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 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 SAel/. 
 
 Division 
 Section .. 
 Number .'. 
 
 3S.. 
 I 
 
/ Price Five Shillings — Cloth Six Shillings, 
 
 "^IBLE WITNESS AND REVIEW. 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 T. THE FEASTS OF JEHOVAH— LECTURES ON LEVIT. xxiii. 
 II. THE OLIVE, THE FIG TREE, AND THE VINE. 
 
 III. UNION IN INCARNATION THE ROOT-ERROR OF MODERN 
 
 THEOLOGY. 
 
 IV. SCRIPTURAL UNITY AND UNION. 
 
 V. HAVE WE A REVELATION FROM GOD? A Review of 
 Professor Smith's Article ' Bible ' in the ' Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica. ' 
 
 VI. CHRISTOLOGICAL PANTHEISM. 
 
 VII. THE CHURCH AND ITS PRIVILEGES. 
 
 VIII. THE BEARING OF FIRST PETER ii. 24. 
 
 IX. BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 X. EPISTOLARY COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
Pric& Five Shillings — Cloth Six Shillings, 
 
 BIBLE WITNESS AND EEVIEW. 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. 11. 
 I. THE ATONEMENT, with a Review of Dr. Waldenstrom's "Om 
 
 FORSONNIGENS BETYDELSE." 
 
 II. THE ATONEMENT, as set forth in the Old Testament. 
 
 III. EXAMINATION of Mr. J. STUART MILL'S LOGIC. 
 
 IV. EXAMINATION of Mr. JUKES' "RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS." 
 V. BRIEF EXPOSITIONS AND SPIRITUAL MEDITATIONS. ' 
 
 VL MODERN PHASES OF THE CHURCH— " The Church in Sardis." 
 
 Vn. "THE GLORY OF GOD," WITH ABRAHAM; AND "THE SON 
 OF MAN," IN THE GLORY OF GOD. 
 
 VIIL THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 IX. PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION. 
 
 X. BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 XL EPISTOLARY COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
J 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 WITNESS AND REVIEW 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE PRESENTATION AND DEFENCE OF 
 REVEALED TRUTH 
 
 Et? aTToAoyiav Tov evayyeXtof Ket/xai 
 Phil. i. 17 
 
 VOLUME THIRD 
 
 LONDON 
 
 OFFICE OF PUBLICATION, 25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 1881 
 
printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburglu 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Redemption ...... 1 
 
 The Christian Latreia . .... 45 
 
 Inspiration and Revelation . . . .57 
 
 Brief Outline of the Scripture Eschatology . 101 
 
 Thoughts on the Epistle op James . . . .105 
 
 The Centre op Christian Worship and the Cause op Eccle- 
 siastical Ruin . . . . . .159 
 
 The Coming op the Lord that which characterises the 
 
 Christian Life . . . . .175 
 
 Miracles and Infidelity . . . . .187 
 
 The Post-Captivity Prophets ; or the Effect of the Word 
 
 OF God . . . . . . .251 
 
 Restoration . . . . . . .264 
 
 Thoughts on Micah . . . . . .271 
 
 The Mosaic Authorship op Deuteronomy . . . 280 
 
 Current Denials of Eternal Punishment . . . 304 
 
 The Epistle op Paul to the Churches op Galatia . . 313 
 
 The Christian Sacraments . . . . .322 
 
 Biblical Annotations . . . . .341 
 
 The Written Word of God . . . .351 
 
 The Multiformity op Sectarianism and the Unity of the Spirit 383 
 
 The Crisis in the Free Church of Scotland . 396 
 
 The Lord's Day . . . . . .408 
 
 A Few Words about the Epistle to the Ephesians . . 415 
 
EEDEMPTION. 
 
 
 <^:,^^ 
 
 Eestoeation to a condition of innocence, such as Adam and 
 Eve have alone known upon earth, is clearly impossible. By the 
 fall the knowledge of good and evil was acquired, and man got 
 a nature which is enmity against God (Eom. viii. 7). Continu- 
 ance for ever in the condition spiritual and physical, which was 
 engendered by the fall, would be dreadful to contemplate. Yet 
 deliverance from it by his own power is what man can never 
 achieve. Eedemption, therefore, becomes a necessity, if the 
 consequences of the fall are not always to be experienced by 
 members of the race of Adam. For creatures we are, called 
 into being at the will of the Creator, each alike possessing a 
 soul that never dies, which dwells, whilst the man is upon earth, 
 in a body which never can be annihilated. "Were redemption 
 unheard of, how truly wretched would be our prospect ! Were 
 it impossible, how had the enemy triumphed, by involving in 
 ruin inevitable the whole race of beings, on the head of which 
 God the Creator had once looked, and saw that it was very good 
 (Gen. i. 31) ! But the Bible treats of redemption a7ro\vTpa)at<; 
 by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and assures all who be- 
 lieve on Him that they share in it already (Ephes. i. 7 ; Col. i. 
 14), even the forgiveness of sins, whilst awaiting that exercise 
 of divine power, which will effect the redemption of their bodies 
 (Rom. viii. 23), The subject, then, is one of great importance 
 and of world-wide interest, since it concerns Israel, Jerusalem, 
 our souls, our bodies, and the purchased possession, to the 
 enjoyment of which, with the Lord Jesus Christ, believers are 
 taught to look forward (Ephes. i. 14, iv. 30). Far-reaching 
 have been the results of sin, widely extended will be the effects 
 of redemption, but all of God, to whose activity in grace we are, 
 
 B 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 and for ever shall be, indebted for it. In both Testaments do 
 we read of it. In Old Testament times Israel sang of it. In 
 the present day Christians commemorate it. 
 
 But whilst each has known a redemption which can never be 
 reversed, both are taught to await redeeming power in the future. 
 Israel sang of redemption by power. Christians speak of re- 
 demption by blood ; and await the exercise of redeeming power 
 on their behalf. Standing that memorable morning on the 
 eastern shore of the Bed Sea, an emancipated people, their 
 chains of slavery broken by tlie arm of Jehovah, beholding 
 their former masters dead at their feet, Israel joined in that 
 sonof, the first that we meet with as coming from the lips of men 
 in the pages of Holy Writ, " I v/ill sing unto the Lord, for He 
 hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he 
 thrown into the sea " (Exod. xv. 1). And the women following 
 Miriam took up the refrain, all joyous together in their first 
 hour of freedom from the galling servitude of their Egyptian 
 taskmasters. Cries of distress had before this ascended up to 
 the Lord, as man's wickedness and unrighteousness had forced 
 them from the heart of his victim (Exod. ii. 23). A song of 
 praise to God from fallen man was never heard, that we read of, 
 till the Lord interposed in power, and sent redemption unto 
 His people. God had to act on Israel's behalf, ere, from lips 
 accustomed to cry to Him out of the depths of sorrow, praise 
 could to Him flow forth. Oppression was the work of Satan and 
 of his instruments ; their redemption could only be effected by 
 God. He alone could fill their mouth with laughter, and their 
 tongue with singing. 
 
 But not only will Israel be able thus to speak of the past : 
 for again will they experience the hostility of man and of the 
 enemy, to be followed by redemption, the prelude to millennial 
 blessing : the former to be allowed by God, because, their 
 fathers having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be 
 under the power of antichrist as the nation's king ; the 
 latter to be accomplished by God in mercy to His faithful 
 remnant. Of this the prophets have written (Isai. lii. 3 ; 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 Hosea xiii. 14 ; Jer. 1. 33, 34) ; for it the Psalmist prayed, and 
 Jewish saints will yet lift up their voice (Ps. xxv, 22, cxxx. 7, 
 8 ; Isai. Ixiv.) ; to it looked forward the godly remnant, of which 
 Anna the prophetess formed part (Luke ii. 38) ; of this, too, 
 Zacharias sang (Luke i. 74) ; and with reference to it the Lord 
 Jesus Christ gave instructions to His disciples when on the 
 Mount of Olives shortly before His death (Luke xxi. 28). 
 
 Previous, however, to the exodus, redemption was expe- 
 rienced, and was spoken of as well. Abraham, we read, was 
 redeemed by God (Isai. xxix. 22). Jacob on his dying bed made 
 mention of the angel who had redeemed him ^sa from all evil 
 (Gen. xlviii. 16). Eliphaz the Temanite could speak of it, and 
 remind Job of God, who in famine could redeem from death 
 those subject to divine correction (Job v. 20). Elihu, too, speaks 
 of it, and declares that the sinner even could be redeemed, or 
 delivered nnD from the pit (xxxiii. 24, 28). But Job surpassed 
 them both in his thoughts of God, when he expressed confi- 
 dence in his redeemer ^sia, who, then living, would take up his 
 cause at the last, and the patriarch, suffering as he was at that 
 moment in his body, would nevertheless in resurrection see 
 God (xix. 25). 
 
 The patriarchs then were no strangers to the thought of re- 
 demption, and that at the hand of God ; yet neither its character, 
 nor its measure, as they knew it, would satisfy saints of the 
 Christian dispensation. The character of it, as they experienced 
 it, would not satisfy us to whom the future has been revealed ; 
 for they were temporal deliverances from evil, or divine visita- 
 tions, which they knew, or expected. Deliverance from the 
 judgment of God for eternity is that which especially interests 
 us. The measure of it, too, would not meet the requirements 
 of our case. Por all that Jacob or Job's friends spoke of could 
 not assure the one thus redeemed of entrance into a condi- 
 tion before God at once full of blessing, and enduring. 
 
 After the exodus, redemption similar to that above mentioned, 
 saints, as David, experienced (2 Sam. iv. 9 ; 1 Kings i. 29) and 
 Jeremiah was promised (Jer. xv. 21). Eedemption from death 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 the Psalmist knew (Psalms Ixxi. 23, ciii. 4) and looked for (Psalm 
 Ixix. IS), and Israel will enjoy. Of this, too, Jeremiah could 
 speak (Lam. iii. 58) ; whilst of man's inability to give to God a 
 ransom for his brother, that death should not overtake him, we are 
 admonished in a psalm for the sons of Korah, in which same 
 inspired composition we are taught that God can preserve His 
 own alive (xlix. 7, 8, 15). By and by redemption of the poor 
 and needy from deceit and violence will be a marked feature of 
 Messiah's reign (Psalm Ixxii. 14), when precious will their blood 
 be in His sight. Thus in all ages redemption by God from 
 trouble, danger, or even impending death, could be known and 
 enjoyed, and in this aspect it is of course independent of dispen- 
 sational position or national connection, its two essential requi- 
 sites being a human creature in need, and God willing to rescue 
 him from it. The need might be great, and often recurring ; 
 the danger might be imminent, death staring the man in the 
 face ; the person, too, might be friendless, as far as man was 
 concerned ; yet even if fatherless he could find in God a re- 
 deemer f'xia God (Prov. xxiii. 10, 11), as much as the Lord's 
 anointed (Psalm xix. 14), or Job (xix. 25), or the nation of Israel 
 as a whole (Isaiah xli. 14). 
 
 But what are we to understand by redemption as set forth 
 in Holy Writ ? It is deliverance from a condition, and may be 
 effected in various ways. Hence it differs from purchase, which 
 implies a change of ownership. A slave purchased changes his 
 master, one redeemed changes his condition. If the special 
 subject is the one redeemed, his change of condition is before 
 the mind. If the subject be how he was redeemed, the price 
 paid, the power exercised, according as his redemption was 
 effected by price or by power, will be present to the writer's 
 thoughts. If the former is more particularly treated of, his 
 redemption is especially brought into view ; if the latter, the 
 redeemer will occupy a marked place in the mental vision. 
 
 As regards God's people, whether earthly or heavenly, they 
 are both purchased and redeemed. In Exod. xv. 13, 16, both 
 are stated of Israel. In 1 Cor. vi. 20, and Ephes. i. 7, we have 
 
REDEMPTION. 5 
 
 authority for the statements in connection with Christians. But 
 purchase may be predicated of people not redeemed, and can 
 now be affirmed of all men (Matt. xiii. 44), though all have not 
 been redeemed (2 Peter ii. 1). As purchased, however, respon- 
 sibility to serve the Lord attaches to all who have heard of Him, 
 though love to the One who has bought them may not thereby 
 be engendered. A slave purchased of an old master would be 
 bound to serve his new master, whether the purchase took place 
 with his consent or not. It is the ownership which determines 
 to whom the service should be rendered. But who would re- 
 main indifferent to the one who has redeemed him ? Purchase 
 attests the rights of the buyer ; redemption reminds us of the 
 love and compassion of the redeemer. 
 
 Pursuing our investigation of the subject, let us first confine 
 our attention to redemption as set forth in the Old Testament, 
 wherein we meet with two terms commonly used to express it, 
 viz. bsa, to set free what was bound, and HID, to divide or 
 separate, hence to redeem. Two other verbs are each once 
 translated in A. V. to redeem, viz. pis (Psalm cxxxvi. 24), and 
 njip (Neh. V. 8). The former of these treats of deliverance, the 
 latter of acquiring possession in order to redeem. Without, then, 
 concerning ourselves any further with these latter verbs, let us 
 turn to the consideration of the use of the two words so com 
 monly employed, ^xa and HID. At times both occur together, 
 e.g. "The Lord hath redeemed nns Jacob, and ransomed him 
 i^xa from the hand of him that was stronger than he" (Jer. 
 xxxi. 11). Again, " I will ransom them max from the power 
 of the grave, I will redeem them D^^xox from death" (Hosea xiii. 
 14). See also Isaiah xxxv. 9, 10 ; li. 10, 11 ; Lev. xxvii. 27, 28, 
 29 ; Psalm Ixix. 18. Both verbs are used, too, of the redemp- 
 tion out of Egypt, fjxa being met with in Exod. vi. 6, xv. 13, 
 and nna in Deut. vii. 8, ix. 26, xxi. 8. Both, too, are met with 
 where the deliverance, still future, is treated of (Isaiah lii. 3 ; 
 Psalm cxxx. 8). On the other hand, there are occasions on which 
 one is always used, and never the other. For instance, where 
 the kinsman was required by law to act, we have always the 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 participle of h^\ ; and wherever the Lord Jehovah is called the 
 Redeemer of Israel or of Jerusalem, it is always by the term 
 ^Kia that He is mentioned. He is the God of His people, though 
 He can be described as one who redeems ^^'lD Poclch His ser- 
 vants from the dangers which threaten them (Psalm xxxiv. 
 22), as well as the One who redeemed Israel from the house of 
 bondage (Deut. xiii. G). When writing then of what God is in 
 this character, He is always called the Goel. When mentioning 
 what He does as such, He can be described as the Podeh. And 
 when Moses writes (Exod, xxi. 30) of the owner of a malicious 
 ox having to ransom his own life by reason of the homicidal act 
 of his beast, li"'nQ ransom, from n*iQ, is employed. Again, where 
 the redemption of the firstborn is written about, whether of man 
 or of beast, iTiD is the verb generally selected ; but where houses, 
 lands, or tithes are the subject, ^xa is met with (Lev. xxv. xxvi.) 
 Hence these two words, though freely used, and often applied 
 to the same things, are not after all interchangeable. The 
 Psalmist, for instance, more often uses nna ; with Isaiah it is 
 just the reverse. 
 
 By the law the subject of redemption was brought into great 
 prominence. As a nation Israel had shared in it. As a settled 
 people, in the possession of houses, lands, and animals, they were 
 frequently reminded of it ; and were taught subject to what 
 conditions they could exercise the power of redemption on be- 
 half either of themselves, their brethren, .their houses, lands, or 
 animals. Por all these could be redeemed under certain speci- 
 . fied conditions. Prom the claims of man, and from the claims 
 of God, deliverance could be effected, and that whether they had 
 arisen from the voluntary act of an individual subjecting him- 
 self or his possessions to the power of another, or from causes 
 beyond any man's control. We will look at the subject in this 
 order, taking up first those cases where the claims of man were 
 in question, next where the claims of God had to be met, both 
 arising from the voluntary act of an Israelite. After that we 
 will consider redemption from Egyptian bondage, the bringing 
 out Israel from under the power of their oppressors, and the 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 redemption of their firstborn males from the claim which God 
 made upon them. 
 
 And first of the claims of man arising from the voluntary 
 act of an Israelite. These are set forth in Lev. xxv. Suppose 
 a poor man of the race of Israel had fallen into poverty, and 
 had parted with some of his land, its redemption by money was 
 his right, of which none could legally deprive him. Any of his 
 kin could redeem it, or, if able, he himself might do it, on pay- 
 ment of the equitable price (xxv. 27). The Lord thus watched 
 over him, and preserved him from the oppression and the 
 rapacity of the richer man who had purchased it. In the year 
 of Jubilee, indeed, it would go out free, and the poor man Avould 
 regain possession of it as unencumbered as when Israel first in- 
 herited it, yet at any time short of that the portion sold could 
 be redeemed. The poor, the needy, were God's charge. He took 
 them under His protection ; for, poor though they might be, they 
 belonged to Israel ; and the land in question belonged to the 
 Lord (Josh. xxii. 19), who had the exclusive right, as here exer- 
 cised, of prescribing the terms on which any should enjoy its 
 produce, or reap the benefit of its fertility. Strictly righteous 
 as between man and man was this provision, yet how gracious ! 
 The purchaser bought it on well-known conditions, and no 
 mental reservation nor legal quibble could bar the right of the 
 vendor to be reinstated in his possession before the Jubilee came 
 round. Where else upon earth w^ere such laws in force ? Who 
 but the poor Israelite enjoyed such an advantage ? But this 
 provision implied ability either in the man, or in his kin, to 
 redeem it. If able himself, or if his kindred were able, it could 
 be done. If not, he must abide the consequences of his act of 
 sale till the Jubilee arrived. How easily but for the privilege of 
 the Jubilee would he have lost his land for ever, then became 
 apparent. And, that he did not lose it for ever, he owed solely 
 to this gracious enactment of his God. His poverty might 
 compel a sale ; God could not be blamed for that. Its redemp- 
 tion by the law was permitted, though it could give no ability 
 to those concerned to avail themselves of it. And this is the 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 principle of law throughout. There must be power in man to 
 reap advantage from it. If in such a case it was lacking, nothing 
 but the Jubilee deliverance could be expected. How precious 
 to Israel will the Jubilee appear, when they shall return to their 
 land, which they have not been able to redeem from the hands 
 of the stranger ! How interesting to us is this Jubilee provision, 
 a rehearsal as it were of what God has in store for His people 
 in spite of all their failure ! 
 
 With a house in a walled city the case was different. Within 
 a year from its sale redemption was permitted. None were to 
 be deprived of the opportunity of changing their mind, or to be 
 taken irrevocable advantage of unawares. If, however, it was 
 not redeemed within that time, it became the absolute property 
 of the purchaser, and the vendor had no further right by himself 
 or by his kin to claim its redemption at all. The reason for this 
 difference between the land and the house in a walled town is 
 evident. The land was the man's patrimony, the house in the 
 city was not. His patrimony the Lord carefully guarded. The 
 house, however, was the Israelite's own, to do as he pleased with 
 it. In the case of the Levites, M'ho had cities with their suburbs 
 assigned to them — for they shared not in the tribal division of the 
 land — their cities and houses could be redeemed at any time, 
 being treated as land, which could not be permanently alienated 
 from the tribe to which it belonged, except under certain con- 
 ditions (Lev. xxvii. 20, 21) ; and they enjoyed this further 
 advantage, in that the suburbs of the fields of their possessions 
 could never be sold. They were theirs for an inalienable 
 possession. The Lord specially cared for those whom He had 
 taken up to do the service of the tabernacle, and to minister to 
 Aaron the high priest. 
 
 But suppose a poor Israelite had fallen into a condition still 
 lower, and had sold himself to a stranger, or sojourner by him, 
 he could be redeemed from servitude by the payment of an equit- 
 able price any time before the year of Jubilee (xxv. 47-55). One 
 of his brethren could redeem him, or any near of kin, or he him- 
 self, if able, could effect his deliverance. One of his kin, however. 
 
REDEMPTION. 9 
 
 it must be, if not himseK. A friend could not do him this 
 service. In such a case mere friendship, however true and great, 
 had no opportunity to display itself Eelationship alone was 
 the ground on which such a kindness could be shown. A 
 privilege this was, but a right as well. It was a privilege for 
 one of his kin to deliver his poor relation from the yoke of the 
 stranger. It was also a right which could be claimed at law ; 
 and his master, whatever might be his wish, had no pov/er to 
 gainsay it. If the proper price was offered, the master could 
 ask no more. And God fixed the scale which regulated the 
 price. If it was one of the man's kin who paid it, or the man 
 himself, the redemption was accomplished. These conditions 
 complied with, the Israelite was free. But if he had sold him- 
 self to one of his countrymen, he had no power to claim his 
 redemption. In such a case he was to serve till the Jubilee 
 (xxv. 40). From servitude to the stranger he might be redeemed, 
 for the poor Israelite was Jehovah's servant. The Lord, how- 
 ever, did not interpose and secure his deliverance, He only 
 allowed it, leaving it to those interested to see if they could 
 effect it. At the Jubilee the poor man would certainly get free. 
 Liberty therefore was secured to him, the only question being 
 how, and when. But why the difference of regulation between 
 the case of servitude to an Israelite and to a stranger ? Is 
 there not here something in harmony with the future of the 
 nation ? The Lord Himself will act as the Goel or Redeemer of 
 Israel who have become servants to strangers ; and will rescue 
 them from subjection to a foreign, not a domestic yoke. The 
 year of His redeemed will come. In that sense it will be to 
 them as a Jubilee. But the moment for action the Lord 
 reserves to Himself to decide, as the Ooel or redeemer under 
 the law had a right to do. Here again we have a little picture 
 of the future. 
 
 Further, although redemption from servitude to the stranger 
 could be demanded as a right, all parties were reminded that it 
 was the special privilege of Israel. A bondsman from among 
 the nations was a bondsman for ever. For him no year of 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 Jubilee arrived with its clear ringing trumpet sound, sending a 
 thrill of gladness through his heart, and that of his wife and 
 family, if he possessed them. No redemption by money could 
 he claim, no going out free could he anticipate ; for though 
 equally with the Israelite he might trace his genealogy up to 
 Noah, and through him to Adam, and although made of one 
 blood with the seed of Jacob (Acts xvii. 26), he was not one of 
 God's redeemed people, so could not share in the privileges of 
 such (Lev. XXV. 44-46). Suppose an Israelite and a Gentile in 
 the service of a stranger in Canaan ; both were bound to serve 
 their master ; but the Israelite might be redeemed at any 
 moment, or would certainly go out free at the Jubilee, whereas 
 the Gentile had nothing but slavery to contemplate, unless his 
 master voluntarily set him free. His condition therefore might 
 never alter till death released him from his servitude. With 
 the Israelite how different ! How precious must that privilege 
 have appeared in the eyes of the Gentile, which his fellow- 
 bondsman the Israelite possessed ! 
 
 But other claims there were besides those of man. Of these 
 Lev. xxvii. treats. God had a claim on whatever had been 
 sanctified by a vow, provided one legally qualified had con- 
 secrated it to God. For a married woman had not this power 
 without her husband's sanction, and the unmarried daughter in 
 her father's house was equally incapable of so acting unless her 
 father allowed it. But a man, or a widow, or a divorced woman, 
 was free to vow without the consent of another to make it valid, 
 and tlie Lord would certainly require the fulfilment of it (Num. 
 XXX.) His claims must be enforced. The act on the part of 
 the person was merely a voluntary one. No law enforced it, 
 but the law forbade most strictly the breaking of it (Deut. xxiii. 
 21-23). Men, animals, houses, lands, and tithes could be vowed 
 to God. Of these some could be redeemed, others could not. 
 If a clean beast, of which sacrifices could be offered, was the 
 subject of the vow, that beast was holy unto the Lord, and no 
 exchange was permitted of a bad one for a good one. The very 
 animal sanctified was to be offered upon the altar, if any ex- 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 change was attempted, God claimed both. Besides this, for things 
 devoted, called D"in cherem, as men under certain circumstances, 
 or animals, or a field, no redemption was permitted. Every 
 devoted thing was most holy unto the Lord (Lev. xxvii. 28, 29). 
 Under these circumstances the life of the man was to he taken, 
 whilst the beast and the field were for the Lord, and if they had 
 belonged to any in Israel, were given by God to the priest 
 (Num. xviii. 14). Instances of this law as affecting men we 
 have in the Old Testament. The Canaanites were thus to be 
 devoted (Deut. xx. 17), and their cities Israel vowed to destroy 
 (Num. xxi. 2). So every living thing in Jericho was killed, 
 Eahab and her house excepted. The Amalekites too were to be 
 thus treated by Saul (1 Sam. xv.), and enticers to idolatry in 
 Israel (Deut. xiii, 15). And in fulfilment of such a vow Jeph- 
 thah slew his daughter (Judges xi. 31). How inexorable was 
 the law Jephthah felt. How dangerous to fail in the observance 
 of it Saul learnt. 
 
 If men were vowed to the Lord, but not devoted, a money 
 payment was accepted according to the estimation of the law- 
 giver. " The person," we read, " shall be for the Lord by thy 
 estimation," which varied according to age and sex. The value 
 of the person vowed having been ascertained, the price could be 
 paid in his stead. If a certain measure of poverty could be 
 pleaded by the one who made the vow, the priest was to estimate 
 the price according to the ability of the man who had vowed to 
 the Lord. The lawgiver had announced from God Himself the 
 ordinary scale, from which no departure could be permitted, 
 except at the discretion of the priest. Thus no man was 
 released from the consequences of his vow, yet God provided 
 that the man's ability should be taken into account. On no 
 man was to be laid more than he could pay, yet the engage- 
 ment, though voluntary on his part, was binding when once 
 entered into. A solemn consideration this was for the man. 
 A word of warning surely for us, who are taught that we have 
 of ourselves no strength or ability wherewith to pay any vows 
 we might make unto God. Whether the redemption in this 
 
12 REDEMPTION. 
 
 case was optional or imperative does not seem so certain. It 
 may have been imperative. In that case the making such a 
 vow was equivalent to devoting a certain sum of money to God, 
 for the one who made it must have known pretty nearly to what 
 the money commutation would amount. There were, however, 
 instances where persons vowed to the service of God were never 
 thus redeemed. Of such Samuel is an example, lent to the 
 Lord as long as he lived. 
 
 T'or unclean beasts, if vowed to God, for houses, for fields, or 
 for tithes, redemption by price was permitted. Here the priest 
 came in. He valued the thing, whatever it was, and his esti- 
 mation held good ; for as a type surely of the true priest, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, his estimation was correct : " As thou vainest 
 it, who art the priest, so shall it be ;" "as the priest shall esti- 
 mate it, so shall it stand" (Levit. xxvii. 12, 14). The value thus 
 fixed, a fifth part was to be added if redemption was to take 
 place, and the former owner thereby recover that which had 
 once belonged to him ; but in these cases, unless the one who 
 had owned them exercised his right of redemption they could 
 never be set free. The person who had sanctified them could 
 alone redeem them. With the land the provision was somewhat 
 different ; for if the field sanctified originally belonged to another 
 person than the one who sanctified it, it returned at the Jubilee 
 to the original possessor, since no one could permanently alienate 
 the land of another. If, on the other hand, it had been the 
 property of the one who sanctified it, he had the right, till the 
 Jubilee, of redeeming it on the terms prescribed in the law. 
 But should he fail to exercise his right, from whatever cause, it 
 became the Lord's for ever. 
 
 In the case, then, where man's claims had to be met, redemp- 
 tion by the individual concerned, or by his kinsman, was per- 
 mitted. In the cases where God's claims were in question, 
 redemption, if permitted, could only be effected by the one who 
 had made the vow. In both classes of claims redemption 
 depended on human ability, and perhaps, in the case of the 
 
REDEMPTION. 13 
 
 poor brother's land, in his kinsman's willingness likewise. If 
 none redeemed the land, or the poor Israelite, the Jubilee set 
 both free. So that the poor man could always look forward 
 where man's claims were in question. All the time till the 
 Jubilee he might live in a state of expectancy, with the certainty 
 of a release, and re-entrance upon the land of his possession as 
 soon as the Jubilee trumpet sounded. But the Jubilee did not 
 restore the field to the one who had sanctified it to the Lord. 
 Till the Jubilee, unless he had sold the field to another, he had 
 the right to redeem it. But the trumpet which announced to 
 the poor man the recovery of his possessions, proclaimed to the 
 one who, having sanctified his field, had not redeemed it, the 
 irrevocable condition of his property. It was henceforth the 
 Lord's. The claims of God, if unsatisfied within a given time, 
 could never be met. The claims of man, on the other hand, 
 could only last up to a given date. The year of the Lord's 
 redeemed would come, when every one in Israel who had parted 
 with his land to another could return to his own possession. 
 " The gifts and calling of God are without repentance " (Eom. 
 xi. 29). Happy was the poor man who had a kinsman to act on 
 his behalf. Happy he would feel if he could deliver himself or 
 his land. But privileged above all other people were Israel ; 
 for they could share in the gracious provisions of the Jubilee. 
 Thus God provided that they should not be permanently dispos- 
 sessed of their inheritance. Eestoration was their proper hope, 
 and of that they shall never be ashamed. "With a vow it was 
 different. But a vow implied that the man had something to 
 consecrate. It was poverty that made the poor brother part 
 with his land. Out of a man's fulness, whatever was the 
 measure of it, he vowed to God. 
 
 Now, is all this but dry and uninteresting law, which once 
 concerned Israel when in the enjoyment of that land of which 
 for centuries they have been dispossessed ? Surely there is more 
 in it than that. The regulations, being of God, acquaint us with 
 His ways, and show us how great a privilege those enjoy whose 
 God is the Lord. The Jubilee was, as it were, their pole-star and 
 
,4 REDEMPTION. 
 
 their dial. To it they could always turn, regulating their trans- 
 actions by it, and recalling to mind the time which must elapse 
 ere it could be proclaimed. It however conferred on them no 
 new privilege. It gave them nothing that they had not before 
 possessed. It only provided for restoration to a condition 
 formerly enjoyed. Thus it kept alive hope in their hearts ; and 
 this is a principle in God's ways with His people in all ages. 
 And Ave who are saved in hope understand what that principle 
 must have been to them. As keeping alive hope in them, it 
 told them that a permanent order of things upon earth had not 
 yet been established, and we know such cannot be until the 
 Lord Jesus shall come to reign. Moreover, it witnessed of the 
 possibility of a man losing his portion in the land ; but it 
 witnessed, too, of the grace of God, who provided for the cer- 
 tainty of his recovering it. He might lose it by his own fault ; 
 he would recover it through the favour of the Lord, by the 
 operation of this law, and this he would owe solely to God's 
 mercy and goodness. What a tale, then, the Jubilee told on the 
 one hand of man, and on the other of God : of man, that he 
 could lose for a time that which God had assigned to him ; of 
 God, that Israel should not be deprived of their possessions in 
 perpetuity. 
 
 But whilst the Jubilee witnessed of this, doubtless the pro- 
 visions for redemption must at times have made the poor Israelite 
 keenly alive to the precariousness of such a hope of deliverance 
 ere the trumpet sounded, since that hope rested for its fulfilment 
 on man's ability, and perhaps on a kinsman's willingness as 
 well to come to his assistance. How much better has God 
 provided for us, who have " an inheritance incorruptible and un- 
 defiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who 
 are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, 
 ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter i. 4, 5). Surely 
 those to whom Peter wrote, who had once been Jews, must have 
 noted the difference between being on the ground of law and on 
 the ground of grace ; and the immeasurable advantage in favour 
 of the latter. The lav/ contemplated the possibility of Israel 
 
REDEMPTION. 15 
 
 losing their portion for a time. The strangers scattered abroad 
 were illustrations of it, Grace provided for its safe keeping for 
 ever, and for their safe keeping to enjoy it. What a poor pro- 
 spect we should have if our redemption depended in any measure 
 on our ability to effect it ! Besides this, the regulations about 
 vows, and the strict enforcement of their fulfilment, must have 
 made them see, and should make us see, what a solemn thing it 
 is to enter into engagements with God. Tor unless the man 
 himself was able to pay that which was requisite, he could not 
 set free what he had once sanctified. To vow to God was no 
 light matter. The man was to feel that. To redeem that which 
 he had vowed might be a very difficult matter. The man had 
 to learn that, and none could help him where the claims of 
 God were concerned ; he must act for himself, and in his own 
 strength. 
 
 But all these provisions were for a nation in the enjoyment 
 of redemption from Egyptian bondage, and recognised by Jeho- 
 vah as His peculiar people. They were themselves redeemed 
 before they could act in redeeming power. In the cases already 
 looked at, the need of redemption arose from the person's own 
 act in putting himself or his possessions under the power of an- 
 other. But redemption was requisite, and was accomplished in 
 setting living creatures free from a condition to which they had 
 been subjected either by God's will, or by God's law. By the 
 exercise of the former it was, that Israel became servants to 
 the Egyptians, and so needed redemption from bondage to their 
 masters. By provisions of the latter, the firstborn males of man 
 and of unclean beasts amongst Israel, which were holy to the 
 Lord, could be set free from God's claims over them. Into this 
 let us now look, taking these two subjects up in the order in 
 which they have been severally mentioned. 
 
 First, then, of the redemption of Israel out of the house of 
 bondage. Here we enter upon a subject of great importance, 
 and it teaches us what redemption by God involves. It was 
 new, and something unheard of, that God should redeem a 
 whole nation. The patriarchs had, it is true, tasted of what 
 
i6 REDEMPTION. 
 
 God could do in redeeming them individually from evil, but 
 never as a whole nation, set free from servitude to another 
 nation stronger and mightier than they were. Nothing like it 
 had ever before been known (Dent. iv. 34). We can under- 
 stand a nation rising up in its strength to shake off a galling 
 yoke, and, if unable alone to cope with its foe, interesting others 
 in its behalf. But Israel did nothing of this kind. There w^as 
 no national movement, no combination amongst them against 
 the common enemy, no rising up with irresistible might, to 
 compel their masters to set them free. All that Israel did was 
 to spoil the Egyptians by borrowing their jewels of silver, and 
 jewels of gold, and raiment, and then marching out of Egypt, 
 and passing through the Eed Sea, at the word of command by 
 Moses. They lifted up no arm, they struck no blow, they never 
 even attempted to measure their strength with that of their 
 enslavers. Egypt's power was unbroken when Israel journeyed 
 from Eameses to Succoth, and thence to the Eed Sea before 
 Ei-hahiroth ; brought out with a high hand, in the sight of all 
 the Egyptians, who were engaged in burying their dead (Num. 
 xxxiii. 4). Hence it was that Eharaoh and his princes, waking 
 up to that which they had done in letting Israel escape, deter- 
 mined to pursue after them, saying, " Why have we done this, 
 that we have let Israel go from serving us ?" So he made ready 
 his chariots, and summoned his people. All that had been done, 
 had been done of God. 
 
 New, too, was the thought to Israel, the lineal descendants 
 of Jacob, that God could act in such a way ; for when Moses, 
 commissioned by the Lord, gave the message, " I will bring you 
 out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid 
 you out of their bondage, and I will redeem ""ri^NJI you with 
 a stretched-out arm, and^with great judgments " (Exod. vi. 6), 
 those heart-stirring words fell on ears dull of hearing. Israel 
 knew not what a redemption of this kind could be. They 
 hearkened not "for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage." 
 Their manner of receiving the divine communication evidenced 
 that it was somethinfj new. But how like God to act in a man- 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 ner at once unprecedented, and to man inconceivable ! God 
 originates ; men and the devil may imitate. All, however, that 
 Moses told them came true. So, when next we meet with the 
 verb S'^l to redeem, it is Israel who, with Moses, make use of it 
 in their song of praise : " Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the 
 people which Thou hast redeemed : nbx2 ; Thou hast guided them 
 in Thy strength to Thy holy habitation" (Exod. xv. 13). Ee- 
 demption from Egyptian bondage was now accomplished. In 
 Egypt, with the blood on the doorposts, they had learnt how the 
 firstborn within had been sheltered from the visit of the angel 
 of death. At the Eed Sea the whole nation experienced re- 
 demption by divine power, and they celebrated it. Their chains 
 of slavery were broken, for the arm of Jehovah had been bared 
 on their behalf. Henceforth they were God's redeemed people ; 
 and this condition once entered upon, never altered ; for redemp- 
 tion from Egyptian bondage never was and never can be re- 
 versed. Without effort on their part was aU accomplished. It 
 was for God to act ; it was for them, in obedience, to march into 
 the bed of the sea, when told to go forward. The effects were 
 immediate ; the results were abiding. This their history elu- 
 cidates, proving on what unchanging ground redemption by God 
 had placed them. 
 
 At Sinai, less than six months after the exodus, they made 
 a golden calf to worship, forfeiting thereby all claim to blessing, 
 and deserving punishment ; and this God intimated to Moses, 
 w^hen He said, "Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath 
 may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them" 
 (Exod. xxxii. 10). But Moses would not. He interceded for 
 them as the redeemed of Jehovah (Deut. ix. 26). Again, at 
 Kadesh, after they had despised the pleasant land, and mur- 
 mured against the Lord, and actually proposed to return into 
 Egypt, surrendering in a moment all their privileges and their 
 special position as the Lord's people, Moses reminded God that 
 He had brought them up from amongst the Egyptians in His 
 might (Num. xiv. 1 3) ; how, then, should He destroy them with 
 the pestilence? They were His people. Thus, on these two 
 
 c 
 
1 8 REDEMPTION. 
 
 occasions in their past history, when their sinfulness might 
 justly have entailed their cutting off, Moses, by the ground he 
 took with God, evidenced how well he understood the value of 
 such a plea ; and when again they shall be in the depths of 
 trouble, the consequence of their fathers' sins in having rejected 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and the testimony of the Holy Ghost 
 by Stephen and others, redemption from Egypt will still be 
 urged as a ground on which God should be gracious to them 
 (Psalm Ixxiv. 2). Thus, at all times, when God is dealing with 
 them as His people, however grievous their sins may have been, 
 or however desperate their condition, the plea of redemption 
 accomplished will prove to be never out of season. God's 
 wrath can be deprecated, and His favour entreated, on the 
 ground that they are His people, whom He brought up out of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Nor was it only when judicial dealing was deserved that such 
 a plea was urged. If the body of a man was found in the laud, 
 the murderer of whom was unknown, the elders of the city nearest 
 the spot where it was discovered were instructed to say, " Be mer- 
 ciful, Lord, unto Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast redeemed, 
 and lay not innocent blood unto Thy people of Israel's charge " 
 (Deut. xxi. 8). The people were thus taught the value, and the 
 privilege of their exceptional position as a nation which God 
 had chosen for Himself, and though their deliverance was a 
 thing of the past, they were never to forget it, and were reminded 
 that God would ever acknowledge it. So, later on in their 
 history, when the returned remnant were in much weakness 
 in their land, the wall of Jerusalem broken down, and the gates 
 of it burned with fire, Nehemiah could lay this pitiable state 
 before God, as that of His people whom He had redeemed by 
 His great power and by His strong hand (Neli. i. 10). A thousand 
 years intervened between the exodus and the days of Nehemiah, 
 yet Israel's redemption by divine power was not forgotten ; and 
 the Tirshatha, as he was afterwards styled, had evidence of the 
 validity before God of the plea which was based upon it. They 
 were God's servants and God's people, however much they had 
 
REDEMPTION. 19 
 
 dishonoured Him and wilfully disobeyed His law. And what 
 is so gracious, the Lord Jehovah, by Isaiah the prophet, puts 
 His people in remembrance of that which He did for them in 
 Egypt, as the pledge of that which He will yet do for them 
 (Isaiah xliii. 1). Hence at various times in their history God 
 has sanctioned the mention before Him of redemption from the 
 house of bondage, and in His word refers to it to sustain His 
 people's hopes of divine intervention on their behalf. Who but 
 Israel enjoyed such a privilege ? for a privilege it was, as David 
 confessed (2 Sam. vii. 23 ; 1 Chron. xvii. 21), and the Psalmist 
 attested (Psalfn cvi. 10). 
 
 There was, however, another side to this question, and it is 
 important that we should remember it. They could remind God 
 in their troubles that He had redeemed them. He reminded 
 them in Deuteronomy, when pressing on them the duty of 
 obedience, that redemption involved corresponding responsibility. 
 It was all of grace at the outset, for none could have claimed it. 
 If, however, they were God's people, it behoved them in a special 
 manner to act in conformity with such a privilege. Obedience 
 is due to Him from the creature, whether redeemed or not ; but 
 if redemption has been effected by God in grace, should not the 
 creature that shares in it serve Him with alacrity ? In faithful- 
 ness to His oath to their fathers the Lord brought them up out 
 of Egypt (Deut. vii. 8), If others on earth were ignorant of 
 Jehovah, Israel was not. If others refused Him the homage 
 and obedience due from the creature, Israel certainly was bound 
 by every consideration to submit to His sway. So on the con- 
 fines of their land, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, they were 
 exhorted to keep from evil of various kinds. The Lord knew 
 well what their hearts were. These exhortations display that, 
 and Israel's history but too weU attests that no considerations 
 of fear or of gratitude can keep men in the path of obedience 
 and duty. Who had seen the Lord's power as they had ? who 
 had heard His voice speaking out of the fire as Israel had ? who 
 were bound to Him by the ties of gratitude for deliverance from 
 slavery, who but this people which He had brought out of 
 
20 REDEMPTION. 
 
 Egypt ? And yet they had never put away their idols, which had 
 provoked Jehovah's wrath in Egypt (Ezek. xx. 8). In the wil- 
 derness too they had their images, and they worshipped the host 
 of heaven (Acts vii. 42). But now in the plains of Moab, having 
 crossed the brook, or valley of Zered (Deut. ii. 13, 14), and the 
 land of their inheritance lying just before them, they are ex- 
 horted to guard against all enticers to idolatry, and to put them 
 to death. How should they allow such to turn away their 
 hearts from Him who had redeemed them from the house of 
 bondage ? (Deut. xiii. 5). The Lord Jehovah was their God. He 
 had proved it in Egypt, and at the Eed Sea. " Who," they had 
 sung, " is like Thee among the gods, glorious in holiness, fearful 
 in praises, doing wonders ?" (Exod. xv. 11). Israel's history, 
 position, and possession of the land would for ever attest that 
 Jehovah was the true God. Indifference, therefore, to Him was 
 not to be suffered for a moment. There could be no question of 
 opinions on such a matter, for their God had shown most un- 
 mistakably that He was Jehovah (Exod. xiv. 18). 
 
 Again, as the redeemed of the Lord, they had known what 
 servitude in Egypt was ; of its oppression they had fully tasted, 
 and had drunk deep of its cup of bitterness and anguish. Hence, 
 when they should be sending forth the Hebrew servant at the 
 end of the seventh year, the year of release, they were to furnish 
 him liberally out of their flock, their floor, and their wine-press ; 
 for of that, wherewith the Lord their God had blessed them, 
 should they give to the servant just set free : " And thou shalt 
 remember that thou wast a bondsman in the land of Egypt, and 
 the Lord thy God redeemed thee : therefore I command thee 
 this thing to-day" (Deut. xv. 15). Men are apt to forget the 
 days of adversity when prosperity smiles upon them. Such was 
 not to be the case with Israel. Affliction's lessons were to be 
 turned to account, and consideration for the poor Hebrew and 
 liberality towards him was pressed on them, as having them- 
 selves once known servitude, from which Jehovah alone had 
 rescued them. How much the master was to give is not stated. 
 Liberality is all that is enjoined ; thus leaving it to the richer 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 man to show how much he valued that redemption, the fruits of 
 which he so abundantly enjoyed. And so with oppression of 
 any kind ; the remembrance of redemption from Egypt was to 
 act as an incentive against it. The poor man who pledged his 
 garment, the hired servant, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger 
 — all were to be protected from acts of unrighteousness by any 
 who might be in a position to deal harshly or fraudulently with 
 them ; for the creditor, or the patron, being himself a subject of 
 redemption, was to act as became such an one towards any who 
 were cast upon his compassion (Deut. xxiv. 18). 
 
 But Israel forgot all this. Even the wilderness bore wit- 
 ness to their shortness of memory on this point. " They turned 
 back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 
 They remembered not His hand, nor the day when He delivered 
 them from the enemy" (Psalm Ixxviii. 41, 42). And God 
 brought it as a grievous charge against them, that though He 
 had redeemed them, yet Israel had spoken lies against Him 
 (Hosea vii. 13). And still later in their history He pleaded 
 with them in these words, " My people, what have I done 
 unto thee ? and wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against 
 Me. Eor I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and 
 redeemed thee out of the house of servants ; and I sent before 
 thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam " (Micah vi. 3, 4). God had not 
 forgotten what He had done for Israel, however little Israel had 
 owned their responsibility in connection with it ; and hence the 
 prophet proceeds to remind them how Balaam and Balak's 
 attempts to curse them on Pisgah were frustrated, and more than 
 frustrated, by the direct intervention of Jehovah. They were His 
 people. His redeemed ones ; so the power of evil could not pre- 
 vail against them. 
 
 In what a manner then had God shown the inviolability 
 of the relation He had established between Himself and Israel ! 
 How such grace should have called forth obedience on their 
 part ! But we know how all this failed to effect a real refor- 
 mation in the days of Hezekiah, or even of his great-grandson 
 Josiah. Still they were God's people. And though in the 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 post-captivity prophets God never calls them such, except in 
 view of the future (Zech. viii. 7, 8 \ xiii. 9), Nehemiah had not 
 forgotten what they were to God (i. 10 ; ix. 32) ; Cyrus had 
 owned it (Ezrai. 3); and the Lord by Zechariah promises to have 
 mercy on them, as though He had not cast them off, adding, " I 
 will hiss for them, and gather them ; for I have redeemed them " 
 (Zech. X. 8). Far-reaching, indeed, for Israel are the results of 
 redemption. How stable is such a foundation ! How memor- 
 able and irreversible is the condition into which the nation, as 
 such, was brought by the exercise of God's power at the Eed 
 Sea, delivered for ever from all the claims on their persons and 
 services which the Egyptians had asserted and enforced with 
 rigour ! Practical results, then, should have been displayed. In 
 their daily walk, and in their ordinary matters of business, the 
 redemption out of Egypt should have been kept in their re- 
 membrance, and have borne fruit in their life. They could never 
 be in a position in which it could become them to forget it ; 
 and God never left them without a frequent reminder of His 
 intervention in Egypt on their behalf. 
 
 By the Passover they were reminded, how God had shel- 
 tered the houses of their fathers in Egypt through the blood 
 being placed upon the doorposts. By the redemption of the 
 firstborn males of man and of beast they were to be kept in re- 
 membrance how He had destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians, 
 both of man and of beast. So from that time God claimed the 
 firstborn males of Israel as His. On the morrow after the first 
 Passover the Lord made known to the people His claim (Exod. 
 xiii. 15, 16), in words in which the fathers were to instruct 
 their children. The claim once made, provision was thus made 
 for its remembrance from generation to generation, and several 
 times in their history were the people reminded of it. Em- 
 bodied in the covenant made with them in Horeb (Exod. xxii. 
 29, 30), it was reiterated in the covenant the Lord entered into 
 with them at Sinai, after they had made the golden calf and 
 forfeited, as far as they were concerned, everything they might 
 have enjoyed if obedient (Exod. xxxiv. 19, 20). Again, ere they 
 
REDEMPTION. 23 
 
 left Sinai, they were reminded of it (Lev. xxvii. 26 ; Num. viii. 
 17). In their wilderness wanderings the Lord reasserted it, and 
 prescribed the price and the age at which the firstborn of men 
 were to be set free, viz, five shekels of silver when the infant 
 was a month old (Num. xviii. 15-18). In the plains of Moab 
 God's claim was once more set before them (Deut. xv. 19), and 
 was incorporated into the covenant then made by His command 
 with them. 
 
 Thus in each of the covenants the Lord inserted it ; and in 
 the four last books of the Pentateuch Moses wrote of it. No 
 book of the law, Genesis excepted, could they read without 
 meeting with the mention of it. The firstborn males were God's. 
 They were His, for He had sanctified them to Himself (Num. 
 viii. 17). Both the firstborn of men and of beasts were alike in 
 this, though there were differences made by the law between them, 
 so that we may divide them into three classes — the first where 
 redemption was imperative, the second where it was impossible, 
 the third where it was optional. In the first class were the first- 
 born males of men. In the second were the firstborn males of 
 oxen, sheep, and goats, — clean animals of which men could offer 
 sacrifices to the Lord. The third comprised the firstborn males 
 of unclean animals. Children were to be redeemed by money. 
 No life was taken on such occasions in their stead. A money 
 payment only was enjoined ; that paid, the Lord's claim on the 
 child was satisfied, and ceased. Unclean beasts were, if redeemed, 
 to be redeemed by lambs. Here life was taken instead of that 
 of the unclean beast. The animal belonged to God by birth, so 
 the Israelite could not use it for his own purposes unless it 
 had been set free by redemption from the divine claim upon it. 
 As God's, he had no right to it. If he redeemed it, he could 
 have it and employ it in his own service. If not, it was to be 
 killed. Eedemption or death was the alternative, but not 
 redemption or judgment. The life of the animal God claimed 
 as His, because He had slain all the firstborn of beasts in the 
 land of Egypt. If the owner gave a lamb in exchange, well and 
 good. If not, the animal's death was demanded, for on no other 
 
24 REDEMPTION. 
 
 conditions except on that of redemption could he be allowed 
 to profane, i.e. apply to a common use, what God had sanc- 
 tified or set apart for Himself, The firstborn males of the 
 flock and of the herd could never be redeemed. They were 
 holy. Their blood, therefore, was to be sprinkled upon the 
 altar, their fat to be burnt thereon, and the rest of the animal 
 was to be the priests' as their portion. Now all this makes it 
 clear that redemption in this aspect was not redemption from 
 judgment. Men were redeemed by money. Clean beasts could 
 not be redeemed at all. Unclean beasts might be redeemed on 
 certain conditions. These directions, however, were to come 
 into operation after they had entered their land (Exod. xiii. 11). 
 Meanwhile, in the wilderness, the Lord maintained His right 
 over the firstborn in another way. . 
 
 After Moses had numbered the different tribes of Israel, that 
 of Levi excepted, as they lay encamped at Sinai, before start- 
 ing on their march to Canaan, the Lord gave His servant a 
 second command, having reference only to the firstborn males 
 of the twelve tribes, and then made apparent (Num. iii. 40-51) 
 the reason for not numbering the tribe of Levi at the first, for 
 the Lord was about to take the males of that tribe, from a 
 month old and upward, instead of all the firstborn males in 
 Israel, and their cattle in the place of the firstborn males of the 
 cattle of the other tribes. Thus Levi occupied an important 
 place in Israel, and a large section of the book of Numbers 
 (i.-viii.) is occupied chiefly with the concerns of that tribe. Let 
 us trace it out. In chapter i. we have the numbering of the 
 twelve tribes with the sphere of Levitical service distinctly 
 marked out. In chapter ii. we have the outer circle of the 
 camp described, each of the twelve tribes having their place in 
 the camp assigned them. Next follows, in iii. iv., the number- 
 ing of the Levites, and the assignment to the three great families 
 of that tribe of their special service and place in the camp and 
 on the march. Thus the inner circle of the camp was provided 
 for, formed, as it was to be, of the tribe of Levi alone, for had we 
 visited it in the wilderness we should have seen the twelve tribes. 
 
REDEMPTION. 25 
 
 three on each side, encircling the tents of that of Levi, which in its 
 turn encircled the tabernacle, which last was separated from all 
 else by the fine white linen hangings of its court. The camp 
 arranged in order, the command to cleanse it from all defiling 
 objects is next given, with the law of the jealousy offering, 
 typical probably of Israel's history, though yielding instruction 
 also to us (v.) Then follows the Nazarite vow of devotedness 
 to God, the contrast spiritually to conjugal infidelity (vi.) ; after 
 which we have the form of the blessing wherewith God's Hieh 
 Priest was to bless the people (vi. 22-26) ; the order of subjects 
 being here suggestive of the rich results to flow to Israel when 
 the Nazariteship of the Lord Jesus Christ shaU cease. After 
 this^^we read first of the offering of each of the twelve princes 
 of Israel, when the tabernacle had been fully set up and sancti- 
 fied, which really took place previous to the announcement 
 ot all that we have passed in review (compare Num. i. 1 
 with vii. 1), but is introduced here as intimately connected 
 with Levitical service, since the families of Gershon and Merari 
 profited by the oxen and waggons then given to the Lord (vii.) 
 Following this we have the special priestly service in connection 
 with the candlestick, and the consecration of the Levites for 
 ministry in the tabernacle of the congregation (viii.), with the 
 age at which they should go in to wait on their service, and the 
 duration of that service, though all their subsequent life was to 
 be spent in ministering and keeping the charge of the taber- 
 nacle of the congregation (viii. 23-26). To carry burdens 
 required strength, and the Lord would lay upon none more 
 than they were able to bear. To minister, and to keep the 
 watch of the tabernacle of the congregation, would be within 
 the compass of a man's power, when more arduous work might 
 overtask his strength. Thus the Lord manifested His care and 
 thoughtfulness for the sons of Levi. 
 
 The tabernacle then, and its vessels, and what belonged 
 to it, closely concerned the Levites. They kept the charge of 
 the tabernacle of testimony (i. 53) ; the charge of Aaron, and 
 the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of 
 
26 REDEMPTION. 
 
 the conoregation, to do the service of the tabernacle ; and they 
 kept all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 and the charge of the children of Israel to do the service of the 
 tabernacle (iii. 7-8). Selected by the Lord, they were duly set 
 apart for their work to minister to Aaron ; given to Aaron and 
 to his sons ; being wholly given unto him out of the children of 
 Israel (iii. 6, 9). Taken for God instead of the firstborn males 
 of Israel, we learn therefrom something of the responsibility, 
 and of the privilege, which attached to that class. Their ser- 
 vice, as sketched out, tells us of the responsibility ; whilst the 
 mention of the one to whom they ministered — Aaron, and 
 the mention too of Him whose they were — God, acquaint us 
 with privileges which normally belong to all in that class. 
 They were God's (iii. 12, 45 ; viii. 14, 16). He had said it : 
 " They shall be mine," said the Lord. They shall minister to 
 Aaron, was the word of God by Moses. This last statement is 
 not without significance when we remember of whom Aaron 
 was the type, and who before God now fills the place and per- 
 forms duties which typically belonged to Aaron, the brother of 
 Moses. 
 
 Of the redemption of their firstborn males, then, the twelve 
 tribes were commanded to avail themselves. In this redemption 
 Levi had no part. In common with all the rest, that tribe 
 shared in the redemption from the house of bondage. Differing 
 from all the other tribes, it did not share in the redemption 
 of the firstborn males. What then was the character of such a 
 redemption ? This we have already intimated, and the history 
 of the Levites fully confirms. It clearly was not redemption 
 from judgment, else the tribe of Levi must have specially en- 
 dured that judgment. But they did nothing of the kind. This 
 redemption was deliverance from the service of God, not from 
 the wrath which they each and all by nature deserved. The 
 firstborn males of Israel were released from the divine claims 
 on them for service when the Levites were taken in their place, 
 and the redemption-money of five shekels a piece had been paid 
 for the 273 males in Israel, in excess of those substituted from 
 
REDEMPTION. 27 
 
 the tribe of Levi.^ The Levites, on the other hand, could never 
 be released from the service of Jehovah, and surely they never 
 would have desired it. A great privilege, they must have felt, 
 was theirs, — to be allowed to serve. And serving Jehovah, He 
 cared for them, providing for their need by tithes, and the cities, 
 and the suburbs of their cities in the land. The honour, too, and 
 the favour was theirs of ministering to God's High Priest. But 
 what is all this to us ? some may inquire. Surely it contains 
 instruction for Christians, who form now before God that 
 privileged class of firstborn ones, for we are part of the church 
 or assembly of firstborn ones, eKKkiqcna TrpwroroKoiv (Heb. xii. 
 23) ; the characteristic responsibility and privileges of which 
 the directions concerning the duties of the tribe of Levi unfold 
 to us. For all Christians are both priests and Levites. Their 
 priestly service Peter sets forth (1 Peter ii. 5-9) in its double 
 character. Levitical service is more general, but is equally 
 common to all. And as the Levites were to minister to Aaron, 
 so true Christian service, of whatever character (for we cannot 
 confine it to ministry in the word), should never be separated 
 from the Lord, but be done, all of it, unto Him. How varied is 
 the service, Eom. xii. and 1 Cor. xii. can teach us ; but as with 
 the Levites, so with us, each is appointed by God to his work. 
 The Lord directed about the Gershonites and the Merarites, as 
 much as about the Kohathites. And though to some it might 
 have seemed more honourable to carry the table and the candle- 
 stick, yet, unless the boards of the tabernacle and the curtains 
 had been carried likewise, the Kohathite service of carrying the 
 vessels of the tabernacle would have been labour spent in vain. 
 Prom the claims of God in service we can never get free. Would 
 any real Christian desire it ? But how great is the responsibility 
 of those who are Christians only in name ! 
 
 ^ The careful reader will remark that the males of Levi really outnumbered 
 the firstborn males of Israel by 27; the number being of all Israel 22,273 ; of the 
 tribe of Levi, 22,300. The difference may be accounted for by deducting first, 
 the males of Aaron's house, who clearly were not included in the exchange, and 
 next all the firstborn males of Levi, which, as such, were the Lord's already. By 
 this means it may have been that the numbers were arrived at of 22,000 of the 
 Levites being exchanged for the same number of Israel's firstborn males. 
 
28 REDEMPTION. 
 
 By the law, then, as we have seen, the subject of redemption 
 was brought into great prominence. In family matters, as well 
 as in questions concerning Israel's duty to God, it would at 
 times mark out with a distinctness impossible to be overlooked 
 the path of action that should be followed. For not only did it 
 treat of redemption, how it could be accomplished, and when, 
 and the duties of those who shared in it, but it decided also the 
 duties incumbent on the kinsman who was to act the part of 
 redeemer, called in Hebrew the God, being charged with the 
 responsible service of caring for the interest of those who, by 
 reason of death or other causes, were unable to act on their own 
 behalf In criminal as well as in civil matters the God might 
 be called to act. But such a duty only devolved on one con- 
 nected by ties of consanguinity with the person on whose behalf 
 he was acting. No mere friend could act as the God or re- 
 deemer. Cases therefore might arise where one who had died 
 had no one thus to represent him. Such a condition might be 
 the result of God's judicial dealing, as with Baasha the son of 
 Ahijah, who had no God to avenge the death of his son at the 
 hands of Zimri or his house (1 Kings xvi. 11). But it might 
 also happen that an unoffending Israelite had died without 
 leaving any representative to act as his Goel, and to whom any 
 recompence the law might award for a trespass committed 
 against him could be paid by the offending party. Under such 
 circumstances the Lord claimed that restitution should be 
 made to the priest, for the trespasser was not to be excused 
 making the appointed amends because no kinsman of the in- 
 jured man could claim it (Numb. v. 8) ; for the injury, though 
 done to the man who was dead, was really a trespass against 
 ihe Lord. But where a kinsman existed, he was bound, as cir- 
 cumstances called for it, to act as the God. In cases of murder 
 he could claim justice to be done. In cases of homicide he 
 would take up the cause, and have it decided by the elders of 
 the city in whose jurisdiction the case lay (Numb. xxxv. ; Deut. 
 xix. 6, 12 ; Josh. xx. 3, 5, 9) ; having always the right of killing 
 the manslayer if he found him outside the city of refuge. 
 
REDEMPTION, 29 
 
 But other duties devolved on the God, and these were in 
 connection with the land. Instances of such we have in Jere- 
 miah and Euth. On these occasions it was optional with 
 the nearest male relative to discharge the duties of the office. 
 Jeremiah, when directed by the Lord, bought the land at the 
 hand of his uncle's son (xxxii.) Elimelech's nearest of kin, on 
 the other hand, declined to buy of Naomi, when he learnt that 
 he must also marry Euth (iv. 6). By this the way was made 
 clear for Boaz, who bought the land and married Euth ; a little 
 picture of Israel's history in the future (how full is the Old Tes- 
 tament of such !) when it will be seen that the land cannot be 
 permanently possessed apart from the restoration of the nation, 
 now as it were dead. The interests of Israel are indissolubly con- 
 nected with the fortunes of the land. Many might like the land 
 just as the nearest kinsman of Elimelech ; but then it will be 
 seen that the one who takes it must have Israel's interest at 
 heart, and raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. 
 One alone will be found in that day to act as Boaz acted 
 by Naomi and Euth. So we cannot study the book of Euth, 
 which gives us the bright side of the picture in the days of the 
 Judges in Israel, without being carried on in thought to the 
 future time of blessing for the children of Israel. Nor should 
 we fail to observe how God has always had this in view. 
 
 From the law, as is fitting, we gather what were the respon- 
 sibilities of the Eedeemer or Goel. In the prophets we are 
 taught that Jehovah will show Himself in that character on 
 behalf of His people and Jerusalem. Already in measure has 
 He acted as such, as Jeremiah predicted (1. 34), and Isaiah 
 prophetically described (xliii. 14). The overthrow of the Chal- 
 dean monarchy was the earnest of the Lord's active interposition 
 as the Eedeemer of Israel. And as the God was concerned 
 with taking vengeance on behalf of his kinsman, receiving what 
 was his due from any who had injured him, redeeming the 
 land of the impoverished one, raising up the name of the dead 
 on his inheritance by marrying the widow, and setting free 
 the man sold to a stranger, so will the Lord Jehovah act on 
 
30 REDEMPTION. 
 
 behalf of Israel and Jerusalem. Ages have rolled by since that 
 memorable night when Belshazzar was slain. Troubles upon 
 troubles have since befallen the Jews and Jerusalem ; but their 
 day of deliverauce will come. For Jehovah, the self-existing 
 One, is their God or Redeemer. Israel, therefore, can never 
 want a kinsman to espouse their cause, and will never be in too 
 low a condition for the Eedeemer to interpose. It was when 
 the Israelite was in his lowest possible condition that the services 
 of the God were called into requisition. And the people will 
 yet prove this. Hence the Lord encourages them : *' Fear not, 
 thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel, 7N"iB'_'' Tip ; I will help 
 thee, saith the Lord, and thy Eedeemer, the Holy One of Israel" 
 (Isaiah xli. 14). And what strength it will be to them to 
 remember who their Redeemer is, viz. The first and the last, 
 beside whom there is no God ; for He is the Maker of all 
 things (Isaiah xliv. 6, 24). Happy people will they be to find 
 themselves in such a case ; for they will be authorised to say, 
 in the language of inspiration, " As for our Eedeemer, the Lord 
 of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel " (xlvii. 4). And 
 if the God of armies is their God, He will fully avenge their 
 cause, and most certainly set them free from all the claims of 
 man over their persons and their land. The greatness of this 
 privilege, too, will then become apparent, when, notwithstanding 
 their past disobedience (xlviii. 17-19), He will interpose actively 
 and effectively in their favour. And encouraged surely by 
 these gracious declarations, as well as by the remembrance of 
 what the Lord did for their fathers at the Eed Sea, the godly 
 remnant of the future will call on Him to act as becomes the 
 one who is to discharge the duties of the God (Ixiii. 16). 
 
 But not only will the Lord prove Himself to be the Eedeemer 
 of Israel, He will also act in that character for Jerusalem. He 
 will return to her (lix. 20), all flesh shall know it (xlix. 26), and 
 she shall know it (Ix. 16) when sucking the milk of the Gentiles 
 and the breast of kings, for the God of the whole earth will be 
 her God, who will never forsake her again (liv. 5, 8). 
 
 Here redemption, as set forth in the Old Testament, reaches 
 
REDEMPTION. 31 
 
 its climax. Israel will enjoy it, and Jerusalem likewise ; and 
 creation will be glad when He comes by whom it is to be effected 
 (Psalm xcvi. 11-13, xcviii. 7-9), for creation's interests are bound 
 up with the condition of God's people. God will then rest in 
 His love, rejoicing over Jerusalem with singing (Zeph. iii. 17). 
 Then, too, that which in the reign of Solomon Israel once knew 
 they will permanently enjoy, rest given them by God on every 
 side, with neither adversary to vex them, nor evil occurrent 
 (1 Kings V. 4). And looking into this, one learns how those 
 legal enactments about redemption are figures and shadows of 
 the future in store for Israel. The Goel of the law is the shadow 
 of the true God ; a kinsman, indeed, connected with Israel by 
 the ties of birth, of the seed of David after the flesh. Who 
 then was before God's mind when He gave those regulations to 
 Moses ? We cannot doubt. It was His Son, the Christ. And 
 those occasions on which the redeemer was called upon by the 
 law to act, were shadowy representations of the intervention of 
 the true Goel for Israel, when He shall act for them, reduced 
 as they will be to their lowest possible condition. Shadowy 
 representations we must call them, for the intervention of the 
 Lord in the future will far exceed that which any kinsman has 
 done in the past. Doubtless all that Israel looked forward to 
 when the law was given was entrance into the land, rest under 
 their fig trees, and the enjoyment of the fruit of their vines, and 
 the productiveness of the ground in general. But that never 
 satisfied the desires of God for them. He was not, He will not 
 be satisfied, till the true kinsman-redeemer acting in power 
 sets them and their land free, not for a time, but for ever; for 
 nothing less than permanent blessing in Canaan will meet all the 
 divine purposes and wishes for them. How far beyond man's 
 thoughts are those of God ! 
 
 " High as the heavens appear above the earth we tread, 
 So far the riches of God's grace our highest thoughts exceed." 
 
 But, were this all that Scripture teaches us in connection 
 with this subject, what part should we have in it ? To what 
 
REDEMPTION. 
 
 prospect could we look forward ? All that we have looked at 
 concerns Israel. God will redeem Israel out of all his troubles 
 (Psalm XXV. 22), when He shall set them free from the con- 
 sequences of their iniquities (Psalm cxxx. 7, 8). Gentiles, it is 
 true, will enjoy blessing when the Lord reigns ; but the Eedeemer 
 is spoken of as the Eedeemer of Israel, and so markedly is this 
 the case, that when the nation shall have experienced the Lord's 
 delivering power afresh, they will be distinguished by men on 
 earth as the redeemed of the Lord (Isaiah Ixii. 12 ; xxxv^ 
 10 ; li. 11). New Testament teaching, however, makes plainer 
 what the Old also sets forth, that He who will redeem them by 
 power had first to die for them on the cross. But we close the 
 Old Testament volume without finding directly taught in it 
 redemption as it concerns us, either that which we now possess, 
 or that for which we wait. Yet we cannot close its pages with- 
 out remembering the irreversible character of redemption when 
 God is the accomplisher of it, so fully set forth in its writings. 
 Israel's position as God's redeemed people was never altered, 
 though they still await redeeming power. That past interven- 
 tion to which they were taught to look back, will, as we have 
 seen, inspire them with confidence in the future. Daniel could 
 remind God of it when a captive himself, with the temple laid 
 low, and Jerusalem destroyed ; for the Lord's people he knew 
 Israel to be, and that for ever. Hence we get acquainted in 
 the Old Testament with a principle connected with redemption, 
 which, when we get New Testament teaching on the subject, 
 becomes of practical value to us. To that let us now turn. 
 
 As we open its pages the hope of Israel's redemption, of which 
 the prophets had written, is seen animating the faithful among 
 them ; but there is a difference to be marked between them 
 and their forefathers. The faithful remnant are expecting the 
 fulfilment of the hope, as no longer a distant event, whilst the 
 prophets of old were directly taught of the Spirit that they 
 ministered to men of a generation posterior to their own (1 Peter 
 i. 12). Thus Anna the prophetess, of the tribe of Aser, was 
 well acquainted with the proper hope of Israel, and knew too 
 
REDEMPTION. 33 
 
 those in Jerusalem who were looking for its fulfilment. What, 
 however, stirred her heart, as it had Zacharias' and Simeon's, 
 was the coming of the Messiah into the world, so long waited 
 for, but now at length to be seen and handled in the person of 
 the Virgin's child. Zacharias, on the occasion of the birth of his 
 son, the immediate forerunner of the Christ, looked forward to the 
 near accomplishment of that which the prophets had foretold 
 (Luke i. 68). Anna, after she had seen the child, went to tell 
 of his presence to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem, 
 or, as some would read with B S " the redemption of Jerusa- 
 lem" (Luke ii. 38). One sees how the hopes and prospects of 
 the godly remnant of that day were bound up with the appear- 
 ance of the Christ. The heart of the aged priest was illuminated 
 with joy in the thought of the near approach of the Messiah. 
 The aged prophetess gave thanks to the Lord when her eye 
 lighted on the infant in the temple. Till He came the remnant 
 treasured up the hope of redemption. When He appeared they 
 looked for its fulfilment. And we learn how really their hopes 
 were bound up with the presence of the Christ upon earth, from 
 the sorrowful confession of the two disciples on their way to 
 Emmaus to the stranger, as they thought Him, who had volun- 
 tarily joined their company — "We trusted that it had been 
 He which should have redeemed Israel " (Luke xxiv. 21). How 
 this told of expectations concerning the virgin's Son, but of 
 shipwrecked hopes and disappointed hearts as well. For all 
 that concerned the blessing of Israel in the future was connected 
 in their minds with the presence among them of the Messiah, 
 and that in the person of Mary's child. Nor were they mis- 
 taken in all this. The Lord Himself had taught His disciples 
 to look forward to the redemption of Israel, and had instructed 
 them in the signs which would herald its approach and His ap- 
 pearance (Luke xxi. 28). But besides that. He taught them the 
 need of His death for fuU redemption to take place. That they 
 had not understood. Eedemption by money they were fully 
 conversant with. Eedemption by divine power their fathers had 
 experienced. Eedemption of the firstborn males of unclean 
 
34 REDEMPTION. 
 
 anim.als by a lamb the law had set before them. But the need 
 of the Messiah's death to effect the final redemption of Israel 
 and of Jerusalem they had never taken up. The Old Testament 
 had spoken of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Psalms xvi. 
 xxii. cii. ; Isaiah liii.) The prophets had predicted the deliver- 
 ance of Israel and Jerusalem, but the remnant of the Lord's day 
 had not understood the intimate connection there is between 
 His death and their national deliverance. They clearly had not 
 yet learnt how the mercies of David would be made sure (Isaiah 
 Iv. 3 ; Acts xiii. 34). 
 
 But far more than Israel's redemption is accomplished by 
 the shedding of that precious blood, and the Lord Jesus it is who 
 first in the New Testament opens up to us the subject. Indig- 
 nation had filled the hearts of the ten at the request made by 
 the mother of Zebedee's children and concurred in by those 
 children, that they should sit one on the right hand and one on 
 the left of the Lord in His kingdom. The Lord's answer was 
 enough both to check their indignation and to rebuke the am- 
 bitious desires of the mother on behalf of her offspring. True 
 greatness amongst them was not to be reached by the mere 
 favour of the King, as so often has been the case with earthly 
 greatness and earthly monarchs. He who would be great 
 among them should be their minister, and whosoever would be 
 chief among them should be their servant ; for the path to true 
 greatness lies through the lowliest service, as exemplified in the 
 ways of the Son of man, the highest in dignity in the universe 
 (God, of course, excepted), who came not to be ministered unto 
 but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 
 XX. 28 ; Mark x. 45). Here we are carried at once beyond the 
 narrow bounds of Jewish interests by an announcement which, 
 if expressed in few words, is rich in thought. The Son of man 
 would give His life a ransom for many. A ransom, \vTpov, was 
 needed, and the Son of man would provide it. Now the title 
 here made use of shows that the Lord has to do with men, and 
 not with Israel only. He is the Son of man, and in that 
 character He will appear by-and-by as placed by God over 
 
REDEMPTION. 35 
 
 everything (Psalm viii. 6). His words, " for many/' convey no 
 thought of the continued maintenance of dispensational distinc- 
 tions, but are in keeping with the abolition of them. The fact, 
 too, that He would give His life tells of the self-surrender on 
 His part, and the cost at which the ransom that He speaks of 
 would be obtained. Hence the question is hereby immediately 
 raised. Why should such a sacrifice be required ? 
 
 Israel had experienced what the putting forth of divine power 
 in redemption could accomplish, and they annually commemo- 
 rated it. When, however, the Lord brought them out of Egypt, 
 He was dealing with them in pure grace, for as yet they had not 
 been placed under law. But when they had promised to do all 
 that God commanded, and had subsequently broken the covenant, 
 redemption from the condition entailed on them in consequence 
 of their sins required, not merely the putting forth of divine 
 power, but the atoning death of the Lord Jesus as well, in virtue 
 of which their transgressions under the first covenant would be 
 fitly and finally dealt with (Heb, ix, 15). The exercise of power 
 will indeed be needed to effect their deliverance from the thral- 
 dom of their enemies ; and for that they will look, nor will they 
 be disappointed (Isaiah Ixiii. Ixiv. ; Psalm xcviii.). But ere God 
 can act in power for them, since the people have sinned, redemp- 
 tion, aTro\vTpco(TL<;, of the transgressions that were under the first 
 covenant becomes a necessity. Now nothing less than the death 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ can meet the case ; so He died, we are 
 told, for that nation (John xi. 50), though, thank God, not for 
 that nation only. And since He gave His life a ransom for 
 many, it becomes only a question of the sovereign grace of God 
 as to who those are who can share in the effects of that ransom. 
 The Lord speaks of many, viewing the question in the light of 
 those who would avail themselves of it. St. Paul writes that 
 Christ Jesus gave Himself a ransom, avriXvrpov, for all (1 Tim. ii. 
 6), viewing the question in the light of God's willingness to save, 
 showing thereby that none will be deprived of the benefits which 
 flow from Christ's death, but such as judge themselves unworthy 
 of everlasting life (Acts xiii. 46). 
 
36 REDEMPTION. 
 
 The Lord's death then avails for all who believe on Him; 
 and since all have sinned, and do come short of the glory of God 
 (Eom. iii. 23), none certainly are righteous in themselves, and 
 none can justify themselves before God (Psalm cxliii. 2). What 
 resource then have sinners but to hear what the Lord God can 
 righteously do for those who believe on His Son ? He justifies 
 them freely through the redemption, aTroA-urptaa-ig.that is in Christ 
 Jesus (Eom. iii. 24). Now of this redemption Paul treats in 
 more places than one. By His own blood the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 as High Priest, has entered into the holy place once for all 
 e^a7ra.^,an act never to be repeated, having found, evpafievo'^, eter- 
 nal redemption, Xurpwcrt?^ (Heb. ix. 12). So this can never alter, 
 its validity can never be impeached, its effects can never pass 
 away. It is an eternal redemption, and His continued presence 
 in the holiest, without having any need to come out from thence, 
 as Aaron was obliged to do annually after the service within the 
 veil on the great day of atonement, witnesses to us of that which 
 the Lord has found, who has entered in by His own blood. For 
 whom it avails that verse in the Hebrews does not state. It is 
 what the Lord as High Priest has found, not those who will 
 share in it, to which our attention is there directed. He has 
 found redemption, and such as is eternal in character. The 
 ransoming from a condition of helplessness, and otherwise ever- 
 lasting ruin, can now be treated of and set forth with confidence, 
 for the High Priest of God, who is in the heavenly sanctuary, 
 has found that which was wanted, and that which can meet in 
 all the depths of his ruin the greatest sinner upon earth. But 
 how helpless was our condition, hopelessly helpless, when nothing 
 less than the entrance by His own blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 into the sanctuary on high could procure for us what was re- 
 quired ! In the doing of such a work man could have had no 
 
 ^ XvTpwais occurs but three times in the New Testament — Luke i. 68, ii. 38 ; 
 Heb. ix. 12. dwoXuTpujais is met witli much oftener — Luke xxi. 28; Rom. iii. 24, 
 viii. 23 ; 1 Cor. i. 30 ; Ephes. i. 7, 14, iv. 30 ; Col. i. 14 ; Heb. ix. 15, xi. 35. 
 When the redemption itself is the special thought in the wi'iter's mind, XvrpwcTK 
 can be used ; when the application of it to those on whose behalf it has been 
 wrought is the subject with which the inspired writer is concerned, dtroXvTpaKns 
 s the word selected. 
 
REDEMPTION. 37 
 
 part ; all must be done by the High Priest himself, and that in 
 a place into which in person we on earth have never entered, 
 and whilst on earth in person can never enter. 
 
 Eternal then in its character, what stable ground do believers 
 stand on ? No argument can weaken it. The Lord's presence 
 in heaven must silence all reasonings, and set at rest all doubts 
 about it. His estimate of that which He has found is revealed 
 for the comfort and rest of the conscience before God. And 
 the effects which flow from it are twofold, since forgiveness and 
 justification are both inseparably connected with it. How well 
 Paul knew this, and those to whom he addressed himself at 
 Ephesus, where he had laboured, and at Colosse, where he had 
 not! In writing to the saints and faithful brethren in both 
 these places, he stated that which was common to them and to 
 him, that in the Beloved they had redemption dToXtJr^wff/s through 
 His blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. 14), 
 according to the riches of God's grace. And writing to all that 
 were in Eome, beloved of God, Paul reminded them that they 
 were justified freely by God's grace through the redemption 
 airakbrgoisig that is in Christ Jesus (Eom. iii, 24), Christ Jesus 
 has found it, in Him the Beloved one we have it, and are justified 
 through it. It is a deliverance indeed, deliverance full and 
 final, from judicial dealing at the hands of an offended God, 
 which we all righteously deserved, and which the finally impeni- 
 tent must for ever endure, for where God's nature is concerned 
 duration of time cannot be taken into account. Hence the 
 question is- not whether sins deserve everlasting punishment; 
 but since God is holy, how can He have those who have sinned 
 in His presence, and at home with Him, except on grounds 
 consistent with His righteousness ? Then, if men refuse the 
 atonement provided by God, nothing is left for them but punish- 
 ment. Viewing the question in this light, and this is the right 
 light in which to view it, since God's nature is unchangeable, 
 and man's soul is immortal, punishment for the finally impeni- 
 tent must be everlasting. Could God have been too merciful to 
 punish sin, redemption, it is true, would not have been needed, 
 
38 REDEMPTION. 
 
 nor would the Lord Jesus have died for sinners ; but in that 
 case God would not have been holy, and righteousness would 
 not have characterised His ways. On the other hand, what 
 security it gives a soul when it learns that God is righteous in 
 saving sinners ! All that He is is vindicated and manifested. 
 Mercy on God's part, unless it is exercised in righteousness, 
 would afford no comfort or security for souls. But now He 
 justifies freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 
 Let the accusation be as grievous as it may, and all perfectly 
 true, yet God will not listen to it if it concerns them whom He 
 has justified (Eom. viii. 33, 34). Once children of wrath they are 
 such no longer, for redemption has been effected. 
 
 Forgiveness and justificatiop, these are present blessings ; and 
 the knowledge of justification through the redemption that is in 
 Christ Jesus should set souls free from seeking for justification 
 through keeping the law. We are justified freely by God's 
 grace, if in truth believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. How 
 many souls not settled in grace are virtually looking for some- 
 thing in themselves, or in their ways, to give them assurance as 
 to their standing before God. This is the spirit of legality, 
 against which the Galatians were so earnestly warned. The 
 death of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was taught them, had 
 redeemed i^rjyopao-e those from the curse of the law who had 
 once been under it, He being made a curse for them, that the 
 blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles in Christ 
 Jesus, that both, those once Jews and those once Gentiles, might 
 receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal. iii.) Those, 
 then, formerly placed by God under law had need of redemption 
 from its curse, and they had it. The Jews never got justifica- 
 tion by works of law (Gal. ii. 16), and those Christians who 
 had been formerly Jews under law had to be redeemed from 
 its curse, Christ having been made a curse for them, and had to 
 believe on Him to be justified by faith of Him, and not by 
 works of law (Gal. ii. 16). Deliverance from being under law 
 such enjoyed, and justification likewise ; but justification by 
 faith, not by works. Hence, if we share in the redemption that 
 
REDEMPTION. 39 
 
 is in Christ Jesus, all idea of justification by works of law 
 before God must be abandoned as unscriptural, and therefore 
 unchristian doctrine. We are already delivered from the con- 
 dition we were formerly in, from which nothing we could do of 
 ourselves could have ever extricated us. ISTo charge against us 
 can be maintained before God. We are justified freely through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Our condition is already 
 changed, and our title to be in God's presence is certain and 
 everlasting. And if those formerly Jews had to be taken out of 
 the condition of being under law in order to be justified before 
 God, and that on the principle of faith, why should those whom 
 God never put under law virtually put themselves under it, to 
 seek for that which it is impossible on such a condition ever to 
 enjoy ? The incongruity of such mistaken teaching becomes 
 apparent ; and if the Christian remembers that he is justified 
 freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, he will 
 learn that he has what he wants, a title to be in God's presence, 
 and that he is in a condition to enjoy the blessing of it ; yet not 
 the least allowance is there for the working of man's evil nature, 
 when the doctrines of grace are rightly set forth and maintained. 
 For, as the Israelites were reminded of their responsibility as 
 redeemed, so we are taught our need of watchfulness, seeing we 
 too are redeemed, and that not by corruptible things, as silver 
 and gold, from our vain conversation, but by the precious blood 
 of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 
 i. 17-19). And the Apostle Paul, writing of the conduct of 
 slaves in the most ordinary duties of life, reminds them of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for them, that He might 
 redeem them from all lawlessness, and purify unto Himself a 
 peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus ii. 13, 14). Deliver- 
 ance from a condition in which judgment must overtake those 
 abiding in it, we enjoy through the Lord Jesus Christ giving 
 Himself a ransom for us. Eedemption therefore from all law- 
 lessness, as the fitting consequence, should be displayed in each 
 one of us. Grace never weakens responsibility; on the con- 
 trary, it maintains it. To attempt to discharge our responsi- 
 
40 REDEMPTION. 
 
 bilities to God in order to obtain a standing before Him is the 
 essence of legality. To take heed to our ways because we are 
 partakers of grace is proper Christian conduct. 
 
 As far, then, as we have investigated the subject, we have 
 seen that our redemption has been procured by another, and not 
 by ourselves ; and that one, even the Lord Jesus Christ, had to 
 surrender His life to procure it, because we were sinners against 
 God ; for nothing but His precious blood shed could avail for 
 it. Further, this redemption is eternal in its character, never 
 to be reversed ; its effects never to pass away. And as Israel 
 could always plead with God on the ground that they were His 
 redeemed ones, we know what our ground as such is before God, 
 even that which never alters. But as with them, so with us, the 
 grace in which we share involves responsibility from which we 
 cannot be set free. Christ gave Himself to redeem us from all 
 lawlessness, avofiia, i.e. not only from any departure from the 
 straight and right way, but from any allowance of insubjection 
 of spirit to God. 
 
 But in more than the redemption of the soul are Christians 
 to have part. They await redemption in power, which will deal 
 with their body as well. Already purchased (1 Cor. vi. 20), the 
 body will be redeemed, and we await that putting forth of divine 
 power on our behalf called adoption, vloOecria, even the redemp- 
 tion, a7ro\vTp(i)<Tc<i, of our bodies (Eom. viii. 23). The believer's 
 whole person will be rescued from the consequences of the fall. 
 Adoption is ours really now, and the Spirit of adoption, too, we 
 have all received, who can cry " Abba, Father" (Eom. viii. 
 15) ; but the completeness of it involves the redemption of 
 the body as well : so the enemy will never be able to say that he 
 has finally ruined any part of the person of those who are sons 
 of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Body, soul, and spirit, all will 
 share in redemption, as fruit of the travail of His soul, who 
 died for us that we should live with Him, and who of God 
 is made unto us redemption (1 Cor. i. 30). For until the body is 
 redeemed, those words of 1st Corinthians will not have received 
 their full accomplishment. Israel looked for the deliverance of 
 
REDEMPTION. 41 
 
 their persons from the thraldom of their oppressors (Luke i. 71, 
 74), the consequence of national transgression in earlier days ; 
 we await the final deliverance of ours from the consequences 
 of sin. 
 
 How deeply, then, are we interested in the ransom provided 
 by the Lord Jesus Christ, by which there will be effected the 
 full deliverance of creatures like us from the condition engen-" 
 dered by the fall ; yet, great and wonderful as this is, God's 
 thoughts in connection with redemption take a still wider range, 
 even the whole purchased possession (Ephes. i. 14), all of which 
 is to be subjected to redeeming power. Interests, then, how vast 
 and varied, are connected with this topic. Creation, subjected to 
 vanity not willingly, but sharing in the fruits of the sin of its 
 head, shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the 
 liberty of the glory of the children of God (Kom. viii. 21). We 
 know redemption of our souls now, and await that of our bodies. 
 Creation has received no part in redemption as yet, but awaits 
 it in the day of the glory of Christ, 
 
 The full need of redemption none of us could have surmised, 
 for none of the children of men could have divined the extent 
 of the ruin caused by sin, and the irrevocable condition, did de- 
 liverance depend on us, of all involved in it. Man might have 
 groaned, as creation does, feeling intensely the wretchedness 
 caused by sin, without after all having learnt the impossibility 
 of rescuing himself from it. That he had not delivered himself 
 would be patent. That he could not, revelation alone teaches. 
 But did revelation stop there, how awful would be the pros- 
 pect ! Man, this creation too, ruined, and, for aU that we could 
 have known, without any probability of emancipation from the 
 bitter consequences of his sin. God, however, has revealed to us 
 what He has done, and that which He will do, and bids us look 
 onward in hope to the day of redemption, unto which He has 
 sealed us by the Holy Ghost (Ephes. iv. 30), given to all who 
 believe the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. Marked 
 in this manner by God, as He looks onward to the future, so 
 would He have us to look forward, sharing His mind about it; 
 
42 REDEMPTION. 
 
 and having interests in common with Him in connection with it. 
 Intelligence about the future should therefore characterise us, 
 and the certainty of the fulfilment of our hope should animate 
 us. We are saved in hope, and the God of hope can fill us with 
 all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope 
 through the power of the Holy Ghost (Eom. viii. 24 ; xv. 13). 
 This God desires for us, having given us the Holy Ghost to be 
 the earnest, or pledge, of the inheritance, until the redemption 
 of the purchased possession, for which the Lord waits, we wait, 
 and for which creation likewise waits. 
 
 God, then, by revealing to us what He has done in giving 
 His Son to die, tells us of the depth of ruin into which sin had 
 plunged us. Revealing to us what He will do, we learn to what 
 extent that ruin has spread, and have surely to own that 
 whilst nothing but the death of Christ can meet it, none but 
 God could have thought of and planned such a way of deliver- 
 ance. And further, we cannot fail to see how deeply interested 
 is God in His human creatures, and in creation likewise. He 
 did not. He does not, sit aloof from all the sufferings and 
 sorrows caused by sin, at rest in the undisturbed serenity of the 
 atmosphere which surrounds His throne. He gave His Son to 
 die. He sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world (1 John 
 iv. 14). Sin had marred the beauty and spotlessness of God's 
 creation. And sin must have been the cause of man's ever- 
 lasting ruin and misery, had not God provided atonement, and 
 redemption. By the former, the question of our sins has been 
 dealt with ; by the latter, deliverance from the consequences of 
 the fall will be finally effected. God, we repeat, has provided 
 for both ; and His Son, when upon earth, manifested how really 
 the One against whom we had sinned could and did enter into 
 the sorrows and wretchedness of His creatures (John xi. 33, 
 35, 38 ; Luke xix. 41) ; and, providing for those who believed 
 on Him deliverance from it all, provided too for the praise of His 
 glory, when His purposes shall have been worked out. 
 
 What a subject then is redemption ! By the fall its neces- 
 sity became apparent, if the devil was not to triumph over God. 
 
REDEMPTION. 43 
 
 By the cross its certainty was manifested, because that blood was 
 shed, that death endured, on the grounds of which it could be 
 wrought out. And, as we learn what Scripture teaches about it, 
 the circles of interests affected by it get wider and wider. At 
 first we read of one nation, and that a small one, which shared 
 in deliverance by divine power. Next we learn that saints out- 
 side that restricted circle have redemption through the blood of 
 Christ, and shall fully have part in redemption by power. And 
 who can estimate what their number is ? Then we hear that to 
 the utmost bound of the purchased possession redeeming power 
 will extend. What that possession is Ephes. i. 10 states. But 
 who on earth can comprehend its vastness and extent ? Heaven 
 and earth, then, are to share in it, though not all the universe. 
 There is a region in which it will never be enjoyed, where intelli- 
 gent creatures must for ever be, but without having part in it. 
 All those under the earth Karaj^dovioL (Phil. ii. 10) will have to 
 bow at the mention of the name of Jesus, as much as all in heaven 
 and all upon earth, yet without sharing in the blessed results of 
 His death. The ransom is enough for all (1 Tim. ii. 6) ; pro- 
 pitiation has been made for the wdiole world (1 John ii. 2), but 
 as all are not willing to be reconciled to God, so all will not be 
 redeemed. This is the dark side, but there is a bright one on 
 which we may dwell. The happiness of those upon earth, at 
 that day, certain psalms and prophetic writings depict, and spe- 
 cially Ps. cl., which calls for Jehovah's praise to be celebrated 
 with every conceivable instrument of music, and by every crea- 
 ture on earth which has breath. What will be the joys of those in 
 heaven we, who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ wliilst 
 in our mortal bodies, shall then fully know. The gladness of 
 creation when anticipating it Eev. v. 13 sets before us. Its 
 gladness in the immediate prospect of it Psalms xcvi. 11-13, xcviii. 
 7-9, graphically describe. And never shall we forget to whose 
 death we owe it, nor the ransom paid for us to participate in it. 
 This is made manifest from that scene described in Eev. v. 9, 
 where the elders, addressing the Lamb, make mention of the 
 price at which saints have been purchased, rather than of the 
 
44 REDEMPTION. 
 
 deliverauce which they are for ever to enjoy : " Thou art worthy 
 to take the book, and to open the seals thereof : for Thou wast 
 slain, and hast bought [us] to God by Thy blood out of every 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made 
 them unto our God kings and priests : and they shall reign over 
 the earth." Purchase, 7)<^opa<ya<i, rather than redemption, is the 
 theme of the elders here. Of the purchase too, not of the re- 
 demption of the hundred and forty and four thousand, who stood 
 with the Lamb on Mount Sion, does the Spirit make mention in 
 xiv. 3. The elders speak of purchase from kindred, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation. In xiv. it is purchase from the earth 
 and from men. In each place it is a special company, apart from 
 others of the human race, of which the purchase is declared. 
 All on earth, indeed, have been purchased by the Lord's death, 
 and hence He has rights over them, as a master would have over 
 slaves. But in chapter v. the saints referred to are said to 
 have been bought by His blood to God ; and in xiv. those there 
 mentioned as bought, are first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. 
 Purchase, then, is mentioned in Eevelation ; of it John speaks 
 in this book rather than of redemption, for a^opa^w, though 
 translated redeemed in the A. V. in the passages noted, is not, 
 it would seem, used in the New Testament, nor in the LXX. 
 version of the Old Testament in any such sense. But all the 
 saints of whom we read that they are purchased will enjoy 
 redemption. Saints on earth as well as saints in heaven will 
 know in their measure its blessedness. 
 
 But who speaks of all this ? It is God. Who provides for 
 it? God. On what grounds can He righteously do it? He 
 gave His Son to die, the Just for the unjust, to take up the 
 question of His people's condition, and to settle it, that those 
 might for ever rejoice in redemption who believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the lost. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 " I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that 
 ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
 God, which is your reasonable service." The word {'karpiia), 
 translated service, means service- of -worship, in such a passage as 
 Eom, xii. 1. It is a word that always points God-wards. 
 There are other words in the New Testament translated worship, 
 which are applied to men, devils, earthly powers, or even 
 inanimate things ; but latreia, without exception, is applied to 
 the true God only, or to a supposed god (Acts vii. 42 ; Eom. i. 
 25). One of the other words (the word 'zpaayiwih) is frequently 
 used to others — men, devils, beasts. 'But latreia being a temple 
 word is not used for anything but divine service, let the divinity 
 be supposed or real ; so even in Eev. xxii. 3, when it is said 
 " His servants shall serve Him," the meaning is, with scrvice- 
 of-ivorship. 
 
 When iDork-service is intended, another word {pouXihu) is used, 
 as in this same chapter, verse 11th, "serving the Lord ;" or as 
 when Paul says. Acts xx. 19, "serving the Lord with all humility ;" 
 or as Gal. v. 13, " serve one another," " with good will doing 
 service " (Eph. vi. 7). 
 
 There are also other words for serving, such as Luke xii. 37, 
 " Will come forth and serve them {hiaxonu)." The sacrifice and 
 service of your faith (Xurovpyicf) (Phil. ii. 17). Also, " After he had 
 served (vTrripBTsoS) his generation" (Actsxiii. 36). There is "divine 
 service " (Heb. ix. 1) ; work-service (1 Tim. vi. 2) ; private service, 
 as done in the household (Luke x. 40 ; John xii. 2) ; and public 
 or business service (2 Cor. ix. 12 ; Phil. ii. 17). But our word 
 service, in Eom. xii. 1 (XocTpsia), is always applied to the service of 
 
46 THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 God (John xvi. 2 ; Eom. ix. 4 ; xii. 1 ; Heb. ix. 1-6). Even the 
 verb (Xarpiuu) is always divine service, or what was believed to 
 be so ; for " the hosts of heaven " (Acts vii. 42) were regarded as 
 divinities when worshipped. It occurs most frequently in 
 Hebrews, where we should expect to find it, and where the other 
 word homage (Tpoffxvyscu) never occurs as to Christians (viii. 5 ; 
 ix. 1, 6, 9, 14 ; x. 2 ; xii. 28 ; xiii. 10), which is an additional 
 proof that it is intended to describe our worship-service. And 
 then we have it in Eev. vii. 15, and xxii. 3, and there it ends. 
 
 I am thuy minute and decided about the express meaning of 
 the word, in order to show that with the sacred writers service 
 man-ward is not the first thing the Spirit contemplates and en- 
 joins, but consecration to God and worship -service God-ward. " I 
 beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 
 present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
 which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this 
 world : but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, 
 that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and per- 
 fect, will of God." 
 
 When the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt it was 
 worship that was the first thing spoken of, " Thus saith the Lord 
 God of Israel, let My people go, that they may serve Me ;" and we 
 have only to read Exodus v. 3, x. 24-29, to see that this was 
 worship-service. Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh, " The God 
 of the Hebrews hath met with us ; let us go, we pray tliee, three 
 days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our 
 God ;" and when he would not hear of them taking their flocks 
 and their herds, they insisted on their having them. " Our cattle 
 also shall go with us ; there shall not an hoof be left behind ; 
 for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know 
 not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither." 
 This decision broke off the conference ; the Lord interposed ; 
 Israel was delivered out of the Egyptians' land ; Egypt was 
 judged, and the Egyptians were destroyed. " See my face no 
 more," said Pharaoh ; and Moses said, " Thou hast spoken well, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 47 
 
 I will see thy face no more." The material for the sacrifice 
 must go out of Egypt as well as the worshippers. God has 
 come in in judgment of Satan and his world, has not only 
 screened His people from His sword as a righteous judge in 
 Egypt, but has also delivered them out of Egypt, annulling him 
 that had the power of death, and by dying to sin has given all 
 believers the privilege of being dead unto sin but alive unto 
 God in Jesus Christ, and thus being redeemed out of the place 
 by the power of God, working in connection with the death and 
 life again of Christ, they are rescued, emancipated, living saints 
 of God in virtue of Christ, and in their own happy conscious- 
 ness and joy of faith ; the world and its slavery left behind, they 
 can now serve the Lord as those who are brought to Himself, 
 and they have themselves — even their bodies, the former vessels 
 of the slavery of sin — now blessedly made members of Christ 
 and temples of the Holy Ghost, so that they can be exhorted as 
 having power over their " mortal body," not to let sin reign in 
 it, but also tlius " yield (present) yourselves unto God as those 
 that are alive from the dead" (Eom. vi. 11-13) : in Eom. xii. 1, 
 "present your bodies." Why bodies? Are we not "waiting 
 for the redemption of our body ?" True. But " because of His 
 Spirit that dwell eth in you, He who raised up Christ from the 
 dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies," and faith holds 
 it as good as done, and acts accordingly. " What ? know ye not 
 that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in 
 you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own ? for ye are 
 bought with a price : therefore glorify God in your body " (1 Cor, 
 vi. 19, 20). Ye are bought with a price ; that is the whole man, 
 body and soul and spirit. The whole of Satan's contest is not 
 only about " the body of Moses " (Jude 9), but about the bodies 
 of all the saints. As Pharaoh strove to keep the cattle in Egypt, 
 so Satan would keep the bodies of believers in the world, and 
 allow them to serve God and worship with their souls. It is a 
 striking parallel we have here to Moses' decision with Pharaoh. 
 " There shall not an hoof be left behind." The cattle must go. 
 
48 THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 all of them : so our bodies also go out of Egypt, for they are 
 the very substance of the sacrifice to be presented. " Present 
 your bodies a living sacrifice.^' Call it consecration if you will, 
 our bodies are not to be left out in our " service," but we, in our 
 bodies, are to present ourselves " a living sacrifice, holy." This is 
 so, for we are made masters of our bodies now in Christ through 
 the power of God's Holy Spirit, just as when we were in the flesh 
 Satan and sin mastered us through our bodies : and, being in the 
 power of the Spirit, it is spiritual work, and " an intelligent 
 service." 
 
 And with regard to our " divine service" (latreia), there is great 
 importance in insisting on the consecration and sacrifice of the 
 whole man, and that we present our bodies, for you will find the 
 most of God's saints presenting themselves every Lord's day in 
 places where they cannot but know there is no worship on a 
 divine basis or in accordance with Scriptural principles. There 
 was one city in Israel where God had placed His name, and in 
 which His worship was duly performed, and to that centre all the 
 males repaired thrice a year to present themselves before the 
 Lord and worship. They said rightly, then, " At Jerusalem is 
 the place where men ought to worship." And is there no pre- 
 scribed worship of God in Christianity ? and is it all one whether 
 we in our bodies are found in connection with a worship-service 
 where Christ is served divinely and scripturally, or where the 
 so-called worship is a direct denial of Christianity ? Where the 
 service is according to a pre-arranged and established form, con- 
 ducted by religious officials, appointed and salaried for that pur- 
 pose, or where a liturgy is used, there believers are not at liberty to 
 be present at all, for that is not God's way of worship. Christ 
 is all in God's church. He is the centre for the worship (Matt, 
 xviii. 20) ; He and His sacrifice glorifying God and perfecting 
 worshippers as to the conscience are the basis of worship (Heb.ix.) 
 The only power for worship is the Spirit, who dwells not only 
 in each individual, but is with the saints collectively, regulating 
 all and guiding each, so that one and another may be employed 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LA TREIA. 49 
 
 in the service as He may see good to use them ; and the worship 
 being that of the Father (John iv.), none but the children of God 
 can join in it ; and none are acceptable worshippers but those 
 " who have received the Spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father " 
 (Eom. viii.) ; and as all believers are members of Christ, true 
 worship embraces all saints ; and as all are baptized into one 
 body, we dare not take our place where the principle of religious 
 "bodies" of man's invention is owned, whether unblushingly 
 connected with this " present evil world," or framed according 
 to some other contrivance of man's will ; for the worship of Chris- 
 tianity is on the principle of a complete break with man in the 
 flesh and man's world, and on the principle of being members of 
 Christ, and one with Him, where He is at God's right hand, and 
 all the distance between earth and heaven placed between the 
 worshippers and the world. " Having, therefore, brethren, bold- 
 ness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," tells us that 
 our place of worship is outside the world ; and we can no more 
 worship in Egypt than could Jehovah's Israel. Just as Moses 
 said to Pharaoh, " I will see thy face no more," so when the bodies 
 of the saints, the persons of the saved, are presented, there is 
 decision as to having no more conference with the world — " Be 
 not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing 
 of your minds to your proving what is that good and perfect and 
 acceptable thing — the will of God." The not having your 
 fashioning like that of the world which likes something visible, 
 and with a fair show in the flesh — some golden calf — but being 
 transfigured by the renewing of your mind, as Christ's inward 
 glory shone out on the transfiguration hill, then will you have 
 capacity and power to experimentally prove that God has a 
 " will " about " your service," as well as about everything ; — 
 " good, acceptable, and perfect." " Present your bodies .... 
 your intelligent service." 
 
 How many there are in these days who, when the saints 
 have been visited by the Holy Ghost revealing Christ to 
 His people's minds, have grown so in the knowledge of Him 
 
50 THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 and of the riches of the grace of God and of Christianity, that 
 they have at length become transfigured, their whole body full 
 of lio"ht, with no part dark ; they have ceased to be conformed 
 to the world, and have presented their bodies as God would 
 have them ; have worshipped by God's Spirit, and have no con- 
 fidence in the flesh. Paul had renounced the whole system for 
 the excellency of Christ Jesus his Lord, and there came such 
 power with the call that reached him from the glory, the light 
 that shone around him revealing the glorious Man, that he was 
 from the first completely outside the world to the Christ who 
 had called him, and he found himself a worshipper where he 
 had intended to be a ravener.. And to this he refers repeatedly 
 in the most touching terms : " Who was before a blasphemer 
 and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy. I 
 obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth 
 all longsuffering for a pattern to them who should hereafter 
 believe on Him to life everlasting." And in Eom. xii. 1 he 
 beseeches " by the mercies ^ of God," of which he has just 
 given such a witness to Jew and Gentile in the body of this 
 Epistle, " to present your bodies a sacrifice living and holy, 
 acceptable to God, an intelligent service." 
 
 " Present (TapstfT-^ca/) your bodies," as those who once for all 
 are " sanctified by the offering of the hody of Jesus Christ." This 
 word 'present is " selected as the set expression for presenting of 
 sacrificial annuals at the altar." As the worshipper presented 
 his living victim, so we present our bodies " a living sacrifice." 
 For in this " service" we are by grace allowed to be oblivious of the 
 
 ^ The other places where " mercies " are mentioned in the New Testament are 
 these : 2 Cor. i. 3 ; Phil. ii. 1 ; Col. iii. 12 (singular) ; Heb. x. 28. 
 
 " By the mercies " is literally " through the mercies of God," as the powerful 
 means and motive that is to move you " to present your bodies a living sacri- 
 fice." In chapter xv. 30, he writes: "I beseech you, brethren, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together 
 with me in your prayers to God for me." In 1 Cor. i. 10, " Now I beseech you, 
 brethren, hy the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
 nd that there be no divisions among you." In 2 Cor. x. 1, "Now I, Paul, 
 beseech you hy the meekness and gentleness of Christ." 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 51 
 
 fact that " the body is dead because of sin." We must regard our 
 former existence in the flesh as non-existent, and we are in the 
 spirit in Christ and Christ in us. Faith places us in the presence 
 of God in Christ, body as well as soul, and so in our " service " 
 we can look for the Holy Ghost enabling us to present our 
 bodies filled with His power. In faith we who believe draw 
 near our very selves in our bodies, which, as indwelt of the 
 Spirit, the Lord's, and not our own, we present a living sacrifice, 
 holy, acceptable to God. We can never say as to fact and walk 
 there is nothing in our bodies but the Holy Ghost, for we are to 
 mortify the deeds of the body by the Spirit. But as to our 
 place in Christ and to faith, we reckon ourselves dead indeed 
 unto sin, and alive unto God in Jesus Christ ; and we in our 
 bodies are free to be used in " the service of God." 
 
 " Mercies " are here {hia ruv oiKTip/j.ojv rou kou) the feelin^^s 
 of compassion in God's heart, which have become embodied 
 in the " mercy " which saves the lost (Tit. iii. 5), quickens 
 the dead (Eph. ii. 4), and cares for the saints of God (Heb. iv. 
 16). Paul speaks of mercy to him in 2 Cor. iv. 1 ; 1 Tim. 
 1. 13-16. Peter speaks of " abundant mercy," (1 Pet. i. 3), 
 and about obtaining mercy (1 Pet. ii. 10). Paul, in Piomans 
 does not speak of " mercy " until chapter ix. 15. Then we have it 
 about twelve times, ten of which are in that portion of the 
 epistle from chapter ix. to xi., in which he shows that the salva- 
 tion of the Gentiles now does not argue that God has cast away 
 His people, or that He will not make good in sovereign mercy 
 His promises of special place, blessing, and glory to Israel by 
 and by. In the 11th chapter, at verses 31, 32, he shows that 
 both come under sovereign mercy : '' That he might have mere?/ 
 upon all." This word (sXsog) looks to the outiuard act; " mercies" 
 (ohrtpiMoi) to the inward feeling. Man's misery is met by God's 
 mercy, whether he be Jew or Gentile. On account of the rejection 
 of Christ the Jew is no better than the Gentile, all being dead in 
 sins, as in Ephesians, and God, rich in mercy, for His great love 
 quickening together with Christ, saves by grace through faith, — 
 
52 THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 the entire thing being God's gift ; and if man is looked at in his 
 living sin and misery, as in the Epistle to the Eomans, then God's 
 inward feelings of compassion have been so stirred for him in his 
 guilt, condemnation, bondage to sin, law, and death, that He has 
 not spared His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, and with 
 Him has freely given us all things, such as free justification by 
 grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom He 
 has set forth a propitiatory through faith in His blood. " The 
 mercies of God" moved Him to deliver Him up for our offences, 
 and raise Him up for our justification, so that, being justified by 
 faith, we might have peace with God, access through Him into a 
 gracious standing before Him, so that the glory of God is made 
 our boast, and God Himself our joy, by whom we have now re- 
 ceived the reconciliation. But " the mercies of God " have not 
 left us under the mastership of sin any more than in our sins, but 
 giving us, in virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, to hold our- 
 selves as non-existent, and the whole bondage to sin terminated, we 
 are to Him who is risen from the dead, and bring forth fruit to God. 
 Instead of raising the cry, "0 wretched man that I am ! who shall 
 deliver me?" the "mercies of God " have flowed forth in such wise 
 as to relieve this misery, and put in the place of that cry of misery 
 the " I thank God, through Jesus Christ ; "... for the law of 
 the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law 
 of sin and death ; " — for God has condemned sin in the flesh — and 
 we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit — a new state altogether, 
 with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ .in us — 
 the spirit of adoption given us, we are heirs of God, and joint- 
 heirs with Christ, to be glorified together — the body to be re- 
 deemed ; but meantime we groaning in it according to God, and 
 waiting for the liberty of the glory, when creation itself shall 
 be delivered from the bondage of corruption. Meantime, exult- 
 ing in the prospect of coming glory, when we shall be conformed 
 to the image of God's Son in glory, being glorified together, God 
 is for us. His compassions have been embodied and expressed 
 in the gift of His Son, who has died, risen, and gone into heaven. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. S3 
 
 and through whom we have God's own love so commended in 
 that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and so we 
 feel secure, God being for us in love and righteousness, and as 
 we know there is now no condemnation to them who are in 
 Christ Jesus, so we exult in the culminating grace of " the mer- 
 cies of God," that none can separate us from the love of Christ, 
 from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Such 
 are the outflowings of His mercies to the Gentiles, who may well 
 " glorify God for His mercy ;" and chapters ix.-xi. show also His 
 mercies to Israel, for "so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, 
 "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and turn away ungod- 
 liness from Jacob." " As regards the glad tidings, they are enemies 
 on your account ; but as regards election, beloved on account of the 
 fathers ; for the gifts and calling of God are not subject to repent- 
 ance. For, as indeed ye also once have not believed in God, but 
 now have been objects of mercy through the unbelief of these, so 
 these also have not believed in your mercy, in order that they also 
 may be the objects of mercy. For God hath shut up all in unbelief 
 in order that He might show mercy to all " (Eom. xi.) 
 
 Such are the " mercies of God." Is He not " the God of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies 1 " These mercies have 
 found their objects in us, and now, having experienced them, 
 what a motive to induce us to a whole-hearted presentation of 
 our bodies — " our intelligent service." As God-taught saints 
 we yield it. It is an intelligent service we render. Salva- 
 tion is no longer a dark saying and a dim parable, but a 
 revealed and embodied fact and reality. We have the Holy 
 Ghost as the unction, and the risen Lord in the presence 
 of God, and by Him heavenly realities are revealed, and we 
 ourselves are in living fellowship with the Father and with 
 His Son Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit — 
 having the enjoyment of the mutual thoughts and affections of 
 the Father and the Son. There is nothing else " reasonable," or 
 in strict accordance with spiritual logic (Xoy/x^^i/), or exactly as it 
 should be, or at all answerable as a spontaneous response to the 
 
54 THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 reception of " the mercies of God/' save the presenting of our 
 bodies a living sacrifice — holy, well-pleasing unto God. . As the 
 redeemed nation of Israel were supplied with motives for absolute 
 giving up of themselves to God as His worshipping nation, solely 
 in the mercy of God, manifested in their redemption and blessing, 
 so "the mercies of God" to us should lead spontaneously to our 
 presenting ourselves as His worshipping saints, and moving spirit- 
 ually, as those under the entire control of the Holy Ghost, in 
 the " intelligent service " of this Kew Testament house of God. 
 
 When David sat in his house and mused on all God's mercies, 
 his mind got upon the ark of God, and he thought of build- 
 ino- a house for it. The Lord did not allow it, but told him it 
 was well that it was in his heart. Instead of thinking on God's 
 mercies to this effect that we are to be used to establish God's 
 worship or secure that the truth shall be perpetuated by our 
 prudence or devotedness towards such an object, let our aim be 
 to hold ourselves in ever fresh presentation before the Lord, that 
 He may establish our hearts in grace, our souls in devotedness, 
 and our minds in the knowledge of His will. Our intelligent 
 worship-service is entirely dependent on God's sustainment, 
 Christ's grace, and the Holy Ghost's presence in power and 
 blessing. But when things are according to the mind of God, 
 as when David caused the Levites to bear the ark, and there was 
 worshipping gladness, and the permanent settlement of the 
 ministry of song, it pertained not to the law, but to " the sure 
 mercies of David." The one who had known first rejection and 
 then exaltation began the settled ministry of song in Israel ; so ours 
 began with the Lord Jesus. The song in Christianity begins with 
 the seating of the earth-rejected Jesus, crowned with glory and 
 honour, on the throne of the Father in the heavens, and " Thou 
 art worthy " shall be sung in the heavenly sanctuary for ever and 
 ever. There is always light, love, communion, joy in the Lord, and 
 song where God's mind issoughtand enjoyed as to His worship, and 
 when praise and thanksgiving are rendered to God from fully con- 
 secrated and devoted worshippers, for we joy in God through our 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 55 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and our full cup running over, we offer by Him 
 the sacrifice of praise to God continually, confessing His name. 
 
 The basis of our worship is Christ and His perfect sacrifice 
 of Himself — the Lord's supper being the centre of it, as it keeps 
 Him in His death for the glory of God and our redemption 
 visibly before us ; our only power of worship the Holy Spirit ; 
 the object of worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. " For through Hivi (Christ Jesus) we both have access 
 by one ^inrit unto the Fatlicr " (Eph. ii. 18). " The Father 
 seeketh worshippers ; " and " God is a Spirit, and they that wor- 
 ship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." Then 
 " let us have grace whereby we may worship God acceptably 
 with reverence and with godly fear, for our God is a consuming 
 fire" (Heb. xii. 28) ; "Worship God" (Eev. xxii. 9). 
 
 It would be edifying to inquire into the character of our 
 worship, and ascertain the difference between worshipping God, 
 the Father, the Lord Jesus, and " by the Spirit of God." A 
 Christian who knows only Hebrews' truth will worship God with 
 reverence and godly fear ; not with a childlike sense of relation- 
 ship, " crying, Abba, Father." In " Hebrews " we never have 
 the Father in our relationship or worship, and it never rises to 
 the height or measure of the full worship of Christianity, for it 
 is official not filial ; of consecrated " priests unto God,'' not of 
 children and the Father. We do not find either "joy " or " love " 
 in our relationship with God in the epistle. Fear, not love, charac- 
 terises it (iv. 1, 12 ; xii. 29), " for our God is a consuming fire ;" 
 and in it we are on our way through the wilderness, and having 
 liberty to enter into the holiest we draw near habitually and 
 worship ; the epistle does not look at us as always there, as does 
 Ephesians, which regards us as being before the Father in love, 
 who hath " predestinated us to the adoption of children to him- 
 self" and in the happy enjoyment of the " Spirit of Sonship," 
 ever in our Father's presence as the loved ones of His own 
 family. " For by Him we both have access by one Spirit to the 
 Father" and we are as children of God, ever enjoying our fellow- 
 
S6 THE CHRISTIAN LATREIA. 
 
 ship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. The wor- 
 ship of the " holy priesthood " is the worship of God, and it is 
 " with reverence and godly /ear;" but as children we "worship 
 the, Father I' and our joy is full. A most desirable state of mind 
 it is to have " godly fear " (the same ivord [slXalSsia] is used of 
 our blessed Lord, Heb. v. 7); we cannot "serve God acceptably" 
 otherwise; but the Spirit-given cry of " Abba" is essential to the 
 worship of the Father, as offered by His " dear children " — His 
 " loved children " (Eph. v. 1). There is no priesthood with the 
 Father, and our place as priests is never spoken of where our rela- 
 tionship to the Father is contemplated. Priestly place and wor- 
 ship of God are connected with a pilgrimage condition and the 
 home in prospect ; worship of the Father by His dear children and 
 the loving consciousness of a filial relationship are connected 
 with the Father's presence. Worsliipping God, on the level of the 
 truth in Hebrews, 1st Peter, and Eevelation, has an entirely 
 different feeling to our souls from worshipping the Father on 
 the basis of the manifestation of His purpose in Christ Jesus, in 
 Ephesians. And if we are true worshippers, and not hollow 
 pretenders, we will not venture to worship out of keeping with 
 our state. The Spirit will guide us into that frame of mind and 
 form of expression which accord with our present condition. 
 There is great danger in leaving off worshipping God — where 
 lie the deepest moral glories connected with the adorable Person 
 and atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ — and only worship- 
 ping the Father. No reason is there why both should not be 
 observed in due scriptural proportion, as the state of worship- 
 pers may permit : but less harm will be done to souls from 
 having the worship of God in excess than from the all but ex- 
 clusive worship of the Father — although, as has been said, there 
 cannot be the full and proper worship of Christianity unless 
 there be, besides the worship of God, also the worship of the 
 Father. Our Lord has joined both in St. John iv. 23, 24. 
 Here we have the Father in relationship, and God in his nature ; 
 and it is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ we now 
 worship " in spirit and in truth." 
 
INSPIRATION AND REVELATION.^ 
 
 We have to avoid the wiles of Satan continually. His tempta- 
 tions are ever there in all we pass through ; but there are some 
 things which come more directly from liim, errors by which he 
 seeks to deceive Christians and undermine the truth, as Irving- 
 ism, Puseyism, Eationalism. And these are to be met as coming 
 directly from him. If we meet them thus we may expect help 
 from God, while if tampered with in a friendly way we cannot. 
 Such is the question which turns up on every hand around us 
 now. Infidelity and the undermining the truth and the autho- 
 rity of the word are rampant. It does not surprise the Chris- 
 tian acquainted with Scripture ; it confirms his faith in it, be- 
 cause he is warned there that it would be so. It is his painful 
 experience however, but Scripture has taught him that in the last 
 days perilous times would come. 
 
 The active mind of Germany has been the ofiicina, the work- 
 shop, of this in various phases in these latter years — Paulus and 
 Strauss and Bauer, and the rationalists from Semler and Eichhorn 
 down ; and England and other countries have been infected with 
 it. Scotland, through the forms of its church government, has 
 recently been most openly under the public eye. 
 
 I have nothing to do with the church matters of that little 
 section of Christendom which made itself conspicuous in Europe 
 by a public claim to purity and disinterestedness beyond others, 
 nor have I to do with what is expedient for United Presbyterians 
 if the question arises there. Their internal affairs are no con- 
 cern of others, save as the Christian must care for everything 
 that concerns Christ's truth and Christ's people. Nor do I ex- 
 pect them to listen to Dr. M'Cosh advising the rationalists to 
 
 ^ A review of Dr. Marcus Dods' sermon Inspiration and Revelation, with a 
 preface (Edinburgh : 1877) ; and the System of Rationalism oi Dr. Ewald, of which 
 it is a popular echo. 
 
 F 
 
58 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 leave and set up for themselves. If Satan is at work, as I have 
 no doubt he is, honesty is not what you are to expect. But the 
 question concerns every Christian. 
 
 Dr. M'Cosh has told them,^ what every one outside themselves 
 can see, that the principal dissenting bodies in Scotland, and 
 eminently the Free Church, are on their trial. It is not merely, 
 as Dr. M'Cosh says, "What are the churches to do ?" nor is any 
 " shrewdness " required in the matter. The question is, "What 
 are those who believe that Scripture is inspired to do when 
 Eationalism (Broad Churchism, as Dr. M'Cosh calls it after its 
 English name) has reared its head and infected the ecclesiastical 
 bodies of the country, and when, as in the case of the Free 
 Church, though it suspended Mr. Smith as professor, they are 
 really trifling with the faith ? — the latter, in the last form the 
 question has taken, having shelved the matter by what is called 
 moving the previous question.^ I do not trust in churches ; I 
 do not know which of them is to be trusted. Is Eome or Greece, 
 is the Lutheran — the very seat of infidelity — or the reformed, 
 who are in the same state ? Holland is far worse than Dr. M'Cosh 
 represents it ; the well-known converted Jew Dr. Capadose left it 
 a few years ago because it was universally infidel ; France is noto- 
 rious. WiU the Anglican, with its Puseyism and Broad Church- 
 ism, give me rest ? or now, Scotland falling into the same track 
 of heartless indifference to the truth ? " Ephraim has grey hairs 
 here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not." The attack 
 on the word of God is not from heathens as of old, or open in- 
 fidels, but from the bosom of Christendom itself. Men who are 
 called its ministers are undermining the confidence of the simple 
 in what was the basis of their faith, the true basis of all faith, 
 the word of God. " If it were an open enemy, I could have borne 
 it ; but it was thou, my companion, mine own familiar friend." 
 They tell you they believe in the Bible, nay, in inspiration, only 
 
 * In his pamphlet Broad Churchism in Scotland. 
 
 "^ This paper having been long delayed, action has been taken since. Being 
 out of the country I cannot state what with accuracy. [It was published ina 
 pamphlet formbefore the case was decided. — Ed.] 
 
INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 59 
 
 taking up literary questions. It is false ; utterly false. None can 
 deny that it is but the cramhe repetita — the dishing up afresh — 
 what is borrowed from the Eichhorns (though he is now left far 
 behind), the De Wettes, Bleeks, Ewalds, Eiehms, Grafs, Knobels, 
 Bertheauts, and a host of others, to say nothing of Kuenen, who 
 avows himself a Unitarian and ready to join with Jews, only 
 they would not probably do so at present. I have not read all 
 these. But I have read some of them. It is all one system. 
 Some more insolent and bold, as Graf and Kuenen and De 
 Wette (though there was in his history and views, it would 
 seem, a drawing to the truth of Clirist as he went on, which was 
 interesting). But I do not speak of the individuals, knowing 
 none of them. I speak of a regular system unfolded in their 
 books, and now propagated by professors and ministers of the 
 Free Church of Scotland. They differ from each other in details ; 
 nay, you must know what edition you read of the principal ones, 
 or you will be stating something false about them. 
 
 But this is not really the question. They all develop a system 
 which destroys the authority of the word of God, which denies it 
 comes from Him to us. This is attempted to be denied, and 
 covered up, and softened down, not to frighten honest minds, not 
 to say Christian ones, too soon. But this is only Satan's craft, and 
 if they who talk of literary inquiries into the history of the sacred 
 writings believe really that we have God's revelation, they must 
 know that this system undermines it, that it denies that we have 
 God's revelation on God's authority. I shall proceed to show this. 
 
 There are two systems in the main, if you take thorough- 
 going destructives as Graf and others (De Wette grew somewhat 
 more sober) ; that Deuteronomy was the first book written, and 
 in Josiah's time, or a little before, but produced then by the 
 high priest ; and that the legal enactments of the Pentateuch 
 were added after the Babylonish captivity, Moses' name being 
 used to secure the priestly influence established in them. I 
 suppose this is not inspiration. 
 
 According to Ewald, the great body of these laws was drawn 
 
6o INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 up by a priest very soon after the building of the temple by 
 Solomon. This is the " Book of Origins," He admired greatly the 
 character of the writing which is the production of a great and 
 elevated genius aroused by the reigns of David and Solomon. 
 This, too, was to enforce the priests' rights and authority. This 
 history includes the creation, to which, being of an elevated 
 mind, he could look back, and went on to the history of the 
 Judges' time, but this is lost, and was very briefly related ; for he 
 tells us what parts of it are clearly lost. But he holds there was 
 before this a book of covenants which recorded various covenants 
 of Abraham and Abimelech, and Isaac and Jacob, etc., and 
 Exodus XX. to xxiii. This was written about Samson's time. 
 Even before this there were written documents, as songs, and the 
 book of the wars of the Lord, and of Jasher, After the Book of 
 Origins, the great work of Solomon's time, there were in his ear- 
 lier editions a third and fourth, in the last a third, fourth, and 
 fifth writer, to complete the recovery and collection of the old 
 traditions, adding and connecting and modifying, and, besides 
 this, one who puts all together and added some passages to make 
 a rounded whole of it. 
 
 Bleek is certainly soberer in his judgment of details, but he 
 does not in the least believe in the inspiration of the word of 
 God. None of them ever thinks of such a thing. The difficulty 
 of showing it in positive statements arises, as far as any exists, 
 from their taking it for granted there is none. Nothing of the 
 kind ever crosses their minds. Even Lange, so much thought 
 of, speaks of it in his Life of Christ as an obsolete thing which 
 hindered all development of the truth. 
 
 But before I show from Ewald and Bleek the real 
 character of the system — and I choose the most capable and 
 respected (indeed, Ewald may be taken as the most complete, 
 and as a representative of the moderate system ; as Kuenen, 
 Graf, and others whom I have not read, of the daring and 
 open contempt of the word of God, Bleek as the most sober of 
 all) ; but, I repeat — for none regard the Scriptures as the 
 
TNSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 6 1 
 
 oracles of God — according to none of them can man live, as tlie 
 Saviour teaches us (quoting Deuteronomy as authority against 
 Satan, and silencing him by it) by words which proceed out 
 of the mouth of God. 
 
 But I shall begin nearer home with the sermon of Dr. Marcus 
 Dods and his excusing preface. Dr. Dods goes so far as to 
 admit that when prophets say, "Thus saith the Lord," a revelation 
 has been made to them. Would he allow me to ask him, 
 Has none been made to us, when the prophets say : " Thus 
 saith the Lord?" This you will not find from Dr. Dods. 
 Happily, if we do not find it from him, we can from such 
 words find it out without him. But the whole point lies there ; 
 is there a revelation to us ? Hoiv God revealed the truth to the 
 prophet is not, as he would have us believe, in question at 
 all. ISTo one can tell how, save as, in some cases, told us in Scrip- 
 ture (Num. xii. 6, 8). But how the word of the Lord came 
 to them, those to whom it has not thus come are not likely 
 to know, Nor do I believe a prophet could explain it to 
 one who had not experienced it. The question is : Is it the word 
 of God for me as given out by the prophet ? Well, if " Thus 
 saith the Lord" be true, it clearly is ; though Dr. Dods will not 
 say so. " Similarly of the apostles," adds Dr. Dods, " I, of 
 course, believe they are the authoritative teachers of the church, 
 and that in order to fit them to be so, special revelations were 
 made to them." Is what they have written the word of God to us? 
 This is the question. Paul tells us very distinctly how the matter 
 stood. God has given to us "not the spirit of the world, but the 
 Spirit which is of God ; that we might knoio the things that are 
 freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak not in 
 the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
 Ghost teacheth." And he adds the third step too. " The natural 
 man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are 
 foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they 
 are spiritually discerned."^ We may compare the words of the 
 
 ^ And note here, there is a difference between revelation and inspiration, a 
 
62 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 Lord iu the special case of their answering before magistrates : 
 " Take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be 
 given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not 
 ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in 
 you." The theory of these doctors is that the gracious Lord 
 would put words in the mouth of His servants for their 
 difficulties ; but in what was to be truth for the church iu 
 all times, the basis of its faith, and its security against error, 
 direct communication (I do not say revelation) to us of the 
 truth was not so made by those to whom He made the revelation 
 of it for that purpose. 
 
 Dr. Dods does not deny that in the case of the prophets 
 men had revelations made to them; but he does carefully dis- 
 tinguish between this and the inspiration of the Scriptures, and 
 distinctly denies that any revelation is made by them to us. 
 !N'ow, in the case of the prophets, the matter is palpable, and he 
 shirks it in the sermon, and confines it to a revelation to them in 
 the preface, and as to the apostles says : " In their case, also, I 
 desire, as Paul himself obviously did, to bring the revelations 
 made by God into the foreground, and to allow the inspired 
 state of the human mind to fall back into a secondary place." 
 
 This is very poor special pleading. Of course Paul's busi- 
 ness was not to explain a " theory of inspiration." Who thinks it 
 was ? But when the revelations were brought into the foreground, 
 who received them then? to whom did they, or do they, become 
 revelations? That I need to be spiritual to enjoy them is true; 
 or, if it be gospel to a sinner, grace to work in bringing it home 
 to him. But that is another question. But if Paul brought the 
 revelation unadulterated, not corrupting the word of God, for 
 so he calls it, into the foreground (that is, in his communication 
 of it to others, I suppose, according to the measure of their 
 spirituality), they received it ; that is, the revelation he brought 
 into the foren-round, the revelation he had received himself It 
 
 point for many reasons I should insist on. But revelation is to the divine vessel 
 or instrument ; inspiration is the communication he makes of it. The spiritual 
 apprehension is in him who personally profits by it. 
 
INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 63 
 
 was to this end it was so given to him, " When it pleased God 
 who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His 
 grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among 
 the heathen." And his boast is that through the Spirit he 
 brought it to others as pure as he had received it himself 
 (see the end of 2 Cor. ii. and iv. 2). Of course the revelation of 
 truth was the thing of importance. But revelation to whom? 
 If to the hearers or readers, it was God's word to them as the 
 apostles and prophets had received it. Thank God ! 
 
 I only recall here in passing the utter absurdity of a theory, 
 which would tell us that God, willing in grace to give a revelation 
 to the whole church, and, in some respects, to all men, gives it in 
 such a way that, as a revelation, it goes no farther than the 
 one to whom it is communicated. It is a very convenient system 
 for the clergy, who may desire that we should believe all that 
 they give us as authoritative teachers, but a poor case for us 
 Christians that we, have no revelation from God. Our good 
 friends will say, "Were not the apostles authoritative teachers ? 
 Surely ; but they tell us how and why. " For this cause, 
 also, thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye re- 
 ceived the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it 
 not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, 
 which effectually worketh also in you that believe." (1 Thess. ii. 
 13). They imparted to them the gospel of God. It was " not 
 yea and nay, but in Him was yea ;" yea " all the promises of 
 God" were ; and Peter took care they should have the things " in 
 remembrance," and John wrote his epistle that they " might be- 
 lieve." There were not only authoritative teachers, which no 
 Christian denies ; but we have what was authoritatively taught, 
 and was, and is, the word of God. Either we have what was 
 revealed to Paul or others as purely and as fully as he received 
 it, as he asserts (2 Cor. ii. 17); or, the authoritative teachers 
 being gone, we have no authoritative word of God at all. Nor 
 had they directly then. Nor has, in fact, Dr. Dods any, as I will 
 plainly show a Little farther on. 
 
64 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 But before I turn to his more direct subject, the historical 
 part, there is another point I may notice, which refers also to 
 the subject we have been upon. Dr. Dods believes the prophets 
 when they say, "Thus saith the Lord." Now in the greater 
 part of the Pentateuch (and he will "contend for the historic 
 credibility of the narratives"), we find, "And the Lord spake 
 unto Moses," very commonly adding, " Speak unto Aaron," or 
 "to the priests," or "to the children of Israel, and say unto 
 them," etc. Is this true ? If so, we have, not a revelation of 
 God in history credibly reported, but the word of God revealed 
 to us. So in Deuteronomy we find " These be the words which 
 Moses spake unto all Israel," and then (chap, iv.) he says, 
 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, 
 neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep 
 the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command 
 you." Is it true ? or did he deceive them or not? If not, all the 
 commandments which are inseparable in the four last books 
 from the history, and the history with them, are the word of God. 
 If it is not true, or he deceived himself, or meant to deceive 
 others, we have no sure warrant for the history, nor any 
 revelation of God at all. If it be true, we have the revelation 
 made by God to Moses. I do not insist on the absurdity of 
 a system which makes the words of the prophets in warning 
 to the Jews, and in statements occupied with their history 
 and future hopes as a nation a revelation from God ; and 
 the account of the fall of man, the promises, the law, the 
 judgment of the whole world — a subject infinitely more im- 
 portant to us all — no revelation at all. The absurdity of it stares 
 every intelligent Christian in the face. 
 
 And now, to turn directly to the historical part of Scripture, 
 Dr. Dods' theory is that God has revealed Himself in certain 
 great acts, as the flood. These are revelation, and we have a 
 credible history of them. -^ Dr. Dods ignores here the word of 
 
 ^ In the Bible, then, we meet with two things — God's revelations of Himself, 
 and the literature in which these revelations are recounted and preserved. Speak- 
 
INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 6 5 
 
 God, and the operation of the Spirit of God in every way, and 
 represents in a way utterly false the documents he is speaking 
 of. Speaking of Paul's writings he says : " I may not be able 
 at once to accept all he teaches ; I cannot accept it merely be- 
 cause it comes to me with authority. I can only accept in 
 doctrine that which fits itself in with my previously received 
 ideas and my stage of mental growth." . . . . " Having 
 accepted Paul or any one as an authoritative teacher, it is of 
 course at my own risk I disagree with him in any one parti- 
 cular." Can there be a more complete denial that it is the word 
 of God, or our having any revelation from God ? Who in his 
 senses would talk of disagreeing with God in any particular ? 
 
 Unless, with strange inconsistency, it be the inferior revela- 
 tion of prophets. Dr. D. has no revelation from God at all. Next, 
 it must "fit itself in with my previously received ideas, and my 
 stage of mental growth." Could it not possibly correct your 
 previously received ideas, Dr. Dods ? If the ideas which Paul 
 gives us are God's ideas, do you not think they might ? As to 
 mental growth, I find, if it is mere man's mind, He hides these 
 things from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes ; 
 He chooses the foolish things to confound the wise. That there 
 is progress in divine knowledge no one denies, and that we need 
 the Holy Ghost to apprehend spiritual things, I fully recognise ; 
 but in Dr. Dods' statement, neither as to source nor power, is 
 there the smallest recognition of God as to our receiving what 
 is in Scripture. What Dr. Dods would have is to " apprehend 
 the distinction between these two things — God's revelation of 
 Himself, and the narrative or record of that revelation in the 
 Bible " (p. 12). There is no revelation in the narrative, note. So 
 (preface, p. 6) " All that we need contend for is the historic 
 credibility of the narrative." It wiU be said, he only refers to "a 
 special theory of inspiration." He does in order to reject the 
 plenary inspiration of Dr. Hodge, but his theory is a theory of no 
 inspiration, but of historic credibility. So far as the historical 
 
 ing of the flood, he says : " That is the revelation, and the Bible gives us an 
 account of this revelation." 
 
66 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 contents of Scripture are concerned (we have spoken of the 
 prophets and apostolic writings), " revelation stands firm, though 
 there should prove to be no such thing as inspiration." Now 
 this is absurd in principle ; and Dr. Dods' statements false in fact, 
 and false as to the ground of reception. Paul tells us all or every 
 Scripture is given by inspiration of God. I do not go through 
 the proofs rapidly summed up in the tract " Ham we, a Bcvelation 
 from God ?"^ but no honest man can deny that Christ and the 
 apostles quote all parts of the Scriptures as inspired. Perhaps Dr. 
 Dods may not agree with them ; but if he does not, he does 
 " wait with a warning over his head." He may be assured of 
 that. 
 
 But his moral theory is all false. Truth is presented to the 
 conscience, and the conscience reached ; but the effect, accord- 
 ing to Scripture, is to believe the message and the messenger. 
 The woman of Samaria did not answer the Lord, when her con- 
 science was reached. Who told you that ? by what historical 
 document, or story of another first witness, do you know that ? 
 but, " Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." Her convinced 
 soul recognised the divine authority and source of the word 
 spoken to her. The noble ones of Berea, when it was the gen- 
 eral truth of Christ, searched the Scriptures whether those things 
 were so ; they recognised their authority ; " therefore many of 
 them believed." Their inquiry was not whether the new truth 
 " fitted in with their previously received ideas." Most certainly 
 it did not (it is always fresh truth which tests the faith of the 
 heart); but whether it fitted in with the Scriptures, the certain 
 word of God, the revelation of God. Fresh truth which calls 
 for faith never can be part of the historical revelation of God, or 
 it would not be fresh. It will never be inconsistent with, but 
 confirm, what was previously revealed. The truth previously 
 received one may adhere to, and pride one's self in, and reject the 
 new. " The time cometh when he that killeth you will thiuk 
 that he doeth God service. But these things they will do unto 
 you, because they have not known the Father nor Me." I do not 
 
 ^ Reprinted from Vol. I. Bible Witness and Review. 
 
INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 67 
 
 doubt we have all revealed truth in Scripture. In these " peril- 
 ous times " we are referred to the Scriptures and expressly as 
 inspired of God — certainly not to my previously received ideas. 
 And we have the promise " they shall be all taught of God." 
 Dr. Dods recognises neither. 
 
 Further, Dr. Dods refers to the narrators in the New Testa- 
 ment as claiming no other ground, but that of being eye-wit- 
 nesses, referring to the common objection of infidels, namely, 
 what is said in the beginning of Luke. Now that the Lord in 
 gracious condescension did use eye-witnesses, so that men should 
 have no excuse for not believing, is most true and precious ; 
 but that the credibility of Scripture statements is *' grounded 
 not on any inspiration " is utterly false. I will not rest on Ori- 
 gen's comment on Luke's words that the others had taken it in 
 hand as men, and Luke's was divinely undertaken in contrast 
 with that. But, in the first place, Luke states exactly the con- 
 trary of what Dr. Dods says : '" not," he says, " in any inspiration 
 ■which could give him a knowledge of events of which he could 
 not in any other way be cognisant, but upon the ordinary 
 grounds of belief in history, namely, that he had his facts 
 from those who were eye-witnesses." " Many," he says, " having 
 taken in hand to set forth the things most surely believed 
 among us, even as they delivered them, who from the beginning 
 were eye-witnesses of the Word, it seemed good to me also, 
 having had perfect understanding of all things from the very 
 first " (Ta/jjjxoXoi/^jjxoV/ amkv, the word being the same as that used 
 by Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy iii. 10, with the addition of avuhv). 
 The others had related the history as delivered by eye-witnesses. 
 But this did not satisfy Luke ; so he wrote his Gospel having 
 perfect knowledge of everything. But note here that it is not 
 merely inspiration for the knowledge of facts which is denied, 
 but such a guarding of the writer as should preserve him from 
 writing a false account. It was " the ordinary grounds of belief 
 in history." ISTow the Lord expressly speaks of both grounds as 
 to the apostles. The Holy Ghost would come and testify of 
 
68 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 Christ J " and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been 
 with Me from the beginning." Nor is this all. In John xiv. 
 the Lord says to His disciples : " He, the Comforter, shall teach 
 you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what- 
 soever I have said unto you." Dr. Dods puts as the ground 
 of confidence a spiritual state in the^ apostles which made 
 them sensitive to everything in Him which was of the highest 
 value. We are in a spiritual region because we are in the 
 hands of spiritual men. They had the Spirit of Christ, and so 
 coincided with Him as to what was important. Now this shows 
 the hollowness of all this theory. Dr. Dods has given up 
 inspiration in the history of Christ, and even guidance, so that 
 they should not commit errors, and we are cast upon the 
 apostles coinciding with Christ, being spiritual men. When? 
 When they saw all the things which passed in His life down 
 here. What does Dr. Dods himself tell us ? " We can scarcely 
 suppose that the Evangelists saw all that had to be seen in 
 Christ, TjVjt we can only see through them!' But then they must 
 coincide with Him, and see as important what He saw as 
 important. Now, through grace they believed He was the 
 Christ and had the words of eternal life, and clung to Him. 
 But will Dr. Dods show me one single instance where they 
 entered into His mind, where they understood Him, or if they 
 did, did not remain entirely opposed to what He told them? 
 " We have no bread," when the Lord warned them against the 
 leaven of Pharisees or others. " Hath any one brought Him ought 
 to eat?" when, rejected in Judea, the blessed Lord's heart was 
 expanding through the opening blessing that reached out beyond 
 it through the conversion of one, a stranger to covenant and 
 promise, and had meat to eat that they knew not of. And 
 when He told them that He should die and rise again, " they 
 were exceeding sorry," and again, " That be far from thee. Lord." 
 One sole instance we have, a heart whose affections rose with 
 the rising hatred of the Jews just ready to kill Him, and spent 
 the best she had in lowliness on Him ; and this was to be told 
 
INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 69 
 
 wherever the gospel was to be preached — a solitary case, so 
 strange to Him who looked for comforters and found none — and 
 it has been. And even after the resurrection tliey say on the road 
 with Him, " "We trusted that it had been He which should have 
 redeemed Israel ;" and the apostles most closely bound up with 
 Him and with one another saw (were eye-witnesses. Dr. Dods), 
 and believed, for as yet they knew not the Scriptures that He 
 ifnusl rise from the dead, and went home again and that was all 
 about it for them. And another woman, clinging to His empty 
 grave (all the world was to her if He was not there), is made to 
 the apostles themselves the messenger of the highest privileges 
 the saint can have, from the lips of Jesus Himself Then, after 
 that, He opened their understanding that they might understand 
 the Scriptures ; but He assured them, too, that " blessed are they 
 that have not seen and yet have believed." AVere they, before 
 He made them understand the Scriptures ? — " Mainly this, that 
 they had the revelation at first hand, that they were the men 
 before whom the revelation was made, and who were so im- 
 pressed with it, and saw its meaning as to be moved to 
 preserve and perpetuate this impression for the sake of others ?" 
 "What does John tell us in one case ? " These things understood 
 not His disciples at the first ; but when Jesus was glorified, 
 then remembered they that these things were written of Him, 
 and they had done these things unto Him" (John xii. 16). 
 
 Impossible for anything to be more contrary to Scripture, or I 
 must add greater insensibility to the sweetness and true history 
 of that Bread which came down from heaven, than the statements 
 of Dr. Dods. And, if it were only after He was glorified that 
 they could tell the wondrous tale, and have told it to us, blessed 
 be God ! It was not that they were impressed with it while He 
 was there and saw its meaning ; but that the Holy Ghost was 
 come down from heaven, and they gave us a history of the Son 
 of God, and Son of man, as none but the Holy Ghost could 
 give, or make us understand and delight in. 
 
 Dr. Dods' theory and principle are utterly false. Nothing 
 
70 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 but the utter darkness of man's mind and heart could give 
 us such a statement as that it was spiritually valuing what He 
 valued that made them competent witnesses ; that it was those 
 who were most in sympathy with the purposes of God and who 
 were most imbued with His own Spirit, who were best prepared 
 to see and recount His revelations. But it is every way false. 
 First, who could tell them of a glorified Christ? They could 
 follow Him to the cloud ; the angels told them He would come 
 again ; but what about Him while He was away ? The Comforter 
 would come and take the things of Christ and show them to 
 them. All things that the Father had were His : therefore He 
 said, "He shall receive of Mine and shall shew it unto you." 
 Where were the eye-witnesses now ? Yet, sweet as it is when 
 at peace through His precious blood to dwell and feed on that 
 Bread come down from heaven, and attractive in itself even to 
 the sinner, the blessing is to look upon not the things that are 
 seen, but the things that are not seen, which are eternal, to set 
 our affections on things above, not on things on earth. Where 
 is our Livy or Thucydides, as they miserably say, for this ? 
 
 Hence Dr. Dods tells us what we have got by Paul's teaching 
 is, " spirit supersedes law " — rather poor Presbyterian teaching ; 
 but that is all he can lead us to find in it. "This is the 
 ultimate teaching the world needs or can have." Is there 
 nothing of the person and glory of Christ and God's purposes in 
 Him? I find Him telling me that eye indeed " hath not seen, nor 
 ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things 
 which God hath prepared for them that love Him ; but God 
 hath revealed them to us by His Spirit : for the Spirit searcheth 
 all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth 
 the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him ? 
 even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. 
 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the 
 Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things which 
 are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak." 
 
 Now it is quite clear that all these blessed things on which 
 
INS P IRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 7 1 
 
 our affections are to be set, where our conversation (our 
 itokktvij^u) is, are known only by the revelation of the Spirit. 
 Tor Dr. Dods all is simply '' spirit supersedes law." Besides, 
 Christianity is the ministration of the Spirit (2 Cor. iii.), and the 
 veil on Moses is done away in Christ ; and thus the sacrifices, 
 the patterns of things in the heavens, and the whole scheme 
 hidden in the shadows of the law, have their true force given to 
 them through a suffering and glorified Christ, sitting at the 
 right hand of God the Father till He comes again, His enemies 
 being made His footstool. With all this history has nothing to 
 do. It is all revealed and understood solely by the Spirit of God. 
 There can be no history of the facts and glory of heaven. 
 What could be heard when one went there could not be 
 revealed at all ; and the history we may in one sense have of it 
 has no sense for us till it ceases to be history and becomes 
 shadows of better things which the Spirit opens up to us in them. 
 But even in the earthly part, to spiritual intelligence the 
 operation of the Holy Ghost in the Gospels, in the revelation of 
 Christ on earth, is as plain as in the heavenly part. The four 
 Gospels reveal Him in four distinct characters, as has been long 
 ago remarked — (1) Emmanuel-Messiah; (2) the Servant-Prophet ; 
 (3) the Son of man in grace (after the two first chapters showing 
 Israel's and the remnant's position) ; (4) the Word made flesh, 
 eternal life in the Son of God, and at the close, the other Comforter, 
 the Spirit, promised. And in each Gospel the Holy Ghost calls 
 up before us, through the mind of the Evangelist, what presents the 
 Lord in the character it treats of. Take the closing scene : all 
 is power and divine in John without suffering in Gethsemane 
 and on the cross ; in Matthew the sheep dumb before his 
 shearers, the suffering victim without a comforter all through ; 
 in Luke more suffering expressed in Gethsemane, none on the 
 cross : there all was grace and confidence. Mark is sub- 
 stantially here the same as Matthew ; he takes the place of 
 suffering instead of active service. The mission of the disciples 
 is distinct in each Gospel. Into all this I cannot enter here, 
 
7 2 INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 but it is not as eye-witnesses we have the accounts. Matthew 
 was present when all went backward and fell to the ground, but 
 tells us nothing about it. John was nearer to Christ when in 
 an agony, but it is not his subject. John was one of those that 
 slept, but there is not a word of it. Mark was not, but tells 
 us all about it. Who told them the infancy of the Lord ? If 
 we believe Lange, it was Mary, with plenty of nonsense about 
 it. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the Word made flesh, was 
 worthy of one historian, alone capable of writing His history, 
 the Spirit of God ; happy those who were made the instru- 
 ments of doing it ! No Christian denies that the twelve, at least, 
 were eye-witnesses, and he appreciates God's grace in it in deal- 
 in<T with men. But none but an infidel as to God's revelation 
 denies the operation of the Spirit of God in the testimony they 
 have given. 
 
 It remains for me to speak of the history of the Old Testa- 
 ment, before I show what the principles of this school are, a 
 school with which Dr. Dods has fully identified himself, not 
 only in general principles, but in the whole "scheme on which 
 these principles are carried out. My reader need not suppose I 
 charge Dr. Dods with agreeing with them in details, for no two 
 of them agree. Dr. Bleek, for example, declares Ewald's as 
 utterly unproved and ungrounded. So Ilgen's, of which I only 
 know by report. But these details merely refer to the dates at 
 which the different histories of which the Pentateuch is com- 
 piled were written. There are in the main two schools, one 
 making Deuteronomy the first book, and the body of the Penta- 
 teuch worked up after the Captivity, with some Mosaic tradi- 
 tion, but no regular book of law till Josiah's time (that there 
 was no regular book of the law is pretty much Bleek's view 
 too) ; the others that the body of the laws are Mosaic, though 
 not written by him, save a song or two and register of journey, 
 Deuteronomy, with Joshua coming in their natural order. 
 
 But all leave a revelation by Moses entirely out of the question, 
 indeed all revelation ; and it is to this system in its actual form, 
 
INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 7 3 
 
 in the note to p. 18, Dr. Dods gives his adherence, besides insist- 
 ing in the text on the iniidel principle of it. The Bible is not 
 a revelation, but a record of the historic facts in which God has 
 revealed Himself, such as the flood, etc. Now all this is as 
 shallow and poor as can be. We have an ordinary historical 
 account " the ordinary grounds of belief in history." But first, 
 by the historical writers of Scripture, Dr. Dods does not mean 
 what we have actually in Scripture at all — that is merely an 
 account compiled out of them ; at any rate, " not always those 
 who brought the books into their final state, but those, whoever 
 they were, who first recorded the revelations made." One thing 
 is never thought of in any shape — God's having anything to do 
 with the record. The prime requisite is knowledge of these 
 facts at first hand. But this we have not got at all, " Whoever 
 they were ! " Some fragments may be preserved, songs and 
 genealogies, and different documents, a very few from the first 
 hand, and these curtailed, added to, fashioned according to the 
 thoughts of those " who brought the books into their final 
 shape." So that what we have got may be as to a part of the 
 history from the first hand, whoever he was, but may not be. 
 But at any rate " brought into shape," so that "first hand" we 
 certainly have not ! 
 
 But there are other serious difficulties. Though there are 
 important facts revealing God's ways, the greater part of the 
 historical books are not composed of facts at all. They are 
 laws, exhortations, promises, warnings, prophecies, institutions, 
 which were the shadow of good things to come — feasts which 
 prefigured great future dealings of God ; things purposely 
 ordered to be patterns of things in the heavens ; God's estimate 
 of men, the conduct of men as laying the ground of God's ways 
 with them, and that often of the deepest instruction and the 
 finest development of motives in men, and in God as to His 
 government : the elements, as in Abraham and Isaac and 
 Jacob, of God's future dealings ; personages who came out 
 involving immense principles of God's dealings in otherwise 
 trifling incidents, and principles and relationships which run 
 
 G 
 
74 INSPIRATION AND REVELATION. 
 
 through God's ways on to glory, yet with no great revelation of 
 God in the acts themselves, as for instance Melchisedec ; things 
 which " happened unto them for examples, and are written for 
 our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." 
 There seems a purpose here in their being written. Whose? Of 
 those who first recorded the revelations, in all these details, or 
 those who brought the books into their final shape ? or of God 
 in His wise and holy counsel ? 
 
 But I have som.e further inquiry to make on this statement 
 that God gave revelations of Himself in His acts, and then we 
 have a credible account of them from eye-witnesses at first 
 hand. Take Dr. Dods' example, the flood. What eye-witness 
 gave us the account of this, or of the Tower of Babel — nay, even 
 of Abraham's altars, of Jacob's wrestling ? Did Adam record for 
 the benefit of his posterity his disobedience and sin, and exclusion 
 from Paradise, and the barring of the way back to the tree of 
 life on which the whole history of man, and Satan, and redemp- 
 tion, and mediately or immediately judgment, depends ? What 
 " first hand " wrote the ordinary credible history of what passed 
 in the garden ? We may go farther, if need be, to do so. Has 
 Dr. Dods got the morning stars and the sons of God who shouted 
 for joy to give us a credible history of creation ?^ Was any one 
 there to hear, " Let us make make man in our image ? " 
 
 But why should I continue ? Was ever such senseless stuff? 
 Whether we consider the delicate shades of thought in a thou- 
 sand cases, small events of the utmost import, statements of what 
 God thought and said, and a multitude of facts which no eye 
 had seen, and all forming part of an immense scheme of God as 
 to man, and His glory in Christ, and gathering together all things 
 in Him, every part of the record, which, thank God, we do pos- 
 sess, shows the gross and senseless absurdity of the whole scheme. 
 
 I shall show what the authors of this system, those from 
 
 ^ The tabernacle, some of these doctors tell us, could not have been made or 
 exist in the wilderness, did not in the land, as the history of the nation proves, 
 but was invented, being copied from the temple when it was known. This shows 
 the importance of the principle, for it was made after the pattern in the mount, 
 and is so treated in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 75 
 
 whom all this is drawn, and whose system is substantially ac- 
 cepted in Dr. Dods' note, to which I have referred, make of these 
 " Urkunde und Quellschriften," those who first recorded the re- 
 velations ; but I thought it best first to take up Dr. Dods' state- 
 ments themselves as he presents them. He does not go so far 
 as the gravest of them as to the prophets ; he carefully confines 
 himself to the historical books, and I have done so. Divine and 
 interesting as the prophets are, the history contained in Genesis 
 is of far more importance to us. Of this, according to the sys- 
 tem, we have no revealed record, but only what rests on the 
 ordinary grounds of historic credibility ; and, moreover, in cases 
 where the whole place of man with God depends on it, and re- 
 demption has all its sense from it, we cannot possibly have any 
 such history at all. Does the revelation of the thoughts, and 
 what I may call the private thoughts, of God, rest on the ordi- 
 nary grounds of historic credibility ? It is puerile absurdity, an 
 infidel rejection of what Christ and the apostles have told and 
 taught us as to these books ; while the saint who has to live 
 by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that 
 word which pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
 has no such word to look to at all. 
 
 I turn to Ewald and Bleek, leaving aside Kuenen and 
 Graf, whom I may call openly infidel. Ewald shows at once 
 his view of the matter. The beginning of his "Geschichte 
 Israels " is a dissertation on the nature of legend ; how it de- 
 velops itself, and the forms it takes under various circum- 
 stances ; in fact, a mere abstract statement of what he is going 
 to tell us of the Bible, and drawn from his view of it. I leave 
 aside the references to the Book of the Wars of the Lord, and 
 a supposed account of Moses' life,^ to one of which the Scrip- 
 tures themselves refer, as not material, to come to his first 
 larger source of the history, the " Book of Covenants." Here all 
 refers to covenants — Jacob and Laban, Isaac and Abimelech, 
 Abraham and Abimelech — showing restless and unsettled times. 
 This, therefore, will have been written in the time of the Judges, 
 
 ^ He refers what is said of Jethro to this, and I think this only. 
 
76 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 in tlie latter half of the period, or more exactly at the begin- 
 ning of Samson's rule, etc. But Gen. xlix. leads to a closer 
 knowledge of the time. This flows entirely from seeing the twelve 
 tribes as they dwelt scattered in Canaan in the time of the Judges. 
 Nothing could describe in a more lively way their then state 
 than this song. Deut. xxxiii., which was a copy of it made in the 
 time of kingly rule to fill up the felt want in that of Genesis, 
 shows it was made earlier, when Israel's unity was not estab- 
 lished. But verses 16-18, where Dan is spoken of most exactly, 
 show us the time, as they clearly refer to Samson's time and 
 his being in the judge's ofdce, describing his heroic dealing 
 against the Philistines ; and in a note it is added, as also among 
 the Arabs the image of a warrior as a serpent is largely devel- 
 oped. And the more certainly this position of the tribe under 
 Samson was soon over, so the more surely must such an utterance 
 be written down during the short happy elevation of Samson. 
 So the state of things related in J^ Judges i. is evidently the state 
 of things in the time of the composer — a state already so fully 
 changed under the Kings, that the " Book of Origins " sketches a 
 totally different picture of Joshua's and Moses' days. The stream 
 of accounts handed down flowed more richly, as we might ex- 
 pect, when no more important time had eclipsed them. So the 
 legends as to the patriarchs were taken up into this work 
 evidently circumstantially, and with remembrances whose com- 
 pleteness subsequently constantly suffers. Their time was so 
 distant from that of the composer's that he could there venture 
 on a higher artistic presentation with poetic freedom. That the 
 dying man had a clearer sight, and specially a d3'ing patriarch 
 could cast his view over the future of his posterity, was the view 
 of all antiquity. And so the composer dared to bring in the 
 dying Jacob as a higher voice of pure truths to be spoken of all 
 the tribes. As he had to praise and sharply blame some of them 
 on seeing the state of the scattered tribes with a troubled heart, 
 his spirit takes refuge in^ the memory of the patriarch Jacob 
 and it. Not only Moses' blessing, Deut. xxxiii., but such utter- 
 
 ^ Or "goes off to," fliichtete. 
 
INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 7 7 
 
 ances as Gen, xlviii" 15-19, xxvii. 27-29, 39 ff. Num. xxiii, f. 
 depend entirely on this model. 
 
 Now I ask if, in all this account of the recorders of the first 
 revelation of God, there is the smallest sign of God's Spirit, or of 
 anything coming from God at all? It is purely a human composi- 
 tion, not a contemporary one ; and if there be an allusion to an 
 event which the professed author puts forth as a prophecy, it 
 is a proof that it was written at the time prophesied of That is, 
 there is a complete denial of all inspiration. From this author 
 we have the decalogue, only without the reference to the seventh 
 day to the creation which was added by the author of the "Book 
 of Origins." But that blessing of Jacob's shows a genuine pro- 
 phetical spirit, so in the conclusion of covenant with God, Exod. 
 xxiii. 20-23. He adopted older songs, already written down, 
 into his work, as Exod. xv. 1-19. Num. xxi. 17, profiting by the 
 above mentioned Wars of the Lord. " On the other hand, it is 
 impossible to think that such verses as Jacob's blessing. Gen. 
 xlix., springs from anything else than mere artistic power in 
 composition." 
 
 I add this part as showing what genuine prophetic spirit 
 means. So we must regard a considerable part of the Mosaic 
 laws as got from old writings, which must be from an earlier 
 date as he introduces them as communicated to Moses by God 
 after the decalogue to be laid before the people. " The Book of 
 Jasher " contained songs which furnished abundant materials in 
 historical songs. It was an historical book of instruction with- 
 out connected history. It was written in the beginning of Solo- 
 mon's reign. This brings us to the Booh of Origins, written, says 
 Ewald, at that time. Only I must add (124) that Ex. xx. 23- 
 xxiv. 19 was introduced into the Booh of Covenants. But what 
 I have given as to the " Book of Covenants "may suffice. 
 
 " The Book of Origins," Ewald tells us, was a much larger 
 work than " the Book of Covenants," and more recent, belonfring 
 to the reign of the early kings, which gives its whole character 
 and we have much larger fragments of it. The date is clear from 
 the way in which, in the midst of describing the time of the 
 
78 INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 patriarclis, he is looking at his own time. The author of the 
 " Book of Covenants" had only once made Jacob cast his eyes for- 
 ward to the latest future, and therewith into the beclouded time 
 of the author (time of the Judges). But the author of the " Book 
 of Origins " (in Solomon's time) is bolder, and in this the voice 
 of God appearing to the patriarchs overflows often in cheerful 
 utterances and joyous promises for the seed or later posterity, as 
 if the time of the author (to which such utterances with the 
 hope that their blessings would yet last to future times properly 
 refer) was one of the rare times which from a mighty train of 
 complete prosperity feel themselves lifted higher, and look for- 
 ward to yet greater ; and we find, among other things, Abraham 
 and Sarah and Jacob would become a multitude of nations, 
 and kings would arise out of them. How then could the bles- 
 sing be limited to definite and peculiar, and so evidently acci- 
 dental a blessing as that kings should descend from the patriarchs? 
 This question can never be answered unless we hold fast that 
 the work was composed in the times of the first opening bloom 
 of the kingdom, which furthered Israel's true good. 
 
 So the change from kings in Edom to heads of tribes comes 
 from David's conquest of Edom. And the name of Hadad, who 
 fled to Egypt, is found in the name of the last king. But the 
 exact time is learned from 1 Kings viii. 2. ]\inch, no doubt, as 
 we now have it, is worked up by a later hand ; still we have much 
 of the authors, and yet it must be before the glorious time of the 
 kingdom was over, and no better termination than " the glory of 
 the Lord filled the house " would Ije found, so that we may hold 
 for certain that the work was completed in the first third of 
 Solomon's rule. He favours thus Judah, but was a Levite, as the 
 author of the "Book of Covenants" certainly was not. His object 
 in this time of rest was to take a survey of history in its whole 
 compass, bringing it down, however, always to Israel as the cen- 
 tral object, following constantly that line of genealogy, but going 
 up to the origin of all history like the Grecians after their con- 
 quests over the Persians. But then he goes back to the origin 
 of the various heads of the four ages. Mosaic, Patriarchal, 
 
INSPIRATION AND REVELATION. 79 
 
 Noachic, and Adamic : so it is a book of origins. This refers to 
 the expression, "These are the generations" (Toledoth) of such a 
 one as Noah, and then, as in Gen. v. 1, " these are the generations 
 of man " (Adam). But the picture (schilderung) rises up boldly 
 yet beyond all that, seeking to declare (erklaren or expound) 
 the origin even of all that is visible in a history of the creation, 
 Gen. i. and ii. 1-3 ; yet this only to be treated as an introduc- 
 tion to the proper work which begins at v. 1. It might give us 
 still offcener the title " These are the generations " (origins), even 
 afterwards as to the tribal genealogies of Israel, if the most of 
 these parts of the work were not at present lost. There is, he 
 tells us, a special charm in these accounts. A not less healthful 
 than strengthening breath of an elevated spirit blows on every 
 feeling reader, which only the author, because he lived through 
 his own time with the warmest participation in it and a trea- 
 sure of royal thoughts, could understand what was most elevated 
 in antiquity in the liveliest way, and bring forward for posterity 
 with a master hand what lay there not to be lost and elevating, 
 and paint it with increasing attractiveness, without, for that rea- 
 son failing to recognise the higher happiness which the bloom 
 of the present kingdom afforded. Then attention could be 
 turned also to the whole state of the people as to laws, as it had 
 formed itself gradually since the dark times of antiquity and 
 then existed, but certainly had never till then been the exhausted 
 subject of writing ; for attempts, indeed, at shorter compilations 
 of the most important laws of the people, besides the decalogue, 
 had been made in writing, and many of them might at that 
 time have been long written, as the oldest somewhat circumstan- 
 tial attempt at a code known to us (Exod. xx. 2, or rather 23 
 to xxiii. 19) was inserted in the former work (Book of Cove- 
 nants), and as the " Book of Origins " has adopted two smaller 
 collections of laws. But the smallest trace fails us, and it is in 
 itself improbable that the whole wide compass of all possible 
 (denkbaren, thinkable) legal determinations and holy instruc- 
 tions had ever been made in writing at an earlier time. 
 
 He tells us that Hosea (viii. 12) sets out as supposed that, 
 
So INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 in his time, aud specially in the northern kingdom, a number 
 of books like the " Book of Origins," and not a few highly 
 esteemed, were current, but not in the least heeded by the 
 government. But this stream of myriads of written laws could 
 not be very old.^ This expression of Hosea's shows that 
 such writings at first had no public recognition, but as free pro- 
 ducts of skill in authorship were current for centuries among 
 the people, and some of them, perhaps, had won a higher con- 
 sideration and become holy, and so must we evidently think of 
 the " Book of Origins." This specially as regards the origin of the 
 Mosaic sanctuaries and institutions and the rights of the priestly 
 race, and as it paints all that was of law and rights as having 
 its origin in the first beginning of the olden time (Urzeit) ; so 
 also in that account sets it forth with so much the greater diligence 
 and development, so that it should be valid at the present time 
 (David and Solomon) as pattern and rule. So it was, he tells 
 us, with the Indian Puranas. So, as the previous writer (Book of 
 Covenants) had his point of departure from the idea of the cove- 
 nant established in Sinai ; so the " Book of Origins" undertakes 
 to show what divine laws and covenants had their origin already 
 in the beginning of the previous ages under Abraham, Noah, and 
 Adam, and how the laws and precepts, like man's race, even from 
 the simplest beginnings onwards have always spread out and 
 been developed (Gen. xvii., ix. 1-17, i. 27-30 are quoted). 
 
 Eight and law are not in all times the same. They change, 
 especially according to the great changes and windings about of all 
 human history : and yet every valid right must stand on ground 
 above men and bind them as a divine command, as if it took effect 
 through a covenant between God and mankind. And as he had 
 the consciousness that many laws which prevailed in the com- 
 munity had their origin in the olden time before Moses, so he 
 links the explanation of the obligation and use of circumcision to 
 a suited occasion in patriarchal times. So in the proper Mosaical 
 
 1 In the English translation we read : I have written to them the great things 
 of my law. Ewald translates " gi-eat things," I^T myriads, and I suppose does 
 not heed my law imiri- 
 
INS P IRA TION AND RE VELA HON. 
 
 history he seizes every occasion to insert what is of law ; ex- 
 pounds, at the exodus from Egypt, in full detail, the laws as to 
 the passover and firstborn ; and puts off the chief subject of 
 Mosaic institutions and laws (the sanctuary and the priestly 
 race) into the short time of the sojourn of the people at Sinai ; 
 partly while according to all fixed remembrance the people were 
 really formed anew under the establishment of the last great 
 covenant of men with God, and partly because of the suitable 
 resting place for the exposition of a great connected collection of 
 institutions and laws ; and specially so as to the sanctuary, the 
 highest centre of the religion and constitution of the people, and 
 as to the ark glorified by being received into Solomon's temple, 
 made after the pattern of that sanctuary. And thus the author 
 starts from that visible sanctuary (the temple) in his sketch of 
 the whole that was to be pictured, and describes it with all that 
 belonged to it as made according to the divine pattern shown 
 and prescribed to Moses ; and then gives the sacrifices and 
 their order and use. Only Numbers xix. ought to be inserted 
 after Lev. xvi. 
 
 If we treat now the whole manner and way in which 
 the author puts in order and describes the Mosaic laws in 
 recounting the history, there cannot be the smallest doubt 
 that it is solely on this account that he describes them as 
 communicated from Jehovah to Moses, and through Moses to the 
 congregation, or Aaron, if the contents concern the priesthood, 
 namely, that, as in his time they were in force as holy, an his- 
 torian could only place their origin in that commencement of 
 the congregation. They had won their force and holiness 
 through long use, and so the author puts them as divine com- 
 mands. And so he has to seek what goes back to Moses' time, 
 and what gradually or from other causes had come in. The 
 author does not set up to be Moses. And when a prescrip- 
 tion in the connected whole of the description applied only to 
 the land not in the wilderness, the author makes Moses an- 
 nounce it prophetically, sometimes with the addition, " When ye 
 are come into the land."' He revives the law-giving time, and 
 
8 2 INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 depicts Moses and Joshua as models of leaders of the people, 
 himself imbued with the same spirit. And certainly he took 
 much out of the former historical work, or worked it up after 
 his own manner, and took what was already in it, the inimitably 
 described manifestation at Sinai, and with it the Decalogue 
 (where the words Ex. xx. 9-11 are an addition from himself), the 
 rather, as it was necessary in itself. He then praises largely the 
 author for a priestly, law-giving, leading royal spirit, and closes 
 with thus apostrophising the author's elevated spirit whose 
 writings have for centuries succeeded in being taken for those 
 of the great hero Moses himself. " I knew not thy name, and 
 guess only from thy traces where thou walkedst in time, and 
 what thou didst ; but these traces lead me irrecusably on not to 
 take thee immediately for him who was greater than thee, and 
 whom thou couldest thyself honour as he deserved. So see that 
 in me there is nothing false and no desire not to recognise thee 
 altogether as thou wast." 
 
 Having given Ewald's estimate of the historical books, and 
 where it was of moment, in his own words, as regards the two 
 chief original histories, the rest need not occupy us long. There 
 were, he tells us, a third, fourth, and in the second edition, a fifth 
 narrator, who worked it up. And here remark it is not that 
 there were original documents used, which is possible ; but what 
 we have is the work of those who composed the history. The 
 earliest (save a small fragment or two of a life of Moses, and 
 the Book of the Wars of the Lord) was composed in the time of 
 Samson ; we have not even the ten commandments as they were 
 originally given. The various morsels of the third narrator are 
 given in p. 145 (third edition). The special excellence of this 
 writer is the uncommonly high and clear view of the work of 
 the prophetic and divine Spirit which appears more or less in 
 different minds, and gives us some of the finest pieces in the Old 
 Testament, as Num. xi. Still though elevated, he is far from 
 the artistic painting and bolder picturing of him (the fourth) 
 who will soon be described. He had much to do with the 
 account of Joseph, but a good deal was woven in afterwards. 
 
INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 83 
 
 He lived in the time of the prophets Joel and Elias, in the tenth 
 or ninth century before Christ, and belonged to the northern 
 kingdom, so that his work was for it what the " Book of Origins " 
 was for Judah. He gives the different bits in the Pentateuch 
 which belong to this writer. I shall only give what shows the 
 estimate of these new German views, which are to replace 
 inspiration and the revelation of divine thoughts and intentions 
 in the word of God. The pieces of the fourth narrator show a 
 high and ripest cultivation of all spiritual powers and capacities 
 of the ancient people which can hardly be surpassed. One may 
 justly maintain that, in the handling of the original early history, 
 this work presents the progress to the extremest freedom of 
 conception and picturing beyond which nothing more is possible 
 as the pure artistic, giving form to, and profiting by, legend ; and 
 one recognises easily, in the form of the whole popular life of 
 the time which shines out from it, the commencing of loosening 
 the chains of the old limits of the Mosaic religion, and the 
 powerful rising again of many new thoughts and strivings. 
 
 This he compares in a note to the reference to the bright days 
 of Islam after the Crusades, though in a different spirit then. The 
 prophetic spirit which characterises it, flowing out ever wider, 
 over its nearest limits, also completely fills now the original early 
 history and transforms it with the greatest freedom into more 
 beautiful new forms. Thus Messianic hopes link themselves, 
 as we see in the great prophets, the most easily to the historical 
 beginning of all the higher life of the patriarchs. The begin- 
 ning and end meet — what is between is only development — so 
 that we hardly find more elevated expectations uttered by the great 
 prophets. The third narrator kept closer to tradition, and was 
 in the prophetic point of view what the "Book of Origins" was to 
 the lawgiving ; whereas the prophetic thought in this work 
 governs the history as its own field, and handles it from the out- 
 set onward with all freedom. To this is ascribed (Gen. xii. 1-3 ; 
 xviii. 18, ff. xxii. 16-18, xxvi. 4, ff. xx. viii. 13), the fully- 
 formed Messianic hopes, the truth of the infinite grace of 
 Jehovah surpassing everything, along with the deepest sinfulness 
 
INSPIRATION AND REVELATION. 
 
 and corruption of tlie earthly (natural) man, the like of the not 
 accidental origin of evil in man, are such luminous thoughts as 
 the sun of that century first elicited from holy ground (that is 
 the ninth or eighth century before Christ). This fourth narrator 
 introduces, losing sight of the difference of times, Mosaic 
 sacrifices, as in the case of Noah, and even in Cain and Abel, 
 without anxiously asking if they belonged to the gate of 
 paradise. The wickedness of Gibea was the pattern of that of 
 Sodom, as one cannot have originated without the other. And as 
 Amos refers to Sodom and Gomorrha only, our narrator confines 
 himself to these. Through this new birth of old history much 
 has been preserved from legendary traditions, but also through 
 this working up much has been broken up (aufgelost) and 
 become unrecognisable, or thrown away as of no importance. 
 
 The fifth narrator belongs to about Joel's time. From him 
 the first great collection and thorough working up of all the 
 previous sources of the original early history proceeded ; to him 
 the whole present Pentateuch and book of Joshua must be 
 referred, except the three kinds of additions which were inserted 
 later. So that we have here a narrator who indeed sketches 
 much altogether new with his own hand, and according to his 
 own thought, as the need of his own time seemed to require it, 
 but most of it only out of older writings, either verbally repeated, 
 or here and there somewhat changed, and on the •vi''hole is more 
 a collector and thorough worker-up than independent writer 
 and original historian. The distinction of Israel and the other 
 nations is more strongly marked, particularly Edom, Moab, and 
 Ammon, who were then throwing off Israel's yoke, whence the 
 prophecy of Balaam, the Assyrian being looked at rather as 
 a friendly power, Josephus enabling us to trace the place of 
 Amalekites and Kenites then. The ships oi Chittim refer to a 
 war of the Phoenicians for the subjugation of Cyprus, whence 
 pirates had been attacking all those coasts, as we read that 
 Elulaus, king of Tyre, conquered those of Chittim, etc. But, 
 through this division of foes and friends of the spiritual religion, 
 which was much more marked then, this historian introduces 
 
INS P IRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 85 
 
 a remarkable supplement to the "Book of Origins," in that he sets 
 up in the olden time before the flood an opposition of holy and 
 corrupt, of good and bad among men (Gen. iv). After the 
 previous one had already pursued the origin of wickedness 
 farther up to the first man, and has developed it there at the 
 same time in a prophetic way, he brings in striking pictures 
 of things before the history, as Gen. xv. before xvii., and so on. 
 But he leaves out a great deal of what he had before him. So 
 he sets Jehovah in addition to Elohim (Gen. ii. 5, c. iii), which 
 he had from the fourth narrator, but gives up the unusual drag- 
 ging double name in the simple relation (Gen. iv.) However freely 
 the fourth narrator has handled the original history, it is never 
 with a law-giving object ; for the single time when he brings 
 forward laws he does it only in his usual competition with the old 
 sources (Exod. xxxiv. 10-26), in order to declare the Decalogue 
 and its origins in his own way. Lev. xxvi. is inserted by him, 
 and could only have been written after the dispersion of one 
 kingdom, as we have the sorrowful feelings of the descendants 
 of those dispersed (36-40), so that this could not have been 
 written before the end of the eighth or beginning of the seventh 
 century (B.C.). 
 
 Last of all came the author of Deuteronomy in the time of 
 corruption after Hezekiah, and the author desirous, as this 
 advanced age required, to improve the Davidical kingdom yet 
 existing, introduces Moses himself as speaking ; and as he 
 conceals himself under the name of Moses, so does he the 
 king, whom he wishes to improve the state of things, under 
 the name of Joshua ; but he deals more boldly with history 
 as in so far removed a time. 
 
 I need not go farther into the details as to Deuteronomy. 
 Its character and that of Joshua in Ewald's eyes is clear from 
 what has been said. It was written in the latter half of King 
 Manassehi's reign, and in Egypt. It was the book which was the 
 foundation of the reformation in Josiah's time. Deut. xxxiii. is 
 an -imitation of Gen. xlix. The song xxxii already written in 
 Jeremiah's time. The wish that Judah should come to his 
 
86 INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 people shows tlie time of composition when it was hoped all 
 Israel would be subject to the king of Judah. It appeared as 
 a distinct work, but was wrought up into one with the previous 
 works, already much read. Ewald describes the way in which 
 he who put it all together managed. The Deuteronomist calls 
 the great previous collection the Law of God, or of Moses ; so 
 the old name of the "Book of Origins" and others was forced into 
 the background. So by the later transformations and additions 
 the true old divisions of the " Book of Origins " were made 
 thoroughly obscure, and the whole work such as it became at 
 last, we know not by whom, thrown into six parts. Still, out 
 of the wreck of the older writings and the multitude of later 
 additions, much of what was original glimmers forth, and all 
 later transformations have been able to cast fully into darkness 
 neither the elevated remains of writing of the earliest time, 
 scattered in the work, nor the whole history of the origin of the 
 work — at least with the more accurate searcli which alone is the 
 fruitful as it is the becoming one. 
 
 My reader will now understand what Dr. Dods means when 
 he says of the historical writers of Scripture, " Meaning by the 
 historical writers of Scripture not always those who brought the 
 books into their final shape, but those, whoever they were, who 
 first recorded the revelations made : " only remembering that 
 Scripture is not a revelation ; for Dr, Dods, God's public acts 
 are that. Scripture only an account of them. His "theory of 
 inspiration " as to these books is that there is none at all. We 
 have nothing really from God but old legends, the first a hundred 
 years after Moses, containing a chapter and a half about Jethro, 
 and then a number of books, the two principal writers in the 
 Judges' and Solomon's time, but transformed (umgestaltet), 
 worked up (umarbeitet and verarbeitet) and added to, for cen- 
 turies, and at last Deuteronomy and Joshua added, and the 
 whole brought into form. Prophecies of events giving the date 
 of writing, because the reference to them showed the writer has 
 these events before his eyes. The result is easily apparent now. 
 What an uncommon fate this great work ran through before it 
 
INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 87 
 
 received its present form ! how from a Kttle beginning, with 
 every important change of the whole Hebrew literature on to 
 the end of the seventh, or beginning of the sixth, century, it 
 grew and was changed ! In the course of the strong changes 
 and transformations which this great work experienced, much in 
 it has lost its original clearness and peculiarity more and more ! 
 
 A comfortable look-out this for those who sit down to read 
 the word of God, or even a credible history of God's revelations 
 of Himself ! 
 
 I turn to Bleek. He is, in certain respects, more sober and 
 moderate than others, but rejects all inspiration avowedly, and 
 in his statements there is no ground left for any at all. I shall 
 quote enough to show this, but be more brief, as the main 
 general principles are already given from Ewald, and as to 
 details none of them agree. Bleek rejects Ewald's system, as 
 Ewald had done one of his own previously formed. Bleek says, 
 " Ewald there (in G. I.) assumes, as we have said, but for the most 
 part without bringing forward any actual proof" And again, 
 after speaking of Ewald's system, he says, " I cannot say, 
 however, that I see anything at all to lead me to this view, but 
 the contrary," etc. 
 
 Bleek holds to the notion of Elohistic and Jehovistic 
 documents invented by Astruc,^ but that with soberer judg- 
 ment than most, holding that the great body of Moses' laws were 
 made for the desert, as shown by expressions in them, and 
 written contemporaneously with their enactments, but that 
 discrepancies, dislocations, repetitions of the same scenes, prove 
 other hands, and diverse documents to have been made use of in 
 compiling it. But his proofs of Moses' authorship or of that of 
 contemporaneous authorship of the laws from the allusions to 
 the camp and the naming of Aaron, Eiehm (Stud-u-Krit.) holds 
 not to be at all valid. Indeed we have only to read the various 
 systems of the writers to see how untrustworthy they all are. 
 United in one thing, the denial of inspiration asserted explicitly 
 
 ^ Ewald had resisted this, but (it seems) changed his mind ; so he says little 
 about it. 
 
88 INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 by the apostle Paul, whom they ignore, as indeed the Lord 
 Himself, who teaches us to live by every word that proceeds out 
 of the mouth of God ; (and where are these to be found if 
 Scripture be not inspired ?) not one of them agrees with the 
 other. Each frames a system for himself, and often changes his 
 own, as Ewald himself and Bleek did. 
 
 Note here the immense difference as to the intelligence of 
 Scripture involved in inspiration, and the way they are thrown 
 into these false systems by denying it. First, the general 
 purpose of God, the mind of God, is lost. It is the notion or 
 feeling of the individual writer which governs the statements. 
 All true clue to the bearing of the passage is lost, the difference 
 between grace and government under law. But, further, as the 
 denial of inspiration precludes prophecy, where any allusion to 
 subsequent facts is made, this must be written after the things 
 had happened. 
 
 Paul tells us further, " these things happened unto them for 
 ensamples (types, ruTrot), and they are written for our admonition, 
 upon whom the ends of the world are come." Now, if God be the 
 author, I have here, to be sought patiently and humbly, what the 
 admonition is in the things which happened for this purpose ; but 
 if a possibly credible history framed by the feelings of the writer 
 be all I have, I cannot look for what the apostle tells me is there. 
 
 Again, as an illustration of their dislocations (Num. xix.) the 
 Eed Heifer ought to come after the sacrifices in Leviticus. Now 
 this only shows total ignorance of the mind and grace of God 
 in these things. In the beginning of Leviticus we have all the 
 aspects of the sacrifice of Christ in the most exquisite detail, 
 and the exact expression of its divine truth and bearing ; but 
 as it is in itself and its various value as the basis of our approach 
 to God. Numbers gives us our journey through the desert, where 
 we are in danger of defiling our feet, and rendering ourselves 
 unfit for communion, though belonging to the Lord and under 
 the efficacy of the atonement through which the Lord imputes 
 no sin. Here, therefore, exactly in its place, the provision for 
 the defilement which interrupts communion is made known. 
 
INSPIRATION AND REVELATION. 
 
 But, where there is no inspiration, there is no mind of God to be 
 sought for. A mere credible arrangement of facts with human 
 motives gives no ground for it. For these writers, consequently,' 
 there is no thought of a mind of God in the book at all. If 
 there is such a thing, therefore, they have wholly lost the clue 
 to the interpretation and order of the books. Thus it is not 
 a question of a theory of inspiration. There is in the book no 
 revelation of the mind of God at all. 
 
 Bleek does not conceal this, nor make really any middle 
 system between verbal inspiration and human authorship. Carp- 
 zov, he says, holds that the Biblical historians generally received 
 the whole contents of their works both in matter and form by 
 immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and not by means of 
 tradition or independent inquiry. But such an assumption is 
 altogether unnatural and untenable, if we take an impartial view 
 of the contents and form of the historical works in the holy 
 Scriptures. Opinions, indeed, vary as to the exact mode in which 
 the Holy Spirit co-operated, etc. ; but it will be acknowledged by 
 all without further question, that, if their history treats of times 
 and events which they had not themselves lived in or taken 
 part in, the knowledge of them must have come to them by 
 means of tradition. . . . But the probability of the purity of 
 tradition handed down from ancient times is always greater if 
 it comes through writings removed as little as possible from the 
 date of the events than when it is merely oral. I have some 
 doubt of this. Oral tradition may be vague, of course, but writ- 
 ten accounts of this kind are not sober history but myths, and 
 arranged by priests in connection with their false gods, ances- 
 tral worship, and what ministers to their influence. Take the 
 written accounts in Cory's ancient Fragments, or Yedas and 
 Puranas, or even G. Smith's account of the flood, one of the 
 most striking of these legends, or Deucalion's, or the history of 
 the Titans ; and see whether written accounts secure accuracy. 
 I shall be told that these are poetry and myths. All of them 
 are not save (which is the very point I insist on), that these 
 ancient accounts always seek the marvellous. Accounts are 
 
 H 
 
90 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 handed down, and when by men left to themselves, they make 
 myths of them in every country, and Scripture gives the divine 
 account of events which in man's hands were made myths of. 
 
 But there must be more than man to present the truth, the 
 divine view of it, and to give even a certain account of events far 
 back in the world's history. Besides, who is to select the facts 
 which are morally important so as to bring out responsibility, 
 and promise, and law in their order, and lay the foundations of 
 grace in sin and God's sovereign love, giving hope by prophecy, 
 while law and responsibility were insisted on, till the rejection 
 of the Son of God come in love showed that grace only could 
 avail for man ; while the ordering of the sacrifices gives a far 
 fuller view of that of Christ than anything in the New Testament, 
 though when offered, after all, they were not understood ? It is 
 a whole which certainly man never put together. I have no 
 objection at all, as I have long ago said in reply to this infidelity 
 elsewhere, to a thousand documents, provided it is God who out 
 of them gives me His mind. But to return to Bleek. He 
 accepts theElohistic and Jehovistic theory of Astruc and others ; 
 and the main body of history he accounts with many to be the 
 Elohistic one, the same, he declares, as Ewald's Book of Origins. 
 But repetitions of the same story as Bethel, Beersheba, etc., prove 
 it was put together, not written by Moses, or one Mosaical author. 
 But there is more. As to this he is very decided. The idea of 
 inspired prophecy is not admitted. He might assume with 
 Ewald that the interest in Joseph might arise from its being 
 from a northern author, if their composition happened so late as 
 Ewald states it. But if so, how came Judah to receive it ? As 
 to God's having anything to say to the history, that is not in 
 question. He then settles that this Elohistic writing extended 
 down from the creation to Saul. The references to taking pos- 
 session of the land of Canaan, and Joseph's bones, so again 
 the promise that kings should descend from Abraham, are proofs 
 of the date at which it was written. This is done in such a way 
 that it may be supposed with great likelihood that he had the 
 fulfilment of these promises before his eyes ; so that it was not 
 
INS P IRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 9 1 
 
 written, at the earliest, before the days of Saul. No other author 
 but one who had set forth the command of Joseph concerning 
 his bones would have related so trivial a circumstance as their 
 burial. The certainty of faith that God would fulfil His promises, 
 noticed withal in Heb. xi., never enters their head. It was 
 doubtless drawn from more ancient accounts by the Elohistic 
 writer ; but it was natural that they should be interested in such 
 a part of their ancestors' history, and this was revised and ex- 
 panded in our book of Genesis. However, Ewald's account of it 
 is lacking in proof and clearly arbitrary. It would seem, how- 
 ever, that the author of our Elohistic ground -writing did not 
 employ the materials he derived from the earlier records exactly 
 in the same way as the Jehovistic completer of the work dealt 
 with his sources. Instead of simply appropriating them in all 
 their original peculiarities of form, he adoj^ted them in accord- 
 ance with his own individuality as an author. 
 
 The Elohistic " writing endeavoured to avoid introducing 
 references to Mosaic or post-Mosaic circumstances and regula- 
 tions into the patriarchal times." Thus there is nothing of clean 
 and unclean beasts. Did Noah make the difference or did he 
 not ? " It does not certainly admit of a question that the author 
 of the Elohistic writing formed his narrative in general accord- 
 ance with the historical tradition as he found it already existing 
 in ancient, perhaps pre-Mosaic, records. But we should expect 
 from the individuality which he exhibits as an author, if he him- 
 self had belonged to a time when David and Solomon had raised 
 the tribe of Judah to such great distinction and pre-eminence 
 over all the other tribes, that the ancestor of that tribe would 
 have come forward far more prominently among his brethren than 
 is actually the case." Ewald's view is quite inadmissible, etc. 
 
 The sum of the discussion in which he seeks to refute 
 Ewald is based on the principle that the whole character of the 
 writing is produced by the circumstances in which the author 
 found himself, whether under Saul, as he says, or Solomon, as 
 Ewald holds. But it is too long for me to introduce here, Only 
 all this shows that there is not a thought of God's liaud in it 
 
92 INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 or inspiration, or even God's guardian care,but simply and solely of 
 man. But I will add a few passages to confirm this on Exod. xv, 
 " As to a part of it," he says, " from the context, and the whole 
 relation which this bears to what precedes, it is not likely that 
 Moses would have expressed himself in this way immediately 
 after the passage of the Eed Sea," etc. Again, " These unmistak- 
 able inaccuracies and things not agreeing with the context could 
 not in any way have got into the narrative if the latter had been 
 appended to their laws by Moses himself or a contemporary of 
 his, and, above all, not very easily if the whole were the work of 
 a thoroughly independent historian." . . . . " The circumstances 
 attending it lead us to think that the visit of Jethro to Moses is 
 placed too soon in the history ; also, that the Mosaic ordinances 
 on the institution of the tabernacle of covenant likewise have 
 too early a place." It is likewise previously remarked that in 
 other respects the narratives are in themselves somewhat obscure 
 and inaccurate, not rightly agreeing at least with other accounts 
 of the Pentateuch. 
 
 Now I do not hesitate to say that all this judgment flows 
 solely from ignorance of the divine mind in the passages, and 
 consequent inability to estimate the perfect and admirable order 
 and connection in which the passages occur. They are a series 
 in which that divine order is singularly striking ; but those who 
 leave out God in the matter cannot, of course, discern His wisdom 
 or His order in it. " There are several times in Exodus accounts 
 of something being written down by Moses, once in reference to 
 historical matters of fact, and twice as to legal ordinances, yet 
 there is plainly nothing about them which, by its whole internal 
 character, would show them to be genuinely Mosaic. In Lev. 
 xxvi. the author of this admonitory discourse, as it here runs, 
 probably had the circumstance under his notice that the people 
 had been punished, at least partly, by expulsion from their 
 country, and consequently its composition in its present form 
 must have occurred at a later date than that of the Jehovistic. 
 This last is, perhaps not later than the reign of David, and not 
 quite in the latter part of his reign" (vol. i. 299, Venalles Trans- 
 
INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 93 
 
 lation). As to Balaam's prophecy, I think it must be assumed 
 that the speeches of Balaam were not literally recorded just as 
 he delivered them, since even a contemporary Israelitish author 
 could not easily have gained an exact knowledge of them. We 
 have reason to suppose that the prophecies received the form in 
 which we now have them through the Hebrew author who com- 
 posed the whole narrative, and perhaps knew nothing more 
 definite of their purport than, that the foreign seer, instead of 
 cursing the Israelites, conformably to the wish of the Moabitish 
 king, had repeatedly blessed them. Can we have a more com- 
 plete setting aside of God in the whole matter ? After further 
 dwelling on the language (Hebrew), and the name Jehovah, 
 neither of which the Mesopotamian would have used, he says : 
 " Now if our assumption as to the authorship be correct, we may, 
 of course, very well suppose that the circumstances by which he 
 himself was surrounded floated across the mind of the Hebrew 
 composer of the narrative, and in this way he came unconsciously 
 to intermingle with it references bearing the marks of his own 
 time, or the wishes and hopes which he entertained," Thus he 
 ascertains the date. He is disposed, though it be difficult, to 
 decide it was in Saul's reign. Hence the Elohist may haVe 
 written it, otherwise the Jehovist must have met with and 
 adopted it. There might perhaps have existed in the Elohistic 
 writing a shorter and somewhat differently-shaped narrative of 
 Balaam's history ; and this is pointed out to us in chap. xxxi. 
 8-16, since Balaam here appears under somewhat different cir- 
 cumstances It is not to be denied, however, that the last 
 
 verses in Balaam's speeches present great difficulties To 
 
 me it continues to be the more probable view that the conclusion 
 of his discourse ran somewhat differently in the original narra- 
 tive than it does at present, and that its present form belongs to 
 a later time than the composition of the rest of the account, and 
 of the whole book of Numbers, etc. 
 
 To such straits do those reduce themselves who deny inspi- 
 ration. Denying the possibility consequently of prophecy, they 
 fix the date of composition by the circumstances mentioned in it. 
 
94 INS P IRA TION AND RE VELA TION 
 
 and, when there are several as here, are at their wits' end. But the 
 ridiculous notion of a credible contemporary history disappears 
 as much as inspiration, and what have we got instead of the 
 word of God ? 
 
 But these, as we have seen, are substantially on the same 
 ground, be it in the sober speculations of Bleek, or the enthu- 
 siastic admiration of the more poetic Ewald. The historic books 
 of Scripture are treated as mere traditions worked up by human 
 authors ; that is, as human compositions, and if any part has 
 the form of prophecy it is used as a proof that the author lived 
 at the time the event referred to happened, and then put it in a 
 prophetic form into the mouth of Moses or Abraham, etc. 
 
 I do not think Dr. Dods, in the very flimsy sermon and 
 excuse for it which he has published, honest on the point. 
 He says, so far as regards the narration of events, in which 
 God has revealed himself, we find the historical writers of 
 Scripture in thorough agreement with criticism, asserting that 
 the prime requisite is knowledge of these facts at first-hand, 
 and quotes Luke, and quotes him falsely, making him say 
 exactly the contrary of what he does say. But what has this to do 
 with the matter in question ? This is substantially the inspira- 
 tion of the Old Testament, where he passes over the fact that 
 in the most important parts of it such a principle can by no pos- 
 sibility apply. There are no accounts written by eye-witnesses, 
 as in a measure, though not as to large and most important parts, 
 in the New Testament. In all the law-giving part of the Old 
 Testament divine communications are asserted to have existed. 
 Jehovah, or Jahve, if they like it better, spake unto Moses. 
 This does not go on the ground of credible witnesses, nor are 
 they facts they could be witnesses of They are not facts 
 in which God revealed Himself, but words from the mouth of God. 
 This is either true or false. God did speak to Moses or He did 
 not. But it was not that of which any could be a witness save 
 at the first revelation at the foot of Sinai. The great lawgiver 
 might prove Jehovah had spoken by him by making the 
 earth open her mouth and swallow up those who resisted 
 
INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 95 
 
 the authority he had by it. Not God's way, no doubt, in these 
 days of grace ; but this only proved that in the communications 
 there were no witnesses. But this large part of the Pentateuch 
 is not the case of credible witnesses to God revealing Himself 
 in facts, but God giving a revelation of His will by His word 
 without any fact at aU. As to the fall and all the circumstances 
 of it, it is the weightiest fact, save the coming of the blessed 
 Lord to redeem us from it, that ever happened in the world ; 
 knowledge at first hand is just nonsense, unless it be first 
 hand from God Himself, which Dr. Dods openly denies. 
 
 But Scripture does not simply give facts in which God has re- 
 vealed Himself. It tells us things in which man has revealed him- 
 self when there was no divine fact at all ; in which the devil has 
 revealed himself and will, and his ways, and wiles, till he be cast 
 into the lake of fire, and all the development of the various rela- 
 tionships between God and man till he rejected the Son of God. 
 I may say the whole history of the world as related to God, 
 with all in man and in God, and in Satan that it depended 
 on. Minute facts historically in which God had no part, but on 
 which all depended ; responsibility and life-giving power in all 
 their bearings and relations one to another, from the garden of 
 Eden till glory and judgment ; in innocence without law, under law, 
 under grace, through the cross and the Holy Ghost given ; up to 
 glory and judgment. Who would have the discernment to choose 
 the right facts to give all this? This theory lowers the whole nature 
 and moral value of Scripture, as it is ridiculous as a theory that 
 we are to have the facts of Genesis from credible eye-witnesses. 
 
 I do not think it honest of Dr. Dods to talk about a theory 
 of inspiration : wisely or unwisely, men may have theories about 
 this, in general unwisely I think ; for God's way of communicating, 
 though He has partially in the case of Miriam and Aaron 
 spoken of it, is not much within our ken, nor, as I have said, if 
 I were inspired could I communicate the manner of it to one 
 who was not. If it be said " The word of the Lord came" 
 is clearly direct inspiration, what is the meaning of that as 
 to the manner of it ? But it is not honest, because Dr. Dods 
 
96 INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 
 
 denies as to the historical parts of Scripture that they are 
 a revelation at all. God's acts are tlie revelation ; the Scripture 
 is not God's revelation at all. Those may credibly record His 
 acts ; but this is man's doing. It is nonsense, because the greater 
 part of historical Scripture, and which is used in the N. T. 
 as divine, is made up of what are not God's great acts ; yet 
 all hangs inseparably together — what refers to man's responsi- 
 bility as well as what God often, consequently, did. It is nonsense, 
 because of the most important part you have and can have no 
 account from first hand eye-witnesses at all ; — moral nonsense, 
 because man would notbe competent to choose the important facts 
 on which the whole history depended morally, having, outside 
 Scripture, proved himself incompetent even as to the great facts, 
 by turning the tradition of them into myths, one more absurd 
 than another, and in those most like Scripture connecting it 
 with false gods and wrong principles, and falsifying the facts 
 themselves, as in the recovered Babylonish account of the 
 deluge. It is absurd, because it supposes God meant to reveal 
 Himself to man, and yet did it so that the revelation could 
 not in the most important points, or indeed in any, reach 
 men with any certainty at all. And further, it is, as to the 
 word of God, infidelity. According to Dr. Dods there is no such 
 thing at all. 
 
 Let not Dr. Dods flinch ; may his conscience indeed feel 
 the destroying the whole ground of faith for simple souls ! 
 But he expressly declares that the revelation is some act in 
 which God revealed Himself ; that Scripture is at best a credible 
 account of it by man. I see nothing in it but the effect and 
 flimsy reproduction of the more open infidelity of the Germans 
 discussing Hebrew literature ; and the note can leave no question 
 as to its source in any mind acquainted with German writers. 
 But it goes beyond, not their principles, but their statements ; 
 happily for others, unhappily for Dr. Dods, in that he denies 
 that the historical part of Scripture is a revelation at all. I 
 should have a great deal to say to many details of his reasonings ; 
 but I am not going to merge in a controversy of details the 
 
INSPIRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 97 
 
 great and vital question, Have we in Scripture {i.e. the historical 
 part) a revelation from God? I say the historical part, hecause 
 Dr. Dods so expresses himself; but it would involve all the words 
 of Christ and the apostles, for they all treat it as such. 
 
 I may add, though it be of little moment in view of the 
 all-momentous subject, that Eiehm (though differing from Bleek 
 in many details, as all these writers do from one another, 
 constantly rejecting utterly the grounds on which their proofs 
 are based ; ^ yet) in all that is important, entirely agrees with 
 him. Gen. xvii. 6 is a proof that it was written in David's time ! 
 Bleek put it too soon in Saul's ; he is right in holding that 
 Deuteronomy was written in Manasseh's reign ! The Deuterono- 
 mist had the four first books of the Pentateuch before him 
 (see Studien und Kritiken, 1862) ! 
 
 I add also that we may see what man and tradition make, 
 not of creation, for none believe in that, but of the formation 
 of things out of chaos Sanchoniathon quoted by Eusebius, 
 (Cory's Fragments). 
 
 He supposes that the beginning of all things was a 
 condensed dark misty air, or a breeze of thick air, and a chaos 
 turbid and black as Erebus, and that these were unbounded, 
 and for a long series of ages destitute of form. But when this 
 wind became enamoured of its own principles (the chaos), ^ and 
 an intimate union took place, that connection was called Pothos 
 (cupid or desire), and it was the beginning of the creation of 
 all things. 
 
 And it (the chaos) knew not its own production, but from it 
 with the wind was generated mist, which some call Hus, mud, 
 but others the putrefaction of a watery mixture. And from this 
 sprung all the seed of the creation, and the generation of the 
 universe. And there were certain animals without sensation 
 from which other animals were produced, and these were called 
 
 ^ Thus Bleek of Ewald. Ewald's view is much more involved; much however, 
 in it is incapable of proof and part quite erroneovis. Again, the opinion of Bertheau, 
 which is generally allied to Ewald's, and likewise quite groundless. Such 
 passages are common. "^ This explanation is Cory's. 
 
INSPIRA TION AND RE VELA TION. 
 
 Zophasemin, that is, the overseers of the heavens, and they were 
 formed in the shape of an egg ; and from mist shone forth the 
 sun, the moon, and the greater and lesser stars. I need not go 
 farther ; other such statements may be found, and less absurd 
 perhaps in the records. This is Phoenician. But it is not only 
 for the absurdity I note it, but tp remark that we have a vague 
 tradition of the Spirit of God (it is itnZiLa, the same word as 
 wind) moving on the face of the waters, and find what it becomes 
 when His account is not given in its purity by the hand and 
 inspiration of God. It is connected with all the worst principles 
 of the heavenly powers of the zodiac and of astrology ; mere 
 human generation, a great principle of heathenism ; and in other 
 accounts, as the Babylonish, with the creation of the false gods, 
 the mundane egg encircled by the serpent ; and after the flood, of 
 which the tradition was naturally better known, though the facts 
 are falsified and connected with idolatry, the tower of Babel — 
 and the like, but all falsified and turned to the setting up false 
 gods and mythological fables. Out of Scripture where is this 
 credible testimony ? how came it there only ? The theory is a 
 gross absurdity, contradicted by well-known facts. What a mercy 
 it is to have the blessed WOED OF GOD, and to believe it, 
 authenticated by the Lord Jesus and the apostles ! What do 
 men fall into where they have not got it ? I have taken my 
 review of Bleek's statements from Venables' translation, and 
 Ewald from the original. I might have multiplied quotations 
 from both, but the system is plain from what I have quoted. 
 
 As to Deuteronomy, the author cannot well have been Moses. 
 We have already seen that the Deuteronomic legislation contains 
 those very laws which by their form and purpose are very un- 
 likely to have been promulgated by Moses in this shape, e.g. the 
 precept as to kings, and the legal ordinances as to military 
 concerns, to which many others might be added ; also that 
 there are certain passages in these discourses of Moses which 
 contain much that it is most improbable should have been 
 spoken by him in this way. The view taken of the high places is 
 a great topic with Bleek and all these writers in connection 
 
INS P IRA TION A ND RE VELA TION. 99 
 
 with subsequent history. Hence he concludes : " It is evident 
 from what goes before, that it (the date) cannot be fixed until a 
 long time after Solomon, perhaps not before the age of Hezekiah, 
 king of Judah ; " Hezekiah having been the first who rooted out 
 not only idolatry but also the high places. He rejects the post- 
 poning it to the Babylonish captivity ; there would have been 
 more reference to it in the threats. He rejects the Josiah fable, 
 and puts it between Hezekiah and Josiah. What is said of the 
 Josiah story he declares often quite uncertain, often absolutely 
 improbable. The blessing of Moses is not from him, as he once 
 thought. It was probably written about 800 in Jeroboam II. 
 
 and Uzziah "The purport of most of the sayings, and 
 
 particularly the conclusion of the whole song, leaves us no room 
 to doubt that it was composed at a time when the Israelitish 
 people, the ten tribes, were, as a whole, in happy circumstances. 
 For if present circumstances can alone account for such 
 being referred to, we must guess at the time of composi- 
 tion." He rejects here also Ewald's view and says, " We may 
 consider with the greatest probability that the author of 
 Deuteronomy was also the last editor of the whole Penta- 
 teuch, and that the work received from him the extent and 
 arrangement in which we now have it. . . . We may easily 
 imagine that by his hand perhaps certain things were altered or 
 inserted in the previous books." And I might add from his re- 
 marks on Judges, Samuel, Kings, a multitude of similar — perhaps 
 of stronger passages ; but the same principle of human compo- 
 sition and judging. Such is the account by the very soberest of 
 these German speculators on the Pentateuch, on the date by the 
 notices of events, which could only be known by their being in 
 the author's own day. One who rejects the wild statements of 
 the bolder infidels believes the Mosaic laws in general refer to 
 the desert, and rejects the fable about composing Deuteronomy in 
 Josiah's time. Not that we gain much by that, for it was after 
 Hezekiah's ; but inspiration is utterly rejected by all, credible 
 history and contemporary history not believed in ; the most 
 recent part of the history, the Exodus and Moses' time composed 
 
INSPIRATION AND REVELATION. 
 
 some 500 years afterwards, part of it 700 or 800 years with some 
 traditions no doubt ; and the whole under the influence of the 
 state of things the composer was in and the supposed prophecies 
 drawn from the circumstances in which the composer lived. 
 
 And this is called a literary consideration of the Pentateuch, 
 as contrasted with the religious point of view ! Contrasted it is 
 surely. Only one must remember that the literary point of view 
 denies all that makes the Scriptural history a religious book at 
 all. The later editors have composed it according to their views, 
 and the writers arranged it according to theirs. God had no 
 part in it at all, as far as appears in either. And I beg my 
 reader to notice that I have not quoted here the more openly 
 infidel, but the most solid and sober. Bleek, translated into 
 English by Canon Venables, who though not agreeing with 
 everything, translates it as a specially valuable introduction to 
 the Bible. But they are all alike in their rejection of divine 
 inspiration. It is not " every Scripture is given by inspiration of 
 God," but no Scripture is. Dr. Dods does not go so far ; he admits 
 the prophets are when they say, " Thus saith the Lord." 
 
 Mr. Smith, with versatile inconsistency, which on such a 
 subject is the most culpable want of seriousness, says he believes 
 for other reasons in inspiration, when he has published what 
 he holds to be proof, borrowed indeed from others, that they 
 are mere human compositions ; and draws from and authenti- 
 cates, unless I much mistake, from the worse class of infidels, 
 that is, those who are more open and impudent in their treat- 
 ment of Scripture. 
 
BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE SCRIPTURE 
 ESCHATOLOGY. 
 
 The rapture of the Church having taken place, Jews and Gen- 
 tiles will again be dealt with as such by God, and judicial dealing 
 and actings in grace will characterise His ways. He will deal judi- 
 cially with Christendom, as the New Testament says, and Reve- 
 lation describes : He will deal, too, with His earthly people, and 
 notably with that portion of them known as the Jews. Of this 
 Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, and the Psalms especially treat. 
 He will deal in judgment, too, with the whole world, and make all 
 hear of His glory (Isaiah xiii. 11, xxvi. 9, 18, etc.) And when the 
 Lord takes His kingdom, He will reward His heavenly saints ; 
 judge and reward His earthly ones, Israel (Ps. 1.) and Gentiles 
 (Eev. vii.) ; judge, too, the living nations for their treatment of 
 His brethren (Matt, xxv.) ; and finally judge the dead (Rev. xx.) 
 But before He rewards His earthly people, He will deal in fear- 
 ful judgment with the Beast and Antichrist and their followers 
 (Rev. xix.), and with the king of the north ; and certainly, ere 
 He judge the dead, He will deal with Gog and all his multitude 
 (Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix.) 
 
 Now for some details : — 
 
 Judicial dealing with Christendom, preparatory to the Lord's 
 return, commences with the opening of the seals. War, 
 famine, death, and wild beasts, God's four sore judgments (Ezek. 
 xiv. 21), will be sent among men, and constituted authority 
 within the area of God's then visitation will be broken up, as 
 described under the sixth seal (Rev. vi. 12-17), to the dismay of 
 rulers and all. Meanwhile, God will have been working in 
 grace, and martyrs will have attested their constancy to His 
 
SCRIPTURE ESCHATOLOGY. 
 
 truth (Eev. vi. 9) ; a work which, then seen as begun, will go on 
 among the twelve tribes of Israel, and Gentiles also, till the Lord 
 appears. Of this Eev. vii. speaks, telling of the sealed ones of 
 the twelve tribes, and of the great company of the Gentiles, to 
 come out of the great tribulation. These last are only seen after 
 they have come out of it (vii. 14). Here, then, God is seen 
 working among the twelve tribes, before the Beast appears in 
 the prophecy, and the special trial of the Jews, as such, begins. 
 
 The second judicial dealing of God with Christendom is set 
 forth in the trumpets. The fourth part of the earth felt the 
 effect of the opening of the fourth seal. The third part of the 
 trees, of the sea, and the living creatures in it, and men on it, 
 the third part of the rivers and fountains of water, and of the 
 sun, moon, and stars, feel the effects of the first four trumpets 
 (viii.) In the woe trumpets the ungodly are smitten with 
 terrible judgments, for these are not sealed like those in vii. 
 Hence it would seem that Israel are to feel the effects of this, 
 for in the next trumpet the third part of men which are slain 
 are not part of the Israelitish race. 
 
 During the progress of these judgments the Beast of Daniel 
 vii. ix. and of Eev. xi. xiii. will have appeared in his true cha- 
 racter. This turns attention directly to the Holy Land, and to 
 the Jews in it. Brought back, the majority in unbelief, and not 
 outwardly owned of God (Isaiah xviii. 5, 6), the temple will 
 have been rebuilt (Dan. ix. 27, viii. 12) to be desecrated by the 
 image of the Beast (Dan. viii. 12 ; Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Mark xiii. 
 14 ; Dan. xii. 11), placed there by Antichrist, who himself will 
 sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God 
 (2 Thess. ii. 4). By him, upheld by the Beast, the political head 
 of the Eoman Empire, sacrifices to God will be made to cease, 
 the prelude to the destruction of the temple, the place of God's 
 sanctuary, by the Assyrian, or king of the north (Dan. viii. 11 ; 
 Ps. Ixxiv. 7). The Antichrist under the Beast will make true 
 sacrifice to cease, substituting in its place the worship of the 
 image of the Beast. The invader from the north will raze the 
 temple to the ground. 
 
SCRIPTURE ESCHATOLOGY. 103 
 
 But before this destruction takes place apostasy will have 
 manifested itself among the Jews (Isaiah viii. 21) and in Chris- 
 tendom. The whore will already have been destroyed (Eev. 
 xvii. 16) by the Beast and the ten horns, the Eoman Empire in 
 its last form, comprehending seemingly only the western part of 
 the old empire ; for Antichrist does not form one of the ten 
 kings, and the northern power arises out of the eastern part of 
 the old Eoman Empire (Dan. viii. 9-12). The whore destroyed, 
 there will be the way opened for the worship of the Beast by • 
 apostate Christendom, since with her destruction vanishes, it 
 would seem, every vestige of Christianity from those who had 
 openly professed to own it (2 Thess. ii. 4). 
 
 During that time of apostasy among the Jews there will be 
 a testimony in Jerusalem itself — the two witnesses (Eev. xi. 4-8) 
 — for 1260 days ; which is less by 17 days than the last three 
 years and a half of the Beast's reign. He had power to continue 
 42 months = 1260 days.^ Martyrs there will be during his 
 persecution (xiii. 15, xv. 2, 3), though probably not confined to 
 Jewish saints ; but a company of Jews will be kept on earth 
 faithful throughout it (Eev. xiv. 1-3), who will be able to join in 
 the special song of those in heaven who had been martyred by 
 the Beast. The two witnesses unburied three days and a half 
 will ascend to heaven, when the third w^oe will quickly come, 
 and all heaven rejoice at the coming of the kingdom in power. 
 1263 days having elapsed, just 14 now remain for the Beast on 
 earth, during which, I take it, the vials will be poured out, and the 
 Lord (Eev. xix.) appear to destroy him and Antichrist (2 Thess. 
 ii. 8), who, especially marked , out for signal, condign, and ever- 
 lasting punishment, are cast alive into the, (not a) lake of fire 
 (Eev. xix. 20). During all this history, the ten tribes do not 
 appear within the scope of the prophetic vision, which has for 
 its sphere the Holy Land, and the Eoman empire in its last 
 form. God, however, I take it (Eev. vii.), will have been working 
 among them. 
 
 1 During this time his power remains unchecked. At its conclusion, after the 
 witnesses are raised, the mystery of God will be finished, and divine power in 
 judgment will commence its dealings with him and his constituents. 
 
I04 SCRIPTURE ESCHATOLOGY. 
 
 Turning now to that power of the last days, called in Isaiah 
 the Assyrian, and in Daniel the king of the north, the Jews 
 being in their land, he will come dawn on them to possess 
 it — this, the real solution of the eastern question, we have 
 set forth in Old Testament prophecy. The Jews, in weakness 
 and fear, make a covenant with the Beast for seven years (Isaiah 
 viii. 12 ; xxviii. 18 ; Dan. ix. 27), but in the end to no purpose, 
 as God has already forewarned them. For the northern power 
 will enter the land after the apostasy is established by Antichrist, 
 and will capture Jerusalem (Zech. xiv. 1, 2 ; Isaiah xxix. 
 1-4 ; Ps. Ixxix.), and go down into Egypt (Dan. xi. 42-43). 
 Whilst there tidings out of the north and the east troubling 
 him, he returns with great fury. Are these tidings that the 
 Beast has been destroyed by the Lord ? Coming again to Jerusa- 
 lem the second time, he is destroyed by the Lord (Zech. xii. 1-8 ; 
 Isaiah xxix. 5-7 ; xiv. 23 ; x. 25 ; xxxiv ; Joel ii. 20 ; Ps. 
 Ixxvi.), and the prayer of Ps. Ixxxiii. is answered. 
 
 God's glory displayed in judgment, the ten tribes are then 
 brought back, so the whole nation is restored (Isaiah xviii. 7 ; 
 xi. 11-16; Ixvi. 20 ; Ezek. xx. 38). The temple, built by the Jews 
 in unbelief, desecrated, and destroyed, will be rebuilt. In Eze- 
 kiel we see it, but read not of its hdng built. The prophet sees 
 it all erected. Does the Lord do it (Zech. vi. 13) ? The sessional 
 judgment of Matt. xxv. takes place, perhaps, about this time ; 
 after which Gog invades the land (Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix.), when 
 the people are dwelling securely. That cannot be till after the 
 destruction of the northern power. Perhaps Isaiah xxxiii. refers 
 to this. 
 
 Gog dealt with, peace outwardly will remain unbroken, till 
 Gog of Eev. XX. comes against the camp of the saints and the 
 beloved city — Satan's last effort, to be signally and for ever frus- 
 trated, and the way at last to be prepared for the new heavens 
 and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. iii.) 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 The Epistle of James is not one in wliic]i the doctrines of grace 
 are unfolded, although sovereign grace is there recognised (i. 18); 
 but these are given us under the form of God's work in us, not 
 for us, which is redemption through the precious blood of Christ. 
 It is a practical epistle, a holy girdle for our loins, given in order 
 that the practical and outward life of the Christian may respond 
 to his divine and inward life ; and that the law of God may be- 
 come for him a law of liberty. Eedemption is not spoken of, 
 nor faith, as a means of participating in the fruit of accomplished 
 redemption ; but many having already professed the name of 
 Christ, the apostle desires that the truth of their profession 
 may be expressed by works, the only witness to others that true 
 faith is working in the heart, since faith works by love (Gal. v. 
 6), or in the new creature (vi. 15). This new creation, its char- 
 acter and manifestation to others in actual and visible life, is 
 what is depicted by James. 
 
 James remained at Jerusalem to feed the flock there, and 
 more particularly the Jewish section of the church. He is 
 frequently mentioned in the Gospel narrative, but always as 
 governing the Jewish flock, and that before its separation from 
 the Jewish nation. In the Epistle to the Hebrews the Spirit of 
 God commands them to go outside the camp, that is, to separate 
 from unbelieving Jews (Heb. xiii. 10-13) ; but hitherto they 
 had remained together, the Christians still offering sacrifices 
 according to the law. There were even many of the priests who 
 were obedient to the faith (Acts vi. 7). Though incredible to 
 
 I 
 
io6 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 US, yet it is a fact clearly stated in the Word ; and yet all these 
 were zealous for the law. 
 
 Let us follow the traces of James, as we read his history in 
 the Acts. The first time we find him, however, is in the Epistle 
 to the Galatians (i. 19), where he is specially mentioned as seen 
 by Paul, when, with the exception of Peter, he had seen none 
 of the other apostles. Then we find him in Acts xv., presiding, 
 so to speak, at the meeting of the apostles and elders held to 
 decide whether the Gentiles should be subjected to the law of 
 Moses. His sentence on that occasion was final, although the 
 apostles Peter and Paul were present, as well as all the other 
 apostles, Qxcept James the brother of John, whom Herod had 
 put to death. 
 
 Still, the laws determined on by the apostles and elders were 
 the testimony of the Jewish church. God did not permit Paul 
 and Barnabas to decide the question at Antioch. Such a 
 decision would not have terminated the controversy, but would 
 have made two assemblies ; but as soon as the Christians among 
 the Jews and the assembly at Jerusalem liberated the Gentiles, 
 no one could any longer oppose their freedom from the law. It 
 was not a point determined by the apostles on their apostolical 
 authority, although that confirmed the statute. After much 
 disputing in the assembly, the decision was sent in the name of 
 the apostles, of the elders, and of the whole church. Judaism 
 set the Gentiles free from the Jewish yoke. 
 
 Here again we find James. He brings the discussion to a 
 close by saying, "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble 
 not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God." It 
 is not certain that he was an apostle ; probably he was not one. 
 He was the chief of the Jewish church at Jerusalem. This was 
 why, when the angel of the Lord led Peter out of prison, giving 
 him his liberty, the latter said to those who had gathered to- 
 gether to pray for him, " Go, show these things unto James, and 
 to the brethren" (Acts xii. 17). Again at Antioch, before the 
 coming of certain from James, Peter ate with the Gentiles ; but 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 107 
 
 when they were come, he withdrew (Gal. ii. 12). It is apparent 
 that James shared in the thoughts of many Christians, and also 
 of Peter, though he was an apostle, touching the Jewish idea 
 that still reigned in the hearts of the Christians of that nation, 
 especially at Jerusalem. 
 
 Again, when Paul went up for the last time to Jerusalem 
 (Acts xxi. 18), he "went in," it is said, "with us unto James, 
 and all the elders were present." He was evidently the head of 
 the gathering at Jerusalem, and represented in his person the 
 power of the Jewish principle which still ruled in the church 
 there, and which God in His patience still endiired. They 
 believed in Jesus, and broke bread at home, but they were all 
 zealous for the law. They offered sacrifices in the temple, and 
 even persuaded Paul to do so also (Acts xxi.) ; and were in no- 
 wise separate from the nation. All this is prohibited in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, but it was practised until the last days 
 of Judaism. 
 
 This principle is the basis of the Epistle of James, the true 
 presentation of the state of Jewish Christians, James himself 
 being in his own person the representative and the life of this 
 system. As long as God bore with it. His Spirit was able to 
 work. We learn from profane history that James was killed by 
 the Jews, among whom he bore the name of the Just; and 
 Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that it was for this crime 
 that Jerusalem was destroyed. After its fall the system dis- 
 appeared. "We can easily conceive that true Christians would 
 follow the testimony given in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 However that may be, there only remained a little heretical sect 
 or two, which upheld formal Judaism ; but these soon dis- 
 appeared. They were called Nazarenes and Ebionites.^ But it 
 is unnecessary to investigate these matters. 
 
 1 ^' Ebionites, from the Hebrew Ehionim. This contemptuous epithet they 
 received from the supposed poverty of their understanding, as well as of their 
 condition." — Gibbon, Ex)m. Emp., vol. ii. p. 231. This is a question, though 
 Origen says so. It means merely poor. 
 
io8 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 This position of James, and the state of the assembly at 
 Jerusalem, that is, of believers outwardly united to the un- 
 believing Jews, notwithstanding the fact that they broke bread 
 and worshipped apart, simplifies the interpretation of this epistle. 
 It is not a question of its divine inspiration, but of its character. 
 God, in His goodness, has seen fit to present us with all the 
 forms that Christianity has taken ; and among others, this first 
 Jewish form, when Christians were not separated from the nation. 
 We do not here find, therefore, the mysteries of the counsels of 
 God, as in Paul ; nor redemption, as in him and in Peter ; nor 
 the divine life of the Son of God in Christ, and then in us, as 
 recorded in the writings of the apostle John ; but the subject 
 is the practical walk of the poor of the flock, who still frequented 
 the synagogue, and the denunciation of wealthy unbelievers who 
 oppressed the poor, and blasphemed the name of the Lord. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 The epistle is addressed to the twelve tribes. The nation is 
 seen as not yet finally rejected by God. James writes to those 
 of the dispersion, that is, to the Jews scattered abroad among 
 the Gentiles. Faith recognised the whole nation, as Elijah 
 (1 Kings xviii. 31), and as Paul (Acts xxvi. 7) did. Paith recog- 
 nised it until the judgment of God should be accomplished. In 
 order to understand the counsels and intentions of God, His 
 assembly, the glory of Christ, and our position now in Him, we 
 must read the writings of Paul. 
 
 Here the patience of God towards His ancient people mani- 
 fests itself, although James warns them that the Judge stands 
 before the door. He makes a distinction, too, in the case of 
 believers (ii. 1), although not yet separated from the people ; 
 but their privileges are not mentioned. These they could not 
 enjoy in the company of unbelieving Jews. But they could 
 display in their midst the difference of the Christian life ; and it 
 is of this that James speaks. He does not call himself an apostle. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 109 
 
 though practically — not established as an elder, but in virtue of 
 his personal influence — the head of those Christians who had not 
 separated from Judaism. His thoughts are ever of them, and of 
 the walk that becomes them in the midst of the nation. Peter, 
 who writes to a part of the scattered Jews, does not speak of the 
 nation, but calls believers the nation, and that in the midst of 
 Gentiles (1 Peter ii. 10, 11). But James portrays the Christian 
 walk as one that does not surpass what ought to have been found 
 in the faithful of the old dispensation. 
 
 It is apparent that he thought of Christians, but of Christians 
 on the lowest step of the ladder that reaches up to heaven. 
 But since as a fact we are on the earth, this epistle is most use- 
 ful in marking the path and the spirit that ought to characterise 
 our walk, no matter how great our heavenly privileges may be. 
 If the light of our hearts be above, a lantern for our feet is not 
 to be despised, and the more so because we are in the midst of a 
 people professing Christianity, and calling themselves believers. 
 The epistle puts the truth of this profession to the test. 
 
 Whatever might be the association of these Christians with 
 the people, the author of the epistle supposes faith in those 
 whom he addresses ; a faith, however, that might practically 
 have been found in a Jew before believing in Jesus ; still, 
 with the addition of this belief, a true faith, produced by the 
 work of God in the heart. As Paul himself, after descending 
 from the height of the revelations accorded to him by God, 
 recognises the faith of Lois and Eunice, and likens the faith of 
 Timothy to that of these women. 
 
 But to examine the Epistle itself Already at the outset, 
 " temptations " were the proof of faith, the discipline of God in 
 favour of believers (vers. 2, 12). As to position, they were 
 associated with the people ; and the object the writer had in 
 view was the profession of the faith and knowledge of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. We shall see that he apostrophises those with 
 whom they were united, warning believers against the spirit in 
 which they walked. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 The Christian Jews were proved, persecuted. This also is 
 what Peter speaks of in his epistle, encouraging them to endure 
 with patience. James (like Paul, in Eomans v.) exhorts them 
 to count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations, and 
 this for the same reason as that given by Paul. The trial of 
 faith works patience. The will of man is broken ; he has to 
 await the operation of God ; and learns his dependence on Him, 
 and that he lives amid a scene where God only can produce the 
 effect he desires, the conquest of the power of Satan. We may 
 frequently desire (even when doing what is right) that the work 
 might be hastened, that difficulties might disappear, and that 
 we might be delivered from persecution; but it is God's will 
 that is good and wise, and not ours. The works that are done 
 on the earth are wrought by Him. Patience is the perfect fruit , 
 of obedience. 
 
 Turn to what is said in Col. i. 11 : "Strengthened with all 
 might, according to His glorious power (what noble work should 
 such power accomplish !), unto all patience and long-suffering 
 with joyfulness." This is what is necessary to endure all with- 
 out murmuring, and even with joy, since all comes from the hand 
 of God. It is His will that sustains the heart, not our own. 
 
 When the love of God is known, and the will broken, there 
 is confidence in God ; we know that all comes from Him, 
 and that He makes all things work together for our greatest 
 blessing. Thus the trial of faith works patience ; but patience 
 must have her perfect work, or self-will and confidence in self 
 instead of in God, will be manifested. These work without God, 
 and apart from His will ; we cannot wait on Him ; or in any 
 case, impatience and the flesh show themselves in us. Job sub- 
 mitted for a long time, but patience had not her perfect work in 
 him. Saul waited a long time for Samuel, but, not resting 
 quietly till he came, lost the kingdom. He did not wait on the 
 Lord with the feeling that he could do nothing without Him, 
 and with his own will. Patience had not her perfect work. 
 Now affliction is the trial of patience, the operation of God 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. iii 
 
 that acts for us outwardly, and in us by His grace ; and when 
 this work is accomplished, and we are perfectly submissive to 
 God, and desire nothing apart from His will, we are perfect 
 and entire, wanting nothing. Not that we have not to learn as to 
 the knowledge of His will ; the contrary is stated in the follow- 
 ing verse (5) ; but the state of soul is perfect as to the will, as 
 to our relationship with God ; and He can then reveal His will, 
 the only thing that we desire (see 1 Peter i. 6, 7). 
 
 In the Lord patience had her perfect work. The afflictions 
 which He experienced in the world, He felt profoundly, and that 
 more so than we do. He could weep over Jerusalem, and in 
 view of the power of death, over the hearts of men; and the 
 rejection of His love was a perpetual cause of sorrow to Him. 
 He upbraids the cities wherein most of His mighty works had 
 been done, but is perfect in His patience. " At that time Jesus 
 answered and said, I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and 
 earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, 
 for so it seemed good in Thy sight " (Matt, xi.) He upbraids, 
 but at the same time gives thanks. The same thing may be 
 seen in John xii. In both cases, His soul being perfectly in 
 subjection to the will of His Father, expands with joy in the 
 view of all that was the effect of His submission. Christ never 
 failed of the wisdom of God. In us it is very possible that this 
 may be wanting, even when the will is in subjection, and we 
 desire to do the will of God. 
 
 The promise then follows that, " if any of you lack wisdom, 
 let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
 braideth not, and it shall be given him." The absence of wiU, 
 obedience, and the spirit of confidence in depending on and 
 looking to God, characterise the new life. In the world we 
 pass through tribulations ; but this life is manifested in these 
 qualities. But confidence must be exercised, or we can receive 
 nothincr. To distrust God is to dishonour Him. Such a man is 
 double-minded, and like a wave of the sea, driven of the wind 
 
112 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 and tossed. He is unstable, because his heart is not in com- 
 munion with the Lord ; he does not live in a way to be able 
 to know Him ; and naturally, such an one is unstable. If a 
 believer dwells with God, in nearness to Him, he knows Him, 
 and understands His will ; he will have none of his own ; and 
 will not desire to have any, not only from obedience, but because 
 he has more confidence in the thoughts of God about him than 
 he has in his own will. 
 
 Faith in the goodness of God gives courage to seek and to do 
 His will. In Christ Himself we have a perfect and lovely ex- 
 ample of the principles of divine life. Tempted by Satan, He has 
 no will of His own, and is not moved ; but declares that " man 
 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth 
 out of the mouth of God." This is absolute and perfect obedience. 
 The will of God was for Him not only the rule, but the only 
 spring of action. Then, when the tempter desires Him to throw 
 Himself from the temple in order to see if God would be true to 
 His promises, Jesus will not consent. He is certain about it 
 already, and waits quietly for the strength of God, when the 
 opportunity shall present itself in the way of His will. This 
 faith and this confidence, is the proof that the soul is in near- 
 ness to God, and that it dwells in intimacy and communion with 
 Him. Such an one will know what it is to have the assurance 
 that God hears his requests. This is what fashions the soul in 
 the difdculties and trials of the present life, so that it can ex- 
 claim, " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." 
 
 Verses 9-11 are a kind of parenthesis. Though the new 
 man belongs to the new creation, and is the first-fruits of it, yet 
 here below he is in a world the glory of which passes away as 
 the flower of the grass. Thus the brother of low estate is raised 
 to communion with Christ, to the participation of His glory. 
 And also in the world, no matter how obscure his origin, he 
 becomes the companion of all the brethren. " God hath chosen 
 the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom 
 which He hath promised to them that love Him." The rich 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 113 
 
 own them as brothers, and meet at the Lord's table, as possessors 
 of the same privileges. On the other hand, the rich man, if 
 faithful, cannot walk in the greatness and splendour of a world 
 that has rejected the Lord. He becomes — for God has made 
 him so — brother to the poor one who loves the Lord ; together 
 they enjoy the communion of tlie Spirit, and share the most 
 precious things of life. 
 
 They rejoice together, and the poor in his exaltation. Christ 
 is not ashamed to call him brother. And in this title the rich 
 glories far more than in all those that belong to him in the 
 world. In the world this title is despised and counted as no- 
 thing. But he knows that the honour of this world passes away 
 as the flower of the grass, and he rejoices in being the companion 
 of those whom the Lord of glory owns as His. The world will 
 fade away, and the spirit of the world is already gone for the 
 heart of the spiritual Christian. He who takes the lowest place 
 shall be great in the kingdom of God. 
 
 All this is very far from the spirit of jealousy and envy that 
 would pull down all that is above us. 
 
 It is not selfishness, but the spirit of love that comes down 
 to walk with the lowly, who are not of small esteem in God's 
 eyes, as Christ, who certainly had the right to govern, and be the 
 first, came down to be with us, and made Himself a servant 
 among His disciples. For us the glory of this world is nothing 
 but vanity and mockery. Love delights to serve, selfishness to be 
 served. 
 
 The apostle returns to the character of the new man, for 
 whom the life here below is a time of trial. He is happy when 
 he passes through temptations, enduring them with patience. 
 This is the normal state of the Christian (1 Peter iv. 12). The 
 desert is his pathway ; patience here and glory afterwards, his 
 vocation. Tempted here, he remains faithful and steadfast by 
 grace in tribulation and trial, afterwards to inherit the crown of 
 life that God hath promised to all them that love Him. Life 
 that has not trials is not life ; but he who is tried is blessed. 
 
114 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 Our life is not here below, though we are traversing the desert. 
 We are on the journey, not entered into the rest, the promised 
 life in Christ. 
 
 In order that this life may be manifested, the affections 
 must be set on the crown and the promised blessings. When 
 we have the life of Christ in us, we ought to be exercised to have 
 the heart detached from the things that surround us, and per- 
 petually attract the attention of the flesh ; so that we may not 
 yield to them, but, ever resisting, the heart may be preserved 
 by grace habitually in the way of holiness, enjoying heavenly 
 things and communion with God. Now, trials endured with 
 patience aid much in this object. A heart weaned from vanity 
 is an immense gain for the soul. If the world is dry and barren 
 to it it turns the more readily to the fountain of living waters. 
 
 There is another sense in which the word " temptation" is 
 used. It is true that it always means trial; but that other 
 kind of trial which springs from within — lust — is an entirely 
 different thing. God may try us from without, in order to bless 
 us ; and He does so, as in the case of Abraham ; but He is not 
 in any wise the author of lust. AVhen it is a case of sin, not of 
 putting obedience and patience to the test, it is still on account of 
 the state of the soul, so that it may be corrected, and enabled 
 to make progress ; but when lust is stirred up, we cannot say 
 that it is God who tempts us. " For God cannot be tempted 
 with evil, neither tempteth He any man ; but every man is 
 tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." 
 
 Christ Himself was tried by God in all His path, but the 
 only result was a sweet smelling savour. Being come to do the 
 will of His Father, He learned what obedience meant in this 
 world of sin and enmity against God. Satan desired that his 
 own will might be manifested in Him ; but in vain. It is 
 true that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be 
 tempted of the devil ; but it was to conquer for us who were 
 subjected by sin to his power. There was no lust in Him ; but 
 He could be, and was, hungry. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 115 
 
 Jesus having been declared the Son of God by the voice from 
 the Father, Satan in proposing to Him to command the stones 
 to become bread, desires Him to abandon the position of a 
 servant, which He had taken on Him in becoming man, and do 
 His own will. Here we have a temptation of the enemy. 
 The Lord remains in His perfection, and lives by every word 
 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He is put to the test 
 by God through sufferings ; but no lust existed in Him. When 
 Satan seeks to take advantage of His hunger — a need without 
 sin, which even Christ had — He remains firm in perfect 
 obedience, knowing no motive of action save His Father's will. 
 With us there are temptations that come from within, from lust ; 
 but these are altogether distinct from the trials that come from 
 without, which prove the state of the heart, and subdue self- 
 will when we are not perfectly subject to the will of God, when 
 other motives direct the heart. 
 
 James is always practical, and does not investigate the root 
 of everything in the heart, as Paul does. He gives lust as the 
 source from which actual sin springs. Paul shows that the sin 
 of nature is the source of lust ; an important distinction, which 
 illustrates the object of the Holy Ghost in the Epistle of James, 
 namely, the outward and practical life, as the evidence of the 
 character of the life which owes its origin to the Word of God 
 working by faith. For James, lust — the first movement of a 
 sinful nature, discovering its character — having conceived, 
 brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. 
 Such is the history of the operation of natural evil. James 
 takes up its effect, Paul its source, so that we may know 
 ourselves (Eom. vii. 8). 
 
 Then, in opposition to lust, and showing the action of God, 
 not to tempt, but on the contrary to produce good, James tells 
 us that " every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, 
 and Cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is 
 no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will 
 begat He us (believers) with the word of truth, that we should 
 
ii6 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures" (vers. 17, 18). He 
 owns, as I have said, grace as the alone and divine spring of 
 good in us ; and that as born of God through faith, because 
 it is by the word of truth. By this we are regenerated, and 
 receive a new life, and that by the will of God. We belong to 
 the new creation, and are the first-fruits of it. This is deepest 
 blessing, true not only of a new position, though it is such, but 
 of a new nature, which renders us capable of enjoying God. It 
 does not speak of justice by grace, but of a nature altogether 
 new, and that comes from God. 
 
 Thus we are exhorted — self-will being broken, and confi- 
 dence in the flesh being destroyed — to take the place of 
 receiving everything by grace ; to listen rather than to speak ; to 
 be slow to wrath, which is only the impatience of the old man, 
 for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 
 The man taught of God is subject to Him. Laying aside all 
 filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, he receives with 
 meekness the engrafted word. This is an important step, for it 
 reveals the state of the man of God, and what influences him. 
 The will of the flesh does not work in him, neither self-will ; 
 he listens to what God says, receives His word with meekness, 
 and submits to it ; then God engrafts the word into his heart. 
 It is not purely knowledge, but the truth of God, His word, that 
 can save the soul ; it is the seed of divine life, and forms it. 
 
 The word that sanctifies is engrafted in him, the plant is 
 introduced by Him, the new man that can produce fruit for 
 God. But it is necessary that this should be put in practice, 
 that a man should be a doer, and not only a hearer of the word ; 
 otherwise he is like a man who beholds his natural face in a glass, 
 and then, going away, forgets what manner of man he was. 
 " But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and 
 continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer 
 of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Here we 
 find an important expression, " the law of liberty." If I tell 
 my child to stay quietly at home when he wants to go out, he 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. n? 
 
 may obey ; but it is not a law of liberty ; he gives up his will. 
 But, if afterwards, I say to him, " Go out where you like," he 
 obeys; but this is a law of liberty, because his will and the 
 law are at one, and go together. 
 
 For Jesus the law of God was a law of liberty. He came to 
 do His Father's will, and desired nothing else. Blessed state ! 
 In Him was perfection, for us a blessed example. The law is a 
 law of liberty when the will, the heart of man, all his desires, 
 are perfectly in unison with the law imposed on him. In our 
 case it is a law imposed by God, written on the heart. Thus 
 with the new man it is as with the heart of Christ ; he loves 
 obedience and the will of God, because it is His will, and 
 because he has a nature corresponding to what this will 
 expresses. Since he is a partaker of the divine nature, he loves 
 what God wills. 
 
 Verse 26, etc. But there is a sign of what exists in the 
 heart which betrays more than anything else what is in us. 
 This is the tongue. He who is able to govern his tongue is 
 a perfect man, and is able to bridle the whole body. The 
 appearance of religion, if the tongue be not bridled, is but a 
 vain show ; and the man professing it deceives his own heart. 
 True religion shows itself by love in the heart, and by purity, 
 keeping it unspotted from the world. It thinks of others, of 
 those in distress, in need of protection, of care and of the sup- 
 port of love, such as orphans and widows. The heart truly 
 religious, full of the love of God, thinks as He does who moves 
 it, of misery, of weakness, and of need. This is the true 
 Christian character. 
 
 The second feature of Christian life given by James is to be 
 " unspotted from the world." The world is corrupted, lies in 
 sin, has rejected the Saviour, that is, God come in grace. It is 
 not all that man was put out of the garden of Eden, because 
 he was a sinner, that is true, and is sufiicient for his con- 
 demnation. But there is yet more. God did much to restore 
 him ; He gave the promises to Abraham ; called Israel to be 
 
ii8 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 His people ; sent the prophets, and at last His only begotten 
 Son. God Himself came in grace ; but on the part of man, He 
 was driven from the world. Therefore, God had to say, " Now 
 is the judgment of this world." The last thing He could do 
 was to send His Son, and this He did. " Having yet, therefore, 
 one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them, 
 saying. They will reverence my Son. But those husbandmen 
 said among themselves. This is the heir ; come let us kill him, 
 and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and 
 killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard." (Mark xii.) 
 
 The world is a world that has already rejected the Son of 
 God. And where does it find its joy ? In God or in Christ ? 
 No. In the pleasures of the flesh, in greatness, in riches, it 
 seeks happiness without God, in order to avoid feeling His 
 displeasure. It would not require to seek happiness in pleasure 
 if it were really happy. Formed by God for Himself with the 
 breath of life, man cannot be content with anything less than 
 God. Eead the history of Cain. He went out from the 
 presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of the Nod.-^ Then 
 he built a city, and called it after his son Enoch. Then Jabal 
 was father of such as dwell in tents, and had cattle, the wealth 
 of that time. And the name of his brother was Jubal, the father 
 of all such as handle the harp and organ ; and Zillah bore also 
 Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer of brass and iron. 
 
 Such is the world and all its civilisation. Without God, 
 the need is felt to make it pleasant and beautiful. One may 
 say, " But where is the harm in harps and organs ? " There is 
 none, certainly ; the evil is in the heart of man who uses these 
 things for his enjoyment without God, in order to forget Him, 
 to flee from Him, to seek contentment in a world of sin, so that 
 he may not feel his misery, his distance from God, and to hide 
 himself in the corruption that reigns there. The refinement 
 with which man surrounds himself too often only makes him 
 
 ^ Nod is the same word as vagabond in Gen. iv. 14. Cain built a city where 
 God had made him a vagabond. Tliis is what man has done. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 119 
 
 glide insensibly into the corruption, which he even endeavours 
 to conceal beneath a cloak of gladness. 
 
 But the new man, born of God, and participating the divine 
 nature, cannot find his delight in the world ; he flees from that 
 which shuts him out from God. Where flesh rejoices, and finds 
 its pleasures, the spiritual life cannot find them. James speaks 
 of corruption itself, but not as though a part were corrupt, and 
 another pure. Corruption is there, and the Christian must keep 
 himself unspotted from the world. The world is not pure; 
 on the contrary, it is impure in its principles and in all its 
 ways. He who is conformed to it is corrupt in his walk ; the 
 friendship of the world is enmity against God ; and he who is 
 the friend of the world is the enemy of God. It is necessary to 
 keep unspotted from the world itself, and to go through it as 
 epistles of Christ among men, pure from what surrounds us, as 
 Christ was pure from the world that would not receive Him. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 In the second chapter believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are 
 clearly distinguished from other Jews. They must not have the 
 faith of Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. To 
 despise the poor was contrary to the law, which regarded aU Israel- 
 ites as the objects of God's favour, the nation one before Him, 
 and each as a member of the same race. It is, moreover, entirely 
 contrary to the spirit of Christianity, which is characterised by 
 humility, calls the poor happy, seeks greatness in heaven, and 
 shows how the cross below answers to glory above. Faith has 
 seen this Lord of glory in humiliation not having where to lay 
 His head. The rich for the most part remained adverse to 
 Christianity. They blasphemed the good name by which Chris- 
 tians were called, and brought its professors before the courts. God 
 had chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, the heirs of the 
 kingdom. The same testimony is borne by Paul also : " Not many 
 wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are 
 
I20 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 called " (1 Cor. i. 26). These three things are chains that bind 
 the soul to this world. Grace can indeed break these chains, 
 but that does not often happen. " It is easier for a camel to 
 pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter 
 into the kingdom of God." These bonds are too strong ; though 
 with God all things are possible. 
 
 James contrasts the Lord's glory with the false glory of man 
 in the world; for the fashion of it fadeth away. He dwells 
 much on this point, as also does Peter. If in the assembly a 
 difference be made between rich and poor, those who do so be- 
 come judges of evil thoughts. Let us give God thanks, that at 
 least in the church we can live together for heaven amid 
 heavenly things, where the only true difference lies in the 
 degree of spirituality, and not in the vanity of this world. We 
 may remark here that the gathering is styled the " synagogue ;" 
 and this tells us how the thoughts of James still ran in the way 
 of Jewish habits. 
 
 But the fact that there was a distinction made between rich 
 and poor, by which they were convinced of the law as trans- 
 gressors, leads James to speak of the law. He mentions three 
 laws : that of liberty, of which we have already spoken, the 
 royal law, and law in the ordinary sense of the word. The 
 royal law is, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself " He 
 who does this does well. Then a much more important prin- 
 ciple is added : that if we keep the whole law, and yet offend 
 in one point, we are guilty of all. The reason of this is simple. 
 When lust has moved us, we have transgressed the law, and 
 despised the authority of Him who established it. We cannot 
 suppose a man to have violated all the commandments. He 
 who gave one gave all ; and wherever the flesh and the will 
 have been active, we have followed our own inclination, and 
 despised the will of God. His law has been broken. 
 
 Christianity requires that we should both speak and work 
 as being free from the power of sin, to do the will of God in 
 everything, and that His will should be ours also. We have 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 121 
 
 been delivered from its yoke, we are truly free to walk in the 
 footsteps of Jesus. Precious and holy liberty ! It is liberty 
 of a nature that finds its pleasure and joy in the will of God, 
 and in obedience to Him. Now the Christian is free to do 
 always the will of God, but he may wander from Him, and 
 lose power and desire ; but that only happens through negli- 
 gence and unfaithfulness, and then all that he does and says 
 will be judged according to law. This is an important truth. 
 We may grow in the knowledge of the will of God, and be free 
 to perform what we know ; and the strength to do so is found 
 in Christ. 
 
 To this thought is added that of judgment, and the necessity 
 of walking in grace. If we do not show mercy, judgment shall 
 be without mercy. The same principle had been already laid 
 down by the Lord, that the transgressions of those who forgive 
 shall be pardoned. Unless the spirit of grace be in the heart, 
 we cannot share in the grace that God has manifested towards 
 men ; and in the details of life, he who does not show mercy, 
 may experience the chastisement of God ; for it is in goodness 
 and in love that God takes pleasure. Here works are insisted 
 upon ; and this is an important part of the epistle ; not that it 
 is of greater value than the other parts, but on account of the 
 many arguments of men. 
 
 This principle introduces the question of works. Love must 
 be displayed not only in words but also in deeds. The sj^irit 
 of James was practical, and yet full of the evil arising from the 
 profession of Christianity, without the practical life correspond- 
 ing to it ; and he therefore blends the two principles in his 
 observations, saying that love should be real, and that faith 
 should be shown by the works which it produces. " If one of 
 you say unto them. Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; 
 notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are need- 
 ful to the body ; what doth it profit ? Even so faith, if it hath 
 not works, is dead, being alone." It certainly is not Christian 
 faith, which is a mighty principle, the effect of the operation of 
 
 K 
 
122 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 the Holy Ghost in the heart, the spring which puts all the 
 wheels in motion, which raises the heart ahove selfishness 
 and all the base motives of this world, and fixes the affections 
 on Christ. He becomes the true motive of the heart ; and, 
 dwelling in us, is the source from which all our actions flow, so 
 that we walk as He walked. Doubtless we are behind what 
 He did ; but the principle of our life is the same, and He is the 
 same who dwells in us. 
 
 It is obvious then, that true faith works by love, which pro- 
 duces good works ; and this cannot be otherwise. But there is 
 still another principle in this passage, which expresses itself in 
 the words, " Show me." Faith is evidently a principle hidden 
 in the heart. It cannot be seen, as the root cannot be seen from 
 which the plants grow and produce fruit, drawing nourishment 
 from the soil, as faith does from Christ. But as without the 
 root the plant cannot bring forth fruit, so without faith, good 
 works cannot be produced. Some may be shown outwardly, 
 however, which have no real value. Much may be given, and 
 many may labour, without true love, without faith ; but a life 
 of love, that follows Christ, and does His will, that will being 
 yet its own, cannot exist without faith. Now he who glories 
 in faith, owns that it alone is good, and produces what is good. 
 James says then, " Show me thy faith without thy works." 
 But that is impossible. It is evident that it is a principle 
 hidden in the heart, a simple profession without any reality. 
 Sometimes we add hypocrisy, because education, and the influ- 
 ence of what surrounds us, as well as external proofs, may 
 produce the mental habit of believing in Christianity and in its 
 fundamental doctrines. But in such faith there is no bond with 
 Christ, no spring of life eternal ; though a man may not be 
 openly an unbeliever, and may respect the name of Christ, yet 
 this faith does not produce anything in the heart. Christ can- 
 not trust him (John ii. 23-25). 
 
 As soon as true faith — that which is produced in the heart 
 by grace through the action of the Holy Ghost — is known, 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 123 
 
 a personal need of Christ, of possessing Him for one's self, of 
 hearing His voice, is experienced. This was what happened to 
 Nicodemus, and led him to go in search of Christ ; and observe 
 that he felt that the world was against him, because we read 
 that he went by night. Now as faith cannot itself be seen, he 
 who boasts of it can reply nothing to him who says, " Show me 
 thy faith." But he who has true works of love, cannot have 
 them without faith, which is the divine instrument of Christian 
 life in the heart, and is displayed in deeds of patience, purity, 
 charity, and in separation from the world, although he is in it. 
 He cannot move without the spring. Faith that looks only to 
 Christ, and finds aU in Him, manifests itself in this life, the life 
 of faith. 
 
 It is necessary to show our faith. To whom % To God \ 
 Certainly not. " Show ??ie." It is to man, who cannot look 
 into the heart as God can. All the reasoning of James, all his 
 power, all his meaning, are centred in these two words, " Show 
 me." He does not tell us of peace of conscience when justified 
 by faith, since the Lord, the precious and beloved Saviour, 
 has borne all our sins, and was delivered for our offences. Faith 
 trusts to the ef&cacy of the work of Christ, and believes that 
 God has received and accepted it as perfect satisfaction for the 
 sins of believers ; that it is a work which will never lose its 
 value in His eyes, into whose presence Christ has entered, not 
 without blood, that is His own, there to appear for us continu- 
 ally, being set down at the right hand of God, since all has 
 been accomplished according to His glory, with regard to our 
 sins, on the cross. 
 
 Here, instead of vain and empty faith, it is a question of 
 the profession of the name of Christ, of calling one's self a Christ- 
 ian without having Christ in the heart. This is shown by 
 works, by fruit. From the fruit it is seen that the tree is 
 living, that the root is there, and that it draws its sap from 
 Christ. Thus profession is justified before men, to whom it 
 must be displayed by the fruit it produces. If we examine 
 
124 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 closely the examples given here, we shall find that it is not so 
 much a question of good works in the ordinary sense, as of the 
 trial of faith. The works here referred to as demonstrating 
 faith are those of the same persons whom Paul cites ; namely, 
 Abraham, who was ready to offer up his only son when God 
 required him to do so ; and Eahab, who hid the spies, and sent 
 them away in peace. 
 
 Nothing could be stronger. Not only was Isaac an only son, 
 but all the promises of God were centred in him ; so that there 
 must have been absolute confidence in God (see Heb. xi. 17-19). 
 As a work of man, there was nothing good in slaying his son. 
 If we consider Eahab's act from a human point of view, she was 
 faithless to her country, a traitress ; but she joined the people 
 of God when His enemies were yet in the fulness of their 
 power, before the chosen race had gained a single victory, and 
 when they had not even crossed the Jordan. 
 
 Such was the faith that could count on God at whatever 
 cost, and unite with His people when everything was against 
 them. The faith of Abraham was simply faith in God, in His 
 word ; but it was shown to be absolute and without hesitation, 
 when he offered up his beloved son, the subject of all the pro- 
 mises of God. The faith of Eahab was also a simple faith in 
 God, but was displayed in identifying itself with the cause of 
 God, when all the power was apparently on the other side, since 
 God was not seen. In fact, to call oneself a believer and yet 
 produce nothing, is not really faith. Faith realises its object, 
 and this object produces its effect in becoming the motive of the 
 heart. 
 
 He who receives the word is born again of incorruptible 
 seed, and shares in the divine nature ; and obedience, purity, 
 and love are produced. It is true that we have still to over- 
 come temptations and obstacles, and we are not all that we 
 would be, neither all that we might be ; but the life produces 
 its fruits more or less. Though the heart be unfaithful in the 
 Christian walk, through carelessness it may be, yet faith always 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 125 
 
 produces its own fruits ; and the Christian knows well that the 
 faith that produces nothing is not true faith. Faith realises the 
 presence and the love of God known in a new nature, and en- 
 joys both ; and reflects, feebly is may be, the character of Him 
 whom it enjoys. We are sons born of God, through faith in 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is by faith, even though it be merely human, and not that 
 of the divine life in us, that everything is done which is not purely 
 instinctive. Wliy does the husbandman sow ? Because he be- 
 lieves that he will reap. And thus it is with everything, except 
 eating and drinking. For divine faith divine things have to be 
 revealed to the soul ; it is the work of the Spirit of God. Faith 
 in God is what is acceptable to Him ; but this faith — we being 
 made alive by Him through His word — produces the fruits of 
 the divine life. 
 
 By means of this faith we have communion with God, with 
 the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord ; and He is 
 not ashamed to call us His friends (John xv, 15). Abraham 
 was called the friend of God. In our relationships with the 
 world we say only what is called for by the necessity of the 
 moment ; but that said, all is finished. But with an intimate 
 friend we speak of things that have nothing to do with mere 
 business, of all that concerns the heart. God did not speak to 
 Abraham about the promises made to him when he is called the 
 friend of God, but communicated to him all that He thought of 
 doing, and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. " The secret 
 of the Lord is with them that fear Him." It is beautiful to see 
 the intimacy into which one can enter with God when walking 
 faithfully with Him (see Gen. xxviii. 17-20). 
 
 In Sodom the believer was saved, losing all, and living in 
 uncertainty and misery, fearing the mountain (where Abraham 
 dwelt, for the position of faith is always feared by unbelief), 
 the mountain of Zoar, when he saw the terrible fate of the 
 others. Then he finished by taking refuge in the mountain he 
 had at first feared, and lived there in misery and shame. In 
 
126 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 Abraham we have the portrait of a believer who lives by faith ; 
 in Lot, that of a believer who takes the world, fair to look 
 upon, as his portion. He inherited judgment, though he may 
 be spared ; while, after Lot's departure, God bade Abraham lift 
 up his eyes and behold the promised land, realise all its ex- 
 tent, and know that all was his. 
 
 Faith gives communion with the Father, and with His Son 
 Jesus Christ, and the realisation of all that belongs to us. It 
 is not to be wondered at if it produces fruits desired by God. 
 God gives us to live in nearness to Him, so that things not seen 
 may work in our hearts ; and that we may live in patience and 
 in joy till the Lord shall come and introduce us to the place 
 where there shall be no more need of faith, into the enjoyment 
 of what faith believed in when yet unseen. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 James recommends modesty in word, that we should not be 
 many masters. When we do not know ourselves, it is much 
 easier to teach others than to govern ourselves. Now the tongue 
 is the surest token of what is in the heart. All of us fail in 
 many things ; but if we pretend to teach others, all our offences 
 become more serious, and deserve the greater condemnation. 
 Lowliness of heart makes us slow to speak, waiting rather to 
 be taught, and that others should express their thoughts. We 
 should be more willing to learn than to teach. With this ad- 
 monition, James begins a serious dissertation on the perils 
 of the tongue. N"o man can tame it. As we have already re- 
 marked, it is the surest index to the heart. " Out of the abund- 
 ance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Many do more by hard 
 words than they could by the hand. They often utter, moreover, 
 light and vain words. 
 
 James insists on having the will kept in check, that there 
 should be no confidence in self, and that the carelessness of the 
 flesh should be corrected by the fear of God. First, the Christian 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 127 
 
 must not be too ready to teach. We must not be many masters, 
 knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Love 
 seeks to edify the brethren, and the. Spirit leads the humble to 
 the exercise of their gifts. But it may be that a Christian likes 
 to make himself heard, that he is not humble, and that he speaks 
 because he has confidence in himself. Now this is not love, but 
 rather self-love. 
 
 "We all fail in many things, and naturally, when we teach 
 others, or at least pretend to do so, we are the more responsible, 
 and our faults become the more grave. How can we teach 
 others if we do not know how to walk faithfully ourselves % 
 This is not the fear of God. If the conscience be not pure 
 before God, it is impossible to set forth His grace and truth with 
 His power, because we are not in His presence, and He is not 
 with us. The first effect of His presence would be to stir up 
 our conscience. He who teaches ought to keep himself in 
 deepest humility, and watch so as not to stumble in his walk. 
 
 This spirit of humility is not a want of confidence in God ; on 
 the contrary, it is united to confidence. A man in possession of 
 such a spirit will not say of the Lord, " I knew Thou wert an hard 
 man ; " but self-confidence is absent, and he only speaks when it 
 is the will of God. Then he does so in the power of His Spirit 
 He is slow to speak, and waits on God, in order to do so with Him, 
 
 But other important truths are contained in these words. 
 First, we all fail in many ways. He who calls himself perfect 
 deceives himself. It is not, necessarily, that we commit open 
 sin, but that we do and say what is wrong in God's sight. Our 
 speech is not always according to grace seasoned with salt. 
 There are failures. We cannot excuse ourselves because the 
 Lord has said, " My grace is sufficient for you," and " My strength 
 is made perfect in weakness." We do fail, however sad it 
 may be to say so ; and we have to own it. Walking with God, 
 grace leads us to feel and confess it ; and thus we shall walk in 
 greater nearness to God, with more watchfulness and humility, 
 and more in felt dependence on Him. 
 
128 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 There is yet another truth revealed in these words. This 
 exhortation would not have been necessary if liberty to speak, 
 according to God's direction, had not been possessed by all the 
 brethren, in accordance with their gifts and the rules given in 
 the word — for there are such. If one person had been appointed 
 to speak, the exhortation would have been useless. This then 
 is an exhortation to modesty, to quietness, to distrust of self, 
 and to the fear of God. The question is one of the danger of 
 failure, and of responsibility ; but the thought of single ministry 
 in the assembly is excluded. 
 
 It is not asserted that a single individual cannot exercise a 
 ministry that God may have confided to him ; such ministry by 
 one is permitted to each, if the Lord has suppKed the necessary 
 gift, but this must be according to the directions of the word. 
 The activity of the flesh is reproved, and the liberty of the Holy 
 Ghost demonstrated. The Lord makes use of each as He sees 
 fit, whether by means of the permanent gifts of teachers, pastors, 
 and evangelists, which will remain with us till the end, or by 
 the ministry of each member in the place he has assigned 
 to it. 
 
 What is said regarding failure is in continuation of the dis- 
 course on the tongue, the best index to the heart, easily put in 
 action, and following every impulse of the heart. Everything 
 has been tamed, even wild beasts and reptiles ; but no man has 
 been able to tame the tongue ; it is full of deadly poison. 
 
 What James says is very strong, but, alas, very true. But 
 if, in a practical way, we remember that the -flesh is counted as 
 dead, and we live by the Spirit, the tongue will be the expression 
 of new impulses, or it may keep silence when grace ought to 
 have nothing to say. 
 
 There are many who, according to the flesh, would avoid in- 
 flicting a blow, who could not restrain a passionate or hard word 
 against their neighbour ; but if man cannot restrain the tongue, 
 the grace of Christ can do it, because the inward man is under 
 the Lord's yoke, and is meek and humble. Christ fills his heart, 
 
 ?-r« 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 129 
 
 and then, just because the tongue follows the impulses of the 
 heart, his words express meekness and humility. But it is ne- 
 cessary that Christ only should fill the heart, and the flesh be 
 held in check, so that when temptation comes, we may not be 
 moved. It is difficult to avoid failure ; but it is very useful to 
 see how the tongue indicates what goes on inwardly, as the 
 hands of a clock show the movement of the hidden works. 
 
 It is good to observe the true character of the tongue as here 
 defined. When James says, " Doth a fountain send forth at the 
 same place sweet water and bitter % " he does not mean that it 
 is not what happens in the case of the tongue, because it is this 
 that he laments (vers. 9, 10), but that such an evil ought not to 
 exist ; it is contrary to nature itself. Then he goes on to show 
 the character of the wise man endued with knowledge. He 
 must show out of a good conversation his works with meekness 
 and wisdom. Wisdom, or at least knowledge, that manifests 
 itself in a spirit of envy and contention, is not divine wisdom. 
 Divine wisdom cannot exist apart from the state of the heart, 
 and meekness produced by grace, the consciousness of the pre- 
 sence of God, a broken will, and that which learns with Jesus 
 meekness and humility of heart. 
 
 " The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." 
 Wisdom that boasts and strives is earthly, sensual, devilish. It 
 does not come from above, but shows itself in envy and strife, 
 springs full of confusion and every evil work. The wisdom that 
 comes from above depends on the consciousness of the presence 
 of God, and on communion with Him, where the energy of 
 nature is of no value, and where the spirit of dependence on God 
 is shown. It knows that without Christ it can do nothing. The 
 realisation of God's presence makes this wisdom first pure ; and 
 it cannot be otherwise if communion with God be known. This 
 communion, which gives wisdom, is necessarily pure. The divine 
 nature in us, realising the presence of God, and dwelKng in Him, 
 discerns what suits God, and has the senses exercised to know 
 «food and evil. 
 
130" THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 It is not precisely that good desires violence, but it does not 
 dare to admit evil because it draws us away from God. "The 
 wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable," for the 
 spirit of peace dwells in the heart. It is " gentle, easy to be 
 entreated," subject, as to self-will, not seeking its own satis- 
 faction, but ready to do the will of otliers, when this is not 
 opposed to that of God. Then the activity of good unfolds 
 itself in the heart ; it is "full of mercy," and free from selfishness, 
 because happy in God ; feeling the misery of others, it pro- 
 duces the good fruits that flow from such sympathy. It is not 
 disposed to strive, nor to find faults, defects, and failure in 
 others or in their work, neither to criticise nor judge as though 
 superior and capable of doing better. It walks, moreover, in 
 simplicity and integrity of heart, not seeking the approbation of 
 men, nor to appear anything but what it really is ; it thinks not 
 of itself, but simply of doing the will of God, and of pleasing 
 others as its own greatest pleasure. 
 
 Such is the lovely character of divine wisdom. It is well 
 to remark how James always seeks to have self-wiU in the 
 place of silence, so that it may be capable of doing that of God, 
 and of manifesting the character that partakes of the divine 
 nature — the character of Christ, God manifest in the flesh. He 
 came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who had sent 
 Him ; and always submitted even to injustice and wrongs, doing 
 good, and walking in quietness and in love. To do good, to 
 suffer, and to have patience, is, says Peter, acceptable to God. 
 Then love is free when self is dead. It walks in peace, and 
 makes peace, and " the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of 
 them that make peace." Thus I understand these few words. 
 " Blessed are the peacemakers (the procurers of peace) for they 
 shall be called the sons of God." It is the reproduction of the 
 peace and love of God in human walk, as those do in whom 
 Christ is manifested here below. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 131 
 
 Chapter IV; 
 
 Having recommended the spirit of peace in the ways of 
 Christians, James now inquires, " From whence come wars and 
 fightings among you ? " Here we must ask ourselves what 
 " among you " means. It is not necessarily among Christians. 
 Meekness and wisdom, a wisdom gentle and easy to be entreated, 
 characterised the Christian (chap. iii. 17). But, as we have 
 already seen, these were still in the midst of the twelve tribes ; 
 and the latter are no doubt included in the words " among you." 
 Christians, however, might become implicated in these contests ; 
 so that the exhortation applies to them also. This striving was 
 the result of lust. The will was not broken, concupiscence 
 tormented the heart, desiring to possess what it could not 
 obtain ; conscience silenced by the oppression of lust, the 
 desires left free by the will, free rein was given to the passions. 
 They killed, and desired to have, yet could not obtain ; they 
 foucrht and strove, but were not satisfied. 
 
 Dependence on God was forgotten, and the will worked in 
 its own way; they did not ask of God, or if they asked, it was 
 only with the desire of making God subservient to their lusts. 
 God does not answer such prayers. Sad state of man ! God 
 was forgotten, and, still worse, the heart was enslaved by lust 
 and under the yoke of concupiscence, far from peace and rest ; 
 war within, open sin without ; without God in the world — the 
 morning scene where these desires are enacted — or if God was 
 known. He was forgotten by the rebellious heart. 'Tor the 
 friendship of the world is enmity against God." The Christian 
 who is conformed to the world forgets that he has been purged 
 from his old sins. He walks in forgetfulness of God in the 
 ways of unbelievers, and conscience is deadened by the 
 restraint of lust. When he asks of God, he does not receive, 
 because he does so as a man of the world for the increase of 
 his pleasures. 
 
 It is not necessary to believe that all whom he calls " adul- 
 
132 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 terers and adulteresses" were so in reality. There were many 
 such sinners in the world, and others, though Christians, were 
 walking in the same spirit of faithlessness to God, and so 
 gave free rein to lust. This truly is not Christian walk ; but 
 when a Christian leaves the ways of God, and mixes with the 
 world, he often becomes ashamed of his Christianity ; he 
 does not dare to confess the Lord's name ; then, conscience 
 becoming hardened, he is soon as bad as, or worse than the 
 world, having leapt over every barrier. Satan rejoices to see 
 the name of Christ dishonoured by those who bear it. 
 
 But a principle of much importance is contained in this 
 passage, "The friendship of the world is enmity with God, 
 and whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of 
 God." This is a powerful testimony which judges our ways, 
 and lays bare the heart. The world has proved its true 
 character by rejecting and crucifying the Son of God. Man 
 had already been tried without law, and under law ; but when 
 he had shown himself utterly bad without law, and had violated 
 the law when he received it, then God Himself came in grace, 
 making Himself man, in order to bring His love directly to the 
 heart of man, by taking his nature. This was the last oppor- 
 tunity for the human heart. He came not to impute sin, but 
 to reconcile the world with Himself. But the world would not 
 receive Him, but showed itself to be under the power of Satan 
 and of darkness. It saw and hated both Christ and His Fatlier. 
 
 The world is always the same ; Satan is the prince of it ; 
 and all that goes on in it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
 eye, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but of the world. 
 The human heart, the flesh, is what it has always been since the 
 fall, enmity against God. It is often thought and said that after 
 the death of Christ, Satan was no longer the prince of the world, 
 but it was precisely then that he showed himself to be the prince 
 of it, by leading all men, Jews and Gentiles, to crucify the 
 Saviour. Though men may bear the name of Christ, yet the 
 opposition of the world to His authority stiU remains unchanged. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 1.33 
 
 Only try, and you will see if the name of Christ is not 
 dishonoured. People may be taught to honour it, but it is 
 not the less true that when in the enjoyment of the freedom of 
 their will, they resist Christ, for fear of their pleasures being 
 interfered with. If left to himself, man does think of Him ; 
 he does not wish to speak of the Saviour, for he sees no beauty 
 in Him that he should desire Him. He loves to do his own 
 will, and does not wish the Lord to come and hinder him. 
 He prefers vanity and pleasure. We have the true history 
 of the world, and its practical principle in that of Cain. 
 Having killed his brother, he was driven from the presence 
 of God, despairing of grace, and refusing to humble himself. 
 Through the judgment of God, he became a vagabond on the 
 earth. But such a position was not pleasing to him. He there- 
 fore built a city in the land of Nod. Now " Nod " is only the 
 Hebrew word for "vagabond." He established himseK where God 
 had made him a vagabond, and called the city by the name of his 
 son, in order to perpetuate the greatness of his family. But it 
 would have been insupportable for his city to be deprived of all 
 the delights of life. He therefore added wealth to his son ; then 
 another member of the family invented musical instruments ; and 
 another was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. 
 Such was the world, driven out by God, and seeking to render 
 its position more agreeable without Him, and to find content- 
 ment at a distance from Him. 
 
 Now by the coming of Christ, the state of man's heart is 
 brought to light, not only as seeking the pleasures of the flesh, 
 but as enmity against God. Whatever might be the goodness 
 of God, he would not be disturbed in the enjoyment of the 
 pleasures of the world, nor submit to the authority of another, 
 but insisted on possessing the world for himself, striving for 
 its acquirement, and rending it out of the hands of those to 
 whom it belonged. Now it is evident that " the friendship of the 
 world is enmity against God." As far as possible, it has cast 
 God out of the world. Man desires to be great in this world. 
 
134 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 We know that the workl has crucified the Son of God, that it has 
 found no beauty in the One in whom was all God's delight. 
 
 Not in vain the Scripture says, " The spirit that dwelleth in 
 us lusteth only to envy." But on the other hand (and here we 
 find the means of conquering it), " God resisteth the proud, but 
 giveth more grace to the humble." This is the true secret of 
 power and victory in the midst of the difficulties and opposition 
 of the world. 
 
 James again insists on humility, and that the will of man 
 should be broken, and he himself in subjection to God. For 
 obedience and absence of self-will is true humility ; and to 
 this the goodness and grace of God lead man. Confidence in 
 God leads the soul to submit to Him. It is a duty and a neces- 
 sity that this should be the case ; but when confidence exists, 
 it is done with willingness of heart. It is the truth of our rela- 
 tionship with God, and in this the soul finds happiness. We 
 do not need a will of our own, when God, who loves us, has 
 a will for us in all things. We ought to trust in Him. What 
 grace that the all-powerful God should think always of us in 
 every circumstance of our life ! The devil is an enemy, who 
 seeks to deceive us, raise up envy, and endeavours to get the 
 better of us by means of our lusts. He may often stir up per- 
 secution in order to hinder us in the way of faithfulness ; but 
 in every day life he deceives us by things adapted to the flesh. 
 
 If we suffer persecution, we should glory in it. " For unto 
 you it is given," says the apostle Paul, " not only to believe on 
 Him, but also to suffer for His sake." But the danger of Satan's 
 deceit always exists ; it surrounds us continually. The import- 
 ant thing is that we should so live in communion with God, 
 and according to the new man, that we may be able to detect 
 the wiles of the devil, which are opposed to obedience to the will 
 of God. It may be said that evil is only too apparent. When 
 Satan proposed to the Lord to make bread of stones and eat, 
 that was not an apparent evil. To eat when we are hungry does 
 not seem wrong ; but in that case it would have been disobe- 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 135 
 
 dience. Satan could do nothing. To eat simply because we are 
 hungry is an instinctive action, and has no reference to God. But 
 we ought to do everything, even eating, in the name of Christ, giving 
 God thanks. All is holy for us, if we realise the presence of God. 
 
 Satan then cannot be hid when he resists obedience ; and 
 when discovered, he departs, knowing that he has met Him who 
 has conquered him — Christ in us. The word of God is enough 
 to enable us to walk in a path where Satan is powerless, where 
 he is obliged to leave us, for there we discover his deceit, and 
 learn that he is our enemy. This was the case with the Saviour. 
 He quoted the word of God, and the devil was silenced, but 
 then sought to deceive Him by other means. He did not show 
 himself openly ; but the perfect obedience of Jesus deprived his 
 snares of all power. But when Satan manifested his real cha- 
 racter by offering Him worldly glory. He sent him away, and he 
 departed. The Lord's path is ours ; His strength is ours ; and 
 if we walk with Him in obedience, His wisdom will be ours too. 
 Only He has already vanquished the tempter. The difficulty 
 is to walk sufficiently in communion with Him to be able to 
 discern the snares. We need the whole armour of God. 
 
 If the presence of God is realised by the heart, and His 
 Spirit governs it, if the feeling of dependence is active, we shall 
 be conscious that what the enemy presents to us is not of God, 
 and the will of the new man will refuse it. Once discovered 
 and resisted, he has no more power ; Jesus has conquered him 
 for us. We learn that if we resist him, he will flee from us. 
 He understands that he has met with the Spirit of Christ, and 
 flees. The trouble is that we do not always resist. We accept his 
 snares, because the will of God is not everything to us, and 
 because we desire to please ourselves. If grace is known, obedi- 
 ence and dependence guard us from the attacks of the devil. 
 Against the resistance of faith he has no power ; he is mani- 
 fested as Satan — the adversary — as when Jesus allowed Himself 
 to be tempted for us, he fled before resistance. And he knows 
 that it is the same that he meets in us. 
 
136 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 This is not the place to speak of the armour of God, but a 
 few words may be useful. Everything in it, up to the sword, is 
 connected with the state of the soul — the effect of truth in 
 keeping it in good order and regulating its affections, and the 
 conscience possessing all its strength according to the will of 
 God ; the breastplate of practical righteousness, so that the 
 conscience may be pure ; and in the walk, the feet vshod with 
 the preparation of the gospel of peace — this is conduct — bearing 
 the stamp of the peace we enjoy in Christ. Then there is the 
 confidence in God that produces these things, and that prevents 
 the fiery darts of the wicked from harming us. " If God be for 
 us, who can be against us ? " Doubts and evil thoughts of God 
 will not find entrance to the heart. The assurance of salvation 
 enables us to lift up the head in battle with the enemy. Then 
 we can take up the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and 
 use it in the conflict. Protected by the armour of God from the 
 assaults of the enemy, we can be active in employing the word 
 in the Lord's service, always, however, in dependence on Him 
 for aid. This dependence expresses itself in prayers and suppli- 
 cation. Let us then resist the devil, and he will flee from us. 
 
 Verse 8. " Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to 
 you." Here the activity of the heart is shown in dependence. 
 Thanks be to God we can draw near to Him. His throne is for 
 us a throne of grace. We can come before His face without 
 fear, through His love, and, by the precious blood of Christ, 
 enter into the holiest. In His presence we learn holiness, we 
 discern His will ; the eye sees clearly in this pure air, and sub- 
 mission is found in the heart. " The secret of the Lord is with 
 them that fear Him." These walk with God, are taught of 
 Him, and their whole body is full of light. Then He is with 
 us, near to us, inspiring us with confidence. " If God be for us, 
 who can be against us ?" says the apostle. Not only is God's 
 power with us, but His presence produces liberty and confidence 
 in the heart, since we feel that we possess the knowledge of His 
 wiU, because He is with us. The consciousness of His presence 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. i37 
 
 produces joy, calmness, and courage in the presence of the 
 enemy, and amid the difficulties of the way, we rest in Him. 
 " Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the 
 pride of man ; Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from 
 the strife of tongues." The presence of God, a true and real 
 thing for the heart, keeps the conscience wakeful, and the heart 
 full of quiet confidence. " Draw nigh to God." 
 
 But in order to do so, the hands must be cleansed, and the 
 heart purified, that we may not be double-minded. God is 
 light, and must have purity and uprightness in the inward man. 
 Full of goodness and condescension, He is ready to help the 
 weak ; but to the double-minded He turns a deaf ear. He 
 must have a pure walk and a true heart in those who seek to 
 be near Him. This cannot be otherwise ; He keeps at a distance 
 from those whose hearts are not open in His presence. He sees 
 all, whatever it may be ; but He desires a true heart, in order 
 to listen to it. James, too, when he thinks of the foolish joy of 
 this world, which leads to eternal ruin, calls upon those who have 
 ears to hear, to be afflicted, and mourn, and weep ; to turn their 
 laughter into mourning, and their joy into heaviness. The in- 
 telligent soul of those who think of others, and have a heart 
 moved by love — the Christian who shares in the Spirit, and 
 therefore in the feelings of Christ, will be alive to the moral and 
 actual misery which surrounds him ; he will have joy in Christ, 
 but sorrow with regard to the state of the men of the world. 
 
 Sin has rendered the world unhappy and wretched, and on 
 every hand the ills it has introduced are apparent ; but never- 
 theless, the heart feels the goodness of God in the midst of 
 everything, and rejoices in eternal salvation, and in the goodness 
 that has secured it. It rejoices, too, in the daily blessings of 
 God, but knows nothing of the foolish joy of the world, that seeks 
 to conceal the void that is in the heart, or avoid by laughter 
 the consciousness of its misery. But when the man of the world 
 is alone, this void and frequently sorrow, make themselves felt ; 
 with his companions he forgets them in laughter ; it does not 
 
 L 
 
138 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 suit them to recognise sorrow, or to concern themselves about it 
 in others ; they must make people think they are happy. The 
 world cannot be truthful in public ; sorrow and affliction are too 
 true. The Lord could weep, but could not laugh. Love and 
 Christian sense follow His example from the heart, and from the 
 same feeling. James desires that the foolishness of the world 
 should be exchanged for Christian feelings of love and of 
 wisdom. In the following chapter, too, we shall see that judg- 
 ment will shortly put an end to the false joy of the world. 
 Here the exhortation is moral, there it is in connection with the 
 close of this joy by the hand of the Lord. 
 
 Ver. 10. " Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and 
 He shall lift you up." This is what Christ did (Phil, ii), and 
 what He said. He who humbleth himself, the same shall be 
 exalted. " God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the 
 humble." Humility is becoming to man, to his littleness in 
 God's sight, in the consciousness of the greatness of His grace, 
 and in that of all that he is in himself The glory that awaits 
 the Christian is also a source of humility to him, for he knows 
 how unworthy of it he is ; he knows that he can do nothing in 
 divine things without God. 
 
 But James speaks, thinking of the pride of the spirit of the 
 world, which was found also in Christians, exhortingly, and desires 
 not merely humility, but that they should humble themselves. 
 The spirit of man springs up so easily, that it is necessary to 
 humble ourselves, and realise the presence of God. Here we 
 shall be ever humble, have the consciousness of our own little- 
 ness, and think of God and not of ourselves. To exalt the 
 proud would be only to encourage pride, which does not become 
 sinful man, neither the pious man, for piety and pride cannot 
 go together. But God takes pleasure in exalting the humble ; 
 and the elevation that comes from God is a source of gratitude 
 and joy, and not of pride. It is found in God in the feeling of 
 His goodness. 
 
 When one humbles himself, it is in the sigM of God, not of 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 139 
 
 men — it is a true inward work that destroys his good opinion of 
 himself, realises the presence and greatness of God, gives Him 
 His true place in the heart, and to Himself His own. Then all 
 is true, and it is only then that he can work for God according 
 to the truth. These verses (9 and 10) are the effect of the real- 
 isation of the presence of God in a world of sin and misery, in 
 a heart that dwells there, and feels the two things. 
 
 James sees that the world is full of evil, that it lies in wicked- 
 ness, under the power of Satan, has rejected the Lord Jesus, 
 that the friendship of it is enmity against God, and that he 
 who will be its friend is the enemy of God. In the world lust 
 finds that which nourishes it, and it desires to possess what it 
 envies, or to appropriate what belongs to others. Self-will is 
 lust ; / governs this world. 
 
 But God, working by grace in the heart of the Christian, can 
 enable him to subdue both the world and lust. The proud who 
 trusts in his own strength, and does only his own will, God re- 
 sists ; and He knows, too, how to humble such ; but in His 
 perfect goodness He gives grace to the humble. Precious gift, 
 which by the feeling that divine strength is with us, and the 
 knowledge of God's favour and love, encourages hearts that may 
 be cast down in view of all that surrounds them. A humble 
 man is a happy man, and rejoices in the knowledge of the love 
 of God resting on Him. One must also be subject to God. His 
 will is not always pleasing to the heart, and does not agree with 
 its desires ; but it becomes the creature to submit ; and God is 
 wise, and makes all things work together for good to them that 
 love Him. His ways too are always the effect of grace towards 
 us, so that it is our wisdom to submit to His hand. 
 
 "We have yet another great consolation ; and this is that 
 the adversary, the devil, has no power against us. If we resist 
 him, he flees from us. If we listen to his wiles, he can and does 
 deceive us ; but Christ has vanquished him ; and if we resist 
 him simply and faithfully with an upright heart, he discovers 
 that he has met with Christ, and so flees, unable to accomplish 
 
I40 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 anytliing — unable to enter into tlie sanctuary of the heart where 
 Christ dwells. How great this consolation and blessing, beyond 
 all telling ! Though feeble, yet if we liave Christ as our sup- 
 port, we can conquer all our enemies ; and God gives all the 
 grace that is needful to us. His strength is enough against the 
 power of the enemy. 
 
 Moreover, we must draw nigh to God. Little by little, we 
 learn our dependence on Him ; but the danger of going on in- 
 dependently always exists ; and God desires that we should feel 
 the necessity of seeking Him, and that the heart should be 
 active in doing so. This, no doubt, is the effect of grace ; but 
 grace works in us to produce the will ; and dependence on, and 
 trust in, God are expressed in our drawing nigh to Him. These 
 things form the link between the heart and God, and He never 
 fails to respond to them. As confidence grows, one loves in- 
 creasingly the dependence that recognises the perfect love of 
 God, and the precious truth that He withdraws not His eyes 
 from the righteous ; that in His great goodness, full of conde- 
 scension. He is occupied with every circumstance of our life, 
 our individual character, and our difficulties, and that He does 
 not consider it beneath Him to think of us, no matter how in- 
 significant we may be, nor of all that concerns us. Though He 
 may make us wait, in order that faith may be exercised, yet He 
 never fails to answer. Daniel had to wait three weeks ; but the 
 answer came, and his heart was satisfied by the communication 
 of the perfect goodness of God towards His people, and by the 
 promise of the coming of Christ. God draws nigh to us — what 
 great and precious grace ! The heart adores and loses itself in 
 the love of God in which now it dwells ; and which is an unfail- 
 ing support of its confidence. 
 
 That which follows contains particular precepts, rather than 
 a continued argument. Sinners are to cleanse their hands, and 
 those that are double-minded to purify their hearts ; their con- 
 duct is to be simple and pure, so that they may be blessed of 
 God. The conduct must not be unjust nor crooked, nor must 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 141 
 
 the heart be vacillating between the world and the Lord, for 
 then we can expect neither happiness in the heart nor blessing 
 from God. In a corrupt and evil world the Christian walk is 
 not suited to the laughter and joy of the flesh. Judgment was 
 ready to fall on the Jewish nation and on the world. It was 
 needful, therefore, that laughter should be turned into mourning 
 and joy into heaviness. 
 
 James then exhorts those to whom he writes to humble them- 
 selves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift them up. He 
 feels deeply the worldly folly of men, and even of Christians, who 
 walk in the spirit of the world, mixed up with it, not only as to 
 the body, but in heart and ways. Such a walk does not become 
 a Christian. The fear of God, and the fact that the world has 
 crucified the Lord, makes the judgment that awaits it present to 
 him, although he does not know at what moment it will be exe- 
 cuted. It is better, far better, that his heart should be attracted 
 by a glorified Lord — the bright and morning star — and by the 
 things which are above ; but if he be inclined to walk with and 
 as the world, then the world gains power over him, and he has to 
 be brought to feel that the end of it and the judgment of God are 
 approaching, and to listen to the voice and warnings of God 
 which announce that "the day shall come as a thief in the night." 
 If he listen, the Lord will lift him up and bless him. But who, 
 that has not listened, shall be able to endure the day when He 
 comes to judge ? To the Christian, however, the coming of the 
 Lord is another thing. He will come. He tells us Himself, to take 
 us, to catch us up in the air, to receive us into His Father's house, 
 whither He is gone to prepare our heavenly and eternal abode. 
 
 " Speak not evil," says our Epistle, " one of another." This 
 is a precept that would restrain many tongues if they were 
 obedient, and would put an end to much evil. Love could not 
 do so ; but the tongue, as we have seen, is an unruly evil, full 
 of deadly poison, and can kindle a very great matter. But 
 further, he who speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, 
 speaks evil of the law, and judges the law ; because the law 
 
142 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 gives us the brother as the object of the love of God, and not 
 that he may be persecuted, evilly spoken of, and degraded in 
 the sight of others. Such an one forgets the position in which 
 the law has placed the brother. If we take the place of judges 
 and legislators, we place ourselves above the law ; we transgress 
 it, and do not obey it, nor follow its precepts. " There is one 
 Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy," Who are we to 
 judge others ? 
 
 The word also condemns false trust in the purposes of our 
 own hearts. The human heart, at a distance from God, thinks 
 that it can direct its own steps, and decide, without thinking 
 either of His will or of Himself, what it will do. Perhaps the 
 thing may not be evil, and does not make the conscience uneasy ; 
 but God is totally forgotten. Man acts without God, as though 
 the world were given up to him, as though God had retired from 
 the scene, and His will went for nothing. Such a man, as to 
 religion, as to his duty in practical things of every-day life, lives 
 in atheism. God does not enter into his thoughts. Eiches, 
 worldly ambition, though he may not be living in evil pleasures, 
 are what govern his heart. He does not realise that he belongs 
 to God, bought, if he be a Christian, with the precious blood of 
 Christ ; he lays his plans according to his own will, his own 
 wisdom, and his own worldly interest. God is unthought of ; 
 and without God in the world, he seeks earthly things, and in 
 fact is not where God dwells. If we labour to obtain what is 
 necessary, this is according to the will of God, and we can ask 
 His blessing. Here, however, it is not a question of this, but of 
 the man who disposes of his time, and seeks gain for himself, 
 without looking to God, or waiting for His direction, or the 
 manifestation of His will. 
 
 But man does not know what the morrow may bring forth ; 
 he does not know that his life will continue for another day. 
 " It is a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then 
 vanisheth away." Such is life here below. We ought to say, 
 " If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." All this 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 143 
 
 boasting is evil. James, always and everywhere, opposes the 
 pretensions of the will of man ; he insists that it should be 
 broken, and that man should take his true place of obedience 
 and submission, God must have His place, and man be 
 dependent and obedient. All the activity, and all the preten- 
 sions of man's own will are evil. 
 
 There is another important principle at the close of this 
 chapter. The will of man is always evil. "Where understanding 
 to do good exists, and yet is not done, the heart, or at least the 
 state of the man, is evil. Grace and love are wanting. Self- 
 interest, self-will, and the satisfaction of his own will, characterise 
 the natural man ; doing of good, desire for the well-being of 
 others, and the service of others, are the fruits of love. When 
 the understanding of what is good exists, and the opportunity 
 of doing it presents itself, if a man does not do it, it is a sign 
 that his heart is evil ; the love of others and the desire of doing 
 good are wanting. Not to do good is evil ; it shows the absence 
 of grace, and the activity of self-will. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 The portion of the faithful is not in this world. Christ has 
 acquired them for Himself, that they might be fashioned like 
 unto His glorious body, and be co-heirs with Him; for His 
 love desires that they should enjoy all that He Himself enjoys. 
 His love is perfect. It is a great privilege to be called to suffer 
 for Him ; but this is not the portion of all. Still, " all that will 
 live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. iii. 12). 
 It is not possible to avoid suffering with Him ; for if we have the 
 Spirit of Christ, we feel as He did. Holiness suffers in view of the 
 sin that exists everywhere, and also of the state of the Church of 
 God and His own, as well as from the misery that surrounds us, 
 and the blindness of souls that will have neither Christ nor sal- 
 vation. Each must bear his cross ; and God allows us to suffer, 
 for by this means we learn patience, and that our inheritance is 
 
144 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 not below. Experience, the realisation of practical truth, is estab- 
 lished in the heart, and hope becomes brighter and stronger. 
 This of course supposes that the love of God is shed abroad in the 
 heart by the Holy Ghost. If this be not the case, God allows 
 sufferings to come, and even sends them, in order to restore 
 the heart. Those whom He loves He rebukes and chastens. 
 
 James denounces the rich who possess this w^orld's goods, 
 but give no thought to the poor ; while " blessed is he that 
 considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in time of 
 trouble " (Ps. xli. 1). He who despises the poor because of 
 their poverty, despises the Lord Himself. " I am ]30or and 
 needy," says the Lord in the Psalm preceding that from which 
 the words above are quoted. The Lord pronounced His blessing 
 on the poor to whom the gospel had been preached. It was 
 a sign of the Messiah. We all know that a poor man may be 
 just as bad as a rich man ; but riches are a positive danger for 
 us, because they encourage pride, and tend to keep us apart from 
 the poor, with whom the Lord associated in the world. " Though 
 He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through 
 His poverty might be made rich." 
 
 But here the rich went to still greater lengths in evil ; they 
 oppressed the poor, they had not paid the hire of those who 
 laboured for them. This brings us into the presence of the last 
 days. But the cries of the poor had entered into the ears of 
 the Lord of Sabbaoth. The rich are bidden to weep and howl 
 for the miseries coming upon them. They had lived on the earth 
 in pleasure and in wantonness. And not only this ; but when 
 living in pleasure, man does not like any one to come in and 
 disturb his contentment. And this was why he condemned and 
 slew the Just One. He had not resisted them ; but they desired 
 to secure the enjoyment of this world, amid that false peace that 
 thinks neither of God, nor of judgment, nor yet of death. When 
 conscience is stirred up, then men are disturbed ; but these had 
 hardened their hearts that they might not be awakened. 
 
 For a moment God does not change the course of the world. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 14S 
 
 If He were to do so, He would have to execute judgment, 
 instead of labouring in love for the wicked and for sinners. 
 Though He will not yet strike, yet the accomplishment of His 
 promise is not delayed ; but He is longsuffering, not willing 
 that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 
 Christians, therefore, must not let their hearts be discouraged, but 
 continue patient and submissive to the evil around them, till the 
 Lord come. As Christ Himself suffered, doing good, and yet 
 was patient, so must the Christian follow in His footsteps. 
 Our portion is not in this world ; if we suffer doing good, this 
 is acceptable to God, and still more so, if it be for Christ's sake. 
 The Saviour's life was nothing but suffering and patience ; but 
 now He is glorified at the right hand of God. Soon He will 
 come again to this world in the glory of the Father, in His 
 own, and in that of the angels ; and then He shall be " glorified 
 in His saints, and admired in all them that believe." 
 
 At that glorious day, when the poorest of His people, those 
 who have been oppressed by the enemies of the truth, shall be 
 like the Lord Himself in glory, we shall rejoice in having been 
 able to suffer for Him, and in having been patient and silent 
 in the unjust sorrows of the Christian life. Then blessed are 
 they whom He shall find watching, for " He shall gird Himself, 
 and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and 
 serve them." What joy ! what grace ! It will be the glory of 
 the Saviour to bring us into the enjoyment of the blessings of 
 the Father's house, and to make us receive them from His 
 own hand. It is worth suffering a little, and for a little while, 
 for Him, and then to possess heavenly blessings, communicated 
 to us by the hand and from the heart of Jesus Himself. We 
 shall reign with Him — our prize for the work given us to do 
 for Him here ; if it were only a cup of water given in the 
 name of Jesus, it shall in no wise lose its reward. But much 
 better will it be to sit in peaceful enjoyment of the eternal 
 blessings of the Father's house, which Christ wiU. minister to us 
 abundantly, in precious token of His approval and of His love. 
 
146 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 Here let us notice that the coming of the Lord was a 
 present hope. Those who were oppressed were to be patient 
 till this coming. " Be ye also patient," says James ; " stablish 
 your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." " They 
 were then deceived," some one will say. Certainly not. It is 
 quite possible that we may die before His coming, and this was 
 the case with them. But they will reap the fruit of their 
 patience when the Lord does come. Already, at this moment, 
 they are with Him, absent from the body, present with the 
 Lord ; and then they shall enjoy the fruit of the sufferings they 
 endured with patience for His name's sake, seeking to glorify 
 Him here below. 
 
 But this exhortation clearly shows that this hope was a 
 present thing, entering into all the thread of the Christian life. 
 It was not merely an idea in the mind, a matter of knowledge, 
 01 a dogma of faith only. They were personally expecting the 
 Lord ; and what a comfort this was to the poor and the 
 oppressed ! What a check to the rich to be always expecting 
 the Lord — to know that He is coming soon, that then sorrows 
 shall cease, and we shall be for ever with Him who has loved 
 us. Nothing effects detachment from the world like the ex- 
 pectation of the Lord. I do not say the doctrine of His coming, 
 but the true expectation of the Lord. His coming detaches us 
 from it for ever ; and the heart waits till He comes. 
 
 The Lord's supper expresses the Christian position — the 
 Lord's death when He came the first time, which we celebrate 
 with thanksgiving, remembering Him who has loved us, and 
 feeding on His love, till He shall come to take us to be with 
 Himself, It is the outward expression of the practical state of 
 the Christian as a Christian, of Christianity itself ; but it is only 
 by the Holy Ghost that we can show forth His death in truth. 
 
 There is still another point worthy of notice in this exhorta- 
 tion. " Be patient therefore, brethren." We are always waiting, 
 if we have really understood our position ; but whatever our 
 desires may be, we cannot command the Lord to come, neither 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 147 
 
 can we know when He will come. All His body, His bride, 
 must be formed, every member must be present, converted and 
 sealed by the Holy Ghost. Then He will come to take us. 
 Christ Himself is now seated on the Father's throne, not yet on 
 His own. He also is waiting at this moment, and certainly 
 with greater love than we do. This is why the "patience of 
 Christ " is spoken of. This is the true meaning of the words in 
 Eev. i. 9, and also in chapter iii. 10, " Because thou hast kept 
 the word of My patience ; " and again in 2 Thess. iii. 5, " Into the 
 patience of Christ." The word is the same in these three passages. 
 
 We learn also, in the Epistle to the Hebrews (x. 12), that 
 Christ is set down at the right hand of God ; and, moreover, 
 that He is expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. 
 We may well expect, if Christ expects ; though for us it may be 
 in suffering and conflict. He awaits the moment when He will 
 come to reign, and bring full blessing to His own, whether in 
 heaven or whether on the earth, and banish evil from both places. 
 
 It is needful then to have patience, so that neither will, nor 
 weariness in the conflict may take possession of the soul. It is 
 certain that God's time is the best, that which divine wisdom 
 and love may appoint. We have the affections set on the Lord 
 and on things above, so that we may look for Him with desire, 
 yet with broken will and firm faith, leaving His return to the 
 decision of God. We cannot hasten Him ; but the heart must 
 have perfect trust in His love. Sure it is that the Lord waits 
 with more love than that with which we expect Him, calm in 
 trust, and patient in our walk through the wilderness. It is 
 sweet to wait for Christ, for fulness of joy with Him. Thanks 
 be to God, He " draweth nigh." 
 
 Two practical consequences are drawn by James from this 
 expectation of the Lord. First, the Christian must not resist 
 evil. The Just One did not do so. He must wait with patience, 
 as the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has 
 long patience for the early and the latter rain — the Lord's means 
 of bringing the fruit of His harvest to perfection. The Christian 
 
148 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 must stablisli liis heart amid the vicissitudes of life and the per- 
 secutions of the world, the constant enemy of the Lord, thinking 
 ever of his expectation. 
 
 James then exhorts the disciples not to walk in a spirit of 
 complaint and strife one against another. If we expect the 
 Lord, the spirit is quiet and contented ; persecution does not 
 irritate us ; and we sustain with patience the ills of the desert, 
 resisting as Christ resisted, suffering and enduring wrong, ever 
 trustful in God. We are content and calm with a happy and 
 benevolent spirit, for it is easy for a happy heart to be bene- 
 volent. The coming of the Lord will put everything in order, 
 and our happiness is elsewhere. Paul says, " Let your modera- 
 tion be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand " (Phil. iv. 
 5). What a real, powerful, and actual thing was the expectation 
 of the Lord ! Wliat power it exercised over the heart ! " The 
 judge standeth before the door." 
 
 Then examples are given. The prophets were examples of 
 affliction and of patience. They loved and counted happy them 
 that endured. They were not alone. Others had suffered 
 ]Datiently, and were counted happy. Per example, if we see one 
 suffer for the name of Jesus in this world unjustly, if he is 
 patient, meek, his heart forgiving those who persecute him, rather 
 than irritated against them, we see then the power of faith and 
 confidence in the love and faithfulness of the Lord. Beholding 
 him calm and full of joy, we exclaim, " How happy grace makes 
 him ! " And we ourselves are happy when we suffer ; at least 
 we ought to be. But it is one thing to admire others, who are 
 sustained by the Spirit of Christ, and another to glory in 
 tribulation ourselves. A broken will, confidence in God, com- 
 munion with Him who has suffered for us — this is what is 
 necessary to enable us to glory in tribulation. 
 
 Job also is an example ; but he is introduced here to show 
 the end of the Lord, that He is very pitiful and of tender 
 mercy. But the example is very instructive. Job was a man, 
 perfect and upright, fearing the Lord, and eschewing evil. But 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 149 
 
 he began to be self-satisfied ; he did right, but thought of his 
 own uprightness ; it was hidden self-righteousness, and this 
 destroyed his godliness. God does not withdraw His eyes from 
 the righteous. He saw Job's danger, and directed the attention 
 of Satan to him. It was God who began. Satan, the accuser of 
 the saints, insists that Job should be tried and he would prove 
 a hypocrite. God permits him to tempt him, to do to him what 
 he would, putting a limit, however, to his malice. He does, 
 accordingly, all he is allowed to do ; yet Job remains submissive, 
 and does not sin with his lips. Satan persists in his accusations, 
 insinuating that if the temptation were increased, he would 
 curse God to His face. God gives him all power, except over 
 his life. But Job still remains faithful, and sins not ; he liad 
 received good at the Lord's hand, and should he not receive 
 evil ? His wife tempts him in vain. 
 
 Through grace Job triumphed over Satan, who was unable 
 to shake him. By the grdce of God, the efforts of the enemy 
 are conquered. "Ye have heard of the patience of Job." 
 From Satan's accusation of hypocrisy Job is fully justified. 
 But the work of God for his blessing was not yet complete. By 
 His grace, He had sustained His servant's heart against the 
 enemy, and Job had showed himself faithful. Satan had done 
 much as the instrument of the ways of God in bringing misery 
 on him ; but his heart was yet untouched ; he did not know 
 himself Quite the contrary. Although the preparation had 
 been made by means of Satan, yet Job was practically justified 
 from his accusations by the grace of God ; but if he had 
 been allowed to remain thus, his state would have been still 
 worse ; he would at least have been in greater danger than ever. 
 He would have been able to say, " I was meek and upright in 
 prosperity, and now patient in adversity." It was necessary 
 that God should finish His work, and that Job should know his 
 own heart. 
 
 Job's friends come to see him, and remain seated, stupefied 
 by the condition in which they find him. Alas ! pride is often 
 
150 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 awakened before men, and being wounded, irritates the heart ; 
 and fortitude fails in presence of sympathy. However this was 
 the bottom of Job's heart shows itself when his friends are 
 present. He curses the day of his birth. Job is naked, not only 
 before God — which we all are — but, what is equally painful, 
 before himself. Where now is his gracious meekness ? He 
 fights against God, calling himself more just than He. Still it is 
 beautiful to see that at the bottom of his heart there were just 
 and true thoughts of God. 
 
 His friends pretended that the world was a perfect demon- 
 stration of the government of God ; in consequence of which 
 Job, since he professed godliness, was a hypocrite. This un- 
 just judgment, however, he resists ; declaring that, though the 
 hand of God may be often manifested, yet He allows evil to run 
 its course without interfering ; because the wicked prosper. But 
 he allows the bitterness of his heart to appear. And though 
 Job may be accused of making himself more righteous than 
 God, yet God still governs ; He does not withdraw His eyes 
 from the righteous, and chastens them in love. Then God mani- 
 fests Himself to Job, and shows him the folly of contending 
 with Him. And now he owns his error and his nothingness. 
 Instead of saying, " When the eye saw me, it gave witness 
 of me," he says, " Now mine eye seeth Thee ; wherefore I 
 abhor myself,^ and repent in dust and ashes." He knows himself 
 before God. Then God can bless him, even more than at the 
 beginning. Such is the end of the Lord ! Job was patient 
 in the greatest misery and trial ; God sounded his heart, and 
 then blessed him abundantly. 
 
 Verse 12. James continues the subject that is the scope of 
 his teaching. The will must not work, nor the flesh manifest 
 itself. The motions of nature must be held in check, and the 
 heart kept from following these motions of impatience, which 
 are only too natural to the carnal mind. 
 
 ^ In the Hebrew the word is still more emphatic. It signifies to detest, to 
 abominate, to despise. 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 151 
 
 If a man swears, he allows this impatience of the heart 
 to work, forgets the glory and majesty of God, and associates 
 Him with unsubdued flesh in order to strengthen an assertion or 
 support a vow without reverence ; or, instead of God, he invokes 
 some creature whom he invests with the authority and power 
 that belong to God alone. The root of this is an unsubdued 
 will, the unrestrained passion of the heart. Intuitively con- 
 scious of his inability to assure the effect of his thoughts, 
 man introduces God irreverently, just as a heathen would a 
 deified creature, as the occasion presented itself. This is not 
 lust, but the unchecked impulse of the flesh (Col. iii. 8). It 
 is irreverence, the presumption and independence of the human 
 spirit, roused to the highest pitch. 
 
 This is why James says, " But above all things " he desired 
 tliat, in peace and quietness, our communication may be yea and 
 nay, calmly in the fear of God. It is all-important to keep the 
 motions of nature in check. We should do so if we saw 
 God before us. We should certainly do so in the presence of 
 a man whom we desired to please ; but God is always present, 
 and to fail in this quietness and moderation is a proof that we 
 forget His presence. 
 
 Verse 13. James sets the soul free from the customs of 
 the world. Man seeks to deceive himself, forgetting his 
 thoughts in folly, and thus to find relief from the cares 
 and troubles he cannot escape from ; but, thanks be to God, 
 He gives help and refuge to the heart in His love, and carries 
 our cares for us. He is not willing that we should be ignorant 
 of the trials of life ; He who withdraws not His eyes from 
 the righteous sends them for our good. Not a sparrow faUs 
 to the ground without our Father — not only without the 
 will of God, but without Him who loves us as a tender Father. 
 He may indeed chasten us ; but He remembers us ; and it is in 
 order to sanctify us, and draw our hearts near to His. 
 
 In drawing nigh to God in afflictions the will is subdued, 
 and the heart comforted and encouraged. God Himself is 
 
152 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 revealed to the soul, and works in it by His grace ; and 
 consciously in His presence, it can say, " It is good to have 
 been afflicted." And not only are we brought nigh to God, but 
 we open our heart to Him who is full of grace, and who desires 
 that we should do so. Not only are we subject to His will, 
 but we present our anxieties before Him. " Be careful for 
 nothing ; but in everything by prayer and supplication with 
 thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 
 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
 shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus " 
 (Phil. iv. 67). Here it is a question of care ; but in affliction 
 we find the same consolation and rest. 
 
 " Who comforteth us in all our tribulation," says the apostle 
 Paul, appealing to the Father of mercies, and the God of all 
 comfort. The hearts of the Philippians were filled with peace 
 through the consolation poured into them. This may happen 
 through circumstances ; but the Spirit of God says, " God that 
 comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the com- 
 ing of Titus." Paul was altogether cast down because he had 
 not found Titus, whom he had sent to the Corinthians, who 
 were walking in much evil. He had left an open door for the 
 gospel at Troas, and now his heart had reached the point of 
 even regretting that he had written his first inspired epistle. 
 His faith had got below the power of God, who had led him to 
 write it. Arrived in Macedonia, still in search of Titus, but 
 bearing testimony to Christ, however, the apostle had no rest 
 in the flesh, but was troubled on every side ; without were 
 fightings, within were fears. God allowed him to feel his weak- 
 ness ; but it is worth while being afflicted, if God Himself be- 
 comes our comforter. Titus arrives, bringing good news of the 
 effect of his first epistle, and the apostle is filled with joy. God 
 often takes away the affliction itself, fills the heart with glad- 
 ness, and pours His consolation into it ; and then it becomes 
 riper by communion with Him. In every affliction prayer is 
 our refuge ; thus we acknowledge our dependence, and trust to 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE -EPISTLE OF JAMES. 153 
 
 the goodness of God. The heart draws nigh to Him. It tells 
 Him its need and its conflict, placing them before the throne 
 and on the heart of God, who replies either by rendering our 
 circumstances happy, or by pouring His own consolations into 
 our hearts — an answer yet more precious than outward happiness 
 — but always by what is best for us, working in perfect love. 
 
 The godly soul, under the influence of grace, approaches 
 God also in gladness ; if it confine itself to that which is the 
 occasion of happiness only, and reposes in it alone, this is a 
 danger for it. But as God is a refuge in trouble, so also 
 He is the portion of the soul in happiness. If I have 
 an occasion of joy, I communicate it to my friend, so that he 
 may rejoice with me, and thus the joy is redoubled. But to the 
 Christian there is more. than this ; his heart feels that God is 
 the source of blessing and the cause of happiness. Even 
 though there be no special reason for gladness, yet his heart is 
 joyous, and the godly soul that lives in communion with God, 
 seeks to have God with it in happiness. 
 
 But if the soul be given up to the joy, this becomes vain and 
 light ; the heart wanders from God, and foUy enters into it. In 
 trial, dependence on God makes itself felt, but in happiness 
 there is a danger of forgetting this dependence, and the joy often 
 ends in a fall. In any case, the flesh is active, and God is for- 
 gotten. James desires then — and this is very important for the 
 Christian — that gladness should be tempered with godliness. 
 
 When thoughts of God exist, they are to be expressed in 
 psalms and in thanksgiving. God is present in joy and faith, 
 and communion and spiritual power are increased by the sense 
 of His goodness. Thus one engaged in the business of life is 
 encouraged and strengthened amid the toils of the wilderness 
 by a more profound sense that God is for him. 
 
 Verse 14. Affliction and happiness lead James to another 
 matter which arose among the Christians — sickness, often, though 
 not always, the effect of chastisement from the Lord. Disease 
 like death, entered through sin, and now is found in all the course 
 
 M 
 
154 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 of human history. But not even a sparrow falls to the ground 
 without the hand of God our Father, as the Lord tells us. And 
 ills belong to the natural state of mankind ; God makes use of 
 them to correct His children. " He withdraweth not His eyes 
 from the righteous." In either case — whether the ills natural to 
 man, or the chastisement of God — He makes use of them, when 
 the heart, instead of receiving all that happens with indifference, 
 draws nigh to God, who thinks of the trials of His people, and 
 considers the submission and the cry of those whom He 
 chastens. 
 
 The prayer of faith saves the sick, and if the malady be the 
 fruit of sin, that which has caused it shall be forgiven. The 
 sufferer owns the hand of God in his sickness, and He responds 
 to the faith of him who prays to Him. In the ways of God 
 there are two kinds of forgiveness — ^Justification for eternity, 
 according to chapter iv. of the Epistle to the Eomans, and x. of 
 that to the Hebrews, is the blessing that belongs to those who 
 trust to the efficacy of the blood of Christ — that is, that their 
 sins are no longer imputed to them. " Whom He called, them 
 He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified." 
 God has been occupied with their sins on the cross, has can- 
 celled them for ever, and remembers them no more. 
 
 There is, however, the government of God, of a Father, but 
 of a holy Father, who loves His children too much to allow 
 them to walk in evil. In the book of Job, when Elihu says 
 that God withdraws not His eyes from the righteous, while 
 indicating the blessing that flows naturally from the favour of 
 God, the effect of His grace, he speaks immediately of chas- 
 tisement, thus clearly explaining Job's case. Here the Spirit 
 of God supposes the possibility of a case of actual failure, speak- 
 ing of actions. But this is not always the ground of chastise- 
 ment. In Job xxxiii. it is said that God seals His instruction by 
 chastisement, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and 
 hide pride from man. He hinders evil, as in the case of Paul 
 (2 Cor. xii.) He, hiimlles man in order to prepare him for bless- 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 155 
 
 ing. In every case He makes all things work together for good 
 to those that love Him (Eom. viii. 28). 
 
 Now if the will be not broken, we lament, murmur, and 
 rebel against God ; but if the soul looks to Him, owning His 
 hand, whether in the ills natural to sinful man, and to which he 
 is heir (though never without the hand of God), or in positive 
 chastisement, even though he may be ignorant why it is sent, he 
 can turn to God, own his state as the effect of His will, and seek 
 the remedy in His grace, submissive to and depending on His 
 power and will. But it is only the faith of true Christians that 
 can draw down the answer and the blessing from above. 
 
 James now speaks no longer of the synagogue, but of the 
 assembly. In order to receive blessing, we must possess true 
 faith ; and God has placed blessing in the assembly, in true 
 believers. There it is found by faith in His government and 
 discipline. Wlien sin is manifested openly, so that a man who 
 is known as a brother may be called wicked, it is the duty of 
 the assembly to put him away from among them. Then the 
 sins are bound on him who is excluded, and if he humble him- 
 self, and recognises his sin from the bottom of his heart, then 
 the assembly ought to receive him again (2 Cor. ii.) In this 
 sense, of administration, the sinner is forgiven (vers. 7, 8) : 
 his bands are loosed. And this holds good for two or three, 
 if gathered in the name of Christ, in the unity and power 
 of the Holy Ghost (Matt, xviii.) : for it is only by the Spirit 
 that this can be done in truth. It is necessary, moreover, 
 that it should be the action of the assembly as such, not only 
 because the promise belongs to it, but in order that it may 
 purify itself It is to the assembly that the exhortation of 2 Cor. 
 ii. 7, 8, is addressed. And this solemn act is bound in the pre- 
 sence of Jesus, according to His promise. 
 
 Here it is not a question of the sins that bring the judgment 
 of the assembly on an individual, but of the ways of God Him- 
 self in the every-day circumstances of life, or, it may be in move 
 direct chastisement on His part. Now the individual who re- 
 
156 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 cognises the hand of God, not thinking of what happens to hiui 
 as the result of accident, seeks the intervention of God according 
 to His grace. But the assembly is now the place where He has 
 placed His name and His blessing, and it is the ordinary admi- 
 nistrator of His grace. Christ is there ; and when the assembly 
 was in order, the elders who watched over it were sought for by 
 the sufferer, in order to receive this grace and blessing of God. 
 
 Yet it was personal faith which, through prayer, brought 
 the special blessing from heaven — " the prayer of faith," as 
 it is said. The elders were merely a sign of this special in- 
 tervention of God, as we see in Mark vi. 13. There miracles 
 were wrought by those specially sent by Christ, with power 
 given them for this purpose ; here it is the blessing of God 
 in the bosom of the assembly, administered by its chiefs, 
 provided faith there existed. Now order no longer exists, but 
 Christ does not forget His assembly. The promise to two or 
 three gathered in His name, in the unity of His people, re- 
 mains ever sure ; and, if there be faith in those who watch over 
 them, the answer from God will be the same. One cannot ex- 
 pect blessing to flow in its natural current if the channels be 
 broken and destroyed. But the case is the same now as then, 
 and His power remains unchangeable. How precious to know 
 it ! When the Lord chides the disciples for their unbelief, He 
 says also, "Bring him unto me;" and the child was healed 
 (Mark ix. 19). 
 
 Hence James recalls the case of Elijah, who was a man sub- 
 ject to like passions as we are ; yet, in answer to his prayer, it 
 rained not for three years and six months. The outward order 
 of the assembly is gone ; but the power, the love, and the faith- 
 fulness of the Lord remain without change. He may make us 
 sensible that, on account of the sin of the assembly, we are no 
 longer as we were at the beginning ; nevertheless, where God 
 gives faith, the answer on His part will never fail. That is not 
 godliness which is insensible to the loss sustained after the time 
 of the apostles through the unfaithfulness of the assembly ; but 
 
.THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. i57 
 
 neither is that godliness which doubts the power of Christ, if 
 God give faith to make use of it. 
 
 When it is said that sins shall be forgiven, the meaning is 
 that, when the brother comes to himself, and owns the hand of 
 God (if it be his sins that have brought chastisement on him, 
 and that hinder his disease from being cured), they shall be forgiven 
 him as to the discipline of God in His government. This discipline 
 is shown in chastisement, that is, in the sickness ; but if this be 
 removed, discipline is at an end, and the sins are remitted. 
 
 There is here yet another more general direction, depending, 
 however, on the state of the church. We have seen that when 
 things were in order, the sufferer was to call for the elders ; and 
 this can still be done by sending for those who are practically 
 elders. But faith given by God, and therefore working on His 
 part, must be in these. But whatever may be the state of ruin 
 into which the assembly of God have fallen, we can always confess 
 our faults to each other, and pray for each other, so that they may 
 be cured. This does not require the existence of olB&cial order, 
 but supposes humility, confidence, and love among the brethren. 
 
 We cannot confess our faults if confidence in the love of 
 a brother do not exist. We may choose a wise and discreet 
 brother (instead of revealing all to the indiscreet), but as to the 
 disposition of the guilty soul, this choice cannot change any- 
 thing. Not hiding the evil, but opening the heart, we relieve 
 the burdened conscience, and therefore the body also. Truth 
 asserts itself in the heart, and the guilty soul seeks not a fair 
 reputation, since that would only be false, but a pure conscience 
 before God. God takes pleasure in setting the conscience, and 
 also the body, free from suffering, if it be necessary ; and then 
 the heart becomes happy in the sense of His favour. A pure 
 and true conscience is a source of joy before God. 
 
 It is very important to remember that there is a government 
 of God over His children. It is not a question of their justifi- 
 cation or forgiveness in that sense. It supposes that we are 
 righteous in His eyes as to salvation (Job xxxvi.) Then the 
 
158 THOUGHTS ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. . 
 
 Lord keeps His eye on us, blesses us, and makes us alive to His 
 favour, if we walk well and enjoy God. But if we do not walk 
 well, He warns us, and if we do not listen to His voice, chastises 
 us, in order to awaken the slumbering soul that is beginning to 
 forget Him. It is His goodness, His wonderful long-suffering. 
 His love for us, that never grows weary. 
 
 Verse 19. Finally, James adds a promise in order to en- 
 courage our souls to seek the blessing of others. He who con- 
 verts a soul from the error of his ways, is not only the means 
 of saving it, if it be a sinner who is walking in his sins, or a 
 Christian who is walking in evil, but he shall hide a multitude 
 of sins. Whether it be the case of an unconverted soul, it 
 is saved, or that of a Christian walking in evil, he is at least 
 arrested in the way of perdition. 
 
 The second case requires a little explanation. Sin is hateful 
 in the eyes of God, and He sees everything. When we think of 
 the state of the world, we understand how wonderful His patience 
 is. Now the conversion of a sinner takes away all his sins from 
 before these eyes. He sees them no more, as though they were 
 at the bottom of the sea, as it is Avritten. Now they are can- 
 celled. It is in this sense that it is said, " Charity shall cover a 
 multitude of sins." They exist no longer as an offensive object 
 to the eyes of God. If we do not forgive the faults of a brother, 
 enmity remains as a wound in the body before God, and one 
 which cannot be healed. But when he is forgiven, love is the 
 object that presents itself to God, an object well-pleasing to His 
 heart. Thus when a sinner is converted — restored, the love of 
 God finds its pleasure in him, and the offensive object is removed 
 from His eyes. 
 
 In the Epistle of James we find but little doctrine, but rather 
 the breastplate of righteousness, the manifestation of faith by 
 works in the Christian walk ; and submission to the hand of God, 
 and patience under His government, are unfolded in a way of 
 great service to the Christian. 
 
THE CENTRE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP Al^D 
 THE CAUSE OF ECCLESIASTICAL RUIN. 
 
 From 2 Cor. i. 4 it would appear that the persecution at Ephesus 
 was more violent, and that it continued longer than during the 
 public events recorded in Acts xix. 
 
 What these particulars may have been we are not told ; 
 but, after the stormy assemblage in the theatre, Paul calls the 
 disciples together, embraces them, and departs into Macedonia. 
 Going over those parts, he exhorts the brethren, and arrives in 
 Greece. There he remains three months. He had thought of 
 returning from Greece to Syria ; but the Jews (ever envious, and 
 enemies to the gospel, as well as to the one who preached it 
 outside their limits, since they had rejected Christ, and hope for 
 them was gone) lay wait for him. The truth which they had had 
 was always the truth ; but now that the Son of God had come, 
 and the Father and His love been manifested in Him, this no 
 longer possessed any power or value as regarded present relation- 
 ship with God. For the Christian revelation was one of life 
 eternal, and of the satisfaction of divine justice. They could not 
 endure the thought of being placed on one side on account of the 
 truth they would not receive, and therefore laid wait for Paul. 
 When this becomes known to the apostle, he returns by way of 
 Macedonia. 
 
 Let us remark in this brief narrative, which is not accidental, 
 that when Paul has planted the gospel in a country, he does 
 not abandon the converts, but returns with affectionate solicitude, 
 instructs, exhorts, edifies, and watches over the seed planted by 
 his instrumentality, in order that it may be preserved and grow 
 in the knowledge of Christ. He does not neglect the Lord's 
 
i6o THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 garden, well knowing that tares may spring up where the good 
 seed grows, and that the enemy can spoil the harvest if it is not 
 well guarded. It is more needful now than ever to do this, for 
 we are in the perilous times of the last days. Though the enemy 
 can never pluck the sheep out of the Good Shepherd's hand, yet 
 he may disperse them ; they may be subjected to the effect of 
 every kind of evil doctrine, by which their growth is hindered, the 
 Lord's glory trampled upon, testimony to Him destroyed, and the 
 candlestick taken away. Let the Lord's servants take warning. 
 
 Paul then returns by Macedonia. It is not important ; but 
 in verse 4 we should read, " Gains and Timotheus of Derbe." 
 From verse 5 we see that many attached themselves to Paul in 
 the work ; and others, besides those in verse 4, went before. 
 Luke, the author of this book, and perhaps still others, accom- 
 panied the apostle in his journey towards Troas. The others 
 tarried for him at Troas. It is not without interest to see this 
 emotion of hearts moved by the gospel which Paul preached. 
 All were free ; some, such as Apollos, labouring apart ; the others, 
 the companions of the great central figure — great for his faith 
 in Christ, and as sent directly from Him by the voice of the 
 Holy Ghost — occupied and sent by him to carry on and accom- 
 plish the work in places he would himself have visited had he 
 not been obliged to go elsewhere, when the opportunity presented 
 itself for them to be thus sent. 
 
 Leaving Philippi, in five days they come to Troas, and there 
 remain seven days. Everywhere assemblies had been formed. 
 Here a door had been opened to Paul in coming from Ephesus ; 
 but he had not been able to remain long, being uneasy about the 
 Corinthians, since he did not find Titus there, whom he had sent 
 to them. It was at Troas that Luke, who wrote the Acts, had 
 attached himself to Paul, to accompany him the first time he 
 visited Macedonia. We do not know how the gathering at Troas 
 was formed ; but there was one, and we are given to see into it a 
 little, not its discipline or gifts, as in 1 Cor., but its ordinary walk. 
 
 The first day of the week the disciples met together to break 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. i6i 
 
 bread. This was evidently their custom. It was the first day of 
 the week, and the disciples gathered themselves together, accord- 
 ing to their habit, to break bread. It was the first object of the 
 meeting, the centre of their worship. Other things were done ; 
 they spoke, taught, as Paul did, sang ; but they met together to 
 break bread. This is confirmed by 1 Cor. xi. 20, where the apostle 
 says that the Corinthians did not really assemble for the Lord's 
 supper, since each ate his own supper, not thinking of the others, 
 but eating and drinking for his own pleasure. Now, this shows 
 clearly that the object of the assembly was the Lord's supper. 
 At the beginning, they broke bread every day. Acts ii. 42, 46. 
 AVhen gatherings were formed everywhere, and zeal had been 
 enfeebled, they met only on the first day of the week, the day of 
 the Lord's resurrection. This was not a rule ; but Luke speaks 
 of it as a usage well known everywhere among the Christians. 
 It seems that Paul had awaited this day to speak to the disciples, 
 simply because it was the day of their meeting together ; how- 
 ever, that is not certain. However that may be, he profits by 
 the occasion to preach to them before setting out, and he speaks 
 till midnight. They met, it seems, in the evening. 
 
 The discourse was long, and they had not yet broken bread ; 
 the weather was hot, and there were many lights ; such is 
 human weakness, that all this so affected a certain Eutychus 
 that he was overcome with sleep, as Paul was long preach- 
 ing, and fell down from the third floor, where he was sitting 
 by the window. He was taken up by the men dead. Paul 
 naturally interrupts his discourse, goes down and throws him- 
 self on him, declaring that life is still in him. The separation 
 had not yet taken place ; he was stunned by the fall, and 
 if the power of God had not interposed, he would have been 
 caught in the clutches of death. Life, however, had not yet gone 
 out of the body ; and by the Spirit Paul so works on it, that the 
 functions of life are restored. The bonds between soul and 
 body are re-established. In the case of the child restored to life 
 by Elijah (1 Kings xvii. 21, 22), the soul had already left the 
 
1 62 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 body, and returned to it. From these cases, as always elsewhere, 
 we see that the soul is entirely distinct from the body ; and 
 though in our present state it works by means of the body, yet 
 it is in its habitation ; that life in this world is the activity of 
 the soul by means of the functions of the body, the activity of 
 which is restored by sleep, because we are feeble ; that when the 
 soul leaves the body, the man is definitively dead, but that the 
 activity of the soul by the functions of the body may be inter- 
 rupted, as is partly the case in sleep ; and this action is re- 
 established if the soul have not left the body, if God does so and 
 permits it. 
 
 In its higher part — the spirit — the soul in relation to God is, 
 alas ! at enmity against Him ; it will not, and does not, submit 
 to Him. With its inferior part, it works in the body. Marvel- 
 lous creation ! — in relation with God above, and with nature 
 below ! It is a mixture of thoughts which seek to rise to God 
 but cannot, and of creature thoughts. It is responsible to God 
 according to the nature it has originally received from Him. 
 When born of God, it receives a totally new life, in which it is 
 in relation with God, according to grace and redemption — a life 
 animated by the Spirit which it receives from above, and which 
 makes of the body an instrument for the service of God. Pos- 
 sessing this life, we know that " if our earthly house of this 
 tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God, an house 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." I have said this 
 in reference to Eutychus, because in these days the simplicity of 
 the truth regarding the soul is lost sight of by many. 
 
 Paul then goes up again, and, having broken bread, talks still, 
 even till daybreak, comforting much the souls he saw, perhaps, 
 for the last time. He then departs, leaving Eutychus alive to the 
 joy of the brethren. Paul sends on his companions by ship, and 
 goes himself on foot, desiring to be alone. Eor us this is often 
 a wise thing — to be alone, apart from men, but alone, too, with 
 God, where we can think of Him, of ourselves before Him, of 
 the work as He sees it, and where, in His presence, responsibility 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. 163 
 
 is felt, instead of activity before men. No doubt this activity 
 ought to appear in His presence, because it is holy ; but at all 
 events the activity of man is another thing than to place oneself 
 before God such as He is for us. It is not less true that this 
 communion with Him, as His servants, gives and sustains a 
 blessed confidence in Him, an intimacy of soul with Him, full of 
 goodness and of grace. 
 
 Paul had instructed his companions to take him in at Assos, 
 which they do ; from thence they proceed to Mitylene, to Chios, 
 and finally to Miletus, half a day from Ephesus. Paul had 
 determined not to stop there, desiring, if possible, to be at 
 Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. If he had stopped at 
 Ephesus he must have remained some time, as he had laboured 
 there for a long period, and with great blessing. He passes on, 
 therefore, sending from Miletus for the elders of the assembly at 
 Ephesus, the centre of the work in that region. It is evident 
 that the apostle was pre-occupied with the circumstances in 
 which he was placed — with the apparent end of his career. 
 This thought, it is probable, exercised an influence over him 
 when he went alone on foot to Assos. And, also, it was the 
 cause of his long speech at Troas. 
 
 It is not only imagination wdiich suggests this idea ; the 
 apostle expresses at the end of the Epistle to the Eomans, 
 written when he was about to leave Corinth (Rom. xv. 31), his 
 fear that he might be an object of hatred to the rebels in Judea ; 
 and he desires the Eomans to pray that he may be delivered out 
 of their hands, hoping thus to be able to see their face with joy, 
 and from Eome to continue his work in Spain. We know that 
 in Palestine he was taken, and after two years' confinement at 
 Csesarea, went a prisoner to Eome ; that he remained there as 
 such two years more, and that' there, as far as the Word is con- 
 cerned, his history terminated. It is possible that he may have 
 been liberated ; I believe so from what we find in the Epistles 
 to the Philippians and to Philemon (Phil. i. 25, 26 ; Philemon, 
 ver. 22). 
 
1 64 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 From the 2d Epistle to Timothy, too, it seems that he was set 
 free, and that he returned to Asia. But as to the biblical record 
 of his labours, all is finished at the end of the Acts, which leaves 
 him a prisoner at Eome. According to God's thoughts, such as 
 they are communicated to us in the Scriptures, that was the end 
 of the apostle's work. And he felt that such was the case ; and 
 it is no more a question of going to Spain or travelling anywhere 
 beyond Kome. The Holy Ghost spoke of bonds and tribulations ; 
 and Paul's thoughts now turned towards his departure from this 
 world. 
 
 The elders being come from Ephesus, and assembled before 
 him, Paul speaks of his ministry as of a thing accomplished. A 
 little before he had told the Eomans that he had no longer any 
 place in those parts, his career there being over (Eom. xv. 23). 
 Eevisiting the scenes of his work in Asia and the regions of Asia- 
 Minor, he shows us the character of this work and the effect of 
 his departure ; and this renders his discourse very important. 
 He had served the Lord with much humility, in trials and in 
 tears, caused by the snares of the Jews, whose opposition was 
 continual and without conscience. In spite of it, however, he 
 never failed, both in public and in private, to preach and teach 
 all that was necessary for them — repentance towards God and 
 faith in Jesus Christ, as the true state of a soul brought to God. 
 Nothing is said as to the order of these two things in the heart, 
 although in such order there is something practical, but of the 
 true character of repentance and faith. Eepentance was to be 
 preached in the name of the Lord Jesus (Luke xxiv. 47), so that 
 His name might be owned, and that sinners might repent. It 
 was founded on the ground of the grace and truth that came by 
 Him ; but true repentance takes place in the presence of God, 
 and goes beyond sorrow for having done wrong or shame, or the 
 mere work of the natural conscience. 
 
 The soul revealed to itself through grace comes with open 
 eyes into God's presence. All is judged according to Him whose 
 presence is manifested to the soul ; everything is judged as it 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. 165 
 
 appears in His eyes. The word of God is His eye in the con- 
 science, and makes us feel that He has seen all, and these 
 things appear to us as they do to Him. We no longer excuse 
 ourselves, nor do we desire to do so ; the result is confession to 
 God by a conscience which feels itself in His presence (Heb. iv. 
 12, 13) ; while the heart restored desires holiness, and the soul 
 feels its responsibility for all that we have done. We justify 
 God in our condemnation (Luke vii. 29) ; though in such a case 
 there is always some confidence in His grace — not peace, but 
 confidence, for He who has become light to the soul is also love, 
 Himself being both these things. When He reveals Himself as 
 light in order to show us our sins, it is in love He does so in 
 Jesus ; and He is love. He cannot reveal Himself to the soul 
 without being the two things, for in His nature He is both. 
 
 Take the case of the woman in Luke vii. The light and the 
 love of God had penetrated into her soul ; she did not yet know 
 what it was to be pardoned, but her heart had confidence in 
 Jesus ; and at the same time her conscience was deeply con- 
 vinced of sin. Take again the case of Peter (Luke v. 8) ; of the 
 prodigal son (Luke xv. 17, 19) ; and of the thief on the cross 
 (Luke xxiv. 47). Eepentance then is the elfect of the revela- 
 tion of God to the soul, which then knows itself ; and up to a 
 certain point it knows God as light, which manifests every- 
 thing ; — " Come, see a man which told me all things that ever 
 I did," — but as love to the soul. The Lord inspires confidence, 
 though the remission of sins be not yet known. This is dis- 
 covered by the soul by faith in Christ Jesus — not only that 
 Jesus is the Christ, but that by Him its sins are pardoned, for 
 He died for our sins ; and if we receive the word of God, 
 we know, that believing in Him, He has taken all our sins on 
 Himself on His own body on the tree. When He had by Him- 
 self purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high ; because by one offering He has perfected for 
 ever them that are sanctified by that sacrifice. 
 
 Although faith in the work of Christ is necessary in order to 
 
1 66 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 possess peace, yet His Person ever remains as the object of the 
 heart ; — the Christ who has loved us, and given Himself for us, 
 who now is glorified at the right hand of God, after having 
 borne our sins, and submitted to death and the curse for us, 
 but ever living for us now ; who Himself will return to seek 
 us, and make us perfectly like Himself in glory. We believe 
 in Him, not only in the efficacy of His death. He is our 
 righteousness before God, made such by God Himself; and we 
 are accepted in the Beloved. John xvii. tells us that we are 
 loved with the same love wherewith the Father loves the Son. 
 If there be true repentance in the presence of God, and in respect 
 of Him, confidence and peace come by means of the faith of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. He has made peace by His own blood. 
 
 Such was the testimony of Paul. Truth in the conscience, 
 peace, and the knowledge of God by His Son Jesus, come down 
 here in love, ascended into heaven as man, having accomplished 
 the work which His Father had given Him to do. So great 
 were the truths and the revelation, and so like the apostle in 
 the execution of his ministry ! But this ministry was draw- 
 ing to its close, without Paul's knowing what awaited him. 
 The Spirit testified in every place that bonds and tribulations 
 awaited him ; and he foresees that they would see his face no 
 more. This furnishes the opportunity to speak of the effect of 
 his departure. The sheep of Jesus are safe in His hands ; as to 
 the life He has imparted to them, they can never perish, none 
 can pluck them out of His hand. But a temple had been esta- 
 blished, a house on the earth, of which the apostle was by grace 
 the founder, according to the will of God, the wise master- 
 builder (1 Cor. iii. 10). According to another figure. He has 
 placed a candlestick on the earth to shine round about Himself, 
 and this He can take away. There will always be a house of 
 God built with His hand, and by His power, which will never 
 grow less ; — Christ the foundation, the stones living, by grace 
 placed on this chief corner-stone, and growing to an holy temple 
 for the Lord (Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Peter ii. 4, 5; Eph. ii. 11). 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. 167 
 
 Against this work of the Lord — a work carried on by grace 
 in the heart — the gates of hell cannot prevail ; for it is the fruit 
 of the power of the Lord Jesus, working in grace. Moreover, 
 this temple is not yet entirely built — it is growing. At least 
 we may expect that, by grace, new souls can be introduced into 
 it. God alone knows the moment when the work of grace which 
 forms the assembly, the body of Christ, shall be accomplished 
 (see 2 Peter iii. 9). But God's will has been to form an assembly 
 on the earth. The work of Jesus, of which we have spoken, is 
 done here below ; but beyond this, as we have seen, God formed 
 an assembly by the ministry of Paul, a temple on the earth, 
 confiding the building of this temple into the hands of men, and 
 under their responsibility. It is now the habitation of God 
 through the Spirit, Jews and Gentiles being built up together ; 
 founded according to the will of God, but left to the responsi- 
 bility of man. " But let every man take heed how he buildeth 
 thereon." " Now if any man build upon this foundation (Jesus 
 Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble ; every 
 man's work shall be made manifest ; for the day shall declare it, 
 because it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every 
 man's work, of what sort it is." 
 
 There are three kinds of workmen ; a good Christian and 
 good workman, such as Paul ; a good Christian and bad work- 
 man, himself saved, but his work to be consumed ; then he who 
 seeks to corrupt and destroy the temple of God. In this case 
 he himself shall perish. Such were the Heresiarchs, who, 
 moved by the enemy, sought to corrupt the faith. Three sects 
 of them existed during Paul's own time ; but as long as he 
 remained in the world his spiritual energy resisted and over- 
 came evil ; such as immorality among the Corinthians, and the 
 loss of the doctrine of grace among the Galatiaus. But with 
 his departure this energy disappeared. He had already said 
 (Phil. ii. 21) that all sought their own, not the things which 
 were Jesus Christ's. No soul was to be found like that of 
 Timothy to care for the state of the Christians. 
 
1 68 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 Paul tells the elders then, that after his departure grievous 
 wolves should enter in among them, and that even of their 
 own selves, perverse men should arise, to draw the disciples away. 
 Till Satan be bound, and the Lord come to do it, there will 
 ever be conflicts. Since the beginning of the world, whenever 
 God has established anything good, man's first act has been to 
 destroy it. 
 
 First, there was man himself; then, in the world after the 
 flood, Noah got tipsy, and his authority was lost. Israel made 
 the golden calf before ever Moses came down from the moun- 
 tain. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire the first day after 
 their consecration, for which cause Aaron could never enter 
 into the inner sanctuary with his priestly garments of glory. 
 Solomon having loved strange women, his kingdom was divided. 
 So in the assembly established on the earth, soon after the 
 apostle's departure, evil presents itself; and it is of this that 
 the elders are forewarned. 
 
 Where were the other apostles ? At Jerusalem. Peter, the 
 apostle of the circumcision, a part of the gathering scattered by 
 the destruction of Jerusalem. The chief of the apostles abandon 
 to Paul the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles, to which 
 work the Lord Himself had called him at the first, and then 
 again expressly by the Holy Ghost at Antioch. To the other 
 apostles, therefore, he does not entrust his ministry. Still less 
 does Paul imagine that there can be successors in his office. 
 He knows nothing of successors ; but exhorts the existing 
 elders to faithfulness and watchfulness, recommending them 
 to God, and to the word of His grace, " which," he says, " is 
 able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among 
 all them which are sanctified." Christ, ascended up on high, 
 can still give evangelists, pastors, and teachers ; and He does 
 give them ; but the office of personal apostolic care has dis- 
 appeared. "After my departure," says the apostle. This is a 
 departure without succession. It is sad, surely, yet true ; and 
 we have seen it in all that God has established among men. 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. 169 
 
 His grace continues, the faithful care of Christ can never fail. 
 The Spirit has given His instructions for this time, as at the 
 beginning, and the Lord is enough for the present condition, as 
 He was faithful in the past. But such a thing as a succession 
 to his apostleship is unknown to Paul when he speaks of his 
 absence. God, and the word of His Grace, are for him the 
 refuge of God's people. They can meet together, and Christ 
 will be in their midst ; they can profit by the gifts He has 
 granted according to His promise. The rules for our walk are 
 contained in the word ; but the apostleship, as a personal 
 energy, watching over the organisation of the assembly, has 
 disappeared, leaving no succession behind it. 
 
 This is a solemn truth, which must be well borne in mind. 
 But we must never forget that Christ is always enough for the 
 assembly ; that He is faithful in His care of it, and that He can 
 never fail in strength, in love, or in faithfulness. What we have 
 to do is to count on Him, and that with purpose of heart. Divine 
 power is manifested more in Elijah and Elisha than in all the 
 prophets of Jerusalem from the time of Moses himself. The 
 Lord gives what is needful to His people. The word of God 
 confirms sadly, but abundantly, what Paul says here. His 
 testimony is that not only should evil appear in the exterior 
 constitution of the church, but that it should continue till the 
 Lord comes in judgment. Let us consider what the word of 
 God says. 
 
 Jude declares that it was already needful to write to them, 
 to exhort them to contend for the faith once delivered to the 
 saints, because certain men had crept in unawares, who turned 
 the grace of our God into lasciviousness. They were corrupting 
 the assembly from within ; and what is very remarkable, he 
 declares that these are they (that is, the class of persons) who 
 will be among the objects of the Lord's judgment, when He 
 comes with ten thousands of His saints. The corruption begun 
 during the time of the apostles will continue till the coming of 
 the Lord. So much for internal corruption. But this is not 
 
 N 
 
I70 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 all. Evil unfolds itself from the other side, as we find in the 
 Epistle of John. Some had abandoned Christianity openly (1 
 John ii. 18). " Little children, it is the last time : and as ye have 
 heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many 
 antichrists ; whereby we know that it is the last time. They 
 went out from us, but they were not of us." 
 
 Thus we see that tliough this apostle survived Paul for 
 many years, and certainly watched over the assemblies, in Asia- 
 Minor at least, dwelling, as it is said, at Ephesus, it was only in 
 order to record the fact that the last time was already come, 
 which was shown by the presence of these antichrists, and by 
 the apostacy of many. If it be asked why God waits so long 
 before executing judgment, the answer is to be found in 2 Pet. 
 iii. 9 ; " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some 
 men count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not 
 willing that any should perish, but that all should come to 
 repentance." To Him a thousand years are as one day. In 
 the time of the Jews, judgment was pronounced (Isa. vi.) eight 
 hundred years before it was executed, that is, when they had 
 finally rejected the humbled, but also glorified, Son of God. 
 
 The epoch of this ruin of the assembly on the earth is deter- 
 mined, namely, on the death of Paul — "after my departure." 
 Doubtless, corruption had been rapidly gTowing. The mystery 
 of iniquity was already working during the apostle's life ; but 
 his spiritual energy knew how to resist it. He being gone, 
 however, it went on increasing without hindrance, except from 
 the grace of God in individuals, and the chastisement by which 
 God arrested the decline into ruin and corruption. The testi- 
 mony of God, although hid under a bushel, has yet never been 
 extinguished ; and God has from time to time raised up wit- 
 nesses in the midst of darkness, feeble perhaps, but true ; and, 
 at the time of the Eeformation, delivered whole countries from 
 open corruption. But we have seen that the evil introduced in 
 the time of Jude was to continue till the judgment. 
 
 This solemn and humiliating truth is confirmed by other 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. 171 
 
 passages. The assembly has never been restored. Not only 
 does John say that the last time has come, but that this is 
 marked by the presence of antichrists. Now, Antichrist shall be 
 destroyed by the coming of the Lord. Paul reveals to us that 
 the apostacy that began to show itself in John's time will be 
 fully unfolded at the last time ; when Antichrist himself shall 
 be manifested, whose coming shall be after the working of Satan, 
 and whom the Lord shall destroy when He comes in glory. 
 The mystery of iniquity was already working, even during the 
 apostles' life, and the progress of evil was to continue from his 
 days till the Lord should come. Thus, too, the Lord says, that 
 the tares are to grow till the harvest. 
 
 It seems to us, then, that the death of Paul is the moment 
 from which we must count the prevalence of evil. We say 
 prevalence, because evil was already working, though Paul 
 resisted it by the power of the Spirit ; and because this evil was 
 to go on increasing till Christ should come ; because in the 
 last days perilous times shall come, and the form of godliness 
 without the power of it. Then in 2 Tim. iii., we also get the 
 word of God set forth as that which is necessary, and sufficient 
 to render the man of God perfect, and furnished unto all good 
 works. All this truth is powerfully confirmed by what is said 
 in Eev. ii. and iii., where the Christian who has ears to hear is 
 called upon to hearken, not to the church, but to what the 
 Spirit saith unto the churcli ; and in his words we find judg- 
 ment pronounced by Jesus Christ on the state of the church. 
 
 We would add that it is one thing to submit to the discipline, 
 or practical judgment of an assembly, regarding evil, and quite 
 another thing to suppose, when we are called upon to judge of 
 the state of the church by the words of Christ and of the Spirit, 
 that the authority of the assembly is the perpetual safeguard of 
 the faith. The univeral assembly, Christendom, is corrupted and 
 divided, and cannot, even as an instrument in the hands of God, 
 secure the maintenance of the truth. It is submission to the 
 word of God only that can do it. 
 
172 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP 
 
 In order to show liow far the primitive church wandered 
 from the truth we shall quote from a book read in the assembly 
 one hundred and fifty years after the death of John, cited by 
 one of the best fathers of the primitive church as part of the 
 inspired Scriptures, and esteemed as such by another, who was 
 less orthodox, it is true. 
 
 The author, pretending to have received a revelation, says : 
 A man possessed a vineyard, and commanded his servant 
 to stake the vines. The servant, being very faithful, did what 
 was entrusted to him ; and, besides, out of devotedness to his 
 master, rooted all the weeds out of the vineyard. The master 
 was so much pleased with the servant that he consulted with 
 his son and his friends as to what should be done for the 
 faithful servant, and it was decided to make him heir with the 
 son. Now, the master is God, the son is the Holy Ghost, the 
 friends are the angels, and the servant is Christ. God had sent 
 Him to establish the clergy for the support of the faithful ; but 
 He had done much more than this, and what God had not told 
 Him to do : He had taken away sins. Hence he is, according to 
 the consultation of God with the Holy Ghost and the angels, 
 co-heir with the Holy Ghost, who is son and heir of God. Such 
 is what was read in the churches, written by the brother of Pope 
 Pius, and pretended to have been inspired by God; and this 
 one hundred and fifty years after the birth of Christ. What is 
 recounted in the same book of holiness is no better. What is 
 there related as holy in the visions of Her mas, it is impossible 
 to transcribe on these pages. 
 
 Such then is the testimony of the apostle ; after his de- 
 parture evil would prevail, active both within and without. 
 He tells them nothing of the nomination of successors to the 
 elders, any more than he does of a successor to himself. He 
 insists on the faithfulness of those who were there, whom the 
 Holy Ghost had made bishops (for bishops and elders were one and 
 only one office) ; and commends them to God and to the word of 
 His grace, which was able to build them up, and give them an 
 
AND THE CAUSE OF THE RUIN. 173 
 
 inheritance among them that were sanctified. In fact, no 
 means is established in the Word for the continuance of the 
 organisation of the assembly. People are mistaken on this 
 point. The disciples were waiting for the coming of the Lord, 
 the Lord Himself (see the parables of the servant, Matt, xxiv., 
 of the virgins, and of the talents). But neither the Lord nor 
 the apostles speak as if this coming might be delayed beyond 
 the life of those to whom they spake. The sleeping virgins are 
 the very same that are awakened ; the servants who received 
 the talents those found afterwards at the coming of the Lord. 
 Paul says, " We which are alive and remain till the coming 0:" 
 the Lord." They did not know when He would come, but still 
 they waited for Him (Luke xii. 36, etc.) What has produced 
 the moral ruin of the assembly is that she has ceased to look 
 for the Lord ; not, said he, with welcome ; but has said, " The 
 Lord delayeth His coming" (Matt. xxiv. 49). She has taken 
 and beaten her fellow-servants ; has eaten and drunk with the 
 drunken. The hierarchy has been established ; worldliness has 
 invaded the assembly, and thus alliance has been made with 
 the world. 
 
 The apostle recalls his own faithfulness, how he had been an 
 example to the elders, labouring with his own hands, since it 
 was "more blessed to give than to receive." Then, kneeling 
 down, he prays with them all. And they, weeping, embrace 
 him sorrowfully, chiefly for the word that he had spoken, that 
 they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him 
 to the ship. Solemn departure ; the end of the apostle's public 
 work. He speaks of it as of a finished work, announcing that 
 henceforward, in consequence of his absence, evil would prevail 
 in the outward assembly of God on the earth, but assuring the 
 faithful that God and the word of His grace would be enough to 
 build them up, and give them an inheritance among those that 
 were sanctified. This was certain. The power of Christ secures 
 it ; but the exterior system, Christendom, would be corrupted 
 having given up the expectation of the Lord's return. 
 
174 THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP. 
 
 Paul teaches the same truth in 2 Tim. iii. John tells ns 
 that the last time has already arrived. 
 
 The patience of God continues to accomplish the work of 
 grace ; and Christ to supply the gifts necessary to the perfecting 
 of the saints, and the building up of the assembly, although our 
 coldness greatly hinders the Spirit. And this will be the case 
 till the end of the gathering of saints. But Christendom has 
 grown ripe in evil, as foretold by the apostles. It is evil which 
 began in apostolic times, and which was already sufficiently 
 mature in John's time, the last of the apostles ; for he says 
 that the last times had already come. We trust that the cry, 
 " Behold the Bridegroom [cometh], go ye out to meet Him," has 
 already begun to go forth, and that many hearts will respond 
 and kindle their lamps. May the Lord add daily to their 
 number ! 
 
THE COMING OF THE LORD THAT WHICH 
 CHAEACTERISES THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 I PUEPOSE to take up a subject which I feel to be deeply import- 
 ant — the Coming of the Lord Jesus — and to take it up, not 
 proving it as a doctrine, but showing that it was originally 
 a substantial part of Christianity itself. The groundwork is 
 Christ's first coming, and His atoning death ; but when we look 
 beyond the foundation, then we see that the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus is not merely a bit of knowledge, but a substantive part of 
 the faith of the church of God, and that on which the moral state 
 of the saints, and, indeed, of the church of God, depends. You will 
 see, in going through the passages which I will now quote, that 
 it connects itself and is mixed with every part of Christianity, 
 characterises it, and connects itself with every thought and 
 feeling of the Christian. A person could not read the Scrip- 
 tures with an unprejudiced mind without seeing it : it presents 
 itself to you in almost every page. 
 
 Some people have taken the pains to count how many times 
 it occurs ; but what I say is not merely this, but that it is so 
 connected with every part of Christian life that if you take 
 it out you take away what gives its character to the whole 
 Christian life. It was identified with the system as announced 
 to the world. I take conversion : people say what has that to 
 do with the Lord's coming ? That is part of what they were 
 converted to : " to wait for God's Son from heaven." This 
 waiting for God's Son from heaven characterised their conver- 
 sion ; they were converted to serve God, surely ; but, also, " to 
 wait for His Son from heaven." 1 Thess. i. 10. 
 
 There are two subjects with which Scripture is occupied, 
 when personal salvation is settled : one is the sovereign gi-ace, 
 which makes us, redeemed from sin, like Christ in the glory : 
 this is the blessed portion of the church of God ; and the other 
 
176 THE COMING OF THE LORD 
 
 is the government of this world. The Jews are the centre of the 
 government of this world. (Deut. xxxii. 8.) " When the Most 
 High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separ- 
 ated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people accord- 
 ing to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's 
 portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." There 
 we get, in the government of the world, Israel as the centre. 
 Israel would not have Christ, and so was set aside for the time. 
 God's throne was taken from Jerusalem at the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, but a remnant spared and brought back, that the king might 
 be presented to them ; but Him they refused, and are now set 
 aside till His return. There are only sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 
 definitely^ fulfilled. The last week is not fulfilled ; it is not come. 
 So as to the great feasts. You have got the Passover fulfilled. 
 "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;" and the feast of 
 Pentecost has its fulfilment in the descent of the Holy Ghost ; 
 but the feast of Tabernacles is not fulfilled at all : you have no 
 antitype yet whatever. But here the other blessed work of God 
 comes in, that meanwhile God is calling out poor sinners to have 
 a part with His Son, and be like His Son ; for we are predes- 
 tinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He may 
 be the firstborn among many brethren.- He has taken us poor 
 sinners to have us in the same glory as His Son. That is an- 
 other tiling from prophecy, which gives us the portion of this 
 world and the Jewish people. When He shall appear, we shall 
 appear with Him in glory. 
 
 The Christian's position, as to the coming of the Lord, is 
 that he is waiting for Christ to come according to His promise. 
 People say He comes at death ; I reply. Do you make death the 
 same as Christ ? If this were the case, we should have Him com- 
 ing hundreds and hundreds of times, whereas we only read of 
 
 ^ Christians know that half the Last week is passed, comprising the time of 
 the ministry of Christ. But for unbelief only sixty-nine are passed. Hence the 
 covenant is made for a week. But God only counts from the beginning of the 
 last half week, a time, times, and half a time. 
 
CHARACTERISING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 177 
 
 His coming twice (Heb. ix. 28). Shall I tell you what will 
 happen when Christ comes ? Eesurrection ! This is quite a 
 different thing from death. The coming of Christ is, for the 
 saint, to be the end of death — exactly the opposite. I believe 
 nobody can find a trace of the thought in Scripture that Christ 
 comes at death. Instead of Christ's coming being death, it is 
 resurrection ; we go to Christ at death, it is not Christ who 
 comes to us. Blessed it is " to depart and to be with Christ ; " 
 " absent from the body, present wdtli the Lord." But I am to 
 show that this thought of the coming of Christ mixes itself with 
 and characterises every part of Christian life. 
 
 In the first place, we have it in conversion, as already said. 
 They were converted to wait for God's Son from heaven. I will 
 turn to other passages in support of it, but I will go through 
 Thessalonians first. In the 2d chapter of the 1st Epistle, at 
 the end, the apostle speaks of what his comfort and joy in ser- 
 vice were. He had been driven away by persecution from the 
 midst of the Thessalonians, and writing to them speaks of his 
 comfort in thinking of them. But how ? "For what is our hope, 
 or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? " He cannot speak of 
 his interest in them, and joy, without bringing in the coming of 
 the Lord Jesus. Again, as regards holiness (end of chap, iii.) : 
 The Lord make you to increase and abound in love, etc., to 
 the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness 
 before God and the Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ with all His saints (1 Thess. iii. 13). As to the death 
 of a saint, they were so thoroughly looking for the Lord, that if 
 a person died they thought he would not be there, ready to go 
 to meet Him. They were wrong in this, and the apostle corrects 
 their mistake. But now people say, when a saint dies, we shall 
 go after him, we shall follow him. Here there is not a word 
 about it. Suppose I were to go and say to a Christian now, who 
 had lost some one dear to him : " Do not be uneasy, Christ will 
 bring him with Him," he would think me wild, or find it utterly 
 
178 THE COMING OF THE LORD 
 
 unintelligible ; and yet that is the way the apostle does comfort 
 them : " Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him " 
 (chap, iv.) He then shows the way He will do it : " They which 
 are alive shall not prevent them which are asleep." " Prevent " 
 is an old word for anticipate or go before. The first thing the 
 Lord will do when He descends is to raise the sleeping saints. 
 He is going to bring them with Him : if they have fallen asleep 
 in Him, their spirits will have been with Him meanwhile ; but 
 then they will receive glory, be raised in glory, be like Him, as 
 they had been like the first Adam, and, going to meet Him in the 
 air, will be for ever with Him ; and when He appears He will 
 bring them with Him, and they will appear with Him in glory. 
 You get it in a general way in the 5th chapter, where he desires 
 their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blame- 
 less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This liope, 
 then, is a part of the Christian state in every aspect. Conversion, 
 joy in service, holiness, a believer's death, the goal of blame- 
 lessness, all are connected with the coming of the Lord. 
 
 Turn now to Matthew xxv. The wise virgins take oil in their 
 vessels, but they all go to sleep and forget that the Bridegroom was 
 coming ; but what I have specially to inquire here is, What was 
 the original calling ? The statement, clear and positive, is, that 
 they went out to meet the Bridegroom, but while He tarried they 
 " all " slumbered and slept — they all forgot His coming, the wise 
 as well as the foolish. They got into some comfortable place ; 
 bivouacking in the open air is not pleasant to the flesh. But at 
 midnight the cry is heard, "Behold the Bridegroom!" The 
 thing that roused them up from their sleep was the cry, " Behold 
 the Bridegroom !" The original object, then, of the church was 
 to go to meet Him who came ; but even true believers forgot it ; 
 and, further, what awakes them up from their sleep is their being 
 again called out to meet Him at His coming. Then you get in "the 
 talents" the same thing in regard to service and responsibility. 
 He takes His journey and tells them : " Occupy till I come." 
 
 Another very striking fact as to this truth is, it is always 
 
CHARACTERISING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 179 
 
 presented as a present operative expectation. You will never 
 find the Lord nor the apostles speaking of the Lord's coming, 
 vs^ith the supposition that it would be delayed beyond the life 
 of those to whom they spoke. It might be at cock-crowing or 
 in the morning ; but they were to be waiting for God's Son from 
 heaven. In the parables referred to, the virgins who went to 
 sleep were the same virgins as those who awoke up ; the ser- 
 vants to whom the talents were entrusted were the servants who 
 rendered an account of them at His return. We know centuries 
 have passed, but He will not allow any thought of delay. " In 
 such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." " Blessed 
 is that servant whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find 
 watching." Again, what was the cause of the church's ruin ? 
 It was, " My Lord delayeth His coming." It was not saying, " He 
 will not come, but He delayeth His coming." Then the servant 
 began to beat the men-servants and maid-servants, and to eat 
 and drink with the drunken ; and this brings on his judgment. 
 If the bride loved the Bridegroom she cannot but wish to see 
 Him. Her heart is where He is. When the church lost this she 
 settled down to enjoyment where she was ; she got worldly ; 
 she did not care about the Lord's return. 
 
 Turn now to Luke xii., and you will find how this waiting 
 for Christ characterises the Christian, and therewith the serving 
 Him, while He is away, "Where your treasure is, there vv'ill 
 your heart be also." They were to have their loins girded, their 
 lights burning — such was the characteristic of a Christian. They 
 were to be as men that waited for their Lord to open to Him 
 immediately ; their affections in order and full profession of 
 Christ, but watching for their Lord's return. It is not having 
 the doctrine of the Lord's coming. The blessing rests on those 
 who are watching, " like men that wait for their Lord." Blessed 
 is that servant whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find 
 watching. They must be girded and have their lights bright 
 while He is away, and watch for His return ; and then He makes 
 them sit down to meat, and girds Himself, and comes forth and 
 
i8o THE COMING OF THE LORD 
 
 serves them. Now they must be girded and watch ; our rest is not 
 here. But, says the Lord, when I have things all My own way, 
 you shall sit down to meat, and I will gird Myself and come forth 
 and serve you ; I will make you enjoy all the best that I have 
 in heaven, and I will minister it to you : only be found watching. 
 Christ is for ever, in grace a servant according to the form 
 He has taken. He is girded now according to John xiii. They 
 would naturally think that, if He were gone to heaven in glory 
 tliere was an end of His service to them, but He tells them, " I 
 am going away ; I cannot stay here with you, yet I cannot give 
 you up ; but as I cannot remain on earth with you, I must make 
 you fit for Me in heaven. ' If I wash thee not, thou hast no part 
 with Me.'" It is water here, not blood. " He that is washed 
 needeth not save to wash his feet." Lifegiving conversion, as well 
 as salvation, is fully wrought ; but if we pick up dirt in the 
 way, even as to commimion and the walk, grace and advocacy is 
 there to wash our feet and have us practically fit for being with 
 God where Christ is gone. Growth there is or ought to be, and, 
 as to the unchangeable cleanness of the new man, this is certain ; 
 but if I have not been watchful, I shall pick up dirt in my path. 
 I cannot have this in heaven, nor in communion with what is 
 there, and the Lord says in effect, " I am not going to give you 
 up because I am going to God and glory, and so I must have 
 you in a state suitable to that, and washed as you are (though 
 not all, for Judas was there), keep you fit, restoring you when 
 you fall. But you must be watching while I am away." 
 
 It is a comfort to me to know that all the virgins woke up in 
 time, and I believe all His saints will wake up before the Lord 
 comes. The difficulty to the heart in looking around is that so 
 many do not receive it. But the true service of the Lord is con- 
 nected with watching. That is the state to which the blessing 
 and the heavenly feast is attached. Then you find another 
 thing, serving while He is away ; and the result of this is, " Of a 
 truth I will make him ruler over all I have." It is far better to 
 eat, as is said of Israel, of the finest of the wheat, and that in 
 
CHARACTERISING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. i8i 
 
 the Father's house ; but if we suffer with Him, we shall also 
 reign with Him. With the serving in His absence, I get the 
 ruling ; as the heavenly feast with watching. The Lord then 
 goes on to what we had in Matthew, the saying : " My Lord 
 delayeth His coming." 
 
 What the Lord is pressing as to watching and serving is, " I 
 am coming again ; you must be watching for Me, as men that 
 wait for their Lord : " that was to be their character as Christians. 
 Supposing all the people in this town were actually watching, 
 waiting for the Lord from heaven, not knowing the moment He 
 would come, do you think the whole town would not be changed ? 
 A person once said to me that if everybody believed that the 
 world could not go on at all ; and the Christian cannot in a 
 worldly way. 
 
 If people were waiting for the Lord from heaven the whole 
 tone and character of their life would be changed. I may have 
 the doctrine of Christ's coming, when I am really not looking 
 for Him ; but I should not like to be heaping money together 
 when the Lord comes — I should, if possible, huddle it away out 
 of His sight. 
 
 Turn now to Philip, iii. Paul was running a race, and he 
 forgot all things else but the goal, and how does he speak of 
 Christ at the close of that chapter ? " Brethren, be followers to- 
 gether of me, etc., etc.; for our conversation (our living association) 
 is in heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, " etc. He had seen Christ, and would not be con- 
 tent till he was like Him in glory. To be with Him then, was, no 
 doubt, far better ; but it was not the goal of his heart. People 
 talk of going to glory when they die. There is no such thought 
 in Scripture as being in glory, when we depart to be with Christ. 
 Most blessed and happy to be with Him ! This I would surely 
 press ; but it is when He comes that He will change these vile 
 bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body. I am 
 waiting till I get my body changed, to be like Christ in glory ; 
 and, what is more, Christ is waiting too. 
 
THE COMING OF THE LORD 
 
 The Lord's coming afiects all the truths of Christianity. 
 Christ is not now on His own throne at all. He is sitting now, 
 according to the word in Heb. x. (and often from Ps. ex.), at God's 
 rio-ht hand, sitting on the Father's throne, as he says Himself in 
 the promise to Laodicea. He has settled the question of sin for 
 them at His first coming, and they have no more conscience of 
 sins, they are perfected for ever ; and to them that look for Him 
 shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation. He is 
 expecting in the heavens till His enemies be made His footstool. 
 Why does He say " His enemies " ? Because He is sitting down 
 after He has finished all for His friends ; that is, those that 
 believe in Him. Have all your sins been put away out of God's 
 sight ? If not, when will it be done ? That you grow in hatred 
 of them all — All right ! But if they are not borne and put away 
 on the cross when will it be done ? Can you get Christ to die 
 acfain ? Can you get anyone else to do it ? If it is not done, it 
 wiU never be done at all. Beloved friends, if the work is not 
 finished, it will never be done at all : but it is done, and 
 therefore He says, the worshippers once purged " have no more 
 conscience of sins ;" " for by one offering He hath perfected for 
 ever them that are sanctified." 
 
 If you look now at Col. iii., you will find the same thing in 
 its full result held out as our hope. " When Christ who is our 
 life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 
 The first promise He gave the disciples when going away was His 
 coming again. Do not be troubled (as they naturally would be 
 on losing the Friend for whom they had given up all) ; I am not 
 going to be all alone in My Father's house. There, there are 
 many mansions, I am going to prepare a place for you : do not 
 be uneasy ; I cannot stay with you, so I must have you up 
 there with Me, and the first thing is, "I will come again and receive 
 you to Myself." It is not one by one by death, but by resurrec- 
 tion for the dead, and change for the living, His actual coming 
 to receive them, raised or changed, to be with Himself where He 
 was gone, and like Himself, that we shall be in glory with Him. 
 
CHARACTERISING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 183 
 
 Again, at His departing from His disciples left down here, 
 what was the last they saw of Him ? They saw Him go up before 
 their eyes, and the angel said to them, " Why stand ye gazing up 
 into heaven ? This same Jesus shall so come in like manner." 
 His coming is wrought into the whole texture of the Christian life. 
 
 What is Scripture's last word ? " Surely I come quickly. 
 Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." In the same way you get 
 it at the beginning, with warning and threatening, Jesus Christ, 
 Faithful Witness, the First-begotten, etc., etc., "Behold, He cometh 
 with clouds, and every eye shall see Him " (ver. 7). Then at the 
 end (prophetic instructions are over, I do not enter into them), 
 " I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel," etc. ; " I am the bright and 
 morning star." JSTow I get what these saints who were watch- 
 ing, and those only, see : there is no star to be seen when 
 the sun is risen : they see the morning star, while it is yet early 
 dawning, for the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Here He 
 calls Himself " the root and offspring of David ; the bright and 
 morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say. Come." If the 
 bride has got the sense of being the bride of Christ, she must 
 desire to be with the Bridegroom ; there is not proper love 
 to Christ unless she wants to be with Him. Abram said 
 of his wife, "She is my sister;" then the Egyptians, the 
 world, took her into their house. I just add that you get here 
 the whole circle of the church's affections. " The Spirit and the 
 bride say. Come (this is to the Bridegroom) ; and let him that 
 heareth say. Come !" That is, the Christian, who has heard the 
 word of his salvation, joins in the cry. Then those who thirst 
 for some living water are called to come. The saints of the 
 church can say, though they have not yet the Bridegroom in 
 glory, that they have the living water, and so call, " Let him 
 that is athirst, come," and then address the call universally, 
 " Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." This 
 they have, though not the Bridegroom. What I find then is, 
 that, in the word of God, the thoughts, and feelings, and con- 
 duct, and doings, and affections of Christians, are identified with 
 
THE COMING OF THE LORD 
 
 the coming of Christ. Take all these things, and you will find 
 that they are all identified with the coming of tlie Lord. 
 
 Take the first Epistle of John, chap. iii. "Behold what manner of 
 love," etc. Beloved, now are we the sons of God (that is settled), 
 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that 
 when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
 Him as He is." Beloved friends, we are " predestinated to be 
 conformed to the image of His Son." This is what God has 
 purposed for us. When are we to be like Christ in the glory % 
 "When He comes. It is not when a person dies, and the spirit 
 o-oes to be with Christ, for then he is like Christ when Christ 
 was in the grave ; and I do not want to be like Christ when 
 Christ was in the grave ; but if I die, I shall be like Christ as 
 to that, but this is not what I want, though blessed in itself. 
 I want to be like Him in the glory. When will that 
 be ? When He comes, He will change our vile bodies and 
 fashion them like to His glorious body ; so here it doth not yet 
 appear what we shall be, but when He shall appear, we shall be 
 like Him. • Now mark the practical consequences upon the man 
 that has been in his faith brought up to God's purposes. " He 
 that hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 
 I know I am going to be perfectly like Christ in the glory, there- 
 fore I want to be as like Him as possible down here. You find 
 here again what the Holy Scriptures are explicit in teaching, 
 that holiness also is always referred to conformity to Christ in 
 glory. I shall have that likeness to Christ in glory, and nothing 
 else is my standard. You will find one passage already quoted, 
 "That He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness 
 before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ with all His saints." The perfection of the Christian is to 
 be like Him when He comes. What again I find, as to Christians, 
 in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians is, " It is sown in dishonour, 
 it is raised in glory." We have the blessed assurance that accom- 
 panies true assured hope of the first resurrection and its results. 
 We shall be perfectly like Christ when we are raised from 
 
CHARACTERISING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 185 
 
 the dead. We give an account of ourselves, but it is when we 
 are like the person to whom we are to give an account. The 
 full efficacy of His first coming has been lost, and therefore 
 people are not comfortable when thinking of His second coming. 
 But for the saint " Christ is the firstfruits, then they that are 
 Christ's at His coming." Is Christ the firstfruits of the wicked ? 
 Surely not. Just as Christ's resurrection w^as the public testi- 
 mony of God's approval of Himself and His work, the resurrec- 
 tion of the saints will be a testimony of God's approval of them 
 as in Him, As we find in Luke xx. 35, 36, " They whicli shall 
 be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection 
 from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither 
 can they die any more, but are equal to the angels, and are the 
 children of God, being the children of the resurrection," 
 
 Could anybody show me a single passage about a general 
 resurrection ? There is no such thought in Scripture. You get 
 the 25th chapter of Matthew quoted for it, that the goats and 
 sheep represent the two classes ; but He has come in His glory 
 down here. He is not sitting on the great white throne : before 
 this heaven and earth flee away. Here He is come and sits on 
 His throne. When He does come and sits there, He gathers 
 all the Gentiles, the nations, to judge them. It is the judgment 
 of the quick or the living. You have three sets of people, not two ; 
 and you have nothing of resurrection. You have sheep, goats, 
 and brethren (Matt. xxv. 40). So far from its being a general 
 resurrection, there is no reference to resurrection at all ; it is 
 quite a different subject. Further, the only question is. How 
 have they treated His brethren ? The ground of judgment does 
 not apply to ninety-nine out of a hundred of those who are to 
 be judged, if it were a general judgment. Those that have had 
 the testimony of the kingdom before He comes to judge the 
 quick, will be treated according as they have received God's 
 messengers, but such only are in judgment. 
 
 And now the point I return to is, that the coming of the Lord 
 influences and forms the whole life of the Christian, You cannot 
 
 
 
1 86 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 
 
 separate anything in the whole course and ways of the Christian 
 from the coming of the Lord Jesus ; and there is but the first 
 coming and the second coming. He has appeared once in the 
 end of the world, and to them that look for Him shall He appear 
 the second time unto salvation. It is true that He comes and 
 dwells in us, but we speak, with Scripture, of actual coming. 
 If you take holiness, or service, or conversion, or nninistry, 
 or a person who has died, they are all connected with Christ's 
 coming. He warns them to be found watching. 
 
 I might quote other passages, but I have quoted enough to 
 show that the Lord's coming is connected with everything in 
 the Christian life. When we see Him as He is, then and then 
 only shall we be like Him, according to God's purpose. And 
 now I only ask. Are you waiting for God's Son from heaven ? 
 
 His bearing the sins of many is the only ground of hope for 
 any sinner : that is, the finished work which enables us, through 
 faith, to look for Him when sealed by the Holy Ghost. Then, I 
 say, what am I waiting for? I am waiting for God's Son from 
 heaven. Can you say, I am watching for Christ ? I do not 
 know when He will come. Blessed are those servants whom 
 their Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching. I do not ask 
 you, Do you understand about the coming of the Lord ? To 
 wait for Him was the thing they were converted to. The thing 
 that woke the virgins up was, " Behold, the Bridegroom !" Are 
 you actually waiting for God's Son from heaven ? Would you 
 like Him to come to-night? Peter explains the delay. He 
 says His longsuffering is salvation, not willing that any should 
 perish. What would you think if He were to come to-night ? 
 Would it just be what your soul was looking for ? I am going 
 to sit down to table, and He is going to gird Himself and come 
 forth and serve me. People think that it would stop the gospel 
 to be waiting for God's Son from heaven. Did the acceptance 
 of God's testimony about the deluge stop the preaching of Noah? 
 Par from hindering, it was what gave edge to all. May the Lord 
 give us to be ready, when He comes — found watching for Him ! 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 I SEND you some remarks on the Scriptural view of miracles, 
 from which infidels and the defenders of Christianity seem to 
 me to have alike wandered. 
 
 As to infidels, any moral apprehension of what miracles are, 
 or anything else is, of the misery of man, or the love of God, 
 or the power and value of the truth, is absent from their 
 minds. Exalting man as he is, the false fancy that in these 
 days of enlightenment the lancet and the microscope have found 
 out everything, and exploded God's truth and love and man's 
 ignorance both together, reducing everything to general laws 
 without being able to tell us where they came from, and thus 
 to a materialism, which, as an able but honest materialist has 
 said, leads them up to a blind wall, beyond which they cannot 
 get. Such is the true character of modern science ; very inte- 
 resting in the discovery of laws which govern matter, that is, 
 the material world beneath us, but excluding from man every 
 moral principle, every excellent affection, and all divine good- 
 ness and truth. They tell us that this is no part of science. I 
 quite agree. 
 
 But are there no such things as love, and goodness, and 
 morality, and right affections ? no knowledge of God ? When 
 they come to "the blind wall," can they assure us there is 
 nothing behind it ? or tell us something of what is ? Neither. 
 It is simply excluding man from everything beyond matter, even 
 to openly denying all responsibility, degrading man and denying 
 God. The first they do pretending to exalt him ; the other is 
 the stupid pretension to deny that of which they confess they 
 
1 88 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 are wholly iguorant (and they are quite right) ; though (thank 
 God) it is a knowledge that is as open to them in God's love as 
 to those who already enjoy its light. 
 
 There is an evidence of truth which one who has the Spirit 
 of God cannot use to a mere natural man, though it often car- 
 ries the strongest evidence with it, and in that way may tell 
 upon him — the possession of the thing that the other is dis- 
 puting. To him who has it, it is the strongest of all evidences, 
 different in its nature from external proofs. Take even natural 
 things : — 1 am in pain. No surgical evidence is required for him 
 who is in pain in order to make him know it ; there is no 
 deception as to it for the man who suffers. The surgeon may 
 show the physical cause, a stone in the bladder, or what pro- 
 duced it ; or inflammation of the blood, or of some mucous 
 membrane ; but with all his science he cannot tell me why it 
 gives me pain, nor what pain is. Yet who that suffers it does 
 not know what it is ? He may talk to me about ganglions, or 
 sensitive nerves distinguished from motor nerves. But this 
 does not tell me one atom of what or why pain is ; though he 
 may talk, and in a surgical sense rightly, of what its cause, its 
 material cause, is ; but this is not what pain in me is. Does 
 any one doubt what it is when he suffers it ? That is, the most 
 certain knowledge even in the lower creation is entirely out of 
 the reach of science. I do not blame science for this ; it is not 
 its sphere. Science — it arranges phenomena, learns by experi- 
 ence their sequence, and often with great sagacity. Nobody 
 denies it. But it cannot go farther. I can say I suffer, I am 
 so made, constituted, that under certain circumstances I suffer. 
 But no one can tell me what makes me suffer. He can tell me, 
 very likely better than I can, the circumstances through which I 
 suffer, and perhaps relieve them ; he can relieve an animal that 
 knows where and what it is suffering ; he can trace the material 
 part, bring in electricity or any other biological power ; but 
 what makes me sensible and suffer pain, he cannot tell me. 
 Let him trace it to nerves and electricity and whatever you 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 please ; but electricity does not make a tree or a stone suffer, 
 though it may make a dead frog leap perhaps (that is, produce 
 material effects), but it cannot make dead matter feel. I feel, 
 and hence have no doubt of it ; I have absolute certainty of it, 
 much greater than any of his science, however extensive and 
 accurate it may be. You will tell me a dog knows it. Just so, 
 but the scientific man does not ; and that is the point I am 
 upon just now, that there are kinds of knowledge which are the 
 most certain of all, which science knows nothino; of, has nothing 
 to say to, which the boor is just as certain of as the philosopher. 
 Now I say distinctly there is the same kind of knowledge 
 in the things of God ; its effects may show to others that it is 
 there, but it is not to be explained to or by men. A man groans 
 or writhes, and a dog howls, if he is in pain. That is not the 
 pain, but a testimony to it. So where God dwells in man, where 
 His Spirit dwells in him, there is no uncertainty in himself ; 
 the effect is one of which he is perfectly conscious in himself. 
 It cannot be in itself a proof for another, because it is in him- 
 self, and another cannot be a partaker of that any more than he 
 is of another's pain ; but it is absolute certainty for him who 
 has it, and its effects make themselves known to others as pain 
 and illness do to those who are not suffering. It has another 
 effect which can hardly be communicated to another. It con- 
 firms, by its inward effects, the truth and authority of the word 
 of God ; because if the love of God is shed abroad in my heart 
 by the Holy Ghost given to me, if I enjoy that love inwardly as 
 a deep source of happiness ; if I can look up and cry Abba, 
 Father, in the unquestioning consciousness of what He is for 
 me ; if my soul is at liberty before Him in unfeigned confidence, 
 and at liberty from sin that beset me before, and from a sense 
 of guilt which I had ; if I am conscious of my connection with 
 Christ and His presence with me,— I find all these things which 
 I have in my heart recognised and taught fully in that word. 
 I find what is there said connected with the glorifying of the 
 man Jesus when He had accomplished the work of redemption ; 
 
190 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 this, with a life here wholly without parallel in holiness and 
 love, absolutely unselfish, — meekness and self-denial and patience, 
 understood of none, — a life which condemns me in spite of me 
 by its perfectness, and which is yet not what men admire in 
 their heroes, though more heroic in reality than all. This, with 
 a statement that this man that none was like, — save indeed in a 
 distant measure as following him, — was the Word, that is, God, 
 made flesh. I find, that is, my own every day new but actual 
 and known happiness (proved to others by the change they see 
 in me) connected with an immense system of truth unfolded in 
 the word, but which I find experimentally verified in my own 
 soul (though the source of it be hidden from sense and science, 
 and science can go no farther than inference from sense) ; but 
 what that word declares to be the effect in me, by which the 
 unseen is known and the revelation of what is divine is made 
 to my soul, — is in fact produced there, so that what is unseen is 
 known, and what is divine revealed ; not a history, but what 
 God is now though revealed in that history in its outward facts ; 
 and I know the truth of it by what I possess, and the insepa- 
 rable connection with all the revelation made, which is but the 
 divine development of that of which the effect is in me. 
 
 And so Scripture speaks. " He that believeth in the Son of 
 God hath the witness in himself; and he that believeth not 
 God hath made Him a liar, because he hath not believed the 
 record that God hath given concerning His Son." The infidel 
 will say. That is no proof for me. In effect it may be ; in itself 
 I recognise that it is not. He has it not, and of course cannot 
 have the proof that having it gives. But this does not weaken 
 it for those that have. No more does the doctor's not having 
 pain alter my knowledge of having it ; and if he were to tell 
 me " I was perfectly in health : all the tissues right, and there 
 was no cause for pain, it was imagination," I should know 
 better ; it would only prove his science did not reach to the 
 knowledge of the cause. He will despise, too, my enjoyment of 
 divine things, because he does not know what is enjoyed. He 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 191 
 
 will tell me it is imagination ; but imagination does not produce 
 holiness and godly affections, but poetry. There is nothing 
 permanent. It may take me out of self and sorrow for a moment, 
 but never delivers from either — leaves the man what he was, or 
 worse. ISTo man can stay the hungry edge of appetite by bare 
 imagination of a feast. Imagination deals with things outside 
 us which are not real ; this is what is actually and abidingly in 
 us, a present reality. It is based on what is in its perfectness 
 objective as a source outside us, just as my friend is, though I 
 am conscious of my affection and of his. And when human 
 imagination seeks to make a scene with which it can be occu- 
 pied, it fails entirely, brings cannon into heaven, and makes 
 Satan the most interesting person in the dramatis personae. 
 
 Proofs may and do leave responsibility without excuse, but 
 enjoyment of the thing itself within takes the need of proof 
 away. " Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not ; but one 
 thing I know : whereas I was blind, now I see." Where was 
 the proof that Christ coukl open the eyes of one born blind for 
 him who was so ? And note here, we are not speaking of the 
 truth of that history, but of the nature of the proof. 
 
 Let it be remembered that of love, obligation to God or man, 
 or a father, or a wife, science can know nothing. It is not its 
 business. But man's happiness or unhappiness even as man 
 here, and everything right and comely, depends upon this. 
 Science knows material phenomena and their laws and connec- 
 tions, and no more. Up to a certain point they may prove a 
 connection of thought and organic structure ; but of one single 
 moral idea it is incapable. I do not blame science for this. 
 Phenomena and their laws are its sphere. It is degrading man's 
 moral nature I denounce. There is no love in geology or 
 chemistry ; and if, as they have done, they deny responsibility, 
 the best answer is they are not to be trusted with my keys. 
 Who would trust his child to them, if he had any love or sense 
 of obligation ? 
 
 They have assumed that science has left all witchcraft, pos- 
 
192 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 session, and the like, far behind in the dark, and in the light 
 they have these things dare not show themselves. But they 
 delude themselves. That if men are completely infidels, trust- 
 ing their puny reason, there is no need of superstition to dazzle 
 them with what is false, is true because they are stone-blind 
 already. But what is all the spirit-rapping that is in the midst 
 of their pretended light, and putting people to sleep, and taking 
 their minds, in a certain sense, into possession, and the coming 
 up of spirits of the departed, the identical necromancy which 
 we read of in Scripture ? 
 
 That there is a vast deal of deception I have no doubt, but 
 they have not explained and cannot explain the half of it. 
 Witchcraft is not gone. You may find half the housewives in 
 parts of England stop haemorrhage instantly with a few muttered 
 words ; give them the number of your warts one day, and have 
 none the next. To this day there are in France stones with 
 certain marks upon them, to which women who desire to have 
 husbands or children go, and which they worship, and which 
 have jovial celebrations attached to them. They are similar to 
 others consecrated to Mahadeva (Siva) in India, whose symbol is 
 the linga, and worshipped by women in the same way a little 
 more grossly. They come with a dead child in them to revive 
 it. They are probably also connected with the worship of the 
 dead or fairies. — See MaUriaux four VHistoire de I'homme, 1878, 
 6® livraison. 
 
 It is very easy to sit in a drawing-room or a lecture-hall 
 and say. See how, with our wisdom and science, all these things 
 have disappeared ! They have not disappeared ; it is mere pre- 
 tentious ignorance to say they have. It is very possible that 
 infidelity, if it had penetrated where superstition reigns, might 
 make it disappear, though bringing up the dead or spiritism is 
 no great proof of it. Our infidels may not believe that they 
 are spirits of the dead (I do not), but their science cannot ex- 
 plain what happens now. 
 
 It is very easy to say, I don't believe the facts, but plenty of 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 193 
 
 other people know they happen, and at any rate the superstition 
 is there if the facts are not facts. There is no difficulty in dis- 
 tinguishing such things from real miracles ; but the things to be 
 accounted for are there. It is quite idle to say it is in dark 
 places — I do not doubt or question that certain of them are — 
 not spiritism. If a man finds to-day he has no warts when he 
 had yesterday, and you tell him he is living in an ignorant con- 
 dition, he may say. May be so, but I have no more warts ; and 
 if he has been among the more enlightened, he may reproach 
 them with spiritism, a great deal of which none of them has 
 explained yet. If you ask me, I say a great deal of it is deceit, 
 but there is that wherein there is power, not of man, and cer- 
 tainly not of God. Of what, then, but of Satan ? In their infi- 
 delity all is of Satan to shut out God more completely in another 
 way. 
 
 Nor is it in the country parts of England only that super- 
 stition wields its power. I suppose we have infidelity and 
 scientific light enough, and philosophy of all sorts in France ; 
 yet superstition reigns there. Not only has the worship of the 
 Virgin Mary taken largely-increased proportions in general, but 
 La Salette (proved false by judicial investigation of the civil 
 authorities, and condemned by the prelate of the diocese there- 
 upon) is now approved and in full vigour, and tlie poor railroad 
 that passes by Lourde making a very good business with holy 
 water and pilgrims ; confessed to be false, yet educated English 
 pilgrims going there. And what has science done to hinder it ? 
 It leaves both the imagination and the hiirher wants of man's 
 heart and conscience wholly unreached ; it cannot satisfy heart 
 and conscience, having none ; it can explain the development of 
 ova and protoplasm ; but of what comes of me when all my 
 ova, and what they tell me can alone rightly be called proto- 
 plasm — a living combination which chemistry cannot reach, 
 are gone in death, not one word can they say ; no gleam of hope, 
 no cry of conscience met. A God unknown on earth makes all 
 darker still beyond it : for God, or even for man, no love ; for 
 
194 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 self, no conscience. What has science to do with them ? 
 Affection is at the utmost warmer blood as to this world ! 
 
 The whole moral world is wholly and absolutely outside 
 their reach. Morality they have none, they will tell me it is 
 the pursuit of the good of all. And what is that good, and who 
 is to decide it ? Their happiness ; but for no two men is it the 
 same, if I take man's thoughts. It may be scalping, or opium, 
 for the existence of passions forms no part of their philosophy. 
 Many good people are not aware where philosophy has got to. 
 Kant, in his treatise on morality,^ — a man not nearly so bad as 
 the fruits of the philosophy he set going, — declares in terms that 
 if the will of God, or fear of God, be introduced, there can be 
 none. It is a principle outside man. Morality is the principle 
 of pure reason applied to practical conduct. But he admits at 
 the end that how the principle of pure reason can be so applied 
 it is impossible to say. Mill tells me that justice is the animal 
 desire for vengeance modified by utility to all. Kant's is merely 
 natural conscience with the name changed, and shutting out 
 relationships with God and man, on which all morality is based. 
 Mill, remark, feeling a motive was needed as a rule, makes 
 vengeance the motive. Animal vengeance the sole motive of 
 morality — the rule ; one which has been never settled yet, save 
 by Christ. 
 
 But my object now is to take up specially the question of 
 miracles, and see how Scripture presents them. There are those 
 who are opposed to infidelity who take them as the basis of 
 Christianity. Infidels tell us there cannot be miracles in the 
 nature of things, that general laws cannot be infringed, that the 
 vast mass of evil alleged to be removed by them is the effect of 
 natural laws, and cannot be taken out of their uniform opera- 
 tion, that where they are such as cannot be so viewed, as 
 demoniacal possession and the resurrection, they are proved to 
 be mere superstition, or false. 
 
 The first famous proof is, that they are contrary to experi- 
 
 ^ A translation of it is used in Dublin University. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 195 
 
 ence ; and we had not experience of miracles, but had of human 
 falsity. But first it is to be remarked here that it is a question 
 of induction (not deduction), which only affords probability, and 
 this Mr. Hume admits. He weighs probabilities, the greater 
 against the less. But inductions have nothing to do with facts. 
 Hume says — " When at last he fixes his judgment, the evidence 
 exceeds not what we properly call probability." Now I con- 
 clude, for all practical purposes (and man as an earthly creature 
 has to act on such induction), that, the sun having risen day 
 after day, it will rise to-morrow. But do I believe it shines 
 to-day by experience, or induction? Clearly not induction. 
 That is induction which calculates in the future from experience 
 of the past, having nothing to do with facts at all. And note 
 here, talking of concluding for a long time hence how it will be 
 is throwing dust in the eyes. For it is because it has always 
 been the same I conclude it will be. But the whole proof rests 
 on its rmiaining the same. There is nothing to foretell. One 
 is the certainty of a fact, the other the probability of an induc- 
 tion. I may deceive myself, reasoning badly ; my senses may 
 deceive me as to facts. But the nature of the proof is different. 
 Induction has absolutely nothing to do with facts. Take even 
 sunshine. I believe the fact that the sun has risen every day, 
 not by any induction but as a fact on testimony, and hence con- 
 clude that it will ; but the ground of my believing is distinct. 
 I may question the evidence of a fact ; but, question it or not, 
 it is not induction ; and if I have to reason on experience of 
 motives or circumstances, and bring in induction, it is then only 
 a probability and not a fact. 
 
 The scientific men say the course of the physical world is 
 such that it must have had a beginning, and must come to an 
 end. If they are right, the sun will cease to give its light as it 
 has.flone, and the experience of the past would not be a sound 
 induction in an absolute way. And this leads me to another 
 important principle, the character of the experience and the 
 induction from it, and the whole basis of reasoning from it. It 
 
196 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 is based on this, that the material phenomena in which we live 
 are the limits of all man has to do with. Hence, in speaking of 
 the good of all, tlie view of the object of man's life is confined 
 entirely to the material system in which he lives. It is perfectly 
 clear that phenomena and experience exist only in what is 
 phenomenal, and induction from experience, as to what may or 
 must be, cannot go beyond the sphere to which the experience 
 applies. It belongs to that. It may so far go beyond what is 
 material, as that we have a certain experience of men's passions 
 and motives ; but the motives are too various and unknown, 
 and the will and circumstances have too much to do with it to 
 have any definite general laws. And this Mr. Mill admits, 
 though he reasons as if it were not so, and declares that he was 
 founding a new science, to which he gives the name of Ethology, 
 as sure as any science referring to matter ; for these men can 
 pretend to anything. 
 
 But this system of general laws, which in ordinary material 
 things no one denies, is assumed to be the only possible existing 
 cause for anything. Yet no one can go one step beyond observed 
 facts with which reason has nothing to do, save classifying and 
 binding them together by experience as cause and effect, from 
 which man has an instinctive habit of thought that they will 
 continue. But it is only what is observed, and continuously 
 observed. Take such a thing as death. It was only after cen- 
 turies, — if the patriarchal ages are true, — many long centuries 
 — that death could be taken to be a law of nature. Seeing a 
 man die, or a world destroyed, would not prove it, as Mill so 
 illogically states. Man must have seen, what was practically, 
 all die, to make it a general law. Till then life was the general 
 state, and death might be casual. Thus the conclusion as to 
 anything could be only after a regularly consecutive experience 
 of facts not known by reason at all, but by sight or testimony, 
 facts which (in its very nature, as I have said, and it is all- 
 important to observe) reasoning never gives. It gives conclusions, 
 or the natural tendency to think that what is, as a general law. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 197 
 
 will go on as it has because it has hitherto, which while sufft- 
 cient to act on, and no doubt meant to be acted on, yet can only 
 give probability, which is never a fact, but necessary if the prin- 
 ciples are true. That is, reasoning never can, in any case, give 
 us a fact or truth, but a conclusion by deduction or by induction, 
 a mere probability. 
 
 Let us have it fixed in our minds — Ko facts are known by 
 reason. Thus the fact of Christ's existence in the world, or His 
 miracles, cannot be the subject of reasoning, but of sense or 
 testimony. All the conclusions of reasoning, or the inductions 
 of man's mind, are founded on facts which are known without 
 those, and form the basis on which they are grounded. But 
 further, experience does not touch the origin of that which 
 observation takes notice of The experience being of phenomena 
 cannot go beyond phenomena. Thus, the sun rises ; but what 
 makes it rise ? We may find successive sequences, and come 
 to where we can go no farther, as well as immediate ones ; but 
 this alters nothing. First or last we come to a point where 
 something has produced the facts, or produces the facts, which 
 form the experience. "With that something science has nothing 
 to do. Science does not go beyond the phenomena and conclu- 
 sions from it. But here I come to a power producing these facts 
 or these laws, of which reason has no cognisance. I do exist. I 
 did not always exist. I began to exist. Of that, the first cause 
 to which it leads, there can be no experience. Now whether I 
 take '■'■causa causata" or " causa caicsans," is all one. I have some- 
 thing that has given rise to the phenomena, something which 
 science cannot touch or reason about, — admits it cannot (even 
 Mill and materialists do). That is, a thing being no matter of 
 experience and yet existing is certain. If I say anything had 
 a beginning ; clearly when it began, it was contrary to experi- 
 ence, or rather no experience did or could exist. This cannot 
 exist, till tlie constant succession expressed by general laws had 
 lasted long enough to be known as such. Science tells us 
 things had a beginning. That is, there was a time when judg- 
 
198 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 ing by experience had no place at all, and yet facts were there 
 and true, or experience never could have come to exist. 
 
 I quote one passage from Mill : " This class of considera- 
 tions leads to a conception which we shall find to be of great 
 importance ; that of a permanent cause, or original natural 
 agent. There exist in nature a number of permanent causes, 
 which have subsisted ever since the human race has been in 
 existence. . . . These have existed, and the effects or conse- 
 quences which they were fitted to produce have taken place 
 (as often as the other conditions of the production met) from 
 the very beginning of our experience. But we can give no 
 account of the origin of the permanent causes themselves. 
 Why these particular natural agents existed originally, and no 
 others, or why they are commingled in such and such pro- 
 portions and distributed in such and such a manner throughout 
 space, is a question we cannot answer. . . . The co-existence 
 therefore of primeval causes ranks to us among merely casual 
 occurrences. Not only, for instance, is the earth itself a per- 
 manent cause .... the rotation itself is entitled to be ranked 
 as a permanent cause. It is, however, only the origin of the 
 rotation which is mysterious to us." This last I may touch on, 
 but do not pursue here. He then states that no event happens 
 in the knoion universe, which does not depend on some preceding 
 one, the necessary, or, in other words, the unconditional con- 
 sequence of some former collocation of the permanent causes. 
 He admits that these effects, though invariable while these 
 causes coexist, would, if the co-existence terminates, terminate 
 along with it. " We can only calculate on finding these sequen- 
 ces or co-existences where we know by direct evidence that the 
 natural agents — on the properties of which they ultimately 
 depend — are distributed in the requisite manner." — Logic (Ed. 
 viii. pp. 398-400). But all this, "at least unless some new con- 
 dition of a power capable of constructing the universe should 
 supervene" (400). 
 
 Another able materialist, but who declares himself at the 
 
' MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 199 
 
 same time a Christian, arrives at the same result, after quoting 
 indeed part of what is quoted above from Mill. 
 
 The method of science is thus essentially sceptical, and con- 
 tinually leads to reject all interference of casual powers not 
 themselves phenomena, till we reach a point where analysis 
 can go no farther, and we are compelled to admit a primordial 
 cause or causes, of whose nature logic and science can tell 
 us nothing. 
 
 Thus we are conducted to a blank wall by a method which 
 is wholly powerless to penetrate the mystery which lies behind. 
 The only thing it conducts to is not really what these authors 
 say. The last says, " Wliat we may term logical or negative 
 atheism ; " the former, who could not — being melancholy almost 
 to madness for several years — but see the misery and degrada- 
 tion in which men were, and even creation itself, and not be- 
 lieving in the fall of man, concluded that a God of very feeble 
 power, but in the main benevolent, had made the best he was 
 able out of the materials he had at hand. The simple and only 
 true history of the matter is this — Man is so constituted that he 
 cannot conceive a thing which has a form or individual exist- 
 ence without a cause. He sees something so existing : it came 
 into existence by a cause ; hence he goes on to a primordial 
 cause because he cannot conceive anything existing without one. 
 But that is exactly what a first cause does, it exists without 
 one. That is, he cannot conceive it. He knows it must be. 
 Wliat it is he cannot conceive. That is where man's mind ends, 
 so that such is the result of science ; " it conducts us to a 
 blank wall by a method which is wholly powerless to penetrate 
 the mystery which lies behind. " Poor comfort to those led by 
 it. Or, to use the larger work, and say with Mr. Mill, *' We 
 can give no account of the origin of the permanent causes them- 
 selves. Why these particular natural agents existed originally, 
 and no others, or why, etc., is a question we cannot answer." 
 
 Now, in these statements, the substantive truth of which 
 cannot be denied, we have the proof that the whole a priori 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 ar""ument against miracles entirely fails. Science, based on 
 experience, reaches no farther than the actual sensible course 
 of things already set in motion within the present limits of our 
 senses or experimental discovery. Now, ivithin that course — 
 and science knows nothing but that, as science — we have of 
 course no reason to expect a change so far as we reason from 
 that, and this is all we can do. It is indeed tautology. It 
 would not be a course of things else.^ But it does do some- 
 thing more. It leads us to the blind wall, to its own end ; 
 but to what discloses that there is something of which it knows 
 nothing, for it proves that everything we know comes from 
 something that preceded it. This is a fixed principle, then. 
 There are primeval causes of which we know nothing but that 
 they exist, save that they must have a cause of which science 
 is- simply and wholly ignorant, — cannot touch, as beyond its kind 
 and sphere of knowledge. Things exist of which to science 
 the origin is not known. What the men of science know is 
 only the actual course they follow when they exist. Of their 
 origin, of the force which gave them that course, what imposed 
 on them the form of operations we find them to have, of every- 
 thing that is constituent, science is ignorant ; the constituted it 
 can inqviire into. Not only this, but it must, for its conclusion, 
 have the circumstances, the collocations of existing things, their 
 conditions of existence, just the same, or else all conclusions 
 fail, indeed are false, have no bases, for they are drawn from 
 what exists. Hence the condition is inserted by Mr. Mill, and 
 very justly, " unless there is a counteracting cause." One step 
 farther. Mr. Mill tells -us, that any one who knew all the 
 agents, their collocations in space, the laws of their agency, 
 could predict the whole subsequent history of the universe, at 
 least unless some new volition capable of constructing the uni- 
 verse should supervene. Now, there is not much science in 
 this, which merely says that a state of things going a regular 
 
 ^ This is not strictly true, if, as men of science affirm, the course itself proves 
 its beginning and its ending. But this hardly affects present practical use of it. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 course would continue what it is unless something changed it, 
 a proposition which I suppose no one would contradict, save by 
 reason of another possibility that the course is a changing one 
 (as is said to be the case), so as to come to an end. 
 ► Further, I must add that it is not necessary to change the 
 universe : a power which could originate anything could do 
 that without changing an atom, anything whatever, of the regu- 
 lar course of things, though he might introduce something new 
 which was not of that course. Thus a man might rise from the 
 dead and go to heaven, or an angel come down from heaven and 
 leave the course actually known to science untouched. I am 
 not saying any such thing ever happened, but that a power 
 which can originate does not necessarily change anything in 
 that beyond which science cannot go. Men may go on eating, 
 drinking, dying, and an angel come down, or a man may be 
 raised, without anything of experienced phenomenal order being 
 changed. This might go on as usual, and, physically speaking, 
 its course be predicted just as before. AVhen the man died, 
 science came to its absolute end, to the blind wall, as much as 
 in primeval causes at the other end, and the angel go away 
 again, and no one care whether he had been there or not. 
 Science can know nothing but the existing course of sensible 
 phenomena, and presume its continuance as it is, if nothing 
 interfere. If it attempts to go farther, it must say, I cannot 
 answer, or knock its head against a blind wall. 
 
 But then, mark, we have this positively recognised, that 
 there is a primeval cause, perhaps causes^ (for they do not like to 
 own one,, — it would be too near God, — though Mr. Mill in the 
 most wretched way did), whose origin is wholly unaccounted for. 
 Science has its sole task to investigate their course when they 
 are at work, but their origin and the origin of the laws which 
 goviirn their course must be ascribed to a source of which science 
 is ignorant. The course they follow is the whole it can inquire 
 
 ^ Yet the unity of plan and law is the strongest possible inductive proof that 
 the primeval cause is one. 
 
202 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 into ; their existence is a " casnal circumstance," stands by itself, 
 is no part of the general law which science can discover when 
 it is in operation. The conservation of force now insisted on 
 alters this in nothing ; it is only a more general law, which we 
 cannot apply beyond the universe subject to observation, nor 
 does it reveal its origin more than the rest. Let evolution be 
 true, which in some respects it may be, and cells and protoplasm 
 be the starting-point of everything. You only have the starting- 
 point of development, only what is material with possible action, 
 as organic, on mind. As to the origin you are exactly where 
 you were. A volition capable of originating, science can tell 
 nothing of, cannot say it does not exist. For science, save that 
 there is the insuperable conviction of a cause, it is the other 
 side of a blind wall. This being so, all that denies the possi- 
 bility or credibility of a miracle is wholly out of court. Experi- 
 ence has nothing to do with it. It is not the subject of its 
 knowledge, or this knowledge would not be experience. That 
 knows the course of what is, and nothing more ; but the origin 
 of all that is, and of the force that acts in the uniform operations 
 which they call a general law, is out of their reach, but must be, 
 for these things so governed exist ; and it may of course operate 
 independently now, as it did in the origin, when it could not be 
 a matter of science, for the knowledge of a general law was only 
 when they had existed long enough, and been so operated on as 
 to be able to predicate a course. Of these causes or cause there 
 never was knowledge in science. They were there when the 
 ground of science was laid. They had an origin, and what 
 originated them may originate a miracle, a casual circumstance, 
 for what was originated were only " casual circumstances " at 
 first. Science can tell us nothing about those " casual circum- 
 stances ;" such are altogether out of its sphere. No experience 
 applies here, and so of miracles. I do not say this proves any 
 particular miracles true, but it proves the reasoning as to their 
 credibility and possibility utterly foundationless and false. 
 Whatever power produced, was the origin of the first, may be of 
 the other, and is just as active in one as in the other. All the 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 203 
 
 appeal to experience is only to say that tlie continued action of 
 general laws, wliich tliey can explain as a mere fact, is not the 
 same as the power that originated them, which they cannot 
 explain at all. And even this, which in a certain sense may be 
 admitted, so far as that it is a different kind of exercise of it, 
 they cannot say. For my own part, I am satisfied that the force or 
 power which created and set the universe in movement is a power 
 which keeps it in movement. The material world would not move 
 itself unless it was moved, and the power and will which started 
 it must always operate to continue it, or it could not continue. 
 This is the true conservation of force : the perpetual operation 
 of Divine will, just as it operated at the beginning in setting 
 what appear now as general laws agoing. It is always exactly 
 the same thing. This force was acted by and followed a certain 
 order in starting, by will and power, and it continues by the same 
 power and will every instant. It has never been proved that the 
 power which sustains is not the same power which at first ori- 
 ginated. Science knows no more of one than the other. It only 
 knows phenomena and the recognition of general laws by which 
 they are governed, that is the fact of constant sequence, or uniform 
 effects when all is already there, the whole of ivhicli is as to its 
 existence confessed to be a casual circumstance, just as a miracle 
 is. Both are known by sense or testimony, and by no other 
 means. 
 
 The infidel argument is utterly illogical. It is this — " We 
 cannot admit a proposition as a law of nature, and yet believe a 
 fact in real contradiction of it. We must either disbelieve the 
 alleged fact, or believe we were mistaken in admitting the 
 supposed law." But this is merely saying there is no possible 
 power in existence but the law of nature, which is not only not 
 proved, but the contrary is admitted. We have seen that it is 
 admitted that there are primeval causes, of which science knows 
 nothing — that is were contrary to experience. The effect B, * 
 they say, must follow from A, as it has always done, unless there 
 be some counteracting cause ; confining thus all possibilities to 
 
204 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 the existing phenomena, i.e. assuming the whole question ; deny- 
 ing anything else can be, yet admitting primeval causes. That 
 anything happens not the consequence of existing phenomena, 
 they say, must be disbelieved. A general conclusion that the 
 usual phenomenon will follow no one disputes, because it always 
 has. How the phenomena themselves did originally, unless it 
 be a changing, not an unchanging course. But it is not the 
 question. That is, whether Z cannot do something, which is 
 neither A nor B, or set A in motion to produce B. The conse- 
 quence is supposed in the order of known phenomena. But 
 the conclusion cannot go beyond a positive one : that there will 
 happen a consequence when these causes act according to the 
 known course. The action of power (for law is not power, 
 but order produced by power) cannot be touched by that order, 
 unless originating be denied, for that is power independent of 
 existing order, and an origin, no part of the sphere of science, is 
 admitted ; were it not its possibility cannot be denied. With 
 that science has nothing to do. Mill then takes the ground that 
 we must first believe in the existence of a being with super- 
 natural powers before we can believe miracles. Now this pro- 
 ceeds on the supposition of our large ignorance of natural 
 causes ; a pretty plea for men of science who profess so to know 
 nature, that the course of it is so fixed that we cannot believe 
 anything that contradicts that course ; nay, which is not part 
 of it. Now, when there is the consciousness that they cannot 
 be denied, there must be previously the belief of supernatural 
 power. But supposing we did so believe, which it is clear to me 
 that we may, and must without any miracles at all, that would 
 not help us on a bit, because on their own showing it may be 
 from some unknown cause. Nay, they say that He who formed 
 the course could not interrupt it. But this previous belief is 
 not necessary. I may now assume miracles, for the question is 
 their cause. Events happen which no known cause ever yet 
 produced. They happen not of themselves. There is no ante- 
 cedent natural cause discoverable ; they happen only by the 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 205 
 
 intervention of particular persons, and do not exist when they 
 are not there. A man walks on the sea, stops the earth going 
 round, raises a dead man who was buried and passing into 
 corruption. All outward evil disappears before a given in- 
 dividual, a word suflices even when he is not there. No sorrow 
 or evil withstands his word. The facts happen before hundreds 
 of thousands, and to thousands, and nobody is able to call them 
 in question, they cannot deny it. You say, But I do not believe 
 what really would be miracles, as Joshua's stopping the day, or 
 Lazarus' resurrection, etc. I quite understand you, but you do 
 not, because they would prove the supernatural power if admitted. 
 Now that is our present question, and you contradict your own 
 statement ; and I say, that a man who could deny that miracles 
 cannot prove miraculous or supernatural powers, as they might 
 be attributed to causes unknown to boasting science, ought not 
 to write on logic, or pretend to analyse the true character of 
 induction. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought. The 
 truth of alleged miracles may of course be disputed, their 
 character be investigated ; but to say that miracles, if true, cannot 
 prove supernatural power, but that this must be first assumed, 
 is in every sense absurd, and worthy only of infidelity and men 
 of science, who cannot get beyond phenomena and the petty 
 investigations of the general laws which govern them ; very 
 entertaining I admit, but which in no possible case lead to a 
 right affection or the sense of moral obligation. 
 
 And this is the proposition of the Humes and Mills, and 
 the anonymous author of Supernatural Religion. 
 
 But Mr. Mill makes one or two remarks of great importance 
 here : " The miracle, as an extraordinary fact, may be satisfac- 
 torily certified by our senses or testimony." But then there is 
 a power which can interrupt the course of general laws and act 
 by its will so as to produce " casual circumstances." Mr. Mill 
 will say there is no miracle, but a previously unknown law. I 
 only admit an extraordinary fact. But I have a fact that is not 
 accounted for by any known law or cause. Adequate evidence 
 
2o6 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 is admitted of facts, and that there is no way to account for the 
 fact. Suppose the fact to occur at the command of an indi- 
 vidual, and repeatedly, and to be contrary to every known law, 
 as walking on the sea. We have clearly what is not the effect of 
 general laws but contrary to them, and attached to an individual 
 and those empowered by him. That there may be evidence of 
 it is admitted ; to deny it is merely returning not to evidence 
 or science, but to the assumption that there cannot be, which is 
 just a pctitio 2n'inci2ni, which before he did his best to deny prac- 
 tically, but now, pleading the ignorance of science, seeks to throw 
 necessary uncertainty on its being supernatural. We find, if 
 adequately certified, they always happened by the intervention 
 of given individuals, never without them, that they never hap- 
 pened before at any time, by any natural cause known or un- 
 known, they belong to no general laws, and they always hap- 
 pened when the will of these gifted persons interfered. 
 
 The other remark is that an important element of the ques- 
 tion will be the conformity of the result to the laws (read 
 character, for with laws given to others, save as sanctions, they 
 had nothing to do) of the supposed agent. 
 
 I have said that the statement that a miracle can be certified 
 by observation or testimony is important, as it was sought to be 
 proved impossible. This may be easily understood by the state- 
 ment, " If an alleged fact be in contradiction, not to any number 
 of approximate generalisations, but to a completed generalisation 
 grounded on a vigorous induction, it is said to be impossible, 
 and to be disbelieved totally." — Mill's Logic (8th edition, ii. 115). 
 
 We have already seen there is no ground for this, for the 
 induction is only from the course of nature known as general 
 laws. And the miracle, if such, is a casual circumstance, like 
 the origin of permanent causes, and has nothing to do with 
 these laws, or it is not a miracle. The statement, then, that 
 " we cannot admit a proposition as a law of nature and yet 
 believe a fact in real contradiction to it " (Mill, ii. 167), is 
 simply a statement that there can be no exercise of power other 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 207 
 
 than the course of nature known to us. Which is simply absurd 
 and a mere assumption, contrary, moreover, to their own admis- 
 sion, — that the origin of all is by some power which science 
 knows nothing of. 
 
 In sum, we have come to the conclusion, or rather gathered 
 up their admissions, that casual circumstances have taken place 
 revealing power not within their experience or the general laws 
 of science, and of which science can give no account. And that 
 is just what a miracle is. 
 
 Let me now consider the way in which Scripture presents 
 miracles. It is alleged, and Christian apologists seem to ac- 
 quiesce in it, that miracles are the proof of Christianity. This 
 is a great mistake. They are graciously given of God in com- 
 passion to man's weakness to confirm the Word. But the reve- 
 lation of God in the Word, His nature and actings, are the first 
 things. Thus we have in Mark xvi. the Lord working with 
 them, and confirming the Word by signs following. So in Heb. 
 i., God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders 
 and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. And 
 this is so much the case, that a idS.\h. founded on miracles is not 
 owned of the Lord, the moral element which links man's quick- 
 ened soul with God is wanting. " Now when He was in Jeru- 
 salem at the Passover on the feast day many believed in His 
 name, seeing the miracles which He did ; but Jesus did not 
 commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men and 
 needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what 
 was in man." It was a human conclusion, drawn from the 
 testimony of His works, and a just one ; there was no new life, 
 no moral renewal, it was " what was in man." Hence we find 
 as a fact in the ways of God, that, as a rule, miracles were 
 wrought only at the introduction and establishment of a divine 
 religious order, or where it was abandoned by those whom He 
 had not yet abandoned ; in a word, where a testimony needed 
 to be confirmed in this way. Thus Moses wrought miracles 
 but no prophet in Jerusalem, where, however evil the people 
 
2o8 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 were, as a system the religion established by Moses remained, 
 ever wrought miracles. AVhen Israel had set up the golden 
 calves, and God visited the people to maintain a testimony of 
 the truth, for a poor remnant Elijah and Elisha work miracles. 
 Again, whatever the miraculous power, it was to confirm the 
 truth proposed, never for self. Paul leaves Trophimus at Miletus 
 sick. Yet how many had he healed ? Epaphroditus was sick 
 nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him. Hence, if a 
 miracle was wrought leading away from divine truth the 
 miracle- worker was to be stoned (Deut. xiii.) In mercy to man, 
 adequate outward testimony was given, leaving man without 
 excuse ; but faith which God owned rested in the Word, and 
 its effectual working morally in the heart. So the Lord puts 
 the double character of His testimony : " If I had not come 
 and spoken to them they had not had sin, but now they have no 
 cloak for their sin. If I had not done among them the works 
 which none other man did they had not had sin, but now they 
 have both seen and hated both me and my Father." But while 
 condemned for rejecting this testimony, faith formed on this 
 alone is not owned, because it was purely human faith and not 
 the moral power of the revelation working in the heart, and 
 faith which is owned is always by the word. Of His own wiU 
 begat He us by the word of truth. " My sheep hear My voice. 
 He that heareth My word and believeth on Him that sent Me 
 hath everlasting life. The words that I have spoken unto you 
 they are spirit and they are life. It is equally even the ground 
 of judgment. The words that I have spoken the same shall 
 judge him in the last day." ^ Thus, while special miracles con- 
 firm the truth, yet if they are not attached to the truth known 
 from the Word they are to be rejected. The Word is the test. 
 Further, closely connected with this is the fact that these 
 miracles were entirely separated from any honour attached 
 to the persons who wrought them, though of course they 
 attested the divine character of their ministry; they were 
 
 ^ See John x. 38 ; xiv. 11 ; and other like passages. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 209 
 
 wholly a testimony borne to the living word, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and all He taught. This is true even as to INIoses' 
 works of power ; as Exod. xvi. 8, and elsewhere, " What are 
 we, your murmurings are not agaiust us, but against the Lord." 
 And when once they provoked his spirit, so that he spake un- 
 advisedly with his lips, saying, " Hear now, ye rebels, must we 
 bring you water out of this rock," as an expression of tlie strict 
 regime of the law, lie was not suffered to lead the people into 
 Canaan (Num. xx. 10). So, Acts iii. 13, Peter disclaims all 
 regard to himself or John, putting Jesus alone forward. The 
 Lord's power and resurrection are that to which the miracles 
 testified. This gives a definite character to them. There was 
 no personal relief, as we have seen, no self-aggrandisement by 
 them, no glory sought for themselves or for their company. So 
 Paul and Barnabas (Acts xiv. 14). Now, it was the opposite 
 of this in every other case. It was to glorify the individual, 
 a St. Anthony, or Gregory Thaumaturgus, or Martin, or the 
 church corporately, — in a word themselves. They were always 
 from motives, or for objects, which the scriptural miracles never 
 were. The religion was already established as a religion, for which 
 they had been needed. They were wrought in mercy to a tig- 
 ress who brought a deer-skin in recompense to the saint for 
 giving sight to her cubs, and was told the saint cordd not work 
 miracles for her if she went on with such work ; or setting a cow 
 right whom a demon was riding, whom the saint only could see, 
 the cow coming and kneeling to him, and she was ordered to 
 go quietly back to the herd, which she did. This saint pro- 
 mised Satan salvation if he ceased to tempt man. Or let any 
 one take the miracles of the pseudo-gospels, and see the miracles 
 attributed to Christ, and if they cannot discern the difference of 
 these and Scripture we need not be troubled about their judg- 
 ment as to anything. The things I have referred to were in the 
 very first centuries. The church was utterly fallen. It is a 
 constant fact in the ways of God that He gives counter-checks. 
 The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The form of holiness 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 cannot be received as of God if it be not founded on the truth 
 nor what is presented as the truth if it be unholy, nor one who 
 presents truth itself as a minister of God if he be unholy. So 
 pretended miracles, or apparent works of power, if used to con- 
 firm what is not the truth of the word, are to be at once re- 
 jected. I may be unable to explain them. That alters nothing, 
 they are not of God. He can only give testimony to the 
 truth. If the sign be one of real power, as we have seen in 
 Deut. xiii., if it deny the Lord or His word, it condemns the 
 worker, but does not deceive him who knows the Lord, and 
 walks with Him. This supposes the truth known ; the testi- 
 mony of the Lord in the word received, and that is our case, or 
 else a heart deceived by falsehood, which of course cannot dis- 
 cern. And here we see the importance of the scriptural fact 
 that miracles were on the introduction of the truth and to con- 
 firm it. There holiness of walk, truth and power, went in- 
 separably together. It was not a record of past miracles ; nor, on 
 the other hand, when truth was there, a means to judge pretended 
 ones by, but the truth introduced with the accompanying testi- 
 mony, which none could deny. In the case of Christ neither 
 heathen nor Jews denied them ; they might ascribe them to 
 Beelzebub, or magic, or the shem hammaphoresh, but the facts 
 were there. Miracles were a present visible testimony which, 
 in point of fact, did so affect men that the religion was estab- 
 lished in the face of, and in despite of, all the power of the 
 world. For, after all, Christianity exists, and has had a cause 
 of its existence. That that existence was identified with the 
 person of the Lord Jesus Christ is unquestionable for any 
 sober-minded person. Next to His person and death, of which 
 even heathen authors (of course of more weight with infidels 
 because they believed no truth) testify, came the truths they 
 testified of, which indeed could not be separated from Christ's 
 person and work, but with these, both in the case of Christ 
 Himself and those He sent out, miracles accompanied the tes- 
 timony to confirm it, and the testimony was believed, and the 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 religion was founded, in the midst, doubtless, of violent opposi- 
 tion and persecution, but the testimony and the miracles were 
 before the eyes of those who did believe. The account is, that 
 they saw persons who had been dead and buried, alive again 
 and conversant with men. All sickness at once healed. 
 Lunatics, and those held to be possessed — for the difference 
 is clearly made — instantly healed and delivered. And a reli- 
 gion which has possessed the civilised part of the world, was 
 founded through the effect produced making head against every 
 prejudice and the whole power of the Eoman Empire. And 
 divine truth such as meets and heals man's soul introduced by 
 it. Other religions have been compared with it. Mahomet- 
 anism, every one knows, was propagated by the sword, and 
 gives a sensual paradise of houris consecrating men's lusts. 
 Buddhism, the most interesting phenomenon in the world, had 
 no god, and was despair at the state of human nature without 
 a remedy, and its founder obtained — Nirwana — practical anni- 
 hilation by eating too much pork when he was fully eighty 
 years old. Now he is a kind of god, and in one vast country 
 where it prevails, embodied in a man, and when he dies 
 another is ready prejDared, and the living power passes into 
 him. The miracles the word of God insists on were for the 
 establishment of the faith, and the faith was established, and 
 the grace and truth taught in it shines yet with undiminished 
 and undeniable moral lustre, while its shell is picked at by those 
 who do not like the truth itself, because it has a power which 
 speaks too plain to conscience ; proves itself too clearly divine 
 for the conscience to like it. 
 
 And this leads me, too, to the character of the miracles, 
 which, as Mr. Mill says, ought to be characterised by what suits 
 the law (character) of the author of them. Let us consider 
 them in this view. 
 
 Christianity views man as guilty and lost by sin, and while 
 recognising the law as the just measure of what was required 
 from man, yet none having fulfilled it purports to be the revela- 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 tion of God in sovereign goodness to save what was thus lost. 
 Now, Christ's miracles and those of his disciples were not 
 merely signs of power, but all of them of goodness as well as 
 power. There is but one absolute exception, and the accessory 
 of another. The cursing of the barren fig-tree, a usual figure of 
 the Israelitish nation, that is of man under the old covenant. 
 This is finally judged, and it was never to bear fruit. The other 
 was the case of the swine, when the miracle itself was a striking 
 and mighty act of delivering goodness, and a sufferance there- 
 upon of the demons showing themselves such as they were ; a 
 sad picture of what happened to the Jews when they rejected 
 Christ as the Gadarenes had. The allowance of the manifesta- 
 tion of the reality of these evil spirits is a remark of one of the 
 old so-called fathers. With these exceptions, all the miracles 
 of the Lord were the expression of goodness present in power, 
 that man might be won back to confidence in God. Every out- 
 ward effect of sin, all the evil that was in the world, was removed 
 and set aside when met by the power that wrought in goodness 
 amongst men. This did not change man's heart, but it did 
 reveal God's, and that was what man wanted. God came into 
 the midst of sinful men showing that love flowing from His own 
 thoughts and nature was greater than the sin and evil that was 
 in the world. For what we have in Christianity is what never 
 was before. God came out in grace revealing Himself in good- 
 ness when man was a sinner, and man gone in, in righteousness, 
 into the divine glory. So that God's love and God's righteous- 
 ness should be revealed to sinners far from Him. Now, no one 
 can show that one miracle of Christ's, or of those sent by Him, 
 was not thus power displayed in a way suited to the present 
 need and sorrow of man. Moses' miracles, though partly the 
 glorious deliverance of a people and the proof of governmental 
 care, were not always this. There were judicial wonders suited 
 to the position of the people when God was hid behind the veil 
 and the people placed under the law and tested there. To be 
 exact, I should add one temporary judgment pronounced by 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 213 
 
 Paul on Elymas, a sad picture of the state of the Jews resisting 
 grace, and, after all, the means of far better blessing to the pro- 
 consul, before whom the question of the truth of Christianity 
 was raised. The miracles of Christ were then not only perfectly 
 suited to God's nature and character, but perfectly suited to man 
 and the purpose of Christ's mission, and the expression of it 
 •where man's heart could feel and understand it. His birth, if 
 God was to be thus manifested, so that if man should learn 
 God's nature and feel His profound interest in him, was exactly 
 what it must have been, a true, real man, born of a woman, but 
 perfectly sinless ; such was the suited temple for God as near to 
 man as God could be, and yet God near to him. As to the 
 resurrection, having become capable of dying to accomplish the 
 work of redemption, and having accomplished that work, there 
 was the recognition of its effectual value for the justification of 
 every one that believed. God had accepted it, and inseparably 
 from this a — to us — new life,^ and a new state of it beyond the 
 effects of sin, in a people of which he was the first-born and 
 head. And thus mark that all His miracles were an essential 
 part of an immense scheme of truth, the only key to man's state 
 in connection with God's righteousness and mercy, and the only 
 full and real revelation of what He is which exists in the world. 
 The infidel may condescend to have to say to God, provided He 
 keeps far enough away from him for them to have nothing to do 
 with one another ; but this is a revelation, wben man, beyond 
 all controversy, is in sin and misery and degradation, as a fact, 
 if there be no revelation — a revelation of God having to do with 
 him in grace and love, and yet maintaining His holy and right- 
 eous nature, no trace of which is found anywhere else. But, 
 further, while miracles were a confirmation of the word, which 
 was the proper and express revelation of God's mind, they were 
 also a testimony in and of themselves, for they told not simply 
 of power but of goodness, of God working in goodness in the 
 
 1 Christ had life in Himself, and could not be holden of death, but I speak 
 of what it is for man in general. 
 
214 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 midst of sorrow and misery, and that in the most definite and 
 distinct way. He had compassion on the multitude. Still there 
 was distinctly and definitely a testimony to the person and truth, 
 or, to speak again as Scripture speaks, the grace and truth which 
 came by Jesus Christ, and word and works were a like testi- 
 mony to it. Hence, too, both belonged specially to the person 
 of the Lord and his immediate followers, whose part after his 
 death I will speak of just now. Thus in John x. 37, 38, we 
 read, to the world, " If I do not the works of my Father believe 
 me not ; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the 
 works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me 
 and I in Him." To the disciples (John xiv. 10, 11), "Believest 
 thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me ? the 
 words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself : but the 
 Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me 
 that I am in the Father and the Father in me : or else believe me 
 for the very works' sake." I add what follows for another point 
 that will come before us. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
 that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and 
 greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my 
 Father." Again xv. 22, " If I had not come and spoken unto 
 them, they had not had sin : but now they have no cloak for their 
 sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not 
 done among them the works which none other man did they 
 had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both 
 me and my Father." Thus both the word and the works give 
 testimony to all the expression of the perfectness of the person 
 who was there. Of God's living dealing with men. As to the 
 word, this is the force of John viii. 25 — T't)v ap'yjqv o ri Kai 
 \a\(o vfitv — in principle and wholly what I say to you. His 
 words were the expression of Himself. He was the truth, and 
 the truth thus expressed was the revelation of Himself and so 
 of the Father. This gives a distinct cliaracter to His words and 
 miracles, and the difference between His and all others. None 
 could be in themselves a similar testimony. The fact that the 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 215 
 
 apostles, and probably some on whom they had laid their hands, 
 wrought miracles, and more and greater works than Christ Him- 
 self, may seem a contradiction to this. A fcM' words here may 
 be called for. It was a necessary consequence of the truth as to 
 Christ. As to His life He was the necessary and natural witness 
 to Himself. But this manifestation of God in grace in the world 
 was only half the truth. If he as God descended here in love, 
 becoming a man, as man He is gone up into heaven, the right- 
 eousness of God being so revealed to men through the Holy 
 Ghost sent down. Of this the Holy Ghost, speaking and acting 
 in men sent out by Christ, was the witness. " Greater works 
 than these shall ye do because I go to my Father." But the 
 testimony was still to Jesus alone, the apostles disclaimed all 
 glory for themselves. The miracles were all for the establishing 
 of Christ's religion upon earth, and belonged entirely to that 
 testimony, either to His coming here from on high or to His 
 being gone up on high as man. No miracles of wandering Jews 
 or Christians in subsequent times can be compared with them, 
 and he who can compare warnings to grateful lionesses and 
 demons riding on cows' backs, done to the honour of thauma- 
 turgs, must have lost every trace of moral sense and divine 
 apprehension. The infidels must remember that the judgment 
 we form on things is sometimes a test of the state of our minds. 
 The state of the church fell with the departure of the apostles, 
 and even in their time. All, says the apostle, seek their 
 own, not the things of Jesus Christ ; and John and Jude 
 both testify that the failure was come in their days. The 
 history of the church shows it utterly fallen in doctrine and 
 practice at once, as all that had been entrusted to man ever had. 
 It is all very well to talk of the primitive church with those who 
 know nothing about it. But the doctrine and practice were such 
 as are not fit to be put upon a drawing-room table for common 
 reading, and that what was read in the churches forty or fifty 
 years after John's death ; one hundred years after this cor- 
 ruption was general. That superstition and spiritual ignor- 
 
2i6 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 ance o-overned the " Fathers' " minds, there is not the smallest 
 doubt. Milner in his Church History admits that not one ever 
 held the fundamental doctrine of justification by faith. I 
 should go further, but let that suffice. It became quite early the 
 practice to get drunk in the churches in honour of the saints 
 whose memorial had taken the place of that of the demi-god on 
 the same site. In Africa, Augustine tried to put a stop to it, 
 and was nearly stoned for his pains ; he excuses " the primitive 
 church" by saying, they thought it better to get drunk in 
 honour of a saint than in honour of a demon. But more of 
 this in detail hereafter. The disposition of the Jews to believe 
 all sorts of signs and wonders is insisted on by infidels, as in 
 the book Swpcrnatural 'Religion, referring to Lightfoot, and 
 Schoetgen, and Gfrorer, quoting the Talmud, etc. Now this 
 is freely admitted. But such infidels forget that the Jews as a 
 body did not receive Jesus as the Christ. Light had come into 
 the world, and men loved darkness rather than light. John the 
 Baptist claimed repentance without miracles, those whose con- 
 sciences were reached received the Lord's testimony, but none 
 else. They might rejoice in the miracles for present comfort, 
 but did not believe, so that the faith in Christ was exactly in 
 contrast with this superstitious temper of the Jews ; one would 
 think that these wise mem had forgotten that Christ was crucified, 
 rejected, and that the Jews' wonderful love of the marvellous 
 failed to reconcile them to the light, perhaps helped to darken 
 their eyes. At any rate the argument is worse than nothing, 
 because they did not believe because of the truth that came 
 with the miracles, but rejected him that wrought them ; ascribed 
 them to Beelzebub — anything rather than receive the truth, and 
 the judgment they were warned of came upon them. I should 
 not demand better evidence of the difference of the human 
 mind and the divine as communicated in the gospels than for 
 a person to read the spurious gospels, if he has patience to get 
 through them, and compare the senseless fatuities of what was 
 not written by inspiration in those days and the four gospels. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 217 
 
 and if lie cannot find out the difference he is quite fit to be an 
 infidel author. Christ when a child was making little mud 
 birds and ponds, and it was the Sabbath, and a big boy came 
 and broke his ponds, the birds took flight and went away, and 
 Christ said, As you have dried my ponds, may you be dried up, 
 so he dried up and died. In this kind of way he became the 
 means of the death of so many that his mother had to keep 
 him at home in the house. He maltreated the master that 
 taught him his letters in a like way. Let me remark here that 
 Scripture gives perfectly and soberly according to God, what 
 there are legendary traditions of, or the truth of God's ways in 
 connection with Himself, where man's imagination has invented 
 a mass of false statements to impose on man's fears or love of 
 the wonderful. Thus, take the Book of Tobit, the expression 
 so far of Talmudical and Jewish ideas when they had not pre- 
 sent revelation, and the Scriptural account of the service of 
 angels, and see how the last is worthy of God and comfortable 
 to us. The denial of these things as if it was a settled point, 
 and sober men had given it all up, is all very well for infidels 
 and those who are afraid of them ; but they must know that 
 men as sober and as sound as they fully believe in the scrip- 
 tural statements of angelic administrations and demoniacal 
 power ; the Sadducean denial of a world of spirits is prejudice 
 not sober judgment, as if power because it was not visible and 
 material could not exist. The Scriptures — and in spite of in- 
 fidels, Christians believe them — are plain as to the ministration 
 of angels : " Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to 
 minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation." As regards 
 the wickedness of man they do believe in the fall of man, 
 they do not believe that God made the world as it is morally. 
 They see man degraded in abominable idolatries where Chris- 
 tianity has nothing to do with it, where in the highest state of 
 civilisation they worshipped and do worship objects that mark 
 the lowest possible degradation, and indulge, even the wild 
 Indians, in the careful practice of nameless degradation them- 
 
 Q 
 
2i8 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 selves ; they know that in the centre of modern civilisation, 
 man let loose and boastingly casting off Christianity and God, 
 indulged in horrors too horrible to repeat. They know that 
 where there are not such outbreaks, and where there is a great 
 profession of religion, sin and vileness prevail and scarce hide 
 their face, and they do not believe that God made the world in 
 this state. They leave that to infidels. They believe, knowing 
 God to be holy and good, that man is a fallen being. The evil 
 state is a fact. ■ They will excuse its violence as rising up 
 against oppression, there is a measure of truth as to certain 
 parts of this, but they are only deeper in the mire. Where did 
 the intolerable oppression come from ? and is violence, glutting 
 in blood and debauchery, the only remedy they have ? Further, 
 God's remedy they reject, and are helping people to reject, to 
 their own destruction. 
 
 Kuenen is referred to in Siipernatural Religion as a veiy 
 able book. With sufficient contradiction to make their judg- 
 ment of Kttle worth, all these rationalists are in substance on 
 the same ground. The Pentateuch is not a really historical 
 book at all, but a compilation from a few old documents partly 
 made in the time of Judges, partly in David's or Solomon's 
 reign, partly after the exile. There, at any rate, it received 
 its priestly form. Every divine element completely excluded, 
 of course therefore, no prophecy. Hence, when events later 
 than the professed date of the writing are found, it was written 
 after these events. Jalive was the national god, but Monotheism 
 was only that into which they gradually grew up (through a 
 Semitic tendency). Some think Jahve (Jehovah) a Canaanitish 
 god ; at any rate it was one party, and a small one, who held 
 to his exclusive worship ; other gods being equally recognised, 
 even in the Pentateuch, and by the best kings. One party 
 would have fellowship with the Canaanites ; another drive them 
 wholly out. I may mention two cases as specimens of their 
 systems. As it is rejected as historically true, and what pro- 
 fesses to be of Moses invented or legends, they try and compose 
 
MIRA CLES A ND INF IDE LIT V. 219 
 
 a system, putting things together by the probabilities drawn 
 from man's motives ; rejecting all thought of miy revelation of 
 God — of course all prophecy and any mind of God in the 
 matter. The whole is put together and compiled finally after 
 the exile, with the object of exalting the priests and the autho- 
 rity of Jahve. But I must give in my specimens : Abimelech 
 was disposed to unite Canaanites and followers of Jahve, and 
 did get power thus. Gaal was a Jahvist, according to the 
 system. Gen. xlix, was written in the time of the Judges. But 
 what is to be made of vers. 5-7, the judgment on Simeon and 
 Levi ? According to them, the then state of Simeon and Levi 
 led the poet of xlix. to put into Jacob's mouth this judgment of 
 the tribes. That comes, says Dr. Oort, from Gen. xxxiv., 
 written at that time, " for we know of no other inducement for 
 the invention of this story than the covenant made between 
 the cities of Shechem." But it is not certain that we should 
 know the inducement, says Kuenen, and xxxiv. was written 
 long after. Oort himself had a difficulty, — the statement in 
 the IStli verse, that they dealt deceitfully. But that is easily 
 met : it is interpolated. No, says Kuenen ; it is a confused 
 reminiscence of the time of the Judges, long after Gideon and 
 Abimelech. It is well that those interested should know the 
 principles of Dr. Kuenen, so lauded by the author of Suj^cr- 
 natural Religion. At the beginning of his book, speaking of the 
 standpoint of his history, he tells us it is one of a number of 
 monographs of the principal religions. The idea of including 
 the Israelitish and the Christian among the principal religions 
 deserves approbation and applause only if there exist no differ- 
 ence between these two and all the other forms of religions. 
 The idea of a special divine revelation, he says, would place too 
 deep a gulf between them and others to count these among 
 them ; and at the end he adopts the statement of Mr. Eeville, 
 that if liberal Judaism prevails (for they have their rationalists) 
 it will closely approach liberal Christianity, which, by its 
 openly avowed Unitarianism, will not excite the same repug- 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 nance as orthodoxy. A fusion is hardly probable ; but if all 
 religious sects laid down their weapons, religious sentiment 
 would only gain by it. Of course, if a man believes nothing, 
 though there are principal religions, there is nothing to fight 
 for. Divine revelation does not exist ; and then, whether 
 Gen. xxxiv. be an existing fiction of the time of Abimelech, 
 or a much later writing of confused reminiscences of that 
 time, is very little matter, and may be left to Dr. Oort, and 
 Kuenen who would hail a fusion of Judaism and Christianity, 
 on the ground of there being nothing divine in either. The other 
 specimen I would cite is, that the prediction of Gen. xlix. 16, 17, 
 is a clear proof that the chapter was written in the time of the 
 Judges, more precisely of Samson ; for then Dan rose up with 
 some vigour. Such are the speculations we are to have, instead 
 of the Word of God, publicly accredited by the Lord Jesus 
 and the apostles. These are merely instances that occur to 
 me, or rest in my memory. The whole system is composed of 
 such. I have entered more into it elsewhere. I have read 
 Kuenen, Ewald, Bleek, Graf, and looked at others. But, as I 
 have said, they are, — though the one upsetting the other in detail 
 so as to destroy their proofs, — just the same in substance. 
 
 Su;pcTnatural Religion is a catalogue raisonnee of all the infi- 
 del German books ; an advocate's special pleading against reve- 
 lation. But while I avow I have not read the half of those he 
 quotes, I cannot say he is fair in those I am acquainted with. 
 I don't charge the author with false quotation, but with leading 
 the reader to the opposite conclusion, as to what he quotes, to 
 that the quoted book would, if the context be read. 
 
 I quite agree with Dr. Trench that possession means posses- 
 sion ; the case of Legion leaves no manner of doubt. But 
 whatever Mede and others may say, these cases are expressly 
 distinguished from lunacy, as Matt. iv. 24 ; and not only the 
 Evangelists speak of devils coming ovit, but the Lord expressly 
 desires them to come out. And the case of Legion seems given 
 expressly to show it is reaUy so, as one of the " Fathers " re- 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 marks. Even now, with all their boasting, in cases of epilepsy 
 the doctors on 'post-morUm examinations fail generally to find 
 any adequate trace of disease. Scientific men have to learn that 
 they are not all the world, and Christians who are afraid through 
 their pretensions and yield to semi-rationalism, are the most 
 contemptible of all writers. Milman says our Lord adopted the 
 current language of the day because unbelief in spiritual agency 
 was one of the characteristic tenets of the unpopular sect of the 
 Sadducees ; as if the Lord Jesus would maintain as a truth in 
 the minds of the people a false doctrine on a most important 
 point where the Sadducees were right, for fear of losing His 
 popularity by identifying Himself with them by speaking the 
 truth. Why should He even have said anything and not merely 
 heal the sick person. It is next door to a blasphemy. Meyer 
 says all the efforts to explain away the history of Legion are 
 useless. Either you must take it as a true history, or recognise 
 legendary parts and separate them, and take the story of the 
 swine as the reminiscence of some mishap. He is as unbelieving 
 on these points as the rationalists could wish. Lange's explana- 
 tion, which Canon Farrar has borrowed, Meyer treats with the 
 contempt it deserves. The existence of good spirits and bad, the 
 very dread expressed by them of judgment as yet "before the 
 time," and the operation of divine power in miracles, is too in- 
 terwoven with the whole structure of the Gospels to take them 
 out without destroying its whole texture. I have already re- 
 marked that the allegation that the superstition of the Jews 
 accounts for it, proves only the folly of the reasoner who makes 
 it, for they were not believed in by the Jews at all. That there 
 are many inexplicable facts, false miracles also, and wonders 
 done by evil power is recognised in Scripture ; but we are tested 
 in such cases by them ; they would deceive, we read, if it were 
 possible, the very elect, and the power of spiritual discrimination, 
 or the want of it shown; and all that the author of Supernahiral 
 Religion does is to confound them all together, showing his own 
 incapacity to discern. Eeal miracles, such as those of the Old 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 Testament, are not at all the same as the New Testament, 
 Divine power was of course shown, and in grace to a people 
 owned of God to found or guard a testimony ; but the whole 
 scene of the Lord's ministry was the expression of power in 
 goodness in a living person there, or in a still mightier testimony 
 to His name and redemption when He was gone. But I ought 
 to state why I account the statements of Supernatural Religion 
 to be unfair. I just remark that the statement as to the book 
 of Enoch, though very common, is entirely unfounded. The 
 doctrine of Jude and that of this book are quite different as to 
 the passage alleged to be borrowed. I do not call this unfair ; 
 it is too common. There was a tradition probably as to this 
 prophecy, and the author of the book of Enoch uses it for his 
 own objects ; and in Jude the Holy Ghost gives us it, according 
 to the truth of it. It is to me pretty clear that the book of 
 Enoch was written by a great partisan of the Jews, and enemy 
 of Christians, and not long after the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 He sees up to the destruction of his tower, but then can see no 
 farther, but is full of all promises to those faithful to Judaism. 
 Enoch, Ixxxviii, 22, 23, refers pretty clearly to the destruction of 
 the temple by the Romans, and he could not perceive whether they 
 afterwards entered the house ; in xcii. we have the final judgment. 
 Lawrence gives the passage in question thus from Enoch, " Be- 
 hold He Cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute 
 judgment upon them, and to destroy the wicked, and reprove all 
 the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have 
 done and committed against Him." Now there is in Jude a 
 prophecy in general analogous, but copied they are not. In tlie 
 book of Enoch the saints arc judged, and the wicked destroyed. 
 Judgment on the saints is unknown to Jude. It is the doctrine 
 of the book of Enoch, because he holds the Jews to be God's 
 people. He says just before, " while judgment shall come upon 
 all the righteous ;" executing judgment on the preserved is the 
 doctrine taught. Nor is the destruction of the wicked in Jude ; 
 nor is there anything of the speaking of ungodly sinners in the 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 223 
 
 book of Enoch. Both the words and doctrine are different ; nor 
 is there the least proof that the book was before Jude. My own 
 conviction is that the book of Enoch was written after the 
 destruction of Jerusalem — I suppose, in that case, after Jude's 
 epistle. The idea that the prophecy was current before both is 
 fair enough, but for copying there is no ground whatever. There 
 are many passages in the book of Enoch which would lead us 
 to suppose they were taken from the New Testament— doubtless 
 some merely proverbial sayings used by both. Both the chrono- 
 logical elements and the contents of the book lead, on the closest 
 scrutiny, to the supposition that the book was written by a Jew, 
 who was obliged to admit the judgment of his saints, those 
 faithful to Judaism, and treated the Christians as a perverse 
 set, had picked up a good many truths which a Jew could own, 
 and wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem, but sought to make 
 the Jews still believe in the accomplishment of the promises 
 made to the nation. It is curious as exhibiting a picture of the 
 current notions of that day. He puts the Christ as existing 
 before the creation, but hidden ; calls him Son of man, but this 
 is in the Old Testament ; he makes the flood come from the 
 world getting a tilt. I do not then speak of this as unfair. It 
 is second-hand and superficial, but it is a current notion, only it 
 has no foundation. But there is what I consider unfair. The 
 author — as he does in countless other instances, stating as proved 
 and certain, because the infidel clique he belongs to have so 
 settled it, what is far removed from being so — tells us " It has 
 been demonstrated that Ignatius was not sent to Eome at aU, 
 but suffered martyrdom in Antioch itself on the 20th December 
 115." He quotes then Bleek as witness of this statement. 
 Now Bleek adopts the date, which had been greatly disputed, 
 but in these words (Clark's Eng. Trans, i. 158), " Ignatius, Bishop 
 of Antioch, who was martyred at Kome under Trajan a.d. 115." 
 In the same place {Sup. Beli. i. 268-9), we find " there are no 
 less than three martyrologies of Ignatius, giving an account of 
 the martyr's journey from Antioch to Eome, but they are all 
 
224 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 recognised to be mere idle legends, of whose existence Ave do not 
 hear till a very late period. In fact, the whole of the Ignatian 
 literature is a mass of falsification and fraud." The author 
 quotes Milman, ii. 101. Milman says nothing about it there. 
 He does reject the acts of martyrdom, but expressly declares 
 that he was sent to Eome, and in 102 gives a summary of his 
 journey to Rome as we have it in Ecclesiastical History, and 
 quotes Cureton's epistles as of authority, and fully receives the 
 account of his journey and seeing the brethren on the way, 
 using it as proof there was no general persecution. The author 
 quotes also Ewald, vii. 314 Now Ewald does reject entirely 
 the three martyrologies published by Dressel. But he not only 
 holds the whole history itself to be true, and the author's state- 
 ments wholly wrong, receiving Cureton's Ignatian epistles, but 
 discusses it at length, and considers that the Syrian epistles 
 have lost some passages which have been found in the Greek. 
 As to Polycarp's epistle, he not only receives it, but says, appeal- 
 ing to Irenceus' (iii. 3, 4, a e) quotation of it, that its originating 
 with Polycarp, people in our time have doubted and even 
 denied, but that they were utterly wrong. " Es ist die grosste 
 Ungerechtigkeit." That a mass of infidel Germans, no two of 
 whom have the same theory, and make systems at pleasure, 
 refuting one another, agreeing only to doubt what is true, may 
 be cited, or Davidson, who does nothing but copy from them, no 
 one need deny. But this seems to me very superficial, as well 
 as unfair, in cases I have quoted. There is no original research 
 into the questions, nor even care or fairness in quoting what is 
 quoted in the cases referred to ; a vast number I have not 
 examined ; that many German infidels sustain the author in 
 many things he says I have no doubt of. As regards Justin 
 Martyr, with all his details he seems to me very weak ; and 
 here also he has either borrowed or is only on the surface. 
 That there were a multitude of accounts of Jesus current, written 
 and unwritten, is notorious, and it is stated in Luke's gospel ; 
 that Justin, who was of Palestine, had heard and refers to such 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 225 
 
 is most probable. But these accounts never stood on the ground 
 the four Gospels did. Origen notices, be his remark solid or 
 not is alike as to this, that the others had taken in hand, 
 which was merely human, not as Luke. Irenaeus insists that 
 there could not be more than four Gospels, of which I will speak 
 further on, and Tatian made a harmony of these four — plain 
 proof that in the very earliest ages these four were distinctly 
 recognised. That Justin, who was of Palestine, was familiar 
 with the accounts current as published there, and reproduces 
 them, is most probable ; but no one can read even what is cited 
 by the author oi Swpcriudural Religio7i without seeing that Justin 
 was fully acquainted with and recalls what he had read in the 
 canonical Gospels. He does not take the roll down to copy it, 
 but we could not have what Justin gives without our gospels.^ 
 As regards the gospel to the Hebrews, it can hardly be doubted 
 that Matthew wrote some account of Christ in Hebrew, at any 
 rate early Fathers so state ; but, after all, their statements are 
 very vague as to what it was, and Epiphanius says it was cor- 
 rupted, Jerome that he translated it, but that would prove it 
 was not the canonical Matthew. What did he translate ? It 
 does not affect our gospel, which is clearly original, as even the 
 language proves. Jerome says he saw it at Caesarea and trans- 
 lated it, so that there was such in the fourth century. Still the 
 statements of Jerome are so inconsistent that it is hard to draw 
 any clear conclusion from what he says. He says he translated 
 it, and that it was practically the same as Matthew. This it 
 certainly was not by his own testimony elsewhere. The writers 
 of introductions, Bleek, De Wette, etc., say he gave up afterwards 
 this thought, and I suppose did not like saying plainly he had 
 been wrong ; but it seems to me the dates do not bear this out. 
 I do not think he is much to be trusted in the matter. Papias — 
 a man " acpoSpa fiLKpo<i vow " — assumes there was such a Hebrew 
 gospel by Matthew, but there were afterwards seemingly two 
 
 1 Curiously enough, I have had to correct several quotations, carelessly made 
 like Justin's, in reading over this paper. 
 
226 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 differing editions ; a few of the "Fathers" accepted it ; but Origen, 
 disposed to receive everything, says every one was free to use it 
 if he thought it genuine, only not as authority. But it was in 
 Aramaean, and there is no proof that Justin, a Greek, under- 
 stood the tongue. He was a Greek, and though living in Pales- 
 tine, it was in the Eoman town Flavia Neapolis. Further, 
 though he preferred being put to death rather than deny Christ, 
 when, as is said, brought to martyrdom through a jealous philo- 
 sopher, Crescens, yet he never gave up his philosopher's cloak, 
 was a Platonist, and unsound in fundamental doctrines ; and 
 though we cannot doubt his sincerity, was on the surface of 
 Christianity. At any rate, the gospel to the Hebrews is sur- 
 rounded critically with the greatest obscurity, with no proof that 
 Justin understood it, or was one of Papias's " every one inter- 
 preted as best he could." All this part of the book comes to 
 nothing. The inspiration of Scripture is known by divine 
 teaching, it asserts its own inspiration formally, more formally, 
 if possible, than the spoken word ; but its authority is demon- 
 strated by evidence of every kind, such as no other book in the 
 world possesses. The author quotes the writers of the Baur or 
 Tubingen school in numbers, which is merely part of a progi'es- 
 sive effort, not simply to undermine the authority of the New 
 Testament history, but to do so by the invention of a system 
 already seen through and refuted as alike historically unfounded 
 and absurd, and which has now not merely lost its weight outside 
 a few partisans, but has demonstrated the animus of the inventors 
 and their untrustworthiness in every respect. It is this school 
 that the author of Supernatural Religion relies on. We have seen 
 that his quotations from others, themselves rationalist enough, 
 cannot really be trusted. There has been little real research 
 into the character of the gospels. The Fathers say Matthew wrote 
 in order — chronologically in fact. Mark, on the contrary, no one 
 knew how (supposed as he heard it from Peter ; this from the 
 foolish notion that an apostle must be the author, from not 
 really believing in inspiration). Now it is exactly the contrary, 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 227 
 
 Matthew's gospel bringing forth Christ as Messiah, Immanuel 
 sent to the Jews, but rejected of them ; the kingdom of heaven 
 and the church and the kingdom in glory being substituted for 
 the present establishment of Messiah's glory, gives a perfect 
 moral order of subjects with this view. Hence, too, you have 
 in fact no proper history with a chronological sequence. This 
 is given in one single verse (iv. 23), and we have his service in 
 Galilee, and at the very end no ascension, but the whole closed 
 with the remnant in Galilee and their mission to the Gentiles. 
 In all the three gospels blind Bartimseus at Jericho begins the 
 last events. There he is Son of David. Mark and Luke are 
 chronological, and relate events in the same order, as far as 
 they are the same, up to the middle of Luke ix., which termi- 
 nates the history of Luke (save always the last events). See 
 Luke ix. 51. From that verse to xviii. 34, it is in general his 
 last journey up to Jerusalem, introducing various discourses by 
 the way, and adding others to the same purpose, without note 
 of time. In general, Luke will give a quantity of events to- 
 gether, and develop facts which have a strong moral bearing. 
 The difference of John is essentially this : It gives not a history 
 at all, but Christ as God the Word made flesh, the Jews being 
 rejected altogether early in the first chapter, and so treated all 
 through. The three first chapters are preface before His public 
 ministry, John being not yet cast into prison — the two first 
 going together ; the third, the foundation principles of the new 
 thing, being born again, and the cross ; fourth, Judaea left, and 
 the transition to the worship of the Father ; fifth. Life-giving 
 power, and exclusive judicial authority of the Son of God as 
 Son of Man ; sixth, Self-emptied and suffering Son of Man ; 
 seventh. Glorified Son of Man, giving the Holy Ghost instead of 
 appearing to the world ; eighth, His "Word rejected ; ninth. His 
 work ; tenth, He has His sheep at any rate (for John all through 
 goes on the ground of electing grace), also the Gentile ones ; 
 eleventh and twelfth. He is testified to of God as thus rejected 
 as Son of God, Son of David, and Son of Man. But to take up 
 
228 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 this He must die — episode of Bethany. In the thirteenth, He 
 begins with what refers to His departure out of this world. 
 These rationalists find the resurrection of Lazarus out of place, 
 not having the most distant thought of the mind of God in 
 Scripture, nor any idea, of course, that there is any. 
 
 To return to Justin Martyr, the author's account of his 
 quotations is not at all trustworthy, and all that really bears on 
 the true character of Justin's citation is left out. In the first 
 place, Justin's manner of quoting is practically that of all the 
 Fathers. They habitually quote not verbally, and put two pass- 
 ages together if it meets their point, just as Justin does con- 
 stantly. Secondly, Justin also quotes very largely indeed from 
 the Old Testament, which there is no question he rqceived as 
 proper Scripture, exactly in the same way he does from the New, 
 He writes as a philosopher to the Gentiles, and habitually 
 quoting the Christian writings, as authority would have been 
 useless. He calls the gospels memoirs (a term borrowed pro- 
 bably from Xenophon's account of Socrates, showing the tone of 
 his mind), the gospels written by the apostles and their com- 
 panions, and says they were read in the Christian assemblies. 
 He quotes them as such expressly — seven times we are told by 
 those who have exactly examined the details. Five agree with 
 our gospels ; the others have variations ; one a transposition of 
 words, probably right ; the rest inaccurately recorded with the 
 same sense, and two words added — " and walk" — found now^here 
 else. He gives the substance as it stood in his mind ; the com- 
 mon way of patristic quotation, as of our own. As to the other 
 professed quotation, we find it in others of the earliest Fathers 
 in different words and order ; and, just as in Justin, by Fathers 
 who beyond all question recognised the four gospels and nothing 
 else. That Justin used other traditional accounts, and perhaps 
 the gospel of the Hebrews, is very likely. There is no question 
 that the four gospels were held to be of paramount authority 
 at that date. Tatian's harmony of the four was made only some 
 twenty years after ; and Jerome recounts the same of Theophilus 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 229 
 
 a few years still earlier. When the Supcrnahiral Religion says 
 competent critics agree, it only means the infidel Tiibingen 
 school so hold. Take not only Westcott, who may be thought 
 a prejudiced churchman, but Bleek's introduction, a theologian 
 sober-minded and candid, but as free-thinking as any rationalist 
 could desire, and the statements alleged in Supernatural Edi- 
 tion to be quite certain are treated as certainly false. The 
 system foUow^ed by the author is a mere and evident effort to 
 get rid of the large and developed testimony given with so much 
 fulness in Justin to the Christian gospels. The citations, says 
 Bleek, are for the greater part unquestionably taken from our 
 present Gospels. 
 
 Few, as I have said, in words saying it is written in the 
 memoirs, but quoting them as they were in his mind with a 
 reference to other current statements as to those found in other 
 writings of the Fathers. The allegation which refers them to 
 one given writing or to heretical sources has no foundation, 
 though the doctrines and position of Justin would give no 
 guarantee for his own soundness. He was doubtless a Christian, 
 but still a Platonist philosopher. It seems another philosopher 
 got him put to death through jealousy. This statement, accom- 
 panied by a reference to Bleek in p. 289, contradicts all Bleek's 
 teaching (as does 293), and is as careless as it is unfounded. 
 As to inspiration, indeed, none of them believe it ; but as to the 
 repute and esteem in which our four gospels were held in 
 Justin's days, Bleek is as clear and decided as possible, and as 
 to the use of them by Justin Martyr, among others. See with 
 other places section 261-2. That infidel Germans have disputed 
 over it, as in p. 288, is perfectly true, seeking by all means to 
 undermine the Scriptures and contradict the testimonies which 
 support their authenticity. The whole of this part of the book 
 is full of statements which are unfounded. It is not my part to 
 go into it in detail here. When he says (215) that the first and 
 second epistles of Clement have a canonical position, it is 
 merely trifling with the fact of their being in Cod. Alex. There 
 
230 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 are tliree hymus there also. He himself says the second was 
 rejected, as every one who has enquired knows. In Justin's 
 reference to the Lord's baptism, instead of all being referred to 
 the apostles' memoirs, he carefully distinguishes what is in 
 them, which is found in fact in our gospel, the Holy Ghost com- 
 ing down like a dove, from other things which are not there, 
 but stated by other Fathers, And this is also the case in his second 
 reference to Christ's baptism {Suiiernatural Religion, p. 317), what 
 follows is special pleading. I have no interest in defending the 
 " Fathers," one has only to read them, and specially the Apos- 
 tolic Fathers, to see the difference of inspiration and the unsound 
 and immoral stuff they write. You fall down a precipice from 
 God to man ! It is treated as an extraordinary anomaly that 
 Justin could quote as he did if he received the four gospels. 
 It is a common thing with Fathers. Thus Bleek speaks of this 
 when insisting on Justin's use of the four gospels (section 87). 
 These variations are of little moment when we remember that 
 the Fathers seldom quoted Scripture verbatim and word for 
 word. It is in this place Bleek gives the true account of what 
 the author makes so much about (in 288). He assumes (367) 
 that there were a number of gospels current — " In how many 
 more " gospels — but this is falsifying the facts. That there M^as 
 probably a gospel according to the Hebrews is not denied ; but 
 if there was, it was in Aramaean, which, as a rule, not one of the 
 Fathers whose works are in question understood. A mass of 
 apocryphal gospels we have — one has only to read them to judge 
 of them. Traditions no doubt there were and referred to, but 
 gradually lost. My business is in no way to justify the accuracy 
 of Justin, but the attempt in i. 370 to prove his altering the 
 text is the weakest absurdity. 
 
 Such passages are justly quoted by writers on the canon to 
 prove that Justin was acquainted with the gospels ; but to look 
 for the words and to insist these must be found, and that it must 
 be a quotation from some other, is trifling with Scripture. If I 
 were to say Jesus condemns a person looking on a woman to 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 231 
 
 lust after her, as much as adultery, people would justly conclude 
 I had read the gospels ; but who that it was some other apo- 
 cryphal one ? It is just folly. 
 
 In communicating Christ's doctrine to the heathen for their 
 information, it seems to me that Justin's statements are just what 
 we might expect in a philosophical mind like his, proving clearly 
 that he had read and used our gospels, though occasionally re- 
 ferring to other traditions, as all the Fathers did. If men were 
 to consult him for various readings it w^ould be the same kind 
 of folly as the author's who is looking for the identical words. 
 Justin is communicating Christ's moral instruction to the heathen, 
 and it is done in the most natural way. His repeating the sum- 
 ming-up and motive is thoroughly so. He spoke thus, he taught 
 thus, he said thus, just show the true character of the citations. 
 The author of Supernatural Beligion does not even understand the 
 force of the reasoning. The existence of the gospel according 
 to the Hebrews is admitted and known, though perhaps seriously 
 altered by certain parties, though never in the canon. The 
 possibility of Justin having used it is not generally denied. 
 What is said is that his quotations are sufficient to prove he 
 knew our gospels. That is a question of judgment on comparing 
 them. The possibility of another gospel having what is in 
 Justin does not alter this. If it be produced with the whole 
 passage as he has it, and all else is consistent, we shall have 
 another witness. I do not believe it is or can be. Nor have 
 they any hint of the existence of any such thing in all the 
 writings of that day, save the gospel according to Peter, the 
 supposed reference to which is quite otherwise understood by 
 sober critics, as it is in the only place in which Justin refers to 
 it.^ What were the numerous other works in use in the early 
 
 ^ The gospel of Peter is a well known but lost book. We are chiefly ac- 
 quainted with it through an extract from Serapion of Antioch in Eusebius, H. E. 
 vi. 12. He had found it in the assembly at Rossus in Cilicia, and not read it 
 through, but hearing some had been mislead by it, got it and read it, and tells 
 them that there was a great deal that was right, but some parts were perverted ; 
 but this was in 191, twenty or thirty years after Justin's death. It is mentioned 
 
232 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 church ? Various accounts were current but were lost, I may- 
 say, at once, in the prevalence of the four gospels recognised as 
 an authority and divine, and so used. And the author must 
 remember that what we have in the written gospel are the 
 accounts of what Jesus said, and three witnesses or four 
 alters nothing if they are true. The facts may be called to 
 memory by the Holy Ghost according to Christ's promise, 
 according to the point they were connected with, and a writer 
 quoting it may give it according to the point which is in his 
 mind, and in the connection which the subject he is on 
 suggests. The question, further, is not whether Justin may 
 not have known other current writings or traditions, but 
 whether what he writes furnishes evidence of acquaintance 
 with the Scriptures, particularly with the Gospels, as we have 
 them. We have only to read what he says to be convinced of 
 it. The four canonical being acknowledged thus as such. The 
 way in which the Swp. Rcl. insists on verbal quotation is, for 
 any one who has read Justin or other Fathers, perfectly absurd. 
 Indeed, in the apologies it is the last thing we should look for ; 
 these are addresses sent by a philosopher to the heathen autho- 
 rities to give an idea of what the Christians were and did, to 
 clear them from certain charges, and sometimes appealing, to 
 show the principles they held, to what their master had said. I 
 must say the discussion on Justin Martyr and other like writers 
 seems to me to be the poorest piece of superficial criticism I 
 
 by Origen in Matt. xiii. 54-56 (iii. 462, De la Eue). But he merely says tliat it 
 was held by some that James and Jude, etc., were sons of Joseph by a former 
 wife, and that they had received this as a tradition taken from a gospel entitled 
 of Peter or James. Theodoret mentions it as the gospel used by the Nazarites. 
 That there were two kinds of Ebionites, one using only the gospel of Hebrews, 
 the other only that of Matthew, so that he had no idea they were the same. The 
 Nazarites, a sort of Unitarians, holding the law as valid, who used only the gospel 
 of Peter (Theod. Hcer. Fab. ii. 1-2). Jerome, under Peter, the first of his Dc Viris 
 nius. , says the gospel of Mark was called the gospel of Peter ; but under Serapion 
 xli. he speaks of a current gospel under the name of Peter, under James ii., a 
 foolish story out of the gospel according to the Hebrews, which he says he had 
 lately translated. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 233 
 
 ever wearied myself with reading,^ full of unproved asser- 
 tions too, the difficulties raised by Fathers and traditions dili- 
 gently searched out second-hand. The reconciling Papias and 
 Irenseus, and Jerome and others, proved to be difficult, but no 
 serious research after truth at all. It is simply putting into 
 English the infidelity of the Baur school, Schwegler, Hilgen- 
 feld, etc., and nothing else. Of course all inspiration is ignored. 
 Bringing up uncertainties of what may be, to prove what is to 
 be uncertain, and the positive testimonies to mean nothing. 
 What is not spoken of may be true, hence what is said cannot 
 be. The Fathers, as to their judgment, are worth nothing ; 
 tradition as untrustworthy for certainty of details as you please, 
 but they suppose and prove to an intelligent mind certain facts. 
 My faith does not rest on external evidence, but there is a 
 certain kind of pretentious destructive criticism which is pro- 
 foundly contemptible. Our critic speaks of many other gos- 
 pels, our four thus coming into an uncertain mass. But no one 
 can examine the facts without knowing that these four were, 
 from the earliest days, recognised as distinct. But which are 
 these many ? He speaks of the Egyptian, the gospel according 
 to Peter, the Ethiopians, and all depends upon this kind of 
 thing. But these — unless the gospel of Peter once men- 
 tioned in a phrase of disputed meaning — are all the same, if we 
 can trust various patristic accounts. Adapting an account, say 
 the gospel according to the Hebrews, to the Ethiopians was 
 very natural, but is not another, and says nothing about the 
 recognition of the four which were not counted with them, nor 
 does it alter anything. The gospel according to the Hebrews 
 and the Ethiopian were not in Greek, so that reasoning from 
 quotations is utterly without force, but it serves a turn. I 
 must add that I do not think an honest man, knowing our gos- 
 pels, could read the passage in Justin through, and hesitate one 
 moment as to his acquaintance with them. It is a long dis- 
 course, in which he brings forward, to satisfy the heathen, the 
 
 ^ To tell the truth, I never yet thought it worth while to finish the hook. 
 
 R 
 
234 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 various teachings of Christ as they stood in his mind from the 
 gospels, to clear the Christians from the false notions held of 
 them, quoting as I might quote Scripture myself, sometimes 
 verbally exact, sometimes the sense, and bringing in passages 
 from another place which gave the connected thoughts which 
 were in his mind for the heathen. There is one passage, " and 
 walk," not accounted for, in reference to the cross, and not a 
 whit more accounted for by the infidel writers. Foi? their view 
 of Justin's quotations there is not the least ground whatever. In 
 one place the author of 8wp. Bel., to make it easy to think that 
 he used a Hebrew gospel or other Jewish traditions, says he was 
 a Jewish Christian ; whereas he states himself, as was the case, 
 that he was a heathen, and after trying Stoicism, Peripateti- 
 cism, Pythagoreanism, and Platonism, found rest in Christianity ; 
 visited many Grecian cities, and afterwards went to Eome. The 
 best thing the reader can do is to read the passage chiefly re- 
 ferred to (in my copy of Justin, Col. 1686, p. 61-66, about a 
 tenth of the whole apology from the beginning). 
 
 As to the apocryphal gospels which remain to us, of which 
 there are several, their contents speak for themselves ; a proof 
 of the total want of spiritual discernment in the primitive 
 church, and also how impossible it was for an age which con- 
 cocted, and more or less valued, such stuff, could have produced 
 anything in the least resembling our gospels. In this sense 
 they afford the strongest proofs of the inspiration of the others. 
 The epistles according to the Hebrews, of Peter, to the Egypt- 
 ians, are not extant, and so afford a fine field for rational criti- 
 cism, the connection of these with Justin I have spoken of. In 
 Bleek's introduction, sec. 119, and also 87, 88, the reader will 
 find the whole system fully judged. Bleek is a rationalistic 
 critic. Perhaps it may be well to quote his words (Clark's 
 Translations, Lee. 119, i. 335) : "But with regard to the memoirs 
 of the apostles, so repeatedly cited by Justin, it is at once quite 
 clear that these were not some single treatise, but a collection of 
 writings differing from one another, and usually called gospels." 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 235 
 
 Now, since he expressly attributes these writings to the apostles 
 and their coadjutors, we are directly led to conclude that they 
 were the canonical gospels we have, which ecclesiastical tradi- 
 tions and their very titles assign partly to the apostles and 
 partly to their fellow-labourers and disciples. The citations 
 made from the memoirs are, at any rate as to the greater part, 
 unquestionably taken from our present gospels, only, like most 
 of the Fathers, and according to his own practice in Old Testa- 
 ment passages, Justin uses greater freedom in quoting, and 
 mixes together the text of different gospels, especially Matthew 
 and Luke. He describes them as written by the apostles and 
 their companions. The suj)position of some modern scholars 
 that what Justin refers to and makes use of was some one dis- 
 tinct work is clearly false. Again : " His own words (Justin's) 
 explicitly declare that they were more than one, and the cita- 
 tions themselves witness that all our four canonical gospels were 
 included." (Sec. 87, p. 242.) 
 
 De Wette says (sec. 74, p. 124) of the gospel to the Hebrews : 
 " This is the oldest (of the uncanonical gospels), but its use is 
 traceable no further back than Hegesippus (about a.d. 160), nor 
 beyond the circle of the Jewish Christians ; for the orthodox 
 Fathers, far from placing it on a par with the canonical gospels, 
 reckon it among the ungenuine," And (76, 125) as to the cur- 
 rent acceptance of the four gospels ; " Various countries and 
 parties in the church also furnish testimonies which run back 
 nearly to the Apostolic age." Again, as to the gospel to the 
 Hebrews, he says, " But the oldest accounts contradict the idea 
 of its being an original and independent work by representing 
 it as apocryphal, and as wavering between Matthew and Luke " 
 (sec. 63, p. 88). One of these alterations indicates a Greek ori- 
 ginal. Hence the opinion that the gospel to the Hebrews is the 
 most ancient gospel writing falls to the ground (sec. 65, p. 93). 
 
 Justin mentions as the source of these sayings and accounts, 
 writings left beliind by the apostles and their assistants, which 
 he calls memoirs of the apostles, also gospels. The old ojpinion 
 
236 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 that they mean our canonical gospels is by no means contra- 
 dicted by the inexactness of the citations, for it is probable, nay 
 it is established by the repetitions that occur, that parties cited 
 the gospels, as sometimes the Old Testament writers, freely 
 from memory .... and gospels which were read in the 
 assemblies of the Christians cannot well be other than our 
 canonical gospels, all of which (Mark and John more seldom) 
 he made use of." (Comp, s. 66, p. 94.) 
 
 De Wette goes into the objections which I have already 
 gone over, but I do not go further into them. Those whom I 
 have now quoted are in the fullest sense rationalist writers, 
 but sober and serious men, who weighed facts, instead of in- 
 dulging in inflated and foundationless speculations, where there 
 is no trace of a search after truth, but merely the effort of an 
 advocate to prove his point. 
 
 It is perhaps well to remark that the gospel according to 
 the Hebrews indulged in the grossest form of Jewish mysticism. 
 We read " The Saviour said, My mother the Holy Ghost took 
 me by one of my hairs and carried me to the great mountain 
 Tabor," and much more (Gfrorer, Talir. dcr Hcils. Stuttgart, 
 1838, pp. 332 ff.) This is quoted by Origen only saying, "if 
 any one received it," in Jer. Horn. xv. 4. He elsewhere de- 
 finitely declares the church had only four gospels, the heretics 
 many. Jerome quotes it, on Micah, lib. ii. cap. vii. vol. vi. 
 521, Ed. ValL, where he states he had just translated it, so 
 that it was not a mere Ebionitish addition. So in Comm. Isa. 
 xi. Vail. iv. 156. — Juxta Evangelium quod Hebreo sermone 
 inscriptum legunt Nazarsei. But it came to pass that when the 
 Lord went up out of the water, the whole fountain of the Holy 
 Ghost descended and rested upon Him, and said to Him, My 
 Son in all the prophets I expected thee, that thou shouldest 
 come and I should rest on thee, for thou art my rest, thou art 
 my first-born son, who reigneth for ever. 
 
 So iv. 485. He quotes the strange phrase, my mother the 
 Holy Ghost took me by a hair, etc., from the gospel according 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 237 
 
 to tlie Hebrews, wliicli the Nazareans read, adding that no one 
 ought to be offended, as spirit is feminine in Hebrew, masculine 
 in Latin, and neuter in Greek, that thus being of the three 
 genders in the three principal languages respectively, we might 
 know that what is different is of none, going pretty far in own- 
 ing the work. Origen excuses it also, De la Eue, iv. 69, but on 
 the plea that as Christ called those who did His Father's will, 
 brother, and sister, and mother, so we might call the Spirit His 
 mother. But the passage of Jerome on Isa. xi. proves it was a 
 systematic doctrine, and the gospel probably heretical, on the 
 system of Simon Magus and Helen. Yet Jerome translates it 
 and says, many call it the authentic Matthew. This, it is said, 
 was in a.d. 398. Later still, a.d. 415, he says it was in the library 
 of Cffisarea (the Nazarenes there using it) ; the gospel according 
 to the apostles, or, as many think, according to Matthew (Dia- 
 logus iii. contra Pelagianos). He quotes or refers to it very often. 
 A.D, 321 circa, he speaks of it as in the Cesarean library, and 
 composed in Hebrew letters and words. Wiio translated it into 
 Greek was uncertain [Be Viris III) The Ebionites, he says, 
 used it, joining them and the Nazarenes, where he speaks of 
 lately translating it. But the Nazarene copy he translated. 
 The Ebionites a*t any rate were divided into two classes, one 
 certainly heretical, as were the Nazarenes or Nazarites. Origen, 
 he says, often used it. Jerome translated it into Greek and 
 Latin ; strange if he thought it the same as Matthew, and Mat- 
 thew translated by we know not whom. 
 
 That there were but four gospels recognised is perfectly clear ; 
 Jerome, Irenseus, Origen, all speak decidedly. Jerome speaks 
 of the others as concocted, of the writers without the spirit and 
 grace of God, that to the Egyptians among them — not naming 
 that according to the Hebrews, but he does that according to 
 the twelve apostles, and this in Dial. iii. contra Pelagianos, he 
 declares to be the same. He then goes on to say that the church 
 has four, which the Lord poured forth as the four rivers of 
 paradise, and four angles and rings, by which, like the ark of 
 
238 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 tlie Lord and keeper of tlie law of the Lord, she is carried on 
 unmovable bars (liguits) ; and then speaks of our canonical 
 gospels, and referring them to the cherubim, connects the four 
 animals there represented with the four gospels, and declares 
 that only four ought to be received, and the rest as useless fables 
 to dead heretics. (Preface to Matt. vii. p. 1, Vail.) He was some- 
 what late in date, but Irenteus says the same thing. He says, 
 lib. iii. 8, There can be no more than four, nor can there be 
 fewer. There are four regions of the world, and four principal 
 winds, and as the church is spread over all the world it must 
 have four columns, whence it breathes forth life. So he who sits 
 between the cherubim has given us a fourfold gospel, composed 
 by one spirit e.vi Be Trvev^an avve'^ofievov, referring, I appre- 
 hend, to the Te'^vtTT]'; A0709 o crvve'^cov ra iravra, and he then 
 enters largely into the four cherubims, saying the gospels are 
 consonant to those in which Christ is seated. Irenaeus had been 
 showing that the heretics themselves received one kind one 
 gospel, another another, but in result all four, and were self- 
 condemned by what they did accept ; but the church all four, 
 the sure and full pillars of the" truth. 
 
 I will now cite one or two of the miracles of the apocryphal 
 gospels, heretical often it may be, but in general mere fables, 
 but often valued by the " Fathers." 
 
 Christ was sent to one master, and told him all the letters 
 and their meaning, and the m9,ster brought Him back, and said He 
 must have been born before Noah. Then to a more learned one, 
 and the master having raised his hand to beat Him his hand 
 withered and he died ; then Joseph said to the divine Mary, 
 From this time we will not suffer Him to go out of the house, 
 since every one that opposes Him is struck with death. 
 
 There was a rabid boy who, when the fit took him, bit every 
 one, and being in company with the boy Jesus, sought to bite 
 his side, and struck it so that Jesus cried, but Satan fled out of 
 the boy like a mad dog. The boy was Judas Iscariot, and it 
 ■was that side was pierced with the lance. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 239 
 
 Then lie was making figures of animals and birds out of 
 mud. Now, lie says, I shall order them to move. Are you, said 
 the boys, the Creator's son? But then he ordered them, and 
 they went and came back when he called. At another time at 
 a dyer's he threw all the articles out into the yard ; the dyer 
 was in a great way about it, when he returned them piece by 
 piece of the right colour. He made all Joseph's work fit 
 exactly. 
 
 He went out to play, but the boys left and hid themselves, 
 and when in each house they were denied to be there, what 
 have you there in the furnace ? Three-year-old goats, said the 
 woman ; and he said, Come out here to your shepherd, goats, 
 and they came out like goats and leapt around him, and the 
 women were all terrified, and besought him ; and then he said, 
 Come, boys and let us play, and immediately they were restored 
 to their proper form. 
 
 Then he made ponds and twelve little birds, three of a side, 
 and a Jewish boy, Hananus, it being the Sabbath, came up and 
 reproved him and destroyed his fish ponds, but he, clapping his 
 hands on the birds, they flew away piping ; and Hananus coming 
 up to destroy the fish ponds of Jesus also, the water disappeared, 
 and he said, as the water disappeared. Your life shall disappear 
 also, and immediately the boy dried up. 
 
 I will now take up some of the gospel miracles, and, first of 
 all, using that of ]\Iatthew, as the structure of the gospel is very 
 evident with a little attention, and the place and character of 
 the miracles through it. 
 
 The difference of the three synoptical gospels and the fourth 
 is this. The three first present Christ as Emmanuel — Messiah, 
 the prophet servant, and Son of man, to men, and, in a narrower 
 sense, to the Jews. Whereas in John this is not the case ; it 
 reveals what Christ is in Himself, that the world, when He was 
 revealed in it, did not know Him, though He made it, and that 
 His own rejected Him. ' But that He put into the place and 
 privilege of sons those who did receive Him a new thing, but 
 
240 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 tlien they were born of God, not of the flesh nor of man's wilL 
 The Jews are therefore treated all through as reprobate, but 
 He declares that He would have His sheep out from their 
 midst, and others from among the Gentiles ; and then the 
 Holy Ghost is spoken of as living on the earth instead of Him, 
 when He was gone as man to the Father. 
 
 Now this presentation of Christ in the three first terminates 
 and reaches its climax in the transfiguration, which changed all, 
 for it was as a revelation bringing in a glorified Christ. This 
 divides the three first gospels into three parts ; the history of 
 the Lord up to the transfiguration (His birth, as Mark gives the 
 prophet, being there left out), the continuance of patient mercy 
 up to blind Bartimseus, with various instructions, chiefly for 
 the coming time ; and, from meeting with the blind man. His 
 last presentation as Son of David to the Jews, and the details 
 of His being taken and crucified. Miracles Christ wrought at 
 all times, even to the last days, when He was free in the 
 temple, healing the ear of Malchus at the moment of his capture. 
 Perhaps we may call the greatest of all His living miracles was 
 His giving up His own spirit to His Father on the cross. 
 
 » But, in the active life of Jesus, it is the time which closed 
 in the transfiguration, beginning after His temptation in the 
 wilderness, which forms the proper period of His working 
 miracles as a testimony. The goodness expressed itself at all 
 times in them, but that on which it rested, " or else, believe me, 
 for the very works' sake," was from his victory over Satan, 
 binding the strong man, till the transfiguration revealed a 
 wholly new order of things coming in connected with a rejected 
 Christ, from which time He forbade His disciples to tell men 
 that He was the Messias, saying the &on of man must suffer, 
 though still till His hour was come continuing His work of grace. 
 The general character of the Lord's miracles I have spoken of. 
 The revelation of God in power and goodness that He might be 
 known and trusted by man ; man, wicked as he might be, have 
 confidence in Him, As the beginning of Eve's sin was losing 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 241 
 
 confidence in God's goodness by the guile of Satan, if God did 
 not seek their happiness fully they must seek it for themselves, 
 as even now, hence will, lust, transgression, so now, God was 
 there to give in perfect goodness blessed ground of confidence 
 in Himself ; but, I add here, so graciously and perfectly suited 
 to the state and need of man. The jDcrson who can be insensible 
 to the perfectness of the revelation of God in goodness to man 
 in Christ down here is incapable of feeling what God and 
 goodness is. 
 
 But I turn now to look at the miracles recorded in particular 
 as suited to the special testimony given, and first Matthew. The 
 general testimony is in iv. 23. "And Jesus w^ent about all 
 Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel 
 of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all 
 manner of disease among the people, or, as expressed by Peter 
 (Acts x), went about doing good, and healing all that w^ere 
 oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. Matthew's testi- 
 mony is to the Lord as Emmanuel and as Jesus, that is Jehovah 
 the Saviour. For He shall save His people from their sins. 
 He was Jehovah ; but first of all Jehovah, according to promise 
 to His own people. Hence his genealogy is traced from 
 Abraham, and also David, to whose seed the promises were 
 made ; as Paul states it in the Eomans, of the seed of David 
 according to the flesh, a minister of the circumcision for the 
 truth of God, to perform the promises made to the fathers, as 
 this He was rejected ; and then comes in another character and 
 title, proved Son of God with power, according to the " spirit 
 of holiness by resurrection of the dead." This last, on which 
 Christianity is really based, is not our 'subject. The order of 
 the gospel is this : iv. 23, had gathered multitudes around Him. 
 He announces to His disciples, but in the audience of the multi- 
 tude, the principles of the kingdom, and who were such as could 
 enter, adding reward in heaven itself when suffering for Christ 
 existed. There is nothing of redemption or justification in it. 
 In viii. we have the Lord personally as Jehovah, still as rejected 
 
242 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 Son of man ; in ix. the character of His service down here — 
 grace, x. Mission to the Jews alone, any other forbidden ; but 
 from verse 15 carried on after His departure, but still in the 
 cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. xi. His ministry 
 as well as John the Baptist's in their midst rejected, but John 
 owned by Him, and He as Son of God revealing the Father and 
 calling the weary to Himself for rest. xii. His utter rejection 
 of and by the pharisaic Jews, and final break in principle with 
 the nation, xiii. He is out of the house, and unfolds the status 
 of the kingdom when the king was rejected, xiv. xv. His 
 mercy as being still there continues in a sovereign way, but the 
 principles of what is brought in anew, both as to dispensational 
 position, trial, and relationship, are unfolded ; then pharisaism, 
 man's religion, man's heart and God's laid bare, the great 
 foundation truths of his dealing in Christ, xvi. The church 
 replaces Judaism, xvii. The glory of the kingdom does, only 
 for all this He must die. xviii. Individual and collective direc- 
 tions founded on the new thing, xix. and xx. to xxviii. complete 
 these new principles and their consequences. Yerse 29 of xx. 
 begins the last events up to the Lord's death and resurrection, 
 only you have no ascension ; the remnant are sent out from 
 Galilee to the Gentiles. 
 
 Now in chapter viii. we have the person of the Lord as pre- 
 sent here. First, He meets the leper. The cleansing of the 
 leper was a simply divine work. On the other hand, not only 
 the leper was put out of the camp, but if any one touched him 
 he was put out too. Here the leper had seen the exercise of 
 power in the Lord, but was not sure of His willingness. His love. 
 If thou wilt thou canst. With divine authority and reassuring 
 love the Lord says, I will, be thou clean. But more, though He 
 were Jehovah who cleansed in love. He had become a man in 
 grace ; touched man, so to speak ; not infected or unclean with 
 the uncleanness of man, but healing and cleansing them in grace 
 through faith. He put forth His hand and touched him, saying, 
 I will, be thou clean. Impossible to have a more striking testi- 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 243 
 
 mony of all that the Lord was in this world than this miracle. 
 Next I find the recognition of universal divine authority in a 
 Gentile. Though come amongst the Jews according to promise, 
 God could not be confined to Israel ; there was greater faith 
 here than in heartless self-sufiicient Jews ; speak with a word 
 and all was done, and so it was. Next, in home mercies, He 
 hears our griefs and carries our sicknesses (not our sins here, 
 though these were the fruit of sin being here). He not only 
 heals with a word divinely, but comes as man in this power to 
 know our sorrows. Still He is the rejected Son of man, not . 
 having where to lay His head, but come into the midst of an 
 evil world, God manifest in the flesh. Adherence to and follow- 
 ing Him at all cost was the test of righteousness, but following 
 Him led into dangers and difficulties. Calm in the midst of the 
 power of evil, rejected though He might be. He commands 
 creation. All the power of the enemy, moreover, allowed 
 therefore to be manifested, quails and bows before Him ; not 
 the less rejected for that, for man, who cannot drive away Satan, 
 gets rid of God by his will even when come in grace.-^ His 
 presence disturbs him too much. In chapter ix. we have the 
 same divine power in the midst of Israel, but the character of 
 His mission, through His person of course as manifesting God, 
 still shines out. It is grace. He declares to the poor paralytic 
 . that his sins are forgiven him ; the scribes in their hearts 
 within judge Him as guilty in attributing to Himself what 
 belonged to God only. He replies by exercising the power 
 united to that of forgiving in Jehovah's ways with Israel in 
 Ps. ciii., while taking still the place of Son of man. " Who 
 forgiveth aU thy sins, and healeth all thy diseases." Forgive- 
 ness and healing, such was His mission if they would receive 
 Him come in grace in the flesh. He proved the announced 
 power and dealings of Jehovah present, but as Son of man by 
 
 ^ But at tlie end of chapter xiv. we have Jesus after the trials received joy- 
 fully, after He had rejoined the disciples in the country where he had been 
 rejected. 
 
244 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 the exliibition of it in that part of what was announced which 
 was sensible to men in goodness. Then he calls Matthew, not 
 come to call the righteous but sinners. The departure of the 
 present bridegroom is noticed, and the change from form to 
 power. But then what was passing in Israel ? Come to heal 
 what was ready to die. He has in fact to raise the dead, for dead 
 in sins we all are ; but whoever by faith touched the hem of His 
 garment was even then healed of a disease which no human 
 physician could cure. But blind and dumb were men (Israel), 
 as well as spiritually dead. We have here, then, miracles which 
 show present healing there for faith which nothing else could 
 afford ; we have what was really in its fulness being wrought, 
 raising the dead, the blind eyes opened, the tongue of the dumb 
 loosed, and also, as ever, the harvest more plenty than the 
 labourers ; forgiveness and grace, the true character of what He 
 was, being brought in, but showed in acts which manifested in 
 present power what man could feel in his body, as in sorrow and ■ 
 evil down here, what God was, and that as present in goodness 
 in the midst of man. The cliaracter of the mission and the 
 character of the miracles are inseparably interwoven, and both 
 the expression of the character of God come down here and 
 dealing in grace with man. 
 
 In the sad close of this chapter we see the effect on man's 
 unchanged heart of goodness in power of this manifestation of . 
 God ; rather than receive the Lord they ascribe miracles which 
 they could not deny to the power of the devil. But the time 
 for entirely giving them up was not yet come. Divine patience 
 had yet a work to do. The unfaltering love of Jesus continues to 
 seek the poor of the flock, if the Pharisees preferred blasphemy 
 to grace, preaching the gospel, and healing every sickness and 
 every disease among the people, for He had compassion on the 
 multitude, weary sheep without a shepherd, and this led to a 
 further manifestation of power and grace, He sends others into 
 the field, the harvest was plenty and the labourers few. Ever 
 is it so. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 245 
 
 In X. we have not only power in goodness but power 
 to give power, and tliat is properly divine. Their work here is 
 wholly confined to Israel. The mission to the Gentiles was from 
 Christ as risen (xxviii.), but by His gift they were to exercise 
 the same power as He did. But it was seeking the remnant 
 in Israel. If the house was worthy peace was to rest upon it. 
 The chapter is divided into parts all referring to Israel, their 
 work then, to the end of verse 15 ; from verse 16 more general 
 and continued, still in Israel, after His death till the Son of Man 
 came ; but at present they must expect rejection ; it is our lot 
 in this world. They were not to fear.' Not a sparrow fell to 
 the ground, not merely without God but wdthout tlidr Father. 
 For the Son revealed the Father's name ; but we have seen this 
 tested men. They could not stand the revelation of God. It 
 brought out the enmity of the human heart against good, and 
 especially against God ; an enmity which, stronger than natural 
 ties, wrought most where the relationship was nearest, and 
 where the hated object — for hated, alas, as Christ has proved 
 it is — is more galling. The disciple is not above His Master ; 
 we have to take up our cross and follow Christ. Thus divine 
 power, and its manifestation in goodness, and its rejection, 
 go together as before. This is fully developed in a solemn 
 commentary on all in xi. The ways and works of the Lord 
 are summed up as testimony to John Baptist, now in prison, 
 on the question, Art thou he that should come ? The blind 
 saw, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, 
 the dead were raised, the souls of the poor were cared for, but 
 blessed he who was not stumbled at the rejected Son of 
 man- — power in goodness and rejection ; the Lord gives, not 
 receives testimony. But the solemn warnings of the Nazarite 
 prophet of the wilderness, and the gracious association of grace 
 with sinners to win them, men alike rejected. But this brought 
 all to a point, the mighty works were in vain. In fact the 
 truth of his person, too glorious for man as he was to receive, 
 and in the perfect submission of Christ to His rejection as 
 
246 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 come among the Jews, His eternal personal glory, the Son 
 revealing the Father in grace to burdened and needy hearts, 
 taught submission withal by His own, that they might every 
 way have rest, was what was really there, the new thing, and 
 glory in grace shine out through the rejected but obedient Son 
 of man. The twelfth chapter completes the statement of the 
 position in which Christ is here found, as well as that of the 
 Jews as a body. There are but two pp,rticularised miracles 
 referred to in it. The Sabbath was the seal of Jehovah's cove- 
 nant with Israel; as with the rejected David, so with the rejected 
 Son of David, all things in Israel were made common ; a greater 
 than the temple, too, was there, the Son of man was Lord of 
 the Sabbath; had they understood mercy as contrasted with mere 
 law they would not have condemned the guiltless. Under the 
 Son of man's authority as Lord of the Sabbath they were guilt- 
 less, but in their state of soul the Jews could not understand 
 this. In the synagogue there was a man with a withered hand ; 
 convicting them of hypocrisy, well-doing was the manifestation 
 of God and not the legal Sabbath. The old covenant was pass- 
 ing away. He withdraws and heals all that come. Meek and 
 lowly, the time would come for him to show judgment. He then 
 works the second miracle referred to above, casting out a devil. 
 The people say — Is it not the Son of David ? The Pharisees 
 repeat their blasphemy — He casts them out through Beelzebub. 
 Now all was brought to an issue. If it was by the Spirit of 
 God, the kingdom of God ^ was come amongst them, they were 
 openly blaspheming ; divine power they could not deny, they 
 were fully condemned, and at the end of their history would 
 come under the full power of Satan. He did not own relation- 
 ship in nature with Israel down here, those in whom His word 
 wrought were His true relations. His connection with man 
 was through what He brought, not what was in man, though He 
 was a true man. This closes the proper history of His ministry 
 
 1 Note here, Matthew says of God. That of heaven could only be when He 
 was gone to heaven. It was at hand. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 247 
 
 or service in Israel, though in divine mercy it continued, but 
 with a testimony modified in character. But what His miracles 
 were in testimony is clearly seen, and what they meant and 
 said. His final breach with Israel leads to His going out and 
 announcing the kingdom of heaven, but without the present 
 king ; full of interest, but not introducing any miracles. It is 
 the first thing presented as taking the place of Messiah then 
 presented on earth, but in xiv. His mercy continues, though in 
 a sovereign and divine way, not as Messiah, Son of man, pre- 
 sented to them. The putting to death of John Baptist brought 
 actual rejection close to His Spirit, a solemn moment, felt deeply 
 by the Lord, so that He retired apart, but the multitude came ; 
 but the feeling for others or the solemnity of the moment never 
 hindered the readiness of divine goodness. He was moved with 
 compassion when He saw the multitudes ; He meets it as 
 Jehovah will fully in the last days, according to Psalm cxxxii. 
 He will satisfy her poor with bread. This as a sign He does. 
 He then goes on high to pray — as He now is — the disciples left 
 to toil their way across the sea without Him, and rejoins them 
 and all is still ; and then is joyfully received where once He had 
 been rejected, but historically exercises the same divine power 
 in goodness ; goodness above all the rejection and heartlessness 
 of men, the hem of his garment made perfectly whole, xv. is 
 a very remarkable chapter, but I must touch on it only in con- 
 nection with the miracle. There human will-worship, as con- 
 trasted with God's law, and really to the temporal advantage of 
 the priests, is utterly rejected : man's religion in alleged offer- 
 ings to God as contrasted with God's law. Next man's heart, 
 the source of all the evil ; and then with one of the accursed race 
 of Canaan, so that as come to Israel there could be no blessing 
 for her, the reckoning on God's heart in sovereign goodness met 
 at once a response. He could not deny Himself, or say God is 
 not as good as you suppose. He was divinely above the barriers 
 of Judaism and dispensation, and divinely good. Again, the 
 miracle is a present witness of what and who He is. He 
 
248 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 returns to the field of ministry in the land of Israel, and satisfies 
 yet again the poor with bread in the same divine way. I have 
 no doubt there is an intentional specific difference between this 
 and the 5000, the 12, and the 7. This latter more specifically 
 divine with the remnant, but it is not here the place to enter 
 into these details of interpretation. The general principle of 
 wonted mercy, verse 30, gives us again His full and constant 
 character. In xvi. we find the church substituted for a Christ 
 present on the earth, on the confession of Jesus as Son of the 
 living God, and the keys of the kingdom ^ given to Peter, but no 
 special miracle demands our attention. In xvii. we have the 
 kingdom in glory. This was the Son of man revealed in the 
 glory of the kingdom. 
 
 Here we find the disciples themselves unable to use that 
 power in Christ which faith would have done. Only separation 
 of heart and spirit, and reference to and confidence in God, 
 could wield it and set aside the power of Satan down here. 
 This answered, so to speak, to the coming glory of the Son of 
 man, and made Satan powerless in presence of a humbled 
 Saviour. But now, for all that, the new place belonging to the 
 disciples, connected with His resurrection, is strikingly brought 
 out. The coming glory did not belong to Christ's then position, 
 that was the fasting and praying part of His path, they were 
 not to speak of the vision of glory till He was risen. But 
 meauMdiile He shows divine knowledge and divine power over 
 creation. Those who collect the didrachma for the temple 
 ask Peter if his master was not a faithful Jew. Christ shows 
 His divine knowledge of things in anticipating Peter, but puts 
 Peter in the same place with Himself, that w& offend not. 
 They were both children of the great King of the temple, that 
 we offend not. Then He shows His power, making the fish 
 bring the needed money, two didrachmas, and Peter was to 
 give it for me and thee. Eedemptiou has brought us into the 
 
 ^ Not of the cliui-ch. Keys of the church is a thought unknown to Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 249 
 
 place of Sons with Christ. Grace bowed to the lowly place, 
 but power over all creation showed who was there ; but grace 
 then brought believers into the place of new and infinite blessing 
 in which Christ stood. This blessed "me and thee" closed, in 
 fact, the path of Christ here with the displayed glory. We 
 have characteristics of the walk suited to this new place of the 
 disciples individually and collectively, but the present testi- 
 mony to Christ was over, they were charged indeed not to say 
 any more that He was the Christ. 
 
 We have one notable miracle in xxi. The fisf-tree of God's 
 planting, Israel after the flesli, man under the old covenant, 
 when the Lord of the vineyard came seeking fruit, was judged 
 as fruitless for ever. Herewith the manifestation of the truth 
 of Satanic power in the swine are the only miracles which were 
 not the direct exercise of power in goodness. But they not 
 only confirm the constant character of all the others, but show 
 the state of man and God's judgment of that state as to man's 
 responsibility, when all the testimony of grace and power had 
 been given. The story of the di drachm showed the new place 
 in grace ; that of the fig-tree man's condition under responsi- 
 bility and law as he was. In xx. 17 to 28 are shown Christ and 
 the disciples place here below as finally rejected. Then 29 
 begins His last presentation to Jerusalem as Son of David, and 
 God's testimony to Him by the mouth of babes and sucklings. 
 The mercy indeed continued, but the testimony was closed. He 
 who believed He was Son of David received sight, the rest were 
 judged. The greatest miracles of aU were His death, giving up 
 His own Spirit, when He could say. It is finished ; and His re- 
 surrection. But these were either for stability of faith to be- 
 lievers or for the display of power in others as the subject of their 
 testimony. Our subject has been Christ's own works as a testimony 
 to His person, and the true character of God as so revealed. 
 
 For the present I close this paper, already extended far 
 beyond my thought in commencing it. It may be interesting 
 to examine the other gospels, and study any peculiar aspect of 
 
 s 
 
250 MIRACLES AND INFIDELITY. 
 
 tlie miracles connected with tliem. But for the general principle 
 what we have found in Matthew fully suffices, and gives a 
 character of divine goodness and entering into our sorrows 
 which infidelity cannot touch, and, through the hardening of 
 heart it always produces, cannot feel or see the beauty of. 
 
THE POST-CAPTIVITY PKOPHETS ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE EFFECT OF THE WOED OF GOD. 
 
 Thkee in number, and named Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, the 
 post-captivity prophets differ markedly from their brethren who 
 prophesied before the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of 
 Nebuchadnezzar. The former prophets dwell on the past his- 
 tory of the people ; these chiefly on their then present and future. 
 The judgments announced by the earlier messengers having 
 been executed, the chastisement richly deserved had been 
 endured ; so the black catalogue of crimes, which formed so 
 heavy an indictment, is no longer dwelt upon, and the sins of 
 their fathers are only alluded to to advise their descendants of 
 the certain fulfilment of God's word. Words of encouragement 
 the remnant hear from Haggai and Zechariah, instead of pre- 
 dictions of coming judgment ; and we witness, as it were, a 
 fresh start of the people, to see if those, who were a standing 
 memorial of the nation's unfaithfulness and of God's truth, 
 would act better than their fathers, profiting by the lesson the 
 captivity ought surely to have taught them. 
 
 The glory connected with the king's throne in Jerusalem 
 had long departed, and the house which Solomon had built 
 " exceeding magnifical," had been defiled by the tread of uncir- 
 cumcised feet, pillaged, and finally burnt. The wealth which 
 characterised the reigns of David and Solomon had gone to 
 swell the coffers of Gentile monarchs, and a poor and feeble 
 remnant were now the representatives in the land of Canaan 
 
252 THE POST-CAPTIVITY PROPHETS; OR, 
 
 of a nation which had once been illustrious, victorious, and 
 prosperous. Shorn as they were of earthly wealth and tem- 
 poral power, they were lacking in yet higher things, which 
 their fathers could bear witness had been among them. In 
 common with other nations they might have mourned over the 
 loss of wealth and power, but they had to acknowledge greater 
 losses in the absence of those favours which had been peculiar 
 to Israel. No sacred fire burned on their newly-erected altar, nor 
 was the Shechinah with them any longer, that cloud of glory 
 betokening the divine presence, which had accompanied them 
 from Egypt, and abode on the mercy-seat till the days of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar (Exod. xiii. 21, 22 ; Ezek. x. 18, xi. 23). Miracles, 
 too, attestations of the divine commission which prophets of old 
 had received, were worked no longer ; and the Urim and Thum- 
 mim connected with the high priest's breastplate were con- 
 fessedly absent from that which was worn by Joshua the son 
 of Josedech (Ezra ii. 63). All that man could make, the ark 
 excepted, they might possess ; but those peculiar tokens of 
 God's acceptance of the house and of the High Priest they 
 found themselves without. Yet, though deprived of the mani- 
 festations of the divine presence, and the proofs of divine power, 
 they were not bereft of that which could guide them in dark- 
 ness and cheer them in sorrow — the word of God. Their 
 return, and the rebuilding of the temple and city, were proofs 
 that God had not forsaken them ; the presence of the prophets 
 Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were tokens that God would 
 still instruct them. 
 
 From the days of Jeremiah the godly ones of Israel in the 
 land of Babylon had been cast upon God's word as to the dura- 
 tion of their captivity, which, beginning with Jehoiakim was 
 to end with Cyrus (Jer. xxix. 10 ; Dan. ix. 1). Now the re- 
 turned remnant were to find how the prophetic word, which 
 could sustain hope in captivity, could stimulate and teach 
 them, being their only light in the days of sorrow and oppres- 
 sion in which their lot was cast. For, having been constrained 
 
THE EFFECT OF THE WORD OF GOD. 253 
 
 by power from without to cease from building the temple, 
 they rose up to renew the work at the prophesying of Haggai 
 and Zechariah. The effect of the word of God is in this case 
 beautifully exemplified. Difficulties vanished. Their reason- 
 ing that the time to build the Lord's house had not come (Hag. 
 i. 2) was refuted in an instant. Jeremiah's prediction of seventy 
 years, to which perhaps they referred, it was now seen was to 
 be computed from the captivity which began in the fourth 
 year of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxv,), and not from the destruction of 
 the temple in the eleventh year of Zechariah. The nation's 
 captivity, not the temple's desolation, it was of which the 
 prophet of Anathoth had predicted the duration. Their mis- 
 take was now corrected, yet not by the turn of events in their 
 favour, but by the prophesying of Haggai, the Lord's mes- 
 senger. The reason of their scanty harvests and unsatisfied 
 appetites was now made plain, the Lord's house laid waste, 
 whilst they built and dwelt in their own. Obedient to the 
 voice of the Lord their God and the words of HaijCTai the 
 prophet, as the Lord their God liad sent him, activity was 
 again displayed in providing materials for the building of the 
 house, and the tools laid down through fear of man were 
 taken up in the fear of God. The visit of Tatnai, the gover- 
 nor, with Shetharboznai and theu' companions, did not deter 
 them ; the demand for their names did not terrify them. 
 They answered them respectfully but firmly, and whilst they 
 referred to Darius for instructions the Jews went on with their 
 work. The decree issued against them by Artaxerxes the 
 usurper was still in force, but the word of God encouraged 
 their hearts, so, in spite of the opposition from which they had 
 so recently suffered, and the yet unrepealed decree, they came 
 and did the work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God. 
 The word of God, apart from all manifestations of divine 
 power, emboldened the people to brave the king's resentment. 
 
 What a change had come over them. And now, since 
 they had begun the work in faith and obedience, the Lord, ere 
 
254 THE POST-CAPTIVITY PROPHETS; OR, 
 
 that six months closed in which Haggai had first addressed 
 them, vouclisafed a second message, saying, " I am with you." 
 His presence and approval, not His power to be openly dis- 
 played on their part as before, was that of which God now 
 assured them, and that encouraged them. He had said it ; 
 they believed it ; and the work of the house went forward 
 afresh. Tatnai referred to Darius respecting the existence of 
 the alleged decree of Cyrus, of which the Jews had spoken, 
 and to learn the reigning sovereign's will. The remnant, now 
 assured of the divine presence, waited not to learn the king's 
 pleasure, for prophecy had burst out afresh ; and since they 
 were obedient, new communications were vouchsafed. 
 
 When the foundations of the house were laid in the reign of 
 Cyrus, we read of the effect produced on those who had witnessed 
 the former one (Ezra iii. 12). Now whilst carrying on their 
 work anew God would not have the builders discouraged, so 
 they learn that " the latter glory of this house " (for this it was 
 which Haggai really said) " shall be greater than the former." 
 The magnificence and splendour with which Solomon embel- 
 lished tlie house, was to be far surpassed by the glory which 
 shall yet attach to it ; and in that place, where they had 
 recently experienced the oppression of the ruling power, the 
 Lord would give peace. How fully God was entering into and 
 taking up the cause of His people ! As subjects of Darius it 
 was their part to acknowledge the Persian supremacy ; but the 
 throne of kingdoms, that imperial power which dominates over 
 other rulers and vassal states, Haggai assured them should be 
 overthrown by the Lord, for the strength of the kingdom of the 
 heathen will He destroy, the chariots and those that ride in 
 them shall be overthrown, and the horses and their riders shall 
 come down every one by the sword of his brother. This is still 
 future. Will this be succeeded by anarchy ? No, for to Zer- 
 ubbabel, David's descendant and the Lord's ancestor, promises 
 are made (Hag. ii. 20-23). That throne so ancient, and to out- 
 ward eyes untenanted for so long, will then be seen to be 
 
THE EFFECT OF THE WORD OF GOD. 255 
 
 worthily filled by Him who enjoys the unclouded favour of the 
 Father. The consequences of their forefathers' sins the returned 
 remnant had still to feel, as they witnessed the house in process 
 of building, and bowed to the Gentile yoke ; but these reminders 
 of the past, they learnt, will be obliterated at a future day; since 
 the blessings of fruitful harvests from the day that Haggai thus 
 addressed them, were declared to be the earnest that the future 
 he sketched out should surely come to pass (Hag. ii. 18, 19). 
 
 In this prophetic service Haggai did not stand alone. "At 
 the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be estab- 
 lished." And though, when God speaks, none should ask for a 
 confirmation of the veracity of the divine communications. He 
 is pleased at times to provide such evidence as shall abundantly 
 confirm what has been previously declared. In this case 
 Zechariah, a priest (N"eh. xii. 16) and prophet, the son of 
 Berechiah, the son of Iddo, was associated with Haggai in the 
 work. Three times had Haggai spoken before any of the 
 prophecies of Zechariah were uttered. In the sixth month 
 Haggai had reproved them for their supineness in the buildinor 
 of the Lord's house, and cheered them with the assurance of 
 Jehovah's presence. In the seventh month, during the feast of 
 tabernacles, he predicted the future surpassing glory of the 
 house. Then in the eighth month, after the year's festivals 
 were over, Zechariah commenced his ministry with an ex- 
 hortation to the people not to act like their fathers, but to 
 hearken to God. For, at the outset, he reminds them that in 
 nature they are not better than their fathers, and that they are 
 the children of those who had been grievously punished for 
 their idolatry. But what hope could there be for a bright end- 
 ing to the nation's history, when, blessed as their fathers had 
 been, the throne had been overturned in judgment, and captivity 
 and subjugation had been righteously their lot ? The children 
 remained unchanged in nature, prone to act like their fathers, 
 that was clear, from the admonition at the outset of Zechariah's 
 prophetic service. To build on national improvement would 
 
2S6 THE POST-CAPTIVITY PROPHETS; OR, 
 
 have been delusive. The hopes for the future must rest else- 
 where. The judgments at last poured out on their fathers 
 attested God's faithfulness to His word, as their fathers had 
 acknowledged (Zech. i. 6). On God's faithfulness then they 
 were now to rest, to His word they should hearken. Genera- 
 tions had come and gone, but God's word had not failed of 
 fulfilment. Generations might come and go, but His word must 
 be accomplished. Wliat a comfort to draw from their afflictions 
 and subjection to a foreign yoke, the sure confidence of future 
 deliverance and blessing. They were nationally, they are still, 
 witnesses to the abiding faithfulness of His word, as displayed 
 in judgment ; hence their condition, however sad, could comfort 
 those who were feeling it. 
 
 Two more communications by Haggai on the twenty-fourth 
 day of the ninth month complete the collection of his prophecies, 
 as far at least as they have been preserved ; and the visions of 
 Zechariah, just two months afterwards (Zech. i. 7 — vi. 15), con- 
 clude the series of revelations vouchsafed to the remnant that 
 year. Five months of that eventful year had passed before the 
 spirit of prophecy, last bestowed on Daniel in the third year of 
 Cyrus (about fourteen years back), fell on any others of the seed 
 of Israel. Then seven times during the remainder of that year 
 did the Lord communicate His mind by His servants Haggai and 
 Zechariah. How the hearts of the godly ones must have 
 rejoiced, as they received these repeated tokens of the Lord their 
 God's abiding interest in their city and nation. 
 
 " Unto you that hear shall more be given," is a principle 
 enunciated in the New Testament (Mark iv. 24), but acted on 
 in the Old. The remnant had heard, and obeyed. The word 
 had effected a lodgment in their heart ; and God, acting in grace, 
 which far surpasses what man could expect, in adding to the 
 sacred volume gave them in the visions of Zechariah several 
 glimpses of the marvellous future in store for Jerusalem, the 
 land, and the people. Both by visions and prophecies the 
 remnant were to be instructed ; the visions depicting the state 
 
THE EFFECT OF THE WORD OF GOD. 257 
 
 of things which shall exist, the prophecies detailing circum- 
 stances through which the remnant must pass ere the end 
 arrives — that final blessing and peace in store for the afflicted, 
 despised, yet chosen people of God. Two points connected with 
 the future Haggai had briefly touched on — the house and the 
 throne. On these Zechariah enlarges, and the people, who had 
 shown themselves obedient to the word of reproof by Haggai 
 (i. 2-11), are permitted to gaze upon the distant future, brought 
 within the sco]De of faith's horizon by the visions and prophecies 
 of the son of Iddo. 
 
 At night, when all were asleep, a fit emblem of the world's 
 unconcern for God's ancient people and their land, Zechariah 
 had visions of that future which shall dawn upon his country 
 and people, and heard the words of the Lord himself (for the 
 man was Jehovah) announcing His return to the city of His 
 choice (i. 16). Two years roll by before we have another date. 
 Then in the fourth year of Darius, two years before the temple 
 was finished, the question of Sherezer, Eegem-melech, and their 
 companions, relative to the continued observance of the days 
 connected with Jerusalem's past sorrow, called forth in the 
 Lord's goodness the outline of the remnant's history, running on 
 to the commencement of the reign of peace (vii.-xiv.) Casting 
 the eye over these prophecies could any one doubt of. the Lord's 
 love for Israel, or of the settled purpose of His heart concerning 
 Jerusalem? The people did not deserve what Zechariah was 
 commissioned to foretell, that all will admit. As a nation they 
 had long before forfeited all claim to God's favour, or restoration 
 to the place of honour upon earth, which they had once enjoyed ; 
 yet Zechariah traces out, not conditionally, for that would have 
 made the case hopeless, but as a certainty, which shall be 
 witnessed, more than restoration to their former condition, even 
 pre-eminence on earth to a degree never yet known (x.-xii), whilst 
 the full metropolitan character of Jerusalem is announced, which 
 has never yet been enjoyed (xiv.) And all this, be it observed, 
 is brought out after the people have hearkened to and obeyed 
 
2S8 THE POST-CAPTIVITY PROPHETS j OR, 
 
 God's word. Acting in obedience to tlie word they prospered 
 in their work, and the Lord was then pleased to communicate 
 more of His mind. 
 
 Years after this passed, during which the political condition 
 of the returned remnant varied. Protected by Darius they were 
 troubled in the early part of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, 
 for the wall of Jerusalem, rebuilt we know not when, had been 
 broken down under circumstances which have not been recorded, 
 and her gates had been burnt with fire (Neh. i. 3). This was 
 the dark side of the picture, which serves, however, to bring out 
 in bolder relief the better fortunes of the house and of the 
 wall. The temple, finished under Darius, was beautified under 
 Artaxerxes (Ezra vi. 15 ; vii. 27), who sent Ezra the scribe with 
 offerings for the house of God ; and the w^all, over whose destruc- 
 tion Nehemiah wept, was repaired and dedicated by this pious 
 man with the full sanction of the Persian king. 
 
 Exposed as they were to these vicissitudes — at one time 
 protected by the king, at another the sport of some unscrupu- 
 lous court favourite as Haman, or trampled on by provincial 
 governors — what, it may be asked, during all this time was 
 their moral condition? That, too, varied. Stirred up as one 
 man by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah to complete 
 the house of God, we learn that ere Ezra reached the land in 
 the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the people of Israel, the priests and 
 the Levites, were again mixed up with the people of the lands, 
 doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, 
 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the 
 Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, taking of their 
 daughters for themselves and for their sons, the hand of the 
 princes and rulers being chief in this trespass (Ezra ix. 1, 2). 
 The matter was investigated. Separation from the people of the 
 land and from the strange wives was insisted on, and offerings 
 were brought by those who were concerned in this trespass. Thir- 
 teen years later jSTehemiah reached the holy city, and during his 
 tenure of office had to reprove the people for usury ; separation 
 
THE EFFECT OF THE WORD OF GOD. 259 
 
 too from the mixed multitude had to be effected, and the pro- 
 fanation of the Sabbath corrected. Besides tliis, the question of 
 mixed marriages had again to be dealt with ; the family of 
 Eliashib the high priest, as that of Jeshua's in the days of 
 Ezra, having joined in this trespass (Ezra, x. 18 ; Neh. xiii. 28). 
 How crafty was the enemy. Faithfulness, however, to God tri- 
 umphed over all fear of man. 
 
 For a time these efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah appeared to 
 be successful, but the people soon relapsed into carelessness ; 
 and indifference to God's house and to God's honour was un- 
 blushingiy manifested ; so that when Malachi commenced his 
 ministry the reproof of both priests and people was urgently 
 required, and occupies the chief part of his book. The Lord's 
 love for Israel Avas openly questioned, notwithstanding all He 
 had done and all He had foretold (Mai. i. 2). The priests 
 despised His name, and when accused of it by the Lord, 
 demanded proofs of the charge. The people wearied Him with 
 their words ; and when told of it seemed unconscious of what 
 they were doing (i. 6, 7; ii. 17). The sin denounced by Ezra and 
 Nehemiah Judah had again given way to, having married strange 
 wives, and for no just cause sanctioned the divorce of the wife 
 of their youth. 
 
 A ministry of reproof was needed for this ; a ministry to 
 awaken slumbering consciences, and to make souls bestir them- 
 selves to depart from uncleanness and iniquity. Malachi's min- 
 istry partially accomplished this. The effect of the word of God 
 on the people in the days of Haggai we have seen, the effect of 
 the word by Malachi is also recorded. " Then they that feared 
 the Lord, spake often one to another" (iii. 16). Infidelity and 
 self-interest had penetrated deep into the ranks of the remnant, 
 yet some were found who feared the Lord. Malachi's testimony 
 acted on these, for, after his reproofs had been uttered, they 
 spake often one to another. A remnant of the returned remnant 
 were still true to God, and proved it. Hearts exercised by the 
 word found each other out. They spake often one to another. 
 
26o THE POST-CAPTIVITY PROPHETS j OR, 
 
 What they said is not recorded; it is their attitude at this crisis 
 which is described. Often perhaps they communed in secret, 
 for it does not appear that these took a place of public witness 
 for God. Malachi filled that post; then these, fearing the Lord, 
 held intercourse one with another. A movement, doubtless, was 
 in progress of which many around were ignorant ; and, though 
 perhaps they heard not what these godly ones said in their com- 
 munings one with another, there was One who overheard all, 
 however gently whispered; and witnessed all, however unob- 
 trusively done. " The Lord hearkened, and heard." God's word 
 had met with a response in their hearts, and the Lord took note 
 of it. To their contemporaries perhaps but little known, to 
 posterity quite unknown, to God each one was well known, and 
 their names are recorded in His book. " A book of remembrance 
 was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that 
 thought upon His name." How graciously does the Lord act to 
 His people ! We record names and deeds in books, that, how- 
 ever treacherous our memories may be, the persons or their acts 
 should never be forgotten by us. In history lie embalmed, as 
 in a catacomb, the actions of the great and good, preserved to 
 future ages, though all eye-witnesses to them have long ceased 
 to exist. Our failing memories and transient lives call for this 
 means of perpetuating what once was deemed worthy of notice 
 and of approval. But He, who is the beginning and the end, 
 who is, who was, and is to come, from whom no secrets are hid, 
 " who ne'er forgets," as we sing, " though oft forgot," needs not 
 a written record to preserve before Him the remembrance of 
 actions and conduct of which He once approved ; yet He would 
 assure His people that all is recorded, and not one thing, how- 
 ever small, has escaped His notice, or will remain unrewarded. 
 
 To attend to the prayer of the afflicted is, we know, the 
 Lord's wont. But here was no cry that we read of, here was no 
 prayer for deliverance breathed forth. They were not speaking 
 to God, but to one another ; exercised in heart about the things 
 of God. It was to catch these utterances that He was attentive. 
 
THE EFFECT OF THE WORD OF GOD. 261 
 
 " The Lord hearkened, and heard." As the Lord Jesus joined 
 Himself to the company of those two who communed together 
 and reasoned on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, so, at 
 an earlier epoch, the Lord Jehovah was an unseen but attent- 
 ive listener to the exchange of thoughts between these godly 
 ones in Israel. 
 
 From Haggai's ministry outward activity resulted. In the 
 days of Malachi communing together about the things of God 
 was the right effect produced by the word. By the labours of 
 Haggai and Zechariah the people were stirred up to work ; 
 through the ministry of Malachi the faithful took heed to their 
 walk. And, as at the former period new communications of 
 God's mind were vouchsafed, as soon as obedience to the word 
 had been manifested, so now the Lord's appreciation of these 
 faithful ones is revealed, and their future set before them. " They 
 shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make 
 up my jewels ; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own 
 son that serveth him." To be a peculiar treasure unto God was 
 held out to Israel at Sinai on condition of obedience (Exod. xix. 
 5). Here these faithfid ones are assured of this distinction, for 
 they shall be enumerated amongst His treasures. To do great 
 things was not their work, but faithfulness to God is ever valued 
 by Him ; and true service He reckoned it to be when these 
 consorted together, separated by the word from the iniquity 
 prevalent around them. To a future day He pointed them, and 
 as the representatives of His earthly people He foretold by 
 Malachi their portion, who will have feared Him and have 
 thought on His name. The day when He will count up His 
 jewels will be a day of wrath for the Avicked, and His people 
 shall then discern between the righteous and the wicked, between 
 him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. What 
 Asaph, speaking by the spirit of prophecy, presents as a difii- 
 culty for God's saints, in a time perhaps not far off (Ps. Ixxiii. 
 1-17), to be solved ere the day of the Lord comes only by 
 acquaintance with His unfulfilled designs, will, when that day 
 
262 THE POST-CAPTIVITY PROPHETS; OR, 
 
 dawus, as Malaclii predicts, be patent to all the living saints. 
 For the day of their acknowledgment by God is the day when 
 the wicked shall be burnt up root and branch. Zechariah had 
 brought out the future of the people of Israel, and of all the 
 families of the earth, as well as the complete overthrow and 
 judgment of tlie nations who shallburden themselves with settling 
 the final destiny of Jerusalem (xiv., xii, 3). Malachi is con- 
 cerned with the final scene on this world's stage in the history 
 of the two great classes iii Israel — the righteous and the wicked. 
 In Zechariah we behold more of the political, and in Malachi 
 of the moral aspect, of matters concerning the people at the 
 commencement of the day of the Lord. So by the son of Iddo 
 is detailed what Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will 
 do against their enemies at that time ; whilst Malachi restricts 
 himself to apprising the faithful of the complete reversal of the 
 general lot of the righteous and the wicked. The period for 
 patient endurance of evil will have passed away, and those who 
 shall have known oppression shall tread down the wicked, they 
 shall be ashes under the soles of their feet (iv. 3). The first dawn- 
 ing of that day it was not given to Malachi to write about, for the 
 rise of the morning star is outside that range of prophetic truth 
 in which the prophets of old moved. St. John speaks of it, for 
 it concerns the church of God (Eev. ii. 28, xxii. 16). Malachi 
 speaks of the sunrise in which the earthly saints will be in- 
 terested. And what a sunrise he can speak of, such a sun as 
 never has risen upon earth — the Sun of Eighteousness witli 
 healing in his wings. The wicked will experience its scorching 
 heat burning them up most effectually, those who fear the Lord's 
 name will bask in that Sun's rays, and flourish as calves of the 
 stall. Now God makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the 
 good ; then for the wicked there will be devouring fire, but for 
 the righteous the gladdening influence, undimmed by mists or 
 clouds, of the beams of the Sun of Eighteousness. The day of the 
 ungodly's prosperity wiU end when the day of the righteous 
 begins. Here the prophet stops. But since he deals with moral 
 
THE EFFECT OF THE WORD OF GOD. 263 
 
 classes, not nations or families, he closes his book in a fitting 
 way, admonishing the godly to remember and obey the word, 
 and to wait for the forerunner, the prophet Elijah. 
 
 The effect of the word of God on hearts in the days of the 
 post-captivity prophets, with their corresponding results, it has 
 been attempted here to trace out. The proofs of faithfulness on 
 these occasions we have seen differed widely ; but the future 
 placed before the people, whilst differing in many of its features, 
 is in perfect keeping with the service each obediently rendered ; 
 and there is a principle, common to them all, a rule of general 
 application, viz., that to souls subject to the divine word God's 
 mind can be more fully disclosed (Colos. i. 9). 
 
RESTORATION. 
 
 In reading the prophecies of Hosea one cannot fail to be 
 struck with two things — the insensibility of Israel to their moral 
 condition, and the yearning of Jehovah over the people He had 
 chosen. " When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity 
 of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria " 
 (vii. 1). "When this was the prophet does not state. Perhaps 
 2 Kings xiii. 3 may throw light on the matter. God had inter- 
 posed in the days of Jehoahaz, and given Israel a saviour, " so 
 that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians, and the 
 children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time." What 
 a picture of security and rest after trouble have we here. Did 
 they not value this respite, which surely they could well 
 appreciate ? Let us hear the historian again, " Nevertheless 
 they departed not from the sins of the liouse of Jeroboam, who 
 made Israel sin, but walked therein; and there remained the 
 grove also in Samaria." God's recent intervention on their 
 behalf made no more permanent impression on the people than 
 did His several gracious dealings with them, from their earliest 
 origin in patriarchal days to their entrance into the land under 
 Joshua. That all was not right with them their political con- 
 dition in the days of Hosea might prove to the dullest of intel- 
 lects ; but how to rectify matters was another point. 
 
 This is brought out in the prophecies of Hosea in a most 
 beautiful way. His presence among them witnessed that God 
 had not finally cast them off; his official position as Jehovah's 
 prophet was a sign that they had departed from the right way. 
 And, since the great feature of this book is God's moral dealings 
 
RESTORA TION. 265 
 
 with those who have wandered far from Him, with a view to 
 their ultimate restoration, and that in the fullest of blessings, 
 so we see portrayed in Israel's history what God's people may 
 become if they turn away in heart from Him ; and we learn 
 what is the only road to be traversed if restoration is to take 
 place, and favours from God are to be again enjoyed. 
 
 Glancing at the book we may see it divides itself into three 
 great parts — the historical outline of events from the day of 
 Hosea till the ultimate return, and recognition as God's of the 
 people He has now disowned (i.-iii.) ; the moral condition of the 
 people (chiefly the ten tribes) in tlie days of the prophet, because 
 of which judgment would have to take its course (iv,-x.) ; and 
 the past dealings of God in sovereign grace with the people, 
 closing with the future dealing with their souls, because of 
 which those " lo Ammi " sliall become again " Ammi," and " lo 
 Ruhamah" rejoice in the full tide of mercy then to be experienced 
 (xi.-xiv.). Attention to this order will help us in the study of 
 the book. 
 
 In the first portion we get Israel's present political condition 
 predicted, like the woman of chap. iii. waiting for the prophet, 
 abiding " without a king, and without a prince, and without a 
 sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and 
 without teraphim," with the promise of future blessing, but 
 only after she has been allured into the wilderness. God's 
 gracious dealings are thus promised at the outset. But why is 
 the distant future brouglit forward " after many days " ? Was 
 He not willing even in the prophet's day to deal in grace ? He 
 was, bvit they were unwilling to receive it. This the second 
 portion brings out. 
 
 Nothing is more common than for any one smarting under 
 the consequences of disobedience to look for some way of 
 getting free from the present distress. But, like a man caught 
 in a net, who, the more he struggles, the more he gets entangled, 
 and at last sinks down exhausted by his efforts, yet still a cap- 
 tive ; so does the soul, whicli knows not the divine way of 
 
 T 
 
266 RESTORATION. 
 
 restoration, weary itself with fruitless efforts to get free from the 
 condition induced by its disobedience. Is God, then, hard to be 
 entreated ? The surrender of His only Son for us, when ungodly 
 and without strength, must ever be a sufficient, an overwhelming, 
 answer in the negative. God desires the restoration of His 
 people. He who wills that all should be saved and come to the 
 knowledge of the truth, longs, may we say it, for the recovery 
 of His children who have strayed. But how shall this be 
 accomplished ? 
 
 Wliat Israel in the prophet's day would attempt, we learn : 
 " They shall go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, 
 but they shall not find Him" (v. 6). Was it not right to 
 bring sacrifices ? He had commanded them. Why, then, would 
 God not receive them ? Because this step on Israel's part was 
 really an endeavour to approach Him as if nothing had hap- 
 pened. They would bring sacrifices as of old, and then look 
 for His favour. Now, such conduct would be no confession of 
 their grievous departure from His ways. Had they never sinned, 
 sacrifices ought still to have been offered up, as they will be 
 again in the Millennium, when the law will be written on their 
 hearts. Thus the mere outward conformity to the Mosaic ritual 
 was no recognition of their grievous declension. God would not 
 have this conduct. " They shall not find Him," is the warning 
 of the prophet. " He hath withdrawn Himself from them," is 
 the oracular announcement of the sure failure of all such 
 measures if attempted by the people. 
 
 In a similar way do not souls sometimes attempt to act now, 
 and with a corresponding result ? The end looked for is not 
 secured because there is no acknowledgment of failure. Activity 
 in service, attention to duties, can never obliterate the past nor 
 atone for previous neglect. After failure has come in, we cannot 
 present ourselves before God as if no failure had taken place. 
 Hence acting, as He ever must, according to what He is, if Israel 
 would thus approach Him., He could only withdraw Himself 
 from them : and of this they are warned beforehand, not left to 
 
RESTORATION. 267 
 
 find it out afterwards. But- if He should withdraw Himself, 
 how should they follow Him ? how penetrate the thick darkness 
 in which He enshrouded Himself ? As far as they were con- 
 cerned, their condition seemed desperate, the case hopeless. It 
 was so, had not God been willing to act in grace, being desirous 
 to restore them as a nation. At the close of the chapter this is 
 brought out. 
 
 " When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his 
 wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyiian, and sent to King 
 Jareb ; yet he could not heal you, nor cure you of your wound." 
 They confessed by their action what their condition was, but 
 took steps in their own wisdom to recover what they had lost. 
 Need we wonder that disappointment attended them? Their 
 plan had failed. "He could not cure you," proclaimed the 
 inability of any man to effect such a restoration to blessing as 
 they needed. Ear worse, however, than the mere failure of 
 their efforts was the insult to Jehovah of which they were thus 
 guilty. They had turned from God to man. Would He forsake 
 them ? He would, but not finally : " I will go and return unto 
 my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face : 
 in their affliction they will seek me early" (v. 15). 
 
 The Lord would withdraw from them until .... not a final 
 withdrawal. That would have ended in everlasting rejection : 
 they must feel, however, the consequences of their sins by the 
 absence of Jehovah from their midst, until — they acknowledge 
 their offence. Confession must take place ; then He would 
 again be gracious. He had not withdrawn Himself hastily : 
 their conduct necessitated it. It had not been the wish of His 
 heart ; but their pride and obstinacy left Him no other course 
 to pursue. Now, apart from them, He would await the acknow- 
 ledgment of their sins. Renewed activity was not what He 
 wanted. How ready is man to proffer that ! Confession He 
 desired ; then activity and worship would find their place. Such 
 was the line marked out for IsraeL Would they follow it ? 
 
 To show God's desire for the people's restoration, the pro- 
 
268 RESTORA TION. 
 
 pliet, His messenger, immediately, on this announcement, ex- 
 horts all to return. There was but one course open for them ; 
 surely they would take it. " Come, and let us return unto the 
 Lord : for He hath torn, and He will heal us ; He hath smitten, 
 and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us : in 
 the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. 
 Then shall we know ; we shall (so we should translate) follow 
 on to know the Lord : His going forth is prepared as the morn- 
 ing ; and He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and 
 former rain unto the earth;" or, as some render it, "as the 
 latter rain which waters the earth." Human resources had 
 failed; there was still the unfailing divine one open to them. 
 " He hath torn, and He will heal us," etc. This was not the 
 language of uncertainty, or the utterance of one clutching hold 
 of what might prove unequal to the exigency of the case. It 
 was the language of one who knew from whence their troubles 
 came, and who was assured of the true remedy. Thus the 
 prophet spake ; but not a word of response have we from the 
 people. Life as from the dead and returning fruitfulness he 
 depicted ; but all in vain. He spake to what was dull and 
 insensible to its welfare. He exhorted ; but to no purpose. 
 They did not turn to the Lord ; so judgment had to take its 
 course. The afflictions of those days were not enough to bring 
 them to their right mind, so yet darker times must come, and 
 severer trials must be endured, ere confession would be drawn 
 from their hearts. " My people are bent to backsliding from 
 me : though they called them to the Most High, none at all 
 would exalt Him " (xi. 7). 
 
 Tlie prophet's exhortation unheeded, for the people in his 
 day there was no hope of averting the threatened judgment. 
 They deserved it, as these chapters (iv.-x.) bring out ; therefore 
 all their " fortresses should be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth- 
 arbel in the day of battle," and transportation to Assyria would 
 be undergone. Was there any hope of recovery in the distant 
 future ? There was, because they had to do with God, who had 
 
RESTORATION. 269 
 
 dealt in sovereign mercy with them at the lirst. So, commencing 
 witli chap, xi., another key-note is struck, not the past and 
 present doings of the people, but the past dealings of God with 
 the nation and with their ancestor Jacob ; and now it is not the 
 deserts of the people, but the heart of God that Hosea so beauti- 
 fully depicts. He could not give them up, though they had so 
 grievously sinned against Him. Restoration, both national and 
 spiritual, should take place. As Admah and Zeboim He would 
 not make them : the exiled nation should return, ransomed by 
 God from the power of tlie grave, and redeemed by Him from 
 destruction (xi. 8, 11 ; xiii. 14). 
 
 Again, therefore, the prophet speaks, and this time there is a 
 response. Is it that he acts in a different manner to what he 
 did before (vi.), and therefore they listen and answer ? Does he 
 justify them, or let them justify themselves ? Far from it. He 
 exhorts them to return to the Lord their God, for they had 
 fallen by their iniquity. No excuse for them is allowed, no ex- 
 tenuating circumstances admitted. " Thou hast fallen by thine 
 iniquity," yet tliere was hope. Confession, however, must take 
 place before they can again enjoy the light of Jehovah's coun- 
 tenance. How should they then confess who had, as a nation, 
 so grievously sinned, and aggravated it by refusing to comply 
 with the exhortation of the prophet in his day ? The Spirit of 
 God by the prophet puts the words into their mouth. God 
 teaches them w^hat to say, who, now so fearfully chastised, have 
 sought Him early in their affliction. They cast themselves upon 
 God, saying, "Eeceive us graciously;" and learn from His imme- 
 diate response what they can look for : " I will heal their back- 
 sliding, I will love them freely : for mine anger is turned away 
 from him." Confession made, no uncertainty or torturing doubt 
 is allowed to remain in their hearts. God speaks at once, and 
 how beautifully ! He will heal, and He will love, and He will 
 refresh. They had abused His gifts in days of old. He will 
 make them fruitful on the earth in the days yet to come ; and 
 predicts it in most beautiful language, abounding with illustra- 
 
270 RESTORA TION. 
 
 tions from nature. The dew which revives the plant after the 
 scorching heat of the day, and the fragrance which perfumes the 
 air on a summer morning, the tender lily and majestic cedar, 
 with the corn, wine, and oil, proofs of fertility, are all needed to 
 depict their final blessing, for healing will take place and re- 
 turning freshness and fruitfulness be experienced. And Ephraim 
 will discern the difference, as he will say — -" What have I to do 
 any more with idols ? " Then Jehovah will answer — " I have 
 heard him, and observed him." And to Ephraim's rejoinder in 
 the happiness of his heart — " 1 am like a green fir tree," the Lord 
 will give him the word of caution — " From Me is thy fruit 
 found." 
 
 Different, indeed, are the circumstances of Israel in the past 
 and in the future from that of God's children in our day. The 
 principle, however, on which restoration to the enjoyment of 
 divine favour and renewed fruitfulness can be experienced is 
 the same. God desires the blessing of His people, but confes- 
 sion after failure is the appointed road to it. Subjective teach- 
 ing, too, whilst needed to show man what he is, does not, as 
 Hosea sets forth, draw out the heart to God. Objective teaching 
 is needed for that. The appeal in vi., after the setting before them 
 of their way (iv. v.) is unheeded. But the recital of God's ways 
 with them (xi.-xiii.), which brings out His character in grace, 
 evokes a response from them. Are they peculiar in this ? This 
 book, it is true, is full of special application to the condition of 
 Israel, amongst whom the prophet laboured ; but its closing 
 words show its value for all time. " Who is wise, and he shall 
 understand these things ? prudent, and he shall know them ? for 
 the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them : 
 but the transgressors shall fall therein" (xiv. 9). 
 
THOUGHTS ON MICAH. 
 
 Theke is a significance often in a name in Scripture, attracting 
 attention to something to be remembered, or witnessing of some 
 gracious act of God either to His people as a whole or to indivi- 
 duals among them. Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Joshua, are 
 instances of this. Nor are these names, so significant, confined 
 to early days. In the time of the kingdom, as in that of the 
 patriarchs and wilderness journey, we meet with examples of 
 the name illustrating something connected with the one who 
 bore it. In the days of Ahab and Jehoshaphat we find it, and in 
 the reign of Jotham we again meet with it. Elijah, raised up 
 to recall Israel to the confession of the true God, bore witness, 
 as his name imports, that Jehovah is God. The heathen widow 
 of Zarephath learned it to her joy; the people of Israel acknow- 
 ledged it at Carmel; and the two captains of fifty with their 
 companies discovered it to their confusion and destruction. The 
 ministry of Elisha was of a different character, and his name 
 would teach it. Elijah vindicated the divinity of Jehovah, 
 Elisha exhibited His saving and healing power. At a date sub- 
 sequent to these devoted men, in the south of the land, at 
 Moresheth, was born the prophet Micah, an abridged form of 
 the name Micaiah, by which he is spoken of in Jeremiah xxvi. 
 18, in the Hebrew text, which means Who is like Jehovah ; 
 and his writings seem intended to illustrate what his name 
 challenges all to disprove, that there is none like Jehovah of 
 Hosts, the mighty God of Israel. 
 
 Called to the prophetic office when Hosea was ministering 
 in Israel, and before Isaiah had announced to Ahaz the 
 
272 THOUGHTS ON MIC AH. 
 
 miraculous conception of Immanuel, ere Samaria had received 
 within her gates for the first time since she became the capital 
 of the kingdom of Israel, a conquering army, he appears designed 
 by the Lord Jehovah to direct the nation, if they would attend 
 to liim, to their only stay in the times of calamity which were 
 fast approaching. By Hosea God taught the people the only 
 way of restoration for those who have sinned against Him. In 
 the pages of Isaiah He described the King yet to be on the earth 
 in power, and the blessings to be enjoyed under His reign ; and 
 in Micah, whilst taking up in some degree the moral condition 
 of the remnant, and the future blessings under the Shepherd of 
 the sheep, the Lord shows the apostate people of the prophet's 
 day that there is none like Himself, Jehovah their God. 
 
 Opening, as has been observed, with the closing words of 
 his namesake who stood before Ahab and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 
 xxii. 28), as a summons to all the nations to hear what 
 Jehovah has to witness against them — Jehovah from His holy 
 temple, Micah speaks at once of the destruction of Samaria, and 
 depicts the march of the Assyrian army to Jerusalem through 
 Judah, in which, places hitherto unmentioned in Scripture, 
 would be witnesses as long as time should last of God's visitation 
 on account of sin. " Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, 
 in nakedness and shame : the inhabitant of Zaanan came not 
 forth ; the mourning of Beth-ezel shall take from you its stand- 
 ing" (i. 11). Saphir would experience captivity, whilst Zaanan 
 would be afraid to venture forth on its behalf, and Beth-ezel be 
 too much occupied with her own sorrow to help a neighbour city 
 in distress. Places known, tenanted, and beloved by those who 
 dwelt in them, too small, probably, to be noticed in the day of 
 Israel's greatness, are thus connected for ever with the nation's 
 calamity. Eight well did they deserve this infliction, as the 
 prophet proceeds to declare. The sorrow occasioned by an in- 
 vading army is grievous, but that was not the first occasion 
 when oppression and violence, and insecurity of possessions had 
 been experienced. Often must the cry of the oppressed and 
 
THOUGHTS ON MICAH. '^ 273 
 
 defenceless have ascended up to heaven ere Sennacherib's armed 
 hosts overran Judah. Neither rank, nor that which so often 
 appeals to man's heart with success, the helplessness of women 
 and children, was suffered to stand in the way as a barrier 
 against lawlessness and covetous desires (ii. 1, 2, 8, 9). Of 
 reproofs they were impatient ; to the prophets of God they 
 would not hearken, but desired them to keep silence. " Pro- 
 phesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy " (ii. 6). Yet the 
 people believed in the existence of a prophetic Spirit. It was 
 not the ignorance of those who thought there could be no revela- 
 tion that Micah reproves, but the determined spirit of opposition 
 to all that came from God, whilst ready to receive what a lying 
 spirit might enunciate. " If a man walking in spirit (or vanity) 
 and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine 
 and of strong drink ; he shall even be the prophet of this people " 
 (ver. 11). A time of enjoyment was what they wanted, present 
 ease and the indulgence of the appetite, without reference to the 
 future, was enough for them. Wine and strong drink was all 
 they cared to hear about. What did such people deserve but 
 rooting out, and that for ever ? 
 
 All the nations assembled to hear the Lord's controversy 
 must own that punishment was justly the due of such a genera- 
 tion as this ; but all are called on to hearken, and to learn that 
 there was none like God, as the prophet, unable because of 
 Israel's sin, to promise present ease, can yet speak of future 
 triumph. Desolation and captivity were near at hand ; but 
 restoration and prosperity is the future in store for them. " I 
 will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee : I will surely gather 
 the remnant of Israel : I will put them together as the sheep of 
 Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold ; they shall make 
 a great noise by reason of the multitude of men." Security, 
 plenty, and increase shall be theirs when this takes j)lace. 
 Different had been, and were in the prophet's day, the fortunes of 
 Israel and Judah, but at the time of which Micah proj^hesies they 
 will be united. Together will Jehovah set them as the sheep of 
 
274 THOUGHTS ON MIC AH. 
 
 Bozrah. Exposed to the ravages of the Assyrian they both 
 were, they shall be " as a flock in the midst of their fold," or 
 rather " pasture." Besides this, there was something which 
 directly concerned the nations. The breaker shall go before 
 Israel, even their king, the Lord at their head ; and whilst to 
 Israel He will act as a shepherd, the nations will find Him to 
 be the breaker who will remove every barrier raised up to oppose 
 the return of His people, and to keep them still in subjection to 
 a foreign yoke. Amos had predicted the captivity of Samaria. 
 " And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which 
 is before her " (iv. 3). Micah predicts their return when they 
 shall safely and without hindrance pass out through the gates of 
 the cities of those who have ruled over them. Far better than 
 present ease and strong drink was this. If the false prophet 
 would predict, but in vain, a time of self-indulgence and fleshly 
 gratification, the true prophet could speak with certainty of 
 something, though distant, yet far more cheering ; not allevia- 
 tion in the midst of adverse circumstances, nor present indul- 
 gence in the face of a victorious invader, but a bright future of 
 complete deliverance from a foreign yoke, and peace and plenty 
 with the Lord as their Shepherd in their midst. Polluted was 
 the land in the prophet's day ; it was no fit resting-place for the 
 people of the Lord then ; there will come a time when it shall 
 be clean, manifested by the Lord's presence afresh, and He will 
 be actively engaged in restoring His people to their land, never 
 more to be dispossessed of it. How short-sighted were the 
 people of Micah's day ! What a vista of coming blessing does 
 he present ! 
 
 Again, the prophet summons people to hearken. This time 
 it is to the heads of Jacob and to the princes of the house of 
 Israel that he speaks. Their sins and those of the false prophets 
 are stated. The rulers shall cry to the Lord, but He will not 
 hear them ; He will even hide His face from them at that time, 
 as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. The pro- 
 phets shall find it night to them, they shall not have a vision ; it 
 
THOUGHTS ON MICAH. 275 
 
 will be dark with them that they shall not divine ; " the sun 
 shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over 
 them. Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners con- 
 founded, yea, they shall cover their lips, for there is no answer 
 of God " (iii. 4-7). What should they do then ? Where should 
 they turn ? Their prayer shut out from God's presence ; the 
 future, as far as they can foresee it, pitch darkness, with no- 
 thing, unless God should intervene, but despair to overwhelm 
 them ; this is a pitiable condition indeed. Their deserts are 
 clear, but there is none like God ; so, whilst He will make the 
 false prophets conscious of the darkness. His own messenger can 
 penetrate the gloom and map out the future of the people. 
 
 This he does. Judgment must be executed, and that on Jeru- 
 salem. In chapter i. the prophet had spoken of Samaria's over- 
 throw, here he announces the overturn of Jerusalem. David's 
 city must be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem which Solomon 
 enriched become heaps, and the mountain of the house, where 
 the Shechinah had been, should be as the high places of the 
 (rather, a) forest, i.e. what it was in Abraham's day (Gen, xxii. 
 13). Of Samaria we read of nothing but destruction ; the stones 
 were to be poured down into the valley, and the foundations to 
 be discovered. The ivory house, one of the glories of Aliab's 
 reign (1 Kings xxii. 39), must perish ; and to Samaria, so beauti- 
 ful in situation, fitted for a metropolis, Micah holds out no 
 prospect of returning prosperity and beauty. Of Jerusalem it 
 is otherwise, and in language, found also in Isaiah, he predicts 
 its exaltation and metropolitan character, as the habitation of 
 the God of Jacob would be again within it, to which not the 
 tribes only, but many nations in the last days, shall go up. The 
 Lord Jehovah at Jerusalem, His rule shall be obeyed among the 
 Gentiles, peace and plenty be the portion of all nations, and the 
 long-exiled people, afflicted of God for their sins, shall return 
 and become a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them 
 in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever. There had been 
 a season of prosperity and power under David and Solomon ; 
 
276 THOUGHTS ON MICAH. 
 
 tliat shall return, for unto Zion shall come the first dominion, 
 the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. No room 
 will there be for contrasting the future blessing, when enjoyed 
 (as in Ezra iii. 12), with what their fathers had known in the 
 palmiest days of the kingdom, for the first dominion shall come 
 to Zion, and the final issue of the Babylonish captivity shall be 
 redemption from the power of their enemies, and their overthrow 
 by the people they have so trampled on and despised. 
 
 Very clear is this outline, and very decided is the language. 
 It could not be otherwise, for the plan is of God, and the words 
 have been selected by the Spirit of God. In common with 
 Isaiah, Micah speaks of the future of the temple, yet he does not 
 simply travel over ground which others before him have trod. 
 He shows his competency to declare by the Spirit of the Lord 
 what shall be in the future, as he speaks of the birthplace of the 
 Messiah, not elsewhere predicted, and tells of the returned rem- 
 nant's rejection in consequence of their treatment of the Eternal 
 One. 
 
 Living after the fulfilment of part of his prophecy, we can 
 mark the exactness of his predictions and understand the state- 
 ment concerning things yet future. Eejected of Jehovah for 
 their rejection of the Christ until Jerusalem shall travail in birth 
 with child, the prophet marks the difference between that which 
 characterises the epoch in which we live and that which will 
 come after it, " the remnant of His brethren shall return unto 
 the children of Israel." Now they form part of the church, then 
 they will be reckoned with the nation. " And He shall stand 
 and feed {i.e. as a shepherd his flock) in the strength of the 
 Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God ; and 
 they shall abide: for now shall He be great unto the ends 
 of the earth." And, as the prophet has told out what the 
 people of Zion will do to the enemies gathered together against 
 them at Jerusalem (iv. 12, 13), he also tells us, what none 
 beside him predict, the victorious march of the once oppressed 
 and captive people into tlie very region of the earth from whence 
 
THOUGHTS ON MIC AH. 277 
 
 the conqueror of the ten tribes had come forth (v. 6). Then, 
 turning back to the Land, his home, and tlie home of the nation 
 when restored, he advertises all of the changes that will be 
 witnessed. He knew it as a land of chariots, and horses, and 
 strongholds, and witchcrafts, and groves. The chariots and 
 horses forbidden to Israel (Deut. xvii. 16), and witchcrafts 
 shall cease, and the groves be cut down, and the fenced 
 cities, those silent but impressive witnesses of lawlessness and 
 violence and weakness, shall be needed no longer. Vengeance, 
 too, will be executed in anger and fury, not upon Israel, but on 
 the heathen, such as they have not heard. Who but God could 
 trace out such an outline, now partly fulfilled ? And who but 
 He would address a confessedly guilty nation in such language 
 as this ? 
 
 A third time the prophet summons witnesses to hearken to 
 what the Lord saith. The nations, and the leaders of Israel have 
 been respectively addressed ; now he speaks before the mount- 
 ains, and the hills are to hear his voice, " for the Lord hath a 
 controversy with His people. He will plead with Israel" (vi.vii.) 
 His dealings with them at the outset of their national existence 
 are referred to. How had He wearied them that they had 
 turned from Him ? Had He not brought them up out of Egypt, 
 redeemed them out of the house of servants, and provided them 
 with all that they wanted — Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, the king 
 and lawgiver, the priest, and the prophetess ? Had He not also 
 withstood Balaam at the close of their wilderness career ? These 
 acts proclaimed His righteousnesses (so Micah wrote). But of 
 what could they speak ? The remnant confess their sin, the 
 wickedness of the rest God exposes. But if the best of them 
 could only take the ground of confession, what could they, 
 standing on the ground of law, look for but judgment ? Where 
 then should they turn ? There was but One to whom they 
 could look — Jehovah, against whom they had sinned. For Him 
 they must wait as the God of their salvation, knowing that He 
 would hear them, This the remnant declare they will do, and 
 
278 THOUGHTS ON MIC AH. 
 
 the prophet can assure them that their confidence will not be 
 misplaced. " I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I 
 have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause and execute 
 judgment for me : He will bring me forth to the light, and I 
 shall behold His righteousness," are the words provided by the 
 Spirit of God for the daughter of Zion to use. " In the day 
 that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be 
 far removed," is God's immediate answer by the prophet, speak- 
 ing of the certainty of Zion being rebuilt. When that takes 
 place, they will assemble to her from Assyria, and from the 
 cities of Egypt (not the fortified cities), and from Egypt (not 
 the fortress) to the river,^ and from sea to sea, and from moun- 
 tain to mountain. The flock of God's heritage shall feed in 
 Bashan and Carmel as in days of old, and Israel, the prey and 
 sport of nations, shall prosper, whilst abject fear shall take 
 possession of the Gentiles, because of the Lord and of His 
 people (vii. 9-17). 
 
 Eecording this bright ending to so dark a beginning, well 
 might the prophet break out at the close in words expressive of 
 wonder at the God whose servant he was, and whose purposes 
 of mercy toward Israel he was commissioned to declare. " Who 
 is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth 
 by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage ? He re- 
 taineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. 
 He will turn again, He will have compassion on us ; He will 
 subdue our iniquities ; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the 
 depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and 
 the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers 
 from the days of old." His character. His faithfulness, are the 
 stay of His people. Sinned they have, and that grievously, but 
 God delighteth in mercy. Judgment is His strange work, but 
 mercy is His delight. What a character of their God, and ours 
 too, will that be for them to meditate upon ! Unworthy of any 
 favour they are, but God's word is pledged to Jacob (Gen. xxxv. 
 
 ^ i.e. the Euphrates. 
 
THOUGHTS ON MIC AH. 279 
 
 12), and the origin of every promise He gave tliem as His 
 earthly people was His kindness to Abraham. The grounds on 
 which He could thus act must be sought for elsewhere. What 
 God is, and will be to His people is what Micah was charged to 
 declare. And surely it will be found at the close of the nation's 
 long night of darkness and bitterness, when the remnant of 
 Messiah's brethren shall have returned to the children' of Israel 
 (as the faithful in the prophet's day which preceded the Baby- 
 lonish captivity, and the faithful during its continuance, and the 
 returned remnant of Ezra's and ISTehemiah's time, in the midst 
 of the alternations of hope and fear in which they lived, severally 
 proved), that God's faithfulness and truth are the stay of His 
 people. To show mercy is His prerogative (Psalm Ixii. 12). So, 
 though the nation turned from Him in Micah's day, He will 
 surely bring back His people in power. When all was dark, He ' 
 alone could, and did, shed light on the scene. And when all 
 is fulfilled, the closing words of Micah's prophecy will be the 
 language just suited for His finally ransomed people. We, too, 
 know what it is to find comfort in the knowledge of His 
 character and of His faithfulness to that which He has an- 
 nounced (Ephes. ii, 4-6 ; 1 Thess, y. 24). 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHOESHIP OF 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 In the recent attack on the genuineness of the Book of Deuter- 
 onomy as part of the law given by God to Israel through Moses, 
 Professor E. Smith attempts to support his case by " the Bible 
 evidence, of a kind," he tells us, "which does not strike the 
 ordinary reader of Scripture." We will state his position in 
 his own words. " To realise its full force one must gather to- 
 gether all the laws upon a single topic, which are scattered 
 through various parts of the Pentateuch, and compare them one 
 with another, and with what is recorded of the practice of God's 
 servants, of men like Samuel, David, and Elijah, in later times 
 than the days of Moses. We find two or three laws on the 
 same subject, one in Exodus, one in Deuteronomy, another 
 perhaps in Leviticus or Numbers ; but the provisions of the 
 several laws do not appear to agree. Then we turn to the 
 history, and we find, let us say, that Samuel and David con- 
 formed their practice to what seems to be the natural sense of 
 the law in Exodus, but habitually broke the law of Deuteronomy. 
 We cannot suppose that these inspired men habitually violated 
 a law of CJod that was in their hands, and therefore it seems 
 probable that they only knew the law as it stands in Exodus. 
 But we follow the history still further. We find that in the 
 time of Isaiah and Micah corruptions had crept in which the 
 law of Exodus was not strict enough to meet. We find these 
 prophets contending against the corruption not on the grounds 
 of the other stricter law of Deuteronomy, but by direct prophetic 
 revelation. Then we come down to the time of Josiah, and find 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 281 
 
 that lie had the law of Deuteronomy in his hand, and put down 
 the evil by appealing to it. Are we to suppose that all this 
 time Deuteronomy had existed, had been copied and recopied, 
 but never put into practice ? If Moses gave two laws, why was 
 one strict and the other more lax, and why was the laxer one 
 alone known for so many centuries ? Is it not more reasonable 
 to think that the law of Deuteronomy was not revealed till the 
 corruptions arose with which the old law was unfit to cope? 
 There is nothing in such a supposition improbable or unworthy 
 of the Divine wisdom. The whole growth of the Old Testament 
 Church was directed by the continual prophetic revelation. And 
 it is only reasonable to believe that this inspired guidance 
 watched over the law, as well as over the other concerns of the 
 people." -^ 
 
 When (perhaps some bewildered reader wiU ask, if Professor 
 E. Smith's assumption is correct) was the law of Deuteronomy 
 revealed, and the covenant based on it made known ? He tells 
 us that the covenant of Deuteronomy, the terms of which are 
 given in chaps, xii.-xxvi., was not revealed in the days of Elijah, 
 and probably was revealed sometime between Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah, " in order to give practical effect to the teaching of 
 the former prophet and his helpers " (p. 13). 
 
 Is all this sober truth? Let us test it. In the days of 
 Isaiah and Micah the law of Exodus, he tells us, was inadequate 
 to meet the corruptions which were dealt with by direct pro- 
 phetic revelation. These prophets were pretty much contem- 
 poraneous, so an examination of the way Micah deals with the 
 people will sufficiently test the allegation in question. He 
 reproves them for idolatry in chap. i. 7 ; just that which was 
 forbidden by the second commandment. He reproves them for 
 covetousness in chap. ii. 2. Now, that was forbidden by the tenth 
 commandment. And though in Exodus xx. the word fields does 
 not occur in the text of that commandment, Moses, when recit- 
 ing the commandment in Deuteronomy v. 21, which was given 
 
 ^ Answer to the amended libel by W. Eobertson Smith, 2d edition, pp. 10, 11. 
 
 U 
 
282 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 him for them at Sinai, distinctly introduces the word on which 
 Micah founds one of his charges, showing that the command- 
 ment in Exodus condemned the act especially noticed in Deuter- 
 onomy. Thou shalt not covet his field, God had commanded His 
 people. " They covet fields," was part of the prophet's indict- 
 ment against the people. In chap. iii. he reproves the leaders 
 and teachers among them for their unrighteous ways towards 
 Jehovah's people, reminding us very much of the direct com- 
 mand in Exodus xxii., xxiii. In chap. v. 12 witchcrafts are 
 denounced, which Exodus xxii. 18 had clearly condemned. The 
 asTierim, too, translated "groves," are also condemned, about 
 which God, in Exodus xxxiv. 13, had expressed His mind. In 
 chap. vi. 8 they are reminded of the conduct which God desired 
 should characterise His people, and He condemns unrighteous- 
 ness in business and the perversion of justice. We turn once 
 more to Exodus xxi.-xxiii. for the inculcation of justice and 
 mercy, whilst Leviticus xix. 35-36 affords us evidence that scant 
 measures were condemned when as yet the people were dwell- 
 ing within sight of Mount Sinai. The allegation therefore falls 
 to the ground that Micah met the corruptions of his day only 
 by prophetic revelation and not by the law of Moses, for the 
 law given in the wilderness of Sinai convicted the people of his 
 time, and justified the heavy indictment that the Lord by His 
 servant brought against them. 
 
 But Professor Smith has more to tell us. " The prophets 
 after Samuel were not the rulers of Israel. They revealed God's 
 will, but had no power to enforce it in actual practice, except so 
 far as they could persuade rulers to give it their sanction. Hence 
 a prophetic new edition of the law was only a plan or programme 
 submitted to the nation — a Bill, as it were, not an Act of Parlia- 
 ment. Josiah, perhaps, was the first king who adopted this pro- 
 gramme of a code, though it may have been partially in force during 
 the latter years of Hezekiah" (pp. 26, 27). To this, and much more 
 that could be quoted, one might well exclaim, in the language of 
 the heathen writer, Credat Judaeus Amelia, non ego. Just to think 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 283 
 
 what such statements involve ! God's word by the prophets, if 
 it was God's word, had no authority in itself till accepted by the 
 nation, or the ruler on its behalf ! It was like a bill presented 
 to Parliament for the acceptance of the nation, and depended for 
 its validity to be obeyed on the persuasive power of the prophet 
 over the mind of the ruler ! ! Such statements, however, are not 
 in accordance with facts. For God's message by Jeremiah vii. 
 13, XXV. 3-11, XXXV, 14-17, shows that the Lord held the people 
 responsible to hear, and answerable, too, for their refusal to obey, 
 the voice of His servants the prophets ; and the captivity in 
 Babylon, as 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15-17 shows, gives the lie to such 
 statements. 
 
 One more extract to let the reader understand the Professor's 
 view of Deuteronomy. " I believe that the laws of Deut. xii.- 
 xxvi. were originally published either alone, or with the intro- 
 ductory address in chapters v.-xi. as a preface, and perhaps some 
 part of xxvii., xxviii. as a conclusion. [Could he tell us what 
 part ?] The question is. Whether the person who took up this 
 originally separate book into the account of Moses' last labours and 
 final exhortations to Israel was thereby guilty of fraud upon the 
 readers such as to destroy the character of his book, and forbid 
 us to accept it as part of Sciipture ? The present book of 
 Deuteronomy contains in addition to the code of chapters xii.- 
 xxvi., several long speeches connected by a slender thread of 
 narrative, the substance of which may be given as follows : — In 
 the land of Moab, after the slaughter of Sihon and Og, Moses 
 addressed the people and expounded to them the law (i. 1-5 ; 
 iv. 44-49). He also separated three cities of refuge to the east 
 of Jordan (iv. 41-43). He further commanded the people to 
 write the law on stones upon Mount Ebal, and perform there a 
 solemn service of blessing and cursing (xxvii.) Further, he wrote 
 the law, and entrusted it to the priests, with a charge to read it 
 publicly once in seven years. He also wrote and recited a pro- 
 phetic song in connection with his last charge to Joshua. He 
 then blessed the people, and ascending Mount Pisgah died there, 
 
284 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 lamented by the people. Now it is clear that the historical 
 value of these details is really independent of the question, 
 whether the code which comes in in the heart of the book has 
 or has not been re-edited by a prophet later than Moses. The 
 adoption of my view of that code does not in any way forbid 
 one to believe that Moses solemnly set the law before the people 
 previously to his death. It implies only that an editor of the 
 Pentateuch al history, having the Deuteronomic code in his hand, 
 and knowing it to be the form of the laws of Moses binding on 
 the people in his own day, felt that it would be useful for his 
 readers to have it inserted in immediate connection with the 
 warm exhortations to follow God's law that occupy the chapters 
 immediately preceding its present place. It is clear that this 
 course, instead of deceiving the people, was a simple and natural 
 guard against misconception. Had this writer followed up the 
 words of xi. 23, ' Ye shall observe to do all the statutes and 
 judgments which I set before you this day,' by giving the old 
 law exactly as it came from Moses, with all the obsolete pro- 
 visions which the new law had changed, he would have run a 
 risk of betraying some of his readers into a wrong course of con- 
 duct. For, after all, as I must again and again point out, the 
 Israelites went to this book not for antiquarian information 
 about old laws, but for practical directions in daily life. I think 
 that this view of the matter will commend itself to ordinary 
 common sense as reasonable, and by no means inconsistent with 
 veracity " (pp. 29-30). 
 
 One may well doubt whether such a view would commend 
 itself to ordinary common sense as by no means inconsistent 
 with veracity, for it makes the prophet, by incorporating into 
 the books of Moses laws M^hich were not there originally, resort 
 to a subterfuge, because he felt that such insertions would be 
 useful to his readers ! If the prophet had acted in this way he 
 would have left God out of his thoughts, and have compiled or 
 edited the book according to his own judgment, and apart from 
 any divine guidance. But who was this prophet ? The Professor 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 285 
 
 undertakes to enlighten us, but without acquainting his readers 
 with the source from whence he got his information. He was, 
 he tells us, well known in his own day, and no mean man among 
 the prophets, but " it was his duty, which he performed so singly 
 and with such self-denial that his very name has been lost, not 
 to lay stress on his own work and the novelties it contained, but 
 to make the people feel that Moses though dead still spake 
 [which, under the circumstances, was a lie] ; that his law [but 
 these new enactments, we have been told, were contrary to the 
 true Mosaic legislation] was not an obsolete curiosity [yet this 
 act of the prophet would show that it was], but, wielded by a 
 prophet's hand, could still be Israel's guide to the knowledge and 
 fear of Jehovah " (p. 24). 
 
 Leaving to Mr. Smith the task of harmonising his own state- 
 ments, let us turn to Scripture to learn wliat it has to say to all 
 this. It so happens that we have an instance of an alteration 
 in the law of Moses made by a prophet, and by divine direction. 
 Now how did this prophet proceed ? Did he act as Mr. Smith 
 suggests his nameless prophet did ? By no means. For, instead 
 of the alteration he introduced being foisted into the Pentateuch, 
 it appears only in the historical books, yet it was held to be 
 binding ever after. Further, the prophet's name is openly 
 stated. And we must add, however strange it may seem in the 
 eyes of rationalistic critics, this manner of procedure answered 
 every end for which it was designed. We allude to tlie altera- 
 tion made by David as to the age when the Levites were to 
 commence their service in the temple. According to Numbers 
 viii. 24, the Levites commenced work at twenty-five years of age 
 and upwards, but they did not bear burdens till of the age of 
 thirty. By the last words of David they were numbered from 
 twenty years and upwards, and commenced their work for the 
 service of the house of the Lord at that age (1 Chron. xxiii. 24- 
 32), since the burdensome wilderness work they would no longer 
 be called on to perform. 
 
 Here, then, is an instance of a deliberate alteration in tlie law 
 
286 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 effected through the instrumentality of a prophet, the validity 
 of which was never questioned, any more than the introduction 
 of music into the worship of Israel, which was effected also by 
 Dayid (1 Chron. xxiii. 5). God could, and God did, make the 
 change in the law about the Levites, and introduced into the 
 ritual that for which Moses had made no provision. He did it 
 by a prophet, but it was done openly, and it needed not the 
 artifices suggested by Professor Smith to ensure its acceptance as 
 the Lord's mind for His people. For in the days of Hezekiah the 
 ordinances of David were remembered and carried out (2 Chron. 
 xxix. 25-26). In the days of Jeshua and Zerubbabel these same 
 ordinances were acted upon by the returned remnant (Ezra iii. 
 10). Hence the supposed prophet of Jeremiah or Josiah's date 
 had before him the precedent of David, Gad, and Nathan, as to 
 an alteration, and an important one, in the law of Moses, the 
 validity of which was acknowledged by all in his day. Why 
 then should he shroud himself in mystery, and work deceit- 
 fully with the writings of Moses for a purpose of which he had 
 full proof could be successfully effected without any subterfuge 
 or concealment ? 
 
 Again, we are told that Josiah had the law of Deuteronomy 
 in his hand, and put down the evil by appealing to it. Surely 
 he had that law, but not that only. The book found is called 
 " the book of the law of Jehovah by the hand of Moses" (2 Chron. 
 xxxiv. 14, which may well have been the very copy written by 
 Moses, and deposited by his command in the side of the ark 
 (Deut. xxxi. 9, 25, 26). But whether it was that copy or not, 
 there is evidence that Josiah must have had, and that he acted 
 upon more than what was written, in the book of Deuteronomy. 
 The answer of the prophetess Huldah indicates this, when she 
 said by the word of the Lord, " Behold, I will bring evil upon 
 this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words 
 of the book which the king of Judah hath read ; because they 
 have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, 
 that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 287 
 
 liauds, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, 
 and shall not be quenched " (2 Kings xxii. 16, 17). Now part 
 of what Huldali speaks of is not found in Deuteronomy, but is 
 plainly stated in Levit. xxvi. For though Deut. xxviii. predicts 
 the sorrows of the people, if they should fail in the keeping of 
 the covenant, Levit. xxvi. 31 it is which openly states what 
 Deut. xxviii. 52 can only be said to hint at, — the destruction of 
 their cities and their sanctuaries, and all because of idolatry ; 
 which sin is especially mentioned in that chapter in Leviticus 
 (xxvi. 1). No wonder the king put down idolatry with that 
 chapter of Leviticus before his eyes. Nor need we wonder at 
 the answer of the prophetess announcing God's judgment on 
 Jerusalem, when we peruse that part of the law of Moses. 
 Deuteronomy xxviii. treats of the effects of disobedience on 
 the people ; Levit. xxvi. predicts divine judgment on the 
 land if Israel should turn to idolatry ; Huldah's answer an- 
 nounces judgment on both. Professor Smith boldly asserts 
 that the king acted according to the law of Deuteronomy, but 
 gives us no proof that his statement is anything more than a 
 mere assertion. A reference to the history and to Deuteronomy 
 evidences, we submit, that his statement is unsupported by the 
 word; and who, indeed, could limit the king's acquaintance 
 with God's law to the last book of the Pentateuch, of whom it 
 is written, that " Like unto him was there no king before him, 
 that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, 
 and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses " 
 (2 Kings, xxiii. 25). So far, then, as we have tested the grounds 
 by Scripture on which Mr. Smith would base his arguments, 
 that the covenant, the terms of which we have in Deut. xii.-xxvi., 
 is not exactly that which came from Moses, we can only rise 
 up from an examination of them under the conviction that the 
 teaching of Scripture is very different from that of the writer in 
 question. But he goes further, and attempts to show from 
 Scripture itself that the Deuteronomic code " cannot have been 
 published in its present form by Moses, because it contains 
 
288 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 precepts which can he proved, from other parts of the Bible, to 
 have been revealed at a later date " (p. 10). Into this we will 
 now look. 
 
 " These are the words of the covenant which the Lord com- 
 manded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land 
 of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in 
 Horeb" (Dent, xxix, 1). These words plainly declare that there 
 was a covenant made with them in the plains of Moab, in addi- 
 tion to the one made with them in Horeb. Now the book of 
 Deuteronomy is the only portion of the word which professes to 
 give us that covenant at all, and it professes to give us the 
 whole of it. Part, too, of this book clearly was in existence 
 when Joshua, with Israel, entered the land, for the twelve tribes 
 under Joshua carried out the service appointed by Moses in 
 Deut. xi., xxvii., at Ebal and Gerizim (Joshua viii. 30-35), on 
 which occasion there was not a word of all that Moses com- 
 manded, which Joshua read not before aU the congregation of 
 Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers 
 that were conversant among them. The covenant made in the 
 plains of Moab, whatever it was, Joshua and Israel were aware 
 of, and the blessings and cursings of Deut. xxviii. are connected 
 with the observance or non-observance of all the commandments 
 which Moses himself commanded them, or, to quote his own 
 words, " which I command you this day" (see xxviii. 1, 15, xxix. 
 12, XXX. 2, 15). Now it is inconceivable that the terms of the 
 covenant, on the observance or not of which so much depended, 
 were not definitely settled till ages after the people had crossed 
 the Jordan ; yet, accepting Mr. Smith's theory, we are pledged 
 to that. Further, it is wholly unlike God's ways at any time with 
 men, placed on the ground of responsibility, that He should not 
 have given them His full and definite commands, which they 
 were responsible to keep ; and who could conceive a true prophet 
 of God, in the face of these words of Moses in Deut. xxviii., 
 xxix., and xxx., already referred to, with those words also of the 
 lawgiver in iv. 2, before his eyes, and the announcement of the 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 289 
 
 prophet like unto Moses, for whose advent they were to wait 
 to give them further revelations, foisting into the law of Moses 
 commands, which he knew, whatever others did, that they were 
 never given to Israel by the son of Amram, on the east of the 
 river Jordan ? The supposition is most improbable, and the 
 acceptance of it would involve us in a host of difficulties. What, 
 then, are those proofs from Scripture on which Mr. Smith seeks 
 from his readers acceptance of his views ? 
 
 "The law of Exodus xx. 22-26, allows the Israelite to ap- 
 proach God by sacrifice, and encourages him to expect His bless- 
 ing in all places where — by some act of revelation — Jehovah 
 has recorded His name. Such places were the ancient sanc- 
 tuaries — Bethel, Shechem, Beersheba, Hebron — where God had 
 accepted the worship of the patriarchs, or newer shrines like 
 Gilgal, consecrated by some mighty deed of the Lord for His 
 people. This law was strictly followed by Samuel, Saul, and 
 David. They sacrificed at many shrines, but only at places 
 known of old by some historical record of God's name ; or, if 
 they raised a new altar, it was raised in memorial of some great 
 mercy, whereby God associated the record of His name with 
 a new place of worship (1 Sam. xiv, 35 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 25). 
 Not so the law of Deuteronomy (see especially Deut. xii.) That 
 law knows only one legal sanctuary chosen by the Lord out of 
 all the tribes of Israel, and where all sacrifice must be offered. 
 Every other sanctuary is heathenish (xii. 1-4), and all other 
 sacrifice is will worship, without foundation in divine law 
 (xii. 8), and not to be tolerated after the people are settled in 
 Canaan (xii. 9, seq.) This law, if it was actually uttered by 
 Moses, would come into force as soon as the ark was settled at 
 Shiloh (compare Deut. xii. 5, 10, 11, with Joshua xviii. 1 ; Jer. 
 vii. 12), from which time onward no other sanctuary could be 
 other than superstitious" (pp. 11-12). 
 
 Now this passage bristles with blunders. Scripture is mis- 
 quoted ; Scripture is misunderstood ; and facts of history are 
 really, though probably unconsciously to the writer, perverted. 
 
290 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 The Lord in Exodus xx. 24 said — " In all places where I shall 
 record my name, I will come unto thee and bless thee." Mr. 
 Smith, who is a Hebrew scholar and should know better, writes 
 as if Jehovah had spoken in the past tense, " have recorded," 
 instead of " shall record." The effect of this mistake is to make 
 Bethel, Shechem, Beersheba, and Hebron, as well as Gilgal, some 
 of the places referred to, whereas by the Lord's word they are all 
 of them expressly excluded. For in Exodus the Lord is looking 
 on to the future ; and the first place in which He did record His 
 name was Shiloh, as He Himself, by His j)rophet Jeremiah 
 (vii. 12) tells us — " Go ye now unto my place, which was in Shiloh, 
 where I set my name at the first." Hence not one of those places 
 mentioned by Professor Smith were in God's mind when He 
 gave that promise to Moses, and not till the event mentioned in 
 Joshua xviii. took place did God record His name for Israel in 
 any place in the laud. The statements of Scripture, the very 
 words of Jehovah Himself, directly overturn the statement of 
 the writer of that paragraph. Bethel, Shechem, Beersheba, and 
 Hebron, were places connected with patriarchal worship. At 
 Shechem and Gilgal Israel had been, and these places were con- 
 nected most closely with their history ; but the national associa- 
 tion with them was prior to the erection of the tabernacle at 
 Shiloh, where God set up His name at the first. Further, the 
 Lord never recalled His people to worship at any place because 
 of its connection with a patriarchal altar, for sanctuaries they did 
 not, that we ever read of, erect. The only exceptions to this asser- 
 tion that might be quoted are really no exceptions to it. We 
 refer to Shechem and Mount Moriah. On Mount Ebal, near to 
 Shechem, Joshua did build an altar ; on Mount Moriah David 
 did sacrifice to God ; but on neither occasion was the altar 
 erected because the site had once been used as a patriarchal 
 sanctuary, or the place of a patriarchal altar. Shiloh, Nob, 
 Gibeon, were resting-places of the tabernacle previous to the 
 building of the temple ; but not one of these places figures in 
 any way in the histories of Abraham, Isaac, or of Jacob. So far. 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 291 
 
 then, from Mr. Smith's assertion being correct, the Lord seems 
 to have carefully guarded His people from going back to such 
 places. Jeroboam led Israel back to Bethel. The Lord did not, 
 though in the days of the Judges^ and of Samuel the children of 
 Israel resorted to it. God bore with that then ; but never, that we 
 read of, commanded it. Again we are told that Samuel, Saul, and 
 David, sacrificed at many shrines, but only at those known of old 
 by some historical record of God's name, or any altar they raised 
 was raised "in memorial of some great mercy, whereby God 
 associated the record of His name with a new place of wor- 
 ship" (1 Sam. xiv. 35 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 25). Is this correct ? 
 Samuel built an altar at Eamah (1 Sam. vii.' 17). Saul's first 
 altar was built on the battle-field, or near it, between Michmash 
 and Aijalon, the witness rather of his folly in hindering the 
 victory, than of a great mercy whereby God associated the record 
 of His name with that place for worship. David built an altar 
 on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite by express com- 
 mand from the angel of the Lord, in order that the plague should 
 be stayed among the people (2 Sam. xxiv. 18-25 ; 1 Chrou. xxi. 
 18-27). But that they sacrificed only at places known of old is 
 an assertion without foundation as regards Samuel and Saul, and 
 misleading as regards David. And we do not read of any one 
 of them raising an altar in memory of some great mercy God 
 had shown them. David raised his to obtain one. Not one of 
 these three did that which Mr. Smith asserts. We need not then 
 wonder, if facts in history are so misstated, that the difference 
 between Exodus xx. 22-26 and Deuteronomy xii. should be 
 misunderstood. For the ground taken by Mr. Smith to prove 
 that Deuteronomy xii. is a law that was not given through 
 Moses is founded on a mistake. He confounds the permission 
 to erect altars for burnt offerings and peace offerings with the 
 recognition, when in the laud, of only one lawful sanctuary. 
 
 ^ The ark was at Bethel during the war between Israel and Benjamin (Jud. 
 XX. 18, 26, 31). There they sacrificed, but on an altar reared np for the occa- 
 i (xxi. 4), the tabernacle and brazen altar being evidently elsewhere. 
 
292 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 Exodus XX. speaks of altars, Deuteronomy xii. of a sanctuary. 
 Keep these distinctions in mind, and the alleged contradiction be- 
 tween Exodus and Deuteronomy on this point at once disappears. 
 God allowed the erection of altars anywhere in the land for 
 burnt offerings and peace offerings to be offered thereon. He 
 thus provided for His people to express their thankfulness, or 
 devotional spirit, whenever they were so minded. But on these 
 altars no sin offering, trespass offering, or meat offering, such as 
 Levit. ii. prescribes, were the people authorised to offer. Further, 
 to keep the people, when in the land, from idolatry, which the 
 doomed nations had practised and still carried on, God gave Israel 
 the law relative to the one sanctuary, and that by Moses. Be- 
 sides this, Deuteronomy speaks in chap, xxvii. of an altar apart 
 from the brazen altar, and Joshua with Israel erected it (Josh. 
 viii. 30). Now is it not strange that the nameless prophet, 
 whom Mr. Smith would introduce to our notice, should incor- 
 porate a law into Deuteronomy to supersede the law of Exodus, 
 when there was in that very book a command, undoubtedly 
 given by Moses, in full agreement with the law of Exod. xx. as 
 to the erection of altars elsewhere than at the sanctuary ? Why 
 did he not eliminate from the Pentateuch chapter xxvii. of 
 Deuteronomy, that one part of the book should not clash with 
 the other ? Surely, if he could insert, he could also strike out. 
 But Deut. xxvii. was not struck out, nor was Deut. xii. inserted 
 by a nameless prophet. 
 
 For Deuteronomy chapter xii. cannot be the production of a 
 prophet about the time of Hezekiah, Jeremiah, or Josiah. If 
 so, that law was not extant in the day of Phinehas. How then 
 shall we account for his language to the Israelites east of Jordan? 
 What means, too, the answer of the two tribes and a half? 
 Both the questioner and those questioned recognised that which 
 Deut. xii. insisted on, viz. the tabernacle, and the altar con- 
 nected with it, as the one place of national worship (Josh. xxii. 
 19, 29). The language of the one party and the answer of the 
 other would be inexplicable on Mr. Smith's hypothesis, but both 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 293 
 
 are quite in keeping with the acceptance of Deut. xii. as part of 
 the law given by Moses. 
 
 We rest not, however, here. For 1 Kings iii. 2 gives the 
 true reason why, till Solomon's time, the people sacrificed and 
 burnt incense in high places, "because there was no house 
 built unto the name of the Lord till those days." Scripture 
 explains it all perfectly, but in explaining it refutes this theory, 
 whoever may be the author of it, and convicts those who adopt 
 it of ignorance on this point of the written word. Evidently, 
 then, Deut. xii. was known, and owned to be God's law in the 
 early days of Solomon. Could Samuel, Saul, and David have 
 been unconscious of it? How much at fault in this matter 
 must the verifying power of the critic be, who fixes on the time 
 of Jeremiah or Josiah for the introduction of a law which was 
 evidently known in the days of Solomon ! We cannot, however, 
 wonder at any mis-statement of facts when we read the astound- 
 ing piece of information that " there is not a hint of anything 
 exceptional in the worship of Israel between the fall of Shiloh 
 and the building of the temple" (p. 12). A charity schoolboy 
 might correct this. Nothing exceptional in their worship, when 
 all that time the ark was away from the holy of holies, and no 
 atonement could therefore be effected ! Nothing exceptional in 
 their worship, when Levites were with the ark in Jerusalem to 
 minister before it continually, and all the priests were sent by 
 David to the tabernacle at Gibeon (1 Chron. xvi. 37-42) ! 
 Nothing exceptional, when by the slaughter of Abimelech and 
 the priests at Nob, Abiathar the high priest had to take refuge 
 with and share the fortunes of David (1 Sam. xxii. 23) ! 
 
 Another ground for the contradictory assertion, that the laws 
 in Deuteronomy " are the laws of Moses in a new edition, em- 
 bodying modifications which cannot have proceeded from him" 
 (p. 20), is based on the law about a king in the xviith. chapter 
 of that book. It is argued that in Samuel's day that law was 
 not on the statute-book (pp. 21, 22). A reference to what did 
 take place, as recorded in 1 Samuel, will put the matter in its 
 
294 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 true lio-lit. The people went to Samuel and said, " Make us a 
 king to judge us like all the nations " (viii. 5), language very simi- 
 lar to that of Deut. xvii. 14, which was the prophetic announce- 
 ment of wliat would be the expression of their hearts and lips. A 
 simple reader would probably conclude that the people had that 
 very law of Deuteronomy in their mind wlien preferring their 
 request to the prophet. Compare 1 Sam. viii. 5 with Deut. xvii. 
 14, and let the Hebrew student turn to the originals, and see 
 how close is the resemblance between the actual words uttered 
 and the language which God foretold that they would utter. 
 Did Samuel say they were asking for something never contem- 
 plated ? No. He was displeased when they said " Make us a 
 kin" to judge us," and Scripture makes us understand, from the 
 Lord's answer to him, something of the feelings of his heart. 
 " They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me " (1 
 Sam. viii. 7). The prophet viewed their request as a personal 
 slight to himself, who was the judge. The Lord knew that, and 
 showed him that He knew it. As yet the true reason for their 
 request, and their sin in asking for a king, had not been laid 
 bare. In 1 Sam. xii. 12 it all came out, "When ye saw that 
 Nahash the king of the children of Amnion came against you, 
 ye said unto me, Nay ; but a king shall reign over us : when the 
 Lord your God was your king." Here is the clue to the diffi- 
 culty, if anybody really has one. The thought of a king was 
 nothing new, the prophet's mother had spoken of it (1 Sam. ii. 
 ] 0) ; but the motive for desiring one was wrong. Thus the 
 history explains all that needs explanation, and surely demon- 
 strates what unstable ground that incident would be whereon to 
 rest an argument against the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. 
 Next, let us glance at the law of manumission in Exod. xxi. 
 and Deut. xv. 7-18. In the former, if a father sold his daugh- 
 ter to one who betrothed her to be his wife, her husband could 
 not send her away in the year of release. In the latter, both 
 bondsmen and bondswomen were to go out free. Are these 
 laws irreconcilable with the belief that both were given by the 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 295 
 
 lawgiver ? We have only to mark the difference between them, 
 and the mountain of difficulty disappears like a dissolving 
 view. Exod. xxi. guards the interests of the bondswoman 
 whom the master had betrothed to be his wife. Deut. xv. 
 guards the interests of the bondswoman who stood in no such 
 position to her master. But here an objection is raised. " If a 
 bondswoman, as a rule, went free after seven years, why does 
 the law of Exodus specially provide that the wife, who came in 
 with her husband, was to go out with him " (p. 18) ? The answer 
 is most simple. Exodus does not speak, as Mr. Smith puts it, 
 of the wife going in with her husband to slavery, but of a man 
 previously married going into bondage. Under such circum- 
 stances he was the slave ; so the services of his wife could not be 
 claimed by her master when her husband was free. The perfect 
 justice of these laws is well worthy of notice. What the man 
 had before he became a bondsman remained his when his term 
 of service was over. What his master had given him, whilst a 
 bondsman, remained his master's when the year of release 
 arrived. 
 
 Another difficulty is raised on the plea of variance between 
 laws in Exodus and Leviticus and those in Deuteronomy. But 
 why might there not be variances between them, as the altered 
 circumstances, from the wilderness life to settlement in the land, 
 would necessitate ? And why should such variances compel 
 us of necessity to reject the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy 
 in consequence ? There are variances in the laws. Compare 
 Exod. xxiii. 4 with Deut. xxii. 1-3, and Levit. xvii. 3, 4 with 
 Deut. xii. 21, 22. See also Deut. xiv. 23 compared with 
 verse 24. Settlement in the land necessitated certain altera- 
 tions ; so, whilst those near to the sanctuary were to bring their 
 tithes in kind every year, those at a distance were allowed to 
 turn them into money, and to bring them up in that shape, in- 
 stead of driving the animals before them. If such variances 
 necessitate the rejection of the popular belief that Deuteronomy 
 is part of the law given by Moses, are we to judge that Deut. 
 
296 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 xiv. 23 is by liim, and verse 24 by tlie unnamed and unknown 
 prophet ? The objections therefore raised on the ground of 
 variance between Exod. xxii. 31 and Deut. xiv. 21 can be ex- 
 plained in this way. But it is curious that in stating the differ- 
 ence Professor Smith cannot state it correctly. " Another plain 
 instance of variance between Exodus and Deuteronomy is, that 
 the former (xxii. 31) commands the flesh of an animal found torn 
 in the field to be thrown to the dogs ; and so in Levit. xvii. 15 
 it is enacted that any one who eats such food, — be he an Israelite 
 or a protected stranger, — must perform a statutory purification, 
 and be unclean till evening. But in Deut. xiv. 21 the Israelite 
 is allowed to present carrion to the stranger who lives under his 
 protection, and he in turn is permitted to eat it " (p. 18). Exo- 
 dus xxii. treats wholly of anything torn by beasts, which God 
 forbade Israel to eat of. Levit. xvii. prescribes the legal purifica- 
 tion should an Israelite, or a stranger in the camp — for that 
 chapter treats of camp life — have eaten of anything torn by 
 beasts, or of that which died of itself. Deut. xiv. treats only of 
 that which died of itself (not of anything torn by beasts), which 
 might be given to the stranger, A principle runs throughout 
 these laws, viz. that Israel, as a holy people, were to be careful 
 about their eating ; but when in the land, that which died of 
 itself they might give to the stranger, or sell it to an alien. As 
 Mr. Smith states it, the reader would suppose that what Exod. 
 xxii. forbade Deut. xiv. treated of. A perusal of the two passages 
 compared with Levit. xvii. will, we think, demonstrate the con- 
 trary. Exodus only treats of that which was torn of beasts, 
 tWefah. Deuteronomy, on the other hand, has in view that 
 which died of itself, nbelah. Levit. xvii. mentions both, for 
 they are really different. 
 
 The same want of accuracy is evidenced in the statements 
 about the asylums and the altar, on p. 19. The cities of refuge 
 were not sanctuaries, though they were sanctified or set apart to 
 be places of refuge for the man-slayer ; but the altar mentioned in 
 Exod. xxi. 14, is none other than that which was afterwards 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 297 
 
 known as the brazen altar. This Mr. Smith denies, referring 
 to Numb, xviii. 3 as his authority. Numb, xviii. forbids any- 
 one not of Aaron's race approaching the altar to minister 
 thereat, but does not treat of any criminal or a person in danger 
 of death taking hold of its horns for security. That a person 
 could fly to the altar of the Lord, and take hold of it and live, 
 Adonijah is a witness (1 Kings i. 50-52). That a murderer 
 was to find it no place of refuge Joab learned, and his death 
 attests (1 Kings ii. 28). A reference then to the Scriptures 
 clears away this difficulty, and only demonstrates, in one more 
 instance, the inaccuracy of the objector, and the sandy founda- 
 tion on which he would rest so important and serious a state- 
 ment. 
 
 Similarly as to the law of firstlings, detailed in Exod. xxii. 30, 
 Numb, xviii. 15-18, and in Dent. xv. 19-20. In the wilderness 
 they were to be presented to God on the eighth day, and the priests 
 fed on them after they had been duly sacrificed on the altar. 
 In the land the people were to sanctify them, and to eat them 
 year by year before the Lord their God, in the place which He 
 should choose : for those far off from the altar would have 
 been overburdened if each animal was to be brought up on the 
 eighth day. Claimed, however, by God, He gave them in the 
 wilderness to the priests ; but in the land, where the priests 
 must have been better provided for in other ways, the people 
 ate of them, yet only before God. But there is nothing in the 
 law to say the priest did not share in the feast, though it is 
 true he is not expressly named. In the one case, then, and in the 
 other, the Lord maintained His rights ; for these animals were 
 His, and He gave them to whom He chose. But the reason 
 assigned by Mr. Smith for the change, viz. that the local altars 
 were abolished when the Deuteronomic editor inserted that 
 provision in the law of Moses, is a pure unfounded myth. * 
 
 Two other objections are raised in p. 21. We give them in 
 the writer's own words : — 
 
 " The priest's portion of a common sacrifice, what is tech- 
 
 X 
 
298 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 nically called a peace offering, was, according to Lev. vii. 
 30-34, the breast and the right leg [.s/?o/»;]. In Deut. xviii. 3 
 his portion is the foreshoulder \^roang\ the cheeks, and tlie 
 maw. Dr. Dongias admits his inability to reconcile this dis- 
 crepancy. Again, Deut. (xiv. 23, xv. 20) bids the people eat 
 the firstlings in a feast at the sanctuary. Numb, xviii. 18 
 assigns the firstlings absolutely to the priests. They must be 
 sacrificed, but no part of the flesh goes to the ofterer — ' their 
 flesh shall be thine [the priest's], like the wave-breast and the 
 heave-shoulder, it shall be thine.' Dr. Douglas still thinks that 
 this may mean that only the breast and leg are to go to the 
 priest. But the words are plain to the contrary. The practice 
 of the second temple, as we know it from Jewish tradition, is 
 also against him. Moreover, his explanations will hardly 
 square with the fact that the firstlings of an unclean beast had 
 to be bought back from the priest, or else might be sold by the 
 latter (Lev. xxvii, 27 ; Numb, xviii. 15) ; and, finally, there is 
 another absolute contradiction in the laws, when ISTumb. xviii. 17 
 forbids the redemption of any firstling fit for sacrifice ; but 
 Deut. xiv. 24 scq^. allows the animal to be turned into money, 
 and the price spent at the sanctuary on any kind of meat or drink. 
 How can such discrepancies as these be got over without the 
 hypothesis of two editions of the law, not both published by 
 Moses?" (p. 21). 
 
 As usual, there are inaccuracies in statement. The shok, 
 whatever that was, in Leviticus, was assigned to the officiating 
 priest, and the breast v;ent to all the males of the priesthood. 
 This distinction, if Mr. Smith has seized, he has not stated ; 
 but has told us something quite difterent, viz. that the breast 
 and the right leg were the priests' portion in Leviticus. Then 
 his reference to Lev. xxvii. 27 is all wrong. Tliere it is the 
 redemption of an unclean beast sanctified to God that is treated 
 of No man could sanctify his firstling of an unclean animal 
 till he had redeemed it according to law, for till then it was not 
 his but the Lord's. Mr. Smith first falls into a mistake, and 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 299 
 
 then would parade as a contradiction in Scripture what has no 
 foundation in fact. Thirdly, he refers to Deut. xiv. 24, but 
 omits to tell his readers that the provision contained in that 
 and the following verses was only for those who were not 
 located near to the sanctuary, verse 23 enjoining on those within 
 easy reach of it to bring up the animal itself to God's altar. 
 
 On the laws of the firstlings we have already remarked. 
 On the difference, as he states it, between the priests' portion 
 in Leviticus and that in Deut. xiv, a few words are needful. In 
 Leviticus the limb of the animal of the peace offering assigned 
 to the priest is called shoh, and so in Exodus and Numbers. 
 In Deuteronomy it is called zWoang. Are these necessarily 
 different limbs, the former being the leg and the latter the 
 shoulder ? Mr. Smith says, unhesitatingly, " Yes." The ancient 
 versions — Chaldee, LXX, and Vulg. — differ from him, and they 
 are in agreement with modern scholars, as Buxtorf, Eosen- 
 mliller, Fuerst. The truth is, sliok, derived from a verb shuk, 
 to run, fittingly describes the limbs on which an animal runs. 
 In a biped those are the legs, in a quadruped they would take 
 in the fore legs as well as the hind legs. Hence, in the Autho- 
 rised Version, wherever shoh is used of a man it is always 
 translated as the leg, where used of a quadruped the trans- 
 lators have understood that it applied to the fore leg, being, 
 equally with the hind ones, a limb on which it runs. The same 
 holds good in our own tongue. We speak of the sheep's fore- 
 leg when alive, but of a shoulder of mutton when it is dead. 
 In accordance with this the LXX, uniformly where a quadruped 
 is in question, translated sliok by ^pa-x^loiv, the shoulder, and 
 this is the more remarkable, because in Numb. vi. 19, 20, we 
 have both the above-named Hebrew words mentioned, and 
 translated in that version by the one word ySpa^j^icov, just as in 
 the Authorised Version. In their judgment, and we here give 
 it only for what it is worth, sJiok does not of necessity mean only 
 the shank. Giving, then, Mr. Smith every advantage i)ossible, 
 the most that can be said is, that if shok cannot refer to the 
 
300 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 shoulder, there is a change here in the law. But it rests with 
 the objector to make good his objection. That he has not done, 
 and we believe cannot do. 
 
 " Again," he writes, " Hosea (ix. 3, 4) cannot have known 
 the Deuteronomic permission to kill and eat animals without 
 offering them in sacrifice (Deut. xii. 15), when he says, that in 
 exile the people must eat unclean food, because they cannot 
 present their sacrifices at Jehovah's house. He was still living 
 in a time when all animal food was regularly presented at the 
 altar, according to the law of Leviticus xvii. 4-10, 11." Indeed. 
 Leviticus (xvii.) had respect to camp life, as is stated in verse 
 3. The camp life for Israel had ended centuries before Hosea 
 was born ! Besides this, the prophet is setting forth the bless- 
 ings of which they would be dej)rived ; their enjoyment of the 
 land they would forfeit (ix. 3), and peace-offerings, which were 
 connected with feasting, they would then be unable to offer 
 (ver. 4). Mr. Smith presents a mistaken view of the passage, 
 and forgets Ezek. iv. 12-14, which elucidates it. See also Acts x. 
 
 One more objection completes the list. " The prohibition in 
 Deuteronomy xvi. 22 of the erection of what is called a ma99eba, 
 that is, a sacred pillar or stone, set up like Jacob's ]3illar, in con- 
 nection with a sanctuary, cannot have been known to Joshua 
 (xxiv. 26), Samuel (1 Sam.vii. 12), Solomon (1 Kings vii. 21), or even 
 to Isaiah, who (ch. xix. 19) prophesies the erection of such a sacred 
 pillar, as a sign of the conversion of Egypt. The reason for the 
 introduction of this new law into the Deuteronomic code is easily 
 found in connection with the suppression of corrupt local 
 sanctuaries, as I have explained at length in my additional 
 answer, p. 71, sej-" (p- 22). Now this statement is a very bad one. 
 Inaccurate it is, but surely our readers will cease to wonder at that. 
 But would it be believed, Joshua, Samuel, and Solomon erected 
 no ma99eba. And this Mr. Smith ought to know. Joshua and 
 Samuel put up each a stone, Solomon made the two brazen 
 pillars, Jachin and Boaz. But the statement is a very bad one, 
 because it would make out that Joshua, Samuel, and Solomon 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 301 
 
 in the days when he walked well, deliberately did that which 
 God declared He hated (Deut. xvi. 22). For at whatever time, 
 even according to Mr. Smith's theory, that law was enacted, it 
 clearly expressed their God's abhorrence of such idolatrous erec- 
 tions. How, then, could He have guided David to provide for 
 such a thing in His house at Jerusalem (1 Chron. xxviii. 11- 
 19). But if Deut, xvi. 22 must be relegated to some post- 
 Mosaic period, what shall we say to Exod. xxiii. 24, xxxiv. 
 13, and Levit. xxvi. 1, where the destruction of those already 
 in the land is enjoined, and a prohibition against erecting 
 any in Canaan is distinctly set forth (Levit. xxvi. 1) ? Joshua, 
 Samuel, and Solomon must, on the objector's hypothesis, have 
 directly infringed this law, which is surely held by our author to 
 be unquestionably Mosaic. The truth is, Israel were especially 
 warned against erecting any ma99eba in the land, because such 
 had been connected with idolatry. Jacob in his day did erect 
 one, moved by the sense of the solemnity of the place where 
 he found God. And in Egypt by and by, when idolatry shall 
 have been put down on earth, a ma99eba will be reared up by 
 those in that country. But Israel never were allowed, nor ever 
 will be, to erect anything of the kind in the land. 
 
 And these are the objections by which the Mosaic authorship 
 of Deuteronomy is to be disproved ! What we said in an earlier 
 part of this paper our readers will see is only too true. Scrip- 
 ture is misquoted, and Scripture is misunderstood. Inaccuracies, 
 too, abound, and not one objection adduced by Mr. Smith in 
 support of his theory has any real weight in it for the purpose 
 for which he produces it. As for scholarship, in all this there is 
 none, but a great deal of ignorance of the word of God is dis- 
 played. What effect such a production may have on those to 
 whom it is addressed it is not for us to determine ; but surely it 
 will be an evil day for Christians in Scotland when such rash 
 statements are accepted as valid objections against the Mosaic 
 authorship of this book. 
 
 In conclusion, we would invite our readers to turn with us 
 
302 THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 from tlie thoughts of men to trace out the orderly arrangement 
 of the book. It divides itself into three great divisions, chap. 
 i,-xi. forming the first, chap, xii.-xxix. the second, and chap. 
 xxx.-xxxiv. the third. In the first, the people are exhorted in 
 view of their entrance into the land. In the second, the coven- 
 ant to be observed when in it, if they would continue in their 
 inheritance, is stated in detail, and the blessings and cursings 
 which would result from their conduct are plainly declared. The 
 third opens with God's provision for them in grace, when they 
 should have been driven out of their land for their disobedience ; 
 and closes with the law-giver's death. But let us view each 
 part more in detail. 
 
 The first part, chap, i.-xi., commences with reminding them 
 (chap, i.) how they forfeited the land at Kadesh by their refusal 
 to go up to possess it ; and recounts (chap. ii. and iii.) how God 
 wrought after that to bring them into it. Then their peculiar 
 privileges are recounted, and their responsibility is pressed on 
 them (chap, iv.-v.) After that they are reminded of the special 
 feature of Judaism, that Jehovah their God is one Jehovah, to 
 which they were to bear witness by declining all connection 
 with idolatry (chap, vi.-vii.) Next, Moses tells them that they 
 will not enjoy the land by virtue of their power (viii.), nor be- 
 cause of their righteousness (ix.-x. 10), but because of God's 
 faithfulness to His word to their forefathers (x. 11-xi). 
 
 About to enter the land, Moses, in the second part (chap, 
 xii.-xxix.) details the terms of the covenant made with them 
 in the plains of Moab, besides that already made with them 
 in Horeb. The observance of this was needful for their con- 
 tinuance in the enjoyment of their inheritance (xii. 1). Hence 
 we have laws relating to their worship, the administration 
 of justice, and government, with regulations about military 
 matters, and such as concerned them in their social life (xii.- 
 xxvi.) These are followed by the provisions for that solemn 
 service on Ebal and Gerizim, when they would openly ratify the 
 covenant and declare themselves bound by it (xxvii.) After 
 
THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY. 303 
 
 this come the blessiugs and cursings which would ensue conse- 
 quent on their conduct (xxviii.), this part winding up with the 
 reminder by Moses that all Israel there present, and all not there 
 present, were equally parties to this covenant (xxix.), the danger 
 of breaking, which he pressed on them most earnestly. 
 
 The third part (xxx.-xxxiv.) foretells God's ways in grace 
 with them after failure and exile (xxx.) But if possible to keep 
 them from disobedience, the law was delivered in writing by 
 Moses himself, to be kept in the sanctuary as a reminder of 
 what was incumbent on them, and a song was to be committed 
 to writing likewise as a testimony against them (xxxi.) There- 
 upon follows the song (xxxii.) which prophetically describes what 
 they would be, and how God would act in the latter day when 
 they had utterly failed. Then Moses blessed the tribes, enume- 
 rating them in the order, by the Spirit of prophecy, in which 
 they would be located in the land (xxxiii.) With that his work 
 was done, and Israel were left to await the advent of that pro- 
 phet whom he had foretold like unto himself, to whom they 
 were to hearken. So, with the record of his death (xxxiv.), and 
 the notice of the special feature which would characterise that 
 prophet in common with him (xxxiv. 10), the Pentateuch ends. 
 
 Thus the book is most orderly and methodical in its arrange- 
 ment. This is seen when studied as a whole, but lost if we are 
 to regard it as a kind of literary patchwork. And what should 
 we think of God, who put the people under a covenant, the full 
 terms of which were not known till about the days of Josiah ? 
 Would that be righteous ? Would that be like our God ? 
 
CUERENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL 
 PUNISHMENT 
 
 AS FOUND IN THE ARGUMENTS OF 
 
 SCOTTISH PKESBYTERIAN MINISTEES OF 
 SEVERAL DENOMINATIONS. 
 
 The shades of difference among those who do not believe in 
 eternal punishment are numerovis. They have been exposed 
 very fully in F, W. Grant's Facts and TJicories as to a Future 
 State, but one or two points have been pressed so as to present 
 the subject in a comparatively fresh way in Scotland, in the 
 public teaching of some ministers of the United Presbyterian 
 denomination. It appears also, from the report of a recent 
 sermon delivered in the Cathedral, Glasgow, that this view 
 is being spread more widely than among the members of a 
 denomination, and therefore some notice of the subject may 
 be seasonable. 
 
 This current view of the matter consists mainly of two parts 
 — 1st, that belief in the love of God renders it impossible to 
 believe that He can punish for ever any of " His erring chil- 
 dren ;" and 2d, that it is impossible to believe in an "eternity 
 of sinning," but that to believe that " punishment is to be eternal 
 means that sin is to be eternal," understanding sin in that sense 
 of " eternity of sinning." 
 
 It seems to me that a very little submission to Scripture 
 serves to show that this view is founded upon a false idea of 
 God's love, that is, of God Himself; and also upon a thoroughly 
 erroneous estimate of sin, which involves, consequently, a denial 
 of the true condition of man as a sinner. 
 
' CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 305 
 
 There is also an additional incongruity in this sermon, 
 viz. that of regarding eternal punishment as if it primarily re- 
 ferred to the Christian, or were intended to be a motive to 
 Christian life ; while the truth is that it has no relation to him 
 personally at all, because Scripture declares that he " has been 
 delivered from the wrath to come," and " shall not come into 
 judgment." 
 
 Perhaps this sermon lets us into a part of the secret of the 
 ready reception of this false doctrine by many Christians, and 
 reveals at the root of it the lurking fear that after all they may 
 have to undergo punishment for sin. But besides a bad con- 
 science, which always makes us dread correction, it is only the 
 lack of being established in the true grace of God which could 
 permit the thought that one cleansed by the blood of Christ 
 could become a subject of the punishment of sin. Thus either 
 a lack of self-judgment, or a defective gospel preaching, or both, 
 may lie at the root of the success of much of this evil. 
 
 1. The thought of God's love, which is now put forward as 
 a reason for non-eternity of punishment, when fully expressed, 
 is, that the Cross reveals His character in such sense as that the 
 gospel of Christ is "the gospel of God's goodwill towards men ;" 
 that " His heart can never change towards the sinner or his sin," 
 so that " He must always love the one and hate the other, and 
 deal with the sin He hates so as to do good to the sinner He 
 loves ;" that, in other words, God as the Heavenly Father can- 
 not punish " His erring children " after death with everlasting 
 torment ; finally, that " eternal love " cannot rest short of the 
 highest good and blessedness of the object loved, and that good 
 will triumph over ill, so that the universe will be purged from 
 sin, and God will be all in all. 
 
 Now all this assumes two things, viz. that God is nothing 
 but love as far as man as an object is concerned, and that He is 
 in the relationship of father to men as such. If these are dis- 
 proved, the whole position falls to the ground. 
 
3o6 CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 But the Cross is far more than a revelation of God's love. 
 It does show Him forth in love, His name be praised, as nothing 
 else in the universe does, bvit inseparably associated with that 
 there is in it also the display of His awful holiness, which made 
 it necessary that sin must be estimated in the light of infinite 
 purity and perfect obedience to God. It is in its entirety that 
 it is a manifestation of God, and so we have no right, besides 
 its being folly, to attempt to divide that display of Him, and 
 accept a part as we please. 
 
 His love is indeed manifested in giving His only begotten 
 Son, but all the magnitude of that gift, and all the infinite value 
 and unspeakable preciousness of that Son to the Father declare 
 the terrible necessity for, and extent of, divine judgment against 
 sin, as we perceive that He, was forsaken of God on the Cross. 
 What man can measure sin in this way ? Who but Jesus pos- 
 sesses infinite holiness and perfect obedience to God ? Yet 
 without these, how can there ever be a just estimate of sin on 
 the part of those who are creatures, and as such bound to be 
 subject to God ? 
 
 But if God were only love, why the display of His wrath 
 against sin, such that we see it even visited on His Son when in 
 human form and " made sin " ? " My God, My God, why hast 
 Thou forsaken me ?" was His cry, in the midst of all the anguish 
 of spirit, bodily suffering, and external horrors shown in the 
 Scriptures. And, in His case, time or duration adds no element 
 to the matter, for He then {being such an One as He was) 
 entered in an infinite, degree into the full character of and judg- 
 ment against sin. It is in the nature of things impossible that 
 any mere creature can ever do this. By nothing short of an 
 eternity of suffering that judgment and the consequences of sin 
 can man (apart from grace) ever reach a true estimate of what 
 sin is. So the Lord's word, " Thou shalt by no means come out 
 thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing," acquires a 
 fearfully solemn force under such a consideration. 
 
 It is, however, now urged that, because Christ has borne that 
 
CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 307 
 
 judgment, therefore God must (or rather people undertake to 
 say He will) give men the benefit of it in all time, and what- 
 ever their state. But this is not only gratuitous assumption, but 
 also positive untruth. 
 
 It is gratuitous assumption, for God announces in the gospel 
 that He will apply the fruit of the Cross in grace only for a 
 certain time ; and how then dare men say that He must always 
 go on applying it, and even to those who refuse it and die im- 
 penitent, or are declared disobedient to the gospel, when the 
 Lord appears from heaven ? See the solemn words in Luke xiii. 
 23-28 ; Matt. xxv. 10-12 ; Acts xvii. 30, 31 ; 2 Thess. i. 6-10. 
 
 It is false, because the fruit of the Cross is not even now 
 presented as salvation to any apart from "the obedience of 
 faith " in them. " Whom God has set forth a propitiation through 
 faith in His Mood" is what we read in the gospel, and con- 
 sistently with this it is declared, " if thou shalt confess with thy 
 mouth the Lord Jesus, and helievc in thine heart that God hath 
 raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." So the right- 
 eousness of God is " towards all," but is only " upon cdl who 
 believe." 
 
 There is no ground whatever then for the idea that God will 
 apply the fruit of the Cross to impenitent sinners ; but there is 
 solid ground for the assurance that, when the day of grace has 
 run its course. He will act in the severity of righteous judgment 
 on the ungodly, and in holy wrath against sin and sinners who 
 are, in part at any rate, its living embodiment. 
 
 The Cross has not annihilated sin, as these men idly dream. 
 Such a vindication of God's nature and sovereign character as it 
 affords was rendered necessary by man's rebellion, and its con- 
 sequences, even apart from the salvation of a single human soul. 
 If a7iy were to be saved it became doubly necessary, we may say. 
 
 But it is entirely of God's grace that it is constituted the 
 basis of blessing to any from among sinful men, all being declared 
 by it to be lost, and so tliat blessing cannot be theirs except on 
 God's terms. It is also the basis of the cleansing of the present 
 
3o8 CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 system (" the heavens and the earth ") from sin in the future 
 dispensation, and so sin will be " put away " only as regards this 
 system, "and this will \m carried out partly by judgment on the 
 ungodly. Sin is not annihilated, however, even then ; and 
 Philippians ii. 9-11 cannot be confounded (as Mr. Macrae has 
 attempted) with Eph. i. 10 and Col. i. 20, for these in speaking 
 of the sphere which is to be " reconciled " and " headed up in 
 Christ," expressly omit the infernal things (" things under the 
 earth ") of Phil, ii., which will still exist apart, and will be com- 
 pelled to " bow " to Him, and " own that He is Lord," even 
 though His authority is known there only in righteous retri- 
 bution. 
 
 This is confirmed by the Scriptures, which speak of the time 
 and scene where " God will be all in all," evil being practically 
 excluded. For (1 Cor. xv. 23-28) this comes after the reign of 
 Christ, who " must reign till He hath put all enemies under His 
 feet ; " and then, as Ptcv. xxi. 1-8 teaches, there will be a new 
 heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will " dwell " 
 (2 Pet. iii.), but existing apart from these will be " the lake of 
 fire," the abode tlun {i.e. at the very time of which it is said 
 " God is all in all ") of " the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the 
 abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, 
 and idolaters, and all liars." 
 
 The idea that men as men are His erring children, and that 
 He is therefore in the relationship of " Heavenly Father " to such 
 as Eev. xxi. 8 (for instance) speaks of, is a monstrous defamation 
 of His character, and a clear contradiction of what Scripture 
 says in describing the nature of those who are His children. 
 See 1 John iii. 2, 6, 9, 10 ; v. 18. 
 
 The New Testament makes it abundantly plain that those 
 only are His children who are begotten again by the word of 
 God, and who are the "children of God by faith in Christ 
 Jesus ; " and the frequently -quoted passage in the Old Testa- 
 ment (Ps. ciii. 13), which applies the similitude of a father to 
 Him, maintains the distinction between those in that relationship 
 
CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 309 
 
 and the rest of mankind. " Like as a father pitieth his children, 
 so the Lord pitieth th&m that fear Him." But what about those 
 who do not fear Him, but die hardened rebels against Him ? 
 Would these teachers have us believe that there is no difference 
 between them ? 
 
 2. It becomes plain, from an examination of the current view, 
 that such a thought as the foregoing is really the conclusion to 
 which it tends, and that it is founded also upon a thoroughly- 
 false idea of sin. The thought here is, that if sinners are sup- 
 posed to exist for ever as sinners, this is equivalent to our 
 believing that God will uphold, as Himself the energy of it, 
 eternal activity in sin. That " God will sustain in existence to 
 all eternity creatures the sole end of whose existence has become 
 active, implacable, and unchangeable hostility to Himself;" and 
 that there must thus be " an eternity of sinning." Or as again 
 put, " if sin's punishment is to be eternal, it only means that 
 sin is to be eternal — that it is to be possible for a human soul 
 so to harden itself against the love of God as never to be softened, 
 never to be won over from enmity to love, from estrangement to 
 reconciliation." 
 
 This is mixed up in the system (as developed by these 
 teachers) with much that shows that immortality is confounded 
 with eternal life (which thus to them means only eternal exist- 
 ence), and that the idea which it attaches to death is self- 
 destructive when we see what Scripture teaches, viz., that it is 
 the wicked who are already " dead " who undergo " the second 
 death." That which the first change of condition, which is called 
 " death," involves (see Luke xvi.), may therefore be taken in their 
 case as an illustration of the meaning of the " second death " 
 which they are to undergo. 
 
 In the view of sin which is referred to, it is looked at as if 
 it were something apart from man, a force acting on him from 
 without, and urging him gradually into a state of hostility to 
 God when he becomes a lost sinner and his case is hopeless. So 
 
3IO CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 we are told that " sin is the devil's work," besides hearing about 
 " the sole end of the existence " of some creatures hccoming active 
 hostility to God, and also about the " human soul hardening itself 
 against God so as never to be softened." 
 
 Now this is fundamentally false. Sin may be said to be the 
 devil's work only as regards its introduction into this world in 
 which he was the active agent. But this was by presenting 
 temptation to man. He did not make man a sinner, or compel 
 him to sin. Man made himself such. " By one man sin entered 
 into the world, and deatli by sin." God chose to create him a 
 being of a certain order, under moral obligation, and with powers 
 and capacities capable of enduring results, whether of good or ill. 
 
 It is in the breach of his obligation and the consequent cor- 
 ruption of the moral springs of his being, with the addition of a 
 new and ineradicable capacity, viz. the knowledge of good and 
 evil, that man's constitution as a sinner is found. So that it is 
 now and here, not after an indefinite period of sinning, that 
 sinners are declared to be God's enemies, " alienated, and enemies 
 in their minds, by wicked works," as being possessors of and 
 characterised by " the mind of the flesh," which " is enmity 
 against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither 
 indeed can be." 
 
 It is, moreover, only now and here in this world that man 
 has liberty to do these acts which manifest his enmity. But 
 suppose that liberty taken away, does this effect any change in 
 the man's condition morally? Does being shut up in prison 
 even here make a man any less a criminal, or eradicate his 
 desire to do evil ? Does the lack of power to do evil affect the 
 will ? Clearly not. So, although " an eternity of sinning," in 
 the proper sense of the word is not possible, we are not there- 
 fore forced to conclude that there is nothing between that and 
 pardon without repentance. 
 
 But besides the denial that the principle of sin as to man is 
 found in man's will, really within man morally instead of outside 
 him, or merely in his acts, what is denied by this system of non- 
 
CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 311 
 
 eternity of punishment is human moral responsibility. God is 
 without doubt the sustainer of all things ; but the false applica- 
 tion of this which is thrust upon us is really destructive of the 
 truth that in creating man He ordained a being in moral re- 
 sponsibility before Him, and necessarily therefore in full view of 
 the unending character of the results of such responsibility. 
 The blow is struck at this responsibility, for man naturally never 
 relishes the thought of it, and there are many devices by which 
 it is attempted to be thrown over on God. God is never the 
 energy of active sin, either in sinners now or after death — the 
 thought that He is is blasphemous — but He is the sustainer of 
 the life of responsible beings, whose rebellion is not an easy way 
 to rid themselves of their moral relation to Him (morally re- 
 sponsible because of the way in which He is their source and 
 sustainer of life, see Gen. ii., Acts xvii. 28-31), but who must 
 continue for ever in that relation, whether in the blessedness 
 which grace provides for the repentant or under the full con- 
 sequences of their rebellion as such creatures. 
 
 Nothing establishes the unchangeable character of the issues 
 of responsibility as does the salvation of God. This is proved 
 by the fact that (as Eom. iii. 21-26 teaches) it is the righteousTiess 
 of God (and not primarily His love or mercy) that is manifested 
 for sinners in the Cross, and He is thereby declared "jiist (not 
 good or merciful merely), and the justifier of him that believeth 
 in Jesus." Tor men are not saved by merely being acted upon 
 from without by goodness, which changes by softening them into 
 loving God and hating sin, simply thus changing the direction 
 of their tendencies and the effort of their wills, but by grace 
 ascribing to them the fruit of the work of the Cross, having 
 first wrought in them the sense of their need as lost sinners, and, 
 on the ground of its judgment being reckoned to them, replacing 
 their old life and its nature by a new one of a different character 
 which is communicated to them. The sentence on sin is not set 
 aside in their case, but borne for them by the One who becomes 
 their substitute. 
 
312 CURRENT DENIALS OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 One consideration alone serves to write confusion on the 
 spurious view of sin which is put forward, and this is that God 
 is holy. But what He is, He is eternally ; and holiness is separate- 
 ness from evil which is known and abhorred. The idea, therefore, 
 that He can have no eternal relation to evil in the way of punish- 
 ment, which is the expression as well as the consequence of His 
 eternal hatred of it, is simple ignorance or forgetfulness of what 
 He is. Evil has necessarily always such a relation to Him as 
 being that which He hates and is apart from ; all that is con- 
 trary to Him is evil, and evil cannot be made good. So, when 
 there are beings of an immortal spiritual order created (" the 
 offspring of God" as to their human life), and evil finds its 
 expression in them, they necessarily share the eternal doom of 
 all that is contrary to God. 
 
 If sin is the devil's work, loohing at its effects in this world, 
 and Christ was manifested to annul his works and himself as to 
 his power to do evil (it is not to save him that He was manifested), 
 yet the lake of fire is not the devil's work, or the means of his 
 purification, but is his doom, with that of every form of evil, and 
 it is never destroyed or even annulled for any who " go away " 
 into it. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE 
 CHUECHES OF GALATIA. 
 
 With Introduction and Notes, by Kev. James Macgeegoe, D.D., Professor of 
 Systematic Theology in the New College, Edinburgh. 
 
 The Epistle to the Galatians is essentially doctrinal in its teach- 
 ing. Tlie foundations of the faith were being undermined in 
 Galatia by Judaising teachers, who insisted upon circumcision, 
 and the keeping of the law by converts from heathenism, as 
 necessary for justification. Very strongly then did the Apostle 
 warn the Galatian Christians against such teaching. " Christ 
 is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified 
 by the law ; ye are fallen from grace " (Gal. v. 4). The matter was 
 a serious, a vital one in his eyes, who travailed in birth again till 
 Christ was formed in them (iv. 19). Those teachers were not 
 merely mistaken, they were leading souls really off Christian 
 ground altogether. To Paul this was intolerable, so he writes, 
 " He that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he 
 be" (v. 10) ; and "though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
 other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, 
 let him be accursed " (i. 8). So any study of this Epistle cannot 
 be conducted aright unless the doctrines insisted upon therein 
 are understood, and accepted by the student. And no exposition 
 of it will be a fitting Hanclbooh for Bible Classes if the doctrinal 
 teaching contained in it is not clearly enunciated. 
 
 Now of doctrines specially treated of in tliis apostolic and 
 inspired letter are those which concern righteousness, faith, law, 
 and the Spirit. To some of these we must refer. The doctrine 
 of righteousness divides itself into two parts, according as we 
 
 Y 
 
314 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO 
 
 look at it in relation to God or to the ungodly. If we think of 
 God in connection with righteousness, we know that He is 
 righteous, and will by and by " judge the world in righteousness 
 by that Man whom He hath ordained ; whereof He hath given 
 assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the 
 dead" (Acts xvii. 31). But if this were all that we knew of 
 God's righteousness, who could be saved ? For, if God enters 
 into judgment with us, we know what the end of tliat must be 
 (Ps. cxliii. 2). Thank God, His righteousness is also manifested 
 in justifying the ungodly, and this is one of Paul's special sub- 
 jects of instruction. The righteousness of God is revealed in the 
 gospel (Ptom. i. 17). It is manifested now apart from law, 
 though "witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteous- 
 ness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Clnist unto all and upon 
 all them that believe " (Eom. iii. 21, 22). To this people are to 
 submit themselves if they would be saved (Eom. x. 3) ; and all 
 who do that become God's righteousness in Christ (2 Cor. v. 21). 
 Viewing righteousness in relation to the sinner, we learn that 
 God can impute to him righteousness without (or apart from 
 %<iipii) works (Piom. iv. 6). The principle on which God 
 can do this is faith ; hence it is called the righteousness which 
 is of faith (Eom. x. 6) ; and we are reminded of the Old Testa- 
 ment Scripture which declared, " The just shall live by his 
 faith " (Hab. ii. 4 ; Eom. i. 17). An illustration of God justifying 
 a man on this principle is given us in Abraham (Eom. iv. 1-3) ; 
 the moral class who can share in it is exemplified in David, after 
 he had sinned so frightfully in the matter of Uriah the Hittite 
 (verses 6-8) ; whilst the special testimony now put before souls 
 for them to be justified by faith, when they believe it, is set forth 
 in,j5^erses 23-25 of that same chapter ; and the effect on the man 
 of this way of justification is this, he lias peace with God, and 
 can rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Eom. v. 1, 2) ; for the 
 whole question of his standing before the throne of God is settled 
 by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
 writes the Apostle, " was delivered for our offences, and was raised 
 
THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA. 315 
 
 again for our justification." Hence justification is more than 
 forgiveness, for it witnesses to the soul of its unchallengeable 
 standing before the throne of God. Forgiveness of sins the 
 sinner needs to be assured of. Justification forms part of the 
 gospel for God's saints, as the Epistle to the Eomans makes clear, 
 in which forgiveness, only twice mentioned (iv. 7 ; xi. 27), is 
 assumed as known, and enjoyed by those to whom Paul wrote to 
 unfold the manner and result of their justification by faith. 
 
 Turning now to Professor Macgregor's book on the Epistle to 
 the Galatians, and testing its statements on this question of 
 righteousness by the divine word, what is the result ? Justifica- 
 tion, he tells us (p. 34), is sometimes found " describing only 
 pardon without express reference to what is further meant by 
 acceptance, e.g. ' justified from all things from which,' etc. (Acts 
 xiii. 39)." But the passage cited does not bear out the assertion 
 that justification sometimes describes only pardon. It is more 
 than pardon, since it has to do with the standing of one before 
 the throne of God who has sinned, and the one justified by faith 
 has peace with God. This is more than pardon, and differs too 
 from acceptance in this, that if we think of justification, we think 
 of our standing before the throne of God ; if we think of accept- 
 ance, we remember in whom it is we stand in the presence of 
 God. Again, looking at Acts xiii. 39, if we follow the reading 
 of BC^DELP, the passage clearly distinguishes between forgive- 
 ness and justification, as we read, " Through this Man is preached 
 unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are 
 justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by 
 the law of Moses." If, on the other hand, we agree to omit the 
 conjunction and, in accordance with the reading of AC^ and the 
 Sinaitic MS., the difference between the two is still apparent, 
 " Through (Sea) Him is preached forgiveness. By (iv) Him aU 
 that believe are justified." We must demur therefore to the 
 Professor's statement, whilst we turn to another passage. 
 
 At p. 35 we read — "At the present point we shall only 
 dwell on the one expression about Abraham (iii. 6). ' It was 
 
3i6 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO 
 
 accounted (imputed, reckoned) to him for righteousness.' We 
 need not now inquire wlmt was imputed, whether, for instance, it 
 was his faith, or whether it was his work, or whether it was God's 
 righteousness received by faith." Again, in p. ^^, in a note at 
 GaL ii. 21, we read — Righteousness here " means either the 
 result of the justifying process in placing a man on the footing 
 of a servant entitled to reward, or the ground on which God pro- 
 ceeds in justifying ; the legal reason why of the process — most 
 probably the latter." It is clear that the distinctive teaching of 
 Rom iii. and iv. has not been apprehended. The righteousness 
 of God is never imputed to the sinner. God imputes righteous- 
 ness to the one who believes His testimony about His Son, 
 that is, He reckons that person righteous ; but He is never said 
 to impute ^^s. righteousness. Eom. iii. shows us how God can 
 be righteous in justifying the ungodly ; there, then, His right- 
 eousness is treated of. Rom. iv. teaches us on what principle a 
 person can be justified : hence the term righteousness of God is 
 dropped throughout that chapter, and righteousness alone is 
 therein treated of. For the righteousness of God means that 
 God is righteous, and acts consistently with what He is. The 
 moment, then, that we seize the meaning of the term " righteous- 
 ness of God," we understand why Scripture never speaks of God 
 imputing His righteousness to the sinner, and the phraseology 
 is seen to be clear and precise. Had this point been under- 
 stood, we should not have read the sentence quoted from p. 35, 
 nor would the simple meaning of Gal. ii. 21, " If righteousness 
 come by law then Christ is dead in vain," have been obscured by 
 the note on p. 66. " If righteousness come by law," means 
 simply, if a man is righteous by works of law, conformably with 
 what the apostle has written in v. 16 of the same chapter. 
 
 Now this statement is a simple and withal an important one, 
 because it cuts at the root of the teaching about the active and 
 passive obedience of Christ, which Professor Macgregor evidently 
 endorses on p. 37, writing of the " Pauline testimony regarding 
 the way and manner in which the righteousness has been achieved 
 
THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA. -317 
 
 by Christ, namely, througli His vicarious obedience unto death — 
 His ' passive obedience ' for the expiation of our guilt, and ' His 
 active obedience ' for the purchase to us of sonship and inherit- 
 ance." Now what says the Scripture — " If righteousness come 
 by law Christ is dead in vain," not simply, as the Professor would 
 paraphrase it, " Christ is superfluous " (p. 6G, note), but Christ 
 is dead in vain. If the active obedience of Christ purchased for 
 His people sonship and the inheritance, then they had that pro- 
 cured for them before He died. Now such teaching really, 
 though unintentionally, undermines the atonement. How did 
 those under law get sonship and the promise of inheritance ? 
 " Christ," says the apostle, " has redeemed us from the curse of 
 the law, being made a curse for us . . . that we might receive the 
 promise of the Spirit through faith" (iii. 13, 14). Again, "God 
 sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law, to 
 redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the 
 adoption of sons " (iv. 4, 5). Again, " For the promise that he 
 should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his 
 seed, through the laAV, but through the righteousness of faith. 
 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, 
 and the promise made of none effect " (Eom. iv. 13-14). In a 
 word, the teaching of Scripture directly condemns the theory of 
 the active, vicarious obedience of Christ. The Word knows 
 nothing of vicarious keeping of the law. If righteousness come 
 by law, by the sinner, or by anybody keeping it for him, — Christ 
 is. dead in vain. 
 
 But what about the law ? It was not given till more than 
 four centuries after the promise to Abraham (Gal. iii. 17). 
 Abraham then was never under it, nor did God ever put Gentiles 
 under it (Eom. ii. 14 ; Gal. iv, 3-5), as the council at Jerusalem 
 distinctly owned (Acts xv. 14-21). Wherefore then serveth it ? 
 "It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should 
 come to whom the promise was made " (Gal. iii. 19). It 
 " entered that the offence might abound " (Eom. v. 20). It has 
 not its application to righteous people, but to lawless, etc. (1 
 
3iS THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO 
 
 Tim. i. 9, 10). It could not give life, so righteousness could not 
 come by it (Gal. iii. 21), and " as many as are of the works of 
 the law are under the curse" (Gal. iii. 10), and the righteousness 
 which is of the law is clean contrary to that which is of faith 
 (Eoni. X. 5-10). Further, it has dominion over a man only as 
 long as he liveth, and those once under it as Jews, were, if Chris- 
 tians, dead to it by the body of Christ, to be married to another, 
 even to Him who is raised from the dead to bring forth fruit 
 unto God (Eom. vii. 4). Now, what says the Professor ? " Of its 
 use as a rule of life to the justified man (v. 14) this is not the 
 place to speak" (p. 77). But how can it be his rule of life if 
 he has died to it, as Eom. vii. 6 distinctly teaches ? " JSTow we 
 are delivered from the law, having died to that wherein we were 
 held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the 
 oldness of the letter." Our rule of life is Christ (1 John ii. 6 ; 
 iii. 16 ; Ephes. v. 2 ; Eom. xiii. 14). Again, p. 91, "■tinder the 
 law, instead of under lata, not only is unwarranted by the Greek, 
 but is fitted to countenance the mistaken impression that Christ 
 was, so to speak, merely a horn Jew ; that His subjection to law 
 by birth had reference only to the law under which the Jews 
 were placed by positive revelation, not to the law under which 
 all men are by nature. ... At or by His birth He was under 
 the whole burden of law which has to be borne for man's re- 
 demption and adoption, of which law the Old Testament revela- 
 tion had made a full declaration." Now all this is a mere fig- 
 ment of man's (we do not mean of Professor Macgregor's) inven- 
 tion, clean contrary to Scripture and to the decision of the 
 council at Jerusalem. Scripture distinctly speaks of a class who 
 were under law, but only a class, to redeem them that were 
 under the law. Is " them that were under law " a periphrasis 
 for man ? Christ was made a curse, says the apostle, " for us, 
 i.e. Jews, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the 
 Gentiles ; that we might receive (both Jews and Gentiles) the 
 promise of the Spirit through faith " (Gal. iii. 13-14). " When the 
 fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made 
 
THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA. 319 
 
 of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were 
 under the law, that we {i.e. Jews) might receive the adoption of 
 sons. And because ye {i.e. Gentiles) are sons, God hath sent 
 forth the Spirit of His Son into your (better ' our ') hearts, crying, 
 Abba, Father " (Gal. iv. 4-6). How clearly the apostle guards 
 the doctrine that Gentiles were never put under law by God. 
 Why the " for us " and " Gentiles" in iii. 13, 14, and the "we" 
 of iv. 5, contrasted with the " ye " of iv. 6, if the Professor's 
 teaching is correct ? The fact is, the purport of the law, and the 
 position of the believer in Christ is not apprehended where such 
 doctrines are held ; for he is looked at as in the flesh (Eom. 
 viii. 9), instead of being alive in Christ risen from the dead 
 (Rom. vi. 11). 
 
 A third doctrine, referred to in the Epistle, is that of the 
 Spirit whom the Galatians had received. Born of the Spirit 
 (John iii. 5), the believer bowing to God's testimony concerning 
 the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ and its results, has 
 forgiveness of sins through His blood, and receives the Holy 
 Ghost (Eph. i. 13 ; Acts ii. 38 ; x. 43-45, 47) ; and His body 
 thereby becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. vi. 19). 
 TMiat the believer receives is the Holy Ghost, called the gift of 
 God (Acts xi. 17). This is a gift quite distinct from any mir- 
 aculous power, which last is an endowment by the Holy Ghost 
 Himself, who divides His gifts, whether of miraculous powers 
 or not, as He pleases (1 Cor. xii. 7-11). The gift, Bcoped, then 
 of the Holy Ghost means, according to Scripture, the Holy 
 Ghost given by God to dwell in the believer. The gifts of the 
 Spirit, 'Xjapia-fia, are from the Holy Ghost. Often in apostolic 
 times the two went together, as at Ctesarea (Acts x. 44-47), and 
 at Ephesus (Acts xix. 6), the display of miraculous power being 
 the attestation of the reception of the Holy Ghost by the person 
 so energised. Yet the two are not confounded. Speaking with 
 tongues was a witness that the person had received the Holy 
 Ghost. All who heard him would know that he was energised 
 by the Holy Ghost ; but more, they would understand that he 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PA UL TO 
 
 had received the Holy Ghost. Now we have no reason to con- 
 clude that every believer in apostolic days was endowed with 
 miraculous powers. 1 Cor. xii. 29-30, would lead us to believe 
 the contrary ; and there is no hint that all the Galatian 
 Christians were endowed with such powers. Yet they had all 
 received the Holy Ghost, and they knew it well ; and as such 
 were partakers of full Christian blessing, having the earnest of 
 the inheritance, for the Holy Ghost is the earnest (Ephes. i. 14), 
 and the Spirit of adoption too, for He also is that (Eom, viii. 
 15), by which they could cry, Abba, Father. Now having re- 
 ceived the Spirit, what did they lack of Christian blessing, the 
 fruit of divine grace ? Nothing. But how did they receive the 
 Spirit ? By works of law or by the hearing of faith ? They 
 knew. Hence the folly of their turning to be justified by the 
 law, and to be circumcised in order to become of the seed of 
 Abraham. They were that already. For, writes the apostle, 
 " If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs accord- 
 ing to the promise" (iii. 29). 
 
 Now how does the professor treat of this truth ? " The gift 
 of the Spirit," he writes (p. 68), " had, from the beginning, been 
 recognised as divinely attesting the receiver's Christianity, and 
 consequently settling the disputed question about Mosaic cere- 
 monial (Acts X. 44-48 ; xi. 15-18 ; xv. 6-17). The gift which 
 then was so recognised appears to have been, and in some cases 
 certainly was, properly miraculous (Acts x. 46 ; xii. 8-11). The 
 distinctively miraculous 'gifts' were, from the first, intended to be 
 superseded by the abiding ' graces ' of Christian character (1 Cor. 
 xiii. 8-13), which, also supernatural in their origin, are really evi- 
 dential (Ephes. ii. 17 ; 1 John iii. 14), though not so as to supersede 
 the abiding evidence of miracles done in the first age." Now this 
 statement confounds the gift of the Spirit with the gifts from the 
 Spirit. The Apostle referred to the former in Gal. iii. 2. Professor 
 Macgregor confounds it here with the latter, and asserts what 
 has no foundation in the Word, that the miraculous gifts were 
 from the first intended to be superseded by the abiding graces 
 
THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA. 321 
 
 of Christian character. The truth is, miraculous powers might 
 cease, but the abiding graces of Christian character would con- 
 tinue. They would not supersede the others, for they existed 
 from the first, even when miraculous powers were in the fullest 
 exercise (1 Cor. xiii. 13). But abiding Christian graces are not 
 what Scripture calls the gift of the Holy Ghost, nor are they 
 classed with the manifestations of the Spirit, but are contrasted 
 with them (1 Cor. xii. 31 ; xiv. 1). ISTor are all gifts of the 
 Spirit miraculous in their character. The word of wisdom, and 
 the word of knowledge, have these ceased to exist ? Has faith, 
 of which 1 Cor. xii. 9 treats, wholly ceased to be manifested ? 
 Has prophecy, as explained in 1 Cor. xiv. 3, died out? With 
 the exception of the first sentence the paragraph quoted above 
 evidences a want of understanding of the Scripture teaching 
 about the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Again, we read, p. 91, " What we get back is sonship. Adop- 
 tion we do not get back, we simply receive it." Indeed ! With 
 the last clause Ave can agree. But when did we lose sonship ? 
 Adoption is sonship, vioOeala. When did Gentiles, as such, 
 formerly enjoy it ? How do we become sons ? " Ye are all sons 
 of God by faith in Christ Jesus " (Gal. iii. 26). How did those 
 under law get it ? " God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, 
 made under the law, to redeem them that were Tinder the law, 
 that we might receive the sonship " (iv. 5). That " we might re- 
 ceive " it is the language of Scripture, not that any might get it 
 back, of which Scripture says not one word. Here, again, is 
 confusion. Sonship is not spoken of as the privilege of a crea- 
 ture unfallen, but of those who are redeemed by the blood of 
 Christ. We read not of angels that they participate in sonship, 
 vloOeala, though they all owe their existence to God the Father 
 of all. Servants they are, but they share not in sonship. 
 
 On points, then, of important Christian doctrine, this book 
 is unsound and defective. The Scripture teaching concerning 
 the righteousness of God, the law, and the Spirit, does not agree 
 with that set forth in its pages. Other points might be noticed, 
 but these fundamental ones may suffice. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 By James S. Candlish, D.D., Professor of Systematic Tlieology in the 
 Free Churcli College, Glasgow. 
 
 Creeds and confessions of faith are helpful in gathering up into 
 a short compass important articles of the Christian faith, but 
 they become real hindrances to truth when made standards by 
 which doctrinal teaching is to be measured and verified. In so 
 far as they correctly summarise certain truths they are of use. 
 But no creed that men have ever drawn up, no confession of 
 faith ever yet issued, how^ever comprehensive in teaching, or 
 scriptural in statement, is fitted to be the standard by which 
 the teaching of professing Christians can be fully tried. A con- 
 fession of faith may meet the burning questions of the day in 
 which it is compiled, but experience proves that it cannot 
 wholly provide all that may be needed by another generation. 
 The creeds of Christendom, called the Apostles', the Mcene, and 
 the Athanasian, drawn up one after the other, witness to this ; 
 and the various confessions of faith, under whatever name they 
 may be called, that at different times have been framed and 
 published, plainly prove the dissatisfaction of their authors with 
 those already in existence. Teaching, too, may be in harmony 
 with a recognised confession of faith which is directly contra- 
 dicted by the Word of God. Thus whilst the Scriptures tell us 
 that Christians have been reconciled to God by the death of His 
 Son (Eom. v. ; Coloss. i.), the second article of the Church of 
 England asserts that the Lord Jesus died to reconcile His 
 Father to us. To be orthodox, then, in teaching, if bound by a 
 confession of faith, one may have to assert and contend for as 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 323 
 
 truth that which the written Word of God either has not 
 declared to be such, or flatly, it may be, contradicts. A 
 few examples from the Westminster Confession of Faith will 
 illustrate this. And we turn now to that confession because 
 the book under review appeals to it, and seems to uphold it 
 as Scripturally correct. We give a few statements taken at 
 random. 
 
 The Westminster Confession of Faith tells us in Chapter 
 IV. that God created, or made of nothing, the world, and all 
 things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six 
 days. Scripture has nowhere said this, and carefully, it would 
 appear, draws a distinction between the creating the heavens 
 and the earth in the beginning, and the making of the earth and 
 the heavens in six days (Gen. i. 2 ; Exod. xx.) And certain it 
 is that God did not make the heavens and earth out of nothing. 
 Again it tells us (Chapter VI.) that every sin, both original and 
 actual, is a transgression of the righteous law of God. Scrip- 
 ture, on the other hand, states that death reigned, from Adam to 
 Moses, over them that had not sinned after the similitude of 
 Adam's " transgression " (Eom. v. 14). It tells us, too, that the 
 Gentiles had not the law (Eom. ii. 14), that it entered that the 
 offence might abound (Eom. v. 20), and that was not till 430 
 years after the promise to Abraham (Gal. iii. 17). Again, we 
 read of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world (Chap. 
 VIII.), a manifest mistake from not understanding the words of 
 Eev. xiii. 8, as may be seen by comparing them with Eev. xvii. 
 8. The names were written in the Lamb's book from that date, 
 not that the Lamb was slain from that time. Once more, in 
 Chap. XIX., we are told that " God gave to Adam a law, as a 
 covenant of works, by which He bound him, and all his pos- 
 terity, to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience ; pro- 
 mised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the 
 breach of it." God did warn Adam of death if he disobeyed 
 His command, but did not promise him life, nor announce 
 that He would bind his posterity either. A similar statement as 
 
324 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 " to the promise of life to Adam, and iu liim to his posterity," is 
 met with in Chap. VII., but found in no chapter of either the 
 Okl or New Testament. Now, if men are to teacli by this con- 
 fession, they must teach things which God's Word does not, and 
 things which it directly controverts. Are standards of human 
 authority, we may ask, to override the paramount authority of 
 the Word ? If loyal to the confession of faith it is clear that 
 such a composition must override the divine Word ; and any- 
 thing wdiich it has omitted to notice, however important it may 
 be in the Word of God, no one bound by the confession could be 
 dealt with for denying. Hence appeals as to orthodoxy are not 
 made to the Word of God, but to the confession and standards, as 
 they are called; and so man, not God, is made the judge to deter- 
 mine what is needful to be held as an article of faith or main- 
 tained as a portion of revealed truth. 
 
 But our business now is not with the Westminster Confession 
 of Faith, but with the book noticed at the head of this article. 
 Enough has been quoted from that confession to demonstrate 
 that its statements cannot be accepted as Scripturally true, 
 unless established by proofs from the written Word. As a sum- 
 mary of certain doctrines it may be useful, but even then its 
 statements may need correction. As a standard it cannot be 
 taken, unless the Westminster divines are more worthy of being 
 listened to than God the Holy Ghost. Nor can it be accepted 
 as a compendium of all the important doctrines which should 
 be believed, to accredit a person as sound and instructed in the 
 faith. We should look in vain for any recognition of the proper 
 hope of the Church, the coming of the Lord Jesus into the air 
 for His saints, of which the Lord spoke, and the Epistles of Paul 
 treat ; or for any teaching regarding the millennial reign of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the theme of prophecy in the Old Testament, 
 the expectation of His saints also in the New. Teaching, too, 
 about the Church of God, and the presence of the Holy Ghost 
 on earth, cardinal truths of Christianity, were but little appre- 
 hended by the divines assembled at Westminster, and certainly 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 325 
 
 but poorly set forth. And when we read the chapter on bap- 
 tism, which states that it is to the baptized person " a sign and 
 seal of the covenant of grace, and of his engrafting into Christ," 
 one wonders, if that statement be correct, how they could add, 
 towards the close of that chapter (sect, v.), that all baptized are 
 not undoubtedly regenerated. The truth is, that amidst much 
 that is true and valuable, the Scripture doctrine of baptism they 
 had not fully laid hold of, so those good men unintentionally 
 taught about it what is foreign to the Word, and landed them- 
 selves in contradictions fraught with the gravest peril to truth. 
 
 What, then, it may be asked, is the teaching of Scripture on 
 baptism ? Let us turn to the divine Word for an answer to that 
 question. In the New Testament we meet with three different 
 baptisms — that of John, that instituted by the Lord, and that 
 of the Holy Ghost. The two first were effected by water ; the 
 last by the coming of the Holy Ghost. Now, these are never 
 confounded, though the two former are always termed (Sd'xriff/jja, 
 hai^tisma, never /3aTr/(f,«,os, ha2)tismos, which latter term is con- 
 fined, in its use in the New Testament, to the Jewish rite of 
 washing cups, pots, brazen vessels, or tables (Mark vii. ; 
 Heb. vi. 2 ; ix. 10). The baptism of John was only for a time, 
 i.e. during the ministry of the Baptist. The baptism insti- 
 tuted by the Lord Jesus was for all His disciples, from Pentecost 
 until He returns to reign, as the commission in Matthew 
 (xxviii. 19, 20) would seem to intimate. The baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost, baptizing all believers into one body, is limited to 
 Christian times, which, commencing with Pentecost, will termi- 
 nate with the rapture of the saints (1 Thess. iv. 15-18). 
 
 The baptism of John was appointed for all whose consciences 
 were stirred by his preaching of repentance. The person who 
 heard him, and was convicted, and repented, owned, by sub- 
 mitting to that rite at his hands, that he had failed utterly and 
 hopelessly under the law, but, confessing his sins and repenting 
 of them, awaited the mercy of God to be manifested in forgive- 
 ness of his sins. For though John preached the baptism of 
 
326 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 repentance for Hg, remission of sins (Mark i. 4), — the forgiveness 
 desired by the one baptized — John could not confer. But 
 every one who truly repented, and owned it by being thus 
 baptized, could know that he was on the way to enjoy it. The 
 announcement of forgiveness of sins was reserved _f or the Lord 
 Jesus Christ first to declare (Luke vii. 49). Thus John's bap- 
 tism marked a transitional state of things between the law and 
 the enjoyment of grace. All baptized by him expressed thereby 
 that they had failed under the law, and that nothing was left 
 for them but to rest on the sovereign mercy of God. The rite 
 was a telling one, and a humbling one. Eighteousness by works 
 of law, each baptized one confessed by that rite that it was 
 impossible for him to obtain. Hence reality was desired by 
 John in all who went out to him to Jordan ; so he challenged 
 those who, following in the general movement, came to be bap- 
 tized without truly repenting of their sins, " generation of 
 vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? 
 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance " (Matt. iii. 7). 
 Grace, life, or salvation, it is clear then John's baptism could 
 not confer ; else why warn souls of the necessity of a work in 
 the heart if they would escape the wrath to come. 
 
 To this ordinance the Lord Jesus submitted that He might 
 enter in by the door into the sheepfold, for, conforming to 
 all Jehovah's appointed ordinances. He thereby fulfilled all 
 righteousness. But subsequently, after His resurrection. He 
 instituted the rite of Christian baptism, which, like that of 
 John, is a baptism of water. But differing from John, the Lord 
 Jesus Himself never baptized with water, though it was reported, 
 but the Evangelist corrects the report, that He did. " Though," 
 writes John, " Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples " 
 (John iv. 2). Was that spoken of in John iv. Christian baptism ? 
 Clearly not, Christian baptism is burial with Christ unto death, 
 as Ptom. vi. 4 states. Hence Christian baptism could not be, and 
 we know was not, instituted till after the Lord's resurrection. 
 Is John's baptism and Christian baptism the same ? If so, why 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 327 
 
 did the Lord institute the latter ? In truth these have nothing 
 to do with each other. And Paul makes that plain in Acts 
 xix. 3-5, where certain disciples, believers, who had been baptized 
 unto John's baptism, were baptized with Christian baptism when 
 the apostle taught them the essential difference between them. 
 John baptized in view pf One that was to come. Christian 
 baptism is the acknowledgment that He has come, has died, 
 and is risen. Hence baptism at the hand of John did not stand 
 in the place of Christian baptism. The differences between them 
 are essential. To confound them w^ould indicate ignorance of 
 Scripture teaching respecting them. 
 
 Does Christian baptism confer life or salvation ? It should 
 be remarked that, when the Lord instituted it. He commanded 
 His disciples to baptize, but made no provision for those whom 
 He addressed to be baptized ; nor is there a hint that they ever 
 were baptized with Christian baptism, though they j)i'operly 
 insisted on all who believed on and after Pentecost submitting 
 to that rite, "He that believeth and is baptized," we read, 
 " shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be condemned " 
 (Mark xvi, 16). No one who was not willing, after the death 
 and resurrection of the Lord, to confess Him openly by being 
 baptized unto His name could reckon on salvation. The rite 
 does not confer it. But the one who believes and is baptized 
 has it. Paul, then, was baptized with Christian baptism, whereas 
 Peter was not, and their writings agree as to this. Paul, writing 
 of it to the Eomans, owns that he and they had submitted to it 
 (vi. 4). Peter, addressing those believers from among the Jews 
 who had never seen the Lord, writes that baptism now saves 
 you, not us, as the Textus Receptus reads. Life then, and salvation 
 do not flow from it, else all Christians must have passed through 
 it ; nor, if that were the case, could any have received the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost without it, whereas Cornelius and 
 his friends received that gift previous to their being baptized 
 (Acts X. 47), and the one hundred and twenty in the upper 
 room at Pentecost received the same gift without any provision 
 
328 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 having been made for their baptism in the name of the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 In truth, these last did not need it, as we can understand 
 when we ask of the same Scriptures what Christian baptism 
 really is. The answer to this question is given us in the writings 
 of Paul. The practical teaching about it is furnished by the 
 epistles of both Peter and Paul. Addressing the Galatians iii. 27. 
 Paul says, " as many of you as have been baptized et? unto 
 Christ have j)ut on Christ." By baptism, then, we put on Christ. 
 It is profession of discipleship. It speaks of what we put on. 
 It does not impart anything to us within. The putting on 
 Christ is not the same as having Christ in us. Of old all who 
 passed through the Eed Sea were baptized unto et? Moses in the 
 cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. x. 2). All believers since Pente- 
 cost have been baptized unto et? Christ, thereby openly enter- 
 ing the ranks of His disciples, to be known as such before all 
 the world. When He was upon earth His disciples were seen 
 and known to be such, as they journeyed about with Him, or 
 owned Him to be their Teacher, and obeyed what He said to 
 them. Such had no need to be baptized after His resurrection 
 to be ranked as disciples of Christ. They had taken their place 
 as disciples already. But since He has actually died, passing 
 off this scene by death, how can people now be put into His 
 company ? If they actually died, they would be no longer on 
 earth. That would not do. So they are buried with Him by 
 baptism unto death, for burial is the open declaration that any 
 one has passed off this scene ; as Abraham, addressing the sons 
 of Heth, asked for a possession of a burying-place that he might 
 bury his dead out of his sight (Gen. xxiii. 4). Would any desire, 
 from fear of man, to be a disciple of Christ in secret, and so 
 decline to confess Him openly by baptism ? Scripture would 
 not own such a one as a disciple, nor could that person be 
 riglitly credited with the name of a Christian. So Peter, ad- 
 dressing those Jews who were pricked to their heart on the day 
 of Pentecost, told them (Acts ii.) to repent and be baptized every 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 329 
 
 one of them in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
 sins, and they would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. They 
 had outwardly to separate from Judaism, and openly to be en- 
 rolled as disciples of Christ. And so really was this rite under- 
 stood to be the confession of discipleship, that Paul at Corinth 
 baptized himself but few, lest any should say that he baptized 
 unto et9 his own name (1 Cor. i. 15). Burial, then, by baptism 
 with Christ can alone now put a person openly and professedly in 
 His company. 
 
 Hence the careful reader may remark that Christian baptism 
 is defined as burial, not death, though it is " unto death." " We 
 are buried with Christ by baptism unto death " (Eom. vi. 4). 
 " Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with 
 Him through faith of the operation of God, who raised Him 
 from the dead" (Col. ii. 12). Burial with Christ, and resurrec- 
 tion with Him, are what that rite sets forth. It is profession, 
 for we have thereby put on Christ. It is burial with Him unto 
 death, so should not be mere empty profession. But no one, 
 now on earth, can be put into the company of Christ, except as 
 he is baptized unto Him. And since it is as the One who died 
 that we know Him, we are baptized unto His death. By this 
 rite then, as Colossians teaches, we get a position we could not 
 otherwise procure. Three points we may now see come out 
 with distinctness. Firstly, We understand why those who were 
 disciples before the cross were commissioned to baptize others, 
 but were never commanded to be baptized themselves. They 
 were disciples already, and were openly recognised as such, so 
 needed not to conform to that rite. But all who professed to 
 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ after His death could only by 
 baptism be enrolled as disciples of Christ. Secondly, We see 
 from Acts xix. that John's baptism was in no sense a substitute 
 for Christian baptism. And Tliirdly, since the rite speaks of 
 burial unto death, it neither imparts life nor salvation. Of this 
 Simon Magus is a proof, who, though baptized, had neither the 
 one nor the other; and the Apostle, in Colossians ii. 13, makes 
 
 Z 
 
330 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 that plain. There quickening with Christ and forgiveness are 
 viewed as distinct from baptism. The latter has to do with 
 position on earth before God and man. The former have to do 
 with the Christian's standing before God. Eeferences, therefore, 
 to such portions as John iii., Ephes. v. 26, Titus iii. 5, are quite 
 out of place when treating of baptism. The bath or laver of 
 regeneration has not to do with that rite. Titus iii. 5 speaks of 
 what takes place in the soul ; baptism of the position on earth 
 into which a person is thereby brought. The water, of John 
 iii., Ephes. v. 26, is the Word of God, by which, as well as by 
 the Spirit, the believer is begotten of God, and is cleansed from 
 his old ways when he gives heed to what it says. Ephes. v. 26, 
 explains that water is the divine Word ; and James i. 18, and 
 1 Peter i. 23, tell us we are begotten by the Word, which, we 
 elsewhere learn, acts on the soul as water does on the body 
 (Ps. cxix. 9 ; John xv. 3). Baptism, then, is not the new birth, 
 nor regeneration, nor the means by which it is brought about. 
 It is not the beginning of the new life, though it is the starting- 
 point of Christian profession. How much confusion and wrong 
 doctrine has been introduced by mixing up profession and stand- 
 ing, and by attributing to all those who are in the House of 
 God the spiritual blessings of those who are members of the 
 Body of Christ. 
 
 We have spoken, in some measure, of what baptism is. 
 We would remind our readers of the connection in which it is 
 doctrinally introduced. Where Christian standing is the sub- 
 ject baptism is not named. Where Christian profession, and 
 the proper practice of a Christian are treated of, there it has its 
 place. In Eom. iii.-v. we should look in vain for a trace of it. 
 In chap, vi., where the Christian's walk is the subject, baptism 
 is introduced. In Galatians iii. the apostle refers to it as 
 a witness of the folly of their new doctrines. Would they 
 Judaise ? Wliat had they professed by their baptism ? They 
 had put on Christ. Now in Him there was neither Jew 
 nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female. Nationalities, social 
 
THE CHRIST I A N SA CRAMENTS. Z2> i 
 
 position, sexual distinctions, all disappear in Christ. Why then 
 Judaise ? The ground they were taking up was diametri- 
 cally opposed to all that they had professed by their baptism. 
 In Ephesians iv. 5 it is plainly connected with profession — one 
 Lord., one faith, one baptism. In Colossians it reminds us of 
 the position that we have with Christ, and in 1 Peter iii. we learn 
 how in connection with it we can have a good conscience before 
 God. For as those saved at the flood never left earth, but were 
 landed by its waters in a new scene, so baptism puts us in a 
 new position without our leaving earth, and by the resurrection of 
 Christ we have what is desired, eTre/jeoTT^/Aa, a good conscience 
 before God. In this way it saves. The salvation of those in 
 the ark determined nothing really about their soul's everlasting 
 condition before God. Baptism in saving us determines nothing 
 about our soul's everlasting condition either, but, acting up to 
 what is professed by baptism, the individual will have what he 
 desires, a good conscience before God ; " buried with Christ in 
 baptism, wherein also he is risen with Him through faith of the 
 operation of God who raised Him from the dead." In this 
 way it saves ; and as in the Epistles of Paul, so in that of Peter, 
 it is introduced where walk is insisted on, not where the Chris- 
 tian standing is the subject in hand (1 Peter iii. 17 — iv. 6). Of 
 the soul's salvation Peter had previously written (1 Peter i. 9). 
 One other passage there is which we have not yet noticed. Paul 
 in recounting before the Jews at Jerusalem the history of his 
 conversion, gives them, what we read not of elsewhere, the word 
 of Ananias telling him what he should do : " And now why tarriest 
 thou ? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling 
 on the name of the Lord " (Acts xxii. 16). Life in his soul Saul 
 already possessed, but as yet he had not openly taken Christian 
 ground. That he was to do, entering by baptism into a new 
 position on earth, and clearing himself from all association with 
 the past, calling upon the name of the Lord, i.e. openly profess- 
 ing to own Him whom God hath made Lord and Christ. Here, as 
 elsewhere, baptism has to do with profession and position. It 
 
332 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 did not, it does not, confer grace. Life it cannot communicate. 
 The soul's salvation it cannot secure. Forgiveness of sins be- 
 fore God it cannot procure. No external rite can affect tlie 
 soul's standing before' its Maker, though this rite changes the 
 person's position on earth before God and his fellow-creatures. 
 To the baptism of the Holy Ghost we must now turn. This 
 concerns only true believers in Christ. None can receive the 
 Holy Ghost, and thereby share in the results of this baptism, 
 except such as have received the gospel of their salvation by 
 believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephes. i. 13). That it differs 
 from John's baptism the Baptist himself declared. He baptized 
 with water. The Lord Jesus would baptize with the Holy 
 Ghost, which He did, when, having received of the Father the 
 promise of the Holy Ghost (for the Holy Ghost is what was 
 promised), He shed forth that, which on the day of Pentecost 
 was both seen and heard. Then it was the true disciples of 
 Christ, whohad been baptized of John in Juda3a,were baptized with 
 the Holy Ghost. Clearly, therefore, these two are quite distinct 
 — and not less distinct is the baptism of the Spirit, from baptism 
 in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Cor- 
 nelius, and those in his house who shared in the results of the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost, were, nevertheless, obliged to be 
 baptized with water. Those in Samaria who had been bap- 
 tized with water, had need, nevertheless, to receive by the 
 apostles' hands the gift of the Holy Ghost, by whose indwelling 
 presence in each of them they were made partakers of the results 
 of this baptism. What, then, does the baptism of the Holy 
 Ghoet do for us ? By one Spirit all believers are baptized 
 into one body (1 Cor. xii. 13). Christian baptism by water 
 enrols all who submit to it as disciples of Christ ; making them 
 Christians by profession, if that profession even be only in 
 name. In the power of one Spirit all true believers are bap- 
 tized into one body. The House of God, in its wide aspect 
 called also the Church or Assembly of God, embraces all those 
 who have been baptized with water in the name of the Trinity. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 333 
 
 The body of Christ, coterminous only with the House of God 
 in its restricted aspect, is formed of those who share in the 
 blessing of the baptism of the Spirit. John's baptism was 
 administered only by himself. Christian baptism, though insti- 
 tuted by the Lord Jesus Christ, was never administered by 
 Him. But He and He alone baptized with the Holy Ghost. 
 
 With the Scriptures fresh in our remembrance which treat 
 of these important subjects, we may now turn to see whether 
 or not the book, at the head of this article, is in accordance with 
 their teaching on Christian baptism. 
 
 The answer must be in the negative, for the writer confounds 
 the baptism of John with that instituted by the Lord Jesus, 
 and this latter with that of the Holy Ghost. Confusion on these 
 points cannot consist with clear Scriptural teaching on any one 
 of them. 
 
 " There was no difference in the outward rite between the 
 baptism of John, that of Jesus' disciples during His life on 
 earth, and that which He commanded His disciples to administer 
 after His resurrection ; nor does there seem to have been any 
 difference in the meaning and purpose of the ordinance in each 
 case ; although with the successive stages in which the ordi- 
 nance is found, there was an advance in the fulness and clearness 
 with which the spiritual things signified by it were understood 
 and appropriated " (p. 48). What a sentence for a professor of 
 Systematic theology to pen ! Both, it is true, were effected by 
 water. But granting that, was there no difference in the outward 
 rite ? Christian baptism is in the name of the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost. The revelation of the Father was only made 
 by Christ ; John never could, and never did baptize in the name of 
 the Trinity, No difference in the meaning and purpose of the 
 ordinance ! John baptized with water unto repentance. We 
 are baptized unto the death of Christ. Nothing could be more 
 marked than the differences between them. In the teaching of 
 Professor Candlish all is confusion. In the teaching of the 
 divine Word there is clearness and precision. 
 
334 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Asain tlie Professor writes " In the New Testament we are 
 more distinctly told tliat it is Christ who baptizes, who sanctifies 
 the Church by the washing of water, and that it is by the Holy 
 Spirit that He does so. Christ is the immediate agent, and the 
 Holy Ghost is the cleansing element in the washing that 
 baptism represents. Hence we see that it is not only forgive- 
 ness, or deliverance from the guilt of sin, but a thorough purging 
 of the soul from the pollution of evil desires, evil imaginations, 
 evil thoughts, that is meant by the baptism of the Spirit " (p. 
 55). " Baptism teaches, fourth, that by this process of death 
 with Christ and new birth, we become His as our Lord and God." 
 " The real unity is effected by the inward baptism of the Spirit. 
 . . . But of this real spiritual unity the rite of baptism is a 
 type and sign. . . . Baptism is the great symbol of the unity 
 of the Church of Christ, under Him her one Head" (pp. 56, 57). 
 " Thus we find Paul frequently appealing to baptism as teaching 
 truths that those whom he addressed seemed not to know, or 
 to have forgotten, e.g., the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts xix. 3-6) ; 
 the unity of tlie Church (1 Cor. i. 13) ; the necessity of holiness 
 Eom. vi. 3, 4 " (p. 79). 
 
 Here the baptism of the Spirit is confounded with baptism 
 by water. But neither the baptism by water, nor that of the 
 Spirit, nor any baptism of which sinful men are the subjects, 
 deliver from the guilt of sin. That is effected by blood, not 
 by water, as we are taught that " without shedding of blood is no 
 remission" (Heb. ix. 22). Further, water baptism never did, and 
 never can make us Christ's. Eom. viii. 9 is clear on that point. 
 " If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is not of him." 
 No one belongs to Christ who has not received the Holy Ghost. 
 But baptism by water does not confer that gift. The history of 
 the Acts to which we have already referred puts that beyond 
 doubt or controversy. Nor is it even the sign of it. Baptism 
 by water is an act on behalf of an individual. The baptism of 
 the Spirit had for its subject the whole assembled company. 
 Nor does Paul ever appeal to water baptism to teach saints 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 335 
 
 about the unity of the Church ; 1 Cor, i. 13, reproves them for the 
 parties allowed in the assembly at Corinth, but does not teach 
 how the unity of the Church is effected. How strange, too, that 
 if Christian baptism teaches truth concerning the unity of the 
 Church, Paul, who was the chosen vessel to reveal and insist on 
 that truth, was sent, he tells us in that very chapter (1 Cor. i. 
 17), by Christ not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. 
 
 Starting with confused thoughts about water baptism and 
 that of the Spirit, we cannot wonder if the teaching about the 
 former turns out to be anything but Scriptural. A few quota- 
 tions will show the reader what it is. " The new life begins 
 with union to Christ in the Spirit's work of effectual calling, in 
 which faith begins. . . . Thus by the sacraments, as really as 
 by the Word, God truly presents Christ to us that we may 
 receive Him by faith, and that receiving Him we may have life, 
 and have it more abundantly" (p. 35). Life and union are here 
 confounded. Union, we learn in the Word, is for those who have 
 life, for such only receive the Holy Ghost, by whose indwelling 
 presence in them union with Christ is effected. No one but a be- 
 liever receives the Holy Ghost. To have life souls are born of 
 water and of the Spirit. To be united to Christ life must pre- 
 viously exist in the soul. Again we read, page 37 — "When a 
 believer is baptized, he receives Christ for the washing away of 
 his sins ; " on page 39, " that the sacraments become effectual 
 means of salvation ; " and on page 41, that " the sacraments are 
 means of grace in the same sense and way as the Word is, both 
 being alike presentations of God's truths and promises in Christ, 
 and of Christ Himself in them, to the minds and hearts of men, 
 made effectual by the Holy Ghost, through faith on our part. 
 But there are also certain differences between them, from which it 
 appears to whom the sacraments ought to be administered. The 
 sacraments being appendages to the Word, like illustrations to a 
 book, and tokens to a promise, are of no avail without the Word ; 
 whereas it, even without the sacraments, would present to our 
 faith Jesus Christ with all His benefits." If the Word can thus 
 
336 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 act without the sacraments to present to our faith Christ with 
 all His benefits, of what use are the sacraments, we might reason- 
 ably ask ? Bewilderment and astonishment must take possession 
 of the student of such a book as that to which we are calling 
 attention, for we read on page 42, " The Word naturally comes 
 before the sacraments, and they cannot profit those who have 
 not first heard and believed the Word." Again, " Who ought to 
 seek or come forward to the sacraments ? The answer that must 
 be given is, Only those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." And yet the sacraments are effectual means of salva- 
 tion, and by them Christ is received, for the recipient to have 
 life and that more abundantly. Surely such writing is darken- 
 ing counsel by words without knowledge. Are souls born of 
 God by the sacraments ? They are by the Word. Do souls re- 
 ceive everlasting life by the sacraments ? They do by coming 
 to Christ, and that is by believing on Him. Life is received 
 now by hearing the voice of the Son of God (John v. 25 ; vi. 
 40, 47). How clear is Scripture, but how misleading is this 
 book. At one moment we are told that the sacraments — mark 
 not baptism only, but the Lord's Supper as well — are means of 
 salvation, by which, receiving Christ, we have life. Hence both 
 sacraments, of course, must be received for a soul to possess 
 everlasting life ; yet Cornelius and his company received the 
 Holy Ghost, the plainest token that they had life without par- 
 taking of either. At another time we are taught that those only 
 who have life, and believed to have it, should partake of them. 
 All this may be systematic theology, but it is not true Christian 
 teaching, though it may be in harmony with the Westminster 
 Confession of Faith, and with the Larger and Sliorter Catechism. 
 But in truth there is great confusion. What is done by the 
 Word, and what is done by the sacrament, are quite distinct. 
 What is done by the sacrament the Word could not do. What 
 is done by the AVord the sacrament could not accomplish. By 
 the Word comes life and cleansing. By baptism we are buried 
 with Christ unto death. By partaking of the Supper we show 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 337 
 
 both the Lord's death, and that all who partake are members 
 one of another. And little need we wonder at any amount of 
 confusion and doctrinal error, when we read the following 
 startling statement in page 21 : — "When we see the sacraments 
 administered, we look upon rites that have been observed con- 
 tinually for the last 1800 years, and that are undoubtedly the 
 same that Jesus directed His disciples to observe, and Himself 
 observed along with thciii." The italics are ours. Indeed ! Was the 
 Lord Jesus Christ buried with Himself by baptism unto death ? 
 Did He eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of 
 Himself? Was His body given for Himself? Was His blood 
 shed for the remission of His sins ? ! ! Does the professor un- 
 derstand the purport of such a sentence ? Surely if any one 
 was to characterise such language as it deserves, it would be in 
 terms anything but complimentary to the author. The Lord did 
 direct His disciples to baptize, as Matthew relates. He did tell 
 His disciples to remember Him by partaking of the Lord's 
 Supper. But He never was, nor could have been, baptized with 
 Christian baptism ; nor did He eat of the Lord's Supper with 
 them, as Luke shows, who alone of the Evangelists distinguishes 
 between the Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper. Chap. xxii. 
 15-18 refers to the former; vv. 19, 20, tell us of the latter. 
 
 Thus far we have briefly looked at the writer's teaching about 
 the sacraments in general, and that of baptism in particidar. 
 Want of adherence to that which Scripture says, as well as con- 
 tradictory teaching, characterises also what is written about the 
 Supper of the Lord. At page 92 we are told that at the Supper 
 " there must always be present at the observance one qualified 
 to teach the people, and it is natural and fitting that he sliould 
 preside in the feast, not however as one of a superior order, 
 but as one of the brethren, who not only gives the symbolical 
 elements to the others but also in turn receives them from them." 
 What may be the meaning of this last clause we have not ex- 
 plained to us. But where, within the two covers of the sacred 
 volume, do we read of the necessity of one being present at the 
 
338 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Supper qualified to teach the people ? Where do we read in 
 the institution of the Supper, either in the Gospels or in the 
 first Epistle to the Corinthians, of the need of a teacher at such 
 a time ? There is room for teaching if the Lord provides for it, but 
 the Word says nothing about the necessity of it. For the pur- 
 pose for which the saints are there gathered is to show the Lord's 
 death, and to give thanks at the remembrance of it. The cha- 
 racteristic service at the table is not that of teaching, but that 
 of thanksgiving. AVhen teaching goes on the company are re- 
 ceiving instruction. When thanksgiving flows out they are 
 giving to God. What the Lord did at the institution of the 
 Supper was to give thanks. After the Supper He spoke at 
 length (John xiv.-xvi.) These services are quite distinct. And 
 who would think of presiding at the Lord's Table if conscious 
 that He Himself is present ? The table is His, and all His 
 people are there as guests. 
 
 At page 95 we have another most erroneous statement : "In 
 the very words of the Supper He declares that His blood is 
 shed in order to remission of sins, and as that of the new 
 covenant between God and man." The same mistake about the 
 new covenant occurs on page 101. Now this is simply a ques- 
 tion of What saith the Scriptures ? With whom is the new 
 covenant to be made, for it is not yet made ? With the house 
 of Israel and the house of Judah (Jer. xxxi. 31 ; Heb. viii. 8). 
 The new covenant between God and man is all a mistake. The 
 blood of the new covenant has been shed. The new covenant 
 will not be made whilst the Body of Christ is still on earth, 
 though, as the blood on which it will rest has been shed. 
 Christians do share in the blessings which Israel will enjoy 
 under it, viz. the knowledge of God and forgiveness of sins. A 
 new covenant then between God and man is a wholly unscriptural 
 thought. 
 
 Again we read, page 95, " As the bread and wine are not 
 only held up for our contemplation, but held forth for our recep- 
 tion, we are taught that the Saviour is not only presented as an 
 
THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 339 
 
 object of historical belief and admiration, but offered to us for 
 personal appropriation . . . The giving of the elements 
 thus represents the free offering of Christ in the gospel, and the 
 receiving of them represents the acceptance of that offer by- 
 faith, and indicates that saving faith implies a real vital appro- 
 priation of Christ . . . We are to close with Christ on the 
 cross, bearing the chastisement of our peace, and dying for us." 
 Again, on page 104, in a paragraph stating that the Supper was 
 designed for disciples, we are told "This is an action which 
 would have no meaning as done by one who does not believe in 
 Christ, and is not willing to receive Him as offered in the 
 gospel." Thus it would follow from this teaching that the table 
 is open, not only for those who have received Christ, but also 
 for those who are willing to do so, in other words, for souls still 
 unsaved. But on page 105 we are told that " those only who are 
 truly united to Christ by saving faith ought to come foward to 
 partake of it." Such uncertainty in teaching is, however, little 
 to be wondered at when human statements are the standards to 
 which appeal is made rather than the divine Word. How can 
 one be clear if the standards, in accordance with which he would 
 teach, are cloudy in their statements? How can one teach 
 Scripturally if those standards are unscriptural in their state- 
 ments ? 
 
 Enough has been quoted to show the unsatisfactoriness of 
 Professor Candlish's teaching on the sacraments. As a guide to 
 such subjects it is untrustworthy and uncertain, as any one con- 
 versant with the teaching of Scripture may readily perceive. 
 But his book may serve a useful purpose, if it demonstrates the 
 grave mistake of making the teaching of the present day conform 
 to the standards of the Church of Scotland drawn up two 
 hundred years ago. Grateful as we all ought to be for the stand 
 made by our forefathers for the truth, we should nevertheless 
 remember that each movement in the Church of God for the 
 truth's sake has but resulted in a partial recovery of the whole 
 teaching of Scripture known in apostolic times. To insist on 
 
340 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 conformity to the standards as drawn up two centuries back, is 
 virtually to declare that Scripture has nothing more of moment 
 to teach than what was then apprehended. Thus, what were 
 designed as bulwarks against the special errors of their day 
 become hindrances to the full opening up of the Word of God, 
 and the doctrinal statements of uninspired though good men are 
 in danger of blinding the eyes and prejudicing the heart against 
 fuller teaching from the divine Word. To the written Word we 
 should all go, and by its teaching be guided, advocating the 
 fullest inquiry into the truth of Scripture with the most perfect 
 subjection to the teaching of the divine Word. This will keep 
 us from upholding on the one hand creeds or confessions of faith 
 where they are not doctrinally correct ; and will preserve us, on 
 the other hand, from that spirit of insubjection which leads man 
 to sit in judgment on the revelation of the divine mind, graciously 
 vouchsafed us by our God. 
 
BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 Note on Dan. ix. 24-27. 
 
 The seventy years' captivity were nearly ended. They, began 
 with Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of the land of Judah in the 
 fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Daniel and others were carried 
 captive by him, previous to Nabopolassar's death, which took 
 place about two years afterwards. Hence it is that whilst the 
 Jews looked on him as king when he invaded their land (Jer. 
 XXV. 1), the Babylonians only reckoned his regnal years from 
 the death of his father. At the time of the battle of Carchemish, 
 where Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho, and changed thereby 
 the aspect of affairs in Asia and Syria, Nabopolassar, his father, 
 was still alive. Following up that victory, Nebuchadnezzar 
 entered Palestine and received the submission of Jehoiakim in 
 the third year, as Daniel states, of the Jewish monarch's reign, 
 or the fourth year, as Jeremiah describes it. From this the 
 captivity dated, for they were to serve the king of Babylon 
 seventy years (Jer. xxv. 11, 12). 
 
 Daniel, understanding by books the number of the years 
 whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, 
 that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of 
 Jerusalem, set his face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer 
 and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes (ix. 1-3). 
 The chief minister of Darius, who was made king over the 
 realm of the Chaldeans, was before his God in self-abasement 
 and dependance, asking for Jerusalem and for his people, but 
 reminding God that it was His city and His people. An 
 answer comes by means of Gabriel, which reveals the whole 
 
342 BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 of God's purpose about the city and the people called by His 
 name. 
 
 The seventy years of captivity were well nigh ended. Seventy 
 weeks, or heptads of years were still determined upon Daniel's 
 people and his city ere the transgression would be shut up, not 
 to be sought for any more, sins wovild be sealed up (or finished, 
 according to the K'ri), iniquity atoned for, vision and prophecy 
 sealed up, and the holy of holies anointed. The whole period 
 thus designated as seventy heptads or weeks, Gabriel next pro- 
 ceeded to explain that they would be broken up into three 
 distinct portions — viz., seven heptads, or 49 years ; sixty- 
 two heptads, or 434 years ; and one heptad, or 7 years, — for 
 years they must be, as is clear from the time which elapsed 
 between their commencement and the appearance of the Lord 
 Jesas Christ. Seventy years had the Jews to undergo captivity 
 at Babylon ; seventy heptads of years would run by from the 
 going forth of the command to rebuild the city to the bringing 
 in of everlasting righteousness. 
 
 But from whence was this period to date ? Daniel had 
 been praying about the city and his people. The revelation 
 concerned both these ; and from the commandment going forth 
 to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, 
 there would elapse seven heptads, and sixty-two heptads, or 
 sixty-nine in all. From whence then does the period here 
 indicated start ? Now, we have four different decrees of Per- 
 sian monarchs in Scripture. Cyrus issued one, Darius one, and 
 Artaxerxes issued two — one in his seventh year (Ezra vii. 11- 
 26), and another in the twentieth year of his reign (Neh. ii. 1-8). 
 Now, of these decrees the first was to build the house at Jeru- 
 salem (Ezra i. 3), the second was to finish it (Ezra vi. 1-12, 14), 
 the third was to beautify it (Ezra vii. 27), and the fourth was 
 to build the city of Nehemiah's father's sepulchre (Neh. ii. 5). 
 Hence we must date the commencement of the weeks from the 
 twentieth year of Artaxerxes, and the commission entrusted to 
 Nehemiah. 
 
BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 343 
 
 But what year was that in the world's history ? Profane 
 historians generally agree in placing the twentieth year of 
 Artaxerxes at 445 B.C. ; adding to that the years of the Lord's 
 life to His death, which would be 29, we find the period of 
 483 years or sixty-nine weeks runs on beyond the date of the 
 cross. That cannot really be ; and however difficult it may be 
 as yet to harmonise the dates in profane history with the years 
 as numbered by Daniel, we may be sure that God's word is 
 right, and research may yet verify its accuracy ; and if Heng- 
 stenberg, quoted in a little work called The Dates and Chrono- 
 logy of Scripture, be correct,^ the solution has been already dis- 
 covered. The year of Xerxes' death was, he states, 474 B.C., 
 and not 464 B.C. If this can be relied on, the chronological 
 difficulty is solved. From 455 B.C. to a.d. 29 would be exactly 
 483 years. For it must be remembered that Daniel explicitly 
 states that the cutting off of Messiah was not to be till after 
 the seven heptads and the sixty and two heptads — that is, after 
 sixty-nine of the weeks had run out, and not, as has been so 
 often but erroneously concluded, that the whole period of 490 
 years was to elapse before the crucifixion. Daniel's statement 
 clearly negatives that : "After threescore and two heptads 
 shall Messiah be cut off and have nothing." At this point, it 
 should be remarked, the enumeration of the heptads of years is 
 dropped, and the angel proceeds, " And the people of the prince 
 that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and 
 the end thereof shall be in the flood, and unto the end of the 
 war desolations are determined." 
 
 Caiphas had prophesied that " it is expedient for us 
 that one man should die for the people, and that the whole 
 nation perish not " (John xi. 50), the mouthpiece, as High 
 Priest, of God the Holy Ghost, without being aware of it, or 
 even understanding the true meanincj of the words. He and 
 those with him thought by the Lord's death to preserve their 
 
 ^ The Dates and Chronology of Scrij]hire. London, G. Morrish. See also Trc- 
 gelles on Daniel, p. 107. Bagster, London. 
 
344 BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 national existence and country. Daniel's prophecy foretold a 
 very opposite result, and that which came true. Instead of 
 preserving their place and nation, the Eomans — the people of 
 the prince that shall come — destroyed the city and the sanctu- 
 ary. This carries us down to the destruction of Jerusalem 
 under Titus. But the prophecy looks on to the end of all the 
 troubles at Jerusalem, which can only cease in the flood (*ipt^), 
 — the incursion of the northern power of Daniel, the Assyrian 
 of Isaiah. See for the term "flood," Dan. xi. 22, 26, "his army 
 shall overflow," writing here of what is past ; and xi. 40 ; Isa. 
 X. 22, xxviii. 2, 15, 17, 18, predicting what is still future. An 
 invading host from the north, either the Assyrian of old (Isa. 
 viii. 8), or the Babylonian (Jer. xlvii. 2), or Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes (Dan. xi. 26), are so termed by the sacred writers, 
 for it must be an invading host, to carry out the simile. And 
 the invader of the last days who will capture Jerusalem will 
 be the Assyrian, or northern power of that time. No end, 
 then, can come to Jerusalem's troubles till that flood has swept 
 over the land ; and till it does, desolations are determined. 
 The troubles to the Jewish polity and country, which com- 
 menced with the taking of Jerusalem by the Eomans, the 
 people of the prince that shall come, will not end till after the 
 invasion of the future king of the north. 
 
 Having thus sketched out the condition of the city and 
 sanctuary till then, some details are now given in v. 27 relative 
 to the last heptad of years. " And he shall confirm a covenant 
 with the many for one heptad, or week of years." "Who will 
 do this ? Two princes or leaders have been mentioned, Messiah 
 the prince (*1VJ), and the prince (y}\) that shall come. Who 
 this one is v. 26 has made plain. He is the prince of the Eoman 
 Empire, for the people of tlie prince that shall come, i.e. the 
 Eomans, were to destroy, and have destroyed Jerusalem. This 
 prince, then, the last one named, Avill confirm a covenant with 
 the mass of the Jews, the many, for one week. The political 
 reasons for this Isa. xxviii. has foretold. They will be under 
 
BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 345 
 
 the protection of tlie Eoman imperial power to shield them 
 from the threatened incursion of the northern Assyrian power 
 of that day. The head of the Eoman Empire entering into a 
 covenant with the Jews restored in unbelief, to keep a hold, by 
 means of friendship with them and protection of them, of the land 
 of Canaan, is the Eastern Question coming up in its last phase. 
 
 In the middle of this, the last week of years, the political 
 head of the Eoman Empire will discover his true character, 
 and break the covenant ; displacing by the instrumentality of 
 Antichrist the worship of God, and substituting that of his 
 image in its stead, the abomination of desolation (Dan. xii. 11; 
 Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Mark xiii. 14) ; so-called because idolatry 
 being hateful to God will bring down a desolator on the then 
 apostate Jews. So Gabriel proceeds : " Eor the overspreading" 
 — rather because of the protection — " of abominations {i.e. 
 idolatry) there shall be a desolator {nm^)2 ) until the consum- 
 mation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate" 
 (D01C'). Idolatry set up by Antichrist in the temple of God, a 
 desolator will be used of God to scourge the idolatrous people 
 till the divine will has been carried out on Jerusalem. 
 
 Now there are two participles derived from the same root, 
 n^}fo and DDitr, both from Dpc^, made use of by Gabriel in this 
 last verse, translated in the A. V. " he shall make it desolate " 
 DOiti'b, and " the desolate " DOiB^. By comparison with other pas- 
 sages light is thrown on them, and whilst the A. V. is in the 
 main right, the more exact meaning of the first of these parti- 
 ciples will be made apparent. Eor instead of translating "he 
 shall make it desolate," which might refer to the prince already 
 mentioned, the better translation would be "there shall be a 
 desolator," one distinct from the prince of the Eoman Empire, 
 and who comes up in this character because of the idolatry 
 established at Jerusalem. Thus the definite use of the term 
 DpiE'p is preserved, and its application to the northern power is 
 made clear ; for it occurs again only in xi. 31 of this prophet, where 
 the northern power of the past, Antiochus Epiphanes, is 
 
 2, A 
 
346 BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 described, who introduced idolatry into the temple, and was 
 himself a desolator of the Jews, combining in his own person 
 the action of the beast of the future, who will set up idolatry 
 in the temple, and the action of the northern power of that day, 
 which will be the desolator, God's scourge, in consequence. 
 So when in this respect the active agent in the desolation is 
 described (xi. 31 ; ix. 27) Db'lK^p is used ; where the sin which 
 calls down the desolation is mentioned, D»1t5> is the word em- 
 ployed (see viii. 13; xii. 11). "The transgression of desola- 
 tion " (viii. 13) is the idolatry which brings on the Jews 
 desolation. "The abomination of desolation" (xii. 11) is the 
 very image of the beast, which will justify God in allowing the 
 northern power to sweep over the land. Thus these terms are 
 used in Daniel with precision, and are not really interchangeable, 
 and the reason of the language in xi. 31, D^itro J^pE'n the reader 
 will readily apprehend. Had we there simply, DD'iK'* piSK', as 
 in xii. 11, the reason of the desolation, i.e. idolatry, would have 
 been mentioned, but we should not have understood thereby 
 that Antiochus Epiphanes not only introduced it, but was him- 
 self the desolator. 
 
 In ix. 24, 25, then, we have history to the date of Messiah 
 the prince, who was to be cut off, and have nothing. In v. 26 
 we have the present interval between His crucifixion and the 
 reappearance in power, and that in connection with the Jews of 
 the revived Eoman Empire. In v. 27 we have the last week 
 described, and the incursion of the northern power accounted for. 
 
 The passage may be thus translated : — 
 
 " Seventy heptads {i.e. weeks of years) are determined on thy 
 people, and upon thy holy city to shut up N^3 {i.e. not to seek 
 for it any more) the transgression, and to seal up Dnn (or, accord- 
 ing to the Kri Dnn, to finish) sins, and to atone for iniquity, 
 and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision 
 and prophecy, and to anoint the holy of holies {i.e. the temple). 
 And thou shalt know and understand from the going forth of a 
 word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah (the) 
 
BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 347 
 
 prince (or leader) seven heptads (there shall be), and sixty-two 
 heptads ; the street shall be built again, and the wall (or foss) 
 even in troublous times. And after the sixty and two heptads 
 Messiah shall be cut off and have nothing (i^ pxi), and the city 
 and the sanctuary the people of the prince that shall come shall 
 destroy, and its end^ shall be in the flood, and unto the end of 
 the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm a 
 covenant with the many (for) one heptad, and at the middle of 
 the heptad he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease, and 
 because of the protection of abominations (there shall be) a 
 desolator D»1l^'0 and until that which is determined^ shall be 
 poured upon the desolate one DOitJ'. 
 
 PSALM LXXXIV. 
 
 To the director on the Gittith, for the sons of Korah. A Psalm. 
 
 1. How lovely are thy dwelling places, Jehovah of Hosts ! 
 
 2. My soul has earnestly desired, and has also wasted away for the courts 
 
 of Jehovah ; 
 My heart and my flesh cry aloud to the living God, 
 
 3. Yea, a sparrow has found an house, 
 And a swallow a nest for herself, 
 Where she has placed her brood, 
 Thine altars, Jehovah of Hosts, 
 My King, and my God. 
 
 4. Blessed are {lit. happinesses of ) the dwellers in Thy house : 
 They shall still praise Thee. Pause. 
 
 5. Blessed is {lit. happinesses of) a man whose strength is in Thee ; 
 High ways in their heart. 
 
 6. Those passing through a valley of weeping, 
 A fountain they make it ; 
 
 Moreover, the rain covers it with blessings. 
 
 7. They go from strength to strength, 
 
 He {i.e. each one) appeareth unto God in Zion. 
 
 8. Jehovah, God of Hosts, hear my prayer : 
 Give ear, God of Jacob. Pause. 
 
 ^ Its end 1Vp_ This might, without any violence to grammar, be referred to 
 the prince, as some do ; but the teaching of Scripture elsewhere about the prince 
 would lead one to refer the pronoun to the city, as in A. V. 
 
 ^ nvinji nps. The reader of the Hebrew Bible may remember those 
 significant words of Isaiah x. 23, xxviii. 22. See also Dan. xi. 36. 
 
348 BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 9. Our shield see, O God, 
 
 And look on the face of Thy Messiah {lit. anointed). 
 
 10. For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. 
 
 I have chosen to remain at the threshold in the house of my God, 
 Rather than to dwell in tents of wickedness. 
 
 11. For a sun and shield is Jehovah God : 
 Grace and glory will Jehovah give: 
 
 He will not withhold good to those walking in integrity. 
 
 12. Jehovah of hosts, 
 
 Blessed is {lit. happinesses of) a man who trusteth in Thee. 
 
 The above forms part of the third book of Psalms, which, 
 commencing with Ps. Ixxiii. and ending with Ps. Ixxxix., treats 
 of the desolation of the sanctuary (Ixxiv.), the city (Ixxix.), and 
 the throne (Ixxxix.) ; and therefore concerns Israel at large, and 
 not merely the godly remnant of the Jews. In keeping, then, 
 with the character of this book, Ps. Ixxxiv. describes God's altar 
 as neglected, worship no longer ascending to Him as it had done 
 after the return of the Jews, and before the development of the 
 plans of antichrist. Both the brazen altar and the golden altar 
 are left uncared for, and unused ; so the birds can, unmolested, 
 find about them suitable places whereon to place their broods. 
 
 Eeading Ps. Ixxix. we are introduced to Jerusalem in the 
 lowest condition in which she will be found after the last suc- 
 cessful siege yet to be undertaken against her by her enemies is 
 iifait accompli. To this Isa. xxix. 1-4, and Zech. xiv. 1, 2, refer. 
 Following on to Ps. Ixxx., we read of the vineyard wasted, and 
 the vine trampled down, hence God is therein supplicated to 
 raise up the vine, and to restore prosperity to the nation, their 
 hopes resting on Messiah, the man of God's right hand (vv. 14-19) 
 for full deliverance. So the Psalm closes in prayer, recalling to 
 mind part of the formula of the blessing of Israel in Numb. vi. 
 Ps. Ixxxi., carrying on the subject, sets forth the principles on 
 which earthly blessings can be enjoyed by Israel (vv. 8-10), in 
 answer to the cry of the preceding one. "With this before them, 
 they are exhorted at the outset of the Psalm to sing to God, 
 and to count on the restoration of festivals, that of the new 
 moon being typical of renovation in store for the people. Ps. 
 
BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 349 
 
 Ixxxii. celebrates God again among them, judging among the 
 judges. For evil must be dealt with ere full blessing can be 
 known. But taking His place as Judge in Israel, He will judge 
 the earth and inherit all nations. Hence, as a needfal prelude 
 to this last thought, the confederacy against Israel is described, 
 and God's interference is implored to overthrow it definitely 
 and for ever, as He did the Canaanites and Midianites of old. 
 This is the subject of Ps. Ixxxiii. How the cry is answered, 
 Isaiah (x. 25-26 ; xxix. 6-8), Joel (ii. 20), and Zechariah (xii. 1-9) 
 prophetically describe. That destruction accomplished, the way 
 to God's house will be opened for His people, whither the desire 
 of their heart is to go, as Psalm Ixxxiv. beautifully describes. 
 
 In vv. 1-4 the writer expresses the longing desire of his 
 heart to be there. In vv. 5-8 he describes the way thither. 
 And in vv. 9-12 he sets forth that all must be accomplished for 
 them by the Messiah, God's anointed one. The pause, Selah, 
 here as elsewhere marks the divisions of the Psalm. In each 
 portion the writer speaks of blessedness. It will be blessed to 
 dwell in God's house. It is blessed for the man whose strength 
 is in God. It is blessed, too, for Him who trusteth in Jehovah, 
 God of Hosts. 
 
 "AGAIN." 
 
 Hebrews i. 6. 
 
 oTav Se TToXiv ela-aydyy. You ask if the text or the marginal 
 reading in the A. V. of this clause gives the sense of the original. 
 If we examine into the habit of the writer of this epistle when 
 adducing quotations from the Old Testament, we shall be at no 
 loss in determinining that iroKcv here is the mark of a new 
 quotation, and not a note of time ; for out of the ten occasions 
 in this epistle on which the writer introduces this adverb (i. 5, 6 ; 
 ii. 13, bis ; iv. 5, 7 ; v. 12 ; vi. 1, 6 ; x. 30) only three of them 
 (v. 12 ; vi. 1, 6) can be said to express notations of time. Observe 
 how this adverb comes in to mark a new quotation (Heb. i. 5 ; ii. 
 
350 BIBLICAL ANNOTATIONS. 
 
 13, bis ; iv. 5, 7 ; x. 30). The text of the A. V. is correct. The 
 objection made against it on exegetical grounds, that ttoXlv 
 before a verb denotes a second time the thing is done, is a state- 
 ment which will not always be found correct (see Matt. v. 33 ; 
 Eom. XV. 10, 11). The fact is that nraXtv is frequently used to 
 introduce a fresh quotation from the Old Testament (Matt. iv. 7 ; 
 V. 33 ; John xix. 37 ; Eom. xv. 10, 11, 12 ; 1 Cor. iii. 20 ; Heb. 
 i. 5 ; ii. 13, bis. ; iv. 5, 7 ; x. 30). With this array of examples 
 before us we can have no real difficulty, whether we examine 
 simply the habit of the writer or the practice of those guided by 
 the Holy Ghost, in determining that Heb. i. 6 really means, 
 " And again, when he brings the first begotten into the habitable 
 world." 
 
 The reference is to Psalm xcvii., quoted not with verbal correct- 
 ness but for the sense of the passage, the point being that as angels 
 are to worship Him when He comes into the universe as the 
 firstborn. He must be superior to them, though he has appeared 
 in the ranks of the human race. So whether the sacred writer 
 had quoted verbally correctly, or only as he has done, the point 
 of the quotation would remain the same. And the writer of the 
 epistle does not always quote verbatim from the LXX. or from 
 the Hebrew. Compare Heb. i. 7 with Ps. ciii. 4 in the LXX. ; 
 ii. 12 with Ps. xxi. 23 in the LXX. ; iii. 10 with Ps. xciv. 10 in 
 the LXX. and XCV. 10 in the Hebrew ; vi. 14 with Gen. 
 xxii. 17 in LXX. and Heb. ; viii. 11 with Jer. xxxi. 34 in Heb. 
 and XXXVIIL 34 in LXX. ; x. 7 with Ps. xl. 8 in Hebrew 
 and XXXIX. 3 in LXX. 
 
 It is true that the words in Heb. i. are found verbatim in 
 the Vatican LXX. in Deut. xxxii., though in the Alexandrine 
 LXX. we read, Kal '7rpoaKUV7](TdTco<;av avrco TrdvTecr viol 6eov. 
 But as neither the Hebrew, the Hebrew Samaritan Pentateuch, 
 nor the Chaldee Targums, know anything of such words in Deut. 
 xxxii. 43, nor the Vulgate or Syriac versions, we could not 
 regard the Vatican LXX. as having preserved in that passage 
 the words of the lawgiver 
 
THE WEITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 God has spoken. As a fact, this is easily stated. As a truth, 
 it is one of immense importance, and we learn from it that He 
 willed not to abide in the solitude of His being without creatures 
 to whom He might communicate of His thoughts, for all intelli- 
 gent creatures, as well as all created things, owe their existence 
 to His word. " By the word of the Lord were the heavens 
 made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." 
 " He spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood 
 fast" (Ps. xxxiii. 6-9). A graphic description of the power of 
 that word — " He spake, and it was done." For who hath re- 
 sisted His will ? All, then, that we see around us was called 
 into existence and order by His word, and we learn, as we sur- 
 vey the heavens above and the earth beneath, something of 
 what were the conceptions in the mind of Jehovah, which in 
 obedience to His mighty word took shape and form. But when 
 did He first speak, and call creation into being ? Who can tell 
 us but Himself ; and to Him are we indebted for all that we 
 know, or can know about it. " In the beginning God created 
 the heavens and the earth " (Gen. i. 1), is the simple statement 
 of the Almighty One, made thousands of years ago for the in- 
 struction of His earthly people, called out from the nations to 
 own and to maintain the truth of the unity of God (Deut. vi. 4). 
 "He spake, and it was done." We look around, and see 
 some of the results of that speaking in the heavenly bodies, 
 created before the earth, and the atmosphere which surrounds 
 us, were made for man, whom the Lord God intended to brino- 
 on the scene when the time should arrive in accordance with 
 His purpose for the display of His glory, greatness, goodness, 
 
352 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 and love. This earth having, however, been reduced to chaos 
 (for He formed it not empty, as Isaiah xlv. 18 really wrote ; that 
 is, not in the condition in which it was as described in Gen. i. 2), 
 God spake again, and brought it into order, ready for His 
 counsels to begin their accomplishment by the bringing in of 
 man upon the scene. When God spake at the beginning no 
 angel Iiad been created. When He spake to bring this earth 
 out of its chaotic state, the angelic hosts, eye-witnesses of what 
 He did, shouted for joy (Job xxxviii. 7). The power of His 
 word was displayed as created things assumed their form, 
 created beings appeared in all the activity of life, and at last the 
 head of this creation, formed out of the dust of the ground, with 
 the breath of life breathed into him by God, and so becoming a 
 living soul, was seen in the garden of Eden, with his helpmeet 
 by his side. Thus created things, animate and inanimate, 
 brought into existence by God's word, the earth prepared for man, 
 with man himself and his partner on the scene, the invisible 
 things of God were clearly seen, being understood by the things 
 that were made, even His eternal power and Godhead (Eom. i. 
 20). By His word of power God had so far revealed Himself. A 
 Being at once absolute in power and excellent in working willed 
 not to abide for ever alone, but surrounded Himself with 
 creatures animate, and inanimate, with orders and ranks of 
 intelligent creatures who could take delight in what He had 
 done, finding their proper object of worship in Him, the Creator 
 and the Holy One, and whose command it should be their free- 
 dom and their delight to obey. 
 
 But rebellion wrought its dire work among the angelic hosts, 
 and disobedience displayed itself in man, who was made in the 
 ima.o-e and likeness of God. Ere man was created the devil had 
 fallen (Ezek. xxviii. 13-15), and ere the flood took place, apo- 
 stasy had developed itself among the angels of God (Gen. vi. 
 2 ; Jude 6). Divine power to deal with evil was therefore of 
 necessity called forth, and men and angels experienced it. The 
 apostate angels were cast into dens o-tpot? (not chains a-etpah) of 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 353 
 
 darkness (2 Pet. ii. 4) ; and the ungodly amongst men were cut 
 off by the flood, and imprisoned in the other world (1 Pet. iii. 
 19) to await their righteous doom. 
 
 Was this, then, all that was to be known of God ? A Being 
 almighty, beneficent, gracious, merciful, and yet just, and deal- 
 ing in unsparing judgment with those who rebelled against Him ? 
 No. He was minded to make Himself known in another way, 
 so in due time He sent His only-begotten Son, who is the AVord 
 of God (John i. 1), by whom He is declared to us (John i. 18), 
 and seeing whom, men saw the Father ; and knowing whom, they 
 could know the Father (John xiv. 7-9). He is the Word of 
 God, for by Him God has been declared to us. 
 
 But there is a third way in which God has spoken to us, 
 viz. by the written word, placing on record not only what He 
 has done, and declaring to us what He is, as revealed by the Son, 
 — the Word ; but acquainting us also with that which He desires, 
 and will do, for the instruction of all that shall hearken to Him. 
 God's works tell us something of what He is, but they cannot 
 make known to us His purposes in the future. In the person of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ God's heart was opened up to us, and in 
 His words the Father's thoughts were expressed. None of us, how- 
 ever, have seen God, or heard Him. Hence, for the abiding 
 instruction of souls, God is pleased to communicate His thoughts 
 in words which men may understand, and in such a way that 
 they may trust implicitly to that which has been written. For 
 the Scriptures are inspired, deoTrveva-To^;, i.e. God-breathed. By 
 revelation God's mind is communicated to them to whom the 
 revelation is made. By inspiration the person selected by God 
 is enabled to express the truth in words chosen of the Holy 
 Ghost, God thus providing for His truth to be transmitted with- 
 out error or misconception on the part of the one chosen to 
 communicate it ; for the words in which it is expressed are the 
 words selected by God. This David in the Old Testament, and 
 Paul in the New Testament, have taught us. 
 
 David tells us (2 Sam. xxiii. 2), " The Spirit of the Lord spake 
 
354 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 by me, and His word was in, or on, my tongue;" and His tongue, 
 he elsewhere states, was the pen of a ready writer (Ps. xlv. 1). 
 What the Psalmist affirmed, Paul endorsed, and explained more 
 at length (1 Cor. ii. 10-13). The truth, the Apostle tells us, was 
 revealed to the writers by the Holy Ghost, and they understood 
 it by the same Spirit given to them, and were guided to com- 
 municate it in words chosen of the Holy Ghost, " communi- 
 cating," as we should probably better translate the Apostle's 
 statement, " spiritual things by spiritual means." That done, it 
 was for the hearer or the reader to receive the truth. The 
 Apostle then distinguishes between revelation, inspiration, and 
 the inspired word being received by the hearer, and tells us 
 that, differing from God's servants of old (1 Pet. i. 11, 12), who 
 had not always full understanding of that which they set forth, 
 the person in Christian times was the intelligent communicator 
 of that which he had received, and authoritatively set forth. 
 How all this witnesses of God's real desire for His intelligent 
 creature man to become acquainted with the Divine communica- 
 tions ! God has taken great pains, we may say it with reverence, 
 that His mind should be correctly made known ; but His mind 
 cannot be apprehended by mere human intellect. " The natural 
 man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither 
 can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned " (1 
 Cor. ii. 14). 
 
 Hence, with such a statement from God before us, we need 
 not be surprised to learn that man steps in, and challenges the 
 word of the Divine Being by His servants in denying the 
 inspiration claimed for the Scriptures. Now, it should be re- 
 membered that it is from such as were guided of God to set forth 
 the truth that we learn anything at all about inspiration. And 
 the two witnesses whom we have adduced both assert that they 
 expressed what they did in words chosen of God. But if such 
 be the case, says an objector, why have we different accounts 
 of the inscription on the Cross ? If the words of the sacred 
 writers were taught them by the Holy Ghost, why do they not 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 355 
 
 verbally agree in their statement of that which was placed by 
 Pilate over the head of the Lord Jesus Christ ? An answer 
 to this objection is furnished by the Evangelists themselves. 
 It was a trilingual inscription, and therefore probably not 
 meant to be word for word the same in each language. What 
 it actually was Luke and John profess to give us, whereas 
 Matthew only professes to furnish his readers with the accusa- 
 tion made against the Lord. And they " set up over His head this 
 accusation (alTia), written, This is Jesus, the king of the Jews;" 
 so wrote the son of Alphoeus (Matt, xxvii. 37). Luke writes, 
 " A superscription (iircypaijir]) also was written over Him in 
 letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the 
 Jews " (xxiii. 38). By John we are told that " Pilate wrote a 
 title (TixXo?), and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus 
 the Nazorsean, the King of the Jews. This title then read 
 many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was 
 nigh unto the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Latin" (xix. 19-20), or, according to some of the best uncial 
 MSS. " in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek." Of this trilingual inscrip- 
 tion Luke probably gives his readers the Greek one and John 
 the Hebrew, since he mentions that first. For a Greek it would 
 be enough to know that the crucified one laid claim to the 
 throne of David. But to a Jew, and that a Palestinian one, the 
 addition of Nazorsean would have a marked significance. The 
 derision of a Greek would be excited as he thought of the 
 king of the Jews ending His life on the cross (1 Cor. i. 23). 
 The contempt of the Jew would be stimulated as he was re- 
 minded of the connection of the crucified one with Nazareth. 
 For the words of Nathaniel, recorded by John, tell us in what 
 light that Galilean city was generally viewed (i. 43). This 
 explanation, as it affects Luke and John, would be further 
 strengthened could we build unhesitatingly on the clause in 
 the former Gospel, " in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew " 
 (xxiii. 38), which is omitted by the uncial MSS. BC^L with 
 some versions, and was struck out from the Codex Sinaiticus 
 
356 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 by a late corrector of that ancient copy. If we agree to omit 
 the clause, we are of course deprived of its support to the view 
 just expressed, but its omission in no way controverts it. 
 
 There remains, then, only the Gospel of Mark, to which we 
 have not referred. He tells us, " The superscription of his accu- 
 sation (r] iTTLypacjir} tt}? alriwi avrov) was written over. The King 
 of the Jews" (xv. 26). Does Mark profess to give us the full 
 inscription like Luke and John, or only the statement of the 
 accusation like his brother Evangelist Matthew? If the for- 
 mer supposition be correct, it may well be the Latin one which 
 he has recorded, and that would be quite in harmony with 
 his habit of using so many Latin terms in his narrative. But 
 without pronouncing definitely about Mark, since Matthew 
 clearly does not profess to give us more than the charge 
 against the Lord, there is nothing in what any of the Evan- 
 gelists state to militate against the truth of inspiration as 
 taught us by the Apostle of the Gentiles. Mark may well 
 have given us the Latin inscription, Luke that which was in 
 Greek, and John the Hebrew one. 
 
 Another objection to the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures 
 is based on the different accounts of Peter's denial of the Lord 
 Jesus. Here, again, attention to details and patient investiga- 
 tion helps to the unravelling of that which, to some, is a real 
 difficulty. The history of the Apostle's denial is given us by all 
 four Evangelists (Matt. xxvi. 34, 69-75 ; Mark xiv. 30, 66-72 ; 
 Luke xxii. 34, 54-60 ; John xiii. 38, xviii. 18-27). Now Matthew, 
 Luke, and John wrote of one cockcrowing ; Mark, on the other 
 hand, tells us the Lord spoke of the cock crowing twice, which 
 really did take place. Are these different statements irrecon- 
 cilable ? We think not. It may very possibly be that the three 
 Evangelists above named give us the Lord's rejoinder to Peter 
 in a general way, whereas Mark, with his usual accuracy, has 
 doubtless given us the exact answer made by the Master on this 
 occasion ; and if there be any truth in the tradition that Mark 
 learnt many things which he recounts from Peter, it would be 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 357 
 
 only in keeping with it that he should have given us the exact 
 words of Christ on this occasion, words which we may well 
 believe were ever after indelibly fixed in Peter's mind. Besides 
 this, Mark gives us a clue to the meaning of the Lord's answer 
 as stated by the three Evangelists, in that he acquaints his 
 readers with the special time of night called cockcrowing, a 
 period between midnight and the early dawn (xiii. 35). The 
 three Evangelists then turn our attention to that period of the 
 night known as the cockcrowing, before which Peter would thrice 
 deny the Lord, which really came true ; but Mark, with his 
 attention to details, gives us the full text of the Lord's answer 
 to Peter, and points out how accurately (xiv. 68, 72) all was ful- 
 filled. And we learn from Luke that between the second and 
 third denial nearly one hour elapsed. Hence the first crowing 
 must have taken place some time before that period of the night 
 called cockcrowing. 
 
 Turning now to the actual denials of the Lord by Peter, is 
 there anything in the different accounts to militate against 
 the truth of the full inspiration of the Scriptures ? Erom 
 Matthew we learn that a damsel in the palace-court first addressed 
 him, and he denied that he understood what she said. Another 
 damsel subsequently addressed the bystanders, not Peter, and 
 he denied, but Matthew does not say to whom, that he knew the 
 Lord. Then the bystanders challenged him, and he denied again 
 that he knew Christ. In Mark we read a damsel of the high 
 priest's house first challenged Peter in the court, when he assured 
 her that he knew not what she said, but, evidently afraid of 
 recognition, he went out into the vestibule, and the cock crew. 
 Then a damsel addressed the bystanders, not Peter, and he denied 
 that he was one of the disciples of Christ. At length, challenged 
 by the bystanders, he denied again. Luke's account is very dif- 
 ferent, but perfectly consistent. Sitting with the servants, round 
 the fire, by the light of it a damsel recognised him as a disciple 
 of the Lord, but he denied it. Again challenged personally, but 
 this time by a man, he denied his association with Christ. A 
 
358 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 third time challenged, and again by a man, he affirmed that he 
 knew not what he said. According to John, the damsel door- 
 keeper first affirmed that he was of Christ's disciples. Next 
 those standing by repeated the question, but he would not ac- 
 knowledge it. At last a kinsman of Malchus, whose ear Peter 
 had cut off, averred that he had seen him in the garden with the 
 Lord, but he stoutly again denied any association with Him. 
 
 According, then, to Luke's account and John's, Peter was 
 personally addressed three times, whereas from those of Matthew 
 and Mark, we should only have known that he was directly 
 spoken to twiee. Do the Evangelists contradict each other? 
 We think not. All agree that a woman first spoke to Peter. 
 Then, whilst Matthew and Mark tell us of a woman addressing 
 the bystanders, which elicited a second denial, Luke says that 
 one of the men directly challenged him, and John states that the 
 general company did. Doubtless the whole company, when 
 told by the damsel, did accuse him ; but Luke gives us only the 
 direct charge of one of them. Then as to the third denial, 
 Matthew and Mark tell us the general accusations of the com- 
 pany. Luke makes us acquainted with the fact that one man 
 in particular challenged him, and John tells us who it was. 
 All this seems natural, and the accounts do not really contradict 
 one another. "We can understand the general company receiving 
 the damsel's affirmation, and one of their number being pro- 
 minent in taxing Peter with it, on which all joined in it. Luke 
 never asserts that only one man accosted him, nor do the other 
 Evangelists affirm that it was merely a chorus of voices to which 
 the Apostle replied. 
 
 How helpful, too, the different accounts are for the full un- 
 derstanding of all that took place. Peter's change of place be- 
 tween the first and second challenge Matthew and Mark have 
 noticed, but Luke it is who gives us the explanation of it, in 
 that the firelight had evidently betrayed him to the damsel, and 
 he was aware of it. They had lit a fire in the court. And a 
 certain maid having seen him sitting by the light, tt/jo? to ^w9. 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 359 
 
 as the Evangelist mentions, and having earnestly looked at him, 
 said, "This man was also with Him." How naturally all is 
 related ! No apparent attempt is made to harmonise the 
 accounts, yet they can, we believe, be harmonised. Then John, 
 the only disciple who was present as a looker-on, tells us who 
 was the damsel who first spoke to Peter, viz. the porteress, and 
 who was the man who personally elicited the third denial from 
 the failing Apostle. And as Luke acquaints us with the lapse 
 of nearly an hour between the second and third denial, John in 
 his narrative interposes several verses (xviii. 19-24) between them, 
 recounting all that he gives us of the Lord's examination before 
 Caiaphas. We submit then that there is nothing really in the 
 four different accounts of Peter's denial to show that the words 
 of Paul, already referred to, are not applicable to the writings of 
 the Evangelists. 
 
 Another class of objections against the true doctrine of 
 inspiration is grounded on what are called the needless and 
 unmeaning repetitions met with in the Scriptures, and we are 
 pointed to Levit. xix. 9, 10, compared with chapter xxiii. 22, 
 for an illustration in point. Why, it is asked, if the writer was 
 guided in his words by the Holy Ghost, did he repeat himself, 
 and on this occasion in such close proximity to the previous 
 command ? Such an objection betrays the ignorance of the 
 objector as to the teaching of that twenty -third chapter of 
 Leviticus, which may be called the sacred calendar of the people 
 of Israel. The lawgiver has, it is true, repeated himself, but 
 why ? In Levit. xix. 9, 10, consideration for the poor and the 
 needy in the time of harvest and vintage is pressed on all the 
 children of Israel. In chapter xxiii. we have the outline of 
 Israel's history from Exodus to millennial rest, the chief features 
 of which may be thus summed up : — Sheltered by blood from 
 divine judgment, and redeemed out of Egypt, of which the 
 Passover and the feast of unleavened bread reminded them ; 
 the wave sheaf was next to be offered, and the feast of weeks 
 was to be kept. Thus far, the festivals of that sacred calendar 
 
36o THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 have had their accomplishment in the death of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the true paschal Lamb ; in His resurrection on the first 
 day of the week, the morrow after the Sabbath ; and in the 
 coming of the Holy Ghost in Pentecostal blessing. By and 
 by, after the Church has been caught up (1 Thess. iv. 15-17), 
 but ere the Lord returns to reign, there will be found on earth 
 souls converted by the testimony of God. To this Kev. vi. 9 
 and vii. refer ; and of this Levit. xxiii. 22 typically treats. 
 Then, Israel brought back to their land, the Feast of Trumpets 
 will have received its accomplishment, and, atonement known 
 by them, they will keep the real Feast of Tabernacles by enjoy- 
 ing millennial rest. We have thus sketched out, as we have said, 
 the nation's history from its commencement at the Exodus to 
 its entrance into full and final blessing under the reign of their 
 Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if the lawgiver merely 
 repeated what he had previously written, apart from divine 
 guidance in the matter, wdiy did he recapitulate the command 
 in Levit. xix. 9 with the concluding clause of the following 
 verse, and omit all notice here of the vintage ? The omission 
 of that points to method in his writing, and a sketching out of 
 Israel's history, which by no possibility could he have known 
 by mere intuition. For the mention of the unreaped corners in 
 the field teaches us that God was referring to that work of 
 blessing on earth, which will take place after the Church's 
 departure, when souls will be in great numbers converted and 
 owned as saints. Had the lawgiver brought in of his own 
 accord the mention of the vintage there would have been con- 
 fusion. Saints of God are likened to wheat, the produce of the 
 harvest (Matt. iii. 12 ; xiii. 38), but the vintage is only used 
 as an emblem of unsparing judgment on the ungodly (Isa. Ixiii. 
 3 ; Eev. xiv. 18, 19). There was method and meaning in this 
 repetition. And as none but God then knew the future, the 
 lawgiver was really guided by the Spirit as to how much 
 of what he had previously written in Levit. xix. should be 
 incorporated in chapter xxiii. Had there been no mention of 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 361 
 
 tlie harvest field in the connection in which it appears, an 
 important part of God's ways with Israel, and Gentiles would 
 have been, we can see, wholly passed over, causing thereby a 
 real gap in the history of God's ways on earth. That verse, 
 however, just fills in what is wanted to complete the sketch, 
 and surely tends to confirm the intelligent student of Scripture 
 in the conviction that the lawgiver was guided of God in that 
 which he wrote. 
 
 But why should not God be at liberty to repeat Himself 
 when and where He pleases ? Are men to be allowed a free- 
 dom which is to be denied to the Almighty? He does repeat 
 Himself in His Word, but for purposes which, when under- 
 stood, only deepen the sense in the heart that the Scriptures 
 are from God. Compare for instance Ps. xiv. with Ps. liii. ; Ps. 
 xl. 13-17 with Ps. Ixx. ; Ps. Ivii. 7-11 and Ix. 5-12 with Ps. cviii. 
 Patient study of the word may be required to understand the 
 reason of any repetition in the sacred pages ; but where the soul 
 reverently waits on God, light in due time, if it be His will, is 
 accorded. 
 
 But there are some true-hearted souls who may ask with 
 a real desire to learn, How may we be assured that the Scrip- 
 tures are the word of God ? To this let us now turn. It would 
 be strange, certainly, if God had spoken in language man could 
 understand, and for man's everlasting blessing, and yet had 
 left him in real doubt as to whether or not he did possess a 
 revelation from his Creator. God does not thus mock His 
 creatures. He desires too that His children should have fellow- 
 ship with Himself But how can that be if we know not, can- 
 not know for certain, what is His mind ? " No man knoweth 
 the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him, 
 even so the things of God knoweth no one, ovhii'^ (not merely, 
 no man), but the Spirit of God" (1 Cor., ii. 11). A revelation, 
 therefore, is requisite, if any creature is to know them. Now 
 God has chosen man. His people, amongst men, to have under- 
 standing of His mind. Wonderful privilege ! Immense bless- 
 
 2b 
 
362 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 ing ! The thoughts and purposes of God hidden from ages and 
 generations (1 Cor, ii. 9, 10 ; Col. i. 26) are now made manifest. 
 But are those so deeply concerned in them to remain in uncer- 
 tainty regarding God's revelation of them ? Oh no. How then, 
 some may ask, shall we be sure about this ? If we turn to Deut. 
 xviii. 21, 22, we shall find a principle there enunciated of use 
 to us. " If thou shalt 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." 
 Thus God guarded His people of old from being led away 
 by pretended revelation. They were to judge of the word by 
 the results. Now we can judge of it in a similar way. But 
 for Israel it was the prophetic word of which they were thus 
 to judge. With us it is the revelation God has given for 
 our instruction and encouragement which we can test by this 
 principle. 
 
 For the word of God professes to act on souls in ways 
 which are characteristic either of what God is, or of what He 
 does, and these characteristic actings of the word are proofs 
 that it is God's word. First, God is the source of life. If we 
 speak of the Father, He is called the living Father (John vi. 57), 
 having life in Himself (John v. 26), deriving His being from no 
 one. If we think of the Son of God, we read, " In Him was 
 life " (John i. 4), and He is the life of all who believe on Him. 
 For " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the 
 Son of God hath not life " (1 John v. 12). In keeping with this 
 the word of God quickens. " Of His own will begat He us with 
 the word of truth," wrote James (i. 18). " Being born again, not 
 of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, 
 which liveth and abideth for ever," writes Peter (1 Peter i. 23). 
 Now these two, themselves subjects of the quickening power of 
 the word, have placed on record how it acts ; and the Master 
 Himself, who came from heaven, also declared this when He 
 told Nicodemus that " Except a man be born of water and of 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 363 
 
 the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God " (John iii. 
 5) ; for water here is the emblem of the word of God. 
 
 But this leads us to another acting of the word. It not only 
 quickens, but it cleanses, acting on the soul as water does on the 
 body. Hence we read, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse 
 his way ? By taking heed thereto, according to thy word " 
 (Ps. cxix. 9). God is holy, and the man who is subject to the 
 word is thereby cleansed from his old evil ways. And this 
 the Lord Jesus fully corroborated, when he said to the eleven, 
 "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken' 
 unto you" (John xv. 3). Tims the Holy Ghost in the Old Testa- 
 ment af&rmed how the word could act, and the Lord Jesus, 
 speaking of the eleven after Judas had gone out, declared that 
 it had really acted in this way on them. They were examples 
 of the cleansing action of the divine word. But, thank God, 
 they stand not alone in this, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head 
 of His body, the Church, has cleansed (or cleanses) Ka6apla-a<i 
 it by the washing of water by the word (Ephes. v. 26). With 
 this passage then before us we can understand the meaning of 
 the figure used in John iii. 5, where water is a symbol for the 
 divine word. For the word showing the person what he 
 ought to be, and in consequence manifesting to him what in 
 himself and in his ways is contrary to God, he, if subject to its 
 teaching, separates himself from that which by the word 
 he learns is inconsistent with Christian life and practice. Thus 
 the word cleanses. How it could act the Psalmist, as we have 
 seen, long ago declared. How it acted on the eleven the Lord 
 affirmed. And that it can effectually cleanse every soul which 
 is subject to it, the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, described 
 in Ephes. v., plainly intimates. 
 
 Further, the divine word enlightens, as the Psalmist also 
 found, who has placed on record what it was to him. " Thy 
 word," he wrote, " is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto 
 my path : " and again, " The entrance, or opening up, of thy 
 words gives light: it gives understanding to the simple" (Ps. cxix. 
 
364 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 105, 130), " God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all " 
 (1 John i. 5). To that which He is the written word corresponds, 
 and by its entrance into man's heart enlightens him, and 
 dwelling in the saint of God sheds light on his way. Nor is 
 this all, for it can do what no word of man ever did, being 
 " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
 piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of 
 the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and 
 intents of the heart " (Heb. iv. 12). No instrument is like it, 
 no weapon so sharp, no edge so fine, detecting as it does, for the 
 instruction of him who is subject to it, that which comes from 
 the soul, the emotional part of man, in contradistinction to that 
 which comes from his spirit, and discerns the thoughts and 
 intents of the heart. Nothing then is there in man's innermost 
 being which the word cannot search out and lay bare. And 
 this is its action on the heart of a saint, who needs this appli- 
 cation of it, as he pursues his path across the scene of this 
 world. It is part of God's provision for His people in the 
 wilderness. "What care on the part of God for His people ! It 
 is God's prerogative to search the heart and try the reins. 
 " Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," as man's 
 heart is, who can know it ? Man knows it not. How often has 
 that been illustrated, as crimes, which at one time would have 
 been abhorred as too bad to be committed, have afterwards been 
 registered against the memory on earth of such as have been 
 left to carry out the desires of their nature (2 Kings viii. 13). 
 What, however, man does not know, God does ; for it is His 
 prerogative to search the heart (Jerem. xvii. 9, 10). So His 
 word acts in accordance with what He is and does, and thus 
 proves whose word it really is. 
 
 One other of its characteristics must be noticed ere we pass 
 on. Born of the word, it is also the means by which the soul 
 is instructed, and by which the believer grows unto salvation, 
 as Peter most probably wrote (1 Pet. ii. 2). And to this Paul 
 bore witness, as writing to Timothy he reminded him of the 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 365 
 
 value of that inspired word, which was able to make souls wise 
 unto salvation throuoh faith which is in Christ Jesus. Thus 
 the word of God acts. It quickens, it cleanses, it enlightens, 
 it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, and by it the 
 saint, the child of God, becomes wise unto salvation. Its char- 
 acteristic actings show whose word it is, for it acts in accord- 
 ance with the nature and ways of God towards sinners and to- 
 wards saints. Hence, each one who hears the gospel of the 
 grace of God, and receives it, has proof in himself whose word 
 it really is. The question then for the soul is not one for argu- 
 ment or intellectual apprehension, for the man himself who 
 receives the truth is a living witness that the revelation is from 
 God. And by and by those who now reject it will learn whose 
 word they slighted on earth, when the prophetic announcement 
 of the Saviour is fulfilled, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth 
 not my words, hath one that judgeth him : for the word that 
 I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" 
 (John xii. 48). But, thank God, the person who learns that the 
 word is of God through being quickened, cleansed, enlightened, 
 and instructed by it, will never know that it is from God in the 
 manner the Lord has described in His last appeal to the world 
 in the Gospel by John. For it is from His last appeal, as given 
 us in that Gospel that we have quoted, when, in the urgency of 
 desire that souls should hear Him and live, He " cried and said, 
 He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on Him that 
 sent me. And he that seeth me seeth Him that sent me. I 
 am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me 
 should not abide in darkness" (John xii. 44-46). But what 
 a solemn thought, that in the other world there will be no dif- 
 ference of opinion as to whether or not the written word is from 
 God. The saints will know it, and be for ever the proofs of it. 
 The lost, who have heard it, will then know it, and will suffer 
 for ever because they rejected it. 
 
 There is no real difiiculty, then, for any one who desires now 
 to know whether or not the word is of God. Its action on the 
 
366 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 heart wliicli believes it, evidences from whom it comes. And 
 since it is part of God's provision for our wilderness journey, we 
 may further inquire how we should make use of it ? What 
 answer can the Scriptures give us as to this ? What principles 
 are there that we should keep in mind when we study it ? Now 
 there is an incident related by Luke (x. 25) of a certain lawyer 
 (his name is unknown to us), who, tempting the Lord Jesus, asked 
 Him, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" The 
 Lord's answer is instructive, and illustrates one important prin- 
 ciple needed to be remembered in the study of the divine word. 
 " What is written in the law — How readest thou ? " was His 
 reply. Had God spoken on that subject ? Then there was no 
 room for opinion. God had spoken, as the lawyer proved by 
 quoting what the law had said, and the Lord intimated that it 
 w^as enough. It answered his question. Impossible, morally 
 impossible was it, that God had given a revelation to man, and 
 for man, and omitted that which it was of the first importance 
 for him to know. Now God had spoken, and what was 
 wanted for that time the word of God contained. But more. 
 If the Word has spoken, man has only to hear. Opinions of 
 men can have no place where God's mind for the creature has 
 been declared. How much surely the Lord could have revealed, 
 for He came from heaven. But He would not. And He made 
 the lawyer own two important things, first, that if God gives a 
 revelation. He does not omit what man has need to know for 
 his real blessing ; and secondly — and this is the reason that we 
 especially turn to it — that when God has spoken, man cannot be 
 allowed to have opinions or thoughts which are divergent from 
 that which the Almighty has declared. The authority of the 
 word is to be paramount. 
 
 Another thing we must also bear in mind, and in that too the 
 Lord instructs us. Dispensational teaching cannot be ignored, 
 if we would rightly apprehend the bearing of the divine word. 
 Judaism and Christianity are very different. Principles and 
 practices in harmony with the one are not of necessity in har- 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 3^7 
 
 mony with the other. Law and grace must not be confounded. 
 Kingdom truth, too, and Church truth must be kept distinct. 
 For illustrations of dispensational differences we would point to 
 the Lord's instruction about divorces (Matt. xix. 8), and to His 
 teaching at the well of Sychar about acceptable worship (John 
 iv. 21-24). Dispensational differences then there are, and the 
 teaching for those under law will not always do for those under 
 grace. The want of seeing this has caused widespread confusion 
 in Christendom, and the loss really to souls of what is proper 
 Christian truth. Hence all that Judaising, so rife in apostolic 
 times, and so rife still, and which is based on the assumption 
 that what God once revealed must be His mind for His people 
 at all times and in all ages. One great evil of it the Epistle to 
 the Galatians exposed. Turning to the observance of days, 
 months, times, and years, the Galatian Christians were in prin- 
 ciple going back to the idolatry out of which they had been 
 brought, for they were turning again to weak and beggarly 
 elements to which they desired again to be in bondage (Gal. iv. 
 9) ; and if Judaising was right, Christ, said the Apostle, is 
 become the minister of sin (ii. 17). In language clear, decided, 
 but startling, does He expose it. For teaching then against 
 Judaising we may turn to the Galatians. For that which guards 
 against Eitualism we would point to the Hebrews. God's mind 
 therefore for His people in their own day is what souls have 
 to seek after, and those Epistles just named, in common with 
 the New Testament revelation, will furnish us with all that is 
 wanted. 
 
 The paramount authority of the word of God accepted, and 
 the importance of dispensational teaching being admitted, an- 
 other thing must be carefully borne in mind, viz. that the 
 teaching of the word is that for which we are to search, and not 
 merely to hunt for a text. Where God has definitely pronounced 
 what is His mind in any text, of course every one should bow 
 to it at once. But there are important points for which we may 
 not be able to find a text, though we may, as taught of God, 
 
368 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 discern what is the truth about them from the teaching of a 
 passage of the word. An instance in point we are furnished 
 with in the Lord's answer to the Sadducees, who denied the 
 resurrection of the dead and the existence of angels and spirits. 
 Coming to Him with a case, to their minds conclusive against 
 it, He told them that they erred, not knowing the Scriptures, 
 nor the power of God. Fools they were in limiting God's power 
 to the illustrations of it with which they were acquainted ; 
 arguing that man's condition could never differ from that of 
 which they had experience. But, further, they knew not the 
 Scriptures. Often, doubtless, had its pages been searched by 
 them and their opponents for proofs in support of their doctrine 
 or against it. Had they overlooked a text which openly declared 
 it? A text about it the law did not contain; but teaching 
 about it was really to be found in a section of it, and the Lord 
 drew it forth. "Now that the dead are raised even Moses showed 
 at the bush (or perhaps in the section on the bush), when he 
 called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and 
 the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead but of the 
 living; for all live unto Him" (Luke xx. 37, 38). The effect of 
 this answer on His questioners Matthew has related, for he 
 tells us the Pharisees heard that the Lord Jesus had put the 
 Sadducees to silence. In truth what could they say in answer ? 
 The Scriptures taught unhesitatingly the doctrine of the resur- 
 rection, though Moses had not formulated that truth in a text. 
 What results beyond silencing them at the moment arose from 
 the Lord's answer we have no means of ascertaining, but the 
 record of that incident will not be destitute of real results if we 
 gather from it this principle, that to the teaching of Scripture 
 we have to bow, though the doctrine in question may not be 
 expressly stated in plain words in any one passage. Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob could not have ceased to exist, for the Lord 
 declared He was, not He had been, theii' God, two centuries 
 almost after Jacob had been laid in the patriarchal burying-place 
 at Hebron. 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 369 
 
 These three leading principles kept in view, we would now 
 call our reader's attention to the way God's saints of old made 
 use of His written word. The Old Testament saints studied it 
 as well as those who lived in Christian times. Of this Jeremiah 
 and Daniel are examples. Jeremiah evidently studied what 
 had been written before him, and fed on the inspired word. 
 Compare Jer. iv. 2 with Ps. Ixxii. 17 ; iv. 3 with Hos. x. 12 ; 
 vii. 23 with Levit. xxvi. 12 ; x. 25 with Ps. Ixxix. 6, 7 ; xi. 5 
 with Exod. iii. 8, Levit. xx. 24 ; xii. 4 with Ps. cvii. 34 ; xv. 14 
 with Deut. xxxii. 22 ; xvii. 8 with Ps. i. 3 ; xx. 10 with Ps. 
 xxxi. 13 ; xlviii. 34 with Isa. xv. 6 ; xlviii. 44 with Isa. xxiv. 
 17, 18 ; xlviii. 45, 46, with Numb. xxi. 28, 29 ; xlix. 3 with 
 Amos i. 15 ; xlix. 27 with Amos i. 4 ; li. 58 with Hab. ii. 13 ; 
 Lament, ii. 15 with Ps. 1. 2 ; iii. 6 with Ps. cxliii. 3 ; v. 19 with 
 Ps. cii. 12. How he delighted too in God's word we gather from 
 the manner in which he expressed himself to God when suffer- 
 ing for the truth, and feeling keenly his isolation in consequence. 
 *' Lord, Thou knowest, remember me and visit me, and revenge 
 me of my persecutors ; take me not away in Thy longsuffering ; 
 know that for Thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Thy words 
 were found, and I did eat them, and Thy word was unto me the 
 joy and rejoicing of mine heart ; for I am called by Thy name, 
 Lord God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, 
 nor rejoiced ; I sat alone because of Thy hand : for Thou hast 
 filled me with indignation" (Jer. xv. 15-17). What the divine 
 word was in the Psalmist's eyes he too tells the Lord. " Thy 
 word is very pure, therefore Thy servant loveth it. I am small 
 and greatly despised, yet do I not forget Thy precepts" (Ps. 
 cxix. 140, 141). 
 
 These holy men were in the land of Israel's possession, yet 
 found support in their trials from what God had declared to 
 them. So too Daniel, an exile, a captive, the witness by his 
 condition of the nation's sin, studied the Scriptures, and put 
 implicit confidence in the divine statements. The authority 
 of the written word he fully accepted, and awaited in the 
 
370 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 province of Babylon the fulfilment of God's announcement 
 by Jeremiah (Jer. xxv. 11 ; xxvii. 6, 7 ; xxix. 10) of the 
 duration and termination of the captivity by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. His condition in Babylon was a proof that the word 
 by that prophet was of God ; and understanding by books that 
 the termination of the captivity was at hand, he prayed to God 
 about the people, the city, and the sanctuary. Evidently the 
 predictions by Jeremiah had been a light and comfort to him, 
 and he reckoned on Jehovah's faithfulness to that which had been 
 declared. What grace on the part of God to give that word 
 before the captivity began ! What comfort and hope it must have 
 afforded Daniel as he knew that which had been predicted ! So 
 he turned to speak to God about it, assured by the prophetic 
 word of the favour for his people which then was close at hand. 
 What had the people done to deserve such goodness ? — nothing. 
 But God had promised it, so Daniel expected it, and counted on 
 it ; and became in his turn the channel of divine communications 
 for his people at a future day, who will learn, as he proved, the 
 help the Scriptures can give when suffering righteously for their 
 fathers' sins (Dan. ix. 24-27 ; xii. 10). 
 
 Turning to New Testament times, we are favoured in Acts 
 XV. with instruction most helpful to us of the way the apostles 
 and elders assembled in council at Jerusalem received the 
 written word, and got the required guidance from it. A 
 question had been raised which really struck at the root of 
 dispensational teaching. Converts from among the Gentiles 
 were now numerous, for the Lord had blessed amazingly the 
 preaching of His word among them. Those ignorant of dis- 
 pensational changes, and of the essential difference between 
 Christianity and Judaism, were urging on those converts circum- 
 cision and the keeping of the law for salvation. To settle this 
 question Paul and Barnabas went up, at the request, it would 
 seem, of those gathered out at Antioch (Acts xv. 2) ; thoiigh 
 Paul's visit to Jerusalem on this occasion and for this purpose was 
 in consequence of a divine revelation (Gal. ii. 2). The question 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 37* 
 
 was debated by tlie apostles and elders. It was a new one, an 
 important one, and, as we learn from the Epistle to the Galatians, 
 a vital one. A new revelation from God at that moment when 
 gathered in council would of course have determined the con- 
 troversy. But none was vouchsafed. No prophet on that 
 occasion, speaking by the Spirit, communicated the mind of the 
 Lord. Bvit they had the written word, and that was to be 
 sufficient, and that was found to be enough. To it James 
 turned, quoting the prophet (Amos ix. 11, 12), who had already 
 foretold that Gentiles would be converted, as he wrote, " And all 
 the Gentiles upon whom My name is called" (Acts xv. 17). Their 
 conversion then was no afterthought of the divine mind, for the 
 words of Amos were the words of the Lord, who " doeth these 
 things known from the beginning," as James most likely really 
 said.^ But as to circumcising them, or putting them under the 
 law of Moses, the written word was silent, though it was plain 
 God intended that some from among Gentiles should be con- 
 verted, and stand out as His people. His name being called on 
 them. Then they accepted the silence of the word on the 
 question raised as a settlement of it. What it did not enjoin, 
 that they would not impose on the converts from the nations. 
 Dispensational teaching therefore they quite accepted, and 
 though no text could be quoted which treated of the matter 
 on hand dogmatically, the tenor of the word they gathered 
 from that to which James referred. So if Daniel rested on the 
 faithfulness of God to His word, the apostles and elders owned 
 its paramount authority, acknowledged dispensational teaching, 
 and correctly discerned what it taught, though no formal text 
 could be quoted to settle the controversy. The three principles, 
 then, to which we have called attention above, the acts of the 
 council at Jerusalem fully illustrate and endorse. 
 
 But a further point comes out, and it is one to which all do 
 well to take heed. Dispensational differences may necessitate 
 changes in practice, and even call forth fresh revelations. God 
 
 ^ This is the reading of BC. and of the Codex Sinaiticus. 
 
372 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 may alter His word, or it may for a time fall into abeyance 
 should He be pleased to introduce any changes on earth ; but 
 unless He does cancel it, or announce such changes, that which 
 He has once declared never becomes obsolete. He cancelled His 
 word to Adam in the garden with reference to the food of which 
 he was to eat, when he had sinned and was driven out of 
 Paradise (compare Gen. i. 29 with iii. 18). Again God changed 
 His ordinance about man's food after the sweet savour of Noah's 
 burnt-offering had ascended up heavenward (Gen. ix. 3, 4). 
 But the injunction against eating blood, given then to Noah and 
 his sons, and through them really to all mankind, God has never 
 cancelled, nor modified. Hence that is binding on all men, and 
 to be obeyed by those who are God's children. To that the 
 council at Jerusalem directed the attention of the Christians 
 gathered out from amongst the nations. God's word does not 
 become obsolete by age, nor from lack of observance. 
 
 But we can turn from examples furnished us by saints in 
 the Old Testament and by saints in the New, to one of whom 
 it was written, " Thy law is within my heart " (Ps. xl. 8), and 
 whose ear God wakened morning by morning to hear as the 
 learned, i.e. taught ones (Isa. 1. 4). Maintaining the paramount 
 authority of God's word by his answer to the lawyer, He wielded 
 it as the sword of the Spirit in His conflict with Satan in the 
 wilderness (Matt. iv. 1-17), There hungry. His wants as yet 
 unsupplied, the enemy suggested to Him to use His power, if 
 the Son of God, to turn the stones into bread. Should the Son 
 of God want for food in the wilderness ? If He was the Son, 
 why not minister to His own need. This was in principle the 
 same snare as that by which the arch tempter had caught our 
 first parents — viz. that God had not furnished those dependent 
 on Him with all that they needed, and therefore they would be 
 justified in caring for themselves. The Lord's answer to this 
 temptation was drawn from the armoury of God's word. " It 
 is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God had not spoken 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 373 
 
 to Him to turn stones into bread, therefore He would not do it. 
 When God was silent, He would not act. How fully was the 
 Lord vindicated in this ; for when the temptation was ended, 
 and the devil had departed, foiled in all his efforts, angels came 
 and minister d unto Him. God had not forgotten Him, nor 
 was He left to care for Himself. Dependent, obedient, in due 
 time His wants were supplied. 
 
 But a second time the tempter assailed Him. The Lord had 
 quoted Scripture (Deut. viii. 3), the devil would quote it also 
 (Ps. xci. 11, 12). But one Scripture is not to be used to over- 
 turn another. What the devil had quoted was God's word, but 
 there was another Scripture with which the Lord would have 
 come in conflict had he done that in support of which the 
 Psalm was quoted. So the Lord replied to the enemy's sug- 
 gestion by the simple but forcible words, " It is written again, 
 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God " (Deut. vi. 16). The 
 command addressed to Israel by Moses was binding still. A 
 third time the devil tempted Him by the promise of all the 
 kingdoms of the world, and their glory, if only He would wor- 
 ship him. Again the Lord answered him from the word 
 (Deut. vi. 13). A positive command from God was not to be 
 disobeyed. " It is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
 and Him only shalt thou serve." So where God had not spoken 
 He would not act. One Scripture, He teaches us, is not to over- 
 ride another, unless God has distinctly intimated that the for- 
 mer one is no longer to be observed. And lastly, where God 
 has spoken definitely there is an end of all controversy. How 
 fully were those words of the Psalmist exemplified in the Lord 
 Jesus in the wilderness, " By the word of Thy lips I have kept 
 me from the paths of the destroyer " (Ps. xvii. 4). By that 
 same Avord are saints to keep themselves still. 
 
 Of this we are reminded in the valedictory address of Paul 
 to the elders of Ephesus, in the writings of John and Jude, and 
 in the Lord's own address to the angel of the church in Sardis. 
 At Ephesus Paul had laboured, God had wrought by him in a 
 
374 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 marked way ; but after his departure grievous wolves would 
 come in, not sparing the flock, and from among themselves 
 would men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away dis- 
 ciples after them. What ravages would be committed in the 
 flock ! "Wolves from without, men speaking perverted things 
 from within. Wliat were tlie elders to do under such circum- 
 stances ? What was their resource ? The Apostle tells them : 
 " I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is 
 able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all 
 them which are sanctified " (Acts xx. 32). Paul was leaving 
 them, but God would not pass away. Apostolic counsel and 
 labours they might enjoy and witness no more ; but the word 
 of God remained the same. To that and to God he com- 
 mended them, as all that was needed to buOd up their souls. 
 Of God he had taught them, and that fully (xx. 21, 24, 25, 27, 
 28) ; of repentance towards God he had witnessed both in public 
 and private ; to the gospel of God's grace he had borne a full and 
 clear testimony. Further, he had preached among them the 
 kingdom, declared to them all the counsel of God, and taught 
 them about His church purchased by the blood of Christ. Now 
 no more to be with them as once he had been, he commends 
 them to God, and the word of His grace, as all-sufficient under 
 all circumstances. Development of truth he does not hint at. 
 To God's word he commended them. In the same spirit John, 
 addressing the babes in Christ, conscious that it is the last 
 hour, and with many antichrists around, exhorts them to let that 
 abide in them that they had heard from the beginning (1 John 
 ii 24) ; for it was enough, and it was that which he, writing by 
 the Spirit of God, was authorised to press on them ; and, in 
 truth, as he tells them, those who did not hear the apostles were 
 not of God, whatever pretensions they might put forth to be 
 teachers and leaders among the saints. " Hereby," he writes, 
 "know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (1 John 
 iv. 6). Similarly Jude, in view of the apostasy, the elements of 
 which he could discern already at work, warns Christians of it, 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 375 
 
 and exhorts them to contend earnestly for the faith once deli- 
 vered unto the saints (Jude 3). What had been delivered, that 
 they were to contend for, and to build themselves up in it. 
 The apostasy was coming on. God's word, God's truth, would be 
 sufficient for them all. The apostates would turn from the truth. 
 They were to keep by it ; for the Divine word was a faithful one, 
 and would surely be fulfilled ; and of this he gives a striking and 
 unique illustration, by quoting the prophecy of Enoch. Those 
 who had heard that prophecy, and to whom it was primarily ad- 
 dressed, had all passed away. The flood had come on the world 
 of the ungodly ; but Enoch's prophecy, hitherto unrecorded in the 
 word, God had not forgotten, and from henceforth it would have 
 a place in the sacred volume. Eor, as Jehovah was not now deal- 
 ing in goodness with one nation to the exclusion of other nations 
 from the enjoyment of the privileges and favours which He 
 deigned to bestow, but was dealing in go-ace with man, and would 
 come to judge the ungodly, the terms of Enoch's prophecy were 
 in harmony with the present ways and warnings of God. So 
 that which Moses had not been commissioned to record, Jude 
 was chosen to write down for the instruction of saints and for 
 the warning of the ungodly. 
 
 And now, for a moment, we would once more direct the 
 reader's attention to the instruction furnished us by the ways 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen how He used the 
 word, and turned to it when he sojourned amongst men. We 
 learn from His address to the angel of the church in Sardis what 
 He thinks of it now that He is in glory. Deadness had come 
 over that assembly, but He would minister to it to arouse it if 
 possible. Had God failed in providing all that they required, 
 that a state of deadness characterised them ? Could they blame 
 God for that condition for which the Lord rebuked them ? No ; 
 all that was requisite they already possessed, but they had for- 
 gotten to make use of it. Hence His word to the angel, " Re- 
 member how thou hast received, and heard ; and hold fast, and 
 repent." That was all. He adds nothing to that which they 
 
376 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 already possessed, save His commendation of the faithful amongst 
 them, His promise to the overcomer, and His word of warning 
 for the impenitent. How persistently does God keep before His 
 people the sufficiency of the written word, and the value of it ! 
 In it there is already provided all that individuals or assemblies 
 need to walk by, and to be fruitful for God through the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. We cannot do without it, but in it we can 
 find all that we need to know of God's mind for us, as Peter 
 writes, "that we may grow thereby unto salvation" (1 Pet. 
 ii. 2). If false teachers arise, we are to test them by the word. 
 Since the apostasy is fast approaching, our resource is to keep 
 close to the word. If a state of deadness characterises those 
 who profess to be Christians, minister to them the simple word 
 of God. These are the lessons the apostles and the Lord Jesus 
 Himself would impress on each one of us. 
 
 In the spirit of this teaching Paul wrote his second letter to 
 Timothy, his son in the faith, who, filling a position such as 
 none but Titus, that we read of, ever occupied, viz. that of apo- 
 stolic delegate, was, nevertheless, placed in circumstances very 
 similar to those in which all God's servants since his day have 
 found themselves. He was not a channel made use of by the 
 Spirit for the revelation of truth, but he heard what had been 
 communicated through others ; he received it, and was to 
 keep it. Paul was shortly to leave earth, but Timothy would 
 survive him. Thus the canon of Scripture comes down to that 
 time when servants of Christ would be on earth, who had 
 been taught indeed by apostles and prophets, but who were 
 not themselves prophets in that sense of the word, and it views 
 such as continuing on earth, and in service, when the apostles 
 should have passed away. God's wisdom is thus seen in not 
 closing the canon till such should be called out, and put into 
 their respective spheres of service, and authoritatively addressed 
 by one competent to do it, to tell them how they were to work, 
 and from what sources they were to draw the instructions of 
 which they had need. Of all this Timothy is an illustration for 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF COD. 377 
 
 God's saints as long as the church shall continue upon earth ; 
 for what was sufficient for him will also he sufficient for us. 
 
 The freshness, devotedness, and life, depicted in the Acts as 
 characterising the early converts to Christianity, had begun to 
 decline ere the apostles were removed (Eev. ii. 4 ; Phil. ii. 21). 
 Peter, John, Jude, and Paul, all warn believers of that which 
 was coming on the professing church, the seeds of which liad 
 already begun to germinate. Defection, desertion, declension, 
 both John and Paul witnessed, and experienced from some who 
 had been reckoned amongst the saints (3 John 9 ; 2 Tim. i. 15, 
 iv. 10). The brightest, the unclouded days of the Church's 
 earthly history were already past, to be seen no longer. Faith- 
 ful souls there still were, but amongst a mass of profession in 
 which there were many who had life, but who lacked Christian 
 firmness, faithfulness, and devotedness. Was Timothy then, 
 when deprived of the Apostle's counsel and presence, to sink 
 down to the level of the declension which was rife around him? 
 That would not become a true servant of Christ. So he was 
 exhorted in Paul's second letter to him, and the latest in the 
 sacred canon that came from the aged Apostle, to stand his 
 ground, and if need be even alone, though, thank God, he never 
 could be, nor can any one of us ever be the only faithful soul 
 upon earth. There will always be some who call on the Lord 
 out of a pure heart (2 Tim. ii. 22). 
 
 What thoughts must have crowded into his mind if he looked 
 on to the future. Weak in body, probably timid in character, 
 and surely a man of warm affections (1 Tim. v. 23 ; 2 Tim. i. 4), 
 the departure of the Apostle to be with Christ must have been to 
 him a prospect, as far as he was concerned, anything but cheering. 
 To him, then, the Apostle writes exhorting him to maintain his 
 ground, and to keep hold of the revealed mind of God. And 
 how pointed are the exhortations ! Evil men and seducers would 
 wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. iii. 
 13). A prospect that was anything but cheering, and one not 
 calculated to encourage a person of Timothy's disposition. Men, 
 
 2 c 
 
378 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 too, would turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned 
 unto fables (2 Tim. iv. 4). From the outward aspect of things 
 in the Church of God, what comfort indeed could he get ? Should 
 he become faint hearted and despairing ? That would not befit 
 the servant of Christ. Whatever others might do, " continue 
 tlioii" writes the Apostle, " in the things which thou hast learned 
 and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned 
 them" (2 Tim. iii. 14). And again, " But watch tlwu in all things, 
 endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof 
 of thy ministry " (2 Tim. iv. 5). Nothing was to shake him, or 
 seduce him from the path of obedience. But who goeth to war- 
 fare at his own charges ? or who enlists a soldier without pro- 
 viding him also with arms and ammunition ? The weapon of 
 Timothy's warfare was the word of God. Of this he is reminded, 
 and the importance of the divine revelation comes out in every 
 chapter of this epistle. 
 
 Paul was looking forward to his death, so he turns to Timothy 
 to maintain the testimony (2 Tim. iv. 1-6). " Have " or " hold 
 fast," he writes " a form (or outline) of sound words which thou 
 hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus " 
 (2 Tim. i. 13). Taught by Paul, he was to keep hold of that 
 which he had been taught. Sound words he had heard of Paul. 
 An outline of them he was to keep in faith and love which is in 
 Christ Jesus. Apostolic teaching he was to remember, having 
 a form, or outline, of the sound words which he had heard from 
 PauL The wisdom of such an injunction we can all understand, 
 and the value of such a summary Christians in all ages have 
 endorsed in principle. Creeds, articles of faith, confessions, are all 
 admissions of the wisdom of the apostolic word, though all fall 
 short of that full teaching of wliich Timothy was to have an 
 outline. Por it was not to be limited in scope or extent to that 
 which man had apprehended. The outline was to be of sound 
 words, which Timothy had heard from Paul — a real full summary 
 of apostolic teaching. Such an outline we may boldly assert the 
 church has not held from Timothy's time to our own. The re- 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 379 
 
 covery of trutlis at different epochs in her history, and especially 
 those brought out afresh from the word in our own time respect- 
 ing the Holy Ghost, the Church of God, and even the full 
 preaching of the gospel, warrant us fully in making that state- 
 ment. But besides having an outline of apostolic teaching, the 
 good deposit of the faith entrusted to him he was to keep by 
 the Holy Ghost which dwelt in him. His responsibility is here 
 pressed on him. The faith once delivered is to be kept. What 
 we have is to be held fast (Eev. iii. 11). Thus saints are held 
 responsible to maintain the truth which they have received. 
 So Timothy was to prove that he profited by intercourse with 
 Paul. He was to keep the deposit entrusted to him. 
 
 Thus far we have what concerned himself. But what about 
 others ? Provision is next made for the transmission of sound 
 teaching to them. " Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the 
 grace which is in Christ Jesus ; and the things which thou hast 
 heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to 
 faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also " (2 Tim. ii. 
 1, 2). Again, we may remark, there is no hint of development, 
 or of further revelation. The things which he had heard of 
 Paul among many witnesses, those he was to commit to faithful 
 men, who in their turn would be able to teach others also. 
 Thus God provided for the work to spread, but also for the pre- 
 servation intact, if men continued faithful, of that teaching which 
 had produced such marked effects. What Timothy had heard, 
 and that among many witnesses, he was to hand on. So, if 
 development is excluded, tradition also is shut out. What 
 Timothy had heard from Paul he was to hand on, being attested 
 as apostolic teaching by many witnesses. What care for the 
 correct transmission of the truth have we here, coupled, how- 
 ever, with his responsibility and that of the attesting witnesses. 
 Timothy was a recipient and a transmitter of true doctrine. He 
 was not the originator of it, nor was it revealed to him. As 
 such, then, he was to be careful. But the doctrine had not been 
 hidden in a corner, nor under a busliel. Many witnesses could 
 
38o THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 attest it. It had been openly, fully, and doubtless frequently 
 set forth. When the Lord was going away. He told His dis- 
 ciples that the Holy Ghost would bring to their remembrance 
 all that He had said unto them (John xiv. 26). To Timothy 
 no such promise was made. Then God intended to provide for 
 the infallible setting forth of true Christian teaching. Having 
 been once thus set forth, God's servants are to keep it and 
 hand it on. 
 
 As a transmitter of truth care was to be exercised and pains 
 taken, committing it to faithful men, who, in their turn, were 
 to teach others also. For it is not authority but truth which 
 Timothy was commissioned to hand on : what he had heard. 
 One hears truth, one receives authority. Further, as a teacher 
 of the truth he was to cut it in a straight line, opOoro\xelv (2 Tim. 
 ii. 15), a much needed and wise admonition. Quirks and fancies 
 were to have no place where the truth was concerned. And 
 surely he cut the word in a straight line when he took it 
 simply as he found it, got from it what really was in it, and re- 
 frained from importing man's ideas into the exposition of God's 
 truth. In so doing he would be a workman that needed not to 
 be ashamed. How important is this injunction as to the right 
 way of dealing with the word ! It is the word of truth, and we 
 can only learn the truth as we bow to the word in which it is 
 expressed to us in words taught the sacred writer by the Holy 
 Ghost. Hence there is no other source to which we can turn for 
 the unfolding of the mind of God. But more : we have in the 
 Scriptures all that is requisite to make us wise unto salvation, 
 and that the man of God should be perfect, thoroughly furnished, 
 or fitted, unto all good works (2 Tim. iii. 15, 17). Hence 
 Timothy is told to preach it: "I charge thee before God, and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead, and by 
 His appearing and His kingdom ; preach the word ; be instant 
 in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long- 
 suffering and doctrine " (iv. 1, 2). The door was then open. It 
 would not always remain open. 
 
THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 381 
 
 Keeping the truth, handing it on, remembering the suffi- 
 ciency of the written word, and preaching it, such were the 
 Apostle's exhortations to his child in the faith. Development the 
 word knows nothing of. When God gave the law, He gave it 
 all ere Moses died. "When God revealed Christian truth, He 
 revealed it all whilst the Apostles continued on earth. Going 
 forward, as John wrote to the elect lady, and abiding not in the 
 doctrine of Christ, is not advancing in revelation, but pursuing 
 the road wliicli ends in perdition. It is apostasy (2 John 9). 
 The doctrine of Christ has been fully revealed, though one may 
 have much to learn about it from the word in wdiich it has 
 been unfolded. And we shall miss full instruction, and the full 
 profit for our souls, if we study one part only of the Scriptures 
 and neglect the rest. The Old Testament, Peter reminds us, is 
 profitable, and should be kept hold of as much as the New. 
 In the Old we read of the coming kingdom and glory. In the 
 New we have in addition the Church's hope (2 Pet. i, 19). The 
 one must not displace the other in our minds. Both are to be 
 held fast. And when scoffers rise up in their scoffing to deny 
 the promise of the Lord, their very reasoning, he tells us, 
 evidences their willing ignorance of Scripture, the Old Testa- 
 ment part of which refutes their arguments, and opens up to 
 us the future of this earth beyond the millennial reign of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, when the eternal state shall have begun 
 (2 Pet. iii.) Man's history from first to last, God's counsels about 
 His Son in connection with man, this earth, the universe, and 
 above all for the display of His own glory, and of His ways in 
 grace, with the triumph of His Son, and the final and abiding 
 condition of men, both of the righteous and of the impenitent ; 
 these are subjects of divine revelation. So with man's final 
 destiny unfolded, and God's supremacy re-established for ever, 
 the volume of inspiration brings to a close the history of time 
 in relation to man, as far as God has opened it up to us. All 
 then that man has need to know of his origin, his future, and 
 his salvation, this book can tell him, and in this alone is it 
 
382 THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. 
 
 revealed to him. We have, therefore, attempted in this article 
 to make it speak for itself, calling attention to the claim it puts 
 forth as the inspired word of God, the proofs it aftbrds that 
 it is the Divine word, the way to use it as illustrated from its 
 pages, and its all-sufficiency to guide the soul that will submit 
 to it in the days of declension and of the denial of truth in 
 which our lot is cast. 
 
THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM AND 
 THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 My Deae Brother, 
 
 I see what you say about the difference of our views 
 about the gathering of the Saints of God for worship and the 
 Lord's Supper. I did not know that you professed to gather as 
 saints at all in Sweden, as entirely separate from the religious 
 world ; for, when you gather for the breaking of bread, is it not 
 as members of the " Lutheran Christian Ifission," and not, 
 simply, as " memhers of Christ " ? My inability to acknowledge 
 such a gathering of God's people is, that it is, obviously, 
 unscriptural. I do not need to prove this ; for your connexion 
 with the world, in its religion, shows it. Give up Lutheranism 
 as a system ; and, by so doing, you will be {negatively, at least) 
 in circumstances to assemble with all saints, on the scriptural 
 basis of being members of Christ's body : for Scripture says, 
 " cease to do evil," " from such turn away," " depart from 
 iniquity," etc. But, in order to take true scriptural ground, we 
 must have the requisite spiritual state, by the spiritual working 
 of the Holy Ghost ; for, unless there be good ground, there can- 
 not be a good crop. If the people you are associated with had 
 in their souls a full knowledge of Christianity in power, then 
 they would leave the " Mission " and take up Christian ground ; 
 which, you know, numbers of them are doing as they have 
 their Lutheranism supplanted by Christian truth. Who are 
 responsible for this division of the saints ? Not those who 
 inake the division, under the necessity of obeying God rather 
 than man : but those who cause it, by taking up a position, and 
 
384 THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 holding to a system of doctrine and clinrcli order wliicli are 
 sliort of the, truth. There being no warrant in Scripture either 
 for your position or action, it is imperative on you to give up 
 both. I know that, in a great movement in the souls of men, 
 such as that which has taken place in Sweden, there is need of 
 patience and forbearance : for instruction alone can give them 
 the true doctrine of Scripture for their practical and ecclesias- 
 tical guidance, I can also well understand how you, and others 
 who are leaders, should wish to go to work cautiously in intro- 
 ducing the teaching of the Word on subjects hitherto unknown, 
 as the believers are able to bear it ; but I grieve to think that 
 you should unwittingly promote division among the saints, by 
 taking up, and advocating as right, a principle of gathering and 
 a place of gathering, which necessarily make those so gathered 
 a divisive body, and thus prevent those whose minds are formed 
 and whose conduct is guided by Holy Scripture, from assembling 
 with you. The Holy Ghost is the sole guide in His Word. He 
 has given there what is right, and this decides the matter for us 
 all, so that we are not dependent upon the views and thoughts 
 of men. There is such a thing as the truth, and this is what we 
 read in God's Word and are guided by, without any reasoning of 
 our own. And, if we can act for God, on the warrant of God's 
 truth, and thereby take up an unassailable position, why should 
 we vex ourselves and our fellow-Christians, and grieve the Holy 
 Spirit of God, by acting independently of Scripture and according 
 to the dictation of our own wills ? No well-taught conscientious 
 child of God can have either spiritual or ecclesiastical rest 
 unless he does the whole known will of God as to individual or 
 corporate position. As a matter of individual godliness, one 
 would never think of its being left to our personal option 
 whether we should obey the injunction, " Let him that stole, 
 steal no more," yet people think they may do as they please as 
 to obeying the ecclesiastical precept, to " Walk worthy of the 
 vocation wherewith we are called . . . using diligence to 
 keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace : there is one 
 
AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 385 
 
 body ail J one Spirit ; " not taking note of the fact that both 
 exhortations are found in the same chapter and under the same 
 warrant of the Spirit, and that the first part of the chapter is 
 occupied with ecclesiastical godliness, and the second part with 
 personal and social godliness ; and that the one is just as bind- 
 ing on all saints as the other. 
 
 Were we all possessed of nothing but the truth of God, and 
 subject to the will of God, we should be all together keeping the 
 unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. You, as well 
 as we, have had to give up many hereditary and traditionary 
 ideas because we found no warrant for them in God's Word ; 
 and all our hereditary church views, being totally wrong, must 
 also be abandoned. For, as to their doctrines and ecclesiastical 
 systems, there are no churches, in any country in Christendom, 
 scriptural ; therefore, wise men, and men of dependent, lowlv, 
 and obedient minds, will forsake them, and accept God's way of 
 gathering to the name of Jesus Christ alone. There has been 
 for nearly half a century a growing dissatisfaction among Chris- 
 tians with the disorganised and divided state of the Christian 
 profession, and various efforts have been made to obtain, at 
 least, some show of the real unity of the body of Christ. 
 
 Before we give the true unity which God made and we have 
 been told to keep, let us look a little at the various substitutes 
 for it which men have adopted in ancient and modern times. 
 
 1. That which, if anything, represents historical Christianity 
 — the Western Church, with Eome for its centre, is gathered 
 into its external unity around the Pope as Christ's alleged vice- 
 gerent on earth. This even in outward form goes no farther 
 than the unity of its own religious profession, as all churches err 
 by doing. It is not based on the first set of unities, one body 
 and one Spirit and one hope of our calling ; but upon " One 
 Lord, one faith, and one baptism." 
 
 2. The Greek Church, which embraces not only the popula- 
 tion of Greece proper but of Paissia and a considerable part of 
 Turkey, holding about a hundred millions of souls in its circle, 
 
386 THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 is gathered around a Patriarch and governed by the world, and 
 has been already judged by the Mohammedan power, and is held 
 in bondage by the Eussian Emperor, who is ostensibly its head 
 and ruler. It is not likely that the fallen Eastern Churcli will 
 ever emerge from its present identification with the world, and 
 act on its own responsibility, as is done by the Church of Eome. 
 
 3. Established churches have been formed in many Pro- 
 testant countries by the State assuming the power of the church 
 which was taken from the Pope ; and the principle on which 
 they proceed is, that the nation and the church are co-extensive, 
 and hence the clergy are the state-appointed officials for supply- 
 ing the M'hole population with ordinances, and there is no 
 gathering together of the saints : indeed, this would be utterly 
 incompatible with the idea of a state church. This is a return 
 in principle to the system of ordinances, out of wliicli the church 
 sprang on the descent of the Holy Ghost and the formation of 
 the church of God. In such circumstances the keeping of the 
 unity of the Spirit is an absolute impossibility. 
 
 4. Episcopal churches are formed on the assumption that 
 there are three orders of church officers — bishops, priests, and 
 deacons ; and their system is hierarchical. But there is nothing 
 plainer than that there is no trace of this system in the Holy 
 Scriptures ; for there elders and bishops are identical ; and there 
 is no diocesan bishop such as they now have. The apostles knew 
 no such thing as a prelate in the church — neither instituted 
 them nor recognised them : nor do the Scriptures refer to any 
 such functionary as a diocesan bishop. No one denies that at 
 the end of the second century the episcopal system, not the 
 diocesan, but one superior president of the principal local 
 churches, was generally established. But it w^as not established 
 in apostolic times by God, when the government of the Church 
 was settled. There is no warrant for it in Scripture. But had 
 it been otherwise, Scripture assures us that the ground, centre, 
 and principle of assembling, are other than in connection with 
 an episcopal hierarchy. 
 
AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 387 
 
 5. The Presbyterian system adheres to the scriptural order 
 of only two classes of ecclesiastical officers — elders and deacons : 
 but they have neither, as the apostolic church had them. They 
 overlook the fact that elders were never established save by the 
 apostles or their envoys ; and the presbytery never appointed 
 them. But not heeding this fatal bar to their proceedings that 
 they have neither warrant nor power to establish elders, they 
 do so, and make the work of their own hands the foundation for 
 their gathering as a church. Even if they had been in the da^^s 
 of the apostles when the Presbyterian care-taking of the church 
 was in full force by divine warrant and apostolic appointment, 
 they would have learned, as all saints may now do, that church 
 union was not secured by external government, but by a power 
 entirely outside of church government. It might expose their 
 false ground of unity to ask where was the unity of the church 
 in assemblies where no elders were established ? The assemblies 
 were owned by Paul and Barnabas to be true churches without 
 elders ; and they, and not the churches, " established elders in 
 every church." But the church being there before the elders 
 shows clearly that the church must have assembled on some 
 other basis than that of having elders. This principle of gather- 
 ing of theirs seems to have been very little successful in the 
 past ; and feeling this, they are now holding Pan-Presbyterian 
 councils at stated intervals, to try to re-unite the scattered 
 fragments of their body ; and as many as forty-four differinf 
 churches sent up representatives to the council to demonstrate 
 their ecclesiastical unity ! This shows total disorganisation. 
 
 6. Congregationalists or Independents meet on the ground 
 of the absolute independence of the local assembly. This is tlie 
 complete negation of the unity of the body. They make life in 
 Christ their professed ground of gathering, but they appoint 
 ministers and deacons, and there is neither liberty of ministry 
 nor of worship. Independency means that each church judges 
 for itself independently of another. In every respect this system 
 is wholly unscriptural. The church is not a voluntary system. 
 
388 THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 It is not formed (or rather unformed) of a number of independent 
 bodies or assemblies, each acting for itself. There is not a trace 
 of such independency and disorder in the Word of God, 
 
 7. The, Baptists make adult baptism by immersion their 
 principle of separation from other Christians, and of assembling 
 themselves together. This principle is, on the face of it, un- 
 scriptural, for (though none should eat the Lord's supper who 
 are not baptized) Christ is the centre of Christian gathering and 
 not an ordinance, and the only ground of gathering is the unity 
 of the body of Christ ; not the merely mechanical thing of as- 
 sembling around an ordinance, although the participation in the 
 Lord's supper is that by which the oneness of the Church is 
 expressed. " For we, the many, are one bread, one body " (1 
 Cor. X. 17), for we are all partakers of that one bread. 
 
 8. The Methodists make no pretensions to being on a church 
 ground at all, only " a society of penitent sinners fleeing from 
 the wrath to come," and their creed is very much the Arminian 
 doctrines of John Wesley, which are generally a reflection of 
 the doctrines of Lutheranisra. They are characterised by intense 
 earnestness and zeal for the conversion of souls ; but, as a rule, 
 their converts know neither redemption nor peace with God ; and 
 to them the knowledge of the Church of God is simply an im- 
 possibility ; and, as already remarked, they do not profess to be 
 on church ground. They are like the Lutherans of the mission- 
 houses in Sweden, who do not give up a nominal connection with 
 the established church, yet, for their own convenience, have the 
 Lord's supper by themselves. The Methodists of to-day are just 
 what the mission-house believers will become, unless they embrace 
 and act upon the truth that " there is one body and one Spirit." 
 
 9. Besides the above - mentioned, there is a multitude of 
 sects assembling on bits of truth or falsehood, or ranged under 
 different leaders' names, such as Irvingites, Campbellites, Swe- 
 denborgians, Mennonites, Mormonites, etc. All this is simply 
 the will of man and not the Word of God. 
 
 10. Temporary unions are also formed by Christians for 
 
AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 389 
 
 special purposes, on the principle of sinking their differences, 
 and enjoying each other's society for some days. They have 
 their Bible and missionary societies, their Christian conferences, 
 and the Evangelical Alliance, This last was formed nearly forty 
 years ago. It is a great international society of the heavier 
 portion of the evangelical world, who yet have a notion that 
 some manifestation should be given that all Christians are one 
 in Christ. The more spiritual and evangelistic part of the 
 Evangelicals have their Clirislian Conferences, where they meet 
 together for a few days on the ground of sinking their differences, 
 and have preaching, pirayer, and sometimes the Lord's supper. 
 But, even in both, the clergy never relax their grasp ; and indeed, 
 the owning of a clergy and ordinances is the real ground of their 
 assembling, for those who own neither are excluded. The clergy 
 always assert their place of usurpation as dispensers of the sup- 
 per at such gatherings ; and in all the church-making of the age 
 they have the place of pre-eminence and supreme control. They 
 are the cause of the ruin ; and they perpetuate if (Acts xx. 30). 
 13. But the divine unity is different from all these unions of 
 men by which Christendom has been disfigured and ruined, and 
 lies before the eyes of mankind as a wreck, to the dishonour of 
 Christ and the disgrace of all the saints who sanction it. All 
 man's churches are distinctly opposed to God's church, and in 
 defiance of the plain word of God — " there is one body." This 
 does not mean many bodies. Man's error lies in making churches 
 instead of owning the church God has made. He has a unity 
 of the Spirit He enjoins us to keep. He has united Christians 
 in one body in Christ by His sovereign grace, and in virtue of 
 the power of the Holy Ghost, without consulting with them and 
 without availing Himself of their co-operation. He has baptized 
 all saints into one body, and exhorted them, not to make unions, 
 but, to act so as to maintain " the unity of the Spipjt in the 
 bond of peace." And that there may be no mistake he points 
 it out in the words which follow — " There is one body and one 
 Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." And 
 
390 THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 when saints assemble on this divine ground, tliey have only to 
 worship God the Father and show their oneness in Christ by 
 breaking bread together in remembrance of Him at His table ; 
 " for we, the many, are one bread, one body ; for we are all par- 
 takers of that one bread" (1 Cor. x. 17). This is the Spirit's 
 way of giving an outward expression of our unity ; and He will 
 admit of none other. The scriptural principles of gathering for 
 worship and the breaking of bread require only faith, a mind 
 subject to the Spirit, and a heart for Christ, to own them and act 
 upon them in maintaining the unity of the Spirit. 
 
 (1.) On account of the holiness of God, the necessary inin- 
 ciple of gathering to Christ is separation from evil. Christ's 
 redemption takes the saints out of the ruin of themselves as well 
 as of their sins, having delivered them from this present evil 
 world. God sets them in the Spirit as those who are Christ's in 
 the midst of evil, but separated from it as He was. " They are 
 not of the world, even as I am not of the world." " Cease to do 
 evil." " Let him that nameth the name of the Lord depart from 
 iniquity." God's essential character demands separation from 
 evil, for " God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we 
 say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, 
 we lie and do not the truth " (1 John, i. 5, 8). To think of this 
 were to belie the character of God. If there is to be fellowship 
 with God, and, if connected with the Holy One of God, the 
 heavenly Christ, there must be separation from evil. This prin- 
 ciple working in men's consciences at Pentecost, the Holy Ghost 
 formed a Christian unity in the midst of evil. The Eeformation 
 from Popery, if not some of the sects of Christendom, owe their 
 existence in measure to this principle. But although they came 
 out of gross evil they came far short of the unity of the Spirit. 
 Not one church ever contemplated " the body of Christ." 
 
 (2.) The only scriptural lasis of gathering to Christ is that 
 " there is one body and one Spirit." Although all the constituent 
 members of this body do not assemble, tlie Spirit remains, and 
 as many as see the truth, and have faith to act upon it, may 
 
AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 391 
 
 scripturally meet to eat the Lord's Supper and worship. All 
 Christians being already members of this " one body " are all 
 one thing, and do not require to wait until something be 
 formed. The body is there ; and if there is faith to own it, 
 and dependence on the Spirit, they may manifest their oneness 
 by eating together the Lord's Supper at His table, and worship- 
 ping His God and Father. This is the privilege and duty of 
 every saint on earth : and it is sin against Christ not to do this. 
 
 (3.) The iiowcr of gathering, as well as of unity, is grace as 
 revealed in Christ and His cross, which manifested God in His 
 nature, and "God is love;" and in His character, for "God is 
 light." Love, as grace in God revealed in Christ, alone gathers ; 
 Christ lifted up draws all men to Him. And He gave Himself 
 to gather tooether in one the children of God scattered abroad. 
 The Holy Ghost works in souls through the grace of God revealed 
 in His nature in Christ, and thus brings them into oneness with 
 Him. " By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." 
 
 (4.) The divine centre of gathering is Christ Himself. God 
 was in Christ ; God in His nature was revealed in Christ ; 
 Christ in His person has revealed Him ; in His Cross glorified 
 Him ; and vindicated Him in His character. Having died to 
 clear God's name and for our sins, we have redemption through 
 His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His 
 grace. God has wrought from His own nature according to His 
 counsel in Christ ; and it is by the revelation of perfect love — 
 Himself acting in grace towards us, clearing us for God's 
 presence, giving us a new nature too, and relationship as 
 children of God ; we cleave to Christ, our deliverer, where He is. 
 Christ by His death has died to sin, and now livetli to God : 
 and we are attached to Him by the Spirit in the heavenly places 
 where He is — the world and sin left out — that we too might 
 live together with Him. The sphere where we are gathered, 
 in spirit, is the Father's presence in love and light. We have 
 fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 
 The glorious Man, the Son of God, in the Father's presence, is 
 
392 THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 the One to whom we are gathered, and the One in whom we 
 are blessed with every blessing in that heavenly sphere of light 
 and love. 
 
 As this point is of importance, we press it a little more 
 precisely as Scripture teaches it. There must be an intrinsic 
 power of union holding the body together to a centre, as well as 
 a power separating from evil to form it ; and this centre found, 
 it denies all others. The centre of unity must be a sole and 
 unrivalled centre. The Christian has not long to inquire here. 
 It is Christ. The object of the Divine counsel — the manifesta- 
 tion of God Himself — the one only vessel of mediatorial power, 
 entitled to unite creation as He by whom and for whom all 
 things were made ; and the Church as its redeemer, its head, 
 its glory, and its life. And there is this double headship, He 
 is head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the 
 fulness of Him that fiUeth all in all. This will be accomplished 
 in its day — for the present we take up the intermediate period, 
 the unity of the Church itself, and its unity in the midst of 
 evil. Now there can be no moral power which can unite away 
 from evil but Christ. He alone, as perfect grace and truth, 
 detects all the evil which separates from God, and from which 
 God separates. He alone can, of God, be the attractive centre 
 which draws together to Himself all on whom God so acts. God 
 will own no other — there is no other to whom the testimony 
 could be borne, who is morally adequate to concentrate every 
 affection which is of God and towards God. Eedemption itself, 
 too, makes this necessary and evident ; there can be but one 
 Eedeemer, one in whom a ransomed heart can be given, as well 
 as where a divinely quickened heart can give all its affections, 
 the centre and revelation of the Father's love. He, too, is the 
 centre of power to do it. In Him all the fulness dwells. 
 Love, and God is love, is known in Him. He is the wisdom of 
 God and the power of God. And yet more than this, He is the 
 separating power of attraction, because He is the manifestation 
 of all this, and the fulfiller of it in the midst of evil ; and that 
 
AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 393 
 
 is what we poor miserable ones want who are in it, and it is 
 what, if we may so speak, God wants for His separating glory 
 in the midst of evil. Christ sacrificed Himself to set up God in 
 separating love in the midst of evil. There was more than this, 
 a wider scope in this work, but I speak in reference to 
 my present subject now. Thus Christ becomes not only 
 the centre of unity to the universe in His glorious title 
 of power, but, as the manifester of God, the one owned 
 and set up of the Father, and attractor of man. He be- 
 comes a peculiar and special centre of divine affections 
 in man, round which they are gathered as the sole divine centre 
 of unity. For indeed, as the centre, necessarily the sole centre, 
 " He that gathereth not with me scattereth." And such, as to this 
 point, was the object even, and power of His death. " I, if I be 
 lifted up, will draw all men unto me." And more especially. 
 He gave Himself not for that nation only, but that He might 
 gather together in one the children of God which were scattered 
 abroad. But here again we find this separation of a peculiar 
 people. He gave Himself for us, that he might purify to Him- 
 self a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He was the very 
 pattern of the divine life in man, separate from the evil by 
 which it was universally surrounded. He was the friend of 
 publicans and sinners, piping in grace to men by familiar and 
 tender love ; but He was ever the separate man. And so He is 
 as the centre and high -priest of the Church. "Such an high- 
 priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from 
 sinners" — and, it is added, "made higher than the heavens." 
 Here, in passing, we may remark that the centre and subject of 
 this unity then is heavenly. By His death He broke down the 
 middle wall of partition, and made both one, and reconciled 
 both in one body unto God — making peace. Hence it is as 
 lifted up, and finally as made higher than the heavens, that He 
 becomes the centre and sole object of unity. 
 
 From what we have seen, it is evident that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ on high is the object round which the Church clusters 
 
 2d 
 
394 THE MULTIFORMITY OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 in uuity. He is its head and centre. This is the character of 
 their unity, and of their separation from evil, from sinners. Yet 
 they were not to be taken out of the world, but kept from the 
 evil, and sanctified through the truth ; Jesus having set Him- 
 self thus apart to this end. Hence, as well as for the public 
 display of the power and glory of the Son of man, the Holy 
 Ghost was sent down to identify the called ones with their 
 heavenly Head, and to separate them from the world in which 
 they were to remain ; and the Holy Spirit became thus the 
 centre and power down here of the unity of the Church in 
 Christ's name — Christ having broken down the middle wall of 
 partition, reconciling both in one body by the cross. The saints, 
 thus gathered in one, became the habitation of God through the 
 Spirit. The Holy Ghost Himself became the power and centre 
 of unity, but in the name of Jesus, of a people separated alike 
 from Jew and Gentile, and delivered out of this present evil 
 world into union with their glorious Head. 
 
 (5.) The divine hond of unity is the Holy Ghost. " For hy 
 one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." " There is one body 
 and one Spirit." He is in all, binding all together in Christ ; 
 and, dwelling in the assembly, gathers efficiently in love and 
 lioliness to Christ ; and by His blessed Word, revealing Christ 
 in fullest grace, engages our souls and hearts so fully with Him, 
 that being separated to Him in love and grace, the good in 
 Christ to which we are attached is the great presence to our 
 souls and hearts, and not the evil from which we are separated. 
 All saints are of the body of Christ, and, when it is practical, 
 gathering in the unity of the Spirit, who dwells in the Church 
 as His habitation, it will be in accordance with the Word of 
 God ; for light and darkness, Christ and Belial, cannot be linked 
 together. For practical fellowship then, while the Spirit gathers 
 by love He preserves from evil by holiness ; yet He gives us 
 such a hold on the good that it is uppermost in our minds and 
 hearts, and evil, as by very necessity of our communion with God, 
 is left. The Spirit who gathers in grace yet maintains in light. 
 
AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 395. 
 
 In 1 John i. we have tlie manifestation of the eternal life in 
 love and the fellowship of the Father and the Son enjoyed — our 
 joy full ; but we have also tlic, message, " that God is light, and 
 in Him is no darkness at all," and our walk is to be in accord- 
 ance with this perfect revelation of God in Christ. But the 
 manifestation of God in His nature comes before the message 
 regarding God in His character. Love gathers us into this 
 divine fellowship according to the nature of God : and light 
 maintains us there according to the character of God. Such 
 then are some of the principles of unity and gathering, according 
 to the Scriptures. '' If ye knoio these things happy are ye if ye 
 do them." 
 
THE CEISIS IN THE FREE CHUECH OF 
 SCOTLAND/ 
 
 I SEE what you are about in regard to tlie case on which you are 
 writing, and am pleased to observe, from a perusal of your 
 article, that you are endeavouring to uphold the integrity, in- 
 spiration, and authority of the Holy Scriptures, against this 
 modern " wind of doctrine," in connection with " the higher 
 criticism." 
 
 Did it ever occur to you that this spread of rationalism 
 among you, and the internecine war that threatens to blight and 
 divide the Free Church, are the permitted if not inflicted judg- 
 ment of the Lord, not only for her unfaithfulness to the truth and 
 testimony to Christ and His grace and claims, but also for her 
 being the most active and energetic agent in the rejection of 
 the full " testimony of our Lord " as to Christ and the Church, 
 and also the most virulent rejector of the personal presence and 
 present action of the Holy Ghost, in gathering out the saints 
 of God from all the confusions of man to own the unity of the 
 body of Christ, as a witness to the Person and Word of Christ 
 before He comes to take His people to Himself ? 
 
 It is now forty years since we first met in the same class at 
 
 ^ [Expressions in this letter may be objected to as rather extravagant when 
 applied to the movement referred to, but as the writer speaks in the opening 
 paragraphs of it as one who had received blessing in the scenes he describes in 
 such glowing language, he should be permitted to give utterance to the fulness 
 of his soul as he has written it to his friend ; and the reader may believe that 
 though God did not own them as His Church, He owned them as His saints ex- 
 alting His Son, and stamped their deed, however defective, with His blessing. — 
 Ed.] 
 
THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 397 
 
 College, and I thiuk I should be unfaithful to an old friend 
 bestirring himself to do battle for the Word of God, if I did not 
 ask him such a question as tliis at this solemn crisis. It is 
 my settled conviction that this generation of Free Churchmen 
 are suffering under the hand of God because of their unfaith- 
 fulness to what God had wrought for them, and also for refusiiig 
 to accept the present testimony of God to His Son Jesus Christ, 
 and to the presence, place, action, and object of the Holy Ghost 
 on earth. 
 
 We own the grace and blessing of God on the movement 
 which led to the Disruption, though not as sanctioning their 
 position — and 1 will never forget those times of blessing, when 
 souls drank in with earnestness the living water, and rejoiced 
 in Christ Jesus ; and when a divine enthusiasm pervaded the 
 willing and devoted people, as it did the ministers, to have 
 Christ exalted high above all the powers of earth, as God had 
 given Him this place in glory at His own right hand. " God was 
 in the midst of her." The river of God seemed to flow there ; the 
 Scriptures were to them the utterances of the living God, afford- 
 ing divine warrant, foundation, and authority for their action. 
 The Spirit of God converted and established souls by means of 
 the Gospel of Christ, preached by men of God, whose life was 
 spent in unfolding the evangelical truths of Eevelation, for the 
 glory of Christ and the salvation and edification of their hearers. 
 Their one aim was to exalt God's Christ, and God owned them 
 in their purpose and deed, though not very intelligent — and 
 gave " showers of blessing " and divine establishing. " There 
 were giants in those days," no doubt, in the best sense of the 
 word, — men like Chalmers, Cunningham, and Candlish, whose 
 teaching inspired men with spiritual chivalry, and gave solid 
 energy and glowing fervour, with which to go forth from their 
 side, strong in the certainty of having the saving truth of God 
 in an inspired and authoritative Divine Book, " every writing " 
 of which was " God-breathed ; " and to give forth the word in 
 the fullest faith, that, under the Spirit's hand, it would be made 
 
398 THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 " mighty to the pulling down of strongholds," and the upbuild- 
 ing of the saints "in their most holy faith." But it was 
 remarkable that the great men of that day were not the only 
 men who were largely blessed. They did their imperial service 
 in the high places of the field, battling for Scripture truth and 
 principle against all assailants ; but whoever lisped out the 
 great truths about the person, work, glory, and headship of the 
 Christ of God, and gave the Spirit's testimony in the Gospel of 
 God, was honoured by the Spirit of God with more or less suc- 
 cess in His service. The river of blessing flowed in full stream 
 through the land. " Christ is all" was the battle-cry (for it was 
 a time of warfare with the rulers of the darkness of this world), 
 and onward went the conquering servants of God, in the spirit 
 of a divine self-sacrifice, memorable in heaven, and He owned 
 their sufferings and service with the stamp of unprecedented 
 success. All true ministry is self-sacrifice. " They regarded not 
 their lives " in their devotion to Christ, and their determination 
 to preserve intact His rights and prerogatives to regulate all in 
 His church, according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures 
 (as they saw it) ; and God owned it for the glory of Christ, and 
 their own blessing, and that of thousands. As one who lived and 
 moved in those blessed scenes I can say that those Disruption 
 times were signalised not only by a witness to Christ's Headship, 
 but by a work of the Holy Ghost that ensured the deepest 
 spiritual blessing, while it welded together the whole of the out- 
 coming multitude in love and devotedness, and made them of 
 one heart and of one soul for the honour of their exalted Head. 
 But not even divine blessing, in the power of the Spirit, 
 lasts in its original energy beyond the lifetime of the genera- 
 tion on which it comes. Whether in innocence, under law or 
 under grace, that which the goodness of ^God has committed to 
 man's responsibility has been ruined in his hands not far from 
 its beginning. The present state of the Free Church is a sad 
 illustration of the uniformity of man's unfaithfulness when any 
 testimony or blessing has been committed to his responsibility 
 
THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 399 
 
 on the part of God. A pre-Disruption minister said to me, above 
 twenty years ago, " Don't you tliink there is always something 
 wanting about the preachers wlio have not heard Chalmers?" 
 This godly evangelical man, who still lives, complained of the 
 coldness and want of spiritual energy and love for souls that 
 so sadly characterised the young men who were then coming 
 forward to fill the ranks thinned by the hand of death, among 
 the Disruption ministers. And I believe he was right. It was 
 about this time that decline had set in, and it has gone on with 
 steady progress until the Church is well-nigh rent in twain by 
 internal strife, and finds itself on the verge of splitting up over 
 the malignant and interminable case of the alleged unsoundness 
 in his teaching of one of its professors. 
 
 The cause of the ruin is seen in its bane, blight, and 
 punishment. The Church made a fatal mistake in endeavouring 
 to conserve and promote by natural means that which it had 
 acquired of position, usefulness, and influence, as the fruit of 
 God's Spirit working in men's consciences and hearts. They 
 also showed great failure by trumpeting their own success over 
 Christendom, and congratulating themselves as having achieved 
 something notable from having their praises sounded in both 
 hemispheres. They have stood before the world in the con- 
 sciousness of a grand reputation for devotedness, and now they 
 must endeavour by all means to keep it up and increase it more 
 and more. In order to accomplish this object, the best talent 
 of the Church must be sought out, and men of the highest 
 acquirements must be placed in her professors' chairs ; and the 
 thought being now the maintenance of a great reputation, gifts 
 were more in request than grace, and so men of reputation for 
 great ability, irrespective of true piety, were placed in her 
 colleges, and the teaching of her students went on. The men 
 now chosen were, generally, young as well as talented, that they 
 might give the best portion of their life to their professional 
 work, and be all the more likely to act upon young men, and 
 succeed in forming a ministry that would develop greater power 
 
400 THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of learning in giving the Church a higher place in the world. 
 This now appears to the more spiritual to have been a serious 
 mistake. 
 
 Meantime, the union proposal between the Free Church and 
 another was discussed and fought over for ten years, which 
 served as a satanic diversion and cover, while the seed of the 
 new teaching was sprouting and getting into leaf. A time of 
 spent power ensued, and things grew worse and worse. A spirit 
 of blindness to consequences seized even some of the aged and 
 godly leaders, so as to make them instrumental in continuing to 
 furnish the colleges with young professors who had given no 
 particular proof either of their piety or ministry, and now those 
 very men are moving heaven and earth to get rid of them, and 
 undo, as far as possible, the disastrous consequences of this fatal 
 mistake. It is the solemn conviction of nearly one-half of your 
 body that those men have poisoned the meal at the mill and the 
 water in the well, and the whole Free Church is suffering in 
 consequence. The whole tendency of the teaching given has been 
 they believe rationalistic not Christian, but it has no doubt been 
 in perfect accord with the sceptical spirit of the age. But if it has 
 brought the church into harmony with the spirit of the age, by 
 so doing it has taken it out of harmony with the Bible and the 
 Spirit of God. The literature of the day is essentially infidel, 
 and the rising race read it, and under its baneful influence will not 
 care to listen to the preaching of a minister who is not, himself, 
 abreast of it, and in full sympathy with it. The literature of 
 the period has now more influence for evil than all the gospel 
 that is now preached has for good. Literature and not the 
 Bible, produces and rules the thought of the day ; and that 
 thought, of whatever sort, is intensely sceptical. Men trained 
 by professors of rationalistic proclivities will aim at preaching 
 so as to catch the ear and ensure the good opinion of the 
 thoughtful, and in order to arrest and retain them they must 
 largely keep the gospel in the background (even when they 
 know it). I venture to say, from knowledge acquired from the 
 
THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 401 
 
 most reliable source, without seeking it, that there is scarcely 
 a student who leaves the colleges of the church to become a 
 settled minister over a congregation, who will not naturally 
 preach in an attempted literary style, and with a bias towards 
 a modified rationalism, and will not give prominence to Christ 
 crucified, as bearing our sins and delivering us from the world. 
 
 There was, no doubt, a great outward and ecclesiastical 
 movement at the time of the Disruption, which drew in many 
 who had no spiritual life, but who were under the providential 
 power of the force that was leading on those who had life for 
 the glory of Christ ; and when the energy that led them out 
 died down, the "mixed multitude" that were among the true 
 people of God, like the " mixed multitude " that came out of 
 Egypt with the Israelites, led on the lusting for the things that 
 they had left, and this class has caused much of the evil that has 
 overtaken the Free Church in its wilderness-march these thirty- 
 eight years, the time the Israelites were caused to wander in the 
 desert because of want of faith to go up and possess the land of 
 promise. Now, as the time wore on, there came over Scotland, 
 contemporaneously with the commencement of the period of 
 their decline, a wave of blessing from the Lord, such as had not 
 been known since the times of the Disruption, even if then, — but 
 with fresh features, and a peculiar direction and outcome. The 
 action of it was evidently most felt within the borders of the Free 
 Church, and the voice of God in it was " Eemember therefore 
 from whence thou art fallen (a heavy fall is the fall from ' first 
 love '), and repent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto 
 thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, 
 except thou repent." It seemed as if the church were a little 
 aroused by this revival call, and individual ministers and people 
 received fresh blessing, and were used mightily in the blessing 
 of others over a wide range, and they carried a public testimony 
 forward in the majesty of the Spirit, and tens of thousands 
 assembled to listen, and a work of grace was accomplished of a 
 deep and lasting kind. But it was a work of the Spirit inde- 
 
402 THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 pendent of churches, and its whole tendency was to go outside of 
 them, and assert for itself an independent place as a free work 
 of the Holy Ghost. The church at first seemed inclined to 
 favour the work, and anxious to get the lead of it ; they tried to 
 get all the agents under its power, and even owned one of its 
 workers though belonging to another communion. But when 
 it refused to be ecclesiastically controlled, this great open work 
 was at first feared and at length opposed, and those who were 
 in the forefront of the movement carried on their work for a 
 time in the face of the most virulent opposition ; and at length 
 it died away, and the workers went with it, some to be with 
 their Lord, and others to the obscurity out of which God had 
 called them. The church saw that this free work had an out- 
 ward tendency ; and when at length it came to their ears that, 
 as the fruit of it, God was gathering saints outside of all the 
 sects on the grou.nd of the one body of Christ, and with the dis- 
 tinct aim to maintain the unity of the Spirit, that ignored all 
 the existing ecclesiastical institutions of men as in Scripture 
 times, even the most evangelical joined with the merely ecclesi- 
 astical in order to resist the Holy Ghost's work, and stamp out 
 the movement as earnestly and carefully as men do an epidemic. 
 " Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so do 
 ye." When they saw that the movement did not stop short of 
 gathering souls to Christ outside the churches, and exactly as 
 they were gathered when the Pentecostal outpouring of the 
 Spirit baptized the saints into one body in Christ, then they re- 
 sisted it, for they would not allow it to subvert their system, 
 but used every means to put it down by preaching and printing, 
 and by stopping the circulation of the literature which the Spirit 
 was using for the building up of the saints and their deliver- 
 ance from their sins, and also from the ecclesiastical bondage of 
 the day, into the liberty for worship, walk, and service, with 
 which Christ makes His people free. God presented His testi- 
 mony to the grace and glory of Christ in the power of the Holy 
 Ghost, and the answer to it was very much a repetition of what 
 
THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 403 
 
 happened when Stephen, " full of the Holy Ghost and of faith," 
 presented the testimony to God's goodness in Israel, winding up 
 with the exceeding grace of sending Jesus to bless them, as had 
 been witnessed by the Holy Ghost, — when he charged them 
 with resisting the Holy Ghost, and told of heaven opened 
 and the rejected Jesus seen by him in the glory of God — 
 centre of a new system of things, that necessitated the abolition 
 of the old, — they stopped their ears, ran upon him, cast him out 
 of the city, and stoned him. And what happened ? God's new 
 thing went on, and the old vanished away, and wrath came upon 
 them to the uttermost, as those who were guilty dispensation- 
 ally of the sin against the Holy Ghost. 
 
 It is a similar resisting of the Holy Ghost in His testimony 
 to Christ and the Church that has so grieved the Spirit that He 
 has left them to their own delusions, to reap the fruit of their 
 own ways, and to know the misery of being delivered over 
 to be fiUed with the thoughts of men, and be threatened 
 with having their candlestick removed out of its place. At 
 the beginning, " the wise," " the scribe," " the disputer of this 
 world," had been all made foolish by God (in the form in which 
 they presented themselves), and vanquished by the power of 
 God, by which the people of the Disruption period were made 
 to sacrifice themselves, and all they possessed, to the honour of 
 Christ their Head and Lord ; but now " the wise, the scribe, and 
 the disputer of this world," not only assert a place of prominence, 
 wisdom, and power, but they threaten to employ the old vessel of 
 testimony, once so full of the power of God, as the very instru- 
 ment of the malignant power of Satan to destroy the souls of 
 the present generation, by sowing in them the seeds of infidelity 
 by the agency of the very men who have been set for teaching 
 and upholding intact the Spirit's testimony in the Written 
 Word. They refused the Spirit's truth ; and God may permit 
 them to believe the devil's lie (2 Thess. ii.) ; and if there is not 
 svnft repentance when their cup is full, the judgment of God 
 must come upon the unfaithful vessel of testimony, for He can- 
 
404 THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 not permit a people He has so graciously condescended to use 
 in upholding the name of Christ (as they knew Him) to continue 
 before men as if still owned of Him, if it should become the 
 chief instrument of His dishonour in the land. When the vessel 
 of testimony to Christ has become the instrument of Christ's 
 dishonour and the corrupter of God's Word, we do not need any 
 prophet to be sent to tell us that the end must be the judgment 
 of God upon the vessel itself, breaking it in pieces. When the 
 Jews crucified an incarnate Christ, there was still a reserve of 
 grace for them in connexion with a glorified Christ ; but after 
 .the Spirit had come, and they had sinned against the Holy Ghost 
 in His witness to au exalted Prince and Saviour, wrath came 
 upon them to the uttermost. God is my witness that I do not 
 desire to see the woeful day ; but, judging from the very charac- 
 ter of God, and by the testimonies of His Word, and by His 
 uniform practice in such cases, the coming of judgment vipon 
 an incorrigible corruption that has established itself in the place 
 of God's testimony though long-delayed is inevitable. 
 
 In the time of a gi'eat religious stir, occasioned by the 
 preaching of a transatlantic evangelist, seven years ago, when 
 souls were quickened through the life-giving Word and Spirit, 
 the greatest care was taken to exclude the anxious from coming 
 in contact with the ministry of those who had the gospel in its 
 fulness to communicate, and who could have given them the 
 delivering truth of redemption, so that they might have rejoiced 
 in Christ Jesus ; and, in consequence, they were left to flounder 
 in the mud of their own misery, and at length settle down into the 
 worldly Christian profession of the period, the evil air of wliich 
 effectually represses all spiritual growth. The chief actors to 
 hinder the gospel from having free course were the clergy, who, 
 in this, went against the expressed wish of the evangelist, who 
 had to submit to his clerical superiors as the price paid for their 
 co-operation and the free run of their churches ; and the Free 
 Church was the principal in this opposition to the gospel. Thus, 
 that which began as a free work of God's grace, when its results 
 
THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 405 
 
 were seized upon and the movement got into the hands of the 
 clergy and was forced into their moulds, became cramped, 
 crushed, and very soon extinguished. Contemporaneous with 
 this terrible and destructive action in ruining the evangelical 
 work, and finally guiding it to gaol and private execution, came 
 the reaction towards infidelity, which a light, forced, and sensa- 
 tional work, carried on at the level of current religious profession, 
 uniformly produces. A " carnal " evangelism produces a scoffing 
 worldliness, which refuses henceforth to listen to the solid gospel 
 of the grace of God. To popularise the gospel is to take away 
 from it every element of divine power which it possesses. Allow 
 of human methods or ingredients, and immediately the flesh 
 breathes freely and listens pleasantly ; but bring in Christ 
 crucified as doing away with man in the flesh altogether, and 
 going on with the second Man, who is risen and gone into 
 heaven, and the flesh is choked by the heaviness of the 
 atmosphere, and makes its escape. This modern popularising of 
 the gospel has given even evangelical society its itching ears, 
 and has turned away the thoughtful from listening to the Word 
 as a divine thing. Thus the evangelical conspired with the 
 rationalistic to ruin the whole crop and reduce the field to 
 barrenness. " The land was as the garden of Eden before them, 
 and behind them a desolate wilderness." A rationalised college 
 and a popularised gospel have made the name of Christ odious, 
 and the Holy Scriptures a suspected and distrusted book. And 
 is not God permitting your present troubles as a chastisement 
 for rejecting the Spirit's work and the gospel of the glory of 
 Christ leading on to the full knowledge of Him, and a going 
 forth at the Spirit's call, " Behold, the Bridegroom ! Go ye out 
 to meet Him ? " 
 
 A few of the saints of God, who have been treated " as the 
 offscouring of all things unto this day," have sought and found 
 God's grace to stand by the full testimony of God as to the 
 present truth, and also by the new work of God's Spirit in re- 
 calling the saints from their confusion and disorder to Christ 
 
4o6 THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and the unity of the Spirit. And though you have resisted all 
 this (no doubt most of the rank and file in ignorance — not the 
 leaders), who have come forward most distinctly in this work 
 of standing up for the perfection and authority of God's Word 
 as written, but those very people whom you have banded your- 
 selves together to slay ? This should speak with the very voice 
 of God to your consciences and lay you down before His foot- 
 stool in confession of your great sin in resisting the Holy Ghost 
 in their testimony, and lead you to reconsider your duty towards 
 this divine testimony and work of God for these closing days. 
 One single pamphlet of this despised and persecuted people, 
 entitled, ''■Have we a revelation from God?" despatched to the 
 ministers of the church before the first great public trial of 
 Professor Eobertson-Smith's case, warned, instructed, and de- 
 livered the church for that year, when the subject of the con- 
 tention was comparatively unknown ; and ever since, the same 
 witnesses for Christ and the scriptures have by a variety of 
 writings shown themselves to be allies of those who are stand- 
 ing up for the truth against increasing and terrible opposition. 
 They are the parties which the most evangelical among you 
 have persecuted ; and still they are forced, by holding on their 
 way with God in personal fidelity, to be in the very path, so far 
 as testimony to the Written Word is concerned, in which by 
 force of circumstances you now meet them and find them — not 
 your enemies — not taking advantage of your evil case to re- 
 proach you for the past, but, by the grace of God, " helpers in 
 the war." They are one with you in resisting this fearful form 
 of this " higher criticism " infidelity, that wrecks the Word as a 
 revelation from God. 
 
 But this is not all. They believe that though God blesses 
 a community, in however great a state of ignorance as to the 
 full truth of Church unity when they are true to the Spirit-given 
 desire to uphold the name of Christ according to their light, 
 yet, seeing that the full truth of God has now been recovered 
 and published openly, and the place of the saints in Christ 
 
THE CRISIS IN FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 407 
 
 before God, and the place here in the Spirit where God would 
 have all His children to be, God gathering out His saints to 
 Christ in the unity of the Spirit as in the days of old, there is 
 nothing short of this that God owns and will maintain in ful- 
 ness of the blessing of the .Christ, guide by the Spirit, and pre- 
 serve from the destructive effects of the poisoned atmosphere of 
 infidelty, and Laodiceanism, with which we are surrounded ; so 
 that it is labour lost for God's people to remain in connection 
 with human institutions now going on to divine judgment and 
 doomed to perish, though in providence used of God, when the 
 Spirit's word by His holy Apostle is sounding in the hearing of 
 every one that happens to hear, " Let us go forth therefore 
 unto him without the camp, hearing his reproach." 
 
THE LORD'S DAY. 
 
 REMARKS ON A PAMPHLET BY DR. DONALD ERASER. 
 
 On the first day of the week the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the 
 dead, and was found in the midst of the disciples, when as- 
 sembled together in a room at Jerusalem, with closed doors, 
 for fear of the Jews. On the next first day of the week He 
 appeared again to them, when Thomas, who was absent on 
 the first occasion, had ocular proof of the verity of the Lord's 
 resurrection, and confessed Him there as his Lord and his God. 
 Six weeks after the Lord's resurrection the Holy Ghost was 
 poured out on the first day of the week on the one hundred and 
 twenty disciples gathered together in the upper room in Jeru- 
 salem. Thenceforth that day of the week, hitherto unconnected 
 with any special historical association, had a place in the minds 
 of Christians not inferior to that which the Sabbath, or seventh 
 day, had on the minds of the Jews. We say historical associa- 
 tion, because the only reference to the first day of the week in 
 the Old Testament is that given in Leviticus xxiii., in the ordi- 
 nances of the wave sheaf and the wave loaves, the former being 
 waved on the morrow after the paschal Sabbath, the latter waved 
 on the feast of weeks, which must always have been on the 
 first day of the week. On the Sabbath the Jews met in their 
 synagogues (Mark i. 21 ; Acts xiii. 14). On the first day of the 
 week Christians met to break bread (Acts xx. 7). Christians 
 from amongst the Jews evidently for a time observed the 
 Sabbath (Eom. xiv. 6), as well as the Lord's day ; but for the 
 converts from the Gentiles, the first day of the week, subse- 
 
THE LORD'S DA V. 409 
 
 quently called the Lord's day (Eev. i. 10), was the only one 
 with which, as part of God's people, they had any historical 
 association. As the first day of the week, we learn which day of 
 the week it was that they observed. From the term the Lord's 
 day, we gather in what light it was viewed by Apostles and 
 Christians in general. 
 
 The Sabbath was given by God to Israel, to observe in 
 remembrance of His rest on the seventh day from all His work 
 which He had created and made. TJie seventh day then, not a 
 seventh day, could alone be the Sabbath for them, because " in 
 six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that 
 in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord 
 blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exod. xx. 11). He 
 blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it ; and that day was the 
 seventh, or last day of the week, from which what we call the 
 Lord's day is carefully distinguished in the New Testament, 
 being called the first day of the week, /jllu aa^^drcDv, Matt, xxviii. 
 1 ; Mark xvi. 2 ; Luke xxiv. 1 ; John xx. 1, 19 ; Acts xx. 7 ; 
 1 Cor. xvi. 2 ; or irpclorr) aajS/Sdrov, Mark xvi. 9. Blessed by God 
 ere the fall of man took place, its observance was not, that we 
 read of, enjoined on any of mankind till God called Israel out 
 of Egypt, and gave them His Sabbaths, to be a sign between 
 Him and them throughout their generations (Exod. xxxi. 13 ; 
 Ezek. XX. 12), that they might know that He was the Lord who 
 sanctified them. The measurement of time by weeks was known 
 before the flood, it would seem (Gen. viii. 10-12); and Israel, for 
 aught we know, may have heard of the Sabbath (Exod. xvi. 23), 
 but certainly they did not observe it till after the manna came 
 down. In the wilderness they were commanded to keep it 
 (Exod. xvi. 28 ; xx. 8-11 ; xxxi. 13 ; xxxv. 3, etc.) By the 
 prophets they were reproved for polluting it (Jer. xvii. 22, 27 ; 
 Amos. viii. 5 ; Ezek. xx. 13 ; xxii. 8). By Nehemiah the re- 
 turned remnant were exhorted to observe it (Neh. x. 31 ; xiii. 15). 
 By and by they will again offer sacrifices upon it (Ezek. xlvi. 3-5), 
 and duly hallow it. Israel, then, and Israel alone, were com- 
 
 2 E 
 
41 o THE LORD'S DA Y. 
 
 iiianded to hallow it ; and their non-observance of it, as the Lord 
 commanded them, formed part of the criminal charge brought 
 by Jehovah against them. For fifteen hundred years, therefore, 
 they were called upon to sanctify the seventh day, ere those who 
 had been Gentiles were taught as Christians to regard one day 
 as different from the rest. Then the first day of the week came 
 into prominence, which we call the Lord's day. 
 
 As to the necessity of observing the Sabbath the Old Testa- 
 ment is clear and precise. As to any command for hallowing 
 the Lord's day the New Testament is silent. We understand 
 from Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 3, how Christians made use of it ; 
 and from the Gospels we gather how it came to have a place in 
 the estimation of Christians in early days, and from the earliest 
 time of Christianity above any other day. 
 
 The observance of the Sabbath was legally binding on Israel. 
 We could not say the same of the Lord's day with respect to 
 Christians. No law, no injunction about it, that we read of, was 
 ever promulgated, yet it was observed ; and for converts from the 
 Gentiles it was the only day of the week which had any special 
 significance. On it the Lord had risen, the token to all that 
 God had accepted Him, " in that he raised him from the dead ;" 
 and the witness, by His tomb being empty, that the surety was 
 free, Death could not hold Him ; so those, on whose behalf He 
 had died and had borne their sins, were free from all charge of 
 guilt before the throne of God. He was raised again for our 
 justification (Eom. iv. 25), and we are risen with Him, and are 
 in Him who is risen, and is on high. 
 
 Now there are consequences in connection with this subject, 
 which flow from the truth, of which the Lord's day reminds us, 
 and from the very term in which, in accordance with Scripture, 
 we speak of it. 
 
 It is the day of the week on which He rose, who was raised 
 by God for our justification, with whom too we are risen if 
 Christians in truth (Col. iii. 1), and in whom we are (Eom. vi. ; 
 Ephes. i., ii.) Hence, by the very truth, of which the day 
 
THE LORD'S DA Y. 41 1 
 
 reniinds us, we are really outside the number of those for whom 
 days, and months, and times, and years, were appointed for com- 
 memoration by God. Christians are risen with Christ, and are 
 seated in Him in the heavenlies. Times and seasons have to 
 do with earth and the earthly people, not with heaven and the 
 saints in Christ Jesus (Phil. iv. 21). The man who would in- 
 telligently urge on Christians rightly to observe the Lord's day 
 would most strenuously impress on them the incongruity, nay, 
 worse than that, of observing what are called the Christian 
 festivals. " Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years," 
 wrote Paul to the Galatians. " I am afraid of you," he added, 
 "lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain" (Gal. iv. 10, 11). 
 Perhaps some one will reply — But these were Jewish seasons 
 of observance. Granted, but the Apostle does not tell them 
 to keep Christian seasons instead. The observance of days, 
 months, times, and years, indicated that they had lost in their 
 hearts a characteristic feature of Christianity, which acknow- 
 ledges a heavenly people, risen with Christ, and in Him also. 
 
 But how, some will ask, should we observe the day, since 
 Scripture lays down no law about it ? The very name by which 
 we speak of it — the Lord's day, sufficiently indicates. Do we 
 call it the Lord's day ? Then use it for Him, and the advance- 
 ment of His work and glory. Now, that simple thought will 
 solve a hundred questions on the subject, which no casuistry 
 could determine. The Christian, if really seeking to do God's 
 will in the matter, will have no difficulty in settling what in his 
 case would be a right use of that day. For the world we could 
 lay down no rule about it. How make those who know not the 
 Lord, and have no beneficial part for eternity in the results of 
 His death and resurrection, observe the day made use of 
 by Christians, because it speaks to them of all that? To a 
 professing Christian one could of course appeal, and point out 
 the inconsistency of his profession if he treats the day just as 
 he would any other, and devote it, or any portion of it, to 
 secular ends and temporal profit. In a country professedly 
 
412 
 
 THE LORD'S DA V. 
 
 Christian, we are thankful for the relief from toil which, by 
 statutory enactment, has been provided. But were there no 
 such enactments the Christian would surely, if he remembered 
 what day it was, and what he is, and in whom he is, seek to 
 make use of the opportunity, as the saints in early days did, 
 when no relief from secular toil was permitted them by those 
 who knew not that Lord and Master who had redeemed them, 
 and for whom they now lived. They assembled together on that 
 day to break bread. Should one be less diligent in this than 
 they were ? 
 
 Now, if we own it to be the Lord's day, we see at once what 
 becomes us on it. Who then could rightly encourage the 
 Christian, whether poor or rich, to visit museums or picture 
 galleries on that day ? Could any one, really conscious of the 
 privilege of bearing the " worthy name by which we are called " 
 (James ii. 7), encourage such a practice in others, or allow it for 
 himself? Granted we are not able to set the world right, nor 
 are we called to do that ; but are we not responsible, if we pro- 
 fess to be Christians, to act as such, and to remind each other 
 that, professedly bearing the name of Christ, such practices are 
 not to be encouraged, but discountenanced to the utmost of our 
 power. We speak of course only with reference to those who 
 profess to be Christians. 
 
 These remarks have been suggested by the perusal of a pam- 
 phlet on the Lord's Day, by Donald Fraser, D.D. In it the 
 writer insists most strongly on the difference between the Sab- 
 bath and the Lord's day. So far he is right. But he evidently does 
 not apprehend the consequences really involved in the observance 
 of the latter ; nor does he see the incongruity, to use no stronger 
 term, of writing of it as the Lord's day, and yet advocating the 
 opening of museums and galleries for the less spiritual part of 
 the Christian community. A few extracts will illustrate what 
 we have said : " However Christians vary in their view of 
 Church festivals generally, and of the degree of strictness with 
 which this day should be obseryed, they all concur in assigning 
 
THE LORDS DAY. 413 
 
 it to the first rank of Christian institutions. Now it is quite 
 true that the present dispensation does not make so much of 
 institutions as the previous dispensation did ; but it does not 
 despise them or overlook their importance. Wisely so, for men 
 need the moulding influence of venerable institutions, as well as 
 the ever fresh inculcation of Divine truth, to hold them faithful 
 to their religion " (p. 6). How, we might ask, has the moulding 
 influence of venerable institutions held men faithful to their 
 religion? It was just that which Paul had to combat through- 
 out his apostolic career. 
 
 Again, " In like wise, only those Christians who are truly 
 risen with Christ can keep the Lord's day aright ; but all Chris- 
 tians must be supposed to know that the Lord is risen from the 
 dead, and all ought to be quickened together with Him, and so 
 to keep the First Day Festival. Moral and spiritual defect, 
 want of knowledge, of faith, or feeling, cannot be accepted as a 
 plea of excuse, cannot relieve any one of obligation to keep the 
 ordinances of our religion. And non-observance of the Lord's 
 day for its proper ends, which are sacred and spiritual, is not 
 merely a loss to him who neglects the ordinance, but a sin 
 against the Lord, and an unruliness in the Church " (p. 18). 
 Again, " If a line can be firmly drawn against the opening of 
 places of amusement, we see no valid objection to allow access 
 to picture galleries and museums, at all events in crowded cities, 
 on the day named after the Lord of all. But to open places of 
 amusement would be quite derogatory to His sacred day, and 
 therefore is rightly forbidden by civil law and national usage " 
 (p. 22). 
 
 To one who has learned how Scripture speaks of Christians, 
 such language as we have quoted will make plain that the writer 
 does not draw his ideas from the pages of sacred writ. We need 
 not wonder, therefore, if in other parts of the pamphlet confusion 
 as to things which in the Word are kept distinct is plainly to 
 be seen. Nor will it excite surprise if the author be shown to 
 quote Scripture unintelligently, as he surely does when he applies 
 
4 1 4 THE L ORD'S DA V. 
 
 the rest of Hebrews (iv. 3) to rest of conscience which believers 
 now have; and tells us that the civil as well as spiritual power 
 is bound to render allegiance to the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb (pp. 12, 19). The rest of Hebrews iv. is God's rest, into 
 which believers are to enter by and by. Has God rest of con- 
 science ? He did rest from all His works, so will the saints in 
 the future. Allegiance to the throne of God and of the Lamb ! 
 Perfectly right, when that throne is set up. At present it is not. 
 John tells us, writing of the New Jerusalem, that the throne of 
 God and of the Lamb shall be in it (Eev. xxii. 3). Till the 
 church is on high, and the Lord reigns, that for which Dr. 
 Donald Fraser now claims the allegiance of Church and State 
 will not be set up. 
 
 With one remark we fully agree : " If Christians generally 
 were more correctly guided as to the character and value of the 
 day, perhaps they would do better in its observance" (p. 27). 
 Perhaps they would. But amongst guides for this purpose, we 
 say it with regret, we could not class the pamplilet by Dr. Donald 
 Fraser. 
 
A FEW WOKDS ABOUT THE EPISTLE TO THE 
 EPHESIANS. 
 
 Was this Epistle sent by Paul to the Church of Ephesus ? 
 It was ; and the words " in Ephesus " are so decisively attested 
 (the evidence of the versions is unanimous for en EpJieso), that 
 they cannot be deprived of their right to a place in the text 
 being decidedly genuine. The conjecture that it was a circular 
 letter with the place of designation left blank, to be filled up 
 when sent to various churches, seems to lack proof. Besides, 
 the Apostle wrote the Epistle, and inscribed it to the Christians 
 in Ephesus as a whole ; not to a select body characterised by 
 perseverance and fidelity. " To the saints that are at Uphestis, 
 and to the faithful in Clirist Jesus," is descriptive of the whole 
 church of Ephesus. The Apostle uses the same method of 
 address when writing to the church of Eome, " to all who are in 
 Rome, beloved of God, ealled saints " (Eom. i. 7). He does not 
 write the word church, but we know he meant the church of 
 Rome ; so we may say, although he does not write the church in 
 Ephesus, he intended nothing else in what he wrote in the open- 
 in<T of the Epistle to the Ephesians. It is a groundless notion 
 that he could not address them as a church because " the church 
 had been smashed to atoms." The church was there, and the 
 churches, as established by the Apostles, were still there, and 
 Ephesus was one of them ; for the Lord, in sending an epistle 
 to them by John, caused them to be addressed " the church in 
 Ephesus." This tells us that the Lord could address them as a 
 church if Paul could not ! But he, too, wrote distinctly to the 
 church " in Ephesus " and not to Laodicea (as many would have 
 
41 6 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 it) ; nor is his Epistle a letter meant for general circulation among 
 the churches of the district, a blank being left to fill in the name 
 as copied and sent. It may have been so used with its Ephesian 
 designation ; and, no doubt, was meant for the profit of God's 
 Church everywhere, and in all ages. But the conclusion that 
 this Epistle was written to and directed to the Ephesians and 
 no further church, in keeping with the genuine en Epheso, is the 
 only critical procedure which rests upon a historical basis, and 
 is in agreement with the primitive and universal tradition of 
 the church. 
 
 It is an unsafe thing to found a doctrine upon the absence 
 of a word. If we affirmed that there was no presbytery in 
 Ephesus because there is no mention of elders in the Epistle to 
 the Ephesians, the cross light of Acts xx. would expose the un- 
 satisfactory character of such reasoning ; and to reason from the 
 /act that the word church is not found in the inscription, that 
 the Epistle was not addressed to the Church in Ephesus would 
 be equally fallacious. 
 
 The church had not gone to pieces when Paul wrote to the 
 Ephesians. Elements of evil — such as clerisy and sectism — 
 that eventually ruined it were working, but were kept down by 
 apostolic power as long as the Apostles lived. "After my de- 
 cease," etc., the Apostle told the elders of Ephesus the ruin w^ould 
 come. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Philippians with their 
 " bishops and deacons " after he wrote to Ephesus, and also his 
 First and Second Epistles to Timothy. In chapter iii. of tlie Eirst 
 Epistle he instructs him how to behave himself in the church of 
 God; and, as we have said, thirty years after this he testified 
 the whole of the Apocalypse "in the churches!' The churches 
 being there, the church was too. They needed warning, but they 
 were still acknowledged as churches by Christ. It is therefore 
 a gross mistake to say that the church was all smashed to atoms 
 wlien Paul wrote to the Ephesians. 
 
THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE JEWISH 
 CHURCH. 
 
 TWELVE LECTURES BY W. ROBERTSON SMI TIL 
 
 There is an order in the written revelation of God's trutli very- 
 different often from that which men in their fancied wisdom 
 would have suggested ; for the Bible, though made up of the 
 writings of different servants of God, penned, too, at varying 
 epochs in the world's history, is really the product of one 
 mind. Hence there is a plan throughout it, a moral order, 
 which can be traced in the internal arrangement of its different 
 books, as well as in the order in which the books appear in the 
 sacred volume. The truth of these statements can be tested 
 by a study of the books of Scripture, in detail, and, as far as the 
 Old Testament is concerned, by comparing as well the order in 
 the Hebrew Bible with that in the oldest known version, the 
 Greek Septuagint. 
 
 A strictly chronological arrangement, we learn from both 
 the Old and the New Testament, was not always that to which 
 it pleased the Spirit of God to conform. Comparing the Gospels 
 of Matthew and Luke with that by Mark, we see this clearly 
 brought out. The events recorded in Matt, viii., ix., are not 
 related in the order in which they severally occurred. So of 
 the Gospel of Luke ; if the chronological arrangement was to be 
 always followed, how could we understand the introduction of 
 a notice of the Lord's last journey to Jerusalem so early as in 
 chap. ix. 51-56 ? 
 
 Turning back to the Old Testament, with which we are now 
 to be directly occupied, we find, from a comparison between the 
 
 Hebrew and the Greek Septuagint, a difference of order in the 
 
 2 F 
 
4i8 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 internal arrangement of a book, as well as in the sequence in 
 which certain books are placed in the volume. How the differ- 
 ence of order originated we may not be able to discover, but 
 the existence of it is patent to every reader. It is well known 
 that the arrangement of the prophecies of Jeremiah differs 
 materially in the Greek version from that which we find in 
 the Hebrew Scriptures, and the order in which the former ver- 
 sion has preserved the twelve minor prophets differs from that 
 in which the first six stand in the original. Hosea, Joel, 
 Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, is the order in the Hebrew. 
 Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, such is their 
 order in the Septuagint. There is a moral order in their ar- 
 rangement in the former which is lost if we accept as correct 
 the arrangement of the latter. So of the Prophet Jeremiah; 
 the order of his prophecies from xxv. 15-li. 64 is different 
 in the Greek version from that which we meet with in the 
 original Hebrew. Shall we accept the LXX. as our guide in 
 this matter ? We shall lose then the moral order in which the 
 collection of his prophecies is presented to us in the Hebrew. 
 By whom his predictions were arranged as we have received 
 them in the language in which they were written, no one 
 in our day, we presume, has authority to declare to us ; but 
 since each prophecy is but a portion of one great whole, the 
 revelation in part of the Divine mind, we can readily under- 
 stand how there may be an order in which predictions of old 
 were committed to writing to be preserved for the benefit of 
 posterity, and that the order was prescribed by Him whose 
 mind was in part revealed by the different utterances of His 
 servants, which form so large a part of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures. Let us attempt to trace out the order in the 
 book of the Prophet Jeremiah. 
 
 The book divides itself into four great parts, viz,, chaps. 
 i.-xxv. ; chaps, xxvi.-xxxiii, ; chaps, xxxiv.-xlv. ; xlvi.-end. In 
 the first we have the prophet's indictment against the people set 
 forth in ii.-xii., and summed up under three heads : general 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 419 
 
 corruption (ii.-vi.), empty profession coupled with idolatry (vii.- 
 X.), and, what is also grievous in God's eyes, covenant breaking 
 (xi., xii.) God has therefore forsaken His house, left His 
 heritage (xii. 7). Prayer for them is now of no avail (xi. 14). 
 Yet afterwards the Lord will be gracious, but in the meantime 
 tliose who have provoked His anger must sufier for it. These 
 three grand charges brought against them, the prophet is next 
 shown, under different figures, the certainty of the Lord's rejec- 
 tion of His people. The girdle marred at the Euphrates (xiii.) 
 is symbolical of the bringing down of their pride. By the 
 occasion of a dearth the prophet learns, when desiring to inter- 
 cede, that the Lord will not accept it now ; and even if Moses 
 and Samuel stood before Him, He would not hear them. The 
 sword, the famine, death, captivity, will be their portion, and 
 nothing now remains for the faithful but separation from the 
 ungodly (xiv., xv.) The two next chapters (xvi., xvii.) bring 
 out in full relief how far this separation is to be carried ; not 
 merely separation in heart, but also in act (xvi. 1-8). Trying 
 indeed must such a path ever be, but the faithful are strengthened 
 by the assurance of blessing to those who trust in the Lord, and 
 of the curse that will follow such as trust in man (xvii. 5-8). 
 Next God illustrates His right to act with men as He pleases 
 by the potter's vessel marred in the potter's hand ; and He 
 demonstrates the certainty of His thus dealing with them unless 
 they repent by the vessel broken by the prophet in the Valley 
 of the Son of Hinnom (xviii.-xix.) But what prospect was 
 there of the nation's repentance if Jeremiah was put in the 
 stocks because he prophesied such things? (xx.) Hence in xxi.- 
 xxiv. we have the judgment declared which must come on the 
 immediate heirs of David's throne, yet coupled with a bright 
 promise of the King, the righteous Branch, who shall reign and 
 prosper (xxiii, 5, 6). But ere that time of blessing can arrive a 
 judgment of the nations, as well as of Judah, must take place. 
 The cup first drunk by Judah must be drunk by all, and by Baby- 
 lon, the scourge then used of God to carry out His purpose (xxv.) 
 
420 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 The second part of the book now commences. All hope of 
 Judah's repentance was extinguished. Jeremiah was threatened 
 with death for declaring the word of the Lord (xxvi.) ; hence 
 the sovereignty departing from Judah is transferred to Gentile 
 hands, and all must submit to Nebuchadnezzar, though only for 
 a limited time. But submission to the Babylonish power on 
 the part of Judah and that of the nations around her — Edom 
 and Ammon, Moab, and Tyre and Sidon, did not imply of 
 necessity deportation from their homes. If they submitted to 
 Cod's will, and owned him and his throne whom Daniel 
 describes as the head of gold, they would abide under his yoke 
 and live (xxvii. 12) ; for certain was it that no deliverance from 
 that yoke was now near at hand, whatever the false prophets 
 might declare (xxvii. 16-xxviii. 17j. So the prophet of Ana- 
 thoth writes to those already captive, and exhorts them to dwell 
 in quietness and in subjection where they are ; for the term of 
 seventy years, dating from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, must 
 be fulfilled ere any return from captivity could be expected 
 (xxix.) But a return of the ten tribes shall take place, as well 
 as that of the captives from Judah, and final blessing be enjoyed. 
 With this prospect the Lord would comfort His sinful and 
 captive people (xxx.-xxxiii.) Beyond that, which is still future, 
 the prophet does not go. He expects the return from captivity 
 of both Israel and Judah, and the throne at Jerusalem to be 
 tenanted by David's heir, the Branch of righteousness. 
 
 That, as we have said, is future ; hence, in the third part 
 of the book (xxxiv.-xlv.), we have the contrast brought out 
 between those who were obedient to that which they professed 
 and those who were not, and God's then ways of government 
 with the one and with the other. So we see contrasted the 
 unfaithfulness of the king and people to the covenant they 
 solemnly entered into with God (xxxiv.) with the obedience of 
 the Eechabites to the commands of their ancestor Jonadab 
 (xxxv.). Next, the impiety of Jehoiakim is recounted (xxxvi.) 
 and the vacillation and fear of man which characterised Zede- 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 421 
 
 kiah (xxxvii,, xxxviii.), and which ended, as the prophet fore- 
 told, in the capture of the city and the overthrow of the Jewish 
 polity by the Babylonian power (xxxix.) "Would those left in 
 the land after the taking of Jerusalem learn the wisdom of 
 subjection to God's will, and of obedience to God's word ? The 
 history of that company, related in xli.-xliv., is the answer to 
 that question. Nothing would lead them to be wise and 
 obedient, though they could see in the Babylonian general's 
 treatment of Jeremiah (xl.) how the Lord can watch over 
 those who are faithful to Him ; and we see in the prophecy 
 concerning Baruch another instance of God's governmental 
 ways with those who are true in heart to Him (xlv.) His life 
 was given him for a prey, whereas those who would go into 
 Egypt were to die there. We now come to the last part of the 
 book, by which Jeremiah's service was carried out as prophet to 
 the nations (xlvi.-li.) ; for if God deals with His disobedient 
 people. He will deal with the nations also. Judah had first to 
 drink the cup (xxv.), then Egypt and the rest, who were to 
 submit to the Babylonish conqueror. So now Egypt, Philis- 
 tia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Syria, Kedar, and the kingdoms of 
 Hazor, with Elam and Babylon, get each their word. But, 
 differing from the prophetic messages of Isaiah and Ezeldel 
 to those nations around the land of Israel, Jeremiah's predic- 
 tions against the Gentiles do not look on to their condition in 
 the last days. As in the previous sections of the book, so in 
 this ; it is God's dealings with the nations in the prophet's own 
 day that he was called on to predict* "With this his prophetic 
 ministry ends. The book closes with chapter lii., a kind of 
 historical appendix, almost identical in vers. 1-27 with the 
 details in 2 Kings xxiv. 18-xxv. 21 ; but adding in vers. 28-30 
 what is not found in that history, the whole chapter describing 
 
 * The reader may observe, that though the return from captivity of Egypt, 
 Moab, Ammon, Elam, in the latter days is predicted, God's final dealings with 
 them is not in this book revealed to us. 
 
422 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 the capture of the city and temple, with the different end of 
 Zedekiah and of his nephew Jehoiachin. 
 
 Now we think it is patent that there is a plan in this out- 
 line of the book, a moral order which would be lost if we 
 accepted the arrangement of chapters found in the LXX. in 
 place of the order which we have in the Hebrew. By whom 
 this book, as we have it, and the order we have attempted to 
 trace out, was drawn up, it is impossible to say ; but an 
 examination of its contents, and the order in which they are 
 given, does reveal the existence of a plan, the purpose of a 
 mind, and whose mind no devout student of Scripture will be 
 at a loss to determine. 
 
 We have been led into this train of thought by reading the 
 book named at the head of this article. It is a saddening 
 work, as it shows how the minds of men, teachers, and students, 
 are being carried along by the infidel current of the day, which, 
 under the guise of scholarship and critical study, would under- 
 mine the belief of men that we possess in the Scriptures a 
 revelation from God, A few words from the close of the twelfth 
 lecture will put the question in a clear light. " In India, when 
 the Government brings a new water-supply into a village, the 
 village authorities make rules for its use and distribution, but 
 ' these rules do not purport to emanate from the personal 
 authority of their author or authors ; there is always a sort of 
 fiction under which some customs as to tlie distribution of 
 water are supposed to have existed from all antiquity, although, 
 in fact, no artificial supply had even been so much as thought 
 of.' In the same way the new laws of the Levitical code are 
 presented as ordinances of Moses, though when they were first 
 promulgated every one knew they were not so — though Ezra 
 himself speaks of some of them as ordinances of the prophets" 
 (pp. 386, 387). This is bold and outspoken, at all events, but it 
 lacks the merit of being correct. Ezra ix. 10, 11, speaks of a 
 particular transgression forbidden by God through the instru- 
 mentality of the prophets. Mr. Smith states that the new laws of 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 423 
 
 the Levitical code Ezra teaches were ordinances of the prophets. 
 Are his readers aware that only in one verse in his book does 
 Ezra mention the prophets ? and then it is with reference to 
 one sin of the people, that of intermarrying with the nations 
 around them. And wliy should there be any question raised 
 about the promulgation of Levitical laws, seeing that God 
 forbade the sin of which Ezra was speaking by the prophet 
 Moses? (Exod. xxxiv. 15, 16; Deut. vii. 3); and the injunction 
 respecting them was reiterated by Joshua, in whose book (part 
 of the writings of the former prophets) that reiteration is met 
 with. Hence Ezra would be justified in writing of this law as 
 the commandments of God's prophets. But there is a want of 
 accuracy in stating that Ezia speaks of some of them as ordin- 
 ances of the prophets. The reader would scarcely credit that 
 the ready scribe was only speaking of one of the laws of God. 
 But is Mr. Smith correct as to the time of its promulgation ? 
 Nehemiah, Ezra's cotemporary (Neh. xiii. 20), distinctly declares 
 that Solomon had sinned in that very way. He must then 
 have understood that the law in question was of older date than 
 what Mr, Smith would mean by the times of the proj)hets. 
 And in truth it was, for the historian of 1 Kings (xi. 1, 2) gives 
 his readers to understand it was extant in the days of Solomon, 
 and the angel at Bochim refers to it (Judges ii, 2), for the 
 children of Israel had already begun to contravene it (Judges 
 iii, 6). 
 
 The bold, outspoken statement which we have quoted is 
 the end to which, by his volume of lectures, Mr. Smith would 
 lead both his hearers and readers, and the evident purport of 
 the volume is to educate them up to it: Of course, by the one 
 who broaches such a theory the Scriptures are not owned as 
 inspired. Belief in their being inspired cannot coexist with a 
 belief that they are not, nor were meant to be, what they profess 
 to be. And if Mr. Smith's statement is true, God has sanc- 
 tioned in His Word imposture of the most flagrant kind. Over 
 and over again we read, " Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying. 
 
424 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 Speak unto the children of Israel," &c. Was this true or not ? 
 Have we in the Levitical code what Jehovah said, and said to 
 Moses, or not ? (See for the date of some of them Lev. vii. 37, 
 38 ; xvi. 1 ; xxv. 1 ; xxvii. 34.) If not, men, prophets, whoever they 
 were, were inspired by the Holy Ghost to write what He knew, 
 and they knew, was untrue ; and the testimony of the Prophet 
 like unto Moses we must reject as untrue. " Did not Moses 
 give you the law?" He asked the Jews (John vii. 19). Was 
 He pandering to popular superstition, or was He saying what 
 He knew was true ? " The history does not profess," we 
 read (p. 320), " to be written by Moses, but only notes from time 
 to time that he wrote down certain special things (Exod. xvii. 
 14, xxiv. 4, xxxiv. 27; Num. xxxiii. 2; Deut. xxxi. 9, 22, 24)." 
 " He wrote of Me," said the Lord Jesus Christ (John v. 4G). 
 Where shall we find what he wrote of the Lord ? It was extant 
 in the days of the Apostles. What, and where is it now? But 
 we are met with an objection supposed to be of overwhelming 
 force. " It is a strong thing to suppose that so artificial a way 
 of writing (using of one's self the third person) is as old as 
 Moses, and belongs to the earliest age of Hebrew authorship. 
 One asks for proof that any Hebrew ever wrote of himself in 
 the third person " (p. 321). Did the Professor never read Eccles. 
 i. 1, 2, vii. 27, xii. 8, 10 ? Has he forgotten how John, a Hebrew, 
 could write ? (John xiii. 23-25, xix. 26, 27, 35). 
 
 We have called attention to the conclusion to which the 
 hearers and readers of these lectures are sought to be con- 
 ducted. We would look for a little at some of the steps by 
 which that is attempted to be established. The position taken 
 up is as follows : — It was after Ezra came from Babylon that 
 we have the " establishment of the Pentateuch as the canonical 
 and authoritative book of the Jews " (p. 158). " If we are shut 
 up to choose between a Mosaic authorship of the whole five 
 books and the sceptical opinion that the Pentateuch is a mere 
 forgery, the sceptics must gain their case " (pp. 308, 309). " These 
 facts . . . imply that the complete system of the Pentateuch 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 425 
 
 was not known in the period of the kings of Judah, even as tlie 
 theoretical constitution of Israel " (p. 247). " We know as a 
 matter of historical fact that the Pentateuch as a whole was 
 put into operation as the rule of Israel's life at the reformation 
 of Ezra, with a completeness which had never been aimed at 
 from the days of the conquest of Canaan. From this time 
 onwards the Pentateuch, in its ceremonial as well as its moral 
 precepts, was the acknowledged standard of Israel's righteous- 
 ness (Nell. xiii. ; Mai, i. 7 scq., iii. 8 sc^'., iv. 4; Acts xv. 5)" 
 (p. 208). From the days of Ex:ra " and forward the Pentateuch 
 as we now have it . . . became the religious and municipal code 
 of Israel " (p. 56). 
 
 On what are such statements based ? Was it only from 
 Ezra's day that the Pentateuch in its ceremonial and moral 
 precepts was the acknowledged standard of Israel's righteous- 
 ness ? The contrary, as regards the ceremonial part, was really 
 the fact; for in the Temple, with which Ezra was personally 
 acquainted, there was not the ark, nor did sacred fire ever come 
 down on its altar, nor was there a priest with Urim and 
 Thummim (Ezra ii. 63). The ceremonial law in its complete- 
 ness could not in his day be carried out. How could atone- 
 ment have been made without the mercy-seat, which formed 
 the lid of the ark ? But Mr. Smith seeks to establish his 
 position by reference to Nehemiah's confession (ix. 34), and his 
 statement about the Feast of Tabernacles as it was observed in 
 his day (viii. 17). A simple mind would have supposed that 
 since Nehemiah confessed that their kings, princes, priests, and 
 fathers had not kept God's law, they must have had it to keep. 
 And as to the Feast of Tabernacles, we learn from his book that 
 since Joshua's day the people had not dwelt in booths during 
 its continuance. It is to that special point that he there draws 
 the attention of his readers. Had they never kept the Feast of 
 Tabernacles during all that time ? we may ask. " Of course, never 
 at all," (p. 56) is the ready answer of the exponent of critical 
 results. But Scripture is precise about it. They did keep that 
 
426 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 feast in the reign of Solomon (2 Chron. vii. 9, 10). They kept 
 it also, " as it is written," in the days of Zerubbabel, between 
 seventy and eighty years before Ezra appeared at Jerusalem 
 (Ezra iii. 4), in truth, before he was born. But Mr. Smith may 
 say it never was observed according to law, i.e., dwelling in 
 booths, till the occasion mentioned in Nehemiah viii. The 
 words of Nehemiah do not even say that. He dates the omission 
 of dwelling in booths from the days of Joshua, not from the 
 entrance of Israel into their land. Was the Pentateuch, we 
 ask again, in its ceremonial and its moral precepts, unknown 
 till Ezra's day as the standard of Israel's righteousness ? As 
 regards the ceremonial laws, 2 Chron. viii. 12-14 ; Ezra iii. 2-G ; 
 Hag. ii. 11, are an answer to such a statement. As regards its 
 moral precepts, 1 Kings ii. 3 ; 2 Chron. xvii. 9, are proof to the 
 contrary. 
 
 The sacrifices in Solomon's day were regulated by the law of 
 Moses. The courses of the priests and the service of song were 
 regulated by the ordinances of David. What the law had enjoined, 
 and what David instituted, were known, and owned as quite dis- 
 tinct. With the moral precepts of the law David was evidently 
 acquainted, and he knew the law as a written law, the law of 
 Moses, and charged his son to keep it, that he might prosper in 
 all that he did. Jehoshaphat took away the high-places and 
 groves out of Jerusalem, and sent Levites and priests to teach 
 in Judah, and they had the book of the law of the Lorel with 
 them. Upon what an unsubstantial basis would Mr. Smith rear 
 up his structure ! The Scriptures to which he appeals do not 
 support what he says, and other Scriptures make plain that he 
 is building on a sandy foundation. 
 
 But we have said that he endeavours to educate his readers 
 up to that point to which ho himself lias reached. He tells 
 them about the canon of Scripture, and teaches them about 
 the Greek Septuagiut. Now, to establish his position, he must 
 break down in their minds all confidence in the correctness of 
 the Hebrew Scriptures as we have received them. An example 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 427 
 
 of this procedure we have in p. 113, where he proposes, on the 
 authority of the LXX., a shorter recension of Jeremiah xxvii., 
 which, amongst other tilings, would eliminate from the Bible 
 this remarkable prediction concerning the Babylonish monarchy, 
 which is given, we believe, nowhere else : " And all nations 
 shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very 
 time of his land come ; and then many nations and great kings 
 shall serve themselves of him " (xxvii. 7). The shorter recen- 
 sion would deprive us of this prophetic announcement. The 
 duration of the years of the captivity we read of in Jer. xxv. 11, 
 xxix. 10. The omission, then, of xxvii. 7 would not, of course, 
 deprive us of that. But here alone is it that we learn, that the 
 first of Daniel's four great empires would only survive to the 
 third generation of the family of its head. How that was 
 really fulfilled the deciphering of cuneiform inscriptions has 
 established, and set at rest. Belshazzar's father was Nabona- 
 dius, wl;o was not a descendant of the great king Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, but marrying his daughter Nitocris, her son, who was 
 Belshazzar, and reigned conjointly with his father, though the 
 fifth in order of the Babylonish monarchs, was really the 
 grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus what may have seemed at 
 one time unlikely was actually fulfilled ; that empire did not 
 survive the life of the great conqueror's grandchild, Belshazzar. 
 Now this prophecy, if we accepted the shorter recension offered 
 us, we should lose, and there would be a void in the Scriptures ; 
 for we think it can be maintained without a doubt that 
 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20 refers to it. Where else does Jeremiah 
 speak in such a way of Nebuchadnezzar and his sons that 
 we can point to it as the prophecy to whose fulfilment the 
 chronicler draws attention ? With 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20, 21, 
 before us, we must decline to accept what Professor Smith 
 would press on us. " Is it natural," he asks, " that the prophet 
 should turn aside to introduce such a prediction here, in the 
 very midst of a solemn admonition, on which it has no direct 
 bearing ? " Perfectly natural. For three times over does he 
 
428 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 wish to impress on all the hopelessness of refusing the foreign 
 yoke, but at the same time tells them of the limited period to 
 which they would be called to submit to it. But Mr. Smith 
 goes farther, and intimates his preference for the arrangement 
 of Jeremiah's predictions as found in the LXX. (p. 121) ; but we 
 suppose he did not tell his hearers that xxxiii. 14-26 must 
 then be struck out of their Bibles, for it was wanting in the 
 LXX., and is said to have been supplied by Origen.* And he 
 does not tell his readers that at times the New Testament 
 writers discard the translation of the LXX., because it does 
 not agree with the Hebrew. See, for examples. Matt. ii. 15, 
 viii. 17, xxvi. 31; John xix. 37; Rom. xi. 4 ; 1 Cor, xv. 54; 
 1 Peter ii. 7 ; though, on the other hand, there are instances in 
 which the LXX. has preserved the true reading, and the 
 Maseretic text is proved to be incorrect. See, for an example. 
 Acts ii. 25-28. An examination, however, of the whole ques- 
 tion of the Hebrew versus the LXX. will result, we are 
 persuaded, in the rejection of the text and arrangement of 
 that version as better than that of the Hebrew. And as 
 regards the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we prefer the 
 arrangement of it as we have it in the Hebrew, throughout 
 which, as we have attempted above to point out, a moral 
 order can be traced. 
 
 * In the notes appended to the vohime (p. 402) he refers to this passage in Jere- 
 miah, and attempts to discredit its genuineness by affirming that the prophet 
 predicts (ver. 18) that the Levitical priesthood and its sacrifices shall be per- 
 petual as the succession of day and night. He might with equal justice affirm 
 that the prophet predicted the perpetual occupancy of David's throne. What is 
 promised is, that neither the royal nor priestly lines should be cut off, that there 
 should be no heir to the throne, nor priests or Levites to minister. Jeremiah 
 does not say that there should be no intermission of sacrifices, but that God's 
 covenant with David and with Phineas should be enduring as His covenant of 
 the day and of the night. It is of the restoration of the Jewish polity and wor- 
 ship in the latter days that the prophet here writes (see vers. 15, 16), for that the 
 royal and priestly lines must be j^reserved — not of an unbroken continuance of 
 the kingdom and worship from the prophet's day. For he writes of that which 
 had not existed since Solomon's day — a man of David's line sitting on the throne 
 of the house of Israel, and not merely of the house of Judah. 
 
!N THE JEWISH CHURCH. 429 
 
 From remarks on the canon of Scripture we are called by 
 the lecturer to a review of the origin of individual books. He 
 begins with the Psalms. The object he has in view is steadily 
 maintained ; the goal to be reached we have already pointed 
 out. That Mr. Smith has not understood the purport of the 
 Book of Psalms, nor caught its moral order, is not to be wondered 
 at. Many a devout reader of the book has not perceived either 
 the one or the other. We believe, however, there is a purpose 
 in the arrangement of the book, and a moral order in the way 
 each psalm is introduced, which, if seized, would deepen the 
 impression that the Sacred Scriptures are indeed of God. The 
 Psalter is divided into five books : Ps. i,-xli., xlii.-lxxii., Ixxiii- 
 Ixxxix., xc.-cvi., cvii.-cl. Now the subjects of the books are 
 distinct, and the order in which they are arranged is prophetic, 
 the different psalms providing suitable language, comfort, and 
 instruction for God's saints who will be on earth when true 
 Christians will be down here no longer. They are really the 
 expression of the Spirit of God for saints on earth. As far, 
 then, as the experience of saints is concerned, God's people in 
 all ages can find language in the book suited for them. But 
 Christian experience is not their subject, so there are state- 
 ments and desires, right in their place, which a Christian 
 instinctively feels would be unsuited for him to take up. The 
 Psalter is a collection of the writings of various authors, yet all 
 of it inspired Scripture, and ranges over a great length of time. 
 Between David and the writer of Ps. cxxxvii. centuries, of 
 course, rolled by ; hence it is plain that the book as a whole 
 was not known to God's earthly people before the Babylonish 
 captivity, and the special circumstances of which, as a whole, 
 it is the exponent did not, it is plain, exist till after the cross. 
 The second psalm, as Acts iv. 25-29 shows, supposes the rejec- 
 tion of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and Ps. Ixxiv. describes a con- 
 dition of things in connection with the people of Israel which 
 has never yet taken place, viz., the Temple burned, no prophet 
 among them to say how long, yet God's turtledove, the congre- 
 
430 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 gation of His poor, crying to Him about it. In the days of 
 Nebuchadnezzar they had prophets, and they knew what was 
 to be the duration of the captivity. When Titus besieged 
 Jerusalem their house had been left to them desolate, and the 
 Jews could not, in accordance with God's mind, have addressed 
 Him in the language of this psalm. Hence the design of the 
 book, as arranged, has reference to the future, when the remnant 
 will be able thus to intercede with Him. By what human 
 agency the book was arranged we know not. That there was 
 a design in its formation, an examination of its contents makes 
 manifest. But in the discovery of that design mere critical 
 study will not aid us ; we need to study the book in a different 
 manner to get at the thread which runs through it, and to trace 
 out its moral order. 
 
 A few remarks will elucidate what has been expressed. In 
 Book I. we have the remnant of the Jews of the future day 
 brought- back to the land. In II. they are viewed as outside 
 Jerusalem. In III. we have the condition of the last days de- 
 scribed as it concerns the whole of God's earthly people Israel; the 
 Temple destroyed (Ixxiv.) ; Jerusalem captured (Ixxix.) ; and the 
 throne as yet not tenanted by its only rightful occujDant (Ixxxix.) 
 In IV. the kingdom is viewed as being set up in power. In V. 
 we have exercises of the saints till the reign of peace is fully 
 established ; the whole closing with praise to God Jehovah in 
 the fullest way. The first book ends with Ps. xli., describing 
 saints alive on earth at the Lord's return. The second book 
 ends with the description of the Lord's millennial reign (Ixxii.) 
 The third ends with the cry to Llim to fulfil His covenant to 
 David about the throne (Ixxxix.) The fourth ends with cv., the 
 recital of God's ways in grace with Israel ; and cvi., their ways 
 of rebellion in the past, and the looking for the nation's full 
 deliverance. Into a detailed account of each book it would be 
 impossible within the limits of this article to enter. But just 
 a few remarks on some psalms in Books I. and 11. may give 
 an idea which, if the reader is so minded, he may trace out for 
 himself more at length. 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 431 
 
 Ps. i. gives us the godly and the ungodly in Israel, charac- 
 teristic marks of the former, and the future of both, but only as 
 regards earth. Ps. ii. gives the political character of things. 
 God's counsel about the king rejected, but to be ultimately made 
 good. The spiritual and political condition of things thus de- 
 scribed, it is plain that the walk of the godly will be productive 
 of trial to them, till the ungodly are dealt with by God. 
 Hence Ps. iii.-vii. describe the diiferent features of trial to 
 which the saint will be exposed. Many rise up against him, 
 but he w^ill trust in Jehovah (iii.), and he cries to a known God, 
 and appeals to the ungodly to act aright (iv.) This leads to a 
 meditation in v. on the character of God and His ways with 
 men (4-6), and the ways of the ungodly. In vi. he is further 
 tried ; God's hand is on him. In vii. we learn how he is exposed 
 to the secret plots of the wicked, so he desires Jehovah's inter- 
 vention in judgment. This is announced in Ps. viii., as we 
 learn that all things are put under the Son of Man, -the full 
 effect of wdiicli the New Testament sets forth (1 Cor. xv. ; Eph. 
 i. ; Heb. ii.) After that w^e have in Ps. ix. the looking for God 
 to judge the earth, and to destroy the ungodly man, wdiose 
 character is set forth more directly in Ps. x. After this state- 
 ment (iii.-vii.) of the different trials of the righteous, and of God's 
 intervention in judgment — which is still future — we learn in 
 xi.-xv. the exercises of heart through which the saint passes 
 whilst in trial, followed (xvi.-xxiv.) by an outline of the 
 Lord's life, (xvi., xvii.) victory, (xviii.) humiliation and death, 
 (xx.— xxii.) and return to earth, (xxiv.) an answer to the saint's 
 desire, and an encouragement to hold still on his way. 
 
 Interesting as it would be to go through the psalms seriatim, 
 the limits of this article forbid more than a brief notice of portions 
 of the book ; so we would now ask the reader to glance with us 
 at some of the psalms in the order in which they are arranged 
 in the second book, a further proof that there must be a design, 
 a moral order, in their arrangement. The remnant driven out 
 of Jerusalem, they look and cry to be brought back (xlii., xliii.) 
 
432 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 How changed their circumstances from those of their fathers of 
 old ! This they express to God and supplicate for His intervention 
 (xliv.), that He will answer their cry ; and how fully Psalm 
 xlv. teaches us, as the person of the King is described by whose 
 power it will be effected. Then God will be in their midst 
 (xlvi.), so the nations are next called to praise Him who is 
 King over all the earth (xlvii.) But further, He is to be praised 
 in the city of Jerusalem, which He has preserved from the 
 last assault of the kings of the earth ; " for this God," they add, 
 " is our God ; He will be our guide unto death " (xlviii.) After 
 this comes a meditation on the future of the ungodly, and on 
 that of the saints ; the former pass into the grave, the latter are 
 redeemed from it (xlix.) Closely connected with that medita- 
 tion is the description of God's coming to the judgment of His 
 earthly people (1.), approving of the saints, and then reject- 
 ing the wicked, this given in the spirit of prophecy to warn 
 souls in time (1. 22, 23) ; and (li.) shows what becomes those 
 who have sinned against God, and the grace which such, 
 if they seek it, can find. The prophetic outline given, suited 
 for the saints in their exile, we have next a series of psalms 
 called Maschils, and another called Michtams, all by David, 
 giving the feelings of the saints when driven out. Now, is it by 
 accident or by design that in this book of the Psalter we have 
 nearly all of those psalms of David whose titles, if correct, 
 describe the exercises of his heart when driven out from house 
 and home ? We believe it is by design. 
 
 But turning to Professor Smith, we are told of an improved 
 arrangement of the Psalter, as he thinks. The five books he 
 would compress into three. The Davidic psalms are, we are in- 
 formed, unnaturally arranged ; they should all come together, 
 instead of being separated, as far as Books I. and II. are con- 
 cerned, by Psalm xlii.-l., which he would place between Ixxii. 
 and Ixxiii. " We may fairly accept this," he writes, " as the 
 original order, which possibly was changed by the final collector, 
 in order that he might show by a distinct mark that tlie two 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 433 
 
 Davidic collections in his work were originally separate " (p. 188). 
 Tor Professor Smith it is merely a collection of Davidic, Korah- 
 itic, and Asaphic compositions, which should be arranged as 
 specimens in a cabinet, each class by itself. But where is the 
 Spirit of God in all this ? May we not say, in the language 
 of the Psalms, that on such a subject " God is not in all his 
 thoughts ? " (Ps. X. 4). Unfortunately, however, for the theory 
 of what ought to be, we have Ps. i., ii., which are not said in the 
 book to be by David, as well as Ps. x., xxxiii., which are also 
 anonymous. Their presence, as they stand, upsets the pro- 
 posed arrangement. Then in Book III. there is one psalm said 
 to be by David (Ixxxvi.), and that we learn ought not to be 
 accredited as such. A psalm of David there would be con- 
 trary to all critical order. (!) Hence he tells us its " title is 
 unquestionably a mistake, for the psalm is a mere cento of 
 reminiscences from older parts of Scripture. And the prayer 
 (ver. 11), 'Unite my heart to fear Thy name,' is based on the 
 promise (Jer. xxxii, 39), ' I will give them one heart . . . 
 to fear me continually.' It is the law of religious life that 
 prayer is based on promise, and not conversely " (p. 185). Is 
 this last statement always correct ? On what promise was 
 
 the prayer of Jabez based ? (1 Chron. iv. 10). But why say ver. 
 
 11 is based on Jer. xxxii. 39? Why not on Deut. v. 29? 
 
 But that would militate against the Professor's position. To 
 
 sustain, then, the arrangement of a Davidic collection, Ps. x. 
 
 must be merged, as in the LXX., into ix., and xxxiii. quietly 
 
 shelved as one of a later date. But the question remains, how 
 
 did it get there ? Ps. Ixxxvi., too, cannot be by David, he tells 
 
 us, nor Ps. cxxii., nor Ps. cxxxix. 
 
 Into what a confusion the Psalter has got ! What wonderful 
 
 people are the critics to discern it, and to put all straight! 
 
 But can they ? Why should Ps. x. be tacked on to Ps. ix. ? 
 
 Its subject is closely connected with that treated of in Ps. ix. 
 
 we freely grant ; but if the whole psalm is really studied, we 
 
 think it will be seen that it has nevertheless a distinct line of its 
 
 2 G 
 
434 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 own. The former takes up more God's triumph over the wicked 
 in general by judgment ; the latter dwells more on the character 
 of the wicked man. But we are told that ix. and x. form to- 
 gether a beautiful acrostic (p. 183) or alphabetical psalm. We 
 will refer to this farther on. Passing on now to Ps. xxxiii., why 
 get rid of it here as out of place, because it is not said to be by 
 David ? It comes in in real harmony with what we believe is 
 the moral order of the book. Ps. xxxii. 11 calls on the righteous 
 to rejoice in God. What then more suited to follow than a 
 meditation about the Lord in whom they are exhorted to rejoice 
 (xxxiii.), who delivers the saints when man's power is of no 
 avail ? This is succeeded by xxxiv., the utterance of one who 
 has been delivered, praising God, and desiring others to know 
 Him likewise. All here seems in order and in harmony, and 
 the arrangement is perfectly natural. 
 
 Objections are urged against other psalms. In Book III. 
 there is one, and only one, said to be by David, — Ixxxvi. But 
 that cannot be, says our critic. All sense of Order, it seems, 
 would be lost if one Davidic composition is found amongst a 
 number of Asaphic or Korahitic poems. But why not ? On 
 what authority does he insist on an arrangement which would 
 place the Davidic psalms in a class by themselves ? The 
 Psalter unquestionably was not formed as a whole till after the 
 Babylonish exile, and it is formed to express the full feelings, 
 and to describe in detail the circumstances of God's saints, which 
 have never yet in their completeness been known. That Mr. 
 Smith has not perceived this is no surprise. But to those who 
 have, no manipulation of the arrangement of the book, such as 
 he would advocate, could be satisfactory. And when it is 
 seen, as it must be on examination, that the Psalter as a whole 
 could not have been formed till after the captivity, the 
 question which has to be settled, ere he is at liberty to bring 
 it as a witness in behalf of his case, is simply this : Is the 
 arrangement of it, as we have it in the Hebrew, the original 
 one or not ? Has it been rearranged since it was first com- 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 
 
 piled ? Now the order of the psalms in the Hebrew is the 
 order in the oldest known version, with the exception of Ps. 
 ix., X., being classed as one, and Ps. cxlvii. being divided into 
 two, so as to make up the number of cl. in that version. His 
 position is, that the laws of the Levitical code are presented as laws 
 of Moses, when they are only ordinances of the prophets. This 
 reference to the Book of Psalms will therefore only avail him, 
 if he can show that the Psalter, as we have it, has been re- 
 arranged since it was first compiled. That he cannot do. The 
 question of the authorship of the different psalms has reallynothing 
 to do with it. They are not arranged according to their authors, 
 but according to the subjects of which they treat. Hence it is 
 perfectly natural and suited that Ixxxvi., as written by David, 
 should come in just where it does. In Ps. Ixxxiv. we have 
 expressed the saint's desire after God's house, after wliicli we 
 have two prayers (Ixxxv., Ixxxvi.), the former the expression of 
 the remnant in their national character, the latter the prayer of 
 the saint individually for preservation of life, founded on what 
 Adonai is, and His ways in grace, and on Jehovah's ways in 
 power. Who of God's saints was more suited to express them- 
 selves thus than David, whose experience must have tallied 
 with that expressed in the fourteenth verse of this psalm ? 
 Then, closing with a request to be shown a token for good, does 
 not Ixxxvii. come in well as the answer to that petition ? Tlie 
 more we examine the Psalter, the more its moral order is appa- 
 rent. But all this is lost on Professor Smith, or rather, we 
 should say, he has not perceived it. The beauty of the arrange- 
 ment is all lost on him, who only sees a quantity of Davidic, 
 Asaphic, and Korahitic poems, all higgledy-piggledy, awaiting 
 the critical acumen of the lecturer, or those whose opinions he 
 is retailing, to arrange them as he thinks right, — a work which 
 all must see the most ordinary clerk could accomplish in the 
 short space of half an hour. 
 
 But we may be reminded that other objections are urged 
 against the Davidic authorship of some of the psalms. Ps. 
 
436 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 cxxii., we are told (pp. 192, 193), cannot have been written ■by- 
 David, for it speaks of " Jerusalem the rebuilt," and of the 
 thrones of the house of David as a recollection of the past. 
 Now the suggested translation of ver. 3, IT'^IJ^ll, Habhuiyah, 
 " the rebuilt," is, for the purpose for which it is here adduced, 
 a false one. Hahbnuyali is simply " the built one," or " that 
 is built," without reference in itself to any former condition of 
 that which is built. Nothing but the presuming on the credulity 
 of one's hearers or readers could, we should have thought, have 
 led any one conversant with the original to have hazarded such 
 a statement for the purpose of disproving the Davidic author- 
 ship. And why insist that the author speaks of the thrones of 
 the house of David as a recollection of the past ? ^2li^^ does not 
 of necessity intimate that. Hebrew scholars, as Gesenius, 
 would reject such a translation. This want of accuracy of 
 translation we meet with on other occasions. Were such 
 instances simple inaccuracies, one would let them pass ; but 
 made use of for a purpose, as they are, it is a very different 
 matter. On p. 193 Professor Smith translates Ps. cxliv. 10 : 
 ' Thou that givest deliverances unto kings, who didst save 
 David from the hurtful sword, save me." Why " didst save " ? 
 In both clauses we have the present participle in the original, 
 " who giveth," " who saveth." It is the character of God known 
 by His actions that is celebrated, not a mere statement of a 
 fact in history. 
 
 Whilst on the point of translations, the reader should be 
 warned to take on trust no translation or interpretation of the 
 Divine Word given in these lectures. On p. 224 we read, 
 " The worship of the sanctuary imperatively demands the tokens 
 of material homage, the gift without which no Oriental would 
 approach even an earthly court. ' None shall ajjpear before 
 me empty' (Exod. xxiii. 15)." But that command in Exodus 
 applies only to the appearance of every male before Jehovah at 
 tlie three great festivals of the year. They worshipped at other 
 times as well. Again, " In Levit. xvii. it appears as a per- 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 437 
 
 petual statute that no animal can be lawfully slain for food 
 unless it be presented as a peace-offering before the central 
 sanctuary, and its blood sprinkled on the altar. One has no 
 right to slay an animal on other conditions " (p. 236). Has the 
 author of these words read that chapter in Leviticus ? That 
 chapter distinguishes between domestic animals slain in or near 
 the camp (ver. 3) and such as were taken in hunting (ver. 13), 
 and lays down different rules for each, though forbidding the 
 blood of any animal to be eaten. 
 
 The Professor has not read that chapter, or, if he has, 
 certainly not with care ; so his statement about it, made, 
 indeed, for a purpose, viz., to discredit its being really God's 
 revelation by Moses, is not correct. On p. 283, Isaiah li. 7 
 is quoted as if the prophet wrote, " The people in ivJiose hearts 
 my revelation dwells." The prophet really wrote " in whose heart 
 is my laio." On p. 293 we read, " The business of the Levites is 
 to give Torah to Israel (Deut. xxxiii. 10)." Moses really said, 
 "They shall teach Thy judgments to Jacob, and Thy law to 
 Israel." They were not to give a law (Torah), but to teach what 
 had been given, " Thy law." But the true statement of Deut. 
 xxxiii. 10 would militate against his theory of the law. Micah 
 too, we read, " declares that the priests give Torahs or legal 
 decisions for hire (iii. 11)." The prophet wrote, "Her heads 
 judge for reward, and her priests teach for hire." Does the 
 lecturer, we again ask, read the passages of Scripture on which 
 he professes to comment ? Farther on we are taught (p. 319), 
 " In Exod. xxxiii. 7, which is non-Levitical, we read that Moses 
 took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, and called 
 it the tent of meeting ; but the Levitical account of the setting- 
 up of the tabernacle, with the similar circumstance of the 
 descent of the cloud upon it, does not occur till chapter xl." 
 Here again a reference to the original convicts the Professor 
 of Hebrew of making misleading statements. Why on Exod. 
 xxxiii. 7 does he write of tabernacle and tenf? The Authorised 
 Version throughout the passage uses the word tabernacle. Mr. 
 
438 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 Smith uses both, though he must know that in the Hebrew we 
 have only tent, "^rt^*, not tabernacle, P'>i^^, whereas in Exod. xl. 
 the tabernacle is rightly called IV'iO ^Tji^ ]3pp. The tent 
 in Exod. xxxiii. was only a tent, and not God's dwelling- 
 place on earth. "We cannot acquit the Professor of inten- 
 tionally misleading his hearers. He must know, as a pro- 
 fessed teacher of Hebrew he ought to know, that the ]2pi^ 
 of Exod. xl. is quite distinct from the 7»"T>} of xxxiii. Such 
 statements seem like an attempt to throw dust into 
 people's eyes, and one wonders on reading them, if tliey are 
 genuine diihculties which the lecturer really feels, or only 
 statements made by others, and taken up and repeated without 
 careful consideration. Such a conclusion seems almost forced 
 on the reader as he peruses the book. We cite one more 
 instance. " How could Joshua, if he had known such a law 
 (Deut. xii. 3), have erected a ma^gcha, Tll^"^, or sacred pillar 
 of unhewn stone under the sacred tree by the sanctuary at 
 Shechem ? " (p. 354). Again, " The two brazen pillars which 
 stood at the porch (1 Kings vii. 21) were not different from the 
 forbidden maggeha, or from the twin pillars of Hercules, from 
 which their Tyrian artist probably copied them " (p. 248). The 
 Lord hated maggehas (Deut. xvi. 22). Would He have autho- 
 rised, would He have directed, the erection of such in His 
 Temple ? All that Hiram made was in accordance with that 
 in which Solomon had been instructed (2 Chron. iii. 3), and the 
 brazen piUars are mentioned as items in the list of things con- 
 cerning which the king had been instructed. But the statement 
 as to Joshua is quite untrue. He set up a stone ebe7i, not a 
 viaggrha, a stone of memorial, not an object of worship, nor 
 to be connected with worship. The credulity of the audience, 
 or its inability to check the misstatements, must be great, when 
 such can be put forth as true without fear of contradiction. 
 
 But to return to the psalms. The title of Ps. cxxxix. must 
 be wrong, since it " belongs to the period when Hebrew was 
 being largely superseded as a vernacular by Aramaic. It con- 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 439 
 
 tains at least four Aramaic forms, which are not such loan-words 
 as one nation may borrow from another to enrich its vocabulary, 
 but Aramaic pronunciations of roots also found in the Hebrew." 
 Then we are reminded of Grimm's law about English and Ger- 
 man words, and Mr. Smith proceeds, " The Psalmist pronounces 
 words with a guttural (ayin) where the Hebrew form has a 
 sharp s (9ade), and thus he declares himself a man whose 
 vernacular was Aramaic as clearly, as the Ephraimites revealed 
 their tribe by saying sihholdh" (pp. 193, 194). All this may 
 sound very grand, but is it sound criticism ? Was there no 
 intercourse in David's day with the Aramaic-speaking popula- 
 tion, that Aramaic words might not have been adopted by the 
 Israelites ? 2 Sam. viii. and 2 Chron. xviii. show that there was. 
 Does the existence of a few Aramaic words in a person's writ- 
 ings prove that his vernacular was Aramaic ? Was that 
 Jeremiah's vernacular, in whose writings (x. 11) we have a whole 
 verse of pure Chaldee ? But is the Professor's statement un- 
 impeachable ? We presume the two words to which he refers 
 are ''V'^ (ver. 2) and ''^21 (ver. 3). As to the former, if Fuerst 
 is correct, it comes from a Hebrew root, and is not Aramaic at 
 all. As to the latter, it comes from a root which we meet with 
 three times in Leviticus (xviii. 23, xLx. 19, xx. 16). Now, 
 granting that J^^l may be an Aramaic root equivalent to the 
 common Hebrew root Y^l"', it is jumping to a conclusion indeed 
 to determine, that the writer of Ps. cxxxix. must have spoken 
 Aramaic as his vernacular, because he uses a noun the verb root 
 of which his ancestors had for centuries been acquainted with. 
 We have warned the reader against taking on trust certain 
 translations of the original. We must now point out how loose 
 at times are the statements that \\q meet with, by which much 
 may be left to the imagination of the reader. Omne ignotum 
 pro magnifico, — Everything unknown is assumed to be magni- 
 ficent. The remarks on the acrostic psalms will illustrate this. 
 " Another clear sign that we have not every psalm in its ori- 
 ginal- text lies in the alphabetical acrostics, Ps. ix.,. x., xxv.. 
 
440 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., cxix., cxlv., in which the initial letter 
 of successive half verses, verses, or larger stanzas make up the 
 alphabet. It is of the nature of an acrostic to be perfect. An 
 acrostic poem which misses some letter, or puts it into a false 
 place, is a failure, and therefore, when we find some of these 
 acrostics are now imperfect, we must conclude that the text has 
 suffered" (p. 182). Now there are three classes of acrostic psalms, 
 as Mr. Smith states. Ps, cxix. is an example of alphabetical 
 stanzas, and a perfect one also. Ps. cxi. and cxii. are examples, 
 the only ones that we have, of initial letters in alphabetical 
 order at the commencement of every half verse, and both of 
 them are perfect. But all the others are imperfect. Mr. Smith 
 says some are imperfect. The truth is, of the seven acknow- 
 ledged alphabetical psalms, only three are perfect. Not 07ie of 
 those in which each verse should begin with a different letter is 
 perfect, nor is there any proof that any of them ever were so. 
 And of the beautiful acrostic, ix., x., as he terms it, the text must 
 have been tampered with indeed, if his supposition is correct. 
 So great is the variance from the alphabetical order in the latter, 
 that it is difficult to believe the two were ever intended to be 
 one alphabetical acrostic. 
 
 On p. 179 he states : " The musical titles " of the psalms " are 
 full of technical terms, which occur again in the Book of 
 Chronicles in descriptions of the Levitical psalmody of the 
 Temple." Out of about sixteen terms connected with the 
 musical titles of the Psalms, six are met with elsewhere, one, 
 "T]t^, a song used several times in the Chronicles, and two more, 
 ri''TDTi} and D^^, occur each once, and in the same passage 
 (1 Chron. xv. 21), in connection with the psalmody of the 
 Temple, and tlmt is all. A tliird example of this loose way of 
 writing we meet with in p. 227: "The sanctuaries themselves 
 were of ancient, and in great part of patriarchal consecration. 
 Beersheba, Gilgal, Bethel, Shechem, Mizpah, were places of the 
 most venerable sanctity, acknowledged by Samuel and earlier 
 worthies." Samuel did make a yearly circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 44 1 
 
 and Mizpah, but Shechem is not mentioned once in the history 
 of his life, nor, though his sons were judges at Beersheba, have 
 we any record that he was ever at that place, nor does Beersheba 
 appear, we believe, in the history as a place of sanctity after the 
 days of the patriarchs. "Who would have thought from reading 
 the statement on p. 227 that Samuel had nothing to do, that 
 we read of, with Shechem, nor with Beersheba, as places of 
 sanctity ? 
 
 But there is something worse than all this loose statement, 
 which may mean more than can be verified, and does not redound 
 to the credit of the teacher. At page 186 we read, " In the greater 
 part of Book II. and III. (Ps. xlii.-lxxxiii.) the name of Jehovah 
 is rare, and Elohim takes its place, even where the substitution 
 reads very awkwardly. ... In the Elohim psalms, and nowhere 
 else in the Old Testament, we find the peculiar phrase, ' God 
 my God,' with Elohim in the place of Jehovah." This may 
 be true, but does the substitution of God for Jehovah read 
 awkwardly ? Does Mr. Smith remember those words, " God 
 thy God," are in Ps. xlv. 7 ? They are the words of God to the 
 Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. i. 8, 9). Does God use language which 
 reads very awkwardly ? To ask the question settles the matter. 
 But what irreverence there is in such a display of would-be 
 critical acumen! We can understand a difficulty rising up 
 about the introduction of the name Elohim in the place of 
 Jehovah, and on comparing Ps. xiv. with Ps. liii. the change 
 is manifest. But the true solution will not be found in the 
 hypothesis, of an editor who for some reason suppressed the 
 name of Jehovah, but in the character of things described in 
 that book. The remnant are outside the city, " their covenant 
 connection," as it has been observed, "with Jehovah is lost, 
 hence they address Him as God rather than as Jehovah." 
 
 We must now briefly glance at other parts of these lectures. 
 The reader, if the different statements of the lecturer were true, 
 would learn much that was new and startling too. But are the 
 statements that we meet with true, is a question which any 
 
442 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 thoughtful reader must of necessity ask. The difference of 
 teaching, according to Mr. Smith, between the law and the 
 prophets is divergent indeed. The law enjoined sacrifice, and 
 without shedding of blood was there no remission. The prophets 
 teach, we are told, very different doctrine. " What is quite 
 certain is, that according to the prophets the Torah of Moses did 
 not embrace a law of ritual. Worship by sacrifice and all that 
 belongs to it, is no part of the Divine Torah to Israel. It forms, 
 if you will, part of natural religion — [Does it ? why then did 
 Cain not bring an animal along with, or instead, of the fruits of 
 the ground ?] — which other nations share with Israel, and which 
 is no feature in the distinctive precepts given at the Exodus. 
 .... The true distinction of Israel's religion lies in the charac- 
 ter of the Deity, who has made Himself personally known to His 
 people, and demands of them a life conformed to His spiritual 
 character as a righteous and forgiving God. The difference 
 between Jehovah and the gods of the nations is that He does 
 not require sacrifice (! ! !) but only to do justly, and love mercy, 
 and walk humbly with God. This standpoint is not confined 
 to the prophetic books ; it is the standpoint of the ten command- 
 ments, which contain no precept of positive worship " (pp. 298, 
 299). " If it is true that they exclude the sacrificial worship 
 from the positive elements of Israel's religion, what becomes of 
 the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins, which we are accustomed 
 to regard as mainly expressed in the typical ordinances of 
 atonement ? " (p. 301). " According to the prophets, Jehovah 
 asks only a penitent heart and desires no sacrifice. According 
 to the ritual law, He desires a penitent heart approaching Him 
 in certain sacrificial sacraments" (p. 304). 
 
 Did worship by sacrifice form no part of the Divine Torah 
 o-iven to Israel ? Was it unknown as such in the days of the 
 prophets ? 1 Sam. ii. 29 directly contradicts this, as we read 
 Jehovah's message to Eli by one of His servants, " Wherefore 
 kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering which I have com- 
 nianded in mine habitation ? " Ere the school of the prophets 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 443 
 
 arose, Jehovah declared that He had commanded sacrifices. 
 Further, Jehovah Himself, speaking to the child Samuel (1 Sam. 
 iii. 14), declared that " the iniquity of Eli's house should not be 
 purged (or should not be atoned for, ithcapiKv) by sacrifice or 
 ofi'eiing for ever." A pretty conclusive proof that atonement 
 by sacrifice, in certain cases, was part of God's provision for 
 His people centuries before the prophets, to whose writings Mr. 
 Smith would turn us, appeared on the scene. Again, David was 
 evidently under the impression that Jehovah had commanded 
 sacrifices to be offered, and that continually, since after the 
 entrance of the ark into Jerusalem he kept Levites to attena 
 on it, and sent Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests to 
 minister before the Tabernacle of the Lord at Gibeon, to offer 
 the offerings tliere, " according to all that is written in the law 
 of the Lord which He commanded Israel" (1 Chron. xvi. 39, 
 40). Solomon, too, the wisest of men (except, we must suppose, 
 the critics of the nineteenth century), was under the same im- 
 pression when he asked Hiram to forward his desire to build an 
 house to the Lord in which to " burn sweet incense before Him, 
 and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt-offerino-s, 
 morning and evening, on the sabbaths, on the new moons, on 
 the solemn feasts of the Lord our God." And then he adds, 
 " This is an ordinance for ever to Israel" (2 Chron. ii. 4). And 
 under the spell of this singular delusion, if Mr. Smith is right 
 in his teaching, the king remained till the house was built, 
 when (viii, 13, 14) the sacrificial ritual appointed by Moses, and 
 carried on in the Tabernacle, was transferred to the Temple, and 
 the ordinances of David concerning the priests and the service 
 of song put in force for the first time. The existence, then, and 
 observance of the sacrificial ritual, such as was afterwards, as 
 far as it could be, restored on the return of the captives from 
 Babylon, its existence and observance, we say, before the eighth 
 century B.C., are facts which cannot be gainsaid. How does 
 the Professor meet this ? With the utmost complacency, and, we 
 suppose, lest his assertion should shock weak nerves, he would 
 
444 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 quiet all alarm by assuring us all, that though the prophets 
 taught "Jehovah had not enjoined sacrifice, this does not imply- 
 that He has never accepted sacrifice, or that ritual service is 
 absolutely wrong. But it is at best mere form (! !} which does 
 not purchase any favour from Jehovah, and might be given up 
 without offence " (p. 288). Indeed ! This dictum from one 
 occupying the professorial chair may be to some very consol- 
 ing. For ourselves, who can only occupy seats on the scholar's 
 bench, we prefer to follow on this point what Samuel, David, 
 and Solomon plainly teacli us, and what the law itself declares 
 about it. 
 
 Now in Exod. xxix. 38-42 we read that God gave Moses, on 
 the first occasion of his sojourn on Mount Sinai for forty days 
 and forty nights, the ordinance about the daily sacrifice, to be 
 offered on that altar on which the fire was to be always 
 burning (Lev. vi. 12), In Lev. vii. 35-38, the law of sacri- 
 fice is said to have been commanded Moses on Mount Sinai. 
 The ritual for the day of atonement was given by God to 
 Moses to be made known to Aaron (Lev. xvi. 1). And in flat 
 contradiction to Mr. Smith's assertion, that ritual could be given 
 up without offence, we are told that the person who did not 
 perform the necessary purifications, or who eat of the peace-offer- 
 ing with his uncleanness upon him, or refused to afflict himself 
 on the day of atonement, such an one should be cut off from 
 among his people (Lev. vii. 20, 21, xxiii. 29; Numb. ix. 13, 
 xix. 13-20). But we need not multiply proofs of the existence 
 of the laws relating to sacrifice. 
 
 The attempt to controvert it by dwelling on the teaching of 
 the prophets is a mere artifice, which can only deceive those 
 who are willing to accept the statements of men without testing 
 them by the unerring standard, the Word of God. If the obser- 
 vance of ritual without the practice of righteousness was all 
 that Jehovah desired, the people could have deluged His altar 
 with blood, and yet continued to practise unrighteousness, and 
 to smite with the fist of wickedness at the same time. But 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 445 
 
 Jehovah is holy. So the prophets rightly insisted on reality, 
 and not on mere lip-service, or the mere outward observance of 
 the ritual, though without sacrifices forgiveness of sins could 
 not be enjoyed. "What set Isaiah at rest in the presence of 
 Jehovah of Hosts but the live coal from off the altar ? 
 Nothing but the benefits of the sacrifice of One who could bear 
 divine judgment on his behalf would meet his case. He, a 
 prophet, knew that well, and proclaims by his recital of that 
 which took place, as well as by his subsequent readiness to 
 serve Jehovah, that nothing availed for him apart from the 
 sacrifice which makes atonement. 
 
 But in various ways are artifices resorted to in this 
 book to mislead the unstable. We are told (pp. 293, 305) that 
 there is a priestly Torah, a prophetic Torah, a Mosaic Torah, 
 all distinct ; and also we are gravely told of a Torah of good 
 husbandry (p. 335), which the reader is given to understand 
 he will find in Isaiah xxviii. 23-29. Now this wonderful word 
 Torah is derived from the Hebrew verb Yarah, to teach, and 
 means primarily instruction. It is used as the title of that part 
 of the Old Testament revelation called the law — Torah in Hebrew, 
 v6ixo<; in Greek. When we read of the latv, Torah, the term, as 
 in Eom. iii. 19, may be used of the whole Old Testament 
 teaching, or be restricted to that part commonly called the 
 Pentateuch. But we have not several Torahs, as Mr. Smith 
 would make out, nor could we say that wherever we read of 
 Jehovah teaching, or any one teaching, that we have a new 
 Torah, as he would persuade us from his reference to Isaiah 
 xxviii. Such statements are like conjuror's tricks, occupying 
 the attention of his audience with one thing whilst he is really 
 doing another. How rich we must be in Torahs if this way of 
 reckoning them could be accepted ! We have — does the reader 
 know it ? of course the Professor must — on that hypothesis a 
 Torah from the beasts and a Torah from the earth, for botli 
 can teach us, as Job (xii, 7, 8) declares. But all this about 
 different Torahs is mere trifling. The law (Torah) of the Lord 
 
446 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 is perfect, converting the soul. Does Jehovah's Turah of good 
 husbandry convert the soul ? 
 
 In truth there is neither reverence for God nor for His Word 
 in this volume. But these are serious charges to make. We 
 must substantiate them. The chronicler, we are told, was a 
 very ignorant man on points on which he wrote. " He had no 
 complete knowledge of the greatly different praxis of Israel 
 before the exile" (p. 219). He writes of Gibeon in Solomon's 
 days in a way the author of 1 Kings would never have done 
 (p. 26G) ; and he is accused of ignorance of his nation's 
 history and of his own tongue (pp. 420, 421). How could he 
 state that Abijali called Eehoboam, his father, young, IJL^J, when 
 he was forty-one years old ? Into the question of Eehoboam's 
 age at his accession we need not here enter. It is enough to 
 reply to the objection, How could Joshua have been described 
 by the same term when he was about that same age ? (Exod. 
 xxxiii. 11). Then, ignorant man that he was, how came he, in 
 reporting the same speech, to speak of the evening sacrifice as 
 an animal sacrifice, when it is said to be well known that it was 
 whoUy cereal in its composition, being called nnjD, Minchah, in 
 1 Kings xviii. 36, 2 Kings xvi. 15, Ezra ix. 4, the term used 
 for a meat-offering in the law ? But the tables are turned when 
 it is seen that Minchah is used in Genesis iv. of Abel's offering, 
 which certainly was not cereal in its character; and the 
 chronicler is justified in the way he writes, since, in 2 Kings 
 iii. 20, Minchah is used of the morning burnt-offering as well. 
 Hence the question is not as to the capability of the chronicler 
 for his office, but as to the propriety of the Professor of Hebrew 
 in the Free Church College of Aberdeen basing such charges on 
 grounds which cannot be defended. Is it the chronicler that 
 should be convicted of ignorance of the Hebrew language, or 
 who ? And why should not Eehoboam, whatever might be his 
 age, be spoken of as 327 "^l, which in the only other place in 
 which the phrase occurs (Deut. xx. 8) is translated in the 
 Authorised Version " faint-hearted" ? That suits the context in 
 
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 447 
 
 1 Cliron. xiii. very well, and is so rendered in this place in the 
 LXX., of which the Professor has expressed so high an opinion 
 as well as in the Vulgate. And what irreverence, to use no 
 stronger term, to charge the writer, selected by the Holy Ghost 
 for His work, with ignorance of his nation's history and language. 
 Any charge of the chronicler's unfitness for his task is really 
 a reflection on Him who appointed him to write, and directed 
 him in his service. Corruptions of the text there might be, 
 for what is there which has been committed to man in which 
 he has not failed ? But to charge the writer with incompetence, 
 is to impugn the competency of the Divine Author of the 
 Scriptures to select suited instruments for His work. Had we 
 not read it, we should have thought that even Mr. Smith would 
 have recoiled from suggesting such a thought. 
 
 None, then, need wonder that there is no reverence for God. 
 " The people, whose worship of Jehovah was hardly to be distin- 
 guished from a gross polytheism, could not be averse to worship 
 other gods side by side with the national deity " (p. 229). " The 
 Old Testament takes it for granted that Jehovah acknowledges 
 and supplies in Israel the want which in other nations is met 
 by the practice of divination. The place of the soothsayer is 
 supplied by the prophet of Jehovah (Deut. xviii. 14) " (p. 278). 
 Is it the proper way to speak of the only true God as the 
 national deity of Israel ? Did His prophets supply for Israel 
 the want elsewhere met by the soothsayers ? But worse still 
 (p. 271): "Jehovah Himself, according to Deut. iv. 19, has 
 appointed the heavenly host and other false deities to the 
 heathen nations (! !), while He conversely Himself is the portion 
 of Jacob (Jer. x. 16 ; comp. Deut. xxix. 26)." Has the High and 
 the Holy One sanctioned idolatry and provided the nations 
 with their false gods ? Here we must stop. His book is indeed 
 a saddening one. It is also profane. God uses, we are given 
 to understand, language which reads very awkwardly. He has 
 selected writers incompetent for the work. He has appointed 
 false deities to the nations. With a great parade of learning. 
 
44S THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE JEWISH CHURCH. 
 
 aud very probably acquaintance with the writings of men, one 
 thing is evident, the book which the Professor has studied the 
 least is the one about which he writes — the volume of Old 
 Testament revelation. 
 
 -L