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THE BIRTH AND BOYHOOD OF JESUS 
 
THE 
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 
 
 OF JESUS 
 
 y BY 
 
 GEO. F. PENTECOST, D.D 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 
 27 PATERNOSTER ROW 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
Butler & Tanner, 
 
 The Selwood Printing Works, 
 
 Frome, and London. 
 
NOTE 
 
 " I ^HE sermons contained in this volume were extem- 
 poraneously delivered in the course of regular 
 ministry, with no thought of publishing them in per- 
 manent form. In doing so now no attempt has been 
 made to change them from their original form or 
 
 style. 
 
 G. F. P. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Notable Couple i 
 
 II 
 
 Great in the Sight of the Lord i8 
 
 HI 
 
 A Good Man's Unbelief 35 
 
 IV 
 
 The Penalty and Cure of Unbelief .... 56 
 
 V 
 
 Heavenly Service to Lowly People . . . - 7Z 
 
PAGE 
 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 VI 
 " Hail, Mary !"— Not "Ave Maria" .... 91 
 
 VII 
 The Son of the Highest 109 
 
 VIII 
 A Mystery— NOT a Myth 130 
 
 IX 
 Mary's Great Confession 153 
 
 X 
 
 Magnifying the Lord 173 
 
 XI 
 
 The Loving-kindness of God 193 
 
CONTENTS 
 XII 
 
 The Day-spring from on High 
 
 XIII 
 Joy over the Child 233 
 
 XIV 
 Gold and Frankincense and Myrrh .... 254 
 
 XV 
 "Good Old Simeon" 276 
 
 XVI 
 Simeon's Testimony to Jesus 297 
 
 XVII 
 Losing and Finding Jesus 318 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 XVIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Boy Jesus in the Temple 338 
 
 XIX 
 Jesus' Great Confession 359 
 
 XX 
 
 " My Father's Business " 379 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 " There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain 
 priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia : and his wife was 
 of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And 
 they were both righteous before God, walking in all the command- 
 ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no 
 child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now 
 well stricken in years." — LUKE i. 5-7. 
 
 THE scene into which we are introduced by Luke's 
 graphic pen is essentially Jewish — the Holy City, 
 the temple, the solemn service of prayer, the ministering 
 priest, and the waiting people, expecting the re-appear- 
 ance of Zacharias and his priestly benediction. 
 
 The time was one of crisis. The Jewish people were 
 at that period of their history fallen to the lowest point, 
 both nationally and spiritually. Their religious life had 
 degenerated into a proud self-righteousness ; their 
 national life was broken under the iron rule of Rome. 
 Instead of being humbled by their national misfortunes, 
 they had developed a fierce and fanatical spirit of 
 rebellion toward their earthly masters, and a haughty 
 self-sufficiency before God. The priestly and Rabbini- 
 cal classes were arrogant and overbearing ; the rich 
 oppressed the poor, and lived in disdain of all the softer 
 virtues of life. John the Baptist characterized them as 
 " a generation of vipers " ; ^ and our Lord, a few months 
 
 ' Luke iii. 7. 
 P.B. I 
 
2 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 later, denounced them as hypocrites and robbers. He 
 told them that as to their religious life they were whited 
 sepulchres in pretence — fair without, but, in fact, full of 
 corruption and dead men's bones. They were punctili- 
 ous as to mint, anise, and cummin, but habitually 
 neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and 
 charity. Such were the Pharisees. The Sadducees 
 were no better in these respects ; and worse in this, that 
 they had developed a materialistic philosophy which 
 led them practically on to the ground of our modern 
 agnostics. They denied the existence of angels and 
 spirits, and so, logically, the very existence of God. 
 They, of course, repudiated the supernatural origin of 
 the Hebrew nation, and scoffed at all the miraculous 
 elements contained in their sacred history. Herod, the 
 king, was a pagan by birth, though a proselyte to the 
 Jewish faith. He was the servile friend of Rome ; 
 greedy, rapacious, avaricious, tyrannical, and wholly of 
 this world worldly. These were the predominant powers 
 in the Jewish nation at this time — Phariseeism, Saddu- 
 ceeism, and Herodianism. The people were poor, 
 oppressed by their political rulers, and robbed and 
 neglected by their spiritual guides. It was a dark time 
 indeed ; but it was the darkness which preceded the 
 dawn. 
 
 In the midst of that untoward generation God had 
 His faithful witnesses, who had not forsaken the way of 
 His commandments, and were awaiting with longing 
 desire the Consolation of Israel. Such were good old 
 Simeon ; Anna, the aged prophetess of the Lord ; the 
 righteous couple who are brought before us in our text ; 
 the lowly virgin Mary ; her espoused husband, Joseph 
 of Nazareth ; and doubtless many others whose names 
 are not recorded in any earthly book, but who, like the 
 seven thousand in Elijah's day, were well known to God. 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 3 
 
 The seed of the righteous — children of faith— shall never 
 perish off the earth ; and God shall never lack for 
 witnesses in any time of the world's history. As He 
 has never lacked in the past for such testifiers, so shall 
 He never lack in the future, however great and universal 
 the apostasy from the faith may be among men. 
 
 I. A Noble Family. Both Zacharias and Elisa- 
 beth were of the family of Aaron, as it was the custom 
 of that priestly family to marry only within their own 
 tribe, that the order of priests might remain intact as 
 God had ordained. Of the tribe of Levi, Moses and 
 Aaron were the most distinguished members. Aaron 
 was the head of all the priesthood who ministered about 
 the altars of the Lord ; outside his immediate family, 
 the Levites were a sort of lay-priestly order, who came 
 not into the Holy Places of Jehovah. 
 
 From the earliest times certain families among men 
 have forced their way to the front, risen to the top, and 
 gained the first places among their fellows by the sheer 
 force of their characters or abilities, and thus obtained 
 for themselves and their descendants patents of nobility. 
 In the case of the two royal families in Israel, the kingly 
 and the priestly houses of David and Aaron, their no- 
 bility was conferred by God Himself, according to His 
 discerning wisdom and grace. Amongst men the orders 
 of royalty and nobility have come about in a different 
 way, mainly through military ability and power. No 
 doubt there are many and grave faults and abuses con- 
 nected with the earthly orders of nobility ; but, on the 
 other hand, there is no lack of great excellences amongst 
 many men and women in the world who have descended 
 from long lines of noble ancestors. We certainly are 
 not to despise good birth and noble family traditions, 
 any more than we are to ignore and pass by greatness 
 of character and high ability in those who have sprung 
 
4 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 from ignoble ancestors, as some are inclined to do. The 
 gentle-born man and woman should count their birth an 
 inheritance to be cherished and made honourable in 
 their own lives. The meanly born should always re- 
 member that though they may never establish titled 
 families, they may become noble themselves and the 
 ancestors of noble children, in the best sense of the 
 word. It is true that not many wise or noble or great 
 of this world are found in the household of faith ; yet 
 there have always been some of this class who have 
 loved and honoured God in testimony and life. Joseph 
 of Arimathea and Nicodemus were among the early 
 disciples of our Lord. They were both men of high 
 rank, perhaps of noble birth. Saul of Tarsus became 
 the disciple of Christ soon after the resurrection. He 
 was of aristocratic birth and parentage, of high rank 
 both in his profession and in the political, social, and 
 religious world ; yet he forsook all outward advantages 
 of worldly position in order to devote his life to the 
 service of his Master. All through the ages there have 
 been noble men and women in the ranks of believers 
 who have alike honoured themselves and their Master 
 by their faith and devotion. The Church of to-day has 
 in her fellowship men and women of high family and 
 great wealth who adorn her communion and are bul- 
 warks of strength to the cause of true religion. No man 
 in England excited more universal love and respect than 
 did the late Earl of Shaftesbury. No doubt he has 
 spiritual successors in his own rank. Of noble women, 
 in both a social and religious sense, there are not a few. 
 All honour to them. 
 
 God honoured the ancient priesthood of Israel by 
 creating them an order of nobility. They were a royal 
 priesthood. They were not the worse for that high 
 distinction ; they ought always to have been the better. 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 5 
 
 Every minister, nay, every servant of Christ, whether of 
 common or aristocratic family, should be in himself a 
 nobleman, by cultivating and maintaining that character 
 which would have ennobled Zacharias and Elisabeth 
 even had they not been of the house of Aaron. 
 
 From this righteous father and mother sprang John 
 the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 He was " great in the sight of the Lord," not because 
 of his honourable birth, but because of his truly noble 
 life. Our Lord Jesus was a nobleman by birth — nay, 
 more. He was a Prince — the Prince of the House of 
 David ; and yet He did not count His high nobility 
 something which should separate and lift Him away 
 from His fellows. He was not ashamed to call the 
 poorest of His disciples friends and brethren, and treat 
 them as such. He put no barrier between Himself 
 and those of lowly birth and calling. He digged no 
 gulf which should divide the common people from Him- 
 self. He was the Friend of publicans and sinners. He 
 voluntarily took a position which enabled Him to use 
 His high descent both from God and man as a gift and 
 talent by which He might bring blessing and help to 
 the poor. It was His choice, in coming into the world, 
 to choose for His mother a lowly maiden of a decayed, 
 poor, and obscure family of the house of David, and to 
 be born in a stable. He did not despise or treat with 
 contempt His high birth, but used it rather as a means 
 by which to ennoble many obscure and lowly men and 
 women by taking them into kinship with Himself 
 
 n. A Righteous Couple. Matthew Henry well 
 says that " grace does not run in the blood." Noble 
 blood may flow in a man's veins, and yet his heart and 
 life may be destitute of righteousness, which is the only 
 badge of nobility in the kingdom of heaven. A man 
 may be of ignoble family and blood, and yet by right- 
 
6 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 eousness be a very prince with God. In the case of 
 Zacharias and Eh"sabeth we have the happy combination 
 of earthly nobility and heavenly righteousness. They 
 were not righteous because they were the descendants of 
 Aaron. No doubt they owed much to their heredity, 
 and more to the environment in which they were reared. 
 But neither heredity nor environment can altogether 
 account for that righteousness which distinguished them. 
 That supreme characteristic was determined by their 
 own free faith and choice. The question of hereditary 
 righteousness has been much debated on either side. 
 There are some who hold that the children of believing 
 parents are thereby endowed with certain hereditary 
 and gracious characteristics which, in birth and nature, 
 differentiate them from " common children." I do not 
 believe this theory, for I do not think there is any 
 warrant in the scripture for it. " Think not to say with- 
 in yourselves, We have Abraham to our father : for I 
 say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise 
 up children unto Abraham." ' In our own Church 
 Creed we define the Church as being composed of 
 believers and their children ; and yet we deny that 
 article of our Creed when we exclude or debar the 
 unconverted children of believing parents from the 
 Lord's Supper. Until the child of believing parents 
 is born from above, just as any other sinner must be, 
 he cannot, though Abraham were his father, and Sarah 
 his mother, enter into the kingdom of God. Neverthe- 
 less, I am one of those who believe that next to the 
 gift of the Spirit Himself, the highest blessing which 
 any man possesses in this world is a holy mother and a 
 godly father. To have descended from such parents 
 does not, it is true, guarantee your salvation, but it does 
 
 ^ iMatt. iii. 9. 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 7 
 
 give you an immense advantage, so far, at least, as 
 heredity and environment are concerned. 
 
 The question of heredity and environment is one, as I 
 have already said, very much discussed and debated in 
 our days. For myself, 1 am more inclined to believe in 
 environment as a superior advantage to a child than 
 heredity. That is, I would rather be born of unrighteous 
 parents and reared in a godly famil}', than be born of 
 righteous parents and reared in a godless family. En- 
 vironment has more power to modify heredity than 
 heredity has to overcome environment. We have a 
 striking illustration of this truth in connection with the 
 results of Dr. Barnardo's work among and for the waif 
 children of London. He takes these poor little outcasts 
 absolutely irrespective of their parentage. In fact, the 
 more desperately wicked the parents, the more pity 
 seems to go out to their abandoned and neglected 
 children from the heart of that greatest christian philan- 
 thropist in London. He has five thousand of these waif 
 children in his Homes at all times. They are of every 
 age, from the tiny babe of a few months old, to the 
 sturdy lad and lass of seventeen and eighteen years. 
 These children he keeps from the time he takes them 
 into his Home until they are old enough and sufficiently 
 well trained to go out into the world well armed and 
 equipped for life's battle. All do not become christians, 
 but a very large proportion of them do. These, in all 
 human probability, would have ended their lives in 
 prison, or in association and fellowship with criminals, 
 had they not been placed by the loving hand of christian 
 philanthropy in a new environment. This is a marked 
 demonstration of the fact that heredity may be overcome 
 by environment. Righteousness is neither communi- 
 cated by natural birth nor excluded from those who are 
 born with the worst hereditary taints of sin in their 
 
8 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 blood. How many bad sons have sprung from good 
 fathers ? and how many good sons have had bad fathers ? 
 Hezekiah, one of the best of the kings of Israel, was the 
 son of Ahaz, one of the worst ; but the order was re- 
 versed when Hezekiah, the good son of the bad Ahaz, 
 became the father of the wicked Manasseh. It is so in 
 our own families to-day ; good sons spring from bad 
 fathers, and wicked sons are born of holy parentage. It 
 is from such facts that I say, I have more hope for a 
 child well and wisely trained in the nurture and admoni- 
 tion of the Lord, than I have for one who is merely well 
 born, so far as righteousness is concerned. An examina- 
 tion into the righteous lives of these two worthy servants 
 of God will reveal characteristic marks which cannot be 
 mistaken. 
 
 Theirs was no spurious righteousness. There were 
 current in our Lord's time, as in ours, several types of 
 religious life and character which passed for righteous- 
 ness. The greater part of these were of a spurious kind. 
 It was base coin which did not, and could not, pass the 
 judgment of Christ ; which, when He rang it on the rock 
 of truth, sounded false, and was rejected. Some of these 
 types were more base than others, but all of them 
 counterfeit. Zacharias and Elisabeth were not Phari- 
 sees in the hypocritical sense of that term, though it is 
 possible they may have been of that sect, as Martha, the 
 confessor of Christ, and Paul, were. The Scribes and 
 the Pharisees had a righteousness concerning which 
 Jesus said, " Except your righteousness shall exceed 
 the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, ye 
 shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." ^ 
 Now, the righteousness of these two classes consisted in a 
 strict conformity with the outward letter and ceremonial 
 of the law of Moses ; but more particularly in the minute 
 • Matt. V. 20. 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 9 
 
 observance of certain customs enjoined by the renowned 
 doctors of the law, who had made void the word of God 
 by their traditions. It will be observed that our Lord 
 pronounced sentence against the spurious righteousness 
 of these classes during the delivery of His great and 
 searching Sermon on the Mount, in which He revealed 
 the spirituality of the law and exposed the hidden foun- 
 tain of sin in the human heart. This type of righteous- 
 ness is much in vogue to-day, and is no better, and 
 scarcely less ostentatious, than it was in our Lord's time. 
 It is pretentious and formal without any real piety be- 
 hind it. These outwardly righteous professors of religion 
 have the form of godliness, but not the power of it. The 
 most conspicuous example of this kind given in the New 
 Testament is seen in our Lord's parable of the " two 
 men " who " went up into the temple to pray ; the one 
 a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee 
 stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank Thee, 
 that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, 
 adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the 
 week ; I give tithes of all that I possess." ^ Zacharias 
 and his wife, Elisabeth, were not righteous after this 
 kind. Then there was another and honester kind of 
 righteousness, such as that which Paul sought to attain 
 by honestly striving to keep the law, not for the sake 
 of display, but for conscience' sake and God's sake. 
 " Touching the righteousness which is in the law," he 
 says he was " blameless "^ ; " and was zealous toward 
 God." ^ His was not an hypocritical righteousness, but 
 it was a faulty one, because it is not possible for sinful 
 man to attain to righteousness by any deeds of the law 
 which he may do. Therefore Paul flung it from him as 
 soon as he discovered " the righteousness of God, which is 
 by faith in Christ." * Of this kind was the righteousness of 
 ' Luke xviii. 10-12. ^ Phil. iii. 6. ^ Acts xxii. 3. ^ Rom. iii. 22 
 
lo A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 the young ruler whom Jesus " loved," but who, when put 
 to the test, loved his wealth more than he desired eternal 
 life. Of this kind also was the sincere, but mistaken, 
 righteousness of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, 
 who also abandoned the law for the gospel in their search 
 after life. Zacharias and Elisabeth were not righteous 
 after this kind. Nor were they righteous after the 
 manner of the Sadducees, who practised, or at least pro- 
 fessed, the cold and lifeless morality of Moses' law, with- 
 out the spirit of love that breathes in that law. Nor 
 were these holy people righteous after the sentimentalists 
 of our day, who, if only they can maintain a certain high 
 degree of emotional experience, count all things else of 
 little worth. With such it is not so much faith as it is 
 feeling, not so much obedience to the commandments 
 of Christ as it is an inward experience which has the 
 approval of their school. 
 
 Their righteousness was iiiwr ought and spiritual — 
 manifesting itself hi a holy ivalk with God. " Abraham 
 believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteous- 
 ness." ^ This holy couple were the children of Abraham 
 both by natural descent and by spiritual likeness. They 
 believed God and feared Him, and counted nothing 
 dear or worth possessing beyond His favour and 
 approval. They were righteous before God. They did 
 not their deeds of service before men — that is, to be 
 seen of men — but before God ; because they feared, 
 loved, and reverenced Him, and desired above all things 
 else to please Him. They observed the law not as a 
 means to righteousness, but as expressing their subjec- 
 tion to God. It was spiritual because it brought them 
 into real fellowship with God. When Zacharias offered 
 up the ceremonial prayer on the altar of incense, his 
 own heart was in holy communion with God. He had 
 ' Rom. iv. 3. 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE n 
 
 learned that " in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin " ^ 
 God had no delight when they were unaccompanied by 
 " a broken spirit and a contrite heart." ^ The smoke 
 from the altar of incense ascended toivard heaven, but 
 the prayers of Zacharias passed through the heavens and 
 reached the ear and the heart of God. He had that 
 communion of righteousness which Moses had when he 
 talked with God as to a friend. It is true that right- 
 eousness is something imputed to us by faith in Christ ; 
 but it is more than that, it is something imparted by the 
 Spirit of God. They were righteous before God — and 
 therefore they did righteousness. The supreme test of 
 righteousness is found in communion with God. 
 
 Their righteoiisness was practical. It did not stand in 
 profession or in boasting of their descent from Abraham 
 and Aaron, or in their ceremonial observances ; but in 
 walking before God in all His ordinances and command- 
 ments blameless. They were first righteous in heart and 
 spirit, and then they did righteousness, or walked in it. 
 There is an outward form of righteousness which may be 
 seen of men, and which makes the heart of man proud, 
 but which has no inward counterpart, or rather no inward 
 root and spring. It is like the gilding on base metal, or 
 veneering on soft wood. True righteousness pervades 
 the heart and fills the spirit of man, and always mani- 
 fests itself in his life. This kind of life is called the 
 " fruit of righteousness " — the fruit of the Spirit. It was 
 in the power of such a spiritual righteousness that this 
 good man and woman lived and walked before God, and 
 in the sight of, but not for the sight of, men. To them 
 all the commandments and ordinances of God were of 
 importance. They did not pick and choose among 
 them, but studied them all, and sought to make them 
 all honourable by obeying them. They maintained, or 
 ' Heb. X. 6. -' Ps. li. 17. 
 
12 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 rather lived, their righteousness before God. This made 
 the precincts of their own home as sacred and holy as 
 those of the temple. They were as careful when no 
 human eye was upon them as when they walked to the 
 temple in presence of a multitude. Had they been 
 modern merchants and members of society, their offices 
 and drawing-rooms would have been as sacred to them 
 as the sanctuary on the Sabbath day. 
 
 They devoted themselves to the service of God. With 
 them religion was not merely a private matter for the 
 benefit of their own souls. They regarded themselves as 
 the servants of God, and identified themselves with His 
 cause. In the best sense of the word they were Levites, 
 servants of God. They were careful to save their own 
 souls, but, having done that, they were as careful to give 
 their saved lives to the service of God as they had been 
 to seek God for their own salvation. When I consider 
 a multitude of professors of religion to-day who seem 
 only anxious to secure their own salvation, and get for 
 themselves the benefits which may accrue from fellow- 
 ship in the Church of God, and yet care not for His 
 service, I long for a revival of that righteousness which 
 characterized Zacharias and Elisabeth. The Pharisee 
 serves to live ; the truly righteous man lives to serve. 
 
 They were blameless in their zvalk and service. This is 
 a high designation, and speaks marvels to the praise of 
 these righteous servants of God. There are two words 
 used in the New Testament of believers that are some- 
 times confounded. We read in the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians that Christ will present His Church to Him- 
 self " a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing, but that it should be holy and without 
 blemish." ^ That is faultlessness — " without fault." That 
 is the end in view in our salvation, and the end which 
 ^ Eph. V. 27. 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 13 
 
 God will work out for us ; therefore it is said, He " is 
 able to keep you from falling, and to present you fault- 
 less before the presence of His glory with joy." ^ A 
 child or a servant of God may be blameless while he is 
 not yet faultless. Faultlessness is perfection ; blame- 
 lessness is not faultlessness, but a state of not being 
 worthy of rebuke. A child or servant may be far from 
 faultless in his task, and yet a parent or master may 
 perceive such an honest and sincere purpose in the work 
 done, or the task attempted, that no blame is attached to 
 the doer of it. Such a blameless one may be even 
 praised and encouraged, notwithstanding fault or lack of 
 perfection in the service. Moral perfection, faultless- 
 ness in life or service, is never attained in this life ; but 
 blamelessness may be attained. We may be blameless 
 before God. Therefore Paul prayed for the Thessa- 
 lonians that their " whole spirit and soul and body be 
 preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 2 " Walk before Me, and be thou perfect " ; ^ 
 that is, obedient to My word. This was the perfection 
 or blamelessness of Zacharias and Elisabeth. This may 
 be ours if we follow in their footsteps. 
 
 HI. An Old and Childless Couple. " I am 
 an old man," said Zacharias, " and my wife well stricken 
 in years." There is no reproach in old age, nor is there 
 in it necessarily any measure of affliction. It may have 
 stored up many regrets and recorded many disappoint- 
 ments ; but there can be no reproach in it, unless past 
 days have been characterized by sin and disobedience. 
 Jacob indeed said, when he was an old man, " Few and 
 evil have the days of the years of my life been " ; ^ but 
 all the evil in his long life was traceable to his own sin 
 and shortcomings. On the other hand, Joshua left a 
 
 ' Jude 24. ^ I Thess. v. 23. 
 
 ^ Gen. xvii. i. ^ Gen. xlvii. 9. 
 
14 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 testimony which was joyous because of the continuous 
 and unbroken record of gracious promises fulfilled. 
 Joshua was a man of faith. He believed God, and 
 walked in all His commandments and ordinances blame- 
 less. When old age is associated with wickedness and 
 godlessness, there is indeed both reproach and affliction. 
 What so utterly forlorn as to witness the hopelessness of 
 a wicked old man and woman, who have spent their 
 days in rebellion against God ? The memory of the 
 past can be of no solace to them ; their present is full of 
 bitter reflection, and the dry and salt ashes of spent and 
 vanished pleasures ; with nothing to look forward to but 
 death, the grave, and the judgment of God. But the 
 righteous have hope in their death ; there is nought of 
 misery or affliction in it to them. To look back upon a 
 life spent in the service of God, to bring to remembrance 
 all the good things which God hath done in the past, 
 and to look forward to all the good things which He 
 hath laid up for them that love Him in the world to 
 come — this is a joyful experience. The backward look 
 fills us with thanksgiving, and the forward look with 
 hope ; and the present is full of peace and quiet waiting, 
 even while there is still service to be done. Let us not 
 fear old age, but rather glorify it with the spoil of a 
 youthful and mature life spent in the righteous service of 
 God. 
 
 IV. Thev were Childless. There was one bitter 
 drop in the cup of this good couple : they were child- 
 less. They had spent their long lives together in love 
 and happiness ; but their home had never been glad- 
 dened by the voice of children and the patter of their 
 tiny feet ; by the joy of their childhood, the care of 
 their youth, and the hope of their manhood or woman- 
 hood. In their old age, no children gathered around 
 them to repay, by their devotion, all the years of love 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 15 
 
 and care expended upon their training and upbringing. 
 No children's children gathered about them and made 
 them young again. There are those in these latter days 
 who regard children as an encumbrance and a clog to 
 their freedom, and an impediment to their pleasure ; a 
 bane, and not a blessing ; a misfortune, and not a joy. 
 They even sin against God and nature, rather than be 
 inflicted with the care of them ; to be without them 
 they violate the law of their being, and the very or- 
 dinance of marriage which they have sworn to maintain 
 sacred. They have no fear of God before their eyes, 
 and of course no appreciation of that promise of His 
 word which says, " Happy is the man that hath his 
 quiver full of them." ^ Apart from the personal afflic- 
 tion of a childless state, these good people could look 
 forward with no hope and satisfaction to the preserva- 
 tion of their name and family among men. With them 
 their name would die and their family come to an 
 end. No sons nor sons' sons would rise up in coming 
 generations to call them blessed and preserve blameless 
 the traditions of their honourable lives. The love of 
 posterity and the desire to keep one's name alive on 
 the earth is God-implanted and worthy of cherishing, 
 Zacharias and Elisabeth could not have hoped to be the 
 parents of the Messiah, for He must be born of the 
 house of Judah ; yet they might have hoped that a son 
 born to them should be closely associated with Him for 
 whose coming they were waiting and praying. But their 
 deprivation did not sour them ; it did not lead them 
 to entertain hard and rebellious thoughts in their hearts 
 against God. They had continued in prayer for many 
 years for two things — for the coming of the Consolation 
 of Israel, and for a son. The time had passed accord- 
 
 ' Ps. cxxvii. 5. 
 
1 6 A NOTABLE COUPLE 
 
 ing to nature for the answer to their personal prayer, 
 and they had doubtless given it over years ago ; but 
 that did not prevent or hinder them from earnestly 
 praying day and night for the coming of the Messiah. 
 They continued to serve God with faithful blameless- 
 ness. They had longed for children, but they did not 
 doubt God's goodness. What a beautiful lesson there is 
 in all this for us. We make prayer to God both for the 
 coming of the Kingdom of Christ on earth, for the 
 prosperity of His cause among men ; and we make 
 prayer to God for those things which we personally 
 wish for our own pleasure or for what we esteem to be 
 needful for our best good. If our personal desires are 
 not gratified, we are apt to have hard thoughts against 
 God, to give over praying for His kingdom and glory, 
 and to make our disappointment a reason for ceasing 
 from His service ; thereby showing that we are not the 
 sons of His love and grace, but mere hirelings, working 
 for wages, the prompt payment of which we demand as 
 a condition of our services. Not such servants were 
 Zacharias and Elisabeth. They did not serve God for 
 hire, nor walk before Him for gain. They were the 
 servants of love, and God honoured them for it and 
 in it. 
 
 And now a great surprise was in store for them. A 
 blessing that they had ceased to expect was come to 
 their door. God was about to pension them in their 
 old age with a dowry which would make up for all their 
 years of leanness and disappointment. God had not 
 forgotten their work of faith and labour of love. Their 
 eyes were to behold the coming of the King, and tJuir 
 son, born to them out of the course of nature and in 
 their old age, was to be His herald. Even so will God 
 deal with those who are faithful and true to Him. In 
 this world, or in the next, we shall see all the desire 
 
A NOTABLE COUPLE 17 
 
 of our hearts fulfilled, and much more. Nothing is more 
 certain than that God answers prayer. Only let us 
 remember that His time and our time may not syn- 
 chronize ; and that He has two worlds in which to 
 make good His promises. 
 
 P.B. 
 
II 
 
 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 " For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord." — LuKE i. 15. 
 
 FOUR hundred years had passed away since God 
 had made any visible or audible communication to 
 His people. That was a long hiatus between the last ol 
 the prophets and the appearance of the Angel Gabriel 
 to Zacharias. It was a time during which His people 
 had to live by faith. Yet there were many true hearts 
 who continued to wait upon the Lord, read His word, 
 long for His salvation, and believe His promises. 
 Among these were the faithful Zacharias and his good 
 wife Elisabeth, who were both righteous before God, 
 " walking in all the commandments and ordinances of 
 the Lord blameless." Nor was their faithfulness in vain, 
 for one day while Zacharias was praying beside the altar 
 and offering up incense, there came the angel of God, 
 even Gabriel, and, standing beside him, told him that he 
 had not been forgotten, nor his prayers disregarded. 
 God does not forget, though to our short-sighted im- 
 patience it sometimes seems that He does. He is not 
 unmindful of our faith and prayers, though He tarry 
 long before answering them. The fruit that hangs 
 longest on the tree, drinking in the sunshine slowly, is 
 usually the sweetest. Prayers lose nothing in their 
 answers because they have lain long before the Lord. 
 Such prayers accumulate interest, as did the prayers of 
 Zacharias. Had his prayers been answered when he 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 19 
 
 first made them years before, an ordinary child might 
 have been given him, who would have been nothing 
 different from other children ; but now a child had come 
 to him — the fruit of supernatural power — whose coming 
 should bring joy and gladness to him ; who should be 
 great in the sight of the Lord, and do a wondrous work ; 
 whose influence and power shall endure as long as the 
 world lasts, nay, which shall extend into eternity itself 
 We may well reflect on the matter suggested by this 
 incident ; one full of profit and comfort to ourselves, if 
 we are disposed to question in the least degree the good- 
 ness and faithfulness of God. I am sure that God 
 answers prayer. Nothing in this world is more certain 
 than this. I am sure also that He answers prayer at the 
 best time, and in the best manne7', both for our good and 
 His glory. We should desire nothing — and I trust none 
 of us do — unless it can come to us out of His glory and 
 for His glory. Is it not good for us to remember that 
 all prayers which God answers are " according to the 
 riches of His glory " ? ^ This makes them worth while, 
 and insures to us something of the glory of God out of 
 which they come. No right-thinking christian would 
 for a single moment wish to have any personal desire 
 gratified if it had to be gratified at the cost of diminish- 
 ing the glory of God, or even if it did not tend to in- 
 crease it. In the meantime, let us continue to pray in 
 this spirit, as I am sure Zacharias and Elisabeth did, 
 coupling their request for a child with their constant 
 prayer for the coming of Messiah and the establishment 
 of His kingdom. There is no better argument in prayer 
 than to plead it along with our desire for the glory of 
 God. Let us pray then, and wait patiently, for the 
 Lord's time and way. He will not disappoint us either 
 in granting or withholding our petitions. It must have 
 ' Eph. iii. 16. 
 
20 GREA T IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 thrilled the hearts of these aged people who had waited 
 so long to have heard not only that their prayer was 
 answered, but that their son should " be great in the 
 sight of the Lord," 
 
 I. The Greatness of John the Baptist. " He 
 shall be great in the sight of the Lord." This declara- 
 tion at once sets John the Baptist in contrast with a 
 multitude of men who have been great in the sight of 
 the world. The number of men who have been born 
 great, have achieved greatness, or had greatness thrust 
 upon them in this world, is very considerable ; but, after 
 all, compared with the vast multitudes of men in every 
 rank and condition, they make a very small company. 
 The captains and kings, the philosophers and scientists, 
 the poets and painters, upon whom the world has set 
 the seal of greatness are really very few. A century 
 scarcely produces one of a kind. In comparison with 
 the greatness of any one of them, or all of them, the 
 judgment which is awarded to John the Baptist is a 
 glory which places him before them all. He was 
 "great in the sight of the Lord." Here is a verdict 
 handed down direct from heaven itself, and from God 
 Himself; for it was not the angel's testimony, but that 
 which he was commissioned to give from God. 
 
 Amongst the greatest men who have ever lived in 
 this world have been the prophets ; those men to whom 
 God has spoken, and who in turn have spoken for 
 God ; God's chosen ambassadors ; men like Moses and 
 Samuel, Elijah and David, Isaiah and Ezekiel, and 
 Daniel and Jeremiah ; with whom we should include 
 Noah, Abraham, and Job, of whom the world was not 
 worthy. These were all great with a greatness akin to 
 that of John the Baptist. They were the friends of 
 God, beloved of God, mighty men of valour, men after 
 God's own heart, men concerning whom He has said, 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 21 
 
 " There are none like them in the earth." And yet 
 Jesus said of John, " Among those that are born of 
 women, there is not a greater prophet than John the 
 Baptist." ^ 
 
 His 7vas the only greatness worth having. Because 
 it was a greatness to which God set the seal of His 
 approving judgment. God only knows what true great- 
 ness is, and therefore His judgment is the only judgment 
 worth having. Let me illustrate what I mean. Here 
 are two diamonds, or what appear to be diamonds. 
 They both shine and glow with what seems to be an 
 internal fire. One is larger than the other, and first 
 catches the eye of the beholder ; and most men would 
 choose it out of hand as being the one of greater value. 
 But who shall decide as to their relative worth? At 
 last they are taken to a famous expert in precious 
 stones, and his judgment is that the one which seemed 
 the more valuable is made of paste ; but the other and 
 lesser one is a stone of purest water. The really great 
 stone was not so artistically cut, was not so elaborately 
 set as the paste imposture. It is the real stone that 
 possesses the value. Who would be content with paste, 
 however large and brilliant, when a real stone may be 
 had ? In such a case as this the judgment of the lapi- 
 dary is final. So as between the greatness which most 
 of us snatch at and true greatness, the judgment of 
 God is final. 
 
 The Pharaoh who was contemporary with Moses was 
 one of the greatest kings of the earth ; how much 
 greater in the sight of men than Moses, the foundling 
 slave child, whom the king's daughter adopted and 
 reared in the palace, but who, a few years later, was a 
 fugitive from the palace and the wrath of the king. 
 Yet in the sight of God Moses was greater than Pha- 
 ' Luke vii. 28. 
 
22 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 raoh ; and the verdict of the world to-day is that the 
 man despised by the world in which he lived, but chosen 
 and honoured of God, was greater than his great adver- 
 sary. Where are the Pharaohs, their writings, their 
 laws, their works ? Gone, gone, are they all ; but Moses 
 lives green in the memory of all ages — his great writ- 
 ings are extant and current to-day as never before ; 
 his life, his labours, and the impact of his character 
 have affected for good the nations of the earth for 
 nearly four thousand years. Herod, the great king, 
 was a greater man in the sight of the world than was 
 John the Baptist, the poor prophet-preacher whom he 
 beheaded. The people said he was a god. He was 
 great in the possession of a throne, and worldly power 
 and pomp, and the glitter of regal splendour ; but John 
 was great in the sight of the Lord. The high priests 
 and Jewish senators and doctors were greater in the 
 sight of the world than Jesus, the carpenter's Son, who 
 had not where to lay His head, and whom they accused 
 before Pilate. Pontius Pilate was greater in the sight 
 of the world than Jesus, whom he delivered to be 
 scourged and crucified ; but Jesus, the Man of Naza- 
 reth, was great in the sight of the Lord, for He had 
 this testimony before His birth, " He shall be great " ; 
 and, later on, the word from God out of the heavens, 
 " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " ^ ; 
 and again, " Behold My Servant, whom I uphold ; Mine 
 Elect, in whom My soul delighteth " ^ ; and " Him hath 
 God highly exalted with His right hand to be a Prince 
 and a Saviour." ^ 
 
 Greatness in the sight of tlie Lord carries with it God's 
 
 loving favour. Enoch was regarded by his generation 
 
 as a puritanic exclusivist, because he would not walk in 
 
 the way and order his life according to the course of the 
 
 * Matt. xvii. 5. ^ Isa. xlii. i. ^ Acts v. 31. 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 23 
 
 great antediluvian world, whose great men were " giants 
 in those days," and who filled the world with violence, 
 as a majority of the world's great men have ever done. 
 But Enoch had this testimony, " that he pleased God." ' 
 In the eyes of the world Noah was a cracked-brained 
 visionary and fanatic of whom the people made a mock ; 
 but God distinguished him for his righteousness and 
 the true greatness of his faith, and he found favour with 
 the Lord, and was honoured by being made the new 
 head of the race, who planted the earth again with men, 
 after the judgment of God had swept it bare. His name 
 is included in one of the two small lists of great men 
 mentioned in the scriptures — Noah, Job, and Daniel. 
 Abraham was God's friend. Job was God's pride, of 
 whom He boasted that there was " none like him in the 
 earth." ^ David was a great and much-loved favourite 
 with Jehovah, because his heart was right with God. 
 Yes, I know that David sinned greatly against the 
 Lord, but also that he deeply repented of his sin. God 
 did not cast him away, but forgave him, and continued 
 His favour upon him because he was a great man in 
 His sight ; and greatness in God's sight always means 
 favour — loving favour — from God. He was not so 
 " goodly " a man as Saul, in the judgment of Israel, 
 but he was greater in the sight of the Lord than that 
 splendid hero-king of Israel, chosen after the flesh or 
 according to a worldly judgment of greatness. Daniel 
 was " greatly beloved " of God, and though only a 
 servant of the king of Babylon, was an infinitely greater 
 man. I have selected only a few well-known names 
 with which to illustrate this point ; but there are many 
 thousands of men and women whose names are not 
 known amongst men, and who, of course, have no 
 worldly greatness, and yet " of whom the world is not 
 » Heb. xi. 5. 2 Job i. 8. 
 
24 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE 10 RD 
 
 worthy."^ If we would be great in the sight of the 
 Lord, we must be something as well as do something 
 that will win for us the loving approval of God — His 
 " Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord." ^ A railway porter in America, 
 whose duty it was to stand by the door leading from 
 the waiting-room to the station platform and examine 
 the tickets of the travellers, was beset by a great and 
 pressing throng. It was winter time, and many had put 
 their tickets into their inner pockets and were angry 
 because they had to get them out. In vain they pro- 
 tested that they had their tickets, and abused the porter 
 for his inexorable demand that the tickets be produced. 
 Presently a gentleman (?) came to the gate completely 
 enveloped in fur, and made as though he would pass 
 through without showing his ticket. The porter stopped 
 him with a polite " Your ticket, if you please, sir." 
 " Oh, that is all right ! I have my ticket in my inner 
 coat-pocket, and cannot be bothered to get at it now. 
 I am Mr. Blank ; let me through, I have little time." " I 
 must see your ticket, sir," and straightway the porter 
 interposed himself between the struggling gentleman 
 and the gate. Whereupon the gentleman began to 
 curse and swear at the porter. He, however, was not in 
 the least ruffled, but firmly demanded the ticket, and 
 got it. I said to him afterwards, " You do not appear 
 to be very popular with the ordinary traveller, and yet 
 you do not seem to mind much the abuse which I have 
 heard heaped upon you the last five minutes for simply 
 doing your duty." " No," he replied, " of course I do 
 not enjoy being sworn at , but I do not care what this 
 man or that may think of me, if only I can get and 
 keep the good opinion of the gentleman who sits up 
 yonder (pointing in the direction of the Superintendent's 
 ^ Heb. xi. 38. '^ Matt. xxv. 21. 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 25 
 
 office) — I am indifferent to all others." If only we 
 would be mindful of this, and so live and serve that we 
 may win and keep the approval of our Divine Master — 
 that will be for us true greatness. 
 
 Greatness in God's sight is true greatness, because it is 
 the only enduring greatness. The world's judgment is 
 often wrong, and has to be reversed. Many a man has 
 dazzled the eyes of the world which made haste to pro- 
 claim him great under false apprehension of his worth. 
 A later generation has reversed this first judgment and 
 consigned the yesterday's hero to obscurity or ignominy. 
 The world's judgment is proclaimed with palm leaves 
 and plaudits to-day and to-morrow is fiercely voiced in 
 a murderous cry of " Away with him ! Away with him ! 
 Crucify him ! " ^ A Robespierre is cheered as a patriot 
 to-day and guillotined as a traitor to-morrow by the 
 same world. The world and its judgment and applause 
 and glory passes away and all human greatness fails ; 
 but the greatness which receives the approving judgment 
 of God endures for ever. The glory of Solomon — where 
 is it ? what was it ? His palaces, his hanging gardens, 
 his singing men and his dancing women, his harem, his 
 stables and his horses, his worldly knowledge, his earthly 
 power among the rulers of the world — all that which 
 dazzled the eyes of the world has passed away, and 
 nothing is left to us of Solomon's greatness but the great 
 humility of spirit which characterized him when he was 
 a youth. All the rest — that which made him great in 
 the sight of men — was vanity ; and no one knew it 
 better or confessed it more bitterly than Solomon him- 
 self. The greatness of the Caisars — where is it ? and 
 what is it to the world ? The greatness of Napoleon — 
 where is it? and what is it worth even as a memory? 
 It only excites the execration of all good men. His 
 ' John xix. 15. 
 
26 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 was the greatness of a remorseless ambition guided by 
 an intellect which was Satanic in its fibre. What, in- 
 deed, is the worth of greatness which rests on the 
 approbation of princes and the applause of the world ? 
 I think I can even now hear the lament of Henry's great 
 Cardinal in answer to the question : — 
 
 " Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness ! 
 This is the state of man : To-day he puts forth 
 The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 
 And bears his blushing honours thick upon him : 
 The third day, comes a frost, a killing frost ; 
 And — when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
 His greatness is a-ripening — nips his root, 
 And then he falls, as I do." 
 
 But he who is great in the sight of the Lord, " shall 
 shine as the brightness of the firmament." ^ Nineteen 
 centuries have not dimmed the fame or diminished the 
 greatness of John the Baptist ; rather it is true that the 
 world is steadily moving toward a complete approval 
 and agreement with the judgment of God, and that is a 
 great thing for the world. 
 
 II. In what his Greatness consisted. It is 
 a fond fashion with the world, when some man has 
 achieved a great success in life, in any department — as 
 a preacher, a politician, a lawyer, a statesman, a business 
 man, an author, or an artist — to set to work to find out 
 the secret of his success. It is not an altogether un- 
 worthy inquiry. To know wherein the greatness of any 
 man of real or reputed worth consists is a knowledge 
 worth having. This poet is great because of his human 
 soulfulness, his exquisite pathos and close kinship to 
 men — as was Burns. This one is great because of his 
 profound knowledge of human nature — as was Shake- 
 speare. This one is great because of the purity of his 
 
 * Dan. xii. 3. 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 27 
 
 thou^^ht and the crystalline clearness and beauty of his 
 style and the rhythmic cadence of his metre — as was 
 Tennyson. And this one because of the far-reaching 
 and mystic depths of his penetration — as was Browning. 
 And this one for the sublimity of his theme, the majesty 
 of his language, and the stately movement of his verse — 
 as was Milton. That was a great soldier because of his 
 daring strategy and the swiftness of his movement — as 
 was Napoleon. That one because he knew how to feed, 
 as well as fight, his soldiers — as did Wellington. That 
 one because of the dogged persistency which kept him 
 " pounding away " and prompted him to declare in his 
 famous dispatch, " I propose to fight it out on this line, 
 if it takes all summer" — as did Grant. Among the 
 scientists, speculative and practical, there are many great 
 names — such as Faraday, Tyndall, Huxley, and Spencer. 
 They all have their characteristics of greatness. So 
 among the great preachers, we find one distinguished for 
 his learning and argumentative force ; another is great 
 because of his eloquence ; another because of his fervent 
 piety, and another because of his patient zeal for God, 
 both in and out of the pulpit. Among men who have 
 been great in the sight of the Lord, each one has had 
 his peculiarity of greatness. Job was great because of 
 his unswerving integrity of soul — who would not yield 
 it even to God. Abraham was great because of the un- 
 movable character of his faith. Moses was great because 
 of his love for the people who were committed to his 
 care, and for his reverence and meekness before God. 
 Samuel because of his great-hearted patience with a 
 stiff-necked and rebellious nation, and for his humility 
 before God. David because of his right-heartedness 
 and flaming love for God. Daniel for his loyalty and 
 courage in the midst of his pagan surroundings. Paul 
 for his tireless zeal and unquenchable enthusiasm in 
 
28 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 the service of Christ. I might mention many other 
 examples, but these may suffice, while we turn to John 
 the Baptist and make inquiry into the secret of his 
 greatness. 
 
 It was not in the accidentals of his life and position. 
 It was not in his birth, for although he was honoured in 
 his parentage, that gave him no high standing with the 
 world, because of his calling. It was not in worldly 
 position and patronage, for he had none ; he was a 
 desert prophet and preacher. Nor was it in the power 
 which wealth gives one in this world, for his raiment 
 was of the skin of beasts, and his food locusts and wild 
 honey. It was not in the flattery of his speech, for 
 though he lived on honey, none of it stuck to his tongue 
 to sweeten his words when he denounced the sins of 
 the people. No ; John was not great in the sight of the 
 world ; loved by a few, and hated by the many because 
 of his faithfulness. Nor did his greatness stand in the 
 long years in which he lived to serve the Lord ; for his 
 whole public career was of only half a year's duration. 
 He was murdered at the age of thirty-one because of the 
 hatred of a wicked woman and the weakness of a guilty 
 king whose sins he had reproved. Nor, we may say, 
 was it because of the uniform strength of his faith ; for 
 though he was a saint, he was not a perfect one. 
 Though he were as bold as a lion in the wilderness and 
 on the banks of the Jordan, where he confronted the 
 embodied wickedness of the nation in the persons of the 
 priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians, 
 when in prison his faith failed him, and despair took 
 hold on him. He doubted of the Lord, and his faith 
 swerved as concerning Jesus ; and, like Elijah, his great 
 prototype, he surrendered himself to despondency, if not 
 to despair. This leads me to observe here that all God's 
 great servants were men of like passions and infirmities 
 
GREA T IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 29 
 
 as ourselves. Job, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and David 
 were men great in the sight of the Lord, yet they all 
 had great faults. But the virtues of these men, exercised 
 by grace, were greater than their faults, grave as they 
 were. We seem to despise and pass judgment upon 
 Jacob because of a certain meanness in his character ; 
 but we forget the greatness of his soul in choosing and 
 cleaving fast to the birthright, which redeems him from 
 the pit of his weakness and sins. Elijah had his weak- 
 ness ; so had Jeremiah and Jonah. Peter, Paul, and 
 John were all great men in the sight of the Lord, and 
 yet they were all blemished men. Let no one, therefore, 
 say that true greatness is not within your reach, because 
 of inherent faults and natural weakness of character in 
 this or that direction. 
 
 John's greatness is seen in the voluntary sacrifice of the 
 world. How old John was when he retired to the 
 wilderness we do not know ; but it may be fairly in- 
 ferred that he gave up the world at a time when most 
 young men desire it with fierce enthusiasm. If he was 
 ever in it, he was never of it. He was a Nazarite from 
 his birth. He eschewed all the luxuries of the table ; 
 all the softness of fine raiment ; all the delicate refine- 
 ments of life which are so eagerly desired by the lusts 
 of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life ; 
 in fact, everything which makes the strongest appeals to 
 our natural life. It requires true greatness of soul to do 
 this. Only men and women who have been strongly 
 wrought upon by the Spirit of God can voluntarily 
 sacrifice the seen to the unseen, the natural to the 
 spiritual. Such a man was Abraham, and such men 
 afford the only true types of the christian life. Yet let 
 me be not misunderstood. To give up the world for 
 God, to be a Nazarite, does not necessarily involve the 
 wilderness or the monastery. John had some great sue- 
 
30 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 cessors of this sort in later times, in such men as Francis 
 of Assisi, Bernard of Clairvaux, and other holy and good 
 men, who felt called to imitate him in retiring, in a 
 literal way, from the world and all its associations — 
 even from the ordinary activities of the Church, Yet 
 there have been, and there are still, thousands of souls, 
 some of them poor and obscure, and others living in 
 circumstances of worldly competence and comfort and 
 immersed in all the common activities of life, who have 
 as truly betaken themselves to the wilderness as did 
 John and those others who retired to desert places and 
 lived apart from men. In the world, but not of it, they 
 are leading lives of holy consecration and self-sacrifice 
 for the glory of God and the good and the salvation of 
 men. They are true Nazarites, though they are not 
 dressed in camel's skin, nor feed on locusts and wild 
 honey. Loyal to Christ and devoted to His cause, they 
 are witnessing a good confession in the midst of a 
 crooked and perverse generation. I repeat the declara- 
 tion that it is possible for us to live the true Nazarite 
 life in the place and station in life in which we are 
 called, either in the midst of the family or in the busy 
 activities of the affairs of the world. The world as God 
 has made it is not an evil world, it is the place of 
 ministry and service, and requires and demands in God's 
 name the service of those who are or would be great in 
 the sight of the Lord. But who among us are really 
 great enough to embrace this " high calling " ? 
 
 " What millions died that Caesar might be great." 
 How many of us are dead to the world that God may 
 be great, and that those for whom Christ died may be 
 saved ! 
 
 He %vas great in the endoivvient of the Holy Spirit. 
 " He was filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his 
 mother's womb." His greatness stood not in wealth, or 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 31 
 
 birth, or position, or in the splendour of his genius ; but 
 in that he was filled with all the fulness of God. It is 
 true that this great endowment was God's gift, so far as 
 we know, without having been sought after by John ; 
 but God gives the Holy Ghost " to them that ask Him," 
 and yet when the Spirit is given He may be so grieved 
 and quenched as to amount to rejection. John was not 
 a mere passive recipient, but the active and voluntary 
 partner of the Holy Spirit. He chose God's choice for 
 him in this matter, even as zve may inherit what we 
 choose in this respect. Measured by this standard of 
 greatness, who are the great ones in our congregation ? 
 Those who have wealth, position, great abilities, and 
 large influence of a worldly kind only ; or those who, 
 known or unknown, are true Nazarites, who have volun- 
 tarily renounced the world, its ambition and its pride, 
 and are filled with the Holy Ghost? The humblest 
 disciple may have this great endowment. Thank God 
 there are some gifts which cannot be monopolized b}' 
 the rich and great of this world. We may be great in 
 the sight of the world and totally unknown by the world. 
 There is an aristocracy of spiritual power and service to 
 which the king and the peasant may alike belong. I 
 would rather have the endowment which Billy Bray, the 
 Cornwall miner had, than the greatness of the greatest 
 kingdom of this world. 
 
 John was great in his profound humility. With great 
 spiritual gifts there is always a temptation to spiritual 
 pride ; a temptation so subtle that if there be ever so 
 small a break in the joints of our spiritual harness, the 
 enemy will get home one of his fiery darts. John closed 
 all such breaks by his profound humility. " Who art 
 thou ? " asked the commission from the Sanhedrim. " I 
 am the voice of one crying in the wilderness." ^ Nothing 
 ' John i. 23. 
 
32 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 and nobody in himself, but only a voice belonging to 
 Another, who was greater than he. How nobly and 
 humbly he served his Lord ! " He must increase, but I 
 must decrease." ^ " Whose shoe's latchet I am not 
 worthy to unloose." ^ There is nothing more trying to 
 human nature than to see another come before us and 
 displace us in the admiration and affection of those who 
 erstwhile crowded our ministry ; and yet John rejoiced 
 in the coming and the increasing greatness of Jesus, and 
 was glad to be set aside for His sake after a brief but 
 brilliant ministry. He was happy in being the friend of 
 the bridegroom and glad in the joy of his Lord. 
 
 Jo/m was great hi his faithfulness. First as a preacher 
 of the gospel. I have read many sermons preached by 
 men of distinguished talent. The reviews have spoken 
 of them as marvels of learning and spiritual insight ; 
 and so I have bought and read their books. As litera- 
 ture and depositaries of learning they are great. I have 
 read them, have laid them down with a sigh, because it 
 is not my gift or ability to write such books or preach 
 such sermons. Yet, after all, it has occurred to me that 
 they are very unlike the sermons, both in matter and 
 manner, which John the Baptist preached. How faith- 
 ful in matter, how rugged in manner was John ! He 
 began his ministry by preaching repentance, and faith in 
 the coming Messiah. How faithfully and fearlessly he 
 rebuked the sins of the Pharisees and the Sadducees \ 
 He set judgment clearly before them, and warned them 
 of the levelling axe and the winnowing fan. He was as 
 fearless in denouncing the adultery of Herod as he was 
 gentle in welcoming to his baptism the repentant pub- 
 licans and sinners. As soon as Jesus appeared he 
 changed this theme, and twice in one day preached from 
 the text, " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away 
 * John iii. 30. ^ John i. 27. 
 
GREAT IN THE SIGH 7 OF THE LORD 33 
 
 the sin of the world." ^ He was no wild socialist, pan- 
 dering to the passions of the lower orders against the 
 privileges of the upper classes. He was a conservator 
 of law and order, counselling the soldiers to do violence 
 to no man, and to be content with their wages. To 
 handle the great themes of revelation faithfully and 
 reverently, to be fearless and faithful before the great, 
 and tender and gentle yet faithful toward the weak and 
 lowly, is to be truly great in the sight of the Lord, as a 
 preacher of His gospel. 
 
 If you say that it is not your calling to be a preacher 
 of the gospel, and that it is only in some public trust 
 that one may be great in the sight of the Lord, I say, 
 ''Not so!" It is possible that you may not be possessed 
 of the burning and fiery eloquence of John, you may 
 not be able to draw thousands to the river side, kings 
 may not come to hear you or invite you to their private 
 chapels to preach to them ; but you may still cherish 
 and teach the great truths which John taught, and be 
 as faithful as he was in the discharge of your trust. 
 Your congregation may be no larger than the number of 
 children about your own knees, or in your own house ; 
 your husband or wife ; your Sunday school class, or the 
 fellow-servants in the house or shop where your duty 
 and calling lie, or that friend and neighbour with whom 
 you have such close relations. You may be the fathers 
 and mothers of great and good men because of your 
 faithfulness to your sons in things pertaining to God. 
 How many women, like the mother of Wesley, mothers 
 in Israel, whose biographies have never been written, 
 who have lived and died in some shepherd's cot on 
 the lonely mountain-side, or in some obscure place in the 
 great cities, have sent forth their sons, reared and trained 
 in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, 
 
 ' John i. 29. 
 P.B. 3 
 
34 GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD 
 
 to do God's service. This is to be great in the sight 
 of the Lord. 
 
 Nor is it in these directions only that one may be 
 great in the sight of the Lord. One may be great in 
 faith as the centurion was, or as the Syrophenician 
 woman, who, when put to a severe trial, stood the test ; 
 when opposed, wrestled ; when rebuffed, still persisted 
 until she gained her cause. Or you may be great in 
 your beneficence, as the poor widow was who gave her 
 two mites — all her living — to the Lord. In this field 
 there is a large opportunity for many christians. You 
 may be great in love, as the woman was who broke 
 the alabaster box of spikenard, a precious and costly 
 ointment, upon the feet of the Lord, and filled all the 
 place with its perfume. There is much need of great 
 christians who shall fill the world with the perfume 
 of their devotion to Christ. I might easily multiply 
 ways and openings for the culture and development of 
 true greatness. I assure you there is ample opportunity 
 for the cultivation of greatness in our congregations. 
 
 John was great in tlie mission he discharged and the 
 zvork he accomplished. He was the forerunner of Christ, 
 and announced His coming. " He was a burning and 
 a shining light," ^ which lighted men to Christ. His 
 ministry among men was beneficent and gracious. He 
 turned many to righteousness. He reconciled families. 
 He rescued many a lost and hopeless soul. In all these 
 respects we may, in a measure, be his imitators ; for 
 it is given us to be lights in the world and the ministers 
 of salvation to lost sinners. For myself, I covet this 
 kind of greatness ; and though I cannot thrust it upon 
 you, I long that you may seek after it and possess it. 
 
 ' John V. 35. 
 
Ill 
 
 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 " Whereby shall I know this ? for I am an old man, and my wife 
 well stricken in years."^ — Luke i. i8. 
 
 IN this incident we have an exceedingly interesting 
 example of the unbeh'ef of a good man, the indig- 
 nation of the angel of God, and the consequences of his 
 unbelief to himself The whole situation is dramatic 
 and poetic, as are all the incidents recorded by Luke. 
 
 On the first reading of this story we are forcibly 
 reminded of the almost parallel case of Abraham and 
 Sarah, who in the days of their old age, long after the 
 time when, according to nature, they could expect such 
 a blessing, God promised them a child. In both cases 
 the promise of God was doubted by one of these old 
 couples. In the case of Abraham and his wife, it was 
 the woman who doubted and the man who believed. In 
 the case of Zacharias and Elisabeth, it was the man who 
 doubted and the woman who believed. In the account 
 given of this concerning Abraham, we are told that both 
 he and Sarah laughed when the promise came ; but 
 Abraham, it is evident, laughed with the gladness of 
 faith, while Sarah laughed in the derision of unbelief at 
 the bare thought of such a thing. Laughter does not 
 always mean the same thing. One may laugh with 
 joy and another may laugh with scorn. When Jesus 
 assured the people that the little maid whom He came 
 to heal was not dead, but sleeping, they laughed Him to 
 
36 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 scorn. ^ But wherefore should we doubt because accord- 
 ing to nature or experience a promise of God seems to 
 us to be beyond fulfilment ? " Is anything too hard for 
 the Lord ? " ^ There are some other interesting similar- 
 ities and differences suggested both in close and remote 
 connection with the case of Zacharias. Abraham asked 
 God for a sign ; that is, something whereby he might 
 know that he should inherit the blessing which God had 
 promised him. But this was not an unbelieving request. 
 It was rather the request of one who wished something 
 by which his faith and conduct might be guided. So, a 
 little later, when the angel went to Mary and announced 
 to her that she had been chosen of God to be the mother 
 of the Saviour, she asked, " How shall this be, seeing I 
 know not a man ? " ^ It should seem from this that 
 Mary was as unbelieving as Zacharias. But a closer 
 study of the two cases reveals the fact that Mary's 
 question was the inquiry of innocent curiosity as to how 
 God could do such a wonder ; there was in her question 
 no unbelief. Whereas in the case of Zacharias there 
 was downright unbelief, and a demand that the promise 
 or declaration of the angel should be endorsed by some 
 supernatural sign. Zacharias was a " seeker after signs " 
 in that sense which is so reprehended in God's word, and 
 for which he was severely chastened. 
 
 There is nothing more offensive to God than unbelief 
 in His people, especially in those who by reason of know- 
 ledge and years of experience ought to have better 
 thoughts of God than to doubt His word. It is true 
 that God does not cast off His people for their moment- 
 ary lapses of faith, nor cease to be merciful to them. 
 He still fulfils His purposes of grace toward them ; 
 though He sometimes shows His just displeasure and 
 
 * Luke viii. 52. '■^ Gen. xviii. 14. ^ Luke i. 34. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 37 
 
 wise discipline by causing the unbelieving believer to 
 suffer a severe penalty. In all this there is comfort and 
 profound instruction. Comfort, because the conscious- 
 ness of our unbelief has often filled us with the fear that 
 great promises which contain all grace for us will not 
 now be fulfilled. But God is merciful. Zacharias 
 doubted ; and yet the angel, while announcing the 
 visitation of an afflictive punishment upon him, also 
 announced that the glad tidings which he had doubted 
 should yet be fulfilled. We are not, however, to take 
 advantage of God's mercy in this respect to sin pre- 
 sumptuously in the matter of unbelief. Rather we 
 should understand that these things God has shown us 
 are to induce faith and not to condone unbelief. 
 
 It is interesting also to note this fact. Zacharias had 
 or many years continued his prayer before God for a 
 son, until perhaps of late years, moved by considerations 
 of old age, he and his good wife had ceased further to 
 urge the matter, and had long since given up hope. 
 God had waited long, and had in the meantime been 
 silent, giving no sign that the prayer had even been 
 heard in heaven, much less entertained ; but now, on a 
 sudden, an angel comes and says, " Zacharias, thy prayer 
 is heard." How long God waits sometimes ! How it 
 seems to us that He has not heard at all, that He does 
 not care, that it is no use to pray, and we give over and 
 say, " Well, at least it is now past possibility of being 
 answered. I am an old man, and my wife also is well 
 stricken with age " ! And yet God has not forgotten ; 
 but in His own time of wisdom and grace brings forth 
 the answer. On the other hand, note how swift God 
 is to answer unbelieving prayers. " Whereby shall I 
 know this ? " asked Zacharias in unbelief ; and swift as 
 thought — no sooner were the words out of his mouth — 
 the answer came : " Thou shalt be dumb, and not able 
 
38 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 to speak, until the day that these things be performed." ^ 
 Since unbeHef is so serious a matter, and since we are 
 all more or less prone to its indulgence, let me try to 
 expose its root and some of its branches ; and, later, 
 endeavour to point out the cure for this fell evil, 
 
 I. The Source and Root of Unbelief. Za- 
 charias was a true believer in God and in the covenant 
 which He had made centuries before with His people. 
 Moreover, he was a good man, being " righteous before 
 God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances 
 of the Lord blameless." Yet, strange to say, though he 
 had persevered in his faith throughout the long years 
 of his life, without a sign from God of any kind, the 
 moment an angel straight from the presence of God 
 comes, stands by his side, and declares the gracious ful- 
 filment of his prayers, he is seized with doubt, and 
 demands security for the angel's word. We often hear 
 christians and others say, "If only God would give me 
 something tangible to take hold of; if only I could see 
 something out of the invisible world ; if only I could 
 hear something — a voice out of heaven ; if an angel 
 would appear to me ; if the dead would rise and come 
 to me ; if I might be favoured as Peter, James, and 
 John were on the Holy Mount ; — then I would have no 
 difficulty in believing. Now, why does not God help 
 me in some such way as this ? " — as if God were really to 
 blame for their doubts and unbelief And yet what do 
 we find ? That, of old, God did thus deal with His 
 people. From the time of Abraham's call down to the 
 captivity, God spake to His people by signs and won- 
 ders. Wonders in Egypt ; wonders in the desert ; won- 
 ders in the land. Angels came and went and spake 
 with them as familiar guests ; the hosts of the Lord 
 encamped about them and fought their battles ; prophets 
 ' Luke i. 20. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 39 
 
 spoke to them, and confirmed their messages with signs 
 and wonders ; the heavens withheld the rain, and then 
 again poured it down in floods at the word of the pro- 
 phet of God ; fire fell from heaven and consumed the 
 sacrifice on the mount, in the very eyes of the people, 
 who were halting between two opinions, doubtful 
 whether Baal or Jehovah were God ! And, after all, 
 what came of it ? The people sank lower and lower in 
 unbelief, until God carried them all away into captivity, 
 there to discipline them with sorrow and suffering, until, 
 zvithout signs and wonders, they began to believe the 
 word of God alone, and plead that word with confession 
 of sin, humiliation of person, and many bitter prayers. 
 
 In Zacharias we have a remarkable instance of the 
 perversity of the human heart in this respect. Zacharias 
 had all his life been a steadfast believer in God, without 
 sign or wonder to help his faith. For centuries God 
 had been silent ; not even a prophet had spoken ; there 
 was no Shekinah glory in the Holy of Holies ; there 
 were no Urim and Thummim ; but silence always, and 
 a blank and unopen heaven above him. And yet he 
 believed God, served Him blamelessly in all His ordi- 
 nances and commandments. He had so far no extraneous 
 helps to his faith. Behold, now God sends an angel to 
 him — and that angel is Gabriel — with a message that 
 his faith, so long steadfast, was about to be rewarded in 
 the answer of his most cherished hope ; and forthwith 
 he meets this supernatural messenger with distrust, and 
 doubts the truth of his message. He could believe God 
 and serve Him faithfully witJwnt an answer to his 
 prayers ; but he could not believe Him in the answer 
 to his prayers, even though an angel from heaven had 
 been sent to assure and comfort him. Gabriel comes to 
 assure him of God's favour, and forthwith he demands a 
 sign. Could anything be more perverse than this ? In 
 
40 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 this connection we are reminded of the words of our 
 Lord put into the mouth of Abraham in his answer to 
 the prayer of Dives for one to be sent from the dead to 
 warn his brethren " lest they also come into this place 
 of torment." And Abraham said unto him, " They have 
 Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they 
 hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
 persuaded, though one rose from the dead." ^ From 
 this we learn that unbelief does not arise from lack of 
 evidence, but rather from other causes, as a lack of will, 
 or a secret and determined opposition in the affections 
 to God. 
 
 The filial cause of unbelief is sin ; and arises out of an 
 " evil heart of unbelief " ; not from any lack of knowledge 
 or deficiency of reason, either in the subjective or objec- 
 tive meaning of that word. " O fools, and slow of heart 
 to believe all that the prophets have spoken." - Sin 
 had its rise in the human heart through a doubt of 
 God's word and of His goodness. " Yea, hath God 
 said ? " was Satan's first word of attack. Then he 
 followed that up with " For God doth know." ^ In the 
 one case Satan impeaches God's revelation, and in the 
 other His goodness. As though he had said to the 
 woman, " Are you sure God has said, Thou shalt not 
 eat of the tree of knowledge, lest ye die ? He has not 
 said so, and thou shalt not surely die." Or : " Even 
 if God has said. Thou shalt not eat of the fruit, He has 
 done so through jealousy of you : for He doth not wish 
 you to become wise ; but would withhold from you the 
 best gifts." Is it not just after this fashion that Satan 
 tempts to-day ? First, " Are you sure the Bible is 
 true ? " And after that, " Even suppose it to be true 
 (which it is not), it is not good to live a christian life. 
 To do so is to deprive yourself of that which is pleasant 
 
 ' Luke xvi. 31. - Luke xxiv. 25. ^ Gen. iii. i, 5. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 41 
 
 to the eye and the taste ; and hinders highest and best 
 knowledge." Thus did sin enter into the world through 
 the door of doubt and unbelief ; thus it continues in the 
 world ; and thus even believers are cursed with doubts 
 entertained and unbelief indulged. One of the frightful 
 penalties of unbelief is that it corrupts the heart with its 
 poison ; so that it becomes " an evil heart of unbelief," 
 and loses the power of faith. Just as drunkenness 
 creates a thirst for more drink, which, instead of quench- 
 ing, only adds more thirst, so it is with unbelief. The 
 penalty of unbelief is a disposition to doubt. Therefore 
 the exhortation, " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in 
 any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing 
 from the living God." ^ 
 
 II. PROVOCATION.S TO UNBELIEF. 
 
 I. The fact that tve are not accustomed to deal pract'.- 
 cally with the unseen ivorld. We speculate and theorize 
 about it, and believe in our theories. But believing in a 
 theory or in an article of faith no more meets the real 
 wants of the soul than does a printed bill of fare satisfy 
 the hungry man. A man does not dine on a bill of fare. 
 Yet many believers are vainly trying to live on their 
 articles of faith. They deal with the proposition rather 
 than with the things proposed. Our intelligence and 
 reason may carry us midway between earth and heaven, 
 but cannot take us into the heavenlies themselves, nor 
 put us into possession of the things which " eye hath not 
 seen nor ear heard," but " which God has prepared for 
 them that love Him."^ It is only the spirit of man 
 trained to familiarity with spiritual realities which en- 
 ables us to deal v/ith God practically and at close 
 quarters. A faith which does not turn unseen into sub- 
 stantial realities ; which does not introduce the soul to 
 the '■ powers of the world to come " ; which does not 
 ' Heb. iii. 12. "^ I Cor. ii. 9. 
 
42 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 bring heaven down to earth ; which does not carry the 
 soul into heaven with Christ, is not a faith that will 
 believe in the presence of the supernatural. Zacharias 
 had believed God, and in God, all his life. He had been 
 a faithful servant of God, in the offices of personal relig- 
 ion, such as prayer and praise ; in the public offices of 
 religion, such as serving the altar of the temple ; in prac- 
 tical righteousness, such as " walking before God and man 
 in all the ordinances and commandments blameless " ; 
 but the moment the unseen became seen, and, as it were, 
 the supernatural became natural, then, instead of his faith 
 flaming up into a glorious conflagration, it died down 
 into cold ashes of doubt and unbelief He doubted if 
 the angel before him was sent from God, and asked for 
 credentials. The supernatural had come before him, and 
 he doubted its reality or genuineness. How many times 
 we have asked of God certain things, and when they 
 have come to us we were disposed to say (in unbelief), 
 '■ This would have happened in any case " ! 
 
 2. Because we are fiot certain of the messenger of the 
 iinseen. In all probability, when Zacharias saw Gabriel 
 standing by his side, he did not recognise him as the 
 angel of God. He probably thought him to be onl)- 
 a man. He doubtless did wonder how any man came 
 to be standing there in the Holy Place, which was not 
 lawful for any but the priests. And why should he 
 have recognised him as the angel of God ? If I am not 
 mistaken, in all the appearances of angels recorded in 
 the Old and New Testaments there is no evidence that 
 in outward appearance they differed from ordinary men, 
 though I fancy the}' must have been wondrously fine- 
 looking men. It is only artists who portray angels 
 bathed in supernatural light, supplemented with wings, 
 and represent them as females. The Bible always speaks 
 of angels as being " men," and on their first appearance 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 43 
 
 they are never attended with any outward evidence of 
 the supernatural. When Joshua saw " the captain of the 
 Lord's host " standing before Jericho, he mistook him for 
 an ordinary military chieftain, and straightway went up 
 to him and demanded on whose side he had drawn his 
 sword. He did not know that it was the Angel of the 
 Lord. When the three angels appeared before Abra- 
 ham's tent at Mamre, the patriarch did not recognise 
 them as angels, but only as men on a journey, to whom 
 he made haste to offer hospitality. It was not until they 
 had communicated their message to him and to Sarah 
 that they were revealed in their true characters. Neither 
 did Lot recognise the two angels who came to rescue 
 him from Sodom ; nor did the Sodomites distinguish 
 them as being other than men, whom they would have 
 defiled. Peter did not at first recognise the man as an 
 angel who came and delivered him out of the prison. 
 When the women went early to the sepulchre of the 
 Lord and saw the angels there, they seemed to them 
 but two men in white robes. Nay, when a moment after 
 Jesus stood before Mary, she did not recognise Him as 
 her Lord, but supposed Him to have been the gardener. 
 The disciples on their way to Emmaus did not at first 
 recognise the risen Lord, but supposed Him to have 
 been a stranger passing through the country, ignorant 
 of the great events of the past few days. Is there not in 
 all this a wonderful lesson ? The supernatural is veiled 
 to us in the natural. Angels appear as men — nay ! are 
 we not told : " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, 
 for thereby some have entertained angels unawares " ? ^ 
 We are in the habit of associating the supernatural with 
 the marvellous, especially with the outwardly marvellous. 
 When the greatest supernatural event of all time occurred 
 in this world, it came in form and to outward appearance 
 ' Heb. xiii. 2. 
 
44 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 as natural as that of the birth of a peasant child ; and 
 yet that Babe of Bethlehem was the Eternal Word of 
 God incarnate in human nature. If this mightiest and 
 greatest supernatural manifestation of the Eternal and 
 Unseen came clothed in the natural, then may we not 
 expect that there is less difference between what we call 
 the natural and the supernatural than we have supposed ? 
 Men are demanding some supernatural manifestation of 
 the unseen, and behold the supernatural is all around us 
 and before our eyes every day, and we do not recognise 
 it. We have become so accustomed to count everything 
 seen as being purely natural that we have ceased to see 
 God in anything, and have remanded Him to some region 
 of the imagination, or resolved Him quite out of the 
 universe. We study the laws of the universe, and con- 
 template the working of what we call Nature ; but so 
 intently do we consider second causes that we often fail 
 to recognise in these natural phenomena the First Cause. 
 Thus it is that certain scientists, by constantly dwelling 
 upon the material shadows, have altogether lost sight of 
 the immaterial substance of things. Because Gabriel 
 was so like a man, Zacharias could not recognise him 
 as an angel. He doubted the messenger because he 
 was to appearance too human. 
 
 May I venture to apply this tJiongJit a little further ? 
 God does not now send angels to communicate with us 
 concerning Himself and His purposes, but has given us, 
 once for all, a written word, in which He has both 
 recorded for our profit and understanding all the former 
 manifestations of Himself and the unseen world to His 
 servants, and also all His promises and purposes toward 
 us. Now, this Bible stands before us as did Gabriel, 
 saying to us, " Thy prayer is answered ! " But we are 
 doubting the authority as well as the authenticity of the 
 Bible. It seems to some of us merely a human, just a 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 45 
 
 natural book. A great volume containing the writings 
 of Moses, David, Isaiah, Peter, James, John, and Paul. 
 This, say the naturalists, is not the word of God, it is 
 only Hebrew literature ! It is not an angel, only a 
 man ! For how can such a natural thing as this Bible 
 be of supernatural origin ? They might as well say, 
 and they do say, how can so natural a thing as the sun, 
 or the moon, or the stars be of supernatural origin ? 
 They are not of divine creation, but of natural evolution ; 
 not supernatural because familiar. The temptation is 
 like this. " How am I to know when I read the promises 
 in the Bible whether I am reading God's promises, or 
 merely the words of men ? How was Zacharias to know 
 that Gabriel was an angel, and not a man ? Is it not 
 so with our own spiritual experiences ? ' The Spirit 
 itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the 
 children of God ' ; ^ but how am I to know that this 
 profound conviction is of the Spirit, and not the result 
 of my own natural imagination ? " The work of the Holy 
 Spirit so veils itself under and in the natural powers 
 and characteristics of men that He is scarcely perceived 
 even by the spiritually-minded. The most precious 
 experiences of our Christian lives, from our conversion 
 to the latest thrill of the joy of salvation, sometimes 
 seem to us, especially in moments of coldness and 
 scepticism, to be only the results of some natural 
 religious enthusiasm, or the effect of some magnetic 
 human influence. When God answers prayers, as I have 
 once before said, it seems to us that these answers are 
 all brought about by natural causes. Ishmael was perish- 
 ing for water, and God answered the anguished Hagar's 
 prayer for her son by pointing out a well of water near 
 by. Was that less an answer to prayer because the well 
 was already there, and God only opened her eyes to see 
 ^ Rom. viii. i6. 
 
46 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 or directed her to the place where it was ? Was it any 
 the less an answer to the prayer of Elijah for rain 
 because the rain-cloud began to rise on the horizon as 
 at other times, at first no bigger than a man's hand, and 
 then filled all the heavens as with a fountain, and poured 
 down its wealth of waters upon the earth ? Must God 
 never make use of the natural in order to make manifest 
 the supernatural ? Was Jesus Christ our Lord any the 
 less the transcendent Son of God because He was born 
 of a human virgin ? Nay, rather is not this the glory of 
 the supernatural that it is so closely associated with the 
 natural ? May not this be one of the joyful surprises of 
 the future, that the natural and the supernatural will be 
 so perfectly blended that there will be only a difference 
 in the degree of glory which will break upon our 
 astonished eyes ; so that when we shall come into 
 heaven we shall exclaim, " How glorious ! but oh, how 
 deliciously natural it all is ! " We look for signs and 
 wonders, but God meantime reveals Himself to us in the 
 most natural way. At Cana of Galilee Jesus was there 
 an almost unrecognised guest ; a poor relation, perhaps, 
 of the family who gave the feast. Another master, or 
 ruler, sat at the head of the table ; but, unknown and 
 unrecognised as Jesus was, He was the true ruler of the 
 feast, supplying all their need, and " manifesting forth 
 His glory." ^ In all this there is great comfort, at least, 
 to my own soul, and I trust also to yours. Let us not 
 doubt the messengers of God because they seem to us to 
 be but human. 
 
 3. Because the things promised of God are out of the 
 ordinary course of nature. Strangely enough, while we 
 are denying the supernatural, because it so often appears 
 as the natural, we deny that God can fulfil to us any 
 promise that involves any power or event transcending 
 ' John ii. II. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 47 
 
 the natural. The paramount objection of agnostic 
 science is that God cannot answer prayer because 
 nothing can happen out of the ordinary or observed 
 course of nature ; and whatever does happen has come 
 to pass in regular sequence, and not as a special inter- 
 position. Even though we are believers, we have all 
 more or less been influenced by this rule of natural 
 science. We have assumed that we have made final 
 observations, and know all there is to know about nature 
 and God's relations to it ; that God cannot do anything 
 extraordinary ; that He is a voluntary prisoner in His 
 own world, manacled by laws which He made not to 
 use, but to limit His power. O shame upon us, for such 
 low thoughts of God ! Abraham once fell into this 
 narrow line of thinking when he said, " Shall a child be 
 born unto him that is an hundred years old ; and shall 
 Sarah that is ninety years old bear ? " ^ Happily his 
 faith triumphed over this momentary philosophical 
 scepticism. So Zacharias fell into the same error of 
 thinking when he unbelievingly opposed the fact of his 
 age and that of his wife to the promise of God. He had 
 forgotten God's answer to the unbelief of Sarah : " Is 
 anything too hard for the Lord ? " ^ Mary wondered in 
 her innocent and pure heart how she could conceive 
 without knowing a man ; a very natural opposing of the 
 limitations of human knowledge to the supernatural 
 resources of God. Thomas said he would not believe 
 the resurrection of the Lord on the testimony of his 
 brethren, because the thing seemed not only incredible, 
 but impossible. Thus, by our constant habit of limiting 
 the Almighty in His actions to the sphere of our know- 
 ledge and experience, we dishonour Him and give 
 ourselves as prisoners over to doubt and the devil. 
 
 4. Because we have forguttcn God's dealings in the 
 ' Gen. xvii. 17. ^ Gen. xviii. 14. 
 
48 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 past. Had Zacharias really remembered the story of 
 Abraham or believed it in other than an academic way, 
 instead of demanding a sign, he would have broken forth 
 into joyful thanksgiving, saying, " And will God indeed 
 do unto me as He did for His servant Abraham of old ? " 
 Is not the whole Old Testament record a magnificent 
 testimony to the supernatural power of God ? Is not its 
 every promise based on this, " The things which are im- 
 possible with men, are possible with God " ? ^ " How can 
 these things be ? " ^ said Nicodemus. " Art thou a 
 master of Israel, and knowest not these things ? " ^ We 
 think we shall suffer need because we have forgotten 
 how the five thousand were fed. We fall into terror 
 before new difficulties because we have forgotten how in 
 times past God has delivered and helped us. We have 
 either not erected an Ebenezer or, having done so, have 
 forgotten all about it. There is no better passage of 
 scripture for us to call to mind : " Hitherto the Lord 
 hath helped us." ^ For in this Ebenezer there lies a 
 promise and guarantee of future help as well as a record 
 of past deliverance. It was one of God's constant com- 
 plaints against the ancient people that they had such 
 short memories. Present fear or anxiety seems to 
 paralyze our memories so that we run not back to gather 
 up security from the past. The Hebrews forgot the 
 wonders in Egypt as soon as they were hemmed in by 
 the sea before them and Pharaoh behind them, even 
 though the Cloudy Pillar was present with them. They 
 forgot God again at the waters of Marah, almost before 
 the echoes of the triumphant song of Miriam over the 
 destruction of the hosts of Pharaoh in the Red Sea had 
 ceased sounding in their ears. They forgot all these 
 wonders in the wilderness, and became unbelieving con- 
 cerning water and food, and the will and power of God 
 ' Luke xviii. 37. ^ John ill, 9. ^ Ibid. iii. 10. ■• i Sam. vii. 12. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 49 
 
 to give them the promised land. So they fell away into 
 unbelief and rebellion — and death. The disciples forgot 
 all the sayings of Jesus concerning His resurrection from 
 the dead, and so were unbelieving when the event tran- 
 spired. But for this forgetfulness Thomas would not 
 have asked for a physical proof of the resurrection. If 
 Zacharias had remembered how God had dealt with 
 Abraham and Sarah, he would not have said in unbelief 
 " Whereby shall I know this ? " How often in his epistle 
 does Peter seek to stir up our minds to the remem- 
 brances of God's precious promises. If we would avoid 
 unbelief, then let us call to mind the former things of 
 God — His past faithfulness in giving, and in fulfilling 
 promises alike to ourselves and to others. Even though 
 you be newly converted and have had no great ex- 
 perience of His faithfulness concerning promises, yet you 
 need only to ask other christians and they will tell you 
 how true God is, though He sometimes tarries long. 
 But is not your own conversion a pledge to your faith ? 
 
 5. Because of excessive anxiety and selfishness. In our 
 haste and impatience we forget the power and resources 
 of God ; and remembering, we would bind Him down to 
 our ways and thoughts. " Come down, ere my child 
 die." ^ How the impatience of this nobleman's unbelief 
 contrasted with the splendid faith of the centurion, who 
 said, " Speak the word only, and my servant shall be 
 healed." ^ Jesus said to the nobleman, " Unless ye see 
 signs and wonders, ye will not believe." Nothing 
 hinders faith more than a spirit of selfishness and im- 
 patience. So it often comes to pass that if God does 
 not answer at once we fall into unbelief, and question 
 both His power and His goodness. But has God 
 nothing to do in this universe but to attend to our 
 immediate demands ? To recur to a former thought : 
 ' John iv. 49. '^ Matt. viii. 8. 
 
 P.B. 4 
 
50 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 we pray for the speedy coming of Christ, and are bidden 
 to " hasten " that day ; ^ and yet He has not come, and 
 why ? Because though God has not forgotten iis. He 
 still remembers the zvorld. So He may delay fulfilling 
 His promise and answering our prayers, because the sal- 
 vation of others may be hindered by the event we seek 
 for ourselves. Would it not be more becoming in us to 
 consider that we are but one of many ? Our immediate 
 interests may be supreme to us ; but then, though God 
 counts the hairs of our head for minuteness of His care, 
 yet we belong to the whole family and are members one 
 of another, and it may not be wise or best to deal with 
 one member until all are ready for the blessing in which 
 they too may be involved. We grow selfish, and sup- 
 pose that the only in.terests in the kingdom of God 
 worth attention are those which affect us. The Hebrew 
 children were confident that God could deliver them out 
 of the fiery furnace, and that He would deliver them if 
 that were best for them and His glory ; but in any case 
 they would not worship the image, and left the issue of 
 the conflict to God. They did not lose faith because 
 they were cast in the furnace, and therefore there was 
 the Form of the Fourth walking with them. Had they 
 been selfish and impatient, He could not have come, and 
 the fire would have kindled upon them. If you would 
 escape the sin of unbelief, beware of dealing selfishl}- 
 with God. 
 
 6. Because zve are iinivilling to obey God's command. 
 Much unbelief arises from this cause. Moses was reall)- 
 unwilling to give up the quiet repose of the wilderness 
 and go forth to the excitement and hardships of con- 
 troversy and war. Therefore he said, " They will not 
 believe me," ~ and practically asked for a sign. It is 
 often so with us. P'aith and obedience are .so closely 
 ^ 2 Pet. iii. 12. ' Exod. i.\. i. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 51 
 
 allied that we cannot embrace the one without the 
 other ; and so it comes to pass that rather than obey 
 God we will doubt Him. 
 
 7. Because^ sometimes, of a real sense of tmwortJdness 
 and of sin. That God should do great things for us 
 who are so unworthy, and especially who have so sinned 
 against Him, passes our power of belief. That is 
 because we do not know and trust His great grace. 
 Gideon felt his insignificance in presence of the commis- 
 sion brought by the angel ; therefore he doubted. Eli- 
 sabeth said, " Whence is this to me ? " ^ and Mary said, 
 " He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden."- 
 So we often doubt because of a sense of insignificance 
 and a knowledge of sinful unworthiness before God. 
 We do not understand the infinite and boundless gener- 
 osity of God's grace. Study again the profound principle 
 underlying that great test which Jesus put to the Jews, 
 " If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know;"^ that 
 is, he shall have a faith that shall be to him as know- 
 ledge. Faith is knowledge — assurance. Think what 
 might have been the disaster to this world had not Mary 
 obeyed the voice of the angel and said, " Behold the 
 handmaiden of the Lord ; be it unto me according to 
 thy word." "^ True, hers was a negative obedience ; yet 
 it was truest obedience. Now, to love God is to keep 
 His commandments, and to believe God is to observe 
 and do them. When faith as an emotion or a power of 
 the mind seems not to be in exercise, or when doubt 
 rises to usurp the throne of your will, then do thou at 
 once begin to obey God with all thy heart in the things 
 that lie next to thy hand, and verily thou shalt be kept 
 from the power of unbelief; otherwise not. Nothing 
 brings in unbelief like the neglect of duty. Half the 
 
 ^ Luke i. 43. '■' Luke i. 48. 
 
 3 John vii. 17 (R.V.). ' Luke i. 38. 
 
52 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 unbelief of God's people is just the other side of their 
 careless living and life of daily disobedience. 
 
 8. Because of deep depression of spirit and the indulgence 
 of Jiard tho7ights against God, it seems to us that God has 
 treated us badly. That He has forgotten us ; that He 
 does not care ; and so, falling into the dungeon of 
 depression and despair, we, like John the Baptist in 
 prison, begin to doubt God, forgetting and" counting as 
 nothing all the previous evidences of His love, grace, 
 and power. When faith ceases to act, the old nature 
 triumphs. That old nature — the evil heart of unbelief — 
 is always enmity against God, and resumes the old habit 
 of misrepresenting God's goodness. When faith is weak, 
 then the devil, our adversary, takes occasion to suggest 
 all evil thoughts and forebodings. I can well imagine 
 John the Baptist indulging doubtful and hard thoughts 
 against our Lord. He had been in prison for six months 
 or more, and yet Jesus, whom he had announced and 
 introduced to the world as the Messiah, had never once 
 sent him one word of cheer or comfort — had never used 
 the vast power He had to set him free. From our low 
 human standpoint it is hardly possible that he should 
 not begin to doubt both the love and the power of Jesus, 
 who, it should seem, had so utterly deserted him. And 
 a Messiah without love or power is no Messiah. Have 
 we not in hours of depression and suffering allowed such 
 hard thoughts to come in and breed unbelief in our 
 hearts ? Or, more likely, the unbelief has caused the 
 depression. Jesus indeed gave John an answer to his 
 inquiry, but He did nothing to deliver him from prison. 
 He left him to die under Herod's sword. But John had 
 done his work ; he was now to seal his testimony with 
 his blood. God had a better deliverance in store for 
 him than the mere opening of Herod's prison. He 
 opened heaven to him. Will we never learn that we 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 53 
 
 belong to two worlds, and that God has two worlds in 
 which to make good His promises ? Will we never 
 remember that God has reserved in His wisdom some 
 knowledge from us ? Or that there are divine reasons 
 too great for our understanding ? — reasons which shall 
 be as the noonday for clearness when they are unfolded 
 to us. Has He not said, " What I do thou knowest not 
 now, but thou shalt know hereafter " ? ^ Oh, I entreat 
 you to resist those attacks of depression out of which 
 an evil brood of wicked thoughts arise ! Believe God. 
 " Fear not, believe only." ^ " Why art thou cast down, 
 
 my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ? 
 Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise Him." ^ 
 
 9. Because of God's long delays. Because years have 
 passed and God has not answered prayer, we conclude 
 that He is either unfaithful, unloving, or unable. I meet 
 more cases of this kind than almost all others together ; 
 a kind of arbitrary impatience at God's delays. Per- 
 haps there was something of this in Zacharias' doubt. 
 " God has delayed to answer for so many years, that I 
 do not believe He means to answer now ; especially as 
 
 1 fear it is too late." Our time and God's time do not 
 always synchronize. There may be — and if prayer is 
 not answered in the affirmative at all, or is long delayed, 
 there is — a divine reason for it. If He has delayed to 
 answer thy prayer, it is because He would give thee rich 
 and luscious fruit, well ripened in a long summer's sun, 
 and not the hasty, green, and unripe stuff your impatient 
 hand would grasp. " When God is slow in giving," says 
 Augustine, " He sets off His own gifts to advantage. 
 He does not withhold them." Let me entreat you not 
 to charge unfaithfulness against God. How long and 
 bitterly Job cried and God was silent ! And yet God 
 was loving Job all the time, and compressing his prayers 
 
 ' John xiii. 7. "^ Luke viii. 50. ' Ps. xlii. ii- 
 
54 A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 
 
 into blessings such as he had never dreamed of. Was 
 not the long-delayed answer to Zacharias' prayer in- 
 finitely better than if it had been answered long before 
 the " time " of Jesus had come ? Have we forgotten the 
 words of Jesus, " Mine hour has not yet come " ? ^ Shall 
 we force God's time to ours, or shall we yield ours to 
 His ? Hear David again : " I waited patiently for the 
 Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He 
 brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the 
 miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established 
 my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, 
 even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear, 
 and shall trust in the Lord." ' Oh, my friends, " trust in 
 the Lord ; . . . delight thyself also in the Lord ; 
 and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." ^ 
 
 lO. Filially, because " God's promises are too good to be 
 truer When God told Abraham that a son should be 
 born to him and to Sarah in their old age, and that 
 neither the son of a strange woman nor Eliezer his slave 
 should be his heir. " he fell on his face, and laughed " for 
 joy and gladness.^ As we sometimes say, "It is too 
 good to be true." The women to whom Christ spake 
 after the resurrection fled to spread the news of this 
 great wonder, and as they fled they believed not for joy. 
 I am sure that many of you know what this is. Indeed, 
 when we think of all God's goodness and mercy to us 
 from the day when He called us by His grace till now, 
 it is difficult for us to believe that God has wrought these 
 things for us. And yet has not God challenged us to 
 ask and expect large things from Him ? Is He not a 
 wonder-working God (the Almighty), and does He not 
 delight to work those wonders for His own whom He 
 has redeemed by working the wonder of the universe — 
 
 ' John ii. 4. 2 Ps. xli. 1-3. ^ Ps. xxxvii. 3, 4. 
 
 * Gen. xvii. 17. 
 
A GOOD MAN'S UNBELIEF 55 
 
 the incarnation of Jesus? Was He not, then, just bring- 
 ing about that wonder of which Zacharias doubted the 
 prekide? If faith should only deal with ordinary things 
 such as might admit of an easy explanation, then we 
 might soon become " naturalists," and leave God out of 
 account altogether. But faith is given us that we may 
 deal with God about large things. Things " too good to 
 be true." 
 
 I have endeavoured thus to point out to you some of 
 the immediate provocatives of unbelief, in order that I 
 might put you on your guard against this great sin for 
 the future, and encourage you to believe God in the 
 present moment of the trial of your faith. I implore 
 you not to dishonour God by unbelief; because you 
 cannot, and do not, understand the counsels of His will ; 
 because, especially, you are not able to reconcile all the 
 questions involved in the natural and supernatural mys- 
 teries of the universe. Believe these two things : " All 
 things are possible with God " ; and that all His power 
 and wisdom are subordinated to His love and grace. 
 
IV 
 
 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 "And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until 
 the day that these things shall be performed, because thou be- 
 lievest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season." — 
 Luke i. 20. 
 
 NO one can read with the least care the word of 
 God without noting how continuously we are 
 warned and cautioned against unbelief. The whole 
 epistle to the Hebrews is a warning, and, as our old 
 Puritan fathers used to say, a " dehortation," against 
 unbelief. It is " the sin that doth so easily beset us." ^ 
 " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an 
 evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living 
 God." '^ " But with whom was He grieved forty years ? 
 . . . And to whom sware He that they should not 
 enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So 
 we see that they could not enter in because of unbe- 
 lief." ' " Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest, 
 lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" * 
 The only harsh word our Lord ever spoke to His dis- 
 ciples was when He exclaimed on a certain occasion, 
 " O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
 prophets have spoken." ^ He is said never but twice to 
 have been surprised during His earthly ministry. Once 
 on the occasion of the vicious rejection of Him by His 
 own townsmen : " And He marvelled because of their 
 
 * Heb. xii. i. ' Heb. iii. 12. ' Heb. iii. 17-19. 
 
 * Heb. iv. II. ^ Luke xxiv. 25. 
 
 56 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 57 
 
 unbelief." • The other time was on the occasion of the 
 faith of the centurion who came to Him on behalf of 
 his servant, who was sick : " He marvelled at him, . . . 
 and said unto the people that followed Him, I say unto 
 you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." ^ 
 
 Unbelief is a great surprise and astonishment to our 
 Lord. Faith itself was not so much of a marvel to 
 Him, but that a Gentile should give so great an example 
 of it while His own people were filled with unbelief! 
 This was why He marvelled at the centurion's faith. It 
 was really in both cases the unbelief of the Jews that 
 excited His astonishment. And why should not our 
 Lord be amazed and astonished at our unbelief? " I 
 am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am 
 sent to speak unto thee, and show thee these glad 
 tidings." This was the indignant expression of his 
 astonishment, that the word of him (Gabriel) should be 
 for a moment questioned. If Gabriel expressed aston- 
 ishment and indignation at the unbelief of Zacharias 
 in his message, what must be the grief and indignation 
 of God at our unbelief in Him and His word? 
 
 It might well go without saying that unbelief is the 
 gravest of all sins. It is the one sin of which the Holy 
 Spirit is sent to convict the world. That this sin is 
 most displeasing and dishonouring to God there can be 
 no question. It discredits His word ; it makes Him 
 " a liar " ^ ; it hinders the operation of His purposes of 
 grace towards us. Jesus could do no mighty works 
 among His own townspeople " because of their unbe- 
 lief.""* God cannot do mighty things for us because 
 of our unbelief. Moreover, it involves us in trouble 
 and distress, and not unfrequently brings down upon 
 us the afflictive displeasure of God, such as came upon 
 Zacharias at the word of the angel Gabriel, " because 
 
 * Mark vi. 6. ' Luke vii. g. ^ i John v. 10. ■* Matt. xiii. 5S. 
 
58 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled 
 in their season." 
 
 I. God's Answer to Unbelieving Sign-seekers. 
 There are two kinds of unbelievers. First, there are 
 what may be called the believing unbelievers, or the un- 
 believing believers. Zacharias was such an unbelieving 
 believer. The whole tenor of his life testified his faith 
 in God. Nay, his faith in God was of the most steadfast 
 kind. It had endured through a long dreary time of 
 silence ; it had not forsaken him in all those years in 
 which God seemed indifferent to his prayers, nor gave 
 any sign even of His being. The unbelief of Zacharias 
 came upon him as a surprise — leaping upon him as a 
 sudden temptation. It was foreign to his habit and 
 to his desire. So it is that unbelief comes to many 
 believers now. They do not love it ; they do not 
 cherish it ; they loathe and despise it, and condemn 
 themselves for indulging it for a moment. It is 
 hateful to them ; it distresses and grieves them ; and 
 they get rid of it as soon as possible. Such unbe- 
 lievers are both reverent and reluctant. These are 
 they who cry out in distress, " Lord, I believe ; help 
 Thou mine unbelief." ^ Like John the Baptist, they 
 doubt, but send at once to Jesus to have the doubt 
 resolved. Like Thomas, they are ready at the first 
 answer to their unbelieving inquiry (made not with a 
 determined scoff, but with a reluctant incredulity) to fall 
 at Jesus' feet and cry in penitent faith and longing love, 
 " My Lord and my God." ^ Second, there are the wilful 
 unbelievers — those who are determined not to believe, 
 who wisJi not to believe, and who seek by all and every 
 means to strengthen their unbelief against the testimony 
 of God. Such men are either scoffers or defiers of God, 
 and their attitude of unbelief is that of enmity against 
 ' Mark ix. 24. ^ John xx. 28. 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 59 
 
 God, or contempt ; or else they are men who have 
 adopted some speculative system of science or philo- 
 sophy, opposed to God and His revelation. These are 
 they whom Paul describes, " Professing themselves to be 
 wise, they became fools " ' ; of whom Peter says, " They 
 willingly are ignorant." ^ They are men blinded with 
 the excess of their own h'ght ; or they have peered so 
 steadily at one point that they are blinded to every 
 other view. It is not an uncommon experience that 
 after gazing steadily at one object for a long time and 
 then closing your eyes you still see the object you have 
 been looking at. It dances before your eyes like a spot 
 of light in the darkness. This process of intellectual 
 scepticism persevered in soon becomes, as it were, a part 
 of one's consciousness. 
 
 With the former of these two classes of unbelievers — 
 the reluctant sceptic or the unbelieving believer — God is 
 most patient and tender ; even when He chastises them 
 in His displeasure, He does so more to correct and to 
 recover than to punish them. Take the case of Zacha- 
 rias as an illustration of this. Zacharias doubted the 
 message of Gabriel, and asked for a sign or something 
 beyond his word whereby he might know that his word 
 was true. In answer, the angel rebuked his unbelief, 
 and gave him this for a sign : that he was instantly 
 stricken dumb, and the ban was laid upon him until the 
 fulfilment of the promise. God did not alter His pur- 
 pose of grace toward him, or withdraw His promise that 
 Elisabeth should conceive and he should have the long- 
 wished-for and prayed-for son, the birth of whom the 
 angel had come to announce. When Abraham asked 
 for a sign or something whereby his faith and obedience 
 might be guided, God was most tender with him. His 
 question indicated an imperfect faith, but it was not 
 ' Rom. i. 22. ' z Pet. iii. 5. 
 
6o THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 dictated by unbelief. When Sarah laughed in pure 
 derision of unbelief, God condescended, even while re- 
 buking her, to repeat His promise and reason with her 
 on the point of her scepticism, saying, " Is anything too 
 hard for the Lord ? " ^ Sarah had no precedents to fall 
 back upon, as Zacharias had. With Moses He was 
 equally patient, bearing with his doubts and hesitancy ; 
 He instructed him in all the mysteries of His name, and 
 gave him the double sign of the rod and the leprous 
 hand healed again. When Gideon asked in great 
 humility for a sign in confirmation of God's commission 
 to him, even indicating what the sign should be, God 
 was not angry ; and, discerning that this request was 
 not in unbelief, but for strength. He gave him the sign 
 on the fleece twice over. When Hezekiah asked for a 
 sign in confirmation of God's promise to him, in the 
 matter of his recovery from sickness, God gave him the 
 sign of the shadow going backward ten degrees on the 
 dial of Ahaz. When John the Baptist, in his lonely and 
 gloomy prison, became the prey of depression and 
 doubts concerning the true Messiahship of Jesus, and 
 sent to Him for some token, our Blessed Lord sent back 
 a message full of gentleness, and at the same time one 
 which would reassure John by a new reference to pro- 
 phecy and its fulfilment in the events of His ministry. 
 When Thomas doubted the testimony of his brother 
 apostles concerning the resurrection, and declared that 
 nothing would satisfy his scepticism but his own touch 
 of the wounded hands and side of the Lord, the Lord 
 most graciously and with pathetic tenderness complied 
 with this troubled but honest " sign-seeker's " demand. 
 At first glance all these cases, and others which might 
 be mentioned, seem not to have differed greatly from 
 that of Zacharias, who was so promptly punished for his 
 unbelieving demand. But a more careful examination 
 ' Gen. xviii. 14. 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 6i 
 
 will reveal that there was in these cases not so much 
 unbelief as anxious longing for a strengthening of faith, 
 in which there was more serious inquiry than doubt. 
 Even in the case of Zacharias, where unbelief is directly 
 charged, there was great goodness and tenderness mixed 
 with the chastisement. 
 
 On the other hand, God deals with severity when the 
 sign-seeker is a deliberate and determined unbeliever. 
 Take, for example, the lord upon whose arm the king of 
 Israel leaned in the days of the siege and famine of 
 Samaria. The prophet of God had declared that to- 
 morrow food should be abundant and cheap in the city, 
 now starving and straitly shut up by an investing army. 
 This nobleman sneered out his unbelief, and said, 
 " Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, 
 might this thing be ? " ^ To the unbelieving challenge of 
 this scoffing and haughty sceptic for a sign from heaven, 
 the prophet immediately replied, " Behold, thou shalt 
 see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." ^ The 
 next day the siege was raised, and the abandoned camp 
 of the Syrians was free spoil for all Samaria, and food 
 became as plentiful to-day as it was scarce yesterday. 
 In the wild rush through the city gates the scoffing 
 nobleman was overthrown and trodden to death. Thus 
 was his sneering unbelief answered. When Jesus was 
 a helpless prisoner before Herod, that wicked king 
 demanded a sign from Him. He got his answer later 
 when he died, " eaten of worms." ^ The Jews in our 
 Lord's time were a sign-seeking and adulterous genera- 
 tion. Their punishment came in the utter destruction 
 of their city and their own dispersion abroad, to be the 
 objects of hatred and contempt for twenty centuries. 
 The sign of the prophet Jonah — that is, the resurrection 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead — has been given. 
 ' 2 Kings vii. 2. * Ibid. vii. 2. * Acts xii. 49. 
 
62 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 If the sign-seeking Jews and wisdom-seeking Greeks are 
 not convinced with that, then they will find their punish- 
 ment in permanent moral and intellectual blindness, and 
 an utter incapacity for believing even though other signs 
 were given. Therefore Paul declared, after he had 
 preached Jesus to the Jews, and proclaimed the resur- 
 rection and the full and free forgiveness of God, " Behold, 
 \'e 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." ^ Oh, it is a peril- 
 ous thing to come before the Lord with deliberate 
 unbelief, and challenge Him to prove His word by a 
 sign ! It makes my soul tremble when I hear people 
 thus challenging and insulting God, lest before they 
 know it there come a sign upon them which will cause 
 them to behold and wonder and perish. Even when 
 doubt is reverent and has more of inquiry than unbelief 
 in it, it is not a wise thing to challenge God's word with 
 a demand for a sign. 
 
 II. The Method for the Cure of Unbelief. In 
 the previous sermon I tried to point out the prime cause 
 of unbelief, and some of the occasions of its manifesta- 
 tions. I shall now endeavour to point out some of the 
 means by which sincere unbelief or — may I say it ? — 
 believing unbelief may be cured. Zacharias was a be- 
 liever temporarily afflicted or assaulted by unbelief, 
 which led him to demand some sign for the confirma- 
 tion of God's word and promise. In answer, God gave 
 him at once a sensible sign and renewed His promise, 
 the truth of which should be seen in the fulfilment of 
 His gracious purpose. Let us now consider these two 
 things in the reverse order of their fulfilment. 
 
 I. The angel Gabriel, to whom Zacharias made his 
 demand for a sign, replied, with a kind of amazed indig- 
 ' Acts xiii. 41. 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 63 
 
 nation," I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, 
 and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these 
 glad tidings." It is as though he had said, " Is it pos- 
 sible that you doubt me, and, much more, the word of 
 God which I deliver unto you ? " It is true that God 
 does not now send to us an angel to announce His 
 gracious purpose and promise ; nor does He in other 
 ways make so obvious to our senses the presence and 
 nearness of what we call the supernatural. Signs and 
 wonders, the appearance of angels, and such-like mani- 
 festations, were, if we may say so, the early and sporadic 
 forerunners of Christ in whom the final revelation of His 
 grace was given. These signs have fulfilled their mission 
 and disappeared ; just as John the Baptist appeared and 
 for a while blazed forth as a daystar upon the horizon, 
 and then began to decrease before the increasing wonder 
 of Christ, whom he heralded. The angel that now per- 
 manently announces God's purpose of grace is the written 
 Word of God. In this blessed book God now speaks to 
 us and brings us glad tidings. Do you ask, then, why 
 we should believe the word of God and receive its 
 message with confidence ? 
 
 Consider the reliability of His message to 7is. In the 
 first place, because it is the word of God, and cannot be 
 broken. No word of man has ever been given to man 
 containing such promises. If, instead of Gabriel, a 
 mere man, however wise and mighty, had stood before 
 Zacharias and promised him that, in spite of his old age 
 and that of Elisabeth, a son should be born of them in 
 the set time of such an event, it would have seemed pre- 
 posterous and unworthy of belief; but when Gabriel, 
 who stands in the presence of God, proclaims it, then all 
 doubt as to possibility and faithfulness should cease. 
 Should the wisest philosopher have announced to us the 
 resurrection from the dead and the forgiveness of sins. 
 
64 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 we might well have asked some sign to confirm such 
 glorious tidings ; but God, who raised up Jesus from the 
 dead (there can be no greater sign than this), proclaims 
 these things and gives us His word. We know now that 
 it is His word, and that that word cannot be broken. 
 " God is not a man, that He should lie," ^ or be mistaken, 
 or fail in power to fulfil His promise. 
 
 Then consider that God has voluntarily given to us 
 this promise of glad tidings. It has not been reluctantly 
 wrung from Him, or hastily or immaturely spoken. But 
 according to His eternal purpose, which He purposed in 
 Christ Jesus, as an act of free grace to sinful men, He 
 has declared His promise. Why should He not fulfil 
 His word so freely and voluntarily given ? Then, as if 
 to make assurance doubly sure, " that by two immutable 
 things in which it is impossible for God to lie," He has 
 confirmed His word with an oath ; and because there is 
 none greater than Himself, that oath was given by and 
 in the full sanctity of His own name. " Because He 
 could sware by no greater. He sware by Himself." ^ 
 Thus did God ratify and confirm His word to Abraham ; 
 and thus He ratifies and confirms it to us. 
 
 Then consider that God in times past has ever been 
 faithful to His word. Is not the coming of Christ the 
 best guarantee of the absolute truthfulness of God's 
 word, and the faithfulness of His promises to sinful 
 men ? " How shall I know that the promises contained 
 in the Bible are true ? " so ask men and women of me 
 almost every day. My reply is, " Jesus Christ our Lord, 
 who was born in Bethlehem, of the seed of David accord- 
 ing to the flesh, who died on Calvary, and was raised 
 again the third day, and thus declared with power to be 
 the Son of God, is the demonstration of the truth of 
 God's word." For all these things were done " accord- 
 * Num. xxiii. 19. ^ Heb. vi. 13-20. 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 65 
 
 ing to the scriptures." Until men can successfully 
 disprove the existence of the scripture containing the 
 promise of Christ's coming — His birth, His death, and 
 His resurrection — or can successfully deny these facts, 
 they cannot impeach the truth of this word of God, 
 which stands by our side, as did Gabriel beside Zacharias, 
 to show us the glad tidings of His love and salvation. 
 It is easy for the wilful sceptic to deny, but it is not 
 so easy for him to make good his denial. Have not 
 twenty centuries of unbelief, scorn, and derision, heaped 
 upon the word of God, failed to remove it from its 
 impregnable rock of truth ? Have not twenty centuries 
 of philosophy and science (?) failed to dislodge the word 
 of God from its place of testimony ? " Heaven and 
 earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass 
 away." ^ " All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man 
 as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the 
 flower thereof falleth away ; but the word of the Lord 
 endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the 
 gospel is preached unto you." ^ Are not the ringing 
 words of the old veteran Joshua, who, after a long life 
 spent in the stern service of God, still full of force to us 
 after the passage of long centuries ? — " And behold, this 
 day I am going the way of all the earth : and ye know 
 in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one 
 thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord 
 your God spake concerning you ; all are come to pass 
 unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof."^ 
 Wherever we have observed the conditions of God's 
 promise, there have we seen the fulfilment of His word. 
 If in any case it should seem to us that His word has 
 not been fulfilled, we have learned that this also belongs 
 to God, and is included in the essential condition of His 
 promise — that time and eternity are alike His in which 
 ' Matt. xxiv. 35. ? I Pet. i. 24, 35. * Josh, xxiii. 14. 
 P.B. 5 
 
66 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 to work. Zacharias might have said a month or a single 
 day before the appearance of Gabriel, " For forty years 
 I prayed for a son ; all my life have I prayed for the 
 coming of Messiah, and yet neither of these things have 
 come to pass." Yet lo ! out of a clear sky comes an 
 angel of God to announce that the fulfilment of both 
 these long-delayed prayers was at hand. You say, " I 
 have prayed for many things that have not come to 
 pass, and therefore I have a right to doubt the truth of 
 the promises of the Bible." Even supposing that your 
 prayers have been within conditions, is the time so spent 
 that God cannot fulfil ? Has He bound Himself to a 
 day and an hour with you ? Has He bound Himself to 
 your wish and will without reference to His will. His 
 wisdom, and His love ? You say, " I prayed for the 
 conversion of my dear one, and he did not come out on 
 the Lord's side." Are you sure that in heaven you shall 
 not greet that loved one, won to God even in last 
 moments ; or may it not appear that, hidden deeply in 
 his heart as a flower blossoming under snow before the 
 spring-time, the grace of God was waiting to burst into 
 beauty and revelation, even on the very threshold of 
 heaven itself? Oh, how shall we dare, in the face of so 
 much that has come to pass, limit the truth and grace 
 of God to the narrow range of our observation and 
 present experience ? " Is anything too hard for the 
 Lord ? " Believe it, my friends, God's delays are not 
 breaches of promises. Does not the delay of our Lord's 
 second coming seem almost like a breach of promise, 
 since even the apostles looked for His return in their 
 day? But "the Lord is not slack concerning His 
 promise as men count slackness." ^ What, then, is this 
 delay but slackness or breach of promise? It is the 
 long-suffering of God, who is not willing to cut the 
 ^ 2 Pet, iii. 9. 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UN BE: LIEF 67 
 
 world off in sudden and irretrievable judgment, but will 
 have men come to repentance and live. Much as we 
 desire the Lord's speedy coming, shall we pray for it to 
 the exclusion of mercy for a dying world ? Shall we 
 demand the immediate fulfilment of this great promise 
 for the gratification of our desire and glory, at the price 
 of withdrawing the long-suffering love of God from a 
 world still " lying in the wicked one " ? Nay, rather let 
 me die and escape to heaven, and there with millions of 
 saints gone before, wait and come with them and Him 
 when it shall seem good to God to rise up and shut the 
 door of mercy upon the world. 
 
 Again, if you zvould cure your unbelief, lay His ivord 
 up in your heart, as did Mary. Instead of laying God's 
 words up in our hearts and pondering them deeply day 
 and night, until the fire burns, we open our hearts to all 
 sorts of arguments of men and philosophies of this world, 
 and are spoiled through these vain delusions. Show me 
 the man who is carefully treasuring up God's words in 
 his heart and meditating upon them day and night, and 
 I will show you a man whose heart is burning within 
 him, glowing with love, and faith, and expectation. It 
 is a rare thing — I may say, an impossible thing — to find 
 a real lover of God's word among the doubters. The 
 word pondered becomes a witness to itself 
 
 If you woidd be rid of your doubts, be obedient to His 
 word. God's word is not for curious study, but to be 
 reverently heeded and faithfully obeyed. The loving 
 heart of Mary was full of wonder and innocent curiosity 
 as to how these things should be, yet she quickly and 
 humbly said to the angel, " Behold the handmaiden of 
 the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word." ^ 
 Willing and obedient souls need no other sign from God 
 than His word, for they prove that word in their obedi- 
 * Luke i. 3S. 
 
68 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 ence. " If any man will do His will, he shall know of 
 the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of 
 Myself" ^ You sign-seekers ! are you willing to accept 
 this sign of willing obedience} " Oh that My people had 
 hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways. 
 I should soon have subdued their enemies ; and turned 
 My hand against their adversaries. He should have fed 
 them also on the finest of the wheat ; and with honey 
 out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." ^ " O that 
 thou hadst hearkened to My commandments, then had 
 thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the 
 waves of the sea."^ " If ye be willing and obedient, ye 
 shall eat the good of the land ; but if ye refuse and 
 rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword : for the 
 mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." ^ Here, my friends, 
 is the clue to the maze of unbelief in which you have 
 become entangled. Follow this clue of willing obedience, 
 and it will lead you out into green pastures and beside 
 the still waters of faith and peace. Do not stand and 
 argue with the promise of Christ, asking for signs and 
 wonders, but " Go thy way," in obedience to His gracious 
 command, and ye shall surely find the word fulfilled, 
 even as He hath said. 
 
 If you would be cured of your unbelief deal with Gods 
 word reasonably. Jesus referred the doubt of John the 
 Baptist to the prophecies of the scriptures and their ful- 
 filment in Him. Do you also do that ? Lay the prophecy 
 of the Old Scriptures alongside the fulfilments in the 
 New Testament record. Inquire concerning the promises 
 of God now, and their fulfilment to them who have 
 walked in the commandments, and you will not long 
 remain in doubt. It is he who obeys, and not he who 
 haggles and cavils at God's word, who finds out the 
 
 ' John vii. 17. ^ Ps. Ixxxi. 13-16. 
 
 ^ Is. xlviii. 18. ■* Isa. i. 19, 20. 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 69 
 
 truth of it — who has the sign in himself. Deal with 
 God's word reasonably as to time. When Cain was born, 
 Eve thought the promised " Seed of the woman " was 
 lying in her bosom ; but four thousand years must yet 
 go by, and the time be filled up with the world's experi- 
 ments, before God sent forth His Son born of a woman. 
 A close study of the words of Jesus shows us an almost 
 total absence of the time-element in them. Doth not 
 the husbandman wait long and labour patiently for the 
 promised harvest hidden in the seed to spring forth and 
 make glad his heart ? — and cannot we zvait for God's 
 promises to come to harvest in our lives ? Did not the 
 man who found the treasure hid in the field go and sell 
 all that he had and buy that field ? Have we been 
 willing to forego the possessions and pleasures of this 
 life that we might find the heavenly treasure ? Did not 
 the pearl merchant sell all his lesser treasures that he 
 might gain the pearl of greatest price ? — and have we 
 been even willing to part with the lesser treasures of our 
 lower life that we might find this heavenly pearl ? 
 Surely we make unreasonable demands on God's word 
 — demands that we do not make upon Nature — His 
 other word. We observe the laws and conditions im- 
 posed in Nature, but we would snatch out of God's 
 hands our impatient demands, as though there was no 
 law in the spiritual world. 
 
 HI. The Punishment of Unbelief. In his un- 
 belief Zacharias asked for a sign. As we have before 
 said, this unbelieving prayer, or the prayer of this un- 
 believing heart, got a swift answer. That prayer was a 
 sight draft on God, and it was honoured on demand ; 
 but he lost the sweet and joyful experiences of the 
 believing Elisabeth and Mary, whose hearts were filled 
 with praise and gladness — whose lips were bursting with 
 song, whilst he, poor man, was silent in his dumbness 
 
70 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 
 
 and deaf in the midst of their songs. It would seem 
 that Zacharias was both deaf and dumb, for when they 
 were about to name the son of Elisabeth, they had 
 to make " signs to his father how he would have 
 him called." We do not make signs to people who 
 can hear. 
 
 He zi/as deaf and dumb toward God. In this deafness 
 and dumbness we suspect there is a latent suggestion of 
 one of the deadly effects of unbelief. When the soul is 
 attacked by this dreadful sin, and it is yielded to, there 
 comes a spiritual deafness to the soul. God's word does 
 not speak to us. We read its pages ; hear, as it were, 
 the sound of words ; but we cannot discern their mean- 
 ing and power. How dreary the Bible is to an unbe- 
 lieving, deaf soul ! The penalty of unbelief is unbelief. 
 Deafness toward God's word is a sign of unbelief in the 
 heart. And then what may the dumbness signify but 
 that we have lost the power of speech with God ? 
 Prayer had gone out of the soul. " I cannot pray " is 
 one of the commonest complaints of the unbelieving 
 believer. In nine cases out of ten a prayerless condition 
 of soul is the immediate result or effect of some unbelief 
 to which the soul has yielded. Of course, if we begin to 
 doubt God's word, how can \\& pray to God ? How 
 should I pray to a God whose existence I doubt, of 
 whose word I am not sure ? Do you know the misery 
 of this state ? Alas ! I do ; for I, too, once called in 
 question God's word, and for nearly nine months I went 
 about my weary duties as a christian and a minister, 
 and yet no words came to my soul out of His word, and 
 all prayer died on my lips. May God save you from 
 such a penalty as this visitation upon unbelief An un- 
 converted man can live without God's word making 
 music in his soul, and without any opening of heart to 
 God in prayer ; but a man who has once known the 
 
THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEF 71 
 
 secrets of God's truth and the comfort and joy of prayer 
 does but live in misery when these things are taken 
 away from him. 
 
 He was deaf and dumb toivard men. Once it had 
 been Zacharias' joy to hear the brethren with whom he 
 associated talk over the wonderful things of God as they 
 read the inspired record. Now his ears were closed to 
 the believing speech of those around him. He could 
 not hear. There are times when the believer has no 
 greater delight than to hear other believers tell of the 
 goodness and grace of God to them. The testimony of 
 the righteous is sweeter than poetry, more comforting 
 than music. When unbelief comes in, the language of 
 faith is a dead language, and the testimony of the 
 righteous is meaningless. Can you imagine what it 
 would be to be cut off absolutely from ever hearing 
 another sermon, another believing prayer, another joyful 
 testimony ; to have all speech concerning God and sal- 
 vation shut off from you ? For nine months Zacharias 
 was so shut off from the speech of his godly family. No 
 longer did he hear the voice of Elisabeth, his believing 
 wife ; and when Mary came to visit her in her retire- 
 ment, and the Holy Ghost came upon those two holy 
 women so that they broke forth in the poetry of hea- 
 venly song, Zacharias was deaf and could not hear. 
 Beside this, his own testimony was gone. When the 
 brethren were speaking often one to another, and the 
 Lord was hearkening and hearing, he could not speak. 
 No soul was strengthened by his testimony ; no record 
 was made in the book of remembrance of his believing 
 and faithful words. Oh, it is an awful thing to be dumb, 
 to have lost one's testimony, so that he can no longer 
 speak for God ! My brother, my sister, do you know 
 what it is to have been stricken with dumbness, so that 
 you cannot speak for God ? " We cannot but speak the 
 
^2 THE PENALTY AND CURE OF UNBELIEE 
 
 things which we have seen and heard," ^ said Peter. So 
 neither can we help giving testimony for God and to 
 the glorious truth of the gospel, unless we are living in 
 unbelief or have been smitten in consequence of it. I 
 once knew a man who, when he was about twenty-five 
 years of age, was under conviction for sin, but turned 
 away from the house of God, saying, with an oath, that 
 he would never again listen to a sermon or hear the 
 word of God read. A few weeks afterwards he was 
 smitten with scarlet fever, and after a long illness arose 
 from his bed stone deaf and with little power of speech 
 left to him. He came to God under that affliction, and 
 I used to see his pitiful face before me in the house of 
 God and in the prayer-meeting of the church, but he 
 could not hear ; standing in a company of christian 
 people, his ears were dead to their conversation. God 
 had taken his daring and presumptuous oath at its face 
 value, and he never heard the word of God again, either 
 in sermon or testimony. He used to say that his one 
 comfort left was his unweakened power of sight ; and 
 subordinate to that was the privilege of sitting in the 
 church and seeing others worship and listening to their 
 pastor. Oh, my friends, God pity you ! do not allow 
 the demon of unbelief to take possession of your souls, 
 lest dumbness and deafness come upon you, ay, and 
 blindness too ; so that every av^enue of divine know- 
 ledge and grace be shut up from you. 
 
 * Acts iv. 20, 
 
V 
 
 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God 
 unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a 
 man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and the 
 virgin's name was Mary." — Luke i. 26, 27. 
 
 ABOUT five hundred years had passed since this 
 great angel who stands in presence of God, as 
 His chief servant, had been sent to the beloved Daniel 
 in Babylon, to tell him that his prayer was answered, 
 to show him favour, to instruct him in and give him 
 wisdom and understanding concerning things to come. 
 Six months before the event recorded in our text, he 
 had been sent on a somewhat similar mission to Zacha- 
 rias, to bring to him the glad tidings of the near ap- 
 proach of the Redeemer of the world, and of the birth 
 of John the Baptist as His forerunner. Now we find 
 him back and down upon the earth, charged with a more 
 exalted commission. It was just now a busy time with 
 Gabriel. Stupendous events were nearing, and the 
 mystery of the ages was on the verge of accomplish- 
 ment ; but we are sure this glorious spirit did not 
 grudge this earthly service. How could he ? who was 
 the servant and herald of Him who, in coming from 
 the bosom of God to undertake a still more lowly ser- 
 vice, said, " Lo, I come ; . . . I delight to do Thy 
 will, O my God." ^ It was more than enough for him 
 
 ' Ps. xl. 7, 8. 
 73 
 
74 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 to be and do as his Lord. This time he does not come 
 to the great capital of the mighty kingdom of the 
 East, nor to the sacred precincts of the Holy Place in 
 the Temple of God in Jerusalem, to communicate 
 with Daniel, the Prime Minister of the great king, or 
 to Zacharias, the priest of the God of Israel ; but to 
 a mean little city in a despised province of Judaea, 
 and to an obscure and lowly maiden, the espoused wife 
 of a poor builder of fishing-boats — a carpenter. He 
 came to Mary to announce the high honour which 
 God was about to confer in choosing her out of all the 
 millions of women who had lived, and might yet live, 
 to become the mother of the Eternal Son of God — the 
 Incarnate Word. 
 
 This passing to and fro of angels between heaven and 
 earth, and between God and men, gives to us a sense 
 of delightful confidence concerning the world to come. 
 It assures us that the world to come is not only a 
 reality, but a place inhabited by intelligences deeply 
 interested and intimately connected with ourselves ; that 
 it is at no infinite distance from us, and that passage 
 from one world to the other is not insuperable. It 
 intimates to us the presence in the universe of laws and 
 modes of being and action which lie beyond and above 
 those which come under ordinary observation. More- 
 over, it gives us assurance that that world from whence 
 Gabriel came is the source from whence comes to us 
 all our highest and best good. The angel brought no 
 message of wrath to Mary, or, through her, to us ; but 
 glad tidings of great joy indeed. No angel ever yet 
 visited the earth except as a friend and helper of man. 
 " Are they not all ministering spirits ? " ^ How lovely 
 and benignant they always appear ! How deeply inter- 
 ested in our good ! How anxious to push forward their 
 » Heb. i. 14. 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 75 
 
 heavenly commissions ! How full of good-will to us ! 
 We fancy we can detect in the very words in which 
 they communicated their tidings or instructions tones 
 of tenderest love. One can almost hear the softness 
 and intense sympathy with which Gabriel spoke to 
 Daniel as "greatly beloved,"^ and to Gideon as "thou 
 mighty man of valour." 2 Gabriel's "Hail" to Mary 
 thrills with an ecstasy of homage and delight. No 
 haughtiness ; no air of superiority ; no cold condescen- 
 sion ; but a noble and heavenly courtesy, in which he 
 seemed to delight in the message he brought; and 
 gave to her all the high honour which was about to 
 be conferred upon her. " Hail, highly favoured ; the 
 Lord is with thee ; blessed thou among women." ^ I 
 might fully occupy your time and attention by bringing 
 to your mind the sweet and blessed ministry of God's 
 angels to men during all the ages since which they 
 began to visit the earth. I must not yield to this 
 temptation, but proceed at once to the topic we have 
 in hand. 
 
 I. The Mission of Gabriel to Mary. The 
 thought that strikes first as I ponder this incident is the 
 wondrous and gracious humility of the mighty angel in 
 discharging this great service to this lowly and obscure 
 /irgin. Very helpful and cheering are the suggestions 
 which come from the contemplation of this event. 
 
 I. The glad and gracious service of God's highest 
 ministers to the lozvliest people. We are not so much 
 surprised, perhaps, when we read of Gabriel's visit to 
 Daniel in Babylon, for Daniel was a very great and 
 distinguished man. He was the Prime Minister of the 
 mightiest kingdom on the earth. He lived in the palace 
 of the great king ; he was clothed in courtly raiment ; 
 he wore the gold chain of high office ; he was, beside, the 
 ' Dan. ix. 23. ^ Judg. vi. 12. ^ Luke i. 28. 
 
76 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 beloved and high servant and prophet of God, But now 
 we find this heavenly ambassador, of the highest rank, 
 sent to a poor, obscure, unknown peasant maiden, who 
 lived probably in a very poor little house, not much 
 better than a hut, in the most despised town of a 
 province held even by the Jews in great contempt, be- 
 cause of the rude speech and uncultured manners of its 
 inhabitants. This embassage to Mary fills us with 
 swelling thoughts of the love and condescension of God 
 to the lowliest of mankind, and gives us the assurance 
 that no obscurity of residence, no poverty of purse, no 
 meanness of surroundings, excludes us from the very 
 choicest gifts of God, or from highest honours which 
 heaven can bestow. 
 
 Let us take the case of the present controversy 
 between Great Britain and Venezuela concerning the 
 interests of a very small and almost unknown colony of 
 English people.^ There is some question of rights and 
 boundaries between the English colony and the Vene- 
 zuelan Republic. Perhaps a governor not much above a 
 consular agent in dignity is the highest representative 
 of the Queen's government there. Now, how would that 
 little colony spring into prominence if, in order to pro- 
 tect their rights and defend their integrity against the 
 stronger power. Her Majesty should detach Lord 
 Dufferin from the Court of St. Cloud, and send him, 
 the greatest of English diplomats, to attend to that 
 matter ! Not only would such an act dignify the little 
 colony, but it would convince the world in a most 
 striking manner that Great Britain cared to the very 
 last extent for the least, the most unknown, and, if it 
 might be so, the meanest of her small colonies. And 
 would not all men honour and admire the loyalty of 
 Lord Dufferin if he should gladly turn away from the 
 ' Dec. 1st, 1895. 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 77 
 
 splendours of the English Embassy and the RepubHcan 
 Court at St. Cloud to perform the lowly service required 
 of him to the colony in South America ? and if we 
 should hear of his courtly and enthusiastic service out 
 there as being equal to his best manner in France, or 
 other great Courts of Europe, would we not all say, 
 " Truly Her Gracious Majesty has a minister in Lord 
 Dufferin worthy of herself"? Well, was not Gabriel's 
 mission a greater display of high service to lowly people, 
 discharged in the most gracious manner ? 
 
 Lowly as Mary was, and mean as were her surround- 
 ings, Gabriel " went in unto her," in her little house (a 
 mere highland cottage), and saluted her as though she 
 had been a queen upon her throne — the very first and 
 greatest of women in the land — instead of the least and 
 most obscure. But, in fact, he or she to whom such a 
 message and such a messenger comes is great indeed, 
 independent of any earthly position, wealth, or surround- 
 ings. In this service there was no thought or suggestion 
 in the mind of Gabriel that he was in any sense lowering 
 his dignity, or doing something beneath him ; nor was 
 there any of that supercilious condescension which some- 
 times accompanies service rendered by the great in this 
 world to the lowly people with whom they may have 
 to do. A real servant of God can only feel himself 
 honoured in doing God's service wherever and to whom- 
 soever he may be sent. I know of a very wealthy and 
 good woman who visits amongst the very poor, and 
 extends to them very considerable help, but who goes 
 always under an assumed name, because she does not 
 care that her society friends should know that she does 
 such things. In fact, she is, from her social point of 
 view, just a little ashamed to be known as a visitor 
 among the very poor. To blazon such service abroad 
 and proclaim, as the Pharisee might, " See how humble I 
 
78 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 am, how lowly in spirit I am to condescend to do such 
 work as this ! " would only be the opposite sin and error 
 to that of doing a good work and yet being half ashamed 
 before men of doing it. A true humility in service does 
 not take into account what a man may say, or what, in 
 fact, any human or heavenly intelligence may think. 
 Beside, any object of God's gracious care becomes at once 
 " highly favoured " and one to be courted and served 
 with gladness and joy. The old legend of the two 
 angels is in point. It is affirmed in this legend that 
 on a time God sent two angels to the earth. One He 
 commissioned to rule an empire, and the other He sent 
 to sweep a street-crossing. Either flew to his post with 
 the same glad alacrity, not considering at all ivhat they 
 were to do, but only for zvJioin they were doing it. 
 Therefore the angel who swept the street-crossing felt 
 as highly honoured as he who ruled the empire, be- 
 cause they were each doing the will of God. 
 
 The condescension of angels to lowly places and men 
 excites our wonder and gratitude, and ought to stimulate 
 us to emulate the spirit which animated Gabriel in coming 
 to earth with this message and mission to Mary. But 
 the condescension of Gabriel in this matter fades away 
 as the stars pale before the rising sun in presence of the 
 condescension of God in grace to us sinners. When 
 David thought of the grace of God to sinful men, he was 
 filled with wonder and amazement. " When I consider 
 Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers ; the moon and 
 the stars which Thou hast ordained ; what is man, that 
 Thou art mindful of him ? or the son of man, that Thou 
 visitest him ? " ^ For the time being lower than angels, 
 and yet highest angels are employed in serving and ad- 
 ministering to him. Nay, far beyond that. The Eternal 
 God humbled Himself to be born of a woman and take 
 ' Ps.Sviii. 3, 4. 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 79 
 
 upon Himself all the limitations of our nature, to be 
 formed and fashioned and take the place of a servant, 
 to suffer shame, and pain, and death for us. No wonder 
 David was astonished at this display of divine grace. 
 But David went even beyond that in his amazement. 
 That God should thus do for the sake of the whole race 
 of man as such might possibly be a thinkable thing ; but 
 that He should do all this for an individual sinful man 
 such as David knew himself to be — oh ! that passed 
 knowledge. We see him sitting down in the house of 
 God, overwhelmed with " wonder, gratitude, and love," 
 saying to the Lord, " Who am I, and what is my house, 
 that Thou hast done these great things for us ? " David 
 was the youngest of all his brothers — a mere sheep- 
 tending lad, disposed a good deal to dreams and poetry. 
 His father's house was not a princely one, but only one 
 among many of the humble families of Israel. And yet 
 God chose him and his house to be the earthly head 
 of His kingdom among men and the ancestor of the 
 Eternal Son. Who, indeed, was Abraham, whom God 
 so highly honoured with His grace ? The son of an 
 apostate Semitic family, of whose father tradition says 
 he was a maker of idols. Who were the Hebrews, that 
 they should be called out to be a holy nation, a royal 
 priesthood, and a peculiar people, for a possession of 
 Jehovah ? A nation of slaves, degraded beyond measure, 
 who were even themselves sunk into the worst forms of 
 Egyptian life and religion ; a people concerning whom 
 God warned them that He did not save or love them 
 because they were a great and worthy people, for He 
 said they were at once the fewest and the most stiff- 
 necked and rebellious of all people. In later times this 
 favoured people were reproached with being descended 
 from a Hittite mother and an Amorite father, allied on 
 the one hand with Samaria and on the other with 
 
So HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 Sodom. And yet God's love and service were to such 
 people ! When Jesus chose His apostles, He did not go 
 to the Sanhedrim and make a selection from the doctors 
 and lawyers, but called a company of fishermen and 
 tax-gatherers to be His ministers. It is easy of proof 
 that, for the greater part, the men who have been most 
 used of God in spreading His gospel for the past two 
 thousand years have been men sprung from what the 
 world calls the lower ranks in life. 
 
 2. God regards Jminble places as well as humble people. 
 In coming to Mary the angel also came to Mary's mean 
 city and her very humble house, and came in to her there. 
 If one were to ask at random a half-dozen well-informed 
 people in the congregation what were the five or six 
 greatest cities of the world, he would get answers in which 
 the names of Babylon, Thebes, Memphis, Athens, Rome, 
 Paris, London, and New York would figure. But are 
 these the great places of the world ? Are they really 
 the great cities judged by the standard of heavenly 
 policy and judgment ? Nay ; but I think we might 
 venture to put in their places Nazareth, Bethlehem, Nain, 
 and Bethany. The greatness of a city consists not in 
 the splendour of its buildings, the magnitude of its popu- 
 lation, the extent of its commerce ; but in the greatness 
 of the events which have marked its history, and in the 
 character of its citizens. " And thou, Bethlehem, in the 
 land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of 
 Judah ; for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall 
 rule My people Israel." ^ Measured by this rule, Bethle- 
 hem, the little village, the home of the shepherd David, 
 and the birthplace of Jesus, was far greater than Jeru- 
 salem ; Nazareth was greater than Caesarea ; Nain was 
 greater than Bethsaida ; Bethany greater than Chorazin. 
 Verona, the birthplace of Virgil, is a greater city than 
 ^ Matt. ii. 6, 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 8i 
 
 Rome, the place of Augustus' throne. Little Stratford- 
 on-Avon has reflected more glory upon England by- 
 giving birth to Shakespeare than London has by being 
 the home of her vast population and the moneyed 
 centre of the world. We count up and name with pride 
 the great houses in London ; the splendid palaces of 
 our nobility and citizens of fortune ; but if Gabriel 
 should come to London and propose to take us to the 
 great houses according to God's estimate of greatness, I 
 think he would lead us to some strange places — to some 
 garrets ; to some cellars ; to some very humble homes 
 indeed ; to some modest apartments ; possibly also to 
 some fine houses. Why would you call these great houses? 
 They are not to be compared with Grosvenor House, or 
 Dorchester House, or a hundred others. Oh, these are 
 great houses because they are the homes of great souls, 
 of those beloved of God who are great in His sight. No 
 great house in itself can make the inhabitant of it great; 
 but a great soul, be he man or woman, rich or poor, can 
 make the house great in which they live. Just in the 
 same way, neither money nor position can really dignify 
 a man ; but a man may dignify and ennoble both money 
 and position. These are God's estimations. 
 
 3. This cojidescoision to men mid things of lotu estate 
 is undoubtedly the fixed and settled policy of God. " For 
 My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
 ways My ways, saith the Lord ; " ^ and it is well for us 
 if we carefully study His ways, and as far as possible 
 make them ours. " God has chosen the foolish things 
 of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen 
 the weak things of the world to confound the things 
 which are mighty ; and base things of the world, and 
 things which are despised, hath God chosen, and things 
 which are not, to bring to naught things which are : that 
 
 ' Isa. Iv. 8. 
 P.B. 6 
 
82 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 no flesh should glory in His presence." ^ We are wedded 
 to the conventionality of the world, in our estimate alike 
 of men and things. We render service, and honour, and 
 homage to those whom the world esteems to be great ; 
 we bow down before wealth and station, and pass by 
 circumstances of poverty and obscurity. But God 
 renders service to the poor, the obscure, and the lowly. 
 He pours contempt upon the worldly greatness of wealth 
 and station, and emphasizes again and again the truth 
 that He is no respecter of persons. We worship the 
 wisdom of the world, but Jesus thanks His Father that 
 the salvation of God is revealed to babes. We deal 
 more with the outward and seeming ; God deals with 
 that which is real and eternal. That which we esteem 
 the wisest, the mightiest, and of most worth very often 
 contains all the possibilities of the worst evils. Can we 
 say that the wisdom of the world, the might of the 
 world, the most highly honoured of the world have been 
 the ministers of that which is best to the world ? Surely 
 not. The world's wisdom has proved its greatest dark- 
 ness ; its might, its greatest weakness ; and the most 
 honoured things have been the breeders of the worst 
 evils. On the other hand, out of the Nazareths and 
 Bethlehems, despised and insignificant places, have al- 
 ways come to the world its best gifts. In what seems to 
 have been, and still is, the uniform policy of heaven, we 
 may detect a purpose of God to reverse the whole con- 
 ventional order of the world ; and with the things which 
 men despise, and with a policy that the wisdom of the 
 world condemns. He will overturn the world and cause 
 the first to be last and the last first. Dives shall be 
 found in hell torments in spite (not because) of his riches, 
 and Lazarus shall be found in heaven in spite (not be- 
 cause) of his poverty and sores. The proud man shall 
 ' I Cor. i. 27-29. 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 83 
 
 be humbled, and the humble-minded man shall be 
 exalted. Mary hinted at this heavenly policy in her 
 song, " He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 
 and exalted them of low degree." ^ " These that have 
 turned the world upside down have come hither also," ^ 
 was the complaint of the world against the apostles. Were 
 they not rather turning the world right side up ? As 
 God does nothing out of mere sovereignty, but always 
 because of love and wisdom, may w^e not profitably look 
 about us and learn that just as there are great potenti- 
 alities for evil in those things which the world most 
 highly esteems, so in the poor and despised and weak 
 things of this world there may be hidden the potenti- 
 alities of greatest good and power ? Behold the evil 
 that was in Saul of Kish, that mighty and splendid man 
 who was the choice of Israel for their king ; and then 
 behold the good that was in the despised shepherd lad 
 whom God chose in the room of Saul. When we would 
 form a great society (even we christians), the first 
 thing we endeavour to do is to secure a half-dozen or 
 more great names as patrons and patronesses. Then 
 we think our society will march, by reason of the power 
 and influence of human greatness. But when Jesus 
 founded His church. He not only selected poor men for 
 His apostles, but gathered for the body of the church 
 men and women who were of the lowest, the weakest, 
 and most unfortunate of mankind. Blind beggars, 
 publicans, and harlots, the very outcasts of society. 
 
 Whom did He come to call to repentance ? Not the 
 righteous, but sinners. Whom did He, as the great 
 Physician, turn His attention to? Not those who were 
 whole, but those who were sick. Do we not see this 
 principle of God to hold true even in our half-apostate 
 faith and practice ? How many rich and great and wise 
 ' Luke i. 52. ^ Acts xvii. 6. 
 
84 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 men and women are enrolled among the disciples of 
 Christ in our churches ? Not many. We do not say — 
 not any, but 7iot many. If we had our way, would we 
 not reverse all this and fill up our communion roll with 
 the wise and the mighty and the great? If in our 
 Sunday night after-meetings there should come forward 
 twenty-five or thirty souls to confess Christ, and it were 
 to get abroad that of these two-thirds were men and 
 women of the upper classes — all rich and wise and 
 distinguished — would not the world say, and would not 
 zve feel, that we were getting on ? But last Sunday 
 night twenty-five souls came forward to confess Christ, 
 the greater part of whom were servants ; and there is 
 little care about that work of grace because God has 
 only come to some obscure Nazarene men and maidens. 
 And yet, my friends, let me ask you who it is that 
 maintains the cause of Christ in the world ? Who fill 
 the pulpits ? Not the sons of the nobility or of the men 
 of wealth ; but, for the most part, young men from the 
 families of the poor. Who make our congregations on 
 the Lord's day ? Not the wealthy and the great, but 
 the common people. Who attend our prayer meetings 
 and other mid-week services ? Not you who are well 
 off and on the road to greatness in this world. You 
 have no time ; no inclination ; no relief from the social 
 duties of the world. But come and see, and I will show 
 you nine out of ten there to be servants and other 
 humble people. These are they who keep the fires burn- 
 ing. Who are they that support the church and send 
 abroad the gospel ? Not the rich, but the poor. You 
 that are rich and well off (not all, but nearly all) use the 
 bulk of your money for personal gratification, and give 
 the tailings of it to God. When I look over the sub- 
 scription lists of those who offer for the maintenance of 
 the cause of worship here, I am amazed and ashamed. 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 85 
 
 I find many servants, whose incomes do not exceed i^20 
 to ^^"25 in the year, giving in weekly offerings from 6d. 
 to two shilHngs per week ; on the other hand, I miss 
 the names altogether of many very well-to-do, and even 
 rich men from the list. I turn again to those who are 
 represented on the list, and find there are people in our 
 congregation who ride in their carriages and are able to 
 give costly dinner parties, spend months away from 
 London in the fairylands of the South in winter and the 
 romantic Highlands in the summer, who seem to be ill 
 able to give to their own church above that which some 
 of their own servants give. Surely our Lord was wise 
 with heavenly wisdom in condescending to choose 
 Nazarene maidens and Galilean fishermen with whom 
 to build His church. Do you say that I cannot judge 
 of what a man gives by a pledge-card or an outward 
 sign ? There are those who give otherwise. Perhaps ; 
 but they do not give it in the open basket, nor do they 
 send it to the treasurer. I confess I have little faith in 
 a man's liberality who will not support his own church 
 and build over against his own door. A man who can 
 afford to give a pound a week and only gives a shilling, 
 on the ground that he has claims elsewhere, raises in 
 my mind a doubt of his sincerity. Do not be surprised 
 if in the end you will have with bitterness to know what 
 Mary meant in her song : " He hath filled the hungry 
 with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty 
 away." ^ 
 
 H. Lessons from these Facts. Let me now 
 bring this sermon to a close by drawing a few practical 
 lessons from the theme suggested by Gabriel's visit to 
 Mary. 
 
 I . No man or woman is so high in station or opulent in 
 possessions or talents but that he or she should be willing, 
 ' Luke i. 53. 
 
86 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 glad, and proud to do God's work, even when it is 
 ministry in lowest places, and to the humblest people. 
 But, alas ! this is a lesson little perceived and followed 
 out. This mind for lowly service which distinguished 
 Gabriel, and was pre-eminent in Christ Jesus the Lord, 
 is conspicuously absent from the vast majority of those 
 in the church who occupy high positions in the world or 
 are the possessors of its wealth. 
 
 2. No man is too poor, too obscure, too lonely, or too 
 sinful to be the object of the ministry of God's dear, 
 great love and grace, or a fit person for us to go to, as 
 Gabriel did to Mary, with the messages of God's love 
 and favour. A certain missionary spent six months 
 among the low-caste natives of India, and then threw up 
 his commission and returned home. When asked why 
 he had done so, he replied that he " had carefully looked 
 these miserable natives over, and had reached the con- 
 clusion that they were not worth saving." Yet I know 
 the granddaughter of a Hindu sweeper (the lowest and 
 most despised caste) who to-day is one of the foremost 
 educationalists in India, exalted by the gospel of Christ 
 into a place that not one Brahmin woman in a hundred 
 thousand could ever attain to from her coign of vantage 
 in worldly position. That missionary's judgment is the 
 judgment of many. Yet Jesus preached the gospel to 
 the poor ; He healed the lepers ; the blind beggars 
 found Him gracious to them ; He spoke words of love 
 and forgiveness to the harlots, and was a friend to 
 publicans and sinners. The early christian church had 
 in its membership murderers, adulterers, thieves, forni- 
 cators, and covetous men. God thought them worth 
 saving, and visited them with His favour. It is out of 
 the so-called social waste of this world that God largely 
 recruits for the kingdom of heaven. He condescends to 
 men of low estate. 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 87 
 
 3. No place is too obscure or mean to be an Jionoiired 
 place of service. How can we think of Him who was 
 conceived in the virgin's womb and born in a stable and 
 forget this lesson ? There is no lack of ministers of 
 the gospel who are willing to be called to the strong 
 churches of the great cities who feel that the small and 
 obscure charges hitherto open to them are not worthy 
 their great abilities. There are not a few workers who 
 would be willing to have some service in the drawing- 
 rooms of the great who cannot see their way clear to 
 work in the slums. We have not a few well-to-do and 
 very able men who might be induced to take office and 
 responsibility in our Church Court if only there were 
 two or three noblemen, half a dozen great bankers, and 
 a few members of Parliament among the office-bearers 
 now ; but as, for the most part, our Court is composed 
 of humble men in comparatively low positions in the 
 world, it is impossible for me to induce some men of our 
 congregation who have large talents and means to take 
 office and service. They seem content to be ministered 
 to, but have no idea of being themselves ministers 
 (deacons). There are many ladies who would attend 
 the Dorcas Society and work diligently for an hour or 
 two each week for the poor, if the society held its meet- 
 ings in the drawing-room of some Duchess, but who 
 cannot find it worthy of their time and station or con- 
 venience to meet with the score and a half humble 
 women of our congregation in the modest little rooms 
 at 'i^'j^ Upper George Street. There are some noble ones 
 and some rich, but not many. I often read the names 
 of the rich and great ones of the earth printed among 
 the patrons and patronesses of some of our missions and 
 charities, but I have met very few of them any nearer 
 the work of the charity they patronize than to come now 
 and again to be gazed at while they open a fair or bazaar 
 
88 HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 4. There are none so lowly and poor but that they are 
 rvorthy (so far forth) of our hospitality and cordial saluta- 
 tion. We may, and ought to give our " hail " and 
 " greeting " to the lowliest about us, in the name of the 
 Lord. A stranger was in our church recently. He was 
 dressed rather plainly, and was not a man to attract 
 superficial attention. As he passed by me going out, I 
 spoke to him, offered my hand, and gave him a usual 
 greeting. " I notice that you are a stranger among us ; 
 I am glad to see you here ; hope the service has been 
 helpful ; shall be glad to see you at any time you may 
 be free to come," etc. He thanked me, and said he had 
 been pleased with and profited by the service, and would 
 certainly come again when next he was up in town. 
 Then he handed me his card, and I was surprised to note 
 the name of a nobleman whose fame is in both State and 
 Church. He was out of my reach by this time, and had 
 just passed one of our gentlemen, who came to speak to 
 me about some matter. I said to him, " Do you know 
 the gentleman who has just passed you ? " describing 
 him and pointing him out as he went through the door. 
 " No ; who is he ? " " Why, that is Lord Blank." " No, 
 not really ! If I had knoivn that, I should have spoken to 
 him." Had it been Joseph or Mary of Nazareth, he 
 would probably not have thought it worth while ; but 
 since it was Lord Blank, why he regretted not having 
 been hospitable and cordial. Many of God's noblemen 
 go in plain clothes. Gabriel left heaven to give Mary a 
 royal salutation, and a Greater than Gabriel left the 
 bosom of the Father to come and wash our feet and lay 
 down His life for us miserable sinners ; and is not 
 ashamed now to call us brethren, who are so often 
 ashamed of Him. 
 
 5. // may be answered : that the greatness of Gabriel's 
 commission made his visit to Mary a distinguished privi- 
 
HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 89 
 
 lege. So it did. And I have no doubt that if we fully 
 realized that we were bearing a message to one who 
 should be raised to greatness, we would go, and wait for 
 the vindication of our dignity by the revelation of the 
 greatness of the object of our ministry and salutation. 
 Well, when God sends you and me to some Nazareth 
 place, to some poor woman, or sick working man, or 
 sinner sunk in shame and vileness, He is sending us on 
 a like mission. Has He not bidden us go to them with 
 the " Hail " of joyful salutation, and put the message of 
 His love in our lips to tell them that it is of His gracious 
 will and favour that they should receive Christ Jesus, the 
 Giver of Life and the Hope of Glory, into their hearts ? 
 Is not every soul that is overshadowed by the Holy 
 Ghost the chosen womb for another incarnation ? When 
 He sends us on the least of His errands to the humblest 
 of His disciples, does He not accept the service as done 
 unto Himself? Have we forgotten His word : " Inas- 
 much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
 My brethren, ye have done it unto Me " ^ ? Alas ! how 
 we do forget ! Nay, rather, how little we believe of all 
 this ! When we are bidden to give ourselves to hos- 
 pitality, has He not told us as an encouragement that 
 we may thereby entertain angels unawares, as some have 
 done before us ? 
 
 6. The real greatness of our church is not dependent 
 upon its wealth or the high social station of our conumini- 
 cants, but upon the number of those who enjoy the 
 favour of the Lord, and are so taken up with service, so 
 full of sympathy with God's gracious purpose, that they 
 have only this one care and thought — to do the will of 
 God. Let me be among those, whatever my earthly 
 station, who have entered into fellowship for breaking 
 up the conventionality of this world ; overturning its 
 ' Matt. XXV. 40. 
 
go HEAVENLY SERVICE TO LOWLY PEOPLE 
 
 false principles, and bringing to light the true worth and 
 power of the things which are not. 
 
 Believe it, my friends, you who are withholding your 
 hands, your persons, your money, your presence, and the 
 whole enthusiasm of your life from the service of God to 
 the lowliest of His chosen ones, are depriving yourselves 
 of the joys of salvation, preparing for yourselves great 
 and bitter disappointment in the things for the sake of 
 which you turn your back upon heavenly service, and 
 are most likely losing your own souls. 
 
VI 
 
 " HAIL, MA R Y > "—NO T " A VE A/A RIA " 
 
 " And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, highly 
 favoured, the Lord is with thee ; blessed thou among women." — 
 Luke i. 28. 
 
 IF I seem disposed to linger over these incidents 
 initial to the incarnation of our Lord, it is because their 
 interest is most fascinating and profound. Here we are 
 on holy ground, and it is inspiring to abide awhile with 
 shoes taken off. It is not often we get glimpses of 
 angels ; and but seldom in the world's history has 
 Gabriel visited the earth. We may be sure that he 
 never comes except the matter of his visit and the 
 contents of his message are of surpassing importance. 
 Here we are in presence of the most highly -favoured 
 woman of her race ; the one woman out of millions who 
 came before her, and millions who have come after her, 
 upon whom the choice of the Lord fell that she might 
 be the mother of the Incarnate Word. For her we feel 
 all the interest possible — so sweet in character, so simple 
 in faith, so patient in suffering, so raised above her 
 sisters in privilege and honour, and yet who never left 
 her lowly station in life, and chose only to be counted 
 as one among many other holy women in the gatherings 
 of the early Church. 
 
 I. Concerning Mary. In this connection it seems 
 proper that we should consider two or three facts and 
 theories concerning the Virgin Mother of our Lord, to 
 whom the angel made this communication. 
 
92 ''HAIL, MARY r— NOT ''AVE MARIA'' 
 
 I. She was the obscure descendant of two noble houses. 
 We know that she was cousin to EHsabeth, who was of 
 the house of Aaron, and also a descendant of the house 
 of David. While it is true that Joseph, her espoused 
 husband, is alone declared to be of the house of David, 
 it is fairly inferred that Mary also was of that Royal 
 line. How could our Lord have been of the " seed of 
 David according to the flesh " had not Mary been a 
 descendant of the great king of Israel, seeing that He 
 was not the child of Joseph at all ? Though she is not 
 mentioned by name in the genealogical tables either of 
 Matthew or Luke, yet her immediate ancestors are 
 mentioned. According to the best information within 
 our reach, it seems most probable that Mary was the 
 cousin of Joseph, her espoused husband, and so de- 
 scended from Matthan, who was the grandfather of both 
 Joseph and Mary. But of this we have no certain 
 record. It is not material to the case, however, as we 
 are well assured from other scriptures that Jesus was the 
 son of David as to the flesh ; and so, of course, His 
 mother must have been of that house. The utter 
 absence of all details concerning Mary's birth and early 
 life has given rise to a vast legendary literature, much 
 of it full of interest, but all, so far as we are concerned, 
 of an absolutely worthless character. It would seem 
 that it was the very intention or purpose of God in thus 
 hiding from us the early history of Mary that she might 
 not be exalted into undue prominence because of being 
 the mother of our Lord. She was the instrument of the 
 Holy Spirit in bringing the Eternal Word into the 
 world incarnate in human nature. Henceforth it is her 
 Son who is to fill the whole horizon of our thought 
 and faith, and not herself. It is a comfort in this con- 
 nection to know that God does not overlook or despise 
 those whom the world knows not or has forgotten. 
 
''HAIL, MARY r'— NOT ''AVE MARIA" 93 
 
 " He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden." * 
 True greatness, as we have before remarked, depends 
 upon the favour of God rather than the circumstances 
 of our earthly life. When we behold God casting down 
 a prince and exalting a peasant, we are sure that true 
 greatness belongs to the peasant and not to the king. 
 We should learn to regard those who are " greatly beloved 
 of God," whether a Daniel or a Mary, as being worthy 
 of our best honour. The poorest man or woman in this 
 world who has been the means of leading one soul to 
 Christ is worthy of more honour, and in the day of 
 Judgment will receive more honour, than the mightiest 
 king or millionaire upon the earth. " He hath put 
 down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of 
 low degree." ^ And He does this, not by an arbitrary 
 rule of mere sovereignty, but on principles of grace and 
 divine discernment of real worth. Paul was a nobleman 
 and a scholar, while John was a fisherman without 
 culture ; but both alike were noble in the truest sense of 
 the word, because both of them were chosen to be the 
 servants of Jesus Christ. Mary was the espoused wife 
 of Joseph, of the house of David. The Divine Wisdom 
 chose an espoused virgin to be the mother of our Lord, 
 rather than an unespoused one, it should seem, that she 
 might have in a husband a shield to her virginity and 
 fair, good name, and at the same time a natural pro- 
 tector for herself and her Holy Son. We are told that 
 the angel who appeared to Joseph, when he thought ill 
 of Mary, distinctly informed him of the true origin of her 
 pregnancy, and bade him not to put her away, and so 
 cause shame to come upon her, but to take her to him- 
 self with all confidence, and to be a husband to her. 
 Later on the angel came again to Joseph and warned 
 him of the wicked purpose of Herod, and bade him take 
 ' Luke i. 48. * Ibid. i. 52. 
 
94 ''HAIL, MARY!''— NOT ''AVE MARIA'' 
 
 the young Child and His mother and go down into 
 Egypt. Again Joseph received heavenly direction for 
 bringing Mary and Jesus back again into their own 
 land and their highland home at Nazareth. In all this 
 there is manifested a divine and tender care both for 
 Jesus and His mother. We know less of Joseph than 
 we do of Mary, but we believe that he was in every way 
 a wise and loving foster-father to our Lord, and that 
 with His mother he surrounded the Child with the very 
 best influence of a home in which God was reverenced 
 and served with pure sincerity of heart and purpose, and 
 with a mighty and holy regard for the trust which was 
 committed to their joint care. 
 
 Mary, the mother of our Lord, has been the victim of 
 two false judgments. It is remarkable that this pure 
 and chaste virgin whom God has so highly honoured 
 should have been the subject of the most vile and cruel 
 slanders ; and, on the other hand, that she, who was of 
 such low degree, and whom the scriptures have purposely 
 left in apparent obscurity, should have been exalted by 
 the judgment of men even into an equal place in the 
 Godhead with the Holy Trinity. The one judgment is 
 so vile as to be almost unthinkable, and the other so 
 blasphemous as to cause a shudder of horror on every 
 thought of it. About the middle of the second century, 
 Celsus, the first writer against the christian religion, gave 
 out a story, that after having been espoused to Joseph, 
 she had abandoned him, and took up with a Roman 
 soldier, who was the true father of Jesus ; thus branding 
 Mary as a fallen woman, and Jesus as the illegitimate child 
 of a guilty human love. This is so shocking a theory 
 that it has been only with bated breath that the worst 
 enemies of Christ and His gospel have dared repeat it 
 down through the ages. And yet, if the account of the 
 miraculous conception of Jesus is not the true one, we 
 
''HAIL, MARY!''— NOT ''AVE MARIA'' 95 
 
 must conclude that, at least, the most charitable sus- 
 picions of Joseph concerning her at the time of her early 
 pregnancy were founded on fact. But with the whole 
 story of Mary and Jesus before us, and considering the 
 unimpaired stream of high moral influence which has 
 continued to flow down upon the world from both Mary 
 and Jesus (if Celsus was right in his conjectures), then 
 henceforth let us wish that all women may be un- 
 chaste, and all sons born of illicit love ; with the hope 
 that the world may be furnished with lovely and holy 
 women and great and unselfish men. 
 
 On the other hand, very early in the history of the 
 Church the imagination of men began to gather about 
 the virgin mother of Christ, invested her with supernatural 
 honours, and clothed her with supernatural powers, 
 which exalted her not among women, but above all 
 women, men, and angels. The pseudo-gospels are full 
 of the wildest romances concerning her ; and there is 
 little doubt that during the third and fourth centuries 
 there were many individual christians and some fore- 
 most teachers who, if they did not give her absolute 
 worship, did render to her an adoration which came 
 little short of it. In the middle of the fifth century, say 
 about A.D. 430, the doctrines of the Nestorians became 
 so alarming in their wide-spreading influence that a 
 general Council of the Church was called to meet at 
 Ephesus in order to condemn this heresy. According 
 to Nestorius, our Lord had two complete personalities — 
 one purely human, and one purely divine. The human 
 nature was born of Mary, and the divine nature com- 
 municated to Him after His human birth. Whereas 
 it was, and ever has been, the orthodox teaching of the 
 Church (as of the apostles) that our Lord had but one 
 personality, in which the human and the divine were 
 perfectly united, and that that union took place in the 
 
96 ''HAIL, MARY r'— NOT '' AVE MARIA" 
 
 womb of the virgin at the time of the miraculous con- 
 ception. The Council of Ephesus, in condemning the 
 doctrine of Nestorius, applied to Mary a term which 
 designated her as the mother of God ( Theotokos). This 
 term was adopted to counterbalance the teaching that 
 Mary was only the mother of the human nature of Jesus, 
 and for the purpose of protecting doctrinally the true 
 divine nature of our Lord. It is almost certain that the 
 Council of Ephesus had no intention of sanctioning, 
 much less of inaugurating, any worship of Mary. The 
 controversy over this word has been a long one, and is 
 beset with difficulties which it is not my purpose to go 
 into. It is perfectly proper in a sense to use it, for 
 Jesus, while He was truly man, was also God, manifested 
 in the flesh, and Mary was His mother. But the people 
 about that time, by reason of a growing tendency to 
 exalt the mother of our Lord into a place of divine 
 honour, quickly took this decision of the Council as 
 approving the adoration or worship which was already 
 being given to her. Thenceforward till now the worship 
 of the virgin, or Mariolatry, as we term it, has been the 
 prevailing cult and custom of the Roman and the Greek 
 Church ; and, alas ! there is not wanting many symptoms 
 of the spread of this blasphemy even in the Church of 
 England. At the present time the worship of the virgin 
 Mary has almost superseded the worship of Christ, and 
 even of God Himself, in so-called Catholic countries. 
 She is the Queen of Heaven ; she is the only mediatrix 
 between the soul and Christ ; she holds in her authority 
 all gifts of grace, all earthly blessing ; she is the bestower 
 and dispenser of salvation ; she guards both the gates of 
 hell and of heaven ; it is only through her that God the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost can administer salvation. 
 Nay, she has, according to these idolaters, been assumed 
 into the Godhead and become one with the Holy Trinity, 
 
''HAIL, MARY!''— NOT ''AVE MARIA'' 97 
 
 thus making it a Quarternity. Even Dr. Pusey, the 
 founder of the present Anglican movement in the 
 Church of England, taught that " Mary is the comple- 
 ment of the Trinity," ^ and that " the intercession of 
 Mary is needed for the salvation of the followers of Jesus 
 Christ." We might quote pages of this blasphemy were 
 it necessary. The steps which have led up to the 
 worship of the Virgin, as she is invariably styled, are 
 these: — (i) The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of 
 Mary. That even though she were married to Joseph, 
 she never became in fact his wife, and never bore other 
 children after Jesus. (2) The doctrine of the miraculous 
 birth as well as the miraculous conception of Jesus ; that 
 our Lord passed out from the virgin's womb in a man- 
 ner similar to the miracle by which He came in to the 
 disciples after the resurrection, " the door being shut " 
 (John XX. 26). (3) The declaration of the Council of 
 Ephesus, which bestowed upon her the title of Theotokos. 
 (4) The dedication of chapels and churches to her honour, 
 until there came to be no limit to the worship given her, 
 and no gift of God her worshippers did not seek at her 
 hands, even to the utmost salvation. (5) The horrible 
 and blasphemous mutilation of the scriptures, in which 
 throughout the whole Psalter the name of Mary, or some 
 title representing her, is substituted for the names and 
 titles of God and Jehovah. As, for instance, in the first 
 Psalm, " Blessed is the man who loveth thy name, O Vir- 
 gin Mary." As in the ninth Psalm, " I will confess thee, 
 O Lady (Domina) ; I will declare among the people thy 
 praise and glory. To thee belong glory, thanksgiving, 
 and the voice of praise." As in the fifteenth Psalm, " Pre- 
 serve me, O Lady, for I have hoped in thee." As in the 
 seventeenth Psalm, " I will love thee, O Queen of heaven 
 and earth, and will glorify thy name among the Gentiles." 
 
 ' Eirenicon^ ii. 167. 
 P.B, 7 
 
98 " HAIL, MAR Y! ''—NO T ''AVE MARIA " 
 
 As in the forty-second Psalm, " As the hart panteth 
 after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul for thy love, 
 O Holy Virgin "; and so on to the end. The Te Deum 
 is likewise parodied in the office of worship : " We praise 
 thee, Mother of God ; we acknowledge thee to be a 
 Virgin. . . . To thee all angels cry aloud with a 
 never-ceasing voice. Holy, Holy, Mary, Mother of God. 
 The holy Church throughout all the world doth invoke 
 and praise thee, the Mother of Divine Majesty. Thou 
 sittest with the Son on the right hand of the Father. 
 In thee, sweet Mary, is our hope ; defend us for ever- 
 more. Praise becometh thee ; empire becometh thee ; 
 virtue and glory be unto thee for ever and ever." Can 
 we conceive anything more blasphemous than this ? 
 And yet this is the Cult to which some of our Anglican 
 brethren are longing to have the grand old English 
 Protestant Church united again. This apostate body 
 the whole English Church recognise as being a part, if 
 not the chief section, of the Holy Catholic Church, 
 whose orders and priesthood they recognise, whilst 
 excluding from their fellowship all the dissenting Pro- 
 testant bodies of the world, refusing to recognise the 
 validity of their ministry and ordinances. (6) The final 
 step toward completing this blasphemy was to declare, . 
 as the Roman Church did by decree of council in 1870, 
 the doctrine of the immaculate conception. That is, that 
 by a miracle no less great than that of the incarnation 
 the Virgin herself was conceived without sin, and was 
 therefore a sinless being in nature as she was subse- 
 quently in her life. 
 
 There are but few references to Mary in the New 
 Testament, and every one of these most distinctly dis- 
 courage any thought of exalting her to be an object of 
 worship. It should seem that, foreseeing this movement 
 of the spirit of Antichrist, our Lord has specially spoken 
 
" HAIL, MAR Y.' ''—NO T ''AVE MA RIA " 99 
 
 to her, and of her, in such a manner as to show that, 
 highly honoured and greatly beloved as she was, in 
 respect of her relation to God and man, she was nothing 
 more nor less than any other woman save by grace, 
 although chosen to the high honour of being the mother 
 of the Christ. In the song which Mary sang on her visit 
 to Elisabeth she appears a devout and humble worship- 
 per, not as the Queen of Heaven, demanding worship 
 of others. She acknowledges that she has been highly 
 exalted, but not to a place of adoration or worship. 
 Twelve years later, when we find her seeking Jesus, who 
 stayed behind in the temple to reason with the doctors, 
 she seems not fully to have understood the import of 
 His words, " Wist ye not that I must be about My 
 Father's business ? And they understood not the say- 
 ing which He spake unto them ; . . . but His 
 mother kept all these sayings in her heart." ^ At Cana 
 of Galilee, where Jesus made the water into wine, it 
 would seem that Mary rather officiously interfered by 
 a suggestion to Him as to what He ought to do, and 
 drew from Him this rather stern but yet gentle and 
 respectful rebuke, " Woman, what have I to do with 
 thee ? Mine hour is not yet come." ^ Here certainly 
 there is no hint that Mary was in His mind exalted to 
 any position of especial authority. The next place Mary 
 appears in the New Testament record, she and her other 
 sons came to where Jesus was teaching and preaching. 
 A great crowd was gathered about Him, and it should 
 seem that it was the desire of His mother and His 
 brethren to get Him away and take Him home, as 
 though they thought Him either in danger or perhaps 
 too enthusiastic in His mission. " Then came to Him 
 His mother and His brethren, and could not come at 
 Him for the press. And it was told Him by certain 
 '■ Luke ii. 49-51, ^ John ii. 4. 
 
loo " HAIL, MAR Y> "—NO T ''AVE MARIA 
 
 which said, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand with- 
 out, desiring to see Thee. And He answered and said 
 unto them. My mother and My brethren are these which 
 hear the word of God, and do it." ^ In this speech 
 Jesus distinctly puts Mary and His natural brethren on 
 no pinnacle or platform above other disciples who hear 
 and do the word of God. On another occasion an 
 enthusiastic woman breaks out into a rhapsody of praise 
 upon Mary, " Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and 
 the paps which Thou hast sucked. But He said, Yea 
 rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and 
 keep it." ^ Surely if ever there was a thought that Mary 
 was to be exalted to the position which the Romanists 
 and Anglicans give her, this was when our Lord might 
 have signified something which would have warranted 
 at least adoration. But He even checks a warm ascrip- 
 tion of praise to her, and turns our thought to hearing 
 and doing the word of God. We next see Mary at the 
 foot of the cross, and hear Jesus commending her to the 
 care of John ^ ; but in this tender address to her and to 
 John there is no hint of adoration or worship, or that at 
 any future time such should be given her. She was His 
 mother, dearly and tenderly beloved, but beyond that 
 and the honour of that relation she was as other women. 
 We last see Mary with some of the other holy women 
 assembled with the brethren in the upper room in Jeru- 
 salem, whither they had repaired to wait for the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost. Here she takes her place with the rest 
 of the disciples, and unites her prayers with theirs for 
 the fulfilment of the promise of the Father. It is a 
 remarkable fact that among the various manifestations of 
 Himself after the resurrection there is no mention that 
 He appeared to Mary, His mother. To James, His half- 
 
 ' Luke viii. ig-2i ; cf. Mark iii. 32-35 ; Matt. xii. 46. 
 ^ Luke xi. 27, 2S. ^ John xix. 25-27. 
 
" HAIL, MARY! "—NO T " A VE MARIA " i oi 
 
 brother, He did appear, and seems to have satisfied hii, 
 doubts, for afterwards James took his place amongst the 
 disciples, and became the first minister of the Church at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Whilst we must protest with all our power against 
 this antichristian worship of Mary, it is not necessar}' 
 for us in any way to lower her from the high and holy 
 place which she must ever hold in the affectionate re- 
 gard of believers in all ages. Mary will always remain 
 to us the sweetest among women, the holiest among 
 mothers, the most perfect type of motherhood and 
 womanhood, an example of lowly and obedient faith, 
 and of sweet humility and grace. 
 
 II. The Salutation of the Angel. It is time 
 now that we should turn to the facts before us, and, 
 by examining them, find out the true position of Mary 
 as set forth in this salutation. When Gabriel stood 
 before her and saluted her, he did not either offer wor- 
 ship or make a prayer to her. He came to announce 
 a wondrous thing, and saluted her as it became them 
 both. 
 
 I. "Hail/" The Romanists have changed this simple 
 salutation into ''Ave Maria" a term which implies wor- 
 ship and conveys a supplication. They use this saluta- 
 tion in their approach to her, " Mary, we worship thee ; 
 we pray to thee." Though we may suppose the angel's 
 salutation was made with rare and gracious dignity, as 
 it became him that stood in the presence of God, in 
 bringing a message to the one woman whom God chose 
 to be the mother of the Lord, it does not convey even 
 a hint that he either worshipped her or made petition 
 to her for favour. We are told that " all the angels of 
 God worship " * the risen Christ, but nowhere in scrip- 
 ture is it intimated that they ever offered worship or 
 ' Heb. i. 6. 
 
I02 " HAIL, MARY! "—NOT " A VE MARIA " 
 
 made supplication to a mortal man or woman. The 
 meaning of the word " Hail " {chairoo) is joy. In the 
 imperative form used here it signifies "Joy to thee." 
 It is not a prayer, but a happy greeting which has in 
 it the suggestion of good tidings or the wish for joy to 
 be to the one who is saluted. It was a co7nmunication 
 of joy to Mary, and not a solicitatio7i of favour from 
 her. Bishop Hall thus quaintly and beautifully says, 
 " The angel salutes the virgin ; he prays not to her 
 as a goddess. For us to salute her as he did were 
 gross presumption ; for neither are we as she was, and 
 neither is she (now) as she was (then). If he that was 
 a spirit saluted her that was flesh and blood here on 
 earth, it is not for us that are flesh and blood to salute 
 her which is a glorious spirit in heaven. For us to 
 pray to her in the angel's salutation were to abuse the 
 virgin, the angel, and the salutation." The word in this- 
 form is used in three other places in the New Testa- 
 ment ; and reference to them will help us to understand 
 its true meaning. We are told that Judas, who betrayed 
 our Lord, approached Him and said, "Hail, Master!" 
 and kissed Him.^ The " Hail " of treachery. The 
 Roman soldiers, when our Lord had been delivered to 
 them to be reviled, clothed Him in an old cast-off 
 military cloak, put a reed in His hand, in mockery of 
 a sceptre, a crown of thorns upon His head, and, bowing 
 the knee in derision, mocked Him, saying, " Hail, King 
 of the Jews ! " ^ The " Hail " of derision. After the 
 resurrection, Jesus met the women who were going to 
 His disciples with the good news, and greeted them 
 with "All hail!"^ upon which they fell at His feet and 
 worshipped Him. This was the " Hail " of joy. In 
 many other places the word is used in other forms, but 
 always to express joy and joyful greeting. Well did 
 ' .Matt. xxvi. 49. - Matt, xxvii. 29. ^ Matt, xxviii. 9. 
 
" HAIL, MARY! ''—NO T '' A VE MA RIA " 1 03 
 
 the angel use this joyful salutation, for he brought 
 joyful news to her and to all the world. 
 
 2. HigJily favoured. Here we have another word 
 which the blasphemers have twisted into a meaning 
 which it does not bear. The Romanists would have 
 us believe that these two words mean " full of grace " ; 
 as though the angel, having saluted her with worship 
 and prayer, now ascribes to her fulness of grace, from 
 which favour may be granted. The Greek word, liter- 
 ally translated, means " much graced," and is correctly 
 translated " highly favoured." " Joy to you," said the 
 angel ; " thou art a much graced — or greatly favoured — 
 woman." We are at once reminded of the salutation 
 of the same angel to Daniel, five hundred years before 
 this date, whom he approached and touched and said. 
 " O man, greatly beloved ; fear not ; peace be unto 
 thee ; be strong, yea, be strong."^ These words are the 
 communication of grace to the one so saluted and ad- 
 dressed, and must have thrilled his heart with a sense 
 of God's favour ; as I am sure it would your heart and 
 mine if the words were spoken to us. Perhaps we may 
 even get a fuller idea of the meaning of this part of 
 the salutation if we look at the word in another place 
 where it occurs in the New Testament. In Ephesians 
 i. 6, Paul says of the saints that " we are accepted in the 
 Beloved." Now, then, we find that, as a matter of fact, 
 the salutation of Gabriel to Mary was the declaration 
 of her own salvation in Christ, as well as the prelude 
 to the announcement that she had been chosen to bear 
 the Lord her Saviour in her own body. Mary was first 
 accepted in the Beloved, or greatly graced by Him, and 
 then brought Him forth into the world that we, through 
 grace, might also be " highly favoured, or accepted in 
 Him." How great was that favour — beloved of God ; 
 
 ' Dan. x. 19. 
 
104 " HAIL, MAR Yl ''—NO T "A VE MARIA " 
 
 accepted in the Beloved ; and highly favoured, as the 
 providential means of giving to the world the Incarnate 
 Saviour ! May we hope in some way to inherit such 
 a blessing ; not, indeed, as Mary did, but in some such 
 way that we shall be accepted in the Beloved and 
 highly favoured with the privilege of bearing at least 
 His name to others, who also shall be accepted in Him, 
 And does not his subsequent word to her make this 
 very plain ? — " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found 
 favour with God." ^ The Romanists have distorted all 
 this, and have made her to be the fountain of grace, 
 instead of the recipient of grace. 
 
 3. T/ie Lord with thee. This expression reminds us 
 at once of an almost identical one used by the angel to 
 Gideon when he came to announce that God had chosen 
 him to be the judge and deliverer of Israel : " The Lord 
 with thee, thou mighty man of valour." ^ Taken with 
 the next word of assurance we have an expression with 
 which we are all familiar, which we have had many 
 occasions to appropriate to ourselves : " Fear not ; I 
 am with thee." Why he should have thus assured her 
 is not far to see. He was about to make a communi- 
 cation to her which might well stagger her faith and 
 fill her with a sense of responsibility almost beyond the 
 possibility of human support. In the first place, to 
 be made the mother of the Incarnate God was such a 
 responsibility that it might in her simple mind far out- 
 balance the honour which it conferred. Then, perhaps, 
 the angel would anticipate the terrible thought which 
 would come to her, that should she be found with child 
 of the Holy Ghost, not having known a man, and being 
 betrothed to a fond and loving husband, it might involve 
 her in shame and sore trouble. Therefore the angel 
 gave her good consolation, and would anticipate or pre- 
 ' Luke i. 30. * Judg. vi. 12. 
 
" HAIL, MAR Y! "—NOT " A VE MARIA " 105 
 
 vent her fears. We may take these words to ourselves. 
 For though we are not in the same case with Mary, yet 
 every call of God to us, every grace of God received b)' 
 us, every event in our lives brought about by reason of 
 our acceptance with God and devotion to Him, brings 
 us into circumstances that awaken in us the fear of men. 
 It is always at cost that we accept the favour of God. 
 For to be a friend of God is to incur the enmity of the 
 world. Let us, however, call to mind some circum- 
 stances in which this oft-repeated assurance of God is 
 full of comfort. When God called Moses to go down 
 into Egypt and bear to Pharaoh His message and com- 
 mand to let His people go, and to the people to deliver 
 them from the house of bondage, many things arose in 
 his mind that made him afraid. He said boldly that he 
 feared — nay, was convinced — that neither Pharaoh nor 
 the children of Israel themselves would believe the story 
 he should have to tell them of the Burning Bush and his 
 commission received from God. Pharaoh would deride 
 him, and the children of Israel would certainly distrust 
 him as either mad or a self-seeking man. To this 
 natural and very reasonable fear God replied out of the 
 bush that burned with fire, " Certainly / zm// be with 
 thee." * So also when in later times He who dwelt in 
 the bush of human nature called His disciples about 
 Him and showed them all the nations of the earth, with 
 all the powers of the world, the flesh, and the devil con- 
 federate together to resist and oppose His gospel. He 
 bade them go and preach and make disciples of all 
 nations — ^He allayed their fears and encouraged their 
 hearts by saying, " Lo, I am ivith you alway, even unto 
 the end of the age." ^ It was this assurance of the 
 Divine Presence and Power that made them strong ; 
 that makes us strong to do and dare for God. As the 
 ' Exod. iii. 12. * Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
lo6 " HAIL, MAR Y! ''—NOT " A VE MARIA " 
 
 Lord was with Moses and with Gideon, and with the 
 first disciples in prosecuting their great calling against 
 the odds of the world and all enemies, so is He with us 
 and all those who undertake service for Him. Then we 
 have this same good word of cheer and encouragement 
 when we are compassed about or confronted with afflic- 
 tions and dangers personal to ourselves. " Thou art My 
 servant ; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. 
 Fear thou not : for I am with thee. Be not disma)'ed, for 
 I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help 
 thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My 
 righteousness. . . , For I the Lord thy God will hold th)- 
 right hand, saying unto thee : Fear not ; I will help thee. 
 Fear not, thou worm Jacob. ... I will help thee, 
 saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of 
 Israel." ^ With such assurances as these Daniel went 
 into the lions' den ; the children, Hebrew children, into 
 the fiery furnace ; and in all ages God's people have 
 faced dangers and difficulties, suffered afflictions and 
 trials, passed through periods of darkness and spiritual 
 distress, sacrificed themselves, their pride — their good 
 name even — rather than withdraw from their allegiance 
 to Him, or shrink from duty imposed upon them. When 
 human nature shrinks and hangs back, when foes assail, 
 when friends forsake, when men sa}' all manner of evil 
 against us for His name's sake ; by honour and dishonour, 
 by evil report and good report, as unknown and yet 
 well known ; the people of God, with this sweet and 
 precious promise in their hearts, " Fear not, the Lord is 
 with thee," have been able to go forward without terror. 
 It was this promise that gave David comfort in prospect 
 of death, and it is this which comforts us as well : " Yea, 
 though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
 / will fear no evil ; for Thou art ivitJi vie ; Th}' rod and 
 ' Isa. xli. 9-14. 
 
'' HAIL, MARY /''—NOT ''AVE MARIA'' 107 
 
 Thy staff they comfort me." ' lint for this assurance, 
 what would, what could, we do as we enter the waters 
 of death ? It is likewise this assurance which gives us 
 comfort and peace when we meet toi^ether to pray or 
 worship in His name, for " Where two or three are 
 gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst 
 of them." ^ This is to be with its in all the fulness and 
 plenitude of His love. His power, and His grace. Look- 
 ing forward to the time when we shall have done with 
 earth, what is the chief joy we are to anticipate? Why, 
 is it not that we are to be with Him as He has been 
 with us ? " Father, I will that they also whom Thou 
 hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may 
 behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me."^ Had 
 He not comforted His disciples with this promise just 
 before, " And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will 
 come again and receiv^e you unto Myself ; that where I 
 am, there ye may be also " '^ ? We shall never exhaust 
 the promise of God given alike to Mary and to us : 
 " Fear not ; the Lord is with you." 
 
 4. Blessed thou among ivojiien. With every responsibility 
 comes blessing. It is true that Mary was highly favoured ; 
 but that favour also involved great sorrow and suffering, 
 for a sword should pierce through her heart. Yet Gcxl 
 does not call to suffering and responsibility without be- 
 stowing compensating blessing. The most lowly among 
 women, she was, by reason of her high destiny, to become 
 greatest among them. " All generations," she sang after 
 that, " shall call me blessed." ^ Now, the Romanists 
 have changed this to mean that God then and there 
 deified her above all women ; whereas it was a simple 
 statement that among women no one should be esteemed 
 to have been so highly honoured. Jael w^as called b}' 
 
 ' Ps. xxiii. 4. ^ Matt, xviii. 20. '' John xvii. 24. 
 '' John xiv. 3. ■"' Luke i. 48. 
 
1 08 " HAIL, MA RY! "—NO T "A VE MA RIA " 
 
 Deborah " blessed adove all women in the tent." ^ Mary 
 is blessed among them — a chosen and highly favoured 
 one, but not lifted above them as an object of adoration 
 and worship. Her blessedness was in being permitted 
 to bear in her body the Incarnate God, and for His 
 sake, and in the sanctification which came to her through 
 the favour, to set before us in her own person and char- 
 acter the first, the highest example of sweet womanhood 
 and motherhood — a type of saintship which has honoured 
 all women in all ages. 
 
 ' Judg. V. 24. 
 
VII 
 
 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 " He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." 
 — LUKK i. 32. 
 
 IN a most remarkable manner Plato, the Athenian 
 sage, anticipated by a philosophical speculation the 
 great doctrine of what John calls " The Word," which 
 was the fundamental tenet of that great thinker's theo- 
 logy. But the speculations of Plato concerning the 
 Logos or Word of God were too deep for common 
 understanding. Athanasius, the greatest of the early 
 christian theologians, confessed that the more he studied 
 and wrote about Plato's doctrine of the Logos, the less 
 he understood it, and the less able he was to express his 
 thoughts. Whatever of truth there was in the doctrine 
 of the Logos, as announced and expounded by Plato, 
 it must be confessed that " the immeasurable distance 
 between the size of the object and the capacity of the 
 human mind " put it beyond the reach of mankind. 
 Philosophers might silently meditate upon this mystery 
 which was suggested to the profound mind of the 
 Athenian sage, and temperately discuss it, " but their 
 lofty speculations neither convinced the understanding 
 nor stirred the passions of the Platonists themselves, 
 and were carelessly overlooked by the idle, the busy, 
 and even the studious part of mankind." But when 
 John, the beloved disciple, adopted the term which 
 
 Plato had used as a key with which to unlock the 
 
 loy 
 
no THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 mystery of the Godhead, and introduced it into the 
 wonderful prologue to the fourth Gospel, saying, " In 
 the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was 
 with God, and the Word was God," ^ he put the whole 
 Platonic speculation into a single sentence. By his 
 further statement, " And the Word was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as 
 of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and 
 truth," ^ he, in another simple sentence, embodied that 
 philosophy in the person of the Incarnate Jehovah — 
 Jesus, and brought the whole matter level to the under- 
 standing of all men, to the peasant as well as to the 
 sage. The revelation of the Word as the Incarnate God 
 in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the object of christian 
 faith and worship, has ever since been embraced by an 
 increasing multitude of men and women in every nation 
 of the earth ; while the philosophical doctrine of Plato 
 remains unknown to the world outside a select few 
 scholars. Certainly it has no power with men, for it is 
 impossible for men, even of the loftiest understanding, 
 to comprehend a metaphysical speculation so subtle. 
 For who by searching can find out God ? 
 
 The doctrine of the Incarnate Logos is no less a 
 mystery than the speculative doctrine of the philosopher 
 of Greece ; but it is such a mystery in revelation that it 
 attracts rather than repels the mind, and engages the 
 heart as well as the intellect of mankind. We do not 
 pretend that we comprehend the hidden depth of the 
 great " mystery of Godliness ; God was manifested in 
 the flesh"; but we do most cordially embrace the fact. 
 And although we can neither comprehend the measure 
 of this eternal mystery, nor explain the Jiow of it, we do 
 know, by an inner power of knowledge greater even 
 than the reason itself, the truth of it. It is a singular 
 * John i. I. - Ibid. 1. 14. 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST in 
 
 fact in human experience, testified alike by the learned 
 and the unlearned, the wise and the simple, that it is 
 just at the point of our deepest need, both intellectually 
 and spiritually, that we fly for refuge to that which most 
 utterly confounds our reason and staggers our faith. "A 
 faith that is not founded on revelation," says an acute 
 thinker, and one not at all friendly to the christian 
 religion, " must remain destitute of any firm assurance." 
 Hence all systems of religion founded on the observa- 
 tion of nature, or upon speculative inquiry, have invari- 
 ably degenerated into mere superstition. Nothing less 
 than the mysteries of revelation will satisfy the human 
 mind and heart. No resource in ourselves, and nothing 
 in nature, nor anything which the human mind can 
 conceive, has in it that which can satisfy our deepest 
 longings and necessities. We are reproached for be- 
 lieving that which we can neither understand nor explain, 
 and which seems to some to be a denial, and is con- 
 fessed by us, at least, to baffle the intellectual reason. 
 Our reply to this is : 
 
 " The heart hath a reason that the reason knows not of." 
 
 Abraham could not understand how God could fulfil 
 what He had promised, but he believed " that what He 
 Jiad promised He was able also to perform." Therefore 
 he "staggered not at the promise."^ His faith was 
 counted to him for righteousness. So, in like manner, 
 we do not understand how the Word could be made 
 flesh, nor Jiow, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 there should exist a perfect and unconfused union be- 
 tween the human and the divine nature. Yet we firmly 
 believe this, and it is not only counted to us for righteous- 
 ness, but " is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, 
 and sanctification." ^ The world has yet to learn that 
 
 * Rom. iv. 20, 21. '^ I Cor. i. jo. 
 
112 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 which our faith has taught us, " That in the wisdom of 
 God, the world by wisdom knew not God.'' Yet it has 
 " pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (the de- 
 claration of the revelation of God) to save them that 
 believe." ^ We therefore go on preaching Christ, " unto 
 the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolish- 
 ness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of 
 God." ^ In a recent little book on the " Creed of the 
 Christian," Canon Gore treats of the holy mysteries of 
 our faith. In the chapter on the Holy Trinity he sup- 
 poses that this question is put to him : " How can three 
 persons be one God? If the Father is God, and the Son 
 is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, here then are three 
 Gods, according to the simple law of addition." In 
 answering this difficulty, the Canon gives an interesting 
 extract from a letter from the late Professor Huxley, 
 Canon Gore says : 
 
 " I do not think it would become a thoughtful man to 
 reject the doctrine of the Trinity on this ground. At 
 any rate. Professor Huxley would not allow you to. He 
 once said as much in a private letter which he gave me 
 leave to quote, and I learned his words by heart, for I 
 thought they might be useful. ' I have not,' he said, 
 ' the slightest objection to offer a priori (that is, on 
 grounds of reason) to all the propositions of the three 
 creeds. The mysteries of the Church are child's-play 
 compared with the mysteries of nature. The doctrine 
 of the Trinity is not more puzzling than the necessary 
 antinomies (that is, contradictions) of physical nature.' " 
 
 Now this remark concerning the mysteries of the 
 
 Trinity applies, of course, to the mystery involved in 
 
 the unique personality of our Lord, which is, indeed, a 
 
 part of the mystery of the Trinity. Ought we not to be 
 
 ' I Cor. i. 31. - Ibid. i. 23, 24. 
 
THE SON OF THE HIG/fEST 113 
 
 careful not to allow ourselves to be mystified by these 
 puzzling questions ? A wise and intelligent scientist 
 does not reject a truth of revealed religion because he 
 cannot fathom the mystery involved in it. He has been 
 compelled to bow before the mysterious facts with which 
 he is everywhere confronted in nature ; but he does not 
 and cannot deny those facts. Now, we are confronted 
 with a mystery in the divine-human personality of Jesus. 
 We do not understand the apparent contradiction here 
 presented to our understanding, but here it is, and ex- 
 plain it or deny it as we will, the fact remains. When 
 I say the fact remains, I do not mean alone the inexplic- 
 able mode of His dual nature, but the undeniable fact of 
 His unique personality. Many may deny the Deity of 
 our Lord Jesus, but they are unable to account for the 
 moral glory of His character on any theory of human 
 nature, or development, or culture, which they can 
 suggest. It is far more easy for the reason to accept 
 the truth concerning Jesus as set forth in the scriptures 
 of the Old and New Testaments than it is to construct 
 a satisfactory theory of His unique personality — His 
 pre-emiyient greatness — apart from the mystery of the 
 Incarnation. 
 
 Let me give you one illustration of what I have just 
 said about flying to the greatest mysteries in the time of 
 our greatest need. The best-known verse in the Bible 
 is : " For God so loved the world that He gave His only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life," ^ Now here are 
 just the two things which we most need and must have, 
 if we are to have peace at all — the " Love " of God, and 
 " Everlasting Life," The love of God, without everlast- 
 ing life, will not suffice us. Neither would everlasting 
 life, without the love of God, meet our need. To live 
 ' John iii. 16. 
 
 P.B. 8 
 
114 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 everlastingly, without the love of God and all that His 
 love implies, would be to be saddled with a burden of 
 existence simply intolerable. But where shall we go to 
 discover the love of God, and where shall we find ever- 
 lasting life ? " The heavens declare the glory of God, 
 and the firmament showeth His handiwork," ^ but they 
 do not reveal His love nor discover to us eternal life. A 
 vision of beauty, a glory of sunshine is indeed there ; but 
 just at the moment of our highest delight in contem- 
 plating the power and wisdom of the Creator, a bolt of 
 lightning leaps from the same heavens and strikes us 
 dead, or a hurricane sweeps us off our feet and away out 
 of life. We are less assured concerning love and life 
 when we contemplate the inscrutable ways of Provi- 
 dence ; for that which baffled Job and made his life 
 miserable confounds us. If we look within, we find only 
 darkness ; and in whatever direction we look without, 
 we behold only confusion. Where, then, is the love and 
 life of God revealed to us ? For these two great neces- 
 sities of the human soul we must needs go to that 
 Nazareth maiden in whose womb the Incarnate God 
 was conceived, and to that manger-cradle in little Beth- 
 lehem where the Saviour of the world was born ; and 
 there, bowing down before Him with the Magi, we 
 behold both the Love and Life of God revealed to us 
 and for us ; and as we behold, we hear again the an- 
 nouncement of the holy angel which spake to the shep- 
 herds of Bethlehem, " Fear not ; for behold, I bring you 
 good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
 For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 
 a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." ^ It is of this 
 Saviour, Christ the Lord, the Incarnate God, that we 
 are to speak this morning, especially in regard to the 
 
 ^ Ps. xix. I. * Luke ii. lo. 
 
THE SON OF TFTE HIGHEST 115 
 
 one distinguishing characteristic of His personality — 
 " He shall be great!' 
 
 I. The Greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 John the Baptist was great in the sight of the Lord ; 
 that is, according to the judgment of God, as God 
 knows and judges men. But the Son of the Highest 
 zvas great ; not as compared with other men, but great 
 in Himself. Every element and substance of greatness 
 was in Him. Reading the brief life and work of John 
 the Baptist, great and honourable as they were, if we 
 had been called upon for a judgment, we should not 
 have called him so great a man as Moses, or Isaiah, or 
 Elijah ; but we bow to the judgment which God has put 
 upon him, and call him the peer of the greatest men 
 who have ever lived, for, says Jesus, "there hath not 
 risen a greater than John the Baptist." ^ But greatness 
 among men is only a comparative greatness. One man 
 may be greater than another ; but the difference is onl)' 
 one of degree, not in kind. Let me suppose the ver}- 
 greatest man in the world. His greatness towers above 
 me and excites my admiration and wonder. But, after 
 all, he is only greater than I ; his genius or abilities 
 are of the same kind, be he soldier, statesman, poet, 
 or philosopher. I am something of all these, and so 
 are you — something of a soldier, something of a poet, 
 something of a statesman, something of a philosopher. 
 It is true that I have no great degree in these character- 
 istics or qualities ; still they are in me and in you. The 
 greatness of Jesus was not one of comparison or degree. 
 He was incomparably great. He was immeasurably 
 great. In a word. He was great without qualification. 
 I cannot hope to set all His greatness before you, yet I 
 may try to present to your thoughts some of the main 
 points of His greatness. 
 
 ' Matt. xi. II. 
 
Ii6 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 I. He was great in His divine-human personality. 
 Jesus was the God-man. I can conceive of God, and I 
 know something of what man is ; but here I am pre- 
 sented to a unique personality. Not a deified man, not 
 a humanized God ; but God and man in one perfect 
 personaHty — perfect in His Godhead and perfect in His 
 humanity. There are two words used in the Greek to 
 designate man ; one describes a male of the human 
 species, and the other describes the human race. Jesus 
 in His humanity was a man in the sense of being a 
 male man ; but He was man in the sense of being of the 
 human race. " For verily not of angels doth He take 
 hold, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham." ^ 
 He was not two personalities under one form, but one 
 personality. The union between God and man was so 
 perfect that there was neither confusion nor division in 
 his personality. This is too high a theme to be debated 
 here, but it is a part of the glorious mystery which the 
 heart understands, although the reason cannot compre- 
 hend nor human language describe it. There are un- 
 speakable things and things past understanding. No 
 one can fully understand or set forth in words either 
 " the peace of God that passeth understanding," * " the 
 love of Christ that passeth knowledge," ^ or the gift of 
 God which is " unspeakable." '^ Paul, when he was 
 caught up into Paradise, " heard unspeakable words, 
 which it is not lawful [marg., " possible "] for a man to 
 utter." ^ In this sense the greatness of His divine-human 
 personality passeth understanding. " His name shall be 
 called Wonderful ; " '^ that is, one with whom nothing 
 can be compared, and who can be compared with 
 nothing. " In all things He hath the pre-eminence." ''' 
 If any of you think that such thoughts of Jesus are vain 
 
 ' Heb. ii. i6 (R.V.). » Phil. iv. 7. » Eph. iii. 19. * 2 Cor. ix. 15. 
 * 2 Cor. xii. 4. 6 ig^ ij^ ^ 7 Col j jg 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 117 
 
 thoughts or useless thoughts, then let me assure you 
 that your faith will never be strong, appropriating, and 
 wonder-working until it is firmly built upon this Rock 
 of Ages. It will never be a victorious faith until it is 
 energized by union with the Son of the Highest. There 
 is nothing more pernicious and dangerous to the chris- 
 tian life of our times than the incessant outcry against 
 " theology." The spiritual life of man cannot live on 
 ethics, however much it must embody itself in ethics to 
 demonstrate its genuineness. The spiritual life of man 
 is first awakened by contact with, and then fed on, the 
 mysteries of God. The closer we get to those mysteries, 
 the more we familiarize ourselves with them, the closer 
 we get to God, and the more sure our hope in God 
 becomes. 
 
 2. He is great in His love. If I were to ask any 
 thoughtful person among my hearers what was the out- 
 standing revelation contained in the New Testament — 
 what was the first and greatest impression made upon 
 his mind or heart in reading the New Testament ? — I 
 have no doubt I should get this answer : " The principal 
 revelation, and the first and deepest impression made 
 upon my mind by reading the New Testament is, tJie 
 great love that God hath toward fnan." And that is true. 
 With the coming of Jesus into the world, we cannot but 
 perceive and feel that a new power has come along with 
 Him, and that power is Love ; the love of God toward 
 man. Love, not only in words, but in deeds ; and not 
 in words and deeds only, but in manner — a divine 
 manner of tenderness and sympathy — such as the world 
 never knew or dreamed of before. It was this fact and 
 conviction which lived deepest down in Paul's soul, and 
 which led him to exclaim, out of his bursting heart, " He 
 loved me, and gave Himself for me." ^ God in Christ 
 * Gal. ii. 20. 
 
ii8 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 loves us not a little ; not even much ; but with all His 
 love. He has measured it out to us in the infinite 
 measure of the Incarnation, than which there is no larger 
 measure. All the angels of God together could not 
 convey the fulness of God's love measured out to us 
 in our Lord Jesus Christ. God has no more love than 
 is in Jesus Christ. And, blessed be God, nothing less 
 than this infinite measure of God's love will satisfy my 
 soul, or your soul, if you really have been awakened to 
 the need that is in you. It has pleased God to re- 
 present Himself as being a husband unto us. Well, let 
 me ask you with what would, or ought, a wife be 
 satisfied in her husband ? Let us suppose that one 
 should come to a good woman, or, for that matter, to 
 any right womanly woman, and propose himself to her 
 for a husband. He says to her, " I am great in position, 
 in wealth, in power, in wisdom and human culture. 
 There is no one greater than I in these respects ; and 
 all these I lay at your feet. You may draw on them all 
 at your will and pleasure, and you shall never find me 
 wanting, either in willingness or ability, to honour your 
 drafts." The woman looks at him and says, " But you 
 have said nothing about loving me. To me neither 
 position, wealth, wisdom, nor power would signify, unless 
 I had your love. Do you not love me ? " " Well — yes 
 — a little. I will try and be good to you." The woman 
 would reply, if she were a real woman, " You say you 
 love me a little. Sir, unless you love me vnich, yea, with 
 all the strength of your love, I shall never be sure of any 
 part of it." So, though the least of God's favours to us 
 would be condescending grace, we cannot do without 
 His love, and must have the full measure of it. Any- 
 thing less than all His love would leave us in doubt as 
 to the possession of any part of it. It is the revelation 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 119 
 
 of the Love of God in all its fulness that gives us hope 
 and peace, and makes us sure. 
 
 Love may send a gift, or love may bring a gift. God 
 did not send us the gift of His love by Jesus ; but in 
 Christ He brought us His love. You may have sent 
 many gifts the past Christmas to many poor people. It 
 was good of you to do it. In a few cases you took into 
 your own hands and carried your gift ; it may have 
 been a Christmas dinner to some one poor and needy. 
 Ah ! it was that personal coming with the gift that 
 made it so precious to the one you brought it to. Now, 
 Jesus is at once the full measure of God's love to us, and 
 in Him it is personally administered. Had God sent 
 word of His love to us by an angel, even by Gabriel 
 himself, and commissioned him to attend us by day 
 and night, to guard and keep us, that would have been 
 great grace ; but it would not be to us what the love of 
 God in Christ is — for Jesus is Love Incarnate, and He 
 abides with us always. 
 
 3. He is great in His condescension. This great truth 
 is frequently set forth and illustrated in the scriptures. 
 When Paul would excite his beloved Philippians to a 
 sweet condescension toward each other, he said, " Let 
 this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : 
 who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery 
 (something to be for ever snatched and insisted on) to 
 be equal with God : but made Himself of no reputation, 
 and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion 
 as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the cross." ^ And the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says of Him, 
 " Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh 
 and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the 
 » Phil. ii. 5-8. 
 
I20 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 same. For verily He took not hold on the nature of 
 angels, but took hold on the seed of Abraham." ' Thus 
 in all things He was made like unto His brethren. 
 There is no such example of condescension as this. 
 With what may we compare it? When we consider 
 who He was, and whence He came to us, and what we 
 are, and where we are, we are amazed that He should 
 have condescended to our low and wretched estate, not 
 only in coming to us, but in becoming one of us. For 
 what he thought to be the good of the Republic, Diocle- 
 tian renounced the purple of Rome and retired to a 
 PRIVATE PALACE. He did not take his place down 
 among the people from whom he sprang. But, suppos- 
 ing he had resigned his throne in order to become one 
 of the humblest citizens, in position and circumstances, 
 what would that have been in condescension to the step 
 down which Jesus has made in order to be among us 
 and save us ? Another Roman emperor was taken 
 prisoner in one of the wars with Persia, and was reduced 
 to slavery by the haughty Eastern king, and made to 
 do menial work among his palace servants. That was 
 humiliation, but it was not condescension. Or another 
 emperor, Julian, when he was the Caesar of Gaul, and in 
 time of great hardship and discouragement, left his 
 royal tent, abandoned his horse, distributed the Imperial 
 provisions among his troops, and, taking his place at 
 their head, marched barefooted with them, and lived on 
 the coarsest fare of the common soldiers. That was 
 condescension. And yet such an act is not worthy to be 
 compared with the voluntary condescension of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who came from the throne of the uni- 
 verse to be one with us ; and, under the broken law, 
 became obedient unto death for us. How hard it is 
 for a man who has been rich, surrounded with every 
 * Heb, ii. 14, 16. 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 121 
 
 comfort, luxury and elegance of life ; who has been 
 looked up to and honoured and served by all about him, 
 to be forced into an estate of poverty and contempt ! 
 You remember how bitterly the iron of such a fate 
 entered into the soul of the patriarch Job. But Jesus, 
 " though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became 
 poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." ^ An 
 entire picture of perfect condescension and grace is seen 
 in this voluntary descent of our Lord Jesus Christ from 
 heaven to earth ; from inhabiting the praises of eternity 
 to an inheritance of shame and contempt among men, 
 even the very men whom He came to save. 
 
 This great condescension is seen in the fact that He 
 entered into nnioii with human nature tinder any circum- 
 stances. Although He did not take hold on sinful 
 human nature, He took hold on our nature, and was 
 made in the likeness of sinful flesh and in fashion as a 
 man. He came not only as a man, but as a servant. 
 It would have been amazing had He come as a king, 
 and been born in a palace, and condescended to us from 
 the most glorious throne on earth. But He came as a 
 servant, and as the lowliest of all servants, to mete out 
 His own and His father's love in the greatest as in the 
 meanest offices, even to the washing of our feet. When 
 I consider another fact in His condescension, as set forth 
 in the two genealogies preserved to us by Matthew and 
 Luke, my soul is filled with wonder and amazement. 
 What shall we say when we discover that in taking 
 human nature He chose to take it through a line of 
 ancestors on whom the bar si?iister was conspicuously 
 drawn ? For among His ancestors I read the names of 
 Rahab the harlot, Tamar, another harlot, and Bathsheba, 
 the dishonoured and adulterous wife of Uriah, not to 
 speak of Jacob the supplanter, and David the adulterer 
 ' 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
 
122 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 and murderer. Oh, surely our Lord in His condescen- 
 sion wanted us to know that there is no man or woman 
 so fallen or sunk in sin but that He came to declare His 
 love and bring His saving help to them ! No wonder 
 He has drawn the heart of humanity to Himself; no 
 wonder that in all ages the sinful and the poor have 
 ever seen in Him the only possible hope of salvation 
 and recovery. 
 
 Again, we see this great condescensiofi in that, having 
 come to us, He zvas not ashamed to call us brethren. 
 Having identified Himself with our race, He took the 
 full measure of kinship upon Him. He did not. He 
 does not, He will not shirk any of the logical relations 
 of that kinship. He is not ashamed to call us brethren, 
 and to do so openly. To the weakest, to the poorest, 
 and to the most sinful He comes and says, " I am yotir 
 brother, you are My brother." He who made the worlds 
 and created the angels was not ashamed to take in His 
 blessed arms the children of the poor women who 
 brought their babes to Him. What a sight is this to 
 behold, the Son of the Highest cuddling little children 
 in His arms! He was not ashamed to lay His spotless 
 hand on the rotten flesh of a vile leper and say, " My 
 brother, be thou clean." He was not ashamed to allow 
 a poor fallen and outcast woman, who crept into Simon's 
 house, where He was dining, to wash His feet with her 
 scalding tears, and wipe them with the hairs of her head, 
 and kiss them with her burning lips. The Pharisees 
 who sat at meat with Him would not have suffered that 
 indignity to their holy feet. They whispering among 
 themselves said, " Ah ! we have been mistaken in Him ; 
 He is no prophet, else would He have known what 
 manner of woman she is that kisses His feet." They 
 did not, could not, understand such condescension. But 
 they did not know Him. He was not ashamed of His 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 123 
 
 poor fallen sister, for, turning to Simon, He said, " Her 
 sins, which are many, are forgiven." ^ Before those proud, 
 self-righteous Pharisees He openly acknowledged her. 
 He was not ashamed to sit upon the well's kerb and talk 
 of " the gift of God " with an outcast Samaritan woman, 
 whom her own townspeople would not be seen in com- 
 pany with at the well. He was not ashamed to pro- 
 claim openly before the crowd that Zacch^eus was His 
 brother, and that He had come to bring salvation to his 
 house. Mr. Forbes, the great war correspondent, has 
 recently written the story of what he says was the 
 bravest deed he ever saw. It was the rescue of a 
 common soldier's life, in the face of what seemed certain 
 death, by Lieut.-Col. Beresford. But I will tell you the 
 bravest thing I ever saw. A fashionable and wealthy 
 young man, walking down Fifth Avenue in New York 
 in company with some of his social companions, espied 
 before him the slouching, ill-clad form of what seemed 
 to be a common tramp — miserable, dirty, and forlorn. 
 Looking at him a second time with a keen glance, he 
 left the side of his fashionable friends and went straight 
 to the tramp, and, laying one arm across his shoulder, 
 said to the surprised and miserable man, " Why, Charlie, 
 dear chum, what does this mean ? How come you here 
 and in this condition ? " The young man had recog- 
 nised in the poor outcast the much-beloved chum of his 
 college days, and, without waiting to inquire or know 
 anything of the history of his life during the years in 
 which they had dropped apart, he hastened to call him 
 friend even in the face of his great fashionable com- 
 panions, and at once said to them, " Excuse me, gentle- 
 men, this is an old college chum of mine whom I have 
 not seen for years, and I am going to dine with him." 
 Taking him by the arm, the )'oung man walked his 
 ' Luke vii. 47. 
 
124 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 miserable and fallen friend off to Delmonico's, and, in 
 the face of day and all the fashion of New York, ordered 
 dinner fit for two kings, and feasted with him. He was 
 not ashamed to be known as his friend. That was a 
 brave deed, a deed worthy the love of Christ. But oh, 
 what was such condescension as that compared with the 
 condescension of the Son of the Highest, who confesses 
 us before His Father and His angels, and even down 
 here calls us brethren ? He is not ashamed to call us 
 brethren ; alas ! that we are sometimes, and very often, 
 ashamed to call Him Saviour, except in the privacy of 
 our own closets. 
 
 In His condescension He was made sin, suffered shame, 
 and tasted death for us. Do you ask me how He was 
 made sin ? I do not know hoiv, I only know that He 
 ^vas made sin for us — that, somehow, He bore in His 
 body our sins upon the tree, after all our iniquities were 
 laid upon Him. Somehow, He entered into the shame 
 and horror of our condition before God. How horrible 
 it was for Him to do it let those blood-drops of sweat 
 that covered His body in the garden tell. How His 
 holy soul must have shrunk from even the imputation of 
 sin, only He, who knew no sin, can tell. I say again, I 
 do not know how He was made sin, and I say, reverently, 
 I don't care how. I accept the condescending, gracious 
 fact, and rejoice in the unspeakable love of it. How 
 was He made shame for us ? That is somewhat easier 
 to see, at least in some of the outside features of this act 
 of condescension. Look at Him who was rich becoming 
 the poor wanderer on the earth. Born of a poor virgin 
 peasant, reared in a poor little house, apprenticed in His 
 boyhood and youth to the poor trade of Joseph the 
 carpenter ; always living in a despised province and 
 town. Later on in His life He said, " The foxes have 
 holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 125 
 
 Man hath not where to lay His head." ^ This was 
 shame for Him as we count shame. But it was small 
 shame to that which cost Him His reputation among 
 men — one of our dearest possessions. He was de- 
 nounced as a wine-bibber and a glutton ; sneered at as 
 the friend of publicans and sinners ; proclaimed the 
 agent and partner of the devil himself ; arrested, after 
 betrayal, as a common breeder of sedition ; falsely 
 accused, smitten, spat upon ; the hair pulled from His 
 cheeks ; condemned as a criminal ; bound to a pillar and 
 whipped by the brutal soldiers of Rome ; clothed in an 
 old cast-off military coat, and mocked ; crowned with 
 thorns, and crucified between the two worst criminals 
 found in the Roman prisons at Jerusalem. Oh, who 
 can know the shame to which He condescended for our 
 sakes ? How shall we measure the amazing condescen- 
 sion of that act which led the Lord and Master of death 
 Himself to submit to that awful executioner of sinners — 
 the last enemy of mankind and of God ? Yet, for the 
 joy that was set before Him, of delivering us whom He 
 was not ashamed to call brethren, He endured the cross 
 and despised the shame of it. Was He not rightly 
 called " great " by Gabriel ? 
 
 Jesus did all this for 21s voluntarily. He was not 
 forced into any position which He took. " Lo, I come ; 
 I delight to do Thy will, O my God." ^ There was no 
 reluctance, no hesitancy, but an infinite delight in His 
 heart all the time. Great deeds must be judged by the 
 motives which inspire them. Napoleon did great deeds 
 — deeds that dazzled the eyes of the world ; deeds which 
 made him for a time the world's hero ; but we must 
 judge of the greatness of Napoleon and his deeds by 
 the motive which inspired him. The more we study 
 his life and character, the more we execrate both. His 
 ' Matt. viii. 20. " Ps. xl. 7, 8. 
 
126 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 only motive was a mean, selfish, and diabolical ambition, 
 for the sake of which he overturned the world, slaugh- 
 tered hundreds of thousands of men, and filled the earth 
 with the lamentations and cries of countless widows 
 and orphans. In Jesus we see real greatness in the 
 voluntary love which He had for us. He came will- 
 ingly. He came and achieved, that we might share 
 with Him His own blessedness. 
 
 4. He was great in His grace toivard us. Grace is 
 unmerited favour. " Ye know the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." ^ Grace is a much-used word in the New 
 Testament, as if not enough could be said of this dis- 
 position of our Lord. " Grace abounding, to the chief 
 of sinners " — a title we might all borrow from Bun- 
 yan with which to give title to our own autobio- 
 graphies. Considering His greatness in this respect, 
 we must take into account who and what we were. A 
 race dishonoured and outcast from God ; driven forth 
 under the curse of the law. Characters lost, standing 
 with God lost, helpless and hopeless. We who were 
 created for God and eternal happiness are by sin des- 
 tined to be the companions of devils in eternal misery, 
 shame, and contempt. We may shrink from taking 
 or admitting this heavy indictment against our race, 
 but such is the truth. If a few remnants of our glorious 
 nature have been saved from the wreck of the fall, and 
 diligently cultivated into the appearance of some kind 
 of virtue and refinement, the study of human history, 
 with its wars, its crimes of every nameless kind and 
 descrijotion, its hates and enmities and jealousies, and 
 treasons and unspeakable wickednesses, should show us 
 that God's indictment against the race of man is a 
 true one. If we withdraw ourselves individually from 
 the mass of mankind, and make some kind of stand 
 * 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 127 
 
 for ourselves against this indictment, each one of us 
 knows that in our own hearts we are alienated and 
 estranged from God ; that our boasted virtues are 
 largely superficial ; that in our hearts, in our thoughts, 
 if not in our words and deeds, there is a fountain of 
 evil, a cesspool of corruption which we would not 
 willingly have the world look into. " The carnal mind 
 is enmity against God." ^ The works of the flesh the 
 world over are " adultery, fornication, uncleanness, las- 
 civiousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emula- 
 tions, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
 drunkenness, revellings, and such like."^ If we have 
 not all gone astray alike, we have all alike gone astray, 
 every one in his own way. There are none of us 
 righteous — no, not one ; for all have sinned and come 
 short of the glory of God ; and there is no greater sin 
 among our many sins than that which leads us to deny 
 our sin. Now, the greatness of His grace is seen in 
 that He comes with grace to such a race and such 
 individuals of the race as we are, collectively and 
 individually. 
 
 Theti consider His grace in what He brings to 7is. 
 He did not come to condemn, but to forgive the 
 world. Almost the first words of His public ministry 
 were words of forgiveness : " Son, be of good cheer ; 
 thy sins be forgiven thee." ^ How these words of our 
 Lord filled all the land where He lived and wrought for 
 God and man ! The opening words of the apostolic 
 gospel are in the same strain. " Be it known unto you, 
 therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is 
 preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." * His for- 
 giving grace is not a commodity to be bargained for, to 
 be bought with good works, or by prayers and repent- 
 ance. Forgiveness is the full and free proclamation of 
 ' Rom. viii. 7. - Gal. v. 19-21. " Matt. ix. 2. * Acts xiii. 38. 
 
128 THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 
 
 God to the whole world. Yes, the unconditional favour 
 of God. He does not proclaim, "If you will repent, I 
 will forgive you " ; but He proclaims, " Hear Me ; I for- 
 give you ; repent and be reconciled to Me." " God was 
 in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not im- 
 puting their trespasses unto them." ^ Believe it, my 
 friends, we do not half understand the grace of God in 
 Christ. There is a fulness and freeness in it, there are 
 depths and heights and breadths and reaches in it that 
 we have not grasped. With forgiveness He brings justi- 
 fication, which sets us right, as to standing, with God ; 
 and with justification comes the new birth, which begins 
 to put us right characteristically before Him, to restore 
 to us by a new creation that which was lost to us in the 
 old creation, by reason of sin. Nor does He deal out 
 these gracious gifts and then stand apart from us ; but 
 when God sends forth the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ 
 into our hearts crying, " Abba, Father," He makes us 
 the heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, as 
 well as the sons of God. He does not save us and then 
 fling us back upon ourselves to make the best of a new 
 trial and opportunity ; but Himself enters into us and 
 becomes the substance of our hope and the hope of our 
 glory. He abides with us on the earth in the person of 
 the Holy Ghost our Comforter ; He interceded for us 
 as our Advocate at the right hand of God. He has 
 gone to prepare a place for us, that we may be with Him 
 in His glory and share it with Himself He stooped to 
 our low estate and position that He might lift us to His 
 high estate and into His glory. Having first taken part 
 with our nature. He has given it to us to be partakers 
 of the divine nature. Truly we can understand a little 
 what the angel meant when he said, " He shall be great." 
 Who that was not great in Himself — unconditionally 
 ' 2 Cor. V. 19. 
 
THE SON OF THE HIGHEST 129 
 
 and incomparably great — could venture to do such great 
 things for us ? Surely it is not in man to do these 
 things ; and yet these things only have to be mentioned 
 to convince us that nothing short of them will suffice us 
 in the long run. We only have to compare all earthly 
 greatness, and what comes of it, with the true greatness 
 of Christ Jesus and what comes to us of that, to say of 
 a truth, " There is none great but God in Christ, who 
 hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." 
 
 This Son of the Highest, this great Saviour, is God's 
 gift to you. He came to bring and to administer God's 
 love and life, God's grace and power. How can you not 
 with all your sin and need accept and trust Him ? How 
 can you not, having accepted Him as your Saviour, 
 knowing His greatness (of which I have too inadequately 
 spoken), confide your whole spirit, soul, and body to His 
 keeping ; and how can you not give to Him all that you 
 are and have to serve and glorify H im for ever ? 
 
 v.v>. 
 
VIII 
 
 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost 
 shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over- 
 shadow thee : therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born 
 of thee shall be called the Son of God."^LuKE i. 35. 
 
 WRITING to his son Timothy, Paul says, "With- 
 out controversy, great is the mystery of Godli- 
 ness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the 
 Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, be- 
 lieved on in the world, received up into glory." ^ The 
 first meaning of the word mystery is "secret." If we 
 had only the account of the creation before us, in the 
 Bible, we might suppose that God had completed His 
 purpose when He finished that work, declared the whole 
 to be good, and then rested on the seventh day and 
 hallowed it. But a further reading and study of the 
 word of God shows us that the creation was but the 
 beginning of the " mystery of God." God had a great 
 purpose in the creation of man, the mystery or secret of 
 which has only been gradually unfolded to us through 
 the course of the ages. The centre of this mystery is at 
 last seen in Christ and the Church. " This is a great 
 mystery," says Paul, " but I speak concerning Christ 
 and the Church,"^ which is His body, and which in the 
 ages to come will at once reveal and embody the 
 mystery of the hidden wisdom of God. Little by little 
 
 ^ I Tim. iii. 16. - Eph. v. 32. 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 131 
 
 God has taken us into His confidence, until at last we 
 are fairly able to understand the " mystery of the 
 Gospel." ^ In the passage quoted in the opening sen- 
 tence of this discourse there is a statement of the " great 
 mystery," and of several of its many chapters. They 
 stand in this order : 
 
 The mystery of the hicarnatioii, " God manifested in 
 the flesh." 
 
 The mystery of the Resurrection^ " Justified in the 
 Spirit " ; that is, raised from the dead. 
 
 The mystery of redernptioji, " Seen of angels," which 
 may refer either to the resurrection or to the crucifixion, 
 that mystery " which the angels desire to look into." ^ 
 
 " The mystery . . . that the Gentiles should be 
 fellow heirs and of the same body." ^ The Incarnation 
 was " preached to the Gentiles." 
 
 " The mystery of Faith" '^ " believed on in the world.". 
 
 The " mystery of the kiiigdom " ^ — the first radiant 
 movement of which was seen when Christ " was received 
 up into glory." 
 
 To these and other mysteries mentioned in the scrip- 
 tures of both Old and New Testaments may be added 
 the Second Coming of our Lord, which is the central 
 fact in the closing chapter of wonders by which shall be 
 " finished the mystery of God." ^ 
 
 If we hold steadily in our mind the thought that the 
 revelation of God, both in word and in event, is the 
 gradual unfolding of the " eternal purpose which He 
 purposed in Christ," '^ we shall be able to surmount 
 many difficulties which we find in the scriptures and 
 which are propounded to us by the common unbelief of 
 the world. As we have been able to bear the " revela- 
 tion of the mystery," God has from time to time " un- 
 
 ^ Eph. vi. 19. ^ I Pet. i. 12. ^ Eph. iii. 3-6. ^ i Tim. iii. 9. 
 ^ Mark iv. 11. ^ Rev. x. 7 (R.V.). "' Eph. iii. 11. 
 
132 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 covered our ears," and whispered His purpose and plans 
 to us. " Unto you," says our Lord, " it is given to know 
 the mystery of the kingdom of God." ^ This method of 
 God in reveahng to us " things to come," or explaining 
 to us things wonderful and strange that have come to 
 pass, prevents surprise on the one hand, and on the 
 other, enables us to understand many things which we 
 otherwise could not understand. It also prepares us for 
 " new things " which the world cannot accept or receive, 
 because the world knoweth not the mysteries of God. 
 It is true that the secrets of God when once communi- 
 cated are open secrets, " but the natural man receiveth 
 not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are 
 spiritually discerned."^ Having ears to hear, he hears 
 not ; and eyes to see, sees not ; for had they heard and 
 seen that which was communicated by the prophets and 
 enacted before their eyes, they would not have rejected 
 and crucified the Lord of Glory, nor would they now 
 turn away from those things which are reported and 
 demonstrated to be true " by many infallible proofs." ^ 
 
 Since the first announcement of the coming of a 
 Saviour, given to fallen man in the garden of Eden, the 
 world has been prepared (by this promise) for the larger 
 development of this great mystery. When God en- 
 larged and made this Edenic promise more plain, in the 
 covenant made with Abraham, concerning his seed, in 
 whom " shall all families of the earth be blessed," ^ this 
 " mystery " of God was further unfolded. From that 
 time onward the coming of the Messiah became the 
 passionate expectation of the Jewish people. As the 
 time drew nigh for Christ to come, that expectation 
 flamed into an uncontrollable fanaticism. The Jews 
 of our Lord's time became infatuated with the belief 
 and desire that the coming Messiah would be a great 
 ^ Mark iv. ii. ^ i Cor. ii. 14. ^ Acts i. 3. * Gen. xii. 3. 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 133 
 
 temporal prince. They had not given heed to all the 
 unfoldings of the mystery by the prophets, and so were 
 led to expect only a great conquering prince who should 
 deliver them from the oppression of their enemies and 
 establish them on the earth amid the glories of the 
 Messianic kingdom. In other words, they had over- 
 looked the mystery of our Lord's humiliation ; and so 
 rejected Him when He came. " He came unto His 
 own, and His own received Him not." ^ This " mystery 
 of God," though especially communicated to the Hebrew 
 people, was not altogether confined to their knowledge. 
 The secret, so to speak, had gotten abroad, and the 
 prophet Haggai tells us that He " was the desire of all 
 nations."^ In the meantime His coming has been the 
 theme of all the prophets and the inspiration of all holy 
 song. Since His coming millions of souls have turned 
 to Him for relief from the intolerable burden of human 
 sin and guilt, and for deliverance from the fear of death, 
 in the hope of immortality. 
 
 It is here, at the place of the unfolding of the great 
 " mystery of godliness," the announcement of the Incar- 
 nation to Mary, that we get close to the source of our 
 salvation. Now we know what and whom to trust. The 
 arm of flesh cannot save us. It is vain to put our trust 
 in princes. " Silver and gold shall not be able to deliver 
 in the day of the wrath of the Lord." ^ And we know 
 that " by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be 
 justified in His sight." ^ Despairing, then, of all self- 
 help, of all earthly powers, of riches and self-righteous- 
 ness, where, and to whom, shall we turn ? "I will trust, 
 and not be afraid : for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength 
 and my song; He also is become my salvation."^ It 
 is here, then, in the Incarnation of the Lord JEHOVAH, 
 
 ^ John i. II. ^ Hag. ii. 7. ^ Ezek. vii. 19. 
 * Rom. iii. 20. ^ Isa. xii. 2. 
 
134 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 that all human hope for time and eternity centres. The 
 Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 There is a disposition in our time to deal only with 
 second causes. The too exclusive and too close study 
 of natural phenomena has blinded the eyes of many 
 scientific inquirers to the existence of anything be- 
 hind phenomena. This disposition to deal with second 
 causes has led to much confusion both in the world of 
 philosophy and of science. 
 
 If only we could get behind the mysteries of nature, 
 what revelations of glory there would be ! I am con- 
 scious of my consciousness, therefore I know that " I 
 am." But what lies behind consciousness ? Shall I be 
 content with simply knowing ex cogito that " I am " ; or 
 shall I push the question back and ask, " Whence am 
 I ?" If only we could know what lies behind all things 
 — behind what we call matter, behind life — what peace 
 would come to us in our pursuit after knowledge ! On 
 the other hand, if there is a popular disposition to deal 
 with second causes, there is also a strong movement on 
 the part of more thoughtful students, in every branch 
 of human knowledge, to get behind original sources of 
 knowledge ; partly that doubts may be resolved, and 
 that the great gaps now existing in our present know- 
 ledge may be filled in. A history written fifty years 
 ago, no matter how conscientiously, has to be re-written 
 to-day in order that it may be reliable, or at least edited, 
 to correct mistakes or supply new facts gathered from 
 further sources of information. I have been recently 
 re-reading Gibbon's great history. We have been wont 
 to rely upon Gibbon for facts, however we may have 
 questioned his ingenuousness in those matters where his 
 prejudices led him astray ; but now we have to read 
 Gibbon with Guizot's and Millman's notes in order to 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 135 
 
 be measurably sure of the facts which he records. The 
 scientist is pushing his investigations farther and farther 
 in toward the origin of phenomena, and standard scien- 
 tific books must be revised at least every ten years 
 to keep in touch with our advancing knowledge. The 
 archaeologist is literally spading up the whole ancient 
 world, in order to discover some new clue to the maze 
 of history. Every rough arrow head is preserved and 
 treasured beside every fragment of broken pottery, the 
 smallest cylinder, and rudest brick, upon which some 
 hieroglyphics may be found. This that scepticism may 
 be satisfied, and the gaps in our historical and scientific 
 knowledge, if not filled in, at least bridged. Nor is 
 this spirit of backward inquiry content with matters of 
 common history and science. The sacred scriptures 
 themselves have come in for their share of this deeper 
 inquiry. A hundred years ago the christian world was 
 content to accept the scriptures as we have them, with- 
 out question, as the word of God. But now the question 
 is asked on every hand, " How do you know that the 
 present canon of scripture is the true one ? How do 
 you know that Moses wrote the Pentateuch ? that Daniel 
 wrote the book attributed to him ? that John wrote the 
 fourth gospel, or Peter the epistles that bear his name ? " 
 We may not shut our eyes and ears and say, " We will 
 not inquire ; we will accept what our fathers accepted ; 
 we desire not to look to foundations ; we are content 
 with superstructure." If the scriptures are the inspired 
 record of a divine revelation, we want to know it ; but 
 we want to know why and how we know it. It is well 
 that it should be so. We do not oppose, but welcome 
 all criticism which carries us back toward the beginning, 
 and that deals in the most thorough manner even with 
 the sacred scriptures, which have received, and still hold, 
 our profoundest veneration and confidence. All this 
 
136 A MYSTERY—NOT A MYTH 
 
 radical inquiry as to the source of thinc^s, this indis- 
 position to accept anything which does not and cannot 
 produce its pedigree, has disturbed the whole superstruc- 
 ture of our knowledge. But as I have said, if all this 
 drives us back to the beginning of things, and settles 
 our knowledge on the eternal foundation of truth, then 
 these seismic disturbances will not have been in vain. 
 Among theologians the same tendency is observable. 
 " Back to the Fathers," cry the Romanist and Anglican. 
 " Back to the Apostles," cries the Protestant Dissenter. 
 " Back to Christ," cry a certain school of new theologians, 
 who are doubtful of the Apostles. " Back to God " is, 
 and must be, the final cry. Back to GOD IN CHRIST 
 —to CHRIST IN GOD. This is to take us to the 
 little city of Nazareth, and place us by the side of 
 Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, and listen, with all our 
 hearts, as the " great mystery of godliness " is unfolded. 
 
 There is a striking and significant similarity in the 
 record of the old and the new creation, but in comparing 
 them we feel that we have made great progress ; that 
 the mystery — the secret of God — is being wonderfully 
 unfolded, so that we really begin to see the glorious end 
 of it. " In the beginning God created the heavens and 
 the earth." ^ What is the mystery of the creation ? 
 GOD ! God creating — unfolding His purpose in creation. 
 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
 with God, and the Word WAS GOD ; and the WORD 
 WAS MADE FLESH AND DWELT amongst us 
 (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only 
 begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." ^ 
 What, then, is the mystery of the new creation ? Why, 
 GOD manifest in the flesh. God in Christ, reconciling 
 the world to Himself. We begin to see ! The creation 
 recorded by Moses was only the first chapter in the 
 ^ Gen. i. i. * John i. i, 14. 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 137 
 
 " mystery of godliness " ; the new^ creation recorded by 
 John, the full details of which are given by Luke, is the 
 centre and key to the whole mystery, explaining all that 
 went before, and illuminating the pathway along which 
 the finished mystery of God is seen. Let us now turn 
 to the consideration of the " great mystery " of the 
 Incarnation. 
 
 I. The Great Mystery. We must dismiss from 
 our minds all thought that a mystery is necessarily some- 
 thing vague and uncertain as to fad. I have already 
 said that the first meaning of mystery is " a secret " — 
 something not generally or heretofore known. We often 
 speak of the mysterious actions of this or that man, or 
 the mysterious purposes of this or that statesman, of 
 movements which, as yet, are unexplained, or purposes 
 not yet unfolded. We read of some great crime which 
 has been committed, but which is still shrouded in 
 mystery ; that both the perpetrator and his motive 
 are secret or unknown. A " mysterious man " is none 
 the less a man ; he is only an unknown man. Now, 
 the Incarnation is a mystery, or was a secret, in the 
 purpose of God, but now fully revealed by the an- 
 nouncement of the angel to Mary. The world for long 
 centuries had been apprised of the coming of Immanuel 
 — God with us — and that He should be born of a virgin, 
 and where He should be born — in Bethlehem. But all 
 this was an unsolved mystery until the angel announced 
 to Mary : " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and 
 the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : there- 
 fore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee 
 shall be called the Son of God." Here is no myth, but 
 the unfolding of a mystery. 
 
 A myth is the creation of the imagination, usually 
 invented and developed for the purpose of embodying 
 some idea or belief. The mythologies of Greece and 
 
138 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH" 
 
 Rome, or of the Hindus, were not facts, but fancies ; 
 fancies, I believe, embodied in the stories of their 
 imaginary gods, originating in that mysterious longing 
 in man for the embodiment of God, which was im- 
 planted in his nature from the beginning, to prepare and 
 qualify him for the reception of the Incarnation when in 
 the fulness of time Christ should come. While there is 
 this much connection between myths and mysteries, it 
 is utterly wrong and misleading to confound a mystery 
 with a myth, and especially misleading to confound the 
 mystery of the Incarnation with a mythology. And yet 
 there is a school of interpretation — the mythical or 
 legendary school — which, instead of reasoning from the 
 ancient mythologies (the product of the religious imagin- 
 ation in its effort to bring the " gods " within the region 
 of sense) to the great mystery of godliness which brought 
 God Incarnate before us, has reasoned backward from 
 the Incarnation to the mythologies. On this principle 
 the story of the creation of man, his temptation and fall, 
 are treated as myths, pictorial allegories, by the aid of 
 which we may explain or grasp the mystery of man's 
 appearance upon the earth, and his present degeneration. 
 In like manner the story of the Exodus from Egypt is 
 treated as a mere poetical account of a great struggle for 
 liberty, in which the Hebrews were gloriously victorious 
 over the Pharaoh of Egypt. Abraham and Isaac, these 
 same interpreters tell us, were not real living men, but 
 myths, creations of the religious and poetical imagina- 
 tion, for the purpose of explaining or making history. 
 By many the story of Job is so treated. The struggle 
 of Jacob with the angel is not historical, but mytho- 
 logical, a story of the imagination by which we better 
 learn the nature of the mental conflict of a bad man 
 with his better self So Elijah's conflicts with the priests 
 of Baal on Mount Carmel is treated. " This is not his- 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 139 
 
 tory," these interpreters tell us, " but poetry." They 
 condescend to say it is very good poetry and very 
 useful mythology. The story of the Hebrew children 
 in the fiery furnace, and of Daniel in the lions' den, are 
 likewise myths. The story of Lot's wife, and of Jonah 
 and the whale, are of the same nature, only not so good 
 as some of the others. Only recently one of our own 
 ministers justified belief in the story of Jonah by appeal- 
 ing to the myth of Andromeda, saying, as we can get 
 good out of the old Greek myth, why should we reject 
 the story of Jonah, when we may likewise draw useful 
 and helpful lessons from it ? Having disposed of all the 
 Old Testament mysteries and miracles by an applying 
 to them the mythical theory, it is not so difficult to 
 apply the same method to the Incarnation, which some 
 boldly do. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is 
 treated in like manner ; as is also His ascension into 
 heaven. As for His second coming, that is mythed 
 away into death, the revival of christian enthusiasm in 
 some time to come, and a score of other intellectual 
 and religious movements. The resurrection promised 
 to believers is, of course, only the promise of the survival 
 of the spiritual nature of man ; a very small advance, if 
 any advance at all, upon the speculative immortality of 
 the ancient Greeks and Romans. But as we read these 
 Bible records, we feel sure that we are called upon to 
 contemplate facts and not fancies. Myths originate in 
 remote periods of past ages, but the Incarnation took 
 place in the days of Augustus Caesar, when Herod was 
 on the throne in Judaea. It was announced in Nazareth 
 and consummated in Bethlehem of Judsea. It is not 
 easy to unite the historical and the mythical in such 
 a modern case. Who will tell us in what country, in 
 whose reign, and what were the attending historical 
 circumstances in connection with the birth of Jupiter, 
 
I40 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 or Siva, or Vishnu, or Krishna ? The historical setting 
 of the Incarnation is too vivid and real for us to treat 
 it in any sense as a myth, or otherwise than as a fact, 
 extraordinary and stupendous as it is. Let us consider 
 this point a little. 
 
 I. The Incarnation is ati extraordinary event, but 7iot 
 therefore to be rejected as a myth. Extraordinary ! Yes ; 
 of course. If there had been nothing extraordinary 
 in the advent of JEHOVAH into the world, on His 
 mission of salvation to men, how should we have known 
 that it was JEHOVAH ? On what ground should we 
 have been exhorted to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? 
 If He were after all only a man, conceived and born 
 as other men are conceived and born, with the same 
 hereditary taint of sin and subject to the same inex- 
 orable law of mortality as the rest of us — in that case 
 we might indeed embrace His teachings so far as they 
 relate to abstract truth or practical ethics ; but trust 
 Him, commit the keeping of our souls to Him, receive 
 from Him the gift of eternal life, we could not. The 
 best and most we could do would be to canonize Him 
 along with Socrates, Marcus Antoninus Aurelius, and 
 other great ethical philosophers. The Unitarians are 
 entirely consistent in this matter. Having denied the 
 supernatural character of Jesus Christ, they refuse to 
 worship or trust Him as God, but accept Him as the 
 greatest of religious teachers. Their faith still stands 
 on the earth, and cannot lift them into the heavens 
 from whence came our Lord Jesus Christ. " To believe 
 that a virgin who had never known a man should con- 
 ceive and bring forth a son is to believe an incredible 
 thing. " To believe this, we must," they say, " believe 
 that the invariable order of nature has been revolu- 
 tionized, or at least transcended, in such a way as to 
 contradict and overthrow all law." No doubt some 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 141 
 
 such thought as this was in the innocent mind of the 
 virgin herself when she remarked to the angel, " How 
 shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? " Will the laws 
 of nature be suspended, broken, overturned ? This, 
 the sceptics affirm, they cannot believe. But is it not 
 a rather large assumption to make when they say that 
 God can7iot accomplish a purpose which was present 
 with Him when He created nature and man, without 
 violating, suspending, or overturning His laws? Must 
 we assume that we are familiar with all the laws of 
 nature and of God ; that we know everything already ; 
 that God made no provision for this event when He 
 made man and purposed his redemption ? We do not, 
 for a moment, believe that the Incarnation or any of 
 the lesser miracles in connection with the " great mys- 
 tery of godliness " involve any breach or overturning 
 of the laws of nature. We do believe, however, that 
 here, as in every other event which we characterize as 
 miraculous, the ordinary course of nature has been de- 
 parted from ; that nature, as we understand nature, has 
 been transcended ; that here a higher power than any 
 stored up in nature is at work. To Mary's amazed 
 inquiry the angel made answer, " For with God nothing 
 shall be impossible." ^ Here is the crux of the contro- 
 versy. The angel did not announce a natural, but a 
 supernatural event. He did not say that the Holy 
 Thing to be born of her should be conceived according 
 to the course of nature, but according to the power of 
 God ; acting, if you please, in nature, out of the course 
 of nature and off the lines of any previous human ex- 
 perience. Jesus Himself announced the same great 
 truth when He said to His disciples on a certain occa- 
 sion, " With men this is impossible, but with God all 
 things are possible."^ And so, on a later occasion, 
 ^ Luke i. yj. ^ Matt. xix. 26. 
 

 142 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 when Paul was making his defence before Agrippa, he 
 put the case thus to meet the same sceptical spirit, 
 " Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you 
 that God should raise the dead ? " ^ You will perceive 
 that this is not a question as to what is possible with 
 nature, but whether it is possible with God. If we push 
 this controversy back, I think we shall find that with 
 the sceptic it is not so much a question as to whether 
 it is possible that God could or would bring about this 
 miracle, as it is ivhether there be any God at all ; whether 
 there is any power in the universe that transcends that 
 which we call nature. Even Prof. Huxley, in his later 
 and more thoughtful years, speaking as a scientist 
 \purely, says that it is unscientific to say that anything 
 is impossible. I think, then, we may safely say that, 
 either from the theistic or the scientific point of view, 
 the Incarnation, as related by Luke and Matthew, af- 
 firmed by John, and taught by all the Apostles, was 
 not an impossible event, transcendent though it was. 
 
 The Incarnation is a new revelation in human experi- 
 ence, but not for that reason to be rejected as a fact. We 
 admit, not only readily, but joyfully, that the Incarna- 
 tion is entirely new to human experience. Were it not, 
 or had it only been another event more or less common 
 to human experience, we would not have been lifted out 
 of our human environment, or helped to anything above 
 our present helplessness and hopelessness. But why 
 should there be no new revelations in human experi- 
 ence ? Have there never been new revelations in human 
 experience? Was everything, as we know it, complete 
 and perfect from the foundation of the world ? The 
 first man was not born, but created. The first woman 
 was not created as the first man was, neither was she 
 born, but taken from man's side in an extraordinary 
 ' Acts xxvi. 8. 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 143 
 
 manner. Cain did not come into the world as either of 
 his parents did. He was begotten by his father and 
 born of his mother. That first birth was a new experi- 
 ence, and what a wonderful experience it was — what a 
 revelation of the purpose of God — what an unfolding of 
 His secret ! The birth of the first man was as much of 
 a wonder, in its way, as the Incarnation itself It was 
 as much of a departure from the " ordinary course of 
 things " as was the miraculous conception of our Lord. 
 But there were other new things or experiences to come 
 after birth. We do not know how long after the first 
 birth of man into the world came that next great 
 mystery — death. The possibility of death was foretold 
 at the time of the creation ; but the experience of it was 
 unknown. When it came, what a dreadful shock it was ! 
 Then, indeed, the whole creation began to groan and 
 travail in pain together. Does some one say that death 
 was contemplated from the beginning ? Well, who then 
 shall say that the Incarnation was not contemplated and 
 provided for in the beginning ? Did Adam and Eve 
 know the mysterious provisions made in their physical 
 constitution for the reproduction of their own kind, by 
 generation and birth ? And though they heard the 
 warning word at the beginning, " In the day that thou 
 eatest thereof, dying thou shalt die," ^ did they under- 
 stand what death was, or did they deny the fact when 
 it came, with all its shuddering horror, because they had 
 lived, perhaps, a hundred years before ? Therefore, if 
 from the beginning God provided for birth, and death to 
 follow in the course of time, after creation, why should 
 it be thought an incredible thing that God should have 
 from the beginning contemplated and provided for re- 
 surrection ? Shall we say that because life and immor- 
 tality were not brought to light for a thousand, or four 
 ' Gen. ii. 17. 
 
144 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 thousand, or any number of thousand years after death 
 entered into the world, that therefore it was not con- 
 templated in God's plan ? Geologists tell us that 
 ■>nUlions of years elapsed after the appearance of what 
 we call the substantial matter of this world before life 
 appeared on the earth. But shall we say that it was an 
 incredible thing that life should appear in a world in 
 which there had been no life for a million years or a 
 million ages ? Does not all nature teach us that God 
 unfolds His secret purposes — His mysteries — slowly ? 
 Shall we say to Him, because He has not wrought a 
 wonder such as the Incarnation frequently from the 
 beginning, He must not presume to introduce such a 
 mystery at a later period in the history of man, because 
 it is upsetting to our settled ideas of uniformity and 
 sequence in nature ? Shall God never do a new or an 
 extraordinary thing in His own world ? Has He ex- 
 hausted Himself in the present creation ? Are there no 
 more possibilities in Him who made all worlds ? We 
 allow that even human genius may go on inventing and 
 bringing to perfection scientific and mechanical wonders. 
 Should the genius of Edison slumber for fifty years, 
 dare we forbid that he should rouse himself and bring a 
 new thing out of his laboratory ? Shall we say " No ! " 
 to him, because after having ceased to work for so long 
 a time, it would be unseemly for him to disturb us again 
 after we had settled down to the conclusion that the 
 wonders of electricity had been exhausted ? Oh no ! it 
 is not the power of man which we limit ; we do not say 
 to him, " Thus far shalt thou go, but no farther " ; we 
 reserve that prohibitive mandate for God. 
 
 In a zvorld hifinitely fill of variety, both in phenomena 
 and law, must we bind God down to those varieties of 
 His creative power which have already appeared on the 
 stage of the world's development ? Has not God in the 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 145 
 
 infinite and ever-increasing variations in nature, which 
 we are constantly discovering, given us a prophecy of 
 new wonders, yet reserved within His purpose ? It is 
 the more common order of nature that flowers should 
 bloom annually ; yet there is a plant — the century plant 
 — which blooms but once in a hundred years. Is not 
 this extraordinary when compared with the common 
 habit of flowers ? So the common rule and order in 
 nature is that flowers bloom in the day time ; yet there 
 is a flower known as the Jiight-blooming cereus, which 
 closes its petals to the sunlight and opens them to the 
 darkness. In my country there is a lovely little ground- 
 vine which we call the arbutus, which flowers under the 
 snow, and there, in the very earliest month of the spring 
 time, we find it under its cold white blanket, beautiful in 
 form, exquisite in colour, and delicate in perfume. Shall 
 we reject the little arbutus because it chooses to " violate 
 the common order of nature," and blossoms where other 
 flowers would die, or at least refuse to bloom ? It is the 
 common order for trees to shed their foliage annually, 
 but then we have non-deciduous trees which refuse to 
 shed their leaves at all. Can any one tell why this 
 deviation is persisted in, in the face of the common 
 habits of the forest? 
 
 In a world infinitely full of mystery, each one of which 
 seems to be a promise and portent of more mysteries, 
 shall we refuse belief to the culminating mystery of the 
 universe, one which seems to crown and give meaning to 
 all those which have gone before ? Must we conclude 
 that we are — that creation is — bound hand and foot by 
 a fixed and exclusive law, to a fixed and unvarying 
 order of events brought about by a fixed and invariable 
 method ? That were to pronounce God's world a 
 viachine, and not a part of a great universe. Because 
 an Italian organ-grinder can only produce six tunes in 
 
 P.B. 
 
146 A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 regular sequence upon his poor little rriechanical barrel, 
 shall we say that there can only be so many tunes played 
 on the great church organ, which is not manipulated by 
 fixed pegs on a barrel, but by the skilful and sensitive 
 fingers of a great musician whose whole soul thrills to the 
 melody which he produces ? Shall we say that on a pipe 
 organ no new tunes can be played, no new combinations 
 executed, no new harmonies extemporized ? That would 
 be strange indeed. But there are those who hold that 
 God's universe is a machine — a mechanism — not a crea- 
 tmi ; that it is constructed on the principles of a barrel- 
 organ, and not on those that enter into the structure of 
 the great cathedral or church organ. I, for one, have no 
 such low thoughts of God and His infinite resources — no 
 such low thoughts of this glorious creation, of which I 
 also am a part. 
 
 Mtist there be no deviation from the common laiv of 
 natural birth, inevitable and calamitous death ? Is there 
 no remedy or deliverance from this inexorable treadmill 
 of miserable experience — birth, sin, suffering, struggle, 
 death ? That were indeed to have a hard thought of 
 God. I would a thousand times rather be an atheist, 
 than to believe in the existence of a God who was great 
 enough to create a universe, wicked enough to abandon 
 it to its own devices, to a fixed and remorseless fate of 
 evil, or too feeble to come to its help and rescue in the 
 time of its sorest need. 
 
 II. The Incarnation not an Unexpected 
 Event. To hear some sceptics and thoughtless un- 
 believers talk, one would suppose that the Incarnation 
 was a mystery suddenly sprung upon an unexpecting 
 world. But was this the case? Let us see. God for 
 ages — from the beginning of the creation of the world 
 — had been whispering this. His secret, and glorious 
 purpose into the ears of man. 
 
A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 147 
 
 I. In promise and prophec)'. Like the first faint strain 
 of an organ, preluding the grand burst of harmony in the 
 mind of the composer, so the first promise of the Incar- 
 .nation was given to the first man and woman just after 
 their sin and fall from their paradisaic innocence. And 
 God said to the serpent, " I will put enmity between 
 thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her 
 seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
 heel."^ How came it that God gave this promise 
 through the ivoinan, and not through the man ? Why 
 did He say her seed, and not his seed ? Why ! just 
 because God knew what His promise was, and how He 
 would fulfil it ; and that when it came to pass we might 
 know and understand it. Even so Jesus said to His 
 disciples, " And these things have I told you, that when 
 the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you 
 of them." 2 This promise to the woman was the first 
 whispered syllable of His secret. Did He not foretell 
 and confirm the manner oi His coming when He said 
 through Isaiah, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and 
 bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel "?^ Did 
 He not further detail this secret when Pie told another 
 prophet ivhere He should be born, saying, " But thou, 
 Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the 
 thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come 
 forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel ; whose 
 goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting " ? * 
 We might easily multiply such promises or intimations 
 of the great mystery as these, were it necessary, even 
 those giving the details of His sorrowful life, and the 
 circumstances attending His cruel and bitter death. 
 
 2. In miraciilons intimation. Following the words of 
 promise, God has further unfolded the transcendent 
 character of this mystery prepared from the foundation 
 * Gen. iii. 15. ^ John xvi. 4. " Isa. vii. 14. * Mic. v. 2. 
 
148 A MYSTERY—NOT A MYTH 
 
 of the world. Following the first intimation of the com- 
 ing of the " seed of the woman," God gave us a hint of 
 His purpose to transcend and break the ordinary course 
 of nature, and bring about a rescue. Enoch lived in the 
 days before the flood. He separated himself from the 
 course of the world, which then ran in rebellion, violence, 
 and wickedness, and walked with God. Enoch was the 
 first — the father — of the Puritans. At the end of three 
 hundred years he won this testimony, " that he pleased 
 God, and was not found, because God had translated 
 him." ^ Thus early God whispered, by a miracle, that 
 He had a purpose of deliverance from death, which the 
 world did not know, and which was not provided for in 
 nature. Oh, thank God for this early hint of His pur- 
 pose to break the iron rule and law of death, and, by 
 anticipation, prepare us for the resurrection, the fulfil- 
 ment of this mystery ! And did He not give to Abra- 
 ham an earnest of great things to come, when He quick- 
 ened his body, as good as dead, and strengthened Sarah 
 so that she conceived and bare a son when she was 
 ninety years old ? Here was a further unfolding of the 
 great mystery, in which two new facts are intimated. 
 The promised seed should be the son of Abraham, after 
 the Jiesh, but the Son of God with poiver, by the resur- 
 rection from the dead. Of this, the transcendent birth of 
 Isaac and his subsequent deliverance from death were 
 the hints. Verily, the writer of Genesis must have been 
 a clever man to have put these hints and suggestions 
 of things to come into his story ; hints such as never 
 entered into the heart of man, and which could not pos- 
 sibly have been understood except in the fulfilment of 
 the event which they foreshadowed. This is a seduc- 
 tive theme, but we must leave it. 
 
 3. In the poetry of the whole mystery. Poets are pro- 
 1 Heb. xi. 5. 
 
A MYSTERY- NOT A MYTH 149 
 
 phets, and poetry is prophecy. Poetry is the art of 
 setting forth things in apposite and wonderful beauty, in 
 a way which illuminates and fires the imagination. And 
 how full of poetry the Bible is ! Its highest strains are 
 those which sing the coming glories of the Incarnation. 
 We lost our inheritance through the sin of the first man ; 
 we are to gain it again through the obedience of the 
 second man. Since by man came sin and death into 
 the world, so by man came righteousness and life back 
 to it again. The coming in of sin brought death ; the 
 expiation of sin brought life. By man came the sin ; by 
 man came the expiation. But what man could expiate 
 the sin of man ? " For all have sinned, and come short 
 of the glory of God," ^ and so condemnation passed upon 
 all men unto death. But now one man has appeared, 
 by whose righteousness and death judgment has passed 
 upon all men unto life. But who is this " one man " ? 
 Surely not the son of Adam, of whose sin we have all 
 partaken and ratified. One bankrupt cannot be security 
 or bondsman for another bankrupt. The one man who 
 brought justification unto life was not the seed of the 
 man Adam, but the seed of the woman. The continuity 
 of the law of nature was interrupted by the introduction 
 of a new and transcendent law or power, " the power of 
 the Highest," which came upon the virgin, "who was 
 found with child of the Holy Ghost." And look again 
 at the poetry of this thing. Eve was called " the mother 
 of all living," ^ and Mary became the mother not of the 
 living, but of Him who had "life in Himself"^ Since 
 it was through the woman that sin and death entered 
 into the world, so it is by woman that righteousness and 
 life is given back to the world. I cannot refrain from 
 repeating to you an exquisite bit of poetry, the product 
 of this Christmas time. It came to me only yesterday 
 ^ Rom. iii. 23. ^ Gen. iii. 20. ^ John v. 26. 
 
ISO A MYSTERY— NOT A MYTH 
 
 from across the sea, and is called "The Song of the 
 Man." 
 
 "The woman gave, and I did eat." 
 
 Whereof gave she ? 
 'Twas of the garden's fruitage sweet — 
 
 A portion fair to see ; 
 She plucked and ate, and I did eat, 
 And lost alike are we : 
 
 God saith, 
 "Ye die the death." 
 
 "The woman gave, and I did eat." 
 
 Whereof gave she ? 
 'Twas of her womb, a Burden sweet — 
 
 But sad, alas ! to see ; 
 She took and ate, and I did eat, 
 And saved alike are we : 
 God saith, 
 "Thus dieth death." 
 
 III. The Mysterious Fruit of the Incarna- 
 tion. " That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee 
 shall be called the Son of God." If the miraculous 
 conception of our Lord was a great mystery, our Lord 
 Himself is a still greater mystery. Who shall under- 
 stand how the Eternal God could enter into union with 
 human nature ? how this flame of Eternal God-head 
 could dwell in the bush of human nature and yet not 
 consume it ? We may well turn aside to see " this great 
 sight " and take off the shoes from our feet, for this place 
 whereon we stand is holy ground.^ Who can tell how 
 the Eternal Son could become truly and really man ? 
 and how the man Christ Jesus could be truly God ? 
 How such a union could be perfected in one personality ? 
 how there could be the union of these two natures, the 
 infinite and the finite, the Eternal Spirit of God and 
 mortal nature of man, and yet not be confused, thQ 
 
 ^ Exod. iii. 3-5. 
 
A M YSTER Y-NOT A M YTH 1 5 1 
 
 human nature not losing itself in the divine, and the 
 divine not diminishing itself into the human? "All this 
 is beyond our comprehension," say the sceptics ; " there- 
 fore we cannot believe it." Very likely ; but when you 
 urge that as a reason for not believing the Incarnation 
 and in the Incarnate God, would you have us believe 
 that you understand even one of the coinuion mysteries 
 which are involved in our own nature and being ? How 
 does the soul and spirit of man unite with his body? 
 How do such diametrically opposite substances as spirit 
 and matter come together in such complete union as 
 they do in our persons, the spirit being entirely distinct 
 from the body and yet permeating it at every point ? 
 Can any wise man tell us at what point in the body the 
 spirit unites with it ? Do you understand the lesser 
 mystery of life ? " The life is in the blood." ^ So says 
 the scripture, and after five thousand years science has 
 at last consented. But can you find life in the blood ? 
 Is a drop of blood from a dead man's veins any lighter 
 or different in substance from what it was when per- 
 vaded and filled with life ? Can you explain or even 
 understand the mysteries of your own consciousness ? 
 We discriminate between consciousness and will, and 
 reason and affection ; but who can locate the one or 
 the other ? Love and hate dwell together in the same 
 heart ; but who can tell how the one or the other is 
 excited, or how they are differentiated in the same 
 consciousness ? Yet these powers and emotions of the 
 human soul are never confused the one with the other, 
 though they are united in one consciousness. Surely if 
 we ourselves are such a mystery to ourselves, we should 
 not be startled at, much less protest against, the mystery 
 of the Incarnation. Nor should it stagger our faith, 
 even though it transcends our understanding and reason, 
 * Lev. xvii. 11. 
 
152 A MVS TER Y—NO T A M YTH 
 
 except that highest reason which bows before the mys- 
 teries of God. Rather let us gladly avail ourselves of 
 the help of faith. 
 
 Let me ask one question in conclusion of this mat- 
 ter. If any of you are disposed to reject the mystery 
 of the Incarnation because you cannot understand it, 
 or because it is an event out of the common order of 
 nature, can you suggest how or by what means we are 
 to deliver ourselves from the plague of sin, the curse of 
 the law, and the despotism of death ? Can you imagine 
 how else God Himself could have redeemed us and 
 given to us eternal life? Amen. 
 
IX 
 
 MARTS GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 " Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to 
 thy word."— Luke i. 38. 
 
 THE scenes and incidents in connection with the 
 nativity of our Lord have been, ever since the 
 rise of christian art, the point upon which the genius 
 of great painters has been concentrated. The visit 
 of the angel to Mary, his salutation and the announce- 
 ment of the purpose of God concerning her, known 
 as the Annunciation, has been a favourite subject with 
 painters. While the two persons concerned, the angel 
 and the virgin, must always fill the foreground of such 
 a painting, the conceptions of the artists have differed 
 widely, and the interpretations of the great event have 
 been as varied as the number of artists who have un- 
 dertaken the task. The imagined environment in which 
 Mary and the angel are depicted in many of the older 
 masters shows in a striking manner the influence of 
 the Romish doctrine of Mariolatry. In most of these 
 pictures the virgin is represented as a young woman 
 of exalted rank, surrounded by all the accessories of 
 wealth and station. In some she is portrayed in the 
 portico of a magnificent building, the angel approaching 
 her in most deferential manner, with outstretched hands 
 presenting her with a stalk of lilies, the emblem of 
 virginity ; in others, the angel is prostrate upon his 
 knees adoring her, or offering homage and worship ; 
 in others, she is surrounded by ecclesiastical dignitaries 
 
154 MAjRV'S great confession 
 
 who are auditors and spectators of this interview. The 
 later artists have returned to a more hteral interpreta- 
 tion, in which the virgin is seen in an ordinary Oriental 
 house surprised by the appearance of the angel, who is 
 represented as a man only, without the adjunct of 
 wings. In still another, the angel is seeti as a mere 
 spot in the midst of effulgent rays of light, which 
 stream from his body in every direction, poised in the 
 air above the virgin. One of the very latest pictures 
 seems to me the best. In this one the virgin is de- 
 picted as a young maiden — one might suppose sixteen 
 or eighteen years of age — sitting in a very humble 
 room, with the angel standing before her, grave and 
 dignified, while she is looking up into his face with 
 every expression of wonder and amazement. This is 
 more likely to have been the true situation. If we 
 revert to the inspired pen-picture limned by the beloved 
 physician, there is presented to us just these simple 
 facts. A virgin of a small and mean village or " city " 
 of Galilee is surprised by the sudden appearance before 
 her of a strange man. For we are told that the angel 
 entered in to her — that is, came into the house where 
 she was — greeted her with a stately salutation of joy, 
 and immediately communicated his message. It does 
 not require any great effort of the imagination to set 
 this simple picture before our minds. We may fancy 
 the maiden busy about her household duties, her mind 
 and thoughts filled with happy dreams of the future ; 
 for she was betrothed to a good though poor man, 
 Joseph the carpenter. As any other maiden would be 
 thinking, so Mary was thinking of her approaching 
 marriage, of her future home, in which she was to be 
 the honoured mistress, the beloved wife, for so she 
 would certainly be in Joseph's care ; and possibly of 
 what that home would be to her when, in years to 
 
MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION I55 
 
 come, children would play about her feet and be taught 
 out of the scriptures the things concerning the kingdom 
 of God, as they stood about her knees. In such sur- 
 rounding, and occupied with some such holy thoughts 
 as these, her occupation was interrupted and her heart's 
 dreams were awakened by the words of the angel, who 
 had entered unannounced and unawares, " Hail ! highly 
 favoured, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among 
 women." We can well imagine the surprise and amaze- 
 ment which this salutation under the circumstances 
 aw^akened in Mary's mind and heart. 
 
 I. The Amazement of Mary. "And when she 
 saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her 
 mind what manner of salutation this should be." ^ In 
 like manner we are told that Zacharias " was troubled " ; 
 he being filled with fear, while Mary's mind was set 
 thinking what it all might mean. The scanty records 
 concerning Mary given us in the New Testament lead 
 us to conceive of her as an extremely thoughtful woman, 
 not given to much talking, but to much thinking. She 
 laid things up in her heart and pondered them deeply. 
 We can well imagine why Mary should be disturbed 
 and agitated by this appearance of Gabriel (whom, of 
 course, she did not know), and by the extraordinary 
 character of the message communicated to her. 
 
 I. The appearance of Gabriel himself would have 
 naturally agitated her. Not that she was unaccustomed 
 to see young men, her own townsmen and acquaint- 
 ances, but here was a stranger who suddenly appears 
 within the precincts of her house and salutes her. 
 Strangers were not common in Nazareth, and the first 
 natural wonder was as to whom this unknown young 
 man might be. There was nothing extraordinary in the 
 appearance of Gabriel to indicate that he was an angel ; 
 * Luke i. 29. 
 
156 MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 for, as we have before remarked, the arigels of God who 
 have appeared to men at different periods of the world's 
 history have always come simply as men, with nothing 
 in their appearance to indicate that they were heavenly 
 beings. Doubtless Gabriel was in appearance a young 
 man of extraordinary dignity, and handsome beyond 
 the type of men with whom Mary was acquainted. I 
 say a young man, because though he may have been a 
 million of years old, according to our reckoning of time, 
 yet he was endowed with that everlasting youth which 
 belongs to the immortals. With the angels there is no 
 sense of years, no signs of decay. These two facts alone 
 must have given to Gabriel the appearance of a man of 
 princely bearing and looks. What young girl would 
 not have been " agitated " by such a visitor, even when 
 the open hospitality of the East made it possible for a 
 stranger to enter a house unbidden, as did Gabriel ? 
 
 2. The salutation of the angel would have still further 
 increased her astonishment. The ordinary salutation of 
 the East was not greatly different from the opening 
 words of the angel's salute. " Hail ! " or " Joy to you ! " 
 might have been spoken by any friend who was the 
 bearer of good news or pleasant tidings. The language 
 of heaven, I fancy, is not greatly different from the 
 language of earth, only more elevated in tone ; more 
 serious, yet more joyous in the mode of delivery. That 
 the angel prostrated himself before the virgin we do not 
 for a moment believe ; but that his manner was pro- 
 foundly respectful, and his speech mellow with tones 
 of great regard, there can be no doubt. The elevated 
 strain in which he began his salutation was only the 
 fitting prelude to the message he immediately delivered. 
 " Thou art highly favoured " would indicate some great 
 good news. Was this by any chance a messenger from 
 Joseph, bringing her some good news of him which 
 
AfA/iV'S GREAT CONFESSION 157 
 
 intimately affected her ? or was he the messenger of her 
 kinsfolk and friends, who had combined to surprise her 
 with some great gift in honour of her coming marriage ? 
 A number of such curious inquiries might have passed 
 with the rapidity of thought through her mind, in an 
 instant. " The Lord is with thee " ; this next part of the 
 salutation would naturally lift her thoughts higher, and 
 cause her to wonder yet more. That the Lord was with 
 her, as with every other truly pious soul, was true ; but 
 this declaration had a deeper and more special meaning 
 than that. The Lord is with us always ; He never 
 leaves us, nor forsakes us ; but there are times when He 
 is with us to bless us in a peculiar way. Certainly Mary 
 was wondering what this declaration might import to 
 her. Still further, as the angel proceeded, was her sur- 
 prise increased. " Blessed thou among women." Now 
 Mary was but a humble maiden, both in station and in 
 the habit of her mind. She had not been accustomed 
 to think great thoughts, nor to dream great things 
 for herself Though she belonged to the house of David 
 by descent, yet she was so far removed from any of the 
 possible honours which might still come to that royal 
 house, that no thoughts of distinction among women 
 or eminence in any way had ever entered her mind. 
 What, then, could this salutation mean, and especially 
 what the declaration, " Thou art highly favoured among 
 women " ? This salutation seems to have wrought sur- 
 prise and agitation to the point of fear, for the angel 
 said, " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with 
 God."^ Thus speaking to calm her mind, and to prepare 
 her for what was to follow. 
 
 3. Tke ariminciation fnessage %voidd still further in- 
 crease her agitation. The angel immediately proceeded 
 to make the stupendous announcement of the miraculous 
 * Luke i. 30. 
 
158 MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 conception of our Lord — an announcement of the greatest 
 and profoundest mystery of the universe. " Behold, thou 
 shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and 
 shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall 
 be called the Son of the Highest : and the Lord God 
 shall give unto Him the throne of His father David : and 
 He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; and of 
 His kingdom there shall be no end." ^ Here were two 
 new facts communicated to Mary. First, that she was 
 to be the mother of the Messiah — that glorious hope 
 which had animated the breasts of ten thousand Jewish 
 women in all ages. Was it possible that this most 
 glorious honour had come to her ? Small wonder if her 
 young heart was stirred with surprise and amazement. 
 But then, beyond that, here was a matter that for the 
 moment overshadowed even the thought of being the 
 mother of the Messiah. The mode of the accomplishment 
 of this wonder was now announced to her, and her mind 
 fairly staggered under the thought. For the first time 
 she found speech, and there came from her lips this 
 astonished and innocent inquiry, " How shall this be, 
 seeing I know not a man ? " ^ The human and natural 
 impossibility of such a thing happening to her or to any 
 other woman at once presented itself to her mind, and 
 prompted not so much a doubt as an inquiry, to which 
 the angel made immediate answer, " 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." ^ 
 No doubt this extraordinary communication filled her 
 mind with the greatest wonder— a wonder which the 
 angel made haste to prevent from degenerating into 
 doubt, for he immediately assured her with the words, 
 " For with God nothing is impossible." ■* 
 
 ^ Luke i. 31-33. ^ Luke i. 34. * IhW. i. 35. * Ibid. i. 37. 
 
MAUV'S GREAT CONFESSION 159 
 
 We are so familiar with the particulars of this won- 
 drous story, have heard it so often, believed it for so long, 
 that we are apt to forget how astounding it must have 
 sounded to Mary's ears, and how overwhelming it must 
 have been to her mind and heart. I have dwelt on these 
 details as being necessary for a fuller appreciation of the 
 greatness of Mary's confession of faith which immediately 
 followed upon the completion of the angel's message. 
 
 II. The Foundation and Warrant of Mary's 
 Faith. This is suggested to us by her own words, " Be 
 it unto me according to Thy Word." Before that word 
 her amazement, her curiosity, her understanding, and 
 even her reason all bowed. On that word her faith took 
 its stand, and 
 
 "... laughed at impossibilities, 
 And cried, It shall be done." 
 
 In this case the word of the angel was the word of God ; 
 and the word of God, which we cannot disassociate from 
 God Himself, is not only the warrant of our faith, but 
 the final centre and source of all authority and power, 
 even the source of all things in heaven and earth. The 
 universe seems to have been constructed on the prin- 
 ciple of centres. The moon circles about the earth, and 
 the earth about the sun, as do a vast number of planets ; 
 the sun itself, drawing in his train a thousand worlds, is 
 moving majestically about some more distant centre ; 
 and, for aught we know, this procession of worlds mov- 
 ing in circles goes on indefinitely. But what is the cen- 
 tre of all things ? There can be but one answer to this 
 question. " In the beginning God created the heaven 
 and the earth," ^ " In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All 
 things were made by Him, and without Him was no- 
 
 ^ Gen. i. i. 
 
i6o MARY'S GREAT COxYFESSION 
 
 thing made that was made." ^ God and His Word are 
 one, and the same in their eternity and authority. " For 
 by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and 
 that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be 
 thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all 
 things were created by Him, and for Him : and He is 
 before all things, and by Him all things consist (are held 
 together). And He is the head of the body, the church : 
 who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that 
 in all things He might have the pre-eminence." ^ 
 
 Leaving the material universe and the centre of its 
 obedience, we find the same principle obtains among 
 men. All earthly governments centre about the Throne, 
 if they be monarchies, as Great Britain is. Should the 
 Queen be taken away, with no successor found to as- 
 cend the throne of England, the monarchy would fall 
 into confusion and momentary chaos ; but the body 
 politic would immediately tend to re-organize itself 
 about some new governmental centre. The same is true 
 of the social life of a country or community. It has its 
 centre of authority, which regulates customs, habits, 
 dress, and manners. The man or woman who is not 
 associated with some social circle, and amenable to 
 some social centre of authority, is an outcast. The busi- 
 ness world has its centre about which it moves. The 
 Bank of England regulates the rate of interest, and 
 determines the value of money from day to day. The 
 scientific world has its centre in the British Association. 
 The family life is organized about the husband and 
 father, whose word is the final law on all domestic mat- 
 ters. The Church of Christ has its hundreds of smaller 
 circles and centres ; but all these, like the starry worlds 
 above us, move about the great Head of the Church, 
 whose word is the final authority in all matters of faith 
 ' John i. I, 3. * Col. i. 16-18. 
 
MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION i6i 
 
 and practice. Synods, General Assemblies, Convoca- 
 tions, States, Popes, and Patriarchs are only subordinate 
 centres of authority ; and these, with the local Churches 
 which they govern, whether they are in fellowship with 
 each other or not, move about the centre common to 
 them all — Jesus Christ, the Great Head of the Church. 
 When the end of all God's purposes concerning us is 
 accomplished, we are told that the Son of God Himself 
 will become subject to the Father ; for " when all things 
 shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also 
 Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under 
 Him, that God may be all in all." ^ From all this we 
 easily learn that as God is the centre of all created 
 things in the material world, so is He the centre of all 
 authority and power in things spiritual. In all matters 
 of personal faith and conduct the individual believer is 
 subject directly to God in Christ. Thus, when Mary 
 said, " Be it unto me according to thy word," she struck 
 the high key-note of the soul's allegiance to God, and 
 freedom from all human lordship. God's word is final. 
 Every faculty, nay, the whole spirit and soul and body 
 of man, is bound to Submit ; and the believing soul of 
 man does joyfully acquiesce and unite with the word of 
 God. That word of God is voiced in Jesus Christ, the 
 Son of God, whose holy and mysterious Incarnation 
 Mary now accepted with a humble yet sublime faith. 
 Since His coming we turn to the Son of Mary and yield 
 our whole conscience, heart, and will to Him. For " at 
 the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
 heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; 
 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
 is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." ^ It is to this 
 principle of yielding all to the final authority of Christ — 
 the Word of God — that we owe all spiritual liberty as 
 ' I Cor. XV. 28. ^ Phil. ii. 10. 
 
 P.B. 1 1 
 
i62 MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 well as all individual peace. It is only when other 
 authorities and powers intervene that the Church is 
 distracted, and the individual soul confused and left in 
 darkness. He that followeth Jesus shall not walk in 
 darkness, but shall have the light of life. Mary, by her 
 confession, implied, " I acknowledge the Word of God 
 to be the true and only centre of my life, and I gladly 
 fall into my proper orbit, and by faith will order my life 
 henceforth, according to His word." 
 
 HI. Mary's Confession of Faith. "Behold the 
 handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy 
 word." In this declaration we have a simple, sublime, 
 and beautiful confession of faith — a confession than 
 which there has been no greater one made by man. It 
 is equal to that of Martha, who confessed, " Yea, Lord : 
 I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, 
 which should come into the world " ^ ; or to that of 
 Peter, who confessed, " Thou art Christ, the Son of the 
 Living God." ^ I even venture to say that Mary's 
 confession was greater than these and all subsequent 
 confessions of faith. Hers, indeed, was the first great 
 confession of Christ, for she confessed Him as the In- 
 carnate Son of God before He came into the world ; 
 whilst they and we confess Him after the fact of His 
 incarnation was demonstrated before our eyes. All 
 honour and glory to this the greatest heroine of faith 
 the world has ever known ! In regard to the great 
 honour conferred upon her she was pronounced by the 
 angel to be " blessed among women." In respect to her 
 sublime faith in the word of God she is the greatest 
 among both men and women. 
 
 The word or exclamation, " Behold," is not in this 
 case to be taken as a word of direction, as when John 
 the Baptist cried, saying, " Behold the Lamb of God " ^ ; 
 ' John xi. 27. ^ Matt. xvi. 16. ^ John i. j6. 
 
A/ARV'S GREAT CONFESSION 163 
 
 or when Pilate said, " Behold the Man " ' ; or when John 
 the revelator said, "Behold, He cometh with clouds"^; 
 but rather as a word of consent, as when the prophet 
 said, " Here am I : send mc"-^ ; or as when Samuel said, 
 "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,"* So Mary- 
 would seem to say, " Amen " ; " So be it " ; " Behold, I 
 am from this moment the handmaid of the Lord ; be it 
 unto me according to thy word " ; "I hear, and I 
 accept ; I consent ; I gladly yield all to Thee and to 
 Thy will." It will be observed that Mary's faith was 
 not a blind credulity, but was declared after the angel 
 had replied to her amazed inquiry, " How shall this 
 thing be?" by his "With God all things are possible" ; 
 which proposition at once commended itself to her in- 
 telligence as well as to her faith. True faith is always 
 associated with the highest intelligence. When I say 
 this, I do not mean that the highest intelligence is always 
 found in the most highly cultured and trained minds. 
 God often reveals things of sublimest import to babes 
 and sucklings which the wise and prudent fail to grasp. 
 There is an old saying that a woman's intuition is better 
 than a man's reason. We would not dare say that the 
 quick intuition of many very simple-minded people is 
 not instinct with highest intelligence. The men and 
 women of faith are those to whom the Spirit of God 
 gives the most enlightenment. There is a vast meaning 
 in that word of our Lord to Peter after his confession : 
 " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood 
 hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father which is in 
 heaven." ^ 
 
 IV. Mary's Surrender. The faith of Mary carried 
 along with it the entire surrender of herself, and all that 
 she had and was. There is a spurious kind of faith 
 
 ' John xix. 5. '-^ Rev. i. 7. ^ Isa. vi. 8. 
 
 ■* I Sam. iii. 10. ^ Matt. xvi. 17. 
 
i64 MARY'S GREAT CONFESS/ON 
 
 which surrenders the intellect to a speculative propo- 
 sition, but which does not affect the heart or move the 
 will to action. This is abundantly seen in the compara- 
 tive absence of moral results from the classic philoso- 
 phies. The Greeks and the Romans believed in God 
 and immortality, but their faith did not affect their 
 conduct in any great degree. So there are a great 
 many people among us who have accepted the doctrines 
 of the christian religion as being true, but they have no 
 faith in God. Their faith goes no further than to the 
 propositions of their creed. They are hearers, but not 
 doers of the word. With Mary it was different. From 
 the moment she accepted the word of God, she became 
 the handmaid of the Lord. Wherever there is real faith, 
 there will be — there must be — unconditional surrender. 
 This characterized the faith of Saul of Tarsus. When 
 he became assured that Jesus was the Christ, he cried, 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to ^(3 ? " ^ " Hence- 
 forth it is Thine to speak, mine to hear ; Thine to 
 command, mine to obey. Do to me v/hat Thou wilt ; 
 command me to do what Thou wilt." Such was Mary's 
 surrender. 
 
 I. Her surrender was passive. That is, she first of 
 all fully consented to be the subject of this great 
 miracle. She yielded her body as well as her soul to 
 the power of the Highest. She consented to become 
 the virgin mother of the Son of God. It is often more 
 difficult to be passive in the hands of God than it is 
 to be active in obedience to a command. The passive 
 obedience of our Lord throughout His earthly ministry 
 was as great, if not greater, than His active exercise 
 of power. It would have been much easier for Him 
 to have overthrown His enemies and escaped out of 
 their hands, than to submit to their power. This He 
 ' Acts ix. 6. 
 
MARY'S GREAT CONFESS/ON 165" 
 
 demonstrated when the soldiers, with Judas at their 
 head, came to arrest Him at the gate of the garden. 
 He " became obedient unto death." ^ To submit to an 
 insult is harder than to resent one. 
 
 2. 0)1 the other hand, Marys surrender was intensely 
 active. She not only surrendered to the word of the 
 Lord, but she became intelligently and intensely active 
 as the champion of that word. There was no mere 
 negative assent in her faith. Having accepted the high 
 commission, and yielded to the will of God, she became 
 eager that the word of God should be fulfilled. "Be 
 it unto me according to thy word" may mean, as it 
 doubtless did mean, " I submit " ; but it meant more. 
 There was an eagerness of consent in it. We may even 
 imagine a joyous consent and a quick desire that the 
 wonderful thing might be done unto her. She already 
 embraced in her heart the Son of God, whom she was 
 to conceive in her body. Her whole spirit, soul, and 
 body went out with yearning desire that God's great 
 purpose should be performed. Holy motherhood awak- 
 ened in her at the very thought, and she was all 
 eagerness now for the will of God. Her heart was 
 beating with quick desire and expectation, which is 
 hope. It was not only " Be it unto me," but it was 
 also " Lord, let it be unto me according to Thy word." 
 
 3. What zvas involved in this active surrejider on the 
 part of Mary ? There is more in her surrender than 
 at first reading appears. In the first place, it was the 
 surrender of her understanding and her reason. She 
 could not understand how this wonder was to be 
 wrought ; but she surrendered her ignorance or her 
 inability to understand to the double argument of the 
 angel. " With God nothing shall be impossible." This 
 her faith accepted, though she did not understand how 
 
 ' Phil. ii. 8. 
 
1 66 MAIiV'S GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 the thing should be. Then the angel further fortified her 
 faith by declaring that the Lord had already wrought a 
 similar miracle upon her cousin Elisabeth ; though not 
 so great, it was, nevertheless, just as real. If God calls 
 upon us to surrender our understanding or reason to 
 His word. He never insults or dethrones it. It is no 
 dishonour to submit the reason to the word of God, 
 which deals with matters higher than the reason 
 can attain to, until the understanding is enlightened 
 by revelation. I do not either insult or abandon my 
 sight when in a dark room I cease to depend on sight, 
 and bring into play the sense of feeling, in order to 
 find a lost object, or make my way out into the light. 
 So, in dealing with the high mysteries of God, I do 
 not insult my reason, or deny it, when I appeal to 
 faith to guide me where reason cannot see. The ex- 
 perience of the world, wherever the revelation of God 
 has come, proves that the highest intelligence of man 
 has been dignified and strengthened, rather than de- 
 graded, by the action of faith. Thousands upon thou- 
 sands of men of highest mental endowments and 
 greatest intellectual attainments have not felt their 
 reason to have been dishonoured by the cordial accept- 
 ance of the mystery of God and the Incarnation. On 
 the other hand, they confess with gladness that the 
 revelation of God in Christ, which they have accepted 
 by faith, has quickened their understanding and glori- 
 fied their reason. No countries have made such strides 
 intellectually as those where the gospel of God has 
 been preached and believed. The surrender of what 
 I may call the Western mind to the revelation of God 
 has sent them forward far beyond the dead point in 
 intellectual development at which the Eastern mind 
 came to a full stop centuries ago. There never came 
 to this world so great a stimulant to the mind of man 
 
MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 167 
 
 as the gospel of the mysteries of God. The Httle 
 carbon film enclosed in yonder incandescent lamp is 
 incapable itself of giving light ; but once it is touched 
 by the electric fluid, it shines and glows with a glory 
 of light which fills all the church. So the human 
 reason in itself cannot by searc/mig find out God, but 
 it is capable of receiving a revelation from God ; and, 
 having so received it, becomes the light-bearer to the 
 world. It is not merely the act of believing which 
 gives light. It is the thing believed. The heathen be- 
 lieve, perhaps sincerely, the stories of their mythical 
 gods, but their faith gives them no light, and moves 
 them to no high and holy living ; because what they 
 believe is vanity, and has in it nothing to communicate 
 of light or life. The result is that the beliefs of the 
 heathen have produced superstition and fanaticism. 
 The Unitarian believes that Jesus is a good ?nan ; but 
 Unitarianism has never had warmth enough in it to 
 move the world to any great moral action. When the 
 Roman Church ceased to believe in Jesus Christ as 
 the one only Mediator between God and man, and her 
 votaries betook themselves to belief in the virgin as 
 the source and centre of power, and to praying to 
 saints and angels, then it became dark with supersti- 
 tion, and morally powerless to subdue the grosser 
 passions and tendencies in man. 
 
 4. Mary stirrendered her Jminility to God when she 
 accepted His word. Let us remember that Mary was a 
 very lowly woman, with nothing either in her birth or 
 surroundings to recommend her to this transcendent 
 honour and dignity. She might well have said to her- 
 self, " Even accepting this great purpose and mystery 
 of God as a possible thing, it is quite unreasonable to 
 believe that God should have chosen vte to be the instru- 
 ment of His great purpose. I am not only personally 
 
1 68 MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 unworthy of such a favour and honour, but it is not 
 worthy that the Son of the Highest should have for a 
 human mother one so obscure and unknown as I am. 
 It would prejudice the whole purpose of His coming to 
 have Him associated in this way with one so unknown 
 and mean in position." This is not an extravagant sup- 
 position. It was Nazareth which prejudiced the thought- 
 ful and pious Nathanael against Jesus, and led him at 
 once to reject with sarcastic scorn the declaration of 
 Philip, that in Jesus of Nazareth he had found the 
 Messiah. According to the thinking of the world — shall 
 I say the reason of the world ? — the proposition of a 
 Saviour associated with Nazareth, Mary, Joseph the 
 carpenter, little Bethlehem, and the stable there in which 
 He was born, and His subsequent association with Gali- 
 lean fishermen and hated publicans, would have been 
 absurd. But God's thoughts are not our thoughts, 
 neither are His ways our ways. I can easily fancy that 
 Mary's consciousness of unworthiness and unfitness to 
 be the mother of our Lord must have been a point at 
 which she would have stumbled, and which it would be 
 hard for her to give up. That she did feel this is certain, 
 from one expression in her beautiful song, " He hath 
 regarded the low estate of His handmaiden." ^ The con- 
 descension of God to this humble maid was very great ; 
 but it agreed with the voluntary humility of our Lord, 
 who " made Himself of no reputation, and took upon 
 Him the form of a servant."^ Our Lord's humility was 
 in stooping from the height of glory which was His ; 
 while Mary's humility was in her reluctance to be lifted 
 in the high place of honour to which God had destined 
 her. In a very subordinate way this feeling of un- 
 worthiness not unfrequently stands in the way of men 
 and women deeply conscious of their sinfulness. It 
 1 Luke i. 48. ^ Phil. ii. 7. 
 
MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 169 
 
 hinders their faith from promptly accepting the amazing 
 grace of salvation, offered to them in Christ — a salvation 
 which exalts men of low degree. For " He raiseth up 
 the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from 
 the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make 
 them inherit the throne of glory." ^ But this is the 
 grace of God. Peter very naturally expressed this feel- 
 ing when he said to Jesus, " Thou shalt never wash my 
 feet." 2 It was the surrender of his humility into a 
 deeper humility which led him afterward to cry, " Lord, 
 not my feet only, but also my hands and my face." ^ 
 Mary saw all this, and it was a great point in her active 
 surrender that she quietly and joyfully acquiesced in this 
 also. It was a great act of faith and humility which led 
 Mary to say, " Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it 
 unto me according to thy word." 
 
 5. Her surrender involved all the consequences 7vhich 
 iviniediately followed. Among them I cannot but feel 
 that there was the one which affected her more nearly 
 than life itself, and which gave rise to those early and 
 later scandals, which have followed to some extent this 
 holy and pure virgin-mother ever since. It could have 
 been no small thing for Mary to face the suspicions of 
 her friends and relatives regarding her subsequent con- 
 dition. Even Joseph, just and good man as he was, in 
 his charity, was unwilling to deliv^er her to the law, but 
 was privately minded to put her away, because of the 
 unjust and false suspicions he entertained in common 
 with others concerning her. This possibility and fear, 
 the hardest of all for her to bear, must have instantly 
 presented itself to her mind ; and yet she did not hesi- 
 tate a moment. The giving up of all plans for her 
 earthly life went with it. Of course, even could she have 
 
 ^ I Sara. ii. 8. ^ John xiii. 8. * John xiii. 9. 
 
I70 MA/^V'S GREAT CONFESS/ON 
 
 escaped the deep shame which would be put upon her, 
 she could no longer think of marriage under these new, 
 holy, and mysterious conditions. Look at it as she 
 would, her entire life would have to be changed and 
 surrendered to the will of God. Shall any one say that 
 it did not require a heroic faith to face all this ? In 
 defending her from the false and blasphemous honours 
 which the Romanists have sought to put upon her, it is 
 meet at the same time to bow before her in wonder and 
 admiration, beyond that which we give to any woman 
 who ever lived, because of her sublime surrender to God 
 in this holy emergency, 
 
 6. Finally, zue note her inuncdiate and active obedience. 
 The angel having left her, after receiving her word of 
 acceptance, she at once made her brief preparations for 
 the journey, which she immediately took, to Juda, in 
 order to greet and confer with Elisabeth, Henceforth 
 these two cousins, the one an old woman and the other 
 a young maid, came into new relations. To Mary 
 henceforth Elisabeth took the place of a human mother, 
 and her maidenly instinct sent her to this aged relative, 
 now so closely associated with her in this great mystery 
 of godliness, that she might confide her secret, and get 
 the motherly protection she would so much need. Like 
 every true believer, she sought the company and com- 
 panionship of those who were likewise related to God. 
 When Peter was released from prison, he immediately 
 went to the house w^here the believers were assembled 
 for prayer, and made known to them the fact of his de- 
 liverance. It is true that it was Barnabas, a man older 
 in the faith than Saul, who sought that new disciple out ; 
 but Saul was happy and content to be for a time under 
 the immediate protection of Barnabas, and to dwell for 
 a whole year in fellowship with the Church at Antioch. 
 A common kinship to Jesus makes us kin to each other, 
 
MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 171 
 
 and the possession of the common salvation draws us 
 toward each other and awa}' from the world. 
 
 / ifiust close this sermon zvith noting tzvo points only. 
 First, no sooner did Mary, in obedience to the working 
 of faith within her, come into the presence of Elisabeth, 
 than the consciousness of her new condition came upon 
 her, and her soul was filled with a baptism of holy joy, 
 the spirit of prophecy and song coming upon her with 
 the Holy Ghost. This is a suggestion of a great truth 
 which we should never lose sight of Those who are 
 obedient to faith are not left long without some holy 
 experience, which confirms their faith and fills their 
 lives with substantial joy. After we believe, we are 
 sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Those who 
 receive Christ, presented to them by the word, are not 
 long in finding Christ hi them, the hope of glory. 
 
 My last observation is that tJie faith of Mary in al- 
 most evejy detail ought to be a guide to ns in dealing with 
 God on the authority of His zvord. He has announced 
 to us His great love and grace in Christ. We should at 
 once receive it, no matter how extraordinary it may 
 seem to us, or how incomprehensible to our unenlight- 
 ened reason. " He that heareth My word, and believeth 
 on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall 
 not come into condemnation, but is passed from death 
 unto life." ^ How we do not know. As many as be- 
 lieve that Jesus is the Son of God are born again. How 
 we do not know ; but we do know that " as many as 
 received Him, to them gave He power to become the 
 sons of God, which were born not of blood, nor of the 
 will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." ^ 
 So when the word of God comes to us in regard to any 
 duty to be done or sacrifice to be made, it is for us, even 
 though we do not know the reason or see the wisdom of 
 ' John V. 24. - John i. 12, 13. 
 
172 MARY'S GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 the command, to say at once, " Be it unto me according 
 to Thy word," and become not hearers only, but doers 
 of the word. If we are faced by some unexpected and 
 surprising providence, the inscrutabihty of which baffles 
 and confounds us, then it is for us to say, with implicit 
 trust and acquiescence, " Be it unto me according to 
 Thy word ; " " Though He slay me, yet will I trust 
 Him ; " ^ " It is the Lord : let Him do what seemeth 
 Him good."^ If His ways with us or the world are 
 past finding out, it is ours to say, " Be it unto me ac- 
 cording to Thy word ; " " Even so, Father ; for so it 
 seemed good in Thy sight." ^ In regard to the afflic- 
 tions which come upon us, we must take up the same 
 word, "Be it unto me according to Thy word ; " "Never- 
 theless not my will, but Thine, be done." * Therefore I 
 will take pleasure in afflictions, if they be according to 
 Thy word or Thy will ; for the word and the will of 
 God come to the same thing, and must always be good 
 to us. Taking up this attitude of prompt faith, whole- 
 hearted surrender to God, both passively and activel)-, 
 we may expect to find the same baptism of joy which 
 greeted Mary when she confirmed her confession to 
 Elisabeth. 
 ^ Job xiii. 15. - I Sam. iii. 18. ^ Luke x. 21. "• Luke xxii. 42. 
 
X 
 
 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
 hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." — LuKE i. 46, 47. 
 
 WE know that Mary of Nazareth, and Eh'sabeth, the 
 wife of Zacharias, were cousins ; but how closely 
 they were related otherwise we do not know, Mary 
 lived in the far north of the Holy Land, and was a poor 
 and obscure maiden ; while Elisabeth lived in the south 
 not far from Jerusalem, and was an aged woman occupy- 
 ing a position much higher than Mary's, as the " daughter 
 of Aaron " and the wife of Zacharias. Whether the two 
 families had hitherto visited each other or held any 
 correspondence we do not know. It is possible that 
 they had met occasionally at some of the annual feasts. 
 Whether the remarkable visitation of the angel Gabriel 
 to Elisabeth, six months before his visit to Mary, had 
 been communicated to the family at Nazareth we have 
 no means of knowing. It is just possible that Mary 
 may have heard of the favour of God to her cousin 
 Elisabeth, and, being a thoughtful young woman, 
 pondered the news, and secretly and sympathetically 
 rejoiced with her relatives in the good gift which had 
 come to them, and in the near advent of the Messiah 
 whose forerunner Elisabeth's son was to be. 
 
 The mention of Elisabeth's condition to Mary by 
 Gabriel was a sufficient hint to her that henceforth they 
 
174 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 were bound by closer ties than that of mere kinship. 
 " Thy cousin Ehsabeth hath conceived a son in her old 
 age." Mary's Son and her cousin Elisabeth's, so closely 
 related in the great mystery just revealed to her, would 
 henceforth form a new bond between them. Mary was 
 a reticent young woman, and had evidently the good 
 habit of thinking much and speaking little. The angel's 
 word concerning Elisabeth brought her to quick decision, 
 and as soon as he departed from her she made some 
 hasty preparations, and immediately started to visit her 
 cousin in Juda. It was a long journey, covering more 
 than two-thirds of the length of the land ; but that 
 seemed as nothing compared with the great importance 
 of the visit. If Mary was a motherless girl, as is supposed, 
 then she would naturally turn to her aged cousin 
 Elisabeth as the one to whom she should confide her 
 secret, and from whom she should seek that motherly 
 sympathy and protection she would so surely need dur- 
 ing the serious and anxious time just before her. How 
 she made the journey, and in whose company, we do not 
 know (Mary would not have travelled alone). That she 
 had told her great secret to any one in Nazareth I can- 
 not for a moment believe. Elisabeth and Zacharias 
 were the only two persons who would be likely to know 
 and understand. It is evident that Joseph, her espoused 
 husband, knew nothing of the matter until she returned, 
 three months later, to her own home in Nazareth. We 
 know from Matthew's gospel (i. 18-25) what a painful 
 revelation this was to that good man, and how his very 
 natural, but unfounded, suspicions were removed by the 
 angel of the Lord coming to him in a dream, and en- 
 lightening him as to the true state of the case. 
 
 I. The Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth. 
 
 No sooner had Mary entered into the house of Elisa- 
 beth and saluted her, than her unborn babe was agitated 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 175 
 
 by a strange emotion, which seems to have been a sign 
 to EHsabeth by which she understood the import of 
 Mary's visit, and recognised in her the future mother 
 of her Lord. At the same moment when her child 
 manifested itself in this unusual manner Elisabeth was 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to utter in a loud 
 voice a beatitude upon Mary and upon her child. It is 
 thought by many commentators that it was at this 
 moment that the Incarnation took place. Elisabeth's 
 beatitude was in the exact language of the angel's. She 
 was speaking under the immediate influence of the Holy 
 Spirit, and therefore intelligently, as to the high honour 
 and great dignity God had conferred upon Mary. She 
 had accounted herself a highly-honoured woman, but 
 now there came to her one, lower in earthly station and 
 younger in years, upon whom higher honour and a 
 greater dignity had been conferred. 
 
 Elisabeth's humility. No spark of jealousy arose in 
 her heart ; on the contrary, the elder woman felt herself 
 deeply honoured by the visit of her young relative, now 
 the destined mother of the Lord. Therefore in deepest 
 humility she addressed Mary in these words : " And 
 whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should 
 come to me?" In the next sentence she tells Mary 
 how she had recognised her as the mother of the Lord. 
 I cannot refrain from here remarking that in this in- 
 cident we have a hint of what is the true rule of preced- 
 ence and honour among men and women. In this world 
 noble birth, great wealth, exalted position, and power in 
 the State, are the accidents by which precedence is 
 awarded. But, in the kingdom of God, we find that 
 those whom God has highly honoured are they to whom 
 we should give precedence and pay reverence. The 
 world bows down to the ducal coronet, to the million- 
 aire's bank account, and to the statesman's power ; but 
 
176 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 it does not follow that these have been highly favoured 
 or honoured of God. The world passes by many men 
 whom God has gifted with spiritual power (to win men 
 to Him, to be the guides and succourers of distressed 
 souls, and to fill the world with the perfume of holy 
 lives) because they lack those things which command 
 the estimation of men. But let us learn the higher rule. 
 "Honour to whom honour" is due ^ is God's rule. To 
 whom, then, is honour due? Why, of course, first and 
 before all others, to those whom God honours. We are 
 to honour all men, because they were made in the image 
 of God. We are to honour the king, because God has 
 conferred on him great power and responsibility in the 
 government of men, and as such he is God's servant and 
 magistrate ; but above such honour is that which makes 
 us children of God, " heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
 Jesus Christ." ^ I remember, years ago in England, 
 being introduced to a lady as Mrs. So-and-So. Having 
 saluted her and passed on with my friend, he whispered, 
 " Do you know who that lady is to whom I introduced 
 you ? " " No," I replied, " not beyond the fact that she 
 is Mrs. So-and-So." Then, with an air of profound 
 respect, he said, " When her husband's father dies (and 
 he is not expected to live much longer) she will be Lady 
 So-and-So." She was to be honoured because of her 
 heirship to a great title. Suppose I should introduce 
 some of you honourable people who are before me to 
 some ordinary person, and then tell you quietly after- 
 wards that he was a man to be highly honoured (though 
 in a position in this world much lower than your own), 
 because he was a son of God, and the joint-heir with 
 Jesus Christ to all the glory of the Father, would not 
 such a case deserve your honourable recognition ? Jesus 
 said on one occasion, " He that honoureth not the Son 
 ' Rom. xiii. 7. ^ Rom. viii. 17. 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 177 
 
 honoureth not the Father." ^ And we may say, without 
 irreverence, " He that honoureth not the least of the 
 sons and daughters of God honoureth not God." Let 
 us not forget that all God's children, however obscure or 
 poor, are His heirs, and are therefore in themselves 
 princes royal. Beggars they may have been (" taken 
 from the dunghill ") ; they are now by grace set among 
 the princes, and will be exalted to the throne of glory. 
 We cannot afford to ignore or slight the least of God's 
 children. 
 
 Tlie blessedness of Marys faith. Mary was blessed 
 of God among women ; but she was more blessed be- 
 cause of her faith. Zacharias had doubted, while Elisa- 
 beth had believed. Zacharias had been stricken with 
 dumbness for his unbelief, but Elisabeth had conceived 
 a son in her old age through faith. She now perceived 
 by the Holy Ghost that Mary had also believed, and 
 should see the performance of those things which were 
 told her from the Lord. Here is another lesson worth 
 our learning : that faith in God and obedience to His 
 word, a certainty that the things which He has promised 
 shall be performed, and the immediate ordering of our 
 actions in accordance with His word, will bring blessed- 
 ness and honour to us. " Without faith it is impossible 
 to please God." ^ " All things are possible to him that 
 believeth." ^ Our Lord constantly inculcated this lesson 
 during His earthly ministry among men. Let us, like 
 Mary, cultivate this grace, and say with her and the 
 Psalmist, " I will hear what God the Lord will speak." * 
 " Be it unto me according to Thy word." ^ I know 
 many people who are miserable because they cannot, 
 or rather because they will not, believe. They are 
 constantly saying, " How can these things be ? " and 
 
 * John V. 23. ^ Heb. xi. 6. ^ Mark ix 23. * Ps. Ixxxv. 8. 
 
 ^ Luke i. 38. 
 P.B. 1 2 
 
178 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 will not hear, as Mary did, the answer of the angel, 
 " With God nothing shall be impossible." A believing 
 life is not an emotional life, but an obedient one. 
 " Blessed is she that believes, for there shall be a perfor- 
 mance of those things which were told her from the 
 Lord." ^ Oh ! " be not faithless, but believing." " Sirs," 
 said Paul, " be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it 
 shall be even as it was told me." ^ How happy and 
 strong Paul was among that terrified and despairing 
 crew because he believed ! God can do little for us 
 because of our unbelief ; whereas for those who believe 
 He can and will do great things. 
 
 n. The Song of Mary. It was meet that the 
 new dispensation should be ushered in with song. 
 There seems to have been a perfect burst of music in 
 connection with the Incarnation. The angel's annunci- 
 ation was highly poetic. On the coming of Mary to 
 Elisabeth the Holy Ghost fell upon her, and she sang 
 her benedictions upon both Mary and her child. No 
 sooner does Elisabeth cease speaking, than Mary breaks 
 forth into poetry and song so majestic, so tender and 
 beautiful, that it has been sung in all ages since as the 
 chiefest and finest hymn of the Church. Upon the birth 
 of the Baptist, the long-dumb Zacharias is filled with 
 poetry, and expresses himself in song. When Jesus was 
 born, a multitude of the heavenly host sang in chorus 
 with the announcing angel, " Glory to God in the 
 highest ; and on earth, peace, toward men of good 
 will." ^ Since that time song has been the chief char- 
 acteristic of christian worship. The Incarnation set 
 the world singing because it brought hope to a hopeless 
 world, and filled the hearts of all who received the 
 Saviour with a " joy unspeakable and full of glory." ^ 
 Song is an exercise which is appropriate at all times. 
 * Ibid. i. 45. '^ Acts xxvii. 25 ^ Luke ii. 14. "* i Pet. i. 8. 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD I79 
 
 The Psalmist was right when he declared, " I will bless 
 the Lord at all times." ^ The soul finds in song the 
 easiest and highest expression of its emotions. I have 
 seen tears dimming the eyes of an afflicted believer 
 while his soul was pouring forth song from the lips. 
 We can sing alike in joy and sorrow. Many of the 
 Psalms are sad and bitter complaints and expressions 
 of discouragement and depression ; yet these emotions 
 were voiced in song. But it is when the soul is exalted 
 with some lofty emotion of gladness or victory that 
 song finds its highest vocation. Mary's soul was at this 
 moment in an holy ecstasy of joy because of the coming 
 of " her Saviour," and she might well magnify the Lord 
 and rejoice. She was animated by the same Spirit 
 which moved David to exclaim, " Bless the Lord, O 
 my soul : and all that is within me, bless His holy 
 name " ^ ; and, again, " My soul shall make her boast 
 in the Lord ; the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 
 
 magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name 
 together." ^ 
 
 An examination of Mary's song discloses a fact greatly 
 to her credit. She must have been a true student of the 
 scriptures, and have pondered them very deeply ; for 
 her song is a mosaic, composed of many of the most 
 beautiful passages and sentiments found in the songs of 
 Hannah, Deborah, and David. These, and the sayings 
 of the prophets, must have been all stored up in her 
 heart, and now, when the Holy Ghost comes upon her, 
 they were all fused, and poured forth in a golden stream 
 of praise, with here and there a gem of ancient song 
 sparkling in its original and unaltered beauty. In India 
 
 1 was one day in the shop of a dealer in precious 
 stones. He took me into a small room lined on every 
 side with crimson velvet, in which he displayed his 
 
 * Ps. xxxiv. I. ^ Ps. ciii. i. ''' Ps. xxxiv. 3. 
 
i8o MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 jewels to customers and others. It was lighted only 
 from above by a large skylight of glass, through which 
 the Eastern sun poured with unbroken rays. He took 
 from a safe half a dozen little leather bags, in which 
 were contained his treasures, and poured forth upon a 
 velvet-covered table a wealth of diamonds, sapphires, 
 opals, pearls, rubies, and emeralds. Placing all these 
 (probably about half a pint in bulk) in a wooden cup, 
 and holding in the other hand another cup of the same 
 size and make, he slowly (lifting his hands as he did so) 
 poured the jewels from one cup to another, parting his 
 hands a little further at each movement, and making the 
 transfer a little more rapidly each time, until with his 
 hands perhaps three feet apart, and with rapid motion, 
 he caused the precious stones to pass from one cup to 
 another, under the blazing sunlight, in a perfect stream 
 of variegated and gleaming beauty. It was a fascinating 
 sight. Well, it seems to me that Mary's song is some- 
 thing like that. She has gathered up in her heart all 
 the song-jewels in the Old Testament, and now pours 
 them forth in a liquid stream, which, illuminated by the 
 Holy Spirit, fascinates and charms our hearts. If we 
 will lay up in our hearts the treasures of wisdom which 
 God has stored up for us in His word, when a crisis of 
 joy or sorrow comes upon us, we, too, shall open our 
 lips and show forth His praise, — if not always in song, 
 at least in testimony. It is the blessed promise of the 
 Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance the precious 
 truths of God's word, and to take of the things of Christ 
 and show them unto us. But how can the Spirit do this 
 for us unless we have first stored up these words in our 
 memories by much reading and thought? 
 
 I. Mary magnifies the Lord. She did not, of course, 
 for a moment dream that her song could add anything 
 to the greatness of the Lord. She would only declare 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD i8i 
 
 her homage, and exalt His name and character by de- 
 claring it to others. No doubt she had received a great 
 enlargement of her own views and understanding. God 
 had never seemed so great and gracious and loving to 
 her before. Her soul was bursting with praise, and she 
 would fain call all the world and all coming generations 
 to hear her testimony, and join with her in exalting the 
 Lord : " And His mercy is on them that fear Him from 
 generation to generation." ^ We cannot make the Lord 
 greater or more glorious by anything we say or do ; 
 but we can lift Him up in our hearts, and publish His 
 greatness in song and b)^ our lives, and thus with Mary 
 magnify His name. In this blessed work we have fel- 
 lowship with the saints of all ages and of both worlds. 
 It is heavenly work upon the earth to praise the Lord ; 
 and the more it is done by us and the whole Church, the 
 more of " the days of heaven on earth " there will be. 
 The armies of Israel used to go forth led by a company 
 of singers. The Church that goes forth to the world to 
 live its life and do its work with songs of praise to God 
 will ever be a conquering Church. I have never known 
 a singing christian to be a doubting christian, or one who 
 has dishonoured the Lord in his life. Let us magnify 
 the Lord and rejoice in God our Saviour. I love the 
 Sabbath, and daily repetition of the Lord's Prayer, es- 
 pecially the clause which teaches us to say, " Hallowed 
 be Thy name." I love the simple form of our worship, 
 which is always opened, morning and evening, by singing 
 our grand old Doxology : 
 
 " Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow ; 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below ; 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ; 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 
 
 2. This zuork of magnifying the Lord is no formal 
 
 * Luke i. 50. 
 
i82 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 act. Mary called upon her soul for this service. The 
 worship of God, whether in prayer or song, is no mere 
 perfunctory work. It is soul-work ; and he who does 
 not magnify God with his soul insults Him by the offer 
 of that which God abhors. It was one of God's com- 
 plaints of old that " This people honoureth me with their 
 lips, but their heart is far from Me," ^ They brought 
 Him many sacrifices, but they withheld their hearts from 
 Him. He says, " I cannot away with " such praise or 
 service.^ It was an abomination to Him. In our public 
 worship it is right and proper that our praise be con- 
 ducted not only reverently, but according to the best 
 rules of music. We should study to sing in time and 
 in tune ; there should be harmony between the organ, 
 the choir, and the congregation ; because whatever is 
 worth doing at all is worth doing well — but it must be 
 soul-work. The gospel should be preached from the 
 heart ; should be the spontaneous delivery of a message 
 received from God for the people ; but that would be a 
 poor and unfaithful preacher who did not give to his 
 work all that is ablest and best in him, his most careful 
 thought and fullest preparation. He must study to show 
 himself " a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." ^ 
 He should use a trained mind, and gather from every 
 storehouse of knowledge ; he should endeavour to pre- 
 sent his thought in well-chosen and simple language ; 
 he should appeal to the heart, to the conscience and the 
 imagination, to the hopes and fears of his congregation ; 
 but if his sermon is nothing more than the work of the 
 scholar, the logician, the literary artist, or the orator, he 
 has but miserably failed in his high calling. So neither 
 should the simplest or the grandest hymn of praise be 
 sung merely as a formal performance or a work of art. 
 We should study our hymns, put ourselves into fellow- 
 * Matt. XV. 8. ^ Isa. i. 13. "2 Tim. ii. 15. 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 183 
 
 ship with their sentiments — make them our own — and 
 then call upon our souls, and all that is within us, to 
 praise the Lord. Singing, even when it is done accord- 
 ing to the best rules of art, in expression, manner, or 
 posture, is hateful to God, and an insult to His glory, 
 unless the soul and the spirit are engaged. " God is 
 a Spirit," and He " seeketh siich to worship Him." I 
 wonder, if we should all make strict inquiry into this 
 matter, whether we would escape our own condemnation. 
 I love to have the whole congregation join heartily in 
 our service of song, and it grieves me when I see so 
 many motionless lips before me ; but I would a thousand 
 times rather have you all silent than singing carelessly, 
 soullessly, and without the Spirit, for then the glory of 
 the Lord departs from the temple, and " Ichabod " is 
 written all over the house, and deeply branded upon the 
 worshippers. 
 
 3. Mary's song was more than soulful ; it zvas joyous. 
 Her highest intelligence was engaged to magnify the 
 Lord, and her spirit was filled with joyful praise. Re- 
 ligion in any of its aspects is but a heavy and hard 
 service when it is formally rendered or participated in 
 without joy. Joy fulness is characteristic of the gospel. 
 " Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy," said 
 the angel to the shepherds, " which shall be to all 
 people." ^ " O come, let us sing unto the Lord ; let us 
 make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation,"^ 
 said the Psalmist. Much more ought we to serve the 
 Lord with joyful hearts. It is the Lord's will that we 
 should be filled with joy. " Rejoice in the Lord alway, 
 and again I say, Rejoice,"^ was the apostolic exhorta- 
 tion. The Incarnation has given us access by faith 
 into the grace of God, wherein we stand and rejoice 
 in hope of the glory of God. Mary rejoiced in God 
 ' Luke ii. 10. "^ Ps. xcv. i. * Phil. iv. 4. 
 
i84 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 her Saviour ; every thought of Him filled her soul 
 with gladness and stirred her spirit with joy. So should 
 we rejoice in our Saviour, whom having not seen we 
 love, and in whom, though now we see Him not, yet 
 believing we rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full 
 of glory. Surely the christian has a better right and 
 title to rejoice than any other man ! 
 
 " Oh, happy christian, sing." 
 
 4. The object of Mary's praise. She magnified the 
 Lord, and rejoiced in God her Saviour. It is fair to 
 suppose that the trend of Mary's thought and feeling 
 was according to her Jewish and Old Testament edu- 
 cation. The God of the Old Testament was her Lord. 
 The "Jehovah" of Israel was her God. And yet she 
 must have got, in this new inspiration, and especially 
 from the words of the angel who announced to her 
 the Incarnation, a wider and more evangelical view of 
 God than she ever had had before. Her vision was 
 cleared of many a cloud of Jewish prejudice, and her 
 horizon was widened to see that, in Jesus, God's mercy 
 was to be extended to all people, and from generation 
 to generation. Certainly, however, her soul was filled 
 with thoughts of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob ; the God of David and the prophets. She 
 magnified Him who created the world, and placed and 
 numbered the stars which fill the heavens with His 
 glory and show forth His handiwork. She remembered 
 Him who was the preserver and providence of the 
 world, as well as its creator ; but especially would she 
 magnify Him who was, in a peculiar sense, the God of 
 Israel ; who had delivered the people out of the hand 
 of the Egyptians, and out of that land of bondage and 
 affliction into the land of milk and honey, of rains from 
 heaven, and hills and valleys, the land of corn and wine 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 185 
 
 and oil. She remembered how Me had callerl Abraham, 
 and made a covenant of grace with him ; she remem- 
 bered how he had fought their battles and delivered 
 them out of the hands of their enemies, and taught them 
 that He was their Judge as well as their Redeemer. 
 She would think of Him as the maker of great pro- 
 mises, and now as the fulfiller of them, in sending Jesus 
 to perform all His good will. A hundred sacred images 
 of Him who for generations had dealt with Israel in 
 righteousness and mercy, in goodness and severity, but 
 always in love and faithfulness, floated before her mind. 
 He was their great Captain, who fought for them ; their 
 Shepherd, who watched over them and fed them ; the 
 Mighty to save, who was to tread the wine-press alone. 
 Perhaps there came a dim vision of Him as the Man 
 of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, wounded for their 
 transgressions, and bearing away their sins in His own 
 body. His character as Saviour was blended with that 
 of the great Sovereign and Judge. I cannot think that 
 her ideas were as clear to her as they are to us, for the 
 whole secret of His being and purpose was not as fully 
 revealed to her as it is now to us ; but she had faint 
 glimpses of it all, and her soul sung of that of which 
 her intelligence was not as yet fully informed. God in 
 Christ and Christ in God was not dogmatically set 
 before her ; yet in spirit she grasped these great truths, 
 and poured them out in a tribute of magnificent praise 
 before Him. We still deal with great mysteries in 
 our adoration, the meaning of which we feel rather 
 than understand. 
 
 How far Mary understood the mysterious personality 
 of the Child whom she was to bear it is difficult to say. 
 She, no doubt, was thinking of Him when she declared 
 that her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour. Her spirit 
 and soul were in a high state of elevation at this time, 
 
iS6 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 and she spoke forth things which at a later time she 
 did not fully understand. When Jesus was a boy in the 
 Temple, she did not appreciate what He meant when 
 He said, " I must be about My Father's business." ^ She 
 did not fully understand Him in His public ministry, 
 and on a certain occasion somewhat officiously sought 
 to interrupt it by calling Him away from the multi- 
 tude which crowded round Him. Perhaps her motherly 
 anxiety was at that time dominating her spiritual per- 
 ceptions, just as our natural anxieties sometimes — nay, 
 very often — blind our higher spiritual intelligence. 
 Nevertheless, on this occasion, when her soul and spirit 
 were fully illuminated by the Holy Spirit, she joined 
 Elisabeth in singing praise to the Incarnate God. She 
 believed that the mysterious Being whose earthly life 
 was beginning in her body was her Saviour. More than 
 that, God her Saviour, Philosophical and speculative 
 difficulties were not present with her ; neither are they 
 present with us when we are in the highest spiritual 
 condition. Faith takes the place of the speculative 
 faculties, and deals directly with God. 
 
 If any should suggest that Mary was not justified 
 in directing her rejoicing adoration to Him whom she 
 had just conceived, I would only remind them that 
 she was but doing what she was abundantly warranted 
 in doing, had she only the Old Testament scriptures 
 to guide her. All the prophets had testified that the 
 Messiah, when He came, would be possessed of the 
 attributes of the Godhead ; that the Messiah of her 
 hopes would be none other than the Jehovah of her 
 worship, come to earth as a man. She remembered the 
 Messianic prophecies and songs : " Unto us a Child 
 is born ; unto us a Son is given ; and the government 
 shall be upon His shoulder ; and His name shall be 
 ^ Luke ii. 49. 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 187 
 
 called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The 
 Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." * Such 
 passages from the prophets were now involuntarily as- 
 sociated with her unborn Son. She would remember, 
 as the daughter of David, how her great ancestor had 
 spoken of Messiah as at once " his Son " and " his 
 Lord." ^ She would at that moment recall the saying 
 of Gabriel, who declared that " that Holy Thing which 
 should be born of her was the Son of the Highest, and 
 should be called the Son of God, and that the Lord 
 God would give unto Him the throne of David, and 
 that He should rule over the house of Jacob for ever ; 
 and that of His kingdom there should be no end." 
 Surely she was warranted in thinking and speaking of 
 her unborn Son as God her Saviour ! Elisabeth, speak- 
 ing by the Holy Ghost, had just saluted and given 
 precedence to her as the " mother of my Lord." This 
 confession of faith in Him as Saviour-God was fully 
 warranted to her ; it is much more abundantly war- 
 ranted to us. Let us not be behind Mary, who have 
 even more light than she had, in bringing the worship 
 of our hearts to Him who is God our Saviour as truly 
 as He was hers. 
 
 In her rejoicing song Mary fully recognised her 
 higher relation to her Son, He was her " Saviour." 
 She was a sinner as other women were sinners, and she 
 rejoiced in salvation come to her through Him even 
 as we do. No note of proud superiority in her song 
 suggests to us what the Romanists would have us be- 
 lieve, that she herself was conceived and born without 
 sin. The deepest humility pervades this song, so far 
 as Mary is concerned. It is a truth for us to take 
 deeply into our hearts, that the angels sing praises to 
 God and celebrate His glory, but they cannot sing to 
 ' Isa. ix. 6. ^ Mark xii. yj. 
 
i88 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 Him as their Saviour ; only His redeemed sing of the 
 Lamb slain.^ Angels have never known the depths of 
 divine love as it is given us. Nor can we ever enter into 
 the full sweetness and power of that holy name — Jesus, 
 Saviour — unless we take our place before Him as lost 
 sinners. Perhaps, at this moment, Mary felt more 
 deeply than ever before in her life that she was a sinful 
 woman, even while the most blessed among women. 
 I am sure that they who sing the praises of Christ the 
 loudest, and with deepest understanding and most sin- 
 cere spirit, are they who have seen the deepest into 
 the sinful depths of their own hearts. How shall any 
 one sing and rejoice in God as Saviour who has never 
 learned the plagues of his own heart, which Jesus has 
 come to cure ? 
 
 We ought to join zvitk Mary most heartily in this great 
 song of praise, for, like Mary, we are sinners who need 
 a Saviour, and, like Mary, we are sinners to whom a 
 Saviour has come. Therefore " the redeemed of the 
 Lord shall return, and come with singing into Zion, 
 and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads." ^ " Re- 
 joice in the Lord, O ye justified ones ; for praise is 
 comely in the upright." ^ " Praise ye the Lord ; for 
 it is good to sing praises unto our God ; for it is 
 pleasant ; and praise is comely." ^ This is an act of 
 worship ; this is a gracious duty ; this is a debt of 
 love which all may pay. To rejoice in God our Saviour 
 is a privilege which is monopolized by no class, and 
 is not limited to those who are most highly favoured 
 with the great things of the earth. It is a privilege 
 as well as a duty, which the poorest and least educated 
 may discharge. None so poor that they cannot rejoice 
 in God their Saviour. The rich and the trained and 
 
 ' Rev. vii. 9. ^ Isa. 11. 11. ^ Ps. xxxiii. i. * Ps. cxlvii. i. 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 189 
 
 cultivated ones in the Church of God have no monopoly 
 of praise and rejoicing. 
 
 The youngest among its may engage in this delightful 
 and grateful service of magnifying the Lord, and re- 
 joicing in God our Saviour. It must not be forgotten 
 that amongst those who first hailed Jesus with songs 
 and praises were the little children who went with the 
 multitude, and sang Hosanna in the Temple, lifting 
 up their sweet young voices. Their song angered the 
 rulers and chief priests ; but Jesus rebuked them, saying, 
 " Yea, have ye never read. Out of the mouths of babes 
 and 'sucklings Thou hast perfected praise ? " Yes, in- 
 deed ! the children who cannot do great things as men 
 can, according to our estimate of great things, may 
 praise Him and give Him joy in their praise. I love 
 to hear the clear, sweet voices of the boys in our choir, 
 and I do pray that their songs may be inspired by the 
 love of Him whose praise they sing. 
 
 TJiis service and joyful worship may be rendered any- 
 where — at home or abroad, on the land or on the sea ; 
 the soldier in his tent or on the march ; the sailor in the 
 forecastle of his ship or in the shrouds, with the winds 
 playing an organ accompaniment to his song ; the mother 
 in the home amidst tKe children, or about her household 
 work ; the father in the fields or in the shop. Oh ! we 
 may sing anywhere — in the church, or on the street ; for 
 all places are temples of God, and the time has come when 
 neither to this place nor that are our praises restricted. 
 The sick may sing as truly as those who are well ; the 
 weak may sing as well as the strong ; the prisoner as well 
 as the freeman ; the slave as well as the master ; the hand- 
 maiden in the kitchen as well as the mistress in the draw- 
 ing-room — the one may sing to the accompaniment of a 
 piano, the other keeping time with the broom and the 
 dust-cloth. Except in the matter of prayer, there is no 
 
I90 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 soul-exercise in which we are so free as in the singing, 
 with melody in our hearts, to God. 
 
 Sifice sacred soiig proceeds from the soul and is quickened 
 by the Spirit, it cannot be fettered. No one can prevent 
 us from singing and magnifying the Lord, and rejoicing 
 in God our Saviour. The enraged multitude could arrest 
 Paul and Silas, beat them, and set them in the stocks in 
 the inner prison at Philippi ; but they could not prevent 
 them from waking the echoes of their dreary cell at mid- 
 night with praises to God. I once talked with a little 
 Hindu maiden about fourteen years of age, who, because 
 she had come to love the Lord Jesus Christ, was taken 
 away from the mission school, beaten, starved, and for- 
 bidden to speak His name, or bow her knee to Him. 
 And since she would not worship the family idols any 
 longer, she was sent as a kind of prisoner to the idol 
 temple, where I met her. With some friends we stood 
 on the edge of rock upon which the temple was built, 
 and, looking abroad upon the lovely landscape, we sang 
 a hymn of praise to God. This brought a troop of 
 young girls from the temple cloisters, and this little maid 
 said to us, in fairly good English, " I can sing those 
 songs too, for I love Jesus, and sing to Him every day /;/ 
 my /leart. The priests will not let me sing with m}- 
 lips, but they can't prevent me from singing in my heart. 
 They will not let me kneel down and pray to my Saviour, 
 but they can't prevent me from praying in my heart," 
 and her young face shone with the gladness of this 
 privilege. There are some of you who cannot make 
 much music with your voices, but you can with soul- 
 music make melody in your hearts to the Lord. 
 
 I know of no other spiritual exercise which ministers 
 so much comfort and strength to the soul as that of 
 rejoicing in God our Saviour, and exalting the Lord in 
 song. In times of depression and trouble it is an in- 
 
MAGNIFYING THE LORD 191 
 
 fallible help ; in times of affliction it is the minister of 
 greatest consolation. Sometimes in constant prayer, by 
 which we pour out our complaints to God, the heart be- 
 comes depressed and the spirit heavy with dwelling on 
 our own troubles and trials ; but when we sing praise to 
 God — sing of His goodness and mercy which endureth 
 for ever — the soul gets lifted out of its bondage and 
 depression, and flies away to heaven in song, and breathes 
 in that higher atmosphere. Holy song is the best possible 
 corrective for selfish discontent. If we put the question 
 to ourselves, " What shall I sing ? " the answer comes 
 at once : 
 
 " I will sing of my Redeemer 
 And His wondrous love to me." 
 
 This is an endless theme of praise, and the heart cannot 
 long abide in darkness or gloom when the lips are fram- 
 ing song. Hear David, from " among the lions " and 
 from the fires of trial and suffering. He begins by prayer 
 and ends by singing. " My heart is fixed, O God, my 
 heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise. Awake up, 
 my glory ; awake, psaltery and harp ; I myself will 
 awake early. I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the 
 people : I will sing unto Thee among the nations. For 
 Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto 
 the clouds. Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens ; 
 let Thy glory be above all the earth." Sing, christian, 
 sing ; sing in your gladness ; sing in your sorrow ; sing in 
 your light and in your darkness. Sing of His power ; 
 sing of His strength ; sing of His mercy and His judg- 
 ment which endureth for ever ; sing the new song ; sing 
 praises unto the Lord ; sing as long as you live. Sing to 
 the well-Beloved, for He hath done great things for you ; 
 sing with the spirit and with the understanding. I, for 
 one, can bear testimony to the power of song to deliver 
 
192 MAGNIFYING THE LORD 
 
 the soul out of darkness. Many years ago I passed 
 through a long and dreary period of spiritual darkness. 
 I had prayed until I could pray no more. My soul was 
 in misery ; my heart was as a desert of sand. I was on 
 the very verge of despair. At the time I speak of, I 
 was making a railway journey to fulfil an appointment 
 to preach. I can never tell how hard it was in those 
 days to preach the Gospel to others when my own soul 
 was in darkness. It was night ; there was no light in the 
 railway carriage, and my face was pressed against the 
 window, looking out into the faint, dying light in the 
 sky. I do not know why I did so, or how, but almost 
 unconsciously I found myself singing, in a soft whisper : 
 
 " Jesus, Lover of my soul, 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly." 
 
 I was as surprised at my own singing as if another had 
 begun to sing that song by my side. But I sang on, 
 and had not finished the first stanza of that sweet hymn 
 till the dark clouds which had enveloped my soul for 
 months broke away, and my soul was at liberty again. 
 This, to me, was one of God's songs in the night. 
 
 " Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give 
 thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. 
 
 " For His anger endureth but a moment ; in His 
 favour is life ; weeping may endure for a night, but joy 
 cometh in the morning." ^ 
 
 " O come, let us sing unto the Lord ; let us make a 
 joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. 
 
 " Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, 
 and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms,"^ 
 
 " Whoso ofifereth praise glorifieth Me." ^ 
 
 * Ps. XXX. 4 5. - Ps. xcv. I, 2. ^ Ps. 1. 23. 
 
XI 
 
 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 " For He that is mighty hath done to me great things." — Luke i. 49. 
 
 EVERY night is the womb of a new morning. The 
 long night of Israel's distress was now past. The 
 morning of the new and glorious day of God's loving- 
 kindness to Israel and to all the world was springing. 
 For five centuries the darkness had been settling down 
 thicker and blacker upon the people of God. But God 
 is behind every cloud, and though darkness may 
 hide God from us, it does not hide us from God. The 
 people that had long walked in darkness were now 
 about to behold a great light ; the dawn of that glorious 
 day had already filled the souls of Elisabeth and Mary 
 with its rosy hues, and all that dwelt in the land of the 
 shadow of death would soon rise up and hail with joy 
 the coming of the new era of Gospel grace. The 
 shadows were already fleeing away, and the day was 
 at hand. In Israel there were many pious and faithful 
 souls who had not been destroyed by the false lights of 
 Phariseeism, Sadduceeism, or Herodianism. They lived 
 in the comfort of the Prophet's words : " Who is among 
 you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His 
 servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? 
 Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon 
 his God." ^ Foremost among these were Mary and 
 Elisabeth. The sorrows of their long night were now 
 
 ^ Isa. 1. 10. 
 P.B. ^^^ 1 3 
 
194 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 over, and the joy of the morning had come to them. 
 Therefore they sang and magnified the Lord and re- 
 joiced in God their Saviour. 
 
 The brief song of EHsabeth, sung under the immediate 
 inspiration of the Holy Ghost — a song of benediction 
 upon Mary and her unborn Child — was the swan song 
 of the Old Testament. Elisabeth, Zacharias, and John 
 were the last of the Old Testament prophets. The 
 glory of the Old Covenant was past and paling away 
 under the brighter glory of the New Covenant. " For 
 even that which was made glorious had no glory in this 
 respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if 
 that which is done away was glorious, much more that 
 which remaineth is glorious." ^ Elisabeth was a true 
 prophetess, one of the three last links which bound to- 
 gether the old and the new dispensations. She had lived 
 long in hope of the coming Messiah, and now, beholding 
 His coming, she, like good old Simeon, was ready to 
 depart in peace, and sang her death song. A worthy 
 mother of a worthy son, she entertained no jealousy of 
 her younger and socially inferior cousin, but bowed 
 down before her and sang her praises — the Old Testa- 
 ment bowing before the New Testament, the mother 
 of the forerunner of Christ bowing before the mother of 
 Jesus. Thirty years later, John, that flaming meteor 
 of prophecy, that expiring light of the Old Testament, 
 said of Jesus : " Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy 
 to unloose." ^ " He must increase, but I must decrease." •* 
 So now, Elisabeth anticipated the greatness of Mary's 
 child, and for His sake humbled herself before His 
 mother. In these great acts of humility neither John 
 nor Elisabeth minimized their own greatness, but rather 
 increased it ; just as the exceeding glory of the New 
 Testament sheds back upon the Old Testament a 
 ^ 2 Cor. iii. lo, ii. * John i. 27. ^ John ii. 30. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 195 
 
 brighter glory than that which it had in itself. Had 
 not Christ come, the Old Testament and the ancient 
 covenant people would long ago have perished, or, at 
 least, remained but as a memory among men, as the 
 peoples and religions contemporary with the Hebrews 
 have perished. Moses and Elias were glorified in pre- 
 sence of the transfigured glory of Christ on the mount ; 
 so were Elisabeth and John magnified in their humility 
 before Mary and Jesus. 
 
 Turning from Elisabeth's song of beatitude to Mary 
 and her song, we note the fact that it is not said that 
 Mary was filled with the Holy Ghost as Elisabeth was ; 
 but we gather that since the Holy Ghost came upon her 
 and the power of the Highest overshadowed her, she 
 was now living and moving, thinking and speaking 
 under the continued influence of the Holy Spirit, while 
 Elisabeth's inspiration was momentary and passing. 
 Her song was in response to the salutation of Elisabeth, 
 it was less excited than the elder woman's beatitude, but 
 there reigns " throughout this canticle a majesty truly 
 regal." It is the song of the first gospel lark springing 
 from her humble nest and soaring away heavenward, 
 singing as she mounted higher and higher until she 
 reached the climax of her joy in a psean of praise to 
 the faithfulness of God. 
 
 Criticism has charged Mary with plagiarism, because 
 there is a close resemblance in some parts of this song 
 to that of Hannah.^ It is true that there is a striking- 
 superficial similarity between these songs, but on closer 
 examination there is a wide difference between them. 
 Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that Mary's song 
 was unconsciously modelled on this pattern, and the 
 contents of the song show more than one thought 
 borrowed from the Psalms. If this be plagiarism, then 
 * I Sam. ii. i-io. 
 
196 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 make the best of it. God Himself plagiarized the 
 Law, the Prophets, and the Psalm when He gave tes- 
 timony to Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, saying, 
 " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; 
 hear ye Him." ^ Compare the second Psalm : " Thou 
 art My Son ; this day have I begotten Thee," ^ with 
 Isaiah : " Behold My servant, whom I uphold ; Mine 
 elect, in whom My soul delighteth," ^ and with Moses : 
 " The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet 
 from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto Me ; 
 unto Him ye shall hearken."* A comparison of these 
 three passages, one from the Law, one from the Pro- 
 phets, and one from the Psalms, with God's testimony 
 to Jesus, will show that He has quoted the whole gist 
 of the Old Testament and packed it into one sentence. 
 Shall we put a slight upon Mary because she appealed 
 to the word of God for material for her exquisite song ? 
 Hers was a blessed plagiarism ! If I could so preach 
 to you, from Sunday to Sunday, that you would go 
 away from the church saying, "That sermon was just 
 like the Bible ; it reminded me of Moses, and Isaiah, 
 and David, and brought to my mind a hundred pas- 
 sages of Scripture," I should feel that God had given 
 me great wisdom and power. The obligation to the 
 Bible for great thoughts, for beautiful expressions and 
 grandest inspiration is freely acknowledged by our 
 master poets and great prose writers. Shakespeare re- 
 veals his immense knowledge of scripture in his peerless 
 plays ; Hall Caine, one of our most strenuous writers 
 of fiction, has recently said that he owed more to the 
 Bible than to any other source, both for his plots and 
 his powerful characters. Where would Milton or Dante, 
 Young or Cowper or Pollock, have found material for 
 their profound and lovely poems but for the Bible? 
 ^ Matt. xvii. 5. * Ps. ii. 7. * Isa. xlii. i. * Deut. xviii. 15. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 197 
 
 We should never have known Browning's most beau- 
 tiful poem " Saul " but for his plagiarism of the Bible. 
 
 Again, criticism has asked with a sneer, " whether 
 Mary sang with the leaves of the Old Testament spread 
 upon her knees." We can answer that question. " No ! 
 she did not have the Old Testament upon her knees, 
 but she had it in her heart, which is a better way to 
 carry one's Bible." It must not be forgotten that every 
 Israelite was taught from earliest childhood to memorize 
 the songs of Deborah, Hannah, and David ; just as in 
 the homes of the Scottish people the children are all 
 taught to memorize the metrical Psalms, so that their 
 thought and language are native to their hearts, and 
 spring to their lips in every moment of deep emotion or 
 earnest thought. In the times of the Commonwealth and 
 of the Covenanters, the Old Testament as well as the 
 New were so constantly read, and the language of the 
 common people was so closely modelled upon the lan- 
 guage of the Bible, that the commonest thoughts about 
 ordinary things were expressed in Bible language. It 
 would do us no harm if our own conversation, both 
 in society and in business, were more seasoned with 
 this blessed salt. 
 
 There is yet another point of criticism which I think 
 well to notice. Mary's song was not the less original 
 because it borrowed phraseology from Hannah. The 
 inflection and setting of Mary's song was vastly different 
 from that of Hannah, even when she uses Hannah's 
 words. Hannah's song was infused with the spirit of 
 the Old Testament, while Mary's glowed with the fer- 
 vour of the New Covenant. Hannah magnified the 
 Lord for her own personal triumph, and broke forth 
 with cries of indignation against her enemies. But 
 Mary magnified the Lord, not for her personal triumphs 
 over other women less favoured, but for the grace that 
 
198 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 had come to her ; and sang the mercy of God upon 
 all who feared Him. Mary's song was full of evan- 
 gelical love and hope. She rejoiced for herself and for 
 others. If she borrowed Hannah's reference to the 
 exaltation of the poor, she had no reference to herself, 
 but to that salvation which God brings to all who are 
 poor in spirit and hunger after righteousness. Mary 
 quoted Old Testament language, but she gave to it a 
 higher meaning than it seemed to be possessed of in 
 the mouths of those who originally used it. This is 
 characteristic of all Bible writers. A later prophet will 
 quote from an earlier one, but he gives a higher turn 
 and meaning to his predecessor's words. How many 
 quotations from the Old Testament there are in the 
 New Testament which, in their new setting and em- 
 phasis, give a glory of meaning to them not perceived 
 in their original form and place. Surely Hannah's 
 words on Mary's lips served to let out the concealed 
 light there was in them. When God gave command- 
 ment that the ox that treadeth out the corn should 
 not be muzzled, it was not thought that there was 
 contained in this simple regulation for the benefit of 
 cattle a commandment to take care of ministers ; 
 but Paul, in quoting that passage, has made the dis- 
 covery of this truth.^ 
 
 I. The Contents of Mary's Song. It is time 
 now to look a little more closely into the substance of 
 this beautiful canticle. 
 
 I. She sings of her own mercies. " He that is mighty 
 hath done to me great things." We are reminded of 
 the Psalmist's words, " The Lord hath done great things 
 for us, whereof we are glad." ^ " He hath regarded the 
 low estate of His handmaiden." In this expression she 
 had no reference to her humility of mind, but to her 
 ' Cf. Deut. XXV. 4 ; i Cor. ix. 9. ^ Ps. cxxvi. 3. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 199 
 
 humble state in life. Although she was of the house 
 and lineage of David, from some cause or other her 
 immediate family had fallen into very lowly circum- 
 stances. Her place in society and her lot in life were 
 obscure and hard. Perhaps she had been made to feel, 
 by some who were less nobly born than she, though 
 better off in this world's goods and position, the sting 
 of poverty and her decayed nobility. Perhaps she had 
 often wondered how and why God had forgotten His 
 covenant with David and his house (of which she was 
 a member), and all the great promises to him and them 
 to the latest generation. Perhaps she had suffered the 
 taunt of the ungodly, saying, " Where now is thy God ? 
 Of what advantage is it to you that you are of the 
 house of David ? Of what worth to you are all these 
 glorious promises ? " Such thoughts often come into 
 the mind of Christians left to obscurity, poverty, and 
 trial. " Why hath God forgotten and forsaken me ? " 
 The ungodly suggest that there is no " profit " in god- 
 liness.^ It seems very natural that Mary should begin 
 her thanksgiving by recounting the great things God 
 had done for her, in " regarding her low estate," and 
 remembering His promises to so obscure a member of 
 David's house. "He hath regarded the low estate of 
 His handmaiden." Oh ye poor and lowly and obscure 
 ones who love and serve the Lord, be sure of this, God 
 has not forgotten His promises ; He regards your low 
 estate. He has never taken His eyes from off you, and 
 never for a moment withdrawn His heart from you. 
 Though 7<7« know it not, He knows and He cares. How 
 little the poor Hebrew slaves in Egypt thought of all 
 the great things God was planning for them ! Hear 
 what He said to Moses : " I have surely seen the afflic- 
 tion of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard 
 ^ Job xxi. 15 ; Mai. iii. 14. 
 
200 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for I know 
 their sorrows." * Having come to redeem His covenant 
 promises, God had chosen Mary to be the instrument 
 of the Incarnation. Would she not have been less than 
 pious and grateful had she not begun her song with 
 thanksgiving for the great personal blessedness and 
 honour which had come to her? If she seems for a 
 moment to dwell upon the fact that henceforth all gene- 
 rations should call her blessed, this was more in praise 
 of the goodness of God to her than in the indulgence of 
 any pride on her own account. When a man sings to 
 God, " He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, 
 out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and 
 established my goings ; and He hath put a new song 
 in my mouth, even praise unto our God ; many shall 
 see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord," ^ he is not 
 boasting, or indulging in self-congratulation, but re- 
 joicing in God his Saviour, and magnifying the Lord, 
 and publishing the glad tidings of grace to others. 
 When Jesus sent the healed demoniac back to his home 
 to tell his friends how great things the Lord had done 
 for his soul and had healed him, He did not send him 
 on a mission of self-congratulation. And when he pub- 
 lished it abroad, among the five cities where he lived, 
 he was more intent on glorifying his Saviour than of 
 boasting of his own good fortune. Let us all sing 
 aloud — 
 
 " Jesus sought me when a stranger. 
 
 Wandering from the fold of God ; 
 He to rescue me from danger 
 
 Interposed His precious blood." 
 
 If He has taken us from the dust and the dunghill, 
 
 and set us among the princes, and made us to " inherit 
 
 the throne of glory," ^ ought we not to value this great 
 
 1 Exod. iii. 7. * Ps. xl. 1-3. ^ i Sam. ii. 8. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 20 r 
 
 grace and rejoice in these great things which have come 
 to us ? Surely He hath done great things for us, and 
 we should be glad as Mary was glad, and sing aloud 
 His praise. 
 
 2. She sings of His mercy to others. " And His mercy 
 is on them that fear Him from generation to generation." 
 There is no selfishness in salvation. No sooner does it 
 come into a human heart than it begets a longing love 
 and desire for others. The coming of Jesus not only 
 brought salvation to hej^, but she recognised that in 
 Him God had laid up mercy for others, and she made 
 haste to proclaim this as well as her own great blessings. 
 As soon as Andrew and Philip found (or were found of) 
 the Lord, they went each their way according to the im- 
 pulse of grace in them, the one to find his own brother 
 Simon, and the other to search out his friend Nathanael ; 
 nor did they rest until they had told them the good 
 news and brought them to Christ. It is this spirit which 
 has made the gospel a blessing to thousands of millions 
 in the generations that have passed since Jesus came, 
 and which will make it a blessing to thousands yet un- 
 born. It was this flaming desire that sent Paul over all 
 Western Asia and Southern Europe preaching and 
 teaching, day and night, in the synagogues of the Jews 
 on the Sabbath days, and in the market-places where 
 the Gentiles were congregated between the Sabbaths, 
 and from house to house ; for which cause he counted 
 not his life dear to himself, so that he might finish his 
 course with joy and the ministry which he had received 
 from the Lord Jesus. This fellowship with God in His 
 purpose of mercy to others is that which has sent forth 
 in ages past, and is now sending forth with increased 
 enthusiasm, hundreds of men and women to every part 
 of the world to proclaim the grace of God to sinners still 
 sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. I know of 
 
202 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 no characteristic which marks more surely the child of 
 God than this fellowship with Christ in His desire for 
 the salvation of men. When a man finds a pot of trea- 
 sure hid in a field, he re-buries it and keeps it secret until 
 he can buy the field and possess himself of the treasure. 
 When a prospector finds a diamond or gold mine, he 
 does not proclaim it abroad, and invite all the world to 
 come and share his wealth with him, but would fain 
 keep his " find " a secret until he has exhausted its riches 
 for himself But when a sinner finds the grace of God, 
 his first impulse is to declare it abroad and invite all the 
 world to come and enjoy the same riches of grace which 
 have filled his own heart and changed his life. 
 
 II. She sings the Glorious Attributes of God. 
 Having rejoiced in the mercies which had come to her- 
 self and which she saw stored up in God for others, she 
 naturally takes a higher note and sings of those glorious 
 attributes of God which have wrought together for her 
 salvation and that of the world. 
 
 I. She sings of His Almightiness. " For He that is 
 mighty (Almighty) hath done to me great things." " He 
 hath shown strength with His arm." Perhaps Mary was 
 remembering at this moment the new name which God 
 had proclaimed to Abraham when He promised him 
 that he should have a son in his old age, in spite of what 
 seemed to be the insuperable difficulties and human im- 
 possibilities of the case. " I am the Almighty God," ^ was 
 the answer to the patriarch's difficulties. " The power 
 of the Highest shall overshadow thee," said the angel to 
 Mary, and " With God nothing shall be impossible," 
 were the words which gave assurance that the great 
 mercy and grace promised her should not lack fulfil- 
 ment. These thoughts were in her mind, and she now 
 praised the Omnipotence of God. And well she might 
 ' Gen. xvii. i. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 203 
 
 have done so ; for but for Omnipotence to perform what 
 He had promised, of what avail were all His promises ? 
 Her faith took hold on this, and she believed that " what 
 God had promised He was able to perform." Elisabeth 
 praised her for her faith, and by the Holy Ghost assured 
 her that she should see " the performance of those things 
 which were told her from the Lord." The heavens de- 
 clare the glory of God's power, and the firmament show- 
 eth His handiwork. No one can look abroad upon 
 Nature in all its majesty and extent without being 
 awed by a sense of God's power. God Himself often 
 appealed to His power, as displayed in Nature, to en- 
 courage the failing hearts of His people in the midst of 
 circumstances from which no human or earthly power 
 could extricate them, and to assure them that He was 
 able to perform His promises of grace. The world is 
 full of the wonders of His power, but the highest display 
 is seen in the Incarnation. To fold back His Godhead, 
 as it were, into a little bud of human nature and become 
 a babe in the virgin's womb, a tiny and helpless suckling 
 lying on her breast, and give Himself over to the care of 
 her hands and arms, is a reversion of power which sur- 
 passes all other manifestations. To do this all nature 
 must have been docile to His word and plastic to His 
 hand. The Almighty was her God — He is our God and 
 Saviour. He does not simply exercise His handiwork — 
 the work of His fingers — in our salvation, but He stirs 
 up His strength ; He makes bare His mighty arm and 
 comes and saves us. He is the Mighty to save. The 
 Mighty God. Nothing is too hard for Him ! Oh, it is 
 a comfort, when we think of our sin, its guilt, its power, 
 and its indelible stain, when we think of our ruined 
 characters, of death and hell, following in the wake of 
 sin, to remember also the great promises of God, in 
 which are forgiveness, regeneration, triumph over death. 
 
204 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 and a glorious immortality of spirit, soul, and body, and 
 that at the back of all these promises is the Almightiness 
 of God. This awakes our song as it did Mary's. 
 
 " O, sing of His mighty Love ; 
 Sing of His Mighty Love ; 
 Sing of His Mighty Love — 
 Mighty to save." 
 
 The Almightiness of the Jehovah of the Old Testa- 
 ment hath all passed into the possession of the Jesus 
 of the New Testament. " For all power is given unto Me 
 in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and preach the 
 gospel ; and lo, I am with you." ^ Surely we have entered 
 upon victory before we begin our work, and we count on 
 success in every word spoken and every effort put forth in 
 fellowship with Him who is mighty to do great things. 
 
 2. She sings of His holiness. " And holy is His name." 
 The Almightiness of God is not mere power ; it is the 
 Almightiness of One whose name and nature is Holiness. 
 Holiness is the chief attribute of God. This attribute 
 distinguishes God from all the false gods of the heathen. 
 For "who is like unto Thee among the gods (mighty 
 ones) ? Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiiiess, fear- 
 ful in praises, doing wonders ? " ^ Holiness is the attri- 
 bute which separates God from all other beings. It is 
 the moral glory of His being. It pervades all His attri- 
 butes, and gives intense value to them all. It is God's 
 holiness that makes it possible for mercy and truth to 
 meet together and righteousness and peace to kiss each 
 other. The holiness of His righteousness is not blemished 
 by His mercy, and the holiness of His mercy is not 
 impeached by His justice. What the effulgent light of 
 the sun is to the sun, so is the holiness of God to God. 
 In Him there is no darkness, no variableness, nor shadow 
 
 * Matt, xxviii. i8, 19. ' Exod. xv. 11. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 205 
 
 of turning. Justice shall never accuse Mercy of too 
 great tenderness to sinners, and Mercy shall never accuse 
 Justice of too great severity, for the holiness of God 
 reigns in both. It is just because He is of too pure eyes 
 to behold iniquity, and because the very heavens are 
 unclean in His sight, and because He cannot compromise 
 or make allowance for sin, that we have such consolation 
 in the divine forgiveness and mercy. For if the Holy 
 God has found a way to save us, we may be sure that 
 that way included the final destruction of sin, and 
 guarantees to us, in the end, a holiness of character which 
 shall enable tis to behold His face without shame, and 
 Hint to look upon us without wrath. 
 
 " Holy, Holy, Holy ; Lord God Almighty ! 
 Early in the morning our songs shall rise to Thee ; 
 Holy, Holy, Holy, Merciful and Mighty ! 
 God in three persons, Blessed Trinity ! " 
 
 3. She sings of His mercy. She has already sung of 
 the exercise of His mercy to them that fear Him, but 
 now she extols His mercy as an attribute of His being. 
 For all His great deeds and all the great grace which 
 now tune her heart to sing were done in remembrance of 
 His mercy. That is, in accordance with His mercy, true 
 to His mercy. The resources for this strain in her song 
 were boundless, for the whole Bible is coloured with the 
 mercy of God. His mercy runs like a golden thread 
 through the whole woof of its texture. Mercy charac- 
 terizes His mind towards us. 
 
 (i) He is merciful. When Moses desired to see God's 
 glory, it was not permitted him to do so, for he could not 
 look upon God and live ; but God caused all His good- 
 ness to pass before him, and He proclamed His name to 
 Moses in these words, " The Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and 
 
2o6 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
 and transgression and sin." ^ This is the glory of God, 
 which we now with open face behold in the revelation 
 which He had made of Himself in Jesus Christ, the 
 express image of His character, the very brightness of 
 His glory. In his great entreaty to sinners Isaiah says, 
 " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
 man his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, 
 and He will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for 
 He will abundantly pardon." ^ When Daniel came 
 before God with his great prayer, after confessing his 
 sins, his first great argument with God was that He was 
 " the great and dreadful God keeping the covenant and 
 mercy." ^ 
 
 (2) He keeps mercy. That is, He has a store of mercy 
 from which we sinners may draw continually ; a store 
 of mercy which flows evermore toward us. He keeps 
 mercy for us against our need ; as a bank keeps our 
 treasure or money and holds it for our cheques ; as a 
 trustee keeps our inheritance and administers it to us 
 according to our need. Rowland Hill was once put in 
 trust with a considerable sum of money to be given to a 
 poor clergyman in great need. Fearing that if he gave 
 it to him all at once it might be more hurtful than help- 
 ful, he enclosed to him first of all a ten-pound note, with 
 the simple words accompanying the envelope, " There is 
 more to follow." Then after awhile he sent another note, 
 with the same message, " There is more to follow." 
 Again, after a time, the clergyman received a third, and 
 a fourth, and a fifth remittance, each remittance being 
 accompanied by the same message, " There is more to 
 follow." The poor man lived on the notes received and 
 the promises of " more to follow." It is so with God's 
 mercy. There is always more to follow. We read 
 ' Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. "^ Isa. Iv. 7. ^ Deut. ix. 4. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 207 
 
 sometimes an interesting chapter in a magazine, and at 
 the end, bracketed in smaller letters, but very distinct, 
 this sentence, " To be continued." So it is with God's 
 mercy ; with each instalment there is an appended 
 promise, " To be continued." Only this story of mercy 
 will never come to an end. It will go on from genera- 
 tion to generation, and will still " be continued." Finis 
 will never be written at the bottom of the revelation of 
 God's mercy. His supply of mercy is inexhaustible. 
 David makes the vast multitudes of mercies already 
 received his warrant for coming for more. " According 
 to Thy loving-kindness and according unto the ytudtitude 
 of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgression." ^ 
 The remembrance of the innumerable times we have 
 come to God for mercies makes us ashamed to come for 
 more, but David made that his plea and warrant. Each 
 time we receive mercy from God it is as seed in the 
 field ; it springs up into a harvest of more mercy. If we 
 seek little we get little, if we ask largely we get many 
 mercies, and our joy is full. This is no warrant for the 
 presumptuous abuse of God's mercy, but for the free use 
 of it by those who fear Him. 
 
 (3) He delights in mercy. God never shows mercy 
 grudgingly, nor with a reproach thrown back upon us 
 for our sin. Judgment is His strange work, but He 
 delighteth in mercy. Hear what the prophet says, 
 " Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity 
 and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His 
 heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because 
 He delighteth in mercy." ^ Sum up all the serious occu- 
 pations, the pleasures and pastimes in which you take 
 the most delight, and then you cannot know how it 
 delights God to bestow mercy upon them who fear Him. 
 Do not fear to come to Him for mercy. He has plenty. 
 1 Ps. li. I. ^ Mic. vii. 18. 
 
2o8 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 Do not fear that He will chide thee, for His mercies are 
 ever tender. How tender He was with the poor outcast 
 women, not only granting mercy, but healing their 
 wounded spirits and cheering them with hope by His 
 tender mercy. 
 
 (4) His mercy is never- failing. It continues from 
 generation to generation. We are told by some as- 
 tronomers that the sun is gradually consuming itself 
 away, and that by-and-by, in a few million years, it will 
 be a burnt-out, cold, lifeless cinder. But God's mercies 
 endure from generation to generation. Flowing from an 
 infinite source, they are inexhaustible. Think of the 
 millions of sinners who have drawn on God's mercies in 
 the past, who are living on them in the present. Well, 
 there is as much mercy left in God as there was before 
 He spoke to Adam of mercy and forgiveness. 
 
 4, She sings of His fiistice. Let not the proud, 
 haughty, and defiant sinner suppose that because " with 
 the Lord there is mercy " He will thereby clear the 
 guilty or pass by wilful and defiant sinners. His anger 
 can burn as well as His mercy. And when mercy is 
 despised and sin is chosen and persisted in, then He 
 whets His "glittering sword" and bends His bow, and 
 goes forth to war. ^ Alas for that sinner who rushes 
 upon the bosses of Jehovah's buckler ! Think you that 
 your hand can be strong or your heart endure in the day 
 that the Lord shall deal with you ? I tell you nay ; but 
 you shall consume away as the dry stubble field before 
 the fire. It is a precious thing to fall into the arms of 
 His mercy ; but it will be " a fearful thing to fall into 
 the hands of the living God," ^ " for our God is a con- 
 suming fire." ^ Oh, then, kiss the Son, lest He be angry, 
 and you perish in the way of sin ! 
 
 III. She sings of His Great Deeds. I can only 
 
 ^ Deut. xxxii. 41. ^ Heb. x. 31. ^ Heb. xii. 29. 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 209 
 
 indicate these things. " He hath scattered the proud in 
 the imagination of their hearts." All those vain and 
 proud people, the raging heathen, the kings of the earth 
 and the rulers of the people who took counsel together, 
 saying, " Where is the God of the Old Testament, and 
 where are all those wonderful promises of a coming 
 Messiah ? Let us rise up and cast off the bonds of this 
 superstition, and free ourselves from these cords of 
 Scripture. Israel is forgotten, and there is none to 
 make us afraid. Let us possess ourselves of the king- 
 dom, and exalt ourselves in the earth." Mary saw in 
 the Incarnation the scattering of these proud and vain 
 dreamers of the earth, and in their stead the reign of 
 Messiah. She would have been no true daughter of 
 David if she had not thought of Herod, that mighty 
 Pagan king, sitting on the throne of her father, when 
 she said, " He hath put down the mighty from their 
 seats, and exalted them of low degree." Nor was she 
 thinking of herself or of poor outcast Israel alone, but 
 she saw here also a new principle in the moral govern- 
 ment of God. The proud and haughty possessors of 
 this world have arrogated to themselves the right to 
 rule and reign and lord it over the weak and the poor. 
 But God will not suffer this. He hath potentially in the 
 Incarnation, and He will actually in the outworking of 
 His purpose, put down the rule of pride and might in 
 this world and exalt them of low degree. Especially 
 them who have lowlily come to Him and taken refuge 
 in His salvation. Let the triumph of the Christian 
 Church over all the combined world powers testify to 
 the truth of this prophetic song. It will be seen to be 
 true in this world in a degree ; it will be seen without 
 degree in the world to come. " The meek shall inherit 
 the earth." ^ It will be a rare sight when the world shall 
 * Ps. xxxvii. II. 
 P.B. 14 
 
210 THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 
 
 behold the poor out of the dust, and the beggars from 
 the dunghill, among the princes, and seated upon the 
 thrones of His glory, while the proud, imperious, and 
 strong men of this world who have neither feared God 
 nor regarded man are cast out and down. She carries 
 this principle of spiritual and divine revolution further, 
 and makes application of it to salvation. " He hath 
 filled the hungry with good things ; and the rich He 
 hath sent empty away." The grace of God does not 
 come to the poor because they are poor, nor is it with- 
 held from the rich because they are rich ; but poverty 
 and hunger take self-confidence out of men, and lead 
 them in their poverty and emptiness and hunger to come 
 to God ; and God fills every soul which hungers, and 
 gives drink to every soul which is athirst. But the rich 
 who " are increased with goods, and have need of no- 
 thing," He turns empty away. It is, alas ! too often the 
 case that those who are possessed of riches manage 
 somehow to satisfy themselves without God. They 
 seem not to have need of Him — they can buy what 
 they want. The world bows down to them ; society 
 gives place to them. They do as they please, they go 
 where they please, and say in their hearts, " We are rich, 
 and increased with goods ; we have much wealth laid 
 up for many days ; we will eat and drink and be merry. 
 Let the poor and the hungry seek after God ; as for us, 
 we do not need Him — we can take care of ourselves." 
 As long as the prodigal's money held out, he thought he 
 did well enough without his father and his father's house ; 
 but when he had spent all his living, and famine came 
 into the land, and he was hungry, then he thought on 
 his father's house, and went to him, and he was received 
 and fed and clothed and taken into the family with 
 music and dancing. Trust not in uncertain and deceit- 
 ful riches. They can never buy the real needs of the 
 
THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD 211 
 
 soul ; they will not avail thee in the day of trial. But 
 hunger and thirst after righteousness, and God will fill 
 you and save you. 
 
 Mary concludes her song by magnifying and extolling 
 God's faithfulness. " He hath holpen His servant Israel, 
 in remembrance of His mercy." In herself she beheld 
 all Israel. God's mercies to her were the sure pledge 
 that all His promises to Israel would be fulfilled. After 
 the long night of sorrow and almost hopelessness, she 
 magnified God for that He had not forgotten ; but " in 
 remembrance of His mercy, as He spake to our fathers, 
 to Abraham, and to his seed for ever," had done great 
 things. Let us be sure, among other things and all 
 things, that God does not forget His promises — His 
 covenants with us — that He is faithful to the word which 
 He has spoken, and that He is Almighty to fulfil every- 
 thing He has purposed for us and promised to us. No 
 apparent forgetfulness on God's part should cast us 
 down ; no delay in the fulfilment of His promises should 
 discourage us. For His word cannot be broken, and 
 He who has promised cannot lie. 
 
 " Glorious things of thee are spoken, 
 
 Zion, city of our God ! 
 He whose word cannot be broken 
 
 Formed thee for His own abode ;. 
 On the Rock of Ages founded, 
 
 What can shake thy sure repose ? 
 With Salvation's walls surrounded,. 
 
 Thou may'st smile at all thy foes." 
 
XII 
 
 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 " To give knowledge of salvation unto His people, by the remis- 
 sion of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God ; whereby 
 the Day-Spring from on high hath visited us."— LUKE i. ']']^ 78. 
 
 MARY of Nazareth abode with Elisabeth and 
 Zacharias about three months, and then re- 
 turned to her own house. The time of her departure 
 synchronizes with the birth of John the Baptist. 
 Though we are not expressly told that Mary remained 
 with her cousin until that important and long-looked-for 
 event had taken place, we can scarcely think otherwise. 
 There are many unwritten features of interest in the 
 gospel narratives, especially in connection with the 
 early days and years of our Lord, and we are left to 
 our imaginations to fill up these gaps, though we need 
 not run to the wild extremes of the early Christians, 
 who invented all sorts of foolish and improbable stories 
 concerning John the Baptist and Jesus. We can 
 scarcely help wondering what took place in that quiet 
 priestly home in the hill country of Judaea during these 
 three months, a period begun and concluded by wonder- 
 ful outbursts of inspired and prophetic song. We fancy 
 these three, Mary, Elisabeth, and Zacharias, living to- 
 gether in daily communion, holding sweet and holy 
 converse concerning these two expected children ; the 
 one to be the Forerunner, and the other the long- 
 expected Messiah and Saviour of men. During this 
 time Zacharias was still dumb, and, it would appear. 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 213 
 
 deaf as well ; but he would be a party to all that went 
 on, for he had become familiar with the signs made to 
 him, and was an expert with his " writing table." 
 What searching of the scriptures, what re-examination 
 and careful study of the prophets, what holy specula- 
 tions concerning the great events soon to be ushered 
 in with the birth of their respective heaven-sent sons, 
 what enlargement of ideas and thought, must have 
 taken place in their minds under the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit. They were naturally still intensely Jewish 
 and national in their thoughts and conceptions of the 
 promises, but it is evident that they had taken a much 
 wider view of the great salvation than was customary. 
 Mary had in her song spoken of the mercy of God upon 
 them that fear Him from generation to generation, and 
 in the conclusion of his song Zacharias saw the light of 
 the Sunrising from on high, visiting the distant Gentiles 
 who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, and 
 seemed to unite himself and his people with them, in 
 the grace that should guide their feet into the way of 
 peace. 
 
 How insignificant this hill-country home was in com- 
 parison with the palaces of Herod, the High Priest, the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, and rulers of the nation ! how 
 unimportant were Elisabeth, Mary, and Zacharias in the 
 eyes of the world, as compared with the all-powerful 
 Herod, the rich and grasping rulers, corrupted by 
 political power, greedy and avaricious, enervated by 
 luxury and secularized by earthly ambitions, seeking 
 " honour one of another " ! How impotent compared 
 with the rampant and haughty Romans who held the 
 land and the people in their iron grip, and trampled 
 them beneath their remorseless power ! And yet in 
 all the world there was not such another family en- 
 nobled by Heaven, entrusted with the secrets of the 
 
214 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 Most High God, and the chosen instruments of God 
 for the redemption of the world ! How true it is that 
 real greatness, either in events or persons, is seldom 
 found among the great and powerful ones of the earth. 
 God hides Himself and His chosen ones away from the 
 eyes and the power of man. He confounds the wisdom 
 of the wise, and overthrows the mighty from their seats, 
 and exalts them of low degree. It is strange that we 
 are so slow to learn this great lesson, but still struggle 
 with one another to pay court to the rich and mighty 
 ones, as though they were the chosen of heaven. " The 
 secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him ; and He 
 will show them His covenant." ' 
 
 We must pass over the birth of John the Baptist, and 
 the extraordinar}^ events in connection with the naming 
 of the child, and come directly to the inspired song of 
 Zacharias. For nine long months he had been speech- 
 less because of his unbelief We can well hope that this 
 unbelief had, if not entirely, yet in a large measure, 
 passed away. When he was asked to settle the domes- 
 tic controversy over the name to be given to his son, his 
 faith asserted itself in full strength, and he declared, 
 " His name is John," ^ for he was " the prophet of the 
 Highest," and his name as well as his career was not 
 one to be bound by mere family tradition. He had no 
 sooner freed his soul from the last vestige of unbelief 
 than he was filled with the Holy Ghost ; his tongue, so 
 long tied, was loosed, and he broke forth into a hymn of 
 praise to the grace, power, faithfulness, and mercy of 
 God, as manifested in the person of "the Day-Spring 
 from on high," whose advent was already heralded by 
 the birth of the Forerunner. Let us take a somewhat 
 comprehensive view of this great song. As it was the 
 utterance of faith, strengthened and enlightened by the 
 * Ps. XXV. 14. ^ Luke i. 63. 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 215 
 
 immediate power of the Spirit, it cannot but communi- 
 cate enlightenment and strength to our own faith. 
 
 I. The Apologetic Value of Zacharias' Song. 
 There is a great apologetic value in this utterance of 
 Zacharias, for the reason that it sets before us in an 
 intelligible manner the foundations upon which the 
 Christian faith rests. We are now living in an age of 
 unbelief and criticism. The traditional faith of our 
 fathers is rejected by the mass of people with whom we 
 have to do, especially by the educated and half-educated 
 portion of the community. Creeds and confessions of 
 faith are of no value to the sceptical and critical in- 
 quirer, in so far as the question concerns the certainty of 
 the things set forth in these holy documents. The modern 
 critic who calls in question all the received facts of his- 
 tory, and insists on hunting every supposed fact up to 
 its fountain-head, and puts every independent witness 
 up for critical cross-examination, has not hesitated to 
 attack in the same way the sacred documents of Christi- 
 anity, and put them to the rigid test of criticism. 
 Nothing is now received, either as fact or doctrine, be- 
 cause it is in the Bible. Indeed, the historical portion 
 of the Bible is that which has had to withstand the chief 
 assaults of the critics. Old Testament history is ques- 
 tioned, and the New Testament records are impeached. 
 One of the results of this modern spirit of investigation 
 and criticism is that many people are left without (as 
 they say) any certain foundation for faith ; and as they 
 cannot accept Christianity as a speculative truth, they 
 add that they are compelled to remain, if not hostile, at 
 least indifferent to the call of the gospel. It is even true 
 that a certain class of presumably devout Christians are 
 saying that in the midst of all this confusion and doubt 
 we ought to look for and expect some new revelation 
 from God, so clear and conclusive that all reasonable 
 
2i6 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 doubt shall be dissipated. These anxious souls say, 
 " We are too far away from the historic foundations of 
 our faith, and we need fresh facts and further and 
 mighty manifestations from God." All this seems to 
 me to be both unphilosophical and somewhat absurd. 
 A fact in history, no matter how far back in the past, 
 loses none of its truth and value because of the lapse of 
 time. Waterloo is no less true as a fact to-day, nearly 
 a century after that memorable struggle took place, and 
 victory was won, than it was the day after the battle. 
 At the time it was the great factor which entered into 
 the almost universal change of the national geography 
 of Europe, and the effect of it is with us as powerfully 
 at the end of this century as it was in the beginning, 
 History loses nothing of truth and force because it was 
 enacted centuries ago. If our Lord came in the world, 
 lived His life, accomplished His ministry, died His 
 death, and rose again from the dead, neither the import- 
 ance nor the truth of the fact is diminished because it 
 occurred two thousand years ago. Would the revela- 
 tion be any clearer or truer if it were all re-enacted in 
 our own day ? If those who are crying out for further 
 revelation could have their wish, what could they sug- 
 gest as more complete and powerful than that which 
 came by Jesus Christ ? Could our Lord's Incarnation, 
 His unique personality. His heavenly ministry. His 
 sublime death and glorious resurrection be improved 
 upon ? The only question is, whether the gospel record 
 is true. The mere date of the facts recorded is without 
 importance. They may have occurred yesterday, or ten 
 thousand years ago, for that matter. The value of the 
 coals which I burn in my grates, and with which my 
 food is daily cooked, does not depend upon whether 
 they were deposited in the heart of the earth ten or ten 
 thousand years ago. It would be madness for me to 
 
THE DA Y-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 2 \ 7 
 
 reject the coals my tradesmen bring me because they 
 are of such ancient formation, and to demand that they 
 bring me coals of more modern formation. If our Lord 
 Jesus Christ is alive from the dead, then, however re- 
 mote His Incarnation may have been, the fact is still a 
 present one. Divine history is never ancient history, 
 because He who made the history is still living. The 
 Incarnation, and all that proceeded from the Incarna- 
 tion, is contemporaneous with all time. There is no 
 dead past in connection with the revelation of God. 
 
 Revelation is ciiimdative, whether we look for it in 
 material works of God or in the inspired utterances or 
 supernatural events which have transpired in the course 
 of human history. The truth of geological science does 
 not rest on the last events which have taken place in the 
 course of the earth's history, but upon all the facts 
 which underlie the latest formations and developments 
 of the earth's bulk. The testimony of the rocks is not 
 invalidated because the rocks are so old. We are told 
 by the readers of the rocks and the fossil remains of 
 both the animal and vegetable creations, that this world 
 of ours has been millions of years in building ; that it 
 has passed through many crises ; that it has been over- 
 whelmed again and again with tremendous cataclysms 
 which would apparently make an end of all things ; but 
 that out of each of these great epochs or ages the earth 
 has risen into higher order and perfection. Reading the 
 geological story of the earth backward, we can see the 
 hints of all its later perfection ; though, if we had to 
 read it forward, we could not have prophesied the last 
 geological age from the observed facts of the earliest 
 ages. The past is in the present, not only as the foun- 
 dation, but as a part of the present. In Canada and the 
 Lake regions of the United States there are visible in 
 and through the upper crust of our present earth the 
 
21 8 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 formations of long past geological ages. The great hills 
 and mountains were not born in our day, they were not 
 formed in our geological age, yet they are with us to 
 remind us of the past travail of the creation. Clothed, 
 as many of them are, with the living verdure of the 
 present age, they belong to us as really as if they had 
 been formed but yesterday. 
 
 It is so with God's revelation in connection with His 
 spiritual world. It has been going on for ages. The 
 knowledge of God has come to us little by little — each 
 new epoch of special revelation resting on the past and 
 carrying our knowledge forward and higher. The 
 earliest revelations, like the mountain tops, pierce the 
 crust of latest revelations. Take, for instance, the one 
 thousand quotations from and palpable allusion to Old 
 Testament revelations which appear in the New Testa- 
 ment, clothed with the verdure of New Testament times 
 and infused with the power and life of the Holy Spirit, 
 the ever-present agent in revelation, and we have not 
 a dead past, but a past living in full fellowship with our 
 present. To go back to the times of the earlier revela- 
 tion of God in order to live our life as in the presence of 
 revelation but newly given, would be impossible. We 
 have outgrown the past, and can never go back to it 
 except with loss to ourselves. Fancy the people of the 
 nineteenth century living in the glacial period, or in 
 the time of the cave-dwellers ! Yet we would be nearer 
 to our geological foundations than we are now. Do you 
 think Abraham had an advantage over you because to 
 him came direct revelation ; or that Isaac and Jacob 
 w^ere better off because they dreamed dreams, saw 
 visions, and wrestled with angels ? Were the children 
 of Israel more free from doubts and disobedience be- 
 cause they saw the wonders of God in Egypt ? Or do 
 you suppose that the earliest Christians were better off 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 219 
 
 than we? How many of our modern doubters, who 
 complain that we are so far removed from our historic 
 foundations, would elect to go back to the first century 
 of Christianity ? Those early believers were nearer to 
 the great facts which underlie our faith, but were they 
 any surer than we ? Had they any more to go on than 
 we have ? Was the present life of the Spirit more real 
 to them than to us? Even then there were doubters 
 and heretics, schismatics and scientists (falsely so-called), 
 and philosophers who made void the faith of some by 
 their vain reasonings. Were people of the world more 
 disposed to accept the testimony of Paul and five hun- 
 dred other living witnesses who had seen Christ alive 
 after the resurrection than they are to accept the testi- 
 mony of the same witnesses to-day, after two thousand 
 years ? Read the apostolic epistles, and then answer 
 whether you gather from them that believers of the first 
 century were better, more certain, more spiritual, more 
 developed in everything or anything that makes for the 
 best in Christian character, than believers are to-day ? 
 The cumulative and progressive testimony of nine- 
 teen centuries of Christian experience has immensely 
 strengthened the testimony to the truth of the historic 
 foundations. No ; we do not want to go back, except 
 historically, for the facts of the past. Given these facts, 
 with the living Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit on 
 earth and in our hearts taking the things of Christ and 
 showing them to us every day, we prefer to go on, to go 
 forward. We would no more choose to go back in time 
 in order to get nearer to the foundations, than Abraham 
 would have cared to go back to his own country from 
 whence he came out in order to be nearer to the first 
 revelation he received from God. Would you care to 
 sacrifice the years of your Christian experience since 
 you believed in order to have again the first sensations 
 
220 THE DA Y-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 of the new life ? No more than you would care to go 
 back to your youth, to boyhood, or girlhood, or even to 
 babyhood, in order to get nearer to the first experience 
 of your being ! No ! we look for a city and a country 
 and a life before us. Physically we do not live m the 
 past geological ages, but we do not live without them. 
 So neither do we live in the past spiritually, but we do 
 not live without the past 
 
 Let me repeat a single illustration. We draw our 
 wealth from past geological ages — our coal, our iron, our 
 gold and silver and tin and copper, and all our precious 
 metals and stones. The very soil in which we sow our 
 corn and wheat is a product of the past. Yet we would 
 not care to go back to the ages in which God stored 
 these things up for our use in the present. Revelation 
 and essential spiritual life have progressed, and we have 
 better things now than the early Christians had, than the 
 prophets had, than David or Moses or Abraham or 
 Noah or Enoch or Adam had. If we are further from 
 primitive revelation, we are nearer to the consummation 
 of which these primitive revelations were the promises. 
 Then we had promise ; now we have fulfilment. Then 
 we had prophecy ; now we have history. Then we had 
 law ; now we have gospel. Then we were bound to 
 external statutes and external ceremonials, with only 
 dim hints of life and immortality ; now we have a free 
 spiritual life, serving not in oldness of the letter, but in 
 the newness of the Spirit. Then life and blessing were 
 predicated on obedience ; now we obey God from the 
 heart, because He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son 
 into our hearts. Then we had miracles wrought in 
 material nature and in human bodies — water was turned 
 into wine, the sick were healed, the blind were made to 
 see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk ; but now we 
 have daily miracles of grace by which men and women 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 221 
 
 shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin are born from 
 above, and changed into the image of Christ. Drunkards 
 are made sober ; thieves cease to steal, and learn how 
 to labour with their hands, that they may have to give 
 to them who have need ; the liar is converted to the 
 truth ; the profane changed into praying men and 
 women ; in many cases the rich are made kind and 
 generous to the poor, and avarice is corrected by 
 Christian beneficence ; adulterers and adulteresses are 
 changed into virtuous and pure men and women ; the 
 dead in trespasses and sin are made alive in Christ. 
 Surely these are the miracles in which God is revealing 
 Himself day by day ; greater in fact and more powerful 
 in testimony than the miracles which Christ Himself 
 wrought — works greater than His which He told us we 
 should do, because of His going to the Father and the 
 coming of the Holy Spirit of God — the Spirit of Holi- 
 ness and of Power.^ 
 
 In the beginning God made man in His own image 
 and likeness. After all, what a baby Adam must have 
 been — compared with his descendants of to-day — as to 
 knowledge and experience and all that enters into the 
 essentials of manhood ! Yet Adam was nearer to God in 
 time and in primitive experience than we are ; but who 
 would rather be Adam in the year one of Creation, with 
 Eden into the bargain, than his Christian self in the year 
 1896 of the Christian era? Not I, for one ! 
 
 Having created man in His own image, the next step 
 in progressive development was his moral training. Not 
 to be tedious, we pass to the dispensation of the Hebrew 
 race. In them God undertook to develop their ethical 
 nature. To this end came law and commandments. 
 They were taught the great lessons of obedience, and 
 right and wrong. " Thou shalt " and " Thou shalt not " 
 * John xiv. 12. 
 
222 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 were constantly in their ears. Temporal blessings were 
 the rewards of obedience, and temporal curses were 
 visited upon their disobedience. God, the Moral Gover- 
 nor of the universe, was revealed to them, who had 
 hitherto only known Him as Creator and Providence. 
 Then came the dispensation of the prophets, through 
 whom the spiritual life of the people was more particu- 
 larly developed. Personal communion with God was 
 inaugurated in a way unknown to the teaching and dis- 
 cipline of the law. Not offerings and burnt offerings 
 and sacrifices for sin, but a broken and contrite heart 
 was brought to God. The prophets widen the horizon 
 of faith, in regard to the Messiah as Mediator and Sin- 
 bearer, as well as in the extent and spiritual character of 
 His kingdom. The dispensation of the prophets closes 
 with the coming of John the Baptist, who appears for a 
 moment on the new horizon, just long enough to an- 
 nounce the bright dawn by the Sunrising from on high, 
 in the person of Christ ; then to disappear and leave 
 us face to face with the Eternal and Incarnate Word 
 of God, who came with God's last full and life-giving 
 revelation, by whom God and man are united, He 
 taking us into union with Himself and making us to 
 be partakers of His divine nature. Is not all this pro- 
 gress ? Is not the new far better than the old ? Would 
 you choose old bottles for this new wine ? 
 
 II. The Foundations of our Faith. Some of 
 you may be wondering how Zacharias' song introduces 
 us to such a line of thought as I have suggested to 
 you. Well, just in this, that, inspired by the Holy Ghost, 
 he gathers the old things and unites them all with 
 the new, weaving the old revelation of God and the new 
 into one beautiful progressive whole. We shall now 
 take a look at these testimonies, and I hope to be able 
 to show you that, instead of being far away from them, 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 223 
 
 they are not only close to us, but always with us. There 
 is no hiatus between the Christian's faith and the foun- 
 dations of that faith. We are able to give a reason for 
 the faith that is in us. Our faith does not rest on the 
 relics of the past, but upon the eternal and contemporary 
 truths of God, both in word and in fact. 
 
 I. Zacharias^ faith was energized by the Holy Ghost. 
 He, being filled with the Holy Ghost, prophesied, 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." 
 Physical scientists tell us that behind and pervading all 
 physical phenomena there is an all and ever present 
 energy. They call it force. It differentiates itself in a 
 thousand ways. It is energy ; it is motion ; it is attrac- 
 tion ; it is law or the strength of law ; it is colour or the 
 result of it ; it is heat. It is, in fact, the creative and 
 preserving energy of the universe. It has been in the 
 past, is now, and shall be for evermore. It is not old or 
 worn out. It did not exist for a time at the beginning 
 of things. It was, and is, and shall be. The scientist 
 calls it force or energy. Suppose we call it the Spirit of 
 God ; or, not to confuse things, suppose we accept the 
 doctrine of energy as the foundation of the material 
 universe, and from that pass to the consideration of the 
 Holy Spirit of God, who, in the beginning, brooded over 
 the abyss and brought the world into existence ; was 
 present in the creation of man, breathing into his nostrils 
 the breath of life ; striving with him in his earlier de- 
 velopment ; inspiring and teaching him, even to the 
 training of his mind and hands in the useful arts ; speak- 
 ing to man and through man ; communing with him for 
 his own profit, and communicating to him messages for 
 the whole world ; moving holy men of old to speak 
 concerning the things of God. That Holy Spirit is the 
 
224 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 energy of our faith. The prophecies and works which 
 He has wrought in the past may be considered by us to 
 be far away, too far back in time to be a foundation for 
 present faith ; but He is not in the past ; He is in the 
 present. He who was present in the creation, who in- 
 spired the prophets, overshadowed the Virgin Mary, 
 filled Zacharias with His blessed presence, rested upon 
 and dwelt without measure in Jesus during His earthly 
 ministry, enabled Him to offer Himself up a sacrifice to 
 God, accomplished in Him the resurrection from the 
 dead, and in Jesus breathed upon the disciples after the 
 resurrection, fell upon and filled the disciples on the day 
 of Pentecost, accomplished the new birth in Nicodemus, 
 and every soul since who has believed on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, is with us to-day ; accompanying the word 
 preached with power sent down from heaven ; dwelling 
 in believers as the Comforter ; strengthening them for 
 righteousness ; energizing them for service ; inspiring 
 their prayers and songs ; loving and guiding them in life. 
 How, then, can any one say that we are too far removed 
 from the foundations of our faith ? His holy presence 
 and power converts all the facts of past revelation into 
 present realities. He was, and He is, and He shall be 
 for evermore ; and by Him God and Christ are always 
 with us. Evermore He makes old things new, and keeps 
 the past in the present. I can understand how a mere 
 formalist in religion, one who only dwells in creeds, 
 confessions, ceremonies, and ecclesiasticisms, should feel 
 himself separated by long centuries from the foundations 
 of faith ; but I cannot understand any one who knows 
 the indwelling of the Spirit, or who has ever been the 
 subject of His life-giving grace, looking back with long- 
 ing eyes to things which happened long ago as though 
 they too were in the dead past, and not in the living 
 present. I cannot understand a man who has really 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 225 
 
 been born of the Spirit saying, " We must have new and 
 fresh and up-to-date revelation from God in order to 
 support faith." The Holy Spirit is present in the world, 
 every day and hour, convincing men of sin, of righteous- 
 ness, and of judgment, and opening their eyes to see 
 Jesus and the unseen things of God. Critics who deal 
 with dead literature, or with the mere letter of revelation, 
 with the ecclesiastical history of the CJmrcli of Jesus 
 Christ, and not with the life of the Church, may feel that 
 they are far away from foundation truth and fact ; but 
 living Christians feel no such hiatus, and know no such 
 lack in their faith. If you say you have not this evi- 
 dence, then get it, for it is within your reach. For 
 " Your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to 
 them that ask Him." ^ Be sure of this, the Holy Spirit 
 will take the things of Christ and show them to you, if 
 you are really in earnest to know the truth and get close 
 to God's heart. 
 
 2. ZacJiarias next refers us to covenant promises of God 
 as the living a7id present ground of faith. Whoever does 
 not, or in his day did not, regard the promises and 
 prophecies of the Old Testament as having reference to 
 Jesus Christ and the " salvation of God by the remission 
 of sin," Zacharias and Mary believed them, and in them 
 found a sure resting-place for their faith. Centuries 
 before, God began to speak by holy men of old of the 
 coming of One who should redeem them, and deliver 
 them, and " perform the mercy promised to our fathers." 
 These promises and covenants of God, bound by His 
 oath, were no dead words, but spirit and life. No doubt 
 Zacharias had in his mind God's words to Abraham : 
 " By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that in bless- 
 ing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply 
 thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand 
 ' Luke xi. 13. 
 
 P.B. 15 
 
:226 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 which is upon the sea shore ; and in thy seed shall all the 
 nations of the earth be blessed!' ^ Now this promise after 
 long centuries had come true, and Zacharias saw the 
 fulfilment of it in its all-comprehensive and far-reaching 
 meaning ; so that before he closes his song he rejoices 
 in the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles " sitting in 
 darkness and the shadow of death." 
 
 3. The performance of God's covenant promises was to 
 Zacharias a warrajit and foundation for his faith. The 
 same performance is the warrant of our faith. He tells 
 us how these promises were fulfilled, " He hath raised 
 up an horn of salvation for us in the house of David, 
 to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the 
 remission of sins, through the tender mercy of our God, 
 whereby the D.ay-Spring from on high hath visited us." 
 The coming of Christ was the Sunrising of a new and 
 glorious day, in which every promise of scripture should 
 flower and fruit. Zacharias sang in the dawn of that 
 day ; we sing and rejoice in the midday splendour. 
 The coming of Christ, His miraculous conception, 
 His heavenly ministry, His sacrificial death, and His 
 glorious resurrectiQH are the historical facts in which 
 all the past is gathered together and brought into pre- 
 sent time. Every Christian builds his faith, not on the 
 history, but on the person of Christ. He is not a dead 
 Christ. We do not have to seek Him in the land of 
 Judaea, or in Galilee ; we do not have to go back twenty 
 centuries to find Him. He was dead, but, behold, He 
 is alive for evermore ; near to them that seek Him, and 
 in the midst of them who are gathered together in His 
 name. How say some among you that Jesus Christ is 
 too far away in the past? He is not far from any one 
 of you. Seek Him, and you shall find Him. 
 
 How beautiful is Zacharias' characterizatioji of the 
 ' Gen. xxii. 16-18. 
 
THE DA Y-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 227 
 
 advent of our Lord! He is the Day-Spring from on 
 high. These words are evidently suggested by the last 
 prophecy concerning the coming of the Lord, recorded 
 by the prophet Malachi, " But unto you that fear My 
 name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing 
 in His wings ; and ye shall go forth and grow up as 
 calves of the stall." ^ We usually speak of the sun as 
 rising from below the horizon, but He speaks of Him 
 as from on high. In this mixed metaphor we have 
 the two great truths concerning Jesus wonderfully set 
 forth. He came from on high to us, but His rising was 
 from below. He descended from heaven, and hid Him- 
 self in the womb of the virgin, and rose upon the world 
 out of the stable at Bethlehem. Oh, blessed descent 
 of the Sun of Righteousness to the earth, to rise upon 
 us with healing in Thy wings ! The sunrise came in 
 their time, but the fill meridia?i strength of the Sun of 
 Righteousness is shining upon us now. We would not 
 have it otherwise. If our Lord had merely risen on the 
 margin of time, life could not have come to the world. 
 The sunrise ushers in the day ; but the dawn is not 
 enough ; if the earth only had the pale light of the 
 dawning day it could not live. It was expedient that 
 Christ should go to the Father; and so He has ascended 
 into the mid-heaven of God's presence, and from hence 
 shines down upon us in all the strength of the Holy 
 Spirit, " to give the light of the knowledge of God in 
 the face of Jesus Christ." ^ Had our Lord remained 
 upon the earth, the full day of grace and power could 
 not have come. Should He come again as He came 
 two thousand years ago, He could bring us no new 
 revelation, and the world would be turned back to day- 
 dawn, instead of progressing in the power of noontide 
 light and life. 
 
 * Mai. iv. 2 * 2 Cor. iv. 6. 
 
228 THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 There is much of beauty and sweet suggestiveness 
 in the expression of Zacharias, " The Day-Spring from 
 on high hath visited us." It reminds us of how the 
 Lord "visited" Sarah at the set time, to fulfil His 
 promise to Abraham ; how He " visited " His afflicted 
 people in Egypt, to deliver them from their long and 
 bitter bondage ; how He " visited " Hannah, to fulfil her 
 prayer ; how He " visits " the sons of men for their 
 salvation. Now, after a long time (filled up by the vain 
 endeavours of men to save themselves, and with the 
 wickedness of the world which had cast off God), the 
 Day-Spring hath visited us. He has come with good 
 will ; He has come full of grace and truth ; He has 
 come to abide with us for ever ; to make His home in 
 our nature and to dwell in our hearts ; to be for us 
 and to us an All-gracious and All-powerful Saviour ; 
 " to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to 
 remember His holy covenant ; to give knowledge of 
 salvation unto His people by the remission of sin." ^ 
 Blessed visitation ! May all hearts fly open to receive 
 Him. 
 
 He is t/te Horn of our Salvation. Some refer this 
 to the horns of the altar, of which, if a fleeing trans- 
 gressor took hold, he was safe from the vengeance of 
 pursuit, Matthew Henry suggests the " horn of plenty," 
 from which there is poured out upon us all the " fulness 
 of grace and truth, for in Him all fulness dwells." 
 Others suggest the strong horn which mounted the 
 shield of the ancient warrior, and which sometimes was 
 used to push against an adversary. But it seems most 
 consistent to refer the figure to the strong horn of the 
 ox, always the symbol of strength and power. Power 
 to forgive sins ; power to give life ; power to keep us 
 from falling, to deliver us out of temptation, and to save 
 ' Luke i. 72, J7. 
 
THE DAY-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 229 
 
 to the uttermost ; power to sanctify ; power to make us 
 perfect unto every good work, to do His will, to raise 
 us from the dead and present us faultless before the 
 presence of God's glory with great joy. All our salva- 
 tion is wrought according to the mighty power that 
 "worketh in us by Jesus Christ. Blessed be God for 
 raising up unto us the Ho of Salvation. 
 
 4. Christian experience is the fourth fact which enters 
 into the fotmdations for our faith. " That He would 
 grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hands 
 of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holi- 
 ness and righteousness, all the days of our life." ^ It has 
 been well said that Christianity consists of three things 
 — a fact, a doctrine, and a life. The fact is Christ, the 
 doctrine is the gospel of salvation through Christ, and the 
 life is the new spiritual experience communicated to men 
 through the fact and the doctrine of Christ. Zacharias 
 testified to the fact, proclaimed the doctrine, and embraced 
 the experience. It is in the living experience of believers 
 that the vital facts of Christianity are always present in 
 the world. Wherever there is a living experience there 
 is a present Christ ; for, as Paul says, "For to me to live is 
 Christ " ^ ; and again, " I am crucified with Christ ; never- 
 theless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and 
 the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
 of Christ, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." '^ 
 Astronomers tell us that light is still falling upon the 
 earth from stars that have been burned out centuries 
 asfo : but the life of the Christian is ministered from the 
 living Christ, who is Eternal Life — whose infinite energy 
 never ceases. Zacharias breaks up or describes this in- 
 ward life of the Christian under various heads. It mani- 
 fests itself in serving God. Wherever there is real 
 spiritual life, there will be found not only an impulse, 
 ^ Luke i. 74. " Phil. i. 21. * Gal. ii. 20. 
 
230 THE DA Y-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 but a steady purpose to serve Him. No sooner were 
 the Thessalonians turned from their idols by the in- 
 coming of Christ's Hfe than they began to serve the 
 living and true God. The service of sin gives place to 
 the service of God. No sooner are we purged from 
 dead works, by being delivered from sin and death, our 
 great and hereditary enemies, than we yield our rightful 
 and free service to God, who hath delivered us by His Son 
 Jesus Christ. Service characterizes the saints on earth, 
 and in eternity they continue to " serve Him day and 
 night in His temple." ^ If there is no spirit of service in 
 thee, then thou art not Christ's. 
 
 This service is attended with an inward peace and 
 confidence. It is without fear. " For ye have not re- 
 ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have 
 received the Spirit of adoption.^ The terror of God, 
 which must be ever present in a wicked man's con- 
 science, is removed ; the servile fear of a mere formalist 
 is replaced by an inward peace resting upon the finished 
 work of Christ and the free forgiveness and justification 
 which comes to us through His blood. He hath de- 
 livered them " who, through fear of death, were all their 
 lifetime subject to bondage."^ Even the fear of sin is 
 taken away from us, for He has promised us that " sin 
 shall not have dominion over you." •* He has made 
 peace for us ; He has spoken peace to us ; He has ap- 
 pointed His peace to garrison our hearts, and so keep us 
 free from fear. But the Christian life is more than this. 
 It is holiness and righteousness. Holiness is the commu- 
 nication of that new life which we sometimes call the 
 new birth or regeneration — the life of God in the soul, 
 which constitutes us new creatures in Christ, and separ- 
 ates us from the dead in trespasses and sins. It is full 
 of all impulses towards purity and real piety. It is the 
 
 ^ Rev. vii. 15. ^ Rom. viii. 15. ^ Heb. ii. 15. ^ Rom. vi. 14. 
 
THE DA Y-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 231 
 
 inward bond between the soul and God ; the beginning 
 of that sanctification of life and character which will, in 
 the end, completely restore the image of God in us. 
 Righteousness is the outward expression of the new life. 
 It consists, not only in the rightening of our relations 
 zuith God, but in the rightening of onr conduct, both 
 toward God and man. It is the core of all the fruits of 
 the Spirit. Righteousness and true holiness go hand in 
 hand. Any profession of faith in Christ which is not 
 justified by a righteous life is a vain profession. All 
 true believers "yield themselves unto God as those 
 who are alive from the dead " ^ ; and all their members, 
 powers, and possessions " as instruments of righteousness 
 unto God." Paul beautifully characterizes real Chris- 
 tians as those who " were the servants of sin," but who 
 " have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which 
 was delivered you," who, "being made free from sin, 
 have become servants to God."^ The final proof and 
 test of Christianity is to be found not in the past, not in 
 creeds and confessions, not in ecclesiastical order, not in 
 an unbroken succession of ordained priests ; but in the 
 inward holiness and the practical righteousness of those 
 who have come to an experimental knowledge of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. This Christian life is lived and 
 energized in righteousness " before God all the days of 
 of our life." Christianity is not an emotional spasm ; it 
 is not a speculative philosophy ; it is not an elaborate 
 ritual ; but " righteousness and peace and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost " ^ ; not for a few days or weeks, but for 
 all time. We do not look for it in the superheated 
 evangelistic meeting or on a death-bed, but in a daily 
 walk with God through all the days of our life. Such a 
 Christianity will never fail to satisfy the intelligence, the 
 reason, and the conscience of the world. Let us make it 
 » Rom. vi. 13. - Ibid.\\. 17-22. ^ Ibid. xiv. 17. 
 
232 THE DA Y-SPRING FROM ON HIGH 
 
 the end and aim of our lives to join with Zacharias in 
 giving this testimony to the faithfulness of God. 
 
 5. The preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles is proof 
 of the living presence of Christ in the world. Lifting 
 his thoughts from himself and his own nation, Zacharias 
 saw a distant prospect of salvation among those who 
 were seated in darkness and the shadow of death. His 
 faith burst the bonds of a narrow nationalism and em- 
 braced the whole world, and was eager in hope for those 
 far-off Gentiles, and confident that God would guide our 
 feet in the pathway of peace to them. " How beautiful 
 are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and 
 bring glad tidings of good things." ^ Nothing to my mind 
 is a stronger proof of the divine origin of Christianity 
 and of the living presence of Christ among men than 
 the persistency with which from the very beginning men 
 and women have been impelled to go abroad to the 
 heathen in every part of the world to preach to them the 
 glad tidings. It is impossible to impute to missionaries 
 as a class, motives of ambition, selfishness, or any form 
 of earthly gain. " Necessity is laid upon them " from 
 Christ, and they must needs go and deliver the message. 
 Neither do they go reluctantly, but joyfully, not count- 
 ing their lives dear to themselves. Of this Divine hymn, 
 Augustine says, " O, blessed hymn of joy and praise ! 
 Divinely inspired by the Holy Ghost, and divinely pro- 
 nounced by the venerable priest, and daily sung in the 
 Church of God ; O, may thy words be often in my 
 mouth, and the sweetness of them always in my heart. 
 The expressions thou usest are the comfort of my life, 
 and the subject thou treatest of is the hope of the 
 world." 
 
 * Isa. lii. 7. 
 
XIII 
 
 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 " Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be 
 to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 
 a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." — Luke ii. lo, ii. 
 
 WHEN the royal Augustus sent forth his decree 
 that all the world should be taxed, he little knew 
 or thought how God was using him as an instrument for 
 the fulfilment of the important prophecy concerning the 
 Messiah, who must be born in Bethlehem. But for 
 that decree we can hardly conceive that Joseph would 
 have taken his espoused wife Mary to the city of David* 
 in order to fulfil the prophecy. Such is the way God 
 still works, bringing to pass His purposes, and using 
 His instruments in a natural and unconscious way. His 
 hands are upon all the springs of human action through- 
 out the whole world. 
 
 "God moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform." 
 
 We have already seen how our Lord's Incarnation 
 was associated with the humblest conditions of domestic 
 life, in the home of Mary of Nazareth, in the home of 
 Zacharias and Elisabeth, and again in the home of the 
 humble carpenter of Nazareth. Now we behold Him 
 born in the midst of a great political gathering, in 
 accordance with the decree of the greatest potentate 
 
 833 
 
234 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 then on the earth. Jesus is the Saviour of all people 
 and all classes of people ; His religion was destined to 
 affect every phase of society, from the lowest to the 
 highest ; therefore we find Him everywhere, from the 
 manger in which He was laid, to the throne of Empire, 
 Little did Caesar Augustus dream that in that far-off 
 and despised province there was born in a stable One in 
 the power of whose name the hoary paganism of Greece 
 and Rome should fall down, and the very empire itself 
 give place to Him upon the throne. In the birth of 
 Jesus, the prophecy of Mary, that God would . put down 
 the mighty from their seats, and exalt them of low de- 
 gree, began to have its fulfilment. 
 
 Once more, in connection with the birth of Jesus, we 
 come into the presence of angels, those holy ministers of 
 God, " sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs 
 of salvation." ^ I often think far too little thought or 
 attention is given to the ministry of these holy ones. It 
 is true they are not now visible to our dull eyes or 
 present to our senses, but we are assured that they are 
 never far from any one who is the child of God. We 
 may not see them, touch them, or talk with them, but 
 we may have comfort in the thought of their guardian- 
 ship and helpful presence. There is a beautiful and 
 well-known painting by Albert Dlirer, the subject of 
 which is the Holy Family in Egypt. Joseph is at work 
 in a carpenter's shop ; in the same room, Mary is busy 
 with some kind of handiwork, and the Babe asleep in a 
 little cot beside her. The most striking and singular 
 feature of the picture is a number of little angels, down 
 on the floor, engaged in picking up the chips, and 
 gathering the shavings which fall from the carpenter's 
 tools. The lesson of the picture seems to be that where 
 work is being done quietly and faithfully, no matter how 
 1 Heb. i. 14. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 235 
 
 humble the circumstances, God sends His angels to 
 help and minister. This is a sweet and comforting 
 truth ; it should cheer and brighten all Christian 
 workers, and all places where they serve. My fancy 
 can see them accompanying the great man of business 
 to his office ; the humble housemaid about her daily 
 duties ; the mother with her children, guarding these 
 little ones with their presence ; the minister in his study, 
 or going before him on his pastoral rounds. The angel 
 of the Lord came to Moses while he was tending his 
 sheep in the wilderness ; to Gideon while he was 
 thrashing wheat behind the barn ; to the wife of Manoah 
 while she was in the field ; to Zacharias during his 
 service in the Temple ; to Mary in her house, presum- 
 ably about her humble duties there ; and now to the 
 shepherds watching their flocks by night. It is in the 
 place of service or suffering that the help of God may 
 be looked for. It is our privilege to count on such help 
 from Him, whether ministered by unseen angels or by 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 I. The Birth of Christ announced. We cele- 
 brate the twenty-fifth day of December as the birthday 
 of our Lord ; but it is certainly unlikely that He was 
 born on that day, or even in that month. That date 
 was fixed by Constantine in accordance with some 
 political purpose, or to adjust it to some existing feast 
 already observed by his heathen subjects. The birthday 
 of our Lord was probably some time in the month of 
 April. The accurate fixing of this date is, however, of 
 no particular importance. It is not the \Ax\h-day, but 
 the fact of the birth of the Son of God into this world 
 which is of supreme moment to us. The question is not 
 when our Lord was born, but that He was born. As 
 there remains no reasonable doubt in the mind of any 
 reasonable person that our Lord Jesus Christ is an 
 
236 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 historical Personage and not a myth, we may pass over 
 the question of the date of His birth and continue to 
 celebrate His birth on the twenty-fifth of December, all 
 the more as no one thinks of the day, but all hearts are 
 taken up with the great fact. 
 
 I. His birth announced to the shepherds. These were 
 obscure and very humble folk to whom the angel came 
 and made his announcement. Indeed, shepherds were 
 so mean in the eyes of men that they were excluded 
 from many important social and political privileges^ 
 Does it not strike us as being very strange that so 
 important a communication as this should first be made 
 to the very poorest and obscurest of mankind ? Accord- 
 ing to all our ideas, it should have been announced to 
 the High Priest, or to some of the great doctors of the 
 law, if not directly to the King. But God is consistent 
 with Himself, and His ways are not our ways. The 
 kingdom of God cometh not with observation. There 
 was no need for the loud blare of the Temple trumpets, 
 or any great public demonstrations of joy by the officials. 
 He did not need to be so announced or patronized. 
 God destined the kingdom of heaven to overturn all the 
 ways and policies of this world, and to reverse all the 
 methods of men. No human pomp or glory could add 
 anything to Him. He was His own glory, and had no 
 need to be patronized by man. Beside, we know well, 
 from subsequent events, that the announcement of 
 Christ's birth to the great ones of this earth would only 
 have raised up about Him a host of enemies who would 
 have been jealous of Him, hated and destroyed Him, if 
 they could have done so, before His hour came. His 
 obscure and humble cradle, and His yet more humble 
 first friends, were His protection in His infant days. 
 Though it was necessary that His birth be known from 
 the beginning, it was safest, from this point of view, that 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 237 
 
 the announcement should first be made to common 
 people, and the testimony to the fact first be given by 
 them. Their testimony would not be believed by the 
 great, worldly, and powerful. Even if it came to their 
 ears, they would scarcely fear or be jealous of a Child 
 born in a manger and wrapped in the swaddling-clothes 
 of poverty ; for they would not credit Him, whose first 
 friends and heralds were poor outcast shepherds, as the 
 Christ and Saviour of the world. We find in this a great 
 spiritual lesson. Jesus came into the world to save 
 sinners and men of low degree ; He came to preach the 
 gospel to the poor, and to bring healing and help to the 
 despised and broken-hearted. Had He been born in a 
 palace, and His birth announced to ministers of State, 
 and His cradle been watched over by great lords and the 
 representatives of kings, how would the poor people and 
 the outcast sinners of the world ever be persuaded that 
 this Jesus was for them ? Before Moses could deliver 
 Israel from Egypt he had to flee the palace. They could 
 not have gone to the King's palace to do Jesus honour 
 and testify their faith and subjection to Him. It would, 
 in time, be much easier for any of the rich or great, who 
 might come to know their need, to go to a Saviour who 
 had been born in a manger and announced to shepherds, 
 than for these poor ones to have plucked up heart of 
 grace to go in search of a Saviour who had been 
 announced to the great ones of the earth and cradled 
 amid the splendours of human vanity. 
 
 2. The fear of the shepherds. It would seem that the 
 sudden appearance of the angel to these Bethlehem 
 shepherds filled them with terror — and no wonder ! 
 Therefore the first word of the angel to them was one 
 calculated to allay their fears — " Fear not." It is a well- 
 known fact that any appearance, real or imaginary, of 
 the supernatural awakens fear in human beings. The 
 
238 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 other world, filled with mysteries and pervaded by awful 
 power, concerning which we know so little and dread so 
 much, is calculated to fill mind and heart with terror. 
 Moses was afi-aid to look upon the angel of the Lord 
 who appeared in the burning bush ; Manoah was afraid 
 because he had seen the angel of the Lord ; Jacob was 
 filled with fear at the vision of angels which he saw ; 
 Isaiah was afraid he should die because he had "seen 
 God." The first words of Gabriel to Zacharias and to 
 Mary were " Fear not," in order that the terror naturally 
 awakened by his coming might be allayed ; so now his 
 first care is to calm the terror of the shepherds, likewise 
 awakened by his sudden appearance out of heaven, sur- 
 rounded by the glory of the Lord. I doubt not that, 
 even with our better knowledge, we should be filled with 
 a sudden fear should such a visitor appear to us. How- 
 ever much we may argue against the improbability of 
 the appearance of departed spirits to mortals, I am 
 afraid the world at large will never outgrow the terror of 
 " ghosts," or any alleged apparitions from the other 
 world. I fancy the reason death awakens in us such 
 fear is that because it suggests to us unknown and 
 possibly dreadful experiences in the mysterious realm 
 beyond us. It seems worth while briefly to inquire into 
 the reason of this fear. The first ground of fear is igjior- 
 ance. We are even afraid of huge animals, or any 
 creature, in fact, which we fancy has power to do us 
 harm, until we are assured of its friendly disposition. 
 Little children, not to speak of strong men, are afraid of 
 big dogs until their disposition is ascertained. We are 
 afraid of sudden and unknown sounds, because we do 
 not know what they may import. This fear rises into 
 terror when we have reason to believe that there is a 
 power out from the other world approaching us, because 
 we are more ignorant of it. Then there is that peculiar 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 239 
 
 something in our mental and spiritual constitution which 
 we call superstition, that is quickly awakened at the 
 first approach of anything which we regard as super- 
 natural. The heathen religions are all based on super- 
 stition ; that is, a belief in the supernatural coupled with 
 an ignorance of God and the powers of the world to 
 come. Superstition may be thus defined — the belief in 
 the existence of God without true knowledge of God — 
 the ever-present testimony in the consciousness of man 
 to the fact of God and another world. The only answer 
 to superstition, the only remedy for our superstitious 
 fears, is a certain revelation from God to us of His be- 
 nevolent and gracious disposition. This, indeed, was the 
 substance of the angel's communication to the shepherds. 
 " Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great 
 joy." So soon as we are assured of God's goodwill, and 
 that with Him is all power, our fears are allayed. Why 
 should we be afraid of God, if we are assured that He 
 loves us and only purposes good for us, and that He has 
 all power both to carry out His gracious design and to 
 prevent evil from befalling us ? It was this knowledge 
 and assurance which gave David such sweet confidence 
 in the thought of death. " Yea, though I walk through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
 Thou (who lovest me) art with me ; Thy rod and Thy 
 staff they comfort me." ^ If God is the Sovereign of the 
 other world, and He loves us, and has promised all good 
 to us, why should we be afraid of anything which may 
 come to us out of that other world, or why should we be 
 afraid to go into that world by means of death or other- 
 wise ? If the gospel is true, there is nothing but good 
 laid up for us there. There Jesus has gone to "prepare a 
 place for us," and from thence He will come to bring us 
 to Himself, that where He is there we may be also, not 
 ^ Ps. xxiii. 4. 
 
240 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 only to behold His glory, but to share it with Him. 
 There is nothing to harm us or to make us afraid in that 
 world. There is no sorrow, sickness, nor death ; there 
 all tears shall be wiped away. One of the great things 
 which Jesus did by incarnation was to take part of flesh 
 and blood, that through death He might destroy him 
 that had the power of death, and deliver us who all our 
 lifetime were subject to this bondage of fear. Yet, in 
 spite of the revelation of God, the communication of 
 these good tidings, there is a dreadful fear of death and 
 of God in the consciousness of many people. The third 
 ground of fear is the most serious one. It is the fact of 
 si7i. Sin is the only real cause for fear we have. If we 
 have no sin, why should we fear anything or anybody ? 
 " And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of 
 that which is good ? " ^ A lady in ill-health, who sup- 
 posed she was in immediate danger of death, wrote some 
 time ago asking me to come and see her. In her note 
 she said, " I am afraid to die — afraid of God." When I 
 saw her, I asked her why she was afraid to die, why she 
 was afraid of God. She told me frankly that as she lay 
 in bed apprehending death, all her sins came up before 
 her, and therefore she was afraid. Now that is most in- 
 telligible, and we can all understand such a fear. 
 
 " Conscience makes cowards of us all," says Shake- 
 speare. Sin is the only thing in the universe that we 
 need be afraid of — the only thing which need make us 
 afraid of God. During our American war there was a 
 private soldier, a man over forty years of age, who was 
 known familiarly among his comrades as " Old Baggs." 
 He was a notorious coward ; he had often run away 
 fron^ the battle ; habitually skulked in the presence of 
 the 'enemy ; feigned sickness ; and resorted to every 
 expedient to get to the rear whenever his regiment was 
 * I Pet. iii. 13. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 24t 
 
 in action. He had been rebuked, ridiculed, punished 
 in every way known to the disciph"ne of the army for 
 cowardice, short of being cashiered or drummed out of 
 the service. At the battle of Antitam, one of the most 
 desperate and bloody battles fought during the rebel- 
 lion, to the surprise of the whole regiment, " Old Baggs " 
 was well to the front, fighting like a hero. He per- 
 formed wonders of valour and bravery, and, alas ! 
 received his death-wound in a most exposed part of the 
 field, and in front of all his comrades. After the battle, 
 his captain knelt by his side, as he was dying. With a 
 shining face he said to the captain, " I know I have been 
 a coward, and a disgrace to the regiment and the army ; 
 but, captain, it was not the ' Johnnies ' (the rebels) I was 
 afraid of — / was afraid of God ; but I am so no longer, 
 for I have found the Lord Jesus, and He has forgiven 
 all my sins. Since then I have wanted to get into the 
 front of the battle and try and recover my lost reputa- 
 tion and do something for my country." Let us find 
 Jesus, and in Him the forgiveness of our sins ; let us be 
 reconciled to God, and all fear will disappear out of our 
 hearts. I do not say that no real Christians experience 
 fear and awe at the approach of death, for I know that 
 many do ; but it is only when their thoughts are with 
 their sins, and not on their Saviour, that they are afraid. 
 " What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. In God I 
 will praise His word. In God I have put my trust."* 
 The whole gospel is an encouragement to trust and not 
 be afraid either of what man can do to us or what may 
 come to us in the other world. Jesus has overcome all 
 the dark powers of the under world, and made a safe 
 highway for sinners to walk in, even through the valley 
 of the shadow of death. An attentive consideration 
 given to the good news brought by the angels, and 
 1 Ps. Ivi. 3, 4. 
 P.B. 16 
 
242 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 afterwards published in full by the Lord Himself, will, if 
 they are cordially received, dissipate all our fears. Let 
 us, then, consider the angel-message. 
 
 II. The Glad Tidings. " Behold, I bring you good 
 tidings of great joy." The giving of the law was 
 accompanied with fire and blackness, and darkness and 
 tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of 
 words, — altogether so terrible a display of power that 
 it made even Moses "exceedingly fear and quake." ^ 
 This demonstration of terrible power was given with 
 the law, because the law was a revelation of God's 
 righteous anger against sin. But when the birth of 
 Christ was announced, it was by angels saying, " Fear 
 not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy," and sing- 
 ing, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace 
 and good will." These tidings are indicated in the 
 contents of the angelic message. 
 
 I. A Saviour. " For unto you is born this day a 
 Saviour." The angel applies to the Babe of Bethlehem 
 three titles, " Saviour," " Christ," and " Lord." The last of 
 these titles points Him out as the great Sovereign of the 
 universe ; the Lord of creation, of angels and men ; and 
 well identifies Him with " all people," to whom He had 
 now come with light and life. His title " Christ " would 
 identify Him as the Messiah of the covenant people, the 
 long-looked-for Anointed One who should come and 
 redeem Israel ; the great Son of Abraham, and the final 
 heir to the Throne of David. The title " Saviour " 
 indicated Him in reference to His redemptive and 
 spiritual work. " Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for 
 He shall save His people from their sins."^ So an- 
 nounced the angel of the Lord to Joseph when he bade 
 him take Mary to him as his wife, when he was minded 
 to put her away, on her return from her visit to the house 
 ^ Heb. xii. 21. '■^ Matt. i. 21. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 243 
 
 of Elisabeth. I need scarcely detain you to point out 
 who this Saviour was and is, beyond reminding you of 
 the fact that the angel said to Mary, " He shall be 
 called the Son of the Highest, and the Son of God." 
 Not only called so, but He ivas the Son of God. He is 
 that Seed of the woman announced and promised to 
 Adam and Eve in the garden, whose mission it was to 
 bruise the serpent's head. He was and is that Seed of 
 Abraham " in whom all the nations of the earth are 
 blessed " ; of whom Balaam prophesied and said, " I 
 shall see Him, but not now ; I shall behold Him, but 
 not nigh : there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and 
 a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel."^ He was and is 
 the One whose day Abraham saw and was glad. 
 He was and is that Wonderful Counsellor of whom 
 Isaiah prophesied, the root out of a dry ground, " with 
 visage so marred more than any man "^ ; who was 
 wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our 
 iniquities, on whom the Lord caused all our iniquities to 
 meet ; the " prophet from the midst of thee, of thy 
 brethren,"^ whom Moses foresaw and whom he bade all 
 Israel hear ; the Stem of Jesse ; the Branch of Zechariah ; 
 the Messenger of the Covenant and the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness, arising with healing in His wings, whom Malachi 
 foretold as being nigh. He is the sum and substance of 
 all the ceremonial sacrifices and feasts of the Jews ; in a 
 word, He is that One of whom Moses in the law and all 
 the prophets did speak and all the Psalmists sang. All 
 prophecy, type, and song meet together to testify of 
 Him, and say, " This is He who has filled all our 
 thoughts, inspired our words, and been ' our help in ages 
 past, our hope for years to come ' " ; the fulfilment of all 
 the promises made to the fathers, and the proof of the 
 faithfulness and loving-kindness of God. But oh ! you 
 ^ Num. xxiv. 17. * Isa. lii. 14. ' Deut. xviii. 15. 
 
244 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 know who He is ! Jesus who saved you, and whom you 
 love and trust and rejoice in to-day ; you have received 
 Him, and from Him power to become sons of God. I 
 leave you, out of your full knowledge of the scriptures, 
 and your own most real and precious experience, to fill 
 up the picture. 
 
 (i) Heis within reach of sijiners. The angel indicated 
 to the shepherds that this Saviour was to be found in 
 Bethlehem, not far from where they were watching their 
 flocks. Passing the significance of our Lord's birth in 
 Bethlehem as a most striking fulfilment of the prophecy 
 of Micah, uttered five hundred years before the event, 
 that " out of Bethlehem shall He come forth unto me, 
 that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth have 
 been from of old, from everlasting," ^ '■ the blessed lesson 
 of the fact is that Jesus was born the Saviour of sinners,j 
 and is so accessible. Had He been born in Jerusalem, 
 and especially in one of the palaces, He would not have 
 been easily found by the shepherds. But in this little 
 village, where at the most there was but one public inn, 
 and where the few houses were open to the entrance 
 even of poor shepherds, they might easily find Him. 
 This is the joyful truth ; I Jesus is always near, and easily 
 found. / No palace doors or conventionality prevent the 
 humblest and most needy from seeking and finding Him. 
 This very truth is one of the divinest circumstances in 
 connection with our Lord's life and ministry. He never 
 once put Himself beyond the easy reach of the common 
 people ; He never secluded Himself amid the higher 
 walks of society, or among the great and inaccessible 
 people of the land. He lived level to the circumstances 
 of the poor. If the rich and great wanted Him, they 
 must come to Him where He lived among the common 
 people. As I have before said, it is much easier for a 
 * Mic. V. 2. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 245 
 
 rich man to come to where Jesus always was, and where 
 He abides to-day, than it would have been for poor men 
 to make their way to Him, had His associations and 
 abode been among the great ones of the earth. Once a 
 poor sinner made her way to His feet in the house of a 
 rich Pharisee ; but it is evident that she did not enter 
 Simon's house by reason oi his hospitality, who gave but 
 cold welcome to the Son of God Himself, and felt him- 
 self outraged by the presence of the sinner whom He so 
 lovingly received and so freely forgave. " Master, where 
 dwellest Thou ? " " In the city of David ; even in little 
 Bethlehem, where poor shepherds and others as poor 
 and humble may easily find Me. Come and see ! " ^ 
 
 (2) For whom was He born ? Passing another point, 
 " For what was He born ? " it is interesting to note this 
 question. He was born the Messiah of Israel. To 
 them He came fulfilling all the ancient covenant 
 promises, and bringing with Him the " tender mercies of 
 our God." But Jesus was more than Messiah : He was 
 the Saviour. He came for others besides the children of 
 Israel. The announcement of the angel seemed to lift 
 the curtain which had for centuries hung between Israel 
 and all the rest of the world, and with a single sentence 
 included " all people " in the merciful and gracious 
 purpose of His visitation. " Good tidings of great joy, 
 which shall be unto all people." The middle wall of 
 partition has been broken down, and the Saviour is no 
 longer the Messiah of Israel, but Saviour of meji. 
 Messiah to the Israelites, indeed, if they will receive 
 Him, but in any case Saviour of sinners of all races. 
 Even if an Israelite receives Him as a Saviour, he must 
 receive Him as a world's Saviour, and not a Jewish 
 Saviour. He was God's gift to the world; He, by the 
 grace of God, tasted death for everj/ man. As Son of 
 * John i. 38, 39. 
 
246 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 David He could not receive the Syrophenician woman ; 
 but when she appealed to Him as Lord (Lord and 
 Saviour of all men), He commended this large and 
 enlightened faith, and gave her all her desire. Therefore 
 is His name and His gospel published abroad to the ends 
 of the earth ; and so we have this modern wonder, that 
 the Messiah, whom the Jews rejected, is become the 
 Saviour of the world, and Gentile Christians are now 
 preaching the gospel of salvation to the Jews. 
 
 2. A Sipi. Having told the shepherds who the Babe 
 of Bethlehem was, and where He might be found, the 
 angel proceeded to give them a sign : " And this shall be 
 a sign unto you ; ye shall find the Babe wrapped in 
 swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger." ^ This 
 indicated more than a simple outward sign by which He 
 might be identified in their search after Him. It is not 
 likely that many children were born in Bethlehem that 
 night, and it is less probable that another babe was laid, 
 after birth, in a manger. The manger or stable of the 
 village inn was probably the one to which the shepherds 
 would first resort, and there they found the Babe. The 
 higher and deeper meaning of that "sign " is, that it has 
 pleased God, in accomplishing man's salvation, to ap-» 
 proach and carry forward that divine work in circum- 
 stances of voluntary poverty on the part of the Redeemer. 
 "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became 
 poor." ^ God passes by human riches and greatness, 
 and accepts poverty as the means to the end of His 
 grace. Jesus never departed from this plan, and the 
 sign of poverty was ever that by which the world was 
 guided to Him. When God incarnated Himself in our 
 nature, He put an honour and glory upon humanity 
 above that conferred upon any other order of intelligent 
 
 ^ Luke ii. 12. * 2 Cor viii. 9. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 247 
 
 beings, even above that which He has given to the holy 
 angels, who never sinned, and who are His blessed 
 ministers and messengers. When He took upon Him- 
 self the condition of poverty, and persevered in this 
 estate during His entire ministry, and perpetuated it in 
 His chosen apostles and first disciples, and emphasizing 
 this great principle by leading the few rich ones among 
 the first disciples voluntarily to lay their wealth down at 
 the feet of the apostles to be used for the common weal. 
 He ratified that sign, it is worth our while to consider it 
 well. Do not misunderstand me ; much rather, do not 
 misunderstand the sign. When I say that God has 
 glorified poverty, and chosen it as a means in the 
 ministry of salvation, I do not for a moment mean to con- 
 vey the idea that God approves and glorifies the wretched 
 poverty and misery which we see all around us — that 
 poverty which is the fruit of vice, of drink, of idleness, 
 of vagrancy, of shiftlessness and laziness. Stick poverty 
 is a crime ; and with such poverty, I believe I may say 
 with all reverence, God Himself has no sympathy ; and 
 the Church is making a vast mistake in patronizing it, 
 and systematically encouraging it by a well-meant but 
 mischievous charity. " If a man will not work, neither 
 shall he eat." ^ This is God's decree in respect of the 
 shiftless, the vicious, the drunken, and the lazy. " He 
 filleth the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath 
 sent empty away." According to the economy of this 
 world, it is the rich who are filled with good things, and 
 the poor who are sent empty away. God's poor are 
 those who, in the honest struggle for life, have been cast 
 out, passed by, oppressed and robbed by the rich ; or 
 those who have set their hearts on heavenly riches and 
 are content with " food and raiment," not struggling and 
 putting all their powers into the strife after ambitious 
 ' 2 Thess. iii. 10. 
 
248 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 and self-gratifying wealth, to be spent and squandered 
 upon pride and vain display. 
 
 Greedy, avaricious, and ambitious wealth was the sin 
 of the day and of the people in Christ's time ; it was 
 the main cause of the downfall of Israel, because it 
 sapped Israel's spiritual hopes and concentrated their 
 desire upon this present world ; it is also the sin of our 
 day. The Church is burdened with no greater curse 
 than that of selfish and greedy wealth ; whereby the 
 vast power for the kingdom of God and His righteous- 
 ness is diverted by the selfish ambition of rich men, 
 who patronize God and the kingdom of God with a 
 miserable modicum of their wealth, throwing it down 
 oftentimes grudgingly or ostentatiously as a kind of 
 " corban " into the Church's treasury. This is not true 
 of all Christians who have inherited or won wealth, but 
 it is true of many of them, and is always true of the 
 spirit of " riches," of that " love of money which is the 
 root of all evil." ^ To the rich man all earthly and 
 worldly things are accessible. In this world gold is om- 
 nipotent. God will have us consider His sign, which 
 is set forth in a Saviour born in a stable ; in men and 
 women wedded to the kingdom of God and His right- 
 eousness, and content to accept such needful things as 
 God may add to them. God's sign teaches us that 
 there is no grace of salvation which is beyond the reach 
 of the poor man, that riches have nothing whatever to 
 do with grace. A poor man does not have to be rich in 
 order to be saved. On the other hand, a rich man must 
 become poor in spirit, and, if need be, part with all his 
 wealth, before he can be God's poor man. The story 
 of the rich young man is one which many, young and 
 old, need to study with care. The command that bids 
 us work is not that we might have for ourselves, but 
 ' 1 Tim. iii. lo. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 249 
 
 that we might " have to give" I know of no greater 
 peril to a soul than unconsecrated wealth, be it large 
 or small. I beg you, my brothers and sisters, to put the 
 question to yourselves honestly, searchingly, and in the 
 sight of God : " What is my motive in seeking after 
 riches? What is my motive in accumulating wealth 
 and hoarding it up in greater or smaller heaps ? " Is it 
 that you may selfishly enjoy it, or in pride pass it on to 
 your children, that they may be placed in circumstances 
 which may excuse them from labouring with their own 
 hands, as you or your fathers before you have done? 
 Have you now riches unconsecrated and held not in 
 trust for God and His kingdom? Then see to it that 
 "you abound in this grace (the grace of beneficence) 
 also," for otherwise " weep for your miseries that shall 
 come upon you ; your riches are corrupted, and your 
 garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is can- 
 kered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against 
 you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire." ^ " Hath 
 not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and 
 heirs of the kingdom," ^ is the sign of the true Church, 
 as it was the sign of the Saviour of the world. May 
 God give us the grace to recognise and manifest forth 
 this sign, so that, whether possessed of much or little 
 we may hold and use it as stewards of His grace, and 
 not consume it or hoard it selfishly either for ourselves 
 or our children. 
 
 3. A Song. Having delivered this message to the 
 shepherds, there was suddenly with the angel a multi- 
 tude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 goodwill among men." Here is the high key-note of 
 the spirit of the gospel, and the line of conduct for men 
 on the earth. To give glory to God in the highest 
 ' Jas. V. 1-3. ^ Ibid, ii. 5. 
 
250 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 measure, in the highest places — not in words only, but 
 in the whole trend and tenor of our lives — is the essence 
 of true piety. Every Christian life should be a song 
 of praise to God, a tribute and offering to His glory. 
 On earth the chief end of life is peace, and among men 
 of peace, goodwill. Who does not see at once, that if 
 we gave ourselves to this great business of glorifying 
 God, and making, keeping, and cultivating peace and 
 goodwill among men, the kingdom of God would soon 
 come? Until we put the glory of God before every 
 earthly and selfish ambition, and our neighbour's good 
 (if not above our own, at least on a level with our own), 
 the kingdom of God has not come in us. 
 
 III. The Shepherds' Faith. It is interesting and 
 profitable to note the quick and rapid development and 
 growth of the faith of these simple folk, to whom the 
 birth of the Saviour was announced. Left alone by 
 the angels, they did not sit down and waste time in 
 vain speculation, but with an implicit faith they said, 
 " Let us now go and see this thing which is come to 
 pass." They did not say one to another, " I wonder 
 if there is any truth in this story " ; but they said im- 
 plicitly the thing " is come to pass!' No man will ever 
 come to Christ until he says to himself, " Jesus is come 
 to this world, and He is the Saviour of sinners." A 
 speculative, philosophizing faith, much less a rational- 
 izing, critical questioning and balancing of probabilities 
 as to the truth of the gospel testimony, will never move 
 the soul of man to seek Jesus in Bethlehem. Then 
 their faith was characterized by immediateness. " Come, 
 let us 710W go." They did not postpone their going till 
 the morrow — till a more convenient season ; they did 
 not discuss the question of who would take care of the 
 sheep. Their first desire and duty was to obey the 
 heavenly vision, and go at once to Jesus. That is not a 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 251 
 
 true faith which postpones going to Christ and following 
 Him until something else is attended to. Even the 
 most sacred ties and duties must not supersede our im- 
 mediate obedience to Him, " Let the dead bury their 
 dead," said Jesus to him who, in response to His 
 summons, said, " Suffer me first to go and bury my 
 father." ^ " He that loveth father or mother more than 
 Me is not worthy of Me." ^ The three thousand who 
 were convicted in their hearts on the day of Pentecost 
 were added to the Church by baptism that very day. 
 As soon as the eunuch came to know Jesus, whom 
 Philip preached to him, he stopped his chariot, got 
 down, and was baptized ; the Philippian jailor was bap- 
 tized in the same hour of the night in which he was 
 converted to Christ. " Behold, now is the accepted 
 time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." ^ " To-day, 
 if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." ■* 
 Again, their faith was an active one. " Let us now go'' 
 No man has really believed God's testimony until he is 
 started into action toward God. Faith, as I have said, 
 is not a speculation or a mere intellectual conviction 
 that certain propositions and doctrines are true. It is 
 the movement of the soul toward God. It has not to 
 do finally with propositions, but with the person of Christ. 
 A belief in the true doctrine will no more save the soul 
 than a belief in a bill of fare will feed the body. We 
 read over our bill of fare, and then proceed at once 
 to order and take our dinner ; so it is with faith, it 
 hearkens to the things which the Lord hath made 
 known to us, and then immediately goes to Christ. 
 Theirs was an urgent faith, for " they came with haste." 
 True faith makes no delay. " The king's business re- 
 quired haste," ^ said David to the priest at Nob, in excuse 
 
 ' Luke ix. 60. ^ Matt. x. yj. ^ 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 
 * Heb. iii. 15. * i Sam. xxi. 8. 
 
^ 
 
 252 JOY OVER THE CHILD 
 
 for being unarmed. It is no less true that the soul's busi- 
 ness, under command of faith, demands haste. He who 
 deliberately postpones his salvation to a more con- 
 venient season will probably postpone it for ever. The 
 old saying that " the road of By-and-by leads to the 
 town of Never " is a true one. Do not, I beg of you, 
 put your foot in that delusive path. Dr. Chalmers once 
 advised a young man, with whom he had been talking 
 for an hour about his soul, to go home, read a certain 
 chapter in the Bible, and then pray to God on his knees 
 for salvation. Having left the Doctor's house with the 
 purpose of complying with the advice given, he returned 
 in course of a few minutes with the anxious inquiry, 
 " But suppose I should die before I get home and have 
 time to read and pray, what then ? " " True," said the 
 astonished Doctor, standing at the open door with the 
 young man. " Get down on your knees at once and 
 give yourself to Christ." Oh, did men know what sin 
 means, what wrath means, what the loss of the soul 
 involves, they would regard the call of God as an urgent 
 one, and obey it with haste ! We note, also, that their 
 faith was reivarded\ for, having come to Bethlehem, 
 they "■found the Babe lying in the manger." So, my 
 dear brother, you will find the Saviour if, like the shep- 
 herds, you implicitly believe the testimony which God 
 has given to His Son, and immediately and with haste 
 come to Him. Jesus bade the ruler, with no other 
 warrant for his faith than His bare word, to go home, 
 assuring him that his " son lived." ^ The ruler went his 
 way, walked back over the long and dusty road with 
 nothing to cheer him but the assured word of Christ ; 
 but when he came to his house he found his son healed. 
 He who takes God at His word, and immediately and 
 faithfully obeys it, will find in his own heart and life 
 ' John iv. 50. 
 
JOY OVER THE CHILD 253 
 
 the experimental proof of the truth of the testimony 
 upon which he has acted. Do not wait for experience 
 before exercising faith, for experience is the result, and 
 not the cause or ground of faith. Finally, tlieir faith 
 was turiied into testimony. " And when they had seen, 
 they made known abroad the saying which was told 
 them concerning the Child." No man ever yet found 
 Christ and kept the secret to himself It is as much 
 a part of faith to testify as it is to believe, and he who 
 has no testimony, who does not make known abroad, 
 by word of mouth or by co-operation with others who 
 are testifying the gospel of the grace of God, has no 
 faith. A real Christian can no more keep his faith to 
 himself than a rose-tree can keep its roses from bloom- 
 ing. What is in us by faith must come out of us by 
 testimony. 
 
XIV 
 
 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young 
 Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him ; 
 and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto 
 Him gifts : gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." — Matt. ii. ii. 
 
 HITHERTO we have observed, among other things, 
 the fact that all the surroundings and circum- 
 stances connected with the Incarnation of our Lord 
 were in association with obscure, poor, and lowly people. 
 Elisabeth and Zacharias, though belonging to the 
 priestly family of Aaron, were undoubtedly poor people. 
 Mary, the mother of our Lord, was a poor young woman ; 
 Joseph, the carpenter, was a poor man ; the shepherds 
 of Bethlehem were the poorest of the poor ; the stable 
 in which our Lord was born was a poor place even for a 
 child of poverty to be born in, not to speak of it as the 
 birthplace of the Son of the Highest. Certainly these 
 circumstances do not in themselves presage any great 
 things for the Child so circumstanced. But now the 
 scene changes, and we behold wise men, great, noble, 
 distinguished, and rich, coming to Jesus, and falling 
 down and worshipping Him, and pouring out great and 
 costly treasure at His feet. We cannot but be glad that 
 this was so ; for had Jesus had nothing to do with any 
 but the poor, the gospel would have been a class gospel, 
 and not a real gospel of God, for all the world, and for 
 whosoever will. It is true that God passes by the rich 
 
 ?54 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 255 
 
 who seek riches in place of His grace, and on the 
 grounds of them declare themselves independent of God ; 
 but the rich man who comes to God with a humble and 
 contrite heart is as readily accepted of Him as if he were 
 Lazarus himself The poor have the gospel preached 
 unto them, and so have the rich. We rejoice in the 
 salvation of the publicans and sinners ; but no less do 
 we rejoice in the conversion of such men as Joseph of 
 Arimathea and Nicodemus. We are glad that Jesus 
 chose such men as Peter, James, and John to be His 
 apostles ; but we are no less glad that He also chose 
 Saul of Tarsus. Let us rejoice that the gospel is, in all 
 its fulness, for the poor ; but let us not grudge the 
 wealth of the grace of God to the rich, nor fail to rejoice 
 when we see them coming with their hearts' homage, and 
 laying down at His feet their rich gifts — gold, frankin- 
 cense, and myrrh. 
 
 The Incarnation of our Lord seemed to set the whole 
 universe into a ferment of activity. We first see the 
 angelic hierarchy in great movement : angels passing 
 down and up from heaven to earth ; not once, but many 
 times, appearing to the priest of the Temple, to the 
 maid of Nazareth, to Joseph the carpenter, to the Beth- 
 lehem shepherds. The dry bones of David's decayed 
 family are stirred again with the hope of the great 
 promises made centuries ago to him and his house ; the 
 dead and formal service of the Temple is quickened into 
 new life by the coming of Gabriel ; the routine life of 
 the land is broken up by the decree of Augustus, who 
 was used to bring about the birth of our Lord in Beth- 
 lehem ; wise men from the East, hundreds of miles away, 
 are awakened out of old superstitions, and possibly from 
 the worship of the heavens, to come in search of Him 
 who was " born King of the Jews." ^ Herod, the pagan 
 * Matt. iii. 2. 
 
256 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 king, and usurper of David's throne, is startled into 
 miserable anxiety and wicked fear ; the priests and 
 scribes are awakened for a moment from the considera- 
 tion of their ambitious and worldly schemes, to search 
 the scripture with reference to the birthplace of Messiah ; 
 and all Jerusalem was troubled with a strange and 
 portentous fear. The very heavens were sympathetic, 
 and sent forth a new and strange star in the East to 
 guide the wise men to the cradle-throne of the world's 
 Redeemer. Nor was the earth behind ; for from her 
 rich storehouse and treasure-caskets she sends gifts to 
 the young Child — gold from the earth ; and the trees 
 and shrubs of the field contribute their portion of sweet 
 perfumes and potent medicaments. It was meet that it 
 should have been so, for He is Lord of heaven and 
 earth, the Owner of all treasures and the Sovereign of 
 men and angels. 
 
 I. The Wise Men and their Star. Who these 
 wise men were and whence they came has been the 
 subject of endless speculation and controversy. Tradi- 
 tion declares that there were three of them, and has gone 
 so far as to assign names to them : Caspar, Melchior, 
 and Balthasar. They have been clothed with the dignity 
 of princes and kings, and have been assigned to Egypt, 
 India, Persia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and even Greece. 
 Of these particulars we can know nothing certainly. 
 That they came from the East and belonged to a class of 
 scholars and learned men who held high place in the 
 courts of Eastern kings, we know. They were the 
 " magi," or " astrologers," or " magicians," of the countries 
 in which they lived, and belonged to a sacred caste of 
 scholars, who made the heavens their chief study, and 
 pretended to educe from the heavenly bodies the wisdom 
 of God in regard to the destinies of men. The Egyptian 
 and Babylonian kings consulted them to solve their 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 257 
 
 difficulties, read their dreams, and foretell their destinies. 
 While, without doubt, many of these wise men were 
 mere charlatans, trading on the superstition and ignor- 
 ance of the kings and the people, such as Jannes and 
 Jambres, who contended with Moses in Egypt, and the 
 wise men who failed to read to Belshazzar the meaning 
 of the handwriting on the wall, and Simon Magus, who 
 bewitched the people of Samaria and was finally exposed 
 by Peter ; still there were, no doubt, many devout souls 
 among them, who, from the habit of constantly beholding 
 and studying the heavens, had come to read in them a 
 testimony to the glory of God, whom they believed and 
 feared. I myself have seen and conversed with some of 
 these w^ise men in the far East ; and though they were 
 ignorant of God, as we know Him through revelation, 
 yet did they know God and were His devout wor- 
 shippers. All night long they studied the heavens, and 
 all day long they meditated upon the supposed revelations. 
 I do not see any reason to doubt that these wise men 
 were men upon whom the Spirit of God had come, and 
 who, though they did not know Him as such, were 
 guided by His inward impulses. In every nation there 
 have been those who have feared God, wrought right- 
 eousness, and been accepted with Him. ^ I can con- 
 ceive that these wise men were of the same caste as that 
 of Job and his three friends. There is no reason to 
 doubt that they were princes as well as scholars. 
 
 How they came to know of the expectation enter- 
 tained by the Jews, of the birth of One who, in a 
 peculiar and divine sense, should be their King, has 
 also been a question of speculative inquiry. We should 
 remember that, at this time, the whole East was more 
 or less acquainted with the religion of Israel, either 
 from commercial contact with them, or through their 
 
 * Acts X. 35. 
 P.B. 17 
 
258 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 dispersion among the nations, or as a result of their 
 long captivity in Babylon and the wide scattering of 
 the ten tribes, who until this day are a lost people. I 
 have noted with surprise how many tenets and teach- 
 ings among the Hindus would seem to suggest that 
 their wise men were not altogether ignorant of divine 
 revelation. It is not impossible that these wise men 
 may even have possessed a copy of the scriptures, and 
 that in the course of their study they had discovered 
 the promises of God concerning Messiah. One prophecy 
 especially would interest them : that of Balaam, one of 
 their own class and caste, — " I shall see Him, but not 
 now ; I shall behold Him, but not nigh. There shall 
 come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out 
 of Israel. Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have 
 dominion." ^ Pondering these prophecies, and longing 
 for the coming of the " Desire of all nations," ^ they 
 continued their heavenly studies, until they were sur- 
 prised by the appearance of a new phenomenon in the 
 heavens. There appeared a star, burning low in the 
 heavens and propelled by some extraordinary power, 
 either internal or external. This strange sight (like the 
 burning bush in the wilderness which attracted Moses' 
 attention) naturally arrested the attention of these 
 ancient astronomers ; and as they wondered what this 
 strange appearance could portend, there came to them 
 the prophecy we have suggested, or some other one, 
 and they associated the star with the advent of the 
 long-expected Christ. I cannot doubt but that, in 
 this connection, the Holy Spirit of God gave them 
 some illumination of mind, or perhaps even communi- 
 cated to them by word, as the Angel of the Bush spoke 
 to Moses. Of this at least I am sure, God reveals Him 
 self to men along the line of their own occupations an 
 ^ Num. xxiv. 17, 19. 2 Hag. ii. 7. 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 259 
 
 thoughts, and in a way suitable to their conditions and 
 surroundings. Moses Hved in the wilderness tending 
 sheep, and there God came to him in the Fiery Bush ; 
 Joshua was a man of war, and Jehovah appeared to 
 him on the eve of the siege of Jericho, with a drawn 
 sword in His hand. The angels came to the shepherds 
 on the Bethlehem hills ; to Zacharias as he ministered 
 in the temple ; to these wise men as they were studying 
 the heavens, according to their use and wont. I am 
 sure that the devout student will find God in the line 
 of his studies, if he is really seeking Him. The phi- 
 losopher, the scientist, and the sociologist will certainly 
 find God at the end of their studies, if they have devout 
 minds. For Jesus is the treasure-house of all wisdom 
 and knowledge, and so wisdom and knowledge must 
 ultimately lead to Him, even as they originally came 
 from Him. 
 
 As for this famous star, which has been both the 
 artist's and the poet's theme — What was it? As- 
 tronomers have in vain tried to identify it with some 
 one of the known astronomical phenomena of that date. 
 When we remember that even the nearest star is so 
 infinitely distant from our earth, we must at once dis- 
 miss from our minds the thought of any ordinary 
 heavenly body. The star does not seem to have 
 actually guided them to Jerusalem from the East, but 
 only to have appeared to them in the heavens. With 
 this portent they interpreted some prophecy concerning 
 the long-expected King, which led them to undertake 
 their journey to Judaea. When they arrived in Jeru- 
 salem, and from thence had been directed to Bethlehem, 
 they were overjoyed by the reappearance of the star 
 which they had seen while in the East, and especially 
 because, hanging low in the heavens, it moved mysteri- 
 ously before them, guiding them even to the house where 
 
26o GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 the Child was. A star is a point of light in the heavens, 
 but we need not suppose that the star which they saw 
 was one of the familiar heavenly bodies. On the con- 
 trary, everything is against such a supposition. May 
 it not have been the shining of the Shekinah glory, as 
 it shone in the wilderness to Moses, and appeared alter- 
 nately as a pillar of cloud and fire to the Israelites ? 
 When the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples at Pente- 
 cost, there appeared tongues of fire, which lighted upon 
 their heads. We know that fire came down out of 
 heaven to burn up the sacrifice which Elijah offered. 
 I venture another suggestion. The whole sphere of 
 the divine activity at this time was full of supernatural 
 wonders. May not this mysterious point of light, large 
 and glorious as it probably was, have been the Angel 
 of God Himself, even as it was the Angel of the Lord 
 which appeared in the Bush which burned with fire ? 
 I am inclined to think that that which seemed to the 
 wise men a star was none other than the same Angel 
 messenger. 
 
 Speaking a moment longer of these wise men, I would 
 note that they were Gentiles. At any rate, here we have 
 the first fulfilment of many prophecies, to the effect that 
 kings and Gentiles should come unto Him and worship 
 Him, They were the advance guard of the mighty 
 host of Gentiles, both kings and commoners, who have 
 followed in their footsteps. It is a strange commentary 
 on the degenerate and absolutely carnal and worldly 
 state into which the whole Jewish nation had fallen, 
 that it was left to these foreigners to learn of the Lord's 
 coming, while the high priests, scribes, and doctors were 
 left in ignorance. They came a very long way to find 
 Jesus. The journey was tedious, fatiguing, and costly ; 
 but it mattered not. They sought the King, and to 
 find Him was of more importance than anything else. 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 261 
 
 How different it is with many among us ! To them, 
 Jesus is of Httle moment ; they take no journey, long 
 or short, to find Him, though He be not far from any 
 one of them. Though the star of God's word shines 
 day and night, hanging low in the heavens, yet will they 
 not follow it, even though wise men declare its vast 
 import. Like Herod, they may for a moment be 
 awakened by some superstitious fear of God, and are 
 troubled, like the people of Jerusalem ; yet will they not 
 seek for Jesus. These wise men are a standing rebuke 
 to the lukewarm indifference and lazy inactivity of the 
 multitude who care not to seek or even to inquire con- 
 cerning Him, though His star has been seen in the 
 heavens all the days of their lives. These wise men 
 will rise up in judgment against them. 
 
 H. The Wise Men find and worship Jesus. 
 When the wise men arrived at Jerusalem, where they 
 naturally looked for the new-born King, and could hear 
 nothing of Him, but found the whole city indifferent to 
 their inquiry, they were at their wits' end, but not at 
 their faith's end. Their persistent inquiries, perhaps 
 even from house to house, and the story they had un- 
 doubtedly told the people of Jerusalem concerning the 
 star, at last, through common fame, reached the king's 
 ears, and he summoned them before him. The chief 
 priests and scribes, who most likely had mocked these 
 Eastern strangers, now had to make answer to the king's 
 questions. In this way, they got their clue again : no 
 sooner had they started for Bethlehem than their star 
 reappeared, and guided them to the very house where 
 Jesus was. Thus was their simple and persistent faith 
 rewarded. Oh, it is a good thing for us that wits' end is 
 not faith's end ! Faith can and will persevere where wit 
 fails and breaks down. Let us follow the light we have, 
 still going on, through good and evil report, whether 
 
262 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 men will encourage or discourage us. God will not 
 forsake us, nor leave us to be hopelessly lost in the maze 
 of difficulties in which we may find ourselves. " Then 
 shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." ^ 
 
 They worshipped Jesus. Having found the young 
 Child, they forthwith fell down before Him and wor- 
 shipped Him. There was nothing royal in the appear- 
 ance of the Child, and certainly nothing kingly in His 
 surroundings. It is true He was not, when these wise 
 men came, still in a manger ; for probably, after His 
 birth, some kind and hospitable woman had taken the 
 Holy Family into her house, where they were living or 
 abiding when the wise men came. But even though He 
 were housed in a proper building, and not in a stable, 
 still His surroundings were humble, and there was 
 nothing to suggest that He " was the Son of the High- 
 est." Nevertheless, the wise men immediately fell down 
 and worshipped Him. We do not know what they said 
 in connection with that act of worship ; but I am content 
 to believe that they did much as Thomas did when he 
 first truly recognised Jesus, and fell at His feet, saying, 
 " My Lord and my God." ^ 
 
 The simplicity of their faith is somethifig worth re- 
 marking. We noted in last sermon how implicit was 
 the faith of the shepherds, who, after the Angel had 
 departed from them, said one to another, " Come, now, 
 let us go and see the thing which is come to pass." Not 
 for a moment did they doubt the fact which the Angel 
 had communicated to them. So, now, here are wise men, 
 scholars, princes, possibly kings, at least men of thought 
 and science, men who were accustomed to the magnifi- 
 cent displays of Oriental sovereignty — who, if they were 
 inclined to doubt, might be expected to question the 
 
 * Hos. vi. 3. ' John xx. 28. 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 263 
 
 reasonableness of the whole situation. Accepting im- 
 plicitly the conclusions which they had reached by the 
 concurrent testimony of the scriptures, which promised 
 the birth of this King, and the " sign " in the heavens 
 which, working with the Holy Spirit, led them to Him, 
 they made haste to confess Him. No doubt some of our 
 modern critics would say that such faith was not worthy 
 of scientific men. True, faith makes little children of 
 wise men, and it makes little children, whether children 
 in years or men of childlike spirit, to be wise. " I thank 
 thee. Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast 
 hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes." ^ 
 
 It is also worthy of note that these wise men came 
 alone. One would have thought, after all that had 
 passed at Jerusalem on account of their advent, their 
 many inquiries, their testimony, and the interest the 
 king had taken in the matter, all Jerusalem would have 
 followed them to Bethlehem. But neither high priests, 
 doctors, nor common people went to see. The wise men, 
 who believed, went alone to Bethlehem. The pathway 
 of faith is always a lonely one ; the world walks not in 
 it. They want sight, sense, popularity, applause, and 
 self-gratification. They wonder and are troubled, but 
 they reject Christ. Only men of faith take up the soli- 
 tary journey which will bring them to the Lord. Some- 
 times two or three walk together ; but, for the most part, 
 coming to Christ and following Christ is a lonely matter. 
 I do not mean that it is dreary ; but lonely, except for 
 the occasional companionship of a fellow-pilgrim. Let 
 not, then, your hearts be troubled because the multitude, 
 or even they of your own household, do not sympathize 
 with you in your search after the " young Child." Go 
 thy way to Him ; follow thy star ; and when thou shalt 
 ^ Luke X. 21. 
 
264 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 come Into the house where He is, fall down and worship 
 Him, though all the world be indifferent. 
 
 HI. They gave to Jesus Gifts. It was meet that 
 these great and rich men should have ratified their faith 
 and sanctified their worship by laying at the feet of 
 Jesus rich and costly gifts. It was the custom among 
 Orientals, when they visited a king or made allegiance 
 to a sovereign, to bring gifts in token of their subjection 
 and of their readiness to support, with all their possess- 
 ions, the cause of the king at whose feet they bowed. 
 Much more should they bring great gifts to Jesus. The 
 sincerity of their worship would have been impeached 
 had they not done so. It is at this point that many of 
 the modern disciples of Jesus fail to give real evidence 
 of the genuineness of their professed worship. The 
 reason they glwe gifts to Jesus may be found in the fact 
 that they, like the Macedonian Christians, had first 
 given themselves unto the Lord. I was once sent for by 
 a lady who had recently been converted. She wished to 
 tell me about this, and get further instruction in the way 
 of life. She said to me, " Pastor, I have given myself 
 to Jesus, body, soul, and spirit ; now tell me what I am 
 to do with my money — how to use it for Him." This 
 was true worship. I venture to say that whosoever has 
 not raised and answered that question, " What shall I do 
 with my money ? " has never been truly at the feet of 
 Jesus. How can one give himself to the Lord and 
 withhold from Him any portion of his possessions ? The 
 thing is impossible. Giving is ivorship in one of the 
 highest and best senses of the word. " What shall I 
 render unto the Lord for all His benefits unto me ? " 
 It is true that the Psalmist answers his own question 
 thus : " I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon 
 the name of the Lord." ^ But we must not suppose that 
 ^ Ps. cxvi. 13. 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 265 
 
 that act of worship was the full discharge of the debt of 
 gratitude which David owed and recognised. At another 
 time we behold him buying a yoke of oxen, to offer 
 sacrifice to the Lord. The farmer, of whom he took the 
 cattle, declined any payment from the king, saying, 
 " Let my lord take and offer up what seemeth good unto 
 him : behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and 
 threshing instruments and other instruments of the 
 oxen for wood. And the king said unto Araunah, 
 Nay ; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price : 
 neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my 
 God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David 
 brought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty 
 shekels of silver. ^ Now, this is true worship ! He who 
 worships God without cost to himself, or at the cost 
 of another — so long as he has aught to offer unto the 
 Lord — is no true worshipper. I am afraid there are 
 many worshippers (?), nowadays, who are quite content 
 to worship at other people's expense, and reserve to 
 themselves their substance for purely selfish gratification, 
 or at least for their own personal ends. The ground of 
 our acceptance with God is never that which we offer, 
 but that which our God Himself hath offered for us — 
 even His only begotten Son, whom He did not spare to 
 give for the remission of our sins ; but the proof of our 
 sincerity in worship is found in the measure of our 
 willingness to give to the Lord of such things as we 
 have. Nor is this an Old Testament conception of 
 worship ; it runs all through the New Testament as well. 
 God took notice of the genuineness and sincerity of the 
 worship of Cornelius in that his prayers and alms came 
 up together. The Corinthian Christians were apparently 
 opulent, both in spiritual gifts and in temporal wealth, 
 but they were not disposed to make free use of their 
 * 2 Sam. xxiv. 22, 24. 
 
266 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 wealth for God ; so Paul, in order to correct this grave 
 mistake on their part, wrote to them, reminding them of 
 their rich gifts and of their parsimony. " As ye abound 
 in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge, and 
 in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound 
 in this grace also." ^ " This grace " was the grace of 
 beneficence, or the conscientious and liberal use of money 
 for the kingdom of God. I do not understand how any 
 sincere man can sit in God's house, or come up to 
 worship, to pray and praise, and to be instructed out of 
 God's word, and yet not bring with him an offering — 
 according as God has prospered him — for the benefit of 
 God's treasury. I do not understand how a man can 
 honestly profess to have given himself to God while 
 withholding from God the due proportion of his property 
 which God's cause may require. The meagre, erratic, 
 and oftentimes reluctant gifts which are wrung from 
 many worshippers, only after much pleading and 
 " begging," I am afraid, do not represent the worship of 
 either grateful or consecrated hearts. 
 
 The wise men prepared their gifts before they started on 
 their journey to find the Christ. I cannot conceive of 
 them looking over their treasures and selecting anything 
 but the best they had. They came in the spirit of the 
 exhortation : " Upon the first day of the week let every 
 one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered 
 him." ^ If Christians, before they come up to the house 
 of God on the Sabbath, would pray for God's blessing 
 upon them, and then take — as a matter of worship and 
 thanksgiving — from their large or little store, whether 
 the accumulation of past years or the fruits of their last 
 week's labour, an offering for the Lord, and lay it upon 
 His altar as they present their prayers before the Throne 
 of Grace, how differently would things be with us both 
 ^ 2 Cor. viii. 7. * i Cor. xvi. 2. 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 267 
 
 in temporal and spiritual matters ! I fear a large portion 
 of the gold, silver, and copper which is offered in the 
 house of God is offered rather in deference to custom, or 
 for decency's sake, than as an act of worship to God. 
 If offerers would only set the Lord before their faces, 
 many a piece of copper would be exchanged for silver, 
 many a piece of gold would be substituted for the silver 
 piece, and in many cases bank-notes would fall into the 
 basket instead of the single shining sovereign. 
 
 The motive of their gifts is worthy of consideration. 
 These gifts were a testimony of homage to the King. 
 " We must honour Him," says good Matthew Henry, 
 " with that with which He favours us." This is in 
 accordance with the word of God, which enjoins us to 
 " honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first- 
 fruits of all thine increase." ^ No amount of sophistry 
 will allow us to escape the full force of this divine in- 
 junction. It has pleased God to tell us that He is 
 honoured by our gifts ; and since He deigns to accept 
 honour at our hands in these things, it becomes us to 
 honour Him with liberal and willing gifts. 
 
 Then our gifts are an acknowledgment tliat our wealth, 
 be it large or small, comes from God. He is the giver of 
 every good gift. He it is that sends to us the latter and 
 the early rains. He it is that has preserved our health 
 and given us strength for labour. He it is that has 
 given us wit and wisdom by which we earn that which 
 we have ; and it is He who has shaped the providences 
 which have placed wealth, by way of inheritance, in 
 some of our hands. A truly grateful heart will never 
 overlook God's grace in his substance, nor forget that 
 the silver and gold, and all the other wealth of the world, 
 is His ; and that He has reminded us that He retains, in 
 a perpetual covenant, a tenth of all for Himself, leaving 
 ' Prov. iii. 12. 
 
26S GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 us free to add to that tenth " free will offerings," accord- 
 ing to the gratitude and thankfulness of our hearts. 
 
 There is yet another reason for giving gifts to fesus. 
 Our gifts are to supply His need. This may seem a 
 strange thing to say of Him. Surely God and His Son 
 cannot be in need of money or any other gift. Are not 
 the gold and the silver His, and the cattle on a thousand 
 hills ? Can our giving enrich, or our withholding im- 
 poverish, Him ? Yet the Lord has need of our gifts. 
 In this case, for instance : It was needful for Joseph to 
 take " the young Child and His mother," and flee into 
 Egypt, and there find an asylum for Him from the 
 wicked wrath and jealous hatred of Herod. But Joseph 
 was only a poor carpenter, and such a journey and 
 sojourn in a strange country must have been quite 
 impossible for him. The gifts of the wise men supplied 
 this need, and put money into Joseph's purse for the 
 care of the "young Child." So now God needs our 
 gifts to supply the necessities of His house and the 
 means for maintaining public worship. He needs our 
 gifts in order that His poor be fed and clothed and 
 warmed in time of need. He needs our gifts to send 
 His messengers abroad, to the uttermost parts of the 
 earth, with the good tidings of His love to those who sit 
 in darkness and the shadow of death. The enlightened 
 and loving heart does not need an argument to prove 
 that God has many needs, and that in His plan of salva- 
 tion He has made Himself dependent upon His people 
 to supply these needs. He accepts the smallest gifts 
 which the poor bring to Him, and He expects large 
 gifts from the rich. These gifts He estimates according 
 to the ability of the givers. The two mites of the poor 
 widow were, in His sight, far more than the broad gold 
 pieces which the Pharisee ostentatiously dropped into 
 the treasury. I received by the same post recently two 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 269 
 
 gifts towards a cause for which not long ago I had 
 asked the offerings of the people. One was a crisp 
 five-pound note from a rich man, and the other a postal 
 order for twenty shillings from one who said she was 
 " only an ordinary servant-girl," and lamented that she 
 had not more to give to God, who had so wonderfully 
 blessed her. 
 
 The quality of their gifts is also suggestive. In the 
 first place, I note there was variety. " Gold, frankin- 
 cense, and myrrh " — money and money's worth. These 
 may stand for the various ways in which we may serve 
 the Lord. Gold alone is not what God wants. He 
 wants of all that we have ; not prayer alone, not praise 
 alone, not observance of ceremonies alone, or devotion 
 to our religious cult, but offerings of all kinds ; worship, 
 work and gifts of our substance — gifts of such things as 
 we have. Some have more time than money ; some 
 more money than time ; some more ability to work 
 unseen ; and some the gifts of utterance and organiza- 
 tion. It is accepted according to what a man hath, and 
 not what he hath not. TJiese tvise men brought of the 
 products of their own country, of the property which they 
 had. We are often very generous in our thoughts of 
 another's wealth. " If I only had brother A.'s wealth, 
 how bountifully would I give," we say ; or, " If I had 
 the ability to speak and pray that brother B. possesses, 
 how gladly would I be found in the place of prayer and 
 testimony, or teaching in the Sunday School, or serving 
 in the Mission Hall." God does not require you to bring 
 brother A.'s or B.'s gifts, but to offer such things as you 
 have. Do not distress yourself about your neighbour's 
 ability ; only be faithful in the things which God has 
 given you. Never mind what this or that man shall do, 
 or ought to do, but follow thou Christ. Then they gave 
 the best of every kind which they possessed. Gold was the 
 
270 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 best and most precious of the metals ; frankincense was 
 the most valuable of the perfumes ; and myrrh the most 
 valuable of the medicinal herbs. God complained of 
 His people in olden times, that though they brought in 
 kind what He asked them, they brought the lame, the 
 lean, and the maimed of the flock, — that which was least 
 valuable to them they thought would be good enough 
 for God ; but He rejected these gifts indignantly. Alas 1 
 that, in this gospel day, so many of us should kneel at 
 the feet of Jesus, open our chests and select with much 
 care and pains that which is of least value to give to 
 Him, or, if of good value, as little as we possibly can 
 and keep a fair pretence of conscientiousness in connec- 
 tion with the gift. 
 
 There is, no doubt, a certam symbolism in these gifts. 
 Many strained and foolish things have been said by 
 various Christian writers. Though we cannot dogmatize 
 when looking for symbolical meanings, we may rever- 
 ently seek for suggestions. Some of the early Christian 
 writers found in the three things offered a symbol of the 
 Trinity ; others, a symbol of the triple nature of man. 
 Thus the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were honoured 
 in the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh ; the spirit, 
 soul, and body of man were represented in the same way. 
 Others have seen in these three kinds of gifts a tribute to 
 the personality and ofiice of Christ. The gold was a 
 tribute to Him as King ; the frankincense was a tribute 
 to His divinity, for frankincense was the peculiar incense 
 used to burn upon the altar of praise ; the myrrh was an 
 offering to Him as man — an herb used both for medicine 
 and, especially, for the embalming of the body. Mary 
 offered her perfume, her spikenard, as an anointing for 
 His burial. Again, some have spiritualized these gifts, 
 making them stand for the three great graces of the 
 Christian life. Gold represents our faith, which, being 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 271 
 
 tried, is said to be " more precious than gold, though it 
 be tried with fire " ^ ; frankincense, being a costly perfume 
 such as Mary poured out upon the head of her Lord, in 
 no utiHtarian spirit, but just because she loved Him 
 much and wanted to testify that to Him, may represent 
 the offering of love which we are ever bringing to Him ; 
 while the myrrh, used so much for the embalming of the 
 dead bodies of loved ones, may stand for hope — that is, 
 as they embalmed the body in the hope of immortality, 
 so we bring to our Lord the profession of hope, since He 
 has brought life and immortality to life in the resurrec- 
 tion. But I cannot pursue these thoughts and sug- 
 gestions further ; they are not the main truth to be 
 drawn from the offerings of the wise men. 
 
 IV. The Place of Gifts in the Divine Economy. 
 The importance of gifts and offerings to the Lord may 
 be judged of somewhat by the large place they occupy 
 in the inspired record. I can only now allude to a few 
 instances : — 
 
 1. The earliest records show man bringing offerings to 
 the Lord : Abel from the flock, and Cain of the fruit of 
 the ground. The one was accepted because it was the 
 best, and in accordance with God's command ; the other 
 was rejected because it was less than the best, and 
 according to man's own choice and judgment. But 
 especially would I call your attention to the meeting of 
 Abraham and Melchisedek four hundred years before 
 the giving of the law, at which meeting Abraham paid 
 tithes (a tenth of all) to the priest of the Most High God. 
 This act of worship was the foundation of the law of the 
 tenth, under the old economy, and it is the underlying 
 principle of all the voluntary gifts of New Testament 
 times. 
 
 2. It is a remarkable fact that, in going out of Egypt, 
 
 ^ I Pet. i. 7. 
 
272 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 Moses insisted : " Our cattle also shall go with us ; there 
 shall not an hoof be left behind ; for therefore must we 
 take to serve the Lord our God ; and we know not with 
 what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither." ^ 
 Pharaoh had given them leave to go, with their wives 
 and little ones, but insisted that they should leave their 
 flocks and herds ; but Moses said they could not worship 
 God without substance to offer to Him, and that they 
 must take all they had, for they did not know how much 
 the Lord would require of them. At the taking of 
 Jericho, all the gold and silver, and the most valu- 
 able of the spoil, was consecrated to God, as a testimony 
 to the people, and a reminder that God expected His 
 people to consecrate their treasures and possessions 
 to His service. The first great act of the Christian 
 Church was seen in the consecration of all their property 
 to God, to be drawn upon for the common weal. 
 
 3. Ceremonially. In the Mosaic Code we find it laid 
 down that a tenth of all possessions and increase is 
 reserved as being the Lord's portion. " The tenth shall 
 be holy into the Lord." ^ In addition to the tenth, 
 which was paid at least three times in each year, there 
 came the voluntary free-will offerings, the expression of 
 thankfulness and gratitude from a grateful people. 
 
 4. Prophetically. We find this worship by gifts 
 mentioned in Psalm Ixxii., which speaks of the coming 
 Messiah. The prophet says, " The kings of Tarshish 
 and of the isles shall bring presents ; the kings of Sheba 
 and Seba shall offer gifts. And He shall live {i.e., be 
 raised from the dead), and to Him shall be given of the 
 gold of Sheba ; prayer also shall be made for Him con- 
 tinually ; and daily shall He be praised." ^ That would 
 be a bold Christian who should elect to pray for Christ's 
 cause, and render praise to Him personally, but refuse 
 
 ' Exod. X. 26. '^ Lev. xxvii. 32. ^ Ps. Ixxii. 10, 15. 
 
COLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 273 
 
 to give gold to Him. Isaiah tells us that the merchan- 
 dise and hire of the nations shall be holiness to the Lord, 
 and shall not be measured nor laid up, except for the 
 service of God ; that her sons, who have dwelt in far 
 countries, shall return with their silver and gold, and 
 offer it unto the name of the Lord their God. ^ 
 
 5. In connection with spiritual blessings. The well- 
 known passage records God's complaints against His 
 people for robbing Him of tithes and offerings ; and 
 also a great promise, on the basis of the resumption of 
 their payment of tithes and the renewal of their free-will 
 offerings, may be cited : " Prove Me now herewith, saith 
 the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows 
 of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 
 not be room enough to receive it." ^ Will any Christian 
 dare take his penknife and cut that passage out of the 
 Bible, saying that that exhortation and promise was for 
 Jews, but not for Christians ? I would not lift either my 
 hand or thought to such sacrilege. Neither can we pray 
 for the opening of the windows of heaven, and for a 
 blessing upon our own souls or upon our Church, if we 
 withhold tithes and offerings from the Lord. 
 
 V. The Blessing of Liberality. Let no one 
 suppose that God is robbing us when He asks for tithes 
 and offerings from us — for gifts of gold, frankincense 
 and myrrh — when He bids us " abound " in the grace of 
 liberality. Far from it; He designs blessings for us. 
 I need only remind you of two or three promises to this 
 effect. " TJie Lord loveth a cheerful givers ^ Now, that 
 is something which I wish above all things, that the 
 Lord should love me, or rather make me to know His love. 
 Then we are told that " tJie liberal soul shall be made 
 
 ^ Isa. xxiii. 18; Ix. 9. * Mai. iii. 10. 
 * 2 Cor. ix. 7. 
 P.B. 18 
 
274 GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 
 
 fat^ ^ There is a peculiar connection between liberality 
 in temporal things and the inflow of grace and spiritual 
 life upon the soul. Then again, liberality is the only 
 corrective of that worst and meanest of all evils, the love 
 of money. Generous giving corrects the tendency to 
 avarice, the pride of life, self-indulgence, and many other 
 hurtful lusts which come along with the love of money 
 and the ambition to hoard it up. Finally, a large liber- 
 ality will hasten the evangelization of the world and the 
 coming of Christ. But for the parsimony of the Christian 
 Church, the gospel would long ago have been preached 
 to every creature under heaven. Even now, the final 
 triumph of missionary enterprise over heathendom awaits 
 only the loosing of the purse-strings of Christendom, 
 Men and women are ready to go, taking their lives in 
 their hands, if only their brethren will supply their need 
 out of their abundance. 
 
 Whenever we come to understand that this is not a 
 sordid but a highly spiritual subject, we shall have joy in 
 giving, and the Lord will have honour. In one of the 
 rural churches of England there is a beautifully-carved 
 statue in wood, standing over the Offertory, which repre- 
 sents our Lord with an outstretched and pierced hand. 
 The gifts of the people are placed in this pierced hand, 
 and through it make their way into the Offertory. Oh, 
 could we see that outstretched and pierced hand standing 
 over and by us always, how joyfully would we put our 
 gifts into it, and how abundant would those gifts be ! 
 
 "And I have brought to thee, 
 Down from My home above, 
 Salvation full and free, 
 My pardon and My love ; 
 
 ^ Prov. xi, 25, 
 
GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 275 
 
 Great gifts I brought to thee, 
 What hast thou brought to Me ? 
 
 Oh, let thy life be given, 
 
 Thy years for Me be spent ; 
 World fetters all be riven. 
 
 And joy with suffering blent. 
 I gave Myself for thee. 
 Give thou thyself to Me ! " 
 
xy 
 
 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 "And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was 
 Simeon ; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the 
 consolation of Israel ; and the Holy Ghost was upon him . . . ." 
 — Luke ii. 25-35. 
 
 GOD has never left Himself without a witness in the 
 earth, even in the darkest times. From Abel to 
 Simeon and Anna, there have always been those who 
 have had faith, and have waited for Him and testified to 
 His faithfulness. They have often been hidden from the 
 eyes of men, and even from each other, as were the 
 seven thousand in Israel, in the days of her great 
 apostasy, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, but were 
 unknown to Elijah, who thought he alone was left to 
 uphold the true faith of Jehovah. Jerusalem was well 
 nigh as apostate at this time as Israel in the days of 
 Ahab. There was, indeed, a great pretence of religion 
 on the part, particularly, of the Pharisees ; but they were 
 whited sepulchres — hypocrites, who for pretence made 
 long prayers, robbed widows, and oppressed the people ; 
 who were punctilious in tithing mint, anise, and cummin, 
 while systematically neglecting the weightier matters of 
 the law, judgment and charity. So estranged were they 
 from all spiritual life and true knowledge of God, that, 
 when their Messiah came, they knew Him not, received 
 Him not, and never rested till they had slain Him. 
 Nevertheless, God had His witnesses in Jerusalem : men 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 277 
 
 and women, such as Zacharias and Elisabeth, Simeon 
 and Anna. These were of the common people, utterly 
 unknown in the "higher circles" of ecclesiastical and 
 social life, or, if known at all, were doubtless held in con- 
 tempt by the scribes and rulers, who had long since 
 made void the commandments of God by their traditions. 
 But the Day Spring from on high had arisen, and into 
 His light the hidden ones of God were coming, one by 
 one, to hail and greet Him. We should never despair of 
 true religion in the earth, however dark and apostate the 
 times may be ; for we are sure that God will always have 
 some true hearts among the children of men who love 
 and fear Him. I once knew of a very old and poor 
 woman, who lived in one of our depopulated little' New 
 England towns. All the young people had emigrated, 
 until there were none left in the town but a few old men 
 and women — too old to follow their children into the far 
 west, and to the gold and silver fields of the Rocky 
 mountains and the Pacific coast. The little meeting- 
 house, which used to be crowded with devout worshippers, 
 was long since abandoned and fallen into disrepair. An 
 evangelist chanced to go that way, and stopped over- 
 night with this poor woman, and he spoke to her of the 
 deserted meeting-house, asking the cause of its abandon- 
 ment. She told him that all the young people were 
 gone, and there were none left to maintain public wor- 
 ship ; that there had been no preaching in the town for 
 five years, and no assembly for prayer. " Then," said 
 the evangelist, " I suppose the Church is quite dead." 
 At which the old woman rose from her chair, and, in 
 some excitement and indignation of spirit, exclaimed 
 " Dead ! — no, sir ! The Church is not dead ; the Church 
 can never die. I am here." She, at least, was left alive 
 to testify for God and His salvation. So it was in 
 Jerusalem at this time. There were, at least, Simeon 
 
278 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 and the aged Anna, in whose hearts the holy fire of 
 God's love burned brightly, and the faith, which waited 
 for the consolation, ready to recognise and receive Him 
 when He came " suddenly to His temple." ^ 
 
 The little Court of the infant King of Israel was 
 growing apace and extending. From Nazareth to 
 Bethlehem, from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the King 
 made His progress. He had already been worshipped 
 by the shepherds ; eastern princes had come to His 
 rising, and worshipped Him with devout faith and 
 generous gifts ; and now, in His own capital city, though 
 the rulers knew Him not, these obscure disciples, who 
 had been waiting for Him with devout expectation, 
 hailed Him and gave in their glad allegiance, proclaim- 
 ing Him King and Saviour! How interesting and 
 cheering it is to note the gradual development of the 
 Kingdom of God about the " young Child " ; and won- 
 drous it is to call to mind how that Kingdom has waxed 
 great and mighty during all these long centuries since 
 He was taken, an unconscious Babe, into the arms of 
 *' good old Simeon." 
 
 I. Simeon and his Character. We do not know 
 who this old man was ; he appears but for a moment in 
 the temple to welcome the Son of God, and confess and 
 rejoice in God's salvation, and then goes back to his 
 home, and departs in peace to the glory-land from 
 whence came the Messiah to him. Tradition has at- 
 tempted to identify Simeon with Rabbi Simeon, son of 
 the famous Hillel, the father of Gamaliel ; but there is 
 no truth in this tradition. Simeon was a most common 
 name in Judaea, and there is no doubt that our Simeon 
 was just an obscure old man of the common people, 
 unknown entirely out of his own little circle, who for 
 years had been a devout but unofficial student of those 
 ^ Mai. iii. I. 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 279 
 
 prophetic scriptures which had kindled in his heart, and 
 kept burning for many years, the fire of faith and 
 expectation ; who, hoping against hope, had at last been 
 rewarded by a revelation from God " that he should not 
 see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." ^ Many 
 a great man has striven after an immortality of memory 
 amongst men, only to die and be forgotten, even in the 
 place where he lived and wrought what he fondly hoped 
 would be immortal deeds ; yet this obscure old man, who 
 was a lover of God and a believer in His Son Jesus 
 Christ, has attained an immortality which shall endure 
 while the world stands, and in the world of glory shall 
 live and shine among the greatest of the servants of God* 
 True immortality comes only to those who associate 
 themselves with the Lord's Christ. Not all who believe 
 and receive Jesus shall be known in this world, and 
 have their name preserved in the records of time ; but 
 none are too obscure to have their names written in the 
 Lamb's book of life and live and shine for ever among 
 the great unnumbered and numberless host of God's 
 redeemed ones. 
 
 I . He was pist and devout. His character was summed 
 up in these two words. They were enough, for they tell 
 the whole story of his walk before God and man. It 
 does not take many words to delineate character, for the 
 reason that all true character is concentrated in one or 
 two chief virtues, which form, as it were, the backbone 
 for the lesser ones. A just man and devout is certain 
 to be a good man, in the broad sense of the word ; a 
 kind, merciful, generous, and benevolent man. The 
 Holy Spirit draws Enoch's character in a single brief 
 sentence of four words, " He walked with God," and so 
 doing, obtained " this testimony, that he pleased God." ^ 
 What more need be said of a man than that he walks 
 * Luke ii. 26. ' Heb. xi. 5. 
 
28o ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 with God. Job was " a perfect and an upright man ; 
 one that feareth God and escheweth evil." ^ What more 
 could have been said of him to set him before us in 
 perfect picture ? " Abraham believed in the Lord," and 
 He accounted it to him for righteousness." ^ Moses, 
 great man as he was, has his portrait drawn also in 
 these few words, " He endured as seeing Him who is 
 invisible." ^ In that single line we get at the secret of all 
 Moses' power. Of Barnabas it is said, " He was a good 
 man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." ^ Nothing 
 more need be said to enable us to admire and trust this 
 companion of the Apostle Paul. Zacharias and Elisa- 
 beth have their portraits drawn together, " they were 
 both righteous before God ; walking in all the com- 
 mandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." ^ It 
 is said of one unnamed woman, whom Jesus forgave, 
 that " she loved much " ^ ; this was her character ; we 
 can easily take all the rest for granted. Now, of this 
 good old witness and friend of God, it is simply said, 
 " he was just and devout." The ingenuity of scholars is 
 sometimes taxed to compose a memorial for the tomb- 
 stone of some great and good man ; and we read epi- 
 taphs, that run into sentences of many words, in which 
 the composers have endeavoured to set before the world 
 the many virtues of the deceased. If I could be sure of 
 having this written on my tombstone with truth, " He 
 was just and devout and waited for the coming of the 
 Son of God," I should want nothing higher or better 
 said of me. It may be of some service to us if we can 
 fairly analyze these two great virtues which made up the 
 sum of Simeon's character. 
 
 The just man of the scripture is a man who is both 
 right with God and man. First of all, the just man is 
 
 ' Job i. 8. ^ Gen. xv. 6. ^ Heb. xi. 27. 
 
 *' Acts xi. 24. ^ Luke i. 6. * Ibid. vii. 47. 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 281 
 
 a justified man. " The just shall live by faith." ^ This 
 term is almost always used to describe men who, having 
 put their trust in God, have become righteous in His 
 sight. The just, or the justified, man is he who has 
 been set, or made, right with God : the Tightened man. 
 No man is by nature just with God. " How should a 
 man be just with God ? " ^ cries Job. That is, how shall 
 a man demonstrate himself to be righteous in God's 
 sight? Not by works which he has done, nor by any 
 ceremonial performed. A sinful man can only be justi- 
 fied with God by faith in Him. Abraham believed 
 God, and it was counted to him for righteousness ; or, 
 he was thereby rightened, or made right, with God. 
 The scripture speaks of the resurrection of the just ; 
 that is, of those who have been justified by the death 
 and resurrection of Christ, " who was delivered for our 
 offences, and raised again for our justification." ^ To 
 be just with God is to have been set free from all 
 obligations, to suffer for our sins under the broken 
 law, or to be declared by the judgment of God to be 
 without offence, or to be discharged from all obligations 
 to the law. I have read in English, especially in Scotch, 
 history of certain men, who had been convicted of 
 treason and put to death, as having thus been justified. 
 That is, the law was satisfied with them or upon them. 
 Now, the law of God has claims upon every man, not 
 only for original obedience, but against him, on account 
 of every transgression. He must either be justified by 
 suffering the penalty of the law, or by faith in Christ, 
 who died for him. Thus it is proclaimed by the gospel, 
 " Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, 
 that through this Man is preached unto you the forgive- 
 ness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified 
 from all things from which ye could not be justified by 
 ' Hab. ii. 4. ^ Job ix. 2. ^ Rom. iv. 25. 
 
282 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 the law of Moses." ^ In this sense, then, Simeon was a 
 just man, a man who had beHeved in God, who " justi- 
 fieth the ungodly." But justification is not alone the 
 imputation of righteousness through faith in Christ ; it 
 is also the impartation of righteousness by the Holy 
 Ghost through regeneration. Every truly justified or 
 just man is also a regenerated man ; and thus righteous- 
 ness is not only a matter of standing with God, but also 
 a matter of state as well. "If any man be in Christ, 
 he is a new creature." ^ It is this which saves Chris- 
 tianity from being a mere theoretical faith. It is a 
 religion of faith, truly, but of character as well. Not 
 with God only was Simeon just ; he was also just with 
 men ; that is, he was righteous as to his standing and 
 state before God, and just and righteous in all his re- 
 lations and dealings with men. Righteousness of char- 
 acter and actions, or practical holiness, is the final test 
 of Christian character. " Being now made free from 
 sin by justification, and become servants to God, ye 
 have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting 
 life."^ It is most important that this great truth be 
 always insisted upon. " The grace of God, that bringeth 
 salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, 
 denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live 
 soberly, righteously (or justly) and godly in this present 
 world, looking for that blessed hope (as Simeon did) 
 and the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ."* This beautiful passage may 
 serve as a commentary upon the life of Simeon, both 
 in regard to his relations to God and man. In the 
 broadest and truest sense of the word, no man can be 
 just with his fellow-man until he has been justified or 
 
 * Acts xiii. 38, 39. * 2 Cor. v. 17. ' Rom. vi. 22. 
 * Tit. ii. 11-13. 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 283 
 
 made right with God, for only hence are the springs and 
 motives of justice. 
 
 Simeon was devout as well as just. Now, devoutness 
 is that which describes our attitude towards God, with- 
 out respect to law. It is the characteristic of personal 
 relation. The devout man is the pious man, who loves 
 and adores God for Himself He is taken up with 
 admiration for all His glorious attributes ; loving His 
 holiness, His goodness, His mercy, and His truth, he 
 seeks to imitate them in his own life. He walks with 
 God in holy admiration and adoration all the days of 
 his life, as did Enoch. He beholds and admires His 
 glory in all His works, and especially in all the manifes- 
 tations of His grace toward men. He is a man of 
 humility, prayer, and praise. He loves His law, lays 
 up His precepts and commandments in his heart, and 
 seeks ever to illustrate them in his life, simply for the 
 purpose of glorifying God's holy name among men. 
 Devoutness is not a mere religious sentiment ; it is a 
 whole-hearted consecration or devotion to God and His 
 glory. I have little confidence in that form of piety 
 which expends itself in holy ejaculations, in the rolling 
 of the eyes heavenward, and the recounting of spiritual 
 ecstasies and experiences, but finds no room or time for 
 downright service, and the adorning of the doctrine of 
 God with every good work. The Pharisees were devout 
 in their pretence of prayer and in ostentatious giving 
 of alms ; but theirs was the devotion or devoutness of 
 the hollow hypocrite or dead formalist. In the midst 
 of that crooked and perverse generation Simeon lived, 
 a truly just and devout man, who in God's sight was a 
 delight and a joy. 
 
 These two traits of cJuxracter, righteousness and devout- 
 ness^ must always go together. There can never be a divorce 
 between them. They are like the two beautiful pillars 
 
284 " GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 
 
 in the porch of Solomon's temple, Strength and Beauty ; 
 upon them the superstructure of religious character 
 rests. No man can hope to be truly just who is not 
 a devout worshipper of God, and no man can be a true 
 worshipper of God unless he is truly justified with God 
 and just in all his relations and transactions with men. 
 
 2. Simeon was a man of faith. He not only believed 
 in God, but he believed and expected the things which 
 God promised and foretold. " Having seen them afar 
 off, was persuaded of them and embraced them." ^ He 
 "waited for the consolation of Israel." Being familiar 
 with the scriptures, he had discovered that God had 
 promised to visit and redeem His people by the coming 
 of the Messiah. In that Messiah he saw all the good 
 things which God had prepared for His people concen- 
 trated, and looked forward to His coming with all his 
 heart and soul. All the consolations of a true Israelite 
 are bound up in the Christ. If He come not, or be gone 
 from the soul of man, his life goes down to the grave 
 in sorrow and despair. " All the candles in a country 
 cannot make a day," says the proverb. It is only the 
 rising of the sun that can do that. " The greatest con- 
 fluence of comforts that the whole creation affordeth 
 cannot make a day of light and gladness to the heart of 
 a believer." Only the rising of the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness can do that for a soul. Simeon saw this great 
 truth, and had set his heart upon the Lord's Christ that 
 should come. He believed with all his soul that He 
 would come, and he waited and hoped and longed day 
 and night for His coming ; and had no consolation or 
 comfort in this life, or hope for the life to come, but ifi 
 His coming. It is so with the true man of faith to-day. 
 He not only believes in God, and accepts Jesus as his 
 salvation, and finds in Him his only true joy and com- 
 ^ Heb. xi. 13. 
 
""GOOD OLD SIMEON" 285 
 
 fort, but he looks for His future glorious appearing as 
 the consummation of all his hope. Take away from the 
 true believer the hope of Christ's second coming, and you 
 leave him desolate at the grave of his loved ones, 
 despairing at his own death, miserable in view of his 
 present unsanctified character, and without comfort in 
 his present trials. The true believer is one who waits 
 and watches and expects the coming of Christ. This 
 was the remarkable testimony which Paul gave to the 
 Thessalonian Christians ; they " turned to God from 
 idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for 
 His Son from heaven." ^ This was the consolation 
 which Paul offered to these same Thessalonians in their 
 great trials and bereavements, " The Lord Himself 
 shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
 of the archangel, and with the trump of God ; and the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we which are alive 
 and remain shall be caught up together with them in 
 the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we 
 ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort (console) 
 one another with these words." ^ Jesus is our consola- 
 tion as He was Simeon's ; and if we have not the faith 
 which anticipates His coming and longs for it, we have 
 not yet the true and full faith of a real Israelite. 
 
 n. What the Holy Ghost did for Simeon. 
 The office of the Holy Spirit under the Old Testament 
 dispensation was somewhat different from His office 
 under the New Testament. No doubt the Holy Spirit 
 was the author of regeneration in the olden time, just as 
 He is now ; but as the Comforter permanently abiding 
 in us, He seems not to have been known by the saints of 
 old. In this particular He was the special gift of the 
 Father to those who believed on the Son. In olden 
 times the Holy Spirit came upon certain of God's ser- 
 ^ I Thess. i. 9, 10. * Ibid. iv. 16-18. 
 
286 "GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 
 
 vants, for the purpose of inspiring them to prophesy, or 
 to speak in the name of the Lord, or to do some mighty 
 work for God, as in the case of the prophets and of king 
 Saul, who also prophesied after the Spirit of God came 
 upon him. It is also probable that, in a general way, 
 the Spirit of God rested upon the priests during the 
 time of their ministration in the Temple. We have 
 already seen how the Spirit came upon Elisabeth, Mary, 
 and Zacharias, and moved them to sing of the Lord and 
 His faithfulness. In like manner, the Spirit of God was 
 upon Simeon. It seems that, not only when he came up 
 to the Temple, but previously to this, the Holy Spirit 
 rested upon him in a peculiar way, inspiring him and 
 giving him special leadings and assurances concerning 
 the Christ and his relation to Him. In like manner, the 
 Spirit, under the New Covenant, comes upon God's 
 people, preparing and furnishing them for service, and 
 leading them into special work, as on the day of Pente- 
 cost ; and, as we are told, the Spirit interposed at times 
 to direct the course and work of the apostles. The 
 same office is exercised by Him now. When we are 
 assembled in the house of God for prayer or public wor- 
 ship, especially for preaching and hearing the word of 
 God, we are led to expect the Spirit of God sent down 
 from heaven to give energy to the word and quicken 
 every act of worship. This office, as I have said, is 
 something different from the permanent indwelling of 
 the Comforter in all believers. When the Spirit is thus 
 given at times, and in extraordinary measure to be- 
 lievers, it is, even now, called a " baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost." 
 
 In times of spiritual apostasy, when the accredited 
 servants of God have become formal and perfunctory in 
 the discharge of their duties, the Spirit retires from them, 
 and chooses out for Himself some other, and perhaps 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 287 
 
 even obscure, agents to do God's work in their stead. 
 The Spirit had long since departed from the high priests 
 and rulers of Jerusalem, and left them high and dry 
 amid the husks and dead forms of service. In the 
 meantime He had come upon Simeon and the pious 
 Anna, and now spake through them to the people, 
 revealing to them the Child Jesus. Similar movements 
 of the Spirit are of no unusual occurrence, even in the 
 history of the Christian Church. How often has a 
 spiritual degeneracy marked the public service of God 
 in connection with the regularly constituted Churches 
 and ministry ! The ordination and orders may have 
 been all regular, the services of church or cathedral 
 stately, the preaching more or less true in word ; but all 
 without the Spirit, and therefore all dead and lifeless ; 
 "strange fire," instead of fire from heaven, being the 
 only energy ; that is, the natural energy of the flesh 
 substituted for the power of the Spirit. The Church has 
 often been startled by the rising up of some obscure man 
 or woman, who has suddenly appeared, preaching the 
 gospel and leading the people to prayer, altogether apart 
 from the regular channels or appointed means of grace. 
 A cold and dead clergy have made haste to denounce 
 such proceedings as irregular and fanatical, and have 
 exerted all their power and authority to put down such 
 unauthorized proceedings. During the last century 
 there was such a manifestation of the Spirit, when the 
 Wesleys were called forth to lead a new spiritual move- 
 ment, and rescue true religion from the dead hands of a 
 formal and degenerate clergy and Church. In our day 
 we have seen the Spirit resting upon obscure, uneducated, 
 and untrained laymen, whom God called to preach the 
 gospel and arouse the Churches into a new life and 
 evangelical activity. No greater man has arisen in our 
 generation than D. L. Moody, the New England farmer's 
 
288 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 lad, who has, under God, awakened a sleeping Church, 
 and called a dead world to repentance and faith. So, 
 also, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon William 
 and Catherine Booth, and, through them, the mighty 
 Salvation Army has arisen to rebuke the indifference of 
 Church and Chapel to the perishing masses for whose 
 souls neither Church nor clergy cared. What the en- 
 dowed Church and educated clergy failed to do in the 
 performance of perfunctory duties, obscure and un- 
 educated common people have done. God is not bound 
 even to His own ordinances or to any regular order of 
 ministry. It is certain that if we, who are the accredited 
 ministers of the word of grace, and who have organized 
 regular congregations and built stately houses of worship, 
 have degenerated from spiritual life and power, God will 
 set us aside, and call to His service and help men and 
 women outside our guilds and organizations. Instead of 
 opposing and denouncing the Spirit-taught and Spirit- 
 endowed men, whether in university halls or from the 
 shop or farm, we should bless God for them, accept the 
 rebuke thus administered to us, and turn again to the 
 Lord before we be utterly cast off. The present activity 
 of the Church throughout Christendom is largely the 
 result of the revival of spiritual religion, brought about 
 by obscure men on whom the Spirit of God has rested, 
 and who, coming into His Temple again, have recog- 
 nised the Lord's Christ, embraced and proclaimed Him 
 afresh to all the world. 
 
 The secret of tJie Lord is with them that fear Him. 
 " And it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost that he 
 should not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ." ^ 
 Already the Spirit had clearly shown to Simeon, out of 
 the scriptures, that the consolation of Israel was coming, 
 and that He was not to be looked for either in the 
 ^ Luke ii. 26. 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 289 
 
 Temple and its ordinances, or in the political liberation 
 of the nation from the hands of the alien and dominant 
 power of Rome, but in the coming of the long-promised 
 personal Messiah. His mind was directed to a Person 
 rather than to an event. This in itself was a great 
 revelation, and one which we all might well covet. How 
 many of us who are in trouble and distress, either in 
 body or soul, are inclined to fix our hopes or desires 
 upon some change in our circumstances, rather than upon 
 the Lord's Christ. If we only, by some good fortune, 
 could come by some money, our poverty or temporal 
 circumstances would be relieved ; if only health would 
 return to our bodies, our physical sufferings would be 
 over ; if only our daughters could marry well, and be 
 settled in their own homes, and our sons get well placed 
 in business or professional life, our anxieties on their 
 account would be over and ourselves consoled. I do not 
 say that such things are not desirable, but they are not 
 the consolation of Israel, nor are they our true consolation. 
 Such things are but the candles which we fain would 
 light to chase away our darkness ; they are not the Sun 
 of Righteousness which God has given us, with healing 
 in His wings, to make for us a new and permanent day. 
 A true spiritual knowledge of Christ is better than 
 wealth, better than health, better than homes for our 
 daughters, better than all advantageous places for our 
 sons. When the Holy Ghost shows us that Christ is all 
 and in all, that the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
 ness is the main and first need for ourselves and our 
 children, then indeed has the consolation of Israel come 
 to us ; then may we wait with patient hope for all these 
 things to be added to us. Then shall we learn in 
 " whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content " ^ — 
 to be consoled. How sad it is to see all the world, and 
 
 ^ Phil. iv. II. 
 P.B. 19 
 
290 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 
 
 more than half the Church, looking for things and events 
 to supply them with happiness, instead of looking to 
 Him who can ease us of our burdens, relieve us of our 
 anxieties, comfort us in our sorrows, and make His grace 
 to abound to us more and more, so that we can rejoice 
 even in our tribulations. How the Holy Ghost revealed 
 to Simeon " that he should not see death until his eyes 
 had seen the Lord's Christ " we cannot tell. It is not 
 necessary for us to know. In these things of the King- 
 dom of God we are moving and living in a world which 
 " eye hath not seen nor ear heard," and which hath not 
 (naturally or by reason) entered into the heart of man, 
 but which " God has revealed to us by His Spirit." ^ 
 To the just and devout believer who waits on God these 
 revelations come. They are not made necessarily to 
 ministerial training, to high ecclesiastical dignity, to in- 
 tellectual culture, or to high, worldly, or social position, 
 but to those who wait upon the Lord. " The secret of 
 the Lord is with them that fear him." ^ 
 
 Simeon is led by the Spirit to Christ. " And he came 
 by the Spirit into the Temple," where the Child Christ 
 was brought by His parents. Whether Simeon was in 
 the daily habit of visiting the Temple or not does not 
 appear ; but on this day, and at this hour, moved by the 
 Holy Spirit, he went up to the Temple, and there found 
 the Christ for whom he had so long waited. We are not 
 always conscious that it is the Spirit who is leading us. 
 A strong persuasion of duty, or an impulse in a certain 
 direction, or even the slightest desire, may be of the 
 Spirit. Nor does the leading of the Spirit always come 
 to us directly ; He may lead us through another. In 
 any case, we are not to look for mechanical operation in 
 connection with this gracious work of God in our souls 
 and upon our minds. In one passage Paul says, " I 
 ' 1 Cor. ii. 9. ' Ps. XXV. 14. 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 291 
 
 think also that I have the Spirit of God." ^ The just and 
 devout man may count upon the leading of the Spirit 
 in his most ordinary affairs, without waiting t6 feel some 
 extraordinary impulse which he shall be able to identify 
 with the heavenly guidance. The Christian life is, or 
 ought to be, a most natural one ; that is, the Spirit does 
 no violence to the natural and ordinary working of the 
 mind. He leads us into all truth, and guides us along 
 the lines of our own judgment and desires. I myself 
 have no doubt, that in His ordinary operations, even 
 upon worldly people, it is He who leads men and women 
 to the house of God where Christ is preached. How 
 came you here this morning, my friend ? What led you 
 to this place of worship? Was it habit? was it an 
 impulse? was it some friend who suggested it to you? 
 was it a notice in some paper of the services ? was it the 
 reading of one of the published sermons, which may 
 have fallen into your hands, and awakened in you a 
 desire to come and see and hear for yourself? These, or 
 any one of these, motives may have been the guidings of 
 the Spirit. It is quite possible that, not recognising the 
 good hand of God upon you, you may not receive the 
 heavenly benefit intended. On the other hand, should 
 you say to yourself, " God, by His Spirit, has led me to 
 the house of God this morning ; I will therefore hear 
 what the Lord will say to me," I have no doubt you will 
 get a message for your own soul which will be beyond 
 price ; or you may, for the first time, have your eyes 
 open to see the Lord's Christ. Whether believers or 
 unbelievers, we are never left in blindness or darkness, or 
 without a sufficient voice from God for our spiritual 
 guidance ; if we have not that guidance, we may be sure 
 it is from our failure to attend to the leading of the 
 Spirit. Were we always careful to remember that God's 
 * I Cor. vii. 40. 
 
292 "GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 
 
 Holy Spirit is His gift to the world to convince it of sin, 
 of righteousness, and of judgment, and to His own 
 believing children to lead them in a plain path, it would 
 not be long before we became so intimately acquainted 
 with His blessed personality and leading, that practically 
 we would never go astray, and would live our life out in 
 the earth as though we were in heaven. 
 
 The Lord's Christ is revealed to Simeofi. Having led 
 him into the Temple just at the right time, he saw Mary 
 and Joseph and " the young Child." There was nothing 
 in the parents or in the appearance of the Child Jesus 
 distinguishing them from other parents and children. 
 There was no nimbus about His head, no pompous or 
 uplifted manner about Mary and Joseph, to call atten- 
 tion to them and their Infant. Nevertheless, Simeon 
 recognised at once in the Child Jesus the long-hoped-for 
 " consolation of Israel." How he recognised Him we are 
 not told. No doubt this also was of the Spirit, speak- 
 ing without word in his soul, saying, " That is He." 
 When Moses was born, his parents " saw that he was a 
 proper child " ^ ; that is, by some spiritual intuition, they 
 recognised in their son an instrument chosen of God, 
 and were led to conceal him for three months in the 
 river, so preserving the future deliverer of Israel from 
 Egypt. It is said that they perceived this by faith ; that 
 is only another way of saying that they were led of the 
 Spirit. When Mary visited Elisabeth in the hill country, 
 Elisabeth had no knowledge that the Angel had visited 
 Mary and revealed to her that she should be the mother 
 of the Incarnate Lord ; yet the moment Mary came into 
 Elisabeth's presence, the elder woman recognised Mary 
 as the " mother of her Lord," and immediately broke 
 lOut into holy, spiritual, and prophetic song. She knew 
 Mary by the Spirit. How is it that Christ, who is 
 ^ Heb. xi. 23. 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 293 
 
 preached here regularly, is fiot recognised by many and 
 is recognised by some ? In the one case the voice or 
 revelation of the Spirit is attended to, and in another 
 case God's Spirit is resisted or quenched ! " No man 
 can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." ^ 
 Flesh and blood do not reveal Jesus to men. I have 
 no doubt that the revealing Spirit is present with all to 
 whom Jesus is preached ; yet that many, who have eyes to 
 see and ears to hear, will not see and will not hear. They 
 are not seeking Jesus — they do not desire Him ; and so 
 they resist the Spirit's gracious revelation, and fail to see 
 in Jesus their Saviour. Oh ! it is a serious thing to resist 
 even the faintest conviction wrought in the soul by the 
 Spirit of God. I beseech you open your eyes, yield to 
 the Spirit to-day, and " behold the Lamb of God, who 
 taketh away the sin of the world." ^ 
 
 " The Spirit calls to-day, 
 Yield to His power : 
 Oh ! grieve Him not away ; 
 'Tis mercy's hour." 
 
 Simeon embraces the Savioiir, This good old man, 
 who had so long waited for the consolation of Israel, 
 who yielded himself to the guidance of the Spirit of 
 God and longed for God's salvation, no sooner recog- 
 nised in Jesus that salvation, than he reached out his 
 arms and embraced Him. I am sure that the same 
 Spirit who led Simeon to reach out his arms to embrace 
 the Christ also led Mary to yield her Babe up to this 
 devout and just man. No man stretches out his arms 
 in vain to Christ, nor calls unto Him and is not heard, 
 nor seeks Him who does not find Him. Jesus came 
 into this world to be sought after, and to give Himself 
 to those who come after Him. I wonder that all do 
 
 * I Cor. xii. 3. ' John i. 29. 
 
294 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 not embrace Him, for to have Him in one's arms, or in 
 one's heart, which is the same thing, is to have hfe and 
 salvation. The sweet thing about Simeon was that he 
 no sooner saw Him than he embraced Him. Like the 
 shepherds of Bethlehem, he did not wait to think the 
 matter over, to discuss all the possibilities of the case, 
 to make sceptical inquiries concerning Him of his 
 mother or Joseph, to solve the mystery of the Incarna- 
 tion, or to inquire if others had believed on Him. How 
 different in this matter is the attitude of many of you ! 
 Jesus is set forth evidently crucified before your eyes. 
 You know the story of His Incarnation and life, death, 
 and resurrection. You are thoroughly persuaded of the 
 historical truth of the things upon which the faith of 
 the Christian rests. You confess a great admiration for 
 the wonderful beauty and perfection of God's plan of 
 salvation ; you scorn the idea of being infidels, you 
 even patronize the church ; you go up to the temple 
 Sunday after Sunday, and there behold the Christ of 
 God, and yet you reach out no arm to receive Him ; 
 you find no place in your hearts for Him. On the other 
 hand, you make all possible excuses for not doing so. 
 You tell us of your difficulties, how you cannot under- 
 stand this and that ; you are ready to admire Christ 
 as a good man, as the best man the world ever pro- 
 duced, for that matter ; you are even willing to acknow- 
 ledge that He is in some sort even more than a man ; 
 but you will not receive Him as God's salvation. Alas ! 
 how perverse is the human heart, how stubborn the 
 human will, how deep the alienation which sin has 
 wrought in man ! Jesus has come from heaven ; He 
 has taken our human nature ; He is born in Bethlehem, 
 within the reach of the poorest and the most sinful ; He 
 is brought to the temple where men and women resort ; 
 He will not resist any outstretched arms of faith and 
 
''GOOD OLD SIMEON'' 295 
 
 love ; He is willing to be received by any and by all 
 sinners, and, when He is so received, He bestows life 
 and light, joy and peace ; yet will not men receive Him. 
 Turning from these cavillers, these theoretical admirers 
 of Christ, who say, " Lord, Lord," but will not embrace 
 Him, to Simeon, I find great delight in beholding the 
 simplicity and boldness of his faith. If I were not 
 privileged myself to receive Christ as he received Him, 
 I should envy him the joy of holding Christ in his 
 arms, and saying to himself, " He is mine ; God has 
 given Him to me. He has come and given Himself 
 to me." 
 
 Simeon blessed God. Having taken Christ in his 
 arms, the good old man opened his mouth and blessed 
 God. This, being interpreted, is, he thanked God for 
 the gift of His Son, in whom he found his salvation ; 
 and he confessed God and Christ, and proclaimed them 
 to all the world as his Saviour. Simeon was not 
 ashamed of his religion ; much less was he ashamed 
 of his God and Saviour. He opened his mouth wide 
 to confess and declare Him to others. I have occasion 
 often to speak of this matter of confession. It is the 
 v^ery first duty of the Christian ; and I think it is the 
 first natural impulse of the converted man to speak 
 forth the praise of God and Christ. How can we re- 
 ceive so great salvation and not tell it to others ? More 
 than that, there is a sense in which one is not saved 
 until he confesses Christ. " If thou shalt confess with 
 thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in 
 thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, 
 thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth 
 unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is 
 made unto salvation." ^ There is no record in the Bible 
 of silent believers ; faith is vocal with the praises of 
 ^ Rom. X. 9, 10. 
 
296 ''GOOD OLD SIMEON" 
 
 God always. If Christ is in the heart, He will, by 
 the very force of the joy He creates there, open the 
 lips to speak and sing of His salvation. " Out of the 
 abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." ^ It is a 
 sure sign of decadence of spiritual life in the Church 
 when the congregation leaves all the preaching to the 
 minister ; when, for the lack of confessors, the mid-week 
 service has to be turned into a lecture. Of course, 
 there is a hypocritical, pharisaical, and ostentatious pro- 
 fession of Christ, which must be as hateful to Him as 
 it is disgusting to the world ; but there is no difficulty 
 in discriminating one type of confession from the other ; 
 there is a different ring in the words which a believer 
 utters out of a true, warm, and loyal heart, from the 
 cold, metallic words of the mere formal professor or 
 sectarian. We owe it to God that we confess Him 
 before men ; we owe it to our brethren and fellow- 
 confessors that we keep not silent ; we owe it to the 
 world, which waits on our testimony for knowledge of 
 Christ ; we owe it to ourselves, for no soul can be truly 
 happy so long as it is dumb. 
 
 * Matt. xii. 34. 
 
XVI 
 
 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 " Lord, now lettest Thou 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." — Luke ii. 29-32. 
 
 OUR Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself to be born 
 of a maiden of Nazareth, to be cradled in a 
 stable, to be cared for and protected in his youth by a 
 poor carpenter, to be brought to the temple and pre- 
 sented before the Lord amidst a crowd of other children, 
 in nothing distinguished so far as outward appearance 
 from the very poorest of the children of the poor who 
 were probably that day presented. It is almost im- 
 possible not to have in mind the contrast offered in 
 this scene with the gorgeous and ostentatious cere- 
 monials recently performed in the eyes of the world in 
 connection with the baptism of the poor little prince- 
 let of a little principality in the south-east of Europe.^ 
 In the case of Jesus there was no demonstration from 
 either political or social powers, yet was He not without 
 recognition. At His birth angels had sung, shepherds 
 and wise men had worshipped, and now, in the Temple, 
 two good people had come to sing His praise as the 
 world's salvation, to encourage His parents, to give 
 hope to a Gentile world, and through Him to prophesy 
 the return of a long-lost glory to the people of Israel. 
 * Bulgaria. 
 
 2li7 
 
298 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 Matthew Henry well says that in this public recognition 
 of Jesus by Simeon and Anna there might have been a 
 happy introduction of the priests into acquaintance with 
 the Saviour, had not those watchmen been blind. We 
 might take these pregnant words of the good com- 
 mentator and pass them on to some of you, and intimate 
 that, in the event which we are considering, there is 
 a like opportunity for you to learn of the salvation of 
 God, unless you also are determined to remain blind 
 to the fact which " God hath prepared before the face 
 of all people." 
 
 Our English Bible does not intimate that the testi- 
 mony of Simeon was given in the form of a beautiful 
 song, short as to the number of its measures, but 
 weighty and beautiful in expression and contents. 
 Simeon's song was genuinely Israelitish, at the same 
 time genuinely evangelical and universal, in its glad 
 proclamation. In it we have the same theme which 
 characterizes alike the songs of Elisabeth, Mary, 
 Zacharias, and the angels. All these announced the 
 fulfilment of Israel's hopes in the birth of the Messiah, 
 and also the great mercy of God to " all people." There 
 is no one who truly recognises in Jesus a Saviour for 
 himself, but also rejoices and proclaims Him a Saviour 
 for others. The coming of Jesus made all the world 
 kin, introducing a new brotherhood among men, uniting 
 the rich and the poor, the far off and the near, in the 
 love and salvation of a common Redeemer. Oh ! let us 
 whose eyes have seen God's salvation, who have received 
 Jesus into our hearts as Simeon received Him into his 
 arms, give glory to Him, and joy to those who shall 
 hereafter believe on His name through our testimony. 
 In these words of Simeon, brief as they are, we have a 
 great body of truth concerning Jesus and the salvation 
 of God, both for the world and for His ancient people. 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 299 
 
 I. Jesus is God's Salvation. In a former sen- 
 tence we read that Simeon had long been waiting for 
 " the consolation of Israel," and that it had been revealed 
 to him that he " should not see death before he had seen 
 the Lord's Christ." In this testimony we have a greatly 
 enlarged view of Him, in the title by which He is now 
 designated. If to the hope of Simeon He had stood 
 forth as the consolation of Israel, now to his sight He 
 was the salvation of God, both to Gentile and to Jew. 
 God's promises are always great, but in their fulfilment 
 they are still greater. However great our faith and 
 hope may be, based on God's word, yet when we shall 
 come to see Him face to face, and enter upon our in- 
 heritance, the end of faith and the fruition of hope will 
 be more glorious, " Mine eyes have seen Thy salva- 
 tion." Ordinarily we attach to the word " salvation " a 
 significance which sets before us some benefit which we 
 receive through faith in Christ ; and this is a quite 
 correct application of the word, for it is commonly used 
 to indicate the benefits of God's grace to us, such as 
 forgiveness, justification, sanctification, eternal life, and 
 the place and condition of glory into which God has 
 promised to bring us. In the passage before us we have 
 a yet fuller meaning. It carries with it not only the 
 idea of a benefit conferred, but the means by which the 
 benefit is conferred ; and I fancy, also, the further 
 thought, that both the substance and the means of 
 salvation are alike in Him who is called " Thy salva- 
 tion." 
 
 I am afraid there is too common an idea prevalent 
 that salvation is a mere gift which God bestows upon us 
 through Jesus ; that it passes over to us, and may be 
 held and enjoyed quite independently, after we have 
 received it, and apart from Christ. Take the matter of 
 forgiveness. How many Christians think of forgiveness 
 
300 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 as a something which they have received in themselves, 
 coming, indeed, through Christ, but yet held apart from 
 Him. Sometimes they lose the sense of it, and are 
 ignorant how to regain this lost feeling. Now, as a 
 matter of fact, forgiveness is not something in us, but 
 something in Him ; and we have no forgiveness apart 
 from having Him. " In whom we have redemption 
 through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." ^ He is our 
 forgiveness, just as He is our hope. If we have not 
 Him in our hearts, then we have neither forgiveness nor 
 hope. So in the matter of eternal life. " And this is 
 the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, ajtd 
 this life is in the Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; 
 and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." ^ 
 Or take another striking notification of .this great truth, 
 that salvation is in Christ, not apart from Him — that 
 He is both the instrument and the substance of salvation. 
 When Martha replied to Jesus' statement that her 
 brother Lazarus should live again, she said, " I know 
 that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last 
 day." ^ Now, her thought was, that at the last day a 
 great event would take place, in which her brother and 
 all other faithful Israelites would be raised again. The 
 resurrection, as an event, was the object of her hope ; 
 but Jesus at once corrected her on this point, and said, 
 I can almost imagine somewhat sharply, though ten- 
 derly, " / am the resurrection and the life." * " There is 
 no resurrection apart from Me. He that hath Me hath 
 resurrection, and he that hath not Me hath not resurrec- 
 tion. He that believeth on Me (that is, he that receiveth 
 Me) shall never die ; and though his body may die, yet 
 shall that also live again." Nor is this great truth a 
 later statement of the New Covenant ; it was known to 
 the spiritually-minded believers of the Old Testament. 
 ^ Eph. i. 7. * I John v. 11, 12. ' John xi. 24. ^ Ibid. xi. 25. 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 301 ' 
 
 " Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust and not be 
 afraid ; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my 
 song ; He also is become my salvation." ^ Now, in this 
 beautiful passage from Isaiah, it is clearly seen that it is 
 no blessing from Jehovah, no mere communication of 
 grace, not even forgiveness and regeneration, which 
 enters so largely into our salvation, but Jehovah Him- 
 self If only we could get this great and important 
 truth clearly into our heads, and deeply into our hearts, 
 we would be delivered from all those fluctuations of ex- 
 perience, those dreadful alternations of hope and fear, 
 of peace and unrest, which so many Christians suffer, 
 because they are for ever looking within themselves to 
 find some experience of spiritual blessing, which they 
 regard as the sign or the substance of salvation. The 
 eye of a true believer, then, is always fixed upon Him ; 
 the faith of a true believer always embraces Him ; for 
 in Him, and in Him only, have we salvation. For this 
 reason we preach not forgiveness of sins, but " we preach 
 Christ," and " in Him the forgiveness of sins " ^ and all 
 other blessings. The real question is not, Have you 
 received the forgiveness of sins ? or, have you received 
 the new birth ? but have you received Christ — God's 
 salvation ? for He, " of God is made unto us wisdom, 
 and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." ^ 
 I beseech you, do not fail to grasp this great truth ; it 
 will save you much spiritual distress, and make your life 
 infinitely more happy and strong. He who is always 
 looking internally for evidence of salvation will always 
 be more or less in doubt and fear ; but he who is ever 
 beholding Christ and embracing Him will always be full 
 of assurance and strength. 
 
 I. This salvation God has prepared before the face of 
 all people. It is true, at that moment of time, Jesus 
 ^ Isa. xii. 2. * Eph. i. 7 ; Luke xxiv. 47. ' i Cor. i. 30. 
 
302 SIMEOJSrS TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 had not been set before all people ; but Simeon saw in 
 Him the salvation to be set before all people. He was 
 prepared for that end. " Behold," said the angel to the 
 shepherds, " I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
 shall be unto all people." This was the far-reaching 
 purpose and preparation of God, in sending His Son 
 into the world. " The grace of God," said the Apostle 
 Paul, " which bringeth salvation unto all men, hath ap- 
 peared." 1 " And L if I be lifted up," saith Jesus, " will 
 draw all men unto Me." ^ " Go ye into all the world, 
 and preach the gospel to every creature," ^ was His last 
 command to His disciples ; for He knew Himself to be 
 the Saviour of all men. Is not this a most blessed 
 truth ? " God our Saviour, who will have all men to be 
 saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." * 
 Simeon grasped this world-wide gospel the moment he 
 beheld Christ, the Holy Ghost being upon him. The 
 very sight of Christ burst off all the bonds of narrow 
 and selfish Judaism from his mind and heart, and in 
 embracing Jesus he embraced the whole world in his 
 arms. Whom Christ loved, he loved ; whom Christ 
 came to save, he instantly rejoiced over and rejoiced 
 with. No religion can be true which does not com- 
 prehend all people in its privileges and provisions. I 
 used often to urge this truth upon the Brahmins of 
 India, to whom I preached so much and often a few 
 years ago. They were much impressed by this state- 
 ment, and much perplexed by the fact that in their faith 
 there was no hint of enlargement beyond the bounds of 
 their own caste, and there could be no enlargement 
 without destroying the very foundations upon which 
 their faith rested. With the faith of Israel it was 
 different ; for, from the beginning the blessings promised 
 
 * Tit. ii. II. * John xii. 32. ^ Mark xvi. 15. ■* i Tim. ii. 4. 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 303 
 
 to Abraham were also promised to all nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 There is yet another thought here. Not only is the 
 salvation of God come for all people, but it " is prepared 
 before the face of all peopled By this we understand that 
 the great fact of our Lord's coming was not a concealed 
 one, or one revealed to a select few alone. It is true 
 that His incarnation, birth, and early childhood were 
 known to but few at the time, but His whole ministry, 
 the great manifestation of the grace of God to men, and 
 especially the great consummation of His redemptive 
 work on the cross, was public and before the face of the 
 world. Jesus was no hidden Saviour. Publicly bap- 
 tized, He forthwith began and continued His ministry 
 in all the highways of life, in the synagogues, in the 
 public ways, in the Temple, and in all the cities and 
 villages of the country. He did not hide Himself, He 
 did not do His mighty works "in a corner,"^ but 
 " manifested forth His glory " ^ to men. Theosophists 
 tell us that in the heart of Thibet are a company of 
 " Masters " who never manifest themselves to the world, 
 nor allow the world to come to them ; all we hear of them 
 is some mysterious rumour of their esoteric wisdom and 
 occult powers. But for centuries God had been pre- 
 paring Jesus, and preparing all people for His coming, 
 by prophecy, by types and shadows, and now by making 
 His advent public before the eyes of all people. If any 
 man shall ask, " Where dwellest Thou ? " the answer is 
 prompt and frank, " Come and see." ^ It is the business 
 of every preacher to " show Him forth." Who He is, 
 whence He came, whither He is gone, and how He shall 
 come again, is an open secret which all who will may 
 read and understand. 
 
 2. He is a light to the Gefitiles, and the glory of Israel. 
 ^ ^''ts xxvi. 26. * John ii. 11. ^ Ibid. i. 39. 
 
304 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that Simeon, a devout Israelite, 
 should first see in Christ a light to the Gentiles. We 
 might at best have thought he would have seen in Him 
 first the glory of His people Israel, and after that a 
 light to the Gentiles. This generous old man, trained in 
 all the exclusiveness of his nation, yet saw by the Holy 
 Spirit, and was prompt to proclaim, that to the Gentiles 
 first the Light should come, and after that His glory 
 promised to Israel. Guided by the Holy Spirit, beseems 
 to have caught the full meaning of all Isaiah's prophe- 
 cies concerning Him, both as to Jews and Gentiles, and 
 to have perceived that the glory could not come to the 
 ancient people of God until after He had lightened the 
 Gentile world, and through their means. He may in 
 this relation also have foreseen that He would first be 
 rejected by His own people, and only after the calling 
 in of the Gentiles recognised as their Messiah. It is 
 wonderful how a sight of Jesus enables us to understand 
 the scripture, and, as it were, to foresee the processes 
 and method of God's grace to the world ! In any case, 
 Simeon pledges Jesus, the salvation of God, to the 
 Gentile world, according to the word of God, which says, 
 " The people that walked in darkness have seen a great 
 light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of 
 death, upon them hath the light shined." ^ Not only is 
 Jesus so promised to the Gentiles, but we who receive 
 Him are likewise pledged in Him to the heathen world. 
 Let this be for ever understood by us, that we cannot 
 receive Jesus as our salvation without consecrating our- 
 selves to carry the light of the gospel of the grace 5f 
 God to the uttermost parts of the earth, for God hath 
 said of Him, " I will also give Thee for a light to the 
 Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the 
 ends of the earth." ^ 
 
 ' Isa. ix. 2. * Ibid, xlix 6. 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 305 
 
 On the other hand, even though Simeon foresaw the 
 rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, and the first early 
 dawn of the Light to the Gentile world, and was generous 
 enough to concede and proclaim that great fact, he did 
 not, therefore, forget that God's covenant with His ancient 
 people was one which could never be broken ; and 
 though for a time they must take a second place, yet 
 in due course would He become " their glory." The 
 history of Israel is a tragic one, full of romance and 
 pathos. For two thousand years they have been " scat- 
 tered and peeled," ^ a by-word and a hissing among all 
 nations, hated, persecuted, oppressed, and hunted down 
 almost as wild beasts ; yet have they been marvellously 
 and miraculously preserved : broken off in their unbelief, 
 still God has not forsaken them, but has ever kept them 
 intact and unmixed among the nations where they have 
 been fugitives ; and He will graft them in again. It is 
 a shame that we Christians have not been as generous 
 toward Israel as Simeon, the devout Israelite, was gen- 
 erous toward us at the time of our Lord's coming. I 
 should as willingly be found setting myself against the 
 preaching of the gospel to the heathen, as joining in the 
 bitter, unscriptural, and unchristian persecution, or even 
 neglect of Israel ; for God shall yet be the glory of 
 Israel, whom He hath called " Israel My glory," ^ " be- 
 loved for the fathers' sake."^ It seems strange to me 
 that Christian people, and to this day so-called Christian 
 nations, such as Germany, Austria, and Russia, have 
 never ceased to persecute Israel. Even here in England 
 and in America, where there should exist more generous 
 Christian feeling, it is the fashion to sneer at the Jews, 
 and set them down as a forsaken and inferior race. 
 Have we forgotten the teaching of the great apostle ^ con- 
 cerning Israel, whose fall from Christ and diminishment 
 ^ Isa. xviii. 2. ' Ibid. xlvi. 13. ^ Rom. xi. 28. * Ibid. xi. 17-20. 
 
 P.B. 20 
 
3o6 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 have been the means of our salvation and enrichment ? 
 and his warning that if through their unbeHef they were 
 broken off that we might be grafted into the olive tree, 
 by faith they may and will be grafted in again ? and by 
 our unbelief we may in turn be broken off, even as they 
 were ? Let us, then, take heed not to be high-minded 
 against Israel ; for God is able to graft them in again, 
 and He will. Shall we, then, despise those whom God 
 loves, and for whom He has prepared glory? Nay, 
 rather shall not we, who have been made rich through 
 their fall, be made still richer through their recovery ? 
 Our mission of love and salvation should go hand in 
 hand to the far-away heathen, and to our Israelitish 
 benefactors. Did Israel miss their glory by rejecting 
 Christ and seeking after it in political supremacy and 
 carnal greatness ? Let us take warning from them, that 
 we lose not ours in the same way. Is it not now true of 
 many that they are turning away from Christ for the 
 glory, wealth, and honours of this world ? What is thy 
 glory, my brother, my sister ? Is it thy wealth, thy 
 high social position, or thine earthly fulness, of what- 
 ever kind ? Nay, but if thou hast any glory at all, it is 
 that thou hast Christ for thy salvation. " God forbid 
 that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto 
 the world." ^ Hath the Holy Ghost revealed this to 
 thee as He revealed it to Simeon of old ? and if He has, 
 art thou reluctant to accept the revelation, to embrace it 
 and proclaim it, as did Simeon ? Lord, open Thou our 
 eyes that we may behold our true glory ; save us from 
 Israel's terrible mistake, and grant unto us Simeon's 
 clear-sighted faith and warm-hearted, generous devotion 
 to Thy Salvation, " In these brief, pregnant sentences 
 (of Simeon's song of faith) is contained the substance of 
 ' Gal. vi. 14. 
 
Snf EON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 307 
 
 the history of future ages. Neither the hackneyed in- 
 ventions of legend, nor any preconceived dogmatic views, 
 have any share in the composition of this joyous lyric." 
 
 II. Simeon's Happy Departure. No man is ready 
 to die until he has seen and embraced God's salvation ; 
 but as soon as he has seen and embraced that salvation 
 he is ready and happy to die whenever God shall call 
 him. Simeon was an old man, and there was nothing 
 left him to live for ; therefore he was not only ready, but 
 anxious to depart and be with God. It was his mission 
 and work to keep faith alive in the world till Christ 
 came ; now that work was finished, he wanted to be 
 done with this world. Surely this is a just and happy 
 view of life and of the value of this world. Even when 
 he was still in the midst of his unfinished work, Paul 
 saw and recognised the truth, that to depart and be with 
 Christ was far better ; and only repressed his longing to 
 be with Christ by the knowledge that his work was not 
 yet done, and that it was more needful for him to live 
 than to die. Fair and beautiful as the world is, much to 
 live for and love in it as there is, it is still an intolerable 
 world without God, in which life is not worth living, if 
 Christ be not in our hearts our life and hope. To them 
 who know not Christ, but to whom the world offers its 
 choicest pleasures and gifts, life is but a fitful dream, 
 from which they shall be awakened by the rude shock 
 of death ; then whose shall all these things be for which 
 unbelieving men and women have lived ? To those 
 who know Christ, even if from them the world has with- 
 held its gifts and pleasures, it is a glorious world in 
 which to live and serve the Lord's Christ, and bring 
 salvation to them who are lost, and light to them who 
 sit in darkness. For this cause we choose life, and, for 
 the time being, are content to postpone our departure 
 " to be with Christ " in His glory. But this is our com- 
 
3o8 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 pensation : Having seen and embraced the Lord's Christ, 
 we are ready to depart in peace whenever He shall say, 
 " Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you before the foundation of the world." ^ 
 
 In Simeoft's " iitmc dimittis " we have several very 
 beautifiU and helpful snggestions concernifig death. 
 First, it is but a departure to be with Christ. To those 
 who know not the mystery of death and life, as revealed 
 in Christ, death must always be a catastrophe — an 
 experience to be dreaded and striven against, or, at best, 
 yielded to without hope. To many of the ancients in 
 the heathen world, who sought to console themselves 
 with a stoical philosophy, death was welcomed as an 
 annihilation, and so an escape from the troubles, bur- 
 dens, and disappointments of life ; but it is given to but 
 a few to cultivate to such a point the philosophy of 
 annihilation. To some in our own time, without God 
 and Christ in the world, driven to desperation by sick- 
 ness, pain, sorrow, despair, or dishonour, death is a 
 refuge from a present evil, through which they take the 
 chance of a better condition in whatever the hereafter 
 may bring. This is the philosophy of despair, venturing 
 on an unreasoning and desperate chance. Not many 
 have the mad courage to face — not to say to court — 
 death in this suicidal fashion. To the Christian, as I 
 have said, death is the departure of the soul from the 
 body to be with Christ — it is but a change in the con- 
 ditions of life. It is neither extinction of being, nor a 
 long and unconscious sleep, nor the absorption of our 
 consciousness in the mysterious cause of consciousness. 
 To those who are ready for it, it is an hour of departure 
 to another and better country, where a crown of 
 righteousness is already prepared, and waiting to be be- 
 stowed, as Paul conceived it It is the leaving behind 
 ^ Matt. XXV. 34. 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 309 
 
 us of old age, if we have lived long ; of infirmities and 
 of sickness, if we are so afflicted ; of troubles, anxieties, 
 and burdens, of sorrows and disappointments, if these 
 have been our lot ; and especially of sin, temptation, 
 and those bitter spiritual conflicts which have been such 
 a sorrow and strain upon us in this present evil world. 
 It is the coming into the glorious sunlight of a perfect 
 day and an eternal age ; where sorrow and sickness are 
 no more ; where all tears are wiped away ; where the 
 wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest ; 
 and especially where there is no more sin ; where we 
 shall see Jesus, and be like Him ; where the saints of all 
 ages are gathered ; and where all the prophecies of great 
 and good things in the constitution of our own being, 
 and in the word of God, shall have perfect fulfilment. 
 This is what death is to the Christian ; this was what 
 departure meant to good old Simeon, May it be ours 
 so to apprehend death, and to live rather in the anticipa- 
 tion than in the fear of it 
 
 Second. To Simeon death was a peace/id departure. 
 Simeon uttered his beautiful prayer while holding 
 Christ in his arms. Jeremy Taylor has told us that 
 " holy living makes happy dying." No doubt ; but it is 
 not holy living that is the ground of peaceful dying. 
 Simeon's eyes were beholding Jesus, his arms were 
 embracing Him. This was what made death to him so 
 peaceful and happy. With Christ in our hearts, and a 
 hymn of praise to Him on our lips, death can in no wise 
 terrify us, but rather lure us on to a better world. We 
 are often told that many people die peacefully who are 
 not Christians ; that men and women who have all their 
 lifetime rejected Christ have died quietly and at peace ; 
 nay, that men who have lived violently and wickedly 
 have died without fear and in perfect repose. Even 
 granting that such may be the case, there is a vast 
 
3IO SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 difference between such negative peace and the joyous, 
 triumphant gladness with which Simeon anticipated 
 death. The wicked have " no bands in their death." ^ 
 There is a vast difference between the dead conscience 
 of an unbeliever and the purged conscience of a Chris- 
 tian ; between the stolid indifference of confirmed 
 unbelief and the joyous anticipation of faith. The 
 unbelieving and wicked may die without fear, and in a 
 peace which comes from ignorance or a delusive philo- 
 sophy ; but it has never yet been recorded of a wicked 
 or unbelieving man that he died triumphing in the 
 assured hope of a blessed immortality. During a recent 
 storm, in which a ship was wrecked and many lives lost, 
 a boat's crew, searching for possible survivors in the 
 darkness of the night, on the face of the storm-tossed 
 sea, were directed in their search by the sound of sing- 
 ing, which triumphed over the noise of " many waters." 
 Following the strangely sweet strains, which came 
 faintly to their ears over the angry sea, they came upon 
 a woman clinging to a floating spar, not expecting 
 rescue, who was yet singing in a sweet, strong voice : — 
 
 "Jesus, Lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly. 
 While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high ; 
 Hide me, oh ! my Saviour, hide, till the stonn of life is past ; 
 Safe into the haven guide, oh ! receive my soul at last." 
 
 Did you ever hear of an unbelieving scientist or philoso- 
 pher dying thus ? Did you ever hear of a blaspheming 
 infidel or a sneering scoffer passing thus joyously into 
 eternity ? " Do not pray with me," said a dying 
 Christian to his minister, who had come to his death- 
 bed, " but praise God with me. The time for praying is 
 past, for God has answered all my prayers, and now the 
 time for praising has come." Such is a Christian's 
 
 ^ Ps. Ixxiii. 4. 
 
SIMEOJSrS TESTIMONY TO JESUS 311 
 
 death with Christ in his arms, a song of joy in his heart, 
 and a glorious testimony to God's faithfulness on his 
 tongue, and Heaven in his eyes. Who would not wish 
 to die so ? 
 
 III. Simeon's Benediction and Prophecy. Dur- 
 ing the time which Simeon held the Child Jesus in his 
 arms and sung his glorious lyric, Mary and Joseph stood 
 by, doubtless in speechless wonder, at these things which 
 were spoken of Him ; for though they knew His divine 
 origin, and had been told that He was the Son of the 
 Highest, and that He should save His people from their 
 sins ; though they had heard from the shepherds of the 
 communication of the angel concerning Him ; and 
 though they had but recently received and welcomed 
 the wise men who had come to worship Him, they were 
 yet more and more astonished at these things which 
 Simeon spoke. The fulness of Jesus had not yet entered 
 into their comprehension. Is it not so to-day with us ? 
 After all we know of Him, have we yet come to know 
 all about Him ? are we not daily finding out new and 
 wondrous things concerning Him ? shall the time ever 
 come when there is not yet more glory to be revealed in 
 Him and through Him to us ? Beholding the wonder 
 and amazement depicted on their faces and in their 
 attitude, Simeon turned to them and blessed them, and 
 prophesied to Mary of her divine Child, and of her 
 coming sufferings because of Him. Is it not strange 
 that he did not speak to Joseph? He knew that he 
 was not the Child's father, but that Mary was His 
 mother. This also he knew by the Holy Ghost, which 
 was still upon him. 
 
 I. Jesus is set for the fall and rising again of many 
 i?i Israel. Undoubtedly Simeon, whose prophetic gifts 
 were strengthened by his familiarity with the ancient 
 scriptures, and now quickened by the Holy Ghost, simply 
 
312 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 reproduces Isaiah's thought, that Jesus was a rock upon 
 which believers take refuge, but whereon unbelievers are 
 broken. This famous figure of Isaiah is frequently 
 referred to in the New Testament, both in the gospels 
 and epistles ; this alone would mark the thought as an 
 important one. Simeon foresaw that at first the Jews 
 would stumble at Christ, reject Him, and so fall from 
 the favour of God and all Messianic blessing ; but 
 looking further down the vista of time, he foresaw the 
 coming again of the rejected people to Jesus, their 
 Messiah, and that by faith in Him they would rise again. 
 Apart from its strict Jewish application, it is equally 
 true that Jesus is a stone of stumbling and a rock of 
 offence to many, who either reject Him by simple, con- 
 temptuous unbelief, or by hurling themselves against 
 Him in pronounced and vicious opposition. All such 
 will be ground to powder ; they will be beaten back and 
 broken as the waves of the sea, dashing themselves 
 against some great rock in the midst of the waters. To 
 those who are drawn to Him as a Saviour He becomes 
 a gracious Sanctuary ; but to those who are full of hatred 
 and opposition He becomes swift and terrible doom. 
 Behold the poor sinful and penitent thief on the cross 
 beside Him, appealing to Him for salvation, and being 
 graciously and instantly accepted ! On the other hand, 
 behold Jewish rulers leading the multitude of the nation 
 against Him, crying, " Away with Him ; away with Him ; 
 crucify Him ! " They indeed put Him to death, but the 
 recoil upon themselves of their own attack upon the Son 
 of the Highest, " this rock of offence," was so great that, 
 until this day, they have not recovered from the shock. 
 If past history may be any guide to us, apart from the 
 declaration of the scriptures, he is a fool or a madman 
 who sets himself in open and hostile opposition to Jesus, 
 the Son of God. But those who appeal to His mercy 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 313 
 
 and grace, however low and undeserving they may be, 
 shall be lifted up and saved. Truly, the gospel, as well 
 as the Saviour Himself, is a savour of life to some, and 
 death to others, according as they reject or accept Him. 
 Long ages ago, the writer of the second Psalm set forth 
 to Israel, and to all the world, the vanity of attempting, 
 either singly or by combination, to oppose the Lord's 
 Christ. " Why do the heathen rage, and the people 
 imagine a vain thing ?"^ God has set His Son on His 
 Holy Hill, and no powers of earth or hell can unseat 
 Him. Jehovah has published His decree, and it cannot 
 be broken. He laughs at all the vain and puny attacks 
 of men against His Christ ; He forewarns them that 
 continued resistance is not only useless, but that it will 
 end in their being broken to pieces as a bit of potter's 
 clay smitten by an iron rod, or dashed upon the ground ! 
 Yet His compassion entreats them to be wise and be 
 reconciled to the Son, lest they perish by the way. In 
 the same spirit, the great apostle warns his hearers 
 against despising the Lord, for by so doing they shall 
 " wonder and perish," for whom Christ died, and the 
 grace of God was expended. All these things are as 
 true for us in this nineteenth century as for the Jews two 
 thousand years ago. 
 
 2. Jesus is a sign spoken against. Lasting neutrality 
 in regard to the Lord's Christ is an impossibility. " He 
 that is not with Me is against Me."^ What a strange 
 power there is in Jesus : drawn to Him, either in hate 
 or love, all men are ; meet Him, in some way and in 
 some spirit, all men must. He still is a sign spoken 
 against ! Men cannot reject Him with impunity. What 
 has not been said against Jesus? He has been called 
 impostor, devil, wine-bibber and glutton, deceiver, dis- 
 turber of the peace ; His holy incarnation has been 
 ^ Ps. ii. I. ^ Matt. xii. 30. 
 
314 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 made the occasion of scandal against the purity of His 
 mother ; He was betrayed and mocked, clothed with 
 garments of false royalty, scourged, derided, spat upon, 
 scorned, and crucified. Nor were the Jews alone in 
 their speech against Him. Gentiles made a sport of 
 His gospel, and even crucified an ass in mockery of 
 Him, and, holding it forth to the people, exhorted them 
 to believe. He has been spoken against by the cold 
 sneering patronage of so-called cultured and scientific 
 unbelief ; written down as a dreamer of dreams, a well- 
 meaning enthusiast, gifted with some rare and beautiful 
 qualities of mind and heart, but guilty, either in ignor- 
 ance or wickedness, of suffering Himself to be imposed 
 upon the credulous as the Son of God. Common and 
 coarse profanity of wicked men couple His holy name 
 and cross with their vulgar and indecent speech. He 
 is, indeed, even now " a rock of offence and a stone of 
 stumbling " ^ to many. Born in a stable, this Holy 
 Child became a " sign " of poverty and reversal of the 
 whole worldly policy of men. To follow Him in prin- 
 ciple and in fact is to bring reproach upon any man or 
 woman. To despise the world, to lay up treasure in 
 heaven rather than on earth, to seek out and save the 
 poor and the outcast, to give the fellowship of love 
 to the lowly and the sinful, to sacrifice pleasure and 
 ambition to the kingdom of God, and to seek righteous- 
 ness rather than self-interest, is often to expose oneself 
 to the uncharitable sneers of the world. Thus, even in 
 His disciples, faintly as they set forth the virtues of 
 His character, He is still a sign spoken against. " Mar- 
 vel not," He said, " if the world hate you." ^ It hated 
 Christ before it hated His disciples, it has spoken 
 against Christ and His disciples from the beginning 
 until now. So notorious was this, that our Lord has 
 ^ Isa. viii. 14. ^ i John iii. 13. 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 315 
 
 pronounced a woe upon His followers when all men 
 speak well of them ; for, if they do, it is apt to be a 
 sure sign that we are not in close fellowship with Him. 
 
 3. He is the revealer of the thoughts of many hearts. 
 It is easy to ascertain the attitude of any man toward 
 God by bringing to him the test of his relation to Jesus. 
 He who is appointed to be judge of the secrets of 
 men's thoughts acts as a revealer of their thoughts 
 even before the judgment is set. Simeon seemed to 
 see under the vain and ostentatious pretence of religion 
 kept up by the Pharisees, — their boasted devotion to 
 God, and all their loud-sounding professions, — their true 
 thoughts, ambitions, avarice, pride, love of praise, and 
 utter worldliness. He saw also when Jesus came, 
 meek and lowly, preaching the Kingdom of God, with 
 its inner purity of heart, its outward charity, and its 
 utter self-denial, that both He and His teaching would 
 bring to light the true inwardness of the pretentious 
 religionists of His day. In this sense He was a re- 
 vealer or exposer of their inward life. He demon- 
 strated to them over and over again that God was 
 not their Father ; but that, under pretence of worship- 
 ping God, they were doing the very works of the evil 
 one. No wonder they raged against Him, and thus 
 manifested their true character ! Jesus did not make 
 the evil, but He revealed it. 
 
 4. He divides His siifferings with those whotn He loves 
 and who love Him. In parenthesis, Simeon tells Mary 
 that she also shall suffer ; that a sword shall pierce 
 through her own heart when she shall see her Son 
 everywhere spoken against and hated by those whom 
 He came to save. He no doubt meant that, as time 
 went on, and the conflict about Jesus increased and 
 intensified, her mother-heart would be wounded, as if 
 pierced by a sword, at all that He must suffer. How 
 
3i6 SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 
 
 proudly Mary bade the people at the marriage at Cana 
 to look on Him and His power ! How utterly broken- 
 hearted she was at last when led away from the cross 
 by John ! And long before the end came there is 
 evidence that Mary had become a great sufferer on His 
 account. We see her pathetically trying to get Him 
 out of the crowds and away to some quiet place. How 
 she must have suffered through hearing all the evil and 
 hateful things said about Him by the Jews ; the light 
 and idle scoffs of the vulgar, common people ; how her 
 heart must have shuddered when she heard of the 
 attempt of the Nazarene mob to hurl Him over the 
 cliff! Her mother's heart was pierced by the false 
 charges brought against Him by the Jews ; by the 
 awful treason of Judas, one of His friends ; even by 
 His own apparent coldness on one or two occasions — 
 coldness toward her, not in fact, but in appearance, 
 because she did not understand. Well, dear friends, it 
 is given unto us also not only to believe on Him, but 
 to suffer for Him ; and all those who live godly in 
 Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. All of us know 
 something of this, though not much, because we are 
 not close enough to Him in spiritual kinship and fellow- 
 ship. Yet we have felt something of it. We have 
 suffered in beholding our own children, and others dear 
 to us, slighting and rejecting Him, sometimes even 
 joining in the bitter word of His enemies against Him ; 
 we are grieved to see so great a part of the world turn 
 away from Him ; to see many who should, by education, 
 parentage, and training, be His friends, turning their 
 abilities and learning, their position, and all against 
 Him. We grieve to see His professed friends so cold 
 and heartless in His service ; we grieve for His sake 
 at the meagre support and sympathy His own Church 
 gives to the great interests of His kingdom, to thg 
 
SIMEON'S TESTIMONY TO JESUS 317 
 
 spread of His gospel, to that benevolence in connection 
 with His whole mission to man which He has enjoined 
 upon us. Truly the sword which pierced Mary's soul 
 is almost a universal one — it has come down throucrh 
 the ages ; but we should rejoice, not indeed at the cause 
 of the suffering, but that, since the sword must pierce, 
 the Lord has "counted us worthy" to bear a portion 
 of the pain. 
 
XVII 
 
 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 " Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of 
 the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up 
 to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had 
 fulfilled the days, as they returned, the Child Jesus tarried behind 
 in Jerusalem ; and Joseph and His mother knew not of it. But they, 
 supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey ; 
 and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 
 And when they found Him not they turned back again to Jerusalem, 
 seeking Him. And it came to pass, that after three days they 
 found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both 
 hearing them, and asking them questions." — LUKE ii. 41-46. 
 
 WE are indebted to Luke for this beautiful glimpse 
 into the childhood of Jesus. It is difficult to 
 imagine any one writing a spurious account of Jesus, 
 leaving out all details of His child-life and characteristics ; 
 but in these few graphic lines Luke tells us all that we 
 know. From the time He returned from Egypt, till this 
 visit to Jerusalem with His parents, we only know that 
 He " grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ; 
 and the grace of God was upon Him." ^ That He was 
 a lovable and obedient Child we cannot for a moment 
 doubt. That He was tenderly loved, carefully taught in 
 the scriptures, and anxiously watched over by both Mary 
 and Joseph, must be equally true. It is difficult not to 
 try to fill up the gap of twelve years with imaginings 
 concerning Him. The second-century Christians did 
 
 ^ Luke ii. 40. 
 
 318 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 319 
 
 undertake, in their spurious accounts of the Lord's 
 infancy and childhood, to supply us with details, whidh 
 are wholly wanting in the inspired records. The stories 
 they invented of His precocity, power, and wonderful 
 works ; of His healing the sick, and even raising the 
 dead ; of puerile miracles performed in connection with 
 His intercourse and sports with other children, are all 
 too absurd and incongruous to deserve any serious 
 attention. Their only possible use to us is, by contrast, 
 to bring out the strong and simple lines with which 
 Luke has drawn the story of Jesus' child-life, which, 
 though it is so meagre, yet seems to give us a very vivid 
 impression of it. The characteristics intimated are so 
 strong and beautiful, that we may well say in His case 
 that the Child Jesus was the Father of the Man Jesus. 
 
 So far as we know, Jesus was never out of the lovely 
 valley of Nazareth from the time He was about two 
 years of age until this visit to Jerusalem, on the attain- 
 ment of His twelfth year, when, according to the custom 
 of the Jews, He was taken to Jerusalem, there to be 
 offered and confirmed as a "son of the law." There 
 were three great yearly feasts held at Jerusalem, at 
 which all the males of the land above twelve years old 
 were required to attend, except the very old, and the 
 bodily and mentally infirm. The old men, the women, 
 and the children stayed at home whilst the men went 
 up to the feasts. Sometimes the women accompanied 
 their husbands, but it was not compulsory, nor even 
 usual, for it was necessary that they should remain and 
 look after home matters whilst the men were absent. 
 It seems, however, that Mary was in the habit of accom- 
 panying Joseph, if not to all, at least to one or two of 
 the annual feasts. She would, of course, go on this 
 occasion, when her Son was to be presented to God, and 
 formally received as a " son of the law " into the adult 
 
320 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 community of the Jews. We can well imagine with what 
 keen delight such a boy as Jesus must have been would 
 anticipate this visit. From His earliest childhood He 
 had been taught the scriptures ; He knew the history of 
 His people well, though He had never seen the temple, 
 or witnessed its solemn ceremonial. He was doubtless 
 familiar with the description of it all, for His mother 
 would have instructed Him in these things, and filled 
 His young mind with every detail of worship, expound- 
 ing to Him all the significance of the ceremonies, the 
 spiritual, as well as the ceremonial, meaning of the feasts 
 — what they celebrated and what they pointed to — until 
 His heart, patriotic and thoughtful, would be full of all 
 these things. Now the time had come for Him to go up 
 and Himself take part in it all. Who can tell what 
 swelling thoughts were even now arising in the mind 
 and heart of this wonderful Child ? The consciousness 
 of His Divine Sonship, though far back in the bud, was 
 yet arising, and His heart was wondering, longing, and 
 expecting great things when He should stand in the 
 " House of the Lord." All along the way, as the 
 Nazareth party of acquaintance and kinsfolk, some 
 hundreds in number, journeyed toward the Holy City^ 
 their talk would be of the gathering of the people, the 
 feast to be celebrated in commemoration of God's mighty 
 deliverance of His ancient people from "the house of 
 bondage " in Egypt ; the slaying of the paschal lamb 
 and the sprinkling of the blood ; the passing of the 
 death angel through the land, and the wonderful preser- 
 vation of the children of Israel from the awful stroke 
 that fell upon Pharaoh and every family in Egypt. No 
 doubt the present condition of Israel would also be 
 discussed, and the much-longed-for coming of the Messiah 
 would form the subject of conversation among the party 
 to which Mary and Joseph belonged. That the Child 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 321 
 
 Jesus would be interested in all this talk, who can 
 doubt? and that from day to day on the journey His 
 interest would quicken, and His imagination take fire? 
 How He must have enjoyed the first glimpse of Mount 
 Zion, crowned with the glorious temple, as they drew 
 near to the city; and with what intense joy and gladness 
 must He have entered the precincts of that holy house 
 of God for the first time — " My Father's house," which 
 He came to know and love, so well in later days ; over 
 which He wept when He thought and spoke of its 
 coming destruction, with the downfall and scattering of 
 " His own," who should reject Him. For seven days 
 Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were daily in the temple. He 
 had been taken to the doctors to be instructed in the law, 
 and prepared for His confirmation ; the sacrifices had 
 been offered ; the ceremonials had been observed, and 
 Jesus was now formally introduced into the political 
 economy of Israel. The eighth day had come, and the 
 party from Nazareth had been for the last time in the 
 temple, and were on their way back to their northern 
 highland homes, when, at the close of the day, Mary 
 and Joseph were suddenly awakened to the distressing 
 fact that Jesus was nowhere to be found. 
 
 I. Losing Jesus. How they came to lose Jesus 
 from their company is not related ; but it is not difficult 
 to imagine how it might come about. We. may suppose 
 the company all travelling by themselves, making their 
 final visit to the temple ; Jesus, likely, with the other 
 boys of the party ; and, without too carefully watching 
 His every movement, Mary took it for granted that He 
 would keep with them. He was such a Son as might 
 be fully trusted to do nothing imprudent.^ or voluntarily 
 to pursue any course of action which, would ^\\^ trouble ; 
 so trusting Him fully, they weje not anxious about Him. 
 He may have stayed behind out of intense interest, and 
 
 P.B. 21 
 
322 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 so got separated from His party ; or He may have gone 
 once more to the court where He had such delightful 
 talks with the doctors, just to bid them " good-bye," 
 and returning, found His party gone ; or, starting with 
 them, He may have been moved by some impulse of 
 the Spirit to return to the temple. It may have been 
 at this very point when the consciousness of His divine 
 relationship to His Father first took place, and, setting 
 aside all lower or subordinate relations, He may have 
 said to Himself, " My place is in My Father's house." 
 With this impulse and consciousness, it is not unlikely 
 that He would seek out the doctors again, to hear more, 
 and to ask them some questions of His own. There 
 seems to have been no blame attached to Mary, unless 
 it was in a kind of over-confidence in Jesus, which led 
 her to be less watchful than usual. In any case, the 
 fact remains that she lost her Son, as we often now lose 
 our Saviour. From this circumstance we may draw 
 several suggestive and, I hope, profitable lessons. 
 
 I . They lost Him, and " knezv it not!' For a whole 
 day they journeyed back toward Nazareth, unconscious 
 of the absence of Jesus from their company. That He 
 was not actually under their observation all the day long 
 was not a matter of moment, for they supposed Him to 
 be somewhere in the company, most likely with the 
 other boys, and were not troubled ; indeed, they prob- 
 ably took no thought of the matter of His absence. 
 Now, in this we have a hint of one of the commonest 
 and most distressing Christian experiences. We lose 
 Jesus out of our lives and out of our thoughts, and are 
 unconscious of the loss. We not only do not know that 
 He is not with us, but we do not know how or when He 
 parted company with us, or rather, when we parted 
 company with Him ; for had Mary been steadfast not 
 to go up to Nazareth without Jesus, she would not have 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 323 
 
 left the temple until He was with her ! It was she and 
 Joseph who parted company with Jesus, rather than He 
 who parted from them. Have we never been in this 
 case ? Awakened to the fact, at the end of a day's 
 journey, that Jesus is not with us ; that we have left 
 Him behind, and have been going on all day long, or, 
 perhaps, for a much longer period, not knowing that we 
 were walking alone. Were I to put the question to all 
 and each of you this morning : Is Jesus with you ? 
 Has He been with you all the days of the past week ? 
 Was He with you in your business, or in your plea- 
 sures ; in your journeys and your home comings ? Has 
 He come up with you to the House of God this morn- 
 ing? or have you come up alone, not knowing that 
 Jesus is absent from your heart and life ? Did you 
 make inquiry before you left home this morning whe- 
 ther the Lord was with you ? Did you say to Him, as 
 Moses said to the Lord in the wilderness, "If Thy pre- 
 sence go not with me, carry us not up hence " ? ^ Is it 
 your habit daily, before leaving home for business, or 
 before entering on the occupations of each day, at home 
 or abroad, to make sure that Jesus is with you ? Or, on 
 the other hand, have you fallen into the habit of going 
 on " not knowing," and perhaps not caring, whether the 
 Lord is with you or not ? — I fancy, if close inquiry 
 should be made for Jesus in our hearts to-day, many of 
 us would be surprised to find that He is not with us, 
 and that we did not even know that He was not. In 
 any case, I pray God for you, and for myself, that this 
 day may not come to an end until we have ascertained 
 whether the Lord is with us. I pray God that as a con- 
 gregation we may not take another day's journey with- 
 out assuring ourselves of His presence in our midst. 
 Oh, the Christless Christian lives ! Oh, the Christless 
 * Exod. xxxiii. 15. 
 
324 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 Christian Churches ! Going about our private business, 
 or carrying forward the externals of our congregational 
 life and work, and yet without Jesus in our midst ; and, 
 worse still, without knowing that He is not with us. 
 Lord, bring us quickly to know our misfortune and 
 loss ! 
 
 2. They took it for granted that Jesus was in the 
 midst. " They supposing Him to be in the company," 
 went on their way without making sure. There is a 
 sense in which it is lawful for us to take for granted the 
 presence of the Lord with us, at home or abroad ; for 
 He hath said, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
 thee " ^ ; " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world " 2 j " Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be 
 not dismayed ; for I am thy God." ^ But these assur- 
 ances may all be verified, and yet it may be true that we 
 have lost Jesus^at least, the consciousness or glad assur- 
 ance of His presence — lost touch with Him, ; dropped out 
 of communion with Him ; and this we have suffered by 
 carelessly taking it for granted that He is with us. Now, 
 spiritual life is not to be taken for granted, and daily 
 walk cannot be made in the Spirit by simply assuming 
 that we have the Spirit We ought not to be content 
 with supposing that God is with us. We ought to know 
 and make sure of it. No doubt many of us have often 
 satisfied some anxious thought concerning our spiritual 
 life by " taking it for granted " that we are " all right " 
 with God, and that He is with us. We have gone to 
 sleep taking it for granted that all was well with us ; we 
 have awakened in the morning, and gone to business, 
 or taken up daily duties and pleasures, " taking it for 
 granted " that Jesus is with us. This is the fatal way 
 in which so many have fallen out of real communion 
 with God, even when not abandoning the formalities of 
 
 ^ Heb. xiii. 5. * Matt, xxviii. 20. ^ Isa. xli. 10. 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 325 
 
 private religion or public worship ! It is neither safe nor 
 wise to " suppose " that Jesus is with us, even when we 
 " say our prayers " or read the Bible ; we should pause 
 long enough to make sure that He is with us. This 
 kind of carelessness, too common among Christians, 
 leads to backsliding in heart, and even to the shipwreck 
 of much faith. When we start on a journey, even for a 
 day, we do not take it for granted that we have money 
 enough to pay our fare and expenses while away ; but 
 we make sure that there is money in our purses. Should 
 we be more careless in the matter of making sure that 
 we have Christ with us in our daily journeys through 
 life ? Surely not. Oh, beware of taking too much for 
 granted in Christian life ! Make sure ! Make sure ! 
 
 How the Laodicean Christians lost Jesus out of their 
 lives we are left to infer. Yet, no doubt, if any of 
 those professors who were " rich and increased in goods, 
 having need of nothing," ^ had been charged with having 
 lost Jesus, they would probably have resented it. At 
 least, if they had lost the Christ they had preserved 
 Christianity ! Their churches were well built, their at- 
 tendance regular, and, perhaps, all their services well 
 conducted. But how did they lose Jesus ? Surely the 
 story is too graphically told to need much exposition. 
 They lost Him in their too eager pursuit of " riches and 
 goods." They took it for granted that all was well, and 
 in their eagerness to get on, they lost Him, and fell into 
 that most deplorable of all spiritual conditions : They 
 were *' neither cold nor hot," but " lukewarm," and ready 
 to be spued out of God's mouth in disgust. Are any of 
 you, my dear hearers, in similar danger ? Are you 
 eagerly following your business and professional in- 
 terests, intent on increasing your store of riches and 
 pleasures, and in the meantime taking it for granted 
 ^ Rev. iii. 17. 
 
326 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 that Jesus is with you, yet living without Him ? Better 
 call a halt and take a look about you, and into your 
 own hearts, and see if Jesus is there. You have not, 
 perhaps, purposely left Him behind, but are you sure 
 that your way in the world is one in which He could 
 walk with you ? Perhaps a subtle consciousness that 
 He could not go your way has led you to close your 
 eyes to the fact of His absence. If He is not in your 
 own heart and life, you may have comforted yourself 
 with the thought that at least He is " in the company," 
 among your spiritual " kinsfolk and acquaintance," or 
 in the Church ; and you count that as equivalent to 
 being with you. But is this safe ? Surely not ! No 
 doubt, as we sit at the Lord's table, Jesus is " in the 
 midst," and many are rejoicing in fellowship with Him ; 
 but it does not follow that He is with every one who 
 partakes of the elements. It is possible that He may 
 be in a compmiy and yet not with each individual of that 
 company. In any case, let us not take His presence too 
 easily " for granted." 
 
 3. They lost Him while full of conversation about most 
 holy things. Going back from the feast, the conversa- 
 tion of the little caravan would doubtless be taken up 
 with all they had seen and heard in Jerusalem. We 
 may assume that it was interesting and profitable con- 
 versation ; and yet it was while thus engaged they lost 
 Jesus. Have not many others lost Him in the same 
 way ? We can become perfunctory in religious service 
 and work, and lose Jesus out of all the work and forms 
 of religion, and so lose Him out of our lives, even while 
 we are most eagerly discussing religious matters. We 
 may be so taken up with religious things and conversa- 
 tion that we forget Jesus altogether. How often we 
 " say our prayers," read our Bibles, go to church, and do 
 relieious duties without so much as a touch or a brccith 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 327 
 
 of His presence ! All has become dry and cold and 
 formal. We go our way and talk on, and forget Him ! 
 How much vehement religious controversy and theolo- 
 gical discussion there is, in which Jesus is not ! We may 
 know this by the dryness of the discussion, by the acri- 
 mony of the debate ; and yet we may be upholding 
 orthodoxy right valiantly all the time ! We may be so 
 interested and absorbed, even in sermons, that we have 
 taken no thought to make sure that Jesus is with us, and 
 so it comes to pass that our gospel has come to you 
 (sometimes) " in word " only, and not " in power." I 
 have known some Christians so taken up and absorbed 
 in their own experiences that they could talk of nothing 
 else — telling of the life of faith they have attained to, 
 the second blessing which has come to them ; the bap- 
 tism of power which has fallen on them ; — and all the 
 time it has seemed that there was but very little mani- 
 festation of Jesus. There is grave danger along these 
 lines. The one thing I wish to urge upon you, and 
 upon myself as well, is that, whether journeying or 
 abiding, whether engaged in what we call secular busi- 
 ness, or in religious service, whether our conversation be 
 religious, social, or political, whether we be immersed in 
 " affairs," or deeply engaged in the outward things of the 
 kingdom of God, we must not take it for granted that 
 Jesus is with us, but make sure of it. Do not leave it 
 till night to see if He is near ; and especially do not 
 start for the day till we are sure that Jesus goes with us. 
 Joseph and Mary's great mistake was in starting, that 
 sad and memorable day, " not knowing " that Jesus had 
 tarried behind. Do not close your Bible in the morning 
 until you are sure that God the Lord has spoken some 
 word of peace, comfort, and strength to your soul ; do 
 not cease to pray until the spirit of prayer has stirred 
 your hearts as well as the form of prayer moved your 
 
328 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 lips. Say, if you are not sure, as Jacob said to the 
 Angel, " I will not let thee go except thou bless me," ^ 
 Had Mary known that Jesus was left behind, do you 
 suppose she would have gone without Him ? Certainly 
 not. Make haste and look about you, and make certain 
 that Jesus is with you. 
 
 n. Seeking Jesus. When the close of the day 
 came, and preparations were being made for the night 
 encampment, Mary began to wonder where Jesus was, 
 and perhaps for the first time seriously remembered 
 that she had not seen Him all the day long. Perhaps 
 she reproached herself for this apparent neglect, and yet 
 excusing herself that she supposed all the time He was 
 somewhere in the company. In any case, she now 
 seriously bethought herself of Him, and began to look, 
 hoping she might find Him near at hand. It is at the 
 even-time, after the business or pleasure of the day is 
 over, and the shades of night begin to fall around us — 
 when the company is dispersed, the excitement of the 
 day is past, and the time comes to retire — that the soul 
 looks for Jesus. It is when we kneel at our bedsides, or 
 retire for the evening worship, either alone, or with the 
 family, that we want our Lord. We want to ask His 
 protection during the night, to rehearse to Him the 
 doings of the day, and to confess to Him the errors and 
 mistakes, if not the sins, of the day. If at such a time 
 we become conscious that we are not in spiritual touch 
 with Him, anxiety and distress seize us, and we become 
 alarmed at His absence, or rather, our departure and 
 absence from Him. I can hardly conceive of a real 
 Christian closing the day without making inquiry for 
 the Lord ; of going to sleep, like a mere animal, without 
 a thought or a prayer. I can understand how many 
 Christians have grown cold and formal, and have been 
 * Gen. xxxii. 26. 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 329 
 
 content with going through the form of prayer, and 
 afterwards falling asleep, not knowing that they had had 
 no interview with Jesus ; but I know more about coming 
 to the end of the day, and being by that very fact sud- 
 denly awakened to the thought that all the day long, 
 even though engaged in religious work, I have had no 
 real intercourse with Jesus. If the thought of Him has 
 been with me at all, I have taken it for granted that He 
 was near by, and so passed on, until night came, and 
 prayer time came with it, and then there has been an 
 absence which I have felt — and I have known that 
 somewhere between the beginning and the end of the 
 day I have lost Him. Has it ever been so with you ? 
 Was He with you last night, at the close of the day, and 
 of the week ? Are you sure He was with you ? Or did 
 you let the night pass without inquiring or satisfying 
 yourself as to His presence ? Did you have any real 
 intercourse with Him ? Did you sleep with the bene- 
 diction of His presence upon you ? Perhaps it did not 
 occur to you that He was not present. This, indeed, 
 would be a sorrowful confession. Can you conceive 
 Mary, even though she took it for granted all through 
 the day that Jesus was in the company, letting the night 
 close in finally without satisfying herself that her Son 
 was with her? Is He less dear to you than to her? 
 Has He not said of us, of you and me, " Whosoever 
 shall do the will of My Father in heaven, the same is 
 My brother, and My sister, and My mother " ? ^ How 
 then shall we allow a night to pass without making such 
 inquiry for the presence of Jesus, as Mary did, unless 
 indeed we are not really His, and He is indifferent to 
 us ? 
 
 I. Tkey were tJioroughly alarmed ivhen they failed to 
 find Him. This we can readily understand. All through 
 
 ' Mark iii. 35. 
 
330 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 the day they had been at peace, not knowing their loss ; 
 but now alarm seized upon them when they found Him 
 not where and when they expected Him. And well 
 they might be, for to them Jesus was more than a Son : 
 He was the Son of the Highest committed to their care 
 — He was God their Saviour ; for, though I do not sup- 
 pose they fully understood even then the whole mystery 
 of their relation to Him, yet they knew that He was 
 God's Son, and the Saviour of men. More than that, 
 they loved Him tenderly and truly, and the thought of 
 having lost Him filled their souls with grief and fear. 
 Is He not all this to us ? It is possible for us to go on 
 from day to day in comparative peace, so long as we 
 " suppose Jesus to be in the company," and not far from 
 us in any case ; but to be awakened to the fact that we 
 have lost Him is so alarming and distressing that I can 
 think of no other calamity so great. Have you never, 
 upon some need arising, turned to your purse for some 
 money and found that you had lost it, or, at least, could 
 not find it ? Were you not distressed and alarmed, es- 
 pecially if it happened to contain your all, or, in any 
 case, a large sum of money ? Did you say to yourself, 
 " Oh, never mind ; no doubt it will turn up ; I will not 
 trouble about it now " ? Have you never, upon need 
 arising, turned to your desk to get some important 
 paper and found it missing ? and were you not dis- 
 tressed and alarmed over the revelation of that sudden 
 loss ? Did you go on quietly about your business, and 
 treat it as a matter of no moment ? Not many months 
 ago I gave my housekeeper — a most careful and syste- 
 matic woman — two cheques for housekeeping purposes. 
 Several days passed, when she came to me in greatest 
 distress, saying, " Oh, Doctor Pentecost, I have lost your 
 cheques — I have not an idea where they are ; I had 
 them in my bag yesterday, but to-day, when I went to 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS il\ 
 
 get them cashed, to pay some bills, I could not find 
 them — what shall I do ? " and tears of vexation, distress, 
 and sense of loss were in her eyes. Do you suppose 
 that either she or I pooh-poohed the matter, or said, 
 " Never mind : they will no doubt turn up in due time." 
 Not a bit of it. Search was at once made for the lost 
 cheques ; every possible consideration was given to all 
 the incidents of the last two days and to each detail, if 
 by any inquiry we might discover how the money might 
 have been lost ; nor was the search given up until, after 
 some days, the lost cheques were found — and then there 
 was rejoicing ! Shall we lose our Lord's presence for 
 one day, and not be alarmed and unhappy ? 
 
 2. They search for Him among their kinsfolk and 
 acquaintance. This was naturally their first thought. 
 They did not keep their loss to themselves, saying, 
 " This is our affair, it is not worth while making a com- 
 motion about it ; we will say nothing — wait and inquire 
 privately until, perchance, we shall find Him." No ; 
 immediately they began to inquire and search among 
 all their company, and spread abroad their anxiety. 
 But, alas ! they found Him not in the company ! No 
 one had seen Him that day ; perhaps each had sup- 
 posed, like Mary, that He was somewhere near. This 
 brings to my mind the story of the fair and beloved 
 spouse of the Song of Solomon, who lost her beloved, 
 and went about the streets of the city inquiring of the 
 daughters of Jerusalem and the watchmen for Him, and 
 charging them, if they found Him, to let her know. 
 Naturally, if we fail to find our Lord when we have lost 
 Him out of our lives or communion, we turn to those of 
 our own company and make known our distress, if haply 
 they may be able to tell us where He is. But how dis- 
 tressing it was to Mary and Joseph to find that none of 
 the company could tell them of Jesus ! They had all 
 
332 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 lost Him. Surely nothing is more disappointing than 
 to apply to some brother Christian for spiritual help, and 
 find that he can give us none ; that he, too, is living 
 without personal communion with Christ ; — and yet this 
 is often so — those whom we most trust are perhaps in 
 the same case of religious and spiritual declension. 
 What a picture this presents ! The possibility of a 
 whole Church or congregation being without Christ in 
 the midst ; and yet it is a possibility. It was so at 
 Laodicea. The whole congregation had gone on with- 
 out Christ in their worship and work. Did He not 
 come knocking at the door ? And they scarcely knew 
 that He was not within. Oh ! my friends, if you have 
 lost the Saviour from your life, do not delay, even 
 though you may be disappointed in your search among 
 other believers ; seek for Him everywhere ; do not be 
 ashamed to confess your loss, or to acknowledge your 
 fault and carelessness in losing your Lord, and if you 
 find Him not among your own company, then go fur- 
 ther and seek for Him till you do find Him, though you 
 have far to turn back. 
 
 3. Tliey went back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 
 The story gives the impression that they did not wait 
 till the morning, but turned back at once ; and I should 
 think that was likely to be the case, for I can hardly con- 
 ceive of Mary and Joseph being in any condition of mind 
 to tarry for sleep. In any case, they turned back ; no 
 doubt sad and sorrowful enough, besides all their anxiety. 
 Their love was aroused, and their Son never seemed 
 so precious to them as now that they had lost Him. 
 This turning back was the right thing to do. To go 
 forward without Jesus, especially when we have become 
 aware of our loss, would be madness, not to say the 
 crowning act of impiety. How is it with you, my 
 brother, my sister ? Having become conscious of loss 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 333 
 
 of spiritual life and fellowship with God, have you gone 
 on your way, not turning back again to find that which 
 you have lost ? Do you suppose you will find Jesus by 
 going forward without Him ? Surely not ! You must 
 turn back upon the way you have come without Him, 
 even though you forfeit your journey, or hinder your 
 business ! Better never make a journey than to make 
 it without Jesus ; better never do another day's business 
 than to do it without Jesus. Any pleasure pursued in the 
 way without Him, especially if you know that He is not 
 with you, will turn to apples of Sodom in your mouth, 
 and the journey will end in disaster ; any money gained 
 without Him will be a curse to you. Hear the word of 
 the Lord, " Return, ye backsliding children, and I will 
 heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee ; 
 for Thou art the Lord our God." ^ " Return unto Me, 
 and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." ^ 
 "If thou wilt return, saith the Lord, return unto Me ; 
 then shalt thou not remove." ^ I might multiply these 
 exhortations of the Scriptures to those who have lost 
 their way, or departed from the Lord — but these are 
 enough. Oh, thou wanderer from Christ ! Oh, thou 
 backslidden one ! Oh, thou self-deceived Christian, who 
 thinkest Christ is with thee when He is not, Awake out 
 of thy fatal dream, and return to Him whom thou hast 
 left behind. Follow in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph, 
 who, anxious and sorrowing, retraced their steps. They 
 did not set store by their rest, or their affairs ; they did 
 not count the cost of lost days — to them the one thing 
 imperatively needful was to find Jesus ; like Judah and 
 Israel they returned " going and weeping " ^ to seek the 
 Lord whom they had left. 
 
 III. Finding Jesus. The third day after they had 
 lost Him, they found Him in the temple, where they 
 ' Jer. iii. 22. ^ Ibid. iv. i. ' Ibid. iv. i. * Ibid. 1. 4. 
 
334 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 had left Him. One day they travelled from Jerusalem 
 and away from Jesus, not knowing that He was not 
 with them ; the second day they spent in returning ; 
 the third day they joyfully found Him whom they had 
 lost and sought sorrowing. Those two days must have 
 been heavy days of sorrow for Mary and Joseph. No 
 days are so heavy as those in which we are consciously 
 without the Lord, while desiring Him with all our 
 hearts ; especially when we are conscious that we have 
 lost Him through our own fault or carelessness. How 
 heavy the penalty we have to pay, oftentimes, for a day's 
 carelessness. That one day without Jesus cost them 
 two days of distress ! It is always much easier to lose 
 conscious communion with God than it is to regain that 
 lost fellowship. One sin, one day of self-indulgence, 
 one outbreak into mere worldly pleasure, one false 
 transaction with men for selfish gain, one deliberate or 
 even thoughtless neglect of duty, oftentimes causes us 
 days and even weeks of sorrow and trouble, before we 
 find ourselves once more in the old loving standing 
 with God. Will it be too pointed a question if I ask 
 you whether you are on the way from Jerusalem with- 
 out Jesus ? whether you are sacrificing His fellowship 
 for some pleasure or profit ; for some self-indulgence 
 in that which you know to be wrong? I have known a 
 man to lose Jesus for the sake of indulging bitter and 
 unloving thoughts toward a brother ; I have known a 
 man to lose Jesus for the sake of getting gain, by the 
 practice of some method in which he could not hope for 
 Jesus' presence with him ; I have known more than one 
 Christian to lose Jesus for the sake of some indulgence 
 of appetite, or some pleasure of the flesh which was, at 
 least, doubtful — giving themselves the favour of the 
 doubt rather than giving it to God, and making inquiry 
 of Him before committing themselves to their desires. 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 335 
 
 I do not here speak of those who deliberately forsake 
 the Lord, but of those who do so carelessly, or with 
 half-closed eyes " go their way," not anxious to be sure 
 of the Lord's presence and approval. When they have 
 awakened, they have found the way back long and 
 weary enough ; but better had it been for them, a 
 thousand times, that they had returned and sought 
 for Jesus till they found Him, than to have accepted 
 their loss and gone on their way without Him. 
 
 They fotmd Jesus where they lost Him. They had 
 without doubt last seen Him in the temple, with the 
 rest of their company, when they went up, on the 
 morning of their departure, for a last look or a last 
 act of worship. Thither they returned, and there they 
 found Him. Where shall we who may have lost Jesus 
 be most likely to find Him ? Why, just where we last 
 were with Him. Do you know when you were last in 
 full communion with Him ? Was it when you were in 
 earnest prayer ? when daily in the habit of communing 
 with Him before the Mercy-Seat ? How long ago has 
 that been ? I do not mean how long ago since you 
 " said your prayers " ; you may not have ceased to do 
 that at all, and yet it is possible to continue saying 
 prayers long after we have ceased to have true com- 
 munion with God and Christ — the forms of religion and 
 spiritual life may survive, long after the Spirit has 
 departed. I have often seen an empty chestnut burr 
 hanging on the tree long months after the nut has 
 dropped to the ground. Many leaves hang green upon 
 the trees long after the sap of life has ceased to flow 
 into them ; and they flutter and make pretence of life 
 for a while, only at last to wither and die, fluttering 
 to the ground to be trodden under foot. Oh, let us be 
 alarmed if, when we pray, we have no consciousness of 
 His presence with us ; or, at least, no consciousness of 
 
336 LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 
 
 our own spirits rising in love and gladness to God ! 
 Better wrestle as Jacob did, till the break of day, than 
 to give over praying, till the blessing comes. Jacob 
 had been a wanderer, but when he returned and began 
 to pray again, he said, " I will not let thee go till thou 
 bless me." Then he found the Lord again, though 
 he went halting and lame all the rest of his life. But 
 that was a blessed lameness ; it was the lameness of 
 that proud, self-conscious strength in which he had 
 held his own with Laban his father-in-law. Perhaps 
 you lost Him when you ceased that daily and devo- 
 tional reading of the Bible, which at first was such a 
 charm and joy to you. You may not have entirely 
 ceased to read the Bible — you may even read it daily — 
 but you have ceased to read it with the spirit and the 
 understanding. The Bible no longer speaks to you 
 and reveals things to you, " wondrous things out of the 
 law,"^ as it did formerly. You lost speech with God in 
 prayer, and God has lost speech with you in Bible 
 reading ; and yet you have gone on your way, saying 
 prayers, and reading chapters, and the Lord is not with 
 you. Well, there you will find the Lord — ^just where 
 you left Him. Return to your closet, and cease not 
 your supplications till you get speech with Him ; return 
 to your Bible, and cease not to read and study it until 
 it glows again before your eyes, and its words burn and 
 glow in your heart as the Urim and Thummim. You 
 may have lost Him just where you laid aside some 
 spiritual service, because it took too much time away 
 from your business, or left you too little time for social 
 pleasures. Seek Him where you lost Him. You may 
 have lost Him, by the way, when you indulged some 
 misunderstanding, or quarrelled with your brother, and 
 have gone on with an unforgiving spirit. Is it so ? 
 ^ Ps. cxix. 1 8. 
 
LOSING AND FINDING JESUS 337 
 
 Well, go quickly and " first be reconciled to thy bro- 
 ther," ^ and then and there thou shalt find Him. Mary 
 and Joseph found Jesus in the temple — in God's house 
 — about His Father's business. No doubt that is the 
 place in general where the lost Jesus may be found. 
 Hear what David says : " My tears have been my meat 
 day and night, while they continually say unto me. 
 Where is thy God? When I remember these things, 
 I pour out my soul in me ; for I had gone with the 
 multitude, I went with them to the house of God, 
 with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude 
 that kept holyday."^ Had David neglected the house 
 of God, and so lost the joy of fellowship with God ? 
 Then, when he returned to the habits of spiritual wor- 
 ship, he found Him again. So will you. They found 
 Him engaged in His Father's business. There also will 
 you find Him. They left the temple and the Father's 
 business, to go down to Nazareth ; He stayed behind 
 because He must be still about it. Return to Jerusalem, 
 to the house of God, to your Father's business, and 
 there will you again find Jesus. 
 
 How they found Him we have already intimated ; but, 
 again, it may be helpful to note that they sought Him 
 anxiously and sorrowingly ; they sought Him confessing 
 their loss, and inquiring concerning Him everywhere, 
 till they found Him. If we have lost Jesus, and would 
 find Him again, then must we seek Him where He is 
 where we left Him ; and seek Him with all our hearts, 
 confessing our sins and inquiring diligently for Him 
 " Ye shall seek Me and find Me, when ye shall search 
 for Me with all your heart ; and I will be found of you,, 
 saith the Lord." ^ 
 
 * Matt. V. 24. * Ps. xlii. 3, 4. ^ Jer. xxix. 13, 14.. 
 
 P.B. 22 
 
XVIII 
 
 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 "And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in 
 the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, 
 and asking them questions." — Luke ii. 46. 
 
 IN the picture before us we must be careful to dis- 
 criminate between the incident recorded and the 
 Person who is the centre of the incident. It is not the 
 temple which we have to contemplate, nor the doctors, 
 nor even the happy issue of the search after their missing 
 Son by Mary and Joseph. Indeed, this is a true canon 
 to hold ever before us in reading the New Testament. 
 It is never the incident, when Jesus is concerned, but 
 always the Person. Interesting as are the angels, 
 Nazareth, Mary, Bethlehem, the wise men, the temple, 
 and the doctors, yet it is always Jesus Himself whom we 
 are to behold. In all the miracles which He wrought. 
 He is the point of interest : His power. His grace. His 
 patient love, and His salvation. All the rest is but 
 background and drapery to the revelation of the Father 
 in Him. The people who gathered to Bethany came to 
 see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead ; but that 
 which interests and inspires us is the Resurrection and 
 the Life, by whom Lazarus was raised up from the grave. 
 Even His wonderful words have no living significance 
 except as they are His words. He is the substance of 
 all His teachings, the centre of all His ministry. With 
 this caution in our minds, we turn with thrilling interest 
 
 338 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 339^ 
 
 to the scene, which Luke brings before our minds and 
 hearts, in this significant incident in the boy-hfe of 
 Jesus, the only one recorded of Him from His birth till 
 His thirtieth year, when He entered upon His public 
 ministry. 
 
 I. Jesus in the Temple. After three days. His 
 sorrowing and anxious parents found Jesus, whom they 
 had lost, sitting in the midst of the doctors in the temple, 
 hearing and asking them questions. We must not 
 understand that Mary and Joseph had been searching 
 Jerusalem over for three days before they found Him. 
 One day must be counted up to the time they missed 
 Him from their company ; one day occupied in the 
 return to Jerusalem ; and on the morning of the third 
 day, the first morning after their return, they went direct 
 to the temple, and there they found Him. It was the 
 most natural place for them to look for Him. No doubt 
 He had been for several days, if not all the days of the 
 feast, in that same place, if not actually in conversation 
 with the doctors, at least listening to them. He had 
 been there with other boys previous to His formal in- 
 duction, or confirmation as " a son of the law," in order 
 to be catechized and instructed, as was the custom. 
 After the people had all gone back to their homes, He, 
 remaining behind, would naturally stay in the temple, 
 and, with His awakening mind, seek out the doctors and 
 instructors in the law ; and we can well believe that 
 such a Child as Jesus would be warmly welcomed by 
 these wise men. His manners and bearing. His wisdom 
 and beauty, would attract them, and He would not want 
 for hospitality for a couple of nights, even if He did not 
 remain in some one of the cloisters or priests' apartments 
 in the temple. 
 
 The temple was the most natural place for Jesus to be 
 in, for whether He was conscious or not of His relation 
 
340 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 to His Father's house, there must have been in His sub- 
 consciousness, at least, a strong attraction toward and 
 for the building which had its only interpretation in 
 Him. He was the antitype of the temple ; He was the 
 true Temple of which that made with stones was but the 
 shadow. Of old, God met His people and communed 
 with them from above the Mercy Seat in the tabernacle, 
 and when Solomon built the temple God continued to 
 meet with His people there. It was the centre of the 
 nation and of the whole religious life of the people. There 
 the priests and the high priest ministered ; there the 
 sacrifices and offerings were made ; there the great feasts 
 were celebrated ; and there the Shekinah dwelt. In all 
 the ceremonies and offerings Jesus was the true point of 
 sight. The people may not have fully understood this, 
 but this was God's meaning, as is fully expounded to us 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews and other New Testament 
 writings. Jesus was the true Immanuel — God with us ; 
 He was the true meeting-place for God and man ; He 
 alike the true High Priest and the true Sacrifice. 
 Whether He fully understood this at the time is very 
 doubtful ; but the truth of it all must have been in His 
 undeveloped consciousness, and so have drawn Him with 
 irresistible power to the wonderful building and all its 
 ceremonials. In His early ministry He said, " Destroy 
 this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ^ 
 " This He spake of His body," which should rise from 
 the dead, after the Jews had put Him to death ; but 
 they understood it of the building of the temple. The 
 saying is sufiicient to show the close identity between 
 Jesus and the temple, and may serve further to demon- 
 strate the sympathy between Him and it. 
 
 I. He was the true glory of the temple. Speaking of 
 the new temple, after Solomon's had been destroyed, the 
 ' John ii. 19. 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 341 
 
 prophet Haggai said, " The glory of this latter house 
 shall be greater than of the former." ^ As a matter of 
 fact, we know that neither the second temple nor the 
 one which Herod had restored could compare with the 
 glory of the temple of Solomon, either in extent or 
 magnificence — in its furniture or its service. Out of 
 this second and restored temple the Ark of the Covenant 
 was gone, the very Mercy Seat had been lost, and all 
 the trophies of the Exodus, such as the pot of manna 
 and the rod of Aaron that budded, had disappeared ; 
 but above all, the great Shekinah-cloud had disappeared 
 from it. Nevertheless, the prophecy of Haggai was 
 now fulfilled, for the true glory of the temple had come 
 into it in the Person of Jesus, its great antitype and the 
 real glory of God. Unconscious of the true reasons for 
 His close affinity for the temple, Jesus must have loved 
 and venerated the building which incarnated and pre- 
 served all the traditions of His people and of God's 
 grace and providence. He was in the temple naturally 
 and of right ; and Mary and Joseph did well to seek Him 
 there, even though they did not perhaps comprehend its 
 real attraction for Jesus. They may probably have been 
 led to the temple by the Spirit of God, even as souls 
 who have lost Jesus, and have turned back to find Him, 
 are surely guided by the Holy Spirit to the very place 
 where He is. 
 
 2. He was seated in the midst of the doctors. This 
 was not surprising either, for it was customary for the 
 doctors to sit in one of the open courts to deliver 
 their lectures on the law, and teach all who came to 
 them ; and young boys of Jesus' age were encouraged 
 to seek them out. Josephus tells us how, when a boy, 
 he had thus sat at the feet of the doctors, and been so 
 instructed. The particular point in this scene is that 
 ' Hag. ii. 9. 
 
34i THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 Jesus not only was catechized Himself, but He cate- 
 chized them ; at least, while He answered their ques- 
 tions, He also put questions in turn. We do not think 
 of Him as being bold and irreverent, or otherwise than 
 most gentle and respectful, in His intercourse with these 
 grave and learned men ; but simply as answering their 
 questions with wondrous insight and spiritual power, 
 and asking them questions which astonished them be- 
 cause of their penetrating knowledge and surprising 
 depth of thought. In His interview with them there 
 was no chopping of old straw, but a direct going back 
 to fundamental truth. In this categorical interview be- 
 tween Jesus and the doctors, if I may say it reverently, 
 " the boy was father to the man," and the doctors got 
 a taste of that spiritual medicine which Jesus adminis- 
 tered to them so copiously in after years, when He 
 confounded them again with His questions and answers. 
 The more we read the New Testament, and study the 
 method and wisdom of Jesus in dealing controversially 
 with the Jews, the more we are astonished at His 
 mastery of what we know as the Socratic method of 
 teaching, and the surprising way in which He cut up 
 by the roots, in a single question or answer, the false 
 philosophy and traditional unwisdom of these "blind 
 leaders of the blind," who had " made void the com- 
 mandments by their traditions." Jesus was in form a 
 young student in the theological college of His nation ; 
 He was, in fact, the new and divine Head Master of that 
 college, and the old professors found themselves being 
 taught as they had never been taught before. As I con- 
 template this scene I cannot help wishing that Jesus 
 might again come into the theological temples and schools 
 of our Churches, and put our learned men through a 
 course of questions concerning God's word ; that He 
 might be installed as our Head Master, and give our 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 343 
 
 young men the benefit of His direct teaching. I would 
 be glad to see the German and the English scientists 
 and philosophers turned out, by calling Him to the 
 chief seat — and all our young men gathered closely 
 about Him. Oh, for the presence of Jesus in our theo- 
 logical centres ; for direct contact with His wisdom and 
 spiritual understanding ! Is it a dream unwarranted, 
 and never to be realized, that He may be so exalted 
 in our seats of sacred learning, that even our professors 
 may be awakened and astonished at His wisdom ? for, 
 after all, is it not Himself that we need to come in 
 contact with, rather than all the learned foolishness of 
 the Mishnas and Gemaras, either ancient or modern ? 
 
 3. They were astonished at His understanding and 
 answers. And well they might be, for even as a boy, 
 when hearing and asking questions, He taught not as 
 the scribes, but as one having knowledge from on high. 
 Even then He spoke out of His own consciousness of 
 truth, and not as one crammed with the subtilties and 
 dry-as-dust speculations of mere scholarship and human 
 learning. In after years, these same doctors, or their 
 successors, encountered the wonderful wisdom of the 
 Christ, and could not understand whence He received 
 it, since He was not of the schools. " How knoweth 
 this Man letters, having never learned ? " ^ they cry. 
 They supposed, in their pride and vanity, because He 
 was " the carpenter's son," and had never been the dis- 
 ciple of a Gamaliel, or some other great master of the 
 school of the law, that therefore it was impossible for 
 Him to have wisdom. Wisdom in the things of God 
 does not come of the schools, but of the scriptures, 
 illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and a mind and heart 
 filled with all the fulness of God. It may be right 
 and well to make an art education and a regular theo- 
 * John vii. 15. 
 
344 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 logical training a qualifying condition to entering upon 
 the ministry of our Churches. I do not say it is well 
 to make it a sine qua non. May it not just be possible 
 that by so doing we exclude some heaven-taught men 
 from the ministry of the word, whilst admitting some 
 wise fools who know little or nothing of the scriptures 
 or the power of God? John Owen was a great and 
 learned scholar and theologian, but he said that he 
 would gladly sacrifice all his human learning and cul- 
 ture, if he could but preach and write like John Bunyan, 
 who " never learned," yet somehow succeeded in opening 
 the scriptures and preaching the gospel in such a way 
 that thousands, two and a half centuries after his de- 
 parture, read his allegories and sermons, and rejoice in 
 God's salvation, where scarce a dozen ever open the 
 learned pages of John Owen. " Wisdom and under- 
 standing " are gifts infinitely greater than learning and 
 culture. These may, and often do, go together ; but 
 wisdom and understanding are rather the direct gifts 
 of God to the souls that wait upon Him and search 
 the scriptures, while learning and culture are the pro- 
 ducts of mere human teaching and training. Jesus 
 certainly did not have these latter, in the technical sense, 
 though He was not without learning of the highest and 
 best kind. It is not wonderful that the doctors, and 
 those who heard Him, were " astonished at His under- 
 standing and answers." They dealt in the letter of the 
 law. He dealt with the spirit of the word. This they 
 had lost, else they would not have rejected Him. Nay, 
 had they had understanding, they would have perceived 
 that a heaven-sent Child was even then in their midst. 
 Later, He rebuked these doctors, and their disciples and 
 followers, for "searching the scriptures," supposing that 
 in them they had eternal life ; while He explained to 
 them that they were but the testifiers to Him. Had 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 345 
 
 they, the doctors, understood the scriptures, they would 
 not have rejected Him, Are we not often guilty of the 
 same mistaken folly? If we can construct a logical 
 system of theology, and in a masterful and scientific 
 way demonstrate our dogmas, we are often satisfied 
 with ourselves, even if we never catch a glimpse of 
 Christ in the whole proceeding. 
 
 But how was it that Jesus had such " wisdom and 
 understanding " ? We need not be left long in the dark 
 upon this point, for even as a Boy He had the mind of 
 His Father. We are told that when He was taken 
 down from the temple (where He had been carried as 
 an infant, to be presented to the Lord, according to the 
 Law of the Lord) to His home in Nazareth, " the Child 
 grew, waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the 
 grace of God was upon Him." Here is the first source 
 of His understanding. Even as a Child the divine con- 
 sciousness within Him was beginning to swell in the 
 bud of His human intelligence, though we must con- 
 clude from all we read of Him that this unfolding was 
 very gradual ; and perhaps it was not fully understood 
 by Himself at the time ; yet it was there, and to a 
 certain extent dominated His human thinking. His 
 spiritual nature was daily expanding, and also His per- 
 ceptions of all things about Him in nature, which must 
 have been a constant delight. All the traditions of 
 God's people, and the wondrous stories of the Bible 
 concerning their origin and history, were spiritual rather 
 than merely material and historical. The way in which 
 He turned all nature, later on, into parables shows how 
 His mind must, from His childhood, have spiritualized 
 all creation. The birds of the air, the seeds of the 
 harvest, the soil, the rocks and the thorns, even the 
 seedsmen who sowed the fields, were to Him just open 
 books, out of which He read and understood God's 
 
346 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 truth. All the relations and occupations of men were to 
 Him objects teaching divine truth ; for He did not 
 appeal to nature merely for illustrations — nature was 
 more than that to Him. Nature, and all human rela- 
 tions and occupations, were the incarnation of great 
 spiritual truths which in the fulness of His ministry He 
 opened and read aloud to the people. All these things 
 He hid in His heart, as we know His mother was accus- 
 tomed to do, and, later on, He understood them in the 
 light of the Spirit which was with and in Him. In a 
 lesser degree, it is also given to us thus to learn and 
 understand, even to those who have not been to colleges. 
 Jesus, the " Word " by whom " all things were made, and 
 without whom was not anything made that was made," ^ 
 had divine understanding, or the dawning of it, in His 
 human mind from the beginning, so that He could not 
 think at all except under the influence of that dominat- 
 ing power of wisdom and truth. 
 
 Then, we must not forget that He was carefully 
 trained from a child by His mother, who was a most 
 devout and thoughtful woman, herself full of the know- 
 ledge of the scriptures, as we know from her exquisite 
 canticle, sung in the hour of our Lord's incarnation. 
 How carefully she would teach and train Him in the 
 scriptures we can well conceive. In all His after life 
 and ministry there is abundant proof that the Jewish 
 scriptures were deeply and exhaustively interwoven in 
 His consciousness. The Bible was the one book of our 
 Lord. There is not in the whole story of His life and 
 ministry a hint that He ever knew another book. Not 
 once did He ever allude to any human composition. 
 The scriptures and nature and man were His library. 
 No human poetry, science, or philosophy were text- 
 books to Him. With the word of God He comforted 
 ^ John i. 3. 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 347 
 
 His disciples, confounded His enemies, and overcame 
 the devil ; with the word of God He communed with 
 His Father, and with it also the Father testified to Him, 
 The doctors with whom He sat, answering and asking 
 questions, were full of human knowledge with which 
 their predecessors had overlaid and veiled the scriptures, 
 and were astonished at His understanding, because they 
 had drifted far away from the original source of spiritual 
 knowledge, and had put aside the only possible inter- 
 preter of the scriptures — the Holy Spirit, whom Stephen 
 said they had always resisted,^ even to the point of 
 bringing upon themselves spiritual blindness ; and Paul 
 said that " even unto this day, when Moses is read, the 
 veil is upon their hearts." ^ He, who had never learned 
 except out of the scriptures, confounded and astonished 
 these men, who spent all their days studying, not so 
 much the scriptures themselves, but the commentaries of 
 other learned men upon the scriptures, until they had 
 lost the true and spiritual sense of God's words. Jesus 
 brought to them light and knowledge direct from the 
 original sources. I often feel that we are in the same 
 danger ourselves, in our study of God's word. On this 
 point I would here venture a word of warning, both to 
 you and to myself 
 
 I am thankful, indeed, to many learned and spiritual 
 writers and commentators for a deeper insight into the 
 wonderful meaning of scripture than I have been able to 
 get myself ; but I am also conscious that when I depend 
 too much upon the learning of the wise for the under- 
 standing of the word of God, I begin to lose the sense of 
 its power and freshness ; and, if I continue the process 
 too long, I lose the sense of its being God's word at all 
 — especially in pulpit preparation. It is easy to fall 
 into the habit of depending upon the thoughts and in- 
 ' Acts vii. 51. * 2 Cor. iii. 15. 
 
348 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 sight of other men, until all freshness soon goes out of 
 the word, and sermon-making becomes a dry and heavy 
 task. Now and again I put aside all books and com- 
 mentaries and confine myself to the reading and study 
 of the bare word itself, seeking the illumination of the 
 Holy Spirit for interpretation and suggestion. I am 
 sure the best and most refreshing thoughts I have ever 
 had of God's truth have been at those times when I 
 have shut myself up to its own power ; for the word 
 itself is " sharper than any two-edged sword," being full 
 of life and energy, " and piercing even to the dividing 
 asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the 
 thoughts and intents of the heart." ^ " Is not my word 
 like a fire ? saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that 
 breaketh the rock." ^ The Psalmist tells us that " while 
 I mused (on God's word) the fire burned." ^ This is 
 verily true. Sometimes, when earnestly and prayer- 
 fully studying God's word, there are passages which 
 seem to stand out before the mind in raised letters, 
 glowing with an inward light — we feel that God Him- 
 self is speaking to us, as it were, face to face. It is 
 told of a great commentator that he once gave a copy 
 of the New Testament, with his notes appended, to 
 an uneducated but deeply spiritual old man who lived 
 in his parish, and after some months asked him how 
 he had enjoyed reading it. To which the good old 
 man replied, that he had always enjoyed reading his 
 Bible, and he liked this copy very much, but that he 
 could neither make head nor tail of the wee notes at 
 the bottom of the pages. I do not say this to despise 
 or disparage either learning or the help of the learned 
 in the study of God's precious truth, but to warn against 
 a too great dependence upon mere human comment, 
 no matter how wise and good. It is not so much man's 
 ' Heb. iv. 12. * Jer. xxiii. 29. ^ Ps. xxxix. 3. 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 349 
 
 thoughts upon God's word, as God's thought com- 
 municated to us directly through His word. If this be 
 so with ourselves, how much more true of Jesus, who 
 got His understanding of the scriptures by the direct 
 study and contemplation of them, with the Holy Ghost 
 constantly illuminating both them and His own mind 
 and heart. 
 
 H. Some Lessons. I venture now to suggest to 
 you some general lessons to be drawn from the beautiful 
 story of Jesus sitting amidst the doctors, lessons which, 
 I am sure, have before now suggested themselves to 
 you, but not for that reason unworthy of mention, 
 
 I. A lesson to parents. Mary gently reproached her 
 Son for preferring to tarry behind, talking with learned 
 men of the things of God, to following her and Joseph 
 to their home in Nazareth, There was in that reproach 
 something more of human selfishness than of divine 
 wisdom ; for Jesus, in His own sweet way, answered, in 
 a sentence which must have gone to the very heart of 
 His mother, " Wist ye not that I must be about My 
 Father's business ? " Perhaps Mary thought Jesus was 
 too forward and precocious, and that He was transgress- 
 ing to some extent the proprieties of childhood in thus 
 presuming to ask questions of these wise men. She 
 had, no doubt, herself a great and even reverent admira- 
 tion for His wisdom and understanding, but would still 
 remind Him that He was but a child, and that He 
 should keep a child's place. The question arises, What 
 is a child's place in respect to answering and asking 
 questions ? We all know how severe the parental canon 
 has been upon us in our childhood — how we have been 
 told times without number that " children should be 
 seen and not heard " ; how we have been forbidden to 
 interpose in the conversation of our elders, and sent 
 away from the company of grown people, and told that 
 
350 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 we were too young to understand ; and, especially, that 
 we must not " trouble " older people with questions. Of 
 course, children should not be allowed to indulge in 
 forward pertness in conversation ; but, on the other 
 hand, we should be careful not to repress too much the 
 eager keeness of their young minds, especially when 
 they are all alive to learn something of the things of 
 God. We try, indeed, to catechize our children, and at 
 set times allow them to question us concerning the deep 
 things of God, in which they seem particularly in- 
 terested ; but we are not fond of having our own quiet 
 minds disturbed by inopportune questions, as we judge 
 them to be, of children. We too often answer by telling 
 them that they are " too young to understand " ; that 
 these are matters for older people ; that they will come 
 to understand when they get older ; and thus we repress 
 and close up many an opening child-mind by rebuke, 
 however gentle and well meant, and deliver their 
 thoughts and inquiries over to other matters which come 
 between them and God. I am quite sure that we under- 
 rate both the native intellectual and spiritual ability of 
 children. I am sure, also, that the grace which came upon 
 the Child Jesus, by which He grew in spirit and wisdom, 
 comes upon, and is in a measure given to, every child ; 
 which, if fostered and encouraged, would lead multitudes 
 of them into an early spiritual knowledge of God and 
 His salvation ; while, by denial and repression, we 
 destroy our own best hopes concerning them. 
 
 There are two passages of scripture which always 
 come to me when confronted by some child with a ques- 
 tion concerning God and the things of God : " Father, I 
 thank Thee that Thou hast hid these things from the 
 wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes " ; ^ 
 and that other saying of Jesus, " Except ye be converted, 
 ^ Matt. xi. 25. 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 351 
 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven." ^ Now, if God reveals the deep 
 things of the kingdom to babes, whether in years or 
 understanding, it should be far from us to discourage the 
 eager inquiry of little children concerning these things, 
 even though their questions be hard and give us trouble 
 to answer. Indeed, this often lies at the root of our 
 unwise disposition to repress these little inquirers ; for 
 we all know, to our cost, how difficult their questions 
 often are, and how we are rebuked by them, because we, 
 ourselves, have not taken the trouble to know. If we 
 must become little children in the simplicity of our 
 minds before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven, 
 why should we not eagerly seize upon the child-mind to 
 lead it directly to God, before it grows hard and callous ? 
 I have said that I am sure we greatly underrate the 
 spiritual ability of children to understand the scriptures. 
 During my ministry, and especially in my evangelistic 
 work, I had much to do with children, and this I have 
 noticed, that in every unusual work of grace children are, 
 as a rule, the first to be moved by the Word of God, and 
 the first to come forward and confess Him. 
 
 I remember a little girl seven years old coming forward 
 with a large number of young people and adults to con- 
 fess Christ, and be instructed in the way of salvation. 
 I supposed she had come with her parents, and so passed 
 her by, until, one by one, all the others left, and she 
 remained behind alone. Speaking to her, I asked why 
 she had come forward. She said, in her sweet, patient, 
 childish way, that she wanted to be Jesus' child, and 
 that she had come to confess Him as her Saviour. Her 
 mother and father were behind in the congregation, and 
 had allowed her to come ! Wise parents. I then asked 
 her a number of questions, and found her wonderfully 
 ^ Matt, xviii. 3. 
 
352 THE BO V JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 intelligent in spiritual matters, and that she had been 
 evidently well taught, though the parents were but 
 working people. I put a little inquirer's card into her 
 hand, and told her to get her mother to read it to her. " I 
 can read it quite well myself," was the simple reply. 
 " Then," I said, " get your mother to explain these things 
 to you " (referring to the matter printed on the card). 
 " But," was the quick and eager reply, *' I understand 
 them quite well myself; I have been hearing you preach 
 about this and explaining it to the people every night 
 for a week or two, and I want to take God for my 
 Father, and Jesus Christ for my Saviour, and be His 
 disciple." Nor did she go until I had allowed her to 
 make confession of her faith as the others had, by stand- 
 ing before the congregation and declaring her acceptance 
 of Jesus as Saviour and Lord. 
 
 On another occasion, a little fair-haired boy of, perhaps, 
 eight years, came with a great number of youths and 
 maidens and older people to confess Christ. It was the 
 last night of a series of evangelistic meetings in 
 Aberdeen. The meeting was full of interest, and there 
 were, perhaps, two thousand people in the hall, who had 
 remained to the after-meeting on this last night. Sixty 
 or seventy persons had come to the front benches for the 
 purpose of openly confessing Christ ; this little boy was 
 seated in the midst. I supposed he also had come along 
 with his father and mother, and gave him no thought 
 until toward the close, when most had stood and made 
 their confession. As if fearing he would be overlooked, 
 the little fellow rose to his feet, turned about, facing the 
 congregation, and, in a sweet child's voice, that was 
 heard all over the hall, said, " I have been a Christian 
 for a great many years, but did not know that I ought to 
 make a public confession, and so have come to say that 
 I love Jesus and want to be His disciple." This child's 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 353 
 
 confession of faith sent a thrill of power through the 
 audience, and set strong men and women to weeping 
 before God, and brought others to decision and confession. 
 I talked with the little fellow afterwards, and found him 
 simply, yet profoundly, intelligent as to Jesus and His 
 salvation. I do not suppose he could have given me 
 clear views on election, predestination, and the decrees 
 of God ; I do not suppose he could have reconciled the 
 doctrine of the divine sovereignty with the free will ot 
 man ; but then, for that matter, I have never found a 
 doctor of divinity who could ! We understand many 
 things which we cannot explain ; why should we not 
 allow to children the same privilege? Oh, let us be 
 careful not to nip the budding life of God in the souls of 
 children by the killing frosts of our own indifference, 
 neglect, or, worse still, contempt of their ability, and 
 conceit of our own ! 
 
 2. To teachers. Our Lord appears to us in this inci- 
 dent as a child among teachers ; He afterwards revealed 
 Himself as teacher among children. He was, indeed, 
 the first great teacher who seriously and lovingly took 
 upon Himself the teaching of children ; who honoured 
 them and stood as their protector and defender. He en- 
 couraged parents to bring them to Him ; He took them 
 in His arms and blessed them ; He w^arned His disciples 
 and all others against putting stumbling-blocks in their 
 way, or offending or hindering them ; by implication He 
 taught us that we were to pay great attention to them, 
 and teach them the way of life, " for of such is the king- 
 dom of heaven." We are not unmindful, in our times, 
 of their intellectual training, and employ the best 
 teachers for the purpose of instructing them in every 
 branch of human knowledge. We recognise the import- 
 ance of taking possession of their minds in their 
 tenderest youth, that hy first impressions we may make 
 
 P.B. 23 
 
354 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 fast impressions. The child's mind is plastic as the 
 rocks were before they cooled from the furnace heat in 
 which they were smelted. Then a drop of rain, or the 
 lightest footprint of tiniest bird, made impressions which 
 long ages have not effaced. So should we do with our 
 children. The first and best teachers should be the 
 child's parents ; but, since it is impossible for parents 
 entirely to superintend the education of their children, 
 we call to our aid teachers whom we suppose qualified 
 for this high task. Next to parenthood, I know no 
 higher calling in this world than teacherhood, if I may 
 use that term. Among the earliest commandments of 
 God to His people was that which enjoined the careful 
 teaching and training of the child-mind. If we select 
 with care the physician to whom we commit the health 
 and well-being of our bodies, how much more should we 
 be careful in the choice of the man or woman to whom 
 we commit the care of our children's minds and souls. 
 We send our children away from home, in these days of 
 divided responsibility, for their education ; and some- 
 times I fear we are more anxious to find the teacher 
 who is expert in bringing them on in Latin, Greek, 
 mathematics, and the fundamentals of human knowledge, 
 than we are to find one who will respect their spiritual 
 natures, and train, cultivate, and educate their souls. It 
 is a thousand pities that the exigencies of sectarian strife 
 and the arrogance of religious bigotry should have 
 largely forced the religious education of children from 
 our common and board schools ; but, since it is so, it 
 only makes our responsibility the greater. The wise 
 men who propounded to and heard questions from Jesus 
 were at least reverent and gentle ; and they seemed to 
 realize that they had something to learn from Jesus as 
 well as to impart to Him. This is a point which I fear 
 many teachers, both in our secular and Sunday schools, 
 are prone to forget. 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 355 
 
 I remember two or three things in connection with 
 my own early schooling ; one was the patient and tender 
 love with which a wise woman-teacher would always 
 stop to consider my questions, and listen to all I had to 
 say on any subject under discussion or the subject of 
 the lesson, and how sometimes she used to say to me, 
 "You are quite right, my child," and then proceed 
 further to unfold my childish thought and help me to 
 understand myself. To this good woman I owe some 
 of the best things which I have brought with me to 
 manhood. Another teacher I had was a very great 
 man, a lawyer and a statesman, who had the Sunday 
 class in which I was a scholar. To this day, though 
 more than forty years ago, that good man's loving, 
 patient, and simple yet profound teaching cleaves to 
 me, and often during the dangerous period of youthful 
 sin and folly, before my conversion, his words, and 
 especially his loving manner and interest in me, served 
 as a check, and even turned my thoughts to higher and 
 better things, long after I was under his direct influence. 
 But I have the remembrance of another teacher, and he 
 was said to be the best teacher our school ever had. He 
 taught with a rod in his hand. He was stern, imperious, 
 and inordinately confident of his own superior know- 
 ledge ; he repressed all independent inquiry on our part, 
 especially if it were upon some subject apart from the 
 lesson in hand, even though suggested by it, and used 
 often to tell us, with an emphasis which warned us 
 against a repetition of the offence against his majesty, 
 that he was there to teach us, and not to be taught or 
 catechized by us. Sometimes teachers have this idea, 
 that they only have knowledge, and that children have 
 no wisdom. It is a great mistake. I have learned 
 many things from my own children, even in their 
 earliest childhood ; and I believe that every wise 
 
356 THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE . 
 
 teacher will be ever on the alert to learn something from 
 his pupils. No man, who is not willing and anxious 
 to learn something from the children he is set to teach, 
 is fit to be their teacher. Alas ! there are many learned 
 fools in the world ; and, thanks be to God, there are 
 many wise children. It should be our care not to put 
 these together. On the other hand, thousands of our 
 best and ablest men and women owe almost everything, 
 in the way of spiritual and intellectual developments, to 
 those great masters who, in obscure country and parish 
 schools, have discovered and brought forth with patient 
 care the gifts they have discerned in their pupils, of 
 whom dear old " Domsie " of " Drumtochty " (celebrated 
 by Ian Maclaren) is a type. ^ 
 
 Then there are children of older years, with whom we 
 public teachers have to do. I mean among the poor, 
 the humble, and uneducated, who form so large a part 
 of our congregations. The most precious lessons I have 
 ever learned are those which I have received in the 
 course of pastoral visitation. I, who have gone to them 
 to teach and comfort, have often, very often, come away 
 with my heart aglow and my soul softened and in- 
 structed by what I have learned from God's poor, who 
 have drunk deeply out of His word, and been taught 
 still more deeply by His Spirit. Dr. Chalmers used to 
 say that he endeavoured to preach on Sundays what 
 he learned from his parishioners during the week. " I 
 preach to my people on the Sabbath what they have 
 preached to me on week-days." He was a great teacher, 
 and they were happy people who had such a pastor. 
 Indeed, the meaning of the word " educate " is " to draw 
 out " ; but so many teachers think it means " to cram 
 in." I would speak most earnestly to you teachers — of 
 board schools, of private schools, and of Sunday schools 
 ^ " Days of Auld Lang Syne " (Hodder & Stoughton). 
 
THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 357 
 
 — Cultivate a most profound respect for your pupils, 
 and be not afraid to learn from them, for oftentimes the 
 secret of the Lord is with children, I can almost hope 
 that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were among 
 those doctors who that day sat with Jesus asking ques- 
 tions of Him, and listening with wonder to His answers, 
 and the questions He asked. 
 
 3. A word to the children. I speak to these boys on 
 my right and left, and to several children whom I see in 
 the congregation before me. Remember that Jesus was 
 once a child as you are ; that He once sat among the 
 doctors and listened to their questions, and was not 
 afraid or ashamed to ask questions in turn. Surely, 
 if boys and girls are questioned, they may have the 
 right to question in return ; but let them be as Jesus 
 was, not pert or conceited, as I have known some clever 
 children to be ; not asking puzzling questions for the 
 purpose of showing forth their cleverness, but reverent, 
 modest, and earnest in their desire to learn. There is 
 nothing in all the world more to be loved than children 
 of this kind ; nothing more detestable or disagreeable 
 than priggish, forward children, who refuse instruction, 
 and show no reverence or respect for those older and 
 wiser, who desire to instruct them. Then, again, I 
 would have you think of this : If Jesus, the Son of God, 
 in whom was all the wisdom of God, though at this 
 time it was just budding, would sit for hours and days 
 with the doctors, seeking for knowledge, and needing to 
 be taught, how much more do you need to sit with the 
 doctors, whether they be old men or young women, who 
 have undertaken the hard task of giving instruction ; 
 and how should you follow His example in this, both 
 in patience and courtesy. And, finally, I would suggest 
 to you that Jesus was much wiser in seeking knowledge, 
 and learning of the doctors in the temple, than if He 
 
3S8 THE BO V JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 had been with the other boys, who, hurrying through 
 their lessons, were glad to escape from school and be on 
 the streets. Not that I would curtail your play, but 
 I would remind you that play is not the first thing to be 
 sought after. I have no doubt that Jesus played as 
 other boys play, but above play and everything else 
 He sought first the knowledge of God, and was deter- 
 mined to be about His Father's business. The best 
 part of your manhood or womanhood will depend upon 
 what you lay up for foundations of character in child- 
 hood. Samuel in the tabernacle, and Jesus in the tem- 
 ple, are two good examples for all children to study 
 and imitate. May God bless you, and make you early 
 to be His disciples. 
 
XIX 
 
 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 "And when they saw Him, they were amazed : and His mother 
 said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us ? behold. 
 Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. And He said unto 
 them. How is it that ye sought Me? wist ye not that I must be 
 about My Father's business ?" — LuKE ii. 48, 49. 
 
 ON the morning of the third day after their depar- 
 ture from Jerusalem on their homeward journey, 
 let us suppose Mary and Joseph returning to the temple, 
 where they had last seen Jesus, and, led by some instinct, 
 or guided by the Holy Spirit, finding Him seated there 
 among the doctors, commanding their interested atten- 
 tion and respect, certainly their astonishment, on account 
 of the wisdom and understanding displayed in His 
 answers to their questions, and the profound spiritual 
 insight indicated by His questions. We are not sur- 
 prised that Mary was astonished at finding Jesus thus 
 seated among these grave and reverend teachers, and 
 still more so, at hearing portions of the conversation 
 carried on between them, and noting not only Jesus' 
 wisdom, but the marked respect which the doctors paid 
 to Him. 
 
 We can hardly believe that Mary broke in upon the 
 conversation between Jesus and the doctors with her 
 complaint ; but rather that she listened until the con- 
 ference was concluded, and then, taking Him aside, 
 asked Him the reproachful question recorded in our 
 text. 
 
 369 
 
36o JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 I. Mary rebukes Jesus. Let us make ourselves one 
 of this little group — at least, so far as to become on- 
 lookers and listeners — not for the sake of mere curiosity, 
 but that we may get at the heart of this matter, all so 
 beautiful, pathetic, and full of instruction for us. Having 
 reached Jerusalem the night before, on their return from 
 that sad day's journey without Jesus, early the next 
 morning, as soon at least as it was customary for the 
 people to gather for the morning sacrifice — led by a 
 strong and reasonable instinct, perhaps directly by the 
 Holy Ghost — they repaired directly to the temple. 
 
 Where else would they be so likely to find Him ? 
 Following their leading, they came at once to the 
 cloister or porch where the doctors sat daily giving 
 instruction to those who sought it at their lips. There, 
 in the midst of them, they found Jesus, seated with 
 quiet, childlike dignity — neither forward in manner nor 
 unduly shy or embarrassed. Their surprise was great 
 — " they were amazed " not only to find Him " seated in 
 the midst of the doctors," but engaged in conversation 
 with them, listening to their discourse, answering their 
 questions, and in turn asking questions of His own. It 
 was not the mere fact that He, a child, was thus engaged in 
 conversation with these grave and learned men, but that 
 He was so conversing with them that they were astonished 
 at His wisdom and understanding. The conversation, 
 debate, or interchange of questions (whatever form the 
 interview was taking), had attracted a considerable 
 company, who were listening also with eager and sur- 
 prised interest. " And all they that heard Him were 
 astonished at His understanding and His answers." * 
 
 Drawn into the group of listeners, Mary and Joseph 
 were at first too amazed to speak ; indeed, we can 
 scarcely believe that they would impetuously break in 
 * Luke ii. 47. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 361 
 
 upon such an august company, even to lay hold of 
 Jesus, whom they had so sorrowfully missed and 
 anxiously sought. We see them amazed, and in a 
 measure awe-stricken, so much so that for the moment 
 these emotions overpowered all others. Waiting quietly 
 and listening, till the conversation between Jesus and the 
 doctors was over, they either approached Jesus or were 
 discovered by Him. Then Mary took Him by the 
 hand and led Him away. It was not in this public 
 place that the words of her gentle rebuke fell upon His 
 ears. Was there no tender embrace, no glad outburst of 
 mother-joy, before this serious and reproachful question ? 
 Surely ; though, as I have before said, it is no part of 
 the Evangelist's plan to introduce into his narrative 
 anything beyond what is necessary to reveal Jesus to us. 
 Joseph seems to have been a mere passive witness of 
 this little drama. Perhaps at this moment he remem- 
 bered with greater seriousness than did Mary, who the 
 child was, and, realizing that it was not for him to inter- 
 fere here, he left the whole matter to His mother. 
 
 Our first inquiry is to find out, if possible, just what 
 Mary intended by her question to Jesus, " Son, why hast 
 Thou thus dealt with us ? " Was the question asked 
 from her point of view, or from His ? That is, was it a 
 question asked simply for the sake of finding out His 
 reason for lingering behind, whilst they and their com- 
 pany had proceeded on their homeward journey, or was 
 it her w^ay of setting before Him all the trouble and 
 anxiety His conduct had caused them in thus staying 
 behind ? Was it inquiry, or was it rebuke ? There 
 seems to be little doubt here. It was a question in 
 which she put Jesus upon His defence. We who are 
 parents see in this inquiry, perhaps, a too faithful por- 
 traiture of some of our own hasty though not unloving 
 rebukes, delivered to our children out of a sense of 
 
362 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 having been wronged or injured by some action of 
 theirs ; rebukes in the form of questions, in which we 
 express our judgment and condemnation of their con- 
 duct, without having given them first a fair opportunity 
 of putting us in possession of the motives or reasons 
 which led to their conduct. I am afraid there are as 
 many hasty parents as thoughtless children. At any 
 rate, Jesus understood His mother's question to be in 
 the nature of a reproof, and in His matchless answer at 
 once explained and justified His conduct in remaining 
 behind ; and, at the same time, conveyed to her His 
 surprise that she had not anticipated for herself the 
 reasons for His being found in the temple. 
 
 The lesson this incident teaches is the extraordinary 
 readiness there is in us to stand upon what we seem to 
 think 07ir rights, and to impute blame unfairly to others. 
 Mary's question or reproof was the expression of one, 
 for the moment, self-centred, and thinking of what she 
 had suffered ; of one who, perhaps, sought to hide from 
 her own conscience a fault by imputing wrong-doing to 
 another. That is, she would justify her own careless- 
 ness — if it was carelessness — in leaving Jesus behind, by 
 bringing up, as a wrong done to her and Joseph, the 
 anxiety and sorrow which they had suffered on account 
 of His absence from them. Calvin has remarked that 
 " the Blessed Virgin would rather have died than have 
 imputed wrong to God, yet, in a moment of selfish 
 exaggeration of her own suffering, she openly charged 
 fault upon her divine Son." What in this incident 
 interests us is that there is in it a revelation of a habit of 
 our sinful human nature to impute fault to God because 
 of sufferings which we have most likely brought upon 
 ourselves. " Why hast Thou thus dealt with us ? " is a 
 question, or rather a reproach, which is often in our 
 hearts, if not on our lips — a reproach directed against 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 363 
 
 God. " Why does God afflict me with this needless and 
 long-continued illness, which does nobody any good, 
 prevents me from enjoying anything in life, and hinders 
 me from doing any service I might otherwise do for 
 Him ? " Such was a question put to me the other day 
 by a lady who has suffered, and is still suffering, from a 
 long-standing and most distressing illness, an illness 
 which she has, perhaps, rather inherited than brought 
 upon herself by any folly of her own. The tone in 
 which the question was asked showed plainly that it was 
 not a question of humble inquiry, but of bitter reproach, 
 in which she declared her wrongs and called upon God 
 to justify Himself This is not an uncommon state of 
 mind. " Why has God afflicted me ? " " Why did He 
 take away my child, or my husband, or my parents ? " 
 " Why has He allowed misfortune to fall upon me until 
 I have been deprived of all my living? Why does He 
 send or allow such things ? " Sometimes we are bolder, 
 and even openly charge injustice upon Him. The 
 whole story of Job is an outcry of this kind, " Why hast 
 Thou thus dealt with me? Vindicate Thyself." It is 
 not for me to answer the general question involved in 
 such reproaches of God for His providential dealings 
 with us ; rather it is for me to confess my own sin in 
 this respect, and to seek for grace to " trust God in the 
 dark " ; to trust Him even though He slay me ; to avoid 
 doing those things which bring trouble upon myself, and 
 in all things to believe that God has a reason for all that 
 He does or suffers to be done ; a reason the roots of 
 which are deep in His eternal love for me and for all 
 men. Yet in the matchless answer of Jesus to His 
 mother there is a hint which we may be glad to avail 
 ourselves of: "Wist ye not that I must be about My 
 Father's business ? " 
 
 God 's business covers a much wider field tJian my life. 
 
364 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 There is more in it than appertains to my selfish and 
 narrow interests or pleasures. If, in ordering the well- 
 being of the whole universe, He judges it necessary that 
 I should share in the ministry of suffering, even though 
 the immediate fault be not mine, shall I complain of 
 God and impute evil to Him ? Oh, that we might, all of 
 us, enlarge our understanding and fellowship, and move 
 out of the little narrow world of self-interest in which we 
 too habitually live ! Then, again, is it not possible that 
 our troubles and sorrows come to us on account of parting 
 company with Jesus, as Mary's came to her on this 
 occasion? At least this is true, that when trouble or 
 affliction comes to those who are walking in close fellow- 
 ship with God, we hear of no complaint, no reproaches, 
 no " Why hast Thou thus dealt with us ? " It is true 
 that Jesus was in the boat with the disciples when the 
 winds and the waves were like to overwhelm them, and 
 there arose a cry from their lips full of reproach, " Carest 
 Thou not that we perish ? " * Now why should they 
 have reproached Him ? True, He was asleep in the 
 hinder part of the boat ; but still He was there. No evil 
 could have befallen them which would not have also 
 overwhelmed Him. They might have trusted Him, and 
 been willing if needs be, to have gone down forty fathoms 
 under the sea with Him, but they had parted company 
 with Him, not indeed physically, for He was with 
 them in the boat, but they had left Him out of their 
 hearts and faith, and hence complaint and fear came in. 
 On the other hand, I see the three Hebrew children in 
 the fiery furnace. They were there for no fault of their 
 own, nay, rather because of their loyalty to God, and yet 
 we hear no complaint out of their lips, no " Why hast 
 Thou forsaken us ? " Behold, there were seen " four men 
 loose, walking in the midst of the fire .... and the 
 * Mark iv. 38. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 365 
 
 form of the fourth is like the Son of God." ^ What cared 
 they for the flames ? they did not hurt them, but only burnt 
 off the binding cords which men had put upon them. 
 Daniel did not complain of God's treatment when he was 
 cast into the lion's den. He was not afraid ; he did not 
 mistrust God, but was ready with a cheerful, happy 
 and confident reply to the lamentable inquiry of the 
 king, " O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, 
 whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from 
 the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, 
 live for ever. My God hath sent His angel, and hath 
 shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me." ^ 
 Here is a wonderful secret. The innocent may sufi*er, 
 but if they be those who serve God continually, though 
 they be cast into the fire or into the lion's den, their God 
 will walk with them, or send His angel to deliver them, 
 or prevent the danger from overwhelming them. Paul 
 had also learned how to suffer for Jesus' sake and not 
 complain — to be content to suffer without reason, and 
 even to rejoice in afflictions. He had learned to accept 
 suffering and expect grace. Once the Psalmist cried out, 
 " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " ^ and 
 Jesus took up this cry upon the cross in the hour of His 
 bitterest agony. In neither case was the question one of 
 complaint or rebuke, but rather of amazed and trustful 
 inquiry — not the complaint of unbelief, but the cry of 
 faith. May our God help us to avoid the self-centred 
 habit of rebuking Him for our troubles, and to learn the 
 secret of innocency and continuous service, that we 
 may walk in the fire and lie down with lions without 
 fear — even with joy. 
 
 n, Jesus justifies Himself. "Wist ye not that I 
 must be about My Father's business ? " Here we have 
 the first recorded words of Jesus. How interesting ! 
 ^ Dan. iii. 25. * Ibid. vi. 20-22. ^ Ps. xxii. i. 
 
366 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 We cherish last words, but here we h3.\e first words, and 
 words so full of wisdom that we can well understand 
 how it was in later years that no man could withstand 
 His teachings. In this answer of Jesus to His mother we 
 have a sample of that wisdom which astonished the 
 doctors. He answers His mother's question by putting 
 one to her in return ; a question which at once justifies 
 Himself and gently lays bare the fact of her own forget- 
 fulness and want of understanding of His mission. It is 
 not without deep significance that Mary had included 
 Joseph with herself in her rebuke. His answer seems 
 entirely to have ignored Joseph, as He addressed His 
 remarks to His mother alone. 
 
 He hints to her His surprise at her lack of knowledge 
 or understanding in reference both to His person and 
 His mission. He seems to say " How is it that you 
 reproach Me for being in the temple, for forsaking the 
 home-journey, to abide here in the house of God ? Wist 
 ye not, or have you forgotten, who I am, or for what 
 cause I came into the world ? " He seems surprised 
 that she did not understand. Many years later, in like 
 manner, Jesus thus gently rebuked a learned master in 
 Israel ; perhaps one of the very doctors with whom He 
 had conversed in His youth, " Art thou a master in Israel 
 and knowest not these things ? " ^ If we only knew 
 more of the Scriptures, and the power and purpose of 
 God as revealed in them, we should not be in so much 
 perplexity as to God's dealings ; and the question, 
 " How can these things be ? " or " Why hast Thou thus 
 dealt with us ? " would be found less frequently in our 
 hearts. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
 Him," and the wonderful things of God's purpose are all 
 hidden in His law ; we need only open eyes to see them. 
 
 Only twelve years before, God had given to Mary this 
 * John iii. lo. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 267 
 
 wonderful Son under such extraordinary circumstances, 
 followed up by such extraordinary signs and wonders, 
 that we should have thought she would have been on the 
 watch ever afterwards for further extraordinary develop- 
 ments. Had Mary been fully alive to the supernatural 
 character of her Son, and had she remembered the great 
 mission He came into the world to accomplish (all which 
 had been told her by the angel), she would have been on 
 the constant lookout for wonderful developments in the 
 Child and in His doings. We should have supposed 
 that, on bringing Him to the temple for the first time, 
 she would have expected some further manifestation of 
 God's will, either in some act of Jesus or some further 
 revelation from heaven. But years had passed since the 
 angels sang to the shepherds, since the wise men de- 
 parted to their own homes, since Simeon and Anna had 
 prophesied, and yet nothing extraordinary had happened. 
 Life in the little Galilean city had gone on in its quiet, 
 humdrum way, and in Joseph's home the ordinary 
 common-places of his daily work, and Mary's daily 
 household occupations, were undisturbed by any further 
 sign or wonder. It is true that " the Child grew and 
 waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace 
 of God was upon Him " ; but these were not outward or 
 supernatural signs, and they had become accustomed to 
 the quiet and grave habits of the Boy. In all these past 
 ten or twelve years nothing had happened. The early 
 revelation had grown dim ; Mary had dropped into the 
 monotonous routine of every-day life, and her great 
 secret had faded a little out of her thoughts. Not that 
 she had forgotten it, or ceased to attach highest 
 importance to it, but the supernatural in connection with 
 both herself and Jesus had somehow merged into and 
 become obscured in the natural ; the extraordinary had 
 become overlaid with the ordinary, until she had ceased 
 
368 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 to expect any further great thing, or, at least, had post- 
 poned the expectation until some far distant day. 
 
 All this we can readily fancy ; but what has it to do 
 with us ? Is there any lesson in it for us ? Yes, surely. 
 Has not God done an extraordinary thing for and to us 
 who are Christians ? Has not the Holy Spirit visited 
 us ? Have we not been born again from above and been 
 adopted into the family of God ? Familiar as these 
 terms are in our theological language and literature, they 
 stand for tremendous spiritual realities, realities as great 
 in their way as the incarnation itself was in its unique 
 way. To have passed from death into life, to have 
 become new creatures in Christ, are blessings so great 
 that no tongue can tell them, no pen write them ; and 
 yet these things have come to us. Some of us at least 
 remember with what wonder, gratitude, and love we 
 received this great grace. How holy was the hour in 
 which we first came to know our regeneration in Christ ; 
 how delicious and ecstatic the joy of that time. The 
 whole world seemed to have been recreated for our 
 benefit, and we were new creatures in a new world. I 
 doubt if Mary could have had a more bewildering 
 delight in the announcement which the angel made to 
 her than we had when the Holy Spirit made known to 
 us through the word of God that our sins were forgiven, 
 and that we were become children of God, " not of blood, 
 nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, ^ but of 
 God." Our whole relations to heaven and earth were 
 changed. Henceforth earth became a place of pilgrim- 
 age in which to bear our testimony and do the will of 
 God ; heaven became our home, all men became our 
 brethren, the redeemed inheritance of Christ ; our 
 citizenship was there, and there we looked for our 
 treasure. Not that' we were released from earthly duties 
 ^ John i. 13. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 369 
 
 and relations, but that they were all changed and sancti- 
 fied. We, too, returned to our homes, to our shops, to 
 our various callings, public, private, domestic, and official, 
 according as we were placed in the world, and took up 
 our daily tasks, just as Mary did after her return to 
 Nazareth from the house of Elisabeth ; but we did so as 
 the children of God. In those early days of our super- 
 natural experiences we would not have been surprised at 
 any fresh demonstration, nay, we looked for signs and 
 wonders as a natural result of our heavenly experience ; 
 for to us this old world of ours was already a new world 
 — a supernatural world. But then, as the days and 
 weeks and years went by, and the natural and ordinary 
 duties and affairs of life claimed our care and attention, 
 the freshness of the supenatural faded a little from our 
 consciousness ; the natural gradually gained the ascen- 
 dancy over the spiritual, at least in our thoughts and 
 feelings, and we ceased to expect further developments. 
 Society, business, domestic life, and common occupations 
 — all right and proper — absorbed our attention. We 
 went, indeed, at the appointed times to the temple, and 
 sometimes we returned " supposing Jesus to be in the 
 company," and were surprised at the close of the day to 
 find that He was not ; and we had our days of sorrow 
 and anxiety before finding Him again, and, like Mary, 
 we sought to lay the blame rather upon Him than to 
 take it upon ourselves, for we " wist not that He must be 
 about His Father's business," and had forgotten that our 
 life was identified with His, and that we must be about 
 our Father's business too. But, oh ! did God save us 
 only that we might go back to the old world of trade, 
 traffic, house-keeping, doctoring, society, and a thousand 
 other things that absorb us ? Ought we not to have 
 expected other developments to have followed upon our 
 regeneration ? To some the call came, " go preach," to 
 P.B. 24 
 
370 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 some other especial calls came ; but to all the great call 
 came, " be about My business " ; only, some have not 
 heeded, and the supernatural has taken a subordinate 
 place in our lives. Even the preaching of the gospel has 
 degenerated into one of the learned professions with 
 some of us. 
 
 It was to recall Mary to the great fact of the incarna- 
 tion^ and the mission of love and salvation with which it 
 was identified, that festis made answer to her as He did ; 
 an answer that must have stirred her whole soul and set 
 her to thinking again as she had not done for years 
 before. It is to recall you and myself to the fact that 
 God has incarnated Himself in us by the regeneration, 
 for the purpose of carrying forward His great work in 
 the world, and not merely to be shopkeepers, house- 
 keepers, social leaders, lawyers and doctors, worldly 
 masters or servants, that I apply this incident to our- 
 selves. May He who first aroused us to a sense of sin, 
 and sent His Holy Spirit upon us, re-awaken us by this 
 question of Jesus to Mary. Oh, that we may henceforth 
 be on the look-out for some new development in the life 
 of our Lord, and in our own lives ; some new movement 
 of the Spirit of God in connection with the kingdom of 
 heaven ; that we may be ever at His side, not rebuking 
 Him for supposed neglect of us, but watching and wait- 
 ing and ready to be used by Him ! 
 
 If we rightly read our Bibles, we shall never fall into 
 the error of the scoffers who say, " Where is the promise 
 of His coming, for all things continue as they were from 
 the foundation of the world ? " ^ The Bible is constantly 
 warning and teaching us to be on the look-out for some 
 new thing to come to pass. " The Lord whom ye seek 
 shall suddenly come to His temple ; but who may be 
 ready for and abide His coming ? " The Jews were not 
 ^ 2 Peter iii. 4. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 371 
 
 ready when He came ; Mary was not ready for His 
 sudden awakening to the consciousness of His mission 
 in connection with His Father's business ; alas ! I fear 
 many of us will not be ready for His coming again, 
 which is the next great imminent event for the world 
 and the Church, Almost His last words to us were, 
 " Watch : for ye know not the day nor the hour in which 
 your Lord shall come." Do we not miss many fresh 
 blessings because we are expecting nothing more to 
 come to us ; because we have settled down to the con- 
 viction that what we have already received, what we 
 have already learned of Him, is all there is for us ? 
 Therefore we miss many new joys and revelations of 
 His will and ways, and many opportunities for great 
 service. This word of Jesus sounds a reproach in my 
 ears, at least. He seems to me to be saying this morn- 
 ing, " Wist ye not ? " " How is it that ye do not under- 
 stand ? " To be thus on the watch always for what our 
 Lord will next do for us or the world, either by the work 
 of the Holy Spirit or by His own coming again, we need 
 not abandon our present occupations and callings, but 
 only remember that we are His, and be ready for what- 
 soever He may reveal to us. 
 
 Jesus confesses and declares God to be His Father 
 Mary, in her words of reproach, had said, " Thy father 
 and I have sought Thee sorrowing." It was most 
 natural that she should thus associate Joseph with her- 
 self and Him, even though she well knew that Joseph 
 was not His father, except in name and in all the 
 parental offices which he had discharged toward Him. I 
 have already said that it is most unlikely that Mary had 
 ever told Jesus of His supernatural origin. She was too 
 wise a woman to have done that. Laying this secret up 
 in her heart, she would reverently wait for God to make 
 that known to Him, even as He had at first made His 
 
y]2 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 purpose of grace known to her. She spoke to her Son 
 from the standpoint of the common and usual parental 
 relations ; but Jesus had been awakened to a new know- 
 ledge of things, and had in some mysterious way dis- 
 covered His eternal and divine relation to His Father in 
 heaven. He does not speak disrespectfully of Joseph ; 
 He repudiates none of his kind offices to Him during 
 all these years ; but straight to the truth, His startling 
 words to Mary must have awakened her too long sleep- 
 ing mind to the fact that her Son was God's Son. " Wist 
 ye not that I must be about My Father's business ? " 
 *' You have reproached Me for not returning with you 
 and Joseph to Nazareth ; you speak to Me now of him 
 as My father, but he is not My father, God is My father ; 
 you have forgotten or ignored that ; now I remind you 
 of it, and declare it to you, who have not declared it to 
 Me." How Jesus came to know this great fact has been 
 the occasion of much speculation ; but it seems very 
 simple, if only we seek not to find riddles in our ques- 
 tions concerning the development of the divine-human 
 consciousness of Jesus. During these twelve years the 
 Child had been growing in stature, in wisdom, under- 
 standing, and grace. I was recently walking in the 
 park, and to my eyes the buds on the trees gave no 
 hint or prophecy of coming spring. They were brown 
 and dirty with the grime of winter fogs and soot ; 
 outwardly there was no sign of the wonderful things 
 within. I plucked off one of those common-looking 
 buds of life, and with my thumb and finger-nail opened 
 it, and there, hidden away out of sight of human eyes, 
 was a mass of tightly-folded leaves, which had been for 
 months pressing their way up through the sap into form 
 and life, all ready to burst forth into leaf and flower and 
 fruit. To-day those buds are filling the park with varie- 
 gated beauty. So I fancy it must have been with Jesus. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESS/ON 373 
 
 He was, as a human child, a bud of divinity. That 
 divine personality was rolled and folded back in Mary's 
 Son ; but, little by little, during these quiet years of 
 growth in Nazareth, the Godhead in Him was pressing 
 and struggling to the surface ; and on that day in the 
 temple, under some touch of the Spirit of God, some 
 sudden unfolding of the meaning of scripture, as He 
 talked with the doctors, the consciousness of His rela- 
 tion to God, always present with Him in the bud, sud- 
 denly burst forth, and He knew that God was His 
 Father. This, truly, is a mystery, but not a staggering 
 one. When and how does the infant-child come to the 
 consciousness of personality, or to its relation to its 
 mother ? That little babe, lying on its mother's bosom, 
 sucking life from her generous breast, has no conscious- 
 ness that she is its mother ; for the present it is but a 
 little animal obeying the instinct of life ; yet there is 
 rolled up in that little brain and heart a filial relation 
 which will presently burst into consciousness, and that 
 consciousness will by-and-bye express itself in one word, 
 " mamma," and the little thing will no longer be an 
 animal, but consciously a human child. So it is even 
 with the youth and maiden ; some crisis of love or re- 
 sponsibility, of sorrow or disappointment, will suddenly 
 reveal to them that they are no longer children, but men 
 and women. The conscious child is in the unconscious 
 infant, the man and woman are in the boy and girl ; it 
 only needs a crisis to burst these hidden buds into full 
 self-knowledge. 
 
 After all, this mysterious power of knowing divine 
 things in ourselves, without the intervention of human 
 communication, is not an unknown truth to us. There 
 is a knowledge of God that comes to us, as it came to 
 Jesus, by the Holy Spirit — a spiritual knowledge, as real 
 and as sure as the knowledge of human things communi- 
 
374 JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 cated by the testimony of facts through our senses or the 
 intellectual faculty. When Moses was born, his parents 
 saw that he was a " proper child," ^ marked in some way 
 for God's special service. When Jesus asked His dis- 
 ciples who He was, Peter promptly answered that He 
 was " the Christ, the Son of the Living God " ^ This 
 was not a human knowledge of Jesus : " For flesh and 
 blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father 
 which is in heaven." ^ The Father in heaven, who at the 
 proper moment revealed the truth of His divine origin 
 to Jesus, in like manner reveals it to us. All the theo- 
 logical study in the world will not enable us to know 
 either God or His Christ. No one can say that Jesus is 
 Lord but by the Spirit. Has this spiritual knowledge of 
 our relation to God come to us, or are we merely intel- 
 lectual Christians, accepting Christ on the authority of 
 the Creed, or the mere letter of the word of God ? It 
 is true that we do not become children of God by con- 
 sciousness, but we do come to personal consciousness of 
 that glorious fact apart from the mere external testimony 
 of the word of God. Having obtained in ourselves the 
 knowledge that God is our Father, that knowledge 
 abides, even though we may lose for the moment the 
 supporting testimony of the word, just as a building 
 stands on its own foundation, and is supported by 
 its own framework, long after the scaffolding used in 
 its erection is taken down and the instruments of its 
 construction removed. I know that this personal con- 
 sciousness of God and our regeneration is not accepted 
 by the world as valid testimony. It may not be valid 
 testimony to them, but it is to us. We cannot tell how 
 we know, but we know that we know. " He that 
 knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God heareth 
 
 * Exod. ii. 2. * Matt. xvi. i6. ^ Ibid. xvi. 17. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 375 
 
 us not." ^ Here the controversy must end. There is a 
 
 spiritual knowledge of things spiritual known by those 
 who are spiritually enlightened, which the world cannot 
 know, for God manifests Himself to us as He does not 
 to the world, and the natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God. 
 
 Mary only had the positive knowledge that Jesus was 
 incarnate in her body ; she could not prove it to any 
 living soul in the world ; she could not have convinced 
 Joseph of the truth of her testimony ; it was only after 
 an angel from God had showed the truth to Joseph that 
 he was convinced, and abandoned his former purpose 
 of " putting her away privately." Mary knew who Jesus 
 was. She had never communicated the story of His 
 incarnation to Him ; but now He came to know it Him- 
 self with a knowledge He received from God. Mary 
 had not forgotten the great secret of His incarnation, 
 but in the course of years, since she had come to abide 
 in the midst of more natural relations with Him and 
 with Joseph, the importance, the freshness, the over- 
 whelming significance of the incarnation had faded 
 somewhat from her thought. Joseph had been allowed 
 to take the place of God to some extent in her mind, 
 and she had accustomed herself to think and speak to 
 Jesus of Joseph as His father, as in a domestic sense 
 he was ; and thus the divine was pushed from the 
 foreground into the background of his thought. 
 Though Mary had never forgotten the real source of 
 Jesus' being, she had suffered that knowledge to lose 
 power with her : the human side of Jesus' life and rela- 
 tion had usurped the place of the divine. Not that 
 Mary ever intended or deliberately ignored the true 
 state of the case, but that she had drifted into this way 
 of thinking and feeling. Just as we forget — oh ! I am 
 
 * I John iv. 6. 
 
376 /ESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 afraid too often, and for too long a time — that we are 
 God's sons and daughters. Not that we forget it alto- 
 gether, and never refer in thought to this glorious fact, 
 but that we allow human relations to take the first 
 place with us, and drift into the habit of giving the 
 Heavenly Father a second place. We are the sons of 
 God and citizens of heaven by adoption and new 
 birth. We are stout to affirm and defend this as a 
 matter of creed or faith ; but, practically, we so often 
 subordinate the divine relation to the human, the 
 heavenly citizenship to the earthly, we yield the claims 
 of God and the sweet other world to those of this world. 
 Jesus' words must have been a kind of shock to Mary, 
 must have awakened her, as it were, out of a sleep in 
 which the past great realities in connection with Him 
 were rather as dreams than facts. Would God that this 
 word of His to His mother might reach our hearts and 
 consciences, and arouse us to a new sense of our relation 
 to our Heavenly Father ! From the moment the know- 
 ledge of God as His Father was made known to Jesus, 
 He never again lost the deep and blessed sense of it. 
 By this title He always addressed and spoke of Him. 
 This term is repeated over and over again, especially 
 in John's gospel, " My Father," " My Father," " My 
 Father." It was the deep secret of all His wonderful 
 life. 
 
 Now, it was part of the mission of Jesus to reveal this 
 Fatherhood of God to us, that we also might come to 
 know Him as such. It was His first message to His 
 disciples after His resurrection. " Go," He said to 
 Mary, " to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend 
 to My Father and to your Father, and to Aly God and 
 to your God." ^ How unspeakably precious it is to be 
 taken thus into the Brotherhood of Christ and the 
 * John XX. 17. 
 
JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 377 
 
 Fatherhood of God ! Did we fully, or even measurably, 
 realize this great fact, it would fill us constantly with 
 joy and delight ; it would give us new confidence and 
 courage in the world ; it would stimulate us to every 
 high and holy endeavour ; it would dignify us beyond 
 and above every misfortune or reproach which the world 
 could put upon us ; and especially would it sinew us, 
 body and mind, to be about our Father's business in the 
 world. Paul tells us that " as many as are led by the 
 Spirit of God, they are the sons of God ; for ye have not 
 received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have 
 received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father." ^ Standing and living in this holy and high 
 relation to God and our Lord Jesus Christ, there can be 
 no place for mere formalism. We are children in our 
 Father's house ; our dealings with Him are not those 
 of ceremony or mere religious courtesy, but of love, 
 liberty, filial freedom, and without fear. Our service is 
 not the service of hirelings, but of sons. Our pride and 
 our joys are those which come from Him ; our posses- 
 sions and our inheritance are such as are derived from 
 our Father. From Him comes our daily bread ; and 
 since we have Him to appeal to, we need not be troubled 
 with anxious care about the things of this world. With 
 Him there is full and free forgiveness of offences, of mis- 
 takes, even of sins ; the law does not come between us 
 and Him, for we are no longer under law, but under 
 grace. With Him there is all power to deliver from 
 temptation, and to save us from the uttermost peril. 
 What is there in all the world, either by way of posses- 
 sion or relation, that can compare with this relation to 
 God ? I am sure that it was this knowledge that God 
 was His Father that supported Him through all His 
 ministry, and made it possible for Him to fulfil it to the 
 ' Rom. viii. 14, 15. 
 
37S JESUS' GREAT CONFESSION 
 
 end. And I am sure it is only as we come to know and 
 appreciate the fact that He is our Father too, that we 
 can live a really Christian life, inwardly and outwardly. 
 May the Holy Spirit intensify this knowledge in us if 
 we have it, and breathe it into us if we have it not, for 
 Jesus' sake. 
 
XX 
 
 "MV FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business ?" — 
 Luke ii. 49. 
 
 THE mother of Jesus was displeased with her Son 
 because He tarried behind in the temple while 
 they pursued their journey home, thus causing them 
 some anxiety and trouble. She assumed that the whole 
 duty of a child is to please his parents ; at least, Mary 
 seemed to express this thought in her complaint against 
 Jesus. It is quite true that the first duty of children in 
 all earthly relations is to obey and please their parents. 
 " Children, obey your parents," is the first command- 
 ment of God with promise, but there is a qualification 
 attached to this commandment : " Children, obey your 
 parents in the Lordr ^ The Lord also has claims upon 
 children ; nay His claims are paramount, and must have 
 the first consideration. Jesus certainly was not actuated 
 by any spirit of disobedience when He tarried behind 
 in the temple ; no thought of displeasing His parents 
 was present in His mind. Indeed, it must be supposed 
 that He had considered the question of the anxiety 
 which His absence from the home-bound company 
 would occasion them ; yet His duty to His Father in 
 heaven controlled His actions, and He attended to that 
 higher call even at the expense of causing anxiety to 
 His human mother and to Joseph, His good and kind 
 * Eph. vi. I. 
 
 379 
 
38o "MV FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 foster-father. With the coming of the full conscious- 
 ness of His relation to His Father in heaven came also 
 a divine call to be interested in all the affairs of that 
 Father, and the desire as well as the necessity of at once 
 consecrating Himself to His service. 
 
 Jesus expressed surprise that His mother did not 
 recognise this obligation resting upon Him, for though 
 He had but awakened to the fact of His divine relation- 
 ship, He seemed surprised that Mary, who knew all the 
 facts, should be unprepared for the new phase of life 
 and duty opening to Him, and especially that there 
 should be even a trace of displeasure in her words or 
 manner toward Him for thus obeying God when the 
 call came. I am sure, did we parents fully understand 
 that our children are God's children before they are 
 ours, and that He has some business for them in the 
 world, we would be more careful to encourage them 
 concerning God and His business, and specially careful 
 never to discourage, much less to rebuke, them when we 
 find them turning with interest to the affairs of their 
 Father in heaven. 
 
 I. Jesus and His Father's Business. With the 
 dawning consciousness of His relation to God as a Son 
 to a Father, came also the sense that He had something 
 to do for His Father ; that He had a mission in the 
 world — that it was henceforth His business to attend to 
 His Father's affairs. 
 
 Whether or not He fully realized the stupendous 
 nature of His mission — whether at this time He saw 
 right through to the end — are questions which have 
 been often raised and debated. It seems to me that 
 to suppose such to have been the case would be out of 
 harmony with the whole story of His intellectual and 
 spiritual development, and contrary to the natural, as 
 well as to the super-natural, personality which belonged 
 
''MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" 381 
 
 to Him. We must always think of Jesus as being as 
 fully identified and one with our human nature and its 
 limitations, as with the Godhead that was in Him with 
 its unlimited being. Whatever of transcendent qualities 
 belonged to His mind and soul, they did not denatural- 
 ize Him as the Child and Son of Man. From the time 
 He entered fully upon His public ministry He seems to 
 have understood that He must die, and be raised again 
 from the dead ; that the fruit of His death would be the 
 grace of forgiveness and life to those who believed. But 
 even this knowledge of Himself and of His mission 
 seems to have come upon Him not, as it were, by a 
 single " afflatus " of knowledge, but as the dawn of the 
 day gradually reaches noontide strength. But we have 
 not to do with this larger and later question at present. 
 We have only to note that the Child Jesus, at the age of 
 twelve years, came to know that He was the Son of God. 
 and that henceforth all His relations and life must be 
 regulated by that great fact. With this knowledge came 
 also the conviction that His first opportunity of obedi- 
 ence to His Father was now before Him, and that it 
 must be instantly attended to, without reference to any 
 other claims upon Him, such, for instance, as returning 
 to Nazareth with His parents. Hitherto, in His quiet 
 Nazareth home, neither such knowledge nor opportunity 
 had presented themselves. To do His mother's will and 
 to please Joseph, His foster-father, was the full extent 
 of His will and duty. That He did these well and truly 
 goes without saying. Since coming to Jerusalem to at- 
 tend the feast of Passover, a new crisis had come to 
 Him, and He did not suffer that opportunity to recede 
 from His obedient heart, but embraced it at once, and 
 gave Himself up with calm and determined enthusiasm 
 to attend to it. Doubtless this was what made Him so 
 Interested in the conversation with the doctors. He was 
 
382 "MV FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 looking into His Father's business at that time, finding 
 out by their instruction and His own questions what was 
 expected of Him, and how He was to do it. This for 
 the moment seemed to be the only thing for Him to do ; 
 to get acquainted with His Father's business. 
 
 As we have already seen in a former comment upon 
 this incident, Jesus is the great prototype of all the chil- 
 dren of God. If He speaks of God as His Father, He 
 also has taught us that God is our Father as well. " My 
 Father and your Father ; My God 3ind yo7ir God." Here, 
 and in later years, He emphasized the obligation He was 
 under to be "about His Father's business." He has also 
 made it plain that the same obligation rests upon us : 
 " As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." ^ 
 This is both high honour and high responsibility. God 
 has saved and called us, not for ourselves alone, but that 
 we might be " workers together with Him " ; ^ that we 
 might be " instant in season, out of season " ^ about our 
 Father's business. God has no sons who are not His 
 servants. He does not call us to Jesus only that we 
 might find rest, but that we might take His yoke and 
 burden upon us, and l/ius find rest in service. God does 
 not show us at once all that we are to Him, and all that 
 He has for us to do ; but with the first consciousness of 
 sonship there does come to us, too, the conviction that 
 we must henceforth serve Him. The universal testimony 
 of young converts is, that with the knowledge of sins 
 forgiven comes an impulse to do something for God. 
 That impulse would become permanent if, like Jesus, we 
 yielded to it at once, and held steadfastly to consecrated 
 service as being a part of our sonship. Neither does 
 God show us all at once the whole mystery of our life — 
 what it is to be, and what we are to do. It is step by 
 step in the pathway of obedience, and by keeping our 
 ^ John XX. 21. * 2 Cor. vi. i. ^2 Tim. iv. 2. 
 
"MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" 383 
 
 minds and hearts open to Him, and our hands free to 
 serve when the opportunity presents itself, that we are 
 led on from grace to grace, and from good work to good 
 work ; from the opening consciousness of divine life in 
 God to full consciousness of sonship in Christ. 
 
 How little you and I knew what our lives would be 
 when we first began to obey God's call to service. With- 
 in two minutes after my own conversion I was led to 
 speak to a young friend of the way of salvation, and ex- 
 plain to her that, since Jesus had died and God had 
 raised Him up, He was satisfied with that settlement for 
 our sins, and that we, therefore, ought to be satisfied. It 
 came to me to deliver this little gospel message to a 
 number of young people of my own age during the first 
 half-hour of my new life. I did not know then that 
 henceforth God would have me devote my whole life to 
 the work of preaching the glad tidings of His love. 
 With my conversion came my first opportunity to be 
 about my Father's business. It was by promptly em- 
 bracing that opportunity that the whole course of my 
 life was determined. A few days after this, my em- 
 ployer rebuked me for some apparent neglect of duty, 
 in order that I might go after another friend, in whom I 
 became deeply interested, and seek to lead him to Christ. 
 He was a Christian man, though not a very earnest one 
 and I at once told him how God had converted my soul, 
 and had put it into my heart to show the way of life to 
 some others, and that I felt that I ought to obey this 
 impulse, even though I seemed to fall short in the dis- 
 charge of some other and lower duty. He looked at me 
 for a moment steadily in the face, and then said, with 
 something of a tremor in his voice, " Go to your meet- 
 ing ; go to your young friend — win him to Christ if 
 you can. Would to God that / could do something 
 for my God ; but it is too late for me to serve Him in 
 
384 "MV FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 this way — I have had my opportunities, but have ne- 
 glected or lost them." Later, when I gave myself to the 
 ministry of the word, how little I knew to what that 
 would lead. A little country church was my first charge ; 
 and there, amidst a few poor and uncultured people, I 
 expected to spend my days, thinking of no wider field 
 of work. But what has thirty years of service brought 
 me? From town to town, and from city to city, from 
 my own to your country, and from here more than half 
 around the world, I have gone preaching this glorious 
 gospel, and sharing in the blessing of God which the 
 good news has brought to multitudes. To God be all 
 the glory ! Had I faltered at the first, as once I was 
 strongly tempted to do, because of a sense of unfitness 
 and unpreparedness for so great a work, I should have 
 been turned aside to some secular business, not wrong or 
 unfit for a son of God to engage in, yet certainly not so 
 high a calling as that which God now permits me to 
 exercise ; or I might (by disobedience to the " heavenly 
 vision ") have lost consciousness of my sonship and made 
 shipwreck of faith ; or, at least, sunk into mere formal 
 and miserable nominal Christianity, as so many have 
 done who have not been prompt to enter upon their 
 Father's business at His first call. 
 
 Many Christians tell me that they have no vocation 
 to service ; that they do not know what to do ; that 
 they would be glad to serve God, if only they knew 
 /low and where ! These are they who were not on the 
 alert, when first they knew the Lord, to set themselves 
 at once about their Father's business ; or who have 
 fallen from their first love and zeal ; or have separated 
 service from the consciousness of salvation ; and, I fear, 
 in many cases, with the abandonment or the neglect 
 of service, have lost the blessed consciousness of son- 
 ship. I am more and more satisfied, as I come to know 
 
"MY FATHER'S BUSINESS'' 38S 
 
 myself and my surroundings better, and those of other 
 Christians as well, that we do not so much need to make 
 opportunities as to embrace them when .they are pre- 
 sented to us. The majority of life's failures, especially 
 in Christian life, grow out of not promptly embracing 
 opportunities for service. Shakespeare tells us that 
 " There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at 
 the flood, leads on to fortune." It is equally true that 
 there are spiritual instincts and promptings which, if 
 yielded to, lead on to most blessed and useful Christian 
 life ; but which, if neglected, leave the Christian to 
 comparative shipwreck. 
 
 Jesus, when a child of twelve, embraced the first op- 
 portunity which came to set Himself about His Father's 
 business. For this He gave up His homeward journey, 
 subordinated His relations to His parents, and attended 
 to God's call. What would have been the effect upon 
 His future ministry, what the result to the world, had 
 He faltered then ? is a thought which we dare not 
 contemplate. What darkness and misery have come 
 to thousands of Christian lives ; what the world has 
 lost in service ; what (we may reverently say) God 
 has lost in souls, and what souls have lost in God, 
 through the indifference and negligence of God's people, 
 is a too palpable demonstration. How long do you 
 suppose it would require to evangelize the world if 
 Christians were, with whole-hearted devotion, saying to 
 each other, " We must be about our Father's business " ; 
 and not only saying it, but doing it? India, China, and 
 Africa are more than ripe for the Gospel. The few who 
 have gone out to those lands have, under God, wrought 
 wonders almost beyond belief. Where there is one 
 missionary, there should be a hundred ; where there is 
 one pound consecrated to God for that glorious service, 
 there should be a thousand ; and this could easily be 
 
 P.B. 25 
 
386 ''MV FATHER'S BUSINESS'' 
 
 if only we were more in earnest "about our Father's 
 business." Oh, if, with Jesus, we could all say, " I have 
 meat to eat that ye know not of My meat is to do the 
 will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work " ! ^ 
 Alas ! that we are so easily turned aside from His busi- 
 ness ; that we find our pleasure and profit in things 
 which do not contribute except to our momentary ad- 
 vantage, if, indeed, they do not make for our ultimate 
 loss. To be about the " Father's business," or not to 
 be about it, makes all the difierence in the world to 
 the Christian. Oh, the difference between a real out- 
 and-out child and servant of God, and a poor, half- 
 hearted professor, who is of no use to the world or the 
 Church, and has in himself no well-spring of joy and 
 eladness ! I know that some will answer me that there 
 are other claims than those of God and His work upon 
 us. Otir families, our businesses, our duties to society 
 and to the state, make demands upon us which we may 
 not neglect, and which cannot be denied. Yes, so said 
 Mary to Jesus, " You have neglected us ; you have 
 caused us much anxiety, trouble, and sorrow ; how is 
 it that you have thus entreated us?" To which Jesus 
 made reply, " How is it that ye sought Me ; that you 
 should be in doubt where I was, and what I was about ? 
 wist ye not that I must be about My Father's busi- 
 ness?" We must either set ourselves and all others 
 aside, or we must set God aside. There can be no 
 middle ground or way. We need not fear that our 
 families, businesses, society, or the state will suffer if 
 we put God first, and steadfastly set ourselves to "be 
 about our Father's business." I have often said that 
 God's temple is everywhere, and His business touches 
 every institution, occupation and interest in the world. 
 Jesus was still about His Father's business when He 
 1 John iv. 32-34 
 
"MV FATHER'S BUSINESS" 387 
 
 went back to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, and 
 "was subject to them." Who amongst us has a doubt 
 that those eighteen years in which we hear not another 
 word from His Hps, and know not another thing that 
 occupied His hands, were, nevertheless, all filled with 
 God's service, even though that service were performed 
 in connection with the commonest domestic and me- 
 chanical occupations ? I once saw a picture of Jesus at 
 work with Joseph in his carpenter's shop. He was 
 driving a plane across a piece of plank, and the plane 
 in His hands was glowing with a heavenly light, and 
 the shaving which curled from the foot of it gave forth 
 the same kind of sheen. This is the true version of 
 work. When we make our common or ordinary occu- 
 pations our Father's business, they cease to be common 
 and secular, and become sacred and heavenly. Forgive 
 me if I seem to press this thought upon your atten- 
 tion with what may seem to you to be too frequent 
 reiteration. 
 
 I. T/ie Fathei^s business is paramoimt in this world. 
 The words of Jesus, touching this and other matters, 
 have become too common-place with us. Familiarity 
 with them, if it has not bred contempt, has, I fear, bred 
 indifference. If some of them were heard by us for the 
 first time they would startle us. " Seek ye first the 
 kingdom of God and His righteousness " ^ is one of the 
 sayings of Jesus which should never cease to have a 
 place in our thoughts day and night. Now, nothing in 
 this world ought to take precedence with us over that 
 command ; for command, and imperative command, it 
 is. Jesus, in this instance, put His heavenly Father 
 before His earthly mother ; His Father's business before 
 His mother's anxiety and sorrow. Mary, in her momen- 
 tary forgetfulness of who her Son was, and what He 
 » Matt. vi. 33. 
 
388 ''MY FATHER'S BUSINESS'' 
 
 was sent into the world to do, sought to put her claims 
 first, and chid Him for not having done so. Do we not 
 often set the claims of our families and personal interest 
 before those of God ? Quaint old John Trapp says, 
 " Men, or ourselves — be they or we pleased or displeased 
 — God must be obeyed and served." We all agree that 
 no unsaved man is justified in allowing any earthly 
 interest to come before his salvation, or stand for a 
 moment between him and the duty of immediately 
 seeking the kingdom of God. Well, being saved, we 
 have no more right to delay our undivided service of 
 God than we had the right to delay seeking the salva- 
 tion of our own souls. For what were we saved, but 
 that we might serve ? " To-day, if ye will hear His 
 voice, harden not your hearts," ^ is God's word to the 
 unsaved. On one occasion, a man intimated his desire 
 to follow Jesus, but pleaded that he might first go and 
 bury his father. To which Jesus replied, with some 
 sternness, " Let the dead bury their dead ; but go thou 
 and preach the kingdom of God."^ Now, Jesus does 
 not in this teach that we are to neglect these most 
 sacred filial duties, but that no duty is sacred, or to be 
 attended to before the paramount claims of the kingdom 
 of God. Another also said, " Lord, I will follow Thee ; 
 but let me first go and bid them farewell which are at 
 home at my house. And Jesus said unto him. No man, 
 having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is 
 fit for the kingdom of God." ^ This imperative rule of 
 discipleship and service may seem to some harsh and 
 severe ; if carried out literally, it would, you say ,entail 
 loss to yourselves and unkindness to others. I will not 
 argue the point, but only bid you look these words of 
 Jesus fairly in the face, and then, in the light of your 
 present walk and work, answer the question, "Judged 
 ' Heb. iii. 15. * Luke ix. 60. • Ibid. ix. 61, 62. 
 
"MV FATHER'S BUSINESS" 389 
 
 by the words of Jesus, are you His disciple ? " A cer- 
 tain scribe once said to Jesus, " Lord, I will follow Thee 
 whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, 
 Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; 
 but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." ^ 
 We do not read whether that apparently eager man 
 accepted the conditions of discipleship, whether he was 
 willing to follow Jesus at the cost of becoming a home- 
 less and houseless wanderer ; but the inference is that 
 he did not follow Him, How many among us profess 
 a desire to be His disciples, but hesitate to follow either 
 in the way of faith or service at the cost of personal loss, 
 either in that which we must leave behind us, or part 
 with, for the kingdom of God ; or at the cost of giving 
 up some personal or social duty not immediately con- 
 nected with the kingdom of God ! That young ruler 
 who came so eagerly to Jesus to know what he must do 
 to inherit eternal life, cooled and turned back when he 
 found out that the kingdom of God was to be given the 
 first place in his affections. The test in that case was 
 on the point of parting with his worldly wealth. Did he 
 wish eternal life more than wealth ? One would have 
 thought so ; but no, at this point his desire failed him, 
 and "he went away sorrowful because he had great 
 possessions." ^ I do not say that the ordinary business 
 of our Father calls us to abandon our houses and be- 
 come homeless wanderers in the earth ; that it demands 
 that we shall turn our backs upon our friends, and never 
 so much as say farewell to them ; that we shall be so 
 engrossed in religious work that we shall leave our dead 
 unburied ; or that we shall immediately sell all that 
 we have and give to the poor : but that we shall 
 have so thoroughly chosen Christ and His kingdom, 
 so thoroughly devoted ourselves to the Father's business, 
 ^ Luke ix. 57, 58. * Matt. xix. 22. 
 
390 "MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 that if the crisis comes we will gladly accept all these 
 conditions of discipleship. He who does not see his 
 way to such paramount loyalty to Jesus and the Father's 
 business, cannot be a disciple, or a true member of the 
 kingdom of God. John and James left their nets to 
 become fishers of men, because Jesus called them to 
 that work. They did not haggle about the loss to them- 
 selves and to their father, or the necessity of continuing 
 their fishing trade in order to support their families, but 
 immediately left all to follow Jesus in this service, trust- 
 ing Him to supply all their need according to the riches 
 of His grace and abundance. Levi, sitting at the receipt 
 of custom, when Jesus called him, at once resigned his 
 lucrative trade to become a disciple. When Saul of 
 Tarsus was called, he immediately turned his back upon 
 all that in the past had been dear to him, in order that 
 he might without delay obey the " heavenly vision." ^ 
 
 As Jesus understood His obligations to His Father, 
 the second table of the law gave way to the first. That 
 He loved and honoured His saintly mother none can 
 doubt, but when His Father called Him He did not 
 hesitate, and was surprised that His mother should 
 chide Him for giving God the first place in His love and 
 duty. Even so our obligation to God supersedes obliga- 
 tion to every earthly relation. Parents, husbands, wives, 
 children, masters, society and country must give way to 
 God's paramount claims upon us. This is a solemn 
 matter. How many wives stand between their husbands 
 and their obligations to the Father and His business ; 
 how many husbands interpose between their wives and 
 God in like manner. Masters very frequently make 
 such demands upon their servants that they have no 
 time to serve God — reducing them to a kind of human 
 slavery, for their personal comfort and worldly interests. 
 * Acts xxvi. 19. 
 
«i]/F FATHER'S BUSINESS" 391 
 
 The state sometimes demands of its servants such ex- 
 clusive service as gives them no time to worship God, 
 even on the Sabbath Day ; unless it be that they can do 
 so in their own hearts and without the aid of ordinances, 
 I have known parents make such demands upon their 
 children that they have withdrawn them from the house 
 of God, and the direct service of the Church, to which 
 their youthful enthusiasm had attached them. I have in 
 my mind now a mother who said to me not very long 
 ago, " I have brought up my sons with pain and toil, and 
 I want them with me on Sundays and during the week 
 evenings. I have the first claim upon them, and am 
 unwilling that they should be so often and so much at 
 the church — surely their mother has the first claim ! " 
 The result was, and is, that these young men, from be- 
 coming active and useful in large measure, have already 
 dropped into the most commonplace Christians. " My 
 husband is away from me all the week ; I want him at 
 home on Sundays. You must find somebody else to 
 take that class of his." " My business is so exacting, 
 and takes so much of my strength, that I must reserve 
 the Sunday for rest at home, or I should be unfit to go 
 to my office again on Monday." " Sunday is the only 
 day I have for visiting my friends ; surely you would 
 not have me give up all my social acquaintances for the 
 Church ? " Thus, and with such arguments, I am con- 
 stantly met when I ask service of many who are pro- 
 fessing Christians. Now, what does it all mean ? It 
 means that they put themselves and their personal in- 
 terests first, and God and the kingdom of heaven second. 
 It means that they have made their business so exclu- 
 sively their own, and not God's, that they have robbed 
 God even of His Sabbath day, and the kingdom of God 
 of all personal service on their part. Many of these do 
 not even so far regard their business as belonging to 
 
392 '' MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 God as to give the work of God even a fair portion of 
 their profits, but spend their gains (except a small dole) 
 upon themselves. A young Christian girl lately made 
 promise, out of a full heart, of a pound towards one of 
 the many causes which call for money. She earned the 
 money herself, and felt that she would have pleasure in 
 giving it, as it was to her also a duty. Her mother, a 
 Christian woman, hearing of this, forbade her daughter, 
 on the ground that she should save it for herself, and 
 not spend it upon the Church, saying, " There are plenty 
 of rich people to supply the cause of Christ with funds." 
 So the selfish robbery of God goes on among both rich 
 and poor. If any one is found in the temple, being 
 about the Father's business, in the true spirit of conse- 
 cration, putting God's claims first, some mother or wife, 
 husband or master, steps in and says, " Why hast thou 
 so dealt with us ? We have sought thee diligently, for 
 your absence has put us to inccmvenience ; has hindered 
 our profit or pleasure " ; thrusting their claims before 
 God's, if not in their selfishness, in utter forgetfulness of 
 God. 
 
 2. The Father's business demands our incessant atten- 
 tion. In His service there are no holidays. It is so 
 urgent, so imperative — the time is so short in which it 
 is to be done, and our time so uncertain — that Jesus 
 bids us " work while it is day ; the night cometh when 
 no man can work." ^ " In season, out of season," ^ is the 
 apostolic injunction. There are times of refreshing from 
 on high when all real Christians seem to awaken out of 
 sleep and idleness, and go and bring forth fruit ; but the 
 real servant of God finds it a seasonable time to serve 
 God out of season. To bear fruit in summer-time is no 
 more than ordinary expectation might demand ; but to 
 see a tree bearing fruit in winter-time, out of season^ is 
 ^ John ix. 4. '2 Tim. iv. 2. 
 
"J/K FATHER'S BUSINESS" 393 
 
 something more than natural. Well, Jesus would have 
 us thus supernatural in respect of service : diligent in 
 season, out of season. Even in our holiday times, when 
 we turn aside for rest, as is needful, there is still oppor- 
 tunity for service in God's temple. Jesus wrought many 
 of His most precious works by the wayside : as the 
 healing of blind Bartimaeus, and the woman with an 
 issue of blood. It was when He had retired to " the 
 desert place apart," ^ near Capernaum, for a season of 
 rest, that being thronged with a multitude. He fed the 
 five thousand ; it was while He " sat thus upon Jacob's 
 well " * that He saved the Samaritan woman, finding 
 more refreshment in that service than in the meat which 
 the disciples brought Him from the village hard by 
 Oh, the tirelessness of Jesus in the service of His 
 Father ! I do not for a moment suppose that we can 
 approach that ideal service in degree, but we can keep 
 it before us as our model and example, and strive to be 
 true disciples of such a Master. That we are expected 
 in some measure to follow in His footsteps we might 
 gather from the great apostle's exhortation : " Therefore, 
 my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye 
 know that your labour is not vain in the Lord." ^ 
 
 3. TJie Father's business must be done. In attending 
 to our Father's business we have no option. Jesus said 
 to His mother, " Wist ye not that I MUST be about my 
 Father's business ? " At twelve years of age the eternal 
 obligation to His mission came upon our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. If there was implied in Mary's complaint that 
 Jesus had, through thoughtlessness or mere personal 
 whim, remained behind in the temple. He now takes 
 pains to assure her that in this matter He had no option, 
 and this she ought to have known. " I must be about 
 * Luke ix. 10-17. * John iv. 1-42. ' i Cor. xv. 58. 
 
39+ "'"ify FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 my Father's business." The most superficial reading of 
 the gospel reveals this fact to us — that while Jesus was 
 a voluntary Servant, and came to do His Father's will, 
 and work most willingly and gladly — nay, that " He 
 delighted to do His will " — He was nevertheless always 
 mindful that, having voluntarily given Himself up for the 
 world's redemption. He was under a constant and ever- 
 increasing obligation to carry his work through to the 
 end. He did nothing without the sense of " oughtness " 
 being upon Him. In His conversation with Nicodemus 
 He set forth this great truth. If sinful men musi be 
 born again before seeing or entering into the kingdom 
 of God, " the Son of Man MUST be lifted up." ^ For 
 the bitten Israelites there was no remedy except in the 
 uplifted serpent ; and for this sin-smitten world there 
 is no remedy but in the uplifted Son of God. We speak 
 it with great reverence, but God Himself could save us 
 in no other way. Granting the eternal purpose of grace 
 toward the world, we must also grant the eternal necessity 
 there was for Christ to come and suffer for our sins. 
 This must faced Him all through His ministry. As I 
 have already said, it came upon Him from the moment 
 He consciously grasped the fact that He was the Son of 
 God, and that He had His Father's work to do. Nor 
 did it ever leave Him. " Let us go into the next towns 
 that I may preach : for therefore came I forth." * So 
 again, on an occasion, when conversing with His dis- 
 ciples. He showed them " how that He must go to 
 Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and 
 scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third 
 day." ^ Peter remonstrated with Him for thus tamely, as 
 it seemed to him, delivering Himself up to His enemies. 
 But He told Peter plainly that any dissuasion from that 
 obligation was a temptation and suggestion as from the 
 ' John iii. 14. * Mark i. iZ. » Matt. xvi. 21. 
 
" JUV FA THER 'S B US I NESS " 395 
 
 devil. Other passages might be quoted to show how 
 constantly Jesus worked under this rule of " must." " I 
 must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is 
 day." ^ When He was hanging on the cross His enemies 
 taunted Him with being an impostor and a false Christ, 
 and challenged Him to prove His divine Sonship by 
 coming down from the cross. What was it that held 
 Him there ? It was neither the nails that pierced His 
 hands and feet, nor the thongs which bound Him to the 
 cross. It was that eternal and blessed MUST. The 
 Son of Man must suffer, or we mtist be lost. That He 
 had power to come down from the cross there is no 
 doubt. Until His hour came He frequently escaped out 
 of the hands of His enemies. When He was sought by 
 the guard of soldiers who came to arrest Him, the night 
 before His crucifixion. He easily demonstrated how 
 powerless they were to take Him by force ; even as He 
 told Pilate that he had no power over His life, but that 
 it was in His own power to lay it down and to take it 
 again. I do not think we appreciate how completely 
 Jesus gave Himself up, from His very youth, to the duty 
 of His mission. That there was freedom in this duty is 
 of course as manifest as that there was obligation ; nay, 
 more, there was an inconceivable "joy set before Him "^ 
 in all that He did for us according to the will of God, 
 which enabled Him to endure the cross and despise the 
 shame ; but the mainspring of all is found in the word 
 must. Love and duty with Him were the same. He 
 loved His Father even as He knew His Father loved 
 Him ; and He loved us even as the Father loved us ; 
 and so He gave Himself both to the Father to do His 
 will and be about His business, and to us that He might, 
 through life, death, and resurrection, redeem us to God. 
 Blessed Servant of God, who was bound to the Father's 
 ' John ix. 4. * Heb. xii. 2. 
 
396 ''MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" 
 
 business by that divine 7nust ! May we learn both the 
 secret and the blessedness of it in our work for God 
 and souls. 
 
 I am aware that there is a school of teachers, which 
 has considerable vogue at present, who teach that ser- 
 vice ought never to be a matter of duty, but entirely a 
 matter of love ; just as though there could be any duty 
 where there is no love, or any real love which involves 
 no duty. Duty is the yoke which love puts upon the 
 neck of Christ's disciples ; by it we are enabled to serve 
 God in fellowship with our Lord, who took the same 
 yoke upon Himself, even when He was yet a Boy, and 
 never laid it aside until He rose triumphant from the 
 grave ; nor has He yet laid it aside in heaven, where He 
 ever lives to watch over and make intercession for us. 
 For one thing, at least, I thank God — that He has laid 
 His 7nust upon me ; that the great word " ought " comes 
 frequently to my mind when flesh and spirit are 
 both weak. If I were left only to inclination, I fear I 
 should still more often fail in my work than I already 
 do. Many a time, I fear, I should find even the most 
 blessed work grow monotonous, if it were not for the 
 whispered word of God's Spirit, " You ought to do it." 
 Sometimes the immediate subject of service is not par- 
 ticularly pleasant ; then the mind and heart rises higher, 
 and fastens upon our Lord Himself, and we are enabled 
 to do it unto Him, when otherwise we would not do 
 it at all. I am sure it is no dishonour to the Lord 
 to think that there were times in His ministry among 
 men when even He had to say to Himself, " I must 
 be about My Father's business." It was His Father's 
 business which carried Him over the dusty roads of 
 Judaea and up the hills of Galilee ; that enabled Him 
 to bear the loneliness, the weariness, the provocation 
 of enemies, the dulness and selfishness of His disciples 
 
"MY FATHER'S BUSINESS'' 397 
 
 and "to endure to the end." It is the Father's busi- 
 ness which requires us to be kind when we would be 
 cross ; to be patient and gentle when we are provoked 
 to anger and roughness ; to be generous when we would 
 be selfish and parsimonious ; to be large-hearted, tender 
 and forgiving when we would be small, mean and 
 revengeful. Believe me, dear friends, there is no word 
 in the English language larger or more full of meaning 
 and blessedness than these words, which were often on 
 the lips of our Lord, as explaining why He " steadfastly 
 set His face " ^ to suffer for us and for the world. 
 
 The sacred narrative tells us that "they understood 
 not the saying which He spake unto them." * His 
 apprehension of His own mission and work transcended 
 even Mary's knowledge of it, though the angel of God 
 had given her full teaching on that point, and which 
 God emphasized when, under the power of the Holy 
 Ghost, she sang her sweet canticle of praise to God and 
 her Saviour-Son. Yet we can in some measure enter 
 into their strange embarrassment in presence of the 
 Divine Child, and His deeper insight into the will and 
 work of His Father. Every one must find out for him- 
 self what the Father's business is, so far as himself is 
 concerned. We may explain it to others, and wonder 
 why they do not understand ; but we need not be sur- 
 prised if we are not understood even by those who are 
 nearest and dearest to us. The husband oftentimes is 
 perplexed and fails to understand why his own wife is 
 moved to this or that service for God. Parents cannot 
 understand how their children should be " driven by the 
 Spirit " into the wilderness of foreign mission work, or 
 service among the poor. Ambitious fathers fail to see 
 how it is that a favourite son, whom they had designed 
 for business, parliamentary life, or the bar, should declare 
 * Luke ix. 51. - Ibid. ii. 50. 
 
398 ''MY FATHER'S BUSINESS'' 
 
 themselves called to preach the gospel. The secret of 
 God is with those who fear Him ; and though they 
 declare what God would have them to do, they are not 
 understood, but are often stigmatized as being moved by 
 some eccentric whim, fanaticism or religious madness, 
 which does not appeal to the " common sense " of their 
 parents and friends, though they be wise in the wisdom 
 of this world. If any man will honestly say to the Lord, 
 " What wilt Thou have me to do ? "^ he must expect to 
 be misunderstood, or to lose the active sympathy of 
 those who stand nearest to him in human relations. 
 
 II. Jesus returns to Nazareth. "And He went 
 down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was sub- 
 ject unto them." This also was a part of His Father's 
 business. Having declared Himself to His mother, and 
 finished the first bit of business which was given Him 
 to do in His Father's house. He returned to His human 
 parents, and became the simple and obedient Child He 
 had ever been to them. In this we find an illustration 
 of the fact that the Father's business does not neces- 
 sarily involve us in the breach of domestic ties, and the 
 common and ordinary obligations of home life. Jesus 
 was doing His Father's business, in thus subjecting 
 Himself to Mary and Joseph, as really as when He was 
 seated in the midst of the doctors of the law discussing 
 divine things with them ; just as David was doing God's 
 business when, after having been anointed by Samuel to 
 be king in Saul's place, he returned to the care of his 
 " few sheep in the wilderness." Paul as really pursued 
 his heavenly calling when he turned aside to earn his own 
 living at tent-making, as when he was preaching to the 
 wise men of Athens on Mars' Hill, Let no one despise 
 the lowly duties of the home, as though the Father's 
 business were not there as well as in the temple or in 
 ^ Acts ix. 6. 
 
"MY FATHER'S BUSINESS" 399 
 
 other public places. What a beautiful transition this 
 was ! Jesus, the Son of God, who knew Himself to be 
 so, returns quietly and contentedly to that poor little 
 home in Nazareth, and remains there, subject to Mary 
 and Joseph, for another eighteen years. Those eighteen 
 years of quiet retirement in Nazareth were not wasted ; 
 but a time in which all physical, mental, moral, and 
 spiritual strength was maturing under the favour of 
 God. Almost all God's servants have been sent to their 
 Nazareths for a time of quiet self-discipline, after public 
 call to service. Moses had the wilderness ; Joseph had 
 the Egyptian prison ; David his retirement with the 
 sheep ; John the Baptist (as Elijah before him) was 
 hidden for a long time from the people ; Paul had his 
 desert life for three years in Arabia, and, later on, in 
 Roman prisons. I sometimes feel that it would be a 
 good thing for all preachers to get away for a consider- 
 able time from the public life which their calling de- 
 mands, and seek quiet communion with God, away 
 from the bustle and confusion of the world, that they 
 might come forth again not only refreshed in body, 
 but invigorated in mind, and enlarged in spiritual 
 understanding and wisdom. 
 
 Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. 
 

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 The birth and boyhood of Jesus. 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00060 5164