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"BBLIGI0U8 8TMB0LI8M GIVES scope FOR ALL THAT 
 18 Most PROFITABLE IX FANCY, SPECULATION OR THE 
 GREAT DRAMATIC ELEMENT THAT is i\ EVERT .tf.l.V." — 
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BIBLE PICTURES; 
 
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 CD ° fep &) ° 
 
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 GEORGE B. IDE, D.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "BATTLK ECHOES," ETC., ETC. 
 
 TTithout a parable spake he not unto them." — Hark iv. 34. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 G-OTTLiD .A. IN" D LI^TCOT^^, 
 
 59 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 SEW YORK: S HELD OX AND COMPANY. 
 
 CINCINNATI: G. S. ELANCHAED & CO. 
 
 186 7. 
 
23 
 
 
 Kntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18f>7, by 
 
 GOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 in Che Chrk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 $*tlti 
 
 7*7 
 
 STKllKOTlTtl) AND PltlNTKT) Br 
 
 ROCKWELL Sl ROLLINS, 
 122 Washington St., Boston. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 D^C 
 
 N studying the Discourses of the Great 
 Teacher nothing more forcibly im- 
 presses us than their illustrative char- 
 acter. We seldom find in them didactic 
 forms or abstract statements. Truth comes forth 
 from His lips, not in her hard, naked lineaments, 
 but draped in such pictorial garniture as may 
 best commend her to human acceptance and sym- 
 pathy. The parable, the allegory, the narrative, 
 the incidents of common life, the scenes of Na- 
 ture, the changing aspects of earth, and sea, and 
 sky, furnish the attractive and ever varying dress 
 in which He presents her. Thus, the analogies 
 of the outer world become the robes of the inner 
 and the spiritual. 
 
 A belief in the effectiveness of this method of 
 expressing Christian thought, and in its suitable- 
 ness to all periods and circumstances, has led to 
 the publication of the following pages. The de- 
 
 VH 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 lineations which they contain were sketched at 
 different times, and without any special regard to 
 consecutiveness of subject, or logical order. And 
 the same feature has been retained in their pres- 
 ent arrangement. Each chapter is treated as 
 complete in itself, and is intended to be a pic- 
 turesque reproduction of the Scriptural scene or 
 incident to which it relates. How far this de- 
 sign has been accomplished the reader will be 
 able to judge. 
 
 The author has materials for other volumes, 
 similar in execution, but with a stricter connec- 
 tion of topics — "Bible Pictures, pr Scenes in 
 the Life of Christ," and "Bible Pictures, or 
 Scenes from the Acts of the Apostles." If this 
 prove acceptable, those may follow. 
 
 Should these efforts contribute, in a degree 
 however humble, to impart a fresher interest to 
 the study of the Inspired Word as a Book, not 
 of the dead Past, but full of lessons for the liv- 
 ing Present, the highest aim of the writer will 
 be attained. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page. 
 
 I. The House of the Soul 11 
 
 II. The Shepherds and the Angels ... 33 
 
 III. The Year-Sabbath 56 
 
 IV. The Weak Hour of Elijah 81 
 
 V. The Two Builders 100 
 
 VI. Going Back to Bethel 122 
 
 VII. The Thief on the Cross 140 
 
 VIII. Jonas and the Greater than Jonas . .159 
 
 IX. Heaven's Joy over the Saved . . . .184 
 
 ix 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 X. The Strong Spoiled by the Stronger . 205 
 
 XI. Tears amid Triumph 227 
 
 XII. The Stone upon the Grave .... 250 
 
 XIII. Sinners Weighed 262 
 
 XIV. Following Christ Afar Off .... 283 
 XV. Christ's Love for His Own .... 306 
 
 XVI. The Victorious Rider 330 
 
 XVII. The Sermon at Night 356 
 
 XVIII. Deep Fishing 370 
 
 XIX. Vain Questions 393 
 
 XX. Heaven Without Night 416 
 
BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 
 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear 
 
 MY VOICE AND OPEN THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM, AND WILL 
 SUP WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME."— Rev. iii. 10. 
 
 IASSING along a street the other clay, I saw 
 a man ascend the steps of a house and ring 
 at the door. No one came to admit him. 
 He stood awhile with head bent down as if 
 listening, and then rang again. Still the summons 
 was unanswered. Again he waited and listened, 
 until his patience was at length exhausted, and he 
 went away, looking grieved and disappointed. The 
 incident awakened in my mind a train of interesting 
 reflections. Who can tell, I mentally said, how 
 much that family may have lost By not admitting 
 the visitor ? He may have been the bearer of good 
 news, of kind counsel, of help greatly needed, or 
 
 11 
 
12 BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 of some message of remembrance and love from 
 dear ones far away. And why did they not admit 
 him? Perhaps they were careless or asleep, and 
 did not hear him. Perhaps they were busy, and 
 did not like to be interrupted. Perhaps some of 
 them recognized, through the windows, the coun- 
 tenance of an injured friend, and wished to avoid 
 an interview. 
 
 This occurrence, as I have described it, suggested 
 the words of the text, and the spiritual history 
 which they imply. So, methought, does a heedless 
 and slumbering world treat the visits of its merciful 
 Redeemer. He comes, with His hands filled with 
 blessings, and knocks at the hearts of sinners — 
 knocks often and loud — knocks by His Providence 
 — knocks by His Word — knocks by His Spirit. 
 Denied admittance, he does not go away. He 
 stands and knocks. Oh, the depths of human in- 
 gratitude ! Oh, the wonders of Divine condescen- 
 sion, that He who sits on the throne of heaven, 
 worshipped by all its shining hosts, should stand 
 unregarded at the doors of men, and submit to see 
 those doors remain bolted against him ! Alas ! we 
 have all put upon Him this indignity. Even they 
 by whom He has been welcomed long kept Him 
 knocking and pleading without. And what multi- 
 tudes are there who still refuse to listen to His voice, 
 and whose bosoms are as adamant to His appeals ! 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 13 
 
 In dwelling oh the words before us, I propose 
 to describe the House of the Soul ; its original per- 
 fection ; the sad change that has passed over it ; 
 and the methods which its Maker and rightful 
 Owner employs to regain it. 
 
 The house of the soul is a double house, corre- 
 sponding to the twofold nature of its occupant. Its 
 Architect, infinite in wisdom and in skill, designed 
 it with two fronts ; the one having a terrestrial 
 view, the other looking away to the bright hills of 
 Immortality ; thus answering to the temporal and 
 to the eternal relations which man sustains. Both 
 parts were arranged with equal care, and with equal 
 adaptation to their purpose ; for the Builder intended 
 both to be inhabited. 
 
 In the earthward side He constructed five rooms, 
 with five windows, one window to each room. 
 These He designated the windows of the Five 
 Senses, under the respective names of Sight, Hear- 
 ing, Touch, Taste, and Smell. They were so con- 
 trived as to give each its own impression of outward 
 things, and each its separate enjoyment. And the 
 external objects which they commanded were pre- 
 cisely adjusted to their several uses. Ignorant or 
 careless gardeners sometimes lay out grounds with- 
 out any reference to the windows of the dwelling. 
 But God fashioned the surroundings of man's earthly 
 home with a wise regard to the windows of the soul- 
 
14 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Oh, beautiful was the world then ! ' No blight of sin 
 had marred its loveliness — no curse of avenging 
 justice smitten it with sterility and desolation. 
 Standing at the window of Sight, one might behold 
 a fair and smiling landscape, stretching away in 
 ever-changing variety and boundless prospect — 
 interspersed with forests and plains, sparkling rills 
 and broad rivers, green valleys and sun-lit moun- 
 tains — all fresh with the bloom of Eden, and over- 
 arched by a sky whose deep azure no storm had ever 
 vexed, and from which the orb of day and the con- 
 stellations of night looked down with serene radi- 
 ance on the virgin Earth, herself as serene and 
 stainless as they. At the window of Hearing he 
 might drink in the melody of Nature's many-voiced 
 hymn — the glad song of birds — the music of brooks 
 and waterfalls, of whispering winds and waving 
 woods ; or, moving to another and then another, be 
 regaled with the fruits of Paradise, and the perfume 
 of unfading flowers. Clear were the windows when 
 the house was first built — bright the scenes on which 
 they opened — and happy the being who, himself 
 yet unsinning, communed by their means with a 
 world yet unfallcn. 
 
 Still more exquisite was the perfection which the 
 great Maker gave to the heavenward side of the 
 house, and still more profuse the munificence with 
 which He adorned it. Here also lie formed five 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL, 15 
 
 rooms, each with its own window — the room of 
 Understanding, the room of Conscience, the room 
 of Faith, the room of Hope, and the room of Love. 
 In all He hung bells, connecting them by wires 
 with the door leading into this division of the build- 
 ing ; so that whoever wished to communicate with 
 the inmate of any particular room, had only to pull 
 the wire attached to the bell in that room. And 
 how accurately suited were the views from these 
 rooms to excite and gratify the spiritual faculties 
 residing in them. A wide lawn of living verdure, 
 clustered with trees bearing celestial fruit, and am- 
 brosial plants that grew from ethereal seed, extended 
 onward and onward till it was lost in the uplands 
 of Immortality. And so softly and imperceptibly 
 did the blending take place, that you could not tell 
 where Earth ended and Heaven begun. Beyond, 
 in a series of sun-bathed and flowery ascents, rose 
 the Mount of God ; and where its highest elevation 
 seemed to melt into the sky, the Eternal City might 
 be seen — its sapphire walls and battlements, its 
 golden pavements and its gates of precious stones, 
 refulgent with the glory of the Divine Presence, 
 and flashing as with the beams of seven-fold day. 
 Around it were the Blissful Fields and the Bowers 
 of Amaranth, the Crystal Sea, and the River of 
 Life, and the forms of glorious ones walking beside 
 it. And ever and anon these glorious ones would 
 
16 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 cross the invisible boundary, and move about on the 
 lawn, or come up to the house, and bring Heaven's 
 greeting to its inhabitant. 
 
 In the contemplation of such objects what rap- 
 tures must the soul have found ! And what noble 
 employment was there here for its noblest powers ! 
 Understanding, looking forth from its window, 
 could take in the mighty revelations which every- 
 where met its eye. Conscience could recognize 
 their authority and sacredness — Faith give them 
 form and substance, and bring them near — Hope 
 anticipate their fuller unfolding — and Love rejoice 
 in them, and in their Infinite Author. 
 
 Such was the house of the soul as it came from 
 the hands of its Creator. Inside and outside it was 
 perfect. Its structure, its arrangements, its furni- 
 ture, its environs, met the approval of their Omni- 
 scient Designer, and united to render it the fitting 
 abode of Holiness and Peace. And here the soul 
 dwelt, occupying both parts of the house, and happy 
 in both ; for in both God and Innocence were with 
 her. 
 
 Oh, that this blessed state had been perpetual ! 
 But, alas ! in one fatal hour all was changed. In- 
 nocence was driven from the mansion ; Beauty and 
 Joy fled with it ; and guilt, deformity, and ruin took 
 their places. 
 
 While the soul was at rest in its happiness, there 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 17 
 
 came to the earthly side of the house a stranger, of 
 angelic form, but differing widely in mien and garb 
 from the heavenly visitors that had been wont to 
 frequent the precincts. He was worn as by long 
 travel, and scarred as by the stroke of thunder. His 
 eye glowed, not with the calm light of benevolence, 
 but with the lurid fires of hatred and despair. And 
 though majesty sat enthroned on his haggard brow, 
 it was the majesty of desolation. He was a rebel 
 against the government of Jehovah ; and rebellion 
 had converted the archangel into a fiend. 
 
 Disguising his Satanic purpose — professing to 
 have come as the friend of God, and as the instructor 
 of God's newly-made offspring — he surreptitiously 
 gained entrance, and at once commenced his work 
 of treachery and death. His first movement was to 
 darken the windows that looked toward heaven, 
 under the pretence that they let in too much sun- 
 shine. Having thus dimmed the perception of 
 eternal things, he drew the soul to the terrestrial 
 front, and leading it to the window of Taste, di- 
 rected its attention to a peculiar tree in the garden, 
 whose fruit had been interdicted. It was the tree 
 of the knowledge of Good and Evil. While man 
 was allowed free access to all the other trees Avhich 
 in countless numbers were bending under their 
 delicious burdens — of this his Maker had forbidden 
 him to eat, and had impressed the prohibition by 
 
 2* 
 
18 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the sanction, "The day thou eatest thereof, thou 
 shalt surely die." This interdict, intended only as 
 a test of obedience, the tempter seized as an occa- 
 sion for corrupting and seducing his victim — rep- 
 resenting that the consequence of transgressing it 
 would not be death, as the penalty threatened, but 
 a higher life and wisdom — the life and the wisdom 
 of gods ; that the Creator knew this, and that to 
 debar His creature from such advancement was His 
 sole object in publishing the decree. Oh, falsehood 
 framed in hell, and worthy of its origin ! Oh, am- 
 bition, how deadly was thy first uprising! The 
 soul, perverted by the wiles of the Destroyer, deliri- 
 ous with the inrush of new and unholy desires, 
 believed the lie, and broke the commandment. 
 This was a simple act, and in other relations, or 
 standing by itself alone, might perhaps have been 
 comparatively unimportant. But, committed as it 
 was in violation of a law ordained expressly for 
 trial and probation, it became at once fundamental 
 and representative in its character — fundamental 
 as involving the authority of God and the allegiance 
 of the creature — representative as comprehending 
 in its results the whole human race. 
 
 It did its work instantly and terribly. The entire 
 nature of man was hurled by it into wreck and dis- 
 order. His purity was lost, his intimacy with God 
 destroyed, his mind darkened, his affections de- 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 19 
 
 based, his body made subject to disease and mor- 
 tality. The fair world created for his home shared 
 in his fall. It was Paradise no more. The foul 
 breath of sin passed over it, withering its bloom, 
 tarnishing its loveliness, and dooming it to barren- 
 ness and decay. Thus stood the house of the soul 
 — a rain surrounded by ruin. 
 
 But the most disastrous effects of man's trans- 
 gression were visible in the direction of eternity. 
 On that side its fellest power was expended. There 
 the destruction was utter. The smooth green lawn, 
 with its flowers of supernal birth and its fountains 
 welling from heaven, had become an expanse of 
 black, smouldering lava, heaving Avith infernal fires ; 
 and where, without break or barrier, it had met 
 the immortal fields, now flowed a broad, deep river, 
 w T hich no mortal foot might cross. Dense, angry 
 clouds covered the Celestial Hills, and the vision of 
 Glory was blotted out. The angels were all gone, 
 and in their place dread forms appeared waving 
 swords of flame. Fear, Darkness, and Despair 
 reigned supreme, where Hope, Light, and Peace- 
 had gilded all things with their rejoicing beams. 
 
 The crime was finished. The catastrophe was 
 complete. But the soul, given up to the power of 
 the Deceiver, instead of endeavoring to repair the 
 mischief by a penitent return to God, determined to 
 make the most of its altered circumstances ; and, 
 
20 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 since good was lost, to seek its portion in evil. 
 With the aid of its remorseless foe — now become 
 its more dangerous allv — it closed all the heaven- 
 ward windows with thick and strong blinds, that 
 not a glimpse of the devastation without might be 
 seen — double-locked and bolted the front door — 
 shut up all the rooms — and broke all the bell-ropes, 
 except that of the bell of Conscience, which, hidden 
 within the walls, and running down through the 
 foundations of the building, could not be reached 
 without demolishing the building itself. This done, 
 the soul, under the same infernal guidance, with- 
 drew to the earthly apartments, with the intent of 
 living there altogether, and forgetting, amid the 
 engrossments of present things, its happy Past, and 
 its awful Hereafter. 
 
 Henceforth Satan's influence was without a check. 
 There was nothing to dispute his authority or resist 
 his sway. He was master of the situation — lord 
 of man's heart and of mans doings — "the god of 
 this world." Henceforth he bent all the resources 
 of his vast intellect, and all the arts of a duplicity 
 equally vast, to strengthen his hold upon his captive, 
 to lull him into carelessness, and drown every whis- 
 per of regret or alarm. With this view, he stored 
 the chambers of the Senses, in which alone the pris- 
 oner now dwelt, with manifold means of carnal in- 
 dulgence — witlf all that could minister to M the lust 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 21 
 
 of the eye, to the lust of the flesh, and to the pride 
 of life." Enticing pictures adorned the walls. 
 Meretricious products of the chisel decorated the 
 passages. In one room was grouped whatever of 
 rare and cunning device could please the sight. 
 Another was redolent with costly odors and spices 
 of the East. In another were heard the din of traffic 
 and the clink of gold. Another echoed with strains 
 of lascivious music and sounds of bacchanalian rev- 
 elry. In another were spread tables loaded with 
 rich and various dainties. And in another were 
 enacted scenes of bestial debauch which, like the 
 chambers of imagery beheld by the prophet, were 
 too vile to be described. Wealth and splendor, and 
 luxury and show, and mirth and riot, were all there, 
 ever treading their mazy rounds, that the soul, in- 
 toxicated by the ceaseless whirl, and wrapped in 
 terrene dreams, might never think of God or of 
 heaven more. 
 
 In adapting to the same end the outer world — 
 his world now — the prince of Evil displayed equal 
 skill and dexterity. Its original beauty he could 
 not restore ; but human toil and enterprise, in- 
 spired and controlled by him, effected great changes ; 
 many of them valuable in themselves ; but all bear- 
 ing, iu their purpose and execution, the prints of 
 the Devil's fingers. The soil, cursed for man's sin, 
 yielded to man's painful cultivation. Harvests 
 
22 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 covered the land. Treasures were dug from its 
 bosom. Continents were peopled. Huge cities 
 sprung up as by magic, full of the temples of idola- 
 try, resounding with the bustle of commerce, and 
 reeking with the filth of licentiousness. Empires 
 were founded and overturned. Thrones rose and 
 fell. Wars raged. Embattled legions shook the 
 earth. Science and civilization, invention and dis- 
 covery, grew apace. Ships ploughed the seas. 
 Bridges spanned the rivers. Railways tunnelled 
 the mountains. The harnessed lightning encircled 
 the globe. Material development, political revo- 
 lutions, social progress, the ceaseless ongoing of 
 terrestrial things, however important to the inter- 
 ests of the present life, were made, through the 
 agency of the universal Spoiler, to extrude and 
 banish the life to come. 
 
 Thus, in every age, has the god of this world 
 kept the mighty panorama of its affairs moving and 
 shifting before the eyes of men. From the epoch 
 of the apostasy down through all the centuries, he 
 has been busy at this work, varying the exhibition 
 to suit each particular time, but always finding in it 
 the chief instrument of his success. And never has 
 this instrument been more powerful in his hands, 
 never has he wielded it with more potent effect, 
 than in our own land and clay. With what a rush 
 and roar the tumult of the vast Babel sweeps by 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL, 23 
 
 the windows of the soul! How absorbing is the 
 influence of mundane concernments ! The pre-oc- 
 cupations of business, the excitements of specula- 
 tion, the struggle for wealth and place, the shock 
 and carnage of battles, the swift succession of start- 
 ling events, the jar and noise of the great social 
 machine, the hurry and turmoil of earth, so rivet 
 the mind's gaze as to leave it no power of upward 
 vision. Thought and feeling, hope and anxiety, 
 energy and resolution, are all concentrated below. 
 " The strong man " — armed with these secular 
 weapons, backed by this overwhelming array of in- 
 ward lusts and of outward appliances for their grat- 
 ification — "keepeth his palace, and his goods are 
 in peace." There is no disturbance, no resistance. 
 The soul surrenders itself a willing vassal to " the 
 prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now 
 worketh in the children of disobedience." 
 
 But there is deliverance for the soul, self-ruined 
 though it be, and led captive by the Devil at his 
 will. The Almighty Builder of the house has not 
 renounced His rights of ownership in it, nor will He 
 abandon it to the lasting possession of Satan. In 
 the riches of His mercy, He has developed a plan 
 by which the foul intruder may be expelled , and the 
 desecrated palace restored to more than its primeval 
 splendor. And the carrying out of this plan He 
 has committed to His only-begotten Son. Joyfully 
 
24 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 has the Son accepted^ the stupendous trust ; and 
 already has He accomplished whatever was needful 
 to prepare the way for its consummation. He has 
 removed the barriers which Divine justice opposed 
 to the going forth of His grace. Assuming the 
 nature of fallen men, and putting Himself in their 
 place, He has vindicated the dishonored law by 
 bearing in His own body the death-penalty which 
 they had incurred ; and has wrought out, through 
 His obedience and sacrifice, a method of acceptance 
 by which God can be just, and yet the Justiiicr of 
 him that believeth. 
 
 And now, having crossed the dark, bridgcless 
 river, and risen victorious from its waves, He comes 
 to the house of the soul on His errand of salvation. 
 He approaches it oil its heavenward side. All there 
 is silent, cold, and stirless. The shutters are closed ; 
 the avenues blocked up with weeds and rubbish. 
 There is no sign of life or habitation. Making his 
 way over the crumbling fragments of columns and 
 arches that strew the ground — mementoes of a 
 glory departed — He reaches the door, and stands 
 and listens. The stillness and gloom of the sepul- 
 chre reign in this part of the dwelling. The deserted 
 chambers give forth no sound. But, from the other 
 side, He hears the noise of merriment and feasting 
 — the uproar of Satan and the sinner in their 
 revels. He calls — there is no answer. lie tries 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 25 
 
 the door — it is bolted. He tries the bells — ap- 
 peals to the Understanding — to Faith — to Hope 
 
 — to Love ; but the wires are broken, and the bells 
 voiceless. As He is omnipotent, He might break 
 open the door, and foroe an entrance. But He 
 comes to deliver, not to enslave ; and it is essential 
 to His purpose that He should be admitted by the 
 free choice of the soul. All other means having 
 failed, He takes hold of the wire leading to the 
 room of Conscience, and gives it a strong and 
 urgent pull. Instantly the great bell rings with a 
 deep and awful reverberation that shakes every tim- 
 ber in the building. The sinner starts up affrighted. 
 "What is that!" he exclaims. "Who is ringing 
 that bell ? " " Don't be a fool," the Devil replies — 
 " no one is ringing it — it is only fancy or the wind 
 
 — sit down again, and you will hear it no more." 
 The sinner believes him, and returns to his vanities. 
 But he is ill at ease ; and scarcely has he resumed 
 his interrupted worldliness, when again — toll — 
 toll — toll — goes the great bell of Conscience. 
 Satan tells him not to mind it ; and he strives to 
 follow the advice. But he cannot help minding it. 
 The dreadful sound is in his ears, and he cannot shut 
 it out. Endeavor as he may not to hear it, or to 
 disregard it, still — toll — toll — toll — toll — goes 
 ever the great bell of Conscience, growing louder and 
 more importunate with every stroke. The agonized 
 
26 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 man can endure it no longer. The fearful tones 
 pierce brain, and heart, and nerves, and rend him 
 with torture. He starts up once more, crying, 
 "Oh, that bell, that terrible bell ! There is surely 
 some one at the long-closed spiritual door ; and I 
 must see who it is, and stop his ringing or die." 
 Satan attempts to prevent him ; ridicules him — 
 calls him a coward — assures him that if he lets any 
 one in on that side of the house, his worldly enjoy- 
 ments will be at an end ; and asks if he is ready to 
 exchange the delights of sense for the gloom and the 
 self-denials of religion. But all the while he is ply- 
 ing his sophistries, the great bell continues to peal 
 out its thunders, and the sinner dares not delay. 
 Finding him determined, the Devil follows him ; 
 and as the sinner is about to unlock the door and 
 draw the bolts, his pertinacious tyrant makes one 
 more effort to retain his usurped dominion. "Hold, 
 hold ! " he cries ; " they are robbers ; if you admit 
 them, they will plunder you of all your pleasant 
 things — perhaps murder you." " Ah ! it is no rob- 
 ber," the sinner answers. "My heart tells me who 
 it is. It is the long-forgotten Owner of the house — 
 lie who built it, and put me in it, and commanded 
 me to keep it, and to keep you out of it. He has 
 come to claim His property. He may destroy me, 
 or send me to prison, for my wicked contempt 
 of His orders; and 1 deserve whatever He may 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 27 
 
 inflict. But open to Him I must, and open to Him 
 I will." 
 
 The baffled seducer departs ; and the sinner, freed 
 from his control, approaches the door. Half shrink- 
 ing from his resolve, distracted by doubts and appre- 
 hensions, afraid to go forward, and still more afraid 
 to go back, he applies the key of Prayer, and with 
 trembling hands shoves back the bolts one after 
 another, till he reaches the main bolt — the bolt of 
 the Will. This, always a hard bolt to push, has 
 become so fixed in its groove by the rust of long 
 disuse, as to resist all his exertions. He tugs and 
 struggles at it, but it will not move. He grows dis- 
 couraged — thinks he can never get the door open, 
 and had better give over the attempt. But at this 
 moment the unresting bell sends forth a clang more 
 threatening than ever. With the strength of desper- 
 ation, he seizes the bolt — it yields, the door flies 
 open, and, helpless and terror-stricken, he falls pros- 
 trate on the threshold, expecting to see before him 
 a Face of wrath, and the vision of outraged Majesty, 
 brandishing the sword of justice. But, instead of 
 these, what does he behold? A Form like unto the 
 Son of Man — a countenance beaming with pity and 
 tenderness ; a brow godlike indeed, yet bearing the 
 marks of its thorny crown ; a body glorified now, 
 yet pierced with gaping wounds ; hands laden with 
 gifts, yet showing where the nails were driven 
 
28 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 home. And as he looks and wonders, he hears a 
 voice, sweet as Mercy's own, saying to him, "These 
 wounds I bore for thee, these gifts I brins: to thee ; 
 I come, not to condemn, but to save." The sinner 
 feels his heart melt ; that heart, so hard, so dead, 
 so despairing, overflows with penitence, gratitude, 
 and love ; and, clasping the feet of his Deliverer, he 
 exclaims, "My Lord, and my God." 
 
 Invited and welcomed by the soul, the Redeemer 
 enters the mansion. He passes through the several 
 apartments, and at once throws open the shutters, 
 and lets in the light. Oh, what a spectacle is then 
 revealed ! If you go away and leave your houses 
 shut up even for a few weeks, you know how rapidly 
 dust accumulates in them, and how soon damp and 
 mould stain the walls, and soil the furniture. But 
 these rooms had been closed ever since the far dis- 
 tant hour in which the soul forsook its God. During' 
 Jill that dreary interval not a breath of heaven's air 
 had visited them, not a gleam from on high had 
 penetrated their darkness. The foulness engen- 
 dered in them by the first transgression had never 
 been removed ; and to this original impurity had 
 been added the manifold abominations of succeed- 
 ing years. Here, as in a secret receptacle, the sin- 
 ner had deposited all the pollution of his outward 
 life. And now, as these hidden iniquities are dis- 
 closed, what festering uncleanncss everywhere aj> 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 29 
 
 pears ! Ruins of the fall, heaps of refuse, the dirt 
 of worldliness, the reek of evil passions, the filth 
 of evil deeds, litter all the floors, discolor all the 
 ceilings, infest every corner, and fill the rooms with 
 putridity and death. 
 
 Appalled at the sight, the penitent seizes the 
 broom of good- works, and begins to sweep. But 
 this only raises a dust that blinds and smothers him. 
 The Saviour checks him with the assurance that 
 mere moral sweeping, however useful elsewhere, is 
 powerless here ; and then, dipping a bunch of hys- 
 sop into a vessel filled with His own blood, He sprin- 
 kles the chambers of the soul. Suddenly, at the 
 touch of that blood, all their defilement vanishes ; 
 and they become sweet with the fragrance of heaven, 
 and glorious in the beauty of imparted holiness. 
 As damp, mephitic vapors, that, in the chill night- 
 time, envelop mountain and lowland in their mala- 
 rious folds, sullying the fair face of nature, are 
 exhaled and dispersed by the beams of day, so does 
 the blood of Christ, applied by the eternal Spirit, 
 purge the conscience from dead works, to serve the 
 living God. 
 
 Having thus cleansed and purified the apartments, 
 the loving Saviour conducts the soul to the now 
 open windows, and bids it contemplate the pros- 
 pect. How wonderful the renovation ! The lawn 
 is restored to a brighter than its pristine verdure. 
 
 3* 
 
30 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Trees and plants are again growing in it, resembling 
 the paradisaic in form and fruit, but with a richer 
 sap, and a more indestructible vitality. The angels 
 have come back. The clouds are gone from the 
 Heavenly Hills, and the City of God stands out in 
 clear vision. The dark river is still there ; but a 
 bridge has been thrown across it — a new and living 
 way consecrated by the blood of Christ ; and, rising 
 from its hither end, a rainbow spans the passage, 
 and lifts its luminous arch high over the shining 
 mountains and the throne above. With what new- 
 born delight the believer looks forth for the first 
 time on this celestial landscape ! As he goes from 
 window to window, he catches at each new aspects 
 and fresh attractions. But it is at the window of 
 Hope that he loves best to linger ; and while gazing 
 thence along golden vistas opening into far realms 
 of blessedness, he gives utterance to his joy in the 
 sweet w T ords of the old hymn : — 
 
 "My willing soul would stay, 
 In such a frame as this, 
 And sit and sing herself away 
 To everlasting bliss. 1 ' 
 
 But, at present, there is other occupation for him. 
 His relations to time as well as to eternity must he 
 sanctified. The whole house is not yet reclaimed. 
 And hence the Divine Master and I lis new disciple 
 now turn their steps to the earthly rooms — the 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 31 
 
 rooms in which Satan and the sinner so long held 
 carnival. All of them exhibit mournful proofs of 
 the vile uses to which they have been subjected. 
 Every closet, every passage-way, is full of infection 
 and rottenness. The slime of greed, the taint of 
 selfishness, the trail of vicious habits, the relics of 
 sensual orgies, are everywhere to be seen. But the 
 grace that has renewed the heart can reform the 
 conduct. The power that could renovate the spirit- 
 ual side of the house is able also to renovtite the 
 secular. At the behest of Christ the work is com- 
 menced ; through the strength of Christ the work is 
 achieved. The remains of the old godless life, the 
 remnants and the instruments of its wickedness, are 
 cast out and burned. The rooms are swept and 
 garnished, consecrated by prayer, perfumed with 
 righteousness, adorned with beneficence: and then 
 the crowning finish is given by writing on all the 
 doors, "Holiness to the Lord." 
 
 The Saviour having thus come in, and the entire 
 mansion having been set in order for His reception . 
 the promised supper now begins. In this Jesus, 
 though entering as a guest, acts the part of host. 
 The prodigal, just redeemed from bondage and beg- 
 gary, has nothing. Christ must find all. He leads 
 the soul to the banqueting room, spreads over it the 
 banner of His love, provides the repast, presides at 
 the board, dispenses the living bread and the new 
 
32 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 wine of the kingdom. And there they sit — the 
 God-man and the saved man — supping with each 
 other in intimate and holy fellowship. Great is the 
 joy of both — on the one side the joy of happiness 
 conferred, ou the other the joy of happiness re- 
 ceived. And that joy travels beyond the immediate 
 scene of their communion. Waiting angels catch 
 it up and bear it to the skies. And so there is joy 
 on earth and in heaven over the House of the Soul 
 Recovered. 
 
CHAPTER H. 
 THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 
 
 "AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS WITH THE ANGEL A MULTITUDE OF 
 THE HEAVENLY HOST, PRAISING GOD, AND SAYING, GLORY TO GOD 
 IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD-WILL TOWARD MEN." 
 
 —Luke ii. 13, 14. 
 
 'E often see, when thick cloncls overspread 
 the horizon, a rift suddenly opening in 
 their dense masses, and a streak of clear 
 sky gleaming through, and touching their 
 dark edges with golden sunshine. This 
 beautiful fact finds a striking moral resemblance in 
 the occasional flashes of light from heaven which 
 shone on the earthly life of our Lord. 
 
 The object for which He visited this mortal sphere 
 required that His sojourning in it should be marked 
 by abasement and suffering. He came not to ex- 
 hibit the splendors of His kingly state — not to awe 
 the nations by displays of celestial power — but, by 
 uniting the Divine with the human, to achieve, in 
 the two-fold nature, the part of a perfect Mediator 
 between God and men. To accomplish this merci- 
 ful undertaking, He must lay aside the outward 
 manifestations of Godhead, disrobe Himself of the 
 glory which He had worn from eternity, assume the 
 
 33 
 
34 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 garb of flesh, and descend to its infirmities and pri- 
 vations. From the very design of His coming, His 
 residence below was necessarily one long sorrow — 
 one continuous scene of ignominy. 
 
 Nevertheless, the thoughtful student of His his- 
 tory cannot but observe that, whenever His humili- 
 ation seemed the deepest, and the earth-cloud in 
 which He dwelt wrapped its shadows most darkly 
 round Him, some outbursting of almightiness, some 
 radiant testimony beaming down from the upper 
 world, broke through the gloom, and asserted His 
 majesty. How brightly, and at how many points, 
 these revealings of Deity blaze along His pathway 
 of wondrous travail ! At His baptism, though noth- 
 ing of earthly grandeur distinguished Him from the 
 common throng, yet no sooner had He risen from 
 the wave, than the windows of heaven were opened, 
 and the dove-like Spirit descended upon Him ; while 
 the voice of the Everlasting Father proclaimed, 
 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased." When, fatigued by the severity of His 
 labors, He cast Himself down " in the hinder part 
 of the ship," and, amid the rocking of the billows, 
 sunk into the sleep of utter weariness — who that 
 had looked upon Him as He lay there, pale, worn, 
 exhausted — His head pillowed on a locker — the 
 sky His covering — would have recognized in that 
 prostrate form the Maker and Lord of earth and 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 35 
 
 sea? But when, awakened by the cry of His disci- 
 ples, He rose from His hard couch, and looked forth 
 on the angry surges, and stretching out his hand 
 over them, pronounced those calm words of con- 
 scious power, "Peace, be still ! " the Omnipotent 
 stood disclosed; and the hushed winds, and the 
 shining stars, and the glassy waters, and the saved 
 vessel speeding to the shore, bore witness to His 
 presence. More distinct and impressive still were 
 these attestations in the hour which consummated 
 His atoning sacrifice. On the cross, the cup of 
 scorn which He was to drink was filled to the 
 brim. In that death of shame, He reached the 
 lowest depth through which He was to pass. But 
 where His glory was most obscured, there also it 
 was most declared. The quaking earth, the shroud- 
 ed skies, the shuddering universe, paid homage to 
 the dying Redeemer. 
 
 As the mission of Jesus ended, so it began, amid 
 supernatural confirmations. True it is that no ma- 
 terial tokens signalized His arrival. This fallen 
 planet rolled along its orbit, undisturbed by the 
 visit of its Creator. Human affairs moved in their 
 wonted course. The whole circle of terrestrial 
 things gave no hint that the mightiest event of the 
 centuries had just taken place. There were no prep- 
 arations to receive Him — no stir of the elements, 
 no greetings of men, to hail and welcome Him. 
 
36 BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 The dwellers in Bethlehem slumbered ou, uncon- 
 scious that their lowly hamlet had been made mem- 
 orable for all the ages as the birth-spot of the Hope 
 of the ages. Even the descendants of David assem- 
 bled there knew not that David's Son and Heir, 
 the long-expected King, had entered on His reign. 
 But though the world which he came to save slept 
 in its darkness, unheeding, unresponsive, Heaven 
 was not silent. Its joy swelled over the empyreal 
 battlements, and swept, in rapturous hosannas, down 
 to earth. 
 
 Eastward from Bethlehem lies a region of hills 
 and deep gorges, which from the earliest times has 
 been devoted to pasturage. Here the youthful 
 David kept his lather's sheep, and in his frequent 
 contests with the prowling tenants of those wild 
 glens acquired the valor and hardihood which ren- 
 dered him in after years the most renowned warrior 
 of his race. In the same locality, on the night in 
 which the Saviour was born, shepherds were guard- 
 ing their flocks ; and to them seraphic voices brought 
 the glorious intelligence. They were awake, while 
 all others were locked in forgctfulness ; and it is to 
 the wakeful only that communications of grace are 
 sent. 
 
 It may, at the first glance, strike us with sur- 
 prise, that the angels should have procl aimed their 
 message in so retired a scene, and to men who, 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 37 
 
 from their solitary life and humble calling, were so 
 little likely to spread it abroad, or to win for it 
 belief. "We might think that the announcement 
 would have been far more commanding and effective 
 had its celestial bearers gone, with their train of 
 dazzling light, to the Holy City, and, pouring forth 
 their triumphant song from the pinnacle of the tem- 
 ple, electrified the sleeping multitudes below with 
 the news of Messiah's birth. But such a mode of 
 publication would have been utterly at variance 
 with the character of Christ's future ministry. He 
 shunned ostentatious display — never seeking the 
 public gaze — never courting the wonder of crowds. 
 He moved among the abodes of men only as a Divine 
 Teacher and Healer, coming forth but to succor 
 and bless, and withdrawing into solitude when His 
 work was done. The lonely mountain-side, and the 
 shore of the silent lake, were His favorite resorts ; 
 and there, remote from noise and tumult, He passed 
 the still hours in communion with His Father. 
 And hence the proclamation of His appearance in 
 the thronged streets of Jerusalem, or under any 
 other imposing circumstances, would have been in 
 violent contradiction to His whole spirit and con- 
 duct. 
 
 Xor would a procedure of this kind have suited 
 well with the purpose of His coming. That purpose 
 was to bring peace — peace to the soul, peace to the 
 4 
 
38 BIBLE PICTUIiES. 
 
 nations. But peace harmonizes best with the quiet 
 and seclusion of rural surroundings, and is alien to 
 the turmoil of the world's great centres. This 
 thought a celebrated painter has worked out with 
 consummate skill. Taking for his theme the return 
 of peace after the uproar and carnage of war, he has 
 pictured a soft, green meadow, dotted over with 
 grazing sheep — a broken cannon lying on the 
 ground, and a lamb, led by a little child, licking its 
 dumb mouth. There is truth as well as beauty in 
 the conception. Peace loves the deep woods, the 
 grassy vales, the calm river, the voiceless hills, the 
 hush of night, and the placid heaven overarching 
 all. There is her chosen retreat, her appropriate 
 home. There her truest votaries have ever been 
 found. Fitly indeed did the angel messengers 
 select such a scene, when they left the ethereal 
 realms to make known to men the advent of the 
 Prince of Peace. The time, the place, the tidings, 
 the listeners, were all in unison. 
 
 AVe cannot doubt, moreover, that these lowly 
 watchers in the wilderness were better prepared 
 than the denizens of the Jewish metropolis to com- 
 prehend and welcome the message. Their silent 
 converse with Nature and with God had wakened 
 in them an earnest longing for "for the Consolation 
 of Israel," and a perception of the spiritual bearings 
 of His office, unknown to the frequenters of the 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AXD THE ANGELS. oSJ 
 
 Temple and the Synagogue. The priests and rulers. 
 the teachers and expounders of the Law. who gave 
 tone to religious opinion, cherished, it is true,, the 
 expectation of a Messiah, and disputed much about 
 the time and manner of His appearance. But then- 
 views . however divergent, were altogether carnal. 
 They looked only for temporal benefits — for a Hero- 
 King, — coining in pomp and power to release them 
 from the yoke of their foreign oppressors, and set 
 up an earthly sovereignty that should dominate the 
 world. The shepherds, on the other hand, dwell- 
 ing apart from the speculations of the schools, had ob- 
 tained a deeper insight into the meaning of the Mes- 
 sianic Promise, and profo under ideas of the Deliv- 
 erer whom it foretold . They belonged to the devout 
 few, scattered over the land — mostly poor and illit- 
 erate — whose receptive souls God had taught, and 
 who were waiting in pious hope for His salvation. 
 Xo wonder that the angel-heralds, turning away 
 from the worshippers of their own wisdom — from 
 Scribe and Rabbi, from the palaces of the unbeliev- 
 ing great — carried the burden of their joy to the 
 simple keepers of flocks, out in the lone fields. 
 It was in accordance with the method of Divine 
 dispensation. It has always been so. It is so now. 
 The things of Christ are hidden from the wise 
 and prudent, and revealed unto babes. The same 
 worldly bias and intellectual pride, which so often 
 
40 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 indispose the rich and cultured of our own times to 
 receive the Gospel, were equally active among the 
 Jews. The educated classes were either infidel 
 Sadducees, denying a future state, and man's moral 
 need ; or self-righteous Pharisees, steeped in tradi- 
 tion and ritualism. But these wanderers in the 
 mountains were of a nobler strain, with minds less 
 warped by prejudice, less fettered by material pre- 
 possessions, more teachable, more serious, more 
 pervaded by a sense of personal guilt, more ready, 
 therefore, to accept Christ in His highest character 
 as a Eedeemer from sin. Heaven is nigh to the 
 humble and sincere in heart; and from it now 
 comes, to souls prepared and waiting, the glad 
 assurance that the mercy so fervently desired has 
 been fulfilled. 
 
 Let us imagine the scene, and endeavor to sketch 
 it in its living reality. In some quiet glade, bright 
 with fresh verdure, skirted with olives and syca- 
 mores, and watered by a murmuring brook, the 
 shepherds have chosen their watching-place for the 
 night. Their flocks are collected about them — 
 some feeding, some lying down in groups, some 
 straying up the sides of the ravine, or along the 
 avenues among the trees. The sky is cloudless ; 
 and the full moon, rising above the distant heights 
 of Moab, sheds its mild beams upon the landscape, 
 making every brown crag, and gnarled trunk, and 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 41 
 
 leaf, and dew-drop, quiver and glisten in the silvery 
 sheen. Slowly the hours wear on ; deep midnight 
 is over the earth ; yet those faithful guardians yield 
 not to slumber. Reclining on a green bank, whence 
 they can survey their charge, they converse together 
 on the subject dearest to their hearts — the prom- 
 ised redemption of Israel — meditate on the predic- 
 tions respecting it, and ponder the signs which 
 betoken its near approach. While they thus speak 
 and muse, suddenly a flood of celestial radiance is 
 poured around them, dimming the stars with its 
 lustre, and bringing out into distinct view cliff and 
 valley, mountain and plain, stream and forest. 
 Astonished and appalled, they start to their feet, 
 and gaze upward ; when, lo ! above them, hovering 
 with outspread wings, appears a shining form, look- 
 ing down upon them with eyes in which the soft 
 light of love and sympathy blends with the majestic 
 glance of the immortals. But before they can ex- 
 press their terror, from the lips of the glorious visi- 
 tant come words whose music, strange till then to 
 human ears, the redeemed shall echo forever, "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." Oh ! the blissful news ! Oh ! 
 the wondrous story ! Can they believe it ? Has the 
 long-deferred day of Mercy dawned at last ? How 
 
 4* 
 
42 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 their souls dilate as they take in the might} 7 truth, 
 and catch glimpses of its import to themselves, to 
 their countrymen, to all the kindreds of the earth ! 
 Little time, however, is allowed them for such 
 thoughts. In an instant, another marvel meets 
 their sight, and renews their amazement. There is 
 no longer one bright form above them, but many. 
 The liuniuous air is full of heavenly harpers, and 
 all alive with their melody. As often in earthly 
 anthems a single voice introduces the performance, 
 and is followed by choir and orchestra in a grand 
 burst of harmony ; so Gabriel opens the Hymn of 
 the Nativity with his magnificent solo, rehearsing 
 the birth of Jesus ; and then the whole seraphic 
 host breaks forth in the exulting chorus, " Glory to 
 God in the highest ; on earth peace ; good-will to- 
 ward men." Never before have mortals heard a 
 strain like this. Rich and joyous were the hosannas 
 which the sons of God shouted over the new-born 
 world. Sweet to the homeless and the captive were 
 the notes which the Jubilee trumpet pealed along 
 the hills of Palestine. But richer, sweeter far, falls 
 the angel-song on the hearts of those midnight watch- 
 era, and on the ear of a listening universe. It cele- 
 brates the ushering in of the new Era of light and 
 happiness. It tells of sin expiated and forgiven ; 
 of harmony restored between earth and heaven ; of 
 God magnified on high ; of man redeemed below. 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 43 
 
 And it is the prelude to songs yet loftier and more 
 entrancing, which, in the realms of bliss, will be 
 chanted by ransomed millions through eternal ages. 
 
 The chorus of the angels distributes itself into 
 three parts, corresponding to the three-fold aspect 
 of the Mediatorial economy. Glancing down the 
 vista of the ages, it surveys the progressive devel- 
 opment of that economy, and sings its triumphs as 
 they appear in the fuller unfolding of the Divine 
 perfections, the restoration of peace to a disordered 
 world, and the establishment of that new order of 
 moral administration in which the favor of the All- 
 Holy can be extended to sinful men. Over the in- 
 auguration of issues so momentous well might the 
 angelic lyres ring out their loudest paean ; and well 
 may we, whose all for time and eternity is embraced 
 in those issues, take up the theme, and strive to 
 catch something of its spirit and import. 
 
 In the redemptive work of Christ the glory of 
 God finds its highest expression. The essential 
 glory of God, like His nature, is absolute and in- 
 capable of change. No force of circumstances, no 
 concurrence of events, can increase or diminish it. 
 As He is ever the same, — perfect, all-sufficient, 
 infinite, — His glory must ever remain immutable 
 and complete. But that glory as it is unveiled to 
 His creatures — as it is seen in the outgoings of His 
 agency — may appear in lights clearer or more ob- 
 
44 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 scure, according to the forms of its manifestation. 
 In this respect, and in this alone, can we speak of it 
 as greater or less. 
 
 The glory of Jehovah is displayed in all the oper- 
 ations of His hand. Every forthputting of His 
 enersrv is radiant with it. In the domains of crea- 
 tion and of providence — in the formation and con- 
 tinued upholding of all worlds and of all beings — 
 His power, wisdom and beneficence are revealed in 
 characters so distinct and emphatic, that no eye can 
 fail to read their lesson. On every part of the vast 
 temple of nature that lesson is inscribed. Every 
 order of existence, animate or inanimate, echoes it. 
 It is the hymn of the universe — the tribute which 
 all life sends up to the Giver and Preserver of all 
 life. The heavens declare His glory. Sun, and 
 moon, and stars, and planets, sing it in their courses. 
 Each rolling orb, each blazing meteor, is vocal with 
 it. From the City of the great King — the centre 
 and capital of His dominions — to the farthest globe 
 that skirts the empty void, the whole circle of cre- 
 ated things proclaims the praise of the One Maker 
 and the One Sustainer. And even this lower sphere, 
 on which the deep shadows of sin have fallen, ob- 
 scuring the Divine munificence, and arresting its 
 outflow, bears nevertheless no feeble witness to the 
 glory of Him who clothed it with its original bright- 
 ness, and who, in its degradation, still governs and 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AXD THE AXGELS. 45 
 
 blesses it. Shrouded as it is in moral darkness, 
 and scarred as it is with the marks of righteous judg- 
 ment, the honor of the Almighty is yet the prevail- 
 ing exhibition throughout its mingled scenes, and 
 the grandest refrain of its multitudinous yokes. 
 The seasons in their change repeat it. Day unto 
 day uttereth speech of it, and night unto night show- 
 eth knowledge. Stormy winds are its trumpeters. 
 The thunder peals it. The ocean swells it with its 
 solemn bass. The breeze whispers it. Hills and 
 y alleys, rocks and trees, shimmering leayes and 
 blushing flowers, babbling rills and gliding riyers, 
 are all tuneful with it: and earth, though outcast 
 and a wanderer, joins her unfallen sisters in show- 
 ing forth the greatness and loying kindness of the 
 universal Father. 
 
 But these revelations of the Divine character in 
 the realms of matter, and on the platform of provi- 
 dential superintendence, however striking in them- 
 selves, do not bring out all its effulgence, nor give 
 to it the noblest exemplification of which it is sus- 
 ceptible. The glory which they unfold is not " glory 
 in the highest/' "When Omnipotence has fashioned 
 the worlds from nothingness, and Wisdom has bal- 
 anced them in their orbits, and Benevolence has 
 peopled them with conscious being, and Bounty has 
 poured out its stores to supply the needs of its 
 unnumbered pensioners, and an Eye all-seeing and 
 
46 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 a Hand all-controlling have directed the complex 
 mechanism of creation to its appointed ends, there 
 yet remains a grander, loftier manifestation — the 
 going forth of all these attributes for the rescue of 
 the lost. God is glorious, unspeakably glorious, in 
 the emanations of His life-giving power with which 
 He has strewed immensity ; in the overflowing ful- 
 ness that feeds His dependent offspring ; in the love 
 that rejoices in their happiness ; in the omniscience 
 that guides the affairs of His boundless empire. 
 But in devising a method by which men, who have 
 broken away from their allegiance to Him, may be 
 recovered and saved, He has set forth His perfec- 
 tions in their most resplendent and wondrous aspect. 
 Redemption is His sublimest work. It has depths 
 which no finite line can fathom, heights to which no 
 angel's wing can soar, breadths which no glance but 
 His own can take in. Here we see the Eternal 
 Sovereign delivering to death His Only Begotten 
 Son, to open the way of life to those who, by their 
 contempt of His authority and their abuse of His 
 goodness, deserved to perish. Here is the tri- 
 umph of Grace — here the victory of Love. Here 
 the claims of Justice, and the rights of Majesty, and 
 the inviolability of Holiness, are all guarded and 
 vindicated ; while Mercy, accredited and sanctioned 
 by atoning blood, is free to sound abroad her procla- 
 mation of amnesty, and proffer the blessedness of 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 47 
 
 heaven to every sinner that believeth. Oh, the 
 riches of God's remedial scheme ! Oh, the abysses 
 of glory in the great Propitiation ! Before the mar- 
 vel of the Cross all other marvels are dwarfed. 
 Compared with its splendors, all other splendors 
 grow dim. It stands amid the moral universe, the 
 radiating centre of light, and hope, and joy, illus- 
 trating whatever is dark in the Divine economy, and 
 attracting to itself the supreme regards of the intelli- 
 gent creation. And when the power of that Cross 
 shall have wrought its final results — when the spir- 
 itual transformations which it achieves shall infold 
 every tribe and kindred of our race — when this sunk 
 planet shall have been lifted by it from the gulf of 
 rebellion, and hung once more to its Maker's throne 
 
 — how transcendent the glory which will then be 
 ascribed to " God in the highest ! " It will be the 
 glory of a world recovered — the glory of multitudes 
 which no man can number raised from guilt and woe 
 to everlasting purity and happiuess — a glory that, 
 in the heaven of heavens, will constitute the theme 
 of that mighty symphony — never ceasing, ever new 
 
 — of which the Bethlehem song was the first opening 
 measure. • 
 
 But not alone in its celestial relations do the 
 angels contemplate the Redeemer's birth. They 
 hail it as the dawn of " peace on earth " — the en- 
 trance upon this arena of conflict of a great reconcil- 
 
48 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ing force, by which the disorders of humanity shall 
 be repaired, and repose and harmony succeed to the 
 dissonance of strife and the turmoil of passion. 
 This beautiful world, over whose virgin face God 
 breathed His holy calm, sin has converted into a 
 scene of fierce discord and tumult — a wide battle- 
 field of moral antagonisms. There is war between 
 man and his Creator; there is war between man 
 and nature ; there is war between man and soci- 
 ety ; there is war in man's own heart. The whole 
 domain of mortality, like the ocean when the tem- 
 pest bursts upon it, is convulsed and upheaved by 
 the collisions of interest, the struggles of ambi- 
 tion, the clash of rival lusts, the greed, the hatred, 
 the violence of beings who, in forsaking their God, 
 have forsaken all rest. How dreadful have been 
 the consequences of transgression ! With what dire 
 evils and direr fears has man's depravity surrounded 
 man's terrestrial abode ! Want, and crime, and 
 perturbation, and sorrow, encompass him below ; 
 while above him frowns an angry Heaven, portend- 
 ing retribution ! 
 
 Upon this dark and troubled state Jesus comes to 
 shed peace. To the carrying gut of His gracious 
 purpose, the demands of the broken law, and the 
 alienation of the human heart from God, oppose a 
 double barrier. But the might of His atonement 
 removes every obstruction. By taking upon Him- 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 49 
 
 self the sins of men, and suffering the penalty which 
 they deserved, He has honored the justice of the 
 Most High, and satisfied all its requirements. And 
 the subduing power of His death, brought home by 
 the Holy Spirit to the consciousness of the believ- 
 ing soul, melts its estrangement, and changes its 
 enmity into love. Thus, by faith in Christ, the 
 sinner finds the peace of acceptance and pardon. 
 Xo longer roaming in the unrest of guilt and con- 
 demnation, he draws nigh to the Divine Source of 
 peace, and drinks health and gladness from its living 
 fountains. He is at peace with God, and God with 
 him. The wall of righteous displeasure on the one 
 side, and of depraved aversion on the other, is 
 broken down ; and the offended Father and the 
 offending child meet in a blissful reunion. He is 
 at peace with himself. A new principle of life — 
 the heaven-born element of love, and hope, and joy 
 — has been enthroned within him ; and its presence 
 stills the uproar of the carnal affections, the agi- 
 tations of remorse, and the forebodings of doom. 
 At peace with God through the justifying merits of 
 the Saviour — at peace with himself through the 
 cleansing grace of the Sanctifier — his whole being 
 is bathed in a tranquillity kindred with that of the 
 blessed. An atmosphere of peace envelops and 
 pervades him. Above, around, within — all is 
 peace. The heavens smile peace ; the earth is full 
 
 5 
 
50 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 of peace ; the air breathes it ; the brooks murmur 
 it ; the trees wave it in every rustling bough ; the 
 mountains shout it to each other ; and land and 
 sea, the beaming arch of day, the starry vault of 
 night, the myriad voices of Nature, respond in sym- 
 pathy, when the Judge of all pronounces peace, and 
 the witnessing Comforter seals it to the soul. Oh ! 
 where, in all the world, shall peace be found so 
 rich, so perfect, so enduring as that which the Gos- 
 pel gives ? There is peace when the roar of battle 
 has died away, and the slain lie pale and cold under 
 the pitying skies. There is peace when the storm 
 is over, and the wrecks strew the shore. There is 
 peace when the hurricane has passed, leaving havoc 
 and ruin in its pathway. There is peace when some 
 dread hour in life's conflict has gone by, though the 
 clouds may return after the rain, and the struggle 
 be renewed to-morrow. But how empty, how tran- 
 sient are these, in comparison with the peace which 
 the Lord of Peace confers on all who receive Him ! 
 The peace which Jesus brings is pure, solid, last- 
 ing, independent of outward circumstances, dis- 
 turbed by no hostile influence ; a peace which, while 
 it elevates man's temporal condition, meets the 
 deepest yearnings of his spiritual nature, and gilds 
 all the scenes Of his wayfaring with the pledge of 
 eternal peace hereafter. 
 
 This peace is the great want of our suffering rare. 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AXD THE AXGELS. 51 
 
 Let it only become universal, and the woes with 
 which human wickedness has so long scourged the 
 world will disappear : selfishness and wrong, op- 
 pression and war. will cease : order will spring out 
 of confusion, violence give place to love : and the 
 golden bond of Christianity unite in one vast brother- 
 hood all the nations of the earth. And this delight- 
 ful anticipation will yet be realized. The prophecy 
 of the angels was not a poetic dream. It is to be 
 fulfilled, fulfilled literally, fulfilled in its complete- 
 ness. "Peace on earth n — hitherto a prediction, a 
 hope — shall, in God's own time, be a glorious fact. 
 He, whose purposes cannot fail, has decreed it. 
 For this end Christ lived and died. For this end 
 the Holy Spirit has come down. For this end 
 the word of truth has been given. And all things 
 are tending onward to its consummation. The 
 march of events, the beckonings of Providence, the 
 promises of Scripture, the covenant of redemption, 
 the might of the Cross, point, with no doubtful 
 meaning, to the arrival of that crowning epoch when 
 the peace, begun at Bethlehem, shall reach all 
 hearts, and cover the a'lobe. 
 
 " Down the dark future, through long generation?. 
 The echoing sounds grow fainter, and then cease ; 
 And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, 
 I hear once more the voice of Christ sav « Peace ! ' 
 
52 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 " Peace ! and no longer from its brazen portals 
 
 The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies ! 
 But beautiful as songs of the immortals 
 The holy melodies of love arise." 
 
 K Good-will toward men " was the closing strain 
 in the heavenly anthem. This is the climax of the 
 whole — the key-stone in the all-embracing arch of 
 Divine Merc}'. Here is the source and fountain- 
 head of salvation. The dispensation of Grace, like 
 the river of life which the apocalyptic seer beheld 
 gushing out from beneath the throne of God and 
 the Lamb, has its origin in the depths of Ever- 
 lasting Love. It was because the heart of the All- 
 Father yearned over His rebellious offspring, that 
 He took thought for their recovery, and provided 
 the means of its accomplishment. The compassions 
 of Deity inaugurated the system of reconciliation 
 developed in the mission of Jesus, and in the restor- 
 ing agencies which it brought into action. By this 
 exercise of sovereign benevolence, men arc placed 
 under an economy of good-will and favor ; a new 
 order of relations is established between them and 
 the Just One from whom they have revolted ; and 
 on the ground of those relations overtures of for- 
 giveness and amity may now go forth through all 
 the length and breadth of our apostate humanity. 
 And thus from God's loving kindness proceeds that 
 apparatus of redemption which, in its ultimate work- 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. l>3 
 
 ings, shall fill heaven with His glory, and earth with 
 His peace. 
 
 The song is finished, and the celestial singers soar 
 upward to their home ; while their mortal listeners, 
 recovering from the wonder and awe in which they 
 have been held, say one to another, "Let us go now 
 unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come 
 to pass." What sight awaits them there ? A kingly 
 child, born in a palace, clad in costly garments, a 
 divine nimbus encircling its head, and troops of 
 angelic ministers guarding its repose ? No — a 
 kingly child indeed, but housed in a manger, 
 wrapped in coarse swathing bands, and attended 
 only by the Virgin Mother and the faithful Joseph. 
 Would the wise men of Jerusalem have recognized 
 their Messiah in a form so lowly, and in circum- 
 stances so unimposing ? But these heaven-instructed 
 seekers, looking beyond the outward and the carnal, 
 behold in that obscure babe, cradled in want, un- 
 honored, unknown, the Anointed of the Father, and 
 with joyful reverence worship the Kedeemer of the 
 world. 
 
 Let us go with the shepherds to Bethlehem. He 
 who lies there is our Saviour as well as theirs — the 
 Lord of Jew and Gentile — the Hope of all ages and 
 nations. From His abasement learn the depth of 
 our own fall, since, to reach us, the Son of the 
 Highest must stoop so low. Read in His humble 
 
 5* 
 
54 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 birth the condescension and love which brought 
 Him from the throne of eternity, and made Him 
 one with us and one of us, that by His suffering life 
 and vicarious death He mi^'ht raise us to His own 
 holiness and blessedness. AVelcome Him, embrace 
 Him, adore Him. Briug to Him the offerings most 
 precious in His sight — penitent and believing 
 hearts, and living obedience. And then shall we 
 see Him at last iu the glory to which He has re- 
 turned, and share that glory forever. 
 
 "When from tby beaming throne, 
 
 O High and Holy One ! 
 Thou eam'st to dwell with those of mortal birth ; 
 
 No ray cf living light 
 
 Flashed on th' astonished sight, 
 To show the Godhead walked His subject earth. 
 
 " Thine was no awful form, 
 
 Shrouded in mist and storm, 
 Of seraph, walking on the viewless wind ; 
 
 Nor didst Thou deign to wear 
 
 The port, sublimely fair, 
 Of angel-heralds, sent to bless mankind. 
 
 " Made like the sons of clay, 
 
 Thy matchless glories lay 
 In form of feeble infancy concealed ; 
 
 X" pomp of outward sign 
 
 Proclaimed the Power Divine ; 
 Xo earthly state the Heavenly Guest revealed. 
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 55 
 
 " Thou didst not choose thy home 
 
 Beneath a lordly dome ; 
 No regal diadem wreathed thy baby brow, 
 
 Nor on a soft couch laid, 
 
 Nor in rich vest arrayed, 
 But with the poorest of the poor wert Thou ! " 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 THE YEAR-SABBATH. 
 " In the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound 
 
 THROUGHOUT ALL YOUR LAND." — LevitiCUS XXV. 9. 
 
 MONG the social institutions of the Hebrews, 
 none were more significant and beautiful 
 than the Year of Jubilee. By the ordinance 
 of God given to Moses, every fiftieth year 
 was to be set apart as a Sabbath — a season 
 of hallowed repose and freedom — in which every 
 debt was to be cancelled, every bondman released, 
 every alienated inheritance restored. However 
 important this arrangement may have been in an 
 economic and temporal point of view, there cannot 
 be a question that it was appointed chiefly as a type, 
 foreshowing the spiritual redemption of men by the 
 Gospel. Our Saviour accordingly began His pub- 
 lic teaching on earth by declaring that He came to 
 proclaim " the Acceptable Year of the Lord," and 
 that in the Salvation which He published was ful- 
 filled all that the ancient Jubilee had prefigured. 
 
 It is the design of the present sketch to delineate 
 this period under its evangelic aspects. 
 
 CG 
 
THE YEAR- SAB BATH. Di 
 
 In the very circumstances that attended its usher- 
 ing in, there was a clear looking forward to the 
 epoch of Messiah. The grand intent of the Le- 
 vitical Economy was to remind those on whose 
 behalf it was instituted, that they were transgres- 
 sors against the Divine Law. and. therefore, stood 
 in need of mercy. For the inculcation of this great 
 troth, many impressive ordinances and symbols 
 were appointed. Prominent among these was the 
 offering of animals in sacrifice, as a means of expi- 
 ating guilt, and propitiating the favor of God. In 
 addition to the daily and ordinary sacrifices, it was 
 enacted that a special sacrifice should be presented 
 once every year for the sins of the whole people. 
 It was at the close of this annual atonement that the 
 Jubilee was to commence : and the ceremonies her- 
 alding its introduction were marked with peculiar 
 solemuity. The high priest, having presented sin- 
 offerings for himself and for the congregation, went 
 with his censer and incense into the Holy of Holies 
 
 — the inner Sanctuary, where dwelt the Shekinah. 
 and where were the Cherubim and the Mercy-Seat 
 
 — and there sprinkled the blood of the victims in 
 the immediate presence of Jehovah. Having thus 
 performed the two-fold work of atonement and 
 intercession, he arrayed himself in the most splen- 
 did robes of his office, and comiug forth before the 
 assembled multitudes, pronounced on them the ben- 
 
58 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 edict ion of the Lord. The priests and Levites, who 
 had been waiting his return, when they saw him 
 appear, and heard the blessing from his lips, gave a 
 blast with their trumpets, as a signal that then had 
 bejjim the irlad Year of Release — the Sacred Sab- 
 bath of the land. 
 
 We cannot even glance at these observances, 
 without perceiving how strikingly they set forth the 
 office and work of the Redeemer, and the manner 
 in which His Gospel was introduced to the world. 
 In the arrangements of that Better Covenant, under 
 which it is our happiness to live, Christ is at once 
 the offering High Priest, and the atoning Victim. 
 " By II is own blood, He has entered into the Holy 
 Place 4 , having obtained eternal redemption for us." 
 And when on the cross He bowed His head, and 
 cried, "It is finished," He proclaimed to the uni- 
 verse that the mighty struggle between wrath and 
 mercy was past, and the curse due to transgression 
 forever removed. 
 
 It is not unimportant to notice here, that the 
 period at which our Lord suffered, was the very 
 year, and the v^vy time of the year, assigned for 
 the opening of the Jubilee; a circumstance which 
 clearly shows that this institution had been intended 
 to shadow forth that long-expected era, when the 1 
 "High Priest of our profession," haying made an 
 end of sin by the one offering of Himself, should 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 59 
 
 enter into the invisible Sanctuary of Heaven, into 
 the presence of His Father and our Father, there to 
 exhibit the memorials of His sacrifice, and plead for 
 the pardon of an apostate race. On the day of 
 Pentecost, He came forth from the secret shsine of 
 His glory, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit 
 bestowed His blessing on the people. And then 
 His Apostles took up the trumpet of the Gospel, 
 and began to sound that spiritual Jubilee, whose 
 publication shall never cease, till the triumphs of 
 mercy are complete, and the song of salvation shall 
 ascend from a ransomed world. 
 
 How emphatically do the facts which have been 
 described indicate the absolute necessity of the expi- 
 atory work of the Mediator, in order to prepare the 
 way for the promulgation of pardon and peace. As 
 the Jubilee could be proclaimed only on the Day of 
 Atonement, and as it could be ushered in only by 
 sacrifice and intercession ; so the glad tidings of 
 redemption could never have been announced to 
 men, had not Christ died for our offences, and risen 
 again for our justification. The whole testimony of 
 Inspiration declares this to be an immutable law of 
 the Divine procedure. To cherish any hope of sal- 
 vation apart from the atoning merits of Jesus, is to 
 contravene the fixed appointment of the All-Gov- 
 ernor. Had not the blood of the great Propitia- 
 tion been carried into the presence of Eternal 
 
60 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Majesty, the gates of Mercy would have remained 
 forever closed. Before the awful veil that shut 
 them out from God, the multitude must have waited 
 unblessed. Xo trumpet peal of deliverance could 
 have broken upon this world of sin and woe. Every 
 voice would have been silent, every hope withered, 
 every human being abandoned to condemnation ; 
 and over the whole sphere of mortality Death and 
 Despair would have reigned without limit and with- 
 out end. But the Sacrifice has been offered. The 
 Intercession has prevailed. The Blessing has been 
 spoken. The year of Jubilee has come ; and on 
 every side the heralds announce its arrival, and 
 summon the outcast children of earth to share the 
 immunities which it brings. 
 
 The great Year-Sabbath carried with it many 
 important advantages and benefits, that belonged to 
 no other period ; and it is interesting to observe 
 how accurately they all symbolized the blessings 
 conferred b} r thc redemptive work of our Emmanuel. 
 
 One of these was the universal extinction of debt. 
 The Hebrew code ordained that at every seventh 
 year, and at every fiftieth, the creditor should freely 
 relinquish all pecuniary claims against a brother 
 Israelite. The operation of this beneficent law must 
 have brought to vast numbers unspeakable relief. 
 Debt! How oppressive is its burden! How keen 
 the anguish which it inflicts 1 What corroding care 
 
THE TEAR-SABBATH. 61 
 
 and fear, what painful humiliation, must weigh clown 
 the man who, with any feeling of independence and 
 self-respect, finds himself struggling under obliga- 
 tions which he has no power to throw off! This 
 experience, so common and so bitter in our own 
 times, was little less common, and none the less 
 bitter, in the days of old. Human nature changes 
 not its instincts with the changing ages, nor with 
 difference of country and of occupation. To the 
 Hebrew, tilling his few mountain acres, or tending 
 his scanty flock of sheep and goats, thirty centuries 
 ago, the fetters of pecuniary embarrassment were as 
 galling as they now are to the merchant prince whose 
 ships traverse every sea, and whose warehouses 
 groan with their fulness. Perhaps his habits of life, 
 and the intense love of freedom which they fostered, 
 rendered him even more sensitive to the pain of 
 such circumstances than any one can be in our more 
 artificial civilization. 
 
 Let us, then, go back in thought to the time of 
 Samuel or of David, and, mingling in the home life 
 of the Tribes, watch the working of this ordinance 
 in a state of society so simple and natural. Here is 
 a man who has inherited from his ancestors a narrow 
 strip of land on the rocky slopes of Mount Ephraim. 
 He cultivates a small vineyard on the hillside, sows 
 a few patches of wheat and barley, and has a few 
 cows and bullocks grazing in his little meadow. 
 
62 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 With health, and good seasons, he could supply 
 the modest wants of his household, and escape the 
 necessity of debt. But calamities have befallen 
 him. For several years, the harvests have been 
 unfavorable. Hot, rainless summers have dried 
 up his fields, and withered their products. Winds 
 and tempests have destroyed the fruit of his vines. 
 Accidents and distempers have ravaged his herds. 
 And to these disappointments severe domestic afflic- 
 tion has been added. Sickness has invaded his 
 home, prostrated his own strength, and borne some 
 of his loved ones to the grave. Under the pressure 
 of his needs, he has been compelled to contract 
 debts, hoping that more auspicious da} T s would 
 enable him to discharge them. But those days 
 come not. His creditors grow stern and exacting, 
 demand immediate payment, and threaten to eject 
 him from his heritage, cast him into prison, and sell 
 his children into slavery. Still he struggles on. It 
 is hard to leave the spot where he was born, where 
 his fathers dwelt, where his kindred lie buried — 
 hard to see his family houseless, and himself an 
 outcast. Yet, toil as he may, he cannot master the 
 difficulties that environ him. The incumbrance is 
 too heavy ; the danger too near and too pressing. 
 But just as he is on the point of giving up all 
 further effort, and resigning himself to despair, the 
 morning of the Jubilee breaks over the land. The 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 63 
 
 joyful acclamations, that welcome its coming, swell 
 out on the air, and reach him among the hills. 
 Blessed sounds are they to him ! They tell him 
 that his trials are ended, his home secure ; and that, 
 by the benign decree of Israel's God, he may now 
 go forth to his daily labor, safe from the peril that 
 has menaced him so long. 
 
 Go with me to the debtor's jail in Jerusalem, and 
 look at another on whom adversity has dealt blows 
 still more terrible. Liable to claims which he could 
 not meet, he was stripped of all that he possessed. 
 There was no kinsman rich enough, or generous 
 enough, to redeem his property, or become surety 
 for his person ; and his creditors, having the power, 
 shut him up in prison. Many years have passed 
 since then. He was brought here a young man, 
 strong and active ; he is now old, white-haired, and 
 feeble. During all the dreary interval that he has 
 languished in confinement, no word of sympathy 
 has met his ear, no voice of friend or relative 
 cheered his solitude. His wife, crushed down by 
 sorrow, died long ago. His children are scattered, 
 he knows not where. Whether they still live, or 
 have followed their mother to the realm of silence, 
 no tidings have come to tell him. In his lonsr 
 exclusion from the outer world, his former life 
 appears to him like a dream — a dim, far-off light, 
 which he can faintly descry across the wide, inter- 
 
BIBLE I! 
 
 veiling expanse of darkness. He I 11 reck- 
 
 oning of time — has forgotten to note tfa 
 
 rily by him — forgotten that 
 the hour of deliverance is drawing nigh. The 
 of Atonement dawns in the he: " qs, 1 at he ki. 
 it not. The sounds of gladness and rejoicing that 
 
 - arrival, arrest not his attention. He 1: 
 the loud trumpets proclaiming th ibbath, 
 
 without any thought of their meaning. The door 
 of b is thrown open ; he is told that the Jubi- 
 
 from his bod of straw, he looks round amazed and 
 
 The truth at last flashes upon him ; and 
 
 with a low, trembling f thank-. _ g - 
 
 forth to tread the green earth once mor- the 
 
 breath g . and exult in the bright 
 
 sky. 
 Call to mind how many aes, 
 now supposed, ther have been in Israel at 
 
 each recurr of Release, and you will 
 
 be able to form some conception of the 1 
 connected with th;; Nor 
 
 fail to and beauty the 
 
 ire which we have the 
 
 e of the (; 
 
 iritual condition under the tigur. 
 indebted as. W - ten 
 
 thousand talents, and havi; 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 65 
 
 our numerous and aggravated sins, we have come 
 under tremendous liabilities to the justice of God, 
 and have incurred an amount of obligation which 
 no human arithmetic can compute, and no human 
 efforts can liquidate. Judgment has been entered 
 against us in the court of Heaven, execution issued ; 
 and the stern messenger, Death, only waits the 
 Divine signal to bear us away to the dungeons of 
 Hell. But in this fearful exigency, the Saviour has 
 interposed for our rescue. By faith in His atoning 
 sacrifice, our mighty debt is cancelled ; the utter- 
 most farthing is paid ; the demands of the law are 
 satisfied : and through the suretyship of Him who 
 died for us, we stand exonerated before the tribunal 
 of Infinite Holiness. "By Kim all that believe are 
 justified from all things." " He hath forgiven us 
 all trespasses ; blotting out the handwriting of ordi- 
 nances that was against us, that was contrary to us, 
 and took it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross." 
 Who can measure the depth of mercy involved in 
 this free remission of our sins ? TVhat rich thing, 
 or costly thing, is there in all the world, that can 
 equal its preciousness? To be forgiven by Him 
 who might have held us to a strict account ; to be 
 absolved by Him who might have condemned us ; 
 to hear that very Voice, which might have thun- 
 dered forth the inflexible demand, "Pay me what 
 thou owest," speak to us in the melting accents of 
 
66 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 compassion, " Thy sins, which are many, are all for- 
 given thee " — what thought can conceive, what 
 words express, the value of a blessing like this? 
 Oh, what a burden is lifted from the soul, when it 
 receives the grace that acquits it for eternity ! And 
 this grace is proffered to all who will come to the 
 altar of Propitiation, and plead the merits of the 
 accepted Mediator. No debt can be too vast, no 
 guilt too enormous, to be taken away by that 
 "Blood of Jesus," which cleanseth from all sin. 
 He is able to save to the uttermost them that come 
 unto God by Him. 
 
 In the Year-Sabbath there was an end of bondage. 
 Among the Jews, as well as among other oriental 
 nations, the personal services of an insolvent debtor, 
 and those of his children, were often sold to meet 
 the claims which he was otherwise unable to pay. 
 Other causes also frequently led to a loss of free- 
 dom ; so that many were in the condition of bond- 
 men. Hebrew slavery, though of the mildest form, 
 was slavery still, and subjected its victims to much 
 privation and hardship. For such cases, the insti- 
 tution of the Jubilee contained a most benevolent 
 provision. Liberty was then proclaimed throughout 
 all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof; and 
 every Israelite who had been reduced to servitude, 
 was released, and sent back to his own family, and 
 to the possession of bis fathers. 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 67 
 
 Transport yourself to the age and to the theatre 
 of this law, and mark the going forth of its merciful 
 power. See that slave delving and sweltering in 
 the hot cane-fields of Jericho ; condemned to toil 
 through the long summer day under a burning sun, 
 without rest, and without reward. His childhood 
 was passed on the breezy heights of Carmel, among 
 bosky glades, babbling brooks, the singing of birds, 
 and the odor of flowers. There he grew up, a bold, 
 free-hearted youth, erect and tall, with an eye keen 
 as the falcon's, and a foot fleet as the roe which he 
 chased on the mountain side. But misfortune, 
 swifter still, overtook him. A ruthless claimant, 
 to whom his parents were indebted, seized him, and 
 doomed him to bondage. He was torn from the 
 haunts which he loved, from father and mother, 
 from brothers and sisters, from the maiden to whom 
 he was betrothed — never to see them more. Since 
 that mournful day, he has served many masters, 
 and lived in many places, but always a stranger, 
 always homeless, with nothing that he could call his* 
 own but his woes. Look at him now. Slavery 
 has bowed his strong frame, and stiffened his 
 elastic limbs, and on the brow, once so joyous, sits 
 hopeless gloom. As he bends to his task, what sad 
 memories are busy within him ! He thinks of the 
 dear ones far away — of his happy boyhood — of all 
 that he might have been — of the hard lot that has 
 
68 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 been his instead — and tears, bitter tears, are on his 
 bronzed cheek. But while he thus muses aud 
 weeps, his ear catches the distant note of a trumpet. 
 Now it is nearer, louder. It comes rolling down 
 the gorges of the wilderness in the way toward 
 Jerusalem, bounding from cliff to cliff, and pouring 
 its jocund waves upon the plain below. Others 
 take up the strain, and send it from wall and house- 
 top, from crag and valley, till the very air seems 
 alive with it. For a moment he listens uncertain; 
 then shouting, "The Jubilee, the Jubilee!" tears 
 off the badge of his servitude — stands up a freeman 
 — and with the stride of a giant, journeys back to 
 the scenes where his heart has ever been. 
 
 The inauguration of the Year-Sabbath was thus, 
 to myriads in Israel, the starting-point of a new life. 
 AVe have just seen, in our own land, the chains of 
 enslaved millions burst asunder, and the curse of 
 bondage lifted from a whole race. And though the 
 emancipation has sprung, not from the calm bosoni 
 of Philanthropy, but from the black womb of Civil 
 War — born in battle, and baptized in the blood of 
 our sons and brothers — yet we have rejoiced in it, 
 and have rightly hailed it as a most wonderful 
 development of that overruling Providence, which 
 " out of secihing evil still educes good." Shall we 
 not, then, acknowledge both the wisdom and the 
 benevolence of that statute of the Almighty which, 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. G9 
 
 not with the rush of contending armies, but by the 
 peaceful majesty of organic law, broke every 
 shackle, and let the oppressed go free? And, 
 especially, must we not recognize in it a most 
 expressive emblem of the silent yet resistless 
 energy with which our Divine Liberator strikes 
 from us the darker tyranny of Evil? 
 
 By nature, we are all the subjects of a moral 
 thraldom as grinding as it is criminal. We are the 
 slaves of our own depravity, " sold under sin," and 
 "led captive by the Devil at his will." But the 
 Cross of Christ touches our chains, and they are 
 shivered into fragments ; His grace rends the serf- 
 livery from our spirits, and we walk forth in the 
 joy of a blessed emancipation. The freedom which 
 the Gospel gives, consists in deliverance from the 
 condemning sentence of Heaven's law, and from the 
 despotism of our own corruptions ; in the renewal 
 and sanctification of our hearts ; in breaking our 
 affections away from sense and earthliness, and 
 raising them to eternal things ; in the possession of 
 high spiritual privileges and immunities ; in admis- 
 sion to fellowship with God ; and in the hope of a 
 blissful immortality. This is the liberty with which 
 Christ makes His people free — this the glorious 
 manumission of the sons of God. We venerate 
 civil liberty, and deem it the fairest flower that can 
 grow on the soil of nations ; and the spots where 
 
70 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 heroes have planted that flower, sheltered it by their 
 might, and watered it with their blood, are to us 
 holy shrines, whither our hearts ever turn in rever- 
 ence and worship. But what is the noblest enfran- 
 chisement which patriotism in its grandest outgoings 
 has wrought, compared with that which our Re- 
 deemer achieved for us on the battle-ground of Cal- 
 vary, amid groans, and agonies, and streaming gore? 
 Political freedom can reach only the body, and is in 
 its very nature precarious and uncertain, liable to 
 be overthrown by invasion or anarchy, and changing 
 with the ceaseless change of all terrestrial things. 
 But here is liberty for the soul — liberty which no 
 enemy can destroy — liberty which will survive the 
 shocks and revolutions of ages — liberty which con- 
 fers on all who receive it the rights and franchises 
 of citizens of heaven, and crowns them with the 
 heritage of glory. 
 
 " lie is the free man whom the truth makes free, 
 Ami all are slaves besides." 
 
 The Jubilee brought with it the restoration of 
 property. At its coming, possessions which had 
 been alienated by reason of debt or other unfortu- 
 nate circumstances, reverted to their original own- 
 ers. As we glance over the brief record of this 
 arrangement in the Sacred Volume, its importance 
 may not awaken particular attention. But let us 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 71 
 
 pause for a moment, and consider the vast amount 
 of happiness which it must have produced. Picture 
 to yourselves an Israelite, thrust out by adversity 
 from the inheritance of his ancestors. He has strug- 
 gled hard to keep the old home ; but losses have 
 fallen heavily upon him, and he must depart. The 
 roof beneath which he was born, the streams by 
 which he has walked, the fields he has tilled, the 
 trees in whose shade he has reclined, the graves 
 where his fathers sleep, all must be left, and left, 
 alas ! in the keeping of strangers. He casts one 
 long, farewell look on the scene which he loves so 
 well, and then, with wife and little ones, goes forth 
 an exile. Years pass on. Farther and farther he 
 wanders, finding no resting-place, and "dragging at 
 each remove a lengthening chain." But, hark! a 
 trumpet-blast breaks upon the air. It is caught 
 up and repeated from city and hamlet, from hill-top 
 and glen, from highways and byways, till the whole 
 land rings with the joyous echo. The wanderer 
 hears it. His heart knows and feels it. It is the 
 Jubilee signal. Oh, with what rapture does he now 
 hasten back to the home once more his own ! Old 
 friends greet his return ; old familiar faces smile 
 upon him; hands that he grasped in youth now 
 grasp his in happy welcome. The clays of his exile 
 are over. He is among his kindred again. Again 
 he dwells where his fathers dwelt ; again he sits 
 
72 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 under the vines and olives which they planted ; 
 again he tills the fields which they tilled, sowing 
 where they sowed, reaping where they reaped, till 
 he is laid by their side in the sepulchre. Thousands 
 of such instances must have occurred in Palestine 
 on every return of the Sacred Year. In all direc- 
 tions, similar groups might be seen hurrying, with 
 (waiting steps, to take possession of the homes from 
 which poverty and reverses had ejected them. Oh, 
 what a thrill of gladness must that event have sent 
 through the land! 
 
 And what an image is there here of our own 
 restoration by the Gospel to the heritage which Ave 
 have lost ! Our condition, as fallen creatures, 
 resembles that of the beggared Jew, driven out 
 from his birthright. Our sins have stripped us of 
 our all. The original holiness of our nature, the 
 likeness and favor of God, our kindred with angels, 
 our title to a blessed immortality, are gone, and 
 gone beyond our power to recover. But the mercy 
 of God has provided for us a Jubilee. By believ- 
 ing in His Only-Begotten Son, we receive back, 
 aye, more than receive back, our alienated inher- 
 itance. AYc are again invested with a glorious prop- 
 erty, and made rich with a wealth which empires 
 could not bestow. We arc not, indeed, permitted 
 to return to the of earth's pristine beauty — 
 
 to bask in tin- sunshine of Eden Restored — breath- 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH, 73 
 
 ing its fragrant airs, canopied by a sky that knows 
 no cloud, conversing with angels, and listening to 
 the voice of God. Our possessions lie not in this 
 mortal sphere. Would you learn what they are? 
 Unroll the charter, and read, "Unto us are given 
 exceeding great and precious promises." We are 
 "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." We 
 are " begotten again, by the resurrection of Christ 
 from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, unde- 
 filed, and that fadeth not away." '"All things are 
 yours, w r hether life, or death, or things present, or 
 things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's, 
 and Christ is God's." Such is the. property which 
 faith in Jesus confers on us ; such the unsearchable 
 riches with which man, once outcast and destitute, 
 is endowed by the free mercy of the Gospel — riches 
 w T hich dignify and bless him forever. 
 
 The Year-Sabbath was intended to be a season of 
 harmony and repose. During its continuance, the 
 land was to rest, the implements of husbandry to be 
 put away, and labor to cease, that social intercourse 
 and kindly feeling might be cultivated without re- 
 straint. There was to be no strife, no oppression ; 
 all disputes were to be laid aside, all contentions 
 abandoned ; and society, in every rank, was to pre- 
 sent one unbroken scene of brotherhood and peace. 
 
 How beautifully does this feature of the Sacred 
 Year prefigure the results which Christianity con- 
 7 
 
74 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 templates. Its design is to impart to all who truly 
 embrace it, a peace which comes from heaven, and 
 is the earnest of heaven ; and then to unite them to 
 each other in one harmonious and holy fraternity. 
 All its elements, all its tendencies, are those of 
 union and love. It represents the redeemed of all 
 ages and countries as forming one Body, animated 
 by one Spirit, having "one Lord, one Faith, one 
 Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above 
 all, and through all, and in all." And this glorious 
 ideal, once realized in the infancy of the Church, 
 shall be realized again in her consummated maturity. 
 The day, of which prophecy has so sweetly sung, is 
 rapidly drawing on, when the Gospel in its purity 
 shall be universally diffused, breathing Avherever it 
 comes concord and peace. Standing together on 
 the platform of primitive Truth, the watchmen 
 of Zion shall see eye to eye, and all her children be 
 of one heart and of one mind. Error shall be ban- 
 ished from her borders, and theologic hate and sec- 
 tarian division distract her no more. Throughout 
 all her branches, in every clime, and under all forms 
 of social development, she shall be inspired by one 
 soul, and actuated by one purpose — the glory of 
 her Master, and the welfare of the human race. 
 
 And as there shall be peace in the Church, so 
 shall there be peace every where — peace iu the 
 home, peace in the neighborhood, peace among 
 
THE YEARS ABB ATH. 75 
 
 nations, peace throughout the world. Mankind 
 shall become one great family. Public and private 
 animosities, the jar of conflicting interests, the oppo- 
 sition of classes, the insolence of the rich, the over- 
 bearing of the strong, shall be remembered only 
 to excite wonder that they could ever have been. 
 Every chain shall be broken. War shall be a for- 
 gotten trade. The thunder of artillery, and the 
 uproar of battle, shall be exchanged for the hum of 
 industry and the bustle of traffic. Arsenals shall 
 be converted iuto school-houses ; battle-fields into 
 sheep-walks. Cannon shall be melted into railroad 
 iron, swords beaten into ploughshares, muskets into 
 telegraph wire, bayonets into spinning needles. 
 Soldiers, like the Man-eaters of old, will become an 
 extinct species ; and through all the wide expanse 
 of society, there will be none to hurt or destroy ; 
 "for the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
 earth as the waters cover the sea." Then will be 
 the Jubilee of the Creation, the great Sabbath of 
 the world. Over the face of humanity, long 
 agitated by wrong, and struggle, and sin, shall 
 come a holy calm ; like the quiet of a still even- 
 tide after the turmoil of a tempestuous day, when 
 the winds have gone down, and the clouds dis- 
 appear, and the blue sky breaks forth, and the set- 
 ting sun sprinkles gold over the smiling land and 
 the sleeping waters. And this universal peace on 
 
76 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 earth will be the prelude of everlasting peace in 
 heaven. 
 
 One more evangelic analog}' of the Year-Sabbath 
 may be traced in the extent and fulness given to its 
 proclamation. " Ye shall make the trumpet sound 
 throughout all your land." The manner in which 
 this was done, was very interesting and suggestive. 
 As the time for proclaiming the Jubilee drew on, a 
 company of priests was stationed at the door of the 
 Tabernacle or Temple, each with a silver trumpet 
 in his hand. The Levites in the cities and towns, 
 and every householder in the nation, were also fur- 
 nished with silver trumpets. When the hour had 
 arrived, the company of priests sounded the ap- 
 pointed signal. Those in their immediate neigh- 
 borhood repeated it. It was answered by the 
 Levites and the inhabitants of the next town. And 
 thus it was sent on from dwelling to dwelling, from 
 city to city, from mountain to mountain, from tribe 
 to tribe, till the farthest borders of the land echoed 
 and reechoed with the glad music. 
 
 The sounding of the silver trumpets was unques- 
 tionably a .symbol of the proclamation of the Gospel. 
 The ministers of Christ are commanded to publish 
 redemption by His blood, and to invite the disinher- 
 ited and the ruined to return to their Father's house. 
 And in the work of spreading this message all the 
 people of God arc to bear part. The tidings of 
 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 77 
 
 mercy announced by the priests and Levites, are to 
 be taken up by private Christians, and carried out 
 into all the walks of life. At the fireside, in the 
 Sabbath-School class, in the social circle, in the 
 resorts of business, the trumpet is to be sounded. 
 Neighbor should sound it to neighbor, village to 
 village, city to city, land to land, until the most 
 distant and secluded spot on the globe has been 
 penetrated by the joyful summons. And the hour 
 is at hand when this blessed consummation shall 
 be realized. The purposes of God, revealed in 
 His word, assure us that the trumpet of the Chris- 
 tian Jubilee shall be heard through all nations, 
 reverberating from empire to empire, from conti- 
 nent to continent, from hemisphere to hemisphere 
 — wherever man is to be enlightened and saved. 
 The Greenlander shall hear it amid his everlasting 
 snows, and his heart shall grow warm at the sound. 
 The down-trodden masses of Europe shall hear it, 
 and shall rise up from under their burdens, and stand 
 forth free in Christ. The thralls of Popery shall 
 hear it, and shall hurl down " the Man of Sin," and 
 trample on the shackles with which he has so long 
 bound them. Our own Continent shall hear it, re- 
 sounding from the icy homes of the Esquimaux, to 
 the sunny glades of Mexico ; from the populous 
 commonwealths of the Atlantic, to the young settle- 
 ments on the shores of the Pacific. The vast regions 
 
 7* 
 
78 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 of Spanish America shall hear it, echoing from the 
 peaks of the Andes, swelling over the mighty plains 
 of the Amazon, and floating far away under the beams 
 of the Southern Cross. The millions of Asia shall 
 hear it, and emerge from their darkness and degrada- 
 tion into the lisfht of salvation. The African shall 
 hear it, amid the foul orgies of his Fetish-worship, 
 and shall put off his savage nature, and stand up in 
 the dignity of a civilized and Christian man. Every 
 island that gems the ocean shall hear it, and put on 
 a richer loveliness. And "they that go down to 
 the sea in ships, and do business in the great waters," 
 shall hear it, min^lins: with the watch-bells, and send- 
 ing its cheering notes far out over the listening main. 
 Farther and faster shall spread the call, sweeter 
 and louder shall grow the strain, till the whole 
 earth shall be redeemed, and the voice of an eman- 
 cipated world shall send up one universal hymn of 
 praise to its Maker and Restorer. Who will not 
 speed it on and on ? Who will not put the trumpet 
 to his lips, and sound and prolong the blast, till, 
 like the walls of Jericho, every barrier shall fall, 
 and the human race shall bow to the sceptre of the 
 Prince of Peace ? 
 
 Disciples of Jesus ! Followers of Him who gave 
 His life a ransom for the lost ! behold the work 
 which He appoints you. He has redeemed you 
 
THE TEAR-SABBATH. 79 
 
 from guilt and ruin, and made you partakers of His 
 salvation, that you might be witnesses of that salva- 
 tion to the darkling and perishing. Fulfil His high 
 behest. Publish, at home and abroad, the story 
 of His Cross. Spread it through the length and 
 breadth of your own land. Cause it to sound forth, 
 as in other days, from the old sanctuaries among 
 the mountains, where its last feeble echoes are now 
 sinking into the silence of desolation. Tell it along 
 the valleys, and by the rivers, where Trade and In- 
 dustry have fixed their busy centres ; and let its 
 heavenly utterances swell out full and clear, above 
 the noise of mundane toil, the clatter of the wheel, 
 and the whirr of the spindle. Over the teeming 
 West, over the war- wasted South, pour its life- 
 giving truths, dispelling the moral gloom that 
 shadows the one, and the Devil's Gospel that has 
 dominated the other. To every clime and race 
 make known the saving message ; and join the 
 chorus of the Church universal in bearing the Name 
 of the Crucified over all the earth. 
 
 Angel of the Apocalyptic Vision ! whom the rapt 
 prophet of Patmos beheld flying through the midst 
 of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach 
 to all the kindreds of men — hasten thy glorious 
 flight. Peal out, O Trumpet of Redemption ! 
 along our storm-swept skies, ringing over land and 
 
80 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 sea, proclaiming the end of sin, the end of travail, 
 and heralding the birth of the new spiritual creation 
 in which dwelleth righteousness. 
 
 " Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
 Ring out the false, ring in the true ; 
 Ring out the acres dark and base, 
 Ring in the ages crowned with grace. 
 
 " Ring out the want, the woe, the crime, 
 The wroftg and falsehood of the time, 
 The chains that hang on limb and mind; 
 Ring in redress to all mankind. 
 
 " Ring out the waning power of night, 
 Ring in the coming reign of light, 
 Ring in the world's long Jubilee, 
 Bins in the Christ that is to be." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE WEAK HOUE OF ELIJAH. 
 
 What doest thou here, Elijah?"— 1 Kings xix. 13. 
 
 STRONG internal evidence of the Divine 
 inspiration of the Bible may be drawn from 
 the manner in which it describes the charac- 
 ters of good men. Were it a mere human 
 production, its authors would doubtless have 
 sought to give it credibility, by attributing the 
 utmost excellence to the worthies whose lives they 
 recorded. All their portraits of saints and prophets 
 would have represented them as perfect without a 
 fault, and immaculate without a stain. And this 
 they would have done, lest the sins and failings of 
 the persons whom they exhibited as the faithful 
 servants of Jehovah should be employed as an argu- 
 ment against the truth of their system. 
 
 But how widely different is the method of Scrip- 
 ture ! In its narratives of the righteous, it deline- 
 ates them as indeed the friends of God, walking in 
 His fear, and supremely devoted to His will. Yet, 
 at the same time, it sets forth, with the most entire 
 impartiality and truthfulness, their defects as well 
 
 81 
 
82 BIBLE PICTURES, 
 
 f 
 
 as their virtues, and claims for them no exemption 
 from the infirmities to which humanity is subject. 
 Thus it evinces its harmony with facts, and with 
 universal experience ; and furnishes a clear proof 
 of its origin from that infinite Being who is per- 
 fectly acquainted with the frailty of our nature, 
 even after it has been renewed by His grace, and 
 who knows that " there is not a just man upon earth, 
 that doeth good, and sinneth not." 
 
 An instance illustrative of these remarks is pre- 
 sented to us in the history of the prophet Elijah. 
 The Sacred Writers have portrayed few characters 
 more distinguished for pure and lofty qualities. He 
 was evidently a man of the most fervid zeal, of 
 vast energy, of indomitable courage and constancy ; 
 displaying on all occasions an absorbing concern for 
 the honor of God, and the interests of true religion. 
 
 The period in which he lived was one of great 
 darkness and moral degeneracy. Ahab, the most 
 wicked of Israel's kings, and Jezebel, his still more 
 wicked queen — the daughter of a pagan prince, 
 and herself a pagan — had employed all their royal 
 power and authority to introduce and establish 
 among their subjects the idolatrous worship of Baal. 
 In this impious attempt they were but too successful. 
 Almost the whole mass of the nation was corrupted 
 by their influence ; and the ordinances of Jehovah 
 were well-nigh banished from the land. 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 83 
 
 Amidst this wide and deep apostasy, Elijah was 
 called by God to lift up his voice of awful rebuke 
 and warning. He uttered many predictions, all of 
 which were strikingly fulfilled, and wrought numer- 
 ous miracles in proof of his inspired commission. 
 Instructed from on high, he caused all Israel to be 
 gathered together at Mount Carmel, and summoned 
 thither the priests of Baal whom Jezebel supported, 
 in order that the pretensions of their deity to divine 
 honors might be tested in the presence of the assem- 
 bled people. And the method of decision which 
 he suggested was so manifestly just, that his oppo- 
 nents could not decline it. Baal was held by his 
 votaries to represent the element of fire, which they 
 regarded as the principle and origin of life, and 
 supposed to reside in the sun. His worship was 
 thus a form of the Sun-Worship then so dominant 
 throughout the East. When, therefore, the prophet 
 proposed that two altars should be prepared — one 
 for Baal, one for Jehovah — a slain bullock placed 
 on each, but no fire applied; and that the God, 
 who answered by sending fire to consume his own 
 sacrifice, should alone be acknowledged as the true 
 God — all assented to the fairness of the test. It 
 was proving Baal on his own ground, and by his 
 own element. 
 
 In this trial Gocl signally sustained His servant, 
 and vindicated His own claims to supreme homage. 
 
84 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 While no miraculous flame descended on the altar 
 of Baal, notwithstanding the protracted importuni- 
 ties and self-lacerations of his priests, on the altar 
 of Jehovah which Elijah had reared, the fire of the 
 Lord fell, consuming the burnt sacrifice, and the 
 wood and the stones on which it was laid, and even 
 the very dust, and licking up the water that had 
 been poured profusely over all, to render the event 
 more clear and significant. Awed and convinced by 
 this overwhelming manifestation of Divine power, 
 the people fell on their faces, and exclaimed, "The 
 Lord, He is the God, the Lord, He is the God." 
 And then the prophet, fired with holy indignation, 
 commanded all the priests of Baal to be seized, 
 before the very face of the apostate king who had 
 been their protector; and bringing them down to 
 the brook Kishon, slew them there, in obedience to 
 that statute of the Almighty which required that 
 they who taught or practised idolatry should be put 
 to death. 
 
 Now, it might well be supposed that the man 
 who had dared all this, and who had witnessed such 
 an amazing proof of God's presence and support, 
 would never more quail before the frown of opposi- 
 tion, or the menace of infuriated wickedness. And 
 3'et what strange inconsistencies — what moments 
 of weakness and defection — do the stanchest 
 champions of truth and holiness sometimes exhibit ! 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 85 
 
 When Jezebel heard what Elijah had done to her 
 impious priests, she sent him a message, swearing 
 by all her false gods to visit the same fate on him- 
 self before another day should close ; and this heroic 
 soldier of Heaven, this brave defender of the true 
 religion, fresh from the field of victory, was fright- 
 ened by the threat of a woman, who was then as 
 powerless as she was base. Amid the clearest evi- 
 dences of success — in the very hour of his most 
 signal triumph — a feeling of faintness and of fear 
 came over him, obscuring his faith, weakening his 
 strength, and chilling the ardor of his courage. 
 Under the impulse of this sudden and paralyzing 
 terror, he 'abandoned the struggle with ungodliness, 
 withdrew from the scene of conflict, and sought a 
 hiding place for his life in the remote depths of the 
 wilderness. How strong and overmastering must 
 have been that onset of despondency, which could 
 thus vanquish one habitually so bold, uncompromis- 
 ing, and faithful ! 
 
 But God does not forsake His servants, even 
 when in seasons of doubt and gloom they seem to 
 forsake Him, and to give over their activity in His 
 cause. As the weary prophet lay and slept under 
 the shade of a juniper tree, it was not from its fruit, 
 nor from the cool screen of its foliage, that refresh- 
 ment came to him. An angel touched him, and 
 showing him a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse 
 
 8 
 
86 BIBLE PICTrXES. 
 
 of water at bis head, said to Lira, "Arise, and 
 eat.*' A second time the celestial visitor appeared ; 
 arid a second time was the miraculous food dispensed. 
 So the Christain. cast down in spirit, and faltering 
 id the battle with inward and with outward foes, 
 often sinks into slumber beneath some earthly ref- 
 uge, and hopes for rest in its shadow. But not in 
 carnal resorts can he find true comfort. If any real 
 support reaches his fainting soul, unseen hands from 
 heaven minister it. Some glimpse of a promise 
 Hashing through the darkness — some drop from 
 the Uiver of Life falling on his parched lips — 
 cheers and revives him. Oh, how invigorating is 
 even a little bread prepared by God's lire, and a 
 little water dipped from God's fountain ! In the 
 strength of that meat, Elijah went a long and toil- 
 some journey, traversing, for forty days and nights, 
 the wild gorges and rugged hills of Judea. and the 
 vast stretches of the desert beyond, till he came to 
 Horeb — the Mount of Divine Manifestation — 
 where Jehovah talked with Moses, and proclaimed 
 His law t«> Israel. 
 
 Yet, however impelled by a m ase of need and 
 dependence to seek the plan- where (rod had re- 
 let! Himself of old. be was still in no frame of 
 mind to address the Holy One, and invoke the 
 succor of Omnipotence. He was too despondent 
 to praj ; too full of earth-born tumult to venture 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 87 
 
 on communion with Heaven. Shrinking from the 
 Divine Presence, he withdrew to a cave in the 
 mountain, and there, amid its sombre depths, found 
 a congenial lodging. What a picture is here of the 
 doubting and tempted believer ! Though his yearn- 
 ing heart may bring him to the spot where the 
 Father of Mercy has recorded His name, and Jesus 
 waits to hear and bless, yet, instead of drawing near 
 and speaking out his wants, he shuts himself up in 
 the cavern of silence, and sits brooding in its gloom, 
 dark, cold, and joyless. 
 
 But when man is too despairing to speak to God, 
 God speaks to man. "The word of the Lord came 
 to Elijah, and said, What doest thou here? " Here, 
 in this dumb, dismal hiding-place ? " Go forth, and 
 stand on the mount before the Lord." Come out 
 into the day and into the sunshine, and from the 
 high ground of faith behold the glory of my power 
 and of my grace. Obedient to the summons, the 
 prophet ascended the eminence made sacred for all 
 the ages by the footprints of Deity. There a most 
 impressive display of the might and awfulness of 
 Jehovah met his startled vision. "The Lord passed 
 by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, 
 and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but 
 the Lord" — the Lord whose condescension could 
 dispel his fears — " was not in the wind. And after 
 the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord " 
 
88 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 — the Lord whose faithfulness could remove his 
 unbelief — " was not in the earthquake. And after 
 the earthquake, came a fire; but the Lord" — the 
 Lord whose love could melt his despair — " was not 
 in the fire." These exhibitions of Almightiness, 
 however they might awaken wonder and dread, 
 could not touch his heart, and inspire affection and 
 confidence. . They were forerunners and adumbra- 
 tions of God — of God in His greatness and majesty ; 
 but they bore no tokens of God in His benignity 
 and tenderness. Another manifestation followed, 
 showing the real character of God, and attesting 
 His presence. While the prophet stood trembling 
 and amazed at the spectacle which had just passed 
 before him, there came to his ears " a still small 
 Voice " — the Voice of the Ever-Good and the 
 Ever-Merciful — repeating the question, " What 
 docst thou here, Elijah?" Kindness and gentle 
 reproof were mingled in its low, thrilling tones. 
 It seemed to say to him, "What trial, what sore 
 pressure of need, brings thee hither? I commanded 
 thee to declare my statutes, to defend my worship, 
 to preach repentance to a sinful land, and denounce 
 my judgments on Ahab and his idolatrous court. 
 Why hast thou left thy work ? Why art thou here ? " 
 "And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he 
 wrapped his face in his mantle," as an expression 
 of his humility and adoring reverence. He who had 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 89 
 
 looked, with awe indeed, yet with form erect, and 
 brow uncovered, on the wind, the earthquake, and 
 the fire, bent his veiled head in lowliest homage 
 before those mild accents of a Father's rebuke and 
 a Father's pity. As the soft breath of spring dis- 
 solves the chains of winter, and sets free the impris- 
 oned flowers, so did the sweet whisper of God's 
 love break from his spirit the fetters of distrust, 
 and unbind the outgoings of faith and prayer. His 
 lips were now opened. In answer to the inquiry so 
 touchingly addressed to him, he poured forth the 
 secret sorrow of his soul, and laid down at the feet 
 of Infinite Compassion the burden that oppressed 
 him. " I have been very jealous for the Lord God 
 of Hosts ; for the children of Israel have broken 
 thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain 
 thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, 
 am left ; and they seek my life to take it away." 
 
 The all-gracious One, the Captain of our* Salva- 
 tion, our Defender and Upholder, never breaks the 
 bruised reed, nor turns away from the cry of our 
 infirmities. With divine sympathy, He consoles 
 and strengthens His servant ; assures him that the 
 prospects of true religion were not so desperate as 
 they seemed ; that the reign of apostasy was not 
 universal ; that there were still left seven thousand 
 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal ; that 
 so far from standing alone, "faithful among the 
 
 8* 
 
90 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 faithless " multitudes thirsting for his blood, he had 
 numerous companions and helpers ; that while the 
 great, and the noble, and the time-serving had gone 
 over to the prevailing idolatry, in many an obscure 
 hamlet and lonely cottage hidden among the hills, 
 might be found the friends of Abraham's God — 
 homes in which His altars still stood — hearts in 
 which His worship yet lingered ; and that, in His 
 own ordained hour, the omnipotent Sovereign of 
 heaven and earth would arise to deliver His people, 
 overthrow His enemies, and establish His cause in 
 triumph. Having by considerations like these invig- 
 orated his faith, and restored his drooping courage, 
 He commands him to return to the scene of conflict, 
 and renew the fight tor God and truth. Comforts 
 are sent down to us from Heaven only to prepare 
 us to struggle more earnestly in the service of 
 Heaven ; and whenever the words of the Lord bring 
 hope autl peace to the soul, they are always accom- 
 panied by the behest, " Go, return on thy way to 
 the Wilderness " — to the trials there appointed — 
 to the work there unfinished. 
 
 Re-animated by communion with God, with what 
 a bounding step the prophet goes back to the field 
 of his former exploits ! Fearless and undaunted as 
 if the fire of immortality were in his veins, and the 
 strength of angels in his arra,*iic rushes to the en- 
 counter. Follow him through all his after history. 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 91 
 
 See him, with the light of the Holy Mount yet 
 beaming on his brow, bearing aloft the standard of 
 Jehovah into the thickest ranks of His foes ; main- 
 taining His institutions ; vindicating His honor ; 
 and proclaimiug His law in the very face of sceptred 
 impiety and throned licentiousness. Amid the 
 loudest din and uproar of the battle, he hears ever 
 that "still small Voice," whispering hope, inspiring 
 resolution ; and onward he marches — on through 
 neglect and isolation — on through privation and 
 want — on through toils and perils — on through 
 environing hosts raging for his life — on, still on — 
 never fleeing, never blenching more — till his task 
 is done, and — overtaken not even by Death that 
 has tracked him so long — " the .chariots of fire and 
 the horses of fire " carry him up to his crown. 
 
 This striking incident in the life of Elijah is full 
 of instruction to the children of God in our own 
 day. Though living under the better dispensation 
 of the Gospel, and favored with its clearer reveal- 
 ings of Divine grace and succor, they nevertheless 
 experience similar trials of their faith, and pass not 
 seldom through similar hours of faintness and de- 
 jection. The power of the Present over the Future 
 — of the Seen over the Unseen — has not been 
 weakened by the lapse of centuries. Nor has the 
 propensity of pious men to forget, in their moral 
 conflicts, the promise of Almighty aid, been oblit- 
 
92 BIBLE PICTURES, 
 
 erated by all the myriad instances in which the 
 Christian ages have witnessed the fulfilment of 
 that promise. Emphatic, therefore, and pertinent 
 to ourselves, are the lessons which our narrative 
 suggests. 
 
 III the struggle with inward depravity, the be- 
 liever is often tempted to despond. He looks into 
 his own heart, and sees how corrupt it still is — 
 how prone to unbelief and earthliness — how alive 
 to all that is carnal — how dead to all that is spirit- 
 ual, lie perceives that sinful thoughts and feelings 
 spring up in his bosom spontaneously and with, ait 
 
 rt ; while the conscious presence of holy affec- 
 tions is painfully acquired by prayer, by vigilance, 
 by I Lb 1 st whenever these appliances are 
 
 withdrawn. He thinks how often and how sincerely 
 he has endeavored to overcome this internal enemy 
 — to conquer h: ting sins, subdue his uusanc- 
 
 titied proclivities, and give the victory to the new 
 nature within him : and yet. in almost every in- 
 
 Dce, has found ' r the law in his members" warring 
 isfully against "the law of his mind." and 
 bringing him into captivity. And then the p 
 
 loubt and apprehension creeps over him, chilling 
 the enjoyments of piety, and benumbing its vital 
 
 es. He fears, cither that he has no religion, or 
 that his religion will die out and be utterly cxtin- 
 guished amid the hostile element- that encom] 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 93 
 
 it. And so he grows weary in the combat — ceases 
 to pray, to watch, to wrestle — and retreats into 
 the wilderness of apathy and inaction. 
 
 But what doest thou here, Christian? Is this 
 fighting the good fight of faith, to which thy Master 
 calls thee ? Is this holding fast thy profession with- 
 out wavering unto the end? In such a position, 
 what canst thou achieve for God or for thy own 
 soul ? Will supineness lessen the power of indwell- 
 ing corruption? Is not this the very state of mind 
 in which its dominion may be expected to become 
 most complete and absolute? Wilt thou abandon 
 the contest altogether, and no longer strive against 
 the evil principles that would enthral thee, and hold 
 thee back from heaven ? This is to surrender thy 
 interest in Christ — to cast from thee the hope of 
 glory. And this thou durst not do ; this the Spirit 
 of Grace, that yet struggles in thy heart, will not 
 let thee do. Oh, hasten to the Mount of God ! 
 Betake thyself to prayer. At the Mercy-seat un- 
 bosom thy spiritual distresses, pour out all thy 
 anxieties. And, listen — through the "great and 
 strong wind" of temptation, through "the earth- 
 quake" of insurgent passion, through "the fire" of 
 moral trial — comes to thee, distinct and clear, the 
 " still small voice " of thy pitying Saviour, saying, 
 "Fear not ; my grace is sufficient for thee." Armed 
 with strength from on high, go back to the battle, 
 
94 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 and never falter in it more. The victory is sure. 
 In the name of thy prevailing Advocate and Inter- 
 cessor, and by the effectual energy which He will 
 ever supply, thou shalt trample down, one after 
 another, the lusts that now war against thy peace. 
 Unbelief and pride, carnality and worldliness, what- 
 ever in thy heart or in thy life is not of Christ, 
 shall be gradually weakened, overpowered, bound 
 in chains. Every day a fresh triumph shall be won 
 — every day some new trophy erected — until thy 
 warfare is accomplished, and the last relic of de- 
 pravity, like the mantle of Elijah, falls from thee in 
 thy passage to glory. 
 
 The Christian is not less exposed to discourage- 
 ment in contending with the outward foes which 
 constantly beset his pathway. Satan assaults him 
 with all the weapons of craft and malice by which 
 he labors to ruin the soul — plying him, at one time, 
 with cunning devices, ensnaring suggestions, lures 
 to entice, wiles to entrap, and, at another, with 
 fiery darts, bitter accusations, open wrath. The 
 world assaults him — now with the blandishments 
 of riches, honor, and pleasure — now with con- 
 tumely and scorn ; now attempting to seduce him 
 from the way of holiness by smiles and promises, 
 and now to drive him from it by hatred and oppo- 
 sition. Under the combined attacks of these sleep- 
 less antagonists, the child of God is often dismayed, 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 95 
 
 and faint of heart. They throng around him, they 
 press upon him, they threaten to tread him into the 
 dust ; and, staggered and appalled by the violence 
 and pertinacity of their onset, he is ready to ex- 
 claim, "I shall surely fall by the hands of mine 
 adversaries ! " 
 
 But what, O trembling believer! doest thou 
 here ? Is the race to the swift, or the battle to the 
 strong? Go to the Mount of God, and there learn 
 that more are they that are with thee than they that 
 are against thee. On thy side is the omnipotence 
 of the Father, the all-sufficiency of Christ, the ever- 
 present help of the Spirit. What to these is the 
 leagued array of earth and hell ? In the Love that 
 redeemed thee, in the Grace that hath called thee, 
 there are supplies for every need, resources for 
 every emergency, weapons for every conflict. Clad 
 in Heaven's own panoply — your loins girded with 
 Truth — Eighteousness your breast-plate — your 
 feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of 
 peace — lifting on high the shield of Faith, wearing 
 the helmet of Salvation, Prayer on your lips, and in 
 your hand the all-conquering sword of the Spirit — 
 why should you fear defeat, or shrink from the 
 strife? God will bruise Satan under thy feet 
 shortly. And this is the victory that overcometh 
 the world, even thy faith. 
 
 Similar misgivings not unfrequently come over us 
 
96 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 in our efforts to build up the Redeemer's kingdom* 
 We think how slowly His cause advances in the 
 world — how numerous and seemingly invincible 
 are the obstacles that oppose its progress. We 
 contemplate the position and bearing of the Powers 
 of Light and of Darkness as they confront each 
 other. Under the banner of the one, we see but a 
 small and scattered band, timid, irresolute, waver- 
 ing — under the banner of the other a dense host, 
 alert, bold, and confident. We look at the soldiers 
 of Christ. Weak as they are in numbers, their 
 divisions and their want of ardor weaken them still 
 more. Many are straggling from the ranks — many 
 loitering in the rear — few prepared and willing to 
 take part in the struggle. We look at the cham- 
 pions of ungodliness. They are countless, com- 
 pact, eager for the fray. We see how difficult it is 
 to make any impression on their serried lines — 
 how wedded men are to their sins — how hard it is 
 to bring even one over from the side of irreligion to 
 the side of righteousness. From this view of the 
 couflict as it is going forward in Christian lands, we 
 look away to other climes, and see how God's little 
 army is outflanked by the long array of false re- 
 ligions covering with their mighty columns more 
 than half the globe. And then a feeling of despond- 
 ency settles upon us. We lose nerve and heart. 
 We imagine that this terrible front of rebellion can 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 97 
 
 never be broken — these myriad legions brought 
 into subjection to the Prince of Peace — this world 
 in arms against its Maker reclaimed to His sceptre. 
 We are tempted, therefore, to give up an undertak- 
 ing which seems to us to be hopeless ; to retire 
 from all active share in the battle ; and let the 
 impenitent crowds around us go down, if they will, 
 to the perdition which they have chosen. 
 
 But what do we here ? Is this a place for those 
 who have sworn allegiance to Heaven? Is such 
 pusillanimity worthy of men whose names are on 
 the muster-roll of Christ, and who stand pledged 
 to follow their Leader unto death ? Oh, let us go 
 to the Mount of God, and hear that "still small 
 voice" of promise say to us, "The gates of Hell 
 shall not prevail." "As I live, the whole earth 
 shall be filled with my glory." In the illuminations 
 there received, in the comforts there bestowed, the 
 film of doubt will be cleared from our eyes, aud 
 assurance breathed into our souls. We shall see 
 that, however wickedness may now appear to dom- 
 inate the world, its final overthrow is certain ; that 
 in the encounter of Right and Wrong, the former is 
 sure to triumph at last ; and that all the movements 
 of the Gospel, and all the ongoings of Providence, 
 and all the heavings and tossings of the nations, are 
 tending, irresistibly, inevitably, to usher in that 
 predicted epoch, when the reign of the Crucified 
 
y« BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 shall be universal among men. The combat may 
 be long and arduous. We may be summoned from 
 the field while the turmoil is yet at its height. But 
 others will come and stand in our places ; and the 
 great battle of the Lord of Hosts will go on — on 
 through generations and centuries — on over em- 
 pires and continents — never receding, never rest- 
 ing — on, ever on in its career of mercy, converting 
 sinners, recovering the lost, lifting up the fallen, 
 enlightening all that is dark, dispelling all that is 
 false, sanctifying all that is impure, till wickedness 
 shall be driven from the earth into the prison below, 
 and God shall turn on it the key of His power, and 
 lock it forever from the sight of His redeemed 
 creation. 
 
 Thus it is that the believer, in his visits to the 
 Mount of Divine Manifestation, gathers new strength 
 for the conflicts of the spiritual life, and fresh incen- 
 tives to steadfastness and perseverance. And thus 
 it is that difficulties and dangers which, out in the 
 dusty arena of the strife, may seem to us insur- 
 mountable, are shorn of all their terrors, when sur- 
 veyed from the hallowed eminence of communion 
 with Heaven. 
 
 Oh, Mount of God! High Place of Prayer! 
 Horeb of Faith ! on whose gleaming summit the 
 soul stands and sends her gaze away to the Throne 
 of Grace above — what words can speak the blessed- 
 
THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 99 
 
 ness of those who know thy refuge ! In thy sacred 
 retreats God talks with man, and Jesus unveils His 
 love, and the Comforter whispers consolation, and a 
 gladness not of earth invigorates the soul. Shelter 
 of Prophets ! Chosen Kesort of Saints in all the 
 ages ! May we never forget thee — never leave 
 untrodden the way that leads to thee. Worn with 
 toil, hemmed round by foes, borne down under sor- 
 rows, may we flee to thee for rest. And when our 
 work is done, from thy sunlit brow may we soar 
 upward to the Heavenly Hills, and dwell in the 
 Mountain of the Lord forever. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE TWO BUILDERS. 
 
 "Therefore, -whosoever heareth these satings of mine, 
 and doeth them, i will liken him unto a wise man, which 
 built his house upon a rock. axd the rain descended, and 
 the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
 
 HOUSE; AND IT FELL not; FOR IT WAS FOUNDED UPON A ROCK. 
 
 And evert one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
 doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
 built his house upon the sand. and the rain descended, and 
 the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
 house; and it fell; and great was the fall of ft.— Matthew 
 vii. 24-27. 
 
 ITH these striking words our Lord con- 
 eludes His memorable Sermon on the 
 ^ Mount. Having, in that matchless sum- 
 mary, set forth the Gospel which He 
 came to teach, declared its great truths, 
 pointed out the breadth and spirituality of its pre- 
 cepts, and unfolded the wealth of its promises and 
 benedictions, He brings the whole to bear directly 
 on the consciences of His hearers, by a personal 
 application as appropriate as it is impressive and 
 solemn. 
 
 This application is contained in the passage which 
 forms the groundwork of our present remarks. To 
 
 100 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 101 
 
 comprehend the significance and pertinency of the 
 comparison which our Saviour here employs, it is 
 necessary to place clearly before our minds the 
 physical aspects of the country in which He dwelt, 
 and the customs of the people to whom He spoke. 
 Viewing it merely in the light of our own experi- 
 ence, we might be inclined to pronounce it inap- 
 posite, destitute of meaning, and at variance with 
 actual facts. Were we to judge only from what is 
 familiar to ourselves, there would seem to be little 
 propriety in describing as wise the man who should 
 build his house upon a rock, or in branding as fool- 
 ish the man who should rear his upon the sand ; 
 since, so far as our observation extends, no special 
 safety is gained in the one case, and no special peril 
 incurred in the other. But however true this may 
 be in the scene of our abode, it was quite otherwise 
 in that of Christ's earthly ministry. There, the 
 formation of the land and the nature of the climate 
 alike contributed to give point and emphasis to His 
 illustration. The surface of Palestine is, for the 
 most part, extremely rugged and uneven, broken 
 up into steep cliffs and abrupt eminences, and inter- 
 sected by narrow and precipitous ravines. In the 
 summer, during which rain seldom falls, these ra- 
 vines are the dry beds of torrents that have been 
 exhausted by the long drought and the parching 
 heat ; or if in any of them streams still flow, they 
 
102 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 are reduced to tiny rills which the eye can scarcely 
 see, and which a single step may cross. But when 
 the winter storms set in, and the mighty rains de- 
 scend on the heights, the waters, rushing down the 
 mountain gorges, swell these rivulets into roaring 
 floods, that carry terror and devastation in their 
 track. 
 
 It was from scenes of this description — scenes 
 which His listeners had often beheld, and examples 
 of which were doubtless visible from the spot where 
 they stood — that our Divine Teacher drew the im- 
 agery of the text. He introduces two individuals 
 as proposing to erect dwellings for themselves in a 
 locality such as I have described. It is the early 
 summer ; and all is calm and peaceful. The sky 
 is cloudless. The winds are silent, or only whisper 
 in soft breezes that ripple the growing corn, and 
 just stir the young leaves of the vine and olive. 
 The rough slopes of the glen are covered with ver- 
 dure and gay with flowers ; and along its pebbly 
 bottom a little brook glides and siugs. There is 
 nothing to indicate danger or suggest precaution. 
 Yet one of these men, taking into account the haz- 
 ards of the situation, and knowing how soon and how 
 suddenly the deluge may come, adapts his measures 
 to the circumstances, and carefully provides for 
 what the future must bring. With thoughtful fore- 
 sight, he selects for his foundation the smooth face 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 103 
 
 of a rock which former inundations have laid bare : 
 or. if no such site can be found, then — as stated in 
 the parallel passage of Luke — he "digs deep n till 
 he reaches the underlying rock: and there, on the 
 solid granite, erects his home. The edifice thus 
 supported, and built wholly of stone — as the houses 
 of the Jews generally were — possesses a strength 
 and stability that bid defiance to all the vicissitudes 
 of the seasons. And this man the Redeemer pro- 
 nounces " wise," because he rightly estimates the re- 
 quirements of his undertaking, and shapes his plans 
 and regulates his conduct in accordance with them. 
 The other man., wanting in sagacity, or impelled 
 by sheer recklessness, pursues a course that leads 
 to widely different results. Deluded by present 
 appearances, and fearing no evil to come because 
 none is manifest now. he puts his house on a bed of 
 drifting sand, which previous overflows have washed 
 up along the border of the stream, and ventures 
 all that he holds dear in its treacherous keeping. 
 Christ calls him "a foolish man." inasmuch as. in 
 a matter involving treasure and security and life 
 itself, he ignores the exigencies that are sure to 
 arise, and violates every law of prudence and fore- 
 cast. And his folly is as inexcusable as it is gross. 
 It does not spring from imperfect knowledge. Un- 
 less he rejects all evidence, he cannot be unaware 
 of the nature of the ground on which he builds, 
 
104 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 and the severity of the test which his work must 
 undergo. But indolence, self-will, pride of opinion, 
 a propensity to overlook perils that are not immedi- 
 ate, and. the insane hope, either that the threatened 
 catastrophe will not occur, or that he shall find some 
 way of escape, conspire to uphold his confidence, 
 and to embolden him in his purpose. His fatuity 
 is thus the product of presumption and fool-hardi- 
 ness : and when the fearful end shall undeceive him, 
 he can charge the loss and the ruin only to himself. 
 
 For a time, however, all may seem to be well. 
 While the season of fair weather and Bright skies 
 continues, and halcyon days and starry nights follow 
 each other in unbroken succession, the house on the 
 sand may appear as safe as the house on the rock. 
 And perhaps its owner ridicules the care and pains- 
 taking of his neighbor — laughs at his anxiety about 
 his foundation — and taunts him with a needless 
 expenditure of means and labor in guarding against 
 the inroads of an insignificant brook that is fast dry- 
 ing up. And so the long rainless summer passes 
 away, and the months of the freshet and the hurri- 
 cane draw nigh. 
 
 On a quiet evening, the inmates of both houses 
 close their doors, and prepare for their wonted rest. 
 They notice, as they retire, no unusual indications 
 that danger is near ; for though autumnal blasts 
 have begun to sweep, at intervals, down the hills, 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS, 105 
 
 and to moan fitfully among the trees, the heavens 
 are yet serene, and the earth tranquil. But at mid- 
 night, a terrible change awakens them. The tem- 
 pest is abroad in its wrath. They hear the wild 
 winds howl and rage, and the fierce rain hurtling 
 against roof and wall ; while, more appalling than 
 either, breaks on their startled ears the roar of the 
 swollen torrent pouring down the gorge, submerg- 
 ing the lowlands, foaming up the hillsides, and 
 becoming each moment deeper, swifter, more re- 
 sistless. 
 
 The storm assails both houses with equal violence. 
 But it cannot shake the house on the rock. Fixed 
 on its immovable foundation, it remains steadfast 
 and secure amid the dashing waves and the furious 
 war of the elements. Not so with the house on the 
 sand. Its inhabitant is roused at last from his care- 
 lessness, but only to find that all hope of deliverance 
 is gone. It is too late to save himself by abandon- 
 ing the endangered dwelling. The angry waters 
 environ it on every side ; and no raft or boat could 
 live an instant in that tossing, rushing current. 
 His escape, or his destruction, rests solely on the 
 question whether the frail structure in which he 
 has trusted shall stand or fall. No other reliance 
 is left him. Oh, that in the clays of sunshine 
 and repose he had gi^en more heed to his foun- 
 dation ! But vain are regrets now. The past 
 
10G BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 cannot be recalled. He has chosen his refuse, and 
 must abide the result. As he listens fearfully to 
 the shrieking gale, the pouring deluge, the swash 
 of the billows surging round his flimsy shelter, and 
 feels it totter and reel at every shock — his strained 
 senses catch another and more awful sound, that 
 freezes him with terror. It is the creeping and 
 gurgling of the waters, as they stealthily work 
 their way through the loose soil beneath him. They 
 cut deep channels in the yielding sand. More and 
 more they encroach upon it — faster and faster they 
 wash it away — until, almost with the quickness of 
 thought, the whole fabric is undermined, and house 
 and owner are swallowed up by the seething tide. 
 
 Our Saviour refers to the difference in the char- 
 acter and in the fate of these individuals for the 
 purpose of illustrating the momentous lesson which 
 He sought to convey. To the one, He compares 
 the man who hearkens with reverent docility to the 
 announcements of the Gospel — receives, as tran- 
 scendent realities, its unfold iugs of guilt and ruin, 
 of atonement and redemption — and, by embracing 
 them with sincere faith and obedience, builds on 
 their impregnable truth his hope of salvation. By 
 the history of the other, He represents the madness 
 and the doom of him who hears the message of 
 Mercy with apathy or scorn ; who sets at nought 
 its claims and obligations ; despises the bliss it 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 107 
 
 proffers ; disregards its warnings ; and casting be- 
 hind him all its appeals, presses on in his career of 
 sin and impenitence. And thus, with one graphic 
 touch of light and shade, the Divine Limner has 
 sketched the two great classes of believers and un- 
 believers — of doers and neglecters of His words. 
 
 We are all builders, and builders for eternity. 
 A world of never-ending retribution lies before us ; 
 and, consciously or unconsciously, we are preparing 
 our abode in that world, and giving form to the 
 destiny that awaits us there. However we may 
 confine our aims and efforts to the boundaries of 
 sense, this is the real result which our life is work- 
 ing out — this the necessary bearing of every thought 
 and action. By vital union with Christ, by the 
 transforming power of His grace, by the cultivation 
 of practical godliness, we are rearing a spiritual edi- 
 fice that shall be our everlasting defence and joy ; 
 or else, by following the devices of our corrupt 
 hearts, we expend our energies upon a refuge of lies, 
 that will crumble at the breath of the storm, and 
 sink with us into the abyss. Each day, each hour, 
 contributes to the one or the other of these stu- 
 pendous issues. Every movement of our inward 
 being — every circumstance of our outward his- 
 tory — all that we feel — all that we do — helps 
 forward the house that shall endure, or the house 
 that shall perish. 
 
108 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 In the fulness of His compassion, Jehovah has 
 provided for the lost children of earth an unfailing 
 basis of happiness. Long ago He declared by the 
 lips of His prophet, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a 
 foundation a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner- 
 stone, a sure Foundation ; he that believeth shall 
 not make haste." This purpose of Infinite Love 
 has been fulfilled in the incarnation and sacrifice of 
 Christ. The Only Begotten of the Father has taken 
 our nature upon Him, put Himself in our place, suf- 
 fered the penalty of our transgressions, and wrought 
 out that great Propitiation which insures to its con- 
 trite receivers pardon and eternal life. Here, in the 
 atoning work of the God-Man, is inviolable security 
 
 — a firm ground of trust — to which the sinner may 
 commit his immortal interests without fear of disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 On this foundation the believer, enlightened and 
 guided by Celestial AVisdom, reposes the welfare of 
 his soul. Casting aside the superincumbent strata 
 
 — the rubbish of self-confidence and self-righteous- 
 ness — he goes down to the naked Rock — to the 
 broad, life-giving, all-upholding truth — "None but 
 Jesus " — and there lays the ground-tier of his re- 
 ligion. Joining the building to the foundation by the 
 strong clamps of faith, he carries it up, stone upon 
 stone, course after course ; "adding to his faith vir- 
 tue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 109 
 
 to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to 
 godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness 
 charity ; " and cementing all by Redeeming Blood. 
 Living Stones upon a Living Eock ! What tem- 
 pest can overturn a structure so constituted, so sus- 
 tained? The merits of the Son underlie it; the 
 faithfulness of the Father encircles it ; the rainbow 
 of the Covenant overarches it ; the graces of the 
 Spirit pervade it ; and the downshinings of Heaven 
 infold it with a radiance which no earthly darkness 
 can dispel. Oh, wise are they, and only they, who 
 thus build ! 
 
 Alas ! what multitudes are there whose hopes are 
 not planted here ! How many do we daily meet — 
 how many are with us now — who reject the Only 
 Foundation J They may differ in other respects — 
 differ in character, differ in their religious opinions, 
 differ in their chosen sources of trust ; but all agree 
 in this, that they build not on Christ, and lightly 
 esteem the Eock of their Salvation. They rely on 
 human strength, human counsels, human expedi- 
 ents, human safeguards, and not on that vicarious 
 Expiation which God has set forth as the only 
 refuge of a fallen world. 
 
 Here is one who endeavors to rear, in the bleak 
 
 waste of Infidelity, a home where he may give 
 
 scope to his depraved appetites, unchecked by the 
 
 thought of accountability, unvisited by the dread of 
 
 10 . 
 
110 BIBLE PICTTJBES. 
 
 punishment. Discarding the clear, authoritative 
 teachings of Revelation, he substitutes in their place 
 the obscure hints and vague conjectures of human 
 reason. The confused mutteriugs of antichristian 
 philosophy, the shallow objections of earth-born 
 science, are deemed more worthy of credence than 
 the Voice which speaks from heaven. Darkened in 
 his understanding by the blinding power of sin, he 
 has no perception of moral subjects, or sees them 
 only in false lights. Good and evil, guilt and holi- 
 ness, are in his view mere arbitrary distinctions ; 
 immortality a fiction ; future recompense the dream 
 of bigots ; and God, the All-Maker and All-Ruler, 
 but an impersonal, unintelligent principle diffused 
 through the material universe, taking no cognizance 
 of the doings of men, and exercising over them no 
 retributive government. In such a position, and 
 out of such empty imaginings, he constructs his 
 system of Unbelief, and looks to it for rest. But 
 the ground is hollow, and the entire fabric a lie, 
 from corner-stone to pinnacle. It is ever threaten- 
 ing to fall from its own weakness ; and its occupant 
 is compelled to resort to every species of sophistical 
 prop, to keep it from coming down altogether. 
 Oil, skeptic ! thou art not at ease in thy house. 
 Thou dost not feel safe there. In thy secret soul, 
 thou knowest how insecure it is. There are trem- 
 blings underneath — there are bulgings out in the 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. Ill 
 
 walls — there are swayings to and fro, that af- 
 fright thee with omens of disaster. But if thou 
 art thus fearful in the time of Divine forbearance 
 and long-suffering, when no tokens of wrath are 
 abroad, when God holds back His thunder, and 
 death and judgment appear to be distant, where 
 will be thy confidence when the fires of the last day 
 shall blaze ; when the Almighty One, whom thou 
 deniest, shall come forth to vindicate His insulted 
 majesty, and the eternal state, which thou strivest 
 to believe a delusion, breaks upon thee in all its 
 reality and awfuluess? "If in the land of quietness 
 they have wearied thee, what wilt thou do in the 
 swelling of Jordan ? " 
 
 Another builds on the shaking bog of Universal- 
 ism. He labors to persuade himself that God is too 
 merciful to doom the wicked to perdition ; that the 
 sanctions of His law reach not beyond the grave ; 
 and that, however unrighteously men may live, and 
 however impeuitently they may die, the salvation 
 of all is alike certain. But the hypothesis is too 
 heavy for its foundation, and its incongruous mate- 
 rials will not hold together. As the swampy soil 
 yields under the pressure, the parts settle away 
 from each other, leaving wide and fatal openings. 
 And so he gropes about in the mire, and covers 
 himself with filth, in a bootless effort to close up 
 these gaps with guesses and assumptions, and by 
 
112 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 thrusting into them mutilated texts of Scripture, 
 torn from their connections. Yet, with all his 
 mending and filling, the gaps are there still, pro- 
 claiming unsafely, presaging overthrow. 
 
 Another, more fastidious, attempts to raise a 
 fortress for his soul on the shifting sands of Liberal 
 Christianity. But the loose dust, blown about by 
 ever-veering winds of opinion, gets into his eyes, 
 and so blinds him, that he cannot see how to build, 
 or what to build. At least, he is unable to give to 
 his work any definite shape and proportion. The 
 utmost that he can do is to heap up a formless pile 
 of fragments — broken doctrines, half-truths, dis- 
 cordant theories, transcendental speculations, inter- 
 spersed with here and there a moral precept, and all 
 jumbled together in strange confusion. His erection 
 is far less remarkable for what it contains, than for 
 what it leaves out. There is nothing positive in 
 it. It is a mass of negatives throughout. And its 
 builder appropriately writes on it the characteristic 
 inscription — No creed — no atoning Saviour — no 
 renewing • Spirit — no need of man that man's 
 resources cannot meet. 
 
 Influenced by opposite tastes, another puts his 
 house on the dead flat of Churchism. He bases his 
 expectation of being saved — not on the acceptance 
 of Christ by faith — not on the experience of a new 
 spiritual birth — not on the conscious working of 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 113 
 
 gracious affections in his soul — but on the fact that 
 he has passed through a certain process of outward 
 initiation into the visible kingdom of God. His 
 religion is a thing of form and ceremony. To sacra- 
 ments and ordinances alone he looks for pardon and 
 sanctification. Ritual observance usurps the place 
 of piety ; the water of Baptism is substituted for 
 the blood of Jesus ; and idolatry of the Church 
 thrusts out of sight the worship of her Lord. Thus 
 he has a name to live while he is dead. Under all 
 his conventional religiousness lurks an unregenerate 
 heart, and a dominant carnality. Oh, how little 
 can formalism do for its votaries in that hour, when 
 the voice of Christ on the judgment-seat shall inter- 
 pret the words of Christ in the flesh, "Except a 
 man be born again, he cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of God!" 
 
 There are many who build on their morality. 
 Ignorant of God's righteousness, they go about to 
 establish their own. They glory in the fancied 
 uprightness of their lives — parade their imaginary 
 virtues — count up their good deeds — and deem 
 it fanatical and monstrous to affirm that all these 
 will avail them nothing in the day of decision. 
 Keeping out of view the corruption that rankles 
 within them — hiding even from themselves their 
 real character as enemies of God and strangers to 
 all heavenly aspirations — they cherish the fata] 
 10* 
 
114 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 deceit, that outward proprieties can atone for the 
 absence of inward grace, amiable dispositions com- 
 pensate for the want of spiritual endowments, fidel- 
 ity in their relations to time counterbalance neglect 
 and supineness in their relations to eternity. Their 
 social qualities, their domestic charities, the fairness 
 of their dealings with men, are brought forward as 
 an offset to rebellion against their Creator, and 
 denial of the Lord that bought them. And thus 
 they fondly dream that the beauty with which they 
 adorn the outside of the sepulchre, will more than 
 make amends for the foulness that festers within. 
 So confidently, so laboriously, they rear their strong- 
 hold, and hedge it about with the bristling chevaux 
 de frise of self-esteem and self-flattery. Yet, perfect 
 as they strive to think it, it does not quite satisfy 
 them. Misgivings of its power to stand the inev- 
 itable trial disturb the complacency with which they 
 regard it. Gloss over the fact as they may, they 
 cannot but see its lack of strength and cohesion. 
 Hence, they seek to confirm their good opinion of 
 it, by keeping prominent its best points, and con- 
 cealing the weak ones under thick coats of white- 
 wash. But, in spite of patching and varnishing, it 
 remains a baseless, disjointed, staggering thing, 
 ready to topple into ruins when the finger of God 
 touches it. 
 
 A Ktill more numerous class set up their tabcraa- 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 115 
 
 cles in the dream-land of Future Eepentance. The 
 position which they now occupy they admit to be 
 full of exposure. They acknowledge that they are 
 sinners ; and that in Christ alone they can find 
 refuge from impending wrath. But they do not 
 intend to continue always in their present abode. 
 It is their purpose to use it merely as a summer 
 residence, and, long before the season of storms, to 
 establish themselves on the Rock. Yet, with all 
 this confession of danger, they still hesitate and 
 delay. The sunny days invite them to linger. The 
 balmy air drops slumber from its wings. They are 
 indisposed to the exertion and sacrifice of an under- 
 taking which they look upon as arduous. They 
 think the hour of peril remote, and can see no occa- 
 sion for haste while the earth is so green, and the 
 sky so bright. And thus they remain, waiting for 
 a convenient season — postponing their escape, 
 though weeks and months glide swiftly by — ever 
 resolving to repair to the Saviour, but never doing 
 it, till the dark winter of the grave shuts in upon 
 them. 
 
 To enumerate all the false foundations in which 
 the ungodly confide, would be an endless task. 
 They build on "Wealth, on Reputation, on the 
 Quicksands of Doubt, on the Steeps of Presump- 
 tion, on the barren heath of their own Works, on 
 the land-slides of Procrastination — everywhere but 
 
116 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 on the Rock of Ages — everywhere but on the Only 
 Name given among men, whereby they must be saved. 
 
 Xow, if the summer could always last, this folly, 
 flagrant as it is, might not be utterly without exten- 
 uation. Were this world our final rest — were life 
 to go on with us forever as it does now — did no 
 great change, coming with ceaseless step nearer, 
 ever nearer, cast its shadow over us, and no voices, 
 foretelling reward and doom, call to us from the 
 spirit-realm — then, though there would still be sin 
 and loss in turning away from the offers of the Gos- 
 pel, yet some apology for it might be found in 
 the comparative unimportance of its consequences. 
 True it is, that even here the pure joys of faith out- 
 weigh unspeakably the feverish delights of unbelief 
 and earthliness. So that, viewing the question 
 simply in its temporal aspects, we must pronounce 
 the Christian wise, and the worldling foolish. Nev- 
 ertheless, it is in connection with eternity that the 
 antagonism between them stands out in fullest prom- 
 inence. When, therefore, we trace this antagonism 
 to its ultimate development in the world of retribu- 
 tion, how manifest is the wisdom of the one, how 
 glaring the madness of the other ! 
 
 The summer will not always last. The period of 
 serenity and careless ease will not be perpetual. 
 Probation is wasting, and the hour that is to decade 
 its issue is speeding on. The stormy months are at 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 117 
 
 hand. The rain will fall ; the winds will blow ; the 
 floods will rush down, and overflow this Valley of 
 Mortality in which we have erected our hopes. Ad- 
 versity will come, and sickness will come, and death 
 will come, and the awful reckoning will come, and 
 the everlasting award will come. All these are 
 advancing upon us to try the value of our confi- 
 dences, and the solidity of their foundations. What 
 a contrast of character and of destiny will the trial 
 disclose ! 
 
 In every event, under all assaults, the house on 
 the Eock will stand firm. Fast anchored on the 
 oath and covenant of Jehovah, what power of earth 
 or hell can drive it from its moorings ? Sheltered 
 within it, the believer can look out upon the wild 
 commotion, and take up his parable and sing, " God 
 is our Eefuge and Strength. Therefore will not 
 we fear, though the earth be removed, and the 
 mountains be cast into the midst of the sea ; though 
 the waters thereof roar and be troubled ; though the 
 mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Amid 
 the blasts of temptation, amid the waves of sorrow, 
 amid the convulsions and upheavals of all terrestrial 
 things, the protecting might of his Eedeemer never 
 forsakes him. Even when his mortal tabernacle is 
 dissolved, he suffers no wreck. The arm of Omnip- 
 otent Love bears him upward from this valley of 
 conflict and change, to the mountain of the Lord — 
 
118 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 to the land of unbroken repose; and there — be- 
 yond the tempest, bej^ond the whirlwind, beyond 
 the floods — awaits him a building of God, a house 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
 
 But the house on the sand — Oh, who shall por- 
 tray the fearfulness of its overthrow ! The man 
 who puts his trust in carnal reliances, has no prom- 
 ise of happiness even in this life ; while, for him, 
 the life to come is shrouded in the blackness of dark- 
 ness. Destitute of an interest in Christ, bavins: no 
 hope, and without God in the world, how can he 
 meet the storms that will beat upon him ? He has 
 no forgiving Father, no atoning Mediator, no re- 
 newing Comforter, no "title sure to mansions in 
 the skies." What can support him in affliction? 
 What can be his stay when expiring nature sinks, 
 and all earthly helpers fail ? The tempest shatters 
 his frail dwelling ; the torrent of Death overwhelms 
 it, and sweeps him away — away from the shores of 
 time — away from all that he loves and enjoys — 
 away to the Judgment — away to condemnation — 
 away forever, out upon the boundless ocean of 
 Despair ! 
 
 "It fell; and great was the fall of it." Well 
 might our Lord so describe it. Great, beyond con- 
 ception, must be such a fall; for it is the fall of a 
 soul — of a soul endowed with vast and ever crow- 
 ing capacities of happiness or of misery — of a soul 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 119 
 
 for which redemption was provided — a soul for 
 which Christ died — a soul that might have been 
 saved — a soul that is lost. The distance from the 
 heights of glory to the dungeons of woe can alone 
 measure the depth and greatness of this fall. And 
 it is an irrecoverable fall. If material structures 
 are overturned, others stancher and better may re- 
 place them. But if the house of the soul goes down, 
 it can be raised up again never more. Earth is our 
 building-scene — time our work-period ; and if we 
 have built unwisely, we shall find in the future world 
 no space and no opportunity for repairing the error. 
 "There is no work, nor device, nor wisdom, nor 
 knowledge in the grave." "As the tree falls, so it 
 must lie." Eternity has no probation. Oh, what 
 is the crumbling of towers and palaces, of gorgeous 
 temples, and proud cities, of the noblest architectu- 
 ral triumphs that man's genius has ever achieved, 
 compared with the fall of those spiritual erections 
 which infold the infinite Hereafter ! 
 
 Builders on the Eock ! Hold fast to the founda- 
 tion. Let no seeming absence of danger, no blan- 
 dishments of sense, no stress of secular care, no scoff 
 of the unbelieving many, tempt you to forsake it, or 
 to question its sufficiency. To the power and grace 
 of your Redeemer commit the present and the future. 
 Make Him the Ground of your trust, the Source of 
 your happiness, the Centre of your life. In Him 
 
120 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 garner up all the riches of the soul. Draw from 
 Him every element of your character, every motive 
 and inspiration of your conduct. Go to Him for 
 righteousness, for sanctification, for wisdom, for 
 guidance, for strength, for comfort — for all you 
 need below — for all you hope for above. Thus 
 "building yourselves upon your most holy faith, 
 praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the 
 love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ unto eternal life." 
 
 Builders on the sand ! Awake from your delu- 
 sions. Be not deceived by the quietness that now 
 surrounds you. Heed not the promise of safety, 
 which Satan whispers, and your sinful hearts echo. 
 It is the song of the Siren luring you to destruction. 
 Were your eyes but open, you would perceive, un- 
 der all this fallacious tranquillity, a constant disturb- 
 ance and unrest, heralding the day of wrath, as the 
 ground-swell of the yet sleeping ocean presages the 
 bursting of the tornado. There are tremblings in 
 the earth. There are warnings in the air. There 
 is thunder in the sky. Revelation and Conscience 
 
 — forcshado wings without and forebodings within 
 
 — bear witness of the gathering tempest. Soon, 
 how soon you know not, the hail will sweep away 
 your refuges of lies, and the waters overflow youv 
 hiding places. Oh ! ere that awful moment comes, 
 flee to " the munitions of rocks " — to the founda- 
 
THE TWO BUILDERS. 121 
 
 tion of the Gospel. "Turn ye to the Stronghold, 
 ye prisoners of hope." "While the sun, or the 
 light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, 
 nor the clouds return after the rain," seek shelter 
 in the bosom of Everlasting Love. Cast yourselves 
 on the Great Atonement. Go to Christ in contri- 
 tion and prayer; and by believing in Him, link 
 your guilt and weakness to His holiness and might. 
 Building on that only Ground which the billows of 
 Divine Justice cannot undermine, you will be safe 
 in life, safe in death, safe in the Judgment, safe in 
 that House of many Mansions which no evil can in- 
 vade ; where the rains never descend, and the winds 
 never blow, and the floods never come ; where 
 Security is perfect, and Peace eternal. 
 11 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 
 
 "Let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there 
 
 AN ALTAR UNTO GOD, WHO ANSWERED ME IN THE DAY OF MY DIS- 
 TRESS, AND WAS WITH ME IN THE WAY WHICH I WENT."— Gen. 
 '.3. 
 
 3HE power of particular scenes to call up 
 trains of thought and feeling that have be- 
 come associated with them, is a familiar fact 
 in human experience. What a flood of 
 emotions, for instance, is awakened by a 
 visit to one's birthplace ! Years may have passed 
 since the wanderer left it. He may have seen many 
 fairer and richer lands. He may have made for 
 himself a more luxurious home. But still the dwell- 
 ing that sheltered him in his infancy, humble though 
 it may be, has for his heart a charm which no other 
 can claim. The bounding step with which he went 
 forth on his career, may now be slow and feeble. 
 The locks, once thick and dark as the raven's plu- 
 mage, may have grown thin and white. Yet, as he 
 stands once more under the old roof-tree, and clam- 
 bers up the hill-sides, or roams through the woods, 
 and by the streams, which his childhood knew, that 
 
 122 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 123 
 
 childhood comes back to him in all its freshness. 
 He feels as he then felt. Memories, half obliterated 
 by time and absence, are revived. He hears again 
 the voices of his playmates. He mingles again in 
 the family group. He sees again the faces of father 
 and mother, brothers and sisters. He is a child 
 again . The past has become the present ; and the 
 interval which divides them, with its labors, and 
 cares, and disappointments, is for the moment for- 
 gotten. 
 
 Similar, though far purer and holier, are the feel- 
 ings of a Christian on returning to his spiritual 
 birthplace. The spot where he first bowed his 
 knees in prayer; the hour when the Spirit first 
 breathed peace into his soul; the place where 
 he first uttered the vow of consecration to the 
 Saviour — are connected in his mind with the dear- 
 est and most hallowed reminiscences. Nor is it 
 possible for him to look at that scene again, or to 
 recall it even in thought, without impressions fitted 
 to strengthen at once his humility and his gratitude. 
 
 Sentiments of this kind appear to have animated 
 the patriarch Jacob, when he announced to his 
 household his intention of going up to Bethel, and 
 building there an altar to the Lord. Bethel was 
 the place most sacred in his recollections. There, 
 as he went forth a fugitive from his father's house, 
 God met him with assurances of protection and 
 
124 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 favor. There heavenly communications first greeted 
 his soul. There he entered into solemn coveuant 
 with Jehovah. And there, beyond question, was 
 the starting-point of his religious life — the epoch 
 of his transition from darkness to light. Many 
 years had gone by since that memorable hour. He 
 had been a sojourner in a distant clime. He left 
 his native land poor and solitary ; he was now 
 restored to it, rich in worldly goods, with a numer- 
 ous family around him. He had experienced many 
 changes, encountered many temptations, witnessed 
 many proofs of the Divine care and bounty. Much 
 had he to be humble for in his own conduct ; much 
 to be thankful for in the providence of God. How 
 interesting and solemn, then, must have been his 
 reflections, as he again drew near the spot where 
 Jehovah first revealed Himself to him, and acknowl- 
 edged him as his own ! 
 
 In the life of every true believer there has been 
 a Bethel — a time when God met him, and made 
 him a partaker of His grace. To this period it is 
 profitable for him often to go back in thought, and, 
 reviewing the engagements into which he then 
 entered, and the way in which he has since been 
 led, to erect altars to the Lord, and offer on them 
 the tribute of penitence and of thankfulness. 
 
 A leading motive that impelled Jacob to re-visit 
 Bethel, was the desire of calling up in his mind the 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 125 
 
 vows which he made while resting there on his out- 
 ward journey. Having witnessed in a vision signal 
 tokens of Jehovah's regard, he "vowed a vow, say- 
 ing, If the Lord will be with me, and will keep me 
 in this way that I go, so that I come again to my 
 father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my 
 God." Here was a promise of unswerving alle- 
 giance to the Most High, and of entire devotion to 
 His will. And the wish to revive that solemn en- 
 gagement, and stamp it anew on his soul, was 
 largely active in inspiring his present purpose. 
 
 Vows even more sacredly binding have been 
 made at Bethel by the people of God in every age. 
 All of us who have passed through that scene of the 
 open Heaven and of descending Mercy, have taken 
 upon ourselves obligations as comprehensive as they 
 are inviolable. One of these was the vow of full 
 and cordial faith in Christ. It was through Christ 
 that God was manifested to us in the endearing 
 aspect of forgiveness and love. Through Christ 
 He made Himself known to us as our Friend and 
 Father. The atonement of Christ was the celestial 
 ladder by which the Divine communications of par- 
 don, grace and peace came down to our souls. 
 Faith in Christ, therefore, as our Substitute and our 
 Redeemer, and as the Source of all our spiritual 
 life, must have been one of the earliest and most 
 
 prominent exercises of our renovated nature. En- 
 11* 
 
126 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 lightened by the teaching which is from above, 
 we saw Him to be a perfect and infinite Saviour, 
 suited to all the necessities of our case. We felt 
 that we had no hope but in Him. We abandoned 
 every other refuge. We cast our souls beneath His 
 Cross. We received Him as our Prophet, Priest 
 and King, and committed our everlasting interests 
 iuto His hands. In that act of surrender, we bound 
 ourselves to repose in Him an implicit and never- 
 failing trust, aud to look to Him, through all our 
 future course, for light to direct, grace to sanctify, 
 and strength to uphold us. 
 
 Standing once more at Bethel, how freshly do we 
 remember that vow, and with what searching im- 
 pressiveness is the question brought home to us, in 
 what manner we have kept it ! How have we ful- 
 filled our promise to the Saviour? Have we not 
 often lost sight of Him, and lightly esteemed the 
 Rock of our Salvation ? In the hour of trial have 
 avc not doubted Him ; in the season of prosperity 
 forgotten Him? Have we not neglected to apply 
 to Him day by day for those supplies of holiness 
 and comfort which He has been ever able and will- 
 ing to bestow? Have we not, times without num- 
 ber, turned away from the Fountain of Living 
 Waters, and vainly tried to slake our thirst at the 
 streams of earthlincss and sense? Have we not 
 sought happiness in the business, the connections, 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 127 
 
 the amusements of the world, more than in com- 
 munion with Christ, and devotedness to Him? 
 Oh ! as we look back on our religious history, what 
 cause have we to deplore the weakness and insta- 
 bility of our faith ! How often have we grieved 
 the Saviour by our unbelief and mistrust, our want 
 of confidence in His promises, and our slowness to 
 seek the blessings which He alone can give ! On 
 the altar which we build let us lay the offering of a 
 broken and contrite heart, for having lived at such 
 a distance from Christ, and for having confided in 
 Him so little. 
 
 Renouncement of sin was included in the cove- 
 nant which we made at Bethel. No man ever ex- 
 perienced genuine conversion, without having been 
 led to abhor his corrupt propensities, and to put 
 forth earnest efforts for their subjugation. In an 
 unregenerate state, we may be insensible to the 
 depravity of our hearts, and think lightly of the 
 outward transgressions of which it is the spring. 
 But when light from heaven shines in upon the soul, 
 our moral perceptions are rectified, and iniquity 
 appears to us in its true colors. We see the majesty 
 and holiness of God ; the purity, perfection, and 
 spirituality of His law. We see that our whole 
 lives have been one prolonged act of disobedience 
 to that law, and of rebellion against its glorious 
 Author. We perceive that in us there dwell eth no 
 
128 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 good thing ; that our nature is polluted to its very 
 core ; and that in affection and in conduct alike we 
 have been alienated from the Father of our spirits, 
 and the Giver of all our mercies. Overwhelmed 
 by such views of the goodness of God, of the right- 
 eousness of His claims, and of our own criminality 
 in disregarding them, we prostrate ourselves before 
 His throne, and cry, " Unclean, unclean ! " In deep 
 contrition of soul, we loathe our guilt, and ourselves 
 on account of it. We look on sin as that abomi- 
 nable thing which has not only destroyed our own 
 peace, but insulted the Holy One, and brought His 
 Only Begotten Son to the Cross. We hate it. We 
 abhor it. We renounce all friendship and alliance 
 with it. We resolve, in the strength of God, to 
 give it no harborage and no quarter forever. These 
 feelings and this determination are inseparable 
 from real conversion. Repentance of all past sins, 
 and a firm, conscientious purpose to avoid sin in 
 future, are among the first elements of piety, and 
 lie at the very entrance of the Christian life. And 
 if we have ever been at Bethel, we have recorded 
 such a vow. TIow, then, have we kept it? Have 
 we not, in a thousand instances, forgotten or broken 
 it? Have we not often yielded to temptation, often 
 neglected duty, often conformed in spirit and in 
 practice to an ungodly world? Have we not al- 
 lowed our former evil propensities — our vanity, 
 
GOIXG BACK TO BETHEL. 129 
 
 pride, envy, covetousness — often to come back 
 into their old seats, and resume their power over 
 us? If so, let us return to Bethel, and pronounce 
 the tow again, and pray for grace to keep it more 
 faithfully during our remaining years. 
 
 At Bethel we dedicated ourselves to the service 
 and glory of God. One of the strongest feelings 
 of the new convert is a sense of obligation for the 
 unmerited grace conferred upon him. He reflects 
 on the astonishing mercy of God in providing for 
 him a Saviour, calling him out of darkness into 
 light, and making him an heir of heaven. He thinks 
 of the amazing love of Christ in dying to atone for 
 his sins, and in procuring the Holy Spirit to renew 
 and sanctify his nature. Animated by impressions 
 like these, he cheerfully consecrates himself, body, 
 mind, and soul, to the cause of his Maker and Ee- 
 deemer. He feels that he is not his own: that, 
 having been ransomed from condemnation and guilt 
 at an infinite price, he belongs henceforth to Christ, 
 and is bound, by every tender and constraining mo- 
 tive, to obey His commands, and seek the extension 
 of His kingdom. He sees the glory of God in the 
 salvation of sinners to be the great centre on which 
 all his desires should be fixed, and to which all his 
 aims and efforts should tend ; and he longs to make 
 it the controlling influence and the grand purpose 
 of his life. 
 
130 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Thus we once felt. Thus, subdued and melted 
 by the free, boundless compassion of our God and 
 Saviour, Ave save ourselves wholly to him, ens:aofin2r 
 to live for His praise and glory alone. But how 
 have we redeemed that pledge ? Have we met it 
 fully, constantly, decidedly? Have we made the 
 service of Christ, and the advancement of His 
 cause, the main object of our existence — the point 
 to which our warmest zeal and most active exertions 
 have been directed? On the contrary, have we not 
 too often lived as though we had no higher purpose 
 than the gratification of our own selfish wishes ? In 
 our eagerness to secure the prizes which the world 
 holds out to its votaries, have we not frequently 
 suffered ourselves to become indifferent to the 
 honor of God, the success of the Gospel, and the 
 wants of our perishing fellow-men ? If we are in 
 any degree chargeable with such unfaithfulness, let 
 us go back to Bethel, renew our covenant with God, 
 and determine, through His strength, to devote all 
 we have and all we are to extend His reign on 
 earth. 
 
 Oh, vows made at Bethel ! How soon does your 
 influence decay ! How quickly is your hold on our 
 unstable hearts weakened or broken ! How often is 
 the goodness from which ye spring transient as the 
 morning cloud and the early dew ! To how many 
 is the very memory of the feelings that called you 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 131 
 
 forth only as a half-forgotten dream — the faint 
 looming of a distant shore, dimly descried across 
 the wide, tossing sea of wordly care ! The pillars 
 of stone which, like the patriarch, they set up, as 
 your perpetual memorial, have been overturned by 
 the rush of secular events, and ground to powder 
 under their rolling wheels ; while the symbolic oil 
 with which they were consecrated has been dried up 
 by the winds of temptation, or washed away by the 
 deluge of business or of pleasure. 
 
 Vows made at Bethel ! Ye may be neglected 
 and disregarded here. The lips that once pro- 
 nounced you may pronounce you no more. The 
 bosoms in which ye were once written may retain 
 scarce a trace of that writing now. But ye are reg- 
 istered in heaven. Your record, though dust-cov- 
 ered and obliterated on earth, is transcribed, clear 
 and full, into the Book of God's Eemembrance ; and 
 will be read out, in every syllable and in every 
 letter, before assembled worlds, at the great reck- 
 oning Day. 
 
 Another and a chief reason assigned by the patri- 
 arch for his desire to revisit Bethel, was that he 
 might there " build an altar to God, who answered 
 him in the day of his distress, and was with him in 
 the way which he went." In other words, he 
 wished to make a public and visible expression of 
 his gratitude for past deliverances and mercies. In 
 
132 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the hour of his deepest extremity, when he fled 
 from the vengeance of his incensed brother, and 
 knew not whither to turn for shelter, God inter- 
 posed for his rescue, and cheered him by the prom- 
 ise of constant support and protection. And during 
 all his subsequent exile, God had been with him as 
 his Friend and Upholder, consoling him by His gra- 
 cious visits, and blessing him with numerous tokens 
 of His bounty. In view of such manifestations of 
 the Divine favor toward him, well might he wish to 
 build an altar to the Lord, and to offer on it the 
 sacrifice of thanksgiving. 
 
 Your own history, Christian reader, furnishes 
 equal cause for gratitude and praise. God has 
 answered you in the day of your distress. You 
 remember well the time when you first awoke from 
 the slumber of unbelief and carelessness to a sense 
 of your condition as a guilty and lost sinner. Your 
 eyes were opened to perceive the fearful peril in 
 which you stood, and the utter misery to which you 
 were exposed. You saw yourself an outcast from 
 your Father's house, a stranger to the Covenant of 
 Promise, having no hope, and without God in the 
 world. The broken law pealed its thunders over 
 you. Behind you flamed the sword of the Avenger ; 
 before you yawned the abyss of doom. You had do 
 power to deliver yourself, and no mortal arm could 
 bring you succor. On every side you looked for 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 133 
 
 help, but met only Despair. Oh, it was an hour 
 that you will never forget — an hour of distress and 
 perplexity — an hour of darkness like the shadow 
 of death ! And then it was, when cut off from all 
 human aid, that you prayed in agony to Him who 
 alone can save. Out of the depths you cried unto 
 the Lord, and He heard you from His Holy Hill, 
 and stretched forth His hand, and delivered you. 
 He took your feet from the horrible pit, from the 
 miry clay, and established your goings upon a rock. 
 By the atoning Sacrifice of His Son, He washed 
 away your sins, and absolved you from punishment ; 
 and by the energy of His Spirit, He broke the 
 power of your corruptions, and breathed into your 
 soul a new element of holiness and peace. From 
 the waste, howling wilderness, He brought you 
 into His banquetmg-house, made you His child, 
 and spread over you the banner of His love. Oh, 
 what a moment was that when God thus met you ! 
 What a Bethel was that where you first heard His 
 voice whispering to your hushed and listening heart, 
 " Thy sins are forgiven thee ! " You saw heaven 
 opened. You saw let down the mystic ladder of 
 Christ's mediation. You saw descending by it par- 
 don, peace, and salvation. Once alienated and con- 
 demned, you were reconciled to God by the blood 
 of His Son, justified and accepted through His mer- 
 its, and invested with a title to all the hopes and 
 
 12 
 
134 BIBLE ^PICTURES. 
 
 privileges of the Gospel here, and to eternal life 
 hereafter. Thus God answered you in the day of 
 your distress. 
 
 And ever since He has been with you in the way 
 that you have gone, and has made you the object 
 of His special care and kindness. He has been 
 with you as your Guide. "The steps of a good 
 man are ordered by the Lord." "The meek will 
 He guide in judgment ; the meek w T ill He teach His 
 way." By His Word and Spirit, He has taught 
 you His will, and pointed out the path in which He 
 would have you walk. He has directed all your 
 goings. Through whatever scenes you have been 
 called to pass, whether of joy or of sorrow, it was 
 J lis wisdom that appointed your course, and His 
 hand that led you in it. He has been with you as 
 the Source of your strength. Whatever power you 
 have had to resist temptation, to bear the toils and 
 sacrilices of the Christian life, has been supplied 
 from His infinite fulness. He has been with you as 
 your Defender and Comforter. In danger He has 
 shielded you ; in darkness He has been your light ; 
 in trouble and affliction He has consoled you. 
 Everywhere and always He has been by your side, 
 sustaining you by His presence, cheering you by 
 His promises, succoring you by His help, and caus- 
 ing all the vicissitudes of your earthly lot to work 
 together for His glory, and your own highest good. 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 135 
 
 And never will He leave or forsake you. He is 
 drawing you up to Himself by the golden chain of 
 His love. That chain can never be severed ; and 
 the links which you have already felt and seen are 
 an earnest that the remaining links, in all their 
 bright succession, shall yet be displayed to you. 
 Mercies past are the pledges and forerunners of 
 mercies to come. The power that converted shall 
 preserve you. The grace that recovered you when 
 lost, shall keep you when found. The eye which 
 sought you out in the wilderness, will watch over 
 you in the fold. The hand which brought you 
 through "the strait gate," will uphold you in "the 
 narrow way." And the staff, on which you have 
 leaned hitherto, shall be your stay in every onward 
 scene, down into the dim vale of age, and across 
 the dark river of death. Thus, in all the way that 
 you have yet to go, will He guide and sustain your 
 steps, till He bring you in triumph to His own 
 right hand in heaven. 
 
 Can you, then, withhold from Him the tribute of 
 praise which He deserves ? Will you not build an 
 altar, and offer on it the sacrifice of a grateful 
 heart ? In view of the grace and mercy which He 
 has manifested toward you, will 3^011 not dedicate 
 yourselves afresh to His service, and resolve that 
 all your future days shall be sacred to His glory ? 
 Oh ! when you think how He has answered you in 
 
136 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the day of your distress, and followed you with 
 never-ceasing benefits ; and then reflect how un- 
 faithfully you have lived, how often you have 
 departed from Him — must not your soul overflow 
 with mingled emotions of penitence and thankful- 
 ness ? And must you not feel every claim of duty 
 and every bond of love constraining you to a life of 
 more earnest and entire obedience ? Let each one 
 who is conscious of having in any measure declined 
 from the way of the Lord, be conjured to return 
 without delay, and to give himself with new zeal 
 and activity to the work of his own salvation, and 
 that of the perishing multitudes around him. 
 
 There are some who have well-nigh forgotten 
 Bethel. They retain but little of the feeling which 
 they cherished at the time of their conversion. The 
 altars, which they then erected in the closet, in the 
 family, and in the place of social prayer, are now 
 broken down and deserted. Their fires have gone 
 out, and have left only the ashes of extinct faith, 
 and zeal, and love. The purposes of devoted ncss 
 to the Saviour, which they then formed, have been 
 overborne and swept away by the force of tempta- 
 tion and worldlincss. They have left their first 
 love ; and communion with God, and delight in His 
 service, are with them now things of memory rather 
 than of present experience. Oh, ye whose con- 
 sciences testify that you have thus forsaken the 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 137 
 
 Lord, return to the footstool of His mercy, and 
 seek once more the light of His countenance ! Arise, 
 and go to Bethel. Build again the altar which has 
 fallen down. Offer on it again the sacrifice of low- 
 liness and contrition. God waits to receive you 
 there. His compassions are not exhausted by all 
 your waywardness and disobedience. The ladder 
 between earth and heaven is not yet drawn up ; and 
 communications of grace are as free to you now as 
 when the Lord first met you, and filled your heart 
 to overflowing with the joy of His salvation. Oh ! 
 why will you continue to live at such a distance 
 from Him? The world cannot make you happy. 
 It is empty, delusive, transitory. In the Lord 
 alone can you find solid and lasting peace * Go 
 back, then, to your forsaken Saviour ; call up the 
 resolutions which you have broken ; resume the 
 duties which you have neglected ; give yourself to 
 God anew ; and hope and comfort shall once more 
 spring up in your heart ; and the spot, where you 
 thus bow your knees in holy surrender, shall be to 
 you again the very gate of heaven. 
 
 Some there are who have never been at Bethel. 
 They have never met God, and He has never met 
 them. They are yet in their natural state of 
 estrangement from Him in whose hands their breath 
 is, and with whom are all their ways. Heaven has 
 not been opened to their view. Eternal realities 
 12* 
 
138 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 have never come nigh to them, and taken hold of 
 their hearts. They have never had a spiritual per- 
 ception of the way of access to God through Christ. 
 Surrounded by the light of the Gospel, they walk 
 in darkness. Upheld by Jehovah's providence, and 
 daily feeding on His bounty, they are still living in 
 fatal ignorance of His renewing and sanctifying 
 grace. Oh ! ye impenitent and worldly, prodigal 
 children of a forgotten Father, how mournful is 
 your condition ! You have no union with God ; no 
 refuge from the sentence of His violated law ; no 
 home and no hope beyond the fleeting scenes of 
 time. You have never entered into covenant with 
 the Almighty ; you have not owned Him as your 
 King ; you have not obeyed Him as your Father ; 
 and He, therefore, will not acknowledge you as His 
 children, when you stand before his judgment-seat. 
 Live no longer in this guilty, this dangerous state. 
 Renounce the sins which separate you from the 
 Fountain of life and happiness. Make God your 
 portion. Go to Him by that new and living Way 
 which has been opened through the blood of His 
 Son. Embrace by faith the Reconciliation offered 
 in the Gospel, and you shall be no more strangers 
 and foreigners, but fellow-heirs with the saints to 
 all the immunities of fellowship with God now, and 
 to the heritage of glory in eternity. The whole 
 earth shall become to you a Bethel. Jehovah will 
 
GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 139 
 
 meet you, and converse with you, as a man with 
 his friend. He will be with you, as your unfailing 
 Companion and Helper, through all the scenes of 
 your earthly wayfaring, till He bring you to His 
 own presence on high, where there is fulness of joy, 
 and to His right hand, where there are pleasures 
 for evermore. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 
 
 "Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom." 
 — Luke xxiii. 42. 
 
 VERY circumstance connected with our 
 Saviour's death is full of interest and in- 
 struction. Yet in that series of events, the 
 most momentous which the earth has ever 
 seen, there is perhaps nothing more sug- 
 gestive and affecting than the incident to which the 
 text relates. Though but an episode in the great 
 drama of the Crucifixion, it possesses a beauty and 
 a pathos that cannot fail to arrest the dullest mind. 
 Occurring in the very shadow of that Cross, on 
 which the redemption of a world was wrought out, 
 it seems to be pervaded by its power, and to reflect 
 its glory. The place and the hour give it peculiar 
 emphasis, and render it living and eloquent for all 
 the ages. Let us recall the scene, and ponder the 
 lessons which it conveys. 
 
 The narrative opens amid the awful transactions 
 of Calvary. Our Divine Substitute is bearing in 
 His own body the punishment of an apostate race. 
 The malice of His foes has triumphed. He has 
 
 140 
 
THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 141 
 
 been seized by a ruthless band of conspirators, 
 dragged before the Sanhedrim, condemned by the 
 Roman governor to be crucified, borne by brutal 
 soldiers to the place of execution, and nailed by 
 their pitiless hands to the accursed tree. But He 
 is not alone in His agony. With the view of heap- 
 ing deeper shame on His sacred head, two convicts, 
 infamous for their offences against human law, are 
 associated with Him in suffering. And there, under 
 the astonished heavens, they hang — the Holy Vic- 
 tim for sin in the centre — the foul perpetrators of 
 sin on either side — alike in doom, but oh, how 
 unlike in character ! And around them on that 
 memorable hill, densely thronging all its slopes, 
 stand the mocking priests, the remorseless Phari- 
 sees, and the ribald multitude, hurling scoffs and 
 railings at their dying Messiah ! How shocking the 
 spectacle ! No wonder the shuddering earth quaked 
 to bear it, and the shrouded skies refused to be- 
 hold it. So utter was the humiliation to which our 
 Sacrifice submitted, that He might take away our 
 iniquities. 
 
 For a time, both of the criminals join the insen- 
 sate crowd in pouring obloquy on the Son of God. 
 But over the spirit of one of them there comes a 
 sudden and wondrous change. He ceases to rail. 
 He admonishes and rebukes his companion in wick- 
 edness. He confesses his guilt and the justice of 
 
142 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 his punishment. He implores mercy. He obtains 
 assurance of pardon and salvation. 
 
 To what source are we to attribute a transition so 
 instantaneous and so complete? The most unre- 
 flecting observer cannot but perceive that the dying 
 thief,, in the new principles and emotions to which 
 he gave utterance, must have been acted upon by 
 an influence far higher and mightier than any mere 
 impulse of natural thought, or of natural conscience. 
 There is no faculty of the human mind whose un- 
 aided workings can account for such a change. In 
 the recorded history of this individual, we have 
 before us two states of moral being directly oppo- 
 site to each other. At one moment, his soul is 
 black with despair, and convulsed with hate and 
 rage ; while from lips quivering with mortal throes 
 he belches forth curses and blasphemies upon the 
 Divine Sufferer at his side. A brief interval passes, 
 and that same soul is subdued, humbled, melted 
 into contrition and love ; and those same lips over- 
 flow with expressions of trust and worship. The 
 transformation thus effected — a transformation 
 rapid, thorough, comprehensive — can be explained 
 only by the fact, that at this solemn crisis of his 
 being, as he hung on the brink of eternity, with the 
 gulf of perdition opening beneath him, the Omnipo- 
 tent Renovator touched his heart, and brought him 
 from condemnation to acceptance, from the power 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 143 
 
 of Satan imto God. He was born again — saved by 
 the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost. A mystic word was spoken — a 
 mystic energy went forth — and the wild tossings 
 of depravity within him were laid to rest, and his 
 whole immortal destiny changed. TTell may we 
 believe that the God-man had looked on him with 
 yearning compassion, as they trod together the pain- 
 ful road to Calvary. TTell may we believe that in 
 that merciful pleading for His murderers, "Father, 
 forgive them, for they know not what they do," 
 there was a special intercession for the obdurate one 
 who shared His torture, but not its support. Aud 
 now, in fulfilment of the Mediators prayer, celes- 
 tial Grace descended into the depths of that polluted 
 soul, dispelling all its darkness, purifying all its 
 affections, pervading all its recesses, and diffusing 
 holiness and peace, where before guilt and despera- 
 tion reigned alone. 
 
 Of the truth of this statement ample corroboration 
 will be found, if we examine more particularly the 
 frame of mind which he manifested. Even a cur- 
 sory analysis will show it to have been such as can 
 exist in fallen man only through the operation of the 
 quickenmg Spirit, and such as furuishes, wherever 
 it is displayed, conclusive proof of His presence and 
 agency. 
 
 Among the sentiments which he expressed, we 
 
144 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 notice a warm and affectionate recognition of the 
 Saviour's innocence. The strength and fulness of 
 his conviction on this point appear in the signifi- 
 cant reproof which he addressed to his companion. 
 "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the 
 same condemnation ? and we indeed justly, for we 
 receive the due reward of our deeds ; but this man 
 hath done nothing amiss." This confidence in the 
 blamelessness of Jesus was in many respects emi- 
 nently remarkable. At the moment when he pro- 
 claimed it, the whole surrounding multitude regarded 
 Christ as an infamous criminal, righteously doomed 
 to death. The fickle and maddened populace of 
 Jerusalem, led on by their priests and rulers, looked 
 upon Him as a sacrilegious blasphemer, who had 
 assailed their national religion, traduced their Holy 
 City, and threatened the destruction of their Temple, 
 and of their entire ecclesiastical state. The Roman 
 soldiers, who were the immediate instruments of His 
 execution, probably knew not, and cared not, with 
 what offense He was charged. But as he had been 
 condemned by the proper civil tribunal, they took 
 it for granted that He was some vile instigator of 
 sedition, and joined their voices to swell the tide of 
 general execration that was poured upon Him. Those 
 of His disciples who were present were indeed well 
 aware that He was wholly guiltless of the crimes 
 imputed to Him. Neverthelqss, fear kept thorn 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 145 
 
 silent : and however deeply they may have mourned 
 His fate, there is no account that they uttered a 
 single word in justification of His character. In all 
 the vast throng that encompassed His cross, the only 
 expression of pity for His sufferings and abhorrence 
 of His unjust doom, fell from the lips of the poor, 
 expiring felon by His side. Xo angelic champion 
 asserted His holiness. Xo apostle stood forth to 
 declare it. Xot even the women, who watched His 
 agonies from afar, ventured a syllable in His de- 
 fense. The sole advocacy of the world's best Friend, 
 in the hour in which He gave His life a ransom for 
 the world, was left to a nameless thief. And this 
 advocacy, brief as it was, and spoken amid the 
 thick-coming pangs of death, clearly evinced that, 
 in reference to Christ, the feelings of him who prof- 
 fered it had undergone a total change. Xo longer 
 viewing Him as the object of merited reproach and 
 scorn, he could not bear even to listen to the insults 
 which others were casting on the Immaculate One. 
 In the fervor of his new convictions, he rebuked the 
 impious utterances of his associate, and tendered to 
 the Holy Sufferer the tribute of his own veneration, 
 sympathy and sorrow. 
 
 TThat produced this marvellous revolution of 
 temper and conduct ? It is not probable that he had 
 any knowledge of Jesus till he met Him on the way 
 to the cross ; or if, perchance, that despised name 
 
 13 
 
146 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 had ever reached his ear, it was only as the syn- 
 onym of imposture and baseness. He took part at 
 first in the universal contempt of the Nazarene, and 
 manifested a hatred of Him bitter as that shown by 
 the rest. What was there in the circumstances 
 around him — in the jeering crowd — in the fiend- 
 ish shouts of malice and derision — in the aspect of 
 the silent, unresisting Victim — to overcome this 
 enmity, and substitute for it emotions of tenderness 
 and love? Could any human influence work so 
 great and vital a change ? The influence was not 
 human — it was Divine. The effect was wrought 
 by that all-revealing Spirit, whose office it is to 
 open the eyes which sin has closed, and display to 
 the darkened soul the excellence and beauty of 
 Christ. 
 
 The language of the dying malefactor breathes 
 confession and penitence. The sympathy which he 
 expressed for the Saviour prepared the way for the 
 vivid perception and the contrite acknowledgment of 
 his own guilt. A spiritual apprehension of Christ, 
 of the loveliness of His character, and the expiatory 
 nature of His sufferings, always leads the soul to a 
 sense of its sinfulness and ruin. It was so in the 
 instance we are considering.' Glancing back upon 
 the iniquities of his life, he exclaims in behalf of 
 himself and his fellow-culprit, "We receive the due 
 reward of our deeds." It cannot be doubted that 
 
THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 147 
 
 his words indicate genuine contrition. Through 
 the power of the Holy Spirit, he was now the sub- 
 ject of that " repentance unto life " which is indis- 
 pensable to reconcilement with God. His former 
 history rose to his view in all its appalling black- 
 ness. He sought not to extenuate it, or to justify 
 himself for it. Under the convincing light that 
 now shone within him, disclosing to the soul's gaze 
 the soul's defilement, his emotions were like those 
 of Job when he said, "Behold, I am vile; what 
 can I answer thee ? I abhor myself, and repent in 
 dust and ashes " — like those of David when he said, 
 " I acknowledge my sin, and mine iniquity have I 
 not hid" — like those of the publican when he smote 
 on his breast, and cried, " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner." Thus from the cross, where he suffered 
 the justice of man, went up to heaven the sacrifice 
 of a broken and contrite heart. 
 
 What awakening monitions does his experience 
 address to ourselves ! How impressively does it 
 remind us that we must have the same conscious- 
 ness of guilt, and the same sorrow for it, or be 
 forever shut out from pardon ! Our own transgres- 
 sions are manifold and aggravated ; and however 
 free we may deem ourselves from the outward vices 
 with which his life was stained, yet, in our inward 
 character — in our relations to God's law and to 
 God's grace — we may bear a deeper criminality than 
 
148 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 was possible to him. He sinned in ignorance and 
 in darkness. "We sin in the full blaze of Christian 
 lisrht and knowledge. He never heard of a Saviour 
 till he stood with Him on the mount of Crucifixion ; 
 and in that first and only interview he cast his 
 soul on the merits of His atonement. We have 
 neglected the blessings which He offers, while all 
 our lives long He has been walking by our side in 
 His word and ordinances. Every one who remains 
 impenitent under the invitations and warnings of 
 the Gospel, is in the sight of Heaven a greater sin- 
 ner than the felon on the cross. And as he was 
 exposed to the justice of the tribunal on high, as 
 well as to the retribution of earth, so are we liable 
 to that eternal wrath which Jehovah has denounced 
 upon all who hold fast to their estrangement from 
 Him. It becomes us to confess the equity of our 
 condemnation ; to deplore our unrighteousness ; and 
 to flee for refuge to the great Propitiation. And if 
 we refuse to do this, then as certainly as the cruci- 
 fied thief expiated the violation of human law, so 
 certainly shall we expiate, in everlasting torment, 
 our violations of the Divine. 
 
 One more element in the language of this peni- 
 tent sinner, was believing prayer. f 'Lord, remem- 
 ber me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.*' 
 Under the teaching of the Divine Enlightener, how 
 rapid was his progress in spiritual things ! Like 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 149 
 
 the morning of a tropical clime, it flashed from 
 darkness into day. His last utterance embraced 
 only the sinlessness of Christ. Xow he calls Him 
 Lord. Xow he adores Him as a King, swaying, 
 even upon the cross, the sceptre of heaven and 
 earth. Xow he pleads for an interest in His re- 
 demptive work, as the alone requisite to salvation. 
 Oh, how much was implied in this one sentence, 
 pronounced by such lips, in such circumstances ! 
 It involved belief in the Deity of Jesus — belief in 
 the vicarious expiation of Jesus — belief that in 
 Jesus was the only refuge of a sinful soul, and that 
 on Him must the trembling spirit rely for present 
 cleansing, and for final glory. How strong and 
 earnest, moreover, is the tone of this testimony, and 
 how indescribably sweet and touching the petition 
 which it breathes ! " Remember me ! " Did ever 
 perishing mortal gasp out a prayer more simple and 
 yet more comprehensive than this ? What Avant of 
 undone man does it not include ? What grace of 
 regenerate man does it not express ? " Remember 
 me ! " What a sense of unworthiness the words 
 speak ! He asks only remembrance from Christ. 
 What far-reaching faith ! He feels that to be re- 
 membered by Christ carries with it every other 
 blessing. What confidence ! He commits his hap- 
 piness to one who, in outward appearance, is a 
 dying criminal like himself. What love ! He longs 
 
 13* 
 
150 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 for a place in the memory of this branded, crucified 
 Friend more than for the homage of earth's greatest 
 and best. What hope ! From the gloom and hor- 
 ror that environ him, he looks away to the heavenly 
 world, and sees the Redeemer in the glory of His 
 kingdom, and trusts that even he, the vile outcast 
 here, will be remembered there. 
 
 And who will not join in his prayer ? Who will 
 not say, in a spirit equally earnest, "Lord, remem- 
 ber me"? Christ is our only hope. There is no 
 other name by which we can be saved. He invites 
 us to come to Him, and repose our eternal welfare 
 in His hands. If we obey His voice, we shall find 
 that not in one lonely instance will He forget those 
 who look to Him for succor, and desire a home in 
 His kingdom. Oh, then, let each of us make this 
 petition our own. Aged man, standing on the 
 brink of the grave, and shrinking back with dread 
 from the eternity so near thee — cry, "Lord, re- 
 member me." Thou man of toil, harassed with 
 care, and given up to terrene pursuits, seek a higher 
 good — cry, "Lord, remember me." Thou afflicted 
 one, bereaved of human love, and weeping over 
 the crushed hopes and joys that strew thy desolate 
 path — cast thy bleeding heart on the bosom of 
 Jesus, and cry, " Lord, remember me." Thou vain 
 youth, panting for pleasure, and roaming in the 
 delusive quest of worldly delight — turn from thy 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CEOSS. 151 
 
 fatal course ; give thy heart to the Saviour : and 
 laying at His feet the bright gifts of life's morning. 
 cry, "Lord, remember me." And thou little child. 
 clinging yet as a fair bud to thy mother's breast, 
 learn this prayer from her lips, and kneeling by her 
 side, say in thy infant tones, "Lord, remember 
 me." In this brief petition is comprehended all that 
 we can need for the life that now is, and for that 
 which is to come. If Jesus remembers us. it mat- 
 ters little who else forgets us. If Jesus remembers 
 us, He will supply us with all grace for the conflicts 
 of time, and with all the blessedness of immortality. 
 
 Having thus spoken out the longing of his soul, 
 the suppliant is silent, listening with strained ear 
 and throbbing heart for the answer. Nor is that 
 answer delayed. He who came to seek and to save 
 the lost, welcomes with Divine joy this fruit of His 
 atoning travail, and, amid the a£fonv of that travail. 
 sends forth the response. "To-day shalt thou be 
 with Me in Paradise." The prayer was accepted, 
 the mercy assured. 
 
 Contemplate the scene of this promised happi- 
 ness. In the New Testament, the word Paradise is 
 employed to denote the state of the redeemed while 
 separate from the body. That such a state exists. 
 Revelation has affirmed with a clearness that pre- 
 cludes doubt, and in instances too numerous to be 
 cited. Often and most decisivelv is the solemn 
 
152 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 fact announced, that the world of retribution begins 
 at the grave ; that being, not annihilation, life, not 
 death, conscious activity, not forgetfulness. await 
 the soul immediately on the dissolution of its mortal 
 framework : and that they who die in Christ enter 
 at once into blessedness — blessedness full and per- 
 fect as the powers of the disembodied can contain. 
 And to this allotment of the saved, which precedes 
 the crowning beatitudes of the last day. when the 
 glorified spirit shall inhabit the glorified body, the 
 Evangelic AVriters irive the name of Paradise. It 
 is important to observe, that the term is not used 
 to indicate a different region from heaven, but only 
 to mark the particular circumstances of departed 
 saints, previous to the resurrection. That Paradise 
 is heaven, is evident from the fact that St. Paul uses 
 both words to describe the same place. He says 
 that he was caught up into the third heaven — the 
 special seat of God's presence, the peculiar abode 
 of His glory ; and then, in repeating the statement, 
 he says that he was caught up into Paradise — man- 
 ifestly applying both designations to one and the 
 same locality. Heaven is the general name given 
 to the scene of immortal felicity, considered in 
 reference to all its inhabitants, whether angels or 
 the spirits of justified men; while Paradise is the 
 specific term employed to describe the condition of 
 glorified souls, which, though dwelling in heaven, 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 153 
 
 and happy to the extent of their present capacities, 
 yet, being separate from the body, have not attained 
 to the fulness of bliss which they will enjoy, when 
 their whole nature, complete and perfect, shall walk 
 the celestial fields. 
 
 Such was the beatific home to which the dying 
 Christ invited the dying malefactor. Of that glori- 
 ous abode Jesus has the keys ; and by the efficacy 
 of His propitiation, He was then opening the gate 
 to the spirit trembling on the verge of the boundless 
 unknown. In consequence of its new-born faith in 
 that propitiation, the soul, which but a moment 
 before was just ready to plunge into the abyss of 
 woe, was now established on the Kock of Ages, 
 and soon to be borne upward to its mansion in the 
 skies. 
 
 To that mansion the Redeemer was to lead the 
 way, and meet the disciple there. This it was 
 which made the promise of salvation so rich in joy. 
 To the believer on the cross, a heaven without 
 Christ would have been no heaven. The absence 
 of his Deliverer would have rendered even Paradise 
 a land of exile. And similar are the feelings of all 
 who have been the subjects of recovering grace. 
 The heart, whose chief trust and love are fixed on 
 Jesus, can find no perfect happiness where He is 
 not. There might be a world all bright and fade- 
 less, inaccessible to change and grief and sin, glow- 
 
154 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ing with immortal sunshine, and inexhaustible in its 
 sources of delight ; but if Jesus were not there, it 
 could be no heaven to a Christian. "Forever with 
 the Lord" — "with Me in Paradise" — these are 
 the words which unveil to faith its most satisfying 
 object, and quicken hope to its loftiest flight. And 
 how emphatically does Christ Himself speak of His 
 perpetual presence in heaven, as constituting the 
 principal felicity of His people, and their highest 
 reward. In describing the final recompense of 
 those who live for His cause, He sums it up by the 
 single expressive statement, " Where I am, there 
 shall my servant be." "I go to prepare a place for 
 you, and will come again, and receive you to my- 
 self, that where I am, there ye may be also." Com- 
 panionship with Christ is thus held out to us as 
 the very crown and climax of future blessedness — 
 imparting to the inheritance of the saved its sweet- 
 est enjoyment, and its noblest honor. Nor will this 
 language appear too strong, if we consider what it 
 is to dwell with Jesus in glory, and how much it 
 involves. It is to be admitted into unbroken com- 
 munion with Him who has delivered us from sin 
 and death and hell ; to gaze, with unclouded eyes, 
 on the beauty of His holiness ; to contemplate the 
 perfections of His character, and the beneficence of 
 his works, in their grandest manifestations ; to 
 rejoice in the constant outgoings of His love ; and 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CEOSS. 155 
 
 through eternity to draw from His fulness fresh sup- 
 plies of wisdom, purity, and joy. He is the Foun- 
 tain-He ad of all excellence, all triumph, all delight; 
 and there is not a conceivable element of the 
 heavenly state, which does not flow from His un- 
 veiled presence. Oh, happy are they, and only 
 they, who can say of that presence, " This is all my 
 salvation, and all my desire ! " 
 
 And how near at hand was the time when this 
 promised bliss should be conferred ! " To-day shalt 
 thou be with me in Paradise.'' The entrance into 
 glory is not placed amid the distant scenes of the 
 Judgment, after centuries of dreamless slumber, but 
 is declared to be present and immediate. It is as 
 if Christ had said to the suppliant beside Him, 
 R Before the sun shall set that now hangs pale and 
 lurid in yonder sky, and before the night shall 
 cover with its shadows the earth from which we go, 
 thy spirit, led by Mine, shall tread the far-off land 
 where the blessed dwell." Thus is the general 
 truth clearly brought out, that the passage of the 
 soul from time to eternity is instantaneous . No inter- 
 vening state, no period of dull and blank oblivion, 
 enwraps for a season its conscious powers, and holds 
 in abeyance its final destiny. Without the delay of 
 a moment, the disembodied spirit enters the world 
 of retribution. How cheering to the believer must 
 be the thought, that soon as his eyes close upon 
 
156 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 earth, they open upon heaven : that soon as the last 
 breath is drawn, and the last pulse has ceased to 
 beat, the soul wings its way to Paradise, and pass- 
 ing through the golden doors, gazes on the nice of 
 Christ ! You linger around the corpse ; but the 
 spirit is with its Lord. You bedew with tears the 
 broken casket ; but the jewel it enshrined is now 
 sparkling on the breast of the Saviour. You follow 
 the body to the grave ; -but the ethereal essence, 
 which so lately animated it, has gone to join the 
 ranks of the redeemed, and to feast at the banquet 
 of immortality. Oh ! when the good are dying, 
 and to earthly on lookers thought and feeling seem 
 locked in unconsciousness, the silence and the insen- 
 sibility arc but the stillness of the soul, as it listens 
 to those words of loving welcome, whispered down 
 to it from "The Better Land," "To-day shalt thou 
 be with me in Paradise." . 
 
 The narrative gives us no intimation of the man- 
 ner in which this promise was received by the ex- 
 piring convert. But it is easy to imagine the effect 
 which it must have produced upon him. AYe can 
 readily picture to ourselves his parched lips trem- 
 bling with gratitude, his dim eye kindling, and his 
 wan face lighting up with the glow of seraphic hope, 
 as lie thought of the blissful portion so soon to be 
 hi- own. lie lived to hear, amid the preternatural 
 darkness of the ninth hour, the voice of his Master, 
 
THE THIEF OX THE CEOSS. 157 
 
 utterinsr the shout of victory, "It is finished ! " and 
 to see Him bow His head, and give up the ghost. 
 And then he, too, went forth on Ms heavenward 
 journey, and the Saviour and the saved met in their 
 empyreal home. 
 
 Hew rapid, in his case, was the work of mercy, 
 how speedy its result ! In one day, he was enlight- 
 ened, regenerated, pardoned, sanctified, conveyed 
 to glory. The morning saw him a hardened crimi- 
 nal : the evening saw him a saint. The morning 
 saw him in chains : the evening saw him invested 
 with the freedom of the sons of God. The morn- 
 ing saw him writhing on a cross ; the evening saw 
 him rejoicing in Paradise. The morning heard his 
 first sigh of penitence : the evening heard his first 
 hymn of praise. TVhen the rising sun looked on 
 him, he was a degraded and brutal wretch, never 
 lifting his thoughts above the dust in which he 
 grovelled, foul with infamy, and about to close an 
 ignominious life by an ignominious death. When 
 the setting sun beheld him, he was a purified im- 
 mortal, soaring on radiant pinions to the Mount of 
 God. And there, in the vision of faith, we see him 
 now, basking and exulting in his Redeemers pres- 
 ence : while wondering angels point to him, and 
 cry, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the burn- 
 isg?" 
 
 May we all follow him to that happy world ! The 
 H 
 
158 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 grace by which he was rescued is equally needful 
 for ourselves. We, too, must seek shelter in Christ, 
 and come under the power of His renewing Spirit 
 — or perish for evermore. " He that believeth not 
 shall be damned." An awful truth ! yet spoken in 
 mercy ; for He said it who saved the thief on the 
 cross. And He is as willing now, as then, to save 
 the sinner who goes to Him for deliverance. The 
 vile, the abandoned, the prodigal, the felon, the 
 most lost to virtue and to hope — all the earth's out- 
 cast family — dissimilar in circumstances, but alike 
 in ruin — may draw nigh to His feet, and pour out 
 their woes before Him, and feel the glance of His 
 pitying eye, and hear from His lips the words of 
 forgiveness, and find in His love peace here, and 
 eternal redemption hereafter. Oh ! who, as he looks 
 from the Cross of Calvary to the Throne of Inter- 
 cession, and onward to the Judgment-Seat, where 
 the endless state of all shall be decided, cries not 
 from the depths of a yearning, trusting heart, "Lord, 
 remember me ! " 
 
CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 
 
 "The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment with 
 this generation, and shall condemn it, because thet re- 
 pented at the preaching of jonas," and behold a greater 
 than Jonas is here." — Matthew xii. 41. 
 
 (HE Gospel of Christ, when taken home to the 
 heart in accordance with the design of its 
 Author, is the most precious boon which the 
 mercy of Heaven has ever conferred on man- 
 kind. It raises the lost sons of earth from 
 their natural state of sin and misery, absolves them 
 from the sentence of Divine wrath, gives them un- 
 speakable joys in this life, and endows them with 
 the heritage of immortality in the life to come. But 
 if it be neglected and spurned — if it be regarded 
 with indifference or hostility instead of submission 
 and love — all these blessed ends are frustrated ; 
 and it becomes a source of heavier condemnation 
 and of deeper woe. Thus an Apostle affirms of 
 himself and of his fellow-laborers, that they were " a 
 savor of life unto life in them that are saved, and of 
 death unto death in them that perish." 
 
 It was with the view of impressing this truth on 
 
 159 
 
160 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 those who rejected His ministry, and scorned the 
 proffers of His grace, that our Lord uttered the dec- 
 laration of the text. His words clearly teach the 
 general doctrine that men are responsible to God 
 for the use which they make of their religious privi- 
 leges ; and that the misimprovement of these privi- 
 leges will serve to swell their guilt, and to increase 
 their punishment. 
 
 In order to develop aud illustrate this idea, we 
 propose to consider the character of Jonah, the na- 
 ture of his preaching, and the manner in which it 
 was received by the people of Nineveh ; and then 
 to contrast with these the character and preaching 
 of Christ, the reception He met from the Jews, and 
 that which His Gospel still meets at the hands of 
 i lignite men. 
 
 Of the history of Jonah we know nothing beyond 
 what is contained in the single prophetic book which 
 bears his name. From the brief and incidental 
 sketches which it presents, he appears to have fallen 
 far short of that high moral excellence which gener- 
 ally distinguished the ancient servants of God, and 
 which seems essential to the office he bore. Not 
 only did he manifest all the frailties and imperfec- 
 tions incident to our nature even when regenerate ; 
 but, superadded to these, he evinced a disobedient 
 spirit, a want of reverence for the Divine authority, 
 a waywardness of temper, and a self-seeking, which 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 161 
 
 we should scarcely be prepared to expect in a pious 
 man. We believe him to have been a child of God, 
 and a true prophet ; but of all on whom the mantle 
 of Inspiration fell, he was, beyond question, the 
 least affected by its sanctifying influence. This 
 feebleness of the gracious principle within him may 
 have been partly owing to the peculiarities of his 
 mental organization. Every step of his career 
 shows us a mind constitutionally so morbid and 
 irascible as to amount almost to insanity. His dis- 
 position was dark and moody ; like a lake which 
 mirrors in its waters the thunder-clouds that over- 
 shadow it, and flash across its sullen waves a mo- 
 mentary gleam. These characteristics will come 
 out more distinctly, as we glance at the moral indi- 
 cations respecting him which the narrative furnishes. 
 He belonged to the Tribe of Zebulon, and lived 
 about eight hnndred years before Christ, in the 
 reign of the Second Jeroboam, king of Israel. At 
 this period, Nineveh, the capital of the empire of 
 Assyria, had reached the epoch of its highest power 
 and splendor. It is described by ancient geogra- 
 phers as one of the largest and most important cities 
 which the world has ever seen. Situated on the 
 eastern bank of the Tigris, in a wide and fertile 
 plain, favored with a salubrious climate and un- 
 equalled natural resources — from a few insignificant 
 villages planted by colonists from Babylon, it grew 
 
 14* 
 
162 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 to be a mighty metropolis, outstripping the mother 
 city in wealth and population ; enclosed by lofty 
 and massive walls sixty miles in circuit ; filled with 
 gorgeous palaces and crowded marts of traffic — the 
 centre of oriental magnificence, and the seat of a 
 dominion stretching from the Nile to the Indus, and 
 from the Mediterranean to the shores of the Caspian 
 and the Persian seas. Commerce, in two great 
 streams — the one from Western Asia, the other 
 from the realms of spices and gems in the far East — 
 poured its riches into her bosom. Opulence brought 
 in arts, luxury, and the refinements of high civiliza- 
 tion ; while the military ambition of her kings con- 
 stantly extended her domain by conquest, until she sat 
 in her pomp and pride throned mistress of the world. 
 But, as usually happens in human history, material 
 prosperity had been followed by gross corruption 
 of morals, and the wickedness of the inhabitants 
 had gone up to heaven. Provoked by their sins, 
 the sovereign Ruler alike of Jew and of pagan, of 
 individuals and of nations, resolved to vindicate His 
 authority, and announce to the guilty city the ven- 
 geance which He held in store for it. And this 
 embassy of wrath He commanded Jonah to fulfil. 
 
 Here, however, we are met, in the outset, by a 
 startling exhibition of the contumacious and refrac- 
 tory spirit with which the prophet was imbued. He 
 ventured to disobey the summons of Jehovah. 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER TRAN JONAS. 163 
 
 TThat motive incited hiin to a procedure so daring, 
 we have no means of ascertaining with any degree 
 of definiteness. It could not have been pity for the 
 people of Nineveh, and an unwillingness to be the 
 messenger of their doom, since his subsequent con- 
 duct evinced very little solicitude for their safety. 
 Perhaps he shrunk from the labor of so long and 
 difficult a journey. He dreaded, it may be, that he 
 should fall a victim to the fury of the multitude 
 incensed by so terrible a denunciation. Possibly, 
 too, he thought it derogatory to him as a Jew, and 
 a worshipper of the true God, to officiate amongst 
 idolaters, and mingle with a foreign and hostile race. 
 Or, as his own confession would seem to imply, he 
 feared that the doomed city might repent, and that 
 God would thus be meved to spare it; and so, in 
 foretelling its overthrow, he should expose himself 
 to the reproach of having uttered a false prediction. 
 For these, or other reasons equally unworthy, he 
 refused to comply with the Divine requirement. 
 But he was ill at ease. By clay and by night, at 
 home and abroad, in solitude and in public, the in- 
 exorable mandate sounded ever in his ears, " Arise, 
 go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it." 
 He could not silence the unwelcome voice. He 
 could not shut it out, nor thrust aside its never- 
 ceasing remonstrance. In the hope, therefore, of 
 escaping from the presence of God, and from the 
 
1G4 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 sense of violated obligation which continually 
 
 haunted and tortured hiin, he determined to aban- 
 don his native land, and flee to some remote spot, 
 where he might forget conscience, and be at peace. 
 With this intent he went down to Joppa, and 
 embarked in a ship for Tarshish, a celebrated Phoe- 
 nician colony in Spain, known in the times of the 
 Romans by the name of Tartessus. He seems to 
 have taken this step under the supposition that by 
 thus putting the whole Mediterranean sea between 
 him and the scenes of his former life, he should get 
 as far as possible from God, from duty, and from 
 Nineveh. Infatuated man ! Did he imagine that 
 the Omnipresent was nowhere but in Israel, or that 
 His authority and His power could be 'evaded by a 
 change of place ? Apparently he thought so; for, 
 having secured his passage, he descended into the 
 sides of the ship, and there, as if safely hidden at 
 last from the Eternal Eye, quietly resigned himself 
 to slumber. But the Almighty was on the sea as 
 well as on the hills of Zebulon : and His arm lifted 
 up the waves, and threatened to ingulf the stagger- 
 ing vessel. The mariners in their affright cried 
 every one to his god, and cast forth their merchan- 
 dise into the deep. It was an awful hour — the 
 tempest careering over the waters — the winds 
 howling through the creaking cordage — the strained 
 ship groaning in every timber — strong men par- 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 165 
 
 alyzed with terror, and expecting every moment to 
 be swallowed up in the abyss. 
 
 But where was Jonah during all this fearful scene? 
 Down in the hold, asleep ! What monstrous insen- 
 sibility must have seized him ! Well might the 
 shipmaster as he awoke him say, " What meanest 
 thou, O sleeper?" In haste he is conducted on 
 deck. There the lot, heaven-guided, points him 
 out as the culprit against whom Heaven's wrath is 
 directed. And now, as he looks forth on the wild 
 uproar, and comprehends the imminence of the 
 peril, remorse and contrition seem roused at length 
 in his stubborn heart. The prayers which he hears 
 the despairing sailors offer to their dumb deities 
 that cannot save, remind him of the living and all- 
 powerful One, from whose presence he has sought 
 to flee. The spirit of prophecy, dormant in the 
 days of his rebellion, comes rushing over his soul. 
 He confesses his sin ; acknowledges himself a ser- 
 vant of the God of heaven, and a fugitive from His 
 commands ; and declares that as his presence in the 
 ship had caused the storm, so nothing but the cast- 
 ing of him into the sea could allay it. We here 
 perceive the only alleviating feature in the recorded 
 conduct of Jonah — the solitary exhibition of manly 
 dignity and true nobleness of soul which the narra- 
 tive attributes to him. Smitten with compunction 
 in view of the fatal consequences of his course, he 
 
166 BIBLE PICTURES, 
 
 proposes that his own death should make atonement, 
 and save the innnocent lives which his folly had 
 imperilled. But the crew, though shocked at the 
 revelation of his guilt, are unwilling to surrender 
 him to the rage of the billows. With a compassion 
 strongly in contrast with the hard-heartedness which 
 he afterwards displayed, these heathen Phoenicians 
 employ every means in their power to preserve, 
 aloug with themselves, a prophet of Israel's God, 
 whose disobedience had brought them into such 
 extremity of danger. Moreover, the dread might 
 of this unknown God, as manifested in the war of 
 the elements around them, fills them with awe, and 
 conspires with natural pity to restrain them from 
 any act of violence to His servant. But no mortal 
 strength or skill can avail to save the ship with 
 Jonah on board. And after battling against the 
 increasing fury of the tempest till all hope is gone, 
 they are compelled reluctantly to commit the now 
 penitent offender to the yawning deep. 
 
 Instantly the winds subside, and the sea grows 
 calm. With grateful hymns and sacrifices the 
 mariners pursue their voyage ; while the prophet 
 goes down into the depths, where only the eye of 
 the All-seeing can follow him. But the Hand that 
 is strong to punish, is equally strong to deliver. 
 A miraculous refuge awaits him in the bowels of 
 " a great fish " which God has prepared to receive 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 167 
 
 him. From that living tomb his prayer comes up 
 into the ear of the Ever-Merciful ; and on the fourth 
 day he is thrown out upon the dry land. But it is 
 only to hear again the same imperative behest. 
 " Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach 
 against it the preaching that I bid thee." No longer 
 daring to disobey, he goes to Nineveh — prophesies 
 against it — and then retires without the city to 
 await its doom. 
 
 And here his course of action develops still darker 
 qualities than any we have yet traced. He shows 
 himself cruel, malignant, unmoved by human suffer- 
 ing — the slave of a selfishness so intense as to be 
 well-nigh incredible. When God accepted the 
 humble repentance of Nineveh, and, in answer to 
 the supplications of its inhabitants, withheld the 
 threatened blow, " it displeased Jonah exceedingly, 
 and he was very angry." "And he prayed, and 
 said, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was 
 yet in my country ? Therefore I fled before unto 
 Tarshish ; for I knew Thee, that Thou art a gracious 
 God, and merciful, and slow to anger, and of great 
 kindness, and repentest Thed|§£ the evil." What a 
 state of mind is here indicated W|How unbecoming 
 in one set apart to proclaim the univeSal Father, 
 and teach the world His love ! How alien from 
 that religion whose pervading spirit is good-will to 
 men ! He gave way to the most violent envy and 
 
168 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 rage, because the Almighty did not lay waste with 
 the sword, or desolate with pestilence, or swallow 
 up by an earthquake, or consume with fire from 
 heaven, a huge and crowded metropolis, among 
 whose population were a hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand infants that had committed no sin. And what 
 reason did he assign for such malevolence? Why, 
 he had foretold the destruction of Nineveh ; and 
 hence, if it were spared, he might incur the danger 
 of being accounted a false prophet. The hatred 
 which, as an Israelite, he doubtless felt toward the 
 Assyrians, the enemies and oppressors of his na- 
 tion, may have combined with this overweening 
 jealousy for his own reputation, and served to ren- 
 der it more exorbitant and engrossing. On grounds 
 like these, he was willing, nay eager, that this im- 
 mense multitude of men in their strength, women 
 in their beauty, children in their innocence, should 
 perish by an untimely death, and be 'hurried unpre- 
 pared into eternity. No sympathy for the expected 
 sufferers seems to have visited his soul. Day after 
 day he sat in the shadow of his booth on the east 
 side of the city, watching with longing eyes for the 
 consummation of his prophecy. And when the 
 period set for its fulfilment had passed, and he saw 
 that the people of Nineveh were not then to die, he 
 was so carried away with vexation, that he prayed 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 1G9 
 
 to die himself, and said that be did well to be angry 
 even unto death. 
 
 Such was the character of Jonah — a character 
 which, for the honor of humanity, we believe could 
 have been produced only by the spirit of distorted 
 Judaism, acting on the bitterness of a morose and 
 misanthropic nature. 
 
 From this survey of his personal defects, we pass 
 to consider his preaching. It was not attested by 
 miracles, as were the messages of many of the other 
 prophets. There is no record that he performed 
 auy mighty work to demonstrate his Divine mission. 
 No voice from heaven, no descending minister of 
 light, no exhibition of supernatural power, bore 
 witness to his appointment from on high. At least, 
 nothing of this kind would seem to have occurred 
 within the observation of those to whom he was 
 sent. The events which befell him on the voyage 
 to Tarshish were undoubtedly miraculous ; but they 
 took place at so great a distance from Nineveh, that 
 there is no reason to suppose its inhabitants had 
 any knowledge of them. So far as they were con- 
 cerned, his communication apparently rested on no 
 authority but his own. He came alone — unher- 
 alded, unattended. There was nothing imposing 
 or remarkable in his appearance. He was only a 
 plain, unpretending traveller ; and all the evidence 
 he gave that his prophecy would be fulfilled, was 
 15 
 
170 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 his own simple statement that God had sent him to 
 announce the destruction of Nineveh. In these cir- 
 cumstances, would it have been strange had his 
 prediction been regarded as the raving of insanity ? 
 Should a person, with no more outward marks of 
 celestial authority, proclaim through the streets of 
 New York or Boston, that, within a given time, it 
 would be suuk by an earthquake, would he not at 
 once be deemed a madman, and be treated as such? 
 The preaching of Jonah consisted wholly of de- 
 nunciation. Its only theme was the menace of total 
 and inevitable ruin. No notes of mercy were min- 
 gled with the stern proclamation of wrath. There 
 was no intimation that the sins of those to whom it 
 was addressed would be pardoned even if they 
 repented. No directions were given for escaping 
 the threatened doom ; nor was there the slightest 
 hint or implication that to escape it was possible. 
 "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed," 
 was the single and unqualified announcement. "Yet 
 forty clays, and Nineveh shall be destroyed," was 
 the whole of this brief but awful sermon. And as 
 the harsh, relentless preacher entered the gates of 
 the city, and passed along its thronged and busy 
 thoroughfares, he repeated ever his fearful text, 
 sounding it in the cars of high and low, prince and 
 beggar; as he met the bustling merchant, the votary 
 of pleasure, and the cavalcades of the noble. Who, 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 171 
 
 in our day, would listen to a teacher of religion that 
 should denounce speedy and unavoidable perdition 
 on every one he met, whatever the place or occa- 
 sion, and whatever the character of the persons he 
 addressed ? Would not all regard him as a fierce 
 and malignant fanatic? 
 
 But what was the conduct of the men of Nineveh ? 
 On the reception of this abrupt and offensive mes- 
 sage, did they revile or insult the prophet? Did 
 they gather round him in idle curiosity ; or con- 
 temptuously point him out to their companions as 
 a crazed and wandering enthusiast ? Did they scoff 
 at his warning, and treat his mission with scorn? 
 Provoked at length by his pertinacity, did they 
 arrest him as a disturber of the peace of their city 
 — a bitter and malevolent Jew, who, in prophesy- 
 ing their destruction, merely gave vent to his own 
 malice? No, "they repented at the preaching of 
 Jonas." Even at this preaching, so imperfect, so 
 unauthenticated, so menacing and repulsive, so 
 fraught - with elements calculated to diminish its 
 credit and influence, they repented. K The people 
 of Nineveh believed God." Though before sunk in 
 idolatry and sin, forgetful of the Almighty, and 
 dreaming only of safety and pleasure, their si tim- 
 bers were now broken. A deep conviction was 
 wrought in their minds that the words to which 
 they listened came from Jehovah. They saw the 
 
BIZLE PICTTTEES. 
 
 enormitj- of their guilt, and felt assured that, with- 
 out immediate and thorough reformation, the pre- 
 dicted judgment would be speedily inflicted. TL 
 therefore, humbled tba a before the Lord; 
 
 * and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from 
 the _ -: of them even to the J^nd the 
 
 king himself came down from his throne, and laid 
 aside his robes, and covered himself with sackcloth, 
 and sat in ashes, and published a decree throughout 
 
 reh, that neither man nor beast should t 
 anything, nor feed, nor drink water ; but be covered 
 with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God, and 
 turn every one from his evil way, and from the vio- 
 lence that was in his hands; for, peradventure, 
 God would thus repent, and turn from His nerce 
 anger and They had, indeed, no 
 
 promise or even intimation that their supplications 
 would be of any avail. The doom announced by 
 the prophet was positive and unconditional, 
 they remembered the merciful character of the 
 Most High ; and, instead of abandoning themselves 
 utterly to despair, sought to avert I leasure 
 
 by penitence, humiliation, and amendment of 
 
 This repentance of an entire people is one of the 
 most singular events in sacred history. From the 
 brevity with which it is narrate aderfulness 
 
 may escape our notice. We need to pause ove: 
 
 in thought to the dark and corrupt age 
 
AETD THE GREATER THAX JONAS. 170 
 
 of the world in which it took place, to recall all its 
 circumstances, and ponder the facts which must have 
 conspired to render its occurrence improbable, in 
 order to reach a just conception of its surprising 
 character. Picture to yourselves a heathen city. 
 larger in extent, if not in population, than London 
 or Paris — the capital of a mighty empire — the 
 home of commercial enterprise, and of military 
 power. Imagine it decorated with numerous mag- 
 nificent structures — lofty towers — the mansions of 
 the great — costly nines and temples dedicated to 
 Baal and Ashtoreth. On all sides you see the to- 
 kens of a wide-spread and unbridled worldliness. 
 Artisans are plying their trades, merchants their 
 'ventures. The bazaars are full : buyers and sell- 
 ers. The streets are crowded with passengers — 
 here a festive procession — there battalions march- 
 ing in the pride of glorious war — yonder, the 
 trains uf satraps and viceroys from the provinces, 
 bearing tribute to Assyria's king. Everywhere y . a 
 perceive the presence of a civilization as gorgeous 
 as it is sensual and wicked. Everywhere there is 
 carelessness, revelry, debauchery, violence, crime ; 
 while over all dominates the foul Sun-TVorship of 
 the East, whose deity was lust, whose rites were 
 pollution. 
 
 talking amidst these thoughtless multitudes, you 
 observe a plain old man. whose locks and beard are 
 is* 
 
174 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 white as snow. His look and mien are unimpres- 
 sive ; his garments coarse and stained with dust as 
 from long travel. What startles yonder group of 
 pleasure-seekers ? There are no portents in the sky 
 — no tremblings in the earth — no invading hosts at 
 the gates. The old man is speaking. He says the 
 proud and bloody city, with all its splendor and 
 luxury, is reserved for a swift and terrible ven- 
 geance. Why should they be disturbed? He says 
 this in the name of the God of Israel — a Divinity 
 they do not worship, of whom they have never 
 heard, or heard only to despise, as connected with 
 a nation which they have often defeated and rav- 
 aged. But the message, destitute as it is of exter- 
 nal support, is believed. It spreads from lip to lip, 
 from street to street, from one quarter of the city to 
 another — carrying fear and dismay to all hearts, 
 sobering the giddy throngs, stilling the noise of 
 bacchanalian riot, arresting the voluptuary and the 
 murderer in the \evy commission of their guilty 
 deeds. At length it reaches the palace, and through 
 the cordon of guards and eunuchs penetrates to the 
 chamber of the monarch. He, too, receives it with 
 the same mysterious faith. Overwhelmed by a con- 
 viction of its truth, he comes down from his throne, 
 lays away his crown, puts off his royal robes, clothes 
 himself in the vesture of woe, and proclaims uni- 
 versal humiliation and prayer. The terrified inhab- 
 
JONAS, AXD THE GREATER THAN JOXAS. 175 
 
 itants respond to the edict. All business ceases. 
 Every implement is laid aside. The voice of mirth 
 and the din of traffic are hushed ; and throughout 
 all ranks and classes no sound is heard but the cry 
 of a whole people confessing its sins, and imploring 
 mercy from Him who alone can save. What a sub- 
 lime spectacle ! How strange and how rare ! Could 
 sudden panic have so bowed these idolaters before 
 the God of heaven ? The narrative refutes the sup- 
 position. Their contrition was evidently sincere, 
 for God accepted it, and Christ in the text recog- 
 nizes its genuineness. Nor was it transient. Its 
 influence lived during the life of that generation. 
 And it was not till the next generation that impiety 
 resumed its reign, and proving incorrigible to the 
 warnings of a later prophet, drew clown the long- 
 suspended blow. A fact so striking, so unique in 
 the annals of the Gentile world, could have been 
 produced only by the direct power of the One Father, 
 who holds the hearts of all men in His hand, and 
 whose Spirit can work alike in every age, and under 
 every form of social development. 
 
 Let us now bring into contrast with the part of 
 our subject that has been presented, the character 
 and the preaching of Christ, and the treatment which 
 He received, and which He still receives, from 
 those whom He came to redeem. Our Lord is un- 
 questionably speaking of Himself when, as a reproach 
 
176 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 to the Jews for their unbelief and impenitence, He 
 tells them that they were favored with the personal 
 instructions of one greater than Jonas. 
 
 To compare the blessed Redeemer with this weak 
 and capricious prophet is as absurd as it is irrev- 
 erent. It is like comparing the noon-day glories of 
 the sun with the pale glimmer of a marsh-light. It 
 is more — it is comparing the Infinite with the finite. 
 The prophet was but a man, and a man in many 
 respects most imperfect. Christ is God as well as 
 man, possessing, in union with His human nature, 
 all the attributes of Divinity. In Him all created 
 and uncreated excellences combine. He is exalted 
 far above all principality and power — King of 
 kings, and Lord of lords. He is "the Everlasting 
 Father " — " the Prince of Peace " — the " true God 
 and Eternal Life" — "the Alpha and Omega, the 
 Beginning and the End, which is, and was, and is 
 to come, the Almighty." By Him the universe 
 rose into being ; by Him it is upheld and governed. 
 Him the elements obey. Him the celestial legions 
 adore. Before His feet seraphs cast their crowns, 
 and gaze with awe upon His glory. He is the 
 Sovereign of angels and men — "God over all, 
 blessed forever." 
 
 The prophet's departures from rectitude were 
 numerous and flagrant. The life of Jesus on earth 
 was free from every stain. Even His most preju- 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 177 
 
 diced opposers could iiiid nothing against Him. 
 He was holy, harmless, undefilecl, and separate 
 from sinners. The prophet was guilty of disobe- 
 dience to the Divine command. The language of 
 Christ was, "Lo, I come; in the volume of the 
 book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O 
 my God ! " He became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross. The prophet was petulant 
 and severe ; Christ gentle and forbearing. When 
 reviled, He reviled not again. He gave His back to 
 the smiter, and His cheek to him that plucked off 
 the hair. He returned blessing for cursing, prayer 
 for railing, forgiveness for injury. The prophet 
 was unfeeling and cruel, insomuch that he preferred 
 to see myriads of his fellow-beings swept away by 
 sudden death, rather than forego the indulgence of 
 his own selfish passions. But Christ so loved the 
 world, that He left the throne of heaven, and took 
 upon Him the form of a servant, and made Himself 
 of no reputation, that He might restore men to holi- 
 ness and God. To expiate human guilt, and open 
 the way of life to the outcast and the condemned, 
 He calmly bore indignity and scorn, and submitted, 
 without a murmur, to the shame and agony of cru- 
 cifixion. Had His spirit been like that of Jonah, 
 He would have summoned the universe to attest 
 His innocence. He would have collected all the 
 angels throughout His boundless dominions to resist 
 
178 BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 His murderers ; or, by one omnipotent word, have, 
 blasted them into nothingness. But no ! such was 
 His compassion for sinners, that He cheerfully en- 
 dured for their redemption all that the malice of 
 earth and hell could inflict. Survey His whole his- 
 tory. Follow Him from His lowly birth in a man- 
 ger to His mournful exit on Calvary, and you will 
 witness at every step the most touching displays of 
 love to the human race. How attractive, how per- 
 fect was the character of Christ ! 
 
 His preaching, also, was in the highest degree 
 fitted to excite attention, and to produce belief. 
 There was given to it every possible attestation 
 which Heaven could furnish. Type, symbol, vision, 
 prophecy, all combined to foreshow His coming. 
 His advent was announced by angels, hymning the 
 tidings down to earth. God Himself declared Him 
 to be His "Beloved Son, in whom He was well 
 pleased." All the resources of Infinite Power were 
 placed in His hands. He commanded the winds 
 and the waves, and they obeyed Him. He cured 
 the most inveterate diseases by a word. Demons 
 bowed to His control, and came forth at His bid- 
 ding from the bodies of the possessed. At His 
 voice, the dead rose up from their graves. Angels 
 from above ministered to Him. Hell from beneath, 
 acknowledged His Bway. Devils in their seats of 
 darkness trembled at His name. The sea, the 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 179 
 
 earth, the air, paid Him homage. The whole crea- 
 tion, animate and inanimate, owned Him as -its 
 Lord, and gave witness to His words. A message, 
 supported by such irresistible evidence of its Divine 
 authority, could not fail, it would seem, of securing 
 universal regard. 
 
 The subjects embraced in this message are, more- 
 over, wonderfully suited to awaken the interest of 
 men. Pardon and eternal life are the themes on 
 which it dwells. The Gospel of Christ is emphat- 
 ically glad tidings. It discloses truths of infinite 
 importance to human welfare. It teaches that God 
 sent His Son into the world, not to condemn it, but 
 that, through Him, the world might be saved. It 
 opens to the ruined children of earth a way of escape 
 from guilt and misery. It shows us that we are all 
 by nature under the curse of the law, and exposed 
 to everlasting punishment ; but that deliverance is 
 proffered to us through the grace of Jesus Christ, 
 who has become the Propitiation for our sins. It 
 contains ample directions concerning the way of 
 salvation, marking out the path to heaven so plainly 
 that none but the wilfully blind can mistake it. 
 " Eepent, and be converted, that your sins may be 
 blotted out." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and thou shalt be saved." These are its simple and 
 unequivocal instructions. And these instructions it 
 enforces ■ by appeals and motives most tender and 
 
180 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 impressive. " Come unto me all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Ho ! 
 every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; 
 and he that hath no money, let him come, and 
 buy wine and milk without money and without 
 price." It promises forgiveness, acceptance with 
 God, support in affliction, hope in death, and glory 
 in heaven, to all who embrace its overtures. Thus 
 is it throughout a proclamation of Mercy, speaking 
 peace to the penitent, and denouncing wrath only 
 on those who obstinately continue in unbelief. It 
 might well be supposed that a Gospel so full of 
 blessings, so adapted to the condition of man, so 
 able to meet all his wants for time and for eternity, 
 must have been hailed with one wide burst of thank- 
 fulness and joy. 
 
 But what was the real fact? Did the Jews, to 
 whom the message of Christ was first delivered, 
 receive Him gladly ? Were they convinced by His 
 miracles that He was the Son of God ? Were they 
 moved by His teachings and His works to welcome 
 Him as their Saviour ? Alas ! far different was the 
 reception which He met at their hands. Instead of 
 believing on Him, they shut their eyes to all the 
 proofs of His Messiahship, derided His claims, re- 
 jected His doctrines, cast from them the eternal life 
 which He offered, and consummated their guilt by 
 nailing Him to the cross. Vain to them Were the 
 
JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 181 
 
 attractive beauties of His character ; vain the im- 
 portance and tenderness of His message ; vain the 
 breathings of His compassion ; vain His words of 
 love ; vain His deeds of almighty power. They 
 resisted all argument, all admonition, all entreaty ; 
 and by imbruing their hands in His blood, entailed 
 on themselves wandering and desolation in this 
 world, and in the world to come an eternity of 
 torment. With what emphasis, then, might our 
 Lord declare to them that the men of Nineveh, who 
 had repented under light far less clear, and amidst 
 privileges incomparably inferior, would rise up in 
 the judgment to condemn their aggravated stupidity 
 and hardness of heart ! 
 
 The principle laid down by our Divine Teacher, 
 applies with even more force to our own times, 
 and to the dwellers in Christian lands. There is 
 amongst us One greater than Jonas. True it is, 
 that we are not permitted, like the Jews, to behold 
 the Son of Gdd face to face. We hear not from 
 His own lips the words of invitation and of warning. 
 But though we see Him not, He is here — here in 
 these Lively Oracles in which His discourses are 
 recorded — here in the messages which He has com- 
 missioned His heralds to proclaim — here by that 
 Holy Spirit whom He has sent to give efficacy to 
 His truth, and cany forward His cause on earth. 
 We have every possible evidence of the heavenly 
 
 16 
 
182 bible PicrrzEs. 
 
 origin of His Gospel, and every conceivable advan- 
 tage for making its blessings our own. We have 
 line upon line, precept upon precept. We are 
 taught by mercies, taught by judgments, taught by 
 sermons, taught by example, taught in public aud 
 in private, taught by our own consciences, and by 
 outward appeals. Every Sabbath Christ preaches 
 to us. Every day He meets us with instruction 
 and reproof. Wherever we are, whatever we do, 
 He is constantly by our side, plying us with the 
 solemn command. "Follow Me.*' 
 
 Yet are there not many among us who have 
 never obeyed His voice, and surrendered their 
 hearts to His grace? In defiance of ail the admoni- 
 tions we haw- i< are we not still impenitent 
 and worldly? If. then, we continue to disregard 
 the mercy of Christ, and die unconverted and un- 
 pardoned, will nut the men who repented at the 
 preaching of Jonas, rise up as witn _ tins! us 
 for refusing to listen to the Greater than Jon 
 
 How solemn the thought, that when we stand 
 ire the great tribunal, if we stand there without 
 an interest in the blood of Atonement, those who 
 1 long centuries ago will start up from forgotten 
 to testify against us ! "The men of Nineveh 
 shall rise in the judgment with Leration" — 
 
 ration of to-day — I _ gen- 
 
 eration — this Ghrist-despifi aeration — this 
 
JONAS, AXD THE GEE ATE E THAN JONAS. 183 
 
 generation of worldlings raving after gold, but care- 
 less of heaven. Oh, hearken to the words of Jesus ! 
 Eepent and believe the Gospel. Then, in the day 
 of decision, the Judge Himself will witness in your 
 favor, and pronounce on you the sentence of acquit- 
 tal and salvation. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HEAVEN'S JOY OVER THE SAVED. 
 
 "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 
 one sinner that repenteth. " — Luke xv. 10. 
 
 CHILD lost in the forest ! " Such was the 
 cry which startled the inhabitants of a re- 
 mote and thinly-peopled district in the wil- 
 derness. On a bright summer morning, a 
 little boy belonging to a family residing in 
 the outskirts of the settlement, left his home to 
 gather flowers along the banks of a neighboring 
 stream. Absorbed in his sport, and enticed on, 
 now by a bed of cowslips, and now by a hillock 
 blushing with violets, he strayed farther and farther, 
 heedless of the distance, until he had passed beyond 
 the clearing into the deep, pathless woods that envi- 
 roned it. Here he soon became completely bewil- 
 dered, and, in his fruitless endeavors to retrace his 
 steps, wandered away among the wild solitudes that 
 stretched unbroken to the distant mountains. 
 
 At noon his parents missed him ; yet, as he was 
 often thus absent, the circumstance occasioned no 
 special concern. But when the shadows of evening 
 
 184 
 
heaven's joy over the saved. 155 
 
 began to settle upon the valleys, they grew anxious. 
 and went forth to seek him. Unable to discover 
 him anywhere in the open ground, they were forced 
 to admit the agonizing fact that he was lost in the 
 tangled depths of the forest. The alarm was given. 
 and every neighbor came at the summons. After a 
 search of three days the child was found, faint and 
 famished, and well-nigh dead with weariness and 
 terror. With songs and shouts they bore him back 
 in them arms, swift runners going before, and cry- 
 ing. "Fcutxd, Fouxd \ " The entire hamlet was 
 :1 by the tidings, and broke forth into thanks- 
 givings. All participated in the happiness of the 
 parents : and though there were a hundred children 
 in the settlement, more joy was felt that night over 
 the one little wanderer rescued from death, than 
 over the ninety and nine that had been exposed to 
 no danger. 
 
 This touching incident well illustrates what Christ 
 tells us in the text respecting the joy of angels over 
 the penitent. To fallen creatures like ourselves, 
 with all the powers of earth and Hell leagued to 
 destroy us. how full of comfort is the declaration 
 that the hierarchies of heaven sympathize in our 
 danger, and exult in 0m 1 deliverance ! How assur- 
 ing is it to know, on the word of the Faithful One, 
 that celestial spirits feel a compassionate interest in 
 the salvation of our sinful race ; that they watch with 
 16* 
 
186 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 benevolent solicitude the issue of our probation ; and 
 that every instance of conversion to God sends a 
 thrill of rapture through all the ranks of the blessed ! 
 Nor is this announcement less wonderful than it is 
 cheering. That those glorious intelligences which' 
 compose the retinue of Jehovah, bask in the light 
 of His countenance, and drink immortal bliss at the 
 Fountain-Head of all felicity, should bestow any 
 attention upon us, the polluted children of men ; 
 and, especially, that their happiness should be in- 
 creased by the increase of ours, would appear so 
 improbable to human reason, that we might well 
 deem it the beautiful day-dream of enthusiasm, 
 were it not revealed by that Omniscient Saviour 
 who is the Lord of the invisible world, who is per- 
 fectly acquainted with the feelings of its inhabitants, 
 and who is too wise to err, too good to deceive us, 
 in the representation which lie has given of their 
 character. 
 
 Kesting the fact, therefore, on the authority of 
 Him who, by way of eminence, is denominated 
 "the Truth," let us endeavor to set forth, so far as 
 we are able to discover them, the reasons which 
 render the repentance of a sinner an occasion of joy 
 to angels. 
 
 Angels rejoice when a sinner repents, because an 
 enemy of the Divine Government is then reconciled 
 to it. From Scripture and from observation alike, 
 
heaven's joy over the saved. 187 
 
 we learn that vast multitudes of the rational crea- 
 tures of God are in a state of rebellion against Him. 
 Once, indeed, this appalling fact had no existence. 
 In the remote ages of a past eternity, all worlds and 
 all beings yielded a cordial submission to His will. 
 The Powers and Principalities of Heaven, the Cheru- 
 bim and Seraphim that filled His court and minis- 
 tered before Him, poured forth, from bosoms unsul- 
 lied by guilt and untouched by sorrow, the homage 
 of supreme devotion. Every planet that wheeled 
 through infinitude was vocal with the praise and 
 radiant with the love of Him who hung it on its axle. 
 The whole creation was one immense altar, from 
 whose every part the ceaseless incense of gratitude 
 and adoration ascended to its Maker and Governor. 
 But this scene of universal peace and holiness 
 Satan disturbed. Occupying the rank of a high 
 archangel, he became, as Eevelation informs us, in- 
 flated with pride, threw off his allegiance to the 
 Blessed and Only Potentate, and, for aspiring to the 
 dominion of the skies, w T as hurled into the abyss of 
 night. Nor did he fall alone. "The angels that 
 kept not their first estate " — the partners and abet- 
 tors of his conspiracy — were involved in the same 
 fearful ruin. Under the auspices of these revolted 
 spirits sin commenced its reign ; and ever since it 
 has waged relentless war against the supremacy of 
 God, and toiled, with insatiate malignity, to blight 
 
188 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 all that is fair and pure in the universe. Whether 
 it has effected a lodgment in any other province of 
 Jehovah's empire, we know not ; but in that which 
 we inhabit its devastations have been wide-spread 
 and terrific. It has alienated the whole family of 
 man from their rightful Sovereign, and filled the 
 earth with disorder, misery and death. 
 
 But as here has been the field of its triumph, so 
 here also shall be the field of its overthrow. God 
 has appointed His Son to " destroy the works of the 
 devil," and reduce this apostate world into obedi- 
 ence to His law. And this commission the victori- 
 ous Saviour is hoav fulfilling. He has shed His 
 blood to satisfy Divine Justice, to expiate trans- 
 gression, and unlock the fountains of Mercy to the 
 penitent and believing. And to give effect to this 
 wonderful provision of redeeming Love, He is caus- 
 ing it to be proclaimed throughout all lands, sending 
 down His Spirit to dispose the hearts of men to ac- 
 cept it, and putting forth the energy of His truth 
 and grace to vanquish sin, and erect on its demol- 
 ished throne the kingdom of perfect and universal 
 righteousness. Our world has thus become the thea- 
 tre of a mighty moral conflict. The antagonistic pow- 
 ers of Light and Darkness have here met to decide 
 the momentous question whether the cause of Heaven 
 or of Hell shall prevail ; whether the rights of infi- 
 nite Rectitude and Majesty shall be maintained, or be 
 
heaven's jot over the saved. 189 
 
 surrendered to the proud demands of a selfish, dis- 
 loyal world. 
 
 Now, between these contending forces repentance 
 forms the separating line. It is the boundary which 
 divides a state of allegiance to God from a state of 
 insubordination to Him. It is the peculiar livery of 
 the redeemed — the badge that distinguishes the 
 friends of Jehovah from His enemies. They who 
 truly exercise it have bowed, with cheerful and un- 
 reserved subjection, to the sceptre of the King of 
 kings ; while, on the other hand, all the impenitent, 
 whatever may be their external character, are in 
 heart opposed to God, and ranged beneath the fell 
 standard of revolt. Eepentance is the act by which 
 the transgressor detaches himself from the service 
 of sin, comes out from the ranks of its votaries, 
 lays down the black flag of rebellion at the foot of 
 the Cross, and enlists for time and for eternity 
 under the white banner of Peace and Holiness and 
 Love. With sincere contrition he abhors and re- 
 nounces the iniquities of his past' life ; assents to 
 the justice of his condemnation ; acknowledges the 
 equity of the Divine law in all the strictness of its 
 precepts, and in all the solemnity of its sanctions ; 
 embraces the pardon offered in the Gospel as a free 
 and unmerited favor, and willingly consecrates him- 
 self to the obedience of faith. From that moment, 
 he makes a transition from death to life spiritual and 
 
: ; bible picmi k 
 
 eternal. From that moment, he begins to act from 
 new motives, in accordance with new principles, in 
 pursuit of new ends. From that moment, Satan 
 loses a vassal, and God reclaims a subj- 
 
 Considered in this poic: : view, such an event, 
 it is obvious, must afford unspeakable joy to the 
 heavenly hosts. Ir brings a new servant to their 
 Lord. It is the accession of a new individual to 
 that holy kingdom, of which God and B rist 
 
 are the Head. The interests of this kingdom are to 
 them infinitely precious. They feel unmingled com- 
 eney in the rectitude of its principles, in the 
 
 - lorn of its arrangements, in the benevolence of 
 • . - : and regard it as the imperative duty 
 of even- rational being to venerate and obey its 
 requirements. To aid in its advancement is the 
 object of their earnest desire and of their i:. 
 efforts. They know that just in proportion as the 
 sphere of its influe: :ae honor of Je- 
 
 hovah and the welfare of II i catures 
 
 will be promoted. They see tL Eter- 
 
 nal Throne, and the happiness of unnumbered worlds, 
 identified with it. And they look forward, with 
 
 _ r expectation, to the period when its universal 
 id shall diffuse light and purity and bliss 
 all the territories of the I _rh. 
 
 rtaining such views of the glory of that reign 
 
 grace which God has established through His 
 
HEAVEX'S JOY OVER THE SAVED. 191 
 
 Son, must they not contemplate with intense delight 
 every instance in which a repentant soul surrenders 
 to it, and conforms to its laws? V\ nen an earthly 
 monarch sends out his armies to subdue an insur- 
 gent province, with what transport do his faithful 
 subjects at home hear of the success of the expedi- 
 tion ! As tidings arrive, that one detachment after 
 another of the rebel faction is submitting to their 
 prince, and one strong position after another falling 
 before his forces, how does the very ecstasy of exul- 
 tation thrill and convulse the realm ! Similar, though 
 iniinitely more pure and elevated, is the rapture 
 which pervades the bosoms of the blessed spirits 
 above at the repentance of sinners upon earth. 
 And these raptures will continue to be felt with in- 
 creasing frequency and power, as the triumphs of 
 the Cross thicken and multiply, and the Eedeemer 
 goes forth in the greatness of His strength, conquer- 
 ing and to conquer, until all nations .-hall receive 
 Him as their King : and " Victory ! Victory ! " 
 shall resound from earth to heaven, and be echoed 
 back from heaven to earth. 
 
 Angels rejoice when a sinner repents, because it 
 affords a new display of the glory of God in Hedemp- 
 tion. To the inhabitants of heaven, the character of 
 Jehovah is the subject of unceasing study and delight. 
 He is the centre of their thoughts, their affections, 
 their worship. They dwell with concentrated and 
 
192 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ravished attention on the exhibitions which He is 
 continually making of His attributes ; and as one 
 perfection after another is developed and brought 
 into action, or set forth in new and more command- 
 ing lights, th^ir bosoms expand with fresh and aug- 
 mented rapture. Thus, though from the first mo- 
 ment of their being they had been the possessors of 
 pure and consummate happiness, yet when God ex- 
 erted His power in the work of creation ; when He 
 garnished the firmament with shining worlds, and 
 hung the earth on its axle, adorned it with beauty, 
 and stored it with all that could render it the fit 
 abode of men — " the morning stars sang together, 
 and all the sons of God shouted for joy," at this new 
 manifestation of the resources of infinite Wisdom 
 and Omnipotence. In like manner, they ponder the 
 developments of Providence, and trace the progres- 
 sive unfolding of that system of government which 
 God administers over the world ; and, as in the 
 course of events it is presented in fuller and more 
 interesting points of view ; as its mysteries are 
 solved, and its seeming inconsistencies cleared up ; 
 as order and harmony come forth from apparent 
 confusion, and benevolence and wisdom arc seen 
 in every appointment — their admiration and their 
 bliss are constantly increased. 
 
 But it is in the scheme of Redeeming Grace, that 
 they most clearly perceive and most reverently 
 
heaven's joy over the saved. 193 
 
 adore the perfections of the Godhead. The apos- 
 tasy, there can be no doubt, spread amazement and 
 horror through all the ranks of angelic existence. 
 They must have paused with wonder and awe amid 
 their seraphic hymns, and hung silent over their 
 harps, to see what line of conduct the Holy and Just 
 One would pursue in this dreadful, and, to them, 
 unlooked-for emergency. Pity for the rebel would 
 prompt them to desire his pardon and restoration. 
 But abhorrence of his crime, aggravated as it was 
 by the high favor conferred on him, a deep sense of 
 the claims of insulted Majesty, and a conviction of 
 the danger to the well-being of the universe, should 
 such transgression pass Unnoticed — would seem to 
 blot out all hope, and render forgiveness impossible. 
 When, therefore, Jehovah Himself solved the mighty 
 problem, and brought forward the plan of reconcili- 
 ation through the sacrifice of Christ, by which, while 
 the Divine authority was guarded and honored, 
 ample provision was made for the salvation of the 
 sinner, joy unfelt before must have swept over the 
 legions of the skies. The character of God was now 
 to be displayed to them in an aspect hitherto un- 
 known. They had seen His benevolence in their 
 own creation and happiness. They had seen His 
 holiness and justice in the punishment of the rebel- 
 lious angels. They had seen His power and wisdom 
 in the building of the worlds. But they were now 
 17 
 
194 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 to see all these combined with Mercy, in one glori- 
 ous exhibition, for the rescue of mined man. With 
 what interest must they have watched the prepara- 
 tions for this remedial undertaking, and its gradual 
 unfolding by symbol and type and prophecy, until, 
 "in the fulness of time," the long-promised Re- 
 deemer came, and from the cross on which He 
 wrought out the great Propitiation, proclaimed, "It 
 is finished ! " And now, as sinners one after another 
 are led by the grace of the Holy Spirit to embrace 
 that Propitiation, and welcome the refuge which it 
 offers, who can measure the ecstasy which they feel? 
 In every individual thus converted and saved, they 
 behold a living manifestation of Divine Mercy ; and 
 over each instance as it occurs they pour forth from 
 their myriad lyres the song of ever-growing praise. 
 Angels rejoice at the repentance of a sinner, be- 
 cause it brings fresh glory to Christ. The adorable 
 Saviour, however despised by ingrate mortals, is 
 regarded by celestial intelligences with the highest 
 reverence. They cast their crowns at His feet, and 
 vie with the spirits of the just made perfect in cele- 
 brating His praises. True it is that their relations 
 to Him differ in some respects from those of the 
 redeemed. He has not taken their nature as He 
 has that of men. Their blissful seats were not pur- 
 chased by His sufferings ; nor is their enjoyment of 
 the Divine favor the result of His mediation. But 
 
heaven's joy over the saved. 195 
 
 although they are not personally the objects of His 
 sacrifice, their affection and their homage are not, 
 on that account, less deep or less fervent. They 
 love Him for His character, His offices, His works. 
 They behold Him adorned with every attribute 
 that cap command the veneration of holy minds. 
 They recognize, in the radiance that invests Him, 
 the express image of the Father — the visible and 
 embodied presentment of the Unseen One in whom 
 they live, and from whom all their blessedness pro- 
 ceeds. In the atonement which He has made to 
 vindicate the Divine honor, and harmonize its claims 
 with the - freest exercise of clemency, they behold 
 the great central fact in the history of God's moral 
 government, the noblest theme of heaven, and the 
 only hope of earth. Viewing in this light what He 
 is, and what He has done, they cannot but feel a 
 sacred and intense delight at whatever illustrates 
 the efficacy of His expiation, and swells the tide of 
 His glory. Such is" the result when a sinner re- 
 pents. In every case of true conversion, Christ sees 
 of the travail of His soul. In every such case, a 
 new proof is given of the life that springs from His 
 death — of the power of His Spirit to subdue the 
 human heart — of the sufficiency of His intercession 
 to procure peace with God. In every such case, a 
 new trophy is erected in the temple of His praise — 
 a new jewel added to His mediatorial crown — a 
 
1 ? •■• bible j'lcrrr i s . 
 
 new star lighted up in the firmament of His glory- 
 And because it is so — because each sinner re- 
 claimed, each sinner saved, exemplifies the grace 
 and exalts the renown of the SaTiour — "ther - 
 in the presence of the angels of God orer one 
 sinner that repenteth 
 
 - rejoice when a sinner repents, in Tiew of 
 the misery which he escapes, and the happiness on 
 which he enters. No fceadifl _ : ^ripture is more 
 decided than that they who lire and die without 
 repentance and faith in Christ, will be consigned to 
 utter and everlasting despair. " Except re repent, 
 -hall all likewise perish." "He that believeth 
 the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him/* Equally explicit is the testimony 
 that they who exercise godly sorrow for their sins, 
 and seek pardon throogh the merits of the Ke- 
 deemer, however desperate may have been their 
 former state, or heinous their _ shall rec 
 
 forgiveness and peace here, and eternal salvation 
 hereafter. "He that believeth. hath everlasting 
 life." "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a 
 broken heart, and - i be of a contrite 
 
 spir: 
 
 Xow, however we may assent to the truth of these 
 
 however firm may be our belief that 
 
 heaven and hell are stupendous res od that 
 
 the holy shall forever rejoice in the one, and the 
 
heaven's jc z:zu;. tuz: saved. 197 
 
 % 
 
 unholy mourn forever in the other ; we are yet far, 
 
 very ing any adequate conception 
 
 either the bliss or the wretchedness involved in 
 
 zes so ov c z~ hbuviuu. We have not seen heaven 
 
 — we have not looked into hell: and. therefore. 
 our ideas alike :: the ruptures -:: the saved, and of 
 
 -oes of the lost, must be dim and feeble. 
 But the vievrs of the angels on these great veri- 
 ties are clear and vivid. They know what heaven 
 is : for they dwell in its bright mansions, bask in irs 
 bess light, and brink fail draughts of gladness 
 from its perennial streams. They know what hell is ; 
 ibr they have gazed down from their celestial abodes 
 into its dungeons of darkness, and have seen the 
 tormented tossing in the gloom and weltering in b_ 
 flame, and have listened to the groans and blas- 
 phemies that a forever from the prison-house 
 of the damned. They ku.v- ~"u..: i: is x.r a s;ui to 
 be 1«: s: : v have - zen 1. s: souls in perditizm — 
 souls :zzce dwelling on earth — souls oneezbuz 
 with the means of _z ... and with proffers of mercy 
 
 — Bonis foi which the Spirit strove and Jesus bled 
 
 — sueh souls the}' have seen. banisheJ zt 
 
 from God and happiness — with all their vast car 
 paeities filled, and ever to be filled, with gave: 
 anguish — the victims of self-accusation and hope- 
 less remorse — searred vbzn :bz lash of avenging 
 Justice — and doomed to suner. without pause and 
 17* 
 
198 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 without end, the gnawings of the worm that never 
 dies, and the burning of the fire that never shall be 
 quenched. They know, too, what it is for a soul to 
 be saved ; for they have seen the saved in glory. 
 They have seen, and constantly see, mingling in 
 their seraphic companies, participating in their em- 
 ployments, and sharing in their happiness, the 
 spirits of the just made perfect — human spirits, 
 once fallen and polluted, but now redeemed and 
 purified by the blood of the Lamb. They see, 
 standing by their side, clothed in robes as dazzling 
 as their own, millions that have been gathered from 
 this outcast world, and made conquerors over sin 
 and death and hell. They see them treading the 
 same glittering heights with themselves ; making 
 the same progress in divine knowledge ; approach- 
 ing as near to the Eternal Throne ; serving God 
 with powers as great, and zeal as fervent ; their 
 songs as sweet, their natures as holy, their forms 
 as glorious*, their bliss as perfect. And they know 
 that it was by repentance at the cross of Christ, that 
 these ransomed multitudes began the upward course 
 that has brought them to fulness of joy, and pleas- 
 ures for-evermore. Must not the conversion of sin- 
 ners, then, be an object of supreme desire and 
 satisfaction to angelic minds? Seeing what they 
 see — knowing what they know — witnessing in the 
 lost the horrors of damnation — feeling in them- 
 
199 
 
 selves the overflowing glories and transports of a 
 blessed immortality — can we wonder that when 
 even one of our ruined race is emancipated from 
 sin, and prepared for their own happy society, they 
 should burst forth in triumphant hosannas, and 
 make all heaven ring with their outgushing joy? 
 
 TTe may illustrate this by an incident which oc- 
 curred iu connection with the wreck of the ill-fated 
 steamer, Central America. A few days after that 
 startling event, which sent hundreds to a watery 
 grave, and plunged the nation in grief, a pilot boat 
 was seen, on a fair, breezy morning, standing up 
 the Bay of Xew York. The very appearance of the 
 vessel £ave token that she was freighted with tidino-s 
 of no common interest. With every sail set, and 
 streamers flying, she leaped along the waters as if 
 buoyant with some great joy ; while the glad winds 
 that swelled her canvas, and the sparkling waves 
 that kissed her sides, and urged her on her way, 
 
 O ^ ' 
 
 seemed to laugh with conscious delight. As she 
 drew nearer, an unusual excitement was visible on 
 her deck ; and her captain, running out to the ex- 
 treme point of the bowsprit, and swinging his cap, 
 appeared to be shouting something with intense 
 earnestness and animation. At first, the distance 
 prevented his being distinctly understood. But 
 soon, as the vessel came farther into the harbor, the 
 words, "Three more saved! Three more saved/" 
 
200 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 reached the nearest listeners. They were caught 
 up by the crews of the multitudinous ships that lay 
 anchored around, and sailors sprang wildly into the 
 rigging, and shouted, " Three more saved!" They 
 were heard on the wharves ; and the porter threw 
 down his load, and the drayman stopped his noisy 
 cart, and shouted, M Three more saved!" The tid- 
 ings ran along the streets ; and newsboys left off 
 crying the last murder, and shouted, R Three more 
 saved! " Busy salesmen dropped their goods, book- 
 keepers their pens, bankers their discounts, tellers 
 their gold, and merchants, hurrying on the stroke 
 of the last hour of grace to pay their notes, paused 
 in their headlong haste, and shouted, w Three more 
 saved! " Louder and louder grew the cry — faster 
 and faster it spread — along the crowded piers of 
 the Hudson and the East River — up by the graves 
 of Trinity, the hotels of Broadway, the marble pal- 
 aces of the Fifth Avenue — over the Heights of 
 Brooklyn — across to Hoboken and Jersey City — 
 away, away, beyond tower and pinnacle, beyond 
 mansion and temple, beyond suburb and hamlet — 
 till a million hearts pulsated with its thrill, and 
 above all the sounds of the vast metropolis, mightier 
 than all, hushing all, rose the great, exultant shout, 
 " Three more saved! Three more saved!" 
 
 If cold and selfish men will thus stop short in the 
 eager quest of gain or of pleasure, to let the voice of 
 
heaven's jot over the saved. 201 
 
 humanity speak out, and to express their joy that 
 three fellow-beings have been rescued from the ocean 
 depths, shall we deem it an incredible thing that the 
 holy and loving denizens of heaven should rejoice 
 when a sinner repents, and is delivered from the 
 abyss of hell? Events analogous to that which I 
 have described, though unseen by mortal eye, and 
 unheard by mortal ear, are continually taking place 
 in our world. Angel messengers — blest pilots from 
 the haven of eternal peace — are ever visiting the 
 earth on missions of mercy. They come, not to 
 note the changes in secular affairs, the ebb and flow 
 of temporal weal, the vicissitudes of politics, and 
 the revolutions of states ; but to watch the conflict 
 of God's Spirit with impenitence and sin. Wher- 
 ever that conflict is going on, thither they bend their 
 flight, there they fix their steadfast gaze. No mat- 
 ter whether the individual in whose bosom it is 
 waged be high or low, rich or poor. He may be a 
 prince or a peasant, a Dives or a Lazarus, a lord in 
 his hall, a beggar in his garret, a slave in his chains. 
 Whoever he be, he has a soul, an immortal soul, a 
 soul for which the Powers of Heaven and Hell are 
 battling — and that is enough. With absorbing in- 
 terest they observe the struggle. While they look, 
 kingdoms may rise and fall, statesmen win and lose, 
 fortunes spring up and crumble, financial disaster 
 stride through the nations, and gaunt famine scare 
 
202 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the world. But they heed it not. A soul, a soul 
 is in the crisis of its destiny ; and that is infinitely 
 more important in their view than any crisis of com- 
 merce or of empire. On that soul they fasten all 
 their regards. They see it resisting. They see 
 it wavering. They see it shaken and convulsed. 
 They see it conquered. They see it fall prostrate 
 before the Cross. They see the tear of contrition 
 drop from the eye. They hear the prayer, " God 
 be merciful to me a sinner," burst from the heaving 
 breast. And then their golden wings rustle. Up, 
 up, toward heaven they mount with the joyful mes- 
 sage, " One more saved!" Other celestial bands, 
 returning from similar errands, join them on the 
 way, and help to swell the shout, " One more 
 saved!" Up, up goes the shining squadron — by 
 stars and planets — beyond suns and systems — up, 
 up to the great capital of the universe — ever chant- 
 ing as it goes, " One more saved!" The watchers 
 on the crystal battlements catch the news, and pro- 
 claim it to the listening throngs within. They pub- 
 lish it in turn. Angel tells it to angel, prophet to 
 prophet, apostle to apostle, martyr to martyr, saint 
 to saint. Choirs of harpers sing it to each other 
 from the hill-tops of glory. On, on the tidings fly 
 — over the flowery plains — along the banks of the 
 River of Life — along the sapphire pavements — by 
 the emerald palaces — through glittering ranks of 
 
heaven's jot over the saved. 203 
 
 Cherubim and Seraphim — up to the very throne of 
 Divinity itself — till all heaven echoes and throbs 
 with the mighty anthem, " One more saved! " 
 And thus " there is joy in the presence of the angels 
 of God over one sinner that repenteth." 
 
 And there should be joy, joy deeper and more 
 emphatic still, on earth. The sinner who repents 
 is our brother, allied to us by the bond of a com- 
 mon nature. We, like him, are guilty and con- 
 demned. The same spiritual change which he has 
 felt we must feel, or be undone forever. The same 
 Saviour who has died for him has died for us. To 
 the same heaven, to which he is going, we may also 
 go. And in the same hell, which he has escaped, 
 we must take up our everlasting abode, if we die 
 impenitent. Oh ! how strange it is that an event, 
 which fills the glorified above with ravishing delight, 
 should be unnoticed by men below, or be regarded 
 with indifference and contempt ! And stranger 
 still is it, that the} 7 who profess to have repented 
 themselves, should manifest so little interest in the 
 repentance of their fellows, and put forth so few 
 exertions to promote it ! Disciples of Jesus ! imi- 
 tate the angels. Rejoice, as they rejoice, when a 
 sinner is converted to Christ. Long, as they long, 
 that multitudes may be brought to accept 1 \ is salva- 
 tion. And, in the strength which God giveth, 
 pray and labor for the coming of the day, when 
 
204 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 both they and you shall lift up the song of thanks- 
 giving over not merely one sinner, but a world of 
 sinners, repenting. 
 
 Dear impenitent friends ! if angels so desire your 
 conversion, and would so rejoice to see it accom- 
 plished, ought you not to desire it yourselves? 
 You have a far deeper concern in it than they. 
 Their happiness will remain unimpaired, if you are 
 not converted ; but yours will be forfeited forever. 
 And should not the fact that they feel such solici- 
 tude for your conversion, teach you that conversion 
 must be of unspeakable importance to you? The\' 
 must be right. And if they did not know that 
 without repentance you will perish eternally, they 
 would never be so anxious that you should forsake 
 your sins, and turn to the Lord. Oh ! believe not 
 your own deceitful hearts; but believe the angels — 
 believe the Saviour — believe God, when He tells 
 you that, ''Except ye repent, ye shall perish." 
 Come at once to Christ. Put away your transgres- 
 sions by righteousness, and look to the Blood of 
 Atonement for pardon and cleansing. Angels wait 
 for your coming. A Greater than the angels waits 
 for it with all the yearnings of infinite compassion. 
 Yield, O yield to the invitation. And let the spirit- 
 messengers that hover round you while I plead, bear 
 back to their companions in glory the tidings of one 
 more — two more — three more — hundreds more 
 — repentant, converted, saved. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 
 
 "WHE5 A STEONG 3IAN ARMED KEEPETH HIS PALACE, HIS GOODS 
 AEE IN PEACE; BUT WHEN A STRONGER THAN* HE SHALL COME 
 UPON HEM, AND OVERCOME HEM, HE TAKETH FROM HIM ALL HIS 
 ARMOR WHEREIN HE TRUSTED, AND DITIDETH HIS SPOILS.'' — Lu.iJC 
 Xi. 21, >2. 
 
 MOXG the many miraculous acts by which 
 our JLord demonstrated His Divine mission, 
 ■ few were more striking than the castiug out 
 of devils. In that age., evil spirits, subordi- 
 nates and emissaries of the Prince of Dark- 
 ness, were mysteriously allowed to enter into the 
 bodies of men. inflicting on them preternatural mal- 
 adies, whose outward signs were repulsive and ter- 
 rible. By His sovereignty over the demon-world, 
 the Saviour expelled these foul intruders from the 
 abodes which they haunted, and restored their vic- 
 tims to physical and mental soundness. 
 
 It was a miracle of this kind that led Him to utter 
 the address in which the words before us are found. 
 rr He was casting out a devil: and it was dumb. 
 And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out. 
 the dumb spake, and the people wondered." But 
 IS 205 
 
206 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 among the witnesses of this amazing event, there 
 were some hardened and insensate ones, who, with 
 an impiety as illogical as it was daring, said, "He 
 casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the Prince of 
 the devils ; " implying that the power which He 
 wielded was delegated from Hell, and that, in the 
 extrusion of demons, He was but exercising author- 
 ity over His own servants ! This blasphemous in- 
 sinuation the great Teacher triumphantly refutes. 
 "Every kingdom, divided against itself, is brought 
 to desolation ; and a house, divided against a house, 
 falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, 
 how shall his kingdom stand? " In other words — 
 if in forcing unclean spirits to depart from men, I 
 act, as you wickedly affirm, by an infernal commis- 
 sion, then there is presented to you the strange 
 spectacle of devil opposed to devil, and fiend war- 
 ring with fiend. Is this credible? Is Satan so 
 stultified as to turn his weapons against his own 
 agents, and set free his own captives ? " But if I 
 with the finder of God cast out devils, no doubt the 
 
 C 7 
 
 kingdom of God is come upon you." These won- 
 ders are a conclusive proof that I am sent from 
 Heaven to overthrow the empire of Evil, and erect 
 on its ruins the empire of Holiness. And it is the 
 earnest and foreshadowing of this work which you 
 now see. 
 
 From the particular achievements thus adverted 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 207 
 
 to, He proceeds to a broader view of the conflict 
 which, as the Rescuer of a fallen race, He was car- 
 rying on against Satan. Demoniacal possession 
 was but one of the many forms of influence, which 
 the Power of Evil had gained over men. With that 
 influence, wherever found, and # however exerted, 
 He came to contend, and to accomplish for the hu- 
 man soul a glorious emancipation from guilt and 
 misery. And this merciful office He sets forth by 
 a metaphor as significant as it is sublime. " When 
 a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods 
 are in peace ; but when a stronger than he shall 
 come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from 
 him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth 
 his spoils." 
 
 In the graphic picture which the Divine Limner 
 has here sketched, the " strong man armed " repre- 
 sents Satan. The "palace" is the human soul, 
 which he has seized, and which he "keeps" and 
 guards with jealous power. The " Stronger than 
 the strong man " describes the omnipotent Deliverer 
 who comes to wrench it from his grasp. And the 
 whole scene is intended to portray the struggle 
 between them for its possession. 
 
 Helpless and lost indeed is the state of the soul 
 before this struggle begins. "The strong man 
 keepeth his palace." Strong in the resources of 
 his diabolic nature, mighty in intellect, invincible 
 
208 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 in will ; armed with the dread panoply of Satanic 
 malice and satanic wiles ; using the heart's own pas- 
 sions to perpetuate its own thraldom ; and employ- 
 ing to the same end all the subsidiary allurements 
 of sense — he maintains his fell occupancy with a 
 vigilance that never slumbers, and an array of force 
 which nothing finite can vanquish. He is never off 
 his guard, never lays aside his weapons, never with- 
 draws his sentinels from the ramparts, never relaxes 
 watch or ward, never loosens his hold. Such is 
 the moral tyranny that has fastened itself upon 
 every unregenerate man. So utter is his subjec- 
 tion to "the prince of the power of the air, the 
 spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
 dience." 
 
 But whence originated this enslavement of the 
 soul ? We know that such was not its primal con- 
 dition. It was not always under the sway of the 
 relentless captor who now claims and holds it as his 
 own. God made the soul pure and upright, en- 
 dowed it with noble faculties and holy affections, 
 and consecrated it as the habitation of His own 
 glory. And so long as it retained that character, 
 devoting all its powers to the will of their Author, 
 it continued to be His property, His dwelling-place, 
 His delight. But when man sinned, and thus alien- 
 ated himself mentally and morally from his Crea- 
 tor, he passed into the tenure of another master, 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 209 
 
 and was brought under the control of the dark 
 Spirit of the abyss. Through the temptation of the 
 Arch Deceiver, the first parents of our race were 
 seduced from their allegiance. In consequence of 
 their representative character, all their posterity 
 were involved in their fall, and inherited its results. 
 Thus was the fatal victory won. Then did the hu- 
 man bosom become the abode of its foul Conqueror ; 
 acknowledging his ownership by admitting and cher- 
 ishing the corrupt principles which he inspires. 
 Then were the gates of the palace flung wide open 
 for the strong man to enter; and he marched in, 
 with all his dire and fearful train, barricading every 
 approach with the engines of his power, and setting 
 up in every chamber the insignia of his authority. 
 Here was the origin of Satan's empire over the soul. 
 It commenced in a daring invasion of the rights and 
 sovereignty of God. 
 
 The reign of the Destroyer, thus begun and per- 
 petuated, is characterized by all those attributes of 
 unmixed evil, which belong to his own moral nature. 
 Let all who have not been emancipated by redeem- 
 ing Grace, ponder the dread features of the domin- 
 ion to which they bow. 
 
 How pitiless is this dominion ! How complete the 
 bondage which it inflicts ! The " goods " of the 
 strong man " are in peace " — - in a state of absolute 
 subjugation, secure from inward revolt, and from 
 
 18* 
 
- I BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 outward reprisal. TVith what literal exactness does 
 this imagery describe the actual condition of irre- 
 us men ! Over their minds and over their 
 hearts the tyrant wields unrestri;: and 
 
 holds them in i: ffialage. indeed, 
 
 m to themselves to be free. They ma 
 music in the clank of their chains, and so fo:_ 
 their srrindinsr. T;. v may even boast of their ex- 
 eruption from moral restraints, and glory in the 
 ma: eir thraldom, as proofs of their inde- 
 
 pendence. And it is the p Satan so to de- 
 
 lude them, and prevent them from perceiving that 
 they are enslaved. Nevertheless, the servitud 
 real and total. "1 — the peace of aJ 
 
 mission — reigns throughout the palace of the 
 soul. Not an insurgent voice is heard ; not a fac- 
 ility st: -: stance. The intellect, the imagina- 
 tion, the will, the conscience, the affections, all 
 share in the bondage, and become, by the arts of the 
 usurper, instruments of perpetuating that bond; _ 
 1 this mournful truth the human race furnishes 
 
 E 'litary exception. The entire history of our 
 world, from the first apostasy downward, verifies 
 the inspired declaration, that men u I captive 
 
 be devil at his will." 
 What can be more deb sing flian this infernal 
 mastership': We are wont to associate degradation 
 with But there is no slavery that can, in 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 211 
 
 this respect, be compared with the slavery into 
 which man has been brought by sin. In all other 
 slavery, however deep and galling, the mind may be 
 free. The fetter that shackles the limbs, cannot 
 bind the thoughts, nor restrain their outgoings. But 
 here the iron enters into the soul. The chain is on 
 the heart, depraving and crushing whatever is noble 
 in our nature. The true dignity of an intelligent 
 being consists in its moral resemblance to Him who 
 is the Fountain of all excellence, and the Centre of 
 all perfection. Whatever, therefore, produces m> 
 likeness to God must necessarily debase the nature 
 on which it acts. How fully is this truth exempli- 
 fied in the case of Satan himself. Though his form 
 may not have wholly lost its original grandeur, nor 
 appear less than archangel ruined ; though he may 
 still possess vast intellectual capacities, and stupen- 
 dous powers of achievement ; yet, in all that consti- 
 tutes real glory, how low has he sunk beneath the 
 sphere in which he once moved among the sons of 
 the morning ! And as men share his wickedness, 
 they share also his degradation. True it is that hu- 
 manity retains even in its ruin many traces of its 
 former greatness, and often sends forth flashes and 
 sparklings of the splendor with which its Maker 
 adorned it. But these, like the ghastly lights that 
 flicker up from charnel-houses, emanate from death, 
 and serve only to show the putrescence beneath. 
 
212 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 So fatally has the spoiler succeeded in blackening 
 the soul with his own dishonors. Dragging it down 
 from its equality with angels — from its high alli- 
 ance with God and heaven — to a level with the 
 tenants of the pit, he gloats over its pollution, and 
 exults in the depth of its fall. Oh, how forcibly 
 does Inspiration express the utterness of that de- 
 scent, when it characterizes the natural man as 
 "earthly, sensual, devilish!" 
 
 To be under the dominion of Satan is, moreover, 
 as destructive as it is disgraceful. On all who obey 
 his will the sentence of Divine condemnation is 
 resting. Every being that sins is necessarily ex- 
 posed to the penalty of God's violated law, and in 
 danger of its everlasting infliction. The powers 
 of the nether world, though permitted to exercise a 
 mysterious lordship over the realms of humanity, 
 are themselves undergoing the pains of that law, 
 and are waiting, in the prison of darkness, a yet 
 more awful award at the judgment of the great day. 
 The guilt of man renders him liable to the same 
 doom. And his punishment will be equally just. 
 His rebellion, in its commencement, and through all 
 its subsequent stages, has been his own act. He 
 has been placed under no compulsion — under no 
 invincible necessity of sinning. He cannot charge 
 his fall upon God, nor even upon the agency of 
 Satan ; for that agency would have been powerless 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 213 
 
 without his own consent. His trangressions are the 
 product of free will and voluntary choice. In the 
 emphatic language of Scripture, "he is drawn away 
 of his own lusts, and enticed." Hence, as he has, 
 of his own accord, associated himself with devils in 
 character and in conduct, it is equitable on every 
 principle of righteousness, that he should be asso- 
 ciated with them in destiny. And this the word of 
 God most distinctly and solemnly teaches. His 
 wrath is revealed from heaven against the iniquities 
 of men. If they die impenitent, they will be con- 
 signed, in the future world, to "the everlasting fire 
 prepared for the devil and his angels." O ye care- 
 less ones ! ye slaves of sin and Satan ! behold the 
 end to which your master is leading you, and which 
 you will surely reach at last, if you turn not from 
 his guidance. He has entered the palace of your 
 soul, only that he may plunder and destroy it. If 
 he be not overcome and driven out by One mightier 
 than he, that noble structure, once so bright and 
 fair, so worthy to be the shrine and home of Deity, 
 will be shivered by the thunderbolt, and hurled into 
 the lake of fire. 
 
 But there is hope for the defiled and imperilled 
 mansion. A Stronger than the strong man has 
 arisen to deliver it from his power, to repair the 
 ravages which he has made in it, to cast from it its 
 
214 BIBLE PICTVBES. 
 
 impurities, and pervade it with the sweet odur of 
 holiness, and the song of salvation. 
 
 The Author of our rescue from Satan is the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Before the worlds were made, the 
 eternal Father, looking forward to man's thraldom 
 and ruin through the arts of the Tempter, set apart 
 His Only Begotten Son to inaugurate and carry out 
 that Scheme of Mercy, by which the palace of the 
 soul is to be given back to its rightful Proprietor, 
 "the captives of the mighty taken away, and the 
 prey of the terrible delivered.'' This purpose of 
 Infinite Love was announced to the first trangressors 
 of our race, as they left the bowers of their forfeited 
 Eden, and went forth to their long exile. From 
 that time onward, the Promised Redemption became 
 the chief end of Divine Revelation, and the grand 
 object of human hope. Prophecy foretold it. 
 Symbols shadowed it. Sacrifices prefigured it. 
 The march of the centuries, the ebb and flow of 
 terrestrial affairs, the birth and death of empires, 
 the painful travail of the darkling generations, the 
 whole system of God's dealing with men, all bore 
 relation to it, all tended to prepare the way for it. 
 At the appointed hour the Deliverer came, assumed 
 the fallen nature, and in it wrought the blessed tri- 
 umph. Thus was the Son of God manifested, that 
 He might destroy the works of the devil. 
 
 Behold our Emancipator ! How preeminently 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 215 
 
 was He furnished for the fearful battle that lay be-; 
 fore Him ! K Stronger than the strong man " — 
 clothed with loftier attributes, girded with vaster 
 power, wielding more resistless weapons. What 
 though He took upon Him the form of a servant, 
 and made Himself of no reputation ? What though 
 He lay a helpless babe in the manger of Bethlehem? 
 TThat though He was "the Man of Sorrows," and 
 wandered homeless in the world which He came to 
 save ? What though He suffered a death of shame ? 
 These were but voluntary submissions. In their 
 lowest depth, all the energies of Divinity were still 
 His. The arms that were stretched out upon the 
 cross upheld the universe. He was still the Bright- 
 ness of the Fathers glory, and the express Image 
 of His Person. He was still " God over all, blessed 
 forever ;" the Almighty One, who spake, and it was 
 done ; who commanded, and it stood fast : who 
 hung the globe on its axle, and poised the stars in 
 their orbits. Oh, He was strong, infinitely strong 
 — stronger than Satan's devices, stronger than 
 man's frowardness, stronger than the wrath of Jus- 
 tice ! But we need not fear His power, for it is all 
 controlled by Mercy. It is the power, not of the 
 earthquake or the tempest, but of the sunbeam and 
 the rain-drop — the power to enlighten, to Vivify, 
 to redeem. 
 
 Here, then, the great stru^o-le between the Ao*en- 
 
216 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 cies of Light and of Darkness opens before us. We 
 see the one side represented by the incarnate Son 
 of God, clad in the might of His sufferings and of 
 His love ; the other, b}^ the Prince of Hell, backed 
 by all his infernal legions, and by all his earthly 
 auxiliaries. To these champions the fortunes of the 
 strife are committed. Our world is the arena ; and 
 the prize to be striven for is, on the part of Christ, 
 the recovery of the soul to the use and glory of Him 
 who formed it ; on the part of Satan, the retention 
 of his influence over it, and its final perdition. 
 Waged for such a stake, the combat absorbs the 
 regards of Celestial Intelligences. Heaven watches 
 it ; the abyss is moved ; the universe is in suspense. 
 And shall not we, whose immortal weal or woe is 
 involved in the issue, survey it with an interest yet 
 more intense, and stud}' its movements with fixed 
 and eager gaze ? 
 
 What is its method? How does the Stronger 
 than the strong man conduct the assault ? Of the 
 manner of His procedure an apt illustration may be 
 taken from the ordering of the dread civil war, in 
 which our Government lately put forth its strength 
 to uphold its authority, and bring back to their 
 allegiance the revolted States of the South. In the 
 capture of the numerous strongholds which our 
 forces wrested from the rebels, the principal forti- 
 fication was not ordinarily at once assailed. There 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 217 
 
 were many preliminary manoeuvres. Outworks 
 were to be demolished ; strategic points were to be 
 •secured, to serve as bases from which the final op- 
 erations were to be carried on, and the main attack 
 developed. Precisely similar is the course which 
 the Captain of our Salvation has adopted. He did 
 not inaugurate the conflict by a direct onset upon 
 the palace, whose conquest was His ultimate end. 
 To open the way for this, previous achievements of 
 the most arduous nature were necessary. The stern 
 barrier of Divine Justice opposed the going forth 
 of Mercy ; and to effect its removal, a march of 
 agony must be made, a terrible campaign of humili- 
 ation and sorrow undergone. In the merits of His 
 atonement a vantage ground was to be gained, from 
 which to push forward the advance upon the soul ; 
 and to reach such a position, severe battles with 
 Satan must be fought outside the walls of his castle, 
 and among the intrenchments that defended the 
 approaches to it. 
 
 One of these battles took place in the field of the 
 Temptation. As it was here that the Seducer had 
 vanquished the first Adam, it was requisite that here 
 he should be met and overcome by the Second. And 
 it is of moment to observe that the weapons which 
 Satan employed were the same in both cases. He 
 triumphed over our first parents by enticements 
 appealing alike to bodily appetite and to mental 
 
 19 
 
218 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ambition ; and it was by instigations of a kindred 
 character that he attempted to deceive and draw 
 into sin their glorious Seed and Representative. 
 But in the form that now confronted him, there 
 dwelt, not the facileness of a weak woman, but the 
 unblenching resistance of the God-man, the impreg- 
 nable purity of the Holy One. In vain was the 
 prospect of bread presented to His fainting human- 
 ity amid the hunger and thirst of the desert ; vain 
 the solicitation to cast Himself down from the pin- 
 nacle of the Temple, in presumptuous proof of His 
 Divinity ; vain the phantasmagoric panorama of the 
 world's pomp and glory, conjured up to induce Him 
 to worship the Impersonation of Evil. The Son of 
 God could not be corrupted; and at the calm, firm 
 words from His lips, "Get thee behind Me, Satan," 
 the Tempter fled baffled from the encounter. 
 
 They grappled again — the Strong Man and the 
 Stronger — on the arena of Miracles. In many a 
 human tabernacle, the Arch-fiend had quartered his 
 fell troops, as a sign at once of his authority, and 
 of his resolve to keep possession of his victims. 
 But at the voice of Christ, the demons were driven 
 out from the tenements which they defiled and tor- 
 tured ; and were compelled to confess His power, 
 now in silent, trembling obedience, now with moan- 
 ings and bowlings, crying, "We know Thee, who 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 219 
 
 Thou art, the Holy One of God." Here the Strong 
 Man was foiled again. 
 
 There was another and yet more decisive battle 
 on the Hill of Calvary. Satan, having incited the 
 Jewish priests and rulers to put the Redeemer to 
 death, looked on with malign joy, while their mur- 
 derous hands accomplished the deed. But did he 
 deem this a victory for himself? Did he think the 
 cross was to stand through all the ages a monument 
 of his own triumph, and of Heaven's final defeat? 
 Never was imagination so false, hope so baseless. 
 No, no. In that very culmination of infernal malice 
 — in that seeming overthrow of Christ — the do- 
 minion of Hell received a crushing and fatal blow, 
 from which it can never recover. Then was wrought 
 out, amid the gloom of the shrouded skies, and the 
 quaking of the astonished earth, that amazing Pro- 
 pitiation, by which the power of Evil shall be ulti- 
 mately banished from the universe. Here, too, the 
 Strong Man was foiled. 
 
 They met again at the Sepulchre. If Satan could 
 have prevented the resurrection of Jesus ; if the 
 stone, the seal, and the watch could have held the 
 body of the Crucified a prisoner in the cold embrace 
 of the grave — the supremacy of the Destroyer 
 would have been assured. The Sacrifice of the 
 Son, unaccredited by the witness of the' Father, 
 would have been shorn of all efficacy. It could 
 
m 1.1 ::: — :: 
 
 _ — ' " . - - 
 
 - ; _'_ _ _ - :-_.-!■ — ' : £ - 1 : ; - ~ - ; I . : r ; :5~ 
 
THE STIiOXG SPOILED BY THE STBOXGEE. 221 
 
 ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors : and the King of 
 Glory shall come in." And well might the seraphic 
 choirs, in responsive chorus, ask and reply, " Who 
 
 is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and 
 mighty : the Lord mighty in battle ; He is the King 
 of Glory." He passed through the golden portals ; 
 laid His trophies at His Father's feet ; sat down at 
 the right hand of Power ; and became thenceforth 
 Head over all things to His church. 
 
 The Redeemer, having triumphed in these pre- 
 paratory conflicts; having occupied the command- 
 ing points, and removed the obstructions from His 
 advance — now marshals His forces for the grand 
 end. the conquest of the palace itself. Thither the 
 Strong Man has retreated: and there, as in the 
 very heart and citadel of his empire, he waits the 
 attack, vigilant, resolute, confident. But vain are 
 his wiliest contrivances, vain his boasted munitions, 
 vain his utmost efforts, to repel the Stronger Antag- 
 onist who comes to dislodge him. On the broad, 
 all-overlooking platform of His Atonement, the 
 God-man plants the artillerj' of His TTord, and 
 sounds the signal of battle. Aimed by the Holy 
 Spirit, the siege-guns of the Gospel thunder upon 
 the fortress. The steel-pointed shot crash against 
 scarp and parapet, rampart and tower, sweeping 
 every traverse, enfilading every embrasure. The 
 earth-works are knocked away from the Under- 
 
 19* 
 
222 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 standing ; the bastion of Unbelief falls ; and the 
 dead wall of Conscience is laid open. Satan him- 
 self cannot stand such a fire. His cannon are dis- 
 mounted ; his defences riddled and shattered. Still 
 the terrible hail pours on, driving him, from covert 
 to covert, into the bomb-proof of the Will. Even 
 there he finds no protection. The blazing bolts, 
 forged in heaven, and instinct with its power, tear 
 through and through the thick casemates, and rend 
 them into fragments. He has now found "the last 
 ditch ; " and, as a final resort, he offers to give up a 
 part of the castle to Christ, on condition of being 
 permitted to retain the rest. But no such terms 
 can be accepted. He must surrender and evacuate 
 the whole. Jesus will have all or nothing. Mean- 
 while the assault is pressed with increasing vigor. 
 The batteries are brought nearer, and hurl their 
 living missiles with more irresistible effect. At 
 length, the gates are beaten down — the omnipotent 
 Victor enters — strips the Strong Man of his armor 
 — casts him out of the palace — and sends him, 
 raging with the shame of defeat, to "his own place." 
 In this manner the Saviour reclaims the soul from 
 the usurpation of Satan. By dispelling its unbelief 
 and carelessness, enlightening it to see its own 
 bondage, blotting out its guilt, and breaking down 
 the predominance of corruption within it, He takes 
 from its ruthless Enslaver the very weapons on 
 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 223 
 
 which he chiefly relied for keeping it in subjection. 
 The depraved principles and inclinations of men are 
 the instruments by which the Devil reigns. With 
 these he binds his captives ; with these he makes his 
 power secure ; with these he supports his throne of 
 iniquity in the world. When, therefore, these per- 
 verted faculties are transformed, by renewing grace, 
 into servants of righteousness, tlife agencies in which 
 he trusted are turned against himself, and become 
 aids in his discomfiture and expulsion. 
 
 Once more in possession of the temple which He 
 built for Himself, 'and which he has redeemed at 
 such cost, the Divine Restorer proceeds to renovate 
 and beautify it. Its foulness is cleansed ; its dilap- 
 idations are repaired. The broken arches are re- 
 newed, the fallen pillars set up. Its vile occupants 
 — the impure affections, the carnal proclivities, the 
 sinful habits, that have harbored in it so long — are 
 cast forth and banished ; and the elements of a 
 heavenly life, penitence, faith, love, holiness, are 
 installed in their places. The breath of the Spirit 
 pervades all the apartments, filling them with the 
 fragrance of its graces ; and instead of the uproar 
 of passion and riot with which they once resounded, 
 are -now heard words of peace and good-will, the 
 voice of prayer, the rejoicing of hope, and hymns 
 of thanksgiving. 
 
 Thus is the palace of the soul recovered, purified, 
 
224 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 inhabited. God dwells in it again, irradiating it 
 
 with the light of His presence, and enriching it 
 with His favor. A result so delightful gives joy to 
 heaven and earth. The Father rejoices over his 
 regained treasure. The Son rejoices over His fin- 
 ished work. The soul rejoices in its deliverance 
 and freedom. And thus the spoils of the van- 
 quished Strong Man are divided. To Christ belongs 
 the glory of his overthrow ; to the soul, the salva- 
 tion that follows it. Man receives the blessing, 
 God the praise. 
 
 The great spiritual change, which has been de- 
 scribed as effected in the case of a single individual, 
 is bat an epitome of what our glorious Champion 
 has achieved for multitudes in the centuries that are 
 past — of what He is achieving for multitudes now 
 — and of what He will achieve for yet larger mul- 
 titudes in the ages to come. Never will He give 
 over the warfare with Satan, never cease to liberate 
 his bondmen, till humanity is enfranchised, and the 
 dominion of evil rooted from the earth. 
 
 How clearly does this conflict reveal the estimate 
 which, in other worlds, is put on the human soul ! 
 O careless one ! thou mayest think little of the 
 immortal jewel which God has lodged within thee, 
 and mayest even forget or deny that such a jewel is 
 thine. But not so is it regarded by Higher Powers. 
 For its possession Heaven and Hell are struggling. 
 
THE ST BOX G SPOILED BY THE STB OX GEE. 22o 
 
 The Monarch of the Pit deems it his proudest 
 achievement to crush and destroy it ; while all the 
 energies of Divinity are called forth to snatch it 
 from his grasp, to wash away its stains, and set it 
 anew in the diadem of its Maker. Oh, how 
 precious must that spirit be, for which such com- 
 batants contend ! How noble, beyond expression, 
 the palace around which the Hosts of Light and the 
 legions of Darkness meet in deadly encounter ! 
 And how unspeakable the madness of the man who 
 is unconcerned, while the question is being decided 
 in whose hands he shall be for eternity ! 
 
 Some of you may have seen the celebrated paint- 
 ing by Retsch, in which, with wondrous skill, he 
 has portrayed a game of chess between Satan and a 
 young man, who has staked his soul on the issue. 
 The truth and vivid power of the representation ; 
 the different expression in the faces of the players ; 
 the gay, heedless look of the young man, all uncon- 
 scious of his peril ; and the cunning, hellish leer of 
 the Fiend, as the chances seem to turn in his favor 
 — can never be forgotten by any who have once 
 beheld them. But how much more graphic and 
 solemn is the scene which the Divine pencil has 
 drawn — Christ and Satan battling for the soul of 
 man. Nor is it picture merely : it is real. The 
 contest is actually going forward, going forward 
 now, going forward in your own spiritual history. 
 
226 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Intrenched within your heart, "the Prince of the 
 Power of the air" plies all his weapons of falsehood, 
 and delusion, and worldly enchantments, to main- 
 tain his fatal mastery over you ; while, at the door, 
 stands the. crucified One — pity in His eye, and sal- 
 vation in His hands — summoning you to thrust out 
 the Deceiver, and yield the palace to the sweet con- 
 trol of His love. Which, in your case, shall be the 
 victor ? 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 
 
 "And when He was come near. He beheld the city, and wept 
 over it." — Zw£exix. 41. 
 
 HE sun of the cloudless Orient is flooding 
 Jerusalem with its noonday splendors. Its 
 beams shimmer on wall and tower, roof 
 and gable, dome and pinnacle, and float in 
 golden waves along the ridges of the en- 
 vironing hills. It is the Passover Week ; and the 
 venerated metropolis of Hebrew worship is clad in 
 festal attire, and throbs, through all its arteries, 
 with eager life. The sacred places are crowded ; 
 the streets echo with the tread of countless feet ; 
 while at each open gate fresh throngs pour into the 
 city, or may be seen hastening towards it by every 
 road and avenue. From all parts of Palestine, and 
 from utmost lands whither the Jews have beeu scat- 
 tered, they come — here in long caravans, there in 
 isolated bands — to celebrate this highest solemnity 
 of their national religion. 
 
 On one of these approaching groups let us fasten 
 our attention. There is nothing remarkable in its 
 appearance. It displays no outward magnificence, 
 
 227 
 
228 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 no parade of wealth and power, to attract the gaze 
 of the casual onlooker. Its numbers are indeed 
 imposing ; but they are chiefly the common people 
 of the country, plain in garb, lowly in station, un- 
 heeded by the proud and great. Nevertheless, the 
 broad earth, with all that it boasts of grand and 
 noble, shows not, at this moment, another spectacle 
 so truly sublime — none so important to the world 
 — none so worthy of universal regard. In this 
 obscure company walks One on whose character and 
 office rests the redemption of the human race — One 
 who is "the Brightness of the Father's Glory," God 
 manifested in flesh. He wears no crown ; no royal 
 ofarmcnts invest Him. His bearing is meek and 
 gentle ; and in that face of heavenly beauty are 
 traces of mortal pain, and the foreshadows of ago- 
 nies still more terrible. Yet, through all the 
 reserve and concealment of His humiliation, the in- 
 dwelling Divinity streams forth, and declares itself 
 in every look and utterance. Worn and travel- 
 stained, He is going up for the last time to the 
 Feast which prefigures His own expiation for sin, 
 and which is soon to receive its highest interpreta- 
 tion in the Sacrifice of the Cross. He knows well 
 the dread travail which that interpretation will cost 
 Hiin. But instead of shrinking from the hour 
 whose darkness is fast gathering over Him, He 
 presses forward to meet it, exclaiming at every 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 229 
 
 step, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and 
 how am I straitened till it be accomplished." 
 
 Intent on the atoning work now so near, He 
 has left His retirement beyond the Jordan, and 
 turned His steps toward the capital of the nation, 
 where that work is to be consummated. He has 
 passed the night at Bethany, in the house of His 
 friend Lazarus, at whose grave the mightiest of His 
 miracles was lately performed. Here the concourse 
 around Him is greatly increased by visitors from 
 Jerusalem, who have come to see the raised one 
 sitting by the side of the Wonderful Quickener 
 whose voice called him back to life. In the morning 
 Jesus resumes His journey ; the vast train of festal 
 wayfarers encompassing Him on every side, and 
 listening to the words of grace that fall from His 
 lips. As they climb the eastern slope of the Mount 
 of Olives, and reach a point in the ascent opposite 
 to the village of Bethphage, there is a pause in the 
 upward movement. A transaction full of Messianic 
 significance is now to take place. To foreshow the 
 wide dominion that awaits Him as the Mediator of 
 the New Covenant, and the exalted honors which 
 shall compensate His sufferings, the Eedeemer pro- 
 poses to enter the scene of those sufferings in the ' 
 manner of a Sovereign and Conqueror. But where 
 are the external conditions befitting such a purpose ? 
 w T here the appliances which it demands — the kingly 
 20 
 
230 BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 robe, the triumphal chariot, the princely retinue, the 
 ausrust insignia? The riches of earth and heaven 
 are His. At His behest, celestial glory would 
 clothe His form, the diadem of Godhead rest on 
 His brow, angelic legions muster round Him, and 
 chariots of fire and horses of fire come rushing down 
 the skies to bear Him on His way. Yet He sum- 
 mons none of these. Out of all the universe which 
 He owns, an ass's colt, brought by His disciples from 
 yonder village, and caparisoned with their dusty 
 garments, is alone chosen to grace His ovation. 
 Well might an ancient prophecy, looking forward 
 to this event, and to the amazing condescension 
 which it involved, proclaim to the Daughter of 
 Zion, "Behold thy Kiug cometh unto thee; just, 
 and having salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an 
 ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." Out- 
 ward pomp can add nothing to the majesty of the 
 Divine ; and these simple preparations are far more 
 in accordance with the character of the Prince of 
 Peace than any gorgeous emblems of wordly might 
 and dominion. 
 
 Thus humbly furnished, the God-man begins His 
 Symbolic March to the City and Temple of His 
 Father. Again the attendant crowd moves on ; 
 many, in their zeal to honor Him, stripping off their 
 cloaks, and spreading them as a carpet along the 
 rugged way. Soon they are met by another multi- 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 231 
 
 tude hurrying up from Jerusalem. The Paschal 
 pilgrims assembled there, profoundly impressed by 
 the fame of Jesus, and learning His approach, pour 
 out from the city to behold and welcome Him. 
 Passing down the Valley of the Kidron, they cut 
 branches from the clustering palm trees that skirt 
 its sides, and hasten upward by the usual caravan 
 road* round the southern shoulder of Olivet. On the 
 rocky plateau beyond the summit, the two human 
 streams unite in one immense confluence. Those 
 from the city, turning round, precede the Saviour, 
 strewing their palm branches in the path before Him ; 
 while the still larger numbers from Bethany follow 
 after, with equal demonstrations of joy and homage. 
 In this manner the procession sweeps onward, till 
 the crest of the ridge is passed, and its western de- 
 scent commences. The Temple, and the sections 
 of Jerusalem contiguous to it, are yet hidden by the 
 jutting slope of Olivet on the north ; but Mount 
 Zion, the ancient city of David, the renowned seat 
 of Hebrew royalty, comes into full view below them. 
 Memories of Israel's glory — of the old days of the- 
 ocratic power and splendor — waken and glow at 
 the sight. Gazing on the spot where the Hero- 
 Bard ruled and sung, and fired by the expectation 
 that his fallen throne is about to be set up anew by 
 his greater Descendant, the excited throng shouts 
 forth its enthusiasm in the grand Messianic chorus, 
 
232 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 " Hosanna to the Son of David ; blessed be the King 
 that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in 
 the highest." 
 
 The living mass once more advances ; and as it 
 winds round the protruding angle of the mountain, 
 suddenly the entire circuit of the Jewish metropo- 
 lis, with its golden-roofed Sanctuary rising in the 
 midst, its massive towers, its sumptuous palaces, 
 its myriad homes of wealth and luxury, its walls of 
 strength girding it on every side, and the broad 
 sweep of gardens and orchards and vine-clad hills 
 beyond — all beaming and flashing under the bright 
 sky of the East — bursts on the eye in a vast pano- 
 rama of loveliness. A vision so endeared to the 
 Hebrew heart — so hallowed by mighty recollec- 
 tions and by mightier hopes — deepens the exulta- 
 tion of the beholders, and intensifies its utterance. 
 They believe that the hour has come in which Jesus 
 is to reveal Himself as the Promised King of Israel ; 
 that the design of His present visit to the city is 
 to proclaim His sovereignty, and demand the alle- 
 giance of the rulers ; and that He will now place 
 Himself at the head of the nation, and, by His mi- 
 raculous power, inaugurate a secular dominion that 
 shall subdue all lands, and make Jerusalem the mis- 
 tress of the world. Full of these patriotic anticipa- 
 tions, and looking upon Christ as the anointed Cham- 
 pion and Uplifter of their race, they press round Him 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 233 
 
 with rejoicing acclamations, and wave their palm 
 branches before Him in token of His future tri- 
 umphs. 
 
 Doubtless there are some among them who unite 
 with these carnal views a higher conception of His 
 mission, and who recognize in Him a Divine Re- 
 deemer from sin, as well as the Restorer of pros- 
 trate Judaism. Yet none — not even they who 
 perceive most clearly the spiritual nature of the de- 
 liverance which He is to bring — have any true 
 idea of the maimer in which that deliverance is to 
 be accomplished. All imagine that He will fulfil 
 the purpose of His coming — not by submitting to 
 ignominy and death — but by putting forth His 
 omnipotent energies to overwhelm opposition, and 
 establish the Messianic empire throughout the earth. 
 And supposing such a consummation to be near at 
 hand, they hail Him as a conqueror moving on to 
 power and victory. 
 
 But He, who is the object of all this homage and 
 felicitation, partakes not in the general joy. Amidst 
 the hosannas of the multitude, the soul of Jesus is 
 stirred by a deep and overmastering sorrow. He 
 looks down, as they do, on the Holy City spread 
 out in its glory beneath Him. Very different, how- 
 ever, are the emotions with which He beholds it. 
 They survey it with delight as the pride and crown 
 of Israel — the chosen residence of Jehovah — illus- 
 20* 
 
234 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 trious in the past, and destined to become still more 
 illustrious in the future. He sees it foul with crime, 
 forsaken of God, and rushing to its doom. They 
 see in it the theatre of His own approaching honors, 
 and of Divine favor toward the Jews eclipsing all 
 former displays, and to be continued through un- 
 told centuries. He sees in it the scene of His cru- 
 cifixion, and of swift coming retribution. And as 
 He sits there, and contemplates its beaut}' and splen- 
 dor, its noble structures, its busy thoroughfares, its 
 swarming population, and thinks how soon those 
 streets will be stained with the blackest deed which 
 the earth has ever known, that population accursed 
 for all time, and those structures hurled down by a 
 terrible vengeance, the depths of infinite compassion 
 are moved within Him; and with gushing tears — 
 the tears of unavailing tenderness and regret — He 
 pours out the lamentation, "Oh, that thou hadst 
 known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which 
 belong to thy peace ; but now they are hidden 
 from thine eyes ! " "He beheld the city, and wept 
 over it." 
 
 " There she stood — 
 Jerusalem — the city of His love, 
 Chosen from all the earth ; Jerusalem, 
 That knew Him not, and had rejected Him ; 
 Jerusalem, for whom He came to die ! " 
 
 How the sight unlocks the fountains of His grief, 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 235 
 
 and centres every thought and feeling on the fear- 
 ful woes which His omniscience associates with it ! 
 Forgotten is the scene around Him. Unheeded are 
 the gratulations of the Disciples, the plaudits of the 
 crowd. He sees only Jerusalem, the loved and lost ; 
 and, in view of her guilt and overthrow, all else is 
 disregarded. Never before in His life of humilia- 
 tion has He stood so high in popular esteem. Yet 
 at this moment of His greatest triumph, when His 
 following is the largest, and the acclaim the loudest, 
 He turns away and weeps. His attendants, com- 
 prehending only the present and the outward, re- 
 joice ; but He, the All-Kuowiug, the All-Compre- 
 hending, weeps. Instructive contrast ! ever real 
 and ever repeated. In all lands and ages men exult 
 and shout where Divine prescience pities and la- 
 ments. 
 
 But what were the peculiar circumstances in the 
 case of Jerusalem, which rendered its impending 
 fate so afflictive to the heart of Christ? Other 
 great centres of civilization and power have per- 
 ished amid the horrors of siege and slaughter. 
 Yet Scripture gives no hint that their fall was sig- 
 nalized by any such remarkable mourning. Why 
 was Jerusalem so distinguished? What special 
 facts of its history called forth the tears of the Son 
 of God? 
 
 He wept over it in view of what it had been. 
 
23 G BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 For more than a thousand years it had held to Je- 
 hovah a relation as singular as it was sacred and 
 blessed. He had selected it out of all the world as 
 the place of His earthly dwelling, the seat of His 
 worship, the visible type of His invisible Church, 
 the terrestrial counterpart of His glorious Capital in 
 the Heavens. There the Ark of His Testimony, 
 after its many wanderings and migrations, found a 
 permanent abode. There His Tabernacle rested. 
 There the august Temple, the wonder of all lands, 
 was reared and consecrated to His honor. There 
 He recorded His name. There He manifested His 
 presence in the Flame-Cloud of the Shechiuah. 
 There His arm was often revealed to defend and 
 succor His heritage. There divinely appointed 
 priests ministered to Him, and inspired poets 
 chanted His praise, and holy prophets spoke His 
 words, and pious kings upheld His law, and guarded 
 the purity of His service. There, too, amid the 
 dim shadows of the Elder Covenant, the ever burn- 
 ing altar of sacrifice, and ever smoking incense, 
 had prefigured the Great Propitiation now ready to 
 be offered ; and there, from age to age, the momen- 
 tous truths which underlie it had been brought into 
 fuller and more luminous development. 
 
 All this Jesus saw as he gazed down on the city. 
 His mind travelled back over the long generations, 
 in which the peopled hills below Him had been the 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 237 
 
 solitary refuge of true religion on the earth ; and 
 had gleamed with the only light from heaven which 
 broke the darkness of world-wide Heathenism. 
 That light was indeed imperfect. It was not the 
 Day which He came to usher in. But it sprung 
 from the same Source as the Day. It heralded the 
 Day. It was the precursor of the Sun — the Star 
 of Promise — the Star of Hope — and, while it shone, 
 the lone Star in the otherwise blank horizon of our 
 outcast globe. 
 
 Well may we believe that such a retrospect of 
 the moral position of Zion in the olden time rose 
 now, with vivid force, on the consciousness of Christ. 
 He thought of her ancient faith ; of her holy dead ; of 
 the radiance which she had shed over the nations ; of 
 the epochs of Divine power and mercy which marked 
 her earlier history ; of the far distant period when 
 the Almighty walked among her tabernacles ; and 
 when He Himself, as the Angel of the Lord, fre- 
 quented her precincts, conversed with her seers, 
 guided her counsels, sheltered her children under 
 the wings of His love. Oh ! dear to Immanuel was 
 Jerusalem the favored — Jerusalem the fallen — 
 dear for the fathers' sake — dear for her ancestral 
 truth, vanished but remembered — dear to Him as 
 the Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the Chosen 
 Seed. Alas ! how sadly at this hour He recalled 
 her former preciousness, and mused on all that she 
 
238 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 had been to Heaven and earth, to God and to 
 man ! 
 
 From the regretted past of the Holy City He 
 turned to her revolting present, and wept over her 
 for what she then was. And the change of view 
 deepened His. auguish. The living Jerusalem was 
 a far more painful spectacle than the departed. It 
 teemed with tokens of universal and fatal degener- 
 acy. Lapse and deterioration were everywhere. 
 In outward seeming there was no falling away from 
 the sanctities of other and better days. There stood 
 the Temple revered and cherished as of old. There 
 were its spacious courts filled with worshippers — 
 robed priests officiating in their courses — the smoke 
 of burnt offerings floating on the air. The sacriti- 
 cial victims, the sprinkled blood, the chanted pray- 
 ers, the hymns of the Levites, the whole pomp and 
 ceremonial of Judaism — all were there. Never 
 were the show and observance of religion more os- 
 tentatiously paraded ; and never was the mere letter 
 of the Law more strictly expounded, or more rigor- 
 ously applied. The empire of ritualism was com- 
 plete. It ruled in every domain of thought; in 
 every custom and pursuit of life. 
 
 But the appearances of devotion thus pervading 
 all things were utterly false. The piety which they 
 represented was exterior, artificial, conventional. 
 It was a body without a' soul — a ghastly putrefy- 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 239 
 
 ing corpse, laid out in state, and surrounded by the 
 hideous decorations of death. "Whatever of truth, 
 of heaven-born energy, of power to renovate and 
 purify, might once have vitalized it, had long since 
 fled, leaving in their place only empty forms and 
 vapid mummeries. Even the external respect paid 
 to the institutes of Moses was a mere sham and 
 mockery. Ceremonial requirements, tithes, fasts, 
 ablutions — whether prescribed by tradition or orig- 
 inally commanded — were observed with a scrupu- 
 lousness as minute as it was inflexible ; while the 
 living statutes of Jehovah, justice, mercy, and 
 charity, were ignored and spurned. Hypocrisy, 
 unbelief, bigotry, earthliness, reigned supreme. 
 
 The God-man, whose omniscient glance read all 
 hearts, knew well the dominant vices of Jerusalem, 
 and the spiritual foulness that lurked under the veil 
 of outward sanctity. He knew that its vaunted 
 religiousness was vain and hollow, covering unfath- 
 omed depths of guilt and baseness and pollution. 
 He knew that the flagrant sins of the nation, its 
 materialism, its worldliness, its pride, its moral 
 insensibility, had their chief seat in the metropolis, 
 and flourished there in rankest luxuriance. He 
 knew that from its ecclesiastical authorities and its 
 ruling sects had come the principal opposition to 
 the Gospel which He taught. He knew that they 
 had persisted in denying His claims against all the 
 
240 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 light that blazed alike from His works and from His 
 doctrines: and that, urged on by implacable hate 
 and malice, they were ready to imbrue their hands 
 in His blood. He knew that in the very Temple 
 of His Father the leaders of the people were at that 
 moment gathered plotting His death; that in the 
 lordly palaces on Avhich His eye rested dwelt His 
 future murderers ; and that along the pavements 
 beneath Him would rush the brutal populace, hur- 
 rying Him to the cross, and revelling in His ago- 
 nies. Alas ! He also knew that among the multi- 
 tude now encircling Him, and shouting hosannas to 
 His name, were many who, when they found that 
 their carnal expectations were not to be realized, 
 would join as loudly in the infuriate cry, "Crucify 
 Him! crucify Him ! " and mock Him on Golgotha 
 as they now glorified Him on Olivet. 
 
 Such was the dark picture which Jerusalem pre- 
 sented to the virion of our Lord. Once the chosen 
 of God, the city of His love, it had become vile and 
 abominable — the home of Pharisaic self-idolatry 
 and of Sadducean sensualism ; and soon to be the 
 arena of the most awful wickedness which humanity 
 has ever perpetrated. Thus He beheld it ; and it 
 was because He so beheld it, and knew how return- 
 less was the abyss into which it had plunged, that 
 He wept over it. Its blinded population, following 
 their blind religious guides, had rejected the Hope 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 241 
 
 and Consolation of Israel. Vain had been all the 
 concurring voices that proclaimed His Messiahship ; 
 vain the announcements of prophecy ; vain the testi- 
 mony of the angels ; vain the witness of the Father ; 
 vain His wonder-works ; vain His words of more 
 wondrous grace. Infatuated by the dream of an 
 earthly kingdom, they shut their eyes to every 
 proof of His Divine authority, and thrust from them 
 the redemption which He proffered. The Deliverer 
 promised to their fathers had appeared, and had 
 sought their affiance. Incarnate Love had stood 
 amongst them, inviting them to the living waters of 
 holiness and happiness. But they knew not the 
 time of their visitation. They scorned to enroll 
 themselves as the subjects of a Prince invested with 
 no material grandeur, and whose throne was only in 
 the hearts of men. Their choice was deliberate and 
 final ; and the hour of mercy passed from them for- 
 ever. The measure of their iniquity, long filling, 
 was now full ; and the fiat of doom went forth. By 
 refusing to accept Christ as their Redeemer, they 
 cut themselves off from the only refuge which 
 Heaven had provided, and broke down the last 
 barrier between them and destruction. Henceforth, 
 the presence of God was withdrawn from the Sanc- 
 tuary of Judaism ; the blessings of His Covenant 
 were transferred from the Church of the Old Dis- 
 21 
 
242 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 pensatioD to the Church of the New ; and Jerusalem 
 the apostate was given over to vengeance. 
 
 What anguish must have swept over the mind of 
 Jesus as He pondered this mournful fact ! He was 
 a Jew. and felt all the characteristic reverence of a 
 Jew for the sacred city of the nation. How intense. 
 then, must have been His sorrow at its guilt, how 
 deep His pity for its doom ! How must the Shep- 
 herd of Israel have bewailed these myriad wander- 
 er- from His Hock, whom even His voice could not 
 call back, and whom His loving hands would never 
 fold ! While, in His Divine consciousness. He 
 viewed with holy complacency the justice of His 
 Father's dealing; yet, as the Son of David, and as 
 the Son of Man, His compassions gushed out toward 
 incorrigible ones, whom grace and peace were 
 to visit never more ! 
 
 He wept over the city in view of what it might 
 have been. True it is, that the disownment of 
 Messiah by his countrymen, and His violent death 
 at Jerusalem through the machinations of its rat 
 had been distinctly foretold as important circum- 
 stances in the expiation which lie was to oiler. 
 38, the methods of God's purposes, and 
 the predictions respecting them, are not arbitrary. 
 but conditional, and readily adapt themselves to the 
 luct of the human actors involved in their fulfil- 
 ment. They are based, indeed, on a foreknowledge 
 
TEAKS AMID TRIUMPH. 243 
 
 of that conduct ; but they do not so necessitate it 
 by an unchangeable law, that men could not do 
 otherwise even if they would. There* was nothing 
 in the Divine plan of atonement — nothing in the 
 ordained manner of bringing it to pass — which 
 compelled the Jews to reject and crucify the 
 Saviour. The unbelief and hardness of their hearts 
 alone prevented them from embracing His Gospel, 
 and coming under its redeeming power. That they 
 might have done this, and so escaped the terrible 
 condemnation which fell upon them, is manifest 
 from the touching apostrophe in which our Lord 
 upbraids their unwillingness to receive Him. " Oh, 
 Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! thou that killest the proph- 
 ets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee: how 
 often would I have gathered thy children together, 
 as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and 
 ye would not!" Ye would 'not! Here was the 
 obstacle, and the only obstacle, which shut out the 
 reprobate city from the Fountain of Life. Her own 
 frowardness, and not the, decree of Heaven, decided 
 her course. She might have welcomed her Messiah, 
 and found in His sheltering love a safeguard against 
 every peril. Oh, had she done this, how changed 
 had been her destiny ! The Sun of Eighteousness 
 would have swept the thunder-clouds from her sky, 
 and shed salvation over her present and her future. 
 Walking in His light, her children would have 
 
244 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 inherited peace here, and eternal blessedness here- 
 after. Consecrated anew by the great High Priest, 
 she would again have become the peculiar residence 
 of God ; the Shechinah would have returned to her 
 Temple ; and Jerusalem the Holy, Jerusalem the 
 Christian, would have been, through all the ages, 
 the cynosure of the Gentiles, and the glory of the 
 world. 
 
 But these blissful possibilities were now lost, and 
 lost be}'ond recovery. The things of her peace 
 were hidden from her eyes. Never more would she 
 see the Incarnate One standing in her rapt assem- 
 blies, dispensing cures for the body, and healing 
 balm for the soul. Never more would she look on 
 that countenance of unearthly majesty and sorrow 
 
 — never more hear that voice of celestial sweetness 
 
 — never more listen to its tender pleadings — never 
 more be invited by it to the Helper of the weak, 
 and the Rest of the weary. Never more ! Never 
 more ! Saddest of all words, expressing the saddest 
 of all facts ! Oh ! it was this which drew forth the 
 tears of Jesus, as He fixed His lingering, yearning 
 gaze on the city, and thought of all that she might 
 have been, of her wasted privileges, her forfeited 
 mercies, her heaven-sent opportunities, now gone 
 from her sight, to come back never more — never 
 more ! 
 
 Along with this glimpse of the bright history once 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 245 
 
 possible to her, there rose before Hiin the appalling 
 vision of what she would be. Whatever, side of the 
 picture He surveyed, this was the awful back-ground 
 which gloomed on His view^ His all-reaching ken 
 took in every incident of her darkling career down 
 to its close. He saw her God-abandoned leaders 
 carrying out their schemes for His arrest and cruci- 
 fixion. He saw her savage masses rushing to Cal- 
 vary, thronging round His cross, feasting their mal- 
 ice with His dying throes, insulting and reviling 
 Him, while the earth rocked under their feet, and 
 the heavens hung black above them. He saw her 
 persecuting and murdering His followers, until the 
 Gospel left her borders forever, and the echoes of 
 its retreating footsteps were heard far away in the 
 regions of Paganism. And then he saw her fearful 
 end. He saw the woe and the horror gathering 
 deeper and coming nearer. He saw the Roman 
 legions enveloping her round about, and casting up 
 a mount against her. He heard the din of battle, 
 the hurtling crash of engines on rampart and tower. 
 He heard, in all her dwellings, the moan of disease, 
 and the wail of famine. He saw her sects and fac- 
 tions slaughtering each other — daggers flashing 
 everywhere — brothers falling by the hands of 
 brothers. He saw her streets blocked up with un- 
 buried corpses ; and heard the cry of her perishing 
 thousands appealing in vain to the Just One who 
 
 21* 
 
246 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 had ceased to pity them. He saw her fortifications 
 broken down, her inhabitants slain with the sword, 
 her precious things given up to pillage. He saw 
 her wrapped in flames and destroyed — her glorious 
 Temple, her regal mansions, her walls, her very 
 foundations laid low, till not one stone remained 
 upon another. He saw Jerusalem the bloody, Je- 
 rusalem the felon of the centuries, a heap of ashes ; 
 and her children exiles in every land, without a 
 home, a country, or a God forever more. So was 
 her earthly sentence fulfilled. 
 
 But there was another retribution, reserved for 
 another world — a retribution invisible and spiritual 
 — of which the visible calamities suffered here w T ere 
 but types and foreshado wings. To this His mind 
 glanced forward, and contemplated the souls of the* 
 impenitent population undergoing it for eternity. 
 While their day of mercy yet lasted, He had said to 
 them, " If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die 
 in your sins — and whither I go, ye cannot come." 
 He now saw that saying verified. He saw them 
 dying in their sins, unrepentant, unbelieving, un- 
 pardoned ; excluded by their very character from 
 the heaven in which He was to reign ; and con- 
 signed hopelessly to the realms of the lost ; there 
 to expiate in everlasting punishment their rejection 
 of the Only Saviour. 
 
 Such are the several points of view in which we 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 247 
 
 have ventured to represent our Lord as surveying 
 the doomed metropolis of His nation. As when we 
 see a noble manhood wrecked and ruined, we think 
 with equal sorrow of its former excellence, its pres- 
 ent degradation, its unused capacities for good, 
 and the deeper gulf that lies before it ; so under the 
 similar aspects of what it had been, what it was, 
 what it might be, what it would be — all mournful 
 — the compassionate .Jesus "beheld the city and 
 wept over it." 
 
 In what an affecting light does the scene which 
 we have drawn set forth the sympathy and love of 
 Christ ! Here the heart of our Divine Brother is 
 laid bare before us. There is no feeling of wounded 
 pride, of defeated ambition ; no anger against those 
 who have repaid His kindness with contempt ; no 
 hatred of the monstrous criminals who are about to 
 steep their hands in His blood. Pity for their 
 blindness, regret at their obduracy, and anguish in 
 view of its fatal consequences to themselves, are 
 the emotions which fill His bosom. And He has 
 carried the same tender, forgiving, merciful heart 
 up with Him to His throne of intercession. He 
 weeps not now ; for earthly weeping cannot invade 
 the serene height where He sits in His glory. But 
 with a compassion fervent as that of old, He still 
 regards the neglecters of His grace. As He looked 
 from Olivet on sinful Jerusalem, so from the Hills 
 
248 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 of Blessedness He looks down on this world rolling 
 beneath His eye — this world which He spoke into 
 being — this world for which He died — this world 
 which derides His name, casts off His law, and 
 tramples on His salvation. With what sleepless 
 concern He watches the struggles of His cause ! 
 And how must He almost feel Himself crucified 
 afresh, when He sees the perversion of His doc- 
 trine, the corruption of His Church, the baptized 
 ungodliness of many who outwardly own Him as 
 Lord, the carelessness, the impenitence, the unbe- 
 lief of millions whom He has redeemed, and whom 
 He longs to bring to His inheritance above ! O, 
 backsliding one ! O, unconverted one ! The soul 
 of the risen Jesus yearns over thee. He loves thee. 
 He commiserates thee. He would save thee. Go 
 to Him with sincere faith and lowly contrition. 
 Confess thy waywardness, thy disobedience, thy 
 ingratitude — all thou hast done to grieve Him. 
 Joyfully will He rcceve you, and bestow on you 
 the peace and hope and eternal life which His 
 sorrows have purchased. 
 
 The tears of Christ could not avert from Jerusa- 
 lem the overwhelming judgment which her sins drew 
 down. Her destruction came surely and speedily, 
 though the Son of the Highest wept to behold its 
 coming. Nor will His pity for the impenitent of 
 our own day prevent their final condemnation, if 
 
TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 249 
 
 they persevere in setting Him at nought. He is 
 unwilling that you should perish. He laments 
 your guilt and your danger. But the lake of fire 
 and the worm that never dies will be your portion 
 all the same, unless you repent. His blood, applied 
 by his Spirit, can alone redeem you from death, 
 and prepare you for heaven. 
 
m 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 TEZ 5TOHE DFOH THE GRAVE. 
 
 HE isolation of Jesus was one of t 
 
 r^v_:.rl-::." : i :- ::: . v. v_ -:..v: : : - :.: His "if- 
 
 - /« row. Doubtless, the nature of His atoning 
 
 H~ :_'.^ : : :i: : i :"_;.: H. sii.H.1 .-.::.:" :iir 
 
 wine-press alone : but the tact is none the 
 surprising and painful. That He, who was 
 man's best Friend, should Himself hare had almost 
 no friends ; that He, whose Divine heart was full of 
 lore for all, should hare been loTed by few in return 
 — is so singular, so unlike the ordinary outgoings 
 of human affection, that we are at a loss with which 
 to be most impro a Iness or its m 
 
 It is. however, consoling to know that amid the 
 creneral hatred which the Saviour experienced, there 
 were some hearts sincerely attached to Hun, and 
 here and there a home in which His presence was 
 welcomed as a hallowed joy. One of these homes 
 was in Bethany. It was no lordly mansion — the 
 abode of some proud hierarch or rich Pharisee — 
 but a plain cottage, quietly nestled among its em- 
 
THE STOXE UPOX THE GRAVE. 251 
 
 bosoming vines and fig-trees. Here dwelt Lazarus, 
 and his sisters, Martha and Mary. Simple in their 
 tastes, content with their own little domain, they 
 sighed not for the pomps and luxuries of the great 
 city so near them. A loftier aspiration, a Hope 
 rising to heaven, shut out its terrene ambitions from 
 their hearts, as the intervening brow of Olivet hid 
 its towers and palaces from their sight. They were 
 Christians. They had heard the words of the Lord. 
 They had seen His miracles. They accepted Him 
 as the Messiah. They adored Him as the Son of 
 God, and the Eedeemer of Israel. Their greatest 
 pleasure was to entertain and serve Him ; their 
 highest honor, to be accounted His friends. 
 
 To this humble dwelling our Lord made frequent 
 visits, and found rest and sympathy under its peace- 
 ful shelter. And so strong was His regard for its 
 inmates, so marked His interest in them, that it is 
 emphatically said, "Jesus loved Martha, and her 
 sister, and Lazarus." Happy home, where the 
 Saviour has been a guest ! Happy household, 
 where His love abides ! A blessing and a glory 
 are yours, more precious than all the treasures of 
 earth can bestow. 
 
 But there is in this world no spot, however sa- 
 cred, which affliction may not invade. Even the 
 threshold over which the God-man had trodden was 
 no bar to its entrance. Disease, fell and unsparing, 
 
252 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 smote the brother of this cherished family. While 
 Christ was prosecuting His work of mercy in the 
 regions beyond the Jordan, the prayerful message of 
 the sisters reached Him — as often similar prayers 
 now reach Him in heaven — "Lord, behold he 
 whom thou lovest is sick." Touching and urgent as 
 the appeal was, He did not immediately answer it. 
 The delay, however, arose not from any want of 
 solicitude for the sufferers, or of ability to succor 
 them, but from the counsels of Infinite Wisdom and 
 Benevolence. In the Divine arrangements for dem- 
 onstrating the truth of the Gospel, the sickness and 
 death of Lazarus held an important place. They 
 were designed to furnish occasion for a transcendent 
 display of the Redeemer's power, for confirming the 
 faith of His disciples, and giving to all the ages a 
 proof of His Messiahshipj which no criticism can 
 shake, and no sophistry evade. To allow scope for 
 this purpose, the compassion of Jesus must be kept 
 in abeyance till the appointed hour. Lazarus must 
 die, that the Son of God might be glorified. So, 
 when our own supplications for help and deliver- 
 ance appear to meet no response, the seeming re- 
 fusal is but the folding of Jehovah's arm, till the 
 emphatic moment in which our need shall be the 
 greatest, and in which His interposition will inspire 
 the most thankful praise. 
 
 When the time for Him to work was ripe, Jesus 
 
THE STONE UP OX THE GRAVE. 253 
 
 with Hi? disciple? returned into Judea. and found, 
 on Hi? arrival at Bethany, that Lazarus had already 
 laid four daw? in the grave. A? He drew nigh to 
 the town. Martha came out to meet Him. and gave 
 vent to her feelings in word? expressive, nut only 
 of grief, but of regret, almost of reproach. "Lord. 
 if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."' 
 Still her confidence in Him was not wholly destroyed. 
 Amid the cry of doubt, and the breathing? of com- 
 plaint at what seemed to her like neglect on Hi? 
 part, the accent? of faith broke forth, trembling yet 
 clear. " But I know that even now whatsoever thou 
 shalt a?k of God. God will give it thee.'" To de- 
 velop and bring out thi? sentiment of trust that 
 struggled in her heart, the Saviour uttered the ani- 
 mating promise, "Thy brother shall rise again." 
 And when ?he answered, " I know that he shall rise 
 again in the resurrection at the last day " — inti- 
 mating that she looked for no earlier rising — He 
 added the sublime announcement. "I am the Resur- 
 rection and the Life; he that believeth in Ale. 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live again:" — 
 thus affirming that,, a? the Author of all being, and 
 Lord of the spirit-world, He could call back the 
 departed when and how He pleased. The faith of 
 Martha was greatly strengthened by a declaration so 
 encouraging. To the que?tion of Jesus, "Believe?t 
 thou this?" ?he at once re?ponded. "Yea, Lord. I 
 22 
 
254 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, 
 which should come into the world." Having said 
 this, she went her way. And well she might. She 
 had said all. With the utterance of such a convic- 
 tion, she could leave her case in His hands, relyiug 
 on His wisdom to determine what was best, and on 
 His power to perform it. 
 
 Comfortejcl herself, she hastens to her mourning 
 sister, that she also might be comforted. Mary, 
 not having yet heard of the Saviour's approach, was 
 still sitting in the house, absorbed in her affliction ; 
 while condoling friends strive in vain to cheer and 
 sustain her. At the thrilling message, "The Mas- 
 ter is come, and calleth for thee," she rises up, in 
 all the eagerness of her quick and impressible na- 
 ture, and flies to Him, swift as a wounded dove 
 speeds to its sheltering nest. No sooner does she 
 reach Him, no sooner does her eye rest on His 
 adored face, than she is at His feet, bathing them 
 with her tears. One wail of anguish for her dead 
 brother — one touching lament at her Lord's ab- 
 sence — and she is silent. She has found her Ref- 
 uge. Her Master has come, and all must be well. 
 How, she knows not, asks not. Enough for her that 
 Christ the Compassionate, Christ the Omnipotent, 
 stands before her, that she can clasp His knees, and 
 lay her burden at His feet. Her tears still flow, 
 but they are no longer bitter. Submission, reli- 
 
THE STOXE UPOX THE GRAVE. 255 
 
 ance, hope, mingle with her sorrow, and take away 
 its sting. 
 
 The soul of the Redeemer is deeply moved. He 
 who had conversed calmly with Martha, is overpow- 
 ered at the sight of Mary's tears. "Jesus wept." 
 Though He knew that His word would soon recall 
 the buried one to life, He could not suppress His 
 own grief at his death, nor restrain the outgushings 
 of pity for the dear disciple on whom that death 
 had brought such woe. What a proof is here that 
 our great High Priest is Human as well as Divine ; 
 that He shares in all the sinless affections of our 
 nature, and can be touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities ! And what a striking manifestation of 
 His wisdom in adapting consolation to the peculiar- 
 ities of individual sufferers, may be seen in His 
 interviews with the two sisters ! The different 
 manner in which He receives them is precisely 
 suited to the difference of their characters. He 
 reasons with the practical, passionless Martha ; 
 weeps with the loving, weeping Mary. Great 
 words of truth are His medicine for the one ; sym- 
 pathy, His balm for the other. 
 
 Melting with compassion for the distress around 
 Him — shaken by the waking Deity within Him — 
 the God-man groans in spirit, and asks, R TVhere 
 have ye laid him ? " At the reply, w Come and 
 see," the sad march to the sepulchre commences. 
 
256 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Strange procession ! The wailing Jews, the sor- 
 rowing sisters, the groaning Christ, going with 
 travail and pain to the home of corpses, to seek 
 Life in Death ! What a type of the journey ings 
 of His Church alons; the track of the centuries tow- 
 ards her final inheritance ! Onward she moves, 
 age after age, host after host, through toil and 
 tribulation, through battle and tears — onward to 
 the Grave — to the Resurrection — to Immortality ! 
 And how cheering is the thought that, as in this 
 procession Christ was the Central Personage, so 
 with every band of mourners carrying a believer to 
 his rest, He still walks unseen, and pronounces over 
 the place of corruption the conquering word, which, 
 inaudible now, shall be heard and obeyed when the 
 last trumpet sounds. 
 
 The weeping group comes to the tomb. " It was 
 a cave " — a chamber hewn in the rock — " and a 
 stone lay upon it," closing the opening. At the 
 command of Jesus, "Take ye away the stone," the 
 wonted unbelief and earthliness of Martha, kept 
 down for a time by higher views, spring up anew ; 
 and forgetting the gracious purpose of her Lord, 
 she protests against the impropriety of exposing 
 remains that had been so long buried. The author- 
 itative rebuke, " Said I not unto thee that, if thou 
 wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of 
 God?" silences her misgivings, and renders her 
 
THE STONE UPON THE GRAVE. 257 
 
 quiet and trustful again. There is a brief pause. 
 All is hushed expectation and wondering awe. The 
 Son of God gathers His power ; lifts a reverent, 
 confiding eye to heaven ; whispers a low, grateful 
 prayer to His Father ; and then the Almighty Voice, 
 which spoke creation into birth, and shall yet un- 
 lock the charnel houses, breaks out in thunder- 
 tones, " Lazarus, come forth ! " That Voice pierces 
 the dull ear of the dead ; the spirit returns to the 
 mouldering frame ; the life-blood courses through 
 the shrivelled veins ; the limbs heave and stir ; and 
 the late occupant of the sepulchre appears at its 
 mouth, with his burial garments about him — his 
 pale lips opening with thanksgivings, and his glazed 
 eye kindling with light, as he raises it in adoring 
 homage to the face of His Deliverer. Loving hands 
 unwind his grave-clothes. Loving arms fold him 
 in a warm embrace. Loving hearts welcome him 
 back to earth. Mourning is changed to joy. The 
 dead is alive again ! 
 
 There is a particular circumstance in this narra- 
 tive, which it may be instructive to ponder. It will 
 be remembered that when our Lord saw the stone 
 lying upon the grave, He said to the attendants, 
 "Take ye away the stone." Why did He require 
 this ? T\ r as not the energy which could reanimate 
 the dead, mighty enough to remove the barrier that 
 shut in the sepulchre, without a resort to human aid ? 
 
 22* 
 
258 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 The slightest motion of Christ's hand, the lifting op 
 of a finger, a word, a look, a thought, would have 
 cast it into the depths of the sea. This would have 
 been a far lighter thing than what He actually did 
 do ; and the greater miracle might easily have in- 
 cluded the less. For what reason, then, did He 
 adopt a different course? TTe recognize here the 
 working of a general law in the Divine administra- 
 tion. God never does what /nan can do. They 
 who stood around the grave of Lazarus could not 
 raise him from the dead. But they could take 
 away the stone ; and had they refused to do it — 
 had they declined the facile achievement that lay 
 within their power — who shall say that Omnipo- 
 tence would have wrought the stupendous one which 
 lay beyond? 
 
 This principle is of universal application, pervad- 
 ing alike the domains of nature and of grace. The 
 husbandman cannot order the seasons, nor command 
 the rain or the sunshine, nor cause a germ to shoot, 
 a flower to expand, or a fruit to ripen. But he can 
 till the ground, and sow the seed, and watch the 
 irrowiuir harvest : and if he neglect to do this, God 
 will not do it for him. Thus also in spiritual things, 
 along with Divine agency, there is a human agency 
 demanded and employed. While it is the province 
 of Deity alone to renovate the hearts of men, and 
 give efficiency and triumph to the Gospel, there are 
 
THE STOXE UP OX THE GRAVE. 259 
 
 preparative an bb.1 ~: diary processes which belong 
 to us. These are not the real power, but nee i - 
 preliminaries to the putting forth of that power : not 
 the great result, and yet are indispensable to that 
 result. We cannot speak with the voice of the 
 Spirit, and wake dead sinners into life: but we can 
 take away the obstructions which lie between Him 
 and the souls He would save. Until this is done, 
 we cannot hope to see the outgoing of His might. 
 God's w fins where man's work ends. 
 
 The world is full of moral sepulchres — a wide 
 Valley of Tombs — where countless multitudes are 
 sleeijing the sleep of death, buried in guilt and con- 
 demnation, with every spiritual faculty suspended, 
 every bory affection extinct. And over each one 
 of these sepulchres a si ne is laid, shutting out the 
 light of truth, and the sweet breath of heaven. We 
 see the lost millions of uuevangelized lands heaped 
 together in the huge grave of Heathenism, covei 1 
 by the great Stone of Darkness. Ignorance of 
 of Christ, of the only Way of Salvation, presses them 
 down, and bars from them the visitations of Mercy. 
 In countries where the Gospel is known the graves :.: 3 
 also very many. Everywhere, among rich and poor, 
 high and low, cultivated and rude, in all rank-, all 
 -. they -tand thick and crowded — the graves 
 of the unbelievers, the graves of the impenitent, the 
 graves of the godless. There are stones upon them 
 
260 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 all — stones, which the professing church has placed 
 there, and keeps there, by her supineness, her 
 worklliness, her inconsistencies, her dissensions, 
 her want of active consecration to her Master's 
 cause. In this vast scene of moral putrefaction, by 
 these sealed tombs of the unregenerate, Jesus 
 stands, ready to display His grace, and cries to His 
 people, "Take ye away the stones." Remove the 
 obstacles that impede the victories of my cross. 
 Be holy, be zealous, be prayerful. Labor to save 
 souls. Preach my Gospel to the unconverted at 
 home. Send it with liberal hand to the benighted 
 abroad. Thus prepare the way, and my Spirit 
 shall go forth conquering and to conquer. 
 
 Followers of the Saviour, is there anything in 
 your temper or practice — anything which you have 
 done — anything which you have not done — that 
 tends to deepen the slumber of the irreligious, and 
 render them more inaccessible to the appeals of 
 conscience and of God's word? "Take ye away the 
 stone." Christian husbands, Christian wives, may 
 there not be somewhat in you — some defect, some 
 inconsistency, some lack in faith or prayer — that 
 lessens the influence of religion on the minds of 
 your impenitent companions ? " Take ye awa}' the 
 stone." Christian fathers and mothers, arc you 
 conscious of any failure in precept or example, that 
 may serve to harden your children against the truth, 
 
THE STOKE UPON THE GRAVE. 2G1 
 
 and confirm them in their carelessness ? M Take ye 
 away the stone." Christian workers, Christian giv- 
 ers, after all you have clone and are still doing, is 
 there not some withholding of labor or of means, 
 some shrinking back from your whole duty, that 
 delays the coDquests of Divine Grace ? " Take ye 
 away the stone." 
 
 Oh, Church of the Eecleemer, bought with His 
 blood ! How long shall He wait for thee to fulfil 
 His behest ? How long shall His banner stay for 
 thee to get ready for the battle ? How long shall 
 He groan in spirit over the buried nations, yearning 
 to see the travail of His soul ? Awake ! Do thy 
 work ! Then Christ will do His ; and the voice 
 that broke the sleep of Lazarus will break the sleep 
 of a world. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SINNERS WEIGHED. 
 
 " Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 
 ing." — Dan. v. 21. 
 
 NE principal cause why men are so ignorant 
 of their real standing before God, and, there- 
 fore, so indifferent to its consequences, is, that 
 they very seldom inquire, with any degree of 
 seriousness, into their own spiritual condi- 
 tion. But this is not the only cause. Another, 
 equally operative and fatal, may be found in the 
 fact that they estimate themselves by false stand- 
 ards. There are many who try their characters 
 only at the bar of human law. If they infringe 
 none of its requirements, they imagine that the 
 claims of the Divine Law are equally answered, and 
 that the righteous and all-seeing One, to whom they 
 are responsible, pronounces on the in the same sen- 
 tence of justification which they pronounce upon 
 themselves. Another numerous class judge of their 
 conduct solely by the maxims of society. If they 
 violate no established custom ; if they do what is 
 usually done by persons in their situation ; if they 
 
 262 
 
SINNEES WEIGHED. 263 
 
 observe the social moralities prescribed by the circle 
 in which they move, and, in the worldly sense of 
 the terms, are faithful to their domestic relations, 
 honest in their dealings, correct and orderly as citi- 
 zens — they are satisfied with their state, and fondly 
 dream that their eternal welfare is secure. Others, 
 again, examine themselves by the code of gentility. 
 They belong to a class which boasts of its refine- 
 ment and social elevation, and with which meanness 
 and want of fashion are the only crimes. If, there- 
 fore, they shun whatever is, in their opinion, low 
 and degrading, abstain from all coarse and vulgar 
 sins, and practise only such as are accounted respec- 
 table and decorous — they deem this amply suffi- 
 cient either for their reputation here, or their safety 
 hereafter. 
 
 Thus do the great mass of men, by the use of 
 erroneous tests, acquire views of their moral condi- 
 tion and prospects that are utterly groundless. In 
 the expressive language of an Apostle, " measuring 
 themselves by themselves, and comparing them- 
 selves among themselves, they are not wise." They 
 arrive at no just conclusions respecting their own 
 character in the sight of God, or their position in 
 reference to the awards of the eternity that lies 
 before them ; but amidst all the light which Kevela- 
 tion pours around them, and flashes into their souls, 
 
I i BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 " continue shrouded in a deep and ruinous self- 
 ignorance. 
 
 And hence it is. that while t ? of Inspired 
 
 Truth thunders in their ears the startling declara- 
 tion, that they, in common with our whole apostate 
 race, have sinned, and come short of the glory of 
 I; that their hearts and all their ways are >- 
 trai;_ I :: >m holiness; that, in their unregenerate 
 
 - 1, without one sol 
 tion. to the penalty of eternal death ; and that, un- 
 
 they repent and believe in Christ, they m 
 inevitably sutler that penalty — they yet remain 
 deaf to the announcement, and heedless of the aw 
 hicfa it proclaims. II •.. :: is, I 
 
 while the merciful Redeemer invites them to come 
 r salvation ; offers them the blood of 
 nement to expiate their sins, and the energy of 
 His Spirit to renew their polluted natures -me 
 
 their corruptions, an m, in safety and tri- 
 
 umph, to the mansions of i :ng Life — tl 
 
 still live on in unconcern, disregarding every warning 
 and . under the vain persuasion that 
 
 their tr ~_ ssi s, even it tl. mnuttod 
 
 any. have been few and trivial, and are more 
 than compensated by the numerous virtu :iich 
 
 they 
 
 It has seem me, therefore, that I cannot 
 
 render you a mc rvice, than to assist 
 
SINXEIiS WEIGHED. 2G5 
 
 you to break away from these delusions, and to form 
 a correct aud Scriptural estimate of yourselves as 
 you appear iu the view of that omniscient Being 
 with whom you have to do. Such shall be my 
 present endeavor. To attain this end, we must lay 
 aside all those false methods of judgment which you 
 have been accustomed to employ, and which can 
 only deceive you to your undoing, and bring for- 
 ward, in their place, " the Balances of the Sanctu- 
 ary " — the true criterion of moral character, — 
 which God has made known in His TTorcl, and by 
 which He will determine our final destiny. These 
 Balances were made in heaven ; and they possess 
 all the accuracy and truthfulness which belong to 
 that perfect world. The results which they give 
 are certain — their decisions infallible. And that 
 none of us might be ignorant either of their exist- 
 ence or of their nature, they have been clearly de- 
 scribed in the Sacred Volume, as the standard by 
 which we are to try ourselves now, and according to 
 which, in the great day of account, our Sovereign 
 Judge will deal out to us the recompense of endless 
 happiness or of endless misery. The Divine Gov- 
 ernment — a government founded in absolute right, 
 and extending over all beings and all worlds — is 
 the golden beam from which these balances hang ; 
 Truth and Equity are the scales ; and the Law and 
 the Testimony of God are the weights by which the 
 
 23 
 
266 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 question of worth or of demerit, of acceptance or 
 of condemnation, is to be decided. Nor can there 
 be any deception in the process, or any mistake in 
 the issue ; for " a just weight and balance are the 
 Lord's." 
 
 Many people find a sort of fascination in being- 
 weighed. You may often see groups of persons, es- 
 pecially of the young, collected in places where the 
 requisite apparatus is kept, stepping one after an- 
 other upon the scales, and receiving the result, as 
 it is announced, with laughter and merriment. I 
 invite you, my dear readers, to come and be weighed. 
 Weighing the heart and the life may not be as 
 amusing an operation as that of ascertaining the 
 gravity of bones and muscles. But it is not on 
 that account the less important and needful. To 
 know how much your bodies weigh is of little mo- 
 ment compared with knowing the weight of your 
 souls ; how you stand in God's reckoning ; and in 
 what manner your course in this world is bearing 
 on the retributions of another. Let me, then, call 
 up one by one several prominent classes, and subject 
 them to the test of these Celestial Balances. 
 
 Come hither, thou dead professor, and be weighed. 
 In outward belonging, thou art a member of the 
 Household of Faith. Thou hast received the sealing 
 waters of baptism, and the vows of a public consecra- 
 tion to Christ are upon thee. But thy whole relig- 
 
SIXXERS WEIGHED. 267 
 
 ious history gives mournful proof, that thou hast no 
 other union with Him than through the church- 
 books. There has been, perchance, an epoch in 
 your experience when, for a brief season, your 
 mind was slightly awakened to eternal realities, and 
 you felt something of " the powers of the world to 
 come." These stirrings of conscience or of natural 
 fear were interpreted by you as evidences of a change 
 of heart ; and, under this delusion, you believed 
 yourself a Christian, and assumed a place among 
 the people of God. But that transient excitement 
 faded long ago ; and ever since, your spiritual be- 
 ing has been as silent and lifeless as the Sea of 
 Gomorrah. It is a cold, drear, stagnant expanse, 
 broken by no wave of holy emotion, ruffled by no 
 wind of anxiety, rippled by no flow of sanctified 
 desire, gilded by no sunshine from heaven. There 
 is not in your bosom any conscious working of love 
 to the Saviour and compassion for perishing men — 
 nothing of that welling up of gracious affections 
 which is always present when piety has its living 
 fountain in the soul. You never manifest any ac- 
 tive power of faith and zeal. Your daily walk 
 witnesses no efforts to glorify your Master by lead- 
 ing sinners to His Cross. The closet and the family 
 altar know you not, or know you but as an infre- 
 quent and formal visitor. Your face, though often 
 seen in worldly gatherings, would scarcely be rec- 
 
268 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ognized in the place of social devotion. In the 
 house of God itself you are almost a stranger, com- 
 ing as seldom as a regard to appearances will 
 permit, and often absenting yourself for months 
 together, from indolence, or caprice, or some paltry 
 difficulty about a seat. This is your religion — at 
 least, this is the religion you exhibit — and we are 
 authorized by Scripture to infer that the religion 
 which comes out of a man is of a piece with that 
 which stays in him. 
 
 Now, I take this religion of yours, and put it in 
 one scale, and in the other I put against it this 
 weight from the Testimony of God, "If any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His ; " and 
 then this other ; " If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
 creature." And to both I add one more. "Know 
 ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in 
 you, except ye be reprobates?" If Christ were in 
 you, would it be possible for you so to hide Him 
 that not even the hem of His garment should ever 
 appear? Would not some partial glimpses of Him 
 break forth at times through the thick incrustations 
 of indifference and apathy ! Any one can see the 
 worldling in you ; but who sees the Christ ? There 
 is no Christ in your life ; and well may you fear that 
 there is no Christ in your heart. Your profession of 
 godliness is proved by the trial to be light as air, and 
 empty as a summer cloud ; and the finger of Inspi- 
 
SIXXEXS WEIGHED. 269 
 
 ration writes out the result. " Thou hast a name 
 that thou livest, and art dead." Oh, how many 
 there are whose portraiture has now been given — 
 " trees without fruit" — clouds without rain — mem- 
 bers of the Church, but not members of Christ — 
 disciples in title, but wanting in all the vital princi- 
 pies and characteristics of disciples indeed ! May 
 God in mercy awaken them to a perception of their 
 real state, and bring them to the knowledge of true 
 and saving grace, before the revelations of the 
 Judgment shall burst upon them, and they are 
 summoned to a scrutiny, from whose verdict there 
 is no appeal, and from whose condemnation there is 
 no escape ! 
 
 I next call up the man with a secret hope. Here 
 let me say, however, that I do not wish the wrong 
 person to come. There are two classes of individ- 
 uals, broadly distinguished from each other, to 
 which the designation I have used may properly 
 be applied. TTe often meet with those who enter- 
 tain a trembling persuasion that they have passed 
 from death unto life ; but who cannot feel sufficient 
 confidence in the reality of the change to venture 
 on its public avowal. They are penitent, sincere, 
 humble. They place no reliance on any merits of 
 their own. They see and believe that the only 
 refuge of a sinner is in the atoning sacrifice of 
 Jesus ; and they often feel their hearts drawn out 
 23* 
 
270 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 toward Him as their only trust, and their highest 
 joy. But they are so full of doubts and self-ques- 
 tionings as to their interest in Him — so diffident 
 of their own steadfastness, and of their power to 
 resist temptation — that they hesitate to profess His 
 name before men. They shrink from taking up His 
 Cross, not because they dread its burden, but be- 
 cause they fear to dishonor it. They love the as- 
 semblies of the saints, and linger with a fond though 
 sad sympathy around the scene of their hallowed 
 communion. But they dare not become personal 
 participants in that communion, lest they should 
 profane it by their unworthiness. There are many 
 such — and some such are doubtless before me now. 
 They are Christ's own, however uncertain their 
 adoption may appear to themselves. Instead of 
 seeking to increase that self-distrust, which in their 
 case is already too great, I would address to them 
 words of assurance and consolation, and direct them 
 to that compassionate Redeemer, who will not 
 break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking 
 flax, and who sees, and will in His own time 
 strengthen and bring out the grace, which the 
 fearful heart trembles to acknowledge. 
 
 But here is one of altogether another stamp. 
 He too has an unproclaimed hope — a hope which 
 he keeps concealed, not from any doubt of its gen- 
 uineness, but from a want of interest in spiritual 
 
SINNEBS WEIGH ED. 271 
 
 things, and a controlling preference for the world. 
 Doubt as to the genuineness of his hope ! He 
 never doubts. Enough there is to make him doubt. 
 No onlooker would ever suspect him of being pious ; 
 and in his whole spirit and conduct he can rind no 
 warrant for thinking himself so. Yet he does think 
 so. He does imagine himself to be a child of God. 
 And this imagination it is that blunts the edge of 
 conscience, and turns aside the arrows of truth. 
 Speak to him about the welfare of his soul, the need 
 of conversion, and the importance of seeking it 
 without delay. He will draw himself up, and com- 
 placently tell you, that he has been converted : that 
 at some misty, perhaps remote period of the past, 
 he believes that he experienced religion, and has re- 
 tained that belief ever since. If you ask him why 
 he has never owned the Saviour by uniting with His 
 people, he answers, with a careless toss of the head, 
 "Oh, a man can be as good a Christian out of the 
 church as in it." Were he honest, he would say 
 that the true reason of his not making a public pro- 
 fession was, that he wished to avoid the obligations 
 to self-denial and holiness which it involves, and 
 to live a life of irreligion and carnal ease, under the 
 soothing expectation that his hidden hope will wake 
 up at death, and give him a sure passport to the 
 mansions of blessedness. 
 
 Bring that hope here, and cast it into the scale, 
 
272 BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 and you will soon see what it is worth. Ponder the 
 weights which I place against it. "With the heart 
 man believeth unto righteousness, and with the 
 mouth confession is made unto salvation." "He that 
 is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will I 
 be ashamed before My Father and His holy angels." 
 "Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after 
 me, cannot be my disciple." " Whosoever shall con- 
 fess Me before men, him will I also confess before 
 My Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall 
 deny Me before men, him will I also deny before 
 My Father who is in heaven." Tried by such tests, 
 what is your hope? It is a spider's web, a dream, 
 a phantom, that will vanish, and leave you succor- 
 less in the hour when you need it most. 
 
 Stand forth, thou self-righteous man, and be 
 weighed. Collect in one mass all the meritorious 
 qualities and deeds in which thou confidest, and 
 bring them to the proof of God's unerring balance. 
 Oh, what a bundle ! You carry a load of goodness 
 huger than the load of sin which clum? to the shoul- 
 ders of Bunyan's pilgrim. But, before we proceed 
 to weigh this bundle, let us open it, and see what it 
 contains. Here is a whole web of Honesty. With 
 your permission, we will unroll it, and ascertain its 
 character. At the first glance, it looks very fair. 
 The threads are fine, the texture apparently firm 
 and even. But stop! what is this? Here is a 
 
SUTTEES WEIGHED. 273 
 
 wide cut right in the middle of the cloth ; and close 
 beside it, I read, in glaring capitals, "Sharp Bar- 
 gains." Investigating further, we perceive that the 
 entire fabric is frayed and torn, and defaced with 
 stains and blemishes, which, as we survey them 
 more narrowly, shape themselves into words like 
 these : " Tricks in trade " — " Scant measures " — 
 "Light weights" — "Adulterated articles sold for 
 pure " — " Government taxes charged to the cus- 
 tomer." That is enough. Your honesty is not 
 immaculate. 
 
 Here is another piece, labelled "Upright Con- 
 duct." This, too, judging from the outside, seems 
 to be all right. But let us unfold it, and examine 
 it in a better light. As the world goes, it is not 
 bad. There is no trace of flagrant crime — no soil 
 from theft and robbery — no blood-stain of murder 
 — no foul pollution left by drunkenness and de- 
 bauchery. Ah ! there is a dirt-spot. That is where 
 you told a lie. There is a hole. That is where 
 you swore. There is a broad rent. That is where 
 you broke the Sabbath. And there it is all snarled 
 and twisted up. That is where you got in a pas- 
 sion, and put your whole household in a coil. With 
 nothing that tells of outrageous guilt, your boasted 
 uprightness is defiled throughout by little sins, 
 improprieties, defects, omissions, short-comings, 
 
274 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 which render it utterly worthless as a claim for 
 justification with God. 
 
 But what have we here, right in the centre of 
 the budget ? A monstrous bladder, inflated to its 
 utmost tension, and marked "Self-conceit!" We 
 need not untie it. We know what is in it — air, 
 nothing but air. No wonder your bundle looked so 
 large ! But puff it up and swell it out as you may 
 with the breath of delusion, and the gas of false- 
 hood, you cannot deceive that omniscient Eye which 
 watches all your doings. Why, such goods would 
 not impose even upon the dull optics of an army 
 inspector. They are shoddy all through. And dare 
 you subject them to the gaze of that Holy and 
 Heart-searching Judge, whose glance pierces all 
 disguises, and whose holiness will tolerate no imper- 
 fection? Have you considered what you must do, 
 and what you must be, in order to be saved by a 
 righteousness of your own? Does not Scripture 
 assure you that, " whosoever shall keep the whole 
 law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all"? 
 And is it not clear, from the whole tenor of Divine 
 teaching, that you can be accepted on the basis of 
 human merit, only by presenting, at the bar of Infi- 
 nite Purity, a heart perfect toward God and man, 
 and an obedience spotless in motive, and complete 
 in act? Can the good works, in which you trust, 
 endure such a criterion ? If you still deem them of 
 
SINNEES WEIGHED. 275 
 
 value, and insist on their being weighed, lay them 
 iu the scales. There is no lack of means in God's 
 storehouse by which to try them ; for, as Solomon 
 tells us, "all the weights in the bag are His work." 
 Here is one. " There is a generation that is pure in 
 its own eyes, but is not washed from its filthiness." 
 Here is another. "Ye are they which justify }^our- 
 selves before men ; but God knoweth your hearts ; 
 for that which is highly esteemed among men, is 
 abomination in the sight of God." And here is 
 another. "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased 
 with goods, and have need of nothing ; and knowest 
 not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and 
 poor, and blind, and naked." Hear, then, the de- 
 cision which the Supreme Arbiter gives forth. 
 "All thy righteousnesses are as filthy rags," and 
 "thy goodness extendeth not to Me." 
 
 Yonder is one who expects to be saved because 
 he has a good heart. Pass up that heart, and let 
 us weigh its excellence. Well, it surely is a fine 
 heart, round, large, full of grand impulses and 
 activities — a noble heart — would there were more 
 such in the world. It has, you perceive, an earth- 
 ward and a heavenward side. Let ns look at its 
 
 . earthward side. How warm and living is all here ! 
 And what a record may one read here of the admi- 
 rable qualities yet remaining in our fallen nature ! 
 
 ' Deeply stamped on its surface, you may see the 
 
276 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 names of father, mother, brother, sister, wife, child ; 
 and, underneath, the quick blood of affection and 
 kindness gushing and playing ; while every nerve 
 and artery is instinct with high aspirations, with 
 generous sentiments, with scorn of meanness, with 
 sympathy for the poor and the oppressed, with the 
 throbbings of honor, manliness, and truth. Turn 
 we now to the heavenward side. Alas, it is blank ! 
 There is no God, no Christ, no spiritual longings, 
 no celestial tendencies. The outer covering is dry 
 and hard ; and within, no vital fluid circulates, no 
 pulse of holiness beats,, no emotions of penitence 
 and faith and love are ever felt. It is a heart alive 
 to man, but dead to its Maker — a heart, pure and 
 bright as it looks to time, but leprous and dark as 
 it looks to eternity. 
 
 Such a heart was once brought to the great Mas- 
 ter Weigher, when He sojourned in flesh. A young 
 man, of amiable disposition and praiseworthy de- 
 portment, came to Him, inquiring what he should 
 do that he might inherit eternal life. "And Jesus, 
 beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One 
 thing thou lackest — go, sell all that thou hast, and 
 come, take up thy cross and follow me, and thou 
 shalt have treasure in heaven." Here was the touch- 
 stone. He drew back, sorrowful yet determined, 
 from the proposal to surrender the possessions of 
 earth for the rewards of immortality ; and that ^ 
 
SINNEBS WEIGHED. 277 
 
 heart, so faultless in its human relations, was found 
 to be torpid to all spiritual impressions, and antago- 
 nistic to every influence from above. And so it is 
 with your heart. Can you., then, still call it good ? 
 Destitute as it is of every element of grace — void 
 as it is of all love to your Creator and your Re- 
 deemer — can it merit, in the slightest degree, the 
 approval of Him, whose first and highest command 
 is, "My son, give Me thine heart"? Oh, no, no. 
 "Thou art weighed in the balances, aud art found 
 wanting." "Except a man be born again, he can- 
 not see the kingdom of God." Thou hast not been 
 born again — thy soul has not been quickened and 
 energized by power from on high; and, therefore, 
 however rich in natural endowments, it is unpre- 
 pared for the preternatural and divine glories of the 
 upper world. 
 
 Let us, finally, place in these Divine Scales the 
 pretensions of that vast multitude who build their 
 hope of final safety on the fact that God is so mer- 
 ciful. It is a glorious truth — a truth made known 
 in the Gospel under every form of expression, and 
 proclaimed with the utmost emphasis, that the Most 
 High is tender and pitiful to the children of men, 
 and has no pleasure in their misery. Yet it is also 
 a truth, revealed not less distinctly, and asseverated 
 not less solemnly, that He has been pleased to set 
 apart a particular method for the manifestation of 
 
 24 
 
278 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 His mercy, and has ordained that it shall flow forth 
 to our fallen race only through the propitiation of 
 His Son. He has appointed Him to be our Medi- 
 ator and Substitute ; and it is an irreversible law -of 
 His administration, that pardon and eternal life 
 shall be dispensed to those alone who become par- 
 takers of Christ by repentance and faith. To such 
 He is indeed merciful. To all others He is a God 
 of justice, and a consuming fire. 
 
 But the persons, of whom I now speak, rest on 
 the mercy of God as an independent attribute of 
 His nature, separate from the provisions of the 
 atonement, and irrespective of all moral conditions. 
 They expect to be saved, not because they are con- 
 trite for their sins, and have fled to Jesus for refuge, 
 but simply because God is merciful. Whether they 
 admit or deny the need of an atonement — whether 
 they admit or deny that an atonement has been 
 offered — is in their view of little account; it is not 
 on the atonement that they rely, but on the assump- 
 tion that the Almighty is too full of compassion 
 ever to doom them to wretchedness. They may 
 believe that Christ died as a sacrifice for sin, or 
 they may regard the whole story of human redemp- 
 tion as a fable and a myth ; they may assent in 
 theory to the doctrine of future retribution, or they 
 may may reject it altogether — still, under every 
 phase of misbelief or of unbelief, their argument, 
 
SINNEKS WEIGHED. 279. 
 
 their defence, their shelter, is always the same — 
 "God is too merciful to punish us." 
 
 Now let us bring this hypothesis to the proof. 
 You say that a God, whose loving-kindness is infi- 
 nite, can never suffer the souls which He has created 
 to be lost. I lay that assertion in the Balance of 
 Inspired Truth ; and I test its correctness by these 
 declarations from the lips of God Himself. " If ye 
 will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." 
 "He that belie veth and is baptized, shall be saved: 
 but he that believeth not shall be damned." "He 
 that believeth on Him is not condemned ; but 
 he that believeth not is condemned already, be- 
 cause he hath not believed in the name of the Only 
 Begotten Son of God." "He that believeth on the 
 Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not 
 the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him." "Neither is there salvation in 
 any other ; for there is none other name under 
 heaven given among men whereby they may be 
 saved." "The wicked shall be turned into hell." 
 They " shall go away into everlasting punishment." 
 They " shall be cast into hell, where their worm dieth 
 not, and the fire is not quenched." They " shall be 
 punished with everlasting destruction from the pres- 
 ence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 
 How baseless does your confidence in the abstract 
 mercy of God appear, when confronted with an- 
 
280 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 nouncemeuts like these ! O man ! whoever thou 
 art that hopest for salvation out of Christ, M Thou 
 art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 
 ing." 
 
 It is needless to expose further the multiform and 
 countless delusions by which the impenitent heart 
 attempts to allay its fears, and to find peace in its 
 guilt. The trial in every case would give the 
 same answer. Whether men are sinners within 
 the church or sinners out of it ; whether they are 
 grossly profane or decently moral ; whether they 
 are afloat on the wild sea of Infidelity, or, while 
 still mooring themselves to a speculative faith in 
 the Gospel, neglect all its invitations and all its 
 commands — they are alike under condemnation; 
 and the rotten and ever-shifting materials with 
 which they strive to build up a foundation of lies, 
 will be as stubble when God shall lay judgment to 
 the line, and righteousness to the plummet. 
 
 Ouce more we resort to these Sacred Scales, but 
 with a momentous change in the ingredients and 
 relations of the process. Let us heap together, in 
 the one side, all the demands of God against the 
 sinner — His Holy Law broken and dishonored — 
 His majesty insulted — His authority disregarded — 
 His love despised — His grace rejected. A fearful 
 pile ! What mortal strength must not be crushed 
 under its burden ! Let us now place in the other 
 
SIXXEES WEIGHED. 281 
 
 side everything which the sinner can bring to offset 
 this tremendous bulk of Divine claims and penal- 
 ties. But what has he to bring? In his whole 
 inward and outward history, what is there that can 
 have the slightest influence on the decision nt issue ? 
 Nothing — absolutely nothing. A few raffs of nat- 
 nral virtue — a few fragments of works, all foul 
 with the depravity from which they spring — a few 
 resolutions forgotten as soon as made — a few 
 groundless and insincere excuses — what are these 
 with which to meet the dreadful array that stands 
 opposed to him? The upshot is certain ; and the 
 universe watches, with a shudder, the trembling- 
 scale, expecting, the next instant, to see it fly up- 
 ward, and to hear the irrevocable doom pronounced 
 that is to consign the soul to perdition. 
 
 But at this moment of awful suspense there ap- 
 pears upon the scene a form, born of heaven though 
 dwelling on the earth, clad in robes newly washed, 
 white and clean. There is a shadow on her coun- 
 tenance as from peril escaped, and a tinge of sorrow 
 as for sins repented and forsaken, yet remembered 
 still. But her eye, far-seeing and uplifted ever to 
 her native skies, is bright with hope, and over every 
 feature spreads the calm radiance of holy trust. 
 Her name is Faith. She bears in her hand what 
 seems a gem, clear, pure, and shining with the red 
 lustre of the ruby. Small, and unimposing in as- 
 
 21* 
 
282 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 pect, it has the weight of a thousand worlds. It is 
 Blood — the Blood of Atonement — the Blood of 
 the Lamb. She casts it into the scale of the sinner 
 — and, lo ! all is changed. The great mountain of 
 man's guilt and of God's wrath melts away. The 
 claims of Eternal Rectitude are satisfied. The 
 mighty debt of sin is cancelled. The scales hang 
 at an even poise. And Justice, who presides over 
 the trial, relaxes his stern brow, and with a smile 
 sweet as the face of Mercy, writes upon the golden 
 beam above — Balanced. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 
 "But Peter followed him afar off." — Matt. xxvi. 58. 
 
 'T is a striking circumstance, that we may find, 
 among the original Disciples of our Lord, the 
 type and representative of nearly every variety 
 of character which His professing people have 
 since exhibited. In Judas, who through his 
 love for the wages of unrighteousness betrayed his 
 Master, we perceive a mournful resemblance to that 
 numerous class, who, influenced by worldly gain 
 and advantage, sell the Lord that bought them, 
 violate their most sacred obligations to Him, and 
 abandon His bleeding cause to the malice of its 
 enemies. In James and John, when, incensed at 
 the hostility of the Samaritans, they desired to call 
 down fire from heaven to consume them, we dis- 
 cover a likeness to those hot and reckless zealots, so 
 abundant in our own times, who, if they cannot 
 convert the world in a day, or compass great moral 
 revolutions by a mere wave of the hand, are ready 
 to thunder forth anathemas against all whom they 
 
 283 
 
284 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 imagine to stand in their wa}^, or not to eonae with 
 sufficient promptness to their aid. In the two Dis- 
 ciples, who sought from Christ that they might sit 
 the one on His right hand and the other on His left 
 in His kingdom, we have a picture of those ambi- 
 tious spirits, whose opinions and measures must 
 always be followed, and who can never be quiet in 
 a church, if they cannot rule there. The incredu- 
 lous Thomas, who would not believe that his Lord 
 was risen from the dead, unless he could see Him 
 with his eyes, and put his linger into the print of the 
 nails in His hands, and the mark of the spear in His 
 side — resembles but too closely the great body of 
 professors at the present clay, who walk by sight, 
 not by faith ; who can repose no confidence in the 
 promises of God without sensible proof; who can 
 have no enjoyment in the absence of impulse, and 
 manifestations, and visions ; and who cannot be in- 
 duced to put forth a single effort for the prosperity 
 of Zion, except under the excitement of overwrought 
 and abnormal feeling, or the stimulus of immediate 
 success. And especially does the conduct of Peter, 
 referred to in the text, who, on the night of the Sav- 
 iour's arrest, "followed Him afar off," indicate 
 most accurately the moral position of vast numbers 
 that bear the name, and have assumed the responsi- 
 bilities, of Christ's disciples. On every side may be 
 seen multitudes who, though they have sworn alle- 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 285 
 
 giance to the Saviour, and solemnly engaged to 
 walk in His steps, yet keep, in all their principles 
 and practice, at a deplorable distance from Him, 
 and pursue a course so devious and uncertain as to 
 render it doubtful whether they are following Him 
 at all. 
 
 To describe the characteristics of this state, and 
 the evils to which it leads, is my present purpose. 
 
 The first characteristic of those who follow the 
 Lord afar off, is a dim and distant view of His 
 atoning sacrifice. This was very clearly shown in 
 the language and conduct of Peter a few days 
 before the Saviour's crucifixion. When Christ 
 informed His disciples that He must suffer death, 
 and be raised again the third day, Peter " rebuked 
 Him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord ; this shall 
 not be unto thee." In this protest, a personal re- 
 gard for his Master had doubtless no small share. 
 Yet we cannot but perceive that it betrays a very 
 indistinct conception of what Christ came to do, and 
 of the necessity that He should seal the Covenant 
 of Redemption with His blood. Had his views on 
 this point been full and clear, no degree of love to 
 his Lord could have induced him to give utterance 
 to such expressions. However deeply his affection- 
 ate feelings might have been shocked at the pros- 
 pect of the Saviour's sufferings, he would have 
 bowed in silent submission to the will of Heaven, 
 
286 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 and rejoiced, even amidst his grief, that thus sin 
 was to be expiated, and the Fountain of Mercy un- 
 sealed to a perishing world. And it was, beyond 
 question, the imperfection of his faith in this respect 
 which led to his subsequent misconduct. Having 
 no strong and definite impression of the great truth, 
 that the Redeemer could triumph only through the 
 Cross, — when he saw Him in the hands of His ene- 
 mies, he regarded His cause as lost, and gave up 
 every hope connected with His mission. Still, he 
 was too sincerely attached to his Master to desert 
 Him altogether ; and, therefore, he followed Him 
 afar off, afraid to cleave to Him closely, and yet 
 unwilling wholly to forsake Him. Oh ! had he but 
 seen that the humiliation of Christ was only the 
 dark and painful process, by which the salvation of 
 men and the glory of God were to be wrought out, 
 how differently Avould he have felt and acted ! He 
 would have remained fast by the side of His Lord 
 when he was apprehended. He would have entered 
 with Him into the presence of the assembled rulers. 
 And at His crucifixion, he would have stood beneath 
 His Cross, gazing with a calm though sorrowful 
 eye upon the awful tragedy in which Divine Jus- 
 tice was vindicated, and Redemption secured. 
 
 As it was with Peter, so it is with those in the 
 present day who follow the Lord afar off. Their 
 minds are not properly impressed with the impor- 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 287 
 
 fence and indispensableness of the work of Atone- 
 ment. At the period of their professed conversion, 
 they had no adequate sense of the evil of sin, the 
 holiness of God, the purity of His law, and the 
 absolute impossibility of pardon and justification, 
 except by the merits of a crucified Mediator. 
 Hence they did not firmly embrace the Propitiation 
 of Christ as their only hope. Their conviction of 
 sin being slight, they realized but feebly their need 
 of the Saviour, and reposed in Him a faith vague in 
 its nature, and partial in its influence. It is only 
 through a deep, vital consciousness of its utter cor- 
 ruption and ruin, and of the sufficiency of Christ 
 alone to meet its necessities, that the soul can be 
 brought to cast itself unreservedly into His arms, 
 and to cling there in intimate and living fellowship 
 with Him. And as this consciousness was awak- 
 ened in them but imperfectly at first, and has not 
 been strengthened since, their religious life began, 
 and so has continued, at a melancholy remove from 
 Him who is its vivifying Centre. Like those remote 
 planets, whose orbits, though within the sphere of 
 the sun's attraction, are too distant to feel the fervor 
 of his beams ; so they revolve in a wide circuit 
 around the Sun of Righteousness, — held by a faith' 
 too strong to allow them wholly to depart from 
 Him, and yet too weak to draw them into that 
 blessed proximity, where the warmth of His re- 
 
288 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 deeming love would fill their hearts with light, 
 holiness, and joy. 
 
 A second characteristic of the class we are describ- 
 ing, is self-confidence. When Peter was forewarned 
 by his Lord, that "Satan desired to have him that 
 he might sift him as wheat," instead of manifesting 
 any sense of his danger, or of his liability to fail in 
 the conflict, he boldly replied, "I am ready to go 
 with Thee into prison, and to death." Alas! he 
 little thought how soon experience would prove his 
 weakness, and the vanity of his best resolutions, 
 when the supporting presence of His Master was 
 withdrawn. 
 
 A similar spirit is often exhibited by careless and 
 negligent professors in our own times. They fear 
 not the wiles of the Adversary. They have no 
 dread of temptation. They imagine that no pres- 
 sure of trial, no severity of sacrifice, no force of 
 solicitation, will ever cause them to blench from the 
 path of Christian consistency. Hence they are not 
 watchful over their hearts, nor circumspect in their 
 lives. Their religious feelings may decline almost 
 to extinction ; but they see it not. Their outward 
 conduct may approach the very limits of immoral- 
 ity ; and yet they are unconscious of peril. Beck- 
 less and confident, they roam amidst the mazes of 
 the world ; exposing themselves to all its snares ; 
 adopting its principles ; fraternizing with its vota- 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 289 
 
 ries, and following in the wake of its dissipations — 
 as if to show how near they can go to the edge of a 
 precipice, without falling over it. 
 
 Now, if this feeling of security arose from a sim- 
 ple trust in the Saviour, and a well grounded, scrip- 
 tural persuasion that He will guard and uphold them 
 through all the dangers which beset their path — 
 that feeling would be itself a pledge of safety. But 
 it is, in their case, the offspring of carnal presump- 
 tion, and of proud dependence on themselves ; and 
 so is a proof, not of nearness to Christ, but of dis- 
 tance from Him. Nearness to Christ gives us a 
 just sense of our own poverty and emptiness, and 
 enlarged views of His fulness, grace, and mercy. 
 We see how great, good, and powerful He is ; how 
 vile and feeble are we ; and, with humble and child- 
 like reliance, we look to Him for all needful help 
 and protection. But, living afar from Christ, we 
 become inflated with pride, and an overweening 
 opinion of our own wisdom, strength, and suf- 
 ficiency. As when the sun is lowest, and most 
 remote from us, our own shadows appear the larg- 
 est, while they contract under his micl-day beams ; 
 so, with Christ far down in our spiritual horizon, 
 our virtues expand into unreal dimensions, but are 
 dwarfed, forgotten, lost, as we stand, rapt and 
 adoring, beneath His full-orbed, meridian bright- 
 ness. 
 
 25 
 
290 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Those who "follow the Lord afar off" are usually 
 characterized by a worldly temper. This was 
 prominently displayed in the case of Peter. When 
 His Master was arrested, he cried out, " Lord, shall 
 we smite with the sword ? " — and without waiting 
 for an answer, drew his sword, and smote off the 
 ear of the high priest's servant. There spoke and 
 acted the spirit of the world — the spirit of resist- 
 ance, retaliation, vengeance. What multitudes of 
 professing Christians now manifest the same dispo- 
 sition ! Backward and sluggish in all that relates to 
 their own spiritual improvement or to that of others, 
 they are prompt and active in everything that has 
 to do with strife and division. Let discord arise in 
 a church, and who will be most busy in fanning the 
 flame ? Those whose aid and sympathy have most 
 cheered the pastor ; whose presence and labors have 
 most enlivened the Sabbath School and the circle of 
 prayer, and whose efforts and contributions for the 
 spread of the Gospel, at home and abroad, have 
 been most liberal and ♦ constant ? By no means. 
 Such are now " weeping between the porch and the 
 altar, crying, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give 
 not thy heritage to reproach." Or, if they come 
 forth, it is only to pour oil on the troubled waters. 
 But the men who, at such seasons, walk boldest amid 
 the storm, and seem most at home there, are the 
 very men who are never seen or heard of when any 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 291 
 
 good is to be done. Out of their place, and out of 
 sight, whenever "the sacramental host" is to invade 
 the powers of darkness, they are always on hand 
 w 7 heu that host makes war on itself. Deserters 
 when Christians fight the Devil, they are heroes 
 when Christians fight each other. 
 
 And the spirit which they show in their connec- 
 tion with the church, they carry out into all the 
 relations and intercourse of life. You will find 
 them morose, petulant, easy to take offence, vin- 
 dictive, censorious, and far more ready to believe 
 evil than good of their brethren. In short, their 
 whole character bears a worldly stamp. The natu- 
 ral man lives and triumphs in it throughout, in all 
 uncharitableness, and bitterness, and envy, and 
 covetousness, and solicitude for temporal things, 
 and indifference to those which are eternal. What 
 could more strongly mark the distance at which 
 they follow Christ? 
 
 Another characteristic of the state we are delin- 
 eating, is moral cowardice. Why did Peter follow 
 his Lord afar off, keeping aloof, and skulking out 
 of view like a guilty thing ? Because he was afraid 
 or ashamed to be seen in his Lord's company. He 
 dreaded the danger, the loss, or the reproach, to 
 which he might be subjected, if recognized as a 
 disciple of the Saviour. And why, in our own day, 
 are so many who bear Christ's name so reluctant to 
 
292 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 avow and maintain Christ's cause ? For the same? 
 reason — they want courage to be decided. They 
 shrink from the cost of following Him fully. They 
 know that entire consecration to Him would involve 
 the surrender of much that they are unwilling to 
 renounce, and the doing of much that they are 
 unwilling to perform. They are aware that they 
 must mortify their most cherished passions, and 
 give up their dearest carnal hopes ; that they must 
 relinquish the pleasures and gayeties of the world, 
 and part with its emoluments and ambitions ; that 
 they must dedicate to the Saviour every faculty and 
 affection of their nature, and hold all they possess 
 or can acquire as subject to His disposal, and sacred 
 to His glory ; that they must incur for His sake 
 opposition, hatred, scorn ; and taking up His cross, 
 and bearing it into whatever path of duty or of 
 trial His example may lead them, pass their whole 
 life in self-denial, in prayer, in watchfulness, in 
 holy labor — looking for their reward, not on earth, 
 but in heaven. Such sacrifices they cannot bring 
 themselves to endure. The burden seems too 
 heavy, the race too difficult, the prize too remote. 
 And thus, trembling in view of the conflict which 
 they are called to wage, they linger at the outposts, 
 while they ought to be in the front of the battle, 
 carrying the banner of salvation into the thickest 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 203 
 
 ranks of the enemy, and storming the very citadel 
 of his power. 
 
 The individuals we are portraying evince a great 
 want of resemblance to Christ in their habits and 
 conduct. How unlike was Peter to His Master, 
 during the mournful scenes to which the text intro- 
 duces us ! Christ, seized and bound as a criminal, 
 is borne away by armed and brutal men. Peter 
 follows Him afar off, at his ease and unmolested. 
 Both enter the palace of the high priest. "Where is 
 Christ? In the judgment chamber, cold, alone, 
 friendless, before the implacable foes that thirst for 
 His blood. Where is Peter? In the servants' hall, 
 warming himself by the fire. What is Christ doing ? 
 Submitting patiently to the bitter malice of His per- 
 secutors ; meekly replying to their ensnaring ques- 
 tions ; receiving, without a murmur, the mocking 
 scoff and the cruel buffet; and, though having all 
 power in His hands, refusing to defend Plimself, or 
 to check, even by a word, the steps which are con- 
 ducting Him to that ignominious death, by which a 
 world is to be redeemed. At this same dread hour, 
 what is Peter doing? Denying his Master, and 
 then cursing and swearing to back it up. Oh, how 
 unlike was Peter to his Lord ! 
 
 But not greater was his unlikeness to Christ at 
 that one moment of weakness, than that which large 
 numbers among ourselves habitually display. Look 
 
 25* 
 
294 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 at that professed disciple of a crucified Jesus. 
 Where is he? At the card table, in the dancing 
 party, in the resort of fashion and folly, forgetting 
 his religion, and dishonoring his God. Where is 
 he? On change, taking advantage of the straits 
 of others, shaving notes, and getting fat by usury. 
 Where is he? In his shop, cheating his customers, 
 and chuckling at his success. Where is he? In 
 his counting room, reckoning up his gains. The 
 ledger gives a most gratifying result. There is a 
 large surplus which he knows not how to use ; and 
 he is studying in what way he can invest it with the 
 greatest safety and profit. Hark ! A knock at his 
 door startles him. He eyes suspiciously the visitor 
 who enters, thinking that he does not look like one 
 out of whom rich bargains can be made. It is 
 Christ, in the person of one of His servants, who 
 claims from him a small portion of his accumula- 
 tions, for the promotion of His cause, or the relief 
 of His suffering poor. Instantly the ledger reverses 
 its tables. His losses have been very heavy ; his 
 profits nothing ; aud he really finds it difficult to 
 support his family, and carry on his business. It is 
 the Lord's Day, — and where is he? In his parlor, 
 reading. What? — the Bible, that tells him of 
 Christ and salvation? No, the newspaper that tells 
 him the rate of stocks, the price of merchandise, 
 and the ever-shifting phases of politics. It is the 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 295 
 
 hour of worship, — and where is he? In the house 
 of God — asleep. In the house of God? No, he 
 is seldom there. He has not religion enough even 
 to do his sleeping in the sanctuary — but spends 
 the hours of hallowed time — hours to him vapid 
 and tedious — in dozing at home, or strolling 
 abroad. 
 
 Brethren ! have you never seen the original of 
 this picture ? I do not ask whether you can trace 
 its features in any of your own number ; for, delin- 
 quent as you may be, I would fain hope that there 
 are none among you to whom it could be fully 
 applied. But have you not found, in the great 
 body of professed believers, some, aye many, to 
 whom it corresponds in all its intensity of coloring ? 
 And can there be in such characters any resem- 
 blance to Christ crucified? There may be, in their 
 inward life, far down among the principles and feel- 
 ings which their worldliness has overlaid, some faint 
 traces of His image ; but the lines are so faint and 
 so obscure, that only the eye of Omniscience can 
 discover them. 
 
 One more characteristic of the class we are de- 
 scribing, is a low sense of Christian obligation. 
 We cannot believe that Peter, while acting in the 
 manner we have noticed, had any just impression of 
 what was due from him to his Master. And as 
 little can we believe that they who now imitate his 
 
296 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 conduct, are influenced by any adequate feeling of 
 their indebtedness to the Saviour by whose name 
 they are called. If they duly considered who Christ 
 is, and what He has done, could they prove so un- 
 faithful to Him? Did they suitably realize that it is 
 He who by His own blood hath delivered them 
 from the curse of the law, and the condemnation of 
 hell ; that it is He who awakened them from the 
 fatal slumber of their unregeueracy, and quickened 
 them by His Spirit ; that His grace now sustains 
 and guides them ; that His intercession procures for 
 them all their mercies ; that from Him comes every 
 blessing that gilds the gloom of earth, and every 
 hope that points to the blessedness of heaven — Oh, 
 did they truly feel all this, could they manifest such 
 indifference to His claims, and so little gratitude for 
 His benefits? No, no — it is impossible. Pene- 
 trated, melted by the truth, "Ye are bought with a 
 price," they would recognize the further truth, 
 " Ye are not your own ; " and every bond of duty, 
 and every drawing of love, would constrain them to 
 live, not to themselves, but unto Him who died for 
 them, and rose again. Christ, in His character and 
 in His offices, would become to them the great Cen- 
 tre of attraction, the chief Object of all their affec- 
 tions and purposes and desires ; and ravished by 
 His beauty, they would press after Him, with eager 
 longings to be conformed to His likeness. 
 
FOLLOWIXG CHRIST AFAR OFF. 297 
 
 Having thus noticed the characteristics of the 
 state described, let us now proceed to consider the 
 evils which result from it. 
 
 It is attended by a loss of happiness. How 
 miserable must Peter have been while following the 
 Lord afar off ! His gracious and loving Master has 
 been taken from him by violent hands, and he, His 
 sworn disciple, has not had the fidelity nor the cour- 
 age to stand by Him, or to suffer with Him. Observe 
 him as he pursues his lonely way along the path by 
 which Jesus has been borne. The darkness of mid- 
 night is around him ; but there is a deeper midnight 
 in his soul. Every breeze that whispers among the 
 olives of Gethsemane seems to echo the reproaches 
 of his own heart. Every star that glimmers above 
 that scene of agony seems conscious of his shame, 
 and to look down rebukingly upon him. As he 
 leaves the garden, and enters the city, the very 
 sounds of his footsteps, as he walks the deserted 
 streets, seem converted into voices of accusation. 
 And when he reaches the palace, and mingles with 
 the groups in attendance there, every eye seems to 
 pierce through him, and to read the story of his 
 perfidy. Oh, what a wretched man was Peter at 
 that hour ! 
 
 And thus is it with all who walk in his steps. 
 Sensible of the claims which their religious profes- 
 sion has on them ; knowing that they ought to live 
 
298 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 near to Christ, in spiritual communion, and holy 
 obedience : and vet unwilling to incur the self- 
 denials which such a course demands — they are 
 the constant subjects of inward strife and dissatis- 
 faction. Their judgment and conscience are per- 
 petually at war with their worldly inclinations — 
 the shadows of time, and the realities of eternity — 
 the solicitations of sense, and the incentives of the 
 Gospel — contend for the mastery over them ; and, 
 in the struggle, their hearts are torn and divided, 
 tossed about by opposite currents, and acted upon 
 by antagonistic influences. They are like a ship 
 where two tides meet, or contrary winds blow 
 against each other. Now a celestial breeze fills 
 their sails, and they seem to be speeding onward 
 to the haven of peace. Anon, a dark gale from 
 the Pit strikes them, and they are taken all aback, 
 or driven dead on the lee shore of doubt and unbe- 
 lief. In such a state, the}* can derive no real enjoy- 
 ment from anything. They have too much religion 
 to be happy in the world, and too much of the world 
 to be happy in religion. The waters of earth, mixed 
 with the waters of heaven, furnish the most unsatis- 
 fying draught that mortal lips ever tasted. Oh, 
 how many sorrows do they entail on themselves ! 
 How much of happiness do they lose ! They might 
 be filled with the fulness of God. The}' might 
 possess the solid peace and hope, the abounding 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 299 
 
 comforts and consolations, which Christ imparts to 
 those who follow Him fully. But, remaining at a 
 woeful distance from Him, they see only enough of 
 the light of His glory to render visible the darkness 
 of their own souls. 
 
 The state we have described involves a great loss 
 of usefulness. How much good Peter might have 
 done by keeping near to his Lord, we cannot tell ; 
 but certain it is that he did no good by following 
 Him afar off. On the contrary, he destroyed his 
 own peace, wounded the heart of Christ, discour- 
 aged His friends, and gave His enemies occasion to 
 exult and triumph. 
 
 In like manner, they who are now guilty of simi- 
 lar unfaithfulness, accomplish little for the glory of 
 God, and the welfare of their fellow-men. Instead 
 of seeking the advancement of Christ's kingdom, 
 and feeling that for this they were created and re- 
 deemed, they devote their time and talents to the 
 interests of this fugitive world. The service of 
 God is with them an incidental matter, to which the 
 fragments of their leisure, and an occasional pittance 
 of their property, may be given ; while the main 
 business of their lives is to accumulate wealth, to 
 acquire reputation, or to secure their own ease and 
 indulgence. Alas, how has the Church of Christ 
 been enfeebled and paralyzed, her energies wasted, 
 her resources crippled, her victories retarded, by 
 
300 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the prevalence of such a disposition among her 
 children! Had all who, in former times, bore the 
 Redeemer's name, been true to His cause, what a 
 different aspect would oar world now exhibit ! 
 And were all who profess the Gospel at the present 
 day, to come up fully to their obligations, what a 
 new impulse would be given to the triumphs of the 
 Cross ! How powerful would be the influence of 
 religion in Christian lands, and how rapidly would 
 the Saviour's conquests extend through the be- 
 nighted regions of Paganism ! All this, so tar as it 
 is connected with human instrumentalities, is inter- 
 rupted and delayed by the fact that so many follow 
 the Lord afar off. 
 
 The state referred to is one of great exposure. 
 It was emphatically bo to Peter. Had he remained 
 by the side of his Lord, there is no reason to sup- 
 pose he would have fallen into the dreadful sin of 
 denying Ilim. But by giving way to doubt, to in- 
 decision, and to a dread of personal sacrifices, he 
 was in ju-t the state of mind to yield to the tempta- 
 tion when it was presented. 
 
 Our path through this world is encompassed by 
 many dangers. Hie Adversary of our souls "goeth 
 about as a roaring lion, Beeking whom he may de- 
 vour." The seductions of pleasure, of riches, and 
 of honor, are constantly around us, ready, at cadi 
 unguarded moment, to entice us into their toil-. 
 
FOLLOinXG CHRIST AFAR OFF. 801 
 
 And we carry in oar own hearts a traitor, that is 
 always on the watch to betray ns. In such circum- 
 stances, our only safety lies in a close adherence to 
 the Captain of our Salvation who goes before us, 
 and who has promised to defend His obedient fol- 
 lowers from every snare and foe. To those who 
 tread in His footsteps, imitate His example, and 
 make His precepts the rule of them lives. He im- 
 parts grace for every emergency, succors them in 
 the onset of evil, strengthens them to resist the illu- 
 sions of sense, and spreads over them the wing of 
 His omnipotent protection amid all the perils by 
 which their course is beset. Having their loins 
 girded about with truth, and their feet shod with 
 the preparation of the Gospel of peace : wearing the 
 breast-plate of righteousness, the shield of faith. 
 aud the helmet of salvation ; and wielding the 
 sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God — 
 they pass securely through all the thick and hostile 
 legions that oppose their progress. But no such guar- 
 dianship is extended to the careless and negligent 
 soldier of the Cross. He may loiter on his march, 
 or turn aside to gather the flowers that bloom at his 
 feet, or wander into the green fields which smile 
 invitingly around him. But he will find every inch 
 of the ground filled with lurking enemies, and may 
 expect, at each step, to fall into an ambush. The 
 only safe place for him is near the banner of his 
 
 2»3 
 
302 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 lung. If he leave the ranks, or linger in the rear, 
 he is almost sure to be cut off, and taken captive. 
 Satan is always on the lookout for stragglers. Oh, 
 could we trace the inward history of those children 
 of God who, by their lapses into grievous sin, have 
 dishonored His name, and pierced their own souls 
 with many sorrows, we should find that the Tempter 
 made his successful assault at some moment of indo- 
 lence or heedlessness, when faith had grown weary, 
 and vigilance was lulled to sleep, and duty was for- 
 gotten, and prayer neglected, and the feet, ceasing 
 to follow Christ, were roaming in the by-ways 
 of earth. Who would dwell in such enchanted 
 ground ? 
 
 The state we have been considering is sure to be 
 followed by remorse and sorrow. Who can tell the 
 anguish of Peter's feelings, when, after his Lord 
 looked upon him, he went out, and wept bitterly? 
 Oh, what a tide of harrowing thoughts must have 
 rushed upon his mind, as he stole away into some 
 lonely retreat, there to give vent to his grief! 
 How did the recollection of his Saviour's love and 
 tenderness and forbearance, and of his own base 
 conduct towards Him, thrill his bosom with intens- 
 est aironv ! How must the glance of that Divine 
 eye, about to be quenched in death, have burned 
 like fire into his heart ! The impression of that hour 
 was never effaced. The memory of that upbraiding, 
 
FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 303 
 
 sorrowful, yet pitying look, never left his soul. 
 And although he truly repented, and knew that his 
 Lord had forgiven him, he never forgave himself. 
 Through all his subsequent labors and successes as 
 an Apostle, down to his dying day, he carried with 
 him the remembrance of his shameful delinquency. 
 And we are informed by Eusebius, that when, in 
 the persecution under Nero, he was sentenced to 
 crucifixion, he requested of the officers that he 
 might not be crucified in the ordinary way, but 
 with his head downward ; affirming that he was not 
 worthy to suffer in the same posture in which his 
 Lord had suffered, because he once denied Him. 
 Thus on the eve of matryrdom, with its glittering 
 crown full in view, he could not cease to reproach 
 himself for his ingratitude to his Saviour. 
 
 Similar sorrows await all lukewarm and back- 
 ward professors. If they are indeed the people of 
 Christ, He will not let them always live careless 
 and at ease. He will one day look on them with 
 the searching eyes of His word and Spirit, or with 
 the piercing glance of His judgments, and awaken 
 them to a sense of their forgotten obligations. And 
 oh ! what bitter pangs will attend their awaking ! 
 "What regrets will they feel for their past remiss- 
 ness ! How will the recollections of privileges mis- 
 improved, time wasted, opportunities of usefulness 
 lost, souls neglected, a Saviour dishonored, throng 
 
304 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 like spectres around theni ! And though, by apply- 
 ing afresh to the blood of Atonement, they may find 
 a healing balm for their wounds, they will yet bear 
 the scars of them to their very graves. Oh, who 
 would thus surround his dying bed with the memo- 
 ries of a misspent life? — memories which, even 
 amid the consciousness of pardon and restoration, 
 will dim the beams of faith and hope, and hang 
 heavily on the wings of the ascending spirit ! 
 
 Brethren ! Are any of us folloAving the Lord 
 afar off ? Let us renounce at once a conduct so 
 ungrateful and criminal. Let us strive constant^ 
 for a closer walk with Him, a more full conformity 
 to His example, and a more zealous performance of 
 His blessed will. Let us often contemplate Him in 
 His life, in His character, and in His works. We 
 shall find Him worthy of our warmest- love, and of 
 our most active consecration. If we are, indeed, 
 His disciples, He has redeemed us by His blood, 
 and kindled within us the light of His grace, how- 
 ever sadly that light may be now obscured by 
 worldliness and sin. Oh, then, let us seek His face 
 anew, and follow^ Him unreservedly, devoting to 
 Him our all for time and eternity. So shall we 
 best promote His glory, our own happiness, and 
 the spiritual good of our fellow-men. 
 
 But if it be thus an evil and bitter thing to follow 
 the Lord afar off, how much more must it be so not 
 
FOLLOWIXG CHRIST AFAR OFF. 305 
 
 to follow Him at all ! The truly converted, how- 
 ever slow may be their progress, and unsteady their 
 steps, are yet in the path to the heavenly Zion, and 
 will ultimately reach it. The self-deceived, the un- 
 believing, the impenitent, are walking in the broad 
 road that leadeth to destruction. Some of them 
 may fondly dream that they are travelling towards 
 the Celestial City ; but their whole spirit and prac- 
 tice give mournful evidence that their faces are 
 turned the other way ; while the avowedly irre- 
 ligious tread, without disguise, the open thorough- 
 fare of rebellion against God. My dear friends, let 
 me entreat you to forsake the fatal courses of the 
 world, and turn to the Lord. Come to Christ by 
 faith and repentance. Cleave to Him with full pur- 
 pose of heart. Confide all your interests to His 
 hands, and dedicate all your energies to His service. 
 So shall He be to you a Saviour nigh at hand 
 through the changing scenes of time, and your all- 
 sufficient Portion in eternity. 
 
 26* 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CHRIST'S LOVE FOR HIS OWN. 
 
 " Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved 
 THEM UNTO THE END." — John xiii. 1. 
 
 N the affection of Christ for His disciples, there 
 was a generosity, a self-oblivion, which chal- 
 lenges the admiration of every thoughtful mind. 
 The hour of His final anguish was now close 
 at hand ; that hour in which He was to be 
 assailed by the Powers of Darkness ; that hour in 
 which the supporting presence of His Father was to 
 be withdrawn from Him ; that hour in which, de- 
 serted by His followers, He was to stand like a 
 lone rock amid the billows of an ocean of sorrow. 
 And yet, even at such a moment, when His every 
 thought might well have been engrossed by the suf- 
 ferings that awaited Him, we find that He forgot 
 Himself in His deep regard for His people ; and 
 that His very consciousness of the approach of these 
 sufferings led Him to concentrate His anxieties still 
 more intensely on the cherished ones from whom 
 He was so soon to be separated. "Having loved 
 His own which were in the world, He loved them 
 unto the end." 
 
 306 
 
Christ's love foe his own. 307 
 
 With what a moral sublimity does this statement 
 invest the closing scene of the Redeemer's life ! 
 Behold Hini. on the ere of that fearful tragedy 
 which creation shuddered to witness ! From the 
 omniscience, which pertained to Him as Divine. He 
 was aware of the full violence of the storm that was 
 about to beat upon Him. He knew every bitter 
 ingredient in the cup of trembling which He was to 
 drink. He saw before Him the mournful shades 
 of Gethsemane. the bloody sweat, the mysterious 
 agony, the midnight arrest, the chain, the scourge, 
 the crown of thorns, the cross, and its death of 
 ignominy. All these were vividly present to His 
 view. But. instead of filling Him with dismay at 
 the pains which He himself was to endure, they 
 only served to increase His solicitude for those who 
 had attached themselves to His cause, and whom 
 He was to leave behind Him in a world of hostility 
 and danger. As the shipwrecked mother, when 
 the vessel is sinking, and the waves rush through 
 the riven planks, presses her babes more fondly to 
 her bosom, and. in her concern for their safety. 
 heeds not the roar of the tempest — so the Saviour. 
 as the terrors of the crucifixion thickened around 
 Him. gathered His disciples more closely to His 
 heart, and hxed on them a tenderness deepening to 
 the last : — a tenderness that death itself could not 
 extinguish: but which, ascending with Him to the 
 
308 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Throne of Intercession, now glows as fervently as 
 in the days of His flesh, towards all who believe in 
 His Name. 
 
 In endeavoring to set before you this love of 
 Christ, as it is presented in the text, I propose to 
 consider the character and condition of those who 
 are the objects of it ; and the qualities by which it 
 is distinguished. 
 
 And may our Heavenly Father so unveil to our 
 view the treasures of Grace in His Son, that our 
 hearts shall be filled with devout and adoring grati- 
 tude. May He be present to refresh us with the 
 declarations of His mercy. May He enable me so 
 to speak, and you so to hear, that we shall derive 
 from His word new strength and confidence to pur- 
 sue, through labors, and conflicts, and perils, the 
 ever-brightening path which conducts to that City 
 of Habitation, whose Builder and Maker is God. 
 
 Let us consider the character and condition of 
 those who are the objects of the Saviour's love. 
 They are described, in the passage before us, by 
 the brief, but significant expression, "Ills own." 
 In what manner, then, is this language to be under- 
 stood? To whom may it be correctly applied? 
 There is unquestionably a sense in which it may be 
 said that all men are the property of Christ. He is 
 the Author of their existence. "All things were 
 created by Him, and for Him." He is their Pre- 
 
Christ's love for his own. 309 
 
 server, upholding them continually by the word of 
 His power. His mediation procures for them, 
 while in this state of probation, unnumbered bless- 
 ings which otherwise they could never have re- 
 ceived. And by His death on the cross, as a 
 propitiation for sin, He has opened a way for their 
 return to holiness and heaven. On all these ac- 
 counts, He claims, and justly claims, the dominion 
 of this entire world of immortals. And as He is 
 the rightful Sovereign of the whole human family, 
 so He feels for all, even for the rebellious, a deep 
 and unslumbering love. His mercies are over all 
 His works ; and there is not a sinner upon earth, 
 however debased and guilty, on whom He does not 
 look with yearning compassion. 
 
 But while all men may thus be considered as 
 belonging to Christ, and participating in His benev- 
 olent regards, it is not, I apprehend, in this wide 
 extent that the language of the text is employed. 
 From the connection in which it occurs, as well as 
 from numerous parallel expressions of the Sacred 
 Writers, it manifestly refers, not to those who are 
 dear to Christ simply as the recipients of His crea- 
 ting and sustaining goodness, or as the subjects of 
 His mediatorial government ; but to those who, by 
 the sanctifying power of His grace, have been 
 brought into that new, spiritual relation to Him, 
 
310 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 which is the peculiar privilege of His regenerate 
 people. 
 
 Such were His Apostles arid immediate followers. 
 They were emphatically "His own." He chose 
 them from the mass of their unbelieving country- 
 men, illumined their dark minds, purified their 
 hearts, and endowed them with miraculous gifts, 
 for the express purpose of making them the com- 
 panions of His earthly course, and the appointed 
 heralds of His Gospel, when His own labors should 
 be finished. They were, therefore, in an eminent 
 degree, the objects of His kindness and sympathy. 
 The declaration we are examining is not, however, 
 to be limited to the personal attendants of our 
 Lord. On the contrary, it extends to all the truly 
 converted, of every clime, and in every period of 
 this world's history. Our Saviour, in that mem- 
 orable prayer with which He closed His ministry, 
 declared to His Father, that He prayed, not for 
 those only who were then His disciples, but for all 
 who in future times should believe through their 
 word. That prayer stretches along the line of the 
 ages ; and in this our distant day, after the lapse 
 of eighteen centuries, it reaches, in all the fervor 
 of its tenderness, and in all the efficacy of its inter- 
 cession, to us who believe in His name. And if the 
 word, "His own" characterized the objects" of His 
 love while He actually dwelt upon earth, that word 
 
cheist's love for his own. 311 
 
 is still the distinctive title of all who cordially 
 embrace His salvation. 
 
 To the really pious, therefore, of every age and 
 country, the appellation in the text belongs. They 
 are, in a special sense, the Redeemer's "own." 
 They constitute the blood-bought heritage given 
 Him by His Father, as the reward of His obedience 
 and sufferings. In their deliverance from guilt, 
 and their elevation to eternal felicity, He sees the 
 travail of His soul, and is satisfied. For the joy 
 set before Him in achieving their redemption, He 
 gladly endured the cross, and despised the shame. 
 And to accomplish His designs of mercy in their 
 behalf, He has sent His Holy Spirit to awaken them 
 from the slumber of sin, to renew their polluted 
 natures, to form His image within them, and, by 
 the production of repentance and faith, to bring 
 them into a vital union with Himself. Thus His 
 seal has been impressed upon them, His love shed 
 abroad.in their hearts. Drawn by the sweet attrac- 
 tions of His grace, they turn their hearts to Him, 
 as the flower turns its rejoicing petals to the morn- 
 ing sun. They feel that they are not their own. 
 They know that their Saviour has purchased them 
 with the sacrifice of His most precious life ; and, 
 melted by His goodness, they bow, with a pleased 
 submission, to His will, and dedicate their all to 
 His service. Henceforth they live, not to them- 
 
312 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 selves, but to Christ. His law becomes the rule of 
 their coucluct, His glory their aim, His approbation 
 their chief joy. All that they are, all that they 
 do, manifests their consecration to Him. In their 
 endeavors to promote His cause ; in their desires to 
 be conformed to His likeness ; in their earnest long- 
 ings after communion with Him ; in the heavenward 
 reachings of their renovated spirits — they exhibit 
 the legible signature of Him who " hath set apart 
 the godly for Himself." 
 
 Such is the character of those who sustain to 
 Christ the peculiar relation adverted to in the text. 
 And, oh, how intimate, how tender is that rela- 
 tion ! How full of meaning is the term by which 
 it is described! "His own!" What endearing 
 associations cluster around that word ! T\ r e are 
 accustomed to connect with it all that is pleasing in 
 the ideas of possession and enjoyment ; and what- 
 ever we can call ff our own" acquires, on that 
 account, an additional value in our esteem. Thus 
 the man returned from long travel gazes with eager 
 delight on his home, and sees in its woods, and 
 streams, and green hill-sides, a loveliness far dearer 
 to his heart, than all the scenes of beauty and 
 grandeur which he visited in his wanderings. Sim- 
 ilar are the feelings with which the Redeemer con- 
 templates His people. They are to Him bright, 
 sunny spots, reclaimed from the waste of our fallen 
 
Christ's love for his owjf. 313 
 
 humanity, and lit up by the beams of His grace. 
 On them His eye complacently rests. He views, 
 with gratified interest, the fruits of His own Spirit 
 within them. Sweet to Him is the sigh of their 
 penitence, the voice of their prayer, the incense of 
 their praise ; sweet their temper of lowliness, and 
 patience, and charity ; sweet their struggles against 
 sin, and their efforts after higher holiness. With 
 sleepless vigilance He watches every step of their 
 progress; spreads over them the broad shield of. 
 His power to protect them from danger; succors 
 them in temptation ; guides them in difficulty ; 
 comforts them in affliction ; and through all their 
 pilgrimage looks down upon them, waiting with fond 
 desire for the hour when, having completed their 
 salvation, He shall receive them to His own blest 
 abode, and place them, as imperishable jewels, in 
 the diadem of His glory. 
 
 But the text alludes also to the condition of those 
 who are the objects of the Saviour's love. They 
 are "in the world." This might be deemed a 
 strange place in which to look for the property of 
 Christ; for here the Prince of Evil maintains his 
 usurped dominion, and holds the multitudes of earth 
 as his willing vassals. Yet amid this scene of wide- 
 spread rebellion — in this wilderness of sin, and 
 gloom, and deaths — the people of Christ are to be 
 found ; and the circumstances of trial and peril in 
 27 
 
314 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 which they are thus placed constitute the precise 
 reason which calls forth His anxiety on their ac- 
 count. He prayed for them, not that they might 
 be taken out of the world, but that they might be 
 kept from the evil. Their state is, at present, one 
 connected with time, and with a sphere in which 
 holiness is despised, and iniquity exalted ; in which 
 the good walk in sackcloth, and the wicked in 
 lordly purple. Nevertheless, he knows their path, 
 for He has travelled it before them ; and where 
 they see the print of His feet, they are to set their 
 feet also. They are now, like their Master in the 
 days of His humiliation, encircled by foes, sur- 
 rounded by sinners, acquainted with calamity and 
 peril. Their journey lies through a desert land. 
 Many are the nigged ways along which they have 
 to pass ; many are the obstacles which they have to 
 surmount ; many are the tears which they have to 
 shed ; many are the conflicts which they have to en- 
 counter. But though their condition here is one of 
 trial and sorrow, they are not always to remain in 
 it. The place that now painfully knows them, will 
 soon know them no more. They will pass onward, 
 and pass upward. Their lot is to be a counterpart 
 of the lot of their Redeemer. 
 
 " Made like Him, like Him they rise, 
 Theirs the cross, the grave, the skies. n 
 
CHRIST 7 S LOVE FOR HIS OWN. 315 
 
 As He has completed His earthly sojourn, and as- 
 cended to His Father, so they also are to terminate 
 their wanderings. The path along which they are 
 moving by God's direction, leads to a city of habi- 
 tation. It has a definite aim — a definite limit. 
 They are not to be pilgrims forever. Their Master 
 knows the duration of their wayfaring. Its course 
 is marked out by His hand ; and when it is finished, 
 they will pass beyond the boundaries of sin and suf- 
 fering to that "House of many mansions," whither 
 the Saviour has already gone to prepare a place for 
 them, that where He is, there they may be also. 
 His happiness is not a solitary happiness. He will 
 not be satisfied with the results of His mediation, 
 nor feel that His redeeming work is consummated, 
 till He shall see the whole multitude given Him by 
 His Father, with thrilling hearts of gratitude and 
 joy, ascribing, in His own presence, "salvation 
 unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb forever." 
 
 Having shown the character and condition of 
 those who are the objects of the Saviour's love, I 
 proceed to consider the qualities by which that love 
 is distinguished. 
 
 It is disinterested. In the passage before us the 
 subject of His love is mentioned in connection with 
 His own violent departure from the world. The 
 very thoughts which occupied His mind at this mo- 
 
316 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 merit were of that agonized aud parching death 
 which He was to endure on the Cross. He was to 
 be an atonement, a sin-offering ; and in order to 
 realize this design, He was to experience sufferings, 
 whose intense and aggravated nature no language 
 can describe, or imagination conceive. Yet such 
 was His affection for "His own," that, to secure 
 their happiness, He cheerfully bowed Himself to the 
 baptism of anguish. Oh, there is a magnanimity in 
 the love of Christ that has rilled heaven with aston- 
 ishment ! " God so loved the world, that He gave 
 His Only Begotten Son " to die for it ; and that 
 Only Begotten Son so loved His people, that He 
 joyfully consented to this death. 
 
 Well does it become us to contemplate with 
 greater frequency and attention this attribute of 
 our Redeemer's love. We had no claim to his 
 favor. In ourselves there was not only nothing 
 to attract, but everything to repel, His kindness. 
 It was while we were yet sinners, guilty, perverse, 
 self-destroyed, that He made for us the Avondrous 
 manifestation of love displayed in our redemp- 
 tion. It was, therefore, a love which had its ex- 
 clusive source in His own undeserved, spontaneous 
 goodness. There is in our world but one type of 
 this love; and even that is in comparison feeble 
 and imperfect. It is the love which a mother feels 
 for the infant she has brought forth. In that help- 
 
Christ's love for his own. 317 
 
 less object of her regard there is nothing of dignity, 
 nothing of beauty, nothing of intellect, nothing of 
 virtue, nothing of any quality that is fitted to excite 
 intense emotion. And yet with what melting ten- 
 derness does her heart yearn towards it. The foun- 
 tain of a mother's love is in her own bosom. It is 
 an irrepressible instinct. Free and self-moving as 
 a living spring, it gushes up from the depths of her 
 nature, without a thought of the worthiness of the 
 being on whom it is bestowed. Now, it is this very 
 affection which inspiration has selected to illustrate 
 the love of Christ to His people. He passed by, 
 and beheld them, " like an infant cast out into the 
 open field," lying in their guilt, and weltering in 
 their blood. He saw in them nothing on which His 
 eye could rest with complacency. They were vile, 
 they were corrupt, they were loathsome^ But they 
 were miserable. They needed His pity. His 
 bowels moved over them; and, in the exercise of 
 His own sovereign, unmerited grace, He said unto 
 them, "Live." He assumed their nature. He bore 
 their sins in His own body on the tree. And, hav- 
 ing risen triumphant from the grave, He now sends 
 down His Spirit to work their renovation, and pre- 
 pare them for the bliss of His presence. Oh, base 
 must be the heart, and sordid the mind, that can 
 think of a love like this, and not swell with mingled 
 emotions of wonder and gratitude ! 
 27* 
 
318 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 The love of Christ to His people is a holy love. 
 Why is the declaration of the Saviour's love con- 
 nected in the text with an allusion to His death ? 
 Might not one reason he to show the holiness of 
 that love ? He could not manifest His compassion 
 for our fallen race in any manner that should com- 
 promise the perfections of God, or lead any subject 
 of His government to question the purity of its ad- 
 ministration. No ; the rights of Infinite Sovereignty 
 must be respected ; the claims of moral obligation 
 must be sustained ; the integrity of the Divine Law 
 must be preserved. To secure these ends in con- 
 junction with the honorable exercise of clemency, 
 it was necessary that He should make, in the view 
 of the universe, such an expiation for sin, that God 
 could be just, and yet justify the believing trans- 
 gressor. And this He has done. By His atoning 
 Sacrifice, He has opened a channel by which the 
 stream of mercy may flow to the penitent, without 
 impinging against any of the abutments of Justice, 
 or shaking a single pillar of Jehovah's throne. 
 There is, therefore, a holiness in the love of Christ. 
 It is not an undue partiality, an overweening fond- 
 ness, that sacrifices principle, and is reckless of 
 consequences. It is a righteous love. It is a love 
 worthy of His Divinity. It is a love that bears 
 upon it the very stamp and impress of the God- 
 head. It is a love which, while it pardons and 
 
c heist's love for his own. 319 
 
 saves the repenting sinner, sacredly guards all 
 the attributes of Deity, and spreads a salutary awe 
 through every rank of accountable beings. 
 
 The love of Christ to His people is a wise love. 
 Of this we have a striking illustration in the chapter 
 from which the text is taken. We read that when 
 the Supper was ended, our Lord took a towel, and 
 girded Himself, and began to wash the disciples' 
 feet. I refer to this as conveying to my mind a sig- 
 nal exemplification of the wisdom of Christ's love. 
 He was now to be removed from these objects of 
 His solicitude, and could no longer impart to them 
 His advice and counsel. He was, therefore, desir- 
 ous of improving this occasion to iustruct them in a 
 particular point which they most needed to know, 
 and which was specially important to their wel- 
 fare. That point was humility. There is no les- 
 son, even to the Christian, more difficult than this. 
 To be conscious of his own insignificance — to cher- 
 ish a subdued and docile temper — to feel that no 
 duty is beneath him — to realize his weakness, and 
 to hang with a complete dependence on the grace 
 and strength of God — is a frame of mind most es- 
 sential to his spiritual progress, but one which he is 
 most reluctant and slow to acquire. Hence, our 
 Lord appears to have selected this precise mo- 
 ment — a moment around which memory would 
 afterwards linger with peculiar interest — in order 
 
320 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 to communicate His instructions respecting humility 
 in a manner the most impressive, and the most 
 likely to be recalled. He took the servant's place, 
 and began to wash the disciples' feet. And He 
 intended by this action, not only to teach them 
 emblematically the great truth that no man is 
 cleansed from sin until he is washed in the blood of 
 Christ ; but also to show them by His own example, 
 that they should be meek in their pretensions ; 
 unassuming in their intercourse with each other ; 
 condescending to the lowest offices of kindness and 
 charity ; and regarding it as their highest honor to 
 be ministers of consolation to the unhappy. His 
 love was, then, a wise love. A wise instructor 
 embraces favorable seasons to inculcate the lessons 
 he wishes most deeply to impress. And thus our 
 Divine Teacher evinced His wisdom by choosing 
 the fittest opportunity to record His deep sense of 
 the value of that lowliness of spirit, which is the 
 native element of piety, and in which only it can 
 flourish, and produce its fairest and most precious 
 fruits. 
 
 The wisdom of the Saviour's love may also fur- 
 nish a key to much that is mysterious in His dis- 
 pensations towards His people, during their earthly 
 pilgrimage. Why is the state of Christians here 
 one of trial and conflict? It is because the love of 
 their Master is a wise love. He is too wise and too 
 
Christ's love for nis own. 3^1 
 
 good to allow them any indulgence which would be 
 inconsistent with their real welfare. In this world 
 partial fondness defeats its own end, and is often 
 the occasion of ruin to those on whom it is lavished. 
 But in the love of Christ there is no such weakness. 
 While it designs the true happiness of its objects, it 
 labors to promote it by a recourse to that moral 
 treatment which their present circumstances de- 
 mand. Hence the fact that the pious are so often 
 afflicted, crossed by so many disappointments, 
 bowed down by so many sorrows, heart-struck by 
 so many bereavements, exposed to so many foes, 
 encompassed by so many perils, is in itself a proof 
 that the love which the great Shepherd feels for 
 them is as wise as it is tender. He subjects them 
 to such a discipline, because He sees it to be neces- 
 sary to the development of their religious character. 
 They are now in a state of pupilage, training up for 
 the occupations and the beatitudes of heaven. For 
 that blessed world they are as yet but partially 
 fitted. Their knowledge is inadequate ; their expe- 
 rience is immature ; their principles are defective ; 
 their affections are low and sensual. They need 
 the constant application of the Master's hand to 
 improve what is begun, to ripen what is crude, to 
 soften what is rough, to strengthen what is feeble, 
 and to give to their piety the highest degree of 
 completeness of which in this imperfect scene the 
 
322 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 renewed nature is capable. And in the carrying on 
 of this sanctifying process, affliction is His chief 
 instrumentality. There are some graces, indeed, 
 which nothing else can bring out. Patience, sub- 
 mission, fortitude, detachment from the world, and 
 unwavering trust in God, are not flowers of the sun. 
 They do not grow in the sheltered garden. They 
 are not fanned by balmy breezes. They are 
 planted on the beetling cliff. They are watered 
 by the spray of the ocean. They bloom amid tem- 
 pests and hurricanes. There are lessons which 
 cannot be taught in the smiling valley. They must 
 be learned in the frowning desert, where the sky is 
 hung with gloom, and the earth is clothed in mourn- 
 ing. And it is for the sake of these lessons that 
 the All-wise Disposer of our lot spreads the shadows 
 of adversity around those whom He loves. Viewed 
 in this light, every aspect of severity vanishes from 
 His providence. Its dark lines become radiant with 
 mercy ; and the calamities which so frequently 
 befall the righteous appear, what they really are, 
 the expressions of unerring kindness and benignity. 
 They are designed to wean them from the vanities 
 of time ; to fix their thoughts on heaven ; to teach 
 them penitence, resignation, self-distrust, and confi- 
 dence in their almighty Guide ; and to lead them, 
 by all the troubles of life's wilderness, to value and 
 
Christ's love fob his own. 323 
 
 enjoy that Canaan of eternal rest, where every tear 
 will be wiped away. 
 
 Christian ! think you that generous Saviour 
 who gave Himself as your ransom, would withhold 
 from you any earthly boon, if He saw it to be con- 
 sistent with your spiritual interests ? No ; it would 
 cost Him far less to give you a world than to do 
 what He has done for you. It is only because 
 unbroken sunshine would make you love the present 
 scene too well, that He brings His clouds over you. 
 But while He is thus constrained now to correct 
 His people, with what intense satisfaction does He 
 look forward to the period when His chastisements 
 will no longer be necessary ; when He can pour a 
 full tide of bliss through their hearts, and they shall 
 be safe under the pressure of that glorious prosper- 
 ity ! The hour is coming when He can give full 
 scope to His bounty, without any fear of injuring 
 the piety of His servants. It is reserved for that 
 brighter world, where no temptation can enter, no 
 intirmity betray, to furnish a perfect manifestation 
 of the riches of His goodness. There happiness 
 can be enjoyed without danger. And there will the 
 munificent Eedeemer be seen in the midst of His 
 sanctified ones, diffusing around them a flood of 
 blessings, which they shall contemplate and possess 
 forever with increasing humility and gratitude. 
 
 The love of Christ to His people is an unchang- 
 
324 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ing love. In this world we are familiar with insta- 
 bility. There is here nothing firm, nothing perma- 
 nent, nothing secure. Everything around us is 
 evanescent and mutable as the hues of evening. 
 Even the friendships of earth are fragile structures, 
 which the winds of adversity may throw down. 
 But in the love of Christ there is a constancy on 
 which the weary heart may repose without fear of 
 change. Having loved His own which were in 
 the world, He loved them unto the end." There 
 was much in these objects of His affection to grieve 
 and alienate Him; much perverseness, much irreso- 
 lution, much unbelief, much inconsistency. But as 
 His love arose, not from any excellence in them, 
 but from His own free grace ; as He had taken the 
 full gauge, not only of human woe, but of human 
 depravity and waywardness, He was prepared to 
 love through all these obstacles, and to love unto 
 the end. How forcibly do the Scriptures portray 
 the faithfulness of Christ by a reference to those 
 images of strength and fixedness which Nature fur- 
 nishes ! " The mountains may depart, and the hills 
 be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from 
 thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be 
 removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy upon 
 thee." 
 
 It is the perpetuity of the Redeemer's love which 
 insures the salvation of His people. Oh, could His 
 
Christ's love fob his own. 325 
 
 mind waver X Could there be in Him any shadow 
 of turning ! Could the least possibility of failure 
 be predicated of any of His promises ! Could im- 
 perfection or ingratitude in His chosen divert His 
 regards from them ! — then would the ground of the 
 Christian's confidence be destroyed ; then could the 
 bark of his hopes find no anchorage, but must drift 
 over the troubled ocean of uncertainty, and wander 
 forever from the Port of Peace. But, blessed be 
 God, His purpose in Christ stand eth sure. The 
 Lord knoweth them that are His ; and the love 
 which He bears them is, like Himself, immutable. 
 It is not a summer torrent from the mountains, 
 which, swollen by sudden rains, may run full and 
 strong for a time, and then is dry. No ; it is the 
 deep, settled current of the ever-flowing river. It 
 is measureless as infinitude, fathomless as the sea, 
 fixed as Heaven's throne, lasting as eternity ; and 
 the fact that it is so, is the sheet-anchor of the 
 universe. 
 
 Permit me, in closing the subject, to exhort you, 
 my Christian brethren, to meditate often on the 
 love of the Saviour. The more you thus meditate, 
 the more will your own love to Him be increased ; 
 the more earnest and unremitted will be your en- 
 deavors to serve Him. Oh ! it is a sense of the 
 love of Christ which nerves the mind for active 
 obedience! When His fulness is not seen — when 
 
 28 
 
326 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the eye is turned away from His ever-present and 
 all-powerful aid — it is then that the heart staggers, 
 and the purpose is irresolute. But let the believer 
 humbly and devoutly ponder the unsearchable riches 
 of the Gospel ; let him spread out before him its 
 varied promises, and expatiate, with freedom and 
 joy, over the boundless field of its consolations ; let 
 him explore, under the guidance of the Blessed 
 Comforter, the heights, and depths, and lengths, 
 and breadths of that love of Christ which passeth 
 knoAvlcdgc ; let him encircle himself with it as with 
 an atmosphere, and baptize his spirit into its living 
 element ; — then shall his soul gather fresh courage ; 
 his heart shall assume a firmer and a nobler atti- 
 tude ; he shall address himself to duty with an en- 
 ergy of resolve and a strength of perseverance, that 
 will enable him to break from many a shackle, 
 which has hitherto impeded him in the ways of 
 God ; and he shall know, by happy experience, 
 those holy victories over sin, and passion, and 
 Avorldliness, which the power of the Redeemer can 
 even here achieve for His people. Ye are not 
 straitened in Him ; ye are straitened only in your 
 own narrow conceptions of His grace. Endeavor, 
 then, by fervent prayer for the teachings of the 
 Spirit, to raise your low views of Christ lo the high 
 level on which He has presented Himself lo you. 
 Oh, think of Him as lie is! Think of Him in the 
 
Christ's love for his own. 327 
 
 unchangeableness of His nature, in the plenitude of 
 His compassions, in the exhaustless efficacy of His 
 atonement, in the omnipotent prevalence of His in- 
 tercession. Then shall your weeping eye turn from 
 your own deficiencies to His all-perfect merits ; from 
 the pursuing vengeance of the law to the sure refuge 
 of His cross. Then amid the sorrows of life jour 
 heart shall be glad. You will see in the severest 
 privations the marks of His wisdom and kindness ; 
 and, through all the fluctuations of your earthly lot, 
 you will look forward with unfaltering faith to the 
 day, when all that He has promised shall be realized 
 to you ; when grief and sin shall invade you no 
 more ; when, basking in His eternal smile, you shall 
 serve Him with no interruption of obedience, no 
 abatement of zeal, no ending of love ; and falling at 
 His feet with adoring reverence and praise, snarl 
 ascribe " grace unto Him who hath loved you to the 
 end." 
 
 With you, my unconverted friends, who have 
 never given your hearts to Christ, I would briefly, 
 but most earnestly, expostulate. How infatuated is 
 your present choice ! What can you find in this 
 scene of shadows and illusions, to compare with the 
 ineffable blessing of a Saviour's love? For what 
 empty and fleetiug pleasures do you barter the sub- 
 lime and unperishing hopes which the Gospel holds 
 out to you ! And will you continue to refuse His 
 
328 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 overtures ! Will you remaiu iusensible to His 
 claims, unaffected by His kindness, unsoftened by 
 His pleading agonies? Think, what must be your 
 condition, if you die without an interest in Him, 
 with no repentance in view of His sufferings, no 
 reliance on His grace, no faith to link your perish- 
 ing souls to His all-sufficient righteousness ! Into 
 the heaven in which He dwells you cannot enter. 
 You must go away into everlasting punishment. 
 Who can describe the misery of such an exile ? To 
 be banished eternally from His presence ; to be con- 
 signed to that land of darkness which the smile of 
 I lis love never irradiates ; to know that the bosom, 
 which once bled for your salvation, no longer feels 
 for you ; to see that Eye, once beaming with pity, 
 now fixing on you the stern glance of inexorable 
 justice ; to hear those blessed lips, which once 
 sweetly invited you to come to Him, pronounce the 
 sentence, "Depart" — Oh, what hand can be strong, 
 what heart can endure, when such a doom enwraps 
 the conscious spirit ! Alas, how many are there 
 now before me, who are treasuring up this wretch- 
 edness for themselves, and over whom the dreadful 
 imprecation of the Apostle is hanging, "If any man 
 love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema 
 maranatha." 
 
 Dear hearer ! flee from that descending curse. 
 Hide yourself beneath the wing of Eternal Mercy ; 
 
Christ's love for his own. 329 
 
 in the arms of that Saviour who ever lives to inter- 
 cede for you, who is ready to forgive, and mighty 
 to save — say of His bosom alone, this is my refuge, 
 here will I rest. He waits to receive you. His 
 voice of melting entreaty is heard amid the pauses 
 of this world's storm. Oh, listen now to that gra- 
 cious call, lest, wearied by delay, He turn from you 
 forever ! 
 
 28* 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 
 
 "I SAW, AND BEHOLD, A WHITE HORSE; AND HE THAT SAT ON 
 HIM nAD A BOW; AND A CROWN WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM J AND HE 
 WENT FORTH CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER."— Eev. vi. 2. 
 
 * } HTLLIANT and imposing are the deeds of 
 war. In no other field do men reap so 
 grand a harvest of renown. They carry 
 with them a parade, and pomp, and splen- 
 dor, which fascinate the imagination, and 
 insure to their performers the richest rewards, and 
 the amplest meed of glory. Nor is this tribute, 
 great as it is, always extravagant or undeserved. 
 Victors in a just war are justly honored. When, 
 like Washington and Garibaldi, they draw the 
 sword in defense of their native land, and win its 
 freedom ; or when, like Grant, and Sherman, and 
 F.nragut, they crush a ruthless oligarchy banded 
 to destroy that freedom — their achievements merit 
 all the applause which the verdict of the ages accords 
 to them. How vast is the debt which this nation 
 owes to its brave soldiers who, in the hour of its 
 dread peril, went forth to battle against the Treason 
 that assailed its life ! Well may a grateful people 
 
 330 
 
THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 331 
 
 confer on them its noblest guerdons. Cherished be 
 the living ; sacred the memory of the dead. 
 
 Not so is it with the champions of an evil cause. 
 They who exert their prowess on the side of des- 
 potism, who fight for ambition, for wrong, for the 
 overthrow of liberty and justice, deserve only the 
 reprobation of mankind. Their career is one of 
 bootless carnage. Humanity has no interest in 
 their successes. Their laurels are stained with the 
 tears of the helpless and the blood of the innocent. 
 And the wail of subjugated lands proclaims their 
 infamy to the heavens and the earth. 
 
 In the Sacred Eecords, however, we may trace 
 the history of one Conqueror whose triumphs were 
 won at the expense of no blood but His own — 
 triumphs that involved no sufferings save those 
 which He Himself endured — triumphs that shall 
 issue in universal peace and joy. Who is this 
 wondrous Victor, whose power is so benign, and 
 whose pathway is so bright with mercy? It is 
 Christ, the Divine Subduer and Restorer of the 
 world. In the views which Scripture gives of His 
 redemptive work, He is often described as going 
 forth, clad in the habiliments of war and the august 
 insignia of dominion, to contend against His puis- 
 sant and numerous foes ; driving them before Him 
 like the dust of the summer's threshing-floor ; win- 
 ning from them field after field and fortress after 
 
332 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 fortress, until He accomplishes their utter defeat, 
 amid the rejoicings of the universe. 
 
 One of these representations, as witnessed by the 
 rapt seer of Patmos, is set before us in his own 
 graphic words. "I saw, and behold, a white horse ; 
 and He that sat on him had a bow ; and a crown 
 was given unto Him ; and He went forth conquer- 
 ing and to conquer." 
 
 Wc need not explain at large the whole series of 
 prophetic adumbrations to which this scene belongs. 
 It will be sufficient to remark that the " Book sealed 
 with seven Seals," introduced in the preceding chap- 
 ter, and bearing directly on the revelations of this, 
 is symbolic of the Divine purposes ; and that the 
 successive loosing of the seals denotes the succes- 
 sive unfolding of those purposes to the end of time. 
 Immediately upon the opening of the First Seal 
 follows the vision of the text — a vision not limited 
 to a single period of the Divine government, but 
 exhibiting a compendious foreshowing of the work 
 of Christ in every age, till the mystery of God shall 
 be finished. 
 
 With this view of the connection in which the 
 words occur, I proceed to consider, as naturally 
 suggested by them, the Enemies, the Weapons, and 
 the Victories of Messiah. 
 
 The going forth of Christ as a Conqueror, clearly 
 supposes that there are adversaries arrayed to resist 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 333 
 
 His progress. Among these the Powers of Dark- 
 ness, comprehending the various orders of fallen 
 angels ranged under the banner of Satan, may be 
 deemed most potent and formidable. The same 
 inspired Volume which reveals the existence and 
 the character of these apostate spirits, represents 
 them as maintaining a fierce and perpetual struggle 
 against the cause of Him who came from heaven to 
 demolish their fell empire over the hearts of men. 
 A foreshadowing of this conflict was given in the 
 sentence which God pronounce^-oji _the A rch-De- 
 ceiver, at the mournful hour when the blight of 
 impurity first dimmed the lustre of the new-made 
 earth. " 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." From the first announcement of redemp- 
 tion, the Promised Deliverer became the chief ob- 
 ject of Satanic hostility. Never discouraged, never 
 relenting, that hostility pursued Him through all 
 the centuries that preceded His advent — through 
 all the sorrows of His manifestation in flesh — till 
 its utmost rage was poured out in His death on the 
 cross. Not even then did the malice of Hell lose 
 aught of its bitterness. It has shown itself ever 
 since in one ceaseless effort to thwart the Re- 
 deemer's purposes, and impede the extension of 
 His kingdom. The wickedness that dominates the 
 
334 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ■world, the discords that convulse it, the thickening 
 battle between Eight and Wrong, no less than the 
 authoritative testimony of Scripture, bear witness 
 to the fact that diabolic agencies are still at work 
 to oppose the onward march of Messiah — agencies 
 whose resources are vast, whose endeavors are 
 incessant, but whose overthrow is sure. 
 
 All unconverted men are the adversaries of the 
 Son of God. In consequence of the original apos- 
 tasy, man possesses a moral nature utterly hostile to 
 the character and the will of Christ. No truth is 
 more strongly asserted in the Bible than that every 
 human being, while unrenewed, is in a state of 
 alienatioD alike from the one Father and the one 
 Mediator. "The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God, and is not subject to His law, neither indeed 
 can be." And all in whom its influence remains 
 unbroken are charged with the fearful guilt of 
 "hating both the Father and the Son." Nor can 
 we even glance at the plan of Redemption without 
 perceiving that in every part it distinctly assumes 
 the absolute and universal estrangement of the 
 human heart from its Creator. This view of our 
 spiritual position admits of no abatement and of no 
 Limitation. Its dread comprehensiveness takes in 
 every nation, every period of time, every class, 
 every condition, every unsanctified individual of 
 earth's fallen family. The whole multitude of the 
 
THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 335 
 
 unregenerate, led on by infernal Powers, are lifting 
 the blaek flag of rebellion, and waging a deadly 
 warfare against that supreme and merciful Saviour, 
 before whom every knee should bow, and to whom 
 every tongue should confess. 
 
 The depravity of man has, moreover, given birth 
 to various systems of falsehood and delusion, which 
 interpose new obstacles to the spread of Messiah's 
 empire. These systems overshadow the earth, and 
 hold in their baleful thraldom untold millions of its 
 population. And everywhere they rear up stern 
 barriers to the ongoing of Divine truth ; everywhere 
 they marshal countless forces to arrest the conquests 
 of the Cross. Wherever we turn, we meet their 
 bristling front. On whatever side we cast our eyes, 
 we see their huge columns drawn up for attack, 
 stretching over continents and hemispheres; and, 
 however differing in titles, colors, organizations, all 
 moving under the great central banner of the Pit — 
 Opposition to God and His Christ. In one direc- 
 tion, we see the long alignment of those corrupt 
 forms of Christianity which, while they arrogate its 
 name, are alien from its nature, and traitors to its 
 cause. Here muster the followers of those philo- 
 sophic unbeliefs, which deny the Divinity of the 
 Mediator, the vicarious virtue of His sacrifice, the 
 need of the Spirit's office and the Spirit's work ; and 
 which regard all religions as of mere earthly origin, 
 
336 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 and confined in their influence to the present life. 
 Here range the adherents of that monstrous dogma, 
 which scoffs at the retributions of eternity, and 
 teaches the final happiness of all men, whatever 
 character they bear in this probational stage of their 
 being. Here, too, are found the deluded devotees 
 of Formalism, worshipping a dead ritual, and trust- 
 ing for salvation in the efficacy of perverted sacra- 
 ments. And, close beside them, the vast power of 
 Romanism displays its serried ranks, tramples God's 
 Word in the dust, lifts on high the standard of 
 Antichrist, and blazons on its gory folds a Harlot 
 drunk with the blood of saints. In another quarter, 
 we see the motley hordes of Infidelity, toiling with 
 remorseless zeal to overturn the Christian Faith, 
 and brand its Author as a cheat ; to sunder the 
 bonds of moral obligation, unchain the wild pas- 
 sions of men, bl<A Hope from the horizon of the 
 soul, and sink the Promise of Immortality in the 
 gulf of Nothingness. Farther on, stands embattled 
 the tierce Mohammedan Imposture, which has estab- 
 lished it- sway by rapine and slaughter, and whose 
 iron feet have trodden into ashes the fairest prov- 
 inces of the globe. And beyond, in the dim dis- 
 tance, where the shadow of death lies unbroken 
 upon the nation-, appear the mighty phalanxes of 
 Heathenism, vile, besotted, impious, and given up, 
 body and soul, to idolatries whose nameless pol- 
 
THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 337 
 
 lutions debase their votaries to a level with the 
 brute. 
 
 In all these forms of darkness and corruption 
 there is the deepest and most rancorous hostility to 
 the Son of God. Look where we will, this feet 
 startles us by its prominence. In lands evangelized 
 as in lands pagan, among peoples refined as among 
 peoples rude, we find civilizations, governments,* 
 institutions, laws, public and private life, every- 
 where pervaded by a spirit of bold and active resist- 
 ance to the authority of Heaven. The whole world 
 is in arms against its Maker and Eedeemer. On 
 every hand we witness the manifestations of rebel- 
 lion. All along the ranks of the insurgents we 
 hear the stir and din of preparation. The gates of 
 the cities are closed ; the sentinels are moving to 
 and fro on the ramparts ; from every crag and hill- 
 top frown the batteries of forts and castles ; while, 
 in the open plain, myriad hosts unmask their long 
 and deep array, waving the ensigns of revolt, and 
 shouting defiance against the King of kings and 
 Lord of lords. How fearful the spectacle ! What 
 stupendous energies, inspired by what implacable 
 malignity, are there ! Can aught but Infinite Power 
 vanquish such a mass of evil, and retrieve it to holi- 
 ness and Heaven ? 
 
 Against these combined and multitudinous forces 
 the God-man is represented as going forth; and 
 
 29 
 
3o8 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 this leads us to notice the Weapons which He em- 
 ploys. The Sacred Limner has pictured Him to us 
 riding on f ' a white horse," and armed with a bow. 
 The phraseology is, of course, figurative, and is 
 intended to mark the majesty, the preparation, and 
 the vigor with which He addresses Himself to the 
 combat. Oriental princes and commanders, when 
 engaged in martial expeditions, were wont to ride 
 upon white horses, as a sign of authority and pre- 
 eminence. And hence the description of Christ as 
 thus borne onward in His spiritual campaigns indi- 
 cates His office as the King in Zion, the Captain of 
 Salvation, and Leader of the assault on the legions 
 of ungodliness. Moreover, in the language of 
 Scripture, the horse is a symbol of swiftness ; and 
 when Messiah is portrayed as a mounted champion 
 rushing to the encounter, the image denotes the 
 rapidity with which He pushes forward His con- 
 quests. To this end His Providence ministers, by 
 the facilities it has furnished for the wider circula- 
 tion of the Gospel, and for quick and easy commu- 
 nication with all parts of the world. The Pr 
 scattering abroad the leaves which are for the heal- 
 ing of the nations ; Discovery and Commerce open- 
 ing up highways over all the earth ; the traffic thai 
 visits every clinic; the sails that whiten every Bea ; 
 mshipa defying wind and tide; railways span- 
 ning continents; electric win s girdling the globe — 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER, 339 
 
 these are the fleet steeds that bear His name and 
 His power to remotest lands. 
 
 The bow was also a weapon very common and 
 very effective in ancient warfare. Its use is ascribed 
 both to God the Father and to God the Son. Of 
 the Father, it is said, " Thy bow was made quite 
 naked, even Thy word;" of the Son, "Thine 
 arrows are sharp in the hearts of the King's ene- 
 mies, whereby the people fall under Thee." 
 
 The symbolic language of the text, therefore, 
 was designed to show that our Immanuel carries 
 forward His triumphs through agencies which He 
 has chosen for the purpose ; and by which He will 
 finally overcome all opposition, and universally 
 establish His cause. What, then, are those agen- 
 cies? 
 
 The Saviour goes forth to subdue His enemies by 
 the publication of His Word. In providing for the 
 spread of His Gospel, it was His gracious appoint- 
 ment that the facts which compose that Gospel, and 
 in the supremacy of which over the hearts of men 
 His victories consist, should be placed before the 
 eyes of all in the most luminous and impressive 
 manner. Hence He has caused them to be clearly 
 written out in His Living Oracles. That heaven- 
 indited Volume contains the record of His own 
 infinite condescension to our fallen race — of His 
 mediatorial work, His atoning death, His resurrec- 
 
340 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 tion, and His enthronement in glory. In it is set 
 clown every verity which He came to make known, 
 every doctrine which He came to teach, every pre- 
 cept which He came to inculcate. Throughout its 
 wonderful narrative, Jesus Christ appears again in 
 His mission of love, lives over again His life of 
 humiliation and sorrow, repeats His deeds of mercy, 
 is crucified afresh, triumphs anew over the grave, 
 soars upward before our eyes to the seat of eternal 
 Majesty. Wherever this blessed Book circulates, 
 to whatever clime or kindred it comes, with its rev- 
 elations of truth, and grace, and salvation, the Son 
 .of God goes with it, travelling, in the history of 
 His own matchless compassion, from heart to heart, 
 from dwelling to dwelling, from nation to nation. 
 And so shall He continue to go forth, till by the 
 diffusion of His Word the knowledge of Him shall 
 be dispersed through all the tribes and habitations 
 of earth. 
 
 Superadded to this, and in close alliance with it, 
 He has employed the oral preaching of the Gospel. 
 He has set apart a distinct order of men to be His 
 heralds in all time, and with living voices to pro- 
 claim to their fellow-men the message of salvation. 
 At the close of His own ministry, when He was 
 about to ascend on high, He gave to His Apostles 
 the momentous commission, " Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. " 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 341 
 
 That commission reaches down through the line of 
 succeeding centuries, and is as authoritative now as 
 in the hour when it was first uttered. And the 
 same promise of success attends it. The ordinance 
 establishing a special connection between the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel and the conversion of sinners, 
 covers all the ages. The Cross of Christ, borne 
 aloft in the hands of its ministers, ever has been 
 and ever will be the chosen instrument of Grace. 
 
 In this manner it is that Messiah advances to 
 the subjugation of His foes. As the steed of the 
 warrior bears him over the field of battle, so the 
 Redeemer rides abroad on the wings of His Word, 
 wielding the bow of His Truth, and scattering far 
 and wide its victorious arrows. Thus He goes 
 forth amidst our rebellious race, to confront their 
 hostility, to vindicate His own glory, to recover and 
 rule the world. 
 
 Now, the proclamation of the Gospel, as a means 
 of conquest, is eminently adapted to its end, and to 
 the constitution of the human mind. In the great 
 realities with which it deals, it possesses the fullest 
 resources for controlling the corrupt propensities of 
 our nature. It unfolds the grandeur of the Divine 
 character,- and the spirituality of the Divine law. 
 It exhibits the obligations which man owes to God 
 as his Creator, Preserver, and Judge. It displays 
 the exceeding heinousness of sin, and the sure and 
 
 29* 
 
342 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 terrible wrath which has been revealed from heaven 
 against it. It unveils, moreover, that wonderful 
 system of Eeconeiliation devised in the councils of 
 eternity, and consummated in the Atonement of the 
 Cross, by which God commends His love toward 
 us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died 
 for us. And it assures us that all who repose a 
 vital faith in the Saviour's righteousness shall be 
 absolved from guilt, restored to the Divine favor, 
 and made heirs of everlasting life. In such a com- 
 bination of truths and motives there is, on the one 
 hand, everything to alarm ; and, on the other, 
 everything to encourage. While its announcements 
 of condemnation and punishment are suited to 
 awaken fear, its amazing discoveries of mercy are 
 no less calculated to inspire hope ; and in this 
 double appeal there resides a most potent charm to 
 soften the human heart, and win it back to God. 
 How evident, then, is it that the preaching of the 
 Gospel is an instrument skilfully fitted to promote 
 the achievements of the Gospel, and that it is, 
 indeed, the wisdom of God and the power of God 
 unto salvation ! 
 
 The Son of God goes forth to vanquish His ene- 
 mies by the agency of His Spirit. It is a fact as 
 startling as it is mournful, that notwithstanding the 
 adaptation alike of the Gospel and of its ministry 
 to subdue the hearts of men, yet so obdurate ia 
 
THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 343 
 
 their depravity, and so invincible the hold which 
 unbelief has on them, that never would they yield 
 to the message of love, were it not energized by an 
 almighty Influence sent down from heaven. Who 
 knows not that throughout the Gospel4iistory, what- 
 ever work is attributed to the word of God is 
 attributed to the power of the Spirit accompanying 
 that word? This great truth underlies and per- 
 meates all the New Testament Writings. They 
 everywhere set forth the Spirit as the Author of 
 conviction, the Author of repentance, the Author of 
 faith, the Author of all renovating grace and of all 
 celestial blessings. In the economy of redemption, 
 this glorious Agent, while possessing all the attri- 
 butes proper to Deity, is placed in subserviency to 
 the work of the Son, with a view to the advance- 
 ment of His triumphs. And what wonder is it if 
 at His bidding the tumults of human rebellion are 
 hushed into silence ! What wonder if before His 
 might all the powers of Hell tremble and shrink 
 away ! What wonder if through His energy the 
 cross of the despised and rejected ISTazarene receive 
 the homage of a world ! 
 
 Such is the panoply with which the Saviour goes 
 forth. Oh, how unlike the weapons which earthly 
 conquerors employ ! Here is no sword to destroy, 
 no fire to ravage and lay waste, no engines of wrath 
 and havoc to spread devastation over provinces and 
 
344 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 empires. Around the path of the white horse and 
 its crowned Eider no charging squadrons whirl, no 
 sabres flash, no murderous cannon roar. In place 
 of war's stern excitements, the commotion, the wild 
 fury, the clash of arms, the death-grapple, mangled 
 corpses, and garments rolled in blood, what do we 
 see ? Heralds of Mercy, bearing her white banner, 
 and dispensing words of peace to the apostate ; 
 while the gracious Spirit renders those words effect- 
 ual in melting, purifying, and saving every soul into 
 which they find entrance. 
 
 From this view of Messiah's weapons, let us pass 
 to consider Messiah's victories. "A crown was 
 given unto Him ; and He went forth conquering 
 and to conquer." 
 
 The victories of Christ are legitimate. In the 
 history of the world, military successes have often 
 been hideous wrongs. Fired with the lust of do- 
 minion, the demigods of battle have invaded realms 
 to which they had no claim, and have extended 
 their power only by the law of the strongest. But 
 the moral conquests of Jesus are based on absolute 
 and unimpeachable right. "A crown was given 
 unto Him," as a sign that He was entitled to reign, 
 and as a sign that all things had been committed to 
 His hands. This crown is not to be regarded as a 
 symbol of the sovereignty which belongs to Him as 
 Divine; for that, being original and underbred, is 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 345 
 
 incapable of increase. It is His authority as Medi- 
 ator which is here indicated. In the sacrifice which 
 He offered on Calvary, He laid the foundation of 
 that spiritual empire over which He now presides, 
 and which is to continue through all time. Reve- 
 lation accordingly assures us that, in compensation 
 of His sufferings, He has been invested with the 
 government of all beings and of all worlds. He 
 Himself declared after His resurrection, "All 
 power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." 
 And St. Paul, speaking of His humiliation and of 
 its resultant glory, says, K Wherefore God also hath 
 highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which 
 is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
 every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and 
 things in earth, and things under the earth." 
 
 His ascension to the right hand of the Father was 
 the hour of His coronation — of His public entrance 
 upon the Lordship of the universe. Hence, in the 
 sublime vision of Isaiah, the angels that throng 
 Heaven's battlements are represented as beholding 
 Him on His return from the field of His conflict, 
 and inquiring with mingled wonder and adoration, 
 " Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed 
 garments from Bozrah? — this that is glorious in His 
 apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength ? " 
 And the voice of the triumphant Immanuel is heard 
 in answer, "I, that speak in righteousness, mighty 
 
346 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 to save." Again, iu the same scene, the spirits that 
 keep guard without the golden portals of the Eter- 
 nal City, are described as saying, "Lift up your 
 heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlast- 
 ing doors ; and the King of Glory shall come in." 
 The hosts within inquire, "TYlio is this King of 
 Glory?" And they without reply, "The Lord, 
 strong and mighty ; the Lord mighty in battle — 
 He is the King of Glory." The Being, at whose 
 approach all the ranks of celestial Intelligences were 
 thus moved and transported, was the conquering 
 Messiah coming to take possession of His empire. 
 It was Christ triumphing over principalities and 
 powers, and making a show of them openly. It 
 was Christ, "bearing the scars of honor in His flesh, 
 and the joy of victory in His eyes." It was Christ 
 — His vesture dipped in blood — the keys of Death 
 and Hell at His girdle — ascending with these me- 
 morials of His sacrifice, to claim, by the worth of 
 that sacrifice, His appointed supremacy in the king- 
 dom of Grace. The claim was admitted. He was 
 crowned — enthroned. And now He is "exalted 
 far above all principality and power and might and 
 dominion, and every name that is named, not only 
 in this world, but also in that which is to com;' ; 
 and hath put all things under His feet ; and is made 
 Head over all things to His Church, the fulness of 
 Ilim that filleth all in all." Jesus is thus anointed 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 347 
 
 King over the realms of Providence and of Redemp- 
 tion. This whole world belongs to His royal do- 
 main. He purchased it, He owns it, He governs it : 
 and He has, therefore, an unquestionable right to 
 conquer back from the clutch of the Usurper every 
 inch of its still alienated territory. 
 
 The triumphs of Messiah are ever growing. 
 f ' He went forth conquering and to conquer/' The 
 thought is that of continuity — of a progress in tri- 
 umph, always moving on, without check or pause, 
 to its grand and final consummation. How accu- 
 rately does this conception illustrate the career of 
 our Divine Commander ! From the battle ground 
 of the Crucifixion, where He gave to the Powers of 
 Evil their first great defeat, down along the track 
 of epochs and ages, His march has been one con- 
 stant victory ; and so shall it be in the eras to come, 
 till the last enemy is destroyed, and the last vestige 
 of rebellion swept from the earth. 
 
 Of the early victories which He achieved over 
 the prejudices of the Jew and the idolatry of the 
 Gentile, we are furnished with numerous and most 
 striking proofs. He went forth with the Apostles 
 and Evangelists, in whose hearts and on whose 
 lips yet glowed the Pentecostal flame : and wherever 
 they published the story of Has Cross, there rattled 
 His exhaustless quiver, there sounded His all-con- 
 quering bow. The swift hoofs of the white courser 
 
348 BTBLE PICTURES. 
 
 rung out ou the rocky hills of Palestine — along 
 the temple-studded coasts of Asia Minor — along 
 the Tigris, along the Euphrates, along the immemo- 
 rial Nile, by the Pyramids, by the crumbling cities 
 of the Pharaohs, by the tombs of forgotten genera- 
 tions — across the isle-gemmed iEgean — along the 
 historic shores of Greece — along the classic porti- 
 coes of Athens — along the pavements of imperial 
 Pome — away, away, faster and farther, over land 
 and over sea — away, away, to the utmost bounds 
 of the peopled earth — grinding into powder fane 
 and shrine, gods and goddesses ; scattering to the 
 winds old mythologies and effete superstitions ; and 
 waking the slumbering nations to a new life. Oh, 
 glorious was the going forth of the sceptred Rider ! 
 The fishermen and tent-makers that formed His ret- 
 inue, followed Him like conquerors in a triumphal 
 procession, ever chanting the exultant strain, "The 
 weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 
 through God to the pulling down of strongholds ; 
 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that 
 exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and 
 bringing into captivity every thought to the obedi- 
 ence of Christ." Grandly was the battle fought, 
 and grand w T ere its results. The temples of Idolatry 
 w r cre smitten to the ground. Systems of falsehood, 
 deeply rooted, and fortified by the homage of ages, 
 were overthrown. The Cross rose above the dust 
 
THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 349 
 
 of forsakeu altars, and the ruins of thrones. And 
 the last champion of Heathenism, slain on the field 
 where he vainly strove to restore its fallen power, 
 confessed the issue with his dying breath, " Galilean ! 
 thou hast conquered." 
 
 But not then alone did Messiah conquer. He has 
 conquered since ; and He still goes forth to conquer. 
 Behold His victories in modern times. He went 
 forth and conquered with that solitary monk, who 
 came out from his convent in Germany > and sent 
 over all Europe the cry of a renovated Christianity. 
 He went forth and conquered with the Pilgrims, 
 who, fleeing from prelatic oppression in the father- 
 land, planted on New England's rocky coast a free 
 worship and a pure Gospel, and lighted up a flame 
 that shall never be quenched, and never grow dim, 
 till it is merged in the brightness of the latter day. 
 He went forth and conquered with the venerated 
 men, who founded on these shores the churches of 
 our own faith, restoring the ordinances of God's 
 house, and erecting a standard of primitive purity, 
 around which all true believers will at length gather 
 and unite. He has gone forth and conquered in 
 those great religious awakenings which have distin- 
 guished our own age and countiy, and in which we 
 perceive the beginnings of that mighty movement of 
 the hearts of men, that is to usher in the conversion 
 of the world. He has gone forth with the mission- 
 
 30 
 
350 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 aries who have carried His Word to the burning: 
 climes of Asia and Africa, to the solitudes of the 
 frozen zone, to the islands of far off seas; and 
 He has conquered there. Nations have cast away 
 their idols ; and on the scene of infernal rites and 
 human sacrifices have risen the temples of the living 
 God. He goes forth still, in the plenitude of his 
 subduing grace, wherever His servants scatter the 
 seed of the kingdom, whether in the sanctuaries of 
 a Christian land, or among the neglected and desti- 
 tute in the forgotten retreats of the wilderness, or 
 on the desolate shores where darkness and the 
 shadow of death spread their starless gloom. 
 
 And yet He shall go forth to conquer. Never 
 will the mystic steed relax its swiftness — never 
 will the bow strung in heaven cease to ply its ar- 
 rows — while sin dominates one lone spot, or one 
 lone heart, for which Jesus died. The march, the 
 battle will go on with wider sweep and more deci- 
 sive triumphs — on from generation to generation 
 — on over empires and continents — on from the 
 young West to the old East, from the icy North to 
 the blazing South — on, on, still on, never receding, 
 never resting, till Messiah shall have put all ene- 
 mies under His feet. And this crowning end is 
 certain. All the beckonings of events, and all the 
 foretellings of prophecy, and all the movements of 
 the Gospel, and all the pledges of Divine faithful- 
 
THE VI C TOE 10 US HIDEE. 351 
 
 ness, point forward to an era when every tribe and 
 kindred and people shall own the Redeemer's sway. 
 Oh, it is coming, it is coming ! Babylon, the Apos- 
 tate, will sink like lead in the mighty waters. In- 
 fidelity will be driven back to the abyss from which 
 it issued. The Crescent will waste away and dis- 
 appear from the moral heavens. Heathenism, 
 which stretches its fearful shroud over three 
 quarters of the globe, shall live but in the memory 
 of the past. The aspects of the time, the direction 
 of human thought, the uprising of God's children, 
 the spiritual agencies at work, the spiritual revolu- 
 tions in progress, are pregnant with tokens of a 
 brighter epoch than the earth has ever seen. All 
 things portend the speedy birth of the new creation, 
 the advent of the world's great Sabbath. 
 
 The victories of Christ are conducive to human 
 happiness. In this respect, what a striking con- 
 trast may be traced between the Conqueror pre- 
 sented to us in the text, and those by whom that 
 character has been sustained among men ! The 
 world has had its Alexanders, its Caesars, its Napo- 
 leons, who have swept like fierce tornadoes over its 
 loveliest realms, leaving behind them wasted fields, 
 plundered cities, depopulated countries, the wail of 
 sorrow, or the silence of despair. But look at Him, 
 who with His weapons of ethereal temper goes forth 
 to invade the empire of depravity, and the strong- 
 
352 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 holds of delusion aud imposture. Blessings rich 
 aud mauifold spring up wherever He comes. 
 He never lifts His hand but to confer a boon. He 
 never opens His lips but to utter a promise. He 
 never strikes a blow but to break the chain of a 
 captive. His power is exerted, not to destroy, but 
 to save. The kingdom which He seeks to establish 
 is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost. He condemns the sword to the scabbard. 
 He lays aside the instruments of destruction, hushes 
 the thunders of vengeance, and with messages of 
 love, and the soft yet resistless drawings of His 
 Spirit, moves on in His bloodless career, prostra- 
 ting before Him the sturdiest foes, erecting His 
 throne in human hearts, and gathering His trophies 
 from the evils He subdues and the souls He regen- 
 erates. And thus shall He continue to advance till 
 His victories encompass the earth. 
 
 On the arrival of that predicted day when His 
 conquests shall be complete, and all nations shall 
 have bowed to His sceptre, what will be the ap- 
 pearance of our globe ? Lands red with carnage ? 
 Plains strewed with the dead ? Provinces ravaged, 
 cities stormed and sacked, habitations deserted and 
 silent, or resounding only with the voice of woe, 
 and the shrieks of the dying? Oh, no, no! Far, 
 for different will be the scenes which this emanci- 
 pated world will then present. The curse which 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 353 
 
 has so long burdened and disfigured it will be 
 removed, and primeval freshness and beauty mantle 
 its entire expanse. " The wolf shall lie down with 
 the lamb, and the leopard shall lie dowm with the 
 kid, and the calf and the young lion together; and 
 a little child shall lead them." In all the redeemed 
 earth there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy. 
 Nation shall not lift up sword against nation ; neither 
 shall they learn war any more. Strife and violence 
 and wron2f and sin and sorrow shall be banished 
 forever. God shall come down, and fix His dwell- 
 ing among men, wiping away all tears from all 
 faces, creating all things new, and spreading uni- 
 versal holiness and bliss over this lon2f scourged 
 and revolted planet. It is thus that Messiah will 
 accomplish the vision, and bring into actual expe- 
 rience the blessedness which it foreshadows. 
 
 With what solemn urgency do these thoughts 
 invoke the followers of Christ to labor for the exten- 
 sion of His kingdom ! Soldiers of the conquering 
 Jesus ! hear you not the summons which comes to 
 you from earth and heaven, to gird on your armor, 
 and hasten to the combat ! As the bearer of my 
 Master's standard, I unfurl it amidst the sacra- 
 mental host, and conjure you to rally round it, and 
 go forth to the great battle of Jehovah with the 
 powers of ungodliness. The field of conflict is 
 before you. See the hostile forces confronting each 
 
 30* 
 
35-4 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 other in dense and dread array. Watch the prepa- 
 ration, the evolutions, the suspense, "on the grim 
 edge of perilous war." Listen to the words of com- 
 mand, the call of the trumpets, the shouting of the 
 heralds. Hark! the battle din comes rolling on. 
 God's saints are rushing to the encounter. March ! 
 march ! to swell their onset, and share their vic- 
 tory. In the words to which many a hero's bosom 
 has lately thrilled, "Go where glory awaits you" — 
 not the glory of earth's battle-fields, but of heaven's 
 — the glory of rescuing the lost: — the glory of 
 striking off the fetters from the enslaved — of lead- 
 ing the captives out of the prison house, of minis- 
 tering to the joy of angels over sinners saved, and 
 hastening the period when the sons of men, with 
 one acclaim, shall celebrate the liberty with which 
 Christ has made them free. 
 
 Fear not repulse. Falter not at the numbers and 
 strength of the foe. He who leads }~ou on is infinite 
 in wisdom and in power, and cannot be defeated. 
 AY here the strife is thickest, where the uproar is 
 loudest, where the shock is deadliest, there is the 
 "white horse," and its resistless Rider, with His 
 crown on His head, and His bow in His hand. 
 Above all the turmoil and confusion shines that glit- 
 tering crown, directing the struggle, and deciding 
 its issue. The crowned One must conquer. 
 
 We may fall before the fight is done. But the 
 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 355 
 
 vision remains to be fulfilled, and it shall not lin- 
 ger. Soon the final charge will be made, and Evil, 
 driven from all its positions, be hurled into the lake 
 of fire, to vex the world no more. Then the noise 
 of battle will die away. The whole earth will be at 
 rest, quiet as a loving child under its Father's smile ; 
 and amid the hush, and stillness, and holy peace, 
 and serene joy of a restored creation, the voice 
 of the triumphing Christ will proclaim, "It is 
 finished." 
 
 " All hail ! the age of crime and suffering ends ; 
 The reign of righteousness from heaven descends : 
 Vengeance forever sheathes the afflicting sword ; 
 Death is destroyed, and Paradise restored; 
 Man, rising from the ruins of his fall, 
 Is one with God, and God is all in all." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 
 
 "The same came to Jesus by night."— John iii. 2. 
 
 q^J/HE day, one of the high days of the Pass- 
 over, is now closed, and darkness has set- 
 tled down upon the Holy City. The voice 
 of prayer, the hymn of praise, the smoke of 
 sacrifices and incense, no longer rise from 
 the Temple, and from its hallowed precincts. The 
 sounds of festivity have ceased ; and over the mot- 
 ley crowds of Jews and proselytes gathered from 
 all lands, slumber stretches its silence-distilling 
 wand. 
 
 Worn with labor, and grieved at the unbelief and 
 obduracy of those for whose good He toiled, Jesus 
 has retired with His disciples to some secluded spot 
 — perhaps to Bethany, ever His favorite retreat — 
 there to rest His exhausted frame, and draw from 
 lonely communion with His Father new strength for 
 the atoning work that lies before Him. 
 
 And now from one of the most sumptuous dwell- 
 ings of the great city a man is seen to come forth. 
 His stealthy step, and the furtive glance which he 
 
 356 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 357 
 
 casts around, would seem to mark him out as bent 
 on some deed of crime or shame. But the noble- 
 ness of his bearing, and the clear, though troubled, 
 expression of his eye, forbid such a suspicion. His 
 garb and demeanor evidently indicate that he occu- 
 pies a position much above the common class. He 
 is, indeed, no ordinary person. He belongs to the 
 sect of the Pharisees, the members of which were 
 held in high repute for religious knowledge and 
 sanctity of life, and were reverenced by all ranks as 
 guides and instructors. But a still greater dignity 
 is his. He is "a ruler of the Jews," a member of 
 the Sanhedrim, the supreme court of the nation ; 
 and, if profane records are to be trusted, few of his 
 countrymen are more wealthy, learned and eminent 
 than he. 
 
 But what does he here in the silence and dark- 
 ness of night ? What occasion for such caution and 
 secresy ? Why does he look so anxiously on every 
 side, as if fearful that some prying eye should rest 
 upon him? All day, and perhaps for several days, 
 he has listened to the heavenly truths that have 
 fallen from the lips of Jesus, and witnessed His 
 wonderful works. His judgment is persuaded that 
 He, who utters such precepts, and exhibits such 
 power, must be " a teacher sent from God," and 
 may be the long-promised Messiah. But the lowly 
 and unpretending form in which Jesus of Nazareth 
 
358 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 appears, the character of His mission and of His 
 preaching, so different from the sensual expectations 
 of the Jews, rouse all his prejudices, and stagger 
 his new-born convictions. Ashamed to acknowl- 
 edge his belief in One whom his haughty and self- 
 righteous associates deride as an ignorant Galilean ; 
 too proud to seek instruction from Christ openly, 
 and yet afraid wholly to reject Him, lest he should 
 thereby cast awajr the mercy of God — he resolves 
 on the expedient of visiting Him by night ; hoping 
 thus to consult at once his worldly standing and his 
 religious safety. And yet, as he goes forth to exe- 
 cute this purpose, by what fears and misgivings is 
 he beset ! While moving along the streets, he 
 starts at the echo of his own footsteps, and seems to 
 see at every corner the gaze of some proud Phari- 
 see fixed scornfully upon him. As he passes the 
 gates, he imagines the very keepers look as if con- 
 scious of his errand. And when he climbs the 
 Mount of Olives on his way to Bethairy — though 
 all is quiet and solitary in its deserted groves — he 
 yet trembles at every rustling leaf, as if it betrayed 
 the presence of some hidden spy, watching his 
 movements. 
 
 What a picture is this of a stubborn, self-righteous 
 sinner, inflated with the idea of his own conse- 
 quence, unwilling to confess before men his need of 
 the Saviour's grace, and his determination to seek 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 359 
 
 it ; and still, with the truth burning on his con- 
 science, and the Holy Spirit plying him with cease- 
 less remonstrance, unable to find comfort or rest ! 
 How long will he struggle before he takes any step 
 toward securing his salvation ! And when at last 
 he does in some measure yield to his convictions, 
 how partial is the surrender ! What a compromise 
 does he endeavor to make between his pride and his 
 religious impressions ! How does he strive to skulk 
 into the kingdom of heaven ! And how do shame 
 and the fear of man dog him, like pursuing demons, 
 at every step ! Few are they who, thus setting out 
 to go to Christ, ever reach Him. 
 
 It would have been just had the Saviour declined 
 to admit to His presence one so undecided in his 
 feelings, and so selfish in his motives. But amidst 
 the worldly views and feelings which still held the 
 mastery over him, there seems to have been a real, 
 though timid and feeble, desire to know the truth ; 
 and our compassionate Lord, who never " quenched 
 the smoking flax," nor refused to impart instruction 
 to any sincere inquirer, however doubting and 
 hesitating, graciously welcomed his approach, and 
 sought to guide him to the light of eternal life. 
 How should this encourage the most wavering and 
 
 o o 
 
 irresolute to draw near to Christ for mercy ! The 
 clouds of earth and sense may overshadow your 
 spiritual perceptions : but if there be in the soul a 
 
360 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 single spark of feeling in reference to your immortal 
 welfare, go at once to the Saviours feet, and He 
 will enlighten your darkness, and bring you to the 
 knowledge of His grace. 
 
 The address of Nicodemus to Christ, while it was 
 respectful, indicates the hesitation of his mind as to 
 the real character and office of our Lord. " We 
 know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for 
 no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except 
 God be with him." That Jesus bore a divine com- 
 mission was manifest from His works. But was He 
 the Messiah, the Son of God, the Prince and Sav- 
 iour of Israel, whose coming had been so long fore- 
 told and so ardently desired? The wonders of 
 mercy and love which he wrought, and the celestial 
 wisdom of His teachings, pointed Him out as bear- 
 ing this glorious character. But if so, where were 
 the outward appearances, the high descent, the 
 pomp and grandeur, the marshalled hosts, the vic- 
 tories, the symbols of temporal dominion, which 
 the carnal Jews had associated with the advent of 
 their promised Deliverer? It was this absence of 
 worldly power, so contrary to all his preconceived 
 ideas, which caused Nicodemus to doubt whether 
 Jesus of Nazareth were the Christ. And it was 
 with a view to the solution of this difficulty, that 
 he sought the interview which forms our theme. 
 
 The reply of our Saviour may appear, at the first 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 361 
 
 glance, not only inappropriate, but exceedingly ab- 
 rupt. A little reflection, however, will show that it 
 w r as precisely the answer which the mental state of 
 His inquirer needed. The mind of Nicodemus was 
 beclouded by the Jewish dream of an earthly Mes- 
 siah, and a secular kingdom to be established by 
 Him. Hence it was necessary, in the outset, to 
 dissipate this illusion, in order to prepare the way 
 for higher views, and more spiritual conceptions. 
 The Saviour, therefore, opens His discourse with 
 the startling announcement, n Except a man be 
 born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 Thus, without preface or circumlocution, He de- 
 clares the spiritual nature of the kingdom which He 
 came to set up, and the solemn fact that none could 
 become members of that kingdom but by a spiritual 
 birth from on high. It is as if He had said — You, 
 and the class to which you belong, misunderstand- 
 ing the prophecies, and giving a carnal hue to the 
 glories which they unfold, are looking for a tempo- 
 ral prince who shall overthrow your political ene- 
 mies, and exalt the Jewish nation to universal 
 empire. But the kingdom which I have come to 
 found, is not of this w T orlcl. It is a spiritual king- 
 dom, the kingdom of truth and righteousness, the 
 kingdom of God ; a kingdom whose attributes are 
 holiness and peace, and whose triumphs w T ill consist, 
 not in the downfall of civil dynasties, but in the 
 31 
 
362 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 overthrow of falsehood, sin, and wrong ; a kingdom 
 whose subjects shall be made such, not by natural 
 birth, or hereditary right, but by moral qualities — 
 by the reception of a new life from above. With- 
 out this, none can enter my kingdom here, or be 
 admitted into that kingdom of final purity and 
 blessedness in heaven, of which the kingdom of 
 grace on earth is the preparation and the type. 
 
 To remove still further the darkness that yet 
 hung over the vision of His wondering listener, the 
 Divine Teacher proceeds to state the Agent by 
 whose power this new creation should be accom- 
 plished. " Except a man be born of water and of 
 the Spirit " — of the Spirit as the Author of the in- 
 ward change, of water as the outward symbol of 
 that change — "he cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God." " That which is born of the flesh is flesh." 
 The children of humanity, in their natural state, are 
 earthly, sinful, and wholly unfit for heaven. " That 
 which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The children 
 of the Spirit are regenerate, justified, sanctified, 
 meet for the celestial world. "Marvel not that I 
 say unto thee, ye must be born again." The change 
 is, indeed, mysterious and inscrutable. But this 
 •abates nothing either from its reality or its indispen- 
 sableness. 
 
 Under the warm sky of Palestine, they were 
 doubtless conversing in the open air; and at that 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 3 Go 
 
 moment the night wind was heard rustling among 
 the branches of the surrounding trees. In accord- 
 ance with His usual custom, Christ seizes upon this 
 natural fact to illustrate the great spiritual fact 
 which He was presenting. "The wind bloweth 
 where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it 
 goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
 The wind is invisible. No mortal eye can trace its 
 form. Its existence is known only by its effects. 
 But you hear the sound of its moving breath. You 
 see the forests bowing, the grass waving, the 
 waters rippling at its touch ; and you know it is 
 there. So no human thought can scan the way of 
 the Spirit. But His presence is manifested by His 
 works. You see the proud humbled, the corrupt 
 cleansed, the dead in sin pervaded by the life of 
 holiness ; and you may know He is there — there 
 in His renewing and saving energy. 
 
 In answer to the question of Mcodemus, "How 
 can these things be ? " our Lord proclaimed the au- 
 thority by which He spoke, and the sure ground on 
 which He affirmed the certainty of the great truth 
 He was propounding. "T\ r e speak that which we 
 do know, and testify that which we have seen." I 
 speak of heavenly things ; of the purity and happi- 
 ness of the celestial world, and of the spiritual birth 
 by which alone the fallen sons of earth can inherit 
 
304 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 its glories. How shall blind and sensual men 
 comprehend this? "No man hath ascended into 
 heaven, but He that came down from heaven, 
 even the Son of Man which is in heaven." You, 
 ignorant of the nature of heaven, may question the 
 necessity of any moral transformation to fit men for 
 it. But I have been in heaven. I belong to heaven. 
 I came from heaven. I know what heaven is. I 
 know its spirituality, its holiness, its pure society, 
 its lofty employments ; and I know — I know, that 
 no unregenerate man can by any possibility obtain 
 a share in that kingdom of blessedness. In the nice 
 of such declarations from such a source, what folly 
 is it for impenitent men to imagine that they shall 
 go to heaven, though they live and die strangers to 
 the renewing influence of the Spirit ! 
 
 To show the provision of Divine Mercy for this 
 spiritual revolution in the characters of men, the 
 Saviour brings forward the grand fact which under- 
 lies the whole system of agencies for the recovery 
 of our race — the atonement for sin which He was 
 to offer on the cross. "As Moses lifted up the ser- 
 pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
 Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have eternal life." Here, 
 then, was the great central truth in the economy of 
 Grace, which the Spirit was to employ in renewing 
 the hearts of men. It was by pressing home upon 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 365 
 
 them the death of Christ as a sacrifice for their sins, 
 that He was to subdue their rebellion, eradicate 
 their corruptions, and implant the love of God in 
 their souls. And it was through the merits of that 
 sacrifice, applied by the Spirit, that the believer 
 was to receive pardon, justification, and life ever- 
 lasting. 
 
 Thus, examining the instruction which our Lord 
 gave to Nicodemus, we find it not only appropriate, 
 but most significant and suggestive, containing in a 
 brief compass the whole essence of the Gospel. 
 The fallen and sinful state of men by nature ; the 
 absolute necessity of a moral change in their charac- 
 ter, so complete as to be denominated "a being 
 born again," in order to prepare them for admission 
 into the kingdom of God ; the Divine Agent to 
 whom this work is committed ; the Blood of Atone- 
 ment through which He is to effect it ; the salvation 
 of all who embrace the Eedeemer ; the perdition of 
 all who reject Him — are here compendiously set 
 forth by the lips of Him who spoke as man never 
 spoke. 
 
 Who can describe the emotions of the astonished 
 listener, as truths so new, so startling, fell on his 
 ear ? In the earlier stages of the conversation he 
 evinces doubt — objects — questions. But as the 
 discourse proceeds ; as the Divine Preacher unfolds 
 His mighty theme ; lifts the veil of eternity ; speaks 
 
 31* 
 
366 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 of Himself as having descended from its mysterious 
 abodes ; and points to the cross on which He was 
 soon to suffer for" the sins of a world — the mind of 
 Nicodemus is pervaded by strange and unwonted 
 sensations. He asks no more questions. Doubt 
 and incredulity die within him. Subdued, awe- 
 struck, he listens while those words of eternal 
 import flow on, and the voice of the God-man alone 
 breaks the surrounding stillness. At length, that 
 voice is silent ; and there they sit, in the deep hush 
 of night, under the watching stars — the Heavenly 
 Teacher looking down with pity and love upon the 
 earthly learner at His feet ; and the learner looking 
 up, with dawning faith and reverence, into that 
 Divine Face, so meek, so gentle, so full of yearning 
 tenderness, yet so stamped with Deity in every line. 
 And so they parted — the Teacher retiring to His 
 lowly rest — the inquirer going back to his lordly 
 home in the great city. But it is a different man 
 that now treads the moonlit paths of Olivet. The 
 germ of a new life is struggling in his soul. A new 
 faith is beginning to break through the clouds of his 
 unbelief. A new star of hope is rising before his 
 spiritual eye. The gracious principle within him is 
 yet feeble, and is environed by a mass of worldly ele- 
 ments, by a host of carnal prepossessions and preju- 
 dices, that may for a time smother and overpower 
 it. But "the seed of the kingdom" has been 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 367 
 
 planted, and it shall at last come up to the light 
 through every obstruction, and bear fruit unto life 
 eternal. From subsequent facts recorded in the 
 New Testament, we cannot doubt that Nicodemus 
 was a sincere believer in Christ. And though from 
 the fear of persecution, and the malign force of sec- 
 ular influences, he did not openly declare his con- 
 victions, nor publicly join himself to the company 
 of the disciples, there is yet satisfactoiy evidence, 
 that from the hour of his memorable interview with 
 Jesus, he had in heart recognized Him as the true 
 Messiah. In several instances we find him boldly 
 defending Jesus against the injustice and rage of 
 the Sanhedrim. And after the hatred of the rulers 
 had culminated in the crucifixion of the Saviour, 
 Nicodemus, in company with Joseph of Ariinathea, 
 brought costly spices to embalm His body, and 
 assisted at His burial ; thus paying the tribute of 
 grief and love to the sacred remains of Him whose 
 Divine words, spoken at night in the solitude of 
 Bethany, first woke in his soul contrition for sin, 
 and unveiled to the eye of his faith the hope of sal- 
 vation through a suffering Eedeemer. 
 
 From this interesting narrative we learn that the 
 be^innino; of true religion in the soul is often weak 
 and undecided. For a time, it appears to be hid- 
 den and well-nigh lost amid the hostile influences 
 which environ it. Instances of conversion there are 
 
368 BIBLE BTCTUIiES. 
 
 in which the germ of faith bursts at once into full 
 flower and fruitage. But such sudden development 
 is rare in the annals of Christian experience. Here 
 and there one, like Saul of Tarsus, may be struck 
 by a flash of light from heaven, and brought in a 
 moment to a clear perception of the claims of Jesus, 
 and an entire consecration to Him. Examples of 
 this kind are, however, peculiar and exceptional. 
 The case of Nicodemus* has been far more frequently 
 reproduced in the history of the church than that of 
 Paul. As on a morning of clouds, the sun, shorn 
 of its brightness, struggles upward through encom- 
 passing mists, so the uprising of grace in the soul is 
 ordinarily beset with hindrances, obscured by the 
 - of unbelief, and overshadowed by doubts and 
 temptations. Like the "little leaven," to which our 
 Lord compared it, it may seem wholly inadequate 
 to pervade and transform the vast bulk of inert ma- 
 terial by which it is surrounded. Nevertheless, it 
 is vital, expansive, aggressive. It can never die. 
 Oppressed and kept down by inactivity and world- 
 liness, it may develop slowly; but fostered by the 
 same Divine Hand which planted it' at first, it will 
 stow and gather strength, until it exerts a control- 
 ling influence over the entire character and life. 
 The \i'iy conflicts which it has to meet are among 
 the agencies by which it is to he established and 
 confirmed. As bleak winds cause the tender tree 
 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 369 
 
 to strike its roots more deeply into the kindly soil, 
 check its luxuriance of wood and leaf, and harden it 
 for the climatic changes that await it ; so the. mis- 
 givings and struggles which often impede the early 
 progress of piety, serve to render that progress 
 more careful, more stable, and ultimately more 
 complete. 
 
 Abandon not courage and hope, therefore, be- 
 cause the power of the new life within you is yet 
 immature and feeble. If that life has, indeed, been 
 kindled by the Holy Spirit in your heart, its final 
 victory is certain. The work which He begins can 
 never fail. The renovation that comes from Him 
 is deathless as its Author. Nurtured by prayer, by 
 vigilance, by self-denial, by the living Bread of 
 Heaven, the principle of holiness will shoot up into 
 steadfastness and vigor ; the dimness of your spirit- 
 ual perceptions will pass away ; your trembling 
 hope become strong; and the dawn of salvation, 
 now faintly gleaming amid darkness, doubt, and 
 fear, burst at length into the perfect day. 
 
CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 DEEP FISHING. 
 "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a 
 
 DRAUGHT."— Luke v. 4. 
 
 'T is sunrise on the Sea of Gcnncsareth. The 
 sky is flecked with gold and vermilion; the 
 mountains are steeped in a ruddy glow ; and 
 the still waters, stirred by the breath of morn* 
 ing, wake into rippling life. 
 Worn with labor, Jesus comes down to the shore, 
 seeking quiet in its solitude, and vigor from its 
 refreshing breezes. He finds there four of His dis- 
 ciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John, who, 
 niter a night of unsuccessful fishing, have sriven 
 over their efforts, and brought their boats to the 
 land. AVhile He is conversing with them, the mul- 
 titudes that, in their eagerness to hear I lis words 
 and to witness His miracles, had thronged Him 
 during all the preceding day, follow Him to the 
 beach, and again gather round Him with an interest 
 more absorbing, and in greatly augmented numbers. 
 So compact is the mass, and so intense the anxiety 
 to catch every syllable from His lips, that not only 
 
 370 
 
DEEP FISHIXG. 371 
 
 is there no standing room left from which He can 
 address them, but He is even in danger of beino' 
 pressed into the water by His crowding listeners. 
 
 In these circumstances. He beckons to Peter to 
 bring his boat to the spot ; and entering it, and re- 
 questing its owner to push out a little way from the 
 land, He seats Himself in the stern sheets, and 
 thence discourses to the people. How simple, yet 
 how sublime the scene ! The blue heaven above, 
 the blue depths beneath, the green hillside and its 
 vast conoTea'ation before Him — every eve fixed, 
 every ear attent to drink in the divine music of His 
 voice ! There is a solemn hush, a brooding silence 
 — and the tones of the God-man alone are heard, 
 going forth over sea and shore, telling of the love 
 of the All-Father, of mercy for the guilty, of hope 
 for the fallen, of salvation for the lost. Lowly pul- 
 pit ! Glorious sermon ! Xever have the pillared 
 aisles of earth's proudest cathedrals echoed with 
 utterances so sweet, so majestic, so full of grace 
 and power, as those which now ring out upon the 
 charmed waves and listening heights of the Galilean 
 Lake! 
 
 At length, those words of eternal Truth cease to 
 flow, and the rapt auditors retire slowly and mus- 
 ingly to their homes. Our Saviour, as mindful 
 ever of the wants of the body as of the soul, of tem- 
 poral as of spiritual concerns, and knowing that the 
 
372 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 disciples were dependent for support on the fruits 
 of their occupation, determines to recompense them 
 for the ill fortune of the night, and the ready obe- 
 dience of the morning. Peter has converted his 
 boat into a pulpit for Christ : and now Christ will 
 pay him for its use in a manner which he little ex- 
 pects. With this intent, He commands him to 
 launch out into the deep, and let down his nets for 
 a draught. The future apostle is already a firm 
 believer in the wonder-working energy of Jesus, 
 and has seen too many instances of its forthputting 
 to question its reality or its amplitude. Hence, his 
 answer, so far from implying hesitation and doubt, 
 expresses a faith that can trust and be strong even 
 against adverse experience. "We have toiled all 
 the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless, at 
 Thy word I will let down the net." 
 
 His confidence, however, undergoes a harder 
 trial when he perceives the direction in which the 
 Saviour is leading him. The basin of the Gennesa- 
 reth is of volcanic origin, and is only a lower depres- 
 sion of the great Jordan Valley which stretches 
 from the foot of Lebanon to the southern extremity 
 of the Dead Sea, and lies, through its whole course, 
 many hundred feet below the level of the Mediter- 
 ranean. In consequence of this formation, the cen- 
 tral portion of the lake is often very deep, and 
 inaccessible by any ordinary methods of (lie pisca- 
 
DEEP FISRIXG. 373 
 
 fcory art. The apparatus employed by the fishermen 
 of our Lord's time was extremely simple, consist- 
 ing, in most eases, of a small casting net, thrown 
 and drawn by the hand. They had no seine whose 
 vast length could sweep the abysses, and drag forth 
 their finny inhabitants : aud were, therefore, com- 
 pelled to pursue their calling near the shore, and in 
 waters comparatively shallow. Of this Peter was 
 fully aware. Born and reared on the borders of the 
 lake, and skilled by long practice in the secrets of 
 his craft, he was familiar with all the localities 
 deemed most favorable to its prosecution, and knew 
 well that in the soundless depths over which his 
 vessel was then gliding no fisher had ever dreamed 
 of casting a net. Nevertheless, so complete was his 
 trust in the supernatural guidance under which he 
 acted, that he rowed on without question till he 
 reached the ground indicated by his Master, and, in 
 a spirit of childlike obedience, let down his net 
 where net had never gone before. 
 
 Meanwhile, He who is Sovereign of the waters 
 and of the dry land, had been providing for the 
 result which He contemplated. The miracle which 
 He wrought on this occasion was not one of creative 
 power. His omnipotence did not at that instant 
 bring into being the fish necessary to His purpose. 
 They were already existing in the lake ; and His 
 Divine authority was manifested in collecting them 
 32 
 
374 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 at the requisite place, and thus rendering uncon- 
 scious creatures subservient to His will. " The sea 
 is His, and He made it." He has dominion over all 
 its tribes ; and in their ceaseless movements to and 
 fro, they but obey the laws which He appoints. 
 Yet, while there is here no suspension of the regular 
 operations of nature — no entrance upon her domain 
 of a new and unwonted agency — the occurrence is 
 lifted into the region of the supernatural by the all- 
 directing Hand which caused these operations to 
 fall in with the specific word and design of Christ. 
 The denizens of the deep roam through its territo- 
 ries as their instinct prompts them. But now there 
 is put into that instinct a divine impulse which 
 draws them to the point where their Maker needs 
 them. That impulse they all follow, certainly, though 
 involuntarily. None can escape it, none resist it. 
 Here is a mighty carp, there a giant pike, and 
 yonder a stupendous bass, that have long flourished 
 in their secret haunts, secure from baited hook and 
 meshy snare ; yet at the behest of Christ they must 
 come forth. From coral caves, from rocky clefts, 
 from mossy beds, from submarine bowers, from all 
 parts of the watery realm, heaven-led, they troop, 
 in countless schools, straight for the spot where 
 Peter's net is to go down. 
 
 The disciple, having thrown out his net in obe- 
 dience to the command of the Lord, and seen it 
 
DEEP FISHING. 375 
 
 quietly sink in the clear waves beneath, waits the 
 accustomed time, and then attempts to draw it. 
 But he is amazed to find in it an enormous weight 
 that defies all his strength. He turns to Andrew 
 for help ; yet their combined exertions can only 
 raise it far enough to enable them to see that it is 
 completely full, and strained to its utmost tension. 
 And here a new difficulty meets them. Their 
 tackle is fitted only for small fry and shoal fishing ; 
 and the immense number and size of the captives 
 now enclosed, and their fierce struggles to get free, 
 threaten to burst the frail meshes, and rend the 
 entire fabric in pieces. In this dilemma, they sig- 
 nal their partners, James and John, who are at 
 some distance in the other boat, to hasten to then- 
 aid. The two boats are brought together, and their 
 united crews take hold of the net. Still, they dare 
 not lift it out of the water, lest it should break with 
 its wondrous burden ; but are constrained to trans- 
 fer the fish from the net to the boats. Even these 
 are so overloaded as to be in peril of sinking, and 
 are kept afloat only by the most careful handling. 
 
 The miraculous spoil is at last safely landed ; and 
 the disciples, as they gaze upon it, filled with aston- 
 ishment by an event so unexampled in their expe- 
 rience, rise to a higher conception of the power and 
 glory of their Master. But this feeling develops 
 itself most strongly in the mind of Peter, and finds 
 
37G BIBLE PICTURE S. 
 
 in his impulsive mood the most ardent expression. 
 Overwhelmed by a sense of the greatness of Christ, 
 he falls at His feet, exclaiming, "Depart from me, 
 O Lord, for I am a sinful man." Whenever Divine 
 might and holiness are revealed to- the soul, they 
 awaken in it a deep consciousness of its own vile- 
 ness, and of the infinite moral distance between it 
 and the All-perfect One with whom it is brought 
 into contact. Awe-struck and guilt-smitten, it 
 shrinks back from the dazzling radiance, and cries 
 out with the convicted patriarch, "I have heard of 
 Thee by the hearing of the car ; but now mine eye 
 seeth Thee ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent 
 in dust and ashes." The merciful Redeemer dispels 
 the fear of his trembling servant, and assures him 
 that the manifestation of omnipotence which he had 
 beheld was intended, not to appall and terrify, but 
 to point out to him a nobler function, a grander life- 
 work, than his present pursuit ; that as he had cast 
 his net into the untried deep of the sea, so he should 
 hereafter cast the net of Salvation into the 4 black 
 deeps of Humanity ; and that the same sovereign 
 Will, which led the finny host to the one, would 
 gather unnumbered souls to the other. 
 
 Our Lord's own Language, therefore, authorizes 
 us to regard this display of His Divinity, not merely 
 as a suggestive prelude to the ealling of the Apos- 
 tles, but as a symbolic adumbration of the future 
 
DEEP FISHING. 377 
 
 triumphs of His Gospel, and a pregnant showing 
 forth of the manner in which that Gospel is to be 
 carried into the dark places of our outcast world. 
 Viewed in this aspect, how significant and impres- 
 sive are the lessons which it conveys ! 
 
 The voice of the risen Christ has assigned to His 
 people the high province of making known His 
 redemption to all the families of men. But in ful- 
 filling this sacred vocation, they have too often fol- 
 lowed a course analogous to that pursued by the 
 disciples in their secular employment, before the 
 Lord taught them a better method. Like the fish- 
 ers of Gennesareth, they have been content to ply 
 the net of the Gospel along the shores, and in the 
 most accessible and promising positions, leaving 
 untouched the vast ocean of darkness and guilt that 
 lay beyond their soundings. This defect, visible in 
 all the ages since the Apostolic, strikingly charac- 
 terizes the evangelism of our own day. We forget 
 not the inroads which modern Christianity has made 
 on the domains of Heathendom, nor the numerous 
 and mighty movements that have been organized to 
 spread the light of Life throughout the empire of 
 the Shadow of Death. We recognize progress in 
 this direction, and hail it as the crowning glory of 
 the era in which we live. Nevertheless, we affirm 
 that in lands where the Gospel has long been 
 planted, where its institutions have taken root, 
 
 32* 
 
378 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 where its influence permeates society, where Sab- 
 baths and Bibles and sanctuaries and sermons are 
 familiar things, there is a fatal want of religious 
 enterprise, of aggressiveness, of breaking forth from 
 prescriptive bounds, and bringing the enginery of 
 God's Word to bear on the neglected multitudes all 
 around us, whom no appliances of Mercy ever reach. 
 "We throw the net where we have always thrown 
 it — in the church, in the Sunday School, in the 
 congregation, in the parish — and know not or heed 
 not the fact that, just outside of our wonted beats, 
 are fathomless gulfs — dread volcanic chasms — 
 where, down, down in the very bowels of sin and 
 degradation, unsought millions grope in their blind- 
 ness, with only a thin crust between them and a 
 burning Hell. And the dwellers in these abysses — 
 the votaries of irreligion, of infidelity, of godless- 
 ness — are constantly increasing. Amidst all the 
 working of Christian ordinances, and all the out- 
 goings of Christian labor, the numbers who scorn 
 Jehovah, repudiate His worship, and shut them- 
 selves away from all the uplifting agencies of the 
 Gospel, are becoming greater and more unapproach- 
 able from year to year. Here, then, is the fishing 
 ground to which the Saviour calls us. Over this 
 sea of unexplored vice and woe sounds the sum- 
 mons, as once it sounded over the Lake of Galilee, 
 
DEEP FISHING. 379 
 
 "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets 
 for a draught." 
 
 What are the requisites for such an undertaking? 
 In what attitude must the Church of the Eedeenier 
 place herself in order to fulfil the mandate of her 
 King; ? And what are the conditions under which 
 she may expect the coming forth of His power to 
 give success to her endeavors ? 
 
 There is needed for this work a more entire con- 
 secration to the cause of Christ, and the recovery 
 of the lost. Peter gave up his boat, his time, and 
 himself to the service of his Lord. Had he refused 
 to do this — had he urged the plea which so many 
 urge, that the claims of his business and of his 
 family forbade the. surrender — there is no reason to 
 suppose that any miraculous energy would have 
 intervened in his behalf. Self-sacrifice was a neces- 
 sary preparative for the blessing which he received. 
 And the absence of a similar spirit in the great body 
 of those who now bear the Saviour's name, is one 
 of the chief obstacles to the conversion of the God- 
 despising masses. To pour the beams of Truth 
 upon these abodes of ignorance — to distribute the 
 waters of Mercy through these uncultured wastes — 
 is an enterprise requiring means, time, labor — 
 means in large supply, the time, the labor of myriad 
 thinkers and myriad workers. Yet how few can be 
 found, among the millions enrolled in the sacra- 
 
380 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 mental host, who ever give a dollar, an hour, a 
 thought, to the enlightenment of the darkling wan- 
 derers that surround them on every side ! Satisfied 
 with having received the Gospel themselves, and 
 limiting their obligations to the scanty support of 
 its public ministries, the vast majority of professing 
 Christians devote their energies to secular affairs, 
 and put forth no personal endeavors for the rescue 
 of the perishing. The illumination of the wide 
 expanse of moral night is thus left to a few pulpits, 
 shining feebly out here and there amid the gloom, 
 like dim beacons scattered at distant intervals over 
 a fosf-shrouded and storm-lashed ocean. In the 
 momentous crisis which is now upon the Church, all 
 her resources, all the strength of all her children, 
 whatever they have of wealth, of talent, of opportu- 
 nit}> r , of spiritual power, must be brought into requi- 
 sition, not only to extend her boundaries, but to 
 prevent the encompassing ungodliness from hem- 
 ming her in, and swallowing her up. The wilder- 
 ness is encroaching on the cultivated land. The 
 sands of desolation are sweeping over broad heri- 
 tages, where once echoed the shout of the plough- 
 man and the song of the reapers. 
 
 Citizens of Zion ! what mean ye ? Awake ! 
 Awake from your security ! Awake from your sel- 
 fishness ! Awake from your worldly engrossments ! 
 Awake from your visions of affluence and case ! 
 
DEEP FISHING. 381 
 
 Awake to the great emergency ! Awake to the 
 claims of Christ, and the wants of the Christ-neglect- 
 ing multitudes among whom you dwell ! Dedicate 
 anew body and mind, heart and soul, interest and 
 sympathy — all that you are and all that you pos- 
 sess — to the gathering in of "them that are with- 
 out." And when thus you obey the Lord that 
 bought you by yielding yourselves wholly to His 
 use, His redeeming word will go forth over the 
 deeps, and the net of His Grace be filled with the 
 saved. 
 
 The people of God need to be animated by a live- 
 lier concern for the destitute. Until a deeper sense 
 of their necessities prevails among Christians, we 
 cannot hope that any adequate provision will be 
 made to meet them. We all feel too little the un- 
 happy condition of those who are living without 
 God in the world. We feel it so little because we 
 realize it so little ; and we realize it so little because 
 we observe and ponder it so little. Sheltered in our 
 spiritual homes, environed by privileges, feasting 
 on heavenly bread, rejoicing in the communion of 
 the faithful, and in the promise of life eternal, we 
 form but faint ideas of the peril and the woe over- 
 hanging the profane crowds that dwell apart from 
 the mercies of the Gospel. We know them ; but 
 the knowledge does not impress us. It does not 
 arrest our consciousness with such vivid truth and 
 
382 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 force as to rouse us from inaction. To get such a 
 conception, we must pass beyond the circle of Chris- 
 tian intercourse, and look out upon the bleak world 
 of the godless; visit the haunts of intemperance, 
 the resorts of the profligate, the dens of the vile ; 
 and see with our own eyes how the soul is de- 
 stroyed, and heaven cast away. Then shall we 
 obtain a view of the guilt and ruin of unevangelized 
 men, that will impel us to seek their redemption 
 with a vigor and earnestness of purpose to which 
 we have hitherto been strangers. 
 
 A man of opulence and leisure is seated in his 
 sumptuous mansion in the heart of a great city. It 
 is a winter night ; but the chill tempest that roars 
 without, enters not there. Around him are all the 
 comforts and elegances which wealth can supply. 
 Soft couches are there, and splendid rooms, and 
 costly furniture. And pictures are there, and 
 books, and music, and cheerful warmth, and bril- 
 liant lights, and happy faces. He knows there is 
 want in the city, and sorrow in the city — ragged 
 ones, houseless ones, shivering with cold — cham- 
 bers of sickness that have no light or fire — low, 
 damp cellars on which the sun never shines — 
 abodes of filth and misery where Hunger and Fever 
 walk hand in hand. All this he knows. Yet he 
 thinks not of it. It stirs no pit}' in his soul, calls 
 forth no active benevolence. But let him go out 
 
DEEP FISHING. 383 
 
 into the dark streets and the pelting storm. Let 
 him meet poverty and suffering face to face. Let 
 him look at the naked wretches huddling in corners ; 
 at the starving child holding out its lean hand for 
 alms ; at the pale mother in yonder garret clasping 
 her dying babe to her breast, and trying in vain to 
 shield it with her tattered garments. Let him thus 
 see famine and destitution as they are, and if there 
 be a heart in his bosom, he will feel, he must feel. 
 None but a Dives come back from hell could turn 
 away without emotion from scenes like these. 
 
 There is pestilence in a far off land. It is sweep- 
 ing thousands into untimely graves. The young, 
 the strong, the beautiful, fall before it like grass 
 before the mower. We read of it, we talk about it, 
 we know it. But it is distant. It is not in our 
 sphere. It touches no home joy; brings no per- 
 sonal bereavement ; and the impression produced 
 by it is vague, unexciting. Let us visit that land ; 
 trace the footsteps of the destroyer ; mark the 
 gloom and the terror which proclaim his presence ; 
 hear the trundle of the death-cart as it goes round 
 from house to house ; count the hecatombs of the 
 dead ; note the fresh mounds in every churchyard, 
 the mourners in every street, the dismay and 
 anguish in every countenance — and what new per- 
 ceptions of the might and fearfulness of the scourge 
 will spring up within us. 
 
384 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 A wreck is on the shore. Dismasted by the gale, 
 with sails gone and bulwarks stove in, a tall ship, 
 full of passengers, is straggling among the breakers. 
 The signal guns come booming inland over the hills 
 to the peaceful valley in which you reside. You 
 hear them — you know that a vessel is in distress — 
 that human beings are in danger of becoming a prey 
 to the yawning billows. Yet you do nothing to 
 help. The calamity is out of sight. There is a 
 little conversation — some questioning, some won- 
 der — and then you resume your avocations as 
 quietly as if treacherous oceans and stranding ships 
 had no existence. Drop your implements of labor. 
 Hurry to the coast. Look at that gallant crew, 
 those shrieking women and children, exposed to the 
 fury of the waves. See the mad surges breaking 
 over them ! Leap into the life-boat that is going to 
 their rescue — brave death to save others from 
 death — and all that is in you of manhood, of noble 
 daring, of godlike compassion, will glow out in 
 energetic deeds. 
 
 So, it is by going forth to seek the lost, by fol- 
 lowing them into all their retreats, by throwing our- 
 selves into the depths where they hide, that we shall 
 be most effectually incited to toil for their salvation. 
 A sense of their undone state, awakened in us by 
 actual sight, will be a far more powerful incentive 
 than any inert theory respecting it. We comprehend 
 
DEEP FISHING. 385 
 
 most clearly, and deplore roost sincerely, the evils 
 which lie under our own observation, and for whose 
 removal we personally strive. And if we would 
 commiserate sinners, we must go among sinners ; 
 study their condition ; take the measure of their 
 depravity ; and bring home to our consciousness 
 the awful jeopardy in which they stand. Thus, 
 rowing out into the deep, we shall be prepared to 
 let down the net into the deep. 
 
 The work of gathering in the outcasts demands a 
 bolder faith than the followers of Christ commonly 
 exercise. The opinion is very generally entertained 
 by religious men, that they who voluntarily estrange 
 themselves from the house of God, and abjure its 
 hallowed solemnities, cannot be reached by any ap- 
 pointed means ; and that, consequently, their con- 
 version, though possible, is scarcely to be expected. 
 Especially does this impression prevail in reference 
 to the countless numbers that not only stand aloof 
 from the instrumentalities of grace, but have become 
 the pronounced thralls of unbelief and profligacy. 
 The spiritual fisherman is too apt to imagine that to 
 cast the net in such waters is well-nigh hopeless ; 
 that the Gospel has no apparatus which can go 
 down into this abysmal profound, and draw up its 
 sunken tenants to the light of day ; and that, there- 
 fore, his labor may be more usefully expended at 
 points of readier approach, and on subjects of easier 
 83 
 
BIBLE PICTFJ.r^. 
 
 capture. Judging from ordinary principles, and 
 by the recognized laws of moral probability, there 
 would seem to be much less likelihood of boo 
 in dealing with the ignorant, with skeptics, and 
 with the openly immoral, than with those who have 
 been instructed in the truths of Christianity, and are 
 accustomed to au outward attendance on its minis- 
 trations. And so. at another time, might Peter 
 have found better ti>himr near the shore than out in 
 the deej). It was the word of Christ which drew 
 him from his old familiar ground to the strange and 
 difficult one which his Lord had chosen. And it 
 - the power of Christ, rewarding his confidence, 
 that brought the marvellous draught to his net. 
 The believers of to-day have the same word of 
 Christ, commanding them to "launch out into the 
 >:" and they need only Peter's brave faith to 
 insure the presence of the same power. Our glori- 
 lit d King wields the same authority over the d< 
 of the moral world, which He wielded over the d< 
 of G nth. As the denizens < f the one came 
 
 flocking at His behest to the net of Simon : so will 
 Hie all-compelling grace draw the benighted dwell- 
 in th<- other to the net of the Gospel. His 
 ii cleanse the foulest, Hi- Spirit can subdue 
 the stoutest; and in all the ranks of the ungodly 
 b i- ii' ' d by -in. so steeped in 
 
 pollution, BO l"-t to hope and heaven, that the Al- 
 
DEEP FISHING. 387 
 
 mighty Renovator cannot redeem and purify hirn. 
 The most hardened, the most besotted, the farthest 
 gone from all that is good and true, may be par- 
 doned and saved by atoning Mercy. Our work in 
 the deep, then, is not vain, not impracticable. It 
 is full of promise, full of inspiring assurances of 
 Divine aid and blessing. Relying on help from 
 above, and strong in the might which God ever 
 gives to them that obey Him, we may let down the 
 net into the blackest sea of iniquity without fear of 
 failure. The voice of Jesus, more potent than 
 Orphean lyre, will collect around it the wild beasts 
 of the slums, transformed and humanized by the 
 charm of His love. "All things are possible to him 
 that belie veth." The faith that dares is omnipo- 
 tent. Clasping the Hand that rules all hearts — 
 leaning on the Spirit of Power — with Prayer on 
 its lips, and Hope in its eye — it is invincible, re- 
 sistless. In religion, as in the world, the bold con- 
 quer. Let this intrepid courage, this dauntless 
 confidence, pervade the Church of Christ, and what 
 abundant trophies^ won from the deeps, will she lay 
 at the feet of her Lord ! 
 
 In this sphere of evangelic effort, there is a special 
 call for lay workers. The fish in these waters are 
 very shy ; they do not mean to be caught ; and he 
 who would approach them must wear no fisherman's 
 garb, and show no fisherman's gear. They are 
 
388 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 afraid of the Gospel ; they hate the Gospel ; they 
 wish to shun all contact with the Gospel. Let its 
 official teachers go among them, and the} 7 suspect 
 the net at once, and refuse to come nigh it. But 
 the advances of private Christians are not generally 
 met by any such repulsion. Clothed with no pro- 
 fessional functions, with nothing in look or tone or 
 manner to betray his object, the layman has here 
 peculiar advantages over the minister; and will 
 often find access and sympathy where the minister 
 could not. And if the irreligious masses are ever 
 to be won to Christ and salvation, the result must 
 be largely accomplished by laymen. Theirs arc the 
 circumstances, theirs the numberless tongues and 
 hands and feet, which best qualify them to attempt 
 it. And if the pitying love that led the Redeemer 
 from the bosom of the Father and the thrones of 
 bliss to the manger and the cross,' could once fill 
 and stir their hearts, loosening those tongues, un- 
 locking those hands, setting those feet in motion, 
 how soon would the beams of light and life shine 
 upon all the abodes of the alien ! 
 
 In an undertaking so great, a union of labor — - 
 the co-operation of every class and division of God's 
 people — is imperatively demanded. Simon and 
 Andrew, finding their own strength insufficient to 
 secure the prize which Heaven had sent them, 
 called to James and John for assistance. Had the 
 
DEEP FISHING. 389 
 
 ■*> 
 
 latter disregarded the summons, the net and its 
 precious freight would alike have been lost. So, in 
 drawing up the godless myriads from their debase- 
 ment and ruin, the whole Christian Partnership 
 must combine its energies. In other branches of 
 religious effort, we may pursue our work sepa- 
 rately, each occupying his own ground, and caring 
 for his own portion of the spoil. But in this deep 
 fishing, the boats must come together. Every 
 member of every church, and every church of every 
 name, must take part in the mighty task of lifting 
 these submerged immortals from the floods into the 
 Ark of the Gospel. All the disciples of Jesus, 
 whatever station they fill, to whatever boat they be- 
 long, are needed here. There is verge and scope 
 for every variety of talent, every diversity of oper- 
 ation, and weight enough to strain to the utmost the 
 united power of all. And it is only when each is in 
 his place, grasping the net with the whole force of 
 his regenerate nature, that its vast burden will ap- 
 pear above the waves, and be hailed by the rejoi- 
 cings of earth and heaven. 
 
 We may illustrate the importance of this union 
 of effort in evangelizing the destitute, by a glance 
 at the manner in which our cities are supplied with 
 water. There is the distant river, or mountain 
 lake, which furnishes the supply. There is the 
 aqueduct which conveys it to the city. There are 
 
 33* 
 
390 • BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the reservoirs which receive it, the mains which 
 carry it through every street, and the connecting 
 pipes that distribute it to every dwelling. In this 
 series of mechanical agencies, the several parts 
 are indissolubly allied and inter-dependent ; and a 
 defect in one frustrates the purpose of all. If the 
 source fail, if the aqueduct is broken, if the reser- 
 voirs are suffered to crumble and decay, if the mains 
 become obstructed, if the service-pipes arc cut off, 
 or have never been laid — the result is the same — 
 there is no water for the inhabitants. Now, in the 
 system of spiritual activities, which God has pro- 
 vided for the salvation of men, we may trace a sim- 
 ilar alliance and inter-dependence — a similar chain 
 of co-operating forces working to one design. From 
 its birthplace among the Celestial Hills, deep in the 
 heart of the universal Father, the Water of Life 
 gushes down to our world. The Word of Inspired 
 Truth is the aqueduct which brings it to us. Our 
 Sanctuaries and Pulpits are the reservoirs which 
 collect and treasure it. The Church, the Sunday 
 School, the various methods of public instruction 
 and influence, are the mains intended to dispense it 
 along the highways and thoroughfares of society ; 
 while the labors of individual Christians are the 
 service-pipes to carry it into every home, and into 
 every lane and alley of guilt and wretchedness. 
 Our Fountain-IIcad cannot fail. Our aqueduct 
 
BEEP FISHING. 391 
 
 cannot be broken, for it is built of living rock on 
 the Rock of Ages. But the reservoirs may be de- 
 molished, neglected, or rendered worse than useless 
 by impurities ; the mains may be choked up by 
 selfishness and inactivity; and the service-pipes, 
 through indolence or carelessness, may cease to fulfil 
 their office. Whichever of these contingencies be- 
 falls, the order of the Gospel is disturbed, and its 
 outflow interrupted. There is water — water broad 
 and deep and full as the sea — water adequate to 
 the wants of a world ; yet it reaches no parched 
 lip, refreshes no thirsty soul, purifies no scene of 
 corruption. But let God's beautiful arrangement 
 be preserved perfect in all its links ; let the reser- 
 voirs and mains and service-pipes be kept in harmo- 
 nious and vigorous play ; and the blessed supply 
 will be diffused in ceaseless streams, ample as men's 
 needs, numerous as their habitations. 
 
 With whatever preparations and appliances we 
 may launch out into the deep, we shall achieve 
 nothing, unless we take Christ with us in the boat. 
 This age of strange anomalies has seen no stranger 
 spectacle than the unnatural affiliation of skepticism 
 with philanthropy. Schemes have been devised, 
 processes have been set on foot, for the uplifting of 
 the fallen, which leave Jesus on the shore — thrust 
 Him altogether out of sight — or, while admitting 
 His nominal presence, take away His Godhead, His 
 
392 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 vicarious expiation, His renewing Spirit ; all, in 
 short, that imparts to His character and office any 
 vital, restoring efficacy. Such humanitarian fishers 
 toil in vain. They may throw out the net of Reform, 
 and sweep the deeps with their fine-spun theories 
 of culture, and education, and benevolence — of 
 man's natural goodness and inherent capacity for 
 improvement ; but the fish will remain at the bot- 
 tom ; or, should any appear to be taken, they will 
 break through the gossamer meshes, and plunge 
 back into their former darkness. The Cross of 
 Christ is the only talisman that can call up a sinful 
 soul from the abyss. His voice alone can dissolve 
 the enchantments of carnality, and dispel the death- 
 like slumber of transgression. His truth alone can 
 illumine ; His love alone can subdue and melt ; His 
 atoning work alone can deliver ; His Spirit alone 
 can transform and sanctify. Christ in the boat ! 
 Christ in the boat ! Here is the secret of power, 
 the pledge of success. Bearing Him with her 
 wherever she goes, proclaiming His Sacrifice, in- 
 voking His Grace, let the Church redeemed by 
 His blood, hearkening to His command, launch 
 out into the deep, and the net will come home 
 bursting with salvation. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 YAEST QUESTIONS. 
 "What is that to thee? Pollow thou me."— John xxi. 22. 
 
 UGH was the rebuke which our Lord ad- 
 dressed to Peter for neglecting his own 
 
 duty while inopportunely concerning him- 
 self about the duty of another. The Sav- 
 iour had commanded the Apostle to follow 
 Him. The Apostle, having risen up to obey, 
 turned round and saw John also following : and 
 being the same impulsive and variable creature that 
 he had ever been, his curiosity was at once excited, 
 and his thoughts diverted from the service required 
 of himself to the question of what should be the 
 course of John, and what particular part Christ had 
 assigned him to perform. Hence, instead of going 
 forward directly in his own work, he stood still, 
 and asked, "Lord, what shall this man do"?'" 
 
 To this unseasonable inquiry Christ's words are 
 the answer. It is as if He had said — " Your ques- 
 tion is entirely irrelevant. TVhat John shall do has 
 i. 
 
 no connection with your responsibility. Your duty 
 is personal, present, imperative, and independent 
 
 303 
 
394 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 of the state and conduct of all others. I have com- 
 manded you to follow me. It is yours to obey, 
 directly, unhesitatingly, and for yourself, without 
 being influenced by what those around you may do, 
 or may not do." 
 
 Such was the scope of the declaration as it was 
 originally spoken. But apart from this special ap- 
 plication, it contains a general truth of great and 
 vital importance. It teaches us that our obligation 
 to obey and serve Christ is individual, immediate, 
 and unchanged by any obstacles that may arise from 
 the deportment of others, or from the delusions of 
 our own minds. 
 
 Many there arc who, when urged to follow Christ 
 by embracing His salvation, and devoting their 
 hearts and lives to His cause, allow themselves to 
 be deterred by some inquiry foreign to their duty, 
 or by some real or imaginary difficulty with which 
 they have no practical concern. Such may be 
 found, in great numbers, both among those who 
 profess to be religious, and among those who have 
 never submitted to the claims of the Redeemer. To 
 each of these classes the pregnant reply of our Lord 
 conveys a most appropriate admonition. For the 
 sake of brevity, however, I shall leave the former 
 wholly out of view, and confine myself exclusively 
 to the latter. It is my wish to address those uncon- 
 verted persons who refuse to comply with the over- 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 395 
 
 tures of the Gospel, until every extraneous question, 
 which they can ask, is settled, and every fancied 
 impediment, which they can conjecture, removed 
 out of their way. 
 
 The first class which I shall mention, as coming 
 under this description, consists of those who hesitate 
 to yield themselves to Christ, because they cannot 
 understand all that the Bible contains. 
 
 It admits not of question that there are in the 
 Scriptures some " things hard to be understood " — 
 deep and inscrutable problems, which no human 
 intellect can solve. This results necessarily from 
 the weakness of our faculties, and the infinite nature 
 of the subjects of which Revelation treats. It is to 
 be expected that our feeble reason, which meets a 
 thousand enigmas even in the affairs of this life, 
 should find itself baffled and confounded, whenever 
 it attempts to grasp the mighty secrets of eternity. 
 But "what is that to thee ? " These mysteries belong- 
 only to the field of speculative truth — to those 
 recondite matters of the celestial world, which are 
 wholly dissevered from thy present wants and du- 
 ties. All that is practical ; all that relates to the 
 condition of man as a sinner — to the method of his 
 recovery by the atoning death and justifying right- 
 eousness of Christ — and to the obligations which 
 press upon him in these circumstances — is entirely 
 plain and simple. How irrational is it for men to 
 
396 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 reject blessings of which they have a conscious 
 need, and to disregard commands which they know 
 and can comprehend, because there may be other 
 points connected with them which their limited 
 powers cannot fully explore ! You would ridicule 
 the folly of him who should refuse necessary food 
 until he could trace out all the hidden processes of 
 digestion and nutrition. Not less absurd are you 
 in refusing to become religious because you cannot 
 unravel all the mysteries of religion. There is no 
 difficulty in anything that is essential to your salva- 
 tion. You know, both from the Bible and from 
 your own consciousness, that you arc guilty and 
 condemned ; that you have broken the Divine Law, 
 and are liable to eternal death. This you can 
 understand. You know that God, though just and 
 holy, is full of mercy to the children of men ; and 
 that He has given His Only Begotten Son to be 
 their Redeemer, and to open by His obedience and 
 sufferings a way for their deliverance. This you 
 can understand. You know too — for the Gospel 
 emphatically proclaims it — that if you repent and 
 believe in Christ, you shall be pardoned and saved. 
 This you can understand. Then do it. Go at once 
 to the Saviour, and commit your everlasting inter- 
 ests to His hands. This you can do, and this is 
 all you need do. Whatever obscurity may appear 
 to your dim vision to hang over the higher realms 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 397 
 
 of Truth, the fact of salvation by faith in Christ 
 is clear and intelligible to the weakest capacity. 
 There is here no darkness, no mystery. All is dis- 
 tinct and palpable as the day. What madness, 
 then, is it to turn away from the gracious offers of 
 the Gospel — from the plain duties that are vital to 
 your happiness — because the scheme of Redemp- 
 tion, which propounds those offers and prescribes 
 those duties, may involve other topics too vast for 
 your comprehension ! 
 
 An emigrant is journeying across the Great Amer- 
 ican Desert to the Laud of Gold, and the Clime of 
 the Sun. He is perishing with thirst. The scanty 
 supply of water which he took with him has long 
 been exhausted ; and for many weary miles no 
 spring or brook, and not even a stagnant pool, left 
 from the winter snows, has met his eye. Nothing 
 is visible wherever he looks but the blazing sky 
 above, and the hot, arid waste around, brown with 
 drought, or white with drifting salt. With stagger- 
 ing limbs, and parched lips, and swollen tongue, 
 and brain on fire, he drags himself forward, battling 
 with death ; yet feeling that he must soon give over 
 the struggle. At length, just as he is about to 
 abandon all further effort, and lie down in despair 
 to die, his ear, rendered acute by suffering, catches 
 the low, faint murmur of a distant stream. Hope 
 and the love of life revive at the sound ; and with 
 3-t 
 
398 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 all his remaining strength he hurries toward it. As 
 he comes near, he sees a spring of water gushing 
 out cool and clear from the side of a rocky bluff, 
 splashing and sparkling in its little basin, and glid- 
 ing away in a gurgling rill. But just as he is on 
 the point of putting his lips to it, and quenching his 
 thirst with full draughts, he stops, and saj^s to him- 
 self, " Whence does this water come ? Is it from 
 rain falling on the mountain-top, percolating down 
 through the fissures in the rocks, and bubbling out 
 in the stream which I see ? Or does its birthplace 
 lie in some secret fountain deep in the heart of the 
 earth ? I do not know, and I will not drink of it 
 till I do knoAV." And so he turns away, to encoun- 
 ter again the horrors of the dry and burning desert. 
 Do you tell me that fatuity so monstrous is impos- 
 sible ? In relation to the supply of bodily wants it 
 may be, but not in relation to the needs of the soul.. 
 Your own conduct is the strict moral parallel of the 
 case I have supposed. You are in peril of dying 
 from spiritual thirst. The necessities of your im- 
 mortal nature cannot be met by anything within 
 yourself, or in the world around you. But God 
 has opened a fountain. Christ has said, "If any 
 man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." The 
 Waters of Salvation, welling forth from the Mercy 
 Seat above, have descended in copious floods to 
 refresh and bless the earth. And will you refuse to 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 399 
 
 drink of the Eiver of Life which flows full and free 
 before you, proffering health and gladness to your 
 famished soul, because you cannot discover every- 
 thing pertaining to its Source far, far away in the 
 recesses of the Eternal Mind ? 
 
 In one of those financial convulsions which so 
 often sweep over the land, you have lost your all. 
 Property and occupation are alike gone. The 
 hoardings of former years are spent ; and you 
 have borrowed, and borrowed, till you have not a 
 neighbor or acquaintance who would not go a mile 
 out of his way to avoid you. Dig you cannot, for 
 there are none to hire you. To beg is useless, for 
 there are none to give you. For days, weeks, you 
 have scarcely tasted wholesome food, and famine, 
 gaunt and inexorable, stares you in the face. In 
 this hour of your utmost need, an old friend, your 
 father's friend, and your own friend in better times, 
 meets you, and, looking pitifully into your dim eye, 
 and at your haggard cheek, lays his hand on your 
 shoulder, and says, "Come home with me to din- 
 ner." You go with him to a splendid mansion. 
 You enter a large and richly-furnished dining hall. 
 You see before you a long table loaded with food in 
 every variety, from the plainest to the most luxuri- 
 ous. At the lower end where you stand, the dishes 
 are all simple, nutritious, solid, precisely such as 
 your famishing state demands. And every dish is 
 
400 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 open, showing its contents at a glance. But further 
 on towards the head of the board there are dishes 
 of a more complicated character, reserved for a 
 later stage of the feast ; and these are covered, 
 some with covers of tin, some with covers of silver, 
 and some with covers of gold. Your host bids you 
 welcome, and presses 3-011 most affectionately to 
 sit down at once, and satisfy your hunger. But, 
 instead of thankfully accepting his offer, you look 
 along the table, and ask, "What is under those 
 covers yonder?" Your friend replies, that those 
 dishes are not suited to your present necessities ; 
 that they belong to the dessert ; and that when you 
 get to them, he will take the covers off. And 
 again he urges you to partake of his bounty. But 
 you draw yourself up haughtily, wrap your ragged 
 garments about you, and exclaiming, "I'll not sit 
 down to a table of mysteries," walk out into the 
 cold, dark street, amid the howling storm, alone 
 with your pride and your starvation. 
 
 Let me impress this point by yet another illustra- 
 tion. A man falls into a deep well in the cellar of 
 a lofty building, and, without help, must inevitably 
 be drowned. From the ceiling above a rope is let 
 down to him through the hatchway, and friendly 
 voices call to him to seize hold of it, while strong 
 arms are ready to draw him out. But instead of 
 doing this, he complains that he cannot sec the 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 401 
 
 upper end of the rope, and does not know how it is 
 secured. Those who are trying to rescue him tell 
 him not to trouble himself about the upper end ; 
 they will take care of that ; they have it fast to a 
 beam in the roof; his business is to make sure of 
 the lower end. Then he stops to ask, with what 
 kind of a knot the rope is fastened, and what sort of 
 timber the beam is made of to which it is attached. 
 Thus, while neglecting the rope, he continues to 
 cry, "How is it tied? how is it tied?" till the 
 waters close over him, and his vain questions are 
 smothered in death ! 
 
 Do you say that such a man would be a fool? 
 Take heed, dear reader, that thou be not a greater 
 fool. Thou hast fallen into a well, a deep and 
 loathsome well — "the horrible pit and miry clay" 
 of impenitence and sin ; and thou art in danger 
 every moment of sinking down, down forever into 
 ;f the bottomless pit" of hell beneath. God has 
 flung out from heaven the golden cord, the three- 
 fold cord, of the covenant of Mercy. He has made 
 one end of it fast to the pillars of His throne, while 
 the other reaches to thee ; and He bids thee lay 
 hold of it, and He will draw thee up out of the 
 slough of thy pollutions to the purity and bliss of 
 His own presence. Dost thou answer, that the 
 upper part of the cord is above thy sight, and that 
 thou canst not perceive all the processes by which 
 
 3±* 
 
402 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 it has been secured? " What is that to thee?" 
 Enough for thee to know that the rope is fast, that 
 the rope is strong, able to bear thy weight, and that 
 of millions like thee. O sinner ! grasp the rope — 
 lay hold of it by faith — cling to it by prayer — 
 and thou shalt mount up, as on angels' wjngs, to 
 the Paradise of God ; and there, safe from the 
 yawning abyss, thou mayest ponder through eter- 
 nity the strength of the rope, and the infinite wis- 
 dom displayed in the nrysteries of its adjustment. 
 
 A second class refuse to repent and believe in 
 Christ, because they do not know how they became 
 sinners ; or, in other words, cannot comprehend 
 the origin of moral evil. 
 
 The entrance of sin into the world is indeed a 
 question that has baffled the profoundest minds. 
 God has not seen fit to answer it; and, therefore, it 
 must remain, in the present state of our faculties, 
 unexplained and inexplicable. That the Almighty 
 could have prevented the fall of our first parents, 
 and the consequent corruption and ruin entailed 
 upon their posterity, we cannot doubt ; and the 
 only reason we dare assign why He did not do it, 
 is, that having resolved to govern the world by 
 moral, not physical, force, in restraining men from 
 sin by an act of absolute power, lie would have 
 destroyed their free agency, and thus have sub- 
 verted the whole system of administration which lie 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 403 
 
 had established. He, therefore, deemed it best, on 
 the whole, to suffer evil to exist, determined ulti- 
 mately to overrule it for His owd glory, and the 
 highest good of the universe. This conjecture, 
 though probable, cannot claim to be an adequate 
 solution; and human sagacity, after all its efforts, 
 must leave the subject where it found it — among 
 the incomprehensible things of Divine Sovereignty. 
 But " What is that to thee?" You are a sinner, 
 however you became so. This is the naked, actual 
 fact with which you have to do. By nature and by 
 practice you are the enemy of God, estranged from 
 Him in heart and in life, and exposed to the penalty 
 of that holy Liav which proclaims, "The soul that 
 sinneth, it shall die.'' The disease is within you, 
 preying upon your very vitals : and infinitely more 
 important is it for you to know how it may be 
 cured, than how it arose. And, blessed be God, 
 there is no obscurity here. "The blood of Jesus 
 Christ His Son clean seth from all sin." In the aton- 
 ing Sacrifice offered on Calvary, a remedy has been 
 provided for transgression : and whoever accepts 
 that Sacrifice in contrition and faith, shall be puri- 
 fied from guilt, and absolved from punishment. 
 This remedy is offered, without money and without 
 price, to all who are willing to receive it. No 
 philosophy is needed to understand it : no science 
 to apply it. Its only rnystery is this — Look and 
 
404 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 live, believe and be saved. And will you neglect a 
 provision so simple, so easy, so efficacious, because 
 you cannot ascertain exact!}' in what manner you 
 came to need it? That you do need it, is a great 
 and fearful reality. Without it you are lost forever. 
 Oh ! what infatuation, to stand still and dispute 
 about the parentage of sin, while sin itself, actual 
 sin, personal sin, wilful sin, sin multiplied into a- 
 thousand forms and shapes of aggravation, is hurry- 
 ing you down to the second death ! 
 
 A city at midnight is roused by an alarm of fire. 
 The bells ring out their startling summons. The 
 engines thunder along the streets. A stately man- 
 sion is burning. From roof, and gable, and case- 
 ment, and balcony, the maddening flames leap forth, 
 dyeing the heavens with blood, and shedding a lurid 
 glare on the upturned faces of the crowds below. 
 Soon it is whispered that in one of the highest 
 chambers of the building there is a man asleep, and 
 at the mercy of the conflagration. A thrill of horror 
 goes through the multitude. What shall be done? 
 The stairways and passages are all in a blaze. Every 
 avenue of escape seems cut off. A bold fireman 
 seizes a ladder, and places it against the window of 
 the room occupied by the unconscious victim. Up, 
 up he mounts through blinding smoke and rushing 
 flame, for it is life that he goes to save. lie reaches 
 the window — he dashes it in, and calls upon the 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 405 
 
 sleeper to come forth and descend. But the heed- 
 less inmate, instead of complying, raises himself on 
 his elbow, rubs his eyes, and asks, how on earth the 
 house came on fire! Fool, idiot, is the answer — 
 no matter now how the house came on fire ; it is on 
 fire; and you will be burned up if you wait to find 
 out in what way the fire caught. Still he insists 
 that he cannot go till he has satisfied himself 
 whether the fire was communicated by accident or 
 by design ; from a candle borne by some careless 
 hand, or from the torch of the incendiary. And 
 while he lingers in this bootless quest, roaming 
 from room to room, over shaking floors, and beneath 
 tottering rafters, the roof falls in, the walls collapse, 
 and he is buried under the blazing ruins. 
 
 O sinner ! such is thy conduct, and such will be 
 thy fate, unless thou art wise in time. Thy house, 
 the house of thy soul, is on fire. Xo matter whether 
 man or devil kindled the flame — kindled it is, and 
 is wrapping thy whole nature in its destroying em- 
 brace. It has spread to every faculty and to every 
 affection. Body, mind, and heart are alike per- 
 vaded by it. It smolders in the workings of inward 
 depravity. It blazes out in the lawlessness of open 
 transgression. And this fire of sin, unless quenched 
 by the blood of Christ, will soon become the fire of 
 Judgment, the fire of God's wrath, the fire of hell, 
 that shall burn forever. As yet, there is hope for 
 
406 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 thee. The } f Mercy are flowin_ The 
 
 Refuge of the Gospel stands open. Oh, flee before 
 it be too late ! Escape for thy life — look not be- 
 hind thee, lest thou be consumed. Stop not to 
 how the fire originated. It will be time enough for 
 such inquiries when the fire is put out. and thou 
 hast reached the Sanctuary above, whither it can 
 never come. 
 
 Another class hold back from coming to any 
 decision on the great matter of their salvation, be- 
 cause there is such a diversity of religious opinions 
 in the world. 
 
 This is an excuse often urged. It is a very com- 
 mon thing for unconverted persons, when exhorted 
 to give heed to their spiritual welfare, to reply that 
 they know not what to believe ; that amid the con- 
 flict of sec ts and creeds, each asserting its own 
 infallibility, and denouncing all others, it is inr 9- 
 sible to tell which is right and which wrong ; and 
 that, therefore, they deem it their urse to 
 
 nd to their temporal infl and let religion 
 
 alone altogether. 
 
 But you seem to overlook the fact that the adop- 
 tion of such a rule won! on off from having 
 anything vith the affairs of th: lese 
 than with those of the n* :i differ as fre- 
 quently and as widely about secular mat* - - they 
 do abov a. In politics, in law, in medicine, 
 
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 : — : izzi—il: lz — 1: ~:il zizz Tzr-foisezr zie = lit 
 view of the simplest pro position, or be foBy agreed 
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 zzr_ ::.:: Z'z-. iziz i ~ z lz ..:: =•: iizzz-izzj 
 zzzzz:--i . zzz iz:i_>.;zzz zil:~ ziziz zz z 
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 z z zi~tz;t1 iz 1 iizz z 7717 zzzziz :zzi 7 .z ;- 
 :z z - . iz I z :z : "z : zi : i z £ z zl 5-*:; zir.s z zz 
 tie own personal standpoint — that the marre' 
 
 - zzz zzz zizz i z : : zzz z_ 
 
 ever agree. So that, if you are determined to have 
 ::z::: :; I: ~ z :z:.:: " zz*t :::.z.1zz 
 Z: zzr ■ z : zzz 1 ; z" zz; .z; z. *zz zzz. z ":e 
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 iz 1 : r z. z - zi ~~ - 
 
 zzzz : : : z:~ r~r. 7: : izzizj :~z- 
 rate the real dtvecaiU of religions sentiment which 
 exists among those whose opinions are entitled to 
 any regard. It is a thing naturally to be looked 
 ::r zzi: z:zzzz: :_:_. z~l;— zzz. '.__!'.; zz 
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408 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 alike of present indulgence and of future safety 
 leads them instinctively to dissent from whatever 
 might seem to interrupt the one, or to endanger the 
 other. And the forms of unbelief or of wrong be- 
 lief which they embrace, will be as changeful and 
 belligerent as the corrupt propensities from which 
 they spring. The ungodly world is thus a vast 
 caldron where all the ingredients of wickedness are 
 seething together, and ever and anon sending up to 
 the surface bubbles of falsehood of every shape and 
 color. But anions those who have been enlight- 
 enecl and sanctified by the Spirit of Grace, there is 
 a substantial agreement on all the fundamental 
 truths of Christianity. The} r may separate in out- 
 ward things, in modes of organization, and forms 
 of worship ; but in all that is intrinsically impor- 
 tant, they are undivided. The vital teachings of 
 the Bible with respect to the depravity of man, the 
 atonement of Christ, the necessity of repentance and 
 faith, the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit, the 
 eternal happiness of the righteous, the eternal mis- 
 ery of the wicked, are universally held by all real 
 Christians throughout the world. And it has ever 
 been so. The people of God, of all names, of all 
 countries, of all ages, bear here one harmonious 
 testimony. I listen to the voices of patriarchs and 
 prophets coming down to me from the far off cen- 
 turies; and what do I hear? "Salvation by the 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 409 
 
 blood of a crucified Jesus." I listeu to the voices 
 of apostles and evangelists, speaking to me from 
 the pages of the New Testament ; and what do I 
 hear? w Salvation by the blood of a crucified Jesus." 
 I listen to the voices of the confessors and martyrs 
 of the Reformation ; and what do I hear ? " Salva- 
 tion by the blood of a crucified Jesus." I listen to 
 the voices of all the pious in our own day, of every 
 denomination, and in every land ; and I find them 
 to be in perfect unison, proclaiming, without one 
 discordant note, " Salvation by the blood of a cruci- 
 fied Jesus." 
 
 But supposing this were not the case ; supposing 
 the differences of doctrinal belief among Christians 
 were as numerous and as broad as you imagine 
 them to be — "What is that to thee?" To your 
 own Master you must stand or fall. The Saviour 
 requires you to follow Him, to embrace His Gospel, 
 and fulfil His laws, regardless of what the whole 
 world beside may believe or do. His Word is your 
 only guide. It marks out the path you are to take 
 with such clearness and precision, that only they 
 who wilfully shut their eyes can fail to see it. 
 With such light to direct your steps, the uncer- 
 tainty and confusion of human opinion can furnish 
 you no excuse for indecision and delay. No — 
 amid all the windings of error, the finger of Eter- 
 nal Truth points ever straight onward to the Cross 
 
 35 
 
410 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 of Christ ; and high above all the Babel-tongues of 
 delusion, crying, "Lo! here, and lo ! there" — its 
 voice is heard, saying, " This is the way, walk ye in 
 it." Oh, when you stand at the Judgment seat, 
 and the Bible, which you now neglect, shall follow 
 you there as an accusing witness, think 3-011 the 
 plea that you knew not what to believe will avail 
 you ? Make not now a defence which you will not 
 dare to make then ; but, taking the Book of God 
 into thy hands, with lowly prayer for the Spirit's 
 teaching, examine for thyself, decide for thyself, 
 and thou shalt find rest to thy soul. 
 
 The last class which I shall notice justify their 
 indifference to religion, by the alleged inconsistency 
 and unfaithfulness of its professors. 
 
 Not seldom is the assumption put forth, that the 
 avowed disciples of Christ differ in nothing from 
 the mass of the ungodly around them ; and hence, 
 that religion is but a sham, and its votaries fanatics 
 or hypocrites. To this we reply that the charge, in 
 the extent in which it is made, is utterly untrue. 
 Doubtless corrupt members may be found in the 
 Church of God — men whose hearts have never 
 been renewed, and who wear the mask of piety as a 
 screen to the wickedness of their lives. This is to 
 be expected ; for in this fallen world no vigilance 
 can guard even the most sacred retreats from the 
 intrusion of the unworthy. We also acknowledge 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 411 
 
 with saclDess, that the standard of Christian practice 
 is nowhere as elevated as the Gospel demands ; that 
 many, whose sincerity cannot be questioned, often 
 wander from the right way, or follow it with slug- 
 gish step ; while all are more or less subject to 
 frailty — frailty which they themselves are soonest 
 to perceive and confess. Alas ! perfect holiness 
 dwells not now in our sin-blighted sphere. But, 
 with all these deductions, we claim that Christians 
 are "the salt of the earth." Though not as good as 
 they ought to be, they are incomparably better than 
 anybody else. In integrity, in deference to con- 
 science, iu purity of motive, in uprightness of life, 
 in philanthropic deeds, they are raised far above the 
 profane crowd that reproaches and vilifies them. 
 And this is one of the reasons why wrong-doing, 
 when it does appear among them, is so marked. 
 With the irreligious, wrong-doing is the rule, and 
 is too common to be noticed ; with the pious, it is 
 the exception, and is on that account the more 
 gazed at. No one heeds the smut on a collier's 
 frock ; but a stain on the white robe of beauty 
 attracts every eye. 
 
 Oh,, it is a slander, fabricated by Satan, "the 
 Accuser of the brethren," that Christians are not 
 better than other men ! As a body, they are the 
 best men the world has ever seen ; and to their in- 
 fluence is owing everything good which has been 
 
412 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 done iu the world. Christians not better than other 
 men! Who have kept the' Truth and died for it, 
 when all others disowned it? Christians. Who 
 founded our political and religious institutions, our 
 schools, and colleges, and churches, the safeguard 
 and glory of the land? Christians. Who, by their 
 teachings and example, purify public sentiment, and 
 create a moral tone in society, without which it 
 would become a den of thieves? Christians. Who 
 visit hospitals and prisons, and go down into the 
 dark, filthy homes of Vice and Want, seeking out 
 the wretched, succoring the helpless, saving the 
 lost? Christians. AVho uphold the Sabbath and 
 the Sanctuary, and keep the light of the Gospel 
 burning on the watch-towers of Zion, to guide the 
 benighted to safety and peace? Christians. Who 
 are carrying that light to pagan shores, and kindling 
 up its lires under the sky of the Equator, and amid 
 the snows of the Pole? Christians. Who are the 
 world's foremost leaders in its great exodus from 
 barbarism, bondage, and woe, to civilization, free- 
 dom, and happiness? Again I say, Christians. 
 Look at any work that honors God and blesses 
 man, and you will find that Christians devise it, 
 Christians superintend it, Christians do it. Chris- 
 tians not better than other men ! And dare you 
 say this — you who have never felt the power of 
 one Christian principle? Christians not better than 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS. 413 
 
 you ! The Christian fears God. You live as if 
 there were no God. The Christian mourns over 
 his sins. You glory in yours. The Christian prays. 
 You swear. The Christian loves the assemblies of 
 the saints. You love the theatre, the dram-shop, 
 and the brothel. The Christian labors for the sal- 
 vation of his fellow-men. You labor to prevent it. 
 Oh ! you do not, you cannot believe that the Chris- 
 tian is not better than you. You only wish it, and 
 the wish is father to the thought. But whether you 
 now believe it or not, be assured, that in the great 
 day of decision, when all characters shall be re- 
 vealed, you will discover that the moral distance 
 between you and the most imperfect follower of the 
 meek and lowly Jesus, is as wide as from hell to 
 heaven. "Then shall ye return, and discern be- 
 tween the righteous and the wicked, between him 
 that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not." 
 
 Granting, however, for the moment, that your 
 allegation were just ; that the great majority of 
 religious professors in our day were false to their 
 calling, and false to their God ; and that our 
 churches of every name had degenerated into syna- 
 gogues of mere hypocrisy and formalism — " What 
 is that to thee ? " This fact could furnish no apol- 
 ogy for your own unbelief and impenitence. It 
 could not take one iota from your individual ac- 
 countability, nor lessen in the slightest degree your 
 35* 
 
414 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 obligation to follow the Saviour. The command 
 would still rest upon 3^011 in all its force. The 
 Gospel itself, and not the conduct of its professors, 
 would still be the law by which you are to act, and 
 the standard by which you are to be judged. It 
 would still remain an unchangeable truth, that "he 
 that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth 
 not shall be damned." Oh ! if you die without 
 conversion, will it lighten cither }'Our guilt or your 
 doom, to know that others pretended to be con- 
 verted, and were not? Nay, rather will it not 
 aggravate both? Will not the Judge say to you, 
 "Out of thine own mouth do I condemn thee. If 
 thou knewest so well what my disciples should be, 
 why didst thou not thyself become my disciple?" 
 And when the sentence shall be pronounced, and 
 you lie down in sorrow, will it mitigate your anguish 
 to know that the hypocrites whom you so hated on 
 earth, arc your companions for eternity? No, no — 
 your sin is your own, your punishment will be }-our 
 own, and you alone must bear it. 
 
 Dear reader ! how long shall thy vain thoughts 
 lodge within thee ? How long wilt thou cleave to 
 thy refuges of lies? How long wilt thou bolster 
 thyself up with objections that have no existence 
 but in thine own depraved heart? Cast them all 
 away. They arc empty, false, and will vanish 
 before the light of eternity, as the mist is swept 
 
VAIN QUESTIONS '. 415 
 
 from the mountain's top by the morning beam. 
 Go to Christ in humility and faith, and surrender 
 thyself to the leading of His Grace. Listen to no 
 voice but His —that voice which now sounds to 
 thee out of heaven, as once it sounded by the blue 
 waters of Gennesareth — "Follow Me!" And then, 
 when the last decisive day is past, and the Saviour, 
 having received "His own" to Himself, shall ascend 
 from the throne of judgment to the throne of His 
 everlasting glory, thou shalt hear that same Voice 
 calling to thee, amid the harpings of angels, "Fol- 
 low Me." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 
 
 Thbbjb shall be >o night there."— Rev. xxi. 25. 
 
 WIE grand excellence of the Gospel is its rev- 
 {*) elation of Immortality. Nor is that revela- 
 ^ tion obscure, indefinite, or doubtful. It 
 deals ^svith the question of a future life, not 
 as a vague guess, an unsolved problem, but 
 as a certain and absolute fact, and sets it forth with 
 a clearness of outline, and a fulness of description, 
 eminently fitted to impress the mind. And not 
 content with merely affirming its existence, nor 
 with any literal statement of its nature, it calls in 
 numerous terrestrial analogies to illustrate it, and 
 bring its attributes and circumstances within the 
 grasp of our comprehension. 
 
 In the chapter before us, the celestial world is 
 portrayed under a variety of figurative aspects, and 
 by a series of sublime representations. It is de- 
 scribe d as a place of perfect order and transcendent 
 beauty, tilled with holy and happy inhabitants; as 
 the city of the Living God — the peculiar abode 
 and palace of Jehovah, radiant with the splendors 
 
 41G 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT X1GHT. ill 
 
 of His glory, and replete with all that can render it 
 the scene of consummate purity and bliss. But 
 among these striking views, perhaps the most sig- 
 nificant and forcible is that which pictures heaven as 
 crowned with changeless and refulgent light. In 
 the visions of the rapt Seer of Patmos,' we are told 
 that "its light was like unto a stone most precious, 
 even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal:"' that, 
 self-illuminated, it "had no need of the sun or of 
 the moon to shine in it ; " that n the nations of the 
 saved shall walk in the light of it : " and that fr there 
 shall be no night there." 
 
 Heaven, then, is without night. This is my 
 theme. Let us study its meaning, and ponder the 
 thoughts which it suggests. 
 
 The language of the text is doubtless true even 
 in its literal sense ; and is to be understood as 
 teaching that in the material economy of heaven 
 there is nothing which corresponds to the inter- 
 change of light and darkness existing on earth. In 
 that supernal clime reigns one eternal day. Its 
 skies are never shadowed ; its sun never goes down. 
 By what law of celestial physics, by what constitu- 
 tion and action of the elements, a condition of being 
 so unlike our own is created and maintained, Inspi- 
 ration has not informed us ; nor would our present 
 faculties be equal to the knowledge. Dismissing 
 all such unfruitful speculations, we rest in the 
 
413 
 
 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Divine announcement, that the gloom of night never 
 visits the realms above. 
 
 
 
 The absence of night from heaven is, however, 
 to be regarded chiefly in its moral significations. 
 Though a real fact, it has the intent and import of a 
 symbol, adumbrating the spiritual features of the 
 city of God, and embracing the whole range of its 
 blessedness. In this bearing I shall now consider it, 
 We are wont to associate with night the idea of 
 weariness. The physical nature of man cannot sus- 
 tain an activity that knows no pause. Labor ex- 
 hausts its strength ; and without frequent rest and 
 renovation, it sinks into the grave. The intel- 
 lectual nature also, though of ethereal birth, and 
 endowed with far more elastic energies, is yet 
 liable, from its union with the body, to be weak- 
 ened by the strain of protracted thought, or broken 
 down by the weight of incessant care. How benefi- 
 cent, therefore, is that ordinance of the Creator, 
 which brings periodic darkness over the earth, and 
 calls its busy multitudes to repose! Sweet to the 
 myriad toilers in the world's vast workshop is the 
 coming of the still evening J 10 „ r) wucn t j )(l (( . lsks ()f 
 day arc laid aside, and tired limbs and overwrought 
 brains draw refreshment from slumber. So benign 
 ifl this provision, that Scripture has included it 
 among the special acts of Divine Goodness, in the 
 beautiful saying, "He giveth His beloved sleep." 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 419 
 
 Now, as this arrangement is not found in heaven, 
 the inference is obvious, that the denizens of that 
 bright realm do not require its operation ; and are 
 so constituted as to be inaccessible to fatigue from 
 any intensity or duration of employment. A con- 
 dition so opposite to that in which we are now 
 placed must involve amazing changes — changes 
 which no earthly words can paint, or earthly mind 
 conceive. The imperfections of our being, the ma- 
 terialism that clogs it, the weaknesses that impair 
 it, the defilement that dishonors it, must be utterly 
 eliminated ftnd cast off. This corruptible body 
 must become incorruptible ; this natural body be 
 made a spiritual body ; this feeble body be imbued 
 with power ; this mortal body put on immortality ; 
 and this sinful body shine forth in the glory of holi- 
 ness. The mental faculties, there is reason to 
 believe, will experience a similar transformation, 
 passing from their present infancy to angelic devel- 
 opment ; from the errors and delusions of this 
 murky sphere to the perfect knowledge of fhe upper 
 world. Thus our entire nature will be so recast, 
 etherealized, exalted, as to render it superior to las- 
 situde, and suffering, and decay ; instinct with per- 
 petual vigor and indestructible vitality. Hence 
 there will be no need that the shadows of night 
 should gather over the sky of eternity ; no need 
 that repose should follow exertion ; no need that 
 
420 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 thought and feeling should ever be locked in forget- 
 fulness. To the blessed dwellers there capacities 
 will be imparted, which will fit them to pursue, 
 without languor or stay, the noble engagements of 
 that higher life. And while each glorified mind 
 and each glorified body will find full scope for all 
 its endowments in the service of its God and 
 Saviour, the everlasting years as they roll away will 
 witness no intermission of that service, and no 
 waste of the powers which supply it. In what de- 
 lightful contrast is all this to our present circum- 
 stances ! When we consider how feeble and languid 
 our best duties now are ; how soon we grow weary 
 in them ; and how often exhaustion compels us to 
 withdraw from them : and then look forward to that 
 coming state, in which we shall be girded with 
 strength proportioned to the grandeur of our occu- 
 pations — strength enabling us to worship and adore 
 forever, and to fly, swift as sunbeams, from province 
 to province of Jehovah's empire, in fulfilment of 
 His behests — must we not anticipate, with the 
 deepest longing of our souls, an abode in that world 
 where darkness shall never shroud us, and where, 
 from our constitution, we shall never feel fatigue? 
 
 Night is the symbol of ignorance. How often 
 
 do the Sacred Writer- represent the intellectual and 
 
 moral blindness of men under the figure of dark- 
 
 ! Thus Job, describing the errors and follies 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 421 
 
 of the devotees of human wisdom, says, "They 
 meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at 
 noonday as in the night." And the fearful ignorance 
 of God and of truth, which overspread the world at 
 the period of the Eedeemer's advent, is portrayed 
 by the graphic declaration, " Darkness covered the 
 earth, and gross darkness the people." 
 
 In this emblematic sense, a deep and cloudy night 
 stretches over the sphere which we now inhabit. 
 How imperfect are our faculties ! How narrow the 
 limits of our knowledge ! How obscure and uncer- 
 tain our researches ! What barriers of gloom and 
 mystery meet us on whatever side we attempt to 
 push our investigations ! The torch of Revelation, 
 which God has in mercy hung out from the skies, 
 to direct the steps of benighted man on his path 
 to eternity, sheds indeed a clear and steady light, 
 sufficient for our guidance in all that is essential to 
 salvation. But, like the moonbeams which cheer 
 us in the absence of day, it gilds only the summits 
 of Truth, and the high uplands of Faith and Prac- 
 tice, along which we must pass to the Heavenly 
 Zion ; while the deep valleys beneath lie in impen- 
 etrable shadow. What gems of knowledge, what 
 treasures of wisdom, what scenes of beauty and of 
 grandeur, what exhibitions of Divine skill and be- 
 neficence, are there hidden from mortal view, or 
 revealed only in dim and misty outline ! How pro- 
 
422 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 found is the obscurity which rests on many subjects 
 of the highest interest and importance ! How little 
 can we comprehend of the mystery of our own 
 being ; of the constitution of the world in which we 
 arc placed ; of the nature and designs of that Prov- 
 idence by which it is upheld ; of the attributes, pur- 
 poses and glory of that Almighty One, under whose 
 government we live, and to whose tribunal we are 
 accountable ! We here know but in part ; we see 
 through a glass darkly ; and although the illumina- 
 tion vouchsafed is enough, if faithfully followed, to 
 point out our way and to lead us in safety, yet there 
 is much of a character vast, noble, sublime, which 
 Inspiration does not disclose, or our powers are too 
 weak to grasp. 
 
 But in heaven there will be no intellectual night. 
 All the errors that now shade and darken our minds 
 — all the obstacles which here impede and limit our 
 acquisitions — shall there be forever removed. The 
 faculties of the soul which, amid the fogs and illu- 
 sions of sense, are so restricted in their range, and 
 so distorted in their vision, will, in that radiant 
 world, expand into seraphic strength, and under the 
 beams of eternal day receive a new impulse, and a 
 right direction. The veil also, which now hangs 
 over so many departments of Truth, will then be 
 lifted, and Ave shall enter her inmost temple, and 
 worship at her most secret shrine. The full, unsul- 
 
HEAVE X WITH 01' T NIGHT. 423 
 
 lied light of eternity will pour its aH-revealifig 
 
 brightness upon the whole field of moral and relig- 
 ious inquiry, dispersing every cloud, illumining 
 every depth, and bringing out each object into bold 
 and distinct view. And. oh ! what attainments in 
 divine knowledge must the redeemed make, when, 
 with powers rectified and enlarged, with a spiritual 
 vision purged from all the weakness and obliquity 
 of earth, they range over the boundless extent of 
 Jehovah's works and ways, piercing to the pro- 
 foundest abysses, soaring to the loftiest heights, 
 pursuing their researches amid the blaze of his very 
 throne ; while all along their everlasting course. 
 Heaven's unsetting sun sheds upon them its clear 
 and serene effulgence ! Of the world in which such 
 a career awaits us, well may it be said, " There 
 shall be no night there." 
 
 Night is the symbol of sin. The time which God 
 has ordained for rest, man has appropriated to 
 crime. All classes of the depraved and lawless 
 look upon night as their chosen patron and protec- 
 tor. fr The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twi- 
 light, and he saith, no eye shall see me. He goeth 
 forth to her house, which is the way to hell, going 
 down to the chambers of death, in the twilight, in 
 the evening, in the black and dark night."' And it 
 is under the same sheltering screen, that the thief, 
 the burglar, and the assassin carry on their warfare 
 
421: BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 against society. Hence darkness is often employed 
 in Scripture as the emblem of sin. " The way of 
 the wicked is as darkness." " Men love darkness 
 rather than light, because their deeds are evil." 
 
 When, therefore, we read of heaven as being with- 
 out night, the expression evidently implies that into 
 those holy realms no impurity can ever be admitted. 
 Take the glass of the inspired Word, and study the 
 nature and design of the City of God ; and you will 
 at once see how impossible it is that evil should find 
 entrance there. It is the immediate residence of 
 Jehovah, the all-perfect, the all-righteous, whose 
 eyes cannot look on iniquity. It is the abode of 
 Christ, to whom sin is so offensive that he stooped 
 to the cross to put it away. It is the home of 
 celestial Intelligences who have kept their gar- 
 ments undefiled. It is the dwelling-place of justi- 
 fied spirits, who have been cleansed by the blood 
 of atonement, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. 
 In a word, everything that we know of heaven, of 
 its inhabitants, of its occupations, of its enjoyments, 
 proves, beyond the possibility of doubt, that it is the 
 scene of perfect holiness — a holy world, tenanted 
 only by the holy. Heaven would cease to be heaven, 
 if one unsanctified soul were to gain admission 
 there. As soon might the pillars of eternal Recti- 
 tude give way, and rebellion usurp the throne of 
 Infinite Majesty and Power, as a single unrenewed 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 425 
 
 spirit inherit the land of the saved, and share in its 
 blessedness. Let those who presumptuously dream 
 that they are going to heaven while destitute of all 
 that can fit them for heaven, ponder the words 
 spoken by Him who is the Lord of Heaven, and 
 who cannot be mistaken in the qualifications which 
 it demands. " There shall in no case enter into it 
 anything that clefileth, neither whatsoever worketh 
 abomination, or maketh a lie, but they that are 
 written in the Lamb's book of life." "Except a 
 man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." And because there is no sin and no sinner 
 in heaven, therefore it is said, " There shall be no 
 night there." 
 
 Night is the symbol of danger. The hours in 
 which darkness broods over the earth are peculiar 
 for their insecurity. It is then that the robber, the 
 housebreaker, the incendiary, and the whole tribe 
 of depredators on property and life, steal from their 
 lurking places j and roam abroad on their work of 
 mischief. And then it is that perils easily avoided 
 by day deepen and multiply their terrors. How a 
 black, starless night intensifies the dread of the 
 mariner, on a lee shore, with the tempest howling 
 around him, and breakers roaring for his destruc- 
 tion. How it increases the jeopardy of the trav- 
 eller in a lonely mountain gorge, where at any 
 moment he may plunge over some precipice, which 
 
 36* 
 
426 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 the darkness conceals from his view. And with 
 what undefinable, startling fear it thrills the man 
 who is compelled, during its continuance, to trav- 
 erse the streets of a city reeking with pestilence, or 
 ravaged by insurrection. The very precautions we 
 adopt evince our sense of special exposure, while 
 the eye of the all-beholding sun is closed. 
 
 The exclusion of night from heaven mny, there- 
 fore, be interpreted as a pledge that, in that secure 
 asylum, no adversary shall assail us, and no possi- 
 bility of evil ever menace our peace. The moral 
 perils which environ us in this probational stage of 
 our being, arise from the unholy tendencies of our 
 nature ; from the dominant wickedness of the world 
 in which we live ; and from the sleepless hostility 
 of the great Enemy of all good. Even after the 
 work of God's Spirit has passed upon the soul, 
 breathing into it a new principle of life from above, 
 transforming its character, and reversing its destiny 
 — there }et remain in it many unsanctified affec- 
 tions, which are constantly struggling to regain their 
 former ascendency, and subject the ransomed child 
 of Grace to his old thraldom. The outward condi- 
 tions of the believer's course are also full of hazard. 
 He has to fight his way through a country alien 
 from heaven, and at war with whatever comes 
 from heaven, or is going to it; a country, whose 
 customs, habits, pursuits, intercourse, are in direct 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 427 
 
 antagonism to the temper and conduct which the 
 Gospel demands. At every step, he is beset by in- 
 fluences adverse to his religious progress ; by temp- 
 tations to earthliness, to unbelief, to remissness 
 in duty, to sinful indulgence. At every step, the 
 Arch-Deceiver spreads snares for his feet, and plies 
 him with enticements to apostasy and ruin. And 
 so mighty are these opposing forces, so formidable 
 their combined array, that no mortal strength and 
 no mortal resolution, unaided by power from on 
 high, could suffice for the encounter. Were it not 
 for Omnipotent succor, every celestial traveller 
 would be overcome by the way, and never reach 
 the glory at its end. 
 
 But once beyond the Eiver — once sheltered 
 within the walls of the Heavenly City — we shall 
 no longer be exposed to any hostile interference. 
 The seductions of the world, and the treachery of 
 our own hearts, will not follow us there ; nor can 
 Satan cross the " great gulf fixed " between Hell 
 and Heaven to vex us with his assaults. Xo foe 
 can approach that Palace of the universal King — 
 no danger lurk in its happy mansions. At the 
 gates, and on every tower and battlement, angelic 
 sentinels keep watch and ward ; while over all, 
 Infinite Love and Infinite Puissance stretch their 
 inviolable protection. The Covenant of the Ever- 
 Faithful and the Ever-Living infolds the blessed 
 
428 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 ones who have been rescued from the pollutions of 
 earth, and brought to immortality. Are they not, 
 then, safe fore vermore ? And is it not fitting that 
 a state, on which rests no shadow of fear for the 
 present or for the future, should be described as 
 having no night? 
 
 Night is the symbol of want. Sleep is the sister 
 of death. During its reign o.ver us, we retire 
 within ourselves ; the senses close their portals ; 
 and the soul is shut in from all its wonted delights. 
 Communion with man and with nature has ceased. 
 Perception is suspended. Reason is in abeyance. 
 Gone are consciousness, memory, hope. The im- 
 agination may, indeed, go forth in dreams, revelling 
 in the wild phantasmagories which its own aberra- 
 tions have called up ; but how vague and unsatisfy- 
 ing are they all ! Incongruous, aimless, as little are 
 they to be compared with waking realities, as the 
 reflections of a broken mirror to the clear shining 
 of noon. And even should slumber be interrupted, 
 what a dreary blank does the eye behold ! Hidden 
 is the rich landscape — stream, and forest, and 
 mountain — all the grand things and the lovely on 
 which the daylight looks. Above us may glimmer 
 the watching stars and the silvery moon ; but they 
 only awaken regret for the nobler luminary de- 
 parted. Where is that wondrous orb at whose 
 approach the stellar hosts veil their faces? Where 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 429 
 
 is he, in whose absence creation languishes ; whose 
 coming is hailed with joy ; whose rising scatters 
 life and gladness over the world ; whose ray paints 
 with gold every object on which it falls ; and who 
 sits on his throne of fire, the visible Shekinah, 
 " emblem of the Invisible, lit up in the temple of the 
 universe." So is it that night typifies want ; and 
 the fact that heaven knows no night is a most 
 expressive sign that it also knows no privation. 
 
 Want, in one or another of its forms, is insepa- 
 rable from our earthly condition. Pilgrims in the 
 desert, we must expect to sigh in vain for much 
 that is essential to perfect felicity. But when we 
 reach the land of Divine fulness above, every need 
 will be supplied. Do you find here a want of 
 friends ? Are there few whose hearts beat in sym- 
 pathy with yours, and in whose lasting affection you 
 can confide ? In heaven you will have innumerable 
 friends — friends bound to you by the holiest ties 
 — friends who will never change — friends for 
 eternity. United to the glorious assembly of the 
 first born, you will hold high converse with patri- 
 archs, and prophets, and apostles and martyrs, with 
 the redeemed of all the ages ; and each individual 
 of that countless throng will be your brother by a 
 bond sweeter and stronger than mortal kindred ever 
 knew — the bond of love to the One Saviour, and 
 of endless companionship in celebrating His praise. 
 
430 BIBLE PICTUBES. 
 
 Is there here want of knowledge ? In heaven li^ht 
 will be poured upon us in the fullest effulgenec 
 which our capacities can bear. The clouds which 
 now obscure the disjoints of Providence will be dis- 
 persed. Eedemption w T ill stand revealed in all its 
 wonders ; and we shall comprehend, with all saints, 
 the matchless mystery of Incarnate Love. Is there 
 here a want of happiness? Does the gloom of sor- 
 row often settle down, like a funeral pall, upon the 
 soul, filling all its chambers with woe, and shutting 
 out every gleam of hope and joy ? We shall leave 
 all sorrow in the grave. There arc no mourners in 
 heaven ; for pain and grief can never invade its 
 secure repose. Hearts will throb no more. Tears 
 will be shed no more. A Father's hand has wiped 
 them all away. Everything around us, every scene, 
 every object, every employment, will be adapted to 
 exclude disquietude, and to minister delight. Every 
 faculty, every passion, will be absorbed in adora- 
 tion, and overflowing with ecstasy. And He that 
 sitteth on the throne will bring out His treasures 
 to augment our bliss, showering down upon our 
 spirits all the raptures which Almighty Goodness 
 can bestow. 
 
 Night is the symbol of death. There are few 
 analogies in the whole range of sacred imagery, 
 more suited to represent death than the season of 
 night. And thus we find it very frequently em- 
 
HE AVE X WITHOUT NIGHT. 431 
 
 ployed by the inspired writers. The Psalmist, in 
 speaking of the removal of his friends by death, 
 says, "Mine acquaintance hast thou put into dark- 
 ness.*' Job calls death "the day of darkness." and 
 the grave " the bed of darkness " — "a land of dark- 
 ness, as darkness itself: and of the shadow of death, 
 without any order, and where the light is as dark- 
 ness."' Our Divine Teacher has also given us a 
 very striking description of death under the figure 
 of night. "I must work the works of Him that 
 sent Me while it is day : the night cometh in which 
 no man can work.'' 
 
 To beings situated as we are, it is hardly possible 
 to form an idea of a state of existence in which 
 death is unknown. In the whole compass of our 
 observation, we can discover nothing in which his 
 presence is not found. Every breath we draw, 
 every bound of the heart, every beat of the pulse, 
 tells of death. He is in all periods of life — in the 
 snows of age, in the glory of manhood, in the flower 
 of youth, in the bud of infancy. He is in all the 
 seasons — in the showers of spring, in the beams of 
 summer, in the ripeness of autumn, in the storms 
 of winter. He is in the cloud and in the clear sky. 
 on the mountain and in the valley, on the land and 
 on the sea. There is not a condition, not a sphere, 
 not an event, that gives no hint of death. He 
 plants his foot on this fallen globe, and waving his 
 
432 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 skeleton hand over its whole circumference, pro- 
 claims, "All this is mine!" 
 
 It is, therefore, difficult for us, having death thus 
 always and everywhere before our eyes, to carry 
 forward our thoughts to a state of being in which 
 death and the grave can find no entrance. Yet this 
 is true of heaven. Hear the decree uttered from 
 that bright world, "There shall be no more death." 
 No more death ! Oh, what a soul-ravishing an- 
 nouncement is this ! No more death ! Then Hope 
 has dawned on the midnight of the tomb ; the King 
 of Terrors is despoiled of his power ; and the all- 
 conqueror is himself conquered ! No more death to 
 our persons — no more death to our attainments — 
 no more death to our usefulness — no more death to 
 our joys ! All arc changeless and perfect. God is 
 our portion, holiness our vesture, happiness our 
 allotment, eternity our home. Oh, what a boon is 
 Immortality when it thus stamps its own endless 
 duration on all that awaits us in "the Better 
 Land ! " 
 
 Permit me, in closing, to advert briefly to the 
 practical influence which this representation should 
 have upon us. Merely to describe heaven would 
 be a vain labor, even though we could paint its 
 splendors in the glowing numbers of Milton, or 
 with the magic pencil of Claude. Such a picture 
 might charm the imagination, but would leave the 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 433 
 
 conscience and the heart unmoved. The moral 
 bearings of Immortality, our personal interest in it, 
 and the position in which we stand with respect to 
 its awards, are the thoughts which every view of its 
 happiness should suggest and impress. And most 
 solemnly would I admonish all who have listened to 
 the recital of the blessings that enrich the heavenly 
 state, that unless they embrace its principles, and 
 drink in its spirit, and put on its holiness through 
 the power of its renovating grace, they can never 
 inherit its beatitudes. The Lord of heaven has 
 ordained a great and decisive preparation in the 
 hearts and lives of men, as an indispensable pre- 
 requisite to its enjoyment. What that, preparation 
 is, you have been often and distinctly told. It con- 
 sists in godly sorrow for sin ; in the cordial accept- 
 ance of Christ's sacrifice for sin ; in the work of the; 
 Holy Spirit, applying that sacrifice to the renewal 
 and cleansing of the soul. Has this preparation 
 been accomplished in you? Have you thus been 
 made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light ? 
 If you are living without repentance, without con- 
 version, without a purifying faith in the Blood of 
 Atonement, you are passing, indeed, to eternity, 
 but to an eternity of woe, and are linking your 
 future being with those, of whom God has said, 
 "They shall not see my rest." The only path in 
 which a sinner can reach Eternal Life, lies by the 
 
 37 
 
434 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 Cross of Calvary. Oh ! tread that path. Linger 
 long aucl trustingly by that Mount of salvation. 
 Bathe, and bathe again, in the healing waters which 
 flow from its riven summit. So shall your journey 
 end amid the rapture of the skies. 
 
 If you are travelling to immortality by such a 
 road, well may you look forward with exulting hope 
 to the issue of your pilgrimage. That issue is nigh 
 you even now, though the mists of earth shut it out 
 from your view. When a few more steps are taken, 
 a few more sufferings endured, a few more victories 
 won, you will pass beyond the intercepting haze, 
 and behold the City of God, the goal of your striv- 
 ings, and your heritage forever. And then will the 
 marvels of its beauty and its magnificence burst on 
 your ravished sight. As you gaze round upon the 
 wondrous vision, and your eye takes in at last the 
 whole celestial panorama — the sapphire walls, the 
 gates of pearl, the golden streets, the crystal pal- 
 aces, the emerald fields spreading away on every 
 side, the River of Life winding through them, and 
 the Day that never ends pouring a flood of radiance 
 over all — what a rushing tide of ecstasy will sweep 
 upon your spirits, and what new conceptions of 
 God's power and mercy engross every thought and 
 faculty ! Nor will its material elements alone occupy 
 your contemplations. Its moral characteristics, its 
 order, its harmony, its purity, its love, will afford 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 435 
 
 you still nobler themes of study, and sources of vet 
 loftier pleasure. There you will see Divine Wis- 
 dom, Omnipotence, Majesty, Goodness, in their 
 sublimest manifestations. There you will commune 
 with Archangels and Cherubim, the elder-born of 
 Creation, and drink deep knowledge from lips that 
 sung the morning hymn of Time, and greeted the 
 new-made earth with rejoicing hosannas. There 
 you will meet the justified from among men. There 
 you will find the loved ones lost below, and never 
 lose them more. There you will look on the face 
 of Jesus, and bask in His unveiled perfections with 
 ever-growing wonder and delight. And there, 
 before the central Glory, the all-encircling Efful- 
 gence that speaks the Presence of the Invisible 
 Father, you will worship and adore through ever- 
 lasting ages. 
 
 Is this blissful scene real? Is our future partici- 
 pation in it assured to us by the promise of the 
 Saviour? Are we separated from it only by the 
 narrow stream of death ? Then why is it so seldom 
 in our thoughts ? Why are our aspirings towards 
 it so infrequent and so feeble ? Why do we even 
 shrink back from the hour that shall summon us to 
 it? Why cling we so closely to the Wilderness, 
 forgetful of the Canaan to which we are bound? 
 Why are we so eager in temporal pursuits, so elated 
 
436 BIBLE PICTURES. 
 
 by success, so cast down Ity failure ; while the great 
 things of the Life to come have over us so little 
 power ? Oh, let us awake to the grandeur of our 
 Hope ! Onward, ever onward, the swift years are 
 bearing us to heaven. Ought we not to advance as 
 rapidly in fitness for it, and in desire for its fruition ? 
 Amid the trials and infelicities of our earthly abode, 
 let Faith fix her steadfast, longing gaze on that 
 serene realm just beyond the boundary of the grave, 
 where no weariness, no want, can ever be felt — no 
 sin, no danger, no death, can ever come; where all 
 evil is banished — all good possessed. 
 
 AVould that I might here drop the curtain. But 
 our picture will not be complete without its con- 
 trast. The shadow must be put in as well as the 
 light ; the gloom as well as the brightness. There 
 is another world, the opposite of that which has 
 been described — a world shrouded in unbroken 
 darkness — a world in which there is nothing but 
 Unrest, Guilt, Privation, Despair, and ever-living 
 Death. Impenitent sinner ! that world is your ap- 
 pointed dwelling-place. If you continue to reject 
 the Saviour, and die unconverted and unforgiven, 
 as sure as God's word is true, the never-ending 
 misery of hell will be your portion. And as the 
 ceaseless ages of doom drag on, your spirit, worn 
 and crushed under its mighty torment, will utter, 
 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 437 
 
 ever utter, the hopeless cry, " "Watchman, what of 
 the night? "Watchman, what of the night?" And 
 the watchman cannot answer, " The morning com- 
 eth ; " but all along the slow-moving centuries will 
 come back the response, "Xight — Night still 
 — Eterxal Night." 
 
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 8 
 
60ultr antr ^mtahxn ^nblu&tians* 
 
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(Snitlir antr ^intahtn ]§nblhixtxan&. 
 
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