y H 0 E TO^l^ VTHJSOLOGIOALi v»^^' fl^ D;vis,-r.3S2f4-2:0 ■t. _jj\_ LECTURES HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST. By JAMES' BENNETT, D.D. SECOND EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY F. WESTLEY AND A. H. DAVIS, 10, STATIONfiRs' HALL COURT AND AVE MARIA LANE ; AND SOLD BY BAGSTER, 15, PATERNOSTER ROW; NISBET, BERNERS SXREET, OXFORD STREET J WESTLEY AND TYRRELL, DUBLIN J AND JOHN BOYD, EDINBURGH. M.DCCC.XXVIU. London : Bagiter and Tlioms, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close. PREFACE. The favourable reception of the first edition of this work, and the testimony of pious readers, have given the Author reason to be satisfied that he complied with the request of his hearers, who pleaded for the pub- lication of these Lectures, as exhibiting a more instruc- tive and impressive history of our adorable Redeemer than is to be found in any of those works which have appeared under the title of the life of Christ. In a series of discourses which occupied the morning of the Lord's day, during almost four years, repetitions must be expected to occur. But the Gospels them- selves are known to contain a similar recurrence of the same ideas and expressions, and those who are ac- quainted with the philosophy of the human mind need not to be informed what advantages may be thence derived. The practical application, which formed a considerable part of the spoken discourses, could not have been published without rendering the work so IV voluminous as to interfere with the extent of its circula- tion. In this second edition, however, passages omitted in the former have been supplied. With the whole narrative, practical uses have been interwoven, and to this important object the concluding lecture is exclu- sively devoted. The sermons of our Lord are reserved for a separate volume, to be so arranged as to admit of being read in the order of the history. The whole work will then constitute a perpetual commentary on the four Gospels, in a form peculiarly adapted to develope the true sense and convey the full force of the text. It is, therefore, desirable that all the passages referred to at the head of each lecture should be read, though but a few words from one Evangelist have been printed. At the harmony of the Gospels, which, though not without important uses, is not of the first necessity, and is to most Christians uninteresting, a lecturer to a pro- miscuous audience could but glance. The result of some laborious investigations, is given in a few words. If any should deem the Lectures worthy of one careful perusal, it is earnestly requested that they would follow it, at no considerable interval, with a second. Did not the Providence which ordered that four different histories of the Saviour should stand to- gether in the New Testament, design to teach us the duty of reading again and again this most important life? Should Christian families adopt these volumes, as an exercise in domestic worship, on the evening of the Lord's day, the Author would advise the readers al- ways to recur to the subject of the preceding Lecture. The members of the family will thus be reminded of the course of the history, and be assisted to carry in their minds the connected narrative. The attention of the instructors of youth is particu- larly directed to the ninety-eighth, or recapitulatory Lecture. By taking a single division of this discourse at one time, young persons might easily commit to memory the whole history of their Lord and Saviour. And how much more worthy is this to occupy the youthful mind, than many of those tales with which their memories are crowded! The recent eiforts of infidels have induced the Author to bring out to view many of the striking evi- dences of truth which the Saviour's history affords. The last Lecture except one, is designed to furnish a synopsis of the proof, and is, therefore, affectionately commended to the study of the young, who should, in the present day, be armed to meet the enemies of the Christian faith. VI To the smile and blessing of Him who is its grand theme, the Author again commends the work, with the humble hope and earnest prayer, that it may be honoured to diffuse the knowledge and inspire the love of Him who once came to save, and will shortly return to judge the world. Rot her ham, Maij 1, 1828. i CONTENTS OF VOLUME L Lecture i. — Introductory. — Luke i. 1 — 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed . , ' . page 1 Lecture ii. — The Incarnation or Birth of the Saviour. — Matt. i. Luke i. 1—38. John i. 1, 14.* * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . page 10 Lecture hi. — Christ's Submission to the Mosaic Law, or his Circumcision and Presentation in the Temple. — Luke ii. 21—28. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS . . page 37 Lecture iv. — The Visit of the eastern Magians, and its Consequences. — Matt. ii.'_^l — 12. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem page 50 Lecture y.— Christ's private Life.— Matt. ii. 21— 2S. Luke ii. 39—52.* * And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth page 66 Lecture \i. — Christ's Baptism. — Matt. iii. 13 — 17.* Mark i. 9. Luke iii. 21, 22. * Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him .... page 82 Lecture vii. — The Saviour's Temptation. — Matt. iv. 1 — 11.* Mark i. 12, 13. Luke iv. 1—13. * Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into (he wilderness, to be tempted of the devil . . . page 93 Lecture viii. — The Ccdling of the first Disciples.— John i. 37— 5L The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus page 103 Vlll CONTENTS. Lecture ix. — Christ's first Miracle at Cana. — John ii. 1—11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him . pcgc 115 Lecture x. — Christ' s first public Appearance at the Temple. —John ii. 13—25 ; iii. 1, 2. And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen, &c. page 127 Lecture xi. — Christ's first Labours in Judea and Samaria. —John iii. 22 ; iv. 42. * After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea ; and there he tarried with them, and baptized . page 1 39 Lecture xii. — The Nobleman s Son healed. — John iv. 43—54. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum page 151 Lecture xiii. — Christ rejected at Nazareth. — Luke iv. 16—30. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up page 164 Lecture xiv. — The miraculous Draught of Fishes. — Matt, iv. 13-22.* Mark i. 16—20. Luke iv. 1—11. * And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast . • • P"8^ *74 Lecture xv. — The great Sabbath.— -Matt viii. 14—17.* Mark i. 21—34. Luke iv. 31. * And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's motiier laid, and sick of a fever • P"ge 189 Lecture xvi. — Christ's devotional Retirement and public Labours.— Mait. iv. 23, 25. Mark i. 35—39.* Luke iv. 44. * And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed . page 199 Lecture xvii The miraculous Cure of the iejper.— Mark i. 40—45. Luke v. 12—15. And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy : who seeing Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make mc clean . page 211 CONTENTS. »X Lecture XYUi.—The Paralytic healed.— W^ii. ix. 2—9. Mark ii. 1—14. Luke v. 17—28.* * And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of GaUlee, and Judea and Jerusalem : and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy . • P«ge 223 Lecture xix.— TAe Calling o/ Ma^^/teu;.— Matt. ix. 9.* Luke V. 27—32. * And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew* sitting at the receipt of custom . • P"g^ 234 Lecture xx. — Christ healing the sick Man at the Pool of Bethesda. — John v. 1 — 9. After this there was a feast of the Jews ; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep-market, a pool page 247 Lecture ^m.— Christ vindicating the Disciples against the Charge of Sabbath-hreaking.— Matt. xii. 1—8. Mark ii. 23—28. Luke vi. 1—5. And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields ; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands . • page 261 Lecture xxii. — Christ heals the Man with a withered Hand.— Mark iii. 1—6. Matt. xii. 9—15. Luke vi. G— 11. And it came to pass also, on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man Whose right hand was withered page 273 Lecture xxiii. — Christ's Retirement on account of the Pharisees' Rage.— Matt. xii. 14—21. Mark iii. 6—12.* Luke vi. 11. * And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus with- drew himself . • • Pog^ 286 Lecture xxiv.— TAg Apostles called. — Mark iii. 13—19. Luke vi. 12—16. And he continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples : and of them he chose twelve page 297 Lecture xxv. — Christ healing the Centurion's Servant. — Matt. viii. 5—13.* Luke vii. 1—10. * And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy . . . page 305 "X CONTENTS. Lecture xxvi. — Christ raising the Son of the Widow of Nain. — Luke vii. 11 — 17. Now when he came nigh to the gate- of the city, behold, tliere was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother . page 320 Lecture xxvii. — Christ's Testimony to John the Baptist. Matt. xi. 2—19. Luke vii. 18—28.* * And the disciples of John showed him of all these things. And John, calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus page 334 Lecture xxviii. — The i)^nitent Prostitute. — Luke vii. 36—50. And, behold a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment . . . page 346 Lecture xxix. — The deaf, dumb, and blind Demoniac healed.— M^ii. xii. 22.* Mark iii. 20. Luke viii. 1. * Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb ; and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw . . . page 359 Lecture xxx. — Christ's true Kindred. — Matt. xii. 40. Mark iii. 31—35.* Luke viii. 19-21. * There came then liis brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him . • page 368 Lecture xxxi. — Christ stilling the Storm.— W^ii. viii. 23-27. Mark iv. 35—41. Luke viii. 22—25. * And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea . page 382 Lfx'TURE xxxii. — Christ sending the Demons from the Man into the Swine. — Matt. viii. 28—34.* Mark v. 1—20. Luke viii. 26—39. * And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gerge- senes, there met him two possessed with devils . page 397 Lecture xxxiii. — Christ raises the Daughter of Jairus from the Dead, and heals a Woman on the Road. — Matt. ix. 18-26. Mark v. 22-43. Luke viii. 41—56.* * And behold there came a man nanud Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue . . . page 408 CONTENTS. Xi Lecture xxxiy. — Christ restoring two hlindMen to sight. —Matt. ix. 27—31. And wlieu Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us page 424 Lecture xxxv. — The preparatory Mission of the Apos- tles.—Maii. X. Mark vi. 7—12.* Luke ix. 1—5. * And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth, by two and two . . . page 434 Lecture XXXM.— Christ feeding the five Thousand.— Matt. xiv. 13—23. Mark vi. 30—46. Luke ix. 10—17. John vi. 5 — 15.* * When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? . . . page 442 Lecture xxxvii. — Christ and Peter walking on the TF«;er.— Matt. xiv. 22—33.* Mark vi. 45—56. * And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side . . page 451 Lecture xxxviii. — The Daughter of the Syrophetiician Woman healed.— Matt. xv. 21—28. Mark vii. 24—30.* * And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it : but he could not be hid ; for a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet . page 464 Lecture xxxix.— Christ healing the Deaf and Dumb. Matt. XV. 29—31. Mark vii. 31—37.* * And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech : and they beseech him to put his hand upon him p^ge 475 Lecture XL.— Christ feeding the four Thousand.— Matt. XV. 32—39;* xvi. 1—12. Mark viii. 1—13. -* And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children . . . page 488 Lecture xli.— Christ healing the blind Man at Bethsaida. — Mark viii. 22—26. And he cometh to Bethsaida : and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him . . p„„g 493 Lecture Xhii. — Peters good Confession. — Matt. xvi. 13-28.* Mark viii. 27-38. Luke ix. 18—27. * And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art tlie Christ, the Son of the living God . . . j,age 509 XU CONTENTS. Lecture xlui.— Christ transfigured.— Mutt. xvii. 1—8.* Mark ix. 2—9. Luke ix. 28—36. * And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured be- fore them . . : page 521 Lecture xl-iy .—Second on the Transfiguration. — Matt, xvii. 1—8. Mark ix. 2—9. Luke ix. 28—36.* * And behold there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias page 531 Lecture xlv.— Third on the Transfiguration. — Matt xvii. 1—8. Mark ix. 2—9.* Luke ix. 28—36. * And, after six days, Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves : and he was transfigured before tliem . . pfg^ 54 1 Lecture xlvi. — The Lunatic Child healed. — Matt. xvii. 14—21. Mark ix. 14—29. Luke ix. 37—43.* * And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son ; for he is mine only child . page 55 1 Lecture xlvii. — Christ miraculously pays Tribute. — Matt. xvii. 24—27. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute-money came to Peter, and said. Doth not your Master pay tribute ? page 560 Lecture xlviii. — Christ teaches Humility by a little Child.— Matt, xviii. 1—19. Mark ix. 33—42. Luke ix. 46—50.* * Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest .And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him . . . page 569 Lecture xlix. — Christ's Journey to the Feast of Taber- nacles.— Luke ix. 51 — 62.* John vii. 1—10. * And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem . page 578 Lecture h.—The Mission of the Seventy.— huke x. 1 — 11. After tliese things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face . . page 593 LECTURES ON THE " ■- : - . HISTORY OF CHRIST. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY. Luke i. 1 — 4; That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. 1 o whatever is most ancient, authentic, and valuable in his- tory, the sacred Scriptures have added the biography of the first personages that have appeared on the face of the globe, by whom its condition has been most deeply and permanently influenced, and whose memoirs are written, with an impar- tiality and a knowledge of the secret springs of action, which among other records we seek in vain. But where has the biographer found such a subject for his pen as Jesus Christ ? The most important being that ever appeared, not only on the stage of human affairs, but in the whole range of existence, he will have no equal, no second, through the revolutions of ages, or the duration of eternity ; and his influence on the fortunes of our race, and of every moral agent, will be with- out limit and without end. The importance of an acquain- tance with his history to a thorough knowledge of the Chris- tian system, we learn from the inspiration afforded to four different persons to qualify them to write the Saviour's life, which we call by emphasis the Gospels, and which occupy nearly a quarter of the New Testament. With this, every reader of the Christian Scriptures is presumed to be ac- VOL. I. B 2 LECTURE I. quainted; for so numerous, delicate, and yet important, are the references to the Saviour's history, that he who is not well instructed in the Gospels, reads the Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation, in the twilight. I have ventured, therefore, my dear hearers, on an arduous attempt, to lead you through the history of the Saviour's life and death, as given in the four Evangelists, comparing, and as far as is requisite, harmonizing the narratives, in a course of Lectures, on the morning of the Lord's day. That I need not ask your willing and attentive reception of such a series of discourses, I am well assured; but, equally aware that we need the divine assistance, so to follow the Saviour's footsteps as to be conducted, by this exercise, to the heaven where he now dwells ; I would invoke you and my own soul, to pray for that " Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ ;" of whom, the Saviour said, " he shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shew it unto you." This] first Lecture is designed to be introductory, and will, therefore, contain a prospective glance at the Saviour's life, and a brief view of the history of his forerunner, who intro- duced him to the notice of the world. I. Let us take a prospective glance at the Saviour's life. This, I scarcely need to apprize you, is not designed to be historical, so as to anticipate the following narrative ; but moral, giving such a view of the subject, as may prepare us to enter upon it with those feelings which it demands. The following considerations will, I hope, have that effect. 1. The history of the Saviour was the grand theme of the Apostles' preaching. A little reflection will convince us, that the twelve ambas- sadors of Christ to the world, must have opened their com- mission, wherever they came, with a narrative of the events which had recently occurred in Palestine, and which induced them to leave that country, and travel over the world, to tell the glad tidings, or the Gospel, as we usually denominate their message. For the gentile nations were utterly ignorant of the whole story; and even the Jews who were scattered INTRODUCTORY. 3 over the world, as also those who sprang up in Judea after the Saviour's days, were either so uninformed, or so preju- diced by false or distorted statements, that they needed in the first instance, a fair narrative of the Saviour's birth, life, actions, preaching, sufferings and death, before they could form any just conclusion concerning the proclamation of sal- vation by Christ, of which the Apostles were the chosen heralds. These four books, therefore, which we call the Gospels, are but the recorded summary of the account which the ambassa- dors gave to all the world. The most ancient version of the New Testament, called the Peshito Syriac, gives this preface to the Gospel by Luke: " The preaching of Luke the Evan- gelist, which he spake and preached in Greek, at Alexandria;" and a very early tradition among the Christian churches states, that Mark gave, in his Gospel, the substance of what Peter had delivered in the course of his preaching at Rome. Those specimens of apostolic sermons which we have in the Acts of the Apostles, contain abridgements of the Saviour's history. Paul, preaching in the synagogue of the Jews at Antioch, in Pisidia, commenced, indeed, with such an epitome of their national history, as would propitiate them, and pro- cure him a favourable hearing ; but, as soon as he mentioned David, he darted off to his intended subject, saying, " Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus : When John had first preached, before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said. Whom think ye that I am ? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was b2 4 LECTURE I. written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead : and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; as it is also written in the second psalm. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm. Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption : but he whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that 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. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the Prophets : Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish ; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you."* If such then was the preaching of the Apostles, what were its effects? " God bore witness to it, by signs and wonders, and divers gifts and operations of the Holy Spirit;" till it laid the foundations of his church so deeply and widely, that all the hostility of earth and hell has never since been able to tear them up, nor prevent the Christian religion from advanc- ing to its destination, to become the faith of a world. Should we not, therefore, imitate this high example? May we not then hope to share in the success which originally crowned " the testimony of Jesus?" If it be said, " Though this method of preaching was pro- per in the earliest days of Christianity, because it was then necessary, to put the world in possession of the facts on which * Acts xiji. 23 — 41. INTRODUCTORY. 5 our religion rests, yet now that these are so well known, they cease to be a fit theme of public instruction ; " to this, I reply, by advancing- to another introductory remark. 2. The Saviour's history is a branch of knowledge in which many are culpably deficient. That we are here much inferior to the earliest Christians, I have no doubt. The passage from which my text is taken expresses the eagerness that prevailed among the Saviour's disciples, to obtain and diffuse all possible information con- cerning his life. Paul alludes to a saying of our Lord, which we have not in the Gospels, in such a way as to show that the Apostle's hearers knew it well : " Remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." The writings of the fathers so abound with quotations from the Gospels, that if these inspired his- tories were lost, they might be recovered, almost verbatim, from the earliest writers of the Christian church ; and eccle- siastical history informs us, how richly furnished were the primitive Christians, with the sentiments and the very words of Christ. As the affairs of missions naturally recall the days of primi- tive Christianity, when missionaries were moving in every direction, and churches were composed of proselytes from heathenism ; we cannot be surprised to find the ancient scenes acted over again, in the islands of the South Seas. When the newly converted Otaheitans had but one Gospel, that of Luke, translated into their tongue, they read it with so much avidity, and committed it so carefully to memory, that we are informed they could tell every event recorded there, and in what part of the history it is to be found. But, while this is no more than the infinite importance of the subject, and our deep stake in it might naturally be expected to produce; is it not more than is to be found among us, who have so much higher advantages, for becoming familiarlj^ acquainted with the life of our Lord ? Are there not many who can tell the names, and histories, and characters, of all the kings of Eng- land, from the conquest, or even from the Roman invasion, and can give a correct account of all the distinguished charac- G LECTURE I. ters of antiquity, who yet would be utterly unequal to furnish a tolerable narrative of the life and actions of that exalted person, whom we call by the endeared name, our Saviour? May I not then address you in the language of an apostle, " My brethren, these things ought not to be?" Is it not imperative on us, to provide some remedy for this inexcusable evil ? The proper cure is, the more diligent reading and study of those inspired narratives, which are the only foun- tains of this sacred knowledge. May I not, however, hope that the lectures on which I am entering, may prove streams that wHl create such a thirst, as will send you to satisfy your desire after the knowledge of Christ, by drinking more co- piously at the fountain head ? 3. The history of Christ constitutes the ground- work of our faith. The belief that brings salvation, is no mystical enthusiastic impression of something we know not what, which we hold we know not why ; but it consists in receiving the record God has given of his son, from a rational though divinely imparted conviction, that it is the testimony of him who can- not lie. Now, what is this testimony? That " God has given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his son;" or in other words, " that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life ; that in the fulness of times 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 ; that God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all; that he who died for our sins, rose again for our justification; for God has glorified his son Jesus, raising him up from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, where he ever liveth to make intercession for us." But the right under- standing of all these sentences depends upon a knowledge of the circumstances of the Saviour's history, to which they allude ; and without that knowledge all these weighty decla- rations, which are so frequently delivered as oracles that pro- nounce our fate, are words without meaning. INTRODUCTORY. 7 They who saw Christ's actions, heard his discourses, and witnessed his death, with right views, had the faith of the Gospel, even before that which we call the Gospel was writ- ten. But we who live in a distant age and country, can know these things by report only : the story must be told to us ; and this narrative we have in the Gospels, which were designed to give us the advantages of those who were eyewitnesses of these things; that, as it was said to one of them, " because thou hast seen thou hast believed," it may be said of us, " blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." For when Christ was surrounded by his Apostles, the eye- witnesses, he said, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word." What, then, can be more desirable than to know all these vast, glorious and deeply interesting facts, on which we pro- fess to rest our faith, and build our hopes, and on which, indeed, our everlasting all depends 1 How dishonourable and injurious must be an imperfect, scanty, confused, or erroneous notion of the life and death of him, whom to know is life eternal ! 4. The history of Christ goes far towards gratifying a wish which most Christians feel. For, when we are told, that one of the three things for which a celebrated father wished, was to have seen Christ in the flesh, how few are there, who are not conscious of hearing, in their own breasts, the echo to that wish ! When the Apostle John asks " If a man love not his brother whom he has seen, how shall he love God, whom he has not seen?" he tacitly reminds us of what we feel, that it is much easier to love one who is the object of our senses, than a Being who is to be known by faith only. Who can wonder then, that the Apostles should say, " Show us the Father and itsufficeth us?" To the voice of Peter saying of Christ, " whom having not seen ye love, and in whom, though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory;" we reply : " No, we have, indeed, never seen Christ! O that we had ! and though we love him, that makes us long the more to see him. It is true, that though we see him not, 8 LECTURE I. we believe on him ; yet we wish to exchange our faith for sight." For, if faith makes us thus rejoice in him, though unseen, what delights may we not hope for, when his prayers for us shall be answered, " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory ! " But, whatever of wisdom or folly there may be in such wishes ; and whether it be just thinking or mistaken reason- ing that induces regret for our want of personal knowledge of Christ ; it is certain, that the only way left to us, to sup- ply that want, is to study the portraiture of him in the Gos- pels. For as to all that intercourse with Christ, by means of the senses, which some pretend to supply by pictures, supposed to be likenesses of Christ's person, or by pieces of his garments, or drops of his blood; I need not say to you, my dear hearers, that it is imposture. Whatever virtues those things may pretend to possess, they are cursed with bar- renness of all good, and are left to operate only the evil which is the sure result of superstition and lies. There remains, then, but this one safe and divinely ap- pointed mode of knowing a Saviour, whom none of us have seen, though we are all deeply concerned in his person and history ; the knowledge of the records left us, by those holy men who saw and knew him, and who spoke of him " as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." If we duly improve this, we shall have no reason to envy those who could say, " the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory ;" or those who exclaimed, " Now we believe, be- cause we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." For, never were there such opportunities of becoming acquainted with a person whom we never saw, as we are furnished with, in the insjiired history of Jesus Christ. Here he is set before us, evidently living, breathing, speaking, acting, suffering, bleed- ing, dying, rising, and ascending to heaven, before our eyes. If we know him not to our salvation, it may be said to us, as to some, who had not seen him any more than we have, '* O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that ye should INTRODUCTORY. 9 not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth evidently crucified among you?" If it be not our own fault, we shall attain, when we have passed through the history of Christ, such knowledge of him as will make us blush or weep, that we had not known him better before. 5. Our Saviour's history, being all foretold, throws great light on other parts of Scripture. The narrative on which we are entering has this grand peculiarity, that it was given by anticipation, before the sub- ject of it was born. Biography, written after a man's death, is common; and we have a few instances of persons whose birth and general character were foretold previously to their entrance into the world, as was the case with Sampson and John the Baptist. But, as Christ's birth was predicted, four thousand years before it happened, so the prophets from time to time, added prediction to prediction, till, at length, the whole history might be collected from documents known to have existed hundreds, or thousands, of years before the Saviour came into the world. To this might be added, that the types and ceremonies of the Jewish worship were all designed to give general notions of Christ's person and work, while the world was waiting for him ; and to point him out to our faith and love, as soon as he appeared. The whole, therefore, of the previous revelation and worship of the church of God has been compared to a lock, of numerous, various, and intricate wards, which only one key would fit, and that was the true Messiah, whom we believe to be Jesus Christ. Now, this gives immense interest to the Saviour's life, to see how it answers to the history given ages before by the prophets, and how it corresponds to those types and shadows of the Saviour, to which the eye of the Church was directed, long ere she saw his person. The old and the new Testa- ments, therefore, mutually give and receive light and testi- mony; for the coincidence is too extensive and exact to have been accidental ; it must have been the contrivance of that Being to whom all his works were known, before the founda- 10 LECTURE I. tion of the world, and " who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." 6. The history of our Lord is powerfully conducive to the improvement of our religion. It is a maxim of holy writ, that " he who walketh with wise men shall become wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." What improvement in wisdom and goodness, then, may be expected from attending the footsteps of Christ through life ; and how happily may our keeping him in view separate us from those polluting and irritating objects, which this world is continually obtruding on our regard! An apostle who had seen " that just one, and heard the word of his lips," who says " I received from the Lord that which I delivered to you," and who had been caught up to him in the third heaven, learned from what he had known of Christ thus to pant for more ; " That I may know him, and the power pf his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, that I may be made conformable to his death ! " And when private men, from the shades of obscurity, were observed to face, Avith holy composure, frowning governors and kings, and bear, unmoved, a faithful testimony to the truth ; no sooner were they recognized as having been with Jesus, than it was regarded as a complete solution of the moral mystery. Keeping such an object as Christ, with his actions and sufferings, before our eyes continually, and fixing our atten- tion upon all the traits of truth and holiness and benevolence, which come out to view, on a close inspection, is eminently conducive to our own religious improvement. We can scarcely look, without admiring; and admiration, we know, leads to imitation ; and the imitation of Christ is the business of the Christian life ; for ** I have given you an example," suys our Lord, " that you should do as I have done to you." It is true, that the wickedness of man often forces itself upon our view, while watching our Saviour's march ; but then it is as shadows appear in the full sunshine, more deep, and more strikingly contrasted with the light. In the life of Christ, we acquire the knowledge of evil, without being INTRODUCTORY. 11 tempted to taste of the forbidden tree ; for we are warned, while we are instructed ; since, if ever sin appears exceedingly sinful, it is when rejecting-, opposing and hating Christ. Our faith, too, is strengthened, by keeping its object continually before the mind, and our hope of seeing Christ at death, as well as of dwelling with him for ever, will be inflamed by the sight of so much glory and grace as beam in the Saviour's face. — I turn now to present — II. A short sketch of the life of Christ's forerunner. To give due honour to the Son of God coming among us in human flesh, and to increase the evidence of his divine mis- sion, by immensely multiplying the chances against an acci- dental fulfilment of the prophecies concerning Christ ; it was determined that he should be preceded by another extraor- dinary person, who should wake up a slumbering world to receive its king. " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."* There was to be a ** voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." To this person, who was to intro- duce our Lord to the notice of the world, let us now direct our attention, considering, 1. His descent and birth. His parents were of the sacerdotal race, being descended from Aaron, for the Levitical priesthood was to be superseded by that of Christ; so that, though John was a Jewish priest, going before our Lord, we read not that he ever officiated in the temple ; since he enjoyed higher honour than that of offering the shadows of sacrifice, by pointing out the true atoning Lamb. Zacharias, the father of the Baptist, had, according to the law, married a daughter of Aaron. They were both eminently pious, but afflicted by the want of chil- dren, which was at that time, when the birth of the Messiah was fondly looked for, considered almost a proof of divine •^ Malachi iv. 5, 6. 12 LECTURE I. displeasure. Though Elizabeth was barren, Zacharias had not availed himself of the permission of those times, to indulge in polygamy or divorce, which were tolerated only on account of the hardness of men's hearts, lest they should treat cruelly a wife to whom they had conceived a dislike. Arrived at an age which left them no hope of an affectionate child that should close their eyes, when sinking in the shades of death, this pious couple found, that heaven has consolations in reserve for those who walk in the way of God's commands. Zacharias had gone up from Hebron, where it is probable that he dwelt, to take his turn in ministering, for a fortnight, at the temple. It fell to his lot to burn the incense on the golden altar before the vail, while the whole congregation were praying without. Lovely image of the Church of God, where his elect pray to him night and day; while Jesus, our high priest, "offers much incense," his own merit and inter- cession, "'vith the prayers of all saints!" While thus employed, Zacharias beheld, at the right side of the altar, an angel, whose appearance filled even this holy man with alarm, but who kindly said, " Don't be afraid, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness ; and many shall rejoice at his birth : for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Lsrael shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the child- ren, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just ; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."* Zacharias had, perhaps, formerly prayed for a son, but had, at last, given up in despair, and now asked only for the coming of Christ; when, lo! Heaven answers his ancient prayers, " Thou shalt have a son;" and his recent ones too, " he shall tell Israel that Messiah is come." This son shall be called John, in the Old Testament written Johanan, and signifying * Luke i. 13—17. INTRODUCTORY. 13 the grace of God. Happy the father, who beholds his son marked out by the finger of God, as an heir of his grace ! Though this appeared to the astonished priest too good to be true, he ventured not to express his unbelief, but only asked " how shall I know that this will happen? for consider how unlikely." The angel, by replying, 1 am Gabriel, sent to give thee this promise, reminded him of the same messenger who announced to Daniel the time when the Messiah should come, which ought to have been so well known to this priest, as to have induced him to give more ready credit to the herald, when announcing the fulfilment. But Zacharias required a sign, and one was given, to his cost. He was struck deaf and dumb; for it is immediately said " he could not speak:" and on another occasion he was treated as if he could not hear ; for " they made signs to him to know by what name he would have his son called," when they might have asked him, if he could have heard. For not hearkening to the heavenly word, he was made incapable of hearing any other; and for one expression of distrust, he was struck dumb for nine months. So severely God animadverts on the sins of his own people. *' Let us, therefore, have grace, whereby we may serve him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear ; for our God is a consuming fire." The vision was ended, but Zacharias, wrapt in astonish- ment and devotional awe, could not stir from the consecrated spot ; for the people wondered that he stayed so long, though all that is recorded might have happened in a few minutes. When he came out, they perceived he could not speak. As soon as the days of his turn were ended, Zacharias returned to his abode, among the hills of Judea, after which, Elizabeth, having conceived, hid herself for prayer and medi- tation, saying, " thus hath the Lord dealt with me, when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men." And when her time came, " she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her ; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him Zacharias, after the name of 14 LECTURE I. his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And they said unto her. There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John ; and they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God."* For now, the sign which was to attest the truth of the angel's prediction being no longer needed, as the event had fulfilled the promise, Zacharias, restored to the use of speech, employed it to glorify the giver, saying, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people ; and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began ; that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us ; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant ; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest : for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways ; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God ; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."f Of the private life of John here is all our information : " The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day of his public appearance to Israel." His strength of mind, grandeur of spirit, and propensity to retire from human converse to divine, proved that he was *' filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb." If we regret that so much excellence was buried in a desert, for thirty years, * Luke i. 57—64. f Idem, 68—79. INTRODUCTORY. 15 let us not imagine that it was a lamp burning in a sepulchre, and wasting its light upon the dead ; but remember how profitable it is to be much alone with God, before we come forth, to be blessings to men. This naturally leads us to consider, 2. The public ministry of John. " In those days," says the Evangelist, " came the word of the Lord to John, in the wilderness of Judea," summoning him to the exercise of his destined office of ushering in the Saviour, who was, in a few months, to appear. Let man wait till God calls. But now, though John was entitled to wear sacerdotal robes, and eat of the holy sacrifices, he came forth with a rough camel's-hai^r coat, fastened round him with a leathern girdle, and eating of the locusts and wild honey he found in the woods. His watchword was, " the reign of heaven is at hand," that empire which Daniel predicted should succeed the four great monarchies, the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman. For then, the last of these was ruling Judea, and God had promised that, in its days, he would set up an em- pire that should never end. " Repent, therefore," cried the herald, " and do works meet for repentance, that you may be prepared to receive the king, who is coming to set up this empire of heaven upon earth." When the popularity of John roused the notice of the priests and Levites, and the voice from the desert penetrated the metropolis, a deputation was sent to ask " who art thou?" To which he replied, " I am not the Christ, but am sent before him." As John declared he was not Elijah neither, we must understand him to deny it in the sense in which the Jews asked the question ; for they, having adopted the heathen notion of transmigration, expected the soul of Elijah to appear in the body of the forerunner of Messiah. In spirit and power, as the angel predicted, John was another Elijah; and Christ said, " This is Elijah, who was to come." When, therefore, Jesus appeared, John pointed to him, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, the great propitiation;" for by the addition of the name of God, the Jews expressed the superlative degree. Far from being jealous, when some 16 LECTURE 1, of his disciples left him to follow Jesus, John checked the envy of those who remained, saying, *' A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bride- groom ; but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly, because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease." Such was the preaching of John. Of his baptism I forbear to speak, till we come to behold the Saviour receiving that rite. Having now seen the morning star shining to announce the approaching rise of the sun, we turn to witness the vanishing of this harbinger of day, in 3. The death of Christ's forerunner. John appears to have been called to preach to Herod, the king of Galilee. Rare honour for a faithful preacher of the truth, and far from producing the happy effects which we might fondly expect! How the Baptist came to enjoy it we are not told ; but as it is not probable that the king would go and stand among the hearers in the desert, John was, perhaps, called to preach at court, where, far from being dazzled by the splendour of royalty, and seduced to change his tone, he boldly told the king, that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife, whom he had taken, divorcing his own wife, for an adulteress, who had basely forsaken her husband's bed. A wicked woman reproved for her sins will not fail to seek revenge. Herod, therefore, who had esteemed John a pro- phet, and had heard him gladly, and complied with many of his counsels, was now induced to shut him up in prison. But as lust and blood go hand in hand, Herodias either seized the opportunity afforded by the birthday of the king, who would then be ready to grant her any thing, or concerted the whole scheme with him beforehand, to save appearances; so that when the king had sworn to reward the daughter's dancing, with any thing she chose to request, the head of the Baptist was asked, as a fit present to gratify an accomplished princess ! It is ordered. The executioners go and behead the prophet n^TRODUCTORY. VT i\\ prison, and bring the bleeding- head, in a dish, to the young lady. She handed it to her mother, who is said to have treated it with indignant contempt and cruel ridicule, and pierced, with a bodkin, the tongue that had dared to reprove her sins. *' The disciples of the Baptist came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus." Thus ended the whole mortal career of this greatest of men; for though he wrought no miracle, did nothing splendid, lived a short time in a desert, and died by the executioner in a jail, and you might write his whole history in the palm of your hand ; yet he is pronounced by the historians of Christ, the greatest person that was ever born of woman. Learn, then, where true greatness lies. Not in noble birth ; for if the Baptist derived honour from his descent, it was because his parents were pious, rather than rich; not in splendid rank among men, for John passed his days in the obscurity of poverty; not in fashionable dress, for Christ's herald wore a coarse rough coat; not in the luxury of a costly board, since this prince of prophets fed on hard fare, gathered in the woods ; not in offices of state, for this first of mere men was what we should call a field preacher; not in popularity or favour with the world, as Christ's forerunner was followed chiefly by the poor, and, falling under the displeasure of the great, languished in a jail, and died by the executioner's sword. But true greatness lies in holiness, in serving Christ, and doing good to men, by pointing them to that Lamb that takes away their sins. " For if any man serve me," says Christ, " him will my Father honour." It is greater glory to be the faintest halo round this sun of righteousness, than to be a sun to any other system. Far better will it be found, at last, to have put on the kaross of the Hottentot, in the service of the Redeemer, than to have worii the purple in palaces, where Christ was unknown or despised. The world makes greatness to consist in ruling over our fellow men^ but Christ places it in serving them for their salvation ; for of John, it was said, " he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and many of the chil- dren of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God :" some of Christ's hearers said, " John wrought no miracle, but all things VOL. I. o 18 LECTURE I. that John said of this man were true ; and many believed on Jesus there." " They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars in the kingdom of their Father." Ah! seek, my dear hearers, this honour that cometh from above; and when the perishing glories of the world shall have vanished, like the colours of the rainbow, you shall be great in the sight of the Lord, of angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect. Observe, also, how obscure and afflicted was the earthly lot of this greatest person that was ever born of woman. His days were spent in a desert, far from the luxuries of life ; from his public labours he was snatched away, to languish, appa- rently, without usefulness and without comfort, in a prison ; his death was by the hand of the executioner, where no spectators could afford him the martyr's consolation, of exhi- biting to others a splendid testimony to truth ; his corpse was insulted by the taunts of a vile woman; and his disciples all passed off into the train of another leader, whose superior glory eclipsed the honours of his forerunner. So little can we know of the love or hatred of God, by what happens under the sun. Thus God prepared the world for the coming of Christ, who, though Lord of glory, was despised and rejected of men, and became king of the martyrs, captain of all those " who loved not their lives unto the death." The forerunner of him who came to expire on that cross, by which we are crucified to the world, and the world is cruci- fied to us, lived a hermit and died a martyr. The world knew not him, as it knew not the prince whom this herald announced. Though sanctified from the womb, this most eminent servant of God still needed to "learn obedience by the things which he suffered :" then how can we hope or wish for exemption from afflictions, which are essential to our pre- sent improvement and eternal bliss? Let us with patience fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in our flesh, for his body's sake, " which is the church," and be content to have our honour lost in the blaze of Christ's superior worth. To that Saviour's history we are now to bend our attention ; for, having seen the morning star die away, let us look out for the sun of righteousness, rising upon the world with healing in his wings. 19 LECTURE II. THE INCARNATION OR BIRTH OF THE SAVIOUR. Matt. i. Luke i. 1 — 38. * John i. 1, 14. * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The birth of any human being is an event of infinite im- portance. Endued with a soul, on which its Creator's hand has stamped immortality, man comes into existence^ to depart from it no more. But when to the interminable duration of his own being, which gives him the infinity included in eternity, we add the influence that any one of our race may have upon all the rest, over the face of the globe, and through every future age, we cannot wonder that a reflecting parent should, on the birth of a child, be agitated with intense and unutterable solicitudes. With what awful interest, then, should we approach the consideration of the birth of that person, who, being himself no less than deity made flesh, was born expressly to affect the condition of our whole race, and not merely to alter the state of this globe through its future duration^ but to give colour to that eternity into which we are all destined to pass! As, therefore, we are to-day to witness the lively interest that Heaven takes in this event, let it not reproach our ungrateful apathy, but rouse us to enter upon the theme, as those who say and feel, " unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Mighty God." Before we enter upon the characteristic circumstances of the event, we should reflect on, I. Some previous considerations. These are of high importance ; for they are such as respect c2 •>U LECTURE II. Christ's pre-existent state ; his human genealogy ; and the annunciation of iiis birth to Mary, to Elizabeth, and to Joseph. We enter now on the consideration 1. Of Christ's pre-existent state. It is manifest to every unprejudiced mind, that the dis- tinguished person of whom we discourse, who from the place of his residence was called Jesus of Nazareth, is spoken of by himself, and not merely by one or two, but by the body of the sacred writers, as having been already in existence, before his birth in Bethlehem. John informs us, that, in a conversation with the Jews, Jesus so spake of himself as to elicit the remark, " Thou are not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" To which Jesus replied, " Before Abraham was I am." The same sentiment is conveyed to our minds, when we hear Jesus say, in his last solemn prayer, " Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was." For he had said to the Jews, " I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world ; again I leave the world, and go to the Father." " What then, if you should see the son of man ascend up where he was before?" While, therefore, he was horn poor into this world, it is said, " ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor." In fact, three states of being are distinctly mentioned by the Apostle Paul, when speaking of Christ as a pattern of humility, " He was first in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; then he humbled himself, and made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, being found in fashion as a man ; and lastly, for his obedience unto death in this second state, God highly exalted him, and gave him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Thus we are furnished with an answer to the inquiry, what was the rank of this person in his pre-existent state ? As the New Testament presupposes the Old, and is manifestly a second part of divine revelation, of which the first volume THE INCARNATION. 2l was given to the Jewish church ; so the birth of Jesus Christ was evidently the fulfilment of an event predicted in that more ancient book. To the prophecies of the Old Testament, therefore, we should, in all reason, look, to know what per- son we had a right to expect. Turning to the most distin- guished of the Prophets, who most clearly foretold the birth of the Messiah, we hear him say, " Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and his name shall be called Won- derful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." The same Prophet had predicted, " a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called, Immanuel, God with us." The Messiah is, by the Psalmist, said to be addressed by the Father thus, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Be wise now, therefore, ye kings ; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little : blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Jeremiah says, " this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness." To multiply quotations would be needless, as it would be also to repeat to you criticisms upon the original, which do not at all weaken the evidence of the divinity of Christ. In conformity, therefore, with these expectations, excited by the Old Testament, my text, a part of the New, says, that this person who was made flesh, was, in his pre-existent state, " in the beginning with God, and was God, by whom all things were made." In his Epistle also, John says, " this eternal life, that was with the Father, and was manifested unto us, is the true God, as well as eternal life." Another Apostle says, that " it is the high privilege of the Jews, that of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever; being of the seed of David, according to the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." When therefore, Thomas said to him, " My Lord and my God," Jesus received it as a good confession. He was accustomed also to accept worship, which angels spurned when ofTered to them, saying, " Worship God." 22 LECTURE 11. But I advance no further; for my proper business is not to enter into a formal proof of Christ's divinity ; though I am taught by my text, to commence the memoirs of Jesus, by a view of his true nature, as a biographer would show in the outset the genealogy of a nobleman, or the royal descent of a prince ; that if any question should afterwards arise con- cerning his rank and his claims, it might be determined by an appeal to the original records, in which his true place in the scale of being was proved. To complete this statement, then, we turn to consider, 2. The human genealogy of the Saviour. As it was most positively decreed that the promised Mes- siah should be of the seed of David, it was necessary for the Evangelists to show that Jesus of Nazareth was so. From the event, we learn that the first promise of the Saviour, given in Paradise, four thousand years before he was born, was couched in peculiar terms, for a peculiar reason ; so that it was said, the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's bead ; because Christ, who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, was born of a virgin. It became neces- sary, therefore, to show that his mother was of the house of David ; though if he had been born as others are, it would have been enough to prove that his father was of the royal line. Since, however, the genealogies which the Jews kept with so much care, as essential to their civil and ecclesiastical polity, were constructed after the ordinary laws of nature, and registered the children according to the fathers from whom they descended ; it was deemed necessary to give Christ a legal relation to some man, who should be reputed his father, and who must himself, therefore, be of the house of David. This was effected by the espousal of the Virgin Mary to Joseph, and thus we have two genealogies of Christ. The one which is given by Matthew, traces the Saviour's lineage from Abraham and David down to Joseph; the other by Luke, carries the genealogy from Mary his mother, but apjjarently again from Joseph, whose son Christ was sup- posed to be, which Joseph is therefore called Heli's, as it is ill the original, though we insert son, where we should rather THK INCARNATION. !^ have said son-in-law, being son only by marrying a daughter, as an ancient Jewish writer is snid to have pronounced Mary the daughter of Heli. In this line, the genealogy is carried up, not merely to David and to Abraham, but to Adam, to whom the original promise of Christ was given. Joseph was descended from David, by Solomon, the head of the reigning branch of the family; and thus the Kings of Judah are found in that line. But as Jeconiah was the last of that long race of kings, being pronounced childless as to any successor in the throne, the family afterwards sunk into obscurity ; while Mary, on the other hand, was descended from that son of David, Nathan, who, with his posterity, had passed into private life. After the Babylonish captivity, however, the governors of Judea being taken from Nathan's line, we have Shealtiel and Zerubabel, among the ancestors of the blessed Virgin. But though God thus fulfilled his promise, that David should never want a man to hold the seat of government; when that government was thrown into confusion, an Idumean family took possession of the throne, and the family of Mary was driven into the obscurity of poverty. The train of events which led to this last revolution, commenced about 160 years before the birth of Christ. Time forbids me, either to point out the profound wisdom and almighty power of divine providence, in producing the fulfilment of prophecy, through so many ages, with all their strange vicissitudes, or to enter into the disputes of what an Apostle calls endless genealogies. It is enough to observe, that, at the time when the Jews were well informed on these subjects, they never ventured to dispute the truth concerning Christ's descent, nor to justify their rejection of him on the ground of his not coming in the appointed line. In the present day, they have so completely lost all knowledge of their genealogies that they pretend not to have any priest, although a common mistake gives to their Rabbis that title. Were they restored to their own land, and enabled to rebuild their temple, they could offer no sacrifices there; because no man could prove himself of the family of Aaron. O that God may by this lead them to see, that the promised Messiah 24 LECTURE If. has already been on earth, having come at a time when it could be proved that he was of that line in which he was to descend ! Let us advance to 3. The annunciation of Christ's conception. This was threefold ; information of the event being given to Mary his mother, to Elizabeth her cousin, and to Joseph the supposed father of Christ. To Mary the grand event was communicated, in the sixth month after the heavenly vision had announced the approaching birth of John the Baptist. For John was not to be a remote predecessor to Christ, but to go immediately before him ; lest the remembrance of the herald's proclamation should have died away, before the king appeared. As, therefore, our Lord and his forerunner commenced their ministry, at the age of thirty, John was born first, by about six months ; that he might have that space of time, to rouse the attention of the Jews, before Christ came forth, to proclaim his own heavenly reign. The same angel that predicted to Daniel the exact time, when the Saviour should be born, we have seen indirectly informing Zacharias of the fulfilment of the prophecy ; but Ave have now to behold that heavenly messenger directly announcing the prediction accomplished. "For in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent of God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth," which stood on the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali, on a hill, from which the inhabitants afterwards attempted to cast the Saviour down. It was so poor and mean that the proverb asked, " Can any good come out of Nazareth ? " Christ being supposed to be born here, the Jews inquired " Could Messiah come from such a place 1 Do not the Scriptures say, he must come from the city where David dwelt?" The angel was sent to a virgin of the name of Mary, which is the same as Miriam. She, though poor and un- known, was of the royal house of David, which was now, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, like a tree cut down to the stump, when this branch sprang up from the roofs. THE INCARNATION. 2Sk Mary, already espoused to Joseph, a pious man, was iu tending (not knowing the great things that were to happen) to remain, according to the custom and law of the Jews, for ten mouths, in her present state, and then to go and reside with Joseph as his wife. The gracious providence of God thus watched over the life of Mary, which, as well as her honour, would otherwise have been exposed to danger, according to the law recorded in Deut. xxii. 22 — 24. The angel that came to Mary seems not to have appeared in a form dazzling and terrific, as to many others ; for we are informed of nothing but the attention she immediately gave to the message, which was this, " Hail, Mary, happiest of women, highly favoured art thou of Heaven." Seeing her perplexed by such a salutation, of which she could not devise the meaning, the angel said to her, " Don't be afraid; for thou hast obtained the favour from God, that thou art the woman who shall be pregnant, to bring forth a son whose name shall be Immanuel ; for he shall be great, and called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign for ever." Mary was, doubtless, sufficiently informed of her royal descent to discern the reference to it ; but, either not fully understanding, or, at the moment, not recollecting that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin, she said, " How can this be, seeing I know not a man ? " For she understood that the prediction of the angel was immediately to be fulfilled, and was aware that she was to remain, for some time longer, an espoused virgin, before she was to be taken home by Joseph as his wife. To this the angel replied, " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."* While dwelling upon this high title, with devout admiration, Mary little suspected that her son would be crucified as a blasphemer, for calling himself Son of God. To confirm her faith in what might seem an incredible prediction, the angel told her what had happened to her own * Luke 1. 35. 26 LECTURE 11. relative Elizabeth : " She hath also conceived a son in her old age : and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren." * Satisfied that it was the will of the Supreme, Mary bowed, believing, and committing herself to God, that he might do with her whatever might promote his glory ; though it might expose her honour to suspicion, or her life to hazard. She said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." One hint given by this heavenly messenger led to the annunciation of this event to Elizabeth. Mary wisely availed herself of the information communicated to her of the present condition of her cousin, which probably the parents of the Baptist had made known to no mortal, so that it would when disclosed to them, furnish a convincing proof that what the blessed Virgin announced concerning herself was the faithful report of a divine vision. As we have already seen, that it is probable that Elizabeth lived at Hebron, formerly Kirjath Arba, in the mountainous district of Judah ; Mary would have to travel over a great part of the length of Palestine, passing by Jerusalem, the capital, and Bethlehem, the royal city, as we if we went from Yorkshire into Kent, should pass by London and Windsor. Her visit produced for her all the security which prudence could wish to give to innocence, for it afforded her the concurrent testimony of these two venerable persons, her own relations, who could not be supposed to father upon the God of holiness and truth, a lie invented to cover the crime of fornication. For as soon as Mary's voice was heard, addressing perhaps the ordinary salutation to Elizabeth, on her being likely to present her husband with a son, the holy matron burst forth into an inspired song, " Happiest of women art thou, and happy is the fruit of thy womb ! But whence is this honour to me, that the mother of my Lord is come to me?" Thus she who was regarded by others as a virgin, is yet owned as already a mother, and her offspring, as the Lord of the venerated mother of him who was declared the greatest that was ever born of woman. " For lo ! as soon as the voice of * Luke i. 30. THE INCARNATION. Jj? thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." Happy she who so readily believed as to need no rebuke from heaven to prove the truth of its intelli- gence ; for according to the prompt belief shall be the exact fulfilment of the oracle. Inspired by the same spirit, Mary replied — " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden ; for behold, from hence- forth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things ; and holy is his name : and his mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever." * Mary remained here a quarter of a year, aware that her conduct up to the period of the angel's visit had been known to be irreproachable, and choosing, now that her circum- stances were so singular and so suspicious, to continue under the protecting shade thrown over her by two persons who were known " to walk in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless." Keeping her in their house, for three months, Zacharias and Elizabeth at once attested their conviction of her previous innocence, and obtained an opportunity of witnessing to her conduct, ever since the most critical period of her existence had commenced. When, however, the time of Elizabeth's confinement drew near, either their domestic circumstances, or some other cause, rendered it inconvenient or unfit for them to give Mary a lodging in their house, and she returned to her own home. Thus it was ordered, that the two extraordinary persons who were about to be born, were separated, by more than half the length of the kingdom, so that they * Luke i. 46—55. 28 LECTURE 11. probably never saw each other, till they met as public persons ; for John said of Jesus, "I knew him not till I saw the spirit descend on him at baptism." All appearance of collusion between them was, by this means, prevented, and the testi- mony which John gave, for six months, to an approaching Messiah, whom he knew not, was proved to be under the inspiration of the spirit of Christ. To Jose])h the incarnation of the Son of God was next made known. After her return from the long visit to Zacha- rias and Elizabeth, Mary's pregnancy was discovered to Joseph, either by her appearance, or by information from herself or her relations ; and though she doubtless, accounted for it, by a narrative of the miraculous circumstances, we can- not wonder that Joseph should be slow to credit a relation so strange. Yet, as a just man, who had seen nothing in her conduct that should excite suspicion, he was unwilling so entirely to reject the story as to expose her to all the severity of the law given by heaven.* He came, therefore, at last, to the resolution of putting her away privately, either by a divorce, for which no reason should be assigned, or by re- moving from the country, and leaving her behind, by which she would in effect be put away, while it might be supposed that her child was his. This determination, however, could not prevent his agitated mind and wounded heart from revolving the case, again and again, especially by night, on his bed, when grief, care, anxiety, and affection, are peculiarly busy. As the Babylonish monarch, falling asleep amidst anxious forebodings of the future fates of his kingdom, saw a vision which displayed all the revolutions of empires to the end of the world ; so Joseph, sinking into sleep, with this question still burning in his breast, " What shall I do about Mary ?" was answered by a vision, which laid naked all the secret counsels of heaven to his view. The angel of the Lord appearing to him, said, " Joseph, thou son of David." This appeal to his own knowledge of royal blood flowing in his veins, recalling to his remembrance, that Messiah should come of the family of David, suggested to him the reason why Mary * Deuf. xxii. 2", 24. THE INCARNATION. ^ had been espoused to him, that her offspring might be legally registered among the descendants of the favoured king. Nor could he be ignorant that Mary herself, also, was from the same stock ; so that the promised child would be really of the seed of David, according to the flesh. " Fear not then," said the angel, " to take to thee Mary, thy espoused wife ; for that which is begotten in her is by the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, that is Jehovah the Saviour ; for he shall save his people from their sins." All this, doubtless, carried with it its own evidence. The visions afforded to the prophets were accompanied with a some- thing so peculiar and divine, that they never were afraid to risk their credit, or even their life, upon the truth of the mes- sage; however unwelcome it was to those to whom it was to be delivered. This same satisfaction God would certainly now give to Joseph, while the positive assurance that Mary's offspring was a miraculous production; that she should bear a son, who should prove a Saviour; all communicated to Joseph in a manner unknown to her, set the good man's mind at rest. From his acquaintance with Hebrew, Joseph might know that the name Jesus contained the divine appellation Jah or Je- hovah, and the word for a Saviour; as Joshua the celebrated genera], whose name at first signified simply Saviour, was when exalted to honour, as a type of Christ, called Jehoshua, the same as Jesus. And now that it was made known, that this was to be a Saviour from sin, Joseph might well be recon- ciled to the humble appearance to be made by a child born in his house; however inconsistent it might be with the false expectations of temporal deliverance and military glory, to which the Jews so fondly clung. " Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Imnianuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."* For Jehovah a Saviour, and God with us, acting on our side, are virtually the same. As to the objection that 1" Matt, i, 22, 23. :30 LECTURE 11. the Saviour is not actually called Immanuel, it is well kuown that he often is called by that name ; though it was manifestly never intended by such predictions that the person should literally go by the name, as is clear when names are accu- mulated into a heap; and it is said, " his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." All that was intended was, that the Mes- siah should be recognised as possessing the qualities expressed by those names; and when he is called Jesus, with a right understanding of that name, exalted above every name, the prophecy is fulfilled, that he should be called " Immanuel, God with us." Now, satisfied of the innocency of her whom he had reluc- tantly suspected, and waked up from sleep, with a soul fired with transporting expectations, Joseph did as he was com- manded, " and took unto him his wife; and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born sou; and he called his name Jesus."* Thus Mary, after sojourning with Elizabeth, the first three months from her pregnancy, lived, it is probable, the rest of the time, in the house of Joseph, her espoused husband. So wisely and kindly the overruling providence of God guarded the person and reputation of her, whose inno- cence he knew and approved, and whom it was his good pleasure to exalt to the highest honour a woman could enjoy, to bear into the world the Saviour of our race. Of this event let us now turn to consider, II. The peculiar characteristic circumstances. After that the world had been kept waiting in expectation of this birth, four thousand years, and preparation had been made for it, in many mysterious ways, it was at last brought to pass in a manner little accordant, indeed, with the ideas and wishes of men, but highly worthy of the wisdom and goodness of God. The event was characterized by, 1. The privacy of its occurrence. To use the language of the Evangelist, the birth of Jesus Christ was " on this wise." Though his parents were of royal * Matt. i. 24j 25. THE INCARNATION. 31 extraction, as the family had fallen into poverty, Joseph was a carpenter, and they were both living- in the poor little des- pised town of Galilee, called Nazareth, far from the royal city of Bethlehem, to which they belonged. But God, " Who moves in a mysterious way, His counsels to perform," provided the means, not only of removing them thither, at the exact time when Jesus was to be born, but also of thus proving' to the world the Saviour's royal descent. Augustus, the Roman emperor, triumphant over all competitors, wishing to ascertain the resources of his newly acquired dominions, ordered a general census to be made ; which rendered it neces- sary for each one to repair to his proper residence, and thus compelled, not only Joseph, but Mary also, though in a state unfit for travelling, to go to Bethlehem. That David was born there, we learn from the book of Ruth, which was written to show the genealogy of the Messiah, and in which we read that Boaz came from Bethlehem, to see the reapers in his field, where he met with Ruth, whom he married, and who bare to him Obed, the father of Jesse, the progenitor of David. While Mary was in this ancient town, now fallen to decay, her time of delivery arrived, and when the pains of labour came upon her, it appears that the common receptacle of travellers, or the great room in the inn, was too crowded to admit of her having that privacy which her circumstances demanded; so that she was obliged to withdraw into the stable, or outhouse, where she brought forth her first-born son, the promised Saviour of the world. This I consider the meaning of the expression which we translate, " there was no room for them in the inn." As it seems to have been common for the ancients to have a small separate manger for each horse, one of these would very well answer the purpose of a cradle, in which we are told that Mary laid the infant Saviour, after she had swathed or wrapped him up, in that peculiar style which is still adopted in some parts of the world. Such were the accommodations which the Lord of Glory received ! He, though rich, became poor, that we might be made rich! But now mark, 32 LECTURE II, 2. The publicity given to the event. If the Saviour was born at night, as is probable, for thus the feelings of Mary would be spared, by the greater privacy she would enjoy; while the race of man was wrapt in sleep, unconscious of the happy event which had befallen them, and all was darkness and silence, without, the mother of Christ was exultihg that the trying hour was past, and, looking upon the son which the angel promised, to use her own words, " her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour." But heaven, deeply interested in the event, waked up some of the inhabitants of the earth to know and hail their newly-born Saviour and Lord. Yet, not kings slumbering in their palaces, nor priests guarding the sacred fires in the temple; but shepherds watching their flocks, either in the open fields, or in little moveable huts, such as are still used in France, were honoured with the glad tidings. Perhaps the shepherds were tracing the stars in their courses, and marking how regularly they revolved round the fixed polar star. Calling to mind the words of the royal shepherd, "When I behold thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained ; what is man that thou takest notice of him?" lo! a brightness kindled near them, and assumed the form of a heavenly messenger, standing over their heads. This, arresting their attention, naturally created awe, which, swelling into terror, was ten- derly noticed by the celestial form, who said, " Do not be afraid, shepherds, for I bring you not terrific, but glad tidings, of great joy; nor to you only, but to all nations; for to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, who is the. Messiah, the Lord." As it is probable that something in their manner showed that the shepherds feared this was too good to be true, the angel anticipated their wishes, by saying, " If you will go and see, you shall find this babe just born, swathed, and lying in a manger, which you know is not a likely place where to find a newly born child." But ere the shepherds could go to see, a whole host of these bright intelligences burst upon their view, joining with the first, to confirm his tidings, while all heaven's melodies filled the air as they sung, " Glory to God in the highest worlds, THE INCARNATIUN. 33' and on earth peace, good will towards men." — These were, perhaps, abrupt bursts of adoration ; one expression uttered by this angel, and another by that; for they are in the original somewhat unconnected sentences, difficult to translate. The vision vanished, suddenly as it appeared, and the shej)- herds were left to silence, to darkness, to midnight, to wonder, and to awe; more than half disposed to say, " Angelic mes- sengers, repeat the heavenly news once more." " Come, let us go to Bethlehem," they at length said to each other, " and see the child whose birth Heaven has so graciously announced to us." They came, inquiring^, if they met any one in the town, whether he knew where there was a child just born; or, if all was solitude, owing- to the hour of dead midnight, they looked out for some stable, where they could see a light, and were, by Providence, directed to that spot, where they saw Mary watching over her infant charge, as it lay in the lowly manger. Seeing all the truth of the angel's message, they wondered and adored, and justified their intrusion on that privacy, by relating the heavenly vision that sent them, which doubtless confirmed Joseph in the conviction, that the infant confided to his care was the incarnate Deity, whom it was his honour to cherish and guard. While the shepherds naturally went away publishing the story wherever they came, all that heard as naturally wondered, perceiving that these plain shepherds could have no motive for telling the tale, if it were not true ; and yet unable to account for things so strange. Mary, how- ever, watched every word and every event, and, revolving all in her heart, saw how God was fulfilling the prophecies, and accomplishing his counsels of- love to man. If it be deemed of importance to ascertain the time of this grand event, I may observe, that it is thought, by the best chronologists, to have happened in the 4004th year of the world. The 25th of December has been kept as the day of Christ's birth ; because it was thought that the father of John the Baptist was the high priest, who was burning incense on the day of atonement, in September ; so that, as John would be born in June, Christ, who was brought forth six months VOL. If D 34 LECTURE II. after, would enter into the world in December. This is a mistake. Zacharias was not high priest, and it is not probable that the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, in the depth of winter, which, in Judea, is very cold. It is most likely that our Lord was born at the feast of tabernacles, in September, when the Word was, as John expresses it, made flesh, and thus pitched his tabernacle among us. To the practical improvement of this event we must now hasten. What devout and grateful adoration we owe to the Sa- viour for his incarnation ! We must exclaim with the Apostle, " without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness ; the living God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, received up into glory." He stooped to raise us who were fallen. Man aspiring to equal God, sinks into the miserable apostacy of devils : and God, to recover him, stoops to become man. This is the glory of man, the wonder of angels, and all miracles and favours in one ! If every thing in this affair is humiliating, let not our wonted pride reject the grace for what makes it so much the more glorious. Let us rather observe, how well this humiliation accords with the whole transaction. When the eternal Word resolved to be born of a woman, we cannot wonder that he would stoop to be the son of a poor one. He that condescended to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, while yet he avoided the taint of original sin, which descends to us by the decree of creation that like should beget like, would not refuse to expose himself to whatever indignity might attach to him from suspicions thrown upon his virgin mother's chastity and honour. That condescension which deigned to be born into this world at all, would not hesitate to be born in an inn or a stable. If angels announce to men that he was born their brother, he would as readily choose that they should proclaim this to shepherds as to kings. Humble men, looking for the promised Saviour, were more fit recipients of the glad tidings than kings, who were roused by the news to jealous and murderous plots, or philo- sophers, whose pride of intellect would ask, how God could be made man. However the pride of the world may be mortified by these THE INCARNATION. 95 things, let us bless the Saviour that his condescension and love have been able "to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think." Those who are truly wise discern a glory in humility, and discover what is admirably adapted to answer the most valuable moral purposes, when Jesus, who by his union to Deity is the most exalted of creatures, puts honour on that grace that so well becomes the loftiest subject — willing- ness to stoop to any thing that may glorify God. Has he bowed down, to hold out to us a helping hand, taking, not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham? Then we will stretch out to him the hand that " lays hold of the hope set before us." His union to us, by the incarnation, should bring us into contact with him, by faith, and by the residence in us of that same spirit that dwelt in him. For as we are bound to adore the Holy Spirit, for the part he took in our redemption, by forming the body of the Saviour, which was the temple of the Deity, where dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and which was offered up a sacrifice for us ; so we are encouraged by this to seek and expect the operation of the same Spirit, to apply that redemption to our souls, " that Christ may dwell in our hearts, the hope of glory." We must not turn from the manger in Bethlehem, without reflecting how many prophecies there meet their fulfilment, and in how strange and surprising ways. That Jesus should descend from David and a long line of kings, and yet that he should be poor and despised of men ; the royal race is at once preserved and depressed — a tree cut down to the ground, a mere stump, but still retaining life and vigour, to send forth a branch that shall form the sceptre of universal empire. In order that Messiah should be born in the city of David, an ambitious monarch sets his unweildy empire in motion, from the Baltic to the Atlantic, and from Britain, or Gaul, to the extremity of Egypt. Such is the commencement of a series of accomplishments of prophecies, which we shall see growing upon us, as we advance upon the track of the Redeemer, till they will form a mass of evidence, that should vanquish doubt, and put infidelity to shame. Finally, adore God for the ministry of angels, which we D 2 36 LFXTURE 11, enjoY by the redemption of Christ. — When the Apostle says, " the living God manifest in the flesh was seen of angels," he recalls to our memory how often these otherwise invisible beings burst npon our view, while Jesus is on earth, ascending and descending, coming and going, all in motion, and all in rapture, like those who see in our salvation their triumph. Join we then their choir, and sing, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." Let us rejoice that Jesus " is now gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject ujito him."* For " are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation I " * 1 Peter iii. 22. 37 LECTURE III. CHRIST'S SUBMISSION TO THE MOSAIC LAW, OR HIS CIRCUMCISION AND PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. Luke ii. 21—28. ' And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS. The Levitical dispensation of religion being most closely connected with the law, by the awful publication of the ten commands on Mount Sinai, and with the Gospel, by the nu- merous instructive pictures of Christ and his cross, continually presented to the mind, and pressed on the heart, the guilt of man as a violator of the divine law, and the glory of Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour. Most humiliating were many of the Mosaic injunctions, forming "a yoke," says an Apostle, " which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear ;" but equally encouraging and delightful were several of its services, which announced " a way whereby we draw nigh to God." When, therefore, the Saviour came, it was a part of his humiliation, to submit to rites designed to sting us with a sense of our fall, and to extort confessions of guilt ; while it was equally a portion of the honour to be put upon him, to appear in a place built as a type of the temple of his body. It was foretold, that " the Lord should suddenly come to his temple," and thus make "the glory of the second house greater than that of the first." This submission of Christ to the Mosaic law, both in the humiliating rite of circumcision, and in his splendid presen- tation in the temple, we are now to consider. I. Christ's submission to the ceremonial law in the rite of circumcision. Notice here, 1. The ordinance of religion. 38 LECTURE III. This brings us forward in the history of Christ a space of eight days. For God commanded Israel, by Moses, " If a woman have born a man child, she shall be unclean seven days, and in the eighth the flesh of his foreskin shall be circum- cised."* To enter upon a justification of this rite would be a departure from my subject, which is strictly the history of our Lord : but why He submitted to it demands inquiry. Circumcision was designed to signify " the putting away of the body of the sins of the flesh" by the circumcision of the heart, which is the only thing that God regards as of real worth. Yet Christ, who, born without sin, needed no rege- nerating process, submitted to the humiliating rite; to show that he was really " made flesh to dwell among us, in all things like unto his brethren," and no mere phantom as some fancied him to be. By this rite he proved that, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, he put his neck under the yoke of the law, and became " a debtor to do the whole law." " 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." Thus he early shewed that he was born to be sacrificed, and pledged himself to become obedient for us, even unto blood. As this rite was given to Abraham, to be to his seed " a seal of the righteousness of faith," through the great deli- verer, who was to be of the seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed; by Christ's submission to this initiating ceremony, he was solemnly re- cognized as the seed of Abraham, registered as such, and received into that church in which he was to preach. With- out this, Jesus would have been driven from the thresholds of their temple, their synagogues, or their dwellings, as unclean and profane. In addition to these reasons, we must call to remembrance the words of the Apostle to the Romans: " Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circum- cision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers ; and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy ; as it is written, For this cause I will confess * Levit. xii. 3. THE CIRCUMCISION. 89 to thee among- the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name."* In the person of the Saviour, the promise of God to the fathers, that he would be a God to them and to their seed is con- firmed, not disannulled, but shewn to belong to the Gentiles who are in Christ Jesus ; that we might look upon our seed as holy, and glorify God for his mercy in saying to us, ** Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house.'^ Thus far we have considered the rite of circumcision, simply as it was instituted by God, we have now to advance to a further consideration : 2. The appendage made to the ordinance by custom. There is no more said about giving a name to the child, in the Mosaic law of circumcision, than there is, in the Christian institute of baptism. In both cases, it is custom that has made the naming of the subject appear a part of the religious rite. It was, however, invariable with the Jews, to assemble the family and kindred of the parents, to witness the child's initiation into the Jewish church; when the name which the young stranger should in future bear was sometimes deter- mined in friendly debate. Of this we have seen an example, in the case of John the Baptist. But what name the infant son of Mary should bear was not left to be determined by human wisdom or folly, partiality or caprice, which often give to children names that are belied by their future characters and lives. The name of Grace serves only to reproach a graceless wretch. But the name Jesus was without hesitation or debate given to the heir of the house of David; for he was so named by the angel, to Mary, before he was conceived in the womb, and to Joseph, after Mary had borne him in the womb six months. Impor- tance was attached to names, among the Jews, on account of the significancy of appellations in their tongue ; and we are not left to conjecture what was the meaning of the name Jesus ; for the angel had said, it was given him " because he should save his people from their sins." Hear it, all ye that take this name upon your lips, and * Romans xv. 8, 9. 40 LECTURE III. learn, that Christ regards deliaerance from sin, as the only true salvation. Jesus rescued men from blindness, sickness, hunger, and even death itself; but he derived from such benefits no title, nor chose to be called the physician, the oculist, or the reani- mator. The Saviour from sin, is the style of honour which he binds as a diadem around his brow. For he well knows, that sin is all evils in one, and he who saves us from this, will, in the end, deliver us from all. One of the Syrian kings assumed the title of Soter, or Saviour; but he meant, from foreign bondag-e, or intestine war. Such a Saviour the Jews expected. If they had found Christ such, they would have hailed him, with raptures equal to those which the (ireeks displayed, when Quintius, the Roman commander, proclaimed them free. They rent the air with their shouts, rushed to the tent of the general, to pay their thanks ; and for many days could think or speak of nothing but, that one nation should make war, to give liberty to another. But though civil liberty is the first of earthly blessings, and the parent of all others; you smile at such raptures, and say, poor liberty, which he that gives can as easily take away ! When the Jews found that Jesus did not design to save them from the Roman yoke, they were inclined to ask, what kind of Saviour, then, is it he pretends to be? " A Saviour from sin," Jesus replies ; but their blank looks exclaim, " is that all t " Miserable men ! what more could you have i If the Son of God make us free from sin, we are free indeed! He takes the fetters from our souf, breaks the yoke that enslaves the ivill, makes our duty our choice, and our interest our delight ; — while the liberator of my l)ody, who leaves my soul in its original bondage, taunts me with the cruel mockery of telling/ me I am free, when I feel that I am a slave to lust ; congratulates me that I am my own master, though I am conscious that this is giving me up to my worst tyrant. " For while they promise themselves liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." THE CIRCUMCISION. 41 That Jesus has a peculiar claim to the title of Saviour from sin, we learn by this name divinely given. If Joshua bore the same name, it was only as a type, which no more entitles him to share in Christ's honour, than the lambs which were called sin-ofFerings, could divide the merit of expiation, with this lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world. Did Heaven decree, prophets predict, angels reveal, and provi- dence watch, that Messiah should be called Jesus, the Saviour? Is he the only true proprietor of the name, and are all others compelled to yield him that glory? What then, has he done to save us, which no one else ever did ? As a great prophet, say some, he taught us the beauty of virtue and the odiousness of sin. And have not others also done that? But are instruction and salvation synonymous? Will teaching us the value of sight rescue us from blindness ? Or showing the worth of food prevent our starving? We re- quire, then, some other reason for the name of Jesus ; and we are told that he gave us a perfect examiole of virtue. Again, however, we ask, whether a pattern of virtue is equi- valent to deliverance from vice ? Will the prisoner, by seeing, through the gratings of his dungeon, others walk at liberty, feel that his chains are knocked off, and his prison thrown open ? May not his imprisonment be aggravated to him, by the sight of the contrast ; and Christ's pattern of purity serve only to inflame our opposition ? Still, therefore, we see no sufficient reason for calling his name Jesus, the Saviour from sin. We are next told, that he died a martyr, to seal the truth with his blood. So did Stephen, James, Paul, and almost all the apostles ; and there is a noble army of martyrs. Yes ; but Jesus rose from the dead, it is said, and this is his grand distinction. And did not Lazarus, too, show the possibi- lity of returning to life again I If Jesus rose to die no more, so, doubtless, did all those saints who rose with him. But resur- rection is not salvation ; we may rise to an endless existence, and it may be what Christ calls " resurrection to damnation." After all, we have seen no adequate reason, why this one person should be called Jesus, the Saviour from sin. Nor 42 LECTURE HI. shall we, till we turn to the Cross, and see him there dyuuj for our sins. This, he says, was the errand on which he came, " to seek and save that which is lost, by giving his life a ransom for many." The herald, therefore, whose business it was to show who and what Christ was, pointed him out thus, " Behold the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world." " Surely he hath borne our sins in his own body on the tree, he has carried our sorrows, the chastisement that procured our peace was laid on him, and by his stripes we are healed." On the cross, he has no rivals. Here teachers, examples, apostles, martyrs, shrink from competition, and say, was Paul crucified for you ? Here we hail him Jesus, and own that " there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved." In this name, Jesus, the Saviour, so entirely his own, our Lord glories above every other. Ancient heroes took their titles from what they deemed their most glorious exploits. Scipio was called Africanus. But why? Because he had been a blessing to Africa ? No: for having slain her sons, and rased Carthage, their capital, to the ground. But who can wonder that the heathens have names written in tears and blood, when their gods assumed such titles as the bloody Mars, the far-darting Apollo, and the thundering Jupiter? And is it because Jesus has no power to destroy, that he bears no such names of terror? O Jerusa- lem ! Jerusalem ! thou that didst cast him forth from thy gates, canst bear witness to the wrath of the Lamb. Thy walls were rased, till not one stone was left upon another, and thy sons, scattered aud despised, bear, upon their marked brow, the stigma of a rejected Messiah's vengeance. But lo ! he comes in clouds, with flaming fire, and the elements shall melt before him, while all his foes shall receive from him their most fearful eternal doom. Yet, he takes no title from his works of vengeance. His is a name of far different omen, soft in its sound, and sweeter still in sense. Jesus, the Saviour God, is the name of him whom we adore. This he loves. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 43 Judgment is his strange work, salvation his every day's employ, his business and his bliss. In this he sees the travail of his soul, and is satisfied, saying " this was worth dying for." That Jesus oivns for his people none hut those who are saved from their sins, we are taught by his very name. If such is the prince, we must say, with the queen of Sheba, " happy are thy people. Happy art thou, O Israel ! who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord !" Many fancy themselves his people, because they are called Christians. An immense society took the name of Jesuits : but did Jesus own them for the sake of the mere name ? Far from his soul were their superstition, pride, cruelty and lust of domination. He however so well deserves his own name, that to save others, himself he would not save ; and he would sooner tear from his brow that name, so worthy of a God, than own for his people, those who are not saved from sin. But show me those, who, convinced of the enormous guilt of sin, have fled for pardon to the Cross ; who liberated from sin's love and dominion, regard sanctification as the better half of salvation ; who esteem the prospect of perfect conformity to Christ's holiness, as highly as that of eternally enjoying the delights of his presence ; and I will show you those over whom the Saviour exclaims, with infinite complacence, " This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise." Pardon me, my dear hear- ers, if you think I have wandered long from the narrative; and let this be my apology, that I was anxious that we should know well the name of him whose history we attempt to learn. I would now lead you to, II. The second part of Christ's submission to the Mosaic law, which appears in his presentation in the temple. The most lovely and affecting sights beneath the skies, are, a babe presented to God in his temple, and the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, stooping to notice " an infant of days !" Hear him say, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for in heaven their angels do always behold their Father's face." " A flower, when offered in the bud, is no vain sacrifice." But that infant whom you are now to behold presented in the temple of God, is he 44 LECTURE III. of whom the Father says, " This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased ; " the very object whom the temple itself, with all its ministers and rites, was designed to represent. On this occasion, there were two distinct ceremonies per- formed, and two splendid testimonies to Christ received. 1. The two ceremonies are prescribed.* Of these the most important is the presentation of the child. It is the first duty of earthly parents to present their off- spring- to their Heavenly Father, that to him the babe may be consecrated, from its earliest moments. We should consider our children born for God. What a sting was in that re- proach which God uttered to Israel, " The children which ye brought forth to me, ye have made to pass through the fire to Moloch !" But first-fruits were especially claimed by God, who is the first and best of beings. When he slew the first- born of the Egyptians, he claimed the first-born of Israel as his own, having spared them for himself. They were, there- fore, to be ransomed for a certain sum ; and this eoncession was demanded of Israel: " Since the Lord slew all the first- born of Egypt, I sacrifice to him all that openeth the womb, and all the first-born of my children I redeem." For, though the whole tribe of Levi was taken to be sacred to the service of God, instead of the first-born ; he chose constantly to remind Israel of this exchange, by the half-shekel that was paid as the ransom price. But as the whole law was a shadow of good things to come, and the substance was Christ ; so this rite prefigured Christ, the first-born of Mary, as indeed, on account of pre- eminence, he was called " the first-born of every creature," or of the whole creation. He, the first-fruits, sanctifies our fallen race, and redeems us from the destruction to which we were exposed. For him, therefore, the price of ransom, five she- kels (12s. Cf/,), could not have been paid ; for he was actually given up, or dedicated to, the service of God. Never was there such a presentation at the temple ; never an offering so holy in itself, so acceptable to God, or so beneficial to others, as this which is now presented before the eternal throne. : * Ltv. xii, 1 — 8; Exod. xiii. 2; Numb. viii. 16, 17. xviii. 15. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 45 The other ceremony which we have to notice, was the offering for what is called the purification. To keep alive an humbling recollection of our depraved original, the Mosaic law required, that the mother, after she had born a child, should be considered unclean, till a certain time had elapsed, and she had presented an offering. The best manuscripts of the New Testament, read their purification, applying it to both mother and child ; for though Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus was called " that holy thing," as he was made sin for us, they were both regarded by the law as needing to be purified. For this, the law demanded a lamb and a pigeon.* If she could not afford the lamb, she was to bring, two turtle doves. This latter being the offering which Mary brought, her poverty is shown, though the incidental manner in which it is mentioned, precludes all suspicion of that proud humility which prompts men sometimes to parade their poverty. Mary, however, needed no lamb ; for she presented " the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." The turtle-doves that she offered, the one for a burnt offering, the other for a sin-offering, were fit attendants on the presentation of him, on whom the Spirit rested as a dove, whose purity and affection rendered him acceptable, when, consumed in the fire of divine justice, he gave himself a sacrifice for our sins. 2. The two honourable testimonies borne to Christ, now invite our attention. Though the spirit of prophecy seems to have been with- drawn from the Jews, after the days of Malachi, whom they call the seal of the law, because he closed the revelation of the Old Testament ; their oracles, silent for almost five hun- dred years, began to be vocal again, at the coming of Christ. Zacharias and Elizabeth spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and John the Baptist was owned by all the Jews for a prophet; while Simeon and Anna were well known to be under the peculiar influence of the prophetic inspiration. So carefully Heaven watched to provide concurrent witnesses to the mission of Christ. * Lev. xii. 6. 46 LECTURE III. The testimony of Simeon is first recorded. The shepherds were plain secular men, who passed their days in the shades of obscurity ; but here is another witness, who is well known to be a spiritual man of high character, who waited for the consolation of Israel. The Jews attached so much importance to the manner in which Isaiah introduced the prediction of the coming of Christ, saying, " Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people," that they used to swear by their desire of seeing this consolation. He who unlocks the gates of death, and unveils the secrets of futurity, promised Simeon that he should not see death till he had seen the Lord's anointed. This divine assurance must have warmed the old man's heart with hea- venly joys. But while he was waiting for the fulfilment of the promise, and like Abraham, perhaps, thought the event long delayed, he was borne by a peculiar impulse of the spirit, into the temple, not knowing for what purpose, but concluding that God had some revelation to make to him there. As he entered, he saw Joseph and Mary bringing in the atoning Lamb, the infant Saviour; and the inspiring spirit within said to the venerable sage, " Behold the lamb! the Lord whom ye seek has suddenly come to his temple. In that babe behold the anointed One, for the sight of whom thou hast lingered on earth, and whom having seen, thou canst now smile on death." Transported at the sight, the holy man caught the promised child in his arms, and blessed God, and said, " Lord, now thou lettest thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."* While the parents heard, with grateful adoration, the in- spired song that confirmed all their former impressions, Simeon blessed them, and told the future fortunes of their child. When a babe is born, what anxious glances a parent darts into futurity ! What will be the character and history of our darling? Will he be a blessing or a curse? Will others, guided by him to endless day, adore God for his * Luke ii. 29 — 32. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 47 birth; or, seduced by him to perdition, curse his natal morn? Questions like these who can answer J But here all was glorious certainty. The inspired sage felicitated the parents on being intrusted with such a charge. '* This child, said he, is set for the fall, indeed, of many in Israel, but it will be their own sin to stumble at the stone of salvation! Many, however, shall rise by him to glorious heights, and from thrones of bliss shall adore God for ever, that unto us this child was born. But he shall be a mark or sign to be shot at, and so much shall he be an object of oppo- sition or contradiction, that a sword shall pierce through thine own heart, Mary, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed by the way in which they are affected by this touchstone of hearts." This, says Epiphanius, refers to the martyrdom of Mary, though the church of Rome has asserted, without evidence, that she was carried up to heaven. We cannot, however, doubt, that when Mary stood by the cross of her despised, rejected, crucified son, that her heart, pierced with anguish, recalled these prophetic words. The other testimony borne to Christ, on this occasion, was by Anna. In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female. As each sex has an equal interest in the redemption of the soul, the Saviour was made known to both. The Jews were familiar with prophetesses, as well as prophets ; and at this time the spirit that had rested on their Deborahs and Hul- dahs, was known to speak by Anna. Her being expressly declared of the tribe of Asher, speaks the knowledge of the tribes and genealogies of the Jews to have been preserved, till Messiah came, for whose sake the distinction of families was so carefully made. This prophetess was venerable for eminent piety, preserved to extreme old age. Seven years, she had lived with her husband, after quitting the maiden state, and, from his death, she had remained a widow, eighty- four years; so that she must now have been considerably more than a hundred. The territories of her tribe were at a great distance from Jerusalem, but she fixed her abode in the capital for the sake of being near the temple; where, while others worshipped only at the great festivals, she pre- 48 LECTURE 111. seated herself incessantly to pay her vows. Night and day, with fastings and prayers, she cried, ** O, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion ! " At this moment, when Simeon hailed the infant Saviour, Anna also came in and saw him, and confessed her Lord. Welcoming the Saviour with songs of praise, she addressed all those in Jerusalem, whom she knew to be waiting for the redemption of the soul, which Messiah alone could give. To these she told the glad tidings, He is come ! I have seen him ! I have now lived long enough! Israel has obtained the promised Redeemer ! Now let me die ! ^ With hearts delighted, and faith confirmed, the parents of our Lord returned from Jerusalem, bearing their infant trea- sure to Nazareth. For, having left it, at a sudden call, and been detained at Bethlehem beyond their expectation, they must have had occasion to return to their poor abode. It is probable, however, that Joseph staid not at Nazareth, but returned immediately after to Bethlehem, under the persua- sion that it was necessary for the heir of the throne of David to be brought up in the royal city. Providence at last taught him, that it was enough for the Messiah, to have been borii there. We should bring our meditations on this part of our Lord's history to a close, by such reflections as the fol- lowing:— How honourable is the termination of the Mosaic economy ! What more glorious close could the fondest admirer of that splendid ritual have wished for his favourite dispensation than this, that its rites should be applied to the incarnate Deity, that the Son of God should bow his neck to the yoke of ceremonies, and show them all fulfilled in him' Thus the stars retire from view, at the moment when we cease to need their light, and they are lost in the superior splendour of the rising sun. See the superiority of the latter glories of the temple of God beyond the former. No such present was ever offei'ed to God in the more splendid temple which Solomoji built, as was presented to him in the meaner edifice erected by the poor captives on their return from Babylon. Malachi, who THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 49 prophesied in the second temple, left the church a promise, which we have seen fulfilled, " The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple." Parents, when you present your newly-born offspring to God, remember how the sacrifice has been consecrated, and its acceptance secured, by the offering up of the infant Saviour. Let this encourage you in that most solemn and affecting act of piety, the dedication of your infant seed to him from whose hands you received the precious charge, to be brought up for him. But, from feeble infancy to decrepit age, the Saviour's history furnishes instruction and encouragement. Ye who feel that the vital flame is burnt down, and is now trembling in the socket, who shiver at the cold advance of death as worse than the chill of age, behold in that child that was born for us, the antidote of death. In the infinite condescension and grace of God, which the incarnation displays, you have your encouragement to go and stand before God in judgment. Fear not the event, when you repose your hopes on him who, having taken your nature, and stood in your place, is "a mer- ciful and faithful high-priest, that has made reconciliation for the sins of the people." This encouraging view of the Saviour's history, is so beautifully exhibited by Dr. Watts, that I shall now resign you to his superior instructions. Lord, at thy temple we appear, As happy Simeon came ; And hope to meet our Saviour here: O, make our joys the same. With what divine and vast delight The good old man was filled, VVhen fondly in his withered arms He clasped the Holy Child ! Now I can leave this world, he cried ! Behold thy servant dies ! I've seen thy great salvation. Lord, And close my peacefial eyes. VOL. I. 50 LECTURE IV. THE VISIT OF THB EASTERN MAGIANS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. Matthew ii. 1 — 12. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. We have often acknowledged, that " the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy- work ; for in them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun." Many times have we admired too, the solemn splendours of the night, saying, with David, " when I behold thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained, what is man?" But should the ordinary celestial objects, with all their daily or nightly grandeur, fail to excite interest after the charm of novelty is gone ; God has lately shown that he can exhibit in the skies sights so novel, so rare, and so magnificent, that the eyes of all shall be directed to the mysterious strangers. The learned have been plunged into profound speculations, calculating the nature, the mag- nitude, the distance, and the course of the beautiful comet; while the superstitious have been distressed with fearful fore- bodings of what is coming upon the earth.* And has the Christian nothing to do with this extraordinary display of his Father's power and skill ? Is there nothing in the word which may be illustrated by this work of God ? Yes ; the subject which comes before us this day, reminds us, that the appearance of a brilliant stranger in the heavens formerly announced the arrival of a person, who was a stranger in his * This was delivered when a beautiful comet had for two months attracted universal attention. VISIT OF THE MAGIANS. 51 own world. For Jesus " came into the world, and the world was made by him, and knew him not." We pursue the history of Christ by discoursing- on the visit of the wise men; the conduct of Herod-; and the consequent flight of the holy family into Egypt. I. The visit of the Magians. " There came wise men, from the east, unto Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." Here naturally arise many questions ; — Who these visitors were? What was the star they saw? How they were con- ducted to Jerusalem? How from thence to Bethlehem? And in what manner at last to their own country again? 1. Who were these wise men ? The original word, which we render wise men, is not Greek : it is an oriental term adopted, by the sacred writers, and by most translators, as an appellative. Dr. Campbell's transla- tion of the Gospels says, *' certain eastern Magians." From Arabia, which a Jew would call the east, they are generally supposed to have come, as their presents were the products of that country. But it is equally probable that they were from Persia, which is still farther east ; and the Persic version in the London Polyglott, entitles this section of Matthew's gospel, " The coming of the kings of Persia." They are, in the church of Rome,* said to have been kings, but the term signifies rather philosophers. A certain sect in Persia bore the name of Magi. Their study seems to have been the solar system ; at first, perhaps, purely to learn from the heavens the glory of God, from which they sunk into a religious adoration of the heavenly bodies, that most natural of all species of idolatry, to which Job alludes, f From the original term, which is Chaldee, came the word magician. Simon Magus is said to have been deceiving the Samaritans with magic delusions ; and Elymas, the sorcerer, as we read it, is, in the original, " the magian." But these of whom we * They pretend to have the tombs of these kings at Cologne, and from thence arose the Twelfth Day, with its kings and queens. t Job xxxi. 26 — 28. E 2 52 LECTURE IV. speak, who are supposed by some to have been three, by others twelve, in number, seem to have been preserved from idolatry, or converted from it, by the revelation which we have now to consider; for we must pass on to the next question. 2. What was the star they saw? That it was not one of those which peculiarly bear the name, or a fixed star, it is evident ; because those bodies, at distances so immense, could not guide a traveller to any par- ticular spot upon this globe. For the same reason, it could not have been one of the planets, which are usually called stars. The ancients thought it was a comet ; but that which we have lately seen in the heavens could not point to any particular country, as Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, to lead a traveller to any one of these, rather than another. Is it not probable that it was the same light which shone round the angel, when announcing to the shepherds, near Bethlehem, that Christ was then born ? To persons in a distant country, this light, descending from the opening heavens, and hovering over Judea, would appear as a star, or one of those meteors which we call falling stars. But supposing it to have appeared as one of these, I ask how did they learn the signification of the star ? For merely seeing an extraordinary meteor, over Palestine, could not inform them, that the King of the Jews was born there. Some have supposed that they found out by their magic arts, or by what is called astrology, that this star over Judea signi- fied the birth of an illustrious prince of that country. Alas ! that the contempt which the Scriptures pour upon this ridi- culous art, has not more eflfectually taught men to despise its pretences, as mere imposture. Far more reason is there in the conjecture that the prophecies of Balaam, " who was from the mountains of the east," had diff'used a tradition, that a star would announce the birth of a conquering Prince of Israel.* It appears from Suetonius, that, about this time there was a prevalent expectation, that some person would be born in the east, who should possess universal empire. Still, how- * Numb. xxiv. 17 — 19. VISIT OF THE MAGIANS. 53 ever, we must conclude, that he who gave Cornelius a vision, to direct him to send for Peter; and who guided Paul by a vision to Macedonia ; and who afforded these magians a divine revelation, to send them back to their own country, informed them also first, of the import of the star which they saw. We have then to inquire still further, 3. How were the Magians conducted to Jerusalem and to Herod I What brought them to Jerusalem? For he whom they sought was not there. Taught of God, they undertook a long, expensive, and hazardous journey ; and it has been sup- posed that the luminary in the heavens led them all the way to Judea; though, by following their own reasonings at last, they turned aside to Jerusalem, and thus lost sight of the star. Is it not, however, more consonant to I'eason, and the sacred narrative, to conclude, that the light which they saw, when the angels descended to the shepherds, disappeared, as soon as the angelic heralds had gone up again into heaven ? For what occasion was there for a miraculous light to guide men to Judea? They knew the way to it, as well as we know our road to Wales ; and what need shoiild we have of a heavenly guide; if we wished to go to see a prince born there to a throne, like our first Edward ? Being informed, that this illustrious stranger was to be King of the Jews, they con- cluded, either that he must be born in the capital, at the royal residence, or that, at least, it would be well known there, where he might be found. The language of Matthew seems to indicate that, as soon as the Magians arrived in Jerusalem, they began to inquire of its inhabitants, imagining that all could tell where the young king was. The citizens led the strangers to court, supposing that their errand referred to some event which had happened in the royal family, of which the public might be ignorant. Herod, however, startled at such inquiries, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Troubled that a Saviour was born! How must this have surprised the inquiring foreigners ! Did they not expect to find the city full of rejoicing? But whence this surprise and trouble, at the coming of the 54 LECTURE IV. Magians to Jerusalem? Had its inhabitants never before heard of what had happened at Bethlehem? Had the story of the shepherds, who spread abroad what they saw and heard, never reached the capital ? It is most probable that it had ; but as the tale seemed to refer to poor people, it was despised. Now, however, when distinguished foreigners come to make inquiry, the public attention is roused. Herod is troubled with jealousy and alarms for his throne. Mistaken prince ! Jesus was no rival of thy grandeur ; and hadst thou embraced him, he had washed thee from thy foul and aggravated sins ! But setting thyself against him, he hurled thee shortly from thy throne to merited perdition. All Jerusalem was troubled with him; for they well knew Herod's jealous and cruel mind, and dreaded some new massacre, to cut off this rival prince. Herod summoned priests and scribes, to know where the promised Messiah was to be born. Priests and scribes at once point to Bethlehem, quoting the prophecy of Micah v. 2. Suffice it to observe, that they who now declare so justly and readily the birthplace of the Messiah, afterwards said of Jesus, " as for this fellow, we know whence he is; but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is."* Thus men can be wise or ignorant, know every thing or nothing, just as suits their interests or prejudices. More depends on a right bias of heart, than on opportunities for information, or strength of intellect. 4. How were the Magians conducted from Jerusalem to Bethlehem ? Herod, having secretly called for the wise men, pretended to welcome their errand, and to consult with them, on the mode of concurring in their devout object. Obtaining from them exact information, concerning the time of the appear- ance of the celestial phenomenon which guided them, he dismissed them, with a charge to bring him word when they had found the illustrious infant; that the king also might lay all his honours at the feet of him, who was the rightful heir to the throne of David. To lull suspicion to sleep, Herod sent no guards with them ; and through fear of awaking the * Jolin vii. 27. VISIT OF THE MAOIANS. 55 jealousy of the king, none of the inhabitants of Jerusalem went with the strangers. When the Magians had turned their backs upon Herod and Jerusalem, and their faces to- wards Bethlehem, they regained the sight of the heavenly light which they at first saw. It seems, that it was not till they arrived near the ancient city of David, that they saw the meteor; for though Bethlehem was not further than seven miles from Jerusalem, if it were in the hot season, they would choose the evening for travelling, and thus, by the providence of God, it was ordered that they should arrive, when the de- parture of the sun left the stars visible, along with any lumi- nous meteor that might be kindled in the skies. This hea- venly guide, was, as they approached the town, needed; for, though they could tell the way to Bethlehem without it, how were they to know the house where the Saviour was, unless it were pointed out ? This also obviated the necessity for in- quiring through the town; now that the circumstances of Mary and Joseph were become critical, by the jealousy of the ty- rant being completely roused. Who can wonder, that the strongest language is employed to express the joy these east- ern sages felt, when they saw the star, or heavenly light, again? This, by hovering over the house where the Saviour was, so as to point out exactly that one dwelling, is proved not to have been a star, strictly so called, but a light far lower in the atmosphere. It is common to speak of these Magians finding Jesus in a manger, in the stable where he was born. But this is utterly improbable. In a month after the birth of Christ, Mary would unquestionably remove to a more suitable spot : into this abode, however humble it was, the wise men entered. There, beholding the young child, with no royal guards, or liveried servants round him ; but Mary his mother alone watching over him ; struck with the sight, they bowed to the decrees of Providence, and presented to view another sight most strange — sages prostrating themselves to a babe in the arms of a poor mother, under a mean roof! What could they see in this infant, for which they should worship him ? The manners of the east are exceedingly servile, so that their despotic kings received what was little short of divine honours; 56 LECTURE IV. and Xenophon, speaking- of the homage paid to the Persian emperors, uses the same word as is here rendered worship. But though we cannot learn from the mere term whether this was any more than civil homage, the circumstances of the case indicate that it was divine worship. Bishop Hall says, " notwithstanding the homeliness of the place, and mean apparel of the parents, they acknowledge some more than human majesty in the child, fall down and worship him. They opened their treasures and offered him gold, which some, supposing them to be kings, conclude to be vastly great." It is probable, however, that the sages pre- sented a token of their homage, rather than of their wealth ; a purse, perhaps, of twenty or thirty pieces, which the adorable providence of God induced them to present, in order to furnish the expences of the journey into Egypt. The ancients con- cluded, that the frankincense and myrrh were designed to ac- knowledge the Deity of the Saviour, and to burn incense, as an act of religious worship to the incarnate God. 5. How were the Magians directed at last to their own country again? Not suspecting that he who ruled over the only nation pro- fessing the true religion, could intend to murder, instead of adoring, him whom all the prophets had long foretold, as their Saviour and King; the Magians seem to have designed to return, and tell Herod what they thought would be joyful tidings, that they had found him who was a " light to lighten the gentiles, and the peculiar glory of his people Israel." But he, whose eye penetrates the dark designs of hell, de- tected the deep schemes of Herod's guilty heart, and would not suffer the adoring gentiles to carry back information, sought for purposes so vile. Having guided them thither, God directed their route back. "In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed ; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man." * Jerusalem did not lie in their way ; so that, when they no longer wished to see Herod, their "■ Job xxxiii. 16 — 17. VISIT OF THE MAGIANS. 57 direct course was due east from Bethlehem, by which route they would soon pass the frontiers, and be out of the jurisdic- tion of the tyrant. What joyful tidings would they carry back to their own country ! And how powerfully might their visit contribute to the conversion of their countrymen, when the gospel should be sent forth into the gentile world ! Now mark, II. The conduct of Herod. See the unhappy tyrant watching for the return of the wise men, like the robber waiting for the midnight hour, or with all the tormenting rage and suspicion of the murderer, till he can strike the blow, and drink the blood for which he thirsts. " Why have they not returned?" he cries. " Are they so en- thusiastically devout, that they are yet worshipping the babe? Surely they might let me share their devotions ! But is there any thing really divine, in this newly-born King, which thus detains them ? Perhaps he may prove invulnerable to my sword ; so that I may only provoke an enemy, without ridding myself of a rival !" Ah ! who can describe the horrors of sin- ners meditating new crimes ? Call repentance bitter ! It is sweet to repent of sin, compared with the bitterness of com- mitting it ! Now, perhaps, the king, impatient of delay, sent some se- cret emissaries, to learn what was become of the eastern Ma- gians. And when he finds they are gone back into their own country, completely avoiding him, what rage ! what vexation ! what torments of mortified pride ! " And have they mocked me ? And was I fit only for their sport ? Did they think thus to save the babe, the object of their journey and their worship ? No ; instead of one, I will kill all the babes in Bethlehem, rather than not cut off the rival to my throne. Go, guards, slay every child younger than two years, in all Bethlehem and its vicinity." You shudder at the bloody deed. But am I speaking to no one who has found, that, to come at a sin he loved, he has been compelled to plunge through many he abhorred ? Have you not found, that crimes, like virtues, hang together ; and that by embracing one you have been surrounded by many, which hiss about you^ like serpents, and make you a terror to yoursell? 58 LECTLRE IV. It is probable, that no public orders were given ; and the executioners might have been not regular soldiers, but private assassins, who abounded in Judea, during that unhappy period, and who were ready, for reward, to perpetrate any deeds of blood. They entered, then, the town unnoticed, till they burst into every house, and demanded the male children under two years of age ; sought for them in their beds, and there stabbed them, amidst their innocent slumbers ; snatched them from their mothers, and hewed them to pieces with the sword; caught them up while in their little sports, and dashed out their brains against the stones. What horrors seized the pa- rents ! Ah ! the moving entreaties of agonizing mothers ! The threats and imprecations of enraged fathers ! How many a parent may have been wounded, in the vain attempt to save his offspring! — The bloody mandate is obeyed ! The babes are weltering in their blood! Shrieks of maternal anguish fill the land ! How well was the mother of Israel, Rachel, who so passionately longed for children, and was buried near this spot,* represented as risen from her grave, to bewail her offspring! For, if Jeremiah, the prophet, first spake of Israel led captive to Babvlon, his words may be considered as prophetic of this event too, when he said, "There was heard a voice in Ramah, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weep- ing for her children, would not be comforted, because they were not." Some have supposed, that this history is too bad to be true. But though Josephus mentions it not ; it is well known that he often flatters Herod, and seems anxious to avoid the men- tion of Christian affairs, to which this story would have led him. Macrobius, a Latin writer, affirms that Augustus, the Roman emperor, hearing of this slaughter, in which Herod is said to have included his own son, joked upon him as a Jew, who refrained from swine's flesh, saying, " I had rather be He- rod's swine, than his son." That this execution, vile as it was, was not too bad for Herod may appear, when we consider his conduct towards the Jewish nation, and his own dearest kin- dred. In fact, he would have thought little of the murder of * Geii. XXXV. 19. VISIT OF THE MAGIANS. 59 twelve or fifteen children, which was, perhaps, the whole num- ber slain, and which he may have attributed to a treasonable conspiracy amonj^ the parents, in this ancient city of David. Many of my hearers may be now asking, where was the righteous Governor of the world, all this time I Was the pro- vidence which watches for the life of its creatures asleep, while the tyrant murdered the infants t Why was he not hurled ,from his throne, which would have prevented the ne- cessity of any further interposition ? But who does not see, that, not in this instance alone, but in his whole administration, God governs the world upon prin- ciples which we cannot explore, and that he renders not to men any account of his conduct ? He has, indeed, given us sufficient assurance and evidence, that he sitteth on the throne judging righteously; and he has appointed a day of judgment when the heavens shall declare his righteousness, and eternity rectify all the apparent confusions of time. But beyond this, all is impenetrable mystery. And does not death, every day, torture children with its agonies, and snatch them from their parents' arms ? Ah ! they inherit a fallen nature, and are ob- noxious to misery. Death has reigned, as the Apostle says, from Adam to Moses, even over those that have not sinned actually. And if we are consoled in the view of the miseries they suffer, through the fall, by remembering that they may rise to a better life, through the merit of him who said, " of such is the kingdom of heaven," may we not view these mur- dered babes of Bethlehem, as snatched from a scene of misery, to enjoy nobler life in heaven ? But, perhaps, the greatest difficulty is to account for God's suffering Herod to go on in his wickedness. This is soon solved ; for so suddenly was he hurled from his throne, as at once to justify the ways of God to man. But before this judgment overtook Herod, God snatched from him the prey, by means which Ave have now to consider : III. The flight of the holy family into Egypt, and their return. Who has ever read the description, which Job gives of the birth of man, and not felt (hat it has all the pathos of truth ? 60 LECTURE IV. " Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." With what surprising exactness was this exem- plified in the entrance of Jesus upon human life ! Poverty and contempt thrust him, as soon as born, into a manger; and, though he received high distinctions by the ministry of angels, and by the blaze from heaven, which attracted to him honour- able men from foreign lands, to pay their profoundest homage, and lay their richest presents at his feet ; yet how transient was this gleam of glory ! How completely was the scene revei-sed ! How evident was it, that he was born to trouble, when the king hunted for his precious life ; and Jesus, hurried away in tender infancy from his own home, spent his first days as an exile, in a heathen land; while, for his sake, the place of his nativity was deluged with the blood of infants, torn from their mother's arms ! We have now, therefore, to meditate on, 1. The warning given to the holy family to flee into Egypt. This first foreign journey, like all the other events of the Sa- viour's life, was under divine direction. Herod was, perhaps, on his bed, brooding over his murderous design, trusting to the darkness and secrecy of night, when the angel of the heart- searching God was sent, to apprise Joseph of it, the same night upon his bed. The sinner says, " surely the darkness shall cover me ;" but " even the night shall be light round about you. The darkness, O God, hideth not from thee: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." Swifter than their thoughts the messenger of heaven flies, to frustrate sin- ners' designs, or to execute deserved punishment. But think, ye mothers, what alarms it would create, were you informed, at midnight, that the king was sending his emissaries, to murder the babes you had lately brought forth. The hearts of Joseph and Mary were, doubtless, fortified by perceiving, that all heaven interested for the life of the child, took care to give them timely warning. But, still the mess- age was urgent, " Arise, flee this night into Egypt," That Egypt was pointed out as the asylum, intimates that they were not, as some suppose, residing at Nazareth, for then, Syria would have been nearer ; but at Bethlehem, whence they might soon escape Herod's jurisdiction, by fleeing into Egypt. VISIT OF TFIE MAGIANS. 61 And who does not, now, feel the active powers of imagination piercing the darkness of night, and beholding the holy family making their short and hurried preparations for removal to a foreign land? See them leave their humble home, with minds solemn as their circumstances; yet " not moved with evil tidings, but with hearts fixed, trusting in the Lord." Behold how the blessed virgin clasps to her devout bosom the won- drous child, and, supported by the arm of Joseph, or rather by the Almighty arm, bends her footsteps towards Egypt. Hear her cry, " Was it for this, the angel said : Hail ! Mary, thou art highly favoured among women ! Was it for this, I fe- licitated myself, and said, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed? Did I expect that I should so soon be hunted from my home, and the child I brought forth be pursued by the sword of the murderer ? But cease, O my soul, it is Heaven directs, and where Jehovah leads I cheerfully follow, blessing him who suffers not the murderer to overtake us, but provides for us an asylum, where Israel once found a house of bondage, and who can turn Egypt into a paradise, by his presence with us there." See them journeying through the desert ; and if they turned aside from the direct route, to avoid being traced by the pursuers, they might bend their way towards Mount Sinai, where was delivered that fiery law which Jesus came to satisfy, and towards the spot, where was suspended that brazen serpent, of which Jesus afterwards said, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the son of man be lifted up." 2. Arrived safely in Egypt, they continued there, till Herod died, when, warned by the angel, they returned. So hastily is this period of our Lord's history passed over, that it is difficult to say any thing of it, with certainty. It was probably rendered less unpleasant to Joseph and Mary, by the great number of Hellenists that resided in Egypt, and especially at Alexandria, which was, at that time, the capital. Here was made the famous translation of the Old Testament into Greek, which is called the Septuagint, from the opinion that it was the work of seventy-two translators. Concerning the length of time which the holy family spent 62 LECTURE IV. in Egypt, there are two different conjectures. Some suppose, that Christ was first presented in the temple, and lived to be nearly two years old, before the exile, which afterwards lasted almost two years more. But others think, that the wise men came, about the twelfth day of Christ's life ; that the flight into Egypt was, when he was about a fortnight old ; and that, after staying there a month, he was presented in the temple, on the fortieth day. Whether longer or shorter, it is pro- bable that Christ's being in Egypt was quite unknown. Per- haps not one Egyptian w as aware that his country was honoured with a guest so illustrious. The Apostle has prepared us for the obscurity of religion, by reminding us that " the world knoweth us not, because it knew not Christ." Yet, perhaps, some pious Hellenists, attracted by the air of devotion observ- able in Joseph and Mary, formed an acquaintance with them ; and hearing from their lips the tale of wonders concerning the holy child, compared it with the scriptures of the prophets, and learned to adore, with silent faith, the newly-born hope of Israel. Ah ! how many will see with surprise and self-con- demnation, at last, the evidence of a divine religion in the heart of one who lived near them, while they died ignorant of that which alone could make them for ever blest ! Having patiently waited their Father's time, at length the holy family received the welcome summons. For the angel of the Lord again appeared, saying, " Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel ; for they are dead who sought the young child's life." It is supposed that the angel, in saying " they are dead," referred not merely to Herod, but to his son Antipater. This prince in- herited so much of his father's cruelty and ambition, that he cut off two elder brothers, to make way for his own accession to the throne. As he was presumptive heir, at Christ's birth, it may well be concluded that his jealousy would be roused, and that he would be active in the attempt to cut off a rival. But his father having killed him, on some slight suspicion, five days before his own death, it is now said, " they are dead who sought the child's life :" yet Jesus lives and returns again to Judea. For he was " sent to the lost sheep of Israel ;" VISIT OF THE MAGIANS. 63 among them his divine words were to be heard, his godlike actions to be wrought, and his bleeding sacrifice to be offered. Cheerfully obeying the heavenly vision, the holy family leave the place of exile, and thus the words of God were verified : " Out of Egypt have I recalled my son." For, however the prophet Hosea might have originally referred to Israel ; that people was in many things typical of the Saviour, and Christ is by the prophet Isaiah called Israel, so that to Jesus the words were ultimately applicable. Or this might originally refer wholly to Christ ; for the prophecy of Hosea is abrupt : and when God says, " While Israel was a child I loved him," the petulant people may be supposed to reply, " Great love ! to suffer him to be an exile in Egypt :'" to which God returns this answer, " Out of Egypt have I called my own son." To conclude, let Christians rejoice to see the elements of nature subservient to the God of grace. A supernatural light announces the Saviour's birth, and the sun is quenched in darkness, at his death. All worlds obey their Maker's nod, and subserve the purposes of redeeming love. Why then tremble, because a new comet blazes in the skies, lest it should burn us with its heat, or drown us by the condensation of the vapours of its tail 1 Little as we know of these bodies, we may rest assured that though the comet should be nearly as large as the earth, and its tail forty millions of miles in length, and five hundred comets may roll in the immensity of space, their courses are all regulated to a second of time, and a hair's breadth of distance ; and all their effects determined by him whose power, skill, and goodness formed the whole system. How long will it be ere men obey their Maker's voice? " Learn not the way of the heathen ; and be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens."* When the hour fixed in the divine decrees is arrived, the world will be thrown into the flames. Perhaps a comet may then set it on fire, but there are many prophecies to be previously fulfilled. The heathen must first be universally converted to the faith of Christ. With what delight should we here behold the first-fruits, the sure pledge of that general harvest ! How soon * Jeremiah x. 2. ()4 LECTURE IV. the jirediction of Isaiah was fulfilled ! " Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." With what joy these Magians returned to their native land to tell how they had seen the Saviour of the world, can scarcely be conceived. But as the Gospel was early proclaimed in the east, not onlj' in Arabia and Persia, but as far as the coast of Malabar, we may conclude, that these distinguished visitors at Bethlehem contributed to that happy event. But O, when shall all " kings fall down before Christ, and all nations serve him?" If, then, Jesus said to the Jews, " The queen of the south shall 'rise up in judgment with this generation, and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here ;" what shall be said of us, if we neglect and despise him, while the bigoted Hindoo, the savage Otaheitan, the loathsome Hot- tentot, is bowing down at the Redeemer's feet, and consecrat- ing himself to the holy service of Christ .'' What though persecutions await you, if you own the Saviour as your Lord and Master, did not he first submit to be per- secuted for you ? From a babe, he was marked out as one born for the cross. The Jews, who crucified the Master, fille