Zftj. THE WORDS OF THE ANGELS. THE WORDS OF THE ANGELS OR THEIR VISITS TO THE EARTH, AND THE MESSAGES THEY DELIVERED BY RUDOLF STIER, D.D. AUTHOR OF 'THE WORDS OF THE LORD JESUS," "COMMENTARY ON ST. JAMES," ETC. ETC LONDON J. C. NIMMO & BAIN 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND 1879 Saffanfgne %>rtf BALLANTYNE AND HANSON, EDINBURGH CHANDOS STREET, LONDON CONTENTS. PAGE vii PART I. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. CHAPTER I. Gabriel's Announcement to Zacharias Luke i., .3 CHAPTER IL Gabriel's Announcement to Mary Luke L, .... 21 CHAPTER III. Appearance of the Angel to Joseph in a Dream Matthew i., . . .67 CHAPTER IV. The Angels that announce the Birth of Christ at Bethlehem Lake n., . 47 CHAPTER V. The Angel returns to Joseph in Dreams Matthew n., . . . .01 CHAPTER VI. The Angels at the Sepulchre Matt, xxvin., Mark xvi., Luke xxiv., . 7S 2000079 J v CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. The Angel's Question to Magdalene John xx., CHAPTER VIII. The Angels at the Ascension Acts I., CHAPTER IX. The Angel opening the Prison Doors Acts v., ..... 103 CHAPTER X. The Angel directing Philip Acts vm., ....... Ill CHAPTER XI. The Angel sent to Cornelius Acts x., ....... 118 CHAPTER XII. The Angel delivering Peter Acts xii., ....... 127 CHAPTER XIII. The Angel to Paul at Sea Acts xxvu., ....... 136 PAKT II. THE KEVELATION OF ST. JOHN. CHAPTER XIV. TJ>n Praise of the Four Living Creatures Revelation iv., . . . 147 CHAPTER XV. Who is worthy to open the Book? Revelation v., . . 153 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. PAOK The Praise of many Angels, and the Amen of the Four Living Crea- tures Revelation v., .1(50 CHAPTER XVII. The Fourfold Call Come and See Revelation vi., 164 CHAPTER XVIII. The Angel having the Seal for the Servants of God Revelation vn., . 168 CHAPTER XIX. The Worship of all the Angels Revelation vn., ITS CHAPTER XX. The Threefold Woe Revelation VIIL, 177 CHAPTER XXI. The Angel with the Little Book open Revelation x., ... 18'J CHAPTER XXII. The Three Angels that herald the Fall of Babylon Revelation xiv., . 192 CHAPTER XXIII. The Two Angels at the Thrusting in of the Sickles Revelation xrv., . i;04 CHAPTER XXIV. The Angel of the Waters praises God's Justice Revelation xvi., . . 209 CHAPTER XXV. The Angel who shows the Mystic Babylon Revelation xvii., . . 2M CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVL PAGE The Two Angels at the Fall of Babylon Revelation xvin., . . .228 CHAPTER XXVII. The Angel refusing to be Worshipped Revelation xix., .... 286 CHAPTER XXVIII. The Angel in the Sun summoning the Birds to the Great Supper- Revelation xix., 243 CHAPTER XXIX. The Great Voice out of Heaven Revelation xxi., 2W CHAPTER XXX. The Interposing Voice Revelation XXL, ... . 258 CHAPTER XXXI. The Angel showing the Bride l.uvolKUou xxi., 254 CHAPTER XXXII. The last Angelic Speech Revelation xxii., . ... SOT INTRODUCTION. IT is a striking fact, that neither in ancient nor modern literature have we any work of precisely the same char- acter as that which I now undertake, a work dealing exclusively with the authentic words addressed by angels to men, and recorded by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Indeed no monograph even on the Biblical doctrine re- specting angels has ever come before me. We have treatises and dissertations, it is true, but no exhaustive book ; and even these are exceedingly meagre in their notices of the intercourse of holy angels with the human race. They are rather to be classed under the head of demonology, and historiae didboli ; whereas, in the Scrip- ture, especially in the Old Testament, we have more told us of good than of evil spirits. Indeed, to say nothing of unbelieving and half-believing indifference, we con- stantly find, even in orthodox believers, an actual ignoring, as it were, of angelic agency. Now, we hold that it would much add, both to the full understanding and joy of faith, if the testimony of Scripture on the subject were properly received. For throughout its pages the existence and intervention of angels is dwelt upon with as much clear- ness and precision as is compatible with the necessarily mysterious nature of the subject. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, as we are well viii INTRODUCTION. aware, repeatedly brought the intervention of holy angela before the minds of his hearers. In parables, the inter- pretation of which must at all events point at realities, we find angels described as the reapers at the last harvest, the executors of the last sentence, the devoted servants of the heavenly Master ; nay, in the latest prophecy (Matt, xxv.), their accompanying the coming-in glory of the Judges (ver. 31), can no more be understood as a metaphor than the mention, in ver. 41, of the devil and his angels. We may here quote with advantage a striking remark of Nitzsch on the subject in question : " If," writes he, " we consider the origin of the Old Testament representation of angels, we shall certainly not be able to hold the opinion that the angels were nothing more than the gods of Poly- theism, subordinated by the growth of Monotheism to this inferior position. For if this were so, we should find the angelic world most prominent at the time of transition from the polytheistic to the monotheistic creed ; whereas it is at a later period, just when Polytheism is com- pletely overcome, that we find the existence of angels reduced to a dogma by the Jews, and their appearance most frequently recorded." Most certainly this is the case. The angels by no means recede into comparative obscurity as clear light breaks in ; but on the contrary, it is on the occasion of the full revelation of God in Christ, that they appear with increased distinctness. And in the same manner with regard to the objective, personal devil, his image, instead of waxing fainter, is dwelt on and defined far more than heretofore, both in the parables and the doctrinal teaching of Christ. No sooner, indeed, had our Lord appeared in his public character of teacher, and gathered around him his earliest disciples, than we find him spontaneously alluding to the INTRODUCTION: ix far-off vision of the patriarch Jacob (John i. 51), and personally applying it. He points to his own Divine Humanity as the centre of this spiritual intercourse con- tinually carried on between earth and heaven ; and on one occasion, previous to his last prophecy (Matt. xxiv. 30 ; xxv. 31), speaks openly of the coming of the Son of man with his angels (Matt. xvi. 27 ; Mark viii. 38). In short, neither the inquiries of science, nor the induc- tions of reason, tend to disprove the great fact, equally transcending the telescope of the one, and the speculations of the other, the fact of the universe being peopled with intermediate spirits between God and man. It is only a meagre pseudo-philosophical Pantheism, which would con- tract the starry heaven to a great light-eruption (accord- ing to Hegel's notorious words, Licht Anschlag], and render God conscious only in man ! which must needs protest against a doctrine so essentially conservative of Monothe- ism as this of worshipping and ministering angels. Even in Von Meyer's works we meet with a most in- accurate observation on this subject, i.e., that no time is assigned in Scripture to the creation of angels, which leaves it to be inferred that they have existed from the beginning. Now, that, in the beginning, God, together with heaven itself, created the whole of the host of heaven, is most clearly stated, Gen. i. 1, ii. 1, compared with Ps. xxxiii. 6 ; Neh. ix. 6. But the manner of creation of the invisible world (Col. i. 16), must remain hidden from us, because we are not at present capable of understanding any revelation of it. One bright glance, indeed, is allowed us of the singing and shouting for joy of the earliest existing sons of God, the morning stars of primeval creation, over the laying the foundations of this present world of ours (Job xxxviii. 7). x INTRODUCTION. Again, In Gen. vi. 1-4, we have a most mysterious yet, no doubt, literally true account given us of a second fall in the world of angels ; of which, however, we will not speak any further here, since it is with the holy angels that we have to do, and with their sayings to men. which sayings are far more rare in Scripture than the general mention of their existence and services. Now, human tradition and human poetry would have reversed this. The primal belief that angels were wont to help and serve mankind, and to do so, be it well observed, by the command and the sending of God, we find in Gen. xxiv. 7, 40, simply alluded to by Abraham as a self-evident fact ; and in like manner in the. book of Tobit we see that the popular belief among the Jews lies at the foundation of that Apocryphal narrative. Again, Jacob beholds the heavenly company at the beginning of his pilgrimage, and at the end of his exile, both dreaming at Bethel and wak- ing at Mahanaim (Gen. xxviii. 12; xxxii. 1, 2). That the angels of the Lord encamp around them that fear him, to keep them in all their ways, seems to be a well-known truth, not taught as anything new, but comfortingly alluded to as a certain fact (Ps. xxxiv. 8 ; xci. 11). The watchers around the lofty throne of the Divine Governor, who receive and execute his behests, as Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream (Dan. iv. 13-17), are not merely a specimen of Chaldean imagery, incorporated in holy writ, but are akin to those chariots of God before mentioned (Ps. Ixviii. 17). Micaiah the Bon of Imlah (1 Kings xxii. 19), sees just the same vision of the Lord on his throne, surrounded by the hosts of heaven, that Daniel beheld at a later period (Dan. vii. 10). The saints in Dan. viii. 13 (Zech. xiv. 5 compared with Deut. xxxiii. 2) we find spoken of in the same way in Ps. Ixxxix. 5, 7 and Job xv. 15, v. 1 ; in which last place INTRODUCTION. xi we have a very significant allusion to the prohibited invo- cation of angels as being idolatrous and useless. If some- times these angels are called Elohim, or children of God, that is, according to the Hebrew idiom, God-like ; this is intended to express their exalted dignity as the official representatives of God, certainly not to attribute to them a share in the divine nature or independent power. Such a misunderstanding as this is guarded against by the name most generally applied to them, Angels, i.e., messengers and ministers, or in their oldest and most comprehensive designation, God's army, God's hosts (Gen. xxxii. 2 ; Ps. ciii. 20, 21 ; cxlviii. 2). And even God the Lord adds to his name this most solemn and impressive title of Sabaoth, in other words, the God and Governor of these hosts of heaven. Finally, we have the definition of the name of angel given to us in Heb. i. 14, with reference to their especial work as messengers from heaven to earth. Now, we must be careful to distinguish between these commissioned and also created spirits and the Angel of the Lord, whom we find in the Old Testament appearing as the personal manifestation of the Triune God, the God of God, the visible image of the Invisible, the Captain of the Lord's host (Josh. v. 14), and thus himself the God of Sabaoth. That this Angel of the Lord is no created angel, remains an incontrovertible truth, although, strange to say, even believers have sometimes questioned it. To insist upon the word angel in this case, overlooking the divine ele- ment, to see here only a created representative of the Deity, appears to me unauthorized, such an interpretation entirely doing away with the partition-wall between the created and the Creator. Again, Heb. i. 1,2, by no means authorizes the belief held by some that God did not, in the xii INTRODUCTION. Old Testament, speak by his Son as well as by angels. In the first place, he can speak in no other way than through the eternal Word; and next, we have apostolic expressions like those in John xii. 41 (his glory, Christ's, ver. 42) ; and 1 Cor. x. 4, 9, which prove that He did. From Gen. xvi. and Job down to Malachi, we find scattered throughout the whole Old Testament isolated yet harmon- izing descriptions, which, at once in their mystery and their clearness, testify of Him who condescended indeed to appear in the form of an angel, and to be called one, yet who was no angel, but God himself sent, proceeding from God concealed. Let the following passages be read very attentively : Gen. xvi. 13 ; xxii. 12 ; Ex. iii. 6, 7 ; and let Ex. xiii. 21 be compared with xiv. 19 ; xxiii. 21. Remark also how the prophet Hosea (xii. 5, 6) names Jehovah the God of Sabaoth, him whom we find (Gen. xxxii.) spoken of as a man (ver. 24), and again as God (ver. 30) ; how in Hosea (xii. 5) the expression is the (well-known, so called) Angel (again, see how the two expressions stand side by side in Gen. xlviii. 15, 16 ; the God before whom my fathers did walk, the Angel who redeemed me from evil), the angel, namely, in whom God's name is (Ex. xxiii. 21) ; the Angel of God's presence (Isa. Ixiii. 9), i.e., God's own presence (Ex. xxxiii. 14). We can now understand the majestic tone in which the Angel of the Lord speaks on the occasion of his very remarkable appearance recorded in Judges ii. 1, " /made you to go up out of Egypt! " And we have similar instances in the history of Gideon and Manoah, as also in that of Elijah (2 Kings i. 3-15). The Angel of the Lord referred to in all these cases is spoken of in Job as the mediating angel (in the English Bible, a messenger, an interpreter) who has found a ran- som. Finally, in Mai. iii. 1, he is spoken of as the Angel INTRODUCTION. xiii of the covenant, one with the Lord himself, who is to come to his temple. Thus the sayings of this Angel of the Lord have no place in our present book. In many passages of Scripture it seems somewhat doubtful at the first glance whether he, or a created angel be alluded to, but, on reflection, the context or parallel passages will enable us to decide, as, for example, in Gen. xxi. 17, compared with xxxi. 11, 13. In Numb, xxii., let especial attention be paid to the use of the word /, in ver. 32, 33, 35. According to the repeated and unvarying testimony of Scripture, numbers of created angels are busily employed in the affairs of humanity, not only in the lifetime of our Lord (the centre of the history of salvation, but also before and after). The Old Testament appears, indeed, in a special manner the dispensation of angels, as we have three times stated in Gral. iii. 19 ; Acts vii. 53 ; Heb. ii. 2. But this intervention of theirs, this their character of servants, appointed to execute the divine will and plans, is taught us alike in the oldest and latest of the sacred writings in their own characteristic way ; not, indeed, by positive doctrinal statement, so much as by illustration and context. Thus we learn that the whole of nature is not merely governed by natural forces and laws, but that the immanent Creator acts upon all these by intermediate agents. It is in this especial sense that these spirits who direct the course of nature receive the appellation of powers. The angel at the pool of Bethesda is no myth, for, in Rev. xvi. 5. we have the positive mention of an angel of the water, as well as angels of the wind (vii. 1, com- pared with ix. 14). Lastly, in Dan. x. 18, 20, 21, xii. 1, we read of other angels who are commissioned to guide the affairs of individual nations, for whom they fight, a fact b xiv INTRODUCTION. which, unintelligible as it is to us, we are bound to receive together with all other words of inspiration respecting the mysteries of God's wonderfully ordered creation. That in this great world of spirits there should be de- grees, differences of rank, as well as of administration, we might naturally have concluded, even if the Scriptures had not revealed it, not, indeed, by laying it down as a fact, in so many words, but by numerous allusions and slight touches which it is our part to search out diligently, and draw our own inferences from ; but yet with caution and humility, lest we intrude into those things that we have not seen (CoL ii. 18). The clearest allusions that we find are in the pas- sages that simply enumerate thrones, principalities, powers, dominions (Eph. i. 21 ; iii. 10 ; Col. i. 16 ; ii. 10 ; of au- thorities and powers, 1 Pet. iii. 22 ; Dan. iv. 32). As to the comparative nature and rank of archangels (1 Thess. iv. 16 ; Jude 9), and that of the seven in Rev. viii. 2, it is not easy to decide, though, with respect to the latter, a careful comparing with Tob. xii. 15, may teach us some respect for apocryphal tradition. Some recent commenta- tors have, on very doubtful authority, sought to distinguish between the strong angels and the ministering angels (Ps. ciii. 20, 21), as though they were two separate classes, but in Ps. Ixxviii. 25 (in the original), all angels are alike desig- nated as strong. "We may here take occasion to protest against the popular error, which would divide the whole angelic world into the two orders of cherubim and sera- phim, for which there is no authority in holy writ ; as well as against the unworthy idea put forth by some, that the cherubim are mere creatures of the imagination, intended to convey a figurative impression of the greatness and majesty of God. We hope to present to our readers a more true y*.d lofty theory than this. INTRODUCTION. xv Others would have us distinguish between angels of might and angels of knowledge, but it is by no means easy to lay down any positive line of demarcation between these. For in several passages we find that a knowledge far ex- ceeding the present knowledge or wisdom of men, is attri- buted to all angels whatsoever (2 Sam. xiv. 17, 20 ; xix. 27 ; 1 Sam. xxix. 9). Indeed this had become an expres- sion proverbial in Israel, and we find it confirmed, while also limited in the New Testament. Our Lord himself in Matt. xxiv. 36 ; Mark xiii. 32, confirms the general pre- supposition of the angels in heaven having a widely extended knowledge, yet adds this limitation, that they do not know the day nor the hour of judgment. And again, both Paul and Peter agree in giving us to understand that the angels, holy and wise though they be, have not so deep an insight into the mysteries of salvation as those children of men whose destiny these more especially concern ; that the less complex existence of the former continually finds an interest in watching the history of the church on earth; and that they worship before the throne of grace with some- thing of an unappeased thirst for more intimate knowledge (Eph. iii. 10 ; 1 Peter i. 12). Amongst their orders there is very possibly an ascending scale from those, who although happy, and after their kind perfect spirits, are yet simply serving agencies or powers, to those who are called to and fitted for the deepest insight and the fullest knowledge. Thus perhaps, for it does not become us to speak posi- tively here, the four living creatures whose spirit was in the ivheels (Ezek. i.), really denote four primal forces of created life, nature- spirits in creation, free, personal, self-con- scious intermediate agents, to whom the divine power was delegated for the government of the material world. If so, these may certainly be divided into angels of grace and xvi INTRODUCTION. angels of truth, of mercy, and of judgment ; that is, they may be viewed as representatives in action of ail these alike (Ps. Ixxxix. 15), though it is no less true that angels of evil (Ps. Ixxviii. 49), must in wrath remember mercy, while, on the other hand, the messengers of grace and peace are conversant with the stern exercise of justice, as we see from the story of Mamre and Sodom. But how little of all the treasures of this angelic world is revealed in Scripture history. How seldom, if we consider it as a whole, have we any details afforded us of angel nature or angel work. How few angel words are recorded. "We are told indeed in Luke xv. 7, 10, by our Lord himself, that the angels rejoice in each sinner's re- pentance, feel a sympathizing delight in the recovery of every single human soul : this great truth flashes out in these words ; is apparent nowhere else. In Matt, xviii. 10, we are positively told that the children of Adam have guardian angels specially appointed, but in no other pas- sage of Scripture have we any further allusion to this most comforting, most edifying mystery. (For Acts xii. 15 is to be differently understood.) The seer of Patmos be- held indeed the prayers of the saints being presented by an angel ; but we only once read elsewhere of this in- terposition, in Dan. ix. 23 ; x. 12, though we find an allusion made to the universal belief in the fact, in the apocryphal story of Tobit (Tob. xii. 12). That angels have their appointed offices, both at the death of the right- eous and the ungodly, we learn from Luke xvi. 22, taken in connexion with chap. xii. 20, where the literal meaning is, "they shall require thy soul;" but it is only in the case of Herod (Acts xii. 23), in that of the Assyrian host (2 Kings xix. 35), in the plagues of Egypt, Ex. xii. 23 (Heb. xi. 28), and story of the pestilence in Israel (2 Sam. INTRODUCTION. xvii xxiv. 1G, 17), that we read expressly of their being the executioners of the divine judgment. And it is Jude alone who gives us any hint of the contention of Michael with Satan for the body of Moses. Again, it was long after Mahanaim that the camping of the heavenly hosts, under the aspect of horses and chariots of fire, was once more revealed to one of the young men of the prophets (2 Kings vi. 17). It is only in Dan. iii. 25, that the son of the gods shows himself in the furnace with the faithful three, to which cases may be added the two in- stances of celestial intervention of liberation from prison by angelic agency in the Acts of the Apostles. What a reticence, what a paucity in Holy Scripture of what scep- ticism would ascribe merely to human imagination. Had the angels indeed been mere myths, forms originating in poetry and preserved by tradition, why was there not in the Bible the same prominence given to them that we find in apocryphal literature ; for example, in the book of Tobit and the fourth book of Ezra. The book of Tobit is full of beauty and significance, but the episode of the angel who makes journeys here and there, and utters lengthy discourses, at once proves its apocryphal origin. In our own days, when fictitious spirits are so singularly garrulous, we cannot lay too much stress upon biblical reserve. And, lastly, when we consider the words of angels, how short they are, how adapted to human comprehension in their simplicity, and yet always with a deeper meaning concealed beneath the primary one. Alas ! commentators for the most part have passed over these words very lightly, noticing them merely as angelic words, not pausing to weigh their inherent value, so that our exposition has had the benefit of very little previous labour in this department. xviii INTRODUCTION. Again, all the accounts given of the appearance of angels, are characterized by the same directness and sim- plicity. It is only in the matter of dreams and visions that we meet with apocalyptic imagery ; as, for instance, in the accounts of the seraphim and cherubim, as well as in that of Jacob's ladder ; but where angels are introduced to the normal, waking consciousness of men, we do not find that they are seen flying down from heaven, or that there is anything marvellous in their deportment. It is true that before the eyes of Manoah and his wife, the angel ascended in the flame of the altar, but then this was the uncreated angel of the Lord, and his doing wondrously was necessary to bring about their entire conviction of the truth of his message. Compare with this the sublime Christmas cele- bration recorded in Luke ii. ; the beginning in ver. 9, with its conclusion, ver. 15. Again, we usually read of a man, two men, of a young man (Mark xvi.); we hear nothing of wings, or of flying, or of any of the adjuncts by which the imagination of artists is wont to mar the simple Bible narratives. If it be inquired whether angels have a corporeal nature, we may reply that it is almost certain that no created and finite being (including those intelligences that in contradis- tinction to our humanity we call purely spiritual) can exist without some material substance, which, indeed, is the con- dition of form, and form is implied in the words, " their own habitation" (see Jude 6). The often misunderstood pas- sage in Ps. civ. 4, is peculiarly fraught with veiled mean- ing. In the first place, it speaks of actual wmd and flame as ministers of the Lord ; thus illustrating the angelic power and swiftness, and also mysteriously conveying by these types some idea of the higher corporeal nature of these exalted angelic beings. That they are not created out INTRODUCTION. xix of the dust, like the children of Adam, we read, moreover, in Job iv. 18, 19. But how are they created and formed? Here all our knowledge is at fault ; only there are two hints in God's word which lead us to suppose that the human shape, as the form of forms, the original type of the rational creation, may be peculiar to the angels also. We read of the children of the resurrection being made like unto the angels, Luke xx. 36 ; (Matt. xxii. 30 ; Mark xii. 25), and this, from the nature of the context, evidently refers to the body ; while Rev. xxi. 17 harmonizes there- with, it being there said of " the measure of a man (a risen, glorified man), that is, of the angel." It is also noticeable that in the Old Testament, angels, if they do not simply reveal themselves in the human form, have a fiery appearance, while in the New Testament, on the contrary, from the scene of the resurrection of the Saviour (for in Luke ii. 9 there is a verbal difference in the descrip- tion) they appear in shining raiment, or in bright light (Acts xii. 7). And this may have some connexion with the reconciling of all things through Christ, both things in earth and things in heaven (Col. i. 20). That angels actually spoke to men, we find to have been a popular belief in Christ's time, recognised in John xii. 29, as also in Acts xxiii. 9, with which we may compare 1 Kings xiii. 18, and in a manner Gal. i. 8 as well. It is evident that, in order to have been understood by men, they must necessarily have used human language, and not spoken in their own peculiar tongues, which we find alluded to (1 Cor. xiii. 1 ). This remark applies also to the two angelic names, translated for our comprehension into those of Ga- briel and Michael, to which the Apocrypha adds the two other names, formed on the same plan, of Raphael and Uriel. But, once more, let us ask where, throughout the xx INTRODUCTION. mythology and poetry of Paganism, Judaism, or Christen- dom, we find anything comparable in simplicity and dig- nity to the Bible narratives of the appearance and sayings of angels ? Poets and Painters have indeed their artistic- right to idealize and adorn, but they ought only to fill up the Bible outline, instead of, as is too often the case, alto- gether departing from it. Our purpose, in the work we now lay before our readers, is to bring to light the deep meaning which we believe the simplest angelic sayings to contain, the treasures that lie beneath the seeming commonplace surface. In order to do this, we shall sometimes have to rectify the common version of the sacred text. We hope thus to be able to present the collective words of the angels under a new aspect, and to afford another proof that the Holy Scrip- tures, despite the variety of their inspired writers, are iu point of fact one organic whole, one Eevelation. 0f PAET I. THE HISTOKICAL BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. CHAPTER I. GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO ZACHARIAS. LUKE i. THE Lord himself is about to come ; the Lord of eternal glory in the bosom of the Father, before the foundation of the world, is to come into the world, clothed in the flesh of Adam's fallen race, with a coming essentially different from any other of which we have hitherto heard. A work has now to be accomplished wondrous above all wonders ; events are to take place whose inexhaustible interest will for ever claim and repay the eternal " looking into " of men and angels, earth and heaven. What marvel, then, that those heavenly servants, who continually wait his pleasure (see how the Lord, then a King in bonds, speaks of them, John xviii. 36), should make themselves known to the children of men more palpably, frequently, intimately than heretofore ? There is no need of laborious argument or elaborate proof to establish this ; every heart susceptible of the impressions a devoted student of Scripture receives, will at once own the difference, will recognise and feel the increased tenderness and dignity combined, which the heavenly messengers henceforth manifest to the sons of men. Nor is it possible for a godly simplicity to pro- test too strongly against all well-meaning but unbecoming 4 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT criticism, all fanciful interpretation, that may detract from the literal, plain, but profound historical character of the narrative before us. It is not with shapes projected by the inherent force of the human intellect art- creations resulting from sense-experience that we have to deal; nor yet is it with images and sounds evoked within the human consciousness by supernatural influence, and thrown into a simple historical form, that the grand history of sal- vation opens. It is with the words and deeds of angels themselves; of separate and independent beings, in a mar- vellous and miraculous manner no doubt, but yet in very deed and truth manifesting themselves as objective realities to man. As the human race was originally created to carry out Grod's gracious purpose concerning it, against the powers of a fallen spirit-world, so good spirits, in their several vocations, were appointed to serve mankind with a most intimate and special interest. And as the God-man ^s from all eternity ordained Mediator in the work of salvation, the human form (as it was in its pristine and will be in its restored glory) is permanently worthy to be assumed by angels when they appear to men ; nay, more, as the original and typical form of all corporeity, it is in all probability already their own, or will ultimately become so, in order to fit them for our eternal companionship. In the collective historical books of the Old Testament, we only find the appearance of speaking angels recorded thrice, while in the gospel narrative we read of at least eight distinct angelic addresses, and in the Acts of the Apostles of five. The birth of the Saviour is both predicted and proclaimed ; his first journeys are prescribed ; his resurrection and his ascension are alike declared. During the course of Christ's ministry, however, we have no an- gelic communications made to us ; for although the Lord TO Z AC H ARIAS. r> asserts that a constant ascending and descending of angels between him and the opened heaven is being carried on (John i. 51), and we feel that this is so throughout the heavenly career of the Son of man since we hear of minis- tering angels in the desert, strengthening angels at Gethse- mane, and are well entitled to imagine how angels watched over and waited on his childhood, as it silently matured into the consciousness of his divine humanity yet of all this increased and exalted angelic intercourse little com- paratively is directly granted to man. Gabriel, the prince who had already once appeared towards the end of the Old Testament, stands out foremost as annunciator at the beginning of the New ; and it is the birth of the forerunner that he first announces, that, agreeably to the order of nature, the dawn should precede the sunrising. The pre-natal history of Jesus, as well as the preparatory events we are now considering, are given us with greatest minuteness by St. Luke, whose purpose it was to set all things in order from the beginning. His Gospel, addressed to Theophilus, has a certain pri- vate character about it, and brings out many details passed over by the first public witnesses to Christ. And how self-evidencing, how unparalleled by the most cun- ningly-devised fables (2 Pet. i. 16) of man, is the his- torical truth of the record ! We adopt the words of Pfenninger : " How solemnly, how divinely, the holy drama of a new revelation opens ! An angel from heaven, a man on earth, these are invariably the two chief characters in the sacred story ; heaven acting upon earth, man brought into contact with the beings of the invisible world. On one hand, an Israelite, one of the peculiar people to whom the promises belong ; more, one of its priests appointed to plead for God to man, and for man to God ; one specially G GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT chosen out of the chosen nation. On the other, ' I, Gabriel, that stand before the presence of God.' The scene is the most sacred spot of the -whole earth, of the Land of Pro- mise, of the city of the Great King, namely, the sanctuary of God's house ; and here, in the most holy retirement, an announcement is made, a dialogue held between the two, by the altar of incense type of the worship of the saints in the hour of public prayer, while Israel is im- ploring the blessing of Jehovah. Could the opening of the divine New Testament drama be more solemn, more appropriate, more Israelitish, more sacred, either as re- gards person, place, time, or action?" Zacharias is the representative of the priesthood of Israel as Simeon of its prophets. No priest could be found more worthy to receive the earliest message. The marvellously late birth of the forerunner serves as a transition to the miraculous birth of the Son of God ; serves as a sign to confirm the faith of the Virgin Mother (ver. 36). The pious sacerdotal pair unconsciously pro- phesy by the very names they bear : Zacharias, i.e., The Lord remembers, happily combines with Elisabeth (or Elisheba, as in Exodus vi. 23, the wife of Aaron, the an- cestress of the whole priesthood), i.e., God of the oath, the covenant. In both the songs of praise contained in this opening chapter, we may observe the allusion made by the Holy Spirit to these two names. It is probable that this first appearance took place at the time of the evening sacrifice, for it was at that hour, five hundred years before, that the same Gabriel announced from afar the coming of Messiah to Daniel the prophet. At all events, commentators have no ground for supposing that on account of the sudden dumbness of Zacharias, the people waiting without were deprived of the priestly bene- TO ZACHARIAS. 7 diction, for it is highly probable that this was bestowed only in the morning. 1 Otherwise Luke would surely have alluded to this benediction, whereas he gives us to under- stand that the priest's speechlessness only prevented his explaining the reason of the long tarrying in the temple that had surprised the people. Again, whether it were morning or evening, surely the omission of the blessing would have been peculiarly inappropriate at such a junc- ture, so that everything leads us to assume both that the an- nouncement was made in the evening, and that it was not customary then to bestow it. The offering of incense was the symbol that accompanied prayer, so that it was in the sacred exercise of his regular official duties, not in sleep, in a dream, or ecstatic trance, but with mind upraised to God, and, at the same time, collected and calm, that Zacharias saw and heard the angel. There appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right hand of the altar of incense. This very first fact already promises "good tidings," with which expression the angel's second address closes (ver. 19). His first (ver. 13-17) begins with these words, so frequently made use of in the Old Testament, " Fear not," words that here, on the very threshold of the New, obtain even stronger significance. For even the pious Zacharias was afraid, when, through the cloud of incense he saw the majestic form, and at once knew that it was no man who stood there, but an angel of the Lord. And now, let us consider the exquisite connexion of the whole, the gradually attained climax of the divine message from the lips of the angel from before the throne. The 1 See Lund's Jewish Sanctuaries, Book in. chap. 48. 2 Josephus relates a supernatural visitation made to the high-priest, John Hyrcanus, during the offering up of incense ; but it was only a voice, not a vision. 3 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT messenger of joy begins with the mention of the accepted prayer, promises a son, gives him a high name, foretells for him a distinguished office. But the greatest tidings are yet to come : the longed-for coming of the Messiah, whose fore- runner this child is to be. Again we quote Pfenninger : " How tenderly interwoven, how intimately connected the divine with the human story ! It is one of the chief per- fections of a drama that all its occurrences should essen- tially hang together ; that none of them should appear extraneous or isolated ; and where are these conditions better observed than in the divine narratives of Holy Writ ? The grandest, divinest story in the world blends at its first most human commencement, with the human heart-history of a childless wedded pair, who pray to God for a son." This is certainly true, although the prayer here alluded to can hardly have been confined to such a petition. The heavenly message, however, retrospectively includes former prayers, and has three separate clauses, first, the birth of a son to Zacharias ; last, the coming of the Lord himself; and, as connecting link between the two, the announcement that this son shall -make ready the way of this very Lord. " Fear not, Zacharias : for thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name John." It was thus that the message to Cornelius the centurion began with the same mention of prayer heard (Acts x. 31) ; and the passage in Daniel (ix. 22, 23) leads us to associate this with angelic inter- position. But those who imagine that the prayer of Zacharias here alluded to had reference only to the birth of a son, are probably mistaken. We are inclined rather to conclude, from the doubting expression employed in verse 18, that this wish was well-nigh given up in his old TO ZACH ARIAS. 9 age. Just as the Gentile, in the midst of his God-fearing and righteous career, prayed earnestly for peace of con- science and forgiveness of sins, so now, in the holy place, the priest of Israel, in his character of intercessor for the people, prayed for the full coming of the promised De- liverer, and he would hardly have mingled his own private petition with this exercise of his priestly office. It' it found any place in his heart at such a time, it could only have been in some form like this : " Oh, if my sigh might rise like this incense, a perfume acceptable to the Lord, and that he would come down to visit his people, how gladly would I give up all other wishes of my own ! " Nevertheless, the overflow of the divine grace grants his former and subor- dinated private desire as well ; nay. gives it the first place on the list of blessings implored by and granted to the priest's prayer. This promised son is added to a series whose birth has already been miraculously foretold Isaac, Samson, Samuel. The significant names of both Zacharias and Elisabeth his wife are mentioned by the angel, to point out the rich fulfilment of their prophetic meaning, but the appointed name of this promised son transcends theirs. An era of new and fuller grace begins with him. Later, the name receives its special explana- tion, in that the stern preacher of repentance is found only to lead from grace to grace. John is the last but one of the seven names given by God in Holy Scripture to those still unborn, and the seventh name is Jesus. 1 " And he (this John) shall be joy and gladness to thee; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink ; and he shall be filled with tLe Holy i Ishmael, Isaac, Solomon, Josiah (1 Kings xiii. 2), Cyrus (Isaiah xliv. '2S ; xlv. 1), John, Jesus. 10 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT Ghost even from his mother's womb." We at once see in this passage, taken in connexion with verses 16, 17, the difference between the limited and immediate char- acter of the angelic message, and that of a broad prophetic announcement embracing and expressing the whole future consequences of the event. Such a prophecy of the per- son and offices of the Baptist, could not have spoken only of joy and success ; it must needs have dwelt upon the fruitlessness of his mission to the majority, and his own cruel death ; while the angel, on the contrary, was ap- pointed to deliver, in the first instance, only glad tidings, to announce the purpose, and means employed by the grace of God. In the same manner, this very Gabriel speaks on a later occasion to Mary, only of the person and the kingdom of the Lord Jesus ; he says nothing of the cross, or the world at large. And yet it remains not the less true, nor less exactly fulfilled, that not only father, mother, friends, and neighbours did rejoice over John (ver. 58), but many, who recognised his prophetic char- acter, and, in a measure, the whole nation, although, alas! it was willing only " for a season to rejoice in his light" (John v. 35), instead of being permanently kindled by his Elias-like zeal. Truly he was and is great as the last and greatest prophet (Matt. xi. 11), only not great in a worldly sense (as, for example, was Herod). No ; we have a hint given us of an office and a kingdom of quite another character. He was great before the Lord. The word thus taken by the sagacious priest, not in its literal sense, but fraught with mysterious import, would recall the men of faith and spiritual power of Israel's good old times, more especially the wondrous champion Samson (Judges xiii.), a rude type, finding an honourable antitype here ; for this child too is to be vowed and dedicated to TO ZACH ARIAS. 11 God. Although the angel makes special allusion to Judges xiii. 4, 5 ; yet in his subsequent hymn of praise, Zacharias shows that he had clear insight enough not to look for a temporal deliverer from the Roman yoke after the fashion of Samson or Gideon (ver. 77-79). It was as the most severe upholder and preacher of the law at the close of the Old Covenant, whose office it was to prepare the people by repentance for the grace of the New, that John received a life-long consecration to God, the " separation of a Nazarite" (Numb, iv.) Wine and other strong drinks are here placed, as in Eph. v. 18, in opposition to the spirit of which this strenuously active servant of the Lord was to be full ; not, indeed, that " Holy Spirit " with which only a mightier than John had power to baptize, but an abundant measure of what, up to this time, had been called, and actually was, a holy spirit in the men of God. " And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Ellas, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Not only, as before stated, many shall rejoice at his birth, but, still further, still better, many shall be really converted by him, turned back from the apostasy so deeply felt and lamented by Zacharias and all pious souls. It is not in- deed said that he should turn all the children of Israel, convert the whole nation ; and this limitation of the pro- mise may have occasioned some anxiety on after reflection. But at first, at least, it sounded full of comfort, as when in a shipwreck, or the falling in of a bridge, out of the multitude destroyed, a certain number, thankfully designated as many, are known to be saved. It is true, that taken on 12 a great scale, as regards the result which Gabriel goes on more precisely to indicate as the end and aim of his office, ' the Baptist's labour was vain ; but, nevertheless, a consider- able number perhaps, with a few exceptions, all those who were struck by the first apostolic sermon and who joined themselves to the church had been prepared by John. Nay, more, there was a beginning of conversion in the multi- tudes who listened to his doctrine of repentance, only that they, alas ! were not steadfast in their resolve to turn to the Lord their God. All this is in a manner implied in the indefinite sentence which soon passes on from the result to the character of the Baptist's office. He will begin to point many back to God, for his mission is to prepare all the people of Israel (or, at least, out of them a people of the Lord) for the coming Messiah, whose forerunner he is. We notice an especial emphasis laid in the original upon the word he. He, thy son, it is of whom the pro- phet writes at the close of the Old Testament, that he is to come as forerunner before the coming of the Lord. We may question whether, before the time of the Baptist, any one had attached so special a meaning to the more general expression in Isaiah xl. 3 ; but this positive de- claration of Malachi's was well known to Zacharias and to all doctors of the law. And, therefore, it is with this prophecy of the last prophet, that the annunciator at once connects his own declaration, not only for the sake of " clothing it in a familiar and intelligible form of speech," as Olshausen has it, but because for the angel himself, who has for centuries attentively watched God's ways and words with regard to Israel and huma- nity at large, there attaches now that, after so long a pause, the fulfilment of the prophecy draws near, a deeper solemnity to the last word spoken for four hundred years. TO Z ACE ARIAS. 13 Accordingly, he does not dwell on the still more known, or, at least clearer expression in Mai. iii. 1, but merely glances passingly at it, to combine it with the very last prophetic utterance. And thus he, as the first commen- tator on the passage, teaches what at that time can hardly have been clear to any, that the messenger or angel pre- paring the way of the Lord, Himself the Angel of the Covenant, is at the same time the Elias, that is to say, is a type of the latest and proper fulfiller of the prophecy. And he shall go before HIM. Here we have a most important testimony borne on the very threshold of the New Testa- ment, by the archangel's lips, to the Godhead of the Saviour about to come in the form of man, for the pronoun expressly relates to the foregoing words the Lord their God. Again it is before Him whom thou hast so anxiously ex- pected, for whose coming thou hast prayed ; and we see clearly in ver. 76, 77, how Zacharias on further reflection, and still more by the revelation of the Spirit, understood this going before the face of the Lord. Indeed it was already openly stated in Malachi that the Lord himself was to come to his temple, in the person of the desired Messenger of the Covenant. Before him John is to go, as (we use St. Augustine's words) " the voice before the Word, the light before the Sun, the herald before the Judge, the servant before the Lord, the friend before the Bridegroom." This going before implies preparation. In the spirit and power of Elias, the great reformer, great recaller of Israel to God ; thus Gabriel solves the question put by the disciples to Jesus after the Transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 10) in the same way that it was then answered by our Lord. The actual Elias, the prophet literally spoken of in Malachi, will doubtless come in his time, before the second advent ; meanwhile he is already typically come in 14 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT John, to whom was granted the same spirit of power in his own days formerly exercised by the Tishbite in his. The passage that follows " to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children" taken word for word from one clause of the prophetic text, and supplemented by a new explanatory sentence, is at first sight rather more ambigu- ous, and consequently often misunderstood. For instance, Meyer's note is plainly inadequate, giving as the direct meaning, " the old shall be converted to childish innocence (Matt, xviii. 3), and to faith in the New Covenant, the childishly frivolous and perverse to the wisdom of age." Again we find it rendered in Berlenburg's Bible : " The children shall consider their parents, and the parents their children, and both shall feel that they must be mutually converted." This only amounts to saying that John was to bring both old and young to repentance, to make ready the righteous and unrighteous, men of every stamp, in short, for the Lord. One of our latest commentators, Van Oosterzee, gives tLe passage a more special meaning : " Owing to the moral degradation of the people, the sense of filial duty had grown cold in many hearts ; when the Forerunner should lift up his voice, the ties of family love would be drawn closer." If this were so, we might expect to find the turning of the heart of the children to their fatfiers mentioned, as it is in Malachi, and, accordingly, another commentator suggests, on the other hand : " The love of parents to children which in this corrupt time was nearly extinct, as we see in tna case of Herod, would be re- awakened by the Baptist, and thus family peace restored would form a foundation for the fear of God." But what reason have we for believing that the solitary of the desert had special reference in his preaching to family affection TO -ZACH ARIAS. 15 and domestic ties ? On the contrary, he seems to address those who come to him in a strictly individual manner, each one for himself. We do not see any congruity in such a theory, but the chief objection is this : such is not the meaning of the prophetic text in the Old Testament, the neglect of which has led the latest commentators astray here as elsewhere. What, then, do we read in the prophet ? We must keep this in view, for the fundamental idea must be the same in both passages. It is true that the Septuagint does afford a ground for this recent interpretation, but this is by an evident de- parture from the Hebrew text and context. A mere restoration of family ties, a reconciliation brought about between fathers and children cannot possibly be the mean- ing of the profound far-reaching prophecy (one only to be entirely fulfilled at the second advent) with which the Old Testament concludes ; such a meaning were far too special, too weak and insignificant altogether. Although it is strikingly put, that the children and the parents must be turned to each other, yet the turning of them both to the Lord their God (as Gabriel had previously said) must be the principal thing implied in this. The solution of the diffi- culty is to be found in a passage of Scripture, to which the prophet Malachi undoubtedly refers, when he foretells the return of Elijah, in whose history that passage occurs. That prophet prayed on Carmel, as we read in the literal translation of 1 Kings xviii. 37, " Hear me, Lord, that this people may know that thou, Lord, art God, and that thou turnest their heart back again." Here we have the original passage, agreeably to which the expression of Malachi is to be understood. Malachi has previously spoken of the fathers in the sense of forefathers (iii. 7 and 16 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT ii. 10), aiid evidently this is his meaning still. Thus the leading idea, the one fundamental sense, which some have erroneously introduced as a mere adjunct, is really this : " The unbelieving descendants are to be turned back to the Messianic faith of their forefathers, so that the latter may be at one with them." We have seen that the emphasis is primarily laid upon the heart or the sympathies of the pious fathers being brought back to their descendants, and this is because the heart of the children has already been turned to that of the fathers. Thus the ancient and modern spirit of the children of Israel will once more be reconciled and reunited, because the believing fathers will again acknowledge and incline to the once apostate but now restored children. This had been formerly tolerably well expressed by Jahn : " The Baptist was to make the last attempt to bring about a resemblance between the Jews and their ancestors," or, in other words, as a reformer in the original meaning of the word, he was to restore and re-establish a people of Israel. Thus Gabriel begins in the words of Malachi, but he goes on to make a new and explanatory addition to the passage. With the believing fathers, whom the prophet had in view, the angel contrasts the unbelieving,' 1 namely, their children, their descendants of the present day ; and because unbelief is essentially folly, they are, he declares, to be converted, turned, brought back to the wisdom of the just. And here we may observe that the word just is used as a comprehensive term for such as are justified by faith. He only is wise who seeks and finds righteousness through faith ; such wisdom is in itself righteousness, while the unbe- lieving are at the same time the disobedient, the rebellious, 1 In our English version the word is disobedient. TO Z AC H ART AS. 17 this being also included in the Greek word. That Zacha- rias perfectly understood this is proved by his eloquent song of praise, the conclusion of which resembles that of the angel's first announcement. Knowledge of sal- vation (the true wisdom) receives, in the first place, for- giveness of sins from God's mercy, then guides the feet into the way of peace. Both together constitute righteous- ness. Had Israel been willing to receive and acknowledge that this was the true salvation, the real deliverance, then had it been indeed a people prepared for the Lord, for the visit of the Day-spring from on high. Thon would salva- tion have soon extended from this elect, this earliest pre- pared nation, to them that still sat in darkness, and in the shadow of death. This was God's purpose, God's offer to them, it was for this that John came and laboured. And that this was not to happen, formed no part of the glad message the angel had to unfold ; it was only neces- sary that he should carefully guard against saying (as we have already pointed out in commenting on ver. 16) that John was to convert the whole people. Preparation for the Lord, that is his last word. The message has two prominent clauses. The one about to be born to thee, is ordained thus to prepare the people. And a people is to be so prepared by him. It would have been neither human nor natural in Zacha- rias to forget the first clause of the angelic message, that which most nearly concerned himself in the contemplation of the Messiah's coming. " Thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son ! " These glad words must have echoed through- out all that was subsequently said. Accordingly, he puts a question that others had put before him, " Whereby shal\ I know this?" Even Abraham (Gen. xv. 8) had used these very words. Only we find it written in a former verse 18 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT that Abraham believed God. Therefore there must have been a difference between the words as used by the father of the faithful, who considered not his own body then dead, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb (Rom. iv. 19), and bv the weakly believing, nay, the unbelieving Zacharias, who goes on expressly to oppose the angel's declaration, with the fact that he is old, and his wife well stricken in years, i.e., past the time of child-bearing. Mary's ques- tion, on the contrary, " How shall this be?" implies no unbelief, and requires no sign. In his answer and second address, the angel first re- iterates the assurance, nay, even enhances its value, and then proceeds to inflict the punishment of unbelief by the very sign given. " / am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God ; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to bring thee glad tidings." He who introduces himself in this majestic manner, as one standing before God, is a real objective being. We are not to believe with Lange, for instance, in " an ecstatic trance, in which the creative energy of God's mighty grace assumed the form of an angel to both these elect spirits" (Zacharias and Mary), and thus give the name of Gabriel to what had only a subjective reality. Such interpre- tations as these must be repelled as diametrically opposed to the simple Biblical truth. This actually existing angelic being servant before the throne, whose name was not only familiar to the priest, but to Mary, and indeed to all Israel, now proceeds to remind the doubt- ing Zacharias of the prophecy in Daniel, as he had before done of that of Malachi. In the days of Herod (ver. 5), all those who waited for salvation in Israel were under the impression that the time was drawing near. Thus we see Zacharias had no objection to offer when the TO Z AC H ART AS. 19 coming of the Redeemer was announced to him ; it was only the birth of a son in his old age which was a stumb- ling-block to his faith. But both were intimately con- nected, as he had before heard ; therefore Gabriel, ratifying both at once, simply says, " I, Gabriel, am sent to speak with thee ; hast thou, then, not heard and understood me ? These are the glad tidings I have to bring thee ; wilt thou refuse to believe them on account of their very gladness?" " And, behold, thou shalt be silent, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season." Silent, not able to speak; this sign, given in answer to Zacharias' desire for one, is highly significant. Many divine revelations, indeed, had previously been found to occasion and leave behind bodily infirmity. But there is this peculiarity here ; the sign given is at once the con- firmation of faith, and the punishment of unbelief; chiefly, indeed, the latter, for it is expressly declared, " because thou believest not my word." Finally, it was a means ordained by divine wisdom to conceal for a while the revelation given. Of course to Elisabeth the marvellous promise would be imparted without words; but the humbled, miraculously- silenced man would certainly not dare to spread it any further. Thus, he was to be led to deeper meditation in sacred silence befcre his mouth should break forth in praises to God. " He who does not believe should not speak : " such must have been the admission of his conscience, and it is a symbolic lesson to us all. Some have assumed that only thus could the sacred mystery be kept safe from the profanation of unbelieving brethren; but this is not quite a just remark, because Zacharias could hardly have been unwise enough to disclose it to the pro- fane while, again, the news of his sudden dumbness in the 20 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT temple was in itself calculated to excite the attention of all. We may rather conclude, that while the nature of this first revelation was wisely and fittingly withheld from the public, yet, at the same time, there was enough gene- rally known to excite attention, and give hints of the truth ; for the dumbness must have been patent to all, the news of Elizabeth's pregnancy would soon spread, the name John, given contrary to custom, would occa- sion surmise, the song of praise that instantly burst from the lips of the father when speech was restored, was uttered in a large assembly of people, and would be fur- ther disseminated by them. This opening of the closed lips to spread the glad tidings is involved in the word until, which makes the chastisement less. The mighty angel now concludes with a further assurance : " My words, which thou hast not believed, shall be fulfilled; yea, all of them ; first of all the birth of thy son, and next what has been further spoken ; word after word will come to pass in their season." Henceforth, faith must be stronger, more unqualified than heretofore ; this, too, is taught by the sign given to the pious priest at the opening of the new dispensation. In this sense, we may say with Hiller : " His dumbness teaches more than all he spoke before." If to Gideon and to others the requiring of a sign was a permitted thing, a stricter rule was now about to begin, agreeably to which even the highly-favoured priest, blameless before God as he was, according to the Old Testament standard, (ver. 6), appears blamable and punishment-worthy com- pared to her who received Christ with full faith, her of whom alone Elisabeth could exclaim, " Blessed is she that believed 1 " TO MARY. 21 CHAPTER II. GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO MARY. STILL more solemn, more mysterious, is the announce- ment of the wonder of wonders, by the prince of the angels, to the handmaid of the Lord, whose lowliness He had regarded and chosen. God's ways, in nature and in grace, differ from those of the proud, perverse sons of men, who often begin with much show and noise what in its execution dwindles and falls short. The greatest things begin in silence and obscurity; this is generally God's stamp on his wondrous works. But in the lowliness of Mary there was also the truest dignity. This lily of the valley who, by faith in the divine grace, had attained to the ten- derest, purest susceptibility for the greatest miracle of grace ; this virgin in soul and spirit, is the culminating blossom of the garden of the old dispensation, fit and worthy that the seed from heaven should, in a manner transcending Nature's laws, mature to wondrous fruit within her pure chalice. The sanctuary of her virgin chamber at Nazareth is holier than the temple at Jerusa- lem. Gabriel's words here are grander, more mysterious, and, at the same time, fraught with fuller revelation than the Christmas angel's announcement respecting the babe in the manger, or the heavenly host's song of praise over 22 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT the fields of Bethlehem. All that artists and painters have imagined and executed to illustrate and adorn, all wings, rays of light, lily-stems, and the rest, do but detract, fcj our mind, from the beauty of the simple narrative. Suck additions desecrate Bible stories by an approximation to legend and fable. That which Mary herself, perhaps, personally communi- cated to the Evangelist, or that which she noted down, or caused to be noted down, with an inspired accuracy, that, and nothing more, is open to our reading in Scripture. Not one syllable too much is given, not one superfluous detail to feed our curiosity on this or that matter. Mary remains the mother of the Lord, that is enough ; her personality must retreat before that of the Lord himself. We enter this protest against the blasphemy that exalts her into the Queen of Heaven and the virtual Saviour, and reduces her mighty Son upon the throne to a child within her arms. We have no authentic information respecting her outward circumstances, her parents, her career, the age at which she gave birth to the Redeemer, that at which she died, or any other kindred fact. The last mention made of her in Holy Writ is before the day of Pentecost (Acts i. 14). She was a virgin, betrothed, but not yet taken home by her husband. Thus was it wisely ordained in the counsel of God, so that the at first inconceivable secret being kept, and Jesus passing for a son of Joseph, both child and mother might have a protector, a foster-father. Although the connexion in which the words stand is somewhat am- biguous, yet it seems that it is only Joseph whom St. Luke, in verse 27, states to have been a descendant of David ; but that Mary was of the same royal descent, is to be inferred, not only from her being taken with him to Bethlehem, but from the angel's mention of the throne of TO MARY. 23 his father David ; for how could Jesus have called David his father after the flesh, but through his mother ? No less high angel than Gabriel could be sent to Mary, and for this reason he was the one appointed to visit Zacharias also. Now, we read that he came in unto the Virgin, who was probably at that time engaged in lonely devotion, and peculiarly fitted to receive such a visitation. We are not told at what hour of the day it took place. It is said only that he, the angel, came in, i.e., appeared to her in the visible customary form of a man, and at once greeted her : Hail, thou highly favoured ! The Lord with thee : blessed art thou among women. Instead of the more general form of salutation used in Israel, Peace with thee, which would have been too weak here, we have this new, this loftier greeting, to the highly favoured, the letter and spirit of which must both have had reference to the inner, the divinely given character and worth of this chosen vessel, not to her external appearance. The phrase made use of in the old Latin version of the Catholic Church, full of favour or grace, appears to us even preferable to our own, as more positively expressing this. But, indeed, the angel himself proceeds to explain his own salutation, when he says, in ver. 30, " Thou hast found favour with God." Thus Mary is not a dispenser of favour, but a recipient of it, with and for the rest of us ; the type and germ of the Church. In the only other passage of the New Testament in which the word occurs (Eph. i. 6), we find it applied to the whole company of the elect, be- lieving and sanctified " Through the glory of his grace he hath made us accepted in the beloved," made us full of favour. No doubt that the expression in its compre- hensiveness includes here, as with regard to Mary, the 24 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT being made fair and well-pleasing in the sight of God. Indwelling grace has a gracious semblance, and makes its recipients fair. And such must have been eminently the case with the highly favoured Mary, in the sight of God and angels, adorned from the hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. iii. 4). " The Lord with thee." The indeterminate form of this simple and ancient salutation (Judg. vi. 12 ; Ruth ii. 4) needs not the intercalated is or be with thee. It floats, as it were, between a wish and a promise, as is still more clearly proved by the context, Blessed thou. These words, taken in connexion with highly favoured, have a double significance, and attach a fuller meaning to an expression which had already been used in the Old Tes- tament. No doubt, as the consequence of being highly favoured was to be fair and pleasing, so that of being blessed of God was the being blessed or praised by men also. But this is only the secondary sense ; the real force of the salutation lies in the word blessed (see ver. 48). Grace removes sin and guilt, therefore a blessing is now substituted for the primeval curse, which, in its physical aspect, pressed most heavily upon woman. The word thou, which designates the blessed Virgin, stands with greater emphasis in the original: Thou, amongst (all) women the most blessed ; thou, destined to conceive Him who is to be the new, the full blessing for all. Here again the an- nouncement of the loftiest, the most unparalleled mystery, clothes itself in the familiar language of Holy Writ, in order to be equally intelligible and sacred to this pious Israelitish maiden. Deborah had already sung of Jael, ' Blessed among women " (Judg. v. 24). The Judith of the Apocrypha probably only a type of the Jewish people, as Mary is the representative of the Church is, in chapter TO MARY. 25 xiii. 42, blessed of God as high above all women on earth. But this last, this apocryphally exaggerated expression is now evidently reproved by the more measured expression of Gabriel, which is again repeated through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit from the lips of Elisabeth : " Blessed thou among women." Thus Mary even, to whom alone this appellation could correctly apply, is not the exalted, the praised over all women, for all her grace, as well as all her blessing, is the portion of us all the angel greet- ing the Church, nay, the whole of humanity, through her The Lord is with you ; ye once more blessed ones ! And thus, while the Church, with fullest right and deep- est truth, authorizes the appropriation of Mary's song of praise by each individual saint, she, in so doing, con- demns and refutes the false honour paid to the holy Virgin Mother. Lastly, we may observe that the whole of Gabriel's first speech, as Mary evidently understood it, and as we shall accordingly read it, is, by its very form, specially a salutation. The promise and the announcement are in- deed latent therein, but they are not actually expressed. ' : And when she saw him." The word him is not in the original, and the reading which specifically gives us the verb to see is a doubtful one. If we examine more closely into the passage, we shall find it to mean that Mary was not so much troubled at the sudden appearance and lofty aspect of her visitant, as at his saying. This trouble of hers is indeed a deep inward one, through and through (such the peculiar force of the original) ; but the thoughtful, reflective Virgin, even in the midst of this trouble, at once observed and weighed the character of the greeting. Her humility at once casts in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. " Whence this to me?" 26 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT as Elisabeth afterwards expresses it, in holy emulation of this humility. Alas ! how different, how darkened, would have been Mary's trouble, if she could have foreseen the future idolatrous repetition of the holy angel's words, " Hail, Mary ! " She cast in her mind, with the natural wonder of a lowly heart, but with no doubt or unbelief: " Why should a heavenly messenger so greet me, a poor maiden? Whence is this? What does it portend?" But she does not say this out, which would have been un- maidenly. She does not ask, " Who art thou?" but she waits thoughtfully for the continuation of the speech, whose pause has left her a moment for reflection. It is self-evident to her that she sees and hears an angel. To her Gabriel did not announce his lofty name and office as he had done to the priest ; this was not necessary to the lowly maiden, so soon simply receiving, as she did, each word by this messenger as from God himself, and at last concluding with fullest submission arid confidence, " Be it unto me as thou (servant of the Lord, thou also art) hast spoken." The angel now resumed, answering her thoughts: "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour (or grace) with God." This expression, Fear not, together with the word grace, proves to us that even the holy Virgin belonged to a sinful race. Yes, the irremissible thrill of trouble or terror that passed through the silently praying soul, and for a moment clouded the gracious visage, tells of the hereditary taint of humanity, and accordingly Gabriel's condescending kindness proceeds to remove this terror, and to pour increased light upon her mind. He now names the favoured and blessed one by her name Mary, in order to certify to her that the message was indeed rightly addressed to her. This name Mary, that sounds so TO MARY. 27 sweetly in our ears, that has been, and ever will be, borne by thousands of women throughout Christendom, nay, that in Catholic countries is even added to the names of men, must have been a customary and favourite appella- tion among the Jews, since in the New Testament alone we find six or seven who were so called ; and it was in all probability derived from the name of the eloquent pro- phetess, the sister of Moses and Aaron. In its original form, the word Miriam 1 spoke strikingly of the bitterness and the affliction of Egypt, perhaps even of rebellion and apostasy. Singular that this name should be so transformed and glorified ! Mary has found favour with God, This is a very common expression applied to sinful men, from the days of Noah downwards (Gen. vi. 8 ; compare Gen. xviii. 3, and xix. 19 ; Exod. xxxiii. 12 ; Judges vi. 17 ; 2 Sara. xv. 25), that is to say, it is very often invoked in prayer ; but as a greeting to man from on high, it is no- where to be found in the whole Old Testament, and thus it has, when here applied to Mary, a quite special sense. It does not convey, " Thou hast found, as the result of thy seeking ;" but, according to the meaning of the Hebrew word to find, " Thou hast received, obtained freely." Up to this moment all has been vague, preparatory, awaking intense expectation and suspense. Now, for the first time, prefaced by the familiar Behold, the actual pro- mise appears, and at once refers Mary to the Virgin's son of prophecy, u And behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." There can be no doubt that Mary, the chosen instruct- ress of the most holy Child, the Jewish maiden learned in the Scriptures, the pious Virgin waiting with special long- ing for the coming of Messiah, the daughter of David's 1 Besides the sister of Moses, the name is only found in 1 Chron. iv. 17. 28 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT house, the relation of a priestly family (ver. 36), was inti- mately acquainted with the leading prophecy in Isaiah vii. 14, of which the angel reminds her, by framing his speech on the very same plan. To conceive, to bear, to call his name the sequence is in both passages the same ; the revelation must have come with power. Thou, Mary, art this virgin ; thou shalt conceive in thy womb. This addition only gives the 'Greek rendering of the more simple Hebrew expression (see Gen. xvi. 11 ; Judges xiii. 3). We may not, as many have done, dogmatically deduce hence the otherwise certain truth that Jesus actu- ally took flesh and blood from Mary, and was born of her. More importance is to be attached to the divinely pre- scribed name, Jesus, here substituted for the prophetic Immanuel, which even Hebrew scholars have strangely chosen to interpret, God is help, or God's help, God's salvation, although this is grammatically incorrect. The kindred form of Joshua (the name given to two typical men, the leader into Canaan, and the high priest, Ezra ii. 2 ; Zech. iii. 8), in no way includes the divine name by its literal construction, but simply signifies a promise, He will deliver, will help, i.e., Helper or Deliverer, as the angel expounds it to Joseph (Matt. i. 21). It would be unbecoming that he who is himself God with us, or the redeeming God in human nature, in the flesh, should bear, as a " name above every name," one which only promised and confirmed to his forerunner the help of God. Rather was the name thus constructed beforehand, out of the material of lowly types, that it might now, for the first time, become a truth in the fullest sense. The naming of this child could not possibly be trusted to a human decision; a literal prophecy was equally unsuit- able ; the concealment of the mystery by an already TO MARY. 29 customary name was essential. All these requirements were met by the at once common and exalted name which the angel appoints. " He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David : and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Here are evident references to the prophecies con- cerning Messiah's person and reign, especially to those in 2 Sam. vii. 12-16 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 27-30 ; Isaiah ix. 7 ; Dan. vii. 14. In all these, as here, the Son of the Highest is alluded to, of which we shall say more when we come to the angel's explanation, ver. 35. He shall be called ; this is equivalent to he shall be, as verse 35 sets forth, rightly called, and, at the same time, contains the sure promise that he shall be recognised as such, shall receive the glory and honour due to his name. With respect to John, it was said, great before the Lord ; here the simple but absolute words rise higher, He shall be great! True, if in connexion with them we think only of his earthly career from birth to death, we may well say : " That was a singular greatness, which began in a manger and ended on a cross, and, in the interval, was filled with pain, humiliation, and weariness." Yet, not only was this humiliation more than outweighed by his resurrection and ascension, but this Jesus is truly great already ; incom- parably great even in his humility, his obedience, his patience. We feel this with regard to faint human types ; we call him a great man who is capable of self-abnegation, and deep humility ; we honour the monarch willing to enter a beggar's cottage, rather than the despot who proudly looks down on all from his throne. Jesus is never greater than in his immeasurable and unparalleled humiliation for our 30 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT sakes, and while, with the eye of faith, we contemplate the infant still in Mary's womb as the eternal Son of God. we are forced even then to exclaim, He is great ; greater than all the great ones of earth ! Again, we call him great who. for the sake of some high aim, is willing to give up and subdue even his own lawful will, rather than the hero or the tyrant who bends and compels millions by his arbitrary sway. And once more, the man Jesus is great in his un- exampled and perfect obedience. Who worthier than he to rule and to be worshipped from childhood upwards ? and yet he quietly obeyed and ministered both as child, youth, man, up to his baptism at the hands of John, up to his suffering upon the cross. He was obedient even unto death, and in his patience showed himself greater and greater to the end. He who can suffer is greater than he who rules. Even among men, he who can only command and refuses to obey, can only enjoy and is incapable of enduring, is acknowledged the least and meanest of human beings. Thus Jesus is great, and a Son of the Highest even in his sufferings ! Nay, it is these that reveal to us the secret of his special greatness, Love ; the love which led him to humble himself, to obey, to endure. Love is the greatest attribute of God himself. Yes, this is the godlike greatness of the humanity of Jesus, far transcend- ing the greatness of the consecrated forerunner John, and, therefore, as the angel goes on to say, God gives him the throne of his father David. Gabriel's message naturally relates only to the humanity Of the promised Son. dwells only on this ; though the sub- stitution of the name Jesus for Immanuel gives a hint of the as yet veiled Divinity, and there is evident design in the omission of the word his : " The Lord God," not the Lord his God, " shall give h :- m the throne cf his father TO MARY. 31 David." Yet it was impossible that Mary should at the first understand this occult meaning, as it has been very happily observed : " It is worthy of remark, that the divi- nity of her son was not definitely announced to Mary, otherwise she, as well as Joseph, would have been unable to educate the child." That which was signified to Zacha- rias in verses 16, 17, is here left completely unspoken. And although the Holy Ghost put the truth into the priest's mouth, ver. 76, 77, to Mary at least it must have remained unintelligible. Again, though we now recognise the greatness in the very humiliation, and Mary, too, must have fully understood this at a later period, yet the angel being commissioned to carry glad tidings says nothing explicit about the cross and the shame. Nor yet does he foretell the reign over the heathen, though in the phrase, " the house of Jacob," the strange nations are virtually included (Isaiah xiv. 1 ; xliv. 5). But as it was, Mary's faith in the promise must often have been severely tried ; and when at last she stood on Golgotha, the sword piercing her soul, and her dying son, mocked with the title of King as he hung on the accursed tree, with his last breath gave her into the charge of his favoured disciple oh, where, she might have asked, was then the throne of David his father, and the rule over the house of Jacob for ever ? And yet, even at that moment, all was fulfilled, and the King had, with almighty triumph, won the kingdom to which he was here- after to welcome all who called upon him, and the throne of glory at the right hand of Power ! But the beginning of the angel's speech is fraught with a still more glorious truth ; He shall be great, yea, great till the end of time, and to all eternity. Unlike all earthly kingdoms in their decline and fall, His kingdom is to have no end ! This is evidently quoted from Dan. vii. 14, and serves at the 32 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT beginning of the New Testament not only to confirm all the promise in the Old regarding the kingdom of Israel, but to perpetuate this last kingdom eternally. This everlasting kingdom gives an intense significance to the name, " Son of the Highest." That an everlasting kingdom should be infinite in extent (see Dan. ii. 44) is self-evident, is there- fore left unexpressed. And here we are taught that while the oflBce of prophet and priest comes to an end, that of King remains, so that the passage in 1 Cor. xv. 24-28 is not to be explained as contradicting the eternal reign of the Son. Mary rightly comprehended that that which was an- nounced to her was immediately to come to pass, namely, the conceiving of the son she was to bear. And either because the appointed time for her being taken home by Joseph was not sufficiently near, or that after the words spoken, " Son of the Highest," she was unable to think of Joseph as the destined father, she asks plainly and freely, out of the inmost depths of her pure consciousness, How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man ? This is not the language of unbelief, but of the most chaste maiden- hood, which, at once bashful and submissive, could find no other expression. The angel, who was fully prepared for this most natural question, now goes on to reply to it. " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." " That holy thing, born of thee," i.e., that shall be bsrn of thee, implies the immediate nature of the promise ; com- pare Matt. i. 20 ; the expression " of thee," or literally, " out o/thee," we hold, upon the valid ground of ancient authority, both as a genuine and conclusive proof that the TO MARY. 33 humanity of Jesus was derived from that of Mary. Her offspring is spoken of in the neuter (Matt. i. 20), that which is conceived, that holy thing ; partly because of its then undeveloped state, and partly because this thing con- ceived and born is really, according to our interpretation, the righteousness spoken of in Dan. ix. 24. It was not because he was born of a perfect, immaculately-conceived mother, that the child was holy, but because he was con- ceived by the Holy Ghost. Mary herself, indeed, was first sanctified by Christ. So far we agree with Bengel ; but when he, with many old authorities, proceeds to construe, the thing born . . . shall be holy, and called the Son of God, we protest, out of mere love of grammatical accuracy. The originally pure human person born of Mary is obvi- ously the subject of the predicate " Son of God." For this much is clearly intelligible, though often overlooked or vaguely apprehended ; here it is the humanity of Jesus which is to be, and to be called the Son of God ; not only thy son that, the angel now throws into the back- ground, being already established by the words, " thou shalt conceive, born of thee," but God's Son, through a new creative beginning, even as Adam was (chap. iii. 38;. Neither in the " theocratic" sense which man has in- vented, nor yet in the so-called metaphysical, which could only be unfolded at a later period, but in a physical sense does Gabriel now say, Son of God, Son of the Highest. And having had reference throughout his second address to this miraculous birth, he now goes on to give a positive assurance of the possibility and certainty of the wondrous event, to the announcement of which his commission was limited. " And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also con- ceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month c 34 GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT with her, who was called barren." That which was in- credible to Zacharias, and yet is now in process of fulfilment, was for Mary a confirmation of a still more incredible event. With considerate precision the angel specifies the sixth month, after which time pregnancy is no longer uncertain, but becomes obvious (ver. 24). The Virgin, indeed, asks for no sign, she has met the announcement in faith ; but for the strengthening and preserving of this faith, and in order that she might remain during the whole time of her pregnancy free from all weakness and perfectly sanctified^ such a sign, such a kindred miracle as she could resc upon, was, we may believe, essential. It is true, nevertheless, that her relationship with Elisabeth was by marriage only, not one of blood ; for that Mary was de- scended from the tribe of Levi (as from ver. 5 we know Elisabeth to have been), and thus that the descent of the Lord Jesus from the tribe of Judah (Heb. vii. 14) and the house of David should be merely nominal, hingeing upon his supposed relationship to Joseph, is a very foolish opinion of a few old writers. But it is remarkable that the two women should have been referred to each other, by a hint that, judging from vers. 39, 40, Mary at once obediently acted upon. All the rest, the ordaining and the appointing of the Forerunner of her son, she was to learn from Elisabeth. But because even the pregnancy in old age of one hitherto barren could not parallel the wonder of a maiden's maternity, Gabriel before he closes his reply to Mary's ques* : .on adds the strong confirmation which the most universally admitted of truths lend to this incomparable mystery, For with God no word shall be impossible. Cer- tainly we may render the passage with equal grammatical propriety " no thing" only Mary uses the former expression TO MARY. 35 m her reply: "Be it unto me according to thy word" so that :he real meaning seems to be No word of divine promise, statement, or announcement, is impossible. All that God says and wills he can also perform. These words of the angels sound in Greek like those words of the Lord to Sarah (Gen. xviii. 14), and of these they must finally have reminded Mary. And now, such the child-like faith in which she has been nurtured and lives, in the Almighty God, and in all the wonders of his might, from ancient times till now ; Mary has nothing more to ask ! that we might resemble her in this, and learn experimentally to understand what Hamann says, " Philosophical curiosity is silenced by the most everyday commonplace ! " " How shall this be?" Mary had at first asked. Does she under- stand any better now, in the lower sense of the word under- standing, how the Holy Ghost is to come upon her, and the power of the Highest to overshadow her ? By no means ; the mystery only deepens, but her faith is also perfected. The first woman was taken from man ; the new Adam's humanity is to be born of woman; woman in her pure womanhood has conceived, borne, and given birth to this new creature, even as it was enigmatically prophesied in Jeremiah, " The woman shall compass the man." " Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me ac- cording to thy word." So speaks the chaste Virgin, not merely silently submissive, but at once desiring and expecting. Her timid bashfulness changes into a tender and yet fervent longing which speaks, exclaims, prays : Be it unto me as my Lord speaks and wills ! And that very moment it is done. " The moment that Mary gave her assent was that in which she began to be great with the Holy Child," writes Luther; and such has been the opinion of many early writers since Irenaeus. As Dean 36 ANNOUNCEMENT TO MARY. Alford very truly observes, " Mary was no unconscious vessel chosen by the Divine will, but (compare ver. 45) in faith and humility a fellow-worker with God." But we know not where Lange finds reason for supposing, contrary to all probability, that this expression of hers implied a voluntary submission to the disgrace and humiliation she foresaw as the consequence of her altered condition ; we, for our parts, believe that such a thought was far from Mary's mind at the time, and could only have been felt to be disturbing and incongruous had it occurred. The last fact that we read of satisfies us completely as to the char- acter of the whole transaction being simple, encouraging, and free from any shadow cast by conflicting feelings. The angel departed from her as he had entered in. This was very different to his sudden appearing to and vanishing from Zacharias. Mary was left glad and blessed, as her song of praise soon tells us. What afterwards followed with regard to Joseph brought indeed the first sorrow, the first distress, but doubtless failed to disturb or weaken the light and strength of faith in the depths of the Virgin's soul. THE ANGEL'S APPEARANCE TO JOSEPH. 37 CHAPTER III. APPEARANCE OF THE ANGEL IN A DREAM TO JOSEPH. MATTHEW i. The birth of Jesus Christ was (or came to pass) thus. Grand simplicity of the brief authentic narrative, written evidently without the least idea that its historical truth could ever come to be doubted. What a thus this is! Contrary to all human, all Jewish expectation, yet exactly according with the whole of prophecy, even fulfilling its very letter respecting the Virgin more completely than could have been comprehended beforehand. Matthew confines himself to this one main point ; that is enough for the beginning of his Gospel. He tells us nothing more of the persons or their circumstances. Mary is the mother, Joseph her betrothed husband ; we only hear of Bethle- hem and Nazareth in the next chapter, and they are briefly mentioned. Much that seems essential to our understand- ing the difficulties that divided the betrothed pair before the angel smoothed them away (especially when we take the narrative of St. Luke in connexion with that of St. Matthew), is left by this last evangelist to be filled up by our own reflection and surmise, teaching us thereby that the true value of his testimony to the faith by no means lies in minute historical details. There can be no doubt that believers we speak not of 38 APPEARANCE OF THE ANGEL profane misunderstandings have explained to themselves the progress of these events in very different ways. We now proceed to give our own view, and our reasons for it. We cannot possibly assume, as some have done, that all that is here related by St. Matthew, up to the taking of his wife by Joseph, happened before Mary's visit to Elisabeth. For St. Luke's expression (i. 39) is certainly to be under- stood as implying a short interval between the arising of Mary and going into the hill-country, and the hint that the angel had given her in the 36th verse (of course allow- ing time for preparation for a long journey). 1 The question that offers so much difficulty, and has been so contradic- torily solved, is this : Did Mary impart the angel's annun- ciation to Joseph or not? We refer to the text for an answer. When we see St. Matthew writing (ver. 18) she was found with child, and connect with the expression all Joseph's plans and perplexity, we cannot withhold our con- viction that Mary had not spoken at all on the subject with him. Still less had she done so before her journey to the city of Zacharias. Not only may we say with Olshausen, " The narrative of Matthew leaves the impression that Mary had not disclosed her state to Joseph ;" but this in- ference follows unavoidably from the text. No one speaking of a fact communicated by the very person most intimately concerned therein would have used the expression, " she was found (was discovered to be) with child." We may even say further, Mary could not, dared not have spoken of herself except in the tone of her song of praise, and for this very reason we may con- clude that she had not as yet done so to Joseph. It was a mystery too marvellously tender, high, deep to touch i The Jewish custom precluding an unmarried voman from travelling had I robably fallen at this time into desuetude. TO JOSEPH. 39 upon ! No doubt the betrothed had often met, often con- versed in Nazareth, before Joseph took his wife unto him, but Mary kept silence, and this we find most natural. Our conviction differs from that of the commentators who believe her to have imparted the fact to Joseph, and he to have incredulously rejected her account of it. We hold rather that Joseph would have believed, would not have been able to resist the evident stamp of truth upon the words that fell from his Mary's lips. Would she not, as the Evangelist does us, have referred Joseph to the Virgin foretold in Isaiah? Would she not have so spoken and reasoned as to leave without a shadow of doubt the pious bridegroom who so thoroughly knew her character ? But, on the other hand, we believe that Mary did not choose to do this, not only because she left everything to the Lord, but because she could not feel perfectly certain that Joseph would believe her statement, dared not therefore mention it to him. Thus our view takes a middle course between two extremes. We hold that in all probability, not only from his knowledge of what Mary was, but from the self- evident truth of her statement, Joseph would have been convinced. He would not have been likely to suppose her an " enthusiast" or " deluded;" that was not the tone of thinking in those days. And as to her being a deceiver, seeking to conceal her sin against himself, under cover of an angel's promise of the highest deliverer Israel had to expect, nay, he never could have believed her at once so impious and so foolish ! His plans (ver. 19) by no means imply a previous communication from her. Thus much seems almost indubitable : Joseph would have believed, but Mary did not speak; and this was most fitting and congruous. Mary's delicate, correct feeling, confidently expected and implored that the discovery might be made to him from above. 40 APPEARANCE OF TUE ANGEL " Before they came together." This expression of the Evangelist means : Before he took her home. And as this taking home usually implied the consummation of the mar- riage (Deut. xx. 7), we have the positive assurance of the 25th verse. But a pregnancy of three months (Luke i. 56) must soon have betrayed itself after Mary's return, must have gradually become more and more apparent ; and then the long journey, the reason for it being unex- plained ; the long visit, and it is thus she returns ! And she says nothing about it to me ! Joseph must have been more than Joseph, must have been even more than Mary herself, if, without the aid of revelation, he could have dis- covered the only solution to his painful doubts : " that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." For as to speaking on the subject to her, openly questioning her, he could not find it in his heart to do that. What, then, was to be done ? As far as lay in his power he decided upon the best and most righteous course. He was a just man. He was free from the spirit of jealousy which the law tacitly condemns, even while legis- lating for it (Numb. v. 14). His justice is of the genuine kind ; it is even because he is just, that he will not be harsh and severe to the woman he has loved, and whose whole previous conduct and character, yea even whose present demeanour, perplexing though it be, seem to contradict the appearances against her. At first sight Matthew ap- pears to give the justice of Joseph as a reason for his sparing Mary, but this was not its only consequence ; it was the same conscientious spirit that led him to fear, to shrink from taking her to himself, as the angel goes on to say. Accordingly he hits upon the one just middle course, and certainly no blame could attach to him. " Because he was a just man, and not willing to make TO JOSEPH. 41 her a public example, he was minded to put her away privily." According to the law of Moses, betrothal counted as marriage, as Dent. xxii. 23, 24, sufficiently proves, the betrothed damsel being called the "neighbour's wife." Thus a letter of divorcement was necessary to the putting away ; nay, if once the case were publicly brought forward, the adulteress would be liable to the punishment of stoning to death, though we may infer from John viii. that it was no longer rigidly enforced. But Joseph means to put away Mary privily, quietly, merely by means of a letter of livorcement, properly witnessed by two, without assigning any cause for such a step, preferring, with touching affec- tion and self-denial, that the blame of inconstancy and unkindness should attach to himself; for it would be left uncertain whether the child were not really his, and yet the mother rejected by him. Except that, indeed, as has been sensibly observed, reflective people might well surmise " that so right-minded and kind-hearted a man must have been moved by some strong reason to take such a step." So much indeed is true : " Jesus bore the shame that attaches to all illegitimate children while in his mother's womb, and Mary must have had her portion in that shame." But as to what is usually said of the trial to faith, the distress and sorrow of Mary, is for the most part erroneous. It is not in keeping with her character, nor would it, during these months of pregnancy, have been desirable or fitting with reference to the holy child. Xo. Mary patiently waited and prayed, unshaken in her comfortable conviction that God himself would solve all difficulties. Nor was this her faith confounded. Even while Joseph was thinking on these things, the divine dream came to remove his perplexity. We learn from this expression of the Evangelist, that Joseph had not 42 APPEARANCE OF THE ANGEL epoken of his intentions to Mary, but only matured them in his own mind. The case has been well put thus : " Mary said nothing, and accordingly Joseph said nothing either, though he had fully made up his mind what to say." But when the commentator goes on to find fault with this silence of Joseph, and to call upon us to distinguish " the difference between the pure, childlike spirit of the Virgin, whose womb God had chosen for the dwelling of his Son, and the righteousness and justice of a man under the law," this is an uncalled-for criticism. Both did right ; no pious man in Israel could have behaved more gently and justly than Joseph purposed doing in this unique and complicated case. We must endeavour still further to realize the whole of its complication, in order thoroughly to understand the angel's words. An angel of the Lord whether this was Gabriel or not is doubtful appeared to Joseph in a dream, which was a lower form of revelation, fitted for one who personally was of inferior importance. Olshausen, how- ever, goes too far, when he says of Joseph, " the gospel narrative does not define his character at all ;" for surely in ver. 19 we have a very significant sketch of the disposi- tion of the man. To have intercourse with angels in a dream is of itself a high distinction, although it cannot compare with the actual appearance in broad daylight of angelic messengers to chosen souls*; and though conveyed to him in a comparatively natural manner, still the mes- sage of the angel was something Joseph never could have imagined himself, something quite distinct from those thoughts or dream-visions that occupied his sleeping mind, connected as these were with the decision it was laboriously working out in his waking hours. " Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee TO JOSEPH. 43 Mary thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 1 ' Not only is his name given in full, because this is usual in such messages, but in order that the honourable title " son of David" should recall to him the great promise given to the house of David. Fear not, as though thou wert wrong in so doing (compare Doubt nothing, Acts x. 20). Joseph's betrothed is here spoken of to him as already his wife, according to the customary language of the Mosaic law (see Deut. xxii. 24) ; just as the Evangelist had before called him Mary's hus- band (ver. 19) ; and thus the angel shows that he con- siders the marriage-tie as still retaining all its original sacredness and rights, and Joseph as authorized to take Mary home in the character of wife (see Gen. xxix. 21). And further, in ver. 24, the Evangelist positively shows to all who are not bent upon escaping from the natural infer- ence, that after the birth of Jesus Christ, Joseph became Mary's husband in reality. Lange treats this matter very arbitrarily. He maintains that the question, whether Mary and Joseph lived together as man and wife (which he himself cannot avoid owning to be affirmed by the text), and the question whether Mary had other children, are distinct, and to be kept so. But we maintain both that Joseph did really consummate the marriage, and that it did not remain unblessed, for we find later a casual men- tion made of brothers and sisters, together with the mother of Jesus, and the words are to be simply understood in their primary meaning. Many, indeed, deny this, who yet feel themselves obliged to give up the perpetual virginity of Mary, but we see no manner of reason for their doing so. " That which is conceived in her." Compare Luke i. 35 " that which is born of thee." The message goes on to spo cify more distinctly that this is a son ; is of the Holy Ghosl 44 APPEARANCE OF THE ANGEL the same enigma as for Mary. If Joseph had any disposi- tion left to inquire how this could be, he would receive from Mary the only possible answer : God said it, and it has come to pass. But he believed at once, and took comfort from the angel's saying, as was proved by his ready obedience, ver. 24. Truly this obedience also deserves to be called great. " She shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins." At first we have almost the identical words used to Mary, from whence, however, we need not conclude, what is otherwise improbable, that Gabriel was the angel speak- ing. Not she shall bear thee (as in Luke i. 13), as most commentators have almost unnecessarily pointed out. In Isaiah vii. 14, we find, according to the best translation, she shall call his name Immanuel, in order to bring into full prominence the Virgin as only parent of the child. On the other hand, we see in Luke i. 62, as well as in Gen . xxi. 3, that, generally speaking, the right of naming the child belonged to the father. Thus the angel, by not only conceding to Joseph the right publicly to bestow this divinely-appointed name on the child, but enjoining on him the doing so as a duty, shows that this son of David was, as husband to Mary, to stand in the legal position of father to the child, to adopt him before the world, and to accept the charge of bringing him up. The interpretation of the name that follows is strikingly more full and clear than that given in the annunciation to Mary ; speaks out more plainly that this Saviour is to ac- complish a spiritual, a real deliverance ; more absolutely does away with all political expectation than even the inspired song of Zacharias. We would recall what we have already said respecting the almost universal error as to the etymology of the name of Jesus, because here we TO JOSEPH. 4.5 have fuller light shed upon the subject. The angel, in interpreting this name, does not say, God's or the Lord's salvation will come through him, God will save through him, but merely and emphatically, He himself, who bears this name, will save, will bless ; He himself will be in his own person what he is called, and so this ancient name, borne by so many, will, for the first time, be thoroughly fulfilled in him. The same meaning is to be found in Luke ii. 11, and is repeated in the Acts of the Apostles, iv. 12. But what is this full deliverance, this perfect help, this salvation without which all else so called is unavailing at last? "Sins," the many that have sprung from the first original sin, these are our enemies. Not only is punish- ment here meant, but, most especially, our sins them- selves, which he is come into the world to take away (1 John iii. 5). He does not save us with, but from our sins. This cannot be sufficiently preached. That this child already conceived, this Jesus or Saviour, to be born, should save all men, all sinners, the angel does not indeed say ; the mystery of the salvation of all nations (Eph. iii. 5) is not yet to be clearly revealed, the first brig/it ray of this new light is to proceed from the prophet Simeon. But, at least, he designedly avoids the word Israel, giving, in its stead, his people, which expression will come to include all men under heaven (Acts iv. 12). His people ; this emphatically confers the same position for- merly expressed by the appellation, " God's people." We may affirm that all sinners who desire to be free from their sins, and to submit themselves to Jesus in faith, have by this very desire become his people, and all his people he saves from their sins. This glad prophetic import of his most holy name, Jesus has fulfilled ever 46 THE ANGEL'S APPEARANCE TO JOSEPH. since, and will go on fulfilling even more and more, so that the words of the prophet are peculiarly applicable here : " There is none like unto thee, Lord ; thou art great, and thy name is great in might (Jer. x. 6). The verses 22, 23, are not a continuation of the angel's speech, as might at first sight be supposed, but the evan- gelist's own quotation of a fulfilled prophecy, as the ex- pression, " All this was done," unmistakably proves. The closing paragraph tells of Joseph's immediate obedience to, and full faith in, the command he had received in sleep, and authorizes us to imagine the joy with which the betrothed pair would exchange the recital of the special revelations made to them. Matthew concludes his first chapter with the impressively repeated name Jesus, sets it as a seal to the close of this his first narrative ; the second closing with the once despised, iiow honouied affix, of Nazareth. ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHRIST 8 BIRTH. 47 CHAPTER IT. THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE THE BIRTH OF CHEIST AT BETHLEHEM. LUKE n. IN treating of the familiar but inexhaustible Christmas text contained in this chapter, we have no intention of preaching a sermon ; we only wish to present the radiant words in their simple profundity and natural sequence to the Christian reader, and with exegetical precision to place in its true light whatever has been imperfectly understood and preached, or erroneously translated. " There were in the same country shepherds ," signifies the environs, or a district near to Bethlehem ; shepherds dwelling with their flocks in the plains or open country. Their number is not given to us any more that that of the wise men of the East, with reference to whom tradition will not be satisfied to receive the simple Bible narrative. These shepherds, humble, if not poor, were more favoured than all the great and wise in Israel, nay, than all men then upon the earth. Not to the high-priest and doctors of the law, not even to Mary and Joseph, does the glory of the heavenly pageant appear. This much we may assert of these shepherds, they were evidently pious men, waiting intelligently and anxiously for the redemption of Israel. On this subject Schleier- macher has justly and beautifully observed, as Neander 48 THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE acknowledges : " This satisfaction of individual desire, not infrequent at great eras such as this, is truly impressive and divine." A thought that is still more admirably elaborated by Van Oostevzee : "In this satisfaction of the private and concealed desire of a few individuals at the very moment that the eternal salvation of millions was being provided for, there is something indescribably touch- ing and divine. We overlook the masses in the individual, or the individual in the masses ; God regards both at once, and both alike." Indeed it is generally the manner of all divine manifestations as unfolded to us from earliest times, to make known to a few elect persons, in the first instance, what is intended for all ; so that the facts that are to be- come most universally known have a silent and unnotice- able origin. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he shall show them his covenant" (Ps. xxv. 14), and according to this ancient rule the first recipients of the new announcement here stand in the place of or represent the whole people of the Lord. In the neighbourhood of Bethlehem there was in olden times a fortified place for flocks, a tower of shepherds, as already appears in Gen. xxxv. 21. This is spoken of by the prophet Micah, the proper rendering of chap. iv. 8 being : " And thou, tower of the flock, thou strong hold (hill) of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the former dominion, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusa- lem." Now, this hill of the daughter of Zion, i.e., the tower of Ophel at Jerusalem, 1 may represent the house of David, and be at the same time named a tower of the flock in remembrance of David's original character of shepherd of the sheep, and afterwards shepherd of Israel. In either case, since the prophecy concerning Bethlehem comes from i 2 Chron. Jorrii. 3 ; xxviii. 14 ; Neh. lii. 26 ; ri. 21 ; Isa. xxxii. 14 (Heb.) THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 49 Micah, our thoughts revert not only to the tower of the flocks that stood there, but discern in the passage an allu- sion to the future announcement of the coming kingdom to the shepherds near Bethlehem. These shepherds, not incorrectly viewed as types of the shepherds of God's flock, were found faithful to their calling even in the hours usually Jevoted to rest ; they were keeping watch over their sheep by night. Then there came to them, or rather suddenly jtood before them (" not having been seen either to walk or fly") an angel of the Lord. Whether this was again Gabriel we are not told, and do not therefore venture to decide, though it seems most probable, from chap. i. 19-26, that this angel, not being named here, was not the same as on the two former occasions. But it was a real individual angel, and no doubt one exalted above others, as he was chosen for the honour of bringing such a message. We know not why Lange, in opposition to the literal truth of the narrative, should persist in speaking of the shepherds having " a vision of the angel of the covenant." The birth of the Lord is announced and celebrated, we observe, in a manner quite different from that of the Fore- runner ; the child registered on earth as a subject of the Roman Empire, is proclaimed by the heavenly hosts as the Saviour of all mankind. No glory streams round his manger, but the shepherds are shone round about (as in Acts xxvi. 13) at the appearing of the angel with the glory of f he Lord, the light of God referred to in Ps. civ. 2. Not like to a fire as in Exod. xxiv. 7, but in mild splen- dour shines this light in the night that tells of the holy birth of the wondrous child. And yet the shepherds were " sore afraid," till the one angel commissioned to speak first of all the heavenly host, addresses them in these gra- cious words 50 THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE " Fear not ; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to the whole people." Of all the exhortations, " Fear thou not," " fear ye not," which the Holy Scriptures contain for the comfort of the children of men, surely this is the most significant, the most glorious. Even passages like that in Rev. i. 17, have not quite so close, so full a relation to that first " / was afraid," in the mouth of fallen Adam. In the same way the note- worthy prelude, " behold," has an unparalleled strength of emphasis laid upon it here ; for even the last behold in Rev. xxi. 3, 5, is included in and develops itself as a con- sequence of this. The message of the resurrection even, as Bengel observes, does not positively express the joy which it is destined to convey ; but here the child in the manger is from the first designated, as we parents delight to hear our children call him in their Christmas games, a child of great joy. Truly the word joy is one that must at all times be welcome to the fearful, care-worn, sorrowful heart of humanity. Here, too, it sounds forth as the real fulfilment of the prophetic words (Isa. ix. 3, 6). No doubt the Old Testament often gives us the reassur- ing fear not, but henceforth more than the joy in har- vest, more than the joy of dividing the spoil, is conveyed by the great joy with which the gospel begins, when, for the first time, it is preached to the poor. Great is the joy Christ brings to all those who sorrow for sin ; great in its height, breadth, depth ; so great that to all eternity it will remain unexhausted. Yea, this joy not only removes all grief, but alone makes earthly joy to be joy indeed. The angel, in using the words "I bring to you," refers primarily to the shepherds to whom he speaks, but he immediately adds, that the glad tidings are to be made known by them to the whole people, or, as it is more generally rendered, THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 51 to all people. And not incorrectly, since the message, taken as a whole, borders very closely upon the disclosure of the mystery (soon to be revealed by Simeon, ver. 31, 32). "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people" (Rom. xv. 10). Nay, perhaps, the second clause (ver. 11), to you is born, may be understood in the same comprehensive sense as the close of the angelic song of praise " Peace on earth, good-will to men." But literally the angel's speech begins with Israel, as it was meet ; the gracious offers of salvation being in very deed first made to the chosen people. The fact, however, that the. Lord's people would subsequently reject the one now born to them, and accordingly come short of the great joy, is not at this juncture to cloud and mar the glad tidings brought. " For there is born to you to-day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David." We observe a harmony with the order of the prophetic words, " For unto us a child is born ;" and the yet more profoundly significant clause that immediately follows, " unto us a son is given' (given to us all as our own). But in our text the word born stands out first with a stronger emphasis; the us of the prophet changes to the you, applied by angel lips to men ; the great to-day is come which divides the history of the world into two mighty epochs of before and after Christ. To the angel the child born is already the Lord whom he worships, as in Matt, xxviii. 6, where the same words, but still more simple, without any affix whatsoever, are spoken by an angel of him who had been laid in the grave. To us the children of men he is born a Saviour, which ex- pression hitherto had sometimes in its lowest sense been, as we have before seen, applied to sundry human helpers, deliverers, redeemers ; sometimes in its highest sense had been used as one of the names of God himself, from 1 Sam. 52 THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE xiv. 39 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 3 ; Isa. xlv. 15 ; down to Luke i. 47. But here the name of Jesus is pointed at, and to it is added, " which is Christ." Not, however, specially the Saviour, but as the English Bible correctly renders it, a Saviour, a born child of Adam's race, a person, a man to whom this name belongs, fully, absolutely, as it never did to any other. First we have the fact itself, the cause of the great joy, salvation for the sinner ; then the person in whom the salvation is contained. He, who as man is the long-promised, newly-born Christ ; as God, is for all angels the Lord. This is the only place where both names, Christ, the Lord, occur in this exact connexion, which essentially distinguishes them from "the Lord's Christ " in ver. 26. We should be careful therefore in no way to diminish or obscure the lofty meaning of the expression, as they do who ex- plain it, " The great deliverer, the God-consecrated king." Whether the pious shepherds understood the full bearing of the words is another question which has nothing to do with their proper exposition ; for these are the words which have come down from the first hearers, and have spread over the world. At all events, they must have had more correct ideas concerning the expected Christ than the Samaritan woman had (John iv. 25), and they would probably draw a lofty inference from the expression, the Lord. Lastly, we have the specific information connected with the directions given for the finding of the child (ver. 12), "in the city of David." The time of the holy birth, to- day, biirst forth in the angelic message first, then comes the place which, according to prophecy, could indeed be no other. Not only were the chief priests and scribes familiar with those words of the prophet Micah (Matt. ii. 4, 6), but some knowledge of them had even spread THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 53 abroad among the people, as we see from John vii. 42. Accordingly we find that the earliest disciples were in no way scandalized by the Messiah being of Nazareth. It appears most probable from the angel's address that the shepherds were well acquainted with the prophecy. And besides, pious shepherds in Bethlehem had just now peculiar reason to remember the honour and dignity ascribed in Scripture to their little town. No doubt the taxing just decreed, reminding persons so vividly of their house and lineage, had given them and others occasion to sigh : Alas, how lowly and obscure are the descendants of David become ! that the son of David would soon come to his kingdom ! And, lo ! he is come ; he is born in his own city ! That the shepherds, as soon as this was made known to them, should at once prepare to go to Bethlehem, to see that which was come to pass, is taken for granted ; they are not told to go. But their first impulse would naturally have been to inquire aloud for the new-born king, supposing that his birth was generally known, as did the wise men in Jerusalem. To prevent them from doing this, the angel gives them a sign unasked, not as confirmation of their faith, for these shepherds had simply believed each word that fell from his lips ; but to help them in their silent seeking and finding, in which, indeed, it is probable they were still further assisted by a divine leading. " And this (shall be) to you the sign; you shall find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, (and) lying in a manger." Here only one sign is specifically given to them, and that is ; in a manger ! The word and is in all probability not authentic ; the passage runs, a swaddled child, lying (as all new-born children indeed do, but not in such com fort as even the poorest have; no, but) in a manger 54 THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE That is the sign, that is the extraordinary circumstance, whereas the swaddling clothes are proverbial, are univer- sal, without respect of persons, as we read in the Book of Wisdom (vii. 3-6). Nevertheless, we are authorized to take not only the swaddling clothes as well, but more especially the child, as for us the lovely sign of our Lord and Saviour. A child 1 thus is Christ the Lord as our Saviour, to be made like unto us ; to take our poor flesh and blood on him, that is his first sign. Akin to this are the swaddling clothes, typical of helplessness and weak- ness (see, in addition to the passage of Wisdom, Ezek. xvi. 4), and common to all ; but the unusual circumstance is the manger, the unclean manger, fitted only for cattle, a sign of poverty and humiliation indeed. But as shep- herds were familiar with the stall and the manger, this sign was one peculiarly calculated to encourage them : " You may approach this king ; he is not come in worldly pomp and splendour." Again, there would certainly be no other child at that time in Bethlehem lying in a manger, they would not therefore make any mistake as to his identity. Some have, indeed, read in the manger (but erroneously, see ver. 7), and have thence concluded that the angel referred to one in a stable belonging to these very shepherds, but the tone of the whole narrative, espe- cially of ver. 8, is opposed to such an idea. We pass onward from the touching picture of the swaddled and manger-laid baby, condescendingly afforded us by the angel, to the lofty hymn which followed upon the lowly details just given. " Heaven alone then knew of the treasure bestowed on earth," as it has been well and truly said. Nay more, all the angels of heaven were powerless to effect what this new-born infant brought and * Not, as generally rendered, " the child." THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 55 fulfilled ; and for this reason the " heavenly hosts sing to the child born in Bethlethem such a cradle -song as never was sung to monarch's son, for in those swaddling clothes is wrapped a mystery into which even angels desire to look." To which we add, that for men and angels, the understanding of this mystery is from first to last limited to adoration, " Glory be to God in the highest !" And suddenly, quite unexpectedly, there was (there became visible with the angel who had just spoken) a (great, or, it may be rendered, the whole) multitude of the heavenly host. If over the repentance of one sinner there is joy among the angels of God, joy throughout heaven, how should not all the angels have rejoiced with and over us in this great joy ? Certainly we do not find it so speci- fied in the original, but it is hardly to be conceived that the whole multitude of the angels was not present ; how should any of them have failed, as though unconcerned in this great event? If at the first creation of the earth the morning stars sang praise, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, how much more now? " Glory (be now) in. the height to God, and on earth peace, to men (a) good will." This is the proper con- struction of the passage. There is indeed a different reading, authorized by the Catholic Church, which gives us, to men of good will, but there are positive and well- founded objections to it. Neither the critical investiga- tion of ancient MSS., nor customary idiom, still less the general meaning of the passage, authorizes such a limita- tion of this full gospel and comprehensive song of praise, such an allusion to the co-operating good-will of men. Luther, indeed, while still fettered by the traditional in- terpretation, understands the passage, good-will of men, i.e., their praise and thanksgiving to God, and their entire 56 THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE resignation of themselves to his will. But we, for our parts, unbiassed by human authority however high, determine with the angel only to give glory to God, and to proclaim and celebrate his good-will to man, and that only. From the nature of the three clauses, we may infer that two choruses answered each other, alternately speak- ing of heaven and earth, then joined in one common song to express the ground of the union of heaven with earth, of God with men. The very words, indeed, are rightly called, not so much a song, as an ascription of praise to God, as the Evangelist says in ver. 13, for the first clause is the main one, which the others only confirm and com- plete. The best and clearest illustration of its meaning as a whole is given by Nitzsch, when he says : " This song rises up to the glory of God, comes down again to proffer peace to earth, rests with good- will on men ;" and pro- ceeds to paraphrase its contents : " How is the glory of God manifested in the making earth peaceful, by mercy and good- will shown to sinful man;" to which we may add Beck's beautiful thought, " The angels' song soars to heaven, then stoops to earth, and concludes with men, as though it would for ever echo in the human heart." Further, we may remark that the threefold division, as is almost always the case, assumes a Trinitarian form : Glory to the Father, peace through the Spirit, God's good- will manifested by his Incarnate Son ; with which may be compared the similar sequence in Tit. iii. 4-6. Well might we be content to sing after the example of the angels, " Glory be to God in the highest," but we must not forget that the words imply not merely an aspiration, but, at the same time, an announcement of what actually is ; how, because the Saviour is born, there does, indeed, arise new glory to God. For a prophecy and assurance THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 57 that this glory will be given to him more and more, is con- tained in the fact itself. God's glory, the foundation and aim of all things what is it else than (according to the closely resembling Greek and Hebrew words) the image of the divine glory in the creature ? But the full glory of his love stooping to the lost, now first appears in all its completeness in Christ. In creation, indeed, he has pro- minently displayed his omnipotence, wisdom, and love ; but here he has made known his mercy, his everlasting mercy ; in this transaction he has opened out to the hosts of heaven, a new infinity of his perfections ! Accordingly the Church sings : To God in the highest, alone be praise, and thanks be to his grace ! t But the position of the words is not quite correctly given. According to the order of the original, the words, in the height, or the highest, belong not to God, but to the glory to be given ; for even in heaven itself sin had troubled and disturbed the glory of God (Col. i. 20), which was now to be restored by Christ. Thus there was now a new honour, a new praise to God, that broke out in heaven from the angels, just as there was a new peace on earth among men. Thus it is not here meant (although this also is true) that God dwells and reigns in a highest height to which the angels can only look up. It is not this that is alluded to, but the heavens generally, spoken of in a plural form, and in opposition to the earth. That we men should once more be able rightly to honour God, is the subject taken up by the second chorus, after the first chorus has sung the praise of God from the height ; the angels giving him glory for his omnipotence, truth, faith- fulness, justice, but, above all, and in all, for his mercy. And peace on earth ! That sounds more intelligible than the somewhat obscure cry of the people, "Peace in heaven' : 58 THE ANGELS THAT ANNOUNCE (Luke xix. 38). In heaven there has never been discord, but the ungodly on earth have no peace, no wellbeing. The earth is the abyss to which the peace-bringing grace descends from above. In the original, it is true, and espe- cially in the Old Testament, the word peace, in its primi- tive meaning, stands for salvation, restoration, though it also expresses that which we call peace. But here it is more than peace between man and man that is meant ; the great Reconciler of our strifes, puts an end to our divisions by first of all reconciling us to God. Both go together ; the cause is seen and glorified in the effect. This peace on earth sounds like a far-reaching prophecy ; certainly its fulfilment is still distant, and advances slowly, but it will grow and increase more and more. The angels themselves have made the first beginning of that great peace-preaching of the peace-bringer, prophesied in Isa. Ivii. 19, and referred to in Eph. ii. 17. The angels see, in the new-born child, the Prince of peace, at whose birth, events being so overruled and rendered typical and pro- phetic by God's providence, the Roman empire had peace under Caesar Augustus. 1 And now, throughout Christen- dom, and in missions to the heathen, progress is being made, glory is given to God by increasing peacefulness, till at last the whole perfect good-will of God shall be ful- filled toward us and in us ! And so, gazing onward to this ultimate goal, the holy angels sing at the birth of him in whom alone we are well pleasing and acceptable : To men a good-will. Thus we see the three clauses are closely connected. Wherefore is this glory and praise to God ? For the peace-making on earth. But whence this peace ? Through the child * Hence the coin with the inscription : Pax orbis terrarum^Sahis generis humani. THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 59 born, in whom and for whose sake God's good-will, good- pleasure, is towards men (Eph. i. 5, 6 ; Luke iii. 22). This is not, indeed, actually said, because it is self-evident when we turn back to the first clause : His, or God's, good- will, as well as the restoration of men, once lost through their sins ; all this is comprehended in the many-sided whole. Thus, " the angels' lips blend together God and the Highest with men and earth in one song of praise, as though they were all one whole, one holy family " (Beck). Or, to be more precise still, both that which is in heaven and on earth, really is, and will be gathered together in Christ (Eph. i. 10). Only we must not, with over- subtlety, interpret the word good- will as Lange would have us do when he says, " Amongst men the good- will, in which God accepts and blesses humanity, has personally ap- peared." Yet there is a certain truth in the idea, and Bengel says very truly, " Until now men have had a bad name among the angels ; now they in amazement proclaim the paradox, the seeming contradiction as one that is solved, ' To men a good- will!' " Or as Koos, in his naive style, carries on the thought : " So cheerfully, then, do angels think of men, and it is a sin that men themselves, even believing men, should not, cannot, always think alike cheerfully of themselves and others." Yea, verily, this is the great sin which can only be healed by the repeated going in faith to Christ, of which we have an example given by the shepherds. The evangelist writes : " And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the men, the shepherds said one to an- other." This significant form of speech, thus linked with the third clause of the song of praise, constitutes these shepherds the representatives of all men for whom Christ is born, and brings their words, " Let us now go," into pro- 60 ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHRIST S BIRTH. minence, as the " first words spoken by men in Scripture after the birth of Christ." They came with haste to the spot, to the manger indicated, found, soon, without much seeking (this is almost implied in the expression), found Mary, Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. For a moment they forgot, in that blessed sight, even the angels and the open heaven, and then they related, for the strengthening of Mary's and Joseph's faith but alas ! only for the wonder of some that heard them the sayings which had been so miraculously told them concerning the holy child. THE ANGEL REAPPEARS TO JOSEPH. 61 CHAPTER V. THE ANGEL RETURNS TO JOSEPH IN DREAMS. MATT. n. FEW attentive students of Scripture will be satisfied with the hypothesis that the wise men from the East arrived at Bethlehem on one of the first nights after the birth of the Holy Child ; and that both the flight into Egypt, and the return thence, took place before the presentation in the Temple. In harmonizing the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Luke, it is far more natural to receive Luke's state- ment (chap. ii. 39) as a rapid general summary of events, than to insist, contrary to the literal meaning of ver. 22, upon intercalating there the whole of Matthew's record. That so diligent an inquirer as St. Luke should have been unaware of the visit of the wise men, and the flight into Egypt consequent thereon, we hold to be most improbable. But according to the plan he proposed to himself in writ- ing his gospel, he might very well pass over these facts. That Joseph and Mary, with the child born to them in the city of David, should remain there a while, seems very natu- ral ; but, upon closer consideration, we see many reasons that explain the purpose of God in preventing the growing up of the child at Bethlehem, in the immediate proximity of Jerusalem. And the manner in which this purpose was fulfilled, as well as the chain of events that led to the re- turn of the holy family to Nazareth, are given us only by 62 THE ANGEL RE-APPEARS the first Evangelist in the chapter now under considera- tion. We may observe that it was in a house, no longer in a inanger, that the wise men found Him they sought for. The first divine communication made to them is spoken of (ver. 12) in precisely the same manner as that to Joseph, ver. 22. A divine injunction, of which the words are not given, warned the strangers against returning to Herod ; a similarly divine injunction is given three times to Joseph, and twice the actual words of the angel are recorded. After the miraculous testimony to his birth, it was decreed that everything connected with the wondrous child, born as he was to suffering, not to splendour, should proceed in the most simple and natural manner, with this exception, that an angelic voice was twice more to point and mark out his way. The words spoken by the angel apparently confine themselves merely to the external measures he enjoined, but there is in them a latent reference to much that is prophetic, pre-ordained, and highly significant. It is not said whether the wise men were two, three, or more, but merely, with a grand indefiniteness, careless of all but the main point, that a divine command was given to them in a dream. Hardly as Menken would have us over- literally read : " What one dreamt the others dreamt also, and thus it was impossible for them to doubt that the dream and the injunction were a revelation from the invisible world." It is equally satisfactory to assume that one re- ceived the injunction for the rest. 1 Whether they were themselves suspicious of Herod, and had prayed for divine guidance, is an open question ; but this is not implied in the words of the text, and to us, indeed, it appears more pro- 1 Certainly there were more than two, or the indefinite plural could not correctly be used. TO JOSEPH. 63 bable that it was their simple-hearted confidingness in the tyrant that rendered the divine admonition necessary. If it be argued that an angel appeared to them also, because verse 22 is to be understood like verses 13, 19, we might, on the other hand, with better reason, say that both in verses 12 and 22, mere voices are carefully distinguished from the appearance of the speaker. To judge from the precision with which the different degrees of spiritual manifestations have hitherto been indicated by the evan- gelist, we should say that, in all probability, the last theory is correct. It was to Joseph, not to Mary, that the divine command now came, and again in a dream, as in chap. i. 20. His paternal and guardian relation to the child was established ; Mary, according to the law of marriage, was now in subjection to her husband, however contrary to all the human imaginings with regard to the " Holy Virgin " the " Mother of God " this may seem. If, as is probable, the wise men had imparted the divine warning they had received, by way of explaining their re- turn home by another way, contrary to Herod's will, Joseph must have surmised some threatened danger from Herod, which would have prepared him for the angel's injunction. One may indeed say with Lange : " He saw the deep seriousness with which the wise men resolved upon the other homeward way. The consequent excitement of his spirit was the element in which the ray of divine revela- tion kindled into flame." But too much stress is not to be laid upon these assumptions of peculiar mood and sus- ceptibility, especially with regard to so simple a character as Joseph's, so far as the Scripture reveals it to us. Cer- tainly a sincere devotion on his part to the child must be presupposed as the very condition of his being thus teach- 64 THE ANGEL RE-APPEARS able by visions of the night. But to go on with Lange to speak of Joseph's four prophetic dreams, as the conse- quence of an exalted development of his sleeping con- sciousness, " and of the reciprocal action of Joseph's fidelity and Mary's anxious spirit," does appear to us simple-minded ones to have a dangerous tendency to con- vert the fact of divine revelation into a result of mere human moods, evolutions, and circumstances. Kather would we humbly hold to Scripture, which, for the most part, does not speak at all of this human substratum, and seldom explains anything thereby. The angel now appearing in a dream spake in the follow- ing words : " Uprisen (or uprising] take to thee the young child, and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there till I tell thee (tell thee something else), for Herod intends to seek the young child that he may destroy him,' 1 ' The very first word enjoins haste ; so soon as thou hast awaked and arisen from this sleep, this dream. Joseph, no doubt, would wake instantly, and he is as instantly to rise and prepare for flight, so near and so great is the danger threatened to that holy life. According to ver. 14, it was thus that Joseph understood and acted upon the direction given. " In the same night," no delay, not even that of a single day, but immediately, he prepares to obey, to flee as he was commanded. In their humble circumstances, Mary and he would have but little to take with them on their journey ; they would willingly leave behind what they did not want. Joseph had already, according to the angel's first bidding, as her husband and her guide, taken to him the mother ; now he is especially to take the child. E?ery one must have observed how significant the prominence given by the Evangelist to the young child here, and in ver. 11, differ- TO JOSEPH. 65 ing, as it does, from Luke ii. 16. The angel neither says 'thy child/ nor 'thy son,' nor even, on this occasion, ' thy wife,' as he had done before (chap. i. 20). He who is now immediately concerned is Jesus, the new-born Saviour of men and the King of the Jews. For such a flight as this, Joseph, though he may have had some vague fear of Herod's cruelty and cunning, could not possibly have been prepared. After what the heavenly hosts had announced and sung, after Simeon's prophecy and the wise men's worship, after all this honour done him, must He, whose very name is ' God with us,' flee secretly and hurriedly by night into a place of safety, that he may not be destroyed in his infancy ? First there was no room for him in the inn ; now there is no room for Immanuel in his own land (Isa. viii. 8). " But wherefore flee ?" As Menken observes : " Might not the angel who brought the command have encamped like a wall of fire around the child, and rendered him un- approachable ? Could he not have overthrown all the weapons of human and devilish malice, like that angel who wrought such destruction in the Assyrian host ? Or might he not have smitten with blindness the men commissioned to take Jesus, like those who came to take the prophet Elisha ? Might not this Herod have been suddenly smitten by an angel before he could give his murderous behest, as was the case with his descendant who slew James with the sword ?" Oh, we know well why none of these events hap- pened. It was that Jesus, from beginning to end of his suffering career, should walk in our likeness, and be at once our atonement and our example. As at his life's close one out of the legions who were not permitted to fight for his kingdom, strengthened him for the death-agony, so now, out of the host of guardian and guiding angels, one is E 66 THE ANGEL RE-APPEARS appointed not openly to wage war in his defence, but only to direct the foster-father, before the child can even un- derstand the direction, " Flee with him." And not only flee from the neighbourhood of Jerusalem into Judea or G-alilee, but flee to Egypt. That had been once before a land of refuge to Israel, and was now the most convenient place for the holy family in their banish- ment. Herod's jurisdiction did not extend thither ; many Jews lived there in civil and religious liberty. Joseph might find there acquaintances whom he had previously made at the feast of the Passover, or, at all events, he would easily make friends among his countrymen in Egypt. Thus the absence from the land of Israel would be as much softened as possible. But under cover of all this, we dis- cern in this flight to Egypt a special significance, which the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Evangelist, dis- closes in ver. 15. It is worthy of remark that this passage, from Hos. xi. 1, where it applies historically to Israel, is not quoted from the Greek translation, then in common use, which here obscures and mutilates the prophetic text, but, agreeably to the original Hebrew, where it may be paraphrased thus : "I called this my chosen people (chosen in their fore- fathers), after it had been hidden in Egypt from the destroying Canaanites, in due time out of this very Egypt, and with a special calling, it being first in Egypt that I named the people of Israel my son" (Exod. iv. 22). Thus Israel, out of which the promised Messiah was to spring, is here, at its very outset, as well as throughout its subsequent career, a type of Christ, who, in Isaiah xlix. 3, is called the true servant Israel. This typical parallel is also im- plied in the choice of the texts wherewith Christ answered the tempter in the wilderness. Not only are we shown in TO JOSEPH. 67 a general way that the same grief- and temptation-fraught way which Israel, his type, had traversed before, was now to be trodden by Christ himself, as forerunner, as pioneer, of that new people of God, which was to be ransomed by him out of humanity at large, and of which the old Israel was but a shadow, not only is this clearly expressed, but the land of Egypt has a peculiar significance here. The ransomed people, the young child, are both to come forth from the house of bondage, are to be prepared under the yoke of affliction for becoming glorious through their God. Thus it is, too, that Israel's God still calls all his children out of Egypt ; and thus it behoved his own Son, in so far as he was the son of man, to be actually called thence too. Short as was the stay of the child in that land, it testified to, and, as it were, incorporated this truth. No doubt the dwelling in Egypt of the parents with the child was short, yet not so short as (according to Wieseler) to " amount to little more than a coming and a going." The chronological researches of learned men with regard to this subject are very complicated, and lead to various deductions. We judge it safest to hold simply to what Is made certain to us in Scripture, which amounts to this at least, that the young child was still a young child at the time of his return ; but as to limiting the period to a fort- night, or a few days, that again we hold to be incongruous with the important nature of the whole transaction. " Re- main, dwell, be there ;" surely this sentence of the angel's, with its " Until I tell thee " (bring thee word), conveys the idea of a longer space of time. In what place in Egypt, Joseph, with the mother and child, was to dwell, and how he was to support them there, the angel does not say ; but in his very command there to stay till another command be given, a promise and a secu- 68 THE ANGEL RE-APPEARS rity are contained, in the land to which he was super- naturally directed, Joseph would be certain that he might safely dwell. Neither his nor Mary's faith could doubt that, warned and delivered as they had been, they would be further helped and guided. Certainly without such a revelation a compulsory flight like this with the child would have been almost too painful and mysterious for them to bear ; for we can hardly sup- pose that up to this time they were quite free from other and worldly expectations for the Messiah. But now, both knew with certainty from the angel's words, that though the way lay through humiliation and distress, yet that it was foreordained by God's wisdom, and guarded by his care. When Pfenninger imagines that in the first inn reached, on the confines of Egypt, Joseph saw another angel who told him where to go, and to whom to apply, he over- looks the text, " till I tell thee" (to return to thy country). In the interim, therefore, there was evidently no manifes- tation to be expected. But such a special direction would not be needed amongst the Egyptians, at that time so hospitable to Jews ; especially by those who were calmed and secured by the first behest, and indirectly under divine guidance, as were the shepherds when seeking the child in the manger. While Joseph and Mary sleep together with the young child, God watches over that child, and for his sake over them too. Doubtless till this moment no one knew the secret purpose of the tyrant, but the messenger of God reveals it : " Herod will seek the young child in order to destroy him." This aim will be frus- trated ; but the search for the child, with its terrible con- sequences, the murder of the innocents, will be permitted. Thus watches the providence of God over the children of men, especially over his own children in Christ : what is TO JOSEPH. 69 ordained by him comes to pass ; all else is frustrated, and the course of events invariably fulfils the settled purpose of His will, let man struggle against it as he may (Isa. viii. 9, 10). Joseph rises up and obeys. Mary believes, and obeys also. The young child is borne away, sweetly sleeping perhaps the while, in that unconscious reliance upon his God prophesied of in Ps. xxii. 10, 11. For the expense of this first journey, perhaps for other purposes besides, the presents offered by the wise men would suffice. The road through the wilderness, a rough one indeed, but well known, practicable, and much used, led from Bethlehem to the confines of Egypt in the course of a few days. " But when Herod was dead, behold." The second and promised announcement is made in exactly the same way as the first, which the Evangelist indicates by using the very same words. Probably it was made by the same angel, for his address begins with the identical words be- fore used, only that from the nature of the case, the arise, and take, and go, do not now imply the same immediate and imperative haste. Then it was a warning cry, " Flee!" Now it is a gracious permission, go, travel, as conveniently and leisurely as thou wilt ! Now it is a homeward journey " into the land of Israel. 1 " There is something solemn in this giving of the old name, that no longer politically ap- pertained to it, to the beloved country from which Joseph and Mary had mourned their banishment, and to which the holy child by right belonged. The expression has also reference no doubt to the typical passage quoted by the Evangelist (ver. 15), as the context still more plainly shows. " For they are dead who sought the young child's life." But why have we the plural pronoun they, when Herod only is spoken of? Commentators have very un- 70 THE ANGEL RE-APPEARS necessarily (disregarding the close connexion of the angel's second speech with his first) imagined that another per- sonage was here pointed out besides the king, 1 probably his son Antipater, who died a few days before him. But evidently we have in this expression a quotation from Exod. iv. 9, where the passage occurs in close proximity to that which speaks of Israel as God's first-born son. Thus Moses in his own person, as Israel collectively, appears as a type of Christ, a fact which the angel brings into notice by using the same words now as were used of old. He gives the well-known proverbial expression literally, with the one omission of the word all, an omission intended to ^show that the history was only a type in its main features, not in every detail. But it must have been full of com- fortable promise to Joseph and Mary : Jesus delivered as Moses was, both as child and man ; Herod dead like Pha- raoh.' The reticent angel says nothing of the horrible disease of which Herod died ; and the concise Evangelist, too, leaves us to learn it from the secular historian, Jose- phus. Neither does the angel vouchsafe any more special direction as to whither in the land of Israel the holy family must betake themselves; except, indeed, that the more general name land of Israel, instead of land of Judea (ver. 1), might have seemed to point at Galilee. But Joseph, to whom not only child but mother were entirely subject, might have thought, on the contrary, that the holy child ought not to belong to the despised Galilee of the Gentiles (Isa. ix. 1). It never could have occurred to his unassisted reason that Nazareth could be a fitting home for the Son of God. 1 Namely, Herod's son Antipater, who, after having removed two of his brothers out of his way, was himself executed five days before his father's death. TO JOSEPH. 71 In ver. 22 we read what ought not to surprise us, that on hearing of the succession of Archelaus to the throne, some degree of fear again mingled with Joseph's faith, not indeed on his own account, but arising from his tender, and by late events intensified anxiety, respecting the child confided to his care. Shall they return to Bethlehem, near as it is to Jerusalem ? That does not seem to him judi- cious, though, perhaps, Mary may have urged it ; for we find Joseph in uncertainty, waiting no doubt and praying for guidance, till for the third time, recorded in this chap- ter, the divine will is made known to him. At first only in a general way ; he is fearlessly to turn aside into the parts of Galilee, more accurately the borders, the confines. And now, as we see, it becomes the most natural thing in the world that he should return to his former home, Naza- reth. This small and despised town becomes the dwelling- place of him whose lowliness and humiliation the prophets had in many different ways foretold, and accordingly he must be called Jesus of Nazareth. In this Nazareth he grows up, lives in holy mysterious seclusion till his thirtieth year, without any further words of angels, without the oc- currence of any miraculous events, till the day appointed comes for his showing unto Israel. 72 THE ANGELS AT CHAPTER VI. THE ANGELS AT THE SEPULCHRE. MATT. xxvm. MARK xvi. LUKE xxrv. " HENCEFORTH ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man," such had been our Lord's words to his disciples, nor can we suppose they were merely metaphorical. But they were not fulfilled by visible appearances of angels to men ; no angel during the whole life of Jesus having ever in his presence spoken to man. The Master being by, it be- hoved the servants to keep silence. When on the Mount of Transfiguration, as once before at Christ's baptism, we catch a glimpse of an open heaven, and Moses and Elias talk with him of his decease, the voice that comes down from the excellent glory of the Father directs our exclu- sive attention to the words of Jesus : " This is my beloved Son, Hear ye him! 1 ' It is at the resurrection that we meet once more with the angel voices that proclaimed the birth of the Saviour. When the time came that the disciples, cast down and despairing, were to have their sorrow turned into joy, the heavenly messengers were commissioned to bring the glad tidings before the Lord himself appears to them. Once the words " He is born" were joy sufficient to the shep- THE SEPULCHRE. 73 herds to incite them to arise in haste, to seek, to find, to make known to all around the saying concerning the child. How much more, then, should the words " He is risen,' 1 spoken of the Crucified, have power to change mourning into rapture ! Yet we find their first effect to be "/ear and great joy" (Matt, xxviii. 8); nay, even more than fear, doubt also (Mark xvi. 8); for that which they are called upon to believe is too great, too good for their belief, and would never have been preached abroad throughout the world had not the Lord by so many infallible proofs showed himself alive after his passion. To what purpose, then, were the angelic messages to the women ? We answer, in the first instance, that much as the Lord's heart yearned towards his disciples, it was necessary that he should withhold his presence from them till they had been gradually prepared, else the sudden re- vulsion would have been more than they could have borne. Again, it was most desirable that the future apostles should learn a lesson of faith without sight ; both to humble them now, and to strengthen their patience hereafter. And also there were reasons in the very tenderness of woman's nature that led to women first receiving the tidings from the angels, and first seeing the Lord. They were the first to visit the sepulchre, and were thus rewarded. After the Sabbath was over, it was natural that all who were not too completely distracted and overwhelmed, as Thomas, for instance, and others with him, should proceed to visit their Master's grave. And we may, perhaps, safely assume that Peter and John would have done this even without the summons from Mary Magdalene. At all events, the loving women could not refrain from seeking the Crucified there where he no longer was ; even had they not purposed to complete the burial-rites, they would still 74 THE ANGELS AT have gone unto the grave to weep there (John xi. 31). In order to escape observation they neither came singly, or all together, but in little groups of two and three, one after the other. This very circumstance helps us to har- monize the various and apparently contradictory narratives of the Easter morning. Indeed, both in the diversity and the unity of the evidence we find equal proof of its authen- ticity. The Evangelists did not copy from each other. Each of them narrated according to a system and to infor- mation of his own. Neither had they any intention of registering everything that happened, and how exactly everything happened in the first twilight confusion of the Easter dawn. The main point of the resurrection, on which the Church is built, was moreover so certain a fact to them that it did not even occur to their minds to lay much stress upon the details of its announcement. And if, in- deed, we had more precise information as to the order in which everything connected with the angelic announce- ment was said and done, what would it avail us ? The narrative, as it stands, is amply sufficient to make upon us the same impression the actual occurrence did upon the women to point us to the Lord himself. Another key to the proper harmony of the gospel ac- counts is this : The angels were not corporeally objective, in the same sense that our fellow-men are, were not seen and heard in the same natural way, but through the me- dium of some special influence upon those who saw and heard them. Thus it was only natural that on this occa- sion, among a number of persons of different idiosyncrasies, different impressions should be received, that one should see what another saw not, as we find Magdalene for in- stance, as well as Peter and John, seeing at first nothing but the empty sepulchre, though afterwards we read of THE SEPULCHRE. 75 one angel, two angels visible there. Perhaps, as Lessing suggests, " the whole sepulchre ; the whole space surround- ing the sepulchre was filled by invisible angels." And certainly the folding of the linen clothes, and the napkin that was about the head, not only suggests invisible ser- vants, but the multitude of the heavenly host that appeared at Christ's birth, leads us to infer an equal number present at his resurrection. Lastly, let any one try to place himself in the circum- stances of these women at the sepulchre. The shepherds of Bethlehem received their angelic communication in silent, calm expectation, but how different the case is here ! After the first hurried, imperfect burial given to the sacred body by Joseph and Nicodemus, these loving, sorrowing women are come to anoint it ; they have not one thought of the resurrection, they are in the deepest grief, occupied only with the idea of doing honour to their Lord's body ; what a tumult of excitement must they have been thrown into by what they found, saw, heard ! Well may Mark speak of their trembling amazement ! If we find that the words by which Christ stilled the storm upon the water are given to us with some variation, owing to the excite- ment of terror under which they were heard interfering with their literal recollection, how much more so here ? But yet there is a close agreement between the angel's speech, as given by Matthew and Mark ; Luke records a different one, as we shall presently see. Matthew expressly names two of the Marys, Mark adds Salome to them ; Luke (xxiii. 49, 55) only speaks gene- rally of " the women," and again refers to them (xxiv. 1), with the addition of " certain others," specifying in ver. 10 Joanna as well as the two Marys. That not only his brief summary of what the women told the disciples should be 76 THE ANGELS AT vague as it is, but that the two earlier Evangelists, aiming as they did at the greatest conciseness possible, should re- linquish all idea of a complete narrative is just what we might expect. The Holy Ghost allowed them to speak and write in their own human fashion ; did not interfere with their customary style of narrative. The following is the view we, for our parts, take of the course of events. No human eye witnessed the resurrec- tion itself; nay, no angel dared to intrude upon its first solemnity. Not one of the four Evangelists tell us one word of how and when the Lord rose, or how he left the sepulchre ; the first intelligence we have is, The Lord is risen, spoken by the angel. If the stone were rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre for the Lord's egress, we might expect to find this stated in Matt, xxviii. 2, 3, which seems the natural place for the mention of such a fact. It appears to us to have been a well-grounded belief of the early Fathers, that Christ had already passed through the stone (as afterwards through the closed doors) in his own strength, and that the rolling away of the stone was only to reveal the opened and untenanted sepulchre, itself the most convincing proof of the resurrection. Then came Mary Magdalene first, hurrying on before the rest, and, not being in a proper state to discern the angelic vision, a higher one being reserved for her, she sees nothing, notices nothing, casts one glance at the open sepulchre, and then runs back in dismay to the two disciples, Peter and John (John xx. 2). Then came the other women, who (as the close connexion in Matthew leads us to believe) had already heard some rumour of the earthquake, perhaps saw some traces of it, as well as witnessed the terror of the keepers, who do not ap- pear (ver. 4) to have at once fled away. If the angel of the earthquake, in the suddenness of his appearing, had re- THE SEPULCHRE. 77 sembled a flash of lightning to the eyes of these keepers, so that they could not look at him, or gain any distinct idea of his form ; to the women, on the other hand, he showed himself, as he spoke to them, in raiment white as snow, brighter than the rising sun. In the Old Testament, the angels resembled flames of fire (Dan. x. 5, 6), but after the resurrection we read of their milder radiance, and their being clothed in brightly- shining garments, white as the light. This angel having come down from heaven, and in the divine might triumphed over all obstacles and all adversaries the triumph of life over death now seats himself solemnly and calmly upon the rolled-away stone and the broken seals, an emblem of conquest henceforth to all humanity, but primarily to the keepers, and through their report to the frustrated Jewish and Gentile foes of the risen Lord. But to the women he did not appear thus, for they only noticed that the stone was rolled away (Mark xvi. 4). Whether he had, before he spoke, entered into the sepulchre, according to Mark's account, or whether he led the women in, as seems probable from Matthew's, who shall say ? We must leave this and other points un- settled, but to us it appears most natural to suppose that this angel was actually sitting in the sepulchre as he spoke, near the place where the body had lain, just as the two angels mentioned by St. Luke were seen standing there. At all events, the words given by Matthew and Mark are the same ; the angel calls the women to come, and see the place where Christ had lain. These women, to whom this first speech had been ad- dressed, were met on their way back by the Lord himself, but not till after the examination of the sepulchre had been made by Peter and John, and Mary Magdalene, lingering behind them when they went their way, had been favoured 78 THE ANGELS AT with the first sight of the risen Saviour. She, on this occasion, saw the other angel sitting at the other side, though he was not remarked by the former women, pro- bably because only one angel spoke. Lastly, we have the ,' other women" mentioned by Luke, who either arrived later, or returned, or remained behind, to whom the same angel, now in a standing position, or two others standing, addressed other words. These last women, who only saw angels, but did not see the Lord, were those specially mentioned in Luke xxiv. 22, as we see from ver. 9. The statement in ver. 10 is a more general one. So much we must premise to clear our way ; having done so, let us turn in all security to the words spoken by the angels, and first to those recorded by Matthew and Mark. " The angel answered." This does not mean here merely, as in some other places, began to speak ; but we have it im- plied that he answered the terror, amazement, and questions put by the women, when they saw the stone rolled away. " Fear not YE: for I know that ye seek Jesus, the crucified." In this emphatic ye, which St. Matthew gives, we may discern a marked allusion to the terror that the tidings of the resurrection would occasion the Lord's adversaries, and a division made from that very hour of all cognizant of the event into two parties, the friends and the foes of the crucified, parties that soon developed themselves more fully and openly both in Jerusalem and throughout the country. ' Fear not ye (in Mark, Be not affrighted), like these keepers, who have become like dead men, fit repre- sentatives of the impotence of the Lord's enemies, and who will soon spread abroad these tidings in another form, as to them tidings of terror. Fear not ye as they do. For you there are good tidings prepared ; for I know your hearts, know what brings you here.' Thus graciously and sooth- THE SEPULCHRE. 79 ingly does he address them, and by his knowledge of their purpose and their feelings he reveals himself to them as an angel ; ' Ye know me not, but I know ' you ! Sor- rowing love brings you hither to seek, in the sepulchre, for the same Lord whom we angels worship ; we are friends and brethren in him ! ' It is only at the close of his address that the angel introduces the majestic title, " the Lord ;" at first, as if by way of transition from death to life, he uses the more familiar name of Jesus, " Jesus, the crucified! " The contemptuous expression is changed to a title of honour, will henceforth sound in heaven and earth as the one name that brings this Saviour's salvation to the chil- dren of men ; so angels' lips teach us now ; so Paul will hereafter believe and confess (1 Cor. i. 2). Mark gives us in addition the despised name, the Crucified bore throughout his earthly career, " Jesus of Nazareth; " thus also ran the writing on the cross ; thus the glorified Lord named himself when speaking from heaven (Acts xxii. 8) ; thus the Holy Ghost spoke of him by the mouth of Peter in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost ! ' You, faithful and loving souls ' so might we paraphrase the angel's words ' you seek the despised, the crucified, with an enduring love, stronger than disgrace and death ; the cross has only bound you more closely, more tenderly to your Master. True, it is a seeking in the wrong place, but you are not, therefore, to be blamed ; nay, there is a sense in which this may be commended as the proper way to insure the finding of Him who is risen. With love and longing to seek the crucified ! this is henceforth the dis- tinguishing mark of those who need not be affrighted! He who seeks the crucified, finds the risen Saviour ; and he who would find the risen Saviour must still seek the crucified.' Such is the truth the angel proclaims. 80 THE ANGELS AT "He is not here; for he is risen, as he said." We are not, indeed, able to realize the whole of the impression these tidings must have made upon the women ; but something of it is renewed in our own experience whenever, in our fight of faith, we, through fellowship in Christ's sufferings, attain to fellowship in his life. The words not here are placed first by Matthew, which seems more natural and appropriate than the transposition in Mark. As the open and empty grave was to bear witness before all Jerusalem though, alas ! this witness was soon covered up by fraud and unbelief so the sight of it and of the stone rolled away were the first glad signs to the faithful women, seeking, as they were, in the wrong place indeed, but according to the best of their knowledge, and soon to have their search rewarded in a way they knew not. " He is not here." For the first and only time Christ's absence a source of unspeakable joy ! How can this be ? Because in very deed he was not absent. No doubt, from the moment of the resurrection, the Lord was invisibly present at the sepulchre, and amidst his faithful ones there, their eyes being hidden the while ; only he was not there as they had expected to find him. " Come, see the place where the Lord lay." We may remark how the angel's address becomes even more and more convincing to the timid and faintly believing women, referring them not only to Christ's disregarded and hitherto forgotten words, but to the evidence of their own eyesight. True, that evidence was not in itself deci- sive. Peter and John had seen the empty grave, and drawn the same inference over which Mary Magdalene wept, namely, that Christ's enemies, grudging him the rites his friends desired to perform, had carried their persecution even into the grave itself, and removed his body elsewhere. THE SEPULCHRE. 81 But when an angel speaks; when he says, Come, see; then the words not here become positive proof of the re- surrection. He is not here, that you see ; he is risen, that you are to believe ; as he said, ye now recall his declaration and understand its meaning. Come here here where I am sitting (Mark xvi. 5) ; so ran the encou- raging words : come nearer ; cast away all fear. See ; see for yourselves, not himself, indeed, but" the proof that he lives. See the empty space where, for a while, lay the lifeless body of him whom the angels also worship as Lord. Magdalene indeed said, speaking of Jesus, " My Lord," with a special personal appropriation, the result ever of a true faith, as evidenced by Thomas on a later occasion. But here the angel cannot speak to the women of their Lord. He also must acknowledge and do him honour ; and while speaking of the risen, living Jesus, as the Lord of men and angels, he uses the customary expression of mankind (and by using confirms it) which attaches personality to the body even after death. He does not say where the body (only) of the Lord lay. Christ is still a son of man in his resurrection as well as his death, and has now risen bodily from the place where he lay. But finally, the women are not to content themselves with seeing and looking, the angel commissions them at once to make known the glad tidings to others : " Go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead." Re- main not here ; cling not to this spot ! The angel in no way makes a sanctuary of the grave ; nor is there anything in the New Testament to lead us to suppose that any thought was taken by the disciples of the " holy places," as they afterwards came to be called. Where the true life is continued unbroken, all the external, the dead, may be put away ; it has done its work. We seek the living F 82 THE ANGELS AT amidst it no longer. Apostolic Christianity and the wor- ship of relics are wide as the poles asunder. The living word, the going and saying, is not to be postponed to the wooden cross and stone sepulchre ; any superstitious value for these is a mere infirmity of faith. These first tidings are not destined for the high-priest or for Pilate. The time for that will come later. At present, the consoling message is to be privately carried to the disciples, that they may believe and be prepared to wit- ness the truth to the world. When the season for their bearing witness should come, another angel would give another command, Go, stand in the temple (Acts v. 20). No doubt, the expression his disciples included all who had believed in Christ. To all who had loved and trusted in him, the women were to give this message secretly, to comfort therewith the hearts of the whole troubled and dispersed little flock ; but more especially is it sent to the apostles, whose faith in the word and testimony of others is demanded now, as they afterwards would have to de- mand the faith of others in their preached word, and upon the authority of their own testimony. The official name "apostles " was no doubt familiar to the foresight of the angel, though he does not use it ; it is latent in the more general term " disciples ;" but it is evident that the future apostles were to receive the communication first and fore- most amongst the disciples. This we may more especially gather from the important and remarkable addition given to us by St. Mark, who probably wrote under St. Peter's dictation. " Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter." If, in- deed, this mention had been intended especially to do honour to Peter as the first of the apostles, as some have erroneously inferred, his name would have been placed THE SEPULCHRE. 83 first. But, no ! It was because Peter, the denier of his Lord, in his deep sorrow feared not only to have lost his office of apostle, but even his very character of disciple, that he was here graciously restored to the latter, as he was afterwards invested with the apostleship by the Lord himself. The same Lord, whose look in the judgment-hall had brought Peter to repentance, now graciously sends him this greeting, that he may not despair. But what must not Peter have suffered between this greeting and that look ! Never, indeed, could he even fully credit the greeting till the Lord himself appeared to him. But the angel's message is not yet over : " And, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him." In Mark we have no special instructions given to announce the resurrection separately ; but the passage runs : Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. In Matthew, the " behold " ushers in a more prominent mention of the seeing the Lord himself, for which the hearts of his hearers pined more and more as the angel went on speaking. Many, indeed, we know, saw him in Jerusalem on the very day of the resurrection ; but this message to the disciples collectively does not allude to the special favour to be bestowed first on a few individuals, but to a general promise which the Lord had previous!* 1 made. The place for this public manifestation to the re assembled flock was to be the more remote, the more se eluded Galilee. Galilee, sanctified and blessed as it had been by the life and teaching of the Lord, and peculiarly fitted to insure the safety of the apostles, was to be the place where, with many others, they should behold their Lord. There is, besides, a deeper meaning, a spiritual mean ing in the promise with which the first Easter message 84 THE ANGELS AT of the angel in the sepulchre concludes. It tells of a direction, nay, a going before of the Lord, for the dis- ciples, and for us all. The risen Saviour will be both our guide and our forerunner, will show us the way and lead us on in it while we walk on earth, and, at its close, will gather us around him in heaven. But, on the whole, the text of these two Evangelists does not diverge so much as to lead us to suppose that they treat of different addresses by the angel. Where Mark more expressly alludes to the precious promise of the Lord (Matt. xxvi. 32 ; Mark xiv. 28), we have in St. Matthew the conclusion by the angel: " Lo, I have told you." Now, both sentences may have been spoken, but the first may have been heard and specially noted by one of the women, the last by another. What we said of the appear- ance, is also true of the speech of angels; both are depend- ent upon the peculiar 'condition of those seeing or hearing. And there is a special meaning in both sayings. The Lo, I have told you, harmonizes well with the gracious and familiar / know at the beginning of the angel's speech, as given by Matthew. It is as though he said, ' All this it is my glorious commission to make known to you. I, the angel of the Lord, have told you ; that is enough, believe, go quickly, and make known my words, till you see for yourselves that the Crucified is risen indeed.' The other conclusion in Mark's gospel, As he said unto you, we also gladly accept, as first weighty proof that not only what He said touching the resurrection, but that all ever spoken by Jesus shall surely come to pass. This last thought leads us naturally to the narrative in Luke, where a similar allusion to the Lord's words is even more emphatically made. We have before stated that we, for our oart, consider the angel's speech, given by Luke, THE SEPULCHRE. 85 to be quite a different address from the others, and to have been delivered either to other women who came a little later, or to the first, who had returned, or to such of them as lingered behind. Their return, however, is the most probable hypothesis. The only words that this speech of these two angels has in common with that of the former, are the words that must necessarily have been spoken, i: He is not here : he is risen." All the rest are different. We have not six different angels speaking, as some have maintained, but perhaps three, or, with equal probability, only two. The first angel of the earthquake may have been alone, in which case the two men in shining garments, spoken of by St. Luke, were other two, and the same that Mary Magdalene saw. Or the second angel may have been invisible or unnoticed at first ; now he may have become manifest, and have risen up, together with the first, to de- liver this second address. More solemn, more dignified than the first simple an- nouncement of the resurrection, more teeming still with hidden meaning, somewhat more severe in its direct appli- cation than the first soothing address, sound out the solemn, spirit-stirring words, " Why seek ye the living among the dead?" We are tempted, on our part, to exclaim to com- mentators, " Why do ye not on your part notice the differ- ence between the tone of reproof and that of consolation ?" No doubt, it is friendly reproof, and fraught with consolation as well, but how different the effect of this question to that of the gracious admission, " I know that ye seek Jesus." If the first seeking were praised, here the seeking is blamed. Is not such a difference as this significant ? We can only understand the words as an expression of holy impatience on the part of the angel, occasioned by a later coming of women, who seemed again about to seek for the 86 THE ANGELS AT risen Lord in the grave they knew to be empty. But whether these last women, to whom the angel spoke, came after the others, or came back after Mary Mag- dalene in the garden, and the women on their way to the city, had actually seen the Lord, we will not venture to decide. There are some, indeed, who would limit these glorious words to the lowest sense, one they might bear if spoken by the grave of any child of man ; would interpret them as saying, The dead still lives ; nay, the real man is not dead, it is only the corpse that lies here. But the " not here " of the angel has a very different meaning, and is to be understood in the scriptural sense of the words, death and life. Now, we find in Scripture that even im- mortal, undying, glorified spirits are always spoken of as the dead, before the resurrection of their body (Rev. xiv. 13 ; xx. 5). The allusion to the prophetic words, for the living to the dead (Isaiah viii. 19), which many have pointed out, is rather apparent than real, for the angel speaks here of the living, in a far higher sense than could apply to mere mortals who had not yet died. The Cru- cified is still the living. It is not merely that he lives again, that he is risen ; this is mentioned later, and is, indeed, but a consequence of the first assertion ; but that, as he himself says (Rev. i. 17, 18), " / am the first, and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore." They had killed the Prince of life, but he who is the resurrection and the life could not be holden by death, and he is risen. That Eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us (1 John i. 2), stooped indeed to death for us, but, in so doing, annihilated death. Of us sinful mortals, the term dead may truly be used. He ever liveth to give us THE SEPULCHRE. 87 life. The angels' words may be understood thus : Had you known him in his life and death, as he revealed him- self to you, had you recognised the difference that separated him living, speaking, suffering, and dying, from all others, you would have distinguished between the dead Christ and all other dead whatsoever. He who was unlike you in your sins, errors, failings, was unlike you in your mortality. He who was free from all taint of human vanity or selfish- ness, was exempted also from the universal yoke of death. The Saviour was not to be sought for amongst sinful men, neither the conqueror of death amidst death's victims. Mary the mother of the Lord, deeply as the sword had gone through her heart as she stood beneath the cross, did not, with the other Marys, thus seek the living among the dead. She (and probably Mary of Bethany too) awaited the resurrection in secret faith, instead of running to the sepulchre. True, even as during his whole life of humiliation, Jesus had, in a certain sense, been numbered with the dead, so his body yielded to the power of death while it lay in the grave, his spirit, while it descended into Hades. But now the bringing again from the dead had begun (Heb. xiii. 20), it was completed in the ascension (Johnxx. 17). Hence- forth his word is accomplished, " Because I live, ye shall live also." This saying had not been as yet rightly under- stood by his disciples, nor did the women who came to the sepulchre remember these words and others of like import But " God will not have us seek and anoint a dead Saviour." This quotation from Rieger points to a com- prehensive application of this profound angelic saying, supe- rior as it is, indeed, in depth and fulness of meaning to all other angelic sayings whatsoever, which are, for the most part, plain, simple, and human. It was fit that such words 88 THE ANGELS AT as these should be uttered at the miraculously opened sepul- chre. Even Hegel seems to have been struck by them, for he says that " in the Crusades, this answer of the angel was given once more to Christendom at Christ's sepulchre." But this only applies to the actual sepulchre, whereas we both may and ought to give a far wider application to this solemn question, in order fully to penetrate its meaning. Amongst the dead of all ages who have bequeathed their memory, their words, their works to mankind, he is not to be sought and found as one who is only their equal, for he is essentially other than they; in Himself and for humanity, for the Church especially, He is the Living One ! We have an actually existing, a present Christ, not merely a historical one. Neither must we seek for him in the wrong place, least of all in our own natural unrenewed selves. No, nor yet in the world, or the men of the world, who, as the dead, bury their dead (Matt. viii. 22). Nor again, in dead Christians or a dead Christianity, although it possess all the outward semblance of truth. Nor yet in the dead letter of traditional teaching, nor in church membership, nay, not even in the literal words of Scripture itself. He himself, and he alone, is the Living One, and will be sought as such. He is in nowise to be found in any dead thing, though he may once have been contained therein as in the empty sepulchre. At that time, indeed, the angel had not power to say, " Seek him among the living !" But this has been possible for us ever since the day of Pentecost. There are now Easter-day messengers who, though they do not wear shining raiment, yet carry about within them, and bring to us the life of Christ. Each true Christian is in his measure one of these. Yea, those who seek the crucified have been secretly drawn to do so by the life of the THE SEPULCHRE. 89 Living One, though they themselves have been unconscious of it. Thus the second severer address of the angel is, after all, reconcilable with the first more gracious one. To seek, that is the main point. Let us, thirsting for life, seek him, the Living One, and we shall find him as for us crucified, for us risen ! " He is not here, but he is risen !" This resurrection fulfils all he ever testified of himself. The first-begotten from the dead is also revealed as the faithful witness (Rev. i. 5). If the first address of the angel reverts to what he said to the women, the second does this still more, in order gently to reprove and chasten the forgetful, dull of under- standing, unbelieving hearers of those encouraging words. " fools, and slow of heart to understand all this prophet, who was more than prophet, said to you !" The women who followed Christ believed indeed, as did the disciples, that Jesus was a great prophet ; consequently the angel refers them to the past, tells them why they ought to have known enough not now to seek the living among the dead : " Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." In the two former Gospels, we had a prophetic intimation of Christ's going before them into Galilee. Here we have a retrospective allusion to his saying when in Galilee. This is another harmonious difference between the two angelic addresses. The very words of the Lord are reverently given by the angel, who had listened to them, and faithfully treasured, while the women had for- gotten them, till now, when we read '' They remembered his words ;" reflected upon them, understood them. " They told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest." In this rapid general summary with which St. Luke con- 90 ANGELS AT THE SEPULCHRE. eludes, we have included what the two disciples on the way to Emmaus alluded to when they spoke of the vision of angels seen by certain women (Luke xxiv. 22, 23). These women had said that he was alive. This harmo- nizes well with the expression the living, who was not to be sought for among the dead ; nay, perhaps, but for the fact of the third day being brought by the angel to the recollection of the women, neither these men, nor those still more incredulous disciples who had treated the women's vision as idle tales, would have called to remembrance that the day on which all this occurred was that very third day of which the Lord had spoken. THE QUESTION TO MAGDALENE. 91 CHAPTER VII. THE ANGEL'S QUESTION TO MAGDALENE JOHN xx. WE have here but a few short simple words that seem scarcely susceptible of further elucidation ; and yet, taken in connexion with their context, they will be found to repay our meditation. This Mary Magdalene, delivered by the miraculous power of Jesus from a condition the most abject and appalling (Mark xvi. 9), and in the deep devotedness of her grateful love, perhaps exceeding all the rest of his female disciples, was on this Easter morning the sorrowfullest of the sorrowful, and for this reason was chosen to receive the first manifestation of the Lord. She had come earliest of all, come while it was yet dark, to the opened grave ; and at the very first sight of it, the only thought that rose in her grief-clouded mind was that the body had been taken away, and certainly not by friends. She ran to fetch the two leading disciples, that they too might see what so dismayed her. They had come, had convinced themselves that it. was even as she said, and had gone away again. Yes, even the loving and beloved disciple himself had returned home with only a deepened sadness in his heart. But Mary cannot go with him. She cannot depart from this mysteriously empty grave. In 92 THE ANGEL'S QUESTION the depths of her anguish there is an unconscious pre- sentiment that something else will surely occur in connec- tion with this terrible fact. She seeks the Crucified with all the intensity of a nature alike earnest and tender. And so "she stands without at the sepulchre, weeping,' bitterly weeping ; but as is natural to us all in our deepest sorrow, she must needs look and look again at the very cause of her grief. She stooped down and looked into the empty grave, as Peter had done before (ver. 5). And now she sees what the seeking disciples had not seen. In the increased susceptibility of her ever-growing sorrow, she sees two angels in white, sitting, probably the two of whom St. Luke writes : but this we cannot positively say. Their bright shining garments showed them to be angels ; and St. John describes their exact position, the one at the feet, the other at the head ; but Mary Magdalene, intent only on the body of Jesus, pays no heed to them, though she clearly discerns them ; for, alas ! the beloved head, the beloved feet are not there. And now both shining ones speak at once to the weeping woman ; and their words, short as they are, are one of the most beautiful of all angelic addresses ; the most tender, the most sympathiz- ing with our humanity. "Woman, why weepest thou?" In this question there is something implied, though more gently expressed, akin to the reproachful question recorded by St. Luke, " Why seek ye the living among the dead ?" But here the holy impatience merely shows itself in an anxiety to comfort; ' Why weepest thou so continuously and so causelessly ?' The sentence seems to have been cut short, because Mary heeded it so little, and because the Lord himself appeared, repeating the very question of his angelic servants. We might almost infer that on this occasion the latter had had TO MAGDALENE. 93 no commission given them to speak, but that they followed their own kindly impulse to address the sorrowing woman. For angels are ever willing to succour weeping mortals ; and these might perhaps have proceeded to accost the woman still more graciously by name, but that this was to be their Lord's part, and they therefore refrained. Mary Magdalene returned a hasty answer, without showing any fear of the shining forms in the sepulchre ; nay, she hardly seems to have noticed that there was any- thing superhuman about them, for she is reckless in her grief. The one lamentation her first (ver. 2) lamentation which heaven and earth shall hear, which fills her heart, the only thing which she knows and cares about, con- stitutes her reply to the angels. It is as though she said, ' How should I not weep, wretched woman that I am ? They have taken away (not only the Lord, as she had said to her brother disciples, she speaks more strongly to these bright strangers), they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him ; let me weep.' And she turns away from the speakers like a Kachel who will not be comforted. But there is comfort in store for her, sorrow as she may. We have an example given us here of how only the Lord himself can suffice to spirits like that of Magdalene. The Lord sees the heart, and none shall weep for him in vain ; but even the angels, gracious though their sympathy be, must leave the task of comfort- ing the deepest sorrow to the Lord. 94 THE ANGELS AT CHAPTER VIII. THE ANGELS AT THE ASCENSION. ACTS i. IT was on the fortieth day after nis resurrection, that the Lord, with his apostles and the rest of his disciples, assembled by appointment for the last time on the Mount of Olivet. When they were come together, the disciples put one last question, prompted by the Lord's discourse on the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and ex- pressive of a holy, though not a well-informed longing on their part for its arrival. This question was to the fol- lowing effect : ' Will what is written in the prophets con- cerning thy divine kingdom, under the name of the King- dom of Israel, be speedily accomplished, or is this accomplishment still far off?' And the Lord's answer to this question is the last of all his sayings on earth. On the point of ascending from them into heaven, he refuses to his disciples any further information respecting the times and seasons of the development and fulfilment of the king- dom of God ; withholds all dates, all numerical statements as to epochs or persons. But instead of these he gives them the promise of soon receiving the Holy Ghost. As the Gos- pels have led us onward from the first to the second article of our belief, and the whole of that which Jesus began to THE ASCENSION. 95 do and teach may be summed up in the words, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me ;" so now we are about to be led onward by the Acts of the Apostles (or, as we might rather call the book, the History of the Church), from the second to the third article of our Christian faith. But in thus referring to the Holy Ghost, the Saviour, about to ascend into heaven though he was, directs the attention of his disciples from heaven to earth ; to earth, where his wit- nesses were to begin to found and establish his kingdom, by building up the Church, through the Divine power working within them. The Lord ascends to heaven, that henceforth he may live, work, and reign on earth through his people and in his people. Such is the meaning of his last words ; and as he spoke these things he was taken up before their eyes, with lifted hands ; hands raised in priestly benediction over these his disciples over the holy city and the chosen land over the whole earth. "While they beheld," he was taken up. Visibly and gradually he began to ascend towards heaven ; not suddenly vanishing from before them, as he had done several times since his resurrection, but rising in a way that they could watch; not like the prophet Elijah, swept away by a whirlwind and in a chariot of fire. For, as it has been very well observed by Baumgarten, " The interval of space betwixt earth and heaven was not overleapt by a sudden act, but measured out by a calm and continued progress, and so the past earthly career of Jesus in no way cut off or obscured, but retained as an eternally- enduring foundation, and glorified by a heavenly light. If the translation of Elijah may be likened to the flight of a bird which no human eye can trace, the ascension of Jesus is like a bridge spanning earth and heaven, for the benefit of all who have been led 96 TEE ANGELS AT to him by the beauty of his earthly life." His ascending form was first concealed by a cloud, and this cloud only gradually and slowly rose and melted out of their sight. " Looking steadfastly up into the heavens" that had received him, petrified, immovable, the apostles gazed on and on, as though they could still see their vanished Lord ; they could not turn their eyes or their thoughts back to earth again ! Surely the comfort and guidance of an angel's voice was never more needed than at a moment like this. Whether the " two men in white apparel" that suddenly appeared standing beside them, were the angels that an- nounced the resurrection, may well be doubted, when we consider the multitude of the heavenly host, ready and willing ever to minister to man. In Luke xxiv. 4, we find the expression used slightly different, perhaps design- edly so. But from a comparison with that passage, as well as with Acts x. 80, and Dan. ix. 21; viii. 15; x. 5. we feel persuaded that at the ascension we have the actual presence of angels recorded, and not that of glorified saints, like those who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration. But not only did they appear and stand by, but they spoke ; they " also said" as Luke emphatically writes, in order to bespeak our attention to the words of the men from heaven to the men of Galilee on earth. This angelic appearance to the disciples must have been, as Lange ob- serves, "a merely secondary wonder, a commonplace occur- rence, compared to their last sight of their glorified Lord ; it seems as though angels themselves were destined, on this occasion, not to excite their astonishment, but to re- call them to the sphere of their ordinary consciousness, so entranced and absorbed were they in gazing after their Lord." Yea, verily, after the last word from Jesus, these heavenly speakers served to make the transition back from THE ASCENSION. 97 the heaven, where they would be, to their continued living and working upon earth, easier and more intelligible to the disciples. Accordingly, the angelic words run as follows : " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven f this same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Three times in succession the word heaven, and this in order to recal to earth ! Yet this recalling from their raptured gazing to earthly consciousness and earthly ac- tivity, is implied in the very first words of this rousing appeal, Ye men of Galilee ; for certainly most of those present were Galileans ; indeed, we may almost infer that all were so, Judas of Kerioth (Josh. xv. 25), the traitor, having been the only disciple belonging to Judea. This calling up of all their Galilean recollections, graciously reminded them of the low commencement of their earthly career, of their being found and called by the Lord, of the time when they became his disciples and lived with him ; all this would be comprehended in one far-reach- ing, retrospective glance, like, in a measure, to that which Jesus cast upon the earth that he left. But these men are to remain on earth as the Lord's apostles, chosen out of that highly-favoured Galilee, that hitherto had had, not as the doctors of the law mistakenly believed, " no prophet" (John vii. 22), but only Jonah (2 Kings xiv. 25) and Nahum. The name Galilean, now a term of ridicule and contempt, should be rendered honourable by them, as the name of Jesus of Nazareth had been glorified by the re- surrection. And now again, as before at the sepulchre, we have a reproof implied in the question put : Why stand ye gazing thus into heaven ? Before, the women were admonished 98 THE ANGELS AT to look away from the sepulchre, and now the disciples must be content to part with all trace of their Lord's visible presence. Since Jesus had actually gone away from them into heaven, it was vain to stand and gaze. Enough that he was gone to prepare a place for them ; while for them there remained a walking in and working according to his commandments, as well as in his strength and fellowship, upon this earth of ours. This pregnant speech, univer- sally applicable to disciples as it still is, dissuades from and chides all idle waiting, all inactive longing and dream- ing, all presumptuous inquiries that transcend the limits of our world ; and constantly enjoins, and encourages us to the faithful discharge of our appointed duties in the life that now is. Thus the very first words of the angels are a continuation, as it were, of the last words of the Lord, and deeply imbued with the same spirit. ' Why stand ye f Remember the last question ye put to your Lord. You know your duty already. It is to go forth out of your Galilee into all the world, and to preach the gospel to every creature. Look below you ; there is Jerusalem, there is the appointed place for your first witnessing of Jesus, for the exercise of your faith and obedience ; tarry there, and tarry in sure and certain hope." And now comes a second intimation, which the Lord had left to be delivered, on this occasion, by these angelic ministers of his. He had spoken of the Holy Ghost, and of the building up of the Church ; they point to the end of all times and seasons, to his second coming to judgment. <( This same Jesus shall so come." Ye men of Galilee ; this same Jesus ; the two are brought into close contact, no intervening mention of the heavenly messengers them- selves. The single name Jesus, which Gabriel announced at the first, is here emphasized, in token that, although TIIK AW! UN WON. 99 withdrawn from their flight, the now exalted and glorified p'T -.finality of the God-man would Htill remain unchanged in its essential character. He is, he ever will be, the same ; there is here a profound truth, an infinite source nf ri,ii.-ola.tiori and .strength, the full appreciation of which I'-'l Peter,