accountability, of a future state, of a Supreme Being, 
 a God. Wherever our race is found, we are found worshipping 
 something believed to possess attributes of possible good or evil 
 to us. Even if human belief in God is implanted in the soul, and 
 is therefore a native feeling, as we believe, it may be subject to 
 growth and decay, as any other power of the soul, from neglect or 
 the influence of education. Such a belief is potentially inherent in 
 the mind, and is seldom, if ever, so extinguished, that it may not, 
 in favoring circumstances, again revive and exert itself against 
 every attempt made to root it out. The feebleness of the religious 
 sentiment in some races, as is alleged of certain African tribes by 
 recent travellers,* and of the savages of this continent and of the 
 
 * Seo Baker's " Albert Nyanza and Sources of the Nile;" and Reade's "Savage 
 Africa,'' pasaim. 
 
388 APPENDIX. 
 
 Chinese, only proves that the religious feeling, like the moral feel- 
 inf>"s, a sense of truth and justice, is susceptible of decay. It is 
 admitted that the conscience may be corrupted, but this abuse of 
 the conscience does not prove that there is no native and universal 
 principle of rectitude. We may admit it, therefore, as a fact, that 
 all men do not seem to have equal religious susceptibilities, or to 
 be equally demonstrative in their feelings towards their Creator. 
 But this does not prove that there are any absolutely without a 
 religious capacity. The idea of a God is an original faculty of the 
 Boul, and hence we can adopt the saying of Plutarch ; that the sum 
 of all religion is to he like the God we iioorship. It cannot be 
 otherwise. The connection here is that of cause and effect. The 
 character of the object worshipped is regarded as superior. And 
 w^e naturally desire to be acceptable to the Being we worship as 
 God — that our character may be conformable to His. This is the 
 teaching of our Lord Himself If we are sincere and consistent, 
 therefore, in our religious views, we will strive to keep the com- 
 mandments, and acquire the attributes which are according to the 
 will and character of our God. Such views and desires will 
 inevitably produce in us strong aspirations after conformity to the 
 moral character of the object of our worship. We become and 
 are what we supremely admire and adore, as far as creatures can 
 become like their Creator. 
 
 All human history is in evidence on this point. The character 
 of every nation and tribe and city has been modified by its 
 religion. Grecian cities and states, and the heathen generally, 
 ancient and modern, are but the counterpart of their gods. There 
 is a correspondence of resemblance between their characters, and 
 their opinions about the attributes and precepts of their gods. 
 Pope has well described their objects of worship : " Gods 
 partial, changeful, passionate, unjust, whose attributes were rage, 
 revenge, and lust ;" and yet these were precisely the gods whose 
 attributes are reflected historically in their own characters. 
 And after all that can be allow^ed for their heathen virtues, of 
 patriotism, heroism, and devotion to poetry, philosophy, and the 
 fine arts, the Greeks and Romans exhibit nationalities marked 
 with the traits they ascribed to their gods. And if it were pos- 
 sible to institute such a comparison, the principle here piyjsented 
 applies in our day with more emphasis to the character of Christ 
 than it ever did before. It is only through Christ we can ap- 
 
APPENDIX. 389 
 
 proach God, and be reconciled to him. It is only in Christ God 
 can look upon us with delight. And it is only as we have the 
 Spirit of Christ dwelling in us that we are Christians. And we 
 may add, as we regard C^hrist so He regards us. We may form 
 some idea, then, of what Christ thinks of us from what we think 
 of Him. 
 
 IT. The opinions advanced concerning Christ before the 
 Coxnxcil of Nicma^ which are denied and confuted in the 
 Apostles' Creed, 
 
 The propriety of the condensed notices here offered arises not 
 only from the vast importance of having correct and clear views 
 concerning Christ, but also because it is hardly to be supposed 
 that the majority of our Sabbath congregations or of general 
 readers are familiar with the literature of theological dogmas, or 
 acquainted with the names and details of Church history. It 
 seems necessary, therefore, here to help our readers to some 
 acquaintance with a few of the most famous Judaizing and phi- 
 losophizing teachers whose erroneous opinions and conceits are 
 alluded to in the preceding Discourses, and which our Creed was 
 intended to deny and refute by holding forth the true faith of 
 God's people. And perhaps it will save us from some confusion 
 to say at once that Cerinthians, Ebionites, Pocetae, and some 
 other less known sects may all be classed under the general name 
 of Gnostics. By this we do not mean that these sects were per- 
 fectly agreed. This was not the fact. Perhaps their only unity 
 was in not believing in Jesus Christ as He is set forth in our 
 received Creed. The name Gnostics is from a Greek word signi- 
 fying knowledge. 
 
 It is generally believed that they are referred to in 1 Tim. vi. 
 20; Col. ii. 8, and 1 John ii. 18. At first they were known as 
 philosophers, or simply followers of Pythagoras and Plato, but in 
 process of time they insisted on interpreting the Holy Scriptures 
 according to their philosophy, and making the Scriptures bend to 
 it. Their doctrine*:, in some shape or other, cover a wide field, 
 and have prevailed more or less among the educated classes of 
 the world from the beginning of the Christian era to this day ; 
 but the main point in the line of this volume is, that they agreed 
 in denying the Divinity of our Lord, his equality with the Father, 
 and for the most part denied his real humanity ahogether. 
 
390 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Docetm also have their name from a Greek word signify- 
 ing to seem, imagine^ and thus their very name proclaims their 
 great error. They held that Jesus did not exist in reality at all, 
 but only in appearance, just as the angels who appeared to 
 Abraham ; and, as a consequence, they denied that there was any 
 reality in Christ's death and resurrection, and of course, then, 
 there is no redemption by His blood. Some of the Docetae taught 
 that Jesus had a real angelic substance that was at his death 
 resolved again into ethereal elements, and that therefore what we 
 call his ascension into heaven was simply the returning of the 
 angelic substance that constituted the man Jesus into \\\q pleroma 
 of the universe. The rise and history of the Ebionites and their 
 influence on Christianity are points of extended and most critical 
 inquiry in our day. Professor Fisher* declares " the Ebionites 
 were degenerate Hebrew Christians.'"' Ebrardf thinks they were 
 ''Judaizing Unitarian Christians of the humanitarian type." 
 They said. Jesus was the Messiah, and was only a man, and that 
 his great mission was to give a new enforcement to the Mosaic 
 law. They were divided into several sects. Bauer of Tiibingen 
 has written much and learnedly about the Ebionites, but is not 
 to be relied on for orthodox views. The Ebionites and Cerin- 
 thians belong to about the same period of history, that is, some 
 part of the second century. Some of our learned men say they 
 were the ancient Essenes. This is doubtful. They held views 
 widely differing among themselves on many points, but were 
 essentially Gnostics both in philosophy and religion, and agreed 
 in denying our Lord's proper Divinity. Irenaeus positively 
 declares that St. John wrote his Gospel expressly to confute the 
 errors of these Gnostic sects, especially of Cerinthus. Michfelis, 
 Waterland, and many other first-class authors entertain this 
 opinion very decidedly. Cerinthus^ it seems, admitted that Jesus 
 had a real human body, but that he was born after the ordinary 
 way, and was therefore nothing but a man, the son of Joseph 
 and Mary ; and that he became Christ at his baptism, when an 
 ceon descended upon him. This geon, he said, was the first of the 
 seven great aeons, but a creature. Christ never was, therefore, 
 
 ♦ Fisher's Supernatural Origin of Christianity, p. 320. 
 f Ebrard's Gospel History, p. 522. 
 
APPEjlTDIX. 391 
 
 in any true sense, properly God. It is believed that Cerinthus 
 was the first person who taught an earthly millennium, promising 
 a Mohammedan paradise to his followers during that period. 
 Who can tell how much Mohammed borrowed from Cerinthus ? 
 
 J3 a silkies was a Gnostic belonging to the second century, 
 and thought to have been, as intimated in the foregoing pnges, 
 a dinciple of Simon Magus. It is believed he studied at Alexnn- 
 dria, but spent his life chiefly in Persia. Like Cerinthus, he held 
 that Jesus was a creature, the eldest of the aBons, or the first of 
 the seven aeons of God, who took on himself the form or 
 semblance of a man, but did not become a man. He admitted 
 the crucifixion as a reality, but said that the person who was 
 crucified was not Jesus, but Simon the Cyrenian. This viev>^ was 
 adopted by Mohammed. Basilides of course, therefore, rejected 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, of the Atonement, and of our Lord's 
 resurrection. 
 
 Sabellius was a Greek philosopher of Egypt of the third 
 century. He taught that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were but 
 emanations or functions of God — that it was God who was born 
 of the Virgin Mary, and that, having accomplished the mystery 
 of salvation in the form and work which we ascribe to Jesus, he 
 difi'used himself on the Apostles as in the fiery tongues of Pente- 
 cost, and was then called the Holy Spirit. According to Sabel- 
 lius there is but one person in the Godiiead, and the term Father, 
 Son, and Holy Spirit signify not persons, but merely oflSces. One 
 of the favorite illustrations of the Trinity among his followers 
 was the sun representing God as the Father, while the illumi- 
 nating properties of tiie sun are the Word, or God the Son, and 
 the warming, creating power of the sun represents the Holy 
 Spirit. Those who do not admit any distinction of persons in the 
 Godhead, and yet believe in the reality of the Incarnation and 
 sufferings of Christ, are known in the history of the Church as 
 JPatripassicuis^ because they say it was God the Father who 
 sufiered as Christ. It is alleged that their founder was a Phrygian 
 philosopher by the name of Praxeas. If he lived, as it is said, 
 in the secimd century, then Sabellius probably adopted his 
 opinions from him. 
 
 It is believed that the real father of Socinians lived about this 
 time, namely, Paul of Samosata, who was Bishop of Antioch, in 
 
392 APPENDIX. 
 
 Syria, A. D. 262, whose followers are the Paulianists of history. 
 They were strongly condemned by the Council of Nicsea. The 
 distinguishing article of their faith, at least as far as our subject 
 leads us to speak of, seems to have been this : the Son of God 
 and the Holy Spirit exist in God the Father, just as the faculties 
 of reason and activity do in man. Consequently they held that 
 Christ was born a mere man, having been begotten as any other 
 man, and that then the wisdom of the Father descended into 
 Him, and by it He wrought miracles ; and that it was only to 
 express this union of the Divine reason or wisdom of the man 
 Jesus that he was allowed to be called God. 
 
 Of the Nestorians and Eutychians, as they come after the 
 Council of Nicasa, I need not speak. But our line of investigation 
 requires at this point some notice of Arius and the Council of Nicsea. 
 
 The Council of Nic^a was held in the city of Nica^a, in Asia 
 Minor, by command of Constantine the Great, then emperor of 
 the world, in a.d. 325. Its title is the *' Great and Holy Synod." 
 It is claimed, and not without just grounds, that this synod repre- 
 sented the voice, and the conscience, and the learning and piety 
 of the whole Christian world. It Avas indeed a very august body, 
 composed of the very choicest ministers of God, from many and 
 distant parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa — men who were ear- 
 nestly engaged in preaching the Gospel to the heathen, and in 
 strengthening and comforting the scattered flocks of believers. 
 Most of them had endured great hardships in the service of Christ. 
 They professed in the decrees of the Council the faith they had 
 suifered for, and had themselves received at their baptism into 
 Christ ; and as they believed this faith came to them on the 
 authority of the Church, and was according to the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, so they believed they were setting forth and defending the 
 true faith of the Holy Apostles themselves. 
 
 The occasion of the Nicene Council was the Arian controversy, 
 but the influence of that sect was not wholly arrested by the 
 Council. For at least three hundred years it had great influence 
 in Christendom, and succeeded in having power enough to per- 
 secute and exile some of the leading members of the Council of 
 Nicaea, that had condemned Arius and his followers. And, 
 although the name Arianism has sometimes been laid to rest, the 
 views it symbolizes still live. The Arianism of the seventh century 
 
APPENDIX. 893 
 
 differs from that of the fourth, while that of our day differs from 
 that of all preceding ages. The influence of Arius penetrates and 
 pervades the enclosures guarded by all the three great and ancient 
 creeds much more than is perhaps generally admitted. We have 
 the authority of the Christian Examiner for saying that Dr. Bel- 
 lows, in unfolding the Unitarian idea of Jesus Christ, admits that 
 "There are within the Unitarian ranks all shades of opinion 
 about Jesus Christ, from a Modal or Sabellian Semi-Trinitarian- 
 ism, through high and low Arianism, Socinianism, Priest ley ism, 
 down to pure Human itarianism and Naturalism. But all these 
 diverse parties do agree in one thing, and that is, in ' denying 
 
 THE PROPER DEITY OF JeSUS ChRIST.' " 
 
 Tt cannot then be considered unfair to say that the followers 
 of Arius have " a coat of many colors," that fits easily all sizes. 
 For however much the leading minds among them may differ, 
 they all tend in the same direction. The shades of difference, and 
 the modifications of views concerning Christ, from Cerinthus to 
 Arius, and from Arius to Socinus, and from his day to this, do 
 not essentially change the main points. They all say Christ is not 
 equal with the Father, nor is his death a vicarious sacrifice for 
 sin. The latitude observed in the varying views of those who 
 oppose the doctrines of the orthodox creeds, may be accounted 
 for from the fact, that they do not usually profess to attach im- 
 portance to a positive articulated creed, although they are fond 
 of dogmatizing ; and also to the fact that their watchword is, *'A 
 fair stage and no favor !" And perhaps also the excessive prudence 
 (shall we call it?) of the founder, the shadow of Arius himself, 
 still rests on his disciples. It is well known that the peculiarities 
 of his dogmas arose originally out of his extreme and subtle and 
 abstract views concerning the terms Father and Son. The diffi- 
 culty was more in what he would not say, than in what he did 
 say. He would never say when it was, but he would say there 
 was a time " when the Son was not," leaving the inevitable infer- 
 ence that the Son was not God, but a creature. " His heresy," 
 says Stanley,* " was the excess of dogmatism founded upon the 
 most abstract words, in the most abstract region of human thought." 
 And is not this truly characteristic of his followers, and similar 
 
 * Eastern Church, p. 173. 
 
394 APPENDIX. 
 
 schools of theology, to this day ? Arius admitted Christ's per- 
 sonal existence, but said He was only a creature, although an 
 exalted creature. Christ then was not equal with God. And 
 from Simon Magus to this hour, is not this the res gestcB^ the 
 very substance of the belief, or disbelief, of all who deny the Per- 
 son, or the Divinity, or the equality of Christ with the Father ? 
 It is of but little consequence whether they are known historically 
 as Ebionite Gnostics, Arians, Socinians, Unitarians, Transcendent- 
 alists, or followers of the last most popular writers on myths and 
 legends. Nor should it excite any surprise that there should be 
 Buch a diversity of opinions concerning Christ among the followers 
 of Arius, from his day to our own, for a part of their creed is to 
 have no creed. And as they have nothing to believe, they are 
 consistent in never saying. Credo. But does not this imply indif- 
 ference to the character of Christ, and is not the fruit of such 
 indifference seen in the denial of the Christ of the Apostles' Creed ? 
 
 It would, however, require more time and space, not to say 
 learning and ability, than I have at command, to attempt an 
 exhaustive review of the influence of the Christology of the ante- 
 Nicene age upon the Rationalism and Unitarianism of our own 
 times. Such a review would, of course, cover the Nicene age 
 itself, at least up to the adoption of the so-called Athanasian 
 Creed, the greatest of all Creeds since the days of the Apostles. 
 The general statement made in the foregoing Discourses, that in 
 the Apostolic age it was not so much our Lord's Divinity as his 
 proper humanity that was the occasion of controversy, must be 
 limited to the Apostles' age, and interpreted in the light of the 
 Christology here briefly presented. And doubtless it was then 
 true, as it is now and always will be, that some of the teachers 
 of heresy were better than their opinions, while some of the con- 
 fessors of orthodox creeds were not equal to their symbols. It 
 is impassible for us to define, limit, and describe the influence 
 of education. The words of Apostolic faith concerning God and 
 his Son Jesus Christ, often have an influence on the experience 
 and belief and conduct of men after they have formally renounced 
 them. They are not aware of the influence that still overshadows 
 them. 
 
 Such conflicting views concerning Christ, however, are no 
 more against His Divinity than erroneous and contradictory opin- 
 
APPENDIX. 395 
 
 ions concerning the Almighty Creator are asjainst our belief in God. 
 Truth is of God, and is unchangeable and eternal. But the his- 
 tory of Redemption extends through immense periods of time, 
 and embraces communications made to man in different ways and 
 at different times. It requires us to contemplate the Son of God 
 before his Incarnation, and the Son of God in human nature in 
 the world, and the Son of God in human nature having^ ascended 
 into heaven, where He sitteth at the right hand of God. Our 
 Lord declared himself to be the Son of God. His followers 
 believed in Him as such. And although his adversaries denied 
 Him, they admitted that He claimed to be the Messiah. The only 
 question between his followers and his adversaries, was as to the 
 truth of his claims to be the Son of God. His followers believed ; 
 His enemies denied. After his ascension, his followers were so 
 filled with awe for his character and miracles that doubts or 
 difficulties in regard to His Divinity, found no place in their mind. 
 The great question in the Apostles' discourses before the Syna- 
 gogues and Sanhedrim, was concerning Jesus of Nazireth as the 
 Messiah-Christ of their own Scriptures. This qsiestion settled, 
 He was received as the Son of God, which the Jews understood 
 to mean God himself. The great dispute in their day was as to 
 the real and proper humanity of Christ, rather than as to His 
 Divinity. The main points at issue were : Is Jesus of Nazareth 
 the Son of God ? Did He assume a human body, or was h's body 
 a phantom ? Or was He really born of a woman, receiving his 
 body from her? Gradually, however, errorists grew in nu;)ibers 
 and increased in courage, as humm learning and philosophy 
 gained an ascendency among Christians, until the Person of Christ 
 was not only attacked, but his equality with God denied. When 
 Arius arose the main point was, whether Christ was equal with 
 God, and was God, or was a mere creature. 
 
 It should not, however, weigh against the Divine origin of 
 Christianity that it had so soon to pass through such severe doc- 
 trinal conflicts ; for our Lord taught that the wheat and tares 
 were to grow together till He comes. It is not surpiising, 
 therefore, that the great Enemy scarcely waited for Jesus' a'^cen- 
 sion from the world before he began to sow the tares of false 
 doctrines. Before the Apostles themselves were dead, we find 
 Ebionites, Corinthians, and Gnostics teaching that Jesus was a 
 mere man. And immediately afterwards, in the second c. ' iw. 
 
396 APPENDIX. 
 
 Theodotus taught the same doctrine ; and thus such errors were 
 kept alive until the peace of the Church seemed to require a general 
 Council, at Nicaea, in order that the voice of the churches might 
 express what the true faith of Christ was, and put to silence 
 errorists, or at least hinder them from leading the unwary astray. 
 Under these circumstances we come to Arius, the most distin- 
 guished of those who denied the proper Divinity of our Lord 
 Jesus. "The sting of his heresy," and of his followers, was this: 
 that wliile they used complimentary terms about the sacred 
 person of Jesus, and pronounced eulogies upon his precepts and 
 character, still their language was so equivocal as always to leave 
 the point of his Divinity in doubt, even when it was not absolutely 
 denied. Even modern Unitarians and Rationalists are not more 
 complimentary, and yet unsettled and equivocal in their style of 
 setting forth the character of Christ. But they all agree with the 
 Arians of past ages in denying our Lord's proper Divinity, and his 
 vicarious sacrifice. 
 
 Before leaving the Council of Nicsea, it is desirable to notice, 
 in a few words ; — 
 
 First. The fact that the emperor of the world, sitting on the 
 throne of the Caesars, called this Council and presided in it. And 
 this was only a little over three hundred years from the birth of 
 Christ. It is to be remembered, also, that the emperor's great 
 object was to obtain harmony among his bishops and consolidate 
 Christianity, so that he might more efficiently advance it and his 
 empire. 
 
 Secondly. The number of its members, and the marks of 
 suffering seen on thi'ir persons, which they had borne as witnesses 
 for the truth of Christianity in times of persecution, may well 
 command our attention aiid veneration. In such an assembly 
 there was doubtless a great diversity of persons and some strongly 
 marked characters. A number of those assembled were young, who 
 had never known persecution. They could barely remember the 
 edict of toleration published in their boyhood. The older and the 
 larger part of the assembly had " lived through the last and worst 
 of the persecutions, and they now came like a regiment out of some 
 frightful siege or battle, decimated and mutilated by the tortures 
 or the hardships they had undergone." Most of the older members 
 of that Council had lost a friend or a brother by persecution for his 
 
APPENDIX. 397 
 
 profession of Christianity. " Many still bore the marks of their 
 sufferings. Some uncovered their sides and backs to show the 
 wounds inflicted by the instruments of torture. On others were 
 the traces of that peculiar cruelty which distinguished the last 
 persecution. The loss of the right eye, or the searing of the 
 sinews of the leg, to prevent their escape from working in the 
 mines. Both at the time and afterwards, it was on their char- 
 acter as an army of confessors and martyrs, quite as much as on 
 their character as an (Ecumenical Council, that their authority 
 reposed. In this respect no other Council, could approach them, 
 and in the whole proceedings of the Assembly, the voice of an 
 old confessor was received almost as an oracle."* 
 
 Thirdly. We should note the place assigned in this Council to 
 the Word of God, and their testimony concerning it and their 
 own worth. In the twenty-first Article in the Canons of this 
 Council, it is said : " Things ordained as necessary for salvation 
 have neither strength nor authority unless it may be declared 
 that they are taken out of Holy Scriptuie." And accordingly, 
 after the preliminary discussions had taken place, and every thing 
 was prepared for the opening of the Council by the personal 
 appearance of the emperor, we are then told how they honored 
 the Divine Word. The chamber being a large oblong hall, in the 
 centre of the imperial palace, and the benches being arranged so 
 that the Bishops and their attendants, who were very numerous, 
 were seated according to their dignity ; and then, in the centre of 
 the room, on a throne, was placed a copy of the Holy Gospels, as 
 the nearest approach to the presence of Christ himself as presiding 
 in the Council ; and near this there was another smaller throne, 
 carved in wood and richly gilt, on which the emperor sat. And 
 according to Wescott,f such honor was usually accorded to the 
 Scriptures in the Councils of those days, at least of those held 
 after the Council of Nicsea. And he is supported by Suicer, and 
 by the picture of the Council at Nic8ea.J Thus did they teach 
 that the use of creeds or catechisms is to assist us to a form of 
 sound words, so that we may more easily and more fully appre- 
 
 * Stanley's Eastern Church, p. 186. 
 
 f Wescott on the Canon. 
 
 % Stanley's Eastern Church, p. 212. 
 
398 APPEJS^DIX. 
 
 hend sound doctrines. We are to believe concerning God and 
 the Holy Trinity what is revealed to us in the Scriptures, and to 
 obey and do just as the Scriptures teach us. As the solar system, 
 in all its awful grandeur, existed before there was a son of Adam 
 to study and map out the heavens, so our holy faith existed before 
 there was a syllable of our Book-Revelation, or any Creed formu- 
 lated, or system of theology taught, or any Council, Pope, Convo- 
 cation, or Assembly to pour anathemas on all who cannot pro- 
 nounce the approved Shibboleths. Nor is it possible for any one 
 Creed, nor for all human Creeds, to circumscribe the Truth and 
 Grace of God. Our faith is larger than Creeds. And may God 
 grant not only that we may steadf jstly hold them, but be filled 
 with the Spirit of God, which is the life of religion. 
 
 Fourthly. Something as to the use of Creeds may be easily 
 learned from their influence on Christendom. Strauss, in speak- 
 ing of the Apostles' Creed (§ 142), says: "Along with this popu- 
 lar form of confession of faith in Christ, there sprang up at the 
 same time a more precise elaboration, induced by the differences 
 and disputes which were early manifested on isolated points." 
 
 Next to the Holy Scriptures, the Christology of the three 
 creeds is to be considered the greatest legacy of doctrinal truth 
 that we have received from past ages. And, all things taken 
 into a fair account, they are remarkable for the clear, simple, and 
 brief manner in which they express the fundaraent.il articles of 
 religion. The Apostles' Creed may be considered the summary 
 of Christian faith before the Council of Nicsea, and the Nicene- 
 Constantinople Creed as the work of its own times, and the 
 so-called Athanasian Creed as the articulated faith of the Catho- 
 lic Church, from the close of the fourth or middle of the fifth 
 century. The errors aimed at are not always named, but clearly 
 seen in the way the true faith is expressed. These creeds were 
 formed under the light of and with all the advantages of the 
 culture of Greek and Roman literature. No age of the Church 
 had ever been able to employ more cultivated ability for the using 
 of precision and accuracy in terms, than that of the Council of 
 Nicaea and the age of Athanasius. And these creeds wore 
 formed to deny and refute the heresies of the Cerinthians, Ebion- 
 ites, Gnostics, Docetse, of Basilius and Basilides, and of Apol- 
 linaris, and of the Nestorians and Eutychians, and are equally 
 
APPENDIX. 399 
 
 valuable as summaries of sound doctrine, in modern times, for 
 both Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, as against Natu- 
 ralism, Pantheism, Transcendentalism, or Socinianism, or Unita- 
 rian ism. 
 
 Among the first acts of Queen Elizabeth, with the assent of 
 the English clergy in their convocation, was one to raise the 
 Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon, as judges of 
 heresy, to the same level as the High Court of Parliament. And 
 the doctrines of these Councils have been widely received as on 
 a level with the Holy Scriptures themselves, and their decrees 
 made equal to imperial laws. And in the Russian Church, every 
 Article of the Nicene Creed is exhibited by series of pictures, in 
 books, and on the walls of their chapels, for the purpose of making 
 the articles of their faith familiar to the popular miud.* The 
 Nicene Creed is the test of orthodoxy and the bond of faith in 
 all the Eastern Churches. In fact, it is the accepted Creed of 
 the Church Universal ; for the Apostles' Creed and the so-called 
 Athanasian Creed have never been incorporated formally into the 
 ritual of the Greek Church. 
 
 And not only are such articulated forms of faith bulwarks of 
 Christian doctrine, unless emasculated or corrupted by an alli- 
 ance with secular power, or prostituted to partisan politics, but 
 they are incorporated into the daily devotional life of the people. 
 The faithful are taught them in their youth, and they are recited 
 at the festivals or sacraments of the Church. 
 
 But all these creeds were the work of fallible men, or of councils 
 of fallible men, having the defects of judgment common to other 
 men, and liable to be swayed by just such influences as all other 
 assemblies are subject to, not to say, as history strongly intimates, 
 even more liable to violence than many other kinds of assemblies. 
 In proof of this Vv^e may cite the violence of the Council of Con- 
 stance in the murder of John Huss, and of the second Council of 
 Ephesus in trampling to death the Bishop of Constantinople by 
 his reverence the Bishop of Alexandria; and also the violence and 
 outrageous scenes of the Council of Chalcedon. In the twenty- 
 first Article, already referred to, the Council of Nicaea says : — 
 " Forasmuch as such Councils are assemblies of men, whereof all 
 
 * Stanley's Eastern Church, pp. 147-150. 
 
400 APPENDIX. 
 
 be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God, they may err, 
 and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God." 
 It is well known that the personal presence of the emperor Con- 
 stantine scarcely sufficed to keep down violence and preserve 
 order in the august Council of NicsBa. Dean Milman, in his 
 Latin Christianity, and the Great Gregory, have said some 
 exceedingly severe but just things about the prejudice and pas- 
 sion of general councils. Are not all these things written in 
 Eusebius, Mansi, Gibbon, Mosheim, and many others ? 
 
 ^or,Ji/ihli/, can anyone fail, in turning over the points even of 
 this brief review, to be struck with the identity, the essential same- 
 ness of what are now recognized as the true evangelical, ortho- 
 dox views of Christ, with the opinions of the Church in the early 
 ages ; and so, on the other hand, the identity of the views that 
 are now recognized by the great majority of Christians as erro- 
 neous, concerning the person of Christ, with those that were con- 
 demned as heresies in the early ages by the Church, is no less 
 clear and distinct. Those who now deny the proper Divinity of 
 our Lord, and take away from us his expiatory death, are nothing 
 less than the old Ebionites who have furbished up the soiled 
 armor of the Gnostics. 
 
 Nor, sixthly^ should we overlook the fact, that in the second, 
 third, and fourth centuries, the errors that called out the delibera- 
 tive utterances of the faithful, were chiefly imported into the 
 Church from ritualism on the one hand, and from philosophy on 
 the other. Judaizers and Greek philosophei-s, becoming Christian 
 theologians, gained a point from which they sought to ingraft 
 new life upon their systems. Nor did they labor wholly in vain. 
 Christianity did put life into the world as the civilization of 
 Greece and Rome had never been able to do. The Cross rose as 
 the world's luminary over the paling fires of Greek and Roman 
 altars. In the theological errors of the early ages of the Church, 
 we see the dying struggles of the old heathen philosophy.* 
 And this, moreover, is a point that should not pass by us unheed- 
 ed. The corruptions of the faith and worship of our day are the 
 fruits of the very same things. In the last chapter of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews we are strongly urged to steadfastness in the 
 
 * See Hypatia, passim. By Rev. C. Kingslej. 
 
APPENDIX. 401 
 
 faith, because of the fulness and completeness of " Jesus Christ, 
 who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. Be not car- 
 ried about with divers and strange doctrines." Here, variegated 
 doctrines mean such as blended the law and the Gospel, and re- 
 quired circumcision before baptism and the Lord's Supper, and 
 taught that the way into the Church of Christ was through Ju- 
 daism. Is not this ritualism? And here, strange doctrines mean 
 foreign doctrines — doctrines brought irom Greek and Roman 
 philosopliy, from the Transcendentalists of Greece and the Pan- 
 theists of Asia. Strange doctrines were sucli as had not the 
 authority of the Word of God, and were unknown to the Apostles' 
 Creed. What was, is, and that which hath been, is what is to be 
 mitil the Son of Man is revealed. We must guard against will 
 worship, variegated as well as strange doctrines^ a sensual ritual- 
 ism and a vain philosophy. 
 
 As reference has been made in one or two places in the preceding 
 discourses to the singular confusion of the Koran concerning our 
 Lord, a few facts from the history of Mohammed's education and 
 religious experience are proper, and will, at the same time, be in 
 evidence as to the numerous Apocryphal Gospels that existed in 
 the early ages, which have also already been alluded to. It is 
 plain, from the almost endless legends of Mohammed's life, that 
 his knowledge of the Old Testament and of Christianity was de- 
 rived from a Syrian or Nestorian monk of Bostra, who was with 
 him in his journeys as a camel-driver. Consequently the local 
 legends of Syrian or Arabian Christians formed the ground-work 
 of Mahomet's knowledge of Christianity. These formed the 
 Christ of the Arabian prophet. The genuine canonical Gospels 
 were almost or altogether unknown to him. But the apocryj)hal 
 Gospels, which were enshrined in so many of the traditions of the 
 East in his day, were familiar to him, and hence we are at no loss 
 to know how he came to fall into so many errors cor^cerning our 
 Lord. The resemblance and the contrast, the errors and the 
 truth, foimd in the doctrines and legends of the Koran, are easily 
 traced to the prevailing traditions that were known to Mo- 
 hammed. Nor is this remark to be limited to the case of Mo- 
 hammed. The nnhelief oi i\\Q West is as philosophically account- 
 ed for as the misbelief of the East ; and both are the fruits of 
 ignorance as to the true character of our Lord, and as to the 
 nature of His kingdom. As we forgive the skeptics of the last 
 2G 
 
402 appe:ndix. 
 
 century, at least find an excuse for their unbelief, and for 
 their hatred of Christianity, because "they only knew it as repre- 
 sented by the corrupt monarchy and hierarchy of France, so may 
 we still more forgive Mohammed for the inferior place which he 
 assigned amongst the Prophets to Him whom he knew not as the 
 Christ of the Four Evangelists, but as the Christ of the Gospel 
 of the Infancy or of Nicodemus." — Stanley'^ s Eastern Ch.^ p. 367. 
 
 HI. The Aspect of Modern Thought concerning the Christ of 
 the Evangelists. 
 
 God's written Word and the Incarnate Word are in two 
 respects very much alike. Both are human and divine, and both 
 have met with great opposition and with great success in the 
 world. The Bible is the Word of God in human language. Jesus 
 Christ is God manifest in human nature. The Bible has been 
 more frequently burned, and more severely criticised, and more 
 violently opposed, than any other or than all other books, and 
 still the " words of the Lord are pure words ; as silver tried in a 
 furnace of earth, purified seven times ;" so the person of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ has been subjected to a more laborious, searching 
 examination, both by friends and enemies, than any other has ever 
 sustained on earth. His character has stood such a test of criti- 
 cism as no other can possibly bear. Nor do we complain of this. 
 It is a necessary condition of His claims and of human responsibility. 
 Never man spake like Him. Never was there a character like Him 
 upon earth before. Never, neither before nor since His coming, has 
 there been such a kingdom as His set up. It was to be expected, 
 therefore, that His life and the nature of His kingdom would be sub- 
 jected to the most profound and exhaustive investigations. The 
 fact is now simply on this wise : More than eighteen centuries have 
 passed since Jesus was born, and He is now confessedly the central 
 figure in the literary, philosophical, and material progressive history 
 of the worlcf. The intellectual powers and the aifections of man- 
 kind were never so universally directed towards Him as they are 
 now. Even if we admit that there was in some former periods 
 greater simplicity, or more intensity of faith in particular sections 
 of the Church, or a greater enthusiasm or devotion to His person 
 among the martyrs and confessors, still it is true, there is now moie 
 intelligent mind, more learning and intellect, and a greater breadth 
 of interest directed towards Christ than at any former period of 
 
APPENDIX. 403 
 
 the vrorld's history. And even those who deny His miracles and do 
 not look to Him for salvation, admit the dignity and moral purity 
 of the character represented by the name Christ, and vie with one 
 another in rendering Him the highest eulogy. They generally 
 agree in saying that He is a person whom mere human history 
 does not altogether explain — " Unique in the history of the world, 
 beautiful and sublime." — Renan. 
 
 Nor is it here imworthy of remark, that as each age has its 
 own mission, and makes its own literature, so each age of the 
 Church has had its specialities. In the Apostolic age, for the most 
 part, our Lord's Divinity was regarded by his followers very much 
 in the same light as the existence of God is in the Bible. Formal 
 statements concerinng it seemed unnecessary. And the greatest 
 difterences of opinion among them, immediately after the Apostles' 
 days, arose about the person of Christ, and chiefly as to the reality 
 of his proper human nature. The canon of Holy Scripture soon 
 excited great attention, but none too much, nor any too soon. 
 For apocryphal writings, claiming to be from inspired Apostles 
 and teachers, were numerous at an early day. And so, also, 
 it became necessary for the doctrine of the Trinity, and the nature 
 of Christ's Kingdom, and the proper sphere of His Church, to be 
 stated and understood. And so in the sixteenth century, the doc- 
 trine of justification by faith, the right of private judgment, 
 liberty of conscience, nnd the authority of the Word of God, excited 
 special attention, and were elaborately set forth. We do not 
 mean that the Articles of Faith alluded to were not known before 
 the times indicated respectively, or that all the deliverances made 
 concerning them are infallibly true, or that their advocates have 
 always been consistent. Far from it. But we do mean that cei- 
 tain views of doctrine, or certain articles of religious faith have at 
 different times commanded attention as specialities. In our day 
 the inspiration of the Scriptures, the historic verity of our Gospels, 
 and pre-eminently the questions. Who is Christ, and what is the 
 future of Christianity, are the most prominent. 
 
 Christianity is now au acknowledged fact. It is the great 
 force or power of the world in the nineteenth century. It is seen 
 in our arts and laws, and in the administration of justice and of 
 international comity. It must have had a beginning. There was 
 a time when the nations of the world knew nothing of it. But 
 
40.4 APPENDIX. 
 
 now the great nations of the earth, who wield the elements of 
 power on this globe, all profess to have adopted Christianity as 
 their religion. And the historic evidences for its beginning about 
 eighteen hundred years ago, and of its spreading among the 
 nations, are before us and challenge our scrutiny. What, then, is 
 the origin of this world-admitted fact, that Christianity is now 
 tlie great power of our globe ? Is Christianity the scheme or sys- 
 tem of a mere man ? Or is it the outgrowth of art and science, 
 or an effect from the mere progress of society ? Is it the work of 
 a fanatic or of an impostor, or is it the natural result of the wants 
 of man expressed systematically, but founded upon a myth ? Or 
 is it of divine origin ? The fact of Christianity implies the exist- 
 ence of Christ as a person, unless his existence is historically dis- 
 proved. And if the Bible is all nothing but a great parable, or if 
 Jesus was merely a man, though as wise as Socrates, Plato, or 
 Confucius, how has it come to pass that thousands of thousands 
 have adopted His moral lessons, although they differ from those 
 to which they are naturally inclined and educated? And how did 
 it come to pass that His followers admired him so much that they 
 attributed miracles to Him, though, according to our opponents, 
 He never wrought a miracle ; that they clothed him with Divinity 
 and believed him to be their long-promised Messiah, though he 
 never in a single instance met their expectations concerning the 
 Messiah, nor in a single known instance did he comply with what 
 tliey wished him to do if He were the Messiah? It is an old and 
 a common, but still a very true remark, that the establishing of 
 Christianity without miracles — of a religion supernatural, and yet 
 based on an appeal to miracles which were never wrought — 
 would be a far greater wonder than all the Scripture miracles put 
 together. 
 
 Given the fact, that a Galilean of obscure birth, without wealth 
 or learning, or political influence, overthrew the religions of the 
 world, and established his own, confessedly the most moral and 
 spiritual the world has ever seen, and that it is now the religion 
 of all the most civilized nations — that the empire of this globe is 
 now in the hands of Christian nations — and where is the explana- 
 tion, if Jesus is not the Son of God ? It was an attempt to 
 answer this question that brought out, a little more than thirty 
 years ago, Strauss's " Life of Jesus." This was a marked era in 
 the history of Christianity — the most marked, in some respects. 
 
APPENDIX. 405 
 
 that had occurred since the Council of Nicaea. Strauss's work 
 is far the ablest of modern times on his side of the question. It 
 "startled the world like a clap of thunder out of a calm sky." 
 As his main force was in pulling down, it was not strange that 
 Christians refused at his summons to abandon their faith in the 
 Christ of the Apostles' Creed, who is the Christ of the Evange- 
 lists and of history. It was to be expected they would defend 
 the foundations of their faith. And although it is not our imme- 
 diate purpose in this place to enter into any investigation con- 
 cerning the authority of the Gospels, we may be allowed to say 
 that the Christ of the Synoptists is identical with the Christ of 
 John's Gospel; or, in other words, that we have one Gospel in 
 four, and four in one. The life of the God-man is draAvn for ua 
 by four artists, but it is the same life of the same person. We 
 have four pictures, each original and independent, but all true 
 copies of the same original. 
 
 Destructive, however, as Strauss's work was, he }ias not re- 
 frained from it, but in his new Life of Jesus, still tells us miracles 
 are absolutely impossible, and our Gospels are therefore mere 
 myths, without any real foundation in history. Substantially, 
 althougli differing in details, the same result is reached by the 
 learned criticisms of the Tubingen school and the eloquent roman- 
 cing of Kenan's "Life of Jesus." Renan rejects myths only to 
 substitute legends. We shall endeavor elsewhere, as we proceed, 
 to see wherein the strength of these champions of unbelief and 
 disbelief and misbelief lies, and to show that their strength is 
 nothing but weakness. In the mean time, every one who desires 
 it may find a happy solution of the question concerning the time 
 when our Gospels were written, in a small work by Professor Con- 
 stantine Tischendorf This pamphlet of M. Tischendorf may well 
 be set against all that MM. Strauss, Bauer, and Renan have said 
 about the age of our Gospels. It shows conclusively, and in a 
 brief way, that our Gospel histories are records most trustworthy, 
 and may be historically traced back to the very times of the 
 Apostles themselves. 
 
 The intense interest so widely acknowledged on such subjects 
 is proof that whatever may be the errors of our times, ours is not 
 an age of indifference. The love of many of Christ's people has 
 waxed cold, sad declensions have taken place in many parts of the 
 
406 APPENDIX. 
 
 Christian Church, and iniquity abounds; still there are a few 
 names, as in Sardis of old, which have not defiled their garments. 
 True faith is yet upon the earth, and in it there is life for the 
 nations. Nor is there any other hope for the true reformation of 
 mankind and the world's true progress than the Gospel. 
 
 1. Then there is such a thing as faith, belief, which is, in a 
 religious sense, a firm persuasion of the truths of religion ; and a 
 believer is one who gives credit to the truth of the Bible as a 
 revelation from God, or, more strictly, one who receives Christ as 
 his Saviour as He is offered in the Gospel. To have true belief, 
 therefore, implies knowledge, and a true assent to it and trust in 
 it. It is plain we cannot believe till we have some knowledge of 
 what is to be believed. We cnnuot believe in a man of whose 
 existence we have never heard. Correct knowledge, then, is im- 
 portant. For a man may not be a believer in Christianity, simply 
 because he knows nothing of it, as the heathen, or even as some 
 in Christendom, who are in profound ignorance for the want of 
 education. 
 
 2. Unbelief is negative. It refuses to admit belief. But it is 
 an act as well as belief. 
 
 3. Disbelief is also a refusal to give credit — a denial of belief 
 It is the act of disbelieving — rejecting evidence offered which 
 belief accepts. It is, therefore, a stronger term than unbelief A 
 disbeliever, therefore, is one who has some knowledge of Chris- 
 tianity, but rejects its evidences. He has the proofs more or less 
 before him, but incurs the guilt of setting them aside. There is, 
 then, more hope of saving an unbeliever than a disbeliever, for the 
 unbeliever may still be open to light — his want of faith may be 
 owing to his ignorance or stupidity. He may yet be enhghtened 
 and convinced; but disbelief has already rejected the light. 
 
 4. Misbelief is the belief of falsehood, an erroneous belief It 
 implies the possibility of an amiable, teachable disposition, but 
 misled. The etymologies of these terms and the lexicons are at 
 hand to verify the importance of distinguishing them. Perhaps 
 all are ready to admit that such distinction is of great use to pi-e- 
 vent confusion or injustice in such discussions. At least it is not 
 without design that I use the phrases " unbelieving science " and 
 " disbelieving criticism." Disbelieving criticism means that the 
 
APPENDIX. 407 
 
 proofs of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and for the Divinity of 
 Christ, and the personal immortality of the soul have been weighed 
 like Belshazzar, and found wanting — that they have been examined 
 by competent persons, who had a right to examine them, and that 
 they have done full justice to them in the examination, and have 
 found them defective, not to be believed, and they therefore are 
 rejected. Disbelieving criticism takes from us, therefore, at once 
 our Bible and our Saviour, and leaves us nothing in their place. 
 We arc left to grope a while in darkness, and then feel our way 
 down to eternal night. And it is just hero, in the very beginning, 
 that Strauss's myths and Renan's legends break down. For if we 
 have no credible sacred writers there is nothing to discuss. There 
 is no original subject for dissection. Accordingly, Ebrard* asserts 
 that it was not historical discrepancies in the Gospels, but dog- 
 matic doubts about the Divinity of Christ, the reality of His 
 miracles and the fact of His resurrection, which first led the nega- 
 tive critics to dispute the historical character of the four Gospels. 
 That is, they did not like to believe the Articles of the Faith com- 
 monly received by Christians, and therefore they went to work to 
 destroy the historic verity of the writers who have given us the 
 life of the Founder of our Faith. Unheliemng science does not 
 directly belong to the line of my present discussion ; but it may 
 be proper here to say, that it is more modest, but quite as 
 dangerous as disbelieving criticism* It is so diffident that it does 
 not profess to know any thing, not even whether there be a God 
 or no. It scarcely over names the God of the Bible, as if its 
 reverence for the ineffable name was even greater than that of the 
 pious old Hebrews. And yet it does not deny His existence out- 
 right. It is far too prudent for that. It goes to work to show 
 that there is no need of a Creator God — that the universe can be 
 accounted for and taken care of without a God. Forces, laws, 
 iiatura naturans^ or at least sometliing of this sort, explains every 
 thing. And then the philosophical maxim is applied, If there is no 
 need of a God, of course there is none. At least, there is no 
 supreme conscious personal intelligence, and hence there is no 
 creation, no revelation, no being for man to pray to, and there is 
 no Saviour. Man, as far as he is any thing, is a " development," 
 
 Gospel History, p. 47i 
 
408 APPENDIX. 
 
 a " continuity," a " transformation," a " transmigration ;" and all 
 this these very scientific men talk about, without telling us how 
 any thing ever came into being at first which has developed and 
 continues in such a marvellous way. If there were half a dozen 
 pairs of Adams and Eves, or if man has developed himself out of 
 an Eastern monkey or an African gorilla, or grew like a tape- 
 worm, whence the originals ? The main point, however, in the 
 direction of our argument is this : that this modest, unbelieving 
 science brings out as a result, quite as strongly as disbelieving 
 criticism, the doctrine, that Moses and the Apostles are not to be 
 believed as historic verities. Lamarck, Roca, Huxley, Lyell, 
 Darwin, Nott, Gliddon, and Morton, advance under the garb of 
 science to undermine the foundations of our Faith. Disbelieving 
 criticism, under a legion of banners and with variegated devices, is 
 working for the same result. Rationalists, neologists of all schools, 
 both of ideal and material Pantheism, whether swearing by Come- 
 rius, Reimarus, Paulus, Spinoza, Strauss, Channing, Theodore 
 Parker, Colenso, or Renan — all are neither more nor less than the 
 successors of the Ebionites and of the various schools of the 
 Gnostics and Arians of former ages — and if they could all succeed 
 in their attack, they would bury themselves and us in fathomless 
 ruins. Still we plead for free inquiry and perfect religious liberty. 
 It is not according to the spirit of the Gospel to denounce all critical 
 investigations concerning the origin and character of Christianity. 
 Truth never fears scrutiny. The waves of critical unbelieving 
 learning, as they roll over us, may wash away the drift, but the 
 ibundation rock will stand. 
 
 Our Lord's history is not more sacred than it is intensely 
 human. And if such writers as Renan and the author of Ecce 
 Homo arouse the Church to study more carefully the life of our 
 Lord, and bring us into closer sympathy with Him, then they 
 will have done a good work. It is unquestionably true that our 
 great theologians since the Reformation have generally kept us 
 out in the cold, gazing up into heaven upon our risen Lord, 
 having his head encircled with the glory of Eternity, and sitting 
 on the right hand of the Throne of God, until we had almost for- 
 gotten that He ever walked the pebbly roads of Judea and Galilee 
 with real human feet, and thirsted at Jacob's well, or wept at the 
 grave of his friend Lazarus. No small part of the power of 
 
APPENDIX. 409 
 
 Edward Irving and of the late Rev. Mr. Robertson of Brighton, 
 as preachers, lay in the deep sympathy with which they intro- 
 duced their hearers to the humanity of our Lord. As there is a 
 natural tendency in every mind that is at enmity with God — a 
 lurking disposition to avowed unbelief in every unrenewed heart 
 — it is to be regarded as a favoring Providence that we are con- 
 tinually receiving aid and strength as learning and science 
 advance. The progress of Art does not destroy the sense of the 
 beautiful. Nor has " the advancement of science any more ten- 
 dency to extirpate religion than it has to extirpate morality." — 
 Professor Fisher. The searching criticism and the thorough 
 examination of old manuscripts, and the readings of coins and 
 pillars, and cylinders and bricks, and tombs and palaces, are like 
 so many voices coming to us from the long-buried past to testify 
 to tlie truth of the Holy Scriptures. It is certainly a remarkable 
 feature in tlie critical history of our times that a manuscript Bible 
 like that of Tischendorf, from Mount Sinai, and various old 
 versions from distant and different parts of the world, have been 
 found and collated at great expense, and that on every side, from 
 all these sources, the united testimony is a confirmation of our 
 faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, God's only Son, our 
 Lord. 
 
 Our unbelieving physicists, for the most part, are content to 
 leave us without any effort to furnish us with a positive religion. 
 Their mission seems to be to suggest doubt, destroy belief, by 
 intimating insuperable difficulties in the way of our book-Reve- 
 lation, and against the supernatural origin of Christianity. But 
 our disbelieving critics go further. As they deny the historical 
 character of tlie Gospels, as they have pulled down, as they think, 
 the superstructure of the generally received faith, so they admit 
 they are under some obligations to build up another ; and if they 
 have failed, it is neither for the w.mt of a will, nor for the want 
 of learning and genius, nor yet for the want of a patient endu- 
 rance of labor and devotion to their self-imposed task. They 
 admit the justness of the demand on our part, that if the Gospels 
 are not genuine and authentic as we receive them, they should 
 tell us whence they are. As an answer to this question, various 
 theories have been propounded. The hypothesis of Strauss, stated 
 in as few words as possible, is this : 
 
410 APPENDIX. 
 
 1. At the time Jesus lived there was a general expectation of 
 a Messiah. The prevailing idea concerning Him was, that He 
 ■would be a temporal prince, and deliver the Jews from their 
 political adversaries ; and that for this purpose he would work 
 miracles, such as their heroes were said to have done in past 
 ages. 
 
 2. Accordingly, Strauss says, it happened that John the Baptist 
 arose at this time, and introduced Jesus of Nazareth, and then 
 disappeared through the tower of Machserus with a headless body 
 to an unlettered and unknown grave, though with an immortal 
 name. Jesus, being baptized by John, gradually awoke to the 
 consciousness that he was the promised Messiah ; and that in 
 time He gathered around Him a number of disciples, who admit- 
 ted His claims. 
 
 3. His death, however, was soon brought about by His politi- 
 cal enemies, and seemed to frustrate all the hopes of His disciples, 
 until they conceived the idea that if they could prove, from the 
 expectations of the old Jewish Church, that the Messiah was to 
 rise from the dead, and succeed in spreading a report that Jesus 
 had actually risen from the dead, then they supposed their ideas 
 of empire or success in some way might still be realized. This 
 impulse revived and completed their scheme. 
 
 4. And accordingly, in process of time, in order to make their 
 pretensions plausible, they invented myths, which grew apace as 
 they were repeated, concerning the supernatural conception, 
 miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus; and these 
 embodied myths are our Gospels, which are therefore nothing 
 more, nothing less, than the mere inventions of the unlettered 
 men of Galilee. This is the substance of the celebrated theory 
 of Strauss, to account for the Christ of the Gospels and the 
 Christianity of our day. It is not, however, an original theory 
 with him. His main purpose in constructing his argument on 
 this theory seems to have been, to oppose believers in miracles on 
 the one hand, and to overthrow, on the other, the natural expo- 
 sition system of Paulus, by denying the fact that any such 
 miracles had ever been wrought. 
 
 ^ On mere critical and philosophical grounds, we regard this 
 theory as unsatisfactory. 
 
APPENDIX. 411 
 
 1. Flrst^ because he does not account for the prevailing ex- 
 pectation of a Messiah to come, of which he speaks. He assumes 
 that there was such a general expectation prevailing at the time 
 when Jesus appeared, but gives no account of its rise. To ex- 
 plain the origin of these expectations and show that they were 
 erroneous seems to us the first thing that Strauss should have 
 nttempted. Why does he not tell us how such hopes concerning a 
 Messiah grew out of the Old Testament ? If they are not legiti- 
 mately in the Old Testament, how did they arise ? Why did the 
 Jews believe that they were authorized to entertain such hopes 
 at the time when Jesus came, if the writings of the old Jewish 
 Church did not contain prophecies that were calculated to raise 
 such expectations? And if such hopes were well founded, how 
 came they into the Old Testament ? and if such expectations are 
 justly founded in the Old Testament, is not the New Testament 
 their actual fulfilm>ent ? As a critic and an honest logician, there 
 is no way for Strauss to be consistent but to say outright that 
 the Apostles invented the Gospels, and had genius enough besides 
 to make the Jews believe that their oLl Scriptures foretold a 
 Messiah, when in fact there was no such prediction in them ; and 
 yet to invent such Gospels as our Evangelists have given us, and 
 secure such success for their inventions as the facts of Christianity 
 have been and now are, they must have been themselves as divine 
 as they allege their great Master was. [See Discourse II.] 
 
 2. It is equally a hegglng of the question for him to assume 
 that the Gospels are unhistoric, because miracles are impossible. 
 For a writer of such pretensions as Strauss to state his leading 
 proposition in the following way is surprising : Miracles are im- 
 possible ; therefore the Gospels are unhistoric. That is, we must 
 believe that miracles are impossible, and tlierefore all histories of 
 miracles are myths ; and this is all in order to disprove the genuine- 
 ness of the Gospels. Now, it is so plain and easily apprehended, 
 that there is a palpable distinction between the genuineness of a 
 book and its authenticity, that I need not dwell on it. A book is 
 authentic when it is true, even if it be anonymous; and it is 
 genuine, whethei; true or not, Avhen it is written by the author 
 whose name it bears. The Gospels we believe are genuine, and 
 they are authentic. It does not seem to have occurred to Strauss, 
 that the same canon of criticism with which he starts out to ex- 
 amine the Gospels, if applied to Livy or Tacitus, or any ancient 
 
412 APPENDIX. 
 
 author, would seriously damage them, or utterly destroy their 
 authority. It is well known that Whately, in his historic doubts 
 about Napoleon, and several other authors of similar works, have 
 exposed the sophistry and unreliable character of this species of 
 argumentation. 
 
 3. How did it happen, on Strauss's theory, that from the 
 miracle of Cana in Galilee, everybody who knew any thing of the 
 life of Jesus regarded Him as a reformer, a public teacher, and 
 that He really did work miracles, or claimed to do so, in proof of 
 His authority ? It is not a sufficient answer to this point to say 
 that Jesus did not always work miracles whenever His enemies 
 demanded them, nor such raiiacles as they required. It is quite 
 enough for us that they admitted that He claimed to have the 
 power to work miracles, and that He avowed himself that He did 
 work miracles by the finger of God, and that his cotemporaries 
 admitted that He did work miracles. The fact of his performing 
 miracles is admitted by all the ancients who admitted the historic 
 verity of His life at all, although His adversaries explained them 
 in such a way as to take from Him his Divinity and MessiahsLip. 
 Now, unless Jesus was a deceiver, a lyiog impostor, He must have 
 wrought miracles, for He says He did. But even our antagonist 
 here is not willing to bring such a charge as this against His 
 character. 
 
 4. We do not see how it can be believed that such myths 
 were possible as Strauss supposes. What is a myth, and how was 
 it possible for the world to allow such myths to prevail as true 
 histories ? I understand a myth to be a narrative, something like 
 a fable, a parable, or an allegory, differing from these rather in its 
 greater simplicity and want of previous intention, more than in 
 any thing else. The true myth, we are told, is improvised^ and is 
 without deliberation or "conscious invention." Thus it is alleged 
 arose Greek Mythology. Yilmar and Grote have written largely 
 and exceedingly well on the origin of myths, and the result of 
 what they have written is, that such myths as our Gospels, if they 
 are myths, could not have arisen in the age of Augustus. It was 
 pre-eminently an age of philosophical inquiry, an age of poets, 
 orators, philosophers — the investigating age of Greek and Roman 
 culture. It was the age of Josephus, Tacitus, Cicero, and Seneca, 
 (/crtainly there was learning enough, critical acumen enough, and 
 
APPENDIX. 418 
 
 aversion enough to' the doctrines of the Crucified, to have then 
 exposed the deceit and fraud of myths that seriously claimed to 
 be true histories, and to found on the alleged facts of these his- 
 tories a new religion, and a system of morals superior to any other 
 then known. It certainly was not an era favorable to the rise of 
 myths. Where are any other such myths that can be alleged as cha- 
 racteristic of the Gospel times, or as belonging to any similar age ? 
 The late Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, has said somewhere, it is ridicu- 
 lous and wholly inconsistent, " the idea of men writing mythic 
 histories between the time of Livy and Tacitus, and of St. Paul 
 mistaking such myths for realities." All the myths and legends 
 with which we are acquainted have certainly grown out of a very 
 different state of society from that which we find in the Roman 
 empire under the laws. and arms that governed the world when 
 and where Christianity had its birth. Nor does the fact, that 
 many apocryphal Gospels w^ere multiplied in the following ages, 
 make at all against our position. For it can be shown that they 
 arose in ages subsequent to the appearance of the Gospels of our 
 Evangelists, and that they were generally, if not always, the off- 
 spring of pious frauds. They were intended to favor sects and 
 parties who held doctrines which were condemned by the majority 
 of believers. 
 
 We must press our question, then. What had become of the 
 whole Jewish people and of all their sacred writings, that these 
 myths of the unlearned fishermen of Galilee were not exposed 
 and utterly put to silence ? How is it possible that the whole 
 world could have been prevailed upon to admit myths as historic 
 verities, so soon after the time when it was alleged these events, 
 and at the very place where such events as the miracles of the 
 life and resurrection of Jesus, had taken place ? Is it possible to 
 believe that such events as the crucifixion and resurrection of 
 Jesus could have been admitted as true by anybody, at the time 
 the Apostles alleged these events as facts, in proof that Jesus was 
 the Messiah, in their public discourses, and at the time when our 
 Gospels were written if everybody knew that in fact they were 
 mere myths ? Certainly such myths could not have been promul- 
 gated till all the Apostles and all other eye-witnesses of the life 
 of Jesus were dead. But we know and can prove, according to 
 Tischendorf and a host of other very learned and respectable wri- 
 ter?, that our Gospels date back to the age which we claim for the 
 
414 APPENDIX. 
 
 Apostles themselves. Nor can it be unfair here to say, that 
 Renan admits the early date of the evangelical histories, as early 
 at least as the second half of the first century — that is, to about 
 the times of the authors to whom they are attributed. Vie de 
 Jesus^ pp. xiv., xxxvii. Renan's admissions in regard to the 
 Gospels, especially that of St. John, are quite sufficient for the utter 
 refutation of all Strauss has said against them. If what Renan 
 says of John's Gospel is true, it destroys forever the mythical 
 theory of Strauss. No wonder, therefore, that Renan abandoned 
 myths for legends, although we do not think he has materially 
 benefited his cause by so doing. 
 
 We can prove, then, so early a date to the Gospel narratives 
 that sufficient time had not elapsed from the death of Christ to 
 have allowed for the invention and promulgation of such mythical 
 tales as Strauss alleges, nor of such legends as Renan has invented. 
 And if the growing and reception of such myths as true histoiies 
 during the lifetime of the Apostles is inconceivable, it is equally 
 so at any subsequent period in the face of the Christian Church, 
 and of an intelligent, literary heathen empire, such as that of 
 Rome, in the bosom of which Christianity arose. And here it is 
 necessary to remember, that it has always been fundamental with 
 the Christian Church to believe in the literal truth of the facts 
 narrated in the Gospels, at least concerning the supernatural con- 
 ception, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus. And which now, in 
 this nineteenth century, requires the most faith; namely, to believe 
 in Jesus Christ according to the Apostles' Creed, as the Christ of 
 the Gospels and the author of the Christianity of history, or to 
 believe that the man Jesus of Nazareth has been made the Christ 
 of history by the mere fancy and enthusiasm of his followers, who 
 ascribed to Him attributes and powers he never had, nor claimed 
 to have — that it was only after the popular mind had become 
 excited as to the exploits of some great personage who was 
 expected to come, that miracles and supernatural events were 
 ever thought of in connection with the name of Jesus ? 
 
 Strauss's theory requires — 
 
 1. To deny, at the beginning of the argument, the genuine- 
 ness of the Gospel histories — which is a main question in the 
 argument. All the proof, therefore, historical and theological, 
 
APPENDIX. 415 
 
 which are neither few nor light on the side of the genuineness of 
 the Gospels, are against Strauss. 
 
 2. According to Strauss, we must believe that Jesus himself 
 and his disciples believed as true what He and they knew to be 
 false, namely, that he wrought mirxicles, when he did not do so ; 
 nor did He even claim to have ever done so. How, then, could 
 such a belief ever have had a beginning? If the Hebrew 
 prophecies did not properly create such expectations as it was 
 alleged were realized in Jesus when He was set forth as the 
 Messiah, how did these expectations arise ? And if Jesus did 
 not actually meet such expectations during his life, how could He 
 himself ever have believed that He was the Messiah ? and how 
 could his disciples have deceived themselves so as to impose upon 
 the world as true history what they and everybody knew to be 
 mere myths ? 
 
 3. To answer this, Strauss requires us to believe, again, that 
 there was an original infant Christian Church outside of the 
 apostolical society, that agreed on propagating these myths as 
 true histories — a body of disciples able and willing to be de- 
 ceived, to deceive themselves knowingly, without the slightest 
 selfish motive that can be discovered, and willing to deceive the 
 world, although in their attempts to do so they were required to 
 endure all manner of persecution, even unto death; and yet they 
 succeeded. But all history is to be set aside if we receive such a 
 view as this. This is, indeed, faith stronger than " Great Heart's." 
 Who were these disciples? Who founded this non-apostolic 
 society ? Whence came this body of Christians, outside alto- 
 gether of apostolic labors ? And if such a body of Christians 
 gave utterance to these myths, where were the Apostles that they 
 did not deny them ? And who was it that preached these myths 
 to the Gentiles, and how did it come to pass that the preaching 
 of such myths turned the world upside down, and converted 
 Athens, Corinth, and Rome, and made the Cross prevail on 
 " mighty Csesar's " throne ? 
 
 4. Again : according to Strauss (for his disbelief makes large de- 
 mands on our faith), we must believe that the resurrection of Christ 
 is a pure fiction, and yet, at the same time, that the Apostles did all 
 sincerely believe that He had risen from the dead. On no other 
 
41G APPENDIX. 
 
 hypothesis can their steadfast adherence to the cause of Christ be 
 defended or explained. But if Jesus did arise from the dead, as 
 they believed he did, then He is all we believe Him to be. And 
 we must remember that they adhered to the positive declaration 
 that they knew He had risen from the dend, for they saw Him 
 dead and buried, and then saw Him alive, and for many days, 
 until He ascended into heaven, through poverty and persecution 
 unto death ; and most of them died as martyrs, not for a mere 
 opinion, but for believing this as a fact. [See Discourse XL] 
 
 5. If, then, the resurrection of Jesus is an historical fact, and 
 if the circumstances and sayings of His life are historical, why is 
 the mythical theory necessary at all ? And if they are not histo- 
 rical, is there any thing that can be received as historical truth ? 
 Is there any history that has such a monument for its verity as 
 Christianity to-day is for the truth of the Gospel ? And if there 
 is any thing, one single supernatural event, blended with the 
 natural in the history of religion, why not enough of the super- 
 natural to produce miracles, and to give us the realities of the 
 Gospels ? If there is any thing supernatural in the history of our 
 universe, even the least thing, we have all we need to be consist- 
 ent in believing in the supernatural origin of Christianity. I do 
 not see how it is possible to receive the Gospels as mythical tales, 
 or legendary narratives having a foundation in facts, and not 
 acknowledge that there are many things that are perfectly natural 
 bound up with them, and as such true ; and if so, why is not the 
 supernatural part of the Gospel history true also? 
 
 6. This mythical theory does not account for the supernatural 
 character of our Lord. If this theory is correct, the character, 
 temper, and tone, and motives, and conduct, of the first believers 
 in Christianity are anomalous. There is no possible common 
 sense or reasonable way of explaining their character that is con- 
 sistent with this mythical theory. And, moreover, if this theory 
 is correct, then the character of our Lord himself is an original 
 conception, coming out of the unaided brain and souls of His 
 Galilean followers ; and so also is the description of it an original 
 description, out of the mere human mind of unlearned fishermen, 
 from the little sea of Tiberias. And if this is so, how is it that 
 such a conception, and such a description, have never been pro- 
 duced or found anywhere else ? If the Christ of the Gospels is 
 
APPENDIX. 417 
 
 the mere creation of His disciples, then were they themselves as 
 great as they have made tlieir Lord to he. Without the Christ 
 of the Gospels, we have no adequate cause for the Christianity 
 of these eighteen hundred yenrs. As well, to borrow an illustra- 
 tion from another, say that "the Amazon, rolling its broad stream 
 for thousands of miles, and spreading fertility along its banks, is 
 all owing to a shower of rain one spring morning," as to ascribe 
 Christianity to any mere human origin. 
 
 In a word, Strauss requires us to ignore history, reject the 
 faith of Christendom, and mutilate the faculties of the human soul, 
 and mock at the cravings of the human heart and conscience. 
 For if there is nothing supernatural in our holy faith, then we 
 must go to naturalism, transcendentalism, or pantheism for com- 
 fort. But alas ! it is not there. 
 
 We have already alluded to Strauss's new Life of Jesus, which 
 while it is a recast, is also a modification of his previous views 
 in one direction, and a stronger presentation of others in another 
 direction. It is a newly written and entirely a different book 
 from his old work, and, on the whole, perhaps a more dangerous 
 one. It is a most laborious and ingenious attempt to incorporate 
 the latest results of the theological criticism of Germany in such 
 a way as to set them before his countrymen at large. He labors 
 to popularize his views, so as to get them into the minds of the 
 masses. He acknowledges the Tiibingen school, under the lead- 
 ership of Dr. F. C. Bauer, Zellei-, and Hilgenfeld, and though not 
 agreeing with all their views, they are all against the Christ of 
 our Creed. The Westminster Hevieio pronounces Strauss's last 
 work " the most complete and satisfactory solution of the great 
 religious problems with which it grapples that has ever been pro- 
 duced." 
 
 It was doubtless the influence of Tubingen that led Strauss to 
 put forth a restatement of his theory. But we can hardly escape 
 from the feeling, as we see new terms, that they are designed in 
 part to coMceal his chnnge of basa. Comparatively, the repairing 
 of the defects of the old work by the new one is of little conse- 
 quence. For it is difficult for us to see how wilfully invented 
 narratives are myths. A mere change of ground, therefore, when 
 the old animus remains, is of consequence only as far as it gives us 
 2t 
 
418 APPENDIX. 
 
 the advantage of position, by exposing his own vacillation and 
 weakness. 
 
 The success of this new '* Life of Jesus," by Strauss, has not 
 come up, we think, to public expectation. Various reasons are 
 assigned for this ; such as, 
 
 1 . It has not the novelty of his first work. 
 
 2. It is alleged that the public mind of Germany is fully inoc- 
 ulated with the virus of his first work, and cannot be impressed 
 with the same virus from his second. The atmosphere is so 
 charged, that it cannot contain any more in solution. Therefore 
 the new work is not sold and circulated as was the first. 
 
 3. The continental mind was somewhat preoccupied with 
 Renan. There was not room for even two such Richmonds in 
 the field. 
 
 4. Perhaps a greater reason than all these is, that the work 
 itself contains in its own bosom so many contradictions that public 
 confidence in it is destroyed. And this is the more damnging, 
 because Strauss is not in harmony with either Strasbourg, Tiibin- 
 gen, or Renan. And when " doctors disagree, disciples then are 
 free." And, 
 
 5. We may add, that it is a great coming clown for " the head 
 and front " of critical learning in Europe, as directed to the histo- 
 rical evidences of our Gospels, to appeal from the learned to the 
 popular tribune of unbelief among the uneducated classes. It 
 strikes us as a great mark of weakness for a writer of his preten- 
 sions, and on such a subject, to make the unlettered the judge of 
 historical evidences. He seeks to put forth his theoiy. Then he 
 offers a kind of history of Jesus purged from legend and fable, 
 and then a classified list of myths out of which the legend and 
 history are to be framed. His via dolorosa is to get rid of myths 
 by growing legends. Perhaps, after all, the most valuable thing 
 about Strauss's new life of Jesus is that it serves as a kind of 
 barometer, giving us the levity or weight of sentiment among the 
 refined and educated, and yet unbelieving circles of Germany, in 
 regard to the life, miracles, and teachings of Christ. 
 
 The main difference between Strauss and Renan, in the line of 
 my present argument, is, that Renan uses the term legend where 
 
APPENDIX. 419 
 
 Strauss employs myth. He makes the Gospels legendary narra- 
 tives instead of mythical tales. He says these legendary narra- 
 tives emanated chiefly from the Apostles themselves, and were 
 largely founded on facts. Thus he admits an important point for 
 us as against Strauss, namely, the early date of the Gospels, and 
 historic verities for a heginning. On both of these points Renan 
 is also at direct issue with Tubingen. But as Renan proceeds 
 with his eloquent romancing, he makes the Evangelists no more 
 than deceived honest chroniclers of legends, just like the chron- 
 iclers of the legends of the saints of the mediaeval ages. He says 
 it was the blind enthusiasm of His followers that made Jesus 
 himself first think of claiming to be the Messiah, and that, making 
 the. claim at first to please them, He gradually fell into the belief 
 that He was what they said He was, and could do what they 
 attributed to him; and that his followers came honestly to believe 
 at last that He was the Messiah, and did really work miracles ; 
 but that, in fact, he was only a superior benevolent, good kind 
 of man. And thus the Gospels are, at best, only successful pious 
 frauds, " the spawn of the terrible delusion, that one may lie for 
 God." 
 
 Finally^ it is plain, the truthfulness, the honesty, the moral 
 excellence of Jesus must stand or fall with his supernatural 
 claims. He could not be deceived. His testimony, therefore, con- 
 cerning himself must be believed, unless he is a deceiver, an 
 impostor. But such excellence of character as is universally 
 admitted to have belonged to him, could not exist in an impostor. 
 It is impossible for Him, who is the Truth itself, and who lived 
 and died for the Truth, to have put forth claims to be what He 
 knew He was not. He was born and died to bear witness unto 
 the truth. He said He was the Son of God, the promised Mes- 
 siah, and that whosoever believeth in Him should have everlastiqg 
 life, and that his body should be raised up at the last day. It is 
 credible, it is the highest reason, to believe just what He taught, 
 and to believe it on his own authority. 
 
 Clearly, the result of Renau's adniissions and argument is, that 
 we must believe in the miracles of Jesus and his x\postk's, or 
 charge Christ and his Apostles with wilful and malicious fraud. 
 " We have either truth or gross cheating. Such is the real alter- 
 native, and Renan has thus unintentionally done a service to the 
 
420 APPENDIX. 
 
 Christian Church, by impaling unbelief upon this dilemma." — 
 Prof. Fisher. 
 
 The foundation of the celebrated Tubingen school, which in 
 some respects is the most formid ible attack of our day upon 
 Christianity, is an avowed kind of Pantheism. It is a denial not 
 only of the miracles of the New Testament, but of every thing 
 supernatural. It allows no God but natural causes, and hence a 
 miracle is an absurdity ! It is only as pantheists, which is only 
 another name for atheists, that Strauss, Bauer, and Renan can 
 consistently deny the possibility of miracles. The Chris tless 
 Theism of Theodore Parker and of Miss Cobbe requires panthe- 
 ism as its last stopping-place. Having, however, already ex- 
 hausted my space for this Appendix, I must leave the pantheism 
 of Tiibingen by recommending Prof. Fisher's " Supernatural 
 Origin of Christianity," and Guizot's last volume, on the " Actual 
 State of Christianity " — a volume which, as a whole, is far from 
 being satisfactory, but the last Meditations on modern specula- 
 tions we think worthy of attention. 
 
 It were easy to show that we cannot rely upon negative criti- 
 cism for a guide to truth, because it is not agreed among its 
 schools what we are to believe. Their contradictions are endless. 
 They begin their arguments by begging the main question ; and 
 besides, they mutilate our faculties and destroy the hope of the 
 human heart. '^Le coeur," as Pascal says, "a des raisons que la 
 raison ne connait point." " IVie heart has reasons that the reason, 
 knows not at alV , 
 
 Finally, having briefly reviewed the Cliristology of the ages 
 of the Church before the Council of Nicsea, and taken a rapid 
 look at the appearance of the speculations of the Modern Schools 
 of disbelieving criticism, it seems proper to drop a few words of 
 exhortation, designed especially for theological students and 
 young ministers of the Gospel. 
 
 You may remember Fuller's advice about dividing a text or a 
 subject : What is it f Why is it^ and ichat then f The Athe- 
 nians made an application of Demosthenes' what then^ by rising 
 and rushing out with the cry, "Let us fight Philip." 
 
 I. Will you allow me to say, we must learn to take a world- 
 wide view of men and things, and escape from local, sectional. 
 
APPENDIX. 421 
 
 and fanatical prejudices ? We must acknowledge the facts of 
 science and history as they are brought to light. We must meet 
 the cLiims of science and literature with a full measure of justice 
 as to what they really are and have done. We have only to know 
 the certainty of what they teach, and admit what are surely 
 known as facts ; and if we have not light from the Bible to explain 
 them, we must wait for it. Our capacities are limited. All 
 things are not for one moment. It has been beautifully said, 
 God waited thousands of years for Newton and Laplace to teach 
 us how to read his laws of Nature, and we read them even now 
 with much stammering. We must wait, but we wait with per- 
 fect assurance that there is no contradiction between God*s works 
 and laws, in Creation and Revelation. 
 
 II. We must strive to acquire the ability to look with calm- 
 ness and with an unblenching face on all the gathering hosts that 
 appear against us. We must not be dismayed by their numbers, 
 nor by the weight of their armor, nor by the noise of their shout- 
 ings. We must be willing to know their strength, conscious that 
 He who is with us is more and mightier than they that are 
 against us. The more intense the darkness, the brighter is thb 
 light that is ahead. The darkness of the night serves to bring 
 out the stars. The late Hugh Miller, a great man, but in some 
 respects a dangerous writer, especially for young men, used to 
 give a somewhat humorous description of the strategetical 
 methods of the crab and lobster. His description is in the 
 following style. The crab is always for war. It flares up the 
 moment of attack, goes off in a towering passion, and without 
 discrimination grips at every thing within reach, and holds on to 
 whatever it catches hold of, although it is thereby dragged out 
 of its own hold to destruction. So there are some Christian 
 writers and speakers, that are honest and earnest enough, but 
 like the crab, they are not wise. Impetuosity is their besetting 
 infirmity. But the lobster adopts an entirely different method of 
 defence. If a limb is seized he throws it off — saying, " Take it, 
 take it ; only spare my life." But the lobster is apt to overdo his 
 discretion. In a panic he yields limb after limb ; as for instance, 
 if you fire a musket over him, he throws off limb after limb, 
 of which afterwards he finds he has great need, both as weapons 
 of defence, and means of locomotion and enjoyment. Now I 
 
423 APPENDIX. 
 
 fancy we have all seen some of these panic lobsters. If only- 
 French savans or German rationalists say tlie chronology of 
 Moses is all wrong ; or the "Vestiges of Creation," or some huge 
 volume from Baden Powell or Darwin appear, telling us the 
 Bible is all wrong as to the creation ; or of Huxley, Roca, or Lyell, 
 telling us there were human races long before Adam, or that 
 " the grand old gardener and his wife," as the poet laureate calls 
 Adam and Eve, are a male and female gorilla a little more decently 
 moulded ; or when a Colenso, a Strauss, or a Renan plunges us all 
 into fable-land, to flounder among myths or be smothered with 
 legends, then, like the lobster, they yield limb by limb until there 
 is nothing left but an awkward carcass, which the " pismires " 
 may crawl out of the sand and devour. We should of course 
 yield what is false, but maintain what is true. We must guard 
 against yielding the key of our position out of courtesy, or by 
 way of showing our confidence in our strength. 
 
 But as we hear the trumpet waxing louder and louder, calling 
 our enemies to the assault upon our strong fortress, we are not to 
 quake with fear. Bold and defiant as they form into darkening 
 masses around us, and even after some of our outposts are bat- 
 tered down, and some of our pickets driven in, still are we with- 
 out fear. For our enemies have yet to learn that Zion's walls are 
 impregnable. It is only false or badly constructed, or unwisely 
 or timidly defended outposts that have been shaken. Let all hell 
 move and come with all its earthly auxiliaries against the Church 
 of King Immanuel, and its gates will remain unshaken. The 
 blasphemous boasting of the Syrian general did not take Jeru- 
 salem. The remnants of many a shouting host have reeled back 
 shattered over the bodies of their comrades. 
 
 And here seems to us a proper place to say that just now 
 there is a tendency to make altogether too much out of the 
 "Religions before Christ," and the heaven-directed education 
 of the world for His coming; almost, if not altogether as divine 
 and as miraculous a mission being assigned to Greece and Rome; 
 as to Moses and Israel This is an argument as old as the first 
 centuries, and it is a good one, and is wielded with vigor by 
 De Pressense^ and put forth by Mr. Gladstone in his farewell 
 literary address in Edinburgh, and also urged with overwhelming 
 eloquence by Strauss, and many others of both the positive and 
 
APPENDIX. 423 
 
 negative schools of criticism. And it is not my purpose to reject 
 this argument, but only to guard against making too much of it. 
 It has great fascination for the young mind. It is true, Christ 
 did come in the fulness of time. The world was prepared for his 
 coming. The Divine plan was all pre-arranged. But it is not 
 true that this preparation does, in the slightest degree, diminish 
 the Divinity of Christ, or account for the origin of our holy 
 faith outside of the Gospel. " The strangely inflammable state 
 of the materials " which took fire at the Incarnation, to borrow 
 a phrase from the EUnhurgh Review^ does not in any way help 
 the negative school of critics. At best, it only throws the Divinity 
 of Christianity a little farther back, where indeed it belongs, for 
 Christ's kingdom is from before the beginning of the world. 
 Whatever the religions before Christ may have been, or whatever 
 preparations were made for the Incarnation, they were a part of the 
 Divine plan for manifesting God in the flesh. 
 
 III. We must not allow our adversaries to fight men of straw. 
 We must not allow the abuses of our holy religion to be substi- 
 tuted for the religion itself True Christianity is something very 
 different from mere theological dogmas, mysticism, or formalism. 
 Political hierarchies, with a dogmatic, narrow, and cruel super- 
 stition substituted for the Gospel, have done more harm to true 
 religion than all the infidels that have ever lived. We must not 
 allow our antagonists to make Scripture for us, and then hold us 
 responsible for it; nor allow them to bVing out of the Bible 
 what God never put into it ; nor allow them to require the Bible 
 to be or to do what its Authoi- never designed it to be or to do. 
 The direct and absolute purpose of Divine Revelation is to 
 set forth the way of salvation for sinners of Adam's race by faith 
 in Jesus Christ. 
 
 IV. A first and main position which we must boldly take in 
 t}iis controversy is, that the facts of Christianity are intact. It is 
 a positive religion, with its history and its rites, and after all that 
 has been said and done, its main facts have never been overturned. 
 Dean Alford, himself a critic and Christian scholar, has just said 
 that all the critical attacks made upon the verity of the Gospels 
 have failed. Not one of the foundations of our Faith has been 
 shaken. The essential fact is the Person of Christ. And, histori- 
 cally, it remains, after all that has been done, undeniable. Our 
 
424 APPENDIX. 
 
 schools of negative criticism have utterly failed to construct any 
 theory that accounts for Christianity. Strauss and Renan make 
 themselves wings out of myths and legends merely to fly over the 
 main questions. We must insist upon it, the main facts of Chris- 
 tianity are to be received as facts, unless disproved historically 
 upon evidence that is more credible than our Gospels. We must 
 insist upon facts being received, not as opinions, or dogmas, or 
 myths, but just as they really are — facts. Our holy religion 
 acknowledges faith in the heart as a product of enlightenment by 
 the Spirit of God, but it rests fundamentally on historical facts, 
 and boldly appeals to the broadest stratum of human intelligence, 
 to common sense, to the shrewdness of man's unsophisticated 
 sense, and to his whole inner life, for evidences of its truth. Re- 
 vealed religion neither ignores nor opposes right reason. True 
 faith and true reason are both from God. 
 
 It is historically demonstrated that every and all systems of 
 faith and morals that come short of a positive and definite belief 
 in God, and of our personal responsibility to Him, will fail to 
 control the masses of mankind. The old French Revolution is an 
 illuminated picture of wild horses spurning the silken harnessings 
 of philosophical morality; or shall I rather say, of furies gorging 
 on blood, in the broad light of the highest philosophical refine- 
 ment, in the heart of the most intelligent and polished nation of 
 the world ? France, 4uring the reign of Terror, was the focus 
 of all the light that science and art could create. It is amazing 
 that the historian of the French Revolution and of the Life of 
 Oliver Cromwell has not felt the force of this illustration. And 
 strange that Goethe was ignorant of it, and Emerson sees it not. 
 Has any thing, then, been gained by the essayists and social 
 reformers and critics who take away our Lord ? Are they able to 
 point to moral results like those accomplished by the Gospel ? 
 Have they ever ofiered such ethics as Christianity teaches, or a 
 system of Faith in any way to be compared with the Creed of 
 the Apostles? After all these critics have destroyed, and all 
 these reformers and all these schools of the Gospel of culture have 
 done, is there a father or a mother in all Christendom who would 
 not prefer their children should learn morals from the New Tes- 
 tament rather than from them, and die in the faith of the Christ of 
 the Apostles than in any other ? 
 
APPENDIX. 425 
 
 V. Allow mo to say, that we should guard against underrating 
 the strength of our antago7iists. It is well, it is right for 
 young men, as they gird on their armor to go forth into the 
 conflict, to feel that they are strong, and that their heart is equal 
 for the fight. Encourage this faith ; but at the same time be 
 wary. Aftyr more than twenty years' constant conflict with our 
 opponents, and that not always with equal armor, skill, or strength, 
 yet always, I trust, with the victory, through the grace of the 
 God of Jacob, I do earnestly beseech my young brethren not to 
 despise the' enemies' forces. The opponents of our holy Faith 
 have learning — some of them true, profound, prodigious, and 
 varied learning, as well as talents, genius, industry, and devoted- 
 ness to their work. It is amazing to see the vastness of the 
 critical and historical studies and metaphysical theories, and the 
 amount of natural science, that are brought in our day into the 
 question of the Truth of our Gospels, or of the supernatural 
 origin of Christianity. 
 
 When you run over even an imperfect list of great writers 
 engaged or lately engaged on this subject, you will not fail to see 
 the justice of this remark. Think of what an amount of intel- 
 lect, learning, criticism, and study is represented by such names 
 as these : Paulus, Schleiermacher, Spinoza, Kant, the Bauers, 
 Hase, Ewald, Neander, Meyer, Weisse, Ebrard, Gfrozer, Lange, 
 Tholuck, Ullman, Dorner, Riggenback, Auberlein, Olshaussen, 
 Hengstenberg, Bleek, Kostlin, Hilgenfeld, Volkmar, Holtzman, 
 Reuss, Keim, Colani, Scherer, Nicolas, Guizot, Pressense, and a 
 host of others on the continent alone, not to say any thing of 
 writers quite recent and better known among us belonging to 
 Great Britain and our own country. 
 
 We must also remember that however acute, learned, able and 
 eloquent may have been the Apologies of the ancients, and the 
 Defences of Revelation made in former days, they are not the 
 weapons now required. They are valuable storehouses and mag- 
 azines, but our times require new armor. Strauss, Bauer, and 
 Renan cannot be wisely answered in the same way that our 
 fathers refuted Hobbes, Paine, and the French Encyclopedists. 
 
 And again, either from personal conviction or the force of 
 education, or the influence of public opinion, the tone of 
 unbelieving science and of disbelieving criticism, as well as 
 
426 . APPENDIX. 
 
 the greatly improved moral character of the champions of 
 unbelief in modern times, require answers of a very difierent 
 character from those that Avere deemed efficient in past ages. 
 The great names known in the advanced schools of science and 
 of criticism who are arrayed against the verity of our sacred 
 writers, cannot be answered by the charge of licentiousness or 
 ignorance of the Gospel narratives. It only betrays weakness or 
 rudeness on our part to indulge in raillery or flippant abuse, or to 
 assume that they are ignorant defamers of the truth. We must 
 be careful to do justice to our opponents. We must call no hard 
 names, but refrain from all kinds of persecution for opinion's 
 sake. It is unbecoming and useless to sneer at Renan^ or rush 
 madly at Ecce Homo. Let us rather seek to obtain a more and 
 more thorough knowledge of the text of Holy Scripture in the 
 originals, and a close and still more close personal union with 
 THE Eternal Word. 
 
 It were certainly a great gain to truth and godliness, if our 
 scholars and interpreters of Holy Scripture would be content to 
 help us to find out the mind of the Spirit, by opening up to us the 
 meaning of the words and idioms of the original languages of 
 the Scriptures, and not attempt to make Scripture for us, as so 
 many of them do. So many of our learned men go to the Scrip- 
 tures not to find out what they really teach, but to get arguments 
 to prove or support their own peculiar views, that it seems to us 
 the sons of the prophets should be taught Divinity out of the 
 Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as the main text-books, following 
 their own order and method. 
 
 It is related of the very learned and great Selden^ that when 
 he appeared in Parliament he " was regarded in the light of a 
 valuable piece of national property, like a museum, or great pub- 
 lic library, resorted to as a matter of course and a matter of 
 right, in all the numerous cases in which assistance was wanted 
 from any part of the whole compass of legal and historical learn- 
 ing. He appeared in the national council not so much the rep- 
 resentative of the contemporary inhabitants of a particular city, 
 as of all the people of past ages." In 1643, he was a member of 
 the famous Assembly of Divines at Westminster, where he 
 silenced and puzzled the great theologians. Sometimes, accord- 
 ing to Whitelocke, " when the Divines had cited a text of Scripture 
 
APPENDIX. 427 
 
 to prove their assertion, he would tell them, perhaps in their little 
 pocket Bibles, with gilt leaves, which they would often pull out 
 and read, the translation might be thus, but the Greek or Hebrew 
 signified thus or thus, and so would totally silence them." Never 
 was there an age of the world requiring more mature, solid, and 
 varied learning in the ministry than ours. If possible, we need 
 ministers of the Gospel who should be walking libraries, with 
 hearts in them, and baptized with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 YI. We need a more unreserved, full-hearted consecration to 
 God and our work. One of our most amiable and eloquent oppo- 
 nents (Renan) says, a fresh contemplation of the Holy Land is 
 equal to a fifth Gospel. May we not hope that our attempt to 
 present a picture of our dear Lord as he is described by the voice 
 of the Church in all ages, will awaken in us a deeper love for 
 Him and a greater devotedness to His service ? There is life in 
 the Church for the 7iatio7is, but it is not the Church itself substi- 
 tuted for Christ. We know that when the Israelites profaned 
 the Ark of the Covenant, and when they made an idol of it, and 
 trusted in it instead of the God of the Ark, they were defeated 
 and slain, and the Ark itself was taken by the Philistines. The 
 power of the Gospel, which was " the power of God " in the 
 earlier ages of Christianity, when it went from the cross to the 
 palace, and ascended the throne of the Caesars, consisted in the 
 glories of Christ's person, the wonders of His redemption, and the 
 infinite worth of His righteousness and the merits of His precious 
 blood. It was by the preaching of his life, death, resurrection, 
 and ascension, and not by exalting the Church and its sacraments, 
 that the Gospel prevailed at the beginning. And it is in th-e 
 awakening of the Church to the fact, that Jesus is not acknow- 
 ledged even in his own House in his true character, that inspires 
 us with hope. When Christians are aroused by unbelieving sci- 
 ence and disbelieving criticism and freezing formalism and starv- 
 ing ritualism to say, " Ye have taken away my Lord, and I know 
 not where ye have laid him," then we expect Jesus himself to be 
 revealed. 
 
 Brethren, let us try to climb fully up to the Cross as it stands 
 on Calvary, and get a fresh baptism of the warm blood of the 
 Son of God. The world around us is earnestly yearning after 
 ])rogress, but for the most part they are looking in the wrong 
 
428 APPEl^DIX. 
 
 direction. They are seeking the living among the dead. We are 
 in the midst of mighty longings to break the chains that bind 
 the human mind, nor can this tendency be repressed. These 
 longings and aspirations are as innate as our hopes for immortal- 
 ity. What then shall we do ? When the world is crying for 
 bread, shall we offer it a stone ? Rather, if need be, let us 
 plunge into the gloomy catacombs, or dwell in caves or in the 
 open fields, or dye the heather with our blood, as our fathers 
 before us have done, in order that we may walk with God as 
 Enoch did. Our times call for men who are near to God, who 
 are baptized into the very life of Christ — men, the springs of 
 whose religious life are deep, who cling with all their hearts to 
 the Lord Jesus — men of courage and devotion like the Jesuit 
 Xavier, or like John Knox, whose prayer, supported by his labors, 
 was, Lord Jesus, give me Scotland, or I die ! And his prayer 
 prevailed. Men are now called for who are willing to be, to do, 
 and to suffer every thing, out of love to Jesus and the souls of 
 men — to travel, labor, endure hardships, and the perils of the seas 
 and of all lands for His sake, and to consider it an honor to suffer 
 in his cause. We want men who will serve God in every thing, 
 and enjoy God in all things, and endure all things to win souls for 
 Christ. 
 
 Let us strive to make our Lord himself our model, and to fol- 
 low his Apostles as they followed Him. Let us remen4)er that all 
 truth on all subjects was perfectly known to Him, and yet he did 
 not meddle with secular or temporal themes. Although full of 
 the knowledge of every thing beautiful and great in the universe, 
 and possessing an unerring acquaintance with all the relations of 
 society. He would not even settle a dispute between two brothers 
 about an inheritance, because it was a matter provided for by the 
 civil government, and lay outside of the great scheme of redemp- 
 tion, to complete and unfold which was the mission of his life, 
 and the purpose of his death and ascension. 
 
 If we could realize more of the spirit of Jerome, who said 
 that he never entered the pulpit but that it seemed to him he 
 heard the trumpet of the judgment-day sounding in his ears, then 
 we should have more correct views of our responsibility as men 
 set to watch for souls. O, if we could but feel that our fellow-men 
 are sinners, and lift ourselves and them off our planet, and look 
 
APPENDIX. 429 
 
 upon ourselves and them as before Gotl, amid the avvful scenes of 
 the last day, then we shouhl find no time for any other subject in 
 our pulpits but the way of salvation for sinners through Christ 
 crucified. 
 
 There is no need for us to leave the Cross to preach on literary, 
 scientific, economical, and political subjects. There are others 
 quite as able, and in all probability much better prepared to take 
 care of these subjects than we are ; and, besides, it belongs to 
 them to do so. These are not the elements of our sacred calling. 
 We are sure to soil our robes, and to put ourselves in a wrong 
 position, and to appear to a disadvantage, whenever we leave the 
 duties to wliich we are consecrated for lower themes. Our busi- 
 ness is to show unto men the way of salvation — to know the Word 
 of God, and cause the people to understand it. 
 
 Let us take hold of the Cross of Christ, and lift it up as high 
 as we can, and cry, Behold the Lamb of God ! Let the world 
 drift as it may in the vast ocean ; let speculations and theories 
 run as high as they may, and surge and boil, and roar and whirl 
 around us ; we have only one thing to do : to cling to the Cross, 
 and busy ourselves with reading its history, and trying to know 
 its virtues, and make our fellow-men acquainted with them. It is 
 when we are nearest to the Cross of Jesus, and feel His blood to 
 be most precious, and feel ourselves so identified witli Him that 
 He seems to be walking with us, as if His heart were throbbing 
 against ours as we are toiling on in the path of duty, that we 
 are the best prepared to represent Him and plead His cause. Let 
 us live in the* light of eternity reflected upon us from the Cross. 
 Let us try to get the baptism of the truth and of the blood of 
 expiation warm on our conscience, in view of the account we 
 must give of our stewardship, and then we may hope for power 
 and success. 
 
 "UNTO HIM THAT LOVED FS, AND WASHED US 
 FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD, AND HATH 
 MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD AND 
 HIS FATHER ; TO HIM BE GLORY AND DOMINION 
 FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN:' 
 
CONTENTS TO APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX, page 383. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION NOW AT ISSUE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reason for this Appendix — Lord Bacon and Plutarch — Atheism or Supersti- 
 tion — We become like the God we worship sincerely — Religious Belief 
 germinal in the Human Soul — Religious Belief gives distinct Characteris- 
 tics to a People, as in Greece and Rome 386-389 
 
 II. 
 
 OPINIONS CONCERNING CHRIST BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF 
 
 NICiEA. 
 
 Gnostics, Docetse, Ebionites, Cerinthus, Basilides, Sabellius, Patripassians, 
 Pauliauists, Arius. — Council op Nic^a, its Character and Occasion. — 
 Modern Arianism — Dr. Bellows — "A Coat of many Colors " — The Reach 
 of the History of Redemption — The Emperor in the Council — Many of its 
 Members Confessors, who bore Marks on their Persons of their Suffer- 
 ings from Persecution for their Belief in the Christ of the Apostles — 
 How this Council honored the Word of God — All human Authorities 
 fallible — National Influence of Creeds — Violence of Ecclesiastical Coun- 
 cils — Modern Gnosticism — "Divers and Strange Doctrines" — Moham- 
 med's Religious Education — Eastern Misbelief. 389-402 
 
 HL 
 
 ASPECT OF MODERN THOUGHT CONCERNING THE CHRIST OF THE 
 EVANGELISTS. 
 
 The Written and the Incarnate Word — Every Age has its Great Questions — 
 Christianity a Great Fact in the Nineteenth Century — Sirauss's Attempt 
 to account for it — Tischendorfs "Time" of our Gospels — A Survey of 
 the Thought of Christendom — Ours an Age of FaitJi, Unbdief, Disbelief, 
 
432 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 and Misbelief— Ebrard on the Critical Schools — Unbelieving Science — TVo 
 claim Free Inquiry — Disbelieving Criticism — Stuauss's Tlieory analyzed 
 and distinctly stated, and the proper Answer sketched — Renan's Legends 
 quite as unphilosophical and unsatisfactory — The Tubingen School.. .402-420 
 
 Finally — 
 
 A FEW EARNEST WORDS TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS AND 
 YOUNG MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 FuUer^s Division of a Subject — A World-wide View — Courage to look at the 
 Foe — ^Not allow our Opponents to fight "Men of Straw" — Insist on the 
 Facts of Christianity — Not underrate the Strength of our Adversaries — 
 Great Learning as well as Devotedness required — Unreserved Consecra- 
 tion to our Work — Must preach Cheist more, and nothing but 
 Cheist 420-429 
 
 THE END. 
 
 '•^^^ OF r-j-' -^ 
 
 usiveejitt: 
 

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