x NN . SN SS \ \ SS Yi Yj WN \\ \ \ $ \ SERRA AG AX ASS ‘ — LD Le ty Ge oy vt 4\ve Bheologicns ing “ ) Mity PRINCETON, N. J. Bris Redford, Vox Del lors fae: | ‘el, om Oe 5, a Dol @ _ ta] hy ~4 ¥ { * ry “| ‘ 4 VeO Xe Datel THE DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT AS IT IS SET FORTH IN THE SCRIPTURES OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. BY R. A.“REDFORD, M.A., LLB. AUTHOR OF ‘S THE CHRISTIAN’S PLEA AGAINST MODERN UNBELIEF,” ‘SFOUR CENTURIES OF SILENCE,” ‘‘sTuDIES IN THE BOOK OF JONAH,” ETC. ETC. “To the Law and to the Testimony : if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” [R.V. ‘‘no morning for them”’].—ISA. Vili. 20. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. MDCCCLXXXIX. PREFACE, THE following pages have been written in the hope that they may supply a want. The testimony of Scripture to the Spirit has not been put together with sufficient clearness and fulness. Evangelical Truth may be helped to win the victory over its enemies as the Doctrine of the Spirit is studied in the light of God’s own Word. It is a great subject—far too great to be adequately treated by any one writer. But whether adequate or not, an attempt, humbly and sincerely made, to bring forth to more steadfast attention the teaching of Scrip- ture should be of some service. The author has avoided scholastic discussions as much as possible. His aim has been practical. He commits these pages with all their imperfections to the blessing of Him of whom they speak. May the Voice of God be heard through the broken utterances of the voice of man! Pourtney, September 1880. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/voxdeidoctrineoft0Oredf_0O \ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Introductory . CHAPTER II. Old Testament Revelation of the Spirit previous to the Time of Samuel CHAPTER IIT. The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit from the Time of Samuel to the Close of the Old Testament Canon CHAPTER IV. The Testimony of Jewish Literature to the Doctrine of the Spirit, from the Close of the Old Testament Canon to the Time of Christ . CHAPTER V. The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit as taught in the Four Gospels and until the Day of Pentecost . CHAPTER VI. The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, as it is taught in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles and Apocalypse PAGE 21 OI yA 189 - - ws 4) * _ * a Ye ga 4 : Bee 2 7 4 P, as, ay nat : ' ( SS eames <5 : ry ?) f ¥ . oT | ©? he _ ® ,< iy 7 a0 , nM 4 & = ~ + ' 7 - 4 Py oe rs : ; J \ ay i i . > 4 \ a ; - \ . | . i ‘ h ii ' f / a > "I } ; | is - { * nd . ‘ “| m - = 1 t \ . ’ = i h " 7 ‘ . » . 2 = Oe ae \ » . 7 . 7 4 of 4 4 « ‘ id 4 ere ‘ ‘ b ba dl > i ‘ : he eh he & 7 5 TN an Ane eel ee WO) Dae (sri AS bale Ba ta, |e INTRODUCTORY. Wiru the Scriptures in our hands (and with the history of the Church of God before us, as a practical commentary by which the truth of the written Word is illustrated and explained), it ought not to be impossible to put into clear and orderly statement what is divinely taught, and commonly believed, on the subject of the Holy Spirit. The specific want of such an age as the present, when speculation is rife and opinions clash, while at the same time extraordinary activity is aroused,—when, because we think and work at high pressure in all departments of human life, we are tempted to be superficial and too easily caught by novelty—our greatest demand must be for materials wherewith to build up solid structures of faith. Mere individual conclusions, put forth on the ground of thought, philosophical method, profound reflection on the inner consciousness, high flights of the poetical imagina- tion, or wonderful personal experience, however valuable they may be regarded, as part of the great mass of evi- A 2 VOX DEI. dence gathered together through all the ages to the work of the Spirit in Man, must be put into a subordinate place when we ask, What is the doctrine of the Spirit, as it should be before us in the first foundations of our faith ? There will be no satisfactory settlement of the many con- troversies which disturb the minds of Christians, and divide them so much from one another, until the doctrines which lie at the root of all others have been boldly and reverently faced; what can be stated in respect to them simply set forth, and their acceptance demanded of all believers. We go on discussing such subjects as Atone- ment, Inspiration, Miracles, Eschatology, with very little prospect of more unity and less error; the clouds of dust which are raised increasing the confusion and disorder. Will the Truth ever be revealed to us so long as we shrink from the duty which seems to be in the highest place, however difficult to fulfil, to know what the basis is on which the whole of our Christian consciousness stands ? There must be Truths which hold up all the fulness of the spiritual edifice of thought and life. We shall never be at peace so long as we doubt one another’s standing on the first principles of faith. Is our doctrine of God the same? Are we on the same ground of Relation between God and Man? Have we the same view of the work of salvation? Is Christ the Son of God, and is the Spirit of God a Divine Person, in the same meaning of the words with all of us? Surely it is quite sufficient to ask these and similar questions, to bring at once before our minds the unsatisfactory state of Christian thought on the most vital doctrines. At the present time, why are we INTRODUCTORY. 3 afraid, as we seem to be, of dealing with the greatest truths? Is it not because we measure against them the narrow limits of the human understanding, and relegate them to the depths of mystery as transcendental? Is not the prevailing tendency of the modern mind the confes- sion of its own impotence? And yet it does not at all follow, because we fail to grasp great truths with the hand of the conceptive power which we call “ Understanding,” and which is trained to lay hold of earthly things, that such Truths must be ignored and put back into an abyss of the unknown and unknowable. We may not be able to formulate any definitions in Theology which are ac- cepted by all Christians, but we may nevertheless be able to open to the clear view of the believing soul what those primary truths are which come forth in the Bible and in the Christian consciousness, as the pillars of the spiritual universe. So it is in our study of Nature; scientific systems, schemes of inductive reasoning, crowds of facts, and conclusions and anticipations drawn from the facts, all are in the foreground, the work of human thought and observation; but in the background there remain the greatest facts of all, the most universally known and acknowledged of all truths, such as the continuity and interdependence of all forces and existences, the reason- , ableness of the universe, the steadfastness of laws; the _ absolute behind the relative, the eternal behind the tem- poral, the One behind the many. And although the unbe- heving man of science is content to use familiar abstract terms to describe this faith of his, we know that he is simply hiding himself in those abstractions from the voice 4, VOX DEI. of his own personality, which summons him to believe in Him from whom and by whom and in whom are all things, “to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.” There is a miserable “ Agnosticism” in the Church as well as in the world. We are calling the greatest truths of our faith unsearchable mysteries, not in the spirit of reverential belief, but in the spirit of an indifferent Positivism. We are making ourselves contented to live as it were from hand to mouth in our Theology. The truths which are ignored goon come to be doubted. Practical religion grows feeble when it is supported upon nothing but sentiments or ex- ternal activities. The love which abounds in fruits of righteousness strikes its roots into the depths of the faith which works by it. Therefore if the coming Christianity of the future is to be both victorious over the world and beautiful in the peacefulness and order of its own inner life, we must not be afraid to speak to one another the wisdom of God, which is not indeed the wisdom of this world, but was “ordained by God before the world for our glory” (1 Corsa 7 It is very undesirable, in the present condition of philosophical thought and Christian belief, to attempt to systematise the doctrines of Christianity. No great thinker, however learned and devout, has succeeded in adapting the language of Scripture and the progressive systematising thought of Man to one another, so that he has clothed the revelation of God in terms satisfactory to the developed reason and put the truths of religion in an order of relationship to one another such as could be accepted as rationally perfect. The explanation of this INTRODUCTORY. 5) failure is not difficult. When we philosophise on the Bible and on the facts of the Christian consciousness, we cannot divest ourselves of the ideas and phraseology which have been made for us by the thought of past ages, and especially by the thought of our own age. Whatever there is in Man as Man, even though there be an inexhaustible depth of divine truth laid up in the human spirit as such, still, so far as the thought of Man has attained hitherto, it remains imperfect. “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in a@/ our philosophies.” Until there is a perfect Philosophy there cannot be a perfect Theology. Our divergences and controversies are chiefly due to the imperfection of our reasonings and of the language in which we attempt to express them. Therefore, it is not by mere attempts at system that advance is made. We do well to postpone system to the future. Meanwhile what is wanted is the more patient and profound study both of the written Word of God and of the facts of history and experience. No writer can escape altogether from the influence of system and tradition. He is foolish if he makes the attempt to do so. But the reader may find help in a work which betrays human weakness. The Bible itself is full of human idiosyncrasies; yet the Truth of God is not perverted by passing through the atmosphere of individual thought. If the light of the sun strikes upon the eye, it must accommodate itself to the organ of vision. But there is a great difference between the broad daylight and the artificial lights which men may make for them- selves. When we try to see the Truth in the written ~- 6 VOX DEI. Word and in the facts of experience, we may be acting under the influence of an eclecticism which is a mere self- originated light darkening the counsel of God. But when we seek Truth in the spirit of childlike dependence on Divine guidance, although we may not be entirely delivered from the darkness of our own thoughts and the darkness of the world in which we live, we may be assured that we shall find the way of. Life. There is no finality in Theology; but there is a progress in the enlightenment of the people of God. The Bible itself is seen more fully open to view in the larger and intenser light of a more advanced knowledge and more developed experience. What a Christian man deduces from his study of Scripture and the world may be in itself worth little more than what has been deduced in former times, and yet 1t may be a great help to the Church to carry on age after age a pro- gressive induction of the facts. The following pages have not been prepared with the intention of advocating any conclusions which have been reached, though the belief of the writer must necessarily be traceable in them. The simple object in view has been to put together ,the tes- timony of the past in the writings of inspired men, so that the mind of the reader may be able to fix itself the more steadfastly on the doctrine of the Spirit. as it is thus revealed. There is so wide a difference, however, amongst those who use the Word of God as to the principles upon which it is to be consulted and in what sense it is a Divine oracle, that it will be necessary, before proceeding, to explain in what light the Bible is regarded in this work INTRODUCTORY. t as a progressive revelation of the Truth of God. The dis- tinction was made by the theological writers of the Refor- mation, and by those who developed the systematic theology of the Reformers, between general revelation and special revelation. The whole history of human progress may be said to be a revelation. | ‘For I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.” God has been speaking to men in every age and in every place. Even the errors and superstitions of mankind are not without their meaning, as indicating the groping of the human mind and heart after that which is beyond itself. But the fact that the farther we go back in our researches into ancient religions, the nearer we seem to come to a state of knowledge and worship comparatively pure and simple, shows that while God has not left men altogether without light, they have by their corruptions turned that light into darkness. The real question then is not whether there has been what Lessing called an “ Education of the Human Race,” by various means and by the discipline of Providence, but whether, in addition to this general reve- lation, there has been a special communication of Divine Truth to any particular part of the human race? Now, that there should be such speciality in the Divine procedure is very natural, and quite in accordance with the facts of history. Take, for example, the differences which are found in different people in respect to the cultivation of the esthetic faculties. However we may account for it, we can have no doubt that the development of art has not been universal and uniform, but through special art centres 8 MO CmEL EL: where national taste and faculty have distinguished one people from another—as in the cases of the Egyptians, Accadians, Etruscans, and Greeks, and in later times the Italians. Why then should it be incredible that there should be one people from whom, as a centre, religious light and impulse should spread through the earth? The facts which we are able to discover, apart from the record given us in the Book of Genesis, certainly confirm the general view of the origin of religious history which the Bible sets before us. By means of migration the light preserved amongst a certain portion of the human race was carried forward and developed from age to age. Abraham was the heir to an inheritance of Divine tradi- tion which he was led by special providential guidance to earry forth out of the midst of a mass of corruption in Mesopotamia to fix it as a seed in the chosen soil of Palestine, where it would be so placed that it could become the centre of religious life to the world. Now, when we speak of this Divine revelation as progressive, we simply claim for it that it follows the method of development which is universal in earthly things. All that God gives to man He gives progressively, as he is able to receive it. The knowledge of earthly things is progressive ; how much more, then, the knowledge of heavenly things ? Abraham cannot receive as Paul received. Jews could not unfold the doctrine of religion as Christians can unfold it. No greater Old Testament prophet ever lived than John the Baptist, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, that is to say, reflects a greater light upon the world, because “The Son of INTRODUCTORY. 9 Righteousness” has actually “arisen with healing in His wings.” But this progress of revelation cannot be ex- plained, so far as the facts and incidents of it are con- cerned, by the working of natural laws alone. It is a natural law that revelation should be progressive, but. it is not a mere natural law which accounts for the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. It is a natural law that one people should be eminent above others for their religious faculty and attainments, but it is not by a natural law that we are able to explain the origin and history of the Jewish nation, and the wonderful writings which they have handed down to the nations of the earth. The Apostle Paul uses the word “mystery,” “hidden from ages and generations,” and at last revealed and published. The idea which is represented in the word “mystery” is that of a treasure of knowledge laid up in secret and partially communicated from time to time, until the treasure-house is at last widely opened, and the whole immeasurable riches are distributed through the world. Behind the partial revelations of the Old Testament there is the fulness of grace waiting to be opened. “ Without us,’ that is, apart from the opened fulness of the Gospel, the revela- tions of the Old Testament were not complete; the believers, true believers as they were, were yet “not made perfect,’ because the object of their faith was not fully revealed. The progress in revelation was not the progress of ac- cumulated human faculty, but of dispensation. As the education of the race progressed, the Divine dispensations of Truth and Mercy advanced. The progress, no doubt, was In a sense reciprocal. The successive bestowments of 10 VOX. DEL Truth prepared a people of the Lord for successive en- largements of the gift. The reservations of the Divine procedure are not grudgings of caprice or inflictions of judgment. They are simply merciful accommodations to the law of human life and development. As we withhold from our children that which they are unfitted by their age to receive, so God withholds in the childhood of the world that which He subsequently bestows freely and fully to the full-grown race, when “the fulness of times” had come, in which the main principles of human life and culture were sufficiently matured to form a soil into which the seed of Divine light could be cast. This dispensa- tional progress of revelation is, however, quite a different thing from what is being advanced as a theory by many, who seem to make it their aim to separate the Bible as little as possible from the literature of the world. It is admitted by all that, speaking broadly, there has been a continuous progress in intellectual and moral enlighten- ment in the history of mankind, though it must be acknowledged that this general continuity is consistent with vast differences of time and place; but looking at the facts brought before us in the Bible, those which culminated in the Incarnation of the Son of God, and those which flowed forth from that centre over the world in the propagation of Christianity, we hold that the revelation thus specialised is entirely different from any- thing else to be observed in the history of mankind. It may please our modern philosophical speculators to group many religions round Christianity, and ally them to one another by resemblances and by laws traceable in their INTRODUCTORY. We development; but the one conspicuous contrast between the revelation of the Bible and all others deprives all such reasoning of its supposed importance, and shows that it is ttle better than philosophical dilettanteism. The golden thread which binds together all the books of the Bible and makes them one is the central fact of Chris- tianity, which goes back to the first page of Genesis, just as it goes forward to the last page of the Apocalypse—“ God manifest in the flesh.” All the Bible is built upon the Incarnation, therefore it is essentially a Divine structure. It cannot be said of any other sacred book or of any other so-called religion in the world that a Divine fact hes at its foundation. Take away Christ out of the Scriptures ; not only have you taken away their chief value, but you have reduced them from the level of a Divine revelation to a mere collection of Jewish sayings and records, the greater part of which becomes meaningless and obscure. But read into them the great interpreting fact which stands forth in their centre, and then they are lifted up from the level of mere national literature to the height of a Divine progressive dispensation of inexhaustible, un- searchable riches,—“ Oracles of Godwethe Light of Heaven, shining at times dimly and in dark places, but at last high up in the zenith of the world’s noontide,—* the Light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world.” This doctrine of dispensations is supposed by some to be inconsistent with a true philosophy of human nature. The consciousness of man is represented by these objectors as containing implicitly all that can ever be communicated to it, so that revelation is only the progressive awakening 12 VOX DET. of man to the knowledge of himself. The Platonic doc- trine of reminiscence has been revived by the school of Christian Pantheists. We are represented as “ trailing clouds of glory” from a pre-existing state, bringing into the world with us that which the facts and experiences of life gradually call into distinct consciousness, like a sleeper recovering his knowledge of the real world about him by a process of recognition, as the clouds of sleep pass away. Clothed in poetical language, such represen- tations may be harmless, but they are worthless as Philo- sophy. When we speak of the human mind, we use a general term, which takes up into itself the whole history of the race and every individual. No doubt there is an expansion of faculty which may be boundless in the depths of eternity; but the facts seem to say that reve- lation and the capacity to receive revelation advance together and by reciprocal action; therefore, instead of man being able to develop all truth out of his own con- sciousness, it would be better to say that consciousness itself is developed chiefly by means of the communications made from without. Ideally, man has all knowledge in himself, but actually his nature is progressive; there- fore revelation as a fact is in perfect accordance with the Jaw of human growth. God has created us to hold fellow- ship with Himself. As we are more divine, we are more human. And He who was the Son of God was also the Son of Man. Perfect human nature is only realised in Him, who was not a mere link in the long chain of the human race, but the second Adam, the Lord from heaven at once the Revealer and the Revealed. INTRODUCTORY. 13 The unity of revelation, then, is not a unity of coher- ence and mere temporal continuity, but a unity of nature, of constitution, of essence. One grand idea and purpose underlies the whole body of the Scriptures. When we study the Old Testament and the New Testament side by side and in their mutual relation, we behold the Truth of God in its completeness. If we inquire what is the doctrine of the Spirit in the Bible, we take it for granted that there is one doctrine of the Spirit pervading the whole revelation. The light which is a dawning light in Genesis is a noonday light in the Gospel. But it is the same Light of day, the day of Jesus Christ. There 1s much to be learned by looking at the morning sky, though until the sun has risen we cannot fully understand it. There are clouds on the horizon, but they are illuminated clouds. Patient, believing study of the Old Testament is one of the great requirements of the present day. Those who see God everywhere the same God of Light, in whom is no darkness at all, will not confound the darkness of the age and the men in which and through whom the re- velation was made with the revelation itself. The scientist studies the single ray of light that he may know what light is; we may study partial and individual revelations of Divine Truth that we may the better know the fulness of God made manifest. At the same time, it is right to acknowledge that such a view of revelation may be abused, and has been wrongly employed in many instances. To take ancient language and simply read into it modern ideas; to crowd into the narrow channels of the upper highlands of human history all the copious abundance 14, VOX DEI. of subsequent knowledge and thought, is not to confirm truth, but to confuse it. Let the small threads of truth be threads still, but let us view them in their relation to one another and in their common direction, in their har- mony and in their onward course; so we shall the better understand the mighty river of Divine Grace which rolls along the plain, to which all families of the earth are invited, that they may freely take of the water of life flowing, with whatever diversity of manifestation, “from the Throne of God and of the Lamb.” It will be evident that such a subject as that which is treated in this work may be approached from different sides, as, eg., from the side of the human consciousness itself and therefore in view of philosophical deter- minations and phraseology ; or from the side of Reve- lation and the testimony of the Spirit in the Church and in the world, and therefore in view of Scripture language and the traditional beliefs of the people of God. No light should be rejected, from whatever source it may come, when we are simply seeking the Truth. But it is not possible to do justice to the metaphysical side of such a doctrine as that of the Spirit without entering upon dis- cussions which would be unsuitable to these pages. It may, however, be observed that among those who study the changes and movements of theological thought the most attentively, there is a growing conviction that what- ever the settlement may be which time shall bring when the controversies of the present have passed by, the secu- rity and permanence of that settlement must be that the whole of our theological belief shall be made to rest INTRODUCTORY. 15 upon the Divine Personality. The work of the Saviour can never be rightly understood except as the Person of the Saviour is clearly seen in its glory as Divine. No doctrine of Atonement will be formulated satisfying the language of Scripture and responding to the consciousness of the universal Christian Church, except on the ground of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a hopeful sign of progress in these latter days, amidst much that is discouraging, that so much thought is being directed to the Person of the Mediator. The Gospels have never been more profoundly studied; the Humanity of Christ has never been more reverently contemplated ; the unique- ness of His life and character has never been more widely acknowledged. But there is a cloud still hanging about the Personality of the Redeemer in many minds; and we are waiting for the Voice to speak out of the cloud yet more loudly and decisively, “'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Many professed be- lievers in Christ have no settled, clearly thought-out belief on the subject of the Lord’s Divinity. They are satisfied with a profound reverence for His superhuman goodness and unlimited inspiration. God was in Him and worked through Him, as in and through no other human being from the beginning of the world. Reason can go no farther. Faith requires no exacter definition of His Personality. But with so much mist round the greatest fact of our religion, how is it possible that such doctrines as that of the Atonement and the whole media- torial relation of Christ to His Church should be lifted out of the region of controversy and rejoiced in as shining 16 ee ha ei ath truths of God, lighting up our way to heaven? At pre- sent, it is the common course to put all such subjects aside as simply inscrutable, and content ourselves with what is called practical Christianity ; a great deal of which may consist, at least for a time, with a great deal of doubt upon essential truths, with an indifference to them which sometimes prepares the way for their rejection. Is it not a fact that there are multitudes of Christians who simply shrug their shoulders when such subjects are mentioned, and contentedly acknowledge that they are not theological, and therefore have no definite beliefs, except as they repeat familiar words of a creed and have no intention of renouncing them? Surely the remedy for this unsatis- factory state of our minds is not ignoring such subjects, but endeavouring to look at them from every possible point of view. Some are unfitted for a logical treatment of any question, who can yet be drawn closer to the truth by devout and contemplative meditation upon it. Some who would be repelled by discussion would be attracted by exposition of the Scripture. Some who would attach no ideas to philosophical language would yet feel the force of words in which the Spirit of God speaks to them. Such a doctrine as the Deity of Christ must be capable of being placed before us in many lights, and, amongst others, in the light of spiritual experience. Out of the depths of a believing heart there will come forth a testimony to the glorious supremacy of the Saviour. By all methods and in all varieties of representation, it must be the work of the Christian Church at the present time to convince the world that Jesus is the Son of God. And as that INTRODUCTORY. 17 work is accomplished, faith itself will be revived and exalted. “Other foundation,’ for the restoration of Chris- tendom and the salvation of mankind, “can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” He is the Temple of God. The “lively stones” are built up in Him. By the indwelling of His Divinity in His people will they be a “spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiri- tual sacrifice, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Now what is true of the Divine Personality of the Saviour is equally true of the Divine Personality of the Spirit. Both the faith and the language of Christians seem to betray a cloudiness of conception and a weakness of conviction on the whole subject of the person and work of the Holy Ghost. It is not, perhaps, possible to dispense with such terms as “ influence,’ “outpouring,” “motions of the Spirit,’ “ manifestations,” “inspirations,” and many others like them. They have become so familiar in religious phraseology, that they may be re- garded as part of the current speech of Christendom. But it can scarcely be doubted that if the personality of the Holy Ghost were more vividly and more constantly in our thoughts, such terms would be more sparingly used, and we should speak to one another of the work of the Spirit much more as the realisation of a personal pre- sence and activity. Take, for example, such an illustration as may be seen in a time of awakened desire and prayer for the revival of religion. Having poured out very fervent and united petitions for Divine influences to be sent, the Church looks for signs of something which is B 18 Niet Dio supposed to be communicated like a shower of rain upon the thirsty earth, or like the breaking through of the sunshine upon a cloudy day, or like the pouring in of a quickening and stimulating fluid into a drooping and fainting animal life. But if we believe that the Holy Ghost is a Divine Person, living with us and in us, working from within the centre of our being out- wards upon our life and upon the life of the world, will not both our prayers and our expectations be different ? If we are desiring to obtain the influence and help of a personal friend, what is the course we pursue? Are we contented to put our desires in writing and then wait for the answer? The more intimate our relations with a person, the less satisfied we are with mere conventional methods of intercourse, and the less we depend upon any one channel of communication. We may use writing, we may indicate to our friend the direct means by which his love may express itself; but, generally speaking, the deeper and more vital the union between us, the more we shall depend upon the love itself, and the less upon these times and seasons and signs and methods. Personal union with the Holy Spirit of God carries with it everything. Is He dwelling with me and in me? Then what is there which can be wanting in the working out of my lie? The gifts are in the Person; the stirring up of those gifts in ourselves is the realisation of the personal presence. Was not this the solution of that enigma which seemed to be in the Saviour’s farewell words to His first disciples, “Tt is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not INTRODUCTORY. 19 away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I de- part, I will send Him unto you” (John xvi. 7)? The bodily presence and the humiliation of the Saviour were as a veil upon the eyes of the disciples. The death, resur- rection, and glorification of Jesus brought them into a heavenly state of mind, in which they were much nearer to the real Christ than they were before. By that change wrought upon their faith it became more spiritual, more exalted; their fellowship with the risen Saviour was a deeper and more living fellowship, and that was the pre- sence in them and with them of the Divine Spirit. Was not their consciousness of new power, of new wisdom, of new light and hfe, both for themselves and for the world, their consciousness of a Personal Being in whom they lived and moved? It is not enough to say influ- ence was poured out on them; it is not enough to say gifts were bestowed on them; it is not enough to say miracles were wrought in them and through them. The one great distinguishing fact of that apostolic history is this, the men themselves were “full of the Holy Ghost,” v.e., were vividly conscious that they were inspired, that God the Spirit was dwelling and working in them. If the Church of Christ at this present time will take to itself afresh the doctrine of the Personality of the Holy Ghost, will worship and adore, and love and seek and trust and serve Him who is the Spirit of Truth and Life, there will be the same glorious testimony given to His presence and power. It is with such a conviction that these pages have been written. Mere theological treat- 20 VOX DEI. ment of such a subject is of little value. But to ask again, “What saith the Scripture?” What saith the Spirit of God Himself in the churches # may be to quicken faith and disperse some of the clouds which hide from us the face of God. CHAPTER II. OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT PREVIOUS TO THE TIME OF SAMUEL. THE testimony of the Scriptures to the personality and work of the Holy Ghost naturally divides itself into that which preceded the Advent of the Saviour and that which followed it. This, however, is the testimony of writings which, in their two groups of the Old Testament and the New Testament, are separated from one another by an interval of about four hundred and fifty years. The period which intervened between the last of the prophets, Malachi, and the first of the writings of the New Testament is not without its value as bearing witness, in the remains of Jewish literature which have come down to us, to a sur- viving faith amongst God’s ancient people in some of the teachings of the Old Testament on the doctrine of the Spirit. This testimony from the ages which were not marked by any acknowledged revelations will be consi- dered and described in its proper place. The canonical books of the Old Testament carry us back to an immense antiquity ; for the earlier writings, to say nothing of the Book of Job, certainly represent a traditional doctrine which the lawgiver Moses received from his fathers, and of which it is impossible to determine the original source 22 VOX DEI. _ so far as the human medium 1s concerned. The revela- tions which are represented in the Jewish Scriptures from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Malachi certainly extended over two thousand years—possibly over a much longer period. They run side by side with the whole length of the stream of human history down to the great epoch when the Eastern and Western worlds came into collision, and the power of the Persian Empire began to break itself against the intellectual and moral might of Yreece, the opening of a new era in the history of man- kind. The thirty-nine books which now form our Old Testa- ment were grouped by the Jewish scribes under the three main divisions of The Law, The Prophets, and The Hagio- grapha; but this was for the purpose of exalting the study of the Pentateuch, the Torah or Law being regarded as the substance of Divine truth and commandment; the writings of the prophets and all other writings in the Canon being held as subsidiary, and given by God for the purpose of explaining and enforcing the teaching of the Law. All were inspired; but while the same Divine autho- rity attached to all Scripture, the scribes taught that some Scriptures were prescriptive, others expository, there- fore the place of the books in respect to the reader was higher or lower according to the nature of them, though all were within the sacred boundary of Scripture—all were holy writings. But the important fact which appears in these Jewish books is that they are identified with a con- tinuous, progressive revelation, the stages of which we shall be able with some degree of confidence to indicate. There e ee . = OOO q OE OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. mS: are two broad lines at least which mark off these writings into separate divisions. First, there is the remarkable change which was brought about through the agency of Samuel, who was at the same time an inspired prophet of God and a very powerful ruler. He instituted colleges for the study of Scripture and the cultivation of prophetic gifts, and therefore may be said to have commenced the line of prophets. The revelations which were given pre- vious to his time may be therefore regarded as in some measure distinguished from those which commenced from his day. Another broad line of distinction comes in with the commencement of written prophecy. From the time of Joel, about 800 years B.c., to the close of the Canon, we connect the history of Judah and Israel with prophets who were specially commissioned of God, some to one kingdom, and some to both kingdoms; and their prophecies being preserved to us, enable us to study the doctrine of the Spirit as it was revealed to the people of Palestine during some four hundred years, and in close relation to events of the greatest magnitude in the Divine dealings both with the Jews and surrounding nations. While there is no difference, as we maintain, in the doctrine of the Spirit which is taught all through this long series of books, it will help us much in the study of them if we make the division thus indicated, and consider, first, the revelations of the Old Testament previous to the time of Samuel. The eight books which precede the First Book of Samuel, ie, the Pentateuch, together with Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, represent a very great length of time 24, VOX DEL. and diversity of Divine dispensations. We readily dis- tinguish in them the simplicity and breadth of the patriarchal revelations, the distinct and positive declara- tions and enactments of the Mosaic system; and then, subsequently, the records of a period of several centuries in length, when, in the rude and unsettled state of a pro- longed struggle with the heathen inhabitants of Palestine, religious observances were in confusion, and Divine com- munications were of a special and individual character. Ag dispensations, these three periods may be said to be progressive ; but it must be carefully observed that while they represent a continuous Divine teaching, they differ widely from one another, both in the amount of light which shines in them and in the manner in which it is given. When we compare the revelations given to the Patriarchs with those embodied in the whole ministry and legislation of Moses, the contrast is very striking. The Book of Genesis is like a great mountain country lying out before us, with its heights and its depths, its bright clear sky-piercing facts, and its mists and shadows hiding much from our view. But the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are like the description of a populated land, with its cities and well-ordered affairs. While here and there is a startling fact, a burst of Divine light throwing a supernatural glory over the whole, still the greater part of the books is in the nature of positive statement and command. And yet we recognise the re- yelations of Genesis carried forward into the systematic and orderly language of the great Legislator. When the military period commences, and the Law, as law, is in the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 25 background, there are again, as in the patriarchal ages, wonderful facts, wonderful men, scattered and broken lights in many places. But it is not difficult to find, even in the disturbed and confused time of the Judges, that the people look back upon the dispensation of the Law, and look forward to a future development of the Divine purposes of grace for those who are being settled in the Land of the Covenant. This separation of the books before Samuel into three divisions is of great im- portance in studying the doctrine of the Spirit. The ministry of Moses brings out for the first time into dis- tinct prominence the conception of Law, and, therefore, of the Spirit of God embodied in an inspired Ruler. The germs of such ideas we can discover in Genesis; but they are before us in utmost clearness and fulness in the con- secration and appointment of Moses. He is face to face with Jehovah. His whole legislation is given to the people under the formula, “ And the Lord said wnto Moses.” Inspiration, therefore, appears in the Mosaic legislation in a much more regular and expressed form. We see that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of order and life, working through the whole body of the nation, and through the whole manifold variety of human action and relationship. This revelation of God as the God of His people, in their settled state as a people, stands between the two very different records—that of the ages during which there was no national life filled with the Spirit, and that in which, preparatory toa long dispensation of Divine messengers and special spiritual communications, there was a fragmentary and scattered dispensation of remarkable signs and revela- 26 VOX DEI. tions, through the clouds and smoke of great military struggles, and by means of extraordinary individuals. Each of these periods is full of instruction on the subject of the Spirit. We will now look more closely into the nature of each in succession. Now, taking the Book of Genesis into our hands, and supposing it to be the only sacred book we possessed, we should certainly have no difficulty in putting together from its pages a very decided doctrine of the Spirit. The men who are brought before us are not ordinary men, they are full of the Holy Ghost. It is again and again declared that God spake to them, that He gave them commandments, directions, and promises. He walked with them, and they with Him. Moreover, the language of the first part of the book, which deals with the earliest facts of the human existence on this earth, if we cannot say that it is poetry, is yet like the utterance of one inspired. Here and there, and especially at the end of the book, in the dying prophecy of Jacob, we have similar language employed to that which subsequently was distinctly ascribed to a special Divine afflatus, to the work of the Spirit of God. And still further, from the time of Abraham downward, we are led to think of a family, separated from the mass of the world, specially taught, and handing down from one generation to another a tradition of Divine Truth, what the Apostle Paul has called “the oracles of God.” It is true that the personality of the Spirit of God is not as distinctly recognised as in the New Testa- ment, nor indeed as in some other parts of the Old Testa- ment; but the God of Genesis is certainly a triune God, OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. oT and the use of the term Spirit is not such as would be compatible with any other view than that of the Christian Church, though not formally the same. Let us consider carefully the language in its connection. The first page of the Bible is the Word of God put ito relation with the universe as a natural universe, with a natural order, in which man holds a place. The first two verses are a simple introduction to what follows. From verse 3 to verse 31 the Word of God is represented as over against the facts of Nature, as a commanding and formative Word. The evident intention of this form of language is to bring before us the close and perfect corre- spondence between what the universe reveals to us by its external appearance and constitutive facts and what was in the mind and will of God. “And God said.” “And it was so.’ “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good.” Looking back, therefore, from the close of the chapter to the opening words, it is evident that the introductory verses must be taken in harmony with the whole statement, as placing the Divine Being over against the universe as a whole, so that the general meaning of the first two verses is that heaven and earth reflect the mind and will of God. “Jn the beginnong God created the heaven and the earth” —the whole sphere of things, those above and those below, which is a natural Jewish form of speech for the total realm of existence. The idea conveyed by the term “created” 1s not different from that afterwards expressed by the word rendered “made,” or “formed.” There is no intended philosophy in 28 VOX? DET. the language. It is not a technical word which is used, and it is not a theory of the origin of the universe which is set forth. But the writer evidently wishes to convey this thought: heaven and earth came into existence in the be- ginning, because God was eternally before them, and they were willed by Him. Then immediately occurs to him the fact that both in heaven above and in the earth beneath, as we now know them, there is fulness of existence, and there is steadfast order and progress in development. But this manifoldness and steadfastness of the universe is as truly the work of God as its first appearance. “ Emptiness, 2 and desolation, and darkness” are the three words which are employed to represent the fact that while there is light, and abundance of force, and steadfast development and order manifest now in the earth; still these are results obtained; they have come forth out of previous states which might be said to exist at periods. “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The ordinary historical form of the sub- stantive verb is used, because the writer is referring to Jacts, to What can be said to be on the visible earth and in tume. God Himself, by His power and wisdom, and as the result of His direct voluntary action on visible things, brought forth the order we see—the light, the day, the night, the sky, the ocean, the seasons, and the inhabi- tants of earth, in all their boundless variety and wonder- ful arrangements. What, then, is the exact meaning to be attributed to the second verse—‘ And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”? It must be admitted that the word rendered “Spirit” does literally mean OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 29 “wind” or “breath;” and, moreover, that at first it might seem to point to a natural fact or force, parallel with the “darkness” and “light” spoken of in close con- nection with it. Some would then explain the second verse as describing a natural process, a “wind of God,” meaning that a mighty and powerful movement of the atmosphere was upon the face of the waters of the ocean. But this is rendered highly improbable by the remarkable word “ merachepheth,’ which may be translated “ brooding,” a feminine form of the participle, and certainly inapplicable to a mere physical fact except by a very startling metaphor. While admitting the possibility of this merely natural- istic interpretation, there are two considerations which put it aside —first, that the term “Spirit of God,” with exactly the same word, “ Muach,” wind or breath, is em- ployed in the Book of Genesis and throughout the Old Testament with a personal meaning quite decided and unmistakable, as, eg., vi. 3, “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh,’ and xli. 38, “A man in whom the Spirit of God is.” And secondly, it is better to take the second verse in connection with the third; the Spirit of God was brooding on the face of the waters, and God said, “ Let there be hght,’—by which we are led to think of the Word of God as coming forth from His Spirit, which corresponds with the exact force of the language. The breath of God is brooding over creation, and that breath of God takes the shape of a direct command, becomes an external force and fact. “Let there be hght, and there was light.” The name of God is a plural word, 30 VOX) DEL and the verb which is connected with the formation of man, ver. 26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” seems to imply a union in the creation of the highest creature on the earth of the perfect fulness of the Divine Personality, as though there were conference and counsel in the Creator Himself. The whole chapter con- veys the thought of the Original Source of all being revealing Himself in the universe as Spirit, as Word, and as Fact; therefore the name, “Hlohim,’ with a singular verb throughout, certainly implies unity in plurality, and plurality in unity. It is no proper objec- tion to this view to say the plural is the plural of excel- lence or majesty. Why is it reverence that dictates the use of the plural when we speak of the greatest Being? Is it not because the mind of man instinctively regards the plural as higher in meaning than the singular, and that because as we rise in thought from the lowest objects of the material world to those of the rational and moral universe, we rise from the idea of mere dead indi- viduality to that of consciousness, of personality, of the many-one and the one-many, which will not allow us to speak of God as though He were a mere objective unity ? We can only call Him by a name which is compre- hensive and glorious. However true it is that the formal theological doctrine of the Trinity was not before the mind of the writer of Genesis, it is yet manifest that he thought of the Divine Being as a manifold personality, who is “before all things and in whom all things con- sist,’ who is God the Beginning, God the Spirit, and God the Word. Some of the heathen cosmogonies resemble a OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. ol Genesis, and even contain similar references to the brood- ing Spirit of God; but they may be the result of primeval traditions, and therefore may preserve elements of a Divine revelation in them; and if not, they testify to the corre- spondence between the Biblical teaching and the funda- mental instincts and strivings of the human mind. No one could have written the first chapter of Genesis without a purifying and elevating influence from God. It is incompar- ably superior to anything the heathen world has to show. It harmonises with the whole Book of Revelation and forms a fitting introduction toit. The impression which is left upon us by the whole of the language which is employed about God in the Bible is that God is greater than the universe, and therefore He is not, as the physical Pantheist would say, the Universe itself taken as a whole and personified. And yet, while He is greater than the universe, He is not, as heathen philosophers said, separated from it and in- different to its life. He is above it and yet in it; He is over it as a father over his child, ruling and yet cherish- ing it, commanding His intelligent creatures, and yet tak- ing them, as He took Israel, into covenant and fellowship with Himself. We cannot reconcile such a view of God and His relations to the universe with any other language than that which speaks of Him as Spirit. “ God is Spirit "— that is the conclusion we draw from every page of Genesis, as well as from the use of the word “Spirit” itself. The German thinkers have very rightly distinguished three powers of being: first, absolute or abstract being ; secondly, individual being, such as we are accustomed to attribute to external single objects; and thirdly, self-conscious being, Be VOX en such as man knows himself to be. Certainly the intention of the Bible was not to represent God as a mere abstrac- tion, nor as a mere “eidolon” like the heathen deity, a something which can be set up before us in its separate individuality, but as the original of our own self-conscious personality, spiritual being. The anthropomorphism of the Old Testament is not accommodation of the Divine to the human; it springs from a deep instinctive faith in the truth of the Scripture representation that Man was made in the image and likeness of God; therefore the culmination of the Scripture is in the fact of the Incar- nation. He into whom God breathed the breath of hfe lives a life like God’s, and both his body and his soul are a habitation of God through the Spirit. Passing on to the story of Eden and the Fall, we are immediately arrested by the change of the name of God. When the creation of man is the subject, the Divine Personality is represented by the single word Elohim; but when the state of man, his relations to other creatures, » his position as the head of a race, and as holding inter- eourse with God, his moral and spiritual nature, are dealt with in the facts of the story, then the single name Elohim becomes the double name Jehovah-Elohim. There is no necessity to discuss the questions of modern criticism as to the incorporation in the Book of Genesis of several ancient writings of different dates with different names of God in use in them. Whether such theories be main- tained or not, it is reasonable to hold that the special form of the Divine name harmonises with the matter of the writing in which it is found. The name Jehovah is OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION, $3 undoubtedly more identified with the history of the Hebrew people, and therefore with the facts of redemption, than the name Elohim; therefore we may rightly conclude that the two names are together in the account of Eden and the Fall, because the subsequent revelations of the Jewish Scriptures may be said to be the unfolding of what is seen in germ and commencement in the second and third chapters of Genesis. Jehovah is the God of covenant, the God whose law was given to Moses, and whose promises were distinctly placed upon the founda- tion of His own faithfulness. The name Jehovah, which is closely connected with the substantive verb in Hebrew “to be,” and is explained in Exod. 11, 14 as meaning “ [ am that I am,’ that is, the faithful and unchangeable God, who enters into covenant with His people, is the most appropriate name in a narrative which tells us of the love which prepared a garden of delight for man’s resi- dence, of the righteousness and truth which gave com- mandments, threatenings, and promises, of the mercy which spared the lives of the fallen creatures in the midst of judgment, and which refounded the life of humanity after the Fall on the basis of Law and Promise, and therefore made it a life of faith and obedience in the expectation of a Redeemer. The relation between God and man is therefore spiritual. God acts towards man as a Spirit dealing with a spiritual being. Even in the simple fact that the creatures round about Adam were distinguished by him with appropriate names we are able to recognise the commencement of a series of inspirations which are described with more and C 834 VOX DEI. more fulness in the Scriptures. God brought the beast of the field and the fowl of the air to the man to see what he would call them; “and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” A simple, Eastern, and primitive representation of the fact that names proceed from the spirit of man, and are given as that spirit of man is led by the Spirit of God. So Elihu said to Job (xxxii. 8), “There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” The voice of Jehovah Elohim is heard by the man and his wife “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (in the wind, or spirit, or breath of the day), that is, the breath, or voice, of the day was to them the voice of God; they heard the sound of the wind as the sound of One who was calling to them. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto hin, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden” (vers. 8,9, 10). This is not the mere naturalistic account of man’s position among creatures ; it is altogether on a higher level—man in the position of one who walks with God, and talks with God, and God with him. This can only be explained by what follows in the Scriptures; therefore it is evident, whoever wrote the story of Eden and the Fall, wrote it from the standpoint of inspiration. Man is a harp on which the breath of God can play; he responds to the Divine touch; he himself is as a god, knowing good and evil. If we cannot say that this is a direct revelation of the Spirit, it is at least introductory to such a revelation. _ In the fourth chapter of Genesis, when the story of the human race is continued, apparently with distinct refer- OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Ou ence to the Fall, when the separation of the children of man becomes manifest into the good and the bad, the name Jehovah is employed almost alone (see ver. 25), and with marked emphasis; for in ver. 26 it is stated that as a name it was connected with man’s worship, or, as some would understand the passage, it was introduced into the names given to men, as a memorial of the Divine cove- nant: “ Zhen began men to call wpon the name of Jehovah.” Whether religious services are referred to, or the practice of calling men by names which embodied their faith, the connection of the words plainly indicates that Divine revelation and covenant are what is intended to be recorded. God appointed Seth in place of Abel, and the godly line went on to Enos; so the covenant of Jehovah was renewed and continued from generation to generation. It is only what we should expect to read, after this announcement, that the sin and misery of the race were not their destruc- tion, but, through the mercy of God, His name was still their trust; that in the line of Abel’s descendants one is singled out as especially inspired. “ And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah ; and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years; and Enoch walked with God ; and he was not, for God took him” (v. 21-24). We must interpret such words in the light of the whole book of Seripture. They point to the fact that thus early men were distinguished amongst their fellow-men for their direct intercourse with God and for their prophetic gifts. The hints which are given us are indeed but very brief 36 VOX DEI. and slight; but is it probable that such a judgment as the Flood would have been poured out upon the human race if it had not been preceded by a long course of reve- lations and warnings? Can we believe that the preaching of Noah would be an isolated fact in that ancient world ? May we not fairly conclude that such men as Enoch, Methu- selah, and Noah represent a line of inspired men and a succession of Divine communications, culminating in him whose name was Rest and Comfort because he would preach both Righteousness and Love, that is, would renew the covenant of mercy with Jehovah? God universally sends the Spirit of Truth and Life before He sends the Angel of Destruction. The antediluvian men were certainly appealed to in the name of the God of their fathers, the God of revelation and redemption. The fact that there was preaching and prophesying, and that men lived a life which was so heavenly that it was at last translated into the skies, spoke very distinctly of God the Spirit. We make a great mistake when we suppose that primitive world to have been given up entirely to wickedness and ignorance. Apart from the teaching of Scripture, the facts which we are able to discover in the early history of the religions of the world indicate a simplicity of manners and a purity of worship quite consistent with what seems to be implied in the account in Genesis. The description of the corrupt state of the earth in Gen. vi. 5-7 is not the description of semi-barbarous tribes who have fallen into natural degradation and misery ; it is the distinct condemnation of men as wicked, the thoughts of their hearts and their imaginations or OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. v7 purposes and desires only evil continually. It is only in the presence of a large amount of light that such a con- demnation could be justified ; for “ this 7s the condemnation” (this is the only ground on which men are ever con- demned), “that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil” (John ii. 19). This view of the antediluvian dispensa- tion is confirmed by what is distinctly said of the Spirit of God in chapter vi. 3, after the mention of sons of God who took wives to themselves of those who were not daughters of God in the highest sense, but only daughters of men: “And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also ws flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” It is true that this can be rendered, “ My breath shali not strive in man for ever,’ and might be taken to refer only to natural life and its continuance. But it must be remembered that it is introduced in connection with the story of Divine judgment in the Flood. It seems to refer to the prolonging of Divine forbearance to the men of that time, which, though it was so great, was yet in vain; for their wickedness became more defiant and unbearable. The period of probation shall yet be a long one—one hundred and twenty years; but before this change of human life is brought about, the great apocalypse of the Deluge must be set before men’s eyes, that they may see the way of Life and the way of Death. Ifa merely natu- ral fact were referred to in the words, “My Spirit shail not always strive in man,’ we should surely have had a different verb employed; for it is more strictly “shall not 30 VOR? DEL always judge.” This word is capable of several renderings, “dwell” (as in the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum Onkelos), or “be humbled,” z.e., by dwelling in man, or “rule by judging,’ which is the rendering of many of the highest commentators; but the context suggests that God is angry with man, therefore a mere physical fact cannot be all that is intended, although that is in- cluded in the language. If the “Spirit of God” meant no more than physical life, it would not be spoken of as so distinctly personal. “ My Spirit striving” in “ man.” The description of the great Teacher of that time, the Comforter, is quite in accordance with the view that spiri- tual life is intended. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” “Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God.” “ With thee will I establish my covenant.” “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” “Thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.” Surely such words describe a man who is separated from the cor- _rupt world and saved, not because he was different in him- self from the rest of the children of men, but because he was inspired ; he was the subject of Divine grace ; he com- muned with the Spirit of God. It was “by faith” that these “elders” before the Flood “ obtained a good report.” It was a faith which rested on a declared promise, on the Word of God, in which they lived and died. “ By faith”: (that is, by believing what God said) “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts; and through it he OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 39 being dead yet speaketh. By faith Imoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, be- cause God translated him; for before his translation he hath had witness borne to him that he had been well- pleasing unto God. And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him; for he that cometh unto God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him. By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Heb. x1. 4-7.) How is it possible to read such a description of the faith of antediluvians and doubt that the dispensa- tion under which they lived, however elementary, was yet a dispensation of the Spirit? God was even then speaking to and by men “moved by the Holy Ghost.” The leading characteristic of the whole narrative of the Flood is the believing man and his family acting upon Divine directions and promises, and as a result saved in the midst of outpoured judgments. The ark was made according to the Divine word; all its particulars and arrangements were Divine. And it is the climax of this story in which the climax of revelation is put before us, in the beginning of the new world (viii. 16-xi. 32). The name of Jehovah is identified with the covenant made with Noah and his descendants. The sacrifice with which the new world is inaugurated and sanctified is a very diffe- rent sacrifice from that offered by either Cain or Abel. The distinction of clean and unclean beasts is distinctly com- 4.0 VOX. DEI. manded. The offerings are burnt-offerings. The sweet savour of the incense seems to be implied, or at least fore- shadowed, and the covenant is renewed with mingled commandments and promises, imprecations and _bless- ings. The bow in the cloud symbolises the union of Nature with man; and the blessing and curse on the families which proceeded out of the ark, with the follow- ing table of generations representing the spread of the new humanity under the new conditions, all set forth a dispensation in advance of any dispensation which pre- ceded. Assuredly such a dispensation, in which God deals with the bounds of men’s habitations, their occupa- tions, their relations to one another, their habits, their religion, and their language, cannot be understood at all, unless we include in it the work of the Spirit. When we lft our eyes from the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures, and fix them upon the records of the ancient world previous to the time of Abraham, upon China, upon Egypt, upon Assyria, upon the few fragments which remain to us of the scattered nations which migrated from the north-east of Asia in a continued stream to the south and west, we are compelled to believe that there must have been either a wonderful richness of Divine communications bestowed on those ancient people, or an incalculable period of time must have elapsed before Abraham was called out of the midst of the Chaldeans. The favourite theory with some is that the human race slowly developed a high degree of intellectual and religious knowledge, and then lost it again by corruption. But such a theory is inconsistent with itself; for if the attainments OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Al were the unfolding of native faculties by slow advances, why should the corruption take place? If the moral evil be simply natural evil, why is not natural advance- ment a preservation against 1t? Surely a much more rational and consistent view is that which sees in the primitive condition of man what the Bible describes as a high religious life, a life of contemplation and worship, promoting the intellectual advancement in certain direc- tions, but not in others. “The entrance of Thy Word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.” Ex- perience shows to us that deeply religious men have a wisdom of their own, which, while it is not the wisdom of this world, is still an enlightenment of the natural faculties and elevation of the man himself. In the case of the Egyptians, we have evidence of great simplicity and com- parative purity with great devoutness and a highly reli- gious temperament. The Egyptian intellect may not have been at all comparable with that of the modern European in power to penetrate the laws of the universe and study the facts of the world, but it was certainly, among the trained minds of the priests and educated classes, wonderfully profound and philosophical. There seems some reason to believe that the speculations of modern thinkers were almost all anticipated both in India and in Egypt. Whence came this early development of mental force but from the religious stimulus, derived from the manifold traditions of the nations? It is impossible to pursue this subject further in this place. It has been dealt with by many writers during recent years, and was a favourite theme in the Alexandrian school of Christian 42 VOX DEI. fathers. F. D. Maurice has made it the underlying thought of his profound and very suggestive “ History of Philosophy,” the earlier portions of which deserve much more attention than they have received from those who, while they may not accept Mr. Maurice’s theology, must always be thankful for the witness he bears in his writ- ings to the universal presence and energy of the Spirit of God. It is very remarkable that the Book of Genesis should say so little of the religious condition of the world from the time of Noah to the time of Abraham. We are left to infer that the Babel spirit was everywhere. The Babel of language is but a mere symbol of the Babel of thought. The Babel of thought is the result of a cor- rupted religion. Those who refuse to understand God soon become incapable of understanding one another. Religion is the basis upon which all true society is founded. When man lost his religion, he lost his true home and was scattered over the face of the earth. Hence we are led to conclude that while all religions which preceded that of the Hebrews were more or less derived from the religion of Noah, that is, from the patriarchal revelation, they became in no very long time so changed by the evil hearts and lives of men that they are not worth mention in the Bible. So it was, we know, in Persia, when the Magian superstitions corrupted the ancient Zendavesta. So it has been in every case. The light which is in man » soon becomes darkness, and then how great is that dark- ness ! _ Notwithstanding all that the critics say about the authorship of different parts of the Book of Genesis, it OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 48 cannot be denied that the narrative is continuous, and that the great epochs which can be recognised in it are introduced in the quietest possible manner. The migra- tion of the family of Terah is connected with the book of the generations of Shem. “Now these are the generations of Terah. . . . And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan ; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there” (xi. 27-31). There is nothing in this account of an ancient migration to indicate any special Divine agency at work in the family of Terah. The migration may have been caused by one of those movements among the nations which often in those days loosened many tribes from their places of settlement and set them on pilgrimage. History points to inroads upon the Chaldeans about that time which may account for the movement to the north-west of the Shemitic families referred to in Genesis. But, in the quietest possible way, with this tribal movement is con- nected a great religious epoch. “ Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thow shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” After this general statement of the covenant with the Patriarch we have particular mention of ap- pearances of Jehovah to him, and the rest of the Book 44, VOX DEI. of Genesis is occupied with the story of Abraham’s descendants. When we ask, therefore, what is included in the simple expression, “ And Jehovah said to Abram” ? Wwe must remember that the history is a summary of many years. While Abram was amongst the Chaldees in their sacred city of Ur (or Mugheir), he received, in some way not recorded, a series of Divine communications. As the Shemite family is distinctly identified in chap. ix. 26 with the worship of Jehovah, who is called there “the God of Shem,” we may reasonably assume that whatever com- munications were sent to Abram in Mesopotamia were immediately connected with the traditions handed down from Noah through the Shemite branch of his descendants. There would be a considerable amount of religious light, which we can easily imagine would in some instances be preserved by the grace of God to individuals, even amidst the corruption of the Chaldean worshippers. The ancestors of Abraham, we are told, worshipped idols, but that they might do while still retaining some of the traditions which came down from the Flood. Was Abram’s call a sudden, miraculous manifestation of the Divine, or was it the work of the Spirit of God, through years, it may be, and by various agencies? The general tone of the whole Book of Genesis would lead us to con- clude that while there were special appearances of God, there was also a continuous line of Divine revelation with which the special facts were connected. “ The Lord said,” points to the work of the Spirit. The election of Abram was not an isolated and arbitrary fact. None of God’s elections are so. When He elects, His will is the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 45 movement of His whole Divine nature towards an indivi- dual as being the elect of the Infinite Wisdom, the elect of the universal order, the elect of an unfolding purpose of perfect truth and love. A Divine call presupposes a Divine preparation, a Divine development, a Divine crisis. Therefore we may fairly include in the simple words of Genesis that which lies at the back of all such religious epochs—the continuous, progressive work of the Spirit of God. That the Patriarch was instructed so that he was able to recognise the grandeur of his mission as the founder of the kingdom of God afresh in the midst of the corruptions of heathenism, we cannot doubt from the solemn renewal of the Divine covenant with him, and the promise that through the religious traditions which he should hand on to his descendants all the families of the earth should be blessed. He would perfectly well understand that he was not only founding a nation, but that that nation was to be the receptacle and depositary of the religion he was being taught by the Spirit of God. It has been very justly observed by some writers that the germ of the Mosaic Law was given to Abraham. He knew that he was laying a foundation in which a great superstructure was afterwards to be built. Call him an Arab Sheik or what you will, he is the witness to special Divine communications, and therefore he is an organ of the Spirit of God. Not that Abraham is singled out in the narrative as the one only man of his age to whom God speaks and with whom He works. Far from it. The Book of Genesis rather reveals to us Divine working and speaking as common through the 46 VOX DEI. world. But there is a “chosen generation” in the d) earth. There are “oracles of God” committed to chosen men. There is a special revelation in the midst of general revelation. Hence we conclude that the idea of Jehovah, the God of salvation, the God of the chosen men in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed, is that of God the Spirit, God inspiring men, God speaking in their minds and hearts, God bestowing upon them words which they can lay up in their memory and hand on to their successors, and which can become their Scrip- tures which shall “make them wise unto salvation.” The history of Abraham is that of a man more and more inspired and more and more separated from the world by Divine communications. The fifteenth chapter sets him before us as a prophet, priest, and king, the type of all the inspired men of the future. In the seventeenth chapter he is the forerunner of Moses as the mediator of the covenant sealed by the rite of circumcision, and therefore of the full revelation given to Israel. Theo- phany after theophany is vouchsafed to this man. He is even permitted to entertain three mysterious visitants in his tent, to one of whom he addresses himself as to Jehovah, and in holy confidence in his own inspiration he pleads with the Divine Person for the doomed city of Sodom. Such dealings of God with man, however we connect them with the subsequent teachings of Scripture or the Divine nature, certainly. imply the very close fellowship of the human spirit with the Divine Spirit. Whatever we include in the term “prophet,” it cannot be denied that Abraham occupied the position of a prophet ; OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 4,7 that he had what we call direct intercourse with God; that he was able to put on record what God said to him as well as what he said to God; that he distinctly recognised the connection between the Word of God and the events of the world, and regulated his own life according to the Divine covenant, which was solemnly ratified between himself and his family. Dreams and visitations of God are recorded in the case of heathen kings and others who are brought into connection with the people of God. But these occasional Divine interposi- tions are not spoken of in the same manner as the com- munications, often very full and minutely related, which distinguished those who were organs of the Spirit of God. Thus we are prepared by the early records of the Book of Genesis for the subsequent dispensation, when the work of the Spirit takes the form of legislation and organised national life. In the account of Abraham’s trial in chapter xxi. it is remarkable that while the trial is sent in the name of Elohim, the deliverance is sent in the name of Jehovah. «And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh” (ver. 14). It was the angel of Jehovah who called to him out of heaven and renewed the covenant of blessing with him. It was in the name of Jehovah-Elohim that the Patriarch worshipped God at Beersheba, and it was with the altar of Jehovah as the centre of his little colony that he remained after the trial of his faith with Tsaac restored and pledged to him as the promised seed. “ Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things.” “He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth,” 7.2., not merely 48 VOX? DEI. God of the physical universe, but God of peoples, of families, of earthly relationships. We cannot reconcile such a worship with any kind of religion which falls short of that developed in Mosaism. In Mosaism the Spirit of God is clearly recognised. The whole narrative of Isaac’s marriage is full of the language of faith and dependence on the God of pro- vidence. “The thing proceedeth from Jehovah,” said Laban. Men who could so speak were not mere blind worshippers of an unknown God. They thought of Him as their friend and their fellowship with Him was inti- mate. How could it be so unless they believed that their own best impulses were from Him? He was the Life of their life. His Spirit taught and led them, and their happiness was in the harmony of earth and heaven. It is very evident that the religion which Isaac learned of his father looked both backward to the revelations of the past and forward to the fuller revelations of the future, for when Jehovah appeared to the father of the two boys Esau and Jacob among the Philistines, the promise of Divine support and blessing is renewed to him “ be- cause that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charges, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (xxvi. 5); and when he returned to Beersheba, where his father had dwelt, Jehovah appeared unto him as the God of his father Abraham, and said, “ Fear not, for J am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for My servant Abraham’s sake.” Even the people round re- cognised the continued blessing of Jehovah upon Isaae and his household. We may therefore take it for granted OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 49 that the same religion, with the same beliefs, went down from father to son. Isaac was not so distinguished a man as Abraham, but he seems to have had a contem- plative spirit, “going out into the field to meditate,” and was certainly under the influence of a prophetic inspira- tion when he pronounced his blessing on his sons. The lite of Jacob is more or less an inspired life throughout. He is an inspired dreamer; he is an in- spired pilgrim. At the ford Jabbok, where he acquires his new title of Prince, after his successful wrestle with the mysterious angel, he is both a man of prayer anda man of faith. Again, as his grandfather Abraham, the prophet, priest, and king in one. “I have seen God face to face,’ he said. He had entered, as it were, into the Holy of holies, and that not only on his own behalf, but on behalf of the two bands, which represent the whole Church of God, of which he was the high priest and ruler. The threefold character of the Patriarchs is very distinctly traceable through all the story. That threefold character of man the worshipper, what is it but the reflection on earth of the threefold personality of God—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? At Bethel, as we read in chapter xxxv., there is a very solemn renewal of Divine promises and reconsecration of the chosen spot. There can be no doubt that the record of Jacob’s consecration of Bethel is intended to forecast the future solemn worship of Israel at Jerusalem; for although the place chosen as a centre might change from time to time, the main thought is that worship was centralised and fixed, and that God approved that centralisation. D 50 MOX 7? DEL, Passing from Jacob to Joseph, we come into the pre- sence of a new class of facts. First we have the dreams of Joseph, which are prophetic dreams and plainly in- spired. Then we have the story of J oseph’s persecutions and deliverances, culminating in the supremacy of the — son of Jacob over Egypt. Jehovah is said to have been “with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man” (xxxIx 2) “The Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” Joseph could both dream and interpret dreams, and that when all the wise men and magicians of Egypt failed, as it was in Chaldea in the case of Daniel. “It is not in me,” Joseph said to Pharaoh ; “God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” “And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is¢?” Would such words have been put by the sacred writer into the mouth of the king of Egypt unless the doctrine of the Spirit had been clearly recognised at that time? The wisdom and prophetic power which Joseph manifested were regarded as due to an indwelling Spirit of God. So again in the whole of the intercourse between Joseph and his brethren, and the removal of Jacob with his household to Goshen, there is the threefold character of the representative man once more set forth. He is the prophet, as holding intercourse with Jehovah and revealing His secrets; he is the priest, as praying and interceding on behalf of his family and on behalf of Egypt; he is the king, for he 1s the virtual ruler of the world through his supremacy in a country which at that time was the leading country of the world. The close of the forty-eighth and the forty-ninth OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Bib chapters bring us into the midst of a most lofty inspira- tion in the dying words of Jacob. The blessings which came down from the earliest times in small mustard- seeds of prophetic language, sown in such hearts as Jacob’s, and in such wonderful experiences as his, must unfold themselves into a blossoming beauty of hope and predic- tion. In the twelve Patriarchs there are twelve branches on which the unfolded richness of the blessing might be distributed; and the dying words of Jacob are apocalyp- tic in their character. They symbolise the future deve- lopment of inspired prophecy. However we may fail to justify every interpretation which may be given to the words themselves, it is quite certain that they represent the transference of Jacob’s inheritance of blessing to his descendants. In time Israel is foreshadowed ; not the one imperfect Jacob, but the whole people of God, in whom and with whom He will dwell—who shall be represented once more in Him who was both Son and Lord, in whom the promises shall be all fulfilled, and in whom, as God mani- fest in the flesh, the threefold character of Israel shall be realised—prophecy, priesthood, and royalty. The Book of Exodus opens with a statement which reminds us at once that the remaining books of the Pen- tateuch are concerned with a nation rather than with a group of families. “The children of Israel” is the de- scription of the people, and they are said to have “waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them.” The national life of Israel is vividly described in the books of Moses—how it commenced, how it was ordered, how it was placed in Palestine in the sphere appointed Gg yo VOX DEI. for it by God. No attentive reader of these books can fail to see that they ascribe everything to direct Divine teaching. Moreover, whatever authority is attached to the laws and arrangements described is not an authority made by human devices or merit, but is freely given by God to His servants. The idea of spontaneous revelation of Himself underlies the whole Mosaic economy. And the call of Moses is essentially the same as the call of Abraham. The deliverance of the people out of Egypt is a sequel to the deliverance of the Patriarchs out of their distresses. It is still the same Divine voice which speaks, and the same Divine presence which is made manifest, and the same Divine inspiration which lifts up men from their merely natural position to be heroes and conquerors and legislators and rulers and artists. But while there is continuity there is progress. We pass from genesis (beginning) to development, from families to a nation, from a shepherd life to a legal system. The name and covenant of Jehovah underlies all. The difference be- tween Egyptian life and Hebrew life is not that the one was without religion and the other founded on religion, for the Egyptians were the most religious people of the ancient world; but the religion of Egypt was the pro- duct of man’s attempts to find out God and propitiate Him; the Hebrew religion was an embodiment of special Divine revelations. Hence the Hebrew national life was the outgrowth of fellowship with Jehovah. Inspiration, in the sense of direct Divine guidance and endowment, was the presupposition of the whole Mosaic economy. The Hebrew assumes that his nation is Divine in its % \ OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 53 origin, Divine in its constitution, Divine in its mission, and Divine in its destiny. “The nation is not a mere collection of families. It is a witness of a perpetual battle that is going on between order and disorder, right and wrong, the invisible God who is the Lord of man, and the visible things which are claiming lordship over him. The Israelite, the covenant servant of God, is to take part in this fight; he is to go forth as God’s instrument in putting down corruption and oppression. When he has a commission to destroy, he is to destroy. He is to hold the sacrifice of individual life a cheap thing, for the sake of asserting the right and the truth, which some have violated. Idolatry he looks upon as the cause of all strife and degradation. He is to hate it with perfect hatred” (F. D. Maurice). How is it possible to diffuse the Divine presence in this way through national life, avoiding at the same time the error of Pantheism, except by a doctrine of the Spirit essentially the same as the Christian? Exodus gives us God in war, God in life and death, God in laws and rites and national customs, God in songs and the varied gifts of the poet, God in the private life of the people, God in their assemblies, God in the tent and in the tabernacle, God in the great men with whom He spake, God in the multitude, going with them and dwelling in their midst as their Protector and King. This intermingling of the Divine and human is only intel- heible on the basis of a living communion between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. The Pantheist simply destroys personality both in God and man. He reduces all to a dead uniformity of the Absolute; in 5A VOX DEI. other words, he sees every finite object as amere ripple on the surface of the Infinite, therefore as having no indivi- duality. The result of Pantheism is fatalism. But there is no fatalism in the Bible. Everything is in the hands of God, and still man is free and responsible, and all things are working together for his good. Moreover, much as there is in the Law of Moses which was temporary and national, no one can study the Old Testament without re- cognising the distinction which is presented there between that which is Jewish and that which is human. The two tables of the Law contain some precepts which concern religious observances, but they mainly inculcate a spiri- tual obedience. The first and greatest of all the com- mandments is Love. The people were always taught that the heart itself is the true seat of God’s throne. Our Saviour simply proclaimed that which is the essence of the Old Testament when He said, “God is a Spirit, and they which worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John iv. 24). It will only be necessary to refer to a few of the instances occurring in the Pentateuch where the doctrine of the Spirit is taught; but as they are so very distinct and clear, it would be doing injustice to the subject to omit them. The whole of the account given in Exodus of the call of Moses and Aaron to their mission as deliverers of the children of Israel from Egypt (Exod. 11. 23—iv. 31) is full of significance. The people sigh and cry by reason of their bondage. God hearsand remembers His covenant. “And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had re- spect unto them” (took knowledge of them, 1. 25). The OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. a) prayers which went up from the afflicted people brought answers which the covenant God had promised. The doctrine of God which is included in such language is not a mere accommodation to human weakness; it 1s not mere anthropomorphism. It is the development of what is already to be found in the Book of Genesis. There is a distinct foundation on which the religion of the people rests. They are able in their trouble to plead before God the solemn engagements into which He entered with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. On that basis of covenant is built up the history of a Divine interposition on behalt of a people far from being in themselves worthy of such favours. The conception of a covenant involves that of fellowship between representative men and God. There is no such conception in Heathenism. We can derive the idea of Law, and therefore of Divine government, from Nature. We can conceive of intelligent creatures recognising their relation to their Creator as their Ruler without direct communications from Him. But when we rise to the thought of God and man pledged to one another in covenant, which is the clear teaching of the Book of Genesis, we have reached a conception which could never be obtained from the mere study of natural laws. A covenant is personal. Only personal beings can enter into such a relation with one another. The Creator impresses His laws upon the universe as a whole; but if He enters into covenant with any part of that universe, then it must be as Spirit with spirit, as a being willing freely and acting freely, and able to promise and perform promises with a being like Himself, free and able to enter 56 VOXSDET into an engagement for the future. Although we are not told how the religious life of the Israelites in Eeypt was maintained, it is the natural conclusion which we may draw from the whole narrative that God went on holding special intercourse with individuals, and through them with the people generally, generation after generation; so that the course of supernatural events rests upon a course of supernatural spiritual communications. There were many more inspired men and women besides those whose names are mentioned. There was a true Church of God in Israel which never died out. Moses himself eame forth from the midst of the house of Levi, from a family where God’s Spirit had been working for ages, and the special gifts and miraculous signs which were vouchsafed to the shepherd of Jethro’s flock were the working out of a long course of gracious spiritual dealings. We cannot rightly understand the theophanies which are described in the Old Testament unless we connect them with the doctrine of progressive revelation which is taught us there, The appearances of God to individual men cor- respond with His revelations to them. He speaks by His Spirit in their hearts at the same time that He speaks by signs to them from without. Hence it is that the signs themselves are often so exceedingly simple. They are revelations only as they are viewed in connection with inspiration. Only inspired men could receive them, only inspired men could have put them on record; only as they are interpreted by their place in an inspired book can they be understood. “ Zhe angel of the Lord appeared unto OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. ay: Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.” But Moses was prepared by a long course of spiritual teach- ing, by many inward and hidden signs in his spirit, for that crisis of external manifestation. “And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush %s not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to sec, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.” We must read between these lines of an ancient narrative. Moses was not drawn to the burn- ing bush by a mere natural curiosity. He was under the influence of the Spirit of God. He expected a sign. His mind was lifted up into the sphere of the supernatural. He saw with the eyes of his spirit what God would have him see ; he heard with the ears of his spirit what God would have him hear. The natural fact, whatever it was, sinks into the background. A spiritual man is holding spiritual intercourse with God on holy ground. No one could have related such facts but Moses himself. It concerns us little to attempt to distinguish in the narrative the natural from the supernatural. What we have to deal with is the account which an inspired man gives us of his Divine call to be God’s greatest servant on the earth. He tells us of signs and of words, and of angelic appearances and of his own history, distinctly resting on what he saw and heard. There is no interpretation of such language which 1s con- sistent with the whole course of the sacred story except that which presupposes personal inspiration. Moses testi- fies to the Spirit of God both in himself and in the people of God to whom he was sent. He does not describe the interviews which he had with Jehovah as he would mere 58 VOX DEI. natural occurrences; he states the facts without entering into details, without dates and identification of places. The vision was sent him “in the mountain of God, Horeb.” Moses spoke to God, and God spoke to Moses. Signs were given, and the future history of the children of Israel was made to pass before the mind of the great leader, in brief and summary form. He is reproved for his unbelief and for his unwillingness to take up his mission. But under the influence of special Divine promises and encouragements, both to himself and to his brother Aaron, he fully realises his vocation as an anointed leader, and separates himself from his father-in-law, Jethro. Evi- dently Moses recounts in a few words the substance of a long course of Divine communications. They were partly by means of external signs, and partly by means of spiri- tual influences. It is not thought necessary to specify in what way God spoke to His servant. ‘The formula which is employed all through the Pentateuch, ‘‘ And Jehovah said wnto Moses,” is itself a general statement of the fact that the Spirit of God was in direct fellowship with the spirit of man, so that it was as if a living voice held intercourse with the speaking prophet in ordinary exchange of human language. It is of no importance to determine whether there was in every instance any angelic appearance or human presence or not. ‘That such appearances should be described in parts of the narrative seems to imply that there may have been a difference in the revelations, and that sometimes they were made more emphatic and im- pressive by outward signs, while at others they were the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 59 result of a course of Divine instructions and impressions made upon the inner man. We cannot put a Divine manifestation behind every message and commandment recorded in the Old Testament; but we can read in the words the fact of inspiration. The holy men of old re- corded what God said to them as they themselves were moved by the Holy Ghost. It was God who led the people out of Egypt. It was “ Jehovah who went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light” (Exod. xiii. 21). It was the Lord who saved Israel. ‘< And the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.” Their song of praise for de- liverance, which was itself an inspired composition, was a song sung unto Jehovah, ascribing salvation unto Him, identifying the people with Him; and the conclusion of that elevated poem of triumph over Egypt is a prediction of a settled religious order, to which the people were being led through the wilderness, out of which the ever- lasting glory of the Divine kingdom should proceed. “ Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever” (Exod. xv. 17, 18). It is easy for modern criticism to say these words are put into the mouth of Moses by the scribes of a later age. They stand where they are on the sacred page, a witness to the fact that all the later developments of Hebrew religion were the outgrowth of a Divine revelation which was continuous 60 VO DBs from the earliest times. The chosen place and the worship of the Sanctuary, the blessings of the Divine kingdom, were promised from the beginning, and were bestowed in connection with a dispensation of the Spirit, the records of which are on the very face of the Scrip- tures from Genesis to Malachi. When the history takes us to Mount Sinai, we are brought still nearer to the leading fact of the Bible—per- sonal inspiration. ‘‘ Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain.” <‘‘ There were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.” ‘And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and _ louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the Mount; and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the Mount, and Moses went up” (Exod. xxi.). Subse- quently we are told of yet more distinct manifestations of the Divine presence. ‘‘Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ; and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a payed work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness” (Exod. xxiv. 9, 10). And after the people’s sin, when Moses desired a special revelation of the Divine presence, that OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 61 he might be prepared to go forward to lead the people to their land, there was given to him not only a very gracious proclamation of the Divine name and covenant, but a vision of God out of the cleft of the rock, by which the faith of the great man was confirmed in the person- ality of God and His intimate fellowship with His people. Now what are we to make of this story of Sinai and the mysterious interviews of the Prophet with Jehovah? No candid reader of the Scriptures can hesi- tate to admit that there is a body of fact in the narra- tive, however difficult it is to us to represent it to our minds historically. There must have been long absences of Moses from the people in the heights of the mountain. There were probably signs accompanying those periods of mediation, when the high priest saw, as if in the inner- most chamber of the Divine presence, signs which were adapted to produce reverence and awe and the spirit of prayer and the attitude of expectation in the minds of the people. But beyond and apart from all that was external, the most essential fact im the whole account of the Sinaitic dispensation is the direct communion of Moses with God. - He is face to face with the Divine Being Himself, where no other human being was per- mitted to be with him. He was there not for his own sake, but as the representative and mediator of the people, and through them as the representative and medi- ator of the world. But the mediation of Moses is not a permanent mediation; it concerns only a temporary economy. The man is called up into the Mount. He is not a mediator by his own merit, but by Divine calling ; 62 VOX DEI. and the intercourse between Moses and Jehovah is sub- stantially the same as that between any of the prophets and God. It is inspiration. It is the Spirit of God holding fellowship with the spirit of man. When the work of the tabernacle has to be carried out by the people, they are inspired with good feelings towards it, with generosity and self-devotion. Their natural gifts are lifted up by the Spirit of God, and the doctrine of a Divine presence in man is distinctly proclaimed by Moses. ‘* And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and He hath filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship ; and to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work. And He hath put in his heart that he may teach,” &c. (Exod. xxxvy. 30-35). All art, as well as all philosophy and all science, when they are traced back to their beginnings, will be found to have flowed forth from the depth of religious impulse. The whole civilisation of the world has at the back of it the thoughts of mankind about God. The central fact of ancient Israel was the Sanctuary; the central fact of the world is Religion. The inspiration which is testified in the books of Moses is not limited to Moses himself, nor to any line of men however distinguished by their office ; it is the inspiration of a people who become a nation of prophets and priests, that the world might be full of the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 63 Spirit of God. Dean Stanley has remarked upon this universality of the Divine gifts, that it characterised the theocracy from the first: ‘‘ It was not a holy tribe, but holy men of every tribe, that spake as they were moved, carried to and fro, out of themselves, by the Spirit of God. The prophets, of whom this might be said in the strictest sense, were confined to no family or caste, station or sex. They rose, indeed, above their countrymen ; their words were to their countrymen in a peculiar sense the words of God. But they were to be found every- where. Like the springs of their own land, there was no hill or valley where the prophetic gift might not be expected to break forth. Miriam and Deborah no less than Moses and Barak, in Judah and in Ephraim no less than in Levi; in Tekoah and Gilead, and, as the climax of all, in Nazareth, no less than in Shiloh or Jerusalem, God’s present counsel might be looked for. By this constant attitude of expectation, if one may so call it, the ears of the whole nation were kept open for the intimations of the Divine Ruler under whom they lived. None knew beforehand who would be called. As Strabo well says in his description of the Mosaic dispensation, ‘All might expect to receive the gilt of good dreams,’ for themselves or their people, ‘all who lived temperately and justly—those always, and those only.’ In the dead of night, as to Samuel; in the ploughing of the field, as to Elisha; in the gather- ing of the sycamore figs, as to Amos, the call might come. ‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth,’ was to be the ready and constant answer. And thus, even in its first 64 VOX DEL establishment, the Theocracy, in its true sense, contained the warrant for its complete development. Moses was but the beginning; he was not, he could not be, the end. The light on his countenance faded away, and had to be again and again rekindled in the presence of the Unseen. But his appearance, his character, his teaching familiarised the nation to this mode of revelation, and it would be at their peril, and against the whole spirit of the education received from him, if they refused to receive its later manifestations, from whatever quarter. ‘The Lord my God will raise up unto them a prophet, from the midst of them, of thy brethren, like unto me. Unto him shall ye hearken.’ The same event, it has been truly remarked, never repeats itself in history. Yet a like event in one age is always a preparation for a like event in another, especially when the first event is one which involves the principle of the other. Moses, the expounder of the Theocracy, the founder of the Hebrew prophets, the interpreter between God on Mount Sinai and Israel in the plain below, was the necessary fore- runner, became the imperfect likeness, of the last pro- phet of the last generation of the Jewish Theocracy. In the fullest sense might it be said to that generation, ‘There rs one that aceuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust ; for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; but uf ye believe not his writings, how will ye believe My words ?” (‘* Lectures on the Jewish Church,” vol. i. pp. 160-162). Closely connected with the Book of Exodus, which narrates the facts of the special sanctification of Israel, OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION, 65 stands the Book of Leviticus, which may be called the spiritual statute-book. The whole doctrine of Sacrifice which runs through the Mosaic ritual is founded upon that of Covenant. And the idea of a covenant relation between God and man is derived from the revelation of a spiritual God. There is no such conception in Heathenism. The opening words of Leviticus connect all the details of legislation which follow with the fact of a special revela- tion of Jehovah to His servant Moses, who is described in Exodus as holding the position of mediator between the people and their God: ‘‘ And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congrega- tion, saying,’ &c. After this general introduction the laws are announced under the simple formula, ‘“ And ? the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,” which is equivalent to the common form adopted by the prophets in subse- quent times, ‘‘ Thus saith the Lord.” The book of the Law is manifestly, therefore, a book of Grace. All the commandments which became State-regulations proceeded from One who of His own free-will and loving condescen- sion invited the representative man Moses into His presence. All the sacrifices were invitations to Divine acceptance and forgiveness, even as a high-road is an invitation to a destination which can be reached by it. So the Gospel has been described by some as the new Law. Jesus commenced His ministry with the Sermon on the Mount, which was the proclamation of His Law of spiritual life. It is impossible to study the doctrine of Sacrifice in the Old Testament without learning from it the one essential truth of the Bible, that sin is personal. 1D) 66 VOX DEI. The forgiveness of sin is reconciliation between persons. The atonements which are set forth under the Old Dis- pensation, and which prefigure the one great atonement of the Gospel, are covenant-sacrifices, that is, not changes produced in the Divine procedure by the merit of external facts, but rather the original covenant between God and man rescued from its obscuration and defilement, the relation of the Spiritual God to His spiritual creature man, restored and preserved. The idea of living and loving intercourse between God and His people underlies the whole of Leviticus. It is simply a development of the first and greatest commandment, ‘‘ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.” It is worship which is offered to God because God has first declared that it is well pleasing to Him. ‘The purification which is obtained by means of the Jewish ritual, though it is in form external, repre- sents the purification of the heart, and therefore is spiritual in its significance. It must be remembered that whatever prescriptions of the Mosaic Law we find in Leviticus were all based upon the Law of the Ten Com- mandments, therefore upon the fundamental moral law ; and while they looked back to the primitive revelation of God in His relation to man, they looked forward to the future development of Israel as the messengers of Divine Mercy to the world. They were in some degree laws of separation and conservation by which the people were called out from the heathen world and prepared for their mission; but they were much more than that, they were full of prophetic meaning ; they were, as the Apostle Paul OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 67 reminds us, as the work of a schoolmaster leading the scholars of the Law to Christ. The Epistle to the Hebrews, taken in connection with the Book of Leviticus, must con- vince any candid mind that the Old Dispensation and the New are one continuous revelation of God. Is the God revealed less in fellowship with His people at one stage of His revelation than at another? Surely not. Isa father less in fellowship with his children when they are little children than when they are grown up? He speaks to them as they are able to receive His speech. But He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” To us in the full daylight of Christianity much of the Hebrew Law may seem childish. We should not be brought nearer to God by such ritualism; rather it would hide Him from us. But we cannot charge upon the Mosaic economy that it kept the world back from intercourse with God. Had the Jews been faithful to their position, they would have been, as a people, the true missionaries to preach the Gospel to all the world. They would have grown into Christianity quite naturally, as the child grows through its childish ideas and education into manhood and its vocation. But as they forfeited their position by unbelief, it was ‘‘the remnant according to the election of grace” which took up the true vocation of the people of God and gave the Divine Law to the world in the name of Jesus Christ. There was always a kernel of spiritual life in the Law of Moses. This seems to be implied in the very fact that there is a Deuteronomy in the Penta- teuch ; there is a second Law, which expands and explains the first, and in which the great legislator appears more 68 VOK@DET as a prophet than as a lawgiver. Indeed, the whole development of prophecy out of the Law which is trace- able through the earliest books, and becomes more and more clear as Moses himself passes away and prepares for his successors, is a testimony to the spirituality of the Old Dispensation. The Law was the text-book of the prophets: they preached upon it; they corrected the popular abuses of it; .they suppled its deficiencies by their personal inspiration. They held, indeed, somewhat of an independent position, but they never sought to undermine the authority of the Law, only to reveal its spirituality. It is a deeply significant fact that Moses himself was a prophet. The man who laid down all the details of Leviticus is the man who said concerning him- self that the Prophet to whom all should listen, who would be the fulfilment of the Divine promises, would be a prophet like unto himself. He was pre-eminently a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, for he was face to face with God; he was man’s advocate with Jehovah and Jehovah’s messenger to man. He was in the innermost chamber of the Tabernacle, and yet his own tent was among the tents of the people. The Book of Numbers carries us into the midst of a people who were beginning to order and settle their national life. The same fact of Divine intercourse with their leaders and teachers stands at the head of the book and underlies it throughout. The numbers are divinely taken. The army is divinely constituted. All the details of national life are ordered by the voice of Jehovah. The priests are consecrated in accordance OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 69 with directions given to Moses. yen the blessing which Aaron and his sons shall pronounce 1s prescribed, and the words of it remind us that the sun of spiritual glory was shining through the clouds of the wilderness. ‘And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift wp His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel ; and I will bless them” (Num. vi. 22-27). Such a blessing was an appeal to faith. It lifted the hearts of the people to the worship of Him ‘“ who is a Spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth.” When the tabernacle was ‘‘fully set up,” it was ‘“‘anointed and sanctified, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof.” And in the fully sanctified tabernacle ‘“‘the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered,” brought their offerings to Jehovah. And after they had been presented as a solemn dedication of the altar, Moses ‘‘ went into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Jehovah, then he heard the voice of One speaking unto him from off the Mercy-Seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim: and He spake unto him” (Num. vil. 89). Symbolical as such language is, we cannot doubt that it was intended to fix in the thoughts of the people 70 VOX’ DET. the fact of Divine revelation. God personally revealed Himself to Moses, and through Moses to the whole nation. As there was no form on the Mercy-Seat, but only a voice came forth from a hidden person, they would naturally conclude that the Divine presence was a spiritual pre- sence, which could indeed manifest itself anywhere, and by any sign, but remained in itself invisible. The consecration of .seventy elders, which may be said to be a distinct advance in the national consti- tution, is described in Num, xi. 16, 17. The personal authority of Moses is henceforth shared by that of a council. And it is said to be an inspired council, v.e., When called together and deliberating in the name of Jehovah it is promised that its decisions shall be Divinely directed and authorised. <‘‘ And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.” In close connection with this ap- pointment of a representative council which shall be specially inspired, there is, in the same chapter, a state- ment of fact which removes all doubt as to the character of the inspiration given to the seventy. It was not in any sense a consecration of a caste or a priesthood, or the limitation of Divine gifts to an elect number. On OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. GE the contrary, it was the result of an outpoured blessing on the people. The elders selected were selected from a much larger number of men who were known by Moses and by the people themselves to be inspired men, that is, men who were spiritual leaders by their wisdom and by their goodness. Thus we read, ver. 24-30: ‘“‘ And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested upon them; (and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle), and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enyiest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them! And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.” Can we doubt that this fact is put on record for the very purpose of throwing light on the nature of the office held by the seventy ? They had special gifts, but those gifts were not necessarily dependent on their V2 VOX DEI. official ordination at the tabernacle. They might exercise them anywhere and under any circumstances. Yea, it seems to be implied that Eldad and Medad held aloof from Moses from some disaffection towards him and his autho- rity. And yet they might be true representatives of Jehovah in their individual inspiration. Prophets might be raised up by gifts of the Spirit apart altogether from any recognised order or centre of authority. Yea, all the people might be prophets. Would God that they were! Moses, in his beautiful humility and exalted faith, antici- pated the day of Pentecost, when the gifts should be poured upon all flesh. The freeness of Divine grace is quite consistent with the maintenance of order and authority in the Church of God. Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, not because they could charge him with restraining the gifts of God, and withholding oppor- tunity from any gifted person to use his gifts. They were actuated simply by jealousy of the power given to the great lawgiver. They tried to undermine his posi- tion because they wished to exalt their own. And their rebellion was not only severely rebuked, but was made the occasion for another and more emphatic proclamation of the perfect freeness of Divine gifts, and the union of that freeness with an order of manifestation. Any one could be a prophet, but while the gifts might thus be universally bestowed, God was revealing Himself in a certain orderly manner, by the special inspiration given to one man and the special system of laws and ordinances which that one man should appoint in His name. The question which Miriam and Aaron put was the question OLD TESTAMENT. REVELATION. fas which Jehovah answered. ‘‘ And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congrega- tion. And they three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And He said, Hear now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Num. xii. 2-9). This is a most important passage. The place of Moses is declared to be unique. His inspira- tion is unique. But his separation from the people is declared to be quite consistent with an outpouring of prophetic inspiration upon the people. ‘‘If there be a prophet among you;” 7.¢., there may be at any time, in any condition. Jehovah will speak by any one of His people. But Moses is not only a prophet, not only a seer of visions and a dreamer of dreams, he is the conse- crated head and leader of the House of God—not indeed the Son, as we are reminded in Hebrews, but the servant, 74: VOX DEI. whose office typified and prepared for the highest revela- tion of God in Him who was ‘‘God manifest in the flesh.” The history of the people’s wanderings in the wilderness is full of facts which help us to understand the twofold dispensation of the Spirit—that which was individual and that which was immediately connected with the order of the Divine household. The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was very similar to that of Miriam and Aaron; it was the result of envy and jealousy of Moses, but it was an organised political con- spiracy embracing two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly. The sons of Levi were at the head of it. They sought the priesthood also. They murmured against Heaven. But on what ground did they claim a share in official power? On the ground of the uni- versal sanctification of the people. ‘‘ All the congrega- tion are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them” (chap. xvi. 3). The destruction which was sent upon the rebels was not a contradiction of what they said, but a condemnation of their spirit, which was the spirit of pride and disorder, selfishness and rebellion against the gracious Spirit of God. The ‘token against the rebels” which was subsequently given was the sign of grace through a consecrated priesthood, which was developed in the ages which followed in the whole Leyi- tical system. ‘‘ Aaron’s rod budded and blossomed, and yielded almonds.” ‘The fruitfulness of the priestly ser- vice was still for the sake of the people. The consecra- tion was not an arbitrary election, it was a separation unto distribution. Ags it was with Israel itself, so it was OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 70 with the Israelitish priesthood. They were set apart in order that they might be distributors of the blessing to the world. Aaron’s garments were solemnly put upon his son, when his office was coming to an end by death. The office of a priest is such that it necessarily involves external distinctions; but such signs of special authority were not channels of grace in themselves, otherwise it would not have been necessary for Moses to strip Aaron and put the priestly garments on Hleazar his son, ac- cording to Divine commandment. Plainly the garments themselves were mere symbolical badges of office. ‘They passed with the office. Personal inspiration still remained clearly distinguished from official position and dignity. The introduction of Balaam the son of Beor, who seems to have occupied a very high position among his own people, both as a soothsayer and as a prince, brings before us the very instructive fact that there were ac- knowledged Divine oracles in heathen nations, and that they were not entirely separate from those which were consulted by the Israelites. ‘‘ Balak, king of the Moab- ites, sent to Balaam to Pethor, which is by the river, to the land of the children of his people.” The account given us in Num. xxii.—xxiv. of the remarkable com- munications given to Balaam by Jehovah leaves us in no doubt that, at least for the time being, the Midianite prophet was under special Divine inspiration. ‘lhe move- ments of the man are Divinely directed. He is impelled and restrained by God. His cursing is turned into bless- ing. ‘‘ Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver 76 VOX DEI: and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more” (vers. 18, 19). However we interpret the story of the angel and the ass speaking with the voice of a man, it is certain that the intention of it, as placed in the history of Israel, is to represent Balaam as under the inspiration and special guidance, at the time, of Jehovah. If we understand the words in chap. xxiii. 7 to mean that the prophet came from Meso- potamia, from the mountains of the East; and if Pethor was a city of Mesopotamia, then we may conclude that Balaam was not very remotely connected with the ances- tors of the Israelites. His knowledge of Divine truth may have come from primitive sources. Like Mel- chizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, he may have been the representative of the earliest tra- ditions of true religion. But that he was a soothsayer to some extent appears in the narrative (see chap. xxiv. 1). Yet he was inspired with words of prophecy, which were not merely grand poetic utterances, but filled with the light of Hebrew faith. The last of his ‘“ parables,” as they are called, which is very solemnly given as under the rapture of special inspiration, is universally acknow- ledged to be a sublime prophecy of the future glory of Israel, and by some of the greatest writers on the Old Testa- ment is regarded as a prediction of the Messiah. ‘TI shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. i destroy all the children of Sheth.” Such an episode in the history of Israel points to the fact that the Spirit of God wrought in others besides those who were acknowledged prophets in the Mosaic economy. ‘here was inspiration elsewhere than in the chosen nation. Such inspiration, as we see, was sporadic and fragmentary. But it was taken up into the whole body of Divine truth. It con- tributed its scattered rays to the total illumination which was at last gathered in all its fulness into the Sun of Righteousness. The position of such a man as Balaam is easily to be distinguished from that of a prophet amongst the people of God who were in covenant relation with Him. Such a character as his is not found among the prophets of Israel. He was employed by God for the special purposes described in the narrative, and for those purposes he received Divine communications. But he was not a commissioned messenger to Israel. Yet it is important to establish by this case the principle that the personal character and position of the prophet through whom a communication is made from God do not of themselves explain the fact of the special communication. ‘However devout and lofty-minded a man may be, what- ever insight he may have into truth, however much de- veloped his religious consciousness may be, he is not capable of prophesying in the stricter sense of the word, that is, of giving to the world words which have come directly from God, unless he is inspired with those words by an immediate act of the Holy Spirit. And it is possible that in peculiar circumstances, of which we are not in a position to judge, God may send direct messages 78 VO XOnDTGL. to the world through men who are only inspired for the time being. We can scarcely doubt that Balaam was a man of great natural gifts, that he was a poet, that he was a man deeply versed in the learning of his age, and perhaps acquainted with the traditions preserved among the Hebrews; and it is probable that such natural and acquired gifts made him the more suitable for the Divine purposes. Bishop Butler and others have re- garded him as kicking against conscience and resisting erace. At least we may recognise in him the working of the Divine Spirit. And we, therefore, separate such exceptional instances from the systematic development of Divine revelation which is described in the Scriptures. Closely connected with the mission of Moses stands that of Joshua, his successor as the leader of Israel, though not his successor in every gift. The very emphatic way in which his ordination is mentioned shows that the people were well accustomed at that time to the ideas which are embodied in ordination. They understood that Joshua was an inspired man, that he was chosen by God and not by Moses, that he was officially set apart because in answer to the earnest prayers of Moses the people should not be left as sheep having no shepherd. The hand of Moses was laid upon him, not because there was any mysterious power in the rite itself, but because God would have all the people clearly and without doubt recog- nise the personal and official inspiration of Joshua. It is to God as the God of spirits that Moses addresses himself, and it is by the Holy Spirit that Joshua is eifted for his office. ‘‘ And Moses spake unto the Lord, OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 79 saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him ; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. And he shall stand before Hleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him; and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge; as the Lord spake by the hand of Moses” (Num. xxvil. 18-23). We must care- fully notice that Joshua is an inspired man before his ordination. He is chosen to be the successor of Moses because he has proved his fitness. Like Caleb, he had ‘wholly followed the Lord.” But the ordination was for the sake of the people. It was public; it was official; it was before the high priest; it was in the presence of the Lord in His sanctuary. We cannot doubt that there was special blessing upon Joshua after his ordination; but no word is said to imply that the G0 VOXMmDET. ceremony, whatever it was, as a ceremony contained and conveyed the blessing. The act of fellowship with Jehovah and with His people was a spiritual act. Joshua and Moses and the high priest and the whole witnessing assembly were, in their act of prayer and in their loving communion with God, filled with the Spirit of God. The blessing is not a mechanical process. It is the life of the Spirit quickening the soul. But however we may regard ordination, the fact that there was an ordination of Joshua is very instructive. No one can fail to see that the doctrine of the Spirit was before the minds of God’s people even in that early age, and that it was substantially the same doctrine as that which is now held by Christians. The Book of Deuteronomy may be described as a series of farewell discourses delivered by the lawgiver Moses in view of his speedy departure and in preparation for the invasion of Canaan by the second generation of Israelites, There must of necessity be a large amount of repetition in it of what was before given to a previous generation. But every one must be impressed on reading it with its lofty spiritual tone. It is an appeal to heart and soul. It is a solemn enforcement of commandments on the basis of covenant. It is a retrospect and prospect, as in the presence of the faithful God, who is both righteous in punishing sin and gracious in forgiving it. One of the most conspicuous features of the whole book ig the representation of the life of Israel as between the two mounts of cursing and blessing. The Law is not a mere lettér, it is a spirit. It is to be written on the man OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Sl himself, and it is ‘‘in his mouth and ‘in his heart.” The grand songs with which the addresses of Moses conclude, given in chaps. xxxil. and xxxiil., are themselves suffi- cient to lift up the whole book into a higher sphere. They are wonderful outpourings of inspired praise and prayer, appeal and prophecy, and they are full of the Holy Ghost, and of the promise of His guidance and quickening for all the tribes of Israel. But there is one passage which occurs in the middle of the book which has been made use of by the writers of the New Testa- ment and applied both to our Lord Himself and to the dispensation of the Gospel. It is necessary that we should consider it in its place in the Old Testament. After Moses has warned the people against the abomina- tions of the Pagan nations which at that time dwelt in Palestine and the neighbourhood, and especially against their practice of soothsaying and divination, and the various forms of degraded spiritualism, the promise is given of Divine communications through appointed and inspired prophets. The idea seems to be that of a con- tinuous line of messengers culminating in one supreme Messenger of the Covenant, in whom all prophets shall find their antitype and perfection, The words are these (chap. xvili. 15-22): “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, ir 82 VOX =DEL that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words, which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet which shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken; the prophet hath spoken it presump- tuously : thou shalt not be afraid of him.” The general scope of this passage is plain upon the face of it. It is the promise of a continual and authorised inspiration. When Moses is taken away there shall be one like him taken as he was from among the people. He should be able to show that his word was Divinely given by fulfil- ments of predictions. His declarations of Divine com- mandments should be on the same level of constituted law as the words of Moses himself. Now, such a promise could not have been given by Moses on the ground of mere personal inspiration. Jf he had meant no more than this, that from time to time men should arise who were evidently inspired, he could not have put the pro- mise in the solemn form in which he expresses it. OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 83 Evidently the reference is to what afterwards is explained by facts, to the mission of prophets as part of the Mosaic economy. ‘The Law was not complete without the one who came as special expounder of it and of the promises which were contained in it. The words of Moses were an anticipation of that constitution of the prophetic office, which we shall see was the development subse- quently reached in the time of Samuel. No doubt the promise looked still further. No Moses returned in the line of messengers until He came who was not the ser- vant but the Son. But the chief bearing of the passage on the doctrine of the Spirit is the very emphatic recog- nition in it of an inspiration identified with a Divine authority. We could not suppose that Moses was directed to condemn to death those who did not believe what a man of genius or of specially devout spirit might utter under Divine influence. The condemnation lay in dis- tinct rejection of Jehovah’s undoubted authority. The connection of that authority with prediction and the ful- filment of it removes all obscurity from the passage. The signs must be given; otherwise the prophet cannot claim obedience. The signs themselves are not such as appeal merely to intellectual or emotional or even moral con- victions alone, but to knowledge of God’s methods, to a line of approved evidences, to the course of revelation, to the Law, and to the testimony. If the prophet is con- victed of false signs and of contradiction of the Word of God, it is because there is no true light in him. The Book of Joshua is thus described by Mr. Bullock in Smith’s ‘‘ Dictionary of the Bible” :—‘‘ An awful 84, VOX DEI. sense of the Divine Presence reigns throughout. We are called out from the din and tumult of the battle- field to listen to the still small voice. The progress of events is clearly foreshadowed in the first chapter (vers. 5 and 6). Step by step we are led on through the solemn preparation, the arduous struggle, the crowning triumph. Moving everything around, yet himself moved by an unseen Power, the Jewish leader rises high and alone amid all.” After the narrative of events, as in Deutero- nomy, discourses are given, which the people were called together to hear from their leader before he was taken from them. And the high spiritual tone of Joshua’s farewell discourses shows that the people who listened to them, notwithstanding that they were a nation of warriors, and were passing through a fighting period of their history, well understood their distinction and separation from the nations around them, and their heart and soul service of Jehovah. The book of the Law is the foundation on which they rest. When they solemnly renewed their covenant with Jehovah, Joshua wrote a full account of their public dedication of them- selves in the book of the Law of God, and set up a great stone as a memorial ‘‘ under an oak that was by the sanctuary of Jehovah.” The tabernacle was set up previously in Shiloh after the land had been subdued, and the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled there. Such facts, together with the per- vading tone of the book, which is that of humble de- pendence on Divine guidance and inspiring energy, show very clearly that communion with Jehovah was OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 85 the leading conception in the religious life of Israel. No doubt, at that early period there was much crudeness in their minds, especially as they were involved in a terrible struggle with the Canaanitish nations, which to some extent must have hindered the ‘growth of higher thoughts. But the influence which such men as Joshua and Caleb had on them shows that they acknowledged the truths which had come down to them from their fathers. <‘‘ Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel” (Josh. xxiv. 31). During the long period represented by the Books of Judges and Ruth to the time of Samuel, probably some two hundred and fifty years, though the chronology is so confused that most critics give it up as an insoluble problem, amidst all the disorder and conflict of a tran- sition time, there are yet indications of a continuous Divine visitation vouchsafed to Israel. The angel of Jehovah came again and again, and the people repented of their unfaithfulness when they were reminded of the past, and of the covenant in which their fathers had joined. The judges who were sent to deliver the people when, by their defection from Jehovah, they had fallen under the power of their enemies, are said to have been. inspired by the Spirit of Jehovah (see Judges 11. 10-1 5). Deborah is a prophetess, dwelling under a palm-tree in sacred isolation, and almost worshipped by the people for the extraordinary powers bestowed upon her. Her song of triumph over Sisera, however mingled it is with &6 VOX DEI. military feeling from which we shrink, is yet an ascrip- tion of praise to Jehovah, and has much of the spirit of prophecy in it. The story of Gideon is full of the super- natural and of Divine interposition. The warrior is a humble instrument in the hands of Jehovah, and is encouraged by miraculous signs. We are still, as in the Book of Moses, listening to the voice of God. Every- thing is done in the presence of Jehovah. Even the evil spirit which rose up between Abimelech and the men of Shechem is ascribed to Divine appointment (chap. ix. 22). ‘Lhe Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah (chap. xi. 29), and the whole history of the hero Samson (chaps. xiii.—xyi.) is full of the thought that physical qualities rest upon a spiritual foundation. ‘The child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.” ‘And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them.” ‘And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.” Samson prayed to the Lord, and was heard. And when his strength was gone it was the Lord that had departed from him. His final effort and overthrow of his enemies in his own fall was the result of a wrestling prayer for a blessing. “And Sam- son called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, re- member me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once revenged of the Philistines for my two eyes” (chap. OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 87 xvi. 28). It is not only in individual instances, such as the heroes and judges, that we recognise the faith of the people in special Divine guidance and inspiration, but as the book concludes, the House of God at Shiloh comes prominently before us as the rallying-place of the nation when they cry for help and direction from God. ‘“ And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the House of God, and asked counsel of God” (chap. xx. 18). ‘‘ And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord.” «Then all-the children of Israel, and all the people, went up and came unto the House of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until eyen, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord” (chap. xx. 23-26). And the Book of Ruth, which at one time formed part of the Book of Judges, bears witness to a simple dependence on the blessing of Jehovah prevailing among the people and producing very beautiful character, and attracting even a Moabitess woman to forsake her own kindred and land to dwell in the midst of Israel. This rapid review of the first eight books of the Old Testament suffices to prove that there was a considerable body of truth revealed to man from the beginning, and specially entrusted to Abraham and his fleshly descen- dants in their covenant relation to Jehovah. Had we no other Bible than the Pentateuch and the three books which follow it, we should certainly learn from them that God is a Spirit, and that the true worship is spiritual worship. The intercourse which is there described between 88 VOX DEI. God and man is totally different from that which could be derived from the religions of heathen nations. The Divine personality is vividly represented as both conscious and human, while at the same time it is absolutely free from sin. Anthropomorphism there certainly is, but it is the assurance to us that God and man are personally alike, and therefore capable of fellowship. In the fact, which underlies all the Mosaic system, of the moral government of God, there is involved the doctrine of the Spirit. A moral Ruler can only communicate with His subjects spiritually. As they must be capable of being influenced by moral facts, He must be a Being who sends forth moral influence from Himself upon them. The | Old Testament, while full of the idea of law and goyvern- ment, is at the same time a record of grace. From the beginning God is sending forth His love as redeeming and renewing power. Man is invited into the relation of faith which is obedience by love. The story of Israel is the story of Divine grace given to a portion of man- kind for the sake of the whole. Hence, when we ask what is the doctrine of inspiration which we gather from those early books of Scripture, the answer is twofold. It is a doctrine of personal and individual inspiration, but it is also a doctrine of systematised inspiration. The Spirit of God inspires such men as Enoch, Noah, Abra- ham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and many others whose wisdom or achievements or excellence of any kind’ is ascribed to special gifts. But beyond that record of individual bestowment there is the whole course of Israel’s training to be the depositary of a special revelation for OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 89 the salvation of the world. In a certain sense we may say Israel was an inspired nation; they were called a ‘‘holy people” because they were set apart as ministers to mankind. They possessed a position which was given them by Divine interposition; they were con- stituted a nation by laws which were dictated by in- spiration; they had among them a body of men, the priests, who were consecrated by a Divine unction, and were therefore inspired with authority as representa- tives, and, in respect of worship, mediators between the people and God; their rulers were theocratic rulers, that is, they were simply officers under God, a ministry who were executive but not legislative, working the supreme Will of Him who was the only true Ruler of the nation ; and, lastly, they were visited from time to time by men whose inspiration was that of the Word, who were the expounders of the Law, interpreters of the Mind of Jehovah, connecting together, by special Divine enlightenment, the Will of God as set forth in His writ- ten Word, and that same Will as enforced in the provi- dential course of the world. At first, 1t would seem as though the great personality and work of Moses, who was pre-eminently a prophet, rendered it unnecessary to define the prophetic office and ministry more fully. But when ages had gone by and the nation began to grow accustomed to the fixed regulations of the Mosaic sys- tem, then the inspiration of teachers and interpreters of the Law, and messengers directly from God, came to be thought of more prominently. Just as, when Israel was carried away to a heathen land in their captivity, they 90 VOX -DET. set up synagogue worship in defect of a temple ritual, and maintained their religion by a development of the prophetic office, so, after their settlement in Canaan, when the Mosaic system was becoming more formal and less spiritual, the counteraction of that growing formality was supplied by the rise of the prophets, not as rare visitors, sent here and there and after long intervals, but as a body of inspired teachers and spiritual judges, amongst whom from time to time some rose to great distinction, and their ministry left behind it the words of inspiration which were added to the books of Scrip- ture. ‘The broad outlines of the fully developed theo- cracy are all laid down in the first eight books of the Old Testament. The Spirit of God is there ‘ moving” the holy men of God. The structure of the written Word is built up course upon course. Hach age de- pends upon those which went before it. Hach wing of the great Temple has its foundation-stones. It is the same Spirit which lives and moves and breathes in all the vast variety of style and language, thought and expe- rience ; which is now the historian and then the psalmist, now the preacher and then the seer—but always the Spirit of God in loving fellowship with the spirit of man. CHAPTER III. THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM THE TIME OF SAMUEL TO THE CLOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON. THE thirty-one books of Scripture which follow the Book of Ruth, from the first Book of Samuel to the Book of Malachi inclusive, contain a vast variety of sacred com- position, history, poetry, moral exhortation, philosophy, proverbial sayings, and the remains of the public utter- ances of inspired prophets, together with short songs and prayers here and there introduced into the history. It is quite possible, and seems highly probable, that some of the poetry is very ancient, going back to the patriarchal age, possibly even to the time before the Flood. But it is not necessary to enter upon critical questions here. We have to review this mass of Hebrew literature simply to put together the teaching which is found in it on the subject of the Divine Spirit. And in doing so, it is possible only very briefly to indicate the main points of light which lie along the course of the progressive revelation. At the opening of the first Book of Samuel an instance of personal inspiration comes before us which is full of significance. Hannah, the wife of Elkanah of Rama- thaim-zophim, of Mount Ephraim, is the mother of the 92 VOX DEI. prophet Samuel, and herself a prophetess. She is a praying woman, ‘She continued praying before the Lord.” ‘‘She spake in her heart; only the lips moved, but her voice was not heard.” From the fact that Hh thought she was drunken, we may conclude that there was some excitement in her manner. She was probably in a prophetic ecstasy. By her fervent prayers she obtained the blessing from Jehovah, and in the spirit of a prophetess she consecrated her child as a Nazarite unto the Lord. The lofty poetry which is called Hannah’s prayer, given in I Sam. li. I-10, is one of the most inspired compositions in the Old Testament. That it was esteemed so by the Jews themselves we can see in the many imitations of it in subsequent times, and especially in the “‘ Magnificat” of the Virgin Mary. In- deed, so wonderful are the words as coming from the lips of a simple woman like Hannah, that modern critics have propounded the theory of additions and amplifica- tions in later times upon a very scanty basis of an original song, in which the mother praised Jehovah for His mercy to her. But such a suggestion only confirms the truth. Hannah could not haye sung such words without the Spirit of God. It is quite in accordance with what we have gathered from the preceding books that such in- spiration should be given, apart altogether from official qualifications, to a humble woman, to a praying mother. What we have to remember is the fact that for ages God had been speaking to Israel, not only by such men as Moses and the elders who were with him, but by numbers, no doubt, whose names are not mentioned OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 93 in the record, and with Him there is no respect of persons. There were words of prophecy which the people treasured in their hearts and repeated to one another. ‘The insight which is given to us by the narra- tive of Hannah’s devout life—going up with her husband from time to time to Shiloh “ to sacrifice unto Jehovah of Hosts,” and praying before the Lord—into the religious condition of Israel at that time, is very full of significance. While there was a great deal of disorder, and perhaps in the people generally a state of religious knowledge little raised above heathenism, there was still a ‘“‘ remnant ac- cording to the election of grace.” There was a work of the Spirit in the few here and there out of which went forth the continuous stream of higher life which reveals itself in the Scriptures. The first three verses of Han- nah’s song proceed from her individual point of view, but the remaining seven verses are evidently on a much higher plane, where the hopes of Israel as the chosen people are in view: ‘ The pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken wn pieces ; out of heaven shall He thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and He shall give strength unto His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed.” We can scarcely doubt that the singer of such words was familiar with the Pentateuch and the whole body of covenant deeds and words on which the hfe of Israel rested. IIannah is a true prophetess in that sense that she has 94, VOX) DEI; drunk deeply into the spirit of the true Israel, and saw the world built up on the pillars which went down through her forefathers to the first beginnings of crea- tion. And if Hannah could be such a prophetess, why not any other woman in Israel? If her words are put into the Bible as part of Divine revelation, what a testi- mony is thus given to the free grace of God even in the midst of all the limitations of that old economy! Samuel himself is another instance of the same kind. It is true that he is brought up at Shiloh, within the precincts of the tabernacle, and is therefore a priest almost from his birth. But he was not of the family of Aaron, and it is doubtful if he was even a Levite. And he is called by Jehovah at so early an age that we cannot suppose there was any other qualification in him except that of a meek and gentle disposition, and the sense of a holy vocation. He inherited, no doubt, something of his mother’s qualities, and breathed from his earliest infancy the atmosphere of a temple and of worship, but his call was evidently the call of grace. ‘‘He grew on from year to year in favour both with the Lord and also with men.” Old Eli loved him, and would give him instruc- tion and surround him with influences by which his young spirit would be led up into the higher life of religion as he was able to receive them. But whatever natural superiority there was in Samuel, and however much we ascribe to the circumstances in which he was placed, there still remains the fact that while still a child the special revelation recorded in 1 Sam. iii. came to him. In 1 Sam. ii. 27—36 we read of a man of God OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 95 coming to Eli, and his Divine message is recorded at length. It is a very remarkable prophecy, especially in the concluding words: ‘And I will raise Me up a faithful priest who shall do according to that which is in Mine heart and in My mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before Mine Anointed for ever.” Such communications, without even a name of the prophet attached to them, plainly indicate a wide- spread work of the Spirit of God in those days, not- withstanding the fearful corruption which prevailed even in the priesthood. But we are told that “ the word of the Lord was precious in those days ; there was no open vision” (1 Sam. ii.1). The grace of inspiration was not uncom- mon, but direct messages from God were rare. By ‘‘ open vision” can be meant nothing more than widely spread vision; that is, prophets were not sent as frequently and as abundantly as in subsequent times, or even in the time of Samuel after the institution of the schools of the prophets. Samuel’s first revelation from God was not given to him in ecstasy or in any abnormal state of mind. Nor, indeed, if we take the narrative literally, was it by a vision. Although the first call which prepared the boy’s mind for what followed may have been sent through a vision in sleep, there is no dream-like mistiness in the narrative of what he saw and heard when the Lord appeared. ‘So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And Jehovah came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak ; for Thy servant heareth.” The revela- tion given to the boy was only the beginning of a long 96 VOX DEI. course of special Divine communications. ‘“‘ And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: | Jor the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.” Nothing could more plainly say that personal and official inspiration were united in this instance. Samuel was filled with the Spirit of God, and he was selected by God to be the organ of a great spiritual reformation in Israel, leading and guiding others and establishing institu- tions wliereby the word of God should be diffused through the land. Like Moses, he was at the same time the ruler of Israel and their spiritual guide and representative before Jehovah. The three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King were frequently united in the same person. Indeed, the consecration of the priesthood, like the con- secration of the kings after the time of Samuel, was only the consecration of primi inter pares. There never was any sanction of priestcraft among the Jews, so far as their Divine instructions were concerned. If the priests assumed to themselves power which did not properly belong to their office, they had no warrant for such assumptions in the Word of God. Samuel was a ereat religious reformer. He called upon the people through all the house of Israel ‘‘ to put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among them, and to prepare their hearts unto Jehovah, and serve Him only.” ‘ Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 97 and served Jehovah only. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto Jehovah. And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.” . ‘* And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to ery unto Jehovah our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto Jehovah ; and Samuel cried unto Jehovah for Israel, and Jehovah heard him.” ‘And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah : F for there was his house; and there he judged Israel ; and there he built an altar unto the Lord” (1 Sam. vii. 8, 15-17). ‘This union of offices in one man shows us very clearly that the separation of the offices in subse- quent times was only a matter of convenience for their better fulfilment. The man who was full of the Spirit of God could be prophet, priest, and king in one, for there is no real separation in the functions; they are all alike functions of the Spirit. The man who is inspired of God is a ruler by his inspiration, is a prophet because the Spirit speaks through him, is a priest because he stands before God and offers up prayer for the people; for mediation is the fundamental fact of the whole Jewish religion. Whatever any man was, he was as between God and His people, and therefore was in some sense G 98 VOx DEI. a mediator. Samuel’s conduct when the people were determined to establish a monarchy and be like the neigh- bouring nations was a testimony to the theocratic con- stitution of Israel, and therefore to the Spirit of God. Whatever is done, he said, must be done by God. His Spirit is our real Ruler. The people evidently under- stood this. They consulted Samuel as a seer upon every- thing. What the Lord “told him in his car” was accepted as law. The ‘desire of Israel” is on Saul as the first of the kings, because Samuel declared that he was the Lord’s anointed. ‘‘ And Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?” (1 Sam. x. 1). This anointing of Saul is accompanied with signs of the Spirit. ‘Thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and « harp before them; and they shall prophesy : and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee” (1 Sam. x. 5—7). So we read, Saul pro- phesied because the Spirit of God came upon him. Again and again the Spirit of God came upon Saul. He became a mighty warrior and a great monarch. There was the same union of office in him as in Samuel. His disobedience was punished, because he took upon himself to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings at an improper time, when he should have waited for Samuel; but he was: OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. dy not prohibited from acting as a priest, if there should be any necessity. At the same time, the formal establish- ment of the kingdom, the order and constitution of which were written by Samuel and laid up before the Lord, naturally led to the separation of offices as a matter of convenience. Irom the time of David, Saul’s successor, the prophets, priests and kings, are more distinct in the fulfilment of their functions, but it was still “one and the self-same Spirit” which worked in all. It is the word of Jehovah on which they all alike stood. Saul’s rejec- tion and David’s consecration are very closely connected with the work of the Spirit. David is. the Lord’s anointed. ‘* Zhe Lord looketh on the heart.” <‘* The Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him” (1 Sam. xvi. 13, 14). Saul’s consultation of the witch of Endor, in the ex- tremity of his distresses, sets forth, by way of contrast, the word of God as distinguished from lying oracles. The kings were divinely guided so long as they recognised the Divine Spirit. When they turned aside from the oracles of God, God forsook them and they perished. ‘The visit of Saul to the witch at Endor is the more emphatic witness against him, inasmuch as he had himself “ put away those that had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land ;” in other words, had proclaimed the unlawfulness of his own action beforehand. ‘ And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim, nor by prophets” (1 Sam. xxviii. 6). He could learn nothing from priests or prophets, and his own 100 VOX DEI. personal inspiration was gone because he had resisted the Spirit of God. Such an instance as Saul, pro- nounced and solemn as it is, connects the work of the Spirit with the moral nature and with the life of man. Inspiration is not a mechanical distribution of forces apart from the co-operation of the recipient. Men are not mere conductors of spiritual influence. The Spirit of God and the spirit. of man are in vital fellowship with one another. That fellowship can be broken. One who was inspired can be forsaken. One who was made a king by the Spirit of God may sink down through his own unfaithfulness into the pit of destruction. With the history of King David we enter upon something like a new era, in the course of Divine revelation. Again we find the three functions of the life of the inspired man represented as united in the one man David. By the Spirit of God he is a prophet, and pours out a very rich stream of inspired language in his psalms and other poetic compositions; by the Spirit of God he is a priest, and when he brought the ark of the Lord into his city, and ‘set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it,” he “ offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts;” and by the same Spirit of God he rules over Israel and becomes the greatest warrior of his time, extending his kingdom to Mesopotamia, and becoming a type of that King to whom all the kingdoms and nations of the earth shall OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 101 be subject, and in whom they shall all be blessed. The enlargement of the tabernacle into the temple and the formal constitution of the Jewish priesthood and religious ritual may be said to be the outcome of David’s inspira- tion. It was his devotion to Jehovah which he expressed in his grand aims and plans. Nathan the prophet said to the king, ‘‘ Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.” Everything which was subsequently accomplished in the preparation for Solomon’s temple, in the musical and ritual arrangements, in the ordering of the priesthood, and in the composition of psalms and songs for the people to use in their worship, was done under the guidance of the Spirit of God. Nathan and Gad, David’s friends, recognised prophets in Israel, gave him the messages which God sent to them by visions and otherwise. He implicitly obeyed them. Although far from perfect himself in his conduct throughout, Dayid was pre-eminently an inspired man. Like Moses and Samuel, he initiated a new period in the history of Israel. Moses brought the people out of bondage and set them on their way as a nation. Samuel appeared at the crisis of a great degeneracy, when a long continuance of confusion and strife and disorder had almost destroyed the very foundations of their national life, bringing in a wonderful religious reformation, and therewith, as always, a civil reformation as its fruit. And David, standing on the ruins of the monarchy which had fallen with Saul, was filled with the Spirit of God, that he might restore the whole edifice of the nation and place it upon firm foundations of regal government and established religious 102 VOX DEI. service. ‘The songs which are included in the historical narrative in 2 Sam. xxii. and xxii. may have been selected from collections of sacred poetry and inserted in their place in the history by later writers. But they bear witness to the fact that David was full of the spirit of prophecy. Even if he did not actually compose those songs himself, that they should be attributed to him is an evidence of the general belief of the people that he was capable of such productions. He was “‘ the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel.” And he said, ‘‘ The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me” (2 Sam. xxii. 1-3). His dying words to his son Solomon testified to his desire in all things to be guided by the Spirit of God. ‘‘ Keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testi- monies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself; that the Lord may continue His word which He spake concerning me” (1 Kings ii. 3, 4). The royal life of Solomon commences with a very decided recognition of his dependence upon Jehovah. ‘JT am but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in. And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people whom Thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give, therefore, Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION, 103 able to judge this Thy so great a people?” (1 Kings iii. 7-9). Again we find the union of the three offices in one man, and it is the more remarkable in the case of Solomon, because in his time the prophetic and priestly functions were very distinctly recognised and solemnly fulfilled. But not only does Solomon receive a prophetic dream, in which he is assured of special inspiration, a wise and understanding heart, so that there should be none like him, before or after him (7.e., among those holding a similar position), but he immediately goes to Jerusalem and ‘‘ stands before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offers up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and makes a feast to all his servants” (1 Kings iii. 15). Solomon’s wisdom becomes the talk of the world. ‘‘ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea- shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom” (1 Kings iv. 29-34). The instances are given which exemplify both the wisdom which Solomon had 104 VO Xa DiEL and the confidence which the people of his own and other nations showed towards him as an inspired man. His prayer at the consecration of the temple is one of the sublimest compositions in any language in the world; and the Queen of Sheba expressed the feeling of multi- tudes, no doubt, at that time. ‘‘ Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice ” (1 Kings x. 8,9). This conspicuous example of Divine teaching and inspiration was accompanied with a very widespread diffusion of blessings amongst the people generally. It was the period of the nation’s greatest prosperity and fame—the Augustan age of Israel. And it is highly probable that to that age we owe a large amount of the sacred poetry which is gathered together in the Psalms. So long as Solomon continued faithful to Jehovah the glory of his kingdom was maintained, but prosperity was in the case of Israel, as in so many other instances, the temptation before which the people fell. The sin which divided the nation and led to its ultimate | ruin took its root in the time of peace, when the hearts of the people became uplifted, and they forsook the Lord to go after strange gods. When institutions decay and the normal life of a people becomes corrupt, the action of that good which still remains undestroyed is concen- trated in individuals and narrowed into smaller spheres. But this is often the method by which the restoration of OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 105 the people is brought about. The channel of Divine in- fluence is lessened in width, but the force of the stream is greater, because the influence itself is deeper and more personal. The period which followed the division of the nation into Israel and Judah, and the growing idolatry of both kingdoms, was the period marked by the rise of great prophets, whose ministry was a reforming ministry, and whose messages have been handed down to us full of the Spirit of God. The Scriptures, which have proceeded from the Jewish people from the time of David onwards, may be regarded, for our purpose, under two divisions ; those which we find in the Hagiographa and the writings of the prophets. It is not possible to arrange these writings, chronologically, with any degree of certainty. Very few of the Psalms, for instance, can be referred to any date. The Book of Job, Solomon’s Song, Ecclesiastes, and the collection of the Proverbs, must remain the battle-ground of critics. But it is of no great importance in putting together the testimony of the books themselves to be able to clear away these critical difficulties. We ask, what was the doctrine of the Spirit, which came down through the ages to the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, and was adopted by Him as the doctrine of the Jewish Scriptures? Let us, there- fore, first look at the group of writings which we find in the Hagiographa, the Book of Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, and then, secondly, take in their order those writings which in our own English Bible are classed together as the writings of the prophets. Some of these latter books, as Daniel, 106 VOX DEI. may have been differently placed by the Jewish Rabbis, but this division will best serve our purpose; and we have now to inquire what is the teaching of these two different groups of writings on the subject of the Spirit of God and His work amongst men. The Book of Job contains poetry of the very highest order and is full of profound moral teaching, but its most striking feature is, that it represents different men and different characters, under the influence of spiritual impulse, pouring forth their different speeches, and the Divine Being Himself as following their imperfect utter- ances with His own word in answer to them, and as supplementing that which is imperfect in them. It is taken for granted throughout the book that God is very near to man, and can speak to him at any time and by different ways. Eliphaz the Temanite refers to a vision by night. ‘Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my head stood up; it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God?” &c. (Job iv. 12-16). Bildad the Shuhite invites Job to inquire into the records of the past and learn how God has taught our fathers. ‘For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.” That is, we cannot be satisfied with our own OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 107 thoughts as individuals, but we inquire of antiquity. ‘“‘ The fathers:” ‘‘ Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?” (chap. vill. 10). When Job declares that he knows the lessons of the past, and is as deep in the knowledge of the fathers as his friends can wish him to be, yet he is not comforted, and his reason is not satisfied ;—-Zophar the Naamathite wishes that there might be some special revelation sent from God to convince Job of his ignorance. ‘‘ But oh that God would speak, and open His lips against thee ; and that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is!” (that is, to what has yet been revealed). That is true, replied Job, but it is not the secrets of wisdom that I want to know, but simply my own transgressions, and why I am suffering. The friends still reproach the Patriarch, thinking that he meant to justify himself in a self-righteous spirit, and believing that he suffered because he was guilty. And Job bursts out with a cry for pity and an assertion of faith. He knows that he is a child of God, and that he shall see God hereafter. His Redeemer liveth. He has the witness of the Spirit of God with him, ‘the root of the matter” in him, as he says. The contro- versy between the friends is followed by what is called Job’s parable and the long speech of Klhu, the young man. The magnificent episode in praise of Wisdom, which is found in the twenty-eighth chapter, and which reminds us of similar language in the Book of Proverbs and in the Apocrypha, implies a doctrine of Divine teaching by means of spiritual communications deeper than any 108 VO.AEDInly search of human thoughts or of human enterprise. And the interposition of the young man amongst his elders is distinctly justified on the ground of inspiration. ‘““T am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you my opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a Spirit in man; and the inspira-~ tion of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged under- stand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken unto me; I also will show mine opinion” (chap. xxxii. 6-10). The key to Elihu’s thought is that of personal inspira- tion. God may give to man ‘‘a messenger, an inter- preter, one among a thousand.” He may enlighten him and comfort him and make him afresh. He calls upon Job to ‘stand still and consider the wondrous works of God,” to humble himself before Him whom, with all his searching, man cannot find out. And the book ends with that wondrous colloquy between God and His servant, in which the Almighty bids man trust in Him as the infinitely great and wise and good, and Job con- fesses his insignificance and dependence. Although the Book of Job is plainly not from the standpoint of the Mosaic economy, it yet harmonises with it. The Spirit of God is conversing with the spirit of man, and the creature is lifted up into perfect reconciliation with the holy and heart-searching God. On the foundation of a Divine justification man’s prosperity is seen to rest, and thus the dialogue is brought into relation with the whole progressive revelation of the Old Testament. But it OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 109 must be admitted that there is a certain rhetorical ful- ness in this remarkable book, and a repetition in it, which seem to indicate its origin outside the strictly canonical limits. It may, as we now have it in the Old ‘Testament, have received certain amplifications due to a late age. Any way, it is not inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture as a whole. We would lay no very great stress on it. The general idea of it, that of the Divine discipline and the perfection of God’s ways, is certainly quite remote from the teaching of heathen religions : and it is full of the same spirit of hope and expectation which runs through the Bible from beginning to end. We pass, however, from this highly poetical book to that which comes to us sanctified by the practical use of many ages, and representing the faith, the love, the deep feeling, and the faithful worshipping hfe of the Church of God in every age since it was written—the book of Israel’s praise. The Book of Psalms.—The existence of such a book as this is itself a testimony to a twofold inspiration amongst the people of Israel. On the one hand, there was the inspiration which prompted the composition of the individual psalm; on the other hand, there was the inspiration diffused amongst the people to which the individual composition may be said to be addressed. A collection of hymns in the present day is founded upon the fact that the people of God meet together to sing His praises. The arrangement of such hymns and their pervading spirit and character correspond with the faith and pious experience of those who shall use 110 VOX DEI. them in their worship. In just the same manner, the Book of Psalms reflects the faith and experience of the people of Israel. There must have been a living book of psalms before there could be a written one. The people who sang the songs must haye been inspired as well as the men who composed them. Now, with respect to the date of the psalms, it is impossible to do more than reason with probability from the subject-matter or from the style of composition; therefore no weight must be laid upon chronological considerations. It is supposed that the Ninetieth Psalm was the composition of Moses, and others may have come down from his time. Many have been attributed to Dayid, others to Solomon, some to Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets of the time of the kings, and others to the time of the Captivity, to Ezra and the period of the Restora- tion. It is only right, however, to admit that all such questions of date are completely unsettled, and that all we can say 1s, that the book was probably collected to- gether during the time of the Captivity, when synagogue- worship would give special prominence to psalm-singing, and that some portion of it was much later in composition than others, from the references included in it. Whether we ascribe a large proportion or a small to King David and his age, it is certain that he laid great stress upon the performance of music in the temple-worship; and it is also certain that in the time of Samuel prophets were trained both in the composition and rendering of psalmody. Therefore some of the compositions which have come down to us are probably of older date than David ; and as OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 11i poetry is ascribed to the times of the Patriarchs and the Exodus, it is making no unreasonable inference when we say that the Book of Psalms represents a continuous inspiration amongst the people of Israel from the time of Jacob to the Captivity. What, then, is the doctrine of the Spirit of God which characterises this collection of sacred songs? ‘Take such an example as that which meets us on the first page, the First Psalm, which is of an introductory nature, some think composed by Ezra as a kind of preface to the whole collection as represent- ing the doctrine of the book. The man ‘ who delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates in wt day and night,” is “like a tree planted by the rivers of water.” Hvidently the conception which rules such language is that of the written law or word being made part of the inner man by the Spirit of God. The law becomes life. The same creat truth of spiritual regeneration and growth runs through all the psalms. Again, as the outcries of the heart, as the records of experience, as the prayers and vows and thanksgivings and praises of God’s people, the Psalms testify to a living fellowship between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. Take such a simple song of adoration as the Eighth Psalm, which seems to come from Dayid’s shepherd life. What a testi- mony it is to the fact that the strength of God is ordained out of the mouth of babes and sucklings for the glory of His name in all the earth! 7.¢., that the Spirit of God will speak to all mankind through the humblest and weakest of His people, because they are inspired. Man, visited of God, is above the very heavens. They declare TZ VOX DEI. the glory of God, but Man under the influence of the Spirit of God is greater glory to His name. The work which is being done in the child of God isa perfect work. “T shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (Ps. xvii. 15). The Word of God is strength and re- demption, because it is acceptable in our mouth and in the meditation of our heart; it is a Law which converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, en- lightens the eyes, warns and guides and preserves the man in his life (Ps. xix.). The individual child of God is in the midst of his brethren, of the congregation, and his personal faith and joy mingle with those of the universal Church (Ps. xxu.). The life of the whole flock of God is sung of by the Psalmist as he realises the blessed- ness of his own spiritual fellowship with Jehovah (Ps. xxul.). He prays for Divine teaching and guidance, for ‘‘the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Ps. xxv.). He beholds the beauty of Jehovah; he inquires in His temple; he dwells all his life in the Divine tabernacle (Ps. xxvii.). There is a voice of the Lord everywhere, but the people of God alone hear it as the voice of strength and bless- ing and peace (Ps. xxix.). The work of the Spirit is the work of cleansing and renewing, casting out sin and bringing in joy. It is the work of that Word which ‘‘made the heavens,’ which ‘‘spake and it was done, commanded and it stood fast,” breathing in the soul of man, and coming forth in songs of rejoicing (Ps. xxxii., xxxil.). Far above all mere ritualistic observances and obedience is the blessed work of the Spirit: ‘Sacrifice OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Ls and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened (that is, to the teachings of the Spirit), burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me (t.e., the truly spiritual and acceptable worshipper is thus described throughout the Scriptures), I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not concealed Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth from the great congregation ” (Psa xln): The Spirit received has been given forth as the free eift of God to the Church and the world. There are themes which fill the child of God with inspiration. « My heart bubbleth up with a good matter; I speak of the things which I have made touching the King; my tongue is the _ pen of a ready writer” (Ps. xlv.). ‘“‘My mouth shall speak of wisdom: and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear toa parable (v.e., as suggested to me by the Spirit of God): I will open my dark saying upon the harp” (Ps. xlix.). The memorable confession of sin which David has recorded in the Fifty-first Psalm is full of spiritual teaching. It is the heart which is named as the seat of sin. It is the clean heart and the right spirit which is prayed for. “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit ” H 114 VOXe DEL. (Ps. li. to-12). It is the same doctrine of Divine euidance and spiritual blessing which is taught by those psalms which review the past history of Israel, such as Ps. Ixxviii., Ixxix.; and in Ps. lxxx. spiritual revival is prayed for in terms which are freely employed under the Christian dispensation. ‘Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine. Quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name. Cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Ps. Ixxx. 7, 14, 18, 19). From the Kightieth to the Highty- fourth Psalm the people of God are the subject of the psalm, and through them His name is praised. We are led at last into the blessedness of God’s House, and of those who dwell there, to whom He is a sun and shield, to whom He gives grace and glory. Occasionally the Psalmist returns to his individual sorrows and cares, but the majority of the songs of praise are fitted for the ereat assembly rejoicing together in the Covenant God, and in the glory of His Kingdom, ‘“‘ worshipping at His footstool, Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that called upon His name” (Ps. xcix.). The blessing which the individual soul ascribes to Jehovah is the blessing which all creation ascribes to Him (Ps. ciii., civ.). The song of the suffering and rejoicing believer is the song of the con- eregation, and it is varied with wonderful skill, through the memorials of the past and through the changes of personal history, until in the 119th Psalm we are arrested by a grand composition in which the work of OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Lele the Spirit in the laws and statutes and precepts and commandments and testimonies and judgments, and all the external revelations of the Divine Mind and Will, are blended with the gracious work of the same Spirit in the mind and heart and soul and daily experience of God’s servant. The Spirit is the quickening, teaching, rebuking, comforting, strengthening, enlarging, uphold- ing, preserving, delivering, and saving Spirit, for whose influence the Psalmist prays, and who is the life of his life. ‘The songs of degrees” are all of them songs of the people, cherishing their fellowship with one another because they cherish their fellowship with God. The great congregation offers its praises, the humble supplant for Divine Grace cries out for help, but there is everywhere the same dependence on the “ Good Spirit,” who shall lead the believer into the land of uprightness (Pe. cxii. 10). ‘“The Lord is good to all, and’ His tender mercies are over all His works. The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him, unto all that call upon Him in truth” (Ps. exly. 9, 18). The praises go up from every creature and through all varieties of instruments, blending in one vast hallelujah in which heaven and earth shall be united as in one universal and eternal sanctuary. Notwithstanding that there are, here and there, outbursts of national feeling with which we can scarcely be expected to sympathise, as they are expressed in the language of a warlike and semi-barbaric state which Christianity has almost banished from the world, is there a more spiritual book in the whole of Scripture than the Psalms? All through the ages since it was put together 116 VOX DEI. it has been the food of the devout and the vehicle of believing prayer and _ praise to countless multitudes. ‘‘ What,” asks Mr. Isaac Taylor in his beautiful work on “The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry,” ‘‘are modern hymns but so many laborious attempts to put in a new form that which, as it was done in the very best manner so many years ago, can never be well done again, otherwise than in the way of a verbal repetition ?” (p. 158). The three books which in our Bible are ascribed to Solomon, the Book of Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes, all represent a very distinct advancement in the religious thought of the people; the one being a very wide application of the teaching of the Law to the common life of men; the Song of Solomon being a highly figurative use of the relations and language of personal feeling to set forth the deepest and most ex-- perimental religious truth; and the book called “ Zhe Preacher” being either a book of confessions and retro- spect in view of the Divine judgment and mercy, or a philosophical treatise of later date in which the teaching of the Word of God is set above the vain speculations of the world. All these works are based upon an element in the life of Israel which may be said to have originated with Solomon, the element “‘Khokhma,” or wisdom, as a matter of teaching and spiritual elevation. The identifi- cation of wisdom and virtue, or godliness, and of folly and vice, is based upon the fact that the good man is the recipient of the Divine Spirit—he is taught of God. ‘There may seem to be in the Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes a certain secularity and earthliness from which at first OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Tse we turn away, but it must be remembered that the Law of Moses was a law of human hfe in the present world, it was the law of a nation, while at the same time the Law of God. But there runs through the works of Solomon a profound reflection and a reference of earthly things to a heavenly origin and foundation which gives even to the maxims of prudence and sagacity a meaning much above the level of mere worldly calculation. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the wisdom which God's people learn in the books of Solomon is a wisdom which cometh from above, and which leadeth upward through the lower sphere of morality and civil life to the higher region of fellowship with God and companionship with Him for ever. The magnificent personation of Wisdom in the eighth chapter of the Book of Proverbs has been regarded by many as an inspired anticipation of the revelations which were afterwards given through Him who was “in the beginning with God,” and in whom He was ‘well pleased.” What we are especially called to notice is, that in the age of Solomon, side by side with a very highly developed religious ritual and legal system, there was also an ethical teaching represented in these books. The young were invited to take the Law and Word of God as their guide through life. The thinkers were summoned to search for true wisdom in the revela- tion and commandments of God. The mysteries and problems of the world, insoluble as they are in the dim: light of mere human wisdom and speculation, are set in the clear daylight of God’s Law, and the Preacher de- clares that the way of obedience is the way of knowledge. 118 VOX DEI. The people would be greatly helped by these thoughtful and almost philosophical works. The life was regulated by Moses, the heart was touched and moved by David, but there remained the intellect to be stimulated, and we cannot doubt that the very rapid progress of the nation during the Dayidic period, followed by the peaceful reign of his son, would develop powers of thought such as would be fed and nourished by Solomon’s wisdom. We cannot in this place enter upon the difficult critical con- troversy as to the authorship and date of Ecclesiastes. If it is intended to represent the repentance of the back- sliding king in his last days, it becomes a very suitable completion of what we may call the Trilogy of Solomonic wisdom ; the Song of Solomon representing the warmth and sincerity of the young man’s religion; the Proverbs, his full-grown. observation and experience in the applica- tion of the Word of God to human life; and the Eccle- slastes, the confessions and lamentations of the fallen king over his past sins, and the final result of his study of the world’s problem, ‘‘the conclusion of the whole matter.’ But it must be admitted that the last of the three books is not exactly what we should expect, in tone and manner, from such a man as Solomon in such astate of mind. Yet, difficult as it is to account for the form of the book, there is no departure in it from the standpoint of the other books. It is distinctly on the ground of the supremacy of the Divine Law and the misery of disobedience to it that all things are declared to be vanity ; and the judgment which is proclaimed, and to which the young man and all others are pointed, the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 119 future, when the spirit shall return to God, who gave it, and the scheme of this world shall be viewed in the light of eternity, are not speculations and dreams of philoso- phers or ideas borrowed from heathen systems, they are what the Preacher proclaims on the authority of Jehovah. “ Remember thy Creator ;” that is the great rule. ‘‘ The words of the wise”—i.e., those who are taught of God, those are the fixed and the honoured words—“ as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd.” By them it is that the young man is admonished, and the sum and substance of what they say is, “ Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Lor Clod shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” This certainly is a proclama- tion of the spirituality of the Law. It is not a mere civil law, it is not a mere ceremonial law, it is not a law which regulates the external obedience of the life alone, but it is a law of the secret things, of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Solomon, the sinful king, repeated the prayer which his sinful father had uttered before him, “‘ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” If the book was composed in a much later age and ascribed to Solomon, or written, like some of the books of the Apocrypha, by one who per- sonated him for the purpose of writing what would be understood as a kind of philosophical fiction, it is ex- ceedingly difficult to know how it was admitted into the Old Testament canon. Even if we admit the theory to be sound, the fact remains that those who were well {2u VOX DEI. acquainted with the other books of Solomon, and with the other writings of the Old Testament, did not regard this book as teaching anything which Solomon could not have taught; therefore they became witnesses to its harmony, in matter at least, with the body of Scripture. The Solomonic books, therefore, taken as a whole, reveal a progressive spiritual life amongst the people. They passed from the idea of a written Law to the idea of inspired wisdom; and the ‘‘ wise man” of Solomon’s writings is not the philosopher, not the intellectually ereat and distinguished, not the priest or the prophet or the king, regarded as exceptions, standing alone, but the good man, the man of God in whom His Spirit dwells, even the humblest and weakest, yea, the little child, who fears and loves Jehovah. After the time of Solomon, the history of the chosen people is a sad record of unfaithfulness to Jehovah and to their mission as His witnesses. Their idolatry increased, and we cannot doubt that the fall of Solomon was to a large extent the source of the rapid popular corruption. The division of the nation into two king- doms, while it was a judgment of Jehovah, was also the merciful means of the preservation for a time of the religious position given to the nation. The ten tribes went much further and more rapidly, in departure from God, than Judah. The opposition between the two kingdoms afforded the opportunity of protest against idolatry. ‘The same general acknowledgment of the traditions on which both the northern kingdom and the southern rested kept up a certain religious uniformity. OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. bar Prophets were sent both to Israel and Judah, and some- times the same prophet to both. But Jerusalem was the true centre of revelation and worship. Jeroboam’s rebellion was not only against Rehoboam, but against Jehovah, although he chose to regard himself as fulfilling the Divine purposes (see 1 Kings xi. 31-35). The messengers who were sent to rebuke the idolatry of Israel were prophets; some of whom, as Elijah and Elisha, wrought great miracles. But after the period of miraculous signs had gone by, prophets were sent, who, while they wrought no external miracles before the people, ministered among them in the name of Jehovah, and left behind them written prophecies which were incorporated in the body of Scripture; and during the time of Israel’s captivity in Assyria and Babylon, must have wonderfully contributed to maintain their faith and prepare them for future restoration especially as the Hope of the Messiah was a prominent subject in their messages. So far as the question of personal inspiration is concerned, the prophets who left behind them no writings, as Elijah and Elisha, were as truly filled with the Holy Ghost as any of those whose words we read. But beyond the fact that such inspired men invited by their ministry all their fellow-countrymen to hold fellowship with God and wait upon His word, we learn nothing from the history as to what they taught; yet they form a link of connection between the successive portions of revelation, between the Scriptures which are connected with the time of Solomon and those which, beginning, probably, with the Book of Jonah, continue to the end 122 VOX DEI. of the canon. It seems not unlikely that the prophets of the earlier period for about a hundred years not only wrought miracles and delivered special Divine messages to kings, and were great reformers in the land, but also gathered the people together at times and preached to them in the name of Jehovah, so that they were regarded as organs of the Spirit, and were manifestly inspired men. The date of some of the early prophetic books, as Jonah, Joel, Hosea, Amos, is very difficult to deter- mine with precision. The critics have attacked the authenticity of Jonah with great severity. But as their attacks are really on the ground of the miracle contained in it, and the same objection would apply to the story of Elijah and Elisha, we cannot allow them to stand in our way in this review of the testimony of Scripture. (See the author’s “Studies in the Book of Jonah,” Lond. 188 2). Taking the history of Jonah to be true, the book is a very striking introduction to the succession of propheti- cal writings which may be regarded as subsequent to it in time. Jonah’s mission to Nineveh proclaimed the breadth of the Divine Word. His flight from the pre- sence of the Lord, that is, from his work and mission as a prophet, with its rebuke and his repentance, reminds us how very solemn a thing it was then to be an inspired man and have the Word of the Lord to proclaim. And the story said loudly to the people, that if they would not fulfil Jehovah’s mission to the world, it would still be fulfilled even against their will. As a people they must perish and rise again; and in their resurrection there would be at once a sign to the world and the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 123 beginning of the Kingdom of Grace. Jonah’s preaching must have been founded upon his history—he would know it and the Ninevites would know it. Though there is not much language that is inspired in the Book of Jonah, except the short song of praise for deliverance, which was probably borrowed from well-known psalms, the facts themselves are full of significance; and the whole forms a suitable link between the time of the prophets who did not write and those whose writings are preserved to us. The Spirit of God was poured out upon the people of Nineveh, which is a new fact. We have, in the ministry of Elisha, distinct indications of the con- nection of the heathen nations with Israel as a channel of grace to them. But the preaching of Jonah was a mission to the heathen world. So that we have in this one short book an epitome of prophecy. It is at the same time a significant parable setting forth the spiritual vocation of Israel, and an anticipation of the widespread work of the Spirit in the nations of the earth. But after Jonah the clouds began to gather on the horizon, and the judgments of Jehovah threatened both kingdoms. In two hundred years the whole extent of the nation would be swept with the storm of the Divine wrath. The people of both kingdoms would, against their will, be made missionaries to the East. The Scriptures already written would be seen in the new light of providential dispensations ; and in the gracious method of God, it was appointed that new Scriptures should be prepared, steeped in the reality of new facts. The epoch of written pro- phecy coincides, therefore, with that of approaching 124 VOX DEI. judgment. It was of supreme importance at such a time that there should be in the hands of the true Church a body of Scriptures expounding the meaning of what occurred, and cherishing the faith and hope of God’s people. Hach prophet from the ninth century before Christ onwards utilised the writings of those who pre- ceded him. And the whole were as a light shining in a dark place to a tried and tempted, and almost despairing, nation. So the Scripture written by the individual was read, copied, and handed on to the future with the seal of the true Church upon it. The Word of God given by the Spirit of God, beginning like a stream flowing from a source high up among the mountains of a sacred antiquity, gathered volume as it wound its way among the changing scenes and events of national history ; it was the same, and yet not the same; it carried forward the current of Grace, always nearing the ocean of uni- versal truth and the redemption of ‘all the families of the earth.” Joel is among the first, if not actually the first, of the prophets whose words have come down to us,—between the dates 837 and 757 B.c. He was sent at an impor- tant period to preach a spiritual restoration to Judah. Terrible visitations were sent about that time—a plague of locusts and an earthquake (see Amos i. 1). The natural event is taken as a text—Joel preaches repentance and promises the outpouring of the Spirit of God. The main feature of the book is the lifting up of the pro- phetic voice to the higher tones of a spiritual kingdom. The whole nation is invited to rejoice in Divine inspira- OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. Le tion. A kingdom of prophets and priests shall be hereafter a kingdom of princes and mighty rulers of the earth. There is no such proclamation of the free gifts of the Spirit in any preceding writer, though the doctrine of free grace was implied. Repentance is invited dis- tinctly on the ground of Divine promises of restoration and renewal. Repentance itself is God’s gift; that which we present to God first comes from God. We give Him of His own. If the temple-worship is to be acceptable and is to be as it has been in beauty and glory, it must be by God’s own presence being manifested. He will inspire us that we may be pleasing in His sight. The spiritual kingdom is the basis on which the material kingdom rests. That is the fundamental truth of the Theocracy. It is the main teaching of Joel, and of all the prophets who followed him. Another truth which is before the prophet is the fellowship of God’s people, their universal priesthood and common sanctity. The congregation is before the Lord in all its manifold variety. They were blessed together. And it was in close connection with this community of the national life and universality of religious privilege that we read the Divine promises of outpoured grace. Joel gives us in a few words the outline which subse- quent writers fill in. Chapter ii. vers. 28-32 describes a great outpouring of the Spirit, and by means of it a separation of a remnant according to the election of grace. ‘And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, 126 VOX SDE, your young men shall see visions ; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit” (vers. 28, 29). This promise of the Spirit is immediately connected with a promise of deliverance for all who shall call on the name of Jehovah. This promise is generally regarded as Messianic; but whether we take it as looking forward to the times of Messiah or referring to nearer events, it is assuredly a very remarkable advance in the clear proclamation of spiritual blessings. It must have sustained the faith of God’s people. If He would pour out upon all flesh of His Spirit, then no sincere servant of the Lord could doubt that if he sought for spiritual gifts they would be bestowed, and whosoever would might be in the remnant according to the election of grace. ‘The quotation of this passage by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost has given it a special importance in the words of prophecy. It pointed, no doubt, as St. Peter says, to that gracious time when all the families of the earth should be blessed by being taken into the covenant of Abraham; it anticipated a great dispensation of the Spirit, in which we now live through the preaching of the Gospel; but we should misinterpret, surely, this apostolic application of the prophet’s language if we take it to mean that there was no pouring out of the Divine Spirit before the Day of Pentecost. The prediction is that of an ever-widening bestowal of grace, whereby the kingdom of Heaven shall be set up upon earth, which shall call all the nations into the great valley of decision and bring about the glory of Zion. God’s method is to work for the salvation of the OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. LAY, world both by His Spirit within and by His Providence without, and the doctrine of the Theocracy necessitates a continual work of His grace in the souls of men, whereby human nature itself is renewed. ‘Thus Joel sets before us in the latter part of his prophecy the great doctrine which is expounded very fully by those who followed him, the spiritual life the root of all life; the work of God in the inner man the real salvation. This was the doctrine which Jesus proclaimed—‘‘ The kingdom of God is within you.” This was the truth which was written over the porch of Christianity on the’ Day of Pentecost. About the same time that the prophet Joel spoke so distinctly of the outpouring of the Spirit, the two prophets Amos and Hosea appeared; Amos about 810 B.c., and Hosea about 800 B.c. Amos, in his own person, was a very striking proclamation of the freedom of the Spirit, for he was from ‘‘among the herdmen of Tekoa;” he was called out by special spiritual inspiration from the class of agricultural labourers. The prominent topic in Joel’s predictions was the great Day of the Lord. That is the theme of the prophets who immediately followed him or were contemporaneous with him. ‘The idea of a union of judgment with mercy runs through all the Scriptures. The Day of the Lord is terrible to the enemies of Israel, but the revelation of glory to the people of God. The restoration which is promised is a spiritual restoration. The feast-days and solemn assemblies are nothing in the sight of God; ‘“‘ but let gudgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” The Word of the Lord is the precious thing, and the time 128 oy OMe DHT shall come when it shall be sought by those ‘‘ who run to and fro, and wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east.” There shall be a glorious revival and renewal of Israel. They shall be ‘‘ planted upon their land, and they shall be no more pulled up.” Hosea is full of the future glory of Israel. The Jezreel (lit., ‘‘ he will sow ”) whose day is foreseen is the great spiritual King who should fulfil the promise of the Theocracy. Israel would become a new kingdom by being sown afresh with righteous seed. ‘‘In the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God” (Hos. i. 10; cf. 1. 15-23, 1. 5). The whole book is full of the idea of spiritual restoration, and concludes with one of the most beautiful promises of Divine healing grace to be found in the whole of the Old Testament (Hos. xiv.), a promise which is commended to those who in dependence on the Spirit of God seek to know His will. ‘ Who is wise, and he shall wnderstand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?” We cannot pass from Hosea without noticing his use of the figure of resurrection, probably from the history of Jonah, his miraculous recovery being regarded in the light of a resurrection, if not actually so; the spiritual restoration of Israel is spoken of as a quickening of the dead by Divine power, and subsequent prophets freely employ the same figure, especially Isaiah and Ezekiel. It igs extremely impor- tant to notice this early use of the analogy of physical life to set forth spiritual life. The Spirit of God is thus represented as a creative Spirit. He gives life when OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 129 there is death. Ezekiel leaves us in no doubt that that was the belief of the people, for the work is ascribed to the Spirit of God directly (Ezek, xxxvii. 14). About the middle of the eighth century before Christ appeared the two prophets Micah and Isaiah. It is difficult to say how far they worked together and quoted one another, but they were certainly filled with the same spirit,—and that a very exalted one. The very opening words of Micah speak of the breadth of view which wag given to the prophets, and how comprehensive their messages were. “‘ Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the Lord God cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place” (Mic. 1. 2-4). The Spirit of God is proclaimed to be a Spirit of grace. <‘‘O thou that art named The house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?” But the true Spirit is distinguished from the false. There is no answer of God to those who, while they profess to have the Spirit of God, walk in lies and unrighteousness, “ But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.” There will come a time when all the world shall acknowledge the power of Jehovah; all shall see the mountain of the House of the Lord established on the top of the moun- I 130 VOX DEI. tains and exalted above the hills, and the people flowing unto it. ‘‘ And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” This prediction of the universal spread of Divine teaching and its effects on the world is a prediction of the diffusion | of spiritual grace in harmony with the earlier prophecy of Joel. The judgments which are foretold are judg- ments which prepare the way for mercy, and the message of God to His people shows them what is good, which is the simple hfe of faith and obedience, ‘‘to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Mic. vi. 8). The concluding words of the prophet Micah are like a gleam of Gospel hight on the horizon, almost an anticipation of the Day of Pentecost: “* Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the rennant of His heri- tage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our wruquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which Thow hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” ‘This truly is the voice of the Spirit. Coming to the great evangelical prophet Isaiah, or to the group of writings which bear his name, we recognise at once the high spiritual tone which pervades all the language. Dean Payne Smith, in his admirable work, OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 1634: ‘Prophecy a Preparation for Christ,” has very justly observed: ‘* Without Isaiah I doubt whether the Jews could have preserved their faith during their long cen- turies of dispersion ; without Isaiah I doubt whether the Christian Church could have been so quickly, so surely founded.” The book is full of Christ; it is full of the Spirit of Christ. The very first chapter is a solemn protest against formality and hypocrisy; the second is a repetition of the great proclamation of a universal King- dom of Grace from the prophet Micah; and the House of Jacob is invited to walk in the light of the Lord, turning away from all false spirits to the true Spirit of God. The people of God are a vineyard, and the Lord is the Husbandman. It is the Law and the Word which they have despised, and which must be their restoration by its spiritual power. The grand vision of the sixth chapter is a vision of spiritual glory. The mission of the prophet is by spiritual cleansing, taking away iniquity and purging sin; and the revival of Israel through the tenth, the remnant according to the election of grace, is a spiritual revival. The Lord is before His people, that they may wait upon Him. “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? should they seek to the dead for the living? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it 1s because there is no light in them” (or, morning of joy for them) (chap. vili. 19, 20). That Isaiah is full of the promise of the Messiah there is no need to show ; 152 VOX DEI. but it is important to remember that the Divine Mes- senger and Deliverer promised is clearly described as one who is full of the Spirit of God, and giving of that Spirit to others. Chapters xi. and xii. set forth the Branch growing out of the roots of Jesse; that is, the great Davidian King, who shall not only Himself be full of wisdom and understanding, but shall deliver the people, and put into their lips the lovely song of praise in chapter xii., which concludes with the pean of victory over sin and the world: ‘“‘ Cry out and shout, thow inhaht- tant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel wn the midst of thee” (chap. xii. 6). Chapter after chapter the judgments of Jehovah are predicted, but His mercy is seen through them all. The fallen and rebellious Israel is invited to become the restored and saved Israel through the quickening and renewing Grace of God. ‘‘Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest ? And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall in- crease their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel” (chap. xxix. 17-19). The work of revival and restoration is distinctly ascribed to the Spirit of God in chap. xxxil. 15-18. There is desolation and misery: ‘‘ Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteous- OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 138 ness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” The beautiful description of redemption in chapter xxxv. cannot be understood of mere external change and restoration of the people to their land; it is the promise of a gracious work of the Spirit, which shall separate the clean from the unclean, shall put songs into the lips of the redeemed, and joy on their heads, and drive away all sorrow and sighing from them for ever. The second part of the Book of Isaiah, from chapter xl. to the end, is a still higher strain of prophecy, and comes closer, perhaps, than any other portion of the Old Testament to the language of the New Dispensation. The Spirit of the Lord is again and again directly named. The people of God are His witnesses because they are inspired. The servant of Jehovah is encouraged by the greatest promises because the Lord is with him and holds him by the right hand, and gives to him abundantly.. The poor and needy, the hungry and thirsty, are lifted up by Divine Grace. ‘I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath 134, VOX DEL created it” (chap. xli. 17-20). There is One who is pre- eminently the Servant of the Lord, His elect in whom His soul delighteth. ‘‘I have put My Spirit upon him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor litt up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law.” The whole of the wonderful description in chapters xlit, xliui., and xliv. of the work of God’s servant is full of an almost Christian doctrine of the Spirit. The promise is distinctly given: ‘I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel” (chap. xliv. 3-5). The suffering Servant of the Lord, described in chapter liii., is the King of Grace, in whose ‘‘ hand the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper,” who shall “ see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied,’ His victories are spiritual victories. His subjects are mem- bers of a spiritual kingdom. ‘The people are invited to come to the waters of this fountain of spiritual life; and the blessed influence which is promised is that which makes the thorn and the briar both of the individual life and of the whole race of man to disappear, and instead OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 135 of them the fir tree and the myrtle, beautiful, fragrant, fruitful life to abound over the earth. God is the Healer, restoring comfort, creating the fruit of the lips. “ Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near.” ‘So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun: when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift wp a standard against him ” (chap. lix.19). The glory of the redeemed people is depicted in language which has little meaning except it be interpreted spiritu- ally. ‘‘ The people shall be all righteous.” The proclama- tion which is made to the world in the name of the Lord and through His people is one that the Spirit of God inspires. “The Spirit of the Lord God 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 opening of the prison to them that 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” (chap. Ixi. 1-3). The fact that the Lord Jesus applied this language to Himself, and declared it fulfilled in His spiritual ministry, leaves us in no doubt that the doctrine ot the Spirit was clearly before the mind of the prophet, and was therefore familiar to those to whom He addressed Himself more than seven hundred ToGo VOX DEL years before Christ. The analogy of spiritual restoration with natural growth is based upon the doctrine of inward life bestowed by the work of grace. ‘ The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations,” that is, by the power of the Holy Ghost working in the hearts of men. The references to the work of the Spirit are numerous in the later chapters of Isaiah. The people are said to have ‘rebelled and vexed the Holy Spirit of the Lord ” (chap. Ixili. 10). Moses, the shepherd of the flock, was made so by direct inspiration. ‘Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock ? where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him?” “As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest ” (chap. Ixiii. 11, 14). ‘* For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in tliat which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (chap. Ixv. 17,18). The new creation is a spiritual renewal of God’s people. ‘‘ For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord” (chap. Ixvi. 22, 23). The worship which was rejected because it was polluted and insincere has been purified by Divine Grace, and the offering which the ———- ee ed “ OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 137 children of Israel bring is henceforth an acceptable offering, brought ‘‘in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.” It has been remarked by the critics that the later chapters of Isaiah (xl.—lxvi.) were written especially for the sake of those who would be carried into captivity, and who would need more spiritual consolations, because the ritual services of the temple were interrupted. The ideal which is presented to us in these later chapters is certainly a very lofty one, and is coming forth in due time from God Himself. Isaiah was full of the Holy Ghost himself, and he uttered words which helped the people to depend on the gracious work of God in their souls when they were cast out from the external privi- leges which they had forfeited by their unfaithfulness. Contemporary with Isaiah lived the prophet Nahum (about 720 B.C.); but as his prophecy is chiefly con- cerning Nineveh and the destruction of the Assyrian power, there is no need to seek in it any teaching on the doctrine of the Spirit, although the general tone of the prophet is that of believing confidence in Him who is “a strong hold in the day of trouble, and knoweth them that trust in Him” (chap. i. 7). The strength of the Lord’s people is in their spiritual restoration. ‘‘ Behold upon the mountains the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off” (chap.i.15). After the time of Isaiah and Nahum there was an interval during which prophecy was silent. But shortly before the great climax of the national history, when the judgments of 138 VOX DEI. Jehovah were poured out, the line of inspired preachers recommenced. From Zephaniah down to Malachi, through the time of disaster and ruin to the time of restoration and a hundred years atterwards, with more or less of continuity, there was a stream of Divine messages sent to the people; and it is easy to recognise in all these latest prophets a fuller and more emphatic appeal to those who were suffering for their sins to call upon Jehovah for the gifts of His grace and for the new creation, by which alone they could be restored to a new and better state, both as individuals and as a nation. The three most prominent of these prophets of revival, as we may call them, are Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, and their testimony to the Spirit is very distinct and very abundant. But in addition to these longer writings, and characterised by the same pervading faith, largely influenced by the works of preceding prophets such as Isaiah, there are other messages preserved to us, sent by such men as Zephaniah, Daniel, Obadiah, Haggai, Habak- kuk, and Malachi; and there are historical books connected with the same period, such as Ezra and Nehemiah, which open to us the inner life of the people through their inspired leaders. The short book of three chapters which bears the name of Zephaniah is said to have been published ‘‘in the days of Josiah, king of Judah,” 2.e., from 640 to 609 B.C. That was a time when external reformation was carried on with great vigour by the royal power, but nothing could avert the Divine judgments which were coming both upon Judah and upon the neighbouring nations. OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 1389 The Day of the Lord is proclaimed by the prophet as with the voice of a trumpet; but the special subject of his prophecy seems to be the hope of Judah in spiritual revival and restoration: ‘‘ Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” The people are promised a cleansing both of the heart and the lips, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, and serve Him with one consent (chap. 1.9). ‘‘ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants, even the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring Mine offering.” The people shall be purged with judgments, but in the midst of them shall be left ‘an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the “name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies ; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” The last words of the book (chap. ili. 14—20) are an invitation to rejoicing in anticipation of a complete restoration, which is represented as a spiritual work over which the Lord shall rejoice, ‘‘ resting in His love, and joying over His people with singing.” The date of Jeremiah (628 to 585 3.c.) reminds us that the central point of his prophecy is the cap- tivity of Judah in 606 B.c. Full as his words are of the spirit of lamentation and confession in the pre- sence of Jehovah’s righteous judgments, they are yet calls to repentance and reformation in dependence on the Spirit of God. The opening words remind us that 140 VOX) DEL, one who feels himself as a little child may yet be God’s spokesman, his mouth being touched by the hand of the Lord, and then his mission is the highest ‘‘ over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” The prophet’s rebukes are very severe, but his appeals are full of the tenderest compassion, and breathe the very spirit of faith in the Divine covenant. The whole future of Israel hangs upon their repentance and return to their God. It was in a spiritual circum- cision that they would be made once more the people of Jehovah. ‘‘O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wicked- ness, that thow mayest be saved: how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” (chap.iv. 14). ‘* A wonderful and horrible thing 1s committed in the land ; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means ; and My people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof ?” (chap. v. 30, 31). The House of God is be- come ‘‘a den of robbers” (chap. vil, 1-12). Such hypocrisy and formalism God will not accept, and the holy places and things shall be defiled and destroyed. But restora- tion 1s His, and He will give it. ‘‘Go and proclaim the ancient covenant,” said God to Jeremiah. If they return to the covenant, and seek Him who made it with their fathers, they shall yet be saved. So far as the nation as a nation is concerned, their transgressions are gone too far to be overlooked; they are like the linen girdle buried by Euphrates, ‘‘marred and profitable for nothing ;” but the Lord, who has put off the girdle from Himself, can put on another and a better, and He will create His a ee As OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 141 people afresh by His Spirit. ‘‘The fishers shall come and fish the true Israel out of many places, and the hunters shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks” (chap. xvi. 16, 17). It is the deceitful and disobedient heart that must be cleansed and changed. ‘‘ Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed ; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise” (chap. xvii. 5-14). The scene in the potter’s house is the great message to the people: ‘‘O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel” (chap. xvii. I—6). Jeremiah proclaims the promise of the great Deliverer, “The Branch, the Lord our Righteousness ;” but he con- nects with it very clearly the promise of a better order of prophets who shall not speak out of their own hearts, but as the Lord inspires them (see chapter xxiil.). The story of the true prophet himself is a confirmation of his teach- ing, and stands in the midst of it as a practical illustra- tion of the truth of God. The spiritual restoration is promised, and shall bring with it a restored nationality (see chapters xxx., xxxi.). The promise of the Spirit is very emphatic and distinct, and reminds us of that which was given by the prophet Joel more than two hundred years before : “ But this shall be the covenant that L will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, Iwill put My law in their inward parts, and write wt in their hearts ; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his newh- bour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: 142 V.OX*_ DET: Jor they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their imeauity,and I will remember their sin no more” (chap. xxxi. 33, 34). The thirty-third chapter, which is the word that came to the prophet when he was shut up in the court of the prison, is one long and most glowing pre- diction of spiritual restoration, the very heart of which is the promise of the great Spiritual Redeemer, the Branch of Righteousness, whose righteousness shall restore the people, and the covenant established in Him shall never pass away. The Book of Lamentations is founded upon the same truth. It is a confession before God in the hope of forgiveness and renewal. The prayer which runs through it all is the prayer with which it con- cludes, “ Zurn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned ; renew our days as of old.” After the dis- covery of the Law in the days of king Josiah, the people were exhorted to repentance with new earnestness in view of the new revelation thus sent to them. The Law must not only be read and remembered, but observed and kept, and especially in its highest spiritual meaning. It has been thought by some that the prediction in chapter ili. 16, 17, that the Ark of the Covenant shall be forgotten, and Jerusalem shall be called the Throne of the Lord, in the midst of gathered nations, was intended to set forth the freedom and graciousness of the New Dispensation, when the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh, and ritual observances shall be no longer esteemed of great importance. Certainly such OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 145 words were never employed by any preceding prophet, and Jeremiah is full of the spirit of the new covenant, which is the covenant of universal Grace. Postponing for the present the consideration of the Book of. Daniel, as its authenticity is so much in dispute, and it stands so much by itself as an apocalyptic book, the Book of Hzekiel, which represents the time of the Captivity, comes next to be examined. The testimony we find in Ezekiel to the doctrine of the Spirit is one of the fullest and most explicit in the Old Testament. His preaching was intended to work a special work among the exiles, drawing them and keeping them together, and giving them help to resist the influence of heathenism. There is, as in Jeremiah, a very evident intention in the _prophet’s words to convince the people, and especially the higher classes and professedly religions among them, of their corruption and spiritual danger. But there 1s also, equally conspicuous, a strong confidence in the sufficiency of Divine Grace and in the future restoration of the true Israel. ‘‘ It was his to teach the progress of the kingdom of God from the first call of Abraham to the establishment of the kingdom of Dayid, and to show that this most triumphant period of his people’s history was but a shadow of still greater glory. He was to raise the drooping spirits of his countrymen by the prospect of a restoration, reaching far beyond a return to their native soil; he was to point to an inauguration of Divine worship far more solemn than was to be secured by the recon- struction of the city or temple on its original site in its original form; to point, in fact, to that dispensation 144 VOX DEI. which temple, city, and nation were intended to fore- shadow and introduce” (“Speaker’s Com.,” vol. vi. 4). Ezekiel was probably himself a priest and the son of a priest, and the two offices of priest and prophet being united in him gave peculiar force to his message. ‘The heavens were opened to him” by the river of Chebar, and he ‘‘ saw visions of God.” The wonderful vision of the Divine glory with which the book opens prepares us for the highly spiritual character of what follows. The message is directly from God, and is sent to the people, who are described as ‘‘ impudent children, and stiff-hearted and rebellious.” The roll written within and without with lamentations and mourning and woe has to be eaten by the prophet, sweetness in the mouth, but bitterness as it is digested and understood. The Spirit of God is the revealer of the secret things, taking up the prophet and carrying him from place to place and teaching him what to do and what to say. The prophet is not merely gifted for a time with a power of vision, but he is a pastor responsible for the people, whose blood shall be required at his hand. The Spirit entered into him, and set him on his feet and talked with him. Vision after vision is given to the prophet, by which the awful wickedness of the House of Israel is set forth and the tremendous judgments are denounced, until Ezekiel in his terror cries out, ‘Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” ‘Then, in answer to that prayer for comtort, the Lord gives a promise of restoring grace. All the detestable and abominable things shall be taken away. “And I will give them one heart, and I will put OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION, 145 anew Spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of Jlesh ; that they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordi- nances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God” (chap. xi. 18—20). As we have seen in the case of Jeremiah, the false prophets and corrupt priests and unbelieving shepherds are condemned by Ezekiel, and the true Word of God is put in contrast with that by which the people are maintained in their evil ways. The call to repentance is very loud and very urgent. The sins which are slaying them are sing of the heart, and only by putting them out of their hearts can they be saved. Again and again it is ‘“‘a new heart and a new Spirit ” which the people are told to seek. When the corrupt elders came to inquire of Jehovah, the prophet was commanded to reject them. They would only be accepted when they truly repented. <“‘ For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the House of Israel, all of them in the land, serve Me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to your fathers. And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye K 146 VOX DEI. have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye House of Israel, saith the Lord God” (chap. xx. 40-44). It is not a mere national restoration which is here in view, but the true Israel is foreseen developed out of the living remnant in the old and corrupt nation. The solemn address to the shepherds in chapter xxxiy., with the prediction of the One Great and True Shepherd who should feed His flock, and gather them together and separate the evil from the good, cannot, of course, be applied to any state of things which preceded the coming of Christ. It is a very lofty spiritual appeal to the teachers and guides of the people to do justice to their high vocation and feed the flock of God with His Word. The language of the prophet is highly figurative, but it is easily interpreted in the light of the Gospel, of which it was an anticipation. Take, for example, such a promise as we read in chapter xxxvi. 24—38. The clear water which shall be sprinkled upon the people is surely the Spirit, for it is promised, “J will put My Spirit within you.” The whole passage is evangelical in its whole thought and even expression, and the gifts which are promised are held out as the objects of believing prayer. “© T will yet be inquired of by the House of Israel, to do ut for them” (chap. xxxvi. 38). And immediately upon these beautiful spiritual promises we find the wonderful vision of the Resurrection in the Valley of Dry Bones (chap. OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 14.7 xxxvu.). The last twelve chapters of Ezekiel may be regarded as one connected vision predicting the restora- tion of Israel. First we have the Divine breath breathing into the dry bones, the ruined and decaying people, the new life. Then the heathen multitudes of Gog and Magog are described as assaulting the redeemed people and destroyed by the judgments poured out upon them. And after the destruction of the enemies the new Israel is seen with the new Temple filled with the Glory of Jehovah, with a new priesthood and new services, and holy waters flowing forth from the Throne of God to heal all that they touch and purify the land. The whole is an apocalyptic vision of a final and glorious state which has evidently been before the mind of the apostolic seer in the concluding chapters of the Book of Revelation. The vision of the Valley of Dry Bones cannot be under- stood in any other sense than a symbolical one, and must point to the work of the Spirit of God. ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” The interpretation is given as well as the vision. Resurrection was not an unknown idea to the Jews of that time. The miracles of Elijah and Elisha, the deliverance of Jonah the prophet, and many other facts which were familiar to their minds, such as the translations of Enoch and Ehjah and the burial of Moses by the angels, with the pervading belief in miraculous power, would prepare them to receive such a message. liven if we grant that they would understand the resur- rection as a figure setting forth their national revival, still it must be admitted that the revival of the national life 148 VOX SDE. is represented as the work of the Spirit of God. Through- out the messages of Ezekiel to the people they are taught that their salvation must be spiritual, their sins must be forgiven, and their moral state renewed before they can be brought back to their former prosperity. ‘‘ Prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live; and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord” (chap. xxxvii. 13, 14). Whatever is promised to Israel is promised distinctly on the foundation of spiritual renewal and sanctification. They are not brought back to their land to pollute it again, but to be a holy people to the Lord. The same figure of a resurrection of the dead to life is found in earlier prophets, in Hosea and in Isaiah. And the grandeur of the work was itself the consolation which Ezekiel offered to those who were ready to despair in their captivity. They could be raised to life even though their present state was so helpless and miserable that it could only be compared to a Valley of Dry Bones. As to the vision of the Temple and the waters flowing from it, while no doubt it was intended to encourage the leaders of the Jews in their future work in restoring the fallen institutions of their land and re-establishing their religion, it is impossible to regard it as limited to such a OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 149 purpose. The whole is plainly symbolical. The measure- ments prove it, as they correspond neither with the measurements of the Temple which was erected, nor even with those of the Holy Land itself. We must remember that Hzekiel’s aim was to lift up the thoughts and feel- ings of the people, to spiritualise them, and that his pre- dictions were followed by those of Zechariah and Malachi, which plainly pointed to a higher sphere of life than any at that time reached. The Hope of the Messiah runs as a golden thread through all such prophecies, and connects them with a far more glorious future than could be realised in the narrow limits of Palestine. It has been well remarked by Dr. Titcomb in his work on “ Revelation in Progress from Adam to Malachi” (p. 393), ‘‘ The fact that this description was symbolical, while, for present purposes, it would stimulate the people’s zeal to return home and literally rebuild their sanctuary, would no less intimate to the more reflecting portion of them the probability of its literal features giving way at some future time, and melting off into the broader and more spiritual characteristics of Messianic Church government. While Jerusalem was still represented as being the Throne of the Lord, and the restored Church of Israel as the great centre of attraction for all nations, there were evidently striking proofs in existence that some of the Mosaic institutions would ultimately be broken up. Hence this vision of Ezekiel could not have presented anything more to a well-instructed Jew than a picture, under symbols drawn for their present dispensation, of their final inheritance of Canaan in the days of Messiah. The 150 VOX DEI. more uninstructed and the less spiritual they were, how- ever, the more they would be naturally disposed to cling to the letter rather than to the spirit; a fact which was lamentably proved at last by their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah.” The words themselves rebuked their unbelief, for the promise was that the Lord would not any more ‘‘ hide His face from them : for I have poured out My Spirit upon the House of Israel, saith the Lord God” (chap. xxxix. 29). The very last words of the prophet were as a text on which succeeding messengers could preach, appealing to the people to put away their worldliness and live a spiritual life: ‘‘ And the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah-Shammah : the Lord is there.” The indwelling Jehovah the life of His people. Surely such a promise was itself a proclamation of the Grace of God. Next to the Book of Ezekiel in our English Bible stands the Book of Daniel. It is a testimony to the fact of Inspiration from beginning to end. Whenever it was written, it is certain that the Jews received it as not out of harmony with the rest of their Scriptures, and therefore they must have believed that such gifts could have been manifested by Hebrew captives in Babylon and Chaldea, and that such effects could have been produced upon heathen nations. Daniel’s own visions correspond with visions of other prophets, both in matter and in form, and Daniel is a type of the inspired man taken into fellowship with God. The glory of the Divine Kingdom set forth in the visions given to the prophet is a spiritual glory. The heirs of the Kingdom “shall be OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 151 purified and made white, but the wicked shall do wickedly.” The blessed are those who turn many to righteousness, and the glory in which they shall shine is the glory of everlasting life—the glory of the Holy God, for which they are prepared by His Spirit. There are other writings previous to the Restoration from Babylon, such as Nahum and Obadiah and Habakkuk, which here and there indicate the belief of the people in the work of the Spirit, but their testimony is very brief and indistinct, and their date is uncertain. It will not, therefore, be necessary to include them in this review of the Old Testament. We therefore pass on to the great national crisis when Deliverance was at hand and the people looked forward to the fulfilment of Divine pro- mises in the re-establishment of their national existence. The writings which come under notice at this point are the two prophetical books Haggai and Zechariah and the two historical books Ezra and Nehemiah. The Book of Ezra goes back to the year 536 B.c. and the time of Zerubbabel, but it was not composed till much later. Therefore the first book which comes before us identified with the period of the Return of the Jews from Babylon is the Book of Haggai. It is thought that Haggai actually returned with the exiles after the edict of Cyrus. He was not called to the office of prophet until 520 B.C., which is called the second year of Darius, son of Hystaspes. The words of the prophet are directed to Zerubbabel, and through him to the people to stir them up to build the Lord’s House. The work which the prophet is called to do is described as the work of the iP ay VOXUDEE Spirit of God: “Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messen- ger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the gon of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of the people” (chap. 1. 13, 14). Their strength is Divine strength: ‘‘ According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (chap. ii. 5.) The glory which is predicted, which shall fill the House of the Lord, is not a mere external glory; it is a spiritual glory, such as Ezekiel had described symbolically. All nations shall be shaken, and the Desire of all nations shall come. Their ruler shall be a signet on the Lord’s hand. He is the chosen of the Lord of Hosts. The promises of God shall yet be fulfilled in One who is the true King and the true Priest. Contemporary with Haggai was Zechariah, and his prophecies date from about 500 B.c. There has been, and still is, a great deal of controversy about the authen- ticity of the book which appears under his name. The present Book of Zechariah is supposed by many to be two books put together—the last six chapters being referred to an earlier writer. Allusions occur in the latter half to Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This would seem to show that the writer lived after their time, and there- fore probably after the exile. It is only in modern times that the theory of a double authorship has been started. The subject is too difficult to be entered upon here, and OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. ts has no importance in connection with the review of the Scripture testimony which we are making. The doctrine of the Spirit which we find in Zechariah is Brory de- veloped doctrine; and we can well understand its coming forth from the groups of devout and spiritually-minded men represented by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah. ‘The very first message which the pro- phet brought to the people was a call to repentance and real change of heart: “‘ Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of Fosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.” The name by which God speaks all through the book is itself an appeal to faith in the spirituality of God. He is ‘‘ Jehovah of Hosts,” 7.¢., surrounded by the myriads of spiritual beings who are His servants. The angelic appearances which are recorded are connected with “good words and comfortable words” sent to the people. The angel communes with the prophet. He is the voice of peace and comfort to the Daughter of Zion. The city shall be cleansed, the high priesthood shall be cleansed. The fair mitre shall be put on the head of the nation through its High Priest. The Branch is coming forth ; the Stone which has seven eyes; and the iniquity of the land shall be removed as in one day. All such changes are manifestly spiritual changes, and the fourth chapter is the most decided and developed testimony to the person and work of the Holy Spirit which is found in all the Old Testament. The candlestick of gold plainly represents the people of God as the Light of the world. The seven pipes from the two olive-trees, one on each side of the foot of the candlestick, supplying the golden 154 VOX DEI. oil, are emblems of the Holy Spirit. This is not left to conjecture. It is plainly stated: “ Anowest thow not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” The two olive-trees are declared to be “the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” 'That is to say, the king and priest, or civil and religious leaders, whoever they may be at any time, are true leaders and true lights and true builders up of the Kingdom of God only as they are really anointed of God’s Spirit. Nothing could more plainly say that the Unction of the Holy One is the power and the glory of God’s people. The visions which follow no doubt refer to great providential appointments, but they remind us that ‘“ Spirits of the Heavens go forth amongst many from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” They quiet the spirit in the north country, 2¢., the angels of God work changes in the kingdoms of the world, sometimes for disturbance and revolution and overthrow of the false and wicked, and sometimes for peace and the establishment of the good. The crowns placed on the head of Joshua are crowns predictive of peace and glory in the future, when the Branch shall come and build the true Temple of Jehovah. It shall come to pass if they diligently obey the voice of the Lord their God. Then follow a number of messages to the people which are in the nature of exhortations to faith- fulness and spiritual preparation for the work of God. The last six chapters are somewhat different in character OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION, io from the first, but their testimony to the Spirit is equally clear. He who speaks is He who “ stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of Man within him.” In the day of Divine judgments upon Jerusalem and upon surrounding nations it is promised: ‘* And I will pour upon the House of Dayid, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born.” The land and the families are described full of the spirit of mourning and confession and prayer (chap. xii. 10-14). And immediately follows the pre- diction of the open fountain for sin and for uncleanness. The false prophets shall be cast out of the land. The great Refiner is at work, and He will bring the people through the fire until they are spiritually cleansed and pure: “I will say, It 1s My people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” In connection with the wonderful prediction in chapter xiv. of the appearance of the Lord with His saints, when the evening shall change into light, there is an evident repetition of Hzekiel’s vision of the waters which repre- sent the work of the Spirit. ‘“ And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ; half of them toward the former (or eastern) sea, and half of them toward the hinder (or western) sea; in summer and in winter shall it be; and (as the result of this out- pouring of the Spirit) the Lord shall be King over all 156 VOX DEL the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” The concluding words of the prophecy evidently refer to that same perfect worship of God which is set forth by Ezekiel under the figure of the restored Temple and its services. The Feast of Taber- nacles is to be held at Jerusalem, and all that are left of the nations are to come and take part in it. ‘‘ Holiness to the Lord” shall be on the bridles of the horses, and the very commonest vessels in the Lord’s House shall be so sanctified and transformed by the renewing efficacy of the Spirit, that they shall be like the golden bowl before the altar. Yea, every vessel throughout all the habitations of the people shall be sanctified in this way. “And wm that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the House of the Lord of Hosts.” This last word of the prophet points to a vast spiritual work by which both the religious life and the common life of the people shall be lifted up into purity and glory. Such a prediction, though it was partially fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, yet remains to be the ideal before the Church of God age after age. It has never yet been realised in all its extent, even under the Christian Dispensation. And the prophet who could foresee such a future was certainly himself full of the Spirit of God. It is very significant that such messages should accompany the restoration of Israel from captivity. Truly they were a missionary people, and had they fulfilled their vocation as such, they would have anticipated the Gospel itself. But they fell, that in their fall many might rise. ‘The two historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah are OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. T1357, characterised by a very devout spirit, and testify to the faith of the leading men of the Jews when God delivered them out of captivity. The wonderful events which are narrated are ascribed distinctly to the work of the Divine Spirit upon the minds of heathen rulers. “ The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.” “ Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the House of the Lord which is in Jerusalem” (Hizra i. 1, 5). The power of the heathen is turned to help the children of God. We are led to the conclusion that the impression made upon Cyrus was due to the work of Grace among the Jews. The story which Ezra tells of the trials of the returning exiles is connected with confessions of their unfaithful- ness, and their settlement in their own land is made the opportunity for a reconstitution of their religious life and a renewal of their covenant with Jehovah. Lzra was a man of prayer, and was evidently himself full of the Holy Ghost. We cannot doubt that, as he laboured in conjunction with inspired men, such as Haggai and Zechariah, the people were instructed to look beyond the mere outside prosperity with which they were favoured. And the Hand of God worked with Ezra and the prophets, for there was much trial mingled with their deliverance. They were not permitted to think that it was for their own sakes that they were being brought back to Palestine. It is believed by the Jews that Ezra and his contemporaries put together the Scriptures which had been written up to their time, and were especially 158 VOX DEI. guided by the Spirit of God in their work. It is im- possible to prove this, but he was certainly a scribe, and it is not unlikely that, as the people were resettled nationally, their Scriptures would be collected and re- edited at that time. He was a very earnest and devout man. ‘There is no evidence that in any respect he failed in his duty in a very responsible position, “In his in- defatigable activity as a teacher, in his deep sense of dependence upon God, in his combination of horror at sin with pity for the sinner, he reminds us of St. Paul; while in the depth of his self-humiliation on account of the transgressions of others, he recalls the utterances of Daniel. As a servant of the Persian king, he so approves himself to his master as to be singled out for the high trust of an important commission. In executing that com- mission he exhibits devotion, trust in God, honourable anxiety to discharge his duties with exactitude, and a spirit of prayer and self-mortification that cannot be too highly commended.” Such a man was certainly inspired. And he would teach the people a true doctrine of the Spirit. He was a kind of second Moses. It has been truly remarked by Canon Rawlinson that “the traditions which cluster about his name, even if they had no other value, would at any rate mark the high esteem in which his abilities and character were held by his countrymen” (‘Pulpit Commentary: Ezra,” Introd.). The Book of Nehemiah is very similar in character to that of Ezra, relating the circumstances connected with the rebuilding of the ruined walls of Jerusalem in 444 B.C., and their subsequent dedication. While Nehemiah himself OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 159 is not, perhaps, so pleasing a character as Ezra, somewhat rougher and fiercer, he is yet described in his book, which is called “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah,” as a man of prayer, actuated and guided by inspiration. ‘‘ He fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven.” He applied to God as the God who “keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments.” The sufferings of the people and the miserable state of Jerusalem are ascribed to their sins. On the basis of true repentance restoration is sought. ‘The work of rebuilding the gates and walls of the fallen city is carried on in dependence upon the Spirit of God, and all that is done is sanctified. The opposition of the Samaritans is taken to the Throne of Grace : “ Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them” (chap. iv. 9). Whatever Nehemiah does as Governor he regards as put into his heart by God. This was especially the case when, with the assistance of Ezra, the book of the Law of Moses was brought out and publicly read in the presence of the whole people. Standing upon a pulpit prepared on purpose, surrounded by the elders and leaders of the congregation, ‘ Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God: and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands; and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, 160 VOX DEL. and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (chap. villi. 5-8). The people understood the Word of God, and felt their own unworthiness, and mourned and wept. But Nehemiah proclaimed to them the Divine forgiveness, and bade them turn their fast into a feast. But they had their time of confession and national humiliation, when they confessed their own sins and the sins of their fathers. It was on that occasion that the magnificent prayer was poured out before Jehovah which we are told was offered up by the people as a whole, through their representatives, and which is re- corded in the ninth chapter. It was the renewal of the broken covenant, and it was a retrospect of the Divine dealings with Israel from the beginning. It is a distinct testimony to the work of the Spirit of God in every age. The people “dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto Thy commandments, but sinned against Thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them,) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear: yet many years didst Thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by Thy Spirit in Thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest Thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for Thy great mercies’ sake Thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them: for Thou art a gracious and merciful God” (chap. ix. 29-31). They took their solemn oath and covenant that they would maintain all the ordinances of God’s House, and keep His Law, and in doing so they sought the help of His Spirit. The work which Nehe- miah did was a work of cleansing. The people were a a ae OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 161 holy people, and their external separation from all the idolatrous nations around was symbolical of their spiritual consecration to God. The public reading of the Scrip- tures was a very important event. It probably intro- duced into Palestine the synagogue-worship which had commenced in the time of the Captivity. The reading of the Scriptures was a chief part of the synagogue- service. It was an acknowledgment that the people henceforth placed their dependence not alone upon the performance of Temple rites, not alone upon the priest- hood, but equally on the reading and understanding of the Word of God. It is a fact that they never went back to idolatry. Can it be. doubted that their faithful- ness so far was due to their instruction in the Scriptures ? It is remarkable and full of significance that this com- mencement of the systematic reading and exposition of Scripture was contemporary with the close of the Old Testament Canon. Nehemiah was a fellow-labourer with the last of the prophets, and probably himself closed the book of Scripture. The appeal was thus publicly made to the work of the Spirit. The people were distinctly taught that, having the Book of God complete, what they must depend upon was the influence of the Spirit in their hearts. They must look for no more prophets, for no more sacred writings, for no more signs and wonders among them for ages—they must wait until the great promise should be fulfilled and the Messiah should appear in their midst. Thus it will be seen that synagogues were themselves a very powerful testimony to the Spirit. The people might be all taught L 162 VOXMeDEL of God. When they came together to hear the Word of God and to exhort one another, He Himself, by His Spirit, was there in the midst of them. They were waiting for His salvation. They knew that they had a Divine help always at hand in the worship of the sanctuary. It is true that synagogues led to the multiplication of Rabbis, and Rabbis soon developed Rabbinical lore and super- stition almost as degrading as the heathenism from which the people professed to have separated themselves. But we can scarcely doubt that the synagogue-worship, which dates from the fifth century onwards, promoted individual piety and the study of the Word of God, and, therefore, that it enlarged the popular view of the work of the Spirit. In harmony with this wider view of the Divine Word, the last of the prophets uttered a message which was especially directed against formalism and spiritual indifference. | Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, was pro- bably written about four hundred years before Christ. As a concluding message, and the introduction to a long period during which there would be no inspired prophets sent as of old, the four chapters of this remarkable book seem intended to lift up the thoughts of the people to a higher conception of their position and opportunities. Condemnation and judgment hang over them because of their insincerity and formality. ‘The priesthood is cor- rupt. The services of the Temple are fallen into disorder. The whole religious ceremonial has become a weariness and a loathing. There is scepticism eating away the heart of piety. Immorality is increasing in the land. Domestic OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 163 life is like a withered flower. The proud ‘are called happy, and ‘they that work wickedness are set up.’ Sorcery, adultery, false swearing, oppression of the hire- ling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and the turning aside of the stranger from his right. Such are the flagrant sing which defile the land. And the allusion, ati the end of the book, to the alienation of the children from their fathers, doubtless refers to the sceptical, ration- alistic, innovating spirit, which broke out into such sayings as, ‘I'he table of the Lord is contemptible.’ ‘ Behold, what a weariness is it!’ ‘Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them.’ ‘Where is the God of judgment?’ ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?’ We have not far to go to find the parallel of such sayings. They are the scum of pride and irreligion floating on the top of a great seething mass of unbelief and worldliness in a time of transition, such as was the time of Ezra, and such as is the time in which we live” .(“‘ Four Centuries of Silence,” p. 10). Malachi is eminently a spiritual book. It is an appeal to the hearts of the people. “TZ have loved you, saith the Lord.” This is the keynote of the book. There is some- thing especially inspiring to the people in the promise that the same Angel of Mercy who had been at the head of Israel all through the history of the past should reappear, and that to be their delight and their glory. True, it would be a terrible time for sinners. The Day of His coming would burn like fire. The brightness of His face would purge 164 VOX DEI. their lives like “fuller’s soap.” But the subsequent purity and pleasantness was a prospect for all that feared the Lord and waited for Him, to keep before them. The spiritual renovation and revival would inaugurate a period of general prosperity. ‘All nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts.” Another striking feature in this book is the very emphatic recog- nition of the Church within the Church, of the germ of a new Israel in the midst of the decay and rejection of the old (chap. i. 16-18). ‘‘ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous ‘and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” Nothing surely can more plainly testify to the doctrine of the Spirit than such language as this. The fleshly Israel is rejected, and the spiritual Israel is alone recognised. The Jew outwardly is distin- euished from the Jew inwardly. The ‘‘ Residue of the Spirit” to which the prophet refers in chapter li. 15 is the open source of help to which the people are invited to appeal. . By the Spirit it is that He will make a “ godly seed.” “ Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.” The Lord is One who changeth not. His mercy still repeats the invitation which has been sent by His Spirit age after age through the prophets. ‘“ Return a!) OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 165 unto Me, and L will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.” he last of the Old Testament writings is also very clearly a testimony to the freedom and universality of the Grace of God. It is a cosmopolitan message, while it is addressed to the Jews. The priests and Levites are rebuked. But there is no exclusiveness in the message sent to them. On the other hand, the rejection of the fallen Irsael is made the opportunity for the proclamation of a universal Gospel. “I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. for from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts” (chap. 1. 10, 11). There seems to be an allusion to this breadth of the gospel of salvation in the predic- tion of the “ Day of the Lord,” with which the book concludes. It is a “day of judgment” on the ungodly, which shall “burn up the wicked like stubble;” but it is not a mere day of destruction, it is the rising of the “Sun of Righteousness” into the heavens. There is “healing in His wings.” Surely those who read such a prediction would recall the language of the Nineteenth Psalm, where the sun is described as lighting all the world: ‘‘ His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” The language of the concluding verses evidently points to a “true revival and restoration of Israel along the lines of faithfulness to Jehovah and 166 VOX DEI. His covenant.” The children will not be better than their fathers by despising and trampling under foot the old things, but by developing the germ which was in the old and in the new, putting “ new wine into the new wine skins,” but getting the new wine out of the old vineyard. Hlijah was a great reformer, but he was followed by Elisha, whose ministry extended over a much larger sphere, and was much more beneficent. The herald of the kingdom preached repentance; but the Messiah Himself baptized with the Holy Ghost, and sent forth His apostles to preach the Gospel to “ every creature.” So in this last message sent by the prophets the voice of a loving Father spoke. The people were invited to put away mere legalism and formalism, and live a spiritual life in fellowship with one another. They were pointed to the Temple, and bade to wait around it in simple obedience and faith until the great Messiah should be revealed and the Day of the Lord should come. Thus we see that the last voice which is heard in the Jewish Church speaks very clearly on the subject of gracious influences. With the whole of these Scriptures in their hands, those who waited for Christ were not waiting in darkness, but with the light of a rising sun along the horizon. And as they were bidden to look for the “ Sun of Ltighteousness,’ they must certainly have expected, if they interpreted such a name by the revelations of the Old Testament, a kingdom which should be first or chiefly in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, which should make them to “go forth and grow up as — calves of the stall.” Having thus reviewed the testimony OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 167 to the Spirit, which runs through the whole body of Scriptures to the time of the close of the Old Testament Canon, it will be well to put together, briefly, the main results thus obtained. Firstly. While it must be admitted that the personality of the Holy Spirit is not very decidedly, and certainly not dogmatically, revealed, it is evident that the Spirit is, throughout the Old Testament, a Divine agency. The action which is described is that of Intelligence; it is upon the loftiest minds, and it is the action of God. The whole of the Scripture is ascribed to the Spirit, and the many instances In which God is represented as a Trinity, while not perhaps in themselves sufficient to teach the formal dogma of the Trinity, are consistent with it. The Divine Person whom the Jews worshipped they worshipped as a Spirit; and therefore, when God distinctly speaks of Himself as acting spiritually on the minds of men, and also speaks of His Spirit as personally acting, we are not straining the language when we say that it teaches the personality of the Spirit. Secondly. The Inspiration which is attributed to the Spirit is of the utmost breadth and variety, including not only the giving of the Word of God, but all the enlighten- ment whereby men are enabled to understand and fulfil the demands of their life, both earthly and super-earthly. He is “the source of intellectual excellence, of skill in handicraft, of valour, and those qualities of mind or body which give one man superiority over others.” (See Rev. W. T. Bullock in art. “The Holy Spirit,” Smith’s “ Dict. of the Bible.”) 168 VOXODET. Thirdly. The work of the Holy Spirit is immediately connected with the whole of the religious life of God's people. He is the source of repentance and change of heart. He is the new-creator of Man. Jn the writings of the Old Testament are found “ abundant predictions of the ordinary operations of the Spirit, which were to be most frequent in later times, and by which holiness, justice, peace, and consolation were to be spread through- out the world.” In fact, the view of the work of the Spirit is that of a work of regeneration and sanctification, as in the New Testament. There is no essential difference in the doctrine of the Spirit’s work. Fourthly. While the work of the Spirit is thus general and uniform among the children of God, the doctrine of the Old Testament is that there are special organs of the Spirit, ae, that certain individuals are specially inspired and specially taught and authorised, both by the works they did and by the messages they uttered. ‘That the organs of the Spirit were recognised as such by the people of God, as in the case of Moses and Samuel and the prophets, and that as the result of the twofold seal put upon them and their work and words, the seal of God by their inspiration and miracles, and the seal of the Church by their acceptance and the obedience ren- dered to their messages given in the name of Jehovah, their mission left behind it the permanent record given in the written Word. This is an important testimony to the continuous and successive influence and operation of the Spirit of God in the Jewish Church. Fifthly. While such specially inspired men were organs OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 169 of the Spirit, and from age to age stood as centres of the religious life of the people, there was no such thing as a limitation of the Spirit’s work to individuals or their mis- sion. The case of Eldad and Medad (in Numb. xi.) clearly shows that the free gifts of the Spirit could be sought and obtained at any time and by any individuals. Ordi- nation was rather a solemnising of gifts, and a setting apart of holy men to their office, than a direct means by which they were communicated and the men endowed. The possibility that all the Lord’s people could be, might be, prophets is clearly before us in the Old Testament throughout; and the fact that the Psalms were probably composed by a vast variety of authors shows that some measure of inspiration was very familiar to the people in all ranks and classes and conditions, and apart from official distinctions. Sizthly. The continual reference, especially in the time of Israel’s greatest corruption, to the need of spiritual revival, to the efficacy of prayer, and to the promise that God would pour out His Spirit eventually on all flesh, upon which should be brought about a restoration of the national state and renewal of Divine favour, is a proclama- tion of the doctrine of free grace. The Spirit is for all, without respect of persons. There is no limit to the Holy One of Israel. He is infinitely gracious, and the Spirit and the Bride are always saying, ‘‘Come.” The waters which flow out of the Temple are abundant enough to cover the whole earth and heal all nations; and the mes- sage which is given to God’s chosen people, and for the unbelieving withholding of which from the world they 170 VOX DEI. were so severely chastened, is the message of Universal Salvation. If the Lord Jesus Christ had come imme- diately after the close of the Old Testament Canon, He might as truly have said then as He said four hundred years afterwards, “‘ I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. - Until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. v. 17,13): CHAPTER IV. THE TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT, FROM THE CLOSE OF THE OLD TES- TAMENT CANON TO THE TIME OF CHRIST. THERE is a great deal that is deeply interesting in the study of the period intervening between the Old Testa- ment and the New. The fact itself is full of significance that the Jewish Rabbis should not attempt to enlarge the body of their sacred Scriptures by adding any of the books written after the time of Malachi to those which are now included in the Old Testament. It is certain that the Temple services were for a considerable period after the Return from Captivity maintained with great pomp and splendour. ‘The high priests obtained a great deal of political power, and virtually became rulers of the land under the Persian satrap of Syria. But the religious life of the people rapidly declined. The leading men were corrupt. Political confusion and military excitement pre- vailed for generations. It is exceedingly doubtful if there was any religious writing published among the Jews for more than a century. There was a widespread feeling that no one was inspired enough to speak in the name of God. Hence the Scriptures already in their hands be- came “hedged about” with a reverence which rapidly ie34 VOXEL. degenerated into superstition. The Pentateuch, which was regarded as the basis on which the whole economy of the nation was founded, and on which the religious ser- vices of the Temple were maintained, was expounded by a class of men who gave themselves up to the study of Scripture, but who never claimed themselves to be inspired. Scribes were, in fact, those who preserved what was writ- ten, not themselves writers. The distinction which was made, very clearly emphasised at that time between the Law and the Prophets, reminds us that there -was a similar distinction in the religious life of the people them- selves. The Scribes promoted the idea that observance of the Law, i.¢., living by the rule of the Pentateuch, was the requirement made of the people. The historical and pro- phetical writings were received as inspired, but the chief value attached to them was that they kept alive the hope of future glory for Israel. Those who thought little of that hope studied the Prophets little. Those whose chief aim was to be great amongst their contemporaries, to obtain priestly power and sanctity in the eyes of their nation, made much of legal observances, and felt no need of spiritual quickening. There was for a time a ‘ certain uniform culture of religion and morals” in the people as a whole. But there was no inspiration ; there was no lamen- tation that it was wanting. It is very sad to observe the rapid decline in the religious state of the leading men. The high priests became fearfully depraved, and the whole nation seems to have lost all desire to shake off the tyranny of their corrupt rulers. The remarkable events which had led to their restoration from captivity were due, in some TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. 173 degree, to the influence which their Scriptures had upon Gentile powers. The Persian monarch was deeply im- pressed with the character of the Jewish religion, and we may believe was wrought upon by the Spirit of God to deal with them kindly. And, in a similar manner, when the Great Alexander, by his conquests, removed the seat of empire from Persia to Macedonia, and the Jews came under his sway both in Palestine and Egypt, it was largely owing to the influence which learned Jews exercised, through their Scriptures, upon the Gentile rulers that a new Judaism sprang up in Alexandria, which rapidly associated itself with the intellectual and religious life of the Greek world. No doubt Alex- andrian Jews were very learned men. The contact of Judaism with Greek philosophy and culture liberalised the minds of many. To some extent they were helped by it to be rid of their formalism and national prejudices, But the rationalistic spirit which prevailed at Alexandria was not the work of the Spirit of God. The mysticism which grew up in the Alexandrian school was not the legitimate result of the Old Testament. The effect of Alexandrianism on the older school of Jews which re- mained in Palestine was to make them stricter and severer in their legalism, but not to bring them nearer to God. Simon the Just is the type of their aspirations : “Be careful in judgments, set up many Talmidim (learned students), and make a hedge about the Law.” ‘The permanence of the world, said this typical religious leader, i.c., the greatness and prosperity of Judaism, depends on faithfulness to the written Law and its observance, on 174 VOX ET. worship ; that is, separation from the Gentiles and their philosophy and works of righteousness. He exalted purity of life, and, to a certain extent, he called upon the people to be pure in thought and feeling. But such a man reveals to us the sad spiritual degeneracy of the people. They were becoming mere worshippers of the letter of the Law. Rabbinical traditions took the place of Scrip- ture. Formalism, Ritualism, Scholasticism, all the bondage _ which settles down upon a people when they put inspira- tion into the past and trust rather in what they have been and the writings of the “ Fathers” than in the living presence and operation of the Spirit of God, sank the Jews lower and lower, both intellectually and morally, until they seemed God-forsaken, and were rapidly sinking into ruin. Now, it was during the period of religious decline and spiritual deadness that there appeared among the Jews a number of writers of different kinds, some of whose works are embodied in the Apocrypha, and others are outside that collection, but all alike regarded as without any Divine authority. There were historians, poets, and sacred writers, who wrote under the names of inspired men, apocalyptic books, like the “ Book of Enoch,” “The Sybilline Oracles,” “The Psalter of Solomon,” “ The Book of Jubilees,” and others, and works of wisdom and philo- sophy. It is evident from these writings that the religious tone of the people was much lower when they were written than when the Canon of the Old Testament closed. There was a great deal of superstition among them. ‘They were ready to believe in very foolish legen- dary stories, and they were not offended by the spurious TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. eye employment of great names, such as Ezra, Daniel, Hsther, Jeremiah, and Solomon. Ifthey had not been ina very low religious state, they would not have suffered such abuse of authority. We find also in the Apocrypha not only a ritualistic extravagance, which bespeaks a lack of the Spirit of God, but a distinct advocacy of external right- eousness aS a ground of merit in the sight of God (see Heclesiasticus xv., and Tobit iv. 7-11; xi. 9). Hence the value which the corrupt Church of Rome has placed upon such writings, which by the Decree of the Council of Trent are included in the Canon. There is a great deal of a false national pride in these later books, and a mere rhetorical hero-worship, entirely opposed to the humility and spirituality which we find in the Old Testament. The Book of the Maccabees is full of patriotism and enthusiasm, but it is not the calm confi- dence of a people living near to God. ‘There is nothing throughout the Apocrypha which bears witness to any- thing like a diffused and sustained religious life. The prophets were long gone, and the prophetic spirit had not returned. The sages had taken their place, and instead of Divine messages were wise sayings and lofty flights of eloquence, and attempts to clothe the predictions of the ancient times with the new dress of sensational realism. All was in yain. Rabbinism with its tradi- tionalism, Pharisaism with its worship, of the letter of the Law, swallowed up every other form of religion, except in a few chosen spirits in the nation. The stricter Jewish life became narrowed into a hateful bigotry and intolerance and exclusiveness.” 176 VOX DEI. But notwithstanding the religious degeneracy, there is , a testimony tothe doctrine of the Spirit even in writings which themselves have proceeded from a people but little under the influence of His inspiration. Indeed, the fact that such books were kept apart from Scripture testifies to the belief which still remained in a higher spiritual teaching which could be regarded as of Divine authority. There are two books in the Apocrypha, Hcclesiasticus and The Wisdom of Solomon, which afford very clear and decided evidence to the doctrine of the Spirit after the second century B.c. They are books which, no doubt, both proceeded from the school of sages, or the religio- philosophical school of Alexandria. ‘The aim of the former book, Zhe Wisdom of the Son of Swrach, was to commend the wisdom of the Jews to the wise men of the Gentiles; and the aim of the latter, The Wisdom of Solomon, was to commend the wisdom of Gentile philosophers to the Jews, so that while proceeding from two different directions, the purpose and spirit of the two books is much the same. The one is Jewish and the other Alexandrian, but both are on the ground of the supreme authority of Scripture. cclesiasticus was written probably about 180 B.c. It is regarded as purely Jewish and Palestinian, written in Hebrew, translated into Greek by the author’s grandson. It is full of a mild and gentle spirit, and was intended to attract the Gentile world, while at the same time it magnifies Judaism and the heroes of the Jewish antiquity. The very opening words remind us that Inspiration was be- lieved to be the source of all true wisdom. “All wisdom TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. 177 cometh from the Lord, and is with Him for ever” (chap. 1,1). The true wisdom cometh from the true obedience. The personality of Wisdom is implied throughout, and we are reminded of the language of the Book of Proverbs. The teaching of the whole work, while somewhat pruden- tial and savouring a little of the Scribes, is still elevated _ and pure. ‘The heart-searching wisdom of God is put in contrast with the folly of Man, and the poor and humble are invited to be strong and rich through com- munion with God’s Spirit. All the good that is in man is ascribed to Divine gifts. ‘Counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, ears, and a heart, gave He them to understand. Withal He filled them with the knowledge of under- standing, and showed them good and evil. He set His eye upon their hearts, that He might show them the greatness of His works. He gave them to glory in His marvellous acts for ever, that they might declare His works with understanding. And the elect shall praise His Holy name” (chap. xvii. 6-10). Notwithstanding the sins of God’s people, if they return to Him, He will be gracious to them, and “lead them out of dark- ness into the light of health.” “He that hath small understanding and feareth God, is better than one that hath much wisdom and transgresseth the law of the Most High” “A prayer out of a poor man’s mouth reacheth to the ears of God, and His judgment cometh speedily.” A beautiful prayer is poured out be- fore God for grace to flee from sin (chap. xxili.), and for the Church against her enemies (chap. xxxvi.). ‘The Law of the Most High” is the source from which the M 178 VOX DEI, wise man draws his wisdom. And when he hath found it, “‘he shall show forth that which he hath learned, and shall glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord” (chap. xxix. 8). In the forty-third chapter is a very beautiful ascription of praise to God as the Creator, and it closes with an adoration of His Spirit as the Spirit of Wisdom: “To the godly He hath given wisdom.” - Several chapters are occupied with the praise of famous men, and the fathers which begat us. Their greatness is ascribed entirely to God, and the writer tells us in the conclusion of his book that he wrestled and prayed for wisdom, and whatever he has put into his writings, it was the gift of God: “The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward, and I will praise Him therewith. Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in the house of learning.” The book as a whole gives us the idea of a people possessed of sound doctrine, though trusting too much in the letter of the Law. The devoutness is rather an external and formal reverence than a deep living spirit of fellowship with God. The wisdom which is commended and the examples which are held forth to our admiration are of the old Jewish sort, very different from the New Testa- ment teaching. And yet the language of Hcclesiasticus testifies very decidedly to the belief, as current among the Jews a century and a half before the coming of Christ, in personal, individual, and unlimited gifts of the Spirit of God. Any one can become wise and good and follow in the footsteps of the great heroes and saints of the past by listening to the voice of wisdom, and fearing the Lord and walking in His ways, and, ike Jesus the TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. 179 Son of Sirach, wrestling with God in prayer for the out- pouring of the Spirit upon him. With such a book in their hands the people would certainly be prepared for the appearance of a great Prophet at any time. There was assuredly no denial of any of the truth taught in the Old Testament, although, doubtless, the rise of the Rabbinical school and the influence of a great body of traditions collected together by the successive teachers did “make the Word of God of none effect.” They ~ could not deny the plain declarations of Scripture, but. they overlaid them with glosses and drew away the attention of the people from the consoling truths and promises of God to their miserable “hedge about the Law,’ which was a formal and external obedience hiding the real poverty of the heart. As opposed to the Pales- tinian school of strictest Judaism, the broader spirit of the Alexandrian teachers, who sought to receive into their own religion the culture of a philosophic heathen- ism, introduced a freer interpretation of Scripture and fixed attention more upon the substance of Revelation. It is impossible to say when the Book of Wisdom was first published, but it certainly was considerably later than EKcclesiasticus, and is a product of the Alex- andrian school. It has been ascribed to Philo himself, but it is probably something like a century before his time. It is an attempt to mingle together philosophy and Judaism. The writer seems to have been of the school of Plato. As a testimony from the Jews it is not of much value, because its language is borrowed very frequently from other sourees than the Old Testament. 180 VOX DEI. At the same time, as it is evident that it aimed at a reconciliation between the Greek philosophy and Judaism, we may fairly say that it represents the belief which was current among a considerable portion of the J ewish people about a hundred years before Christ. As in Ecclesiasticus, there is a personification of Wisdom which is plainly borrowed from the Book of Proverbs, which points to the personality of the Spirit. The pantheistic universality which is ascribed to the Spirit may be Platonic, but it would certainly be intended to harmonise with the language of the Old Testament. Take, ey., the three verses (5—7) of the first chapter: “ For the Holy : Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in. For wisdom ws a loving spirit; and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words ; for God is witness of his reins, and a true beholder of lis heart, and a hearer of his tongue. For the Spureé of the Lord filleth the world; and that which contarineth all things hath knowledge of the voice.” In the seventh chapter wisdom is said to be given in answer to prayer: “TT prayed, and understanding was given me. I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” And the personification of wisdom is very distinct. The following passage, while decidedly savouring of heathen philosophy, is yet, as appearing in a book addressed to Jews and on behalf of the Jewish religion, a remarkable testimony to the popular belief in spiritual influences: “ For Wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me: for in her is an understanding spirit, holy, One TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. 18] only, manifold, subtile, lively, clear, undefiled, plain, not subject to hurt, loving the thing that is good, quick, which cannot be letted, ready to do good, kind to man, steadfast, sure, free from care, having all power, overseeing all things, and going through all understanding, pure, and most subtile spirits. For wisdom is more moving than any motion; she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness, For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty ; therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the Everlast- ing Light, the unspotted mirror of the Power of God, and the image of His goodness. And being but One, she can do all things; and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new; and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and prophets, For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom ” (chap. vil, 22-28). In the eighth chapter there is a very dis- tinct reference to the Stoic philosophy in verse 7, but in verses I9—21 wisdom is ascribed to Divine Grace: “ For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit. Yea, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled. Nevertheless, when I perceived that I could not otherwise obtain her, except God gave her me; and that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift she was; I prayed unto the Lord and besought Him, and with my whole heart I said ”— and then follows a prayer in some respects worthy of Solomon, but much too philosophical for a Jew to utter before contact with the philosophies of the Gentile nations. In verse 17 the Holy Spirit is mentioned by name: “ And 182 VOX DEI. Thy counsel who hath known, except Thou give wisdom, and send Thy Holy Spirit from above?” Reference is then made to the men and events of past times, and all is ascribed to Divine agency and wisdom: “For Thine un- corruptible Spirit is in all things” (chap. xii. 1). As we read this very remarkable book we are reminded how far the Jews of that age, a century before Christ, had fallen away from the simplicity and believing obedience which expressed itself in the Psalms. There is not much differ- ence between the philosophical pride which runs through the Book of Wisdom and the Rabbinical pride which “made the Word of God of none effect” through traditions. The spirit which finds expression in such books is seen in all its extent and in the highest possible development in the writings of Philo. He is pre-eminently the philo- sophical Jew, and we see what a miserable failure the Old Testament became in the hands of such men, for they simply read into it their speculations and fancies and mystical dreams, despising the Truth which was expressed in the letter of the Word because they pro- fessed to be able to find the secret Spirit under 1t. Philo’s chief characteristic is his doctrine of the Logos, a doctrine which he may be said to have drawn from philosophical mysticism, but which he believed ‘to be in the Old Testament, and which is certainly to be found in the Book of Wisdom. But steeped as he was in Platonism, he has given to the doctrine of the Logos an idealistic form which removes his teach- ing from that of Scripture very considerably. Philo writes as a Jew, but as a Jew who has studied closely TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. 183 the writings of the Greeks, and is far more anxious that his people should be reconciled with the Schools than that they should realise the ideal of the Theocracy set forth in the Old Testament. “The underlying principle in all His comments on the Old Testament is that of a universal truth communicated to men in every age and every nation, in greater or less degree, but pre- eminently revealed in the Books of Moses.” The Alex- andrian school did much harm to the Jews, though it may have been employed by God as an instrument to prepare the way for Christianity. There are many beautiful sentiments in Philo, but it is evident that such a form of Judaistic thought was a very poor substi- tute for the inspiration of prophets and psalmists. He was more nearly allied to the Rabbinical school than to the school of the Old Testament, and there is very little in his doctrine which can be compared with the doctrine of the Spirit as it was proclaimed very soon after his time by the preachers of the Gospel. In such a teaching there is very little more than the exaltation of human reason and the justification of intellectual pride. The best we can say for Philo, and all that breathed the same spirit, is that they were groping their way towards the truth in a darkness which was made partly by their ~ own neglect of God’s Word, and partly by their listening too much to the speculations of men who were blind - leaders of the blind. But notwithstanding that such men were themselves unenlightened, they bore witness to the fact that those who were regarded as having more light than others derived their light from God. If any 184 VOX DEI. man spoke as a wise man, he professed to be an inspired man. But we are struck with the difference of tone in ‘such men as Philo from those who really spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The prophet did not speculate; he did not give forth his words as words which he had fetched out of the depth of his inner consciousness; he did not try to clothe his messages in the language of the Schools, nor did he speak with a vague, uncertain voice, as though he was afraid of bringing down his words to the level of the common mind. He spake with authority; he spake as one whom God had sent, and whose voice even kings and rulers were bound to obey, because it was a voice from Heaven. ‘The doc- trine of several senses or interpretations of the written Word of God, the historical, the allegorical; the meaning for the common man and the meaning for the wise or inspired man ; is a doctrine of human pride and self-exal- tation. But in the midst of all the darkness and super- stition and false philosophy which prevailed during the two hundred years preceding our Lord’s advent, there was still a testimony preserved to the Inspiration of the past and a faith still maintained in the personality and work of the Spirit. Before passing away from the intervening period between the close of the Old Testament Canon and the appearance of our Saviour, a few remarks must be made upon the state of mind which we may judge to have been generally prevalent throughout Palestine before the first dawn of Gospel light. What may we suppose to have been the thoughts which the people had on the TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. 185 subject of the Spirit’s work and influence? In answering this question we ought to put aside such instances as Philo and the more speculative thinkers, who would not, be likely to sway the minds of the people at large. We must also bear in recollection that, during the Herodian period, there was a great deal of moral corruption and. political confusion and disorder in Palestine, which, while it kept many away from practical religion, did not directly shape their belief in any way. But there was one common thought, which became more and more powerful as time went on, which ought to be taken into account. The people all believed that in their ancient Scriptures there was the promise and prediction of a great personal Deliverer, and they must have understood, even if they expected a great prince and political leader, that the Messiah would be full of the Holy Spirit. They had the idea before their minds, and there is very distinct evidence of it in the early Rabbinical writings, that a man could be the very embodiment of the Spirit. Indeed the language which was employed about the Messiah scarcely fell short of His identification with God. The people, therefore, would be familiar with the thought of a supernaturally inspired man; and as we find that they readily accepted the view that Jesus was one of the old prophets come back, and did expect, according to the saying of the scribes, that Elijah would reappear, we may conclude that the general fact of special Divine gifts bestowed on individuals at different times would be part of their current belief. But over against this belief in inspiration we must place the influence of Rabbinism in 186 VOXPED EL, all its various forms. The country was full of synagogues, but those synagogues were not, as they ought to have been, the centres of free and loving brotherly fellowship and mutual instruction in the Scriptures. They were in the hands of Rabbis, who, as their name signified, sought to have dominion as ‘ Masters” over the thoughts and lives of the people. Priestism was, perhaps, nearly worn ont when Christ appeared. The journeys of the people three times a year to Jerusalem had some effect in keep- ing up the feeling of reverence for the Temple and the Temple-worship; but except a general respect for the high priest and an observance of the leading command- ments of the Jewish ritual, the Jewish people, as a whole, were not in bondage to priests, and were not extremely ritualistic. But there is no doubt that the teaching of the Rabbis and the spirit they promoted throughout the synagogues were repressive of spiritual hfe. If we may judge of what they gave to the people, both in the Halachah, or direct rules of the Law, and in the Haggad- hah, or exposition and illustration of the Divine command- ments, as we find them afterwards in the writings of the Rabbis, instead of deep and living truth, such as came directly from the Spirit of God, they filled them with miserable scrupulosities and distinctions, legends and fables, and a semi-mystical thought which wrapped the conscience in a false security, and stifled the best aspira- tions of the heart. The question which would be stirred up in the mind would be, Do I know what the great authorities say; am I a satisfactory servant of the Lord ? Or, am I near to the great man whose opinions and TESTIMONY OF JEWISH LITERATURE. lkey decisions are continually quoted: have I left anything undone, have I done anything amiss? The safeguard against this bondage of the Rabbis was the free consti- tution of the Jewish Church and the preservation and authority of the Scriptures. After all; any member of the synagogue could speak when the Holy Spirit moved him to speak, and none would hinder him. As we see plainly in the New Testament, and as we may see still in the modern synagogue-worship, while the Rabbi is the leader of the congregation, all are invited, if they have any word of profit, to speak. And the Old Testa- ment was regularly read. The people who came together to hear it must have been familiar with the letter of it, just as those who attend the services in our Knelish churches have a great part of the Bible solemnly recited before them. The Holy Spirit did speak to our fathers. That they all believed. He has not spoken in the same manner for hundreds of years. The promises are there in the Scripture that He will speak again, that His Grace shall be poured out, that wonderful signs shall be seen once more, and that our sons and daughters, men- servants and handmaids, shall prophesy. Here and there through the land there were to be found individual instances which must have reminded the people that inspiration was not limited to past ages. When Jesus actually came, He came into the midst of a group of people who were full of the Holy Ghost. ‘There is 10 indication of astonishment in the minds of those who heard devout men and women pour forth beautiful words 188 VOX DEI. of hope and faith. They knew that the Spirit of God still wrought in the spirit of man. Prophets and — prophetesses—messengers come from God, and even ~ workers of miracles, might appear at any moment. Thus | the Day of Grace was already beginning to dawn. CHAPTER V. THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS TAUGHT IN THE FOUR GOSPELS AND UNTIL THE DAY OF PENTECOST. Ir must strike every attentive reader of the New Testa- ment as a remarkable fact that while the Holy Spirit, His presence, operations, and gifts, are referred to on almost every page, from the first to the last, there is no statement either by the Lord or by any of His apostles, or by any writer in the volume, of any novelty or change in the popular belief on the subject. There is an intima- tion, as in Juhn vii. 39, that after the Saviour’s ascension and glorification, the Spirit was in some sense “ given,” though the word “given” is not in the original Greek, and the meaning may be simply that on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost was received in a special form and degree. But the Gospel narrative takes for granted the same belief on the subject of the Spirit which we have seen to have been for many ages that of the Jewish people, and which we may suppose was brought into the thoughts of the more® earnest and devout among them with special distinctness and prominence when the Mes- sianic Hope was at its height, and when the political depression of the nation must have led them to cry out very loudly to their God for His quickening and saving 190 VOX DEI. help. Mr. Bullock, in his article on the Holy Spirit in Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible,’ makes the following remarks, which are amply justified by the review of the Old Testament, and of the four centuries between Malachi and Christ, which we have taken :—“ In the New Testa- ment, both in the teaching of our Lord and in the narratives of the events which preceded His ministry and occurred in its course, the existence and agency of the Holy Spirit are frequently revealed, and are men- tioned in such a manner as shows that these facts were part of the common belief of the Jewish people at that time. ‘Theirs was, in truth, the ancient faith, but more generally entertained, which looked upon prophets as inspired teachers, accredited by the power of working signs and wonders. It was made plain to the under- standing of the Jews of that age, that the same Spirit who wrought of old amongst the people of God was still at work. ‘The dove forsook the ark of Moses and fixed its dwelling in the Church of Christ’” (Bull, “On Justification,” Diss. 11. chap. xi. S 7). It is of the greatest importance that this fact of the continuity of faith on the subject of the Holy Ghost should be before us in our examination of the New Testament. It will certainly help us when we come to consider such ques- tions as the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Day of Pentecost. If the Four Gospels were put into the hands of a heathen reader who was totally ignorant of the Old Testament, would he not be startled at the very opening pages by such language as this: “ She was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 1. THE DOCTRINE OF THE GOSPELS. 191 18); “JL indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mark i. 8); “He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb,” speaking of John the Baptist (Luke i. 15); “J saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and wt abode upon Him” (John i. 32)? Surely the unin- structed reader would require to be informed to whom the evangelist refers under the name Holy Ghost, and what was the belief on which such statements were founded. Some would perhaps think it proper in order to satisfy such an inquiry, to introduce the reader to the beliefs of the Christian Church about the middle of the first century and until the beginning of the second, when the Gospels were published. It might be said, these narratives were sent forth for the sake of those who were attaching themselves to Christianity, and they presupposed the current faith of Christians. But it must be remembered that the first preachers of the Gospel were Jews, and that the first audiences they addressed were Jews. The Gospels were written for Jews and Gentiles alike, and the fact that they were not published until some thirty years at least after the Lord’s ascension, while during these thirty years the Old Testament itself was the only Bible in the hands of the Christian preachers, plainly proves that the current belief of the Jews, founded on the authority of the Old Testament, was taken for granted as the basis on which the superstructure of Christianity was built up. In no sense, therefore, was the doctrine of the Spirit, as pro- claimed by Christ and His disciples, a new doctrine ; 192 VOSS DEL. although, of course, the facts of the Gospel gave it a new sanction, and a new illustration and expansion, which brought it before the whole world, as though it were a mystery hidden from ages and generations, and then for the first time revealed. The first step, therefore, to understand the teaching of the Four Gospels on the subject of the Spirit, is to inquire into the deeply interesting group of facts and persons which meet us at the opening of the Gospel narrative, thirty years before the commencement of the Saviour’s ministry. Before Jesus began to preach, and therefore before the very wonderful facts of His mature life and works are recorded, what signs are there that the people were prepared for supernatural gifts in individuals, and for words and works which could only be ascribed to direct action of God through human lips and hands ? Now, it is very clear from the Gospel story, and especially from the accounts given in the first and the third Gospels, that while there was a widespread expectation among the Jewish people that some great deliverance would be wrought by God on behalf of His people, there was very little of what may be called deeply religious feeling mingled with that expectation in the higher classes and among the national leaders. Under the spell of the Rabbis, nearly the whole nation was blinded. They looked for a great Teacher, for a great Prophet, for a great Reformer. But they were carried away by the thought of victory over external enemies. ‘They did not care to study the Old Testament promises in the light of Old Testament history. They did not search into their THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 193 own hearts to know what changes were needed. They hated Christ when He came, because He went too deeply into their spiritual state, and declared that the judgments which would introduce the Kingdom of God must begin at the House of God, with the Jews themselves and their religious professions. The author has dealt with this subject in the work before referred to, “ Four Centuries of Silence,” chapter xi., “The Dawning Light.” The following remarks may be quoted here as an introduc- tion to what follows:—“It would be a great mistake to suppose that there were no exceptions to this wide- spread perversion of the Jewish mind. The synagogues were under the influence of the Rabbis. The Rabbis no doubt were chiefly guided by the traditional views which were enforced upon them by their leaders. The tone of the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem would be given to all the synagogues, more or less, throughout the land. But times of great national suffering and depression generally favour independence of thought and individuality of char- acter. The religious life of the people is called out into more practical expression. ‘They that fear the Lord speak often one to another.’ The humbler worshippers in the sanctuary have their minds awakened to attend to the signs of the times. The Scriptures are the ready resort of such inquirers. They have no opportunity of mingling with the great and learned. In their own homes, and in the privacy of their own chambers, they are asking the question, ‘O Lord, how long! When shall the salvation of Israel come out of Zion?’ There are plain indications in the Gospel narrative of such N 194 VOX DEI. awakening faith and prayerful inquiry. There were those who are described as ‘waiting for the consolation of Israel. Look at some of the facts. First, in Jeru- salem, at the very centre of Judaism, there was a very striking testimony to the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. There was an inspired person there. ‘ There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day’ (Luke il. 36-38). And again, we read of the aged Simeon, ‘And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon ; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the Temple’ (Luke i. 2s, 26). Here was an inspired woman and also an 1n- spired man, The woman is called a prophetess ; therefore we may presume she not only fasted and prayed, but lifted up her voice in prophetic messages and exhortations to the people. She spoke of Jesus ‘to all those that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.’ There were many who listened to her besides those immediately surround- ing the infant Saviour. She reminds us of the ancient Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and her long prophesying was a sign that the time of Divine favour was coming. Simeon was not only an inspired man, but under the THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 195 special supernatural guidance of the Spirit he was led to the Temple, and praised God for the fulfilment of His promise when he took up the Child in his arms, in whom he recognised by inspiration the coming Redeemer. These are striking facts, and the words which were uttered at that time were full of the Holy Ghost, and of the very essence of the Old Testament revelation and prophecy. How can we doubt that these were only the leaders and representatives of a number of faithful souls at that time full of the Holy Ghost, the true ‘remnant according to the election of Grace’ in a corrupt nation? The highest peaks caught the light first, but it soon flowed into the lower regions of the same elevated land, where faith and hope lifted up the humble poor and the pious worshippers into fellowship with Heaven. The narrative takes us from the city of Jerusalem to the hill country of Judea, and down to the towns and villages of Galilee, from the precincts of the Temple and the religious centre of the nation to the homes of peasants and a secluded pastoral district. We look into the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth ; we are on the hills with the pious shepherds ‘ keeping watch over their flocks by night,’ and ready to receive a message from the King. All these people were filled with the Holy Ghost. We go to Nazareth, and to the household of Joseph and Mary. Is it possible to conceive a more beautiful example of simple devout life? The inspiration which was poured out on such simple-minded people would correspond with their accustomed thoughts, They were familiar with the Psalms and the Prophets, and the utterances which came forth from their lips were steeped 196 VOX ‘DEI. in the very spirit of Old Testament preaching and pro- phecy. Dr. Edersheim has shown that the hymn of Zacharias closely corresponds with ancient Jewish prayers, but those prayers were derived from the prophets. In the case of the Virgin Mary, not only is the fact of the Incarnation itself a testimony to her spirituality, but her inspiration is seen in the Magnificat. She is ‘the hand- maid of the Lord,’ filled with theocratic feeling, with the sense of Divine favour, and with submission to the will of the Most High. She is not only pious in the sense of obe- dience to the Divine commands and observant of religious ordinances, but she is in a very elevated state of mind, thinking much of the Messiah and His Kingdom, possibly thinking of herself as one who, being in the line of David, might be chosen of the Lord to be His anointed priestess. Such a character as Mary’s throws a light retrospectively on the prophets and inspired men of previous ages. They must have been something like her in the simplicity and purity and heavenliness of their natures, by the indwell- ing of the Holy Ghost ; and hence, as they were thus sanc- tified, they became meet vessels for the Master’s use, in conveying His messages to the world. Inspiration attracts inspiration. Mary made haste to visit her kinswoman in the hill country of Judea, by the direction of the angel Gabriel. ‘The two women stood in each other’s presence as mutual witnesses to the truth of the Divine Word, beaming in each other’s eyes with the Light of the celestial world.’ It has been well said of the sacred music which burst forth in the house of Zacharias, ‘It was the anti- phonal morning-psalmody of the Messianic Day as it broke, THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 197 of which the words were still all of the Old Dispensation, but their music of the New; the keynote being that of ¢ ‘favour, ‘ grace, and struck by the angel in his first salu- tation ; ‘favour’ tothe Virgin; ‘favour,’ ‘ eternal favour’ to all His humble and poor ones; and ‘ favour’ to Israel, stretching in golden line from the calling of Abraham to the glorious future that now opened. Not one of these fundamental ideas but lay chiefly within the range of the Old Testament; and yet all of them working beyond it, rather in the golden light of the new day’ (Kdersheim). The Magnificat itself is the product of immediate inspira- tion, upon meditation and the study of Hannah’s song in 1 Sam. ii. 1-10. It is at the same time borrowed and original, like many of the prophetic utterances in the Old Testament. The devout religious art of the Middle Ages glorified the Madonna, but a true sentiment underlay it notwithstanding its connection with the corruptions of a false Church. ‘No human art can ever do justice to the loveliness of such a piety. By looking closely at that lily-blossom out of the Dispensation which was passing away, we are prepared to hail the advent of Him who gathered up all the past into Himself, who at once satis- fied the yearning which the ages of revelation had left behind them in the heart of man, and opened a new Kingdom, a Kingdom of Heaven, to all believers.’ For thirty years after the birth of the Saviour we are left without any continuous record of the state of Palestine ; but the glimpse which we catch in the slight notices of the childhood of Jesus enables us to see that even the young were noticed at that time when they were specially 198 VOX DEI. marked by their piety and beauty of character. Jesus ‘orew and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom ; and the Grace of God was upon Him,’ «.e., manifestly to the eyes of His neighbours. He ‘increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man’ (Luke u. 40, 52). Such notices of youthful piety betoken an atmosphere of calm and restful appreciation of the things that are excellent. There was certainly, even so long before the public appearance of the Messiah, a partial revival in some parts of the Jewish nation, though no doubt it was almost entirely confined to the humble people, where such spiritual work generally does com- mence. ‘That generation had nearly passed away before these few faint streaks of light on the horizon broadened out into the blaze of Gospel Day.” The next point in the Gospel history is the mission and work of John the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea. That requires an attentive consideration. Let us put together the different statements of the evange- lists exactly as they are introduced in the narrative, for it is important to notice how the mission of the Baptist is described. As we have seen, it was no un- known thing that an inspired person, a prophet or prophetess, should be seen and heard in Jerusalem or elsewhere. The fact that the Holy Spirit rested upon individuals, and that under His influence they uttered inspired language, was quite familiar, and witnessed in the cases of Simeon and Anna, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and the Virgin Mary. Hence we can understand the quiet manner in which the statement is made that a THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 199 great preacher appeared in the wildernerss. Matthew says: “In those days came (mapaytverar) John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,’ and saying, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Hsaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight” (chap. iii. 1-3). Mark’s account 1s very similar, but is remarkable in this respect that John’s mission is announced as the beginning of the Gospel : “‘ The begin- ning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of re- pentance (jeravovas) for the remission of sins” (eis abeow duaptiav) (chap. i. 1-4). Luke puts the matter some- what more after the manner of the Old Testament account of the appearance ofa prophet. ‘The word of God came (éyevero pnua Ocov emt “Iwavynv) unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the (or a) baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Bamticpa petavotas els adecw dwaptiov) (chap. iii. 2, 3). The notice in John’s Gospel is again different because it is described in harmony with a different representation of the Saviour’s mission. He is the Light of the world. John’s position is that of a witness to the Light, rather than a prophet heralding another prophet or a preacher of repentance 200 VOX DEI. with a view to the remission of sins. It is a remarkable fact that in the Fourth Gospel John’s preaching is not called the preaching of repentance, but only the voice crying, ‘“ Make straight the way of the Lord.” ‘There was a man sent from God (admecradpevos Tapa Oeod), whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness (waptupyon) of that Light” (chap. i. 6-8). “John bare witness of Him.” ‘And this is the record (1 paptu- pia) of John.” ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” “I baptize with water” (chap 1. 15, 19, 23, 26). Now, this appearance of a great preacher in the wilderness as preparatory to the coming of the Messiah is a distinct break with the old Judaism, and a very emphatic appeal to the people to ask for the Spirit of God and respect His operations. Although the son of a priest himself, John did not attach himself to the Temple at Jerusalem. Although the Word of God was in his heart, he is not a Rabbi, and does not speak as a Rabbi. He came in the spirit and power of the ancient Elijah, and very much in the same manner and appearance. He is not a learned man; he is not a man of the world; he represents no sect and no party. He is set forth and authorised by no great men of the nation. ‘He is a man completely by himself, who for some years had been passing from wilderness to wilderness for the purpose of solitary meditation and study, and also per- haps that he might look with his own eyes upon THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 201 some of the remarkable religious devotees who had retired into the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, and lived lives of great simplicity and piety. He was certainly more at home in such places and among such people than in the scenes of strife and religious bigotry, and dead, corrupting formalism round the Temple of Jerusalem. There was no nurture for such a spirit as his to be found among scribes and Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees.” What was wanted was a clear atmosphere like the atmosphere of the wilder- ness, that the souls of men might be brought face to face with the heart-searching God. What was wanted was a voice which should speak not in the old worn-out, dogmatic language and hair-splitting scrupulosity of the scribes and Pharisees; not in the mere theological dialect of the schools, or in the conventional stiffness and propriety of the synagogue, but as with the Voice of the Spirit of God direct from Heaven, a voice which should be like the voice of an ancient prophet, and which should repeat and enforce the messages of the Old T'estament. What was wanted was a preacher to wake up the careless and the dead, and, at the same time, one who should be able to say, “ Iam the messenger of God, sent to announce to you the coming of the Saviour.” Now, it is remarkable that John should be described as a Voice. He was that and very little more. He set up no services, he com- menced no society, he ordained no rites, for his baptism was not ordained by him for perpetuity, but simply in order to prepare for the baptism which should follow. But the grand distinction of John was that he preached, 202 VOX DEI. that he repeated the call to repentance and a holy life which sounded through the Old Testament, and which was the one great cry of the prophets. Undoubtedly when John preached repentance he proclaimed the pre- sence and the operation of the Holy Spirit. He did not teach the multitudes that an external reformation was a true preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven. The repentance he preached was change of mind—spiritual repentance—that which should bring forth fruits in their lives, and which should prove them true children of Abra- ham. The Kingdom of Heaven which he announced was one which would be prepared for by such a change of mind. It was a Kingdom in which the Spirit of God would rule, and the external form of the Kingdom would be that which would express that which was internal, the life of God in the soul of man. ‘The proclamation which John made of an immediate coming of the Kingdom is interpreted by the facts. What he meant was, that the King was at hand, and that the Grace which would come with Him and through Him would be Grace sufficient for all things—which had in it infinite promise. We have but very scanty notices of John’s preaching. There is no need of more than we have. It was very simple and very practical. We scarcely require to know much about the language employed. But this we are told, that great multitudes were deeply moved by it, and submitted to baptism under the influence of the Spirit of God because they felt that they were sinners, and in their confession expressed their faith and hope in ex- pectation of the coming Kingdom of Grace, It was the THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 203 publicans and sinners, the people generally, who came under the power of the Baptist. The scribes and Phari- sees held aloof from him because they did not feel their need of such a salvation as that which he proclaimed. The keynote of John’s preaching is that which the fourth evangelist gives us, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world /” (John i. 29). The ritualistic righteousness which had been trusted in so long among the Jews was worthless. The true cleansing was not with rites and ceremonies, but with the precious blood of the Divine Sacrifice. John therefore preached a doctrine of the Holy Ghost which was substantially the same as the Christian, though it was not possible that he should preach it in all its fulness and freeness as it was proclaimed by the apostles after the Day of Pentecost. Never let us forget that the Church of the Jews, as it then was, was given up to Ritualism and Rabbinism. John came forward distinctly as the opponent of such a system. He came to prepare the way for the great revolution which was about to begin, by which all the old super- stitions would be swept away; and if the Jewish people would not be led forth out of their bondage into Gospel liberty, then the nation must be destroyed and Jerusalem itself laid in ruins) It was the promise of the Old Testament that all the people should be prophets ; they should be all taught by God; they should all be kings and priests. The preaching of John, therefore, was an invitation to rejoice in the Light and become children of Light. ‘ The Rabbis had lost this great truth 204: VOX DEL. in their miserable pedantry. The very conception of personal inspiration was buried in the obscurity of the past. It was transferred from the individual men to the sacred books, which were being dealt with not as the Voice of a living God amongst them, but as a mere dead relic of the past, to be worshipped with superstitious reverence and turned into food for intellectual and spiritual pride.” Again and again, we know, there have been similar periods in the history of God’s people, when they have lost faith in personal inspiration, and have shut themselves up in the bondage of decrees and councils and successions and officialism. Then God has sent some great prophet to preach, and the spell has been broken. The people have said, “This is the Voice of God.” The scribes and Pharisees have held aloof and looked askance. And sometimes it has been a great social revolution which has justified God and put to shame the pride of men. But this call to repentance and proclamation of Free Grace was not all that we find in the preaching of John the Baptist. He gave a still more direct testimony to the Spirit. All the evangelists agree that he pointed very clearly to the coming Messiah; but it was more than a prediction that He was coming, it was a solemn authori- sation through baptism, and the signs which accompanied it, of the personal Redeemer standing in the midst of the people. “The Spirit descended as a dove and abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 205 Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God” (John i. 33, 34). All the other evangelists narrate substantially the same facts—the sign of the Spirit resting on Jesus at His baptism, John’s testimony, and the declaration that Jesus baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, that is, with a baptism which en- tirely cleansed and renewed, destroying the old and bringing in the new. It certainly cannot be contended that John preached the Holy Spirit as entirely a future bestowment. He could not have meant that. He preached a present Holy Spirit; and the contrast which he proclaimed between Jesus and himself, and all others, was the contrast between a gift of the Spirit bestowed on a man for the work he had to do, and the Spirit abiding in the Lord as His second self, so that the gifts of the Spirit went forth from Christ as from God. He is the Son of God. It is evident that John put him- self and his baptism in a subordinate place. It was simply a preparation, an announcement, an introduc- tion. But in what sense? Not as being merely nominal and formal? Surely not. No. But as being partial and incomplete. John’s baptism was a Jewish baptism, but it was intermediate between the Old Dispensation and the New. Neither the one nor the other, however, neither John’s baptism nor Christian baptism, was preached as itself the channel through which Grace was given. ‘The baptism was not repentance ; it was the sign that repent- ance was felt and confession made. So the baptism which followed was not itself the communication of the Holy Ghost. It was either the sign that the Holy 206 VOX DEI. Ghost was already given, or the seal of the promise that it should be given. The remission of sins was not the same as repentance. All that John could do was to point to the Lamb of God and invite the penitent sinner to lay hold of the sacrifice which atoned for guilt, and be cleansed in the blood which by the power of the Holy Ghost actually renewed the nature. Undoubtedly John proclaimed a covenant, a new covenant, but he never preached that covenant as identified with a rite. The analogy of his own baptism would rather say, “ Believe and be baptized,” as he himself said, “ Repent and be baptized.” Those who entered into the covenant were baptized ; but the covenant was between the Spirit of God and the spirit of Man, and no external rite could do more than sign it and seal it. John preached Christ in His three- fold office, as the Lamb of God; as the Spirit of God, we., the Giver of the Spirit; and as the Son of God, that is, the King of Israel. He was the Bridegroom, and John was the friend of the Bridegroom, rejoicing because of His Voice. When the Bride, the true Church, was with the Bridegroom, the friend retired, and his joy being fulfilled, his work was done. The Spirit in all His fulness was come, and His gifts would now be poured out as they were promised under the Old Testament. Again we say, then, that the doctrine of the Spirit in the New Testament is essentially the same as that which was believed by the Church of God in every age. The difference was not one of kind but of degree. It was a quantitative, not a qualitative distinction which made the Gospel a new dispensation. The facts themselves THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 207 were fulfilments of promises. The Saviour was the pro- mised Saviour, The Grace was the promised Grace. The baptism was a new baptism because it was the proclamation of a free, universal Grace, not for the Jews alone, but for the whole world, a kingdom of the Divine Spirit which comprehended all persons and all gifts, and all manifesta- tions, even to the infinite fulness of an everlasting future. The Gospel Facts are full of the Holy Ghost. And when the Lord Jesus preached He took for granted in the minds of His hearers a general assent to the teaching of the Old Testament. But it is by the careful study of the language which the Saviour employed, taken in connection with the facts of His own person and work, that we learn the Chris- tian doctrine, afterwards more clearly and fully expressed. We are met at the very opening of the Gospel narrative with the great mystery of the INCARNATION. No language of the Old Testament, not even that which speaks of the Holy Ghost as brooding over creation, prepares us for such a fact, except as it is predicted generally in the prophecies which ascribe Divine great- ness and glory to the Messiah. No Old Testament conception of inspiration, though it is certainly set before us as very comprehensive, would suggest the > possibility that a “miraculous conception” would in- troduce to the world a new Humanity, which would not only be inspired, like the prophet’s nature, but’ “conceived of the Holy Ghost,’ and therefore wholly spiritual At the same time, we must recognise that, however inspiration lifted a man above his fellows and above himself, there was nothing in the 208 VOX DEI. fact of inspiration inconsistent with the normal life of man. It might therefore be conceivable to one thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament, that the Messiah, when He came, should be absolutely filled with the Holy Ghost, and yet at the same time be a true Man. The two ideas were not irreconcilable to the mind of a devout Hebrew—an earthly life, an indwelling God. The revelations given to the fathers assuredly taught them that the nature and life of man might be fully possessed by God, for it was prophesied that they should be in the best sense the children of God by God dwelling in them and they in God. But it may be doubted if the profoundest study of the Old Testament would have suggested to any Hebrew mind more than the idea of a close fellowship between the Spirit of God and the spirit of Man. The language employed by God to their prophets made the people familiar with the idea of sanctification from the birth, and even pre-natal consecration, but that would not suggest any super- natural origination of a human life. Jeremiah says (chap. i. 4, 5), “Then the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Similar language is used of Israel as a people. The meaning is that the man or the nation is divinely chosen and consecrated; but there is no intimation that an entirely new Fact shall be introduced into the world, out of the line of ordinary causation. The language em- ployed in the Gospel narrative, however, startles us by THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 209 its novelty. Matt.1.18: ‘ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (evpeOn ev yarrpi Exouta €&x IIvevaros ayiov). In Luke i. 26-38 we are told very plainly of the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin, of the Annunciation, and when Mary seeks an explanation the miracle is distinctly proclaimed, verse 35: “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee (Revised Version, “that which is to be born shall be called holy’) shall be called the Son of God” (kai to yevvemevoy dytov kAnOjnocetat vios Oeov), We must place beside such words the language of the Fourth Gospel, not indeed the language of a narrative, but of the introduction to a narrative: ‘“ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (kal 6 Adyos capE eyéveTo, Kat erKijywoey éb yuiv) John i, 14. The mystery of the Incarnation cannot be penetrated by any human understanding. We must be contented with the simple statement of the Apostle John, “ Zhe Word was made (or became) flesh.” But if we approach such a fact from the side of the Holy Spirit, we may ask the question, How could the Holy Spirit of God manifest Himself in all His fulness, without Jimita- tion, in absolute perfection, in the person of Man, in an individual human life, unless, in some manner, He acted away from that inheritance of corruption and sin which must be involved in the natural course of human Q 210 VOX DEI. descent? Incomprehensible as the miraculous concep- tion is, and must be, there is nothing which contradicts human reason in it, for Science itself now emphasises the infinite antecedents of a human birth. If the concep- tion and birth of an individual man imply the infinite evolutionary process which preceded them, it is not for us to say that there is no possibility that conception and birth could be varied in any case. We are so profoundly ignorant of everything, except a few of the facts which come under scientific observation, that we must be con- tented to say the spirit of Man becomes flesh by Divine appointment, the Spirit of God became flesh for Divine purposes. The Spirit of God wrought in the creation of Man at the first. There is no contradiction in the Gospel fact; the Spirit of God became Man for the creation of anew Humanity. But the Incarnation throws an entirely new light on the doctrine of the Spirit. The person of the Lord Jesus is henceforth identified with the work which the Spirit does. So the Apostle Paul compares the relation of the race to Adam, and the relation of believers to Christ—“ The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit” (1 Cor. xv. 45). And the Apostle John says of the Word: “ As many as received Him, to them gave He power (e£ovciay) to become the sons of God” (John i. 12); not to be called or esteemed such in virtue of their character, but to become such in virtue of their new birth. We are carried much higher in our thoughts of the Spirit’s work by such language. He is in Christ not a mere influence proceeding from a life or a doctrine, THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. aah or even a fellowship; He is a quickening power which creates a man afresh and makes him a son of God. Hence Christians are spoken of as the children of Christ (Heb. ii. 13).. They are in a spiritual sense His off- spring; they participate in His Divine nature. No such language was employed of any of the ancient prophets, and until it became: familiar under the Gospel it would scarcely have been intelligible. In a secondary sense it is used by the Apostle of his converts. But it is the great interpreting fact of the Incarnation which enables us to see that spiritual life may be an entirely new commencement, taking its origin from Him who was a new Humanity, and who came into the world not only to manifest the Spirit of God, but to give His new creating power to fallen creatures, ‘There is no necessity to say more at this point of our inquiry, as this part of the subject must be before us again when we consider our Lord’s teaching. The human development of our Lord’s person is but very briefly noticed in the Gospel narrative. We catch glimpses of a spotless life and beautiful character, but until the full manhood was ready to be manifested we are left to conclude from the silence of the record that the spiritual perfection of Jesus was within the limits of ordinary Jewish life. He grew up a devout Man, “ wise,” and ‘‘in favour with God and man,” as He appeared when a child, producing, therefore, the impression on His neigh- bours of a prophet or one who might become a prophet ; though, perhaps, as no prophet had appeared for centuries, the expectation was only vague that one would appear at 212 VOX DEI. that time. We can scarcely suppose that the general feeling in the minds of the people that Messiah might be near really concentrated itself on the person of Jesus. Here and there in the land there were deeply religious people, waiting and praying and hoping for the consola- tion of Israel. Jesus would be regarded as one of these silent, saintly souls. But there came a time when He must be “shown unto Israel.” He was thirty years of age, the age when a public ministry might be commenced without any violation of public sentiment and prejudice. John the Baptist, the forerunner, prepared a large num- ber of the people for the Divine Messenger, not only by promoting in them a suitable attitude of mind and feel- ing, but by himself breaking the long spell of silence from the time of Malachi; practically suggesting to the nation the possibility that a Prophet of prophets might be at hand. Beyond this, John distinctly announced the Kingdom of Heaven and the advent of Messiah. The sion of the Holy Spirit which was given at the baptism of our Lord is distinctly recorded by all the four evan- gelists. It is therefore of great importance. Let us put side by side the different forms of the record. First, Matthew says: ‘“ And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the Heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from Heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (chap. iii. 16, 17). Mark says: “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 215 in Jordan. And _ straightway coming up out of the water, He saw the Heavens opened (Revised Version, “rent asunder”), and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him. And there came a voice from Heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ” (chap. i. 9-11). Luke says: “ Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized (Revised Version, ‘‘ Now it came to pass when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized”), and praying, the Heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased” (chap. ili. 21, 22). And John says: “ And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining (abiding) on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God” (chap. i. 32-34). It is remarkable that all the accounts contain the sign of the dove, and that Luke distinctly notices the “bodily shape.’ Therefore the dove is not a mere emblem introduced to add the idea of peace or purity. It is of the essence of the sign as a sign. And we can scarcely believe that the particular bird would be mentioned if no more was intended than a fluttering, brooding movement as of any bird settling on the head. Moreover, in the synoptic Gospels the voice from Heaven 214 VOMeeD EL is recorded. It may be said to be implied in John’s account also, for he says that he bare witness “ that this is the Son of God,” that is, that He was proclaimed the Son of God. Now, it cannot be denied that this account of the descent of the Holy Spirit is entirely different from anything in the Old Testament. We may find, perhaps, some heathen legends which point to the familiarity of the Eastern mind with the symbol of a bird descending and alighting upon a great man; but the sign in this case is so subordinate to the main fact which is dis- tinctly declared, the descent of the Spirit, that we may truly say the two cases are not to be compared. No such sign was ever given to a prophet or any Divine messenger under the Old Dispensation. Both in the instance of Isaiah and that of Jeremiah the lips of the prophet are touched as a sign that the special power of inspired speech was bestowed. Angels came and awakened prophets and touched them, and many signs were given of direct communication from above. But the marked peculiarity of the sign at our Lord’s baptism is that it is connected with a distinct declaration that the Spirit of God rested on Him, and that He was the Son of God. We may, therefore, understand the sign as convey- ing the idea of personal union between the Spirit and the Son. He comes down not as an influence but as a per- sonal presence, bodily as a dove; He abides upon Him; that is, the sign remains a considerable time, until the whole baptismal service was over, and perhaps for a time afterwards. It was as on the Son of God that the Spirit rested on the Saviour. We may, therefore, interpret the THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 215 sign as meaning “ the fulness of the Godhead bodily PHD Jesus: the Holy Spirit absolutely and eternally one with Him. He is able “to baptize with (or in) the Holy Ghost.” It comes from Him. He can give it not as a man gives it, in so far as it is an influence flowing from His words and works, but as a direct personal communication. This great fact stands at the threshold of the Gospel. The Kingdom of Heaven came when the King was revealed. His kingly nature and authority was not only in His wisdom and personal character, but in His being so pos- sessed of the Spirit of God that He could bring all spirits into subjection to His Spirit, and lift up the nature of every man into everlasting fellowship with God. Surely there is a great difference between such a representation of Christ’s anointing and any other. The idea of inspira- tion does not seem to fill up such a sign. If Jesus had preached and wrought miracles and then died, as any Old Testament prophet might have been inspired to fulfil a mission to his age, we should have felt, even if the erandest sayings and the most wonderful miracles had been recorded of Him, that the baptism promised more than was afterwards fulfilled. We have, then, in this leading fact a new revelation of the Spirit. He has fully come into our Humanity. He has come to take up His abode in Man. He has come to be identified with Him who is emphatically Friend, Brother, Advocate, Comforter, Helper, Saviour. The apostles and evangelists regarded the whole history of Jesus as the ministry of the Spirit. The Spirit carried on His work as Saviour when He Hin- self ascended to Heaven. The mission of the Comforter 216 ViOpee Dik: was the mission of Christ. The salvation of Man is essen- tially a spiritual salvation. Hence the baptism which Jesus has come to minister is the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. The blessed Trinity was revealed in the initial rite of the Christian Dispensation, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, into whose triune name the disciple was baptized. Christ’s own baptism was a point of union of the three Divine Persons. The Spirit came upon the Son, and the Father delared Himself well pleased. The white dove, with outstretched wings, descending on the head of Jesus betokened the apotheosis of Humanity. The next fact in the Saviour’s history after the Baptism was His Temptation in the Wilderness, and this in the Gospel narrative is distinctly connected with the fulness of the Spirit. Matthew says: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil,” (chap. iv. 1). Mark says: “ And immediately the Spirit driveth (€«SadXev) Him into the wilderness ” (chap. 1, 12). Luke is even more explicit: “ And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (chap. iv. 1). There is no distinct reference in the Fourth Gospel to the Tempta- tion; but when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “ Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (chap. i. 29), he went on to speak of our Lord’s baptism as having taken place some time before. We can therefore easily suppose that be- tween the baptism and the public proclamation of the Lord as the Lamb of God forty days had intervened. When John saw Jesus coming to him, he saw Him THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. pales coming as a victor from the wilderness of His temptation. - Now, the operation of the Spirit, to which the evangelists ascribe our Lord’s temporary absence from men in the solitude of the wilderness, in two instances called a “lead- ing” or “ taking,” but in the other a “driving” or “ thrust- ing forth,’ and which is also, attributed to the fulness of ‘the Spirit's presence and action, may be compared with other instances in the Scriptures, and regarded as at least analogous to the ecstasy or afflatus of the prophet. The human nature of our Lord was subject to the ordinary conditions of development. He grew in wisdom and in stature. His consciousness, as Man, must be cognisant of earthly circumstances and limitations. The Spirit of God taking full possession of His mind and will would pro- duce some degree of excitement. But the excitement of a powerful mind is a very different thing from the excite- ment of a weak nature. There was no disorder, no over- balancing of the faculties, no loss of self-control, nothing like mania or frenzy, but simply the whole current of thought and feeling and will directed towards the fulfil- ment of the Divine purpose which the Spirit of God revealed to the consciousness of Jesus at this point of His history with all the fulness of the Divine Wisdom and Love. Jesus felt that He was the Son of God to glorify God, and be well-pleasing to Him in His appointed work as Saviour. The Divine purpose filling His nature was an impulse to withdraw Himself into the wilderness for soli- tary thought and prayer and preparation. Hence the form of the Temptation was, “If Thou be the Son of God.” It was a distinct challenge by the Hvil Spirit to renounce the 218 VOX. DEL claim which conscious fulness of the Spirit of God carried with it. One who knows that he is filled with the Spirit has no need to resort to anything outside the Word of God; he calmly rests upon the promises. Tempting God by presumptuous action, worshipping Satan by receiving power by means of Satanic agencies and methods; all such sins are the fruits of man’s lack of the Spirit of God. He that was absolutely full of the Spirit could not commit them. The temptation failed because it came against One who not only claimed to be but was the Son of God. There must be a great deal in such a fact as the Lord’s temptation in the wilderness, which no thought of ours can penetrate, but as far as the operation of the Spirit is revealed to us in the fact, we find it confirmed by the experience of all spiritual men. Conscious possession of the Spirit 1s accompanied with temptation. The sense of a great mission does afford Satan an opportunity to try us. Pride, presump- tion, self-assertion, impatience, worship of the world for the sake of power and speedy success, are sins never far off from those who aim at great things and think great thoughts and feel themselves appointed to be leaders and reformers of the world. And yet how true it is, the more like Christ His servants are, the more His Spirit possesses them, the safer they are! The perfection of the Saviour does not take Him out of the sphere of human sympathy and fellowship. Even in the wilderness He is tempted in all points lke as we are, and His victory, while it was due to the Divine fulness of His power, was yet the same kind of victory which every THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 219 child of God can obtain over Satan by the presence and influence of the Holy Ghost. The Temptation stands between the Baptism and the commencement of the Saviour’s public ministry. Hence the language of the Third Gospel: ‘“ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all” (Luke iv. 14, 15). Our Lord did not need any actual defeat of Satan in order to convince Himself that He was the Son of God. And yet we may believe that the power of the Spirit was carrying Him to His public work with a greater outflow of His human faculties than if He had not passed through that mysterious conflict and gained the victory. -A true minister of Christ does not need the fruits of his ministry in the conversion of souls to prove to him that he is called to be a messenger of God; the inward witness of the Spirit assures him that he is so called; but the joy of achieve- ment is a great stimulus, the gathering in of the sheaves is a great uplifting influence, kindling enthusiasm and multiplying power. It was very soon after the com- mencement of His public ministry, with the scene in the wilderness only a few days in the background, that the Lord, opening the Book of the Prophet Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, applied to Himself with inspired boldness, in that familiar place of His childhood, where the Prophet being in his own country would not be accepted and would be without honour, the grand predic- tion of the spiritual Kingdom and the spiritual King: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath 220 VOXSDEL anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the accept- able year of the Lord.” ‘There was no excitement, no passion, in the Lord’s sermon at Nazareth, but there was evidently a supernatural confidence, and, at the same time, a Divine tenderness and love in his speech and manner. ‘‘ The eyes of all them that were in the syna- gogue were fastened on Him. ... And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke iv. 20, 22). Again we see that the power of the Spirit, ike the power of the Creator, is at the same time Wisdom and Love. It is not such a power as Satan tempted Jesus to put forth—vain, selfish, presumptuous, worldly—but the power which preaches to the poor, heals the broken-hearted, opens the prison- houses, gives eyes to the blind, and proclaims universal liberty and acceptance, There is a wonderful revelation of the nature and work of the Spirit of God in these opening facts of the Saviour’s public life, His baptism, His temptation, and His preaching at Nazareth. The ministry of our Lord may be regarded from two points of view, as a ministry of power and as a ministry of Divine Truth. In both respects it was a ministry in which the fulness of the Spirit was manifested. The miracles which began to be wrought almost as soon as Jesus declared Himself and drew disciples to His side, as we see from the account given us in the Fourth Gospel of the turning of the water into wine, which is called “ the THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 221 beginning of miracles,” were undoubtedly manifestations of the Spirit. May we not find something like an analogy to the working of a physical miracle, in the case of a Divine Teacher, in the remarkable effects often produced on the fleshly nature by a powerful spiritual impulse ? In the forty days spent by Jesus in the wilderness we are told that He took no food and afterwards hungered. Similar instances of the power of the spirit over the body are seen in Moses and Elijah, and to a less degree are not uncommon amongst religious people. We are so little acquainted with the nature of disease, that it is impossible to say that such diseases as our Saviour healed might not be cured rapidly by a sudden stimulus imparted to the spirit. Even in the most mysterious case of all, that of raising the dead, it is not for us to say that life is not more spiritual than material. We cannot know what death is, as the secret of life is im- penetrable. It may be that our Saviour’s miracles were not either suspensions of natural laws, or the calling in of unknown agencies, or arbitrary exercises of omnipotent power, but acts in the spiritual world which, when we know that world better than we ever can know it on earth, will not appear to us mysterious at all. But in the presence of such facts all we can say is, they were works wrought by God in Christ through the Spirit. Therefore they teach us that the Spirit of God does act upon the external material world. And this 1s what the Apostle Paul affirms when he says that our bodies are “the temples of the Holy Ghost.” The power of the Saviour over the spirits of men was very wonderful. Para VOX DEL. Both in the case of those who in some measure were waiting for spiritual influences and ready to receive them, as the first disciples, and in the marvellous effects pro- duced on the multitudes and on those who were enemies and came to apprehend Him, we see that Jesus shed forth from Himself a supernatural influence over the mind and heart. But the one most instructive fact in the record of the Saviour’s works is the power which He exercised over demons and unclean spirits. Evidently the Pharisees and most bitter of the Lord’s opponents were stumbled by this fact. ‘They were betrayed by their inveterate prejudice into the blasphemous folly of ascrib- ing that power to an alliance with the evil spirits them- selves. So utterly irrational and superficial was their theology, that they could suppose the Prince of Darkness deceiving the people by submitting himself to a sham defeat in order to take them captive. But although Satan may transform himself into an angel of light to produce a temporary effect, we cannot conceive that any people would be more inclined to come under bad influ- ences by seeing bad spirits defeated and cast out. If Jesus was overthrowing Satan, He must have first entered the strong man’s house and bound the strong man. ‘Then He would spoil his house. Our Lord has told us that these miracles were the result of a great change in the spiritual world, and it may be that the essential part of that change was wrought in the forty days of the Lord’s temptation : “ J saw Satan as lightning fall from Heaven.” Does not that mean that He Himself cast Satan forth and broke his power? If so, then our Lord’s possession % THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Zoo of the Holy Spirit was His rising to the supreme place in the world of spiritual beings. All spirits are subject unto Him. This is the truth which is presented to us very clearly and decidedly by the language of the Apostle Paul in several places. And it throws much light on the whole doctrine of the Spirit in the Scriptures. Spiritual influences proceed from spiritual beings. Much of the work of God’s Spirit in the lives of His people may be analogous to the work which Jesus did in casting out the evil spirits from those who were possessed. Our sins are closely connected with persons and personal agencies. The cleansing of our thoughts and the lifting up of our characters may be greatly effected through the casting out of the sphere of our life of spirits which have been acting upon us for evil. The fellowship of saints is a mighty spiri- tual power. Is there not over against 1t the companion- ship of devils? Demoniacal possession in its ancient form may be extinct. We cannot certainly say that it is. However we explain the facts of the present world as we see them, it is a great and consoling truth which the Gospel puts before us—Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God controls all personal agencies, whether they be above the earth, or on the earth, or under the earth. Some of our scientific men have thought it an absurdity to repre- sent devils as entering into swine and driving them into the deep. But the irrational animals are undoubtedly possessed of a nervous system which can be acted upon by terror and supernatural appearances. Such a miracle seems to point to the fact that evil spirits may have a larger sphere of action than the spirits of men. Through 224 VOX DEI. animals and through material phenomena generally they may be able to produce effects in the world which serve their evil purposes. Assuredly the presence of the Spirit of God in man extends much further in its influence than to the thoughts and feelings of the soul. There is a new creation, not only in the innermost man, but in his whole existence. The Spirit of God brooded over the original chaos and changed it into cosmos. His work is still the same, both in individuals and in society. The ministry of our Saviour was also a ministry of Divine teaching. We must now, therefore, put together briefly the most essential constituents of the doctrine of the Spirit as it appears expressed in the words of our Lord’s discourses and sayings. This is so large a subject that much must be left to be supplied by the reader. The aim of this rapid review is rather to guide the mind in the study of the Gospels than to gather together the whole of their teaching, its suggestiveness, and capable of being placed in endless new relations to religious thought and experience. The chief part of our Lord’s teaching on the subject of the Spirit is found in the Fourth Gospel. There are exceed- ingly few direct references to it in the Synoptics. The Sermon on the Mount may be regarded as a summary of which is simply inexhaustible in the Lord’s discourses so far as they were proclamations of the Law of His Kingdom. The parables which are given subsequently, and which are gathered together by Matthew in the thirteenth chapter as examples of the Lord’s teaching, contain the leading principles of the Kingdom of Grace. Spirituality is implied in all that THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Bony the Saviour says about His mission to the world. He has not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets. His mission is to establish a kingdom in the heart, a spiritual kingdom which will manifest itself in the fulfilment of the Law. Although nothing is introduced into the Sermon on the Mount which can be said to be a positive state- ment on the subject of the Spirit, His work is pre-sup- posed throughout. We must not lose sight of the fact that the Saviour’s audiences were quite familiar with Old Testament teaching, which, as we have seen, em- braced the leading fundamental truths as to inspiration and the work of the Spirit in writing the Law of God on the heart. When the Lord gave His commission to His twelve apostles, He probably spoke to them more dis- tinctly about the spiritual gifts with which they were endowed. “Jt is not ye that speak,” He said to them, “but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” Pioexeeo, Mark’ xi. 11? .liuke x1..12,; ¢f. xxi. 15, where Jesus Himself claims the power of the Spirit). When Simon Peter openly, and as the representative apostle, declared solemnly his faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, Jesus pronounced his confession to be the work of the Spirit: “ Mlesh and blood hath not revealed ut wnto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven” (Matt. xvi. 17). The Spirit is the gift of God, and the disciples are encouraged to pray for the gift as freely as they would pray for any of the good gifts of their Heavenly Father. “Jf ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Feavenly Father give the Holy Spirit (rvevua aytov) to je 226 weave see them that ask. Him?” (Luke xi. 13). The personality of the Spirit is involved in the very distinct. denunciation of blasphemy against Him. We can scarcely admit that such a word as blasphemy would be used: if the Holy Spirit were not. regarded as a person, especially as the Lord sets side by side together blasphemy against Him- self as the Son of Man and blasphemy against the Spirit: the one shall be forgiven, the other shall not (¢f. Matt. xii: 323; Mark i. 29; Luke xu. 10). Matthew. applies to the Saviour the words of Isaiah, “I will put My Spirit upon Him” (chap. xu. 18); and when the Lord rebuked: the Pharisees for their blasphemous ascription of His. works to diabolical agency, He claimed to be Himself the source of the power by which the. evil spirits were cast out. He was one with the Divine Spirit. ‘ But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the. King- dom. of God is come unto you”: (Matt. xii. 28). It must be remembered that the synoptical Gospels were written. as narratives. ‘Their main object was to preserve for the infant Church of Christ the principal facts of the Saviour’s history and the leading commandments of His new Law. The. conspicuous aim. of the writers is to exalt Jesus, not to vindicate Christian doctrine. It is. “the. Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God” which they write, and as narrators of facts and sayings which set forth who Jesus was and what He did, while they did not ignore the work of the Holy Spirit, we can understand that they did not feel themselves called to put it prominently forward. Perhaps this would be partly accounted for by the fact that the work and signs of the Spirit were very THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 22:7 abundant at the time the Synoptics were written, that is about thirty years after Christ’s ascension. The Day of Pentecost was fresh in the remembrance of the Church, In the presence of such a spiritual kingdom they would not feel the necessity for putting on record the teaching of our Lord on the subject. But at the close of the first century, when the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were beginning to lessen in number and the deeper and more regular work of the Kingdom had to be depended on, then it was put into the heart of the beloved disciple, whose life was prolonged much after the decease of the other apostles, to give: to the world fully the doctrine of the Divine Spirit as it was taught in the Saviour’s dis- courses with His chosen followers. The testimony of the Apostle John to the spiritual nature of the Saviour’s Kingdom is very distinct and’ emphatic, and it is the more important because, as he tells us in his first epistle, “Antichrist was already in the world.” The Anti-christian opposition to the King- dom of the Saviour was chiefly an undue exaltation of the material as against the spiritual. Hence the Apostle John puts very prominently forward in his Gospel the teaching of the Saviour on the subject of entrance into the Kingdom of God and fellowship with Himself in the Kingdom ; and as the ministry of the Church soon became the sphere of the most Anti-christian errors and corrupt claims put forth hy men in the name of Christ, the doctrine of a spiritual ministry is fully declared in the farewell discourses of the Lord with His apostles. No one can deny that Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the 228 VOX DEI. apostolic ministry are in the very forefront of the Apostle’s thoughts as he puts his Gospel together. It was very natural that it should be so at the close of the first century with one exercising his ministry in Kphesus and its neighbourhood, and regarding himself as the last apostolic representative of Christ in the world. The discourse of our Saviour with Nicodemus is not upon baptism, but it is upon entrance into the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a typical representative of ex- ternalism. like all the leading religious men of his time, he thought of the Kingdom of God as an external organisation, into which a person might be admitted by his assent to terms or by his native rights, just as the member of a nation is either born into it or admitted into it by naturalisation, which is the act of others on his behalf. The fact that there is a Kingdom of the Spirit was very- obscure in Nicodemus’s mind, though as a ruler, and therefore teacher, in Israel, he ought to have learned it from the Old Testament. Into a spiritual kingdom we cannot enter by any other way than by a spiritual work—“ That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which vs born of the Spirit is spirit” (chap. iii. 6). There is no particular stress laid by our Lord on the birth as distinguished from the real commencement of life. He intends to mark the two orders of life, fleshly life and spiritual life. Hence, when He introduces the water with an evident allusion to baptism, it cannot be that the water is identified with the Spirit, but that they are associated together, because the spiritual life was testified through baptism. If there were any power in the water Spe Tore vDOCTRINELOF THE “HOLY SPIRIT. 229 (or the baptism), surely it would have been put in the first place in the discourse, whereas the word avw0er (from above, or again) is the first term applied to the new birth, and after the reference to the water it is entirely dropped out of view. The life which is born is spiritual, and its essence is faith in the Son of God. The special reason why our Saviour introduced the men- tion of water or baptism was to remove any difficulty from the mind of Nicodemus by His use of the words “born again.” Naturally, an old man, if he did not recognise that Jesus was speaking of the hidden work of the Spirit of God in the heart, would be perplexed by the idea of a new birth. And the Lord reminded him that coming out of the water might be so denominated. But the life which came out of the water was not given by the water in any sense; the person came forth cleansed and renewed, but the cleansing and renewing of the body set forth and symbolised and sealed the spiritual work which made the life, and therefore preceded the birth. There was nothing really new in our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus except the distinct proclamation of the spiritual regeneration as the law of entrance into the Kingdom of God, and the exposition which followed, in which He Himself is lifted up as the object of faith. The doctrine of the Spirit is thus made Christian by a clear development, from the general truths of the Old Testament to the special application of those truths in the person and work of the Saviour. In the latter portion of the third chapter the testimony of the Baptist to Christ emphasises the freedom and fulness of spiritual 230 VOX DEL, gifts as the mark of the new epoch. ‘He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure (€« metpov) unto Him. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son hath ever- lasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (chap. 11. 34-30). Whether we regard these words as uttered by John the Baptist, or as an addition to his testimony by John the Apostle, is of little consequence. The meaning evidently is, that our Saviour gives the Spirit freely and fully, because He possesses it Himself “ without measure,” that is, not under the limitations of the Old Dispensation, but with the universality of Gospel grace. It is the same great fact which was before the mind of the Saviour in His conversation with the woman of Samaria. To her mind grace was limited by the external conditions of worship. “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Undoubtedly under the Old Testa- ment such a limitation of the Spirit of God was taught. Not that God withheld His Spirit, but that He wrought by means and agencies which, as the world then was, must be restraints. A Jew might see almost as much truth in the dim light of his sacrificial system as the Christian under the Gospel. But the dim light made it difficult to see it, and those who did not see much more than the shadowy forms and general character of the things to come were not condemned for unbelief. But our Lord declares that there is a great change now that THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Do the great Light has come. “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John iv. 21-24). This is a saying of our Lord’s which, taken in connection with the whole occurrence and conversation related in the chap- ter, is full of significance. It was a half-heathen woman whom He invited to the Water of Life, and she herself, having by grace at once partaken of the Divine fulness of the Gospel through faith, became a messenger to her neighbours, and through them to Samaria at large. Thus the freedom of the Spirit was both taught and illus- trated. God is declared to be Spirit, or the Spirit. The Gospel rests upon belief in a spiritual God. If God is Spirit, then Spirit and Truth are the elements in which He is worshipped. Our Saviour threw no disparagement upon sacred places or upon religious services by such words. But He clearly taught that the essence of their sacredness consisted not in any external adjustment of circumstances, or in any separation or distinction from other places, but in the presence and operation of the Spirit of God. Truth is a spiritual reality. The worshipper who disregards Truth dishonours God. It is not the Spirit without the Truth in which we worship God, nor is it the Truth with- Dow VOX DEI. out the Spirit. He takes no delight in mere waves of feeling passing over the soul, nor will He accept the acknowledgment of a creed, or the intellectual assent to. Truth in the abstract, without spiritual life. He is wor- shipped’ as a Spirit by spirits, that is, by a living com- munion, for a Spirit can only worship Spirit by intelli- gent and loving intercourse. How can we worship God without Truth? Hence the Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth, and His work is to enlighten, to remove the dark- ness of ignorance and corruption, to reveal God to our spirits, and to lead us into fellowship with God. Such teaching swept away a very great deal which had grown up under the protection of religion, but which, because of men’s infirmities and sins, hid God from them and stood in the way of the world’s salvation. Jews had degraded both their Temple and their Scriptures into unspiritual things. There was no recognition of Divine Grace either amongst Jews or Gentiles. The Spirit of God was sup- posed to endow certain privileged persons and dwell in certain consecrated places. The world was to be blessed by being brought to acknowledge the supremacy of Jerusalem. Heathen wise men said the highest minds would see for all the rest, and if the people could not be taught the wisdom of the great thinkers and seers, they must be left to perish. But Jesus said, “ The hour is come to proclaim universal grace. My mission is to invite all men to Me, because all the Spirit is Mine, and I give it freely without money and without price. The Father seeks only for His children. If we know the gift of God, we shall ask of Him that gives it, and it shall be 2HE- DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 253 in us a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” Our Lord’s discourses with “ the Jews,’ , 1.€., With those who opposed His claims, are given to us in summary in the fifth chapter of John’s Gospel. There is no distinct mention in our Saviour’s words of the Spirit, but He speaks of Himself as able to quicken the dead to life. ‘The Son quickeneth whom He will.” And again, “ For as the Father hath life in Himself: so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” The life spoken of in these words cannot be His own personal life, but the life of the Spirit of God, given “ without measure” unto Him. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” ‘To have life in Himself” must mean to have in Himself the power to bestow life or to quicken, to be the source of life. The lowest animal has life in itself in a secondary sense, that is, holds life as a tenure. But God alone has life as its originator. The first man was only in a subordinate sense the beginning of life. He might be the first of a race, but that race was itself a link in the series of crea- tion. So in the sixth chapter our Saviour declares Him- self to be one with the Father in giving and maintaining life in the believer, whom by His power He will raise up at the last day. The discourse which was preached in Capernaum after the miracles of the feeding of the multi- tude and walking on the sea was manifestly intended to prepare those who heard it, and the world which should read it, for the spiritual use of the rite afterwards insti- tuted when Jesus said, “ This is My body; this is My blood.” The whole rests upon the true doctrine of the 234, VOX DEI, Spirit. All the sacramental errors which have corrupted the Church and obscured the Gospel have proceeded from the lack of right belief on the subject of the work of the Spirit of God. The Lord seems to remind us purposely of the close connection between the teaching of the Old Testament and that of the New when He quotes from the prophets the promise of inspired guidance for all the children of God. “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me” (chap. vi. 45). And again, in the sixty-third verse, in answering the perplexity of His disciples, who complained that “it was an hard saying ; who can hear it?” —1.¢., who can accept both mentally and practically such a commandment to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man?—our Lord emphatically repeated the doctrine of a spiritual life, as though He would say, “I give the Holy Spirit: whosoever receiving that gift is spiritually one with Me, partakes of Me in the fullest sense; and this will be clear to you when the Resurrection and Ascension make it clear.” “Lt 1s the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.” Our Lord does not mean merely discourses, by “the words” which He has spoken (ra pyjuara). They are the prescribed things or commandments. They are Spirit, as being only acceptable to God when the Spirit teaches them and gives us power to fulfil them. They are life because they are Spirit. The disciples would find such sayings hard only so long as they thought of them from the point of view of unspiritual men. When they / a “ < . jellies THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 235 were full of the Holy Ghost they would never be stumbled by such language as the Saviour used of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. All extreme sacramentarianism is a sign of the decay of spiritual life. Those who make much of external rites make little of the work of God in the heart. ‘There are some of you,” Jesus said, “ that believe not.” Faith is not guaranteed by the external position we hold. It may be the position nearest to the Head, but it may be position only. “No man can come to Jesus, except it be given him of the Father.” Another very important declaration on the subject of the Spirit is found in the seventh chapter. It was made at the Feast of Tabernacles in the presence of embittered enemies and officers sent to take Him. ‘The waters drawn from the brook Siloam at that feast furnished our Lord with a text. He discoursed on the spiritual life as flowing forth directly from Himself: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Westcott says (“ Gospel of John,” p. 123): “ The reference is not to any one isolated passage, but to the general tenor of such passages as Isa. lvl. 11 and Zech. xiv. 8, taken in connection with the original image ” (Exod. xvii.6; Num.xx. 11). The fact that no precise quotation is made is itself significant. The whole doctrine of the Spirit in the Old Testament, and especially in the prophets, was in the mind of the Saviour at the time. The people of God were to become ‘wells of salvation” to the world. Such promises as we find in Joel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah must have prepared | 236 VOX DEI. the minds of devout readers of the Old Testament for the outpouring of the Spirit upon believers, by which they would become themselves fountains or rivers of blessing to the heathen. The parenthesis of explanation which follows would very naturally be added by the Apostle John, writing as he was at the end of the first cen- tury, to explain the fact that Jesus did not speak more explicitly concerning the gifts of the Spirit. He could not make it plainer at that time because as yet the Holy Spirit was not, as He afterwards was, manifestly poured out: “ But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive (od &ueAXov AapBavev). For the Holy Ghost was not yet given (ov7rw yap qv ITvetua dytov), because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” The reference, therefore, is not to saving faith, which must always be the work of the Spirit, but to those endowments by which believers should be made “rivers of living water.” Such endow- ments were not at that time poured out. They came on the Day of Pentecost. Here, then, we have a very distinct enunciation by our Lord of an important doctrine in respect to the Spirit. His operation is twofold, that which quickens to new life and that which sends forth the new life on the world. It is a very cardinal doctrine. Confusion between these two operations of the Spirit has led many into error with regard to the Day of Pentecost. It has been and is maintained by some that the Day of Pentecost dates the commencement of the Church of Christ. It is only by a confusion between the com- mencement of spiritual life and the commencement of Se ees ee ee Sige eat. i a PR DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: 237 spiritual gifts that such a view can be supported. We cannot discuss it at this point; it will come more pro- perly into the review of the teaching of the Acts of the Apostles. But plainly, if the Holy Ghost was received by believers, it must have been not to believe, but to minister to others, ‘Therefore there must have been a participation of the Spirit before the Day of Pentecost ; and if there was the work of the Spirit, there was a Church, for the Church is the congregation of those who believe. No doubt the Day of Pentecost inaugurated a fresh and unprecedented manifestation of the Divine Kingdom, But there is no sanction, either in the lan- guage of the Acts or of the Saviour Himself before His Ascension, for the view that the Church of Christ was not in existence before that time. There is no other passage previous to the farewell discourses directly bearing on the doctrine of the Spirit, but in the tenth chapter, when our Lord is vindicating Himself from the charge of blasphemy because He said, “Tam the Son of God,” He refers to His sanctification as giving Him the claim to such a title: “If He called them gods unto whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God ?” The sanctification of the Son is here placed side by side with the sanctification of those to whom the Word of God came, and our Saviour argues from the less to the greater. As uttering the Word of God men were called gods—that is, representatives cf God—He who 238 VOX DEI. was “sanctified and sent into the world” was more than a recipient of the Word of God. He, could be called the Son of God without blasphemy, because the Holy. Spirit was His as in no other instance. The claim is that He came as a sanctified One “into the world ;’” therefore His sanctification is identical with His nature. He brings it with Him from Heaven. Hence the Saviour could say, ‘ The Father is in Me, and Iin Him.” Sancti- fication taken by itself would not necessarily convey all! that the Saviour claimed: But the distinct reference to Kternity at once separates the sanctification in our Lord’s case from that of any merely earthly servant (‘‘ whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into. the world”). The covenant-relation implied in the commission given to ) the “ theocratic judges” assumes, as Canon Westcott: has remarked, the possibility of a vital union between God and man. “Judaism was not a system of limited mono-’ theism, but a theism always tending to theanthropism, to a real union of God and man. It was, therefore, enough to show, in answer to the accusation of the Jews, that there lay already in the Law. the germ of the truth which Christ announced, the union of God and’ man” (p. 160). Close upon that suggestive answer to the Pharisees, St. John has placed the stupendous miracle, the raising of Lazarus from the tomb. In connection with that work, which manifested the Saviour’s quicken- ing power, stand the stirring and exalted words in which Jesus claims to be the life of every believer, “I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 239 liveth and believeth in Me (that is, lives the life of faith in Me), shall never die” (John xi. 25, 26), When the Greeks came to see Jesus, and Andrew and Philip told Him, He predicted the glory which was coming upon Him. Even the enemies exclaimed, ‘‘ Behold, the world is gone after Him.” He Himself declared that, now that He was about to be offered up. for the glory of God's name, the judgment of this world was at hand, the prince of this world is judged. “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” The, power thus claimed is certainly the power of the Holy Ghost. in all its fulness. The contrast is with the power of? this world and of the prince of this. world. That power. is the power ofa lost spirit over the spirits of men. ‘Christ’s power is that of the Spirit of God over all men, and no. man is beyond the reach of that power, no work is, too great for the Spirit of God to, do. It. is, not. a mere geographical universality which Jesus ascribes to His power. Nor are the words. to. be taken in the sense of.a bald literalism, as they are. by the. Universalist, wlio understands them to, predict. the, actual: salvation. of all intelligent beings. The power is described in its nature and in its extent as. revealing its nature; all shall feel it and recognise it, whether it accomplishes their salvation or not (wavtas éXkicw Tmpos €uauTor). All the Universalist can conclude from such words is the universal applicability of the power. The facts of human destiny would not be left to be described in words of so much breadth if they were intended to be positively predicted. 240 VOX DEI. There remains now to be considered in this review of the Gospels the special and direct teaching which our Lord gave to His twelve apostles on the mission of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter, concluding with His solemn communication to the eleven faithful ones of the endowment with its attendant authority. As this isa part of the subject which is of immeasurable importance, it will be the most fitting method of treating it to put together first the exact words of the Saviour in the order in which they were uttered, and then briefly state the doctrine which they seem to set forth. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And J will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter (wapaxAyToyr), that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not (for it beholdeth Him not),neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you” (chap. xiv. 15-17), “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is (ever) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you” (chap. xiv. 25, 26). “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me” (chap. xv. 26). “Nevertheless 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 go, I will send Him unto you. And He, when He do come, wh ? ; a THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 241 will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteous- ness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the Truth; for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall know, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are tocome. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He taketh of Mine, and shall declare it unto you” (chap. xvi. 7-15). ‘Sanctify them through Thy Truth. Thy Word is Truth.” ‘And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the Truth” (chap. xvii. 17-19). “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (chap. xx. 21-23). We can scarcely say of these words that they contain much that has not been revealed in other places in the Scripture. It is rather as a development of Divine teach- ing than as new revelation that we should regard them. They confirm some of the leading doctrines which, as we Q 242 Vox DEI. have seen, are to be found more or less distinctly even in the Old Testament. 1. The titles which are employed by our Lord and applied to the Spirit leave no doubt on the subject of Personality — The Comforter ” (6 mapakndytos), “ The Spirit of Truth” (ro Iveta ths adnOeias), while the use of the active verb and of the masculine pronoun in appo- sition to the word Spirit, which is neuter, makes it indis- putably certain that our Lord intended us to conceive of the Spirit as a person. The word éxezvos could not be employed of a mere influence, nor could it represent a mere abstract idea of spiritual agencies. The same mas- culine pronoun is found in all the three places where the action of the Spirit is referred to (chaps. xiy..20, XV-eem xvi. 8). The title Paraclete, which has been habitually rendered “ Comforter” through many ages, has the original sense of advocate or pleader, but seems to be used by the Lord in the general sense of Helper, 1... one called to our side to take up our cause and maintain it on our behalf. The idea in John xiv. 26 probably is, that when the Saviour leaves His disciples the Spirit comes to their help. ‘The name 1s introduced immediately after the reference to absence (“being yet present with you ”) ; hence the Paraclete is sent by the Father i the name of Jesus, i.c., as representing Jesus. He pleads Christ's cause with and for the believer. He continues the Qaviour’s work on earth, teaching, healing, comforting, saving. Jesus Himself is called a Paraclete in 1 John ii. 1, and in that case His advocacy is with the Father on behalf of sinners. The title “ Spirit of Truth ” evidently 9 THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 243 gathers into a name the whole of what both the Old Testament and our Lord Himself teach on the subject of Inspiration. The Truth which is found in the Scriptures is the Truth referred to. The Spirit gave the truth to the fathers and the prophets; the apostles are promised that they shall be taught, led, guided, shown things to come, shown the things of Christ, and under special inspira- tion, breathed into them by the Lord Himself, they should remit or retain sins, that is, should declare with authority the doctrine of forgiveness. The titles are explained and illustrated by the subsequent facts of Christian history. It is only necessary, therefore, at this point to observe that as titles they must be used of a person. 2. The next particular noticeable in the Saviour’s words is the very distinct affirmation of a special advent of the Spirit. “Zhe Father will send Him.” “When He is come whom I will send unto you from the Father.” “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 is come,” &&. ‘“ When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come.” Now, when we bear in mind that these words were addressed to apostles, to those who already had the Spirit, in so far as they believed and served Him, we see that they can only be explained of an advent of the Spirit for the purpose of the life-work of the apostles. The coming of the Spirit must mean the special outpouring of His gifts. Jesus referred to a particular epoch when He bade the disciples tarry in Jerusalem until a certain time. We must, therefore, distinguish between two kinds of advent of the Spirit. He comes into every soul when He 944, VOX DEI. works, and His work under the Old Testament was as truly an incoming of the Spirit as on the Day of Pente- cost. But we can gather from the whole teaching of the New Testament, in connection with those parting words of Jesus to the apostles, that the completion of the Saviour’s work opened the way for a manifestation of the Spirit, which might be called emphatically “ His Advent.” We may perhaps place beside this fact, the mission of the Comforter, the somewhat analogous fact, the Incarnation. The Son of God was in the world from the beginning, and the Incarnation was anticipated by many manifes- tations of the Divine presence which pointed on to it. But when “the Word was made flesh,” there was an advent of the Redeemer which we rightly call “ The Ad- vent.” So the Spirit of God manifested His presence and operations all through the ages; but there was a time, a specific point in the dispensation of God, when the Spirit of God “came,” as the result of the work accomplished, when the Redeemer could say, “ J¢